by Troy Denning
The giant-kin rose and offered Tavis his hand. "I'm Basil of Lyndusfarne," he said. "I'm happy to make your acquaintance."
The verbeeg, with gangling arms, bowed legs, and huge feet as flat as a beaver's tail, stood a full head taller than Tavis. He had a typical build for his race, looking gaunt and half starved, with a distended belly and stooped shoulders, A scrawny beard hung from his chin, while a thick-lipped mouth gave him an affable-and oddly sly-smile. His eyebrows were as gray as his beard and twice as thick, bestowing upon him a surprisingly sagacious aspect for one with such a steeply sloped forehead.
Tavis kept his arrow pointed at the intruder's chest and made no move to take the proffered hand. He had met enough verbeegs to know their race deserved its devious reputation, and this one's unusual eloquence only made the scout more suspicious.
When it became apparent Tavis would not lower his arrow, the verbeeg glanced down at his nakedness and blushed. "I beg your pardon," he said. "How mindless of me."
Basil reached into the straw heap and pulled out a tattered robe of untanned bearskin. The garment stank almost as much as the rancid vapors that had driven everyone out of the barn earlier, but that did not stop the verbeeg from draping it over his scrawny shoulders.
"I always forget to put my clothes back on after such changes," he explained. "It's rather a disorienting experience."
"Are you some sort of werebeast?"
Basil shook his head. "Heavens no." he replied. "I'm just a runecaster-quite harmless, I assure you."
"Verbeegs don't have wizards."
"Watch," Basil replied. He traced a symbol in the air, filling the area with flickers of golden light. The sparkles rose and circled the verbeeg's head like a crown. "Now, which do you doubt-that I'm a verbeeg or a runecaster?"
"Neither. I guess," Tavis said. "What are you doing here?"
Basil looked at the tip of the arrow still pointed at his chest. "Leaving soon, it appears," he said. "But first, I have some business with your young friend."
Avner's face went pale. "We can forget about that," he said. "I'm just glad to help."
"Nonsense. An agreement is an agreement." The verbeeg reached into the straw heap. "Thieves' honor and all that."
Tavis lowered his bow and looked at Avner. "What agreement?"
Avner's only answer was a guilty look.
With a heavy groan, Basil pulled an enormous moose-skin sack from beneath the straw. "In return for hiding me, I promised Avner half the treasure I took from the lord mayor's house," the verbeeg explained. He turned the bag over and emptied an entire library of leather-bound books onto the barn's grimy floor. "You choose first, Avner."
"Books?" the youth shrieked. "I risked my life for ink and parchment?"
Basil's bushy eyebrows came together in irritation. "My boy, knowledge is the greatest treasure." The verbeeg stooped down and selected a book. "But since you have no conception of the riches before you, I'll choose first'.'
From outside the barn, Brianna called, "Tavis? What's happening in there?"
Tavis spun toward the barn door, which hung ajar so that he could not see into the courtyard. "Wait a moment!"
"Why?" Brianna demanded. Her voice sounded louder, as though she were approaching the barn. "Is something wrong?"
Tavis could not think of what to say. Like all firbolgs, it was nearly impossible for him to lie. He understood the concept well enough, but the strain of uttering false words affected his race more than any other giant-kin. If he said something untrue, his voice would crack, he would breakout, in a cold sweat, and his guilty conscience would not let him sleep for a tenday. Therefore, he did what most firbolgs did when they could not answer a question honestly: he did not reply.
Turning to Avner and Basil. Tavis whispered, "Into the loft with you, quick!"
Avner scrambled up in a flash, but Basil was too large to move quickly. He had to climb more slowly, gripping the side rails and taking great care to place each huge foot squarely on the narrow ladder treads. Cursing the verbeeg's clumsiness. Tavis grabbed an armful of straw and threw it over the books.
"Tavis?" demanded Brianna. "Why don't you answer?"
The innkeeper covered the last book, then looked up. Brianna and Morten stood at the door, squinting into the dim barn.
"Just a moment-"
Tavis was interrupted by the crack of a snapping board. A loud thud quickly followed, then Basil moaned in pain. The innkeeper wheeled around and saw the verbeeg sprawled on the floor, the loft ladder lying in pieces around him.
