by David Ekrut
He held his breath, hoping that it hadn’t seen him.
Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. The ground shook beneath him.
Haven whinnied and reared. Feffer tried to grab her reins, but she bucked him. Feffer reached for the saddle, but he only got a hold of the backpack as Haven began to gallop in the opposite direction. The backpack came loose, knocking Feffer into the dirt. Standing as if the abyss had come for him, Feffer shoved his arms through the straps and slung the pack onto his back.
Daki stood and unsheathed his swords, holding them in a reverse grip. They curved around the length of his forearm just past his elbow. “Elwin, you and Feffer take cover.”
“The Lifebringer curse me!” Feffer said, drawing his sword.
Elwin’s eyes widened, and he did not respond.
The child giant covered several normal-sized paces in one stride. Five strides at most and it would be on top of him. Feffer’s anger vanished, but he did not allow himself to panic. A quick look around, and he determined the best chance for survival would be to use the trees for cover. Maybe, they could tire the thing out and get away.
He opened his mouth to suggest as much but stopped and gaped at the Chai Tu Naruo. Daki dove over the ridge and leapt from his forward somersault into a run, toward the giant.
“He’s gone mad!” Feffer said. “What is he doing?”
Taego roared behind him, and Feffer jumped three feet high. “Thumping bear!”
Feffer grabbed Elwin’s shoulder, but Elwin just stared at the giant, still not moving. Feffer shook him. “Snap out of it! We need to move!” He tugged on Elwin’s arm.
Elwin’s face snapped to Feffer, as if surprised to see him there. He opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out.
“Come on,” Feffer said. He turned to run, looking over his shoulder to make sure Elwin followed. He flew behind Feffer as if in a daze. Feffer ran next to the ridge line, and he could see Daki and the giant clearly.
It still carried the tree and raised it like a club over its head as it ran toward Daki. A look of pure glee filled its eyes, and its mouth twisted into a smile.
“Human smash!” Its booming words were slurred and unpronounced. It laughed as it ran.
The tree swung down, making a loud crash into the ground where Daki had been.
Daki dove through its legs, slicing wide with both of his blades just below each knee. The giant howled in pain and staggered forward a step before falling face first into the ground. Still howling, the giant rolled over swinging wildly with its club. Taego charged its throat and bit down with a sickening crunch on the giant’s windpipe. Its howl became a gurgle, but it continued to thrash about. A wild swing struck Taego. The bear flew free, making blood and flesh spray into the air. Massive amounts of red gushed from the giant’s neck.
Feffer’s legs stopped running, and his stomach lurched at the sight. He held his breath to keep from becoming ill.
The bear flew several feet and smashed into a tree, then he fell to the ground laying very still.
Daki ran up the giant’s midsection and stabbed both swords into its heart. Blood gurgled from his neck and mouth as it breathed its last few moments of breath. Within moments, its giant eyes glazed over and stared at nothing.
“It’s … It’s dead,” Feffer said. “He killed it? He killed it.”
It took Feffer a moment to realize Elwin had flown over to the fallen giant. Feffer ran after him.
Without glancing at them, Daki ran over to Taego and knelt beside him. The bear moaned as if laboring to breath.
“He has broken ribs,” Daki said. “Four, maybe five.”
“Is he going to be alright?” Feffer asked.
Daki closed his eyes and placed his hands on Taego. His hands began glowing green for several heartbeats. When Daki’s hands stopped glowing, Taego rolled from his side to his feet, and Daki slumped forward, taking several deep breaths.
“How did you do that?” Feffer said.
“You killed it.” Elwin’s voice held a dangerous tone. “How could you do that? It was just a child.”
Without looking at Elwin, Daki retrieved his blades from the giant’s chest and wiped them on the giant’s jerkin. He sheathed his blades and turned to face Elwin. “Did you see what this child did to the deer?”
“I did,” Elwin nodded. “But it was a child.”
