It was day two of the ride back to the village. Clouds were nowhere to be found and the true beauty of the forest was finally out. The gentle sound of wind blowing through the trees mixed with the smell of flowers was in the air.
Cauwen, Morden and Dashra were in the back while Grenda was at the reigns. Everyone was sharing stories to pass the time. Grenda told of how he fell head over heels, literally, onto Cauwen and that it was how they first met. He was helping her father bring wood back to their home and on the way tripped on the root of a tree. He dropped the log, rolled ten feet downhill, and landed on Cauwen who was reading a book next to a tree. His sprained foot did not help make him look cool or smooth; but with him helping Cauwen's father, it did give them a reason to take care of him until he was well enough to walk home.
"I'd like to say I did it on purpose, but to be honest I hadn't even met her until that moment. I guess I'm kind of lucky that I walked- er, fell into her world. Best accident of my life."
Everyone chuckled and Dashra grabbed some food for their lunch. Some well packed rations consisting of dried bread, deer jerky, and some berries they had spotted along the journey were on the menu.
"A beautiful day is something we must cherish," said Dashra. "It isn't until it starts to rain that we remember how wonderful times like these are."
Morden nodded, seeming to be the one most understanding of that statement. "Did you know that the day I left to go hunting, it was just as beautiful. The world was silent and calm. I fought with Karaia and I ran off into the woods after she punched me so hard that I nearly flew through a tree."
Morden laughed at the thought whereas all three elves looked at him with eyes wide open in horror. Cauwen was the first to say what was on everyone's mind. "Are you okay? Did you break any bones? There is no way someone could take a hit like that and walk out unscathed-"
"-Unless they are human?" Morden finished the sentence even though she was not going to say that. Dashra laughed so heartily that Grenda had thought the age was starting to get to his head.
"You humans are so rare that we forget the angels blessed you with power. We always seem to compare other races with our standards of normal. We can't do that with you!" Morden chuckled as well. It always surprised Morden how fragile the world was, from the weak elves and orcs to the "sturdy" trees and stone. Everything to him was breakable with enough effort whereas for the other races that weren't gifted with natural strength, everyone had to employ tools to get the job done.
"I can't even imagine a world where I need a weapon to take down a deer for food or an axe to chop a tree down. It must be so inconvenient."
"It is only inconvenient if you don't know any other way," said Grenda. "We lived our whole lives perfecting everything to make our lives easier. Where all you have to do is run around and find prey, we aren't as fast. We spend days tracking our targets and when we do find them, our lifetime of practice with bows gives us the ability to take it down from hundreds of meters away. To you humans it is an inconvenience, to us, it is an art.
"Rather than breaking a tree with our bare hands, we spend some time looking for the weak point, where to fell it, and we make tools to make the job easier for us."
Grenda seemed proud of his experience and everyone in the wagon agreed with him with a stern nod. Dashra said, "And with a lifetime of experience comes the ability to tell when something around us is wrong as well."
"Like when the animals of the forest stop their songs?" Morden asked rhetorically. Cauwen had already unsheathed her sword while Grenda had his on his side the whole time. Dashra grabbed the bow leaning against the wall of the wagon and knocked an arrow.
"I'm surprised you noticed, Morden." chimed in Grenda.
"Never underestimate a Dismantler, boy," said Dashra. "Many have done the same and have not lived to tell the tale."
The forest was silent except for the wind blowing through the trees. Grenda spoke to the horses in a language Morden had not heard before and with it, the horses started to run fast. The most interesting thing that Morden noticed was while Grenda was speaking. The air all around him was rippling with intensity. Even without understanding the words said, Morden was able to comprehend their meaning. "It's time to run."
"You spoke to the horses with magic?"
"We all learn it. Communication with nature is our primary way of staying alive. Yours is pure raw strength. We haven't spilled the blood of any aggressive creatures in or around our village in decades because of it."
'I think I understand this power more now. I can see magic or disturbances in my surroundings. This could be useful.'
They rode in the wagon for about two minutes when they heard the rumbling of footsteps from behind.
"Two pairs of feet, heavy." said Morden. A few more seconds went by and an aggressive roar was let out, shaking the nearby trees and making many loose leaves fall to the ground.
"Trolls?" asked Cauwen. "We made a pact with them! Why are they attacking now?"
"I don't think it's us, dear," said Dashra as he looked towards Morden.
"I'm sorry for the trouble. I'll go deal with it." Morden stood up and made his way to the back of the wagon, pushed aside the curtain and jumped over the edge.
"Not everything has to be dealt with alone!" shouted Dashra, but Morden did not want his new friends to be hurt because of him. Not to mention, it was about time to blow off some steam and trolls were the perfect targets. They regenerated very fast and without some form of magic, it was very difficult to kill them. The usual way to deal with them without it was to beat them so senseless that the pain makes them give up and turn tail.
The wagon came to a halt shortly after. The three still on it dismounted and took up positions further back, ready to provide support. 'Their kindness could get them killed,' thought Morden.
"Let me take care of these things," he said. "It's not the first time I've fought creatures from the war."
"That's not the problem!" shouted Dashra. "We made a pact with the trolls in this region to not attack us or our guests! I want to know why they are breaking this pact now!"
