Chapter 38 #2
He took a few steps toward the boulders. Jabir’s breath hitched.
“Do you think it’s another alien, like last time?” Mikey asked.
Williston paused. Sniffed again. “Nah. Don’t smell no evil… just smells kinda… yummy.”
Jabir froze. His hand went to his chest, where crumbs betrayed him like glitter on his Aunt Cara’s craft table.
Oh, crud. The potato chips.
This is why I said shift first, his dragon muttered with a groan. You smell like snack food.
That wasn’t why you wanted to shift!
Gabby lifted her nose and sniffed. “Oooh… I do smell something good now.”
“Maybe the tunnel dropped food!” Mikey cried hopefully, and without further warning, dropped to his hands and knees and began sniffing the ground like a bloodhound on a mission.
Gabby rolled her eyes. “What are you doing?”
Mikey crawled to the exact spot where Jabir had landed. “I’m following the yummy smell. Like Frubbit taught us in Forest Safety Class.”
Williston squinted. “Frubbit only teaches that class ‘cause he lost a bet to your ma. He’s not actually good at—”
“Shhh! I found something!” Mikey sat up, triumphant. In his enormous hand was a broken corner of a crumbled chip. He sniffed it reverently, his eyes glazing over. “Ooooh… yummy. Crunchy. Salty. Magic.”
Gabby lunged forward. “Give me that!”
“No way!” Mikey spun around, cupping the crumb protectively in his massive palm. “I found it! It’s mine!”
“You only found it because I led us here!” she growled.
“I smelled it first!” Williston barked.
“This is my prize!” Mikey roared, standing up and backing away as the two other trolls advanced like seagulls fighting over a French fry.
Hidden in the boulders, Jabir covered his mouth to muffle a laugh. His dragon groaned.
They’re gonna eat you. You know that, right?
“They’re not going to eat me—us,” Jabir whispered. “They’re… funny.”
They hungry.
“Which is why,” Jabir said as he pulled a fresh, unopened bag of chips from his tote, “I’m bringing gifts.”
You going to get us eaten.
“No, I’m not. You’re being a scaredy dragon.”
Jabir stood slowly, stepping up onto the flat top of the tallest boulder. He cleared his throat. “Um… Hey, there. I come in… peace,” his voice came out in a slight squeak on the last word, and he winced.
We totally dead, his dragon groaned, shaking its head and burying its snout between its paws.
Three trolls’ heads whipped around. Gabby shrieked, Mikey yelped and dropped his precious chip, and Williston made a sound like a farting goat and grabbed his club.
“Hi! I’m Jabir,” Jabir greeted with an uneasy smile as he frantically opened the bag of chips in his hand as a peace offering. “So… would anyone like some chips?”
“I told you this was the right place!” Gabby hissed, staring back at him.
Jabir crouched atop the boulder, the open chip bag crinkling in his lap as he listened to the debate unfolding before him.
“I’m telling you, it’s an alien,” Gabby insisted, jabbing a stubby blue-tipped finger toward him. “He came from the sky! I saw the blue swirly tunnel with my own two eyes.”
“You always see blue swirly things,” Williston grumbled, crossing his thick gray arms. “Remember the last time? Turned out to be laundry that flew off old widow Gnome’s clothesline.”
“Was not,” Gabby huffed. “That was the time before.”
Mikey stood silently between them, his belly rumbling audibly. His gaze flicked to Jabir… or more specifically, to the bag of chips in his lap. His nose twitched like he was picking up a five-course meal, and he licked his wide, plump lips with a hopeful sigh.
Inside Jabir’s head, his dragon gave a theatrical sigh.
He going to eat all our snacks, his dragon grumbled.
Better them than us, he retorted.
They talk a lot. I don’t think trolls very smart.
“Shhh,” Jabir muttered under his breath. “They’re being careful. That’s smart.”
Careful? One thinks you potato chip disguised as a lifeform.
“That was a joke, I hope…”
Jabir plucked a chip from the bag and crunched into it thoughtfully, watching the trio from atop his perch. Mikey was practically vibrating now, his stomach letting out another mournful groan. Jabir caught his eye and held out the bag, his eyebrows raised in silent offer.
