The giant queen had the portions of a regular woman, other than her size she looked quite human. She wore a magnificent gown that looked like it belonged in a medieval play, her skin was lightly tanned and she had long curly black hair. Kendra figured that she was quite attractive for a giant. But then again the only giants Kendra had ever really seen before was Thronis and the one that had carried them to the castle. "Begone, I wish to confer with the prisoners alone." The giant queen commanded her voice deep and melodious with a hint of an accent…Scottish?
"But they are my prisoners," The Sphinx countered,
"Just because, you gave me the way to obtain them does not mean that they are all your prisoners, I said you could possibly have the girl and permitted you to find the boy. Now leave." The queen's tone implied that there was no arguing. The giant holding the Sphinx titled his head in a half bow and exited the room with the two other giants that had brought them here.
"What do you want with us," Trask said, he stood closest to the giant.
"I ask the questions first, now, why are you here?" The queen asked sternly
"It does not concern you now," Trask answered coldly
"Yes, it does, unless you want to become my dinner? Humans are a rare delicacy." Kendra saw Mara lean over to Trask and whisper something in his ear.
"What did you tell him?" The giant queen demanded, turning her attention to Mara.
"She was recommending we strike a deal," Trask said,
"But before we continue I need to talk with my team."
"You have five minutes." The giant queen said, Kendra could tell that she was impatient. Trask signaled the others over.
"Mara had an idea, remember at Wyrmroost we struck a deal with Thronis, and in return for our lives, we stole something for him.
"Yes," Kendra, Warren, and Tanu simultaneously answered.
"I heard about that," Vanessa said, Knox looked confused
"Well, if we are already going to the dragon temple what if we make a deal with the queen that we will steal something for her, in return that the Sphinx won't get Kendra and we can all live?" Trask proposed
"That might work! Mara, you are a genius." Warren said
"Well, it is only genius it if works," Mara responded, Trask, turned to look at the giant queen, and turned back.
"It could work," Tanu acknowledged,
"Go for it," Vanessa assured. Trask turned to face the giant queen again.
"We are on a mission to retrieve the boy your guest is after, we are also hoping to gather an item from the dragon temple. Here are our terms, let us go, and let us have the boy. We will steal an item of your choice." Trask announced to the giant queen. her eyes lit up with excitement.
"You do not jest?" The queen asked
"We are dead serious, we have braved the temple at Wyrmroost and stole something for Thronis."
"How do I know that you do not lie to try to be spared." The queen asked suspiciously
"We have no way to prove," Trask lamented,
"Actually, there is, when you make a pact with a giant they leave a mark on you. If you made a pact with Thronis than I would be able to see your mark, if, you are lying prepare to die, if, you speak the truth Step closer those who made the deal." Trask, Mara, and Tanu stepped forward. The queen put her hand on the table palm up and the trio stepped on, the queen lifted the group closer to her face, "You three do indeed bear Thronis's mark." The queen set them back down on the table.
"Do you believe us?"
"I am starting to lean more towards trust, no one can fake the mark of a giant. What would you want to steal for me?" The queen asked
"It can be an item of your choosing, all we ask for is to be spared," Trask replied
"You do make a compelling argument. Though what if I spare you then you die and I lose my investment?" The queen questioned
"I am certain at least one of us will survive to grant you your treasures." Trask asserted confidently, the queen nodded thoughtfully. Kendra hopes it'd be more than that. Trask went on "We have also killed the dragons Glommus, Siletta, we also faced Navarog, and most of us survived." The giant queen looked mildly impressed,
"You said most, how many of you died or a team of how many." The queen asked picking up on the technicality.
"Two out of eight, one of which was Navarog who infiltrated our ranks using an avatar, then betrayed, us he revealed his true form, he killed one and injured another, he did not get to gloat about it," Trask said proudly.
"Your group is indeed more than meets the eye, the younger girl has a peculiar aspect, what's your name." Kendra realized that the giant queen was talking about her,
"My name is Kendra,"
"Tell me, Kendra, why are you here?"
"I am here to look for my brother, and to help stop the war against the dragons, and to look for allies," Kendra responded.
"you radiate a peculiar energy." The queen noted,
"I am fairykind," Kendra explained, the queen looked surprised but did not respond, she appeared to be thinking hard, when a giant burst into the room, The giant looked like a young girl, she had long ebony hair twisted into complex braids and tan skin like the queen, she also wore a simple dress that ended at about her knees, her feet were bare.
"Your majesty, a fleet of dragons are approaching the castle." The messenger reported,
"What! How many?" The queen said frantically.
"About 12, one of them is Rex Montem," The messenger answered, the queen paled, she looked flustered now.
"Gather my guard, have them meet me in the courtroom." The messenger dashed out the room her hair flying behind her as she ran.
