down, saying, "No, you don't. Even Ferdy would be useless in a fight like that. If you go now, you'll be killed. Then where would I be without my Eadric? And what would your brother do without you there to rescue him? Look, your men are retreating."
Eadric looked over in time to see his men leaping onto their horses' backs and tearing up the slope, away from the trolls and us. Instead of following, the trolls lumbered back to the water's edge. "What we do now, Headbonker?" hollered one.
"Follow them, idiots!" shouted a troll with two heads sprouting from his stocky body. He was dressed in a tunic edged with silver and seemed to have an air of authority about him. Gesturing to the rest of his army, he shouted, "All you trolls, hunt humans down!"
"That's not good," I said. "We can't have all these trolls marching on the castle. If I can just keep the other trolls from crossing the . . . I know what I'll do. Keep your head down and Ferdy in his scabbard so I can concentrate."
"What do you have in mind?" Eadric asked.
"You'll see," I said, and began my spell.
This brook sleeps in its graveled bed
As it has since ages past.
Please wake it now and make it grow
To a river deep and vast.
Even in the moonlight I could see the brook changing. Once a yards-wide flow of water only a foot deep, the brook swelled, overflowing its banks as if floodwaters from upstream were just now reaching it. The water that had been so clean when we'd stopped for the night became murky with silt and the plant life it carried away. It reached the brush where Eadric and I were hiding, forcing us out into the open, but the trolls had gathered by the water and were too intent on what it was doing to notice us.
The trolls who had been midstream when the water swelled were swept off their stepping-stones and carried away, splashing and choking. Those who had been about to cross turned around and began shoving the trolls behind them. A brawl broke out as the river rose around their ankles, then up to their knees.
I was wondering what I should do next when I saw the troll leader coming our way. For the first time I noticed a chain with a ball around his neck that reminded me of the one I'd seen on the troll queen. "Quiet!" he bellowed, and the fighting trolls froze in place. While one head stared at the ball, telling the other head what it saw, the second head looked around as if trying to find whatever the first head was describing. The troll took another step, then another, until the second head glanced our way and saw Eadric and me crouched behind a too-small rock. "She there!" the troll roared, raising his arm to point. The gathered trolls turned to gape. Brandishing their clubs and shouting, the closest ones started lumbering toward me.
As the trolls drew nearer, a dozen spells flew through my mind; I rejected them one after another. I almost turned us into bats, but there was Shelton to consider. Still in my pocket, the little crab wouldn't know how to fly and might be too confused to learn quickly enough. I rejected other animal forms as well, then decided to try a spell I'd never used before. The advancing trolls were only a few club-lengths away when I blurted an invisibility spell. We disappeared a moment later.
The troll closest to us was slow to notice and swung his club anyway, narrowly missing us as Eadric dragged me aside. "Hunh!" the troll grunted when his club thumped the ground. "Where they go?" Raising his club, he examined the underside as if expecting to see us impaled on its pointy spikes. When he saw that we weren't there, he turned to the troll behind him and asked, "Humans get past you, Nortle?"
"Not me!" said the other troll. "Maybe Flart."
"Not past me!" said a shaggy-headed troll with protruding teeth. Flart poked the other troll in the stomach with his club. Nortle responded with a gentle tap to Flart's skull.
While the trolls passed the blame for our disappearance, Eadric and I tried to slip away, but the poking and
Eadric looked over in time to see his men leaping onto their horses' backs and tearing up the slope, away from the trolls and us. Instead of following, the trolls lumbered back to the water's edge. "What we do now, Headbonker?" hollered one.
"Follow them, idiots!" shouted a troll with two heads sprouting from his stocky body. He was dressed in a tunic edged with silver and seemed to have an air of authority about him. Gesturing to the rest of his army, he shouted, "All you trolls, hunt humans down!"
"That's not good," I said. "We can't have all these trolls marching on the castle. If I can just keep the other trolls from crossing the . . . I know what I'll do. Keep your head down and Ferdy in his scabbard so I can concentrate."
"What do you have in mind?" Eadric asked.
"You'll see," I said, and began my spell.
This brook sleeps in its graveled bed
As it has since ages past.
Please wake it now and make it grow
To a river deep and vast.
Even in the moonlight I could see the brook changing. Once a yards-wide flow of water only a foot deep, the brook swelled, overflowing its banks as if floodwaters from upstream were just now reaching it. The water that had been so clean when we'd stopped for the night became murky with silt and the plant life it carried away. It reached the brush where Eadric and I were hiding, forcing us out into the open, but the trolls had gathered by the water and were too intent on what it was doing to notice us.
The trolls who had been midstream when the water swelled were swept off their stepping-stones and carried away, splashing and choking. Those who had been about to cross turned around and began shoving the trolls behind them. A brawl broke out as the river rose around their ankles, then up to their knees.
I was wondering what I should do next when I saw the troll leader coming our way. For the first time I noticed a chain with a ball around his neck that reminded me of the one I'd seen on the troll queen. "Quiet!" he bellowed, and the fighting trolls froze in place. While one head stared at the ball, telling the other head what it saw, the second head looked around as if trying to find whatever the first head was describing. The troll took another step, then another, until the second head glanced our way and saw Eadric and me crouched behind a too-small rock. "She there!" the troll roared, raising his arm to point. The gathered trolls turned to gape. Brandishing their clubs and shouting, the closest ones started lumbering toward me.
As the trolls drew nearer, a dozen spells flew through my mind; I rejected them one after another. I almost turned us into bats, but there was Shelton to consider. Still in my pocket, the little crab wouldn't know how to fly and might be too confused to learn quickly enough. I rejected other animal forms as well, then decided to try a spell I'd never used before. The advancing trolls were only a few club-lengths away when I blurted an invisibility spell. We disappeared a moment later.
The troll closest to us was slow to notice and swung his club anyway, narrowly missing us as Eadric dragged me aside. "Hunh!" the troll grunted when his club thumped the ground. "Where they go?" Raising his club, he examined the underside as if expecting to see us impaled on its pointy spikes. When he saw that we weren't there, he turned to the troll behind him and asked, "Humans get past you, Nortle?"
"Not me!" said the other troll. "Maybe Flart."
"Not past me!" said a shaggy-headed troll with protruding teeth. Flart poked the other troll in the stomach with his club. Nortle responded with a gentle tap to Flart's skull.
While the trolls passed the blame for our disappearance, Eadric and I tried to slip away, but the poking and
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