Chapter 7
Sky Warrior
The sun was low when Fury saddled his nag. Thunder watched from a doorway wondering what the evening had in store. There was a feeling of unreality in the air. Both of the royal children were in the village. They had arrived suddenly and unexpectedly. Fury on his old horse. Adrina with her bodyguard of young men.
They didn't visit their mother often so it was reasonable to assume that their visits were connected. Thunder racked his brain trying to work out why two totally different people should come together in this manner.
As a small child, vivacious little Adrina had been sent into the household of Pius, King of Gorm. Timid little Fury had gone into the care of the priesthood of the Duideth. The arrangements had been made in accordance with an ancient custom, designed to overcome animosities between the tribes and prevent conflict. As far as Thunder was concerned, its main function was to provide eyes and ears in the enemy camp.
He waited until Fury left the village then mounted his horse. It soon became evident that the young prince was going to a lot of trouble to hide his tracks. Thunder couldn't fault him. Fury had melted into the landscape and he would have lost him if he'd not come upon some boys who said Prince Fury had gone into the woods. Thunder followed his tracks and found the young man sitting on a log in a clearing. He crept along a ditch and came within earshot.
The young prince was strumming on his harp and singing about unrequited passion and how his truelove would soon appear. Thunder listened with undiluted contempt as one sickly sentiment followed another. He decided that the pathetic youth wasn't on a secret mission but had slipped away to indulge in an orgy of adolescent fantasy.
Then something totally inexplicable happened.
Out of nowhere, two bodies appeared. They arrived in the rays of the setting sun and tumbled down the slope towards Fury. A young woman and a gigantic male … both oddly dressed.
The young woman wore trousers and a weird sort of tunic cut short at the waist and fastened down the middle. Thunder mistook her for a boy but when she stopped rolling, he saw she was a girl ... and very pretty too.
Fury jumped to his feet. His face was a picture of pure joy. Thunder guessed the girl's arrival hadn’t come as a surprise. But, before the young prince could take a single step, the girl's companion looked in his direction. Fury shrank back and his expression changed from pure joy to pure terror … the man was a giant.
The girl picked herself up and staggered off, evidently disoriented. Fury rose to follow but his sudden movement attracted the attention of the giant. He ducked down and the giant lurched forward. After a few steps, the big man stopped, placed a hand on his belly and gave a huge burp.
Two more burps followed. After that he wiped his mouth and stared around: first up the slope then down towards where the girl was sitting in a state of confusion. He burped again and looked a lot better for it. His complexion improved and he pulled at his trousers, near to where his sword harness would have been buckled if he'd been wearing one. Thunder watched as a neat slit appeared in the garment then ducked as the big man strode towards him.
There could be no doubt about the fellow's intentions. Thunder sought protection beneath a thin covering of branches and leaves. His warrior training had failed to prepare him for such an encounter. He was well versed in procedures for tackling and disembowelling a big opponent and had taught them on many occasions. But the present situation didn't call for such drastic action. The man's intentions were scarcely hostile.
He peered up at the huge figure, which was about to urinate over him and saw the man dither. The fellow glanced towards the girl then swivelled round to put himself out of her line of sight. It was the sort of gesture Thunder appreciated: something that placed the newcomer in an entirely different category from Morgon, who had no concern for female sensibilities.
He began to warm to the giant. The man was a bit flabby but he was powerfully built and had the bearing of a forceful individual. He reminded Thunder of a warrior who had gone to seed through too little exercise and overindulgence in the good things in life. Such people could be brought back into service and made to perform a useful function.
The man sang as he discharged the contents of his bladder. It was a light-hearted little tune with an appealing lyric. Something about sucking where bees sucked and flying on bats' backs, clearly an illusion to making love.
His next impressions were not so favourable. A determined trickle ran down his neck. The stench was appalling. The man had clearly drunk a vast amount of beer and his choice of tipple wasn't good. Thunder looked past the source of his discomfort to the cheerful grinning face.
The giant was staring happily into space. He looked like a herdboy who had been given a day's holiday. Everything about him told a tale. He was the sort who could be recruited. He could be manipulated and tamed. He could be bribed with beer and women and used against Morgon.
Thunder thought up a name for him.
'Sky Warrior.'
The big man had tumbled out of the sky so the name was appropriate. It was, moreover, a name which would give the bearer the mystique needed to make him the equal of Morgon in the eyes of the average clansman.
***
In a room in the royal apartments in the royal village of the Catti, Adrina waited for her brother. They'd played there as children but Adrina was not in a playful mood. Fate had been unkind. Fate had robbed her of a glittering prize. In an act which combined cunning with daring, she'd enticed a giant and his female companion into their midst. They had come not from another village, not from another land but from another realm.
And she'd lost them at the very last moment. It was like catching a big fish, only to see it jump off the hook and land in someone else's boat. The giant and the girl were now in her mother's care, tightly supervised by Thunder and the female warriors of the royal guard. Adrina fumed and her anger boiled over when she heard Fury's timid feet mounting the stairs.
'You stupid little blub!'
She bore down on him as he entered the room.
'You deceitful little toad!
'I don't know what you're going on about,' Fury winced.
'Yes, you do. You tiny turd!'
Adrina thrust her lamp at him, spilling hot fat on his tunic. 'You were meant to cooperate with my men ... not give them the slip.'
'I didn't give them the slip. They couldn't keep up with me. I was being followed by one of mother's spies. I had to get away from him.'
'Well, you didn't get away from him. All you managed to do was lose contact with my people.' Adrina's eyes narrowed. 'From now on you'll do exactly as I say.'
'I don't see why I should take orders from you. I'm a prince of the royal blood. I'm older ...'
'I'm warning you.' Adrina raised her lamp. 'If you don't cooperate, you won't see that girl again. The giant won't let you ... he's her guardian.'
Fury took on the appearance of a stunned cod.
'Do you think he'll try to stop me?'
Adrina pushed the lamp back in his face.
'Listen. If you want her you must do as you're told. Don't play the clever donkey with me. I told you how to bring her here. Now I'm going to tell you how to get her away from the giant.'