Brianna started to run, looking back toward the gorge at the far end of the moor. The hill giant had not moved. He sat squatting on his heels, his armpits resting on his knees and his gangling arms swinging in the long, listless sweeps of a bored child. His eyes, as dim as they were gray, stared blankly into the canyon below, while his mouth hung open in a slack-jawed gape of tedium. The untanned bearskin covering his shoulders did not prevent him from shivering in the cold wind, and every so often Brianna heard a ghastly rattle that could only be the chattering of his huge teeth.
The princess reached the end of the moor and stopped. The gorge between her and the hill giant was no more than fifty paces wide. "Hello!" she called, yelling into the wind. "Over here!"
Without raising his eyes, the giant held a finger to his plump lips. "Quiet!" His order boomed across the gorge many times louder than the princess's call. "Hunting."
Reluctant to argue with a giant, Brianna carefully leaned forward and looked into the gorge, ft was one of those narrow ravines many times deeper than it was wide, with cliffs of sheer granite capping its talus-covered slopes. A silvery stream meandered through the patchy forest of spearhead spruce carpeting the canyon floor. Aside from a few nuthatches flitting between roosts, the princess did not see anything that looked even remotely like prey.
A wolf's howl echoed somewhere down the rocky gorge. It was answered by another, much closer. Brianna studied the canyon floor more closely but saw no sign of the beasts that had caused the noises.
"What are you hunting?" Brianna asked. "Wolves?"
The giant scowled. "No, stupid," he growled. He twisted his mouth into a gluttonous grin and licked his lips with a fat gray tongue. "Horse."
The wolves howled again. Brianna's heart fell, certain that it had to be her mare the beasts were chasing. She heard the distant clatter of hooves on rock. The sound was sharp and distinct, leaving no doubt that it had been made by steel-shod feet. The hill giant grabbed a boulder off his pile and stood, raising the huge stone over his head. In the bottom of the gorge, a white-flecked streak came galloping out of a stand of spearhead spruce, pursued by the gray forms of nearly a dozen huge wolves. The sentry gave a long, piercing whistle, and the beasts instantly fanned out, forcing the horse toward the wall where their master stood waiting.
"Blizzard, no!" Brianna yelled, her voice echoing through the valley. "Come!"
The mare stopped and, with a joyful whinny, pricked up her ears. She looked half starved, with a snarled mane and dozens of open cuts on her flanks. The horse began to circle, following the sound of her mistress's voice as it bounced off the canyon walls. The wolves surrounded her immediately, but contented themselves with snapping and snarling and did not close in for the kill. Blizzard looked up and saw Brianna standing atop the cliff. With a determined neigh, the mare charged the wolf blocking her way. When she reared up to lash him with her hooves, the beast wisely dodged aside and allowed her to escape.
Bellowing in anger, the hill giant hurled his rock into the gorge. His pets scattered in all directions, just in time to avoid being sprayed with debris as the boulder shattered in their midst. Blizzard cast a wide-eyed glance over her shoulder, then continued across the valley. The wolves rushed after her, regrouping as they ran.
Casting an angry glare at Brianna, the hill giant grabbed a small boulder and raised it over his head. Though the princess was not sure whether he intended to hurl it at her or her mare, she pointed up the canyon.
"Blizzard, go!" she yelled. "Run!"
"Quiet!"
Startled by the giant's roar. Blizzard turned and galloped up the canyon. The angry hunter bellowed again, scattering his wolves once more, and hurled his boulder into the gorge. His aim and range were incredible, for the stone sailed straight down and would have intercepted the mare had she not dodged into a spruce stand at the last second. The wolves sprinted into the trees after her, their howls of frustration echoing through the gorge.
"Stupid, stupid girl!"
The hill giant grabbed another boulder, and this time, Brianna knew, it was intended for her.
"Wait!" Brianna yelled. "I'll make it up to you. I can give you something better."
The sentry checked his throw. "Better than horse?" He cocked one side of his heavy brow. The expression looked more gruesome than inquisitive. "How?"
"I'm your chiefs friend-"
Before Brianna could continue her explanation, the hill giant burst out laughing. "Why Noote want little girl for friend?" he demanded. "Too small for the rut!"
Brianna felt the blood rising to her cheeks. "I'm not that kind of friend," she said. "I'm Princess Brianna of Hartwick. Noote and my father are comrades." She didn't think it wise to say friends. "I want you to take me to see your chief."
Still holding the boulder over his head, the hill giant scowled. "How that better than horse?" he demanded. "Maybe good for Noote-not for Rog."
Knowing that the ogres would not allow her much time to complete her negotiations, Brianna hazarded a glance down the mountainside. At the other end of the moor, the ogres were still scrambling up the slope, making more progress than she would have liked against the torrent of boulders Morten and Tavis hurled down upon them. Closer to the princess, the brutes had opted for different strategy. They were staying below timberline, slipping through the spruce shadows as they ran abreast of her route. This puzzled the princess for a moment, until she realized that they were trying to enter the gorge lower down, after which they would quickly move to cut off the last escape route.
Brianna looked back to the giant. "If you bring me to Noote, he'll be happy with you." In spite of her growing concern, she forced herself to remain patient. She would not win Rog's help by trying to pressure him. "He'll reward you."
This sent Rog into such a fit of hysterics that he dropped his boulder, almost crushing his own foot.
"All right, then!" Brianna called. "I'll reward you myself. How would you like five horses?"
Rog stopped laughing and picked up his club. "Where?"
From the other end of the moor came the clatter of ogre arrows striking stone. Brianna glanced back to see Earl Dobbin and Avner scrambling toward her across the tundra.
"Those humans!" the giant protested. "Not horses."
"I'll send the horses to you," Brianna promised. "Okay?"
The hill giant's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "You not even let Rog eat one horse. Why give him five?"
"Blizzard is special to me." Brianna said. "It would be like watching me eat one of your wolves."
Rog's lip curled into a disgusted sneer, and the princess knew she had touched an emotional cord. "I'll give you ten horses," she offered. "But you have to say yes right now-and call your wolves off my horse."
"Yes!"
Rog tightened his lips against his yellowing teeth and gave a rising whistle that rang through the canyon. A dozen indignant howls protested the call. The hill giant repeated his summons, this time following it up with a threatening bellow. The wolves yelped, then Brianna spotted their gray forms slinking back down the gorge.
Rog tossed his club into the canyon, then sat down and braced his hands on the edge of the cliff. He turned around and carefully lowered himself until he was dangling by his fingers. Although the precipice had to be thirty feet high, the hill giant was so tall, and his arms so long, that his feet almost reached the bottom. He dropped into the gorge and fell over backward, tumbling down the talus slope head over heels. Halfway down, he slammed into a spruce trunk, shaking a torrent of brown needles down on his head, and came to stop. As though nothing unusual had happened, the giant stood up and brushed himself off, then retrieved his club and crossed the valley to climb up the slope on Brianna's side of the gorge.