Round Four: Troll Business
Title: Troll Business
Team: Myth & Fantasy
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: MinHo/Onew
Summary: JinKi has been captured by trolls for unknown reasons, and it is up to his friends to save him.
Prompt Used: Shinhwa - Run
The four made no noise as they moved through the underbrush. Trolls weren’t especially smart, but if the ones they were looking for knew they were coming, their chances of rescuing their friend would be next to nothing. The four may have had superior weapons and far superior intellect, but they were still elves. With their superior strength and size, six full-grown trolls would be more than a match for the four elves.
MinHo held up a hand, signaling the rest to stop while he peeked around a tree and surveyed the clearing in front of them. The trolls sat around a camp fire, passing a bottle from one to another, occasionally fighting amongst themselves when one thought another had taken more than his share of the liquor. Key snuck up and crouched down next to MinHo, wrinkling his nose at the smell that came off the creatures, even that far away and with no wind to carry it. He wondered how JinKi could stand it, seeing as he was tied to a stump inside the circle of trolls.
TaeMin crept forward next, surveying the situation carefully. JinKi’s captors hadn’t taken his bow off his back or his knives off his hip, but with his hands tied behind him and underneath a protruding limb on the stump, he wasn’t able to use them. He patted JongHyun’s leg and pulled the man down so he could point out what he had observed, the older man nodding his head as his fingers stroked the smooth handle of the polearm he carried.
The four separated a little, each choosing a tree a small distance away to hide behind and waiting for MinHo’s signal. The tallest of them watched carefully for the moment he was waiting for. He didn’t have to wait long.
One of the trolls, a particularly meaty one with a streak of red across his forehead, shoved the one next to him for hogging the bottle, causing him to drop it and the drink to spill on the ground. The two were on their feet shortly, large fists clenched tightly and words being exchanged in their harsh language. MinHo took a small step to the side, sure none would notice him yet as they were all busy watching the fight break out and choosing sides. He drew back his bow, the nocked arrow a soft green at its tip with the spell he had muttered over it, and then he let it fly.
The trolls paused as the one with the red mark across its forehead stopped his yelling and a blank look came over its face before it fell forward, MinHo’s arrow sticking from his back, the feathers still shaking from the impact. There was a brief moment of chaos as some blamed the one he had been fighting with, and others bent to look at the arrow where it protruded from the back of the dead troll. One, with an odd amount of intelligence gleaming in the beady black eyes, looked up from the dead one and directly at MinHo. It smiled at the sight of the lanky elf before it let out a battle roar and leapt over its fallen comrade as it rushed at MinHo’s place in the trees.
MinHo was the first to break from the trees, his sword out of its sheath as he swung it in a wide arc that was batted aside by the club the troll grabbed from the ground. TaeMin watched for a brief moment, then his bow was in his hands, arrows with tips dipped in poison at his fingertips in his quiver as he began to send a volley of arrows toward the trolls, scattering them and delaying the arrival of the rest to the battle they had begun.
Key grinned as he pulled his twin short swords, the polished blades catching the light from the moon and the fire as he stepped into the clearing and headed for the nearest troll. A quick swing with both blades brought him the attention of one of the trolls as it bellowed in annoyance. Key’s eyes widened as even the magically sharpened blades failed to do more than scrape the thick skin on the troll’s exposed back. He gritted his teeth, and settled into a familiar rhythm of attack and defense as the troll grinned a gap-toothed grin and raised its arm, a thick club clutched in its hand.
JongHyun didn’t wait to survey the battle and choose his best place for attack, he simply ran headlong at the troll closest to him, the staff he carried spinning in his hands, the single pointed end a danger to both his opponent and himself, but one he didn’t let slow him down. He spun his weapon high, and the troll’s swinging club caught him on the thigh. The blow would bruise but that wasn’t going to make him stop or cause him any distress, not for a while at least. He swung his weapon again, the pointed end coming around once, then twice and managing to meet the thinner skin on the troll’s throat the second time past, slicing through and sending the massive opponent to the ground, clutching his throat as his life’s blood fed the earth below him. JongHyun held up his weapon, crowing in victory, but a moment later was jumping over the troll he had just felled as another came running at him, arrows sticking out from his shoulders and legs, all with the red feathers TaeMin used.
