by Bill Albert
She saw something moving in the darkness under the trees around her and hoped it may have been a deer looking for food but as a king closer she realized it was much more serious than that. A person was walking through the forest towards her. Soon she realized it was actually two people and tears flowed down her face as they stepped into the light.
“Hey, sis,” Veret said as he sat down in the grass.
“Hey little brother,” she smiled.
“Hi, Gallif,” Maura said as she sat just off to Gallif slips side.
“I love you,” Gallif said smiling at her as well.
“You need to know something, sis. You need to know that it’s okay where we’re at,” Veret said.
“It’s okay, what happened to us,” Maura said softly.
Gallif couldn’t hold back the tears of relief as they spoke.
“Bury your guilt of what happened to me,” Veret said. “It was all of my doing. It was the choices I made, not yours.”
“A barrier anger of what he did to me,” Maura added. “The all-consuming frenzy drove him to madness. It was something else, not your little brother, who appeared on Flat Rock that night.”
“Only by burying that will you keep us alive,” Veret said and Gallif laughed aloud and shook her head.
“Now that doesn’t sound like my little brother.”
“No,” he confessed like a guilty little boy. “It’s what mom and dad told me.”
Gallif didn’t cry anymore. She inhaled the natural smell of the forest and told them how much she loved them as they stood and walked away.
***
In the zone between asleep and awake Gallif found someone else waiting for her.
“You remember me?”
“Yes,” Gallif said. “I don’t want you in my memories anymore, Kadame.”
“I’m not here to read your memories, Gallif. I’m here to warn you.”
Gallif stopped and looked at her long and hard before nodding for the old, tiny woman to continue.
“They’re coming,” she said. “They are coming and they’re bringing everything with them. They think they’ll be accepted with open arms, but they won’t. You must be prepared to fight them.”
“Who’s coming?” Gallif demanded to know. “Don’t talk in damn riddles. Who’s coming?”
“The Druids,” Kadame said. “The Druids who originated your name, Gallif,” she said. “They are coming.”
***
In Winter Stand, the northernmost city of the Giant Lords, giants on their way for early morning prayers right of the new King. Most of them returned to their homes, close the doors, and wondered what this King would bring.
In Summer Down, the southernmost city of the Giant Lords, a squad of hobgoblin militia were passing by building just as the sun reached its peak when they heard angry voices coming from inside. They ran to find two giants, business owners, in a heated argument over the future of the kingdom. The militia dispense the crowd of watchers and sent them all home just before one of the giants decided to strike his former friend for asking those uncomfortable questions.
***
The world spun in circles as a Gallif suddenly felt herself falling to the floor. She lay there disoriented and finally jumped as cold water was thrown onto her face.
“Gallif, please wake up. You have to shake this out of your system now!”
She tried to rise but her muscles refuse to respond, and she just rolled to one side. There was another shock and suddenly Luvin was laying on his back next to her.
She used all of her strength to reach over and jab him. She was relieved when she saw his eyes flicker open response.
“What happened to them?”
“Rosario, can you hear me?”
“What is it?”
“Powders added to the incense. It’s it sedates the person who inhales it. It plays tricks on their minds.”
Gallif jerked a bit as someone slapped her face.
“You need to get up, Gallif.”
“Gallif, can you hear me?”
Gallif opened her eyes to see Rosario looking down at her in great concern.
“Dammit,” Rosario said angrily. “If I had just a few things, ground febblecorn or ravestew leaves, I could steam them in clear their heads.”
Gallif felt as if she was swimming in molasses as she pushed herself to the top. The world rippled around her as she forced herself to the surface. She could still smell the chocolate, but there was a steady roar in the distance.
“Gallif, I need you, Luvin said to her.
As if she had been suffocating Gallif gasped for air and set up. “What’s that noise,” she said clearly and distinctly.
“There are giants fighting on the level beneath us,” Kellis said. “Giants hitting giants. They’ve gone to war.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: SPARKS
“Where’s Mekon?” Rosario asked Kellis as they ran through the tower.
“I’m not sure. They took him prisoner and I saw them going to the lower levels. I lost track of him when the fighting broke out,” Kellis answered in a whisper just loud enough for them to hear.
“How did the fighting start?” Gallif, who is next to Kellis, asked quickly.
“I don’t know, it happened outside the tower. The building was sealed off for a while, but the main Gates were broken through. Since then they’ve been working their way up.”
“How long has this been going on?” Gallif asked still trying to put the pieces together.
“About five hours,” Kellis said regretfully. “It was really just a stroke of luck that I found you. That meditation chamber was the only one closed and locked from the outside.”
Before anyone could say anything Kellis brought them all to a stop in waived for them to stay still against the wall. Suddenly they heard the thumping of boot steps coming from the right-hand corner of the intersection ahead of them.
A dozen heavily armed members of the hobgoblin militia walked past the intersection with each step-in unison. They walk steadily with a stiff back that gave him a menacing presence. They passed without breaking their stride.
