The creature turned to face this new annoyance. He pulled back his arm as if to throw a punch, and a giant ball of ice the size of a Volkswagen Beetle appeared there. Just as he was about to let it fly toward Cara, his back exploded in a cloud of steam. He turned and hurled the ball at Lawson, who’d just blasted him with a stream of fire.
A knot formed in Tara’s stomach, and it wasn’t from running. She watched as Elias, Cara, Lawson, and Professor Warren began hurling magical projectiles at the beast. Some it deflected. Some hit but seemed to have little effect. Even dodging and blocking the humans’ attacks, the troll had time to continually return their bombardments with ice shards of its own that were twice the size of those sent by its attackers. As Tara watched an ice spike zip past Elias’s head, the knot in her stomach grew even more painful. The magic within her soul cried out, and it was all she could do to stand still. But she couldn’t hold out long. The magic in her practically dragged her back to her soul bonded. She wasn’t going to simply stand and watch while Elias and the others fought the beast. If he was going to be impaled by a giant icicle, then by Mother Gaia, so was she.
She sprinted back toward the fight, using what she’d learned about allowing the earth to propel her feet forward, increasing her speed. When she reached the others, she took up a place next to Elias and started forming giant rocks in her hands and chucking them at the troll. She didn’t even know how she was doing it. Tara only knew she had to fight alongside her soul bonded.
Elias did a double take when he saw one of the boulders hit the troll and bounce off. “Dammit, Tara, I told you to run.”
“Sorry, I’ve never been good at doing what I’m told. Just ask Shelly.”
Elias growled in response. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Which is exactly why I’m here. WATCH OUT!” She shrieked as another ice bomb whizzed past Elias’s shoulder.
Elias reached down and touched the ground. A wall of earth rose up in front of Tara, completely obscuring her view of the troll.
“Elias, no.” She simply stepped to the side, out from behind his protective barrier. “I’m here to fight with you, not be protected like some damsel in distress. Now, either let me help you or get the hell out of the way.”
“There’s no arguing with you when you get like this, luv.”
“You’re damn right, there isn’t. Now, are we going to take down this ugly bastard or not?”
“Fine, but we’re going to talk about this later.”
Tara didn’t have time to respond as a volley of ice arrows came speeding toward her. She jumped back behind Elias’s wall just in time to avoid being impaled.
“Enough!” The troll roared. Tara peeked out from behind the wall to see the troll extend his hand. A hammer the size of a telephone poll formed completely of ice appeared in his hand. He bolted toward Cara, raising the hammer and bringing it down with inhuman speed. Cara rolled out of the way, but the force of the blow right next to her shook the earth and sent her sprawling.
So much for the troll not having a weapon.
“Okay, luv,” said Elias, “now it’s time to see what you’ve learned. We need that troll immobile.”
“Okay?”
“So, soften the ground at its feet. Push out the dense soil and bring in the loose stuff.”
“I don’t think I can.”
“You’re going to have to. Professor Warren,” yelled Elias, “we need water and a ton of it, right at its feet.”
Tara put her hands on the ground, trying to do what Elias had commanded.
“On it,” said the professor. She tensed and a wall of water formed up out of the lake. Warren waved a hand and sent it crashing on the shore right at the troll’s feet. The beach instantly became muddy. The troll turned and ran toward Lawson, who was helping Cara back to her feet. But the mud caused it to slip. It didn’t fall, but it’s feet scrabbled comically, looking for purchase.
“Lawson, steam!” Elias called. The fire elementalist got the message. It shot a jet of flame that met Professor’s Warren’s stream of water right at the troll’s location. There was an explosion of steam and a roar from the troll.