TaeMin looked around the battle, surveying what was left. JongHyun had one down with a lucky blow but another was chasing him with TaeMin’s red-feathered arrows sticking out of him like small flags. Key was occupied with another, but seemed unharmed and likely to win if the small rivulets of blood dotted all over the troll’s chest, back and arms were any indication. MinHo was dealing with another, one that was likely the leader of this group, since he seemed to wield his club with a purpose beyond doing as much damage as quickly as possible. His attacks at MinHo were designed to find the weaknesses in his defenses, to exploit them, and if MinHo had not been the best swordsman in the realms, that might have worked.
TaeMin looked past the one MinHo had killed at the beginning, to the one TaeMin had killed lying next to him on the ground, one of the red-feathered arrows protruding from his eye socket. Past them both sat JinKi, tied to the stump and struggling with his bonds, trying to reach his weapons or find something to cut the ropes with. TaeMin could see the rope around his friend’s wrists staining and knew he must be doing damage to himself in his struggles. He reached over his shoulder to his quiver, choosing an arrow by the feel of the feathers, and nocked it to his bow. He closed his eyes for a brief second, and then muttered a single word as he sighted along the bow, the world taking on a slight blue cast as he looked past the fluff of feathers that the arrow was fletched with. Ordinarily, he would worry about the arrow veering off course with such a soft, downy feather, but this arrow would fly true no matter what. He took a breath and released the arrow, watching as it flew straight and true, slicing cleanly through the ropes just a hair’s breadth from JinKi’s skin.
JinKi felt the rope come apart and stood as quickly as he could, his hands reaching for the knives at his hip. The blades shone with a soft white glow as they slid from their sheaths, and he felt the power in them as he attacked. The troll that Key was fighting was nearest, and as distracted as it was with Key’s flashing blades in front of it, JinKi’s blades biting deep into the soft flesh behind its knees caused it to bellow in surprise and pain before falling. Key cut its throat with a single, efficient slice from his blade now that the creature’s throat was within reach of his arms, and ended its life. Key gave JinKi a small smile and a nod, and then went to help JongHyun finish off the troll he was fighting, turning the tide of that battle and rolling his eyes at JongHyun and his weapon once it had fallen dead to the forest floor.
JinKi turned to the final battle being waged, his eyes taking a quick survey of MinHo’s condition and the troll he was fighting. He leapt forward to join the battle and the troll turned its body, adjusting his swing and defense for two attackers. JinKi and MinHo worked together, years of training together working in their favor as they worked to angle the troll until he was facing where they both knew TaeMin to be hiding. A single red-feathered arrow flew from the trees to embed itself in the troll’s shoulder, then a moment later a second hit the troll in the temple, the sickening crack of bone heard before the oddly intelligent eyes went dull and the troll dropped to the ground, dead.
For a moment, the only sound in the small clearing was the sound of their breathing as they all pulled in large gulps of air. Then the quiet was broken as TaeMin rushed from the trees, his bow secured to his back as he rushed at JinKi, avoiding the blades in JinKi’s hands to hug him. JinKi carefully returned the hug until Key walked over and gently took them from him, and then he held TaeMin tightly for a moment, until MinHo had sheathed his sword. TaeMin didn’t argue when JinKi pushed him away, and JinKi looked up at MinHo with a slightly sheepish look on his face.
“It wasn’t intentional,” JinKi said quietly. “I saw a rabbit; I thought a stew would be good for dinner.”
