Age of Lions
Chapter 11
Gogun Wept
"Take it!" Jim yelled, thrusting the amulet into Gogun's hands for the umpteenth time. "Take it! Take it!"
The inactive device slipped out of the old troll's fingers as he broke down sobbing again. Jim threw up his hands in frustration.
Clair rolled her eyes as Marshall shook his head seeing how pointless this is. Gogun dropped to the soggy ground under the bridge, crying even harder. Leo just stood on the sidelines leaning up against the tree, watching the whole thing impatiently. Of course, he was the least bit interested in how a human boy was chosen by Merlin's Amulet if it was crated for trolls. He remembered the stories of his clan from 2600 BC and how a distant relative scouter in Mesopotamia came across a prophecy-
"Maybe we should try a softer sell. You've always said how overwhelmed you felt when you first became the Trollhunter." Claire suggested.
"My situation hasn't exactly improved since then," Jim deadpanned over more walls.
"Exactly," Marshall implored. "This is a big responsibility you're asking Gogun to take. Maybe you should try telling him something that comforted you when you were in his place."
Jim gave the wizard a look. ". . . And how could you possibly know that?"
"From Talia in her dreamland. How else?" Marshall clarified.
Jim rolled his eyes. "Right." He replied, thinking it over. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, Jim approached the old troll, who still sobbed in the river muck. "Hey, uh, Gogun."
Gogun uncurled from the fetal position and, in a voice this with tears, said, "What?"
"I know being the Trollhunter is kind of a heavy burden, but someone once told me that destiny is a gift."
Gogun sniffled. "It . . . it is?
"Yeah! See, some go their entire lives living an existence of quiet desperation, never learning the truth. That what feels like a burden pushing down upon our shoulders is actually the sense of purpose that lifts us to greater heights."
Leo leaned off the tree, growing interested in the boy's profound speech.
"Greater. . . greater heights?" Gogun echoed, now wiping the tears from his cheeks.
"Never forget that fear is but the precursor to valor. That to strive and triumph in the face of fear is what it means to be a hero." Don't think. Become."
The old troll's lips moved as he silently mouthed the last part of the speech. Gogun then stood up tall, wiped the slop from his body, and said, "Become what? A corpse?!"
"What? No!" Jim said as Gogun retreated.
Leo groaned in frustration.
"That's not what he was saying at all!" Claire vouched.
"He meant becoming mor of who you are and who you choose to be when destiny finds you." Marshall added.
"I told you," Gogun said, his voice rising in anger. "I don't want to-"
"Be the Trollhunter, yeah, yeah, yeah," Jim finished for him. "Pretty sure I heard you the first hundred times. Fine. So, what do you want then?"
"I already know what I want," Leo snarked, the teens give the Silver Lion a deadly glare of his unhelpful attitude.
"Nobody. . . nobody's ever asked me that," Gogun said, his pique fading. "But if I had a choice in the matter, I suppose I want to do what I've always felt I was born to do."
"And what's that?" Clair said, genuinely intrigued.
Jim, Claire, and Marshall watched the old troll in bafflement. He started kicking his feet in rhythm, splashing the water and twirling his body as he hummed to himself. A fed-up Leo stomped his foot on the ground, causing it to shake. Gogun tripped and fell face-first into the river.
"Psst, I guess now we know why he goes by 'the Graceful'." Marshall said, unimpressed.
"We are so doomed," Jim said.
"This is a waste of time," Leo snapped, unimpressed by the whole thing. "My partner is in the clutches of the Dark Trollhunter, and you three are insisting that this coward is the key to defeating Tellad-Urr?"
"Look, I know that this sounds crazy, but –"Marshall began to argue. Leo raised a skeptic eyebrow. Marshall glanced at Gogun still sobbing madly under the bridge. ". . . Okay, as a friend of ours would say, 'crazy-town-banana-pants,' but we're telling you, he'll be Tellad-Urr's successor, and he can help us get home."
"And where exactly is home, wizard?" Leo suspiciously asked.
At that, Marshall hesitated. "Uh. . ."
Leo mumbled to himself, "If only Axton had foreseen Tellad-Urr's turn, we wouldn't risk our clan's existence."
"Axton?" Claire wondered.
Leo sighed in defeat, realizing that there's no point in hiding anything from these kids who seemed to know everything. "Axton the Loyal, he's our cheiftan and my mentor. He was the one who sent me and Zelda to take care of Tellad-Urr."
"Really?" Jim said, overhearing his best friend's ancestor. "If the Silver Lions were never to interfere with troll-kind. Why would he make this an expectation?"
