Sorcery (Dragons & Magic Book 3)

by Dave Higgins

  “Not a big circle,” Edmond said. “A circle for giants; where they settle disputes. The first one to leave the circle loses.”

  “Giants!” She stiffened.

  “Yes, they—” He realised she wasn’t looking at the circle. The ground shook as a group of massive figures loped toward them. “—they hate humans.”

  “Not a problem.” Her axe shinged out.

  “Slow them down, Grew,” Edmond said. “We shouldn’t hurt them. We’re the ones trespassing on their land.”

  Grew trembled in place. For a moment, Edmond thought he was frozen in fear, then realised it was a dance, one that required shaking in a specific way.

  With a crack, the land between them and the giants split. The giants careened to a halt as a chasm gaped before them, too wide to jump.

  Instead of running around the ends, the giants pulled bones from their pockets and began whittling. As the chips of bone spiralled out, rocks rose from the chasm, clunking together into a wide bridge.

  “We can’t kill them.” Edmond took a step back, shaking as much as Grew but not from a spell.

  Daffodil brandished her axe. “If we don’t, they’ll kill us.”

  Edmond racked his brain. A footnote from an ancient text shook loose. “Make another chasm; but this time, drop them into it.”

  Grew repeated his shaking dance. A second chasm ripped open beneath the giants’ feet. They tumbled into it, falling out of sight.

  “They won’t fall far,” Grew said. “It’s not deep.”

  “That’s not what I’m hoping,” Edmond said. “I’m testing a theory.”

  The giants leapt from the chasm, eyes wide and faces pale.

  Daffodil stepped in front of Edmond and Grew; then lowered her axe as the giants scattered in all directions.

  “Tight spaces,” Edmond said. “They can’t cope with them. If they end up in a tight space, they panic and flee. According to legend, small animals have the same effect.”

  Daffodil watched the huge figures disappear over the horizon. “Let’s find some rodents. They’ll be back and they won’t fall for the same trick twice.”

  They kept moving, scanning the area. It didn’t take long for her to spot something. “There. Rabbits.”

  The rabbits scurried into their burrow as the humans approached, but a quick dance from Grew opened the burrow up to the air. They scooped up a buck each, leaving the broody mother and her children alone. Then Grew closed the burrow.

  Edmond clutched his fluffy, struggling companion close. Ready to snatch his hand back, he stroked the rabbit between the ears. After a while, it relaxed and let him carry it.

  “This seems unlikely to work,” Grew said.

  “It’s a backup,” Daffodil said. “You can still drop the giants in a hole first. If we don’t want to hurt them, this gives us an alternative.”

  They strode south for hours, not seeing any more signs of giants. They tied the rabbits up to stop them escaping and grabbed a quick meal. None of them wanted to stay in the land of giants longer than they had to. Edmond hoped they could cross it before nightfall.

  Three hours later, more huge figures crested the horizon and dashed for them. They seemed different from the first group. Edmond wondered if they were a second tribe. Either way, they seemed determined to smash the humans to pieces.

  Grew handed his rabbit to Edmond and danced. A chasm gaped under the giants as they got within a hundred paces.

  However, they were prepared, vaulting as the ground vanished beneath them. The earth shook under Edmond’s feet as the giants thudded down on stable ground.

  “The rabbits.” Daffodil released hers.

  Edmond crouched and tipped the two rabbits in his arms toward the giants.

  The giants’ thudding footsteps halted four paces away, each of their faces set in terror. As one, they broke and sprinted in all directions until they disappeared from sight.

  Edmond drew a couple of deep breaths. The hammering of his heart slowed. That had been too close.

  “What do we do next time?” Daffodil asked. “They’ll come up with a way around the rabbits.”

  Edmond frowned. “That’s all I can remember. The book was vague. Best option is to hurry out of their lands before they come back, or they’ll get hurt.”

  “Don’t you have any magic to help us move faster?” Daffodil asked Grew.

  Grew nodded. “But it’ll leave me without mana when we land.”

  “Land?” Edmond asked.

