The Tales of the Wanderer Volume One: A Book of Underrealm (The Underrealm Volumes 4)

by Garrett Robinson

  The trolls were again regrouping, nursing their wounds and preparing for another charge. They were close, pressing together in the bailey, while still more tried to force their way in through the gatehouse. Our only way out was through the keep’s front door, and they had it blocked. They were close to victory now, and they knew it. They growled and roared, slamming their hands into the ground and cracking cobblestones.

  “They will not wait as long this time,” I said.

  “They did not wait very long last time,” said Mag.

  “Their leader,” said Ditra. “Where is he?”

  I pointed. “There.” He stood in the midst of the pack, pacing back and forth, a few steps each way, growling and leering at the keep door like it was a rival come to challenge him.

  “Out of our reach, from up here,” said Mag.

  “I could stick him with an arrow,” I said. “It might annoy him.”

  “Yes, it would please me to know he will be irritated when he breaks in the door and kills us all,” mused Ditra.

  Mag met my gaze. “What would happen if we brought him down? When they break down the door, you and I try to slay him. I can land the oil if you strike him with the arrows.”

  I looked to Ditra. “Rangatira?”

  She mulled it over. “Even if he dies, I do not think they will simply turn and walk away from the city. But if they at least withdraw from the keep, and take the time to establish a new pack leader … it could delay them a day or two. That might give the king’s army time to arrive, if indeed they are on their way.”

  “And if they are not?” said Mag.

  Ditra looked grim. “It might give us time to withdraw. We have given the refugees enough time. The trolls care only about the mountains. They will not chase us into the lowlands. It would mean giving Kahaunga up for lost, but that is better than letting everyone die.”

  Only a week ago, I would have agreed without question. But now, the prospect of retreat filled me with a wild, unreasoning rage. If we fled, we would not only give up the city. We might lose our best chance to kill Kaita since Northwood. I strode to the edge of the balcony.

  “Albern?” said Ditra, alarmed.

  I drew an arrow, nocked, and loosed. It plunged through the air, striking the line between stones in the bailey just at the foot of the troll’s leader. He jumped at the sound, looking down at the arrow in confusion. It was a long moment before he put it together, and his gaze snapped up to see me atop the keep.

  “I am Albern of the family Telfer!” I called down to him. “Turn away from here. Go back to your homes. Go back to the borders of the pact.”

  He bared his teeth at me. “I am Dotag!” he roared, standing to his full height. “I lead the pack. I do not listen to humans.”

  “Your pack did once,” I said. “Go back to the border.”

  “You broke the pact long before we did,” said Dotag. “I will not listen to you now.”

  “Humans did break the pact, but we never harmed your people. And you do not fight us now because of the pact. You say you do not listen to humans, but you are spurred on by the Shades. They are treacherous. They have used you to attack us, but they will betray you, as they have done to others. I have traveled three kingdoms in pursuit of them, and you cannot trust them.”

  “We serve no humans!” roared Dotag. “We will never listen to you! Your words mean nothing to us!”

  I frowned—but not at Dotag. My attention had moved past him, to the female troll who still lurked by his side. She was not paying the slightest attention to her leader, as the other trolls were. Instead she looked straight at me. The expression of hatred upon her face was almost human.

  But my thoughts were pulled back to Dotag as he rounded on the rest of the pack. “We will never serve humans!” he bellowed. “Tear their home to the ground! Kill all you find inside!”

  They stampeded towards the door, Dotag leading the way. The female troll was swept along in the tide. They pressed up against the sides of the keep.

  “Dark take them,” said Ditra. “To the hall! We must try to bring him down.”

  She ran for the trapdoor leading back into the keep, and Mag was just behind her. But I paused at the battlements for a moment, looking down. To this day, I could not tell you what made me stay, but I did.

  A hail of oil vials crashed along the troll’s ranks, flung from arrow slits. Flaming arrows came just behind, sending a blast of fire across them. The trolls recoiled, stumbling back from the keep for a moment.

  I seized the merlon, leaning forwards, my eyes wide.

