Swords of the Secret Son

Chapter 16 - Vander Treyani

Her presence left me and I felt like a little piece of my soul was gone. She was truly dead now. At least she was free from this world.

Rehnnyn seemed to be taking a different approach to the situation. He talked about Rehnnyn as if she was a god. Not many people who died were granted with the honor of being a Being, and Rehnnyn knew one of them. But I didn't feel honored. Jay was gone, and it was my fault for agreeing to let her knock on that dwarf's door before the battle.

"Boy, I really am sorry for what happened to your friend. But you need to understand that she's lucky to be where she is. And so are you. We have to move on," Rehnnyn said, helping me back up on my horse. I gulped solemnly and complied.

After a few hours of riding deeper into the forests, the scenery changed. We rode into steeper terrain, riding into the mountains where the giants of Celienth resided. The trees got bigger as the mountains got steeper and our horses were in desperate need of water.

"Filthy animals, horses are. Centaurs are wonderful at adapting. I'm not dying of thirst, am I?" Arezark bragged. Rehnnyn and I could do nothing but ignore him as his people were crucial to our operation.

"Riderone Fabricius!" Rehnnyn shouted and the very ground split in front of us. The four foot deep and wide crack began to fill with water that seemed to be coming out of Rehnnyn's staff. He hopped off his horse and I did the same, reaching for the water with my hands.

"Let's go," I said myself, jumping back on Phayden once he was done drinking, eager to finish the job we started.

"Dragon boy, giants are a very dangerous species to interact with. We need them on our side, so it will be the same drill as the centaurs. Be careful of what you say to them," Rehnnyn ordered. "Arezark, please, let me do the talking," the wizard pleaded with the arrogant centaur. I followed the wizard into a camp where a lone giant was sharpening a frighteningly large spear on a rock.

We were in the fourth region, although it didn't have the typical region layout. The giants stayed within their mountain range and Vision left them alone. It was an unspoken treaty. The giants were easily the happiest people of the regions, as even though they were foolish enough to sign the treaty, Vision still knew that they weren't strong enough to defeat the giants in battle, so they stayed out of their area.

"Grukzag!" Rehnnyn yelled once he jumped off of his horse and tied it to a tree to seem less threatening. We walked into the camp prepared to run for our lives if necessary.

"What vermin has intruded in our lands?" The voice, at least ten times louder and deeper than any other creature to be heard, came from the giant Grukzag.

"We are here to tempt you in a plot to free you from these mountains. You will have the entire world to road if you help us out," Rehnnyn began in the giant language, Zlirkrus.

"Continue," said the giant leader.

"If you join our forces, we will be able to destroy the men, the men, who have confined you here. Isn't it embarrassing to be such a powerful species and still be imprisoned by men?"

"You are man, scoundrel tiny."

"I am a wizard, Grukzag. There is a difference."

"And the centaur?"

"An ally. Your ally."

"And the boy?"

"My slave," Rehnnyn lied and my face fell.

"Why you arm your slave?"

"I need protection in woods like these, don't I?"

"You do certaintly," Grukzag agreed. "But your slave wimpy won't be enough." With that, Grukzag yelled, "Ready!" and his army of giants marched into the clearing, although no backup was needed. Grukzag scooped us up in his hands, plucked our swords out of our belts and our bows off of our backs, although they would be no help to us then, and gave us to a slightly smaller giant. Now that I looked closer, all the giants were smaller than Grukzag, which I supposed was why he was granted the role of the leader. We were dropped head first into a large pit that reached far above even Rehnnyn's head but only reached the giants' waists.