Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Jigsaw ❯ Geddon and Shani ( Chapter 4 )

CHAPTER FOUR

“A poisoned apple may not keep the doctor away, but they are known for attracting their fair share of handsome princes.”

-Off White, Princes I've Kissed

Tione and Aleric were falling. Again. This time, into a wire cage sitting on a desk next to a clock so large it made Tione think of the big one she'd heard of in Sela. Its ticks were more than loud enough for them to hear and would likely become maddening before too long. Above them, the cage door slammed shut with the invincible finality of a closing dungeon door.

Once Tione had again gotten out from under Aleric (he had an admittedly impressive talent for innocently falling on top of her in suggestive positions), she looked up to see Ragul's huge eyes staring at them over a chasmy grin. “Now I have four! What should I call you two?” Ragul looked thoughtful for a moment, then said. “Oh well! Mom said you might not live if you don't have anything to eat, so…”

Well, even in the direst of situations, things could still look up. Tione desperately needed food.

A trunklike twig garnished with leaves large enough to be blankets were shoved through the bars of the cage.

Tione gaped at the offering. “Hey!” Tione shrieked up through the bars. “Did a dragon breathe stupid breath on you? We're not bugs!” She reached over to tear apart the nearest leaf, but found it too thick, and in frustration, bit it instead.

Ragul laughed and grinned in fascination. “You were really hungry, huh? Don't worry, I'll take good care of you! Okay! Bye!” Ragul ran from the room at a breakneck speed and slammed the door shut behind him, causing the framed pictures on the walls and the lock on their cage to shake gratingly.

“Wah! Who's there?” a voice squealed from behind them. “Shani, wake up!”

Tione looked at Aleric, who was frugally sampling one of the leaves. “Shall we both pray that the people behind us can help us escape?”

“We shall,” Aleric replied. Together they turned to face their cage-mates.

“Greetings,” said the young man who had spoken before, who was sitting toward the back of the cage with another boy, who appeared to be sleeping, leaned contentedly against his companion's shoulder.

“You're an elf,” Aleric observed.

The elf smiled with beauty that the common phrase “elven grace” did no justice to. “Indeed I am.”

The elf looked to be perhaps eighteen (though given his race was undoubtedly actually much older) and looked like he would be just a bit taller than Tione. He had a kind and inviting face with large, startlingly green eyes that made him look like quite a bit a child and seemed to sparkle when he turned his head. Not quite obscuring these were the long bangs that hung over his forehead. Tione thought it might have been a trick of the light, but realized that his hair was three different colors: most of it was light brown, but with pale blond roots and dark brown ends. Poking out from this strange head of hair were the typical long, elven ears, and when he spoke, Tione could see that he sported the usual pair of tiny elven fangs emerging from behind pale, graceful lips. His long blue tunic featured an elaborate silver “S” within the curve of a silver half-moon and two silver stars. Part of the design was obscured by a pure white cape, which had been swept over his shoulders to make it seem shorter. (It was probably less obstructive of movement that way.) The belt he wore had a large black buckle on it. A bright white eight-pointed star shone like a bright light in the middle. A long, elegant white coat with silver trim, which Tione assumed to belong to him, was draped over his sleeping friend.

Something about the elf seemed to have caught Aleric's attention. “Oh! You're a magician from Sela, aren't you?” Aleric asked. “The belt.”

The elf gave a dignified nod. “That's right. I am Geddon ni Mayla Shynne de Sela, and this is my apprentice, Shani Noma…” Geddon's emerald eyes narrowed, and his cheeks turned pink from an awkward blush. “Oh… perhaps I shouldn't have told you that.”

Shynne? “If your last name is Shynne,” Tione said. “Then you must be related to Zenos Shynne… is that right?”

Geddon nodded solemnly. “Y- yes. I am his son, and the oldest prince of Sela.”

“Whoa, a prince! So, you're really old then, right?” Tione asked. After saying this, she wondered if the question was rude. She hadn't met many elves, and she'd certainly never met royalty before.

Geddon blinked, and sat up—Shani moaned lightly. “Well, I suppose to a human, I'm kind of old. I'll be ninety-six in a couple of months. My younger brother is sixty three.”

Aleric pointed to Shani, who had begun to stir at last. “Okay, okay, hold on. If his last name is Noma… is he related to Trotho Noma?”

“Well, yes,” Geddon said. “He's his nephew.”

“This is starting to make a little bit of sense,” Tione said to Aleric.

