moonlight. Allan walked over to her and said “do not worry, I will ensure that you and your daughter will be safe. I give you my word” said Allan. “Thank you, Allan. Thank you” said the Troll mother as tears of relief ran down her cheeks. “Follow us back to the rest of my men, we need to leave this marsh and exit on the other side, the rest of my men are in the direction we have come from as we were planning on starving the Trolls into submission but now that we’ve found you we might be able to avert this” said Allan to Serai and his family as he leads them to where the rest of his men were. “If your plan succeeds what is our next destination?” asked Serai’s Troll wife. “This wasn’t the objective of this campaign and in fact I’ll probably get into deep trouble. But I think I am going to try to find somewhere for you to resettle” said Allan hesitantly, yet determined to find a solution and a reward for the Trolls. “We would really appreciate that, we just want to farm and see our children grow, that is all we ask that you give us, the opportunity to do so” said Serai. “Glad to hear it Serai” said Allan.
For a long time, Trolls hated Humans and like all beasts have been raised around the hatred towards Humans. Through Troll literature Humans are portrayed as self-serving taskmasters, arrogant and untrustworthy. Unsurprisingly, the Humans would have quite negative views of the Trolls and in their literature, have portrayed the Trolls as any other beast, unpredictable, savage, barbaric, fanatic and unintelligent. Any Human commander would have slain Serai and his family after stumbling into them. However, Allan acted differently, he displayed friendship and kindness, something men of control and armies would never display.
As they continued to walk back, nearing the rest of Allan’s army there was a very sudden eruption of noise, men and Trolls could be heard screaming along with the violent clashing of primitive and modern weapons. “We need to hurry back, my men have been attack, come on all you” said Allan as he broke into a run towards his army’s position. Serai ran to behind him and his group of men and said in a tone that hinted he was begging, “Please, I beg you, Allan of Hetheil, spare as many as you can, they are our Troll brethren and have made the journey with us”. While running Allan then turned his head to face the Troll and his eyes locked with Serai’s and Allan said “I have no intention to harm your kind. I will try my best Serai”. Still quite some ways away from where the second battle was taking place in marsh Allan and this group sped up, worried for their people and for their potential allies. The sounds were getting louder and ever so louder, Allan could feel his blood rushing again. Going past the mangrove trees in a desperate bid to get to his men knowing their morale and discipline would increase with the sight of Allan fighting alongside them but for now he was relying on them not to retreat but to stay and fight for if they could. Finally, Allan came in to the scene, stumbling upon two clashing forces.
To let his men know he had arrived Allan yelled at the top of his lungs as he entered the battlefield. Immediately, Allan jumped into battle and ran towards a Troll who was fighting one of his men, managing to get behind the Troll, he plunged his sword into the back of the Troll. The Troll who was still standing turned around, his eyes displaying fury in them. The Troll then moved his arm and grabbed hold of Allan arm with his back facing Allan. After which the Troll swung his entire along with his own, propelling Allan to hurl into a tree. A dent in his back plate and bruising on his arm, Allan was still not phased and plunged right back in this time swiftly stabbing the injured Troll in his abdomen, forcing it to drop to its knees. Hearing heavy footsteps coming towards his rear he quickly turned to see another Troll armed with a club rushing towards him. Learning from his previous duels with the Trolls he leaped to the side to disrupt the Troll’s momentum. The Troll swung his club and the force of the impact inflicted knocked Allan’s shield off him, leaving a sharp pain to linger in his forearm. Allan now saw his chance and went straight for the Troll’s knee. In his effort Allan sliced open the thigh of this Troll. Tired, thirsty and hungry the Troll afterwards dropped to his knees as the previous one did. He dropped his club and a tear rolled down his cheek. He was in a pathetic state to begin with and now there was expression of hopelessness in his eyes.
