Travels With a Fairytale Monster

by Elizabeth Gannon

  “Thoughts on how we can get it?”

  “I…” She didn’t get a chance to finish that, as a wagon soared over their heads and smashed into the camp as if thrown by something.

  Ryle swore, ducking down further into the pile.

  Taylor turned to see that the giant had apparently kicked the wagon in an effort to kill several of the Cormoranians who were inside a dilapidated building, but he’d kicked the vehicle too hard and the wreckage had flown clear through the building and out the other side.

  The shattered pieces of wagon crashed into the camp, scattering the troops and sending their gear flying in all directions.

  Including the staff.

  She was on her feet and running full speed down the pile of debris towards it before she even knew what she was doing. Ryle yelled at her to stop, but the soldiers had already seen her. It was a terrible plan, the result of instinct rather than strategy.

  It was sloppy.

  She knew better than that.

  Still, she pumped her legs faster, calling on them to expend the last energy reserves her withering body had to offer, and praying that it would be enough. She was betting this battle, her life, and the entire kingdom on the fact that it would be. She reached the bottom of the pile and dashed down the street towards where the rod had skidded.

  Then she saw it, sitting in the middle of the street. Just… sitting there.

  The power to win back her life.

  Just sitting there, out in the open.

  Unfortunately, the Baseland commander had regained his senses and had spotted the rod too. His gaze cut to her and he instantly knew what she was planning. He pulled himself to his feet and started to run towards the rod as well.

  The footrace was on.

  Taylor began to swear softly with each step, her tired starving muscles beginning to cramp. She hadn’t pushed them this hard in months. But she was not going to lose. She’d lost too much already, and she simply refused to allow that man to use that rod thing to control that poor giant, anymore!

  Also, there was the fact that if she didn’t win the race, the commander was going to use it to make the giant kill her.

  That was also a concern.

  Strangely though, not as big a concern.

  Which was very odd.

  The man had started out in front of her, slightly closer to the spot where the rod had landed, and he reached the wand several steps ahead of her. He lifted it into the air and began to say something, but Taylor was too fired up to even hear him.

  She firmed her jaw and barreled straight into the bastard, driving her shoulder into his midsection and knocking him off his feet, the way her brother had taught her as kids when they played sports together. The man was evidently not expecting her to move so fast and was taken entirely by surprise. She heard a satisfying crack of his ribs as she impacted him, and he gave a small cry as he crashed backwards onto the street, loosening his grip on the rod. She grabbed hold of it and tried to yank it from his hands, as he reached out to cushion his fall onto the stony ground. She scrambled over him, and pressed one foot against his face to give herself enough leverage to physically wrench the rod from his grip.

  It was a tarnished silver ceremonial mace; about three feet long. At one end was a red stone surrounded by a design of sharp metal points. Down the shaft of the object was writing in several different languages, only one of which she understood: “DOMINION.”

  And Taylor suddenly saw red. Fury coursed through her as she held the object and imagined all the terrible things this man had made the giant do, using whatever strange power the rod no doubt held. Horrors against the innocent and against the giant itself.

  The man tried to pull himself free, his hand reaching for his weapon.

  She roared in anger as she rolled over on top of him and used the decorative points on top of the rod to smash him in the head several times, until the man ceased moving.

  Behind her, she could hear Ryle fighting with several soldiers as they rushed forward to reach their stricken commander.

  And crashing into the scene was the giant itself, roaring in anger and looking even larger than it had before.

  Ryle swore and dove out of the way as the creature’s foot came down and just missed stepping on him, instead crushing the soldiers he had been fighting. Ryle looked up at her from the pavement and made a frantic motion with his hand. “RUN! TAYLOR, GET OUT OF THERE!”

  She ignored him.

  In one movement, she pulled herself to her feet and held the rod into the air. “STOP!” She commanded, trying to sound confident despite the fact that the creature was only a few yards from her now. “I command you to STOP!”

