A giant wolf-creature moved towards them from the gloom, Zan dangled from its mouth, held by his shirt.

Zan didn’t look particularly afraid, more annoyed he’d been caught, ‘Look, of course I was going to run away - you’re a bunch of things in the night. If you’re going to kill me just do it.’

‘Oh, we’re not going to kill you, one of the large beasts said, ‘as long as you pay the toll.’

‘The toll to cross the bridge.’ said another of the trolls.

‘A very expensive toll,’ murmured the wolf, whose teeth were still clamped around Zan’s shirt.

‘Well, we don’t have money,’ Zan said -‘look at us, we’re a bunch of musicians.’

‘Oh, that’s a pity.’ said the wolf, ‘I suppose a meal’s better than nothing…’ the creature flicked Zan up into the air. The wolf’s jaw stretched open. Zan fell towards it.

A flash of light erupted from where Sparrow stood. Fire billowed out across the night, scorching the wolf. The creature let out a howl and rolled into a bunch of scrub on the roadside.

Zan landed with a sickening thud.

‘You okay Zan?’ Sparrow called as he flew towards the trolls. Zan just grunted, ‘My… my tailbone might be…’

With fire glowing from his hands, Sparrow could clearly see the trolls. Typical creatures of the dark, their eyes were all squinty with widened pupils that aided their surprised expressions as roots grew around their feet.

The creatures didn’t even have the brains to try diffuse the situation with words.

Instead, they smashed their fists together, generating shockwaves that threw Sparrow from his course.

He hit the ground and bounced. The roots around the troll’s legs grew old and dry then they caught fire.

Sparrow raised his hands and the waves of fire moved up their bodies, ‘Leave us alone and I won’t have to hurt you.’

But the trolls didn’t care. Their skin was thick, and the fire hurt their eyes more than it hurt their skin.

They kicked the burning stacks towards Sparrow who dodged, then weaved his way between them.

‘Big mistake mistah’ the troll on his right said.

The pair of them rushed him, not even bothering using their hands. They smashed their bellies together, crushing Sparrow in between them.

The pair laughed, ‘That’ll show him.’ said the one on the left who had a green booger starting to appear in his nose. The troll went to pick at the booger, but the booger moved.

The trolls tried to step away from eachother. But they couldn’t. Roots punctured their stomachs, and the booger the troll had been poking at earlier unfurled into a leaf. The troll sneezed and the leaf blew out of its nose and onto the ground.

Sparrow went to push his roots deeper when he heard a scream.

He looked across the scrub-covered landscape to where one of the trolls was lifting Zoe up to its mouth, she recoiled as she was assaulted by the stench of its breath.

Sparrow tried to uncurl his roots, but the trolls grabbed them. The stupid things wouldn’t let him go.

Sparrow flew upwards, then jerked himself to the ground. He used stoneskin, spread the stone to the roots and then spun.

He grunted as the weight of the trolls fought against him. Even with stoneskin it felt like his back was torn in two.

He gave up, and stopped for a moment, panting.

The impaled trolls were heaving themselves to their feet, hands still clasping the stone roots.

Hmm, perhaps rocky roots aren’t the best. Sparrow thought.

He jerked his hands and the stone turned to wood, then twisted his palm. The roots lit up like fiery snakes, severing his connection to the roots and scalding the trolls.

Sparrow turned to fly towards Zoe, and stretched out his hand.

The wolf, still smoking, slammed into him. Its teeth tore a chunk from his side. Sparrow screamed, activated stoneskin to stop his bleeding, then slammed a fist into the wolf’s brain, knocking it unconscious.

Sparrow was on his feet, dragging himself towards Zoe and the troll. She was being crushed between its teeth when a burst of flame erupted from the troll’s mouth. Smoke and steam poured from its nostril and Sparrow’s eyes bulged.

They can breathe fire? Since when have trolls been able to breathe fire.

But something else strange was happening. The troll was falling backwards, its cheeks were still burning and it was trying to scream.

Zoe fell from its mouth. Her clothes and her hands were still on fire.

Sparrow rushed towards her, picking up half a boulder and hurling it towards the troll, which had turned and was fleeing towards the river.

The bolder hit it square in the back, and a wave churned its way up the river as the troll’s limp body hit the water.

Sparrow rushed over towards Zoe. He started patting the flames burning the remnants of her clothes but she just shook her head. She waved her hands and the fire died until it was just a candlewick balancing on her palm.

‘H-how did you do that?’ Sparrow said.

Zoe raised an eyebrow, ‘The same way you do.’

‘You mean you’ve been practising?’

‘Yeah… it’s not even that hard, not as hard as learning a new instrument anyway.’

And then she stood up, and Sparrow was left dumbfounded. Part of the dumbfoundedness had to do with the fact a decent portion of her clothing had been burnt off and he was now seeing new bits of Zoe he’d never seen before.

But a lot more of it had to do with the fact she’d picked up the ability to control fire so quickly. He couldn’t look away from her. She was just… so… astounding.

‘Ahh, Sparrow? You there?’

Sparrow shook his head to clear the thoughts, ‘Huh?’

‘Come on, give me your cloak. I can’t go around looking like this, I’ll get locked up.’

Sparrow realised he was drooling.

‘Oh yeah… yeah… yeah…’ he stripped his shirt and his cloak.

‘Here you go…’

Zoe rolled her eyes, turned, ripped off the remnants of her shirt, then pulled Sparrow’s on.

‘I suppose we should go find him now.’ Zoe said.

‘Who?’

‘Zan… you know, the musician who almost got eaten at the start.’

‘Oh!’ came a sound from a bush next to them, ‘I’m here.’

Sparrow peered at the bush, ‘Zan, do you know how to turn into a bush?!’

Zan crawled out a little sheepishly, ‘No… I just hid in one.’

Zoe walked over to the bush and peered into it, ‘And you’ve been here this whole time?’

‘Well, ever since that troll dropped me flat on my back, yeah… it’s a great way to stay alive.’ Zan pulled a twig from his thick black hair.

‘So you were even there when I was getting changed?’ Zoe said.

Zan just winked, ‘You bet, baby.’

Sparrow thought about hitting him, but Zoe did a better job.

‘Ouch! That’s my nose.’

Zoe laughed, ‘Well, you deserve it.’

Zan ducked her next hit and then wrapped his arms around her, holding her in a bear hug, ‘What are you going to do now?’

Zoe screamed with laughter, ‘Probably burn your hair off or something.’

That made Zan jump back, he was laughing too. He sauntered over to Sparrow and patted him on the back.

‘Man… you may not be a musician, but that was impressive what you did back there. I thought we were gonners the moment I saw them.’

Sparrow looked over at one of the trolls which had started to moan.

‘Yeah… we’d better keep moving. We don't want to be here when they wake up.’

The three of them walked until sunrise, and then found a quiet little spot on top of a town hall. They climbed the guttering. Found a flat spot under the village bell and lay back.

The tiles were cold, and it was only as the sun started to rise that they fell asleep.