Suitcase of Stars

by Pierdomenico Baccalario

  Once again, the giant battered its chest with its fists and bellowed, unable to determine the answer. The Dutchman began to read out the riddle about the king and the two sons.

  “If the giant doesn’t know the answer to this riddle either, then what kind of orders could this Farla guy give it?” I asked.

  “Anything at all,” Aiby said. “The command will last as long as Farla lives.”

  I didn’t know which outcome was better. On the one hand, a freed giant was pretty terrifying, but Unther Farla controlling a giant seemed even worse.

  We remained rooted to the spot, listening to the third riddle being read. “Now I ask you,” Aiby translated, “why did the youngest son become king?”

  The giant hesitated. It arched its back to stand taller.

  “It knows the answer!” I said excitedly.

  The giant released a low howl. It shook off a couple of rocks that were still clinging to its shoulders. Then it bent down toward the ground and propped itself up on its elbows a few feet away from the Dutchman.

  “No, it doesn’t know the answer,” Aiby said. “Now it’s in Unther Farla’s power.”

  I frowned. “That’s pretty unlucky for the giant. It’s been locked underground for two centuries and now that it’s finally free, it has to take orders from a complete lunatic.”

  “Shh!” Aiby hissed. “Let me hear what Unther is ordering it to do!”

  We listened. Aiby suddenly sprang to her feet.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked.

  “Unther ordered the giant to destroy the Enchanted Emporium!” she cried.

  The giant bellowed and the ground trembled beneath us as the giant’s fist smashed into the ground. The Dutchman yelled back.

  “Look!” I shouted. “Something’s happening!”

  The giant grabbed the Dutchman and lifted him off the ground. We could see him kicking wildly as he tried to escape the giant’s grip.

  “I don’t believe it!” Aiby whispered.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Unther Farla doesn’t know the answer to the last riddle, either,” she said. “So the command isn’t valid!”

  The giant opened its enormous mouth. It was crammed full of razor-sharp teeth. The giant lifted the Dutchman over its head and released its grip.

  And just like that, Unther Farla was gone forever.

  Now the giant was free to leave its underground prison. It jumped over what was left of the ruined castle and plunged into the woods with alarming agility. It ran right past us, missing us by just a few yards. It brushed the trees aside like they were twigs, leaving a path of broken trunks behind it.

  The ground rumbled and shuddered with each step it took, making it nearly impossible to keep my balance. We headed away from the giant and finally emerged in the fields belonging to the Dogberry farm. From there, with the meadows and fields below us, we could see the giant’s outline silhouetted against the starlit sky.

  “It looks like it’s heading toward the sea,” I said.

  “Go, gentle giant. Go!” Aiby said, watching the giant slowly make its way toward the sea. “You’re free now. Return to your home beneath the waves!”

  The giant came to a sudden stop near the coastal road. Aiby fell silent and her shoulders sagged. I can’t say how long the giant stayed there staring out at sea, but the entire time I could hear Aiby muttering under her breath. “Please return home. I beg of you. Please return home.”

  Then the giant began to turn around. I could see tears running down Aiby’s face as she watched the giant head north toward the Enchanted Emporium.

  Meb’s fingers gripped the steering wheel as she slammed her foot down hard on the accelerator. The car bumped and rattled over the field, shaking violently every time the giant took another step.

  “Faster, faster!” Aiby said.

  “Hold on tight!” Meb cried. She cranked the wheel to the right and rode over the lip of a ditch. The car soared through the air and landed on the coastal road. Once we were running along its smooth surface, it felt like driving on clouds compared to the field.

  Aiby poked her head out the window. Her eyes followed the giant’s outline as it headed toward the promontory of Burnt Beach. It looked like a walking black mountain.

  “Are you sure it’s heading toward the Emporium?” I asked, clinging to my seat.

  Meb turned the car around a bend so sharply that the tires squealed. It was a miracle that Aiby didn’t fly out of the window. I grabbed her arm to hold her inside the car.

  Aiby held her hands to the sides of her head. “I told you!” she said. “We’ve had some disagreements with the giants in the past!”

  “Like what?” I asked.

