Chapter Fourteen

"You doing alright down there?" Katla peered over the dug out ridge where Bjorn had started ripping out chunks of ore from the visible seam. He currently was leaning against his pickaxe, his hand wiping sweat from his brow, leaving her the alluring image of his torso vividly displayed by the leather of his shirt. 

"Aren't you supposed to be watching for monsters?" Bjorn looked up, his expression bemused as he caught her staring at him. The heat that bloomed over her cheeks testified that she was indeed blushing and rather vividly at that. "If you want, you can stare at me tonight, when I bathe; and there are no trolls or skeletons waiting." He laughed at her offended squeak as she pulled herself up from the ledge. 

"I was not staring, just checking on you.." Katla defended herself as she held her bow in one hand, ready to draw at the sight of the first wandering graydwarf or skeleton. Trolls, well that is where she drew the line. The leaves rustled as the occasional raven dropped from the sky to scratch around in the moss for dropped pinecones or insects scurrying along the decomposing forest debris. So far nothing stirred; a relief as well as frustration as Bjorn continued to chip away at the rock , exposing more of the precious ore to the surface. 

"Of course, I believe you." Katla knew a lie when she heard it, more so when he said in that particularly placating tone that was rich with unvoiced laughter. Even if she knew she wasn't fooling anyone, Katla would have liked to think she could maintain some sort of dignity. Grudgingly she admitted that Bjorn was a good companion and Hugin could have given her a worse partner to survive this lonely purgatory. Suddenly the ground shook under them, the small pebbles lifting off the ground with each drumming beat. A flash of grayblue skin, dry stringy dirty blond hair, and a face only a mother could love, broke through the trees.

"Fuck.. fuck fuck fuck.." She had a new favorite word, that was so useful as right now they had no escape with only a canyon to their left, a steep ravine below them, and the troll walking down the path they had used to reach their mining spot. Katla dropped from the rock scurrying under the ledge, barely avoiding a pickaxes to her skull as Bjorn continued to mine oblivious to the danger. Why would he notice? Rocks and debris rolled around his feet, shifting with his steps. 

"Stop.. stop.. Bjorn there is a troll coming and we are trapped." Katla whispered frantically as she caught at his arm. The thundering steps grew louder only to stop with blue feet poking just outside the makeshift cave that Bjorn had made. Both of them froze as they stared in horror. The toes alone were bigger than their torsos and the nails embedded with mud, and other filth; long and ragged it was clear that grooming was not part of a troll's daily routine. 

Suddenly the rock above the shuddered with a loud boom. Katla bit back a scream as she instead raised her bow and knocked one of her flint arrows. Bjorn pushed her further back from the opening, his pickaxe traded for his sword and hammer. Neither spoke, leaving only the rapid beating of their hearts and harsh noise of their breaths as a shared conversation. Bjorn gave a subtle nod and Katla released her arrow; wincing as she watched it embed into the sensitive space between the nail and its bed; the worst stubbed toe in history. The angry scream of the troll echoed out over the forest. The foot withdrew and the rock shuddered again with chunks falling down near the opening. 

"This isn't going to hold long." Bjorn stated as he stepped forward darting out of cover just long enough to slam his hammer down against the creature's ankle. His shoulders tightened as he fought the urge to look up and watch for an attack, not wanting a bird's eye view of the troll's genitals. Katla's barked shout gave him the indication he needed to roll back under the rock ledge. An arrow flew past him, sticking into the creature's calf. 

"Then we will have to kill him quick. We can't out run it." Katla sent another arrow flying, watching as red started to streak down the legs of the beast. It spun around and took a few paces away as if it were sizing up the issue. Thankfully, while the monster itself was huge, its intellect was not. A large rock flew their direction, striking the ground next to their cave sending tiny shards of broken basalt to smack against their legs. 

"Easier said than done." Bjorn grinned as the heat of battle rose in the both of them. He had to admit Katla was stunning, with her hair braided back, her expression stormy and determined, lips pursed as she concentrated. The graceful lines of her body as she held her bow detailing the soft lines of her muscles, the shirt drawn tighter over her breasts, molding over each of them. His attention turned as those toes appeared again and quickly his hammer slammed down on the already injured nail. 

The creature's club struck out again shuddering the stone, this time a chunk near the opening fell off exposing more of their hiding place. Much more and they would be pressed together, unable to fight without risk of injuring the other. Katla squirmed slightly over trying to find a better angle, before finally seeing her opportunity as the troll took a couple steps back trying to figure out how to get at the small creatures attacking him. 

"Bjorn...." Katla called as she lined up her shot. "When this hits, you need to attack fast and hard." It was her final warning before she let the arrow fly, the careful angle perfect to strike a pair of grayish testicles in their nest of pale moss colored hair. The creature's keening cry as it stumbled gave Katla the expected opening as both she and Bjorn darted out from their hiding place. Bjorn immediately went to hammering against the creature's briefly available head before running away as large hands reached for him in a blind swing. 

