Boil demanded quiet that night and so in silence awash with a full moon's bright eye, they traveled the last of their achingly long journey to the wizard's tower.
No matter how hard he tried to imagine a wizard, Grump couldn't quite picture what one looked like. Did they smell like a thunderstorm? Did they move like specters in the wind? Perhaps they glowed like a firebug or had skin like an onyx salamander.
It was too bad trolls never cared to remember their history. Wizards were such an enormous part of Oya, literally reshaping it when they fought one another, but instead his people preferred dancing around fires in a smelly swamp and fighting over a crown of bones.
Soon, his adventure would end. He would get his wish and hope he could find some corner of the world devoid of any other to grow a new garden, collect new goats and live in peace until the day he decided it was finally time to see the sunrise. Let the world do as it may, but let him tend a garden and enjoy a good bowl of thimbleweed.
He almost didn't notice Boil had stopped and nearly tripped over the greenskin. Grump caught his balance by grabbing a pine and stared into the forest. "What's wrong?"
"We're here," Boil said. "Beyond those trees ahead, we'll find the tower."
Boil squeezed his fists and struck toward the last line of trees. Beyond them, moonlight glittered unobstructed.
Grump propped his shovel against a tree and lifted Rose from her pouch. Her skin was silky against the rough grain of his palms, the wisps of her dark hair like the fuzz of a fresh peach upon her crown. The birthmark on her hand shaped into a rose—the thing that had given her a name—was the only mark on her. She was perfect. And soon, she would be gone from him forever.
"I will miss you so much, my little Rose. You showed me I could care for more than a garden, and for that I will never forget you. But I am a troll and you are a wizard. You need a wizard to guide you, a wizard to teach you. I hope they will be as good to you as you were to me."
He clutched Rose against his cheek and rocked on his heels. Once again, the things he loved would leave him. But this time, it would be a choice he made. "For once, I will be something more than troll. Goodbye, goodbye, my darling Rose. You may never know me, but know that there will never be a day I won't think of you."
Grump tucked her back into her satchel and grabbed his shovel. Perhaps the wizard would tell Rose about him one day, and curious as she was, she would seek him out, the troll who brought her across Oya to fulfill her destiny.
He would tuck that hope into his back pocket and keep it there forever. He would plant every seed with it, smoke every pipe with it, and stare into the barest hint of sunlight blanching the morning horizon with it until the day his ancestors answered his prayer and brought her back to him.
Grump ignored the raging itch of his scar and stepped between the last gnarled knots of tree trunks. Boil stood in the moonlight, a few yards from a deep chasm ringing a tower of worn, black granite that soared high above the rocky earth, higher even than six redwoods stacked on atop the other.
Yet, that tower was but the sad, spent candle sitting at the feet of a giant. Grump gasped at the sight of the Grand Mountain knifing the dome of the diamond-soaked sky. So high the summit loomed, it choked the stars and split the sky in two like the seams of a great blanket torn in half. If the mountain had a peak, Grump couldn't find it. Both mountain and the night eventually blended into one another. Or maybe the mountain was the night, spilling its dark blood onto the land.
Grump fell back against a tree and shook his head. "So that's why they call it the Grand Mountain."
"The fair folk call it the peak no king can claim," Boil whispered. He rubbed his fists and glanced around. "The western bridge isn't far from here. Emperor willing, Dain wouldn't have had time to get here once he realized we headed to the tower's far side."
"The wizard's in there?" Grump asked, forcing his wide-eyed stare from the slope to the dark spire.
"We'll summon the wizard once we get to it," Boil said. Unlike Grump, he never took his gaze from the dark monolith waiting across the chasm.
Boil took a step forward, but hesitated. The greenskin whipped around and stomped to Grump. "Are you sure you want to do this? After all this time, you'll be okay with just giving Rose up? You're not going to go all Hunger troll on me?"
"I don't look at it like giving her up. I'm letting her go. It's for the best. The wizard knows better than me. I have to trust you in that."
"But it'd be so easy to run off with her. It'd be so easy to just go and hide. Why not do that?"
