011 - Giants by the Sea

They made land near the town, Willis helped Magnus struggle ashore. The fishermen would not follow, Pa Lund went ahead scrambling up a sandy hill and onto a path. The path led through abandoned fields and past several caved in houses; the whole area around Doohama was deserted, the path and tracks overgrown, farms thick with weeds. The walls were in tatters, gates smashed and rotten.

There were no sounds of battle, there hadn't been - a silence ruled the streets of Doohama, the air thick with a putrid stench.Inside the walls they found a giant. He'd fallen amidst several black skinned creatures and lay across the main street.

"Strange." Pa Lund climbed onto the giant's chest and nudged its jaw with his foot. "Poison. You know what this is Willis?"

"What?" Willis struggled to hold Magnus and keep up.

"That damn alchemist." Pa Lund snarled, "bloody poisons, I bloody knew it. Skin has gone green, and his tongue is swollen purple."

Magnus leaned heavily against Willis, he was tired, so very tired. Through the sea crossing he'd shivered, once ashore it took every fibre of his being to focus - again and again Magnus had felt a pull, a slight electric buzz, as if there were only the finest of threads keeping him in his body, but slowly, with every step, it became a little easier to breath, a little easier to keep pace.

They passed a dozen more giants and a hundred more black skins. Some of the giants appeared to have died in the fighting, but the majority they saw had green skin, some had their horribly distended tongues hanging from their mouths. Magnus looked into each of their faces with mounting horror. These were the giants he had so long idolized.

"This one's alive!" Pa Lund called out. In the ruins of a store front lay a giant - Harkness! Magnus recognized him instantly - the best of the giant warriors Kloster had. Harkness' skin was pale and green, foam formed at the corners of his lips, his eyes open and staring out at Pa Lund, his chest barely rising and falling with each laboured breath.

Pa Lund tried to get a response out of the giant, but Harkness didn't seem able to hear him. They continued down the street towards the Doohama docks at the inner part of the isthmus. Magnus saw another giant he recognized; Ingrid, her body face up, eyes staring blankly at the sky.

An anger, a deep set rage and frustration boiled in Magnus - a revulsion like an open flame in his gut. He'd driven tens of cart loads of townsfolk to the Alchemists village the last six months, seen hundreds go in through the metal gates. When they came out giants he'd never thought to question the missing faces, never thought to question the fact that the Alchemist would be more than willing to use his time and effort to make them giants.

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A red fog churned through his mind, Rolf! Festus had Rolf! Festus had turned my brother and sister into giants and they'd fought and bled and died for what? For what! Bitter tears fell from his eyes, the black veins on his face throbbed.

Magnus pushed himself away from Willis standing on his own feet, stumbling, then striding determinedly forward after Pa Lund, Willis running after them. Pa Lund's eyes were ablaze, his face contorted in fury. In silence the three marched through the ruined streets until the road opened up into a plaza by the water front.

"It would have been much simpler Septima if we hadn't had to cross the sea, that's all I'm saying." Festus' nasal voice carried from the plaza ahead.

Magnus' eyes widened, but before he could rush out he was roughly pulled aside and held still by Pa Lund. "Shhh, lad, stay a moment and let's see what they've been playing at." Pa Lund said softly. "See how many heads you count."

"It wasn't up to me." A female Alchemist, presumably Septima, responded. "Master Pontius set down the array five years ago, you know that."

"I know that, I know that," Festus laughed lightly. "But it was still a lot of trouble to move my specimens all this way. They can't fly like yours."

"Hmmph. You could have chosen to experiment on something that wasn't as unwieldy Festus, something more suited to your understanding. Like rodents, or worms." Septima snorted.

“Well, at the least I found a measure of success Septima. More than I can say for you and your, your, abominations!” Festus kicked at the corpse of a black skinned creature.

"See that?" Pa Lund pointed to the far side of the waterfront market plaza. "There, that bastard Tygis and his festering brood. No surprise he's all tied up in this."

"An experiment?" Willis clenched his fists. "I don't believe it . . . they were right . .I didn't dare believe . . "

"No time for that. I count thirty, seven castle guards and more than fifteen of those alchemist creeps. Get ready. Magnus?" Pa Lund hoisted Magnus to his feet.

"Ready, Pa." Magnus growled.

"Good lad. Stay behind me. You too Willis." Pa Lund strode into the sunlit plaza roaring at the top of his lungs and breaking out into a run.