Jordi Villalobos - The Invasion Of The Sombers

However, Sergiker disregarded the advice of the dwarf and went into the water gathering a large number of these fishes, which he caught in flight, showing the giant an outstanding dexterity and thus offering his liberators a succulent dinner. The fish turned out to be very tasty once roasted.

The next day, very close to where they spent the night, they came across the remains of the camp of the somber group that preceded them and that little by little increased the distance between them.

Leaving the Crystal Lake behind, and entering a leafy forest, they continued the march under an heavy and annoying rain that did not stop afflicting them all day.

The downpour ceased at sunrise, but left the terrain too soft, where it was more uncomfortable and tough to advance.

At mid-morning they saw a column of smoke on the horizon, as if coming from a large bonfire, and decided to move cautiously in case it was the sombers.

At dusk the next day they could see that the bonfire was directly related to the sombers, but in a very different way from what they had originally thought. It was not a fire for cooking or heating, but a funeral pyre. The group of sombers, who had been able to avoid them for many days in the Peaks Pass were not as lucky with some effective enemy who, after defeating them, piled them up and set them on fire.

In analyzing the marks and footprints of the battle, Syriel pointed to the others:

“This has been done by a very powerful squadron, be alert at all times.”

“I know who did this," said Sergiker with pride. “The footprints and marks are unequivocally my father’s; he must be around here looking for me. So, don't worry, you have saved me and you are my friends, you have nothing to fear from my people,” the giant tried to calm his new friends.

“Well, that reassures me and matches those huge footprints. But don't stop watching, just in case," added the prince.

They left the funereal bonfire, expectant, and so on for the next two days, until they entered a gorge that made its way through a not so large mountain range.

“At the end of this gorge, in a huge camouflaged cave, lives my friend, the White Magician.”

But before anyone could answer, they were surrounded, from the irregular and not too high elevations flanking the gorge, by a hundred chunky giants measuring about thirteen feet height and brandishing their weapons in a threatening attitude.

Sergiker advanced to the giant with the most majestic bearing.

“Father, this is Syriel and Lirieth, princes of Delfia and Teberion. They and their men, orcs and dwarves, showing a distinguished bravery have saved me from the claws of the harpies I was held captive by and are escorting me to the White Magician’s abode to find the best way to bring me home," announced the giant prince, with a marked affectionate tone and thanks to his liberators.

Then he added, turning to the princes, filled with pride:

“I present to you my father, Magellan, the king of Granlesia.”

“I am indebted to your highnesses for saving my son," thanked the enormous king as he approached his heir and the rest of the giants relaxed, lowering their weapons.

Father and son fused in an embrace for a few seconds, then the giant king rebuked his offspring, affectionate but forceful.

“What am I going to do with you? How can you abandon your people and expose yourself to the dangers of these lands? When are you going to learn? When are you going to assume the role of prince that corresponds to you?” almost begged the giant king, with a certain harshness, although without ceasing to show a clear fatherly affection.

“Father," replied Sergiker, solemnly and expressing deep repentance, "I am very sorry for all the affliction I have caused you with my acts of immature rebellion. I give you my prince's word that it will never happen again and that from now on I will submit with illusion and desire to the learning tasks proper to my condition of future king,” promised the boy, looking furtively at Lirieth and Syriel.

“What made you change so radically? asked the pleased father.

“The princes have made me see that just as I can't help being a giant, I can't help being a prince and a future king, so I've decided to face my destiny as best I can," said Sergiker enthusiastically.

After holding his son tightly, he looked with deep gratitude at Syriel and Lirieth.

“I will never forget your help. If you ever need anything that is in my hand, don't hesitate for a moment to ask me. I am doubly indebted to Your Graces,” the great king compromised himself, with tears of joy in his eyes.

“Forgive me for daring to speak to you so soon, but we have seen that the dark ones are not counted among your friends and it is possible that soon we may need help in the face of an attempt by them to invade our kingdoms," said Syriel.

King Magellan ordered a wasteland to be brought to him. Instantly, one of its giants gave him a cage with a bird and the king offered it to the prince.

“Princes and future kings of Teberion and Delfia," he said, "I give you this most precious and beautiful bird. It is a balardi, if you let it free, it will come to me to follow it to the place where you released it. Therefore, when you need me, release him and he will take me wherever you wait for me. The balardi is a very fast bird, the only one faster than the falcon, and it will not take long to warn me of your invitation. It is the first time that I have given one of these birds to someone who does not belong to my people," confessed the monarch.

Syriel took the cage delicately and thanked the king for the valuable gift.

“We are very honored by your invaluable favor, although I hope I will never have to use it. If not, do not doubt that it will be because of a desperate situation in which we hope never to find ourselves," the prince wished.

Sergiker, fed up with all the flattery, interrupted the regal conversation.

“And my friend, the White Magician?”

“Here," replied a snow-white figure who appeared behind the giant prince, just at that moment.

Sergiker turned and embraced the snowy apparition, which reached beyond his waist, with touching affection.

The White Magician was really a being of dazzling whiteness, he had the typical point-shaped ears of elves and a pearly mane, straight and silky, that almost reached him halfway down his back. But surely, he was not known as White Magician because of the hair color which was already almost perfect white, but because of the marked albino tonality of his skin, as well as of the eyebrows, and even of his eyes, whose pearly shade could not even be distinguished the apple of his eye’s cornea. In spite of having more than two thousand years of age, his appearance was like that of a healthy human halfway between the sixties and seventies, although without any beard, as was usual among beings of elfic race.

Once the effusive greeting between magician and giant was over, the White Magician addressed the princes.

“I also thank you for saving my little prince. Welcome to my abode," he invited as a magical breach opened in the middle of the rocky mountain. “Go ahead, there's room for everyone, even the giants if they bend down a little as they enter.”

They entered caves of enormous dimensions, as much as the dwarfs, and even more so since only the White Magician lived there.

With a gesture of the magician towards one of the corners, some stables appeared with everything necessary for the rest and provisioning of the horses.

And to another gesture of the white-skinned wizard, some tables and stools of various sizes were materialized for the comfort of men, orcs, elves, mediam, dwarfs and giants, with everything necessary to initiate the most succulent and sumptuous of the banquets that could have been done for those lands.