Search the Forgotten - Chapter Eleven      There was a high pitched shriek and Jae and Skylar quickly glanced toward it while Orin kept his eyes on the giant before him.  The first giant, the one with the straight unkempt hair, was straightening up with an egootsirt plant in his large fist.      "No!" Jae yelled.  "That's not how you pick it!"  Arthester had taught him how to pick the egootsirt plants the last time they were here.  Even at this distance, the root had a visible sheen to it.      "Here!" the giant said as he swung his fist with the dangling plant toward Arif.  "Eat the root!"      As Arif tried to keep away from the giant, the curly haired giant bellowed, "We like roots too!"      Skylar returned his attention to the giant near him.  The giant stepped forward and Skylar quickly drew back the arrow he had nocked and he released it.  Its head seemed to bury itself in the center of the giant's chest.      "Puny poking thing," the curly haired giant said as he brushed the arrow from his chest.  It hadn't gone in deeply at all.  It barely scratched the giant's skin under his thick hide shirt.  He smiled, showing slightly yellowed teeth.  "I could shoot mine at you and make a big hole in you."      Skylar swung his bow over one shoulder and drew his sword in one fluid movement.  The giant swept his huge bow out in a horizontal arc.  Skylar dodged back and to one side, Orin ducked, Jae took a step back and tripped as his foot stepped into the hole he'd made when he removed that last egootsirt plant.      Rushing in, Orin jabbed the giant in the shin several times.  He dodged quickly out of the way as the giant swung his free hand at him.  Skylar tried slicing through the giant's calf, but the giant noticed and moved his leg out of the way.  Skylar refused to over reach himself however and danced to one side.  He let his sword's swing continue and tried to sever the bow string on the giant's bow.  It cut partway, but the bowstring was very strong and Skylar found himself thrown backward by the springiness of the bowstring.  He just managed to keep from falling and then he and Orin were facing the giant again.      "I have my human," the first giant said.  "Stay still, human."      "Mine play rough," the second giant said.  He eyed Skylar and Orin and grinned evilly.      Jae got to his feet.  He glanced uncertainly at the three in front of him, his two friends and the colossus.      "Here!" the straight haired giant said as he was shoving the root end of the plant toward Arif.  "You want to eat the root.  Here, eat it."      He looked toward Arif and the other giant and his eyes opened wide at the sight he saw.  The root was glistening with the slimy juices that had exuded out of the bruised sub-flesh that was just under the root's skin.      "No!" Jae shouted.  "That's too dangerous!  It wasn't picked right!"      Arif tried to keep the giant from feeding him the root, to no avail.  "No," he gasped before the giant finally succeeded in force feeding him.      "Eat the dream root!" the giant ordered.      Jae didn't know who to help first.  He was torn and confused for a moment.  "What do I do?" he asked softly of the air around him.      Skylar tried to jab the curly haired giant in the giant's right leg while Orin tried for the giant's left shin again.  Their attempts were futile and both dodged back.  Skylar glanced at Jae.      "Can you do anything?" he shouted to the apprentice mage.  He turned his attention back to the giant.      Jae glanced at the sky, his eyes going from dark brown to dusty brown and removed his leather gloves.  He raised his hands, fingers splayed and arms outstretched wide.  Thunder rumbled as dark storm clouds covered the sky in only seconds.  Lightning flashed and twin bolts struck Jae, one bolt to each hand.  The lighting danced around his body and was held by his aura, sparking and glowing, as a nimbus around the full moon glows.  He pointed one hand at each giant and the blue white lightning was released.  Bolts loudly cracked out, one from each hand, striking each giant in the chest.  The giants jerked and dropped their weapons.  They writhed and dropped to the ground as the lightning from Jae ceased.      "Wow!"  Skylar exclaimed.      "I didn't know he could do that," Orin said.  He sheathed his short sword and Skylar did the same with his blade.      Jae rubbed his hands together.  "My hands itch," he complained, blinking dark brown eyes.  He looked around; at the fallen giants with thin tendrils of smoke rising from their chests, at his astonished friends, at Arif.  The man was shaking and jerking.      "Arif!" Jae exclaimed.  "He's convulsing!"      The three companions rushed to their downed friend.  By the time they reached him, Arif was motionless.  