“Speaking ofeating children,” Stygl said, “I want to see what thepink one tastes like.”
The troll tossedthe bone over his shoulder and rose to his feet. His eyes were lusty and bloodshot.
“Sit down,”Grim said, smacking Stygl in the side of the headwith a toeless foot.
Stygl snarled and turned on Grim. Grim stood to his full height and glaredback.
“I said sitdown,” Grim repeated, pointing a fractured thigh bone at Stygl,“The queen won’t give us a fair trade if the meat’s damaged.”
“The queen?” Stygl whined, “I thought we was trying to avoid the queen.I’m not going near that she-demon.”
“You will ifyou want to eat,” Grim said, “I’ve been thinking about it. I bet she gives us fiftyklops for these two runaways. And not the skinnyfeeble ones either, but the big fat ones.”
“She feedsbabies to the fat ones,” Stygl shrieked.
“Stop yourblubbering and pack up the meat,” Grim ordered, “We’ve got bargains to make.”
Chapter 14
THE TROLL HOLE
THE TROLLS TIED CYRUS and Tier to two lengthytree branches, then carried them along a narrow, cliff-side trail. Like game,the prisoners dangled from the branches, bound by their wrists and ankles. Cyrus’body twisted and ached. Where were they headed? How long had they been walkingfor? He prayed the long march would come to an end soon. The clouds grew darkand low. Evening neared.
Again, Cyrusstrained against his bonds. He wished he had a knife or Tier’s rifle. Thetrolls had abandoned the rifle back at the camp, along with their crossbows,and Tier’s leather satchels.
Cyrus foughtback tears of exhaustion and frustration. How long could this go on for? Howcould they escape? Was Fibian still alive? WasEdward?
The dizzyingpath arrived at the mouth of a gaping, mountain-side cavern. The cavity seemed tohave been blown out of the living rock.
“What is thisplace?” Cyrus whispered.
“How should Iknow?” Tier said, her voice full of agitation.
“Shut up, youtwo,” Stygl ordered.
The brutesentered the cave and dropped their catch on the cold stone floor. The lair wasmassive and the trolls were puny by comparison. Cyrus looked about as Grim and Stygl walked towards the craggy recesses and relieved theirbladders. The ceiling was high and harbored small clusters of snoozing bats.Areas of the roof had been built up and supported by large wooden beams.
The two trollsreturned to their catch and started to ready a spit. Large puddles of iceblotted the cavern’s uneven ground. The frozen pools began to reflect thenewborn fire.
“Chain ‘em up,” Grim ordered.
One at a time,Stygl untied Cyrus and Tier and dragged them over toa granite wall. There, a pair of iron cuffs dangled from the chiseled rock. Thetroll slapped one around Tier’s left wrist. The other he locked about Cyrus’neck. His limbs were too thin for the large shackles.
“Trolls don’twork metal like this,” Tier said, pulling against the iron chains.
“Klops made,” Grim replied, feeding wood to the fire from anearby pile.
“Impossible,”Tier said.
“You shouldknow better than us,” Stygl added, “That queen’s gotthem lot doin’ all sorts of queer things.”
Grim pulledthe leftover Heslig out of two dripping sacks and beganto reheat their breakfast. The roasting meat smelled of bacon grease and compost.
Once the prisonerswere safe and secured, the trolls sat down to an early supper of organ meatsand bone. They crunched and slurped and burped, guzzling down a large barrel ofamber liquid they had hidden within the cavern. Cyrus watched, his guts rolling.Evening turned to night. The two giants passed gas and grew merry.
A rat creptout of a crack in the wall and started to scavenge the brutes’ discarded scraps.Like wolf’s hair, the rodent’s coat was thick and bristly, its tail heavy likecord.
When finally,all of Heslig had been consumed, Styglslurred, “I’m still hungry.”
The fiendleered at Cyrus through bloodshot eyes.
Grim burped, andsaid, “You’ve had your fill for the night. Them two’s for the queen.”
Cyrus was notgoing to be troll food, or be handed over to some child-eating monster. Hesearched the hollows of the shadowy cave for some way of escape. If he couldjust get a stick to pick the lock, or a knife to defend himself. He found onlyweeping bats and imagined phantoms lurking within the dark.
“I wants toeat ‘em,” Stygl squawked,“Who says you gets to decide what we do with ‘em?”
“I says Idecide,” Grim grunted, “You want to eat for a night or a month?”
“Well, I’m hungry,and I don’t trust that queen. Besides, I want to know what that pink one tasteslike.”
Stygl rose clumsily to his feet.
“Sit down,”Grim ordered.
“Or what?” Stygl asked, taking a swig from the barrel.
Grim punched Stygl hard in the belly. The troll spat up a mouthful ofdrink. Grim walloped him in the jaw. Stygl droppedthe barrel and stumbled backward, falling onto an icy puddle. Several branchessnapped off his backside. Grim marched forward, grasping Styglby the scruff of the neck, and hurled the troll into a second puddle. Iceshattered and the ground shook.
“Or that’swhat,” Grim said, huffing like a wild bull.
Cyrus watchedas Stygl rolled to all fours. The troll gasped forbreath and checked for missing teeth.
“You suckerpunched me,” he shrieked.
Stygl swallowed deep and spat in Grim’s direction.Then he caught Cyrus staring at him. His eyes became fiery and crazed.
“What you lookin’ at, meat?”
Cyrus turnedaway and peered out the cave entrance, yearning for escape. Beyond thefirelight, past the cave’s glow, a snowstorm danced and swirled like a frenziedphantom. For a mere moment, Cyrus thought he saw two glowing blue lights movewithin the flurry of falling snow.
“It can’t be,”he whispered, “Fibian?”
Tier glared downat him.
“You are exhaustedand desperate,” the towering beast said, “Your mind is playing tricks on you.Your blue-eyed friend succumbed to the klops’ poisonlong ago, and without a warm body as shelter, your spider friend is dead aswell. You doomed them to a snowy grave, the moment you left their side.”
Understandingstruck Cyrus like a bolt. Tier had not magically gotten over her mother’sdeath. There was still hate in her heart. The two klopshad spoilt her murder plot. She had changed tactics; divide and conquer. It didnot seem to bother her that, without Fibian andEdward’s help, they were about to be handed over to
