Here's your delivery! Hope you enjoy the chapter :)

Also, big news tomorrow for Andy - Release day for Book One on Audible and Kindle! Yay! I'll make a post tomorrow to remind everyone. I hope some of you will enjoy the audiobook, and maybe leave me some reviews on Amazon. Let's have a good launch! :)

-Plum

23 – Getting Answers

Andy stalked the tall, shadowy figure, keeping pace alongside the road, leaping overgrown hedges, fences, and even broken-down vehicles. His Smoke Drift spell made it almost effortless, and his Deepsmoke Shroud kept him hidden. The only thing he had to concern himself with was whether he was burning a dangerous amount of mana. The two spells consumed a total of sixty mana per minute, far more than his passive regen could replace.

He didn’t intend to keep up the chase long, though. He was just biding his time, waiting for the behemoth to pause and get distracted again, waiting for his quarry to stop, load his crossbow, and take another taunting shot at the gigantic monster. Even as he envisioned how it would happen, the shadowy figure sprinted across an intersection—only a couple of blocks from the school now—and turned, unslinging the bow.

Andy glanced over his shoulder; sure enough, the behemoth had paused to root around the rusted ruins of a minivan. His moment had arrived; Andy redoubled his efforts, sprinting to leap the chain-link fence bordering the road. His powerful legs sent him soaring, and Smoke Drift did the rest; he rode the wind, almost like he had an invisible kite pulling him up and along, and soon he was soaring over the cracked, debris-strewn pavement, descending, spear upraised, toward the shadow figure.

At the last second, the black-cowled face turned toward him, and red-gleaming eyes seemed to see him despite his magical shroud. The figure lifted his crossbow, but too slowly to draw a bead. Even so, he got the heavy plastic and metal weapon up in time to deflect Andy’s spear. It didn’t hurt that Andy wasn’t trying to land a fatal blow; he wanted a captive, so he’d swung it like a staff, trying to bludgeon his foe.

Up close, Andy could see enough of his enemy’s face to recognize the mottled gray-green skin of a troll. Was it the emissary? Andy wasn’t certain, but he thought so.

His attack might have missed, but he’d knocked the crossbow to the pavement. The troll backpedaled, hissing as it cursed, “Shit eater! Think you’re sneaky?” Andy felt a surge of mana and watched as a glowing ball of sickly green light formed in the troll’s outstretched hand. “All you did was find your death!”        

Andy didn’t stand still while the guy started casting a spell, though. Almost reflexively, he lanced out with his spear, driving the edge, razor-sharp with the power of his Balefire Lance, toward the troll’s guts. The creature recoiled, flailing its arms back as it tried to dodge, and its nascent spell fell apart, hissing away in a cloud of caustic steam.

Andy recognized his advantage immediately; he was considerably faster than the troll. At the last minute, he remembered the warning about trolls being weak to fire, and pulled his spear back, not before the troll got a hand in the way, though. The black blade slid through its tattered glove, parting the flesh beneath. The troll screamed, falling back as black flames licked at its skin and rapidly spread to its forearm.

Andy watched it thrash, almost willing to let it succumb to the flames, but he knew he had to get some answers, so he stepped forward, stomped on the creature’s wrist, pinning it to the pavement, and then watched as the troll used its many layers of tattered clothes to pat the flames out, gasping and panting in pain as it did so. When the creature looked up with its baleful red eyes, Andy’s spear was inches from its face.

“Hold still or I’ll finish the job.”

“Fuck you, smooth-boy!” The troll convulsed, violently thrashing as it kicked its feet off the pavement, trying to roll free, despite Andy’s boot on its arm. Unfortunately, it might not have been a quick creature, but it was strong and heavy, and the momentum of its reverse somersault threw Andy off balance as the arm slipped free. The troll leaped to its feet, cradling its burned arm as it lurched down a side street, heading south, further into the neighborhood.

In the back of his mind, Andy was glad to have interrupted the troll’s plan to lure the behemoth to the school, but in his adrenaline-fueled battle focus, all he could concentrate on was that the son of a bitch got away. He charged after him, sprinting with his Smoke Drift still active, and almost instantly overtook the troll.

He drove his spear into its calf, watching as its leg bloomed with black flames. The troll screamed and fell, rolling onto its side as it spun to face Andy. This time, rage had taken the place of panic in the creature’s eyes, and it erupted with a surge of mana. Green flickering light spread over its lanky figure, and then it stretched, growing half-again as large, as the flames consuming its flesh flickered and faded.

