“A signal?”
Shrugging, Taureck looked down at her shuffling feet. “I don’t know, a hoot or somethin’.”
“Like an owl?” Gelbane sneered.
Taureck smiled and nodded. “Yea, you can hoot like an owl when you reach the bridge.” She pursed her lips and made a strangled sound.
Gelbane slapped her upside the head. “That don’t sound like an owl! It sounds like a drowning cat. I think you’ll hear an army of trolls approach, don’t you?”
Gelbane stomped out of the room with a last leering look at Mae. Taureck slammed the door, but it bounced in its casing and didn’t catch. “Good riddance,” she muttered. She pointed a claw at Leif. “I’ll satisfy my hunger with you this afternoon.” Taureck leered at Mae. “When your friend is turning on the spitty, you can imagine me cooking you as well. That should make a nice and sour meal for ol’ Gelbane.” Taureck laughed and shambled down the hallway without a second glance back.
“Where ya goin’?” Nord shrieked. “We’re s’possda’ keep an eye on ‘em!”
Taureck’s grumble sounded down the hallway. “They’re caged up! Where they gonna go?”
Nord wiggled himself out of the chair and followed Taureck. There was a lot of grumbling and banging.
Mae pulled the gag from Leif’s mouth.
“What are you doing here?” Leif whispered.
“Saving you!” Mae whispered back.
“You aren’t doing a very good job of it, are you?” Leif said. “Now we’re both dinner!”
An image of her mother formed in Mae’s mind. Had her mother been trussed up before she was eaten? Had Gelbane threatened harm to Mae to make her mother go obediently? Or did she go down fighting? Her chest constricted. A well of tears built up in her eyes. They fell on the red welts that bubbled up on her skin from being trussed to the tree limb. She picked at the frayed ends of rope on Leif’s wrists.
Leif leaned his forehead against hers, and when the ropes fell away, he gathered her in his arms. “I’m so sorry about your mother.”
Even though they were caged and held prisoner by a couple of nasty trolls, Mae felt safe. She cried for her mother. And for her father, and for Mabel and her missing mother. Surely Callum and Aletta had noticed she was gone by now. Why did they not come looking for her? Perhaps they had been captured, too.
Leif’s stomach growled. “It’s been a long time since I’ve eaten. Nothing since supper last night.”
Mae pulled away, wiped her eyes, and ran a sleeve under her nose. “At least you haven’t been eaten! The longer we stay, the better the chances of that, though.”
“And just how do you think we’re going to get out?” Leif asked.
“Magick.” Mae leaned her forehead against the cage bars.
“Hapenny magick,” Leif scoffed. “And my mother spins gold from caterpillar tents.”
“Remember all those strange things that would happen around the farm? All those things I got punished for?”
Leif nodded.
“I’m a wizard, Leif, maybe the next Protector of the Wedge, and Gelbane knew it.”
Leif scowled. “It’s hard to believe.”
Mae clenched the bars in her hands and closed her eyes.
“What are you doing?” Leif asked.
“Be quiet. I need to concentrate!” She looked at Leif. “Unless you’d like to stay for dinner?”
“I don’t want to be a troll’s dinner. Not like Mother Underknoll.” Leif’s ears drooped and his nose twitched. “I’m just glad Reed was dawdling, or Gelbane would’ve snagged him, too.”
Mae put a comforting hand on Leif’s shoulder. “Reed did follow you that day. He knew Gelbane had you. And then he tried to find Callum’s house to get help and got lost in the woods during the storm.”
“Who is Callum?”
“He’s the Protector of the Wedge. He’s the one who leaves fishing flies on your doorstep, and he’s been teaching me to control my magick. Anyway, a giant found Reed in the forest and brought him to Callum’s house.”
“A giant?” Leif frowned. “Your story keeps getting crazier.”
Mae nodded. “I know, but it’s true. The giant that found Reed is the same giant that my mother helped a long time ago. Don’t you remember the story?”
Leif shook his head.
“She was working in the vegetable patch when she heard a strange sound. She searched the forest that borders our property, and she found a giant crying. His big fingers couldn’t grasp a tiny thistle stuck in his toe, and it was very painful each time he took a step. So, my mother pulled the sticker from the giant’s toe, and he promised one day to return the favor.”