Feffer blinked at the ferocity in Elwin’s voice and decided to stay out of the argument. But, that thing was more than just a child.
“If given the chance this child would have killed you in the same manner as the deer,” Daki said. “Only, he would have taken longer. The death I gave it was a clean one. More than a Jojindun deserved.”
“It still feels wrong,” Elwin said, “killing.”
Daki pointed a sword at the deer. Its head was buried in the water. Daki’s voice was calm. “The giant does not share your views. Better to kill him now, than to let him grow up to kill my people. Or yours.”
The ground began to vibrate ever so slightly.
“Do you two feel that?” Feffer asked, trying to look everywhere at once.
It vibrated harder, and then began to shake.
“Um …,” Feffer said, “I think he was not alone.”
Boom, boom, boom. It was faint at first but increased in intensity. Boom, boom, boom, boom.
“No Jojindun is far from his tribe,” Daki said in a calm voice. “We need to run.”
“There,” Feffer pointed to the crevice he had seen before. “On the other side of the river is a cave. Can we reach it?”
“I see it. Run,” Daki said and ran toward the opening with Taego close behind. Elwin flew past them, faster than even the giant had run. Then, it donned on Feffer. He was last. He didn’t want to be last.
“Wait for me, Elwin!”
He glanced over his shoulder. Five thick heads towered above the forest. Trees jerked to the side and bounced as the giants tore through them, snapping trees aside like twigs. Each one carried a boulder as if weighing no more than a pebble.
Feffer found an inner strength he didn’t know he had, and he made his legs run faster.
A sound like thunder crashed beside him, causing the earth to quake beneath him. The boulder bounced and broke a part, showering him with pieces of rock. He saw a large sliver as it clipped his shoulder and shoved him toward the ground. Feffer dove into the fall. As his hands hit the ground, he arched his back and flipped back onto his feet. The backpack bounced into the back of his head as he landed, but he didn’t let it slow him. His legs pumped with all the strength he could find as he ran toward the river.
Reaching the edge of the bank, Feffer jumped with all of his might and dove as far into the flowing stream as he could. Just before he hit the water, he saw Daki and Taego ahead of him in the river, already halfway to the other side.
His dive plunged him well beneath the surface, and the current carried him slightly down river. He could see the riverbed. Kicking with all his might, he dove toward the bottom and pulled on the rocks to propel him forward. The pack dragged, but the moment he considered stopping to lose it, the water shook above him, and a tree smashed into the rock bed next to him.
The water continued to splash and rock around him, but he didn’t slow. Pulling on the rocks and kicking with his legs, Feffer swam for the other bank. He rose to the surface and felt a moment of panic as small hands took hold of him. When he saw Elwin’s face, Feffer let out his breath.
“Come on!” Elwin shouted. “It’s right here!”
He could see the thin crack in the side of the mountain, not more than ten paces away. Daki pushed on Taego’s flanks to help squeeze the bear into the cave. Once inside, Daki slipped in without hesitation.
Feffer took Elwin’s hand to get to his feet and ran after him toward the opening. An explosion of rock and dust slammed into the side of
the crevice, just missing Elwin as he ran inside the cave.
The last several paces felt like a mile. Feffer glanced over his shoulder, and some part of his mind registered every detail as he calculated his remaining distance to the safety of the cave.
The giants had reached the ridge. Four of them paused around the body of the giant child, but the fifth one never slowed.
For a fraction of a second, Feffer’s eyes flickered to the giants kneeling over the child. Two of them had the curves of women. Feffer had almost expected horns or fangs, but the grown-up giants looked like people. Like the child giant, their faces and auburn hair could have been from Benedict.
Motion from the fifth giant pulled his focus. An arm thicker than a horse cart arched into a throwing position, and Feffer could see an intense focus in the giant’s dark eyes. The arm blurred as it swung forward. Feffer saw a flash of grey leave the giant’s hand before he turned his gaze back to the opening less than a pace away.
