Chapter 15: The Plains and Sky

They spent the night in the forest, deciding it was unsafe to travel in the dark from the cave to the plains. Not much was said between them that night, which was fine with Asha. Her excitement was palpable for the morrow when she would finally see the open plains of Skyrim. Hakon was also excited, eagerly talking about his home. “Everyone will be excited to meet you,” he said. “My father, the neighbors, even our chief Hamvir.”

Asha’s eyes widened. “What? How does everyone know about me?”

“I told them.”

“But…why?”

Hakon laughed. “I had to tell them where I got the food from.”

Asha shook her head. “You could have just told them you caught it.”

Hakon shook his head. “That wouldn’t be the truth. Besides, meeting a legendary Hunter of Summer Falls who knows ancient tales is a far better story to tell.”

Asha was silent and stared into the flames. It was strange, to be known and liked by people she had never met before. She wasn’t even sure how she felt about that. Hakon must have noticed her confused or concerned expression. “Don’t worry,” he reassured her, “They will like you, I promise. Your food has saved a number of them this winter, I promise you that.”

She nodded and smiled but didn’t respond.

The next day, they continued their journey into the mountain and past the hot spring. Hakon led her to the opposite side of the cavern into a tunnel she had seen him emerge from countless times. She eagerly followed him in and, as the path grew dark, he stopped and lit a torch. “It's dark from here but it isn’t as far as you might think,” he said, holding the torch high. “The tunnel goes to another valley. Whoever built this temple built it at the thinnest point in the mountain range.”

Asha nodded but didn’t say anything. She felt sweaty and nervous. She was about to see a whole new world she had only heard about. He seemed to notice and he held out a hand. She took it and they proceeded into the dark. The path led them up flights of stairs and craggy, half-excavated tunnels. This side was much less cared for than the lakeside entrance.

A faint hint of light appeared in front of them before long and Asha gasped, releasing his hand and pointing. “Are we almost out?”

“Yes, not far,” he said.

The entrance was smaller and more overgrown on this side but, when Asha scrambled out of the brush and into the sunlight, she felt the touch of Kyne’s breath upon her cheeks and she smiled. She was blinded, and couldn’t see in the dazzling sunlight for the briefest moment. Then her eyes adjusted and the world opened around her.

They were in a canyon, like the other side, but it could not hide how open the land was around them. Almost no trees could be seen, a few scraggly, small pines clinging to the mountainside. The sky opened up around them, large white clouds dotting the azure blue. A single, lonely mountain was in the distance, sitting alone in the middle of the plains. Asha clambered up a rocky outcrop to get a better view of the land around her. It was unremarkable in that it was only rolling hills of grass with boulders jutting from the earth in random places. But to Asha, it was unlike anything she had ever seen. She could see so much around her, nothing to obstruct her view. The wind picked up again, rustling the grass and causing it to shift like a wave. It was like she could see Kyne moving across the plains.

Hakon stood beside her. “Welcome to my home, Asha.”

“It’s beautiful,” she said, her voice cracking.

She looked at the lonely mountain sitting in the distance and noticed movement around the base. She gasped and pointed. “What are those moving by the mountain? It’s some sort of massive creature.”

“Those are mammoths,” said Hakon, “Giant, hairy beasts that are the cattle for giants. A word of caution, they are dangerous creatures if startled or if they feel threatened. Be careful around them. Come on, we have a ways to go before we reach home.”

She followed him down the rocky outcrop and onto the plains, beginning the trek through the tall grass toward the lone mountain. “I’m sorry, did you say they were cattle for…giants?”

“Giants? Yes. You’ve never seen a giant?”

“No!” said Asha. “They don’t exist in the dense forests of my home, probably for a good reason.”

“Fair point,” said Hakon. “What do you know about giants?”

“Only what the legends say,” said Asha. “That they are our brethren who never left this land when we fled to Atmora. I also remember the tale of Sinmur and his battle with Ysgramor.”

“What?” asked Hakon. “Our father Ysgramor fought a giant?”

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“He fought a clan of giants, actually,” said Asha.

She launched into the tale, recounting the battle of Ysgramor and his five hundred companions against the giant Sinmur and his clan. The tale continued as they made their way across the plains, often causing her to pause for breath and stop before continuing. When they left the canyon, the plains opened up even more and they turned to the east, heading away from the herd of mammoths near the mountain.

Asha was wrapping up her story as the grass and sky surrounded them. “Ysgramor’s famous ax, Wuuthrad, was established into legend with the slaying of Sinmur. His son, Yngol, had forged it, and his father’s tears mixed into the iron, making it harder than any other metal. From its start, it was destined to slay the enemies of the Atmorans whether snow elves or giants.”

Hakon turned at her, his face trying and failing to hide a smile. “His tears made the metal…harder?”

Asha laughed and shoved him playfully. “It’s just how the story goes! Maybe it's a metaphor for how his anger gave it strength.”

“Of course it did,” he said, shoving her back. “I’ve seen it happen in the Skyforge all the time. Men crying into the forge fires.”

“Any man would be lucky to forge at the Skyforge. They would cry with joy,” she said.

