Against the Giants (15 page)

“Why would the trove be below?” Lhors wanted to know.

“Underground for more safety,” Vlandar replied.

Maera gestured urgently the way they’d just come. “There’s a
giant just opened the door up yonder, and he’s got wolves with him. Whatever’s
in the chamber down here that snored isn’t snoring anymore.”

Vlandar nodded sharply and gestured with his head back toward
the entry. Nemis took up rear guard as the company walked quickly the other way.
Khlened and Lhors got the door open once Malowan tested to be certain no one was
waiting in the entry.

They eased through the door into a poorly lit hallway. There
was a door directly ahead, snoring from the left wall, and dead silence on the
right. When they reached a left turn in the hall, they could just make out a
short passage that ended in another door. Nemis tested this, then swung it aside
to reveal yet another hallway with doors on both sides. Maera ran light-footed
along this and came back to inform them that there seemed to be a barracks or
other sleeping chamber to the south and two long, narrow rooms to the north that
were divided by a hall that ended in another door. “I could already hear the
clatter of crockery and a giantess screeching for someone to hurry up and finish
cutting tubers for the broth or go into the broth himself.”

“Wonderful,” Khlened grumbled. “Stopped no matter which way
we go.”

“Maybe not,” Maera hissed back. “From what I heard, it sounds
as if they’re piling things up and getting ready to bank the fire and go to bed.
Isn’t there a change of guard due?”

Malowan answered, “If these things are constant from day to
day, then yes. But in that case, the guard will be another green youth who will
likely assume the one he replaces has left early for reasons of his own. It
isn’t likely he’ll put out an alarm or search the entry.”

“You reassure me,” Maera replied sarcastically and went back
up to keep an eye on the passage that led to the kitchens.

Vlandar looked at Malowan. “What do you think? Do we wait
here and try the other hall again shortly, or do we wait for the servants to
leave the kitchen and go back through the feast hall? You have walked here
before, whereas I have only looked at the map.”

“I am of your mind,” Malowan said. “We want that map, and we
must search for other scrolls. Judging from Nemis’ translation of the first
scrolls, I would assume that there are other sets of orders somewhere. Other
scrolls could give us locations of the Steading’s allies—other giants perhaps or
enclaves of dark elves.”

Nemis shuddered. “Pray there are no drow here. We are too few
to resist them.” He turned aside to look north, and his lips moved. “It is a
little quieter up there, I think. The ranger may be right. The cooks have set
their stews to simmer and are leaving the dirty crockery for the slaves to scour
later.”

Vlandar nodded. “Nemis, if you have a spell to use on the
east passage, use it. If it’s clear, we go that way into the council chamber.
Otherwise, we wait here.” He glanced at Lhors then and laid a hand on the youths
arm. “You’ve done well, so far,” he murmured as the mage moved off. “You haven’t
given in to fear any more than you’ve ignored danger. I knew I was right to
bring you.”

Lhors nodded in thanks, then quietly asked, “The kitchens. We
go that way.”

“We may, yes,” Vlandar replied. “You heard what Maera and
Nemis said about the kitchens. Remember that the servants and slaves are busy
making certain their masters have food when they waken. They won’t be looking
around.”

The rangers came back. “No sound from the entry except
someone tromping up into that tower,” Maera said quietly. “Whatever it
was—likely another young giant—it went to its place and stayed there.”

“The passage between kitchen and feast hall is still busy,”
Rowan added, “but not as busy as it was. Mostly I saw hairy ogres and brutish
orcs shambling back and forth and carrying piles of filthy dishes into the
kitchen. Whoever was bellowing orders in the kitchen no longer is.” She eyed
Vlandar steadily. “She may still be there, of course,” the ranger added. “I saw
at least two armed guards moving along the north passage beyond the kitchens.”

“Were there any wolves?” Lhors asked.

“No,” Rowan replied. “Why do you ask?”

