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Dan and his younger twin brothers, Pat and Simon, live in a fairly ordinary Yorkshire village and enjoy a mostly quiet life. The only unusual thing about them is their strong affinity for water, which has something to do with the special cottage in which they grow up. The cottage just so happens to sit over a natural source of magic that saturates the three brothers and primes them to reach their true potential. All they need is a magical makeover and they'll have a chance to make a difference in the endless conflict between good and evil.
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Trios
by Terry Volkirch
Chapter 11: Battle at Water Works Cottage
Goblin wolf riders ran wild round the village of Norton, swarming about the area of Water Works cottage but not yet attacking. They left the initial assault up to the trolls. The snarling of the giant wolves caused a few local dogs to whimper quietly in fear and hide away wherever they could. No dog was brave or stupid enough to bark.
The shadows flying overhead kept a look out for the girls but saw nothing and had nothing to report. They soon drifted off in search of easy snacks and mischief elsewhere. They weren't missed.
When the trolls arrived, their noses sniffed loudly in the still air smelling strong water magic. Still, they didn't let that stop them. They marched right into the front garden, trampled the short white picket fence and flower beds before running into the protective wall of mist. The wall gave at first, as expected, and it covered the cement path with a thin layer of moisture that made decent traction impossible. The lead troll started slipping and the wall snapped back, sending all dozen trolls flying back into the street.
The leader of the trolls sat on his rear in the middle of the street, scratching the short, bristles of hair on his head with one hand. "Supreme Commander not like this," he said before shouting a command. "Break out the fireball cannon!"
Two of the trolls called up a large cart that had a cannon lashed to it. They pulled the cart around the back of the cottage and unloaded the cannon, tying the large weapon to two small trees to minimize recoil when it fired its projectiles. The bull that had pulled the cart was freed to graze on the greenery around the back garden.
Meanwhile, just over a dozen wolves and their riders went suddenly and permanently missing, thanks to Dani. She shrank them to insect size and let them loose, watching as her victims turned tail and ran away, never to be heard or seen again.
The less killing, the better.
In the frenzy of the moment, none of the Dark Forces noticed their reduction in number. Ignorance truly was bliss, at least for the girls. It all depended on one's perspective.
The golem girls didn't have much luck in the battle until the trolls lumbered near. The wolves were too fast for the small golems. They needed slower targets and the trolls were perfect, if a bit large. Enchanted forks struck the feet and ankles of the trolls, freezing everything from the toes to the knee. It didn't stop the trolls but it slowed them down and annoyed them.
'Sod this,' Emma sent to Kate and Jenna. 'I'm aiming higher.'
'Don't do anything rash!' Jenna called back on deaf ears.
Emma ran up to a troll and climbed it, using leg hairs for handholds. She made it up to its torso before it absently swatted her away as if she was a bug. She managed to leave an enchanted fork stuck in its hand to freeze the arm though, making it impossible for the troll to work the fireball cannon.
"Arm no work," the confused troll said to its partner. "You fire cannon. I watch."
The other troll, also confused, scratched his head for a few seconds and then went to work. He loaded the cannon with a magic projectile that erupted into a huge ball of fire as soon as it left the barrel of the cannon. The fireball easily hit its initial target, pressing into the misty barrier, with the water sizzling and popping from the heat. The flexible shield yielded to a point, and the strong force of the blast nearly allowed the projectile to reach the outer wall, but the shield held and snapped back, sending the fireball up and over the heads of the trolls. They turned and watched it hit in the wood behind them, starting a fire.
"Leader not like that," said the troll with the frozen arm.
Dani and Pat would've laughed if it wasn't for the fire.
"Ash?" Dani whispered.
"Yesh?" came Ash's voice from nearby.
"Please go and gobble up all that fire. Okay?"
"Yesh! Yesh! Ash go eat now. Yum!"
The salamander ran off to take care of the fire. That still left all dozen trolls and far too many goblin and wolves.
