Cameron walked back to the rock troll ensnared in vines. Jayde watched in wonder from the cart till Cameron indicated that he wanted her to come over. Despite being completely stuck, the troll appeared quite happy.

“And why are you so happy?” Cameron asked.

“Me not have to kill,” it said, indicating Marie with its chin.

“And not killing her makes you happy?” Cameron asked.

“Oh, sure. Me no like to kill, but Boss said we have to. He take from rich and give to help all. He say dat he did,” said the troll.

“Right. I am sure his compassion was only outclassed by his chivalry. Out of curiosity, did you ever see him give away any of this money to the needy?” Cameron asked.

“No, me no see him. He go on trips. He say, on trips, he help lots of dem. But he have wine on clothes when he get back,” said the troll.

“Your boss is officially out of work,” Cameron said. “He tried to kill this young girl,” he said, putting his hands on Jayde’s shoulders, presenting the girl in front of the troll. The troll looked right at Cameron, and his face melted in shame. A growl like thunder came from deep within the troll. Cameron held his gaze. For a long time their gazes remained locked, and then the rock troll came back to himself.

“Yah. Me see him. Boss not nice man like he said,” said the troll. “Me mad that me join him. Make rock troll seem dumb. Me know you think trolls dumb. Me just not want to prove dem right.” The troll sighed. “Me dumb. Me know not to hurt nice girl. Me so dumb.”

“You were tricked,” said Cameron. “Even the cleverest of us can be tricked from time to time. What will you do now that you are unemployed?”

“Me not know. Most no hire rock troll. That why me want to know how she know me rock troll,” said the behemoth, looking to Marie.

Cameron gazed deep into the eyes of the troll. The troll took a deep breath and appeared paralyzed. Cameron smiled. He broke his stare with the troll. The troll seemed confused.

Cameron looked over at Marie. Marie shook her head. She jumped off the cart and sprung to his side.

“Cameron, I know you have a soft spot for the downtrodden and all, but I did just barely escape with my life. Not to mention that his employer nearly skewered Jayde. What do you think he would do with us?”

“Marie, I’ve looked into him. He is clean. Cleaner than most humans I know. He really thought he was doing good. From what I hear, Grandeur can be a pretty rough city. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a little added security?”

“You’re serious?” she asked.

“What are you talking about?” Jayde said, trying to decode the argument.

“Well, Jayde,” Marie began, looking at Cameron scathingly, “Dr. Sangre is thinking of adding the rock troll to our party.”

“Marl,” said the rock troll.

“What?” asked Marie.

“Marl. My name. Marl,” it said.

“Fine,” said Marie. “I vote he stays here.”

“And I vote he comes with us,” said Cameron.

“All right then, Jayde, it’s up to you,” said Marie.

Jayde looked at the massive troll. It was completely immobile trapped in the vines, but it smiled broadly at Jayde. She had had few friends while growing up. Most of the acquaintances she had known had either used her, beaten her, stole from her, or worse. But all those people were human.

“Is he really safe?” Jayde asked.

“She asks the vampire,” Cameron said. “No, Jayde, he is not safe, but neither am I. Neither is Marie. Neither are you, to be honest. All of us make choices all the time on the limited information we have, which can drastically change lives in ways we can’t comprehend. But his heart is in the right place, and that’s more than I can say for most.”

Jayde looked at the troll.

His broad, flat head and angular face gazed at her with uncertainty.

“Can I trust you?” Jayde asked the troll.

“Me no lie,” said the troll.

“Will you keep me safe?” Jayde asked.

“You fight like her?” he asked Jayde, indicating Marie. “You not need me to keep you safe, if you fight like her.”

“No, I can’t really fight much at all. I’m more of the run-away-from-danger type. I think what I need is a friend,” Jayde admitted. “Could you be that for me?”

The troll appeared struck. It looked at Jayde, then at Cameron, then Marie, then back at Jayde. Marie arched an eyebrow at Cameron but remained silent.

“You mean it? You no trick me, right? No?” Marl asked.

Jayde shook her head.

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“Real man-thing as friend. You have my oath,” it said.

Marie and Cameron gasped simultaneously. Another silent glance between the two of them implied something had just happened, but Jayde did not catch it. A long pause ensued as Jayde seemed to be thinking. She looked at the troll; his angular face stared at her, hope in his eyes.

“I say he’s in,” said Jayde.

Both Cameron and Marie let out the breath they had not realized they had been holding. Cameron recovered first.

“Well, Mr. Marl, since you are currently unemployed, would you like to join us and work with us in Grandeur?”

“Oi! Work in big shop place? Sure, sure! Me want go there long time, but me scared. Most man-thing get scared of rock troll. They throw rocks. Rocks not hurt me, but it make me sad, so me not go. You think, if me go with you, they no throw rocks?”

“From what I’ve heard, Grandeur is quite the melting pot of all races and creatures. You might even blend in,” Marie said.

“Hah! Dat be first time for me,” said the troll. In his happiness he threw up his arms, snapping the vines.

Marie jumped backward, landing in a defensive crouch.

“Wait! You could have broken the vines all this time?” Marie asked.

“Oh, sure,” said Marl. “But me not want to fight or hurt you. You make it seem like me caught in trap, so me stop fight, and Boss not get mad, if he see. Me glad you found way to trap, since me no like to hurt,” Marl said.

They reloaded the cart. Some of the men that Marie had dazed were stirring. Their leader, however, remained quite dead.

