Saturday, July 3, 2010

The Sweetest Trolls #1: The P Word -- #FridayFlash



This is a writing challenge suggested by my twitter friend @JSterlingS, which theme is "falsely persecuted non-evil trolls". I hope you'll have fun. :)


They ran as fast as they could, their long legs surpassing the mob's rage. They climbed the hills near the village; sprinting through the deepening forest they arrived at the woods where rocky walls and high waterfalls hid them from the peasants. Panting, they arrived at a small clearing with the river a few meters away. They set to rest, listening to their rumbling stomaches.

"I don't understand," mumbled Kutril after the two of them gathered their breaths, "we were just after the goats."

Kratan shook his head sadly. He scratched his skull and snapped his fingers. With an enlightened grin he motioned Kutril conspiratorially to approach him, but they didn't measure the distance well and hit their heads against each other.

"Once," Kratan whispered, massaging his forehead, "I heard a villager talking to another. There was a big word I can't remember."

He banged his club against the nearest rock in frustration, making the ground shake.

"Idiot." Kutril snorted. "Big words have no use to us, and you shouldn't make noise."

"But this one was important," insisted Kratan with a whining voice, "it started with a 'P', I think."

"A 'P'?" asked Kutril, puzzled.

"It's a letter you moron, from the alphabet."

"Alpha what?" Kutril asked in awe.

"You know, those signs humans use to put words on paper."

"Ha! I knew it!"

"You did not," said Kratan, leaning forward, holding his knees.

"I did too, dumb-dumb who doesn't know the difference between a goat and a stone."

"That was an accident! How many times do I have to say that it was too dark that night? There was no moon and the sky was cloudy."

"Yeah, this is what you get trying to eat a goat alive. Don't you know what these are for?" teased Kutril, swinging his own club fashionably.

Kratan's shoulders hunched and Kutril continued with his favorite teasing game, "Your goat got you a week in bed. I still don't know how you got that out of you."

He laughed at his own joke, just as he did every day.

"It was supposed to be a big goat," said Kratan, pouting.

He didn't even try to explain anymore how its form was so similar to the real thing, and how hungry he was that night. He crossed his arms and turned his back to his friend.

Kutril was abashed; Kratan has never reacted like this before. Not knowing what to do he looked at the waterfall. Illuminated by the moonlight, the distorted moon looked like a dancing woman with a fluid transparent dress.

He dozed a bit, lost in a thoughtless moment. Looking back he saw Kratan's large ears and his moving shoulders. He let his head fall to his chest, remaining like this until a memory came to mind.

"Hey Kratan, did you know I heard the humans talking too, just yesterday?"

Kratan looked over his shoulder with watered eyes. "You did?"

"I did!" Kutril smiled broadly. "It was something about a girl."

"What about the girl?" Kratan turned to face his long last companion.

"I didn't understand everything, but I guess they miss her."

"Her family misses her?" Kratan sniffed.

"Think so." Kutril nodded. "But there was more, they were talking about trolls too."

"Trolls? What do we have to do with it?"

"Dunno."

"Maybe they want our help to find her?" said Kratan, with a light of hope in his eyes.

"I don't think so," said Kutril with a fearful voice. "Humans don't like us, you know?"

"I know you idiot. I'm just thinking."

"Hey! Now you're the one being cruel!"

"Sorry?" said Kratan with trembling lips.

"That's okay," said Kutril. He looked up to the hazy sky and added, "Anyway here comes the sun. We'll have to talk tomorrow night."

And they were both transformed into stone, with empty stomaches and puzzled minds.


*

<< Back to episode 1                   Go to episode 2 >>
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26 comments:

  1. You made me feel sorry for trolls... :)

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  2. Good piece, is there going to be a follow-up? I like the dialogue, very well thought out

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  3. Aw, poor trolls. :) I hope there will be a sequel so we can find out what the human girl has to do with it.

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  4. Good story. I enjoyed the dialog between the trolls. They seemed like good folk.

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  5. --Laura: Thanks! My goal precisely, heh.

    --Casper (brainhaze) and Sam: I'm not sure there'll be a follow up. As far as sequels go, my attention is on the zombie dragon. I just wish I could sit down and write the next episode! *frustrated*

    However, knowing that this story caught up your attention gives me ideas. Maybe when things calm down? I'll let you know. ;)

    --Eric: Thank you! They are sweet misunderstood creatures. Too bad that appearances count so much for us humans...

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  6. I love this! Blundering, sweet trolls. I want a sequel to this, too. Just delightful. :D

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  7. I must remember not to cross any bridges after sunset.

    Very nicely drawn characters here. I loved the "...we were just after the goats..." It gives a perfect view on how differently these trolls and the villagers see things.

    A fun read and I, too, feel sorry for this pair of trolls.

    Well done.

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  8. Mari, I'm thick so you must help me - what is the P word????
    Those poor, sensitive, hungry trolls - you wrote this so well, you just want to grab one and give him a big hug.
    Well, except for the goober hanging out of his nose ...

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  9. --Gracie: I'm having a few ideas... heh

    Glad you liked those blokes, they're really caring. :)

    --KjM: Thanks for the great comment and welcome to Randomities! :)

    --Cathy: Thank you! Since I don't see the word coming up again I'll tell you: it's prejudice. ;)

    The stuff coming out of this troll's nose was a bonus of the only fitting picture I could find on the internet. If had the proper program I might have taken it away.

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  10. As the others noted, you can't help but feel sorry for them. Ha, I liked the story about the goat!

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  11. Awww, how sweet for the *less intelligent* ones, we need to be more kind. I see the prejudice was too big a word, but it still had an effect. And they wanted to help.

    Very nice storytelling.

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  12. Pro-troll propaganda. We ogres know that all trolls are either mindless or vile, universally out to give us a bad name.

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  13. --Anne: Thanks dear! Kindness is my kind of word. :)
    ops, sorry for the pun, involuntary)

    --John: That's the work of the peasant's patrol. We must take care of them, I see. But these trolls are too nice for it... What should we do then?

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  14. Well done Mari- great story :) I loved the dialog between the trolls, it flows very nicely!

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  15. --Lua: Thank you! I think I'm becoming a dialog-maniac, heh. All my stories have at least some of it. :P

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  16. Mari, A very well-written piece you have here and I'm kind of feeling sorry for the trolls!
    (p.s. Thanks for your kind words on my book:)

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  17. --Olive: Thanks! You can see what will become of them on the next installments. ;)

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  18. I love the dialogue in this story. It's refreshing to see trolls that turn to stone when the light comes.

    My non-writing job humourously nominated all of the patent-committee members as trolls and doctored their photographs to look like trolls. Reminded me of the image you include at the beginning.

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  19. --Aidan: Hahhaha! My best hopes are that your committee members are more like my good hearted trolls than the traditional ones, but I kind of doubt it, heh.

    Thanks for the kind remark on the dialogue; I'm glad you liked the story too. :)

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  20. I enjoyed this story, and I just popped over to read part II. I can't wait to read more of this story, and I hope you will continue it for many more chapters.

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  21. --Extremely Average: Thank you! I'll do my best to keep up with your expectations. :)

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  22. --fictdoodles: Thanks!I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the series as well.

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  23. How fun. You have made their clumziness and lack of intelligence humorous and charming. I'm thinking they know exactly what happened to the girl, just can't remember at the moment. Love the turn to stone at daylight bit. Nice way to stop and resume the action. As during the day I'm sure the humans are organizing for the troll hunt.

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  24. --Lara: To learn what happened to the girl, all you have to do is take a peek at the episode #2. Glad you liked their sweetness. ;)

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