“You fast,” it grumbled.
I vanished again; this time I appeared on the creature’s back. I drove my sword into its neck until it pushed through the front. Gurgling, it swayed briefly then teetered forward. I flipped backward onto my feet and quickly finished off the other still bound by my magic. The crowd boomed in applause and cheers. Looking around the only thing I could see was jungle for miles. The arena must be bewitched from the inside. No crowd to distract except when they allowed us to hear the applause. As soon as I moved on I couldn’t hear any cheering. The sounds of the jungle became the only melody.
Stalking through the trees I moved as quickly as I could. Every breaking branch, every rustle of a bush had me on edge. Several minutes passed before I heard the roar of a troll. Peering around a tree trunk as wide as three men, Aric wildly stabbed at three trolls surrounding him.
“Over here you ugly bastards!” I shouted, conjuring an icicle with a point that would pierce flesh. I sent it flying. The weapon went through one side of a troll’s head and out the other. It fell with an earth-shaking crash. Aric took advantage of the surprise and hacked and cut through the other two.
In a flash Aric stood before me. “Thanks,” he said with a huff of air. “They came at me all at once. I got one earlier.”
“That means there could be four left. I killed two others.” I wiped the sweat from my brow. “No Zyacus?”
Aric’s mouth twisted. “Not yet.”
We moved through the underbrush that seemed to be growing as we went. My arm tired just from chopping the grass that reached shoulder height.
“Save your energy,” Aric said, grabbing my arm as I pulled back to chop. “Some of these vines and bushes are so thick we can’t get through. Let’s go back the other way.” He took three steps then stumbled back as if he’d run into a wall. “Never mind. We can’t go that way.”
I sighed and we kept trudging. Crawling through openings in thick roots that grew above ground and tangled vines that wound together making them impossible to chop through. Magic could slice through but like Aric said, we needed to save our energy.
Then after what felt like days, silver glinted in the sunlight. I froze when I saw a—cage. It was shadowed inside. Aric stepped in front of me then his head whipped around. “Zyacus is in there.”
“You can see that far?” I asked in disbelief.
He nodded. “Come on, let’s get him out.”
We dashed into the clearing when Zyacus pushed his hand through the bars. “No, it’s a trap!”
I skidded to a halt but not before a rope caught my foot. Holy phoenix! I lifted my sword to cut the rope but it went taut and I was suddenly hanging upside down, swinging from a tree at least ten feet from the ground.
When I tried to teleport to the ground I—couldn’t. Panic trickled into my gut as my magic waned like vapors lost on a breeze. I inspected the rope and cursed at the black metal strands woven into it. “The rope is interlaced with kirune!” I shouted. Which also meant I wouldn’t be able to cut through it easily.
Aric had been quick enough to not get snagged. He worked on the cage door. “This entire cage is made of kirune,” Aric said, stepping back. “How did they get you in there?”
“This is where my door led, straight into this cage,” Zyacus said angrily. “I’ve been sitting here on my ass for at least an hour listening to these trolls fart and make fun of my hair.” He raised his voice, “Apparently clean, well-kept hair is frowned upon by these beasts!”
I sawed at the rope, shaking my head. “You would be worried about your hair right now.”
“Well, get me out of this cage and I’ll kill them all with my great hair. There’s a key. I saw one of the trolls with it on his belt.”
“Why would they put you in a cage if we’re here to kill trolls?” I asked, grunting at the effort of sawing and getting nowhere. “And you have to get me down first, Aric. Zyacus is at least safe in there.”
Aric pulled the bow from his back and knocked an arrow. When it loosed, it grazed the rope slicing through half. “You almost got it!” I exclaimed. All the blood rushing to my head made me dizzy at this point.
“You cut that thing and she’s going to fall on her head and break her neck,” Zyacus said, standing with his hands wrapped around the bars.
“I’ll catch her,” Aric said with a confident grin.
“You better hurry,” Zyacus said and pointed to the left. “They’re here.”
The next arrow he shot missed entirely. “Shit,” he cursed and reloaded the arrow.
One of the trolls, the biggest of the four began to laugh. “This be fun. We cut girl’s head off as she swing?”
“Aric, hurry!” I nearly squealed as the trolls closed in. Before I knew it I was falling and screaming then crashed into Aric’s arms. He set me on my feet and I quickly pushed the rope off my leg. Slowly my magic returned, and we stood back to back. “The big one has the key.”
“I’ll hold them off,” Aric said, swinging his sword around his hand. “You get it.”
My magic lightly hummed under my skin as it returned. The big troll ran at me with a bellow. I snapped my fingers, the key appeared in my hand and then I vanished just as his massive club
