Chapter 23

We had a mess in front of us, but luckily Elise had been able to tell us which of the men held the keys for the big cage and she also managed to calm down the women.

Four women had been raped and Linnea was one of them. As far as I was able to sense, all four had some sort of magical capabilities and that was probably the reason why those two Trolls had already selected them as their victims. I closed my eyes for a moment trying to remember the exact composition of the drug that was needed in cleaning a woman of the Troll seed. I was quite sure that I had it. But that wasn’t even the most urgent problem.

The most current problem was that we had no idea how long we could stay in this building before somebody would come to check the place out. In all likelihood we didn’t have much time, most likely only this evening. Luckily Elise was quite unharmed and she left with Frode while I was left there with the women ... four rape victims and twelve others, more or less unharmed. Ignoring the looks of the women, I quickly checked all the raped women, giving some extra attention to Linnea - who avoided looking at me. I tried to help and cure all of them as much as I could and tried to ease their pain. I didn’t dare do much, since none of them were seriously hurt. I had already started to feel the exhaustion from the battle. It seemed that I would be able to regain my skills, but it would come at a price and I knew that I would need my rest at some point. Some point soon.

The silent group of women kept looking at me when I checked the area one more time. I closed the eyes of the Twins and the matron while also sensing the surroundings. There were no documents to check, so I just carefully checked the pockets of the dead men and collected all the money. Not a great fortune, but there were almost ten gold Crowns and some more silver. So, maybe a bit over a thousand Crowns was a small fortune - I was sure that the money would be needed at some point.

I was running out of things to do once I had made sure that I had all the dead Guardians, the Trolls and the dead Magician woman in the big room, close to each other. Of course, there would be some signs of a fight outside the room, but if I could make it look like they had fought each other, I would be happy. At least that might cause some problems in their relationship with the Trolls. However, I was afraid that this might not have been the first time they did something like this.

“Who are you and how come you were able to talk to those monsters?”

The women had just been silently following me while I had been doing something just to pass the time - and avoid thinking. Now one of them had stepped a bit closer and kept looking at me. I cursed myself for my stupidity for not masking myself before entering the room. On the other hand, they had seen Elise, and it had been clear that Elise knew Frode and me.

“I’m someone who came to look for his friends and who unfortunately has seen those Trolls before.”

“What did they want us for?”

I turned to really look the woman, not quite believing what I heard. “I think you already know - or haven’t you heard any of the fairy tales about Trolls and Elves? If so, you know that there were no females among the Trolls.”

The woman let out a bitter laugh. “The only fairy tales my mother told me were about how to lick and where, and what to say when you felt release. However, I’m grateful, since I really wouldn’t like to be married to one of those monsters.”

“I’m not sure, but I think those Ugly People don’t have anything like a marriage. Either they abduct a girl or a woman for themselves or for the tribe. I’m certain that you would have been there for the toughest warriors so that they’d get a strong army.”

“But why those Shinies and that scary Magician...” She stopped in mid-sentence as she figured out that those groups had been working together. I did my best to be glad that she hadn’t asked what happened to that Magician. Besides, I wasn’t quite sure if I had been able to answer that. The magic she had tried to use on me was something I had no knowledge of and the way I countered it was something I understood only partly.

Suddenly there was a familiar pattern of knocks on the pier-side door. I hurried there and responded with knocks of my own before opening the doors.

It wasn’t until we all were on a boat slowly moving up and across the river Aston, that I threw up. I didn’t have much food in my stomach since we hadn’t had the chance to eat dinner yet. However, it didn’t stop me from emptying my stomach. When I was able to stand straight again, I noticed Elise standing next to me.

“Those young men had no chance, they weren’t warned and they had no chance to fight back when I slaughtered them.”

The slap on my face was totally unexpected and I was surprised at the anger in Elise’s eyes. “Those fucking Shinies just watched when the Twins and Reidun were killed when those Trolls had declared them to be too old. The same fucking Shinies just watched when the same ugly Trolls raped Linnea and three other girls. So, don’t you dare to feel sorry for them!”

