Emma (Dark Fire) (37 page)

The hair on Sarah's neck prickled. She hissed through her teeth at the instinctive warning of danger.

Inhaling through her nose, she sorted through the various scents and froze. She caught a trace of Clarisse, and even worse, she smelled rotten eggs. Trolls!

She glanced behind her. No trolls. No movement. The cavern remained empty. Something didn't feel right. She felt like she stood behind a glass wall watching an undefined danger approach, while hoping the danger couldn't smash through the thin barrier. She shook her head, trying to clear it of the cottony feel that persisted. The movement didn't help.

Her instinct screamed louder, urging her to fight, but darned if she could figure out why.

Brianna squirmed, but stayed securely against the wall.

Quiet as a tomb, the lack of noise within the vast cave continued uninterrupted.

She rolled her head side-to-side, popping her neck. Nothing helped stop the building sense of doom.

She slowly hissed through her teeth. Doom? She was getting as melodramatic as Emily.

Brianna started snapping her teeth together, which didn't make a darn bit of sense. If the girl wanted to communicate, she could say the words telepathically. Her teeth chomping accomplished nothing, except create a small irritating noise in the dead silence. The silly movement also shifted Sarah's claws a bit deeper into the young girl's neck.

Young? Well, crap! Her thoughts screeched to a halt.

Sarah sheathed her claws, and loosened her steel-fingered grasp.

Brianna sucked in a huge gulp of air. Choking, her shoulders shuddered as she coughed and gasped in quick succession. The blood dripping down Brianna's neck turned Sarah's fingers red. The rich color seemed to criticize her lack of intelligence, especially when the small wounds lining the nineteen year olds neck didn't start healing.

Sarah silently grumbled, berating herself. She knew better. As far as outward appearances went, Brianna was past puberty. Tall, blonde, and as Sarah's brother would say, ‘she had a killer body’.

Looks were deceiving. Sarah continued hammering herself. She had already figured out Brianna was in her puberty cycle so it stood-to-reason the girl might not be old enough to mentally answer.

Releasing her hold, Brianna dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes.

The girl rocked back and forth, clutching her abused neck. Her rasping groans continued for several moments. When the muscles along her shoulders and legs tightened, Sarah knew the girl was faking it.

Arching a single eyebrow, she dispassionately watched Brianna. The girl remained kneeling on all fours as she convincingly struggled to breathe. “I never thought a phoenix would join the Khr'Vurr.”

“Phoenix? Khr'Vurr?” Brianna rasped in question. Shaking her head, she stopped play-acting and glared up. Her eyes didn’t focus on Sarah. Instead, her pale blue eyes slid past Sarah’s waiting gaze, growing huge.

The girl uttered a shriek of pure terror.

At Brianna’s blood curdling scream, Sarah snapped her head upward toward the high ceiling. Her ice-cold features contorted and she bared her fangs in a warning growl.

Several dozen cave trolls swiftly crawled across the ceiling in a flow of movement.

Nearly hairless, dark burgundy bodies dotted the ceiling. Ropes of thick muscles bulged as the large, ape-like trolls used long black claws to anchor themselves to the rocky surface.

She locked eyes with the largest troll. A single fight for dominance was better than having all of them attack at once. She boldly stepped across Nick and roared a challenge.

The troll’s wide jaws dropped open and the creature howled at her, baring inch-long yellow fangs. The sound changed, going from a deep-throated howler monkey sound into a hyena-like laughter.

The single shriek echoed through the chamber, like a lone brass trumpet issuing a charge on a battlefield.

The troll’s long pointed ears swiveled around seeking a second answer to Sarah’s challenge. When the other trolls remained quiet, the large beast dropped thirty feet straight down, landing on all fours. The dangerous animal squatted within a dozen feet of Nick's unconscious body. The troll’s large head sat atop a thick, muscle wrapped neck. The bulging neck had to be incredibly strong to hold up the weight of his big, black horns. The twisted horns combined with clawed feet gave the large troll a demonic appearance.

Burning, black eyes glanced at Nick's prone form. The troll straightened, bulging muscles rippled up long legs. The dark reddish-purple creature screamed another laughing challenge at her, flaunting long fangs and claws. The big male hopped from foot to foot in a dance of aggression. Straggling curls of black hair, covering its back and lower stomach, bobbed in sync to its laughing howls.

