Book I of III: The Swords of the Sultan (23 page)

About five seconds later, the giant stopped
at the table and turned toward it—he was as big from the frontal
view as he was from the side. Baltor thought,
He will be
extremely hard to take out if he should prove a threat, especially
since I have no weapon
.

Even though his eyes soon discovered that the
giant bore no visible weapons either, his mind asked,
What other
weapons could he possibly need other than his gargantuan
fists?

A few moments later, a woman that was only
half the giant’s size entered the cabin, closing the door behind
her.

She too had pale skin with thick, wavy and
luscious blond hair, but her hair swam three-quarters of the way
down her back. Her attire consisted of a black, brown and white fur
coat that stopped just above her waistline, a shiny white leather
pair of pants and shiny black boots—everything looking quite
fashionable. In a way, she slightly reminded Baltor of Lydia.

After closing the door behind her, the woman
took off her coat, revealing a furry v-necked shirt and pants that
snugly conformed to her athletic body frame.

Wow—she’s hot!

About twenty seconds later, she joined the
giant at the table, of who was already in the process of emptying a
bag that contained three giant loaves of bread onto an even larger
steel plate.

The giant looked to his left where the woman
stood, and then he mumbled something both short and foreign to
Baltor’s ears. Without warning, the giant shifted his head to his
right, in order to look at the bed, but by the time his eyes had
arrived two seconds later, Baltor had his own eyes closed, not
moving a single muscle.

After hearing a rustling sound that lasted
about two seconds, Baltor heard the sounds of thunderous footsteps
getting closer to his position. A few seconds later, he heard those
footsteps stop, and then he heard the giant’s voice bellow clearly
and loudly, “Pasusco—sahu mao brevi!” (1)

Even though Baltor continued to feign
unconsciousness, he began to doubt that he was being successful in
his feigning, especially after the giant repeated his last
statement—still Baltor did not move a single inch.

Two seconds later, he heard the giant’s
voice, now being angled toward the center of the room, boom out,
“Ta hup gap’s shatir lankia snet—bre pato semesa pasusco aspena
crish Ta peusna gop retux Ta hatish, ven gap’d cher scarain lexum!”
(2)

The giant next emitted very deep/booming
laughing sounds that lasted about twenty seconds, and possibly
because of the almost-deafening volume, Baltor couldn’t hear if the
woman was laughing or not.

It was then that he drew the conclusion that
these people seemed friendly enough, so he opened his eyes and
revealed his conscious state to all, for better or worse!

The first thing he observed with clarity was
that this giant was now standing next to Baltor’s bed, like a
tower, but he was looking at the woman.

The second thing was that the giant had taken
off his fur coat, now wearing a fashionable pair of brown leather
pants and a black leather shirt that clearly revealed his massively
muscular arms—currently crossed underneath his equally massive
chest.

Baltor silently wondered,
I wouldn’t doubt
it one bit if this giant is truly the world’s strongest, biggest
and tallest man!

He also noticed the friendly and amused
expression in the giant’s blue eyes as he continued to laugh while
looking at the woman. And a few seconds later, after Baltor had
averted his gaze toward the woman, he saw that she was smiling
kindly back at the giant.

Because neither of the two had yet noticed
Baltor’s conscious state, he purposefully cleared his throat, which
sounds immediately drew their attention back to him.

The giant turned his head to look back down
at Baltor, and repeated his earlier statement, yet this time a bit
softer, “Pasusco—sahu mao brevi?” (3) He then shrugged his massive
shoulders as his thick eyebrows raised.

As Baltor didn’t understand the language, he
simply shrugged too, even though he was still lying in bed.
However, this simple act abruptly caused incredibly sharp pains to
surge throughout his head and upper torso, and subsequently caused
him to wince out in pain.

Suddenly, the giant broke out into a highly
amused laughter, and while still laughing, he looked back up toward
the woman, and said, “Ta’m pan fe tarisha semesa lankia pasusco’s
yamas fe grevant!” (4)

The woman glanced over and with a tender
smile, she nodded her head several times in the affirmative,
without saying a word.

