To help or not to help…

He could feel Douxie approaching him. Felt, how their connection vibrated deep in his chest because of his familiar's agitation. Then his ears twitched when he heard his careful footsteps. A soft inhale followed by an annoyed groan when his leap onto the roof was louder than expected... Shaking his head, Archie sighed inwardly and made a mental note to pick out a beginner's video on parcouring that he would push on Douxie. If his boy had let his fitness slide like that in the Middle Ages, he would have died three times before noon.

"Well?" His familiar slowly crept up beside him to the edge of the roof of the warehouse in the industrial park on the outskirts of town where the Trollhunter had lured Bular. "Did he show his face?"

Douxie's hand found its usual spot in the fur on his back and their bond's vibration ebbed away until it was just gently resonating contentedly.

"No," Archie replied, feeling unaccustomed pride in a human being other than Douxie welling up inside him. "Even when Bular uprooted several trees and punched holes in some more with him on the way here, he didn't let his guard down. That was a truly brutal sight! I don't know how but the boy really has stamina! I'll give him that."

"But you're sure it's him? No doubt?"

Before Archie could answer, the troll, who was about to lash out at Gunmar's son, was thrown away by him, crashing through the wall of the warehouse they were on so forcefully that it probably wouldn't keep standing much longer. It was no problem for him, but Douxie had to quickly grab onto the rain gutter to avoid sliding down the slightly slanted roof when the whole building was shaking.

"Leave Draal alone, Bular! Your fight is with me!"

Archie shook his head in disbelief. "This isn't going to end well."

"Well, then-"

"You know you're not supposed to," he indicated to Douxie, but his words were almost drowned out by Bular's sneering, marrow-shaking laughter. And while he watched the two opponents eye and circle each other - where had the boy learned such perfect footwork? - and probably hoping for a small inattention to be exploited immediately, Archie tried to find a way out of this predicament.

"You still think you're my equal, little Trollhunter? Is it not shameful enough for you that the son of the trollhunter I slaughtered before you must come to your aid? Otherwise, I would have already torn out your limbs one by one and slurped your blood with relish! But I'm tired of my game now. Time for you to be crushed by my hands so that I can cut the Amulet out of your bloody remains!"

"He won't become a great poet..." Douxie muttered, but Archie heard the strained nuance in his voice. Just like him, his familiar was both tense and highly focused, ready to intervene at any moment if there was absolutely no other way. The fact that Douxie would be disobeying Merlin's direct order didn't seem to matter to him by now and that worried Archie. Who knew whether the grumpy old man hadn't added his order with some magical consequence that would be activated if Douxie didn't comply?

But it really didn't look good for the Trollhunter! If the boy had been limping after the fight with the goblins, it now looked as if he might fall over at any moment if he shifted his balance to his right leg too much. His movements had become erratic and slower in the last few minutes, and Archie had witnessed enough battles that he knew that the longer the fight went on, the more the chances of victory for the boy dwindled. In addition, he was breathing heavily, which couldn't be overlooked even through the armor. And no further help was to be expected from that other troll. He had to be stuck somewhere with his huge horns, because except for an angry rumbling and growling from below them, nothing could be seen from him.

When Bular took a step forward with a roaring shout, Douxie flinched beside him. "Merlin's not here, Arch, we are. And I'm not going to let him be killed just because he had the courage to face battle virtually one day after he was chosen! The situation has changed! He's going to change everything!" Douxie spoke now in an urgent voice and Archie felt how he was gathering magic around him. He still kept a low profile, knowing all too well that the glowing runes of his vambrace would betray them both. But the more the boy backed away and Bular pursued him without mercy, the more Douxie rose from his crouch to be ready. "What kind of person must this be, who doesn't run screaming in the face of death, and instead is ready to fight to the last."

Archie allowed himself a glance at his familiar for a split second. And what he saw amazed him even more than the fact that the Amulet had chosen a human wearer for whatever reason. Respect and admiration were written on his features, like when Merlin had saved him from the soldiers as a child. Immediately, he had a bad feeling about it. But now wasn't the time to address that.

