CHAPTER FIFTY:

  A GIANT SURPRISE

  “Are those what I think they are, Ondibar?” whispered Garrick loudly, in disbelief. “King Ironhearth declared them all destroyed!”

  “Yes! I know!” whispered Ondibar back, loudly. “One of his first acts was to wipe out all of the giants from the mountain kingdom years ago. How these two survived across The Plains of Jonagall to here, and how I have missed them each time I have returned, I do not know. But The Cloud Shroud Mountain is vast...”

  “I think they are twice as tall as I am,” interrupted Elias, looking over a broken column. “Their weapons are small trees with the limbs torn off,” continued the knight in amazement, after he had studied the giants for a few more seconds.

  “Looks like you are no longer the strongest one in the room, my boy,” added Maldrin, chuckling to himself and tapping the knight on the head with his staff. However, Elias was too engrossed in studying his new enemies to say anything back to the wizard.

  “Should we go back?” asked Anya, gripping her staff tighter.

  “No. We are so close,” sighed Ondibar. Then he looked back at the giants. “That is the staircase that leads to Cloud Veil. As with this one, the staircase that they are sitting in front of is crumbling, but stable. Inside, the dragon will not see us. We are safer here even if we have to face the mountain giants.”

  “They are big, but that means they are slow. I can hit them low while you hit them high,” whispered Deelah to the others.

  “You are not going down there!” exclaimed Anya. “I do not care how fast you are!”

  “You are not my mother, Anya!” whispered Deelah, loudly. “You may almost be old enough, sister, but you cannot tell me what to do. Have you forgotten? I am no longer a child.”

  “Deelah is right,” whispered Garrick to the group. “The giants will be slow. Ondibar, Deelah, Onyx and I will attack first.” Then he looked at Elias. “I want you to stay back and protect Anya; we will need her healing if it gets bad. When we have the giants reeling, leave Anya to help us finish them off.” Then the mercenary looked at Maldrin. “Once Elias leaves, you escort Anya to the staircase. Once there, if need be, use your magic to help us to join you, but only if we need it. We will need all your strength, my friend.” Then Garrick looked at Ondibar. “Because we do not know what is past Cloud Veil.”

  When Elias, Maldrin and Ondibar nodded in agreement, Cerelene pulled her bow from her shoulder.

  “What about me?” asked the elf maiden.

  “When we rush to attack them, release your arrows, but do it sparingly. Just enough to annoy the giants. They look like humans, but their skin is much thicker. It will take Ondibar’s axe...” Then Garrick looked at Elias. “And our swords to take them out.”

  Slowly in the dark, just outside the torch light, Garrick led Onyx, Ondibar and Deelah down the stairs. Once they reached the bottom, they stopped and waited for an opening for an attack.

  “You are worthless, Orland!” yelled one of the giants to the other. “How could you not catch at least one of the animals on this accursed mountain?”

  “They are fast, Hagelstein! And now, as we have eaten more and more, their herds are smaller,” replied the other. “You try to catch one next, while I fetch the water!”

  “You are too slow, Orland. The dragon would catch you before you made it back,” stated Hagelstein. Then he looked straight ahead. “How I escaped from the dwarves with you at my side is beyond knowing.”

  “Because, brother, whereas you are smarter, I am more resilient,” countered Orland. Then the giant got to his feet. “Because of that, I will return soon with a plump sheep.”

  Once his brother got up, Hagelstein caught a different glimpse of the room in the firelight and the shadows that were near the bottom of the stairs.

  “Orland...?” whispered Hagelstein, slapping his brother on the leg.

  Seeing that the giants had located them in the light, Garrick took off toward them with Onyx, Ondibar and Deelah behind. Within a few seconds both Onyx and Deelah pulled ahead of Garrick and Ondibar.

  Seeing the four figures coming toward them, the giants scooped up large broken sections of the crumbling stone floor and hurled it at them.

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  As Deelah had figured, the giants were big, but slow, and though she was small, she was fast. Easily, the thief evaded the oncoming rocks and, though it was far from a killing blow, her knives slashed into Orland’s thigh. She then slid past Hagelstein’s outstretched hands, slashing him in his calf as well, leaving both giants stunned for a moment.

  “Your sister is a sight to see, Anya,” said Elias, admiring Deelah with a big smile, and for the first time, focusing on only one of his companions during a battle.

  “I never knew...” replied Anya, almost to herself. “I never knew she was capable of...”

  “Well, that is one good thing that came of her journey to Aubrelon, cleric,” replied Maldrin, putting his hand on Anya’s shoulder.

  As Deelah got to her feet and turned around, she saw Ondibar’s huge battle axe sink into the tree trunk of one of the giants, while Onyx and Garrick surrounded the other giant, keeping it at bay. Then, as both giants dropped their torches, she saw arrows begin to fall, landing on the big creatures. Some sticking into the trees they wielded, some sticking into their skin.

