Your Future Hasn't Been Written Yet
by K. Stonham
first released 22nd August 2021
The first inkling Douxie had of trouble was the screams. He turned in their direction, looking past the running people to see... a wave of green devouring Main Street.
Green with arms and legs and pointed ears, howling what he suspected would be "Waka chaka!" if it could be discerned above the sound of human panic.
"Oh, fuzzbuckets," he whispered. Then, "Get inside!" he yelled, grabbing and bodily shoving customers and strangers towards the cafe's door. Most obeyed. Not all. Well, he'd done his best. Seizing the nearest weapon to hand, Douxie lifted a folding chair and swung, smashing a goblin to jelly.
And then it was him against them, which he had expected.
Not outnumbered, he insisted to himself, target-rich environment.
He kept swinging, taking out more and more, and really wished for his staff. Or a broom. He was good with brooms. He'd taken on Bular with a broom, and brooms had a lot longer reach than a mere chair.
His charm bracelet was glowing, but did he really want to go for spells, given the windows full of people watching? Some of them doubtless with cellphones, recording?
To hell with it. They've already seen goblins.
Gritting his teeth, Douxie reached for magic, and let it explode out of him, clearing him a second's worth of breathing room. A twitch of his hand and the cafe's outdoor broom, which had been leaning against the bricks, half-hidden by a potted plant, flew to his hand.
"Douxie!" Archie called from the roof, "help's on the way!"
Douxie didn't have the breath to spare for a thanks, but he saw fireballs out of the corner of his eye, so he assumed his familiar was taking care of the infestation up there.
"Heads up, Douxie!" called Toby, suddenly barreling into the square. Douxie quickly turned so that he and Toby were back-to-back, him wielding a broom, the Trollhunter wielding a sword.
"What set the goblins off?" Douxie asked, slashing and smashing to the best of his ability. Ugh, the bristles of the broom were going to be a nightmare to get clean.
"No idea." And Douxie really wished he could see Toby's fighting form, but he was a- little- bit- busy!
"Don't get their slime in your mouth!" he called. "It tastes terrible!"
"Already found that out," Toby replied regretfully.
And then there was a roar, and Aaarrrgghh joined the fray, followed by Blinky, running as fast as he could on his shorter legs and wielding a broom of his own. With reinforcements, it felt like the tide began to turn, and soon the crowd of goblins began to thin.
Finally, the last one yelled "Waka chaka!" defiantly and sprang at Douxie. He swatted it into down a stain on the pavement, and could finally breathe.
"Ugh, the city is not going to like this clean-up job," Toby mused, looking all around them. The slimy green carnage was everywhere.
"You must be Blinky and Aaarrrgghh," Douxie said to those two individuals. "Jim's mentioned you. I'm Douxie."
"Douxie!" Archie swooped down from the roof, then changed into his cat form and leapt up onto Douxie's shoulder. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine, Arch," Douxie laughed. "My familiar, Archibald," he introduced the cat-shaped dragon to the two trolls. "Archie, meet Blinky and Aaarrrgghh."
"My pleasure," said Archie. "You'd all best get out of here, though, before the civilians get over their shock."
"Oooh, yeah," said Toby, glancing beyond Douxie to the lit windows of the cafe and the horde of people crammed in there. "We'll catch you later, Douxie?"
"Sure thing," he promised, and pulled his cellphone out of his pocket as the trio vanished into darkness.
Fought off goblin horde on Main Street with Toby, he texted to Jim and Claire. Met B. & A., introduced Archie to them.
And then he turned, twirled the broom so it rested on the shoulder Archie was not perched atop, and sauntered back to the cafe, ready to obfuscate as best he could.
Then, later that night, Douxie found out what had set the goblins swarming.
He jolted awake as something huge slammed into the wards he'd set on Toby's house.
And again.
And again.
"Fuzzbuckets," he whispered, carefully sitting up.
Something large out in the street snarled and attacked the structure again.
"Bular," murmured Archie.
Douxie bit his lower lip and slid out of bed, as cautious and quiet as he could be because of course, like an idiot, he'd warded the Domzalskis' house, but completely failed to ward the Lakes'. "I really do not want to come to his attention right now," he breathed, and sidled into Jim's room.
He put his hand over Jim's mouth and shook him awake. Jim's eyes snapped open. Douxie put a finger to his lips and nodded toward the window.
Jim sat up, looked out, and grimaced.
Bular stood in the middle of the street, roaring defiance.
"How can anyone stay asleep with all that racket?" wondered Archie. Jim's hand inched toward his amulet.
"Toby's probably sleeping like a rock, after that attack on Main Street earlier," said Douxie, sotto voce.
Bular rammed into the house again, was again repelled by the strength of Douxie's wards. Sky blue magic sparked and rippled skyward.
"I'll bet he got the goblins going like that to draw the Trollhunter out," whispered Jim.
"His plan seems to have worked," Douxie agreed. "Now he knows it's Toby."
"Good job protecting his house," said Jim.
"I'll bet Draal's in the living room, waiting, in case the wards fail."
They watched for a few minutes more. Eventually Bular figured out he couldn't break the house down, snarled, and stalked off into the night.
"I really don't want to be the one who crosses his path next," said Douxie.
"Me neither," agreed Jim.
