Travels With a Fairytale Monster

by Elizabeth Gannon

  Smoke was rising from the darkened interior of the crate, as if it had just been on fire.

  Several Baselanders immediately moved away from the mysterious enclosure, obviously terrified. In fact, they were evidently more afraid of whatever they had in there than they were of the Cormoranians, because they had their backs to Buggane and his men.

  Something in the cage moved; a dark shape stirring in the smoke and shadows.

  The white haired man pointed at it and motioned at the soldiers. The men fumbled with the oversized lock for a moment, but finally succeeded in pulling the heavy door open and then stumbled back in terror.

  The door to the cage fell free.

  The rustling of chains could be heard above the sound of Buggane’s shouted orders and epithets as his men encountered the first of the Baselanders at the edge of the dock.

  The rustling of big chains.

  A monster shuffled forth from the darkness, bound by manacles and leg irons, and escorted by a team of soldiers on both sides manning its restraints. The dark creature towered over the men surrounding it; eight feet of solid muscle. Maybe more. Its skin was dark and cracked, as if burned, and smoke rose from it. Its eyes glowed faintly in the gloom of the night; predatory and angry.

  The white haired Baselander motioned for the soldiers again, and they dropped the largest of the monster’s chains.

  The soldiers dashed away.

  The Baselander said something to the creature and held up a baton or staff of some kind above his head.

  The creature looked down at its newly freed hands and then at Buggane’s men.

  A low growl echoed through the area, as if traveling through the ground itself until the entire street seemed to vibrate and move from the deep sound. The monster suddenly threw its hands wide and the growl turned into a savage roar. Some of the guidelines used to control the creature snapped free, showering the area with bits of broken chain links. The heaviest of the chains were still attached to its wrists and ankles by manacles however, each of which was secured by a link of iron as wide as Taylor’s waist. The monster’s incredible strength caused the heavy metal weights attached to these lengths of chain to fly through the air from the sheer force of its movements, like a wrecking ball.

  Ryle watched as the huge weights hit the end of their chains and fell back to the ground with enough force to crack the heavy stone of the street, but which the monster had swung as if they weighed nothing. “H-h-holy shit.” He stammered. “There’s something you don’t see every day.”

  A moment later, the giant bellowed again and erupted into angry flames. Its roar became all the louder and more terrifying, now filled with hate and pain. Its huge muscles rippled and seemed to move with the flames, which now coated its entire body. The fire added to the creature’s height and bulk until it was taller than the buildings which surrounded it. Ten feet. Fifteen. Twenty. More.

  It was a living inferno of rage and fire.

  And it was standing on the dock where her father had taught her to fish.

  Taylor was still too shocked to speak; her mouth hanging open in amazement. She’d never seen anything like it before. It was mesmerizing. Almost… beautiful, in a way. So much power. So much grandeur, all inside one elegant form.

  She rubbed at the skin of her arm again, feeling a sympathetic burning sensation on her skin as she looked at the flames racing across the giant’s body.

  Buggane’s men stopped in their tracks as well, either as transfixed by the sight as she was, or more likely, too afraid to move closer to it.

  The creature had no such difficulty though, and let loose another deep animalistic roar, now all the louder due to its huge increase in size. Several of the Cormoranians immediately fled the scene in sheer terror and the rest of them covered their ears to shield themselves from the deafening sound of a nightmare made real once more.

  She just couldn’t believe she was seeing what she was seeing.

  Or that it would be so… magnificent.

  “T-t-they have a giant.” Ryle stammered, backpedaling away from it several steps. “The Baselanders have got a fucking giant!!!”

  Chapter Two

  “They’ve got a giant!” Her brother repeated again. “I can’t believe they’ve got a fucking giant!”

  “Yes, Ryle. I believe you’ve established that.” She rolled her eyes, trying not to yell at him. He’d been unable to say anything else for the past five minutes, and it was beginning to grate. “And as I told you, that’s not a giant,” she shook her head, “it’s an ogre. Giants are only…”

  “Who cares!?!” He pointed at the monster. “It’s going to eat us!”

  She opened her mouth to protest, then stopped. He did have a point. She had no experience with ogres, except for what she’d read, but she was reasonably sure that the creature would indeed consume them if given the chance. That was what they did. All they did, in fact. Which was why they had all been hunted down and exterminated by Taylor’s grandfather’s generation. They didn’t exist anymore. They were a legend, now only used as bedtime stories to terrify children. They were all dead.

  Except no one had bothered to tell that fact to this particular ogre, as it seemed to have no issue with questioning its own existence, as evidenced by the fact that it was currently rampaging through the village.

  She dove to the side as the creature threw a boat at some of the Cormoranian soldiers. The vessel crashed into the men, driving them through the front windows of a store and exploding in a shower of wood and shattered glass.

  “It just threw a friggin’ boat at us, Taylor!” Her brother screamed, his voice reaching an octave usually reserved for excited teenaged girls. “A friggin’ fishing boat! It just picked the damned thing up and…”

  “I see that, Ryle, yes.” She raced down one of the alleys to avoid getting bombarded with other vessels. “I almost overlooked it though, so thanks for checking.”

