Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
The Troll
And the Witch’s Fortress
Amassive shape filled the doorway.
Kaelan reacted instantly, setting Bria on her feet and shielding her with his body as he turned toward the threat.
The creature had to duck beneath the frame to enter. Thick gray skin stretched over enormous muscles. He turned sideways to enter, his broad shoulders too wide to fit through the doorway, while tangled dark hair hung past a face made even more frightening by two large eyes black as night.
Bria’s breath caught.
“A troll,” Kaelan muttered.
Fear struck her hard. She had heard tales of trolls, their huge size and great strength, but they were nothing more than tales meant to entertain or frighten children enough to behave, or so she believed.
Kaelan knew there was only one way he could stop the troll and every muscle in his body tightened in preparation for it.
The troll’s large dark eyes settled on Bria, peeking out from behind Kaelan.
Then it moved, lunging with shocking speed.
Kaelan tried to stop him, but his enormous hand shot past him and hooked Bria around the waist.
She cried out as she was lifted high and wide. “Kaelan!”
The troll hauled her effortlessly against its chest.
Rage exploded through Kaelan and his eyes flashed gold.
The familiar heat surged violently through him as the beast responded instantly to his fury. Muscles tightened and his hands curled into fists. The urge to shift slammed through him so hard that it nearly broke free.
The troll saw it, and a cruel grin spread slowly across its face.
“Do it,” the troll warned, its thick fingers tightening around Bria.
Pain shot through her side, and she could not help but wince.
Kaelan heard it and saw pain mar her face and his eyes glowed a deeper gold.
“Shift,” the troll challenged.
The beast pushed harder inside Kaelan. He wanted out, wanted to tear the troll apart.
The troll grinned. “I tear her apart.”
The words struck with brutal precision, and Kaelan froze.
The beast roared inside him, demanding release. It wanted blood. It wanted the troll dead. Most of all, it wanted Bria safe. Yet even through the fury, he knew the troll spoke the truth.
A shift required precious moments, moments Bria did not have.
The troll nodded once, satisfied he would be obeyed.
Bria felt fear claw through her chest as she looked at Kaelan. Never had she seen such fury in him. Never had she seen him look so close to losing control and beneath that fury she saw something else.
Fear, though not for himself, for her, his first thought was always for her.
The troll turned toward the doorway and ordered, “Follow.”
Kaelan took one slow step forward.
The troll tightened its hold around Bria and once again she winced.
Every muscle in Kaelan’s body locked tightly.
The troll ducked through the doorway carrying Bria as though she weighed nothing at all.
For one moment, her gaze locked with Kaelan’s and neither spoke. They did not need to. She saw the promise in his eyes.
And he saw that despite her fear… she trusted him.
The troll headed into the forest and Kaelan followed closely behind him.
The troll maintained a relentless pace.
Bria quickly lost track of how much time had passed.
At first, she struggled against the creature’s hold, but it accomplished little beyond making her more uncomfortable. Eventually she resigned herself to hanging over the troll’s shoulder while Kaelan followed close behind.
The arrangement did little for her dignity, nor her stomach. Every step the troll took jostled her unmercifully. Several times Kaelan asked if she was well and each time, she answered that she was. Though by the third hour she was no longer entirely certain that was true.
The forest around them changed constantly. Strange lights appeared amongst distant trees only to vanish again. More than once Bria thought she heard voices whispering nearby, though whenever she turned to listen more carefully, there was nothing there.
Then a soft yellow glow caught her eye, drifting through the darkness just behind Kaelan and just above his head.
Bria blinked, trying to see it more clearly. The light darted between tree trunks before suddenly stopping directly in front of her face.
A tiny woman, smaller than Bria’s hand, hovered there. Delicate wings shimmered behind her while golden light surrounded her like sunlight captured inside a lantern.
A fairy? Was it possible, but then she was in Driochmor, anything was possible here. Bria had only heard tales told about fairies and not all were pleasant.
The tiny creature flitted in front of Bria’s face, shaking her head. “Truly, Bria, you let a dumb troll get you?”
Her eyes spread wide in shock. It wasn’t only that the fairy knew her name, but that she admonished her as if her capture had been her own fault.
The fairy spun in the air and flew close to Kaelan. “And you. How could you let this happen? A big guy like you can’t stop a troll?”