MinHo didn’t answer at first. Instead he took a step forward and gently grasped JinKi’s hands, raising them so he could get a look at the abrasions on JinKi’s wrists that were still slowly oozing blood. He pushed up JinKi’s sleeves as much as he could, feeling gently for any bumps or breaks, then took JinKi’s face in his hands, turning it to catch the light from the moon and the campfire. He sighed when he saw the bruise forming on the left side of JinKi’s forehead, down on to his cheek. MinHo touched it with gentle fingers, reassured when JinKi didn’t flinch or wince or make any pained noises.
“Prince, we are your guard. We cannot guard you if you go off on your own.”
JinKi winced at MinHo’s use of his title. He knew he should have let someone else hunt for their dinner, but it had been right there, and if he had taken the time to get JongHyun or TaeMin’s attention, it would have been too late, so he had followed it. He hadn’t thought there would be trolls waiting for him to do just that.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “Were any of you hurt?”
“No,” Key replied shortly, one hand whipping back to slap JongHyun’s arm. “Not for lack of trying by some people, though. I swear, JongHyun, when are you going to give up that stupid flashy staff and get a real weapon?”
JongHyun just smiled and shrugged.
MinHo shook his head, and brought JinKi’s attention back to him with a gentle tug on JinKi’s hair. He smiled at the Prince, and bent his head, pressing his lips to JinKi’s lightly, pulling away before JinKi could really respond at all, a promise in his eyes for later.
“Just do me a favor, please,” TaeMin said after a moment. “If you decide to get caught again, can you make sure it isn’t trolls? I may not be able to smell anything else for days.”
“Good point, TaeMin,” Key said, covering his nose with his sleeve. “But let’s make that ‘don’t get caught again’ instead.”
“Yeah,” JongHyun added. “Let’s get moving. We need to get some sleep before dawn, and no way am I going to be able to sleep anywhere near these things.”
MinHo nodded, and the five fell into a familiar formation as they disappeared into the trees, moving swiftly. They had a lot of ground still to cover before they could sleep.
Poll
Team: Myth & Fantasy
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: MinHo/Onew
Summary: JinKi has been captured by trolls for unknown reasons, and it is up to his friends to save him.
Prompt Used: Shinhwa - Run
The four made no noise as they moved through the underbrush. Trolls weren’t especially smart, but if the ones they were looking for knew they were coming, their chances of rescuing their friend would be next to nothing. The four may have had superior weapons and far superior intellect, but they were still elves. With their superior strength and size, six full-grown trolls would be more than a match for the four elves.
MinHo held up a hand, signaling the rest to stop while he peeked around a tree and surveyed the clearing in front of them. The trolls sat around a camp fire, passing a bottle from one to another, occasionally fighting amongst themselves when one thought another had taken more than his share of the liquor. Key snuck up and crouched down next to MinHo, wrinkling his nose at the smell that came off the creatures, even that far away and with no wind to carry it. He wondered how JinKi could stand it, seeing as he was tied to a stump inside the circle of trolls.
TaeMin crept forward next, surveying the situation carefully. JinKi’s captors hadn’t taken his bow off his back or his knives off his hip, but with his hands tied behind him and underneath a protruding limb on the stump, he wasn’t able to use them. He patted JongHyun’s leg and pulled the man down so he could point out what he had observed, the older man nodding his head as his fingers stroked the smooth handle of the polearm he carried.
The four separated a little, each choosing a tree a small distance away to hide behind and waiting for MinHo’s signal. The tallest of them watched carefully for the moment he was waiting for. He didn’t have to wait long.
One of the trolls, a particularly meaty one with a streak of red across his forehead, shoved the one next to him for hogging the bottle, causing him to drop it and the drink to spill on the ground. The two were on their feet shortly, large fists clenched tightly and words being exchanged in their harsh language. MinHo took a small step to the side, sure none would notice him yet as they were all busy watching the fight break out and choosing sides. He drew back his bow, the nocked arrow a soft green at its tip with the spell he had muttered over it, and then he let it fly.
