Tall Tales, page 2
Yeah, well, who can blame her? Jin thought back. She’s right—he sent her and her family into a trap. And even if that was a mistake, the Last Knight wants to use that shadow to do… something. And until we know what, I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him, which is miles, easily. In fact, the next time I see him, I’m going to demand he tell Lena the truth—
His body began to tingle oddly, a familiar sensation that hadn’t happened in a few months. The magical ring that controlled Jin was calling for him. Which meant—
Ah, the Last Knight is summoning you! the cosmic knowledge said. Sounds like you’re about to get your chance!
CHAPTER 3
Lena dragged a dozen sets of empty Faceless armor down the main street of the Cursed City with Rufus at her side, proud of her latest fight. The noise from the armor clanking and clattering together brought the residents from their homes to see what was going on, and she beamed at them, hoping they felt even just a bit safer at the sight of it.
Mr. Ralph and the former chancellor Pinocchio, two of her closest friends in the city, turned onto the street, and she grinned even wider at them. “That’s twelve more Faceless that won’t be bothering us!” she said.
But both Mr. Ralph and the wooden puppet looked away, not responding.
Lena paused, not sure what had happened. “Everything okay?” she said, and Mr. Ralph glanced over, nodded, then turned away again.
“Just busy, you know how it is,” he said, his gingerbread hands crumbling slightly as he fiddled with them. “We should be going. Lots of damage to fix still.”
Damage? Lena frowned, not sure what he was talking about. “I thought Jin got everything rebuilt already?”
“Oh, there’s still some left over,” Pinocchio said, his nose growing slightly. The puppet tried to push it back in but couldn’t move it, so instead he just looked away. “Must be going now!”
And with that, he and Mr. Ralph quickly turned onto a side street.
Lena blinked, wondering what was going on. Several residents were giving her dark looks, as if she’d done something wrong. Had she?
Or was this about her parents’ and Creed’s visit somehow? They weren’t the softest of walkers, so maybe the residents had gotten disturbed by the shaking?
“I’m sorry if my family was a bother!” she told one of the onlookers. “I’ll make sure any visiting giants are quieter next time.”
“Or you could make sure they stay up where they belong, in the clouds,” said a man Lena didn’t know, before a woman shushed him, and he turned away.
“Lena?” said a familiar voice, and Lena turned to find Mrs. Hubbard walking toward her, several of her children in tow. The sight of one of her oldest human friends was a relief, and Lena quickly dragged the Faceless armor over to her, just to find out what was going on.
“Treats Lady!” Rufus shouted, and bounded toward Mrs. Hubbard, who grinned and quickly pulled out some large fish treats for the cat. He grabbed them from her hand and began devouring them happily in the middle of the street, purring loudly.
“I’m so happy to see you, Mrs. Hubbard,” Lena said, shaking her head. “Did something happen while I was gone? Everyone seems annoyed with me.”
Mrs. Hubbard gave her a sad look. “I don’t know if your giant friends realize their own strength, Lena. We had quite the shaking here in town, and I think it reminded people of… well, less happy times.”
Mrs. Hubbard had caught herself before saying it, but Lena knew she was referring to the attack by the giant king. Denir and his guards had come searching for the Spark, a source of magic and healing for the giants that Lena had accidentally stolen, but was now returned.
“I’m so, so sorry!” she said, moving in closer. “I’ll fix this, I promise. Next time they visit, I’ll make sure they move as carefully as they can. This won’t happen again.”
Mrs. Hubbard sighed. “It might just be that the Cursed City isn’t quite ready for more giant visits, Lena. After everything that happened in the attack, the other residents are all a bit… concerned. I’ve kept some of the louder naysayers quiet as much as I could, but…”
“But?” Lena said, a cold wave of fear passing through her.
“But they’re demanding Pinocchio ban all giants from the ground,” Mrs. Hubbard finished. “Not you, of course. They know you’re one of the good ones, but—”
Lena almost choked. “One of the good ones? What is that supposed to mean?”
