The river pup ran up to the rock creature and started wagging its tail, clearly proud of having found and fetched the Granite Pearl.
‘Billy! Did you find the pearl? I can’t believe that little rascal stole it!’ Dylan said as he and the others reached the cave entrance.
‘Don’t come in here!’ Billy shouted. ‘It’s not safe!’
‘What do you mean, not safe?’ Charlotte shouted back. ‘Are you okay?’
‘I’m not sure!’ Billy yelled.
The rock creature was still staring at him. The more Billy looked at it, the more he thought it looked like a troll, or what he imagined a troll would look like, at least. A rock troll.
‘Well, this is ridiculous,’ he heard Charlotte mutter. ‘Either you are okay or you aren’t.’ Her voice rose. ‘We’re coming in! I’ve got a stick!’
As Billy’s friends charged inside, the rock troll stood up and roared. Charlotte, Ling-Fei and Dylan slid to a stop, mouths open.
‘What is that?’ said Dylan.
‘I think it’s some kind of troll,’ Billy called from behind it.
‘Is it… friendly?’ asked Dylan, taking a few steps back.
‘I don’t know. It definitely doesn’t want me taking any of its stuff. And it seems to think it owns the pearl now.’ Billy wasn’t sure what the rock troll wanted, but he sensed that it wasn’t going to let him go without a fight. It seemed as if it liked to collect things and Billy was worried that he was now part of its collection. At least it hadn’t tried to kill him. Yet.
Very slowly, Ling-Fei took out a smooth stone from her pocket and held it out to the rock troll. ‘For you,’ she said.
The rock troll snatched it with its gnarled, rocky fingers and tossed it onto its pile.
‘Is that… its hoard?’ said Charlotte. ‘Like the dragons have?’
‘I think so,’ said Billy.
‘Not like dragon hoard,’ the rock troll roared.
‘You can talk?’ said Dylan. He cleared his throat. ‘Hello, I’m Dylan O’Donnell,’ he said slowly. ‘We come in peace.’
‘It’s not an alien,’ said Charlotte.
‘No, it’s just a pile of walking, talking rocks. Much more normal than an alien,’ said Dylan. ‘Guys, we’ve got to get my pearl back. Otherwise I’ll be extra useless.’
‘I was trying to get it back,’ said Billy through clenched teeth. ‘But right now I think we need to focus on getting me back, and then the pearl.’ He looked up at Dylan. ‘And you aren’t useless.’
‘I’ve got an idea,’ said Ling-Fei suddenly. She went closer and nodded her head towards the rock troll’s hoard. ‘Your hoard is very nice,’ she said.
The rock troll nodded. ‘Mine.’
‘Right, I know,’ said Ling-Fei. She glanced at Billy, who was still trapped in the corner. ‘Can you get out from behind it?’
‘I don’t want to risk making it mad,’ said Billy.
‘It doesn’t think that… you are part of its hoard now, does it?’ asked Charlotte, looking the most panicked since they’d walked in.
‘I really hope not,’ said Billy. He cleared his throat. ‘Um, excuse me,’ he said, taking a small step forward.
The rock troll whirled round surprisingly fast for something so large and cumbersome. ‘BACK!’ it roared.
Billy stepped back. He was suddenly worried that the rock troll might want him in its collection alive or dead. He very much wanted to stay alive.
Charlotte swore.
Dylan put his head in his hands.
Ling-Fei took a step closer.
‘You can understand us, can’t you?’ she said softly.
The rock troll nodded.
‘Let me try,’ said Dylan, stepping forward. ‘Hello… Rock. Can I call you Rock?’ He paused. ‘Do you fancy letting my friend Billy go?’
The rock troll growled.
‘I don’t think this is going to work,’ said Dylan, taking a step back.
‘You don’t have your pearl, pickle-brain,’ muttered Charlotte. ‘That’s the whole reason we’re here.’
‘Oh, yeah!’ said Dylan, patting his chest where the pearl usually sat. ‘Still worth a shot though.’ He looked at Charlotte. ‘Why don’t you rip it apart? You’ve still got your pearl.’
‘I’m not THAT strong,’ said Charlotte. ‘Do you see this thing?’
‘Guys, can you figure out whatever it is you’re going to do?’ said Billy from behind the rock troll.
Ling-Fei stepped forward. ‘That is our friend,’ she said, pointing at Billy. ‘You can’t keep him.’ Then she pointed at the Granite Pearl. ‘And you can’t keep that either.’
The rock troll growled again.
Ling-Fei held up her hands in a pacifying gesture. ‘Don’t worry, we won’t just take either from you. Maybe we can do a trade?’
The rock troll’s beady black eyes lit up. ‘Trade?’ it asked. ‘What you have?’
‘Dylan,’ hissed Charlotte. ‘Get the pork buns.’
‘We only have three left!’
‘Dylan. It’s your pearl!’
‘And my life,’ added Billy. ‘Worth more than three pork buns, I hope.’
Dylan unzipped his backpack and took out a pork bun. He handed it to Ling-Fei, who held it out.
The rock troll shook its head and spat in disgust.
The pork bun went back in the backpack.
‘What else do we have?’ Charlotte asked, her voice high.
Ling-Fei reached into her pocket and took out a few more rocks that she’d collected along the river. ‘Do you like these?’ she said.
The rock troll nodded. ‘But can get anywhere.’
‘I see,’ she said. ‘You want something… rare.’
‘Yes. Like this.’ The rock troll held up the Granite Pearl.
‘We’re never getting my pearl back, are we?’ moaned Dylan.
‘Right now I’m more worried about getting Billy back,’ said Charlotte.
‘Too bad we can’t just give the rock troll a piece of Billy, you know as a souvenir or something,’ said Dylan.
‘That’s genius!’ Billy burst out.
‘You aren’t going to cut off your finger or anything like that, are you?’ said Dylan.
‘Not exactly, but maybe I can give it a tooth.’
At the word ‘tooth’, the rock troll swivelled its head round. ‘TOOTH?’ it boomed. Billy noticed in that moment that the rock troll itself had no teeth inside its wide, gaping rock mouth.
‘Yes,’ said Billy. ‘You can have my tooth. If you let me go. Trade.’
The rock troll seemed to consider it. ‘Good trade,’ it said. ‘I take tooth.’ It came closer to Billy.
‘Is it just going to rip a tooth
