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help you combat what forces may come against you. Call upon us, if we are
needed, Eddas. For now, I will keep Joy among us in our village, that she may
share her grief among fellow giants."
"Tell Lyota to remain at my tower. She knows a spell for conjuring food and
drink, so she'll be alright. I'll return when I can, and let you all know what
I plan on doing."
"Alright, Eddas. Farewell, for now," Longtooth replied, and fell silent.
"Dame Raven?"
I turned, and saw Noril approaching. "Yes, your highness?"
"I... I was looking for you, and heard you speaking the language of the
giants," Noril replied, standing before me. He was still two heads taller than
I, built much like his mother, and loomed over me like a small mountain.
"You still remember the lessons your mother taught you?" I asked in the
giant's tongue.
Noril smiled. "My sister and I still use the tongue of the giants to
communicate when others are about without being overheard - it is particularly
useful when dealing with various diplomats," Noril replied in the same tongue,
then paused. "If I may... Who were you talking to just now, before I came up
to you?"
"I was using sorcery to tell your mother in Hyperborea what has happened," I
replied, deciding a longer explanation wasn't necessary.
Noril blinked. "My mother? But she's-"
"Dead? Hardly, your majesty. She is very much alive and well, and will be
quite pleased to learn that you have not forgotten the lessons she taught you.
The giants of Hyperborea prevent adventurers and grave-robbers from looting
the ancient tombs, and bringing trouble upon your kingdom. It is important you
remember their tongue, that you may always be able to speak to them in time of
need."
"But she... Well, she must be very old, now. Nearly a hundred."
"Indeed she is, your majesty. But, she is also a woman of Hyperborea. It seems
likely to me that she will easily outlive you," I replied, then looked up at
him. "Now, what is it you wished, King Noril?"
"I..." Noril paused, taken aback by what I'd said. The knowledge that his
mother was still alive was shocking enough, and my prediction that she would
likely out-live him (which was no prophecy, but simply a statement of fact)
was even more unnerving. Finally, he composed himself. "Well, I was wondering
what you had planned on doing to recover my son."
"For the moment, I plan on standing here and waiting. Yorindar's plan requires
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you to have an heir. Morgar's plan requires that your father's line die out.
Kidnapping the heir does nothing to accomplish Morgar's plan - you can always
have another."
"Not without a wife, Dame Raven," Noril replied solemnly.
"Come, come. I know you're in mourning now, but in a few years, you could
easily find another wife, and produce another son."
"I could never find another, Dame Raven," Noril said, lifting his eyes to gaze
off into the distance. "Lyssa was my one, true love. There will never be
another. I know you are centuries old, and to you, this seems perhaps to be
the moaning of a despondent man, and means little. But, I know in my heart
there will never be another, Dame Raven. Were I a sorcerer instead of a king,
I would spend the rest of my life searching for a way to bring her back to
me," Noril said, and paused, sighing. He did not notice my own startled
expression, as his gaze was still lost in the horizon.
"But, I am no mage, and even if I were, I could not shirk the duties of the
crown. My people need me - and I am far from the hot-headed prince you knew
twenty years ago, Dame Raven. I now understand what it is you and my father
both were trying to teach me. I now understand the true measure of
responsibility that falls upon the shoulders of a king. Yet, there will never
be another, for me. My sister, perhaps, may find someone. She has been courted
by a few nobles from time to time, though they are somewhat intimidated by her
height. She, like me, shares my mother's build, and towers over any she meets.
Perhaps through her, there would be an heir. Certainly, she's had her eye on
Lord Vasadin for a few years..." Noril said, then shook his head. "But, for
me, there will never be another, Dame Raven. Lyssa was my one, true love, and
when she is buried this afternoon, my heart will be buried with her. I know
you do not understand, but that is the way it is, with me."
I gazed to him. Through his words, he had echoed my own feelings for Dyarzi,
and my own endless quest to recover her from the void. I could not help but
sympathize. Finally, I smiled. "Oh, but I do understand, King Noril - far
better than you realize. You are a man after my own heart, though you know it
not, and I completely understand your feelings."
Noril looked at me again, smiling slightly. "Thank you. So, what will you do
to find Parial?"
"At the moment, nothing."
Noril blinked. "Nothing?!"
I nodded. "I have already determined where he is, your majesty, but before I
can seek him, I must know what Cordo intends. Even given that you will never
have another child, Morgar's plan still remains unknown to me. If the intent
was to simply snuff your line, Cordo could have done it at the same time he
slew Queen Lyssa. Kidnapping Parial is unnecessary, when he could just as
easily have killed him."
"So you wait for a sign from Yorindar? Some heavenly sending that will tell
you what to do?"
A small movement caught my eye, and I turned to look. There, racing down the
road on a lathered horse, was a royal messenger. "No, King Noril. I was
waiting for that, I believe," I replied, and pointed.
A guard on a nearby turret let loose the cry "A messenger approaches the
castle!" at almost the instant Noril spotted the rider.
"Come, Dame Raven - let's see what the message is," Noril called, then turned
and strode for the stairs. I followed, hoping it wasn't something trivial, but
was indeed the message I had been waiting for - yet, at the same time, I
dreaded that it was precisely that.
Chapter Nine
"My mother taught us much about the Giants of Hyperborea - their language,
their culture... Quite a bit, actually. 'They are to be your allies, my son -
you must learn of them,' she explained. One day, after listening to the Priest
in Chapel explain part of Yorindar's prophecy, I asked my mother if the Giants
of Hyperborea had any prophecies, too. I was quite young at the time. My
mother said they did - but they were not written down in some holy book, as
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were Yorindar's prophecies, but passed on by word of mouth for generations, in
the form of songs. The giants had prodigious memories, she explained, and
songs were how they remembered important things. Then she sang me one of these
prophecy-songs. It was a beautiful song, and though it was very long, I
remember it well to this day. A great queen would be born among the giants,
but she would never be queen of the giants. She would marry thrice, outliving
two husbands, but the third marriage would be without ceremony. She would bear
two children to each of her first two husbands, but to the third, she would
only bear her love. Her son would grow to be a great warrior and save his
people from a great danger. Her daughter would marry a het-man and found a
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