Kellis waived for them to follow her and they all hurried down the left-hand corner after the militia. They traveled on interrupted along a circular corridor are until she motioned for them to hold up in a smaller side corridor. She pointed to Rosario and Luvin then held a hand to stop them and indicate they should wait there. She pointed at Gallif, then herself, and started moving forward. She was crouched down almost crawling on her knees with Gallif in tow.
They moved with absolute silence and came to a stop just inside a half-opened door. They peered inside and saw eight of the hobgoblin militia standing around a flight of stairs leading down. They were all concentrating and what was happening at the base of the steps.
“The militia has to be a wildcard in this,” Gallif whispered.
“Yes, they have sworn an oath to protect the Giant Lords,” Kellis replied just a softly. “With giants fighting giants they’ll have to choose.”
Gallif turned to look behind them after hearing a familiar sound in the distance. There was also a second sense deep inside her that said something else had gone wrong.
She listened for a few more seconds trying to place the source and realized it was metal striking metal. She grabbed Kellis by the elbow and they ran back in the direction they had come.
The fighting had stopped before they arrived and once there was silence Gallif ran even faster leaving Kellis a few steps behind. They were both shocked by the amount of blood that had been spilt here and they could tell that the fighting had been short but incredibly intense. There were slash marks on the walls and ceiling and almost everything in the area had been crushed and completely destroyed. Gallif could see by the size of the marks in the walls that it was the giants who had done so much damage. The lengths and depths of the cuts were too deep to have been caused by anything smaller than giant swords. Yet this amount of destruction was unnecessary even in an enclose
d space. It was as if the giants had gone into frenzy just as the Others had.
Two giants were on the floor with blood pouring from their bodies and it was clear they were dead. Rosario was laying against a wall nearby, wounded, and trying to regain her footing. Gallif was relieved to find Luvin standing on the other side of the battlefield. Despite being physically unharmed there was a look in her eyes that frightened her. In one broad move, she leapt over the body of one of the giants and pulled him around, so he was facing away.
“Talk to me,” she pleaded and cupped his face in her hands so she could see into his eyes. “Please, Luvin, talk to me.”
“What happened?” Kellis asked Rosario.
“They came up from behind us and started swinging. We tried to withdraw but they cut us off before we could make a move,” Rosario said as she stood and said gave herself a quick heal cast. “They didn’t want us to surrender,” Rosario said. “They wanted us dead.”
“You had no choice,” Kellis said to comfort her.
“It wasn’t me,” Rosario admitted looking at Luvin.
Gallif leaned close and whispered something to Luvin.
“I killed a giant,” Luvin said without emotion. “There’s no going back now,” he said, and they joined Kellis and Rosario.
“We have to get going,” Gallif said making sure Luvin was ready.
“Something’s happening by a stairwell nearby,” Kellis said. “It sounds like fighting.”
Without pause they ran back down the service hallways and stopped just short of the door and peaked in. In the short time since they left things have gotten much worse.
There were two groups of wounded giants, other than their locations it was impossible to tell exactly who was on one side, angrily glaring at each other and appeared as if any second they would strike. As freakish as that thought was the site of them being separated by armed hobgoblins made the whole thing look almost comical. It said a great deal about the strength and dignity of the small hobgoblins that they could keep two giant factions at bay.
Gallif quickly ordered all the members of her party to pull back. Absolutely silent they moved away until they were sure they would not be seen or heard.
“We should not be seen right now. It would accomplish nothing,” Gallif said.
“As little respect as I have for the giants and never expected it would go that far that fast,” Rosario said.
“As much as I hate to say it not completely surprised,” Kellis said and they all looked at her. “I’ve been here, inside the capital city, every day for years. I noticed some time ago that they were just going through the motions. They were doing what they had always done simply because it was the way it was done. Like watching actors in a play who say the lines but don’t really know what they mean, are don’t feel anything about them anymore.”
“When we were inside the burial grounds Jakobus I talked about how stagnant we, the people of the Land of Starpoint, had become,” Gallif said. “How long has it been since anyone has done anything new or even invented or advanced something. Perhaps the giants have held us down for so long they never realize how they were.”
“How do we stop it?” Luvin asked.
“Where would the Third Minister, the King, most likely be now?” Gallif asked Kellis.
“I doubt he’s here in the tower,” Kellis answered slowly. “He would have immediately had his staff, aides, and private guards getting the palace ready. Most likely he had plans already in place to secure the palace.”
“If he would be in the tower where would he be?”
“In his office, a few levels up. These are the most secured and protected places in Spring Field other than the palace,” Kellis reported.
“Is it possible that, just before or even as the fighting began, the Second Minister and the Sixth Minister would have held up there to protect themselves?”
“That is possible, that’s all I can say. With King Krove in charge things are changing fast. Especially after wound to the Fifth Minister was reported.”
“Wound?” Rosario gasped. “He survived the fall?”