  To her surprise, the monster slowed its advance and then halted, so close she could have reached out and touched it. It stared down at her in confusion, its huge fiery head tilting to the side slightly.

  “Please stop...” She breathed, suddenly feeling very tired now that the adrenaline from the fight was wearing off. She’d pushed her exhausted body too far, too fast and now she was feeling so weak that not even a pissed-off giant could stop her from feeling like she was going to collapse. “…please.”

  The monster watched her for a moment longer and then the flames which engulfed its body slowly began to subside. The giant gradually shrunk in size, until finally reaching its normal eight foot height, smoke slowly rising from its seared flesh.

  The giant had a greenish-grey skin tone up close, dotted with severe burns over most of its heavily muscled body. It wore a simple loincloth made of a dark, obviously flame-retardant, fabric. The monster had a rough, almost hand-chiseled look, as if every inch of its body were hard and coarse. A long humanoid face ended in a square jaw, which was filled with what appeared to be very sharp teeth. Its eyes glowed orange, and at the moment, were filled with something between confusion and wonder. All told, its appearance was quite striking.

  Beautiful, in fact.

  It was staring directly at her, as if it could see into her or something. Far from being horrified, its heated gaze began to make her feel slightly nervous for some reason. Like she were on display. Or a potential meal. The sensation burned through her exhaustion and sent an electrical jolt through her entire body, so intense and immediate that it felt like fire racing across her skin.

  It actually hurt.

  She cleared her throat. “T-t-thank you.” She stammered. “Thank you for stopping. My name is Taylor.” She pointed at her brother. “And that’s Ryle.”

  Ryle silently waved his hand slightly in greeting from his place on the pavement, still looking shell-shocked and too amazed to form words.

  The giant slowly reached out one huge hand towards her.

  “Oh.” She instinctively took a step back, but its reach was simply too long to back away from. Its palm slowly touched her cheek, far gentler than she would have anticipated. “Oh… um… okay.” She smiled slightly. “Hi.”

  Its palm was still warm from the fire and felt surprisingly good against her skin. She closed her eyes against the sudden rush of sensations…

  And that’s when the giant passed out at her feet, collapsing onto the cobblestones in a heap.

  Ryle stared at her in wonder. “I can’t believe you killed an entire squad of soldiers and the giant!” He pointed at the rod in her hand. “Magic wands kick ass!”

  Chapter Three

  “I still don’t understand how you were able to stop the giant.” Captain Gate asked again. “I just don’t see how something like that could be defeated, let alone apprehended.”

  “Good soldiering, sir.” Buggane answered immediately. “I analyzed the situation and dispatched my best men to deal with it.” He nodded persuasively. “Hand chosen. By me. Trained them myself.”

  “I see.” Gate nodded, turning to look at Taylor and Ryle. “So, I’ll ask you: how did you stop the giant?”

  At the moment, Taylor was standing inside the village’s crumbling makeshift fortifications, giving a mission briefing to th
e fort’s commander in his office. Predictably, Buggane had taken complete credit for the entire battle, even the parts he hadn’t been present for and the parts he had no hope of understanding, because he was an idiot.

  Taylor was still feeling too shocked to move, let alone explain the situation to a commanding officer however. In the space of an hour, she’d defended the fort against an invasion, learned that ogres still existed, been attacked by said ogre, killed a man, and had used a magic staff thing to order an ogre not to eat her.

  And its skin had been so comfortingly warm.

  She wasn’t sure why that thought kept running through her head, but it did. The giant’s hand had felt really nice against her skin. She’d always hated the cold. And the giant’s hand had seemed to warm her to the core, as if heating her blood itself. It was relaxing and comforting and… really really pleasant.

  She hadn’t felt something like that since… She paused. Nope. She’d never felt anything like that before. The monster’s skin and piercing orange eyes were all she could think about and it was beginning to worry her.

