The Giants of Shattered Swamp

by Eddie Patin

  "The Bounty Boards?" Riley asked, cocking his head. "We're still on R&R, dude."

  "Well," Jason said, "I was thinking of heading back to another shop we saw earlier to get something I wanted, and ... aren't you a little curious about what jobs are going on at least?"

  Riley smirked. "Sure, I'm curious," he said. "I'm always curious. I love my job."

  "Okay. Well, how about you and Gliath check on the wyvern eggs thing, and Morgana and I will go to this other shop, and we'll meet up at the Bounty Boards in ten minutes or so...?"

  "Jason," Riley said, scratching his beard and considering him, "you're not gonna try to get that magic shet identified by yourself, are you?"

  "No!" Jason smiled and shook his head, giving Morgana's hand a squeeze. She smiled at him. "I just want to get her something that I saw earlier."

  "Really?" she said.

  Riley rolled his eyes. "Alright, man. Don't get in any more fights. If those Phase Wraiths zap you again, you might end up in a much worse universe than a fruking beer ocean."

  "Okay."

  "And keep your eyes shucked. There might not be much violence here, but there are still plenty of bad frukers up to no good."

  "Alright."

  The Reality Rifters split up.

  In truth, Jason was appreciating their R&R. The last few days had been awesome; maybe the most exciting days of his life. At least, as exciting as it could get without running for his life from Albertosaurs and raptors and crocodiles ... and giant spiders. But he was curious about what came next. Riley wasn't kidding when he'd said that Jason would soon be itching for more. He sure was. Or, at least, he wanted to look and see...

  Jason kissed Morgana in the dark street with weird aliens parting around them, then he took her by the hand to try and find the shop he'd seen before.

  "Get me something...?" she asked with a grin. In the pale green of Jason's image intensifier, he saw that she was happy. Her bright face warmed his heart, despite the cold of the Market streets. "Get me what?"

  "Oh," Jason replied with a smirk, "I saw something that made me think of you earlier."

  They searched for a while. All of the tents and sand-filled streets looked the same. It wasn't long before Jason was totally turned around and couldn't even remember his way back to Dave's. Fortunately, all he had to do to find the Bounty Boards was head to the very center of the pyramid.

  "Excuse me," someone suddenly said. It was a man's voice.

  Jason and Morgana turned around to see a dashing human male with blonde hair, sapphire-blue eyes, and a clean, handsome face. He was wearing Merc armor and had a strange rifle slung across his back. He approached them from the throng of aliens and entities with a smile.

  Looking the newcomer up and down, Jason pulled Morgana closer to him.

  "Yeah?" Jason said. "What's up?"

  He'd really have to hurry and find that shop. He really wanted to get that bracelet for Morgana. Jason could imagine the look on her face when he gave it to her—its strange, pink rose charm glowing softly, illuminated by something that Jason didn't understand—but he'd have to find the place right away or Riley and Gliath would be waiting for them.

  "Hello, fellow human," the man said with a warm smile. "And lady," he added with a nod that made his bangs wave. "I am a traveling merchant and wanted to see if you had any interest in buying something nice for...?" He smiled at Morgana and gestured to her as if waiting for her to supply her name.

  Morgana smiled back and nodded. "Morgana," she said. "I am Morgana Soloster."

  "...Morgana!" the blonde man said, continuing. "I have a variety of wares including jewelry and exotic perfumes from other worlds."

  "Really?" Jason asked. Well, that was interesting. It had been a long time since he'd bought anything for a woman. Perfume might be nice if he couldn't find that shop with the bracelet.

  The man smiled. Jason felt a strange kinship with the guy when he met his blue-eyed gaze. He was really charming. A human selling shit in this Market full of all manner of strange entities would have to be a very good salesman to—

  "Would you be interested in a necklace for Morgana, perhaps? Or a bracelet? I have fine rings, and chains..."

  "Maybe," Jason said. His thoughts went to the magical rings. "What kind of bracelets?"

  "Oh, a variety from exotic universes. I have gold, of course, as well as other alloys and precious metals that most humans aren't aware of, though, you seem well-traveled...?" He was cuing for a name again.

