(Continued from Ch 34, An Oven's Abode)

The Chronicles of Rapina
Chapter 35, Trolling

Thane first transported the group to a cemetery North of Rosehaven that was serving as the Order's jump point for travel into areas in and around Avengene. It had a special force of guards and powerful wardings to prevent mages from tracing travelers back from their destinations, a feat that was difficult to begin with, but possible for a few mages with exceptional skill at divination. After the brief stop North of Rosehaven Thane again called forth the mists and transported the group to a graveyard outside Rath Keep. 

Snowflakes drifted to the ground around the darkness-shrouded party. To the Northwest, Rapina could see a tiny walled settlement with a keep near its center. The town walls were mostly stone with some parts unfinished and shored up with wooden stockades. 

"A pity trolls are nearly immune to the scratches of ghouls, otherwise I might have brought Kent along," Thane said.

"For that, I'll consider meself lucky. It's bad enough I have ta ride a dead horse," Pike growled from atop his undead mount. The Norseman had disguised himself for the trip by growing a full beard and dying his strawberry blonde hair a deep auburn. He wore a grizzly bearskin cloak over chainmail, and carried a Halberd in one hand, a double bladed battle-axe on his back and a heavy hand axe with a broad blade on his belt.

"These horses are excellent for night travel. We will make good time as they can maintain a gallop all night. We will be limited only by the running speed of the flaming skeletons. I had the largest horse outfitted with a stout metal cage within its ribcage. It is there we will house our troll." Thane was dressed in his usual black mortancer robes with a leather mask over the death mask he wore. He carried a dark staff and an arsenal of singing bone daggers in the bandoleers he wore crisscrossing his chest. With him he brought mounted skeletons including two brand new reaving skeletons, and four of his largest double-animated skeletons including red-eye the half-ogre skeleton. All of the armed skeletons were equipped with halberds and two-handed swords. Four flaming skeletons rounded out his entourage.

"I'd hate to ride these horses bareback though." Rapina smirked. 

To help disguise her identity in an area so close to the barony she grew up in, Thane had treated her hair with a chemical that removed the color. He had insisted her body hair be treated as well, since she had a habit of loosing her clothes. Unfortunately, the chemical seemed to remove the life from her hair as well. Thane had remedied this problem by draining life force from Rapina's reserves and bestowing it on her hair. Her blonde mane now looked quite rich and natural. She was dressed in a hooded black bear cloak and a breastplate of form-fitting beeswax-boiled black leather with formed triangular leather plates that hung down to cover much of her abdomen and butt. A leather strap that went between her legs held the plates tight to her body. Under the leather she wore a thick black silk blouse and breeches. She was insulated from the cold by a full suit of angora rabbit wool long underwear over her normal silken under things. 

Rapina was armed with her Montfort rapier and main gauch, her darkwood bow and two quivers of arrows with pine-tarred tips. Five of her arrows were scribed with incendiary glyphs. Instead of a halberd, she had the hose to a tank of turpentine installed within her steal breast-plated skeletal horse. She could use her feet to work a pump that would send a stream of turps out the end of the hose. Her mount wore a lit lantern affixed to it's neck that she could use for lighting the arrows that she carried. For longer-range work, she carried saddlebags with delicate blown glass orbs filled with turpentine. They had short fuses, and tar stoppers.

Rames as Karmoz wore a black bear skin cloak and a suit of blackened steel plate armor. He carried two two-handed swords on his back, a broad-bladed falchion on his belt, and a halberd in his hand. 

The group traveled rapidly Northeast all night, and then set up camp in some sheltered crags to bed down until late afternoon. The skeletons, cowled in thick black hooded robes and cloaks, stood around the camp guarding. They were not at their strongest during the day, but they would still give an enemy pause. The horses were lying around the edge of camp making it look like the site of an ancient cavalry battle, except that the leather barding the horses wore was in much too good shape. The flaming skeletons were collapsed into heaps within stone rings outside each of the tents. Rames and Pike had dumped ashes on them from a sack full that Thane had brought for that purpose. Now the flaming skeletons were nestled in a bed of ash looking to the entire world like burnt out campfires.

The horses could carry a good deal of gear, and the skeletons did not need any, so each living person had a small tent to her or himself. 

"I hope no trolls come while we are sleeping," Rapina said.

"It's giants you should worry about by day, my dear," Thane said. "Trolls are nocturnal. This area is a war zone between the giants and trolls so I imagine most of the action occurs at dawn and dusk. We will hide out by day, and hunt by night."

"Can trolls see in the dark?" Rapina asked.

"Yes, exceedingly well, but their night vision is heat-based just as is the vision of elves. My magical darkness is proof against such vision," Thane said.

"That's comforting," Rapina said.

"I'll be in my tent reading for a bit if anyone needs me." Rapina smiled.

"I need ya wench, why don't ye come ta my tent." Pike winked.

Rapina smiled and disappeared into her tent. She took off her breastplate and boots, and then read for just a bit. As soon as the others had retired she sneaked out, scratched at Pike's tent flap, and then let herself in. "Need some help getting to sleep?" Rapina whispered.

"Aye, I was tired all night and now I'm starting to wake up." As Rapina crawled in, Pike took hold of her tunic and pulled it over her head, then did the same with the top to her long underwear. 

Rapina unbuttoned her breeches and pulled them down along with the bottoms of her long underwear. 

Pike lifted the covers of his bedroll.

Rapina smiled, "You're already naked."

"I know ye better than ye think, red-hot wench," Pike chuckled softly.

Rapina smiled, slid into the bedroll and snuggled her back against Pike's heavily muscled chest.

Pike reached down and caressed the smoothness of Rapina's thighs then brought his hands up over the silk of her green silk bustier. This one keeps you caged up tight," Pike said.

