Drake was running now. The brush whipped past him in a brilliantly-colored blur. Branches lashed at him from the edges of the trail, but he paid them no mind.

It was the smoke.

He had seen black smoke. The smoke he knew from the battlefield, from the burning of homes and bodies.

Something was wrong. Gigi had been gone too long. He cursed himself for saying those words. He didn’t know what he was saying. Well, he knew exactly what he meant - he did love her. At least as much as he understood the concept. He should have left it at the kiss; she had looked so happy. The words after, she had looked terrified. Like the fox they had found in the trap.

None of that mattered now, though. Perhaps the fire was innocent, merely a cooking accident at a booth. That seemed unlikely even as he tried to think of alternatives. No, whatever he was about to find would be bad. He needed to prepare himself. If it turned out he had overreacted, so be it.

Drake wriggled from under his cloak as he ran, tossing it to the side and moving onto his tunic. He began to whisper. Moments after his cloak hit the ground, patches of shiny black skin began to ooze forward from his tattoos. The ink that marred his form came to life, pouring forth a black ichor. By the time Drake stood at the gates of Poppy, he was covered head to toe in the black armor, now hard and chitinous.

The ridges in his skin were wild and uneven. His flesh looked like black crystal, covering him like a rough-hewn suit of armor. He would meet whatever fate had conspired for Gigi and Poppy. The skin gently smoked as he stood, releasing a dark haze. He burned with fear and cold fire as his eyes took in the sight before him.

Mayhem tore through the village that had taken him in. Wicked giants lumbered around the formerly gay pageantry. Masks of pain and terror replaced the smiling faces he had seen earlier that evening as many ran and others cowered, hiding in fear. A great fire had taken up in the center of the festival. Tears began to form in his eyes, his heart breaking.

He said nothing as he took in the chaos. Drake fixed his gaze on the nearest of the malevolent titans. Trolls. They were trolls. He recognized them for their massive size, dwarfing him two times over. These behemoths had been set upon him on the battlefield in chains and shackles more than once.

My magic won’t work against them. This is going to be a problem.

He would need to be smart, fast, and, above all else, brutal. Perhaps he was done killing, but these trolls would feel what they had done here. He would make them feel every broken bone and tear spilled. When dawn broke over their mangled bodies, they were going to pray for death. Of that, he was sure.

Two lamia children were cowering beneath the towering troll, which had an entire cask of ale in one of its mammoth hands. The amber liquid spilled over its huge, sharp teeth and down its stinking gullet. A massive rancid belch followed, and then the troll crushed the cask before tossing the remnants to the side.

“Could go for a snack,” boomed the troll.

The children recoiled as the colossal hand reached for them, long, dirty nails glaring like filthy knives. The children screamed and trembled in place, clinging to each other. A moment later, there was a rush of wind and a loud cracking sound. The troll howled in agony, pulling back its ruined arm. The hand that had been so menacing seconds ago now hung limply. Green blood sprayed from a long, deep gash along the beast’s wrist, expertly placed between the monster’s armored skin.

Drake stood before the children, his hand lodged in the stones below, splitting them. He had cut harder than intended, faster at night with the shadows than during the day, when he was used to fighting.

They should have attacked during the day.

The troll reeled back, staring stupidly at his useless hand. Drake suspected this creature had never been cut and certainly never known the pain that was attacking it right now.

He was far from done teaching it about pain. The troll cradled its wound and wailed. Before the troll could take another step back, Drake was upon him once more.

With silent fury, Drake slid around the creature and aimed for the open space behind the knee. It was small, but it was there. He drove his sharpened fingers into the soft skin. It yielded and split as Drake surged forward. He felt fingers hit bones, then kept going as they splintered from the force. His fingers only stopped when they hit the kneecap's diamond plating. He pulled his hand out in disgust. This one would never hurt others again.

The troll’s knee buckled, and the creature collapsed, rolling around in searing agony. Drake delivered a swift kick to the troll’s jaw, dislocating it. The cries died away as the troll was knocked out.

He turned back to the children. They recoiled from him, unsure what this new threat represented. “Find your family and stay safe,” Drake commanded.

The small lamias nodded, dumbfounded. They slithered off to find their kin and a place to hide from the fiery storm. Drake turned to hear a chorus of screams piercing the night air. He ran toward the sound. Before long, he found four hulking trolls marauding in the street over from him. He wondered how many godless beasts had descended upon the defenseless town.

Drake didn’t like the idea of taking on four of the monsters at the same time. As fast as he was, he was sure to take a punch or two from those gargantuan fists. He could melt his form like a shadow, but not when using it as crystalline armor. If he tried, his skin would shatter, and he would be but a simple human once more. No, if he got hit, he would need to take it.

As he was about to attack, one of the trolls cried out in pain. Drake fixed his gaze on the monster’s attacker, seeing the witch, Ariana. She looked furious. Her long white hair was whipping back and forth as she cast spell after spell on the gargantuan cretins. Perhaps they were magic-resistant, but Ariana tested the beasts' resilience. Unfortunately, the bolts seemed to be staggering but not downing the trolls.

One of the trolls reeled back its giant fist and hurtled it like a meteor at the drow’s face. She stepped to the side, waving her hand. The fist’s momentum suddenly carried it directly into one of the troll’s comrade’s guts. Both grunted in pain as diamond-plated knuckles bounced against a diamond-plated abdomen.

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The trolls composed themselves and once more sought to descend upon the purple-skinned woman. She raised her hand, and a blinding white light emerged from it. The trolls froze in their tracks and covered their eyes, crying out as they were blinded by the tiny star she had summoned directly before their eyes. Then, the small star went supernova and burst in their faces.