  “Well, I’m sorry for being just a little unnerved by the fact that there’s a fifty foot giant throwing watercraft at me, Taylor!” He pointed at the creature, which was silhouetted against the night sky like a living fiery mountain. “Excuse me, but I think I’ve earned the right to be scared shitless right now!”

  “It’s not a giant!” She jumped over a low wall, trying to get to higher ground. “I keep telling you!”

  “I don’t care what it is! I only care that it’s trying to kill me!”

  Ahead of them, several soldiers had taken up a position at the top of a tower and were shooting arrows at the monster.

  Taylor raced past the base of their lofty perch, already knowing how that confrontation was going to end and not wanting to be around when it did.

  The monster roared in fury, holding up one giant flaming hand to block the projectiles, then swung out with its other arm, which was still attached to the ball and chain restraints. The heavy iron sphere at the end of the chain crashed into the middle of the tower, pulverizing the stones and cutting through the fortification like a knife through butter. The high spire teetered for a moment, then toppled down to the street.

  Ryle swore, shielding his head from the debris. “He threw a tower at us, Taylor! A friggin’ building now!”

  The monster bellowed in anger and heaved the ball up into the air again, only to smash it down onto the rubble like a hammer as the soldiers inside dove out of the way.

  “What the hell are we going to do, Taylor!?!” Ryle yelled, as they raced through the burned-out ruins of a building and out the other side. “It’s going to eat us and grind our bones into bread or something! They do that! I wrote a report on it for school once!”

  “Why are you asking me!?!”

  “Because you’re the smart one!” He pointed at the monster as it towered over the tops of the buildings behind them. “And right now, I’m thinking we need a pretty goddamn smart plan and we need it quick!”

  She opened her mouth to reply, but realized that she had no idea what they should do. Rationally, she knew th
ey should escape the village. Flee. There was no way they could stop something that powerful, and even if they could, they’d never again have such a perfect chance to escape the militia like Ryle always suggested. The giant was providing the perfect distraction for both sides and slipping away would be easy.

  But for whatever reason, Taylor didn’t tell him that.

  Because deep down, she didn’t want to leave. There was something in her that was telling her that this was where she was supposed to be at the moment and the thought of leaving made her almost sick. Literally, the thought made her feel ill. She was supposed to be here, she could feel it with every ounce of her body. She was needed here, even if it meant dying.

  And this time, it had nothing to do with protecting the village. She wasn’t sure just what was telling her she needed to remain in the city, but she knew it was something important. Everything in her was telling her to stay, so she was going to stay.

  But Ryle was right.

  She had gotten them this far in the war through sheer shrewdness, manipulating the idiots which surrounded them and carefully planning out how to come out on top. It had kept them both alive all this time, and she had complete faith in her own abilities to get them out of this particular mess too.

  True, she’d never tried to out-maneuver a giant before, but how hard could it really be? They weren’t rumored to be very intelligent.

  In Taylor’s experience, guile beat strength every time.

  She took a deep breath and stopped to regain her thoughts. “Okay, let’s just take stock of the situation for a moment.”

  Ryle nodded, holding up his hand to count off the main points. “Well, first: huge friggin’ giant…”

  “Would you stop with that!” She snapped. “Just let me think!”

  “’Huge friggin’ giant’ wins out over your annoyance, Tay. ‘Huge friggin’ giant’ is a trump card which gives me the right to bring it up at any moment for the rest of our lives, and it means that I win the argument. Hell, it means I win all the arguments we’ll ever have! Because if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t find myself currently being chased by said ‘huge friggin’ giant’ and would instead be safely making my way to beautiful snowy Lapland, a winter wonderland made real.” He pointed over his shoulder, his voice growing hysterical. “But instead, I’m being chased by a huge friggin’ giant!”

  She took another calming breath. “There’s a piece to this we’re missing.” He opened his mouth to reply but she cut him off. “Don’t.”

  He closed it again, looking angry that he hadn’t been allowed to yell about the giant again.

  “Okay, so the Baselanders are using a giant to clear their path, right?”

  “Ogre.” He corrected. “I’m told its technical genus is: ‘ogre.’”

  She turned to glare at him. “If you can’t take this seriously, I’m just going to let you go get eaten by that thing all by yourself, okay? Is that what you want?”

  “No.” He answered, looking dejected. “You know that if it eats you, it eats me too.”

  “So, the Baselanders are using a giant as a weapon. It probably does the heavy lifting and they send it in first to make sure everyone’s dead, right? Clear the path for them and keep their casualties down?”

  “I guess.” He shrugged helplessly. “Frankly, I’m trying really, really hard not to totally fucking lose it right now, so I’ll take your word on how the investigation is going or whatever.” He crouched in the doorway of a shop, his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. “I mean, a giant, man. I didn’t even know they existed.”

  “They don’t, but that’s a separate issue right now.” She closed her eyes, trying to figure out her best course of action. Planning was what being a tailor was all about; you just measured everything out until they fit. “So, their superweapon is attacking us and if we don’t stop it, it will kill us.”

  “How can you be so calm right now!?!”

  “I’m…” She trailed off.

