Age of Lions

Chapter 7

The Lion, the Slayerz, and the Pack of Wolves

The so called, brave creep slaying duo cowardly hid behind Talia from the trolls now under the command of the black and white troll known as, Kilfred. "Tally! You had better do something quick! These guys want to skin the bones off, of me," Steve cried clinging onto her shoulders. "Uh, can't we all discuss this like civilized beings?" Eli nervously asked trying to get avoid of being eaten.

"Why in the world would either of you flesh bags think we would reason with a bunch of humans?" Kilfred asked.

"You may not understand this now, Stripes, but they do that kind of stuff anymore," Talia clarified. "Humanity and Troll-kind had made a pact about it centuries ago. As, long as they can eat other substances like socks or. . . cats." A chill went up to Talia's spine having a haunted flashback of that one time she saw one of the butcher's when she'd first came to Heartstone Trollmarket.

Kilfred squinted his judging eyes taking a good look at the young human female before him and noticed something different about this one. "Wait. . .that hair," he began to realize. "You're not human. You're, a Lion, aren't you? What is a Silver Lion doing here in our presence?"

Bagdwella came up and tried to explain, "Well, you see, Kilfred. As hard as it may be hard to believe, she. . .besides the Trollhunter. Is our protector." Kilfred turned astonished and looked back at the girl with the boys quivering behind her back. Kilfred furrowed his stone eyebrows in denial and said, "Unacceptable!" He raised and pointed his stone finger at her. "Her kind are the reason Gunmar exists today! What in the right mind would you all let th-this . . . feline abomination stand with us?!"

Talia took that as an offense and said, "Hey! I am no abomination! And just because my ancestors made a big mistake going into war with troll-kind doesn't mean that I have any part of Gunmar's creation. I hate that guy as much as everyone else in this warehouse. That's the whole reason why I- -"

"Enough!" Kilfred erupted refusing to listen to Talia any further. "I will not be lectured by some mere child. Kill the lion and capture those two fresh meats!" Just like that the Trolls did as their once old-respected leader said without question and came charging right at the teens.

"AAAAAHHH! Tally, what do we do?" Steve squealed.

"Isn't it obvious?" Tally said. Talia's aura shined bright white as her eyes turned ice-cold blue, her nails grew sharp along with her fangs. "Run!" she picked up Eli making him yelp, "Hey!" and tossed him over her shoulder and began running for their lives.

The mob of trolls came after them in pursuit. "I really wish I hadn't met stupid Lake and stumble in on your secret life in the first place!" Steve yelled. "Hey! You're the one who'd been picking on us ever since we were little and never got off our backs. You brought yourself in on this so, that's what you get for always being a big fat jerk all the time!" Talia said to him.

"How was I to know that this would happen?!" Steve said following her through the crates of salvage goods avoiding the angry trolls.

"It's called Karma, Steve! Karma!" Talia said dodging one of the flying crates.

Then Talia felt another weight jumping on her back recognizing that diaper smell clinging onto her hoodie and looked over her shoulder, "What are you doing?!" "Just wanted a front-row see of watching Kilfred and his posse trying to eat yah and . . ." He pulled out his personal cellphone and started taking pictures. "I got a get these good shots for Troll-Gossip. Hashtag Kilfred taking charge kiddies on menu for tonight." Talia snatched the phone from his little green hands and tossed it away. "Hey!" "Do really want to post that online and give away our location to Gunmar?" "Aw, come on. It's not liked the big guy knows how to use a computer," he said. "No. But most of our troll friends that have been turned may still remember how to use technology and that could be very bad for us."

Steve looked back and saw the trolls gaining up on him. He screamed and jumped onto Talia's back holding on tightly like a scared little child. "Run faster Tally!" "Steve!" She could transform into her beast form if she didn't have to deal with carrying the changeling and two scared boys while running for their lives. Which was all too much and hard to concentrate. "Strike now while she's slowed down!" Kilfred commanded. Talia knew that she needed to think of something quick before they were all captured. She looked up and spotted large bottles of water up on the crates which gave her an idea. Talia puffed her cheeks, her throat began to burn flaming hot, and spat a marble sized fireball making a direct hit breaking the large plastic water filled containers turning all the moisture into a blinding fog of mist.

