Chapter Text
“...The bridge? The one we found the amulet thing under?” Toby asked as the three of you perched at the top of the canal.
You had hitched a ride on the back of Jim's bike, peeling yourself off of his back. You didn't seem to enjoy the trip too much, wobbling as your feet met solid ground. “Under it, technically.” You supply to the husky boy, wasting no time in sliding down the side of the canal first.
Jim sighed and followed behind with practised elegance, while Toby ended up scooting down slowly and carefully.
“How exactly are we getting into the secret troll lair again? Is there some kind of brick button we gotta press? Wait- no that's just solid concrete…” Toby rambled, patting at the wall of the canal as if he tried hard enough, he’d find what he was talking about.
You snorted. “Brick button? Is that supposed to be some sort of Indiana Jones reference?”
“The hell’s Indiana Jones?” Toby questioned, making you balk with mild horror.
“How could you not know who Indiana Jones is!?”
Jim, ever the patient boy he is, ignored the two and stepped forward, retrieving the Horngazel from his satchel. He glanced down at the crystal hesitantly, grimacing at the memory of holding it with his bare hand. He pressed it to the wall of the canal, and it sizzled as he drug it across the concrete. The line it left behind glowed a hot, bright blue which slipped into white towards the center. Jim pressed his hand against the stone, and the wall gave way.
“Voilà.” Jim announced, turning back to the two. “Our ticket to Trollmarket.”
He slipped the horngazel back into his bag, hiding it under his books. It's probably be best to keep it out of sight, on case they have to make another hasty retreat. “C'mon.”
“Huh, these are a lot prettier when you're not stuffed in a sack.” You remarked from behind Jim as he took the first step, the crystal staircase illuminating beneath his feet.
“Stuffed in a-” Toby balked, but you and Jim were already starting to leave him behind. “Wait up! You can't just drop things like that and walk away!”
Jim rolled his eyes, and he heard you snort from behind him. “Okay but I just did.” You replied in a snarky tone, making Toby grumble.
“Okay, here’s the plan,” Jim started, tucking himself just out of sight from Trollmarket as you three reached the bottom of the stairs.
He kneeled down, dropping his backpack on the ground and pulling out what appeared to be three darkly colored bed sheets. “We put these on, sneak through Trollmarket and past the Trolls, and find Blinky and Arrrgh.”
Toby looked sceptical. “Won't they raise an alarm or something, though?” He asked, nose wrinkling in confusion as he took one of the sheets.
Jim shrugged. “I doubt it. They'll recognize Y/N and I, so if they're kind enough they won’t say anything.”
“Wait- you mean you don't know whether or not they'll condemn us to death by troll!?” Toby exclaimed in frustration, gripping the sheet tightly.
You nodded. “Yeah, not the most sound plan, Jameson.” You observed as you draped the sheet over your shoulders, pulling up a section of it like a hood over your head.
“And you're just going with it!? ”
“Yep.”
Jim groaned. “Guys, enough. Let's just get in there and find them. Chances are they'll be in the library.”
Toby, with great reluctance, pulled on the sheet, following close behind Jim. Together, you ducked down into an alleyway, obscured by the sheets and shadows of the city.
The noises of Trollmarket were loud and obnoxious. It was an odd comfort to Jim, he had missed this place so much in the years since the not-so-eternal night. He had walked this path many times before- at this point, he had tread the entirety of Trollmarket at least ten times.
Caught up in his own thoughts, Jim nearly tripped over his feet as he heard a familiar voice speaking to one of the vendors. Toby made a quiet ‘oomph’ sound as he bumped into his friend, making you shush him.
Jim turned, peeking through the tears in the fabric of one of the tents. It was a little hard to see at first, but soon he spotted blue stone and massive, finely ridged spikes.
Draal.
“How did two fleshbags even get into here in the first place?” One troll asked.
Another chimed in. “And get ahold of a horngazel? Preposterous!”
Draal chuffed. “Hm. I have an idea, but...”
“Tell us anyways.” The vendor- a stubby little thing of a troll -piped up while handing off what looked to be the charred remains of a fat, ugly bird on a stick.
Draal took a bite out of it while depositing a handful of crystals into the vendor's hand. “Someone plundered my father's corpse of the amulet before we got to it, in the middle of the day. I worry, given Bular's presence on the surface. Perhaps one of his… minions collected it.”
“A cha-” one troll started, dipping his voice to a whisper. “-a changeling?”
“So they might not be fleshbags at all, but impures!” Another snarled.
Draal shrugged. “I am not sure yet, I-”
By chance, he glanced directly in Jim's direction. The boy fell backwards- straight into you, making you let out an agitated grunt -as he scrambled back from the peeky hole.
He didn't see Draal's gaze linger for a moment on the darkness in the holes of the tent before turning back to the conversation, but Jim didn't need that to know that they needed to go now .
The three of you continued along the alleyway, until you reached the end of it. There was an open space between the alley’s end and the wall of the cavern, where Jim could see a familiar door.
“Keep to the dark parts, we'll be less noticeable.” Jim whispered, before darting out and towards the shadows of the wall. Toby moved past you, following behind as best as he could as you trailed last.
