The Eternal City, Part 10

As they rode the next day, keeping to the top of a low rise to the right of the caravan, Nessa asked Kira, “Have you always had trouble with trolls?”

“No,” Kira answered. “I’d never seen one before the fight in the forest.”

“It worries me they didn’t seem to care much for the horses,” Nessa said. “Usually, trolls want to carry off the biggest target. Probably because they would provide the most food.” She paused for a moment, then went on, “It’s strange that they both went for you, as if I were of no consequence. Trolls are stupid, of course. But, they wouldn’t ignore a threat like me. They know what a sword is, generally.

“There is something more going on here,” Nessa continued. “My Goddess might not be the only one of her kind looking for you.”

Kira didn’t like the sound of that.

“Who else might be looking for me?” she asked.

“Legend says the Night Spirit rules trolls,” Nessa replied. “Trolls are, mostly, creatures of the night. Odd, though, that the creatures sent against you are Black Trolls, as they are the only trolls who move about in the daylight.”

They didn’t speak for some time after. Kira spent her time watching the land around, searching for signs of another attack. She examined patches of ground that didn’t quite match those around them; she watched shadows, twitched at every change in the breeze. Monster felt her nervousness, and became restless, as well.

Together, they began to get on Nessa’s nerves, and she rode ahead of them so she could think. The land around them was beginning a long, almost imperceptible slope toward the little valley carved by the Northflow River. Otherwise the land was little changed, still various shades of brown draped over a slightly rolling plain. The wind was out of the south in this season, so it was warm, and mostly gentle.

That breeze was picking up, however, and far off on the horizon, on the other side of the caravan, Nessa could see darkness gathering. A storm was coming up from the distant sea, and it looked to be a big one. She could see the occasional flash of lightning in the gray mass, and the smell of rain was in her nose. She guessed that the rain would reach them that night.