by Cale Madison
“A tavern owner disappears and nobody bats an eye? How is that possible?”
“People are too afraid, or their pockets are too heavy.” Bandi answered as he wiped his glasses on his white shirt, “Either way, there’s something strange happening in the palace. I fear the worst is yet to come. Ask too many questions and you’ll end up missing too. Be careful.”
“And the prince? What do you think happened to him?” Aketa asked, trying to keep the conversation moving.
“Eldest son of a king, heir to the Tuskan throne...ripe picking if you ask me. Bandits everywhere would swipe the kid, try holding him for ransom. I’ve heard that he fled with the King’s blade and armor. You could sell them for a great sum of gold.” he said before turning away, “You seem like an educated woman. You fit the pieces together.”
“I understand, Bandi. Don’t get yourself caught up in this mess.”
“This has been my shop for over forty years. My wife, bless her soul, wanted to relocate to Veines, where alchemists and maesters outnumber the sellswords. We would have been among homely booklovers like us. But I objected. My grandsons lived in Brunson, but now they’ve been drafted and are probably hundreds of miles away by now. With this war looming with Arrigon, I worry for their lives. Now, I have nothing but my books to keep me company.” he explained, tenderly rubbing his balding head, “And even they would disapprove of my cowardice, but at least I’ll be alive. At least I can continue my work in peace.”
“Nobody knows that you helped me, Bandi. Thank you.” Aketa said before turning to leave. The little man stepped between her and the door with a look of alarm strewn across his face.
“If I were you, I’d start with the palace cook. I can’t say for certain what Gavin’s intentions are with the two books but it may have something to do with the King’s feast tomorrow. They have them every seventh day at noon. All of his High Command and council members will be there. You weren’t here and I didn’t help you, understand? I don’t want to be the next business owner to go missing, and I don’t need the reputation of selling poisonous recipes to a traitor, should that be the case.”
Aketa nodded and thanked the small shopkeeper for his help before exiting the shop. Once outside, she heard the breaths of horses and the shuffling of heavy armor. Waiting for her in the bustling city street were five Tuskan knights, led by Lord Gavin, who was mounted upon a white horse. He wore black and gold armor with his country’s crest embedded in the center of his chestplate. She eyed the sheathed swords and maces at their sides and the iron shackles in their hands.
Gavin’s horse snorted, almost angrily. He kicked his spurs into his mount’s ribs, ushering it to trot closer to the shop. His soldiers drew their weapons behind him, as if they were preparing to charge into some battle on the other side of the doors. Crowds of onlookers were gathering in the streets or curiously watching from the safety of their windows.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Aketa asked. Gavin sighed and withdrew two books from his saddlebag before tossing them at her feet: The Silent Killer and Herbalist Brews.
“Did you really think that you could murder the king? We cordially invite you into our home, we feed you, and then discover these hidden beneath your bed!” Gavin announced, “The punishment for treason is death by hanging. I call for this woman to await trial in the dungeons of Castle Rock...far from any harm that she could inflict upon the Royal Family.”
Aketa gritted her teeth and spat, “You bastard! These are his books! They are Gavin’s!” Her constant pleas were ignored as the knights bound her wrists in iron shackles and led her down a path, heading east of the village. Their horses neighed loudly, thrashing their tails as if objecting to the horrid act.
The Lord then shouted from the head of the battalion, “Execute the halfling that sold her these vile books, so everyone can see what happens to traitors in our country!”
She shut her eyes tightly and fought to ignore the pitiful cries of Bandi as two of Gavin’s knights dragged him from his shop. The wails of the weeping man would forever haunt Aketa Mercer to the end of her days. The executioner’s halberd swung, slicing through Bandi’s neck with ease. Gasps and screams erupted from the onlooking crowd as his little head bounced along the city streets.