Jim opened the door, and all three of you practically flung yourselves into the library in your haste to escape Trollmarket's gaze.
“Blinky!” Jim ripped off the fabric from his head. “Look, I know what we did was messed up and I'm sorry-”
No one was in the library, besides you three of course. Books were strewn about the place, like there had been some kind of struggle- probably from Blinky and Arrrgh trying to chase after you and Jim.
“Huh, well that was anticlimactic.” Toby commented, standing up and brushing himself off. “I guess we gotta go home and try another day.”
“No- we're not just leaving .” Jim said, his brows furrowed in determination. “Where would they-”
He glanced out the window, his eyes widening as it clicked. The Heartstone- More specifically, Vendel's lair.
Your gaze followed his, and it took a moment for you to understand. “Jim..?”
He strengthened his resolve, walking back towards the door. “C'mon, we've got one last place to check.”
“What!? Dude- where are we even going? Why?” Toby groaned, fixing the sheet covering him.
“If they're anywhere, they're probably talking with V- their leader. And their leader is most likely somewhere around that -” He pointed out the window, towards the Hearthstone. “-giant crystal.”
You got to the door first, being the closest to it, and pulled it open. “Let's just get this over with-”
You slammed it shut, your back hitting the door ad you looked back at the two with a wild, fearful expression.
“What is it? Is someone out there?” Toby questioned with concern, already regretting this.
You nodded, before a heavy knocking came causing you to flinch away from the door.
Jim shooed you out of the way, pulling the door open again to be met with a broad, blue chest.
“And what do you fleshbags think you're doing in here?”
sh*t.
…
The Conundrum and his krubera friend stood before Vendel, all with varying levels of grimness painted on their stone faces.
“And while I would hate to doubt our new Trollhunter, I do fear the worst after the display I was presented yesterday. Humans aren't usually that well trained in such feats of agility-”
Blinky jolted as heavy footsteps sounded from the entrance to the cave, turning to meet the son of the corpse in front of him. “Draal! What brings you- oh no.”
In front of him stood the three of you, Jim in the middle. Toby looked like he was about to soil his pants, while you had a murderous glare currently aimed at the troll who brought you here.
“I found these three meddlers in your library, Blinkous. Care to explain?” Draal asked with a quirked brow.
“Yes, well-” Blinky turned to Arrrgh with a worried expression. “-we… Have some news, regarding the amulet.”
Draal perked up at this, seeming to immediately wonder if his theory was confirmed. “These ‘fleshbags’ were the ones that plundered it from my father, weren't they?”
Blinky folded his hands, grimacing. “It was less of plundering and more of… claiming it.”
Jim gulped, nodding at the two of you to step away from the troll. He had a feeling that Draal was about to get very angry, and didn't want either of you being caught in the crossfire.
“Claimed?” Draal scoffed. “If anyone is claiming it, it will be me; the rightful heir!”
“Jimbo! Show him!” Toby shouted from the side.
Jim gave a pained smile to Toby, before fishing the amulet out of his pocket. He solemnly held it out to Draal. “Here, take it.”
The troll blinked in confusion- like he wasn’t expecting Jim to just hand it over, before snatching it. Draal inspected it, but before he could even read out the incantation it zoomed back to Jim's hand.
“...I’m sorry?” Jim shrugged awkwardly. He wasn't really sure how to apologize to Draal when he wasn't even supposed to know what was going on.
Draal snarled. “You're about to be. You have no claim on this amulet- you're not even a troll!”
Jim stepped backwards, holding the amulet up instinctively- he felt unsafe, knowing that despite befriending him later, Draal was not his friend in this moment. Jim didn’t even need to read out the incantation, the armor coming to him upon mental command.
Draal stood there in disbelief, before marching towards Jim. “You dare sully that armor- my father’s armor? You will pay dearly-”
You jumped in front of Jim, beating a fist rather painfully on the monger troll’s chest. Draal stepped back in surprise, growling at you.
“Are you serious? It chose him , get over it!” You huffed angrily, bristling. “Paying dearly- do you intend on fighting him? Do you even realize how old Jim is? He's a kid! You're seriously gonna fight a child all because you didn't get that stupid hunk of metal!?”
Jim glared at you incredulously, mentally begging you to back down. But you didn't.
“From how y'all act, I expected you guys to be honorbound or whatever, but fighting a boy? You're a goddamn coward!”
Draal snarled, towering over you. “What would you know about honor , fleshthing? Your kin know nothing about honor.”
“Neither do you, it seems.” You hissed back. “I've known Jim for a day and he already is more of a troll than you'll ever be!”
Jim flinched, patting your shoulder roughly. “ Cut it out, man- cut it out! ”
Draal let out a low rumble before standing to his full height. “You insult me? Fine, maybe you'll make a decent sparring partner- or a pick to clean my teeth.”
In the heat of the moment, you spat your words out at him. “Fine then, have it your way!”
Jim held his face in his hands with a deep, frustrated groan as Draal stalked off, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like ‘impure’.
“What have you done ?” He hissed out at you as the reality of your actions settled in your bones. Your shoulders dropped, and with a horrified expression you glanced back at him.
“God dammit, what have I done?”