His eyes widened in bad foreboding as Bular raised one of his two blades to deliver the final blow, and the boy also just raised his sword higher.

"He must know that his strength is no longer enough!" Archie hissed, jumping off the roof before Douxie had a chance to react. Just as he spread his wings and was about to pounce on Bular from behind, he saw over the latter's shoulders how the boy threw himself to the side with a last-second diving leap and thus escaped by a hair's breadth from the blade, which instead now cut the cobblestones with a shrill scrape. The Gumm-Gumm must have struck with so much momentum that his blade was now stuck. For he jerked several times, growling angrily, before giving it up and continuing his chase with the second instead.

But by then Archie had shaken off his bewilderment by that sudden clever move and spit a burst of fire that knocked the Gumm-Gumm off balance and sent him staggering past the Trollhunter with an infernal roar.

Archie hovered around the boy, but either he had seen a real dragon before or he didn't let his surprise show. For the only thing he did was to turn back to Bular where he had fallen and raise his sword. But it wasn't a fighting stance that he took. Frowning, the dragon watched as the boy turned Daylight's broadside to the troll and lowered his head himself, as if thinking. Through the helmet, he could hear him taking deep breaths. What was he up to?

When the air around the Trollhunter changed from one second to the next, his warm heart almost froze. Could this be possible?

Archie? I don't have a free field of action. You have to-

But he stayed where he was, blanking out the words, merely watching Daylight rapidly shine brighter and brighter, until suddenly it was emitting a more dazzling light than he had ever seen an ice dragon spew its eye-blinding fire!

Do you see that, Douxie?

Well, not really. Which is good, I suppose, because I have no idea if my magic would protect me from losing my eyesight. You'll have to describe it to me.

"It's... the pure absence of darkness..." Archie muttered, completely forgetting that his familiar wouldn't be able to hear his whispering over the distance unless he used their mental link. But the sight was so unique that it completely captivated him. Even Bular's agonizing cries reached his sensitive ears only muffled as he was paralyzed by Daylight's light.

As quickly as it had begun, it was over again. Left behind was a nearing dawn that suddenly seemed many shades darker, and the cracking heat of stony skin that wafted around the pained groans of the Gumm-Gumm, who lay on his back and looked as if he wouldn't be able to move for some time to come!

With an equally not good sounding groan, the new Trollhunter lowered his sword and approached his opponent. For a moment, Archie hoped and feared that he would strike Bular down. But again the boy surprised him and at the same time made his heart swell with pride.

"You can seek direct combat with me as often as you like, Bular. But if you attack my city and the people in it one more time, I won't show you the mercy of not killing you when you are unarmed and defenseless."

"You can't be serious!" growled a deeply angry voice behind them immediately, and when Archie glanced back toward the warehouse, he saw the boy's comrade-in-arms just digging his way out of the hole he had ripped into the wall. One of his horns still had a piece of granite stuck to it, but his rage didn't let that bother him. Panting, he stomped toward the Trollhunter.

"I'm not going to stand here and watch you not avenge my father, boy! If you must have the Amulet, at least use it!" he practically yelled, pacing up and down in front of him like a caged animal looking for a way to freedom.

Meanwhile, the boy remained calmly standing in front of the troll, and Archie had to hand it to him. If he had been in his place, he wouldn't have been able to remain calm. This troll was unmistakably fuming with rage.

"Enough, Draal. The fight is over for now. Let him lick his wounds. A new fight will come soon enough. Go home."

"Coward!" the troll bellowed in his face, and had he opened his visor, he would have thick troll spit dripping from his cheek now.

"Eww," Douxie muttered with his face contorted in disgust when Archie landed next to him again with quick flaps of his wings.

"Don't be like that. In ancient times, troll spit was an important ingredient in many tinctures and potions, and trolls got paid well for their bodily fluids."

The look his familiar gave him reminded Archie of his younger version, when he had first returned from milking that pet slorr of Merlin's and his master had forbidden him to take a bath, lest he waste the precious liquid of it. Smirking, he nudged him with his head and then pointed to the word duel still in progress.

"He did amazingly well. I just wish that Draal would finally give peace. Our boy looks like he's going to fall over at any moment."