"It makes putting my breastplate on easy. It was something like this and a couple layers of soaked cotton cloth I had on when they slapped the hot leather on me right out of the vat of boiling beeswax," Rapina said.

"I wondered why that breastplate fit so good," Pike unbuttoned the back of Rapina's bustier. Kroz must be wealthy ta get ye fitted fer custom armor."

"I guess necromancy is a good living," Rapina grinned. "If we can get a troll it certainly shouldn't hurt his finances either."

"Aye and with a troll ye can deal healing potions ta Jack, and I get one free just fer comin' along."

Rapina nodded as Pike pulled her bustier off and tossed it atop Rapina's tunic beside the bedroll. She pushed her panties down nearly to her knees and nestled her high, generous cheeks against his belly. Pikes hand pushed her panties down a bit more, and then his foot pushed them right down off her toes. She could feel his engorged manhood between her legs, she grabbed it and slid down into the bed a little deeper. She massaged the top half of Pike's erection, while rubbing the base half against her moistening folds. She snuggled her rump against Pike's powerful loins. "I've got as much as some men right now," Rapina said, looking down to admire her borrowed cock.

"Ye want ta try beddin' a wench with that?" Pike said as he toyed with Rapina's breasts from behind her.

Rapina giggled softly, "I don't think I would fool her if you were standing behind me."

Pike grabbed hold of Rapina's hips and pulled her farther up his body.

Rapina squealed as she was moved up. Her caressing hands pulled back his foreskin and dipped Pike's pink head into her well of honey.

Pike moved Rapina's hips back down his body and plunged into her wetness.

Rapina moaned as Pike entered her and began thrusting. She took his finger and placed it on her clit...

In the late afternoon Rapina wriggled out of Pike's bedroll and got her clothes. He was sleeping soundly while she went outside, heated some snow and busied herself cleaning up. As she began to wash, her nose tickled with lust. She finished with the chilly chore of washing her back and chest and then realized that the lust was not coming from any of the tents as she had first assumed. Furthermore, it did not seem to be the controlled lust of Thane, the intimately familiar lust of Rames or the robust lust of Pike. Without seeming to notice, she glanced past the source of the lust as she washed her bottom half.

The man watching her wore a white cloak. He was sitting in the snow about forty yards away. After finishing her bottom half, she pretended to duck into her tent, but instead she ducked into Thane's.

"Kroz, wake up," She whispered. She reached out and squeezed the lump she figured must be his foot. "Kroz there is a man watching the camp from about forty yards distant." Not waiting for him to respond, Rapina snuck to Rames' tent, grabbed his foot and whispered, we have a watcher. Unfortunately, she could not get to Pike's tent without being seen, so she ducked into her tent own tent and began getting dressed. As she finished dressing she heard riders approaching and hastened to get out and see who they were.

"Hail, travelers," The watcher said.

"Hail, riders what brings you to our humble camp?"

"We tracked you up from yonder valley. What be your business in these crags?" The man asked.

"We're troll hunters," Rapina said.

"Well met, in all Ifreanne there be not enough troll hunters. It's a dangerous sport. Were it not for their war with the giants we'd all be dead men. What would be all these bones I'm seeing?"

"Um, well, my boss collects them," Rapina said.

"He's a bone collector, is he?" The man asked.

"Yes, it's a macabre hobby, but it works for him," Rapina replied.

"You know bone collecting is a punishable offense in a lot of places, like Avengene for instance," The man said.

"That's true, but Avengene is very strict. I have heard everyone sneers at you or worse if you worship a god other than the vindicator."

"Yah, I've heard that's true now," The man said.

"Do you have a god you worship?" Rapina asked.

The man puffed out his chest, "Sure do, can't you tell who it is?" He asked.

Rapina stepped forward a few paces. "Hmm, I don't see any holy symbols."

"Oh I am a holy symbol," the man said.

"It can't be the vindicator, otherwise you wouldn't be looking at me like a real man does."

The riders laughed.

Rapina spotted some heraldry on the surcoat beneath the man's white fur cloak, but she could not see enough to tell what it might be. "You look like you know how use your sword."

"My sword and axe are my best friends," the man affirmed.

"I have no use for axes, but I can understand a man's sword being his best friend." Rapina grinned.

The riders chuckled.

"Well it's hard to tell how courageous or manly you are under that cloak, but if I had to guess, I'd say maybe you worshipped... Virtusar?" Rapina asked.

"And you'd be right. You've a keen wit there, can you handle a sword?" The man asked.

"I've handled quite a few of them. There's nothing quite as nice as the feel of a good sword in your sheath," Rapina said.

The riders grinned.

The watcher smiled, "Where's your boss?" Oh, he's rather nocturnal, so are the rest of the slugabed men. They'll be up shortly. Rapina put her hand to her forehead. The suns starting to sink. I just got up myself, maybe you saw."

The watcher grinned. "You know, for a bone collector's mistress, you seem a lively woman."

"He has little interest in mistresses. I have to find real men where I can get them," Rapina said.

The watcher grinned saltily, "It's a shame a man with an assistant who looks like you hasn't got the interest."

"I used to think so, but it works to my advantage really, being his assistant I don't have to worry about one man trying to keep me for himself. A swordswoman like me could never be content with just one blade. It would be horribly stifling."

"But how can you swing more than a single heavy blade at once?" The watcher asked.

Rapina shook her head, "Even the finest blades wear out. It's best to swing one after another rather than trying to use them all at once. Even if I could find a way to swing them all at once, they would all go dull at once as well, and that would be such a pity."

Pike's tent flap flipped aside and the Norseman emerged fully dressed and ready for battle.

"Men, I'd like you to meet Eric; the boss hired him on to assist in his troll shopping." Rapina smiled as she sensed a small fraction of the lust was now directed at Pike who was playing Eric. He likes axes, but I like his sword better."

The riders grinned.

