Jake & The Giant (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 2)

by E. G. Foley

  Thankfully, this was no great obstacle for the Lord of the Shapeshifters.

  Loki simply turned himself into a dung beetle and flew up to the spot where Snorri had broken Odin’s seal between the worlds.

  With his tiny insect feet, Loki-as-beetle gripped on upside-down to the crust of Jugenheim. Then he crawled over to the edge of one of the cracks around the rock.

  Using his little black pincers as shovels, he got to work digging a way in. He couldn’t wait to see the look on Odin’s face on that sweet day of his long-prophesied victory, Ragnarok!

  The day he, Loki, stormed Valhalla with his army of giants, cut off Thor’s head, Blood Eagled the old man Odin, and burned the All-Father’s white palace to the ground.

  Oh, that day was coming.

  At this very moment, he was closer than ever to bringing it into being.

  When his destiny came to fruition, then he would rule as king of the gods in Odin’s place. And instead of law and order, all the Nine Worlds would learn to enjoy…a little madness.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Princess Kaia-of-the-Yellow-Braids

  King Olaf’s rustic great hall stood at the center of the giants’ medieval village. Made of mighty oak logs over stone foundations, it reminded Jake of a massive mountain ski lodge.

  Archie discreetly clicked a photograph as Snorri led them through the village toward it. Along the way, the boys stared in amazement at all the towering peasants going about their business.

  The place was bustling with activity as giant servants hurried to and fro, helping the arriving knights and princes get settled; they showed them to their quarters and led their towering horses to the giant stable.

  Others—plainer folk—paid little mind to the visiting noblemen, but went on with life as usual: craftsmen and artisans, aproned butchers and blacksmiths going about their work, a farmer taking his vegetables to market in a huge cart pulled by two enormous oxen. A giantess with a cloth wrapped around her head was fetching water from the well. She cranked the handle, raising a bucket nearly as big as a bathtub.

  Passing through the village, the boys felt in danger of getting stepped on by some careless passerby. With the constant earthquakes from so many giants’ footsteps all around them, it was all they could do to keep their balance as they walked. Just when they were finally getting the hang of how to stay upright amidst all the shaking, a pack of giant children ran by, laughing and kicking a rounded boulder for a ball.

  Once more, Jake and Archie climbed wearily to their feet from where they had sprawled on the ground, dusted themselves off, and hurried after their guide.

  Snorri was already marching up the few front steps to the doorway of the great hall. The ironclad door was decorated with all sorts of interesting runes, knots, and old Norse designs that Jake was sure Miss Langesund would have loved to study.

  A pair of giant Viking guards on duty flanked the door with spears like cedar trees in their hands, and shiny, horned helmets on their heads.

  “Hurry up!” Snorri called back, waving the boys on.

  Apparently, the guards were used to seeing him here, for they waved him through and nodded at his explanation of bringing the visiting ‘dwarves’ to meet the princess.

  Archie gazed up at the steps they had to climb and sighed.

  Jake smiled wryly. “Come on, I’ll give you a boost,” he told his shorter cousin.

  The boys hurried to climb the steps. It would have been easier to fly up them on the Gryphon, but Jake had left Red back at Snorri’s cottage for now, in the hopes of drawing less attention.

  When they reached the top of the steps, they had to run to catch up to Snorri, who was already striding eagerly into the great hall ahead of them. He was obviously impatient to see the princess again.

  Inside the great hall, the boys marveled at the manly, Viking space. Under a high, vaulted ceiling, the vast main room stood empty. Rows of long wooden tables and benches awaited the next meal. A huge stone fireplace yawned near the king’s raised dais at the front of the room. Around them, the wood-planked walls were hung with all the round, decorated shields of the local warriors.

  But the boys marveled most at the living oak tree growing up right through the center of the room. King Olaf had obviously built his great hall around it, just like the Norns had said—but there was no time to gawk at it.

  Snorri beckoned them into a smaller room off the back, where Princess Kaia was working on her spinning wheel.

  She hummed absently to herself while the wheel whirred and the wool yarn flew, spun finer and finer with each revolution.

  When the boys arrived in the doorway, Jake studied the giant lady, bemused.