“Well, I'm glad it makes sense to someone…”

“Wait!” Tione said. “You made it sound like it was a bad idea to be telling us your names. If you're a prince, then why would that be a problem?”

“It is a long story,” Geddon said. “But I'll tell you… but first, would mind introducing yourselves?”

“Your Majesty, I'm Tione Larion from Sheste, and this is Aleric I Dunno, from Florda,” Tione said.

“That's `Iu Duno!'”

“Whatever. Doesn't matter.” Tione shifted her position to make herself more comfortable on the metal floor of the cage, which had at least begun to warm from her body heat. “Now, Geddon, I believe you have a long story to tell? I don't think we'll be going anywhere for a while…”

The elf blinked. “Er, right. I suppose someone should know,” Geddon said, taking a deep breath. “To begin with… do you know who rules in the kind's stead if he dies or is too ill to rule efficiently, and the current prince has not yet reached one hundred years of age?”

“Ahh… his adviser?” Aleric seemed to venture a guess.

“Yes, that's correct,” Geddon said.

Aleric sat up straight. “Whoa! Whoa! Hold on! Are you saying Zenos is dead?”

Geddon shook his head. “No, he's not dead, thank Sofia, but he is very, very ill with a mysterous ailment. And so his adviser, Tixe Duspuk, is now ruling in his stead. He's so sick that Shani and I felt compelled to leave Sela in order to find a cure for him. However, Tixe has forced many regulations lately, including a law saying that no magician is to leave Sela until my father recovers.”

“So you snuck out?” Tione asked.

“That's right,” Geddon said. “Normally, I...”

“Getting past Duldcer was hard!” Shani suddenly interjected, becoming enthusiastic.

“Duldcer?” Aleric repeated. “Sounds like an disease.”

“Er… Duldcer is my bodyguard. Anyway, Duspuk insists that she wants to keep everyone in Sela in order to have every magician on hand to help out if the need comes up, but there's something very suspicious about her.”

Nodding pedantically, Aleric agreed, "Well, of course. It always turns out to be a butler, royal adviser, or jewelry-obsessed goblin. But Sela is the center of all the knowledge of Jigsaw, right? If there's a cure to your father's illness, there should at least be a clue to it in Sela, right?”

“Yes, but this disease is an unknown disease that does not appear in any texts or recorded histories! We've checked!” Geddon insisted. “Anyway, I'm afraid that if things keep being run the way Duspuk wants, then my father will never get better… I feel he may even die.”

“I see…” Aleric said. “And let me guess… you heard about the treasure at the tops of jellybeanstalks and decided to see for yourself.”

Geddon nodded. “Exactly.”

As Tione was beginning to become envious of Aleric's powers of perception, Shani finally sat up with a yawn. He was a young human boy, possibly no older than thirteen. The red tunic he wore, which wasn't as long as Geddon's, featured a cloud and a shining sun. Fastened around his waist was a belt similar to Geddon's but the star shining from the depths of the buckle was much weaker. He had blond hair that was just long enough to play at his shoulders and large blue eyes the color of pure sea water on a bright day. "Hi there!" he smiled. "Looks like I missed your names-- mind giving them again?"

We introduced ourselves again to the boy. "So," he smiled pulling his knees to his chest. "These are the our heroes in shining armor? My morale is soaring."

Geddon laughed nervously, tousling the young boy's hair. "Heh... he actually means it. Shani can be trusted to mean what he says."

Aleric bolted to his feet enthusiastically. How did he have that much energy? Tione was hungry, exhausted and still a little queasy. "Heh! Well, don't worry! We're going to find a way to get all of us out of here! From one group of people on a quest to another!"

“Well! That's good!” Shani smiled, leaning back on his hands and moving backwards to lean his back against the side of the cage. As soon as he sat down, a catlike screech pierced the air.

“Shani, please be careful not to sit on Daisy's tail!” Geddon said, grabbing a mass of white from behind Shani as his apprentice apologized. When he turned around, Tione noticed for the first time that Geddon's hair was very long; it was gathered in a ponytail reaching about halfway down his back, lying against his immaculate cape. Even a prince couldn't keep clothing that spotless if he was travelling; he must have cleaned it with magic regularly. Perhaps it even had a sort of filth warding spell on it.

“Do you have a cat with you?” Tione asked.

“Oh, no,” Geddon said, showing everyone what he was holding—a baby white dragon that was small enough for him to hold in his arms easily which was making loud purring noises. Its belly and wings were a pale pink, and a black anchor pattern curled around the tiny horns.

