Age of the Gods: The Complete, twelve novel, fantasy series (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga) (148 page)

The sun was lighting the sky above Gnak when he made the decision to take up his actual course. Turning to his left, he was careful not to leave a trail alerting any that followed that he was actually traveling north. Though if any found his trail here, more than forty miles out of camp, they would assume he was seeking the mountain giants that were known to inhabit the pass through the mountains nearby. The very pass he hoped to make by midday. Whereas Orcs were primarily nocturnal, giants were more active during the hours of sunlight. How they dealt with the burning sensation in their eyes all the time, Gnak was unsure, but if they were too dumb to sleep during the day it was their own fault.

Either way, he hoped to locate the pass and slip by the slower-of-thought giants unaware. Once beyond the pass, he believed he could travel fairly unimpeded into the lands of the humans. He did not know precisely where the giant black castle was, but if it was as large as stories would have him believe, it would not be difficult for him to locate.

Deciding his trail had been obscure for long enough, he gave his steps no further thought and began running northward with the searing sun baking his right side. The day was expectedly uneventful, with nothing of note other than a few goblin tracks and the growing mountains before him. The more miles he crossed, growing ever nearer to the base of the Rancor range here, the more obvious the pass through them became. At first it was a subtle change in the ground, the soil becoming packed and hard beneath his feet. Then an obvious path began to emerge where all plant life had been destroyed, leaving only a dusty trail that wound up through the hills ahead into a great chasm between the mountains. Once he reached the hills, the pass was even more obvious, and he began to realize that his plan would not be as simple as he had hoped.

Peering off into the distance from atop a rise, he could see the bodies of smashed and splattered goblins all along the mouth of the pass. The sounds of screams echoed out from its stone confines, and the clangs of metal carried their high pitched tune across the day’s stagnant air. Gnak reevaluated his plan.

Not only were there giants within the pass, but goblins too. All the more eyes to see him. He could try and find another way through the mountains but time was limited. Catunga only lasted one moon cycle. He had twenty eight nights. No more.

After a few moments’ thought he supposed that if the giants were busy with the goblins, then perhaps it could work to his advantage. If nothing else, goblins regularly entered the lands of the humans and often carried weapons and armor stolen from other races. Perhaps he could scavenge something useful from their corpses.

Decided, he changed course again, moving off the trail in order to stay out of sight as much as was possible. It was only an hour before he flanked the mouth of the pass, and nearing it he bent low to appraise the nearest goblin corpse.

They were a small race, growing less than half his height, and weighing only a fraction of his bulk. They had small wiry bodies in shades of green and gray, striped through with patterns of darker hues. Their small heads were angular with a mouth filled with small razor sharp teeth. Though much of that was obscure with this particular specimen.

Part of its body had been smashed, apparently stepped on by one of the giants, but even so he rifled through its clothing, finding nothing but a twisted blade of goblin make and various bits of metal and small shiny stones in a pouch upon its belt. He moved on. Three corpses later he located half of a goblin with something useful. Around its neck it wore a thick necklace of layered, metal chain armor. The thing was obviously too large for the goblin, but ripping it free from the corpse, Gnak was able to pass his head through the piece with little difficulty. It was a snug fit for his thick neck, but protected the whole of his throat from damage. It was valuable armor. Removing his own necklace from beneath the metal addition with some effort, he opened the pouch upon his own belt and dropped the necklace in. Then it struck him.

Every goblin corpse he had found carried a pouch. Though instead of teeth and bits of bone like he carried, the small leather or cloth pouches held different sized disks of various metals and shiny stones. If it was precious to them, could it not be useful to him as well? Dumping his own, larger pouch, he discarded that which he could easily collect again if he chose to. Then tying his necklace about his ankle, he returned to all the corpses he had already picked through and gathered up the metal disks and stones. For more than an hour he scavenged one corpse after another, working his way into the mouth of the pass itself. He had found a very well-crafted dagger, and a piece of armor a goblin wore upon its leg which fit nicely upon his forearm. By this point his pouch sagged from the weight within it, filled with the metal disks, jewelry in various fashions and the shiny stones in different colors. But still he collected.