"How unfortunate," Basil groaned. He pushed himself into a sitting position, then grabbed a shard of gray board. "I feared I was too heavy for the ladder."
A pair of lumbering feet thundered across the barn floor as Morten rushed to Tavis's side. The bodyguard touched the tip of his great sword to Basil's throat and said nothing. Lady Brianna followed, though her steps fell silent before she reached the scout. Tavis turned around in time to see her pull a book from beneath the straw. She opened the cover to the title page.
"A Full History of the Dobbins of Stagwick, by Neville Dobbin, the thirty-fifth Earl of Stagwick," she read.
Tavis took a single step toward her. "Let me explain."
"You don't have to," Brianna replied. "I can see for myself what's going on here."
The princess drew her arm back and threw the book. It caught Tavis square in the forehead, breaking the binding and scattering leaves of parchment in every direction. The blow was incredibly powerful, much more forceful than the scout would have expected even for Brianna's large frame, and he found himself stumbling backward, until at last he tripped over Basil's feet and crashed down at the verbeeg's side.
"Please, Brianna. I know this looks bad-"
"You played me for a fool, Tavis." the princess snapped. "While I was protecting you from Earl Dobbin, you were looting Stagwick-and I was blind to what everyone else saw as plainly as the sun in the sky!"
"No!" Tavis started to rise, but quickly found the tip of Morten's sword at his throat. "That's not what happened!"
Brianna shook her head angrily. "How could you do this?"
With that, she stepped into Blizzard's stall and untied the mare. "I'll send someone for the children this evening, I can only hope you haven't corrupted them beyond redemption." She started toward the door and added, "I expect you to begone by then. It will spare me an abundance of humiliation-and save you several decades of torture in my father's dungeon."
Though Brianna's voice was cracking with grief, she did not look back. * 2* Coggin's Rise
Blizzard snorted, then tossed her head and slowed from a gallop to a trot, angrily stamping the ground each time her front hooves came down. Brianna reluctantly reined her mount to a stop. She leaned forward and stroked the mare's sleek neck.
"What is it, girl?"
The horse tipped her ears forward and flared her nostrils. After testing the air for a moment. Blizzard's muscles tensed, and she became as motionless as a statue.
Scowling, Brianna pulled a silver-handled axe from it's saddle sheath. A cool mountain breeze hissed down from the aspen-covered slope ahead. Though she smelled nothing but damp leaves on its breath, the princess knew her mount well enough to realize Blizzard had caught the scent of danger. She laid her weapon across her lap and, remaining as still as her horse, studied the path before her.
A canopy of small, heart-shaped leaves hung over the road. They quivered incessantly in the light breeze, flashing waxy green and dusty silver, filling the air with a rustle just loud enough to cloak the whisper of creeping feet. Supporting this shimmering vault were hundreds of papery white tree trunks, rising from a steep, boulder-strewn slope with ample cover for an ambush.
This was Coggin's Rise, named for an ancient carl who had been found on its slopes mysteriously torn limb from limb, and Brianna had learned better than to travel it recklessly. Once, she had nearly lost Blizzard when a cave bear sprang from among the boulders along the trail, and another time
a marauding mountain giant had chased her from the base of the hill all the way to Castle Hartwick. In spite of her eagerness to return home, she thought it wise to let her bodyguard inspect the wood.
Brianna twisted around to look at Morten, lumbering Up the trail fifty paces back. After leaving Tavis's inn, she had ridden hard for half an hour, and the effort of keeping pace with Blizzard had nearly done the firbolg in. He wore his helmet pushed half off his head and his leather armor fastened too loosely to offer protection. His buckler hung across his back, slung in place by a rope strung beneath his armpits, and his feet had grown so heavy that he stumbled over the slightest obstacle. He kept his eyes fixed on the ground, and he was panting so hard the princess saw his chest heave each time he gasped for breath.
A guilty pang shot through Brianna's breast, for her anger at Tavis had overwhelmed her concern for the firbolg. Even a fire giant would have found it difficult to keep pace with Blizzard for more than a league, and the princess had forced Morten to run several times that distance. It was a good thing something had alarmed her horse, or she might have run her poor bodyguard to death. It might even be possible that an apology was in order.
