20. Icicles

“Formation!”

Lord Ashvale’s voice echoed in the forest. His men stepped forward with shields and spears in their hands, forming what looked like a loose shield wall. Edrin unsheathed his blade, standing beside them. Clay soon joined him. Revel stood next to him, her staff already in her hand.

In front of them, the woods were quaking. The trees rattled. Something big was coming their way. The men in front of him didn’t panic. They were used to this. Well trained. He noted.

Revel’s hand around the staff had whitened, her teeth clenched.

They were in the middle of a small clearing, with trees on all sides. He wasn’t sure if this was a good place to face something big, but it wasn’t his call anyway. Edrin looked like he knew what he was doing.

“Get ready.”

The formation didn’t change, but there was a small shift, almost unnoticeable. Their bodies straightened. Their stances grew more solid. Clay looked the same, but not as experienced as they were.

The trees in front of them started parting, like a current crashing against a rock. Something was forcing them aside.

He had a few guesses. Trolls. Like the ones that lay dead in front of the village palisade. There were other possibilities. But that seemed the most obvious, based on what he knew. And the smell coming from their direction.

“Trolls,” Edrin said. “At least five.” His gaze stayed fixed ahead, filled with determination. “Two men on each. Mages, slow them down.”

Moments later, a grey head came into view. As tall as the trees. At least three meters tall. It placed its hands on the trees in front of it and pulled them aside as it moved forward. One of the sturdier ones snapped and fell to the ground. The other bent back into place, slightly crooked. Behind it, more creatures appeared, moving through the trees like the one in front.

Three. Four. Six. There were seven of them. Enough for two men against each beast. He didn’t see them as a threat. Ashvale gave him an order, and he intended to follow it. There was no need to reveal his strength to strangers.

“Scatter.”

The soldiers scattered around the clearing in pairs. Their positions were calculated so that each beast would have to focus on a pair. Making the fight easier. Controlled. Clay moved with a soldier a few meters to the left. Edrin stood at the center with another.

He glanced at Revel. She was sweating, her breath shallow.

He had felt the same before. The responsibility to keep the men alive. To keep the enemy away from them. It was the hardest part of being a mage. Supporting the fighters, making sure they made it through alive and whole.

“Breathe,” Adolin said.

She nodded, keeping her gaze forward, toward the trolls.

The first beast entered the clearing. A broken tree still in its hand. It watched them for a moment before moving toward Edrin.

“Lord of the underworld and guardian of cattle, watcher of what lies below, hear me and grant me strength to bind my enemies. Shadow chains,” Revel chanted. Black chains surged from the shadows, wrapping around the troll’s legs as it charged Edrin.

For the first time, Adolin was close enough to hear a chant. It wasn’t what he had expected. Nor what he had tried to do. He hoped no one had heard his first attempt. Revel was calling on something real. A being. He didn’t know what to make of it. He would have to look into it later. For now, he focused on the battle in front of him. He had to improvise his own chants so they would sound real.

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The beast struggled for a few moments, then the chains broke. It was enough. Edrin pushed past it and cut the tendons in the troll’s leg. The beast lost its footing, struggling to stand. The men with Edrin kept his attention on them, stabbing at its legs from the front.

All around him, battles were breaking out. On the left, a man dodged the tree that the troll swung at him, while the other stabbed its leg.

Adolin took it all in.

He muttered under his breath, “Ice… grant me the power to freeze.” Then, in a normal voice, “Freeze.” He cast Freeze beneath the troll that was losing its footing. The beast slipped. With its tendons cut, it couldn’t regain its balance and fell to the ground.

A loud thud followed.