Page 8 of Warlords, Witches & Wolves

Another troll?

He sniffed the air, but his senses weren’t as attuned as a wolf’s. He glanced at Anise and caught a crease between her brows. She’d smelled something she didn’t like, but shook her head and dismissed it.

The troll rifled around in a wicker basket by the cave entrance until he found a portal stone. He grunted at his find and then gestured with urgency for Anise to show him the invitation. Instead of reading it, he sniffed it.

“Yep. Smells like witch,” he muttered and then handed Anise the stone. “This will take you to her.”

Anise received the stone but slumped. “I can’t activate portal stones. Could you do it?”

The troll shook his head. “Not part of the deal. You go now. We hungry.”

“I can do it,” Caraway offered.

“Good,” the troll picked up a long, jagged bone machete that had been resting against the cave. He jabbed it toward Caraway and Anise. “You go.”

Caraway frowned at the troll’s haste and moved between the sharp bone weapon and Anise.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s go do this elsewhere.”

He walked Anise out of the gully but, try as he might, he couldn’t shake the sensation something was very wrong back at the camp. That blanket. Those curing body parts... He paused just as they climbed out of the gully and into a clearing. Anise handed him the stone, but instead of activating it, he turned back to survey the direction they’d come from.

Smoke curled from the troll’s campfire, winding it’s way up through the treetops and into the overcast sky.

It had been too easy.

Trolls were evil bastards when they wanted to be. Trying to get one of them to do something for you was a hard task. They were deceptive, too.

And then the cutting sound of a baby’s cry pierced through the trees. Caraway’s heart leaped into his throat. His eyes locked with Anise’s. She’d heard too. But it was the diminishing hope turned resignation in her eyes that broke his heart. And when her ears flattened and she turned her gaze away, he understood that her faith in him was gone.

No words were needed. She’d thought because he was a Guardian, he’d ignore the plight of a baby, just like he’d failed to pay attention to the signs leading up to her capture two years ago.

He unsheathed Justice and growled as he shoved the portal stone at her.

“Stay here and wait for me,” he ordered, and then headed back toward the cave.

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