Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia

4: Gnome your enemy

"For centuries, the troll and human worlds stood separate and at peace," Blinky said. "Divided by bridges that acted as doorways between our two worlds. But the GumGums wanted to devour all of mankind. They were led by Gunmar the Black. The rest of trollkind fought against him culminating in the great Battle of Killahead Bridge, the portal to Gunmar's Darklands. After many moons, good triumphed over evil, and out great Trollhunter, Deya the Deliverer, locked Gunmar away, exiling him to the Darklands and sealed the Killahead Bridge with the sacred amulet. After, we tore it apart, stone by stone. We left the old world in search for peace. We stowed away on a ship called the Mayflower. Just a handful of us and some gnomes we'd brought along for companionship and nourishment. Finally, we arrived in a strange and exotic realm."

"New Jersey," Aaarrrgghh said.

"We kept walking," Blinky continued. "Eventually, we came across a new Heartstone and we realized we had found a new home...under Arcadia."

Blinky set down the book he was reading to see Toby and Aaarrrgghh paying attention, but Jim asleep. He went over to him and loudly shut the book in his face. "Lo Siento, Senor Draal! No me mates!" He said.

"The training of troll history might seem like a minor duty, Master Jim, but-"

"Sorry," Jim said. "I pulled an all-nighter studying for my Spanish Comprehension exam and my brain is muy gooey. I don't know. I guess I thought if I'm facing Draal in a week, my training would be a little more...active." He stood up and yawned.

"Yeah," Toby said. "When is he going to learn Troll-Kwando? Or Rock-itsu?"

"Before one fights, Toby D," Blinky said. "One must understand why one fights, for these precious early steps will decide whether a young Trollhunter will become a Deya the Deliverer." He pointed at one of the statues above them.

"Or Unkar the Unfortunate," Aaarrrgghh said, pointing at Unkar's statue.

"Well, tomorrow, I have a Spanish exam with Senor Uhl the Unforgiving. My main concern is for my immediate future."

"But, to learn what will happen in the future," Blinky said. "One must only look to the past." He dropped a heavy book in Jim's hands. "I recommend A Brief Recapitulation of Troll Lore by the venerable Bedehilde. Volume one of forty-seven."

"Okay, but if I don't pass the exam, I'm grounded and I can't be the Trollhunter," he started backing out of the forge. "Sorry, Blinky, but the amulet chose me, and now I have two lives to keep up."

A troll ran into the forge and over to Blinky, panting.

"Oh no," Blinky said. "Is it the Heartstone?"

She shook her head. "No, no!"

"Stalkling?" Aaarrrgghh asked.

"Is Bular in Trollmarket?" Jim asked.

"No!" She said. "Gnome! Rogue gnome!"

***

They walked around the Troll's shop. "First, I couldn't find my monocle," she said. "Then my collection of bed coils. Now, something disappears every minute!"

A gnome ran past her and tripped her. "Ah yes," Blinky said, helping her up. "Gnome."

"Oh, dirty little pests," the troll said. "Up to last week, the glue traps were working fine." She picked up a gnome skeleton and the gnome ran past her and grabbed it from her hands. She looked at Jim. "Fix it, Trollhunter!"

"Uh, yeah," he said. "I'm really sorry about that. See, you need a gnome-catcher and well, I'm the Trollhunter, so-"

"Master Jim," Blinky said. "The Trollhunter cannot refuse the call. And what better a call for you to train with than a pint-sized quarry?"