Page 27 of Stealing the Troll’s Heart

No wonder we’re taking so much human territory now. It’s no longer a choice about whether or not to join the war effort—it’s an obligation under penalty of death.

Chapter 13

Telise

The Red Towers are quiet, like I expected. I’m the only one walking among the great pillars of deep orange rock that spiral up into the sky. There are all sorts of creatures worth hunting here: Massive hyenas with gorgeous striped coats, elephants with huge tusks and thick leather hides, even birds of prey with supple feathers that make a pretty accent on any piece of clothing you could imagine.

For a while I can lose myself in tracking. I manage to take down a hyena with an arrow through the head—a perfect shot that doesn’t damage any of the hide or fur. Once I have it skinned, I toss the corpse to some vultures sitting around stale water, and they scream and caw with glee.

After I’ve collected a hefty load of supplies in my pull cart, I venture back to the small outpost at the top of one of the many towers, which you can only reach by a big bucket attached to an impressive pulley system. I call up to request a ride, and ittakes a good thirty minutes before anyone is near enough to hear me and pull me up.

The outpost itself is almost empty.

“What happened?” I ask the one guard posted at the guard tower. “Where is everyone?” Things have clearly changed in the weeks that I’ve been out hunting.

“War.” His eyes look heavy. “Conscription.”

“What?” I almost drop my bag.

“Every eligible man and woman not currently involved in a military operation,” he gestures at his guard tower, “is required by law to return to the capital and join the war effort.” Then he looks away from me. “Deserters punished by death.”

My chest constricts. No. There’s no way.

“Why?” I try to keep my voice steady as I think of Deleran, being dragged from his parents’ home and stuffed into steel armor, a sword shoved into his hands.

“The trollkin are advancing quickly. It’s not long before they reach the capital, so it’s all hands on deck to keep them at bay.”

Oh, fuck. A lot has changed just since I was home in Great Oak.

“I can pretend that I didn’t see you,” the guard says, surveying me. I just look like a pretty young thing with a cart full of supplies.

“Thank you.” But if Deleran is going to be pulled into this, I have a responsibility to find him. To protect him, because he’ll never be able to protect himself out there. “I’m going to enlist. Voluntarily.”

The guard looks surprised, then a little sad. “You shouldn’t,” he says. “They’re dying out there in numbers.”

“I won’t die.” I’m too quick and too smart for that. “I’m just going to help a friend.”

“Your friend is probably already dead.”

I just have to hope he isn’t right.

Raz’jin

We’re only thirty miles from the capital when the tides change.

The humans must have begun conscripting, too, because their numbers suddenly surge. We meet a powerful resistance at the next town, and many of the new, young recruits fall at my side as we bludgeon our way through humans who look no older than children. Where I came to lose myself, instead I find a well of things to care about. I cleave another child through the head, watching his face fall in half in front of me. My axe is drenched in blood.

But we’re still losing. There are more of them than there are of us. I’m one of the few left alive when our captain calls for a retreat. We fall back to our camp, where the human force wouldn’t be so bold as to attack. We just have to sit and wait for the big guys to come up with a new plan.

That’s when Blizzek arrives along with the next wave of conscripted recruits. I find him sitting around the fire one night, sipping up the same slop that I am. How he ended up here, when there are plenty of other fronts he could’ve been dragged to, is a mystery to me.

“Raz.” He almost looks relieved to see me when I sit on the log beside him. “You’re alive.”

“Yup. Unfortunately. They got you, huh?”

“I came willingly. Didn’t need to be told twice.” He looks down into his bowl. “We’re supposed to survive on this shit?”

“Welcome to war.” At least I can trust Blizzek to keep himself alive, unlike these other whelps.

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