That was the distraction he needed. Like a bolt of black lightning, he rode the darkness into the fray. He slashed onto the scene to the first troll's Achilles tendons. It hollered in agony as it was cut down like a mighty oak. A knee as quick as light crashed into the falling troll’s face, silencing its yowls.

Ariana stood ready to fight Drake, unsure of what to make of the newcomer. She raised her hands to cast another spell. Drake held up his hands and shook his head. A piece of the armor that covered his face cracked and splintered to reveal the cool blue eye and tan skin beneath.

“Drake?” Ariana asked, relaxing a little.

He nodded as the armor began to grow and slide back into place. The three remaining trolls were blindly attacking whatever they could touch. One accidentally slugged the other, and the two began quarreling. Drake saw that one was about to lumber into Mrs. Wyzen the wolf-woman, as she attempted to flee. The old gossip was trying vainly to move out of the titan’s way.

He ran between the woman and the troll's foot, just in time to take the hit for the wailing wolf. Mrs. Wyzen tottered and fell harmlessly into a nearby bed of flowers. Drake was flung into a brick wall, his armor shattering almost to his flesh and leaving a nasty spider web of fractures in the black skin.

Even with the light of the fires, he could draw on the darkness around them. Like a sponge soaking up water, he drew in the shadow and reformed where the strike had torn him. The troll could tell it had struck something in his blind fury and was intent on doing it again.

“SUFFER AND DIE!” bellowed the troll.

Drake said nothing as the troll charged. He looked for any opening in the assault but could not find one amongst the armor plating. Without warning, the troll’s feet were ripped skyward as the stones it stepped on were ripped away. Drake looked to see Ariana pulling the bricks toward her, calling each stone with the twist of her finger.

Drake crouched before leaping into the sky, twisting his body at the apex of his jump, changing his trajectory. He slammed down with both feet into the back of the troll’s skull. It crashed to the ground with a sickening crack against the cobblestone.

Only two more.

Their sight was beginning to return to them, glaring furiously and seeking revenge. Drake would not oblige that prayer. He would put them down before they hurt anyone else. They stepped forward. One grabbed a tree growing in a yard and yanked until the roots came free, ready to use it as a giant club. The other brandished an enormous blade, but on the hulking brute was merely a dagger. As the troll slashed at the air, Ariana stepped closer to Drake.

“Do you have enough left to take them? I’ve used a lot of magic killing time, ” Ariana asked.

Drake nodded. “I think so.”

“Then I’ll follow your lead.” She looked down at the unconscious troll. “I can see you weren’t lying about being a soldier.”

“You distract them. I’ll take them down,” ordered Drake.

Ariana nodded. “Simple enough.”

The troll with the tree roared and charged forward, swinging the trunk wildly at Drake. He caught the tree in the gut with a grunt. Sliding back, he managed to stop the momentum of the blow.

“Now would be good,” he hissed.

Ariana snapped her fingers, and the tree caught fire. However, the troll seemed unphased by the flame. Drake felt into the darkness around them, desperate for something to shift the tide. Then, he felt the absence of light within the tree's wood. Seizing it, he expanded the shadows within the tree. A moment later, the wood burst, and flames exploded all around them.

The troll startled backward, and Drake surged forward, riding the shadows until he stood right behind the troll. He impaled the troll’s knee just like he had its brother before. As he pulled his fist out, the other troll stabbed toward him with the blade. Drake dodged as the lumbering giant continued to thrust, the blade marking the stones with each missed slice.

“Ariana!” he called out.

The witch was summoning rain clouds to douse the fires, but she turned her attention to Drake. “You are needy.” She put both of her hands out and began to chant. The troll stopped its ferocious attacks and began to shake the blade.

No, it wasn’t shaking the blade. It was trying to hold onto it. He looked at Ariana again. She was calling it to her. The troll was using both hands now in their game of magic tug-o-war. Drake stepped in front of the troll, who was desperately struggling to hold onto its dagger, then crouched again before exploding upward with an uppercut.

Drake’s fist slammed into the bottom of the blade’s hilt. Jettisoning the sword upward, directly into the troll's jaw. The blade went into the soft skin underneath the monster’s mouth, piercing the beast’s tongue as he began to shriek. It lost momentum before hitting the skull and simply sat wedged.

The troll pulled but found it stuck. It screamed before loping off, having had its fill of this fight. Drake turned to his sister-in-arms.

“Where is Gigi?”

“Who?” Ariana asked, perplexed.

“The goblin woman I was with!”

“I’m afraid I don’t know. There are many people in this village, and they all need my help right now,” she said dryly.

“Please, she is all I have,” Drake said in frustration.

Arian considered this. “Tell you what. We can do a quick homing spell. Do you have anything of hers?”

“Not on me! Do you see pockets?”

“Fair. Okay, we’ll do it this way - picture her in your mind.” He closed his eyes, remembering the softness of her brown eyes, her hair being let down after she was done in the bakery, the way she had smiled at him that night.

“Now let’s see what we are working with...” Ariana shut her eyes and touched Drake’s forehead. He felt an electric jolt go through him. He opened his eyes.

“See anything?” Ariana asked.

It took a moment for his eyes to focus, but there seemed to be a luminescent green spark in the darkness. It was like a bolt of lightning but languidly swirling in the air. It beckoned him.

“Um, I see some green snake thing floating in the air,” he said uncertainly.

“Excellent. I wonder if you just like green things.”

“What?”

“The color and shape of the guide is particular to the beholder. You have a penchant for green.”

Drake didn’t understand what she was talking about, and he didn't care. “Thank you for your help; I won’t forget it.”

“No, you won’t because you owe me now. But that is a discussion for another day. Good luck playing hero,” Ariana said as she turned to help the rest of the village.

“Thanks, you too.”

Drake broke off at a sprint toward the flickering green light.