Talia, NotEnrique and the Creepslayerz took this advantage and went into hiding in time before the mist disappeared. Now hidden inside of a dark box all cramped up and out of trolls' sight. Steve pulled out his phone. The home screen lit up the entire inside of the crate, revealing Eli's and Talia's faces an inch away from his. Startled, he dropped his phone with a clatter, which echoed loudly inside their box.

"Shh!" Eli whispered urgently.

"No, you shh!" Steve whispered back, before Talia clamped up the traps shutting them up. "Be quiet!" She whispered. "I'm trying to listen." Talia took a big deep breath as her skin grew fur, her face becoming more feline, and a tail grew out of her spine. Her sensitive hearing was wide open as she hears the voice of Kilfred from outside of the crate.

"Lazy and inept, the lot of you!" said Kilfred's voice. "Why, in my day, we'd have fleshbags like as appetizers!"

"Apologies, Kilfred," Bagdwella said. "As the girl said, we made a pact some time ago not to eat humans. We were so caught up in your return, we must've slipped back into old habits.

"Then my next decree as your leader is to renegotiate the so-called 'pact,'" Kilfred decided. "Forget those children who evaded us and take me to this . . . Arcadia."

Talia, Steve, Eli, and NotEnrique all traded a look of wide-eyed alarm as they heard the grumbling Trolls vacate the warehouse. Waiting a full minute after the last Troll shuffled outside, the crate opened, Talia and the Creepslayerz out. Eli said, "I think Kilfred just declared World War T on our hometown! The T stands for 'Troll,' by the way."

"Yeah, thanks for connecting the dots on that one, Eli," Steve said sarcastically.

"This is bad news," added NotEnrique, taking this all seriously now. "Even by Troll standards."

"So, what do we do?" Steve demanded. "Tally. You and Lake normally handle this kind of stuff, right? How are we supposed to stop the horned zebra and from getting all the trolls killed?"

"I... I don't know," she said feeling hopeless without Jim and her friends. "Jim always figures out, devises a plan, and knows what to do. He's the leader. . .not me."

Then something had caught Eli's eye, adjusting his glasses, he peered back into their crate and said, "Whoa, check this out. . ."

Steve and Talia looked over Eli's shoulder and saw a treasure trove of Troll supplies.

"Guess we were too busy not getting eaten to notice this junk," Steve said.

"This isn't junk," Eli continued as he examined the stuff. "Tally, like Steve said you and Jim are the only ones who normally handles this kind of world saving stuff. But he's not here now. So, that means it's up to us. And whether you maybe a leader or not, we need your help more than ever."

"No," Talia pointed out. "You guys are way in over your heads. You don't even know how to fight. And last time I checked you couldn't even handle a bunch of angry mob of trolls."

"She's right you know," NotEnrique agreed. "Just go home and let us handle this. We'll call in a few favors before Kilfred's invasion gets even more out of hand. Come on, Tally." Talia picked up NotEnrique and tossed him over her shoulder's making their way out of the warehouse and into the woods, Steve turned to Eli and asked, "They don't really think we're gonna listen to them, do they?"

"And miss out on all the fun?" Eli answered with a knowing wink.

Steven and Eli grab the stuff from the crate stuffing their pockets with rounded crystals that looked just like their smoke bombs. Tore strips of red fabric from a Troll flag and wore them like headbands. They tucked swords through their belts and drew patterns on their faces like war paint. A few minutes of intense preparation, the Creepslayerz were armed to performed an elaborate secret handshake with lots of slaps, bumps, and finger snaps before Steve ran for the exit and yelled, "Creepslayerz-HO!"

Eli started to follow him but skidded to a halt in front of another opened crate. It contained several tiny carved totems, each of them attached to a loop of string. "Neat-o," said Eli as he pocketed one of the Troll necklaces and went after his best pal.