Andy raised his spear, ready to stab the creature as it climbed to its feet, but its hood had fallen back, and Andy got a clear look at its face for the first time; it wasn’t Leo. “Stop! I don’t want to have to kill you. Tell me about Leo!” Honestly, after everything he’d heard, everything he’d seen, Andy wouldn’t have minded killing the troll right then and there, but he needed answers.

The creature scowled, a decidedly ugly expression on its trollish face. As it drew back its right hand, raising claws that had suddenly doubled in size, it snarled, “How do you know Leo, smooth-boy?” Along with swelling its form and healing its wounds, the green magic had deepened its voice, making it thick and even more monstrous.

“I know he’s an emissary for someone else—maybe something else. Give me some answers! I don’t want—” Andy had to jump back, his words interrupted by the huge troll’s swiping attack. Green liquid splashed from the monster’s claws, spraying Andy and the nearby pavement with droplets. The ones that hit him sizzled against his drake-scale coat, and the magical material held up to the attack, but the drops that hit the street hissed and steamed as they pitted the surface.

If Andy weren’t so quick, those knife-like claws would have torn him from shoulder to waist. The troll hissed as he stumbled forward, but it was quick to follow up one swipe with another, driving Andy back. Andy debated with himself; he wanted to just end the creature then and there, but he had people counting on him. With a frustrated snarl of his own, he sent his spear into his storage ring and drew his knife; the blade was coated with poison Madi had given him, but he didn’t think it would be fatal—not to a monstrous troll.

The troll’s magic had made it bigger, stronger, and maybe meaner, but it was still slow. Andy moved to its flank, dodging another swipe, and then drove his dagger to the hilt into its hip. The blade ground against bone, sliding along it into the creature’s massive, surging glute. Andy didn’t leave it there; he drew the blade out as he jumped back, grinning savagely as the troll roared in pain and frustration.

It barreled toward him, arms wide—a wild, frenzied attack that said little for the creature’s intelligence. Considering the trouble the troll and its kind had caused Denise’s people, Andy knew they weren’t stupid. Then again, he had no idea what the monster’s magic was doing to it. The creature was wild-eyed, foaming at the mouth, hardly limping from the deep stab wound Andy had given it.

All that said, it wasn’t hard for Andy to dodge it again, diving into a forward roll beneath the troll’s swiping claws. He came to his feet fluidly, turned, and after two leaping steps, planted the long, poisoned dagger into the troll’s kidney—or at least where a kidney would be on a human. It seemed to hit home; the troll roared in agony, stumbling forward, and this time Andy left the blade in the monster’s flesh.

He backed away, summoning a spare spear from his ring—one that didn’t have a Balefire enchantment. The troll spun, frothing at the mouth, grunting in a garbled, unintelligible language. It staggered toward Andy, and whatever magic it was using to bolster itself began to fade. The green shimmer that limned its tattered clothing grew dull, and it shrank in on itself. Everything—from its nose to its claws to its bulging muscles—deflated, and the troll, wiry but still tall, staggered toward Andy.

Andy was out of patience, so he didn’t bargain with the troll again—not yet. He charged forward and delivered a brutal stab to the creature’s shoulder, driving the iron spearhead six inches into its flesh. The creature screamed and tried to twist, yanking against the spear, but Andy knew how to handle that; he moved with the troll, keeping up the pressure, following it as it tried to backpedal. When its heels caught on the curb and it sprawled down onto the weed-choked sidewalk, Andy continued to drive, pinning it down, using the spear’s length to keep the troll’s listlessly grasping claws at bay.

“Ready to talk, asshole?”

“Gah!” the troll gasped, and Andy realized the dagger’s poison was having a good effect. It was meant to prevent healing, and that seemed to be just the trick against trolls. The creature’s regenerative magic seemed to be gone, and Andy could see thick rivulets of dark blood pooling on the sidewalk beneath the creature.

“Where’s Leo?”

“Probably killing all those meat-skins,” the troll said, its voice thick with fluid. As it finished speaking, it coughed for several seconds, hacking up a wad of bloody phlegm. It tried to spit at Andy, but its lungs were weakened by its injuries, and the slimy wad fell short.

Andy twisted the spear, and the troll wheezed out a choked cry as it tried to breathe, but only hyperventilated. “Where is he? Who’s he working for?”

“Fuck off, smooth—argh!” The troll screamed as Andy wrenched the spear left to right, widening the hole in the creature’s chest.

“You get two more tries, troll.”

