Rane's Giants

by Lynn Ray Lewis

  Hawk and Drago split off from the group to make certain the path was cleared for them. The beautiful hawk sitting high in the pine tree marking the tunnels entrance, made Rane stop in her tracks. She knew the bird was Hawk once she thought about it.

  She could not force her legs to move as she looked at Nord and Max. She knew but wanted to hear it for herself. Hawk was indeed a shapeshifter. Drago? Was he a dragon? And the rest, what did they shift into?

  Nord saw the lady had finally comprehended the men were more than met her eyes. He wanted to show her and get it over with, but he and Max would need to hold their human forms until they either needed their animal forms, or they had time and privacy to let her became accustomed to the idea. He also strongly suspected the tiny woman was to play a very important role in the lives of Tremble Castle.

  She was still thinking about her discovery of the men as shapeshifters. Mouse? Goodness, he was the smallest of the men, but not small enough to be a mouse. But then Hawk was a large man, and even though the bird was large it was not in any way proportion to his body size. She tried to picture Nord as an animal, but he was almost as big as her warrior. What kind of, Wait. My warrior?

  This was too confusing for her to wrap her brain around right now. She already had enough to worry about attempting to keep them all alive.

  Before she slipped under the round rock near the thick trees, Nord took her aside. She would need to know one thing before attempting to rescue his brother. Something she might balk at but it was necessary to have Lion become as healed as possible in the shortest amount of time.

  “Lady Rane, We need to talk about something and I have hesitated to do so because I have not wanted to offend you or scare you. Now is not the time for this discussion yet it has to be said. When you go to Lord Tremble, you will need to give him the gift of a few sips of your blood. It is the one sure way to arouse him from any pain or injury and will help him heal.”

  Rane was astonished that anything as easy as giving a man her blood would perform the miraculous healing as this man before her said it would. It even made sense in a strange way. Animals needed bloody meat. Was the sacrifice of her life to be the price for saving the people of the village? She wanted to cry at the unfairness of it all. How could this man tell her that she must die for his Lord to live?

  “I can see you have drawn the wrong conclusion. I would never do you harm, nor ask you to sacrifice your life for that of my brother, Lord Tremble. I am not asking for your life small one. Here, give me your arm for a moment.”

  When she complied, his large hand cradled the small arm and his fingers slowly rubbed over her pulse. He brought her arm to his lips leaving a kiss on the fine blue veins showing through her skin.

  “Say the words as I tell you to say them. “My life. Take my gift. Know that I am with you. Take my life, my gift. Know my heart is true.”

  Rane stumbled over the words the first time she spoke them. Nord told her to say them again and yet another time before he brought her wrist back to his mouth and she watched as the needle thin spikes descended from his gums and penetrated into her skin.

  She felt the blood in her veins being pulled into those tiny pinpricks. She wanted to toss her head back in pleasure and hoped the feeling never stopped. She felt abandoned when the needle-like spikes were withdrawn from her vein and his tongue licked the skin where they had penetrated. The small sizzle sealing her skin barely registered. She wanted him to take more, but he let her arm go and stood back from her.

  The whimper escaped without her will.

  The call from the hawk high above brought them all to attention. Nord urged her to get in the tunnel and Max quickly followed before the sliding rock was pushed back into position.

  The journey through the tunnel was slow going with numerous turns. Another sliding rock blocked the tunnel so if ever discovered from the dungeon, this was one of three apparently dead ends. It was also the narrowest tunnel. They had to be quiet where the three offshoots came together into one wider tunnel.

  Max crawled next to her and they could hear yelling and cursing on the other side of the rock.

  “Damn me, you will not die as the others. You will heal enough to tell me the secrets of your master the Lord Tremble. How does he stay young and hearty? What causes his loyal men to turn to ash upon death? Already you have begun to shrink just like the others before you. I demand to know the secret before I allow you to die. I have sent for the healer and will have her revive you long enough to tell your secrets to me. Only then, I will grant you a less painful death than burning alive.”

  Rane recognized Simon’s voice. She wondered why his brother Lord Ludwig was not there with him, harassing the unconscious prisoner. The next conversation they heard was between Simon and his minion, Melvin, and made her blood run cold.

  “Well where is she? Do not tell me that you have not found her yet. She is small, but she cannot hide from our finest soldiers.”

  From the way Melvin cleared his throat it was obvious they had not found the female, and Rane knew who was being spoken of. She was the only healer left in the village since Old Erma had passed.

  “I personally searched the hall and village for her, Simon. She is nowhere to be found, and something else strange is happening. It looks to me as if half the villagers have vanished also. I torched the hovel that she stays in so she will have no choice but to come to the hall for a safe place to sleep this night. I have also sent two patrols of four men to search the forest and the outbuildings for her and the missing villagers. They cannot have gone far, especially with the night being as dark as pitch.

  “Your brother is now missing an additional old woman from the village because she swore she had no knowledge of the woman’s whereabouts. When I questioned her about the villagers, she swore to know nothing about that either. She died while I was questioning her, the old bitch fell and hit her head on the stone hearth in her hut.”

