"A beanstalk?" Nils repeated doubtfully. "What could be so special about a beanstalk?"
"You'll see," Canas replied with a smile.
The magistrate folded his hands in his lap at looked pleadingly at his granddaughter. "Rebecca, I will be blunt. We have no money. So what I want you to do is go out of town and see if someone at the marketplace will buy our very best cow."
Rebecca scratched her head, puzzled. "Why would a magistrate have a cow?"
"Don't ask questions, girl," the magistrate said sternly. "Go fetch the cow. It should fetch a fairly hefty price."
Having been told not to continue asking questions, Rebecca decided to obey her grandfather and fetch their best cow from the barn. She went and gathered her bow and a quiver of arrows for her journey to market, then opened the large red door of the barn and walked inside the musty building. She was immediately hit with the smell of straw and cows.
Rebecca walked up to one stable and looked at the large beast inside. While most cows had a little tuft of hair on top of their heads, this cow was completely bald.
"Wallace," Rebecca said, reading the nameplate above the stall. She shook her head. "I'm confused. Wallace is a boy's name, and if you're a boy, then you're a bull. So, are you a cow or a bull?"
"Moooo!" Wallace boomed.
Rebecca shrugged and prepared Wallace to leave the stables with her to the marketplace.
Upon leaving town along the worn path through the green fields, Rebecca noticed that a man shrouded in a dark cloak was coming along the path in the opposite direction. She did not like the look of him one bit, but luckily she was armed and had a very large, very strong cow with her.
She tensed as the two crossed paths. At first she thought there was to be no conflict, but she jumped when she heard the man speak.
"Hey, kid," the man said in a low voice, stopping. Rebecca turned around to face him, showing him that she was unafraid. She flinched and cried out, however, when she saw him open his cloak.
"Wanna buy some beans?"
Rebecca dared a glance, and saw the man was merely opening his cloak to reveal several seed packages attached to the inside.
Rebecca sighed in relief. "Oh, you're a peddler..."
"Well, maybe not exactly," the man said. He was dressed primarily in dark colours like blue and violet, and wore a violet bandana around his long silver hair.
Rebecca found herself staring at a large scar across his eye, but tried to fight it. "What are you, then?"
"Oh, a little of this, a little of that," the man replied. "My name is Legault, and in this case, I'm a barter."
"So you want me to trade for your beans?" Rebecca asked. "That's good, because I don't have very much money... But, sorry if I'm being a little blunt, but who would want a bunch of beans?"
"Haven't you heard the stories?" Legault inquired. Rebecca shook her head, curious, and Legault went on. "Legend has it that somewhere in the sky around here, far beyond the clouds in a floating palace, lives a wealthy giant and his wife, the giantess. You said you were in some financial troubles, correct?"
"That's right," Rebecca replied, skeptical of his stories. "What has that got to do with anything?"
"The reason the giant and giantess are wealthy is because they are in possession of two living treasures," Legault explained. "One is the Singing Harpist. He has the power to sense jewels and precious metals, anything of value, and will be quite vocal about where they are. The other is the Gosling That Lays the Golden Eggs. As the name implies, it is an enchanted bird that lays eggs of solid gold. Therefore, obtain these living treasures, and you, too, could become as wealthy as the giant and giantess."
"Sounds like a good deal," Rebecca said thoughtfully. "But where do the beans come in?"
Legault reached into one of the pockets of his cloak and revealed three silver beans. "These beans were grown by the giant himself in his garden. They are vital to reach him for two reasons. One is that their sprouts attract the floating palace, as their magic force is common to the other. The other reason is that because a giant grows them, the stalk itself is giant sized. Since the beanstalk would lead to the palace, one could climb it and reach the palace. What you do after that is up to you."
"Wow," Rebecca said in awe. "So, in simply trading for those beans, I could use them to obtain far greater wealth than I would for selling Wallace at the market. It's a deal!"
Rebecca handed Wallace's ropes to Legault, who in turn handed her the three silver beans.
"Pleasure doing business with you," Legault said, nodding his head once and leaving the path.
"Mooooo!" Wallace boomed in farewell.
Rebecca skipped merrily back to town, humming an upbeat tune all the way. She burst in through the doors of her grandfather's office.
"Grandfather!" she exclaimed. "You'll never guess what I managed to trade Wallace for!"
"Do you ever look excited," the magistrate laughed. He enthused, "You sure came back quickly. What price did you manage to sell Wallace for?"
"Not sell, trade," Rebecca corrected. She held out the three silver beans for her grandfather to see. "These beans were grown by a legendary giant and giantess who live high above the clouds in a floating palace, and when we grow these beans, they'll become a giant beanstalk. We can climb it to reach the palace and become rich!"
The magistrate stared at his granddaughter, dumbfounded. After an awkward silence, he roared, "You traded Wallace for some beans?! Rebecca, what have you done?!"
