Valiant (8 page)

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Authors: Sarah McGuire

BOOK: Valiant
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I rubbed the dust from my eyes, desperate to see again. The giants hadn’t moved.

The bearded one shook his head and told the young one, “Too fast. You work too fast.”

He held his boulder aloft, nearly above me, and I scampered back a few paces. Then he began to squeeze the stone, his eyes closed, his head tilted to the side as if listening. His knuckles grew white from strain.

The young giant stood near, dusty hands hanging loose at his sides. They were good hands: strong, with tapered
fingers, the sort of hands that knew a trade. He might have been a tailor. I’d never expected to see a craftsman’s hands on a giant.

Even so, I’d seen what those hands had done to Will. I could imagine what they would do to me. They were big enough to pick me up, fingers meeting around my waist—

I saw it pick you up
, the young man in Fine Coat’s wagon had said,
just like you were a doll.…

No. I wouldn’t let the fear seep into my bones again.

I looked up at the bearded giant’s boulder. A small patch on the bottom of the rock had darkened. I thought it was a shadow. Then a single drop of water gathered. The young giant, also watching, didn’t react. Perhaps he couldn’t see. I glanced over my shoulder at the bridge.

Will was not even halfway across.

“There!” The young one’s shout pulled me back. “He did it! I heard the water fall.”

“Did you see it?” I asked.

“Ha!” he snorted, and it reminded me of a bellows. “How would we see something so small? But I heard it.”

He heard it? Their hearing is that keen?
He clapped his friend on the back. They both turned to me.

My mouth was dust dry, but I shouted anyway. “Only one drop? I could squeeze a handful of water if I wanted! But I am tired, so I’ll choose a smaller rock. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I may only squeeze three drops today.”

The bearded giant, still sweating from his exertion,
chuckled and shook his head. “It is a nervy little
lité
,” he said. “All spirit and sinew. It is good not to kill it.”

The young giant’s brows lowered. “The duke …”

I didn’t give him time to finish.

“Now you’ll see my strength!” I ran to the river. Once there, I quietly dropped the cheese from my pocket and toed it around in the dirt until it was covered. Then I picked up the fist-sized hunk and held it aloft. “This is the stone I have chosen!”

Both strode toward me like a slow-moving avalanche. I yelled and stumbled back, heart thudding against my ribs, arms raised against them, as if
that
could protect me.

Nothing happened. Instead, both giants dropped to one knee. They peered at me until their cat eyes were almost crossed, ready to see if I could squeeze water from a stone.

They were close enough to touch.

No, not touch. Though they bent close, their faces were still far above the ground. I’d have to stand on someone’s shoulders just to reach the young one’s chin. I’d never been so frightened, so awed. It was like having the sun and moon fall out of the sky and hang just above me. Their breath gusted against me, slow and steady.

The bearded one rested his left hand on the earth, palm down, to steady himself. His arm rose up like a tree, at least twice as wide as my body. I could see the muscle and sinew.

“Lité?”
he asked, and his voice rumbled through my chest. “We await you.”

I looked up into his face. His brown eyes looked half-focused, as if he were farsighted. The young one’s blue eyes were also half-focused.
Could they even see me?

“Its heart beats fast,” said the young one. The bearded one nodded.

Sky above. They could hear my heart. I pressed my free hand against my chest.
Just keep talking.…

“Watch!” I commanded, and held the cheese aloft.

Their heads moved closer, and I began to squeeze. The dust had absorbed all of the cheese’s moisture. For a moment, I didn’t think I could squeeze anything from it. But water gathered underneath it almost as soon as I tightened my hand. A drop fell to the dusty road.

The giants jerked their heads in surprise.

“You heard it, didn’t you?” I shouted, wrapping the last of my courage around me. “Now listen for the other two. I am ashamed to take so long.”

They eyed me warily until two more drops of water plunked into the dust. Then they jumped up, surprised. It was like a small earthquake, with hills rising into mountains and blocking out the sky.

I hardly flinched this time when the earth shook.

A glance behind me: Will was moving more slowly now. Still, no one came to help him, though I saw movement along the tops of the city walls.

