Born To Be Free | a trolls story

13. A deal

Branch buried his face into Iris's shoulder, letting out sobs of happiness. All those years believing that his sister was dead, the thought always in his mind that he would never see her again. He felt so happy. Iris broke away from the hug and placed her hands on Branch's cheeks, smiling ear to ear.

"Look at you," she said, "you've grown up so much. And you have your colors!"

"Thanks to Poppy," Branch sniffed, wiping away a few tears as he indicated to the pink troll.

"Princess Poppy?!" Iris gasped.

"Queen Poppy," Branch corrected. Iris' eyes went wide with joy.

"Alright get over here!" Poppy exclaimed, "I need to hug you!" Before hesitating, Poppy rammed into the purple troll and squeezed her, almost lifting her off the ground. "Wait until you come back to the village, everyone will be so happy!" The smile on Iris's face dropped slightly.

"Wait...what?" Iris asked, a little confused.

"Well, we all thought you were dead." Poppy replied. "You...are coming back with us, right?" Iris tilted her head to the ground.

"I...I can't..." Iris sighed. Poppy and Branch were surprised, they looked at each other, worried.

"What? Why not?" Branch asked. Iris opened her mouth, about to speak but was interrupted by the sound of someone's voice. Iris shushed the two trolls as she perked up her ear.

"Get down," Iris said quickly as she pushed Branch and Poppy into a nearby bush. They tried asking what was going on but Iris just shushed them. She peaked through the bush and saw two rivered troll scouts. "Alright guys, stay here and don't make a sound," she ordered Branch and Poppy.

"Wait, what's going on?" Branch asked, concerned.

"Don't worry about it, I'll explain everything later." Iris replied as she turned and walked towards the two troll scouts. "Hey guys! What are you doing here?" Iris asked them.

"Ah Iris, I knew it was your voice I was hearing!" One troll said, Iris smiled awkwardly. "We could've sworn we heard you talking to someone," the troll looked suspiciously at her.

"You guys need to get your ears checked!" Iris said teasingly, "I was just out here laying some traps."

"Oh yeah, speaking of traps, two troll-like creatures were heading to this clearing, you couldn't have missed them," the other troll said, waiting for Iris to answer.

"Well...they did come here...but they got away," Iris said nervously.

"You let them get away!" The rivered troll yelled angrily as he shoved Iris over, causing her to land on her side. Branch let out a quiet gasp from the bush. "Wait until the boss hears about this, he's not gonna be happy!" The troll chuckled as they both ran away, leaving Iris on the ground. Once Poppy and Branch made sure the two rivered trolls were gone, they ran out of the bush to Iris.

"Are you okay?" Poppy questioned, helping the purple troll up, Iris nodded.

"Who were those guys?" Branch asked.

"Scouts. They're from the same academy as me." Iris explained.

"Academy?" Branch repeated, "is that why you can't leave? Because you're at an academy?" Iris sighed.

"Come with me to my hut, I'll explain everything."

The three trolls were in Iris's tree hut, Iris poured out some water into some cups for Branch and Poppy.

"I'm so sorry about everything guys." Iris sighed as her head tilted to the ground, not wanting to face the two trolls.

"What happened to you?" Branch asked.