***
“This mountain wasn’t home to dwarves or elves.” Malachi informed us as he led us to the far corner of the cave, where we discovered a hidden corridor, “Dwarves would’ve never left so many jewels and ore unmined and elves know little about tunnel excavations. I don’t know who built it, exactly, but there’s many secret tunnels. One takes us a good ways down, but I warn you, it’s a steep drop.”
“What do you mean by ‘steep drop’?” Cirian asked with narrowed eyes.
“Nothing more than a slide.” he rephrased and then presented us each with an individual knight’s chestplate, “Now take this and follow me.” The young prince devoured the last of the bread I had given him and, with his strength regained again, leapt into a small burrow and disappeared. I surveyed the iron in my hands with confusion, as did the rest of my company. The green, painted sigil on its breast was from a house that I did not recognize.
Donovan slid down the tunnel next, followed by Aldroc and Cirian, then Amelia and the elf scout. I could hear them rejoicing from far down below, indicating that this venture was indeed safe. I wedged my legs through the opening, slid in the dark for a few minutes before it spat me out onto hard ground. I tumbled along the rocky surface to find that we were now on a crag overlooking the valley below.
“Have to land on these things, my friend.” Malachi said with a grin, slapping his legs.
I grimaced, tenderly rubbed my lower back and turned to see that Skalige had not arrived. I called out, “Skalige? What’s the trouble up there?”
“I’m stuck!”
“What?!” I shouted, making sure I had heard correctly.
“You skinny, bread-eating bastards might be able to squeeze yourselves through tunnels but I’m stuck in this fuckin’ thing! By the Gods, this is humiliating!” he shouted, becoming increasingly more agitated every second. “I’ll die in this filthy hole like a little plump dwarf, I tell you! Caine, reach up here and pull me down! Grab my boots!”
“Try holding your breath!” Malachi shouted.
Moments later, the tunnel spat the baron out. He landed onto the ground with us, spouting foul words and murmuring to himself. The corridor had dropped us onto a ledge that overlooked the other far side of the mountain. Malachi knelt over the cliff, examining something across the ravine. He turned his head upward and reported, “The sun isn’t even at noon. This late in the morning, he comes back with second breakfast. We don’t have much time.”
“Why’d you pick that tunnel?” I asked him.
“Because, look...” he then pointed to small divots in the mountain-side that led to a steep slope down below, “I think that whoever dug these tunnels built them as a means to escape. I’ve spent this week planning mine, collecting dozens of my favorite pieces of armor that the giant brought me.”
“Did you know we’d be joining you?” Donovan asked.
“No. Just needed options, lucky for you.”
“Why is it that you never left, child?” Amelia asked him, “You had the plan all along but you stayed behind? What kept you?”
“I was waiting to see if he brought someone back.” he answered and prepared to explain the rest of the story but was interrupted by a loud tremor. We panicked, frantically as the giant appeared in the distance. He moved fluidly through the hills, locking his eyes on his cave. Malachi heard the sound and then proceeded to snatch the armor from us and toss them over the ledge. The plates landed on the rocks far below, awaiting us to join them. A strong gust of north winds propelled us onto our backs, reminding me of our tremendous height from the ground.
“When he gets there and sees that we escaped...” Donovan started to say before trailing off. I could tell that his anxiety was beginning to peak with the tho
ught of becoming discovered. Without warning, he sprinted to the ledge and began his descent without us.
“Donovan! Slow down! His footsteps cause tremors!” Aldroc warned.
The frightened boy would not listen.
He scurried across the divots, moving with cursory as the giant began to climb. His breaths were short and erratic, and his choice of footing was clumsy. Once Donovan had reached the halfway-point, the monster slipped and his leg collided against the mountainside. The sudden jolt knocked us back to the ground in an instant. I crawled to the ledge to discover Donovan lying on his back in a pool of blood at the very bottom.
“Stupid boy...” Amelia muttered, “if we go, we have to do it now!”