  The flames struck the troll by Dotag’s side, and she recoiled with the others. But she bent her head away, out of sight, and I saw a flash. Magelight. And the flesh that had been struck by flames now stitched itself together before my eyes.

  I turned and ran from the battlement. The trapdoor still hung open, and I dived into it, running down the stairs and through the rest of the keep. At the front of the main hall, soldiers were leaning on the bracers, holding the door shut as long as they could. There came a great, shattering crash as a troll threw itself against the doors. I reached Mag and Ditra just at the entrance to the main hall, and I seized Mag’s shoulder to pull her around.

  “Kaita!” I cried. “The female troll lurking near the leader. She is Kaita in disguise.”

  Mag stared at me in wonder. Ditra turned at my words, astonished.

  “How do you—”

  “Fire struck her, and she used her magic to heal herself,” I said. “It was only a flash, but I saw it. It is her.”

  There came a great crack as timbers began to splinter on the keep door. Through a hole in the iron grid, I saw a troll’s eye peeking through.

  Mag’s face went stony as the battle-trance settled over her. “Then I will kill her.”

  “We cannot. You have to expose her.”

  “Killing her will expose her, Albern,” said Ditra. “If a weremage is killed, they take their true form.”

  “She hangs back from the fighting,” I told Mag. “You might get close enough to strike her, but I cannot. But there is Tuhin’s trick. The one they showed us in Opara.”

  Mag’s face remained impassive. “I remember.”

  “Use it. Force her to resume her human form in front of the trolls. She has been goading them all along. They have followed her advice because they think she is one of their own. When they realize a Shade has been deceiving them the whole time—”

  A thunderous crash rocked the keep as the doors shattered inwards. Timbers and bands of iron went flying, flinging soldiers away from the door. Dotag flew into the open space at the front of the hall, roaring his hatred. Trolls tumbled in behind him—and among them was Kaita.

  “Push them back!” cried Ditra, raising her axe and running forwards. “Fire! Fire!”

  Flasks of oil came flying from all directions. A brazier stood next to me against the wall, and I lit and loosed. Flame erupted among the trolls. But they were too enraged now to let that stop them. They seized any Telfer soldier they could get their hands on, flinging them into walls, smashing them against the floor, or simply squeezing them until their bodies broke.

  But they could not touch Mag.

  She had sprung towards them as soon as the doors caved in. Now she vaulted and leaped off a woman’s shoulders. Dotag froze in shock as she flew straight towards his massive head. But she landed on his shoulder and jumped again.

  Kaita saw her at the last instant. Her wide troll’s eyes filled with fear, and she scrambled desperately to try and escape the keep. Even in a troll’s form, she was too afraid of Mag to face her in battle. But the crowd of trolls was too thick, and she could not flee.

  Mag landed in the midst of them. A troll attacked from either side, trying to seize her, to smash her, to fling her away. She rolled under the grasping hands of one, and leaped over the swipe of another.

  She cast aside her spear and shield, landed on one of her assailant’s oak-thick arms, and jumped straight for Kait
a’s terrified face.

  I could see nothing else in the hall. The world seemed frozen for a moment. I can remember it now as clear as anything—Mag’s fluttering cloak, and Kaita trying desperately to evade her.

  Then Mag swept her fists forwards and struck. One fist crashed into each temple, just where Tuhin had showed us in Opara.

  Kaita screamed, a deep, guttural roar that echoed through the hall. Magelight poured from her eyes, bright as a beacon fire, lighting the ceiling and walls.

  The trolls’ assault shuddered to a stop. At their head, Dotag turned and looked upon Kaita in confusion. And as trolls and humans alike watched, frozen in place, Kaita shrank, withered, and became human once more, to fall stunned at Mag’s feet.

  Everyone in the hall, human or otherwise, seemed to be waiting for someone to say something—to explain, to denounce Kaita, anything. Instead, the only sound was a slight scrape of metal on stone as Mag fetched her spear, and then stooped to haul Kaita up by the back of her neck. She turned the weremage to face Dotag, holding the haft of the spear across the weremage’s throat.

