The Troll under the Stepping Stone

The rain just wouldn't stop. It was almost as if it were sobbing quietly, trying to fill up the empty pond that appeared to be empty still. The trees wailed as the gale pushed up against them and moaned in agony. I pulled my legs closer to my body and breathed out hot air from between my lips over my icy hands, but it just made them feel sticky and humid. Arthur hugged me closer to provide me warmth. He was just as cold as I was, I could tell from the colour of his face. It was like looking at a statue.

His light blue shirt and black pants clung onto him like leeches. His blond hair stuck to his head and made it appear like dulled golden strokes of thick paint. I stared down at myself; my god was I a skinny pale thing compared to Arthur. He had a squarish body structure (possibly large bone structure) and had the round muscles in all the damn right places. I, on the other hand, was like a plastic ruler. I was technically snow white. Arthur would crack up laughing if I ever said that comment aloud.

I sniffed, suddenly taking in Arthur's cologne mingling with the scent of musky rain. It was a strange smell, refreshing and sweet. Wait a second… sweet?

"You smell funny," I innocently marvelled, "Is there something you're not telling me?"

Arthur coloured, "No, well- I can't really-," he sighed and confessed slowly, "Morgana. She bought me this can off deodorant – which I swear I thought was for men – for my birthday and the next day I walked into Peterson High smelling of strawberries and peaches…"

He diverted his eyes from mine and flushed even more. I blinked at him and laughed so hard that my stomach felt like a bulldozer was running over it. He glared at me in anger and slipped his arms away from me and stood up. I rolled my eyes at his dramatic gesture and followed his actions. He parted the swaying leaves of the willow tree with the back of his right hand and gazed at the 'pond'. I took a glimpse and gently tapped him on the shoulder.

"You wanna cross it?" I whispered, gesturing to the river.

Tilting his head, he frowned, "Probably not a good idea," he replied smoothly.

I agreed. The river was raging, it was roaring as it sped past. However, we were already this far, I didn't want to go back home and lose the pond.

We heard something screech so high that it could shatter glass. Arthur gasped and grabbed me by the arm and pulled me to the edge of the wild river. There were a line of dark grey stepping stones being splashed with water. I glanced back and saw the pouncing figure of the creature from the earlier today. Arthur led the way and hopped from one stepping stone to another flawlessly. I gulped, wobbling violently on one foot, and tried not the imagine myself slipping off balance on the stone and tumbling to my doom. I hopped one by one staggering, waving my arms like scales.

Suddenly, Arthur stopped. I almost smashed into him. What the heck, why was he stopping? There's a blood thirsty creature that wants to eat us! Another stepping stone popped out of nowhere next to Arthur's and I made a mini leapt onto it.

"G'day sirs," a tiny deformed man greeted us, "I am Tap the troll of this bridge I am"

Arthur narrowed his eyes at Tap, "Alright Tap, would you kindly please move? There's a creature that wants us dead"

Tap blinked, "I'm a troll, ya dare speak to me that way?" he burst, his brown green, rough skin coloured red, his teeny weenie hands rolled up in upset fists. I swore I saw steam puff out of his wart covered, oversized nose.

"Look, I'm sorry if we offended you, but would kindly look at our situation?" I reasoned slowly, wobbling slightly on the slippery rock.

The creature's light footsteps crackled like the distant thunder. I sensed it stare at me. Holding a breath, I gripped on the ends of my shirt. Tap huffed out a sigh and hopped off the path. He stood there afloat on the raged water. Arthur and I gaped, but the creature's squawk snapped us back to the task. Arthur muttered thanks as Tap scoffed, I smiled at him and followed Arthur away onto the other side.

"You idiots better be doin' good," Tap started with suspicious eyes, "Don't want a bunch of birds flockin' around t'morrow mornin' screamin' that there's a war comin', you hear me?"

I rolled my eyes, "Yes sir, understood completely sir," I joked and saluted to him graciously as he simply vanished like smoke.

The stepping stones disappeared in a flash. The creature watched me with its fierce gold eyes like lasers; it prowled to and fro its feather's soaked from the rain. I gulped and let Arthur's wet hands hold onto my wrist as he dragged me towards the pond.

The pond was empty despite the downpour. The droplets splattered onto the dry sand, but were sucked into it like lava. Arthur experimentally grabbed onto a hand full of sand from around the pond and dunked it inside.

He gaped as nothing happened, "Well, that was eventful"

I chuckled, "Yeah"

"So you need blood?" he started in a puzzled manner, "How are you going to find all those from your past?"

