Tales From Blackwood Forest

by Robobrony


2,000 Years, 327 Days Ago

2,000 Years, 327 Days

It’s been two days now since I was taken and made a pet for a troll chief, and my wing was still hurting, in fact, I think it was starting to hurt worse than it did before. In those two days, Og paid me regular visits and was the one that brought me my food. I wasn’t sure why he had such an interest in me, but at least he was someone to talk to, but even then I still wasn’t sure I could trust him.

It was late in the morning when I was testing my right wing again, stretching it out to try and work out the pain. I was sitting on my haunches in my cell with my left hoof near it as I stretched it. It was hurting. “AH, darn it, come on, get better already.” I complained. I stopped for a moment.

That was when my shadow came out. “Maybe you should tell the troll chief, or Og, I’m sure he would help, he seems nice enough.”

I looked to my shadow to respond. “I don’t need help, I’m sure after a while it will get better on its own, besides, why would those things care about me, I’m just a pet to them.”

“But it could be serious, it wouldn’t hurt to just ask for help with it.”

I continued with my stubbornness. “I don’t need help. Now leave me alone.” My shadow frowned and faded out.
I wasn’t paying attention when I went back to testing my wing, Og had approached the cell door and watched me. I tried stretching it out again and sucked in air through my teeth in pain. “Ah, darn it.”

Og then made his presence known. “Nightshade, are you all right, what’s wrong with your wing?” He asked with genuine concern.

I faced him to answer. “Nothing, I’m fine.”
He didn’t believe me. “it doesn’t look like your fine, come on Nightshade, what’s wrong, I want to help.”

I gave him a hard stare, contemplating on my next words, it was apparent he wasn’t going to let it go. I gave a sigh and answered. “My wing is hurting, on the day those three trolls found me, one of them struck me on my right side and hurt my wing, it’s still hurting.”

“Maybe I can help, let me take a look at it.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. “What can you do?”

He rubbed the back of his head with a nervous smile. “I…..I’ve been learning medicine from the troll shaman.”

I was confused by this word. “Shaman, what’s a shaman?”

“Someone who is good with medicine, it’s the shaman’s job to help trolls when they are hurt or sick, I’ve been learning from him, Grog, my dad, may not approve, but he lets me do it anyway. So come on over here and let me see if I can tell what the problem is.”

I rolled my eyes at him, but complied, I stood up and walked over to the cell door. The spaces between the bars were wide enough for me to stick my wing out, I turned my side and stuck my wing out, I winced in pain a little as I did. Og took hold of my wing and examined it closely as he held it.

“Gosh, it doesn’t look good, I think it’s broken. You need a splint to keep it in place so it can heal, all the moving you were doing wasn’t helping.” He said. “Just give me a minute and I’ll be right back.” Og turned to leave but was met with the site of his dad standing before him.

“Well, well, what are you up to son?” The chief asked, looking somewhat displeased.

Og gained a nervous smile. “Oh, uh, hey dad, what’s up?”

“Og, what are you doing with my pet?” The chief asked with his hands on his hips.

“Well dad, you see, its Nightshade, he….”

The chief cut him off. “Nightshade?” He asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Yeah, the uh, shadow walker, him.” Og answered pointing to me as I watched the scene. “He’s hurt dad, his wing is broken and I was just going to get something to keep it in place so it could heal.”

“A broken wing huh, well in that case…….good, let it stay broken, that way, he can’t fly away, HA HA HA!”

Og was surprised at his dad. “But dad, it could be serious, think about it. His wound could get infected, and if it gets infected, he could get sick, and if he gets sick he could die, you don’t want him to die and lose what could possibly be the last of his kind, do you?” Og asked with a sly look and a smirk.

The chief then began to hum in thought. He took a few moments to think about what Og had said. After a while he finally spoke. “All right, fine, go and get something to fix his wing.” The chief then took on a serious look. “But if he tries to fly away when he’s better if he gets out of that cell, I’ll clip his wings permanently. Understand.”

