"Those humans aren't going to know what hit them," one of them grunted.
In the centre of the feast sat Mugos. The champion's arms bulged with dark green muscles. As a badge of honour, he wore the plaited hair of the last champion tucked behind his pointy, red rimmed ear. Jasyn turned away as Mugos's girlfriend, Kriss, leaned over and half kissed, half bit, the champion's ear.
Jasyn should have stayed away tonight. Every night he felt the need to come and see, to reassure himself that she hadn't fully committed to Mugos. To his relief the strength of her magic, and that of the champion, remained unchanged.
Unbonded.
It made sense. Mugos wouldn't send her into battle knowing that if she died, so would he. The magical bond was why so many warriors married late, after their fighting days were done.
The warriors' laughter rang in Jasyn's ears as he scanned the edges of the gathering. Almost all of the camp was here tonight, nearly a hundred trolls crowded into the tent, all hoping to share in the last of the food available.
His sister, Yass, waved to him from a table in the back corner. With one last look at the warriors, he skirted around the tables, avoiding eye contact with any of the other trolls, to join his sister. His brother-in-law, Uma, moved over to make room for him.
"Here. We managed to grab this before the others arrived." Uma held out some stale bread.
Jasyn's stomach growled as he looked at the bread, but he shook his head. "I'm not really hungry, I ate before I came. Yass can have it."
Uma and Yass looked at him in disbelief, but he shook his head again. "I'm not hungry," he insisted.
Yass looked exhausted, her cheekbones sunken, her arms and legs skinny. Her huge pregnant belly, stretching the leather bindings of the fur coat she wore, was the only part of her that didn't look like it would disappear behind a tree trunk.
She needed food far more than he did.
He glanced back at the centre table, where Mugos gnawed on a scrawny rabbit leg, the sound of his teeth grating on the bone sending a shiver down Jasyn's spine.
Sitting on the champion's knee, Kriss grabbed his arm and pulled it towards her, baring her teeth to chew on the rabbit bone. Everyone around them laughed, but Jasyn saw the flash of anger on Mugos's face.
His movement a blur, Mugos flung Kriss onto the ground and stood over her, his sword at her throat. "No one steals my food."
The room fell silent. Everyone held their breath. For once, Kriss didn't fight back. There was nothing she could do.
Mugos's laugh broke the silence. He re-sheathed his sword and held out his hand to Kriss. "Got to keep you on your toes and ready for the battle tonight. You can't afford to become complacent. Complacent trolls are dead trolls." He handed her the bone, not really a generous move since there was no meat left on it. "Eat up."
Kriss bared her teeth in a half snarl, half laugh. But she accepted the bone and everyone went back to laughing and drinking.
Jasyn didn't take his eyes off her, and moments later was rewarded by the sight of the glare she shot at the back of Mugos's head.
Why did she put up with Mugos? She obviously didn't love him.
Still holding the bone in one hand, Kriss picked up the last few tiny potatoes off a cracked plate and stuffed them into her mouth, charred skin and all.
His stomach growled loudly. "It's not fair," he grumbled.
"Don't even think it," Yass said quickly. "Besides," she looked at the centre table, "There isn't enough there to be worth it."
Jasyn sighed. It was true. Even the centre table had almost no food left. The hard, frozen ground outside would grow nothing, and it would still be several months before animals woke from hibernation and hunting would be worthwhile. There was no food to be found on this side of the ridge.
After tonight's raid on the other side though, there would be enough to feed everyone for months.
Those who returned, anyway.
Jasyn's stomach turned at the memories that flashed through his mind. He had seen the pain in their eyes and the wounds on their bodies after the last raid. Many had died even after making it back to the troll camp. Jasyn tried not to think of how many could have been saved if they had accepted the mage circle's magical healing.
Tonight, Kriss would be one of them. Every nerve in Jasyn's body was wound tight. He had no right to worry about her or to care if she came back or not. She never paid any attention to him, even after the day when he'd first noticed that she was different.
