Random thought: I forgot to mention that I totally believe that Jim can still use the bathroom and stuff. In the series, they repeatedly point out that Trolls use the bathroom, so I'm thinking a zipper just magically appears when he needs it. End of random thought.
Chapter 14: Ice of you to join us
•^^•
Jim stepped in a puddle as he, Claire and Blinky made their way through the sewers of Bellridge city. They followed Claire's enchanted necklace in hopes that it would take them to Krem. Merlin would have done the locator spell for them, but Galerg had asked him to stay behind to inspect the Heartstone, insuring its stability with a birthstone missing from it.
Claire led the way, letting the necklace tug in her hand. As they reached a fork in the tunnel she stopped and waited. Within moments the necklace pulled to the right.
She led them down the right tunnel. After a few moments, a metal ladder appeared through the dim lit tunnel that led up to the surface. The necklace pointed up when they got to the ladder.
"I think he's up there," Claire said.
"I'll go first," Jim said.
Jim gripped the ladder and started climbing up. Soon he was at the top and found a metal grate opening. After he listened to hear that no one was above them, he pushed the grate off and climbed out of the opening into a dark room. It looked like a dusty old storage closet of sorts. Claire and Blinky climbed out after him.
"Are you quite sure this is where Krem is?" Blinky asked, inspecting the barren shelves of the storage closet.
Claire's necklace tugged again and it pointed to the door.
"He's close," Claire responded.
Jim opened the door slowly and peaked his head out. It appeared they were in a small docking bay for trucks to unload supplies. The coast was clear so he led the way out of the closet. They immediately noticed a light shining from down a hallway to the side of the docking bay.
Jim brought his Eclipse Blade out and held it firm, unsure of what to expect. They walked up the five steps to the second level and cautiously made their way into the hallway. The light was coming from what looked like a giant freezer room. The door was wide open, a thin cool mist spilling over the ground.
Jim peaked his head around the door frame and did a double take.
"Krem?" Jim immediately put his sword to his back and hurried in. Krem was tied up, gagged, and was dumped on the floor next to a big wrapped up object that Jim could guess was probably the Birthstone. Claire and Blinky followed Jim in.
Claire stopped when she saw Krem. "Why's he tied up?" Claire asked.
Startled, Krem looked up at them wide eyed, he moaned something urgent but unintelligible through his gag and hastily pointed his chin behind them. They all turned in time to see the fridge door slam shut. Trapping them in the icy interior.
Claire's heart seized as the heavy echo of the door slam reverberated through the freezer. Jim hurried to the door. The handle on their side of the door had been removed and there were no hinges to cut. He quickly pulled out his Eclipse Blade and slashed at the door a good dozen times but with no avail. Then Jim backed up and hurled himself at the door, ramming his shoulder into it. He barely made a dent, the metal was too thick.
"I do not like the sound of that ticking," Blinky said as the noise continued. Claire noticed then that there was a ticking noise in the room. She didn't stop to think what it could be for, she turned and went over to Krem and took out his gag.
"Krem, what ha-happened?" Claire asked with a shiver. Krem sat up after Claire loosed his bonds as well. She wrapped her arms around herself to help fend off the intense cold.
"I was taken by some Troll Guard and trapped in here as bait for you guys," Krem said.
"Why would they do such a thing?" Blinky asked.
"Galerg ordered them to," Krem said disparagingly. "I may have overheard that he's gonna use the Necoriumite we mine in the lower caves to control humans."
"I knew I didn't like the stench of that Galerg one bit!" Blinky said angrily.
"What's necoriumite?" Jim asked.
"It's a rock we mine that we were told helped protect the birthstones and strengthen them. But I guess that was just a lie." Krem said with a flare of anger.
"I'm not familiar with any such mineral," Blinky said stroking his chin curiously.
"Well, we have decades worth of the stuff stored in Trollmarket, and from what I heard, Galerg's planning on using it soon," Krem admitted.
"So, when Galerg found out you knew his plans, he framed you for taking the birthstone, knowing we would come to find you. He set this trap up to get us all out of the way," Jim angrily said.
"Well i-if he's tr-rying to get rid of a-all of us, his plan d-doesn't make sense. I'll freeze, but you guys w-won't." Claire spoke through chattering teeth. Jim went over and rubbed his hand on her back, knowing that was probably the only warmth he could give her because of his armor. Which just fueled his frustration. Jim thought a moment about what she said and the ticking caught his attention. What if it was a bomb or something worse? Then something caught his eye.
At the top of one of the walls was a plate screwed over something that could be a vent.
"There! Maybe we can get out through that vent," Jim pointed.
After some maneuvering, Claire stood on top of Jim's shoulders, glad she wore pants that day and looked at the metal plate. She blew warm air into her hands and quickly tried to loosen the screws from the metal plate with one of her hair clips. Her hands were shaking like crazy, enough that she let the hair clip slip from her cold hands.
"You okay?" Jim asked a little worried.
