Whistlestop (31 page)

“
Can you determine if they
are in any danger?”

“
I just had the image of
them sitting at a dais and talking with two demons and something
else I cannot recognize.”

“
Something?”

“
All I could see is cold,
foreboding darkness between the two demons. When I tried to focus
on it, I became terrified and had to stop looking.”

“
That must be my Uncle
Lucifer. Can you see anything else?”

He closed his eyes and cleared every
thought from his mind. After a minute, he opened his eyes and said,
“We need to assemble our army and go to Paranaxis as soon as
possible. Jeremiah is going to lead his group into the Woods of
Elin to recruit trolls.”

“
He wants to recruit
trolls?” she gasped.

“
That is what I see,
dearest.”

“
He must be insane. They
will all be killed if they try such foolishness!”

“
That’s why we need to
leave now and try to stop them.”

Jerry and Pernell had been leading
their army toward the Woods of Elin for two hours, and the broad
expanse of forest was now visible stretching from horizon to
horizon. A dense fogbank had settled amid the trees, making it
impossible to tell if trolls were nearby. Jerry and the ogre had
tried in vain to convince Jeremiah that their mission was doomed to
failure, but the elf would not be deterred from his fate in the
woods. They crested the low rise from where Jerry had seen the
troll the night before and stopped. “Let’s go back, Jeremiah,”
Jerry begged.

Jeremiah sighed heavily and replied,
“Maybe you’re right, Jerry. I was just hoping against hope that
Jedidiah or Mordechai would have arrived by now to reinforce our
number. I can’t believe we came all this way just to give up.
Perhaps it is Karl’s destiny to take over the universe?”

“
No one said anything about
giving up,” Pernell offered. “We need to wait for reinforcements,
nothing more.”

“
You don’t understand. Karl
is already moving nuclears from Earth. Soon they will be in
position and then our army will be powerless to stop him. Evil will
have won.”

“
We can only do what we can
do, Jeremiah. If we enter the woods, we will die today, and Karl
will still rule. Until then, we have to wait until we are strong
enough to face the trolls.”

Isolde flew up to the group and landed
on Pernell’s shoulder. “Something is happening in the woods!” They
turned to see a tree branch protruding from the fog with a large
white cloth waving back and forth. “I think they want to
talk.”

“
Can trolls talk?” Jerry
asked.

The elf smirked at him and said, “Yes,
they can talk. I’ll go.”

“
I’m not going to let you
go by yourself, Jeremiah,” Pernell replied.

“
I’m going too,” Jerry
agreed.

“
You three will make a nice
meal for a troll,” Isolde giggled. “My brother and I should
accompany you. We know how to handle trolls.”

“
Jeremiah, make sure our
archers are ready to protect us,” Jerry said. “Pernell, if we have
to retreat, you will need to carry us both, okay?”

“
Yes, Jerry.”

“
Let’s go.”

The group of five began to move down
the rise and into the broad valley separating them from the woods.
The other ogres crouched in attack posture while the rest of the
sprites readied their bows and the fairies flittered above their
heads. When their group had traveled halfway down the slope, two
trolls moved out of the fog and into the open meadow. One was
carrying the truce flag and appeared to be the same troll Jerry had
seen the night before. The other was old, with long gray hair
pulled into a tight ponytail.

The younger troll slammed the end of
the branch into the ground. Everyone felt the ground shake from the
impact. The two trolls sat on the grass near the pole. “It’s a
trap, Jerry,” Simplot noted. “They are too close to the trees. They
could attack us and escape before our arrows find their
mark.”

“
We just won’t go that far
then,” Jerry replied. “We’ll make them come to us.” Minutes later,
Jerry’s group arrived in the center of the meadow and stopped with
the trolls still two hundred feet in front of them. The older troll
motioned for them to come closer. Jerry shook his head and Pernell
sat down. After a moment, the younger troll helped the elder to his
feet and they both approached, finally sitting not thirty feet
away.

