After a grueling all-day ascent with the ogre horde clambering close behind. Brianna crested a small cliff and saw a hill giant hulking in the distance. She knew then her small company would soon be safe.
It didn't matter that the entire length of a hanging moor and a deep alpine canyon separated her from the giant. The meadow's tundra would be easy to run upon, and the gorge was narrow enough to yell across, so she would simply sprint over to the chasm's edge and demand the hill giant's help. Then he would escort the princess's party into Gray Wolf lands, and even Goboka would not dare violate Noote's dominion by following. At least that was Brianna's hope, for she saw no other means of escape.
The hanging meadow sat like a broken saucer upon the mountain's flank. On its uphill side, a sheer wall of granite soared into the sky, its distant crown lost in the pearly vapors of a low-hanging cloud. The downhill side was encircled by a craggy precipice, falling more than thirty feet to a steep slope of talus stones and puny bristlecone pines. This scarp descended several hundred paces to timberline, where a wall of spearhead spruce abruptly rose to replace the ground-hugging pine thickets.
There, just emerging from the majestic spruce forest, was Goboka's horde. The warriors were spread out in both directions, cutting off any hope of trying to descend back into the valley below. Unless the companions could fly, their only hope of escape was to descend into the gorge at the far end of the moor.
"Well?" called Tavis. "Does it lead anywhere?"
"Yes, to freedom!" Brianna turned around and lay on the moor, reaching down to help her companions up the small cliff. "There's one of Noote's hill giants ahead."
Tavis's lips tightened in irritation, but it was Morten who spoke. "We'd better think this over." he said. "That giant's liable to attack before you can explain who you are-especially when he sees you with giant-kin."
"That's why I intend to approach him alone, while you and Tavis wait here," Brianna said. "I know how giants and giant-kin feel about each other."
The animosity between the two groups was not bitter enough to be called hatred, but it was as old as the giants themselves. According to the ancient stone giant songs, both true giants and giant-kin had sprung from the loins of the lusty mother-goddess Othea, but they had not been sired by the same father. The true giants were descended from Othea's husband, the great god Annam, while the giant-kin were scions of her illicit lover, a minor deity named Ulutiu. As with many such families, the sibling races were jealous and resentful of each other, but they could also be helpful when it was mutually beneficial-and Brianna felt sure she could make it worth Noote's trouble to tolerate a pair of kin.
Unfortunately, her firbolg companions seemed reluctant to test the hospitality of hill giants. Neither one of them was making a move to climb the cliff, or to help Earl Dobbin and Avner up.
"We don't have time to debate this," Brianna said. She pointed down the mountain, to where the ogres were gathering themselves into packs of ten and twelve. "If you know another way out of here, tell me."
Tavis's only reply was to point up the mountainside.
Brianna craned her neck back. She saw only a vertical wall of granite, scoured by gales of blowing snow and draped with thick curtains of ice.
"I can't scale that!" burst Earl Dobbin. "Not with an injured leg."
"And probably not with two good legs," the scout replied. "But Avner's an excellent climber. He'll lower his rope for you." The scout pointed at the coil of rope the youth carried over his shoulder.
"I understand being nervous about asking hill giants for help, but you can't be serious!" Brianna continued to stare at the cliff. Now that she had been looking a little longer, she could see that the ice curtains were in fact hanging glaciers-most ready to come crashing down at any moment. "We'd freeze to death up there, even if we survived long enough to climb out of arrow range."
"Morten and I'll hold the ogres off," Tavis said. "By the time they get past us, you'll be out of range."
"Leave you behind?" Avner gasped. "I won't do it!"
"You won't have to," Brianna said. She continued to look at Tavis. "How can you think climbing that cliff's safer than asking help of the hill giants?"
"Because it is."
Brianna found her gaze locked with Tavis's, for he was staring at her with the steady, confident expression that he always used when he wanted her to trust him. It was a look that made her ache to believe him, and whenever he used it she found her heart pounding with the desire to forget what she had seen back in Stagwick.
"Tavis, if there's some reason the hill giants give you a special fright, tell me now," Brianna said. "Otherwise, I will seek their help."
Tavis looked at his feet. "I can't. I promised not to bring it up again."
"Then don't!" Brianna snapped, surmising he was referring to her father. She shook her head in disgust and gathered her feet to rise. "Give me a minute with the giant before showing yourselves."
"Wait!" Tavis cast a sideways glance at Morten, then said, "If I can't convince you, maybe Morten can."
"Me?" the bodyguard gasped.
"All I ask is that you tell her what happened at the Earls Bridge."
"If that's what you want and Brianna will listen."
"Make it quick," the princess said.
Morten shrugged. "Tavis shot an arrow at your father," he said. Then, in a helpful voice, he added. "But I don't think he meant to hit him, or surely the king would be dead."
"You did what?" Brianna gasped, staring at the scout in astonishment.
Tavis did not return her gaze. "Tell her why, Morten." he said. "And what the king did about it."
Morten's eyes lit with understanding. "They were arguing about how to rescue you." he explained. "Tavis wanted to lead a company after you right away, but your father wanted to wait for more troops. Then Tavis said he'd track you alone and the king forbade it, so he shot an arrow past your father's head and left anyway."
"And then His Majesty sent us to bring this recreant to justice," Earl Dobbin added. "As well he should have."
Brianna felt a cold lump forming in her stomach "We're wasting time." She glanced down the mountain and saw that the first ogre packs were already well above timberline. "What's the point of all this?"
Tavis shook his head and looked away. "Can't you see that for yourself?"
"I can," said Avner. "The point is that your father didn't send anyone to rescue you. And the only reason he sent the earls was to stop Tavis from freeing you."
The cold lump in Brianna's stomach began to swell, until it seemed an icy ball of anger filled her entire abdomen. "Avner, you'll have to learn that kings often do things that don't make sense to other people." she said, forcing more patience into her voice than she felt "Even if my father did not share Tavis's opinion about the best way to rescue me, that does not mean he betrayed me."
The princess turned her angry glare upon the scout.
"In fact, its quite possible that the king's plan would have worked better-had it been given a chance." She pointed to the ogre packs scrambling up toward them. "It's clear enough that your plan has not been entirely successful-so I suggest you and Morten do something to hold off the ogres until I can arrange for our safe passage to Noote's palace."
With that, the princess turned away. She had taken barely three steps before a series of crashes echoed up from the mountainside. Brianna looked over the edge of the moor to see a half dozen boulders bouncing down the slope at the ogres. Even if they didn't trust hill giants, Tavis and Morten were doing their best to give her time to strike a bargain with this one.