Jake & The Giant (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 2)

by E. G. Foley

  They were almost there.

  “I really should see about buying one of those dirigible hover chairs,” Archie jested in the tense silence, panting with exertion.

  “That would come in handy right about now,” Jake agreed. “I’ll take one, too.”

  “Aw, gnats!” Ahead of them, Snorri suddenly began swatting at a cloud of gnats hovering over their path. “Ugh, I walked right into them. Didn’t—even—see them!” He was spitting them away from his mouth and blinking them out of his eyes and waving his arms around like a wind-mill come to life.

  Jake and Archie looked at each other, both suppressing a laugh—until the huge colony of gnats drifted lower and enveloped them, too.

  They tried to hurry forward through the cloud of insects, but the gnats followed them, drawn to their body heat and the moisture of their sweat.

  Red tried flapping his wings to shoo the tiny insects away from himself and the boys, but this, too, proved useless.

  They kept trying to get past them until the tiny creatures’ assault halted all their progress. They couldn’t see, could barely breathe.

  They had to shut their eyes and mouths and cup their hands over their noses to block the curious insects from flying up their nostrils.

  “What do we do?” Archie cried, quickly shutting his mouth again.

  “I think I have an idea!” Snorri answered just as briefly. “But you have to hold your nose!”

  Without any other options, they did as he said. Jake had no idea what Snorri intended as he leaned forward from the waist, his homely face bunched up with a look of intense concentration.

  All of a sudden, the giant let out the mightiest fart the boys had ever heard.

  The deep, long note reverberated through the mountains like an Alpine horn calling the shepherds home.

  The whole cloud of gnats instantly fell dead. Jake and Archie nearly did, too, when laughter made them gasp for air.

  Big mistake.

  “Run for your life!” Jake choked out, already bolting up the path to escape the stink.

  Archie, gagging, reached for the Gryphon and climbed onto his back. Red launched away at top speed, coughing.

  When they had reached the top of the slope, both boys applauded loudly for Snorri, who came trudging up after them with a grin from ear to ear.

  Even Archie approved. “Most impressive, sir!”

  “Told you I had talents,” the giant said brightly.

  “Probably best not to show off that one to the princess,” Archie advised.

  “Guess what?” Jake exclaimed. “Besides being able to fart like a flugelhorn, our giant friend here is an excellent navigator!” He gestured to the clearing ahead of them. “Look, Snorri! You’ve found the Tree.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  The Secret Meadow

  “Great Euclid!” Archie whispered as they stepped up to the shadowed edge of the forest and stared into the sun-dappled glade.

  There, in the flowery meadow, hidden by miles of wild woods, stood the towering base of the Tree of Viking legend, Yggdrasil. Even its gnarled roots were gigantic, as big as houses and covered in velvety green moss. Yggdrasil was so huge that not even its lowest branch was in sight.

  Tilting their heads back to stare up at it, all they could see was the towering wooden pillar of its trunk, disappearing into the clouds.

  Then Archie looked at him and grinned. “Jake, meet beanstalk. Beanstalk, Jake.”

  Red snorted at his quip, but Jake just looked at him.

  “Well, we are two Englishmen sneaking into Giant Land! You have to admit the story fits.” Archie elbowed Snorri in the side of his knee. “Go on. ‘Fee, fi, fo, fum.’ Please?”

  “We don’t really say that,” Snorri mumbled, casting the boy genius a frown. Then he gazed reverently into the clearing again. “Isn’t it beautiful?”

  “And creepy,” Jake muttered. “Stay on your guard, everyone.”

  “Look at the swans!” Snorri pointed with a dreamy smile at the pair of swans swimming in a tranquil stone pool beside the Tree. “And the flowers! I’ve never seen colors like that before, so pretty and bright.”

  “They sparkle,” Archie agreed. “They almost look like blown glass or crystal…or sugarplum candy!” He pointed to an otherworldly orange trumpet flower in fascination. “I wonder if you can eat them!”

  “I wouldn’t advise it,” Jake said, suddenly more uneasy here than he had been in the woods.

