Elf Killers Read Free Page A

the leaf litter was taking on a spongy quietness. " The better for sneaking, " thought Olloo. He was growing keenly aware of the dirk at his waist, which he usually seldom noticed.
    "Mian," cried Kieran. "Would you quit stepping in front of me?"
    "...in front of me? ...front of me?" came an echo.
    "Hey!" shouted Oisin in a whisper. "If those echoes came from the Great Rock
    Wall, then there might be caves any time. Let's stay closer together. Fates forbid! No more shouting. No more speaking out. We need to start being as quiet as we can. And it may be a very long way yet. Who knows how far it is to their caves?"
    The company grew quiet at once as they went back to walking, with the scuffling of leaves and the snapping of sticks practically stopping altogether. A shivering owl called out nearby to be answered by another further up the slope.
    "Hogs," whispered Kieran. "Someone's having a roast. Boy! My stomach's growling. How on earth would anyone possibly have a roast up...here?" Suddenly he saw how it all was and wanted to vomit.
    "Who are those vile things cooking?" said Olloo, speaking out without whispering.
    "Hey," whispered Oisin, grabbing him by the shoulders. "If we can smell their fire, you might have just gotten us killed."
    "Please," he said, dropping to whispers. "I'll be quiet. Please don't make us go back. I've got to find Doona."
    "Well, you have to or we die.”
    "So how should we go about this?"
    "We start by being the quietest we've ever been in our lives," said Oisin as he drew them into a huddle. "I say we should follow the smell until we see the fire and then see what we have. We probably won't be able to do one single thing for the captives without all of us dying on the spot. So the question is, Olloo, what happens if you see Doona? Can you turn your back on her if I say we have to leave? Are you that tough?"
    Olloo gave a sigh in the dark. "Yes I am, Oisin. I'm here to save lives. I'll not return your favor by getting you killed."
    "Very well then. When we have our first peek, we need to sneak back a good long way into the woods before we ever try to discuss what to do. And don't forget, even for a moment, that trolls see like owls."
    They were underway at once, pausing briefly for Oisin and again for each of the others to remove his shoes. Even with most of the ground being covered with evergreen needles instead of leaves, the stealthy going seemed to take an eternity. A shivering owl suddenly called out very close by, giving them a start. " At least we're quiet enough not to bother him, " thought Olloo.
      Presently they saw the flickering of orange light up the bluff face which reared up beyond the trees. Only a few rods beyond that they began to make out, to their utter horror, one of the girls being roasted, gutted and bound, gagged with an apple and blackened, burnt hairless and dripping fat into the fire from the pole she was tied to. Doona and Lilee squatted at opposite ends of the pole, forced to keep it turning at spear point by a troll-brute who had left bleeding places all over their shoulders and arms. Eighteen more children of the original party of twenty-nine were tied to posts, leaving four unaccounted for. Tears streamed down their grimy faces as they waited in stunned silence for their own ends to come.
    Oisin carefully turned Olloo, Kieran and Mian away and led them back into the woods, well beyond the fire before any of them forgot himself and gave them away. In spite of a couple of muffled sobs, they managed in heroic silence.
    "We're not going to leave, are we?" whispered Olloo, the moment Oisin turned to them.
    "I don't intend to without taking out that stinker back by the fire, but I don't want to spring our own death trap by doing so. Did any of you see any other trolls besides the one?"
    "No."
    "Nay."
    "Nope," said Olloo, "but the way the rocks were lit up all up and down the bluffs,
    I'd say there must be a whole row of caves."
    "Then someone's got to go see," said Oisin,