‘His legs,’ Benny hollers back. ‘He’s struggling to hold weight on them. I’m guessing he took the biggest beating when the priestesses brought them here. It hurts him to walk, meaning we don’t have to worry about him kicking out or chasing us. We just have to worryabout his fists.’
‘That’s not exactly a little worry!’ Jonas shouts, jumping back as the jötunn bends down and swings at us. His clenched fist is easily the size of a carriage, and it hurtles through the air with such a force that even the wind it creates is enough to unbalance me.
As I watch, powerless, Llinos sends a blast of air at his chest. It doesn’t stop him, but he slows by a fraction.
‘He’s in pain,’ Estel reminds us. ‘And that just made him angrier.’
She’s an empath – another skill that’s absolutely useless in this scenario. We’ve no fire wielders or anyone who can raise the temperature of the jötunn’s blood until it boils. Just people who can look and hear and feel its emotion. Brilliant.
‘Jonas.’ I turn to the only one of us, besides Llin, whose magic physically does something. ‘Can you use your powers on him? Maybe if he’s disoriented, we can lead him into the sea.’
‘I can try,’ he says dubiously.
Jonas steps back and raises his hands. I see his muscles twitch and his jaw tighten. I can practically feel the power radiating from him.
‘I think it’s working,’ I murmur.
The jötunn slows its movements, as if confused. That’s good. I remember exactly how Jonas’s powers affected me, and the blindness it brings means the giant won’t notice us coming at it with our weapons. But as I move to make my first strike, the jötunn lets out a scream.
Guttural, animalistic, and putrid, it’s strong enough to blow my hair back from my face.
‘He’s really mad now!’ Estel shrieks.
Some powers are even less helpful than none at all, I can’t help but think. Still, I use the moment to throw a dagger up towards his neck. The aim is spot on, but he moves his head at the last minute, and the blade bounces off his jaw.
‘It’s fine,’ Jonas says. ‘This will work. I’m disorienting it.’
‘He doesn’t need fucking disorienting,’ Benny snaps back. ‘He needs fucking putting down.’
Benny’s right. In the confusion of the blindness, the giant is stumbling forward, the pain in his legs secondary to this new affliction.
As I hasten out of his path, I glance across the battlefield. Only one jötunn has been taken down so far. Unsurprisingly, it’s the one the knights were fighting. But then something else catches my attention.
Kyor is battling a jötunn. Alone.
He has his jötunn trapped in his own micro-storm, and rain peltsdown from green-tinged clouds hanging above his head. But it’s the lightning that mesmerises me. Hundreds of forked streaks strike its shoulder as wind knocks it back and forth. Goosebumps that have nothing to do with the storm slide over my skin.
‘Well, that makes my power look pretty shit.’ Llinos is at my side, blasting another burst of air at our jötunn’s fist as it swings above the sand.
‘Your power is definitely not shit,’ I say. ‘Right now, it’s what’s keeping us alive.’
‘True. But I’m not sure for how long.’
I struggle to tear my eyes away from the prince. With his powers as a storm-weaver, lightning, rain, and wind buffet his foe in an impressive display. He really is formidable … and a distraction I really don’t need at the moment.
I refocus. Daggers aren’t any good against the giant as the blades merely bounce off its thick, leathery skin. And though Benny and Loch are getting a few swipes in with their swords, they’re barely slicing through the giant’s top layer of skin.
‘We have one very unhappy big fella here,’ Benny yells. ‘We need to switch this up. And whatever the hell you’re doing, Jonas, for fuck’s sake, stop it.’
‘I’m helping!’
‘You’re not,’ Estel snaps. ‘Any minute now he’s going to?—’
The jötunn roars as it lashes out, its whole body sweeping in a wide circle that catches Jonas on the thigh before continuing on. Llinos is blasting everything she has at it, but it’s not making the slightest bit of difference. When its fist swings out the next time, it collides with Estel. The crunch of her bones reverberates in my ears as her body is thrown up into the air.
She hits the sand with a lifeless thud.
Guilt swamps me, but I can’t let it distract me. Not now. We are losing this. We are losing our lives. As I stand there, frozen by indecision, Benny and Loch continue attacking with their swords, but it’s not going to be enough. We’re only getting weaker, and the giant’s just getting more pissed off.