Feffer saw Elwin several paces beyond the narrow opening. His blue eyes looked behind Feffer and widened with terror.
As his first foot cleared the opening, the sound of thunder rang in his ears and pain erupted from his back. Dust and rock filled his senses. Then nothing.
Filled with Elemental power, Elwin could see, hear, and feel more clearly. Behind him, the narrow crevice went deep into the mountain, and the power of Earth surrounding him dampened the flow of Air into his essence. The power became difficult to hold, and taming Air felt all but impossible.
In front of him, Elwin watched Feffer run, and he could feel the ripples in the Air as his friend came closer with each step. He felt it long before he saw it. Like a tidal wave moving through the ocean, ripples in the Air crashed toward the crevice.
Behind Feffer, Elwin saw the grey stone streaking forward and reached his hand to Feffer. But it was too late. The impact rang in his ears as dust and debris shot into the entrance. He flinched away from the blast but lost his feet as something slammed him to the ground.
Streams of light trickled into the dust-filled air, and Elwin could see Feffer’s limp body atop him. The ground began to shake, and Elwin could feel the earth outside vibrate with the impact. Large feet ran toward the crevice.
“Elwin,” Daki said from somewhere behind him. “Get him inside.”
Elwin pushed Feffer to the side as gently as possible and climbed to his feet. He grabbed below both arms and began pulling Feffer deeper into the crevice. Feffer’s head hung to the side, and a small trickle of blood leaked from his nose. Elwin’s heart leapt into his throat, and he began to pull faster.
The vibrations outside came to a sudden stop, and an eye the size of a plate peered into the opening. Elwin’s muscles froze, and he gaped at the size of the thing. The pupil dilated in the shade of the crevice and the dark eye focused on Elwin. A moment later, large fingers reached into the cave, each one as thick as a human leg.
Elwin panicked into motion, when a forefinger touched the edge of Feffer’s boot, and he pulled Feffer deeper into the cave. Outside, the giant let out a bestial growl that echoed into the cave. The farther Elwin moved away from the opening, the more the giant howled.
Thank the Lifebringer! The mountain around the crevice was too thick for the giant to break. Still, Elwin didn’t stop moving.
More than two dozen paces later, the crack opened into a cavern. The front of the opening began to shake as cow-sized fists beat against the mountainside. Debris began to fall into the entrance as the large hand tried to punch and reach deeper into the opening.
Elwin eased Feffer to the ground and placed his head on his knees. Shadows moved across his face as the giant’s hand blocked the light at the cave’s entrance. Feffer took shallow breaths that came out like a wheeze. Cuts and scratches covered Feffer’s arms and neck. Elwin pulled a sliver of rock from a cut in his cheek.
He had to shout to hear himself over the pounding. “Can you help him? Like you did with Taego?”
Daki knelt to Feffer and placed a hand on his chest. “His back ribs are broken and his lung is punctured and filling with fluid. I can help him, but when I do, it will make me weak. Hold him still.”
For the second time today, Elwin felt the foreign power radiate off of Daki. The Air did not stir, nor did the Earth. No Water or Fire entered into him. Something else went happened around Daki and coalesced into his hand. After a moment, the energy spread into Feffer’s chest and back.
Feffer began to squirm, and a gasp escaped his lips. Elwin held his arms to keep Feffer from moving. A moment later, the energy stopped flowing into Feffer and the remnants dissipated. Feffer’s breathing had lost the rasp and sounded more like that of sleep. Dried blood covered his arms and neck, but the cuts had vanished.
“It is done,” Daki staggered backward and sat hard. Taego lumbered over to Daki and sat next to him.
“Are you alright?”
His lips were tight, and he gave Elwin a terse nod. “I only need rest. Much of the energy came from him as well. He should sleep through the night.”
“You will need to regenerate your powers in the Lady’s Realm?”
Daki only looked at him. For several moments, the only sounds were the crashes on the front of the cavern. Then, it stopped.
