Chapter 11

Holly wasn't sure what was more shocking: seeing Plank crash into a troll without a helmet or hearing her give Artemis credit for their release. "Artemis didn't betray us?" she asked, wild hope clutching at her heart.

"Long story," Plank groaned, holding her neck as it realigned. "But in short, no sir."

Root had managed to disentangle himself from the rubble and now knelt beside his subordinates. "She alive?" he growled, glancing back at the troll. "If she is, let's book it. We can't take on that thing without weapons."

"Artemis orchestrated our rescue," Holly told him, lifting Plank by her lapels.

Root grabbed the injured corporal and slung her over one shoulder. "She said that?"

They ran for the open lab door as the troll began to swing its head in search of them. "Yessir. He and Butler could be in trouble. We have to find them."

"Maybe..." Root began, but he never finished his sentence. This was not due to sudden awe at Artemis' perceived change of heart. He stopped talking because there were about ten sets of very heavy feet on the stairs, and he had a feeling that they were not there to bandage up their boo-boos.

"Down!" Root hissed, shoving Holly into the corner with his broad shoulder. She crouched next to him, ready to land a fist in the face of the first Mud Man to interfere.

As it happened the troll made that entirely unnecessary. As soon as the guards saw the beast snarling in the depths of the lab they froze where they were. Which provided exactly the opening the fairies needed.

They were out of there, rounding the guards and sprinting up the stairs to freedom. Holly slammed the door shut but didn't lock it. She might not have qualms about socking a Mud Creep in the face but she wouldn't shut even Opal Koboi in with a troll.

On a good day.

Plank shook her head once as the magic finished stitching her together. "Sir, I can walk."

"Can you run?" Root asked shortly, rolling her off his shoulder on the go.

"Yessir," Plank said, keeping pace with her superiors as they sprinted down a long hallway. "I can lead you to Artemis, sir."

Root nodded. "Do it."

Plank poked her head around a corner, then quickly withdrew it. "Guards, sir. I'm afraid I raised the alarm."

"What did you do anyway?" Root growled, signalling for Holly to crouch under a window.

"I blew up my helmet, sir. Butler rigged it."

"Of course," Root groaned, making fists. "A simple lock pick wouldn't do, now would it?"

Three guards rounded the corner. "What in Frond's name?" Root said, hitting the foremost in the solar plexus. "Don't tell me humans are dating trolls now."

Holly gave one of the guards a lashing kick in the gut. Plank interfered with the third human's punch and Root followed it up with a good old one-two. "Sir, Artemis thinks Clifford is trying to combine human, elf, and troll DNA to create superhuman guards."

"Why?" Holly panted, dragging a guard to one side. Two of the guards looked normal, but this one was bigger and his face looked wrong, like an experiment gone bad. "If this is one of his products, it didn't go very well. His limbs are so distorted he can't even fight."

"I got into the lab earlier, sir. I got some information to Artemis, and he thinks the plans are viable. That's why they need elves, to supply the magical component."

"Oh gods," Root groaned. "They drew our blood. That's why."

"That's right, Commander," a voice said. They spun to see a green sprite with a long scar on his wing standing nearby. Holly immediately saw the gun in Gland's hand. Human. If anyone got shot there would be blood.

Root held up his hands as several guards joined Gland. "Just stay calm, Gland. There's no need for anyone to get hurt."

Gland chuckled and took a few steps forward. He had the gun aimed right at Root's heart. Holly glanced around surreptitiously for options. They were outnumbered and definitely outgunned. Where was that Mud Boy when you needed him?

"I don't particularly want you to get hurt, Commander. I still need you. You and the girly captain. And possibly that one." He jerked the gun to Plank. "Or maybe I'll just end her pathetic little life now. I thought she was useless. She proved me wrong." He clicked his tongue. "Dangerous, Corporal. You're slippery, but not slippery enough. I guess you'll never get those recon acorns now."

"Wait, Gland," Root said, but Gland's finger was already squeezing the trigger. Too late.

Plank's arm flashed, and something resembling a button flew through the air toward Gland. A hair-thin tendril of magic, almost too thin and fragile to see, trailed from the object to Plank's fingers. "Pull the trigger and I detonate," the corporal said in a hard voice that Holly didn't know she possessed. "As soon as this tendril is broken that will blow. I swear."

The air sucked from the room. Holly and Root stared at the tiny metal object, a piece from Plank's helmet. It looked so harmless, sitting there just out of Gland's reach, glowing blue. But Holly remembered something from college, a tidbit she'd picked up from her magic training. She hadn't done the higher-level courses – not enough interest – but she recalled this from theory.

"Sir, that's a Blue Bridge," Holly said, pointing to the tendril. "Constructed from pure magical energy. She's not bluffing. If Butler's really rewired that piece, then we're sitting on a live bomb. All it needs is a stray spark."

Gland glared at Plank. He was trapped. If he killed Plank the tendril would break and the magic spread into the tiny bomb. She had them by the throats.

The female corporal drew a deep breath. "Put down your guns, all of you. Any false moves and I break the thread. You'll all be killed or mutilated. I could heal you but then you'd be in our power. It's easier to just do it this way."

Root had paled slightly. "Corporal, I hope you know what you're doing."

"I do, sir." Plank glared back at Gland. "Put down the gun! Now!"

Gland's eyes shifted. He wouldn't give up that easily, Holly realized. And they might very well have been standing there for quite a long time, had the door to the lab not blown wide open.