The Forest of Giants seemed to offer some protection from the atmospheric turmoil that tore across the lands, but weather still managed to slip through the leaves of its massive trees. Snow blanketed the earth and made climbing those trees a laborious task. The bitter winds made travel even more unpleasant. The three travelers burrowed into a comfy tree hollow and waited it out. Tamiel used the time to improve his crafting skills. He tried to craft simple leather clothing from their amassed skins.
Maiya was a constant thorn in his side. “Hey, Kid. I’m bored. Entertain me. Like dance or something.” She acted like a petulant child, demanding his attention constantly. Eventually, he figured out how to craft his illusions into scenes. He ended up spending a lot of his time telling her stories from books he had read, or plays that he had seen. Whenever a tale didn’t go the way she wanted it to, she mercilessly took it out on the innocent storyteller.
Sasha was also obsessed with the swirling and moving colors, though it was unknown whether or not he understood what was going on plotwise. He would scrunch himself up while his tail lashed back and forth erratically, his eyes darted back and forth along the hanging magical screen. Drool hung from his mouth is long sticky strands as he made excited little mewling sounds.
Once the weather cleared, Tamiel, Maiya, and Sasha broke camp and headed deeper into the Forest of Giants. The trees were endless, and had developed strange ecosystems. It was almost as though many different environments had been stitched together at random. They passed through the hunting grounds of many different beasts, and fought off any challengers.
The only constant through the varied terrains were the carnage wurms. Anytime the travelers were on the ground, they had to keep their senses open for the ravenous critters. The wurms hunted wherever they pleased, and paid no heed to the laws of the forest.
A two headed wurm, easily four times larger than the first one that confronted Tamiel, burst from the soil. A younger tree collapsed as the beast tore through its roots. Nine smaller wurms broke from the ground in a rough circle around Maiya and Tamiel. Sasha had felt the wurms approach and leapt for a high branch. He refused to fight against the foul tasting creatures. Instead, he alternated between licking his fur and watching the pair fight below him with feigned interest.
“Whursauk, Guardian of earth and honey, let your fur become roots and bind my foes. Earth Bind.” At Maiya’s words, the ground around six of the wurms churned and reached towards them. A lattice of roots pushed the keening things out of the dirt and fettered them.
Tamiel spread his darkened flames down his blade and leapt through the immobilized wurms. The smoking pieces fell back to the earth. He landed next to the girl and they clasped hands.
“Korovix, mother of night, send these children off to sleep….,” Tamiel intoned, while lifting his hand up.
“Whursauk, return my foes unto the endless dirt…..” Maiya replied while lowering hers.
“Mouldering Coffin.” They finished together as their other hands touched.
The webs of earth from Maiya’s last spell shuddered and reached towards the two-headed monstrosity. The beast screamed and writhed as the latticelike structure burrowed into its flesh. The skein of earth wrapped around it and tightened into a floating ball. The duo tightened their hands as one and the ball of dirt instantly tightened and crushed the largest carnage wurm. The sphere of earth shook the earth as it crashed, and the wurm’s bodily liquids dripped out of the cracks.
Maiya started to let go of Tamiel’s hands, when he suddenly tightened his grip and pulled her in close against him. Her eyes widened and her cheeks turned red.
Tamiel’s sword flashed into his hand and arced behind Maiya and sliced the wurm that had been charging at her back.
She turned even more red, and vaulted away from Tamiel while fanning herself.
Oblivious, the boy finished off the last two wurms himself and sheathed his sword. He turned to Maiya in confusion as she stomped up to him. She grabbed his collar and lifted him off of the ground. “You little brat!” she exclaimed, “Don’t you have any manners? You can't just grab a girl and throw her around. Jeez.”
Tamiel pointed over her shoulder. “Uh Maiya. That thing doesn’t look like it has any manners either.”
She turned her head so that she could see where his finger was pointing. An owldog the size of a house crashed towards them from a gap between some trees. Maiya threw the boy one way and jumped back the other way.