Jae and Skylar carefully rolled the larger man over.  Jae put his leather gloves back on and reached into Arif's mouth and removed what there was of the egootsirt root.  "Get me some water!  One of the water skins!"  Skylar ran to the horses.  "Arif!" Jae yelled.  "Speak to me!"      Orin reached out to slap Arif, to rouse him, but Jae stopped him.  "Don't.  The egootsirt root's juices are all over his face.  If you get any on you, you could be affected."      "In what way?" Orin asked, pulling his hands back.      "I'm not sure," Jae said.  "It might just be hallucinations.  It could be convulsions like he just had.  It could be both.  I just don't know."  He listened to Arif's chest for a moment.  He sighed as he straightened up.  "At least he's breathing.  His heart is beating fast though."      Skylar returned with the water skin.  "Pour some of it gently over his face," Jae said.  As the blond man poured, Jae turned Arif's face from side to side and wiped the smeared juices off.  He had Skylar pour more water over his gloved hands to rinse them off.  Then, when the last of the water dripped out of the skin, he got up and walked over to the sack of egootsirt roots he'd dropped.  He carefully picked it up and put the gloves inside the sack.  Then he closed it.      "Is that all you're going to do?" Orin exclaimed, running over to the young black haired man.  He gestured toward Arif's still form.  "You've got to do something to bring him around!"      "What would you have me do?" Jae shouted back.  "I'm not a doctor!  I'm not a healer!  I'm a cook and an apprentice."      "Can't you," Orin said, wiggling his fingers in the air, "do something wizardly?"      Jae rolled his eyes skyward.  The clouds were nearly gone.  "I would if I could!  I would if it worked that way."  He glared at his friends.  "I don't know enough!"  He turned frightened eyes toward where Arif lay.      Skylar trotted over to the two.  "You knew enough to bring down lightning and kill those giants!"      "They aren't dead, only knocked out," Jae said quietly with a glance at the downed hulks.  "And I didn't...."      "Not dead?" Orin said, glancing at one of the fallen giants.  He saw the huge chest move as a slow breath was taken.  "We have to get out of here," he muttered.      "We have to get Arif back to Master Jalivay," Jae said.  "He'll know what to do."      "We have to get out of here and get Arif back to Arthester," Orin said.      "I'll get Arif's horse and we can tie him to it," Skylar said.  He went off toward the horses, carrying the empty water skin with him.      Jae looked at all the fallen beings around him.  One of them his friend.  He looked all around, spinning slowly as he scanned the area.  Looking for something.      "What?" Orin asked.      "Uhm," Jae said.  "The last time Master Jalivay and I were here, we saw three giants.  But there's supposed to be even more of them around."      "More?" Orin asked quietly.      "There's a village of them somewhere in these mountains," Jae said.  "Maybe in this valley, maybe in another."      "Great," Orin muttered.  "Just great."  He paced halfway toward Arif's still form and back.  "That's just terrific," he complained softy.  "I sure hope you can do that lightning thing again because Skye's arrows and both of our swords were useless on these guys."      "But, I didn't...," Jae began.  A moan from Arif's direction made him pause.  He and Orin glanced that way.      Arif groaned again and the two friends rushed toward him.      "Arif!" Jae said excitedly.  "This is a good sign, I think."  He stopped and looked down at Arif.  "He may be recovering."  He bent low and gave Arif a shake.  "Arif," he said.      Olive colored eyes opened quickly and stared.  His eyes went wide, the whites showing and his pupils dilated.  Arif yelled in outrage and shoved Jae backwards, knocking him to the ground.      "What are you doing, Arif?" Orin shouted.  He went to Jae and helped him up.      Arif jumped to his feet and whistled a shrill series of notes.  He bent down and picked up his sword.      Orin and Jae approached Arif cautiously.  "His eyes are wild," Jae said.      When Arif turned to face the two, he brandished his sword.  "Get away from me!" he yelled.      Red came running and Arif quickly climbed into the saddle.      "Arif!  Wait!" Jae called out.      Arif turned his horse and faced them.      "You have to get off the horse, Arif," Orin said.  "You're not...well."      "Liar!" Arif shouted.  "Deceivers!"  And a moment later, "Betrayers!"  Suddenly, he and Red charged forward and Orin and Jae had to dodge out of the way.  "Yaaaaaa!" Arif yelled.  He rode east, across the valley.      Skylar rode into the clearing, saw Arif's violent departure and gave chase.      "Skylar!" Orin yelled.      "Orin," Jae said.  "We should get our things and follow after them.  It's all we can do."      "Bah!" Orin exclaimed.      Jae retrieved his sack with the egootsirt roots and followed Orin to the horses.       It wasn't long before they were riding east.  They rode quickly at first, but slowed down after a while.  Oba, Jae's horse, wasn't the fastest horse or one that could run for long.  Walking was her favorite pace.  It was just as well.  Orin needed the slower pace to track their friends anyway.      Jae looked nervously to the right and left.  He watched the scattering of trees and bushes and moss coated rocks.  So did Orin, when he wasn't watching for Red's and Bruny's tracks.  Birds sang their songs but neither man was soothed by the cheerful warbling.      "I don't suppose you and Arthester came this way?" Orin asked over his shoulder.      "No," Jae said quietly.  "We left the way we'd come.  Master Jalivay had me watch the giants from concealment.  We saw three of them.  They each pulled up an egootsirt plant and walked back into the trees.  We didn't follow them."      "That was probably a good thing," Orin commented.      "Yeah," Jae said.      It was another half hour when Orin pointed out that the tracks seemed to indicate that Skylar's horse had slowed down.  They continued letting their horses walk and eventually caught up with Skylar.  The man was walking and leading his Bruny by the reins.  He looked at the ground, then looked ahead.      They came up to him on his left and remained astride their mounts.      "Lost him?" Orin asked.      "No, just couldn't keep up," Skylar said.  "I've his tracks here."  He gestured at the ground before him while he walked.  "He got a good deal on that horse.  It's fast and must have the endurance of two horses."      "Jae said there's more giants here," Orin said.      "Figures," Skylar replied.  He stopped and bent down for a moment and studied the ground.  The others waited for him to resume walking.  A minute after he did, Skylar asked, "Got any idea what's in this direction?"      "Well, I've never been here," Jae said, "but Master Jalivay had some maps that he showed me a few times.  I don't remember much about them though."      "Terrific," Skylar said.      "There's a place where that river we followed before comes out of the mountains," Jae said, helpfully.  "We may come to it here."  He frowned in thought.      "Is it to the east?" Skylar asked.      "Uhm, yeah," Jae said.  "There was also some notation on the maps about some sort of passage or cave or something.  I don't remember."      "Terrific," Skylar groaned.      "Then there's the other valleys," Jae said.  "They're scattered throughout the mountains."      "I thought you said you couldn't remember much," Orin asked.      "Well, not the details," Jae said defensively.      Jae and Orin dismounted and the trio walked in silence, leading their horses.  They still heard the occasional bird and the breeze was turning chilly as the day wore on.      "About time," Skylar exclaimed a little while later, causing a bird in a nearby tree to fly away.  "He's slowed to a walk!"      "Good," Orin muttered.      They followed Arif's trail as best they could but soon, with the lowering sun behind the mountains to the west, they had to stop.  It had grown too dark to see the trail and Skylar didn't think it wise to continue.  There was too much of a risk of wandering off to one or the other side of Arif's and Red's tracks and losing them.  They made camp for the night.      They took turns, keeping watch and not risking a fire in case it might draw giants to them.  None of them slept easily, but when the day lightened enough the next morning so that Skylar was certain of the tracks, they resumed their pursuit.  They rode, but at a walk, knowing it could take days to catch up to Arif.  Knowing they might never catch up if Arif rode his Red at a gallop again.      The three men ate their breakfast and their lunch in the saddle.  Only once in a while did Skylar dismount for a closer look at the ground and the tracks embedded in it.  The ground had been softer the other day, perhaps it had rained recently.  The ground had taken the tracks well, but the earth was hardening as the soil dried.      When night fell again, they had only a slim fact to comfort them.  The tracks did not show that Arif's horse had run.  How much of those tracks had been laid the previous day, and how many today, they didn't wish to contemplate. - = - = - Return to top of page. Chapter Twelve     I...uhm...don't think I'm ready for email yet.    ;-) But that doesn't mean you can't try and send me a note! Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 B. J. Miller Jr. All Rights Reserved