Aleric's eyes widened. “Gah! Dragon!” he screamed. “Get it away!”

“What's with you, Al?” Tione asked. “It's just a baby. And it's kind of cute, for a reptile.”

Aleric, still panting at the sight of the tiny dragon, flushed bright red. “I hate `em. There was this six-legged black demon dragon named Fluffyhead. Disgusting lizard with slimy black scales like a salamander… scariest eyes I've ever seen. I told you, I hate dragons.”

“Fluffyhead?” Geddon asked, raising an eyebrow.

Aleric shrugged tensely. “Y- yeah. She belonged to this demon.”

Shani gaped. “A demon? Did the dragon try to eat you?”

“On the contrary, I think she liked me,” he shuddered.

So this was what caused Aleric's debilitating fear that kept him from becoming a dragon master? “So where's the problem?”

“Fifteen tons of scales, claws and teeth that doesn't understand `no,'” Aleric promptly replied and yanked his tunic out of his belt, pulling it up to reveal a set of irregular scars stretching over his body, scratching his chest. “This one still itches,” he grumped.

Aleric had survived a dragon attack—and by the looks of it, a pretty brutal one? “Well… Aleric,” she reasoned. “This one's tiny. Geddon, where did you get a dragon from?” The kingdom was full of more kinds of dragons than she could count, but she'd only seen them flying over the village a few times. Sometimes they swooped through the clouds and dove down just over trees, and sometimes they flew straight on, but they never bothered to land near Sheste.

Geddon jumped slightly. “Huh? Oh…” Geddon stroked the top of Daisy's head while the little dragon looked adoringly at him with its gold catlike eyes, gripping his hand with tiny white claws. “You see,” he said, “dragon eggs are common gifts to any student of magic entering the second level, which usually happens around age thirteen. The egg takes anywhere around three years to hatch, and can only be hatched with patience and care. Shani has one, but it hasn't hatched yet. Sometimes they stay with the hatcher, and sometimes they leave. And at times, a middle ground is reached in which the dragon becomes independent but still a friend of the magician.”

“I hate dragons,” Aleric groaned.

“I believed we have already established that fact,” Tione said, lightly hitting Aleric in the chest where he was still scratching the old wound. She knew they had to get down to business, but she couldn't keep her eyes off of Daisy. She'd never seen a dragon, even a small one, up close before. “Well, Geddon… it looks like we've all been properly introduced… so how about we get ourselves out of here? What kinds of spells do you know for this kind of situation?”

Geddon looked uneasily at the floor, and forced himself to look Tione in the eye. “Actually… … none of my magic is suitable or strong enough to get us out of here… most of it is either everyday practical magic like lighting and heat spells or defensive magic.”

“Wha… huh?” She couldn't believe it. This wasn't at all what she thought of when she thought of sorcerers. She'd thought of sorcerers as the dignified, robed figures who could toss a spell without blinking. Preferably while riding a white horse.

Geddon began fidgeting with the buckle on his belt nervously. The star shining inside it shifted so that it always faced forward, like an eye; Tione held back a shudder. “Well, I know some attack spells, but even if I could cast one strong enough, we would all get caught up in it and be injured… if not, killed…”

Shani, who had been listening, spoke up. “That would be an undignified end to our journey. You couldn't maintain a shield spell while using a powerful attack spell, could you?”

“No…” Geddon answered.

Tione stood up. “Well, what the hell kind of a magician are you if you can't get yourself out of some kid's stupid wire cage?” she yelled.

“I'm only a level three magician…” Geddon said, sounding a bit injured. “I was barely able to cast the spell that compelled you to come here.”

Tione and Aleric stared at Geddon in shock.

“You mean, you messed with our minds and manipulated us into coming here?” Tione asked.

Geddon reared back as if he'd been struck. “That's basically right, except I only cast the spell on one of you. I don't know which, because my magic isn't powerful enough to specify which person is the target. So I'm assuming that one of you got an unexplainable urge to come up the jellybeanstalk and enter this castle… is that right?”

Tione had been about to sit back down, but now she remained standing. “That's right, all right!” she said angrily. “You're responsible for steering me and Aleric out of our way and getting us captured by a giant, when we should be on a quest to save the world!... or something… Not as if we know what we're supposed to be doing, but… that's beside the point!” Tione crossed her arms. “Let me guess… you were using the spell as a distress signal in order to try to bring someone into the castle who could help you escape?”