Sarah’s nose twisted in distaste. A troll’s scent glands grew in their mouth, releasing a putrid odor akin to rotten eggs whenever they howled. She hated Trolls, no matter the specific subspecies. They were nasty creatures that were well known cannibals, eating their young when food got scarce.

She snarled a warning at the eight-foot monster and stepped forward. Secrets be damned, she'd not let anything harm her mate. She reached for the synth simmering in her blood and met a blank wall. Shock rippled through her. She mentally hammered at the barrier blocking access to the power in her blood, but the blockage refused to budge an inch.

She boldly stepped forward another foot, never hesitating. Any hint of weakness and the entire nest of trolls would attack. She might kill half a dozen, perhaps more, but not while protecting Nick.

Slipping a hand under her t-shirt, she pulled a throwing star from her harness. She flung the lethally sharp weapon at the troll. In quick succession, she threw another. The first sharp pointed star sunk deep into the dark red skin of the troll’s heavily muscled neck. Blood gushed over the male's long-fingered hand as her adversary clawed at its throat. The second star hit the beast in the soft part of its flat nose, between beady black eyes.

The trolls on the ceiling howled furiously, shattering the deathly silence filling the room.

Sarah did a sharp U-turn and dashed toward her mate. Shoving her hands under Nick’s arms, she tried to stand-up with him. She grunted and only managed to lift his shoulders off the ground. Fear smashed through her as she struggled with his dead weight.

She couldn't budge him. She cursed a rapid stream that would've curled a sailor's ears.

Earlier, she'd been too keyed-up and hadn't noticed being weaker. Whatever blocked access to the synth in her blood also drained her of strength. She grabbed his arm and pulled. He slid a few inches. Digging her feet into the floor, she strained against his weight. He slid backward toward the honeycomb, inch by inch.

Terror filled her and for the first time in her life, she felt completely helpless.

She mentally screamed for Mac, knowing after the explosion, he had disobeyed her orders and entered Dragon Valley, remaining in the nearby forest in case she needed him.

^___________

Several miles from the original attack, Mac followed a female gnome and her trained pack of trolls. They had picked-up the girl and headed toward the nearest gateway, a rarely used portal within an hour’s walk of Blue Bertha.

He snarled under his breath. He hated trolls.

The entire species spelled trouble. Trolls created a true menace wherever they nested. Not only were they dangerous, the blasted things bred like rabbits, growing to full maturity in less than a year. They weren't sentient, but they moved in packs and like many Sídhí animals, they were smart enough to set traps for the unwary.

In the mundane world, people watched-out for poisonous snakes and grizzly bears while hiking or camping. Across the numerous Sídhí valleys, trolls fell under the same warning. Troll attacks killed more than a hundred people every year.

He followed as the pack of blue-skinned mountain trolls entered the gateway. On the other side of the portal, he was surprised to see the ruins of a large castle. As far as his eyes could see, was a vast prairie of swaying grass. Skirting the tumble of gray stone, the trolls passed a second troop of trolls.

“Trolls, you stops moving! Sits!” ordered the gnome handler for the second set of trolls, squeezing a small transmitter toward the hulking creatures. A large male threw back his horned head and roared, fighting the order.

“Sits! Sits!” the little gnome screamed, punching the large red button in the middle of its remote control.

Grunting in pain, the trolls dropped to the ground as sun glinted off the smooth, red hide of the cave trolls. Black, curled horns hit the dirt, as the creatures shuddered under the electronic assault.

Mac had wondered how the small gnomes kept the brutes in line. Trolls had very sensitive hearing. More than likely, each troll was fitted with an electronic device embedded in their ear canal, one that emitted soft and harsh frequencies.

“Banie, your Nester mess up. He mess up bad, bad,” the second gnome shouted to the pallid skinned female Mac had been following. “He losses Mistress’s prize. Angry Mistress was! Smoke from nose angry!”

Ignoring the heated remarks flying between the two gnomes, Mac followed the dirt path around the destroyed castle. Before long, he found a large metal building. A tiny, bar-covered window graced the front door.

