R.B. Ashton
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Enter the Nidings: Chapter 15
🕑 Added 2021-11-01 10:01:01 +0000 UTC***Part 15 of 16. Can the team survive a daring escape from the giant queen?***
Grawn landed on the giant arm, by the shoulder, and stumbled to gain his footing, off-balanced by his armour. He ran, continuing right over the curve of the shoulder. Serin rose in surprise, reaching her other hand up to grab him, and as she twisted Arabel saw Grawn duck, sliding under her grip. He moved with more grace than looked natural for him, clearly warned by Eko’s commands. Yet the giantess’s quick turning threw him off and he jumped towards her back, out of view. Hopefully caught hold of her hair.
Serin stood as she tried to get hold of this nuisance, and Caracae did her next bit of magic. Arabel yelped as she and the other three captives were lifted into the air. They floated up over the lip of the chest and back down – quickly – onto the hard wood floor. The landing was abrupt and knocked Arabel off her feet, with Caracae unable to see where she dropped them. Then the witch sprang out, dress billowing as she landed next to Arabel. She paused there, watching Serin.
The queen took a step away from them, almost hitting the bed, shaking the ground as she reached over her shoulder. From this angle, she looked absolutely mountainous, the muscles of her big thighs taut as she moved, a sandalled foot powerful enough to crush a house thumping into the ground. Snarling, she twisted, unable to catch hold of Grawn. The same time, Lier and Vunce started running for the doorway, while Fell readied himself with his sword drawn.
Grawn’s armour glinted in the light as he re-emerged on Serin’s other shoulder, having somehow skirted the back of her neck. Rather than strike her, he jammed his sword down, into the necklace, and levered it sideways. Serin’s head whipped around to get him in view, hand coming towards him, and Grawn ducked again, moving just before she caught him. He jumped back a step across her shoulder, and as she swung her hand out he leapt up, ran two steps over the back of her hand, and landed with the sword swinging into the chain. Something broke, and Serin flinched to the side with a surprised sound, the attack catching her, too.
Princess Vivaria screamed from inside Serin’s top as her support was severed: the chain came free from around the giantess’s neck and suddenly slipped down her top. Caracae stepped forward, raising her hands, as the cage dropped out the bottom of Serin’s short dress, down between her enormous legs. It fell fast towards the floor, but at the giant’s ankle height it slowed, jerked still, and hovered for a moment in the air. Arabel watched Caracae grimace with concentration as she held her hands towards the cage, then she drew her arms back and it flew quickly towards them. Arabel and Fell dived aside as the cage sailed between them then hit the boards and rolled. Vivaria shrieked all the way until it rolled to a stop, then she started gasping for breath.
Arabel stood as Caracae marched over to the cage and aimed her hands at the gold bars of the cage. The ground shook and Arabel swept around to see Serin take a step towards them, angry. Caracae strained, pulling her hands apart to widen the bars in the metal, as the queen tilted her head and said, “Witch. You did this.”
“Hurry!” Vivaria cried, pressing herself to the bars as they slowly bent out.
Arabel backed up next to the cage, looking fearfully from the princess up to the giantess as the monstrous queen took another step towards them. Grawn had slipped onto Serin’s enormous breast, and hung onto a handful of her dress, kicking for purchase. As Serin took her final step towards them, he spun his sword around and jammed it through the dress, to nick her breast. She gave a short hiss of pain, shrugging her shoulder and slapping a hand up towards him. He was bounced upwards, and the thundress caught him in a fist, at last. She lifted him with eyes aflame as he got one arm free of her grip to beat at her fingers.
“For the king!” Fell roared and charged forwards in a desperate bid to distract the giantess, sword above his head. Serin paused to look down at him, forgetting Grawn for a moment. She lifted her sandalled foot. He barely looked up before she stomped on him, crushing him with a terrible crunch.
Caracae exhaled and stepped back, her task done, and Arabel spun to see Vivaria squeezing through the gap in the bars, not quite enough space. Arabel jumped to her aid, getting an arm around Vivaria’s waist and heaving. Above them, the giantess slowly crouched with satisfaction, holding Grawn up in a tightening grip as she brought her other hand over. Tugging at Vivaria, cursing, Arabel saw a tiny shape fall from Grawn – Eko, either jumping or knocked off his shoulder. She hit the giantess’ fingers and fell off, toppling into a deadly fall.