Leif’s eyes were as big as saucers. “Was he really…giant?”
Mae nodded. “Until I met River Weed Starr, I thought my momma had just made up that story to entertain us. Now I know that many things are possible—including a hapenny, and unfortunately, trolls having magick.”
Mae heard a snuffling from the back bedroom.
Leif’s eyes grew wide again. “Are they coming back?”
“I don’t know.” Mae’s ears swiveled toward the bedrooms. She heard creaks and groans, then snoring. Mae let the breath she was holding whistle out. “I think they fell asleep.” Mae ran her hands through her hair and took a deep breath. “Whether you believe me or not, at least now you know the truth about Gelbane. Will you help me warn the others?”
Leif scowled. “Of course, I will. What kind of hapenny do you think I am?”
“Good.” Mae grasped the cage bars again. She remembered the little weasel romping around Callum’s cottage. The bars twitched like tails. Soon the cage door was wiggling with a mass of weasels. They scattered up and over the contraptions crowding the room. Piles of parts slid to the floor with a crash as the weasels scrambled about.
“Garden snakes probably would’ve been a quieter choice,” Leif said.
“What can I say? I’m new at this!”
Leif grabbed Mae’s hand and pulled her down the hallway toward the front door. He reached for the knob.
“Wait!” Mae pulled on his hand. “You go. I must get that wand from Nord.”
Leif shook his head, but Mae pushed him out the door. “Go! Go warn the others! And whatever happens,” Mae said, “don’t let a troll scratch you.”
Footstomps came down the hallway. “You ain’t goin’ nowhere but the spitty, sweetmeat!” Nord filled the narrow hall, fangs bared and oozing. He clutched the wand in his fist.
Mae backed toward the door. “You don’t scare me.”
“I don’t scare ya? You should be scared. In a few short hours, the Wedge will be a feasty for trolls!”
“Not true! I sent Leif to warn the others.” Mae took another step backward.
“How are a buncha little people gonna save the Wedge?” Nord sneered. “With their rakeys an’ sewin’ needles?”
“They rid the Wedge of a troll before.” Mae’s mind whirled as she reached behind her. She dared not look to see how close she was to the door.
Outside the wind howled. The door creaked on its hinges.
“With the help of an old an’ befuddled wizard. Where’s yer Protector now? Not that Callum could save the Wedge with his kitchen-witchery, anyways. What’s he gonna do? Make blueberry pancakies to soothe my gnawing hunger? Wash the stench from me clothes?”
Mae held her hands up, palms toward Nord, as if she could hold the troll back with nothing but her own little hands. “I’m the Wedge’s Protector now.”
Nord let out a harsh laugh. The wand shone with a strange green cast in the morning light. “Even without this thing…I bet I can turn ye into a meal before ye turn me into a no-good stoney sentinel.”
The troll flicked his wrist toward the door. Leif shrieked as he toppled to the ground. Mae gawked at her friend. Leif hadn’t gone to warn the others! He’d been turned into a shiny copper teakettle. The surface winked in the morning sun.
A thump on the pantry window startled Mae. A
heart-shaped nose pressed against the pane. Aletta!
“I can’t eat a teapotty,” Nord screeched. “What good is this thing?” He flipped the wand into the heaping trash pile on the table.
Mae took another step back. “What will you tell Gelbane when she realizes that you lost her wand?”
“Hurjota!” Callum’s voice roared into the room.
Nord cowered and covered his head.
“Stones don’t need to eat,” Callum said. He stood in the doorway, wand raised.
Nord raised his hands, claws spread open. He widened his small eyes. “I wasn’t gonna eaty her, not really. Just wanted ta scare her a little.”
“Don’t listen to him, Callum! Gelbane has gone to tell the other trolls that they can cross the bridge!”
Nord’s fangs flashed. “Put your wand away. What can a girly-man like you do against a troll like me?”
Callum’s hand shook. He knit his brows and closed the distance between him and Nord.
“Your magick ain’t gonna worky on me…kitchen witchy!” With that insult, Nord hurled himself at Callum and knocked his wand from his grasp. Wizard and troll brawled on the floor. Magick flew around the room, pinging off the hearthstones and sizzling into the walls.
