by Leia Stone
I studied my bestie. Sage’s hair had been pulled from its bun and she was covered in dirt, same as me but otherwise unharmed.
“Welcome,” she breathed, trying to catch her breath. “I would have used the gun but didn’t want to accidently shoot you.”
“Appreciate that.” I gave a sly smile.
Sage slung an arm around me and I chuckled. Where there was trouble, I could always count on her.
“I totally had him,” I added.
“Totally.” She winked.
Our horses waited just a few feet away as we scanned the trees, preparing for a possible next attack. When nothing came, I nodded. “Well, let’s move on I guess.”
She bobbed her head in agreement but said nothing; she didn’t need to. We were both thinking it. Hopefully that attack wasn’t a portent for what the rest of the trip was going to be like.
As we got onto our horses, they climbed back up the hill and jumped over the small three-foot-tall cobblestone fence that signaled our leaving the Wild Lands and entering Troll Village. We immediately came up behind a few stone buildings and into a bustling marketplace.
“Showtime,” I muttered to Sage, who nodded, pulling the hood lower over her bright red hair. We both made quick work of patting off the dirt and leaves and evidence of our recent scuffle as we led the horses to an open area at the back of what looked like a market.
Trolls hurried about, running from stall after stall and buying items in a rush. Sage and I shared a look. Something wasn’t right here. They were fighting each other to push to the front of the lines and acting aggressively. My head snapped to my right, where I noticed two women warring over a small jar of honey.
What in the hell is going on here?
“Traders!” someone screamed, and then the crowd turned toward us. They rushed forward, pressing in on Sage and I. My horse reared upward as I yanked her reins, clenching my thighs and trying not to get bucked off.
“Back up!” I thrust a hand out to the trolls rushing us, and they obliged.
“What have you got? Any corn?” a woman asked with desperation in her gaze.
I frowned.
This wasn’t the Troll Village I’d visited over a year ago. Had the war done this? Were they low on food?
I nodded. “Blue corn. Some deer skins. And seeds.”
At the mention of seeds the crowd went nuts. They rushed forward, grabbing at my legs, and I was about to panic when a gunshot went off right beside me.
Everyone hit the ground, covering their ears, and I looked over at Sage, who held a sleek black handgun.
“Be civil or you get nothing!” Sage cried.
Okay, we’d agreed no guns on this trip unless absolutely necessary, but I guess that was needed lest I be torn apart by this mob.
Scared into compliance, they lined up one by one, single file. There must have been fifty people in total and more coming out of their houses and huts to see what was going on.
I slipped off of my horse and grabbed the trader bag that Willow had packed us. Sage stayed on her horse, gun in hand, as she stared down at the scene below.
I knelt, opening the red cloth and smoothing it into the ground as I laid my items out. There were gasps, and ohhhs and ahhhs as I arranged the seeds.
“She’s got seeds!” someone said from deep in the line, and my brow furrowed again. I looked up at Sage, who held her gun trained on the crowd, and she shrugged.
The first woman came up from the line clutching an old blanket. “I’ll trade you for five seeds?” She sounded unsure, like she knew it was a shitty trade. To be honest, the trader items were a front. I needed information, not a blanket.
It was a ratty-ass blanket too, the edges torn and frayed, and why the hell did everyone look so skinny? I didn’t want to act too clueless and raise the alarm that I clearly didn’t know what was going on in the magical world, but I had to find out why they looked half-starved and were fighting over seeds.
I swallowed hard, lowering my voice. “How about you tell me about why everyone needs seeds so bad? Why you are all fighting over food? Then I’ll give you any five seeds you like.”
Her eyes glittered with excitement at the prospect of being able to hang on to the blanket and the seeds. She leaned forward, nodding. “The vampires burned down all our farms nearly a year ago in order to force us to fight in the war against the wolves.” She licked her lips, eyeing the broccoli, corn, squash, and carrot seeds I had.
Those bloodsucking motherfuckers! Burned down all the farms!
Marmal.
