“Dax,” I called out, eyes fixed on the troll. “What do these attacks look like to your trained eye?”
He clicked his tongue. “Tests.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Sword fodder, meant to infiltrate and report back.
“This is only the start,” I murmured, the horrible realization rushing through me.
I looked at the crater’s wall. I was sure the trolls had many more hideouts and they probably knew this land better than the people in Solkar’s Reach, but their numbers didn’t help. Less than three hundred of them stared at us. Their old and young were probably hidden away, but couldn’t amount to more than double that.
They would be no match if the Northern Clans, left undisturbed and unchallenged for so long, prepared a full-blown invasion.
We wouldn’t either.
Our best warriors were fighting a war we couldn’t lose.
Our rim scouts, if any of them had survived, were obviously overwhelmed by the sheer size of the terrain they had to patrol.
If the crater’s defenses had fallen so badly that soldiers could simply drop on our heads, Solkar’s Reach had just become one of the most dangerous places in Malhaven–and I was trapped inside of it.
I stared up at the troll, this leader who’d gone into battle for its own and this land, instead of walling himself away. Silas could learn from its ways.
The truth of this whole interaction dawned on me.
If they’d simply wanted to warn us of the attacks, they would’ve shown the weapons, not their wounds.
This wasn’t a warning.
It was a cry for help–and I would answer it.
No doubts swam in my mind as I slowly raised my right hand toward its chest, though every muscle in my body tensed on instinct.
I didn’t miss the way it bristled. Its top lip even curled before it regained control. But those fangs on full display made myhand shake. Still, I raised it further, barely touching the soft fur over the wound.
I gulped and looked up at the hanging rope, huffing as loud as I could.
I used my other hand to trace along the shallow cuts on my knuckles, huffing at the pile of weapons.
Alone, we’re targets.
I looked in the direction of the city, trying my best to mimic their grunt, ribs and throat hurting from the exertion.
Together, we’re stronger.
Time stretched as the troll kept looking at me. I swallowed thickly. My hands trembled. Perhaps I hadn’t conveyed the message clearly enough.
As I wracked my brain to come up with another way to communicate, the troll covered my hand with its large ones. It was my turn to stiffen and fight my own reflexes as its hand cupped my entire head. All of my blood rushed into my skull, skin crawling with goosebumps.
One snap, and I’d be gone.
But I knew, staring into its dark eyes, that I was in no danger.
These were two leaders making a decision which could save or damn them–and their own.
We both understood the risk.
We both accepted it.
