Paradon: An Unexpected Chronicle Read online

and wealth worth its weight in fish. On top of this, a dense forest just next to the village was a habitat for many plant eating animals like boars, deer, and elk. Its villagers are the descendants of castaways, refugees, and runaways. Nearly all had come to the village on accident, its whereabouts are unknown it is not a goal on the map. Helm Stiller’s ancestors had set up a farm near the Stunt Sea, giving its name Stunt Valley. The villagers already living there, had no clue as to where these migrants came from. They were nomads looking to leave rule under anyone and they left to an unknown area in the unknown region of the east. Year after year it grew, they would take in all who came and thus had to feed more mouths so they expanded their farms and grew more crops. Now it stands as a prosperous village that still carries on the tradition of accepting all who come.

  Chapter 1 Part II

  It has been years since Trolgar’s parents were killed by a group of beasts sent by Aldor and his rescue by Helm Stiller as he was floating in a wooden casket on the surface of the icy cold Stunt River during the winter. Now Trolgar is eight years old, a year older than the princes of the Kingdom of Hetheil. His life could not be more different; he did not live as a royal. His life was rugged however he was a very well fed Troll and was larger than the average eight-year-old Troll growing up in Trolltown. Under the watchful eye of Helm Stiller, he has become an excellent hunter, the best in the village in fact, very impressive for his age. A superb hunter, he was a good addition to the village.

  The celebration in Ohith got so loud at one point that Trolgar and the other villagers could hear it, far away in the east. When it is midday in the Kingdom of Hetheil, it is Midnight in Stunt Valley. Therefore, Trolgar didn’t get his usual good night’s rest because of his curiosity towards the noise in the distance. He needed a good night’s rest as he had been out all day on the farm and hunting, he would have to do the same thing tomorrow, a lot of work for a someone as young as him. He would experience every year, a sound coming from a distant land, this would peak his curiosity all the time and he would always wonder what it was.

  He awoke the next morning without help from his guardian. It was an hour before the sun had come up but this young Troll was already awake. As he got up he immediately reached for his hunting bow, his eyes opened wider than his regular morning eyes. A knock suddenly came from the door and it opened, it was Helm Stiller. “Hey uncle Stiller, have you seen my bow?” asked Trolgar. To which the warm Stiller replied, “Yes Trolgar but I took it apart to harness the bowstring, I made you a new one, it’s better than the bows you’ve had before, made you a spare one too but its slightly smaller and less powerful, you no longer need stone tipped arrows, I have made you some metal ones”. “Thank you so much uncle Stiller, it means a lot, I am off to go hunting and try it out”. “Haha, that’s my boy, I am going fishing this morning, remember to return by early evening and distribute your catches to the people, afterwards help Oeric the Orc harvest his ripe apples on his farm” said Stiller as he passed the young Troll his new kit. “I will get it done, father, see you about” said Trolgar as he ran out the thatched house door.

  At the entrance to the forest, where the flat grassland met a dense and hilly forest, Trolgar met with a hunting friend named Nero. He was a young Goblin who had nearly comparable skills as a hunter compared to him. This Goblin did not have a family, he stayed on Stiller’s land in a small hut and is provided aid by Stiller and Trolgar. He hunts with the young Troll and they make a good team, the Goblin has a good sense of smell and is quite a fast creature, the Trolls have a sturdier build and have a good sense of hearing and both these beasts have brilliant eye sight. Though Nero was good with the bow and arrow but he preferred to use a spear when he hunted. “Hey Trolgar, what took you so long and where’d you get that bow? It looks nice” said the young Goblin as he observed his friend coming over the hill to join him for the day’s hunt. “Oh, hey Nero, no uncle Stiller made it for me to use for hunting” said Trolgar. They then shook hands as they met each other face to face at the entrance to the forest.