I shook my head feeling the burn in my chin. “I don’t really feel sorry for them, I feel sorry for myself because I know that I’ll have nightmares about killing them at some point.”

The next thing Elise gave me was a fierce hug. “Thank you, Stian. Thank you! Without you, Linnea and I would soon have been somewhere out there, giving birth to more of those bastards.”

“That reminds me, Linnea and those three other girls need to get treated as soon as possible.”

“I can take care of that.”

“No Elise, the stuff that you normally have is not enough and they need to take that drug for months, at least for half a year. Their seed is quite nasty stuff.”

“Are you serious?”

“I wish I weren’t. I really wish I weren’t.”

I have no idea how much money Elise used and how many favors she called in, but during the same night most of the girls - or women - were safe inside a house someplace upstream on the river Aston. The exception were those four girls who needed medical attention and they were placed in the two rooms where the Twins used to live. A part of me could just watch in awe how Elise kept on organizing things around us, talking to people - mostly women - asking questions and giving orders. Her friends in low places. I forced that sick feeling in my stomach to the background, and I watched and tried to learn.

“Stian, you must go to the University in the morning as though nothing happened. It’s important.”

I nodded to Elise. Without doubt there would be - or there could already be - a big uproar when somebody noticed the dead people. And somebody would notice - since my last task before running to the boat had been to make sure that the front doors were open and stayed that way. Even if the building was something special, it was located in an area of the city that some curious person would go inside and look. Most likely he or she would then run away because of what he or she saw, but at least a few people would see what was inside before the Shinies or the Magicians could come looking. For sure, there would be no uprising, but there would be some nasty rumors that might slow the Shinies and the Magicians down at least a bit. At least we hoped so. I knew that Elise had someone to keep an eye on the boat or the ship that would come to collect the women who should have been there. She wanted to know the enemy.??I ran my fingers through my hair and tried to calm myself and think straight. I had washed myself and changed clothes which had also helped.

“I need to visit the herbalist store for the drug.”

“Now?”

“As soon as possible. Some complications are more likely if we wait longer.”

“Magic?”

“Sort of.”

I didn’t really want to go into detail since this whole thing was something I wasn’t all that familiar with, I was relying on what I had heard and learned from the Elves. The most disturbing thing I had heard was that after being pregnant for a while, the women - even Elves - wanted to have the baby - or babies. Somehow Troll twins were quite common. Even if the Elves knew that it would most likely be deadly to them. That was something I really wanted to avoid, if possible. So, instead of sleeping, I was soon on my way to the store that used to belong to Linnea’s aunt with a letter from Elise.

The new herbalist wasn’t too happy that I woke her up, but after reading Elise’s letter she was quite willing to help. Luckily the shop was well-stocked and I was able to find everything I needed. I also agreed with the shopkeeper that she would create a new batch the following week and get it delivered to Elise’s house. I was happy for her help and about the fact that I didn’t need to pay for all this. The herbalist was also happy because of this new drug she had learned to make, since there always were some women who needed this kind of potion. Yes, it worked also for ‘normal’ pregnancies.

The next few days were terrible. I might have managed that one day without sleep, but when I went to sleep the following evening, my nightmares were back, and with full force as I had feared. I might have been able to justify killing the men who had attacked the restaurant and who had tried to kill us. However, killing the unsuspecting men, however guilty they might have been, was something I couldn’t fully justify to myself. In a way that was conflicting, the warrior in me saw no problem in killing the enemy without warning, but then there was both the question about honor - and the teachings given me by my parents. Intellectually I knew that I had done the right thing. I had done what I had to do - but it didn’t stop me feeling guilty about it. It didn’t stop me waking up after seeing their faces in the middle of the night.

When my birthday and the day of the Northward equinox finally came a few days later, I really felt the strain. I was standing in a corner a few blocks from the University even though it wasn’t quite the middle of the day - Torsdag as it was - yet. A few people had asked about Linnea and I had told them that she needed to go to see her aunt who had become seriously ill. That had been an explanation people could easily accept. When it came to rumors about some monsters that had been found from a storehouse close to river Aston, I made sure just to listen. However, we had all been secretly delighted that some people had been brave enough to drag those ‘monsters’ outside the building so that someone working for one of the city newspapers had been able to sketch them. Only one of the three papers had been able to speculate what had been happening there and even that paper had been silenced afterwards. Which of course gave even more power to the rumors, which in turn gave us some minor solace. Nothing much when compared to the loss of the Twins.

