220) The Salvation of Eden, Chapter 47 -- Melkorn the Mighty

They recovered all the horses but one, Kohra’s mare. Luckily, only her sleeping roll and some clothes were still on the horse; the rest of her equipment had fallen in the roadway when they bolted. She doubled up with Reilly, and they rode on. 

Dominic figured it was best to stay off the Ogres’ trail, in case they came back or the trail attracted scavengers looking for leftovers. Cutting perpendicular to their path, he took them straight north for a half-day, higher into the foothills. The Ogres never came back. Kohra wondered what had happened to them. Probably, they had come across some other unfortunate souls.  She shuddered, thinking of the likely outcome.

When you step outside the little bubble of security you might be lucky enough to live in, the world Out There, where the monsters are, is completely indifferent. Unless it wants to eat you. People don’t realize how tenuous their existence is, and what lurks just beyond the border of The Known….

The second day after the Ogres, mid-afternoon, they crested a ridge, and there it was, the Pass of the Fallen Klliik. It was unmistakable. The mountaintop behind rose like a giant cone into the sky, clouds obscuring the upper peak. Much closer, about a half-hour ride uphill from their current position, stones the size of houses lay strewn in a jumbled mess across the ridge.

Gorb pulled up his steed immediately, dismounted, and lowered himself to one knee. As he bowed his head in solemnity, the others simply waited, knowing enough to maintain respectful silence, but otherwise mystified. 

After a minute, he stood back up and wiped his eyes.

“So, what’s so important about this place?” Lenny asked abruptly.

He let out a long sigh. “De statue o’ Grrreemorrrr. Twas once d’ entrrrance to a whole Klliik civilization.” He shook his head. “A long time ago, dis mountain rrrange, was Klliik terrrritorrry. Dis statue? We believed it prrrotected us.”

He paused, shaking his head again as if some part of him still couldn’t believe what had happened. “When de statue fell, the civilization fell wit’ it. We became a lost people.”

He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, his normally ruddy face ashen. “After d’war, we lost everrryt’ing. Our people scattered, just strrrruggling t’ survive.”

He sighed again, his body sagging a little, cursed to bear the weight of this story for its whole life, like Atlas holding up the sky. 

“Sometimes….” He looked up at the sky, like he was waiting for an answer from the Gods. Then he spat on the ground. “Sometimes I kinna say what a Klliik even is anymore.”

Without another word, he nudged his steed into motion and led them uphill, toward the giant stones of the broken statue. 

* * * * *

As they approached the first of the stones, considerably downhill from the bulk of the others, Kohra heard a strange whistling, and looked around, wondering what it was. About a second later, an enormous hunk of rock smashed into the ground not twenty feet from Reilly’s horse, sending it rearing in panic, Reilly and Kohra falling to the ground. 

“Look out!” Dominic shouted. Another boulder sailed towards them. This one landed further back, near Gorb, who dodged it without too much trouble, now that they had some warning.  

With a gasp, Kohra realized the source of these projectiles: a giant, truly Giant man, much taller and wider than even Flesh-Mountain had been, stood amidst the jumbled remnants of the once-magnificent statue. It seemed to be made not of flesh, but of earth, rocks, and tree bark. 

Another boulder flew toward them, tossed from one enormous hand, sidearm, like how a kid would skip a stone across the water. This one went wide, rolling past them and down the slope.

“It’s a Mountain Giant!” yelled Dominic. “They’re territorial! Back up! Everybody, back up! He should leave us alone, if we don’t threaten him….”

Keeping their horses as calm as possible, they turned slowly, then retraced their steps downhill.

Unfortunately, this particular Mountain Giant didn’t seem to be playing by the same rule book as Dominic. It picked up a particularly large, flat hunk of stone, and lumbered towards them, closing the distance quickly. The roar that came out of what they presumed was its face, sounded like a mudslide. 

This time, its aim was perfect, and they barely managed to wheel their horses to the side quickly enough to escape a direct hit from the immense boulder, the impact showering them with dirt and uprooted plants. 

The creature kept coming, tearing another boulder out of the ground without so much as a pause.

Without warning and for no apparent reason other than he had simply reached his limit of emotional endurance, Melkorn snapped, like completely, no-holds-barred, chickens-comin-home-to-roost, snapped. “Leave us ALOOONE!” he roared at the giant, kicking his heels into his horse and galloping the poor steed full tilt, straight towards the rocky behemoth. “HAMMMERRRRR!!!”

Lenny hollered up to Melkorn, “No, Korn!!” But it was too late. He’d already been incensed.  

“Hyyyaaahh!” Dominic urged his horse into pursuit, the others not far behind, except Kohra and Reilly, who took a bit of time to re-mount their terrified steed. In an absurd suicide charge, desperate to catch Melkorn, they thundered up the slope as the giant stomped down toward them. Another boulder smashed down from the sky, missing but showering Devona with dirt. 