"I do not know. All I could say is that ever since we carried out the law and promised to one another to never cross paths again. . .but only if dire. The Trollhunters and Troll Elders are the only ones who know of our people and our village. . . until Tellad-Urr betrayed that code, revealing our existence to Gunmar to spite Kilfred's petty calls. It's supposed to be a leader's job to –"
Leo stopped himself from the last sentence as he come to fully realize something. Jim and the others could tell something was wrong judging by the look on Talia's ancestor.
". . .He set us up," Leo said in tranquil fury.
The kids stared at him in confusion, until he roared and stomped his foot, causing the earth to shake making the Trollhunter's lose their footing. Gogun quickly scurried from the bridge before it collapsed.
"That so called 'Loyal' hypocrite! He knew!" Leo paced furiously. "He knew that Tellad-Urr would go rogue! And all this time he was worried for the fate or clan!"
"Axton?" Marshall clarified, eyes widened. "He's the reason why your clan's been revealed?"
Jim gathered his friends close to talk in private. "A Silver Lion endangered his people? How Gunmar became interested in them the first place?"
"Which apparently led to the chain of events. Indirectly responsible or not, that's irony taken up to eleven." Marshall said in disdain.
"I need to find Zelda immediately!" Leo said urgently, catching the teen's attention again. "I have to save my people before it's too late."
Claire suddenly doubled over with a coughing fit, taking Leo aback. Marshall ran to her side, but out of nowhere, she shoved him away. "I'm fine, Marshall!" She snapped harshly.
"Whoa, whoa! Where'd that come from, Nunez?" Marshall said with his hands up, slightly offended yet worried.
Claire snarked, "Where'd what come from?"
"That. I really hope it's the sickness affecting your mood because that was too sudden."
Claire's eyes widened, realizing how unexpectedly rude she sounded. "I'm sorry, I'll. . .I'll be alright."
"I know when you're acting, Claire," Jim replied. "You're getting sicker the longer we stay here. We gotta get back to our own time. To actual medicine, not leeches and bloodletting."
"That. . .that might be a while," Claire said hoarsely.
"Let me take a look at you." Leo said.
Jim felt a renewed pang of worry as he watched Leo lead Claire down to the bank, examining her face, pulled out a cup from his pouch, and gave it to Claire to drink.
"I've seen what you did with that staff," Leo said to the ill girl.
"I need to get it back from Tellad-Urr," Claire insisted. "I might be able to create a portal to get us home."
Leo made a grave look. "I can see your aura, girl, and it doesn't look good. You've been exposed to shadow magic. I urge you caution."
"Thanks for the advice, but I'm fine." She said.
Marshall watched Leo and Claire talk privately, still feeling edgy by how Claire acted to him earlier. Out of the blue, Claire's mood turned hostile directly at him like she didn't want him to touch her. Not like he was trying to hit on her in front of Jim; he has standards. But Claire's behavior . . . is troubling.
Gogun sidled up beside Jim.
"You. . . care for her, don't you?" The troll asked, following Jim and Marshall's line of sight to Claire.
"Yeah," Jim acknowledged. "I do."
"Yes, I can remember what it was like to feel that way for another." Gogun sighed wistfully, his eyes distant with the onset of memory. "She was called. . . Shmorkrag." Jim and Marshall blinked in puzzlement. "I told you it was a common name. Although everything else about her – her beauty, her fiery passion – was the most uncommon. My Shmorkrarg had this funny little way of breaking boulders against her skull. And whenever she smote an enemy, she'd get the most alluring look in her one eye. . ."
"Sound. . . special." Jim mumbled weakily.
Gogun sighed, shook the nostalgia from his head, and pulled an unassuming plant from the riverbank, handing it to Jim. "Here. Succor root. This should help your unfortunate-looking lady friend with her cough." Jim felt his spirits rise as he looked from the sprout to Claire and back to Gogun. The ancient, sopping wet troll picked up the discarded amulet from the shoals. He breathed in heavy acceptance. "It's certainly beautiful." The he moved his hand up and down a bit. "It's heavier than it looks. Now tell me. . .does this thing come with instructions?"
Jim cracked a smile. "You're looking at them." He said.
"In the meantime, I'll get a fire and some tea ready," Marshall said as he took the root from Jim. The wizard lifted his hand and made twigs fly towards him into a pile. "Ignis ardeat." Snapping his fingers, fire blazed on the twig pile before Marshall made a boulder come to him. Using hand gestures, he sliced the boulder in half like nothing, tossing on half to the side, then tensed his fingers, twisting it as he created a large hole inside the other half, turning it into a bowl. "Funem parvum." He conjured small amber ropes to hang the bowl over the fire with some twigs. A small ball of water hovered from the bank and poured itself onto the bowl.
