Riding Pegasus,Angelique and Oliver made absurdly good time, even though they stopped to spend their nights atinns.
As Pegasus galloped along, his flaming mane flickering in the winter wind, Angelique tried to calculate if it would be hours or a day until they reached Chanceux Chateau, when she saw a cloud of smoke smeared across thesky.
Smoke was not an unusual thing to witness, but the size of the cloud was troubling, and it had a dark shade to it that Angelique didn’t find particularlycomforting.
“Pegasus, could you pull back, please!” she shouted above thewind.
Oliver, who sat behind her, clinging to her waist, whooped. “This is ariot!”
When Angelique glanced over her shoulder, she saw the stableboy wore a smile so big it almost split his face. His face was red from the cold and the wind, and the tufts of hair that peeked out from under his wool hat were wild, but he seemed rather pleased with theirpace.
Angelique spared him a smile. “I’m glad you are comfortable. But what do you make of thatcloud?”
“Smoke?” Oliversuggested.
“Yes, but I’m not so convinced it’s from something as benign as a kitchen fire,” Angelique said. “Pegasus?”
Pegasus lifted his large head and sniffed, as if testing the air. He exhaled loudly through his nostrils, releasing hot puffs of steam, then tossed hishead.
“You don’t like it either?” Angeliqueasked.
Pegasus shook hishead.
“I was thinking perhaps we ought to take a small detour and investigate it—it’s not too far out of our way. Just a little more south than we need to go. Any objections?” Angelique glanced back at Oliver—who shook his head—then returned her gaze toPegasus.
Pegasus puffed some more steam then shook his head again—making his flaming mane hiss andcrackle.
He was off with a snort, kicking up snow with everystride.
Angelique felt her face might possibly freeze at the speed Pegasus galloped, making a wide curve that took them off their trajectory for Chanceux and toward thesmoke.
They rounded a slight hill and a tiny copse of trees and popped out by a smolderingvillage.
Pegasus skidded to a stop, and Angelique felt all of the constellation’s muscles tense as he pranced, turning in a tight circle that would have spilled Oliver over the side if he didn’t have an iron grip around Angelique’swaist.
The village was still intact, and it seemed that most of the flames were out. Two buildings were little more than charred remains—they, likely, were the major source of the smoke, particularly given that it seemed like both buildings were storage barns filled with hay and straw. Villagers ran around the rest of the burnt structures like ants, stamping out the few remaining flames. A few soldiers were aiding them, moving injured civilians to the undamagedbuildings.
But that’s not enough soldiers to make up a squad, so what are they doinghere?
Angelique gazed past the village and saw an organized band of soldiers running from the village. They were kitted out in Loire colors and were clearly in pursuit of…something.
“Oliver, see if you can grab my spyglass from my saddlebags—please,” Angeliquesaid.
After a bit of rustling, Oliver passed the spyglass up. Angelique fitted it to her eyes and fussed with the lens for a moment, trying to get it tofocus.
Abruptly, the far landscape focused, revealing what looked like ambling mounds of rocks and bark wearing a haybale on theirheads.
Trolls.
Less humanoid appearing than their bigger cousins, ogres, trolls possessed a somewhat human-like frame and wore armor of bark or frayed animal hides. They had massive noses that poked out of the mess of their hay-like hair that erupted from their skulls andfaces.
Trolls sometimes used crude weapons and occasionally fashioned headbands decorated with antlers or horns, but between their size (quite a bit taller than the average human, but not quite as large as ogres) and their dim intelligence, they were a danger more because they could flatten a village in their stomping temper-tantrums than because they could rip the arms off aman.
The Loire army was on foot, desperately chasing the pack of five trolls. It looked like they had a few men on horseback, but it was unlikely they would catch up to the monsters—who would search out another small village and destroy it in their hunt forfood.
“We’ve got to help them,” Angelique decided. “Oliver, you need to getoff.”
“I’ll pass, Lady Enchantress,” Oliversaid.
