risk. My more ambitious ideas weren’t practical right now, but one of the
smaller ones might work.
While the troll was distracted I carved off a chunk of one of the
overturned tables making up the barricade, layered it with force and fire
magic, and launched it at the monster’s chest.
The creature’s flesh was tougher than wood, but a charge of cutting
force magic meant the projectile penetrated a few inches and stuck instead of
bouncing off. Then the fire spell went off, and the wood ignited.
The troll stumbled back with a howl of pain, now more confused than
ever. The magic fire burned much hotter than normal, quickly consuming the
sliver of wood. But just as I’d hoped, the troll’s flesh caught fire.
It clawed awkwardly at the wound, and managed to dig out what was
left of the projectile. But by then it was too late. I concentrated my meager fire
magic on encouraging the flame, making it spread faster, burn hotter, consume
its fuel more quickly than normal.
A goblin arrow struck my reformed shield and glanced off. I ignored it,
hunkering down behind the barricade while I fed the flames.
The burning troll turned and tried to flee. In its panic it managed to step
on one goblin and set a couple of others on fire, and the whole attack dissolved
in confusion. Half of the goblins fled, while the rest found themselves caught
between the men defending the barricade and their burning ally.
Cerise vaulted over the barricade and danced through the group, her
silver knives gleaming in the firelight. One, two, three goblins died in as many
seconds, bright sprays of arterial blood arcing through the air as they fell. Her
nimble feet easily avoided the spikes, and as she dove back over the barricade
I saw that the cut on her arm had healed.
The troll stumbled in circles for a few moments, its arms waving
uselessly, and then collapsed.
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A ragged cheer rose from the defenders. There were a couple dozen of
them now, and a group of women were already carrying another table out of a
nearby house to finish the barricade. The blacksmith clapped me on the back.
“That was a fine sight, sir wizard,” he said. “What do we do now?”
“Hold them here. What’s your name?”
“Oskar, sir. Oskar Smith.”
“Good to meet you, Oskar. I’m Daniel Black. I need to go rally the
people and get barricades set up on other streets so they can’t circle around us,
so I’m leaving you in charge here. Gather more men, and hold the line until the
garrison shows up.”
“Yessir,” he nodded. “But what if another troll attacks?”
“Cerise!” I called.
She slipped through the crowd like a ghost to appear before me, her
dark eyes gleaming. Her dress was ripped and stained, exposing pale patches
of flawless skin beneath. She’d discarded her cloak of concealment, and her
power sang hungrily beneath her skin.
“Yes, Daniel?” She purred.
“You getting enough from ganking goblins to keep you going?”
She smiled nastily. “Oh, yeah. As long as they can’t dogpile me I can
go all night.”
“Good, you may need to. I’m going to go set up more barricades. I need
you to stay here for now, and make sure this one holds. They don’t have that
many trolls, but if another one shows up here you get to kill it.”
“Alone?” She gulped, suddenly less confident.
“We’ll help, miss,” Oskar said confidently. “But clubs and knives
won’t keep a troll down.
She looked him up and down, and licked her lips. “You can help me
anytime. Alright, Oskar, if you guys can distract a troll I can make it die. Will
you be back soon, Daniel?”
“Depends on how fast the garrison musters,” I told her. “Hold out as
long as you can. If things start looking hopeless and I’m not back yet, head for
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the tower. You can hole up there if you need to.”
“You got it,” she smiled. “The way you charged up Avilla we can call
plenty of help if we need to.”
“If you have to,” I nodded. “Stay safe.”
I turned and limped off down the street. Going airborne was too
dangerous, so I’d have to do this like a normal person.
Distant screams and shouts filled the deepening gloom. Most of the
buildings I passed were locked up tight, and there were a handful of bodies in
the street. Goblins who’d gotten too far ahead of the main group, and the
civilians they’d cut down before someone was brave enough to fight back.
Most of the buildings were built right up against each other, sharing
walls and covering whole blocks in a single solid mass. The ground floors
were mostly brick, with heavy wooden doors and stout shutters over the
windows. A troll could try to smash its way through, but it would probably just
bring a building down on top of itself. So most likely the invaders would be
limited to moving along the streets.
The cobblestone road emptied out into a small plaza crowded with
refugees, most of them huddled under blankets around several small fires.
Several men armed with farm implements watched my approach.
“Everyone arm yourselves!” I called. “A goblin raiding party is inside
the walls.”
The crowd stirred, and a few of the younger men stepped forward
uncertainly.
“What should we do?” One of them asked.
“You men, come with me,” I said to the ones who’d already been
armed. “The rest of you, send a party back down this street. We’ve thrown up a
barricade, but we need more men to defend it.”
“Who are you?” One of the older men asked, eying my bloodstained
clothes.
“I’m the wizard, Daniel the Black. I’m going to break this damned
goblin tribe, but I can’t be everywhere at once. I need you to keep the little
runts away from your women and children while I kill their leaders. Now get
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moving, we don’t have time for arguments. Roust out the neighbors, and get
them to help.”
His eyes went wide. “Yessir, lord wizard,” he stammered. “Ah, Jerzy,
Adrianna, you two start knocking on doors…”
I left him to it, and headed out of the plaza with a half-dozen farmers
in tow. There was a street leading almost directly away from the wall, so I
took that and followed it for a bit until we hit an intersection.
There I found another troll caving in the front of a building while a
dozen goblins capered and jeered around it. I interrupted the party with a flurry
of force blades.
Half the goblins went down in pieces, and the troll turned from its
work to growl at me. My companions flinched.
“I’ve got the troll,” I told them. “Finish the goblins.”
Time for troll-killing method number two. Hopefully this would work,
because my shield wasn’t going to stop more than one hit from the thing.
I threw another force blade, cutting a shallow gash across the troll’s
chest. “Come on, ugly! You’re too stupid to fight me!”
As expected, it roared and charged.
I extended a lance of force from my left hand, an eight foot tube of
invisible energy narrowing to a point at the end, and jogged towards it. I saw a
flicker of confusion in the brute’s eyes as we closed with each other, and it
glanced at my outthrust hand.
I turned a small patch of road under its feet into mud.
It stumbled, suddenly too distracted to wonder what I was up to. I