When they were close enough, Kohra guessed, she pulled their horse to a halt so Reilly could take aim. A small red spark streaked past the others, then exploded into a huge ball of flame covering the giant’s entire chest for several seconds. He roared his mudslide-roar, swatting at the flames sprouting from his body. 

“Keep it distracted!” Dominic yelled. He switched to his oil-quiver, his “special arrows” that lit automatically from the flint-spark that engaged when he pulled each one from its slot. He had 15 such arrows, and fired as fast as he could while maintaining a full gallop. The first two bounced harmlessly off the giant’s stone-skin, but then he started sticking them into the wooden parts, catching them alight. 

Melkorn was only seconds away, still at full gallop, battle axe raised over his head with one hand. 

“Shoot its eyes!” Dominic shouted to the girls. They reined in their horses and leaped off, grouping together to form their Blaster-line. The giant raised a massive slab of stone high into the air, taking aim at Melkorn and the horse, who were approaching its toes. 

“No time for the Arc!” Lenny panted. Planting her feet, she rapid-fired FrostBolts in a withering barrage at the creature’s head. 

A second spark streaked past, exploding in the giant’s face. Reilly hollered her own high-pitched battle-yodel. “RRRRAAAAAAAAAA!!” 

Melkorn was almost there. Kohra tried to Shape, willing flame into her hand. Nothing. She grimaced, concentrating, putting all her willpower into it. For Melkorn!!

Nothing. 

A few feet in front of her, Gorb was firing his crossbow at the beast, so she reached for her own. Better than nothing….

Beside her, Devona was throwing apple-sized balls of black fire, like they were snowballs, as fast as she could, although nowhere near as quickly as Lenny’s assault.

A moment later, Melkorn’s charge ended as he reached a giant foot. The massive rock-man took careful aim, trying to focus while explosions and arrows pelted its face, its monstrous boulder-fist about to squish Melkorn like a bug, when one of Dominic’s arrows found its mark, still aflame, lodging directly in a woody eye socket.

The mud-slide screech was deafening, drowning out even Melkorn’s battle-cry as he half-leapt, half-fell off his horse, ran toward the giant, launched himself off one of its toes and then in mid-air, swung his axe ferociously into the rocky shin. Hopping on one foot in pain, it shook the entire hillside like it intended to bring the whole mountain down, but as it brought the injured leg back down, Melkorn was there, hacking into the wound like he was felling a tree.  A massive boulder-hand swatted blindly, the blow barely brushing Melkorn’s shoulder but so overwhelming that he plowed into the dirt. The horse screamed horribly as it too was smashed into the ground, its body twisted and broken.

Everyone kept up a constant stream of artillery, giving it everything they had: crossbow bolts, flaming arrows, Darkness Balls, and FrostBolts. But it was clear to them all that this was hopeless, despite Melkorn’s early success. A sore shin and a dead Mountain Giant are two very different things. 

But the indomitable farm-hand staggered back to his feet. Blinded by rage, undaunted by the fact he was the size of one of the creature’s toes, he sprinted back toward the wounded shin.  

Suddenly, an enormous hand of roots and stone curled around him, lifting him off the ground, up, up, high into the air towards the giant’s head. But Melkorn was more than this giant had bargained for, managing with a mighty heave to wrench his arms and axe free. He swung hard, half-severing something that might have been a thumb. 

The wooden and stone fingers loosened their grip. Melkorn took advantage of the opportunity to haul his legs out and scramble up until he was standing on top of the giant’s fist, the fist which was now heading straight for its mouth.  

Melkorn leapt, burying his axe right in the center of the stony chest. Huge root-fingers grabbed and flung him, the way one would toss a biting insect, the axe tearing out of its chest and spraying the slope with green-brown blood. 

He landed hard, rolling and bouncing several feet before sliding to a stop. Squinting, he struggled to bring the giant into focus. His chest felt like fire, his vision blurring. Then, he saw it. Incredibly, it had fallen to its knees!

He also saw his axe, just a few feet away. 

Somehow, against all reason, it was Melkorn the Mighty who rose first. He gripped his axe in both hands. “COME ONNN!!” 

The giant, smoking and charred, pumping green-brown blood-slime out of many wounds, turned and limped uphill. Evidently, this afternoon snack simply wasn’t worth it.

Melkorn stood fiercely, axed raised, eyes burning with rage, until the giant disappeared over the ridge. Then the big man fell to his knees on the frozen ground, dropped his axe and promptly slipped into unconsciousness. 

Gorb was there in a flash, kneeling over him, one hand to the sky, one on Melkorn’s chest while he prayed. 

