15. Chapter 15

Chapter fifteen

D usk creeps up on us quickly, but Corvu manages to find the entrance to where the giant dwells. In front of a huge hole in the middle of a mountain, surrounded by dead vines and ash. This is not a tourist destination. Corvu empties a few items from his backpack and replaces them with others. Dismounting the horses, we tie them up beside a distant tree and enter the cave.

Corvu has his slingshot in hand, although I don't imagine this to be as easy as the story of David and Goliath. Either way, it's better than trying to use my rapier against a giant. The cave isn't as dark as I expected; there are bits of light shining through a thick ceiling of vine and mud above us. I wonder how that works? I thought this was a mountain? Perhaps the giant built it himself.

Step by step, we get closer to the sound of humming. It isn't until we reach what looks like an oversized version of Gharp and Sophii's home that we realize the giant is, in fact, cooking a meal. In the center of the room sits a large handmade table for one, and amongst the gritty walls hang all kinds of pouches, large metal ornaments, and what appear to be weapons. The giant is further to the left, occupied by something he's doing on a stone he's turned into a bench. Corvu turns to me.

"Giants use a lot of forest vegetation in their food. They don't approach humans or Daemonaria directly, but if you're in their home, it's basically free food to them. Don't get caught." That's encouraging. Looking around, I point to the sling, which now hangs from the big chair beside the table. Gecko must be inside. My stomach churns as I wonder if he's okay after the giant put him in there, and then another tree on top. What if he's dead Corvu pulls out a rope from his backpack and throws it around the chair leg, catching it on the other side. Handing one end to me, he instructs, "We're going to use this to climb. Take my hand, and we're going to walk up the leg. Okay?" It sounds risky, and the climb alone is at least three stories. I'm definitely going to fall and die.

Gecko is more important than my fear.

The giant probably can't see us. It's not even facing our direction, completely occupied by whatever it's doing. With the rope securely wrapped around my right wrist and Corvu's hand in my left, we start walking up the leg. This is some impressive physics. Has Corvu done this before or did he just work this out as we got here? As we reach the top, Corvu and I step up and are now on a flat surface. My hand is hurting a lot, but we're so close.

Running across the seat, I peer into the sling, but I can't see Gecko. Did he already get out? Or was he crushed under the trees? Corvu doesn't hesitate to jump into the sling, despite it being a decent drop. He then indicates for me to jump. He's crazy. There's no way I'm going to be able to land on an uneven surface and not break something or alert the giant to our presence. He waves his hands again, and I decide to just go for it.

I'm right; I don't land correctly, but Corvu catches me. I have a small scrape on my knee from the fall, but otherwise, I'm okay. Looking around, we see Gecko. He's lying against the tree trunk, with a few scratches on his body from where the branches cut him up, and a head wound that doesn't look too healthy. Corvu checks his pulse and nods .

He's still alive. That's the biggest relief. He's still unconscious though. Corvu ushers for me to come closer, so I lean in.

"It looks like his arm is caught in there," he states. I can see that Gecko is lying on his side, his arm solidly underneath the tree trunk. I almost gasp, imagining what the pain must be like. "I need you to pull him out."

"Me?" I ask. Even if I have the strength to pull him out, it would surely rip off his arm in the process.

"Yes, I'm going to lift, you're going to pull." Repositioning ourselves, Corvu with his back against the tree and his legs bent, preparing to move it, and myself with my arms around Gecko ready to pull him away from the trunk once Corvu moves it. With bewildering strength, Corvu pushes against the trunk and it begins to move. It doesn't look easy for him, but it doesn't seem as difficult as it should be either. Pulling on Gecko, I manage to slide him away as Corvu lets the trunk fall back in its place. Shaking Gecko, I whisper his name in his ear. He stirs and slowly wakes up. "Hey," Corvu says as soon as Gecko opens his eyes, "you're probably in a lot of pain, but you have got to try and stay quiet, okay?" Gecko nods, his eyes starting to swell. His arm is in a bad way; it definitely looks broken. Corvu pulls a wrap out of his backpack and starts to cautiously but quickly wrap up his arm. Gecko's face turns red as he tries to clench his mouth shut. I feel totally helpless. All I can do is hold him and stroke his head. Pulling the scarf Bella gave me from around my neck, Corvu turns it into the same kind of sling we were sitting in, only much, much smaller. Gecko sits up, and despite the bruises and pain he must also be feeling in his legs, he manages to stand up, but just barely. Corvu pulls out the last thing that appears to be in his backpack, a much longer rope, one that he ties around a thick tree branch and throws over the side.

"How are we going to get Gecko down that rope with one arm?" I ask, knowing that he can't do it himself, and he can't hold onto us to be lowered either.

"He's not going down the rope, you are."

"What?" I exclaim in a whisper. It was a miracle that I got up here, and now I was meant to go down a rope without letting go and falling? This was the worst.