"Boil, I can't run again. I can't hide. This is the best thing for her, and that's all that matters."
"Seems to me like so far you've been the best thing for her," Boil said. "Once she's with the wizard, she'll be part of whatever war's coming back to Oya. Wizards will come again when the ocean heals, and there'll be another Wizarding War."
Grump cocked his head. "What's wrong with you? This was your mission, remember?"
"I don't know." Boil huffed and shook his head. "Wizards. They make me nervous. They tore the ocean. They raised the Ridge. They probably even made the Grand Mountain. I ... I think when we do this, we'll start something that can't be stopped, and it'll hurt folks who don't deserve the hurting."
Grump reached over and gently placed a hand on Boil's shoulder. "I promise I will protect you. You're my friend, Boil. No matter what happens, we're in this together. We'll get our wishes, then we'll be on our way. A wizard's got no use for a troll and a goblin anyway."
Boil took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right. We'll get our wishes and go. We'll be done then. Let the world do what it wants."
"Exactly what I was thinking."
They stole around the chasm's lip, rushing like wind in a storm along the precarious ledge. Slowly, they rounded the gorge, and in the distance a narrow stone bridge slipped from the shadows into the moonlight.
Distance lost its meaning against the backdrop of such a mighty mountain, and it took hours to reach the path across the chasm. Grump looked uneasily at the sky. Dawn would come soon enough. He prayed this wizard would let him take shelter in the tower until sunset. If not, he'd have to hope Boil knew a way into the mountain.
"This is it, Grump. Are you ready?"
"Ready. Let's end this." He stepped toward the bridge. The wind changed. Grump sniffed the air and stiffened. His eyes shot wide. "Boil, get down!"
Grump pitched forward as a silvery dagger whistled past his ear. Chaos exploded over the calm night.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
The Bridge
Steel whirred and whistled around them. An arrowhead thudded in Grump's shoulder, tearing flesh. He roared, swiping Boil in his arm just as a crossbow's bolt clanged on the stony bridge where the goblin once stood.
"I swear it's not the horde!" Boil screamed.
"Humans," Grump snarled. He backhanded an arrow, and it flipped into the chasm. A second tore from the woods. Grump tried to twist around the arrow, but its serrated steel caught his hip, the point burying again in bone.
Dain charged from the dark trees as if summoned by Grump's roar. His mage Egan trailed behind him, safely blocked by his master's imposing frame. Bowmen and knights burst from the underbrush on their heels, nocking their second rounds and unsheathing glimmering blades.
"Wait, you fools!" Grump braced Rose's satchel with his arm and turned from the assault. "You'll harm the girl. You want her dead?"
Dain's upper lip curled in a snarl. He raised a fist, and his men held their fire. "It's over. Give us the girl. The horde will never claim her."
"It's not the horde who wants her!" Boil shouted.
Grump maneuvered between his friend and the humans. "Get across, Boil. Get help. The wizard, the horde, I don't care. Just ... get help.
"But the mage will take your mind. Let me help."
"They won't hurt Rose, and that's all that matters. If you want to help, go summon the wizard!"
"But, Grump, that mage will make
you—"
"Just get her to the wizard, dammit!"
"But—"
"Go!" Grump turned from his friend and stepped toward the line of humans. What once was a breeze in the forest was a howling gale above the chasm. The winds tossed the humans' cloaks around their armor. Steel glimmered hungrily in the moonlight. Human eyes shimmered with rage at the troll before them.
Hunger heated Grump's blood. He rolled his shoulders and glared down his nose at Sir Dain Shilayle. "It ends tonight."
Dain smirked and motioned for his mage. "For one of us. Teach this troll a lesson."
Grump's brows knitted together. He glanced over his shoulder. Boil was nowhere in sight. There was no movement at the base of the dark tower, no shrill words summoning friendly faces. Grump stood alone. In the end, he always stood alone.
No, trust him, he thought. He's your friend. Boil will save you.
He gripped his shovel and swallowed. Egan the mage rolled up a sleeve, revealing the shimmering gold marks tattooed up his forearm. "You would think the troll would learn he cannot fight the light of amber."
