by John Booth
“We’ll take Tobin’s corpse and hang it back on the tree. It is our way.”
“Do you mind if I have his skirt and jerkin?” From the way that Jalia asked they all knew it wasn’t really a question.
Yandar raised his eyebrows at the request.
“I just thought I’d give them a try. He was about my size.”
Yandar nodded his approval and Jalia grinned with delight.
The Black Pyramid
By the time they neared the northern trade road, Daniel had increased his donkey train to seven, the additions purchased from villagers along the way. They were laden with gifts and trade goods. Jalia scouted the trail ahead on her horse. A horse every bit as fine and noble as the one she left behind months before in Enbar Entar.
The forest tracks they followed took them to the lake where Daniel had rescued the fairy Princess Clea. The companions followed the edge of the lake to the west, as that appeared to be the easiest trail. After two days of following the contours of the vast lake, they reached the spot where Daniel camped with Yousef over a year before.
Jalia had come to rely on Daniel to cover her back in the dangerous situations she often created. Daniel, for his part, was in awe of the way Jalia moved, laughed and acted. Despite being less than a year younger than her, Jalia still treated him as a boy. This was partly because he had such a young looking face, especially when he grinned, which he tended to do rather a lot.
As usual, Jalia left the camp on foot to hunt for game while Daniel unloaded the donkeys and her horse, made the fire, got out their bedrolls and the oiled sheet they used for cover when it rained. Storm clouds gathered while he worked. The lake and the area around it seemed a much darker and gloomier place than on his last visit.
Jalia returned to camp carrying a brace of rabbits. She was a much better hunter than Daniel. Perhaps that was because she never felt sorry for anything she killed. Daniel set off to the lake to get water for the kettle and to refill their water-skins.
After filling everything, Daniel sat on a fallen tree trunk, the remains of a tree toppled in a major storm. The lake looked beautiful, if a little sinister, against the darkening evening sky. There wasn’t a bird in sight as they had all taken shelter against the deluge they sensed was to come. He sighed at the thought of the walk back up to the camp and was about to move when a fluttering of wings about his face brought him to a halt.
The wings were attached to Clea, and this time she was not alone. In total, six fairies hovered in front of his face before flying a few feet from him. The fairies began to glow with an inner light. They increased in size until they were standing six or seven feet tall. Their wings had vanished and some of them had taken on attributes of animals. One of the fairies had the head and shoulders of a bull.
Clea spoke first, smiling at him in reassurance.
“Well met, my young knight in shining armor. We hoped you would come back this way after your encounter with our sand fairy brethren. Once again, you are in a position to do a great service to the Fairie.”
Clea looked regal at slightly larger than human size. They all did, the Fairie looked the way kings and queens are supposed to look, but never actually did. Daniel fought off an urge to kneel before them.
However, he was taken aback by Clea’s words, “Surely the sand fairies are not kin to you?”
“Alas they are, but they are under a terrible curse. A curse the Magician Kings laid on us a millennium ago. A curse that might finally be lifted. With your help, of course,” Clea said somberly.
“The sand fairies are some of our other, our children you might say. A curse bound in the form of a jewel the shape of a black pyramid tainted their hearts while they grew. That taint drew them to that ancient castle. The jewel’s power made them grow ugly in mind and in body. It stripped their magic from them and made them blind to the beauty of the world. They grow old and eventually die in that place, if the constant fighting among them does not kill them first.”
“But that cursed device has finally left the castle,” one of the male fairies continued, his voice sounding like thunder over mountains. “As I speak, it rests in your companion’s bags. If you gift it to us we might finally cure our other of this affliction. If you keep it, be sure it will bring only evil upon you.”
“What does it look like? I don’t remember any black jewels among the treasure. It was mostly small gold coins and jewels.”
“It is a black glistening stone perhaps two inches across and three inches high. At its base, it is square and its sides rise to form a pyramid. The stone is caged with gold strips on which are carved runes of power. No Fairie can take it without being corrupted by it. It must be given freely, which is why we have never been able to retrieve it.”
“This cannot be true,” Daniel told them. “Jalia and I shared the treasure she found and there was nothing that looked like that. Besides, she could not have carried anything that big without me seeing it at some point.”
Clea shook her head and spoke patiently.
“I am telling the truth. You can look for yourself on your return to your camp. The jewel will have been smaller when you were among the Sand Fairie and will have grown with you when you returned to normal size.”
Daniel felt betrayed because he sensed they were telling him the truth. Jalia had lied to him and not shown him all of the treasure. He needed to check for himself. If it was among her things, he decided to give it to the fairies, in part to spite Jalia for her lies.
“If I find it I will return it to you,” he told them. “Wait here for me.”
He walked back to the camp and waited until Jalia went to collect firewood. When he searched through her bags he felt unclean. It was a terrible feeling to rummage among your friend’s possessions. It was much the same as stealing from her.
