Bang Goes a Troll (13 page)

U
LF SCANNED THE VALLEY, LOCATING THE HUNTERS
.
He saw Pedro Pedroso at a hatch high up in the side of the valley. Ulf bounded across the snow on all fours. He leaped on to a metal disc and a spring pinged him toward the valleyside. He struck the metal wall, gripping with his claws. Above him, he saw Pedro Pedroso loading a rifle. Ulf climbed up to the hatch and lunged for the gun, biting it in half with his teeth.

The hunter screamed. “
Ay carumba!
”

Ulf reached into the hatch and pulled Pedro Pedroso out by his ponytail. Pedro Pedroso tumbled
head over heels down the valleyside and into the snow. He landed in a pool of glue. He tried to get up but he was stuck. “
Ayuda!
Sticky Stucky!” he shouted.

Tiana flew over to the hunter and blasted him with her sparkles. “Go, Ulf!” she called.

Ulf pulled himself through the hatch. Now he was back inside the workings of the Predatron. He dropped on to the metal tracks and followed them along the tunnel. Ahead, he could see a pedal-cart parked and Herman Pinkel leaning out through a hatch. Ulf crept up quietly behind the hunter and snarled.

Herman Pinkel turned. “
Achtung Volf!
” the hunter cried, dropping his rifle. He stepped back, his legs trembling, and fell onto a stack of tree trunks at the side of the tunnel.

“Fun's over,” Ulf growled. He pulled a lever and the wall of the tunnel swung open. The tree trunks thundered out, taking Herman Pinkel with them.

“Ouch! Oo! Argh!” the hunter cried, as he tumbled down into the valley.

Ulf licked his fangs.

“Over here, Ulf,” Tiana called, hovering above a hatch that was opening in the snowy ground. Chuck Armstrong popped up from the hatch, spinning two pistols on his fingers. He pointed them at a troll as it lumbered through the yellow gas.

Ulf turned and bounded along the track inside the Predatron. He saw a sign marked
GAS ATTACK
and raced steeply downward under the valley. In a tunnel ahead of him, he saw Chuck Armstrong's legs. The hunter was standing at the top of a ladder.

He heard the hunter shooting. Ulf dived to a gas pipe at the base of the ladder and bit it in two. A jet of yellow gas shot up, blasting Chuck Armstrong out through the hatch. Ulf scrambled up the ladder and saw the hunter crawling in the snow surrounded by gas.

He was crying like a baby. “I want my mommy.”

Ulf saw the troll lumbering away. Chuck Armstrong had missed.

He looked for Tiana and saw a f lash of flames burst in the distance. Up the valley Biggy was holding a flame-thrower, running toward a troll. It had been hit by the Demolition Ball and was stumbling, dazed.

Suddenly, Biggy stopped. A sparkle was darting around his head. Ulf smiled. Tiana was attacking the hunter. Flames shot high into the air as the big man staggered in the snow, trying to blast the fairy with his flame-thrower. Tiana swooped and dodged.

“Go, Tiana!” Ulf called.

The Demolition Ball was circling. Orson strode over and grabbed hold of it. He swung the ball toward Biggy.

Tiana zoomed away and the Demolition Ball smashed into the big man.

“Aaghhhhhhhh!” Biggy called, hurtling across the valley.

Ulf heard Baron Marackai's voice from the valleyside: “You wretched, horrible, meddling beasts!”

The Baron was spitting with fury. “Shoot them all, Lady Semolina!”

Lady Semolina was on a balcony swiveling a machine gun into position.

“No you don't,” Ulf growled. He raced across the valley toward the Claw. He leaped into the control cabin and pulled a lever. The crane arm extended. He pulled another and the arm swung above the balcony. He pulled a third and the metal claw opened.

As Lady Semolina started firing, Ulf lowered the metal claw onto her, closing it around her waist. He lifted her off the bridge and swung her over the valley.

“Help me!” she cried, her legs jiggling in the air.

Ulf sprang from the crane and snarled.

“Nice work, Ulf,” Orson called. The giant came striding to Ulf's side. Tiana came flying after.

“That showed those hunters,” the fairy said.

“You haven't won yet!” the Baron shouted. He was pointing to the far end of the valley. “Aren't you forgetting dear Dr. Fielding?”

The five trolls were up ahead, following the meaty trail through the snow. They were heading toward a big metal archway with colored lights flashing around its edge. The lights spelled out the words FEEDING TROUGH.

“IT'S TIME FOR THE TROLLS' SUPPER!” the Baron called.

“Y
OU SAVE
D
R
. F
IELDING
,” O
RSON SAID TO
U
LF
. “Leave the trolls to me.”

Ulf bounded past the trolls and headed through the metal archway into a tall tunnel. He glanced back. Orson was blocking the entrance, stopping the trolls from coming in. The giant's chainmail vest rattled as the trolls butted and charged him. “Now, there's no need for that,” Orson said.

Tiana flew among the trolls, shining her light in their eyes. “You're not allowed in there.”

“Good thinking, Tiana,” Orson said. “Keep them back.”

Ulf sprinted through the tunnel and out the other side into a round snowy expanse with sheer metal walls. He saw balconies, and a ring of floodlights lighting up the snow. In the center of the valley, a large metal feeding trough lay on the ground. Beyond it were the entrances to dark tunnels. He looked up. He was facing Honeycomb Mountain. Its silhouette loomed over the end of the valley a hundred meters high.

