The Path of Giants

by B. T. Narro

  I had never gone this long without taking a breath. There was a fire in my chest as my vision started to narrow, darkening around the edges.

  “Move!” I heard Hadley yell above everyone else.

  The commotion stopped.

  Suddenly I was free, and there was an earthy and rancid smell in the air.

  “What the hell?” Valinox uttered as he appeared just beside me.

  “I can’t cast!” yelled the sorcerer behind me.

  I collapsed and gasped for air. This was my chance, dammit! I could kill Valinox right now! But it took me a few long seconds to get back to my feet as Valinox lifted his hand at me and looked confused that nothing happened.

  I had finally regained my strength and was about to drive my sword through his unprotected heart, but I heard the sorcerer running up from behind me. Did I want to risk sacrificing my life for a chance to take out the demigod?

  Not today.

  I turned and jabbed my sword upward, running it through the sorcerer’s stomach. He stabbed me in my bare chest at the same time, up close to my shoulder. He wheezed as he lost his strength, falling backward and freeing my sword from his body.

  I left his dagger near my right shoulder as I started to turn around, but I was struck in the face with a fist that felt like a brick. I didn’t remember falling, but I was on the ground.

  I looked up to see a boot coming toward me, so I rolled out of the way. There was a dent in the floor where Valinox had stomped.

  I could hear my peers shouting at each other on the other side of the door. I got up and ripped the dagger out of my chest. I couldn’t heal it until the curse passed, and I didn’t know how long that would take. But I needed as much mobility with my arms as I could get. This might be the best chance I had to kill this bastard.

  He stood between me and the door while his sorcerer was dying on the ground behind me. I knew his only escape was through me, out the window.

  “Why Airinold would create the possibility of such a curse escapes me,” Valinox said as he eyed me with a half-smile. “I don’t care anymore. I will kill you myself and let him destroy this castle trying to get to me. I’ve had enough of you. No more games.”

  Valinox pulled a huge blade out from the sheath on his belt. It looked much too heavy for any human to handle, but he whisked it around as if it weighed nothing.

  He came at me.

  I backed and leaned away as his quick blade flew overhead. I tossed the dagger at his stomach, but he smacked it down with his free hand, using catlike reflexes.

  I noticed a bloody gash on the hand he’d used.

  I had to dodge again as he stabbed his sword at me. I guided it away and tried to counterattack, but my wound really limited my range of motion. I had to mostly use my left hand, which I wasn’t used to, but I still managed to get quite a bit of strength behind my attack.

  Yet Valinox merely stuck his arm in front of my striking sword as if it were a shield. But he seemed shocked from the pain as he flinched.

  “What kind of steel is that?” he grumbled as he gave my sword a better look.

  Hitting his arm had felt like striking wood, but at least I could see I was hurting him. “The kind of steel that’s going to kill you.”

  I swung at him, but it was easy for him to block with his weapon, making me feel all too weak.

  He jerked his wrist, threatening to disarm me with inhuman strength, but I held on tightly.

  It did take me off my stance, however, as I stumbled over toward my hearth. He swung at my side, forcing me to fall flat to avoid it, as I had no other space available. Then he stabbed at my vulnerable body, but I rolled away.

  There was a loud snapping sound as the tip of Valinox’s sword broke off against the stone hearth. Valinox shouted in pain, though the sound was drowned out by the banging against my door as my friends tried to break it down.

  I ran for it as I held my sword up to block Valinox swinging at me, but he was too strong. His attack hit my sword and followed through, pushing my weapon against me hard enough to bruise my chest and send me back to the floor.

  He stabbed at my closest body part to him, my leg. I couldn’t move away fast enough and yelled out, knowing I was about to be struck, but there wasn’t much of a sharp end to his sword anymore. He did draw blood with his jagged edge, but it was only a flesh wound.

  I picked up the tip of his sword right next to me and hurled it at him. It stuck into his lower abdomen. He screamed as he stumbled back, putting his hand over the wound.

  I was up by the time he pulled it out. He threw it at me as I ducked. It missed overhead.

  I charged him, motioning like I was going to swing. He put up his sword to defend himself, but I spun around him and threw open the lock of my door instead. It was costly, however, as he ran the edge of his blade down my back and gave me a deep cut.

