“That’s when the boat-man wanted to meet.”
“Oh, the boat-man, of course! And isn’t he a shady character, wanting to go out in the middle of the night, and all that. Who is he, anyway? You know, I asked around town about a ship captain who fit your description. Wonder of wonders, no one recognized him!”
“You damn fool!” Calthan swore, a touch too loud. His voice rang out like a bell in the empty night, echoing all around them. Not that he cared; he was far too angry for that. “I told you specifically not to tell anyone about this, about the Giant! What will my mother say when she finds out that we were poking around the one thing that everyone in town is scared of? She’ll kill me, Tanner!” If there was one thing that he feared more than the Giant, it was his mother’s wrath.
“Oh, calm yourself, Cal. I didn’t say nothing about the bloody Giant, you can be sure. Think I want my mum finding out about this either? I’m not that stupid, thank you!” He sounded insulted, his intelligence having been called into question. He hadn’t gone to the university like Cal, no, but he was no kind of moron, not by anyone’s standards.
Calthan frowned. He didn’t get angry often, but he certainly didn’t need to have Tanner blabbing on about the Giant to every single fisherman and his cousin in Telsir! “What does it matter who is, anyway? He’s going to take us down to the Giant, which everyone else in town is too frightened to do, and for quite the reasonable price, too. He didn’t ask me too many questions, and so I returned the favor. You know, you didn’t have to come with me tonight. Why did you bother to come if you’re just going to complain after every tiny step?”
“Because we’re friends, Cal,” he replied without a trace of hesitation. He, at least, was not ashamed. “And I couldn’t rightly let you go off alone and get yourself killed. What good would that do me?”
Calthan didn’t have an answer for that. For the first time in his memory he found himself at a complete loss for words. “We’re here, I think,” he said finally, his anger evaporated. And so they were there, standing on a high hill at midnight with naught but a dead tree, its bare branches wriggling wildly about in the darkness, to see them.
Tanner looked around, but was unable to see anything more than a few feet away from him. He turned to his friend and shrugged. “Well?” he asked. “Where’s this mysterious boatman of yours?”
“I am here,” a loud, booming voice called out from seemingly nowhere, “though I don’t much care for the term ‘boatman’.” He then stepped towards the two men, who were backed up against the tree in terror.
Tanner’s sword flashed out of its sheath the next instant as its wielder came finally back to his senses. He dropped into a defensive stance, pushing Calthan—who, while skilled in many areas, was a mediocre fencer at best—behind him to safety. “Name yourself,” he demanded, but a tremble in his voice made him sound a little less intimidating than he’d hoped.
“There will be no need for that, friend,” the man said, gesturing towards the sword calmly. I am Martyn, who your friend Calthan spoke to this morning regarding transportation. I assure you, though; I mean no harm to either of you. You can put down your steel.”
“Do as he says, Tanner,” Calthan said, moving away from his hiding spot behind his friend. “He is who he says he is, I think.” Tanner did as he was told, albeit very reluctantly, but he did not relax quite yet. “You needn’t worry.”
“Of course not,” Martyn said, his voice a little softer. “I seek only to provide transportation to the Giant, as Calthan here asked of me. I’ll admit, I was not expecting two, but… No, it does not matter.”
This did nothing to reassure Tanner, though, who still stood rigidly at Calthan’s side, his hand resting uneasily on the pommel of his blade. “I do not see a boat,” he said, his eyes meeting Martyn’s in open hostility and suspicion.
The Giant
Start from the beginning
