The sound was deafening, cutting through his eardrums like a rusty saw. Bloody giants, just my luck he thought to himself, and glanced at Nelevin. Fear had gripped him, he just stood and stared at the lumbering oafs as they cried out that awful noise.
'Nel, quick! Follow me!'
Nelevin remained where he was, as if he was becoming the rock that had surrounded them through the pass.
Rizdok let out a short growl and sped over to the immobile archer. Getting a good hold on the back of his collar, he yanked him back into reality, and Nelevin's legs suddenly started to operate, carrying him away from the path of the giants. They both ducked down into a hollow created by a cluster of rocks and boulders. Rizdok held a finger to his pursed lips, indicating Nelevin to keep quiet. They kept each other's eye contact, Nelevin held his breath. Rizdok could feel his pulse thumping in his ears, and wondered whether the giants could hear it too.
'I can smells ya,' one giant sang in excitement as he carefully stepped around the rocky path. His face was bulging and red, as if covered with sores. He had no hair on his scalp, but deep scars ran from his forehead to his nape in parallel. Two brownish-yellow tusks protruded from the corners of his mouth, sticking straight up in front of his cheeks, and long strings of saliva hung from his bottom lip where the tusks began.
Rancid.
'Yum yum, Dummo. Me gonna get a tasty bellyful today!' the giant blurted at the other, who was just coming into view.
'We share, one for you and one for me. He say we share, you have to share if He say it, Dawk.' The second giant had a much lower voice that rumbled inside Rizdok's head.
Nelevin looked at him and mouthed what now?
Rizdok didn't really know what to do, and had been trying to work out how they were going to get passed these repugnant beasts. His magik was not going to work against both of them, and he would be too tired to defend himself if it went wrong. Things were not looking very good.
'Use the magik you killed the sorcerer with!' Nelevin whispered.
'No good. That was void magik. It just reverses the defensive energy he was using. These brutes haven't got any energy to reverse, just stupidity.'
Their conversation was interrupted by the roar of one of the giants.
'Come out and play, manlings!'
The giants were stalking around, sniffing the air around the rocks and boulders. Both were making a growling noise, and Rizdok wasn't sure whether it was from their throats or their bellies. He reached for the hilt of his shortsword and caught a glance of movement next to him. Nelevin was loading his bow, and stepping forward from their hiding place.
'There a manling, Dawk!' The rocks around them shook with the force of the giant's bellow. Both behemoths were licking their lips, their eyes wide as they took in their prey. Nelevin fired off an arrow towards them.
'Ow. What that?' said the red-faced giant, pulling the arrow that had lodged itself in his lip.
'The manling give you toothpick, he kind. Bit early for tooth-picking Dawk, we crush their bones first!'
Nelevin turned and stared at Rizdok with panic in his eyes. Rizdok had a sudden thought, a plan that might just work. Well, if it didn't they wouldn't be any worse off than they already were.
'Nel, come here! Give me one of your arrows!'
Nelevin turned and flung an arrow at him. He stared, raising an eyebrow, as Rizdok drew a small amount of greenish powder from his satchel.
'I hope this works. There is a first time for everything, right?' Rizdok said, then chanted an ancient incant and sprinkled the powder over the tip of the arrow. As it hit the point, it hissed and fizzled and smoke rose in a delicate plume.
'I would hurry and fire that, Nel. It's got some explosive properties now!' Rizdok said, tossing the arrow back at his friend.
The ground started to shake with the booming steps of the red-faced giant as he lumbered towards the pair. His face was contorted with rage, his eyes bulging from their sockets. Nelevin loaded the arrow onto his bow, pulled the string to his cheek, and held his breath. Rizdok watched in anticipation as Nelevin let the arrow fly. Time seemed to slow, and Rizdok could see the path that the arrow made as it cut through the air, leaving a trail of smoke in its wake. The point pierced the giant's left eye and stuck fast, protruding from its skull.
'My eye!' the giant screamed, grabbing at his bleeding face and staggering around like a drunk.
'Rizdok, it hasn't worked!' Nelevin blurted, diving back into the hollow. As he landed and rolled, there was a loud popping sound, followed by an earth-shaking thud. Rizdok glanced out and grinned.
'Pass me another arrow Nel, that worked perfectly. I think you might have upset the other one though, so you better send him to meet his buddy, and do it quickly!'
Rizdok performed the same chant as before, sprinkling the powder on the arrow tip and throwing it back to the archer. Nelevin looked up to see the other giant inspecting the fallen corpse of his friend, and took the opportunity to send the arrow straight into the beast's chest. It stuck for a moment, but the giant flicked it away before it could explode inside him.
'Nice try manling, now I eat your friend and you watch. Then I eat you!'
'Do it again!' Nelevin shouted, throwing a quiver of arrows at Rizdok. 'Do it quickly!'
Rizdok started his chanting, and sprinkled the powder over all of the arrows. Nelevin leapt onto a nearby rock, steadied himself and called down to Rizdok.
'I need one of those arrows! Now, Rizdok, he's coming!'
Rizdok tossed the quiver up, it hissing like an angry snake.
'Send the lot Nel, we're gonna need 'em to topple this bugger!'
Nelevin fired each off at the approaching giant, watching as he swatted them away like buzzing flies. Faster and faster he sent the arrows, his hands a blur as they loaded and released his bow. Three arrows had stuck in the beast, and he wailed in pain as they erupted from his flesh in a blaze of red fire.
'My turn,' said Rizdok, 'I'll bring him down.'
Rizdok ran at the giant and drew his sword, chanting as he moved. He stopped just short of the beast, sprinkled the handful of powder he had been carrying over his sword, and launched it at the giant's head. It span through the air, smoke fizzing in a wave behind it, until it buried itself in the screaming giant's gaping maw. A few seconds later, the area was bathed in red light as the giant's head exploded, showering the two warriors in blood.
'Lots of blood, not much brain.' Rizdok remarked, collecting his sword from the charred body that lay before him.
'Is that still in one piece?'
'Of course it is. This was crafted by the greatest smith that ever lived! This sword will still be around when the world is done, and it will still be razor sharp.'
'Well, it's the first giant I have killed,' Nelevin said, poking at the body that had belonged to the red-faced giant.
'It almost certainly won't be the last, my friend. Not by a long way. But for now, we need to find the priest, and I have a feeling that these boys were his bodyguards, so he must be nearby.'
'Aren't we supposed to make this look like someone else? How are we going to do that?'
'I've already thought about that Nel. Help me drag this giant's body and I'll fill you in.'
What happens next? Find out in episode 5 next Friday!
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