Since she had turned towards Pike or Eric for a moment, Rapina caught just a glimps of Rames' shadowed and bearded face. He peaked out of his tent, then put on his masked leather helmet before moving forward and standing up. He too was fully armed and armored. 

"This warrior here is Karmoz, another of my master's assistants."

Rames bowed slightly and then crossed his arms across his chest as Pike was doing. 

"And what would your name be?" The watcher asked.

"You can call me Valkura, but don't call me 'Val' unless your life depends on a few quick words. And what name do you go by, Sir?"

"You can call me Cosh, but if you're feeling extra stuffy you can call me, Sir Neil Coshus."

"Well met Sir Cosh, you're a knight then, one of baron Daelarth's?" Rapina asked.

Cosh nodded.

Suddenly the shadows deepened around the entire camp. Cosh blinked, his had flew to his sword.

"Please forgive the shadows, I am sensitive to the light, Kroz rasped. Once a man has died a few times, he's never quite the same."

"A few times?"

"Every young warrior who sees an animated skeleton jumps to a hoard of conclusions. Those conclusions usually amount to him feeling obliged to interrupt my reading with a sword. These bone-heads are often of little help either, sometimes they just stand there, and I have to try to get them moving. I say, 'jump bones! Jump now!' and Valkura is often the only one who listens."

The riders snickered.

"That's why I keep a few living servitors now. These old bones just aren't what they used to be. Unfortunately living servitors require sacrifices on my part. I have to keep food around for one thing and Not everyone bounces back from death as easily as a necromancer; that's the reason I have to fetch a troll so I can make healing potions for my helpers. Now I hope you men don't feel like hacking my people up, because I'd really rather waste my humble magic on trolls. Besides, I gather you are rather important heroes for the folks in these parts, and from what I understand, they can use all the help they can get."

"Healing is priceless in these parts. Why we even put up with that priest from Avengene don't we men?"

"We sure do. He can heal a bit, but there is a price ta be paid," one of the riders said.

"I'll say, an earful of garbage," another man scoffed.

"You put up with him?" Rapina asked.

"Well we want to bust his face, but Daelrath has us on strict orders not to because the man was some kind of gift from Lord Avengene.

"Yah, a gift spy," anoher man said.

"Hehehe," the men laughed.

"Does he ever make eyes at the women," Rapina asked.

"Bah, he's always buggin' us about it. We've precious few women at the keep, but Bruhnie Daelrath says he bugs 'is peepers at her."

"What if you were to catch Mr. celebate in the act?" Rapina asked.

"Not with the baron's daughter, we're not," Sir Cosh said.

"I see what you mean. Does she like him?" Rapina asked.

Cosh chuckled, "Bruhnie told me she'd sooner rut a cur."

"I guess you're stuck with him then," Rapina said.

"Damn vindicator spies. If it weren't for that priest's healing power, I'd break his face," Cosh said.

"The irony of it is that one of the best types of energy for use in healing magic is sexual energy. The vindicator bars his priests from sex altogether, and they in turn bar his followers from practicing magic, or any form of sex beyond efficient reproduction with a single mate. It is thusly that the vindicator corners the market on healing and sets himself up as the only source of holiness."

"Clever," Cosh agreed.

"It is easy to laugh at the practices of the church of the vindicator, but there is a ruthless cunning behind every move they make. The rest is simply window-dressing that placates the rank and file followers of the church."

"You seem to know a thing or two about the vindicator," Cosh said.

"I am an old, dead man. I have seen churches like this before. They are perhaps the greatest tool a conqueror can have. They posses the ability to bend the minds and wills of the common people to the point that they will do heinous acts in the name of their god without the slightest pang of guilt. Such churches should never be underestimated."

"My people are about to have breakfast, would you like to join us for your evening meal?" Thane asked.

"Uh, you're not going to, like, poison us or anything are you?" the knight asked.

Kroz chuckled, "I really can't escape the stereotypes, can I? You have nothing to fear from me save fear itself. I will tell you your exact dangers. All depend on your actions. I am only dangerous if you attack me or seem to do so. You see my bone collection is none too bright. A friendly embrace becomes an attack in the minds of a brainless servitor. It is best simply to stay at least four feet away from me at all times. From the stalwart warrior, Eric, you are only in danger should you attack someone for real, or challenge him to a drinking contest."

Cosh and his riders chuckled.

"From my warrior apprentice Karmoz, you are only in trouble if you attack someone for real or attempt to explain some very obscure magical principle to him, thus confusing him and possibly causing him to strike out."

The riders grinned.

"From my apprentice Valkura, your greatest danger is that she has been in the abode with these boneheads too long and her pants have grown uncomfortably hot in the interim for lack of sufficient male companionship."

The riders laughed.

"If she is interested in you and you think you can satisfy her, then have at it; she is her own woman. The second greatest danger presented by Valkura is that after you have camped in her bed you will fall in love with her. Love her all you want, but do not fool yourselves, She cannot be satisfied by one man, she is not a one man woman, and you will not be marrying her. The best you can hope for is that you will be one of her friends."

Valkura blushed.

"Courage in the face of danger men!" the knight said.

A few battle cries rose from the group.

"I caution you, if you dally with Valkura, expect to be worthless the next day. She could tire the lot of you out if she had the mind to, and she often does."

"As for our food, I think you will find that hollow horses can carry better rations than solid ones can. My living servitors must put up with a large dose of the macabre, and I try to make up for that with certain perks. Feel free to have some of your men eat only your food, or whatever you wish. I understand there are plenty of unscrupulous corpses in my business. I will not think any less of you for taking prudent precautions, or from turning down my offer altogether."

"Well, it's a tempting offer," Cosh winked at Valkura; "but Daelrath would have my hide if anything were to happen to us. I'll tell you what. How about if I invite your living servitors down to our camp. It's not far off and we'd feel safer there. Your men could bring some extra food for any who dares try it."

