The Toll (9 page)

A warning, it was more
like.

“
Oh, yes,” I mumbled under
my breath, “I’m beginning to see just how.”

“
What was tha’ now, nugget,
I canna be makin’ out yer mumbles an’ such?”

“
I said, I think you just
wanted to scare us, sending the locket like that,” I improvised,
“and if that was your intention, you’ve succeeded.”

He shrugged but didn’t answer,
confirming what I’d thought.

“
I have an aunt a village
over, she has a set of silver...”

“
No,” he grumbled, dropping
a sliver of meat on the floor. Grunting, he kicked it into the
flame with his bare foot.

Glancing over, I watched,
the unnatural blues and reds of the flames quickly sparking before
the fallen scrap disappeared into a cloud of sparkling dust.
Magic,
I thought, awed
and a little more frightened than before.
How else could it be? It has to be.

“
Okay… what if…” I bit my
lip, trying to think.

His eyes narrowed shrewdly and he set
his meat down, wiping his mouth on his hairless arm.

In fact, he didn’t have a
bit of hair on him anywhere, not one inch. That must be why he
looks so funny to me
—he has no
eyebrows.

“
Why are ye here? Are ye
really willin’ ta trade
for her?
A real trade, ye be offerin’?” he
demanded.

“
I already told you,” I
began to explain, “I want my-”

“
Who sent ye?” he cut in,
catching something I didn’t. His deep voice had gotten deeper,
snapping at me, irritated.

“
My mother,” I blurted,
before I could think better of it.

The troll’s face turned hard as stone
and his eyes flashed. Teeth gnashing, his jaw locked and he cursed
heavily under his breath.

“
Get out,” was all he said,
glaring at me while I just stared at him.

“
What?”

“
Get out,” he grumbled
again in a rolling growl, wide chest rumbling with discontent,
voice gone even deeper, rougher. He looked so pissed all of the
sudden, but I didn’t understand.

“
But, I don’t…”

“
Get out!!” he roared,
startling me as he launched himself towards me.

I stumbled back, staring up,
petrified, into the outraged face of a very angry troll.

“
I said ta get
out!!”

Frozen in place, I didn’t move, flat
on my back on the cold, hard floor.

This must have displeased him further,
and he rolled me over with his foot, gripping the back of my gown
and cape simultaneously to lift me up.

Screeching, I hollered as he hauled me
to my feet, raising me higher and higher until my feet swung
uselessly about the hem of my dress.

“
No!” I shouted, finding my
senses. “My sister-”

“
Is mine ‘til she works off
her toll, or I kill her,” he bellowed, “whichever comes about
first,” tacking on the last part for good measure, raging as he
stormed towards the river.

“
Wait! Wait!” I reached
behind me when he would have tossed me in, but he was much stronger
than I. At his second attempt, I fell in with a resounding splash.
Surfacing with a gasp and a shriek, my head bobbing precariously as
I thrashed about wildly, just trying to keep afloat at the water’s
surface.

“
Dinna be forgettin’ yer
shit now,” he barked, and my bag fell in after me a moment later,
dropping beside me with a resounding splash.

“
Noooo!!!” I bellowed as
the icy depths of the river enveloped me, whisking me off to I
don’t know where.

“
Can she swim?” I heard
Otvla ponder thoughtfully, sounding supremely disappointed at my
sudden departure, but not at all worried for my well-being or
safety, right before my head disappeared, swallowed up in the busy
rapids.

****

Head finally popping up, I resurfaced
a few brisk moments later and gasped, letting the river carry me
down stream farther, without much choice in the matter, until I
could eventually reach a limb from a downed tree.

Launching myself towards it, I gripped
it tight and used it to haul myself out, cursing my stupid sibling
and a certain belligerent troll equally.

“
This isn’t over,” I
grumbled, but I had to wonder why I still tried.

A Toll, Ye Say?

It didn’t take me too long to make my
way back, and I dropped the soggy burlap bag at my feet with a
sickeningly wet thump.

Otvla gaped at me as the troll growled
and stormed across the room.

Growling back, I crouched down and put
my hands out in front of me warningly.

Otvla spluttered as I snarled like a
wild animal, a woman possessed, staving off his
approach.

“
You wanted me to be here
of my own free will?” I challenged, glaring at him menacingly,
daring him to step forward, my body soaked through to the bone,
numb, my cape lost somewhere in the river. “Well,” my soggy arms
spread wide, water flapping about everywhere, “here I
am.”

He eyed me for a moment
before he nodded. “And you’re amenable to a trade? A
fair
trade?
Willingly?”
He stressed
the words as if they were of the utmost importance.

“
Yes,” I snapped finally,
willing my teeth not to chatter in front of him, “I’m willing to
make a fair trade for her with you, but only if it’s
fair.”

“
Alright.”

I frowned uncomprehendingly as he
nodded and walked over to Otvla’s cage, lowering the rope that held
it.

“
What? Just like that?
Don’t you want to ask me what I offer first?” I followed him
warily, wet squishing sounds making a stench-less, juicy flatulent
symphony behind me.

Squish, poof, squirt,
squee.
And repeat.

Stupid shoes, stupid
clothes, stupid river! Stupid paste jewelry! Stupid, cheap
relatives!

He nodded to
himself—
Or was that to
me?—
as the cage creaked, slowly making its
decent towards the hard, packed red dirt of the cave floor, and
subsequently, Otvla’s freedom.

“
I agree,” he grunted out,
as if that meant something to me.

Or didn’t it?

Wait. Does he think...?
No!

