Treoir Dragon Hoard: Belador Book 10 Read online

  She hadn’t seen that coming. “Let me get this straight. You’re not a troll, but you traveled with that bunch of assassin trolls. Why would you associate with them?”

  Frowning, Adrianna asked, “What does it matter?”

  “Because he could be setting us up for some trap. Tristan trusts Otto and Otto must have trusted the troll this guy talked to, but that could mean Otto might not even know about this guy.”

  “You’ve got a point.” Adrianna arched a no-longer-friendly look up the tower of rocks at the informant. “Enough of this dancing around. What’s your name and why should we believe you?”

  Crossing his little arms, he sent an equally stubborn look right back. “No name. I give message. Is enough.”

  “Fine.” Evalle shrugged. “Good luck with whatever is terrorizing the woods here and finding anyone else to help you once we leave. The minute I get back, I’m informing my people there’s a Svart Troll supporter in these woods.”

  “No!”

  She gave it a moment then said, “Tell me why I shouldn’t.”

  “I have family. Is why I need beast killed.”

  There were more not-gnomes?

  Keeping her voice calm, but full of warning, Evalle said, “I have family, too. Svart Trolls tried to kill me and people important to me.” Rain slid over the brim of her cap and down her face in a stream. She didn’t want to leave a beast of some kind running loose in these woods, but neither would she let this little guy off the hook without finding out his tie to the Svart Trolls.

  He muttered something, shaking his head and kicking at a tiny bit of gravel. Finally he said, “I am born to troll father and nisse mother.”

  “What’s a nisse?” Adrianna questioned in a gentle voice while flashing a cut-him-some-slack glance at Evalle.

  “Is small people in same homeland as Svart. Live in secret on farms.” He raised his chin and pushed his chest out. “Help good humans many generations.”

  “Small people like you?”

  Now he looked insulted by Adrianna’s question. “Me big. Like father.”

  Evalle rolled her eyes. Men.

  That explained the tusks and leathery skin of a troll, though. She said, “I’m still confused. You have troll blood, but you claim to not be friends with the Svart.”

  “No.” His voice turned sad. “Trolls hate me. Father’s family try to kill me many times. I find nisse wife and we leave.”

  Adrianna pointed out, “You still haven’t given us your name.”

  He strutted back and forth, clearly deliberating then turned to them. “Only if swear to keep secret.”

  Evalle arched an eyebrow at him. “I am not swearing anything to a nisse-troll.”

  “Not troll! Must keep name secret.”

  “Fine, fine, fine,” she snapped. “I give you my word that if you harm no humans and none of our kind who don’t first threaten your life, that I won’t share your name. That’s it.”

  Adrianna gave the same agreement and added, “We keep secrets all the time. We have no reason to share yours unless you give us reason to do so. What’s your name?”

  He studied his hands, muttering again, then raised eyes ringed in misery. “Misstag.”

  “Huh?” Evalle looked at Adrianna who hadn’t gotten it either.

  “Is name,” he whispered, sounding embarrassed. “Mean mistake. I am mistake. Not nisse. Not troll.”

  Well, hell. Evalle had a soft place for outcasts, having been one since birth. She groaned out a sigh and glanced at Adrianna.

  The witch cut her eyes at Evalle. “Sounds believable, but a good lie always does.”

  “No lie,” he argued. “Why lie? You send more killers.”

  “We’re not killers, dammit,” Evalle snarled.

  He did that whole raise his arms in exasperation thing and stomped around. This time he spoke more clearly in what Evalle guessed to be Swedish.

  Probably cursing.

  Evalle just had to be the nice person and take Tristan’s place tonight. “Never mind, Misstag. Just please get to the point. Tell us everything you know, such as the exact location where you heard this screaming. Anything that would help us.”

  He scrunched up his wrinkled little face at her. “Is long walk that way.” He pointed over his shoulder again. “Rip deer in pieces. Rip us or human next.”

  Showing more patience than Evalle felt, Adrianna pecked away at their informant. “What makes you sure it’s not natural?”