  I turned around and ducked as he tried to split my head in half. His sword stuck into the door.

  Pain like I’ve never felt emanated from the wound in my back. I tried to ignore it as I swung at him as hard as I could manage with my injuries. He put his good arm down to stop my blade from going deep into his side, so it went deep into his arm instead.

  I yanked it free and went for another strike as he shouted out, but he stepped close to me and punched me in my abdomen.

  I lost my breath as I fell backward, my sword knocked out of my hands. He had done serious damage, I could tell. I was sure at least one of my ribs was broken.

  I couldn’t even speak to tell my peers that the door was unlocked as Valinox ripped his sword out from the door and turned on me. I could barely even move.

  But then the door swung open. Michael was the first through. Valinox had just shot a look over his shoulder as Michael tackled him and drove a dagger into his torso.

  Valinox rolled with Michael and threw Michael off him in the same motion. Michael soared across the room and hit a wall. He seemed to be concussed as he fell to his hands and knees, wobbling as he tried to get back up.

  Reuben and Aliana had charged through right after Michael, but Aliana was busy calling Reuben an idiot as she tried to aim her bow around him, while Reuben was now trying to wrestle the demigod to the ground. Valinox merely grabbed Reuben by his shirt and looked like he was thinking about throwing Reuben headfirst into a wall, but he held the noble boy up in front of Aliana’s aimed arrow instead.

  Aliana held. There was a moment when everyone went completely still.

  “Don’t shoot!” Reuben yelled as he crossed his arms in front of him.

  Valinox tossed Reuben hard into Aliana. I had gotten back on my feet by then, but I was in no shape to fight. It felt like there was a knife caught in my ribs every time I tried to take a breath.

  Remi, Hadley, Kataleya, and Eden all cautiously entered, most holding some form of a small knife or dagger. They were slowly creeping toward the demigod as Reuben was helping Aliana up.

  “I will kill you, Jon,” Valinox seethed. “But I’ll leave you alive, Eden, until all of this is over. You’re going to watch every last one of them die before I kill you.”

  “Don’t you dare think about running, coward,” Reuben said.

  Valinox clearly didn’t care what names he was called. He darted for the window. Aliana hurried to ready the arrow that had fallen off her bow when Reuben was thrown into her, but the demigod dove and shattered the glass on his way out. She was too late.

  I felt like I could barely see, the pain of my injuries unbearable, but I managed to watch my peers as they ran to the window. Their heads leaned back. They must’ve seen Valinox fly off.

  I collapsed. “Hadley,” I wheezed out. “How long is the curse going to last?”

  “I don’t know!” she said with a great fear in her voice as she tried unsuccessfully to pick me up. I must’ve looked even worse than I felt. “Help me get him far enough from the curse to use his mana!” she told the other girls. “Hurry!”

  Eden, Aliana, Kataleya, and Remi—bless th
em—did their best to help Hadley carry me out of the room, but they barely made it a few steps down the hallway before I slipped out of their awkward hold and hit the floor.

  “It’s not far enough!” Hadley said urgently.

  “He so heavy!” Eden complained. “Reuben?” she called.

  “I’m helping Michael. Don’t tell me all of you are too weak to move one person!”

  “Shut up and get over here!” Kataleya yelled.

  Reuben hurried over. With his help, they quickly got me farther down the hall and away from the curse.

  Normally, my healing spell was incredibly painful. But it was just such a relief to be able to breathe again without pain that I barely felt it as I mended my broken ribs. It turned out he had cracked two of them.

  It didn’t take long for me to heal the rest of my injuries as they helped Michael over so I could reverse his concussion and heal his bruised back.

  Just about everyone seemed to be out of breath by the time we finished.

  “What about the sorcerer Valinox brought?” I asked, thinking he might have some valuable information for us.

  “He’s as dead as dead gets,” Reuben said.

  “Well, now Valinox knows about the curse,” I added. “We’re not going to be able to trap him like that again.”

  “It’s all right, Jon,” Aliana said. “You’re alive, and that’s what’s important.”

  “She’s right,” Reuben agreed. “We should thank the witch for that.”