Jeremiah leaned over to Jerry and
whispered, “Let me do the talking.” He bowed and pulled Jerry into
a deep bow as well. “Most noble forester, I am Jeremiah Beetleweed
Mosscatcher, son of Josiah, grandson of Ezekiel, and great grandson
of Methuselah, all noble elves of the planet Whistlestop. May I
know your lineage?”

The elder troll turned his head from
side to side for a moment and then said, “I am Patron Bath, brother
of all trolls and master of the Woods of Elin. Why are you
provoking us by bringing an army to our lands?”

“
We did not intend to
provoke you, Patron Bath. We are building an alliance to attack the
Empire of Axis and return order to the realms. We are here to
solicit your help in our quest.”

The younger troll laughed and the
elder scowled at him. “We have no battle with the empire, elf. They
leave us alone and we return the favor. Perhaps if you had offered
to help us in our struggle against the yetis, we might have had
cause to join forces.”

“
You don’t understand,
Patron Bath. The empire has left you alone so far because you are
not a threat, but they seek to have dominion over the universe. You
will be forced to submit to them.”

“
You speak in generalities
about things you believe might happen. Any of us could die at any
time, at the hands of a yeti. . .”

“
Or in our bellies,” the
young troll interjected.

“
You should not have come!”
Patron Bath said as the two trolls stood. Pernell began to growl.
Through the fog, several dozen trolls could now be seen at the edge
of the forest. Jerry drew his swords. Patron Bath nodded his head
and the trolls surged out of the forest toward them, each wearing a
thick leather breastplate and carrying a battle axe or mace. “Kill
them all!”

The other ogres rushed forward while
the sprites launched a volley of arrows at the charging trolls. The
remainder of the army rushed forward to join the battle. The
younger troll bent over and reached out to grab Jeremiah. Jerry ran
up the troll’s leg and jumped up onto its shoulders. He slammed the
hilt of his long sword down on the troll’s head, knocking it
unconscious. As it fell, Jerry ran down its back and raced toward
two trolls that had cornered Pernell. More trolls emerged from the
woods to join the fight. Several ogres attacked a single troll. It
pulled them off one by one and flung them away. A troll swung its
battle axe at Jeremiah, who jumped ten feet in the air as the blade
sliced into the dirt and appeared stuck here. Jeremiah ran up the
axe handle and whacked the troll on the side of the head with his
staff, causing it to collapse to the ground.

A troll grabbed Simplot and Isolde in
his hands and tried to crush them. They shrank down to the size of
fleas and flew out and landed on either side of it. Then they
swelled up to fifty feet tall. Simplot slugged the troll on the
left side of its head. Isolde struck the right side, and the troll
fell to the ground unconscious. Two trolls swung their maces wildly
at a group of fairies flitting about just out of their reach. The
fairies dived between the trolls and they swung at them again, but
hit each other instead and dropped to the ground. Lynn was
surrounded by four trolls eager to slaughter her. Archimedes
suddenly appeared and flew toward her with a sprite on his back.
The dragon grabbed two of the trolls and flew off with them,
dropping them to the ground half a mile away. The other two trolls
lunged at Lynn just a white dragon swooped down and grabbed Lynn
and flew her to safety.

Dozens of dragons flew into the
battle. Seeing them, half of the trolls turned to retreat into the
woods. Several trolls were carried away by the dragons and dropped
into the trees. Jerry hugged his wife and looked around for
Jeremiah, but could not find him anywhere. Patron Bath retreated
into the safety of the trees and Jeremiah pursued him, running
between the legs of other retreating trolls and jumping and dodging
axe blades as he went.

Concordia flew forward and landed in
the center of a group of cornered sprites. “Follow me and do what I
do!” She charged the closest troll which was laughing at the attack
by such a tiny creature. Instantly, she began to swell until she
was one hundred feet tall. She kicked the troll who flew away and
crashed down in the forest. The remaining trolls began to retreat
as the gigantic sprites chased them.

