A Tale Of Two Elements                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Chapter 1 - Tro & Tra

      "I got it!" Tro's high pitched goblin voice squealed out as he smashed his favorite gambling cup onto the grass. The goblin's laugh came out in a hideous and long mix of giggling and snorting, mixed with some snot flowing from Tro's nostrils.
      "Are you sure Tro?!" Came Tra's voice as the second goblin came running up the tall hill that Tro had climbed. He was short of breath and being the smaller one of the two, Tra always had trouble with the athletic part of being a goblin. But what he lacked in strength he made up in brains! Or at least, that's what he thought.
      "Of course I'm sure Tra! Come over here and look!" Squealed Tro as he got down upon his knee's, putting both of his long, gnarled, and red fingers over the top of his cup. He was very proud of himself. After Tra had spotted two lights flitting about up on top of the hill, Tro had sneaked his way all the way up to them without being noticed! One of them got away, but he caught the prettier one!
      Tra got down on his knee's next to his gambling buddy, wiping his nose and hacking a lougie simultaneously, a skill that had took him weeks to develop. "If you got it, open it up!"
      Tro adjusted his grip on the cup, "All right, you get down with your head near the ground so you can peak under." Tra did as he was told and pressed his head down on the ground. Slowly, Tro lifted up the edge of the dice cup.
      White mixed with yellow light spilled out from underneath the cup, as a squeaky and shrill voice screamed out, "LET ME GO!" A surge of glamour flowed through the air, causing a distortion in vision to the two goblins.
      Tra had never actually flown through the air before, and the goblin was kind of enjoying it. He glanced down towards the earth and saw his friend on the hill, giving a friendly wave of glee. Apparently he had just learned the trick on how to fly! Bend your head down on the earth and look under your friends dice cup. He'll have to keep this in mind and make bets with other people to win money. Who would believe a goblin could fly?! "Hey Tro! You never told me your dice cup was magi--" The goblin snapped his sentence short as his body suddenly decided to stop flying. Flapping his arms up and down furiously didn't seem to help, so he let out a loud goblin scream of terror as he plummeted back down to the earth with a great thud.
      Tro, who had quickly pushed his cup back down after his buddy learned how to fly, called over to his friend, "Good thing you hit your head! Otherwise, I'd come over and help ya." Of course, he wouldn't. Busy as he was holding his catch underneath this dice cup, but Tra didn't know he was lying.
      After realizing he wasn't completely unconscious, Tra rolled off of his head and onto his feet. With blurred vision the goblin looked around to get his bearings. He vaguely heard Tro's voice saying something along the lines of 'Get up here' or 'Help me with this', but for some reason his brain wouldn't think straight. The goblin took a few steps towards where he thought he heard Tro's voice, and then thudded down onto the earth unconscious. His last thought as he passed off into dreamland was that he might not be the smartest of the two after this.

Chapter 2 - Fired & Falling
      "What do you mean, fired?", the voice of Gruin spoke as he set down another crate upon the floor. Gruin had been working in the factory of 'Crates R Us' for about two years now, it was the first job he got when he dropped out of high school and he had thought it was going to last a lot longer than this. He had the hope of getting a higher pay than minimum wage soon, but he hadn't expected to be fired. There was no one stronger or taller than Gruin at the factory section in which he worked. As a matter of fact, he was the best worker the factory had ever had! The other employee's all had to use the forklift or a back brace, but Gruin could lift a crate that would take three men to carry, and move it across the entire floor to stack it above his head. This made crate storage and production much faster, plus it meant Gruin didn't have to be an experienced driver, or a driver at all, for the forklift.
      The gentlemen in a business suit adjusted his tie, looking up towards the seven foot musclebound man in front of him. He always hated delivering news like this to the crate loaders, there was a serious threat to his life sometimes. But it was his job, and he was paid well for it, "It means your fired Gruin. As of this moment, as of right now. Your last paycheck was mailed to your address yesterday and should be waiting for you when you get home. I'm sorry, but Crates R Us has certain requirements for their employee's, and you're just not up to our standards anymore. Goodbye." And with that, the overpaid manager turned and quickly exited the factory, got into his new BMW, and drove off.
      He'd never been fired before, he'd also never had a job before. Gruin brought a hand to his face and rubbed it back and forth as he gathered his thoughts. It didn't take long.
      'Well, at least I can still come home and see Suse.' He thought to himself as he began to make his way out of the factory. There were only a few workers left this late at night, and Gruin was always one of them. Suse was Gruin's girlfriend who he had met before he flunked out of high school. He'd promised her a good life with him if they hung out long enough, and Suse apparently loved the big, dumb, and muscled type, so had gone right along with the man. After a few weeks, she had quit high school as well and decided to just live in the apartment with Gruin rent free. She even did the dishes...once in awhile.
      Coming out of his thoughts about Suse, Gruin heard a familiar sound, one you have to listen for if you work at Crates R Us. The sound was the edge of a board shattering in half from above. This meant that one of the crates that had been stacked near the roof had been leaned over to one side just a few inches too much and the weight had been slowly crushing down upon the crate beneath it. The way the crates at Crates R Us were built, this kind of pressure would snap the crate below it in half. Which then would in turn send the crate above it hurtling down to the factory floor, where if you were under it you were dead. Gruin had seen this happen before, but all the other workers got out of the way in time. Flicking his gaze up towards the roof he saw the crate that had begun to slide off the crate below it. He then tracked its path down to the floor, and much to his surprise, there was a man standing there.
      Gruin didn't recognize who the man was, or why he was down in the factory. One thing he did know was that this man was about to be crushed under a crate. Time seemed to speed up for Gruin as he yelled out at the top of his lungs, which he realized had turned much deeper and louder than he thought he could ever manage. But, even Gruin knew there wasn't enough time for the man to get out of the way. The giant of a man broke into a quick run. As he moved towards the man, who's back was turned away from him, a rush of power began to flow over his body. He could feel strength ripping its way through his blood and even his muscles were beginning to bulk up. There wasn't anytime to reflect upon this, and Gruin realized that he would not be able to knock the man out of the way and save himself also. The crate was halfway down its descent and Gruin found himself right behind the man, who was looking from left to right wondering who had yelled at him and why.
      Thud. Crack. The crate had stopped its path of travel, with about seven different cracks now running from its base up to the top. Gruin, his eyes wide and his nostrils flared, had brought his hands up above his head with the hopes of at least knocking the crate aside. But he had caught it, almost effortlessly. Normally, these crates were at least some trouble to lift, and one falling down from the roof should have been much harder, if not impossible, to catch.
      Looking up from where he had been standing, the man blinked his eyes from behind his glasses and let out a horrific high pitched scream at seeing the crate just above his head and quickly leaped out of the way and onto the pavement.
      Strength was starting to flow out of his body, Gruin could feel it passing over, and he decided to toss the crate to the side before it got any heavier. After the crate had smashed upon the floor into a few hundred fragments and splinters, he turned back towards the man and walked over to help him up. Huh, that's odd. He could of sworn his own arm was blue for a moment.
      The man, who Gruin now recognized from his face as the President of the factory, got up to his feet with the aid of Gruin. "Thank you! Thank you!" The man said as he backed up to get a respectable distance from the taller man and dusted himself off.
      Grinding his teeth together, Gruin responded with a short, "Welcome." And proceeded to march on past his now former boss. He didn't care if he had just rescued the President, this company didn't want his services, fine. He'd get a job somewhere else.
      The President called after him, waving a clipboard, "Hey, you there! Wait a minute! What's your name? What section do you work in?"
      Not even pausing in his stride, Gruin waved his arm in a gesture of dismissal, "Gruin, you just fired me."
      **************************************************************
      He had hoped to come home to a loving embrace of his girlfriend Suse. He had hoped to hug her, kiss her, and then sit down and watch some WWF on the television. He had hoped he would find his check in the mail like his manager said he would. He had hoped he would have a job at the end of this day. Gruin had hoped a lot of things, and today none of them seemed to be coming true.
