Jalia on the Road (Jalia - World of Jalon) (16 page)

Daniel and Jalia traveled swiftly along the north road as if they were being chased. Both of them wanted to get far away from the village. They made camp late in the day and didn’t bother removing their clothes before falling asleep.

The next morning Jalia was fully recovered and spitting angry. As they broke camp, Jalia pushed at Daniel, knocking him to the ground before stalking away. Daniel struggled to his feet and found Jalia already mounted and looking as though she planned to ride back to Drun Hill from the direction she had pointed her horse.

“What’s wrong?”

Jalia looked as though she might spit in his face.

“The bitch stole my money belt. There was a king’s ransom in it.”

Jalia hadn’t noticed the belt’s absence until that morning. As soon as she woke she realized it was gone.

Daniel rubbed his chin and felt stubble. He needed to shave.

“She will be long gone. With the kind of motivation that money belt will give her; she’s probably halfway to Delbon by now,” Daniel said calmly.

Jalia scowled back at him, “Do you think I don’t know that?”

“We have enough money, take mine.” Daniel reached into his belt for his purse and found it was missing. He looked puzzled because he was sure he had it when they left the cottage.

Jalia’s face turned bright red and she pulled his purse from her saddlebag, “I couldn’t stand being penniless. I stole it when I bumped into you, I’m sorry.” Jalia made to throw the purse back, but Daniel stopped her with a wave of his hand.

“You’re much better with money than I am, keep it.”

He grinned at this reckless thief and knew he was falling more in love with her each passing day. He wondered how any man could resist her, especially when she had the look on her face she had just now.

Jalia turned her horse towards the north and waited while Daniel readied his donkeys for travel. As they started out she turned in her saddle and looked at him, her head down and eyes looking up through her eyelashes.

“It was naughty of me to steal your money. You shouldn’t let me get away with that sort of thing, it’s bad for me.”

“Are you suggesting I punish you?” Daniel asked innocently, looking into her eyes for some sign of what she was talking about.

“Of course not,” Jalia snapped, moving her horse forward, “But if you were to, I don’t think I would stop you.” She rode away laughing. Swiftly riding out of sight.

Daniel grinned. He figured he had an answer somewhere in that.

The End

Jalia & Daniel return in
Jalia in the North

You can follow the further exploits of Gally Delbar in
Gally Delbar, Healer

The original poems about Daniel & Jalia follow on the next page:

The World of Jalon started as a series of poems a year or so before I began writing the books. Those poems chart the story of Jalia and Daniel far beyond where the books currently go. The poems shown below correspond to this novel.

The Giant

Once upon a telling

A giant threatened the land

Mowing down the innocent

With his massive crushing hands

Negotiators were sent to mollify

The earth shaking mighty foe

But he ate them before they could explain

And soon no one would go

Villages offered all they had

To pay him to go away

They tried food and money and virgins

But none held any sway

A knight was sent to dispatch the fiend

On the end of a spear or a sword

But the giant pressed his amour to a can

From which he had to be poured

Finally a reward was set

For any who would kill

That evil murderous giant

The King would pay the bill

A young woman in a pretty dress

Took up that challenge tall

Without the slightest weapon

On the giant she did call

She approached his enormous castle

He had built with massive stones

The field on which she walked

Was strewn with human bones

She stood outside the castle

And shouted out to him

“I come to challenge you dear giant

Unless you be too dim”

The giant reacted with a laugh

At the little upstarts call

“I shall eat you up right now

Breasts and thighs and all”

 
“Oh no you won’t” the girl replied

And revealed a phial with liquid clear

“This is the most deadly poison in the world

And I’ll drink it if you come near”

 
“Eat me after that and you will surely die

I’ll disagree with you for true

But meet my simple challenges

And I’ll give myself to you”

The giant eyed the luscious girl

Legs so slender, eyes so blue

He really needed to eat her now

What was he going to do?

 
“I have these challenges, one and two

No trouble for one of your size

And if you complete them you can have me

Am I not a worthy prize?

If you can’t, this place you will leave

To start somewhere else anew

The way you be going, food here will be scarce

It is something you were going to have to do”

The giant nodded as he heard her words

That was why he had moved here first

He was looking at her breasts so pert

It was giving him quite a thirst.

She took his nod as an agreement

Looked up at his castle of rock

“I can’t believe you made this castle

Let me see you move one of those blocks”

The giant went to his own castle

Picked a block weighing over a ton

Lifted it up with a mighty heave

And the challenges had begun

She clapped like a delighted child

At a circus or a fair

“Bet you haven’t the strength to throw it though

Throw it up straight in the air”

The giant bent down to the ground

Flexed the mighty muscles of his race

Then with a moan that was heard for miles

Threw the stone up into space

 
“Oh mighty giant, you have won and I have lost”

Said the girl discarding her dress

“Stay there and I’ll come to you right now

That was certainly a deed to impress”

He stood there slavering as she took off her clothes

Standing still just like she had said

Till the block of stone weighing a ton more

Came smashing down on his head

The last thing he saw before darkness came

Was the girl, so naked and trim

“It wasn’t that difficult defeating you

You really are awfully dim”

Jalia the Giant Slayer

Jalia the Giant Slayer came home to the city

Where the Slayer had been promised much wealth

She had brought back the Giant’s penis as proof

That she had killed the Giant herself

It took her more than the best part of a week

To get an audience with her country’s King

The King laughed in her face and said no way

When she showed him the two foot long thing

The King knew she has bested the Giant some way

Jalia was known for her cleverness and wit

But the King saw no reason to pay her now

The Giant was dead and buried in a pit

Jalia decided the King had to pay

It had become a matter of pride

She was going to get the money she was owed

If she had to take it out of his hide

The city was brought to turmoil that night

Loud bangs and rumblings and roars

In the morning a trail of destruction was found

From the city gate to the castle’s front doors

The soldier reported to the king just how

Gates and alleyways were smashed in a row

Like an invisible giant was striding through the city

Without knowing where in wanted to go

The next night was full of much the same

Naked girls from the brothels ran screaming

As the giant ghost strode through their rooms

Destroying walls and doors and ceilings

The chancellor himself had been in one room

With two girl barely old enough for breasts

He screamed at the King to end this nightmare

He had been injured a little below the vest

So the King sent for Jalia, for who else could he call?

To ask her to save his fair city so bright

From the invisible destruction raining down

On each and every single blessed night

Jalia said, “Sure, if you pay in advance”

“And pay me for the giant I’ve already slain

Else you and your court can rot in this chaos

To me, both results are the same”

When the King had paid and the loot collected

The King asked her how she planned to proceed

“This terror at night is the ghost of the giant I bested

And his penis is all that he needs”

She laid down a trail of blood from the butchers

Down an old alley way to his knob

That night the alley way was blasted to pieces

Followed, at a safe distance, by a mob

When the mob reached the place where the penis was put

It was gone and only an eerie silence remained

Jalia said, “He is gone to hell now he’s retrieved his body part

And I suggest you foolish city folk do the same”

Jalia left the city the very next day

Concealed in her pack train were most of her fees

It has cost her some money to fake the ghost

With gun powder, and some helpers if you please

And the bonus she cherished had an accident been

The chancellor’s injury had made her helpers wince

But the bastard was no longer abusing young girls

As he had not been able to get it up since