A burst from the sergeant cut him down. The troll fell into the glowing embers before he had a chance to act. But the fourth troll had vanished. She flicked her gun around without success. The creature had either melted into the mist or was never there in the first place.
'Everyone out!'
The commander jumped from the truck and the others followed. Liala dropped down beside him and slithered along on her belly. Their route took them past the dead trolls. One of their guns was lying in the mud and the commander grabbed it.
'Get down into the ditch!'
They plunged into the ditch beside the road.
'Start crawling!'
The commander set off at a fast pace. They had to get away before the fourth troll returned fire. They couldn't see him but he would have no trouble seeing the truck. It stood out clearly in the moonlight and was an easy target.
One belly wriggle followed another as she squirmed through the mud. It was a bit like swimming with the dolphins and she had no difficulty keeping up with the commander. He was clearly impressed by her performance.
'Well done, Princess.'
'Do you think there's a fourth troll out there?'
'I've never come upon a patrol with an odd number ...'
A searing ray of light cut through the darkness before the commander could finish speaking. It came from the marshes and the truck exploded in a ball of flame. Liala shielded her eyes. Bullets could do a lot of damage but were nothing compared with the blast from a ray gun. It was easy to understand why the guardians treated the old-fashioned weapons with such disdain.
The commander tried to return fire with the weapon he had taken from the dead troll but without success.
'It's a dedicated weapon,' Liala explained.
'What do you mean?'
'Only that troll can use it and he's dead.'
'So. It's sodding useless.'
He threw the gun into the mud.
'No.' Liala snatched it back up. 'The power pack is standard issue.'
She yanked the gun open, removed a capsule from inside and transferred it to her own gun. The fourth troll had come out of the marshes and was visible in the light of the blazing truck. He must have thought they had been incinerated because he was making no attempt to hide.
Liala gave her trigger a light squeeze and a brilliant flash sent the troll reeling. A harder squeeze would have vaporised him but that would have wasted power. She slipped her gun back into her pocket and wondered when she would have to use it again.