Mikey hesitated for a split second—then, while Gabby and Williston’s argument reached operatic levels of intensity, he shuffled away from them with surprising grace for a creature shaped like a walking sofa.
He reached the boulder, his wide eyes fixed on the prize.
Jabir grinned. “Want some?”
Mikey nodded, reverently holding out his cupped hands.
Jabir poured a generous pile of chips into them.
As Mikey sniffed the first chip like it might bite him back, Jabir tilted his head. “I’m Jabir Reykill, from Valdier.”
“Mikey—from the village to the west,” the troll murmured, then popped the chip into his mouth.
A second later, his eyes went round as moons.
“Ohhhhhhhh, that’s delicious!” he gasped, already munching the rest. He looked up with pure, unfiltered hope. “More?”
Jabir chuckled and obliged, refilling his hands.
“You came from the blue tube Gabby saw in the sky?” Mikey asked between crunches.
“Yeah. I crash-landed here. It was… gentler than I expected, but still not part of the plan.” Jabir waved a hand toward the sky.
By now, Gabby and Williston had stopped arguing and approached cautiously, both eyeing Mikey like he’d just won the troll lottery.
“You really will eat anything, won’t you?” Gabby asked.
“Like you’re not jealous,” Mikey rebutted, cradling his chip haul like sacred treasure to his chest.
Jabir held out the bag. “There’s enough to share.”
The remaining chips didn’t last long in the three-way troll tug-of-war that followed, but peace was finally achieved when Jabir promised he had more if they helped him find his friends.
“So… where am I?” Jabir asked, brushing crumbs off his shirt.
“You don’t know?” Williston asked with a frown.
Jabir shot the troll a rueful smile and shook his head. “Only that I’m supposed to be somewhere in a place called the Seven Kingdoms. Hopefully, I made it there.”
Gabby straightened proudly. “You’re on the Isle of the Monsters.”
Jabir blinked. “And there are actual monsters here?”
“Of course! We are trolls. The other kingdoms think of us as monsters. The Isle of the Monsters is ruled by Empress Nali and her mate Asahi. He came from another world like you. One called Ear-th,” Williston added, pronouncing Earth like he was saying ear with a th on the end. “They’re wise and kind.”
“So the Empress won’t be mad that I landed here?” Jabir asked, suddenly feeling anxious.
After all, being the Empress of Monsters had to give her enormous powers of some kind. Still, if she married a human, she can’t be all bad, can she? he reasoned.
“Only if you hurt a monster,” Mikey said, then grinned. “You don’t seem like the monster-hurting type.”
Jabir’s shoulders relaxed. “I’d never hurt anyone. I love unusual creatures. At home, I help take care of Grombots and Tasiers, and we even have a family of Pactors! Those things will eat anything if you aren’t careful.”
Gabby’s face lit up. “You’re a weird alien monster. I like you.”
Williston gave a grunt of approval. “He looks more like Emperor Asahi. I’m glad he is not a sky demon like the last one. It was not nice.”
“What happened with that alien?” Jabir asked, his dragon perking up.
Gabby shook her head. “It was terrible. It almost destroyed the kingdoms. But Nali fixed it. She always does.”
Jabir bit his lip. “I need to find my friends. We all came through the portal together, but we got separated. I can’t get back home unless we find Phoenix—she’s the only one who can open another one.”
“We’re heading to the Manticore village,” Gabby said thoughtfully. “From there, we can send a message to the Empress. If anyone can find your friends, she can.”
Jabir’s eyes lit up. “Really? That’d be amazing. Is it far?”
Gabby shook her head. “It’s near the Great Lake.”
“Come on, yummy boy. It’s a long way still to the village and I might get hungry along the way,” Williston said, licking his lips and rubbing his stomach.
Jabir hesitated, unsure, until Mikey grinned and winked at him. A grin tugged at his lips. Williston was teasing him.
You laugh now! his dragon snorted. I give him heartburn if he try to eat me.