Chapter 29: Trolls
Lancelot and I walked in the cave and looked around. The trolls were nowhere in sight, but we were on our guard in case they ambushed us. I looked around, wondering where they might be. The cave was dark, and we could hardly see anything. Lancelot glanced at me.
"Hast thou ever encountered trolls before?" He asked.
"Never," I said. "This will be an interesting experience for me. What about you, Lance?"
Lancelot continued to walk beside me. "A few years ago, once. I was exploring a mountain pass on my way home from a nearby village and encountered a troll up ahead. It was very strong, and I nearly escaped."
"Did you defeat it?"
"Almost, but it injured me greatly and I retreated to heal my wounds."
I smiled, and we walked on. "What was your life life like here before I arrived?"
Lancelot turned to look at me. "I was mostly living in Camelot with my son. Galahad was a bright lad, and would often go on errands for the king. I would go with him, and we spent a great deal of time with each other. But when he began his training as a knight, I saw him on occasion as he was living at the castle."
"Sounds like you had a nice father-son relationship."
"Aye, we did."
He fell silent then, and we walked on. As we walked deeper into the cave, we heard a sound. Both Lancelot and I stopped.
"Doest thou hear that?" Lancelot asked me.
"I do," I replied. "It sounds like screaming."
"If someone is injured here, we must help them."
I agreed, and we ran towards the source of the noise. We reached a clearing where we saw a twin-tailed fox wearing shackles, being whipped by an anthropomorphic albatross that looked like Storm. I blinked; the fox looked exactly like Tails.
"Get back to work, slave!" The albatross barked.
The two-tailed fox whimpered and nodded, turning back to what he had been working on. I frowned, and began to shout.
"Who are you?" I shouted.
The man turned to look at Lancelot and I, and grinned. "My name is Maleagant. I am the slave owner of that damn fox," he said. "Who art thou to ask me my name?"
"I am Arthur, King of Camelot," I said. "I order you to stop whipping that poor boy!"
Maleagant laughed. "King Arthur, eh?" He saw Lancelot, and sneered. "I hast been waiting for thee. I am working for Morgan Le Fay. She told me to be on the lookout for thee and Lancelot."
"We were told there were trolls here," Lancelot said.
"And there are. They are under my command and I have been using them to destroy the village."
"What?" Lancelot asked, shocked. "But why?"
"To draw thee out, of course," Maleagant said. He turned to the slave, who whimpered and shrank back.
"Who is he?" I asked, motioning to the slave.
"This is my slave, Miles. It is good that you have arrived. Now I will kill thee."
He snapped his fingers, and roars sounded throughout the cave. Two large trolls came from the sides of the clearing and looked at us. They growled and brandished their clubs.
Maleagant sneered and looked at the two trolls. "Kill them," he said, motioning for Lancelot and I.
The trolls grunted, and attacked. Lancelot and I drew our swords and jumped out of the way just as they slammed their clubs into the ground. Lancelot took this chance and rushed at one of the trolls, jumping up onto the troll's shoulder. He plunged his sword into the troll's shoulder. A cry of pain told him he had hurt the monster, but not killed it. The troll roared, and shook itself, trying to get Lancelot off. Lancelot grunted and grabbed his sword before he was thrown to the ground.
Lancelot struggled before getting to his feet. The troll roared and started running towards Lancelot, trying to attack him. I ran towards Lance, but jumped out of the way as the other troll used his club again.
"Damn," I said, hurrying towards Lancelot. "These trolls are tough."
"Thou shoudst stay on guard, Sonic," Lancelot yelled to me before running behind the troll that was attacking him. The troll looked behind him but Lancelot sliced his sword across the troll's right leg. The troll wobbled and fell to the ground. Lancelot stabbed the troll in the neck, and it roared in pain before dying.
"One down," Lancelot said, turning to the final troll.
"One to go," I said. "This is going to be fun."
