Disclaimer: This story is completely original. All characters, settings, and events are spawned from my own mixed up little mind and may not be used, copied, or adapted without my express written permission. Do not steal my story!!!

(( Note: Due to some unforeseen problems with the name I'd picked out for her (thank you for letting me know, watsonkat! 3) Ganja will henceforth be known as Gaj'ja. Pronounced "Gahj-jah" ))

19.

The pale blue light flickered across the smooth walls of the royal hall, making the designs etched into every surface dance and come alive. It made Toby feel like there were hundreds of pairs of eyes watching her instead of just one.

The hall stretched out before her, easily a soccer field's length, at its end a large stone table with no center. Instead, in the middle, was a pedestal bearing a broken sword. Toby wondered why such a relic – a broken one, at that – was so important it got center table even in the queen's chamber. The queen herself sat in a high backed chair at the head of the table, watching Toby. The brunette could hardly see her because of the shadows cast by the big chair, but she knew the troll was watching her. She could feel it.

Toby had no other alternative, so she started walking forward.

The queen said nothing.

Reaching the end of the table, Toby came to a stop. Then, not knowing what else to do, she dipped in a very awkward and very un-princess-like curtsey. The Beserker Queen laughed, and stood, the chair screeching in protest as it was slid across the stone wall.

"You're certainly not what I expected." Her voice was harsh, gravelly like Ganja's, but fluent, mimicking the grace that she displayed as she walked around the corner of the table and came into the light. Her skin was a rich green, a shade that would put any emerald to shame. She stood small, for a troll, barely seven feet, but she seemed the largest thing in the room. Her hair was spiked up into three mohawks, one large center one with the two on the sides smaller. The hair that fell down her back was braided with blades adorning the ends. Her tusks were small and capped with jade tips, accented by the armor she wore, which was smooth plate metal of a green so deep it nearly seemed black. On her person she bore no fewer then six different weapons that Toby could see – twin axes at her hips, long swords across her back, daggers tucked into her belt, and even a ring of throwing stairs on a chain around her neck.

She was like a walking armory, and when she smiled the lights in her eyes seemed like flashing swords. Toby had never met a berserker, but she knew this slim green being put their reputation to shame.

"I get that a lot," Toby replied finally, part of herself proud at how strong her voice sounded. The other part was too busy trying to keep her entire body from shaking with fright to care. The Jade Lady walked around her in a slow circle. She smelled of fire, like from a forge, and steel.

The Jade Lady suddenly seized Toby and tilted her head back. The brunette flailed helplessly in the troll's iron grasp, staring up at the troll. Here it comes. Great, I didn't even get to tell her she looked like an oversized grape.

But it didn't come. The queen stared at her tiara for a minute, then released her. Toby wavered, but kept her feet, staring in confusion and surprise as the troll returned to her seat. This time the fire light kept her illuminated. She gestured to the seat just around the corner of the table.

"Sit, Princess. Let's have tea."

Toby stared at her. "…. What?'

"Tea. You still have tea in your mundane places, don't you? Now sit." She flicked the blade of the polearm leaning against her throne with her finger, making a small sound like a bell. On cue, a troll appeared, and part of Toby burst into laughter at the sight of a giant troll warrior carrying a tray with a tea seat on it. He set it down in front of the queen, bowed deeply to them both, then left.

The Jade Lady wasted no time in pouring Toby a cup, then looked at her expectantly. Toby realized she hadn't actually sat down yet, so quickly moved to do that.

"You… you aren't going to make me disappear?"

The troll paused in her pouring, stared at Toby. "What?! I bet that ridiculous oversized pansy Verum gave you that idea, did she? She never did understand trolls." She snorted derisively, dumping four sugar cubes into her tea. Toby wondered if trolls strolled into supermarkets and bought cubes in bags like normal "mundane" people.

"So what do you want then? Why did you kidnap me and drag me all the way down here?!"

The Jade Lady fixed her with a slow smile. "To have tea."

