Chapter 60: The Last Voyage
"Looks like the passage through the fjord was safe."
Blake said, looking at the big ship, approaching the shore.
The mountain range by the sea turned out to be a fjord, leading to the heart of the giants' city.
"The exchange with the giants is going better than expected."
Oswin replied, turning to take a look at the hundreds of giants approaching the camp.
Under the protection of Mag Mar Tun Doh Weg, the warlord of the giants in this city, the Black Axe tribe was able to make a mostly satisfactory exchange.
Huge pots of stew had been set up, where the giants came forward to surrender their possessions in exchange for food.
"GOK DRU NAR!"
A huge giant approached carrying a young Mammoth about 2 meters tall.
He wanted to trade the Mammoth for a whole pot of stew.
Gerd turned to Oswin upon hearing the offer, and the latter gave him a nod.
After pouring the stew into a wooden barrel and handing it to the giant, the latter carried it over his shoulder and carried it away.
Another young giant, who stood just over three feet tall, approached bringing seashells.
Gerd turned again, receiving another nod, this time from Blake, but only offering a bowl with enough food for one man.
Some giants brought useless things, such as shiny rocks, feathers, rotting skins, bones, and other things, to these Blake was offering a standard meal only, as a token of goodwill.
Other giants preferred raw vegetables or fruits, which were also given to them in exchange for some object of value.
Mag Mar Tun Doh Weg was sitting on the stone slab of his house, eating as he watched the giants make exchanges, he had been given numerous gifts, a huge Wineskin of wine the size of a sheep, a barrel of onions, and a barrel of salted fish, plus a barrel of wine big enough to fill the Wineskin again.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa."
The puppy at Blake's feet began to bark as a boat approached the shore.
"The city was real, it's truly amazing!"
Zafar, who was in the boat, shouted with an excited grin, as he came ashore and saw giants everywhere.
In the mountains, there were dozens of caverns, from which sometimes giants came out and walked towards the camp.
"How was the trip?"
Blake helped Zafar and two other sailors pull the boat ashore.
"There were huge icebergs all around the area, the captain was too scared to sail on."
Blake furrowed his eyebrows, that was bad news, but one had to be thankful the sea wasn't completely frozen.
The boat had barrels full of food, as some of the cargo had been left on the ship.
They had to make another 5 trips to bring back the missing food, as there were many more giants than Blake had expected, hundreds, all starving for the winter.
"By the gods..."
Said Captain Silas dumbfounded by the spectacle before his eyes.
There was no natural harbor where the ship could land, so the sailors, with Captain Silas, included, came ashore seeing the large number of giants.
"You said they were mere apes, Captain, is that what they look like to you?"
With the giant warlord overseeing the exchange, the giants avoided confrontation, so the exchanges were mostly conducted quickly and peacefully.
It was not difficult for Blake to conclude that the giants shared a common ancestor with humans, but had evolved in a different direction, like Neanderthals or Denisovans.
Sadly this meant that this race would eventually become extinct, even though he found their characteristics incredible and useful.
"Any man can train a dog to walk on two legs like a person..."
Silas said, somewhat unsure.
"I've seen many dogs with better behavior than us humans, haven't you?"
Silas was silent at Blake's response.
"Thenn's men have already interrogated a hundred giants, let's hear if they've discovered anything useful."
Oswin stepped forward, taking a nod from Blake who walked behind him.
All of Thenn's men who had come with Gerd spoke the ancient tongue, so Blake asked them to question the giants about any information whether it be about the walkers, magic, or the lands of eternal winter.
Captain Silas, who was walking behind Blake, curious about what the savages wanted to discover, looked at the stone house of the giants' warlord, especially at the runes engraved on the walls.
"It's the ancient language."
Blake said, after noticing Captain Silas stare.
"This was built by the giants...?"
Captain Silas asked, somewhat fearful that he had made a mistake and almost enslaved a creature capable of doing such a thing, as a sign of his humanity.
"I don't know."
Blake replied, shrugging his shoulders.
"But there is something I do know."
Blake pointed to the sheet of stone that the giant warlord used as a bed.
"This isn't a city, it's a graveyard, and those sheets of rock these giants sleep on are tombs."
Curious about the structure of the city, Blake had asked Gerd about the contents of the runes, and the latter read what they said.
It told the story of a giant king, and how he had fought along with 10,000 giants against an evil that plagued the world, resisting hordes of enemies until they were all dead.