“Oof, Mom,” said one of Mrs. Hubbard’s children, and the woman seemed to realize she’d misspoken.
“I only meant that they know you would never hurt them, but don’t yet know the same about the other giants,” Mrs. Hubbard said, turning pink with embarrassment. “There are so many stories about giants eating humans that it’s hard to come around so quickly, but even without that, we’re still the size of mice to them. I’m not sure there’s any amount of care they could take that would keep our city completely safe.”
“Leave your kind where they belong,” someone shouted from down the street, “up in the clouds, where they can’t tear down our city!”
“You just bought yourself a ban from the Boot-ique, Roger!” Mrs. Hubbard shouted back at the passerby, who quickly panicked and took off running. “Don’t listen to him,” she said, turning back to Lena. “The city will get used to them, but it will take time, that’s all. Maybe in a year or two—”
“A year or two?” Lena said, her eyes widening.
“Or you could just go visit them?” Mrs. Hubbard said, not looking happy about any of this. “I’m truly sorry, Lena. None of this is your fault, but this kind of thing is never easy. Think about how hard a time the goblins had after the Wicked Queen’s war, when no one trusted them. Most kingdoms still won’t allow them in.”
Lena swallowed hard, having no idea what to say. She loved Mrs. Hubbard almost as a second mother, but after Lena had proved herself during the Golden King’s attack, she’d figured everything was okay now between the residents and giants.
Apparently that wasn’t even remotely the case. Homes could be rebuilt, but trust was something else entirely. “I appreciate you telling me, Mrs. Hubbard,” Lena said numbly, not knowing what else to say. “I guess I’ll talk to you later.”
“Lena, wait!” Mrs. Hubbard said, but Lena moved quickly away, not sure she could hide how much this hurt for any longer. She knew Mrs. Hubbard would try to make things better, but there were no words to fix this, not with the city’s residents afraid of Lena’s people.
As Rufus raced to catch up to her, some strange twittering caught Lena’s attention, and she looked up to find fairies on the rooftops above watching her. At least they didn’t seem particularly annoyed at her, though for all she knew, they were gossiping about the giants as well.
As she continued toward Thomas’s house, people on the street seemed to find any possible activity they could to avoid speaking to her. Some didn’t even bother being subtle and turned down side streets or whirled around and walked the other direction.
Each clanking of the armor now made Lena even more anxious, not sure if it was contributing to how the residents were acting or not. Part of her wanted to drop it all in the street and run to the knight’s house, but that’d just be making a mess that not many others in the city could handle, so she gritted her teeth against the noise and kept on.
All in all, her mood couldn’t have fallen any further if she’d tumbled off the mountain leading back to her giant home in the clouds.
Fortunately, the knight’s house wasn’t too far, and she made it without running into any more of her friends, which seemed like a blessing at this point. But as she approached, she heard voices from inside, one clearly the Last Knight’s, and the other one she’d never heard before, much more melodic than the knight’s. Who was he talking to?
“Please, Thomas, you must listen to us,” the new person said. “If you attempt this, the consequences could be catastrophic!”
“And if I don’t, things will be worse,” Lena heard Thomas say. “I respect your stories, but we don’t know that this one is set in stone. I’m afraid I have to try, Merriweather.”
“Then we will do as we must as well,” this Merriweather said. A strange sort of humming sounded from within, and then Lena heard the Last Knight sigh and approach the door. She quickly moved away so he wouldn’t know she had been listening, only for all the armor to clank loudly, completely giving her away. She cringed as the knight opened the door.
“Good, I’m glad you’re here, Lena,” he said, his helmet’s visor down as always to hide the fact that he was a six-inch-tall Lilliputian, just like the Faceless. He glanced behind her. “That’s quite a haul. Any of my people captured?”
Lena bit her lip. “Not since that first time. I didn’t want to hurt any of them, so they were able to teleport with their little devices again. Sorry about that!”
He waved away her apology. “We unfortunately have far more concerning things to worry about now. I’ve just been warned that the Golden King’s plan has come to fruition, and he’s begun his attack.” He let out a long breath, looking away. “He means to cover the entire world in shadow magic, Lena, just like what happened to Lilliput and the shadowlands. This whole city will fall under his control in a matter of days.”
