The sun warmed and the clouds cleared only a few hours later, and the barren moors gave way to a series of rocky hills, which took them a rather long time to get through. After that, the hills transformed into a forest with sparsely planted oaks, pines, and spruces.

     The sun was beginning to sink in the sky, and Rowan felt herself drawn to the book in her satchel. She longed to read it, but not in front of the others. It was hers, and she didn't have to let anyone else see it.

      "Do you hear that?" Aliyah lifted her head suddenly, "Water!" She sprinted forward through the trees, and Kaden glanced back at Rowan, "I could use a drink. You coming?"

       Rowan stowed away her thoughts of the book, realizing how dry her mouth was, "Heck yeah!" she exclaimed, and chased after him until they skidded to a halt on the edge of a river. But it was twenty feet below them in a raging river that roared through the gorge.

      Aliyah was standing away from the edge nervously, "This is just the farther part to the gorge we fell into a couple days ago."

       Rowan winced at the iciness of the memory, "Yeah, let's not do that again."

      "Look," Kaden pointed to their left, "That's a bridge!" They all turned to look, and sure enough there was a rickety bridge not too far away from them.

      "Sweet!" Aliyah grinned as they all raced towards it, "Can you believe our luck? Hundreds of miles of forest and we come out a hundred feet from the only bridge!"

     "That's not the bridge," Rowan said, slowing her run before they reached the wooden structure that arched across the raging river, "The main bridge is described to be 'thirty feet long' and 'made of stainless steel from the best miners in all the four kingdoms'. I've read about it before."

     "Maybe someone built one for their own convenience," Aliyah suggested, "That's what I'd do."

     "Whatever, let's just use it," Kaden stepped forward, but Rowan thought she saw a flash of movement from beneath the bridge.

     "Kaden, wait!" she shouted, but it was too late. An enormous hand reached up, batting the hunter back across the bridge and into a tree. Rowan pulled Aliyah back as a beast dragged itself from the small ledge beneath the bridge.

     Abnormally large hands fitted onto thin, lanky arms that went down to the hideous beast's knees as it slouched low. Its face resembled a bulbous potato, seeming oddly proportioned with its tiny black eyes and large ears. Its clawed hands left deep gashes in the ground, and it grunted something incoherent as it saw them.

      "River troll," Aliyah gasped, stepping back a few paces to get out of arm's length.

     "It's got a bridge," Rowan didn't back up at all. In fact, she didn't seem scared, "It's a river troll with a bridge. Their own rules prevent them from eating us unless we refuse to play its game."

      Kaden sat up slowly, rubbing his head. He saw the huge creature and leapt to his feet.

      "Relax," Rowan didn't take her eyes off of the growling troll, "Hello, there. We want to cross your bridge."

      The troll's face contorted into a horrible grin, the open mouth dousing her in its foul breath and giving her a view of its broken, rotting fangs, "Ah... a game, you seek?" It's voice was low and gritty, sounding almost like a boot crunching on granite chips. Rowan tried not to cringe away.

     "Yes," she said in a confident voice, lifting her chin as she faced the monster, "If we guess your riddle, you'll let us pass."

     "And if not..." the troll's grin twisted wickedly up the corner of its mouth, "You'll all stay for supper."

      "Of course," Rowan said, but Kaden grabbed her arm.

     "Are you crazy?! You're going to get all of us killed!" He tossed his head to get his wind-blown hair out of his dark eyes, which were revealing his anxiety at her deal with the huge river troll.

     "Let's hear the riddle, and at least try," Rowan pushed him away, "What do you think, Aliyah?"

     "Worth a try," she shrugged, but looked interested in the idea of a riddle game.

     "Ask away," Rowan told the troll, who drew its sharp claws through the moist dirt. Grass caught beneath its claws as it rumbled:

       "You will always find me in the past," it tossed its head as it sat down, picking grass from beneath its nails, "I can be created in the present, but the future can never taint me." It licked its thin, white lips with a forked tongue as it finished, "What am I?"

      "Impossible," Kaden snorted.