I sensed them before I was able to see them - or I sensed Bellcauniel. My heart started beating faster and I was able to feel moistness getting into my eyes. As soon as I knew the direction where Bellcauniel was I was also able to sense Hantaliel next to her. A part of me noticed that my sensing skills had become even better, even more focused during my time in Aston. However, the most important thing was that now I knew that everything was going to be alright; somehow it would.

“So, you are the women Stian has told us about ... I’m pleased to meet you.”

Somehow I was able not to burst out laughing as I looked at Elise when she gazed at the two old women in front of her. Bellcauniel and Hantaliel didn’t look just old, they looked very old and - truthfully - quite ugly. Only a blind man might give them a second look and the look on Elise’s face was quite close to despair when she looked at the two women in front of her while also giving sideways looks at me. I made sure to keep the happy smile on my face while looking at my two ladies.

When we came in, we had used the main entrance and had headed directly to Elise. Frode had some business outside and Miss Dahl - Hanna - had now adopted the role of a nurse and she kept an eye on the four raped women. I knew I would have two lectures in the afternoon but missing them would be no issue for me. Neither would missing the three on Frjadag. There were things that were much more important than those lectures. Like my women - and Linnea.

Only after she got hurt did I realize how much I really liked - or loved - Linnea. I knew now that I would continue loving her even if we might never have sex with each other. Now I was afraid that we might be losing her. I might have been able to do some physical healing, but her most serious problems weren’t physical. Then there was the thing that I was a male - and at the moment she could barely tolerate me in the same room. The three other women had it much better, maybe because in their profession they’d had some violent clients before. I had not said anything, but it was clear that either - or both - of those now dead Trolls had been able to sense which of the women had some magical abilities and therefore they had claimed these four women for themselves. Too late to ask them now.

It had taken some convincing to get Bellcauniel and Hantaliel to follow me to my new home. I guess that only the fact that Elise was a woman and that she had also been abducted by the Trolls was what finally convinced them - not forgetting that there were four women there who had some natural magical abilities. I already knew that there would be a whole lot to explain once we got the chance to do it. Most likely, they would be a bit disappointed because I hadn’t been able to find out anything more about those messages that should have been hidden in the University Library. On the other hand, I was much ahead when it came to creating the possible business. Besides, it seemed that now we might have some allies in our battle against the Trolls and their cronies.

Then I made a mistake by making eye-contact with Elise. The look on her face was such that I just lost it. There hadn’t been many reasons to be happy in the last few days, and that was probably why my reaction was so strong. By the time I was able to control my laughter again I had three pairs of eyes focused on me.

“I’m sorry, the last few days have been a bit rough ... Hantaliel, I think that you’re quite safe inside this building. Just how hard it is to remove that mask and put it on again?”

“Not very hard ... why?”

Then we heard Elise gasp. “Mask! Of course! Stian, you’ll pay for this!”

“I have offered to pay my rent several times, but you haven’t accepted any money from me.”

“And I never will, not after what happened. You ladies, feel free to use my personal bathroom back there. The water in the basin is no longer warm, but I can ask Mary to bring some more...”

Bellcauniel shook her head. “There’s no need. We have managed to clean ourselves with cold water for some time now and I’m sure if the water is even close to the room temperature it will feel warm to us.”

Then both the Elven women picked up their bags and went to Elise’s bathroom. I had never been there myself, but I had seen from the open door that there was a bathtub and a basin. The floor was tiled, so an occasional drop of water there would not harm the floor any way. As soon as the door closed behind them Elise turned to me, trying to look stern.

“So, they aren’t really that old, are they?”

“Oh, they are old. Much older than you or me, even if they might not look it. It gives them quite a different perspective on many things, but they have also been forced to live in isolation for a long time and at the moment they - or we - are fighting for our survival.”