Danger. You hear it. The rustling of the bushes. The heavy breathing of someone who's been running for some time. The smell of blood thick in the air. Your brain screams at you to get out, that this person brings danger with them but you don't because curiosity killed the cat.
You jump out of your fur bed and run to the entrance of your cave, taking a second to wake up and smell the air, defiantly not animal blood but it's not the blood of any troll you've ever smelt either.
But it is a troll, you can tell that much and they need help and you have never refused to not help someone no matter if they bring danger or illness because if you don't help them in your forest then who will?
You focus your censes to find the troll and your off, running into the night to find this poor troll who is in desperate need of help. Your senses are strong from living so long in the woods making it easier to navigate your way round the branches, your sight able to catch even the slightest of movement and calculate what kind of animal it came from, your ears able to hear the rustling of a bush over two miles away and your smell able to follow trails from weeks ago and they all help you to survive the dangers of the forest.
The troll is about half a mile away now, about 5 minutes running and he is heavily injured. The smell of his strange blood stinking up your forest and covering up the smell of lavender you get this time of year.
When you finally reach him he is lying there unconscious, candy red mutant blood seeping through various wounds in his body, mostly from sword type weapons and a few grazes from the twang of branches whilst trying to get away from his attacker.
His attacker gave up pursuit about 7 miles back, all you can smell is the lightest scent of indigo blood hanging in the air.
You turn your attention to the strange mutant troll again and kneel next to him, examining his wounds. They don't seem too deep and will be easy enough to fix as long as they don't get infected and he doesn't look too heavy, you should be able to carry him back to your hive within 10 minutes.
You flex your well toned muscles and gently pick him up bridal style before swinging him round on to your back and wrap his arm round your neck and set off back to your cave. You calculate that it will take you about 8 minutes to run back with your new companion because you won't be able to move as fluently through the trees.
When you get home you lusus is waiting for you, poor thing must have heard you rush off and got worried, you pat her head before heading in to your cave. You put the mutant blood on a wolf lusus skin rug in front of the fire and go collect some water from the jug you keep in your cave along with a cloth to wipe his wounds and special leaves that absorb and prevent infection.
You settle down next to him and get to work, first you unclasp his cape and then take off his shirt slowly being careful not to hurt him and after slowly remove his trousers.
You dip the cloth in the bowl and slowly start cleaning the mud from around the wounds and then the mud on the wounds themselves. Next you tare the leaves in to long strips and wrap them around his arms, chest and upper thigh's before laying him back down and placing his cape over him as a cover.
You take the opportunity to really look at him for the first time, he looks about 9 sweeps old with little nubby horns. His face is sharp and rigid and he looks like a troll that's gone through too much hard ships for 9 sweeps. He looks well looked after and pretty fit so you assume he has a good lusus looking after him. You sigh, why did the high bloods always try and persecute those who are lower then them? It isn't fair.
He looks so peaceful when he's sleeping, you wonder what he's dreaming about and where his lusus is. Not for long though because your trail of though is broken by the sound of your stomach growling, it's only about 5 am but all that running has made you hungry so you turn and go to the back of your cave where you left last nights kill.
You sing your fangs in to the animals flesh and rip a chunk off gobbling it in one big bight, yum. You think yourself lucky, you heard that other trolls that aren't olive blood cannot eat raw meat and must cook it, when you last cooked meat it tasted bland and flavourless how they can eat such foulness is beyond you but when your gest wakes up he will be hungry he has run at least 15 miles today to get away from the blue bloods and their swords.
Picking up your kill and a knife you make your way over to the 'kitchen' although you never saw a purpose for one and start to skin the animal, the snow white fur would make a really nice hat or perhaps some boots? You'll make some later.
Once the animal is skinned you take the liberty of tearing off chunks of the meat and cutting then up small before putting them in a pot of fresh water along with some herbs and spices you have laying around and hang it over the fire before giving it a quick stir.
Then you go and wash up, you are covered in the mutants blood so you have to change clothes. You choose your green and black shorts with an overhanging side skirt and a black shirt with your sign round the neck, you then place a body protector over the top and tie it with red string. Then your black and green striped arm warmer up your arm before fingerless black gloves with your sign on them, you decide against the animal skin hat in case it scares your guest so you just slip on your boots made of brown leather and you're ready to face the day and its challenges. ( . /tumblr_m1pta00qHj1qld8c4o1_ costume inspiration)
After about 25 minutes the mutant blood begins to stir and whimper in his sleep so you stop painting the forest on your walls with your kills' fascinating lime colour blood and wander over to him, kneeling beside him and stroke his hair.
About another 5 minutes of little movements the mutant opens his eyes, they are a glorious shade of bright red, darker on the inside and lighter as they go out. He looks contempt for a minute but you see his eyes change when he senses you are not who he first thought you where, they are rim with fear as he tries to sit up quickly to fend you off but makes it only half way before leaning back in defeat of the pain.
"It's ok" you whisper still stroking his hair, you are a bit touchy on your words as you don't encounter many trolls but you get a hang of it quite easily "I won't hurt you, please you must rest" you hope he will understand your accent, it is not the easiest to understand.
He coughs "Who are you? Where are we? And where are the high bloods that where following me?" He sure does ask a lot of questions for someone who is seriously hurt.
"Oh, erm my title is Meulin, we are at my cave on the west side of the woods, I found you lying unconscious just a mile away from here, the blue bloods that where tracing you had lost your track long before" you smile brushing a piece of your hair that has fallen over your eye. "Would you like me to help you sit up?"
