After healing Tordek, Vadania readied her sling, but no more javelins fell near them. Tordek listened for any sound of approaching troglodytes. He heard nothing but the sloshing of the marsh water around them, but Vadania tucked her sling into her belt and drew her scimitar from its scabbard. She crouched, ready to spring. Tordek followed her example.
Gulo's roar announced the start of the hand-to-hand struggle. A chorus of rasping, hissing screams answered Gulo's cry, and a dozen reptilian warriors surged out of the marsh. They stood tall as elves but slouched forward, their lean bodies balanced by long, heavy tails. Sharp teeth jutted from their crocodilian jaws, above which their yellow eyes flicked with amphibian double eyelids. Vestigial horns pricked up upon their brows, and tall dorsal ridges jutted atop their heads. Some wore scavenged or makeshift harnesses festooned with teeth and skull fragments. Half of them bore long spears and javelins, while the rest loped forward with fangs bared and claws grasping.
Devis put a bolt in a trog's throat, but still the lizard rushed forward. Lidda's arrow found the same target, crossing the first missile deep inside the trog's thick neck. The reptilian hunter fell with a red splash.
Four troglodytes thrust their spears at Gulo's face, forcing the great animal to rear up on his haunches. They stabbed at the wolverine's exposed belly, and two sharp spearheads sank deep. Gulo snapped one of the offending spears in half while the other weapon whipped back for another thrust.
Vadania turned her head and grimaced at the plight of her bestial friend, but she faced two foes of her own. She slashed at the first, but it caught her scimitar on a bark shield. The second trog leaped at her. She stepped back barely in time to evade its sharp claws. She did not see the third one rising up out of the muck behind her.
Tordek spied the trap and called out a warning. Two troglodytes stood between him and the druid. Neither creature was armed, but Tordek knew that their teeth and claws were more than sufficient to tear away even his plate armor. He knew these reptiles were keen-minded warriors who probably expected him to keep them at bay with the advantage of his weapon's reach.
Tordek lowered his head and rushed them.
The first troglodyte crouched, arms wide to grapple the rushing dwarf. Briefly, Tordek thought of the human villager who had tried catching him that way a few days earlier. He knew the reptile-man was more cunning and far more powerful than any villager. Just before he came within its grasp, Tordek leaped up and stomped on the trog's thigh. The creature trumpeted its pain as Tordek continued running over its body. His armor-bolstered weight drove the surprised trog down into the mire. Tordek's trampling attack was so unexpected that the second trog charged past the point where it expected him to be. Tordek continued running toward Vadania and her three assailants.
The elf struggled to free her sword arm from the grip of the trog that grasped her from behind, but she could not match its reptilian strength. The trog pinned her as its two fellows closed in to rip her apart with their razor-sharp claws. Unseen by either of them, Lidda's short sword licked out, biting one troglodyte on the hip and drawing its attention away from the druid. The frill upon the trog's neck rose in a threatening fan as the gaze of its beady, black eyes fixed on the halfling.
With a mighty heave, Tordek raised his axe and brought it down with all his mass and strength. The blade separated the second attacker's head from its shoulders and showered Vadania with blood.
Tordek heard furious splashing behind him. He tried to turn in time to face the foe he had eluded moments earlier, but he was too late to raise his guard against the fangs and claws. Tordek heard the snap of a bowstring and felt a quick breeze upon his cheek just before the rushing troglodyte barreled into him, then they fell together into the muck. Tordek thrust an elbow into his foe's head, but the enemy was already limp in death. As he shoved the dead trog's body aside, he saw another of Devis' black-fletched bolts that had pierced the monster's cheek and penetrated into its brain.
Tordek rose to his feet, looking around to appraise the course of battle. Vadania and Lidda had their backs together, and two more trogs lay dead at their feet. Gulo had made short work of all four of his attackers and galumphed back to bolster his two-legged allies. Behind the dire wolverine, a second, longer line of troglodytes approached warily, the frills on their heads fanned out in threatening displays. Having witnessed their clutch-mates' fate, they were less inclined toward a reckless charge.
Tordek grunted his approval at the tide of combat. He felt that his companions and he had little more to fear before they could begin withdrawing from the territorial troglodytes.
The stink hit him like a stone.
For an instant, Tordek was sure he would vomit uncontrollably. Tears streamed down his cheeks and into his beard as the noxious vapor stung his eyes, yet his dwarven fortitude withstood the full power of the toxic stench.
Devis and Lidda were not so fortunate. The bard doubled over and spewed out his own nasty contribution to the already filthy mire. Lidda managed to keep her insides on the inside, but she staggered back from the approaching trogs as if tipsy. Both looked wan and feeble, like ghosts in the gray swamp mist.
"To me!" cried Tordek. He stood as tall as possible upon a miserable, damp clod and raised his axe and shield to draw the enemy's attention.
Lidda bounded through the swamp as fast as her little legs could carry her, mostly avoiding the muck and puddles that impeded her. Devis hesitated, seeming to consider casting a spell before thinking better of it and running toward Tordek.
Vadania was already by his side, scimitar in hand. Gulo crouched nearby, his dark lowering indicating that the beast was ready to deal more slaughter.
Rather than charge, the troglodytes crouched down among the grass and reeds. Those with javelins and shields began beating them together in unison.
"What are they doing?" asked Lidda, still gagging from the disgusting trog musk. She grabbed Devis' arm for support, but he too was so weak that she nearly pulled him down off their little island before they steadied each other.
"They expected easier prey," said Vadania. "They hope to frighten us away." She turned to Tordek for agreement.
He nodded slowly, wondering whether the druid was sure of her assessment. "It's time to get out of here."
"Won't they just begin tracking the villagers?" said Lidda.
Tordek sighed. Lidda's concern for the villagers was admirable, and he too hated to think that their rescue might be for nothing, but saving them was not part of the mission at hand. He took a deep breath and prepared to explain exactly that when Vadania pointed beyond the trog position.
"Look," she said.
Tordek could see little more than the blurred outlines of the nearest trees, dark green in the fog. Some of them were slender and lonely, while others clustered in twisted columns.
One of the thickest columns lumbered toward them.
The thing was well over twice Tordek's height and built massively. When it moved, waves rippled out in all directions through the watery ground, and Tordek thought of the giant footprint he had seen earlier.
The enormous monster grasped one of the lone trees. With a terrible sound of tortured wood and deep suction, it rent the tree from its roots and hefted it like a club.
Devis uttered a long and artful dwarven curse that impressed even Tordek. He concluded in the common tongue, "What in the nine hells is that?"
"Maybe a hill giant," said Tordek, hopefully. He longed to test his skills against one of the gigantic foes of his people, and he prayed fervently that he could defeat one such creature with a little help from his allies. He feared this was not his time for that battle-not when the thing had so many of its allies nearby. As the monster lumbered toward them, Tordek saw that it did not have the roughly humanoid head and shoulders of a giant. Instead, its reptilian skull hung low from its hunched shoulders, and what looked like three separate pairs of yellow eyes pierced the gloom like lanterns.