It's finished! (In as much as you can ever get me to stop picking at anything I've drawn.)
If you are familiar with Breccia's short stories, this is a scene from the story "A Learning Experience".
?Master Arrek!? Kadek reached out, to grasp his trainer?s arm. ?Sir, look to your left. There?s a troll on the rocks.? He paused in the water, sinking still lower, until just his eyes and the tip of his nose were above the surface.
?So there is,? the Shin Master replied, and his voice had a note that puzzled the trainee. ?Here is what you must do, Kadek. Go to the dock, and surface underneath it. Watch to see what happens...?
Kadek stared at his master, for the laughter in his voice came through, but the instructions had been plain. He nodded, and dove down, swimming quickly under the water to the dock. He surfaced beneath it, and found himself in a good spot to watch the troll.
It was fishing. It seemed to have been having some luck, for a decent sized string of fish sat beside it, on one of the rocks. A bucket floated in the water, tethered by a cord, and from this the troll would rebait his hook when he needed, and remove a half-full greenish bottle to take a swig from time to time. It seemed relaxed, and content.
Its line jerked, and it hauled it up, to find its bait missing. It shrugged, then rebaited its hook, and cast with an expert flick of its wrist, and settled back again. But once again, the line jerked, and the troll hauled it up to find nothing. The troll peered into the water, but eventually shrugged again, and rebaited its hook. It flicked the line off in a slightly different direction, but didn?t even have the chance to get comfortable before the line once again began to dance. This time, the troll waited, then gave the line a sudden jerk, only to haul up... nothing.
Kadek was dumbfounded. That his master was playing the trick on the troll was obvious to him, but why would he do such a thing...? He shifted uneasily in the water, trying to understand.
The troll was cursing to itself as it rebaited its hook. Once again, it peered into the water, waiting, until finally it cast its line, in still another direction away from where the strange fish had been stealing its bait. This time the line lay quiet for a while, and the troll had the chance to lean back, before it once again jerked madly.
Once again, the line was hauled up, and this time, a flash of silver shone from the hook. Frowning, the troll drew in the line, and reached out for the strange object that hung from its fishing hook. It closed its fingers around the object and removed it from the hook, then raised it up to its eyes. An inarticulate cry came from its lips, as the fishing pole was cast aside, and the troll leapt into the water.
You can read the whole story
here.
