Raven's Strike (Raven #2)(17)

Though her glow hadn't dimmed, Rinnie must have heard what Seraph had said: the rain and wind died, leaving an uncanny silence in its wake, but the storm and all its potential violence still hung overhead malevolently.

"There are a few spells that can hurt it," said Hennea.

In her anxiety for her family, Seraph had almost forgotten the other Raven.

She turned to see Hennea circle her hands as if she held a large globe, then make a tossing motion. As soon as it crossed the wards, her spell turned into a ball of fire so hot it burned blue. It hit the troll in the middle of its forehead with an impact Seraph could hear from where she stood.

Blinded by the light of the fire, the troll pulled the molten ball from its forehead, and at its touch the magic fell into nothing, leaving only a great blackened area in the troll's face. The troll howled its rage.

"You have to teach me that one," said Seraph. "But it's not going to help us much. They hunt by scent and hearing. Blinding's only going to make it angry."

Someone had heard her tell Lehr to use fire; she heard a voice cry, "We need flaming arrows!" Someone else yelled, "Eyes, mouth, and private parts, boys."

The troll charged the warding again. Seraph dodged past Skew to give the ward more power, ignoring Tier's shout of consternation. The troll saw her, too, and began wading through the barrier of magic to get to her.

Trolls were smarter than they looked.

A great mountain cat leapt onto the troll from the top of a tree, landing on the top of its head and sending it staggering back away from Seraph and the warding.

Jes, thought Seraph. A black mountain cat was one of the forms that Jes favored - and a normal great mountain cat would never have attacked a troll.

The enraged cry of the cat joined the howl of the troll. Before the troll could regain its balance, Gura joined in the attack, going for the tendon on the back of the troll's ankle.

The troll kicked out wildly and caught Gura with the edge of its foot. The dog yipped once and rolled a dozen feet to stop against a tree. He lay still.

Jes braced his hind legs on the back of the troll's neck and sank his front claws deep into the top of its forehead, then pulled back - forcing the troll's mouth open.

A troll's joints worked differently than most animals. It had no neck, and its lower jaw was fixed in relation to its body - so it chewed by moving the upper portion of its head rather than the lower. By taking control of the head, Jes's hold gave him effective control of the whole troll.

It was clever, Seraph acknowledged, but how did Jes know enough of trolls to use its weaknesses against it?

Someone had listened to her because a flaming arrow sank into the troll's open mouth. Once she turned her attention to it, Seraph realized she'd been smelling burning oil for a few minutes. She turned to see the double handful of archers, including Lehr, were all shooting flaming arrows, which, inexpertly wrapped in oiled rags were awkward to shoot.

A number of the arrows smoldered in the damp ground in front of the troll, but the arrow she watched Lehr loose flew to lodge in between the troll's gaping jaws, just beside the first one that had hit it. He sent two more to follow the first in quick succession. Each hit was followed by a round of cheers from the rest of the villagers, who were beginning to find the target with their own arrows.

Maddened, the troll fought to close its mouth. Jes's claws slid through the tough skin, opening huge gashes, but also allowing the troll to close its mouth. It dropped to the ground and rolled, forcing Jes to leap clear. The smell of scorched flesh rose from the troll as it rolled again, trying to put out the fire of a dozen arrows.

The panther grunted and backed away until it stood near Gura, who was rising unsteadily to his feet. As soon as it was obvious that the troll was distracted by the fire that was eating it, the big cat disappeared into the woods, driving the dog before it.

Seraph heard Hennea murmur, "That's it, Jes. Away from us for the moment. The last thing we need is for anyone to be more panicked than they already are."

The wind began slowly, then gusted suddenly, fanning the small flames caused by stray arrows that had been slowly dying in the storm-dampened grass. Someone, it must have been Hennea, used magic to snuff out the fires.

"Rinnie," Seraph said in a biting voice. "That's enough."

But the sharp tones that sometimes worked did nothing as power shook Rinnie's small body.

"Is something wrong?" said Tier.

"Call her, Tier," she said. "Quickly."

"Rinnie?" he said.

"Not like that," Seraph said. "Like you called Skew the night the bear got into the barn. She's riding the storm, and it'll kill her unless you can summon her back."

He didn't make her explain further.

"Rinnie," he said, his voice somehow carrying the reverberating power of the thunder.

The children were not the only ones who had learned something about their Orders this past spring. Tier's voice sounded louder than it actually was - Seraph could feel it settle deeply into her bones, though it was not she whom he called. Even the troll stopped its flailing for an instant.

Seraph could sense the change in the weather even before rain began falling again, this time in a gentle drizzle that would eventually drain the power from the storm. She took a relieved breath. "Hennea, keep that troll dry so it burns to ash."