Bellowing in dismay, I rushed in front
of the door to Otvla’s temporary prison, barring him from opening
it.

“
You agree to what,
exactly?” I hedged, fearing I’d just done something monstrously
stupid.

“
Move,” he ordered and
motioned for me to step aside.

“
Explain,” I
countered.

He growled, looking down at me as if I
was a gnat to be squashed, and let out an impatient
breath.

“
Ye can take her place. I
agreed. Now move.”

“
No! No!” I gripped the
bars tight and flattened myself out, gripping them for all I was
worth.

The gruff troll tried to pluck me off,
but I wouldn’t let go, curling my fingers around the
bars.

“
No,” I grunted, and he
growled impatiently.

“
No, what?” he gritted out,
but I knew he wasn’t that stupid.

“
No,” I repeated, shaking
my head vigorously. “No, I won’t.”

“
Don’t be so selfish,
Daphedaenya,” Otvla whined, and I growled at her to shut
up.

“
Too late, tis done.” He
snorted and slapped my hand, smashing it so hard into the metal I
let go, crying out in protest.

Sighing heavily, as if truly
exasperated, he picked me up by the back of my gown again, easily
taking the other hand off the bars, and held me out and away from
him.

Shrieking like a she-devil incarnate,
I screamed and cursed, swinging about violently, watching
helplessly as Otvla picked up the soggy burlap and made a run for
it, not even looking back at me.

She did nothing, not even shout a
quick good-bye or thank me—the heartless wretch.

A moment later the troll tossed me in
and slammed the door shut, locking it with a large, iron
key.

“
No! Damn you! No!” I shook
the bars and screamed louder, ignoring his threats of eating and
dismembering me. At my current state, I’m almost positive I may
have even dared him to. Swearing under my breath, I took off my
boot and threw it in his general direction, growling as it whizzed
by his head. Spiraling in the air, it hit the wall with a wet thud,
splattering mud and muck everywhere.

As if oblivious to my ranting tantrum,
he resumed his place by the fire, his back to me, and picked up
another slab of meat slowly roasting over a spit.

Didn’t matter what I did, I screamed
and ranted, raving until my voice went hoarse, cursing him and my
sister, alternately, to hell and back, but it all fell on deaf
ears.

Slumping down hours later, wet, tired
and cold, utterly defeated, I broke out into angry, noisy sobs,
curling up in a ball as I cried myself to sleep.

****

The next morning I didn’t fare any
better, waking up with swollen lids and a stuffy nose. My body
protested any and all movement, and my clothes were still soaked
through. It was going to be a miserable day.

When my eyes finally opened, I shot
up, shocked. The opening to the bridge wasn’t there, and in its
place was another cave wall. My heart wept at the sight of it,
crying out as mournfully as I did.

“
It’ll be back tonight,
nugget, ye can bet on that.”

My head shot toward the familiar,
disgruntled voice.

“
You tricked me,” I
accused, rubbing my throat when my voice wouldn’t come out above a
croak. It felt thick and swollen, raw, inside and out.

“
Isna that what ye was
tryin’ ta do ta me?” he shot back, my cage rattling ominously as he
lowered it.

Lips clamped shut to keep from
chattering, I gave him a death glare as he slowly came into
view.

“
I didn’t know they were
paste!” I tried to shout.

His thick, dark grey lips quirked up,
but just at the corners. “A likely story, little nugget, but I aint
buyin’ it, so shut it. Been dealin’ wit’ yer kind fer years. Liars,
all of ya. Tricky little cheats.”

“
I don’t lie!” I protested,
my voice cracking like a young male coming into his own.

“
Oh, an’ I’m the belle ‘o’
the ball,” he muttered sarcastically, shoving things at me from
through the bars.

“
I didn’t,” I gritted
out.

“
Save it.”

Grunting, he walked away, leaving my
cage on the cave floor, still locked, and left me to rifle through
the fabric he’d tossed through the bars.

A half a loaf of bread was wrapped in
one, along with a flagon of what I assumed was water, and a giant
white mass of material, shaped like an odd tent with
sleeves.

“
What is it?” I asked
myself aloud, trying to figure out which way was up.

“
It’s dry an’ it’ll fit, is
what. So put it on before ye start ta mold.”

“
Why, so you can sell my
clothes to the poor for twice what they’re worth?” I may have
snickered a little, but I was wallowing in self-loathing and
bitterness at the moment.

“
Hurry up or ye’ll stink up
me place,” he snapped, opening and shutting the trunks scattered
about the space angrily.

“
It would probably be an
improvement,” I muttered under my breath.

Snarling, troll growled, “Get dressed,
ye have work ta do.”

Sniffing, I made no move to dress,
plopping down mutinously on the floor. As I landed, I ignored the
disgusting squish sound I made and the discomfort it
caused.

“
Make me.” Rolling my eyes,
I let the bread and the flagon roll out of the cage bars and onto
the floor, defiant as I met his gaze head on.

The troll charged up to my cage and
pushed his thick, meaty arm through, yanking me to him by the front
of my bodice.

All those things Trystan had told me
about the troll came flashing back, and true fear settled in, his
breath fanning, hot and menacing, across my face.

Glaring at me silently, he turned his
huge fist, and I felt the stitches in the back of my dress pulling
as the fabric gathered, coming apart at the seams. Gasping, I
winced as it squeezed my chest.

If he kept it up, I was sure it would
pop in the back and all of it would fall away like tissue
paper.

The stitches finally did give as he
twisted it farther, and I felt my sleeves slip down my pale
shoulders.

My hands met his over the top of my
bodice, the only thing holding my breasts from his view.