Chapter 28
Trolls. Move. Fast!
Like turbo fast! You might think since they were so large and weighed as much as a herd of buffalo, that might slow them down, but you’d be wrong.
One second, they were across the room, flabby boots paused in the air mid-stomp; the next, the trolls were on top of us. They roared and charged, and Sierra caught the full brunt of a club right in the back. The blow sent her somersaulting through a group of terrified passengers. There were screams and wailing and snarls, and it was impossible to tell where they were coming from—the monsters, the passengers, or us, the Wild Crows.
As people scattered, the smart ones found the exit to the stairwell behind the trolls and crammed through the opening, grunting and shoving each other in a mad frenzy, trying to get to the safety of their cabins.
With a shrieking cry, Miles slammed his thumb down on the button of his Gadget—and the dagger popped out.
“Oh, this isn’t going to help at all!” Miles griped sadly, his voice sounding as though it had tripled in speed.
“You’ve got to think bigger, Miles!” I shouted, ducking a troll’s club and then diving through the gap between its legs. Whenever I’d faced a monster during a battle, and I’d been too panicked to concentrate, the dagger always seemed to pop out first. It was my go-to weapon, but it rarely helped in a fight.
While Miles scrambled for a place to hide, I had my own Device to figure out. Sliding behind several cushioned chairs to buy myself some time, I considered using Goon as an attack-armadillo again —that yo-yo trick had been pretty effective against Gilner. Apparently reading my thoughts, Goon shot that idea down almost at once. With a sharp bite to my armpit, the armadillo scolded me for even suggesting it.
“Fine!” I huffed. “I’ll just loop this thing into a whistle.”
Popping my head over the chair to check on the others and see if they were still alive—they were, thank goodness—I nearly caught a troll boot right in the teeth. My hair ruffled as the gnarled leather boot, like a stuffed bag of garbage, narrowly missed ending my Quest for good as it swooshed overhead. Out of options for hiding places, I knew there could be no more delays. I shoved the end of the Tether into my mouth, sucked in a breath, and blew.
To my surprise, instead of blubbery spit dribbling out the tube, a series of crystal-clear chimes rang out. I felt a rumbling in my chest, but I wasn’t afraid this time, because I knew this feeling wasn’t coming from the Creepers. Pounding and fluttering, I could feel them like millions of butterflies trapped inside me. And with a raucous explosion of glass, a flock of enormous pelicans poured through the windows.
“Holy cow, it worked!” I gasped.
Swarming the ballroom, the birds flapped their wings, pecking with beaks the size of snow shovels. They attacked the troll nearest me, and the monster wailed, batting angrily at the pelicans with his club. With the trolls distracted, I ran toward the others and found Jasmine and Sierra crouching in the corner.
“Some healing would be nice right about now,” I said. “But no pressure.”
Jasmine fixed me with a deadly scowl. “Ha, ha, very funny, Lucas!” she growled, biting her lower lip. “I don’t know how this works!”
“You’re doing great,” Sierra said, rubbing Jasmine’s shoulders as though trying to give her encouragement. “Forget about reading the music. You’re the Luminary, and your Spark will do what you want it to do. So play. Like this!”
She mimicked playing an invisible guitar, and Jasmine gawked at her as though her nose had grown a foot. Sierra did look absurd, strumming her fingers, bobbing her head to an imaginary rhythm no one could hear. That’s when Jasmine lost it. She erupted with laughter, howling and snorting, and the sound startled Sierra from her charade.
“You’re the craziest person I’ve ever met,” Jasmine said, shaking her head.
Still trembling from laughing, Jasmine started to play. This time I felt another tingling in my chest. One by one, as she strummed her Spark to the tune of the Chords of Necessity, the bloodstones on my Advancement Medallion started lighting back up. And not just mine either. I could see Jasmine’s Vitality Meter refilling as well.
“You’re doing it!” Sierra cheered.
“I know,” Jasmine replied, biting the tip of her tongue in concentration. “Now, go finish off those trolls while I take care of this.”
Hesitating, Sierra held up the Spade. “I’m the Harvester, remember? I grow things.”
“That’s never stopped Jasmine before,” I said.
“But what am I supposed to do on a boat?” Sierra asked, glancing at Jasmine.