  After hearing so much about her, he wasn’t sure what he had been expecting from a Norse giant princess. Certainly, it was no surprise that she was, as they say, big-boned.

  Very big-boned.

  Sturdy and strong, muscular—the warrior daughter of a warrior king.

  Instead of the yellow braids Snorri had told them about, however, she wore her long blond hair flowing rather wildly over her shoulders. Jake also noticed that, for some fine princess, she wasn’t dressed all that differently from the Viking-styled peasant women outside. Just a little nicer.

  The white long sleeves of her nightgown-like under-garment showed beneath her sleeveless blue wool kirtle—a gown of the same basic shape as the jumper-dresses Dani liked to wear.

  The blue kirtle was pinned in place with a fine metal brooch at Princess Kaia’s shoulder. Several layers of bright, beaded necklaces adorned her neck and chest, while the belt around her waist was hung with various items, including a mean-looking knife and a bunch of keys.

  But despite the nasty weapon at her side, when their shepherd friend tapped on the side of the open doorway, the princess let out a girly gasp and jumped up from her spinning wheel. “Snorri! Where have you been?” she cried at once. “Oh, I was so worried about you! Come in, come in!”

  As she rushed toward them, the boys backed away to avoid being crushed under her soft leather boots. Their lacings were as thick as Jake’s arm.

  Princess Kaia hadn’t even noticed the ‘dwarves.’ She stopped and tilted your head, studying Snorri. “You look…odd.”

  “What?” Snorri turned bright red and glanced self-consciously at his clean, spiffy reflection in the square glass mirror on the opposite wall. “Uh, I do?”

  “Did you fall in the river? You look…clean. Hmm! Well, never mind.” She shook off the puzzle of his strange, sudden cleanliness. “I went to see you, and you weren’t at your cottage!”

  “You came to see me?” Snorri quite lit up.

  “Where did you go?” she exclaimed. “No one was watching your sheep!”

  Before he could manage to answer, she suddenly noticed Jake and Archie. “Oh, Snorri!” She turned back to her friend, clapping her hands with excitement. “You brought me dolls!”

  “We’re not dolls!” Jake said indignantly.

  “You’re not?” She bent down with an indulgent, knowing smile, as if the boys were two years old, not heroes sent to save the giant race. “Well, what are you, then, cute little thing?”

  Jake’s scowl deepened. This was too insulting.

  “We’re, er, we’re dwarves, Your Highness,” Archie spoke up. But as usual, he was the world’s worst liar.

  Princess Kaia narrowed her blue eyes and leaned closer, looming over them. She studied Jake and then Archie, in turn. “Oh, yes, you are dolls,” she said. “I’ve seen dwarves and you don’t look anything like them.”

  “We’re dwarves,” Jake replied.

  “Then where are your beards? Dwarves always have beards.”

  “Uh, they’re child dwarves. Just boys,” Snorri said, but when she eyed him skeptically, he faltered. “Their beards haven’t grown yet.”

  “I see. But then…where are your axes? Even a young dwarf ought to have an ax.”

  “We lost them?” Archie suggested.

  Jake glared at h
im.

  She frowned, rose to her full height, and folded her arms across her giant bosom. “Snorri, you had better tell me right now what is going on. You might be able to fool the others, but you can’t fool me. If they’re not dwarves, and they’re not dolls, then what in Thor’s name are they?”

  “Snorri,” Jake warned.

  Snorri stammered helplessly. “I, um, well, y’see, it’s just—”

  “Oh, bother!” Princess Kaia lost patience and picked Archie up by the back of his jacket, holding him up toward her face to inspect him. “Now then,” she said. “Who are you?”

  “Please don’t eat me, ma’am!”

  “Eat you?” she echoed, suddenly glowering at him. “Are you calling me a troll?”

  “Sorry-no—please, put me down!”

  “Put him down!” Jake agreed, though it wasn’t much good to yell at someone when you only came up to their knee.

  “We’re humans!” Archie blurted out.

  She gasped and turned to Snorri. “Humans? From Midgarth?” she whispered, wide-eyed. “Is that where you went? The world of men? Snorri, how did you—how could you?” she stammered. “It’s forbidden!”

