Andal and Jeva were quickly let inside Bezpin, a small population that had been cut off by the Haverdash and retreated into a stockade they’d made in the hills. The effects of undead giant attacks were obvious from the way the walls were damaged, and of course the enormous footprints outside. Andal told them, “Thank you! I really want to know about these giants that are attacking, and where they’re coming from, but right now we really need some food!”
“And warmth!” Jeva added.
"Of course," an older lady told them, follow me to the mess hall. Dietrich? Grab them some blankets please."
One that seemed like her husband told them, "The giants approach quicker in the night, but they come in night or day. Only two have attacked us since we moved there, and the slope to get to the gate has made a huge difference, but defeating them is a great challenge. If they were to break through the walls, I don''t know what we''d do."
They entered the mess hall and felt instant comfort, as it was warmed by a fire on either end. They caught the scents of mead and fresh bread, which they were very excited for despite not having tried mead before. Andal asked the man, "Which way are they coming from?"
"South of us, from the Dalmatian I would say. That''s what we call a mountain with a bunch of caves in the side."
They say down at a table, "That makes sense. We''ve seen them before, and they were coming up from underground." He turned to Jeva, "We should check out the Dalmatian tomorrow, and see if we can find where the giants are coming from."
"Shouldn''t we try to get back to the other nominees as fast as possible? What if a Glorious Haverdash were to attack?"
"We should, but I think we''ve been underestimating the usefulness of these giants."
"Ooh, you have a plan?"
"Not quite, but something like one. That city we came out of was completely ravaged by the giants, they can be a legitimate force against the Haverdash! So, I want to lead as many of them as I can to attack a Haverdash city. I don''t know quite how I''m going to do that, but that''s what I want to do."
Jeva gave an anxious smile to the older man and his wife, "Alright, I guess we''re going to try and solve your giant problem!"
*
The town gave them warmer clothes out of appreciation for what they were doing. For Andal they had to find clothes that could fit snugly in and around his armor, but it was easy enough to just bundle up Jeva. They got directions to the Dalmatian, which was easy to identify because it had ten times the number of caves in it as the surrounding mountains. It was also easy to spot which caves the giants were coming out of, not only because they''d have to be particularly large, but because there were still the imprints of enormous footprints in the snow. They picked the closest cave with footprints coming out, figuring that they all must lead to the same place, and entered in.
Andal cast a spell of light, revealing that the cave quickly branched into multiple paths. They chose the smoothest, friendliest-looking path, because why not? The cave continued to branch, and they saw branches behind them that lead to other caves or to dead ends. There was a point where they realized the branch they took led in a pointless loop with lots of pitfalls and sinkholes in it, which explained why the giants had such a hard time finding their way out. They backtracked a ways and had to go down a different branch.
They sat down in a dry place to take a breather, having walked much further than they''d expected to already. Jeva joked, "They''re playing hide and seek with us, I guess. To think we''ve come all this way in and haven''t seen any."
"True, true. But, it does smell more foul than it did before, which I take to mean we''re getting closer." He licked his finger and held it in the air, "I think it''s weird how there''s a breeze going down the tunnel. Where''s it going? Is there not any air down there?"
"That is weird. Probably makes the smell better too, so they''re actually closer than we think."
"Yea… good point." Andal got up and went over to a tunnel that was sloped to almost be a pit. He looked over the edge, and there was an undead giant, clinging to the walls and trying to climb up. It didn''t have a chance to make it the whole way, because there was a big overhang at the top where Andal was.
Suddenly, the giant bounded off the wall where it was to grab the ledge under Andal. The thin ground couldn''t bear the weight, and crumbled. Andal reacted quickly, putting a circle of light below him for him to land on, but the other hand of the giant swung as if out of nowhere and snatched him up.
The giant fell, with Andal in a crushing grip. Andal immediately started cutting at its thumb, trying to get out before his ribs broke, but when the giant started bouncing off the walls in their descent Andal ducked into its hand like a shelter to avoid being dashed against the rock.
They reached the bottom of the hole, and when the giant landed, his elbow snapped on a jagged rock. His hand opened, sending Andal flying out separately. He made a burst of wind to make a cushion of air under him, but was soaring.over a wide crevasse. He made a circle of light to land on, knocking the air out of him as he did.
The giant groped at its surroundings, but couldn''t stop itself as it fell into the crevasse. Andal watched it fall, looking into the crevasse. At the bottom was a horde of giants, and some so decayed as to be giant walking skeletons. As the giant landed at the bottom the horde looked up at the opening in the crevasse, making Andal freeze in fear.