“That's exactly right,” Geddon said, who had been trying to apologize while Tione was yelling at him. “Listen, I'm sorry about all this… very sorry… but it was imperative that Shani and I escaped, for the sake of my father. I wouldn't have done it if someone else's life wouldn't be sacrificed if I didn't.”

“Um, excuse me?” Shani spoke up quietly. “What's this about a quest to save the world?”

“I don't think we should be telling you about that…” Aleric said.

“Yes, we should!” Tione said. She was desperate to relate what'd happened to her recently to someone else. She wanted to know if she really was crazy—Aleric's opinion didn't count. “Listen… Geddon, Shani… it's a very long and complicated story that even I don't fully understand…” She scratched her head. “As near as I can figure, me, Aleric, and six other people that we haven't met yet are destined to... well, I don't know. Something which may or may not involve the fate of the world.” She proceeded to explain to them everything that she had learned from Elin and Jirae, ending with, “And so, I set out. Frankly I've got nothing better to do with my life… and I'm not sure we're supposed to find these six other people, but I think it has something to do with these necklaces that Aleric and I have.” She held up her pendant.

Aleric spoke up cautiously. “Tione… I could be wrong… but didn't Jirae mention Zenos Shynne and Trotho Noma? Oh. Hey. Or, you know, the book?”

Tione nodded. “Yeah. Then it could be that…”

“Hold on,” Shani said. He lowered his voice and turned to the prince. “Geddon, don't those necklaces look a lot like the things on the backs of our belt buckles?”

Tione's eyes widened, and she resisted the urge to grab one of the boys' belts and flip it over to be sure. “What did you say?”

Geddon nodded. “That's right. I just noticed it. The symbols on the necklaces you two are wearing are identical to the ones that are on the brass pendants that are attached to the backs of our belt buckles. In slightly different condition, of course, but we've both been told that they're important for something, but have never been told why.”

And at the same time, Geddon and Shani turned their belt buckles over to show that, indeed, a piece of brass the same size and shape as the ones on Tione and Aleric's necklaces were stuck onto the backs, complete with the carving of a stylized “J.” Geddon's still shone and was in almost perfect shape, while Shani's was almost as beat up as Tione's.

“Tione!” Aleric said. “Hey! This is great! Do you think that Geddon and Shani are two of the people we're supposed to be looking for? They have these things too, and they're related to two of the people that Elin and Jirae mentioned.”

“It looks like it,” Tione said. She couldn't believe it was all falling into place. She'd been expecting that somewhere along the line, some flaw in their theory as to the truth of what was going on would present itself. Undoubtedly, this was not the case, and Tione realized with a bitter mix of pride and fear that she had been right. “The only thing I still don't understand is why Great Grandma Elin was so secretive about this whole thing. If the world's in danger from whatever, why didn't she tell us straight out what we were supposed to do?” It didn't make sense. It couldn't be that Elin didn't know herself. Or perhaps Elin was just so eccentric in her old age that she thought Tione should be able to figure it out herself. Maybe she just forgot. No, that couldn't be it…

Geddon smiled and Tione snapped out of her thoughts. “Either way, it appears that the four of us are destined to be quest-mates, doesn't it? Good thing I cast the spell to summon you here, or else we might not have met.”

“Well, that's good that we were able to meet up with you, but we can't save anything if we can't save ourselves first,” Tione said. “I say we all lay out all of the items and belongings we're carrying with us to try and see if there's anything we can use for escape.” Amongst impressed words of agreement from her new friends, she took out of the pocket at the front of her dress everything she was carrying with her: the map of Jigsaw, her spoon, her copy of How to Turn a Spoon Into a Weapon of Mass Destruction and the money she had left with her, and laid them on the floor of the cage in front of her.

“I don't see what good that'll do…” Shani said, rocking back and forth on his heels.

“It's best to just do what she says, and a lot less painful,” Aleric informed him as he dug around in his satchel, laying out everything that he was carrying with him.

Geddon shrugged. “All Shani and I are carrying are some provisions in this bag here.” He gestured to a pack that was sitting nearby in a corner of the cage. “I'm carrying quite a bit of money, but I don't think that can help us escape.”

“Well, at least you guys thought to bring food, unlike Tione here,” Aleric smiled smugly.

“Where was I supposed to get it?!” Tione yelled. “Anyway, what do you have with you in that bag there?” Now she would finally find out what he kept in there.