  “Smell scent. Not human. Not animal.”

  Evalle perked up at some decent intel. “Demon?”

  “No. Smell odd.”

  And she was back to getting better answers out of a toadstool.

  Misstag ordered, “Call Tristan. More men. Not good for you.”

  Evalle started to argue that only minutes ago he’d called her kind killers. She quipped in Adrianna’s direction, “Listen to that. He’s worried about us and thinks we should call in some great big men to back up us women. What do you think?”

  Adrianna met Evalle’s gaze for a brief moment before they started laughing.

  The witch said, “Oh, yes. That’ll be the day when you and I call in reinforcements to investigate something like this.” Wiping her eyes, she told Misstag, “We’ve got this. Show us the way and you can go back to wherever you live.”

  He vanished without a word.

  “Are you kidding me?” Evalle shouted.

  Misstag stepped from behind the stack of boulders, but on the same level with them. He had his hands over his ears. “Too much mouth.”

  Adrianna found that hilarious.

  Misstag took off, not allowing Evalle a chance to counter his insult. She caught him immediately, “Slow down so Adrianna can keep up.”

  That made him happy.

  Whatever stroked his ego for the moment.

  They trudged through trees, over a creek, up a hill, down a hill and back through more trees, then stopped at the edge of the tree line. A wide space of gently rolling ground spread beyond this point. With a little grooming, it would be a pasture.

  Wasn’t this area near the Chattahoochee Bend State Park?

  “See?” Misstag said, stepping to the side then pointing at the ground.

  Evalle told him, “No, I’m not Superman with x-ray vision. I can’t see through dirt and rock.”

  She got a pint-sized glare for that. He pointed harder and ordered, “Look.”

  Giving in, Evalle and Adrianna moved closer to Misstag, who pulled out his sword and made a circular motion with it above the ground.

  A circle of light an inch tall glowed around a two-foot diameter area.

  Inside that, Evalle now saw a footprint she seriously doubted anything natural had made. Whatever it was had some wicked claws and ... crud. That looked suspiciously like her beast footprint before she evolved into a gryphon.

  She suggested, “Misstag, can you track that—”

  Her voice faded as she turned to find the spot where he’d been standing empty. “Misstag? Misstag?”

  “He abandoned us,” Adrianna groused.

  “You hear that?” Evalle murmured.

  “Hear what?” Adrianna asked. The witch opened her palm and Witchlock swirled, growing to the size of a grapefruit as the witch powered up the ball of majik.

  “Silence?” Evalle replied. The trickle of concern climbing her neck was not due to Misstag having obviously left them on their own, but the sudden stillness of the woods.

  Just as quickly, the dead quiet gave way to something large crashing through the woods behind them ... and coming in their direction.

  “Get ready,” Evalle snapped, spinning around to face the threat.

  “Can’t get much more ready than this.”

  Evalle glanced at the glowing ball of Witchlock. “Why isn’t it any bigger?”

  Louder pounding approached.

  Adrianna scowled. “I can manage this size. Things get hairy when it gets twice as big.”

  “We may need hairy i
f that thing coming this way is Misstag’s monster. It sounds the size of an elephant.”

  “You can’t handle an elephant?” Adrianna challenged, splitting her attention between the spinning ball of energy she held and the noise in the woods.

  “Maybe not if the elephant is jacked up on demon power,” Evalle shot back. She prepared for an attack and raised her hands to wield her kinetic ability.

  A tree thicker than her body snapped and fell straight at them like it had a rocket booster.

  CHAPTER 3

  Evalle shoved Adrianna ten feet away and fell backward to the ground with her hands up.

  She flashed up a load of kinetic power seconds before that massive tree trunk crushed her. If not for keeping Adrianna safe, Evalle would have used her Belador speed to outrun the tree.

  She hoped she hadn’t broken any witch bones, but injured was always better than dead.

  Struggling to keep the tree far enough above her that what was left of a jagged, broken branch didn’t impale her, she strained even more when something caused the weight to bounce up and down.

  Slapping branches, Adrianna complained, “Can you get this thing off us?”

