Herald was, of course, the first to react. Almost the moment I heard the crash she had already begun to draw an arrow, and by the time I heard the roar she was bending her bow. When I saw the troll it already had Herald’s arrow deep in its gut, fired from a powerful bow only yards away

That didn’t slow it in the slightest. It was the male, at least ten feet tall, and it was berserk at the death of one of its mates.

Next to move was Makanna. The troll came in behind Valmik and Tamor, and before they could start moving Makanna was there, her long spear stabbing at the troll’s face to try and keep it back. “Fall back!” Makanna screamed, “Stick together and fall back!”

The boys started moving, but at the same moment the troll slapped Makanna’s spear so hard that it jarred it out of her hands.

Another arrow sprouted from the troll’s side, and it turned towards Herald, not fifteen yards away.

I moved. With a spray of venom that did nothing, I leapt at the huge creature. Even leaping as high as I could I only dug my front claws in halfway up the troll’s side, using its ribs as rungs to hang from. My feet found purchase above its hip, but as I tried to climb, to get closer to its neck, it swung one mighty elbow back with the inevitable force of a landslide. Next thing I knew I was flying, tumbling, crashing into a tree, my whole side a single mass of pain. I shook my head, trying to clear it. I could hear shouts, screams, and roaring. When I finally forced my eyes to focus I could barely follow what was going on.

The boys had entered the fray. Seeing them together in a real fight, not the slaughter that had been our ambush of the valkin, was quite a sight. They barely said a word, only throwing each other quick glances and nods, but they moved together almost like one creature. When Tamor seemed to leave himself open, drawing the troll in, Valmik would be there cutting at its legs or flanks. When Valmik got just close enough for the troll to swing at him he somehow rolled the blow past himself with his shield, and Tamor used the opportunity to open a nasty gash in the creature’s back. All the while they manoeuvered so that Makanna would be able to retrieve her spear, and left a lane open for Herald to fire a second, third, then a fourth arrow into the thing.

It had been tempting to see myself as the linchpin of the team. Seeing them dismantle a brute as big as all of them put together was humbling.

Until it all fell apart.

As I got to my feet and approached the melee the maddened troll abandoned all thought of self preservation, throwing himself at Valmik. Valmik was tough, but he was the slowest of the group, and while he avoided being grabbed or bitten he couldn’t avoid a blisteringly fast swing of one of the troll’s long arms. It caught him on the shoulder, and I thought I could see that whole part of his torso deform before he went flying, rolling on the ground.

“Val!” Tamor screamed desperately, redoubling his efforts, but the troll ignored the cuts he gave it, lumbering after Valmik who lay still on the ground.

I could barely run. I don’t think I could have jumped. But as the troll reached down to grab Valmik’s leg I did the only thing I could. I threw myself forward, latching on with teeth, then claws to his arm and hoping that I was strong enough to take the pummeling I had just invited.

The troll roared. He pulled his arm toward his chest and tried to bite me, but I released my jaws and roared right back. I planted my feet on his torso and held on for all I was worth, straining to keep him from getting me close enough to his mouth to put those horrible teeth to work. I tried to spray him in the face but only managed a dribble, and while I instead snapped at him with my teeth he swung his other arm around, smashing me against his chest. It knocked the wind right out of me and hurt like hell, putting bruises on my bruises, but I didn’t think anything got broken. When that didn’t get me off he instead grabbed me around the base of the neck, his hand big enough to go nearly all the way around. A sledgehammer pounded in my brain as he squeezed, closing off my veins and forcing blood into my head. I could have sworn that I felt my eyes bulge out of their sockets.

All I could do at that point was to hold on and fight against the pain. If I let go with my hands or my feet the troll would be free to go for Valmik, or to use his free hand or teeth to do something horrible to me. I couldn’t turn my neck to bite him anywhere vital, and instead I sunk my teeth into his upper arm, using them to help control the limb.

Black and purple started creeping in at the edges of my vision. I wouldn’t be able to hold on for much longer, and I felt myself weakening as the troll squeezed and jerked at my neck, trying to get me off. I couldn’t win, and I couldn’t get out. It was the bear all over again.

