No angry civilians had waved their axes at the trolls, no trolls baring their fangs at the civilians.
I considered that a win–and I really needed one right now.
“What about my berry patch?” Krysor huffed as he kept up. He’d been hounding me as soon as Dax, Nadya, and I had stepped foot out of the fortress. Not even the growing groans of the trolls he seemed so concerned about deterred him.
He didn’t offer to help us carry the baskets, though.
“I don’t think they eat plants.” Nadya braced her own basket, huffing from the effort. “Flesh sounds more to their tastes.”
I sighed. Ever since Geryll and Ryker had left, she kept saying all the wrong things at all the wrong times.
“Are you saying they’re carnivores?” Krysor’s eyes widened.
“They’re not,” I said. “From the look of them, they’re omnivores.”
“You mean they–they eat people?” he whispered, horrified.
“It means they eat like us, not that they eat us,” Dax drawled.
I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t actually vouch that no troll had ever eaten a human, and I didn’t plan on voicing that thought. Then again, wolves had feasted on human flesh all over Malhaven, and the people of Solkar’s Reach patted their heads and rubbed their bellies.
“How can you tell what they eat?” Nadya asked. “Did you watch them?”
“I saw them,” I said. “No claws. They have canines, but their back teeth seem flat, and their jaws move from side to side, like ours.”
“So?”
“So canines are used to tear into flesh, but you need flat teeth to eat plants and seeds,” I said. “If you see enough animals, you start noticing the differences.”
“So…that means both my goats and my berries are in danger?” Krysor asked.
I closed my eyes and took a deep, steadying inhale. I was in no mood to assuage misguided fears, but I’d signed up for this when I’d agreed to protect the cityandbrought the trolls into it.
So I turned to Krysor, looked at him over the overflowing basket, and in the calmest voice, I said, “The trolls will not attack or pillage. None of them have even entered the city, have they?”
“Well, no…but they could.”
“You could rip this basket from my hands and take off running with it.”
“I would never,” he said, nasally and offended.
Behind me, Dax began to tap his foot impatiently.
“And I have to trust your word on that,” I went on, just as patiently. “So trust me when I say that the trolls have better things to do than wreak havoc on our city.”
“But–” He came closer, whispering. “I heard they planned this. That they tricked us to get near and they’ll strike when we turn our backs.”
That sounded like the kind of lies Silas would have spread.
I furrowed my brows. “Where did you hear that?”
“Everywhere.” He shrugged. “We’re all scared.”
Dax and I exchanged a quick glance. He nodded. “I’d be very curious to hear those rumors myself.”
“Krysor, you seem like a smart man,” I said.
His chest puffed up. “Thank you, Huntress.”