"I am content with your proposition, however, in order to protect me, my servitors must be in sight of my position. Perhaps we could strike our camp, and pass by yours for a little meal on our way out to search for trolls. The cooking and packing would take us time, but we could come by in perhaps an hour," Kroz suggested.

"That is a good compromise. We will receive your people in an hour then."

An hour later Rapina and the men walked out of a patch of shadow down the hill from the knight's camp. When they walked in, the camp appeared to be in full readiness for an attack. 

"Sorry to disappoint you men, but there will be no battle tonight other than with any trolls that come by," Rapina said.

"Come by they do, but we are prepared for 'em. Daelrath is favorably inclined to any who rid this land of trolls. Bring him their heads and he'll pay you a bounty. Bring him a lot of heads and you'll be heroes in spite of your bone-collecting habits." 

The meal went rapidly by. Rapina enjoyed flirting with the men and tugging at their lust, but she thought there would be no time for dalliance. 

As she sat by the fireside laughing and talking with the men, Cosh whispered in Rapina's ear, "I happened on you washing earlier and couldn't tear my eyes away, and now my oak is giving me no end of trouble. You're quite a sight in the buff."

Rapina tingled with the knight's lust. She went to whisper something back to him but instead wound up nuzzling his earlobe. Soon afterwards she squealed as he picked her up and carried her into his tent. He sat her down inside but She rolled forward onto her hands and knees. He reached between her legs and unbuckled the strap that held the formed leather plates over abdomen and butt; after that he pulled her pants down and right off her legs, long underwear panties and all

Cosh looked at the young woman's perfect butt and hastened to get his own pants down. After getting them only half way to the floor he laid down and flipped over on his back, then pulled her blonde pubes onto his face. His urgent tongue teased her nub, and plunged into her depths on occasion to taste her more fully.

Valkura gasped and writhed as the sensations overtook her. Her vulva drooled and clutched at his tongue until the sensations became so intense she exploded into orgasm nearly breaking the poor knight's nose as she bucked her wetness firmly into his face and pressed. She felt the touch of his mind and left there a strong sense of esteem. It grew out of her own esteem for him. He had seen to her pleasure in a situation where lesser men might have ignored it. Before she had quite finished her orgasm, Cosh lifted her hips, got to his knees, slammed his erection into her and started thrusting like a crazed stallion. One of his hands strayed from her hips and massaged her mound as he thrust.

Cosh roared as a torrent of pleasure nearly flattened him.

Valkura smiled back at the man who seemed amazed he could have come with such power. Actually she had taken little more than he would have given her naturally, but he was so aroused his orgasm had been naturally intense to start with.

"Do you have something to, um?"

Cosh handed the lady a handkerchief.

"Thank you," she smiled as she mopped herself clean. She kissed him and nuzzled his ear once again, "You were magnificent. Now I have an appetite to bed an army, but I had better not, I've trolls to help slay."

"Cosh chuckled, I don't quite know what to make of you, Valkura."

Valkura put on her silk panties, her long underwear and her breeches, and then began buckling her armor. "It's not important as long as you can accept me the way I am," she said.

"A real fireball?" Cosh asked.

Rapina grinned and nodded as she left the tent. When she emerged the others were waiting for her. She bid the knight's men goodbye and disappeared into the gathered shadows protecting her master and his entourage.

"Ah, that was a sticky situation, Valkura. You must remember you are all too close to your hometown. If someone were to recognize you, there would be hell to pay. On the other hand, this barony is on the border of Avengene. An ally here would be invaluable. We shall have to tread lightly. Did any of you learn anything?"

"Trolls seem the currency of this realm. Cosh said Daelrath would pay us a bounty on troll heads, and if we brought him many, we would be heroes in spite of our bone collecting," Rames said.

Trolls must truly be a problem here, then," Thane said. "I noticed the remaining wooden walls of the keep had claw marks in them. I also realize that Avengene has been able to put settlements here and to install a priest in the baron's keep. He is ingratiating himself by becoming a desperately needed ally against the trolls. My guess is that Daelrath has little choice but to accept the alliance. Somehow we must give him another choice.

The first encounter with trolls came when Kroz spotted seven in a broad valley. He renewed the vision in darkness spells of his compatriots and they galloped forward.

"Charge them head on, then veer around them at the last minute, Eric go left. Reaver one, guard one and three you will follow Eric and attempt to relieve the trolls of their heads with your halberds. Karmoz, go right, reaver two, guards two and four, you will follow Karmoz and attempt to relieve the trolls of their heads with your halberds. Flaming skeletons, approach any headless troll from the rear and wipe the whole of his neck with your forearm three times. Valkura, hang back slightly ahead of me. Torch anything that approaches and lure it away from me. If the encounter turns ugly we will run."

Kroz and Valkura pursued the others for a time, then stopped while Kroz stood in his saddle and began casting a spell. Just before the combat began the area around the trolls was engulfed in impenetrable darkness.

"Blood!" Pike swung his halberd but only managed to mangle the hastily thrown up arm of a troll. The reaver behind him took the head off clean.

Rames' blade nearly severed a troll's head, and the Reaver behind him, finished the job smoothly. The last guard cleanly removed a second troll's head as he rode by.

Bwaaaaaaaad! The trolls shrieked in unison as they ran towards the sounds of the passing horses.

The flaming skeletons moved in and around the flailing bodies of the trolls. One bumped into its head and began to pick it up, but a skeleton's arm passed between the two halves of the severed neck, cauterizing both parts.

The second charge seemed as though it would go much like the first. Pike turned his horse and galloped back towards the approaching trolls. Not long before they met darkness engulfed the area. Frack! Pike snapped as he lost his halberd in the chest of a toll. Pike slowed and wheeled his horse. The skeletal servitors of the necromancer severed the troll's head before he could bring his horse around to fetch the halbard.