The black pyramid was there, just as he suspected it would be. Jalia hid it in the leather pouch holding her half of the treasure. He also found a number of large jewels he had never seen before. Daniel held up the pyramid to the sky to look at it. It felt slimy. Its black surface was like the blackest oil he had ever seen. It the light of evening it looked as though a jet sea roiled beneath its surface.
Daniel suspected it was only the gold cage and the exotic things carved onto it that kept the jewel in check. Putting the other treasures back in Jalia’s pouch, he placed the black pyramid in his pocket.
He walked slowly back to the lake’s edge. The fairies appeared from nowhere and Clea took the jewel reverently from his hands and placed it on the ground. She and the other fairies circled it slowly, much as a mongoose might stalk a snake.
They did something that made it shrink for a second and then the jewel exploded to nothing, giving off a sickly blue glow as it vaporized.
Daniel turned his back on the lake and the fairies and made his way back to the camp. He didn’t see the fairies turn to face him. As a group, they made strange gestures at his back. Waves of magic flowed from them to be absorbed by his body, but he felt nothing. The only thing on his mind was the confrontation he knew was to come.
Jalia was searching her bags as he entered the camp. She always noticed if he touched her things. She gave him a look of pure loathing, and, as he had nothing to say, he watched her silently and waited.
In silence, Jalia collected up her things and prepared to leave. She didn’t ask him about the jewel or ask for it back. The evening sun shone through a gap in the black clouds changing the camp to the color of rust.
Without a word, Jalia rode out of the camp and into the night.
The Clan of Giants
Jalia was furious with Daniel. He dared to search through her things while she was away and took one of the jewels she had hidden. A feeling of violation filled her and would not let her go. ‘How dare he search my things?’ That the jewels should have been shared with him only made the incident worse.
Daniel had caught her cheating him and that hurt much worse than his lack of trust. Jalia spat at a passing fly, knocking
it from the air. She wished she had some way of hurting Daniel as much as he had hurt her. She urged her horse to a trot. She needed to be far away from him.
Jalia took the bag of jewels and coins from her saddlebag and, balancing easily on her horse, let go of the reins and tipped its contents onto her hand. The only item missing was the black pyramid jewel.
She hated that jewel from the moment she saw it and was glad it was gone. If it hadn’t looked so valuable, she would have thrown it away herself. “Still,” she moaned, “It was mine and he had no right to take it from me without asking.”
Jalia soon arrived at the trade road linking the city of Bagdor with Delbon, but neither way appealed to her. The King of Bagdor would not welcome her return because she had humiliated him in front of his people. Besides which, Jalia no longer wanted to resume her relationship with Marco. Going to Delbon was no more attractive as there was the little matter of the guards she had killed there. There was a good chance the Guard would remember her and seek revenge.
She started on the road to Delbon. A few miles later she saw a track branch off towards the north. This would take her into the mountains that rose in the distance. After a moment’s reflection, Jalia decided it was as good a way as any. She left the road and followed the track. ‘At least there is no chance of meeting up with Daniel going this way,’ she found herself thinking in a bittersweet way.
Two days and nights passed, during which time she saw no signs of people or cultivation. The trail became steeper and by the third day she had to walk alongside her horse to guide it up the dangerous and rocky slopes the trail meandered through.
Despite seeing and hearing nothing, Jalia became convinced that someone or something was watching her. The back of her neck prickled as she walked and she became prone to turning her head rapidly to the rear to try and catch a glimpse of whatever was behind her.
Part of her was convinced that the stalker was Daniel. It would be like the boy to trail along behind her like the puppy he sometimes reminded her of. Thinking of Daniel made her angry. At least, that was how she explained the hot tears she wiped away whenever he entered her thoughts.
Eventually the feeling of being followed became intolerable and Jalia found a small gully to hide in. The boulders on its sides rose ten feet into the air. She hid and waited. Whoever was following would have to use the track and they would not see her while she would be certain to see them.
She never saw the blow that hit her. It came impossibly from behind. That was the direction she knew was safe, because anyone coming that way would have to climb the rocks and no one could climb such rocks without making a noise and alerting her.
She awoke in a cave with no exit. Cracks in the rock gave her light to see, though she couldn’t quite figure out how a cave could have so many holes in it. She was naked, not a scrap of clothing remained. The magic ring was gone from her finger. The finger involved was badly bruised and throbbed as she tried to collect her thoughts.
She stood up and her world spun. Her head ached so painfully that she slumped back to the ground. Someone hard had hit her on the back of the head. Now she was fully conscious she could tell the cave was artificial. Someone had moved five massive stone slabs together to create a prison. There was no way out, though some of the gaps were almost big enough for her to consider crawling through. Jalia was good at estimating size and knew that she was just too big to get through any of them, though a five year old child might have managed it.
As she searched her prison for viable escape routes she saw something that chilled her blood. Through one of the gaps she saw the enormous legs of at least two giants.
It appeared the giants heard her moving or perhaps they smelled her. It was said that giants were so sensitive to human blood that they could detect a human moving by the way the smell of their blood changed. Jalia had seen some strange things while she was observing the giant she killed that led her to believe such stories might be true.