“Climb carefully!” I warned them and watched with caution as my company began their descent. One after the other, they steadily inched their way downwards. Amelia led the venture, followed quickly by Cirian, Aldroc, Skalige and the elf scout. We moved quickly but carefully, keeping an eye on the ascending giant who was nearing his cache and the realization that his prisoners had just taken flight.
“Keep going!” Cirian barked at Amelia, who seemed to have stopped suddenly. She appeared to have seen Donovan’s body on the ground below and was now paralyzed in fear.
“Amelia!” Skalige shouted at her, “If you don’t move now, that will be every last one of us in a few minutes! Move your arse, woman!”
Amelia summoned a surge of bravery and continued to descend down the mountain. We were finally nearing the slope at the bottom when an irate, bellowing howl erupted from the peak. We quickened our pace, skipping divots when we could afford to. I looked up to see that the giant had begun to peer around, attempting to find us. From nearly a mile away, my eyes locked with the monster’s cold, dead gaze.
“Go...go, go, go...go now, GO NOW!” I fearfully stammered as the giant lurched in our direction. It clamored along the mountain’s ravines, carefully stepping between the hills below. As it grasped at each summit, clouds of rocks would cascade down into the valleys like avalanches on a snowy peak. I shuddered at the sound of its thunderous howl.
Amelia managed to reach the ground first and the rest followed shortly after. With our toes planted on safe footing, my company and I could strategize with our surroundings. We were standing at the top of a tremendously steep slope of rocks that would lead us to the base of the hills. It had to be a ten minute sprint from the very top.
“Hope you’ve got a plan, kid!” I shouted.
He then handed us each a different chest plate and hurried to the front of our group. I could hear the giant’s deafening roars in the distance as it approached us.
“Hardly, but it’s better than sitting here! Hop on the armor and slide to the bottom of the mountain...the rocks are smooth!” he said before taking off on the silver chest plate. The giant bellowed as it neared the tunnel that we had just escaped, prompting us to follow the prince’s lead and jump. Skalige and I both mounted our armor and leapt from the ledge onto the precarious slope.
The rocks pounded against the armor beneath me as I rode downward, passing my heavy friend in the process. The others were well ahead of us, bounding against the hard ground. We reached incredible speeds on our rapid descent to the valley far below. The winding path that we rode upon snaked across the mountain range in a daring route, too close to the ledge for comfort. I passed beneath overhanging crags and dead trees in the blink of an eye. Behind us, I could see the roaring giant pursuing us with his long, massive arms outreached. He could easily break the slope and throw us off!
Worried that the armor would shatter against the mountain’s rocky slope, I silently prayed for the Gods to give me strength and guide me to safety. Sparks shot from beneath my chest plate, lashing out like the bottom of a lit firework. The heat from the rising flames singed my knuckles but I gritted my teeth and burdened through the searing pain. Suddenly, Amelia toppled off of her plate of armor, which appeared to have split nearly in half from grating against the rocks. She rolled along the far edge of the slope, her skull smacking hard against the tough terrain of the mountain until a trail of blood could be seen in her wake. I lowered my head, praying again that the same would not happen to me.
Malachi seemed to be the closest to the bottom and, as we drew closer, I noticed that the ground seemed to open at the base of the slope. We were nearing a cave in the ground below. The kid has a plan, after all!
“Skalige! Look!” I shouted to the baron, who appeared much too concentrated on not tumbling from his chest plate like poor Amelia. The prince disappeared into the earth at the bottom, as did Cirian, Aldroc and the elf scout. We had mere seconds to reach the cave before the giant would be upon us! I could feel the sudden quakes from its footsteps as it drew closer and I heard the horrific sounds that it made. We passed through the cavern entrance just in time as the giant passed by on the outside.
The six of us remaining stood motionless, waiting to hear the footsteps trail off into the distance while it searched for us. We had landed inside of an old mining shaft. Wooden beams stabilized the ceiling to keep it from caving in on laborers and piles of ore deposits lay scattered along the walls. As the giant turned its body, the roof of the cave dropped clouds of loose dirt onto our heads. Bats fled from the chaotic turbulence, escaping into the sunlight.