Lena’s mouth dropped, and she had no idea what to say.
Fortunately, Rufus had his priorities straight. “Treats Lady is in danger?!” he shouted, his whiskers twitching. “Attack! Attack the Gold Man, and bite him a hundred times!”
CHAPTER 4
I’m being summoned,” Jin said to Jill, feeling the pull of a summoning from his ring. “Maybe Thomas knows that we’re onto him?”
“Well, don’t let him torture you until I get there!” Jill shouted as he started to disappear. “Not because I can help, but because I think it’d be kind of funny, honestly!”
“You know what I think would be funny?” Jin shouted back. “If the Last Knight took your sword and—”
“And what?” the Last Knight asked. Jin blinked, then cringed as he realized he’d already been transported to the knight’s side, just outside the man’s house in the Cursed City. He sighed deeply with embarrassment, then immediately brightened at the sight of Lena, back from the visit with her parents.
“Finally!” Jin said, not able to hide his excitement. He reached out and hugged her tightly, breathing in deeply the smell of metal and joy that was her distinguishing odor whenever she fought the Faceless.
Unfortunately, she returned the hug with a bit less enthusiasm. That was fair, given that Jin was probably about to be interrogated by the Last Knight, and Lena must have been torn between which of her two favorite people to believe.
Good to see you’re concentrating on being more humble, the cosmic knowledge said.
Oh be quiet. I haven’t seen her in weeks!
And if you want to ever see her again, I’d suggest not sniffing when you hug her.
… Fair.
“Jin, I was just visited by a fairy queen, and she alerted me to something terrible,” the Last Knight told him, and suddenly all the jokes about being tortured felt a lot less funny.
“I know: they hate genies,” Jin said quickly. “But that’s obviously a horrible prejudice on their part, and we can all agree we shouldn’t take anything they say seriously because of it.”
Lena gave him an odd look. “What are you talking about? This isn’t about you.”
Her words hit hard, right in his gut, which was already filled with fear and coldness and probably the remains of lunch. This isn’t about me? What kind of horrible thing is that to say to a person?
Maybe she just means that this isn’t about you?
Now don’t you start. Everything should be about me!
“The Golden King has begun to spread his shadow magic across the world, and we have just days before it reaches us,” the knight said, his voice low and grim. “If we can’t stop him, everyone in the Cursed City will fall under his power.”
“Not to mention literally everyone else,” Lena pointed out, fiddling with her hands nervously. “I don’t even want to think about what would happen if it reached my village in the clouds!”
Jin blinked, slowly catching up. The fairy queen hadn’t come to fight him, like she had the ifrit? And this was just about the Golden King, who couldn’t even hurt Jin now that Thomas had Jin’s ring? He let out a huge breath and grinned. “Well, that’s not so bad!” Lena gave him a horrified glance, and he quickly threw up his hands in surrender. “I mean, it’s not so bad, because it’s worse than I thought. The absolute worst, in fact. So terrible!” He looked at the knight. “So, I guess you brought me here to help evacuate the city with a wish or two? Try to keep everyone ahead of the shadow magic?”
The knight shook his head. “That might buy us some time, so perhaps that makes sense for now. But it’s only a temporary fix at best. To save our world, I must travel to Lilliput, gather what rebels we’ve freed so far, and together we’ll take down the Golden King once and for all. It’s the only way to stop his shadow magic.”
Jin wrinkled his nose, not enjoying the lack of commitment to the wish. But the knight’s words seemed to energize Lena. “Yes!” she shouted, and her giant, annoying cat Rufus began purring. “I’ve been waiting to do this for weeks. Let’s go get him! Just give me a few minutes to get some weapons, and I’ll be ready to go.”
