The gleaming menace

It took a few days after the hall’s battle for Heryen and Maru to move to the palace, as the bureaucratic process required a lot of paperwork, much of which he lacked. Firthians love writing down every law and agreement to keep record of it, meanwhile Willowsians prefer handshakes and a witness, as they trust their memory more than anything. Anyway, once all that boring stuff was done, their things were brought over. Maru had a lot of suitcases with her, as daughter of the praetor, the highest official in the defense forces, she was a wealthy girl. Heryen, on the other hand, was a herder whenever he wasn’t fighting, owning, therefore, just horses and sheep, so he only brought, his javelins of course, but also a horse and a sheep. The equine was taken care of by the palace’s stable, but as there were no barn or any proper enclosure for the woolly thing, he managed to bring it inside with him.

– Welcome! This is my home, and it’ll be yours too from now on. - Said Diungail before realizing the sheep was there. – What’s that? -

– Her name is Yama, don’t worry she’s very well behaved. - Answered Heryen while the animal chewed some of Maru’s belongings.

The princess gave them a tour around the hall’s paintings and explained to them the kingdom’s story.

– Long ago there were two witches from a faraway land, their love was forbidden, but that didn’t stop them. They tried to convince their parents, their people and their leaders, but none of them changed their mind. It didn’t take long before they tried to separate the lovers and betroth them to two powerful men. As they fled, the two men became angry, because their pride was injured, the arrangement was broken and the lover’s family completely embarrassed, but the couple didn’t care. They were persecuted for countless lands, but never caught. As they kept fleeing, they became stronger and wiser witches, so powerful indeed that at some point their fiancés gave up because they couldn't even approach them without suffering unfathomable pain. The lovers found an uninhabited land beyond the mountains, it had meadows and a huge forest where the eponymous god wandered. They asked him if they could settle there, he assented but with one condition, they shall beget at least one son and this boy and the sons of all their descendants, shall come to the forest when they feel like dying, where they’ll become trees and make the forest larger. -

– So, they founded the city? - Asked Heryen, oddly enough, this time he was paying attention. -

– No, that was done by their son. Scough, because of this the city is called Scoughborough. -

– And how did he found the city?

– One of the lovers transformed into a man, and they begot one kid only, naming him in honor of the god. When he grew up, he became an adventurer, and as he was a witch himself, he became the most powerful of his time, lots of fellow adventures, heroes, and simple fanatics followed him back to his home and settle along in Ffrithland, thus founding Scoughborough. Most of the crowd formed part of the Sgaothaich people, and Scough’s wife belonged to this group too. They are my ancestors. -

At this point, Heryen was already distracted by the main hall’s furniture and specially the throne’s intricate ornaments, so Diungail decided to direct them towards her tower. The last part of the kingdom’s history before the Willowsian war, which Heryen didn’t care to listen to, is the descent of the giants. The giants the children of the god Sun with an ancient and powerful witch, and the resulting race is a powerful one, because they have a natural connection with the god, therefore being all automatically of the priest kind, as they all can borrow solar magic from their utmost progenitor. Giants learn to control fusion and light magic while humans learn to walk, luckily due to their size there aren’t more than a thousand of them, otherwise it would be terrifying. However, occasionally food becomes scarce up in the mountains, so they come down causing havoc.

– This gonna be our room! - Enthusiastically shouted Diungail, while pointing to a small wooden door. Heryen barely passed through it, as he was tall, he had to bend, so he didn’t hit his head, but he still failed the first try, causing the girls' laughter.

The door connects to a roofed bridge, which has at the other end another door as small as the one they just passed through. This other door is one of the tower’s entrances. The tower is huge, as tall as a hill, as wide as ten lined up horses, without counting the thickness of the walls, whose width was an arrow long but reinforced with enchantments, this due to the defensive position this tower had for the palace. The place is illuminated throughout day by hundreds of narrow embrasures, by night magic does the deal. On the first floor there’s a warehouse that’s filled with weapons of all kinds, there’s the main door too, on the second floor there’s a kitchen, on the third one there's a dining room, on the fourth one there are three stories tall bunk beds, were the archers sleep. The bridge connects to the fifth floor, on the sixth floor the princess’s maids have their room. The seventh to the tenth floor are for her use only.

