The trio left the oasis as soon as they could, delaying only long enough for Auntie Ta to temporarily restore Warabe to a halfway-functional state and for the druid to answer a few more of their questions. After that was done, Warabe retrieved an emerald-green spear with two curved, silver tips from the waters of the oasis. Gel eyed it with interest, but no questions were asked as they all took off in search of the remaining dune giants.

A task made all the more simple by the ridiculously clear trail through the sands the giants had left. Even if Gel hadn’t known where their base was now, a blind man could have followed the tracks their foes had left behind. Sean’s instincts as a hunter were almost offended by how easy their prey was to follow. All they had to do was run in a relatively straight line, and Warabe had no trouble keeping pace despite his many remaining injuries.

Once Sean noticed that, hill after variantly-colored hill flew past as they pursued their prey under the ever-glaring heat of the sun. The journey to the giant’s hideout wasn’t terribly far, and was even in the direction of Dervash. Gel estimated it would take them no more than a few hours of travel, with the giants arriving far before them thanks to their size and desert-based mounts.

“You doing okay?” Sean mentally asked his friend, who had been unusually silent for the last half hour. There hadn’t been any other monsters to fight, no doubt due to the passage of so many giants, and so the silence had only grown. “Memories troubling you?”

“Hmm?” Gel asked, sounding somehow distracted despite the routine scenery. “What do you mean?”

“I mean those giants were the first humanoid things I’ve seen you eat since you swore off the brains of sentients back in the tunnels.”

“I–”

“I know, I know, you tossed that out not long after.” Sean said quickly, interrupting his friend. “But what I’m trying to get at is you just volunteered to dive into a bunch of memories and lives that you weren’t expecting to have to live through. And unless I miss my guess, you’re still dealing with all of that right now. Trying to process before the battle starts.”

The normally expressive slime was silent for a moment as they ran, so Sean continued.

“Look, I’m not saying you can’t handle it. I know you can. But I wanted you to know that I’m here for you, ma— slime.” Sean mentally kicked himself for the habit of calling his friends ‘man’, knowing Gel’s presumption of the term as an insult. He barrelled on. “You said before that new memories were like reading books, only it sounded like there was more to it. I don’t know how to help, but if you want to try and ‘read’ together, or talk it out– I’m happy to do that or listen, whichever you need.”

Again, Gel didn’t say anything right away. Sean felt surprise and a hint of gratitude through their bond however, which reassured him that his words had hit their mark.

“Actually, there is something I wanted to bring up.” Gel said suddenly. “Especially before we get there.”

“Oh yeah? Hit me.” Sean said, more than willing to let his friend open up.

“The giants have this absolutely massive cooking pot!” Gel announced with animated excitement, each word more expressive than the last. “And I was hoping you’d be willing to jump into it with me.”

Sean almost missed a step. “You want us to jump into their cooking pot?”

“Of course!” The slime enthused, clearly delighted at the prospect. “They have this thing called an ‘always stew’, which I guess is just them throwing food in all day and night so there’s always something to eat… but it’s been cooking the entire time they’ve been here! Can you believe that?! Just one endless meal. Always around. Always there if you want more to eat. They may have absurdly small brains for their size, but I have to give it to them: they had tasty ideas.”

Sean laughed, his jaw bones clattering with what felt like more weight than they had before.

“We had those back where I lived.” Sean said, remembering the few, glorious times he had actually found restaurants with one while searching for foodie recommendations on Instaham. That app was so much better than Insta-Graham, I can’t believe they tried to rip off someone else’s name just by adding a few letters.

“They’re called ‘forever soups’.” Sean continued. “You just keep tossing in ingredients after you serve some, so there’s always more cooking and you never run out. The recipe isn’t always the same, but so long as you use vegetables and meats complementary to your base spices, the taste is generally pretty good. Not to mention unique. It’s rare to find soup with a proper char going under the surface.”

“You knew how to make this glorious concoction this whole time, and you didn’t tell me?” Gel asked, aghast at the offense.

“We haven’t exactly been swimming in free time and ingredients out here.” Sean pointed out.

“That’s no excuse to hold out on your best and only friend in the world!” Gel declared, before promptly changing tacts. “I’ll forgive you, but only if you agree to jump us into their stew.”

“Do they keep it boiling?” Sean asked pointedly, sticking to what he felt like was the most immediately relevant objection he might have to that plan. He had no desire to become bone-broth, after all.

Gel’s silence over the next several seconds was profound.

“Not… all the time.” The slime admitted, his tone not at all convincing. Sensing hesitance, Gel quickly added. “But that just adds to the mystique! Heat adds flavor, you showed me that with those deer steaks.”

“Pretty sure the deer steaks also showed you that too much heat also adds pain.”

“I still say we should try it.” Gel said, stoically undeterred. “Also, the giants keep a lot of food on hand and I know exactly where to find it all, so clearing those stores out before we leave is a must.”

“That one is fine with me.” Sean said, purposefully not committing himself to a boil-bath. “I was planning on clearing the entire camp out, anyway.”

