I overlooked Karakhorum from the top of the courthouse. After a night’s rest, I’d come up here to watch the sunrise and my men heave crates, packed with stones, over all the holes in the city. One by one, the lights faded, going from a beam to the sky to a quiet glow strangled by the crates and radiating outward like a torch. Karakhorum still smelled like smoke, even up here, as if it had burrowed into the foundation.

I was perched up on the edge of the courthouse’s ceiling, my feet resting on the eaves. Erhi was worried when she watched me climb up, but falling was the least of our problems. Covering the holes probably wouldn’t make any difference, but it stopped children from falling into them. The creatures coming out of the holes, however, would have no difficulty tearing through crates and stone, judging by how much damage Oktai had done while he was in Karakhorum.

“Kublai?” Khulan said. “What are you doing?”

I looked down. “Sightseeing.”

“In your own city?”

“I haven’t really had much time to take it all in.”

“You don’t really have much time right now,” she said. “With our impending doom and all.”

“Now’s the perfect time, actually.” I leaned as close as possible to the edge. “It reminds me what I’m fighting for.”

“What are you fighting for?”

I stuck out a hand.

“You want me to…”

I grinned. “Jump.”

She jumped, barely falling short. She frowned, bent down further and grunted as she jumped the second time. I caught her hand and pulled her up beside me.

Khulan shifted on the tiles. “I would say you’re stronger than you look, but you look pretty strong.”

“Maybe I’ll scare Oktai’s army away.” I held out my arm and flexed it. “I’ll just flex in front of the holes.”

She smiled. “You might be onto something.”

“I’ll need some longer arms if I’m going to cover the whole continent, though.”

“How are we going to help the whole continent at once?” She swung her legs off the edge of the roof. “I’ve sent a raven to the First Capital, but I fear it’ll take too long.”

“Worst case? I use the map to be everywhere.”

“Best case?”

“They hear word about my scary muscles and don’t come out.”

She looked into her lap. “I fear my men won’t know what to do even if they know what’s coming.”

“What did you tell them to do?”

“Run.”

“Where? It’s happening everywhere.”

“As far from the lights as possible. It might not save them, but it’ll buy them some time.”

“That’s all we need,” I said. “It’s not your job to save them. It’s mine.”

“Yours? What happened to ‘we’?”

“Batu got winded from chasing Oktai. Erhi’s probably still exhausted from healing all those people. You…”

“I know,” she said. “I can’t just walk up to Oktai, so I can’t just walk up to anything that comes out of the holes.”

I nodded. “It’s on my shoulders.”

She put her hand on my shoulder. “That’s a lot of responsibility.”

“I started all this. I have to finish it. Even if I don’t make it, I—”

Khulan covered my mouth with her hand. “You’ll make it. I might be foolish for listening to your brother on that, but, I don’t know, it’s something about you. You seem like it’ll wash off your like rain, in the end.”

“You’re right,” I said. “It’s foolish to listen to my brother. Most of the time.”

“He also told me that there are frogs in the rivers of Karakhorum that can speak and grant wishes. For a small fee.”

“Let me guess: he asked you for the fee.”

She waved her hands. “’Double your money’, he said.”

“Wow, double?” I said. “Can I get in on this?”

“I didn’t get in on it. You kind of, uh, kidnapped me before I could collect my coin purse.”

“And look at you now. A free woman.”

She smiled and moved closer. “You aren’t the first man I’ve charmed into releasing me from captivity.”

“I would say that I’m sure I won’t be the last either…” My knee brushed against hers. “…but that would suggest you’re going to be in captivity again. I wouldn’t let that happen.”

She put her head on my shoulder. I put my hand on her thigh.

“I know you wouldn’t,” she whispered, her eyes flitting down to my lips.

I leaned in, her breath warm on my nose, quickening as I inched closer and closer. I pressed her lips to mine. She tasted of blackberries. She arched her back, her chest brushing against mine. I gripped her thigh tighter. She shifted, moaning softly.

I pulled away and smiled. “Let’s go.”

She smiled back and nodded.