Both Og and I gulped and nodded our heads together in understanding, Og then smiled, grateful he would be allowed to help me. “Thanks dad.” He then ran off to get what he needed.

The chief then got down on one knee and eyed me carefully. "Don’t think I won’t follow through with my threat little one, you are mine, and I intend to keep it that way.” He then gave a smile. “Hope you get better real soon, shadow walker.” He got back up and left.

Moments later, Og returned with some white strips of cloth in his arm and a metal key in his hand. “Ok, here we go, I got the key from my dad so I could get this on you properly.” He said with a smile. He unlocked the metal cell door and came in, closing it behind him. He walked up to me and kneeled down beside me so he could begin wrapping my wing up.

It was then I took in his features, he was wearing clothing like the other trolls on his upper and lower body, he had a few warts here and there, and as far as height, he stood just a little taller than me. While he began his work, I decided to ask him something. “Why do you care? Why are you helping me like this?”

He kept his eyes on my wing as he wrapped it. “Because, we’re friends aren’t we?”

I gave a stern look. “If we’re friends, then let me out of here so I can go home.”

I saw his expression drop upon my words. “I’m sorry Nightshade, but……I can’t, my dad would be furious at me. Besides, didn’t you say you’re the last of your kind or something, what kind of home is waiting for you if there’s no one there?”

“It’s still my home, it’s where I grew up, it’s where I had everything.”

His voice became soft. “And from what I can guess, it’s where you lost everything too, isn’t it?” My eyes fell to a sad look. He then looked me in the eye. “The way I see it, home is where you have someone who cares about you, someone who will be there for you. I know what it’s like to lose someone you care about Nightshade, I lost my mother a few years ago.” He then turned back to my wing. “She was great, she was nice, when she was around, my dad was nice too, but ever since we lost her, he just hasn’t been the same. He still cares about me, but he acts so grumpy and grouchy to the others.”

My expression hardened. “So, what does that have to do with me, you just lost your mother, I lost a whole family and tribe. You have no idea of the pain I went through, what I suffered through.”

“Your right, I don’t.” He stopped his work and examined the wrappings before continuing. “But I can probably guess, you feel sad, depressed, lonely, like you don’t have a friend in the world, right, well maybe I can be that friend.” He turned to me with a smile.

My expression softened a bit as I turned away. “I don’t need a friend, I don’t need anyone.”

He smirked at me. “Really, like you didn’t need anyone to help you with your wing?” I had no response for that, he was right, I didn’t know my wing was broken, nor would I have known how to fix it. I kept my eyes away from him. “Just think about what I said, please. Your wing should be fine now, just don’t move it for a few days and it will be fine.”

I didn’t answer, I heard him begin to leave, I heard the cell door open, it was then I found my voice. “Og, Wait.” I called to him as I looked at him, I saw him holding the door open and was just getting ready to leave.

He looked at me. “Yeah Nightshade?”

“Look, um, about my wing…….well…..thanks, I….appreciate it.”

Og gave me a warm smile. “You’re welcome Nightshade.” I didn’t smile back, Og closed the cell door behind him and locked it. He then just walked off and left me alone.

“Looks like you made a REAL friend Nightshade.” My shadow said.

“He’s not my friend, he won’t even help me get out of here and back home.” I said bitterly.

“Maybe, but he did help you with your wing. You got to give him credit for that.”

“I don’t have to give him credit for anything, sure I appreciate him helping me with my wing, but that’s it. I said it before and I’ll say it again, I don’t need anyone, I can take care of myself.” My shadow gave a sigh and disappeared. I took a good look at the bandages Og placed on me, he wrapped it around my wing and midsection in a way to make sure I could still move my good wing.

The rest of the day went on with nothing to do since I was stuck in a cell. Lunch time rolled around and Og came back with the key and a bowl of my lunch, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, apple slices, and in one hand, a whole forest pear for dessert. “Hey Nightshade, I brought your lunch, and good news, I talked with my dad and said I could be your caretaker, I’ll be in charge of bringing your food and such.” He said as he opened the cell and entered, closing it behind him.

