Jordi Villalobos - The Invasion Of The Sombers

Baldrich addressed the harpies with determination and without the slightest hint of fear and, when he was close enough to the one who stood out as the leader of the group, he told them:

“Greetings, winged ladies, I am Baldrich, a mighty elf magician who will inflict no evil on you if you quickly release my friend the giant.”

With a loudly broken voice, the supposed head of the harpies gave a loud laugh.

“Do you think we're stupid? Before you could lift a single finger, you would become part of our tonight's menu. How do you intend to inflict that evil on us, hey?" asked the unpleasant witch, with a marked disdain in a clear tone of threat.

As all the dwarves appeared pointing at the harpies with their crossbows, Baldrich answered with such calm and confidence in himself and his words that he made the shameless harpy pale.

“With a hundred accurate crossbow dwarfs, perhaps? Each one of you is the target of a different dwarf; and you in particular, being the main lady, have been given the honor of signing up ten dwarfs at a time. One false move or shout of warning and you will be the one who ends up cooked in that pestilent pot. And none of these dwarves I have ever seen fail a single arrow. If I were you, I would let my friend go without further ado," exposed the elf forcefully.

After a few seconds of looking around and weighing the situation, with resignation and contained rage, the horrific creature finally gave way.

“Do what it says," said the harpy, her eyes injected with blood and her face deformed with anger.

Two witches freed the giant, who seemed to fall to the ground with a crash when he was released, but, far from it, when he saw himself free, he grabbed his two captors by the neck, one with each hand, and smashed them head against head, knocking them out of combat.

The perverse fairies screamed furiously and began to attack, but more than half of them were hit by the dwarves’ arrows. One of them was the ringleader, who received eight deadly hits, leaving the winged creatures bewildered and unorganized.

Another hundred witches appeared from behind another nearby mound and many more from a little further away. However, when they were greeted by the dwarfs' accurate crossbows and when they saw that they were falling like flies and that, in addition, they were threatened by a group of orcs and humans who were ferociously joining the attack, they decided to flee and give up the battle for lost, apart from the tasty dinner based on giant.

Of the few remaining harpies, the giant took revenge with such fury that, when there were no more, he almost faced his liberators as well. But he calmed down and, kneeling, not out of reverence but to equal heights, he gave some effusive thanks to Baldrich:

“Thank you very much, great magician Baldrich for freeing me from these repellent creatures. I am indebted to you.”

“It is not me you must thank for your liberation, but my princes," said Baldrich, showing with his arm the approaching nobles.

“You must thank us all equally that you are free. My name is Lirieth, daughter of Gulrath, princess heir to the throne of Teberion.”

“And I am Syriel, son of Jorion, prince heir to the throne of Delfia, and you are not indebted to us: it has been a pleasure to free you from these vermin," the prince declared.

“Lirieth and Syriel? The heirs of Teberion and Delfia! What are you doing together? Weren't you at war?” asked the giant in great surprise.

“That war is now a thing of the past. Now, orcs and men are allies and it is likely that we will soon enter into war against the sombers. Lirieth is now my fiancée. By the way, you haven't told us your name yet…" Syriel was interested.

“A thousand apologies, your highnesses. My name is Sergiker, son of Magellan, king of Granlesia, the giants’ land,” the great prince introduced himself.

“Wow, a giant prince! Is your kingdom near here?" was Syriel surprised.

“No, it's quite a long way, about twenty days, before we cross the great desert, but it would take you twice as long or more," replied Sergiker.

“And what are you doing here alone and so far from your kingdom?" asked Syriel.

“I have come to see a friend," replied the giant, blushing.

“You ran away from home, didn't you?” Syriel suggested.

“Y-yes," said Sergiker, somewhat embarrassed.

“How old are you, young prince?" inquired the human.

“Fourteen years old," said the giant proudly, as if he were already a respectable adult.

This time it was Lirieth who asked.

“My father keeps yelling at me, reprimanding me and punishing me, he never lets me do anything I want to do," protested the big boy, as if he were the victim of the greatest injustice in the world.

“Well, perhaps your father would like to prepare you well so that tomorrow you will be a good king," said the princess sweetly.

“But… I don't know if I want to be a king," responded the young lad.

“And giant? Have you ever thought if you want to be a giant?" asked Syriel.

“Giant…? But… I can't help being a giant," replied Sergiker in surprise.

“Well, the son of a king can't help it either, and he has to help and obey his father so that, in the future, he can reign with justice and wisdom. If you renounce that, the greed of others who do want the throne can provoke wars and bloodshed and, in the end, there will be a king who will be neither just nor wise, as surely you would have been," concluded Syriel.

The young giant digested the prince's words and ended up looking embarrassed.

“You're right, I'll go back to my kingdom," answered the giant with a look of gratitude and admiration.

“Well, but first I'd appreciate it if you'd tell us what friend you've come to see," Syriel wanted to know.

“To the White Magician. He lives about two days from here. Well, I suppose four or five days in your steps," said Sergiker without being able to disguise a clearly condescending tone, though lacking in malice.

“Do your parents know this magician?" Lirieth asked with great affection.

“Yes, the White Magician regularly visits our kingdom and tells me many adventures, teaches me tricks and informs me of the future of your kingdoms," said the giant prince in a careless tone.

“Then, if it's all right with you, we'll go to that magician and find the best way to get you back to your parents in the safest way possible," proposed Syriel.

“All right," responded the boy, already with a big smile drawn on his huge face.

And they set out to continue on their way to the abode of the White Magician, already seeing in the background the colossal Dragons’ Mountains.

This mountain had been an ancient volcano that had not erupted in more than three thousand years. It was, without a doubt, the most gigantic mountain known in all of Frienia. It was so colossal in height that, when perhaps it was not even halfway to its summit, the air ceased to be breathable for any being who attempted to surpass that point. Something that no one had ever achieved, not even the dragons that populated the mountain and also needed air to breathe. Only from a considerable distance and on very clear days, with no clouds in the sky, could one glimpse the towering peaks of the massive mountain.

The brawl with the harpies did not cause any casualties to the princes’ company, only a few wounded and none serious, so they resumed the march as soon as possible in case those monsters came back with more reinforcements.

During the day, guided by the giant, they left that region behind to enter a more uneven region with hills and mountains.

After a couple of days of tireless march, they reached Crystal Lake, not too large a lake but incredibly transparent and totally still that gave it a polished glass appearance, where they decided to stop over. Anyway, Garin advised everyone to stay away from the shore, as respectable-sized fish with strong jaws and fairly sharp teeth emerged from the water with large jumps, which could cause considerable injury to anyone who ventured into the waters.