Bang Goes a Troll (12 page)

“Ulf, watch out!” Tiana screamed, flying over -head. She pointed across the water. Standing on the far bank at the end of the bridge was Baron Marackai.

Ulf growled and ran for him.

“What are you doing here, werewolf ? You're supposed to be dead!” Baron Marackai said. He put the megaphone to his mouth. “Hunters, we have a new beast in the Predatron. A pesky werewolf!”

The Baron pulled a long lever at the end of the bridge.

Ulf felt the bridge drop away beneath him. He grabbed for the handrail but grasped thin air. He splashed into the cold water below. He kicked his legs, and flicked his tail to swim. He could hear splashing and oofing. The trolls were in the water behind him, thrashing their arms.

“They're drowning!” Tiana cried, flying above them.

“Trolls down!” Ulf heard Baron Marackai call. His voice rang around the valley. “And the werewolf!”

On the left-hand side of the valley, the hunters stepped out onto a metal balcony.

“Harpoons at the ready!” Baron Marackai called up.

The hunters each pointed a harpoon gun.

“Fire!”

Five metal harpoons whistled through the air and struck the water. A troll squealed.

“Good shot, Herr Pinkel!” the Baron called.

Ulf turned, swimming toward the troll. A har -poon was stuck in its arm. He pulled the harpoon out, then began dragging the troll through the water.

Baron Marackai was looking at Ulf from the shore. “How dare you, werewolf!” he shouted. “You're spoiling our fun!”

As Ulf started pushing the troll to the bank, the Baron climbed into a hatch in the ground and disappeared.

The troll slowly pulled itself up and Ulf climbed out after it.

Just then, he heard an almighty splash behind him. Ulf turned and saw Orson wading in the water. The giant was so tall he could stand. He was pushing the other four trolls, two with each arm, toward the shore. “Stay there, Ulf,” Orson called. “Help them out.”

Orson lifted a troll from the water and Ulf grabbed its arm.

“Reload and fire again!” he heard. He looked up to the valleyside and saw Baron Marackai appear on the balcony with the hunters.

“Aim for the giant!” the Baron ordered.

“Leave this to me,” Tiana said. She shot over the water and up the valleyside to Lady Semolina. She blew sparkles in the woman's face. Then she flew to Pedro Pedroso and kicked him on the nose. She punched Herman Pinkel in the eye. One by one, the five hunters retreated from the balcony, backing through a door in the side of the valley.

“Come back!” Baron Marackai called. “It's only a fairy!”

Tiana flew down.

“Thanks, Tiana,” Orson said.

The trolls were lumbering away, sniffing the ground. They were safe—for now.

Baron Marackai clapped his hands. “Oh, what a bunch of heroes you are,” he called. “Well, let's see how you deal with the Forest of Fear.”

He left the balcony, disappearing into the valley-side.

Orson pulled himself out of the Drowning Pool and sat on the bank. He took off his boots and tipped them up. Icy water poured out. “Bit nippy for a swim,” he said.

Ulf looked up the Predatron. The trolls were moving toward a silvery forest. “Let's go!” he said, bounding after them.

Tiana raced alongside him. “Hurry up, Orson,” she called.

The giant was pulling his boots on, hobbling behind. “I'm coming as fast as I can.”

T
HE
F
OREST OF
F
EAR WAS MADE OF METAL
. U
LF
padded between tall trees of twisted iron, their spiked branches blocking out the moonlight. He ducked under rusting leaves and crept past bushes of barbed wire, peering into the shadows. He could hear the trolls snuffling up ahead, following the scent of the meat.

“Be careful,” Orson whispered, pushing through the metal branches.

“It's creepy in here,” Tiana said. “I don't like it.”

Ulf moved stealthily, his paws scrunching in the
snow. Suddenly, he heard a twanging sound and an arrow whizzed through the branches. “Hunters,” he said, crouching low.

“Where are they?” Tiana asked, darting behind a rusty leaf. “I can't see them.”

Another arrow whistled through the trees. The trolls roared and Ulf heard them clattering through the metal undergrowth, scattering in all directions.

Orson strode off. “Keep with them,” he said, pushing through the forest, snapping the iron branches with his bare hands.

To his left, Ulf heard a loud squeal and a crash of metal. He rushed toward the sound and saw a big net swinging from a tree. A troll was trapped in it.

A hatch sprang open by a bush and Biggy popped up, aiming a longbow and arrow. He fired at the troll and the beast roared.

Ulf leaped for the hunter.

“Holy hotdogs!” Biggy cried, seeing Ulf coming
for him.

Biggy ducked back underground, slamming the metal hatch behind him. Ulf landed with a thud on top of the hatch and tried to pry it open. It was stuck. He could hear a bolt being drawn underground then the squeaking pedals of a cart trundling away beneath the forest floor.

“Up here, Ulf!” Tiana called. She was circling the troll in the net.

Ulf leaped up and slashed the net with his claws, cutting the troll free. It landed with a thud in the snow then stood up, staring at Ulf with wide eyes. It was a young male and looked frightened.

“Do not fear me,” Ulf growled. He gently bit the arrow in the troll's leg and pulled it out with his teeth. The troll grunted then lumbered away through the forest, sniffing the snow.

