The Lost Trolls

Chapter 2 Hilda

By: Major144

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Hilda was not having a good time, she seemed to be experiencing a lot of bad luck lately. First there had been the incident with Tontu the Nisse and Nowhere Space, which resulted in Hilda, her mother Johanna, and her pet deer-fox Twig had ended up in the Stone Forest a place beneath the local mountains and the home of trolls. Trolls weren't fond of humans and some were known to devour humans. Hilda, Johanna, and Twig had spent a good dealing running and hiding from the trolls, especially from a real nasty brute of a troll with two heads. They met a nice troll mom and her daughter who provided safe shelter for the two humans and their pet and then the troll mom created a magic guide to help lead Hilda, Johanna, and Twig out of the Stone Forest, but they encountered the Two-Headed Troll who destroyed the guide and went after the two humans. After a few narrow escapes and some digging Hilda, Johanna, and Twig escaped the Stone Forest and thanks to the arrival of some good friends and the Safety Patrol, they returned to their home in the city of Trolberg.

The craziness should have ended there, but fate had other things in mind for Hilda. When she woke the next morning, she was no longer in her room, but in a cave and she felt different. Hilda found crystals and caught sight of her reflection and she was shocked to see that she was now a troll! As Hilda freaked out the troll mother from before appeared and introduced herself as Trylla and claimed to be the one responsible for Hilda's troll transformation. Hilda was shocked that she could understand Trylla perfectly. Normally humans couldn't understand trolls, but since Hilda was a troll now she could understand the language of trolls. Trylla explained that she used a changeling spell to switch Hilda with her troll daughter Baba. Hilda was furious about this and ran away intending to return to her home.

Things didn't exactly go so well, since it was daytime outside the mountain and Hilda now being a troll immediately turned to stone and froze, when the sunlight hit her. Night eventually came and Hilda unfroze and continued on her way to Trolberg. Hilda reached the city, but the Safety Patrol members watching the walls and manning the bell towers on the walls saw her and rang the bells. The sound of the bells hit Hilda with a wave of pain and forced her to retreat. Trolls hated bells since they caused them pain. Hilda couldn't get past the walls because of the bells and her appearance.

Hilda reluctantly returned to the mountain and came across a massive cave that had many large bells hanging from ropes at the entrance. Hilda became curious and entered the cave. Due to her small size it was easy for her to get around the bells. Hilda came across a enormous troll named Trundle, who appeared to have an empty eye socket. Trundle could hear Hilda and was curious about his visitor. The two of them talked about themselves and how they both were trapped. Hilda was trapped in her new troll form and life and Trundle was in his cave.

Trundle then told Hilda that he could undo the spell on her in exchange for three favors. The troll desired some Troll-mead to restore his strength, the bells to be removed from his cave, and the retrieval of a red orb from the treasure horde located in the ruins of a castle that once belonged to a troll called the Mountain King. Hilda wasn't sure how to remove the bells from the cave, but Trundle believed she was determined and resourceful enough to figure it out. It was then Hilda heard Trylla calling for her in the distance. Trundle was curious and Hilda explained who Trylla was. The big troll advised Hilda to stick with Trylla since she would keep her safe. Hilda reluctantly went back to Trylla and the two of them headed back into the mountain.

As time went by Hilda learned more about troll culture. Trolls liked to collect various odd things they considered treasure. Some trolls collected barrels, boxes, pillows, books, and various other things. Trylla liked to collect tea sets. Hilda learned about the Mountain King who was a troll that tried to take over all the trolls and make them go to war with the humans of Trolberg, but he was overthrown. Hilda also started to become accustomed and confident in her new troll form since it gave her great strength and stamina. She also became aware of a strange feeling like something was calling to her from Trolberg. It was a calling all trolls felt, but they didn't understand what it meant. Hilda started to bond with Trylla and was liking being a troll, though she still wanted to return to being a human and be reunited with her mom and friends in Trolberg. Trylla explained that she cast the changeling spell to give her daughter Baba a better life and that Hilda would like being a troll. Hilda told Trylla that Baba would have been fine with her real mom and that the whole situation was causing problems for Hilda and her own mom. Trylla agreed with Hilda and felt guilty about what she did. Hilda asked Trylla to undo the spell to return things back to normal, but Trylla had no idea how to.

With no other choice Hilda began to help Trundle with the three tasks. Hilda brought Trundle a large cup of Troll-mead that pleased him and restored his strength. She then came up with a plan to deal with the bells by using pillows. Hilda strapped some pillows to her head to help protect herself and then she went about stuffing pillows into the bells to keep them from ringing as she lowered them down and removed them. Finally it was time to retrieve the red orb from the Mountain King's castle. After asking and searching around Hilda located the castle ruins beneath the mountain and went inside.

The castle was very big and Hilda was amazed by the large throne inside. The Mountain King must have been a giant of troll. The place seemed deserted as Hilda searched for the treasure horde. She eventually found it in a chamber behind the throne and was impressed by the piles of gold and gems. Hilda saw the red orb sitting on a pile of gold and went to grab it. The orb was nearly three times Hilda's size. On first looks the orb looked like a big gemstone, but when Hilda touched it the orb jiggled and felt squishy like a water balloon. Hilda picked it up and accidentally lost her balance causing her face to press into the orb.

Something strange happened. Hilda found herself back in her human form and clothes and she was standing outside the Trolberg wall, which had a big hole in it. She became curious and went through the hole to find herself in the city, but all the buildings were shrunken down to dollhouse size and there were tiny doll size trolls running about and began to attack Hilda forcing her to defend herself. The ground suddenly began to shake and a enormous statue version of Johanna burst out and destroyed the city.

Hilda cried out in alarm as she found herself back in the treasure horde. She blinked her eyes and shook her head. Hilda had no idea what she saw, but she planned to keep her face away from the orb. She began to make her way out of the treasure horde, when she heard a growl and heavy footsteps from behind. Hilda nervously looked behind her to see a enormous angry looking troll with a beard and armed with a large stone and crystal staff.

"This must be the Mountain King!" Thought Hilda with fear.

The troll let out an angry bellow and Hilda let out a terrified scream as she began to run towards the throne room with the troll in hot pursuit.

"Someone please help me!" Prayed Hilda as she ran.

Little did Hilda know, her prayers were going to be answered.

To be continued.