I gave him a straight face. “Isn’t that what you do every day already?” I deadpanned.

He chuckled a little. “Heh heh, yeah, well, now it’s official. I just bring your food and clean out your cell. Here you go.” Og placed the bowl down in front of me and set the pear next to the bowl. Og just sat there in front of me as I began to eat. The food they provided me was always fresh and tasty, at least I had that going for me as a pet. As Og sat there, he decided to interrupt my meal with a question. “So Nightshade, if you don’t mind me asking, why are your eyes so…..narrow, like their slitted?”

“My eyes?” I asked with a mouthful, I gulped down my morsel before answering. I felt pride in my tribe so why should I hide what we were capable of to anyone, I figured I might as well tell him. “Well, I remember my dad saying that it’s an adaptation. A shadow walker’s eyes are like this so we can see in the dark, we can see just fine at night almost as clear as day.” I then buried my muzzle back into the bowl.

“Gosh, that’s pretty neat, are there any other special things shadow walkers can do, what about that thing one of the trolls who brought you mentioned, they said you made some kind of tentacle thingy that tapped him in the gut.”

I looked up again at Og while chewing on some lettuce with a small piece sticking out of my mouth. I swallowed again before answering. “We shadow walkers have magic powers inside us, we are also able to control the shadows, we can manipulate and control them ,even travel through them.”

Og listened intently as I explained my tribes powers. “WOW, that is incredible. But if you can do all that, then why don’t you use those powers to escape?”

I stopped my eating, I looked up at him again with wide eyes. I then looked to the side in thought. I rubbed a hoof on the back of my head. “Well, I….I’m…not….exactly strong enough. I still have a long way to go before I can make full use of my shadow walker powers, I can barely even make a shadow tentacle.”

“Well….maybe I can help you get stronger, help you train or something.”

I glared at him. “YOU, how could you help me, you don’t know anything about magic, what could you possibly do to help me train in my abilities?”

His face fell at my question. “Oh yeah, good point.” His face then lit up, as if he just had an idea. “Hey, I know, I may not be able to help you train in magic, but I could probably help you train your body, you know, help you get stronger physically? What do ya say?”

“Yeah right, I doubt your dad would let that happen.” I waved a hoof at him as I looked to the side. I looked back to face him as his smile was still there.

“It couldn’t hurt to ask, I’m sure I could convince him somehow.” He then stood up and turned to leave. “I’ll go and ask him right now, you go ahead and finish eating, I’ll come back later and let you know what he said when I come to get the bowl.” He exited my cell and left. I was now able to continue my meal in peace, at least, until my shadow appeared again.

“Now he wants to help you get stronger? If that isn’t a friend, then I don’t know what is, come on Nightshade, admit it, this kid likes you and wants to be your friend.” He said to me.

I let out a sigh in defeat. “Fine, so he wants to be my friend, big deal, I don’t need a friend, but he’s just going to keep up with this stuff isn’t he. Fine, so I guess we’re friends then.”

My shadow double smiled at me. “I’m glad you finally came to your senses.”

“Whatever.” My shadow then disappeared again and left me alone.

Another hour went by before Og returned with a big smile on his face and a string of rope in his left arm with a loop at the end. “Nightshade, good news, my dad said it’s ok!” He exclaimed as he entered my cell.

I looked at him, surprise evident on my face. “WHAT, how did you manage to do that, how did you convince him?”

Og looked to the side as he gave a drawn out, “Weeeeellllll.”

-Og’s POV-

“Are you NUTS, ABSOLUTELY NOT!” My dad shouted at me.

“Please dad, he needs the exercise.” I pleaded with him.

“Forget it, I’m not about to risk it getting away.”

I gave my dad a stern look. “HIS name is Nightshade dad.”

Dad looked down at me with a glare. “I don’t care if his name is mud, he is MY pet now, and I am not about to let him get away.”

I gave dad my pleading look again. “But dad, he needs the exercise, if he just stays in that cell all day every day, his muscles will shrivel up, he’ll become fat, and soon he could even expire, you don’t want that, do you?”

