Chapter 2

Roger smiled back and replied earnestly, " Aye! As I was about to tell Freya, I belong to an organization that seeks the beings of legend. We study the ancient writings and look for the source, the beginning of the tales that are told by the old ones."

He looked around and gestured, "Here is New Jotunheim, not the ancient land of frosts and ice in the old world; that land is lost to you now, but here is your new land. We want to learn about your people and help protect it from outsiders, outsiders who could bring trouble"

Sigurd spoke quietly, "We cam haur mony lang years ago, fleein' th' fierce men in their lang ships 'at attacked me kinfolk withit cause ur mercy. Monsters they called us, but they were th' monsters. We only tried tae defend uirselves, but they waur tay mony, tay quick wi' a sword an' tay nimble wi' a spear.

"We heard teel ay a new lain in th' west athwart th' brine, an' sae we cam haur tae this lain shrooded in mists an' frost. Th' wee red men let us pass ben their lains an' we settled haur an' thaur. Noo ye've come tae brin' us bark ay the ootwith warld?"

Roger's satellite phone suddenly chimed, shattering the moment, Roger involuntarily yelped, "Crap!" and he hastily answered, "Hello?!"

Rachel's voice came through loud and clear, "Roger, I just wanted to to let you know I've got the helicopter all ready and it will be taking off in a few minutes."

Roger laughed nervously and said hastily, "You might want to come along for this! I've got company and I think you will enjoy meeting Sigurd and his family."

"Sigurd? Who is Sigurd?"

"Sigurd is a genuine, bonafide son of Utgard, he is most definitely a frost giant!"

"A frost giant? You're not kidding me are you?"

Roger laughed easily and replied eagerly, "Trust me boss, I would never kid you about this. Let me send you a picture and you tell me!"

Roger glanced over at the towering family and all were looking at him curiously, he held up his satellite phone and said, "This thing allows me to talk to people all over the world, I am talking to my leader and I want to send her a picture of you, if that is alright with you?"

Sigurd shrugged and said, "Ah dornt see 'at it coods hurt us onie? Yea laddie, ye main tak' a picture ay us."

He glanced at his towering sons and nodded.

With that they shrugged off their own bundles and set them down for a spell.

Roger spoke quickly into the phone, "Hang on a couple more minutes boss!"

He fiddled with the phone briefly and set it down facing the frost giants, he then trotted over to stand next to them, saying cheerfully, "This way, she'll see I'm not joking!"

A few moments later, a soft snapping sound came from the phone and moments after that, Roger retrieved his phone, hit 'send' and a moment later asked eagerly, "Didja get it?"

Rachel's voice could be heard clearly, "Wow! I'm coming up too! I'm cancelling the helicopter for today so I can get up there, and we'll try tomorrow. We will call you as we are approaching the lake, don't go very far!" She ordered.

Roger ended the call and said to the group, "Well, you heard the lady, my boss is coming to meet you folks, she will be bringing things that will remember your stories from long ago."

One of Freya's brothers interjected, "Ah reckon yon fesh ur dain!" as he pointed a knackwurst sized finger at the now slightly charred fish.

Roger hastily rescued the very well done trout from the fire and said hastily, "I think I need to catch more fish!" as he offered one to Sigurd.

The giant laughed, a deep, rumbling sound that brought to mind echoes from a thunderclap emanating from his mouth.

Roger baited his hook once again and cast his line, the giants looked at each other curiously until Freya said in his defense, "Faither, Ah saw heem catch th' fesh ye ur eatin', wi' 'at 'fishing pole', he called it."

Luck was with him and soon he caught several more lake trout, these too, were rapidly cleaned and placed on sticks to be roasted over the now cheery blaze.

The giants were now seated about the fire on handy logs or rocks with their roasted fish and eating contentedly.

Sigurd finished his second fish and threw its bones out into the lake, he patted his stomach and said pleasantly, "'at was a guid feed, me thanks t'ye!" a moment later he asked, "Hoo did ye ken tae look haur?"

Roger took out his map and spread it out on the rocks for them to see.

He gestured at it and said, "This is a map, it is a picture of the land as seen from very high up. This blue area is the lake and all of this, is the mountains and the forest." he moved his hand in a circular motion above the map for emphasis.

Straightening up, Roger swept his arms in a broad circle while declaring, "All that you see here is shown on this map. This lake is called Ape Lake, this area goes to the north almost a hundred miles from here and goes fifty miles to the south of here; it is almost 80 miles wide, it is a big place to hide in."

He looked at his audience expectantly, then Sigurd nodded and said in agreement, "Aye, 'at it is, 'at it is."

Roger said earnestly, "The people that named it 'Ape Lake', called it that for a reason. Indian, er the Wee Red Men, legends tell of giants living in this region, I came here to see why there are legends about this valley and why the names Ape Lake or Ape Mountain?"

Sigurd frowned slightly and asked, "Wull thaur be others loch ye comin' haur tae uir lain?"

Roger replied firmly, "I doubt it, the Canadian government has declared this region to be a natural area and only authorized people are allowed to come here."

One of the brothers asked, "Can, adian gov'ment?"

Roger replied, "Yes, Canadian government, this land is called Canada and the government is the people who decide what the people who live in Canada will do."

He looked around and declared, "Basically, it means that this forest is not to be touched by people who don't have leave to be here."

