Toby was practically drooling as he stared at the strange and colorful crystals the vender was selling.
"Close your mouth, Tobes," He heard Jim say with a snicker.
Okay. Maybe he actually was drooling, but could he really be blamed? They didn't sell these kind of things on the surface.
"Sooo, how much are these?" He asked the shopkeeper, a stout, light grey troll about a head taller than Blinky. He leaned against the table and tried not to look too interested.
"What've ya got?" The shopkeeper asked in a gruff bored tone.
Toby blinked. Did the trolls here have a currency? They ate the metals humans prized for their own currency. He looked around him at the different stalls trying to see if he could spot a transaction, unfortunately most of the trolls were just talking.
In the Darklands, while it was generally every troll for themself, they did do some bartering. Toby himself had been rather skilled in finding and extracting valuable gems and minerals. It had not gotten him very far in a society based on violence, especially when the other changelings kept stealing from him. Eventually he had put a stop to that by crushing some stinger crystal and putting it in an offending troll's food; the results were not pretty but it did the job…
"Toby we need to get going," Jim said, tapping his shoulder.
"Right!" Toby shook himself back to the present. "Let me just try something first."
He turned back toward the shopkeeper, who was now polishing what looked like a glowing amethyst on a stone wheel.
"Sir? Sir!" The troll pulled the crystal back and turned toward him with a grunt.
"What kind of things are you looking for?"
"What've ya got?" The troll repeated, making Toby feel a bit like he was talking to an NPC in a video game.
"Nothing at the moment…" The troll started turning away. "But! I happen to have unlimited access to the surface." Toby's gaze darted around quickly cataloguing the wares at the other stands. "Socks… blankets, tin cans… lightbulbs, you name it I can get it for you!"
Now he had the troll's interest. The troll's eyes, grey-brown and translucent (smoky quartz maybe?), sized Toby up. The changeling carefully kept his pose casual.
"Hmmm… Come later and A'll give ya a list. Bring that stuff and w'll talk."
"You got it," Toby said shooting him finger-guns and winking for good measure.
Jim let out a groan, before grabbing his arm and dragging him off.
"Trollhunter!"
Toby jumped as a portly troll lady barged in on their history lesson.
He shot her a look of annoyance as Blinky turned toward her. He had actually been enjoying himself. Aaarrrgghh was quite comfortable to lean against, he had Jim beside him and out of danger, and Blinky was a very good reader. Also, while he knew the basics of what happened at Killahead, he had never really learned the details.
"What is it Bagdwella? Is it the heartstone?" Blinky asked closing the book with a concerned expression.
"Stalkling?" Aaarrrgghh rose to all fours.
"Is Bular in Trollmarket?" Jim asked nervously.
Toby doubted that was the case; there'd have been a lot more screaming.
"No. No. No!" Bagdwella yelled waving her arms around. "Rogue gnome!"
The glue traps were kind of creepy, Toby reflected with a shudder. He wasn't familiar with gnomes, but their skeletons looked eerily human. Not to mention he'd always been of the opinion if one was going to kill something they should do it quickly. He figured it fell into the whole "treat others how you wanted to be treated" thing. Slowly dying from starvation and dehydration was not a nice way to go.
Bagdwella was explaining her problem to Jim who seemed to be just as baffled about why he was being called on to help with this as Toby was.
"See you need a gnome catcher," He said with an awkward smile when she had finished. "And I'm, well, the Trollhunter. So…"
"Oh no, Master Jim," Blinky interrupted. "The Trollhunter cannot refuse a call and what better a call for you to train with than a pint sized quarry."
Toby supposed he could see Blinky's reasoning there. Still…
If Toby had come to one of his superiors over something this trivial he would have gotten a harsh reprimand for wasting their time at a bare minimum. Did they really treat all the Trollhunters like this or was it because Jim was new and hadn't earned their respect yet? Or, more likely, because he was human?
