David Grunwell - author

Not far away, Waldup “the Whale” was holding court on the wharves. He and his gang had just finished another night of heavy drinking and general mayhem. Tired, they were heading back to his gang’s warehouse headquarters by the river to sleep off their night’s carousing and misadventures.

The Whale was a huge mass of a man, with gigantic sloping shoulders and a tremendous barrel of a chest. He was easy to spot in any crowd, being that he was half again as tall, and many times wider than a normal man. His overall shape was that of a haystack topped with a round, mostly bald, and decidedly ugly head.

To someone familiar with ogres, Waldup would seem almost cute. The reason you might mistake him for a smaller, cuter ogre was that Waldup’s mother had been an ogre.

When one hears the word mother, it may lead to the incorrect application of human terms and emotions to the lauded and demanding role of being a mother and a parent. The stand-ard ogre’s child-rearing period lasts one to two years, depend-ing on when they find a new mate, or they decide to wander off. At the end of this brief period of less than stellar parenting, an ogre parent kicks the child in the pants and sends them on their way. Any child that survives the kick is forced to rear itself. This may have a great deal to do with the nasty temperament of ogres and half-ogres like Waldup the Whale.

Who Waldup’s father had been was a subject of much private debate, but only when the Whale was not present. Why any human had been the mate of an ogre was another uncomfortable question altogether.

Being half-ogre made Waldup appear to be just a foul-tempered, balding, pale, and spotty human of an abnormally enormous size and power. His colossal strength was legendary on the wharf. He could easily lift more than any three powerful men combined. The thing that the Whale enjoyed most of all was getting his way, especially if it involved hurting people.

As a youth, it was said that the Whale had killed a full-grown mountain bear with one punch. No one knows how or why he had come into a situation where he needed to punch a bear, just that he had done it. Now that he was fully grown, the Whale had become the leader of the most feared of all the dock’s gangs. Other leaders had fallen to his punch, and none had lived to challenge him again. Even the local police of Er-lahain avoided contact with the Whale and his rabid gang that followed the brute like opportunistic sharks.

Ruferto, Finah/Alakia, Bert, and Lucretta/Sarria walked north at a moderate clip following the directions they had been given. If things went well, they would rendezvous with Haruthay’s car-avan in just twenty minutes. They tried to act as if they were out shopping or for an early morning stroll. They turned up lesser-used streets to avoid busier avenues. As they came to an intersection between the back of the market and warehouse districts, they turned back toward the river only to come face to face with an ugly, shambling mound of a man who was being followed by a pack of his scroungy friends.

Ruferto stepped back and pardoned himself before directing his party around the side of the immense man.

A deep, throaty voice rumbled from within the man-mountain. “Maybe I don’t pardon you.” He lifted his tree trunk thick arm and extended to block Ruferto’s path. Bert and the Princesses backed up.

Ruferto gave a slight bow and said, “My apologies, sir, if I have in any way offended you. You see, we are running late—”

The Whale bent down to Ruferto and said, “You offends me by breathing, you little creep.” His cronies sniggered and fanned out, blocking all egress from the intersection.

Ruferto looked about at the thirteen to fifteen men that surrounded them. He was getting scared. This whole thing was turning sour. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Sarria’s hands drifting to her belt and Bert was reaching into one of his bags.

Waldup the Whale squinted and barred his small, crooked yellow teeth and said, “Youse are trespassing on my property and ta make up for that, I think some kind of payment is in order.”

Ruferto reached for his small coin purse and untied it. “I apologize for our trespass, sir. I am willing to pay—”

A large meaty hand enveloped Ruferto’s hand, including his coin pouch, and squeezed gently. Ruferto had imagined that this surly brute was going to squeeze his hand until he cried out in pain, but for some reason, he did not. As he looked up into the giant man’s eyes, he saw that there was a strange, surprised look in his eyes. Ruferto pulled his trapped hand free and then tossed the purse into the middle of the intersection. A gang member darted in to snatch up the prize. Opening the bag, he dumped the contents into his hand.

“Three silver and twenty copper, Boss,” said the unshaven wiry man.

“Not bad for a pipsqueak, but not enough.” His piggish eyes fell on Sarria and Alakia and he smiled greedily. “My, what fine-lookin’ women, boys. I think that they might just pay the toll.”

Ruferto stepped over to block his path. “I am sorry, sir, but I must ask you to let us pass.”