      The empty mailbox wasn't to big of a shock for him, Suse had probably come out and got the mail, hoping for a magazine of some sort. But the empty apartment that he opened the door too and the note he found stuck to the back wall with tape that read,
      Dear Gruin,
            Sorry, I left with all your stuff with my new boyfriend. I've been seeing him everyday while you've been working and it turns out he just bought himself a new BMW! I took all of your stuff with me because I figured you'd be able to buy more with the raise you're expecting soon. Good luck in your life!
      -Suse
      Was not the kind of shock he was looking for. He gripped the note and crumpled it up in his large hand, throwing it down to the floor and wishing he had something big to begin smashing into the walls. But even his giant plastic budweiser can had been taken by his now ex-girlfriend. A deep feeling of despair washed over him as he fell down to his knee's. The thought of calling the police on Suse occurred to him, but the girl had even taken the phone. Now there was just an empty phone jack.
      ***************************************************************
      Somehow, Gruin had scrounged some change up out of his pockets and made it to a pay phone. He didn't have any friends except for Suse, and the only people who knew to call now were his parents. Dropping the coins into the slot he began to dial the number. He hadn't called his parents since he dropped out of high school and moved off with Suse to be on his own. His mother always told him to stay in school and you could do anything. His father had long ago given up on talking to him, deciding he was too stubborn to listen. Which was actually true, Gruin had always been a stubborn person, and he didn't like going to school and failing every class he had taken. It wasn't taking him anywhere, but his mother still said it was good for him.
      The phone rang a few times and the voice of his mother spoke up, "Hello?" It came out in that creaky tired voice you have when you've just awoken from sleep. Gruin realized that it was probably around 1 a.m. and that his mother was in bed.
      "Hi mom..." He said, his voice coming out more full of despair than he even thought he felt.
      "Gruin?!" His mother's voice shouted into his ear, causing him to pull the phone away for a moment. "Is that you?! Why haven't you called me?! It's been almost two years! Do you know what time it is here?! It's 2 a.m.!" Gruin had forgotten the time zone difference, "Where have you been young man? Me and your father thought you for dead! Not that we actually called the police! Are you with that Sluzie girl you were going out with? Is that where you’ve been?! What gives you the right to just run off from the people who raised you up since you were a baby? I gave birth to you ya know! There should be some respect there but no! You just go running off one day without telling me! When I think back to all the times..."
      The voice slowly died away from Gruin's ear as he walked slump shouldered away from the payphone. His mother would probably continue on like that for a half hour or more before she realized he wasn't even there anymore. A deep and remorseful sigh flowed through Gruin as he began to wander aimlessly through the city in which he lived, reflecting back on the day which only drove him into a deeper despair.
      Gruin wasn't sure how long he'd been wandering through the city, just that as he continued he got more and more depressed with his life. He didn't have anywhere to go except back to his empty apartment. All the money he had in that last paycheck was taken undoubtedly by Suse. She'd cash it in the morning and empty out his bank account soon as well. Maybe he shouldn't of made a joint account with her. Maybe he shouldn't of woken up this morning.
      He found himself upon a bridge just on the outskirts of the city. The bridge crossed over the top of a beautiful river, that shimmered and glowed with the moon's reflective white light. It was one of the most lovely spots and a big tourist attraction, but was generally empty around 3 a.m. in the morning. The bridge crossed over into the nearby forest route, which lead off to another town that Gruin had never bothered learning the name of. He didn't think he'd ever leave the one he was in again.
      Staring down towards the dark blue depths of the river below him, Gruin leaned over the edge of the bridge, rocking back and forth gently like his mother always told him not too. 'You'll fall over the edge!' He could hear his mother screaming at him even now. Whatever, he wasn't going to fall. You just lean forward until your almost unbalanced, and then yank yourself back. Gruin used to do it all the time with his friends back in elementary school until all their mothers found out.
      Perhaps it was the fact that it was late and he was tired, perhaps it was the fact that he just wasn't paying as much attention to it as normal. Or perhaps it was the fact that his height had just increased along with his weight, causing him to topple right over the edge of the bridge on one of his leans. Gruin let out a deep and resounding scream as he plummeted down towards the river, fifty feet below him.

Chapter 3 - Sha
      His eyes had closed up and he was now falling end over end towards what Gruin knew would be his death. He'd smack into the water and break his neck, or go unconscious, then sink down to the bottom of the river and die, if he didn't die on impact. He thought back on the day he'd had, and decided that shouldn't be his last thought. Instead, he thought of saving the man's life at the factory, that at least was a good and noble deed, even if it was the boss of the man who had just fired him. He waited...
      And he waited some more...
      And then some more...
      And then...
      A shrill, high pitched, but small voice screamed up towards him, "No no NO! Oh, no you don't! You are not going to go plunging into my river and getting your big carcass all over my floor you big oaf!"
      Gruin realized a few things. The first was that he was no longer plummeting end over end towards the river. The second was, that because of the first one, it meant that he was floating in the air above the water. He could hear the light sound of the river rushing underneath him. The third thing was, some voice was screaming at him. Hesitating a moment, because you just don't open your eyes when you thought you were about to die and instead you're now doing something you didn't think was possible which is floating in mid-air above the water, Gruin opened his eyes.
      Floating before him in the air was the tiny glowing figure of a young women. She wasn't very big, only about six to eight inches, and she was glowing a light blue, the same color as her skin. She had wings coming out of her back, that were flapping almost faster than he could see, but they appeared to resemble some kind of butterfly's. In her hand was a bright yellow wand.
      Gruin dropped his mouth open to say something, but no words were coming out.
      The creature before him spoke instead, "What? Are you a mute? I've never heard of a mute troll before! Now, what gave you the notion that you could just dump yourself right into my river? You know how many humans run around doing that! It's hard enough to clean them up, but a TROLL is almost double their average size you know! Well? Say something!"
      His mind was racing to make some coherent sense out of what was going on, but something deep in the back of his mind had begun to uncloud itself, and he realized that the word Troll was being applied to him, and that it made sense. He was a troll, just a very confused one. "Uh..." He managed to get out.
      The glowing creature shook her wand and hands back and forth furiously, "Uh?! Is that all you have to say? Well, what should I expect from a troll?! Goodness, if you go throwing yourself off bridges towards a river, I wouldn't expect a much more intelligent response. Still, since you were going to die and drown, this means I saved your life. So now, you owe me it! Got it? Good! Now come along!"
      Before Gruin could argue back towards the creature, which he wasn't quite sure how he was going to do in the first place. His body lurched out of the air and splashed down into the water. Immediately he began to sink down into the river water, his hands grasping up towards the quickly departing surface. He was sinking like a rock, almost faster than one. He was very heavy, much more heavy than he thought he should of been. A bit to panicked to figure out just why, Gruin continued struggling futilely towards the surface of the water, while the glowing blue creature seemed to just float down along with him.
      Bubbles flew out of his mouth which he quickly closed as he tried to frantically address the being, clapping his hands quickly, as if that would somehow help is lack of air. His deep blue eyes shot around the area in panic.
      The creature flittered up towards his face, and Gruin saw the things eyes blink once, "Oh! I almost forgot! You Trolls can't breathe underwater can you? Here!" Darting about in a blur of blue, the creature's wand glowed a brilliant yellow.
      Air forced itself into Gruin's lungs and he welcomed it into his suffocating body. He wasn't sure how he could breath underwater, but he was thankful that he could. After taking a few moments of calming breath, he discovered why he had sunk down in the water so fast. He was wearing armor, beautiful armor at that. A strong silver color, full plate like he had seen in old medieval movies he used to watch when he once had a television. The television was currently being traded in at a pawn shop by Suse for some cash to buy a new hair coloring set.
      He didn't have long to admire this new addition to his blue skin when his feet smashed down upon the soft silt of the river bed. Dirt flew up around him as he landed and he had to wait a few moments before it cleared away so he could see.
      All around him was soft sand with only a few rocks embedded into the earth here and there. Gruin wondered how it was possible that no rocks had fallen in this particular part of the river, but as he was about to ask the creature before him, she spoke first. "Hurry up! You act like you've never been at the bottom of a river before!" The creature then floated off ahead of him, stopping for a moment only to be sure he was following.
      "Hey..." Gruin began in his deep resounding voice, which he was starting to grow very fond of having, "...what's going on?" There were many other questions flowing around in Gruin's mind, but this seemed the most important.