One of the giants spoke. His voice rumbled between the gaps of her stone cage and she feared the stones might collapse as small stones and dust fell on top of her.
“Human, we want to know how you killed our brother, Grey Don. We have tracked the scent of your blood across the world, so do not try to deny your guilt.”
Jalia shivered because the situation was far worse than she had feared. This wasn’t a random attack. These giants had stalked her.
Jalia tried her best to sound strong and defiant. “He was murdering and eating a lot of humans, and he didn’t deserve to live. In any case, why should I answer your questions? What incentive will you give me?” She knew she had given it a good try, but she didn’t think she had pulled it off.
The giant spoke again.
“We care little for humans. To us, your blood is a temptation and a curse. It calls to us and is highly addictive. If we succumb to it, it makes us stupid and worse.”
The second giant, who had a much lighter voice, continued the conversation.
“Grey Don, the great man you slaughtered was once a scholar, kind and gentle. He spent his life lost in his books until the day he tasted human blood. Its unnatural nature took his mind and soul. From the first time he indulged, his vast intellect was stripped from him and he became a creature lost in blood lust.”
It seemed to Jalia that they wanted to explain why they had cracked her down because the first giant again took up the tale.
“We want to know how his end came about. Not for vengeance, but for our lore. Then we can write down the key events in his life and he will be remembered forever. We want that from you and nothing more.”
The boulder capping the cage vibrated with the force of his voice and dust trickled down making Jalia cough and splutter.
“We have caged you for our protection and have stripped you so you cannot use any of the guile and deceit for which your wretched little species is renowned. When you tell us what we want to know we will leave you here in peace.”
Jalia didn’t believe his words for a minute. She had killed their brother and it seemed unlikely they would smile and wave her on her way once she told her tale. On the other hand, she did not have a lot to bargain with at that moment. She sighed.
She explained in detail how she had tricked the giant into killing himself, since no weapon she possessed could have killed him.
She watched the giants through the gap in the stone as she spoke and saw that the lighter voiced one was writing her story into a book so large she could not have lifted it. When she finished, the giants stood up, collected their things and started to walk away.
“What about me?”
The giants continued to walk away, ignoring Jalia cries. Jalia huddled in frustration and wept with rage. Then she beat her fist against the boulders, as if she hoped to force them apart by sheer strength of will.
“Well it might be bad, but crying won’t help,” Daniel said quietly from beyond her stone cage, his words cutting into her like a knife.
Daniel had been tracking Jalia from the moment she left their camp. As soon as she rode away, he had loaded up his donkeys and set off in slow but determined pursuit.
He slowly reduced the distance between them, but only because he slept little and kept on the road long after night fell. He did not hunt, but eked out the emergency supplies. Only the donkeys need for rest slowed him down.
He nearly lost her on the trade road. Her horse had a nick in a front shoe that produced distinctive tracks and when he didn’t see it on the road, he doubled back and found the place where she left the road for the upland trail.
Daniel cursed Jalia many times during that chase. When he found the marks of giants on the trail, he nearly despaired. According to trader tales, giants killed humans and drank their blood as soon as they caught them.
Since there were no sign of Jalia’s remains he tracked the giants to their camp and saw Jalia’s stone prison from the top of a rise. He was lucky, as the wind blew towards him from the camp, keeping his scent dow
nwind of the giants.
He had crept closer to the giants’ camp when they began their conversation with Jalia. He sat and listened intently, Jalia and the giants’ voices carrying to him on the breeze. Daniel believed his magic dagger would do little more than annoy the giants. He also knew he did not stand a chance in a fight with them, though he decided to die fighting if they attacked her. He listened as Jalia told her tale of murder and then he watched the giants leave in disbelief.
When he was certain they were gone, he walked into the camp to find Jalia weeping. Her clothes were by the fire the giants had made. It was the work of a few seconds to find her magic ring at the bottom of the pile.
“Use the ring and free me.” Jalia demanded.
“Not until you apologize for walking out on me.” Daniel said angrily. He felt it was typical that she would try and order him about as soon as he arrived.
“No I won’t apologize. I’d rather be dead,” Jalia screamed at him, working herself up into a rage.
“Suit yourself.”
Daniel walked away from the camp. She needed to be taught a lesson and he knew he was just the man to do it. Jalia screamed profanities in his direction. Some of them were so highly inventive Daniel had to put a hand to his mouth so she did not hear him laugh. He shouted back to her, trying to keep his voice stern and unforgiving.
“I’ll ask you again if you’re ready to apologize in the morning, or perhaps I’ll wait a couple of days.”
“At least leave me some water.” Jalia screamed. Daniel considered her request, but he felt he needed to be hard on her or she’d never learn.
“You can drink your own urine until I return. It is time you learned how to survive in the real world.”
Jalia didn’t enjoy the night. There was the problem of her waste products and the disgust at drinking her own urine. She heard insect life scuttling around her. In the dark, those sounds became scorpions and snakes ready to sting or bite her if she got too close to them.
