The Shadow's Bane

Chicken Surprise

Toby's POV:

The Deep. As we wondered down to the ruins of Trollmarket, I couldn't think of anything scarier other than those two words.

"The Deep," I said as Claire, Blinky, AAARRRGGHH!!! and I made our way to the cliff of the Heroe's Forge were Jim had been condemned to after the ruling of his Trial for being accused of releasing Gunmar in front of the Tribunal all those weeks ago it seemed. Whoa.... that was a mouthful. Though it felt much longer than that. "I don't get it. Why does it have to be called The Deep? Same goes for the Darklands. The more I think about it the more I'm starting to have second thoughts about this idea, Claire."

"We can't back down now," she said. "Jim has to be okay. Like you always say, you just got to think positive."

"Yes, let's listen to Toby now because that's surely going to get us anywhere," I said sarcastically.

"Come on, Tobes. We will get him back. Remember, even the word hopeless isn't devoid of hope." Then when I looked up again to see how far away we were from the others I noticed Steve and Eli standing by the edge of the Deep along with Merlin just as Claire had said.

"Hey Butsnacks. So what's the plan to get Jim back?"

It was at that moment when I remembered how much Steve used to intimidate me once Jim had gone into the Darklands without us to rescue Enrique. I won't lie. There were still times when I felt threatened by him. Just because he believed in the existence of Trolls now and stopped bullying us, didn't mean I suddenly trusted him or considered him as a friend.

Nope. Jimbo made it very clear in his letter that I was his best friend. And I was honoured to hear that from the true Trollhunter himself.

Those words of Steve back when we were still trying to collect all of the bridge pieces still hurt.

"He just ran off and left you! What kind of friend is that?" He had said.

"Shut up! He's coming back. I know he's coming back! I can do this," I said.

Remembering how I had puffed out my cheeks in front of that perfectly chiselled face of his.

"Heck yeah, you can-"

"I can do this. I can do this. I can do this!"

"So do it already. You're not so tough without your protector now, huh?"

"I can take of myself-"

"Aww, you gonna cry now, big 'ol punching bag Dumbzalski? Or by himself. You're worthless!"

"You're wrong! I'm not worthless! I'm gonna get Jim back!" I said.

"Huh? Wha...?"

"You know what? Claire was right. You're not worth it. Steve, have you ever heard of the expression, "Heads up"?"

"I can do this," I said to myself as we neared the cliff of the Forge. Forgetting that I had zoned out for a second until I heard Claire calling my name. Now I know how Jim felt everytime he had zoned out after training sometimes. "I can do this. I can do this. I can-"

"Toby?" Claire asked me which caused me too look back up at everyone. That's where I saw where I was standing.

"Pfft. I knew I was standing there. But Steve is right. What now? Like you said, I'm just the optimistic one here-"

"You will use AAARRRGGHH!!!'s rope to climb down safely into the Deep," Merlin suddenly explained.

"Oh hey, Merl," I said. Causing him to glare at me for a second.

"Do you want to be turned into a cockroach?" He asked.

Well that was all that needed to be said in order to shut me up. To be honest, the last time I had ever felt this scared was when Merlin told me that he would have eaten me if it hadn't been for my braces. Actually, out of everyone I was the most scared person here. The only reason why no one ever knew that was because I never did show my emotions around my friends. Especially Jim since he had the biggest responsibility of us all.

"Aah... no. Okay. So we go down the rope of terror and then. Sorry if I have rocks for brains right now," I said.

Merlin just sighed. "Then once down-"

"I will use my Shadow Staff to take us to wherever Jim may be. Steve and Eli? You're going to stay here to act as our emotional anchor for us to come back. So wait here for us, will you?" She asked.

"Sure. See you later then, turds," Steve said.

"Good luck. And bring Jim back," said Eli.

"Well. All things must end," Which was Merlin's way of saying goodbye. I looked at him. Then back at AAARRRGGHH!!!

"We will," I said. "Keep them safe, Wingman." Because I knew that where we going, AAARRRGGHH!!! and Blinky couldn't come with us.

🔵🔴🔵

We had only been down for a minute until something shiny and purple landed on my jersey which caused me to yelp out in fright and slap my hand onto the purple, glowing spot.

"Aah! Scorch Beatles. Why didn't Blinky warn us? He knows I hate Scorch Beatles-"

"Ssh..." Claire said. I slapped and stamped on two more which was followed by the farting sounds it made after they were squished. No more came again thankfully though which made the Deep cavern very quite and ominous as Claire and I stared down its dark and endless tunnel. Already I missed AAARRRGGHH!!!.

"Okay. Claire. Anytime now..."

"Yeah. I don't want to stay in this place any longer than we have to either," she said while readying her staff.

Then just before she could make a portal, a loud drone suddenly erupted from the other end of the dark tunnel which scared the goblins out of me. "Claire. Claire. Claire. Claire. Claire. Claire-"

"Toby. We've discussed this before. My name... oh. Okay. Time to go," she said upon realising what I meant. Then made a portal which we didn't hesitate to go through.

The only thought that kept me going was that like last time, we were going to get Jim back. No matter what it took. If it meant going around the world and back again I would. He was my partner in crime which was something that I would never let go.

Once on the other side though, we were both still too scared to take in our surroundings as we continued to run through the bushes and past the various trees that encircled us till something suddenly rustled in the hethers before us, causing both of us to stop suddenly.

I put out my hands out of an act of defence around Claire when we heard it. Both of us now breathing heavily from all the running.

"Um..." Claire said. "What was that?" Then suddenly whatever was stalking us did jump out of the bushes only to scare the living daylights out of us when it did.

"Careful," I said once we had calmed down to see that what stood before us was a chicken. Really? Just one small chicken? Where in the name of Trollmarket were we? "It could smell fear. While the school's Chicken Surprise was bad. This can be worse. Don't trust a thing it says."

As if on cue, it cooed which made us both cry out again. "What an intimidating chicken. Oh well. It sure did surprise us," I said.

Then before I could do or say anything else, I felt something rush past me and then push me onto the soft grass beneath me. I landed flat on my back with a thump since it was so fast. I didn't even have time to take out my Warhammer because of its lighting speed. I couldn't go out like this. Not with all those Taco stands I still had to eat from was what I thought as I was held there by some heavy force covered in red metal which probably added to the weight part. Those blue familiar eyes that I would recognise anywhere though, stared back at me with an unknown hate for me in them for some reason.

"Toby!" Claire said, but too late.

Because no matter what I did, the big hand held me there like an anchor weighing you down. What was going on with him? What was going on with my best friend? Why didn't he recognise me?

"Jim?" I said.