  None of them seemed too eager to take the first step into the meadow, content to enjoy its beauty from the edges. Red was glancing around with an aquiline scowl, his tufted lion-tail thrashing back and forth in agitation.

  “Do you think I should pick one of those flowers for Kaia?” Snorri asked the boys.

  “Don’t even touch them. These flowers might contain some magic poison, and even if they don’t, if you pick one, it’ll be dead by the time we get there,” Jake replied. “Besides, you’d have to explain where you got it. And that could cause some problems, considering you’re forbidden to come to Midgarth.”

  “Oh, right.” Snorri craned his neck to look up at the tree again. “So how in the Nine Worlds are we going to climb this thing?”

  “No idea,” Jake murmured. “There must be some sort of trick to it. Come on, Arch. Let’s put that big brain of yours to work. Help me figure this out.”

  “Let me get a picture of the tree.” Archie set down his tool-bag and reached into it, pulling out his camera.

  “What’s that?” Snorri asked.

  Archie grinned proudly. “That’s my Super Subminiature Box Camera! It’s only two by three inches, the smallest camera money can buy, favored by private detectives—”

  “Arch, we don’t have time for this!”

  “You said I could!” he belted back at once. “That’s the main reason I’m here, Jake! Field work! Remember?”

  Jake scowled, but Archie tossed him a measuring tape. “Here. Go take a circumference of the trunk for me,” he ordered as he began setting up his camera. “I need exact measurements, or my colleagues will never believe it’s real.”

  “You can’t tell them about this!”

  “Why not?”

  “That barmy lot will come and chop it down so they can count the tree rings!”

  Snorri glanced at Archie in alarm, but he waved off Jake’s claim.

  Jake tossed his knapsack onto the ground. He was glad to be rid of the burden for a while, anyway.

  Snorri did the same, taking the stopper off his huge canteen. “Maybe we could just stay here and rest awhile. It’s awfully nice and peaceful. Maybe a snack before we climb?”

  Jake’s stomach grumbled in agreement with this suggestion, but for once he ignored it. “Don’t be daft. We have to press on.” I am not getting stuck in this strange forest after dark. With Archie’s measuring tape dutifully in hand, he took two steps into the meadow to go measure the trunk of Yggdrasil, only to freeze in his tracks when all the brilliant, crystalline flowers snapped shut.

  “Ah, crud,” he whispered.

  “What did you do?” Archie cried.

  Not daring to move his feet another inch, Jake looked around for an explanation. “Not… quite… sure. I think when I stepped past those orange flowers…”

  Archie gasped with understanding. “Crystals! The flowers mark out a perimeter. You’ve tripped off some sort of magical alarm!”

  Then a clap of thunder sounded right above them.

  They all jumped. The two swans floating in the stream flew away, spiraling upward around the tree. Black clouds rolled in with astonishing speed, darkening the glade.

  Red leaped forward to stand by Jake’s side, snarling at unseen forces in the air.

  All of a sudden, a disembodied voice boomed at them from all directions: “Turn back!”

  “Blimey,” Jake said with a gulp. “I knew those stupid woods were enchanted.”

  “None shall pass,” the voice said. “Leave this place! This is your only warning!�
�

  A bolt of lightning split the air above Jake’s head. He ducked; Red roared at the invisible person behind these tricks.

  Then a piercing screech from above split the air. Jake looked up as two winged, coal-black shapes dove toward them from the sky.

  Red instantly went into full battle-mode, unfurling his wings, unsheathing his lion-claws. He reared up onto his back legs and slashed at the air with his front paws.

  Jake stared, incredulous, at the incoming creatures, monstrous, reptilian birds arrowing straight toward them.

  “What are they?” Snorri cried.

  “They almost look like pterodactyls! But that’s impossible,” Archie said.

  “Tera-whats?”

  “Dinosaur birds! They found them in the fossils.”

  But studying them again, Jake shook his head. “No, I think those are the swans.”

  “They’ve changed,” Snorri rumbled.

  “Duck!” Jake hit the ground, covering his head with his hands as the black swan-things swooped low. He felt the breeze as they passed inches above him, one after the other.