“All the farms? Did you know someone named Marmal? Marmal from Rose-something.” My heart pounded against my chest as I struggled to remember where my friend was from. The lady shrugged.
“Yes, all the farms, but I don’t know any Marmal. Can I have my seeds?”
I nodded and she kneeled down, picking five seeds out carefully and then running off like she was escaping a fire. The man who was next looked at me quizzically.
“I know of a story about a Marmal from Rose-something. Might be your same one, but it will cost you ten seeds,” he whispered.
He’d been eavesdropping.
I nodded. “Deal.”
He was chubby, clearly not as starved as the others, and his nostrils were so big I could see his brain as he towered over me. The tusks in his cheeks were yellowing.
“Marmal of Rosedale was one of the first farms to burn. She lived near the vampire border.” His voice was scratchy like he was a smoker.
Excitement thrummed through me. Rosedale! That was it. “Yes. That’s her! Did she get away safely?”
He nodded. “She lost everything. But last I heard she’d been hired over at Trip’s barn in the Dark Fey lands. She’d got a knack for animal husbandry.”
Oh my God. Marmal. She was breeding animals for that asshole Trip in order to feed herself? In the Dark Fey lands! My mind spun with the news.
“Thank you.” My voice cracked and I indicated he could take the seeds.
Leaning down, he picked out his seeds and then left, a bow and arrow tied across his back.
The next person came holding some type of family heirloom, a beautiful brooch that was an oil-rubbed bronze color and inlaid with turquoise.
“Was my mother’s,” she said, voice shaking. “Twenty seeds?”
I couldn’t take these people’s things just for food. What kind of leader did they have that he was letting them starve like this? I didn’t know the rules, but why weren’t they going out one of the gates into the human world and making a fucking Costco run?
I would be.
“Just take the seeds. Keep the brooch.”
Her mouth popped open in surprise and she just stood there as if she didn’t trust me.
“Come on.” I waved my hand to hurry her along. I needed to get moving. I was going to give away all these seeds to these people and then I was going to see Marmal and Trip. My goal was still to find the troll who’d broken out of Magic City Prison and talk to him, but I had to check on my dear friend first.
Thinking ahead, I reached down and grabbed about fifty seeds, putting them away in my pocket in case I had to barter them with Trip for Marmal’s release. I didn’t know if she was a slave or an employee who could quit at any time, but I wasn’t leaving her there with him.
No way.
Each person came to my little seed store and I gave each one five seeds for free. I wanted them to start their own garden and hopefully get more seeds from that and rebuild their community. The trolls were known for farming, so this was a devastating blow for them no doubt.
Once my trading cloth was empty, I packed up, and as we left, the smiles and waves as they watched us depart made me feel a little better about what we’d done.
“Hey, Sage?” I called over to her as we wove our horses through the grassy landscape in the direction of the barn I’d saved Astra in. We were completely avoiding Marmal’s land and crisscrossing through all of Troll Village to hit the fey territories by toni
ght.
Sage looked over at me.
“Why doesn’t the troll king get in a car and leave the Magic Lands and get some seeds from Home Depot or something?” I asked.
Sage frowned in confusion. Probably the reference to Home Depot.
“A store in the human world that sells seeds and farming stuff,” I amended. “In Spokane or Idaho.”
She nodded then, comprehension coming over her face. “The human hunters won’t allow that kind of stuff. Can you imagine if a human saw the troll king standing in line at a store?”
True. The only passable races in the human world were werewolves, vampires, and witches. Even then it was iffy. If we wolfed out, or a vampire’s fangs distended, it was game over. Delphi had been in a magically restricted area of Spokane that humans didn’t come into, and all of their stuff was delivered. Only my family and a few witch families were permitted to live off campus in normal apartment housing because we’d had the cuffs on that essentially made us human.
I shivered. “I didn’t know there were human hunters. I mean, I heard rumors but I didn’t believe them.”
Sage nodded. “They were probably watching you the entire time you lived there. Waiting for you to slip up and expose yourself, or hurt a human, and then…” She dragged her finger across her throat.
