A Soldier's Life-Chapter 296: Trolls to the Left of Me, Ogres to the Right … Here I Am, Stuck in the Middle with You

Chapter 296: Trolls to the Left of Me, Ogres to the Right … Here I Am, Stuck in the Middle with You

“Mynasha, get your lightning ready. There is one troll and two ogres—so far,” I hissed while keeping my sight trained on the troll’s legs.

“There are no ley lines beneath us; I would have to draw mostly on my own aether. I can only form two powerful lightning strikes at the moment.” I looked at her incredulously. She couldn’t see my exasperation in the dark, so I voiced it.

“What happened to you being able to handle six trolls?” I hissed. I looked to ensure my companions were getting ready, but they were at a disadvantage due to the darkness and needed a plan.

“I can still draw aether from the environment, but it takes longer,” she whispered calmly, and started shedding all her clothes as I cursed under my breath. At least I could take one troll out myself if needed.

The troll’s calls were answered from both the right, where the ogres went, and from behind it, to our left. The only good news was that the answering calls sounded the same in the rain, so hopefully we were only facing one troll and a few ogres. “Prepare to throw your glowstones if they attack. They should have trouble walking on the shale.”

Two of the horses started getting anxious and neighing up a storm, probably smelling the troll or ogres. There was no way we were going undiscovered now. “At least the ogres are bathing before our fight,” Mateo said with a soft chuckle, but no one laughed at his joke.

While the cave was good shelter, it also meant we were cornered. We didn’t have time to saddle up and escape into the night. Grumpily, Benito muttered about the lack of a body shield as he prepared. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that a troll wouldn’t have respected the shield anyway. This was going to be a disaster of epic proportions if the clerics couldn’t hold their own. To my knowledge, only Mynasha had offensive magic.

“Raelia, alert everyone when you start to form a fireball.” It was more so that everyone would be prepared for the flash effects of the explosion. My night vision spell form protected me from the effect, but the others would be blinded.

“I can grease the shale in front of the cave,” Tarnasha said suddenly. “It will only last about a minute but it should give them trouble.”

“Throw the oil you have over there now. It doesn’t matter if the rain washes it away,” I said, pointing. I noticed the troll’s legs moving toward us. Branches cracked in the canopy as it pushed through the trees, following its nose and the sound of the horses.

“It is a spell,” Tarnasha replied indignantly. I just waved at him to do as he wanted. I didn’t have time for the old orc. As branches snapped in the canopy, the horses became increasingly agitated. The troll’s head appeared to me about one hundred yards away, towering about twenty feet from the ground. I was glad the others couldn’t see the hideous creature in the dark, its eyes going wide with surprise at what it had just found, its mouth forming a smile with jagged, crooked teeth.

I could hear ogres returning from the right over the light rain pattering on the stones. “Lightning?” I asked while keeping the spyglass trained on the troll.

“I can’t see it clearly,” Mynasha hissed irritably.

“Well, it can see you clearly,” I spat back. Perhaps I was a bit angry about being in this situation.

Instead of advancing, the troll bellowed into the air again. This time, its call was returned by a matching bellow that echoed across the woods. “Dragon shit, there is another troll,” Blaze said despondently.

“It has ogres as well,” I said heavily. I looked briefly at Benito. “Benito, cut the horses free if it looks like we will be overrun. It will give them a chance to escape and may distract the enemy. If I order any of you to run, don’t question me, just do it.”

The ogres that had been chasing the deer returned, their sucking, muddy footfalls echoing ominously. They moved out of the tree line ahead of the troll as a screen. I hated smart monsters. “Throw your glowstones!” I commanded. We could not fight in the dark at such a disadvantage. Five stones appeared from their pouches and arced through the air. One sank into a muddy puddle and another disappeared between two pieces of shale, but the remaining three radiated enough light in the misty rain to see by.

Three glowstones now cast shadows outward, and the outlines of the ogres were visible at the forest edge. I looked over at Mynasha, who had completely disrobed and had motes of blue aether crackling around her as she wove a spell form in her hands. I thought it was my aether-infused sight that let me see the spell workings more clearly. A benefit I would need to explore if we escaped this mess.

“Mateo! Eyes on the enemy!” I hissed at him. He was distracted by Mynasha’s silhouette. I knew once the battle started he would be focused, but it felt right to remind him at the moment.

Blaze’s and Maveith’s bows twanged as arrows streaked the forty yards to the ogres. The ogres bellowed in rage and ignored their troll handler’s command to wait. At least, that is what I guessed from the twisted anger on the troll’s face when the ogres rushed us.

Mynasha thrust out her hands and thick, ragged lightning shot forth and struck the leading ogre. The lightning briefly connected the two before it detached from the cleric, and her end rushed toward the ogre. A thundering boom deafened me as the ogre exploded in a gory mess. Its fellow ogre stumbled from the concussive blast. Even with my ears ringing, I suddenly felt much better about our odds of winning.