The trolls paused as the one with the red mark across its forehead stopped his yelling and a blank look came over its face before it fell forward, MinHo’s arrow sticking from his back, the feathers still shaking from the impact. There was a brief moment of chaos as some blamed the one he had been fighting with, and others bent to look at the arrow where it protruded from the back of the dead troll. One, with an odd amount of intelligence gleaming in the beady black eyes, looked up from the dead one and directly at MinHo. It smiled at the sight of the lanky elf before it let out a battle roar and leapt over its fallen comrade as it rushed at MinHo’s place in the trees.
MinHo was the first to break from the trees, his sword out of its sheath as he swung it in a wide arc that was batted aside by the club the troll grabbed from the ground. TaeMin watched for a brief moment, then his bow was in his hands, arrows with tips dipped in poison at his fingertips in his quiver as he began to send a volley of arrows toward the trolls, scattering them and delaying the arrival of the rest to the battle they had begun.
Key grinned as he pulled his twin short swords, the polished blades catching the light from the moon and the fire as he stepped into the clearing and headed for the nearest troll. A quick swing with both blades brought him the attention of one of the trolls as it bellowed in annoyance. Key’s eyes widened as even the magically sharpened blades failed to do more than scrape the thick skin on the troll’s exposed back. He gritted his teeth, and settled into a familiar rhythm of attack and defense as the troll grinned a gap-toothed grin and raised its arm, a thick club clutched in its hand.
JongHyun didn’t wait to survey the battle and choose his best place for attack, he simply ran headlong at the troll closest to him, the staff he carried spinning in his hands, the single pointed end a danger to both his opponent and himself, but one he didn’t let slow him down. He spun his weapon high, and the troll’s swinging club caught him on the thigh. The blow would bruise but that wasn’t going to make him stop or cause him any distress, not for a while at least. He swung his weapon again, the pointed end coming around once, then twice and managing to meet the thinner skin on the troll’s throat the second time past, slicing through and sending the massive opponent to the ground, clutching his throat as his life’s blood fed the earth below him. JongHyun held up his weapon, crowing in victory, but a moment later was jumping over the troll he had just felled as another came running at him, arrows sticking out from his shoulders and legs, all with the red feathers TaeMin used.
TaeMin looked around the battle, surveying what was left. JongHyun had one down with a lucky blow but another was chasing him with TaeMin’s red-feathered arrows sticking out of him like small flags. Key was occupied with another, but seemed unharmed and likely to win if the small rivulets of blood dotted all over the troll’s chest, back and arms were any indication. MinHo was dealing with another, one that was likely the leader of this group, since he seemed to wield his club with a purpose beyond doing as much damage as quickly as possible. His attacks at MinHo were designed to find the weaknesses in his defenses, to exploit them, and if MinHo had not been the best swordsman in the realms, that might have worked.
TaeMin looked past the one MinHo had killed at the beginning, to the one TaeMin had killed lying next to him on the ground, one of the red-feathered arrows protruding from his eye socket. Past them both sat JinKi, tied to the stump and struggling with his bonds, trying to reach his weapons or find something to cut the ropes with. TaeMin could see the rope around his friend’s wrists staining and knew he must be doing damage to himself in his struggles. He reached over his shoulder to his quiver, choosing an arrow by the feel of the feathers, and nocked it to his bow. He closed his eyes for a brief second, and then muttered a single word as he sighted along the bow, the world taking on a slight blue cast as he looked past the fluff of feathers that the arrow was fletched with. Ordinarily, he would worry about the arrow veering off course with such a soft, downy feather, but this arrow would fly true no matter what. He took a breath and released the arrow, watching as it flew straight and true, slicing cleanly through the ropes just a hair’s breadth from JinKi’s skin.
