David had a goal now - for the past few days he’d tried to extract as much information as he needed to survive. Hopefully he'd even survive pleasantly. If he wanted to get away from his handler here, it meant there was serious time pressure - once they got back to the castle it would be much harder to escape. Maria seemed nice, maybe even genuinely concerned for him, but she had other objectives too and he was sure she was manipulating him. It made it hard to trust her in even simple ways.

Wariness had crept into his bones these past few days, every smile of hers looked false, designed to set him at ease but putting his teeth on edge instead. He felt like a spy, stealing information and masking his true feelings. He was just stealing recipes and survival techniques that she already wanted to teach him, so it was pretty easy 'spy craft'. Besides, I don’t think I’m very good at this spy stuff anyway. He smiled to himself, a grin that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

More than once Maria had noticed his stilted responses and more muted expressions, he hoped she chalked it up to the fight he lost. He hoped he hadn’t been exposed as anything other than a sore loser just yet. He was getting more and more paranoid about her, he knew it but there was no way to stop himself now. Besides, is it really paranoia if I’m right?

He had always been the type to get lost in his own thoughts and that played to his advantage now. At least he hoped it would, he was moody and quiet and lost in his own head, but he was also always a little like that so at least it wouldn’t stand out as strange to Maria. I need every advantage I can get too. His eyes settled onto Maria’s back, it had become familiar to him. They’d spent the last few days studying cooking, fire starting and basic medicine, and today they were finally going to begin the long trek back to the castle. Maria wanted him to apply the skills he’d learned, and had told him to be prepared to potentially fight more. Doubting her now, he thought she might even direct them to a fight on purpose. I’m sure she wants me to learn to fight better. In fact, I think that’s what she wants most. His eyes narrowed, pouring their focus into her back. I hope there’s nothing worse than goblins in these woods…

There were worse things than goblins in the woods. Maria was frozen in front of him, suddenly and completely still. Everything around them seemed unnaturally immobile, stuck in a single moment like a photo. Nothing changing or moving, David had even stopped breathing. He wondered if Maria had too. Then he heard it, the sound of massive booming footsteps. Trees cracking horribly as something gigantic pushed through them. It’s too big. Whatever it is. Things aren’t supposed to be that big. He heard Maria hiss under her breath,

“Trolls.”

“Trolls, as in more than one-” David tried to be quiet but his voice almost got away from him, the panic rising in his chest.

“Shhh.” She cut him off before continuing, “Better that it’s two. If it was just one, it would be mad and it would be looking for people. Just stay quiet. Stay still. We may get lucky.”

David didn’t feel lucky. The sounds seemed to slowly creep closer as the minutes dragged. Time seemed to slow, to thicken like molasses as his thoughts spiraled in a growing panic. His hands were shaking. So were his knees. The cracking of trees was like thunder, he thought he could almost feel the sound hitting him. He could feel the shaking of the ground as footsteps rumbled through dirt. Maria slowly turned back to look at him, her brow scrunched up in concern. Her dark blue eyes met his but he couldn’t tell what she was thinking at all until she blinked slowly, opened her eyes again as acceptance settled into her features,

“William. This is no time to just watch.”

David sucked in, his chest felt tight and his blood felt cold. He had felt stuck before but now he felt shock run through him, fuck, was he here the whole time? How did I not notice? Before relief flooded his system too. Maybe, just maybe, we won't die here.

William’s wiry figure stepped out of the trees a few moments later. His eyes deadly serious and a frown under his mustache. He seemed stern, imposing even with a rigidness David hadn't seen in him before.

“This could use up a full year. Are you sure they’ve noticed us?” His voice was steady, none of the kindness and warmth David was used to coming through. He heard Maria respond,

“Yes. They’re too close now. It’s an acceptable loss. Sorry.” Before seeing William nod and turn his back to them, sword drawn.

The air around him seemed to almost shimmer with the heat coming off his skin. A heavy invisible pressure filled the small clearing,making it hard to breathe. If David had been trying to be still before it was like someone else was forcing him into stillness now, holding him in place. William suddenly seemed huge, like more than a man, the presence around him comforting and horrifying in its intensity. He heard Maria whisper

“Don’t move, we’ll talk when it’s done.”

He almost laughed, how could he move? But the sound stuck in his throat as he saw the forest in front of them start to crack open. Heard that massive movement almost upon them, now accompanied by a strange but constant clicking noise. Multiple trees pushed aside by huge gray hands, peeling the treeline apart until the wood started to crack under the force. The massive trees sat almost horizontally now - their weight pushed aside onto neighboring plants as the head of a massive thing poked through.

The head was lower and larger than David had expected. An almost drooping massive gray face covered by strange patchy black hair. Wiry, unkempt. Large milky white eyes sat unmoving and unfocused. The unblinking white orbs pointed directly at them but saw nothing. He shivered and felt cold shock strangle his spine. The troll had huge elephant-like ears that hung off the sides of its strange long face. David heard the clicking sounds again as he realized the troll didn’t actually have any hair, the black patches covering its face and arms started to mill about its skin, each chunk of hair a small rodent that screeched out in odd clicking sounds, the ears of the troll moving slightly with each noise.

In front of him William started to move, taking a single step towards the monstrosity. His form no longer seemed so huge to David, with this massive gray thing looming over them all. There’s another one too? Fuck. David’s heart pounded in his chest. He reached for his magic, it felt like it was only its strength that kept him standing now, his legs weak with fear.

He heard the same clicking and booming movement approaching them from their left, just as he saw William begin to swing his weapon towards the first troll. He felt panic clutching at his chest, those strange bubbling feelings of betrayal that had been building in him mixed with a desperation and fear that he’d never felt before. He felt like crying or screaming. I didn’t want this! I never wanted this! The fear seemed to ignite his magic, pushing it into his muscles, propping his body up with more energy and strength then he’d ever felt. Filling him with more than he could take. Overwhelming magic and panic flooded his legs and mind. He felt like he couldn’t breath, he wasn’t getting enough air and his vision started to tunnel, black creeping into the edges of his sight.

He took a deep, panicked shaky breath and ran away.