After several minutes, Patron Bath
stopped running to catch his breath. He was befuddled how this army
of midgets had defeated him. He looked around for other trolls and
wondered where they could be. “You had better surrender, troll,”
Jeremiah growled.

“
Ah, I see my lunch has
arrived,” Bath laughed. “Do we have to fight, or will you jump
willingly into my mouth, elf?” Jeremiah slammed the end of his
staff into the ground, and tentacles of ice surged outward on the
forest floor toward the troll. The ice surrounded Bath and then
moved up his body. He tried to move, but within a few seconds, he
was frozen solid. Jeremiah walked over to the troll and touched
him. They shrank from three to two to one dimension and then
disappeared.

The last group of trolls were about to
reenter the forest and safety when a wall of light appeared in
front of them. As they tried to rush through, the light became like
stone and they were knocked backward by the force of the
brightness. They tried to retreat, but were soon surrounded by the
wall of light, and it began to close in on them. A small opening
appeared and Sadie Divine Truth stepped through and stood before
them in her splendidly bright uniform with swords on each hip and
wings outstretched. “What do you want from us, demon?” a troll
shouted.

“
Why did you attack, Pant?”
she asked.

“
How do you know my name,
witch?”

She waved her arm and all of their
weapons crumbled to dust. “I know you all, but I am not a witch.
Why did you attack them? They only wanted to request your
help.”

“
Patron Bath told us to
attack. He said they wanted us to fight the empire, and that our
forest would be conquered by the loathsome yetis if we leave these
woods.”

“
Why do you call the
mountain dwellers yetis?”

“
Because that is what they
are!” another troll shouted.

“
Stand, that most certainly
is not true,” Sadie replied. “How did this place get so mixed up?
I’ll bet this was the work of the emperor or perhaps the tattooed
demon. How long have you fought the mountain dwellers?”

“
Forever, as far as I know.
Please release us, we promise not to attack those strangers
again.”

“
First I think you all need
a history lesson.” The light, trolls and Sadie disappeared, leaving
Jerry and the others to wonder what had happened inside the circle
of light. Without his elf, Jerry decided to make camp on the small
rise and wait for morning and hopefully Jeremiah to
return.

Patron Bath woke under a pile of
animal skin blankets. He looked around frantically and found he was
inside an icy cavern lit by a large fire and several torches on
posts surrounding the open central area. The elf sat on a
skin-covered stool watching the fire. “Where are we?”

“
A cave in the Savage
Mountains, of course,” Jeremiah smiled. “I’m glad that you have
thawed out.”

A look of panic crossed the troll’s
face and he exclaimed, “I cannot be here. The yetis will arrive
soon and cook me for their dinner. Please, we must
flee.”

“
Please save me your lies,
Bath. We both know better than that. Who do you think put you on
that soft bed with plenty of blankets to warm you? I certainly
didn’t care enough to do that!”

Bath jumped to his feet. “I’m not
waiting to find out!” He ran for the opening and rushed out into
the snow. Jeremiah laughed and sat back. There was a loud scream
and moments later ten troll females walked into the cavern carrying
Bath by his arms and legs. They tossed him to the floor of the cave
and each grabbed a blanket to warm themselves. “Please have mercy,
don’t eat me? Eat the elf instead! I know he looks small, but I
hear elves are quite delicious.”

One of the females said, “Don’t be so
melodramatic, Bath.” She grabbed his head and pressed her lips to
his for a moment and then pushed him back down. “At your age, your
flesh is probably tough and stringy anyway.”

“
I think I know you. Mira,
is it really you?” Bath gasped.

“
It’s so nice to be
remembered,” she laughed.

“
I’m so confused. Elf, what
is happening to me? Is it the cold? How could I know a yeti?” Mira
growled and turned away. “What did I say?”

“
Please wait, Mira,”
Jeremiah cried out. “You know why he said that.”