Vaughn Heppner - Giants

“Now,” Lord Uriah said, “you must be about your business. But carefully, Groom. Beware of giants and old sabertooths.”

Joash nodded, and together with Herrek, he took his leave.

Joash was very aware of the spear in his hand. No longer was it a javelin, a narrow length of wood with a small metal point on the end. Now he held a warrior’s weapon, a seven-foot spear, a charioteer’s most-used tool. Hunters and skirmishers used javelins, but only the trained fighting men had weapons fashioned from faraway Caphtor.

Joash felt tired nonetheless. He rode in a chariot beside Adah. Herrek and Gens were nearby and several dogs trotted with them. They’d traveled since leaving Lord Uriah’s sod room until dawn. They’d stopped to feed the horses, and then trekked inland again.

Joash glanced sidelong at Adah. Of course, he’d heard the whispers about her. She always slept with lit candles in her room or tent, and she couldn’t stand to be alone. For all that, she was very beautiful. Joash enjoyed being with her, enjoyed her rose perfume odor. He’d begun to wonder… well, just how old was she? Or rather, was she young enough so he could try to kiss her? The idea made him blush, because he stood beside her.

Hours passed as the two chariots followed the sniffing hounds. The sun became hotter. In time, they worked up sloping terrain. An eagle watched them, screeching from time to time. The eagle finally dove into a depression. Moments later it arose with a rabbit in its talons.

“Nephilim are nearby,” Adah said. “We must, therefore, be very careful. One can never be complacent when Nephilim are near. They yearn for the old glories the way you and I yearn to breathe. Worse, the First Born plot to reclaim the position left by the bene elohim . Mimir spoke to you. Now, I am fearful for Lord Uriah.”

“Why?” Joash asked, startled by her speech.

“Lord Uriah recalls the lost glories of the Empire and of Caphtor. The Nephilim and First Born hate those things. They know Lord Uriah will go to any length to save Caphtor.” Adah smiled oddly. “Yet Lord Uriah will also make the great city pay for any favor he does it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Why, that Lord Uriah is a complex man, and that he has many motives for being here.”

Joash frowned. He’d never thought before to consider his lord’s motives. A chariot-runner did his duties, as did a bondservant. Now he was a freeman. Now, he could, and probably should, wonder why his lord did what he did. He thought about the footprint of Old Three-Paws. He’d seen the print near the last spring they’d stopped at.

“What does Herrek think chased Elidad?” he asked.

Adah studied him, enough so he smiled. Her eyes were so dark, so enjoyable to look into.

“You examined some tracks before,” she said, a small smile twitching into place. “Tell me what you found.”

“Sabertooth tracks by the spring.”

“What kind?”

“Of a brute with a crippled left paw.”

“What do you call this beast?”

“Old Three-Paws,” Joash said, remembering the Teman Clan warriors who had glanced at Herrek when he had last mentioned the name.

“Listen to what Lord Uriah told me last night,” Adah said. “It explains much.”

“Herrek, and his oldest brother, Jeremoth, once gave each other ever increasingly harder challenges. Each thought himself their father Teman’s hardiest warrior. Eleven years ago, Jeremoth challenged Herrek to go to Giant Land and bring back a mammoth hide and tusks. Herrek boldly accepted the challenge. He landed at the same camp we stayed at, and went out after a four-day blizzard. They found a half-frozen mammoth and made their kill. During the skinning, sabertooths attacked. A huge male led the beasts. The big beasts slew many of the charioteers. Herrek, trapped at the edge of the drop where they’d cornered the mammoth, readied his sword as the big male rushed him. Herrek struck the sabertooth’s paw as the sabertooth knocked him off the edge. Herrek survived the fall, although, several of his ribs were broken by it. Despite his ravings to go back after the sabertooth, Gens refused, and drove him back to camp.”

“The next year, to prove his younger brother less of a warrior than himself, Jeremoth sailed here and hunted for the same sabertooth. Jeremoth never returned home. The charioteers, who did return, spoke of a sabertooth with a crippled left paw. That sabertooth, they claimed, had been unnaturally cunning. He had led his pride in several ambushes, and had delighted himself upon human flesh.”

“This,” Adah said, “is the beast that Herrek thinks is chasing Elidad. And this beast Herrek is determined to slay.”

Joash wondered how wise it was to stalk such a beast without many dogs and warriors in tow. In all the wilds, no animal was more dangerous than one who had learned to hunt people. And Old Three-Paws was said to be unnaturally cunning.

“This will be a dangerous journey,” Joash said.

“So you think Herrek is right?”

“That Old Three-Paws follows Elidad?” he asked.

She nodded.

“The tracks show such to be likely. Besides, what else could have chased Elidad?”

Adah looked away. She shook her head and then gestured sharply. “You are young. You don’t yet know what a precious thing life is. To throw it away on a vengeance quest, that’s folly.”

Joash frowned. What had caused this shift in her? What was she thinking? He didn’t like her calling him young. He knew very well how precious life was. “What do you mean?” he asked, a bit stiffly.

“Wait until you’ve lived two hundred years, or five hundred years, then life will become almost too precious to bear. Old humans should know this.”

She was confusing him. Was she saying that she was two hundred years old? Not with skin that soft. A thought struck Joash. “What about Nephilim?” he asked. “Don’t Nephilim live longer than true men?”

“It is said so.”

“Then, wouldn’t they feel the sting of life more than people?”

“What do you know of the bene elohim ?” she asked, sharply.

Joash shivered, thinking back to Balak and Gog, who ruled the pirate city. Gog was supposed to be a child of a bene elohim . Since those days, Zillith had taught him that abominations like First Born, and horrible powers, like the bene elohim, were subjects best left alone. Evil fates awaited those who delved too deeply into those arcane mysteries.

Herrek called from atop the long, slow slope they’d worked up the entire morning. Adah shook the reins. Their stallions broke into a gallop, thundering toward Herrek. The wind whipped Joash’s hair, as he held onto the vibrating chariot rail. He closed his mouth after the chariot bounced over a rock, painfully clacking his teeth together.

This was wonderful and glorious, almost divine. Joash loved the ride, and he laughed as Koton, Adah’s hound, raced beside them. Adah finally pulled the reins. The stallions snorted and slowed to a high-stepping prance.

Joash wondered how a warrior could keep his balance to snatch and hurl a spear while at full speed. It would be years before he learned such a skill, if he ever got the chance to train.

“What is it?” Adah shouted.

With his chariot parked on top of the slope, Herrek pointed at something just out of sight. Then Adah pulled up beside him.

Joash whistled in awe.

Gens nodded, saying softly, “It’s beautiful.”