"Monsters do not learn. They only destroy," Dain said.
Grump snorted and spit into the gorge. "We thought we lost you in the storm. You humans are worse than fungus."
The knight smiled and slid his swords from their scabbards. The wicked blades reflected moonlight on their razor edges. "You might have escaped had grave robbers been your hunters. Perhaps you would have escaped if you hid from the soldiers of Wren, or even the famed rangers of Vosh. But knights of the Order spend their lives hunting your kind. We mount our walls with greenskin heads. I have more than one crown of bones above my hearth."
Grump's scar itched fiercely. He ignored the sensation and looked back at the tower. Again, no movement disturbed the shadows, and the only sound around him was the rolling howl of the wind.
"Your friend won't save you," Dain said with a laugh. "Did I not tell you there were no wizards in Oya? He goes to summon his horde. By the time he returns—if he returns at all—we'll be long gone with our future wizard in hand. Despite your best efforts, we will have saved Oya from calamity. Mankind will prevail. It always prevails. Praise most high to the children of amber."
"Praise most high," his companions echoed. "May amber ever light our days."
Dain strode onto the long bridge. His ponytail came undone, and the golden threads of his hair framed his bright, blazing eyes. "And give us strength to burn the black. Your road ends here, troll."
Grump stole one last glance at the tower. Once again, nothing stirred in the shadows of the mountain. Egan's slow, melodious voice drifted on the wind. The mage's song swirled around Grump's body. It prodded his mind. It sunk into his thoughts.
He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. "No, get out of my mind. It's not yours. It's not!"
When he opened his eyes, he saw Dain's wide smile. The human's perfect white teeth formed an upturned crescent. The smugness only sent Grump's Hunger into a frothing rage.
Grump stepped forward, toes pressing hard against the rock. He aimed the shovel blade at the human's heart. He pulled the shovel back and growled. His growl burst into a roar, and he pitched forward to hurl the shovel at his nemesis with all the strength he could muster.
Egan's voice sighed in his ear, and Grump's body froze. His arm stuck before him, trembling, gripping the shovel with whitened knuckles. Dain laughed, casually swinging one of his swords in a figure eight as he approached Grump. "The light of amber defeated darkness once. It will defeat it again. Time to send you to whatever black hell is reserved for greenskins."
Grump tried to speak, but the mage's power held his voice. All he could muster was a tortured gaze down at Rose's satchel. If Boil would come, he would come too late.
Boil scampered to the other side of the bridge. He twisted behind a boulder and pressed his hands against its rough surface, sweat rolling down his temples. The horde should have been there for them. High mountain warriors or spider shamans or wolf riders—at least some of them should have been in the forest beyond Old Carrika. But the horde hid in the mountain now, and the forest was too quiet.
If he ran for the tower, he could summon the wizard. But then, it would be too late for Grump. The troll would die, and the only way to bring him back would be to wish it, and his wish was already spoken for. Boil slapped the rock and cursed. "He tried to kill you! Let him die, the stupid troll. You're back. Just go to the wizard. Start your clan. Be an emperor!"
He peeled away from the stone. This is what Grump wanted. The troll could die knowing he gave his life for his friend and the little girl. Boil hesitated. He raked his nails along the rock and sighed hard through his nose. "But it isn't what Ember would've wanted. Dammit, Grump. Dammit, dammit, dammit!"
Boil darted to the chasm's edge. Grump and the humans traded words with one another. The low, strange words of magic rolled into the air. Boil's gaze fixed on the human mage. That man was ruining everything. Everything.
Like a spider after a fly, Boil scampered down the dark ledge. His goblin claws stuck easily in the cracks and crevices of the gorge's wall. He raced down, peering into the darkness as he made his way to the underside of the bridge.
Boil reached the bridge's belly. He snatched a dagger from his pants and clamped it in his teeth. With slow, measured movements, he made his way across the bridge's underside.
At the far wall, he hopped from the bridge and climbed the craggy rocks. He reached the ledge, took a deep breath, and darted onto the ground, zipping between a bowman's legs while the human focused on Grump.