"Just go," he insists. Hesitantly, I approach the rope and tug on it with my weight to test its strength. Peering over the edge, it looks much higher looking down than it did looking up. With a deep breath, I slowly lower myself over the side, gripping the rope one hold at a time. I've wrapped the rope around my ankles a bit for extra support in case my hands slip. About halfway down, something flashes past me. Glancing down, I catch sight of Corvu hitting the ground, crouching to absorb the impact, with Gecko safely in his arms. He sets Gecko down and turns to me. I'm not too far from the ground, but I've lost momentum. "Let go," Corvu whispers urgently. My hands are in so much pain I don't even question it. Releasing my grip, I let myself fall backward directly into Corvu's waiting arms, but there's no time to enjoy the moment.

The ground shakes, and the giant has decided to come check on the sling of trees he had collected earlier. Hiding ourselves behind one of the leg chairs, we wait until he goes back to whatever he was doing, but something's not right. Why isn't he moving? There's a giant bowl, somewhat shaped like a frying pan, hanging on the wall. In its reflection, I see the giant pulling on the rope I had just used to get down. He tugs on it, and it snaps like a thin piece of string.

Trying my best to control my breathing, I look back at Corvu, who is already looking at me. We startle when the giant grabs the back of the chair .

Frantically, we jump to the side and out of the way as the chair slides out from underneath the table. With a great thump, the giant sits down, throwing the trees out on the table. I can't see what he's doing with them, but I'm not willing to risk my life to find out. Helping Gecko get up, Corvu points to the back wall behind the giant. He gestures for us to run to the wall, then follow it outside. It's the best way to avoid detection.

Keeping to the shadows, we make a dash for the wall, which goes undetected. Fear is a powerful motivator when it comes to running. I wouldn't normally have the stamina for all of this, but I'm not that exhausted yet. Holding onto Gecko's good arm, we start to make our way along the wall. The giant is occupied pulling branches off the trees, giving us the opportunity to take our time and get out without alerting him, if possible.

There is one unfortunate miscalculation. When we entered, the giant was around the corner of his cave and not paying attention to who was going in and out of the main door. Now, from the corner of his eye, he sees our shadows crossing the floor. We stop as he stares at us for a moment, trying to judge if he really saw us or not.

He starts to get up off his chair .

"Run!" Corvu yells. I pull Gecko's hand as we sprint for the entrance. A quick glance around reveals that Corvu has gone in a different direction—he's climbing rapidly up the vines and branches attached to the cave walls. The giant stands from his chair and fixes his gaze on us. Pushing Gecko ahead of me, we keep running. "Bonehead!" I hear Corvu yell, but I don't dare to look back. The giant lets out an incredible low roar. The ground shakes beneath my feet, and I lose my footing. As I hit the ground, I see what happened—a giant punched his hand into the wall, and Corvu is frantically jumping across to the next set of vines to evade him.

"Tia!" Gecko exclaims, pulling me back to my feet. We continue running, breaking out of the cave entrance and veering left to hide behind nearby trees. Their thick trunks provide some cover, but I can't help worrying about Corvu.

Trying to catch a glimpse, I witness the ground rumble twice more as the giant punches and swipes, tearing apart the cave wall. With one last powerful swipe, he pulls out so much of it that debris flies, rocks tumble, and a cracking sound echoes from within. The giant pays no heed, swiping again at the wall. This time, I see Corvu fly out with the debris—he wasn't fast enough. The cave wall trembles ominously.

Then collapses.

Grabbing Gecko I do my best to shield him as the dust settles. Letting go and seeing he was alright, I turn toward the cave. Through the rubble I can see a giant arm sticking out, but unmoving. Not wanting to test how alive the Daemonaria might be I look around for Corvu.

"Corvu!" Gecko startles me, but oddly not feeling completely alone is a relief.

"Corvu?" I question aloud, waiting for him to respond. As I walk around I finally see movement. Beneath most of what appears to be a tree and some large boulders, something seems to be rustling. Despite moving closer I jump back as a stone is pushed off in my direction. "Corvu, is that you?" I ask, going back to help move some debris. Corvu's hand grabs mine and that at least tells me he's alive, even though I can't hear him responding. Using what strength I could, I start pulling him out as he pushes some of the rubble off him.

When he's loose, I almost fall backward pulling on him too hard. Grunting as he sits on the ground, Gecko comes to my side. "Wow, you really flew." He snickers. Corvu looks at him, a little unimpressed but then smirks in response. "Thank you for coming to get me."

"It's alright." Corvu responds, "We had to. Didn't want the giant to choke on a tiny Pixie like you." Gecko reacts by kicking Corvu in the foot. Neither of the boys looked well, in fact quite beaten and bruised.

"I think we should make camp." I say, "Treat wounds, eat, then continue." I don't give either of them much of an option to argue before turning heel and making my way back to where we tied the horses.

I can't believe we were just chased by a giant.