  Both men knew what had actually happened by the tone of his voice. The woman had not fallen. His filthy hands had probably knocked the woman’s head onto the hearthstones. Melvin was known for molesting things smaller than he. He had raped one of the village women last year, right in the middle of the village.

  His habit of plucking any villager to slake his depraved desires had no discrimination. The general consensus was Melvin liked women best but if one was not handy a man would serve his purpose just as easily.

  “Then I guess I need to go to the village and reassure them that we cannot, and will not, abide sneaking around. When the patrols find the missing villagers, bring them before me or Lord Ludwig. We will set an example tomorrow after the evening meal. A man and woman shall be flogged, and whatever else the lord deems appropriate and necessary to teach these churls their place.

  “I will join the search for the woman. Perhaps I will avail myself with her body to insure she stays close when she is needed. First she will heal this excuse for a human being. Then I will claim her for all to see. The secrets of Tremble shall be mine as surely as the witch will be.”

  Rane grew concerned even more for her own safety. Simon had left her alone, like every other man in the area had done. Despite the care that she had taken, she was still considered a witch, therefore untouchable. She would rather die alone than become Simon’s toy. The man was as depraved as any vicious animal. That morning when he told her to be available for him later, she had hidden. He must have decided to take his chances with her reputation. Her vow to stop him from harming her or anyone else settled over her shoulders. She would kill him if he attacked her. The resolve made her swallow her fear. The Goddess could not help her once she took his life, she would be killed for her actions.

  The thick door was heard slapping shut and the iron bolt shot across to keep the room secure. Max started for the rock entrance of the tunnel until Rane put her hand on his arm stopping him. When he bent to her ear to ask what was going on, she put her finger to his lips. Then he heard the sound of the bolt being drawn bac
k and the door opening. The soft scrape of leather boots on the stone floor advancing into the room made no sense until he heard another masculine voice demanding the secret to Tremble Castle.

  “My brother thinks to make a mockery of me by attempts to extract the knowledge from you in a very painful manner. I also seek the knowledge of strength and youth, but I will allow him to play as he normally does, then I will cut him down so fast he will not know what hit him.

  “I find myself admiring you, which disturbs me. It is not an issue in your coming death. You will die, whether by our hands, or the way of your people, by fire.”

  This time after the door was closed and the bolt shot to lock the door, Rane removed her hand from Max’s arm indicating it was safe to go through the portal.

  Rane bit her lips to keep from crying out at the condition of the warrior’s face. Long thin ribbons of blood scored his cheeks and the former straight bridge of his nose was now sitting off center.

  She forced herself to breathe evenly as her hands ran over his body searching out newer injuries. The damage to his face was the only new injuries that she could find and she promptly laid her hands over the broken nose and sliced flesh. His rib was still in need of setting, and he needed to be prone so she could wrap it into place while the bone knitted back together.

  There were just too many injuries for her to heal at once, each as necessary as the other to aid his recovery. Rane felt a tinge of defeat then remembered what Nord had instructed her to do. She pulled a small dirk from her belt, sliced a shallow cut in her wrist, and held it to his lips. When his needle-like spiked drinking straws did not come out and his mouth did not clamp on her skin, she had to pry his lips apart. Her blood was barely showing along the thin line of the cut so she let him go, while she sliced the cut deeper, and quickly held it to his lips while she pulled his top lip from his white teeth. She allowed the blood from her self-inflicted cut to drop into his mouth.

  Almost immediately, the needles dropped and sank into the cut. The same feeling of pleasure came over Rane that she had felt when Nord showed her what was needed to help this mighty warrior. She felt her nipples harden and was grateful the room was dark except for the dim light cast from the torch on the holder by the doorway. Her belly tightened and she began to sweat. Between her legs her sacred place began to feel odd. When the wetness trickled onto her thighs, it snapped her out of the sensual fog that she had fallen into.

  She pulled herself together and spoke the words Nord had forced her to learn and practice until she had them memorized.

  For several long minutes she felt the blood in her veins being pulled to her wrist. The rushing swish sound in her head caused her momentary blindness. Gradually, as her sight came back, she felt the loss of his connection, and knew his body was absorbing the fresh blood from her system.

  Rane could feel his body come alive under her hands. She sat back on her calves and bowed her head, attempting to make the dizziness go away, and the needs that her body was clamoring for, to stop. They were not safe, and although he was rousing, the warrior still had a ways to go to heal completely. She could do nothing more for the giant warrior right now.

  Setting aside her exhaustion, Rane signaled for Max to help her with the shackles. She was thankful to see Max use his knife and bare hands to snap the cuffs from Lord Tremble’s limbs. They worked together to get the giant on his feet, but Rane was no match for the strength Max displayed. Her head barely met the giant’s armpit so using her shoulders to help prop him up was a waste of time and energy.

  Max stood the man’s body on his knees and then crawled into the mouth of the tunnel. Then he reached out and pulled the Lord’s arms up and into the tunnel with him. Rane stood behind the wounded man and kept him as upright as possible to help Max pull the giant to safety.

