Chapter 2 It Bloody Speaks

Trolls were nine feet tall bastards, big enough to fill a room, green thick skinned, a stench that could kill a man with a face only a mother could try and fail to love. And a tendency to regenerate almost endlessly.

That's how his mother had described them when she told him stories of her time at the wall, the massive structure built by the Emperor and the only thing standing between them and the horde.

'Trolls have never gotten this far, and even if one did the guards could have put it down while the hunters dealt with the goblins. Unless….'

"This…boy?"

'It bloody speaks.'

Now, Ezra knew for certain that was a very bad thing.

'If a monster speaks, RUN!'

She's told him that a million times and now when he finally meets one, he's chained up and slowly realising the goblins have them surrounded.

'That's a whole lot more than thirty goblins'

He estimated about a hundred and whenever a goblin band exceeds thirty, there's usually a…

'A hob.'

He sensed them immediately as they walked into range; Four hobgoblins, each with no doubt a hundred goblins under their command at least and of course the talking troll leading the lot. 

'Why in the Dreamer's name is this happening'

This went beyond a worst case scenario for him and the village. It was outright catastrophic.

"Speak. Now" 

The Trolls voice was surprisingly without rage or malice, it was far from eloquent, bordering a grunt but it was calm, so calm it sent shivers down Ezra's spine.

The creature certainly knew there was nothing they could do against it.

A troll was a class four monster, you'd need at least thirty well trained whispers to take it down with minimal casualties or a seasoned ascendant, both of which Greyholm didn't have now that his mother was dead.

The whisper guards they had were barely a dozen and the whisper hunters they had were never supposed to face such a threat. They were weeks from the wall, this was never supposed to be a possibility.

Eric's delayed reply seemed to amuse the troll, especially as Dax rushed from the crowd and slapped his son, freeing him from the troll's influence.

'Menace'

A common ability amongst creatures of the horde, an unexplained power to instill fear in every race of Lumanity.

Most scholars called it the beasts magic, but a few theorized it was biological, a fear of the horde so deep it was ingrained in the blood of Lumanity during the age of calamity, ten thousand years ago.

Ezra leaned more to fear.

"Forgive my son for his blunder, please. It won't happen again. Yes, this is the boy that witnessed it"

Ezra had never heard the old man so scared before and even Eric fell to his knees and bowed in apology.

'Witness what?'

The troll grunts before gesturing in obvious disgust for them to step aside.

Ezra looked around him, from the monster before him to the people and their expressions varied.

A lot of them looked at him like this was his fault while the rest were simply terrified.

"What kill mother?"

The question rattled him instantly, a pool of blood flashing to memory. He knew now what they meant by witness.

Ezra turned away from the people and faced the troll with a scowl.

It smiled, showing off rows and rows of jagged teeth.

"Heh. This one got spine"

Ezra didn't have time to consider why the troll was pleased before a kick to the face sent him crashing into the snow on his side.

It was Dax.

"Answer him. Don't be difficult. The sooner he gets what he wants the sooner he leaves us be"

Ezra laughed through the pain as he picked himself up from the snow. A kick from an ascendant was nothing to scoff at but he's felt worse from training with his mother.

That's not what he found funny though. It was the naivety of some as old as Dax believing this monster was going to simply let them go, just because it was capable of speech.

"Don't be daft, it's toying with us. There's no escaping this" 

"Shut up! You don't know anything, you cursed us, you brought this upon us and you'll fix it. Just tell him what he wants to know"

Ezra spat out some blood to the snow before looking Dax dead in the eyes. The old man was terrified, but Ezra had no intention of telling the Troll anything.

It was clear the only thing keeping him available was this information and there's no way he's going to shorten his time alive by giving that up.

"I'm sorry but that kick of yours must have made my memory hazy" he smirked, not looking at Dax but at the troll who watched them with amusement.

"Why you ungrateful.."

"That's enough." 

The troll approached slowly. 

"You tell simple thing. You see lizard, yes? Walk like man, yes?"

It spread it's arm with a gleeful grin.

"You tell. I go. Easy."

What Ezra saw was not what he'd consider a lizard. The memory came rushing back. He could almost feel how hot it got. They were in deep winter but the trees were burning and his lungs felt like they were on fire.

"You talk. I no kill."

Ezra's gaze shifted from the troll to the bodies that littered the snow ahead.

The troll noticed and laughed. A horrid sound.

"No kill…. more."

"Maybe I do remember something, but first I have a question of my own."

The troll raised an eyebrow, but remained silent for a moment. Ezra noticed it liked to talk and converse, being a troll it must have waited thousands of years to begin its evolution, and from the size of it, they would have an ogre problem in a few days. That's a class six.

So Ezra needed to be far from here but first he needed out of these chains and for that he had a risky plan in mind.

Which involved stalling.

"What you ask?"

Ezra smiled.

"Why come all this way just for information and how did you know to come here?"

"Two question. Fine. I answer." 

The troll sits down just a few feet from him, sending off a small shockwave.

"Two weeks past, we smell lizard. Dragon smell. Lizard come far. Too far. Never this far before" 

It tapped it's head with it's massive finger.

"Big ones want know. Why lizard here? What lizard doing?"

'Today really is a day for surprises'

He never would've thought what he saw was a member of the other horde, south of the continent.

Since the age of calamity, it was always two hordes; one led by giants and another led by a race that called themselves Dragonborns.

Upon their return two hundred years ago the Giants and their horde attacked from the north were stopped by the Emperor while the Dragonborns and their horde attacked the continent from the south and were somehow stopped by the kingdom of Aderwyn and their incompetent lords and king.

This was how it's been for as long as anyone can remember now. A member of the southern horde reaching here was a first.

But with that information, Ezra's memory of that day started to make more sense.

It was a routine patrol and one he accompanied her alone on, twice a week to also train.

The temperature increased almost immediately they saw it at the edge of his range. 

Its scales looked like it held fire underneath and glowed a dull orange yellow. It stood just a little over eight feet tall and had eyes so red Ezra thought it was bleeding.

"What do we have here?"

That was all it said before his mother screamed "Run!" and launched herself at it, pulling out her twin battle cleavers mid air.

Ezra ran.

At first he told himself that he ran because she ordered him to and that he knew she could protect herself. She was the strongest person he knew, certainly she would be fine.

That was a lie.

He ran because he was terrified. The moment that thing entered his range it was li

ke a giant pit had blinked into his mind, pulling him in and threatening to consume all that he was.

He left her alone to fight that thing.

A walking catastrophe.