  “It was an accident, I swear! Please, you mustn’t tell anyone!” he begged her. “Don’t tell your father. I didn’t mean to, honest!”

  She put Archie down and shut the door quietly. “Tell me everything,” she ordered.

  And he did.

  “…No one can find out about any of this. Especially not the breach between the worlds until it’s fixed,” Snorri finally concluded after explaining all that had happened since his disappearance. “Most of all, don’t tell Gorm.”

  “You’re right about that,” she agreed. “Knowing him, he’ll want to take his followers on a raid down to Midgarth straightaway.”

  “That’s why we all have to say the boys are dwarves, so nobody will realize they’re from Midgarth. Of course,” Snorri added with a penitent look, “I didn’t want to lie to you.”

  “For all the good it did you! I’m not a fool, you know,” she retorted.

  “Please, won’t you help us, Kaia? If you say they’re dwarves, then everyone else will believe it automatically, since you’re the princess. Everyone always does as she says,” Snorri told the boys.

  “But why did you bring them here?” she asked.

  “These boys are no ordinary humans!” Snorri answered. “They’re wizards back in Midgarth—”

  “No, we’re not!” the two exclaimed in unison.

  Jake scoffed. “Wizards!”

  “Well, you are, of a sort. You can both do very unusual things.” He turned to Kaia again. “I brought them here to help us fend off Loki. They’re here to vouch for me, that everything I’ve said is true.”

  “Well, I believe you, Snorri.”

  He smiled bashfully. “Thank you, but we both know it’s your father who’s got to be convinced. So, now we’ve told you everything. Your turn. Tell us what’s been going on around here. Who were all those warriors arriving on the horses?”

  Princess Kaia sighed. “Perhaps you’d better sit down.”

  They did.

  “Remember a few days ago in the great hall, when Father announced my betrothal to Prince Gorm, and you stood up for me and said I shouldn’t have to?” The giant princess smiled at the boys. “You should’ve seen him. He was so brave! He told the whole village I shouldn’t have to marry anyone against my will. He even said it to my father’s face—which could have got him killed.”

  “Well, you shouldn’t,” Snorri grumbled.

  “My father’s heart nearly stopped at such defiance. And poor Snorri, all the warriors howled with laughter at him for saying such a thing. But you know,” she added, “those words got me thinking… That’s why I came to your cottage to talk to you, Snorri.”

  He ventured a glance at her.

  “You were right! Why should I have to marry Gorm, just because he’s been kissing up to my father? That boor! He doesn’t care about me. He just wants to be king. So,” she continued, “I talked to my father about my feelings, and for a moment, I almost thought he was listening.” She let out a large sigh. “But instead of letting me inherit the crown by myself, Father came up with this horrible idea of a contest.”

  “A contest?” Jake echoed.

  “For my hand in marriage!” she burst out angrily. Then she jumped up and paced. “Have you ever heard of anything so humiliating? Now I’m even worse off than before! Just a prize in this stupid competition for feats of strength and daring!” She shook her head, rolled her eyes, and pushed her hair behind her ear. “That’s why all the foreign knights and princes have come. And my father will be lucky if I ever speak to him again,” she finished with a huff.

  Snorri’s face had gone ashen.

  “Uh, maybe we could talk to him for you. Your father, that is,” Archie offered. “After all, our country back home is ruled by a woman. Queen Victoria!”

  “That won’t work. We’re supposed to be from Dwarf Land, remember?” Jake reminded him.

  “Oh, right…”

  “Whatever happens, Your Highness,” Jake said somberly, “you need to be aware that Loki’s out to gain control over your people. That’s the main reason I wanted to come here and personally warn the giants that the threat from the trickster is real.”

  “Don’t worry. I will protect my people,” she replied, a fierce Viking gleam came into her eyes. “No matter who I’m forced to marry, that Loki with his dirty tricks will never get through me.”

  “What a woman,” Snorri breathed. Then he froze, as if he had not intended to say it out loud.

  When the boys laughed at him, the lovelorn giant turned red and stared at his toes.