“Go, Mae!” Callum puffed. “Get out of here!”
Mae scooped the kettle from the doorway as Aletta entered the house in her human form. The raven swept in behind her. In his grasp was Mae’s wand! She reached up with one hand as it tumbled from the bird’s claw and caught it, gripping it in her tiny fist.
Aletta pointed her wand at Nord. “Tan-ima silex silticus!”
A red streak of light shot from Aletta’s wand, striking Nord in the shoulder. The troll jumped off of Callum as his arm hardened from flesh to stone, from elbow to fingertips. Nord roared and bared his fangs. He stumbled in Aletta’s direction as Callum got back to his feet.
Mae tightened her grip on the kettle. Aletta’s spell wasn’t like anything she’d heard before, but Mae had the feeling she was the one that would have to finish it. Mae pointed her wand at the troll and spoke the words of the old nursery rhyme. “Troll to coal!”
Nord cocked his head in shock as a blue streak of magic arced from the tip of Mae’s wand. The troll’s legs turned to heavy rock, sticking him in place. The sound of stone grinding together filled the house as Nord turned to black rock. He let out a last howl, his face screwed up into a snarl as it hardened.
Mae wiped her brow. “Now that’s what a troll should look like.”
Tiny cracks spiderwebbed throughout the rock, accompanied by a loud pop and then a hiss. Then the statue of Nord crumbled, filling the house with dust and debris.
Aletta coughed and waved her hand in front of her face.
“Good work, Maewyn.” Callum stumbled toward her, his breath coming in short bursts. “You have the makings of a very powerful wizard indeed, even if your spell casting needs a little work.”
Mae brushed the dust from her pinafore and stepped into the rubble. “There’s another troll in the back bedroom.”
Aletta hurried down the hallway, then rushed back into the hearth room. “It escaped out one of the windows.”
“We have to warn the villagers,” Callum said.
“And protect the Wedge,” Mae added. “More trolls are coming.” Tucking the kettle under her arm, Mae ran to the bridge, the footsteps of Callum and Aletta echoing behind her.
Chapter Sixteen
Mae’s muscles ached. Her lungs burned. Not even when she’d followed the raven through the woods that moonlit night had she pushed herself so hard. It felt like an eternity ago, but it wasn’t. In just a few short days, she’d gone from being a mistreated orphan to the Protector of the Wedge. And she took the responsibility seriously. Her feet pounded against the dirt path, her arm gripping the kettle that was her best friend.
She skidded around a bend as Callum and Aletta called for her to stop, but she didn’t. Storm clouds were rolling in. Gelbane had always been in a better mood on a rainy day. And the book, Trolls, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Brownies, Orcs, and other Nasty Faeries Who May or May Not Actually Exist…A Compendium, had said that trolls were seen more often at dawn, dusk, and cloudy days. The trolls were sure to move in sooner without the sun’s bright rays. She had to protect the bridge immediately, and she didn’t even know if she could do it.
Mae slowed to peer into the forest shadows that surrounded the bridge. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, yet. Did she have time to try to turn Leif back into himself? She would need his help. A brief break in the approaching storm let a ray of sunshine touch the bridge. That was all the encouragement Mae needed. She dropped the kettle in the grass and knelt beside it. Her heart raced with anxiety. “Leif, if you can hear me,” she panted, “listen up. I know you are having a hard time believing I’m a wizard. And I’m not really sure of it all myself. I haven’t learned a spell for this kind of thing, so I’m just going try to change you back the way I changed the cage bars into weasels. But I need your help. You have to believe in me or it won’t work.”
Aletta approached from behind, holding her side and panting. “I’m not used to running on two legs.”
Tears rocked on the edges of Mae’s eyelids. “I’m not sure I can do this, Aletta. What if I mess up?”
Aletta put her warm hand on Mae’s shoulder. “Are we talking about Leif or the bridge?”
Mae nodded. “Does it matter?”
“Use what is in your heart. No spell could be more powerful.”
“Will you do it, Aletta?”
Aletta shook her head. “My memories of Leif and the Wedge aren’t as strong as yours.”