The troll licked its blood-covered lips, running a long, black tongue over them as it eyed Andy through bloodshot red eyes. “Leo’s probably back by now—he was going to report what we did here and what we saw at the other place. The one in the desert.”

“The mesa?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you mean by back? Back where?”

“Seraphine’s place—she’s the one calling the shots. If you let me go, I’ll tell you w-where.” The troll winced, reaching for Andy’s spear, but stopping short, flexing his fingers, but unwilling to risk touching the weapon.

“Seraphine, huh? Talk.” Andy twisted the spear, and the troll cried out.

Focused as he was, Andy knew he was in dangerous territory, and he knew there were plenty more monsters in the darkness than just that troll. He scanned the street, up and down, but he didn’t see anything coming his way, not even the behemoth.

“You’ll…you’ll let me go?” the troll gasped.

Andy tilted his head, regarding the creature. If he believed Denise and Kent, this thing enjoyed eating human children. It seemed to hold humans—meat-skins—in disdain. Could there be any reconciliation for a creature like it? Andy frowned; he was distancing himself from the violence by thinking of the troll as a “creature”—a thing. It was more than that, though. It was an intelligent being—an individual. This was a man, regardless of his current species. Andy scowled, and the expression must have been clear; the troll recoiled.

“You-you’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”

Andy stared at the troll’s monstrous face for several seconds, contemplating whether or not he ought to lie. Finally, he said, “Give me some good answers, and we can talk about what’s next for you.”

The troll nodded slightly, red eyes darting left and right. “She lives in one of them big mansions way up in the foothills.”

“She’s human?”

The troll licked his lips again, then jerked his chin left and right in a quick denial. “No, man. I don’t know what she is, but it ain’t human—not anymore.”

Andy yanked his spear out of the troll’s chest. “What’s your name?” Before the troll could answer, or more precisely, as he answered, the System sent Andy a message:

**Congratulations, Andy! You’ve made progress on your quest: The Mind Behind the Horde! You’ve learned the identity of the hidden mastermind! Track down Seraphine and her minions and stop them before they can sabotage your community!**

“Jasper.”

Andy took a step back, frowning at the troll as he brushed the System’s message aside. It took him a second to realize the creature was telling him his name. “Jasper the troll, huh? All right, get up. You guide me to Seraphine’s place, and maybe you’ll live to see another day. I’m gonna be right behind you; not where you can see me, but I’ll be there. You try anything—running, calling for help, anything—and I’ll kill you and find the place on my own.”

The troll struggled to a kneeling position and then fumbled behind his back, trying to reach Andy’s knife. “You gotta get this thing outta me, man.”

Andy walked around behind him and grasped the knife, yanking it free with a spray of black blood. He summoned a rag from his ring and wiped the knife clean. As he sheathed it, watching the troll struggle to its feet, he said, “Let’s go. Start walking.”

“Dammit, asshole! I’m half dead here!” Jasper growled, turning to glare at him with those smoldering red eyes. Andy glared right back at him.

“You want me to put you out of your misery?”

“You’re a hard son of a bitch, huh? All right, keep your shirt on.” The troll turned in a slow circle, scanning the street in both directions. After a minute, he pointed north. “We can use this street. It’s a long hike, man. You need to tell your buddies in the settlement?”

“Quit fishing and start walking. My buddies are fine.” Andy hoped that was true. He hoped Omar and the others were well on their way to the mesa, and he hoped the fact that he’d interrupted the behemoth attack might mean there wouldn’t be further waves of enemies. He followed Jasper as the troll started limping up the street, then he asked, “You got more buddies out here stirring up trouble for the settlement here?”

“Yeah. I won’t lie; that big-ass monster I was luring was supposed to get them running, and then some of the other boys were going to pick off stragglers—get everyone to scatter and let the city do the rest.” The troll coughed violently for several seconds, spitting long, bloody strings of phlegm onto the street.

Andy watched him, disgust turning his stomach, contemplating what he’d said. It sounded like good news for Denise’s people; if they evacuated in an orderly manner, all together, surely that would dissuade the other trolls. Would they give up if they didn’t see any easy pickings? Andy hoped so.

The troll started moving again, and Andy followed. He canceled his Smoke Drift spell, determined to let his mana recover. He figured he’d cast Deepsmoke Shroud again when it was topped off; no sense letting his enemies know he was coming. At the thought, Andy cleared his throat and said, “Okay, Jasper. Tell me about this Seraphine. What kind of magic can she do?”