Page 59 of Night's Fall
“It’s alsoQueenMathilde’s,” he shared. “From1325.Thetrolls had invaded.AsI’msure you learned in history class, on our continent, there were nine realms then.Theyoften clashed, disputing territory, boundaries, the legitimacy of kings or queens.Anyevent could be twisted into a grievance.Casein point, infamously, theKingofCliff’sMountainonce declared war due to a thunderstorm he swore was cast on his realm by neighboringDay’sRise.”
“But theTrollInvasionstopped these petty skirmishes,”Iput in.
He inclined his head. “Fora time.Theyhad to band together to defeat a common foe.”
“And in the end, the four monarchs who were credited with vanquishing the trolls, sending what was left of them back to their boats, divvied up the land and createdNight’sFall,Sky’sEdge,Land’sEndandDawn’sBreak,”Iconcluded our shared history recitation.
ButIloved that he started talking about it, drawing me in.
It was giving me all sorts of ideas about what the feel of the costumes should be for the vid.
He nodded, moved us down the line and ordered up another drawer.
It opened, and there it was.
Troll skin.
Right before me.
Troll skin.
“Not our suits,I’llshow you those in a minute,”Alekseisaid. “Butthese are strips and samples thatIthought might help you build your textiles.”
He thought right.
“CanIhave the gloves?”Iasked eagerly.
“You don’t need the gloves, darling,” he murmured, reaching into the drawer and selecting a largish strip of greenish-gray scaly hide.
He offered it to me.
“I shouldn’t—”Ibegan.
“It’s virtually indestructible.”
I knew that.
However.
“That’s why it’s so valuable, along with its scarcity,” he went on. “Whyit was so difficult to defeat them, even if it’s since been estimated their capacity for thought and logic was so low, strategy for them was impossible.Theirinvasion wasn’t tactical.Itwas instinctual.Itwas about the survival of their race.Multitudesof scientists have gone back to the isle they abandoned, and they speculate that the trolls had raped the resources of their land to such an extent, they’d go extinct if they remained.Inorder to survive, they needed new horizons.Theirboats were decidedly elementary.It’sprojected that at least three quarters of their population drowned before they even reached the shores of theFourRealms.”
“It was also why their invasion was so terrifying,”Iput in. “Therewas no reason to it.Itwas widespread kill, rape, burn.”Imade a face. “Andeat.”
His lips tipped up at my expression. “Definitelya common enemy when they considered babies, breasts and male genitalia delicacies.”
I made an even bigger face.
He chuckled and shook the skin at me.
Hesitantly, holding my breath,Itook it.
It was heavier thanIexpected.Thicker.Rougher.Itseemed, when looking at pics of it, like the scales of a fish, one overlapping the other.Thiswasn’t the case.Itwas unbroken and rippled, but the ripples weren’t random.Theyhad a pattern.
“Considering it doesn’t even decompose, it’s impossible to wrap my mind around the stupidity of finding ways to destroy most of the supply culled from the cadavers,”Imumbled.
“Well, once the trolls were gone, the rest of us started fighting again.Itwas only theStarknightHousethat had the bright idea to stitch the skin into armor.Therest of them experimented on it, tried to use it in rituals and spells, thinking it was magic, but they only managed to weaken it, which eventually meant it was destroyed.”Awicked grin hit his lips. “Whichof course sent my ancestors scouring the realms to grab as much of it as they could.”
“Something that bought us the name ofStarthieves.”