Then we were both falling. The troll toppled to the ground with an angry, confused scream, letting go of my neck to break the fall with its arm. I took the opportunity to let go, pushing off and rolling on the ground before getting to my feet, then stumbling and falling between Valmik and the troll.

Makanna was trapped under the haft of her own spear, but its point was buried in the troll’s left knee. It must have cut something vital, because the knee had buckled, bringing the troll down almost all the way to the ground. I could see a half dozen arrows in its back, and Herald coming in behind it, sword in hand and with a wild look in her eyes.

I couldn’t muster the strength to move. The thing righted itself and reached for me, but before it could grab me a glowing length of steel swept down, cutting into its forearm and lodging in the bone. As it snatched its arm back with a roar, Tamor screamed right back and wrenched his sword loose, then raised it and hacked, and hacked, and hacked. There was no technique there, nothing of the swordsman that I knew he was. There was only fury and desperate strength. He hacked, and hacked, putting everything he had into it, first finishing what he’d started and severing the arm that the troll threw up to block, then the other, then biting in where the troll’s neck met its shoulders until his sword clove first through the troll’s collarbone and then its spine. At that point the troll’s body gave up on it. With a mournful groan it toppled over, tearing Tamor’s sword from his grasp as blood gushed onto the ground.

The three left standing didn’t bother to finish the troll off. As soon as it was incapacitated they all scrambled over to where Valmik and I lay.

Tamor was still wild as he reached Valmik, tears streaming down his face. “Val!” he pleaded. “Stay with us, my heart! Stay with me!”

Valmik groaned weakly, a horrible, wet sound and the first sign of life from him since the troll hit him. His face was pale and covered in sweat, blood bubbling at his lips as he took slow, shallow breaths, and his shoulder… I could best describe it as an ‘innie’, which is not something a shoulder should be. I didn't need to know anything about medicine to know how bad this was. The fact that he was even still alive was a small miracle.

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“Oh, thank the Mercies,” Tamor whispered, leaning down to kiss Valmik’s forehead. "He's alive." Then he went flying with a surprised cry as Makanna tackled him.

“It’s alright, Val. It’s gonna be alright. Herald! Where’s that damned potion?” she shouted as she loosened the straps of his armour, then slid her hand in under his tunic, skin on skin. She breathed heavily but regularly, then slowed, forcing herself to focus. I saw the magic gather in her, then continue gathering as she kept drawing on whatever its source was, even as she mumbled, “Heal, damn you. Heal! It's not time to go with the Traveller just yet,” and the light flowed from her and into Valmik. I had to turn away as his shoulder visibly shifted back out of his chest and into its normal position. It was both amazing and nauseating to see.

His breathing became a little less shallow, a little more regular. Then Herald reached him, a small, very nice bottle in her hand. “Here,” she said, holding his head steady with one hand while holding the vial to his lips with the other. “Drink.”

She poured a little of the contents into his mouth, then immediately covered it with her hand as he coughed weakly before swallowing. She repeated the process until the whole bottle was empty, right around the point where Makanna’s eyes fluttered closed and she fell sideways, her hand still on Valmik’s shoulder.

Tamor caught her, laying her down gently. “There, sister,” he muttered. “I can’t… Thank you. I’ll get you some food and drink. You just rest.”

Makanna was knocked out from exhaustion. Valmik was already looking better, but was unconscious from a combination of trauma and two forms of magical healing. I was a mess of bruises, and Tamor was a nervous wreck as he made a small fire to prepare something he could feed his lover and his sister as they recovered.

“Well,” Herald said, breaking the long silence with forced levity. “That went better than it might have!”

"Better than…?" Tamor said after a stunned silence, and for a moment I was genuinely worried that he was going to snap and explode at his little sister. But that just wasn't him.

Instead he wiped his eyes and laughed nervously. "Better than it might have!" he tittered. "That's certainly true. Gods, I was so scared."

"I know," Herald said and put her arm gently across his shoulders as he worked. She looked at me and said, "Me too."

----------------------------------------

I stalked through the forest surrounding our temporary, makeshift camp. Once I’d had a chance to breathe for a couple of minutes I’d felt okay to stand and move around, which I’d taken advantage of immediately. I'd given the excuse that someone needed to keep an eye out for threats, which was true, but mostly it was because the siblings had been getting more emotional than I was comfortable with and I wanted to give them some space. It would be hours before Makanna was in any state to do something about my pain, anyway, so I might as well walk it off.

