Chapter 11

            I didn’t quite get why Gwendolyn cared so highly for these trolls though they were quite interesting to look at.  The little trolls Gwen was now holding in both of her arms were about seven centimeters tall with skin made of tree bark.  Both had only one leaf on their heads with no visible eyes but an emerald green glow came from underneath their bark instead.  They had pudgy little fingers made of twigs, though their feet were small stumps of wood.  Upon their backs was a tree knot that was actually a backpack according to them.

“What jobs do they exactly have?” I asked.

“They are the keepers of the forest, each with a different job,” Gwen replied.

“Like what?” I asked curiously.

“Well, there are a variety of them.  The light oak wood trolls are in control of changing the colors of the leaves according to the seasons.  The dark oak wood trolls are in charge of replacing any rotten leaves by making a green paste in their mouths then spread it out over the rotting spots on the leaves.  Then you have the moss covered oak trolls, they do exactly as they look; they put moss on the trees.  The spruce trolls go around and make sure that all the rocks are freshly dappled and shinned before anyone else sees them, then within a day they go on display for all of us.  These little guys have quite the responsibility, but not as much as the-,” Gwen paused before looking into the sky which was rapidly turning bone white.

“What’s happening?” I stuttered as I felt the wind begin to blow.

“He’s coming,” Gwen replied sternly before the trolls quickly scampered over to a nearby tree, soon vanishing into nothing but a knot on the tree. 

“Who’s he?” I asked before nervously looking over at Gwen.

“Him,” Gwen replied again before grabbing my hand, pulling me into a bush, and put a hand over my mouth. 

            Within seconds of Gwen pouncing on me I heard the sounds of the wind howling like the howl of the scream of a wolf, hail like objects crashing to the ground like tears of the sky, the glass leaves rattling like a thousand wind chimes. 

“He knows when something is wrong,” Gwen whispered before going silent then peered slightly out slightly from behind a leaf.  I didn’t respond but by the widening of Gwen’s eyes I could tell this wasn’t good.  Then that’s when the ground began to shake.

Chapter 10

           “Annabelle! Can-you-hear-me?” I heard Gwendolyn calling to me, but I still saw nothing but darkness. 

“Mhm!” I mumbled through what tasted like berry juice.

“Keep-calm! You-are-in-a-berry!” Gwen shouted.

“Um muh?” I gurgled.

“Hang-on!” Gwen yelled again before I felt tugging on my head.  Within a few seconds of Gwen pulling on the berry, which I had just found out was on my head, I heard a licking noise.

“Mmm mh?” I said, trying to ask her what was that.

“Ummm, ha ha…,” Gwen laughed nervously.

“Mmm mh?” I asked her again, but louder.

“Ummm, yea….Annabelle? There is a small, tiny, maybe, possible chance that there are trolls on your head licking the berry which is on your head right now,” Gwen quickly rambled before taking in a deep sigh.  I didn’t even bother asking about how a berry and trolls both ended up on my head, so I just remained silent as Gwendolyn pulled on the berry.

            I waited anxiously for about five minutes before I heard the sound.  Plop! I was free, but my hair was a wreck.  Gwendolyn laughed, placing her hand on her hip and handing me a shiny pebble so I could see my reflection.  I picked up the pink pebble and as I went to see my reflection and immediately broke out into a scream.

“Ah! Gwen what are they? Get them off!” I shrieked while struggling to toss these creatures off my head.

“They’re trolls, hang on!” Gwen replied before extending her hand to them which was soon a playground for the trolls. 

“Annabelle this is Patience and Sprout, the tree trolls,” Gwendolyn said smiling as she looked up at me.

“Tree trolls?” I asked perplexed.

“Yup, tree trolls,” she replied.

“How do you know that’s what they are?” I asked.

“I found them a while back as stray and misunderstood creatures so I took them in and gave them a name,” Gwendolyn said smiling.

“So you named them tree trolls?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“Yup,” she giggled, stroking the little troll’s head leaf.

“What’s the leaf for?” I said wonderingly, looking at the troll’s leaf.

“Each troll has one, they basically represent their ranks upon their jobs in the forest.  Since these two little ones have only one leaf on their heads they are little kids around the age of two or three judging by the looks of the number of rings they have on their stumps.  Excuse my language,” Gwen replied, looking at both trolls’ rear ends where I also saw the rings.

“They are basically like walking tree stumps then?” I asked, poking the troll’s tiny wooden feet.

“Depends which way you look at it,” Gwen replied calmly before returning to her task of cradling the baby trolls.

 

Illustrated by my dear friend, Kristen Strutt.