Chapter 6

Anom awoke to the sound of Rocs screeching overhead. Like overbearing morning roosters, these birds have become a morning staple in his new world. Pulling the covers off, he began his morning stretches. During the last 10 years, his body has grown considerably. He has already outgrown all of the giants in the tribe by height, with the exception of his mother, and has outgrown everyone by weight.

Standing at 19 feet, it’s safe to say he has been a hot topic around the beer halls, as giants are known not to stop growing until they reach full maturity at around 50 to 70 years of age. Currently weighing a little over 15,000 pounds, he felt like a 19-foot-tall chunk of metal. All of the other giants around his height, excluding his father, weigh around a quarter of what he does.

Even his father, who is almost the same size as him in height and width, weighs far less than he does. Though he would never let him know, it’s easy to notice when they grapple. It feels like he's wrestling a big marshmallow. During his years in the tribe, he has learned to hunt, and his parents both taught him to fight. He has become well versed in the spear, and Ioves using the poleaxe and war hammers. However, his favorite hobby, much to the celebration of his mother, and the irritation of his father, has been riding his mother’s Roc.

Not having a mount for himself yet, he hopes to earn one in the tribe by getting a good enough hunt, or accomplishing something big for the tribe. Despite wanting his own ROC, he can’t help but dream of the old legends, and the giants in them, conquering their mounts.

They were not handed their creatures, and they did not kneel or plead to their mounts for their acceptance. No, they found the mount they wanted and then fought and tamed it themselves. Doing so would be sure to bring him not only honor, but the best and strongest mount he could find.

Another giant would also be able to become a flying ripper and strengthen the tribe with the unused roc. After all, there are only so many rocs in the herd. This would be the best-case scenario for him and the tribe.

His mother's mount is a truly exceptional creature. She looks exactly like a giant golden eagle from earth, with massive golden top feathers and soft white fluffy down feathers. She is not the showiest bird, but what she lacks in gaudiness, she makes up for in elegant beauty, and speed. Allowing him to ride her with his mother's coaxing and his repeated bribery, she is his favorite bird by far.

Most of the time, Rocs are unsociable creatures, and if someone bonds with them, they are the only one that the mount will allow to ride on them. However, Lady allowed him and his mother into her heart, allowing us both to ride her. Making her quite unique. Her wingspan is also the largest of all the rocs in the camp at the moment, at 120 feet across and a body size of 50 feet long.

Despite how impressive lady is, she is ultimately his mother's mount. The one that he want's, and the one he helped raise, is cutter. She is beautiful, with black and white stripes going around her wings and neck. With a wingspan of 90 feet across and a body length of 30 feet, she is already considered large. She is still growing though, and judging by the size of her talons and age, she might grow larger than her mother, Lady.

He has raised cutter since she was an egg, and before she was too big, he brought her with him everywhere. When she was small, no one seemed to care, and his bond with her seemed bulletproof as they would play all the time together. However, as time went on, she grew much faster and bigger than all the other birds and what anyone thought possible for her structure. That was around the time that they began to have issues.

The problem is that, he was no longer the only rider wanting her now. He was also not the one with the most contributions to the clan, or the wealthiest either. Despite him taking care of her growing up, he soon found her growing distant and, at times, felt as if she began to look down on him as he was not able to give her lavish and expensive gifts. He still loved her and treated her well, though, despite her newfound character.

He continued to hope for her original self to return. However, she seems to grow more obnoxious and interested in the wealthy elder’s son with time. No doubt, his constant giving of lavish gifts and golden accessories had swayed the beast’s heart. Despite the tribe having laws in place only allowing for gifts that have been attained by the giver of the gift in competitions for mount's.

Yet, despite many other giants' complaints, nothing seemed to happen or change. He realized, there would always be inequality, no matter where you end up. He could have had his mother or family put a stop to this. However, he refused to win by having his family influence the outcome. If the roc is truly dazzled by material wealth, despite knowing how much he cared for her, then he would rather let her go.

He would rather make a real bond with another mount, and not have to worry about being betrayed later on. This may seem insignificant or foolish to worry about, but there have been cases in the past where a dragon, or other enemy has found where our rocs were nesting, and come to them in the night with treasures and magical trinkets. In the morning, many of the rocs disappeared, and worse, some waited until they were in battle with said enemy and worked with the enemy to kill and betray their riders.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Thinking about the elders, tonight the tribe council has been asked to gather at the village center. He has a feeling that they will be moving out again, but something has been feeling different around the village lately. He can feel a certain nervousness in the air, and the guards seem to be more on edge than usual. Moving all these thoughts from his mind, he go to get ready for the morning and get some breakfast.