“I once sent a wave of rocks through a cave, and there was nothing growing in there.” Jasmine said, pausing long enough to reach over and squeeze Sierra’s shoulder. “Sometimes, Sierra, you just need to fight.”
That was all the pep talk Sierra needed. Plunging her Spade into the hardwood floor of the ballroom, she sent a wave of splintery boards to mash a troll and pin it against the wall. Beating their wings furiously, my pelicans drove the second troll crazy, and when Miles finally got the hang of his Gadget, he knocked the monster through the window with a well-timed swing of a mighty battle axe. That was the first time I had ever seen the Gadget used like that, and the troll plummeted into the ocean like a boulder. As Jasmine finished playing the Chords of Necessity on her Spark, and the last of our Band’s missing bloodstones returned, the final troll looked as though he wanted nothing more to do with us. The rest of the passengers had fled the ballroom, leaving us alone to contend with the quivering monster, but we had all been healed, our Vitality Meters at full strength. The four of us stood together, facing down the final enemy in the ballroom, and it was one of the coolest moments I had ever felt in Champion’s Quest. This was why we played. This was what made the game so amazing. When our Band worked together as a team, we were unstoppable!
“The Wild Crows have always delivered such wonderful entertainment!” The voice seemed to drift down from the ceiling like wispy cobwebs, swirling all around us, as Faylinn stepped into the ballroom.
The witch looked no different than when we had first met her inside her hut in the Hagwoods—wrinkled and stooped, her back almost folded like a triangle.
“Remember, no cookies,” Miles reminded me.
“Oh, dear, you’re not really thinking of fighting me, are you?” Faylinn asked. “Have we not shared such glorious times together?”
We had never fought Faylinn in actual combat. During our first encounter, all I had to do was race against her pet skeleton dragon, Dabraxus, through his Labyrinth of Bones. There was no way I was going to give her a chance to cast a spell on me. With a command from my Tether whistle, the pelicans swooped. Right before they reached Faylinn, however, the birds all exploded into a shower of aquamarine sparkles.
“I’m sorry, Lucas,” Faylinn said, curling her lips into a pout. “That was a horrible trick, wasn’t it?”
“Let me try!” Hefting his battle axe into the air, which was about the same size as he was, Miles charged toward the witch.
“I’m afraid not.” With a casual flick of her finger, Faylinn sent Miles stumbling sideways.
Before he could shift his momentum, he collided with the wall, sending out a spray of splinters and plaster and getting his axe lodged in the wood. Miles tried heaving his weight against the handle, but the axe refused to budge. Sierra’s attempt to stop Faylinn failed miserably as well. The moment she rammed her Spade into the ground, the rippling floorboards reversed and smacked the Spark out of Jasmine’s hands.
“Hey!” Jasmine cried out, as her Spark hit the floor with a twangy chirp.
“Nothing’s working,” Miles said, exasperated. After finally managing to remove his axe from the wall, he no longer seemed eager to challenge Faylinn.
“Have you already forgotten the deal I made?” Faylinn asked, puckering her lips to one side. “I am the sole possessor of your Heroes’ Devices, you silly geese. They cannot strike their master. But by all means, do continue trying, if you desire. It is certainly fun to watch you squirm.”
“How can she be their master?” Sierra asked. “We’re still using our weapons, and up until now, they’ve worked against every other monster.”
It didn’t make any sense to me either, but there was nothing we could do about it. Much stronger magic was at work here, and the longer we hung around, trying to take Faylinn out with our Heroes’ Devices, the closer the Runaway Drogue was to the Abysmal.
“Maybe we should just go,” Miles suggested.
“Go where?” Jasmine asked.
Miles pointed to the stairwell. “Let’s just forget about Faylinn, and go find Madge!”
That sounded like a great idea to me, but as we turned to head for the stairs, Faylinn called out once more.
“I’m far too old to be playing a game of chase,” she said, clucking her tongue. “Oh, yoo-hoo! I think it’s time to show yourselves, boys!” The echoing clamor of pounding footsteps filled the ballroom, and an army of monsters poured in behind the witch. Orcs and hobgoblins wielding axes and swords, and trolls even bigger than the first three with giant menacing clubs.
“First one who brings those Crows to me wins the prize!”