Thanks to some of his alchemy training with June, Marshall recognized the common succor root, which, like Gogun said, is perfect for easing ill symptoms, even temporarily. And help Jim and himself regain strength.
. . .
Later
"Again," Jim called as the midday light dappled through the trees.
He, Claire, and Leo watched Gogun practice sword fighting with a stick in the forest to which they had moved. The troll kept to the shade, thrusting, parrying, and striking with his branch. Marshall, meanwhile, continued to prepare his tea. Leo felt a little agitated and impatient with these kids putting their faith in this cowardly old troll: Zelda may be running out of time and Axton is still keeping their whole entire clan ignorant to the whole conflict.
"Gettin' better, Gogun!" Claire encouraged from the sidelines.
Gogun lowered the branch and took a bow, but lost his balance and fell over once more.
Leo burst out laughing while Jim covered his face with his hand and said, "Again."
. . .
Golden rays of late-afternoon sunlight filtered into the forest as Leo and Gogun now sparred with two sticks. Jim, Claire, and Marshall drank their tea as they watch the Silver Lion training the soon to-be Trollhunter. Leo was aggressive, but for the sake of the kids, he tried to move slowly, allowing the elderly troll to deflect each pretend blow.
"The Gumm-Gumms prefer to stab their enemies in the back," Leo instructed. "Make sure to watch your flanks."
Proud of himself, Gogun held the branch sideways like a cane and started tap-dancing in the middle of the forest. Claire clapped along, until Jim and Marshall shot her a dirty look.
Leo stared at him, unimpressed. He nudged his heel against the ground making a big crack that approached one of Gogun's feet and, as he stepped on the crack, swallowed his leg as he yelped.
". . .And watch your step." Leo added smugly.
. . .
With the sunset now reddening the sky over the forest, Jim and the others watched Gogun successfully complete an attack/defense combo, roll forward on the leafy ground, and plant his sword-stick into the log that sort of looked like a dead Gumm-Gumm.
"Awesome sauce!" Jim, Clair, and Marshall applauded together.
"You know, you're not half-bad teachers, Leo and Kim." Gogun said.
Claire and Marshall snorted, but quickly recovered when they saw Jim glowering at them.
"I'm not laughing," Claire fibbed. "That was a sneeze. Ah-choo again."
"And I just choked on some of my tea." Marshall said sheepishly, holding his mug.
My. Name. Is. Jim." Jim said to Gogun between clenched teeth.
"Really?" Gogun said, legitimately surprised. "I thought I heard you say 'Kim'."
"Jim!" Jim repeated through his grinding jaws.
"Oh. Well. Sorry." Gogun shrugged. "Either way, I think we can stop training."
"Don't be so sure, old hermit," Leo cautioned. "One day of training is not enough to fight a whole army, especially without experience.
Gogun flexed his arms like a body builder and started strutting around the forest with feigned confidence. "Who you calling 'old hermit'? I've, uh, never felt so lethal. And thanks to you, I now appreciate the, er, sacred obligation of the Trollhunter and solemnly swear to uphold and- oooh, kitties!"
Jim, Marshall, Claire, and Leo watched slack jawed as Gogun ran over to a bush and cradled the litter of kittens that had just pounced out of it. He scratched behind their furry little ears with the tip of his stone finger and nuzzled their purring bellies with his nose.
"Heww, dere!" Gogun baby-talked to the cats. "Who's a cute widdle kitten? You are!"
"I thought trolls eat cats." Claire said, still wrapping her head around the sight.
Marshalls scoffed, "Yeah, well. Neither did we think that Usurna would be allergic to them."
"And humans," Gogun said with a bitter edge. "Guess I'm not like other trolls, hmm?"
"No. No, you're not." Jim said with mounting annoyance.
"Not all trolls are like the Gumm-Gumms, but not all trolls are good trolls." Leo said, before a bitter tone of his own crept in. "As not all Silver Lions fight for the good of the balance."
The kids stared at him feeling sad for him.
"I'm going to name you 'Shmorkrag'." Gogun told one of the kittens. "Oh, yes, I am!"
Claire looked at the dusk. "If we're going to make our move, it's now or never." She said.
"Right," Jim replied as the future Trollhunter rolled on the ground with the kittens. "C'mon, Gogun. Time for some on-the-job training."