Chapter 25 (Patreon)

Flint and Winona were out of breath by the time they got to the wall—Winona more so than him. Mage’s weren’t known for training their bodies as much as their minds and arcane skills. They often relied on spells to bolster their physical prowess. Flint recalled Winona’s bolts reducing in number as she jumped along the roofs and pillars. She was likely repurposing their energy to enhance her body.

When they started climbing the stairs, Flint had to drag Winona behind him. Even though she’d proven herself as a cooperative prisoner, he didn’t want to risk her running off to hide in the fort’s grounds and finding some way to unlock her manacles. Flint didn’t know whether she could use her magic during daylight hours and had no intention of finding out.

The emotions radiating off Maya from the parapets above concerned Flint. He sensed a combination of fear, excitement, and curiosity. She didn’t send him any images, though, leaving the suspense to build. Given the stitch in Flint’s side and his troubles catching his breath, it was probably for the best. The headaches that accompanied the images would make battling the stairs that much more challenging.

Winona’s eyes widened when they reached the top and found the source of Maya’s concern. It was the shaggy, horned creature from the night Flint found Lea’s sword. It sat at the bottom of the slope, just beyond the grass’s end. The creature’s club sat next to it, standing on its weighted end. The weapon was almost as tall as the monster and appeared to be made of dense wood tied together with braids of hair. It sat cross-legged, glancing between the wall and a boulder as giant as its head. One of the beast’s four-fingered hands held a skinny black implement, while the other held the rock stead.

“What in the world is it doing?” Flint asked, furrowing his brow.

“Carving,” Winona said. “It’s a hill giant. They live mostly along the edges of Gator Teeth mountains and similar ranges near disk edges.”

“That’s good, and all, but is the monster dangerous?” Flint leaned over the parapets, squinting his eyes. Despite [Keen Eye]’s enhancements, he still couldn’t determine the monsters face behind all the shaggy fur. “What the hell does it want?”

“I don’t know. They’re known for their unpredictability. Hill giants mostly stay within their territories and only leave to hunt game during dire times. Given the time of the ear, there should be plenty out there for it to kill and eat, though.” Winona’s brow furrowed as the hill giant looked up at its green eyes glinted at them through the fur. Flint spotted four. “Some fae settlements offer them tributes for protection. They don’t get involved in wars but keep the more violent creatures of the disk edge away. I’ve never seen one like this, though. Those eyes and the horns just don’t feel right.

Flint and Winona held their breath as the creature climbed onto its feet. It waved at them, and Flint awkwardly waved back. “Maybe it’s friendly?” He asked. “I saw it the night I went up to the fort. It watched us for a while from a distance before walking towards the western hills.”

“Let’s hope you’re right,” Winona said. “Though they avoid settlements, hill giants are brutal when they get in. They don’t care what you are. As long as you’re not another giant, they’ll happily eat you.”

“So the offerings and tribute function as protection from them too?”

Winona nodded.

The Hill giant squatted and used its knees to lift the giant block. Then it leaned back, adjusted its footing and hurled the rock at them. “Get down!” Flint exclaimed, pulling Maya off the ledge. He pressed his hands to the stone, inhaled deeply before calling for [Reinforce]. The familiar golden light flowed down his arms and into his hands. A pulse spread from his palms since there were no cracks to fill. Much to Flint’s surprise, the light’s brightness and reach were much greater than his last use. He guessed it had gained strength when [Building] turned into [Defensive Construction].

The boulder struck the wall, shattered and sprayed either side with shrapnel. Flint jumped to his feet straight after to check on the giant. It stood in place, leaning on its club. After a couple of minutes of staring, it waved again, turned around and walked off to the left of the pass, disappearing from view. Flint jumped to his feet as soon as it was out of sight and rushed to the wall’s edge. He hung from the parapets, looking for damage.

Except for a chip above the gates and dirt from the boulder, the wall was more or less unharmed. He picked and gave it a quick study. “It’s brittle,” Flint said. “I reckon it would’ve damaged the old wall, but this one is much too strong for that.”

“What does that mean?” Winona asked, furrowing her brow.

“I don’t know. The hill giant might’ve been testing our defences, or it was a warning.”

“Why in Luna’s name would it wave, though?” She took the stone from Flint and ran a finger along the clean break. “Hill giants consider themselves funny. It might’ve been messing with us too.”

Flint sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose. “As if I didn’t have enough concerns already.” He grumbled.

Flint cracked the doors open and collected the fragments looking for whatever the hill giant was carving. It took them an hour to gather the pieces and get a rough image together. “Is that the sun?” Flint asked, squinting and angling his head. It looked like a dot with lines coming out of it like rays of light.