“Ooh, now that sounds like a plan I can’t wait to be a part of!” Gel popped a pair of eyeballs into existence at the end of one of his crimson slime whips, then brought it around the gelaton’s shoulder to stare unblinkingly at Sean. “What’re you thinking?”

The gelaton managed not to react despite the sudden appearance of slightly creepy quasi-floating copies of his old eyes boring into him as he ran. Beside them, Warabe tripped over nothing and fell behind before catching up a few seconds later. Sean noticed the turtle-man didn’t comment on the absurd new feature he was sporting, which he thought was rather polite.

“I need more information, first.” Sean hedged, not wanting to give away the surprise just yet. “You said they’re based out of some caves?”

“Yep! See that large dune in the distance, the one higher than most out here?” Gel pointed with his other crimson whip, and Sean nodded. “There’s a pair of caves that face each other at the top of it, and one at the bottom that they have blocked up. Which they did because it leads to the ones on the top, and is too small for them to use anyway. They haven’t even explored the whole cave system, apparently. They’re just too big.”

“So they live in caves that are too small for them? That’s dumb.”

“Well, yes and no.” Gel admitted. “There’s parts of it down there where the rock opens back up to the sands. That’s where they found the wurms at first, and then once they had those they just made the wurms dig out more caves for them in those directions. So the tunnel system itself is fairly large, and only a few actually live up top. The rest are underground. It’s an honor thing.”

“Let me guess, they fight with each other to see who gets to live up top?” Sean that particular giant stereotype was about as cliche as it got, but maybe there was a reason. “Loser lives in the tunnels?”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“Close. Anyone who loses has to sleep in the tunnels. Only those who have never lost a fight get to stay up top.” Gel explained. “Doesn’t matter if it’s two on one, either. Lose any fight, and no more light.”

“Brutal.” Sean commented. He noticed that the slime’s voice had sounded decidedly giant-ish on that last sentence, but decided not to call him on it. “So how do they pick their chief, then? Whoever has the longest streak of wins, or…?”

“Chief stands on a rock, and whoever can take them off it is the new chief.” Gel explained, sounding royally unimpressed with the practice. “Rather simple, really.”

“Hah. So Chief of the Rock style.” Sean said, amused. “Okay, I can dig it. Does it have to be a giant? Or…”

“Hmm… no. Technically anyone can participate.” Gel said after a moment’s silent deliberation. “A few of them had memories of other tribes ruled by stronger monsters… there’s even a legend of one ruled by a fennekian.”

“A fennekian?” Sean recalled the two rather adorably fuzzy guards that had accompanied Saren when the paladin had come with them to fight the inmortu. Despite their overly cuddly stature, he had to admit the pair had been capable fighters. “That’s gotta be a sight to see.”

“Why do you ask?” Gel’s voice was curious now, having sensed something in Sean’s tone. “Is that part of your plan?”

“It wasn’t before.” Sean freely admitted. “But now… you’ve eaten some of these guys. How do you feel about becoming their new chief?”

“That depends, will becoming their new chief let me eat them?”

“Probably not. But if we do, then they’ll probably bring us food instead.” Sean pointed out. “A fair bit, too. I’m guessing they eat more than we do.”

“Nobody eats more than we do.” Gel asserted, with complete and fierce sincerity. “I’m in. Just one question first.”

“What’s that?”

“How are you planning for us to win a challenge like that?” Gel didn’t sound concerned, only curious. Sean found his friend’s total, unquestioning faith in his ability to lead them through to a win rather flattering, considering how their earlier fights against the giants had gone. “Auntie Ta won’t be there to help us with the trees.”

“She won’t.” Sean acceded, reaching back into their pack. “But, we have a few things up our sleeves. We’ve got Warabe, those spells she cast before we left, and…”

The gelaton paused for dramatic effect before pulling the glass vial he had been looking for out of their pack. The one the druid woman had helpfully identified for them before they had left. It was tiny, barely the size of one of his thickened bone fingers at this point, and filled with an inky-black vortex shoving its sides up against the glass.

Sean announced with a savage grin, holding the vial up for Gel’s inspection. “We have this.”

—--------------------

“You’re sure they won’t notice us?” Sean had Gel ask Warabe as they peered over their hiding spot at the abnormally massive, earth-brown dune that marked the giant’s encampment. All around it was a roughly quarter-mile stretch of open sands. They could see multiple giants on patrol, each with a wurm of their own on some kind of leash nearby.

“He knows we’re not exactly hard to spot, right?” Sean added.

The gelaton gestured meaningfully at his gleaming white bones to make his point, all of which were either entirely covered by – or covering – Gel’s own bright crimson mass. High above, the sun was only beginning to head towards the horizon line. They couldn’t wait for it to cross over into night however, because while he had filled up before they left, every point of mana he spent surviving was one point less Sean had to help them win a fight.

“I am sure.” Warabe affirmed with a small nod. Sean noticed the water filling the inside of the bowl at the top of the turtle-man’s head had depleted slightly, and the gelaton felt a twinge of memory tug at him… but he couldn’t place where it came from. “Crush the desert flower she gave you in hand, and all those brutes will see of our passage is the shifting of sand in the wind.”