The beast spun and lunged at Maiya. She was off balance and couldn’t respond in time. All she could do was watch as its giant claws came closer. Before they struck, Sasha landed on the arm and knocked it downward while chittering angrily. He started tearing into the arm with his needle-like teeth and claws.
Both Maiya and Tamiel recovered their bearings and launched into action. Tamiel condensed a set of boiling bubbles from the air and sent them towards the owldog’s head. They made whistling sounds as they flew through the air, scalding the owldog’s neck and shoulders when they hit.
As the beast reared up in pain, Maiya stabbed at its feet with the butt of her spear to further unbalance it.
Tamiel pulled his hands apart and a bubble formed around the beast’s head. He clapped his hands together and the bubble popped in an explosion of light, heat and sound.
The owldog sat down ponderously onto its rump and stared blankly, its thoughts completely addled by the onslaught. It shook its steaming head to clear it and accidentally dislodged Sasha in the process. Sasha landed a few feet away and backed away warily. The owldog ignored the gorgel and snorted a few times. It decided to hunt for easier prey and limped off, favoring its back paws where Maiya had stabbed them.
Maiya stuck her tongue out after the waddling monster. Her stomach rumbled loudly and caused Sasha to leap back in alarm. Tamiel burst out laughing and sat down on the ground, the tension draining from his body after the series of grueling bouts. “Maybe you shouldn’t have let the owldog escape. It could have been lunch,” he joked.
With her nose in the air, Maiya replied, “I’ve got other plans for lunch. Better plans.”
“Oh yeah? You’ve always seemed more like a eat-whatever’s-in-front-of-you kind of girl,” Tamiel continued ribbing her.
“You just don’t understand girls, kid. We want what we want, and it’s your job to get it. It’s a good thing you came to me for your education. I’d pity your fiance otherwise.” After she spoke, Maiya realised that she had gone too far. All she did was shrug, “Sorry, Tammy. I bet it’s been rough.” Her stomach grumbled again.
He forced himself to chuckle. “It’s fine. Your carefree attitude must be rubbing off on me. And I know I’ll see her again.”
Maiya stepped in next to him and poked him with her elbow. “So confident. Tell me about her while we scrounge up some lunch.”
The boy’s eyes lit up as he spoke. “‘Hira is really smart. We hatched so many schemes together that would have been impossible for me alone. She’s always giggling and getting into trouble. But she’s really kind, too. Her magic’s calm and soothing, and she could heal anything. She’s beautiful, always smiling. Everything she does is measured and graceful.” He continued talking as they walked, unaware that this was the first time Maiya had seen him truly smile.
There were sounds of rushing water off in the distance and it got louder as they wandered directly towards a large flowing river. Several waterfalls added to the melodic scenery. On the bank, a group of crocodile-like reptiles lazed around in the sun. They each had one or two pairs of long, sinuous tentacles that twitched peacefully as they dozed.
Mayia’s squeal interrupted the boy’s neverending description of his girlfriend. “That’s what I’ve been waiting for!” She charged at the startled pack of croctopi and twirled her spear. “Don’t let any of them escape!”
Sasha and Tamiel got caught up in her enthusiasm and they bounded off after her. One of the crotopi noticed them and rolled onto its feet, screeching a warning to the rest of its pack. The creatures formed up shoulder to shoulder and created a writhing wall of tentacles.
Maiya responded by magically creating a large pit behind the beasts. At the same time, Tamiel cast illusions to confuse and push the croctopi backwards into the trap. Illusory Tamiels got chomped, strangled, and torn apart by the large reptiles. Maiya, Sasha, and the real Tamiel dove into the fray. The poor croctopi didn’t stand a chance. With wild abandon, Maiya and her minions tore through the entire group. Crotopus parts flew everywhere.
Maiya dropped to her knees and pulled out a skinning knife. Before her prey had even breathed its last, she was butchering it and yelling at Tamiel to get a fire started.
“Croctopus meat is the best,” she gushed to the boy. “And it’s like they want to be eaten. See this bulbous organ? Its excretions are a perfect oil to fry the meat up in. Oh man, I can barely wait.” She quickly and expertly cut into the corpses and laid out the bared meat along a strip of skin. While the oil heated up, she skipped over to Sasha and dug into the saddlebags. The girl pulled out a container filled with breadcrumbs and a couple eight-inch tall eggs that she had stolen from a nest earlier.