Aleric pointed to each item as he named it. “I've got a hundred feet of rope, four gold pieces, seventy five silver pieces, ninety copper pieces, some food, my map of Jigsaw, a sword, some neat-looking rocks, a two-inch piece of string, a Ring of Contraception, a cutting knife, a twig, and my fire starting kit.”

Tione sighed. “Well, I've got my map of Jigsaw, this spoon thingy, and this book.” She held up her book.

Shani smiled broadly in disbelief. “Tione, you have a copy of How to Turn a Spoon Into a Weapon of Mass Destruction? That's the book that my uncle Trotho wrote! When Tixe took over for Geddon's dad, she banned the use of spoons in Sela and sent out magicians to confiscate every copy of the book they could find… I guess they missed that one. To think I'd finally see a copy in the hands of a peasant girl, of all places.”

“Really?” Tione asked. “That's really weird…”

“Well! Have you been reading it?” Shani asked excitedly.

“A little,” Tione replied. “I haven't gotten the chance to try it yet…”

Geddon smiled at Shani. “Shani's quite good at it… he would have brought his spoon with him if it hadn't been confiscated before we left.” Geddon's expression became pensive for a moment, then he said, “Shani… if Tione lent you her spoon, do you think you could use it to get us out of here?”

Shani clapped his hands once. “Yeah, I bet I could! It's been a while, so I might need the use of the book…” He turned to Tione with a childish grin. For appearing to be so young, he was formidable in vocabulary and wit. Was this what all people from Sela were like? She felt both joy that she'd be able to see it and bitter regret that she'd had to grow up so isolated. “You've read that each use of a spoon requires different combinations of moves, gestures and words, right? That's why spoon combat isn't very popular, because unless you've been studying it for a long time, you can't remember how to do each attack without having to look it up in the book, and by the time you do, you've been beaten. And for most people, the time it would take to memorize enough attack and defense skills is so long that by the time they're ready, they're too old and weak to ever make use of them.” He chuckled. “I'm thirteen, and I've only memorized about five hundred specific techniques.”

Only five hundred? How many “specific techniques” did Trotho Noma write about in his book? Well, if each use for a spoon is different, then there would have to be quite a few. She wondered if someone using a spoon would even have to know different techniques for chopping down different kinds of trees or breaking different bones of one's opponent. Why would Tixe Duspuk want to ban something so pointless, difficult and inherently useless? “Anyway,” she said, “did you want to borrow this?” She held them up.

“Yes, please,” Shani replied, taking them from Tione. Holding the spoon in one hand, he took the book and flipped to the index in the back of the book and began scanning the pages for something he could use.

While Shani searched the book, Geddon said quietly, “Many people in the Noma family are accomplished spoon users. Since the Shynne and the Noma families have a long history of friendship, I've known Shani since I was eighty three, when he was three years old, and even then they were beginning to teach him in the ways of the spoon. And for some reason, Shani received more training than his siblings did. I've heard that his abilities already surpass those of his older cousins. He was trained so much that he knows as many techniques as his parents do now.”

Shani looked up from his book at Geddon and cleared his throat. “Anyway, here it is: `Escaping from a giant wire cage in which the bars are one foot apart and each bar is one inch thick and the cage is on a tall table.'”

“That is specific!” Aleric said.

Shani smiled. “Well, of course. I wouldn't want to use `Escaping from a giant wire cage in which the bars are one foot apart and each bar is one inch thick and the cage is on the floor' because that technique would be dangerous to use from so high up.”

Aleric shrugged. “I'll take your word for it.”

“You'd do well to,” the boy confirmed. “If everyone's ready, I'll do it now,” Shani said. “It'll make a lot of noise and rattle the cage a lot, so if you're not expecting it, it might scare you.”

“Hurry up!” Tione said. “We're ready! Get it over with before that kid comes back!”

“Okay.” Shani put the book down without even a final cursory glance. Standing near the bars of the cage, he took a long, deep breath and held the spoon in his right hand at arm's length. Putting one foot forward, he recited a long incomprehensible incantation, raising his left arm above his head, then drawing his right arm back carefully. “Linaie D'ind-drou!” Shani cried out loudly and struck one of the bars with the spoon. When this happened, all of the bars near Shani came loose and bent outward to curl around themselves with an ear-splitting groan that scraped along Tione's spine. Tione quickly covered her ears just before the part of the cage that had broken off crashed onto the table, causing a light tremor inside the cage. Shani lowered the spoon, panting. Aleric glanced down at his sword disdainfully.

