Little Keep on the Borderlands...Part 4

I was up and running towards the third troll before his spear stopped skidding behind us. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when I got to him, since I didn’t have a weapon in hand.

It had already turned its attention so fray between the Frau and his companion, so my leaping kick landed squarely on the side of his enormous kneecap. I felt and heard the crunching of the bone. His leg buckled and collapsed on itself.

I tucked and rolled out of the way of a massive fist that sought to crush me as the thing lashed out n a blind rage at its sudden immobility.

By the time I had tumbled to safety and regained my bearings, I saw that Jim had already found his own footing and was racing to help the Frau in her struggle.

Ravyn was striding forward towards the troll that was now trying to hobble towards me. She smiled as she sent a lancing bolt of flame into the back of its skull, ending his miserable life before his smoldering corpse hit the floor.

I turned to see how Jim and the Frau were faring just in time to see Excalibur slash downwards in a fatal stroke across the already tattered throat of the final troll. The Frau had rolled clear in time and stood on all fours, panting with exertion. Her fur was torn and bloody in several spots, but it wasn’t entirely clear how wounded she might be. Most of the blood seemed to be darker ichor of the troll.

I jogged back to pick up my batons and joined the rest of them near the mangled body of that final victim.

Jim mopped the sweat off of his forehead and nodded as I approached. “I can’t wait to give you back this damn sword and let you play at being the hero Rusty. I’ll be more than happy to resume my roles as a counselor, researcher, and treasurer.”

I chuckled at that. “Yeah, this sort of stuff is a lot less worrisome when you’re already dead.”

Before anyone else could join in the banter, there was a loud grating of stone on stone as a very large doorway opened in the back of the chamber. Several more armored, well armed trolls marched into the chamber, their hobnailed boots echoing in a strange unison as they lined up four to a side on each side of the doorway. The strangest part of this scene was the two smaller, hooded figures that emerged from the shadows behind the trolls. They looked to be human and seemed to have a distinctly feminine aspect to them that was not entirely concealed by the heavy cloaks that obscured their faces. One of the women was clearly taller and heavier than the other, but neither carried any weapons in their hands.

We all turned to face these new foes, each of us wondering how we would be able to face eight trolls and these two women of unknown strength.

Jim broke the silence first. “Fuck! Why would this damn sword choose now to go quiet?”

I glanced over at the blade in his hands, which was now no longer glowing. It had cooled and quieted as the women had entered the room.

The larger of the women gave a short, throaty laugh as she reached up and pulled back the hood to reveal her face. “Maybe that blade doesn’t want you to swing at a friend by mistake.”

Ravyn gasped. “Cerry? Is that really you?”

Cerrydwen nodded before turning to the trolls that now seemed to be under her command. She grunted an order in their guttural tongue that sent the guards trooping back from whence they had come.

I had my doubts. I had seen Excalibur go quiet on me at inconvenient times before. “Careful everyone, she may be a Doppelganger. And we don’t know who the other one is yet either.”

The smaller of the women stepped closer and brought her gloved hands up to her own hood. Zenny Al Farhan’s soft, musical voice spoke from within. “Rusty, we are not shapeshifters. You can touch me if you would like to confirm that.” She pulled the hood back to reveal her face.

“How is this possible? We had heard that you were captured by El Diablito and Papa Locks.!”

Cerrydwen walked forward slowly. As she came closer, we could each see that her face was badly bruised. “We were caught by surprise at the safe house and were captured with Alexa and Naomi. It’s a long tale though and I don’t think we have the time to tell it here. We need to leave before either El Diablito or Papa Locks return. My control over those trolls will not survive long if they comeback. I’ve found out though, that the trolls can tell who the Doppelgangers are. They are very efficient at hunting them, when they choose to do so.”

“Wait, where are the others? Where is Alexa?”

Her face clouded over in obvious pain. “I don’t know where Alexa or Naomi are right now. But almost all of our other allies who had been taken in the raids and were brought here are safe. Herne and Moira are watching over them on the next floor up since some of them were badly wounded. Let’s go get the others and get out of here. We can tell our respective tales once we are safely away from this place.”