The Troll Cave: Part One

The Saga of Yholgar and Qualamo

“Are you ready?” Yholgar whispered to his brother as they crouched in the darkness at the mouth of the cave. Behind them, the golden rays of late morning light were shooting forth from the lazy sun that was not quite at its zenith. Before them lay pitch darkness and piles of bones of unfortunate animals and beasts that had either found their way or were dragged, into this place.

Qualamo nocked his arrow and pulled his string back to his ear, exposing his scraggly red beard and even redder long hair peeking out from under his dark blue hood and cloak made of troll hide. He did not answer; he merely nodded his head. Yholgar slowly and quietly pulled his bronze sword from its scabbard and hefted his sturdy round wooden shield. Then the brothers slowly moved forward, crouching into the darkness. There was a putrid stink that Yholgar could smell before they were within twenty paces of the cave, but as they became engulfed in shadow, the stink seemed to be digging its way into his brain to the point where Yholgar thought he could taste it. It smelled and tasted like rotting month-old flesh mixed with feces. It was all Yholgar could do not to lose his breakfast. Qualamo made a strange face with wide eyes, and their eyes met, both seeing the other react to the stench. Yholgar shook his head in an attempt to clear his mind of the smell and kept going. There was nothing he could do about it. 

They crept around twenty or thirty paces in the wide mouth of the cave before the entrance gave way to a cavern, stretching to a high ceiling that disappeared into the dark. The darkness was overbearing and there had been a slight turn at the mouth of the cave making it impossible for the sunlight to be helpful. To avoid alerting the troll to their presence early, they dared not light a torch. They desired to sneak up on the beast and take it unawares.  Yholgar paused for a few moments, he could barely discern anything as he was scanning for the troll. He could feel that Qualamo had paused right beside him, but when he glanced toward his brother he could only make out a faint outline of Qualamo’s right arm and his bow. Yholgar crouched for a few moments, hoping to spot the troll before it spotted them. After some time he could see something glinting, like objects shining on the ground in a few different places. Somehow light had found its way in to reflect off treasure on the ground. 

Qualamo gasped, ever so quietly, but just loud enough so Yholgar could hear. But Qualamo did not move, he must have seen something. Yholgar’s eyes darted around the cavern looking for the source of Qualamo’s alarm. Qualamo’s eyes had always been keener than his. Yholgar gasped as well when he saw it. There was another slight turn in this cavern or a slight wall sticking out from the right obscuring part of Yholgar’s view, but he could just barely make out a hulking shape looming in the dark cavern. Yholgar could not make out the beast's features, but it was certainly a troll. But somehow this troll looked bigger than any other, but shorter…or it was sitting down. Yholgar decided it was sitting down, and most likely not facing them. It was probably looking at something, or else, it probably would have seen them. trolls were stupid, but sometimes it was surprising how well they could see in the dark. 

Yholgar glanced at Qualamo and was startled that he could now distinguish his face and eyes, and Qualamo was looking directly at him. He cocked his head to the left and Yholgar merely nodded. Qualamo, staying crouched, began making his way to the left as Yholgar slowly began making his way to the right. This was perfect, they would attack it from two different sides and destroy the stupid thing. The progress was almost painful, and Yholgar could almost feel the hair sticking up on his head with how excited he felt and his heart pounded in his ears like a war drum as he was trying to move excruciatingly quietly. 

Something crunched loudly under Yholgar's boot and echoed through the cave. Yholgar’s heart stopped beating and he held his breath. It could have been anything from a shell to some trinket, but it was too loud for normal rocks, especially with how lightly Yholgar had been moving his feet. But all of his thoughts were moot. Rocks and dirt crunched along with a garbled confused grunt as the shadow of the troll rose to its feet and glared in their direction with its ugly face. It looked enormous, bigger than any troll Yholgar had ever seen. Suddenly the cavern that seemed so huge, now seemed small and Yholgar felt pathetic, puny, and claustrophobic. The troll jerked its head back in surprise, it had seen him. It opened its mouth unleashing a deafening roar that rattled the cave walls making Yholgar’s ears ring. This was it, they were in for a contest and someone would die. 

Yholgar stood straight, with no need for hiding anymore, and thumped his sword across the front of his shield making a clanging sound as he yelled. “Come get me beast!”

The troll took one step when a ‘twang’ rang out and an arrow lodged in the back of the troll's right shoulder. It roared in pain as it swung completely around and pounded its fist into the dirt, from where the arrow had come, rocking the cavern. But Qualamo was too swift and Yholgar could already hear his feet moving quickly in a different direction. Yholgar raced forward himself and was within reach of the troll surprisingly fast, jumped and slashed his sword down the right thigh of the troll on the posterior side. The troll let out another roar and kicked at Yholgar with its now injured leg. The impact was mostly absorbed by the shield but Yholgar was still thrown through the air landing on his back, he rolled quickly as the troll’s fist smashed the ground where he had been. Another twang rang out and struck the troll in the fist it had raised above its head to swing again at Yholgar. Qualamo cursed, Yholgar guessed his brother had been aiming for the troll's head. The troll swung wildly at where the sound of the releasing arrow had come from. Another crashing sound erupted, and Qualamo hit the ground, landing hard with a grunt. 

Yholgar rushed to his feet; it was his turn to distract the troll now to give Qualamo time to get away. Yholgar sprinted toward the troll his heart beating fast, as he did so, he heard the patter of feet as Qualamo moved rapidly as he yelled. “We need to get out of here! There is no room to manuvure!” Very rarely had Qualamo expressed distress about a situation in battle; usually when he did it truly meant things were not good. Yholgar felt panic freeze his chest making it difficult to breathe, his mind suddenly felt filled with fog, he was surprised when he found himself yelling loudly as he rushed the troll. 

Just as he reached the troll, it spun and looked down at him and their eyes met as Yholgar froze in place. Suddenly it felt like the walls had closed in upon him and he had nowhere to run. The world slowed as the troll’s fist came at him, but his shield was on his opposite arm, no time to block. Yholgar tried to dodge and swing his sword at the same time, but they proved useless as what felt like a tree struck him in the side. He felt his shield and sword leave his hands and he struck the opposite wall of the cave, he heard his brother yelling “Yholgar!” from far away as his world went dark.

…To Be Continued

Disclaimer: The artwork is AI-generated

Your Obedient, The Viking Ginger