  She didn’t become distracted like this. Ever. Particularly in the last several years, since her life had become so unremittingly hard. It had beaten her down to the point where she no longer cared if she even woke up the next day.

  At the moment though, she found herself genuinely interested in the giant and what it was doing. Where did it come from? What was its name? Why was it so warm and interesting when everything else in her life was cold and miserably dull?

  She had no answers to those questions. But she had set her mind on finding them. No matter what.

  “Tay?” Ryle whispered lowly. “Tay, Captain Gate is talking to you.”

  “What?” Her mind snapped back into place. “I’m sorry, sir, what were you saying?”

  “I asked you how you were able to defeat the monster.” The old man asked again.

  Monster. Why did people keep calling it that? It wasn’t a monster. It was as much a victim in all this as the Cormoranians were. In fact, more so.

  Poor giant.

  Caged and treated like an animal for god knew how long. Used as a weapon by people who didn’t care what it wanted or what it was feeling. They saw it simply as a beast of burden which could be used to commit slaughter.

  But Taylor had looked into its eyes; it had a soul. It wasn’t a mindless killer, it was a living breathing being.

  Ryle cleared his throat, evidently deciding that she had no intention of ever replying. “Um… I’ll answer that, sir. See, Taylor remembered seeing the commander guy hold up this…”

  “Chain.” She interrupted him before he could finish. “I saw the enemy’s commander hold up one of the giant’s chains, and I realized that we could use the chain to trip the giant.” She quickly lied. She wasn’t entirely sure why she felt compelled to lie, but her instincts told her to play this close to her vest and she always tried to follow her instincts. It was the first rule of being crafty. “And… so we did.” She cleared her throat. “We tripped it.”

  Ryle stared at her as if she were insane. “Huh?”

  She elbowed him and shot him a vicious glare.

  He nodded, catching on to the lie. “Yeah, uh… we… we tripped that giant good, sir.” He pressed one elbow against his fingertips and collapsed his upturned arm down onto the other to simulate the giant falling over like a tree. “It was like: ‘Timmmmmmmber!’” He nodded. “And that’s what happened.”

  Gate nodded. “Good thinking.”

  “Yeah.” Ryle nodded. “Well, sometimes my sister gets a thought in her head, and it’s just really weird and you don’t know why in the hell she’s doing it because it’s going to get you hanged, but you just gotta go along with her because she knows what she’s doing. Usually. Even if what she’s doing is criminally stupid and doomed to fail and going to get you both executed.” He smiled nervously and playfully punched Gate on the shoulder. “Tripping a giant. ‘The plan.’ Yep.”

  Gate made a confused sound and backed away slightly, just in case Ryle tried to hit him again.

  “I told them to do that, sir.” Buggane added quickly. “Using the chain was my idea.”

  Ryle’s eyes narrowed. “Oh, come on! That’s…”

  Taylor elbowed him again.

  “…entirely how it happened.” Ryle finished. “Like, if the Gods had to write you a field report on what They saw happen, that’s what the report would read. Verbatim.” He pointed at Buggane. “That man… He’s really something. And…”

  Taylor cut him off again, trying to keep him from babbling. “Are we dismissed, sir?” She asked Gate, wanting to get the hell out of the room before her brother confessed to something he probably hadn’t even done. He wasn’t the best at being questioned by authority figures.

  “Yes, that will be all. Thank you.” Gate told them. “Your kingdom and king owe you a great debt today.”

  “They are most welcome, sir.” Buggane quickly interjected. “It was the least I could do for them.” He held up a finger, as if just thinking of something. “Which reminds me, I have a list of suggestions on ways to better administrate my men and I know you’d love to go over them with me.”

  Gate was still trying to get out of that meeting, while Taylor pulled Ryle out the door and back onto the street.

  Ryle’s pleasant smile disappeared the second the door was closed, and he rounded on her. “Okay, what the hell is going on!?!”

  “Nothing.” She hedged. “Nothing at all. Why?”