Literally shaking off the disgust, Douxie became serious again and looked to the sky. "The day is about to dawn. He'll have no choice but to make his way back."

The troll seemed to realize this now too, because after angrily yelling in the Trollhunter's face one more time, he ran off.

The boy watched after him for a minute before sighing loudly and letting Daylight disappear, heading off in the opposite direction. But the severe limping and the fact that with every step he took, more and more tension escaped from his body until he was merely staggering at a snail's pace with slumped shoulders, made Archie focus fully on him again. It was impossible that he would make it home like this!

He barely even made it to the back of the warehouse, and as Douxie and he cautiously peered over the edge of the roof to look for him, they just saw his helmet disappear and how he propped himself up on a tree stump with one hand. His body was jolted by a cough until, spitting out blood, he held his cell phone to his ear.

This doesn't look good! Douxie muttered in his mind and he was right. Archie couldn't even rejoice that his guess had been correct. Why teenage James Lake Jr. was the new Trollhunter, they could always find out later. That wasn't a priority now.

"Hey," Archie heard him say so quietly that he had to concentrate to understand the words. "Please ask Blinky for a little piece of the Heartstone..."

What? What was he going to do with it?

"Yes... I don't know. But it's my hope that it will relieve pain from what is probably a cracked rib..."

Only one cracked? After what he had heard and seen, Archie assumed at least three that were causing the boy pain. Groaning inwardly, he hoped that their new Trollhunter wasn't a second Douxie when it came to talking down injuries! On the other hand, this was a teenager of what, fifteen or sixteen years? What could he expect but hubris?

"Yes... Tobes? Please hurry… Mom will probably be in the hospital for a while longer... You'll find me in my bed..."

His arm with the phone in his hand literally fell down as he groaned and turned around to sit on the tree stump. Breathing heavily, he let his phone disappear and hung his head.

How could he already know about the dimension pockets he had access to in his armor? Hadn't he just been chosen yesterday? Either he had a very dedicated trainer or James Lake Jr. wasn't a clueless kid who had just stumbled into this lifelong commitment by accident!

Focusing entirely on the boy, he took in his scent and tried to sniff out every last nuance with his fine nose. Even if a troll had already agreed to train the boy, his human obligations and the prejudices internalized in trolls would so far have prevented him from acquiring any great knowledge in Trollmarket. So, all that remained was that there was more to the boy than met the eye.

Several minutes passed, but Archie could detect no unusual scent on him, let alone one that went beyond the magical combination of his familiar, his master and the former apprentice of said master.

When suddenly sounds were heard from behind the building, Archie and Douxie were equally startled like Jim, who lifted his head to look in the direction where he had left Bular. Before he had even finished the movement, his head was completely covered again.

Douxie!

Already on it, was his familiar's mental reply as he slipped his arm with his vambrace under his jacket to cover the blue glow of his magic. "Circulus invisibilitatis," he whispered, and when Archie felt the magic of that hated spell around them all, his fur stood up for a few moments.

But in the minutes that followed, filled with human and troll curses and what sounded like a whole mountain being dragged away, not only the two of them but also the boy kept quiet, as if he knew that the invisibility spell only worked visually, not auditory.

But as the sounds became quieter and quieter and then silence returned, the boy's deeply exhausted voice could be heard. "Hey..."

It was soft, barely perceptible, but Archie's ears perked up immediately.

"Don't know if you're still there." Now his voice also sounded strained to get the words out intelligibly but Archie knew Jim could only mean him. "You helped me with Bular. If you could help me one more time and get me home... I'd really appreciate it."

That he trusted a dragon he had never seen before was another mystery that surrounded him like a thick aura.

"I… need to close my eyes for a moment, but I'm afraid exhaustion will overtake me and-"

Coughing, he broke off, and with a quick gesture, Archie told Douxie to stay where he was before jumping off the roof and nearing close enough for the boy to see him. Folding his wings, he looked at Jim solemnly.

"I will help you again, Trollhunter. What is your address?"

A tired smile lit Jim's face for a brief moment before he muttered where he lived.