  That was an excellent point. Because she wasn’t upset over this. At all. It was something which needed to be dealt with, true, but she wasn’t nearly as terrified as she would have expected to be when facing imminent death. Hell, she wasn’t upset that they were both about to die. Not in the least.

  It was almost like she believed it wasn’t going to happen.

  Which was very, very odd.

  “I don’t know.” She finally answered. “I guess… well, I guess I’m still kind of out of it from the head wound.”

  He nodded, panting for breath. “Makes sense.”

  It did. But she didn’t believe that explanation at all. She had no idea what was actually going on with her, but she was in complete control of her faculties at the moment. In fact, she felt more in control than she could ever remember being.

  “So, the question is: how do we stop something so much bigger and more powerful than we are?” She pursed her lips in thought. “Ideas?”

  “Are you fucking kidding me right now!?!” He screamed in disbelief. “What, like we’ve got a little handbook somewhere which details how to deal with a fucking giant rampage, but the rest of us have just never told you about it and didn’t want to bring it up before now!?!” He shook his head, looking amazed at her stupidity. “No! No, I have no clue how to stop that thing!” Her brother sounded more panicked now, if anything. “I don’t think there is a way of stopping that thing! It’ll smash us to bits!” He pointed back towards the monster. “Did you see the size of those chains!?!”

  She frowned slightly. Yes. Yes, she’d seen the size of the monster’s chains.

  The pattern in her head got one step closer to completion as the pieces shifted into place.

  “The chains.” She whispered.

  “Yeah, what about them?”

  “It’s wearing chains.”

  “No fucking duh, Tay!” He shouted. “I kinda noticed that when he was using them to try to whip us to death!”

  She shook her head. “Chains, Ryle!” She pointed back at the monster. “No one voluntarily wears chains and lives in a cage!”

  “Because it’s evil!” His voice rose an octave again. “That’s why they were exterminated! They can’t be controlled!”

  “Except this one is!” She shook her head. “And there is no way they would ever let that beast out of its cage unless they had a way of making sure it went back into it. And it’s not love or loyalty, as then they wouldn’t need the chains, right?”

  “Maybe they just look cool?”

  “What!?!” She asked in disbelief.

  “Maybe they just put the damned thing in the cage and make it wear chains because it makes it look more badass.” He nodded. “Better show that way.”

  She stared at him silently for a beat. “That is the single stupidest thing I think you’ve ever said.”

  He nodded in agreement again. “Which is why I’m not the smart one.”

  She started pacing. “So, the monster is being held against its will and put into their service.” She looked over at him. “How? How do you control a monster that could swallow you whole?”

  “Itty bitty kittens, Taylor.” He guessed sarcastically. “How the hell should I know!?! Let’s just get out of here!”

  “No, this is important.” She went back to pacing, mentally reviewing everything she knew about ogres and the events of the evening. They had opened the cage. The old guy had looked at the ogre… “I got it!”

  Ryle sighed in relief and looked up at the sky. “Oh, thank the gods!”

  “We need that staff thing!” She pointed back towards the docks. “The Baseland commander had some sort of rod in his hands as he spoke to the monster, right?”

  He stared at her silently for a breath. “A magic wand.” Her brother summarized. “Your plan involves using a magic wand to stop a giant from eating us.” He doubled-over and put his hands on his knees again, looking sick. “Dammit, we’re going to die. We really are. I knew it was going to happen, but I wasn’t exactly prepared fo
r learning that I’m going to be eaten by a giant.” His voice took on an edge of hysteria again. “I mean, how can you prepare for being eaten by a giant!?!”

  “It’s not a ‘magic wand’!” She paused. “Well, it might be, I don’t know. But whatever it is, I’m betting that’s how they’re making sure the giant does what they want.” She snapped her fingers. “We get our hands on that, and not only does this battle stop, but we’d have a weapon to win this war!”

  He continued trying to catch his breath for another moment, then looked up at her. “How sure are you about this?”

  “Forty percent?” She estimated seriously. “No… more like thirty, probably.”

  He considered that. “Okay.” He stood straighter. “So now not only do we have to fight a giant, we’ve also got to kill an entire squad of soldiers so that we can steal their magic wand.”

  “Basically.” She started back towards the docks. “You coming?”

  He let out another sigh. “Where else would I be?”

  She raced down the street, searching for any signs of the commander she’d seen earlier. Sadly, the area had now become even more devastated than it had been before. Buildings which had stood for untold centuries were now rubble and Taylor found that at the moment, the only emotion she had about the situation was annoyance over the fact that they were slowing her down.

  They reached the top of a pile of stones which had once been the town hall in front of the marketplace, and looked down at a small command center which had been set up by the Baselanders near the docks. They appeared to be trying to set up another ferry and communicate with the main part of their army which was still trapped on the other side of the river, while their super-weapon did the hard work for them. And sure enough, the commander in question was standing there, talking to several of his men.

  She pointed down at them. “There he is!” She whispered.

  “Does he have the magic wand?” Ryle asked, crawling up behind her.

  “Please stop calling it that. It makes my plan sound ridiculous.” She scanned the camp and spotted the object in question sitting on the table beside the troops. “But yes, he’s got it.”