Their rooms were on the ninth floor. Tired of climbing upstairs, Heryen went directly to his new space, but when he opened the door, there was another guy already there. That man was as tall as him, but with a stronger muscular buildup, brown hair as bear and he looked like one too.

– Who are you? - asked Heryen while confused.

– I’m Mathan, loyal paladin of the queen. - He answered in such a deep voice that it felt like the depths of the ocean were talking.

Obviously, the queen was still uneasy about the fact that such a dangerous warrior were alone with her daughter, so she sent her best landless knight to keep an eye on the Willowsian. Paladins are trained like knights, but unlike those, they’re not from noble blood.

When Diungail saw him, she ran and greeted him like they were old friends who hadn't seen each other in a long time. In fact, this was the case. For some reason, Heryen felt jealousy out of that warm reunion of theirs.

The queen had arranged for the boys to sleep in that room, while the girls slept in the upper floor, where the princess’s room was. Diungail was very glad about this as she could spent time with Maru alone, although she didn’t understand yet that this was the reason for her happiness. That first night Maru and the princess talked earnestly about many topics: life, love, family and so on.

– Maru, why did you decide to become a professional assassin? aren’t you too young for that? -

– My dad was also against it, but it didn’t take long before he realize why I was born to be one. -

– What do you mean? -

– Have you ever felt joy from slaughterin’ cattle or breakin’ a chicken’s neck.

– Oh no! For the eternal forest, no! - Shouted Diungail while the other girl smirked in malevolent manner.

Despite the surprising discovery of Maru’s sadistic side, the princess wasn’t scared, quite the opposite, as she was not only intrigued but appealed by that trait. After that they talked about love.

– Is there somebody you like Maru? -

– Yes. -

– Who? -

– Heryen, he’s so hot and manly. -

Although Diungail agreed, inside her hart shattered into thousand pieces, she finally realized that perhaps she liked Maru romantically. – How about you? Is there somebody?

– Yeah. -

– Who? -

– Won’t tell. -

Maru was annoyed because of this response, but she didn’t dare to ask why. The las topic the talked about before falling asleep was family. – Maru, have you ever wondered what happened to your mother? I’ve been told she died.

– Ha! She’s probably from the same place than your father. -

– But my dad is... -

– I know.

Downstair Heryen and Mathan didn’t talk, didn’t say anything to each other. They just slept, as the atmospheres between them felt yet rather tense. The next morning Heryen woke up and found himself alone already. He got up, exited the bedroom, and walked through the corridors, where he saw a note near the staircase. It said, “we’re eatin' breakfast in the dining room”, so he climbed down to the third floor. When he arrived, the place was overflown with lots of archers and others who simply decided to eat there that morning. Where the princess and the others were eating there also sat Ban, so Heryen knew that they were going to have a tough day.

– Hey, Hairy! Come here! - Shouted Ban. That was clearly the wrong name thought Heryen, and it sounded horrible, and even upsetting as he was beardless and hairless on his chest.

– My name is Heryen! - He shouted back

– Sorry darling! Hurry up and sit, we bought you some beans and eggs, eat ‘em before they get cold. -

The fact that Ban had gotten so comfortable at talking to him informally, bothered Heryen a bit, but the beautifulness of that woman made it worth. She not only had a curvaceous body, but a voice that felt like a conversation with the moon. After everybody finished eating breakfast, they headed down the yard to begin that day’s training.

– Alright rascals, you gonna learn somethin’ new today! You already know how to inscribe objects, and a bunch of useful enchantments, I’m sure if I ask y’all to transform your clothes into impenetrable armor, y’all’ll succeed for sure. But what if the attack comes directly to your face, your arms, or any place that has bare skin exposed? Y’all’ll die! -

Mathan, as he was an experienced paladin, interrupted saying the following – Well, of course, that’s why there’re spells. You don’t need to engrave ‘em into anythin’.-

Then, Ban said – It seems somebody’s boasting his knowledge to the newbies. That’s not ok, obviously you understand stuff they don’t. So, and takin’ advantage of that, why don’t you show ‘em your skills. -

Eager to show everything he knew Mathan said – So, you may already know that witches can draw energy mantels out of the Flow, protecting whoever they want and themselves in the process, but we, humble people, havta conform with spoken enchantments. By nature, spells were oral tradition, never written down ‘till the Danaans created their alphabet and casted upon the necessary magic to invoke demons. Nobody really knows how they did though. -

After finishing this explanation, he mumbled, and a glow surrounded him for a bit. Then Ban took a sword and struck his throat with such potency the air whistled. The collision generated a powerful shockwave, knocking down everybody nearby. Ban lost grip of the sword, and it flew away, the handle in one direction the blade in the opposite one. Mathan didn’t move an inch.

