The Trolls Left Behind
There's one thing you have to understand about Trolls. Trolls are not born so much as they are planted. Troll seeds sprout into a trailing vine, forming a pod at the very end. This pod grows and eventually blooms to reveal the new baby Troll. Adult Trolls' pods will, after many years, produce seeds of their own, which the Trolls then take up into the tree and plant on a branch to grow a new pod - their children, so to speak.
Now that you understand, to our story.
"No Troll left behind!" King Peppy urged his people on through the root tunnels to their freedom. He could hear picks and shovels not far behind him, but they were quickly putting distance between them and Bergentown. Leaving on the morning of Trollstice wasn't ideal, but they had to wait for the last pod to bloom. King Peppy refused to leave even a single Troll to the Bergens. After losing Prince Pippy last Trollstice, focusing on their escape plan was the only thing keeping him from turning gray. That and Princess Poppy, who had only bloomed a week ago.
"When I say, No Troll left behind, I mean, NO TROLL LEFT BEHIND!" He pulled his princess out from the safety of his hair and turned back to the Trolls. "But we'll be a lot safer the further we get from Bergentown. Go, go! Hurry! And please, everyone check and make sure you have your seeds. We won't stop until we are a safe distance from this horrible place."
They marched for days, it was slow going with so many Trolls. They encountered many dangers, and at times it was only quick thinking and hairkido that got them all through the trip. Finally they came to a wooded glenn, deep in the forest, that had everything they needed. They would rebuild their civilization from the branches down and finally live in peace.
Unknown to the refugees, life in the Troll Tree didn't just stop when they left. A year later, the empty pods shriveled up and fell, revealing one more seed. Vines sprouted, slowly creeping up the trunk of the Troll Tree to dangle in the branches. New pods grew, and a new generation of Trolls was ripe for the picking... defenseless and ignorant of the Trolls that had gone before them. King Gristle Sr sealed the entrance to the root tunnel and reinstituted Trollstice just in time for his son's 3rd birthday, and Prince Gristle tasted 'true happiness' for the first time.
Fast forward to the Troll's 20th Freedom Party, and it went down exactly as you expected. Chef, who had been exiled and didn't know about the remaining Trolls, discovered their home thanks to Poppy's fireworks, kidnapping her friends and wrecking their sanctuary. She set off to rescue them, eventually joined by Branch, and they made it all the way to the root tunnels.
"Choose a hole wisely. For only two will lead to Bergentown, the others... to certain DEATH death death death death..."
"Who said that?" Branch demanded.
"IT WAS... me." A cloud - guy - thing detached from a nearby tree and walked over. "Hey guys, welcome to the Root Tunnels. Just wanted to warn you, only two of these tunnels lead to the Troll Tree, and only one of them is still open. All the others lead to CERTAIN DEATH."
After battling for a high five, an embarrassing fist bump, and an attempted hug, Branch eventually chased Cloud Guy into the tunnels, with Poppy following behind to keep him from committing murder. Suddenly the tunnel opened up, causing Branch to stop and Poppy to collide with his back, sending them both skidding across the dirt.
"We're here! Well it's been fun. I gotta go, got cloud stuff to do. But I'll see you on the way back! Unless... YOU DIE." Cloud Guy disappeared back into the darkness of the tunnel and Branch stood up, dumping Poppy back on the ground.
"The Troll Tree..." Poppy's eyes followed the trunk up from the tunnel, hidden in a gnarl of roots below the ground, all the way up to the branches high overhead. "Why is it... GRAY?"
Branch looked away from the bars surrounding them and his jaw dropped. The tree was still alive, but the leaves and bark had all turned gray.
"And are those... Troll pods?" Branch followed Poppy's gaze to the black and white pods hanging from the branches, but before he could answer they were surrounded.
They were each tightly bound in dark gray hair and their eyes widened when they saw who it came from. Grey Trolls wearing bark armor and brandishing thorn spears surrounded them from every angle. Poppy was in shock. Branch was the only gray Troll in their entire village, but every single one of these Trolls was gray.
"Who are you! Where did you come from!" One of the armored Trolls demanded.
"I'm Branch. And this is Princess Poppy. We're from the Troll Village - " Whispers erupted from all around. Branch heard shock at Poppy's title, skepticism about where they came from and the existence of the village. He tried to ask them who they were but they were hoisted up into the canopy before he could get a word out.
High in the branches, hidden in the very center of the tree, was a single bright blue and yellow pod. Poppy & Branch hung suspended in front of it, still bound in someone's dull hair. The pod opened only long enough to allow a single gray Troll to emerge. Her hair was the palest grey - bordering on white, but her skin was dark black. Branch guessed she was younger than either himself or Poppy, but looking around it was easy to see that she was the eldest member of this Gray Village.
"Who are you? Where did you come from?"
Branch waited for Poppy to take the lead, but she seemed to be in shock. He couldn't blame her. In her world, this much gray was a tragedy.