  Aiby sighed. Judging by the expression on her face, this was her most difficult confession yet. “Long ago, a family of Wandering Giants neglected to —”

  “Hold on!” Meb cried.

  We were tossed against one side of the car and then the other. Aiby continued. “The giants refused to pay their bill, so one member of the Lily family challenged them to a riddle competition. My ancestor won, so he got to take control of one of the giants. He said he would keep the giant hidden away until the rest of the giants finally paid their bill.”

  “I’m guessing the others didn’t pay the debt,” I said.

  “No,” Aiby said. “Even worse, they were so angry that they cast a curse on the Lily family: we only have to hear a few notes of their anthem, “The Giants of the Sea,” and we immediately fall into a deep sleep.”

  I guess that’s what happens when you take a giant hostage, I thought.

  I glanced out the window. It was thrilling to be driving at top speed with the black sheen of the sea to our left and the rolling green hills to our right. I gazed out over Applecross as it stretched out behind us.

  “But how does the giant know that the Enchanted Emporium is on the promontory?” I asked.

  “Giants are magical creatures,” Aiby said. “They can sense and track magic like a bloodhound sniffs out a fox.”

  “What is it going to do when it gets there?” I asked. “I mean, it doesn’t have to carry out the Dutchman’s instructions anymore, right?”

  Aiby nodded. “Right,” she said. “But if it really is the giant that was imprisoned by my ancestor, then it’s probably pretty angry with the Lily family right now.”

  “I can imagine,” I said. “What about the writing that moved on the walls?”

  “What?” Aiby asked. “What writing?”

  “At the castle,” I said. “There were strange symbols on the walls that moved when you looked at them.”

  Aiby narrowed her eyes. “You saw the words move?” she asked.

  “Well, yeah,” I said.

  “I saw it, too,” Meb said from the driver’s seat. She slowed down to turn a corner, then revved the engine and accelerated down the road.

  Something passed overhead. I poked my head out the window to look. A strange flock of birds were flying in formation toward Applecross.

  “Yes!” Aiby cried when she saw them. “Dad must have heard about what’s going on.”

  “So?” I asked, watching the birds make their way toward the village.

  “Dad sent the Dream Weavers to Applecross,” Aiby explained. “Each one of them carries a golden thread in its beak. Together, the strands form a Web of Dreams. Once it’s placed over the village, everyone beneath it will fall into a deep sleep.” She turned to look at me. “But don’t worry, it’s only to keep the villagers from panicking about what they might see tonight.”

  “You put them to sleep,” I said.

  Aiby nodded and smiled. “And make them dream that everything is fine,” she said.

  We went past the last bend in the road before the promontory. Meb’s speedy driving had allowed us to gain some ground on the giant. It had just reached the road sign that marked the start of Burnt Beach.

  A bunch of startled seagulls flap into the air and fly away from the giant as it walked down Regina
ld Bay.

  Meb parked the car at the beginning of the promontory. We all jumped out and began running after that monstrous creature.

  I soon saw Mr. Lily. He was standing halfway between the forest and the rocks with his legs planted wide apart. He was dressed in a comical outfit of jeans, running shoes, and a medieval knight’s breastplate. His long blond hair poked out of an ancient helmet, and he held a round shield in one hand and a spear with a jagged tip in the other. Immediately I realized that Mr. Lily was planning to face the giant before it reached the Enchanted Emporium.

  As soon as Mr. Lily saw the giant up close, he wavered indecisively between the rocks and the forest. The expression on his face reminded me of a child seeing an unusual-looking insect for the first time.

  Mr. Lily was no taller than the giant’s knee, but he still stood his ground. He raised his spear at the giant, and his voice boomed out like a Homeric hero: “Go back where you came from, foul creature!”

  Aiby and I stopped running. “Dad, don’t do it!” she cried. “You can’t defend the Emporium from that thing!”

  The giant picked up a nearby boulder like a basketball and hurled it into the sea with all its might. The rock sank into the black water with a deafening splash. Then the giant turned to face Mr. Lily and let out a gravelly roar.

  “That looked like a warning shot,” I said grimly.