I stood. Once I got my balance, I leapt off the roof. I held out a hand and looked up at her. “Come on.”

“You’re joking right?” Khulan said. “Oh. No, you’re not.”

“I’ll catch you.”

She stepped back a little and took a few breaths, then ran, leaping for me. She landed in my arms.

“See?” I set her down and took her hand in mine. I led her through one of the side entrances, which took us through the empty kitchens and past the servant’s quarters. We slipped past Eeluk; I didn’t want him seeing me and talking my ear off about preparations. I only wanted Khulan. When we got to the lord’s quarters, I pulled her close and kissed her again.

She bit her lip. “Shall we?”

I pushed open the door. I hadn’t used the lord’s quarters yet, but I wished I had. The bed took up a third of the room, blankets and goose-down pillows spilling off the bed and onto the marble floor. I drew the curtain over the lone window, and when I turned around, Khulan lay on the bed.

I stepped closer. She reached out and tugged me closer by my shirt. I dropped my satchel and kicked off my boots, but Khulan was faster than me. By the time I lifted my shirt over my head, she had her gown off. Her black hair cascaded over her breasts, so she reached up and pulled it back over her shoulders.

I stood at the bedside. Her eyes were locked on mine, but her hand wandered down my chest and over my belt. She undid the buckle with one hand and my pants fell. Her mouth followed the path her hand had just taken: her tongue drifted from my neck to my chest to my waist and finally, she looked up at me as her lips went up and down over my cock.

I pulled her up so she was standing with me, then laid her down on her back. She gasped as I entered her, arching her back. She drove her hips toward me and I went harder. The bed creaked, but I didn’t stop. She didn’t either. Her hand pulled at the sheets and she moaned, “Faster!” I picked up the pace. Harder. Faster. Deeper.

She moaned louder than ever and breathed out heavily. She looked at me, smiling, and said, “Your turn.”

She got off her back and went down to her knees in front of me. Her hand wrapped tightly around my cock. She stroked me, slowly at first. Her eyes locked with mine the whole time. I ran my fingers through her hair. She smiled and ran her tongue over the tip before taking me into her mouth, still stroking me. She went faster, faster, faster…

I finished in her mouth. She took her mouth off me slowly, dragging out the last motion. We collapsed onto the bed and she nestled into my arms.

“I could stay here forever,” she whispered.

“I could keep you here forever,” I whispered. “Locked in this room.”

“Freedom’s overrated.” She grinned. “Especially if more of that’s on the table.”

“I was thinking on the bed, but I can get a table in here.”

She chuckled, her chest bouncing on mine. “You better. This isn’t the last time we’re doing this.” Her laughed tapered off. “Well, if we’re around to do it after, you know, impending doom.”

“This isn’t nearly the last time.” I stroked her hair. “Impending doom or not.”

“That isn’t really the time for this kind of thing.”

“Then why are we here?”

“This was an exception.”

“I agree,” I said. “It was exceptional. And the view’s better here than on the rooftop.”

She smiled at me. “Why were you on the rooftop?”

“I had to think.”

“I doubt it was about the location of your private garden or when you should visit the countryside.” She shifted. “It’s on my mind too. I can’t help but think about what’s going to happen. This was a welcome distraction.”

“I can’t help but think of our way out,” I said.

“Have you come up with anything?”

I sat up. “Eeluk said he cut a hand off and the hand just evaporated.”

She sat up. “So?”

“The hand couldn’t stay in our realm for long. It needs the Spirit Realm to sustain it. We can’t stop the Spirit Realm from colliding into ours, but maybe we can draw the creatures far enough from the sources so the energy just… evaporates.”

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Khulan pulled the sheets around herself. “It could also just have been the fact that it was, well, cut off of its body.”

“But it must have been weakened for that to happen in the first place. It’s like how spiritual energy clings to me, but fades over time.” I said. “Either way, we need to draw them as far from the holes as possible.”

“How would we do that? They don’t exactly seem to be interested in the conventional vices—”

Someone knocked on the door.