'Dani?' Simone sent out a telepathic message. 'What's going on? I felt something very strong hit the water shield.'
After having the fireball cannon explained to her, Simone suggested that it be taken care of with a disintegration spell if possible.
'Right,' Pat sent. 'I'll do it. I've got a spell ready to go.'
'Are you sure, Pat?' Dani asked.
'I'm sure. Cover me.'
With that, the older twin moved away towards the fireball cannon, leaving Dani wondering how she could cover her sister.
I think she still watches too many cop shows on the telly.
Pat nearly made it to the cannon but she forgot about the troll's sense of smell. The troll with the frozen arm started sniffing and growling, making the brave girl come to a quick stop and take a few steps backwards.
"Me smell girl," said the troll as it took a few menacing steps in Pat's direction. "Me hungry."
Pat couldn't see any way round the troll. All she could do was back away. But she did think to activate her spell and toss it towards the troll before she ran back to her sister. The spell went off, turning the troll into a pile of dust.
The other troll roared in confusion and anger. "Trog! Where you go, Trog! Come back! We winning!" Then he stopped and took some deep sniffs of the air. "I smell girls! I kill them for scaring Trog away!"
The troll didn't see what happened to his partner. He thought the girls scared him away so he didn't think to be concerned. He didn't think much at all. Instead, he went back to the cannon and turned it away from the house, firing it blindly into the field behind the cottage. "Me kill girls!" he bellowed.
Dani and Pat saw what the troll was up to and easily dodged the fireballs. They left it up to Ash to take care of the fire and Dani went on to take care of the troll and the cannon.
"Stay here," she whispered to Pat before moving round to flank the angry troll. She got close enough and shrank the troll. Then she pulled out her own disintegration spell and turned the cannon into a pile of dust. They wouldn't have to worry about fireball projectiles any more. There was only the one cannon, and now two less trolls. They still had a long way to go though.
When the fireball cannon stopped firing, it took several minutes before any more trolls came back from the front of the cottage to see what happened. The lead troll sent two others around back and they started calling for Trog and Stench.
The trolls caught the attention of Dani when they started sniffing around and wandering ever closer to her position. She'd been searching for Pat, who kept silent, but when she saw the trolls, she stopped her search and telepathically called to Simone instead.
'Simone? Are you able to come to the dining room window? I need a distraction, please.'
'Be right there,' the twin called back.
Seeing the trolls in the back garden, Simone opened the window and yelled, "Hey troll dolls! Give up! Pack it in!" Then she giggled, slammed the window shut and went back to her station.
The trolls spun around and marched back towards the house, giving the oldest sister her opening. She snuck on them from behind and shrunk them both. The two of them spent the rest of the night running across the lawn, thinking they'd been teleported to a faraway jungle. The grass loomed like tall leafy trees over the heads of the tiny trolls.
Only eight more trolls to go. Now to find Pat.
Dani went back to the field and started calling out in a loud whisper after her telepathic calls went unanswered. She stopped every so often to listen for a reply but heard nothing from where she stood. That made her think to start moving around, listening and calling out as loudly as she dared.
"Pat! Where are you, Pat?! You better be okay!"
She moved slowly in the dark, trying hard to resist casting a spell to light her way. She couldn't risk drawing any attention to her so she just continued to wander in a slow spiral pattern starting from her original position. It didn't take her long to run into something.
She startled and almost tripped when her foot snagged on something and she heard a muffled whimper low to the ground. She bent down and reached out, feeling a warm body.
"Pat? Is that you?"
She heard some sniffling and then a sad voice reply, "Yes."
"What happened? What's wrong?"
"I... I killed something! That's what's wrong!" she said, breaking into loud sobs immediately afterward.
Dani shushed her and rubbed her invisible sister's back — once she was sure she'd found it. She made soothing noises and kept a sharp eye out for more trolls who didn't take very long to appear.
The lead troll sent three more of his underlings to the back garden to look for trouble. They were more cautious this time, spreading themselves out in a large triangle and furiously sniffing the air.
"Pat?" Dani said in a whisper. "Please. We don't have time for this."
Her sister answered her with a quiet whimper.
"I know. I know it's not pleasant, but it has to be done."
Pat answered with another whimper.
"Look. I can relate. I had to kill that serpent in the lake. I didn't enjoy that."
She got two short whimpers and a third long one as an answer.
"No. The serpent wasn't intelligent but it still upset me... loads."
Dani saw the trolls edging ever closer and tried not to panic or bring them to the attention of her distraught sister. She calmly kept talking in a quiet whisper.
"You've got to keep in mind that it's either us or them. Kill or be killed."
No reply.
"Okay. What about this? Think about Mum and Dad. What would happen if they were here?"
Two loud whimpers sounded out, catching the ears of the trolls as well as Dani.
"Come on, Pat. I need you. Now!"
Dani could feel her sister start to get up, and she could see a little dust appear as Pat brushed herself off. She made sure to add a little wind magic to make sure the trolls didn't catch their scent. Then she broke away to target one of the trolls.
When she got within range of the nearest troll, Dani cast her shrinking spell and sent her target on a new adventure, just as she had the previous ones. Unfortunately, the other two trolls saw and immediately charged in her direction. They weren't normally very fast but they could accelerate very quickly in short bursts when they had to. It surprised Dani, and it surprised her more when one of the trolls suddenly tripped and fell on its face. She saw frost covering both of his feet and smiled when she realized what happened. The golem girls were still in the battle.
The downed troll lashed out, swinging wildly in the grass and connecting with Emma, sending the golem girl flying. Then it commando crawled across the grass to follow his fellow soldier, swinging and grasping at anything and everything along the way. He surprised Pat, who had tried to sneak in and finish what Emma had started. He grabbed the girl's leg, knocked her down and pulled her towards him, grinning with a mouth full of chipped yellow teeth and fetid breath.
"I've got you now, little girl," he said.
Pat screamed but Dani had her hands full with another troll. Both girls were on their own.
Simone heard her twin's scream and winced. She felt so helpless sitting on the toilet. All she could do was maintain the shield around their cottage. It worked well enough up to that point.
The book on the art of war that Dani had her read didn't make much sense to her. There was one thing that stood out in her mind however. She needed to act, and she needed to do so in an unexpected manner. So far, she'd been passively defending and it wasn't helping her sisters much at the moment.
She could feel attacks on the water shield on the front part of the cottage but the attacks were happening less and less frequently. Dani had telepathically shared the destruction of the fireball cannon with her so she figured more trolls would be moving to the rear of the cottage. She needed to give them a reason not to do that, and she smiled when inspiration hit.
In the front of the cottage, the misty wall of water started pulling back. The lead troll noticed right away and cautiously approached, waving along two others to follow. The misty wall pulled back, farther and farther, up the few steps to the porch and nearly to the front door. The trolls kept coming, their breath coming in ragged bursts as they got more and more excited about the possibility of bashing their way inside and killing the girls. They made it on to the porch and readied themselves to charge when the mist quite suddenly and quickly sprang back to its former position, sending the trolls flying over the street and into the neighbor's stone wall. Both the wall and the trolls took damage but the wall took the worst of it, unless you counted the mental state of the lead troll.
The troll leader roared with anger, loudly enough that every living thing in the village could hear him. Those who were fast asleep shivered in their dreams, and anyone still unfortunate enough to be awake turned the volume up on whatever device they listened to so they could drown out any more unpleasant noise.
The leader's second in command, a most unusual troll in that he was both short and fairly intelligent, had watched everything carefully and cautiously approached his angry superior. He made an excellent suggestion that brought the leader back from going berserk. If they couldn't go through the shield, perhaps they could go under it. If they moved to the side of the cottage and dug in the soft, damp soil, they should be able to tunnel under the wall and get inside.
The tall, strong troll calmed himself and slapped his subordinate on the back in gratitude. Then he barked out some orders. They had some digging to do.
Dani somehow managed to keep her cool as the huge creature charged her. It wasn't easy. Being invisible helped but the darkness and proximity to the troll limited her options . She couldn't very well dodge the troll's keen sense of smell and hearing and she didn't have any more disintegration spells. Those spells required a lot of electro magic to create so she couldn't make many of those. There wasn't enough time for a shrink spell either. She had a plan though. She readied two shotgun shells, one that stored the magic that she needed for a shrink spell and the other for a spell that she cast on herself. Her second spell was the same one that Jenna had used just before she died. Jenna's spell worked to greatly speed herself up, effectively slowing down time for everyone else. Dani cast that same spell and left her body as Jenna had done. She then had more than enough time to cast the spell to shrink the troll.
She breathed a sigh of relief as time returned to normal and watched with amusement as the tiny troll ran off through the grass. Except her moment of victory didn't last long. She heard Pat screaming and ran to help.
Pat kicked and occasionally screamed — more in anger than fear — but she couldn't break the troll's iron grip on her leg. She couldn't escape and she couldn't think of any spell in her meager list of known spells that could help her. She was completely at the troll's mercy and knew she might not have long to live. She sent out a telepathic goodbye to her sisters and closed her eyes, hoping her death would be quick.
The troll smiled and then laughed when he realized the girl was giving up. He had her and he was going to enjoy killing and eating her. His only mistake was taking his time. He wanted to savor the moment and his sadistic behavior gave a certain golem girl time to recover and return to help.
With the troll on his knees, Emma didn't have as far to climb to her target, and she escaped detection as the troll focused solely on his prey. She gripped a long fold in the troll's trench coat and quickly climbed to his right shoulder. Then she pulled her last enchanted fork from the sling on her back and with a loud, squeaky shriek, she savagely thrust it into the troll's unprotected neck.
The troll had a funny look on his face as he slapped his neck, again sending Emma flying. His hand stuck in place as frost coated his neck and the side of his head. Then his eyes turned cloudy and he fell backwards. His brain froze and he died before his head hit the ground.
Pat slowly opened her eyes and cried. She felt a profound sense of relief, sadness and joy all mixed together and it completely overwhelmed her.
Dani soon arrived and heard her sister crying. She quickly felt around and gave Pat a fierce hug once she found her. She also croaked out a quiet, "Thank you," to Emma. Having seen the frost form on the troll as she ran, she knew one of the invisible golem girls had to be responsible.
In spite of slightly blurred vision from a few tears, the oldest sister still had the presence of mind to watch out for more trolls. There were still five of the large, dangerous creatures left. There were also far too many goblins racing about on their giant wolves. The goblin rider numbers seemed to be thinning a little more but that was due to the goblins becoming easily bored and looking for mischief elsewhere. Dani would've laughed at the spectacle if she wasn't crying.
After securing some weapons that could be used as crude digging tools, the leader had two of his underlings begin digging on the side of the cottage. They made short work of the sod and easily plowed through the rocks and clay to create a shallow trench through which they could crawl under the curtain of mist. As long as that curtain didn't shift position, they'd come up inside of it and would make short work of the front door.
The leader eagerly watched the digging at first, but he soon got bored when it looked like it would take more than a couple minutes. He looked around at the nude goblins racing by on the street and scowled. "Why we bring goblins again?" he asked his second in command who stood next to him.
"Because the girls are faster than us but the goblin riders are faster than the girls. If the girls get by us, the goblin riders would catch them."
The leader turned and sniffed at the other troll with disdain. "It be rhetorical question."
The second in command blushed, not easy for a troll. "Oh. Right." He didn't give the leader enough credit for knowing any words with four syllables, but the leader wasn't exactly stupid either. That's why he was made leader.
Simone sat on the toilet, reaching out with her extra sensory perception, trying to "see" what was going on outside. She wasn't very good at it though. Still, she kept trying. The trolls had been too quiet for too long. She knew they had to be planning something.
Trying to guess only threatened to give her a headache. It was only after she relaxed with some deep breathing exercises that she crinkled up her nose. A bad feeling suddenly came over her.
Her intuition screamed at her for action but it wasn't yet specific about exactly what kind of action, so she did the first thing that came to mind and started filling the bath tub with water. She figured she'd find some use for the extra water.
Her intuition approved.
Kate and Jenna weren't having much luck in the battle. They didn't feel comfortable pestering the trolls in the front of the cottage and they couldn't hit the fast moving wolves. Jenna eventually sent out a telepathic call to Kate for a little teamwork. She had an idea.
Several homes in the area had clothes lines hanging outside and the two golem girls managed to detach one of them. They dragged it back through the grass to a narrow trail that the goblin riders seemed to favor and tied the nylon line to a small, sturdy tree on one side of the trail and a metal pole on the other side. Satisfied, the two golem girls waited for victims. They didn't wait long.
A dozen goblins came down the trail, brandishing their spiked clubs and pushing their wolf mounts hard. They seemed to be playing a game of chase, with the lead goblin several lengths ahead of the pack. The clothes line was strung low but high enough that it easily tripped the lead wolf, sending its rider tumbling. The rest of the riders saw what happened but they didn't have the wits to try stopping, and they were following too closely to stop anyway. They all went tumbling into a huge pile.
The girls wasted no time, jumping over and sticking goblins right and left. The ice enchantment on their weapons proved strong enough to mostly freeze the fairly small goblins, leaving only the wolves to deal with.
The wolves were confused and angry at first. They were angry because they didn't like being controlled by the cruel goblins and they became confused when they found themselves without riders. Several of them sniffed suspiciously and snarled, looking left and right and occasionally snapping at each other. However, it didn't take them long to figure out that they were free to leave, and leave they did. They ran north, the complete opposite direction from which they came. They'd never be ridden again if they could help it.
A few of the wolves howled as they ran, sending a call to the rest of their pack: an invitation to follow if they could. Nearly a dozen more of their kind took them up on the invitation too, running under low hanging branches to dislodge their stunned riders.
Kate and Jenna saw it all and took full advantage of the situation. They even had to dig up some of the enchanted weapons that they'd stored as they soon ran out. The number of goblin riders continued to steadily decrease.
Pat mostly recovered with her older sister's help. The cry really helped too. She needed it. She'd been repressing her feelings more than usual ever since they started becoming girls. Something about the slow process bothered her and it took until that moment to figure out what it was. She and her sisters seemed to take their changes very well, perhaps too well. It seemed as though they didn't care about their male selves. Shouldn't they be sad to see them go? Shouldn't their parents? She promised herself to hold a memorial for their former selves, assuming she lived through the night. She survived one close call but who knows how many more there might be that night, or in the coming days for that matter. Dani was right. They were fighting for their lives and she wanted to live.
"Ready to kick some goblin arse, Dani? I am. I'm feeling a might bitchy, I think."
Dani laughed. "I thought you'd never ask. Let's go."
The two sisters, still invisible, held hands and took the fight to the remaining goblins. Pat used the spells stored in her shotgun shells to freeze, stun and blow riders off their mounts, with Dani pretty much doing the same thing with her own stored spells. She used the stored spells to save on magic, and only dipped into her own magic to shrink the goblins, rendering them harmless.
In every case, as soon as a wolf lost its rider, it ran off to the north, leaving a bemused pair of girls to marvel at the sight.
"No love lost there," remarked Pat.
"None," agreed Dani.
When the last of the goblins had been taken care of and not a wolf was in sight, the two girls returned to their home. They noticed the bull, greedily munching everything in the back garden, but they had bigger worries. There were still a few trolls nearby.
A waning gibbous moon poked above the horizon to light up the cloudless sky as a slight breeze blew a chill through the village. The trolls, goblins and wolves didn't notice. The trolls preferred colder weather and the goblins and wolves grew feverish with bloodlust, though fewer and fewer goblins ran past the trolls as the large, gray-blue humanoids worked on their trench.
The second in command noticed the decline in their goblin force. He stood by himself near a low hedgerow that bordered the garden and silently worked on a backup plan. There were only five trolls left and it looked like there'd soon be no goblins. The only magic weapon that they brought was the fireball cannon but once it was destroyed, and after losing so many trolls and goblins, they should've retreated. The only reasonable course of action was to retreat and wait for reinforcements. Too bad the leader wouldn't accept that. The troll motto was success at all cost, loosely translated. Too many of their kind were simply too stubborn or stupid for their own good.
The short troll slapped his forehead in frustration and left to check on the bulls and the remaining two wooden carts full of food and ale. With nothing else to do, he could at least tend to the poor beasts of burden and grab himself a snack.
The leader noticed his restless second in command and gave a quiet snort before turning his attention back to his three underlings. The trench was just being finished and he couldn't wait to taste his prey. His short comrade could have the dried meats on the cart. He wouldn't settle for anything less than fresh meat. Just the thought of biting into one of those tender, young girls made him drool.
When a last mound of dirt and rock was pushed up onto the grass on the other side of the misty shield, the leader ordered the other trolls to stand guard while he went into the cottage himself. He crawled through the short, wide trench, getting mud all over his coat and mace but he didn't care. He had an appetite to appease.
The heavy front door surprised him. It took several bashings with his mace and two savage kicks before the deadbolt bent enough to give way. With the door open but still hanging proudly on its hinges, he gave it a last, ineffectual kick and took a precious couple seconds to spit on it before beginning the hunt inside the cottage.
Simone heard the bashing and nearly panicked. She almost sent Dani and Pat a telepathic message but she thought they might be busy with battles of their own. Instead, she concentrated on maintaining the misty shield and brainstormed for ideas to deal with what sounded like a very noisy intruder.
I wish I could've kept Ash with me.
She shrugged off any regrets and decided to go with what had worked so far. Taking some of the water from the bath tub, she created another misty water shield in the doorway of the bathroom. The remaining water could be used to cast the only other elemental water spell she knew, creating a jet of water that might be used to fend off an attacker.
With nothing else to do, she sat back on the toilet and waited. And she finally sent a telepathic message to her sisters.
'Dani? Pat? A troll got inside the cottage. If you can help, please hurry.'
'What?!' both of her sisters replied.
Dani verbally fended off Pat and took over the telepathic conversion. 'We just finished taking care of some goblins. We're coming in through the back so lift the shield for us when I say we're ready. Just about… now!'
Simone lifted the shield in the back of the cottage, allowing entrance to her two sisters and Ash, who'd caught up with the two girls by that point. They all ducked under the shield and headed for the back door.
'We're in, Simone. Lower the shield again and we'll make sure the troll knows where we are so it doesn't go for you.'
'Too late!' the younger twin sent.
'Simone? Simone!' Dani shouted telepathically, but she didn't get an answer.
The girls dashed for the back door, forgetting for the moment that they kept it locked, just in case the enemy got through the shield. They wanted to slow down the Dark Forces but they ended up slowing themselves down. Dani and Pat only had a key for the front door.
They quickly ran around the cottage and noticed three trolls just outside the shield near a large trench. Being invisible, they couldn't be seen but they slowed down, careful not to make any noise. That gave the troll leader more than enough time to try to deal with their sister.
