algessartales

Three days passed before he met the dwarves. Or rather, he got a climpse of them, after which they saw him and got their short horn bows ready. The first arrow missed by a close mark, the second struck the ground, cut in two pieces. The third hit the tree he hid behind. A fourth brushed his sleeve, making him flinch and draw a weezing breath. He took another deeper one and shouted:

”Barush, augh var Karaz! Barush, augh var Karaz!” Roughly translated to 'friend, lower your axe'. A deep voice answered, harsh and unfriendly.

”Da abûr viezk Gondrim, kramm heimdr!” (You are no dwarf, show yourself human)

”Do you speak the common tongue?” Elrain asked as he came out from hiding behind the tree. One of the five dwarves nodded, an arrow still on his bow aimed at him. Elrain carefully sheathed his sword, regretting not doing it sooner.

”You trespass”, said the same dwarf. ”Turn back or die by this arrow.”

Elrain grimased. This was not according to plan. It would have been nice if everything would go smooth for a change. But ofcourse it never did, and it annoyed him. He bit off a snide remark, but another one slipped past.

”I think I can cut another arrow in flight. Considering I wasn't ready for the first”, he said, pointing to the pieces on the ground. ”And I did not come this far to go back. I was looking for your people. I was hoping, foolishly it seems, you would be a bit more hospitable.”

The speaker dwarf, with a coal black beard, turned to his companions and they exchanged fast, hard words. Then he took the arrow from the bowstring and made a low sigh.

”Excuse us then, we do not get visitors here often. And we like it such. But we do have another visitor, and one we like even less than nosy humans.” He paused and turned around to pick up a backpack. ”But since you can cut arrows in flight, maybe you can be of help. And then I will ask you why you are looking for our kind.”

”What kind of visitor is it, and what help do you need?”

The dwarf grinned and took up his axe, which was leaned against a log. Elrain guessed he had been sitting on it before he showed up. He did not sit down now; he started walking away, and the other dwarves followed in a spread formation, axes on shoulders.

”The visitor is a troll, and he's killing our cattle.”

He followed the dwarves for a few kilometres. Noone spoke. Only the sounds they made walking, and the heavy breathing of the dwarves were heard. They climbed the mountainside, and soon the trees thinned and the land turned rocky and steeper. Eventually they saw a few mountain goats. The leader dwarf motioned to him to be silent, and Elrain grinned to himself. He could barely herar his own breathing over the sounds they made.

But as they continued they actually surprised him. The rustling of iron and creaking of leather almost disappeared, and the dwarves moved like short, compact shadows over the rocks. And such they came almost scarily close to their target.

Sun was slowly climbing down towards the horizon as they watched the flat cliff where the troll had made his camp. Camp would maybe be exaggerating, since it afterall was a mountain troll. It was a place where he slept and ate, and where he threw the leftovers from his food. And as such it was littered with bones and pieces of skin from the goats that inhabited the mountain. Elrain watched the troll gnaw on a leg, ripping the flesh with a content, evil grin on its face.

The leader crept back behind the rock and whispered with his low voice, and it sounded almost like the rumbling of heavy rocks. It made it quite hard to hear what he was saying. ”We need a plan to kill this. If we just attack him, he will go rampant and most likely kill us all.”

”What are we going to do then, throw a rock on him?” Elrain asked, and got a grumpy looks from the dwarves.

”Actually, that's not such a bad idea.”

They made way higher up the mountain and made camp in a hidden away crevice, where they hoped they would not be discovered by the troll. They rested as much they could during the night, and then set to work before the sun rose. While the troll was away from his camp, they carefully scouted the place and found a big rock wich they hauled to a high place, not far from the troll camp. And then they waited. And waited.

The sun was almost setting when it came back. Carrying one goat over his shoulder and another, half eaten, dragging in his other hand along the ground. It bounced and scraped against the hard rock, leaving a trail of blood where he went. They waited for him to sit down and start eating. Then they draw arrows to their bows and carefully took aim. Five arrows sought it's target: two of them hit the trolls right leg. Two hit his belly; one of them bounced back on its hard skin. The fifth scratched his shoulder and cracked, the pieces clattering across the rocks.

The trolls furious roar made loose rocks fall down from the cliffside, and he was fast on his feet. And even though the common opinion is that trolls are stupid, and that he had not seen where the arrows had come from (indulged in eating as he was), he quickly judged from where they must have come. And he moved fast. A bit too fast. The big rock that the fifth dwarf was supposed to crash into his head came a bit late. It hit the cliff, even though they had carefully looked for the steepest part, bounced out and hit the trolls back, over its left shoulder. It knocked him into the cliff wall, but did no apparent damage; it only enraged him more, and the sound the dwarf atop the cliff made caught his attention. With a strength that surprised even the very strong dwarves, it hit the cliff with both his hand. It was enough to make the loose rocks on the top start rolling down, taking the dwarf with it. When he landed on the ground, the trolls next strike was swift and unmerciful. The already shattered dwarf didn't even have time to shout before his head was crushed beneat an iron hard, rocksized fist. Another set of arrows was let loose, but most hit the trolls qickly raised arm and shattered. But one got past, and struck hard into the eyesocket. This made him stumble backwards, give up another furious roar and start fleeing.

Axes were drawn; a throwing axe lodged itself deep into the trolls back. Elrain was quick to his feet, and a long stride and a jump later he was on the trolls back, swinging his sword straight down. It struck hard on the top of its head, right through the iron hard skin and shattered bone. The troll fell with a hard thump that made more loose rocks rumble down the cliff.

”Mighty stone lords lad, are you some minor God? Or are you just out of it?”

”No third option? I'm good at killing things.” Elrain shook the blood from his sword and looked down on it. The last light from the setting sun glimmered in the red-stained metal, showing clearly the break in the edge and that it had bent near the middle. ”Sadly, my swords are not good at standing the abuse I give them.”

”You should use an axe then. They are better for chopping things for pieces.”

”They may be, but I am far behind in the use of one, compared to a sword. So I will stick to that, and make me a sword that holds.”

”I think I understand why you were looking for the people under the mountains then.” Elrain smiled a thin smile and nodded.