The Crowned (The Blood and Brotherhood Saga, Book 6) by Jeremy Laszlo Page B

hundreds of mind-numbing, booming voices. She had not
been prepared for this. Every story she had ever been told about giants had
consisted of only a handful of the beasts. It was believed that they lived in
small family tribes of a dozen or less. Most thought that there were few of the
creatures, maybe a hundred or so. All of what she had heard was wrong.
    In the clearing, which had indeed once been a town, were
hundreds of the huge slobbering behemoths. They had demolished the town and
surrounding farms, building a pyre out of the very buildings and setting it
ablaze. Atop the pyre they had tossed the inhabitants of the city, some who
even now writhed in the smoke and flame seeking an end to their torment. These
were the screams they had been hearing. Beyond the pyre was a huge, crudely
built cage formed from uprooted trees that had been shoved down into the soil
and bound with vines. Within it she could see hundreds of the dire wolves like
the one Zorbin rode. These, she supposed, were to be the next sacrifice to
whatever god the giants served.
    The dwarves, apparently expecting the same as Linaya had,
did not seem to know what to do about the massive infestation of their mortal
enemies. Breaking into smaller and smaller groups in order to engage so many of
the giants, the dwarves’ lines were thinned out. Even so, the odds were near
two hundred to one. At least for the first few moments while everyone,
including the giants, recovered from the shock of the situation.
    For a split second it was as if the world held its breath,
as all was silent before the chaos ensued. Linaya watched as the giants began
pulling huge clubs from their crude belts, or uprooting yet more trees to bash
the dwarves like insects. Though many of the dwarves were blessed, they were
tiny in comparison to the giants. Even Zorbin, more than twice his regular size,
was only a third of one of the smaller giants.
    The dwarves, it seemed, had a few mages at their disposal as
boulders formed out of thin air to fall like a rain upon a select few of the
giants. Even so, it began as a bloodbath. The giants smashed the dwarves with
their clubs and stomped upon them, smearing them from under their feet like
cockroaches. Orders were shouted here and there, but could not be heard over
the screams of dying dwarves and the giant inferno blazing at center field. Finally
Linaya watched as a giant toppled, his ankle shattered by a blessed dwarf’s
hammer. Moments later another fell ,and then another, as dwarves scrambled to
get out of the way and rushed in once again as the behemoths smashed to the
ground. It seemed the dwarves had devised a method to bring the giants down.
    Within minutes a few dozen were felled, but already
thousands of dwarves had been lost. Linaya forced herself to watch every
bloody, gory moment, trying to memorize the heroics that took place upon the
field in an effort to keep herself from being sick or breaking down. It was
horrid to watch the dwarves being slaughtered and not be able to do anything to
help.
    More giants fell and then even more. Perhaps six dozen or so
had been brought to ground and slaughtered, but the dwarves lost hundreds in
comparison to each singular giant. Then, when no one thought it possible, the
battle took a turn for the worse.
    Rushing from somewhere beyond the field of battle, a giant
unlike any other any of them had seen or heard of appeared. She was no bigger
than the average giant, and sported four arms like the rest of them, with a
boney beak-like structure for a nose and a huge round maw filled with rows and
rows of razor sharp teeth. Her attire is what immediately set her apart.
    Upon the giant’s body, great runes had been drawn and each
of them glowed green upon her skin. In one great hand she held a collection of
skulls that dangled upon a cord, collected from her own kind. Opposite that
hand she carried a giant staff carved from an immense tree, its roots were
braided around a huge green colored crystal