Lost in Phantasm (Merlin Fanfiction)

Part 6: "A Giant Escape"

"They don't ever come down if they can help it."

The voice filled the cavernous hall, but it could not be the giant who spoke so kindly—could it? Arthur could just barely make out the hand slowly headed for him again. He pushed himself up and tried to crawl backwards, but the fingers caught him around the waist. Arthur could not escape his grasp. He decided to let his whole body go limp and play dead. As the giant lifted him into the air, he could tell by the alarmed gasp that the ruse had worked.

"Oh," the boy moaned as he gently laid the human on the ground in front of his giant feet. "I didn't mean to kill him!" He prodded Arthur's body, "I try not to kill anyone. I only knocked him over a bit because then the trolls would not beat me for not fighting back. I am so sorry, human! Please do not be dead!"

Arthur heard the splash of liquid, and carefully cracked one eye. The giant boy must be quite young, he surmised, to be so distressed over a supposed killing. He now shed tears, each one nearly a gallon of liquid.

Nothing more could be gained by playing dead, if indeed the giant never intended to kill him. Arthur feigned a fainting spell and rolled over slowly, as if he had just regained consciousness.

"Oh, my head," he groaned, rubbing his scalp. At least most of his "recovery" could be faked, except the part when he'd actually hit his head on the stone floor.

The boy sniffed and laughed, scrubbing the tears from his face. "You're alive! Oh, I'm so glad! I've never seen one of your kind before; I nearly thought the fall had killed you. I was so frightened." The giant extended a hand to pick him up again, but Arthur pushed his fingers away.

"No thank you," he panted, still wary of the giant, "I've got it." he eased himself backward until he could lean against a pillar. He was still gasping for breath. Giant and human regarded one another solemnly.

"What's your name?" Arthur asked.

The giant shifted his position so that he was resting on his hands and knees, with his face very close to Arthur's. "Calebryanicolinathanderson," he answered. "What's yours?"

Arthur blinked at the size of the name. "My name is Arthur. Tell me, Caleb Ryan Cole Anders—whatever." He found he could not manage what had come from the boy's mouth easy enough. "Do you mind if I just call you Caleb?"

The boy shrugged one shoulder, "Most non-giants call me Freak, Monster, or Giant anyway, so Caleb is fine."

Arthur finally relaxed enough to smile at Caleb. "Tell me, Caleb," he said again, "how did one such as yourself get caught by these trolls?"

Caleb hung his head as his face turned red. "The same way they catch everyone. I was alone and they invited me to join their party at the campfire."

Arthur knew only too well the effects of troll-liquor.

Caleb continued, "They offered me barrels of the fizzy drink, and when I awoke the next morning, they had me all tied up in troll-rope. They force me to fight other creatures for their entertainment."

Arthur pondered this for a moment, recalling Caleb's past comment. "But you don't kill them?" he mused.

Caleb shook his head, blushing deeply. "The truth is, most of them have been badly beaten by the Underworlders before they are sent down anyway, so they themselves can't fight very well. So we make jabs at each other, I usually end up knocking them out so they look dead, and then I put them up there." Caleb glanced furtively around, and pointed to the frieze against the back of the wall. "From below, it looks like this wall goes all the way to the ceiling, but only I can see that it doesn't." He glanced down at Arthur shyly. "Do you want to see?" Caleb laid his hand on the ground next to Arthur.

Arthur glanced at it. The index finger alone was almost as long and just as thick as his own body. Cautiously, he crawled over and onto the palm. Caleb moved very slowly, raising his hand so that Arthur could see behind the frieze. Sure enough, there was a space about three feet tall and five feet wide, and beyond that Arthur could see a wide hole in the wall. A fresh breeze blew through his hair.

"You hide them behind the frieze, and they escape," he guessed, turning back to the giant.

Caleb smiled in response. "The Underworlders never notice, and I don't have to kill anyone." He set Arthur back on the ground again.

The young king glanced around at the odd bones and carcasses lying about. "What about those?" he asked.

Caleb winced. "On the nights when no fighting would take place, they would throw me old cart-ponies to eat. There was no way to make a fire, though, so I have only survived on what the fairies make for me."

"You let fairies cook for you?" Arthur repeated incredulously.

Caleb smiled, "They're better than you think. And I never said anything about cooking. Fairies don't exactly cook food, they make it." At Arthur's confused stare, Caleb shrugged. "I'm not completely sure how the whole process works, either. One of the things they can make are these large melon-gourds called misti that they typically carve out for their homes. Here, they make them especially for me to eat, rather than living in them." Caleb sighed, "I would have died otherwise."

Arthur surveyed the huge, gentle giant who had spent the entire of his imprisonment setting others free.

"Caleb," he decided, "I'm going to help you get free."

The giant stopped fiddling with his shackles. "How?" he asked.

Arthur glanced around the room. If the pillars at the center supported the arena then the ones around the edges, like the ones Caleb was shackled to, probably supported the seats, maybe even the walls themselves.

"The pillars," he told the giant, gesturing to the one on Caleb's left. "Can you topple them?"

Caleb reached out with his left hand, bracing his feet against an opposite pillar. The stone did not budge.

Caleb sighed, "Not with one hand. With two, maybe, but even if I did, I would still be wearing these chains."

Arthur inspected the huge padlock. Ordinarily, a very small, narrow pick would be required to pick a lock... but when the padlock was the size of a large shield, Arthur found it easy to see the bolt's inner mechanism. Very carefully, he inserted the blade of his sword into the lock. Twisting delicately, he felt for the latch and pressed against it with the blade. Something snapped, and Arthur quickly drew his sword out, fearful that he had broken the tip. Instead, the shackle fell from Caleb's wrist.

The giant stared at him in awe. "You're going to help me get out of here?"

Arthur smiled. "Indeed I am; now, Caleb, push the pillars!"