  “Do it,” Daffodil said. “I don’t need giants’ blood on my conscience.”

  Grew tilted his head back, and jetéd in a circle, seeming to implore the sky for help. Above them, clouds roiled and broke apart.

  Edmond squinted as three pieces of cloud floated down toward them. “Is that supposed to happen?”

  “Relax.” Grew performed another jeté, making a perfect courtly bow in mid-air, before landing.

  Before Edmond could reply, a cloud enveloped him. Moisture beaded on his clothes as the world became a swirling pale grey. He gasped as his feet left the ground.

  Not being able to see where he was going made the experience worse. From the breeze, they were travelling quickly; which was good. But the wind also stole his warmth. He shivered as the dampness bit deeper.

  His feet eventually touched ground again. The cloud rose into the sky, leaving his clothes clammy and his teeth chattering.

  Daffodil didn’t seem any happier with her own journey.

  They both glared at Grew. Holding one hand up in the traditional gesture of a smug person forestalling criticism, he did a simple dance and creating a roaring fire nearby.

  “We’re about ten hours foot-travel further south,” Grew said. “We should make the border by nightfall.”

  “How do you know that?” Edmond inched closer to the fire, trusting wet clothes wouldn’t burn.

  “I could see up there. Sorry, I thought it was best you didn’t look. It’s a frightening experience, if you haven’t been that high up before.”

  “How high up were we?” Daffodil asked, her voice colder than Edmond’s extremities.

  “Don’t worry, it’s not dangerous as long as I don’t hit a bird,” Grew said. “The important thing is how close the border is. We should move; I saw the tribes of giants following us from the air..”

  Reluctantly, Edmond left the fire. The bottoms of his breeches had just started to steam; now he’d be wet all day. At least the heat had returned the feeling to his fingers.

  They marched south again, Daffodil on the lookout for more rabbits. After an hour without results, they saw a single figure loom over the horizon.

  “One giant?” Grew asked.

  “We can defeat him,” Daffodil said. “But do we want to?”

  “We might have to,” Edmond said. “As an example. Try dropping him into a trench first.”

  “Okay, but I barely have enough mana.” Grew opened a gaping chasm under the giant.

  Edmond breathed a sigh of relief as the hulking figure tumbled into the pit. But when the giant scrambled out, he didn’t look frightened. Instead, he advanced, fists up.

  “Scatter!” Daffodil raised her axe.

  The giant loped toward her, his attention drawn by the cry.

  Edmond did his own dance. Nothing as sophisticated as Grew, but he’d learnt a few moves from his studies. The giant caught fire, his skin crackling with the heat.

  Daffodil cut at the giant’s legs, then rolled away as he struck.

  Her axe didn’t even leave a mark on the giant’s skin.

  As Edmond’s fire spell dissipated, he realised the heat hadn’t hurt the giant either. This fight was going to be difficult. At least the giant seemed smaller than the others they’d seen.

  Edmond racked his brains as his wife dodged and wove between the giant’s blows, axe bouncing from her opponent’s flesh. He knew so little about giants. How could they defeat the beast without hurting him? “Why are you doing this? We didn’t do anything to
you.”

  The giant lowered his fists, brows creasing. “You’re trespassing.”

  “For which we apologise,” Edmond said. “We just want to get south. Our daughter’s been kidnapped and we need to rescue her.”

  The giant frowned harder. “Peony?”

  “You’ve seen her?” Edmond ran toward the hulking figure.

  “I took her to the border. She promised she’d ask her parents to help me get bigger in return. I didn’t expect you to turn up this quickly.”

  “Oh.” Edmond paused. “We haven’t talked to her, so didn’t know about your deal; we came to rescue her.”

  The giant sighed, then rubbed his jaw. “So you don’t have a spell to make me bigger?”

  “No,” Edmond said. “Not yet. I can work on one when we get back. And Grew here is the greatest magician in the world. If anyone can perform magic like that, he can.”

  The giant nodded. “I’m Gus. I can see you to the border, so you can go after your daughter. She left through the Land of the Dead yesterday.”