Rames missed his stroke by an embarrassing margin but the reaver and one guard each took a troll's head clean off. There were only two of the monsters left. 

"Shit" Pike roared as both trolls dove for him. One bashed clean through his horse's left foreleg while the other jumped slamming him off his horse's back. He could hear rings popping as it's claws scored his chainmail. Pike managed to right himself on the other side of his horse and drew his battle axe.

He was about to swing when the reaver who had been following him got around his horse and took the troll's head off with its halberd. Pike advanced on the troll who had toppled his horse while the horses of the skeletal guards maneuvered to attempt to behead his assailant. 

Rames wheeled and brought his troops back. "Reaver, guards, be careful not to hit Eric by mistake."

Gaaaa! Pike roared in pain as the troll grabbed his shoulders and rended. His face was bathed in troll's blood as a reaver swept the creature's head from it's neck, but it kept on rending as if following the last order it's missing brain gave it.

Karmos ordered, "Reavers, remove the troll's arms near its shoulders."

The reaver nearest Pike cleanly removed one of the troll's arms with its halberd, ruining the creature's leverage.

Raah! Pike's axe came up and removed the other arm from the body. He staggered back as the hands continued gripping his shoulders. He dropped his axe and attempted to lever the arm off his right shouder.

Rames drew a dirk from his boot and jumped to the ground. He grabbed the troll arm on Pike's shoulder and gritted his teeth as he worked to sever the thumb. "Ahh! There!

Pike wounded himself more grievously in the process, but managed to tear the other troll arm from his shoulder.

Kroz trotted up. The flaming skeletons were just finishing up with the necks of the last of the trolls. 

"All skeletons, guide your horses away from the flailing limbs of those headless trolls. Flamers, wipe your forearms across the stumps of the troll with the missing arms. Good, now stand back."

Kroz dismounted. "Valkura, Karmoz, Eric, we need to get Eric's shoulders back in their sockets and to set any broken ribs. This will hurt."

Pike nodded and tried to help guide the bones as Rapina and Rames pulled Pike's arms around and messed with his shoulders.

Kroz touched Pike's shoulder and shook with pain as he transferred a portion of his own life force to Pike. The necromancer bent down and drained from the armless twitching troll body at his feet then repeated the process with Pike's other side. 

"The trolls have abundant life force even in this condition, but it will not last. I will need help lifting this horse so we can reattach its foreleg and apply a bone-mending spell."

Pike moved his shoulders around as if trying to determine whether he was all right.

"Blood! Those creatures are strong. Once ye've lost yer halberd, it's a defensive battle ye have ta fight. If they get too close and get their gloms on ye, ye'll get yerself torn up like I did."

Rames chuckled, "I'm glad you were the one to discover that and not me. My bones are not ready for that treatment."

"Bah! It was just bad luck. I'm a good man with an axe, but I'm not used to the mile long haft of a halberd."

"Good job, now lets sever the arms of these trolls and then the flaming skeletons can lie down on the trolls' bodies and incinerate them. I believe these are all a bit on the large side. I am hoping for a smaller one. I am also still mulling over what to do about the barony of Daelrath. We shall save the heads in case we wish to collect the bounties."

Several more groups of trolls fell to Thane's party over the next two days. The heads of the trolls accumulated in the rib cages of some of the guard's horses, but on the third day things turned ugly.

I have spotted a group of ten trolls in a ravine to the south. Rames pointed and led the way.

"I mislike the terrain. Without room to maneuver, our cavalry could be overwhelmed and there would be no escape save at the ends of the ravine. No, I will not be caught in that trap. We must lure them out into the open. I will send the smallest of the guards. Guard, ride within bowshot of those trolls, fire arrows until they begin to pursue, then come back here." Thane said.

A few minutes later the guard came galloping up. 

"Good, let us ride some distance. We cannot let them escape into the ravine. Guard hang back forty yards but follow."

The group rode off a ways then reformed. "There now we shall see what we can do. Form up. Eric go left as usual, Reaver one, guard one and three you will follow Eric and attempt to relieve the trolls of their heads with your halberds. Karmoz, go right, reaver two, guards two and four, you will follow Karmoz and attempt to relieve the trolls of their heads with your halbards. Flaming skeletons, approach any headless troll from the rear and wipe the whole of the stump of his neck with your forearm three times. The rest of you are well acquainted with our technique. If the battle goes against us we must run. Our mounts are faster than the trolls."

The first pass went much as it always did but with more unintelligible babbling on the parts of the trolls.

Instead of flailing around in the dark, one of the trolls jumped for the sounds of Pike's horse. It crashed into his mount and shattered a hind leg. The shear momentum toppled the horse and Pike was left with a draft horse skeleton pinning his leg to the ground. The reaver behind him took the head off a troll none the less as did one of the guards. It looked like Karmoz's group scored about the same number of kills.

"Skeletons following Eric, defend him!"

The skeletons followed their orders, one guard was borne off his horse by a frenzied troll, but a second troll was beheaded by the second guard. On the return pass, Rames' group harvested heads like the scythe of death; three fell leaving only two trolls. One troll managed to tear a guard from its mount after the skeleton carved its compatriot's head off.

Pike slapped his horse and shook the reigns, "Go!" As the horse attempted to rise, the Norseman rolled out from under it.

Suddenly Rapina heard a croaking from behind her and there was Kroz looking like he was about to fall off his horse.

"Enemy caster...Poison spell," Kroz croaked.

"Heads up! Enemy caster, Kroz is down!" Rapina hollered.

"You must hit him before he can cast again." Kroz laid forward on his horse as if to ride towards Pike and Rames, but instead he nearly slipped off.

