We wove our way through the buildings, and it didn’t take long to realize all the doors were locked. Except one.
At the top of the northwest tower, which was only beginning to burn, a single door was open as if in invitation. No, that was being too kind; what we saw was no invitation, but an invasion.
I ran a hand over the jagged edges of the door frame where they’d been ripped off. The metal hinges were sheared in half and the door was nowhere to be seen. Unless the tiny splinters littering the floor were what was left of it.
I stepped inside as Peta let out a low snarl.
“What?”
“I smell something rather alarming. Troll shit.”
The fetid stench curled up my nose as she spoke. As if the human sewers had spewed up after festering in heat for a year. “Mother goddess, that is horrid.” I put a hand to my nose as my eyes watered. Forcing myself to step further into the room, I dropped my hand and looked around. The room was laid out simply, a table with a few books on it, two chairs, and a window on the far side. Glass covered the window frame as if blown inward. Two strides and I stood at the window. Blood splatter covered the frame and a fingerprint on a piece of glass still left in the window drew my eye. I put my own hand up to mimic it. Several strands of long dark hair caught on the top of the window frame. “She jumped out.”
“She would have died,” Cactus said.
I peered out of the window to the cobblestone below. “No body.”
“Doesn’t mean she didn’t die. Maybe the trolls got her.”
Somehow I doubted she would be that easy to take out. Call it a hunch. “No, she made it out. Now we have to track the Tracker. Cactus, check the books for something. A clue, anything that will give us an idea of where we’re going.”
I turned as he picked up a book by the edge, something dark brown dripping off it. His nose wrinkled up. “I found the troll shit.”
“Disgusting creatures,” Peta said as she crept around the edge of the room, her nose twitching. “Their scent makes it hard to pick up hers, but I think I have it.”
“So you can smell her if we get close enough?”
“Yes.”
A low, deep laugh turned me around, my hand instinctively going for my spear. In the doorway stood a large, orange-skinned troll. He filled the door frame, his head pushing against the top as his six-fingered hands gripped the edges. At least I knew how the door had been ripped off now. His fingers clutched what was left of the frame, making the wood creak.
Three eyes peered at us, one from each cheek and one in the center of his head. His mouth had wide, flat teeth for crushing and his jaw looked as though it had been modeled after a boxer dog, the way the lower section shot forward. “You looking for the Tracker? Me too. Maybe we can team up.”
He thrust his hips my way as he ran a hand over himself as if that would somehow endear him to me.
“Yeah, I think not.” I took my spear from my side and twisted the two halves together. From Peta rolled a flash of excitement. She wanted to fight with the Troll.
I raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged.
“Not my first time dealing with them. Watch him, he’s a Firestarter.”
The Troll looked from me to Peta and back again. Of course, he couldn’t hear her.
“Too bad. Pretty girl like you should have a real cock in her bed, not a redheaded weakling.” He grinned at Cactus, then flicked his hand that had been wrapped around his shaft at him.
A slimy substance I didn’t want to guess at slapped Cactus in the face.
His green eyes flashed and he let out a breath. So much for getting in and out of the tower with ease.
CHAPTER 9
actus pointed a single finger at the Troll and a thin bead of fire raced from him to slam into the wrinkled orange skin. The Troll, however, didn’t seem bothered by the flames. He grinned at Cactus.
“Witch, I’m going to enjoy eating your skinny ass.”
I grabbed Cactus and yanked him behind me. “You can’t help with him.”
The hurt on his face should have bothered me, but all it did was irritate me. I didn’t need anyone saving me.
My back was to the Troll and I held still, knowing he wouldn’t be able to resist. Predators always thought they were clever bastards.
Peta watched from under the window ledge and I kept my eyes locked on her for a sign. She blinked and I spun with my spear arced outward in a sweep. The blade buried into the Troll’s side. He let out a roar and swiped at me with his oversized mitts. “Sneaky bitch!”
Peta shot in between us and swiped at his legs, taking him out at the knees. He dropped to the floor, clutching his side. Peta danced back from him, her tail lashing.
I yanked my blade out of his hide and held it to his neck. “Easy or hard, Troll?”