      The troll gave him a sickening grin, "Is that your answer?"

     "No!" Rowan smacked Kaden in the back of the head with her bag, "If you answer incorrectly, it can eat us!"

     "Then why the hell did you get us into this?" Kaden demanded, but Aliyah bounced up beside them, excitement lighting her eyes as she looked up at the looming troll above them.

      "Is it memories? That makes a lot of sense!" She exclaimed, looking to the troll questioningly.

     "No, because you can think of the future, which would taint it," Rowan pointed out, "Come on, guys, this isn't even a hard riddle."

      "You know it?" Kaden gave her a skeptical look, lifting his eyebrows.

      "I've read every riddle or puzzle book in the castle's libraries," Rowan told him smugly, folding her arms in front of her, "I've heard something similar before. I mean, what's found only in the past, created in the present, and doesn't taint the future?"

      "Uh..." they both stared at her.

      "What's the one thing you can't find in the future?" Rowan pressed after an exasperated sigh, "The one thing?"

     "The past," Kaden said slowly, looking to the troll as if expecting a confirmation. It didn't reply an any way; not a gesture, rumble, or movement to indicate if that was correct.

     "History," Rowan corrected, "You can make history in the now, and it is the past. But history can never taint the future."

     The troll gave them a decaying grin, getting to its feet as it rasped, "Is that your answer?"

     "Yes," Rowan said confidently, though Aliyah and Kaden stepped back hurriedly as it leaned forwards towards her.

       "Correct," the troll doused her with a breath that reeked of fish and mildew as it leaned forward. Then it turned its back on them, sliding down into the gorge to return to its wait for unsuspecting travelers.

     Rowan shot Kaden a cocky grin, dusting her hands off at her sides, "See? Not impossible. Now let's go." Her boots clicked on the wooden surface as she strode confidently across the rickety bridge.

     "But the troll," Aliyah began hesitantly, shying away with her breath held nervously.

      "It's bound by its own law," Rowan assured her, "It can't do anything to us since we've correctly answered its riddle. It's perfectly safe, see?" She indicated the bridge she was standing on.

     Aliyah leapt up beside her, looking down at the boards beneath her feet, "It's really the bridge I'm worried about. It doesn't look very stable."

     "There's magic involved to keep it up," Rowan guessed, noticing the slight buzz beneath her feet that usually indicated magical influence. She stomped a foot, "See?"

     "Oh, good," Aliyah darted easily across the bridge, springing off onto the thick grass that marked the opposite end.

     Kaden was regarding the bridge with mistrust, "That troll could literally eat you in one bite," he warned, and she noticed he kept a good distance away from the edge, at least an arm's length of the troll away.

     "Kaden, come on, you idiot," Rowan snorted in annoyance, holding out a hand to him, "We don't have time for this. It's a bridge."

     "With a twelve foot troll under it!"

       Rowan leapt off the bridge beside him, grabbing his wrist, "Aliyah did it. I did it. It's not going to eat you. Now come on, scaredy cat," she towed him despite his protests onto the bridge, pulling him across the rickety surface. He shut his mouth as he reached the other side, rolling his eyes to feign annoyance.

      She only returned the exasperated look, then turned on her heels to face Aliyah, "See? Fine. But if we were on the moors earlier, and now we crossed the river, that means in order to head east we'll have to cross through the Enchanted Swamp."

      "What's bad about that?" Kaden asked, brushing his hands together to clear off his sweaty palms, the only sign of his fear of the river troll.

      "It's where Maleficent lives," Rowan intentionally turned her gaze to the horizon, not wanting to see the look of pity she knew would cross his face. Her feet crunched over dead leaves littering the ground as she led the way into a forest.

       The midday sun beat down harshly upon them, and Rowan could feel the beads of sweat on her brow. She lifted a hand to wipe them away as she took a deep breath. The wind was nonexistent here, not allowing them even a breath of the cool mountain air for relief. What little breezes they got smelled strongly of decaying leaves, indicating the marshy swamplands she knew lay somewhere in the great distance ahead.