I was getting pretty used to being a walking bruise. Perhaps I should reconsider my lifestyle. Only pick on things my own size.

Nah. This was much more exciting.

I returned after my patrol to find Makanna half awake, propped against a tree and being very unhappily spoon fed by Herald. Someone had gone and brought Stalwart from where we’d left him before engaging the first troll, and Tamor had cooked up a big batch of their gross porridge of dried meat, dried fruit, and hard bread. At the edge of the camp sat the heads of both trolls, long ears drooping, both of the gruesome trophies staring at me as I approached.

Makanna looked unsteady and confused, not just sleepy but something more, and then something clicked in my head. Using magic made you tired and hungry. What makes you tired and hungry? Among other things, a drop in blood sugar. Blood sugar is used to replenish the… A-something, the little bits that actually store the energy in your cells. Get your blood sugar too low and your brain turns to mush until the situation's fixed by breaking down fat and protein and glycogen, or until it starves to death, whichever comes first.

Hah! I learned something in biology after all!

"I can feed myself," Makanna said unconvincingly, sounding not all there.

"We tried that, Mak," Herald told her patiently, scooping up another spoonful of mush. "It didn't go well." She pointed downwards with the spoon, and I saw the mess that someone had made of the front of Makanna’s leather chestpiece.

"Oh," Makanna said as she looked down. Herald used the opportunity to stick the spoon in her open mouth.

Herald barely finished feeding her the contents of the bowl before Makanna was back asleep.

Valmik, who probably needed food even more than Makanna, was still in a deep sleep. His colour and breathing were better, and there was no more blood when he breathed and much less when he occasionally coughed. He lay on his back, his head resting in Tamor's lap while the latter gently ran his fingers over his bald head.

“Draka,” Tamor said softly. “You put yourself between an enraged troll and Valmik. I won’t forget that.”

“Nah, that’s–”

“No. On my life, I swear that I will find a way to repay you.”

“Alright, yeah.” He looked so earnest that I couldn’t very well dismiss his promise. “I’ll remember that.” I hissed with pain as I settled in on the ground.

“So, what do we do now?”

“About what, exactly?” Herald asked.

“We’ve taken care of two of the trolls. And, by the way, nice little display at the edge of the camp there–”

Herald grinned. “Glad you like it. Hacking the big one’s head off took some work.”

Bloodthirsty girl, I thought approvingly, and continued, “–but that still leaves three more. We can’t leave Makanna and Valmik alone, and I’m pretty banged up. I can fight, but not at full capacity. If one of the remaining trolls finds us, we’re in trouble, aren’t we?”

“Yeah,” Tamor said. “Honestly, we never expected trolls in the first place. One or a pair might wander this far south, but a whole troupe of them…” He shook his head ruefully. “And that male coming on us right after we finished the first one? It’s like my luck’s fucking turned on me.”

“At least the biggest of them is dead now,” Herald said. “And Valmik will live. Makanna will be on her feet again tomorrow, and Valmik… I do not know. He should be awake and able to take care of himself tomorrow, then able to fight in two days, maybe. Three at most. And it is not like we can travel until they’ve recovered anyway. This is a delay, that is all! I say we get these two back to camp. We feed them until they hate us, keep an eye on the remaining trolls, and then finish the job!”

“Is this the same girl who was reportedly nervous about going into the gremlin mines not three months ago?” Tamor asked with a small grin.

Herald stuck her tongue out at him. “I did not come all this way and commit to fighting trolls for…” she thought for several seconds, “a fifth share of three Dragons?” she finished and looked at me.

“That’s, uh… twenty-four Eagles.”

She smiled at me fondly. “Without a counting frame or anything. But you see, Tam? The potion cost more than that. We need to see what we can get from that ruin, and that means getting rid of the trolls. We cannot risk going in there and having them return. Fighting a troll in a cramped space like that would be a nightmare.”

“You know,” Tamor said, “Valmik would give me the silent treatment for days if we withdrew because of him. I’m with you. But what about the boss?” He nodded toward the softly snoring Makanna.

“Do not worry about her,” Herald said, swelling with confidence. “I am sure that she will see reason.”