But he did care. And the thought of her dying or coming back with horrific injuries scared him more than anything else. Jasyn had worried about her each time she'd gone over the ridge, but thus far she had always managed to return unscathed.
But such luck couldn't last.
"There has to be a better way," he said, banging his fist on the table.
There had to be.
"Have you found anything?" Yass asked sympathetically.
"Nothing. Our history only goes back a few hundred years and most of it is vague. There's no indication how long these raids have been going on, or what started this war. If only we could ask them … "
He'd never seen the humans, of course. Any of them that made it over the ridge didn't live long enough to reach the encampment. Everything Jasyn heard and read indicated that humans were sentient, thinking, feeling beings, like the trolls. Killing in self-defence was one thing, but this glorification of violence turned his stomach.
If only he knew why magic didn't work in the human village. If he had magic, then he could walk right into the village and try to talk to them. Maybe they knew something about the history that the trolls didn't.
Either way, there had to be a better solution than killing them all.
A cheer went up from the centre of the tent. Jasyn glanced back and saw Kriss standing on the table, demonstrating a thrust with her sword. "I'm going to spear two of them at once," she boasted.
Jasyn felt sick. How could she stand there and talk about killing another creature so callously? She wasn't really like that. Under all that tough exterior, she had a heart. He was sure of it.
"They don't deserve to die," he blurted out.
Suddenly, the whole room was silent. All eyes turned in his direction and he wished he could sink into the ground.
"What did you say?" Mugos demanded.
Yass reached for his hand, but Uma pulled her back.
The urge to deny having said anything was strong. But Jasyn was tired of accepting the way things were. Even if Kriss came back safe and sound again, it was still wrong. And he didn't want to sit by and say nothing any longer.
He straightened his back. "Why do we need to kill them?"
Mugos stared at him, then started to laugh. He waved to his friends and pointed to Jasyn. "This mage doesn't understand. Tell him, Kriss."
Kriss glanced at Mugos, then turned to Jasyn. This time, her eyes didn't pass over him as though he weren't there. The wicked smile she gave him caused his heart to flip-flop. She stalked slowly towards him and Jasyn held his breath. "Because, mage, they have all the food. Do you think they're going to share it with us if we ask nicely?"
It almost looked like the red ridges on her ears were pulsing. Her plaited hair swung around her face and her eyes bored into him. Jasyn could barely breathe.
"Well? What's wrong? Human got your tongue?"
Jasyn swallowed. "Have you … " His voice squeaked and his lips were dry. He licked them, then tried again, "Have you tried?"
She stopped dead and stared at him. "What?"
"I said, have you tried to speak to them? To ask them for food instead of taking it? They care for their young like we do, surely they have some compassion." The damage was done now. If they were going to kill him for his radical ideas, he might as well take this chance to express them. "We spend so much time preparing and training for battle, and each time we lose valuable warriors. What if there was a better way? A peaceful way?"
A deafening silence greeted his words. Then someone on the other side of the tent snickered. Someone else laughed out loud, and before he knew it, the whole tent was laughing and jeering at him.
Jasyn's gaze slipped to the floor and he kicked at the dirt with his feet. His ears burned. How stupid was he, to think that the other trolls might long for peace as much as he did? Or that Kriss might.
An indrawn breath caught his attention and he jerked his head up. Kriss stared at him, her fierce expression wavering.
A look he'd seen before.
The memory of that afternoon was burned into his brain. He'd been out fishing that day, and was taking the few small fish he'd caught in the half frozen stream home to his mother and little sister. He hadn't expected to run into two bigger trolls, Hasp and Orlis, Kriss's brothers. He'd tried to hide the fish, but they'd snatched them away, jeering that he was so scrawny that no amount of extra food would ever help him. They needed to grow big and strong, because they were going to be warriors, and beat the champion and lead the trolls to their greatest victory ever.