Dragon Fish

A couple hours later the troll came back with 4 bags of potato chips, 3 bags of frozen peas, 2 carrots, 23 salmon fillets, a bag of fish sticks, 14 ribeye steaks, 7 bottles of ketchup, 3 cartons of broken eggs, 20 avocados, 43 apples, 7 bags of potatoes, 4 bags of flour, 14 cans of salt, 5 onions, 3 bottles of orange soda, 4 gallons of milk, 15 cans of cream of mushroom soup, 2 cans of corn, 13 things of butter, and 19 pot pies. Claire knew exactly how much of everything their was because Haf'gifr insisted on counting out every single item in front of her, and then replacing it in its plastic bag.

"Make something with this," the troll said.

"Oh, I'm going to make the most delicious fish stew in the world," she said. "But I need your help to do it. This cage is really much too small to make a stew in, so I guess you'll have to chop up the ingredients, pour them into the pot at the right time, make sure the heat isn't too high, but most importantly is art. You must put great art into it. Can you do that?"

"Why you not eat fish like the other pretties," asked Haf'gifr plaintively. A glumness settled over him. "You cannot ask this much from Haf'gifr."

"Does your mother eat raw fish?" Claire asked pointedly.

"No. She cooks her boys in the oven," the troll said meditatively. He stood up, scattering his groceries to the floor. "We put this in the oven and cook it there. No need for stew," He mumbled triumphantly.

"Wouldn't she be mad if you used her oven? My mom would be furious if I tried to cook without asking," Claire asked. Of course that wasn't true. Claire cooked almost three times as often as Sheila did, although neither of them spent too much time in the kitchen. But Claire was betting the troll's 'mother' would be a little different.

She was right.

The beady eyes of the creature widened. "No! You are right! Mother would be very upset."

"Better to use the cauldron," Claire agreed.

"But it's too much. I already got all these things. I got you many things from the place with the ugly lights. The man their screamed and screamed after I bit his arm. I had to kill him to make it stop, and then people were running and it was horrible. They shot little pellets at me, and yelled, and shined lights in my eyes."

"That is horrible," Claire nodded in agreement. On the inside she was panicking, horrified, and angry. Really angry. "I could chop the vegetables for you. But you probably shouldn't give me a knife."

"HAHAHAHAHAA," The troll laughed. "You think you dangerous to Haf'gifr? No, you think to escape! You try to trick Haf'gifr!" He stomped around one of the many protrusions in the cave, and when he came back a long butcher knife was in his hand. He casually reached in between two of his teeth for a key, pulling it out like a stuck toothpick, and unlocked Claire's door. "This is your weapon, puny girl. Haf'gifr has eyes like a sea dragon. He watches you. You run, Haf'gifr will crack your bones in his jaws."

Claire accepted the butcher knife, and wandered over to the table, preparing to chop up the vegetables. In one corner, the troll sat watching her, eyes glinting. "Of course I won't try to run. I doubt I could get three steps out of the cave without you catching me."

"Not even two."

She whistled as she chopped. "You must be a very powerful fighter, to take on all those humans. I wonder, how powerful? I bet a seventh level mage could defeat you by himself."

"Haf'gifr is the strongest! No human could beat me, even with magic."

"In the old stories," Claire said, as if to herself, "Trolls could be killed with fire or acid." By old stories, she meant the rpg that she'd been addicted to at 13.

"Hah! Your old stories lied to you. Trolls cannot be tamed by fire or acid, only wood." Haf'gifr smiled, his teach gleaming in the dark. "Long have warriors fought against us with your cold iron, your silver, and your stone pellets, but trolls are the children of the mountains. The earth is our kin, and your weapons are our brothers."

"Or sunlight. I've heard trolls turn to stone in the sunlight." Claire pressed.

"Bah! Light burns our eyes, but Sol is dead, and her arrows no longer threaten us." Haf'gifr chuckled, "No way you could hurt us, you puny humans."

"If trolls are so strong, then why haven't they taken control of this world already? Why are they in hiding?" Claire asked. Once the carrots were done she started on the potatoes.

"Hateful brambles of dead gods circle your world. It takes great magic and skill to slip in and out. Skill like that of my mother." The troll pounded his chest. "Soon she will open the portal to our world, and my brothers will pour out like rain, and the humans will bow to us."

Claire continued chatting with the troll, gleaning his secrets. She was out of the cage, she had a knife, and she now knew that trolls didn't like light, that they couldn't be harmed by weapons made of metal, and that wood was some sort of weakness. As long as she kept her cool and kept the stupid monster busy, she might be able to get away somehow. Slowly a plan began to form in her mind.