G’narsh

The Troll, The Myth, The Legend

by

Kevin Stillwater

chapter 3
# # # And Here Now Our Story - G’narsh’s Ray’s # # #
page 3

    G’narsh shakes his head, the one that has been staring at the door where Lane would be if the restaurant were open. He is in a foul mood this night and he knows it is not just Lane’s absence that has caused his fume. He goes back to the books and tabulates Nadia’s receipts for the umpteenth time. And yes, she is off by a single gold piece, yet again. As G’narsh begins to count the receipts one more time, as if by some miracle there is any chance that he will come up with a different total if only he pays more attention, G’narsh stops to pick up a golden coin from the stack of copper, silver, and even paper script, which lay before him. The pile does not constitute a king’s ransom (not quite), but it is certainly enough. It is more that the troop of cobalts, which are currently turning up the chairs in preparation for sweeping the lower floor, could ever hoped to amass... at least, that is, back in the days of old.

    G’narsh pauses in his thoughts. He considers that it is easy to slip, to slide down that path into the past and the way things were. Even now G’narsh can hear the cobalts sing an old tune. They say, “Wash, wash, wash. Sweep, sweep, sweep. Bake, bake, bake,” but G’narsh recognizes the rhythm of the song they are singing and that the original lyrics went something more along the lines of, “Tear off the heads of your enemies and kill all who betray you.” Long ago G’narsh instructed the cobalts (the Charlie’s as they are also called) to change the words, but in his own mind G’narsh still hears the original evil, blood-filled lyrics whenever they sing one of those songs from long ago. He can’t help himself. He knows the real lyrics don’t go, “Pizza is fun to bake,” or whatever harmless nonsense the Charlies are currently singing. No. The original words to all of the songs, which either he or any of the Charlies know from back in the old days, all pretty much go the same way, “KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL! KILL!” Which at the moment is all the more poignant as the Gra’gl fearing chorus to the tune they are currently singing is, “Kill all who betray you,” especially after one considers that both Lane and Nadia immediately spring to his mind as suspects that would likely fit the bill.

    G’narsh shakes his head as he silently reminds himself, “It’s just the way things were. It doesn’t mean anything.”
But worse, he almost says that last aloud. Is he slipping? Growing soft? Self doubt fills G’narsh’s mind, while anger (at his own weakness, if nothing else) begins to fester deep in his soul.