As Messy had prophesied, Will returned a little later that night. He went straight back to chatting with them, like nothing had happened, although Marcel could see the slight doubts that had taken root behind his eyes now.
The next day they were luckily gone again. Or at least Marcel hoped they were gone, maybe he had also just gotten better at hiding them. It was all the same for him though. He couldn’t help Will overcome his sense of inadequacy. He was on his own there.
They reached the right mountain range the next day. It was unmistakable.
For one, the lush forest that covered the hills like a tightly knit tapestry had suddenly started parting ways for nothing but wide wasteland. Their change of vegetation hadn’t been gradual, from one moment to next they stumbled from the shade of pine trees onto the rocky earth of rocklands.
The other clue, which made it abundantly clear, was that a few miles after they had exchanged the cool shade for scorching sun, they suddenly stumbled upon a giant skull.
“What is that?” Marcel asked.
The twins shared an uncomfortable look.
“That looks like it has once been a basilisk.”
Marcel shuddered, he had seen Harry Potter.
“I’m starting to think,” Messy said. “That Marcel might be on to something with his ogre residing here.
They continued their way somewhat more uneasy than before.Their destination had already been visible by the time they left the forest. A giant orange mountain range covering the horizon. Like angry giant fingers they spiraled towards the clouds.
It looked bigger than on maps, Marcel thought. Which was still an understatement. The sheer size of these mountains were mind boggling. Marcel had read that people were still waiting for scientists to return from their trip around them for research purposes.
Marcel had also read multiple articles describing the valleys between the mountains as desolate places. Breeding ground for the most deadly and dangerous monsters there were. A completely hostile environment for humans. The only adventuring groups that went there occasionally were at least of the second or third grade from what he heard, otherwise their safety wouldn’t be guaranteed.
All this things didn’t speak much for the fact that they wanted to go exactly there for their quest. But there were two things that were decidedly in their favor.
For one,in its diary the centaur had written about the ogres place being in the beginning of the valley. In one of the smaller frontier mountains of the pass.
The second reason was that they had a plan.
Marcel had read about ogres also. Quite extensively. He had read up on most of the other monsters that the centaur had mentioned in his book. None of the other monster reports had discouraged him more than the one about ogres.
They were described as wild creatures of death. Tall as a house and strong enough to rip out whole trees without much of an effort. They were one of the original inbreds of monsters, along with dragon and goblins, they were some of the oldest monsters in recording.
They were vicious. Born with hide thicker than most plates of chain, a natural resistance to magic, and recovery abilities that allowed them to even regenerate a whole limb if they had enough time, it made them near unkillable.
People described them as frightening, blood freezing and soul wrenching to look at. There was one account where a whole village reported having forecasted an ogre attack because all of their horses became skittish and ran away.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
It was the only thing that had made them at least somewhat sympathetic to Marcel,
They were laying on a giant rocky cliff, staring down into the valley that the centaur had indicated. Almost a whole hour had passed in which they lay in wait there. An hour which was filled with Wills constantly complaining about the small rocks spiking into his abdomen and the back pain he was getting from lying on the floor for so long.
All the complaints were gone though when the ogre stepped out between the mountains. Everything Marcel had read suddenly seemed like a vast understatement. His bravado drained away immediately, almost along with the contents of his bladder.
“This is supposed to be a young one?”
Messy swallowed. “That is definitely more than just a small house.”
It was almost ten meters tall, bigger than all of the houses Marcel had seen in their city. It looked like it would walk through towns like a child through its toys.
It*s skin was dark red, the shade of dried blood. It*s smell wavered all the way up towards their cliff. Foul stench and death.
Its appearance looked somewhat plumb with the small belly the beast was carrying around, but Marcel knew the appearance was delusional. There was no denying the beast underlying power. Every step send the ground shaking a little underneath its huge weight.
“You said we don’t have to fight it right?” Will asked.
“If everything goes right, yes.” Marcel swallowed. Although until now he had been under the illusion that even if it came to it, they could pull through somehow.
Maybe he had felt somewhat overconfident after his fight with the centaur, he realized now. That thing had also towered over him and seemed like an insurmountable foe before. Equipped with the experienced twins on his side, he thought they would mention if push came to shove, despite what the missives said.
Now he realized how he had underestimated them.
They waited on top of their cliff until night broke in. In the middle of these huge mountains it didn’t take long for darkness to set in. It was barely past noon when the small amounts of light that managed to penetrate into the valley started getting less and less.
The shadows became longer. By the time there was even a hue of orange and red in the sunlight, they already had trouble seeing down into the valley.
A small worry began growing inside of Marcel, but he knew the moon would soon set in. Before the moon had even made his whole appearance in the sky though, his fears proved somewhat unwarranted.
A deep rolling snoring thundered out in the valley, It was loud. Surprisingly loud. Marcel almost felt like sitting in the middle of a cinema. He hadn’t even needed to worry that they wouldn’t find the giant in the dim light. It was hard to miss.
They still waited another hour. When there finally the silvery light of the night sky started illuminating the ragged edge of the cliff at least somewhat, they began their descent.
It took them a long time to make their way down safely. By the time they did, Marcel’s clothes were drenched in sweat.
“I think I prefer going up rather than down,” Will said, looking somewhat sick.
Messy jumped down from the cliffside next to him. “Really? I found the climb up somewhat boring.”
“Nothing wrong with boring if it doesn’t make you risk your neck;” Will retorted.
“It wasn’t even that dangerous. Don’t cry just because you haven’t got any muscles.”
“I don’t see how muscles are supposed to save my ass from falling down here.”
“Well I don’t see your muscles at all.” Messy snorted. “But a point or two in the physical attributes wouldn’t hurt you Willy.”
He rolled his eyes and turned towards Marcel. “Are you ready?”
Marcel nodded. “Better you two stop the bickering though. Things will get serious from now on.”
He pulled out a small tube out of his backpack. He unscrewed it to show a greasy black substance. They smeared themselves in it thoroughly. The substance smelled bad. Bad enough for Will and Messy to gag when Marcel opened the tub. For Marcel though, it ranked somewhere in the middle of the sewers between Hopstown and Watersgate, where the guard quarters laid.
That meant it was still leagues away from the horse stench smell.
They navigated their way through the valley. Around the rocks that littered the ground. Down here the sound of the snoring ogre was even louder. It didn’t take them long to find it.
They stalked closer to the ogres sleeping place. It was on the edge of the valley, on the foot of a mountain. There were scrub vegetation bundles together to make a flat thing, with the ogre on top of it.
At first Marcel had thought the monster to be another mountain, but it was rising and falling. That’s when he realized the sheer size absurdity even when the thing was laying down.
Next to it, strewn over the scrubs were dozens of bones in all different sizes. Some bones were small, and made Marcel think of chicken wings. A few of them were big, not quite like the basilisk skull they had seen, but still big enough to be intimidating. A few of them though, were right in the middle. Medium sized enough to relate somewhat to Marcel’s or the twins' own proportions. It made them all more uncomfortable.