As an afterthought, she took the whole saddle off of the squirming squirrelbeast. “Good boy,” she exclaimed. “Waiting for the okay. Go get it!” He tore apart the ground in his haste to latch onto one of the corpses. He stuffed his face with the rubbery meat and rolled around in bliss.
Tamiel poked at some of the meat, and kept glancing from the happily humming girl and her wriggling mount. “Is it really that good?” he muttered.
Both of them stopped and stared at him in shock and pity. “You’ve never had fried croctopus before? No wonder all of you skycity freaks are so lame. None of you have tasted pure happiness.” Sasha snorted in agreement and continued to roll around on his back and cram his cheeks to bursting.
Maya continued to dance around as she prepared the breaded delicacies. When she was done, there was a veritable mountain of crispy fried croctopus. Without waiting for it to cool, she started cramming pieces into her mouth. She had to stop and bounce around while fanning her face. “Hot, hot hot,” she cried. “You better hurry up, Tammy, or I will eat all of this.”
He tentatively took a bite. As the deep-fried lusciousness melted into his mouth his face relaxed into ecstasy. He dove in and fought his hardest to eat his fair share of the overwhelmingly good food. Maiya kept pushing him away and huddled greedily over the remaining heavenly fried balls.
After devouring as much as she could, Maiya fell to the ground and lay there patting her distended belly. Tamiel crashed down next to her and moaned. “How did we eat all that? It shouldn’t be physically possible. Oh man. I’m so full, but if there was more, I’d still be eating it.”
Later on, Tamiel rolled onto his side and watched as Maiya neatly bundled up the skins and remaining meat and set them off to the side of their makeshift camp. “Why do you always leave the excess parts piled up like that?” he wondered.
“The gatherers from my tribes are constantly patrolling throughout the forest. I leave a magical signature on the leftovers and someone comes to pick them up.” Maiya revealed nonchalantly, as though this was the most natural thing in the world. “We’ve been doing this the whole time.”
He furrowed his brow. “Wait, but we’ve been out here for months, and I’ve never seen anyone but you.”
The girl scowled. “Then maybe I haven’t trained you enough. Why, someone passed through and stopped to watch us fight the croctopi for a bit. I can’t believe that you didn’t notice. You should really pay more attention…” Her ire turned into mirth. “If you weren’t under probation, they definitely would have stayed for lunch. I bet they’re really embittered right now. I make the best croctopus fritters in the tribes. ” She puffed out her chest importantly.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
………………….
Tamiel stopped dead with his mouth dangling down as low as it could go. He couldn’t stop himself from squeaking, “This is… astonishing. Your city must be the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. How did you build all this?” His eyes couldn’t stop roving across the many wonderful sights before him.
Inside a colossal grove of trees a beautiful town grew, nestled in their towering branches. Ornate rope ladders crisscrossed the air between the structures. Some houses were magically shaped out of hollows in the trunks, while others were gorgeously crafted and mounted on top of the branches. There were ornamental fountains where various domesticated animals drank. Giant statues of grand-looking beasts were enshrined in thrones of entwined branches. Vast nets became the playground for groups of adventurous children.
As Tamiel was overwhelmed by the unexpected magnificence, a troop of fierce looking warriors had silently surrounded him. Their weapons were trained onto the bewildered young man. He blinked at them, mystified. Then, he opened his mouth to speak and turned to Maiya, only to find that both she and Sasha were gone.
“Why have you come here, outsider?” one of the warriors spoke.
Still looking around for Maiya, Tamiel realised that he had been set up. Turning to the speaker, he replied haltingly, “My name is… Tamiel. I come... seeking admittance to the tribes.”
“What reason could we have to admit you, little boy?” One of them scathingly asked while he brandished his weapon.
Tamiel was uncomfortable, but answered truthfully. “I am an orphan. My mother died and I was left in a hostile environment. I escaped and have made my way here, under the auspices of Maiya Vierral. I have heard of the greatness and strength of your tribes. I also want to become strong.”