  Reuben was right. I squeezed Hadley’s shoulder. “Thank you.”

  She put her hand on top of mine. “It’s nothing.”

  I was suddenly very aware that I was shirtless, standing here in front of everyone wearing only bloody undershorts, while the rest of my peers were covered in their loose night attire.

  There was pounding on the door to the apartments below us. “What’s happening up there?” shouted one of the guards.

  “Will somebody let the guards in?” Michael asked. He had on his silly woolen coif. We all looked at it, probably most of us noticing it for the first time.

  “Why don’t you do it?” Eden asked. “And by the way, what the hell are you wearing?”

  There were a few snickers.

  “My head gets cold, all right?” he said with mock annoyance.

  “I’ll open the door,” Aliana said. “And get word to the king about what happened.” She jogged down the hall.

  “How did they get into your room, Jon?” Hadley asked.

  “I think they must’ve come in, invisible, when the castle worker entered to start the fire in my hearth.”

  “Oh, that’s terrifying,” Michael said.

  “What do you have to worry about?” Eden replied. “It’s Jon and me who have to worry the most. Didn’t you hear his threat?”

  “Can’t I be terrified for the two of you?” he replied snidely. “Or am I not capable of empathy?”

  “Sorry,” she muttered in a quiet voice as she looked at the floor. Suddenly she didn’t look like the old Eden anymore.

  Michael appeared surprised by her sullen reply. “Hey,” he said. “I was joking.”

  “Oh.” Eden smiled at him faintly, but it was still clear she wasn’t her old self.

  Eden isn’t the only one who’s different, I thought. In fact, there were very few things that were still the same as they used to be. Not only had Eden’s world been completely flipped around, but so had Kataleya’s and Hadley’s.

  The rest of us might’ve felt like we could resume our lives upon returning to the castle, but that clearly wasn’t the case. The threat of Gourfist was dwindling. We no longer had Failina blocking our enemies from reaching us. I had no doubt that we would face Rohaer in ways we never had before.

  But I didn’t think about all of these things with fear. I had hope. All of us had grown. Tomorrow was a new day, a first step toward ending this war for good. I believed in the king, I believed in my peers, and more than anything, I believed in myself.

  However, my bravery threatened to shatter as I remembered Valinox opening my spine and decimating my ribs. I put it out of my mind for now.

  Before I could start a new day tomorrow, I had to figure out where I would be sleeping tonight. I looked at Michael, who seemed to be watching Eden with hurt in his eyes as she stared at the floor. But then he caught me glancing and appeared confused. At first.

  “Wait a moment,” he said, possibly realizing what I was hinting at with my questioning look. “You’re not suggesting what I think you’re suggesting.”

  “I seem to be Valinox’s primary target,” I explained. “Until we figure out how to disable Valinox’s invisibility spell, I shouldn’t be spending much time alone. That includes sleeping.”

  “What about Reuben?” Michael asked.

  “My ordia isn’t going to help as much as your wind,” Reuben said.

  “Jon’s not going to like my wind very much, trust me,” he said with a small laugh.

  Many of us chuckled, Eden included.

  “Fine,” Michael concluded. “But if you jab me with icy feet while I’m trying to sleep, I’m going to lose it.”

  “Somebody really hates the cold,” I muttered.

  “We’re talking to the king about getting you better protection first thing in the morning,” he said.

  “I’m not going to enjoy this, either.”

  I had a feeling that we wouldn’t even need a conversation with the king. Nykal would arrange for a safer place for me to sleep as soon as he heard about what happened. And if that didn’t do the trick, then he just needed a glimpse at the state of my room.

  I knew that I could speak to the guards right now, who would wake up the councilman, and then accommodations could be made for me to stay in the keep in some windowless room. But I didn’t want to be alone right now, even if it meant sharing a bed with windy Michael. I didn’t want anyone to know how terrified I was of Valinox coming back for me.

  I had been about to lose that fight. He would’ve beaten me.

  I couldn’t stand this feeling of weakness. I found myself balling my fists as I thought about it. I didn’t just want to keep myself and my peers alive through this war. I wanted to become the strongest, most powerful sorcerer Valinox had ever encountered.

  And I wanted to use that power to destroy him.

  END OF BOOK 3

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