RFB 1 - East of the Sun, West of the Moon

By Pfantazm

Shea awoke the next morning feeling very hungry, but there was very little he could do about it. He was just thankful he'd made it through the night unmolested.
Shea cleaned the leaves off himself and set out again for the trolls' castle.
As he left the woods, Shea heard the North Wind say, "I must leave you now. I'm afraid I won't be of any help to you against the trolls, and I need to begin my journey home."
Shea thanked the North Wind for the help he had given him. The air became much calmer.
Shea walked across the barren land toward the castle. As he got closer, he saw some trolls on the battlements. He dove behind a dried-out bush. They didn't make a move. Maybe they hadn't seen him.
Shea peeked up at the guards a few times to see whether they looked his way. The sentries simply looked bored.
He stepped out from behind the bush and ran as quietly as he could to the castle's outer wall.
There had to be some way to get inside. In the stories the troubadours told, castles had all sorts of doors. The wall he was pressed up against was nothing but blank stonework from corner to corner.
If he stayed close to the wall, he reasoned, the guards above shouldn't be able to see him. He hoped.
He inched slowly toward the nearer corner. Here he saw the large front entrance. There was an archway that stuck out from the rest of the castle, like the mudroom his pa had built onto the house. There were four, no, five trolls laying about with nothing much to do. There was no way he could sneak by them.
Shea turned around and crept back the whole length of the building. He stuck his head around the corner.
Two troll guards were headed his way - and looking straight at him! They couldn't have been more than thirty paces away.
The pair looked as stunned as Shea felt, and everyone was frozen with surprise until one guard shouted, "Get him!"
Shea started and looked around. The only thing he could think to do was to run back to the dying forest, so run he did. He kicked up clouds of dusty soil as he sprinted. Shea thought he could feel the ground shake as the two hefty trolls chased him.
Shea's head start wasn't long enough. The two soldiers soon had him. He felt himself be grabbed about the middle and lifted off the ground. The farmboy kicked and squirmed but he was held fast in the grip of the bigger guard.
The trolls were covered in thick, black hair all over their bodies. The feel of it reminded Shea of the goats from his family's farm, but the trolls smelled far worse. They each wore only an old, battered metal breastplate and a leather helmet.
As they dragged Shea back to the castle, they talked about what they should do with him. The shorter troll, obviously the swifter of the two, said, "Just throw him back down to the kitchens. No point in throwin' him in the dungeon. Won't do no work there. And if ya do escape," the troll said to Shea, grabbing his head and turning it to face him, "ya won't live long. Ain't no place to escape to." This got a belly laugh from the troll who was carrying Shea.
They were taking him inside the castle! Shea stopped struggling. It was tiring him out and it was ridiculous to try.
They lugged him into the dark corridors of the castle. He was carried down a couple of short flights of stairs, and Shea wondered whether he was being taken to the dungeons, but then he smelled food cooking.
"Dump him in there," the shorter troll said, pointing a thumb through a doorway. Suddenly, Shea was flying through the air. He landed on the cold stone floor shoulder first, the same shoulder the bird had torn into the night before.
He heard the two sentries laugh and chat as they made their way back to the stairs to continue their patrol outside.
Shea sat up. He was in some sort of storeroom, by the look of it.
"Who - who are you?" asked a timid voice.
The farmboy looked behind him and saw a girl - human - who looked like she was ready to run. "My name is Shea." He winced as his neck complained of recent rough treatment.
"Oh, here. Let me help you up. I don't recognize you." She looked him over, tousled hair to worn boots. "You're not Nebulan, are you?"
"Nebulan?"
"From the Kingdom in the clouds, and obviously you're not." The girl cocked her ear to the hallway Shea entered by. "Come. They'll beat us for not working."
She pressed some jars and a sack of flour into his hands, took a few more supplies and led the way to the kitchens.
"My name is Celita. Now what are you doing here if the trolls didn't capture you with the rest of us?"
Shea told his story once more.
"Darragh will want to hear this. He was the king's chef before-- well, before. He knows more about what's happened than any of us."
Shea was led past gaping ovens and huge blackened carcasses turning on spits. The air blew past them like a breeze out of hell.
Celita asked where Darragh was of a couple of fellow servants before finding him near the dairy.
Celita introduced them.
"You were the one, weren't you?" asked Darragh.
"Which one is that, sir?" Shea asked.
"You were the one the King sought."
"The Troll King?!"
"No, no," said Darragh, "there's no Troll King, yet, and may there never be. I was referring to King Magnus."
"King... Mag...?" Shea's knees started to buckle and Celita pulled a milkmaid's stool over for him to collapse onto.
"Perhaps it's time you heard the whole story.
"The Kingdom in the Clouds had always been safe from war and conquest. The mountain our home rests on protects us from invaders. That was until the trolls came.
"The Troll Queen is a powerful sorceress, and she was able to weaken the defenses of the mountain enough for it to be climbed. Attacks from the air have been tried before, though never successfully. We didn't expect anyone to come from below.
"The trolls swept through so quickly, we barely stood a chance. Our king, Lord Magnus, was captured. The only thing that saved him was that the Queen took a fancy to him. Instead of simply executing him, she would marry him.
