A troll stomped in her direction, dragging a sapling stripped of its branches in onefist.
For a terrible moment, Angelique gaped.What is a troll doinghere?
Trolls were cousins of a sort to ogres and spent most of their time in swampy wetlands or moldy forests rarely visited by mankind. They were smaller and less intelligent than ogres, but they were at least eight feet tall and strong enough to flatten a cottage with just a few swings of their meatyfists.
This troll had a large, bulbous nose, a craggy brow that sank low over its beady eyes, and thick strands of yellow drool dropped from its toothy jaws. Shaggy hair sprouted from all over its body, and the creature smelled of putrid swamp water and deadcarcasses.
The troll bore down on her, purposefully raising its sapling—which Angelique could see it had sharpened at the base into a wooden spear ofsorts.
It raised the small tree, and Angelique felt her magic slam against the tight wards of her control, struggling to getout.
She ignored its call and scrambled to her feet to sprint away, dodging through thetrees.
The troll threw his sapling-spear, and Angelique’s war magic surged through her body with such force it made her misstep and trip. The spear passed so narrowly at her side she heard it whistle; she had barely avoided beingimpaled.
“Evariste!” Angelique struggled to grab at the tracking bracelet Evariste had given her and regain her balance well enough for her to run. “Evariste!”
She took an abrupt left—running north for a few moments before she again veered backeast.
I have to make it to Alabaster Forest. If I can, the elf magic guarding their borders will killit!
The troll rumbled after her, smashing through small trees and saplings like they were made of paper. It snarled and flung a rock the size of a small apple, which pelted Angelique on her lower back and sent hersprawling.
Her back ached, and her magic railed at her—demanding release. Clenching her teeth, Angelique pushed herself to her knees. She tried to force herself to stand, but her back burned as though it were onfire.
The troll bounded closer. It grabbed two tree trunks with its hands and pushed off them, launching itself forward like a rock in aslingshot.
It landed close to Angelique as she finally managed to rise to her feet and take a few toddling steps behind atree.
The monster snatched up a rock the size of Angelique’s head. Just when it raised its arm, a bolt of fire struck it, engulfing the hairycreature.
“Angelique!”
Evariste popped out from behind the troll—which was bellowing in pain as the last few flickers of fire wentout.
Angelique choked on the scent of singed flesh and hair but took a staggering step towards herteacher.
“Stay there,” Evariste shouted to her. “We’ll be able to fight it easier if its attention issplit.”
“Can’t we run to the border of the forest?” Angeliquepleaded.
He shook his head. “A troll isn’t much trouble for someone with magic of ourcaliber.”
A chill crawled up Angelique’s spine, and she shook her head.No, no, no. He better not be thinking about having me use my coremagic.
Evariste didn’t see the sign of her refusal—his eyes were fixed on thetroll.
The creature slammed a fist into a tree trunk, making it snap like atoothpick.
Angelique yelped and sprinted out of the way, hopping over another fallentree.
Evariste’s lips moved in words Angelique couldn’t hear over the enraged snarls of the troll. The enchanter paused, then jabbed his fingers into his mouth andwhistled.
The troll swung around to face him, and Evariste flicked hiswrist.
A fist-sized rock hurtled through the air and hit the troll in the brow, as if it had been flung by aslingshot.
The monster once again roared in pain, making Angelique’s ears ring. It shook its head, and she had to duck behind her trunk to avoid getting a face full of trollslobber.
