Chapter 56: Giants
"BLAKE!"
Owin shouted, in the middle of the storm, from the edge of a river gorge that had so eroded the terrain that there was a depression several feet across that prevented him from crossing.
A storm had been battering them for weeks now, slowing them down and preventing them from seeing, so Blake had played scout, checking the terrain in advance.
Oswin looked across the gorge again, searching for traces of Blake.
"Bang!"
A black shadow leaped from the other side, it was a distance of about 4 or 5 meters.
The men backed up a step at the impact, from which Blake then emerged, completely covered in snow just like everyone else.
"THERE ARE GIANTS ON THE OTHER SIDE!"
Blake said making himself heard.
They had reached the giants' territory some time ago, and thanks to the winter, almost all the giants they had encountered were hibernating.
"LET'S KEEP GOING NORTH UNTIL WE FIND A GOOD PLACE TO CROSS!"
Gerd recommended after listening to the description of the terrain and the various giants on the other side of the gorge.
"WE HAVE DELAYED THE MARCH TOO LONG, ANOTHER DETOUR COULD TAKE US DAYS IN THIS STORM!"
Wymond said snow covered his entire beard, making him look older.
"BOY, HOW MANY GIANTS DID YOU SEE!"
Oswin put a hand on Blake's shoulder as he asked.
"THERE ARE AT LEAST 3 GIANTS WITHIN A LEAGUE OF THEM!"
Oswin furrowed his eyebrows, there were more than he would have liked.
"THEY ARE DISTANT ENOUGH TO AVOID THEM, BUT IT WILL BE DANGEROUS!"
Blake said looking at Oswin doubtfully.
Because of the storm, they had gone over a month without reaching their destination and 3 of their men had died on the way, Blake carried the last of them in a wagon, as he had broken a foot when he slipped, but when evening came and the tent was dismantled, the man had long since frozen to death.
"MOUNT THE BRIDGE, WE WILL CROSS HERE, BROTHERS, PREPARE YOUR WEAPONS IN CASE YOU HAVE TO FIGHT THE GIANTS!"
With Oswin's orders, a bridge of wood and ropes was quickly put in place, Blake jumped the gorge again and nailed the ropes to the ground with wooden stakes. A rope was tied against a rock so that the men could hold on to something as they crossed the bridge.
The first to cross were the horses, followed by the wagons.
Although the wind was strong, the bridge had been firmly placed, and since it was not very long, they did not have much trouble.
At present the caravan numbered about 100 men, counting the tribesmen from the first and second settlements plus Thenn's men.
The first to cross quickly looked for the giants to sound the alarm in case they woke up, as 3 giants causing trouble would be dangerous for the whole caravan.
"THE FIRST IS TO THE EAST, LYING AMONG SEVERAL TREES, THE SECOND UPSTREAM IN A CAVERN, AND THE LAST IS HALF BURIED IN THE SNOW TO THE SOUTH."
With Blake's orders, 3 warriors from the tribe set off to perform their duties while the main party crossed the bridge.
The caravan made it across without too much trouble, but now they were faced with the problem of getting as far away from these giants as possible to set up camp.
Thanks to the storm they didn't make as much progress as Oswin wanted, but night was closing in on the short winter days, leaving them with no choice but to set up camp where they were.
"How long until we reach the city of giants?"
Oswin asked Gerd as they ate in the Magnar's tent.
"Shouldn't be long now, The storm has delayed us, but we should be close to reaching the coast."
The plan was to make it as far as the Shivering Sea and then head north until they reached the city of giants.
"What if we've already passed the city of giants?"
Blake asked Gerd, as they were able to veer north because of the strong winds, and if so, they could have passed the city of giants.
"When we get to the coast it will be much easier to find the city of giants."
Gerd replied as he ate.
Blake noticed that the hand with which Gerd was holding the bowl of stew was stiff, so he grabbed Gerd's wrist firmly, startling the latter and causing him to throw the food to the ground.
"What's wrong boy!"
Gerd tried to wriggle out of Blake's hand, but Blake without waiting any longer pulled the glove off his hand, revealing 2 completely blackened fingers.
Gerd, who looked at his fingers with wild eyes, finally freed himself from Blake's hand.
"Hadn't you noticed?"
Blake asked.
"No... I just thought my hands were numb."
"You're lucky, it was only two fingers, One of my guys lost his whole hand recently, Blake, give Gerd a new pair of gloves, don't let him lose the rest of his fingers."
Blake nodded, he turned towards the exit of the store to look for new clothes but stopped when he heard a noise.
"GIANTS!"
A few seconds later, a brother of the tribe shouted at the top of his lungs, causing everyone arguing in the tent, Wymond, Zafar, and Clay included, to quickly grab their weapons, and their cloaks and rush out of the camp behind Blake.
"Bang!"
"AAaaahhh!"
Blake ran toward the source of the sound and saw how a giant had thrown one of the tribesmen so hard that he had knocked over a tent.
"BACK OFF!"
Blake shouted as he charged forward toward the giant.
Only when he was close could Blake fully discern the size of the giant, it was huge, at least 13 feet tall.
"WHO NAG THENN WES GAS! WHO NAG THENN WES GAS!"
Blake shouted towards the giant as he stood a few feet away.
The giant seemed to calm down a bit after hearing Blake shout the same sentence several times, We come to exchange gifts from Thenn.
"GAK DAK WUN?!"
Blake relieved that the creature understood his words and spoke to him, had one of the men fetch something.
"WOS NAS WOS NAS!"
Gerd was not long in coming, stepping forward beside Blake, and exchanging words with the giant. The giants had poor eyesight, but his hearing was very good, letting him hear Blake and Gerd's words even amid the storm.
Blake went to check on the tribe member who was hit while Gerd calmed the giant.
"WHAT HAPPENED!?"
Oswin shouted coming to the end.
"WE ENTERED THE TERRITORY OF ONE OF THE GIANTS AND THE SMELL OF FOOD WOKE HIM UP!"
Oswin crouched next to Blake as he listened to the explanation, the storm barely letting him see or hear, looking down at the injured tribesman lying on the ground.
"HOW BADLY HURT IS HE?!"
Blake didn't know, as the tribesman was thrown by a giant for a distance of several feet, though he was still breathing.
"WE MUST GET HIM TO A TENT!"
With Blake's words, Zafar and Wymond carried the injured man to a tent.
Blake noticed another tribesman bringing a large bronze pot, taking it, and approaching Gerd and the giant.
"GAK GAS, GAK GAS!"
Blake offered the pot full of food to the giant, who took it with one of his hands, looking at the stew for a few seconds and then taking the pot to his mouth, eating the stew as if it were water.
"TUD DAK THENN"
The giant smiled as he tasted the stew, grateful for the gift.
Blake turned his head to see the approaching tribesmen, almost all of them armed and gave them the order to lower their spears and guard the perimeters of the camp in case another giant approached.
"GERD, WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT GIANT WANT!"
Oswin approached Gerd as the giant ate.
"GOOD NEWS OSWIN, WE FOUND WHO WILL LEAD US TO THE CITY OF GIANTS."
The three of them, Oswin, Gerd, and Blake looked at the giant who was laughing himself silly eating the stew.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone