“We have to get off this thing!” Olga turned and grabbed my hand, pulling me away from the great shadow that obscured all.
The massive hand that appeared from the veil of ice and frost was larger than any building I’ve ever seen. Even a single one of its fingers, of which there were only four, seemed thicker than the thickest tree. A tank could be placed atop one of its fingernails and there would still be enough room for a car. It was big. So big, in fact, that the mere snapping of its fingers around my abominations head was enough to break its horns and crush its skull. It happened so quickly that Olga and I barely had time to react, before the gargantuan, ice-blue hand pulled and ripped my creation apart as though it was nothing more than a chunk of wet paper, instead of the abominable monster that it truly was.
Hissing, smoking black blood scattered and rained everywhere as the gigantic hand yanked and tore apart what was left of my abomination in a single movement. The creature fell apart. Its burning heart shattered into embers and scattered to the wind. The rest of its body, borne of mutated trees and abominable flesh, seemed to melt and slop off its twisted bones.
“Jump!” We did not, in fact, jump. Instead, however, Olga and I fell from the back of my creation, though our hands remained clasped as we plummeted and sunk into the soft snow. The world shook around us. Thunderous booms echoed left and right. There was a distant groan that sounded akin to the groaning of rusted metal, but louder and deeper, the sort of sound that mountains made when the explosions of artillery shells from distant guns made the ground dance. It was haunting and powerful.
“We have to run!” Olga pulled me from the depths of the snow and yanked me by the hand. “Come on, Uriel!”
I could see nothing through the haze as we sprinted in a random direction; I didn’t know where we were going, but I knew it must’ve been somewhere far from danger, at least. She was all I saw and so I could only follow her in the storm of ice and frost, dust and debris. Every so often, the ground would shake; the force of it was enough to send both Olga and I a few inches into the air. I glanced behind us and my eyes widened at the looming titanic shadow whose dark form darkened everything. I saw little of it as we ran, but I did note a vaguely humanoid shape and a massively curved nose protruding from where its head likely was.
We ran until we reached a place that was far enough away from whirling torrent of chaos that both of us felt it safe to take a breather. In and out, I breathed in; the run hadn’t been particularly strenuous, but it was enough to make me wheeze with each breath. I reached for the bark of still-standing tree and leaned into it, before turning my gaze towards Olga, who was struggling to catch her breath. She sighed, before leaning into me instead of the tree. She wasn’t heavy, so I didn’t complain. The ground shook again. The ice-blue titan was moving. But it was hard to see just where it was headed as the mist of ice and frost veiled much of it, leaving only the vaguely-humanoid shadow whose footsteps shook the ground. “What is that thing?”
I leaned my back and rested my head against the tree trunk. Olga, meanwhile, did the same, but used me instead of the tree. It was fine. I’d grown used to the feel of her next to me, the familiarity of her weight and the warmth of her hand in mine. She stayed silent for a moment, before speaking, “That was a troll – a very old troll, a Mountain King to be exact, considering its unnatural size.”
I nodded, though I understood barely anything. From what she told me, I gathered that trolls grew larger as they grew older. However, I had no idea what a troll actually was. I’ve never even heard the word before. I assumed it was basically just a giant. I knew what giants were, I thought. Then again, it hardly mattered. The only thing that did matter was that it stood between us and the exit. And I wasn’t stupid enough to think I could even hurt it or even tickle it for that matter. Olga knew many things, it seemed. I hope she knew what to do in this situation. “Alright, how do we deal with it?”
Olga leaned back and stood straight, though her legs wobbled. I held my hands out and caught her by her shoulders, steadying her. I don’t think it helped, but I knew she appreciated the gesture, at least. She glanced behind her, before turning to me again. She was worried; it was clear in her blue eyes. “We can’t kill it. Trolls are invulnerable to magic. The only way to kill one is through brute force, something neither of us have, or sunlight, which just isn’t here.”
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
I gulped and nodded. I trusted her enough. If she said that we couldn’t kill it, then we probably couldn’t. “So, what can we do? The exit gate is close. Do you think we could sneak around it? It’s big enough that it shouldn’t see us.”
Olga shook her head. “No, it’ll catch our scent. We’re the only humans here, remember? And I don’t doubt for a moment that the Ice Queen made sure of that. Trolls have powerful noses. It probably already knows where we are.”
I nodded. “Alright, it can smell us, but isn’t coming after us for some reason. What can we do?”
Olga bit her lip and hummed, deep in thought. Our gazes locked and her eyes narrowed, “That thing you made… can you make it again?”
“I don’t even know how I created it,” I answered. The abomination had been created from the trees when I lost control of my magic. It was a creature of accident. It was powerful, true enough, an example of my own potential. Eventually, given time and a lot of effort on my part, I might be able to create another one. But, now, as I was now, I couldn’t recreate it on purpose if I tried. And so, I shook my head. “No, I can’t recreate it.”
Olga nodded and sighed. “I figured as much, but that might’ve just been wishful thinking on my part.”
“So, what can we do?” I repeated the question.
“Trolls, whether they’re young or old, are… not the smartest of creatures,” Olga explained. How she knew any of this stuff, I had no idea. “We might be able to trick it into letting us pass. We’ll just have to talk to it, first.”
I raised a brow. I then glanced behind her and eyed the distant shadow of the troll. I was fairly certain that it was taller than most mountains could ever be. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? I doubt that thing would even notice us if we screamed into its ears. I’m not sure we could actually communicate with it without using magic.”
“Trolls have an extremely acute sense of hearing,” She said. “It’ll hear us if it wants to.”
“Alright, but how do we make sure it doesn’t just step on us when we try to approach?” I asked. It was all well and good, but this troll was still very likely either a servant or a creation of the Ice Queen, who was a Dark Mage. More than that, however, she was likely on the same level as Lady Victoria, a Dark Lady. This was a test of some kind; I was sure of that. And that was precisely why I knew something was about to go terribly wrong. I could only hope that I was, at the very least, mentally prepared for what was to come.
Things always went badly or turned for the worse whenever such powerful people were involved; it couldn’t be as easy as simply talking to it and outsmarting it. It just couldn’t be. Not that outsmarting a moving mountain was going to be easy, but doing so lacked the particular flare that - as I've learned - Dark Mages had. Where was the part where our limbs exploded? Where was the part where I'd die and be revived only to die again? Where was the part where I had to cut someone open to get their organs? Nothing horrifying had happened just yet and that was concerning.
However, I trusted Olga and she, quite simply, seemed to know a lot more than I did. If she was confident in her plan, then it was probably going to work – hopefully.
“We walk up to it,” Olga answered plainly. “We make sure that it knows that we know that it sees us and that we’re not afraid, but also not interested in a battle. Trolls are notoriously violent creatures when provoked; so, we don’t provoke it.”
I nodded. “Alright, how do we know it isn’t already angry at us? I mean, it did kill my abomination, ripped its head right off as though it was nothing more than wet paper.”
Olga shrugged. “We have to take a risk. It’s the only way we can move forward. Combat is not an option. We can’t hide from it or sneak around it. And we definitely can’t outrun it.”
“Alright,” I replied, nodding. Almost every part of me screamed that this was a terrible idea. I recognized, however, that I knew very little of the magical world that I’d suddenly found myself in. Perhaps, it was entirely possible that my fear was misplaced. It seemed unlikely, but possible nonetheless. Whatever the case, I’d chosen to put my trust in Olga and I’d continue to do so. “If you say so.”
“Right,” She said, holding up another ball of multi-colored flames to keep the cold away from us. I hadn't noticed when she willed it forth. Olga turned and her eyes drifted up the looming shadow of the troll. Somehow, obscured by dust and snow and shadow as it was, I knew that it was looking at us. I knew that it knew where we were. The thought sent shivers down my spine. “Let me do the talking.”
“Have you spoken to a troll before, Olga?” I asked.
“No.”
“Great.”