Walking out of his section of the hut, he immediately noticed both of his parents sitting in their chairs, watching him with worry on their faces. Smiling he greeted them. “Hey, good morning! What’s up? You guys, okay? What’s wrong? You look like someone just poured out all of dad's black-market ale.” with a serious look on her face saram replied. “Anom, Please sit down for a moment; we need to talk.”

"Oh no, these are never good words. This must be bad." Sitting down, he looked to both of his parents, waiting for them to explain what’s going on as his mother began to speak. “Tonight at the meeting, we are going to let all the villages know that..." Taking a deep breath, she exhaled slowly, looking at him with a nervous and serious face. "The herd of longnecks has disappeared. We have lost them. We have been searching for their signs, but it literally seems as if the whole herd has simply vanished." Looking surprised and confused anom asked. "What do you mean they disappeared? Where could they have gone? What are we going to do if we can’t find them? Will we go look for a new herd?"

Looking tired and overworked, Argath explained. "Anom, you are young, so you do not understand yet. High-neck herds are rare, very rare. This is why we never overhunt the herd, and only go after the older ones, who can no longer breed, or the excess big males, who would have been a danger to the younger calves during the spring mating.

We also protect them from predators We do all of this to keep the herd healthy and growing Then, in turn, the herd provides a few older members for our people to hunt for our food. This allows our village to grow. Allowing us to become the size we are and also allowing the high-neck herd to grow as large as it has. 90 years ago, the high-neck herd barley had 60 individuals. Thanks to our protection, they now number over 400.

Villages our size, for giants like us, are absolutely uncommon. Usually, the largest groups of giants you can find are half a dozen, and that is already considered big. The average group of us would usually be around 2 to 4. The reason we became the size we are is because your mother changed how we hunted and lived.

Allowing us to come together and thrive instead of always being in a state of exhaustion and war. In my old tribe, we had 12 members, and at the time, I believed we were the biggest tribe of mountain giants there was. Now our tribe is just over 350 giants and still growing. However, without a big, high-neck herd to follow, surviving is going to become very complicated."

Unsure of how to feel or what to do, Anom asked. "So, what are we going to do then?" Jumping in, saram responded. “We are sending giants out to scour the land and track where they could have possibly gone. Besides that, we will also send out scouts to look for another pack. We have enough reserve food to last half a year, but if we cannot find anything, and no other solutions come to us.

We may have to break off into smaller groups, allowing us to hunt smaller prey. However, that is a last resort. For the time being, we need to focus on finding a new source of prey. I also want you to go out on the trail and help us track. You have some of the best eyes and instincts for tracking out of all of us.

Also, during the next choosing ceremony, I want you to be at the forefront and choose your mount." Overwhelmed, anom voiced his concerns. "I don’t have enough merits, and I haven’t been able to bond with any of the unseated rocs."

Sighing, understanding her sons dilemma, Saram spoke up, for her sons future, "Son, everyone knows that the elder has been interfering with your roc bonding, in favor of his son being chosen by cutter. However, I know for certain if it’s based just on you vs. him, that cutter would be an idiot not to know who to choose.

If anyone objects or tries to push you out, I give you permission to challenge them to a duel. Once that stupid bird sees the difference between you two, I guarantee she will be running after you. I know it is not in your personality to fight your own kind, but the elders have been pushing you back in the line because they fear you. With your size and maturity, you should have already gotten a mount, and they know this too."

Feeling saddened, saram grew resolute in her thoughts, fearing that time was running out, she spoke up. "now is the time to fight for your tribe’s needs. If the time comes where we have to split up into different camps, each camp will vie for their own gains, and you need to have a mount to protect your family and perhaps to keep this tribe together. You are already the second biggest of the tribe in height and the strongest by weight.

Everyone knows it is you who will eventually lead us as the new chief. You cannot be a child any longer! You must be bold and brave! There is something I have been meaning to give to you for a while." Turning to her side, she picked up a long sword in a leather sheath and handed it to him. "This was the sword I found when you were born. I believe it was left to protect you. So I am giving it back to you so it can do its job."

Holding the sword up close, anom could feel a deep attachment to it. Simply from the detail on the scabbard and the jewels and gold decoration around it, one could tell how important this sword is to her.

Looking deeply into his mother's eyes, anom replied. "Thank you, mother; I will not let you or your father’s wishes down. I will head out right now and will not return until I either find the herd or the cause of there disappearance. Standing up, he stepped out of the tent and began to walk towards the rocky cliffs."