Whoa.
I guess it was good there were rules in place to keep the humans safe from magical creatures that could get out of control.
We rode on in silence for a few hours, passing into Dark Fey Territory without an issue.
I was about to ask another question when I noticed the familiar outline of a giant pole barn in the distance. I consulted my map and nodded. “This is it, right?”
Sage bobbed her head in agreement. “We really just going to waltz in there after last time…?”
I winced, remembering Walsh and I killing two of Trip’s prized fighter Ithaki trolls. Walsh almost died and we’d taken Astra. It was a hot mess.
“I mean, technically, it was all part of the deal.”
Sage chuckled. “Trip looked like he was ready to murder us. Let’s be cautious.”
She was right. The last thing I needed was for someone to turn me in to the vampires. I mulled over different ideas for ways to get inside and look for Marmal when my wolf rose to the surface.
‘I’ll go.’
Yes!
I was so used to not needing her that much during my time in the Dark Woods that I almost forgot she was there at times.
I clued in Sage to the plan and she nodded as we pulled our horses off to the side. We were behind some thick trees which afforded us a nice view of the back of the barn.
Sage looked at me expectantly. “Want me to shift and go with your wolf too?”
I shook my head. “No offense, but your wolf can’t walk through walls.”
A grin pulled at her lips. “Touché.”
I slipped off my cuffs quickly and without another word, my wolf leapt out of my chest and onto the ground. She solidified and then gave me a nod as I placed the cuffs back onto my wrist.
‘Find Marmal,’ I told her, ‘Get her to come outside.’
I was talking to myself. Of course she knew the plan, she was me. Being a split shifter would never be something I would get used to. Closing my eyes, I tuned into my wolf’s point of view and suddenly I was looking out of her eyes. She padded across the rocky ground until she reached a back door.
It was closed.
Sticking her nose to it, she inhaled.
Blood. Pain. Deer. Bear. Fear.
The mixture of smells wafted through a tiny crease in the door and my wolf suddenly went semi-solid. When in my wolf form, I never had to strain to do anything or think about it too much. If I wanted to walk through a wall, I just did it. I wished my human side was more like that. Human Demi questioned everything, even herself.
When she was through the wall, she stayed semitransparent and I knew that she would be invisible to others who looked at her, the same way she’d been invisible during the meeting with the vampires, when only Sawyer saw her.
Weaving through the crowd, I noticed there was a fight going on. I recognized the yelling and the sound of fists hitting bone.
“What’s happening?” Sage whispered beside me, pulling my attention from my wolf.
“She’s in. There’s a fight going on. She’s looking for Marmal.” I slipped from my saddle. I wanted to be ready to run up and greet my troll friend.
“I’ll tie off the horses,” Sage informed me, and I just nodded, seeing through my wolf’s eyes as she scanned the room.
Big male, small male, ugly male, Trip, animals in cages … it was all the same until I noticed a girl hunched over the largest cage in the place.
Marmal.
She was doing something to the dragon! I’d completely forgotten about the dragon creature we’d seen last time until now. My wolf burst forward, weaving in and out of the melee until she was at Marmal’s heels. My beautiful troll friend was covered in dirt, on her knees and scrubbing the talons of the dragon through the cage with a bristle brush and some water. One of the talons had been shorn off completely; the end of it was flat and chipped in some spots.
“I’m sorry, girl,” Marmal cooed to the dragon.
Even though my wolf was invisible, the dragon suddenly jerked her head in my direction, staring me right in the eyes. The light in the barn filtered through the bars, lighting up those milky pearl scales, and my wolf froze, entranced by her deep turquoise eyes. She was the most magnificent creature I’d ever seen.
“What’s—?” Marmal said and turned her head just as my wolf solidified.