"Is there anything we can do your majesty?" Trask asked,
"No, not one of you could stand against Rex Montem, I will see what he wants."
"Who is Rex Montem?" Kendra asked, he seemed like bad news.
"Rex Montem, is Celebrant's oldest son, he rules the dragons of this sanctuary, he is a fearsome opponent, none would dare come against him. He hungers for war. And now I hear he has gotten what he has desired for thousands of years. He crosses into my domain to either seek alliance or destroy us. I fear the latter." Kendra suddenly understood the reaction, this was bad.
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It had been about an hour since the giant queen had gone, the group had been able to pass the time by filling in Knox, Vanessa, and Warren about the dragon temples. They had talked about the guardians, and about tactics on how to survive dragons. There had been considerable commotion upstairs, but no one had dared to try and find out what was going on. Trask and Mara were recounting the meeting with Thronis to Knox when the giant queen entered the room.
"You need to depart now, you have no time." the queen was flustered, her hair was disheveled as if she had been constantly running her hand through it.
"What happened?" Trask asked
"Rex Montem and his guard stormed in demanding we hand over your group, whoever you humans are he must see you as a threat, he was insistent. He gave us an hour to hand your group over. You have put me in a predicament, that if I hand you over it will look like an act of cowardice, and my position of caretaker will be put into question. I would be subjecting to the dragon's will, and I refuse to do that. You have to leave. I also have a task for you."
"What do you want us to steal?" Trask asked solemnly.
"A seer stone of great renown, it will be quite a feat, I will have one of my servants bring you a sketch of it, I must go now." The queen turned and walked briskly out of the room. A few minutes later the same female giant that had alerted the queen of the dragons entered the room,
"Here are the drawings of the stone," she passed Trask a scroll that was about the size of Mara. Bracken needed to help Trask get the scroll into the bag with some assistance from Warren. Kendra was immensely glad that they had the bag, carrying the scroll would have been impossible. The young giant watched in awe as Trask and Bracken shoved the enormous scroll into the knapsack.
"Can your group fit in there?" she asked,
"Yes, we can,"
"Get in, take your griffin to, I will sneak you guys out, no one will give me a second glance,"
"Good plan, You heard her into the bag," Trask said, Kendra went in first then Bracken, followed by Tanu, Warren, Vanessa, Knox, and finally, Mara, who was leading an unimpressed Tempest, which had been quite a feat that Kendra doubted anyone but Mara could have done. Trask took up position at the top of the ladder and poked his head out, Kendra heard talking then silence and Trask closed the flap and descended the ladder, Mara and Vanessa where over by the weapons stashing throwing knives, darts, and other weapons in strategies places on their figures. Warren came over and started buckling on a sword
"Good idea to start suiting up team, Tanu do you want to help Knox find something?" Trask affirmed. Bracken helped Kendra strap on a short sword. Tanu passed Knox a small sword.
"Give that a swing, carefully" Tanu cautioned as he backed away, Knox heaved the sword, Kendra saw that he was having difficulty. Knox gave the sword a mighty swing and lost his balance and lost his grip, the sword went flying, Mara did a nimble one-handed cartwheel and dodged the sword that would have definitely killed her, Warren barely dodged out of the way, the sword tip grazed his cheek leaving a fine cut that was about 4 inches long. Bracken went to check on Warren's face; Trask went a retrieved the sword,
"I think we'll let Knox have a knife, I don't think swords are his forte," Trask said as he placed the sword with the rest of the other unclaimed blades. Tanu handed Knox a small knife, Knox gave it a couple of small swings
"Sure, I will take this one." Knox acknowledged, sheathing the knife and attaching it to his belt. Trask went up the ladder again to look and see how much longer until they were out of the castle.
"This might take longer than expected, there are dragons everywhere and security is high, the giants are trying to make sure no one comes in or out. Tiadrin, the giant carrying us, is going to try to get us well away from the castle, expect to be in here for about another half an hour." Trask announced, he climbed down the ladder and started to add a few knives to his figure as Mara and Vanessa had done. Tanu had his potions gear and a blowgun with quite a few darts too, Vanessa also had a blowgun as well. Warren had his sword, Mara had picked a tall spear and though it did not look like it, Kendra knew that she had about 6 throwing knives in various places like Vanessa. Bracken had his horn (That morphed into a sword). Kendra had her short sword and a small knife, Knox had his knife.
After about 10 minutes Warren and Vanessa started to practice sword fighting while showing Knox how it was done. Kendra thought they added a bit much flare, adding flourishes and swirls between strokes. Kendra noticed Trask and Mara doing simultaneous eye rolls between some of Warren and Vanessa's more dramatic and show parts of their play fight.