  “A weremage,” she said loudly, so that every troll could hear. “A human. She has prodded you into this fight. She has led you to go far beyond the pact boundary, to attack the family Telfer. She has been using you.”

  Ditra saw her chance and stepped forwards. “This was a base, dishonorable trick,” she said. “This woman has harmed both our people equally. We have both lost many of our own here today. But we need not fight any longer, now that we see our common foe.”

  But Dotag ignored both of them. He only stared at Kaita in shock, his shoulders drooping, his mouth hanging agape. He took one slow, hesitant step forwards. And then he spoke, in the troll’s language, which I could not understand. But others in the hall knew it, and they told me later what he and the other trolls said in the moments that followed, and so I will render it to you now.

  “Gatak,” he said. “Gatak, what trickery is this?”

  “Not Gatak,” said Ditra, for she knew the troll tongue. “Kaita. Her name is Kaita.”

  Dotag barely seemed to hear her. “You pretended. You pretended to be one of us.”

  Kaita, for her part, did not seem to be even slightly interested in Dotag’s horror. Her eyes darted everywhere, wild, terrified at Mag’s grip upon her, desperate to find some way to escape.

  “Answer me!” roared Dotag, so loud that I jumped.

  That seemed to snap Kaita’s attention back to him. She looked up into his enraged, bewildered expression, and she forced a smile upon her face. “You are so close, Dotag,” she said eagerly. “You have come so far. The humans cannot hope to stop your pack now. Finish it. Kill them!”

  She struggled against Mag’s spear, but Mag, expressionless, only squeezed tighter. Kaita began to gag, the wood pressing into her windpipe.

  “You … you did this,” said Dotag. His shoulders heaved. “You … you—”

  He straightened and threw his fists wide, unleashing a roar that startled everyone in the hall. Then he charged. I saw Mag hesitate for just a heartbeat, and for a mad moment I thought she was going to let Dotag crush her and Kaita together.

  Instead, she wrapped an arm around Kaita’s neck and leaped to the side, dodging just as Dotag’s fist came crashing down where they had just been standing. Both women fell. Mag tried to get back up, but Kaita was fighting her now. She could not free herself from Mag’s grip, but her struggles kept either of them from getting to their feet.

  Dotag roared and attacked again. Mag had to roll away. Without Kaita to hamper her movements, she was able to shoot to her feet and strike. Dotag screamed and reeled away. Mag had sliced his right ear clean off.

  But Kaita had been given the reprieve she needed. Her eyes flashed, and even as Ditra cried out for archers to stop her, she took her mountain lion form. I was the only one who managed a shot—it flew straight through the crowd, piercing her flank. She yowled, but she did not stop. In a blink she had slithered through the press of trolls, out the door and into the bailey beyond. Another flash of magelight, and then I saw a raven wheel away above the heads of the trolls, screaming in frustration as it vanished into the sky.

  Mag stood stock still, watching. Had it not been for the battle-trance, I am sure she would have been shaking with rage.

  Dotag hardly seemed to know what to do with himself. His thick fingers probed at the wound in the side of his head. I thought it would enrage him further, but instead he only seemed confused. He looked down at Mag, but he did not try to attack her. He looked at the rest of us in the hall, taking in the many flaming arrows raised and flasks of oil ready to throw.

  At last he turned back to his pack. “The mountains are still ours! Fight! Kill them!”

  He whirled back, ready to plunge into the midst of Ditra’s troops. But he only got two steps before he realized that not one troll had moved to follow him. They were looking at him instead, their faces impassive, studying him like a beast in the mountains. He stopped and turned.

  “Fight!” he roared, louder than before. Still they held their ground. Dotag snarled and lunged towards them, smashing his fists against the floor. “I lead this pack. I lead! Challenge me, or obey!”

  “I challenge you.”

  One of the trolls—another female—stepped forwards. She was thick and tall, and imposing despite the small burns on her skin. And I did not need to speak the troll’s language to hear the hatred thick in her voice.

  “I, Apok, challenge you. You let yourself be tricked by the humans. You followed their counsel when Chok told you not to. You killed Chok to serve the humans. You will lead us to ruin. I, Apok, challenge you.”

