As it was, he interrupted with another thought, "No, actually, I think I saw something in the records this morning that might confirm her story. Or at least, confirm that something is happening."
Perhaps it was the mages who were hiding over the ridge, and they were using illusions of trolls to frighten the villagers?
Urster still didn't look convinced. "There is one way to find out," he said flatly. "We go and see for ourselves."
"We will," Lyall assured him. "But only after I've gathered a little more information. Without an idea of numbers and strength, we don't know what we are going into."
Urster stared at him a few more moments, and Lyall met his gaze without wavering. The man understood that. After a brief staring contest, he backed down. "Whatever you say, sir."
Lyall nodded to Brianna. "Show us your defences."
Brianna frowned, but led them inside the left tower, up a ladder, to the platform at the top. Above his head, a brass bell hung with a rope to ring it.
From here, they could see across the field to the dark menacing rocks. The path itself was worn bare by the passage of many feet. Why was that, if no one came here? He turned to Brianna. "Who goes up there?"
She raised an eyebrow, challenging him. He stared back. His heart beat a little faster. Was she hiding something?
"There are guards in the pass to give warning of a troll attack."
"Why have guards up there, when you have some here? They can see anyone coming in time to defend the village."
"No they can't. It's going to take a lot more than four men to hold off an attack." Brianna's voice was cold and hard. "We need time to get every person able to fight ready, and the gate secured again to protect the children and the elderly who stay inside. Without the warning from the pass, the trolls would have a chance to break down the wall, and we would lose too many people."
Despite the fact that he still didn't believe in her trolls, Lyall supressed a shiver at her words. Mages, he reminded himself. Mages could disguise their form and look like anything they wanted.
Except he still couldn't feel his magic. How could they use magic if there wasn't any?
Only if they controlled the magic barrier. Maybe it didn't stop them using magic, only other mages?
That thought was enough to make his skin crawl. "Right," he said quickly. "Carry on then. Everyone else, back to the village."
Urster stared at him, but didn't object. He and the soldiers trailed Lyall and Brianna back to her house.
"Can I have a moment?" Urster said quietly as Brianna opened the door.
"Not now," Lyall said curtly. The man was getting above himself again. "Wait here."
He followed Brianna into the hallway. "Your man thinks I'm lying," Brianna said sourly.
"Probably," Lyall agreed. "And he thinks I'm too obsessed with you to see through it. But I think I might know what is going on."
Brianna raised an eyebrow. "You do? What?" She put her hands on her hips.
Lyall hid a smile. "First, I need to check something."
Brianna frowned, but followed him into the study again. Mianna appeared in the kitchen doorway, her face concerned. "Did you stop them?" she asked anxiously.
"The guys wouldn't let them past," Brianna reassured her. "They're back now."
Mianna heaved a sigh of relief and disappeared, probably to relay the news to her husband.
Undeterred, Lyall headed into the study and picked up one of the books that still littered the desk. He flipped through it to the page he was after. Death records. He'd barely paid them any attention earlier, just skipped past them, but now he looked more closely.
As he had suspected, they came in clumps-Twenty here, another thirty there-almost never a single one. Something had been happening here in the village, but he didn't think it was what the villagers believed. He picked up the more recent book, and the pattern was the same. Right up until the date, about two years ago, when Brianna had left. Then there were almost a hundred names, the page blotted with smudges.
He looked up. "This is what happened, the night you left the island?" he asked softly.
Brianna nodded slowly. "It was the biggest attack we'd seen. Usually they only came in small numbers. Five or six. This time, there were twenty of them. They … " her voice broke and she took a deep breath, then continued, "they killed so many people, including my mother."
"I'm so sorry," Lyall said gently.
Brianna wiped away a tear. "It was a long time ago. But you have to believe me when I say that they are not to be messed with. Especially not when you can't use magic within the village. They'd slaughter you."
"We're quite experienced with a sword too," Lyall said pointedly. "I doubt it would be as bad as you say."
Brianna laughed, the sound grating on his ears. "Do you think we aren't? It's a rather important skill, don't you think, when your village gets raided regularly? But they are taller than us by a good half and much stronger."
"They can't really be trolls, Brianna," Lyall said. "It must be the mages, using illusions to pretend they're trolls."
She stared at him, considering that idea for a moment. Then shook her head. "Can't be," she said, ‘there's no magic here, remember?"
"If they are the ones who created this magic shield, and I can't see who else it could be, then it's entirely possible that they can use their magic inside it."
Brianna pursed her lips, considering. "No, I don't think so. Because if they could, wouldn't they have used it to defeat us? Nothing scares an undefended village more than a few fireballs and dragons, right?"
Lyall winced and gave a low laugh. "True, that strategy is quite effective." He considered her words more thoroughly. If the mages could use magic, then why wouldn't they? And if they couldn't …
"Their bones are different too," Brianna added, her voice thoughtful. "And if they are using an illusion, they would be the same after they were dead, wouldn't they? They'd change back into normal people when we killed them."
"You've killed some of them?"
Brianna frowned at his disbelieving tone. "Yes, of course we have," she said defensively. "Lots of them. They're all buried over in the field. We refuse to have them in our graveyard."
"Show me," Lyall said.
Brianna ate another biscuit and smiled when Urster looked out of the hole he and the other mages were digging and scowled at her. The old man plainly thought she was making it up and didn't expect to find any bones.
He'd see.
She didn't think Lyall believed it either, but she was prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. It was strange though, that after all the books he had read, he hadn't heard about the trolls. Or he had, she remembered, but he thought they were a made up story. Well, she might have thought the same if she hadn't seen for herself.
Her arm twinged, a reminder of the time she'd broken it in her first fight. The hilt of a troll sword, luckily, not the blade, or she would have lost it. She had the scars to prove that the trolls existed.
And the others would find out soon enough.
"Found something," one of the other men called out, then he disappeared as he bent down into the hole. A moment later, he hefted a dirty white bone into the air.
Lyall got up from the picnic rug Mianna had brought them earlier and went to look. Brianna followed him.
The man hoisted the bone onto the side of the hole and Lyall knelt next to it, turning it over on the soil. "A femur," he said, his voice tinged with disbelief. And well he might, it was impossibly long and thicker than Brianna's entire leg.
"I've found another one." Urster, the tone of suspicion gone from his voice, rolled a giant skull next to the femur. "What sort of creature has bones like this?" He shook his head, but fear had replaced his earlier bravado. "How many of them are in here?"
The skull was misshapen, the jaw sticking out, and the head bulging over the ears. Brianna could easily picture it covered in green warty skin. She shuddered. "A few hundred of them, scattered across this field I'd say. We've been burying them here for centuries."
Lyall rocked back on his heels, and stared at the field, but his eyes were unfocused. "I can't believe they actually exist. How could this not have been mentioned anywhere?"
"It's mentioned in our records," Brianna said.
Lyall turned to her. "Actually, no, it's not. The deaths are recorded, but haven't you noticed that no one mentions the trolls? Not once."
He had a point. Brianna stared at him. Why, when they were such a menace to her village? Why did no one talk about them and write down strategies for defeating them? Or even just record the numbers and attacks.
If only her mother hadn't died, maybe she would have had an answer. She'd expected to be the village leader for many more years, until Brianna and Mianna's had married and had children. Then she would have taught them all they needed to know. It was a foolish way to do things when life was so dangerous.