“She’s that good?” Gel asked, clearly impressed.

“She’s that good.” Warabe confirmed. “Are you sure of your plan, noble creaker? The chief lives above, so if they are not holding the flower below, then you will be without my aid until I have searched through the caves.”

“It’ll be down there.” Sean said confidently, speaking through Gel as his proxy. The slime was getting more comfortable translating, and it was nice to be able to ‘speak’ even if secondhand. “You said the caves held a small spring of their own, and the flower wilts easily in full light. If they’re smart enough to take it, I’m betting they’ll know how to take care of it, too. Besides, the flower is our only actual priority here. Gel and I are just the distraction.”

Warabe’s lips twitched at the corners, almost daring the turtle-man to smile as Gel finished the explanation.

“That is an ambitious ‘distraction’, but as you will.” Warabe nodded to them, and held up the small rose petal in his hand. “Do you truly want me to leave first, if I find it? You do not wish me to aid in your own escape?”

“No.” Gel said firmly, without needing to wait for Sean. Both of them had been firm on this point. “Your children need that flower to survive, right? And so do you! Not to mention Auntie Ta needs the power it holds, and as far as I understand so does the oasis. So don’t worry about us, we’ll be fine! Probably. The giants are only two or three times bigger than we are. That’s hardly something to worry about.”

Warabe looked the pair of them up and down, lingering doubt evident on his expression – but the turtle-man was too polite to question them any further. Instead he simply nodded, and pointed at the blocked cave entrance at the base of the dune.

“Then I shall go through there, and await your signal. How would you like me to signal the pair of you, once I have our objective in hand?”

Sean thought about that, and he had an answer– but he didn’t want to part with it if he didn’t have to.

“I don’t know his abilities.” Sean admitted, before asking Gel to pass along a question. “Does he have anything… flashy? Something loud?”

Warabe’s slow grin mirrored that of a wolf baring its teeth.

“Indeed I do, noble creaker. Indeed, I do.”

“Then I’ll keep an eye out for it!” Gel announced brightly, happy to continue being a part of the conversation in his own right. “Two eyes, actually. Three? I’ll keep three eyes out for it. That sounds like a comfortable amount. Far better than two. Two eyes feels so limiting. Should I do four? … You know what, yes. I’ll do four. Final answer.”

“That’ll work.” Sean agreed, as Warabe watched with a bemused expression while Gel popped another two eyes into being along the length of his other slime whip. “I don’t have anything else, so… shall we?”

Warabe returned his gaze to Sean’s burning orbs as Gel passed on the question, and then nodded once. By unspoken agreement, none of them had mentioned the many injuries the turtle-man was still suffering from. Blood was leaking through the patches made of stitched leaves that Auntie Ta had covered him with, to the point the gelaton had been briefly concerned that Warabe might not make the return trip.

It’s for his kids. Sean reminded himself. If we can get that flower… He’ll make it. No matter what it takes.

Warabe crushed the rose petal in his hand, and sand rose up in a swift spiral all around him. It whirled and blurred, moving faster and faster around the turtle-man until his form vanished from sight behind it. The mini desert dust-devil that was now Warabe crouched towards the ground, becoming even harder to discern from the ground despite their close proximity. A second later, the turtle-man took off towards his destination. There was no trail, and after a few dozen feet even Sean lost track of him.

Seeing that, both Sean and Gel let out a long, smooth mental whistle in unison. Then the gelaton crushed his own rose petal.

Sand blurred up from the ground all around him, just as it had for Warabe. Gel made a spitting sound.

“Blegh! Why did it have to be sand?” Gel grumbled. “She’s a druid, she could have given us a leaf whirlwind, couldn’t she? At least then I would have something to snack on.”

“I don’t think a leaf whirlwind would be very sneaky in the desert.” Sean pointed out. “You’re not a ninja.”

“What’s a ‘ninja?”

“Later.” Sean said, not wanting to go down that particular rabbit hole right now. “For now let’s just wait for this to finish doing its thing, then we’ll head out.”

Surprisingly, the whirling sand around them gave off virtually no noise. Even once they were fully covered within it, Sean still couldn’t hear a thing – an effect which had to be magical given the speed with which it was obviously moving. None of the granules actually touched him, and testing it out Sean found the whirlwind-curtain of sand would actually extend around him if he pushed a limb too far out… though only to a point. If he stretched his arm out too far, the sand would bend around it and his limb would become visible again.

Retracting it, Sean was pleased to find that his vision was only partially obscured from the inside-out. Like he was watching the world through an ever-shifting filter of muted browns rather than through an opaque curtain – something he had been worried about after seeing how thoroughly the spell had veiled Warabe’s form. All for naught, apparently. He could still fight, and if the sand didn’t reduce his pulse sense then it was almost no handicap at all.

Druids. Sean thought, shaking his head as he, too, crouched low and dashed across the sands towards the giants’ encampment. Bone shield in his left hand, the inmortu’s midnight-black blade in his right.

Overpowered in every world.