Scales and Swords ✓

12: Determination

"Strength!" thundered Lance, "is nothing if you do not have the willpower, the determination, a spirit that never gives in!"

I felt awfully weak then. I surely had the strength, but determination I lacked. I had arrived at the castle thinking that this exam would be a breeze but at Lance's opening statement I doubted I could get through it that easily.

All around were vuruks, many as twice as tall as me. All whose eyes seemed to relay grit like no other. And I had marched in there to steal what they had fought so hard for, I was nothing compared to them but I at least had to pretend I was. Act like I knew what I was doing, that I had trained day and night, fought in bloody battles and survived, that I was just as deserving as the rest of them. That weighed on me like a thousand ton of bricks.

We started out the castle gates on foot, Lance leading the whole lot of us. Through the town we went. Everyone made way for us, men, women, carriage and all. All stared, many in awe, but many more in utter fright. The way they turned pale, and held onto each other sent clear signals of apprehension. I pulled my scarf higher up my nose bridge till it was just below my eyes. People like us didn't belong in this kingdom, and if you're one of us you'd figure out you weren't welcome very quickly.

When someone grabbed my arm I was too quick to swing. Philip caught my fist just in time. Shaken up, he slowly lowered my hand. "Whoa it's just me, remember the guy whose helping you out."

I followed after the rest of the knights as Philip followed closely beside me.

"Sorry," I muttered.

"All good. But I must ask, are you sure you can do this test?"

"Yeah, I think so."

He stared at me a second longer than I'd like.

When I turned he didn't hesitate nor cease. "What is it?"

He blinked and turned away. "Nothing, nothing. Just tell me if it's too much."

"You don't think I can do it." I stared down at my rough flaky hands that had endured blisters and scrapes from years of farm work and bad falls courtesy of my childhood tormenters.

"I never said that," Philip pointed out.

I sighed. "You didn't have too. Where exactly are we going?"

"Lance won't tell me. And I'm guessing the rest of them don't know as well. Whatever it is, it will be grueling."

~~~

Our journey ended out in the east outskirts where dry grass covered a hilly terrain. We fell into formation. Lance stood before us, eyeing each and every one of us. The air still and silent. Lance began to smile. As daunting as death which I suspected was near. "Recently, an orphanage burnt to ashes. Fortunately, the children were safely evacuated. And ever since have been living in a shabby little camp waiting to be delivered to their new home. When I heard of this, I knew I had the solution they had been waiting for: you knights. You will deliver them safely to their new home and in doing so, your strength and endurance shall be tested. Beyond that hill they await. I wish you the best of luck, knights."

We started towards the said hill. As we drew closer, the ground beneath our feet began to tremble. I paused to get a hold of myself, to prove myself wrong. We weren't causing the tremors. But that only led to a bigger mystery, what was behind that hill, if not children?

When we reached the top and peered over the edge, I couldn't believe my eyes. The winds were taken out of me. My mouth fell agape and I couldn't look away. Baby giants.

Now I had never seen a giant, but I did hear stories. Imagine you're walking in a forest, you look around and you see the trees. Immediately, you feel small and insignificant, because you didn't realize how little you were till you saw how tall the trees were. Now imagine if those trees were people, they could talk and walk and they had feelings. Oh but the trees were only half their height. These were giants. Adult giants, that's one thing, baby giants that's a whole other thing. They were lethally adorable.

The camps were as large as castles, but at the moment the babies were sitting about in the fields, sucking their thumbs, in nappies, some crawling about in grass that only came up to their ankle, sucking on objects that would give average size babies a tummy ache. But they all seemed very calm for babies. Whoever had taken care of them was most likely a professional baby-carer aka a mom.

Their care takers were actually a group of witches who had dedicated their lives to caring for orphan giants. Nice ladies, if I do say so myself. The fire at the orphanage had started due to a fit by one of the babies. Usually they could contain the fits but manpower was down, two of the witches were away for some witch conference. And now they just needed help getting the orphans to their newly made orphanage. Coincidence or not, there were approximately as many babies as there were knights trying out for the guard. Apparently witches couldn't make babies fly, but what did I know about magic or babies.

When I stood next to a baby who was sucking furiously on his thumb, I couldn't help but notice how miniature I was to him; half his leg roughly. Esmerelda, one of the witches, smiled at me and said, "thinking about taking Rowley."

I blinked. Looked at Rowley, at Esmerelda and then at myself. "How far is the orphanage?"

"Oh not so far, just eastward, the nearest giant village," She replied as though it were a hop skip and a jump away.

"Do you guys have carts or something, a baby carriage, or basket?" The more I pondered my situation the taller the dismay became.

She laughed, rubbing a hand over Rowley's toe. "Don't worry they'll be asleep during the transportation. Giant babies are heavy sleepers. We'll be flying above, to make sure everything goes smoothly. In case of emergencies, we will step in to assist. But whatever mode of transportation you choose, it has to be comfortable enough to keep the baby asleep or else-well let's not let it come to that."

One knight lifted the baby from beneath its bottom. Another carried the baby in a sling by his claws. Another knight transformed to an actual giant, and carried the baby as babies were conventionally carried. The rest of us were still figuring out how we were supposed to carry and even lift ginormous babies.

"Would you like a rickshaw carriage, all you have to do is navigate and pull," Esmeralda said. I greatly appreciated her help.

She made a cart from thin air. Not kidding. She waved a hand and wood, stone and metal flew here and there till a baby-giant-sized rickshaw carriage was made.

"Will you be able to pull him though?" She asked.

When Rowley was tucked nicely into his carriage, fast asleep, silent and comfortable I grabbed onto the metal connecting the two shafts because my arms weren't long enough to grab onto both at the same time. And to say pulling the rickshaw was hard, was the understatement of the century, I had never felt my muscles sear like they had in that moment. One step, two step, and I kept going; counting every straining step as I went. My shoulders aching and stinging reminding me every second of the way that I was actually doing it, dragging a giant baby in a rickshaw. The worst parts were the hills, climbing up it was in itself a nightmare, but descending it was a predicament that if anything would demand not only my strength but also my reasoning and of course determination.

Once at its peak I rested briefly and considered my situation. An idea blossomed in my mind. I took another minute to think it over; pressed my feet as far as I could into the earth. It was mostly rock. Dry hard rock. Maybe, I thought, maybe it could work. I turned the rickshaw round, till the carriage was facing the other direction. Standing on the outside of the rickshaw, I grabbed the metal bar and stepped forward. One foot down the hill. At the first step my arms gave in, all agony seemed to cease the moment the rickshaw left my grip. With the relief that rushed through my veins came a surge of guilt at the sight of the rickshaw speeding down the hill unmanned.

A/n: I feel like I went overboard with the super-strength and all that but i think that adds more to how much of a threat Vuruks could be as. But at the end of the day, they have feelings, emotions that control how they feel and what they do no matter the degree of their strength.