"But, they're magic beans, grandfather!" Rebecca protested.
"Magic, shmagic!" the magistrate barked. "Beans...! For crying out loud, child, what were you thinking? What kind of fork-tongued wolf's head told you these beans were actually worth something?!"
"You've heard the legends too, grandfather!" Rebecca pleaded. "There's a giant who lives in a castle—"
"They're just stories, Rebecca," the magistrate sighed exasperatedly. "Made-up stories meant to entertain children. I thought you were mature enough to know that now. But I guess I was dead wrong, wasn't I?"
Rebecca paused, eyes locked with the magistrate's, unable to come up with something to say.
The magistrate held out his hand. "Give me the beans, Rebecca."
"But, what are you—"
"The beans, girl. Don't make me ask you again."
Rebecca reluctantly dropped the three silver beans into her grandfather's outstretched hand. The magistrate walked over to a window and tossed the beans out with all his might. Rebecca gasped when she remembered the stream ran just outside that particular window, and heard the three tiny plips as the beans fell in and were washed away. Rebecca moaned in sorrow and ran out of the room, holding her face in her hands.
The magistrate sat down in his chair and sighed. "I feel guilty about upsetting her so much... But honestly. Our best cow for a handful of useless beans? What are we going to do now...?"
After night had cast a veil of darkness and quiet over the village several hours before, a mysterious tune began playing from somewhere in the copse of trees nearby. The only ones who heard it were the forest creatures.
Legault sat by the stream, fingering out a string of notes on an ocarina. He blinked and stopped playing, noticing the moonlight gleaming off of three small objects floating in the stream.
"Ah, there you are," Legault said quietly. He held his hand in the stream and scooped up the three silver beans. "I guess someone didn't appreciate you as much as they should have. Oh well. This is as good a place as any."
He took a dagger from his belt and dug a small hole in the ground with it, then dropped the beans in and covered it again. Replacing his dagger on his belt, he stood and held the ocarina to his lips, playing a new, livelier tune. After playing a quick riff, he smiled and put the ocarina away, and stalked off into the forest.
Rebecca skulked up in her room for the rest of the afternoon and didn't bother coming down for supper. She fell asleep on a pillow wet with her tears.
When she awoke the next morning, she noticed that there was not as much sun as was usually streaming through her window.
"Oh, great..." she mumbled into her pillow. "A rainy day. Just what I need."
She lifted her head up off her pillow and rubbed her eyes, staring dazedly out the window. It took her a moment for it to click, but she soon realized that the sky was a bright, cheerful blue. There was something else blocking out the sun.
She leapt out of bed and looked out the window, and could hardly believe her eyes. Several metres away, somewhere in the shallow part of the forest, was a giant green stalk of a plant. Leaves the size of the side of a barn door grew at intervals along the stalk, and appeared to be the culprits blocking out the sun.
"Is that...!" Rebecca muttered to herself. Her eyes brightened in excitement, and she quickly slung her bow and quiver over her shoulders, running down the stairs and out the door into the village.
A large group of villagers had gathered around the base of the beanstalk, staring up into its massive heights. Rebecca ran up to her grandfather and joined him.
"Rebecca," he said. "I...I don't believe it. I don't know what to say."
"See?" Rebecca enthused. "I told you so!"
The magistrate smiled. "No one likes a gloater, Rebecca."
Rebecca merely smiled brightly up at him.
"Hm..." Rebecca heard a voice mumbled behind her in the crowd. "That's the biggest plant I've ever seen. And I live around plants!"
Rebecca turned around to see who was talking, as she had never heard his voice before. She was forced to look up, and was slightly taken aback when she noticed that this particular man, with light brown hair and clad in green armour, had fuzzy, pointed ears on top of his head. To be sure it was not just her eyes playing tricks, she looked down. He had a furry tail, too. She looked back up into his face and came to the conclusion that he was, indeed, a werewolf.
He noticed her gaze and looked down at her. He blinked once blankly, and then a big smile grew on his face. He clasped his hands together enthusiastically.
"Such beauty would I have not expected to see in a place like this!" he exclaimed. He grabbed both of Rebecca's hands in his own and continued. "You're an archer, I see. And what an appropriate job for one such as yourself. You have pierced my heart with your arrow of love, like Cupid!"
Rebecca blinked. "Huh?"
An arm suddenly reached around from behind the man and efficiently clasped his neck in the crook of the elbow. The arm pushed him down to reveal a woman with turquoise hair directly behind him.
"You'll have to excuse him," the woman said. "He's just stupid."
"Hey!" the man protested.
"Oh...kay..." Rebecca said slowly. She smiled politely at the woman.