      The glowing creature floated back over towards him, coming right up in his face and shaking her yellow wand at him, "No more questions! I saved your life twice now! Once from smashing into my river, and then twice for letting you not drown! Stupid Troll! Just follow me and be quiet for now!" Without another word, and despite Gruin vocalizing his disagreement with this, he began to follow.
      He traveled through the river bed for at least fifteen minutes, thinking of how his life was really starting to change this day. That foggy part of his mind had started to cloud itself back up, leaving only a few scratches of a picture that he wanted fully revealed. He knew he was a Troll, and he knew his name was Towr, and not Gruin after all. Something deep inside of him embraced this name as it came to surface, and wouldn't let go. It was a good name, a name he knew he should be proud to hold and honor. The armor he had on had been forged for him personally, but as to why, where, or who had forged it he still couldn't make clear. He was at least ten feet tall if not more now, and he felt a good deal stronger than he ever had in his life.
      Finally, Towr could see what they were headed for, a large almost palace like structure in the distance. It wasn't horribly big, and it looked in great disrepair even from this distance. Only one or two ceilings was still holding itself up, but even he could tell it wasn't going to last for much longer. He was about to ask a question of the glowing creature for the umpteenth time, but thought the better of it. It wasn't answering any of his questions and he knew that in truth, the thing had saved his life, and that is a debt that must be paid.
      The inside of the ruined palace was much nicer than the outside. The ivory floor had only a bit of sand played across it, but it only seemed to enhance rather than hinder the general appearance of the structure. The flying creature brought Towr in through a few nice rooms before coming to what must have once been the throne room of the palace. As the Troll stepped through the open entranceway he felt the water around his body pull away and air run itself against his face. Turning around, he realized that he had walked through a standing wall of water, and was now in an open area with air to breathe. Dripping wet, he walked to the center of the room and folded his mammoth arms, for once waiting to be spoken too rather than speaking.
      The blue creature flitted itself in front of his face, and Towr could make out the smile upon the things features, "My name is Sha!" She introduced herself in that cheery voice that never seemed to go away from her tone, "This is my home and you are welcome here for now. I, in case you can't figure it out, am a water elemental."
      Towr was about to remark on that subject when the elemental began to speak again, floating about the room as it did so, adjusting different shells and pearls that she had collected from the river bed. "Now that I've saved your life, I'm sure you know that you have to do what I say! No no, don't argue about it! Just live with it!" Having adjusted the few things in the former throne room, Sha went over to sit down on a rather large sky blue pillow that was on top of the crumbling throne. "About two weeks ago me and my sister Asa were getting together for a little friendly talk. Normally we don't do this kind of thing, because she's a wind elemental and I'm a water elemental. And I'm sure you realize just how incompatible we can be sometimes! Well, anyway! There we were, on top of a hill when suddenly this ugly stupid goblin came running up with a big cage! He smashed it down over my sister and almost snatched me in his hand before I got away! Well, I'm not a match for goblins if they're not down here in the water, so I had to run away. You understand that right? Of course you do!"
      Starting to feel a bit overwhelmed with all the information, Towr sat down upon the ivory floor, groaning slightly as he forgot his armor and bent just the wrong way in it. Sha's eyes blinked and she stopped talking, "Hey! Stop bothering with the metal around you and listen! This is IMPORTANT!" The last word came out so loud it startled Towr, he didn't realize such a powerful lung could be in something so small. But then, this morning he didn't think he was a Troll named Towr either.
      "Now then, after watching the goblins run off with my sister. Oh, did I mention there was two of them and not just one? The second one come up later. There name's were Tro and Tra. How unimaginative their parents must of been! Just like a goblin! Anyway, I flew over to my friend Shioo's place as fast as I could and she told me she'd be more than willing to help me in a quest to save my sister! Unfortunately, she also told me I had to come back home for a bit and find someone else to help! Ha! That must be you!"
      For once there was a break in the speaking, and Towr took advantage of the momentary silence to ask a question, "How did she know I wo--" His sentence was cut off as Sha started up again.
      "How did she know you would come? How should I know?! She's an all purpose wizard you know! A good friend to have! Though she doesn't focus enough on water Arts as she should. I keep telling her that if she'd only listen to me she'd be able to control a lot more than little wisps of magic like she does! Some people just don't know what's best for them you know? Like you! Diving off that bridge! Did you think that was going to help you? Actually, it was good that you did that, otherwise I'd never of found you. Well, enough talk! You know what you have to do now, and you know my name. Oh, what's yours so I don't have to call you Plummet?"
      "Towr.." The troll grunted out, starting to feel a smidgen of annoyance towards Sha, but not enough to truly get to him deep down.
      "Towr, well, that makes sense! Goodness knows you're the tallest Troll I'VE ever seen! It's just as well though, since you have to come help me save my sister, and my friend said we'd need all the help we could get. Now, get up off your muscled rump and we'll go see Shioo."      

Chapter 4 - Shioo
      After leaving Sha's underwater palace Towr had been floated up to the surface and onto the bank opposite of the city. Towr had turned to look back at it, and found it to be a rather ugly looking place. Tall buildings, cars running around, it all seemed so plain to him now.
      Looking towards the forest however had filled him with a deep sense of contentment, and once more the mists that were clouding his head parted slightly. The forest was defiantly his home, or at least it had been at one point in his life. Not neccesairly this forest, but a forest nonetheless.
      Moving through the tree's, Towr became a bit disappointed as no more forgotten memories came through the cloudy haze. No matter how hard he tried to remember back, he could only catch small glimpses of something that was there. But once he had a good look upon it, the memory would slip away back to the corner of his eye. It was a bit frustrating, and he was starting to feel the need to remark about it to Sha when a large wooden cottage came into view.
      The forest had begun to take a steady downward slant and the tree's were getting more and more sparse until finally they had cleared away all together to reveal a small open plain of grass in a valley. And at the center of it was the cottage. It was about mid-afternoon now, and Towr still had not received any sleep from the night before. He wasn't really tired, but a short nap might do him some good.
      "Here we are!" Sha said cheerfully, floating up and knock knocking on the door.
      The Troll thought maybe he should go forward and knock himself, since the water elemental's knock was barely audible. But, the door opened and standing there was one of the most beautiful girls Towr had ever laid eyes on. She had long flowing black hair that went down to nearly the floor contrasting her pale white skin complexion. Her eyes were a soft brown flecked with green and she wore a beautiful black full body cloak, that was held tight around her waist by a black sash. Another thing was that she had elongated ears, and Towr recognized this species as a Sidhe thanks to the fog in his mind parting, if only for a moment.
      A smile came upon the girls lips as she recognized Sha and opened the door wide, "Come in, come in." Her elegant sounding voice rang out as she stepped away. Sha flew herself in immediately, while Towr remained outside the door, blatantly staring towards the female Sidhe.
      Shioo moved over and grabbed the troll's wrist, leading him into the cottage and then pushing the door closed with her other hand. "Well, who have we here?"
      Sha giggled as she flew over to land down upon Shioo's left shoulder, "This is Towr! He's the biggest troll I've ever seen and I saved his life twice. So he's going to come help us save my sister! Aren't you Towr?"
      Towr blinked his eyes as he came out of his momentary trance and realized the two of them were actually speaking to him. He looked over towards Sha and then back to Shioo, his mouth moving up and down but he found no words were formulating in his mouth. He'd never seen anyone as beautiful as Shioo before and his brain couldn't write the proper response to send down to his vocal cords.
      A few moments of silence passed and Shioo raised an eyebrow to look over towards the elemental on her shoulder. Sha spoke, "He doesn't talk much! Being a Troll and all it takes them awhile to work things out you know. But shouldn't hold it against him! He's really strong looking!"
      Shioo gave a nod of her head in response to Sha, "That's okay, we need more brawn then brain anyway if we're dealing with goblins." The Sidhe's hand reached over to tap her knuckles against Towr's armor, "Nice, very lovely. How much did you have to pay for it, I wonder?" She asked towards the armor rather than the Troll, who was still moving his mouth up and down. Sha flitted up off of her friends shoulder and kindly pushed Towr's mouth closed.