  “No, what about you?”

  “I can do it, but with hitting something so close I might set the tree on fire. I’m pinned between two branches.”

  Gritting her teeth and grunting, Evalle pushed her way up to a sitting position. The minute she did, the creature made a hideous roaring noise and stomped on the tree trunk again.

  Evalle’s arms shook.

  Misstag had been right.

  That was no natural animal or she could have pushed it off by now.

  She told Adrianna, “It’s standing on the tree. I’m going to give it a good push, which is probably going to piss it off, so be ready to move if I can get you clear.” Evalle pushed her power hard and shoved the invisible field up. Something crashed when she did that and the tree got lighter. “Can you get out now?”

  For all her primping and put-together look, Adrianna was a solid combat partner. She twisted around and got on her knees then started pushing through the mass of branches surrounding them. Evalle was starting to get to her feet when the tree suddenly lifted up.

  That would seem like a good thing, but she knew better.

  “Look out, Adrianna, its ... ” Evalle shoved her hands back up as the tree crashed back down with more force. She fell to her knees, bent backward and straining every muscle.

  Adrianna said, “I’m out. Hang on and I’ll ... umph.”

  Evalle fought for air. “Adrianna?”

  What had it done to the witch?

  “What are you doing?” an angry female voice yelled.

  That was not Adrianna.

  The creature roared and stomped on the tree again. Dammit.

  Evalle had to do something, because if that was a human she’d heard, the woman would end up dead. Sucking in one last chest full of air, Evalle yelled at the stranger, “Run! Get out of here!”

  “Is someone under that tree?” the voice demanded again, and this time Evalle thought she’d heard it before.

  The creature grunted something.

  Misstag failed to mentioned an insane human out here.

  The female voice said, “Move it. Now!”

  The tree lifted another time and Evalle held her arms up. She might not be able to survive being hit with that tree again.

  Thankfully, the thick trunk and all the branches still on it continued to lift away, then dropped to the side where the tree got caught between two others that were still standing.

  That blocked Evalle’s view of the woman and the beast.

  Since the creature had obeyed the woman, Evalle turned to check on Adrianna, who was out cold with blood seeping from her head.

  “Adrianna?” Evalle scrambled over to her just as the witch opened her eyes. “Are you okay?”

  “No. I got knocked over like a pin by a Fred Flintstone bowling ball.”

  Evalle helped her sit up.

  “What are you two doing here?”

  Evalle and Adrianna turned to see Kit Nyght climbing over debris to reach them. Behind her stood a ten-foot-tall monster with claws curled from four fat fingers on each hand. Shaggy, gray-black hair covered its body below a slick head with jaws wide enough to snap off a human head.

  At one time, Evalle had shifted into something just as hideous, but her eyes glowed green, where this monster had human eyes as dark as two coal pits.

  Kit stormed up to them, face covered in worry lines. “You’re bleeding, Adrianna. Do you think you have a concussion?”

  “If I do, I’ll live.”

  Kit swung her harsh glare at Evalle. “What were you doing wandering around out here? He could have killed you.”

  Why do I feel like I’m in trouble? Evalle explained, “We got a call to check out an unnatural threat in this area, which clearly there is ... wait a minute. Is that ... Jasper, the Rías?”

  “Yes. He would not have hurt you, but you probably scared him.”

  “We didn’t scare him,” Adrianna argued, then grimaced and held her head.

  “You didn’t mean to, but I told him not to let any nonhuman get a jump on him.” Kit frowned. “Actually, it’s my fault he hurt you. I’m sorry. Let’s get you fixed up. He’ll apologize as soon as he shifts back. I know he feels bad about hurting you.” She offered Adrianna a hand, which she took.

  Evalle leaned past Kit to look at Jasper-the-monster, who stood with his head hanging. She got to her feet. “You’re lucky he didn’t hurt you, Kit.”

  “Luck had nothing to do with it. I’ve been training him.”