Ulf heard the Baron's voice again, calling: “Get the werewolf!”

A hatch opened in the metal trunk of a tree.
Pedro Pedroso popped out, aiming a crossbow. He fired at Ulf. Ulf dodged and an arrow shot past him, just clipping his bushy tail. The hatch in the tree slammed shut and Ulf heard the hunter climbing down a metal ladder underground. Ulf bounded away on all fours.

“Watch out!” Tiana called, flying after him.

The sharp point of another arrow flashed in the moonlight. Ulf ducked and it ricocheted off a metal branch. Then a knife flew past, spinning through the air. It landed in a barbed-wire bush. Ulf kept low as he raced through the trees, until finally he saw moonlight ahead.

He found Orson at the edge of the forest, trying to calm a troll. The giant was pulling netting from its tusks.

“Easy there, girl. We'll get you out of here,” the giant said. The troll grunted as Orson let it go. It lumbered out of the forest, following Dr. Fielding's scent.

“Orson, are they all okay?” Tiana asked.

“They all made it,” the giant said.

Below ground, Ulf could hear pedal-carts squeaking. The hunters were moving up the Predatron. “It's not over yet,” he warned.

U
LF SPRINTED AHEAD OF
O
RSON AND
T
IANA
, trying to catch up with the trolls.

The valley narrowed to a thin passageway between sheer metal walls over thirty meters high. It was illuminated by a string of electric lightbulbs. The trolls were funnelling into it, sniffing in a line. Ulf ran in after them.

“Bone, start the Crusher!” he heard. Baron Marackai was standing at the very top of the right-hand wall, peering down.

From behind the metal walls came the rumbling sounds of engines. Clumps of snow began falling
into the valley as the walls started moving inward. Up ahead, the trolls began roaring. The passageway was narrowing. The trolls started oofing, beating their fists against the walls. The Crusher was trapping them.

“Hunters, load your weapons!” Baron Marackai called.

Ulf looked up and saw five guns pointing down.

“Take aim! F—”

Suddenly, there was a loud clang and the wrenching sound of straining metal pistons.

“Blud! Bone! What's happening?” Baron Marackai called.

Something was wrong with the Crusher.

Ulf looked back. Orson was at the entrance, pulling the metal walls apart with his mighty hands. Tiana was hovering above him. “Heave, Orson! Heave!” she cried.

Ulf could hear the engines grinding. There was a sputtering sound then a loud bang as the Crusher
broke and the lights went out. The walls started edging apart.

“Quick, fire at will!” the Baron called.

The hunters' guns blasted, but as the trolls ran out, the bullets missed, sparking on the metal walls.

Orson came striding toward Ulf. “Nothing's stronger than a giant,” he said.

Ulf looked up. He saw Baron Marackai silhouetted against the full moon. The Baron was shaking his fist. “You and your miserable friends, werewolf! I'll get you!” he spat. “It's time for war!”

The Baron fired an orange flare into the sky. It hung in the air, lighting the valley ahead. Ulf hurried out of the Crusher and in the orange light he could see the trolls sniffing through a wide section of the Predatron, following the meaty trail in the snow.

The Baron appeared on a balcony at the side of the valley and raised his megaphone. “Let the battle begin!”

Five hatches opened in the valleyside and the hunters threw hand grenades down. The grenades blasted huge craters in the snow.

The trolls started stampeding. A metal disc sprang up from the ground, tossing a troll into the air. Ulf heard the whizz of bullets, then a thud as the troll landed. It stood up, its legs wobbling.

“Missed!” Baron Marackai called. “Can't you hit a moving target? Bone, fix the trolls to the spot! Start the Sticky Stucky!”

A large tube poked out from the hillside. It blasted a volley of black balls. They burst as they landed, splattering pools of glue on the ground. A troll ran into the glue. Its feet stuck and it roared with rage as it tried to move.

“That's it,” the Baron called. “Now roll the logs, Blud!”

Tree trunks began tumbling down the valleyside. They knocked a troll to the ground.

“Now turn on the gas!” Baron Marackai called.

Ulf heard a hissing sound and columns of yellow gas shot up from pipes in the ground. The gas drifted across the valley, stinging Ulf's eyes. Ahead he could make out a troll crawling from the gas, tears streaming down its face.

“Boo hoo hooo,” Baron Marackai called. “Start the Demolition Ball!”

There was a loud cranking sound. In the center of the valley Ulf saw the tall pole with the huge metal ball attached by a chain. The pole began turning. The metal ball began swinging on its chain. It swung in circles, skimming the snow, faster and faster. The metal ball struck a troll and sent it flying.

“Start the Claw!” Baron Marackai called.

At the side of the valley Ulf saw the crane with the mechanical claw. Its long metal arm was moving, lowering the claw to the ground. The claw closed around the troll's leg, then lifted it up and dangled it above the valley.

A second orange flare went off in the sky. The
trolls were roaring: stuck in glue, choking on gas, springing through the air and dazed from the Demolition Ball and rolling logs.

“Hunters, kill at will!” the Baron called.

“Ulf, we've got to save them!” Tiana cried.

Ulf snarled. “It's time to hunt the hunters!”