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I’D BEEN TRYING HARD to control my temper, but it was hanging on by a thread. Threatening to rape my best friend was the last straw. “Big mistake, frug face,” I said, delving deep into my humanlike intelligence to communicate with him. “Me frugging kill you! Me kill frugging tribe! Me frug you up and crap on frugging corpses!”
The entire colony gaped at me as my words trickled through to their tiny brains. Their leader’s erection shriveled and he bellowed in rage. He rushed at me, but I was ready for him. I swung my hammer and slammed it into his side. He grunted at the impact, then tore the weapon out of my hand. One of his kin ducked when he tossed the hammer in his direction. Whistling over his head, it became embedded deeply in the rock wall.
I’d never fought a sepsis before and knew this was going to be a tough battle. I tossed the sack over to my friends, then sized up my enemy. Taller than me, he had a lot more muscle mass than I did. I was faster and smarter, which I proved when he lashed out and I evaded his blows.
Nothing emasculated a man faster than being outsmarted by a girl in a fight. He grunted, roared and beat his fists on his chest in frustration when he couldn’t land a blow. He wasn’t aware that he telegraphed each punch long before his fists came flying at me.
Ruen let out a pained noise and my head whipped towards him. The troll standing over him had clubbed him in the back to distract me. It worked, because my enemy’s fist smashed into my face. It barely hurt, but now I was even more pissed off. They had no honor if they were going to fight dirty. His former mate lumbered over and drew her foot back to kick Aurora. The demon braced herself, then gave a muffled cry of pain when the hairy foot connected with her side.
Their leader hit me again, smashing his fist into my cheek. I could take a lot more damage than my companions could withstand. They would both be pummeled to death while I fought my opponent.
This time, I didn’t fight it when my instincts took over. I’d been trying so hard to think like a human that I hadn’t fully embraced this form. Relinquishing control now, I finally allowed the bestial part of me to take over.
Roaring in fury, I ducked the next punch, then kicked my foe in the gut. He doubled over and I leaped over him and rushed at his former mate. Grabbing hold of the hag’s arm as she reached for my bestie, I swung her into the air and spun around in a circle. She screeched in surprise when I released her. She crashed into a bunch of her kin and they all became tangled up together on the ground.
I freed Ruen from his bonds with one hard yank on the vines. He grabbed our belongings, then tossed Aurora over his shoulder and took off running back up the tunnel. I wasn’t done yet, so I didn’t follow them. Instead, I yanked my hammer out of the wall and turned to face my foes. “Come get me,” I taunted them and half a dozen trolls rushed towards me.
Not even my hammer was strong enough to shatter their teeth or break their bones. It was no wonder mom had struggled to fight two of them in their human forms. In their true forms, they were nearly indestructible. Punches rained down on me, but I shrugged them off and kept on swinging, punching and kicking everyone in my reach.
“She mine!” the troll leader shouted, surging forward to shove his way through the throng to take me on again. He seemed worried that one of the other males would try to claim me as their mate, since most of them were sporting erections. His woody had returned as well, much to my amusement.
The rest of the tribe fell back, but they formed a circle around us. I’d have to fight my way through them after I bested their leader. He didn’t bother to insult me this time and immediately began swinging both fists. As enraged as he was horny, I couldn’t block or dodge all of his blows. His fist crashed into my eye, making it water in reaction.
“You weak!” he shouted in triumph. “Me strong. Me win. We mate. Have young.”
He had my entire life mapped out for me, it seemed, but I had different plans. Growling in reply, I swung my hammer at his smirking face. He caught it again, but I was ready for it when he tried to yank me off balance. I put my other hand on the ground and swung both feet at him when he pulled hard on my weapon. My feet collided with his chest, sending him sprawling backward.
The tribe hooted, howled and roared in excitement when I leaped into the air and landed on his gut with both feet. His air whooshed out and he fought to catch his breath. I punched him in the eye biblical style, then smashed my hammer into his cheek. He merely grunted and tried to sit up. My knee caught him under the chin and he was flung back to the ground.
Another male darted forward, but I lashed out with my weapon, hitting him so hard in the jaw that he was sent reeling. I turned back to their leader and lifted my hammer over my head with both hands. I brought it down with brutal force, hitting him squarely in the nuts.
His howl of agony rang throughout the entire cave system inside the mountain. Rolling around in pain, he clutched his gonads as the other males whimpered in sympathy.
“Me win!” I declared, holding my hammer up in triumph. “Me leave. You no follow or me smash balls!”
The leader nodded frantically and motioned for his kin to part. They did so reluctantly and with fearful looks at my hammer. They’d never seen one of their own kind in such agony before. If I could reduce the strongest member of their tribe to near sobs, I might actually be able to kill them.
I marched regally through the gap and calmly crossed to the tunnel. Once I was out of sight, I fled back up the sloping passageway. I’d used all of my strength to slam my hammer into my foe’s nuts and had only managed to bruise them. It was lucky trolls were too stupid to follow orders from other beings. The overlords could have forged them into an unbeatable army if they’d been even remotely intelligent.
Ruen hadn’t waited around for me. I couldn’t sense the vampire or demon and had to follow their trail down the mountainside to the foothills. He’d used his vampiric speed to put as much distance between them and the trolls as possible. Dawn arrived and it took me another couple of hours of running before I finally sensed my best friend.
Aurora was in a small clearing in the trees. Deeply asleep, she was curled protectively around Ruen’s sleeping sack. The gray leaves on the trees cast deep shade over them both. My bestie had washed the blood from her hair and skin and there were no traces of her wound. I decided to let the demon sleep and slunk off to hunt for food.
When my belly was full, I returned to the clearing and lay down nearby to sleep. Ruen might not want me around, but I wasn’t about to leave the pair unaccompanied again. No one was going to snatch them away from me in my sleep a second time.
Rats crept out of the shrubs to groom me. Part of my brain remained aware and listened for trouble. I didn’t dream at all. My mind went into a kind of stasis until it was time to wake up again.