Blizzard snorted again, vanquishing all thoughts of penance. A crow screeched, then the crack of a snapping branch ricocheted through the aspen trees. Catching a faint whiff of something sour and rancid, like curdled milk, Brianna twisted around to face the forest. She saw a black flash as the crow rose through the quivering canopy of leaves, but that was all. Among the white thinks, nothing stirred.
Still, the smell did not vanish, and Brianna glanced over her shoulder. "Will you hurry, Morten?" she called. "I smell something."
The firbolg's chin rose and he sniffed at the breeze, but he did not seem to smell anything. Nevertheless, from somewhere he summoned the strength to sprint. A dozen thudding steps later, he stopped at Brianna's side and braced his hands on his knees. He lifted his head and tried to catch the scent, but he was gasping so hard he could not draw air through his nose.
"I don't smell anything," he wheezed.
"The odor's not very strong," Brianna said, "but it's sour."
"Maybe bear or elk," Morten suggested. "They both stink."
Brianna scowled. "Wouldn't I know if it was an animal?" As a priestess of Hiatea, she was familiar with all the creatures of the wild, able to identify any one of them by their tracks, droppings, calls-or scent. This is too rancid. It's more like a goatherd's cheese hut."
The firbolg went pale, the fatigue draining from his face as though he had just risen from a nap in a shady snowbank. Fixing his gaze on the woods ahead, he raised himself to his full height and tightened the buckles of his armor. "Ogre!" he hissed.
"You can't be serious," Brianna scoffed. She found herself craning her neck to look up at her bodyguard, despite the fact that she still sat upon her big mare's back. "No ogre would dare come this close to Castle Hartwick."
Evidently, the firbolg did not share her conviction. He pulled his helmet down and drew his huge sword. "Wait here." he said. "I'll scout the wood."
"We'll go together," Brianna countered. She was far from convinced that something as dangerous as an ogre lurked in the woods ahead. "I don't have time to wait."
"Better late than dead," the firbolg grunted. "Besides, the dance doesn't start until dusk. We've got plenty of time."
"I will have to bathe and dress," Brianna snapped. "Or do you suggest I enter the ball smelling of horse and trail?"
"You weren't worried about that before you found Tavis hiding the verbeeg." Morten replied. "You just want to get home so you can cry."
"Cry over a firbolg?" Brianna scoffed. Despite her retort, the princess felt the tears welling in her eyes. Looking away, she added. "It's the orphans that concern me. Tavis may try to take them with him."
"Why?" asked Morten. "They'd only make his life harder."
"Fire giants will trade silver and gold for human children."
Morten shook his head. "No firbolg would do such a thing."
"We have no idea what Tavis might or might not do, but it's better not to take chances." Brianna's tone was at once certain and regretful. "Besides, Tavis isn't really a firbolg. He was raised among our kind, not yours."
It way common knowledge that Tavis had been born under what the firbolg's called a "red moon," meaning his mother had died in childbirth. In accordance with the tribe's stern code of justice, the infant had been held responsible for the death and banished. A visiting bear trapper had carried the babe to Stagwick's only lodge, where the kindly Isa Wirr had taken the child to raise among the kingdom's many other orphans.
"It doesn't matter who raised him." Morten said. "Tavis's, blood is firbolg. It'd freeze in his veins if he tried to sell those children into slavery."
"There's nothing I'd like to believe more." The princess had to struggle to speak around the catch in her throat. "But we can't ignore that verbeeg thief. If firbolg blood's so important, how could Tavis lie to us about him?"
Morten scowled, unable to offer an explanation.
"I know how." Brianna said. "He learned from the humans he grew up with. And when he joined the border patrol, he learned to do worse things."
Morten shook his head. "No. Tavis was trained by Runolf Saemon, and I hear Runolf's a good man," he said. "The king relies on him."
"My father relies on all his soldiers. That doesn't mean he trusts them," Brianna countered. "As for Runolf, I don't know what to make of him. He seemed to be avoiding me."
"He was nervous," Morten replied. "Like most men when they meet you for the first time."
"Perhaps, or maybe he was nervous because he knew Tavis to be a thief." The words left Brianna with a queasy, empty feeling in her stomach, but the princess had learned long ago to trust her mind over her emotions. "There are plenty of humans who think little enough of stealing to look the other way when their friend is the thief."