Ban explained that – Mathan used a very powerful spell, ‘cause not anybody can become a paladin, just the most oustandin’ people will. However, that specific spell has a downside, he couldn’t move at all, otherwise the spell’s magic would’ve broken. - She briefly stopped talking to look aimlessly at the horizon, then she continued. – So y’all might wonder what’s this magic language he just muttered. It’s the same thing you write down, it’s the language of the Danaans. Nobody is really sure why the demons speak this language, or rather anybody that knows won’t tell. What’s it’s known though, it’s that nine maiden demons are responsible for the spoken enchantments, they are super powerful, because of this callin’ for her aid isn’t as easy as carved spells. One hasta sing ‘em. -

Ban taught them basic ancient songs meant for protection the rest of the afternoon. As these tunes may get long, people don’t use them often in battle. When the sunset arrived and redness covered all the skies, an arrhythmic beat shook the ground and countless drums inundated the air. Faraway it could be seen thousand suns walking towards the city. Each of their heads shined like blue fire and anything that was through their way ignited like oil. Soon everybody could hear their beastlike deep voices, taunting and chanting incomprehensibly, ensuing panic in the population. They had come back; their monstrous bodies tore down trees and from the farthest away homes desperate souls ran inwards the citadel. Behind the tall walls, where the four titanic towers had innumerable archers positioning themselves in each arrowslit available. Meanwhile, one soldier devised Ban and the rest still training.

– Beware, they comin’, they comin’! -

– Who? - Asked Ban, although she already knew, she had seen them coming earlier that day, she just wasn’t sure about it, or rather she didn’t want to accept that such a nefarious thing was going to happen.

– The giants! - Answered the soldier in such a distraught voice that his fear could be felt.

The group of young heroes took their arms ready to go fight all the colossal figures that were destroying the land. Soon those massive monsters arrived to the gates, behind them discouraging images of buildings burning as if it were an inferno, and hopeless victims being devoured by those hungry behemoths. Not even the enchanted weapons were match for the fusion attacks the giants could produce, after all each explosion had the force of atoms merging together, it was basically a nuclear reaction. The walls fell and the horde of ablaze heads bursted into the citadel. Among all that chaos there were Heryen and Mathan, the latter held an enchanted shield.

– Start throwin’ your javelins Heryen, I’ll cover you up!

Mathan started protecting Heryen from the explosive balls the giants were tossing at them. Heryen first started hurling back javelins enchanted with water spells, this clearly hurt them whenever he hit the target, but there weren’t enough of these as there were specimens of those behemoths, so soon enough he had to start throwing everything else, the fire ones, the wind one, the lighting ones, and some other special ones he had made recently, all of them made great damage. The fire ones paradoxically consumed one of them, their heads may be on fire but their bodies were nothing special at all. The wind one had such force it knocked down several of the giants, these perished at the hands of Freiceadan, who appeared out of nowhere wilding a long sword and thirsty for their blood. The lighiting one electrocuted one of the giants to the point their skin smelled like burned flesh, the scene was disgusting and made the people nearby almost vomit out of the horrid odor the skin and clothes melt together made. The last javelin he threw was one that said, “ῥῆξις”, he stood in front the largest colossal he saw, expecting to somehow replicate the nuclear attacks they were making, but the end result was not what he was anticipating, it broke the moment it landed in the giant’s chest, and once there the behemoth itself screamed in pain, while his body cracked like an egg in half, and just like a yolk would do, all his body fluids spread and sprinkled everything nearby.

