Chapter Six

Grand Marshall Rhon sat opposite Ruk Stonetoes, leader of the Eastern Tambor Tribe of cave trolls. Ruk’s brown moss agate colored skin was like a natural camoflage. The thick, coarse black hair that fell from his face and ran down the center of his back like a mane was braided in places, the braids knotted at the ends with pieces of bone, the remains of past foes overcome. The Grand Marshall was equally fierce looking where he sat only feet away from the massive troll. Man and beast stared at each other with little respect and no trust.

“What kind of animal betrays his own kind to their deaths?” There was no love lost in Ruk’s question, but the cave troll was there, seated before a human warrior, come to make a deal with the enemy.

“What I do with my own kind is of no concern to you, troll. What should concern you is whether or not you have the necessary resources to defend your mountain highland country against an invasion of the Emperor’s Army. Now, I assume, since you’ve come to this little meeting, you’ve realized an Imperial invasion of your land would virtually wipe out your kind and your way of life in these godforsaken mountains you call a home.”

As cynical and biting as the words were coming from the arrogant human in front of him, Ruk Stonetoes couldn’t deny the truth in them. His people were a dying force in the world. There was still strength in them along with a desire to be a free roaming race, but no cave troll had lived outside the confines of the high granite Tambor peaks since before Ruk could remember. The Tambors were an unforgiving wilderness populated by the fiercest creatures in Eros-Sur, creatures that had preyed on the cave troll for centuries. Ruk was tired of being the prey. If a pact with this human could bring hope of a future to his people, he’d be a fool to forego this opportunity.

“Bring the woman and child. Leave no one else alive.” Ruk’s second, a fierce looking green and black skinned brute with a silver mane, moved quickly away from the two warriors and disappeared from view.

“What child?” Rohn looked at the troll leader with unbridled contempt.

“The woman and the child are one.”

The Grand Marshall wasn’t about to be riddled by the likes of Ruk Stonetoes. Stonetoes. Of all names, where was the honor in that one. “I don’t want the child. The woman is the only one of worth to me.”

Ruk looked at the Grand Marshall for a long moment before speaking. “You want the woman but not the child?”

“Are you hard of hearing, troll? Or is it your nature to make things more difficult than they need to be?”

Ruk swallowed hard, his pride a great lump in his throat, in another place, another time, the cold, curved steel blade strapped to his back would have come free of its harness and lopped the pretty head of this human from its shoulders. Ruk hated this human and hated that he had to perhaps trust the fate of his tribe to the whims of this man. “You are the one not listening, human. But as you wish, have the woman, I will see that the boy is dealt with appropriately with the rest of the lives you’ve sacrificed this day. But make no mistake, do not make me regret this meeting.”