“We have no need for weaklings,” the irate tribesman replied.
The leader of the group stepped forward and put a hand on the aggressive man’s shoulder. “Everyone has the right to ask for our help, Somah.” He turned to Tamiel, “But we do not always choose to give it. Know that we do not often allow strangers into our families, orphan. But that is not for me to decide. I am Challa. Follow me, little boy. Your fate will be decided by our Chief Vierral.”
Hearing the name of their chief, the boy had a very bad feeling of what was to come.
Surrounded by the group of armed tribesmen, Tamiel was brought to an amphitheatre-like clearing. There were fancifully carved wooden bleachers headed by an opulent tented dais that reigned majestically over the wide field.
The bleachers were full of a wide assortment of people. Scales, feathers, webbed fingers, each person sported the characteristics of their Patrons. There didn’t appear to be any common dress among the residents either. Many styles and amalgamations of styles appeared among them. Almost everyone carried weapons. Children scurried up and down the steps, yelling at each other excitedly and waving sticks.
The arena was filled with assorted artificially built terrain. Large poles jutted from random points in the dirt. A few sturdy looking stone walls dotted the field. In one corner, a manufactured waterfall cascaded down into a large pool that had been dug into the ground. No expense had been spared in the building of this fantastic colosseum.
The seat of honor was occupied by a giant bear of a man that could only have been Chief Vierral. He had a burly bristly beard and his hair was dreaded down his back. The short ears of a bear poked out of his hair. His face and arms were covered in whirling green tattoos. He wore a combination of leather and chainmail with burnished metal plates on his left arm and leg. A massive two handed sword in a sheath was propped up on his chair.
In a seat next to the chief, with her legs crossed, sat Maiya. When she noticed Tamiel starting at her, she broke into a catlike predatory grin. In an obviously telegraphed motion, she turned to the man, who must have been her father, and spoke something into his closest ear. He smiled at her and stood, taking a step to the edge of the platform.
His booming voice reverberated across the arena. “Young man. I am the chief of the Darkearth tribe. My daughter tells me that you wish to become one of us. Do you have what it takes, I wonder.”
The crowd roared in response to the chief’s call.
He raised his hand and the crowd quieted immediately, “We respect only strength. To be worthy of joining us you must be strong. But to be worthy of staying with us, you must also carry yourself with honor.”
The people stamped their feet in unison.
The Chief finished, “My daughter says that you are strong. So we will honor you by letting you fight against one of our strongest younglings, my own son, Gerath. Prove yourself against him and the tribes will welcome you.”
Challa gently pushed Tamiel forward into the center of the ring. He shook his head at the naked glee of his subordinate: Somah was wringing his hands and chuckling in anticipation.
Cheers burst from the crowd as a young man walked out from behind the dais. Though he was younger than Maiya, at fifteen he stood as tall as his father. His massive muscles rippled as he sauntered out. Gerath had an honest and open face with half-lidded sleepy eyes. Like the rest of his family, the furry ears of a bear grew from his head and swirling green tattoos raced across his body. An easy smile was plastered across his face as he waved back at the crowd.
Wielding twin great axes almost as large as Tamiel, he spun them around as if they were weightless. “I’m sorry, kiddo. Even if you are my sister’s friend, I won’t go easy on you. No matter how strong my sister said you are, you’re no match for me. This will be over quickly. No hard feelings, okay?”
Tamiel drew his sword and a dagger, then got down into a fluid stance. “I see that you share your sister’s confidence. I hope that it’s not empty bravado.”
The giant boy lunged forward as fast as his laughter bellowed out, his axes wide and low. “I guess we’ll find out, kiddo!”
Knowing that his opponent was far stronger than him, Tamiel used both of his blades to block the first axe, trying to angle it so the axe would glance high off of his guard. Though the blow was even heavier than he anticipated, Tamiel recovered and barely managed to duck backwards and away from the second axe. Gerath whistled approvingly.