  Suddenly the Troll slowly crouched amid their brief conversation, he quietly said to the Goblin “quiet for a quick second, I hear something out there”. The Troll heard a stag a quarter of a mile away with his acute hearing. He started to move towards the creature he was hearing, the Goblin followed swiftly behind him. When they got closer, it was still out of sight, they didn’t want to get too close as it will be startled at the sight of them. Instinctively the Goblin looked for and found a tree which he scaled. He climbed the tree and perched himself high at the top to plot the exact location of their intended target. He scoured the area from above and spotted the stag, just north of their position. He alerted Trolgar who was down below, who then ran northwards and found a position behind a rock, allowing him to view the stag and shoot it with his bow and arrow without being in view of it. He knew he shouldn’t fire at it now because if he misses or hits a spot that isn’t instantly lethal, it would immediately run away. The Goblin came down from the tree and went around the stag’s position, unseen. He hid in the bushes waiting for the perfect moment to strike with his spear. Their plan was to have the Goblin pin the stag down with his spear and the Troll would fire his arrows at its head and its neck, to finally put it out of action.

  Moments later, the Goblin revealed himself out of the bush and lunged forward with his spear and it was bloody direct hit on the side of the stag. It struggled but it was unable to free itself as the spear was lodged deep in his side and the strong Goblin was holding onto the spear, the stag was squealing in pain, before they knew it a metal tipped arrow struck the creature in the head, ending its life. They gave it a quick release of death to ensure it didn’t suffer for too long. The Troll hoisted the dead animal onto his back and they placed it on a tree branch that was suspended off the ground before tying it. They would come back to it later to drop off the rest of their kills before bringing it back to the village. The pair would kill another four more animals using the same and effective technique in the forest before ending their hunt.

  In the early evening, they went back to the tree to collect and haul their catches back to the village to be distributed to the others, the Goblin only carried one animal as opposed to his larger Troll friend who carried the other four animals by himself. They entered the village and distributed the catches to each farm’s owner. The Troll and the Goblin went to Oeric the Orc’s farm to help him harvest his apples. “Trolgar, you and your Goblin pal are late, I expected you an hour ago,” said the bitter old Orc. “Sorry uncle Oeric, we’ll double up on this apple picking” said Trolgar in response. Oeric may have been a bitter old Orc but he was very kind, he always took the least food during the feasting time, as the Orc mentality was priority to those younger than oneself, in this case he was the oldest in the village.

  Nero did not join them in picking the apples there for too long, he left after the first few rounds to his hut. For some reason, the Goblin preferred to stay secluded from the others, he would not eat or interact long with the other villagers of Stunt Valley. However, it is known that Goblins are the most numerous of beasts, the Goblin has the need to be around more Goblins, its instinct is to live, work and play with others like itself, but since birth he has been the only Goblin in the village. He still has grown well and he loved his life in Stunt Valley and everyday he moved closer to the community. On the other hand, Trolls preferred to focus their attention outwards, Trolls found it hard to agree with each other, so he found solace in this Goblin and the Goblin found refuge in him. It was a hot day and picking fruit on a flat piece of farmland exposes one to more heat than hunting in a dense jungle under the shade of the trees.

  Under the hot sun, Trolgar threw stones at the fruit to knock them down and collected them in a basket. In the Stunt Valley culture, the villagers only had one proper meal per day. It was one big feast in the night time, though they did take frequent breaks throughout the day to eat, they would wo
rk non-stop during the day for the promise of big feast in the night, full of the entire day’s harvest, the fish they caught and the animals that were hunted. Sure enough, the villagers gathered on the flat grassy square on Helm Stiller’s land. The food gathered from a day of work, well cooked and well spread across a long and large dining table. Beasts and Humans would sit next to and across from one another other, this would never happen anywhere else. Trolgar would go back to the thatched house he shared with Helm Stiller afterwards for a needed good night’s rest.

  It has been four years; the princes are now on the road to the prime of their lives. They have just turned fifteen after another festival to commemorate the passing of their years. But for their father, Henriet, age is catching up with him, he has turned fifty years old. His mind is growing slower and he is losing his body’s once great stature, but he stands a strong and wise figure to the kingdom. The people still remain loyal to him and his sons look up to him, seeing him as a great man who has done great things in his life. Now