He is quiet for a moment then he nods so you put your hand on the back of his neck and slowly pull him upwards and swivel him round so he is facing the fire and leaning against your rock table.
"So tell me, mutant blood what is your title? And where is you lusus?" You lean on the edge of your table, putting your hands under your chin and smiling.
He turns his head so he can see you "I have no title but you can call me the signless, everyone else does and I have no Lusus either, because of my mutant blood none would choose me they all feared me." His face does not look that sad to say what he has described to you is very worrying.
"No lusus? Then how did you survive?" It really was a strange thing I mean who looked after him? How did he survive from just a small grub?
He chuckles a little at your question but his face quickly twists in pain as moving his chest hurts him "Well when I was a small grub the Dolorosa, the jade blood who's job it is to look after the mothergrub, found me under a tree and after seeing I had no lusus she raised me, I probably should find her actually she will be getting worried."
A troll raising another troll, it was blasphemy no wonder he was being chased "So, why where you being chased by blue bloods?" you ask now kneeling to his side.
"Well.." he stops to ponder his answer "I guess it's just because I am a mutant blood and the high bloods like culling the weak ones or maybe because they don't understand my blood colour and are afraid of it, I really don't know" he smiles meekly then sniffs the air "What is the delightful smell?" he asks looking at the fire.
You blush a little at the remark about the meat you are cooking "Ahh yes I am cooking a giant rabbit I caught yesterday for you, I guessed you might be hungry" you quickly get to your feet and go over to the pot on the fire, give it a quick stir then pick it up and pour it into a bowl for him to eat.
You walk over to him and give him the bowl before going over to the countertop looking for a wooden spoon you know you have "It smells amazing and this bowl, is this one of the bowls of anethis? I thought all the high bloods had them destroyed" He says admiring the bowl when you turn around having found the spoon,
"Yes well I was able to save this one, its remarkable craftsmanship don't you think? I just couldn't have it destroyed, I think it may be the last one in existence. The spoon is also a craft of the anthis people" you say passing him the spoon and kneeling down next to him.
"It is a very beautiful bowl and the spoon too, why do you think the condensce ordered them to be destroyed?" he asks you swilling his spoon around in his stew.
"I don't know, maybe because they where all bronze bloods she didn't want people to think they could make something beautiful, maybe she felt intimidated and threatened by them so had them all destroyed?" It wasn't much of a question but because it was just a guess you felt the need to state it as a question.
He snorts a little "The condensce feeling intimidated yeah right, she would cull every last low blood on this planet if the high council would let her, and I highly doubt a group of low bloods could intimidate her."
"Well I'm not sure, after all she is just a troll, Ok granted a very powerful troll but a troll all the same. All trolls get intimidated by something, maybe she is intimidated by the low bloods with power because the anethis people where a very powerful group of psychics and after destroying them maybe she wanted to destroy all evidence of them"
"Yeah" he smiles "that's how she controls us, she shows us that if we are a threat that she can cull us and destroy any evidence of our existence, she controls us my fear and that is why I was born!"
He shouted the last bit and you are very confused, that is why he was born? What is that supposed to mean? He must have caught on to your confused face because he smiles sheepishly and chuckles
"Sorry I got a little carried away" He says taking another spoonful of the stew.
"Yeah I noticed, so what did you mean by 'that is why I was born'?" you ask shifting your body weight and sitting on your bum next to him.
"My name is the signless, ever since I was a wriggler my mother the Dolorosa has kept me away from towns and cities in fear that the high bloods would discover my candy red blood and have me killed, she kept me inside until I was 4 ½ sweeps and even then I was only allowed to leave our hideout with her guidance, my whole life I have been hiding from the high bloods because of my blood colour in fear of persecution and death but I will start the revolution and rise up against the high bloods and one day we will all live in peace and it won't matter what colour your blood is."
His story is fascinating, "Tell me more" you beam suddenly very interested in what he has to say, he tells you stories, wonderful stories about a time when trolls of all the different blood colours will work together as equals to save the world, where high bloods risk their live to save the low bloods and there is no culling because of your blood colour and it is peaceful, you listen in awe at the amazing tales he has to tell.
"I will start the revolution against the high bloods" he explains "I will travel the world and preach about peace and prosperity and how we can live in peace together, me and the Dolorosa" he smiles mentioning his mothers name, she must be wonderful.
"I want to come with you" You say when he has finished "I want to travel with you and tell the other trolls about this, I want to follow you" It is about 10 am and the light is seeping through your cave now, you can see the signless properly in this light, he looks shocked about your last statement and you don't blame him what he will be doing is punishable by death but you don't care.
He smiles "Really, you would come with me and risk your life like that?" He questions you and you nod slowly "Then of course you can!" he exclaims hugging you, you feel him wince in pain but he still hugs you "My Disciple, you can be my disciple" he murmurs releasing you.
"Disciple" you say the words meaning follower and believer seam to fit there nicely "Yes and because I am an olive blood I am entitle to free inning when I visit cities, that will be very helpful too" you smile at the idea of traveling with him and he smiles back, but his smile soon fades "What's wrong?"
"Oh I was just thinking we should go find the Dolorosa soon she is very protective of me and she will be very worried about me not retuning last night" his sighs and you feel his pain too.
"Well you will not be able to walk until tomorrow so we can set off then, but for now you need to rest." You nod at the bed and help him lay down and sit with him until he drifts off in to a deep sleep.