"Well," said Archie, "since none of us are getting back to sleep easily, how about some hot drinks?"
"Ugh, I have school in like four hours," Jim complained as they trooped down the stairs.
"And I have work," agreed Douxie. "Why couldn't Bular do this on Saturday night, so we all could have had a lie-in?"
"So, uh, like, did you know about Douxie?" Toby asked the next day, between classes.
"Did I know what?" Jim asked, stuffing the books for his afternoon classes into his locker.
"That he was like, you know." Toby lowered his voice to a whisper. "Magic?"
"That he was a wizard? Sure," Jim answered easily.
"And you didn't think to tell me?!" Toby demanded. "I mean, his cat! Stood up on two legs! And talked to me! It was like I was in freaking Sailor Moon! And then I find out the cat's a dragon?!"
"Keep your voice down," Jim urged, glancing around. "Look, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, but there's reasons why."
"Reasons why you didn't tell your best friend?"
"Do the Salem Witch Trials ring any bells?" Jim shot back.
"Uh, I don't know. Didn't we cover those in history class last year?" Toby asked as they walked. Toward history class, in fact.
"Yeah. A lot of people died in them."
"Wait." Toby was clearly taken aback. "People died because they had magic?"
"Yeah, so that's why we're keeping it on the low-down, okay?"
"Right-o, Jimbo." And as they entered the classroom, Toby's face was troubled. Like he was just realizing that people like Douxie were killed because other humans found out about their sorcery.
"Yeah. Between what I'm learning in Blinky's books and what I'm finding out from Douxie, I think the world's been really messed up about magic for a long time."
"Wow. Do you think we can do anything to fix that?"
"Wish I knew, Tobes."
And then Mister Strickler entered the room and class began.
Strickler knew.
It wasn't really obvious, but Jim knew his teacher and one-time stepfather-to-be. And the way Strickler focused on Toby in class, like Toby had done something to piss him off, was a dead tell.
He knew that Toby was the Trollhunter.
Right. Time for Jim to show a little teeth.
"Is there anything I can help you with, Mister Lake?" Strickler asked as Jim hung back at the end of class.
"Oh, I just wanted to let you know that Mom really enjoyed having dinner with you this weekend," said Jim. "And, you know, maybe you could go easier on Toby? He's my friend, and he's really trying."
"Friends come and friends go," Strickler observed.
Jim's eyes narrowed. "Not when they've been my best friend since we were five. Toby's not going /anywhere/." The words were innocent enough; would Strickler read a deeper meaning? Would he suspect that Jim knew more than he was saying?
"I'll see you tomorrow, Mister Strickler," Jim said. He paused at the door, though, and sent back a parting line to keep his teacher/enemy/friend off-balance: "Oh, just so you know? Mom really likes the color green."
And he counted it a victory as Strickler reflexively touched a hand to his own cheek, looking slightly lost.
"Oh my gosh, have you seen the videos?" Mary gushed at lunch, expanding an image on her phone.
"No, what videos?" Claire dug her sandwich out of her lunch bag.
"They were filming some kind of movie or something last night in the town square. And the CG is just to die for!"
Claire and Darci leaned in from either side of Mary to see what she was talking about.
The audio was lousy, especially on a cellphone, but it was clearly a video, shot through a window, of Douxie dual-wielding a broom and magic to fight off a horde of attacking goblins. After a minute he was joined by a silver-armored figure that Claire was pretty sure no one else would realize was Toby, and then two more very familiar bodies...
"Wow," she commented to cover her racing heart, "those are really good effects. I hope they got a filming permit, or the city council's going to be on them like hammers."
"Does it say what the movie's going to be?" asked Darci.
"No! It's all over social, but no one's got a clue. Isn't it fabulous?"
"Yeah," said Claire, feeling a little distant from her girlfriends, neither of whom knew yet that magic was a real thing. "Fabulous."
"Your wards did well," Draal complimented Douxie that night in the Domzalskis' back yard. "Though I fear Bular will not give up so easily."
"Agreed."
"How could he be attacking my house and I slept through the whole thing?" Toby wailed.
"Dude, you sleep like the dead, Tobes. Remember the last time we had a sleepover and I had to literally pour a bucket of water on you to get you up for waffles?"
"Oh yeah." Toby shuddered. "I had nightmares about being waterboarded for a week."
"Sleeping like the dead's a good way to join them," Douxie said, arms crossed.
"Morbid, Douxie," rebuked his familiar.
"Blame me in the slightest?" he asked.
"Heavens, no." Archie jumped into his arms.
"So what should our next move be?" asked Jim.
"Well." Toby looked around, clearly thinking it through. "We need to let Blinky and Aaarrrgghh know that Bular knows who I am, see if they have any suggestions?" He looked up, seeking approval.
Jim nodded.
"Excellent logic," said Draal. He looked at Douxie and Archie. "Will you be joining us in visiting Heartstone Trollmarket?"
The pair exchanged a surprised glance. "If we're invited," Douxie said.
"Awesome! You're going to love Trollmarket," Toby chattered. "There's this big huge amazing glowing crystal, and the trolls have the funkiest shops. Ooh, remember to bring some sweaty socks if you want to buy anything, they love that for payment-"
"Was he this talkative in your original future?" Draal asked Jim quietly.
"Yup," said Jim, smiling. "Never change, Tobes."