The man broke free of the woman's headlock and now clasped her hands in his. "My dear Fiora, you did not honestly think that my feelings for you have changed? I merely can't help myself in the presence of a beautiful woman! You know that!"
Behind the first man and woman, a young lavender-haired woman leaned over to a blue- haired woman next to her. "Why are we travelling with him again?"
The blue-haired woman responded, "Because he's offered to be our escort, and we have nothing better to do."
"Oh, yeah..." the lavender-haired woman said thoughtfully. She sighed.
The turquoise-haired woman shoved the man aside and introduced them to Rebecca. "My name is Fiora, and this is Sain. And these are my sisters, Florina and Farina."
"It's nice to meet all of you," Rebecca greeted in return. "My name is Rebecca. I'm the granddaughter of this town's magistrate."
"If he could but sentence me to life with you," Sain swooned. He was promptly whacked in the side of the head with Fiora's fist.
"Aaaaaanyway..." Fiora drawled.
"Say," Rebecca said. "You three are Pegasus Knights, are you not? Do you think it would be alright if perhaps one of you could fly me up to the top of that beanstalk? I'm not asking you to do it for free, of course. If I'm right, I can offer you a good price for your assistance."
"I'll do it!" Farina exclaimed, practically knocking over Sain and Fiora in her enthusiasm.
"Hold on a second!" the magistrate said, apparently having heard the conversation. "Rebecca, are you planning on doing what I think you are?"
"If you think I'm going to find out if the myth about the wealthy giant is true," Rebecca replied, "then, yes."
"Y-you can't do that!" the magistrate said. "Please, reconsider! This myth is getting a little too real for me. If there really is a giant up there, you could get seriously hurt, or dead! I simply cannot allow my only granddaughter to put herself in danger. I could not live with myself if something were to happen to you!"
"I can take care of myself," Rebecca assured him. "You know I can. Look at it this way: I want to prove to you that I am mature, that I really do know better than to trade our best cow for a bunch of beans. Even though that did actually work out for the best... But the point of the matter is... Uh, what point was I making again? Well, anyway... What I mean to say is that I know I can do this, and I need you to believe that I can do it, too. If I can retrieve the living treasures from the giant, we'll make all kinds of money, and this town will reach a new age of prosperity!"
The magistrate looked at his granddaughter for a moment, then closed his eyes in thought for a moment longer. Finally he looked her in the eyes and said, "I believe you can do this, Rebecca. You will have someone along with you, so don't be afraid to get all the help you need. And don't do anything too dangerous, that you know you can't handle. And—"
"I know, grandfather," Rebecca interrupted. "Really. I've done a lot of training with my bow. I'll be ready for just about anything. And I'll bet the giant will never even see me. Just you wait, I'll come back with all the riches we could ever ask for!"
The crowd gathered around the beanstalk cheered as Rebecca flew away with Farina on the back of her pegasus.
Back on the ground, a man sidled up next to Florina. She noticed him, and shrank away a little. Fiora and Sain were still there, so she felt relatively safe.
"Pardon me, miss," the man said with a quaint nod. "My name is Legault. Would it be a terrible bother if I, too, could be flown up the heights of the beanstalk?"
"Um, perhaps..." Florina said quietly. She poked Fiora on the shoulder.
"Hm?" Fiora mumbled, turning to Florina and Legault. "What's this then?"
"I need a ride up to the top of the beanstalk," Legault proposed once more. "If any of you could provide me with one, I would be most appreciative."
"What's your concern?" Sain asked.
"There is another treasure in the giant's palace, but I'm afraid it slipped my mind before Rebecca left," Legault explained. "It is not a treasure of great value, however. Not in a monetary sense, anyway. But it is quite rare, and does have great value to a friend of mine."
"If you insist," Fiora said slowly.
"I'll do it," Florina offered.
Fiora looked at her younger sister, surprised. "Are you sure about this?"
Florina nodded. "I'm not as afraid as I used to be. And I'd like to help Rebecca, if I could."
"Ah, our little Florina," Sain sighed. "Growing up before our very eyes..." He wiped away an imaginary tear.
"Well then," Legault said. "Shall we get going?"
Fiora watched as the second pegasus took off, carrying on its back Florina and Legault.
"Well, Fiora," Sain said smoothly, sidling ever closer. "Looks like it's just you and me. And a crowd. But they'll get over it."
"We're not standing here and watching, if that's what you think," Fiora said tersely, grabbing Sain by the arm and dragging him out of the crowd.
"Where are we going?" Sain asked. Then it seemed to dawn on him. "Your pegasus?"
"Indeed," Fiora replied.
"Ah, you don't entirely trust that man, right?" Sain guessed.
"Not entirely." Fiora and Sain mounted the third pegasus and took off toward the beanstalk. Fiora continued, "It could be dangerous up there, and I would never forgive myself if something were to happen to my sister, especially when I could have done something about it."