“Well, Malowan said that he’d sensed wolves somewhere in the
Steading. If they actually patrol with the creatures, they’re sure to scent the
blood from the giants we’ve slain.”

“Good man,” Vlandar said, nodding approvingly. “All right,
people, we’ll test both ways. I still prefer to go straight into the council
room and down through there, but we do what we must. Stay alert. We’ll move out
as soon as we dare.”

Shortly after, Nemis indicated the north way was mostly
clear, but three handlers and at least a dozen dire wolves now occupied the east
hallway. Fortunately, they hadn’t gone into the entry.

“A wolf’s keen nose would immediately find that guard’s
body,” Nemis said. “They seem more interested in the wrestlers, however—the
handlers do, at least.”

Vlandar merely nodded and moved out ahead, gesturing for his
company to stay close and alert. He stopped halfway up the west wall of the hall
near its end. It was fairly dark here, though light from the kitchens flooded
the opposite wall. Two creatures scurried past, unaware of the company lurking
in the lower hall. They were half Lhors’ height and looked more like dogs or
lizards than people. Empty platters dangled from the creatures’ hands, and they
seemed utterly cowed.

“Kobolds,” Rowan breathed against his ear. “Cowardly, unless
they can attack in great numbers. We are safe from
them.”

Lhors gave her a brief, abashed smile of thanks. He jumped as
someone in the kitchen screeched. He couldn’t understand the words, but the hate
and fury behind them was all too evident.

Lhors started as someone brushed his arm. Malowan wrapped an
arm around the youth’s shoulders. “Be easy,” he said quietly. “Vlandar would
never put you into battle unprepared. Remember the bargain you and he made. You
serve as eyes to guard our backs, and in return, we protect you.” He gripped the
boy’s shoulder and moved past him, Agya right on his heels. She glanced at
Lhors, fighting knives clutched in both hands and her face expressionless.
She
didn’t look afraid.

Remember what she is, Lhors told himself. She stole and
fought simply to stay alive. She knows how to be brave. Your father taught you
to hunt animals, not kill men or monsters. He remembered how Rowan had guarded
in that other hall and turned sideways to set his back against the wall so that
he could keep up with the others while keeping an eye on the way they’d come.

Vlandar’s hand shot up in warning as he and Rowan backed away
from the opening. Lhors could suddenly hear drunken laughter ahead and to his
right, as if a door had opened. A weeping young giantess ran past, scrubbing
bits of meat and steaming juices from her face.

I thought the giants were done feasting, Lhors thought. The
door banged closed, and the sound lessened. Malowan looked at Vlandar, who
shrugged and led them back the other way.

“This won’t do, Vlandar,” the paladin whispered, once Nemis
had muttered a spell he claimed would build a wall of silence around them.
“There are still giants in the feast hall, and the kitchen is full of all kinds
of creatures. The longer we wait here…” He paused significantly.

Vlandar sighed and nodded. “I know. I had hoped to get in,
grab that map, and get out unnoticed, but if it isn’t possible…”

“I’m ready for a fight,” Khlened said, “and I’ve battled dire
wolves before. They’re not immortal.”

“If your concern is for Lhors and Agya—” the paladin began.

“No,” Vlandar cut him off. “I would not have brought them if
they were a hindrance, Mal. But we know these giants take orders from elsewhere.
You and I assumed that before we got here. If we attack and are all killed,
we’ve accomplished nothing.” Vlandar was still for a moment, his gaze distant.
“All right. We’ll take the other passage, kill whatever gets in our way, get
into that room, and get the map. Then we leave as quickly as we can.”

Nemis dissolved the spell as Vlandar got to his feet and
waved Lhors to join him. Maera was already listening by the door. As Vlandar
caught up to her, she indicated the chamber beyond with her eyes and shook her
head. Lhors hoped she meant that no one was in there.