Mae gripped her wand in one hand and placed the other on the kettle’s shiny surface. Closing her eyes, she dipped into her well of memories. She pictured Leif tossing his head to scatter the curls that always framed his face, and the dimple that showed up when he laughed. A warm tingle ran through her arm. She dove deeper into the memory well.
She thought of the way he shuffled his feet in the dirt when he was upset, and stuffed his hands in his pockets when he really wanted to hold her hand. She remembered the times they fished off the bridge, jumped from his papa’s hayloft, and chased the piglets. She remembered all the pinky swears made by the light of a candle. Mae remembered his comforting arms around her when her momma left. His strong grip when he’d saved her from falling into the river. He’d been there. Every time. Whenever she needed him. And she needed him now.
“Come back to me,” she whispered. A soft breeze lifted her curls from her face and made the edges of her apron flutter. She heard a gasp and opened her eyes.
Leif was curled in the grass with his face pinched tight, arms gripping his knees. He slowly unwound and let out a huge sigh. “I knew you could do it.”
“Leif!” Mae threw her arms around him and they tumbled in the grass. “I’m so glad you’re all right!” She buried her head in his shoulder. Then she scowled and punched him in the arm. “Why didn’t you run? The trolls could’ve eaten you!”
“I deserved that.” Leif rubbed his arm. “But I couldn’t leave you behind. Wizard or not.”
“You believe me?”
Leif shrugged. “I guess.” His dimple pulled at his cheek when he smiled. Mae gave him another squeeze and then rolled to her knees.
Leif groaned as he stood. “My muscles are so stiff—you’ve no idea what it feels like to be stuffed into a copper kettle.”
“Well, we’re gonna know what it feels like to be stuffed into a troll’s belly if we don’t find a way to protect ourselves. We have to warn everyone.”
Leif pointed across the river. “Trolls!” The shadows in the forest were lumpy and shifting in an unnatural fashion. “What if the villagers don’t believe me?”
“They will,” Aletta said. “You’ve been missing for days, right?”
Leif nodded.
“So, go to your father first. Tell him what happened,” Mae said. “He’ll help you convince the others
to fight.”
“And Callum should be in the village square by now. He’ll back your word as well,” Aletta added. “Go, Leif! We’re running out of time.”
Leif’s eyes were wide with fright. Mae kissed his cheek. “Go! We’ll be fine.”
His eyes darted from Mae to Aletta and back. “I can’t leave you.”
“You must!” Mae cried.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. Protect her, Aletta, please.” Leif turned and ran for the village.
Aletta scanned the edge of the forest. “I can’t help you with the runes, Mae, but I can keep the trolls at bay for a while. Are you ready?”
Mae nodded. She took a deep breath and stepped onto the wooden planks of the bridge. The boards squeaked beneath her. She felt the beady stares of the trolls pierce her skin. Above her, the birds shrieked through the thick crown of the forest. Mae gripped her wand and scurried across the bridge.
Gelbane had left deep gouges in the stone face of each pillar. Even if Mae could repair the damage, would it be strong enough to hold back an army of trolls? Perhaps she should convince the village to get rid of the bridge. The number of shifting shadows in the forest grew as the sky darkened from the coming storm. Mae shook her head to clear her thoughts. This was no time for doubts.
The tip of her wand scratched against the surface as Mae traced the shapes of the runes onto the pillar, over and over, but the runes would not carve into the face. She’d memorized the protection symbols from the newspaper clipping. She was clearly picturing them in her head. Why wasn’t it working?
Beads of sweat popped to the surface of her forehead. She swiped at the dampening curls that stuck to her face.
Clouds piled on top of each other. Thunder grumbled in the distance. A troll stepped out of the trees and onto the path. Aletta shifted from foot to foot. She gripped her wand. “How much longer, Mae?”
“It’s not working!” she whispered. “What am I supposed to do?”
“Tan-ima silex silticus!” Aletta’s voice rang in Mae’s ear. The troll stopped as the spell narrowly missed him, ricocheting off the path and striking a tree. A loud cracking reverberated through the forest as the tree’s trunk turned to stone. Like a fire that has been put out suddenly with a pail of water, the leaves hissed as they were silenced.
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