"Right then, off we go!" Sain crowed. His arms encircled her waist. "So I don't fall off."
"Right."
"Hm... Nice abs. Have you been working out?"
"I'll push you off."
"Sorry..."
Rebecca and Farina ascended in wide circles up the length of the beanstalk. Rebecca fidgeted with her quiver of arrows in anticipation of what she would find at the top of the beanstalk.
After passing through a field of mist that was a cloud, the pegasus emerged back into the blue of the sky, and the two girls on its back looked around.
"Over there!" Rebecca cried, pointing wildly in one direction. She had spotted it: a large fortress that appeared to be sitting on a cloud.
Farina steered her pegasus over to the fortress and hovered just outside an elaborate iron gate.
"Do you suppose I'll be able to stand on a cloud?" Rebecca wondered.
"Here, hold my hand," Farina offered. "Then you can try and take a step without falling through."
Rebecca took Farina's outstretched hand and slid off the pegasus's back, carefully descending down onto the cloud. With a tentative step, Rebecca reached down with her foot and felt for any kind of solidity that would support her. To her relief, she felt her foot hit solid ground.
"I'll wait right here in case anything happens," Farina said after Rebecca felt confident on the cloudy ground. Farina reached into a pack and handed two torches to the archer. "I can't go in myself, or I'd stick out like a sore thumb. But you can signal to me by lighting a torch."
"Thanks, Farina!" Rebecca said enthusiastically. "I'll try to be quick."
Rebecca approached the fortress, and found that the way there was quite a bit longer than she'd imagined. But she trekked forth, and finally reached the front gate. Certainly not about to knock on the door to see if anyone was home, Rebecca searched for an alternate entrance. She found one, a small crack in one corner of the wooden door that was just big enough for her to slip inside.
She was amazed by the sheer size of everything around her. It was just the same as the interior of any palace, but ten times as large. It was all quite intimidating, and Rebecca began to lament her choice. How on Elibe was she ever going to find two objects that could be anywhere in the castle, with the impending threats of a giant, a giantess, and getting completely lost?
She decided to attempt a systematic approach. If these two objects, as Legault had said, were indeed precious treasures, then they had to be protected somehow. If Rebecca could find some clues as to where a treasure vault might be within the palace, she might be able to find the objects which she sought.
Rebecca travelled cautiously around the perimeter of several rooms, and found herself dazzled by each one. In her travels, she had come up with a plan that she thought to be rather brilliant. First, she would look for the Singing Harpist. It would be easy to find, as she could simply listen for the sound of a harp, or singing. Next, she would ask the Singing Harpist to find the Gosling, as the Harpist was able to find treasures instinctively.
She was just mentally congratulating herself on a plan well devised when she thought she saw a shadow move above her head. Her head snapped up to search for the shadow, and she jumped a little when she saw a sleek black cat with eerie golden eyes sitting on a shelf high above her on the wall, tail twitching menacingly. Rebecca continued on her way, watching the cat closely, and the cat doing the same. It appeared to have no intention to move, so she decided to put it out of her mind and continued her search.
When she reached what appeared to be a sitting room, complete with a dark fireplace and several comfy chairs, she heard very soft music coming from somewhere. Her spirits rose to a feverish pitch and she began to search madly for the source of the music. She became even more excited when she realized that it sounded like the music of a harp.
Her heart skipped a beat when she discovered the only other living thing in the room, and realized that it had to be the Singing Harpist. On top of the mantle of the fireplace sat a young man with reddish-brown hair, and green clothing. He sat cross-legged with a small golden harp wedged into the crook of his arm, playing and humming to his own tune.
Rebecca ran up next to the fireplace and stared up at the young man, hoping he would notice her first without her having to make a racket. She was pleased when she saw him open his eyes and take a look around the room. His eyes dropped to the floor and he spotted Rebecca.
"Hey! Hello!" the man cried.
Rebecca winced. She wished he wouldn't be quite so loud.
"Stay there!" he called, "I'll come down!"
The Harpist ran along the mantle to the edge, where he grabbed a hold of an ivy vine and repelled down the side. When he reached the floor, Rebecca ran to meet him.
"If I may ask," Rebecca said, "are you the–"
"Singing Harpist?" the man interrupted, finishing her sentence. "Yup, that's me! But you can call me Wil. That's my real name actually, but you can call me the Singing Harpist, if you want. But I wouldn't recommend it. It's a lot more cumbersome to say than Wil, don't you think? The Singing Harpist is nice for a title, but I don't think I'd want it for a name. Yes, I think Wil suits me just fine, so I'll let you call me that from now on."
