Windburn

The tower was actually a large square with four main towers. The front two were on fire and humans poured out of the buildings. Cactus grabbed me. “This is our chance to get in and out without being noticed.”

“Are you crazy?” I made a face at him as he tugged me along.

“Only for you, Lark.” He smiled at me and my heart gave a traitorous thump. “Come on, I can protect you from the fire. We can grab your Tracker and be done with this.”

I glanced at Peta. She gave me a subtle nod, which was all I needed. I raced after Cactus. We pushed our way through the growing crowd. There were men holding a long snake-like thing that shot water out of the end of it.

“You can’t go in there!” one of the humans shouted. We ran harder, dodging their efforts at stopping us. Cactus let out a laugh, and I had to admit, his recklessness made me giddy. Like we were kids again sneaking tarts from the kitchen and running from the cook. We were through the main gates and into the courtyard before we had to stop.

“Where now?” Cactus asked.

Behind us, the men ran toward us. Worm shit and green sticks. “Can you slow them down, please? I need to figure this out!”

He flicked a hand, red lines lit up his arms, and flames raced out along the ground bringing the humans to a screaming halt. They shouted at us, but we ignored them.

Peta shifted into her snow leopard form. Her green eyes narrowed as she stared around us. “I can protect you from the heat better this way.”

“Shouldn’t need protecting, Peta. We’re here to talk to the Tracker, not fight her.”

She snorted. “Did you not get a fist slammed into your jaw only a few minutes ago? And that was by a mildly irritated Tracker.”

My lips twitched. It couldn’t be all that bad. Trackers might be a bit rough around the edges, but I doubted they were going to go out of their way to cause trouble. My jaw might disagree with me on that, though.

We wove our way through the buildings, and it didn’t take long to realize all the doors were locked. Except one.

At the top of the northwest tower, which was only beginning to burn, a single door was open as if in invitation. No, that was being too kind; what we saw was no invitation, but an invasion.

I ran a hand over the jagged edges of the door frame where they’d been ripped off. The metal hinges were sheared in half and the door was nowhere to be seen. Unless the tiny splinters littering the floor were what was left of it.

I stepped inside as Peta let out a low snarl.

“What?”

“I smell something rather alarming. Troll shit.”

The fetid stench curled up my nose as she spoke. As if the human sewers had spewed up after festering in heat for a year. “Mother goddess, that is horrid.” I put a hand to my nose as my eyes watered. Forcing myself to step further into the room, I dropped my hand and looked around. The room was laid out simply, a table with a few books on it, two chairs, and a window on the far side. Glass covered the window frame as if blown inward. Two strides and I stood at the window. Blood splatter covered the frame and a fingerprint on a piece of glass still left in the window drew my eye. I put my own hand up to mimic it. Several strands of long dark hair caught on the top of the window frame. “She jumped out.”

“She would have died,” Cactus said.

I peered out of the window to the cobblestone below. “No body.”

“Doesn’t mean she didn’t die. Maybe the trolls got her.”

Somehow I doubted she would be that easy to take out. Call it a hunch. “No, she made it out. Now we have to track the Tracker. Cactus, check the books for something. A clue, anything that will give us an idea of where we’re going.”

I turned as he picked up a book by the edge, something dark brown dripping off it. His nose wrinkled up. “I found the troll shit.”

“Disgusting creatures,” Peta said as she crept around the edge of the room, her nose twitching. “Their scent makes it hard to pick up hers, but I think I have it.”

“So you can smell her if we get close enough?”

“Yes.”

A low, deep laugh turned me around, my hand instinctively going for my spear. In the doorway stood a large, orange-skinned troll. He filled the door frame, his head pushing against the top as his six-fingered hands gripped the edges. At least I knew how the door had been ripped off now. His fingers clutched what was left of the frame, making the wood creak.

Three eyes peered at us, one from each cheek and one in the center of his head. His mouth had wide, flat teeth for crushing and his jaw looked as though it had been modeled after a boxer dog, the way the lower section shot forward. “You looking for the Tracker? Me too. Maybe we can team up.”

He thrust his hips my way as he ran a hand over himself as if that would somehow endear him to me.

“Yeah, I think not.” I took my spear from my side and twisted the two halves together. From Peta rolled a flash of excitement. She wanted to fight with the Troll.

I raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged.

“Not my first time dealing with them. Watch him, he’s a Firestarter.”

The Troll looked from me to Peta and back again. Of course, he couldn’t hear her.

“Too bad. Pretty girl like you should have a real cock in her bed, not a redheaded weakling.” He grinned at Cactus, then flicked his hand that had been wrapped around his shaft at him.

A slimy substance I didn’t want to guess at slapped Cactus in the face.

His green eyes flashed and he let out a breath. So much for getting in and out of the tower with ease.