From myself: I have long been a big fan of the fantasy genre. I decided to try myself as a writer again. I’ll rarely write because I’m busy, but as a starter I’ve thrown you the prologue of a series of stories I’ve started working on. Hope you like it.
And yes, I haven’t been on SG for a long time 🙂
Hordneck was not at all like other trolls. He was more likely to be mistaken for a large goblin than a troll due to his small stature. If trolls are usually a couple of heads taller than people, he was half the size of a person. The only thing that gave him away as a troll was his arm, which was petrified up to the elbow and hung on his chest. Now he was rushing through the forest in search of a cave, because dawn was just around the corner. Hordneck has long been accustomed to this life. I think it will be interesting for you to know how he got to this point.
Let’s start with his birth. Trolls are not like other creatures, at least in the way they are born. They appear from stones near magical sources. When a troll dies, his soul goes into the ground and is transported to the nearest source, and there it inhabits a stone, which turns into a huge, thin, gray-skinned creature. What happened this time is unclear. Even the wisest Dusty Mountain trolls disagree, but one thing is for sure: for some reason this creature did not become huge. Before this, the smallest troll was as tall as the tallest man they had met.
It is clear that many trolls could not stand such a shame on their entire race and constantly called Hordneck “runt”, “halfling”, “generational”. Trolls are a proud people and Hordnek was no exception. Therefore, he learned to fight with those who surpassed him in height and strength. He honed his agility, constantly climbed into the deepest caves, where he often disappeared for several days, and then returned as if nothing had happened.
I’ll tell you a little about troll fights. Their skin is very thick, and very few weapons can pierce it, and those that do are unlikely to cause deep wounds. But let’s say that you managed to break through their skin and leave a wound. Then you will begin to notice how this wound disappears before your eyes. Troll tissues are restored very quickly, so they are one of the most durable and hardy fighters. If some troll starts a fight, rest assured: it can last many hours, and sometimes even several days. For this reason, people often find statues that were once trolls who forgot about the Sun in the heat of the fight, but more on that later.
Hordneck became inspired by the study https://spinland.uk/bonus/ of caves, he always wanted to see more. When he explored all the caves, the unthinkable began to occur to him: to leave the caves forever. Trolls often climbed out of caves at night, but only a few decided to leave it forever. Some were driven out by the tribe, while others, like Hordneck, left of their own free will.
Hordneck left his tribe at sunset. The first nights outside were quite problematic. I had to learn to get food myself and find some kind of shelter. Dens were perfect for this, especially since bears almost always did not notice a stranger in their home. And if they noticed, then Hordneck overcame them. Gradually, Hordneck learned to survive in the forest, use his height as an advantage, hide in the shadows and move silently. Then he decided on an adventure that almost cost him his life: to get into the city.
In the coming days, residents of a small river town began to notice something strange: a pig disappeared from the butcher, one of the guard dogs hid in its kennel, things began to disappear from their houses, for example, clothes or tools. At first, they decided that a thief had appeared in their town, and it was one of the boys, since at night they often saw a small figure running across the streets, but they could not find their missing things.
One townsman suggested that they might be dealing with a goblin, given some of the stranger’s deformities: he was thin, with elongated ears and a long nose. Then the residents hired a hunter.
Hunters were called not only people who caught game, but also those who exterminated monsters. They are professionals in their field, their services are very expensive, but the results are always impeccable. Residents had to chip in with the entire town to hire one of them. Hordneck will never forget his meeting with the hunter. It was she who left him with the most unusual scar that can be seen on trolls.
The hunter arrived in the evening because he was told that the creature operates at night. As the sun set, he began to observe. At first he didn’t see anything unusual. Time passed, but nothing happened. Only two dogs did not share the bone, and their owners began to separate them. “Why didn’t the dogs smell the creature??" – thought the hunter. In the end, he decided that the locals were simply imagining something, but suddenly he noticed a small figure running across the street. From the first observations it was clear that this was not a person. The observed person had some features that stood out: he was thin, short, had elongated ears and a long nose. “Typical goblin,” the hunter thought, until the figure made a small mistake and appeared in the light of the lantern. Then two more features of the stranger stood out: his lower fangs protruded and he had gray skin. The hunter could not believe his eyes: it was a troll, albeit unusually short for his race. The observed person was dressed in clothes he stole from the townspeople. While the troll was being observed, he stole a keg of beer, stole a chicken from the chicken coop after breaking its neck, and stole a butcher’s carving knife.
The troll acted very quickly. The residents, and the hunter, one might say, were lucky that they noticed him at all. “It’s most likely a matter of the troll’s lack of experience rather than luck,” the hunter concluded. It should be noted that now he was not surprised that the dogs did not smell the intruder, because trolls do not smell due to their stone origin. The hunter continued to watch the troll until he went into his lair, which turned out to be the watchdog’s booth. Apparently, the troll killed the dog and settled in the booth, where he waited out the day.
It was decided to immediately get rid of the uninvited guest. The hunter waited until morning and called the town authorities to show them the reason for the night’s unrest. He climbed into the doghouse with a torch and saw a troll sleeping on the spruce branches. It was clear that we had to act quickly. No matter how small the troll was, he could not be underestimated. The hunter grabbed him by the hand and dragged him outside. As soon as the rays of the Sun touched the troll’s hand, it began to turn to stone. A terrifying scream was heard: the troll woke up from incredible pain. He furiously moved deeper into the booth, dragging the hunter there, after which he kicked him with all his might, so that he flew a couple of meters and lost consciousness.
Hordneck crawled along the tunnel he had prepared. His hand hurt as if he had dipped it in lava. She froze in a stone fist. The troll decided to immediately dig a tunnel when he got into the city. He killed the watchdog and started digging. Then he tried not to take risks and stole something little by little. Soon Hordneck dug into a small cave. So he prepared his escape route. When he returned to the booth, he covered it with spruce branches. The troll folded them so that they could support him and slept on them. So he could immediately take his turn and disappear from the city. The passage was very narrow, so people could not follow him. It would have taken them another day or two to find the cave. Hordneck would be very far away.
As night fell, the troll climbed out of his cave and ran south. From a stolen shirt he made himself a bandage and hung his hand on it. He thought about the mistakes he made in the city and which almost cost him his life. So his night passed until sunrise. Now he has no choice but to look for the cave. Fortunately, he was not far from some mountain. After some time he found a cave in it. And just in time: as soon as he entered it, the Sun appeared. Now, finding himself in his native darkness, he felt calm.
The stone on which he lay down seemed so familiar to him, so warm. Although… he was warm. Hordneck felt a stream of hot air coming from one of the holes in this cave. The troll was overcome by curiosity. He could be in one of the fiery mountains that he heard about from the elders. Soon there was a rumble, which only fueled his curiosity. Then, Hordnek began to look for a way into the mountain. The hole from which the hot air stream came was too small to crawl through. Nearby the troll saw a large stone on a rock. He tried to lift it, but couldn’t. Hordneck walked away from him, swearing loudly in his own language. Suddenly the rock moved and the troll fell off it. He turned around and saw that the big stone was gone. Another one appeared in its place: amber-fiery with a black stripe in the middle. The troll was terrified. The mighty figure began to rise. Hordneck couldn’t believe his eyes. He had heard a lot about these creatures, but did not think that he would meet at least one of them. He never thought he would meet… a dragon.
