We looked around, but there was nothing else on or around the body. Molly and I looked at each other.
"They couldn’t have taken them," said Molly.
"Why not?"
"Trolls are just animals! They don’t use tools or weapons."
"Animals evolve," I said. "Particularly under pressure from outside forces. Trolls who’ve learned to use weapons; now, that is seriously scary."
"We need to get moving," said Molly, rising to her feet and looking quickly about her. "Get in to see the Mole and get out again before the trolls swarm."
"Relax," I said. "They can’t touch us. I’ve got my armour, and you’ve got your magic."
"Your armour might protect you from direct attack, but a whole swarm of trolls could knock you on your arse, carry you away to their deep larders, and just keep you there till you had to come out of your armour. And then…" We both looked at the half-eaten bounty hunter.
"There’s a limit to what I can do with my magic now," Molly said reluctantly. "I’ve used up most of my stored resources. Anything big would wipe me out."
"You couldn’t have mentioned that before we came down here?" I said.
We both looked around sharply. There were sounds in the darkness around us. Molly waved her witchfire back and forth, illuminating the dark mouths of tunnel openings ahead and behind us. From not far away came high-pitched hootings and howlings, and the slow sharp sound of claws and talons scraping against stone. We looked quickly up and down the tunnel, but the many overlapping echoes made it impossible to tell from which direction any sound was coming. Molly and I stood back to back, breathing heavily. And then from behind us, from back the way we’d come, there was the growing sound of heavy feet on the move, of heavy bodies thundering down the tunnel towards us. Molly sprinted off into the darkness ahead, and I was right behind her.
The deeper we went, the shabbier the tunnels became. The old brick walls began to crack and fall apart. Fungi and moss flourished, hiding human workings under rounded organic shapes. Tunnel openings were interspersed with rough holes smashed through the ancient stonework, dark gaps raw as wounds. Things moved in the darkness, hissing at us as we passed. Molly and I ran on, pushing ourselves as hard as we could, not even glancing into the openings, and behind us came the thunder of the trolls, drawing steadily closer.
I could have armoured up and left them behind in a moment, but trolls were sensitive to magic. They could have tracked my armour easily, even in complete darkness. Even the small magic of the witchfire was a calculated risk.
"How much further to the Mole?" I said between panting breaths.
"I’m…not exactly sure," said Molly.
"What?"
"Hey, it’s been a long time since I was last down here! And I may have got a bit…turned around."
Without slowing my pace at all, I reached inside my jacket and brought out the emergency compass the Armourer had given me back at the Hall.
"I know which way is north," said Molly. "And it really isn’t helping."
"This particular compass is supposed to show me the best way out of any emergency situation," I said, trying to hold the thing steady as I ran. The compass needle flicked back and forth and then settled on northeast just as a new tunnel opening appeared in that direction. The needle moved to point right at the opening. "This way!" I said.
"Your family always has the best toys," said Molly, and we plunged into the new tunnel without slowing.
We ran on, following the needle from tunnel to tunnel. The hootings and howlings came from all around us now. The tunnels finally ended in a natural stone chamber complete with jagged stalactites and stalagmites. Strange mineral traces in the walls picked up the witchfire and glowed brightly, pushing back the dark. The compass needle swung back and forth, as though confused, and I stumbled to a halt while I waited for it to make up its mind. Molly leaned on me, fighting for breath. I wasn’t much better off. My arm and shoulder were killing me.
"We’re in trouble," said Molly.
"No, really?" I said. "You do surprise me. Show us the way to the Mole, you useless piece of crap!" And I slapped the compass a few times, to show it I meant business.
"No," Molly said. "I mean, I don’t recognise this place at all. I’ve never been here on any of my previous trips to the Mole’s lair. Are you sure that thing is reliable?"
"Of course," I lied. The compass needle finally settled for pointing straight ahead. I looked at Molly. "Ready to run some more?"
She managed a quick grin. "I find the imminent prospect of being eaten alive tends to concentrate the mind wonderfully."
"I love it when you talk literary," I said.
And that was when a whole crowd of trolls burst out of a side tunnel just behind us, fighting and clawing at each other in their eagerness to get at us. Molly and I sprinted off again, following the needle, but neither of us were as fast as we had been. I’d got only one quick glimpse of the trolls behind us, but that was enough. I’d faced trolls before, and they hadn’t changed. Trolls are huge, stooped creatures, bone white in colour, with long, lanky frames. Jagged claws on bony hands, vicious talons on elongated feet. Spurs and thorns of bone protrude from their backs, arms, and legs. Their heads are long, horselike, with muzzles crammed full of thick, blocky teeth. Their eyes are big and black and unblinking. They run on all fours, leaning on their knuckles like the great apes. They weren’t bothering with the hooting and howling anymore, now they’d found their prey. Instead, from behind us came deep bass coughing sounds, urgent and hungry.
I didn’t look back. I knew how fast they could move. And what they would do if they caught us.
They were close, and getting closer. My breath burned in my heaving chest, and my bad arm and shoulder shrieked with pain. I could hear Molly straining for breath beside me. We were slowing down, even though we knew it was death to do so. So I armoured up, grabbed Molly in my strong golden arms, and sprinted through the dark tunnels at supernatural speed. Molly didn’t have the breath to make any protest, beyond one surprised squeak, and then she clung tightly to me as I flashed though the labyrinth of tunnels. She held the witchfire out before us, the light reflecting brightly off my golden armour.
The trolls couldn’t match my augmented speed, but they didn’t give up either. I could still hear them pounding along behind us. Cracked brick walls flashed past as I sped on, concentrating on the needle of the compass set flush into my golden palm. Molly suddenly cried out and pointed, and I skidded to a halt. Molly wriggled impatiently out of my arms as I set her down, and she ran over to a recess in a stone wall that looked just like all the others to me.
"This is it! This is the place! I recognise it…The door’s right here, Eddie! Right here…somewhere…"
She leaned in close, running her hands over the rough stone surface. I couldn’t see any door. I turned and looked back the way we’d come. I couldn’t see any trolls, but I could hear them coming for us, out of the dark. They sounded really angry. Molly cried out again, and I turned back to see her tracing the outline of a door in the dark grimy stone.
"This is definitely it! Leads straight to the Mole!"
"Then you might want to open it," I said. "The trolls will be here any minute."
"I can’t open this! Only the Mole can open it."
"Stand aside," I said. "I’ll smash it in."
"No, you bloody won’t," said Molly, grabbing me by one golden arm and glaring right into my mask. "The Mole values his privacy, and you can bet good money that door is protected by seriously heavy-duty security. You even look at it funny, and it could blow up this whole section. Let me talk to the Mole. There’s a speakerphone here somewhere…" She went back to the stone wall. "Mole! This is Molly Metcalf; remember me? I got you the complete set of Desperate Housewives DVDs…Look, I’ve got the new rogue Drood with me, and we really do need to come in and talk with you! Right now!"