"Um, sure," Rebecca mumbled after Wil's whirlwind explanation. "My name is Rebecca, and I was wondering if you could–"
"Rebecca? That's a nice name!" Wil interrupted. "Actually, I once knew a girl named Rebecca. I lived next door to her. In fact, she kind of looked like you. Isn't that a coincidence? Well, some people say there are no coincidences, but I personally think that they are wrong. Do you believe in coincidences? How about destiny? I believe in destiny. I think it was destiny that we met, because no humans ever come up here."
"Speaking of which," Rebecca said, her recent memory jogged by his comment, "Does the giant own a black cat with gold eyes?"
"A black cat with gold eyes?" Wil repeated. "No, I don't think he does. No cats that I'm aware of. If he did, it would be a huge cat."
"It would, wouldn't it?" Rebecca realized. "Back in the other room, I saw a normally- sized cat sitting up on a shelf. That wouldn't make any sense..."
"Certainly not," Wil agreed. Then something seemed to dawn on him, and he looked worried. "Wait, you said a black cat? With golden eyes?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Oh... That was no cat you saw," Wil said nervously. "I think maybe we should move along. You could be in danger..."
"In danger? From what?" Rebecca demanded, increasingly worried because of Wil's tone.
Wil was about to respond when he noticed something over Rebecca's head. As his answer, he exclaimed, "From him!"
Rebecca whirled around to face a rocking chair, upon which sat the malevolent-looking cat. The cat leapt off the chair, and Rebecca worried for its safety. However, she remembered cats always landed on their feet, and this feline was no exception. As soon as it landed, though, it began to morph and change, finally transforming into a man in black and blue coats, with very long black hair and a sword girdle at his waist.
"Intruders will not be tolerated," the man hissed menacingly.
"Wil," Rebecca whispered. "Who is that?"
"Karel," Wil replied. "He was hired by the giant to destroy intruders and vermin."
"Vermin?" Rebecca repeated in disbelief.
"To giants, anyway," Wil explained. "To us, giant rats and cockroaches!"
"Wil, get out of my way," Karel ordered. "Wouldn't want you to get cut down whilst I eliminate the small one."
"You leave her alone!" Wil shouted defiantly. "She's not doing anything wrong!"
"If she is here at all, she has already performed her one fatal mistake," Karel countered. He turned to Rebecca. "You hardly seem worth my while. You can't even fight back. But this is how I get paid, so it's not up to me."
Wil grabbed Rebecca's arm and whispered. "We need to go."
"You're making a big mistake, Wil," Karel threatened. He began taking slow, calculated steps toward them, drawing his sword.
"Go!" Wil screamed. He tightened his grip in Rebecca's arm and took off running. Rebecca was momentarily startled, but soon fell into step next to Wil.
Karel started off at a run also. He was far faster than they, but they had a head start.
Wil managed to steer Rebecca into a small triangular hole in the wall next to the fireplace. As they delved deeper into the claustrophobic tunnel, the light from the previous room grew dimmer and dimmer. Finally, Wil stopped and leaned up against the wall, catching his breath.
"He didn't follow us in?" Rebecca demanded, equally out of breath.
"No, there would be no point," Wil responded. "These tunnels go all over the castle, but this particular one has a route that goes straight into another room. Karel knows this, of course, so he'll be waiting for us no matter which way we choose."
"So, you mean we're stuck in here?" Rebecca squeaked. "Wait a second, how can he know which way we'll come out? He can't be in both places at once!"
"Fool, I can hear you perfectly well," Karel's voice echoed through the tunnels from some unknown location. "Your every exhausted breath and your every laboured heartbeat lets me know which way you'll choose to go."
Wil jerked his head up at the ceiling of the tunnel. "That's how."
Rebecca sidled up close to Wil and whispered in his ear, in an attempt to keep Karel from listening. "You said the tunnels go all throughout the palace, right? What if we took another route?"
"I think he would still be able to hear us go," Wil whispered back, "But I think I can navigate us well enough away from him as to keep him off our trail for a while. But he'll catch up with us eventually. And I have no idea where the giant is right now. He really is a nice guy, and his temper rarely flares, but watch out when it does."
"We've got to try!" Rebecca pleaded. "We'll know if the giant is coming if we feel the vibration in the earth of his footsteps, right? That reminds me, there was something else I needed to find while I was here. You can sense treasure, right? I need you to find the Gosling That Lays the Golden Eggs."
"Gosling?" Wil repeated. "Well, he lays golden eggs, but..."
"But what?"
"Just follow me."
Wil quietly lead the way down the dark tunnel. Rebecca did not hear Karel's voice, nor any other sign that he was still on to them. She hoped that he had gotten bored and decided to go kill a rat instead.
"Wil," Rebecca whispered. "I can't see a thing! How are you able to navigate?"
"I know these tunnels inside and out," Wil replied. He held a hand behind him. "Take my hand. I won't lose you."