The leader hunched over to cope with the low ceiling but he moved quickly through the small cottage, sniffing loudly and often, trying to track his prey. He caught too many strong scents though, several of which were male. That meant a thorough search was in order. He moved through the living room into the dining room and around to the kitchen. Nothing. Then he discovered the hallway and quickly started checking doors, the second to last being the door to the bathroom where Simone waited.
He flung open a closed door and seeing a girl, rushed in, hitting an all too familiar misty shield. It had some give and flung him back as quickly as he rushed in, causing more than a little structural damage to the wall opposite the bathroom door in the hallway. Shrugging off the minor inconvenience with a snarl, he came back at the doorway and started bashing the door frame with his mace. If the door frame weakened enough, he could push through. The door frame would collapse and take the shield with it.
Simone figured out his clever strategy and immediately countered, taking the water from the shield and forcing it into the troll's lungs.
With all of the strenuous activity, the leader found himself gasping for breath so he couldn't stop himself from inhaling the water. He choked and fell to his knees, but he had enough strength left to crawl forward. He still meant to taste his prey.
The girl added several short busts of water to slow his progress, but he kept coming.
The two invisible sisters held hands as they crept along the side of the cottage. Ash went his own way, wriggling well ahead of the two girls, also unseen. The three of them made it past the troll trench and up to the front porch without incident unless one counted the noise coming from inside the cottage. Various thumps, bangs and an occasional snarl could be heard, enough to encourage maximum haste.
Ash and the girls knew where their sister sat. They picked their way past the damaged front door and through the house to the hallway, with Ash still in the lead. Even though they were invisible, the girls proceeded with some caution. A planned ambush or lucky swing worried them, as did the trolls they saw outside. They might be overrun at any minute and their hearts raced. The salamander had no such worries. He only worried about the fate of one of the girls. He cared deeply for the girls — for their whole family — and the thought of even one of them being killed drove him into a frenzy. He hoped he wasn't too late.
The troll leader had made his way near enough to Simone to grab her legs, one in each hand. Favoring his stronger right arm, he pulled the girl's leg towards his mouth, ready to take a very large bite.
Mercifully, Simone screamed once and fainted dead away, and her fading consciousness took with it all of the magic that she'd been maintaining. The water shield around the cottage rained down and the water in the troll's lungs gurgled out in a torrent. The leader let go of Simone's legs, leaving her to slump and slide off of the toilet onto the floor. He gasped and spluttered on his hands and knees, annoying him to no end as it delayed his meal. But luckily for Simone, the interruption lasted just long enough for an enraged, invisible salamander to arrive.
Ash bit into the troll's lower left leg, adding some elemental fire for good measure. He ground his teeth together and kept a firm hold of the leg as he tried to jerk back and pull the troll away from Simone. He didn't have any desire to eat the troll. He just wanted to protect the girl.
The troll had coughed up most of the water by that point and howled in pain and anger. He reached back and ripped Ash off of his leg, throwing the salamander hard against the back wall to fall into the bath tub, stunned.
With his breathing back and no salamander to hamper him, he resumed his mission and reached for Simone. He didn't quite make it.
Dani had arrived by that point and her eyes glowed red. Literally. It wasn't a happy ending for the troll.
When the trolls outside heard a girl scream and saw the magic shield rain down onto the grass, they snorted with excitement and waited for their leader to come back holding the heads of the three girls by their hair. They imagined him thrusting the heads up and giving a roar of victory. They weren't ready for what happened next.
They did hear a roar. They also saw bright flashes of light and then silence for a very long minute or so. And after the silence came a cry of victory. It wasn't their leader though. It was Dani.
Even as stupid as they were, they knew defeat when they saw and heard it. They also still had their second in command to come back and order them to quickly pack up. They were retreating. One of the three bravely went back for the bull and cart in the back garden before catching up to his comrades for a quick exit from the village. They left and as they quick marched back the way they came, they couldn't help wondering if they'd live to see the sunrise. The Supreme Commander back in London wasn't known for being a good loser.
© 2013 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.
