Chapter 293: Hello Trolls
Dominic waved with his free hand as he lowered his rifle, and the trolls all waved back.
Then, the water rippled, and one more troll waved at him.
"Good morning gentlemen. Oh, and Ladies, I nearly missed you in the back row. My name is Dominic Wavemates, the new Duke of Wistover, which covers this whole region.
I believe that your watery friend can vouch for my identity." Dominic greeted them.
One of the older trolls stepped forward, dragging his club.
"You don’t like the mages?" The creature asked in a gravelly voice.
Dominic shook his head. "No. They’re working for outsiders who want to cause trouble. We’re from here. This is our place, they have no right to be taking Trolls as prisoners to fight their wars."
The troll frowned, needing time to decipher all of Dominic’s words.
"You’re the big boss of the humans?" The troll tried.
"Only the humans within one day of here." Dominic explained.
The Trolls nodded happily. That was a concept that they understood. Dominic was the local clan chief.
"I am Chief too. You want us to leave?" The troll asked.
"You can stay, but no attacking my humans, or the visiting humans in wagons." Dominic offered.
The Troll considered his options. "There is an old Troll place that way, we will go there and make it our place. Near your place but one day away from here."
Dominic nodded. He remembered where the old troll village was.
"That is a good place. If there are still trolls there, tell them I say hello."
The water troll rapidly chattered to the other trolls, most likely translating the conversation for them. Nobody looked upset, and when they got to the part about an old troll village that they would call home, the mood of the recently freed Trolls visibly improved.
"Alright, we will go now."
"Wait, before you go. You can have the mages, but leave me their stuff." Dominic requested.
The big troll smiled. "Too small for a troll anyhow."
The group quickly stripped the dead mages of their armour and belongings, then pulled the limbs off to share the meat.
Dominic didn’t miss the horrified and disgusted looks that Baron William was giving them all as they walked away, chewing on raw meat. But the trolls were in a good mood, and they didn’t make any attempt to attack him or the Sheriff.
Dominic tossed the last arm that had been left behind to the water troll, so it didn’t have to come out to get lunch, and then went to collect the belongings that were left behind.
What he found was damning.
There were two coin pouches, identical to the one that had been recovered from the first dead mage, the one who had self-destructed when John had attacked in the dark.
They must be from the same group, and that meant the dead leader should be one of the Mage Tower’s Elders.
But that also meant that it wasn’t just a handful of rebels working with what was most likely Prince Kaizon’s faction. It was more likely to be the entire tower or school. Dominic recalled that the pouch was supposed to have come from an Academy in Skiple, but he couldn’t recall if anyone had said whether it was a student or a member item.
He would have to ask for the Elder’s belongings to compare.
"Did you just let the whole group of trolls wander away? They’re headed north, away from the village, but what if they come back?" Baron William asked.
"Relax, my friend. They’re headed for a troll village about a day away. They’ll be far enough off that even our hunting patrols are unlikely to stumble across them by accident, and they’ve got no interest in trying to raid the Baronies for snacks." Dominic informed him.
"So, we just have Trolls as neighbours, then?" The Baron asked.
"Exactly. They make good neighbours. Most of the time, anyhow. Trolls don’t understand the concept of intentionally lying, and they rarely go back on their word. These ones agreed not to cause trouble for my people or the merchant caravans, and that should be enough.
Plus, having them on the north side of town is a nice security measure. Dagos forces aren’t going to know to play nice with the Trolls, so they will attack, and the trolls will take care of them for us."
The Sheriff’s expression changed through a whole range of emotions, then settled on slightly amused.
"Alright then, I will trust that you know what you’re doing. At the very least, you do know where they’re planning to settle, right?" He asked.
"Of course. I’ve been there more than once. Some of the smaller species of trolls look more like Larry, the healer. They’re not all the size of Ogres. With a mask on and their hood up, some of them were human enough that they felt comfortable coming to the village to trade.
Terrible at speaking the human languages, and that gave them away. But we all played along like they were just foreigners, so they didn’t get uncomfortable.
That village didn’t have any half trolls in it, but I’m told that most of them did."
Dominic’s explanation set the Baron and Sheriff’s minds at ease, and they looked back toward the other battlefield.
"Should we go make sure that they didn’t leave anything behind? Or do you think that they’ll still be there when we get back?" Sheriff Nate asked.
"If we walk, they’ll be gone, but we will likely catch up to them anyhow. They weren’t in great shape."
That was the understatement of the day. Most of the prisoners looked like they were one wheezing breath away from ending up in an Ogre stew pot. The fact that any of them were still alive after so long was more due to the mages having some use for them than their physical condition.
What they were being kept for, Dominic didn’t know. But Alexis and her Royal Guard would surely find out.