With a shoulder-wide stance and open arms, Hyden swirled his hand around and a ball of flame appeared. The sphere swiftly churned and spun and grew to the size of a summer melon.
“Watch out, Hyden!” Jicks yelled.
Without losing his concentration, Hyden sidestepped a flying rock big enough to smash his bones. He made a mental note to thank Jicks for the warning and then threw his fireball right into the cavern mouth.
The trolls went wide-eyed and were shocked still when the bright fireball came flying at them. There were five of them. One was yanking on the arrow sprouting from its belly. Just before the wizard’s fire exploded into them, Hyden saw another arrow go streaking by. Corva hit his mark. The unsuspecting troll went mad as the arrow struck deeply into its throat.
The fireball flash-blinded most of the companions when it exploded. One of the trolls caught fire, and the one with the arrow in its stomach took severe damage, as well.
Outside the cavern, the great wolves howled and barked at the trolls that had survived. The wolves were smart enough not to charge in. They didn’t like not being able to fight, but they had no problem ripping out the throats of the fallen when they could.
Suddenly, a far larger piece of stone went past and shattered into the cavern wall right beside Durge. The giant roared out in pain and anger as he was showered with sharp fragments of stone. The biggest of the trolls roared right back at him.
The troll that had caught fire was sputtering on the floor. These trolls were huge, bigger than Durge by a few feet, and all sinewy muscle. In the dying light of the fireball, Hyden saw one of them charging at Jicks.
Hyden started to cast another fireball, but decided it would probably kill the young man, too. Instead, he cast his orb light into being. He didn’t let it come to rest in its natural position over his head. Instead, he sent it hovering further into the cavern so that the others could see the trolls. As it went by the lanky creature coming for the young swordsman, Hyden bounced it off the troll’s forehead.
Jicks took advantage of the beast’s blinded confusion and charged through its legs. He jabbed upward, deep into its groin, as he passed. He must have hit an artery, for he was rewarded with a steaming shower of crimson muck. The cavern stank of burned hair and scorched meat. The thrum of Vaegon’s bow came from behind Hyden through the din. The screaming troll Jicks had gelded made it an easy target for the elf.
Durge was bleeding from half a dozen places where chips of stone had pierced through his thick elkhide coat into his skin. His staff was broken into two pieces and the giant looked none too pleased about it. He raged into a pair of the trolls, one of which was about to throw another rock at him. He swung the bladed half of his weapon like it was a battle axe and caught the unarmed troll in the neck. As its head lolled to the side and a thick fountain of blood sprayed across the cavern, Durge planted his furred boot in the other troll’s gut and knocked it over backward. The huge rock it was holding over its head fell and smashed into its shins. Two seconds later, one of the wolves was pulling away with half of that troll’s face in its teeth.
Jicks swung at the back of the troll nearest him. His blade sliced clean through the calf meat, causing the troll to fall to a knee. The young swordsman was trying to back away when the troll turned and swung a roundhouse blow. Jicks was brutally batted across the floor by an anvil-like fist.
With all but one of the trolls down, the great wolves stormed into the cavern and joined the battle with tooth and claw. Their savage attack saved Jicks, for he was lying limp and unconscious from the massive blow he had taken.
Durge took a claw across the face as he stepped in and cut the legs out from under the last of the trolls. He yelled out a thunderous roar of victory, though, when it was done. The sound scared the great wolves and Corva as much as it did the dying trolls. Hyden didn’t hear it. He was lost in a casting, and the rest of the world could have been a thousand miles away.
A crackling ray of yellowish healing magic flared from Hyden’s hands and went swirling into Jicks’s body. Using such magic was taxing, and Hyden was washed over with relief when Jicks sat up and looked around.
After Durge and Corva had finished killing the trolls, they built a fire. Hyden attempted to heal Durge, but the giant refused. His face had three deep furrows running from his left ear across and under his eye to his nose and mouth. The giant said he wanted the scars, wanted the pain to keep him sharp so that he didn’t forget. Once they were warm, the giant gutted the trolls and fed their livers to the great wolves. He took their huge hearts and spitted them on the butt end of the staff and set them to roast over the fire.
“I can’t believe you're going to eat those,” Jicks said incredulously. “Yuck!”
“I’ve never eaten troll heart before,” Hyden said. “But an old giantess named Berda used to tell my people tales when she was around. She said it was a delicacy.”
“It is!” Durge boomed through his grizzly appearance. Even with his face gashed and bloody, his grin was wide and white. “It’s only proper to eat from your kill, anyway, but troll heart is something spectacular. Only the tongue meat from a bark lizard has a better flavor.”
“Mikahl’s told me how good that is,” said Hyden.
“I’ll try it,” Corva said. “The Elders say that troll heart is good for the spirit.”
“Are you going to eat it?” Jicks asked Hyden. “Those trolls are so unclean.”
“Aye, I will,” Hyden laughed. He directed Jicks’s attention back to Corva.
“If you think on it, Jicks,” Corva said, “the troll eats better than any other creature alive. It hunts the mountains for elk, moose, and bear. It drinks from the purest of melt streams. It’s only filthy on the outside. A pig, now there’s a beast that should seem to have filthy meat, yet doesn’t roasted pig beat anything you’ve ever eaten?”
“It does when it’s drenched in honey,” Jicks nodded and glanced at the sizzling hearts spitted on the fire. “So what does it do to your spirit?”
Before Corva could answer, Talon came sweeping down out of the darkened sky into the cavern mouth. The hawkling fluttered to a stop and landed on Hyden’s outstretched arm. After sidestepping his way up Hyden’s shoulder, he settled and began preening himself. His beak was bloody from a freshly killed meal.
Corva continued. “A spirit is something that every living thing has about it. Some predators, some men, as well…” Corva nodded toward Hyden. “…some can see it around you. It’s like a glow that indicates the nature of who it belongs to.”
“Can you see mine?” Jicks asked, looking at himself uncomfortably.
“I can sense it more than see it,” said Corva. “It’s an ability that will sharpen as I age. Most elves can’t see the spirit aura until they are well over a hundred years old.
“How old are you?” Jicks asked.
“I’m seventy-seven,” Corva replied, as if he were ashamed of being so young.
“Very young for the responsibilities of a royal guard,” Durge observed. The giant brought the shish kebab of troll hearts to his face and pinched one. He seemed pleased, and inhaled their aroma deeply. The dark, scabbing lines across his face gave him a menacing look.
“It was my grandfather’s place on the Hardwood council that got me a place on the expedition to Salaya,” Corva explained. “Even had I not some skill with the blade and bow, I would have been allowed to go. My grandfather shamelessly used his position in my favor.” Corva let his gaze fall to the fire with shame. “Several better elves, more qualified and more deserving, were passed over in the matter.”
“You’ve proved your rightful place and position, Corva,” Hyden said. “As I said before, very few would have gone as far as you have in the name of duty. Most would have run straight to the Queen Mother.”
Corva nodded his thanks for the encouragement.
“They’re done!” Durge announced. The meat was chewy, yet savory, not tough and ever so succulent.
Jicks didn’t shut up about how good the hearts tasted. The others were thankful when sleep finally silenced him. With the great wolves standing guard, everyone else slept, as well.
In the morning, they entered the tunnel-like Shoovway. Hyden was anxious and excited about what the Wedjak had in store for them. Its wonders and dangers were now but a few dozen paces away.
Chapter 46
In a small, snow-covered clearing somewhere in the Evermore Forest, the senior members of the coalition of