Another hour passed and the sounds of the battle within the pass grew louder and louder. He now had five goblin pouches about his belt as well, each filled to capacity. Nearly a hundred goblins lay within the pass, each of them now stripped of the odd items they carried. Gnak was no fool. He knew it had to be their form of currency, but so heavy was his belt becoming that it threatened to snap beneath the weight. It was then that he made a decision.

Scaling up the side of one of the walls that was made by the gorge between the mountains, he found a deep crack within the stone. Carefully untying each pouch but his own, he placed them into the crack, out of sight from the ground below, or giant eyes above. Finished, he dropped back down to the trail below just as things took a sudden turn. From out of the pass ahead of him, goblins came running, rounding a corner in the pass, each of them scrambling as the ground began to shake beneath them. Gnak ducked low into the shadow of the stone wall and moved as quickly as he was able to exit the pass. Screams echoed louder and louder as the reverberating steps of the giants approached. He cleared the end of the pass just as the first goblins began to spill out as well. Carefully circling a tree beside the entrance, he crouched in its shadow and watched as the mass of goblins fled. They ran wildly, putting as much distance between them and the pass as they could, with constant looks back over their shoulders. Why they had wanted the pass cleared remained a mystery, but the outcome certainly was not. Just when Gnak thought the spectacle finished, he was proven wrong as his gaze returned once again to commotion within the pass.

More than two hundred more goblins ran atop their fallen comrades, sprinting as fast as their little green and black legs could carry them. The ground shook more with every passing second. With the tree creaking above him in protest, it was only a minute longer before the giants revealed themselves. The first was a great brute of a male, dragging an immense club of wood the size of a tree in one of its four hands. Stuck within the sides of the club were various blades and bones from enemies it had smashed. He was a hulking mammoth with dozens of wounds upon his feet, ankles, and shins, but so thick were the tissue and scars there that the wounds did not appear to slow him. From the effort of his chasing the goblins, the giant’s great maw opened and closed with a whooshing sound as air was sucked into and out of his lungs. It was a foe that none ever hoped to cross paths with unaware.

The second giant was a female near his equal in size. She worn naught but a great loincloth, her immense sagging breasts flopping against her belly with every step. She screeched at the retreating forms, waving her hands in threatening gestures as the male continued picking off stragglers, smashing them beneath his feet as if it were a game. Gnak saw his chance.

If these were the only two giants within the pass, he had an opportunity. Slipping out from behind the tree slowly to avoid detection, he carefully moved back into the mouth of the pass and into the shadows. Then it was all or nothing.

Sprinting down the path, he dodged outcroppings of stone and fallen goblins alike in an effort to make the first bend in the pass. Without so much as looking back he rushed headlong, hoping that no more giants awaited ahead, alert and ready to swat at him. More or less sliding around the first bend, he heard nothing from behind that told him he was being pursued, but ahead he saw something he had not been prepared for.

Skulls and bones. Millions of them were piled along the sides of the pass. Between the piles the ground was slick with goblin blood and gore, the majority of the dead having been smashed beneath the feet of the giants. A limb lay here, a head there, but Gnak’s eyes automatically sought out what he had spent the past few hours collecting. Everywhere the disks of metal and stones lay scattered upon the ground. Belts with pouches littered the ground, and scraps of weapons and armor lay in piles to either side of the path along with the bones. It was like nothing he had ever before imagined. There was enough metal here to armor an entire tribe of Orcs, and enough goblin blades to reforge them into something more practical. The giants had been in the pass for years it seemed, letting the dead and their belongings simply pile up.