  "Jason." He didn't want to say his last name. Riley had warned him about that. Jason Leapers were unique, and sometimes a target.

  "Jason," the man continued, keeping his hands together and smiling softly. "Come with me, and I'll show you my wares."

  Jason and Morgana exchanged looks. Morgana shrugged.

  They followed the attractive blonde man up the street a little until he turned into an alley that ran between two large shop tents and into a quiet, dark area a lot like their rendezvous point.

  Jason stopped.

  "This way," the man said, gesturing for them to follow him into the alley.

  "Uh ... your shop's back there?" Jason was instantly curious. Maybe this guy was familiar with magical items. He was also extremely suspicious, and had no intention of following some guy into a dark alley.

  "Indeed," the blue-eyed merchant replied. "My wares are a little more on the exotic side, so I work outside of the main flow of customers. Some of my rings and necklaces have ... certain properties. Speaking plainly, I specialize in magical rings."

  That caught Jason's attention. He found himself feeling at the necromancer's rings on his fingers through his gloves. This guy was a specialist in magical rings? He had to have means to identify them, then. Shit—if he regularly sold them, he had to have a way, or ... know someone to—

  Jason felt Morgana squeeze his hand. He looked into her pretty, green eyes and saw her staring back at him excitedly. She had to be thinking the same thing.

  "You sell magical rings?" Jason asked. "How do you ... um ... know what they do?"

  That sent dread crawling up his insides. The blonde man stood just inside the alley, beckoning them to follow him. His deep-blue eyes were very intense but very friendly. Jason didn't understand what he felt, but he had a feeling that something weird was happening here.

  "Do not be alarmed," the man said as if sensing his hesitation. "I simply have to take precautions to avoid trouble. Don't we all? Please follow me."

  Jason suddenly felt like he should come back with Riley and Gliath. The team was split up. He shouldn't go there with just him and Morgana. What if something was wrong about this guy?

  "I ... uh ... I'm actually late meeting up with the rest of my team," Jason said. "Is this where you always work? I can come back in a few..."

  "No need for that," the man said, interrupting him as smoothly as oil on water. His sapphire-blue eyes bored into Jason's. "Please follow me. I can help you with what you seek." He looked at Morgana. "Come with me, Morgana Soloster."

  Morgana pulled at Jason's shoulder and spoke closely to his ear. "I think it's okay," she said with a smile. "He seems trustworthy."

  Jason looked into Morgana's eyes and felt a twinge of weirdness. She seemed completely open. It felt strange that she wasn't as skeptical as he was. Back in New Bozeman, she was nothing but canny and grim. She always kept fighting, even with everyone against her, and hoped for the best but expected the worst.

  He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but the whole situation just didn't feel right...

  "Well, let's go then, Jason and Morgana," the man said. "Please follow me this way..." He beckoned toward the alley.

  Jason felt a strange tingling as if tunnel vision was making him feel overly focused. He looked at Morgana again and felt a stab of fear. There was definitely something wrong.

  He then shut all of his curiosity down and it felt as if he was emerging from underwater. Jason was suddenly aware again of all of the planeswalkers passing
around them. He felt the cold air on his face.

  What the hell? he thought.

  "No," Jason said. "Thanks for the offer, but we're fine. Goodbye."

  With that, he turned and pulled Morgana away, heading straight to the middle of the pyramid. He hated missing out on buying that bracelet, but the Market was definitely not a place to be caught wandering around unable to find what you're looking for. Maybe they could still find that rose bracelet later.

  The two of them headed toward the Bounty Boards, leaving the blonde man behind.

  Jason didn't look back.

  Chapter 8

  "So, what'd you find?" Riley asked.

  He and Gliath had been waiting at the bottom of the steps leading up the Aztec-style pyramid structure that was the Bounty Boards. It was a pyramid within a pyramid, and it looked ancient. Jason saw the duffle bag holding the two wyvern eggs still slung over the cyborg's shoulder.

  Jason laughed and scoffed. "I found that I need to keep my eyes shucked—as you say—for bad guys."

