Troll Mountain: The Complete Novel by Matthew Reilly Read Free Book Online

humid.
    They came to a doorway and stepped out into an enormous cavern.
    Raf stopped at the sight that met him.
    A broad lake of steaming water filled the floor of the mighty space. Raf had seen thermal springs before, but not an entire subterranean lake.
    A low wooden bridge spanned the hot lake, giving access to a most unusual feature that dominated the far wall of the massive cavern: a railless stone path cut into the rock wall itself. It switched back and forth up the three-hundred-foot cliff, steadily ascending. Any slip or stumble would result in a fall into the steaming pool at its base. Bored into the huge rock wall beside the path were many man-sized mini-tunnels.
    At two places along the path’s length there were ancient guardhouses with drawbridges folding down from them that spanned gaps in the vertiginous walkway. At the moment, the lower of the two drawbridges was folded down and open, while the upper one was folded up, barring passage across its void.
    At the very top of the path, Raf saw an imposing stone doorway like the one through which they had entered the old mine: the exit.
    Raf stared up in awe at the incredible feat of engineering.
    Beside him, Ko wasn’t looking at it at all. He was peering at something on the ground nearby. He dropped to his knees to inspect it. “Oh, dear, this is not good.”
    Düm saw what Ko was examining and sniffed with distaste. “Droppings …”
    “These are mountain wolf droppings,” Ko said. “And they are fresh.” He drew his sword with a sharp zing .
    “Mountain wolves …” Raf said. He was already gripping his flint knife.
    Düm hefted his sledgehammer.
    Ko said, “Something did move in after the hobgoblins abandoned this place …”
    A sudden cackle of laughter echoed out from the upper reaches of the cave.
    Raf spun.
    Düm turned.
    “I seeeeeee you!” a thin reedy voice called from the darkness.
    “I see you, too!” another voice called from another direction.
    “I see you three!” a third voice called.
    Raf spun again, eyes scanning the cavern, but he saw nothing, no movement.
    “You shouldn’t have come here,” a lower voice said from somewhere much closer. “Because now you must die.”
    Raf’s heart was pounding as he turned once more to face the tunnel through which they had come and abruptly found himself staring into the eyes of a hobgoblin holding a sword.
    The sword came rushing at Raf’s face.

Chapter 11
    Clang!
    Another sword appeared in front of Raf’s nose and parried the incoming blow.
    It was Ko’s. The old man now stepped in front of Raf and engaged the hobgoblin.
    At the same moment, Raf saw three more hobgoblins leap down from fissures in the cavern’s walls, armed with rusty swords. Three quickly became six, which quickly became eleven. The gang of hobgoblins came running toward him.
    “Raf! Run!” Ko called as his sword clashed with the first hobgoblin’s. “We must get up that path! Go! I will be right behind you!”
    Raf ran.
    *
    Raf and Düm dashed across the low wooden bridge spanning the steaming lake.
    Hot moist air wafted around them, rising from the thermal pool. Raf didn’t know how hot the lake was, but he guessed it was not far short of scalding.
    As he and Düm reached the base of the path on the other side, Ko managed to sidekick the first hobgoblin away and race after them, pursued by the gang of hobgoblins.
    Raf looked back in horror at the pursuing creatures.
    They were about five feet tall and they ran on their legs and knuckles, clutching rusty swords in tight fists. In the dim light of his torch, he saw their black leather-like skin, pointy ears, snub noses and hunched backs.
    They cackled meanly as they ran.
    “Fly, little birds!”
    “Run, rabbits, run!”
    “Oh, yes, we like a good hunt!” their leader called. “A kill is a kill, but when I bury my blade in a victim who is white with fear, it is so much the sweeter!”
    Raf pushed Düm up the path as Ko joined them. Raf stepped forward to