Disciple of War Disciple of War (Art of the Adept #4) - Michael G. Manning Page 0,230

there hadn’t been any brain in the piece of troll he had regenerated from, so he hadn’t learned anything yet, much less how to talk.

From there they proceeded in a much more orderly fashion—assuming that one’s definition of ‘orderly fashion’ was extremely loose. Will wondered what the name for a collection of trolls was. “Maybe a pandemonium of trolls?” he muttered to himself. “Or would a bedlam of trolls sound better?”

After a few more blocks of watching them create a bloody mess of partially eaten demons at every corner, he made up his mind. Someone had assigned the proper term to crows, when it rightfully belonged to trolls. “This is definitely a murder of trolls,” he decided.

Their advance went unimpeded for another quarter of a mile, until they encountered a well-organized and disciplined group of massive humanoid demons. These were nearly the size of the trolls and wore heavy iron armor. They carried large, curved swords and square shields. Most significant of all, the slender demons marching behind them wore armor that seemed to be composed of pure fire.

The trolls charged forward, as usual, but the moment they spotted the burning demons in the rear, they split and scattered. All except the small, ignorant troll. He simply stopped, and when the front row of demons split apart, the small troll stared mutely at them as a wave of flames swept over him.

The little troll would have been roasted, but Will stepped in front of him. Since entering the city, he’d been steadily absorbing void turyn and converting it to keep it from poisoning him, but as a result he was practically bursting with power. He reflex cast a wind-wall and put everything he had into it, creating a tornado of pure destruction that destroyed everything within thirty feet.

While the spell kept the flames away from Will and the small troll, it also fanned them, and now everything in the area around them was on fire. The demons had also been just far enough back that only two at the center of the front line were killed. The rest were still perfectly fine.

His troll allies didn’t appear to be returning, not with the blaze around him, and if something wasn’t done soon, Will guessed that the fire could spread and engulf the entire city. The little troll next to him still didn’t understand fire, though, and the spunky beast tried to charge forward.

Will put a point-defense shield in front of his small friend’s face. When he ran into it the small troll fell backward and landed on his ass, staring upward in confusion at his benefactor. “Stay still, stupid!” Will swore.

The troll looked at him, then repeated one word and pointed to himself. “Stupid?”

“Yes, you! You’re stupid! Don’t move.”

The little troll grinned and jumped to his feet while chanting his new word. “Stupid, stupid, stupid!”

Great, he thinks his name is stupid now, Will realized. From the corner of his eye, he saw the sword and shield demons opening ranks again—another wave of flame would be coming soon. With no time, he caught the thick void turyn all around them and turned it to his own purpose, creating a ring of intense sound with the demon group at its center.

The flames nearest the demons died instantly, as did the flames shrouding the slender demons as their bodies were flash-frozen. The intense sonic boom that followed shattered them into red and black chunks of grisly frozen flesh.

The newly named troll stared at him with huge eyes, obviously impressed, though Will hardly noticed. He’d been inspired. Much of the area was still on fire, but now he used his talent in a gentler fashion, creating a loud hum. Magic was central to his talent, but it used kinetic and thermal energy to create the actual sounds. The temperature dropped rapidly, and in just a few minutes, the flames around them died away and sputtered out.

Will stepped forward to examine the dead demons, but his troll was too busy staring to move. Turning back, he called out, “Come on, Stupid. Let’s go.” The little troll responded then, running forward quickly. Raising his voice and speaking in troll, Will called to his other companions. “Fire gone. Gather up!”

Eventually they all returned, and Will and his murder of trolls were able to resume their journey to the center of the city. They were smarter, more cautious trolls now, all except for Stupid, of course, who still had a lot of brain development to look forward to. Now