      "He might be under heatstroke or something, we did travel half the day through the forest." She commented, waving a hand in front of Towr's eyes as the troll blinked.
      "I...uh...no." He managed to finally get out, stepping back from Sha's waving hands to fold his arms. "I feel perfectly fine." In order to enforce this fact he took a big breath, puffing himself up a bit and looking over towards Shioo, who much to Towr's disappointment seemed unimpressed.
      "You're the water elemental Sha, I doubt he'd be having heatstroke if you weren't." Shioo responded as she walked further into the room and over to a small table with an open book. She closed it up and replaced it upon the shelf, then turned back towards Sha, who had now landed down on Towr's shoulder. "Well, I'm ready to go and we should start moving as soon as possible. Time's wasting and there's no telling what those two goblins went and did with your sister. You still have her wand, right?"
      Sha held up the yellow wand she had been holding when Towr first encountered her above the surface of the river. "Haven't let it out of my grasp of course! Just like you said! Don't you trust me? You should you know! I've known you a lot longer than you think I have! Goodness!"
      Waving her hands in an apologetic manner, Shioo moved over and held her hand up towards Sha. She was much shorter than Towr was, he guessed probably around the height five and a half feet, give or take an inch or two. Leaning down, the troll offered the elemental on his shoulder towards the Sidhe.
      Shioo took the small wand in the palm of her hand and looked up towards Towr, "Would you mind going out back? There's two horse's that are saddled up with supplies for our journey. Thanks." The Sidhe then turned around and moved off into a deeper part of the cottage. Sha flitted up off of Towr's shoulder and waved her hand, following after Shioo.
      Things were starting to move fast for Towr again as he walked outside of the cottage and around to the back. He had enough time on his walk to reflect on all that had happened and decided he was much better off going with Sha on this little adventure. And something inside of him yearned to go, the clouded part of his memory again urging his soul onwards. Also, Sha had saved his life twice, and he wasn't about to go and not help the one who had helped him. Thinking on that some more as he began to bring the horses that he found back around the house, he realized that even if he didn't go with Sha, he wouldn't have any idea where else to go. Plus, any excuse to hang around that beautiful Sidhe was more than enough reason for him to go along. She was a lovely sight to behold, and despite his earlier lack of words to express anything intelligent, he was sure he'd be able to keep his head this time and manage a lovely conversation.
      Sha and Shioo were already out in front of the cottage by the time Towr came over with the horses. The water elemental had perched herself on Shioo's shoulder, and the Sidhe was currently waving the small wand, which looked more like a yellow twig between her fingers, back and forth in the air in wide flowing circles. She was murmuring some foreign language Towr had never heard before, and as he stepped over with the two horses, Sha flittered up and put her tiny finger on his lips. Getting the message, the troll stayed quiet as Shioo continued on her magic chanting.
      Glamour began to flow up around Shioo's form, lovely red sparks swirled about in the air at the center of the circle she had been making for the past five minutes. Bringing her hand to a quick stop, the glamour concentrated together and poofed up into the form of a small round fiery orb. Extending a single finger out towards the orb, Shioo spoke in a commanding tone towards it, "Go and find the goblin named Tro that captured Sha's sister." The orb bobbed once, twice, and then begin to head off towards the opposite end of the forest that Towr and Sha had come in on.
      Shioo handed the small wand back to Sha and moved over to the larger of the two horse's. Towr had never had much experience with horse's in the past. Actually, he'd only read about them and never actually seen a horse for himself, but he was pretty sure that the smaller horse that was tied to the larger was for all of their supplies, and the larger was for Shioo himself. His concentration on this was broken as Shioo's lovely voice rippled into his ears, "Won't you help me up Towr?"
      Only to eager to help Shioo, the troll moved over and lifted the girl from the waist up sideways onto the horse with ease. He paused with his large hands gripped completely around the Sidhe's mid-section, looking down towards her with a rather goofish grin. Shioo brought her own hands over and gently pulled his hands away from her waist. Grinning herself, she spoke, "Thank you so much. I'm sorry I don't have a horse for you, but even if I did I don't think it would fit underneath you. Even though Sha is little, she is correct at you being a very large troll."
      Towr folded his arms in front of himself and puffed himself up a bit once again, which seemed to not impress Shioo at all, except for her grin slipping over into a smile. "It is quite all right my lady, I can walk for days on end if you wished." Towr found himself saying with an amazing air of confidence. He was sure he could keep up with the horse unless it went at a full gallop, and then with his large legs he might still stand a chance of keeping pace. Deep within his heart, he knew that if Shioo asked at this very moment, he'd do whatever she wanted.
      "Too kind Towr." Shioo responded, looking over to Sha who landed down upon her shoulder. "Ready Sha?" Sha gave a triumphant battle cry, at least for a water elemental, indicating that she was more than ready. "And you Towr?"
      Something about Towr was sure he was not ready, he was positive he had forgotten something and just could not remember what it was. His hands began to clasp in and out as a deep frown of concentration came over his face, "I..mmm..." He responded rather pathetically to Shioo, then it came to him. He gave a loud snap of his fingers, "A weapon! I don't have a weapon to fight with..."
      Shioo groaned slightly, she herself hadn't even realized that Towr wasn't armed with anything. She glanced over towards her wisp which was still moving on its merry way towards the beginning of the forest. "Listen, my brother used to live here with me and he kept a sword in the woodshed next to the stables for cutting down tree's. I'm sure he wouldn't care if you had it. Be sure to hurry and catch up to us, the wisp won't wait forever!" Flicking the reigns, Shioo started off at a quick gallop after the fiery orb, catching up to it before it got out of her sight completely.
      A pang of distaste leaped through Towr's body as Shioo mentioned what the sword had been used for. That kind of work was meant for a woodsman's axe. At least that's what the fuddled memories were telling him at the moment. Moving with a few long stride's, Towr came to the woodshed behind the cottage. He was starting to get used to just remembering things he'd never even considered before, and was also starting to feel more confident in his abilities.
      It only took him a moment to locate the sword Shioo had mentioned, and it was a pleasant sight to his eyes. Despite what she said about it being used for chopping firewood, the sword was in good repair and not at all damaged as far as Towr could tell. He brought the sword into his grasp and tested its weight a bit in his hand. Shioo's brother must have been a rather strong Sidhe, because this was defiantly a giant sword and not a broadsword as he had suspected. After a few test swings, which really made Towr feel at home with the weapon, he hurried out of the woodshed to catch up with his two new friends.

Chapter 5 - Goblin's Who Gamble
      Traveling for five days wasn't as taxing on Towr as he thought it would have been. He didn't get overly tired at any one point in the journey, and the food Shioo had packed for supplies was more than enough to sustain him. After the second day of travel, Towr had gathered up the courage to actually talk to Shioo for an extended period of time without sounding like a complete idiot. As Sha had said, Shioo did turn out to be an all purpose wizard, she was neither extremely skilled in one Art, nor was she negligent of any other save for a few that aren't in common practice. The more Towr talked with this woman, the more his fascination with her grew. She had moved out to the cottage in the valley with her brother a few years after they both had their Chrysalis at roughly the same time, deciding it was much more nice than living in any city. As to her brother's whereabouts, she seemed to keep rather closed mouthed about it and Towr wasn't the sort to probe women he found insanely attractive for information.
      The journey for Sha didn't even phase the water elemental, as long as she went to sleep inside a jug of water or some sort of liquid she got along fine during the day. Though she did say it was terribly undignified and if either of them ever told her sister she'd turn them into leeches. It was an empty threat, at least...Towr thought it was. Shioo's reaction was just her usual light smile that the troll was growing more and more fond of.
      "I bet it's just above this hill here!" Sha said as she flitted around in front of Towr and Shioo, which was one of her favorite places to be when there was something unexpected up ahead.
      "You've said that the last three hills Sha." Shioo said with a bright smile, looking over towards Towr who seemed to be a bit lost in thought at the moment.
      The water elemental stuck her tongue out towards Shioo and quickly raced off ahead of the wisp they were following and over the hill. A second later, she came zooming right back, waving her hands frantically, "Stop the wisp! Stop the wisp!" She screamed at Shioo, who gave a gesture of her hand causing the wisp to fizzle out and disperse in a shower of glamour.