– What’s the matter? - Asked Mathan, who was still unaware of Heryen’s lack of missiles. -

– I’ve tossed all of ‘em, all my javelins, oh Heavenly Gods, What I’m gonna do. -

– Don’t be stupid, don’t panic, loot somebody else's weapon! But hurry up! -

It was a dangerous task, because in theory Mathan could reach his own sword and fight himself, but doing so would have meant to stop protecting Heryen, so he decided it was better to let the Willowsian get a new weapon, after all the boy was faster than him, and had a lot of combat experience. Nonetheless, Mathan hesitated the decision, because that guy was the enemy of his people, many of his comrades died because of that guy and allies, He thought that if he just let Heryen be killed, his people would be happy, but he also pondered that would have been unheroic, so he decided that that most courageous thing to do was to defend him, this way the Willowsians themselves would consider him a brave man and Heryen would owe him one.

Meanwhile Heryen was looking for a weapon, the first thing he found was a long spear. In theory he could throw it too, in fact he knew how to toss almost everything in a deadly way, but he knew this wouldn’t be as effective with those giants as it was not enchanted, besides he didn’t feel comfortable looting, specially from corpses, as he deemed morally unforgivable to do so. Therefore, he decided to wield it, this time, but first he needed some extra help, as he wanted to inscribe something in the spear. He called for Freiceadan’s help, as he still was fighting nearby.

– Freiceadan! Freiceadan! Come here, I need your help. -

– What’s happenin’, boy? -

–Mathan can’t wield his weapon while he protects me, but there are too many of them, and... -

– Say no more, kid. I’ll slay as many as necessary while you do what you gotta do. -

The praetor understood what Heryen was trying to do and what he needed to do in this situation. He held his sword next to the paladin and as soon as the first giant approached, he jumped and decapitated it, but there were too many, so the blasts were overwhelming them, the potent lights were blinding them, and each boom made them deafer and deafer. Despite all that Heryen was able to carry off his idea, and the plan was to create a new spell that said “Δαῖμον, δίδου μοι τῶν γιγάντων ἱκανότητα”. When he finished inscribing the spell, he froze, because there was something he didn’t know, he was unaware of the fact that demonic magic is not just the demons alone doing the deed, for it to work wizards have to apport the only magic somebody that wasn’t born into a noble family of witches can do by themselves, and this is their soul’s magic.

All living creatures have a soul, which is intrinsically magical, depending on the creature, the amount of magic it has is larger. Humans have a mediocre quantity compared to other creatures. Although some people may exceed the normal levels this just happens in rare occasions. Demons, despite the fact that they can become super powerful beings, are pretty weak on average, so unless somebody is invoking one of the nine maidens the strength of the spell depends mostly on the wizard.

The problem wasn’t that Heryen were weak, but the inexperience doing such power spells costed him to drain all his energy at once. Despite that it didn’t take him too much to recover, and he was lucky enough to have Mathan and Freiceadan protecting him, otherwise he would have been eaten for sure. When he finally got up, he felt different and holding the spear also felt different. He immediately started chasing the giants away, killing with powerful explosions any that got to close, as he had never fainted.

Meanwhile, somewhere else on the wall, stood the girls, they were having a worse time fighting, because the archers protecting the princess were losing ground and being eaten while the giants climbed up the walls and positioned themselves in the turrets. From there the behemoths tossed their incendiary balls inwards, and as they exploded in the citadel and the whole place bursted into flames.

– Help! - She screamed.

– Help! - She screamed once again; the fear could be felt in her voice, as a giant extended her arm towards her. The large being lifted her and prepared to devour her.

– Maru! - Diungail hopelessly shouted while she looked for Ban, but the witch was nowhere near to be found, as she was already fighting against the blue heads at the bottom of the wall, so as last resort, she put herself in front of the giant, while the monster opened its maw, and Maru’s tiny body fell in. The princess shot a veil of protection on herself and leaped towards the mouth of the giant, taking Maru’s hand, but before she could pull her out the behemoth chewed and swallowed them. Diungail covered Maru while they sank in the gastric acid.

Outside the queen and her paladins had slain the invaders, hence the citadel was cleansed, so they moved towards the wall; the giants realized they had no chance against them, so they fled. The queen stood on the wall, looked at Ban exhausted at the bottom, asking only with a glance where was her daughter. It was at this moment that Ban realized the girls had vanished. She couldn’t look back anymore out of shame, she ran away, chasing after the fleeing giants.

– I’ll kill each and every one of you. -