  The second scratched Jake’s back with sharp talons as it whooshed by. He yelled out in pain, but managed to lift his head for a better view of what in blazes was attacking them.

  The birds had long necks with large, toothed beaks, shiny black scales in place of feathers, and red, glowing eyes. They circled the glade and headed back for a second pass, hurling straight toward the intruders like two black, nasty javelins.

  Still lying on his stomach flat on the ground, Jake tried to gather his wits enough to use his telekinesis on the creatures. But before he could throw a bolt of energy at them, Red launched into the air to battle them.

  Jake watched in something of a panic as his brave pet clashed with the creatures, fighting them in midair. With Red keeping the swan-things busy, Jake shot to his feet and retreated a bit.

  Archie had the presence of mind to snap a picture, but Snorri just stood there with his mouth hanging open. When the Gryphon sent one of the evil black swans crashing to the ground with a hiss, there was another flash of lightning, another disembodied voice.

  “Turn back now or you shall die!”

  “Who’s there?” Jake demanded.

  The voice sounded female. Actually, it sounded like several voices layered into one, all speaking at once. Weird. “Who dares trespass in this place?”

  “Show yourself!” he commanded boldly.

  “Oh, you don’t want that, child, believe me.” Only one voice offered that response, along with a hag-like snicker.

  Then, again, all three voices boomed together: “Do not try our patience. In the name of Odin, go now, or you shall pay!”

  Jake could not tell which direction the sound was coming from. The ominous warning seemed to emanate from everywhere at once. He glanced meaningfully at Archie to see if the boy genius had any thoughts.

  Whoever was behind those voices, Jake was sure they were somewhere close, watching, but unseen. Archie shook his head and shrugged, at a loss, while Red battled on, flying and slashing in midair as he fought the second monstrous black bird.

  The first, which the Gryphon had already knocked down, struggled to its feet again, shook itself off, and returned to the fight.

  Jake winced, his heart pounding in fear for his big, feathered friend. As strong as he was, the outnumbered Gryphon couldn’t go on like this forever.

  “Give me your walking stick!” he called to Archie. When his cousin threw it to him, Jake held it like a cricket bat. He gathered his courage, then charged into the fray, taking a whack at one of the black creatures attacking Red. “Leave him alone!”

  More lightning.

  “How dare you attack our birds?” the voice shouted at him.

  “Call them off or I’ll smash ’em in the head!” he yelled, but the only reply he received was a lightning bolt that landed near his feet.

  He jumped away with a yelp and fell on the flowers, which snapped at him like angry Venus flytraps.

  He felt a massive hand pull him up by the back of his collar. A moment later, Snorri set him on his feet back near his cousin.

  Jake dusted himself off. “Thanks, Snorri—but why are you just standing here! You’re a giant! Can’t you do something? Please! Go help Red before they kill him! Those birds are small enough that you could grab them—”

  “Listen to me!” he interrupted. “There’s something I have to tell you!”

  “What is it?” Jake asked impatiently.

  “I think I know who’s here,” the giant mumbled, nodding toward the meadow.

  “You do?” both boys exclaimed.

  “I remembered.” The giant nodded with a look of dread. “It’s the Norns,” he whispered.

  “The what?”

  “Who?” the boys exclaimed.

  “Three terrible witches who guard Yggdrasil.”

  “Witches!” Jake said in alarm.

  “You might’ve mentioned that earlier!” Archie retorted.

  “I’m sorry, I forgot!” Snorri said defensively. “I never paid much attention in school.”

  “There’s a shock,” Archie muttered.

  “Great.” Jake harrumphed. Witches! He’d had enough of their kind back in London with Fionnula Coralbroom.

  He glanced around the glade for any sign of them, but the witches preferred to remain invisible.

  “Quickly, Snorri, what can you tell us about them?”

  “Well, they’re called the Norns, also known as the Wyrd Sisters.”

  “Like in Shakespeare?” Archie exclaimed. “Macbeth?”

  “Huh?” Snorri grunted.

  “Never mind,” Jake said. “Just tell us how we defeat ’em.”