“My… my lord?” Eeluk said. “Are you in there? One of my men said he saw you sneaking around and, not to be insubordinate, but, my lord, we could use your…”

I pulled the door open.

“…input.” Eeluk’s eyes darted over to Khulan wrapped in the sheets. His hands moved to cover his eyes instantly. “My lord! I’m dearly sorry for this. Please, I didn’t—”

“It’s fine.” I got dressed, grabbed my satchel and stepped out of the room, winking at Khulan as I shut the door behind myself. “What did you need?”

“How should we organize our men? This enemy is… unconventional, so how effective do you believe cavalry will be? Archers? Should we try something unconventional to match the enemy?”

“Don’t,” I said. “Stick to what you know. Keep the men in their regular ranks with their regular comrades. Don’t change what you don’t have to. It’s important that everything seems like it’s business as usual, even though it isn’t. They’re going to see some strange things. Let’s not have their formation or weapon be one of those strange things.”

Eeluk nodded. “I see. And should the wall still be manned?”

“Who are they protecting us against?” I started walking. The men lowered their sparing swords and training bows and nodded at me as I passed by. I looked each one in the eye. They were putting their lives on the line. I intended to make sure they knew what that meant to Karakhorum. “The threat is coming from inside our walls.”

“I had the men moved already,” he said. “I just thought I should confirm, given the peculiar situation.”

“Do you know where Batu went?”

Eeluk nodded over to a group of men tucked into a nook at the end of the passageway.

Laughter rolled through the passageways. Batu threw himself back, grinning from ear to ear and raking a pile of coins toward himself. I dismissed Eeluk and walked over. The men, the same ones who’d been throwing things into the hole in the courtroom with Batum, snuffed out their laughter when they saw me approach Batu from behind.

“What?” Batu said. “Don’t be so sour about losing. I’ll give you a chance to win it—”

“No you won’t.” I put my hands on Batu’s shoulders. “We’ve got work to do.”

“But I’m on a hot streak!”

“This is the first hand you’ve won in the last hour,” one of the men said.

“I didn’t say it was a long streak,” Batu grumbled. He sighed and stood up. “Duty calls. I’ll collect later.”

I started walking and Batu followed. “Why are you even gambling now?”

“The way I see it, either we all die soon…” Batu said. “In which case, who’s really left to collect my debts nor do I care if I won a week’s wage just then. That, or we all survive. In which case, we’re all too overjoyed to hang onto past debts. Well, except me. In that case, they’re still here so I can collect from them. Win-win.”

“You could have been thinking about how we’ll win,” I said. “Not how you can avoid paying your debts.”

“I figured you’d come up with something.” He shrugged. “You always were the one with the brains. Where are you even taking me?”

I smirked. “To my solution.”

“So you did find a way out. See, brother? I knew you would. Now, if I could just get back to that game I’m sure they’ll deal me in—”

“We’re going to talk to the giants.”

“Why? Do you need Chair-Wax to open a door for you or something?”

“We need all the hands we can get. Big ones especially. They saw the fire and ran off. We’re going to bring them back. As many as we can. They’re probably in the hills.”

“That’ll take a few hours by horseback,” Batu said. “Please tell me we’re going by horseback.”

I pulled out the map.

“Eternal Blue Sky, again? Good thing I didn’t have breakfast.” Batu stopped walking. “Wait. If we were just going to use that map again, why’d you have me walk all this way?”

“I had to get you away from that table.” I turned towards him. “You would never have come with me with that stack of coins in front of you.”

“I could always just go back to—”

I let the map unfurl, grabbed Batu’s wrist and pressed on the hills outside Karakhorum.

We landed in thick grass which threatened to swallow us, as if it was alive. I kicked my legs free and scanned the surroundings. Hills folded into one another like clouds. Wind whistled over them, moving through the grass in waves.

“The walk’s a bit too long now,” I said to Batu.

Batu put up a hand, then bent over and vomited. “Never… again.”

“If time wasn’t of the essence, you’d be free to walk or ride or crawl here,” I said. “But we don’t even know how much we’ve got.”

