“That be my buddy, Jeff.”
“Deal with him,” I commanded.
“Yes, Master,” Charlie replied.
Jeff rounded the corner. “Charlie, where you been? I been looking all over for you. Hey, who’s the elf? You make a new friend? How about—”
Charlie plowed into Jeff, wrapped his hands around the other troll, and drove him into the ground. Dust exploded as Jeff hit the ground with a thump. Charlie hewed into the other troll with an onslaught of punches. Blood and teeth exploded from Jeff’s mouth as he scrambled to rid himself of his attacker. Jeff wrapped his thighs around Charlie’s torso, flipped him over, and gained the advantage.
My Enthrall ability might not be able to control two trolls at once, and I couldn’t guarantee another second of Charlie being under my power either. If he sustained enough damage, it might break my hold over him.
I needed to make a tactical retreat while the two trolls were locked in battle.
Before I could take my leave, I heard a sickening crunch. I glanced at the two trolls and saw only one, standing above the other. Jeff gloated over his victory, Charlie lying beneath him, his head twisted entirely the wrong way.
“You did something to him, Elf. Made me kill me best friend,” Jeff said as he descended upon me. “He told me not to look in your eyes, a second before I snapped his neck.”
“Well, just get an eyeful of my ass, then.”
I turned and ran.
As the steady pounding of the troll’s feet echoed behind me, I glanced at my timer. I only had twenty-two seconds until the avatar returned to my dungeon heart. I needed somewhere to hide my jewel while the troll passed me by.
The mountain was to my left, and the precipice to my right, a fall thousands of feet to the bottom. Ahead was a bend in the road. As soon as I turned the corner, I’d be hidden from my pursuer’s sight for a few seconds. I sprinted as fast as I could, forcing my elvish legs to pump harder. Fire burned in my lungs, demanding more oxygen. Jeff’s angry grunts were drawing closer, but he was still out of sight when I rounded the corner and saw a pile of rocks.
With no time to waste I wrapped my jewel in its sling and stuffed it into the middle of the rock pile. It was mostly hidden, but he’d see it if he spared more than a second glance at the spot.
I left my jewel stashed in the pile of rocks and turned to face the troll. He curved around the corner, his lips peeling back into a smile when he saw me.
“Found you,” he said.
Well, this was all or nothing. I checked my timer. Four seconds. Gathering the last of my elf’s strength, I smirked at Jeff with an expression of challenge. The drop to my left was huge, and the angle just about right; it was time to show this god-awful smelling bastard just who he was dealing with. I poured the last of my energy into one final effort and sprinted straight at him. Jeff’s eyes widened at first, but then he grinned and surged forward just as I launched myself upward.
My foot found the perfect notch on the mountain’s side, and I hurled myself off it and twisted in the air. My elvish boots hit him in the face like some kind of Infernal, blood-powered meteoritic dropkick. I felt his whole head snap back as I collided with him. He stumbled, and my momentum carried me past him and into the screaming, brimstone-heavy abyss behind.
I detached my consciousness from the elf, once again feeling the hard, unforgiving edges of my dungeon core. Isolating Von Dominus, I used every ounce of willpower to haul the elf back into my jewel. After a moment, I felt him return, a swirling mass of unique, slightly drained essence.
All that, for one last-ditch effort.
Chances were, the troll had probably still seen the black cloud, but maybe that kick had slowed him down, concussed him. It was something to buy me a little time to plan and get a handle on the situation.
I felt a rustling as the rocks surrounding me shifted. Suddenly, the strangely comforting darkness vanished as Jeff tore me free from the improvised sling. Two massive eyes peered into my surface and a thick finger prodded my center.
The troll had found me. He must have seen the black mist flying through the air as it returned to my jewel. Shit. Couldn’t be helped. Still, a damned shame.
Jeff pulled the jewel entirely free of Von Dominus’ old sleeves and closed his hand over me. As a dungeon core, I didn’t have nostrils to smell, but I could still sense the vile aroma inside my captor’s palm.
“Silly elf went and killed himself. I just wanted a friendly chat with him. Lucky I found you, though. I don’t know what that mist was, but it led me to you.” The troll opened his fist and caressed me with his grubby hand. “You be very pretty, little stone. Ma will love you.”
If I’d had the slightest desire to talk with this enormous creature, I’d have told him that talking to pretty things needed a little more subtlety, maybe an offer of a drink or dinner. Not that he’d have understood me.
Jeff started moving, but I couldn’t see anything while his hand was balled tight. My sides were slick with the troll’s sweat, and a meaty hand constricted against my surfaces. I could sense something inside the troll, but it was different from my avatar’s thirsting for blood. Something called out to me deep within my captor’s being, swirling through his veins, almost as though the essence of the creature could be consumed, used, and stored. I recalled the Infernal Essence I had gained from slaying the Sulfur Gnome and figured this same substance existed within the troll.
Killing him would probably earn me more Infernal Essence.
It was more of an incentive to break