I couldn’t leave yet. What if the giants followed me back across the bridge?

All thought fled as the air shattered around us. I dropped to my knees, hands clapped over my ears. The giants shouted with a sound like thunder. When I looked up, leaves showered down over us. A few stunned birds fluttered to the ground.

A new crater pocked the road beyond us. A cannon! The city had fired a cannon at the giants while I stood there.
Cowards. Idiots!

Another explosion as a second cannon went off. I hunched over, but the younger giant swept his arm through the air as if swatting at something. It wasn’t until he opened his palm that I understood what I’d seen.

He’d caught the cannonball.

He straightened with a growl and lunged toward the bridge, ready to hurl the cannonball at Reggen’s walls, but the bearded one held him back.

No!
Will had to get home first.

I turned toward the city, waving my arms. “Stop! Stop!”

I thought I saw movement around other cannons, but I couldn’t look for long. The giants were muttering again, and I swung to face them.

“Look!” I called to the young one. “One trial of strength proves nothing. Let us have one more.”

I thought of the birds that had fallen from the tree, of the cannonball in his hand, and I knew what the trial should be.

“Let us see who can throw a stone the highest.” I motioned at the cannonball. “If you are feeling weak, you may throw that.”

He dropped it immediately.

The bearded giant laughed. Without a word, he swept up a boulder and heaved it at the afternoon sun. My eyes burned and filled with tears as I tried to follow its path.

The young giant muttered encouragement while we waited for the stone to fall. I felt it strike the earth while I wiped the sun tears from my eyes.

“Is that the best you can do?”

The giant huffed in surprise, then muttered, “It always shouts.…”

Of course. I must sound loud if they could hear my heart.

“Perhaps you should try a smaller stone,” I told the young giant.

He shook his head and picked up a boulder as big as the one his friend had chosen. He’d tried to stomp me to oblivion moments before, but I felt a twinge of respect that my taunts hadn’t swayed him.

He slowly drew back his arm. With a terrific grunt, he launched the boulder toward the sky. It took longer to fall to earth. As the giants pounded each other on the back, I looked for Will. Someone was finally carrying him toward the gates.

Now for myself
. I needed enough time for Will to reach the gates. I ran to a small brown bird under the blasted tree, then paused. It wouldn’t work. They’d see the wings.

They’d
hear
the wings.

I looked back at the wall, toward the cannons. I realized I didn’t want the cannons to find the giants: the young one who
talked about the awful duke but didn’t mind my taunts; the bearded one who saved my life. I didn’t want them hurt. I just didn’t want them here in Reggen.

Perhaps I could arrange it so they—and the army that followed them—wouldn’t return.

“You may return to the duke after I make my throw,” I said. “I will let you live since you spared the boy. But you will know, after I throw this stone, that we can match you strength for strength.”

I saw frantic activity on the walls; soldiers swarmed around two cannons. I plucked up the bird and almost whispered an apology until I remembered the giants’ hearing. The poor thing quivered in my hands and I stroked its head with my thumb. I willed it courage and safety—and most of all, flight.

I looked behind me and saw a soldier move to light a cannon.

“Now,” I shouted, “listen and tell me if this stone
ever
falls back to earth!”

I tossed the bird into the air, far enough that it would fly when I threw it, but not hard enough to hurt it. I saw its wings spread, brown and gray against sun-bleached sky, as the cannon roar echoed around us.

The giants ducked away from the cannon noise but didn’t run.

“I saw it,” said the young one, pride in his voice. “It should fall soon.”

But my bird rose higher and higher. After a minute, it still
hadn’t returned. The giants muttered to each other in their own language.

“It hasn’t fallen, has it?” I shouted.

Another warning shot flew past. The giants grimaced at the cannon’s roar.

“Go back to your duke,” I shouted. “I’ll tell my people to stop their fire.”

The young one nodded. “You are a greater warrior than we expected.”

I laughed, arms wrapped around my belly, as if I’d never heard a finer joke. I needed them to believe me. I needed them to never return. “
Warrior?
I am no warrior! Tell your duke I am a tailor. You will encounter men far fiercer than me if you attack this city.”