  But Mr. Lily seemed unperturbed. He raised his spear again and bellowed, “In the name of Gae Bulg, the Spear of Mortal Pain, forged out of the bones of the Coinchenn, the Terror of the Abyss, I, Locan Lily, command you to return from where you came and to do it now!”

  The air was saturated with the stench of rotten organic matter. I realized the putrid smell was coming from the giant, which only made it seem more terrifying. Next to the giant, Aiby’s father looked about as big as an ear of corn.

  The giant took a step closer to Mr. Lily. Aiby turned as pale as the moon. I had to grab her by the arm and hold her back so she didn’t throw herself between the two of them.

  “You shall not pass!” Locan Lily yelled.

  The giant roared and took another step. It bent at the waist and reached for another boulder.

  “Dad!” Aiby screamed.

  “Get down!” I shouted.

  I lunged at Aiby and pushed her out of the way just in time. A huge rock hurled by the giant landed right where Aiby had been a moment earlier. I felt the impact before I heard it. The rush of air alone nearly knocked the breath out of me.

  I rolled onto my side, gasping. When I got to my feet again, I saw that the situation had gotten even worse. Locan Lily was lying in a pile of rocks like a broken doll. His helmet had fallen and rolled away, and his spear had become wedged into the ground.

  “Dad!” Aiby screamed, leaping to her feet.

  I felt a second powerful whoosh of air above my head. When I looked up, I saw the giant moving over us and continuing on its way toward the Enchanted Emporium. A swarm of seagulls were circling around the giant’s head, continually trying to peck at it. The giant swatted at them like they were flies and kept moving down the bay.

  Meb had run to help Locan Lily. Aiby was already lifting his head up. He opened his eyes. A stream of blood dripped from his lips.

  “Oh, Dad,” Lily said, tears streaming down her face.

  “I’m fine,” Mr. Lily moaned. “That thing sure was . . . big, huh?”

  “You shouldn’t have tried to stop him!” Aiby wailed. “What were you thinking?”

  Meb pulled out a small bottle of water from her purse and gave Mr. Lily a drink. She gently ran her hand over his body to see whether he had broken anything.

  “Someone — ouch!” Mr. Lily cried. “Someone had to try to stop him.”

  “Not you, Dad!” Aiby said. “It’s not your job! You’re just a researcher — not the protector of Enchanted Emporium.”

  I gazed out at the bay, and it started to feel like I was on an alien planet. I could see the back of the giant set against the shivering black sea, a crown of whirling seagulls over its head, and its terrible stench still permeated the area.

  I glanced at the spear that was wedged into the ground between two petrified trunks of wood. My heart started to beat in my chest like a drum, and I’m not exaggerating — it really did sound like a drum. It had a slow, thudding rhythm to it. A marching rhythm, like the sound of an advancing army.

  I walked toward the spear without even realizing what I was doing and yanked it out of the ground. It felt light and balanced in my hands. I could see that it had been cut from a single bone and then coated with ornate metalwork. The bladed tip had jagged teeth that sparkled menacingly in the moonlight.

  I found myself studying each tooth, one by one. In that moment, the spear seemed like the most fascinating thing I’d ever laid eyes on. I tilted it back and forth in my hands. I could feel my heart beat in time with the subtle shimmering of the bladed edge.

  “Gae Bulg,” I whispered. Upon speaking the spear’s real name, it sent a burst of energy into my body. My spine straightened and I squeezed my fingers around the spear. I closed my eyes and saw one of the monsters of the abyss before me, the Coinchenn of Irish mythology. Then the hero, Cuchalainn, appeared to me in the eye of a storm. Then I saw a flash of an immense battlefield where the dead warriors sang a gloomy song.

  “Finley?” Aiby called, pulling me back to reality. “What are you doing?”

  Slowly, Aiby’s face came into focus. Then I looked at Meb, who was kneeling next to Mr. Lily. In that moment, Locan looked pathetic in my eyes.

  “This is mine,” I said, lifting the spear and holding it out in front of me.

  “Finley, what is going on with you?” Aiby asked.

  “Pass me the shield,” I said.