He cleared his throat & the leader finally turned her eyes to him. "My name is Branch. This is Princess Poppy. We're from the Troll Village."
"Troll Village?"
"Yea... the one we built when we escaped Bergentown..." Branch narrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "We took every seed with us. How did you get here?"
"You... You escaped? You ran away?" She thought for a minute before glaring up at them. "You left us behind." It was more of an accusation than a question.
"No!" Poppy finally snapped out of her trance, though she looked like she was close to tears. "No, we didn't leave anyone behind! We would never leave a single Troll for those dreadful Bergens. We took every single seed. There's no way -"
"You left the pods." The quiet interruption stopped Poppy in her tracks.
Branch paled, but it was clear that Poppy still didn't understand. "What?"
"The pods. We bloomed from fallen pods. We found shrunken, shriveled pods surrounding the tree. Our vines trailed up from the ground to dangle off the lowest branches. The first Trollstice was a massacre."
"No..." Poppy's face crumpled and her color seemed to fade. It wouldn't take much more for her to start turning gray.
"So you bloomed after we left... but-" Branch hesitated to ask anymore, unsure if Poppy could handle the answers. The leader seemed to understand this and she signaled for him to be released. "Wait! What about Poppy?"
"She is too bright. Her color will only make her a target." Branch could only watch as Poppy was lifted into a small, dull pink pod above the lone bright one. She didn't even resist. She must be closer to despair than he thought.
"What will you do to her?" Branch was prepared to fight his way out if he needed to, but his curiosity was peaked. He needed to know more about these strange gray Trolls.
"Keep her safe. Happiness is rare in the Troll Tree. Only the babies are truly happy, but we do have one or two individuals who are able to cling to their hope and optimism. They stay here, where we can protect them."
"From the Bergens." She smiled at the anger in his voice.
"You do understand."
"Loss I understand. What I don't understand is why you are all so gray. What happened here?"
"Come, I will show you."
They walked to the edge of the canopy and looked out over Bergentown. She reached up and pulled a black book from her hair.
"Seriously? A scrapbook?!" It seemed it was genetic. She leveled him with a withering glare and started her story.
As she had said, the first Trollstice was a massacre. Nearly the entire first generation was wiped out as all of Bergentown celebrated. King Gristle Sr seemed to realize that they would run out of Trolls if they continued, and so the general population was forbidden from eating Trolls at the next Trollstice. Only himself, Prince Gristle, and a handful of the most trusted Bergens were allowed to partake.
He promised the rest of Bergentown that once the Troll population had recovered they could taste happiness again, but he died before he could live up to his promise.
"You see, it was nearly ten years before the pods produced any seeds. Each year, one or two Trolls would be taken from us, and there weren't many of us left to start with. The only thing that saved us was giving up."
"You turned gray." She nodded. "But... how does being gray save you from getting eaten?"
"We didn't know it would at first. About five years before the seeds, a gray Troll was one of three taken on Trollstice. He was shared by two Bergens, and they had polar opposite reactions. One of the Bergens became depressed. So much so that they gave up, dying in the middle of the feast."
"Wow..." Branch was shocked. Gray Trolls made the Bergens... sad?
"That was a good reaction compared to the other Bergen." The leader continued. "The second Bergen became angry - violently angry. He went on a rampage and turned against the other Bergens, only the King & the Prince survived."
From then on only the brightest Trolls were targeted and only the royal family was allowed to feast. The King didn't want to risk losing the Prince to a dull Troll. The King died just one year before the first seeds were produced, and a twelve year old King Gristle took control of Bergentown.
"Once he was on the throne, he did away with Trollstice entirely."
"That's great! Isn't it?"
"The holiday ended, but the hunting continued. King Gristle Jr is addicted to happiness. Every few weeks, when his happiness fades, he returns to the Troll Tree. We fight as hard as we can, but he is relentless. He takes the brightest Troll he can find then locks himself in the castle so no one else can see how happy he is. Recently, his attacks have been becoming more frequent. We can't set traps or defenses fast enough, and the precious few colorful Trolls are turning gray before their pods go to seed."
"And gray pods don't grow seeds..."
"So you see Branch, we will protect your Princess Poppy just as we protect our bright Trolls, but she still isn't safe here. You should take her back to your village as soon as you can."
"Why don't you come with us? Surely you've thought to escape before?"
"Because we know that even after we leave, Troll pods will continue to sprout. We can't leave another generation of Trolls at the mercy of the Bergens."
"Well then we have another problem." She tucked the book back into her hair and turned to face him. "Our village was discovered by a Bergen. That's why we're here. It took several of our- Poppy's friends and we followed the tracks back here."
"If the King gets ahold of them... they're done for."
"And it won't be long before he makes the Bergen take him back to the village! I need to tell Poppy!" He turned to go but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
"You can't rescue them. Not alone."
"We have to try." Losing her friends would turn Poppy gray for sure.
"Then you can count on us to help." She smiled.
"Thank you..." He paused. "What is your name?"
"I'm Misty. Now let's go save your friends."