Winona shook her head. She ran an index finger along the rough groove drawn across the image’s centre. It went up and down and zigzagged all over the place. He had assumed it was a crack. “This looks like the mountains, and I think that’s the fort or whatever you found hidden in it. Certain magically sensitive creatures can visualise and feel magic much better than humans and the high fae.” Winona’s tone and stiff shoulders gave away her concern. “Hill giants can sense magic, but it shouldn’t be acute enough for a visualisation,” she said. “This is worrying.”

“Let’s head back.” Flint kicked the stones, scattering them, before leading Winona inside and working the gate’s closing mechanism. He froze when he spotted a human-sized movement on the horizon. Flint’s breath caught in his throat as he prayed that it wasn’t more fae. The wind picked up, and the shapes disappeared. It was likely they’d seen the hill giant too. Hoping the monstrous presence would keep the strangers at bay, he secured the only entrance into the fort. “Maya, look out for movement,” he said. “If nothing shows by sunset, run up to the camp. Alright?”

Maya yapped her approval and won a head scratch for her understanding. “Let’s head back up. We’ve lost most of the morning already.”

The pair headed uphill in silence, and Flint tried to picture bringing down a hill giant. The creature’s physical prowess was bad enough. Without an alchemist’s creation, powerful weaponry, or someone with a well-trained Mind Node, bringing the beast down would be impossible. He bet Winona’s magic would fare well against it, but she’d be of no help, of course. The class quest felt like his only solution.

Flint hoped guiding Maya and Bjorn into the next stage of their existence would improve their chances. If he got a powerful skill stone for his [Mind Node], then he could train the skill to bring down larger threats too. It would come in handy when the Wyld’s war beasts and trolls inevitably arrived at their gates.

“The fae don’t use skill stones or nodes, do they?” Flint asked as they closed in on his build side.

“We have nodes but don’t require stones,” Winona answered. “Looking at how Bjorn has grown, I assume you can guide his growth?” Flint nodded. “It’s similar for us. We fae are one with the land. We breathe the disk’s essence and hold onto pieces of it to refine and strengthen our cores. Whatever our body doesn’t naturally distribute to bolster our minds and bodies, the Heartstone lets us distribute.”

“That’s fascinating.” Flint tried to imagine what Winona’s node compass and the space around it looked like. He bet it was more complicated than Maya’s or Bjorn’s. “Let me guess. You invested heavily in the [Mind Node]?”

“The order pushed us to naturally train towards every node before distributing the Heartstone’s collected essence,” Winona replied. “I distributed the bulk of it between Mind and Aura and saved some for Control. Balance is necessary for success.”

“I couldn’t agree more. It’s not fair that the Heartstone doesn’t give you nodes and skill stones, though.”

“We don’t need them. All fae have the natural ability to refine essence and use magic. It takes more effort to reign in and practise cultivating the disk’s energy than the skill stones, and an individual’s talents can differ. However, we live longer than humans and therefore have more time to master our gifts.”

Flint eagerly got to work once at the worksite. He attacked the surrounding rubble first. Turning them into blocks made everything more manageable and tidier. He needed ample space to work and dig. Winona had protested, but he had bound her chains to a nearby wall. Flint didn’t feel great about the action, but she was still a prisoner at the end of the day. Despite the relaxed tone of their conversation, he didn’t want her to get the wrong idea.

At the same time, Flint was thankful for her presence. He had learnt more about the fae and gained an understanding of the war than ever before. The Iron Army’s propaganda kept them from asking too many questions regarding the enemy. The soldiers and builders were allowed to learn about the different Wyld troops, their physical prowess, and potential spells but rarely anything more. It felt good to know that humans and fae were more or less the same despite the animosity.

With every passing hour, Flint got more focused on the job at hand, and his muscles relaxed. For once, not hearing anything from Maya was a good thing. He felt terrible about her staying on the walls, but at the same time, it was reassuring to know no threats were heading towards them.

The armies rarely moved after nightfall. Flint doubted wild beasts were a significant threat to either side, but it felt foolish to attract their attention. Most Iron Army contingencies were trained to fight the creatures of the night. However, such encounters almost always ended with injuries, if not death. Flint guessed it was the same for the Wyld’s troops. Neither side wanted their troops hurt before a major fight.

Besides, not all fae had night vision either. Flint guessed Winona’s magic let her see in the dark just as well as in the light, but pucks and sylphs didn’t share the same gifts. If not for her, her party would’ve probably not travelled in the dark—Flint didn’t know about brownies, but the puck archer’s inaccuracy made more sense. As dusk approached, the chances of an army descending on the fort reduced, and Flint finished the day’s work on a high note. He hadn’t started digging yet, but the site was clean, and he had plenty of building blocks for future projects.