Next to the building stood hundreds of ten by ten foot steel pens anchored into the ground with cement. A half dozen green, mottled swamp trolls stood inside the nearest pens. A flock of crows passed overhead, starting a chain reaction of guttural, hyena-like cries.

The door to the yellow building popped opened. “Quiets! Stupid trolls! Buggsie likes quiets when he listens to Mistress on phone. Quiet makes thinking better!”

Hurrying forward, Mac slipped through before the door shut.

White walls and brilliant florescent lighting greeted him inside the building. Wide open, a single large area spread before him. On his right side, a large Khr’Vurr recruitment poster promised a better future. A fiery red and gold infinity symbol branded the black silhouette of a dragon in flight.

Torture equipment, from knifes to whips, filled the front third of the building. Three aisles, some fifty feet in length, filled the rear of the building. Cages lined each cement passage.

“Nork, stops beatin’ that cadet. Lee tagged the last cadet and needs pick-up. You takes the swamp trolls and hurry! Mistress could be here anytimes!”

That explained the young girl Guardian Lee attacked. What Mac didn’t understand was why the dragons had dragon cadets in a restricted part of their campground area.

Hoping to catch the mysterious Mistress, Mac settled against the front wall.

Chapter - Trolls!

Silence answered Sarah’s scream for help. The mite poison didn’t block short-range telepathy, but the poison must short-circuit her ability to send a long-distance call.

Brianna appeared next to her.

Sarah bared her teeth at the girl, but the girl surprised her by grabbing Nick's other arm. Together, they managed to pull him toward the honeycomb.

A troll dropped to the ground and then another and another. One landed five feet away, nearly blocking their path to the honeycomb.

Sarah flung one of the lethal shuriken, stopping the troll as the sharp point of the star ruptured the troll's right eye.

The creature howled in agony. Clawing at its face, the big troll dropped to its knees.

A smaller troll – only about six feet tall – ran forward and slammed both clawed feet into the injured troll. The smaller monster hopped on top of the flopping body, shrieking in triumph before it ripped into the fallen body with its square-shaped jaws.

Brianna scrambled into one of the glowing tubes, pulling Nick by his arms.

Sarah grabbed his hips and grunted as she tried lifting his bulk. Normally, she loved the fact he was several inches over six feet, and had muscles that rippled when he walked, but not now. Muscles meant weight. Why couldn't he have been a scrawny five footer?

She ducked under his body. Her head popped up between his legs, in a position she'd only dreamed of being in. She didn't have time to enjoy the view. She lodged her shoulders under his thighs and pushed, straining her leg muscles. His body shot forward and she scrambled into the hole after him.

Brianna squealed, helplessly clawing the smooth walls of the tunnel. Her frantic efforts didn’t stop her backward movement down the slick tube.

Sarah jumped forward, landing with a grunt on Nick's chest.

His hunter-green eyes snapped open, looking at her in shocked disbelief. Well, at least he was finally awake.

They slid backward, going faster with each second that passed. Wind ruffled his hair. He opened his mouth, but no words emerged.

The laughing howls of the trolls followed them as they sped through the slick tunnel.

Speeding backward down the crystal tunnel, Sarah sprawled across Nick’s chest. She gazed into dark green eyes that brimmed with emotion.

Her breath caught, fearing to hope.

His arms slipped around her back, pulling her closer, he held her snug against his chest. His entire body shuddered, before he finally spoke. “Hurt?” he managed to ask, swallowing several times.

She knew from experience, the mite poison left his mouth dry as cotton.

Incapable of speech, she shook her head no.

He ran his hands down her back as if making sure her unspoken answer was true. His fingers found a hole in her shirt and he paused, gently touching her bare skin. The healing skin remained puckered from the mite’s thick stinger.

A wave of yearning swamped her. On impulse, she dropped her face next to his, gently rubbing her cheek against his. She shivered.

His arms pulled her closer. His soft rumbling purr sounded beneath her.

The laughing howls of the trolls disappeared.

“It’s splitting!” Brianna squealed.

Sarah looked beyond Nick’s head, watching the girl scramble toward the left tunnel.

“We need to remain together,” Sarah said calmly, angling hers and Nick’s body toward the left tunnel. Losing sight of the girl – and the young phoenix’s uncomfortable questions – was no longer an option, not after she helped save Nick’s life.