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One gusty morning, the children of the village of Dalsnes gathered by the creek where the steep banks were draped in long, rain-slicked grass. They numbered about a dozen, ranged in age from five to fifteen, and so far only four stood soaked from an unplanned swim. Anxious whispering darted from child to child like a nervous breeze.
Clement called the group to attention. “So, thanks to Kira, we have to find a new game to play.”
“Hey, using weapons is permitted within the rules and I’m fairly certain a hunting knife falls under the category of ‘weapon,’” she said.
“It does!” agreed Eddy. “We’ve broken arms from using sticks before, but I get one little scratch and suddenly it’s the end of the world.” He pulled a pant leg up to his knee and pointed at a small patch that might have been dried blood - or a freckle.
“ Anyway, ” said Clement. “I had this idea that we could split up into three teams-”
“That sounds weird,” interrupted Sigrun. “Can’t we just play something we already know? Like… uh, hide and go seek?”
"I love hide and go seek!" said a little girl Sigrun couldn't remember the name of. Pink grins cut across chilled faces.
Sigrun smiled hugely and her eyebrows seemed to soar to twice their normal height. “What do you think, buddy? Is that a good enough game?”
Clement considered the question. “It’ll do.”
“Great! Me and Kira'll be the hunters! Ready, set, GO!”
The Dalsnes-children scattered in every direction, letting loose wild-animal howls and screeching war cries; some disappeared into the trees or headed down toward the shore and others sprinted back to the cover of the town’s buildings.
Kira pulled out her hunting knife and motioned at the disappearing forms of two older girls who had jumped into the creek. “Should we go after them first? They’re almost certainly heading for those big rocks.”
“Yeah,” said Sigrun after a split-second’s careful consideration, pulling out her own knife. “But let’s give ‘em a few minutes.”
Sigrun could not shake a feeling of apprehension. The weather wasn't unusual for the time of year, but her feet had sunk a little in the moist ground - could that be it? Maybe it was the wind blowing her hair into her eyes. She focused on the familiar shape of her knife's handle-
“Kira! Put that knife away or this game’ll get banned, too!”
Kira reluctantly put it away and found two sticks - but not without a little grumbling.
The hunters started by going down to the rock pile by the creek-bend as agreed and, after chasing them around in a circle for a few minutes, tagged the two girls with their sticks. They then headed over to to the woodshed, where three individuals imitated spiders amongst the firewood, and then the shore, where a lone boy tried to camouflage himself in the sand. Three others were found in various dwellings around town.
There were three children they had yet to find, and only the forest left to search. Sigrun easily spotted two of them - one of whom was trying to hide behind a tree half as wide as she was. Clement tried to make a run for it after he was discovered in a clump of tall grass, but Kira took off after him and body-slammed him to the ground, then whacked him repeatedly with her stick. Seeing that the Clement-situation was under control, Sigrun pulled the girl to her feet and held her at stick-point against a boulder.
Suddenly Eddy ran out from behind a fallen tree and pushed Kira off the other boy. She landed heavily on the leaf-strewn ground shouting “Hey!”
Scrambling to her feet, Kira leaped wildly over the battered Clement and swung the stick at Eddy like a sword.
She missed by three feet.
Eddy dodged to the left, slipped on some damp leaves, and crashed sideways onto Clement's back.
Kira began beating at the flailing mass of boys' arms and legs without knowing who or what she was hitting.
"Stop!" yelled Sigrun. "They're already dead! Are you trying to get us in trouble!?"
Kira looked reproachfully over at her friend. " I know they're dead, but do they know?"
"What?! I'm not in their heads!"
"Well? Are you two dead or do I need to hit you again?" asked Kira, prodding them with her stick.
Clement gapped uncomprehendingly at her but Eddy flinched and called out, "We're dead! We're dead!"
Sigrun walked over and scrutinized the pair of them closely. "That's funny, you don't sound dead."
"I can fix that!" said Kira. She stood up a little straighter, raised her stick in the air, and the most bizarre look formed on her face. “Sigrun, you did remember to hit Jennie, right?”
It took Sigrun a moment to realize that ‘Jennie’ was the little girl. She glanced behind her.
There were the leaves covering the ground, just as they always were and the trees they came from reaching up toward the sky, green branches crisp against the seamless gray clouds. Birds flitted through branches interwoven with the occasional ribbon of light, but when she looked at where Jennie had been standing, only the uncaring face of the boulder looked back.
“Uh, I guess not.”
Kira glared at Sigrun. “Have you forgotten rule number one: never leave a troll unkilled?”
“Who said that?”
“Your parents.”
Sigrun gestured at the place Jennie had previously occupied. “Well, it’s kinda too late for that, now, unless you can turn back time.”
Snap!
Both girls turned. Jennie stood frozen for a second, staring at them, and they stared back, then she turned and ran back in the direction of Dalsnes faster than her eight-and-a-half year old legs would have been expected to carry her.
“Come on!” screeched Kira, dropping her stick in panic.
Sigrun had no choice but to sprint after her friend as she pursued Jennie in a manner that would have left an observer thinking Kira was the troll being chased. Dripping leaves were replaced with over-full eaves as the pair clattered neck-to-neck onto the cobblestone street.
Kira led the way around a corner and plowed into Jennie, who was catching her breath against the side of a building. Sigrun skidded into the two of them and brought them all crashing into an oceanic puddle.
A dark figure loomed over the three children. “I thought I told you kids to stop playing Troll-Wrestling.”
“We did! This is Hide and Go Seek!”
They were three children sprawled in a puddle and streaked in blood; skinned knees worse than any knife-cut.
“That’s not how we played it when I was a kid.”