      "What is it?" Towr asked as he snapped out of his daydream about Shioo and him sitting on a hill together watching the sunrise.
      "It's...it's...it's...!" The elemental stuttered, "...you have to come see it!" The glowing blue ball shot off back towards the top of the hill, staying low to the ground this time. Shioo dismounted from her horse with the aid of Towr and they both went over to the top of the hill to look at where Sha seemed to be interested in.
      What the elemental was so frantic about was the contents of the deep valley that came down from all four sides from different slopes. There, in the center of the deep plain was a village of straw and wooden huts, some big, some small, and two giant brick houses. The first of the brick houses was long, extending almost the entire length of the village, the other was in the far back and was obviously so form of leader's home. This wasn't what Sha was so worried about though, the thing she was worried about was that the occupants of this village were goblins. They were everywhere and quite visible from their vantage point on top of the hill.
      "Too many to even count." Remarked Towr as he gripped the hilt of his sword a bit tighter than normal.
      "Mmm, I've never seen an actual grouping of goblins like this. Have you Sha?" Shioo asked as she tapped her finger against her cheek thoughtfully.
      Sha shook her head, "Nope! Nope! But I bet there's a reason for it! And I bet those two stupid goblins Tro and Tra are in there somewhere with my sister! So all we have to do is go down and find them! Come on!" Not hesitating a moment, she flew up into the air and was abruptly halted as Shioo gripped down lightly on one of her wings.
      "Maybe we should wait until I can cast a spell to stop us from being noticed Sha." She said with that light smile of hers.
      "Oh, well. Yes, yes! Just hurry up! Who knows what those drooling idiots are doing down there with my poor sister!" Sha said as she pulled herself free of Shioo's grasp and began to flit around in the air once more.
      Towr, who had remained relatively silent after seeing the goblin village, looked over towards Shioo. "You sure you can do that? None of us look like anything that would belong in there." He said with a nod of his head towards the goblin village. After all, Shioo was about as far as you could get from a goblin in looks, and he was a troll, and Sha was a little magic being.
      Shioo waved her hands at Towr in a dismissive gesture, backing away from the hill and going down the side opposite the goblin village, "Positive. It's not that difficult a spell. They won't even pay attention to us. But we'll have to be quick so it doesn't wear off when we're in the middle of something."
      Accepting Shioo's word on this, Towr moved over to stand alongside the Sidhe as she began to draw a rune in the dirt with one of her daggers. The trolls eyes drifted back over towards the top of the hill, envisioning the goblin city beyond it. The clouds had once again begun to part from his memory, and the distinct vision of an entire army of goblins washing over a plain towards him came into his mind. But there wasn't just an army of goblins, there were other sickening creatures. Ogre's, mutated versions of forest animals, and every single one of them was coming towards him and him alone. He saw himself in this long plain of grass, holding a weapon similar to the one he now held in his hands. His armor was shining in the light, and the waves of goblins rushed over him. And then, the vision faded.
      Towr blinked his eyes a few times as he refocused towards Shioo, who had finished her rune and was now directing Sha to one portion of it. She then brought Towr over to stand in another part, and finally she stood at the center.
      Raising her hands up towards the sky and closing her eyes, Shioo began to chant in that language so unfamiliar to Towr. Glamour begin to flow up in sparkles of light from the rune, twirling and cascading around the three of them until finally there was a blinding flash of light.
      As Towr's vision cleared, he glanced down at himself and then too his two friends. A confused look passed over his features and Sha flew up next to his face, "Don't wear that face!" The elemental scolded, "It makes you look dumber than you already are! And being a troll, that's really, really dumb!" She then flew off heading towards the hill, Shioo gave Towr one of her re-assuring smile and began up the hill as well.
      "Wait..." Came Towr's voice, he still wasn't sure what the spell had done or how it was going to help them get into the village without being ambushed by a few hundred goblins. "...what did you do?"
      Shioo, who was just at the top of the hill now and starting to disappear over it, called back, "Trust me."
      Towr grunted in frustration, but since it was Shioo saying this and the fact that he wasn't going to let Sha or her go into that town alone, he quickly hurried after the two.
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      It turned out that Towr had been right about trusting Shioo, for when they entered the goblin village not a one of them turned to give them even so much of a glance. Sha flew up next to his ear and whispered into it, "Don't do anything to attract attention and we'll be fine." The elemental than sat down upon his shoulder, getting comfortable.
      Shioo apparently knew where they were headed, but after a bit of traveling Towr realized that it was the big brick structure he had seen in the center of the village. And now that they were closer to it, he could read the big and thick lettering on the side of the building.
            GAMBLN HAL
      "Hmph..." Said Towr, more to himself than anyone. He always disapproved of gambling and the like. Letting things be taken into chance is always a foolish way to do things. You never knew how things were to come out, better or for worse.
      The stench of the goblin village got worse the further they went in. The smell of rotting flesh and rotting meat was heavy in the air, and all three of the travelers had put a cloth over their faces too attempt and keep the smell out. Shioo seemed to be having the worst time about the smell, and she had moved closer to Towr as the journey continued through the city.
      "I'll go look really quick! You two wait here!" Sha said as she sped off of Towr's shoulder and into one of the many open windows of the apparent goblin gambling hall. Towr was about to protest when Shioo brought her hand over to his and gave it a light tug and shake of her head. Apparently the Sidhe believed Sha wouldn't have any trouble inside of the building.
      Painful minutes passed by for Towr as he looked towards the building and around at all of the goblins who still paid no attention to him or Shioo. Whatever spell the Sidhe had cast he was very thankful for it, though deep inside of him he longed to go and hack every single one of these goblins into pieces and toss them to carron birds. Shioo must of noticed something change in the trolls expression, because she gave another tug upon Towr's arm with a stern look and shake of her head, dispelling the thoughts running through the trolls head.
      Sha flew out of the same window she had come in and was frantically pointing over to the right side of the building, "There, there!" She began in a frantic voice, "Tro and Tra are over there all alone and rolling dice with each other! They must of locked my sister up! Come on, come on!" Shioo and Towr both hurried after the glowing female in the air before them and off to the side of the gambling hall. Going down a few more alleys until finally they came to a rather cruddy, even for this village, looking hut made of mud and sticks. Sha pointed frantically towards the two goblins who were on their hands and knee's, "That's them! Sick 'em Towr!"
      A rush of pleasure flowed through the trolls body as he stormed over towards the two goblins. They weren't the tallest or strongest goblins in the world, and the one on the left had a large eyepatch over his left eye.
      The dice rolled out of the cup and both of them came to rest at Towr's feet, who stood there with his giant hands free of his sword, which rested in the ground next to him. Both goblins, ignorant or uncaring of the troll next to the dice, scurried over to look at the results. "Ha! Bone's and skulls! That means I win!" The one on the left said.
      "No! Skulls and bone's Tro!" The one on the right exclaimed towards his friend, snatching the dice up from the ground. "That means I win again! Now give me youuuaahhhh!!!!" The goblin screamed as Towr's hand came clamping down around his head. Tro only had time to look up at his companion before another hand gripped around his head. They were then, quite painfully, slammed through the side of their mud hut which had cost them a whole leg of lamb to build, and then smashed down onto the rough dirt.
      "What'd you do with her?" Boomed Towr's voice, who was no longer someone to be ignored by either of the goblins.
      Tro and Tra exchanged blurred glances, both of their minds starting to work slower than usual at the sudden burst of pain in their heads. Tra managed to bring his eyes back up on the troll who had interrupted their dice game, "Her who?" He managed.
      Tro, not to be outdone by his friend, added, "Yeah! Her who?!"
      Two more bashes through the hut and three more to the ground brought both of the goblins into a state of frantic delirium. Sha had come over and was now buzzing in front of both of their faces glowing a bright blue, neither of them were suprised at seeing spots, "All right!" The elemental began, "What did you do with my sister?!"
      Half-unconscious, Tra managed to burble out through snot and blood, "Lost 'er."
      Tro added soon after, "Big loss."
