Chapter 8
Dropping the corpse he was holding, Alric made his way back to the edge of the campfires light.
Gotta remember to double tap.
He hadn't had time to confirm if the second Troll was dead. A couple of hard stomps made sure he wasn't about to get ambushed again. The pain in his side flared as the excitement from the fight waned. Alric dragged the Trolls together as he cast his gaze around. He quickly found the Dwarves and Bilbo franticly undoing the bindings on their remaining number.
"Well, hello there."
He was certain that while the wound was annoying it was far from fatal.
I also shouldn't delay making a good impression on Thorin and company.
The group of small beings scrambling stopped as fourteen pairs of eyes snapped to him.
Alric sat at the merrily crackling fire as he began to nonchalantly eat his kin.
"Now what would a bunch of dwarves be doing in the Trollshaws? Not the most hospitable of places."
The silence stretched on as Alric kept eating. He was almost sure the stunned party wasn't going to respond when a strong voice called out.
"Our business is ours alone foul beast."
Alric squinted at the regal dwarf currently being rude.
I know exactly what your business is and who you are oh King of nothing. But I can't just say that.
"Right, well the way I see it you all are dreadfully weak to be traveling so openly. I could protect you all, for a price."
You all are my ticket into the action. Also my only reliable guides/maps.
Thorin smirked in that infuriating way all the fiercely proud people seem to practice.
"We need no help from dark creatures like you!"
Before Alric could think of a suitably pithy comeback, a gravely voice cried forth with epic gravitas.
"The dawn will take you!"
Alric turned slightly seeing a grey figure moving atop the massive boulder from earlier. With a jarring crack sound Gandalf, and the being could be no other with a badass line like that, split the rock in two. Instead of water or some other miracle the light of dawn spilled forth like he had just cast a heavenly smite.
The dwarves cheered at the return of the enigmatic old wizard.
"Well, that was rude."
The cheering died in the cradle. The smiling old man in grey went slightly stiff. No one moved or spoke for several awkward moments.
"I'm pretty sure I was the one supposed to be turned to stone not you all. Still, that entrance was epic. You have style and a flare for the dramatic. I respect it."
Alric was doing his best not to let the excitement he felt at that moment leak into his voice. It's Gandalf! I'm talking to the one and only Gandalf! He's the myth, the man, the legend!
The wizard looked at me like I had just said I liked running through the street naked. The confusion was both rather funny and an improvement from actively trying to kill him. The dwarves and hobbit also looked like I was a walking impossibility. All the dwarves but one. There was no curiosity in Thorin Oakenshield. He was angry.
"If light will not end you, dwarven iron will do the job, beast!"
The brave and rather thick-headed royal charged my sitting form with his sword recently returned. Before the aspiring king could lead his party into a fierce battle, an old man with a cane intervened: Gandalf. He had stuck out his staff before the charging warrior.
"Hold, Thorin son of Thrain! This…creature may not be our enemy. Let us see if words may prevail before violence."
That's rather rich coming from the guy who literally tried to turn me into a statue less than a minute ago…Still he is Gandalf the grey badass of epic proportions. He gets a pass. Thorin winey-pants over there not so much.
Alric had never liked the Dwarven royal when he had watched the movies a lifetime ago. He had always seemed petty and stubborn. Alric knew that some part of the blame lay in his bloods sickness but couldn't find any warmth for the dwarf who showed less virtue than nearly any of the dwarves he led.
"What are you? No beast of darkness should be so at ease beneath the light. You seem to be a Troll, but your skin and speech are not typical of your kin. Nor are Trolls known to eat their own. Are you some new variant of Troll? What dark will shields you?"
"My name is Alric. I'm a Troll and no I don't serve some dark purpose. My green skin shields me from the light. I don't know why. I've always been different."
This was completely untrue; Alric knew exactly why he was different from other Trolls but as much as he liked Gandalf he wouldn't tell him his abilities right away.
The group of dwarves were still huddled together as if it made them safer instead of a bigger target.
They do realize mobility is their best bet against a big foe like me right? I hope this isn't their plan for Smaug. They won't even need a second wave of dragons' breath, they grouped up.
He went to take another bite of leg…'Crack!' The sound of stone breaking apart reminded Alric that the sun may not have hurt him, but it put a rather large dampener on his meal plans.
"You mean us no harm?" Gandalf pressed.
The wizard didn't so much as blink at the baleful glare Alric sent his way for his ruined meal. Spitting out the gravel in his mouth he answered the grey robbed legend.
"Nah, I've got no interest in hurting you all. In fact I was just proposing a bit of trade with your comrades here when you tried to kill me."
Alric wasn't going to be letting the fact he tried to kill him go uncommented after all. He was a fan of Gandalf not that he wasn't a petty little shit sometimes.
(Gandalf's POV)
Earlier that same night, Gandalf had stormed off into the woods to think. Or that is what he had led the company to believe.
If I couldn't handle the stubborn pride of a couple dwarves, I'd have long gone mad of frustration.
He had scouted ahead as he had promised but his real goal had been back in the camp. For all their greed and pride the dwarves were a loyal bunch. With Bilbo becoming Thorin's' responsibility while he was gone Gandalf was sure the group would soon be much closer. The burglar might even impress the grumpy Thorin with the sheer goodwill he had found so common in the halflings.
Of course, the ignorant young ruler had insisted on being pig headed even on Bilbos safety. Although he will doubtless still protect him.
So maybe Gandalf hadn't entirely faked his ire over the foolishness of Thorin. Gandalf headed back through the woods to the company. While he knew the group was capable, these woods were far from safe.
Gandalf wished he had been surprised by the state of the company when he had returned. They were entirely to a man captured and bound. They were trussed up for a roast by three Trolls. He was rather pleased to hear Bilbos' clever lies about how dangerous it was to eat the lot of them.
Worms? Clever and humors. I doubt it'll stop them, but if he delays just a bit longer…
Gandalf cut his ruminations short as he spotted movement behind the Troll and hobbit. He was given little time to consider the movement before the blur of green resolved into a fourth Troll.
This Troll however is strange. As the battle begins and Gandalf prepares to intervene, he can't help but notice oddities. The newcomer was strange for a Troll. It very clearly was a Troll. It was thick with muscles, even more than the others despite being slightly shorter. Perhaps it was a well-muscled but younger specimen. The Troll was a deep green beast with little fat and a physique that screamed of brutal power in every line. The face was the same unfortunate mash of brute although this one had a rather full head of black hair and beard. Most Trolls were either bald or patchy.
As Gandalf observed the strange creature fight, he had no idea just how different this Troll would turn out to be.