He stayed there on his circle of light until Jeva reached the bottom of the hole, relieved when she saw that he was okay. "Andal? What are you looking at?"
"I found them, where all of them are coming from! At least, this far north." He made more circles that let him walk from above the crevasse to solid ground. "They can''t get up from here, there''s nowhere to climb to get to this opening, so we have to find another way down there."
Jeva put a hand on his shoulder, "Andal, are you serious about leading them out of here? That''s super dangerous."
Andal looked down at the horde, but then nodded, "I am. Think how impossible it would be for the Haverdash to kill that many giants. Look at them, could Manier win that fight?"Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
"Okay, I trust you, but we have to be really, really careful!"
Andal spotted a tunnel that led down, and they descended cautiously. Unfortunately the tunnel didn''t lead directly to the bottom of that crevasse, but was one of many branching paths and branched into even more paths. As they found their way, Jeva asked, “How are we going to find our way out before they catch us?”
Andal showed her his hand, which he had been writing on with luminal numbers. “A 2 means we came from the second branch, a 3 the third branch, etc.”
“So we reverse that going back up?”
That hadn''t occurred to Andal, and he looked up to think. “Uh, yea. I guess we have to recount the branches each time we see one.” He grinned sheepishly, “Sorry, but we have ways of going faster. We just have to get a bigger head start.”
They advanced more cautiously after that, since Andal wasn’t as confident they could get out of there quickly. They came to a slanted opening, and not far in front of them, the horde of giants, groping at the walls and seeking a way upward. Andal looked at Jeva, “You ready?”
“What are you going to do?”
“I think I’ll run out there a bit and whistle, then they should follow after us. We run and use magic, and we go all the way to Haverdash territory. If we have to take breaks we can sit way above them on a circle of light.”
She shook her head, “This is crazy, especially for you, but I’m with you.”
“Thank you. On three then! One… two… three!” Andal and Jeva ran out until they noticed that several giants had looked their way, then put their fingers in their mouths and whistled as loud as they could. “Follow me!” Andal shouted, “I know the way out!”
The giants didn’t move. In fact, those who had started moving toward him when they saw him suddenly stopped. They stood straight, and looked at a cliff that led even lower into the earth. Jeva tugged on Andal’s arm, “We should go.”
“Yea, I think you’re right.”
They turned, but a heavy weight suddenly pressed on both of them. They felt crushed against the earth, even though there was nothing touching them. Their eyes were drawn toward the cliff, where an extreme terror rose up and penetrated them from. The hands of a giant came over the edge of the cliff and gripped the earth. They lifted a giant from the depths that was unlike the others, which all the other giants watched patiently, and who looked down at Andal and Jeva as they squirmed. He had no flakes of skin, nor any skin for that matter, and no rotting flesh. His flesh was pulled tight on the bone, dry, and colorless. He had no trace of lips, and his gums were the same dry and colorless matter as the remainder of his muscle. His natural eyes were gone, but a translucent mass hovered in his sockets, which he used to look. He had clothes, and they were not worn. He wore a staff almost as long as he was tall on his back, made from the trunk of a single tree. He had a circlet of black rock around his head, and a golden crest on his chest.
He leaned on the cliff edge and reached out as though for a hug, drawing his arms in and pulling Andal and Jeva close to his face. He spoke with a deep, breathy voice, hindered by his lack of lips, and that hissed through holes in his teeth. He took long breaths, and spoke while breathing in and out. “The light…” He looked particularly hard at Andal, who was still casting a spell of light. “It has been so long… since I have seen… the light! It is not… quite like… the sun… though.”
He was holding them so close to his face that they could feel his cold breath, and his clamoring teeth bit at them with every word. They didn’t have the courage to respond or act, but they had enough sense to pull their limbs away to avoid being nipped. The giant continued, “You say… you know… the way! The way! I have searched… long… and now a scent… falls to us! It smells… so sweet… and deathly, but it fills our caverns… and I cannot find… the way it came!”
He pushed his hollow nose up against them and inhaled, “Aaaaaaah… it is on you. What are… your names?”
They answered quickly, not wanting to risk making him wait. “Andal!” “Jeva!”
“Andal… Jeva… You will lead me! Lead me out! The world may have… thought I was dead! Heah haha… and so I am…" It was hard to read his expression without much flesh and without proper eyes, but he seemed to be pleased, "But you remember me…. Or else why… would you have come?"
Andal and Jeva stayed silent, but the giant expected an answer. “Do you not … remember?" He pushed his face even closer, and Andal had to put his feet on the giant''s chin and push against the bones above the giant''s teeth to avoid getting bitten. "Say my name… if you know it!"