  “Now I really have a headache,” Adrianna muttered. “Have you forgotten how Isak freaked out when you and the twins were captured by those pseudo-Beladors?” Kit started to speak, but the normally reserved witch wouldn’t allow Isak’s mother to get a word in, and kept ranting. “Because I still remember Isak clearly saying he did not want his mother around any of our kind, as if we’re all a bunch of killers threatening humans. How can he be such a hypocrite to let you come out here with something that shifts into a ten-foot-tall ... danger?”

  Kit had given up trying to talk and stood there with her arms crossed. Since she was just as short as Adrianna, they were having a glaring contest at eye level.

  “Are you done, Adrianna?” Isak’s mom asked.

  Evalle had never seen Adrianna lose her cool like that, but Isak had really hurt Adrianna when he’d said those words specifically to her. Until that moment when he warned all of them to stay away from his mother, Evalle had been pretty sure those two had been swapping spit, if not more.

  Sounding chagrined, Adrianna held her head and said, “Sorry, Kit, but this blows my mind. I’m trying to figure out how he’s going along with this.”

  “He’s not.”

  Evalle and Adrianna gaped at her.

  “Close your mouths.” After that order, Kit explained, “My son would pop a vein if he knew I was out here with Jasper, which is why he doesn’t.”

  “Really?” Evalle questioned. “Isak has the largest human intel network I’ve ever known about. He probably knows more than Santa Claus.”

  That pulled the start of a smile from Adrianna.

  Kit’s eyes lost their worried-mother look and twinkled. “He’d like to think he is all-knowing, but I’ve been around a lot longer than he has and I’ve owned this property since before he was born. He doesn’t know about it.” Kit turned to Jasper. “Your clothes are where I always leave them. Want to go shift and change?”

  He nodded and made a soft grunting sound.

  “Good boy,” Kit praised.

  When Jasper pounded away, Kit returned to their conversation. “We held Jasper in nice quarters after he shifted and attacked Evalle in the warehouse, but it’s still a jail cell when you have no freedom.”

  “Jasper attacked you once before?” Adrianna said to Evalle. “When did that happen?”

  “It was the first
time I went to the Nyght headquarters. Jasper was working on a forklift and he had no idea he was a Rías until that moment. Remember when that funky energy cloud came over cities around the country and forced Alterants and Rías to shift, even if they’d never shifted before?”

  “Oh, yeah, that’s right.”

  “Jasper was just another unsuspecting soul during that time.” Evalle said to Kit, “I still don’t understand what you and Jasper are doing. How have you trained him not to attack?”

  “I spent a lot of time talking to Jasper. He almost shifted once when he got upset talking about how he turns into a monster. That’s when he told me I should go ahead and hit him with one of our demon blasters, because he didn’t want to hurt anyone. I refused and he asked me to not come into his quarters again. He said the longer he stayed in there, the more upset he got and he might not be able to keep from attacking me the next time.”

  “He sounds like a good guy,” Adrianna said.

  “He is,” Kit confirmed. “A wonderful man, but Isak couldn’t get past the fear that Jasper would hurt me. I suggested asking Evalle about training him and that set my son off. So Jasper and I came up with a plan. The next time Isak was gone with his men, I helped Jasper escape and brought him here where he’d have plenty of room to move around when he shifted.”

  Evalle brought up, “We could have been hunters or hikers who ignored the restricted area signs.”

  “They would have been safe. Jasper won’t touch a human, but he fears nonhumans after Evalle blasted him.”

  Kit did have a point. Evalle murmured, “Sorry.”

  “He knows you were only protecting everyone, but it got his attention. He kept obsessing about a nonhuman finding him and attacking because he can’t communicate in that form. He didn’t want to shift until I agreed to carry one of our Nyght weapons set on heavy shock. The first time he lost control, I hit him with a blast that knocked the starch out of his shorts.”

  “Poor guy,” Adrianna sympathized.

  Kit sighed. “Yes, because it took about eight times for him to begin gaining control.”

  “You used shock therapy and it worked?” Evalle couldn’t believe it, but more than that she was thrilled to think there would be a plan if they found more Rías. Getting shocked hurt, but in her beast form she could have handled it.