  Dotag looked truly terrified now. But he stumped towards her, spreading his shoulders to appear thicker and bigger than before.

  “Get back!” called Ditra. Her soldiers needed no second urging; they backed as far from the two trolls as they could, pressing against the far edges of the hall. Only Mag remained where she was, still staring off where Kaita had flown. I pushed through the crowd and seized her, drawing her away from the trolls.

  “Come,” I murmured. “We will find her again.”

  We barely got out of the way before Dotag snarled and charged Apok. He leaped at her, swinging both fists with all his might. But Apok stepped out of the way and used his own momentum to slam him into the ground. She struck him twice before he managed to roll away—but when he came up, it was with a powerful blow that flung her back into the wall. She slumped down, and I saw cracked stone behind her.

  Dotag pressed his advantage. As Apok fought for her feet, he struck her once in the face, sending her head crashing against the wall again. He struck her twice more, both in places on her torso that had been badly burned in the battle. Apok roared with pain. She lashed out, and the nails of her stubby fingers raked the place where Dotag’s ear had been. He recoiled, falling back a few steps and giving her the chance to gain her feet again.

  Mag’s arm tensed in my hand. I gripped her tighter, and she turned to look at me. “Leave it,” I said quietly. “This is their affair, and they will brook no interference.”

  “If that one wins …” she tilted her head towards Dotag.

  “I know,” I said. “But we have no choice.”

  Apok approached Dotag cautiously. They were both grimacing, showing each other their teeth. But Apok held herself firm, her gaze fixed on Dotag, whereas he was shifting back and forth, looking about. He might have been searching for some advantage, but he looked like he was trying to find an escape.

  Finally Apok attacked again. Dotag ducked her first blow, but her second crashed into his jaw. He went sliding back across the stone floor and came to a stop amid the wreckage of the keep door, curled up like a babe in a cradle. The Telfer soldiers in the room gasped, and there was a murmur among the trolls.

  But it was a ruse. As Apok approached, Dotag struck. He had snatched up a piece of the broken iron grid that had held the door, a shard of metal almost two pace
s long. He thrust it into Apok’s chest, and almost two handbreadths of the metal sank into her flesh. She clutched at it with both hands, falling back on her rear, roaring. Dotag stepped closer, trying to jam it deeper, a low growl issuing from his throat. The rest of the trolls shifted. Some of them gave angry, rumbling shouts, and nearly all of them glared at Dotag. It seemed clear they did not approve of his cowardly trick.

  Apok’s eyes widened, and she bared her teeth again. She let go the iron shard, and Dotag’s weight pressed it deeper into her chest. But Apok’s hands rose and wrapped around his throat. She squeezed. Dotag’s hands slackened on the iron, and he seized her wrists, trying to pull her away. But Apok had him now. She heaved, throwing him off balance and bringing him crashing to the ground. Apok pulled him up just enough to slam his head back into the stone. Dotag’s nails dug into her forearms, but she did not relent. Again and again she sent the back of his head crashing into the floor. A black stain of blood appeared on the ground beneath him, and his arms fell away from her wrists.

  Apok stopped. She straightened. With one massive hand, she dragged the iron shard from her own chest. Dotag stirred. His eyes spun in their sockets as he tried to sit up.

  Apok rammed the iron shard into his mouth. It pierced straight through the back of his head, pinning him to the stone floor.

  Dotag jerked once and then lay still.

  The hall fell quiet, save for Apok’s great, heaving breaths. She tossed her head as though shaking away a dizzy spell. My gaze shifted to Ditra. She stood near the front of her soldiers, her mouth slightly open, waiting.

  Apok turned to her, eyes narrowed. I gripped my bow.

  “I lead the pack now.” Apok’s growl echoed around the hall. She spoke in the common tongue of Underrealm. “Our fight is over.”

  I nearly sagged with relief, as did most of the Telfer soldiers I could see. But Ditra stood straighter, stepping forwards to separate herself from the crowd. She inclined her head.

  “Then we shall part,” she said. “And you will leave here pursued by no ill will of my family or our warriors.”