Hexed

was. Firebomb! I quickly backed up as he tugged on the wick and threw it.
    The bomb landed near one of the trolls, who apparently had never seen one before and decided to pick it up. The troll, a seven-foot-tall warty gray skin-bag turned the ball over in his hand and promptly popped it in his mouth.
    “Fire in the hole—literally!” Roz shouted and we all turned away to shield our eyes as an explosion rocked the area.
    The troll stood there for a second, registering what happened, and then let out a scream of pain that ricocheted through woodland. It charged forward, unsteadily, arms waving like two giant sledgehammers.
    “Watch out—it’s wounded and dangerous!” As I shifted to one side, trying to figure out how I could get in on the battle, Smoky raced in and sliced across its belly, his long talons eviscerating the creature. A stench of entrails poured forth onto the ground, hissing on the snow like steaming slime. I covered my nose. The putrid scent was enough to make me lose breakfast as well as last night’s dinner.
    Howl let loose with a long swipe from his flaming blade and cut through the side of the troll, finishing the job. The monster began to fall and he was falling my way. I scrambled to the left, just as the troll hit the ground. If I’d been any slower, he’d have squashed me flatter than a hotcake. As it was, his innards came sloshing out before him and I managed to end up with troll slime on my cape. Ewww. That was going to leave a nasty stain. The second the creature hit the ground, he began to transform into stone. Mountain trolls always turned to stone when they died.
    “Gah!” I let out a long sigh. Something told me that I wasn’t about to emerge unscathed, but if troll guts were the worst of it, I’d be lucky.
    His brother apparently decided that it was time to charge and he came rampaging into the fray. Camille let loose with a bolt from the Moon Mother and it bounced against the troll’s head, leaving a smoldering patch of skin that sizzled like bacon on the grill. Troll #2 shrieked and slammed his fist down, hitting the ground right in front of her. The shock wave sent her flying back and she landed in a thick bank of snow.
    Smoky lost it, going ballistic and raking his claws along the creature’s arm as Howl flanked the other side with his flaming sword. Rozurial pulled out a vial and sent it flying onto the troll’s clothing. A moment later, the furs the troll was wearing went up in a blaze, popping and hissing as the fire spread. The troll stumbled back but then wavered and suddenly headed my way.
    I screamed and ran. If I jumped left, I’d end up jumping over the side of the trail into a deep gulch, and I wasn’t sure just how far down it went. A jump to the right and I’d slam into a tree. I raced back down the mountain with the blazing troll lurching behind me, bellowing from the pain of his wounds as the flames fanned higher.
    Smoky zipped ahead of the creature and caught me up in his arms. When we reached a part of the path with a turnout, he veered to the side until we were out of the troll’s trajectory. The creature kept on track, downhill along the path, flailing against the flames and increasing their fury with every swipe.
    Rozurial took aim with a handheld crossbow and the arrow flew true, piercing the behemoth’s back. Within seconds, the troll dropped to his knees, then fell forward, dead.
    I glanced at Roz. “What was on that arrow?”
    “Fast-acting poison,” he answered. “I don’t often use it, but I always keep some around.” He flashed me a soft smile and I understood: As dangerous as the trolls were, even though we’d had no choice but to fight, Roz didn’t like seeing creatures in pain. He’d put the troll out of his misery as soon as possible.
    He knelt beside the gigantic body, watching as it solidified into stone. “Good, now no creature will be tempted to eat the flesh. That poison travels through the body and can be absorbed through an open wound or by eating the dead meat.”
    He stood and, together with Smoky, we walked back to where Camille and Howl were standing. Howl doused his blade in the snow and then slid it back in the sheath again. Smoky’s talons shortened back into nails. We all stood, staring at the stone bodies.
    “Well, that was excitement we could do without,” Camille said. She glanced at me. “You okay?”
    I nodded. “Yeah, but it’s not sitting very well that there wasn’t much I could do to them,