Asha shoved him once again and took off across the plains. He followed her, laughing and chasing after her. She felt completely free in that moment. The wind blew again, whipping her hair as she ran through the tall grass, the blue sky and clouds above visible from almost all sides.

As she crested a rise, she skid to a halt, almost tumbling down the steep hill on the opposite side. Hakon nearly ran into her but stopped himself enough to bump into her and hold on to her shoulders to prevent them both from falling over. Below them, an open patch of dirt sat at the base of a small rocky cliff. On top of the cliff, a lone tree grew on its edge and cast its branches over the campsite blow. And there was a campsite.

“Back up,” said Hakon, pulling her back to just below the hill where they crouched and studied the campsite. It was a campsite for giants, three of whom were standing around a cauldron of boiling soup. The shade of the tree shrouded their appearance but even from this distance, she could make out their savage appearance. Their faces were a strange mixture of human and something else, maybe elven…not that she had even seen one. The parts of their body that weren’t covered with animal hides were covered in tattoos. Swirls and patterns of blue paint covered their arms and legs especially and their long, dirt brown hair was pulled into extensive braids. All three were men, with long beards.

“Giants,” breathed Asha.

“Giants,” agreed Hakon from beside her.

She looked over the walls of the cliff and noticed there were paintings all over it. Some were of mammoths, some giants. Most were swirls. “What are those swirling symbols on everything?” she asked.

“I was hoping you could tell me, seeing as you know all the old tales,” he said. “No one knows why they do that. They are secretive people and tend to keep to themselves.”

Asha also noticed a collection of leather and wood containers at the base of the cliff filled with a yellow, gooey substance. “What is that?”

“Mammoth cheese,” said Hakon. When she gave him a skeptical look he added, “I guess when you herd and care for mammoths, they allow you to milk them.”

“They herd mammoths?”

The trumpet of a large animal sounded and, as if on cue, a fourth giant led a group of twelve mammoths around the bend. Asha’s mouth fell open at the sight, drinking in the sight of the magnificent and terrifying creatures up close. They were easily ten to twelve feet tall, hairy, with large tusks that had carved symbols in them. She was so enamored by the lumbering behemoths that her normally keen senses missed any other movement until Hakon hissed, “Idiots!”

She glanced his way, confused, and saw him looking toward the containers of cheese. Two figures in fur clothes, dirty and disheveled, were sneaking around the back of the containers. They crouched behind them and pulled out knives. The giants hadn’t noticed them yet, also distracted by the incoming mammoths. “Who are they?” asked Asha.

“Bandits,” said Hakon, spitting the word. “Desperate men who have abandoned society to plunder and steal from people as desperate as him.”

“They must be very desperate to go after giant cheese,” said Asha.

The men had cut through the leather container and were collecting cheese in leather satchels as best they could. It slopped onto the ground and Asha felt sure they would be spotted by a giant. But they continued to tend to their mammoths, brushing hands through their shaggy coats affectionately. The mammoths, however, seemed to sense their presence and one approached the containers, trumpeting loudly.

Asha covered her ears at the blast of sound. One of the bandits was also startled enough to stumble and fall over. The bag filled with mammoth cheese slipped from his grasp and it fell to the ground with a loud splat. This drew the attention of the giants. “Don’t move,” hissed Asha to herself, Hakon, and the faraway bandits. Not that they could hear her…or listen to her instructions. They bolted upright and dashed the cliffside, to the rocky path up its side.

One of the giants growled when it saw them and made an ungainly run toward them. Arrows suddenly sprouted from his shoulders and chest and he bellowed in fury. Asha looked up to see several more bandits had appeared on the top of the cliff with bows and were firing at the giants and covering their companions' retreat. “We should go,” said Hakon, struggling to crawl backward.

Asha couldn’t move. Her gaze remained fixed on the scene before her. This was against all of her training. She should move, silently slip away, but she had to watch. A second giant grabbed a club from the fireside and ran toward the two men climbing the cliffside path. One bandit had only a moment to scream before the massive bone club crushed him into the rock face with a resounding crunch of rock and bone. His companion cried out for help and scrambled away from the decimated corpse of his friend. The giant received multiple arrows in his chest, arms, and face as he roared again, swinging blindly as an arrow hit his eye. By luck more than intent, he hit the second climber and sent him flying, out into the heavens and he landed with a hard thump on the ground in front of Asha and Hakon.

Asha stared at the broken, unmoving body. Sudden memories of her home invaded by Reachmen, flashed in her eyes. The bodies of her clan, her people, their enemies. Hakon pulled her back and said, “We need to move, now!”

A trumpet from the mammoths sounded again. They were flying into a panic, sensing the rage in their masters. When a stray arrow missed a giant, fired by a panicked bowman as the giant began to scale the cliff, it struck the lead mammoth in the leg. Its roar was nothing like Asha had ever heard. It charged forward, ignoring the single giant trying to hold them in check. The herd quickly followed suit.

“Run!” yelled Hakon.

Asha needed no encouragement as the herd of Mammoths charged directly at them.