Rebecca gratefully accepted and allowed Wil to pull her through the murky space. She silently berated herself when her face grew warm at the contact.
After travelling down a plethora of tunnels well-suited to the title of a maze, Rebecca saw light at the end of the path, far brighter than it really was since her eyes were used to the dark. When the two emerged, they were in a bathing chamber.
Wil lead Rebecca across the room where there sat a giant bronze urn. She soon realized, to her horror, that it was a giant chamber pot. Sitting precariously on the very edge was a man in reddish-orange armour with dark hair and sideburns.
With a shriek, Rebecca covered her eyes when she noticed his pants were dropped.
"What the..." the man mumbled. Then he noticed the two down on the floor. "Ack! What do you think you're doing, Wil? Can't a man have a little privacy?!"
"Sorry, Oswin, but I needed to find you, and I figured you would be here," Wil explained. "Another one, huh?"
"'Fraid so..." Oswin muttered.
"You're a man?" Rebecca asked, peeking carefully through her fingers. "I thought you were a goose!"
Oswin sighed deeply. "It's a common mistake, miss. You see, I'm Oswin Who Lays the Golden Eggs, but so many people get it mixed up and call me the Gosling, not Oswin. Popular opinion says I'm a goose! And the fact that I lay eggs doesn't help..."
"How in Elibe did that come to be?" Rebecca wondered.
"I was cursed by the sorceress, Queen Sonia," Oswin explained. "She seems to find it amusing to make people lay golden eggs."
"Why you, though?"
"Why not? She'll curse anyone or anything she deems fit. She is an evil woman, through and through. Some say her heart has never been warmed by the light of day."
Wil and Rebecca were suddenly startled when Oswin's face contorted strangely and he began grunting and groaning. After a moment or two of this, Oswin let out a sigh of relief and relaxed, and sound of something small and hard hitting the bottom of the chamber pot was heard.
Rebecca shuddered.
"Much better," Oswin said in a satisfactory tone. He pulled up his pants and leapt down from the rim of the chamber pot.
"How do you get them out?" Rebecca asked, not at all certain she wanted to hear the answer.
"The giantess empties it out every week for me," Oswin replied.
"But don't they ever get, y'know...buried?"
"What? Oh, no. This is my own personal one. That one is the giant's." Oswin pointed next to the bronze urn, where one of twice its size stood.
Rebecca placed a hand on her forehead. "Oh, Gods..."
"Rebecca, I need to ask you," Wil said. "Why did you come here? Why do you need us?"
"Well, I'm the granddaughter of our village's magistrate," Rebecca explained. "We're a farming community, but it hasn't been going well lately. We're running out of money, and I had heard stories that a wealthy giant living in a floating palace who owned the Singing Harpist and the Gosling– or actually, Oswin– Who Lays the Golden Eggs. I thought that if I could find them, they might help our village. D-do you think you could?"
"I'd love to help you," Wil exclaimed. His expression changed to one of sadness. "But, I don't know if the giant would allow me to leave..."
"It might give me some satisfaction if I knew my curse was helping a village in need," Oswin offered. "But again, it's really the giant's decision. He's been quite good to us, and to just leave would be rather ungrateful."
"I understand," Rebecca said sorrowfully. The thought of leaving empty-handed– especially without Wil– disappointed her greatly.
"Mind if I CUT in?"
A blue streak separated the group, Wil and Rebecca on one side and Oswin on the other. The streak slashed him across the chest, scratching up his armour and jarring him slightly, but leaving him relatively unharmed.
When the invisible assailant stopped, they saw that Karel had returned.
"You missed!" Wil exclaimed, slightly hysterical. "And hit Oswin!"
"He was in my way," Karel replied calmly.
Oswin stepped in front of Wil and Rebecca and held his lance at the ready. "Wil, get her out of here. Run. I'll hold him off."
"Where'd he get that lance all of a sudden?" Rebecca wondered.
"Don't ask questions, just run!" Wil exclaimed. He grabbed Rebecca by the arm and lead her away.
Karel shook his head at Oswin. "I'm not going to kill you, if you're trying to die heroically for your cause or something. There's no need to be dramatic."
"I don't expect either of us to die," Oswin replied. "That would be foolish."
"Good," Karel said. "We've come to an accord then."
With that said, Karel leapt clear over Oswin's head and ran off after Wil and Rebecca.
"No you don't!" Oswin shouted. He pulled back his arm and let the lance in his hand fly. It was off, and grazed Karel in the shoulder.
Karel groaned and stopped, clutching his right shoulder. When he pulled his hand away, he found blood on it.
"A javelin," he said quietly. "I should have known. You can really be quite the nuisance sometimes." He lifted his hand to his mouth and licked his fingers clean of the blood.
Oswin shuddered. "So...creepy..."
"But I'm afraid I have no time for you," Karel sighed. "Ta."