Marmal jumped a little. “Who are you? How did you get out of your cage?” She looked over her shoulder, anxiety playing across her features as she scanned the room for Trip. My wolf stepped forward and nuzzled Marmal’s leg, causing Marmal to frown. Reaching out, Marmal stroked my wolf’s neck. “Come on, girl, you can’t be out of the cages or I get in trouble.” She dropped her scrub brush and stood, just as my wolf darted across the room.
“Get back here!” Marmal whisper-screamed, taking off after my wolf.
Now was my chance. In human form, I opened my eyes and ran from where I’d been quietly standing, near the place Sage had tied the horses off. Pumping my legs, I booked it through the trees and up to the back door of the barn, knowing that’s where my wolf was going to lead Marmal.
Marmal had never met my wolf, so she wouldn’t recognize her. I skidded to a stop just in front of the door at the same time my wolf leapt out of it, going from spectral to solid. The door flung open then and I was met with Marmal’s bewildered face, arms outstretched to grab my wolf. The moment she looked up at me, I pulled my hood back slightly, and she paled before breaking into a grin. Slipping out the door, she glanced over her shoulder and closed it to make sure she wasn’t followed.
Neither of us said anything, we both just opened our arms and pulled the other into a tight hug. It was crazy how you could bond with someone so deeply in such a short amount of time. I’d known Marmal only a few days and yet I knew I could ask anything of her. I knew that in the core of her person she was good.
“I thought you were dead,” she croaked, pulling away to get a better look at me.
My eyes trailed over a reddish scar on her right arm; it was angry and puckered and big. It looked like a burn. “I’m so sorry about your farm. Had I known, I would have—”
She cut me off, grabbing me by the armpit and pulling me away into the trees. Her eyes looked cagey, like she expected someone to come out and grab us at any moment.
“You can’t be here. The bounty on your head is unfathomable.” She reached up and pulled the hood back up around my face.
I frowned, an unfathomable bounty price was not good, but I didn’t like the way she was acting, like she was scared.
“Is Trip beating you? Have they hurt you?” There was a growl in my voice and my wolf went erect beside me.
Marmal loo
ked up at me then, shaking her head as she hugged her arms against her chest. “No, but they hurt the animals and that might as well be the same thing.”
Oh God.
I shook myself. “Look, we don’t have a lot of time. I’ll explain on the way. Is there anything you need to grab before we go?”
I started to back up and lead her to where Sage and our horses were. Marmal frowned, the tiny white tusks in her cheeks bent inward, making a divot into her skin.
“What?” She sounded bewildered but slightly hopeful.
“Mar, I’m not leaving you here! Sawyer is in Magic City Prison. Come with us to get him out and then you can come live in Paladin Village forever. I’m the alpha.”
A slow grin pulled at her lips. “Alpha? I knew there was something special about you. Is that … your wolf? I swear I recognized the scent. You smell the same but…”
I nodded, and my wolf went spectral before leaping into my chest. Marmal staggered backward, eyes wide.
“Split shifter. Come on,” I pleaded. “I’ll explain on the way. There is a troll who broke out of Magic City Prison like ten years ago. Help us find him and then we can all go home together.”
Marmal looked back at the barn, her brow creasing. “I … want to … but I can’t leave them. I can’t leave her.”
My stomach dropped. “Who? Do you have a child? A mate?”
Marmal shook her head. “The animals, my dragon.”
The moment she mentioned the dragon, my mouth dropped open. “Your dragon?”
Marmal’s cheeks pinked. “Well, no but … I’ve named her and … she speaks to me.”
Holy shit! The dragon could speak to her? Maybe that was troll magic, I didn’t know. But that was how I felt about Astra the moment I’d seen her, and I knew I couldn’t ask Marmal to abandon the animals she had clearly grown to love over the past year. “Okay…” My mind raced trying to come up with a plan. I could tell Marmal’s did the same, because she looked deep in thought.
“The troll you spoke about, who broke out of Magic City Prison…?” Marmal said.
I nodded.
“I think he came in a few months ago to see Trip, got drunk and told the guys the story. I thought he was lying to look cool,” she said, and hope burst open inside of my chest.