Ulf saw something move in the feeding trough. Lying there, wrapped in the blanket of meat, was Dr. Fielding. She was gagged and struggling, tied up in ropes and chains. He ran toward her.

“Going somewhere, werewolf ?” he heard.

Ulf looked up. Baron Marackai was standing on a balcony, holding his megaphone to his mouth.

Ulf snarled.

“You're going the wrong way,” the Baron called. “It's Mr. Orson who's going to die first. Blud! Bone!
Bury the giant!”

Ulf glanced back at the archway. Shards of metal flew across the valley as it exploded in a flash of bright flames. A shockwave punched Ulf's chest, knocking him to the ground. He watched in horror as a cloud of smoke rose into the air, revealing a massive mound of snow and twisted iron. The archway had collapsed. Orson was buried beneath it.

“Orson!” Ulf cried, scrambling to his feet. He raced back and began digging frantically, pulling out twisted iron girders and throwing them aside.

Tiana flew up from behind the mound. “Orson!” she was calling.

Ulf heaved aside a girder and saw the tip of Orson's finger poking out from underneath. He cleared the metal and snow from around the giant's hand. “Orson, get up!” he called.

The hand lay heavy and still.

Tiana perched on Orson's fingertip. “No!” she
cried. “Poor Orson.” A tear rolled down her cheek.

Ulf looked up. He could hear the trolls clambering up the far side of the mound, sniffing and grunting. They were coming for their dinner.

“Save Dr. Fielding . . . !” Tiana cried.

There was nothing Ulf could do for Orson now. He turned back and ran toward the Feeding Trough.

From the balcony, the Baron called through his megaphone: “Blud! Bone! Stop the werewolf !”

Below the Baron, a metal door opened and Blud and Bone stepped out onto the snow. The big man was holding an iron bar, and the small man was cowering behind him.

“You get him, Bone,” Blud said.

Ulf snarled as the big man came running toward him.

Bone swung the iron bar.

Ulf dodged, and the bar whipped past his ear, just clipping his fur.

Blud kept hidden behind Bone. “That's it, sock it to him,” the small man said.

Bone swung the iron bar again.

Ulf dived to the side, landing in the snow.

The big man stood over him, clutching the iron bar in both hands.

“Now you've got him. Knock him out,” Blud said, peeking from between Bone's legs.

As the iron bar came thumping down into the snow, Ulf rolled. He leaped up, grabbed the bar in his jaws and bit it in two.

“Holy cow,” Bone said, stepping back.

Ulf snarled at the big man, showing his fangs.

“Now what do I do, Blud?” Bone asked.

“Run!” Blud yelled.

Both men started running back to the door in the valleyside.

“Come back, you pathetic cowards!” Baron Marackai cried.

Blud and Bone raced through the door, slamming it shut behind them.

“I'll deal with you myself, werewolf!” the Baron called.

Ulf glanced across and saw the Baron jumping off the balcony into the snow. Then he heard trolls grunting. He glanced back at the fallen archway. The trolls had climbed over the mound and were heading for the Feeding Trough. Ulf leaped to Dr. Fielding. He bit through the chains and ropes around her, then ripped off the blanket of meat.

She pulled off her gag. “Thank you, Ulf!” she gasped, climbing out of the Feeding Trough.

“No you don't, werewolf!” Ulf heard.

On the far side of the trough, a hatch opened in the ground. Baron Marackai stepped out, pointing a pistol at Ulf. “Now
you
can die!” he said.

As the Baron pulled the trigger, Ulf dived for cover into the Feeding Trough. The bullet ricocheted
off the metal.

“Leave him alone!” Dr. Fielding cried. “Oh, okay, if you insist,” the Baron said. “I shall leave him to the trolls instead.” The Baron started laughing. “HA HA HAAA HAA HAAAA AAA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Ulf peered out of the trough.

All five trolls were thundering toward him, slobbering. Ulf was lying with the meaty steaks!

Ulf leaped up and threw the blanket of meat over Baron Marackai. It landed on the Baron's head, covering him completely. Dr. Fielding stepped forward holding a chain, and looped it over the Baron's shoulders. She pulled it tight. The Baron struggled, hopping up and down, trying to wriggle out of the blanket of meat. “Nooooooo!” he cried.

He started running away as the hungry trolls thundered past the Feeding Trough, chasing him.

Ulf and Dr. Fielding watched as the Baron ran toward Honeycomb Mountain, the blanket of meat
over his head. He smacked into the base of the mountain and fell backward. Then he got up, his legs wobbling. He was feeling his way along the wall.

The trolls were charging on all fours toward him, gouging the air with their tusks.

The Baron reached a tunnel and ran inside. The trolls ran in after him. Ulf could hear their hungry grunts echoing as the Baron screamed: “I'll be baaaaaack!”

Ulf watched, panting.

“Where's Orson?” Dr. Fielding asked.

Ulf looked back at the mound of metal and snow where the archway had fallen. He could see Tiana's light glowing above Orson's finger. “I couldn't save him,” Ulf replied.

As he stared at the mound, Ulf heard a rumble. The snow and metal started moving.

Orson was rising from beneath it.

Tiana flew up, sparkling. “Orson's alive!” she
called.

The giant rubbed his head and looked around. “Has anyone seen those trolls?” he asked.

Ulf smiled, his fangs glinting. He looked up at the moon and howled.