  “Because we just lied to our commanding officer!” He pointed at the door, his voice lowering. “Do you have any idea what they do to you for that?”

  “Hang us?” She guessed.

  “No!” He shook his head frantically. “They’ll hang us!”

  She frowned slightly. “But that’s what I…”

  “What’s going on, Tay!?!” He interrupted. “You know I’ll lie to anyone if you want me to, but I’d at least like to know why, as I’m marched to the gallows.”

  “Oh, you exaggerate.” She waved a dismissive hand. “No one is getting hanged.”

  “They hung two guys last week for stealing beets, Tay.” He reminded her. “I don’t know what kind of dream world you think you’re living in, but this place is one step away from hanging people just so they can eat them!”

  “They’ve never ‘hung’ anybody; pictures get ‘hung’, people get ‘hanged.’” She corrected, rolling her eyes. She casually pried the weird magic wand thing from the rubble where she’d stashed it before the meeting. “And no one is eating anyone. I know what I’m doing.”

  Taylor’s machinations and clever misdirections had kept them both fed and alive long after everyone else they knew had starved or been killed. One day she might meet someone who could out-think her, but it sure as hell wouldn’t be Buggane or Gate.

  “Yeah, and I think our military tribunal is going to know what you’re doing too!” He pointed at the mace, hustling her off of the street and into one of the alleys before anyone saw. “It’s called ‘stealing military secrets’.” He nodded. “We’ll get hung for that too!”

  “Hanged.” She corrected.

  “They’ll hang us until we’re on the verge of death, cut us down, then we’ll get hung! Because this is so much worse than beets!” He pointed at the rod. “That’s what happens when you steal secrets!”

  “Oh, it’s not a secret.” She looked down at the object in question, slowly running a fingertip down the engraved letters. “It’s just… mysterious.”

  “Great.” He clapped his hands down at his sides. “That’ll be our defense then. It’ll make legal history. ‘Sorry, your honor, the magic wand was just too mysterious, so we had to pick it up and start playing around with it. You understand.’” He took on a deeper tone, which was evidently supposed to be the judge in question. “Why, of course, son! Ha-ha! I think we can all understand the impulse to grab odd pieces of mysterious military equipment which possess unknown powers, then lie
about it to superior officers and carry it around with you like it’s a fashion accessory. Case dismissed.’”

  She leaned against the doorframe of one of the ruined buildings. “Are you done yet?”

  “No!” He shook his head. “This is worse than the huge friggin’ giant coming to kill us, because at least that made some kind of sense! It’s evil!”

  She opened her mouth to object to that assertion but he didn’t give her a chance.

  “But this?” He continued. “The whole ‘I’m going to lie about the magic wand because it’s so sparkly that I just want to twirl it around’ thing?” He shook his head. “That’s not normal. That makes no sense. And it’s going to get us hanged and eaten! Maybe drawn and quartered, since then we’ll cook faster!”

  She tried to think of an explanation for her behavior that would make sense. “I…” She trailed off. “I just didn’t want them to have it.” She finally got out, her voice all but a whisper.

  “Why!?!” He sounded truly confused now. “What difference would it make?”

  “Because then they would control the giant.”

  “So!?!”

  “So then they’d kill it or have it kill for them!”

  “Again: so!?!” He threw his arms out in exasperation. “So what!?! It’s a huge friggin’ giant! I hope they do!”

  “You don’t mean that.” She started down the street.

  “The hell I don’t!” He stalked after her. “It tried to eat me, so I’m not really going to be crying myself to sleep at night if they decide to put it out of my misery. Frankly, I don’t think anyone could contend that the world isn’t a better place without ogres in it.”

  She opened her mouth to protest again, but he talked right over her.

  “And if they can turn it against the Baselanders? Hell, I’d actively support that plan!” He trotted down the stairs behind her. “Let them wipe each other out. Getting a visit from a pissed-off giant that’s on fire? Sounds like just what those assholes need.”