Vaughn Heppner - Giants

“I’ll send Gaut Windrunner with as many giants as he can gift for speed.”

“You yourself will also go,” Tarag said.

Mimir was beginning to believe that Joash could be a powerful addition to the giants. Yes, there were ways to trick one like him. “Very well, High One. As you will it.”

Tarag strode away.

It was only as he dusted off his knee that Mimir wondered upon Tarag’s easy acceptance of his plan. He nodded. It would be wisest to take the hardiest giants, because the sooner they finished with this, the sooner they could be back to insure Tarag’s good faith.

Adah hobbled beside Joash. When he offered her his arm, she declined.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“You mean besides my blistered feet?”

“Adah!”

She was silent for a time. “We’re no longer alone, Joash.”

His heart sank. What was she trying to say?

“I’m older than you,” she said.

“So?”

She finally faced him. “Joash, you know so little about me. Believe me, I’m not the sort of person you want to…”

“Yes?”

She avoided his eyes. “You kissed me before.”

He felt heat rise in him. It wasn’t that he’d never kissed a girl before. He’d kissed Amery once, but she’d slapped him afterward. He’d also kissed this girl back in Elon, many times. Then her father had found out, and he’d never seen her again. Adah, though, she was different. Yes, she was older, but not that much older.

“You should know a girl first before you kiss her,” Adah said, reproach in her voice.

“I know that when that orn attacked me, you shot it. I know you stopped Elidad from beating me.”

“Those aren’t reasons to kiss someone.”

“They are if you like the person,” Joash said.

“But you don’t know me! You don’t know the horror I’ve gone through. You don’t know how scarred I’ve become.”

“You mean in Poseidonis?”

“Yes!” she said.

Joash nodded. “I’ve heard a little about that. It sounds like Balak. It sounds like you were something close to an egg thief.”

“What?”

Joash told her about Balak and stealing pterodactyl eggs, and he told her how Herrek had rescued him from the brutal half-giant.

“Now I’m more certain than ever you’re one of us,” she said. “Elohim must have guided Herrek to that beach in order to rescue you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“When the bene elohim descended onto Earth, the Shining Ones followed shortly,” Adah said, switching to her singer’s tone. “After a thousand years of war, the bene elohim were defeated and their spirits taken to a terrible place of punishment. Now, in their fathers’ stead, stand the First Born and Nephilim. They, however, are mortal beings. It is not in Elohim’s plan to contest against them with celestial beings. Rather, mortals will contest them.”

Joash wondered at this sudden shift. They’d been talking about her and him. Now, she was talking about First Born and Shining Ones.

“Others must take the place of the Shining Ones,” Adah said, still using her singer’s voice.

Joash shrugged, but decided to play along. “You mean champions, like Herrek?”

“At times.”

“Who can defeat First Born?”

“A wise question indeed.”

“No one is strong enough to defeat Tarag,” Joash said.

“Maybe strength isn’t the prized quality.”

“What is?” he asked.

“The inner flame of a person, his or her convictions, the ability and the desire to do what is right.” Adah paused, taking a deep breath. “Elohim lifts His own champions. He or she can be anyone: a singer, a patriarch, a warrior, or even a groom. But one is never forced into the contest. Elohim’s choice must be accepted. A free will is needed for that. Maybe that is the reason Lord Uriah made you a groom. He wanted you to learn to be free, and to make choices.”

“Lord Uriah?”

“Such a one, called to Elohim’s service against the bene elohim brood, is called a Seraph. Sometimes, a Seraph is a map-reader, or a ship captain, or a singer, or a groom. Always, however, it’s someone who stands in the breach against the evil ones.”

Joash couldn’t speak. He was beginning to understand where she was taking this.

“The magic emeralds didn’t overcome your wits,” Adah said. “Your inner flame must be high indeed. Maybe even as high as Lod’s.”

“Who’s Lod?”

“He’s one who wars with all his heart against the First Born and their children.”

“Is Herrek a Seraph?”

Adah shook her head.

“Herrek fought against the evil ones,” Joash said.

“All good people should fight them. A Seraph, however, is one who dedicates his life to stopping the evil ones. He is in a sense like the Shining Ones who were here to defeat the bene elohim .”

Dread filled Joash. All he wanted was to be a warrior, and to have Adah. To become a…a…Seraph— “Will I be a prophet?”

“Not all Seraphs are prophets, nor are all prophets Seraphs. For instance, I’m not a prophet. And it’s wise to know that the evil Morningstar uses many false prophets with lying tongues.”

Joash wiped his brow. Adah, the woman he’d kissed, was obviously a Seraph. “Is Lord Uriah a Seraph?”

“Yes, and so is Zillith. Now you, Joash, can also become a Seraph, if you accept the charge.”

“What you say is difficult.”

Adah nodded.

“I don’t know what to say.”

She nodded again.

“I must think on this.”

“Wise,” she said.

“I’m scared.”

“You should be.”

“Does a Seraph always win?”

“No.”

“But a Seraph is Elohim’s agent.”

“In this life, victory does not always go to the righteous. It rains on the wicked and on the good. In fact, evil is strong, for many hands work against Elohim. The rebellion begun in the Celestial Realm is now carried out on Earth.”

Joash was unconvinced he was qualified to be a Seraph. How could he hunt First Born and Nephilim? Who was he to take up such a task?

“How do you know if I’m even qualified?” he asked.

“At the cave,” Adah asked, “who was not bewitched by the emeralds?”

“I must think carefully,” Joash said. This was all so sudden. He wondered, for just a moment, if Adah was dumping all this on him so she could avoid talking about the two of them.

“Very well,” Adah said. “But remember, sometimes no answer is an answer.”

“What does that mean?”

She smiled, squeezed his arm, and then signaled Lord Uriah that she wished to ride again. Soon Adah stepped beside Lord Uriah and left Joash to his thoughts.

Lord Uriah called a halt beside a muddy spring. It was hot, and the horses were tired.

After waiting his turn, Joash used his silk cloth to filter out the worst of the mud. He lugged the water to Herrek’s new horse-team. For most of the day he’d kept a sharp lookout for sabertooths, or for a flash of reflected sunlight that meant an armored giant or First Born. He’d seen gorgeous orange poppies, and a field of dandelions where plump rabbits nibbled. With his sling he’d bagged two. After hobbling the horses in a pasture of lush grass, he skinned the rabbits and put the meat on skewers. Amery brought coals from Lord Uriah’s fire, while Beker tossed dry bison-chips that he’d collected during the march. Three pots of tea began to boil and the rabbits sizzled. Joash cut up day-old meat for Othniel’s hounds. The big brutes gobbled the meat and then went back to the spring for more water.