Rapina looked around. Ten trolls were heading towards her, and behind them behind the partial cover of a tree, was an eleventh. She caught Kroz and pushed him back over his mount, but the trolls were coming. She needed to hit the eleventh troll, she drew an arrow but realized she could never hit the troll shaman before the new pack pulled her to pieces and they were almost on top of her. She grabbed the nozzle and began to pump furiously with her legs, turpentine sprayed from the nozzle, but there was no way she could fire a flame arrow to light it. She dipped the tar just behind an arrow's head into the flame of the lantern affixed to her horse's neck, then whipped it out under the stream of turps.

Just when they were within a few feet of rending the woman and mage limb from limb, a cone of fire erupted from the woman's hands. EEEEEIIIIIII! The trolls screamed as four of them became living torches. The others skirted the flames and ran away towards Pike's position. Two doubled back, hoping to get at the mage from the other side.

Pike roared with pain as he stood up. Shit!

Rames swung and missed as one of the two remaining trolls smashed into his horse. Rames threw himself in the opposite direction as the horse was falling and came up standing. The troll was too close to make it possible for Rames to get back on his mount, though thankfully none of the horse's legs were broken. The troll that had attacked his mount soon lost its head as the halberd of a reaver sent it spinning.

Rames blinked as a dazzling ball of light exploded above the skeletons. The magical darkness disappeared and the skeletons steamed. Had it not been for Thane's policy of cowling his skeletons in black clothing or robes, the light would have done even more damage than it had. The flaming skeletons that had been dutifully cauterizing necks paused a moment as they too steamed as though water had been thrown over them. Rames saw four trolls headed straight for him. 

"Skeletons, attack these trolls!"

The skeletons rode on their foes, but with the magical darkness neutralized, the trolls leapt savagely onto the skeletons, knocking them from their mounts.

Rames swung his halberd at the last of the oncoming trolls. It was apparent that this troll had not been expecting the blast of light and his sensitive vision had been dazzled even worse than Rames.' The human warrior's vision in darkness was unaffected by the burst of light, for it worked on the basis of seeing gradations of life force like an undead.

Pike drew his battle-axe and found a stout tree to lean against.

The necromancer held on and rode for cover behind a huge fir tree. He could hear Valkura following him and a flash of light seemed to have come from the location of Rames and Pike. When he made it behind cover, the necromancer's control lapsed and he slipped off his horse and fell heavily to the ground.

Valkura glanced back, the four trolls she had torched were blinded and flailing wildly at their flaming bodies, but two were advancing on her. She grimaced and pulled out a glyphed arrow. She pulled back and aimed carefully. The trolls were close but her shot must be true. The first arrow sunk through the trolls eye socket. For a split second, the troll's eyes glowed like those of a halloween jack-o-lantern. Smoke and steam gushed from its ears, nose and mouth. Rapina drew back a second arrow. The troll began to leap but not soon enough as the arrow sped into the monster's open mouth and cooked the base of its brain.

Rapina got behind cover and jumped from her mount. She took Kroz's head in her hands and looked into his eyes. "Kroz, you have to concentrate, use your life drain on me. Cast the spell!

Kroz's vision wavered like that of a drunkard but he seemed to understand and began droning incantations.

Rames could see the skeletal warriors would not last long under the rending assaults of the trolls, but he also knew that the skeletons would keep twitching even after their limbs were severed. He did not know where Kroz was, but Pike was wounded and they were outnumbered. He jumped onto his mount, kicked it and commanded it to rise. "Eric, get up with me, if they want us, let 'em give chase."

Kroz's first attempt at casting while poisoned did not go well. He blinked and started the spell over again while his apprentice glanced about for the troll shaman.

Only one troll came near Rames as his horse was making its escape.

Blood! Pike roared as his axe sent the troll's head sailing. "Come on, mess with me!" he roared as he jumped up on the horse with Rames.

Rames galloped off with three trolls in hot pursuit.

Rapina gasped as she felt Kroz drain energy right through her breastplate. Her reserves were more than half-exhausted by the single touch, but Kroz began wavering much less right away. Rapina saw the life force of a troll in the distance. She pushed Kroz closer to the ground and pointed when they were under cover once again. 

Thane pulled two daggers from his bandoliers. "Pierce the troll shaman's eyes," he commanded, peeked up and then threw the blades. 

Rapina waited ten seconds then scrambled onto the back of her horse. She rode back towards the site of the original battle. The trolls were no longer on fire and were clawing at their eyes, no doubt they were trying to clear the burnt parts of their eyes away so that they could regenerate. She lit another arrow and smiled.

Rapina made three troll torches before her supply of turpentine ran out, and then she expended two fire bombs on the fourth. She wheeled her horse to and fro avoiding the screaming trolls while she rode to the battle site. There she took a halberd from one of the downed skeletons. The flaming skeletons seemed to be perpetually cauterizing the necks of the many beheaded trolls. They were following their last instruction, no doubt.

Her first attempt at using a halberd on a flaming troll was a flop. It took her three hacks before she sent a head flying. The second troll's head was off in two. Unfortunately, as the flames began dieing down, the trolls became increasingly sensible. She nearly cut the head off the third troll before she noticed the fourth clawing at his eyes. As she finished the third head, the fourth troll came after her. Three more fire bombs returned it to the status of a living torch. This time Rapina beheaded it while it was burning fiercely.

Rames was doing well keeping a bit ahead of the trolls in spite of trees and other obstacles when he beheld a wizened troll smashing two bone handled daggers on a rock littered with the wrecks of numerous similar blades.

The troll pointed and gibbered at them. Suddenly their horse began thrashing as undergrowth beneath the snow grabbed its hooves.

The abrupt stop unhorsed Rames as Pike slammed into him. Suddenly the troll shaman was enveloped in darkness. He screeched at Thane and began gibbering again. Rames had no time to deal with the shaman. The three trolls that had been pursuing him were ready to do battle. He swung his halberd but merely nicked the arm of one of the trolls.