My dad started growling. “GRRRRR, I hate that you’ve learned so much from that shaman, FINE, you can let him out to exercise, but on one condition.”

My face lit up with glee. “GREAT, thanks dad.”

He let out a defeated grumble.

-Nightshade’s POV-

“And that’s what happened.” Og said as he finished his story.

I gave him an unsure look. “Okay, but what was the one condition he made so you could let me out of my cell?”

“Um, he said that……I have to…..keep you on a rope so you can’t get away.”

My eyes shot open. “WHAT, HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET AWAY, my wing is busted remember, not only that, but there are so many of you trolls here, AND the village is surrounded by those wooden posts, there’s no way for me to escape if I wanted to, the only way out is for me to fly, and I can’t!”

Og gave me a sympathetic look. “I know you don’t like the idea of being on the other end of a rope, but I had to agree to it so I could let you out.”

“Forget it, I am NOT letting you put me on a leash.” I glared at Og.

“Please Nightshade, I know you don’t like being cooped up in here, and besides, you really do need the exercise, please.”

I couldn’t fight it, I was getting tired of being in that cell for days on end, and Og really was trying to help. I narrowed my eyes. I gave out a sigh. “Fine, put it on me.” I said with a monotone voice.

“I promise, you won’t regret it, you’ll feel good to finally get out of this cell.” Og approached me with rope in hand and slipped my new leash around my neck. “Come on, now I can show you around our village, I just know you’ll like it.”

He seemed very eager to show me around. “Whatever.” I said as Og led me out of the cell.

I had to admit it did feel good to get out of the cell for a while, the sun felt nice on my coat as it shined through the canopy of the trees, they weren’t as plentiful since I was in a village of trolls, but there were still a few scattered around. I walked next to Og as he held my leash in his right hand. He pointed to a building on the right where a troll was using a stick with something black and hard at the end of it to hit something metal, it let out a clang each time. “That’s Bog, the blacksmith, he makes the swords and stuff for us.”

I looked to Og with a raised eyebrow. “Swords?”

"Those sharp pointy metal things you see some of the trolls carrying around, and the long sticks with sharp metal points are called spears.”

“What are they for?” I asked with genuine interest.

“They’re weapons, we use them to hunt other animals to…..eat, um.” Og’s voice dropped on the last word. I looked at Og with a bit of contempt. “But, you don’t have to worry about becoming a meal, every troll here knows that you belong to my dad, so you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Great, that makes me feel so much better.” I said with thick sarcasm.

“Look, I’m sorry Nightshade, I didn’t mean anything by it, honest.” Og tried to apologize.

“Let’s just keep going.” I said with an annoyed tone.

“Right, come on, I want to introduce you to the shaman I mentioned.” We then continued our walk through the village.

Og soon led me to a tent, this one was made out of cloth instead of what the other tents I saw were made of. It was almost as wide as the wooden structures I’ve seen scattered around the village. Me and Og approached it and Og moved a flap to enter. “Leon, I came by for another visit, and I brought the friend I told you about.”

I spotted a troll near a small fire at the center of the tent we entered, there were animal skins lying on the ground on the other side of the fire, from what it looked like, I assumed that was this trolls bed. I took a look around and saw a few plants in pots on tables lining the sides and a few bottles as well. The troll stood up and turned around to face us. This one looked kind of old, he had white hair growing out of his chin. He smiled upon seeing us. “Ah, Og, how good of you to come by and visit me, I’m always glad to see you, and I see you brought someone with you.” He said as he focused his attention on me.

“Leon, this is Nightshade, the one I told you about.” Og introduced me.
The old troll got down on one knee, leaned in close and rubbed a hand on his chin as he eyed me. “Hmmm, interesting, you are indeed something different, I can honestly say I have never seen anything like you before. So you’re the one I’ve been hearing about around the village.” Unlike the other trolls, this one had a pleasant elderly sounding voice. “Tell me little one, what is it you call yourself?”

“I’m a shadow walker, what’s it to ya gramps?” I asked bitterly, I wasn’t exactly in the best of moods.