Not a sound came from Boil's feet as he edged toward the chanting mage. He swallowed, his goblin heart racing, rapping against his ribs.
For her, he thought. And for him.
He slipped the dagger from his mouth and clenched the hilt. Boil licked his lips and smirked. Here goes nothing.
One of Dain's blades whirred by Grump's ear. Next came the other steely razor, whooshing by. Grump managed a snarl, but the mage's magic kept him as helpless as a three-legged fawn in quicksand.
Dain sneered, and with a flick of his wrist, steel slashed across Grump's paralyzed face. Blood coursed into his left eye and wet his lips. He tasted the tin of his life as it flowed down his jaw, helpless to move, screaming on the inside but not the out.
"Poor troll," Dain sighed. "Your kind never win. You may try, but you never will. The light of amber always burns away the black."
The knight's glove cracked as he squeezed his sword. He brought the blade behind him. All the humans trained their eyes on Grump, the points of their bolts and arrows aimed at his great, vulnerable frame.
And while those beady gazes fixed on him, a shrunken form scurried toward the mage completely unnoticed. Two glittering ruby eyes twinkled behind the chanting human. Steel flashed as a sharp edge tasted the night air. Like a shooting star across a dark sky, that silvery knife slid across the mage's peachy throat. Egan's chanting died on his choking voice, his hand clutching at the burbling gash spouting scarlet.
Blood seeped through his fingers like water from a cracking dam as he crashed to his knees. The last of his voice died as he did.
Grump leaned toward Dain Shilayle, a great, deep breath flowing from his wide nostrils. "You know nothing of my kind, human."
Dain's eyes widened. Grump roared, spraying the startled knight with foaming spit and shaking the rocky bridge.
The knight swung wildly as Grump thrust his shovel at the man's chest. The blade caught the knight in the shoulder, and he spun to the side. Dain managed a second sloppy swing, but Grump slapped it away and smashed his heel against the bridge, shaking the stones beneath them.
The knight dropped one of his swords. He pitched forward with the other, but Grump grabbed the blade and tore it from his hand, sending it whizzing into the canyon.
Despite the cut on his palm gushing blood, Grump clenched his fist and sent it crashing against the bridge. Rocks shuddered, and the knight fell
back. His arms windmilled over the chasm, his eyes shining terror in their wide pools.
Dain tipped backward. One foot landed on the bridge while one swung over the ledge. He cried out, lurching forward as Grump swung his shovel.
The knight's fingers latched around the shovel's handle. He balanced precariously on the ledge, the wind whipping through his golden hair. Grump tensed, ready to ram the human into the abyss, but some power held his hand. He looked into Dain's eyes, and for the first time, he saw not a dangerous enemy, but a mere human, soft and weak and easily broken.
So they stood in the wind, bound together in their wild stares. Dain's men kept their arrows at bay while their master lived, but should Grump murder the man, he had no doubt those arrows would come for him.
Grump heaved breaths through his clenched teeth. Slobber dripped from his tusks and splattered on the bridge.
Bend. Break. Bleed. Kill. The Hunger's song was a vicious drumbeat. It would be so easy to kill this human, the one who destroyed all that was his. Grump clenched the shovel. Just this once, he would let the Hunger in. He didn't care what happened to him after.
"Kill me, monster," Dain rasped. "We may both die tonight, but you will fail. You will always fail!"
Grump snarled, and it tore into a roar. He clamped his teeth shut and scowled at the human. "I hate you." Grump battled the rage of his Hunger as red colored the world. "You are just like them, all of them. You call me names. You say I am less than you. You cut and bleed me. You've taken everything from me. Everything. But I've done nothing to you."
"You are a troll. It is who you are, and who you'll always be. Flowers bloom in spring, but that doesn't mean they won't wither under winter's winds. You'll prove your nature one day. If not today, tomorrow. This is the way of things."
A deep, low growl rumbled through Grump's throat. Dain would ever hate Grump, he saw that much in the human's eyes. Killing the knight would bring so much pleasure. It would be so easy.
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