      "Didn't even get a reward." Tra added, starting to regain some of his mind, which wasn't a lot to begin with.
      "He just took her and that was it." Tro remarked, sounding a bit remorseful and pitiful.
      Shioo had joined the interrogation group, but her concentration was centered on the area around them, being sure that no extra attention had been brought by the scene. Thankfully, none had.
      "Who took her and where is he?!" Sha screamed, the light around her body starting to get much brighter as she had Towr bash them into the ground a few more times.
      "Ahhg!" Moaned Tra.
      "Geegh!!" Squealed Tro.
      "Tell me right now or I'll have my troll stuff you inside of that stupid dice cup of yours!" Yelled Sha, who was starting to enjoy this just a bit too much in Shioo's opinion.
      Towr however was having great fun with the two goblins underneath his grip. They were struggling to get free and had stopped their attempts to bite and gnaw at his hands after the third slam into the ground. Now they were almost like rag dolls, and the urge to dropkick them into the distance was starting to grow stronger.
      "Bone Crusher!" Tra groaned out as he was slammed into the earth again.
      "He lives in the chief building at the end of the village!" Squealed Tro.
      Sha quickly flew over to Shioo who was tapping her foot with a bit of impatience. Towr, seeing that they no longer had any use for either of these goblins, tossed them both into the air and fulfilled the desire in his heart, dropkicking them both far off into the distance.
      Tra had flown once before, and he was therefore in his mind a veteran. He tried to explain to Tro that the sensation of flying up through the air isn't worth it when you stop flying and begin falling. Tro seemed not to care though, as his head was caved in from the kick received by Towr. Falling back down towards the earth, Tra at least had the satisfaction that his friend was going to hit the ground before he did.
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      The trip towards the chief building as the goblins had called it, was completely uneventful if not stench ridden. They had walked past the gates and the guards who were asleep at their post, and begun to move through the large building. It was defiantly not of goblin build and had to of been stolen by the goblins from a very rich man. But what had once been a mighty and glorious mansion, had been destroyed and soiled by the passing goblins. Beautiful wallpaper had been smudged by blood, dirt, and who knows what else, and most of the artwork was crushed and smashed.
      Making their way through a general random pattern with Shioo leading, the three came into what had been setup as the throne room of the mansion. This room was covered with bones from various creatures, some defiantly human. Multiple piles of artwork and treasure had been dumped on either side of the room. At the center was a giant stone throne, on which a rather big goblin was sitting, inspecting a dice and testing it out by rolling it on the floor in front of him.
      Shioo swore softly under her breath, the first time Towr had ever heard such a thing come from the elegant woman. She looked up towards Sha and Towr, "Spells worn off."
      As if to enforce this idea, the large goblin on the throne looked up at the three with a start, dropping the remaining dice he had in his hand which all fell to the floor, coming up skulls. "How did you get in here?!" The goblin screamed, picking up the club next to him by the throne and hopping up to his feet.
      Towr had moved quick, especially for a troll, and had a hold on the goblin club before the creature even had a chance to get its club up all the way up for a strike. "Tell us what you did with the elemental!" His voice roared into the goblins ears and echoed through the throne room. Shioo and Sha both winced and quickly closed the doors to the throne room, looking around for something to brace it with, for undoubtedly all the goblins in the mansion were going to be coming in here soon.
      Bone Crusher the goblin snarled up towards Towr as he let go of his club and hopped away before the troll good snatch him up in his hand. "What elemental?" He snarled, continuing to back away from the much larger troll. Banging began to sound on the opposite side of the throne room door just as Shioo managed to roll a rather large piece of artwork in front of it.
      Towr stormed towards the goblin, who only had the chance to turn around and trip over his own dice before he was caught up in the trolls powerful grip and being repeatedly slammed into the floor and dice below him. Towr could of kept doing this all day, but as Sha informed him quickly, goblins were trying to get into the throne room.
      Turning the goblin over onto his back, he brought his fingers down over the top of each of the goblins eyes and clenched his hand around the goblins nose. "Tell me what you did with the elemental or you can spend the rest of your pathetic life blind."
      Gargling out some goblin curse, Bone Crusher responded, "I sold her to a wizard!"
      "What wizard? Where?!" Roared the mighty troll.
      "Lorinen! Lorinen the wizard! She lives across the sea in a tower! She comes every month to take more goblins from me and in return I get to keep this village! Let me go!" The goblin snarled.
      Towr did just that, after extending the goblin out the window. A loud crashing of wood and stone sounded as the throne room doors caved in on itself. Sha and Shioo had both backed up to the throne where Towr now stood, his giant sword in hand.
      The goblins came rushing through the doorway, over the fragments of the door they had created with their swords, axes, and clubs. They were slobbering, drooling, and blood crazed upon seeing the three of them inside and their leader missing, this meant whoever killed the three Fae first was going to be in charge.
      Towr brought his giant sword up and ready as the goblins poured in, his mind had once again started to clear itself, and his grip upon the weapon tightened. He stepped forward towards the onrush of creatures and swung his sword in one long swoop before him. Blood and heads of goblins rolled across the floor, causing the rest of the goblins to pause.
      It felt good, it felt better than good, it felt great. Slicing off the heads of the goblins and seeing the blood rush out sent a deep sense of pleasure and satisfaction through Towr's body. The mists had parted from his memory fully now and he remembered all of his prior battles. The victories which far outweighed the defeats, the end upon end of questing he had done. And then the battle against the evil horde that had threatened his King's freehold so long ago. On that day he had killed thousands of goblins, they fell like tree's before a woodsman's axe. And not just goblins, but creatures of many kinds. He'd slain all of them, but his wounds were to great and he did not survive the final blow he had dealt a dragon. For both he and the dragon died that day.
      The knowledge flooded through his body and he began to hack and hew through the goblins as they continued piling into the throne room. Blood stained the floor and goblin heads had begun to pile up. Ten minutes and it was over, the rest of the goblins having fled from the wrath of the troll that stood before them. He was unstoppable, he was Towr.

Chapter 6 - Lorinen's Tower
      The journey across the sea was an easy one for the group, the ship they hired to take them across was full of boggins who were more than willing to help them in the dire need they had to get across the sea to where the wizard Lorinen was. The only disturbance that happened upon the voyage over the sea was the sea serpent that appeared and was thought to be attacking the boat, when in fact it was just having a nice little chat with Sha. After Towr had cleaved their way out of the goblin village they had traveled as fast as they could towards the nearest dock. After Shioo had consulted with herself and her spells for half a day, and she had found the direction in which the ship would need to go.
      A week passed on the ship during which Shioo, Sha, and Towr all became even closer friends. Towr explained to them both about how he had been in the service of his lord and King when an enemy country had gathered an army of chimera and sent them after the land while the army was busy elsewhere in the kingdom. He was the only one left to stand against the incoming horde, and if it weren't for the dragon, he would have lived through it. After this was all over, if Sha considered his debt to her paid, he would go in search to see if his King still lived. Sha didn't seem to sure about this, but after a bit of scolding from Shioo, the elemental had begun to relent that maybe she couldn't keep her troll forever.
      The tower was sighted on the ninth day of their voyage. It was on an island alone in the sea and a cloud cover hung in the air over the land. The tower, which was made of a black stone, disappeared high up into the sky above the clouds, the top of it ending out of the sight from the travelers on the boat. Docking on the shore the three bid farewell to the ship of boggins, who wished them good luck and a safe return to their home. Towr mentioned that they now no longer had a means off the island, but neither Shioo or Sha seemed to think it was that important.
      The tower was the only thing upon the island, which was about ten miles in radius. No foliage grew in the ground, a white sand being all that this island cared to have on it with the tower. Out in plain sight, for there was no cover for any of them and Shioo said that her spell kept dispelling every time she began it, they began to approach what they thought was the front of the tower.
      The tower was made of black stone, but it was not a layer of stone upon stone, instead it was one single block that had been carved into the shape of the tower. How long it must have taken for someone to create such a thing, Towr could not even guess. About ten feet from what they could make out of a door into this structure, remains of goblins were strewn about in the stone. Some of the bones had been bleached from their exposure, but a few were still rather fresh, only a day or so old.
