Distraction Takes Its Toll

"Do you smell that?" said Liten Nese, an ugly, bald troll to Sarkastisk , an equally ugly and bald troll.

"It smells like blood" he sniffed, looking down and around him.

"Are you sure?" grumbled Sarkastisk.

"I know blood, and that is blood...

Human blood"

"Are you sure? The last time...well, you remember" Sarkastisk snickered, as troll-flem flew from his mouth and the cave they were standing in shook.

"I told you never to mention that again" growled Liten Nese.

"But...it is a good story, and most would do the same...

In your shoes." Sarkastisk continued to chuckle, patting his grumbling troll buddy on the back.

"Your idea of a good story is not the same as mine!" muttered Liten Nese with a shake of his enormous head.

"What do you mean? This story, your story, has a hapless hero,

a problem he needs to overcome, and a twist." reasoned Sarkastisk.

"Hapless...did you...just call...me...hapless?" sneered Liten Nese as he grabbed Sarkastisk's chin.

"Now now, bud...don't get your troll fur in a twist...I meant it endearingly," added Sarkastisk, trying to appease his fellow cave dweller.

"Endearingly? You meant referring to me as hapless when you know the torture I endured because of, granted, a major misstep on my part, endearingly? You know I can still tear you limb from limb and sacrifice you, right?" threatened Liten as his face screwed up, steam blew from his ears and his eyes went bloodshot.

"But, you can't tell human blood from ram's blood or ketchup, little nose...I am petrified...shaking." laughed Sarkastisk.

"Don't mock me, little man. I definitely smell blood." gruffed Liten as he released Sarkastisk with a light shove, which was only light by troll standards, and pushed him against the nearest cave wall.

"Oh, I do too...

Wait...It's my blood!" muttered Sarkastisk with surprise as blood dripped down his face and into his mouth.

"Die, foul beast!" yelled a brave knight as he plunged the sword that had been scratching against the distracted troll's head further into his flesh, before removing it and stabbing it into the other, argumentative troll.

*

Thanks for reading!

Author's note: So, yeah. I had this idea for a story about trolls arguing. The names are supposed to be quite funny, as Liten Nese is Norwegian for Little Nose and Sarkastisk is Norwegian for Sarcastic. The subtitle alludes to a book called "Tales from The Great Book of Troll Tales" that doesn't exist yet, and may not exist, but one I am thinking of writing.

I loved fairy tales and stories about trolls when I was a kid, and I've been struggling (again!) to come up with anything non-poetry-based, so just ran with the troll thing. So, we'll see.

For more Troll action, check out this microfiction from the Microfiction Magic challenge:

Another fairy tale microfiction that I am proud of is this:

You can also take a look at the rest of my work here.