  At the top of the staircase, Elias looked at the elven archer. “Keep it up, Cerelene.” Then after looking at Maldrin and Anya, the knight continued, “Once we get to the bottom, start your own descent, but continue the barrage of arrows, as Garrick said.”

  Once the elf maiden nodded, Elias pulled his shield from his back and led the cleric and wizard down the crumbling stairs.

  Standing far enough away that the giant couldn’t land a blow with his weapon, Garrick pulled out his dagger and threw it with all his might. When it landed in the giant's stomach, because of its size, the weapon felt more like a knife. Even so, the giant took a step back and looked down at the dagger that was halfway in his belly.

  As he looked down to pull it out, Onyx sprang into action. The mystic wolf leapt into the air and clamped down hard onto the giant's forearm. Though the giant swung his arm with all his might, Onyx would not be deterred. Seeing the mercenary coming toward him, the giant swung the massive log in his other hand, but Garrick ducked under it and brought his sword slashing down into the giant's thigh, causing him to drop the log and fall to one knee.

  Pulling with all his might, Ondibar finally dislodged his axe from the limbless tree the giant wielded, and dove to the right as the giant’s fist came crashing down at him. When the dwarf looked again, there were three arrows piecing the giant's hand, causing him to drop his weapon and grab at the arrows. As the giant was doing his best to yank them out, Ondibar suddenly saw Deelah run behind it, leap into the air and then jam both of her knives into its back.

  Seeing the giant turn around in pain, Ondibar got to his feet and gripped his axe tightly. As she backed away from the giant, Deelah taunted it, laughing at it and making funny faces. Then the back of her feet hit something behind her and she fell over the giant's log.

  Smiling, the giant raised up his fist to slam it down onto the thief, who was shaking her head. But he suddenly felt a sharp, agonizing pain in his side and looked over to see that Ondibar’s axe had sunk deep into him.

  It was then that the dwarf saw Maldrin and Anya dash by him toward the staircase that led to Cloud Veil, while Elias moved to help Garrick and Onyx.

  Seeing the giant grabbing at its side, Ondibar kicked its leg out from under him. Once the giant was on the ground, the dwarf lifted his axe and drove it down with all his might into the giant’s neck, severing it from its body. Then he went to Deelah.

  Still on one knee, with the mystic wolf still clamped on to his arm, the giant Garrick and Onyx fought would not go down easy. Understanding that the mystic wolf was more than a hindrance, the giant swung his free arm at Garrick, causing the mercenary to jump back. Then the giant grabbed Onyx, tore him from his arm, and was set to throw him against the staircase, until a barrage of arrows descended upon him, hitting him in the face and neck and causing him to drop the mystic wolf instead.

  As Onyx fell to the ground, Garrick ran toward the giant and slammed his shoulder into its stomach, driving it back. Then, noticing Elias coming, the mercenary swung his sword into the giant's right side. Seeing the mighty blow, the knight drove his sword into the giant’s left side. Then Onyx, having gotten back to his feet, leapt again at the giant and knocked him to the stone floor, where he coughed up blood and went silent.

  Seeing the giant lying still, Garrick yelled out at the mystic wolf. “Onyx, back off!”

  When the mystic wolf jumped off the dead giant, Garrick, Elias and Onyx dashed over to Ondibar and Deelah.

  “You did well, young lady!” said Ondibar in amazement, as he helped Deelah to her feet.

  “Thank you, Ondibar,” replied Deelah, running a hand over her face and blonde curls. “And thank you for wielding such a powerful axe.”

  “Ah, young one. It is not so much the axe, but the dwarf that wields it,” winked Ondibar. Then as Deelah smiled back at the dwarf, she saw Cerelene hop off the staircase with Azure. However, her smile faded when she saw Maldrin and more specifically, Anya walking toward them.

  “Go ahead, sister. Tell me. Tell me I am reckless. Tell me I have no sense,” said Deelah, with anger on her face. She went to speak again, but as Anya got to her, the cleric hugged her tightly and kissed her cheek.

  “You are amazing,” replied Anya, tearing up, her voice breaking. “I did not see it when we got back from Aubrelon. I chose not to see it when you killed the wyvern.” Then Anya let go of the embrace and stepped back, still holding Deelah’s hands. “You are right. I am not mother. I am certainly not our father. ” Then she twirled Deelah’s short blonde hair between her fingers “...and you are not the girl I remembered running off to the capital city.”

  Holding back her own tears, Deelah drew her sister back into the embrace.

  “Sister, you were both mother and father to me. You practically raised me. I am happy you were there for me. You are a blessing from Elion. Not just to the people of Valtross, but to me,” whispered Deelah. Then she let go of the embrace and stepped back, as her sister had done. “That is a past that we should remember fondly, both the good and the bad. But now let us move on together.” A moment later, Deelah touched Anya’s long hair, letting the dark brown and gray strands rest warmly between her fingertips. Then, when she let her hair fall again, she whispered with a smile...

  “This time as sisters.”