“I need two minutes before I can go again,” Mynasha rasped, and I glanced over at her. Her skin was steaming and her knees looked wobbly from the effort. Using her own aether must be more taxing than channeling it from ley lines. The other ogre had stumbled but hadn’t stopped its charge, arrows protruding from its chest and belly. The lightning flash had blinded my companions, and their arrows were now missing their marks.

As our ears rang from the thunder, Glasha yelled to us, “Two trolls and two more dark ogres coming—about a mile away.”

“Is that all?” I screamed back, my sarcasm lost in the need to yell so everyone could hear.

“So far! I just searched out to two miles,” she yelled back.

“Well, three trolls and three ogres means we each get one, right?” I barked at my companions with mock cheerfulness.

Benito didn’t seem thrilled. “I really don’t want one. You can have mine, Eryk.”

I didn’t have time to reply, as the ogre had reached the shale slope, the stone crunching and sliding under its massive feet. I moved to the edge, out into the rain. Unlike the others, I had the amulet and could take one fatal strike. A wave of putrid stench washed over me. I thought the rain made the ogres smell worse.

The ogre’s foot slid out behind him with a spray of shale, and it crashed down face-first. I rushed out of the overhang and brought my blade down on the back of its head. It sank satisfyingly deep into the skull. The ogre snapped its head back and howled in pain, its spittle coating me but also ripping Boris’s blade from my hand. Really? Shouldn’t he be dead?

“Troll is coming! I will send my fireball when it is in range!” Raelia shouted behind me. She had prepared a large pyrotechnic for the party and was ready to release it. She had woven other spell forms with it to enhance its destructive capability, but her range was only thirty yards.

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“Strike the troll!” I yelled as I pulled the black spear into my hands from my space. It was no time for secrets. The howling ogre presented its chin to me as it tried to reach my blade, and I drove the spear through its mouth and out the back of its head. Before it could fall and trap another weapon, I extracted the spear and returned it to my dimensional space. I would answer the curious and amazed gazes from the others later.

I levered my foot against the now-definitely-dead ogre and worked out my sword. Raelia’s fireball sped over me toward the approaching troll, who was either reluctant to break the tree line or waiting for its companions. It covered its face as the flaming ball struck it and engulfed it. While everyone else was blinded, my aether sight adapted instantly. I watched the troll reel, but it didn’t seem to be fazed as the incendiary device washed over it.

“Lightning?!” I yelled.

“Not yet!” Mynasha yelled back, annoyed. “I need to focus more aether or it won’t be strong enough!”

“She has time; the other trolls are still a distance away,” Glasha said calmly. I ground my teeth. If we didn’t get rid of this troll now, we would be rushed by three trolls and two ogres at once.

“Marvelous fireball, Raelia! How long till your next?” I asked, watching the angry troll consider his options. I could tell he was furious about losing his ogres and being slapped by the fireball. His skin looked cooked, and I knew fire was the one type of injury they did not heal quickly.

“That was most of my aether,” Raelia said guiltily. “Maybe one more, half as strong.”

“Save it for the ogres then,” I told her solemnly as I stepped back out into the rain. Maveith’s and Blaze’s arrows had barely penetrated the troll’s thick hide. “Hold your arrows for the ogres, too. They are having no effect on the troll.”

I started to hear the other trolls in the distance when the cleric finally announced, “I am ready.” She extended her hands once again, and the lightning flashed and tethered to the troll. Its face formed a hideous look of shock and fear. The lightning snapped to the troll, and its chest exploded. But the creature did not fall. Its flesh was blasted away to reveal ribs and gore leaking from its massive body.

It bellowed in rage and pain, and a howling, angered call answered from the woods. “I hope that isn’t his mother,” Benito said breathlessly.

I was thinking of asking Raelia to fireball the exposed chest cavity, but the troll went to a knee and crawled back into the woods. “Will that kill it?” I asked uncertainly.

“No, but it will not be able to fight for a few days. It lost a lot of muscle in the explosion and has to be in excruciating pain,” Glasha said clinically. “Still no other trolls or ogres out to two miles. We may have gotten lucky.”

“Don’t tempt Fortuna, please,” Benito whined.

The troll let out excruciating, pained cries as it crawled away. The thundering in the woods approached, and it was clear that it had reunited with the other trolls and ogres. Perhaps the injured troll was warning them that we were too tough a fight and they should leave us alone. The troll had acted somewhat intelligently so far.

When the cries ended and the forest went silent, I knew we were screwed. I pulled out the spyglass and saw movement among the trees, but it was not heading away from us. Who knew trolls and ogres could sneak? The rain was picking up, adding to the ambient noise, but still, it was clear that they were spreading out to rush us: the worst-case scenario.

Glasha confirmed to the others, “The two ogres are moving up the center, and the trolls are on the right and left to flank us.”

Thinking, I asked, “Can you target the head with your lightning?”

Mynasha shook her head. “No, it is more like lassoing the target. Once I lock onto it, I release the destructive aether down its length and cannot control where it lands.”

I laid out my hasty plan. “Well, at least try to explode its head. The troll on the left is yours. I will take the one on the right. Raelia, slow the ogres with your fireball, and everyone else, focus on the ogres as well.”