A sound that was something like a guitar drew their attention to a rack of socks. The gnome emerged strumming a makeshift instrument made out of a small rake and singing incomprehensible words. It was actually a pretty good musician. Toby found himself warming up to the creature… at least until it stole his belt and nugget nummies.
What ensued after that was something like a cross between slapstick and the world's worst game of wack-a-mole. The gnome eluded them at every turn, slipping out of their hands and through crevices, stealing things all the while, until it ultimately got Jim's amulet and escaped into its hole.
"Oh come on," Jim muttered as he foolishly reached his arms into the hole.
"So what now?" He asked, finally giving up and turning to Blinky.
Blinky sighed.
"Well if you had lost or rejected the amulet would have returned to you, but unfortunately as it has been thieved it will not do so."
Toby choked on his saliva.
"That… seems like a really bad system," Jim said slowly echoing Toby's thoughts.
Blinky shrugged.
"It talks about it in A Brief Recapitulation. Not much is known as Merlin was notoriously close-lipped. Fortunately that is not the problem at hand." He folded his upper arms behind his back and started tapping the lower ones together. "No, our current problem is how to retrieve the Amulet."
"Well what am I supposed to do?" Jim complained, "I can't fit in that hole."
A slight, but concerning, smile formed on Blinky's face as he tapped his chin.
"Currently."
Toby wasn't sure what he was talking about but Aaarrrgghh apparently knew.
"Bad idea," The Krubera rumbled shaking his head with an apprehensive look.
"No Trollhunter has ever lost his amulet," Blinky said irritably. "We'll need time to procure the Furgolator."
"Uh, the Furgolator?" Jim, understandably, sounded concerned.
"Don't you worry about anything, Master Jim! Tend to your studies. We'll watch over the hole." Blinky said resting a hand on his shoulder. "Tomorrow, you'll return refreshed to deal with this, um… little problem."
Toby, however, was not about to let it go that easily. Especially not when Aaarrrgghh seemed to dislike the idea.
"What, exactly, is a Fergolator?" He asked, narrowing his eyes slightly.
"It's a machine we use to compress minerals," Blinky said. "If the gnome won't come out, the Trollhunter shall go in."
"You're going to shrink me?" Jim yelped.
"Precisely!"
Toby did not like the sound of that.
"Have you tested it on humans before? Or at least animals?" He asked. "Because from what I know, humans do not compress well."
"Well…" Blinky had the nerve to give them a guilty smile. "No… but I'm not concerned…"
Toby crossed his arms.
Blinky frowned.
"It's our best option," He said throwing up his arms. "Do you have any other suggestions?"
Toby glared at him, something unpleasant simmering in his chest. His fingers twitched.
"Not yet, but anything's better that squashing Jim in a machine that's never been tested on humans."
This was his best friend they were talking about.
Jim glanced from Toby to Blinky then quickly stepped between them.
"Woah there!" He held out his hands placatingly. "How about instead of arguing we take a break and do some brainstorming."
"That sounds like a stellar idea," Blinky relented with a smile.
Toby huffed and stepped back. He needed to get Blinky some books on human anatomy before the troll went and did irreversible damage to one of them.
After quite a bit of discussion it was decided that Jim and Toby would acquire a high powered vacuum cleaner and see if they could suck the gnome and his stolen goods out of the hole. However, as it was going to be dark soon, they would be coming back to do it the next day.
"Well that was… something," Jim said pulling off his werewolf mask.
For some reason Toby had insisted on them wearing their disguises until they got into the bushes.
"Yeah…"
Jim glanced over to see Toby frowning. His eyes darted around their surroundings as if he was looking for something.
"Toby?"
Toby blinked and refocused on Jim.
"Yeah it was! I can't believe Blinky was just going try shrinking you like that!" He grinned. "Though if it worked I guess we could have had you go to school in my Sally-Go-Back clothes. You would have looked so cute."
Jim groaned but felt a smile creeping across his face anyway.
"Maybe we could have shrunk you instead. I could have gotten you a chocolate fondue fountain to swim around in."