Nodding, Archie took another step toward him and then stood just in front of his open legs. His forearms rested heavily on his thighs and knees, holding the weight of his upper body which was bent forward.

"Close your eyes without worry, Trollhunter. I will watch over you."

As if he had only been waiting for Archie's confirmation, he did just that, and not half a minute later, his torso slumped even further forward, truly looking like a warrior sleeping the sleep of the righteous after winning a hard battle.

They spoke little while Douxie carried the sleeping boy on his back and Archie scouted the way in the air. But neither goblins nor humans came toward them. Nevertheless, Douxie kept up the invisibility spell until they reached the fence at the back of the house where Jim lived. There was a strange atmosphere in the air, and neither Archie nor Douxie wanted anything to go wrong now that they had survived this night so well.

Reaching the back door, there was a guilty expression on Douxie's face for a moment when he magically picked the door lock. Archie landed next to him.

Don't worry about it. We have to get him to bed somehow.

His familiar nodded, and after a quick tour through the house, they identified the boy's room. It looked shockingly normal. There was nothing to suggest that Jim was in any way magically inclined.

But when Douxie carefully placed the boy on the bed and took a step to the side, something suddenly glittered on the floor which immediately caught Archie's magical core's attention. He ran to the spot and sniffed, trying to make out the tiny particles with narrowed eyes. He had no luck with that, but something snapped in his memory. With wide eyes he looked at Douxie.

"What is it?"

"That vision haze of his? I bet my dragon fire that it was caused from whatever this used to be," Archie whispered, nodding at the faint greenish remains. "Take a sample and-"

"JIM!"

The dragon was interrupted by a loud voice and the sound of a door being yanked open and slammed shut again. Douxie had just enough time to remove Jim from the spell when a boy rushed into the room who looked distantly familiar to Archie. While the latter immediately came to the bed and bent over the boy, Archie and his familiar moved as quietly as possible to the other side of the room. But with the loud shouting, the chubby boy probably wouldn't have heard them anyway.

"Jim! Hey, Jimbo. It's me, Toby. Wake up, buddy. You've got to tell me what to do with that little Heartstone..." he spoke frantically in a voice that seemed close to tears. Then he rummaged something out from under his sweater and Archie could hardly believe that he was actually holding a tiny and intensely pulsating piece of Heartstone.

"Come on, Jim. What am I going to do with it? I haven't got a clue," the boy was really sobbing now.

The stone suddenly rose from his hand and floated to Jim, where it came to rest on the Trollhunter's Amulet.

Well done.

Let's hope it really does something. Jim seemed to be quite sure of that... Do you think we should go?

Nodding, Archie kept his eyes on the orange stone. I guess it can't be avoided. Rome wasn't built in a day, as they say.

But before they could even turn around, Jim groaned and immediately opened his eyes to look around with tired but quick glances.

"Jimbo!" cried his friend, half throwing himself on him.

"Uh, Tobes... My ribs survived Bular, but I still hurt all over..."

"Sorry, sorry!" He immediately put a little distance between them both and instead rolled the chair from the desk next to the bed where he sat on it. "Has the mini Heartstone worked yet?"

Closing his eyes again with a sigh, Jim reached for the stone and with his other hand immediately after, the Amulet. In a blue haze the armor disappeared. "No, Tobes." He turned the Amulet over and when the back plates opened, he placed the Heartstone within it.

This is... really clever, Archie heard Douxie say as Jim activated his armor again. But… I just remembered something. Merlin once told me that humans don't react to Heartstones?

They don't, confirmed the dragon. When the boy sighed audibly and his complexion improved barely noticeably, Archie narrowed his eyes suspiciously. And neither his aura nor his scent leads me to believe that his ancestral lineage had at some point received troll DNA.

"Tobes?"

"Yeah?"

"For this to work, I need to wear the armor for quite a bit. Would you lie down with me and cover us both up so mom doesn't see me like this when she comes home?"

"Sure I can do that."

"Thank you…" he spoke kindly, but his eyes weren't on his friend, but on nothing in particular in the room, as if he expected the helping dragon to still be present.

Who are you, James Lake Jr.?