"No idea"

I honestly had no idea. I knew the consequence for putting one drop of wrong blood could send me to my doom. I sighed as I tried to think. Arthur stood there silently obviously thinking just as hard. I had a tingling sensation run down my spine. Arthur was still holding onto my wrist.

"Umm… My wrist, Arthur…" I pointed out awkwardly.

He blinked, "Oh, OH!" he gasped and dropped my hand, "Sorry…"

Just as his hand left, the tingling stopped. Grabbing onto his hand, I smiled as the tingles ran down my spine again. He stared at me in confusion. No disgust, just confusion. His hand, callous and rough, returned my hold by curling his fingers with mine. I kept my mouth shut, scared of scaring him off. He broke our silence.

"Do... Do you think that – that maybe…" he paused; his brows stitched together, "Never mind"

"What? Tell me"

He sighed, "Maybe I am… You know… A reincarnation from your past," he suggested, gazing into my eyes as if he was searching for disapproval.

It was possible. It was definitely possible… I always thought we had those déjà vu moments whenever we were together. Like right now. Arthur's hand entwined with mine felt right, it was weird, but it felt like we've done this before.

Suddenly, Tap poofed onto the pond.

"Ya two love birds are like snails in winter!" he whined, "Will ya hurry up already, I haven't got al' day alright?"

Arthur scoffed, "Yeah, Merlin find a way to make me bleed," he remarked sarcastically. There was nothing around us that was knife like.

Tap rolled his muddy eyes, "All you could do was ask, you little twerps," he said in an irritated tone as he waved his rock-like hand around in circles, and out of nowhere a tiny knife popped onto his hand.

He handed it to Arthur, "Be as Emo as you want," he kidded.

Arthur raised an eyebrow and sliced the tip of his finger. He didn't seem to feel an ounce of pain. The dark red blood dripped with the rain and fell onto the pond. We gasped (except for Tap) as the droplet of blood glittered pink and slowly sunk into the sand along with the rain. I jumped in shock as the pond rumbled slightly and did a loud burp.

Tap cracked up, "You little twerps' lovers or somethin'?"

Arthur glimpsed at me, "N-No," he stammered.

I tried not to look disappointed. It wasn't like I desperately wanted to be his lover or anything; just being his friend was a privilege enough. He glanced at me and I shot him a reassuring grin and turned my attention to the troll. Tap was shifting his gaze to Arthur and then to me. He sighed and muttered something under his breath.

"Denial… it's like lyin' in whole different level," Tap commented harshly.

Arthur blinked, "Hey! I am not in denial!" he bellowed.

"Believe what ya wanna believe kiddo"

I chuckled as Arthur began to fume. The rain beat against his blonde hair as imaginary steam simmered into the air. Tap shook his bottom at Arthur in a provoking way and stuck his little pink tongue at him. Arthur roared and leapt for the troll. Tap gasped and mocked fear as he skipped here and there away from Arthur's monstrous grasp. I laughed a loud; it was almost as if Tap the troll was trying to cheer me up.

The pink droplet of blood resurfaced from the pond as a small smooth crystal, shaped as a tear. I reached out for it, but Tap smacked my hand and took it himself. He handed it to me and smiled a toothy yellow smile and beckoned me to bend over.

"It's fate," he whispered in my ear, "He'll come around soon"

I nodded slowly, "Thank you"

Tap smiled that toothy smile again, "Well, this poor ol' soul is glad to help"

With that said, he vanished in a gush. The rain lessened and Arthur was staring at the jewel. I held it up against the cloudy sky, it shimmered pale pink like dyed water.

"That is so manly of you Merlin," Arthur teased, an amused smirked formed on his face.

"As long as it gets me closer to all those secrets people have been keeping from me, it's as manly as it gets," I remarked, slipping the jewel into my pants' pocket.

We trailed back on our original footsteps back home. The river had calmed down and flowed peacefully around the individual stepping stones. There was a small sign that said 'beware of the troll'. We just laughed at that.

The bird creature wasn't around anymore and we hurriedly yet quietly rushed through the forest. It wasn't long till got into an argument.

"Trust me! It's that way!"

Arthur rolled his blue eyes to the sky, "Yeah, from what I remember there was a pile of dead men there"

"But there are no dead men there!" I almost shrieked.

"They probably got eaten by the bird thing then!" he argued back.

"Please don't tell me we're lost," I mumbled in irritation, my head was about to explode into a thousand million tiny pieces.

"We're lost"

"URGH!" I screamed aloud, my hands balled into fists over my forehead. For the very first time, I felt so annoyed that I wanted to punch something.

Arthur backed away cautiously, probably sensed my extremely dramatic distress.

