Riyan’s lip trembled but he did not blink. Agrim affirmation.
“Promise me, Bloodstone,” Erik’s voice broke but his shoulders stayed strong, “promise me as a future Baron, as aman,that no matter what happens, you will save Endre. One of us has to become Baron Ravenwood after this is all over, and it needs to be him if I fall. Someone has to look after ourlittle sister.”
Riyan looked down at my eternally serious elder brother and tooka breath.
“I promise.”
A flash of white and the world shifted again. A foreboding rumble echoed through the mountain pass. Soft thunder slammed into the ground once, then againand again.
I gathered my bearings—I floated next to Riyan. His eyes were wide with terror and fixed on the foggy mountain pass. With a blink, I was suddenly in his head—seeing everything throughhis eyes.
A giant appeared through the fog. Its flesh was clods of earth pressed together to form a body. It had a round head, big ears, and stringy black hair that fell over its milky white eyes. It sniffed through its crooked nose and growled, its bellow like the sound of bouldersscraping together.
A few boys from the Bloodstone and Ravenwood militias held a long rope tightly between them at the opening of the pass. The giant stomped forward and caught the rope on its right foot. Instead of tripping, the giant pulled the rope like it was not there and yanked the screaming boys intothe rocks.
The giant slowly turned toward the screams. With one swipe of its huge, lumpy arm, it picked up one of the crying boys in its hand and went back into the pass, disappearing intothe fog.
Another giant crashed through the trees in the west, three more following behind it, carrying axes and clubs. Five more stomped through the east, each with weapons intheir hands.
The armywas surrounded.
Suddenly the story did not play out like a portrait, but instead in quick images, soundsand feelings.
Flashes of grey and red. Glint of steel. Bones snapped. Boulders crashed. Sky-shredding screams. Prayers for salvation. Boyish throats crying for their mothers. Iron and sweat in the nose. Blood on the lips, then the tongue, thenthe throat.
I tasted the blood.Tasted it.
Another flash. A giant carried off a man in a green cape, who whacked at its left arm with his sword. The giant and Erik then disappeared intothe fog.
Another shift in the memory. A loud boom echoed through the plain. One giant laid face-down in the rocks. Riyan, Endre, and the Bloodstone and Ravenwood sons rushed to the beast and hacked at its body with alltheir strength.
Riyan and Endre sliced their swords over and over at its neck. The giant’s clear, sparkling blood poured out of the gashes. As soon as Riyan or Endre managed to make each cut, the wound completely sealed upseconds later.
“What is happening?”Endre screamed.
“Its blood is made of magic!” Riyan yelled, his teeth coated in blood that did not taste like his. “It’s healing too quickly, but keep trying!Keep trying!”
The giant’s fist slammed on the ground and knocked Endre and Riyan into the snow. Riyan tried to get up, but he was not quick enough to stop the grey hand launching toward the dark green cape. The giant grabbed Endre by his cape and pulled him up inthe air.
Endre dropped his sword and he dangled. He choked, grabbing at the neck of the cape with desperate hands and trying to undo the raven clasp. His eyes bulged and his faceturned purple.
“Endre!” Riyan cried. He reached a crimson-stainedsleeve up.
Endre desperately reached down to Riyan, his once mirthful eyes filled with panic and tears, but it was too late—the giant already had him up too high. Endre’s eyes rolled back and his violet face lolled forward. The one-eyed giant pulled Endre’s body into its fist and stomped towardthe fog.
Riyan chased after him. He panted. Tears formed in his eyes. He whacked at the giant’s leg with his sword. Crystal clear blood poured out of the wound before sealing up seconds later. The giant may have only had one milky white eye, but it still did not even look back at its attacker. Riyan hit it again, but did not slowit down.
“Hang on, Endre! Please!” Riyan cried, desperate tears leaking ontohis cheeks.
General Hyton appeared and pulled Riyan away from the giant with one arm and held his sword in hisfree hand.
“Stop, Bloodstone!” General Hyton screamed up at him. “You’re going toget killed!”
“I made a promise!” Riyan cried, pulling out of the General’s grip and turning to the giant. “I can’t lethim die!”
“No! That’s an order!” GeneralHyton shouted.
“I don’t care!” Riyan cried as he sprinted towardthe fog.