      As the three paused to examine this oddity more closely, Shioo cocked her head to the side and looked towards her companions, "Do you hear that?" She queried softly.
      Towr strained his ears, but all he could hear was the waves washing softly up against the beach and the wind blowing the sand. He started to shake his head but stopped halfway, now he could make it out, but just barely.
      "What is it?" Came Sha's voice, who was then hushed by Shioo.
      "It's a goblin." Remarked Towr rather bluntly, having recognized that high pitch squealing sound from about a week ago in the goblin village as he had been hacking and kicking through them to make their way out.
      "It's getting louder!" Exclaimed Sha, looking around.
      "...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Came the goblins scream, which all three of them realized was now coming from above. Tumbling down end over end was, sure enough, a goblin. It was squealing its lungs out as it sailed down through the air, flailing with its arms and legs as if to slow its decent. No sooner had Towr affixed his eyes on the goblin then a loud thud occurred, and the screaming stopped.
      The goblin lay crunched into a goup of blood, sand, and bones. After exchanging confused glances the three of them decided to just continue on.
      The door leading into the tower was made of strong oak, and had carved into it a long staff angled to the side with a crown upon the top. There was no latch upon the door, and Shioo's attempt at pushing it had not caused the door to swing inwards.
      "Towr! Knock it down!" Commanded Sha, smiling playfully as she landed on Shioo's shoulder.
      Backing up to get a running start, Towr barreled his troll body towards the door with as much speed and strength as he could muster. His shoulder armor smashed into the door and there was a loud groaning and creaking of wood, followed by a split second pause with Towr in mid-air, his body pressed against the door, and then the loud cracking as the once sturdy door fell to the floor, as did Towr.
      "You could of knocked." Came a distinctively male voice from inside the room of the tower. Shioo stepped in and aided Towr up to his feet. Sitting behind what was very much a business desk was a grey haired Sidhe. He had a pencil in his hand and papers were strewn about his desk, a few falling to the floor as a gust of wind blew in through the now quite open doorway. "I hope you're all proud of yourselves, I don't have enough paperweights for every piece you know." The Sidhe stood up from his desk and began to gather the paper from off the floor.
      Bowing deeply, and indicating for Sha and Towr to do the same, Shioo responded in a much more elegant voice than Towr had ever heard her use. It was quite enchanting, "I deeply apologize. My friend tripped on our way up here. And he is a bit big, even for a troll. The salt air must of weakened your door over the years. My humblest apologies."
      The Sidhe, who was not the most handsome Sidhe ever to be dreamed into existence, looked over towards Shioo. The papers he was holding in his hands dropped and his mouth fell open, staring towards the other Sidhe. Towr felt a deep surge of jealousy running through his body and the thought of tossing this Sidhe up into the air and letting his sword slice cleanly across his waist entered his mind. It was bad enough one some of those boggins on the ship flirted with Shioo, but this man was blatantly staring!
      "That's quite all right." The male Sidhe responded, his hands moving to put papers back on his desk that he no longer held in his hands. "I'm sure it was an accident as you say. Is there something I can do for you?" His voice getting a dreamy, lost kind of tone to it.
      "We're here to see the wizard Lorinen, could you take us to her please?" Shioo asked, that tone of hers still sweet and elegant. Towr brought his close to red seeing eyes over towards Shioo and back towards the male Sidhe. Slowly, he began to realize that Shioo was trying to seduce the other Sidhe, and that she was succeeding quite well.
      'Of course...' The troll thought, 'She's just getting him to do what she wants.' This realization calmed Towr greatly, and the thoughts of running the Sidhe through a rusty woodchipper left his mind.
      "Oh." The male Sidhe responded, "Of course. Though she's not to be taking visitors at this moment, so you should probably wait." This last part was said softly, as if the Sidhe was afraid it might make Shioo upset.
      Shioo moved over to the near catatonic Sidhe, who had stopped trying to bother with getting the papers back on the desk which were now all on the floor and disorganized. He was now just staring openly in awe towards the woman. "You can't..." Shioo began as she gently traced a finger along the male Sidhe's cheek, "...make an exception?"
      Licking his lips before the drool leaked out of his mouth, the Sidhe nodded his head obediently, "I'm sure she won't mind seeing someone like you my lady. Allow me to take you to her." The smile that Shioo gave the Sidhe after this almost caused the poor man to feint. Managing not too do this, he moved over to his desk, fumbling clumsily through the top drawer.
      Towr had begun to move over towards the stairs that occupied one corner of the room when the male Sidhe spoke up, "No no. Not that way big fellow, if you use the stairs it will take you half a year to get to the top. Come this way." The Sidhe, after smiling towards Shioo, who in turn wrinkled her nose cutely towards him, rushed over to a completely blank stone wall. The object he had pulled out of the drawer was a set of keys that jingled together as he flipped through them. Finding the one he desired he pushed the flat end of the key against the wall. A white shimmer of light flowed out in thin jagged lines from the key and begin to move along the stone. Forming the outline of a door, the Sidhe pulled the key away and reached over to the forming knob. He opened it up and motioned for the others to follow him through.
      Gripping the hilt of his sword tightly and hearing the gratifying creak of the leather wrapped around the hilt, Towr moved in after the Sidhe, followed by Shioo with Sha on her shoulder.
      "Geez Shioo, talk about manipulating the opposite sex! Teach me that someday, okay? Though Towr here is easy enough already si--!" Shioo brought a finger to her lips to shush the elemental and followed Towr through the open doorway.
     

Chapter 7 - Lorinen
      "You, stand over there." Lorinen said in her strong commanding voice towards one of the five goblins that were huddled over in a corner. Actually crying, the goblin that was pointed too walked over to the position the wizard had indicated.
      Lorinen had been practicing ever since she got her hands on the wind elemental from that fool of a goblin Bone Crusher. He traded her for a set of dice that always came up skulls, what an idiot. After she had got back to her tower and found the wind elemental completely disagreeable with everything she asked it, she'd begun to slowly but surely widdle away at the spirit's will, until she had now finally accomplished something. It wasn't much, but she could nearly float a goblin into the air by gripping the wind elemental tightly in her hand. It had taken Lorinen a day to find a way to stop the elemental from just trying to blow her ownself out of the windows that were held in the top of her tower, but the trick was to not let it see anything, and what it couldn't see, it couldn't hurt.
      Once the goblin was in place she gripped the wind elemental tightly in her hand, she'd bound the creatures wings and arms, and placed a blindfold around its head to prevent it from seeing anything. "Now, hold still." She intoned towards the goblin, who was sniffling and picking his nose while staring towards the floor, a task that in most goblins was difficult since you had to divert your attention to the floor while your nose and finger moved at the same time.
      A rush of wind created itself in Lorinen's room, causing the one or two books she didn't care enough about to get blown to the floor. The goblins in the corner all got onto their hands and knee's and cowered together. If they weren't so cheap to purchase from Bone Crusher, she might of went with dwarves or something for test subjects. At least they weren't complete cowards.
      The elemental in her hand flickered brightly as the glamour rushed out of it and into the spell Lorinen was casting. The goblin squealed as it was lifted into the air. A bright smirk of satisfaction came over Lorinen's lips. Soon she would have complete control over the wind itself with just a whim and she'd be able to do whatever she wanted, wherever she wanted, when she wanted. Unfortunately, this bright hope was snubbed out as the wind that was blowing to hold the goblin in the air changed direction and sent the beast straight out the window and falling down from the top of the tower with a loud squeal of horror.
      "Oh dear, there goes another one." Lorinen said with a light sigh, looking over towards another goblin in a corner and pointing her fingers towards the closest one, "Your turn."
      The goblin began its slow march over to be in front of Lorinen when the wall just to the side of the window shimmered and Lorinen's secretary stepped through the doorway with a deep bow, "My lady, I h--" His sentence was cut short as Lorinen interrupted.
      "I told you I did not wish to be disturbed."
      "Y-yes your majesty, but you see there are some people to see you." The secretary stammered as Towr stepped in through the doorway, followed by Shioo and Sha.
      Lorinen's gaze snapped towards the giant troll and the two companions, then over towards her secretary, "Idiot!" She screamed, clenching hard onto Asa in her hand, who gave out a yelp of pain.
