The wolf maiden strode confidently up the main passage to the Troll Palace. She was stopped several times and menaced, but she bowed politely and told them she had gifts for the Troll Royals. The guards followed her suspiciously and became a threatening and jeering escort.

The Troll Royals were watching a prisoner entertain them by trying to leap over spears jabbed at him from a semi circle of guards. The prisoner was successful in entertaining as much as he was unsuccessful at dodging. When the prisoner fell and didn't get up, the Troll Royals saw the wolf maiden in their throne room. The eldest King, Burly, sat in the middle on a slightly higher throne, earned by his birthright. His sister Blabberwort sat on his left and his brother Bluebell sat on his right.

"Your highnesses," the wolf maiden bowed. "I bring you gifts." She set three identical wrapped boxes in front of them. They greedily tore them open and admired the shoes inside. The wolf maiden waited for them to put them on, and smiled with satisfaction as she saw that her informants were correct in the Royal shoe sizes.

"You highnesses, I have come to talk about the factory King Wendell has built on Troll lands."

"What about it?" Burly asked.

"It is an insult to you that he came to your kingdom to build his factory, polluting your lands even further. The reason he didn't build it in his kingdom is because he knew it would poison any place he put it. But troll lands belong to trolls. If you want a factory, build a factory. Don't let this king insult you with his."

"We've tried to attack the factory. It is well guarded."

"That was while your kingdom was divided. Now that your majesties wisely united together I can help you destroy the factory and show the strength of the trolls to all the other kingdoms."

"Why? What's in this for you?"

"I want to destroy Duke Lewis. He built the factory. I know its weaknesses. With ten of your best fighters, I can show everyone the might of the Troll Kingdom. First, you need to write a letter to King Wendell asking him to abandon the factory. Tell him you will let all his workers and guards peacefully leave your lands if he writes back and they leave within a fortnight."

"Trolls don't ask. They take! We don't write letters."

"You have to. You need to send an emissary with the letter. Your emissary cannot attack anyone or steal anything while they are in the 4th Kingdom. And you must deliver the letter. This shows the other kingdoms that you tried to be peaceful and that this issue is between you and Wendell. If you just attack the factory, Wendell can ask for help and no kingdom, not even the Troll Kingdom, can stand against all the others when they are united. But you don't have to worry. Wendell will not do what we ask. After he refuses, we will attack the factory and we will let one survivor return to the king to tell them of the Troll victory."

She turned to the other trolls in the room. "Trolls once held half of the 4thKingdom! They took it by strength!" The trolls cheered. "While the queen was scheming and betraying your king, the trolls marched across the land and conquered it! Only by the united kingdoms were you forced back to your lands. And then King Wendell decides to take advantage of you and steals your land to build his poisonous factory!" The room erupted with bloodlust battlecries.

She held out a parchment to the Royals. "This is the letter. Sign it, send an emissary to Wendell, and we can start the tournament to find the ten best trolls in the land."

"I am the best troll in the land," Burly snarled.

"I do not include your highnesses. Your skills are needed for war. I dare not take you on such a small battle. I need the next best fighters in the land."

"Of course. I knew that."

The three Royals signed the letter, sealed it, and sent it. Then they eagerly began planning the tournament.

"Who are you?" Blabberwort suddenly asked.

"Green-Tail."She turned to show the dyed tip of her wolf tail.

The Royals laughed and teased her for the rest of her stay, calling her Moss-fur, Weed-tail, and other names.

Most of the tournament was useless, but Green-Tail insisted that each troll be announced so she could keep track of the skillful ones. After the tournament, she announced the ten she wanted and began training them. She also sent orders for dark armor to be made very specially for the mission.

The emissary returned and told them that Wendell had laughed at him and threatened to cut off his head if he harmed anyone in his kingdom. The troll boasted to killing a family on the border, where the king could not catch him. It was time for Green-Tail and her trolls.

She held a bowl of black paint and walked down the line of her armored trolls. She painted their faces as she told them of the terrible fear they will create as they sneak from the shadows to destroy the workers and guards. How their victims will piss themselves when they silently appear beside them. In her words she reminded them of her stealth training which she knew was against all troll instincts to rush and hack. But it didn't matter. Even if the trolls forgot everything and attacked with a battlecry, they would be enough of a distraction for her to enter the factory and bring it down.

They took a loping pace through the bean stalks to the factory. They arrived a few hours before daybreak, and the cleared ground around the factory was lit with torches. She sent two to the left and two to the right to extinguish torches and draw attention from the rest as they entered the grounds. The trolls kept silent until they entered the living quarters and found sleeping workers. Then the bloodlust and chaos broke and battlecries and screams filled the air. Green-Tail entered the factory and planted her bombs and from the doorway cast her fire spells to ignite them. The factory collapsed and smoke and dust obscured everything. She almost ran into the troll leader.

"They didn't want the factory destroyed. They wanted the factory for themselves," he said.

"Too bad. There's a problem with trolls, anyway."

"What's that?"

Green-Tail leapt and slashed his throat with a concealed knife. "They're too predictable." She knew that the Royals had told him to kill her after the battle. She ran from the slaughter and out of the Troll Kingdom.