  Propelled by an unseen force, the wooden shield rolled to my feet. I bent down, picked it up, and attached it to my forearm in one deft movement.

  I turned toward the giant. It had reached the end of the path at the point where it curved toward the red house.

  In a voice that was not my own, but belonging to the heroes who had handled the weapon and shield long before me, I said: “It’s time for all of you to witness how a real warrior does battle!”

  I ran through the woods, jumping from rock to rock like a jackrabbit. When I reached the edge, I slid on my back down the smooth stones in an attempt to catch up to the giant. I kept close to the north side of the cove that was closest to the Enchanted Emporium. The giant was approaching from the spot where I had first parked Jules’s bicycle nearly a week ago.

  The giant was only about ten steps away from the Enchanted Emporium. It wouldn’t take it long to get there, even with the crown of seagulls that continued to peck at its head.

  But I wasn’t worried.

  I saw the huge form of the giant approaching on my left side. I wanted to get between it and the Enchanted Emporium in time to launch my attack. I ignored the scratches I was getting from slipping down the stones and used my spear to propel me even faster.

  The giant’s thumping footsteps echoed around the entire bay. Each time it placed a foot on the ground, all of the oval-shaped rocks rattled and shook like decorations on a Christmas tree.

  But I wasn’t afraid. After all, I was Cuchalainn, the hero of Gae Bulg. I was a legend. I was invincible.

  I steadied myself, picked a spot to land, and then jumped. I landed on the roof of the red house, rolled, and landed on my feet right in front of the giant.

  “Hey, you big ape!” I yelled, lifting the spear toward him.

  The giant stopped. The gulls were still circling its head. I was completely engulfed by the giant’s shadow. I swung the spear in one direction and then another. I twirled it in one hand, then tossed it into the air like a baton. I caught it behind my back, spun it forward, and then I pointed its tip at the giant’s skull.

  I squeezed the shield against me. With it held tight to my body, I felt it begin to influence me just like the spear had.

  “Scram!�
�� the shield made me shout. “Get out of here, you bully. That’s all you are — a big, lumbering, smelly, stupid bully!”

  I couldn’t believe what I was saying! I had a brand new vocabulary in my head of offensive words and insults — along with an undeniable desire to use them against the giant.

  I let the insults flow in one long stream: “Go back where you came from and gorge on mud with the rest of your mud-loving family! Well, what are you waiting for, turnip head? I’m going to singe your backside with the righteous flames of justice! I’m ready to call on Atlas, Goliath, Etion, Enceladus, Adamastor, Aegeon, Gabbara, Artachaeus, Oromedon, Gemmagog, Fracassus, Hapmouche, Bolivorax, Gayoffo, Angoulevent, Galehaut, Mirelangaut, Roboast, Sortibrant, Mabrun, Grangousier, and Gargantua! That’s right, all of them — at the same time!”

  The unstoppable stream of taunting came from the shield. While the spear had belonged to an ancient Irish hero, the shield had been made as a birthday present for a jolly giant. His spirit was now fighting with the spirit of Cuchalainn for control of my body. It felt like I was the rope in a game of tug-of-war between two gods.

  The rocky giant seemed impressed by my sudden boldness — in fact, it took a step backward. “That’s right, back up,” I said. “And run home to your smelly mommy!”

  I felt a surge of confidence and lost all my remaining restraint. “Go home! Pan licker! Welly maker! You go back to where you came from! You bean sheller, lantern maker, chicken seller — get out of here! Horse brusher, frog hunter, saucepan scrubber — get a move on it! You’re nothing but a bumbling bag of brain-dead boulders! Now run away like the idiot you are!”

  As it turned out, the giant had only taken a step backward so that it would be in better position for an attack. One of its fists hurtled toward the ground, but it was too slow and predictable to hit me. I easily dodged to the side and then stuck the spear into its arm. The blade tore the giant’s skin open, and the jagged teeth on the tip produced a cascade of sparks.

  The giant howled and jerked its arm back. Still holding the spear, I found myself flying through the air. I rotated the spear, releasing its grip on the giant’s arm, and fell to the ground with a resounding thud.