A few seconds later, two creatures with pale white skin broke could be seen coming from the left side of the makeshift path. They were about eight 8'6" (2.59m) with jagged teeth that they showed as they ran. They had loose shorts and no shirt showing their seemingly skinny and lanky bodies. In this case, judging a book by it's cover was only something a fool would do. The trolls were insanely strong and heavy and their durability was unlike anything else. The voices in Morden's head were very distinctly blind with fury. Pure, unadulterated anger. They were coming from the direction of the trolls and were directed at him. 'Well if there is anything these voices can do for me it's tell me that the people trying to kill me are angry. Thanks for nothing.'
One was carrying a homemade club out of a small log where the finger molded grip had been made from grasping it tightly over the years. The blood on it showed that it had been used more than once to fell a target. The other had a rock slightly bigger than Morden's head which he promptly threw at him. The rock flew so fast and with the force of a train, but to him the projectile was moving slow enough for him to dodge it with ease. He lifted his left hand and brushed it aside like it was a leaf in the wind, then took a stance with his left leg in front of him and his left hand raised and the right ready to launch a blow.
The trolls ran straight at Morden. The one in front with the club sprinted a hundred feet in three seconds and swung straight down with a shout and enough force to cause a small crater where Morden was standing moment ago. The swing was so telegraphed that sidestepping it was possible by a sloth. Morden moved to his left and unleashed the full force of his prepared swing right into the stomach of the troll with the club. The force was so intense that a ripple could be seen throughout the troll's body as it was lifted off it's feet and sent flying. The troll collided with the one behind him, but the collision only knocked the second troll aside and didn't even remotely affect the trajectory of the first troll.
After flying 50 feet, the first troll crashed into and through a 50 foot tall tree and roll another 20. The tree crashed more gracefully that the troll, who was on the ground with it's eyes bulging from its head. They were so blood shot Morden thought they would explode. The voices in his head turned from screams of anger to screams of pain then right back as the troll looked back to Morden. The other troll, oblivious to the scene that just unfolded in front of and behind him stood back up, shouted and charged straight at Morden.
It tried to grab Morden with both hands, so Morden decided to engage in a contest of strength since the troll decided to be stupid. 'These ones are dumber than the usual trolls I fight. They are definitely angrier too. Something is causing them to do this since we didn't do anything to provoke them.'
The two locked hands and planted their feet firmly on the ground. The troll attempted to crush his opponent's hands and suddenly realized that he was in over his head. A face of anger was quickly replaced with one of pain as his hands were broken in every possible point. A shout of pain was echoed through the forest.
The three elves watching the scene unfold were absolutely dumbfounded. A troll was one of the most difficult creatures to defeat in combat because they only gave up once they beaten so thoroughly that they couldn't bear the pain any more or when they were eliminated with magic. With trolls being less intelligent than most creatures, the pain threshold was high too. What they saw however was such a one sided battle that it left them speechless.
Morden pulled the troll in and swung his arms out to his sides, exposing the troll's whole body to him With a kick, the troll was sent flying into a tree not far away. As the troll crashed into it and slumped for a moment, his hands started reshaping and moving on their own, repairing the damage dealt to them in seconds. The first troll had recovered from the damage at this point and charged right back at Morden, swinging his club again but this time horizontally. Morden jumped up and forward, hovering right in front of the troll's face. The look of fear came over the troll again as he realized the next hit was going to be much worse than the first.
With a barbaric shout, all the fury and anger of a human who had nothing to lose came out. Morden's muscles bulged beyond their normal point and a right hook into the troll's face completely crushed it's skull and sent it flying to his left at a speed that nobody could keep up with. Morden sprinted over to the body. It was reforming the head at a visible speed. Morden started to destroy the body with blow after blow, causing blood and bone to be sent flying everywhere.
Anger flooded his mind and the voices became so deafening it would have caused his eardrums to burst if the voices weren't in his head. His vision became purely red and his full fury was let loose.
A hand grabbed Morden's right shoulder. In an instant Morden turned around and prepared a left hook. Before he swung, he saw it was Cauwen with a look of terror on her face. She ducked and screamed at the sight of her impending death when suddenly Morden stopped. He noticed the other troll was kneeling not far away and shouting, "Please stop!" Grenda was right behind Cauwen and Dashra shortly behind him. They were all trying to stop Morden but in his fury he heard nothing.
The voices in his head calmed so fast it shocked Morden. In an instant, the whole world seemed to come to a halt. Nobody moved an inch and the wind was silent. The next moment, Karaia came from behind the second troll and her abdomen was completely destroyed.
"You are a monster, not these poor creatures."
The next moment she vanished into the air and the world continued on as normal. The troll was still shouting and tears streamed down his face. The bloody pulp of a troll underneath Morden reformed much slower, but eventually became the troll he had once fought.
"I'm sorry, Cauwen," said Morden. "I couldn't hear anyone and I didn't know you were there."
"We sorry, human!" shouted the second troll. "We no fight anymore."
Grenda loosed his nocked arrow into the neck of the troll who was completely shocked by this.
"You better explain why you and your tribe have openly broken the pact we made, or else I will let the human finish the job!"