JinKi felt the rope come apart and stood as quickly as he could, his hands reaching for the knives at his hip. The blades shone with a soft white glow as they slid from their sheaths, and he felt the power in them as he attacked. The troll that Key was fighting was nearest, and as distracted as it was with Key’s flashing blades in front of it, JinKi’s blades biting deep into the soft flesh behind its knees caused it to bellow in surprise and pain before falling. Key cut its throat with a single, efficient slice from his blade now that the creature’s throat was within reach of his arms, and ended its life. Key gave JinKi a small smile and a nod, and then went to help JongHyun finish off the troll he was fighting, turning the tide of that battle and rolling his eyes at JongHyun and his weapon once it had fallen dead to the forest floor.
JinKi turned to the final battle being waged, his eyes taking a quick survey of MinHo’s condition and the troll he was fighting. He leapt forward to join the battle and the troll turned its body, adjusting his swing and defense for two attackers. JinKi and MinHo worked together, years of training together working in their favor as they worked to angle the troll until he was facing where they both knew TaeMin to be hiding. A single red-feathered arrow flew from the trees to embed itself in the troll’s shoulder, then a moment later a second hit the troll in the temple, the sickening crack of bone heard before the oddly intelligent eyes went dull and the troll dropped to the ground, dead.
For a moment, the only sound in the small clearing was the sound of their breathing as they all pulled in large gulps of air. Then the quiet was broken as TaeMin rushed from the trees, his bow secured to his back as he rushed at JinKi, avoiding the blades in JinKi’s hands to hug him. JinKi carefully returned the hug until Key walked over and gently took them from him, and then he held TaeMin tightly for a moment, until MinHo had sheathed his sword. TaeMin didn’t argue when JinKi pushed him away, and JinKi looked up at MinHo with a slightly sheepish look on his face.
“It wasn’t intentional,” JinKi said quietly. “I saw a rabbit; I thought a stew would be good for dinner.”
MinHo didn’t answer at first. Instead he took a step forward and gently grasped JinKi’s hands, raising them so he could get a look at the abrasions on JinKi’s wrists that were still slowly oozing blood. He pushed up JinKi’s sleeves as much as he could, feeling gently for any bumps or breaks, then took JinKi’s face in his hands, turning it to catch the light from the moon and the campfire. He sighed when he saw the bruise forming on the left side of JinKi’s forehead, down on to his cheek. MinHo touched it with gentle fingers, reassured when JinKi didn’t flinch or wince or make any pained noises.
“Prince, we are your guard. We cannot guard you if you go off on your own.”
JinKi winced at MinHo’s use of his title. He knew he should have let someone else hunt for their dinner, but it had been right there, and if he had taken the time to get JongHyun or TaeMin’s attention, it would have been too late, so he had followed it. He hadn’t thought there would be trolls waiting for him to do just that.
“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “Were any of you hurt?”
“No,” Key replied shortly, one hand whipping back to slap JongHyun’s arm. “Not for lack of trying by some people, though. I swear, JongHyun, when are you going to give up that stupid flashy staff and get a real weapon?”
JongHyun just smiled and shrugged.
MinHo shook his head, and brought JinKi’s attention back to him with a gentle tug on JinKi’s hair. He smiled at the Prince, and bent his head, pressing his lips to JinKi’s lightly, pulling away before JinKi could really respond at all, a promise in his eyes for later.
“Just do me a favor, please,” TaeMin said after a moment. “If you decide to get caught again, can you make sure it isn’t trolls? I may not be able to smell anything else for days.”
“Good point, TaeMin,” Key said, covering his nose with his sleeve. “But let’s make that ‘don’t get caught again’ instead.”
“Yeah,” JongHyun added. “Let’s get moving. We need to get some sleep before dawn, and no way am I going to be able to sleep anywhere near these things.”
MinHo nodded, and the five fell into a familiar formation as they disappeared into the trees, moving swiftly. They had a lot of ground still to cover before they could sleep.
Poll