  “We’d appreciate that.” Edmond smiled. “Wait. Land of the Dead?”

  “Yes.” Gus turned south. “Everyone there is dead. Which means they don’t bother us any more.”

  Edmond let out a sigh of relief. For a moment, he’d thought his daughter was surrounded by walking skeletons, vampires, or liches. He jogged after Gus, wet breeches already chafing.

  Even with the giant dawdling, Gus kept having to stop to let them catch up.

  Grew waited until the next time he did and leant close to Edmond. “You know magic like that’s impossible. We can’t change the size of living creatures.”

  “Mind magic could make him appear bigger.”

  “Which I can’t do. You’d need a poet or musician.”

  “I’ll find one.”

  “It’ll only be temporary.”

  Edmond spread his hands. “What am I meant to do? Peony made a promise. I have to try to keep it.”

  Ahead of them, Gus loomed over Daffodil. “You’re impressive. You fight almost as well as a giant. If only you weren’t so small.”

  “Small but quick,” Daffodil said.

  “I’m glad we don’t have to fight. We’ve been losing enough giants lately, without losing more by fighting you.”

  “I have a feeling I’d have trouble defeating one. But with Grew and Edmond behind me, we might have been equal to you on your own.”

  Gus nodded, lost in thought. After a couple more hours, he stopped at the foot of a hill. “I appreciate that you’ll try to find a spell, even though you think it’s impossible.”

  Edmond took an involuntary step back as he realised Gus had heard them.

  “We have good ears,” Gus said. “All giant creatures do. You should watch what you say around us.”

  “Sorry. I meant what I said, I’ll try to find a way to make you grow. Grew’s right, though. I’m not likely to find anything permanent.”

  “That’s all right,” Gus said. “We can fight instead.”

  “What?”

  “Not for real. Pretend. You have powerful magic and a strong warrior. You pretend to fight me, I’ll defeat you, then you run across the border. It’s over that hill. The tribes watching us will see me defeat you and take me back in.”

  “The tribes are watching us?” Edmond stared around. He couldn’t see anything.

  “Please. Do this and you can forget about the spell. If you think it can’t be done, then it can’t be done. Help me get back in with my tribe and we’re even.”

  Daffodil drew her axe. “Come on, Edmond, what do we have to lose?”

  Edmond could think of plenty of things that could go wrong if they mistimed a strike, but pulled his sword anyway. It had to be better than fighting several giants for real.

  Daffodil and Edmond circled Gus, while Grew danced behind them.

  Grew launched a fireball at Gus’ head, which he barely ducked, then Edmond and Daffodil lunged at the giant.

  Gus batted at Edmond, catching him with a fingertip and sending him reeling away.

  Edmond clutched his side where the finger had brushed him. It was already tender; he didn’t want to imagine how it’d feel later.

  Daffodil hacked at Gus’ hand.

  The giant howled, then hit Daffodil on the return blow, sending her flying.

  Grew finished a second dance. A tower of fire enveloped Gus, drowning out the sun.

  Edmond sheathed his sword and helped Daffodil up. Together they hobbled for the hill, Grew jogging after them. As they reached the crest, Edmond glanced back.

  The giant stood there, unharmed. Edmond wasn’t sure they could have defeated him for real if they’d tried.

  Chapter 17

  Holdout

  The massive fence stretched as far as Peony could see in either direction. She’d caught glimpses of it as they’d sneaked south, but she hadn’t grasped the scale.

  “I guess we know now why the next kingdom isn’t infected,” Rauger said. “They built a fence to stop the zombies.”

  “And have patrols.” Peony pointed to group of ten soldiers approaching from the east, their long halberds ideal for disabling zombies from a distance. She was about to call out when Rauger pulled her down.

  “Behind them. Orped.”

  She looked where he indicated. The piper was in the form of a young man, but his flute and flowing purple cloak gave him away. “How many copies of him are there?”

  Rauger shrugged. “If he’s here, then those must be Imperatis’ lands beyond the fence. I don’t think we’ve come that far south; he’s expanded his empire north.”