Toby stared at her for a moment. Then, not knowing what else to do, she put a sugar cube and some creamer in her own tea, then sipped at it. She set the cup down again. "Okay. We had tea. Now what? I'm not telling you anything, you know."

The troll laughed, a raucous, harsh sound like blades clanging together. "By the stones, you may not look like much, but you've got a tongue on you. Now shut up and enjoy your tea, or I'll cut that amusing tongue out and snack on it, Princess."

Toby didn't doubt for a second she'd do as she threatened, so she sipped at her tea and said nothing.

"That's better. Now, first things first. The trolls aren't the ones who make the Princesses disappear, I can swear it. After all, no Princesses means everything's asleep, and everything being asleep means no battles, and that's a fate worse than death. Before you ask," she added with a stern look when Toby opened her mouth, "I don't know who's doing it. If I did, I would have gutted them and had myself a new carpet a long time ago."

She stamped one foot and Toby resolutely kept herself from looking down. "You mean… you're happy that I was crowned?"

The troll grinned. "Exceedingly. You're a little on the scrawny side, but from what Ganja told me you've got some spirit and that pleases me. Especially if we're to do battle in the future, feisty Princesses are always so much more fun to capture."

"Wait a second! I thought you said you didn't want me to disappear!"

The troll heaved a sigh. "Of course not. Then things go to sleep. But what good would a Princess be to us trolls if we didn't try and capture you every once in a while? I do so miss those roaring good battles with Lord Fizzybink. How's he doing, still using my sword?'

"… your sword?" Toby imagined the tiny little toothpick of a sword Fiz carried in the troll queen's grasp.

"Yes. He won it off me fair and square. But I won his armor. Oh the look on his face as the rest of his battalion arrived to find him clad in nothing but his loincloth..." She grinned wickedly, and Toby felt her head spinning. This wasn't going anything like Toby had thought it would, and the brunette wasn't sure what to make of it. The troll was openly telling her she was going to try and kidnap Toby in the future, but it was all in good fun…?

"I don't… I don't understand…"

The troll suddenly patted Toby's hand. "You will in time, Princess. I was afraid I was going to have to rough you up a bit to get some backbone, but I don't think I'll need to. I can recognize a fighter when I see one. So I think I'll give you something to aid you."

She stood and the chair screeched again. The Beserker Queen strode into the center of the square table from an opening to one side of her chair and reached up. Gingerly she picked up the two broken pieces of the sword, sliding them into the sheath that rested just below. Then she returned to Toby, gently placing the sheathed, shattered sword in the brunette's palms.

"What… what is it?"

"Something that should have been fixed a long time ago. I want you to take it with you. I've got a feeling you'll be putting to right a good many things, and I want this to be one of them."

Toby stared at the weapon in her hands. It was heavier than it seemed it should be, the sheath made of a cool leather and inscribed with a language Toby didn't recognize. The hilt of the sword was long, and shaped like a dragon, with the dragon's tail curling around the base of the blade and the dragon's mouth as the pommel, a ruby flame set in the end. Its outstretched wings formed the protective arms of the hilt.

"I'll take good care of it," Toby said, looking up at the troll queen, who smiled.

"I know you will." She sat down again and raised her tea cup to her mouth. "Because if you don't, the next time we meet you'll be the one leaving in pieces." Toby smiled faintly at the joke. At least, she hoped it was a joke. "Now, Gaj'ja will show you back to your room. If you wish to explore you may, but keep in mind you only have a few hours."

"Until what…?"

The Jade Lady looked up at Toby and grinned. "Until your rescue, of course." She heaved a happy sigh and sipped at her tea again. "Oh, I am so looking forward to a good battle… I hear Georgette's got a Pookah now. This will be fun." Her glittering eyes seemed lost in dreamy anticipation of the romp to come, so Toby just sipped at her tea, turning her own thoughts to the broken sword in her lap and what it would mean in the days to come.