The Thief and the Beanstalk (Further Tales Adventures) (17 page)

“I could see the heartbreak on her face. I can see it now. I can see it always, when I close my eyes. And I can hear her whispering: ‘
Get out, Jack! Run away!
’

“It was the last time I ever saw her, because Ramos suddenly burst from his chair, where he only pretended to sleep. He’d set a trap for me—and heard Gullinda call me by name.

“I heard Ramos curse his wife. And then I heard things breaking. And that was all I knew, because I was running away as fast as I could.”

Jack turned his face from the cloud and squeezed his eyes shut. He felt like there was a fist around his heart. He gritted his teeth and went on talking.

“And then he came down the beanstalk for me. And I nearly brought horrible destruction down upon all mankind.” The old man buried his face in his hands.

Roland and Bill looked at each other helplessly.

Jack raised his head to meet their eyes. Having revealed this much, he decided to reveal it all. “And this is what I have lived with all these years. Brave as I was to steal the treasure, I was too afraid to go back and see what my thievery had done to the giant’s wife. Did Ramos kill her before chasing me? I was too cowardly to find out—even though I always had the means to do so,” he said, waving toward the beanstalk.

“I waited and waited. Do it tomorrow, I thought. Next week. Next month. Next year. A few times I even brought those beans out. Even dug the hole! But I was afraid. Weak. And one day, I woke up, and I was old. Just like that.

“But I had those beans to remind me of my shame, year after year. And then last night, that boy came to my house. That little thief, climbing up to steal my gold …”

“And you found a way to go back up there without really going back up there,” Roland said.

Jack nodded. He tried to speak again, but his legs went weak and he began to fall. Roland caught him and put his hand behind the old man’s head, and Jack buried his face in the young man’s chest.

“Master Jack. Henry’s coming,” said Bill.

Jack lifted his head to watch Henry approaching along the ridge. When Henry arrived, the old man greeted him with a hug and thumped him on the back. Henry glanced over at Roland and Bill, surprised
by Jack’s affection. The two men just shrugged.

“It’s them, all right. The gang from the forest. But no sign of the boy,” said Henry. “They’ve made themselves at home in the old farmhouse, and they’ve got a little campfire going. They seem nervous, like they’re waiting for something to happen. Rather like us.”

“What shall we do, Master Jack?” asked Roland.

“Wait for now. Keep an eye on the beanstalk. And be prepared for anything,” said Jack.

They waited in hiding, the boy and the giantess. They could not see each other, but her hand was by his side, and Nick sensed her trembling. Neither made a sound for a long while, until Gullinda spoke quietly. “You don’t have to stay for this. If it does not work, he will know someone is here. And he will hunt for you.”

“But I want to be here. I want to know that you’re safe.”

“I’m afraid for you, Nick.”

Me too,
Nick thought,
for both of us
. He patted the enormous hand. “Then let me tell you something to amuse you. Quietly, though, in case Gnasher comes. Remember what you told me, about how you cut the beanstalk away, and made it fall?”

“I do.”

“Jack thought
he
cut it down! When you were cutting the top, he was taking an ax to the bottom!” Despite the danger, he couldn’t help but laugh aloud, and soon the giantess laughed with him.

After a time, a sobering thought came to Nick. As Gullinda’s laughter faded, he told her. “The giant was killed, you know—Ramos—when the beanstalk fell.” Nick wasn’t sure how the giantess would react to this news. Then he heard her sigh, like a long, low gust of wind.

“I never meant to kill him, you see. I just did not want him to come back.”

“I know,” Nick said. And he waited for his words to sink in, for Gullinda to understand what else he’d just revealed.

There was a rustling sound beside him: Gullinda straightening up where she sat. “Hold on—you said Jack thought he cut the beanstalk down,” she said. “Do you know him? Do you know what happened to the boy?”

“Yes, ma’am,” replied Nick. “I’ve met him. He’s a very old man now. I don’t think we live as long as you giants.”

Her voice grew soft. “What is he like now, this Jack?”

Nick considered the question before replying. “He is the saddest man that ever lived. He thinks about you and this place all the time. Something terrible happened to him when he came up here, and he’s spent his whole life regretting it.”