"These tombs belonged to giants thousands of years ago, they died fighting the others in the long night."
Blake pointed to the caverns in the mountains, there were hundreds or even thousands of them.
"Those are their graves, the giants now use them as dwellings."
The king and warlords had stone tombs with carved runes, while the other giants were buried in those caverns.
The captain looked somewhat skeptical at the boy as he told him all the information that sounded like a legend.
"That's very hard to believe, boy, legends like that adorn not only Westeros, in Essos there are many as well."
Blake let out a snort at his statement, as he wasn't talking any nonsense, the proof was right in front of his eyes, he was just too ignorant to see it.
"Legends? Don't you find it curious, Captain, in both Essos and Westeros there are legends about a night that lasted a hundred years, do you think two separate civilizations could make up the same story?"
Captain Silas was silent, doubtful, but said no more.
He didn't like to argue with the boy, so he found that silence was the best way to combat it.
"Woh Nag Gin Woh Tiajuk DohYat!"
One of the Thenn men said towards Oswin, only to turn and see Blake, along with everyone else.
"Magwho Rut Fro Nin Bio Kok Tukour..."
Finished the man said.
Oswin looked at his son, lips tense, replying.
"Tia Dohjur."
Blake finally approached, and the group disbanded, returning to their tasks.
"We were lucky, they've seen them."
Oswin nodded at Blake's words.
"Several giants say the same thing, white shadows with blue glowing eyes, they seem to be much more active here than anywhere in the Haunted forest."
Blake narrowed his eyes, weighing in for a few seconds.
"If we're lucky we won't have to go all the way to the lands of eternal winter."
Oswin nodded, as that would be the best outcome.
Night came faster than expected, some giants wanted to trade garbage for more food than Blake was offering out of goodwill, but with the help of Wulgin and the giant warlord, they didn't have too much trouble.
The men went to sleep in the tents, while the giants retreated to their homes or caves, leaving only the high command of the black axe tribe, Captain Sylas, Gerd, and the giant warlord, Mag Mar Tun Doh Weg.
"Tuk Mal Gokgro Drunar Nag."
Oswin was telling the giant warlord about his plan to gather as many tribes and clans as possible and cross the Great Wall, because of the coming danger.
"Rit Juk Mor?"
Asked the giant warlord towards Blake, he wanted to know if he could see the future.
"Juk Tuktia Mor?"
Said Blake in reply, I know the future well.
"WohTuk Daer Dru Bor Nornag."
Continuing: And this evil will bring about the extinction of your race.
The giant didn't seem to like the omen that came out of the boy's mouth at all, it reminded him of the children of the forest and their usually accurate premonitions that had been passed down for generations.
"What are they saying?"
Captain Silas asked Gerd doubtfully as the discussion continued.
"The king of the giants is worried about an omen of death and is hesitant to join the other tribes, but he doesn't want to mobilize his people without seeing these enemies."
Gerd replied shaking his head, for the same had happened to the men of Thenn, no one wanted to leave their ancestral homes for the dream of a little boy.
"Omen, giants, tribesmen? What the hell is that boy up to and why does he want me to take him to those cursed lands..."
Captain Silas looked genuinely worried and confused, he had been trapped by very dangerous people.
"Do you know what the Warg, Skinchanger, or Greenseer are, sailor?"
Gerd continued to listen to the conversation between the giant, Blake, and Oswin as he replied.
"I've heard a thing or two about the Warg."
Captain Silas said skeptically.
"Stupid foreigners."
Gerd said with a grimace, replying.
"That boy is a Greenseer, he can see the past and the future, and he has seen a terrible future, where we are devoured by the dead, that's why he is unifying all possible tribes and clans."
Gerd remembered his mother's words, many times what a Greenseer said came true, but not in the way they themselves believed. Before leaving on this trip he had spoken with Styr, and they both concluded that perhaps these dead that Blake had seen was a great epidemic or a famine, or perhaps a winter so long that men would have to eat each other until there was nothing left.
Captain Silas looked at Blake, he did not know they were doing such a thing, if he unified all the tribes north of the Great Wall, he would become king.
"WOH NORTUY."
The giant warlord finally said, and Oswin stood up, thankfully.
"I agree to help..."
Gerd said, with a frown.
"What now?"
Captain Silas asked.
"Now it's your turn to take us to the lands of eternal winter, sailor."
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