Chapter 10

I
watched the giants
stride away down the road, trembling as the terror I’d ignored roared over me. I could taste the dust from the shattered boulders when I licked my lips.

But I wouldn’t turn away from the retreating giants. They might return. And I feared I’d forget what I’d seen: giants too graceful to be monsters, with voices like thunder, legs like trees, and hands that could snap a boy’s leg.

Will
.

I ran unsteadily toward the gate. The day felt slow around me, as if the sunlight were honey thick and I could not push through it. The bridge over the Kriva had never seemed so long.

Now that the giants were gone, people poured out of the gates and onto the bridge. They rushed toward me, toward the lad who had faced the giants. The lad. I stumbled midstride, trying to make sure I ran like a man and not a frantic girl.

The wave of people engulfed me well before I reached the gates. Some of the crowd shook their fists and shouted threats at the horizon, where the giants had disappeared from sight. Others pounded me on the back or cheered.

“Brave lad!”

“You did just what I’d have done! Pity I didn’t get here in time to help.…”

“They know what Reggen is made of now!”

Where had these people been when Will dragged his shattered foot across the bridge? And where was Will? I elbowed through the crowd, trying to find the end of it.

I couldn’t.

The news must have spread quickly. The farther into the crowd I pressed, the more the story of my encounter with the giants changed. I had not traveled ten paces before I heard people clamoring about an actual fight, how a lad faced two giants with his bare hands. A minute later, I had killed seven with one blow.

A man grabbed my arm. “Well done, lad! That will show them—”

Several men tried to lift me to their shoulders. I thrashed until they released me, and then ran deeper into the crowd.

How could Will have moved so far past the gates? The fierce strength I’d felt when facing the giants drained from me. I wanted to cry. And that made me angry, a petty, waspish anger that wanted to sting every person who jostled me.

“Will!” I called, turning in a circle.
“Will!

The crowd quieted.

“Where is the boy?” I asked.

One man, a blacksmith still wearing his leather apron, heard me. “You’re the champion?”

I almost told him I hadn’t done anything, but there wasn’t time to explain. I nodded. “Follow me,” he said. Then he shouldered into the crowd, shouting, “Make way for the champion!”

I followed in the path he created. He pushed people aside, shouting, “Make way for the giant killer!”

That was too much. I touched his shoulder. “I didn’t—”

He was too busy picking up a smallish man and moving him to notice. And then it didn’t matter: I saw Will. Part of him, at least, lying by the fountain. He was mostly hidden by a young noble who stood, arms crossed, between Will and the crowd.

I darted toward Will, but the nobleman blocked my way.

“Let me pass—!” The demand died in my mouth.

Fine Coat
. I ducked my head, unable to move, hardly able to think.

“Let him see the boy!” hollered the blacksmith. “He’s the champion!”

His meaty hand clapped me on the shoulder, and I stumbled forward against Fine Coat. I righted myself, but I didn’t look up.


He
is the champion?” I heard the disbelief in Fine Coat’s voice and felt the tickle of fear between my shoulder blades. He must be looking at me. “Who are you, lad?”

Don’t you dare wilt now
, I told myself.
Will needs you
. The last time Fine Coat had truly seen my face, I was Saville, a girl bundled against the cold. He’d been preoccupied with boiled bones, crushed houses, and the young man in the wagon. He
wouldn’t guess the truth—unless I gave him reason.

So I raised my head and met his gaze as if I really had killed seven giants with one blow. “Who are
you
? And why won’t you let me see the boy?”

Fine Coat scowled. “I’m the one who brought him here! And I need to know about the giants. How many were there? I saw two, and then—”

I didn’t have time for his questions. Will hadn’t moved once. I tried again to elbow past, but Fine Coat grabbed my arm.

I yanked myself free and glared at him. “I have to see Will! He’s hurt.”

Fine Coat planted himself in front of me. “And I need to know what’s happened. There’s not much time!”

I opened my mouth, about to tell him I didn’t care. Then I saw the set of his jaw. He wouldn’t let me pass until I answered his questions. I ground out an answer.

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