“Well— I did it!” he grinned, then plopped down onto the cage floor exhaustedly.

It was impressive, but no long it took so long to learn. She still wanted to; Elin seemed to have thought it important that she did. If nothing else, she'd do it for her memory. “Well, let's not wait around here. Let's escape!”

“Right,” Geddon said, picking up his bag. Daisy danced onto his shoulder, her slender tail whipping excitedly. “Superb, Shani!”

They wasted no time in getting out of the cage and onto the table. But once there, they were presented with another problem.

“How do we get down from here?” Shani asked.

Geddon crossed his hands behind his head thoughtfully. “It seems we are not, as the saying goes, out of the woods yet.”

The room they were in probably could have held a large human village, but other than that it was hardly spectacular. A simple bed lay on the floor over a window that afforded a few of the clouds—it had begun to grow dark. Tione looked to Aleric. “What about that rope of yours? If we could tie it to something, then we can climb down.”

Aleric pouted, but opened his satchel anyway. “But if we use that, then I'll have to leave it behind.”

“Come on Al, it's just rope. You can get more later,” Tione said.

“If you like, I'll pay for it,” Geddon added, trying to give Aleric an encouraging smile.

“Oh, all right…” Aleric said, taking the rope from his satchel. “But this rope kind of means a lot to me. It's gotten me out of a lot of tight spots… and into a few.”

Tione could tell that it had been used quite a bit—the ends were frayed, and along its entire length it was almost black with filth. When Aleric let any amount of it fall to the surface of the table, particles of dirt were shaken off. Most of it appeared to be flexible, but watching Aleric handle it, she could tell that parts of it had become stiff and encrusted with several different colors of grime. She told herself to ask Aleric someday about all the places it had been.

Geddon had obviously been observing the state of the rope as well, and regarded like a serpent that might at any moment strangle him. “Well… I have an idea,” he said. “Why don't you cut off a small piece of it to keep as a memento?”

Even as Aleric removed his knife to do so, Tione said, “No, no, we don't have time for that! We have to get out of here before the kid comes back!”

At that moment, the door on the other side of the room swung open, and a fully-grown male giant stepped into the room with a puzzled expression on his enormous bushy-bearded face. “Ragul, what was that noise? Ragul? Are you in here?”

Shani gulped. “Looks like someone heard us escaping…”

Tione watched the giant peer around the room. It wouldn't be long until they were noticed. The man wore a simple long dark green tunic tied with leather laces at the chest and plain dark hose. His shaggy hair hung down over his eyes. His broad, hairy hands were easily large enough to hold the small temple of Sofia back in Sheste, each finger thicker than any tree she'd ever seen. “You don't suppose that's the father that the mother giant said should be allowed to see us or the kid would never see us again?” Tione asked.

“I don't wanna be eaten…” Aleric groaned.

The giant's eyes turned to the table. To the horror of those upon it, he lumbered over to the table and squatted down so that he was eye level with them. The giant looked to be fairly middle aged. Up close, it was apparent his dark hair was turning gray. His snub nose was much bigger than Tione, and each nostril was big enough to resemble a small tunnel. “Hello,” the giant whispered slowly as if they were children who were only just learning to speak. “My name is Warel.”

“He's whispering so that nobody hears him talking to his snack…” Aleric shuddered.

The giant's huge brown eyes blinked. “Oh. Just a moment,” he whispered. He reached down to pull something out of his pocket. After a moment, he took out a long black cord and stuck the black thing that was dangling at one end into his ear and held out another black object that was attached to the other end up to the frightened humans. “If you can speak,” he said softly, “then speak into this.”

All four of them stood motionless for a moment until Tione, her arms clutching her sides in anxiousness, carefully approached the small black object in the giant's massive fingers. The thing he was holding was about as big as her head, and was made of some hard substance, except for the end, which seemed to be covered with a spongy material that reminded Tione of black fungus. Leaning over so her mouth was close to it, she asked, “Are you going to eat us?”

Warel looked puzzled for a moment, then laughed. “Of course not,” he said once he had stopped. “Oh, dear, no! Putting aside the fact that you are too small to even be eaten as snacks, I would never do something so barbaric. Oh, no! As a matter of fact, I am what is known as a human rights activist.” He closed his eyes sadly. “Most people in the world of giants do not believe that humans are intelligent creatures, including everyone in my family, bless their souls. However, I believe that humans, while not advanced as we are, are indeed intelligent creatures, complete with language, the beginnings of what may become a culture of some sort, developing comprehension of the arts and a primitive hierarchical system of government, and therefore not deserving to be treated as pets or part of a collection. And for the first time, I have proven the existence of human intelligence by inventing this device that allows a giant to understand the normally incomprehensible noises made by humans. You see, without this, your speech sounds like not much more than high-pitched squeaking. Yes… I imagine it was quite disconcerting to you!”