Karel took off again at a lightning-quick run.
"Damn!" Oswin uttered, cursing the heavy armour he wore. Regardless, he pursued the swordsman.
Wil and Rebecca had reached a large porcelain claw that served as one leg of a bathtub. They were hidden behind it, but knew they could not stay long. It would soon do them no good.
"Wil," Rebecca said. "Why does Karel work for the giant? Is it just for the money?"
"Pretty much," Wil replied. "It's good for honing his skills, I suspect, but there's only so far you can go killing vermin for experience. He uses the money he makes to enter colosseums back down on the ground. He leaves every once in a while for that purpose."
"How is he able to transform into a cat?"
"He has a book that he found during one of his trips to the ground that teaches shapeshifting. Sometimes he uses it to more efficiently to track and destroy vermin and intruders."
"Uh, Wil..." Rebecca said more slowly this time, her head pressed into his chest and her arms around his waist. "How exactly did this happen?"
"Hm," Wil mumbled, obviously not in the least perturbed. "I don't rightly know. It must have happened when we were distracted by staying hidden from Karel. How about that, huh?"
Rebecca pulled away and faced the other direction. She stammered, "Uh, s-sorry 'bout that. Let's just forget that ever happened."
"Hey, what's the matter with you?" Wil asked curiously. He began looking over her shoulders and chattering ceaselessly. "Why is your face all red? Do you feel alright? Do you have a fever? Hey, what's the matter? Why won't you answer me? Are you blushing?"
Rebecca turned around and lashed out with one foot, not really caring where it landed.
Wil fell to his knees, clutching his abdomen. "You kicked me... In the stomach...!"
"Darn right I did!" Rebecca replied sulkily. "Don't ask dumb questions!"
"Hey, wait," Wil said, with some difficulty managing to stand on his own two feet again. "There's a window just up there. If we can climb these steps, I can get you out of the castle."
Rebecca noticed the set of steps sitting next to the bathtub. They were so huge they nearly looked impossible to climb, but Wil seemed confident enough.
"Let's go," Rebecca said.
The two slowly but surely made their way up the steps. Wil, being taller, climbed up to the next step first, then offered Rebecca a hand up to join him. When they finally reached the top, they stood on the rim of the tub and looked down.
"The tub is filled with water," Rebecca remarked.
"Hot, too," Wil added, steam rising into his face. "It must have just been poured. That means either the giant or the giantess is going to come back here soon. We're saved! Or doomed... One or the other, I can't really tell which."
"That's a big help," Rebecca muttered. She looked over at the window, a great rectangular hole in the wall that revealed the blue of the sky and the white fluffy clouds beyond. "That's the way out, then?"
"Yes," Wil replied. He looked at the space between the rim of the tub and the sill of the window. "It's a farther jump than I anticipated... How do you suppose we can get ourselves out of this one?"
Rebecca shot him a wry look. "You're certainly not one for planning ahead, are you?"
Wil scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Does it show?"
"Nowhere to run!"
"EEK!" Rebecca screamed as something razor sharp whizzed by her face. She flinched enough to avoid it, but backed up into Wil, sending them both careening off the rim of the tub and into the hot water.
Rebecca splashed down, and felt as if she was going to be scalded by how hot the water felt. She was momentarily dazed and found it difficult to move in the water. She lost sight of Wil, but when she saw something else plummet into the water in front of her, she thought perhaps it was him. However, she changed her mind when she saw that this new guest in the water was a black fish with hard, triangular fins and rows of razor sharp teeth. She tried to swim away, but her lungs were burning as hot as her skin, and she felt as if she could pass out at any moment.
Red swirled around where the shark had landed in the water, and two small nodes on the shark's nose began twitching. It circled around, going right mad by the scent of its own blood trickling out of a wound on its right fin. Rebecca thought for a moment that it was distracted and she was safe, but it turned out to be just the opposite. The shark turned around and swam right for her with incredible speed, teeth glinting in the filtered light like a thousand tiny knives.
Rebecca flailed in the water, not ready to die just yet. Panic had flared up to its utmost degree within her when she heard a strange sound vibrating in the water. It was like music, only contorted by the water. The shark was inches from Rebecca when it stopped, floating lazily in the water like it suddenly had the urge to take a nap. Before passing out, Rebecca felt a great surge of water from behind before hitting the air once again.
She only passed out for a moment, as her lungs cried out for air and received it. She inhaled deeply and the bright lights in front of her eyes slowly vanished.
"Rebecca!" she heard.
She slowly sat up and found Wil kneeling next to her, eyes widened in concern and near- hysterics.
"Wil," Rebecca sighed. The panic in her had not yet totally subsided, and she could feel her arms shaking trying to support her weight. "Your harp... You played it in the water, didn't you? And the shark—"
"Over there," Wil pointed. Rebecca followed with her eyes in the direction he was pointing to Karel, stretched out and sleeping soundly. It would have almost been cute, except for the fact that he had just tried to kill her.
