Kings: Chaos Book 5.5 (10 page)

And it was then that Brendan realised that inside the holes, giant men slept, their limbs sinking into the dirt as though they were formed from the earth. The sound of their snores filtered across the air like thunder. They were massive, long armed and limbed, and those limbs were as thick as tree trunks. Brendan spotted at least two dozen of the creatures, all fast asleep in the holes they had destroyed the land to make. But then one of them rolled over, and piles of dirt flew up into the air. The giant disappeared into his hole. They really were large enough to ruin the earth in their sleep.

Aneurin
held his finger to his lips then beckoned them to follow him. The rest of his people took a different route.
Aneurin
pointed, and Brendan followed the gesture to see a single patch of unspoiled nature on top of the odd-shaped mountain. He was glad he wasn’t the one climbing up there to get the trees. He shuddered as he took another look at the fir
bolg
. There were no good jobs on this mission. He just hoped
Eira
managed to signal to the ship in time. If they missed their chance, they likely wouldn’t get another.

They crept down a winding path cut into the mountain. It was too narrow and steep for the fir
bolg
to climb, but Brendan didn’t fancy his own chances at getting back up there either.

Some stones skittered down the mountain from the other group, and the nearest fir
bolg
stirred.

“Hurry,”
Aneurin
urged under his breath.

They moved more quickly, but
Pól
slipped and skidded a few feet as he desperately struggled to stop his fall.
Aneurin
grabbed his collar and held on tight as
Pól
found his grip again. As Brendan followed, he noticed blood stains on the rock.

 
At the foot of the mountain, he took
Pól’s
hands to inspect the damage. “You’ve torn them to ribbons.”

“I can still hold my sword,”
Pól
said resolutely.

“Not like this you can’t.” Brendan tore strips off his own shirt and wrapped them around his soldier’s hands. “We’ll clean the wounds when we get back. I’d rather we make it home with all of our limbs intact.”

That earned him a wry smile from
Pól
.

Aneurin
led them toward the giants, ready to make noise if any noticed the removal of the trees. Brendan’s confidence grew. The giants were practically unconscious. If luck remained on their side, they would make it back to the ship without any encounters.

Alyss
slipped and hissed out a swear word. The closest giants all turned over, flinging earth into the air. It rained down on their shoulders, even at a distance of close to a mile away. Brendan’s shoulders tightened with tension. On the ground, the fir
bolg
looked larger than ever.

They were quietly moving past the restless one when a single large, protruding eye opened and focused on them. They froze to the spot, but the eye closed again. A shudder ran through Brendan. The eye was as large as a human head and eerily familiar.

“Run,”
Aneurin
whispered, racing off without hesitation. Brendan followed, his soldiers hot on his heels.

They ran past the slumbering fir
bolg
and onto a sandy area before slowing.
Aneurin
cast a glance over his shoulder. “
No
.”

The restless fir
bolg
was on his feet, his gaze on the mountaintop. Two of the
daoine
sídhe
were swiftly removing a tree in plain view. The giant released a sound of rage that woke the closest of his kin. Some rolled over and went back to sleep, but half a dozen rose to see what the commotion was about.

“We have to distract them,”
Aneurin
said, already moving toward the giants.

Bran held him back. “With noise, right? I doubt we want to get too close.”

“My daughter’s out there,”
Aneurin
snapped.

Alyss
shot an arrow at the giants. A couple noticed, and when Brendan shouted, they turned their attention away from the
daoine
sídhe
and toward the group on the ground.

“Wait until the chase begins,”
Aneurin
murmured, his entire body taut with tension.

Brendan watched as a couple of giants lumbered in their direction, but it wasn’t until
Alyss
shot another arrow that the first giant roared and ran toward them. Three of the other giants followed.

“Now it’s time to run,”
Aneurin
called out, sprinting off.

They ran for an hour, weaving through a damaged field and coming out onto a sandy area, the pounding of the giant’s footsteps never letting up. But the sounds appeared to diminish. Brendan looked behind him.

“Only one left,” he called out, but if he wasn’t mistaken, the giant was catching up. His group had tired, but the giant hadn’t grown winded yet.

“Yes,”
Aneurin
replied. “But this one is focused on catching us. Even if it broke its leg, it would still follow.”

But the steps ended abruptly, and Brendan let out a sigh of relief, his lungs fit to burst. And that was when the first stone flew through the air.

“Don’t run in a straight line,”
Aneurin
called out. “Don’t make yourself an easy target!”

They raced on, farther onto the sand, until they could see the beach in the distance. The ship was out there. Brendan was sure he caught a glimpse of her. The giant slowed on the sand, and Brendan’s heart rate eased a little, but the second rock hit
Alyss
in the legs.

She collapsed into the sand, her leg crushed under the weight, and her face pale.

“Keep running!”
Aneurin
shouted.