“The mine leads to an opening at the other side.” Malachi explained, “It’s not too far.”
We quickened our pace, lightly running on the tips of our toes through the mine shaft while our pursuer scoured for us on the surface; I knew that it was only a matter of time before he realized that we had vanished into the cave. The slightest disruption would collapse the mine and bury us alive. With no light to lead us, we blindly felt against the walls and moved further away from the tremors behind.
In the darkness, I could only hear the shuffling of armor around me and the screeching of bats. Drops of cold water rained from the ceiling and ran down my neck. The thick smell of soot filled my nostrils as the giant’s steps caused the mine to shake. Skalige’s sweaty hand suddenly gripped mine and led me onward. I could hear him mutter, “Say a word about this to anyone and I’ll kill you, Caine Mercer.”
Outside, we could hear the footsteps of the giant as it searched for us. With each lumbering stomp, the mine shaft would rumble and shake around us. Fearing the worst, I said to the baron, “If I don’t make it out, Skalige…tell her...”
“Shut it, Caine. Not now.” he snapped, irritably.
Half-way before we could feel the warm glow of the sun again, a loud quake erupted from far behind us. Clouds of dust exploded from the shaft as it began to collapse and implode. I shouted, “RUN! HURRY!”
I brought the exhausted escapees to the blinding light at the end of the dark path.
My company and I burst free of the mine just as the last boulders collapsed, filling the tunnel completely and coating us in black soot. We all happily rejoiced, shaking each others’ hands and cheering. I discovered that the shaft had led us into an empty valley between three sets of hills. The bones of great beasts lay scattered throughout the pass, thoroughly polished and cleaned of their meat. Skalige shook the soot from his body like a wet dog drying itself.
Malachi peered around the corner of the mine entrance, squinting his eyes in the sunlight as he searched for the giant’s great shadow. Aldroc and the elf scout were busy brushing the dirt from their bodies and plucking spiders off their jackets. Above us, ten vultures began circling the valley, as if they knew something we did not.
With a look of surprise, Malachi said, “I hardly expected that to work. By the Gods, that was incredible. Where do we go now?”
“Where’s the rest of your plan? You knew where the mine ended, right?” Aldroc asked, his face growing pale.
“I knew where it ended. You could see that from the mountain. I can’t remember the way to Avenwood. It was dark, the night I followed the giant here.” he answered as he rubbed soot from his blonde hair.
“Well, we kn
ow we can’t outrun it,” I noted, “and we can’t fight it. Avenwood is our best chance at escaping but it’s a good stretch from here. What does that leave us with?”
“A distraction?” Cirian suggested.
“But how? Doubt any one of you’s got explosive powder tucked away in your pockets.” I replied, rubbing my soot-covered temples, “Any ideas?”
“It thinks that we were crushed in the mine? We should run now while we have the upper hand!” Aldroc exclaimed, terrified the same as us with a worried expression on his wrinkled face, “The longer we sit here, the sooner it finds us!”
“And run where? Hmm?” Skalige asked, narrowing his eyes, “The giant can take five steps and catch us running full speed! I speak for myself when I say that running is out of the question.”
“Then what do you propose we do? Because waiting here will get us killed! Do you see any crags or cliffs nearby? Any trees to give us cover? There’s nowhere to hide in this valley!” Cirian asked, receiving a gruff snort from the baron.
“We’re dead either way! Oh, Gods, this isn’t how I imagined it would end!” Aldroc cried, clutching his trembling face, “Did you see what he did to that knight in the cave?! I can’t be eaten! I have a wife! My son, Luan was born this past May!”
“Someone, shut him up, please,” the baron snapped, “before he helps the monster find us. The beast won’t care if you’re married or when your son was born, tailor.”
“And what do you know about giants, sir? I’ve only just met you! How can I trust my life in a stranger’s hands? I say we run now and plan later!” the old man pleaded, now sweating profusely.
