Page 201 of The Mortal Trials

At some point, his appetite will be satiated. We just need to use the horses to our advantage and hope this troll is solitary. Once the horses are gone, we’ll have nothing to offer another one.

The Greek volunteers to go first. The championed female in soaked lavender will cross with him. They run alongside the trotting horses. The rain falls in sheets, blurring their forms for several seconds.

This forsaken torrent just might save our skins, concealing us and dampening our scent.

Koda stands alone, separate from those gathered, hugging himself and shivering from the cold.

“Will you walk with me, Koda?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “I won’t be able to keep up. I’ll take my time and be careful when I pass.”

I know he won’t make it without help. I grip my spear. “Please. I can get you through this.”

August and Niall encourage him to go with me, but Koda is torn.

Water slides off my chin and drips down my throat. “Please?”

He finally relents and walks forward.

I guide the horse’s pace. The troll took the Greek’s offering, allowing him and the championed girl to slink past the creature with ease. “See? We’ve got this,” I tell Koda.

He doesn’t seem as sure. “If anything goes wrong, I want you to promise to go on without me.”

“I won’t do that. And we won’t need to worry about it. We’ll just slip by. The finish line must be just beyond him.”

I pray it is.

August and a middle-aged woman trail us once we’re halfway to the threat. Niall and a girl a few years older than us are poised to go after them.

Lightning strikes the side of the bridge between us and August, breaking off a piece of the wall. More bolts come. More chunks of the wall we’re using as cover are being cut away by the gods’ precise bolts.

We keep walking. I hold the spear close to my body, away from the troll in case the gold draws its eye.

A loud whinny comes from behind, along with the sound of storming hooves. A blur of equine and woman rushes past us on the right, startling our stallions. The contender has unbridled one of the warhorses and is making a run for it.

It’s a bold move and in the rain, the stallion’s carrying her so fast they’re barely visible. The mount isn’t burdened by the weight of a cart, but their approach isn’t silent, and trolls have excellent hearing.

A craggy hand grabs the horse and rider. The woman’s scream is abruptly cut short as she’s ground in the troll’s maw.

While he’s otherwise occupied, we slink against the wall. I go first and Koda follows, bending as we hurry past the damaged sections of bridge when we reach them. The horses we’ve been walking beside since I released their reins trot freely ahead. Their hooves draw the behemoth’s attention and the creature’s hand sweeps overhead.

I fight the urge to bring up my spear.

The warhorses’ cries are horrific. Blood splatters the ground beside us, then in front of us as the giant eats.

Though he tries to move fast, Koda is struggling. Before we make it past the danger, the blood stops splashing and the sounds of the horses’ pain cease. All goes still except the angry roar of rain, and Koda and I are left without anything to distract the creature. We keep moving, creeping forward.

My heart thunders in time with the sky.

Through the torrent, it’s hard to see all the broken bits of stone from where the lightning has struck the bridge and I trip on one, pushing it a few feet. The rock grates across the bridge and I fall onto my prosthetic knee. Koda ducks and we hold still, hoping the sound went unnoticed. The troll turns toward us for a breath. It doesn’t come closer, but now I have a terrible new problem. A greater one.

My prosthesis is bent at the joint. At home, I’d take it off and work the hinge until it righted itself, but I can’t remove my leg here, in this rain, while being hunted by a troll. I twist to better inspect the metal and am relieved to see it’s not too bad. At least it’s not broken. I should be able to work it back into place.

I have no choice but to force it to flex and pray it doesn’t break. I use my hands to help it extend and a loud screech tears from the limb as the bent piece grates against the metal.

My stomach drops, my heart quaking in time with the bridge that trembles with the giant’s every step.

The troll is coming.