Katla let another arrow fly, this time at the monster's head. It's keening scream of pain was almost pitiable if she forgot the fact it wanted to eat them. Bjorn whirled as the troll switched directions to come at Katla, his hammer slammed again against the back of the troll's ankle causing it to stumble. Another arrow, another strike, the troll kept flipping between the two of them as they slowly bled it out until finally, they watched as it fell in slow motion towards the ground. It's body peppered with arrows, quivering with the last violent breaths of the troll. 

Exhausted and on her last arrow Katla let her bow fall to her side as she took several shuddering breaths. Bjorn angled himself in front of her, protective until they saw what fate had for them. Again that puff of smoke came leaving behind a handful of coins and several rolls of blue leather. Katla slumped before laughing as she looked down at the ground. Large chunks of copper pooled around the area where the troll had smashed into the ground during the fight; inadvertently assisting them with their mining. 

"Laugh all you want woman.. I need to wash these pants after this." Bjorn grumbled as they both went to picking up the lose ore, with Katla collecting the troll skins as her pack had the least amount of items in it. Both of them were sweaty, covered in a thin layer of dirt, and worn; but they were alive and whole. "Let's head home, my pack is heavy enough and I doubt yours is much better." 

"Fine, just say downwind of me if you actually soiled yourself. The troll stank of shit enough for all of us." She roughly wiped her face before putting away her bow. The small flint axe she switched it for was mainly to chop wood but today it would serve as a back up. They carefully picked their way home, avoiding the dens of skeletons and gray dwarf nests with their swirling purple, black, and green clouds trapped within a nest of brambles. Those were problems for another day; problems they each mentally noted where to find in the future. 

A few stray gray dwarves attacked and were dispatched and even one lone skeleton wandered into them, but eventually they reached the meadow. Never had Katla been so thankful to see those long grasses, the wild boars that roamed in their concentric migration, and the skulking graylings debated between surging out of the shadows or remaining hidden. Home was close and home meant a bath, some food, and relieving the digging weight of her pack. 

"You owe me a back scrub.. That was dirty what you did to that poor troll. Everyman knows the family jewels are sacred." Bjorn cajoled her, getting Katla to continue putting one foot in front of the other as the smoke from their hearth started to appear through the thin cluster of trees. 

"Every woman knows that is the most surefire way to bring a man to his knees." She retorted back. The fact that arrows had peppered not only the trolls head, shoulders, and feet; but also up its buttocks hadn't been missed by her. She had aimed where she could, striking tender bits twice as often as the non tender. 

"Well mine are definitely feeling sympathy pain." He groused as they stepped over the hearth. Immediately he went to putting the heavy ore into the box regulated for the materials. Katla followed suit before shoving the troll hide in with the deer leather. Later she would figure out what they could do with those. 

'I am not kissing your invisible ouchies better." Her quirked lips let him know that despite the sour tone she was playing. Not that she was offering to put her mouth anywhere near his nether bits. The equipment put way they both turned towards the stream and the rock they used for bathing. Katla paused before Bjorn turned to look at her with a taunting grin.

"Shy now? You have already seen everything of mine, and I of yours. Lets get a bath so we can eat and get some rest. No need to waste time in waiting." He turned then heading towards the gently flowing stream. 

"I would think you would want me to avoid seeing you in cold water." Katla retorted but followed. She was sticky, dirty, and smelled of troll. At this point she would bathe in front of however many men were there just to get the stink off her body. As she approached the rock Katla didn't bother to pause before dropping her clothing and loosening her hair from its braids. 

"Just adds to the surprise later" He laughed as she sent a spray of water his way. A pity that he had ducked away from the water as she used that moment to slid into the water giving him only a flash of pale naked flesh. The stink of wet troll surrounded them and any ardor that either of them may have summoned died with the stench. Quickly they took to scrubbing themselves using sand to loosen the last bits of grime and hoping that the fresh running water would remove the rest.

Katla gave up first on the soaking as her teeth started chattering. "Turn around.. I am getting out." She didn't wait to see if he had listened before pulling herself back onto the rock to drag her clothing on over her damp and shivering body. The piece of leather cord she used to bind her hair was carried in her other hand as she started walking away, hearing the splash of water as Bjorn climbed out as well. Temptation gripped at her to look over her shoulder; but she knew he would never let her live down staring at him. 

Once inside she sighed as the warmth of the fire started breaking through the cold of the water. Together she and Bjorn fell into their individual tasks, with Bjorn handling the smelting of their ore and Katla worked to repair their gear. The troll hide though had potential and looking at the pieces she grinned as she worked them together on the crafting table into a pair of troll hide pants that would fit Bjorn.

"This should keep you from soiling yourself in the future. No brown pants." She teased before slipping back to her bed, falling asleep to his amused laughter.