The Troll Hunter by Keith C. Blackmore

Author:Keith C. Blackmore [Blackmore, Keith C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2010-09-29T20:00:00+00:00

After a time, the growing friction between Bloor and Tarco came to an explosive head, and Tarco left the First Klaw with the aid of his father’s signature. He missed the Field of Skulls.

Bloor did not.

The Cavalier became a man of legend then as he and a handful of Cavaliers and Sujins fought through a wilderness echoing with the sounds of Sunjan dead and dying and whooping Jackals hunting for the living. They survived for a week in the timberlands as they made their way back home. During that time, Bloor encountered the man called Gatesin. The man he felt was responsible for the destruction of the First.

Gatesin was something of a loner in the army, and it was easy for him to slip under most everyone’s notice, until the bad luck started. The man was a Sujin in the First Klaw with the dubious distinction of being plagued with terrible luck, and that ill fortune seemed to spread throughout the army. It took little for the Sujins, a superstitious bunch at any time, to place blame on Gatesin, who bore the knowledge with a sullen demeanor. It started slowly, with Gatesin always drawing the most unfavorable duties within the Klaw, or injuring himself in routine training drills. It was just enough for the other Sujins to believe him to be afflicted with a curse. However, Gatesin’s reputation grew as he was present for the greater ills of the First Klaw. During the winter, a terrible cold rendered almost the entire army helpless and exhausted; a virus spread throughout the camp resulting in a day of sickness that took its toll on several Sujins; and a supply train got delayed in a blizzard and did not get to the army until the fighting men were eyeing each other as food. They called it chance and all of it bad, but there were those that began to suspect that Gatesin did have a curse on his head, and that curse was affecting the First Klaw.

In the spring, another virus hit the recovering Klaw, and the leaders suspected that the water supply had been poisoned by Jackals. Several men within the ranks came down with a monstrous bout of diarrhea. At the same time, the supply trains were being raided, and for a week the rations were stingy, bowels were thunderous, and morale was low. Some suspected the Jackals were behind them now and nipping at them as a small mobile force. This bad luck was stuck on Gatesin’s head like an unwanted hairy mole. The fact that in both cases Gatesin remained healthy while those around him suffered was not lost to those around him. Bloor was given the task to ferret out any traitors within the Klaw’s ranks, and questioned a petulant Gatesin at length, as he was one of a handful guarding the water wagons. Despite not finding any real evidence to suggest anything underhanded, Bloor found Gatesin’s quiet skulking demeanor incriminating. He questioned others on the same watch, and to a man, no one accused Gatesin of being anything more than a jinx.

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