  A vague memory of her parent’s arguing about increasing border defences rose up. “Keeping the zombies out must have pulled the kingdom’s troops north, and Imperatis took advantage in the south.”

  “That’s what rulers do.” Before she could protest the gross generalisation, he winked. “How he did it doesn’t matter, though. We can’t cross that fence.”

  She smiled. For as long as she could remember, she’d been telling her father you didn’t need to know the why of everything before you did something; it was pleasant to have someone finally agree. “Well, we can’t stay here either. We need to reach the coast.”

  They retreated north until the patrols were featureless figures, then crept east. In the distance, black dots in the sky grew into squalling clumps of gulls. Soon after, the breeze gained a hint of dead fish. When they crested the next hill, they saw the sea ahead. A town clung to the coast, the high stone wall around it keeping out the zombies that milled around.

  “Could it be uninfected?” Peony asked.

  “Only one way to find out.” Rauger pulled the cudgel from his belt.

  She drew her knife and followed him toward the town. As they got closer, her spirits lifted. There were people on the walls. Real people with bows and leather armour, not shuffling undead. And they were north of Imperatis’ lands; the residents wouldn’t be on the lookout for her. All they had to do was get past a few bodies with wandering issues, and they’d be on the way home.

  As they approached, the zombies abandoned their shambling circuits of the town and shuffled toward the unfortified youths. Bunched up, the number of undead looked higher; more than she thought they could defeat. She waved at the people on the walls.

  However, despite their postures indicating they’d seen her and Rauger, the townspeople made no move to help.

  Rauger darted forward and smashed his cudgel into nearest zombie’s skull, then whirled to bring down a second.

  Peony hung back. She was more likely to get in the way than help. Instead, she watched his back, making sure no other zombies crept up on him.

  He took out another two zombies, then waved her back.

  After retreating a hundred paces, he turned to face their shambling followers. “Keep them strung out. That way we can deal with them a few at a time.”

  He was right. If they let them mob up, the zombies would overwhelm them; b
ut a few at a time wasn’t challenging. He lunged at the lead zombies, disabling two before signalling another retreat.

  By the time the last of the undead were dealt with, they’d reached the crest of the hill again. Giving the line of corpses—some still twitching—a wide berth, they returned to the town.

  Peony sheathed her knife and approached the town gate. Maybe they’d be friendlier now they’d seen everyone was on the same side. “Hello. I’m Peony and this is Rauger. We’re looking for a ship to take us to Clua Thines.”

  The people atop the wall stared at her, bows still slung.

  She felt a spike of annoyance. The two of them — mostly Rauger, admittedly — had just killed…? re-killed…? Dealt with dozens of zombies. If the townspeople didn’t trust them, the least they could do was consider them worth pointing even one arrow at. “We need to escape Imperatis Erud. He kidnapped me from Clua Thines.”

  A haggard woman with greying hair whispered into the ear of the man beside her. He shook his head in reply.

  Peony pressed down on her desire to throw rocks and set her face in a smile. This must be why her mother always looked so angry after negotiations; you had to nod at stupid people instead of hitting them. “Please. We can’t go north; he’s looking for us there. And we can’t go south, beyond the fence. You’re our only hope.”

  “She’s a princess,” Rauger added “Stands to inherit a whole kingdom on Clua Thines. She’s so rich; you could plate these walls in gold.”

  Peony shot him a look, but he continued to watch the people on the wall.

  After a moment, the woman who’d whispered before disappeared from sight.

  Rauger kept standing there, without speaking, so Peony followed his lead. After what felt like ages, the gate cracked open long enough for the woman from the wall to squeeze out, then slammed behind her with a hollow boom.

  She jogged over to them, weaving slightly. “I’m Eluned. Why have you come to Amberwick?”

  Peony studied the woman. Her eyes were bloodshot and bagged, and her helmet seemed more like an adapted bucket than proper armour.

  “Amberwick? That’s the name of the town?” Rauger asked.

  Eluned nodded. “But you well know that.”