Sadly, there was nothing for Gnak to do about it at present. His Catunga task was to capture an enemy and bring it back for sacrifice. A human was what he sought, and a human castle is what his vision had showed him. Visions were messages from the gods, and as such he had sworn to bring them a human sacrifice.

Without further thought of the material wealth laid strewn about the mountain pass, Gnak trotted along at an even pace, slowing around each bend, staying alert for movement or unusual sound. It was not long until he noticed the change.

Ahead there was a humming, almost musical in its quality. The further he ran the louder and more distinct it became, and no more than a mile more, rounding a curve, he found its source.

In a large opening in the ravine sat a giant. It was young, showing obvious signs of immaturity. Where adults had muscle and knobby joints, this giant had a thick layer of fat, that spread beneath it. If Gnak had to guess, it was a giant child, pre-adolescent for sure, but still nearly fifteen feet in height had it been standing. It was said that giant children were faster than adults of their kind. Gnak would not take his chances with this one, deciding instead to watch it for a moment to see its intentions.

With its back to him it swayed this way and that, humming a tune as it snatched dead goblins up from a mound of corpses beside it. Tipping its great head back, the giant child would drop a goblin into its wicked maw before gnashing it over and over with its rows of teeth. Cracks and snaps ensued with the occasional spurt of blood, but it was the humming that made Gnak uncomfortable.

After a few more minutes the young giant picked up several of the deceased goblins, and slapping one atop its head, it took up two others, one in each hand and played at making them fight like dolls before he smashed them together into a gooey mess of gore. Then its little song began anew, and this time Gnak could hear the words now that the giant’s mouth was not full.

Goblin meat, goblin meat,

Goblin meat is good to eat.

Goblin meat is yummy yummy,

So it puts it in my tummy.

On and on it repeated the tune in a deep rumbling voice that sent a shiver up his spine. Gnak wondered if the giant had a song for Orcs. He dared not wait and find out, if discovered.

Decided that the giant had no intentions of moving, Gnak picked out a course through the wide opening ahead and began to creep forward, ducking behind anything he could use for cover. Again the song became muffled as the young giant stuffed more remains in its mouth, gnashing, grinding, and spurting.

Ahead Gnak saw what appeared to be a huge, giant sized bedroll and, watching the giant every step of the way, he sprinted towards the heap. Finding a momentary respite behind the mound of hair, furs, leather, and stench, his lip curled up in disgust. The smell of the apparent bed was more than offensive. The scents of waste, sweat, and bodily fluids fought for dominance within his sinuses, but Gnak was a born soldier and did not blanch. Instead, he picked a path ahead and, leaping two dead goblins, he began to run. Here there was no cover. If the giant did not see him it would be a miracle. No such luck.

With a trumpeting scream that any adult would recognize, the giant child announced danger to its parents. From behind and beyond, the call was taken up by the immense adults, and the walls of the pass shook with their now approaching steps and thunderous frightful screams. Gnak simply kept running. He had a decent lead and he was fast.

Rounding another bend he found another pair of the giant stinky beds and the crackling remains of a huge fire, but there was no time to explore further. On and on he ran through the pass, first upward and then back down, hoping no more giants lay in waiting ahead. Mile after mile the giants pursued, their roars seeming to be ceaseless. Beyond the giants’ apparent camp the scene was much the same as before, with piles of bones and discarded items, only here the majority of the bones and items were different. These belonged to humans and trolls. If he were not being chased, Gnak knew that he could find suitable armor for his entire body here. Alas, he
was
being chased and as such he ran and ran some more, rounding bend after bend, leaping and dodging obstructions as they came. He only stumbled once, and barely so, after having stepped upon a stone or something similar that rolled beneath his foot.

It was hours later, the sun already having set, when Gnak emerged from the giant gash in the mountains, the last traces of sound from behind him having vanished more than an hour ago. With the last light trailing crimson stains in the sky, he looked out over a great valley below. It was wide and open, a grassland as lush as any could imagine, and beyond the valley the ground arose once more into a great plateau.