Chapter 59 What Sparkles Do We Have Here?
“Well, that was delightful,” I said, wiping my sword off in the snow to clean off the blood. I noticed that Rupert and Aisling were poking around the snow-covered rock walls. “What are they looking for?”
Grimacing, Magdala poked one of the trolls with her boot.
“The lair. Most mountain trolls are found higher up in the peaks, but they seldom stray far from their lairs. And where you have mountain trolls, you’re going to have treasure.
” She pointed to the opposite wall. “Check there. Usually the entrances are cloaked by either illusions or actual snowfall. They usually have secret entrances, but we don’t have time to stick around and look for them.
So we look for the most obvious entrance. ”
We spread out in front of the opposite rock wall. As we poked our hands through the layer of snow covering the rocks, I wondered how frequent trolls were along the pass. But Thornhold beat me to the question.
“How often do you find trolls this far down?” He asked.
“Not all that often, but now and then a couple of them take it into their minds to greet the oncoming travelers. It’s more dangerous for them, but it also means easier hunting.” Aisling grimaced.
“We haven’t got much experience with mountain trolls,” Brynn said. “Do they eat people? Or just kill them?”
“There’s nothing a mountain troll loves better than a nice juicy human,” Alina said. “We pack more meat on us than most of the animals up here, so it makes sense that we’re their favorite prey.”
My stomach lurched. The thought of being on a rotisserie stick was enough to make me lose my breakfast, but I held on as I turned my attention back to hunting for the entrance to the troll’s cavern. About ten minutes into our search, Rupert let out a shout.
“I think I found it!” he said, brushing away a layer of snow to reveal a black void.
Aisling quickly joined him and began to brush away the snow covering the cavern.
The entrance was a good nine feet tall and looked dark as ink inside.
The trolls would have to bend to get inside, but they’d be able to manage it.
“How does the snow cover it over like that? I think it would pile up in a thicker drift?” The snow seemed to cover the entrance like a veil, a thin cloak to shield the opening from unwelcome eyes.
“Trolls have a rudimentary form of magic,” Magdala said. “Mostly it concerns stealth and secrecy. I’m not sure how, but they’re able to direct the way the snow covers the entrance to their lairs. Somebody fire up a light.”
I thought about turning on the flashlight on my watch, but I didn’t want to explain what our watches were to Magdala and her family.
Instead, I let them take the lead. A moment later, Rupert was holding a torch and leading the way into the lair.
Aisling followed him, and I volunteered to go with them.
Thornhold insisted on joining us. Everybody else stayed outside.
“Are there anymore trolls in here?” I whispered.
Aisling shrugged. “That I do not know. I rather doubt it because most trolls congregate in small units. They’re either solitary, or they may band together with one or two other trolls. But I’ve never seen a community of more than three.”
The cavern’s ceiling towered overhead, as tall as the rock wall outside was. But the chamber itself was shallow and long. The torch illuminated most of it, and we could tell there were no other trolls within.
On the floor of the cavern were three nests, formed of branches and twigs and what looked like ratty blankets. Piles of bones sat in the corners. I didn’t look too closely because I didn’t want to know just to whom those bones belonged.
A chest was against the back of the cavern. Next to the chest, we saw another opening, which made me nervous. I didn’t want any other creatures popping out to surprise us.
Aisling peeked through the entrance, then turned back to us.
“It leads to the edge of the mountain. It’s a narrow ledge, so I’m not sure how the trolls managed it, except there’s yet another ledge about four feet below the first. They could easily step down to that one and it looks a lot more stable.
My guess is that this is their main exit.
Then they walked along the lower ledge, slipping around the bend to a passage through the rock wall. ”
I joined him and peeked out.
Indeed, I found myself looking over a massive drop spiraling down into a valley far below.
There was another ledge about 4 feet down that was wider and easier to stand on, though I was surprised that it would hold the weight of three trolls.
But in looking at the ledge and the lack of handholds, it occurred to me that the trolls had to be as nimble as mountain goats.
And that was a scary thought. The ledge led back toward the bend, so Aisling was probably right about how the trolls got the drop on us.
Rupert and Sean were hunting through the bones, tossing out various pieces of jewelry, utensils, and blades.
So the bones had belonged to travelers. Thornhold and Aisling began sorting through the chest. Meanwhile, I waited until Sean and Rupert were done, then gathered the bones together and spread them gently between two of the troll nests.
Then, I took the contents of the third nest and scattered the branches and blankets over the other two, doing my best to bury the bones.
I wished I could think of something to say, but all I could think of was, “Rest in peace, and travel on to your next journey in life. We remember you, even if we don’t know who you were.”
Thornhold joined me, taking my hand and squeezing it. Aisling, Rupert, and Sean also joined us, and we stood in a circle, holding hands for a moment, letting the silence be our prayer. After that, we gathered up the treasure and returned to the wagon.
“We’ll divvy this up and we get home,” Magdala said. “You and your party helped us, so we’ll divide it evenly.”
And on that note, we moved to continue our journey.