Sacrifices
Chapter 4: What Kind?
I promised a longer chapter and that's exactly what I'm giving you. Hope you enjoy this one!
Poppy made her way back to the castle. She had to find out at least what the plant was and where she could find one. She made her way through the halls having flashbacks when she ran out of the castle not that long ago when Branch gave himself up so not only all the Trolls could live but that she could too.
"Ahh!" Poppy put her hands to her face in frustration. "He tells me that he loves me. Then gives his life before I can say anything back. Leaving me with all these feelings for him. Selfish" She was talking to herself to try and calm herself down. She was emotional and when you're emotional, you're often unstable or vulnerable. She needed to focus on saving him. She could have all the feelings ever after he's back with her. She made her way to a familiar door at the end of a hall.
She opened it.
Lying in a bed was the Bergen who she helped get into King Gristle's heart. "Hey, Bridget?" She whispered into her ear. The Bergen shot up instantly.
"Yes Chef! Sorry Chef!" She shouted in reaction.
"No Bridget it's me! Poppy!" The Bergen looked down to see the tiny pink figure of pure happiness.
"Poppy? What are you doing here?" Bridget asked. "You shouldn't be here anymore! All the other Trolls are gone and safe!" She tried to reason with her. Not that she didn't enjoy her company but she just wanted her to be safe.
"Not all Trolls" Poppy hung her head.
"What? Who?" Bridget asked now laying a finger on her arm in support.
"Branch" Poppy silently let out
"The grey unhappy one?" Bridget asked.
"In the pot we were in, I lost my colours and I was sad. He sang to me-"
"He actually sang?" Bridget asked in disbelief.
"Ya" Poppy let out a chuckle. "He brought me out of my sadness and told me he loved me." She smiled and hugged herself at the warm feeling that the memory brought.
"Wow. I wish King Gristle would tell me that." Bridget sounded a little jealous of their relationship.
"Well it's clear he still likes you! You just have to tell him!" Poppy exclaimed.
"I don't know. Will he still like me?" Bridget asked motioning to her dirty dress.
"Did he go on a date with you or someone else?" Poppy almost laughed.
"Me" Bridget admitted.
"Then what do you think the answer is?" Poppy asked.
"Yes?" Bridget answered.
"There you go!" Poppy was prideful she helped another person on their journey towards happiness.
"Anyways what happened with Branch?" Bridget got off the rabbit trail they were on and back on topic.
"Oh." Poppy's mood dropped a little. "Before I had a chance to say anything about that back to him, we arrived at the tables and when the lid came off the pot, Branch told us to get back and he jumped out and started creating and demonstrating havoc so we could escape." Poppy relived the painful laughter after the Bergens caught Branch.
"He did it for you" Bridget tried to comfort her thoughts.
"I went to rescue him and I had him in my arms but the Chef poisoned him and if he left with me, he'd die." Poppy said with a huge tone of guilt. "I left him there to be tortured."
"Did he want you to stay?" Bridget asked.
"No. He told me to run."
"At least you did as he asked."
"That's why I came here as fast as I could. I need your help." Poppy looked up
"It's about Branch isn't it?" Bridget looked back at the pleading eyes. "What do you need?"
"Don't worry it's nothing that will endanger you" Poppy reassured.
"Ok what?" Bridget repeated.
"Branch couldn't leave with me because he was poisoned. He needs a specific herb of some kind every day or he dies. Please. I need you to listen and find out what herb is and where I can find it." Poppy practically begged.
"Is that all?" Bridget clarified.
"Or if you can find out a cure for the poison I'd help you even more with King Gristle!" She offered.
"You already helped me more than I could've asked for. I'll find out at least what the herb is ok?" Bridget said to Poppy.
"Thank you." Poppy ran up and hugged the Bergen.
*In the Halls*
Bridget had allowed Poppy to remain in her room as she started to eavesdrop on conversations doing her daily tasks trying to figure out anything. She wondered around for hours until she saw a guard bringing some kind of plant to the Chef. The Guard fumbled with it and almost dropped it.
"Be careful with that!" Chef yelled. "That Wormwood is the only thing keeping the Troll alive! We can't have it mix with dust or anything else or it won't work well enough!"
"Wormwood." Bridget whispered to herself. She had found out what kept Branch alive so far.
She returned to Poppy with the news.
"Did you hear anything?" Poppy asked
"I know what's been keeping him alive!" Bridget said proudly.
"What is it!?" Poppy almost screamed with joy.
"It's uh... uh... I forgot." Bridget was now thinking hard. "It involved wood and worms... uh. Wood worm.. Wormwood!" Bridget remembered.
"Wormwood?" Poppy asked. "Never heard of that before."
"Me either."
"I'll have to find a book on it somewhere." Poppy said
"You could always go to the library" Bridget offered.
"Where's that?"
*Later in the Library*
"Worms, Worm food, Worms & fish, The Worm, Wormwood!" Poppy finally found the book that was at least 5 times bigger than her. She managed to get it down and started to read the facts. "It grows in grassy areas and it's common." She found a picture of the plant and memorized it. She kept reading as it talked about the recepies that it can be a part of. Finally when she found the medical page she found out that it protects a victim of Sea Serpent poison for 24 hours. "So he was poisoned with Sea Serpent poison!"
She later found more books on how to cure poison. Not many were helpful which discouraged her. She didn't want to be gathering Wormwood for the rest of her life to keep Branch alive. She would but she wanted to cure him. She finally found a possible cure. "Fenugreek" it read. "Aids in flushing harmful toxins out of the body. Can be harmful if not given right."
Poppy finally had a plan. Find Wormwood which was common then find that Fenugreek to cure her Branch. "Don't worry Branch, we'll be together soon."
For the record, Fenugreek and wormwood are real. Not just fiction. Thanks for your reviews and I'll see you all in the next chapter!