Kajar groaned as he climbed back to consciousness. Eyes closed, he examined his body for wounds and found his arms and legs tightly bound.
“So”, boomed a voice, “the great Kajar awakens.”
Kajar turned towards the speaker. Tondo the Troll King stood waving a piece of paper.
“I sees from this treasure map you comes to steal from me. You knows what we does with thieves?”
“You feed them ale and pies and set them free?”
“No, long pig, we eats them, and you is for the pot.”
Kajar looked away, studying the surroundings. A cave. He could see his sword, shield and boots piled against a wall. He glanced down at himself. ‘Ha! They haven’t taken the belt. The fools.’ He looked again at Tondo, “But I’m no thief, I’m on a quest to…”
“Silence! We catches you skulking, we bashes you, and we finds this”, Tondo brandished the map, “You is a thief. Cooking time is come. Guards!” Two of the largest trolls Kajar had ever seen appeared at the cave entrance. “Take him to The Kitchen.”
The guards grabbed Kajar and dragged him towards a large, excited crowd, which parted as they approached, revealing a giant, simmering cauldron.
“In the pot! In the pot!” chanted the mob.
“Wait!” shouted Kajar, “Wouldn’t it be better to remove these iron shackles? Surely they’d spoil the taste. And I couldn’t escape, not with all these elite warriors around.”
The guards looked at Tondo, who nodded.
As the last shackle was removed, Kajar grabbed his belt buckle and twisted it, immediately becoming invisible. Dropping to the ground he crawled out of the now angry crowd, leaving the guards grabbing at thin air. He soon reclaimed his equipment, snatched the map from Tondo, and made his escape, free to continue his quest…
My entry in the January 2020 300 Word Story Challenge at SFFChronicles
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy, or other Speculative Fiction
M. Robert Gibson 