The Ogre laughed when it heard the shouts and stared at him with victory in its eyes. It licked its swollen lips with a huge brown tongue. Lasgol knew with certainty that he would be the monster’s dinner tonight. He was trapped and helpless, but he still had one way out. He had to use his magic to find some way of getting rid of the monster.
He shut his eyes and concentrated, searching for the pool of energy in the center of his chest, wondering which skill he could invoke to affect the creature. He remembered what had happened with the bear in the frozen territories, when they had taken shelter in its cave while fleeing from a blizzard. He might be able to frighten the Ogre, just as he had with the bear. He could not manage to think of anything else, and he was running out of time.
He had to enter the mind of the beast to confuse it or scare it, but it was not going to be easy. He called upon his Presence of Aura skill, with the aim of picking up the Ogre’s mind. He was not even sure whether he would be able to, since this creature was more monster than animal and his skills generally only worked on animals, apart from himself. He opened his eyes and saw that the monster was beginning to crouch so that it could grab him with its massive hands. Luckily it was so large that it was hard for it to bend from the waist to the ground. There was no time, but he did not allow himself to be distracted by nerves. He focused and sent more energy to maximize the skill and catch the creature’s mental aura, trying to stay as calm as possible. Everything depended on his being able to catch it, his own lives and those of his friends.
The huge hands were closing in on his head, but even so he kept calm and went on trying to catch the monster’s mind. Its paw was beside his ear when he managed to sense a brownish aura, much larger than a bear’s, located in the Ogre’s head, which was grinning, with its jutting fangs ready to tear him to shreds.
He focused on its mental aura and called upon his Animal Communication skill, then sent a mental message as strongly as he could:
Stop!
The Ogre opened its eyes wide and stopped in its tracks, still as a statue, with its hands on both sides of Lasgol’s head. It looked around, trying to understand whether somebody had shouted at it. Seeing nobody, it straightened up without letting Lasgol escape and looked behind it. Its face showed the puzzlement it felt.
Let me go! Lasgol called mentally, more like one of his commands to Ona than an attempt at animal communication, though a lot stronger.
The monster looked at him, and its eyes were now as wide as saucers. It had just realized that the mental message was coming from its prey. Its face twisted, and it roared at the top of its voice. It was furious. Lasgol could understand very clearly what that roar meant: What are you doing to me? It did not look frightened or puzzled, simply furious.
Go away! he ordered it, intensifying his Animal Communication skill and sending out more of his inner energy. He needed to scare the monster, and if the message was deafening enough in its animal mind, he might succeed.
The Ogre bent forward and roared, with its face very close to Lasgol’s. The fetid breath hit his face and blew his hair back. It was as if he had been struck a foul-smelling blow, but he neither flinched nor lost his concentration. He sent out more energy and once again commanded: Get back!
The reply was a terrible roar of rage. This was not working. He was sending it messages which – although they were confusing it – were only enraging it further. He was not going to get out of it alive this way. Very soon the monster would realize that if it killed him, the mental messages would end. The Ogre grabbed his arms and lifted him off the ground as if he were a ragdoll. It shook him hard, and he lost one of his two bows and several arrows. It lifted him up until his face was level with its mouth and fangs.
Let me go! Lasgol shouted in its mind.
The Ogre shook its head several times in annoyance and roared in his face. It began to tug powerfully at his arms. The monster had realized how it could get rid of the messages, and it was going to split him in half!
Desperately he focused on its mind, ignoring the pain he was feeling. Instead of sending a message, what he tried to do now was to influence its mind so that he could bend it to his will. He had never tried anything like this before. When he gave orders to Ona, he did it by way of Animal Communication, with messages she understood. This was different. He was trying to make the Ogre’s mind obey his own. He tried to create a link between both their minds so that he could command. It was about to pull his arms off,