It was at that moment that two images and
their fates crossed Baltor’s mind—Valuspo, and even more
importantly than his camel, the map.

Despite the pain he had felt earlier, Baltor
tried again to get up in bed. This time, however, he felt too weak
to prop himself up.

The giant uncrossed his arms, gently lowered
his gigantic hands back down toward the bed, and said, “Vikshu
sarmani.”(5)

Though Baltor did not understand the giant’s
words, he did understand the physical action that clearly indicated
he should lie back down and rest.

After he did so, he next looked back toward
the woman and noticed that she was already walking toward the far
corner of the room, now carrying a large metallic spoon and
metallic bowl in her left hand.

About twenty seconds later, she picked up a
poker tool that had been leaning against the wall next to the
fireplace, turned to the cauldron, and pulled out the stoker with
the poker, which simultaneously pulled out the slightly steaming
cauldron from over the fire. Once done with the poker, she then set
it back into its original place.

Upon shifting the bowl into her right hand,
the woman used the spoon to scoop something
steamy
into the
bowl, and once halfway filled three scoops later, she began to walk
back over to the table.

Because Baltor had been paying attention to
the woman and not the giant, he was not aware of the fact that the
giant had quietly slid his heavy four-inch-heeled boots off his
socked feet, making the giant nine feet seven inches.

As soon as the woman had begun to scoop, the
giant walked with his very long strides toward the table, this time
a bit more quietly, and grabbed two bowls off from the table.
Meanwhile, the woman had just reached the table, and she handed the
giant the spoon as he then walked over to the fireplace.

The woman picked up a much smaller spoon from
the table, and then she began to move to Baltor’s
position—meanwhile the giant had already neared the fireplace with
his very long strides.

With an inquisitive look on her middle-aged
face, she extended the now-filled spoon containing a stew substance
toward Baltor, and asked, “Sahu mao yar?” (6)

Baltor opened his mouth to accept the food,
and found the slightly spicy flavors of the stew to be rather
delicious—surprisingly perfect in temperature as well.

As she continued to spoon-feed Baltor, the
giant walked over to the cauldron, scooped himself some of the
stew, walked over to the table, sat down, and began to eat in
silence.

By the time Baltor had finished eating the
entire contents of the bowl, about two minutes later, the woman
stood up, walked over to the table, and set the bowl down on the
table. She then retrieved a mug, walked over to a large oak barrel,
filled the mug up with the frothy beverage, and came back. She held
the cup as he drank down the entire contents of the slightly bitter
yet delicious ale.

Once done, the woman got herself a bowl from
the cupboard, scooped a bowl and joined the giant at the table, who
was on his third bowl of stew, and his second serving of ale.

Baltor listened as the two conversed at the
table during dinnertime—but only moments seemed to pass until
things grew dizzy, and he fell instantly asleep.

The following morning, due to a brilliant
stream of sunlight that had managed to seep through the transparent
glass window and into his shut eyelids, Baltor awoke.

Without moving his head, he opened his eyes
and quickly looked around, discovering that the giant was gone,
though the woman was currently sewing something near the
fireplace.

Without saying a word to alert the woman,
while only slightly moving his head toward her direction so he
could watch her work, Baltor noticed that the furs strikingly
resembled the furs that he had acquired from the wolves.

Upon closer inspection, he confirmed that
they were the same furs, except for the fact that all the extra
flesh was no longer on the skin, and about half of them had been
cut into nice, even squares. She was diligently cutting more
squares.

It was then that Baltor heard the sounds of
approaching footsteps in the snow, approaching the cabin. Fifteen
seconds later came the sounds of the porch creaking and then the
stomping sounds just outside the door.

Just after the giant had opened the door, he
entered the cabin and closed the door behind him. During that split
second the door was open, Baltor had observed only a few
snow-covered pine trees, and way beyond those trees about a few
thousand feet away, ice-covered mountains with dagger-sharp
peaks.