  Riley smirked, looking over him and Morgana quickly with mild concern. "What happened?"

  "Eh, some guy was trying to convince us to follow him into an alley to sell us exotic jewelry and show us his magical rings."

  The cyborg frowned. "You didn't ask him to identify the—?"

  "Of course not!" Jason replied, a little miffed that Riley was nagging him about it. "He brought it up himself, but ... something felt wrong about him, so we left."

  Morgana reached up and touched the back of Jason's neck with a laugh. "I don't know what was wrong. He seemed okay to me."

  Jason looked at her, surprised and feeling a little disappointed.

  Weird.

  "So you didn't get what you wanted?" Riley asked.

  "No. I couldn't find the place."

  "Wanna keep looking?"

  Jason felt cold and weirded out about that blonde guy. He suddenly longed to be back home and in his armchair with a beer, feeling warm again.

  "Nah. We'll check it out next time. Let's go."

  Jason headed up the stairs. His Reality Rifters followed him.

  Just like the last time he'd been inside the Bounty Boards with his night vision on, Jason marveled at the intricate carvings in the black stone of the structure around him. As they crested the top of the stairs, he stared at the crossbeams and columns of the Bounty Boards main area. It was such a strange building; open to the sky like it was. Jason figured that maybe Skinner liked to be able to see the Market from up there in all directions. He could also look up into the upper areas of the huge pyramid that protected the Market from the outside atmosphere of Churn, including the glass-like areas that revealed pink sky on the other side. What a strange place.

  "It's dark here," Morgana said, pulling in close to Jason.

  Now, she was in the same boat that he was in before: no ability to see in the dark, no hearing protection. Jason wondered how open Morgana would be to having the same augments he'd had himself performed on her ears and one eye on Ebonexus. Would she be willing to have her body cybernetically modified like he did to protect her ears and see in the dark?

  "Stay close to me," Jason said. "It's perfectly safe."

  "Indeed!"

  Zayden Skinner's grinding voice boomed across the open area between the set of stairs they'd climbed and the wall with the electronic job listings. Jason saw the mountain of a man standing near his big black table awaiting their approach. Skinner was smiling dimly, his thick, ebony-skinned arms crossed over his massive, armored chest. With the image intensifier in his right eye, Jason could see the powerful creature's red-gold ornate armor gleaming and reflecting the turbulent, faint light of Skinner's flame-like rainbow-colored hair. Skinner's fire-hair flickered back and forth on his head just like the blue fire-hair of Hades from the Disney cartoon movie, Hercules. Zayden Skinner stood like a dark god, the master of his domain, staring at the Reality Rifters as they walked across the archaic, carved floor.

  Jason felt Morgana's hand tremble in his. He squeezed it.

  "He won't hurt you," Jason told her quietly.

  "Morgana Soloster!" Zayden Skinner exclaimed as they stood before him. "Now a member of the Reality Rifters! An interesting choice, Jason Leaper," he said, scanning their faces. "You have no need to be afraid, girl."

  "Xarzeth the Black," she muttered.

  "One of my many names," Skinner replied.

  "Are you..." Morgana started then trailed off. Jason felt her tense up. "Are you a demon?"

  Skinner laughed. He bellowed out a great, belly laugh that shook Jason's chest. The ebony man was like a giant in every way, though he was only a little taller than Gliath's warrior form. Still, the manager of the Bounty Boards was broader than any of them and far taller than Jason, Riley, and Morgana. Jason felt like the huge guy could crush him like a bug, though he wouldn't have to. He's seen Skinner manipulate reality. The strange entity could make things appear out of thin air and vanish just the same. He made their stack of sixty-seven golem hearts disappear in the blink of an eye, no doubt sent off to some other realm where he managed his products and clients. Hell—Skinner could read minds.

  At that, Zayden Skinner met Jason's gaze and gave him a small smile.

  Jason chilled.

  "What is a demon?" Skinner asked, his voice like stone grinding on stone. "Do you believe that I am a demon?"