"Tempting but no." Toby said with a shudder. "I'm already way too short."
"I like to think you're fun-sized."
He shot Jim a mock-glare.
"Hey! That's my line. Anyway, I'll hit my growth spurt soon."
"Uh-huh…"
Toby attempted to punch his shoulder and almost tipped his bike over when he dodged. Jim smirked at his friend and sped up.
"Hey! Get back here!"
The race home left them both winded but Jim didn't mind. It was nice to have a bit of normalcy for once. It was also nice messing around with Toby, he'd been a bit worried that…
"Oh look, Mom… I mean Dr. L's home!"
She was. Her blue car had just pulled into the driveway ahead of them. Jim couldn't help but to pedal a little faster.
"Hey Mom!"
She was just getting out of the car and turned at his call.
"Oh! Hi Jim!"
Jim coasted into the driveway and hopped off his bike to go give her a hug. With everything that had happened over the course of the week it felt like it had been forever since he'd last seen her.
"Good to see you kiddo," She said returning it.
"Hey Dr.L!"
"Hi Toby," She said with a smile as they pulled apart. "Are you boys going to be home for dinner tonight?"
"Oh course," Jim said.
"You sure have been out late," She continued, retrieving her bags from the car. "Do you have some big school project or something due?"
"Or something…" Toby muttered.
Jim winced, he felt a bit guilty about not telling his Mom about Trollhunting but she had enough on her plate right now. She'd be worried (Terrified if he was being honest with himself). It wasn't like she could do anything about it.
He frowned, feeling the happiness leak out of him as his hand drifted to his empty pocket.
Blinky had said that if he refused or lost the amulet it would come back to him (unfortunately that didn't work if he was trying to get it to come back on purpose. Seriously what was Merlin thinking?). It was… It was a little disconcerting to hear just how permanent the position he now held was. No take backs… and yet… he'd never had the chance to accept or refuse it in the first place.
"You okay, Jimbo?"
He glanced to his right to see Toby staring at him, eyes bright with concern. It looked like his Mom had already gone in the house.
"Yeah… I just… I guess I'm a little bothered by what Blinky said about the amulet returning if I reject it."
Something in Toby's expression shifted, his gaze becoming a little sharper.
"Do you want to reject it?" He asked tone completely serious.
Jim blinked, a little taken aback.
"I… I don't know… I mean I don't really care for the fact that I have a killer troll out to… well… kill me, but Trollmarket's cool and I like Blinky and Aaarrrgghh… Draal not so much…"
Jim trailed off, frowning, then shrugged.
"Well it doesn't really matter since I can't get rid of it."
He turned back toward the house.
"Come on, I'm going to get started on dinner. With any luck I'll get it done before the hospital calls Mom again."
There was a pause and then he heard Toby make a noise of agreement and follow.
Toby was in good spirits when he retired to bed for the night.
Dinner had been delicious: salmon, wild rice and a nice side salad, curtesy of Chief Jim. They'd called Nana over and the four of them had eaten together for the first time in about a month. Afterward they played a round of Rummikub before Toby and Nana retired to their house for the night.
He'd gotten his homework done and even gotten a round of video games in before going to bed. Unfortunately he should have known his lucky streak would not last long.
It was about three in the morning when Toby's phone went off. He groaned and groped around in the dark until he found it. Toby hissed at the bright light before squinting at the screen. He groaned again. Maybe he could just pretend he'd slept through his phone going off…
He sighed and sat up dislodging Kracka from his chest. The goblin shot him an annoyed look.
"Sorry," He said in English before switching to Goblin. *Gather pack. Called for clean-up.*
Kracka immediately perked up and darted off, rousing Bob who was sleeping at the foot of the bed on the way by.
Toby snorted, padding over to the closet to grab his hoody. At least one of them was happy about this.
Author Note:
A bit more of a relaxed chapter.
In other news I have a job interview today! Hopefully it goes well.