“Is that so,” said the giantess. She thought for a while, humming to herself “When you see Jack again, could you tell him something for me?”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Nick, although he wasn’t so sure that Jack wanted to see
him
again.

“Tell him I have not forgotten, but I have forgiven.
Waste not another day on sorrow, not another moment. Live happily, and be at peace.” Nick smiled and said that he would.

Far away, they heard a loud, echoing crash, like the sound of wood hitting stone.
The front door slamming shut
, Nick thought.

“Gnasher has returned,” Gullinda said coldly.

Bnasher stood before the closed door. He had collected one animal from a trap, and slain another with a slingshot. A pair of strange antlers stuck out from the sack he carried over his shoulder.

He saw a piece of paper on the floor just inside the entrance. His name was written across the top—not the name he called himself, but the accursed name his mother had given him. His lip curled in a spontaneous snarl. Under his name was a message. Gnasher picked it up and read:

—Mother GALLINOR, I have escaped from your prison. See for yourself.

Gnasher hurled the bag of game to the floor. He threw his head back and screamed. The shout echoed back and forth across the great hall, like a chorus of monsters.

Basher woke with a start. He tried to leap from his chair, but it toppled over backward and the ogre crashed to the ground among the discarded bones. He looked up, still groggy, to see Gnasher rushing at him.

“Lazy, loathsome fool! Mother got out! She escaped while you slept!” Gnasher slapped his brother on the head. Basher lifted his hands to ward off the next blow. Finally he lost his temper and struck back, putting his boulder of a fist into Gnasher’s stomach.

Gnasher stumbled backward and fell. Basher got up and stood over his brother with his fist raised to strike again. He hissed at Gnasher, with his mouth open and his black tongue quivering.

Gnasher sat there panting, holding his bruised gut, and glared at Basher. “You would strike back at me? You oaf! Would you like it if I left you behind and went to the world below on my own?”

Basher lowered his fist. His lip began to tremble. Gnasher stood and smashed the note against his brother’s chest.

“And after what you’ve allowed to happen, that’s just what I should do!”

Basher began to bawl.

“Quit your whining,” Gnasher growled. “Just follow me” Gnasher ran down the hall to the prison room, and his rueful brother followed.

When Gnasher reached the prison door, he saw that
it was still locked. He peered through the little square opening in the door. His mother was nowhere to be seen. He reached to his neck and pulled the chain that held the keys out from his shirt. After fumbling for the right key, he unlocked the door and kicked it in. It swung open wide and hit the wall with a clap of thunder that echoed inside the prison.

Gnasher put a finger to his lips, signaling for Basher to be silent as he followed. Then he strode into the middle of the room. He saw no holes in the walls, aside from the one that the finished rope was fed through. The gaps in the ceiling were unreachable. And there were no tunnels dug in the floor. The locked door was the only exit.

“So how did she get out?” Gnasher asked, scratching the scruff on his chin. His nose started to twitch.

Basher mumbled and pointed at something. Gnasher looked and saw a second note like the one he clutched in his hand. It was attached to the hook at the end of one of the ropes driven by the wind machine, and it bobbed up and down like bait on a fishing line.

Gnasher ran to it and ripped it off the hook. He read it aloud:

—Mother GALLINOR, Your great plan is ruined. See for yourself. Farewell forever.

“No! My rope!” Gnasher shrieked and dashed out of the room. Basher followed, whimpering.

In the prison room, all was still for a moment. Then a voice peeped from the pile of beanstalk plants. “They’re gone. And they left the door open!”

The plants rustled, and Nick and the giantess emerged from inside the pile where they had buried themselves.

“Imagine that,” said Gullinda, chuckling. “A little one like you outwitting clever Gnasher!”

“Go quickly now,” said Nick. “Get away before they find you, or before Gnasher figures out that someone else put the note in the hall for you.”

“But you must run too, little man.”

“I will,” said Nick. “After I ruin his plans for real.”

“Let me help you.”

“No! You’ve been a prisoner long enough. I don’t want them to catch you again. I’m small enough to get away with it, though. They’ll never know I was there.”

Nick heard the ogres’ voices outside the castle as they approached the rope.

“Please, Gullinda,” Nick begged, “they might peek in the hole and see you. Just get away. Run to the other side of that mountain. Don’t be afraid. Maybe it’s a better place to live, with nice folk like you.”