After only a few exchanges, Tamiel knew that he wouldn’t be able to win if he continued to let Gerath dictate the pace of their duel. The smaller boy danced backwards before unleashing a familiar spell. He whispered under his breath, “The Guile of Korovix, trick the world. Shadow’s children.” Seven identical Tamiels ran in different directions and surrounded Gerath. The muscular boy raised his eyebrows at the sight, then grinned excitedly and drawled, “Alright. This is what I’m talking about, kiddo. What’ve you got?”
Gerath sliced at the Tamiel directly behind him. His slash cut straight through the false Tamiel, which burst into water droplets and smoke. The giant used his momentum to spin and his other axe lashed out towards another Tamiel. The second fake ruptured like the first.
With a serious glare, the remaining five Tamiels each cast another spell, their voices echoing eerily around Gerath. “Xertonos, ensnare my target in your ire. Flame Lash.” A long whip of magical flame burned from each of the Tamiels’ daggers and lashed towards the dazzled tribesman. One of the whips curled around an axe, and that Tamiel pulled back as hard as he could. The axe was torn from Gerath’s hand and it spun off into the dirt.
The other four whips stuck at Gerath but he managed to cut one in half, block another and dodge a third. The fourth whip struck his shoulder and left a darkened singe along his back. It was clear that the illusion’s magical whips were not as potent as one wielded by the true Tamiel.
“Not bad, friend.” Instead of getting angry, Gerath laughed joyfully as he kicked out at the closest Tamiel. The clone burst into a cloud of mana. The real Tamiel noticed that Gerath was keeping an eye in his direction, like the older boy knew which one was real.
The remaining three fake Tamiels all rushed Gerath at the same time. Flinging themselves at him, they all exploded into a muddy liquid, which splashed into Gerath’s eyes.
Tamiel rushed forwards a second behind his clones, and used the opportunity to close in on his opponent. Building momentum, he lashed out with his leg, hoping to knock Gerath to the ground. “Take this, Gerath!” he yelled.
He saw the other boy muttering, but didn’t want to lose his advantage. Too late Tamiel noticed that the earth had swollen up to encase Gerath’s legs, which supported and grounded him. Tamiel cried out in shock as the giant dropped his second axe to the ground and grasped Tamiel’s extended leg when it struck him. “I’m not done!” Tamiel lashed out with his other leg and kicked at the hand that held him.
Though he was blinded by the sticky liquid, the grin never left Gerath’s face. He reached up to grab Tamiel by the boy’s torso and encircled him in a crushing hug. “Yes you are, kiddo. It’s over.” He whispered and tightened his grip further.
Tamiel thrashed around wildly, trying to break the larger boy’s hold. Unable to draw a breath, Tamiel’s struggles weakened, and his vision started to go dark.
A memory started to play on the inside of his eyes. The distant scene came into focus as he lost sight with the outside world. Valorous was caught, chained, and pushed to his knees by the guards he had considered his friends. King Raitan, his face full of rage, raised his magic sword and beheaded the prince’s mother. He heard Nahira scream, tears streamed down her face in an agonizing torrent.
“No!” Tamiel screamed along with his memory of Nahira. Caught in the recollection, the former prince unwittingly released a raw surge of fire and shadow that blew the giant boy away from him.
Gerath flew limply across the field and crashed into the ground.
Tamiel dropped to his knees as he grappled with the painful memory. He gasped for breath as he looked around wildly.
Unknown to him, the magical blast had torn through his personal illusions and he stood revealed to the tribe. His black hair was tangled in his face, his black scaled wings heaving with his breathing. Shadows writhed in his troubled eyes.
The formerly boisterous stands were silent. The assembled crowd did not react well to the sudden transformation of the boy. They stared in shock at this apparition of the nightmare from times past. Even Maiya was staring, for the mysterious boy had never revealed his true form to her either. Even trapped under the Carnage wurm, his illusions had held.
The disoriented boy tried to take a step, but the Chief was next to him, and a massive hand smashed into Tamiel, throwing him back and away from the groaning Gerath.