      Sha blurred into the air, twirling around in spirals and circles, "Asa! Asa! There she is! There she is! Get her Towr!"
      The wizard Sidhe only had a few moments before the troll was upon her. Her hand came up into the air with Asa still in it, and a gust of wind slammed itself into Towr's chest, sending him hurtling back and against a wall, dazed. The secretary, seeing the foolish mistake he made, quickly rushed out of the room, the magic doorway into the top of the tower disappearing behind Shioo.
      "Give me back my sister!" Screamed Sha as she flew over into Lorinen's face, the water elemental wishing she weren't so high up in the air putting her to far out of touch with her element to due anything vicious to the woman before her.
      Chanting in her own language, Shioo begun to weave her arms through the air as glamour started to form up around her. It didn't last long however, as the glamour she was concentrating together suddenly was torn apart. Opening her eyes, Shioo gazed upon Lorinen who wore a bright smirk upon her lips.
      "I don't think so little apprentice." Lorinen's words came out as the wall behind Shioo came to life once more, forming an open doorway. Two bulky blue skinned arms snaked out and wrapped up around Shioo's, locking the girl within their grip and then lifting her up off the floor. A male troll emerged the rest of the way out of the doorway, holding the Sidhe in its grasp.
      "Thank you Kaer." Lorinen's voice spoke towards the troll as her hand reached up to bash the annoying blue ball out of her face, sending Sha sailing through the air and onto the nearby table with a thud.
      Towr's head was swimming as he stood back up to his feet. His blurry vision looked out across the room and then focused towards Lorinen. The trolls eyes narrowed down and the grip on his giant sword tightened.
      "Ah ah." Lorinen said towards Towr as he was about to lunge. She gestured towards Shioo who now had one troll hand over her mouth and the other wrapped around her neck. "Try anything and your friend there dies."
      Rage flooded through Towr, no longer looking towards the wizard but towards the troll that held Shioo in its grasp. It was an ugly troll, and nowhere near as large as Towr himself and he was sure that with one punch he could knock the other troll out. But, if he moved then this Kaer would snap Shioo's neck off which was unacceptable. His entire body was tense with anger and frustration as he glared pure and utter hatred towards the other troll. Who just smiled towards him and let some drool drain out onto Shioo's hair.
      "Good boy." Lorinen spoke towards Towr, "Now put that big sword of yours down on the ground and we'll see what to do with you."
      Reluctantly, Towr slowly bent down and rested his sword to the floor. He wanted that troll dead, he wanted that troll more dead than anything he had ever wanted more dead in his entire life, and then he wanted Lorinen dead, along with those whimpering goblins over in the corner he could hear.
      She would have to get a new secretary after this, that much was sure. But otherwise Lorinen was feeling rather better at having things back under control. She looked down towards the table where she had slapped that other elemental. Controlling the wind was great yes, but controlling the wind and the water, just think what she could do with all of that. "Now you..." She paused, the blue elemental wasn't where she had slapped it down. A flicker of blue light caught her eye and she looked down towards the hand that held Asa in it. The other elemental was holding out a wand to the tied hands of Asa. "Stop!" She commanded, but she was a second too late as the wind elemental gripped tightly around the wand in her hands.
      Wind wrenched Lorinen's hand open and shot her entire arm over and cracking into the wall next to her. Pain seared through her as she screamed and held her broken hand with her other.
      The millisecond glance that Kaer had given towards Lorinen as she screamed was a half millisecond more than Towr needed. He had never straightened from his bent position, and had never fully let go of the sword. It was over in an instant, the giant's form became a blur in the air and then a squirt of blood ran along the wall behind Shioo. Kaer's head fell to the ground with a dull thud as blood spewed from the top of the trolls neck. Catching Shioo with his free arm as she fell from the limp hold of the troll, he set her gently down upon the floor.
      Sha had moved quickly after Asa was free of Lorinen's grasp, pulling off the blindfold and gag that her sister was wrapped in and then working on the bindings of her hands. The yellow elemental screamed at the top of her lungs once the gag was off and glamour radiated inside of the room. The goblins huddled over in the corner were suddenly shot through the air like bullets, impacting into the back of Lorinen and sending her and the goblins stumbling out through the nearby window and tumbling down through the air towards the sandy island below.
      The two elementals hugged each other tightly and begin gibbering frantically in their native tongue.
      Shioo, upon being set down gently by Towr, reached both of her hands up and placed them each upon the trolls cheeks. Her soft brown eyes flecked with green gazed into Towr's deep blue orbs as she leaned up on her toes, pulling the powerful trolls head down to her level and then planting a soft kiss upon the others lips.
      Towr could feel his entire body turn to rubber and melt away into pudding as Shioo kissed him upon the lips. His blue eyes closed and his legs gave out from underneath him. His head swam and his sword dropped to the floor with a clang, followed by his entire feinted body soon after. Sha paused in her conversing with Asa and looked over, "Oh, Shioo! You were supposed to TELL me when you were going to kiss him so I could watch him do what he just did!"
      The Sidhe smiled over towards the water elemental and then looked over towards the shelf of Lorinen's that was just brimming with magic books. "Mmmm..." She said to herself, and after being sure Towr was in a comfortable position on the floor, moved over to begin her pillaging.      

Chapter 8 - Departure
      It was a bright sunny day in the valley where Shioo's cottage lay. As if the sun had come up to bid farewell to the Troll and Sidhe that were preparing for their new journey. Sha and Asa had both come to bid them farewell since, according to Towr, they would be journeying far beyond this continent in search for his King.
      "I don't remember exactly where it is, but I do remember my King's name." Explained Towr to Sha after she had asked where she might be able to find Shioo and him in the future. "But as soon as we arrive I'll send word back here and have a message left at the cottage, as Shioo is doing for her brother."
      Sha fluttered through the air, blue light sparkling off of her, "Just remember! I haven't totally let you be free of your debt! I saved your life TWO times, not once! And this only counts for one! I'm just letting you go because I like you! That's all."
      Towr gave a nod and grin towards the water element as he lifted Shioo up onto her traveling horse, "Both of you be good." Shioo said towards them, "And keep an eye on my home until my brother gets back."
      "We will!" Unisoned Sha and Asa towards Shioo. "Jinx!" They then both said, and begin to count numbers faster than either Towr or Shioo could follow.
      With a shrug of her shoulders, Shioo gave a wave towards the two number counting elementals and then a kiss to the lips of Towr, who managed to stay on his feet and not lose complete track of his mind. Giving a flick of the reigns she started moving her horse off, Towr walking alongside of her empty handed, for he had returned the giant sword back to the woodshed for Shioo's brother for when he returned from wherever he was. Shioo still had not told him and he was not going to ask.
      The two elementals counted long into the day as Shioo went off with Towr to find his King. And finally when the sun had almost set Sha let out a mighty yell of triumph, "Ha! Now you can't say anything until someone says your name!" The wind elemental growled and flew off into the sky, Sha racing after her with a cheerful smile. "I'm never gonna say it! I'm never gonna say iiit!"      

Chapter 9 - Betch Ya!
      The goblin sat on top of the stone throne, tossing a twelve set of dice that always ended up skulls. He felt like the luckiest goblin in the whole world, and he probably was. After landing down upon the hill next to his caved in head friend, Tra had fallen unconscious and awoke the next day. The entire goblin village was empty! There wasn't a single one left, and there dead bodies everywhere! Tra wasn't sure what had happened, but the first thing he did was drag his dead friend Tro over to show him. Tro didn't seem impressed as all the blood had drained out of him and he wasn't making any comments about their good luck. After plundering the entire village he had gathered all of the valuable's into the throne room that Bone Crusher used to own. He'd set his friend Tro down on a pile of rubble next to the throne where he figured his friend would be comfortable even if he was dead.
      He'd just finished making a complete set of gambling dice with just the right amount of 'always be a skull' dice when a group of about ten strong looking goblins came into the throne room. "You there! We're claiming this place as our own!"
      Tra gave a wiry grin followed by a gigglsnort. He held the dice cup that his friend no longer seemed to be using and shook the dice inside, "I'll betch ya for it."
     
                 

The End.