Gullinda nodded. Then she reached for Nick, moving slowly and gently. Nick raised his arms so she could take him by his sides. She lifted him high and brought him
to her shoulder. The giantess hugged him tenderly and patted him on the back with the tips of her fingers. Her coarse hair draped over his face.

“I only wish my sons had been good boys like you,” she said.

Gullinda put Nick down carefully and walked to the door. She turned and whispered one last thing. “Remember my message to Jack, if you meet him again.” Then she was gone.

Nick ran to the hole that led to the rope. He pressed himself against the wall to one side of the gap so he would be out of sight if one of the ogres looked through. He could hear the monsters talking outside.

“Check it! Check every inch! Make sure she hasn’t cut it anywhere,” Gnasher’s screechy voice ordered his brother.

Certain that the ogre’s attention was not on the hole, Nick risked a peek. Basher was on the cart, climbing around the spool to inspect the rope. Gnasher paced around, mumbling and thinking, with a note clutched in each hand. His nose was twitching madly.

“But why would she bother to leave a note … and how did she get out of the locked room … and why would she risk leaving a note at all …?” Something seemed to click in Gnasher’s brain. He looked at the note clutched in his hand. Then he turned the parchment over, and saw his sketch on the other side. It was the sketch that could only have come from his locked room, where Gullinda never could have entered.

Gnasher’s head snapped in the direction of the hole. Nick darted back to one side, unsure if he was seen.
He knows
, he thought. Nick heard Gnasher whisper something to Basher and then the sound of ogre footsteps running around the back of the castle.
And one of them is coming
.

Nick patted the pocket that held his knife, to make sure it was still with him. He brought his head slowly to the hole again. He had to get out of this room before Basher or Gnasher came in. But he also had to be careful that one of the ogres wasn’t waiting, catlike, to pounce on the other side.

Before he could look out again, a powerful hand clamped on his shoulder. Another went across his mouth and cut off his scream. The hands spun him around, and Nick looked into the smiling face of Finch—the man who would travel any distance for revenge.

“I’m late to this party, Nick, but I’m sure you’re happy to see me. It’s been mighty entertaining, listening to you and that ugly old lady-friend of yours. Thank goodness she left, so you and I could have this chat”

Nick tried to yell something into the hand, but Finch shoved him back into the wall. Nick’s head thudded against the rock, and his eyes lost focus for a moment.

“Don’t interrupt me when I’m talking to you, boy. It’s rude.”

Finch kept Nick pinned against the wall with the one hand across his mouth. The other hand came up holding
the jagged knife. He placed the tip of the blade under Nick’s chin.

“Guess I owe you an apology, Nick. I was angry with you for running off on me. But it turns out you had the right idea after all. Never mind Old Man Jack’s gold; you went straight to the source.

“I heard the old woman talk about the treasure room. And I tried to squeeze under that door, but I couldn’t fit. So I need a little help from my young recruit. Make a few trips to that room for me, and maybe I’ll forgive you for what happened at Jack’s house. What do you say to that, Nick?” Finch took his hand off Nick’s mouth so he could speak.

“
Run!
” Nick shouted, looking with wild eyes toward the door. Finch turned and saw the leering monster Gnasher at the entrance.

“So, there they are: mother’s little assistants,” said Gnasher. The ogre hunched over and put his hands close to the floor, with his long pointy fingers curved like talons. His lips curled back to expose sharp yellow teeth, and his eyes narrowed. Then he rushed at them with horrific speed.

Finch shoved Nick into the path of the ogre and ran. Nick stumbled and fell to the floor. Before he could get to his feet, Gnasher was on top of him. Nick sprang away as Gnasher snatched, but his ankle was trapped between two of the ogre’s gnarly fingers.

Finch was heading for the hole in the wall when Gnasher lunged forh im with the other hand. Finch sensed
the claws coming and dove for the opening. Gnasher’s nails scraped across the stone, but Finch was already through. He slid to a stop in the short tunnel that led outside.

Nick was hanging upside down in Gnasher’s grip. He kicked at the hairy hand with his free foot. Gnasher ignored Nick and got to his knees to peer through the hole at Finch.