Killian
Golden light bathed the forest, warm and heavy with the scent of mud and dew-damp grass.
I’d slept on the hard ground without moving.
The moment I’d closed my eyes, my body breathed a sigh of relief, grateful to rest, to rejuvenate after two days of being awake and expending magic.
I’d forgotten the toll magic took, how the fire that sat at the very core of my being also sapped my energy.
Now I rose, listening to the call of the wild as it hummed in the uncultured, untamed forest. A low, ancient note beneath the birdsong and the wind moving through the canopy overhead. Perhaps mortals walked here, but they hadn’t taken the land and broken it to their will.
The fire from last night was nothing but ash, and Ilaris leaned against Jasper, who’d likely served as her pillow through the night.
Those dark eyes fixed on me, watching as I stood and gathered the bags.
It was only then I wondered about the wisdom of sleeping without guard, and what else might be in the forest, what else might wish us harm. This was a world I didn’t know.
I eyed her bruised leg, wrapped, and felt something akin to guilt. “Jasper will carry you.”
“Jasper?” She narrowed her eyes, working through her confusion. “He carried me yesterday?”
I nodded. “He can change his size as needed, even though he’s young and still growing. Right now he can only shift up to the size of a horse, but soon, he’ll be much larger. He might grow wings too.”
She sat up, staring in amazement at Jasper as though he might sprout wings and fly away. “But he’s a dog.”
I’d already told her he was a hellhound, but I supposed they were a rarity in the realm of mortals. “I assume you found him not far from the ruins.”
It felt odd calling my kingdom, my home, a ruin.
Ilaris went still. “Are you saying that there are creatures left over from the age of giants?”
I shrugged. “I’m not all-knowing. Time has drifted. Everything I thought I knew changed. I can’t tell you much of what I know beyond the fact that I’m here.”
“Fair,” she admitted.
“We should go,” I said. “I want to put more distance between us and the sea.”
“I agree,” she said, standing. “I’m sorry Harlan turned out to be such a disappointment.”
“You couldn’t know,” I told her. “Don’t blame yourself for situations that are out of your control.”
She went quiet again, as though mulling over my words while I scanned the forest, trying to decide where we were. There were no indications, nothing that would lead me toward the Verdant Maw, not in this unfamiliar landscape. Behind me was the scent of water. All I knew was to press forward.
I examined the Scholar, taking in her gentle curves, her unblemished skin, her shiny hair. The way she looked and dressed—all of it indicated she was not used to travel, yet I asked the question anyway. “Do you know where we are?”
She tilted her head. “No. Are we lost?”
There was no fear in her voice. Only curiosity. Surprising. “No, but a map would be useful. I can find life, people, but if I could overlay the shape of your world with the shape of mine, I could guide us to our next location.”
“Then let’s find life, people,” she said, climbing on top of Jasper.
We traveled into the forest, an endless journey of soft moss, broken bracken, and soft dirt.
It had rained here recently, for the ground was still soaking it in, enjoying the wetness.
Life sprung out everywhere, the vibrant greens I expected but something else clinging to the forest, the scent of dung, rot, winged creatures flying around us, bugs I had no name for.
My skin itched with the need to burn and, although barefoot, the soles of my feet were tough. This walk meant nothing.
From time to time I glanced over at Jasper, trotting just behind me. Ilaris rode with a look of grim determination on her face, and I remembered what she’d told me, about the legal beating, and then her bruised leg. How much pain was she in? How much was she willing to endure?
My thoughts strayed to a place I did not intend them to go.
I thought about my brothers and what they’d think of this.
When we were young, we would have enjoyed it.
Five fire giants in the forest, our father shouting for us to maintain restraint so we wouldn’t burn it down.
As we did often, but it was known that out of fire came life.
When the land was burned to ash, we saw life return, more vibrant than before.
Not unlike this forest, except there was an undertone of rot to it. Death.
Was it the same thing that happened underwater? Did something lurk underneath the earth? I thought of the shadow I’d seen on the island that only moved under cover of night. What else lurked here, what else waited for me? Had anything escaped from its prison?
My kingdom hadn’t sat on an island before.
It was part of the world, next to great mountains where we quarried stone to build monuments to the heavens.
The way it was ripped from the land made me think it also had to do with the punishment.
The Great Sundering. If giants were cut off from the land, the kingdoms reduced to ruins, it would not be easy to find my brethren.
Nor would it be easy if the Guardians impeded our progress at every step.
Nightfall came faster than I imagined. One full day of travel and the exhaustion in Ilaris’s eyes was clear. She wasn’t used to this, neither was I. As I looked out into the softening shadows, I imagined shapes, things in the dark watching us, and I resolved to watch back.