"I-I'm g-good." She pulled out another hair clip and kept going. She finally got the metal sheet off and there was a vent behind it. She dropped the metal to the ground and tried to pull the vent off, but her hands had gone completely numb by now.
"I c-c-c-can't p-p-pull it off, y-y-y-you'll have to d-d-do it," Claire managed to say.
Jim helped her down, then he leaped up and wrenched the vent off before he came back down.
He tossed it aside and was about to help Claire back up when suddenly a loud click sounded. The ticking stopped and they all paused for a moment. Just then a light fixture came out of a slot in the wall and it was aimed in their direction, then 3 other light fixtures appeared out of the other corners of the tall fridge. Jim only needed one look to know what those light were.
"Oh no," Jim said.
"What is it?" Blinky said.
"I think those lights replicate the sun's rays. If they turn on, we'll be dead in minutes." Jim responded.
"Oh no," Blinky replied.
"Quick, Claire get to the-" Jim yelled as the lights turned on, burning his skin.
Jim screamed in pain as did the other two trolls. Claire gasped seeing the steam roll off their bodies. She had to act fast and turn off those lights. She wrenched her gaze away and looked for something to maybe throw at the lights but the fridge was barren. She had to get in that vent. But how? Claire recalled a spell that Merlin taught her a few days earlier. The hover spell. With it, she could fly up to the vent, but that might risk Jim seeing her perform magic. Claire took one glance back at Jim again, he was doubled over, writhing in pain from the lights. It was all she needed to forget her fear.
She muttered the spell under her breath and immediately began to hover. She still wasn't good at the spell and began to drift off to the right. She tried to swing her arms like she was swimming and managed to grab the edge of the vent. Claire quickly pulled herself inside the vent and stopped the spell. She felt her skin burn as it would freeze to the metal vent. Although she felt like she might turn into a popsicle, she army crawled her way further into the vent. Quickly she saw a light up ahead. She approached it and found it less cold. This time it was a shingled vent opening that could be forced open. She could see the inside of the warehouse through the slits. Claire lifted her numb hands and pushed against it, but it wasn't budging. Behind her, she could hear the tortured yells of her friends. I can't let them die! She thought determinedly. All of a sudden her hands began to glow and the vent started to shake. Then a purple light covered the vent cover and it flew off. And Claire with it.
Claire tumbled out of the vent, but quickly called out the hover spell. It kicked in right before she hit the ground. She righted herself and ceased the spell. Her legs nearly gave out on her as she stood. Looking around, she realized she came out around the side of the massive fridge room into the docking area.
Still weak from the cold and using her magic, she forced herself to move to the door of the fridge.
She peeked around a corner and looked to see if anyone was there. She found the area empty and quickly moved to the front door. She tugged on the handle and after a few excruciatingly tiresome pulls she got the handle to unlatch and pulled the door open. Immediately, all three trolls heaved themselves out of the lights' rays.
"Ow," Krem said as he laid on his back, the smoke coming from his skin slowly stopped.
"I thought being inside Gatto's Keep was hot, but that was unbearable," Blinky huffed.
"Yeah, let's not do either again." Jim said straightening himself. "Thanks, for the save Claire," Jim said. After a moment of silence he looked around to see if Claire heard him. He didn't see her until he moved around Blinky. There on the floor by the open fridge door was Claire collapsed and not moving.
"Claire!" Jim felt a surge of panic seize his heart as he rushed over to her. He knelt down and rolled her onto her back. Her skin was pale and her lips blue. "Claire wake up!" He said frantically pulling her into his arms. Blinky and Krem gathered round.
Jim was checking her pulse when her eyes fluttered open.
"Jim?" Claire whispered. She was so tired, so cold.
Jim's suit was still radiating the cold from the fridge and it made Claire give off a violent shiver and wrap her arms around herself. Jim frowned and set Claire back on the ground and stepped away, a little hurt that he couldn't help warm her up.
Seeing Jim's reaction shook off the last of her fatigue. Claire quickly said, "I'm-m-m okay. Just n-n-need a minute." Trying to reassure him as she rubbed her hands over her arms.
"So what are we going to do? Galerg isn't exactly going to be happy to see us back in Trollmarket," Krem asked out loud.
"I'm betting on it," Jim growled, his anger mixing in with his frustrations and he was looking to take it out on someone.
After Claire could feel her feet again, they quickly made their way back into the sewers, Krem carrying the birthstone that they managed to get out of the freezer.
Sneaking back into Trollmarket wasn't easy, especially with Krem being a wanted troll, but they managed. They hid Krem and the Birthstone in Merlin's backroom of the blacksmiths and quietly snuck into the Heartstone, expecting to find Galerg there, but when they arrived it was empty.
"Where is that scoundrel?" Blinky harrumphed.
Just then a noise cut the air, they turned to see the Heartstone door open and a Troll Guard walk in. The guard's eyes widened in surprise the moment he saw them and he bolted. He didn't get more than a foot before the Trollhunter threw and planted his blade in the open door closing it. Jim quickly grabbed the troll and pinned him against the wall with his forearm.
"Where's Galerg."