As she watched Karel, she noticed that the place upon which they sat was pink and covered in tiny ridges. In fact, it looked like a hand. Her gaze travelled upwards, and she was met with a woman's face, big enough to match the hand.
"Wah!" Rebecca cried. She leaned in closer to Wil for protection, and whispered, "Is that the giantess?"
"Yes," Wil replied. "Don't worry. She's really quite nice."
"What's going on here?" the giantess asked. "Is everyone alright?"
"Just a bit of a misunderstanding," Oswin called from the floor. "If you can call it that..."
"Then I think we ought to sort it out," the giantess decided.
"Sometimes thieves manage to find their way to the palace, and of course vermin is always a problem in a place like this. So I hired someone willing to do a little exterminating for a good price."
The giant and the giantess were seated at a table in the dining room, explaining how Karel came to be there. They had introduced themselves as Dorcas and Natalie, and had given the three who had fallen in the tub cloths to dry off. They now sat on the table along with Oswin.
Dorcas continued his explanation, "Karel here wanted cash to enter in arena battles, and he does an excellent job. However, I didn't expect him to attack young girls."
"Young girls are thieves, too," Karel muttered sulkily, cloth wrapped tightly around him. Though it was a cloth for a giant, it made for a very large towel. "She may not be an outright thief, but the reason she came here was to seize Wil and Oswin for her own purposes."
"You must understand," Rebecca pleaded with the giant and giantess. "Our village's crops are doing rather poorly this year, and we're running out of money. I heard legends about valuable treasures in your palace. I do realize this makes it sound like I was going to kidnap them. That's what it sounds like to my ears, even..."
Dorcas and Natalie shared a look of consideration. Dorcas turned to Rebecca. "Why don't you take them along? Wil, Oswin, do you mind returning to earth?"
"I'd love to go back!" Wil exclaimed. "Are you sure you're willing to let us go?"
"We've all that we need here, now," Natalie replied. "Go ahead. Return with Rebecca to her village."
"Yay!" Wil cried. He pulled Rebecca into a tight embrace enthusiastically. Rebecca could feel that familiar heat rising in her cheeks again.
"I'll go, but only if no one tells about my...condition," Oswin said.
"Of course," Rebecca said. "With your golden eggs, and Wil's ability to find treasure, our village will be more prosperous than it's ever been!"
"What about you, Karel?" Dorcas asked.
"I'll stay, for now," Karel answered. "There's a big mama rat who's been looking at me cock-eyed for some time now..."
Just then, Rebecca heard the flapping of wings behind her. She turned around and discovered Farina had flown into the castle, as well as Fiora and Sain, and Florina with an additional person on her pegasus.
"I take it everything went alright in here, then?" Farina assumed.
"Yup!" Rebecca replied bubbly. "You have to meet my new friends, Oswin and Wil. Guys, this is Farina—"
"Farina, huh?" Wil said quickly. The words began spilling out of his mouth after that. "That reminds me of another word for flour. Not the kind of flower you pick, you know, that smells nice and has the colourful petals and stuff. I mean the flour you use to bake things. Actually, I have a funny story about when I tried to bake something back home, and my pet kitten's memorable antics in the sack of flour..."
Rebecca didn't mean to leave Farina to politely suffer, but she noticed that the man riding Florina's pegasus was Legault. "What are you doing here?"
"There's a certain treasure here that my friend needs," Legault explained. "I forgot to mention it before, so I hitched a ride so I could retrieve it myself."
"And what kind of a treasure would that be?" Karel demanded, suspicions aroused. While Rebecca passed easily for the archer that she was, this man appeared to be none other than an experienced thief.
"A magic tome, of sorts," Legault replied. "It teaches its wielder the art of shapeshifting. Of friend of mine needs it to help out a friend of his. We're all just one happy, helping family, aren't we?"
Karel's eye twitched.
"Well?" Legault said after a brief pause. "Do you know of it?"
"Of course," Karel said. "I use it well to my advantage in the slaying of thieves and other such beasts."
Legault cocked an eyebrow.
"I don't need it anymore," Karel continued. "I've memorized every page. If you want it, go ahead and take it."
"I thank you on behalf of my friend," Legault said, grinning.
"And so Jack's village rejoiced upon his successful return with the treasures," Canas finished.
"I like that ending," Nils said happily. "But what happened to Sain and the Little Pegs?"
"Sain?" Canas repeated. "I never mentioned Sain."
"Oh, um..." Nils mumbled. "Never mind... Read me another, won't you, Canas?"
"Of course," Canas replied, flipping the pages in the book of fairy tales. "This next one is one of my favourites...