“No!” Arabel yelled, and the horror gave her new strength, to give a final tug. In a tangle of thick dress, with the princess’s panicking hands slapping at her, Arabel pulled Vivaria free of the cage and they rolled away together. She gave another quick look up to see Eko moving fast, at an unnatural angle, flying straight into Caracae’s outstretched hand. No sooner had the witch pulled the tiny woman to her, Caracae shoved her in her mouth. Arabel froze in shock, then the witch raised her other hand towards her, and Arabel was suddenly pushed violently away, together with Vivaria – just as Serin’s fingers snapped closed over their position. Then they were floating, faster than before, whooshing back with the room spinning in a dizzying blur. The huge shape of Serin moved nearby, reaching for them, the queen snarling in frustration, but in a fast moment they landed safely on the window sill. Arabel staggered and looked at the tremendous fall beyond the window, as Vivaria ran clear of her, shrieking again.
Back in the room, Serin gave them an unimpressed look, suspecting they had nowhere to go from there, and turned her attention back to Caracae, at her feet. She reached quickly down for the witch, but Caracae pushed her hands behind her and shot to one side, propelled by magic. She sped between the queen’s legs, under the bed, making Serin turn clumsily on the spot. The queen roared frustration and thumped past the bed as Caracae emerged on the other side and rose, towards the sill. Serin redirected, towards Arabel and the princess, angrily pounding towards them.
Caracae got there just before her, swooping across Arabel’s vision like an eagle, swinging one hand out as her other pushed behind her. She caught Arabel’s wrist as she passed, and kept going. The giantess made a grab for them but they slammed, together, into the princess, and all three of them tumbled over the edge of the window sill, just out of reach. For a moment, Arabel was plummeting, the ground rapidly rising to meet her, then she jolted still, suspended in the air. She looked up, breathless, to see Caracae had landed on a brick just below the window, and had her hands raised. Vivaria hung twisting in the air just metres away, flailing around as she freaked out.
Serin pushed through the window, torso barely able to fit through the gap, searching for them – but as she did Caracae pulled the pair back into the wall, to land on a brick just below her. Arabel pressed herself into it and grabbed the princess’s arm as Vivaria lost balance. They met eyes and tensed as the Serin’s loud breath came out from the window. The wood creaked under her as she leant out, searching for them, but the bricks were jagged above, just hiding them from view. There was a slap as the queen’s hand hit the wall, and again as she probed along it.
“You little bastards!” Then she disappeared back inside.
Arabel leant out, avoiding looking down the dizzying height, as Vivaria whimpered in fear. She hissed, “Caracae! She’ll get the pole!”
The witch leant out from her own brick, spotting Arabel, then considering the drop. She nodded, then aimed her hand down at them. Arabel took Vivaria’s hand, making the princess yelp, then Caracae lifted them again. They floated quickly up, rather than down. Past the window, then further up, all the way over the peaked wooden roof. They dropped hard onto it and slid a few feet down the slope before managing to gain purchase and stop. Then Caracae rose up after them and landed gently, not far away.
Sure enough, a thumping announced Serin’s return to the window, and with huffs and a great snap of wood she manoeuvred her pole outside and started raking it over the bricks. Caracae wearily crawled down alongside Arabel and sat, as Vivaria stared at them, chest rising and falling rapidly. The queen angrily snorted, giving up, and went back inside again. Caracae rested onto her elbows, closing her eyes in acceptance that it was done.
“What now?” Vivaria demanded. “What on earth are we supposed to do on this roof?”
“Hide,” Arabel hissed back. “They’ll never see us here. We can hide and when they stop searching and Caracae has her energy back, we can get away.”
She looked to the witch to check that they were on the same page, and noticed then that her cheeks were bulging. Moving. Caracae reached up and took Eko from her mouth, the monster hunter drenched and flicking saliva off her limbs. She looked furious for a moment, but was thrown by the new location, the sky stretching out around them. Vivaria covered her mouth with a hand in surprise.
“We got away?” Eko asked with disbelief, and Caracae nodded, energy spent.
The witch rested back, almost lying down, and dropped Eko onto her stomach. The monster hunter got and patted at herself irritably, but was content to stay put, recovering her own strength. She looked up and found the princess gawking at her.
As everyone went quiet, Arabel listened for the movements of Serin below. No sound of her in the room. Arabel crawled back towards the edge of the roof to look over. It was a terrifyingly high distance down, though the slight slope of the tower’s wall suggested a fall would break her on the bricks before she hit the ground. She had a full view of the village, seeing it stretched much further back than she appreciated. There were dozens of massive huts and many more casually lingering giants than before.
Serin came shouting out of the tower. “To arms! There’s been a raid!”
It drove the tribe into action, barbaric thundresses charging to her, taking orders, and in seconds they were stalking around the tower. Arabel ducked back and only carefully peered over the edge again. Serin herself had strode out onto the grass and was staring up towards their position, but there was no way she could spot them here, was there? Arabel could see well enough that her hands were full, though, with people struggling in either fist. She must have caught Lier and Vunce on her way down, and still held Grawn.
Arabel sat back, breathing deeply. They were safe, for now, but what next?
