No Place For Magic Book 4 (Completed)

Chapter 11

 Li'l was unusually quiet when we started out the next morning. She had celebrated with Garrid and his relatives all night, but she usually stayed up until dawn, so I knew she wasn't acting that way because she was extra tired. When Garrid offered to accompany us after hearing about our mission, she looked more upset than pleased.

The two of them took turns flying above the trees to make sure we were headed in the right direction and to tell us how to get around obstacles such as bottomless pits and werewolf dens. The first time Li'l left and came back, she landed on my shoulder and stayed there until it was her turn again. She sat with her wings covering her head, another sign that she wasn't happy. Garrid, on the other hand, laughed and joked when he wasn't flying, alternating between riding on Eadric's shoulder and mine. I knew that he was aware of Li'l's bad mood, however, because he kept trying to get her to talk to him and told funny stories to try to make her laugh. After a while he gave up and sat in puzzled silence, glancing at her now and then.

Garrid wasn't the only one who was worried. We'd been walking for a few hours when something occurred to me. "Eadric," I said. "What if the troll queen guessed that we're in the forest? She could be surrounding it right now, waiting for us to come out."

Eadric snorted. "I doubt it. Haven't you seen how big this forest is? More likely they'd figure out where we were going and wait by the entrance."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? Because it doesn't."

"Don't worry," he said, patting Ferdy. "Between the two of us, we can take care of anything. I wish you'd have a littie faith."

"I would," I muttered under my breath, "if we weren't talking about trolls. I've seen what they can do."

"Bradston looked good when we saw the truth in the mirror, didn't he? That boy can even give trolls a hard time," Eadric said with a hint of pride in his voice.

"He looked fine, although his skin seemed a little odd. Your mother said that he was sick. Did she ever tell you what was wrong with him?" I asked.

Eadric shrugged. "I assumed she meant that he had a cold. My mother makes a fuss over the smallest sniffle."

"He didn't look like they hurt him or anything," I said.

"They'd better not," growled Eadric. "He's my little brother, and if anyone is going to hurt him because he was stupid enough to fall into the hands of trolls, it's going to be me."

It hadn't taken long for Li'l and Garrid to find the entrance to the trolls' caves, but then, they were bats, after all. As we neared the edge of the woods, it was Li'l's turn to check our position, and she came back only a few minutes after leaving. "There are trolls up ahead, lurking in the underbrush. Wait here. I'll tell you when it's safe to go on."

Garrid waved his wings to stretch them. "I'll do that, Li'l."

"Don't bother," said Li'l. "Even a bat like me can handle this."

"What was that supposed to mean?" he said, settling back on my shoulder as Li'l flew away. "She's not acting like herself at all. I wish I knew what was bothering her."

"That's a woman for you," said Eadric. "One little mistake and they're mad at you for days."

"What mistake? I don't even know what I did wrong!" wailed Garrid. "She was fine at the party last night. My relatives are all crazy about her."

When Li'l finally returned, we followed her through the trees to a patch of underbrush that had been trampled flat. The rotten-egg smell of troll was so strong that we had to hold our noses before we reached it and long after we'd passed by.