  “You don’t. They’re too ancient, too powerful. They’re like, like the Fates,” Snorri said, weighing each word as though it hurt to search his brain for pertinent details. “They weave the cloth of destiny. There’s three of them: past, present, future. They guard the Tree… Oh, yes, and the stream there. Of course! It’s all coming back to me now. The water, there! You see?” He pointed to the pool where the swans had been floating when they had arrived. “The Norns water the tree Yggdrasil from the Well of Wisdom.”

  “Maybe we could get you a nice big drink of that, too,” Archie muttered.

  “How did you deal with them last time?” Jake asked hurriedly. “When you landed here before?”

  “I never saw them! When I fell out of Jugenheim, I landed way over there on the next mountain.”

  “Well, what do we do?” Jake asked impatiently.

  The invisible Norn answered the question for him: “Flee or die!”

  Archie turned on his heel. “Cheerio, then.”

  “Get back here!” Jake laid a hold of Archie’s shoulder and turned him around. “We’ve got to stick together! If we go off separately, they can pick us off one by one.”

  “How can we fight what we can’t even see?” Archie threw up his hands in exasperation.

  “Don’t you have a gadget for this or something?”

  “What, my Invisible Witch Slayer? Sorry, I left it at home. With my weird-o-meter.”

  “You don’t have to be sarcastic,” Jake said in frustration. His usually polite cousin really must be hanging around him too much.

  Jake turned back to face the clearing. “Maybe the Norns will just…listen to reason. Don’t go anywhere, you two. I’m going to try and talk to them.”

  “Jake!”

  He ignored Archie’s protest, his heart was pounding with fear that he hoped did not show on his face. He took a brave step into the glade. “Hullo, anyone home? Please, ma’am, er, ladies? Norns, whatever you are—we mean you no harm!”

  “Get out!” A lightning bolt came with their reply.

  Archie dove out of the way. “Please don’t kill us! We’re too young to die!” he yelped from the nice, soft patch of moss where he had landed. “I’m sure you’re very nice Norns. I-I loved you in Macbeth.”

&n
bsp; “None shall pass!”

  “Yes, you already mentioned that.” Jake was losing patience.

  He cast about for some way to make the Norns listen. Then inspiration struck as he suddenly realized something that they had in common.

  Trees!

  Of course. The Norns served Yggdrasil, and Jake and Archie were hereditary members of the Order of the Yew Tree.

  He hesitated to mention it, though, for it was taking a bit of a risk. If the Wyrd Sisters were bad witches, friends of the Dark Druids, then claiming a connection to the Order of the Yew Tree would only make things worse.

  But when one of the black swan-things bit Red on the shoulder, Jake had had enough. This had to stop.

  “We’re not a threat!” he repeated. “We come in the name of the Order of the Yew Tree!”

  “Jake!?” Archie whispered, hearing this.

  But suddenly, to the boys’ amazement, a huge head appeared, floating in the air, in the middle of the glade. “The Order, you say?”

  It was a female head, peering down at them.

  It flickered a little like the moving pictures he had seen in the Exhibit Hall. This tipped Jake off that the head, like the voices, was probably just an illusion being projected somehow from somewhere nearby.

  “You’re a little young to be agents of the Order,” the Norn head said, looking unconvinced.

  “He meant our parents,” Archie corrected. “Mine are diplomats; his were Lightriders. Of course, they’re dead now,” he added helpfully.

  The head rotated to face Jake, hovering closer. “Is that so? The son of a Lightrider coming to see us? Well, now, that is something. What do you want with Yggdrasil?”

  “We only wish to see our friend home safely. He’s got to get back to Jugenheim.” Jake pointed at Snorri.

  The head rotated once again to face the giant. “So, you’re the one who broke the seal. Naughty, naughty.”

  Snorri blanched. “It was an accident, ma’am! I’m very sorry.”

  The Norn pursed her lips in knowing disapproval. “Giants,” she said with a humph. “Very well! You may enter the sacred grove. Then we shall see if Yggdrasil will accept you.” The Norn gave a terse command that caused her vicious black swan-things to stop attacking Red.