It was still quiet in the entry, though they could hear
someone bellowing beyond the double doors. As Malowan and Khlened hauled the
west door closed behind them, the east one opened. Three whining wolves on
chains lunged into the chamber, half-dragging a gray-haired giant clad only in
filthy breeches and boots. He hauled the beasts back on their haunches and
snarled,
“Gezhk!”

But the wolves had seen them, and now the giant did too. He
hefted a spiked club. His mouth twisted into an evil grin, and he let go the
chains.

Vlandar thrust Lhors behind him. “Guard Nemis while he spells
for us!” He and Malowan set themselves shoulder to shoulder, swords raised.

Stepping to the side, Rowan shot three arrows into the lead
wolf. The creature snarled in pain and fury but stopped its advance to nip at
the arrows biting into its side.

Maera took down the second with a spear through the throat.
The third, its fur hackled, ran around Vlandar and the paladin and leaped
straight for Lhors. The youth went to one knee and gripped his spear with two
hands, thrusting sharply up and out as the brute slammed into him. The
spearpoint plunged deep, but the sheer force of the impact ripped the shaft from
the youth’s hands. The wounded creature’s massive paws pinned his shoulders as
Lhors fought to get his arms across his throat. The beast lunged, jaws wide, but
in that instant Rowan knocked the wolf off him, and Maera jammed a spear into
its eye. Lhors rolled away as the wolf scratched and beat the floor in its death
throes.

Khlened and Vlandar were fighting the wolves’ keeper, who was
already bleeding from a deep gash above his left knee. The giant brought his
club around in a blur toward the barbarian, but Khlened ducked, the spikes
missing his scalp by a space no larger than his knuckle. Before the giant could
swing it the other way, Khlened darted forward and slammed his sword into the
giant’s belly, angling up for the heart. The blade was ripped from his hands as
the giant dropped his own weapon, fell to his knees, and gripped the blade in a
futile attempt to limp away. Vlandar hauled Khlened back.

In the instant that the two humans were out of the way,
Malowan threw a long dagger. The blade buried itself to the hilt in the giant’s
throat. The guard fell, still alive but unable to cry out and too wounded to
fight. He beat the floor with his fists, desperately fighting for air. Lhors
winced at the sound of bones shattering. After a few seconds, the giant stopped.

“Fast and quiet—how I like ’em,” Khlened said. His face was
smeared with blood, but he was grinning.

“Not quiet enough, I’m afraid,” Nemis said. “We should leave
here immediately.”

Rowan handed Lhors his spear that she had retrieved from the
wolf’s corpse. “Bravely done,” she told him quietly.

“I didn’t kill it,” he said. He clutched the spear and hoped
she couldn’t see how his hands trembled.

“You distracted it. That was just as valuable. It gave me a clean shot.” She
patted his arm and went to help her sister.

Malowan looked at the mess and shook his head. “There’s too
much blood here. Anyone who comes in here will know there’s been a fight, even
if we hide them.”

“Leave them,” Vlandar panted. “There’s no time. Someone was
sure to have heard the fight. Nemis, search for others nearby. Rowan, you and
Maera make sure we left nothing—not even a broken arrow. Khlened, stay close to
those main doors in case someone comes from outside.”

Nemis came over from the east door. “The wrestlers are still
at it, but there’s no one in that corridor.”

“Good,” Vlandar said. “Let’s go.”

They could clearly hear drunken laughter beyond the north
door, but there was less of it. Lhors thought the voices were more slurred—as if
the revelers were half asleep or passed out. If anyone in there had heard the
fight, there was no indication of it.

Nemis eased into the open, then nodded and moved aside so the
rangers could move across the corridor. Maera went on into near darkness while
Rowan turned and beckoned. Lhors looked to his left. The passage was very
dark—barely enough light for them to see. That might be good, he decided. Giants
would have trouble seeing
them.

* * *

Moving as quickly and quietly as they could, the party
managed to make their way to the giants’ council chamber. Luckily, no one was in
the room. There was no fire in the hearth, only two torches burning steadily
near the head of a long table.