Batu looked around. “The giants live… here? I don’t see any giant houses.”

“Everyone always says they live ‘in the hills,’” I said. “I always assumed it was similar to goblin burrows.”

Batu held his hand at his knee. “Goblins.” He lifted his hand up over his head. “Giants. They don’t exactly have the same living constraints.”

I started walking up a hill. “They must be here somewhere.”

“Or you shouldn’t put so much faith in what fishwives and merchants say.” Batu rushed past me, running up the hill. When he got to the top, he looked around. “I don’t see anything.” He stomped his foot, digging into the hill. “Nothing!” He kept stomping. “Now, I’m sure I can catch the last couple hands of—”

The hill shifted. It seemed to groan, like an old man rising in the morning. On either side of me, the grass cracked as its hold on the soil was torn. After a moment, two pillars had been erected. Two… arms? Batu struggled to keep his balance as the rest of the hill moved. He dug is fingers into the dirt, but that only made the hill roll its back to get rid of the itch. The hill unfolded, untucking what looked like a head and standing in front of me. It wasn’t a hill. It was the biggest giant I’d ever seen – I could have sworn it could reach up and snatch a cloud out of the sky if it wanted to.

Batu clung to its back. “Brother!”

The hill giant turned its head down to me. It tried to move its eyes, but they had been crusted shut by wet soil and grassroots. Its thick eyebrows were made of what looked like tree bark. Earthworms writhed over its legs. Its body was covered in stone patches, as if he had been born half statue. It cast a shadow over me.

“You are….” Its voice sounded strained, as if he could barely muster the energy to speak. Even so, it vibrated through the land like an earthquake. It breathed a cloud of sand onto me. “Human. Why do. You come. Disturb. Us?”

“I come to find giant called Chair-Wax,” I shouted. “Chair-Wax.”

The hill giant paused, and lifted his left arm. The end was less a hand and more a permanently-shut fist. Some dirt trickled onto my head as he held it over me. “No. Chair-Wax. Who are. You?”

“I am his lord.” I flicked an earthworm out of my hair. “Of Karakhorum.”

“Kara. Kohrum.” The hill giant set his left hand back down. He lifted his right hand and started beating the ground. Dum. Dum. Dum.

After a few seconds of nothing, he sighed another cloud of sand. “Tired. Brother. Lazy. Sister.” He raised his right hand and slammed it down again, harder this time. Dum! Dum! Dum!

The hills on the left and right stirred, and after a moment, they tried to get up. The one on the right pulled a tangle of vines as it got up, stringing them along as what looked like hair. Its face was rounder the other’s, and it was the smallest of the three. The one on the left was the biggest, but not the tallest. His arms were the size of Karakhorum’s courthouse, and his chest looked like dozens of interwoven oak trees.

“What do.” The female one said. “You want. Brother?”

“This man,” the center one replied. “Say he. Is lord. Chair-Wax. And his. Group.”

“Chair-Wax?” The fat one on the right said. “Yes he. Is here.”

“Why did.” The female one said. “You tell. Him that. Stupid. Now he. Knows we. Hide them!”

“You fool!” The center one said. “You told. Him where. Giants. Live.”

“No you!” The fat one said. “You fool! You told. Him they. Live here. Under. Us.”

“I hate to interrupt your squabbles as you spill your entire history as a race,” Batu yelled, “but I’m presenting hanging for my life and my fingers are cramping.”

“Oh I. Forgot. You were. There small. Human.” The center one reached behind his back.

“Ow!” Batu shouted.

The center one brought his hand back around, holding Batu by his shirt. It held Batu up to its eyes. “You. Very. Little.”

“Yeah yeah, just put me down before I lose what little patience I have.” Batu was dropped next to me. He shook his hands.

“I’m going to be honest with you,” I shouted.

“Honest.” The center one said. “Honest?”

“I’m going to tell you the truth about what’s happening. About what made all the giants return here.”

“We know.” The female said. “We know. When fire. Come from. The sky. Bad for. Giants. Bad like. The old. Times. Dragon. Times. They come. To us. To be. Safe. They come. Home.”

