The giant pachyderm had created a clearing by ripping a tree out of the earth and hurling it down, nearly crushing Bun into jelly. It bellowed, pounding its fatty chest so that the sound of its cry beat with the percussion of its fist.
This fearsome sound struck terror into Bun’s heart.
Saliva dripped from the pachyderm’s open mouth. Spittle dripped from its tusks.
The animal had a long trunk that split in two at the end. Both ends squirmed like worms with minds of their own.
“WHERE IS HE,” bellowed the giant pachyderm.
“Wh-wh-who,” said Bun.
“DON’T TOY WITH ME,” bellowed the giant pachyderm. It grabbed a tree trunk, gripping it tightly with opposable thumbs, and ripped it straight out of the ground.
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Such power, Bun marveled.
He would never have imagined that as much brute strength as this could reside in a living creature. As far as Bun knew, until that day when he met the giant pachyderm runaway from the Island Citadel of Sot, such power as to rip living trees from the earth only resided in the big places, like the sky, where brilliant lightning flashed sometimes, and where terrible thunder rolled from; the sky was the cradle of the sun, where, in its golden, life-giving glory, it beat down on all Cannesia; and it also was up there in that celestial bed where white clouds lazed across the blue, borrowing forms of a daydreamer’s fancy.
Those were forms of true power, thought Bun, and therefore true power belonged in the sky. But here, to see that kind of power inside of a living thing that walked, talk, and could rip his head off…at the thought of it, Bun started to feel faint.
But when the giant pachyderm raised its jumbo arms and started casting a spell of magic, Bun’s hard instincts kicked in. Whatever was going on, it would be more prudent to run than to gawk. And that was just what Bun did.
When the giant pachyderm started casting his magic spell, Bun turned heel and ran. Only, perhaps it was already too late to get away.