Terryn had ridden alongside Jozan in silence, his eyes sharp and alert but his mind drifting. His mind was on other things, other places, other... people. But seeing the tree block their path snapped his mind back to reality. Jozan mentioned something about it being a sign of Lunian, but Terryn wasn't paying attention. He narrowed his eyes, scanning the base of the fallen tree. It wasn't an old tree, so whatever felled it would leave it's mark where it was split. The cut was far too clean for it to be something natural. The tree hadn't been ripped or torn, as if it were the fault of high wind, age, or falling boulders, and it certainly wasn't due to lightning. No, something - or someone - had felled it. But such skills of observation were unneeded here. The spear that went whizzing past Jozan made it all loud and clear.
"Trolls!" Jozan called, as Terryn rolled out of the saddle. He landed in a crouch, fluidly stepping forward and spinning his blades from their sheaths out into a deadly blur of steel, all in one well-versed motion. The trolls barrelled down the hill at him, each being content to be the first to rip into their prey. One of them drew into the lead, clearly the fastest. How unfortunate for him. The deadly whirl of Terryn's twin blades, spinning around him as he strode forward, made it so that the troll had no way of gauging their length. A sudden blur of steel and wet chunks of troll flesh went flying, leaving the forerunner with only half a neck and giving his companions a clear impression of how long the blades were.
Trolls were simple creatures. Brute strength and no finesse. Their attacks were obvious, always going straight for Terryn in the most predictable way. Before the first troll had hit the ground, Terryn had already stepped past him, cutting down one of the many others. He blocked a spear aimed at his shoulders, whipping the other blade to viciously dig into the attackers gut. A second later and he was already gone, spinning around another thrusting spear to bring the twin blades crashing down on troll skull.
The four trolls dropped, and the other paused. They held enough animalistic cunning to re-evaluate this foe. They began to spread around Terryn, attempting to overwhelm him from all sides. One had the bright idea of going for the horse instead, but a powerful hoof caved in his skull, dashing the idea into the ground.
This needed to be ended quick. He was sure he and Jozan could take all of them easily enough, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was that they might make enough noise to wake up what actually worried Terryn about this pass, and they were making a lot of noise. The trolls were getting ready to attack. Terryn could see them tensing, waiting for a signal. He spared a quick glance towards Jozan to make sure he was doing all right. Not like the trolls could see his eyes anyway. Looking back at the troll pack, it didn't take too long for Terryn to figure out which one they all kept glancing at. The creature snarled. The pack attacked.
Terryn flung his two swords outwards, flames bursting along their length as they spun into the trolls at his side. He lunged at the leader, grabbing his spear mid thrust and slamming his helmet into the leaders face. The brute staggered, dazed for a moment, and Terryn whipped the spear out of his grip, up into his throat. The leader fell backwards, chocking on his own spear, and Terryn held his hands out to his swords. They ripped themselves out of the troll bodies they had been buried in, and flew into his hands. The fire along them intensified, bursting aggressively towards the other trolls, daring them to attack. Faster than they had ever moved before, the trolls turned and fled. Screams echoed up the side of the canyon, and Terryn watched as the trolls Jozan had remaining followed their brothers.
Terryn relaxed as the trolls left, the tension gone from his limbs. Blood flowed slickly from his blades and armour, and within seconds they were as pristine as ever. Fully aware Jozan would be disapproving of his use of magic, Terryn extended an arm towards the tree blocking their path, fingers clenched in a fist. It took a second or two to build up the magical force required, then he flung his hand open. The tree suddenly began tearing apart at the center, twisting and pulling until it had snapped in two, leaving a fairly wide gap in the middle.
"I know you don't like me doing that Jozan, but sometimes you've got to bend the rules a bit to get the job do-" Terryn halted. He held up a finger towards Jozan, to silence him to. The screaming and hollering had stopped. In fact, the pass was completely silent, no noise whatsoever. Even the wind had decided to die down. Realization dawned. It knew they were there. "Jozan," Terryn called softly. "We're going to get on our horses now. Slowly and calmly. When you get on your horse, ride. Ride like hell. Don't stop for anything. Ignore whatever sounds you hear. You're going to want to turn around. It'll feel like it's right behind you, and you'll want to pull away. Don't. You're horse is going to go wild with fear. Just keep him going straight, and he'll go plenty fast enough. Whatever you do though - don't look at it."
Casually, Terryn pulled himself slowly up onto Mearas, patting the horses neck as if nothing was going on. He gave Jozan time to get on his horse too. He could only pray the man did as he said. He would keep level with him, but if Jozan turned he would be lost, and Terryn would have to ride on. Taking a deep, steadying breath, he allowed himself but a moment of mental preperation. "NOW!!!" A great shriek echoed out across the canyon as the two horses bolted forward, and the sound of things no sane man could comprehend was soon right behind them.