Elwin looked to the entrance. Dust still hung all around, but the giant shadows had disappeared.
“They have given up,” Elwin said “How long do you think, until we can get out of here?”
“They haven’t given up. Though their speech suggests they have little intelligence, this is untrue. Our common tongue is not their first language. More likely, they have sent others for tools to tear the crevice open. They will wait for us out there. I would wager they will camp several nights. If they capture us alive, you will envy that deer by the river.”
“Well,” Elwin said feeling a surge of anger. “Perhaps if you hadn’t killed their child, they would have left us alone.”
Daki shook his head. “We are food to them. Had we never harmed them, they would still try to dig us out.”
“You still didn’t have to kill him.”
Daki was silent for a long moment, then he met Elwin’s gaze. “Why did you not fly Feffer into the cave? Had you flown him, you both might have reached the opening in time. Why did you run instead?”
“Too much Earth,” Elwin said in an impatient tone. “I can’t fly in here. This isn’t about me.”
“Ah,” Daki said. “But it is. You could not fly inside the cave, but you could have flown to reach the cave.”
“Yeah. So?”
“It could have saved you the precious seconds needed for both of you to reach safety. Now, Feffer is lying there unconscious.”
“I know you saved him, Daki. And I am grateful. But this doesn’t have anything to do with you killing that child.”
“But it does,” he said in a patient tone. “Why did you run instead of fly?”
A feeling of frustration welled up inside Elwin. “I didn’t think about it. I just ran.”
“You acted in accord with your instincts. Someday they will tell you to fly, but today your instincts told you to run. You did not think; you reacted.”
Elwin stared at Daki. “What are you even talking about? Are you saying your instincts told you to kill the child?”
“No. My instincts told me to kill the Jojindun. I did not kill a child. I killed a threat to my people. And yours. In the same way, my instincts told me to save Feffer. Today is a good day. I have killed a threat and preserved a life worth living. This is balance. This is my purpose. One day, balance will require my own life. And I will gladly give it.”
Elwin stared at Daki. His face and tone held no touch of mockery, and his voice was calm. Giants were outside waiting to torture and eat them, and Daki could have been sitting in a field of roses or waiting on his turn for the cakewalk at festival.
Daki glanced over his shoulder into the dark of the cavern. “It goes deep. We will have to see if there is another way out. Though, we must be even more careful than before. The depths are filled with delvers. They are to be more feared than the giants.”
Elwin sighed. “What in the abyss are delvers?”
“These histories come from your libraries in Justice,” Daki said. “Many years ago, Dargaitha, the city of dwarves, had a civil war. King Darfth had two sons, Brinionth and Hurvith. When he died Brinionth—the eldest—was heir. The war that your people call the War of Shadows began. Brinionth did not want to join sides. Hurvith deceived his brother and joined the side of Abaddon, taking a legion of dwarven warriors with him. This was before the Great Fall.”
“The Great Fall?” Elwin asked.
“I thought you would have known of this, being an elementalist.”
“I am not an elementalist yet, Daki. I am still in training.”
“Well,” Daki said, “the Great Fall is what your people call the discovery of the Darkness of Spirit. When Abaddon rose to power, he twisted and warped those following him. These dwarves became the first of the delvers, just as the elementalists following him became the first of the vampires and Death seekers.”
Elwin pinched the bridge of his nose and massaged his eyes. Why did everyone want to give him lectures of history? He tried to keep the irritation from his voice and failed. “Why should we fear the delvers?”
“When they fell, like the vampires, they were no longer able to feel the sun’s light. It will destroy them. They have all the strength of their dwarven predecessors, but they disdain the goodly peoples that live above ground. If we are captured, they will eat our flesh while we are still living. They will keep us alive as long as possible so that they may find joy in our suffering.”
“Didn’t you say the same of the giants?”
“The giants will torture us over a day or so,” Daki said. “Delvers will make it last for months, possibly even years.”