"The King refused. He told her that he could not marry her, because he could never be with a woman that way. Oh, he would take a consort to perform his duty as monarch to produce an heir, but wedlock has magic of its own, especially among kings and queens.
"The Queen did not believe him. She didn't think such a thing was possible, but the King insisted that it was.
"The Queen decided to ensorcel the King. Lord Magnus had one year to find another man to love. The stipulations were that he could not know about the spell, could not know the King's station and could not ever see his human face. He was transformed into a bear and sent back to his kingdom.
"If he could find a man to share his bed each night under these conditions for a year, then the Queen would let Lord Magnus and his people go. If not, then Lord Magnus would wed the Queen, and we would be her slaves forever.
"You were our chance at freedom, Shea. What happened?"
"I - I needed to see--"
Darragh laid a hand on Shea's shoulder as he began to weep. Celita left the room quickly. The head cook yelled, "Tell no one of this, Celita!" There may still be hope!"
"How can there still be hope?" asked Shea.
"If we can prove that the King was right about love between men, the Queen may honour her agreement. If so, we'll need you to be kept secret. Lord Magnus is not the sort to sit back and wait. He was trying to break his ensorcellment himself, was he not?"
"I think he was."
"It may yet be possible. Either way, I think we'd best get you and Lord Magnus together again."
"How do you know all of this if you are only the cook?"
Darragh turned a cold eye to Shea. "I saw everything. They attacked during dinner, the evil beasts."
Shea was sent in with a small tray of food. He walked carefully down the dark hallway. He wasn't sure where in the dungeon Maguns was. Should he call him Magnus or Your Highness? Should he even let him know that he knew he was a king?
"Hello?"
"Over here."
Shea followed the voice to one of the cells. "Magnus, are you in there?"
"Yes! There's a slot in the door, about face height. Slide it open."
Shea reached up and did so. "Shea!" Magnus gasped. "What are you doing here? Were you captured?"
"No, I came to see you. I brought you your food."
"Slide the tray under the door."
As he did so, Magnus asked, "Do you still have that candle from our last night together?"
"Yes! Yes, I do," Shea said, straightening up. "Right here." Shea put his hand in his pocket to show Magnus. The bell tinkled.
"Don't take it out!" Magnus growled.
Shea stopped.
"You'd best go quickly, my love. The guards will be calling you back for tarrying too long."
The farmboy left the dungeon hiding a smile. Magnus still loved him.
"What exactly did he want to know?" Darragh asked.
"He asked me if I still had my candle."
"What candle?"
Shea went for his pocket, then hesitated. "Can I take it out?"
"I don't see why not," said the chef.
The young man showed Darragh the candle end he'd had in his pocket since leaving the Kingdom in the Clouds. There wasn't very much of it left. It was difficult to guess whether it would light again. "I used it to see his face."
"Why did you ask whether to take it out?"
"Mag-- The King didn't want me to."
Darragh scratched his head, creating a cloud of flour. "Was there anything else?"
"He heard this." Shea produced the bell.
"One of the castle bells. How did you leave with one of those?"
"It was in my pants pocket when I awoke at the bottom of the mountain."
Darragh nodded. "Lord Magnus is thinking of something. I'll ask around. We have ways of speaking to the other Nebulan slaves. We'll find out what's going on."
A couple of days later, Darragh arranged for Shea to deliver another of the King's meal. The cook heard things that made him believe that Lord Magnus was planning some magic.
When the troll guards opened the door to the bank of cells where Magnus was being kept, Shea wasted no time. He went straight to his door.
The window slid open. "They sent you back. Listen quite carefully, please. I think I have a way to break the spell and free us all. I need you, Shea, you personally, to get the Troll Queen's spellbook and bring it to me. The wishing bell works in any castle, even here, but it is yours. You alone can use it. When you have it, bring the bell, the book, and the candle to me. Hurry on now, love, or they'll suspect."
Shea handed the king his food and returned to the kitchens.
Darragh was quite busy over the next few days.
The whole castle was connected to the kitchens in some way. After all, everyone eats. Messages were passed in and out of Darragh's hands many time a day.
Shea was kept in seclusion for the most part. He was considered too valuable to risk the trolls finding him, and possibly telling the Queen he was in the castle. No one wanted to risk even a passing guard on patrol beating him.
The young man became restless. Growing up on a farm, he was not used to other people doing his chores for him. He wanted to help.
Finally, the day came that Darragh told him that everything was ready, or as ready as it could be. The wedding ceremony was to be on the following day.
"All Nebulans were prepared to fight. Much of the uprising will be a distraction. Our real purpose will be to get you to the library, where the Queen's Book of Spells is kept."
Darragh laid a piece of paper on the table. "The kitchens are here on this map," the cook said, pointing. "A number of fighting men will be gathered here, in the dining room to escort you as far as possible. After the dining room, follow this corridor to the stairs. At the top, turn right. The second door will be the solar, and in that room is the door to the library. Have you got that?"
"I think so," said Shea.
"Tell me where you're going."
They went over the route until Darragh was assured that Shea knew how to find the library.