  Princess Kaia chuckled.

  “Come on, Snorri!” Jake stood up and clapped his hands together, inspired. “Time to go.”

  “Where?”

  “We’ve got to get you signed up for this contest, of course!”

  “What?” The giant shepherd sat bolt upright, his eyes widening. “Me?”

  “You heard me,” Jake replied. “You must enter this contest, Snorri, and it’s imperative you win. I don’t want Loki getting a crack at any of those mighty warriors, or it’ll be doomsday for us all.”

  Snorri broke out into a sweat, nervously glancing back and forth from Jake to Kaia.

  In truth, the great oaf was the last person in the world that the fate of the world should ever have to rest on, Jake reflected. But Snorri was too caught up in embarrassment over what this could mean for his friendship with Kaia to remember what was at stake.

  No big thing, just the end of the world.

  “Y-y-you wouldn’t have to marry me i-if I won, of course,” he stammered. “I would never make you. That is, y-y-you could be free.” He suddenly turned away. “Oh, this is a stupidest idea!”

  “Why?” Archie asked.

  “Me, win? Against all those shiny knights and princes?” Snorri threw up his hands in dismay and only managed to knock a decorative shield off the wall. “Sorry.” He bent down to pick it up, fumbling as he hung it up again. “Never happen! Not in a million, chillion years.”

  “There’s no such thing as chillion,” Archie said.

  “You could win, with our help,” Jake declared, while Kaia kept mysteriously quiet. “We could be your coaches, like. All those warriors brought helpers and advisers.”

  “But I’ll be a laughingstock! It’d be the joke of the year! Stinky old musk-ox me against all those heroes?” Poor Snorri was practically hyperventilating at what they were asking him to do.

  “We all make fools of ourselves over something,” Jake said in a philosophical tone. “Might as well be for a good cause.”

  “He’s right, Snorri,” Archie encouraged him. “Do you want Her Highness to be forced to marry someone else?”

  Princess Kaia gazed at her devotee with her big, blue eyes. Snorri stared back.

  “W-w-well, of course not,” he said with a gulp.
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  She smiled. “You’re awfully brave, Snorri. You’d really do that—risk yourself—for me?” the princess asked softly, and if there was any doubt, at that moment, Snorri was a goner.

  He gave her a miserable look like a doomed man, but nodded. “Why not,” he said with a sigh.

  “Excellent! Come on, then, you big oaf,” Jake ordered. “Let’s get you signed up for the contest and figure out how you’re going to win this thing.”

  “You heard the dwarves.” Kaia sent her hapless friend a pitying smile. “Thank you, Snorri,” she added as they headed for the door. “See you at the feast tonight?”

  He nodded again, forcing a smile. But as the boys led him off to sign up for the contest, Snorri walked out like a prisoner headed for the gallows.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  The Giants’ Feast

  Later that night, a gigantic pig turned on a spit over a raging bonfire. King Olaf himself hosted the feast to welcome all the visiting knights and princes before kicking off the great tournament tomorrow morning.

  The whole village had turned out to join in the festivities, and the boys marveled at everything they saw.

  The music was deafening, and the earth shook as numbers of the giants danced in rings. Everywhere the warriors drank mead and boasted back and forth. In one corner, the visiting princes arm-wrestled. In another, brawny knights took turns sharpening their weapons on an iron rod. Sparks flew as metal honed metal.

  The giant children, each as tall as pillars, listened to a giant bard telling stories about the gods. Jake and Archie exchanged a wry glance to hear him tell of the rollicking adventures of the on-again, off-again pair of friends/enemies, Thor and Loki. It was no mystery which was the favorite of the populace.

  Jake wondered if Loki might be motivated in part by jealousy of the red-haired thunder god. Thor was everyone’s hero, but the children booed when Loki’s name was mentioned.

  Archie snapped pictures here and there with his miniature camera. They spotted Princess Kaia dancing with the others—and Snorri trying hard not to stare at her.

  They also got their first look at King Olaf, an extremely manly Norse chief with a snowy beard and a shock of white hair beneath his rugged iron crown. A dragon brooch clasped the ends of his red cloak at the shoulder.