“Yeah, me too,” Jin said quickly. “I’m ready to go right now, actually. So I’ll be coming, just to keep everyone safe, you know, so no one gets hurt—”
The knight put a hand on Lena’s shoulder. “I’m afraid I need you here, Lena. The Golden King might try to divide our attention us by throwing the Faceless against the Cursed City again. We can’t take the chance that they’ll find a way through the protective spell or take it down like the giants did.”
Lena’s mouth dropped open. “Wait, what? You’re leaving me behind?”
“Yeah, what?” Jin said. “You’re leaving us behind? What are you thinking?”
The knight slowly turned to look at him, and even with the helmet’s visor down, Jin could feel the coolness from that look. “I’m thinking that I can’t leave these people unprotected, young Jin.”
“Hey!” shouted a voice from nearby, and Jin looked over his shoulder to find Jill walking over. “Next time you plan on disappearing, maybe tell me where you’ll be reappearing first? I had to track you down by the sound of yelling!”
Before Jin could respond to Jill, Lena spoke first, not having been able to hear anything the ghostly woman said. “Jin can protect the city, and I can go with you,” she said, practically begging the knight now, if also being incredibly rude about leaving Jin behind. “I can help—you know I can! I beat the Golden King once, and I can do it again. You might need me!”
“I would welcome your help without hesitation, in any other situation,” the knight replied. “But I believe our only chance to beat the Golden King is through stealth. The Lilliputians I’ve freed from the shadow have been preparing for this. The king has locked himself in a human-sized castle just outside Lilliput, which my allies can sneak us into. With any luck, we’ll be able to capture the human twins who control the magic itself, and free the rest of my people. At that point, we’ll be able to bring the Golden King to justice, finally.”
“And I can help with all of that!” Lena argued. “Even if I have to… get small. Rufus has a shrinking collar.” She looked down at the ground and began picking at her fingernails. “It’s not as bad as the growth ring. And if it’s just temporary—”
The knight shook his head. “I know how hard that is for you to make that offer, Lena, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. But there’s more.” He paused. “I didn’t want to mention this, as it’s not your fault in any way, but… I can’t have you around the shadow magic. It’s too dangerous.”
“Dangerous?” Lena said, looking back up at him with one eyebrow raised. “You mean if it takes control of me? That’s the same danger you’ll be in, and I can take care of myself!”
“No, that’s not what I mean,” the knight said, and coughed slightly. Now Jin was curious too. What was bothering him so much that he wouldn’t take a girl with giant strength to a fight?
“Then what is it?” Lena asked.
“Uh-oh,” Jill whispered. “Don’t say it.”
Jin raised an eyebrow. Don’t say what?
“Shadow magic has been around for millennia,” the knight said, sounding even more uncomfortable now. “It seeps into the world whenever it’s been freed, and as it does, it… changes things.”
“Changes what things?” Jin asked, not able to stop himself, in spite of Jill’s warning.
“Everything,” the knight said. “The land, its people, anything it touches. And one of the things it changed was…” He briefly glanced at Lena, then looked away.
Lena’s face went pale like the moon. “Giants?” she said, so quiet Jin could almost not hear her. “Shadow magic changed my people?”
The knight shook his head, and for a moment, Jin felt relieved. Lena was not going to take it well if the knight had said shadow magic was influencing her people!
“It didn’t change them,” he said sadly. “It created them.”
CHAPTER 5
Lena just stood there, her mouth hanging open, having no idea what to say. Shadow magic had created the giants? It couldn’t be true. There was no way.
Because if giants were somehow created by the shadow, that meant this evil, dark magic was the reason… that it was part of…
“No,” she said finally, clenching her fists so tightly, her nails bit into her palms. “That’s just some horrible rumor because no one down here trusts giants. We weren’t created by evil magic; I don’t care what you say!”
The knight slowly opened his visor, revealing his six-inch-tall self, and shook his head. “It’s no rumor, Lena. This comes directly from the fairy queens, who have fought against the shadow their whole lives.” He turned away, like he couldn’t look her in the eye. “Your people moved to the clouds because they had to. The dark magic infected them, growing their human bodies until they couldn’t live on the ground anymore, not without the air sickness poisoning their minds.”