“You are going to fight a mountain troll alone?” Mynasha asked incredulously.

“Yep,” I said as I moved out into the rain and crossed the shale, pulsing earth speak. Benito said something, but I didn’t catch it over the noise of the falling rain. My earth speak feedback was all blurry with the water-soaked ground, and I had to get to the trees before the ogres spotted me. I thought I was successful and waited behind a large trunk just inside the tree line.

My earth speak picked up the troll first. It crouched as it moved under the trees, plodding in the mud as it moved closer. I had estimated its path well, and it was going to pass close to my position. I just had to hope Glasha was not watching me when I did this.

The ogres roared to draw attention to themselves as they broke from the tree line and rushed my companions. Scared horses and the sound of bowstrings echoed in the night with the rain. Raelia’s fireball flashed a distance away.

My troll increased its pace, closing in on me, and I stepped out, my sword held high. It looked surprised and amused at the tiny human facing it. My sword came down in a faux slash, and its eyes widened as its head tumbled from its body, its neck now secured in my dimensional space. I was surprised it had only modest aether resistance, but then again, I had raised my space affinity to over one hundred. Of course, my aether bottomed out, and I lost my aether sight. I could see the glowstones through the trees and stumbled to rejoin the fight.

A flash and a thunderous explosion told me Mynasha had expended her lightning. Breaking from the tree line, I tried to figure out what was going on. I didn’t see the troll, just two ten-foot-tall ogres struggling to reach the group. I broke into a run, hoping to hamstring one of the ogres from behind. The ogre never saw me coming. I sliced into its calf as it scrambled on the greasy shale. I couldn’t get an angle on the Achilles, and the hamstring looked too fatty to ensure a disabling blow.

I shifted clear just in time as the ogre slammed into the shale, howling in pain. Benito and Mateo confronted the last one while Maveith dropped his bow and pulled out his hammer with practiced ease.

The ogre brought its crude club down hard on Mateo’s shield, slamming him backward a good five feet. He hit the ground with a grunt of pain. Benito moved in from the flank, but the ogre caught him with a sideways swipe that connected with his shield. Benito let out more of a squeak than a cry as he tumbled out of range.

Maveith charged, hammer raised. He brought it down in a wide arc, but the ogre caught most of the blow with its thick forearm. The impact still staggered it—but not enough.

I turned back to finish my own opponent, aiming a clean strike at the base of its neck. The ogre twisted with surprising speed and caught me with a brutal backhand. I couldn’t dodge on the oily shale—my footing gave way.

My aether shield flared to life, absorbing the worst of the blow, but the force of the blow still made me slide down the slope of shale. I slid several feet and came up disoriented, breath caught in my throat. Still, I forced myself upright, shaking off the stars in my vision. There wasn’t time to hesitate. I rejoined the fight.

It looked like Raelia and Blaze had added some arrows to the ogre Maveith was facing down. Maveith was holding his own, so I looked to finish my crippled ogre and get revenge for the bitch slap he just gave me. My ogre was confused and on one knee. I thought he was looking for his troll masters. I could see the clerics preparing spells and facing the ogres, so I assumed the other troll had been killed or incapacitated.

As my ogre tried to defend himself from his knees, I removed three of his fingers. Then he lost his entire hand on his other arm. That broke his will, and he began sliding across the shale to try to make it to the forest. Maveith’s hammer came down on the other ogre, the loud crack caving in its head. Blaze and Raelia started targeting the fleeing ogre with arrows. The ogre slowed, fell, and soon stopped moving.

The heavy rain hadn’t stopped as I rejoined everyone. “Is the other troll dead?” I asked.

“It fell over there and has not moved. I got a large portion of its neck with the lightning,” Mynasha said, grinning. Maybe she was looking for praise, but she was the one who had gotten us into this. I nodded and ran back out into the rain to behead the troll she had injured, Maveith following me. It took a dozen blows before the head was freed from the body. Mountain trolls couldn’t regenerate limbs. It was safe to say it was dead.

“How did you kill your troll?” asked Mynasha, still steaming and mostly nude when I returned to the shelter.

“Same way.” I indicated the troll’s head I had just hacked off. “I will rest for a bit, and then I will hunt down the last troll with Blaze and Maveith,” I said tiredly. I rubbed Ginger’s neck to soothe her after all the excitement, and it helped me calm, too. The stench was now our biggest enemy. I doubted anyone would be able to sleep. I would need another fifteen minutes for my aether to recover so I could kill the last troll and use the collector on it. I also hoped to get an essence from the troll I had beheaded in the woods.

Mateo had broken ribs and a concussion. Benito had a broken arm—again. Both men, despite their injuries, remained stoically quiet while Glasha did what she could to heal them. She could not heal broken bones but would do what she could. I didn’t tell Mynasha to dress, as the distraction helped Mateo and Benito deal with their pain.

I thought I had gotten away with beheading my first troll, as Glasha was not eyeing me suspiciously. I sat and leaned against the wall, inhaling the stench of the ogres and letting my adrenaline fade. We were truly Fortuna’s Chosen to have survived that.

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