"Whoa, whoa," he shushed quietly as if I was a horse, "Calm down, I was kidding, I know exactly where we're going"

"Really?" I whispered, panting slightly.

"Yeah, really," he reassured softly, "And don't argue with me this time alright?"

I nodded silently and trailed after Arthur's large footsteps. I didn't notice how big they were, I reckoned they're the same size as mine, just a couple centimetres longer. He was wearing brown leathery boots – kinda like cowboy boots. I smiled to myself. I didn't know he wore things like that. We walked in a comfortable silence; I listened to our feet crunch the dry dead leaves and watched Arthur's feet move back and forth, back and forth.

Eventually, the leaves slowly lessened and were replaced by long tuffs of dry greenish yellow grass. Arthur's footsteps paused and my head knocked onto his hard back.

"What did I tell you?" Arthur grinned smugly, "Told you I knew the way"

We stood at the foot of the castle walls. The back entrance was open and Arthur was gaping at the wall. I investigated it and laughed.

It said, 'Arthur was here'.

"What the – I don't recall writing that," he stated in a puzzled tone.

"Maybe you are one of the reincarnations of my past," I concluded with a light hearted smile. Arthur raised his eyes at mine, "What? You're the one who suggested it!"

"I know," he chuckled, entering the castle, "I know"

Uther Pendragon was standing at the doorstep tapping his shiny black, polished, leather shoes. The tapping was agitating. Arthur wheezed and tried to make a run for it. I glanced at Uther and Arthur. It wasn't long until I realised he was death glaring both of us like a hawk.

Ah damn it. We're in trouble.

"Arthur Pendragon! Where do you think you're going?" he raged, his foot tapping louder.

His son wheezed again, "Nowhere father"

We took our precautions and carefully strolled towards the annoyed man, his grey blue eyes stormy and shockingly pissed off. I sensed Arthur's tension as we got closer and closer…

"Why are you here at home when you should be at school?" he questioned, spitting a little on my shirt, "And also, the principal has informed me that you two haven't been at school yesterday either. To be more precise, you – Merlin Emrys – went to Mercia!" Uther hissed at me this time.

I stammered, "I-I uh, I'm sorry sir!"

Arthur glanced at me apologetically, "It won't happen again sir!" I tried again.

Uther seemed to resolve in peace again and sighed, "Good, as long as you understand that Mercia is our rival," he said calmly, "However, Arthur Pendragon, you are grounded for the rest of this week"

Arthur's eyes widened, "Wait – What?"

"Grounded," Uther stated again.

Before Arthur could remark with anything back, Uther had already went inside and into his work room. He left the door open, and we went inside. We sat down on the dining table, Arthur sighed and face planted himself on the table.

"Shit," he cursed loudly, "I was supposed to go to Gwaine's tomorrow afternoon"

"You could be rebellious like you always are?" I offered, shrugging half-heartedly, "Sorry but I can't help you here"

He groaned and remained face planted on the table.

I pulled out the pink jewel and placed it next to Arthur's head. He turned his head around and lay on his cheek staring at the pink pebble-like jewel. Lifting his hand, he tapped it with his cut finger. It glowed and wriggled around a bit.

"Holy!" Arthur gasped, tumbling of his chair.

"Good day young sir," the pink jewel morphed into a miniature version of Tap, except English, "Fine day isn't it?"

I gaped and the miniature Tap cackled, "Only kiddin', 'member me? Tap?" he gestured.

"How did you-"

"Get this small?" he laughed out loud, "I'm magical"

"No way, I thought you just an ugly, short human being," Arthur remarked, sarcasm dripped from his tone.

"Oh, ha-ha," Tap retorted, "You're just a funny one ain't ya?"

Tap sat down on the table and scanned the room with his eyes, "Fancy room ain't it?"

"More than you'll ever get," Arthur answered rudely.

"I can't believe you're fate is with this irritatin' bloke," Tap exclaimed, jumping onto my hand, "Anyway, you be'er look after me good 'cause I eat a hell lot"

I laughed, "Yeah sure"

Arthur groaned, "Not another free loader!"

Tap and I remarked, "Live with it"

Arthur sighed and slouched onto the chair, "Ever since you came along, my life is like retarded," he complained, watching me.

"Look, I know you're like dev'stated bout this, but I'm starvin'," Tap looked around, "Is there anythin' good to eat around here?"

Thank you everyone for reading and reviewing, you guys are awesome :D! I honestly don't know where Meeting you, Loving you might go :P, the end might surprise even me! Anyways, I thank all people who read MYLY :). Cheers from Mangasian13.