“Yes, but his body was incredibly broken. Chances of his survival are quite small. Of course,” Kellis exclaimed as she realized what they could do. “He would have been brought into the tower for recovery.”
“With the giants at war and Krove fighting for his kingship the chances of survival are smaller yet,” Luvin said in anger.
“Yes,” Gallif said as she turned to face them all. “Let’s get going.”
“With what’s going on will never get up the stairs,” Rosario considered.
“We don’t have to. Will take the same route we took before,” Gallif said turning to Kellis. “That hidden ladder, can we get there from here?”
“Yes,” Kellis nodded. “It’s not that far but they most likely seal it off at that end.”
“We don’t need to get all the way to the top,” Gallif pointed out. “We only need to get high enough to reach the office levels.”
“Let’s hurry,” Kellis said and they all run off together.
They were able to travel freely until they were held up crossing a hallway lined with special alcoves for the Giants to pray. Though there were no giants praying there now it was still monitored by two hobgoblin guards and one and in a single guard, a giant, on the opposite end.
Gallif and Kellis sat huddled next to each other at the small gap between the alcoves with Rosario and Luvin behind them.
“How do we know which side to avoid and which side to make contact with?” Kellis asked in a whisper.
“During the confusion I’d avoid contacting any of them,” Gallif whispered back. Then another idea occurred to her and she continued. “I’m thinking of the hobgoblin militia. They should be in turmoil over this because of their pledged to secure and protect the Giant Lords.”
“They should be trying to stay neutral or stay out of it altogether,” Luvin added.
“Exactly,” Gallif smiled.
“The only thing they would be more loyal to than the Giant Lords would be the King,” Luvin finished her train of thought.
“Exactly,” Rosario said.
“So, this giant must be one of the King’s men,” Gallif reasoned. “We just have to find a way to distract them so we can cross.”
“Any ideas?” Kellis asked.
“Yes,” Luvin said and turned away into the dark spaces between the alcoves built into the wall.
Kellis and Rosario looked at Gallif in surprise. She leisurely nodded and told him not to worry. Luvin was very smart.
It wasn’t very long before they heard a loud crack as something on the hallway on the far end was either slam shut are pushed over.
“Help me! There’s a human in here!” They heard Luvin call and peaked out just in time to watch the guards at each end of the hallway runoff. Faster than they would have thought possible Luvin rejoined them and they cross the hallway without being spotted.
They passed through another gap in the alcoves and entered a dressing room. There were hundreds of rooms for giants to use in the prayer alcoves. They were all playing, flat white robes with no pockets. They also looked incredibly comfortable and Gallif ran her fingers through the fine cloth.
Kellis explained to them that the hidden ladder up the outside of the tower was in the outer wall for this room. They moved a few of the robes out of the way carefully so as not to damage them and revealed the slots that they knew were there. Kellis found a small plate set in the floor and opened it by putting pressure on the opposite corners. Despite its size it was quite heavy and, with help from Luvin, set it off to one side. She leaned forward and then suddenly jumped back.
“What’s the matter?” Gallif was the first to ask.
“The smell, there something in there,” Kellis spoke quickly.
“Mice or something?” Gallif suggested.
“No, there can’t be. There are protection casts all over the tower so no wild animals can get in. Even birds c
an fly into the open windows in the Minister’s Chamber.”
Gallif looked around realizing she was correct. When they had been climbing between the walls there had been no webs, remains are other signs of life in the casing. Gallif leaned over and took a deep breath. She exhaled and slowly, inhaled again, then leaned over and just listen. There was a distinct smell she recognized, and the sounds confirmed her suspicions. Even though there were natural animals in the tunnel now they just weren’t natural for this height and environment. She sat up and quietly had Luvin help put the plate back in place.
“We can’t go that way,” she said. “They haven’t just removed the casts to keep animals out, but they also specifically put some in there.”
“Such as,” Kellis questioned.
“Please tell me it wasn’t something we had for supper in the swamp,” Luvin said looking ill.
Quickly Gallif pulled the robes over the plate before she finished, they all heard a distinct thump of something hitting the plate underneath. Gallif took a step back and drew her flame and frost swords. The rest step back and drew their weapons as well.
After a few more thumps the plate came loose, and something rose from the floor. It waved back and forth several times and was just 5 feet off the floor before the robes were pulled away.
“Oh, shit,” Kellis said as the snake hissed in her direction.
Gallif swung at the snake with her flame sword and immediately followed through with the frost sword. The snake dodged both swings and slithered back out of her reach. Before anyone else could take their strike the rest of the snake’s tan body came out of the gap and coiled underneath the head.
Then two more snakes, one gray and the other pink, slithered out of the gap and hissed at the four humans. These, they all knew, were termall snakes. Adult termalls like these were normally 3 inches in diameter and at least 10 feet long. They had a very powerful venom that, in a single bite, could kill even a giant in less than a minute. A human would die much faster.
“They’re out of their element, disoriented, and probably very hungry,” Kellis called.