Marie drove the wagon back to the road and continued their slow pace; the night was still young. The rock troll insisted on walking. Despite Marie’s reassurance that her cart would not break under his weight, he remained skeptical. They ended in a compromise: the troll would ride, if he could not keep up.

Marl periodically disappeared into the woods, only to appear later a good distance down the road. He would then wait for them to catch up, only to repeat the process. Sometimes he would disappear from the road, and they would not see him for nearly half an hour. After he left the group the next time, Jayde had to ask about what he was doing.

“He’s scouting,” Cameron answered. “He’s taking his new role quite seriously.”

“His new role?” Jayde asked.

“Marl did more than just agree to come with us, Jayde. He gave his oath as a rock troll. That may not sound like much to you, but, to a rock troll, his oath is everything. That is a pledge of heart and soul from most humans. And while I have known many humans to break their word, I have never known a troll to do so,” Cameron said.

“Wow, really? What would he have done if I had not chosen to have him join our group?” she asked.

“Most likely he would have journeyed to the nearest desert to find the Great Chasm and jumped in.”

“What! He would have killed himself?” Jayde asked.

“Well, they don’t view it as suicide. They view it as rejoining the trolls of the past. But essentially, yes. Fortunately you chose to let him join us,” Cameron said.

“You could have told me!” Jayde said.

“Yes, but then you most likely would have had him join us out of pity or guilt, not because you thought he would be a friend and good for the group as a whole. I had confidence you would choose as you did,” he said.

“So you think we can trust him?” Jayde asked.

Marie answered, “He will never break that promise. Rock trolls rarely make friends. He had tried to camouflage himself as a human, so that he could be part of this group of thieves.”

“But why didn’t he leave, after he realized that the leader was just spending everything on himself?” asked Jayde.

Marie pulled next to a large boulder in the road and halted the cart momentarily. “Like Cam said, once a troll gives his oath, he won’t break that promise. After the leader lied to Marl to get his promise, it was too late.”

The giant boulder in the road unfolded itself. He looked at Marie. “Oi, dat be right. Me be sad to say it. Me know it be wrong, but an oath’s an oath, and me not break word.”

“No matter what?” Jayde asked.

“You got it,” said Marl. He then left to explore far ahead of the cart, scouting for anything or anyone who might be a threat to the group.

Traveling at night provided few scenery changes. Jayde filled the time peppering Marie with questions, mostly about magic. Her explanations often created more questions than answers.

“How did you punch a guy twenty feet into the air?” Jayde asked.

“Endless hours of training, Jayde,” Marie answered.

“I met a witch once in Haynis. Do you think I could be a witch?” Jayde said.

“You’re not ugly enough,” Cameron answered.

Marie laughed. “You would make an excellent witch but a better necromancer. There are a wide variety of magical abilities. I trained in essence bending, which allows me to greatly affect anything I touch. Cameron can use his energy to feel exactly what other people feel. In cases where they are injured or sick, he can use his energy to heal. He also has many other skills. Every person has a natural aptitude toward one field or another.

“I trained so I could detect magic and snuff it out before it caused problems. But I’m getting ahead of myself. What other fields are there? Let’s see.” She began ticking them off her fingers. “There’s Wizardry or Witchery, which deals with a wide variety of studies. There are enchanters, who cause large field effects. Others study elementalism, such as firecasting or icecasting and the like, usually affecting anything that comes within range. There’s Necromancy, talking with or reanimating dead things, or even Zombimancy. It’s a smelly, rotten field. Not good if you want to have many friends.”

Cameron looked over at Marie with a frown. “My friend Mort is a zombimancer.”

“And I’ll bet that he smells terrible. Then there are seers and divination. Diviners can look into your mind, and see your past and your true self. Cameron has some skill in Divining, which is how he judged Marl to have such a pristine character. But many diviners are crackpots who tell you stuff about yourself that you already know,” she said.

“What other fields are there?” Jayde asked.

“There are hundreds. Voodoo, Monkeymancy, and Conjuring to mention a few,” Marie said.

“Monkeymancy, war sages, Conjuring …” Jayde shook her head in awe.

Cameron continued. “Conjurers can create and alter the substances around them. It takes a great deal of imagination and a powerful mind to will something into existence. Not only that but most of them burn out after a few years. Conjuring takes more self-control than any of the other branches of magic, that’s why Marie could never go into it,” he said.

Marie smirked at him. “I don’t have the imagination for it. But not to worry, you don’t need to concern yourself about any of this if you have no interest,” Marie said, glancing down at Jayde, who was still gaping. Cameron laughed.

“Do you really think I could do”—Jayde wiggled her finger in the air—“stuff like that?”

Marie shrugged. “I think so.”

Jayde rode in her seat, quietly contemplating for a few minutes. “So what does a war sage do exactly?” she asked.

“Most of our missions were reconnaissance.”

“So dat how you learn to fight so good. You train at good school, so you fight good. It make sense.” Marl smiled. “Me have to learn just by me bash rocks and trees. You train Marl to fight more good?”

Marie looked at Cameron.

He nodded. “I see no reason not to, as long as he doesn’t kill you in the process.”

“Wait, what about me? Can you teach me magic too? Which field is the best?” Jayde asked.

“Most of my training centers on fighting, but I’ll show you what I know. There is no best field, just different types. But remember, mastering magic will greatly complicate your life. Magic makes your life unique but also problematic. It provides incredible power, but the choices you make still determine who you are,” Marie answered.

“Right, I got it. So when can you show me how to punch through a tree?” Jayde grinned.