Pike could see one of the trolls crouching to jump. It sprang and Pike swung. "Haaa! That's more like it!" Pike grinned as the troll's headless body fell to the ground.

The darkness around the Troll Shaman sputtered out. He peered into the distance then looked at the battle nearby and started gibbering utterances and shaking a skull-headed rattle. He pointed at Pike and gibbered and then he pointed at Rames and gibbered some more.

Pike brandished his axe, as a troll lunged for him, opening a rent in his chainmail. The Norseman wheeled the horse and took the creature's shoulder right off.

Rames sidestepped the jump of the incoming troll and opened its spine with his halberd.

Pike grinned as the troll's other arm joined the first on the ground. "Ththth," Pike attempted to speak but he had begun shaking in time to the rattle. He shakily swung his axe. Instead of severing the head as he had meant to, he cut down into the chest of the troll.

Rames began to Vibrate like a fool; he barely managed to lift his halberd but another swing proved impossible. The shaman's rattle was making him quake. He saw the wound on the back of the troll he was fighting begin to close. The regeneration of the creatures was maddening. The other troll opened its mouth and bit down on Pike's twitching right shoulder.

A roiling dark cloud formed around the shaman's chest and he weezed as he gibbered and shook the rattle.

Pike dropped his axe.

Rames watched as the troll that he had hit earlier stood. The weezing of the shaman seemed to diminish the power of his spell. Rames weakly tried to fend the attacking troll off. The tip of the halberd bit into the troll's chest as its clawed hand bashed the side of Rames' head. The warrior-priest saw colored lights and then everything went dark.

Rapina rode through the trees following the sound of the rattle until she saw the shaman at last. She broke a lit fire bomb over his gibbering head as she rode past him.

Rapina had disrupted the shaman's spell. Pike could move again, but the armless troll was trying to sup on his right shoulder right through his mail. With his left hand he drew his hand axe and swung. The head still refused to come off as his angle was all wrong. Groaning he raised the axe for another swing.

Rapina wheeled her horse and sent a flaming bodkin-tipped arrow through the skull of the troll that was bending over Rames. It twitched and stood. She sent a second arrow at the troll shaman's head but missed and hit his thick neck. When the arrow hit the glyph on it triggered and the creature burst into flame. Rapina wheeled her horse as the troll that had been about to kill Rames came after her. Rapina felt her horse stumble as the troll scratched the bones of its hind quarters. It bounded ahead and Rapina began to circle. 

She could see Pike hacking at the mangled troll still on him. He was bleeding profusely from his shoulder. Thane was sneaking towards the troll shaman who seemed to be staggering in circles as its clothing burned. Rapina glanced behind her, to make sure the pursuing troll was not too close. She stood in the stirrups and fired a flaming arrow at the troll shaman's head but missed and hit a tree next to him. The troll shaman was drunkenly patting at his flames. She started her horse again as the troll behind her nearly caught up.

Flaming skeletons, come here! Thane yelled.

Rapina stopped again, took aim and missed. "Damn! I better get closer," she said. She urged her mount forward just as it lurched. The pursuing troll had leapt and its claws had pierced the rear of the horse's breastplate just behind her. Now the troll was pulling itself up onto her mount. She jumped off the horse and ran. The troll followed.

Rapina heard a familar tune in her mind. It was Arzeal humming. The forest was the elven warrrior's friend. Rapina drew her rapier and main gauche. The troll growled towards her and she jumped aside putting a tree between her and the troll. The troll lunged but she jumped aside again and swung her light, swift blade. The troll screamed as three fingers disappeared from its hand.

Rapina jumped and danced her rapier through the air. The trees were her friends. The troll was big but she was small and agile, and the trees were always in front of her pursuer. As she sprang from tree-shield to tree-shield her blade spoke, and the troll steadily lost claws, and then an eye, and still she danced, her breath coming quicker with the exertion. The second eye was a bit more difficult as the troll was growing shy. Rapina dodged between two closely placed trees, the troll lunged. The stump of its wrist slammed into Rapina's chest and sent her into a roll. She came up and straight-armed her rapier into the troll's good eye, for the foolish thing was temporarily stuck between the two trees.

Thane was sorely winded. He had used all but two of his singing bone daggers on the blasted troll shaman. He had used darkness several times, and seeping death. He was tired. The shaman was clawing drunkenly at its eyes as it burned. Thane smiled chanted the syllables and pushed the shaman's back in a place it was not burning, draining its life force into himself. "Ahh, I feel stronger." The creature turned and Thane hopped backwards. Thane crouched over Rames and bestowed life force on him, then darted back towards the shaman to replace what he had bestowed. The burning turpentine had fowled the troll shaman's sense of smell, and fire had destroyed its vision, but that would not last long.

At last Pike hacked the head off the troll he had been working on for so long and let it roll to the ground while he hobbled away from the flailing body. His right shoulder was a ruin, and his right leg was likely broken. He used his hand axe as a cane and hobbled towards the burning shaman.

The troll's fingers were slowly growing back, but Rapina had some time before the troll would again be fully armed. The blinded troll bumped into a tree that Rapina had already started around. She sheathed her rapier and drove her main gauche in between two vertebrae in the troll's upper back. Its legs buckled as its spinal chord was severed. Since she left the knife in, the troll could not regenerate its spinal chord, and since the knife was in the troll's upper back, he could not reach the knife to pull it out. 

Pike leaned on his axe and regarded the necromancer. He seemed to be dancing and singing and grabbing the troll here and there. Actually, he recognized the life drain spell, but it did not seem to be doing a lot to the troll shaman, whose eyes would soon be regenerated enough to make the necromancer's dance much more risky. Pike swung his axe. There was a satisfying crunch, but the thing's head did not quite roll and the Norseman fell headlong.

