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When she didn’t give it sufficient attention, the tiny feline both mewed and growled at her in protest. Muttering to herself, Mulan scooped it up. It rubbed its head on her chest.

“Be careful. That’s a mutated kitten,” I warned.

Mulan held it out to look at it. “How can you tell?”

“Ya won’t be able to tell until it morphs into an adult tiger cat with claws. Trolls hire witches to spell domestic animals and turn them into tiger cats. They’re fondest of the striped ones, like the one ya’re holding.”

The kitten mewed in protest showing Mulan her sharp kitten teeth. The Wu Shaman pulled it back to her chest where it snuggled close. Surprising me, the demon wolves left Conn’s side and trotted over to inspect the little beast. I wondered if they could sense something we couldn’t.

“It’s definitely a tiger cat,” Conn said in his growly demon voice.

Mulan set the kitten on the ground. One of the demon wolves rolled it over with her muzzle.

I grinned at the cute scene. “Are we drawing straws for who goes into the lair first?”

“Wouldn’t it be wiser to draw the troll out to us?” Ramus asked.

I looked at the unhelpful guardian. “Sure. Do ya have an idea about how to do that? Trolls are good at ignoring the chaos happening outside their lairs.”

Rasmus stared at me calmly, but I could tell he wanted to yell.

“How do you usually fight them?”

I smiled at his question. “I set out muffins to lure them outside. Trolls always come out when they smell them. It never fails.”

“What kind of muffins?”

I chuckled. “Ma is a green witch. Her potion-making skill got passed to me by blood. I lace the troll muffins with something strong enough to put them to sleep.” I chuckled harder when Rasmus frowned. “What’s the frown for, guardian? I thought ya would applaud me for letting the trolls decide whether or not to eat the muffins.”

“Using food to lure them from their lairs doesn’t seem fair. You’re using their lack of knowledge against them.”

“I’m surprised ya think that’s bad since Orlin does that to me all the time. And ya used to do it to me regularly. Goddess, all of ya guardians think ya’re superior in yer thinking. Maybe ya are in some ways but ya’re being naïve about the lack of fairness in yer own actions. Trolls eat a muffin, go to sleep, and wake up in a cell strong enough to hold them. A troll whisperer...”

“Troll whisperer?” Rasmus repeated, his voice rising in question.

I narrowed my eyes. “Yes, I didn’t stutter. A troll whisperer is a master at communicating with trolls. The captured troll will be told why he was collected and warned against committing crimes. He won’t be allowed to get so bad that he and his entire troll species get banned to the veil.”

I called an energy sword into existence. Glancing down, I saw its blade was black, and that obsidian chain mail fitted itself to my breasts. I ran my fingers over its smoothness and raised my gaze to find Rasmus staring at me touching myself. “This armor is not a good sign.”

Conn changed back into his human form and shrugged. “Ben probably doesn’t know that troll shamans exist.”

I closed my eyes and nodded. Troll shamans were the more intelligent among their species and could wield basic magick like conjuring fire. The problem was that their simple-mindedness made for extreme focus. A troll couldn’t light a single candle because they always conjured a ball of flame that could level a building.

“Okay. So this troll is a magick wielder. Shield yerselves,” I ordered, surrounding myself with Conn’s mantle. “I’m going in to look for him.”

No one tried to stop me, which made me feel better about us as a team. One bold idiot in our group was enough. Currently, that one idiot was me.

The hole opened into a sizable entry that Conn in demon form could have easily walked through. It went on for twenty feet and emerged into a large round den. Except in this case, the den looked like a lab. The room was full of cages stacked on top of each other against the walls. The kitten’s cage had been large enough for its adult body, which meant the gaps were large enough for it to squeeze through the bars in its kitten state.

Fully grown tiger cats of various sizes slept in most of the cages. Their keeper kept them drugged to reduce their yowling. I could tell because only half of them appeared awake. One or two of the cages held strange creatures for an animal breeder. Neither of them was making a sound.

One contained a mutated animal that looked like it had once been a red fox. Its eyes watched me carefully, but it didn’t make a sound.

The largest cage in the room held a black snake the size of a baby anaconda. They weren’t normally poisonous, but who knew what they’d done to it. Once uncoiled, it would be at least six feet long. A mutated snake seemed the strangest one. I wondered if he had a client. Hisser popped into my mind because that was the sort of creature that would appeal to a delusional Naga who considered himself a god.

What had magickal enhancement done other than make the snake gigantic? I hoped it had done nothing but that was wishful thinking.

I opted to leave the animals since I couldn’t move them without magickal help or lots of brawn. A search of the other two holes branching off the main room revealed living areas with no troll in residence. The troll breeder must have been off hunting or something.