Only a second later, he decided to sit up in
bed and throw a friendly smile. In turn, the giant turned around,
and as he observed that Baltor was wide awake, he boomed out, “Sahu
mao anamos vrisha gabor blaka, pasusco?” (7)

Baltor assumed that the giant was inquiring
to his health, and as he slowly nodded his head, he replied in
Pavelian, “I’m feeling better, sir.”

The giant’s face bore an expression of
confusion, but then he began to laugh. He turned to the woman and
said, “Vesna gap prisha bagusaham, brim semesa pagor ana e pesanar
vigi brevisto!” (8)

The woman’s gaze fell to Baltor before she
threw a warm and friendly smile, but she said nothing—only a second
later she looked back down so that she could recommence with her
sewing task.

The giant, on the other hand, tapped himself
hard in the chest with his fist, which loud thumping sound
immediately drew Baltor’s attention back

With the index finger of that hand, he first
pointed to Baltor and then toward the door, while saying, “Gaor
tao.” (9) He reopened the door, stepped outside, left the door
open, and disappeared from view.

Understanding the hand gesture, Baltor almost
got out of bed, only to notice he was neither wearing shirt nor
breeches—fortunately, he was wearing his drawers that were now
fresh and clean, though he wondered who had taken them off, washed
them, and put them back on him.

Suddenly, Baltor heard the woman say, “Ooopsa
dooopsa.” (10)

As he looked over to the woman sharply, he
saw her gaze falling away from Baltor, while her index finger
pointed toward the kitchen table.

His eyes soon fell toward one of the kitchen
chairs, where rested his shirt and breeches neatly folded on top of
his boots—he almost found it funny he hadn’t noticed his clothes
sitting there earlier.

When he looked back over to the woman, he saw
that she was once again looking at the furs and diligently
sewing.

He slowly got out of bed, and it was then
that he noticed—for the very first time—that his chest and
shoulders had quite a few large and ugly bruises! Surprisingly,
there were only a few minor scratches.

He walked over to the table, and as he put on
the clothes and boots, he could instantly smell and tell that
everything was now fresh and clean, including his socks and
boots—even his gold necklace and arrowhead had been polished and
buffed.

After he had put everything back on, he
turned in appreciation to face the woman, but as she looked
extremely busy, and as he didn’t want to bother her, he simply
cupped his hands together in a gesture of appreciation, bowed his
head, and then exited the cabin.

Once he had stepped outside onto the porch
and closed the door behind him, he was surprised that he was not
cold whatsoever, though there was a good foot of snow on the ground
everywhere he looked. He also observed that this cabin had been
built at the top of great hill inside of a gargantuan valley,
surrounded by those dagger-sharp, ice-covered mountains.

At the base of the hill below, just beyond a
small forest of pine trees, there were hundreds of other giant log
cabins spread all about in this gargantuan valley; a twirl of smoke
puffed out from each chimney and up into the crisp blue skies
above. He was so mesmerized by the quaint little town that he did
not hear the giant with his heavy footsteps approach from behind
and lightly tap him on the back of his shoulder.

Not only did this action startle Baltor, he
instantly leapt into a sideways roll, only to land back on his feet
in the basic ready position facing the giant—these actions caused
quite a bit of pain to surge, especially in his head.

He confirmed his pains by cupping his head
with both hands. “
Owww!
”

Even though the giant still bore a rather
surprised expression on his face, he also began to bear an amused
expression that was quickly overtaking the surprise—this became
confirmed as the giant began to erupt with that booming laughter of
his.

A few moments later, the giant stopped
laughing, and with a serious look, he pointed at himself with his
thumb, and introduced, “Yaush.”

Baltor, in turn, pointed at himself, and then
introduced, “Baltor.” With a cock of Yaush’s head and his left
thumb behind him, he boomed, “Baltor, pasant gaor tao, jaosaim.
Gaor tao—gaor!” (11)

He turned around, waved for Baltor to follow,
and then began to walk toward the backyard, which backyard
consisted of a jagged mountain about five hundred feet away from
the cabin.