Morten considered this for a time, then shrugged. "You'd know better than me," he said. "But if you're so worried about the orphans, why leave them with Tavis in the first place?"
"Because Tavis Burdun has slain frost giants with that bow of his," Brianna replied. "And getting ourselves killed would not save the children."
Morten's eyes flashed in indignation. "I'm every bit that runt's match," he growled. "I'd cleave his skull in a blow."
Brianna grimaced at the image of her bodyguard's huge sword slicing through the scout's brain. "A moment ago, you were defending Tavis," the princess observed. "Now you're ready to split his head?"
"All I said was I could," Morten said, his petulant tone betraying his injured pride. "There's a difference."
"I didn't mean to insult your fighting skills." It was as close to an apology as Brianna would utter. "But whoever won, it would do the children no good to witness the combat. Tavis is the only father they know, and the sight of him killing or being killed would be a heavy burden for such young hearts."
"Dobbin Manor has fifty men. Not even Tavis would fight so many." Morten said. "Why not demand the earl's help?"
"Because I don't want the lord mayor as a husband," the princess explained. "And it'd be just like the ruthless swine to keep the children hostage until I married him."
"How could he do that?" Morten demanded, his brow furrowed in puzzlement. "That would violate the law!"
Brianna rolled her eyes at the firbolg's naivete. "Earls know many paths around the law," the princess said. "Which is why we must hurry. The only way to ensure the children's safety is to send a company of father's guards back before anyone-whether it be Tavis or Karl Dobbin-can take them from the inn."
With that, the princess urged her mount forward.
Morten caught Blizzard by the inane. The horse swung her head around with teeth bared, but the firbolg stiffened his arm and held her steady. The marc's mouth snapped shut two feet shy of his throat. She whinnied in anger and tried to jerk free of her captor's grasp, but even Blizzard was not strong enough to overpo
wer the bodyguard.
"I can't let you enter the wood until I've had a look." Morten said. "If you can't wait, we'll just have to go back."
"Then make your search quick," Brianna snapped. "If you let Tavis disappear with those children, I'll replace you with a fomorian. He might not fight well, but he'd be better company."
Morten chuckled at the ludicrous threat. Fomorians were the most hideous and, wicked of all giant-kin, with deformed bodies and twisted, evil personalities. Comparing one to a firbolg was like comparing a turkey buzzard to an eagle, although they had descended from the same species, at heart the two were as different as could be.
"I'll hunt the ambusher down fast as I can."
The firbolg pulled his shield off his back and buckled his helmet, then strode forward. As he entered the aspen grove. The breeze rose and the flashing aspen leaves rustled more loudly, reminding Brianna of a sound she had heard a hundred times before: the tense murmur of the earls and their wives waiting for her father to enter the banquet hall. It was a sound as full of dread as it was of hope, for such gatherings were polite forms of battle, where the prestige of great families rose and fell on the slippery course of well-told jests or foolish slips of the tongue. But in the next few moments, she reminded herself, it would be lives and limbs that were maimed, not the reputations of pompous and vain men.
Brianna watched Morten creep deeper into the wood, his helmeted head swiveling back and forth in search of the ogre. The firbolg held his buckler high, so that it covered his flank from the chin down to the ribs. He waved his right arm slowly up and down, keeping the fiat of his sword turned outward as if ready to slap away a flying dart or stone. Every now and then, he stopped and raised his nose to test the air for his quarry's scent, but the princess saw no indication that her bodyguard smelled anything unusual. By the time Morten had advanced fifty paces into the grove, Brianna's patience was at an end. If something dangerous was lurking among the aspens, the firbolg would have flushed it out, and now he was just wasting her time.
Morten suddenly stopped. He spun around and raised his buckler over his head. At the same time. Brianna heard a small bowstring strum from the forest canopy. A dark shaft streaked down from the quivering leaves and ricocheted off the shield with a sharp ping. The firbolg let out a shout that the princess could not understand, then swung his great sword at a nearby tree. His blade bit deep, but fell far short of cleaving through the thick trunk. Still holding his buckler over his head, he threw himself at the bole, slamming his shoulder into it so hard.that the aspen shuddered from base to crown.