As he pulled his giant sword from its sheath, Chief Vierral declared, “Remnant of the Shadow, know that you fought well. But this deceit cannot go unpunished.” He had raised his sword to skewer the prince, when Maiya dashed from the dais and grabbed his arm.
“Father, I will vouch for him.” Maiya stated. Then she turned to the frightened onlookers, held her chest and pleaded, “I’ve traveled with him for months. He may be a mystery, but he’s not evil. We all understand that one’s blood isn’t all that they are. We aren’t so weak that we discriminate because of someone’s lineage. It was my decision to bring him here. By the name of Maiyael Vierral, if he ever steps out of line, know that I will kill him myself.”
The chief considered his daughter’s impassioned speech for a moment and then shrugged. “Well, it was a good fight.”
At the chief’s decision, the crowd roared their approval, moved by the exciting bout.
Maiya bent over and held out a hand to the boy, “You’re lucky it was my dad here, one of the other chiefs might not have been so lenient. They all like to shirk their duties and disappear for months at a time.” She raised an eyebrow at her father.
He shrugged unapologetically at his daughter and then poked Tamiel’s chest. “Prove yourself worthy of my daughter’s trust, boy. We are all taking a risk of allowing one hated by the sky kingdoms here.” Having said his piece, the chief lumbered off like a sleepy bear.
Gerath shambled up next, and slapped Tamiel on the back, staggering the smaller boy. “Well done, friend; quite the spell casting there. I did not see that coming at all. Though you might want to train that aura of yours better. Man, I’m gonna be bruised for a week.”
“Oh, you big baby.” Maiya poked at her brother. “I can’t believe you lost to this little kid.”
“Hey! I’m taller than you, Maiya. And I’ve beaten you plenty of times.” Tamiel cut in. He was still a little addled, both from the clan's easy acceptance of his blood, and from the chief’s backhand. “Thank you, though,” he responded to the older boy’s words. He turned to Maiya and asked, “How is everyone so willing to accept me?”
She shrugged back, “Well, you’ve been being watched since before you entered the forest, and the elders had already decided to accept you into the clan.”
When he looked at her accusingly, she fluffed her hair and winked at him flirtatiously, “What? You didn’t think my father would let some strange boy hang around me without coming to check things out, did you?”
Wondering if he would ever get a straight response from her, the newest member of the tribes shook his head.
An elderly lady in flowing pale robes glided towards them with a serene smile. Though she was wrinkled with age, she had a mysterious vitality about her. Her short white hair was decorated with feathers. Her nose looked like a beak, but it gave her an abstracted charm instead of making her look stern. The Vierral siblings nodded their heads at her respectfully. She spoke to Tamiel, “What an intriguing young man. I could sense your powers before you even entered the village. Call me Mystia, child. I am the Chief of the Indigofalls tribe.”
She ran a graceful hand across his scaled arm, then circled around him to touch the curve of a wing. Continuing around, she traced his cheek. Holding his chin in between her fingers, she stared deeply into his eyes. “I sense no malice in your spirit. However there are forces at work unknown to you, and they would very much like to devour you.”
A bluish glow suffused the old woman, centering around her eyes. “I will have to hide you while you are here, until you can learn to do it yourself.” The glow spread from her until it encompassed the boy as well.
He felt a cool, calming assurance from her magic, as it seemed to seep into his skin and form a gentle knot in his chest. Tamiel sighed in relief, as a keening pressure that he hadn’t been aware of previously was muted. “Thank you, Chief Mystia. I don’t want to cause any trouble while I’m here.”
“No need to be so formal, child, you’ll find that we aren’t big on such stuffy manners. Now, let me look at you. Your previous illusions were masking your presence well enough, but we can’t have you lighting up like a beacon every time you get into a fight and those illusions fail.” Mystia said lightly. “My Indigofalls tribe will have much to teach you, while you remain here. You should think about joining my tribe, when the time comes. But of course, that’s all for later. I think the tribes are setting up a welcoming party for our newest little one.” She endearingly poked his nose.
Unnoticed by Tamiel, a young man was glaring at him from the bleachers. He was a livid shade of red and he shook with jealousy at how close Maiya was acting towards the dashing and mysterious boy.