Geddon approached Warel's device. “Well… you see… we all thought that you were going to eat us. Um… I am Geddon, and these are my friends Shani, Tione and Aleric.” He gestured to each one.

“I can see why you might have believed that…” Warel said. “But you needn't worry; I won't eat you. On the contrary, I am going to free you.”

“Well,” Aleric said. “This is a strange turn of events. But at least we'll be getting out of here now.”

Warel nodded. “Indeed. But before I send you on your way, I'd like you to do a favor for me.”

“What's that?” Shani asked.

“Recently, I studied other animals that have close relationships to humans. I studied dogs for some time, obtaining one for myself. Now that I have no use for it, taking care of it is more trouble than it's worth because of its tiny size. Besides that, it's terrified of me,” Warel lamented. “So I'd like to turn over care of the animal to you. I'm sure it will be much happier that way.”

The four looked at each other. “A dog?” they more or less all asked.

“That's right. You see, usually, when a human stops by the castle, it gets captured by my son… and as much as it breaks my heart to take away his pets, I know that I cannot allow intelligent creatures to be kept captive!” Warel said dramatically. “As such, after I obtain information for my research from the humans, I usually send them off with some sort of gift in appreciation. However, I'm all out of harps that eat golden eggs and geese that play with themselves…”

“Told you,” Aleric whispered to Tione smugly.

Tione held her forehead in her palm. “All right, all right,” she muttered.

“…And so giving you this young dog is the least I can do for you who have helped me so much in my quest.” Warel finished. “It may aid you in whatever journeys lie ahead.”

“Sure, whatever,” Tione said. Well, how much trouble could one dog be?

“I like dogs,” Shani murmured.

“In order to sneak you into my study, you will have to get into my pocket,” Warel whispered. “And we have to hurry, before my son returns… Poor Ragul,” he said. “I try to offer him other kinds of pets. But, he's just not interested… No matter how many times I try gingerbread, it runs off—and peanut butter, while less jittery, is far too crumbly.” Warel put his hand, palm up, onto the table. “Anyway, get onto my hand. Once we're in the study, you can escape from the house through the human exit I've built into one of the walls.”

“Can we trust him?” Aleric asked.

“What do you mean?” Geddon asked.

“Well… what if he's lying?”

Tione shoved Aleric toward Warel's hand. “Just get on the hand!”

“I'm sorry about any discomfort you might experience,” Warel said as they sat down, “but it's the only thing I can do without raising suspicion. I think my wife is onto me as it is.” He carefully placed all four humans into the pocket. It was like being placed inside a massive cloth bag. Almost immediately, they felt themselves moving forward. The back-and-forth jerking motion made by Warel's steps was indeed uncomfortable, and his secret passengers found themselves jammed together rather awkwardly in the dark pocket.

“Shani, your foot is digging into my shin…”

“Aleric, if you don't move your hand, I'll…”

“That hurts!”

“You trying to get cute with me?!”

“Everyone, stop moving around!”

“Aaah! Shani, please watch your hands!”

“Ow! My head!”

“Listen,” Geddon said. “Anybody passing by might not hear us, but the way we're moving around, someone's bound to see something moving around inside the giant's pocket, so I suggest we all try to remain calm and stay as still as possible.”

Everyone stopped struggling, but Aleric was still splayed across Tione's lap, and her cheek was pressed against the itchy, coarse material.

“Where are we going once we get out of here?” Shani asked.

“Our ultimate destination is Sela, but we shouldn't go there until we've found the other four people we're supposed to find,” Tione said.

“So where?” Aleric asked. “Do you know how hard it'll be to find four specific people in a whole kingdom?”

“Well,” Geddon said, “it's a long way to Sela. Why don't we head there and see what happens? If we can get to my father, then perhaps he can help explain some of this.”

“My home is in Florda. That's on the way to Sela from here,” Aleric said. “Maybe my grandpa Mok can tell us what to do.”

That hadn't occurred to Tione. Why not just track down some of the original people from the list and ask them? “Okay,” Tione said. “After we get out of the castle, we'll take a look at the map and figure out which way to head next.”