A tear then rolled down Allan’s cheek as he raised his sword to decapitate this Troll’s head. Out of nowhere a large stone was hurled at Allan’s arm, the one with the sword. The impact was not enough to break or cause any real damage to Allan’s arm but it did make him drop his sword. Just as Allan dropped his sword the Troll drew his arm back with a clenched fist to throw a punch at Allan. Just before the Troll’s fist nearly collided with Allan’s as he was unfortunately too slow to react this time the incoming fist was unexpectedly grabbed and therefore stopped. It was the hand of a Troll that was grabbing the arm of the attacking Troll’s punch. Both the Troll that was just fighting Allan and the wavering prince with bruised arms looked up to see. It was Serai, the one who had hurled the stone to protect the Troll and the one who had stopped the Troll’s punch that was destined to hit Allan. Serai turned his head to look at the Troll and afterwards he turned his head to look at Allan. After nodding and displaying a brief smile at both, Serai unleashed a riotous roar. It was a truly terrifying roar that stunned all Humans and Trolls on the battlefield and likely could have been heard by other Trolls in the marsh. It lasted for countless seconds. But this was no ordinary battle cry it was a specific style of roaring amongst the Doomenheim lowlands that signified a cease in the battle, allowing for a very brief pause for thought. The Trolls stopped fighting and naturally the Humans followed knowing that something else was going on now.
The mighty Serai then bellowed another roar a mere second after the first, this roar was to be far more significant, it was much more complicated but it essentially gave the signal to the Trolls to stop fighting and make peace with their opponents. The Trolls who had recognised the voice of a distinguished former chieftain complied, it was quite amazing, what brotherhood the Trolls showed for one another. “Soldiers of Hetheil and Unodos, stop! Stop fighting!” shouted Allan who at this point was also exhausted and on his knees. The battlefield suddenly went quiet. Serai then let go of the Troll’s arm which then slumped to the ground abiding the rules of this roar in the hopes of surviving. In the view of nearly all on the battlefield and stood up. He then put his arm out towards the Troll’s whose thigh he had sliced. It was obvious to the Troll that Allan’s intention was to help the Troll. The Troll looked around to see both Trolls and Humans staring at him to see what his next move would be. He turned back to look at Allan and decided to raise his arm and lock it with Allan’s. Who then came around the side of the Troll and put the other arm around him. Serai joined in and did the same for the other side of the Troll’s body. Three then stood up together. Something incredible had just happened.
The Humans and Trolls were absolutely stunned at the three of them. Allan and Serai then walked over to a tree stump aiding the wounded Troll to sit on it. Upon helping the lumbering Troll sit on the stump the Troll looks up at Allan and warmly said “thank you, Human”. “Don’t thank me thank Serai and I am sorry for the injuries I have incurred on you” said Allan as he slowly shook his head. “Nevertheless Human, you might be the key to our salvation” said the Troll with hopeful smile brimming from ear to ear. Initially Allan felt that Trolls were war waging brutes who lived to maraud and massacre. Now he saw the truth, they had systems, hierarchies, morals and were sensitive and smart. Even after the sacking of Zanten, weeks prior, Allan felt that his lust for Troll blood had stopped for he now understood how they truly were. Serai then grabbed Allan’s arm and rose it in the air and shouted “this great Human found my family and I, instead of attacking or running he offered me peace! This Human wishes for contented Trolls living harmoniously with contented Humans! This is a goal we will strive together to achieve! A pact is proclaimed! A brotherhood is born!” The Trolls responded with uniformed chants that symbolised their favourability towards the proposal was very positive, exclaiming “Hoorah! Hoorah! Hoorah!” A
llan then stepped in to reinforce Serai’s statements by shouting “indeed for there is always an alternative to war! Let us begin a new era together, let it commence now, you and I, all of us Troll or not, Human or not. Let peace win the war!” This was met by a response from both the Trolls and the Humans who exclaimed “Hoorah! Hoorah! Hoorah!” together. Serai and Allan then brought their arms down. Suddenly the Troll that was injured by Allan and later helped stood up on his own. Pain seethed from his lips but that did not seem to stop him. Once he was firmly balanced he shouted “all hail Serai! The high chief and leader of the horde!” Up till this point a leader of this horde had not been nominated. Though there were other chiefs in the midst, all the Trolls now saw Serai as their new leader without contest. They agreed on this nomination and after a pause for thought the Trolls began to beat one of their fists against their chests, symbolising the confirmation of the nomination. With Serai as this horde’s new overlord, Allan could now somewhat