9
“YOU WERE RIGHT,” I SAID TO BEEZLE. “I’D RATHER not know.”
The creatures grew before our eyes until they were the size of the trees that towered in the forest. They looked like a cross between trolls and dogs, with lumpy, misshapen, humanoid faces attached to furred four- legged bodies.
Long canines protruded over their lower jaws, and their disconcertingly human eyes seemed to say one thing when they looked at us.
Lunch.
“Stand and fight or try to escape?” I asked.
“Fly!” Nathaniel shouted.
I didn’t need to be told twice.
Beezle launched off my shoulder. I pushed out my wings and shot into the sky above the trees, Nathaniel beside me. We accelerated away from the troll-things, which howled as they saw us taking to the air.
I looked back over my shoulder and gasped. “Oh, that’s not fair.”
I pulled up for a moment. Nathaniel and Beezle turned to see what I was looking at.
The creatures were growing wings. Huge, reticulated wings sprouted from their bodies. The larger creature narrowed its eyes at us in triumph.
“Fly faster,” Beezle said.
“No,” I said. “We can’t outrun them. Evasive maneuvers.”
I dove back into the trees, the other two following me. For a moment we were out of the sight of the monsters, hidden by the thick, leafy canopy. I settled in a sturdy-looking curve of branch, and Beezle landed on my shoulder. Nathaniel hovered in the air beside me.
The monsters both roared in anger as we disappeared. A moment later the ground trembled, and then a gale-force wind hit us as the creatures lifted off the ground. They buzzed over us, shouting at one another in a language I did not understand, clearly searching. They flew in small circles above the trees, and we tensed as they passed above us, then relaxed when the trolls moved on.
“What do you have in mind?” Nathaniel whispered, his face close to my ear so I could hear him over the wind. “We can’t hide here forever. They are large enough to grab us from the ground if we stay under the tree cover.”
“So if we stay under the trees, they’ll grab us from the ground, and if we stay above the trees, they’ll catch up to us quickly,” Beezle said. “Why didn’t I stay home with the TV and the popcorn?”
“We’ll have to fly in and out,” I said. “And try to blast them with spells while we’re at it.”
“Oh, great,” Beezle said. “We’re going to kill something else of Titania and Oberon’s, and then they’re really going to be pissed at us.”
“Do you want to get back home to the TV and the popcorn?” I asked.
“Fine, fine,” Beezle said. “Have it your way.”
“Look—they’re staying above the trees for now. So let’s try to get as far as we can under the canopy. They make so much noise they should be easy to hear if they approach,” I said.
Nathaniel nodded and Beezle squeezed my shoulder with his claws.
“I take it that you’re riding?” I asked Beezle.
“I’m not built for evasive maneuvers,” Beezle said.
“You left yourself wide-open there, but I’m not going to take advantage on account of the fact that we’re in mortal peril,” I said.
Nathaniel and I flew quickly and quietly toward the path. The branches of the trees arched over the path and left plenty of room beneath to fly between the two sides. The trolls were still above, roaring at one another.
“We’re always in mortal peril, so if you’re going to have scruples about things like that, you’re not going to be able to keep up with me,” Beezle said.
“If that’s the case,” I started, but I never had the chance to finish.
Something wrapped around my waist and yanked me backward, out of the air.
Beezle cried out as the impact caused him to lose his grip on my shoulder.
A moment later I slammed against the bark of a tree, and looked down to realize that one of the tree’s branches had wound around me. Another branch quickly wrapped around my ankles. Across the path, Nathaniel had also been captured by the trees. The trees began to shake, almost like they were trying to communicate with the trolls.
“Oh, no,” I said, annoyed. “I know what to do with you.”
My hands were bound tight against my sides by the branch, but I could still wiggle my fingers. Which meant that I could send a blast of fire scorching down the bark of the tree.
The tree loosened its grip on me for a moment. I laid both my hands against the branch and gave it a good solid blast until it ignited.
It let me go and I plummeted toward the ground for a moment until I could get my bearings and start flying again. The air quickly filled with smoke.
“Why don’t you just wave at the trolls and say, ‘Hey, I’m over here’?” Beezle said conversationally as he reattached himself to my shoulder.
“Should I have let the tree crush me to death?” I asked, flying toward Nathaniel.
He’d blasted his tree with fire as well. That meant that we were both free. For the moment, anyway. The trees were looking very ominous all of a sudden. The two trees that had caught fire were waving their branches around in distress.
“I don’t think we should stay under the cover of the trees anymore,” Beezle said.
“I concur,” Nathaniel said.
“If we go up, we’re going to get chased by trolls,” I said.
“There are only two trolls and a whole lot of trees,” Beezle said. “Let’s take our chances.”
Up above the monsters paused, their giant wings flapping. One of the creatures shouted at the other, which headed away toward the direction of the hill.
“Maybe it went to get water to put out the trees,” I said.
“Maybe it went to get the rest of its family,” Beezle said.
“Okay,” I said, and we went up through the canopy.
The trees slashed and grabbed at us, but I kept a steady stream of fire coming so that they couldn’t get a good hold. A few moments later we were through the top.
The troll was waiting for us, of course.
I blasted it full in the face with nightfire, and the spell bounced off the troll’s skin and careened into the trees, setting some more leaves on fire.
“Oh, yeah, I forgot about that,” Beezle said. “Trolls are immune to magic spells.”
“Are you kidding me?” I shouted. “You couldn’t have remembered this earlier?”
“We will have to try to outrun it,” Nathaniel said grimly.
The troll swooped toward us, its mouth open. It looked ready to scoop us out of the air with its tongue and swallow us whole.
I waited until it was so close that I could smell the stink of its breath, and then I dropped rapidly, straight down. Nathaniel chose to go up, and the troll stopped for a moment, seemingly unsure of what had just happened.
I shot straight up again, sword drawn, aiming for the troll’s belly. The blade struck true, piercing the creature’s abdomen. A gush of fluid poured from the wound, coating Beezle and me. I ignored Beezle’s howls and kept a secure grip on the sword, flying toward the creature’s back legs. All the while I pulled the sword through, until I’d run a nice neat line through the center of the monster.
More goop poured out, and some large gray things that might have been organs. I yanked the sword out and got out of the way just in time.
The troll plummeted toward the burning forest, crashing into the trees, tearing branches as it fell to earth.
I hung in the air for a moment, panting from exertion. Nathaniel approached us, a look of concern on his