Andal and Jeva we''re quiet. The giant roared in anger, lifting his hands away from them and bringing them crashing down to shake the cavern floor. He spoke quickly, breathing in and out fast enough to keep speaking, "You will all remember! I will make you all remember! My name is Mal Moggog, I am Kollus, and I am Gol! Have you forgotten that too?"
Andal and Jeva curled up on the ground, hiding their hands from Mal Moggog''s gnashing teeth, "It means I am tyrant! I have my way on the earth, and I subjugate the weak! Bow before me while you shudder in fear! And shudder you will, more than you are, and the whole earth will shudder, for I am Gol! I am a terror that cannot be hidden from, that is with you day and night, and makes your bones weak in my sight!"
He kept breathing heavily, then slapped them both with backhands. They each went tumbling a dozen feet, and Mal Maggog said, "Now lead me … to the sun."
He started climbing fully out of the hole that he was in, so Andal and Jeva got up and hurried toward the tunnel they came out of to avoid being stepped on. As they entered the tunnel, he followed, and the horde of giants followed after him. Andal healed the scrapes he and Jeva had from when Mal Maggog knocked them back, and Jeva took the opportunity to whisper to him, "Andal, we can''t show him the way out. This is much bigger than we thought."
Andal whispered back, "I know. We have to lose him at some point. Let''s try slipping away when we get around a corner."
"I can feel… a breeze this way! This must be right! Though my senses… have been dulled."
After rounding a few corners and not seeing an opportunity, Andal signaled to Jeva that they should try at the next one. Mal Maggog seemed to be trying not to crush them more than he was earlier, so they had a little space to use as they turned a corner and bolted.
They had only gone thirty or so feet when exhaustion flooded through them, and their legs wobbled. They fell to the ground, feeling a primordial terror. Mal Maggog rounded the corner, "I didn''t know… where you''d gone… for a moment. Stay closer… or I might .. lose you."
They had to lead him further, but the ascent was long enough for Andal to come up with another plan. "We should cause a cave in behind us. There''s bound to be some weak points in the ceiling somewhere."
"How are we going to get the space between us and him to where we could cause a cave in?"
"We have to convince him to let us get distance. We''ll check on a possible dead end, since our memory isn''t perfect."
"Okay, it''s worth a shot, but I want to change one thing. We cause the cave in in front of us down a route we aren''t going down, then turn and go down a different route."
"What''s the point of the cave in if it isn''t blocking him off?"
"Uh, what''s the point of a cave in that tries to block him off? He''ll tear right through it! But if he tears through it and we aren''t behind it, now we''ve gotten away."
Mal Maggog''s voice cut through their conversation, "What are you … saying to each other?"
They spun around, and Andal quickly answered, "We''re discussing the way out, jogging each other''s memory."
"Ahhhh… then talk away."
They were nearing the point where they would be at the top of that crevasse, so Andal stopped and turned to Mal Maggog, "It''s almost a straight path from here, but we''re having difficulty remembering which of those two ways. We''ll check out that way, and if it''s a dead end we''ll come back. If it''s the way out, then just follow after us and you''ll have reached the sun."
"Yes… I feel the breeze… it is stronger here. Go, check quickly!"
Andal and Jeva ran down the tunnel, reaching a branching point, and identifying the best spot to try and cause a collapse. Jeva charged up a bolt of lightning, and Andal shielded them. She struck the roof above where a large amount of rock was hanging, and successfully caused a small cave in. The sound echoed back, and Mal Moggog''s roar echoed in response. Andal looked at the cave in in dismay, "It was too small, we could fit right through that!"
"That''s okay, it''s not supposed to stop him, remember."
They ran down the other branching path, but suddenly became weak. Their legs wobbled, their bones ached, and a terrible fear washed over them. They fell on the earth, and waited. The pounding of Mal Moggog''s feet could be heard clearly, but then they heard him smash through the rubble they''d caused. The rumbling of his giants behind him could still be plainly heard, but they followed him down that incorrect path.
As Mal Moggog went farther and farther away, the fear and weakness faded from Andal and Jeva. They got back up and ran to where that giant had first made Andal fall, using wind to lift themselves up, and making circles of light for them to land on. In time, the sound of giants was completely gone, and Andal and Jeva were able to safely work their way back to the entrance in the Dalmatian.
Andal looked in the direction of Bezpin, "We''ll have to tell them we couldn''t solve their giant problem. They should flee further into the mountains, if they can."
Jeva added, "Andal we need to get back to the other nominees."