The Lonely Troll by Harpie Alexander

Author:Harpie Alexander [Alexander, Harpie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-03-26T16:00:00+00:00

Skarde led Delilah around the mountain for several hours, until the sun reached its full height into the sky. He mostly kept to himself, occasionally pointing to a trap he crafted before checking to see if anything had been caught. He did this all the while explaining how difficult hunting was becoming for him. Apparently, the population of prey animals was declining and he had to resort to other means to ensure he had enough food. Other methods being his traps.

She could tell how uneasy it made him feel by the way his lip would curl downward every time they checked a trap only to discover it was just as empty as the last one, and then the way he would pick up even more speed onward to the next, leaving Delilah to follow briskly in his wake.

The trip wasn’t bad at first when the ground was flat and she could keep up with his wide steps and brisk pace, but when they arrived at dangerous slopes, rocky cliffs, and thick brush, Delilah ended up slowing down to a speed of a turtle, trudging along one slow step at a time.

Sometimes, she’d lose sight of him. He would then appear minutes later, sighing loudly and grumbling beneath his breath how slow and ill-equipped humans were, questioning how they as a species survived all this time.

After a while, he eventually slowed down just enough to prevent her from falling behind, and because she was grateful for being so thoughtful, she only rolled her eyes at his comments and kept her amused laughter to herself. He wasn’t that bad of a hiking partner, but he had his moments.

“Do you mind if we stop for a quick break?” she asked, completely out of breath. Even though her stomach growled hungrily, she didn’t dare ask about food. It wouldn’t be comfortable, but she could go without.

To her immediate relief, Skarde slowed down even more as he took a sharp turn that led them straight to the river.

“We can break here,” he grunted as he removed his loincloth in one swift move, pulled his netting off his back and jumped straight into the frigid water.

She watched from the sandy river shore, stunned, unable to get the image of his firm green buttocks out of her head.

“Delilah?”

“Hmm?”

“Do you see those branch-like stalks sprouting from the ground just over there?” he asked, pointing down the river bank where the sand turned to pebble and rock.

She squinted her eyes and saw what looked to be dogsbane growing in the general direction. “Yes.”

“Find a stalk that is in a state of decay, the fibers grow along the other edges of the plant. If they are good, they will be firm and strong and will be easy to remove, if they are bad the fibers are brittle and weak, and will fall apart with little contact.”

“Thank you Skarde, you’ve made my day.” She turned back and smiled at him appreciatively.

After making her way over to the area, she was happy to note that most of the stalks were in good condition to strip away the fibers.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.