Thane had heard the troll's spine break. He stuck his hand into the wound and drained. Instantly the area of the troll's spine beneath his hand turned gray and hardened. It's spine severed, the troll soon fell as its legs were no longer receiving orders from its brain. Thane collapsed onto the ground, grabbed Pike's right leg and gave it a jerk.

"Yiii!" Pike bellowed.

Thane heard a satisfying pop and then bestowed life force to the area of Pike's leg that had made the sound.

Pike's mouth opened as the shooting pain from his leg became a warm tingle and the break became a memory.

Thane had hoped the draining would recharge him for casting, but it did not seem to be entirely true. He took another dose of life force from the twitching body of the shaman then sat down to rest. Rames was stirring however, and that was a good sign.

Thane smiled as the flaming skeletons arrived, "Flame one and two, lay on the body of the second troll Pike had killed here, and flame three, cauterize the troll shaman's neck.

"Aren't you going to cremate the shaman and the other one?" Rames asked blearily.

"Nay, I must contemplate on a way to extract the shaman's knowledge. Let us cut his arms just below the elbows for now and bind him tight." Thane took Rames' cloak and used it to pat the fires out that had started on the trees surrounding the troll shaman as the result of the glyphed arrow. Then he and one of the flaming skeletons attended to the troll shaman's arms. By the time the laid upon troll's body was little more than ash, Thane was finished and sitting down for a rest near the shaman's body, its head beside him. Rapina walked into sight with a rapier in one hand, and a troll head in the other.

"You killed a troll with your rapier?"

Rapina nodded as she came back from putting out the fire one of her arrows had started. "It chased me, and I played tree dodgems and sliced its fingers and claws off. Then I took its eyes out. Then I came around behind it. I put my main gauche through its spine in the upper back and left it there. Its spine was severed so its legs gave out and I just kept hacking until I got the head off."

"My dear, you have nerves of steel," Thane observed.

"I'd have to living around you and all those undeads," Rapina grinned. "I got a few gashes, and bruises but I'm okay. The light armor helped. Did we find a small enough troll?"

Thane looked over at Rames who was now sitting upright. I have an idea how we can cut one down to size and spare ourselves any further trouble. We will simply return the head to the body of that first one Eric killed in this location, I have had the flaming skeletons leave it. We will cut off the legs and arms, cauterize the wounds, and there we will have a troll of the perfect size and lack of mobility. I suppose we shall have to leave one arm to the elbow for a good place to draw blood from, but other than that I believe the solution is poetic.

Rapina picked Pike's hand axe off the ground and swung it against the troll's limbs with both hands.

Later we can get some metal end caps for its limbs and I suspect we shall keep it very well," Thane grinned evilly beneath his mask. "Now I must rouse myself and bestow healing on Eric's shoulder. Then we can free that horse, move to, rest at the main battle site, and use my mend bone spell on the various lame horses. Then we must find a camp, for dawn approaches."

As Rapina finished cutting the troll's arms off, Rames ordered a flaming skeleton to cauterize the stumps and then hug the arms until they were ash. He did the same for the legs, and then Rapina carefully washed off the troll's neck wounds and pushed the head against the neck. It was almost gruesome the way the troll healed back together. Its eyes blinked and it tried to move, but it had no limbs. They removed the limbs from the body of the troll shaman as well, for Thane wanted to restore the shaman in a safer location where he might be able to think of a way to extract its knowledge. Rapina and Rames loaded it onto the horse and returned to the site of the main battle. In spite of Thane's fatigue, Rapina noticed he carried the troll shaman's head.

Once the troll heads, skeletal horses and skeleton parts were gathered at the site of the initial battle, Rapina packed up the troll heads as Thane mended the bones of the skeletal horses. From there the group rode to find a secluded camp.

---


It was late afternoon after the big troll battle, and Rapina was serving food around the skeleton campfire.

I have been thinking about Daelrath. Avengene is insinuating his way into this Barony, and he must be stopped, however I do not believe Lord Daelrath sees himself as having any viable allies to help him with the trolls. Until now, he was right. After fighting the trolls, I believe we can develop better weapons against them. When you fired the glyphed arrows directly into the skulls of those trolls, Rapina, your brilliance showed its true colors. Moreover, when you left your main gauche in the spine of the troll you killed, you demonstrated another very important principle. A projectile that cannot be removed disallows the rejoining of the flesh that was on either side of it. If Red Jack would allow me to borrow Arzeal, I believe we could run some tests. Towards that end, I suggest we consecrate a graveyard here in the midst of troll country. We shall return to the abode, lick our wounds and make ready some prototype arrows. After they are tested on a few trolls by Jack's master archer, we may see that Daelrath gets some of the more effective ones, but first we must ascertain how much power Avengene wields over Dealrath. 

Rapina, I have an optional mission for you. If you choose to turn it down, none will think the worst of you. It is highly risky because someone in Keep Rath may recognize you in spite of your blonde hair. However necromancers are seldom well received anywhere and someone must attempt to recover you should things go awry, so I shall not be going. The fewer we send, the better in this case. You are simply the most congenial servitor I have, and your talents lend themselves to gaining the confidence of fighting men. I would suggest you stay away from any of Avengene's spies if possible, however.

"I'll do it," Rapina said.

Very well, later you will journey back to Keep Rath. I have seen native people use a frame of two timbers dragging off the backs of their horses as sort of a makeshift wagon. Can you construct one for Rapina's horse, Karmoz?

"I sure can, they are useful for hauling the dead or wounded when there are few horses. I have used them before."

Good, this one must be large, as it must hold our entire collection of troll heads.
-------

This ends, Trolling, chapter 35 of The Chronicles of Rapina.
The story continues in chapter 36, Daelrath.

Copyright 2001 by Rapina