Chapter 8
“The Not so Jolly Green Giant”
Since we had a brief look at Godric as a young boy, it’s time for us to return to his current activity, his quest for the Princess Elesandra. As we left him, he was galloping on the road to Ardor on the horse Adriel had given him while Philip the crow was in the air above him. So far Godric was riding a horse with no name, though as he considered that problem, a familiar voice echoed in his head this time, as if someone were reading his thoughts: her name is Aspen, like the trees in the grove. Aspen, the voice said, Aspen, then faded as the Prince followed the road toward Ardor.
Philip dropped from the sky to fly alongside of Godric. “Hey, Boss,” he said. “How about letting me come on board for a bit? I’ve been flying for quite a while now.”
“Okay. Just don’t dig your claws into her. In fact, hang on. Whoa, Aspen, whoa.” The Prince reined in the horse, and let Philip hop onto the front of the saddle. After the bird settled quietly, the Prince flicked the reins and urged Aspen into a steady jog; in this way they rode together through the slightly hilly land before them, neither speaking.
Having ridden in silence for more than an hour, the Prince and Philip came to an old bridge over a rushing river. The bridge was a gently curving concrete structure and started at the end of the current road. Just as Godric was about to urge Aspen toward the bridge, a thick green mist rose and swirled from the rushing rippled water, to the rivers steep bank, then drifted quickly over the grassy land from the bank to the base of the bridge. Godric’s horse snorted, whinnied and shook her head as the mist swirled like a green tornado onto the road before him.
“What are you going to do, Boss?” Philip asked, cocking his head up to talk to the Prince. “You can’t just ride through that thing. It looks like more magic at work here.” Having said his piece, Philip did not wait for an answer. Instead, he hopped into the air and rose up and over the swirling mist that was beginning to coalesce into a somewhat human shape. First came pair of thick green legs, followed by a torso with chest, arms and enormous head materializing last.. The head was that of a very green giant of a creature, with only one eye in the center of an exceedingly ugly face and a single sharply curved horn protruding from the broad forehead. The mouth of the creature was full of sharp teeth, and the cyclops was holding a very large broad sword in its now solid right hand. Worse, the large green fellow was grinning ghoulishly.
Godric had moved his mount back several steps. Philip flew back over the giant figure and circled Godric. “I think that’s a river troll,“ said Philip in as soft a voice as he could manage. “He doesn’t look peaceful either. It’s going to be a struggle getting past an eight foot tall armed troll. Not looking good, Boss!”
Godric agreed about the troll’s grim, warlike look. “What do you want?” Godric called to the hulking figure before him.
“Supper,” came the swift reply. “You give horse, you cross bridge.”
“That’s not going to happen,” said Godric. “You’ll have to find supper elsewhere; now move aside!”
“Then I take horse,” the monster cyclops replied, taking a step toward Godric; Philip flew back over the creature and landed again on the thick railing. Godric reached over his shoulder and pulled his sword from the scabbard. As he swung it in the air to get the feel of the grip comfortable in his hand, the sword seemed to hum as it slightly vibrated. Keeping the sword in his right hand and pointed at the troll and the reins in his left hand, he urged Aspen sideways before the troll. Leveling his sword at the troll, Godric tried once again to avoid the duel.
“Are you sure you want this battle, green thing? You could just let us cross.”
“Not green thing! Name’s Thrall. Want supper!”
Godric turned Aspen toward the beast named Thrall who tried to bring his broad sword down on the horse. Godric danced the horse to the creature’s left so that the broad sword missed both horse and rider and hit the ground with a loud bang. While Thrall tried to get his sword up quickly, Godric was quicker in getting a blow to the river troll’s thick neck, the sword cutting the neck the way an ax cuts a tree trunk. Green ichor squirted from the deep wound, and the troll bellowed. Godric turned his horse around and charged the angry, wounded and bleeding troll. This time the troll’s huge sword met Godric’s sword in the air beside them. While Godric held his ground on the horse, his hand and arm shook from the force of the blow, though he did not drop his sword.
Seeing little advantage from fighting on horseback, Godric swung out of the saddle and sent his horse down the road ten paces. The troll charged again and was almost upon him, when Godric ducked as Thrall swung his weapon over his head. As the heavy blow turned the creature sideways as it clove the air above him, Godric used his sword to strike the troll’s leg, hoping to hit an artery. The warrior Prince’s sword cut Thrall’s thigh so that more of the green blood spurted out. The river troll looked down at his bleeding leg, then over at Godric standing away from him.
“Just wanted supper!” Thrall said weakly, sinking slowly to his knees, his large eye leaking green fluid which looked suspiciously like tears. The river troll tried to get back up, lifting one thick knee, but he was too weak from the loss of blood streaming from his neck and thigh. Suddenly the troll began to change, blurring seemingly, then dissolving rapidly into the green tornado mist, starting with his horned head, chest, arms, including the long metal sword and finally his legs, and the whirling tornado moved slowly across the grass and down to the river where it appeared to settle onto the turbulent rushing surface, then down into the river’s depths.
“Well fought, Boss,” cried Philip, on the railing of the bridge and looking down into the dark water. “You sure taught him a lesson! Now, let’s get out of here before something else comes out of the water after us!”
“Right,” replied the Prince, wiping the sweat from his forehead, “though I have to clean my sword before I put it away. It will just be a minute or two.” He got a light, clean onion skin paper out of his knapsack and carefully wiped down the slippery blade, removing the green ichor. Having finished so that the blade was sharp and glistening in the sunlight, he returned it to its scabbard, retrieved Aspen who had stood patiently down the road.
Taking the horse’s reins into his hand, Godric swung up and into the saddle. “Into the air, Philip. We’ve a bridge to cross, a City to find, and perhaps a Princess to rescue, if the vision at Adriel’s pool meant anything.” With Philip again sitting on the saddle in front of the Prince, the horse carried them up and over the dark green swirling water below.
Image: Green and spooky, probably magical, though not a suddenly materializing one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater; close however.
Night on a Spooky Planet
Image Credit & Copyright: Stéphane Vetter (Nuits sacrées)
Explanation: What spooky planet is this? Planet Earth of course, on a dark and stormy night in 2013 at Hverir, a geothermally active area along the volcanic landscape in northeastern Iceland. Triggered by solar activity, geomagnetic storms produced the auroral display in the starry night sky. The ghostly towers of steam and gas are venting from fumaroles and danced against the eerie greenish light. For now, auroral apparitions are increasing as our Sun approaches amaximum in its 11 year solar activity cycle. And pretty soon, ghostly shapes may dance in your neighborhood too.