“You’re right,” I said. “It is bad. It is even worse than dragons.”

“Worse than. Dragons?” The fat one said. “Can’t be.”

“Yes, it can. And I’m sure you three have felt it in the ground, in the air. Something’s happening.”

They looked at one another.

The center one bent down closer to me. “Yes it. Feels like…”

“Dying,” the fat one said.

“Burning,” the female one said.

“Do you know of the Spirit Realm?”

“We do.” The center one said. “We are. Not like. Humans. We are. Of the. Spirit. Realm. Humans. Are not. Meant for. It.”

“One human doesn’t like that. He thinks we are meant for the Spirit Realm, so he broke the boundary between them.”

“Broke the. Boundary?” The center one laughed. “This is. Simple. But wrong. Words. Boundary? No, not. That. There is. Not that. There is… Water. Spirit. Realm is. A fish. You are. A small. Fish and. Together. Spirit. Realm eat. Small fish.”

“The. Water,” the female one said. “Is cracked. Leaking. Little bit? Not bad. Lot? Bad.”

“So we agree that it must be stopped, then?”

“Stopped? Elder. Giants. Like us…” The center one said. “Are too. Old. Our ways. Are old. Our magic. Is done.”

“But our. Children,” the female one said. “They can. Help. But not. Much.”

“This tastes,” the fat one said, “like that. Old time. Of man. Using. Giant. Then burn. Us. Then make. Us weak. Then try. To kill. Us.”

“Do you. Try to. Kill us?”

They stared at me.

“I don’t. In fact, I am trying to preserve your kind. All my cities will be safe for giants, after all of this. You have my word.”

“Your word. Like the. Old time. They said. They wanted. To help. Us. Too. Do you. Lie?”

They stared at me again.

“I said I was going to be honest with you.” I paused. “And being honest means…”

“That you. Tell us. The truth,” the center one said, then turned to his siblings. “He did. Say he. Was…” It paused, straining himself with the effort of using a new word. “Honest.”

The other two nodded. All three put their hands in their laps. They dug their fingers into the ground beneath them and parted the soil, each revealing a cave entrance.

“Come. Children,” the center one said. “You are. Needed.”

The plodding of dozens of footsteps started from the back of the cave, and families of giants came out into the light.

Chair-Wax was one of the first, and his eyes lit up when he saw me. “Lord. Kublai. I had. To come. Home.”

“I know. The fire…”

“Fire. Is bad. A sign. Of things. Coming.” Chair-Wax looked up at the three hill giants. “They spoke. To you?”

“They did,” I said.

“That is. A good. Sign.” He gave what looked like a smile, but his loose jaw made it hard to tell. Chair-Wax rejoined the other giants crowding around Batu and me. Some were tall, but the tallest was only about a third the height of the three hill giants. The shortest was barely twice the height of an ordinary man. They all wore repurposed clothes: tent tarps for loincloths, crushed armor for bracelets.

“You are. Our. Children,” the center one said. “You must. Serve us.”

“We will. Serve you.” The lesser giants said, perfectly in sync.

“A great. Threat is. Coming,” the female one said.

“You will. Stop it,” the fat one said.

“We will. Stop it.” The lesser giants said.

The three hill giants nodded. “Do not. Return. Until. It is. Done. The fate. Of our. Race rests. On you.”

“Do as. This one…” the center one raised its hand sluggishly, then pointed at me. “Commands.”

The lesser giants all turned to gaze at me. “We will. Do as. He. Commands.”

“This is kind of creepy,” Batu whispered.

The three hill giants nodded again. The fat one sunk back down, his elbow digging sharply into the dirt and his back cracking with the sound of trees snapping in half. The female one followed, her vine-hair settling back onto the grassland.

“What is. Your name?” The center one said.

“Kublai.”

“It will. Be known.” He sunk back down, nestling himself between his siblings. The grass stirred and seemed to creep over the parts that had been broken. Within moments, the landscape looked as it had before.

“Do you think they’ll be enough?” Batu looked up at the giants surrounding us.

“It has to be,” I said.