Putting away the map and rubbing his hands together, Roger smiled and said cheerfully, "I have some fresh berries if any of you would like some?"

Freya perked up at his question and said, "Whaur did ye pick them?"

Roger pointed back the way he had come and said, "There's a big berry thicket down that way, I picked them yesterday afternoon."

She smiled and said, "Yes please, Ah'd loch some berries."

Roger grinned at his youthful guest and reached for his heavy back pack only to discover that the once full bag of berries was now quite empty.

Whoever, or whatever it was that took them had simply untied the bag, emptied it out and tied it back again.

"What th' hell?!" he muttered as he examined the flaccid bag.

Looking up at Freya he said, "I'm sorry, it seems someone ate the berries last night while I was asleep."

He frowned at the bag and muttered, "The little bastard didn't have to eat all of them!"

He looked up and saw that Freya was stifling a giggle.

All he could do was grin and bear it.

Sigurd glanced at the approaching dusk and said simply, "We ur gonnae back tae uir homes, ye ur welcome tae come wi' us. Th' bears wull be comin' doon tae feed an' bevvy frae th' loch, we lae them aloyn an' they lae us aloyn, they willnae ken ye!"

Roger grinned and said cheerfully, "You don't have to ask twice!"

The giants rose and stretched a bit before taking up their bundles, while Roger hastily gathered his few things, then he fell in with them and tried to match their strides.

After a few minutes of struggling, he gave up and simply walked along with Freya who was his own height.

They walked straight into the forest 'til Roger could no longer see the lake, then climbed uphill until Roger thought his legs would give out.

The trail leveled out for awhile and after passing a great verge of rock to the right, entered a dingle.

The trees surmounting this rocky cleft were some of the largest Roger had ever seen; hoary with moss covered age, they spread their mighty limbs to form an evergreen roof over the dell.

The scent of pine filled the air and Roger slowly began noticing the houses; great slabs of stone tilted up and braced with more stone to form doors and windows.

Ensconced amongst the great boles and roots, these stony constructs were roofed with a deep covering of mold and earth many feet thick and each hosted a riot of ferny growths reaching for the soft light filtering through the piney roof.

Roger simply stopped in his tracks and stood gape mouthed at what he was seeing, a village of frost giants; the children of utgard, the land of ice and snow and rock.

Freya realizing that her new friend had stopped, stopped and turned around to see Roger standing in wide eyed wonder.

She called to him, "Roger? We arenae at uir hoose yit, wa ur ye stopped?"

Roger grinned happily at her and said cheerfully, "I was just so... amazed at these houses! I hope your father will let me take pictures of them."

Freya walked up to him, grasped his hand and then by tugging on it, she pulled Roger along with impressive strength for one so young.

Freya pulled him along until they stopped at a dolmen like structure set against the sloping mountainside, soft light emanted from within the structure.

Here, Freya released his hand and declared with pride, "Thes is uir haem!"

Sigurd smiled benignly at him and said good naturedly, "It seems me yoongest has taken a shine tae yer!"

He then called out in his great voice, "Gudrun! We ur haem an' we hae a visitur!"

Moments later, a heroic figure stepped out of the stony portal.

She was fully nine feet tall and dressed in a homespun wool shirt and voluminous skirt, a knit shawl covered her shoulders and upper body.

Leather boots covered her feet and ankles.

Her hair was a honey gold color and was braided into two thick braids, hanging nearly down to her ample hips.

On her pleasant, rosy cheeked face was a bemused expression and with a twinkle in her bright blue eyes she asked, "Ain whaur did we fin' a body ay th' wee folk? Was he lost?"

Freya spoke up eagerly, "Ah saw heem doon at th' loch, mamma. Ah heard heem comin' wi' a wee tinklin' soond, sae Ah hid an' watched heem make a camp an' catch fesh wi' a fishin' pole. Ah ne'er saw his loch aroond haur afore an' he talked tae me an' offered me a fesh!"

Sigurd chuckled and said in his rumbling voice, "He offered each ay us a fish, Gudrun."

Gudrun placed her hands on her ample hips, raised one blonde eye brow and said, "So noo uir yoongest has brooght haem a suitor?"

Roger gaped briefly and said hastily,"It was all a misunderstanding! I was just being hospitable, I didn't know she was so young! I didn't know she was a frost giant until she told me her age!"

To his great relief, Gudrun grinned at him and laughed heartily before she placed her massive right hand on his shoulder and said warmly, "Wee folk always think uir bairns ur just loch them, once we get past puberty, we nae langer gae amangst th' wee folk. Ye're th' first wee one tae visit uir haem in mony years."

Having recovered his composure, Roger asked incredulously, "You send your children into town to meet humans? Is that how you learned English or at least your own version of it?"

"Aye stranger," spoke one of her brothers, the smallest one, he was only seven feet tall. "Ah went into town an' sold furs tae get things we canna make haur."

He patted his hunting knife for emphasis, "Once Ah grew past th' mark oan th' doorway, Ah nae langer went tae town."

He pointed at a notch cut into the door frame, it was at Roger's height.

Roger glanced at Freya and said, "I take it she still goes into town. Doesn't she have some sort of escort, y'know, somebody watching out for her?"

All of the towering males smiled at him and Sigurd said, "Ay coorse! We bide in th' woods an' when she comes back it ay toon, we divvy up th' goods an' leg it back haem."

Roger smiled and remarked, "I'm glad to hear it!"