Aleric shuddered. “I just want to get out of this damn pocket,” he muttered.

“What's your problem?” Tione asked.

“Do you have any idea what we're sitting next to?”

After a few minutes of awkward silence, everyone felt the slightly nauseating walking motion cease. “We're here,” Warel said quietly and carefully pulled each human out of his pocket and placed them onto a desk.

Tione looked around Warel's desk, which looked large enough to fit the Sheste marketplace onto. There wasn't much on it, but she did see piles of huge pieces of paper, each one bearing writing so large that each period was just smaller than her own fist, strange-looking writing utensils as long as Aleric was tall and a monstrous metal device standing in one corner. She couldn't make out the details at the top of the thing because it gave off such a bright light that it hurt to look at it. It was undoubtedly a magic torch—a glass bulb enchanted with a light spell, but far bigger than one she'd ever imagined.

Warel rummaged around in a drawer large enough to hold a medium-sized dragon. “Ah, here it is.” Warel held up a small box, taking care not to tilt or shake it, and placed it upon the desk. It was too tall to see everything that was inside it when Warel opened it up, but Tione could tell that this was the box the dog was being kept in from the impatient canine whimpering and yapping sounds coming from it. Warel gingerly reached his hand into the box and pulled out its contents.

The dog was a small puppy with short, cream-colored fur, a short hyperactive tail, and large ears that flopped down on either side of its head. Its head was very round, its muzzle was small and short, and its round black eyes seemed to be staring blankly at nothing at all. It looked almost like a toy rather than a living thing, almost eerily so.

“I'm afraid it doesn't appear to be very smart,” Warel said as he removed his device from his pocket and once again held it up to the humans on the desk so they could speak to him. “But I can't keep him like this any more, and the last human refused to take him with him.”

“It's so cute!” Shani said, bending down to pick up the little dog. Its little legs pumped the air like it was attempting to run.

“I'm sure it will be no problem to look after it. If nothing else, we can bring it to the next city and find it an appropriate home,” Geddon said. He looked to Tione and Aleric. “Is it all right with you?”

“I don't care either way,” Tione said.

“I wouldn't mind having a dog along,” Aleric said.

“Good,” Warel said. “Now, if you'll just do me one more favor before you leave…” He held up four small strips of flexible white material and placed them on the desk. “I simply need you to put these around your wrists. They're tags that I can use to identify you if I ever see you again. Each one has your name and your own assigned number.”

Tione looked at the one she had picked up. It read “TIONE- #54.” Shrugging, she wrapped the tag around her left wrist and snapped the fastener closed. It fit snugly around her wrist like a bracelet and was made from a hard, slick material colored a soothing light blue.

“Okay…” Aleric replied.

“I don't see how it could hurt,” Shani said, fastening his tag around his wrist like a bracelet.

“I feel degraded… Isn't this kind of insulting?” Aleric asked.

“Shut up.”

Once everyone had fastened on their tags, Warel smiled. “I don't know how to thank you. You've done so much for me, to only receive your freedom in return, which is something that every human deserves anyway.”

Suddenly, there came a knock at the door. “Warel? Are you talking to someone in there?”

Warel looked startled. “No, dear, just talking to myself! ” His expansive brow wrinkling, he hurried over to a bookshelf that was standing against one of the walls and pushed it aside without so much as a grunt. Once it was moved, Tione could see that, down by the floor, a small piece of cloth had been attached to the wall that fluttered gently as from the flow of air.

Warel came back over to the desk. “That's your escape route. Everyone, quickly get onto my hand.” He was whispering much more softly now, wary of his wife's suspicions.

Everyone quickly did as asked, Aleric cradling their canine cargo in his arms. Warel walked to the opposite wall and placed them on the floor near the cloth hanging from the wall, one last stomach-flipping lurch resulting from the sudden altitude change; Tione held on to one of Warel's fingers tightly. “If you move that cloth aside, there's a hole that you can use to go through the wall and escape.”

“Great! All right, let's go!” Aleric said, moving the cloth aside and charging through the hole, followed by Tione and Shani. "Hey, thanks!" he called back.

“Thank you, Warel!” Geddon bowed stiffly and followed his friends through the hole.

“Have a safe journey,” Warel said back.

Tione looked back where they had come from. For a moment, some light filtered through the cloth hiding the hole, but after a second, it disappeared as Warel pushed the bookshelf back into place with a thunderous rumble. “Come on, everyone. Let's get out of here and back down to Jigsaw.”