"There will probably be fighting all along your path. We know where you're going, and we will try to draw the trolls away from that area.
"When you get the book, come back the same way and find me. We'll get you to the dungeons. After that, it is in the hands of the King.
"Do you still have the bell?"
Shea nodded.
"Allow me to explain how it works. It fulfills your wishes, but it has limitations. It cannot simply make things appear and disappear, and it cannot create things. It can only take from nearby. We can't, for example, simply wish the King were here, because he is locked in his cell. Similarly, we can't wish for the book - the bell doesn't work on magical items. There is much that can be done with it, but you must be clever about it."
"I don't know if I can do this, Darragh."
The cook laid a hand on Shea's shoulder. "The men who will be waiting in the dining room will be able to go with you part of the way, until they encounter trolls. They will give you as much protection as they can. Some were guards in the Kingdom in the Clouds, and they will be the best men we can get there safely.
"Shea, we need you. You are the only one who can use that bell, and the King asked you specifically. He must have his reasons. For all of us here, please help us."
Shea thought of the many humans he'd seen here in slavery and misery. Now that he had gotten himself here, he was a captive as well. It was the reason he'd come here in the first place.
"I'll do my best," Shea said.
On the day of the attack, there was far more activity going on through the kitchens than normal. Even before he was told that today would be the day, there was a tension in the air that Shea couldn't help but notice.
The farmboy would have worried himself sick, but for the one thought he kept in his mind: If he succeeded, he would be with Magnus again. That's all he really wanted.
Darragh arrived with half a dozen men armed with knives and told him, "It's time."
On the way to the dining room, Shea gripped the bell in his hand. Darragh saw this and told him, "Don't ring the bell until you need it, lad. It'll call attention to you. Keep it in your pocket. And you may need this." A flintstone was pressed into his hand. "To light the candle."
They waited in the dining room for their signal. The revolt would begin in another part of the castle. They would move after the alarm had drawn most of the trolls away from the library.
While they sat, crouched by the door, a lone troll soldier wandered in. He looked surprised to see the humans inside, and even more surprised when they swarmed in on him. Within a minute, the troll was laying on the flagstone floor unconscious. Or worse. Shea couldn't stop staring at the body. It could have been one of the same two guards who'd carried him into the castle.
After a few minutes a distance horn blasted. It was soon joined by others, harmonizing throughout the castle. 'The alarm,' Shea thought.
Heavy footfalls shook the the hallway outside the dining room. Shea panicked and wondered what would happen if a lot of them came into this room. He would never be able to pass through the door with everyone in the way. No more trolls investigated their hiding place, and the hallway became silent again.
After a minute or two, one of the humans (the leader of the six, Shea thought) said, "We move."
They rushed into the hallway, and Shea ran to keep up. He stayed behind them, as he was told. The long corridor bent to the left, and the men in front of him made it to the corner without seeing any guards. They paused at the edge of the wall and listened before carrying on.
Shea looked through the men running ahead and saw the spiral staircase.
Halfway to the end of the corridor the leader of the human band stopped and held out his arms. The others came to a halt and listened. Shea heard the rumbling of trolls on the move.
The leader signalled, and the other men moved swiftly, but silently to the next turn off ahead. They waited until the rumbling was at its loudest before turning the corner and attacking.
Shea hesitated, wanting to watch the fight, but one of the human fighters gestured Shea to get going.
The young man dashed for the staircase and hoped that no more trolls came. Up ahead though, he heard more trolls coming.
Shea looked around. It was too far to run back to the m�l�e behind him. He ran forward and dove under the bottommost stairs. He curled himself up into the small space. Just before the guards descended, Shea saw two of the men break off (maybe to follow Shea and keep him safe?), so the others wouldn't be surprised by the new troops coming in. They'd be outnumbered, but not surprised.
Once the guards had passed, Shea scrambled up the stairs.
The corridor was deserted on the next floor up. Shea was to turn right, then take the second door. He crept ahead, looking out for any signs of trolls.
The hallway here was decorated with tapestries, which depicted battle scenes: trolls fighting a dragon there, fighting elves here, fighting humans over there. The doors on this floor looked to be somewhat more ornate. The ones below were as simply constructed as they could be. Here, they fit their frames exactly, had brass handles, and had flowing patterns carved into the wood.
Shea's hands shook as he pushed open the second door.
The room inside, which Darragh had called the solar, was brightly lit, thanks to the very large window that replaced the wall opposite the door. Looking away from the window and its many panes, Shea saw three trolls coming his way. They weren't dressed like guards, more the way Magnus dressed, but he didn't think they wouldn't cause him trouble. One drew a dagger.
Shea backed into the corridor. He looked up and down the hall, hoping a human was nearby.
"What are you doing here?" asked the troll with the knife. "When the horn sounds, you are to return to your quarters."
Shea grabbed the bell and wished someone nearby would fight the trolls for him.
The look on the troll's face went from one of annoyance as he stared past Shea. The farmboy looked up.
He'd backed into the wall, right where a tapestry was hung. She watched in horror as the dragon climbed out of the picture, becoming a scales-and- ichor creature, rather than a pattern of coloured thread.

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