“I can’t leave her,” Brendan said. “I can’t let him take her.”

“He’s in a frenzy,”
Aneurin
argued. “You won’t win in a fight against him, no matter what name you give your sword.”

Brendan stood over
Alyss
with the sword unsheathed, and the giant man stopped looking for rocks to throw. The creature ran at them, heading straight for Brendan. One of Bran’s daggers flew through the air and struck the creature right in the eye. The fir
bolg
howled with pain and tried to grip the dagger, spinning in a circle in his attempt to catch something so small with his over-sized hands.

“Quickly,” Brendan said. “Help me get this rock off her.”

The others, including
Aneurin
, gathered to push the rock off
Alyss
. Sweat beads ran down her face.

“That was a great throw,” Brendan told Bran who grinned then shoved harder at the rock.

The stone finally moved, and
Alyss
was free, but her leg was broken. It was obvious to everyone.

“Just leave me,” she wept. “I’m the one who woke them.”

“I’ll carry you,” Brendan insisted.

“Wait, look!” Bran cried.

The giant had gotten frustrated with the dagger. He dug his fingers into his eye socket instead, yanking free his own eyeball in the process. He screamed with rage and flung the eye away, blood pouring from his empty socket. He came at them again, this time ferocious in his pain. His flabby stomach shook as he ran, and Brendan resisted a natural urge to run. But then he glanced at his injured soldier, and a rage burned through him, too. They had come too far to fail now.

Brendan stood his ground, the sword of victory gleaming in the incessant sunlight. The fir
bolg
was filthy, his massive dirt-encrusted hands holding an axe that he waved in the air as he ran. His arms were thick with muscle, and Brendan could feel the earth shake with every footstep, but still, he held his ground. His own battle rage came over him, the one that made it hard to focus on anything but his prey. He couldn’t allow himself to be hunted. His blood burned to fight back.

“Get her out of here,” he ordered
Aneurin
. “The others will help you. I’ll hold this creature off as long as I can. Get them to the ship.”

But Bran refused to leave his side.

“Bran, leave,” Brendan commanded. “Cara will bring me back from the dead and kill me again if I let anything happen to you.”

Bran gave him a steady look. “I’m your bodyguard. This is my place.”

There was no time to argue. The fir
bolg
had reached them. He struck out with his axe, but Brendan met the strike with the sword. The metal clanged, but the sword of victory gleamed brighter, and the axe broke. Furious, the creature dropped the remains and swung out his large fist. His strike connected with Brendan’s shoulder, deadening it, and the king almost dropped the sword.

The creature came back for seconds, but Bran distracted him with a dagger to the back of the neck. The fir
bolg
spun awkwardly, trying his best to free himself from the weapon. When he couldn’t reach it, he howled and lunged for Bran who skipped behind the creature’s back again.

Brendan recovered and swung his sword. He connected with a fleshy thigh, but the creature didn’t seem to notice, too concerned with something in the distance. Brendan pulled his sword free just in time. The creature took off in a run, right toward
Aneurin
and the Green Court soldiers.

“Watch out!” Brendan roared, fired up with bloodlust. He raced after the fir
bolg
and slashed at its thick hairy legs to try to slow it down. The giant paid the king no mind. Bran barely kept up. Blood ran down the creature’s legs, but his strides were so long that he pulled out of their reach quicker than Brendan liked.

Aneurin
had heard Brendan’s warning shout and was trying to help carry
Alyss
out of the giant’s path, but the fir
bolg
paid them no attention as he passed them by.

“The ship!”
Pól
cried out in alarm. “It sees the ship.”

No
! They couldn’t let anything destroy the ship.

“We have to stop it,” Brendan said, reaching the others.

“Go,”
Alyss
said. “Help the ship. Get on it. Make it home. The realm needs you.”

“I’ll carry you,” he said.

“I’ll show you a shortcut,”
Aneurin
said. “And then I’ll come back for her.”

“
Go
,” she repeated, her eyes full of tears. “You’re the only royal with experience. They need you.”

“She’s right,” Bran said.

“I’ll stay with her,”
Pól
said. “I’m not as fast as you and Bran, and we can’t leave her here alone. I’ll keep her hidden until he comes back to help us.”

“I’ll come back for you when the blight is over,” Brendan said.

“Don’t,”
Alyss
said. “It’s too dangerous a journey to risk twice. We’ll survive here if we know we did everything we could to save home.”

“A glamour,” Brendan said. “A glamour might fool the giant and give us time to—”

“Don’t waste magic on us,”
Pól
said gruffly. “We’ll survive. You’ll need everything you have to make it home.”

“You have magic?”
Aneurin
whispered in awe. “It exists in your land?”

“It’s not infinite.” Brendan touched both of his soldiers on the shoulders. “Your names will be honoured,” he said, his voice full of emotion.

“We have to hurry,”
Aneurin
said. “Let’s go.”