Meek

Chapter 17: By These Hands

The higher caverns, which the trolls called the 'upperways,' surprised Eli.

The stone glowed a faint pink, like his memory of sunsets. Nothing moved there but the swarms of fireflies, and his spark danced unseen among them. The fungal trees that lined the boulevards were ridged with gills and twined with the mossy strands that draped the entire subterranean landscape. Pale green, almost white. And aromatic, like fresh-dug earth and cedar leaves.

And music filled the empty space.

Sculpted stones inhaled the breezes that funneled through tunnels, and exhaled deep throbs of sound. Resonant, mournful sound. The first time Fleck had brought Eli there, he'd wept. Not from sorrow so much as ... as from touching something so much bigger than himself.

Another surprise: Yellow loved the upperways. She showed Eli the fungus-fabric tapestries her parents had weaved. She'd brushed them with her blunt fingers and recited the name of every member of her family going back four generations.

"There's only me now," she said. "I'm the last one. And soon ..."

She fell silent, and Eli didn't speak either. Not until they'd almost returned home. Then he said, "One day trolls will return to the upperways. By the dozen, by the hundred. Imagine that. Crowded boulevards, bursting with life. Everywhere you look. One day you will tell your children the names of their ancestors, and they will remember."

"I hope ..." She took a sharp breath. "I'm scared."

"One day," he repeated. "I vow it."

"Are you strong enough?"

"How many humans can stand against you for three heartbeats? I don't need to be strong, just quick."

"You won't only be standing against humans, Five. You'll be standing against mages."

"I vow it." Eli showed her his calloused palms. "By these hands, the Marquis will die."

She took his hand and touched his fingers to her closed third eye. "I believe you, brother."

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Eli and Fleck fought Yellow while Lichen played a battle-song that sounded exactly the same as a feast-song ... and then Armored-in-Frost stepped into the sparring circle, with a sack slung over one shoulder.

"You're still weak," he rumbled to Eli.

Eli cracked his neck. "You're still five times my size."

"Yeah!" Fleck glared up at the big troll. "I'd like to see how long you lasted against you."

When Armored-in-Frost took another step forward, Yellow and Lichen stepped in front of Eli. To protect him. Which loosened a knot in his heart that he hadn't known was there.

"You think I can't knock you three aside with a single sweep of my arm?" Armored-in-Front asked.

"That reminds me of a saying," Lichen said, in his calm voice. "'The risti snake who brags of eating lizard eggs tells you more about risti snakes than lizard eggs.'"

Eli didn't know what the halo that meant, but Armored-in-Frost gave a reluctant guffaw.

"Peace, pups. Mist-Beneath sent me to test your brother. Just a friendly bout." The big troll tossed his sack to the floor. "Human armor and weapons. Take your pick."

Eli didn't find much worth using. What he needed against Armored-in-Frost was range. Like a heavy crossbow, built to kill bears. Or a mile's lead to run away. So he chose a pair of terrifically-sharp fighting hatchets forged of a metal he didn't recognize. Try to do some damage before he got his head caved in. And nobody but his siblings knew how he fought. Armored-in-Frost might've battled human soldiers, entire squads at once ... but he'd never fought him.

Sure, Eli thought, eying the ten-foot-troll. That'd make all the difference.

Might as well try, though. One trick he'd learned was to attack while facing the other direction. Which had shocked Lichen and Yellow: nobody expected strong, precise strikes from fighter slashing behind themself.

He needed to keep Armored-in-Frost from cornering him, so he advanced quickly ... then veered sideways. The big troll swiped, surprisingly fast for his bulk, but Eli was faster. He swayed around the blow, burst forward--and guided by his spark, he lashed behind himself with a hatchet.

The blade sliced into Armored-in-Frost's wrist.

The impact would've jarred the weapon from Eli's hand a few days earlier, but he'd learned to mind his grip. He crouched, feeling the breeze of the troll's punch pluck at his now-long hair. Then he spun and slashed at Armored-in-Frost's hamstring.

Armored-in-Frost pivoted, giving a low roar.

When Eli's slash missed, he dove across the sparring circle, shoulder-rolled then popped to his feet. Almost sliced his own face off, too. He really needed to practice with a blade before he started rolling around.

"Weak as a mantis scorpion." Armored-in-Frost watched his wrist stop bleeding. "But almost as quick."

Eli darted forward, zig-zagged, then hacked at the enormous hand reaching for him. The blade bit, though not deeply--but he didn't care, because that had been a diversion.

He threw his other axe at Armored-in-Frost's eye. The most vulnerable spot on a troll. If he blinded one lower-eye, he had a chance of ... well, of at least drawing this out.

The hatchet flew true, but the big troll ducked his head an inch and the blade chunked into his eyebrow ridge instead. Barely even scratched Armored-in-Frost ... but he bled. Better yet, he bled into his eye, obscuring his vision for a heartbeat.

Eli pressed forward and hacked Armored-in-Frost's belly then chopped at his hamstring--

And a glancing blow caught his hip and sent him reeling. He staggered across the sparring circle into Lichen's arms.

"Keep away from him," Lichen whispered, before he pushed Eli back into the fight. "Make him work for it."

So that's what Eli did. He ducked, he dodged. He scampered and leaped and backpedaled. He scratched Armored-in-Frost a dozen times, but nothing that didn't heal instantly.

He took another glancing blow yet managed to stay on his feet.

At least until the big troll cornered him. Then he battled furiously to forestall the inevitable end. He deflected blow after blow--not strong enough to block them--until Armored-in-Frost gave a deafening roar and pounded though his defenses and--

An instant before the strike landed, a new viewpoint burst in Eli's mind.

His doubled-vision tripled.

His eyes watched from the front, focused on the massive creature about to crush him. His spark watched from the side, calculating the angle of Armored-in-Frost's blow.

And his second spark watched from above, like a bird watching a wolf taking a fawn.

A second spark.

A second spark blossomed into Eli's awareness ... then the blow landed.