Nothing. 

Melkorn spluttered, coughing up blood. Reilly knelt beside him, holding his bloodied hand, tears dripping on his cheeks as she sobbed. 

Melkorn opened one eye; the other didn’t seem to be working. Everything hurt. Lenny came into focus, crouching nearby, looking down at something. At him? He tried to look around with his functioning eye, although his head felt far too heavy to be moved. He was the sky. Was he outside? Someone was crying. There were screams, like an animal being tortured. Lenny came back into focus. 

“You look like crap, Melkorn.”

He cracked a smile, wincing, and croaked, “Yeah, but you should see the other guy.” He tried to laugh, but it turned into blood. Lenny disappeared and his eye looked again at the sky. So bright today…so shiny….

Then his eye closed, his face contorting in pain as his body coughed out blood, his breath coming in shallow, ragged gurgles. 

Gorb kept praying, tears streaming down his cheeks, one hand still stretched towards the heavens.

Still, nothing.

“Look!” Devona called from up ahead. She was pointing to a log they hadn’t noticed in the chaos. It was resting atop two pillars of stone, carved into a sign, “Grok’s Trading Post – 1/2 mile”, with an arrow pointing toward the Pass. 

“Let’s go!” Dominic shouted. “We can get help there!”

Kohra’s glance pierced like one of his arrows. “We can’t travel!” She moved her eyes pointedly over to Melkorn, dropping her voice to a whisper. “He’ll die!”

“Half a mile isn’t too —” Dominic began.

“He’ll never make it!” Kohra interrupted, shouting. “He needs to get warm! We need to treat him!”

“How in the HELLS are we going to do that out here?!!” Dominic shouted right back at her. “Maybe if you learned to bloody SHAPE, YOU could heal him!” 

“Fernal YOU!” She turned away, hiding her tears behind her anger. But…he was right. She was useless.

“You two! Hush!” Lenny’s whisper cut them off. She pointed at Reilly, who was holding Melkorn’s hand. The little girl wasn’t crying anymore. She was singing, very softly, a song they’d never heard before, in a language they had never heard before either. It sounded faintly like something you’d sing to a baby to put them to sleep, and in moments, they all began to feel like a thick, furry blanket had been pulled over them, and they could, for a while, rest. Just…rest.

A few moments after the song ended, Reilly opened her eyes. Everyone was staring at her. Kohra stifled a yawn. Lenny didn’t bother, stretching her arms towards the sky and yawning like she wanted to sleep for months.

“What did you do?” Dominic asked.

Sheepish, Reilly scuffer her moes on the frigid ground. “I told him he’s a bear. He’s, uh, kind of like hibernating,” she whispered, finger to her lips. Indeed, Melkorn had stopped coughing blood, and his breathing had deepened, exactly like he was having a long, long rest.

Gorb stood up and walked stiffly towards the horses, picking Melkorn’s axe off the ground and gathering up whatever bits of equipment had come loose in the battle. 

Melkorn’s horse still lay on the ground where it had fallen, emitting an unearthly whine, legs twitching spasmodically. Lenny shook off her sleepiness, and rushed over. One entire side was turning a dark purple, and one leg was clearly broken, bone shards sticking out of the snapped limb. 

“Don’t look.” Her voice was wan, shaky, little more than a whisper.

They turned away as she stepped behind the horse’s head. There was a sudden, short-lived shriek, and then silence. When they looked back, Lenny had covered it with her own cloak and was squatting beside it, holding her face in her hands. 

Gorb returned a minute later with the remaining horses, his face a stony mask. 

“’Ee needs healin’.” He nodded toward Melkorn. “Dom? ’alf a mile? Can we carrrry ‘im?”

Devona, bent over Melkorn, shaking her head. “No way. He’s got broken ribs, and blood in his lungs and…everything’s broken. I can’t tell. But, no. No way can you carry him.” 

“We need a litter,” Dominic decided. “Gorb! Dev! See those broken wagons and stuff?” He pointed to several piles of wreckage on the hillside, evidently from prior ‘encounters’. “We need two long poles, strong. And two short ones. Ok?” 

He turned to his equipment as they ran. Rope, a ground-sheet, a roll of strong twine. Perfect.

It only took a few minutes to fashion the pieces the others found into a serviceable litter. With everyone working together, they gently rolled Melkorn partway onto one side in order to slide the litter underneath, then rolled him back. Dominic tied him securely, wrapping him in every blanket they had. The big man’s skin was already white and pasty, his breath far too shallow. Nobody said anything. They didn’t need to. 

Dominic took the front and Gorb the rear, while the others gathered the horses, and together, the bedraggled band limped up the Fallen Klliik Pass toward the promise of a trading post where, they hoped, their problems would be solved.