  Morgana steeled herself. Jason felt that she was still tense as hell, squeezing his hand tightly. "That's what I was asking you," she said. Then, she glared in silence, clearly fuming.

  This was bad for business.

  "Morgana," Skinner replied, even and low. "What I have done with Dominic is none of your concern. That was an issue of your old world; your old life. You now find yourself in a new world with new horizons. Count yourself lucky that you managed to escape all of your enemies unscathed. Xarzeth the Black is a name that I use in my dealings with primitive civilizations that believe in demons. You have been brought into another level of being, and should now think of me as Zayden Skinner."

  Dominic, Jason thought. The name tugged at him. He was someone that Morgana had known back on u936.

  Morgana stared for a moment longer then let out a long sigh, shaking her head. Jason felt her relax in his grip.

  "So ... uh..." Riley said to Jason. "Are we gonna check out the bounties or what?"

  That stirred him. Skinner stood before them unfazed.

  "Yeah, let's," Jason said.

  They approached the boards. There were four jobs going on. One was an exclusive job involving collecting a troll's head. Another involved hunting 'fire salamanders' on a lava world.

  "Fire salamanders, huh?" Jason said.

  "Can't do that one," Riley said. "It's on a lava world. We would need much better heat protection than we have for that, breathing gear, air, and the ability to traverse molten rock..."

  There was a job that involved clearing out a blood zombie infestation. That didn't seem appealing at all. The last one was what appeared to be a long-term bounty rooting out 'Deep Ones' from a village and destroying a cult ... to Dagon? As in ... Lovecraftian Dagon?

  "Blood zombies," Riley commented. "Gross."

  "Yeah," Jason said. "I think I've had enough gore for a while after that gargoyle job. That was some grisly shit."

  "I actually agree," Riley said.

  "What's with the troll's head job?" Jason asked Skinner. "What's the pay? You just need a single troll?"

  "Yes," Skinner replied. "The pay is twelve ounces of gold."

  Riley scratched his beard, staring at the listing. "Why exclusive?" he asked.

  "The client only required one troll's head," Skinner replied, "and, the client has supplied a special container. I only need one team for this one."

  Jason thought back to DnD trolls. They were long and lanky, eight feet or so tall, green, could regenerate at an amazing rate, and could rend; they did a lot of damage with their claws. There were all sorts of trolls in literature, m
ovies, and folklore. Was it like a DnD troll? Or was it more like a Tolkien troll that would turn to stone in the daylight? Maybe it was like a troll from northern European folklore and grew to towering gigantic heights. Or was it like the trolls from the movie Willow, short and covered in black fur?

  "What are you thinking, Jason?" Riley asked. "I thought we were on R&R." He smirked.

  Jason looked around at everyone. Skinner stood by, hardly seeming to pay attention.

  "Well," Jason said, "I know that twelve ounces doesn't seem like much after our last haul, but it seems like a lot for a single monster. It might be a quick and easy job if we've ... well ... Riley, your blaster does fire damage, doesn't it?"

  Riley looked at Jason as if he'd grown a horn on his head. "You've got a funny way of saying shet sometimes, Jason. My blaster is a pulse laser weapon. It's amplified light, but yeah—it burns."

  "What kind of troll?" Jason asked Skinner.

  The huge ebony man cracked half a smile on his statuesque face and rumbled, "It is most like the first you thought of."

  Jason blanched. He still had a hard time keeping in mind that Skinner could read his thoughts. He supposed that he'd have to just ignore that aspect of dealing with him. Skinner could hear everything.

  "Okay," Jason said, looking at Riley. "So it's like a troll that I'm familiar with from game fiction. They're a bit bigger than Gliath, regenerate quickly, and can tear us to pieces real quick. Real nasty."

  "I reckon," Riley said, "we can handle such a monster pretty easily with my blaster, Morgana's sword, and our other slug guns. Seems like a quick and easy twelve ounces."

  Jason felt the same way. Trolls were terrible. He had a hard time imagining how terrifying a real troll would be; especially if it was like a troll from DnD. But they had freaking guns. If they blew a troll away, how quickly could they put it down and take its head before it got back up again?