  She looked around the dungeon, and then remembered that she needed to pile ashes where the warrior had sat shackled. Reaching into the tunnel, she snagged a small cloth sack and took it to the spot where he had been. She poured the ashes and spread them over a small space then arranged the shackles just so before slipping back into the tunnel, and sliding the stone back into position.

  Chapter Four

  They all made it back to the cave by the river with only one small skirmish with the soldiers that Melvin, Simon’s minion, had sent to search the forest looking for Rane. All four soldiers had been killed and Drago volunteered to dispose of the bodies.

  He did not tell them that he used the cover of darkness to allow his dragon form to carry the dead bodies two at a time, and drop the carcasses over the roof of the main Hall of Droildorf. One slid off the roof and down to the ground in front of the great doors of the entrance to the hall. He left it to be found in the morning by the occupants of the place.

  For curiosity’s sake, he flew over the village and watched as six soldiers roused each hovel and came out with either nothing or one or two occupants. The people they were rounding up huddled in a small animal pen in whatever article of clothing they were wearing at the time.

  On silent wings, he glided closer and closer to the group of soldiers and saw that one was no soldier, he was a nobleman. A pitiful specimen of manhood in the dragon’s opinion, but it would not matter. The little princeling would burn as bright as the others.

  When the last hovel had been searched and the last old woman was tossed into the dirt at the nobleman’s feet to be kicked repeatedly as he yelled abusive words to her, Drago allowed his dragon free reign. At first no one knew what was happening. When the first two men began to run and scream, becoming human torches from the dragon fire, the others looked around, never thinking the danger came at them from above.

  The dragon swooped in and let his fire incinerate two more soldiers and as he set fire to them, he snatched up the nobleman, and the man standing at his side. He flew them around, enjoying the screams and cries of the men for a short time. Deciding to drop the soldier with his comrades, he rose higher over the hall, and dropped the screaming man on top of the hall, watching as the body crashed through the roof on the second floor where the sleeping chambers were situated.

  The princeling was pleading to be spared. When Drago felt the pinprick of a knife blade try to penetrate the thick scales covering his leg he looked for a spot to set down. The middle of a small vegetable patch was the best setting for what he planned for his captive, so he set them down and folded his wings behind him.

  The nobleman was still under the talons of the dragon. As the dragon proceeded to tear off limbs beginning with the arms, the man screamed until he began to choke on his own blood. He laid there missing both arms and the dragon was tearing at his leg to remove it. The princeling stopped screaming and the lack of noise calmed the dragon. He could hear cries from the direction of the hall and decided to take what was left of the evil man back to his protectors.

  The occupants of the hall swarmed from the building. Lord Ludwig was one of the first to leave the great entrance to stand in the patch of dirt gazing at the sky looking for falling bodies—or worse. The sight of several dead bodies lying broken over the slate rooflines of the hall was a gruesome sight.

  Hardened soldiers were panicking, and were looking to their lord for guidance, but his attention was on the flaming ball of flesh falling rapidly toward them. When the body landed not twenty feet away from the lord, he advanced and was sent to his knees by the sight of his younger brother’s melting face—frozen in terror for all time. Simon had met death in a horrific way.

  He must have angered the gods enough to earn such a punishment. Who other than a god could throw a burning body from the sky?

  Lord Ludwig hurried back inside the hall followed by the last of his soldiers. They spent the remainder of the night in the great hall.

  When the night’s darkness was chased away by the bright light of morning, the lord ordered all ten remaining men to come outdoors with him before breaking their fast. No one seemed inclined to argue or hide from the coming gruesome tasks that waited
them.

  The soldiers removed the bodies from the rooftop and Simon’s body was rolled onto a length of sheeting. A lone soldier carried the body of Simon’s partner in his devious mechanisms and laid it beside Simon. The villagers brought the charred bodies of four more soldiers from where they had been resting until morning. Ten shrouds lay in the row. Ten men that would only be missed by ten men just like them and a lord that knew his days were numbered.

  Lord Ludwig stood over the bodies and questioned the ragged few that witnessed the tragedies. No one actually saw anything, although one old man from the village claimed to have seen a river of fire from the sky hit the soldiers. Then darkness pulled Simon and Melvin into the black void of the sky, screaming as they disappeared.

  ****

  Max tried to carry Rane back to the cave but she resisted. “You cannot touch me, nor I you, until I get out of the water of the river. To have my touch after I use my gifts of healing is to share the pain of the person I have given aid to.”

  She tried to make a joke of it hoping the men would not begin to fear her touch should she try again to heal one of them.

  “While I am sure your friends would say you are already a pain at times, I have no wish to give you more than you already have to visit on them.”

  Hawk and Nord sniggered while Max attempted to look offended then gave it up and smiled.

  Nord turned Lion over to Hawk and Max to carry between them when they reached the river. He sent them ahead and he waited with Rane while she cleansed Lion’s pain from her system. The small argument that began with her insisting he leave her alone for the time it took to deal with her ritual ended when he promised to keep his back to her while she was naked in the water.

  “Lady Rane, perhaps I was not clear when I told you about the sharing of your life’s blood with Lion and myself. Did you not understand the meaning of the words you spoke?”