Og turned to me with a shocked look. “Nightshade, that was rude.” He then turned back to Leon. “Sorry Leon, he isn’t exactly having a good day.”

“Try a good week, or a good life.” I added.

The elder troll backed off and sat down with his legs crossed. “Oh, do tell, what seems to be the trouble little one?”

“Well this for starters.” I said as I raised my left hoof and raised a part of the rope around my neck. “I’ve been made a pet to your chief, and he isn’t about to let me go home.”

“Really, and where is this home of yours?” The elder troll said.

“I’m not about to tell you, why should I?” I asked bitterly again.

Og looked down to me. “Nightshade, come on, I know your upset about your situation, but he’s just curious, he’s a nice troll, really.”

I looked to Og and turned my head away with a humpf. “I understand young one, you are upset because you have been made a prisoner, haven’t you? And you want to go home but can’t.”

I turned to face the troll Leon. “how’d you guess?”

Og grunted in annoyance and slapped his hand to his face.

Leon just laughed at the scene. “Heh heh heh, well I may be old, but I’m still smart. Now then, Og here told me that you may be the last of your kind, but from what you said, it is still up for debate, tell me, is it true, are you really the last of your kind?”

Og looked at me worriedly, I sat down on my haunches, there was something about this old troll that I felt I could open up to him. I thought it might feel good to finally tell someone of my plight. “Well, yeah it is, I’m the last shadow walker of my tribe, everyone else is gone.”

Leon gave me a sympathetic look. “Oh dear, I am so sorry to hear that, how did it happen, if you don’t mind me asking.”

I just couldn’t help myself, this troll seemed genuinely concerned for me, I really felt like I could open up to him, so I took a deep breath and let it out, then I began my story and told him how I lost my tribe. “Well, it’s like this….” As I recounted my tale to the two, they both listened intently, gaining shocked and horrified looks at my tale as I told how my clan was slaughtered. I even told them the part of how I buried every one by myself. I left out the part about how I had a kind of imaginary friend.

“And now, here I am, a pet for a troll chief. And that’s my story.” As I finished my tale, the two trolls were silent for a moment.

Leon was the one to break the silence. “My goodness, you poor thing, to have to go through so much and be left alone, and not to mention going through the task of burying everyone you cared about? That must have been very hard on you.” He said with a solemn voice.

Og then spoke. “Nightshade, I…..I had no idea how bad it was, I’m so sorry you had to go through that, isn’t there anything I can do to help…….well, besides letting you go, I wish I could, I really do, but my dad made it clear that there would be consequences if I did.”

I looked at Og with a frown. “It doesn’t matter anyway, I don’t know how to get back to my village from here anyway, I’m lost now.” I hung my head and closed my eyes. “How could my life get any worse.”

Og, turned his head to the side and looked down. He then looked back to me and spoke. “Nightshade, I’m sorry, but I need to get you back to the cell, dad said I could take you around only for like an hour or so, and time is almost up, we really need to go back, I’m sorry.”

I looked to Og. “Whatever, let’s just go.”

Og turned to Leon. “I’ll see you later Leon, take care ok.”

Leon waved a hand at us. “I hope the two of you come back to visit me again, see you later Og.”

Og lead me out of the tent, through the village and back to my cell. He walked me in, removed the rope around my neck and started back to the door. He stopped just as he was about to exit and turned to face me. “Nightshade, I really am sorry for your loss, if you ever need to talk to someone, I’ll always be available.”

I just looked at him, then back to the ground as I sat on my haunches, I heard the cell door creak closed. Og walked off and left me alone. “Come on Nightshade, you have to admit he really does care, surely you can see that, he wants to be your friend.”

I looked at my shadow and spoke. “I….guess you’re right, he has been rather helpful, I just wish he would let me out of here. But because of his dad, that’s impossible.”

“At least you have a new friend now, right, maybe even two, that old troll was rather nice.”

“I guess. I need a nap, I’m gonna try and sleep for a bit now.” I lay down and rested my head on my hooves as my shadow disappeared.