Tanu was telling Knox about the different techniques they where using. Bracken stood quietly next to Kendra watching the pair flaunt their talents. Kendra had to admit that Warren and Vanessa where quite good fighters. Kendra was starting to wonder if they were out of the castle yet. Trask climbed the ladder again to see how far they where he climbed down and started to report the situation
"We are quite a ways away from the castle, we are nearing one of the more mountainous regions that will conceal us from the dragons better than open plains," Trask told them.
"Can I start taking Tempest up on the ladder it will be no good to keep her down here and going up will probably take more time than descending, and I don't want us sitting around after Tiadrin leaves us," Mara said
"Good idea," Trask affirmed, Mara proceeded to halter the griffin. Kendra saw how this might get tricky Tempest would have to fly directly vertical and at an angle to get out and Tempest seemed to have other ideas. After about three minutes of coaxing and aggressive guidance from Mara who sat on the griffin's back to maintain contact, Tempest flew out into open air, Kendra heard a delighted screech come from the griffin. Kendra and the others exited the knapsack. Titan Valley was beautiful, tall mountains stretched all around them, lush forests covered most of the surrounding area, Kendra could smell the fresh mountain air. Their giant guide was nowhere to be found, Kendra looked up and beheld a clear blue sky, and saw Tempest happily flying in laps not far above them, Mara was still astride Tempest, her long black hair whipping in the wind. She leaned low and close to the griffin to minimize the amount of wind in her face, from up here Kendra could tell that Mara was smiling, it was not one of those fake smiles you give for pictures, it was a real smile. Bracken whistled and Tempest hearing Bracken's call came hurdling down to the group but managed to slow and land smoothly before colliding with the earth, Mara dismounted and took hold of the griffin's halter. Trask nodded
"Move out team, we have a lot of ground to cover"
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Seth was still bored. One could only play so much Tic-Tac-Toe before losing sanity. Seth had been poking through the old crates and stores in the leviathan, he had found an old outdated map, he had tried to learn from it, but had found it hard to remember any of the town names. Seth found a small date in fine print on the back, and he could barely read it. The date was "1652" Seth discarded the map after that, despite the apparent age of the leviathan all the food was still good, probably preserved by magic.
Seth was trying to make himself a sandwich out of some bread a hunk of cheese. He had found a small knife in his bag, which he cleaned to the best of his abilities, and used it to cut the bread.
"Do you want some bread, Calvin?" Seth asked the large nipsie to sat on a large crate beside Seth.
"Yes, could you spare a piece of cheese, I like your sandwich idea," Calvin requested
"Sure," Seth replied using his knife to cut two minuscule pieces of bread and a small chunk of cheese. Seth cut more bread and cheese and made a larger scale sandwich for himself. He took a hesitant bite of his sandwich. Seth was still a little disbelieving that food could be fresh after it seemed like it was in there since the 17th century. Despite his hesitance, the bread was soft and rich, and cheese was on the harder side but still rich and bursting with flavor.
"It tastes good doesn't it," Calvin admitted as he polished off his own sandwich. Seth made another 3 sandwiches for Calvin and two more for himself. Seth felt as if his stomach was going to explode, though he was very happy to have a good meal for the first time in his memory.
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The day had been relatively uneventful other than the occasional dragon sightings in the distance, Kendra's group had also spotted a herd of grazing perytons in the distance. In the scroll from the giant queen, they had found a map that led the way to the dragon temple.
They spent the day heading northwest towards the temple. The temple itself was between two of the largest mountains on the preserve situated in a deep valley. It was like the one at Wyrmroost but, it was under a vast lake, Bracken had said that the only way in was probably a secret tunnel somewhere along the shore. They had hiked most of the day other than the occasional break for food or to rest their legs.
Knox and Mara had the first watch that night. It had been suggested that they do watch in groups of two to have an extra pair of eyes and to make sure that the other person didn't fall asleep. Kendra was currently snuggled into her waterproof sleeping bag, faking sleep while listening Knox complain to a frustrated Mara about having to be on watch.
"Why can't we just go to sleep, there is nothing out here, or why can't there just be one person on watch?" Knox asked Mara sighed, Kendra could tell that Mara was sick of the complaining and probably just wanted some pice and quiet.
"You may not see everything going on around you, there are many dangers out here you are unaware of. There might be a cockatrice in the shadow or there might be dred wolves lurking just out of sight waiting to feast on your flesh. Why we don't have just one person is because that if the one person fell asleep and danger came we would likely all die. Two, if something did come into camp it could take out the sentinel before it awoke the group allowing the perpetrator or perpetrators, to kill us all in our sleep." Mara responded Gravely, Kendra felt a feeling of foreboding wash over her, as she felt the truth in Mara's words. This was not a game every moment they were out here, they were in danger real legitimate danger. Seth was in real danger if they did not find him, and the word was in real danger if they didn't succeed in stopping the dragons.
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