She shook her head again and flew back to Bria. “Do not worry. A fairy never fails her mission.”
“Mission?” Bria asked, puzzled.
The troll stopped so abruptly that Bria nearly slid off his shoulder if he hadn’t tightened his hold of her.
“Who whispers?” the troll demanded.
The fairy grinned, waved at Bria, and flew over her to flit directly in front of the troll, then she stuck her tongue out at him.
The troll roared and swung his massive hand at her, causing Bria to grab the troll’s shirt to steady herself.
Kaelan hurried toward her, feeling far too helpless, the only thing left to him at the moment…
to catch her if she fell. Trolls might be big creatures, but they were faster than one would expect for such a size.
Though a troll was no match for a fairy.
They were quick to take flight, and they enjoyed tormenting trolls.
The fairy darted aside effortlessly, avoiding every swat and laughing at the troll’s futile efforts.
The troll’s face pinched as he swung at her again and again and missed again and again.
The fairy laughed harder.
“Damn fairy!” The troll snapped his jaws together in frustration.
The fairy spun in a glowing circle around his head before darting safely out of reach.
The troll grumbled and Bria could not help smiling.
The journey continued, Bria growing more uncomfortable with every step. Then out of nowhere a terrible stench drifted around Bria and she almost gagged from the foul smell.
Just when she thought it had dissipated, it came again, stronger this time, then stronger still.
The troll continued walking as though he smelled nothing.
“Bloody hell,” Kaelan muttered and abruptly veered several steps to the side, catching her attention.
She pinched her nose to see if he smelled it too.
He nodded and pointed just beneath her.
She glanced down and the foul smell hit her again… the troll was farting.
Bria quickly pinched her nose again, hoping to avoid the stench.
Kaelan attempted to avoid the odor, but it spread wide, drifting over him no matter where he stepped. Seeing Bria still pinching her nose and waving her hand to chase the stench, it was hard not to see the humor in the scene, and Kaelan could not help but smile, which soon turned into a chuckle.
Bria did not think it was funny, but when the troll let loose with another one and she watched Kaelan gag, she couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculous situation.
The troll glanced back suspiciously. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” Bria answered quickly.
The troll grunted and continued walking and farting at intervals.
Even though Kaelan could keep a safe distance back, he didn’t. He suffered right along with her.
Bria never comforted without permission from the person, but this situation called for drastic measures. If she could calm him, it might just ease whatever troubled his stomach and stop his foul gas.
She closed her eyes and forced herself to relax, then she rested her hand on his back.
Sure enough, she felt how upset his stomach was.
What she didn’t expect was to see clearly what had caused it and was more surprised to learn it had not been food.
She saw a vision, the back of a woman draped in black, silver hair hanging down to her waist yelling at the troll.
“Fail me on this and I will make sure you never see your family again.”
Bria almost gasped, feeling how much her threat had hurt the troll and she sent as much comfort to him as she could. It didn’t take long for his churning stomach to calm down and for the foul smell to be no more.
She raised her head and smiled at Kaelan, hoping he understood.
He sniffed the air, smiled, and winked at her.
Hours later the forest finally began thinning some and a fortress emerged from the darkness ahead. Black stone rose high above the surrounding trees while narrow towers clawed toward the night sky. Only a handful of windows showed light.
The place looked less like a home and more like a warning.
Bria looked at Kaelan anxiously, fearful that once they entered the dreadful place, they would never leave it.
“Trust me,” he whispered and she nodded, forcing a brave smile.
The troll climbed the winding path leading toward the fortress gates.
Her brave smile faltered when she realized that whatever awaited them inside would prove far more dangerous than the troll who brought them there.
Long after midnight they were escorted deep beneath the fortress into cold stone passages lit by flickering torches.
The troll finally lowered Bria to her feet in front of a heavy iron door, a slit high up providing the only light in an otherwise completely dark cell. The door gave a mournful creak as he pulled it open with ease.
Without ceremony the troll shoved her inside but before he could separate Kaelan from her, he hurried in after Bria.
The troll shrugged as if it did not matter to him that they remained together and slammed the door shut behind them, followed by the sound of an iron latch locking firmly in place.
“You speak with witch in morning,” the troll called out, then his heavy footfalls were heard climbing the stone stairs.