My hand froze mid-air as my lungs fought for breath.
I tried to force myself to move.
It only made the bloodied images in my mind sharper. The dread in his eyes as the snake fell down upon him.
Only the ice that suddenly raced down my spine snapped me back to reality.
“Watch out!” Allie blared in my mind.
I whirled around in time to see a Northern soldier behind me, hooked sword raised above my head. Before he could strike and crack my skull, my dagger was embedded in his shoulder. I pushed him away as he cried in pain, hoping he’d stay down until he could retreat back to his own land.
“Thank you,” I said through our connection, wishing the message made it through.
“You’re welcome,” she answered and made my heart swell. “Now please don’t die.”
I didn’t make promises I didn’t know I couldn’t keep, but I would try my best. For her. For this crater.
My power surged forward to cool my blood, even as screams still echoed in my mind, both old and new.
The warriors and I cut through the flood of soldiers with a precision that made some of them hesitate.
We pushed the soldiers back in a chorus of metal clinks, cries, and grunts. Dozens of them tried to go around us, slinking through the back alleys.
They should have just faced us.
The alleys roared alive as the trolls obliterated the intruders. Armors banged against the walls, bones cracked, and sickening splatters resounded from the shadows before the trolls emerged, burly and menacing, their fur shining in the dimness.
Their nostrils flared as they swung their clubs, sending the soldiers flying through the air.
I didn’t know how Allie managed to tell them to patiently lie in waiting, but the soldiers had definitely not been expecting them, either.
Allie had told me how the Northern Clans had killed the creatures’ younglings in the attacks.
The trolls hadn’t forgotten.
The ground shook as they barreled forward, mouths open, fangs on display. Even my own warriors flinched at their approach for the briefest moment, old fears wrestling with the new reality.
But then they saw what I did.
The same fervor drumming through our veins reflected in the trolls’ eyes.
This was their home, too.
We were all defending the same realm against the same attacker.
Together, we rushed forward, overwhelming the first lines of soldiers. Some ran away, their cries now less victorious.
That tendril of hope I’d clung to grew.
Even with the trolls by our side, we were outnumbered. But we were fiercer.
With the fortress now behind us, we'd become an impenetrable barrier.
A horn blared through the chaos, shaking the trees.
Everyone and everything quieted.
“Commander,” Beren’s voice slithered through the darkness. “Parlay.”