A large meaty hand enveloped Ruferto’s hand, including his coin pouch, and squeezed gently. Ruferto had imagined that this surly brute was going to squeeze his hand until he cried out in pain, but for some reason, he did not. As he looked up into the giant man’s eyes, he saw that there was a strange, surprised look in his eyes. Ruferto pulled his trapped hand free and then tossed the purse into the middle of the intersection. A gang member darted in to snatch up the prize. Opening the bag, he dumped the contents into his hand. “Three silver and twenty copper, Boss,” said the unshaven wiry man. “Not bad for a pipsqueak, but not enough.” His piggish eyes fell on Sarria and Alakia and he smiled greedily. “My, what fine-lookin’ women, boys. I think they might just pay the toll.” Ruferto stepped over to block his path. “I am sorry, sir, but I must ask you to let us pass.” With surprising speed, the Whale placed his meaty paw on Ruferto’s shoulder, completely covering it from the neck down to the top of his arm. Waldup laughed. “Oooh, thar boys, I think I just heard me a challenge.” The men surrounding them guf-fawed and yelled out rude comments. “What do you say? Shall I give the little runt a chance for them all ta walk away?” The ugly gang of the Whale chortled and spewed more nasty remarks. The Whale looked at the Princesses and Bert. “Watch the other three there so they don’t run or do somethin’ stupid, while we is discussin’ this surprisin’ turn of events.” Several Waldup’s men drew long daggers and moved to surround Ruferto’s friends.

Waldup towered over Ruferto, grinning evilly. “Now, what do you say, punk? Each of us gets to throw one punch at each other. The guy left standing wins.” With a potato-sized thumb, he pointed back at his chest, “If I win, I gets the girls,” his blocky index finger poked Ruferto in the chest, “and if you wins,” laughter came from his hoodlums, “the four of youse gets to leave unharmed.”

The scroungy men surrounding them were egging on the Whale. Waldup’s broad and meaty paw was once more over Ruferto’s shoulder and he had a look on his face like something he had eaten didn’t agree with him.

“Do I have your word that if I win, we get to leave unhurt and when we want?” said Ruferto sternly.

“Did you hear this? The Kid here, he wants my word on this. Sure, I promise that if you is still standing and I am not, after we exchange blows, youse four here is allowed to leave.” He turned to his thugs and said, “You guys promise, okay?” He said nodding to them, encouraging them to concur. The amused cutthroats agreed to their boss’s terms. Ruferto hated bullies and he was getting mad. “Oh, if you pulls that sword of yours, we will kill all of youse. You, got it?”

Ruferto nodded. “I only pull that if I really get angry.”

The Whale sniggered. “Consider me warned.” He glanced at his friends. “Cause it’s my place, I gets to throw the first punch!” The Whale launched a horrific surprise attack at Ruferto’s head. Ruferto dodged backward and to one side and the swing barely missed his face. A great gust of wind and the smell of the Whale’s rank body odor followed the punch.

The Whale’s gang roared with laughter as Waldup almost fell to the ground from the sheer force he had put behind his swing.

“My turn,” said Ruferto as he prepared to swing.

The Whale held up his broad slab of a hand in protest. His hand was wide enough to cover Ruferto’s chest, “Naw, Naw, Naw! You moved. That ain’t fair! I gets another swing.”

Ruferto snarled, “You never said I couldn’t move.”

“It’s my place, we follows my rules,” he bellowed back.

Ruferto frowned and said, “If you don’t play fair—”

The Whale moved forward with astounding speed. The man-mountain’s face twisted in rage as he delivered a catastrophic upward blow that lifted Ruferto high in the air. Everyone, seeing that monstrous blow, expected it to be raining bits of Ruferto, but to their shock and amazement, he landed back on his feet, several yards away, without a single mark on his body. Ruferto appeared to be offended by the hit and then he grew very angry.

Everyone stared unbelievingly at the thin young man who had taken the full, horrific might of the Whale’s anger and still stood. There were no signs of blood or that any part of him was broken. His minions had seen the Whale’s punches before; they always utterly devastated the victim, leaving them shattered. This punch had seemed many times worse than any they had seen before, yet this kid still stood there glaring at the Whale completely unharmed.

Ruferto smiled and stepped forward. Growling through his gritted teeth he said, “That was fun. Now it’s my turn.”

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Read excerpts from Trolls and other Trouble - Book One
Read excerpts from Dark Elf Danger - Book Three

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