The pod rose. The security gate opened and it glided out. A short run took it over marshy ground and onto the highway leading to the chemical factory. Liala imagined Crispin flicking his baton and changing the pod's colour on the control panel.
An ordinary person, like herself, watching the scene with ordinary eyes, wouldn't see any difference. But trolls didn't see with ordinary eyes. Their world was coloured by the guardians and only six colours were used. The most important were blue and pink. Blue meant guardians and they had to be protected. Pink meant enemy and enemies had to be eliminated.
There was no way of telling whether Crispin had succeeded in changing the colour of the pod until something happened to it. So far nothing had. It was cruising along the highway towards the main gate of the chemical factory with lights flashing and siren blaring.
The trolls guarding the plant must have seen it . But they had not reacted and that was worrying. Trolls were programmed to react. No thought went into what they did. When they saw pink they blasted away with everything they had.
The guardians believed in massive overkill and that was usually what happened. But it wasn't happening now. The pod was nearing the main gate. Everything looked appallingly normal. Liala had seen the guard changed at the palace thousands of times. This looked no different. The new guard was arriving and the old guard was lined up ready to leave.
The old guard carried their weapons. They could have blasted the pod away if they had been commanded to. They hadn't. The pod must still be blue in their eyes. It stopped before the gate. The newcomers got out and stomped forward. Arms were raised in troll salutes.
Liala shut her eyes. It was too agonising to watch. Everything was proceeding smoothly. Nothing was out of place. Crispin had failed and Allain would suffer the consequences. Disaster lay ahead. A bunch of idiots would take control and lead an army of brave people to their deaths.
One of them couldn't contain her excitement. The northern fairy was jumping up and down telling people Allain couldn't be trusted. Didn't the stupid woman realise that everything depended him? He had a brilliant plan and it depended on the support that Crispin would provide.
'Time for a vote, Allain.'
Her silly voice rang out and was silenced by a tremendous flash, followed by a mighty roar. Hot air swept up the hill towards them. Liala put her hand over her eyes and buried her face in the snow.
The jagged ice crystals were welcome relief from the searing blast that blew back her hood and sent her long green hair trailing behind her. Dead leaves and branches blew past. The scale of the conflagration was staggering. She waited for the glare to die down.