“Show!” Female troll demanded, spit spraying from her thick lips and over her chin and overly-large chest. “Want to see pretties.”
I only barely opened the bag, pulling out a single stone. Holding it between my forefinger and thumb, I exposed it to the light from their fire. The facets glinted, shining in a unique bright red with almost an inner radiance. “See the pretty. And this is just one.” I hefted the bag, then tucked it beneath my shirt, making a show of straightening my weapon belt at my hip.
“Wants it,” Female troll said. She smacked the still grumbling troll that was rubbing his eyes on the head with one fist. “Gets it. Need new pretties!”
“Ow! Ger’off me! You gets it.” He picked up a stick and stabbed it in the fire, and the gem in my hand actually sent a shaft of red light bouncing around the cave.
She clasped her hands together, rocking from side to side. “Pretties for me, pretties for me.”
Dear gods, these things were stupid.
“I wants some too!” That was the other one, who’d lumbered up and around first. He was smaller than the other two. Younger, maybe? He fingered a hole in his thick ear, the rubbery flesh nicked and scored in several places. “Put it in my hole. Fill it up good!”
Choking back a sound I couldn’t quite suppress, I closed my fist around the gem when the trolls both got closer. The female had moved and exposed one cage with a very interesting Being inside. “Trade!”
“What?” Female troll waved her hand around the cave while smaller troll clenched his fingers and stared at my hand. “Armor? Swords?” She eyed my feet. “Boots?”
My shoes wouldn’t last long if I wasn’t on a horse, or unicorn, but I wouldn’t give any knowledge about me. “No.” I turned toward the wall where the foals were, but I didn’t ask for them. I knew better.
“All the Beings.”
The trio of gasps and grunts and bellows of outrage let out more noxious fumes into the air. I blinked, then shifted my weapons belt again.
“Ha! Ha! Ha!” The big troll laughed, ugly, hacking miserable sounds of amusement. It was fake, obvious by his instant sneer and sharp reply. “No.”
I moved closer to the fire, reaching for the bag inside my shirt. I loosened in and spilled a few more diamonds into my palm. The fire made them shine, and I squinted. The trolls moved in closer, drawn inexorably by the precious stones and their own well-known greed. “Are you sure? I have many.” A small flex of my palm sent a glitter of red over their faces, the walls, and the roof of the cave. “See how they are cut? How they catch the light?”
Their stench was nearly unbearable, but they hovered as close to me as I was probably going to get them. I thought I’d trade straight across for the foals, but now I knew I had to do more. Throwing up my free arm, I covered my eyes, then tossed the diamonds into the fire along with the handful of powder cradled in my palm under them.
Nothing like still holding onto my work supplies to deal with a sudden dilemma. The powder flared, catching fire in a huge bonfire of blue sparks. I’d jumped back as soon as I threw the gems, but the trolls, crying out at the loss of the sparklies, had moved forward.
Toward the fire.
And the sparks.
Greasy troll skin and hair catches fire and does not go out. They screamed and shrieked, blubbering as they ran for the exit and away from the fire. I ran toward the cages, skirting the fire and trying not to breathe in the fumes.
As much as I longed to get the foals, I needed help. I opened two cages with nimble-fingered dwarf women, deftly popping the locks with one of my swords. “Help get them out!”
“But the fire,” one croaked.
“Will spread like normal fire without those ignorant trolls stumbling around. I rescued you so you could help me rescue them. Just hurry.” There was so many cages, so many Beings. Many of the cages were wood, a few metal. I popped locks and let the dwarves open the cages with the Beings who had no hands.
In one, there was even a tiny Being I didn’t recognize. It was curled up, large ears folded over its face, fur covering its body. It refused to budge when I opened the cage door. Scooping it up, hoping it wouldn’t bite me, I ran for the pen. There was a faun, its hands shackled, also locked up with the foals.
“Help, help us!” A tendril of the fire was starting to burn along the nasty bedding the trolls had been using, and it wasn’t too far from the pen.
“Stand back.” They listened to my order, thankfully, and moved away from the gate. I reared back and pivoted on one heel, slamming my boot into the post holding the gate to the side of the fence. It splintered, then caved on the second kick. One hand still cradling the tiny Being to my side, I lifted the gate out of the post hole. It skidded across the floor and then stopped, leaving more than enough room for the foals to escape.
“Papa, Papa!” they cried.
Thank goodness they’d been smart enough not to say my name when I came in; I hadn’t even thought about that.
“Go! Your pater is waiting outside, hiding. Flee straight away from the hill and then veer left at the stream. He will be there.”
I tried to make sure there was no one else hiding or refusing to leave their cages. The rest of the abominable things stood empty, and the cave was rapidly emptying of everything but smoke.
Time to follow my foals. I’d finally saved them.
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