Once Upon Another Time, page 2
“She could wear the Growth Ring, of course,” her father pointed out, then slumped down even farther in his chair after a dirty look from her mom.
“Yes, see?” Lena shouted, pointing at her dad. “The Growth Ring! No one will even know. We’ve done it before! I’ll look exactly like every other giant.”
“She’s certainly got the strength of one,” her father said, holding his fingers tenderly. Both his wife and daughter raised an eyebrow at the giant. “It hurts, okay? She’s tougher than she looks!”
Lena rolled her eyes. “You’ve been the one teaching me the traditional way to fight like a giant for the last twelve years, Dad! Now that I’m landing hits, you suddenly can’t take it?” she said, and swiped out at him again. This time he kicked back to avoid her hit only to tip the chair over, sending him crashing into the firewood behind him.
“You’re being so dramatic,” her mother told her dad, sighing.
“Let her hit you next time, and see how dramatic I’m being,” her father said, picking himself up off the floor.
“So this means I can go, then? If I wear my Growth Ring?” Lena said hopefully, looking up at her parents. She’d spent far too many years just watching them go off to the Ritual of the Spark, where giants came together from across the clouds to the castle of the king of giants. And now that she was finally old enough to go at age twelve, she was beyond ready to be counted as a member of the village, along with the other giant children her age. “This would be a good way to make friends with other giant kids, you know!”
A loud, indignant meow came a moment before something huge and furry slammed against her as Rufus rubbed his head against hers. “Lena wants friends? Rufus is Lena’s friend.”
She laughed and reached up to scratch him behind his enormous ears. “You’ll always be my best friend, little man,” she said as he purred loudly. “But you want to come to the castle too, don’t you?”
Rufus stared at her for a moment. “This isn’t the castle?”
“No cats!” her father yelled, cleaning up the firewood. “There’s no way you’re bringing that thing to the ritual. We’ll have enough trouble keeping you…”
He trailed off, but Lena knew what he’d been about to say, and she felt a pang in her chest. Keeping you a secret, he was going to say. Hiding her height, how she looked like a human, in spite of being born to two giants.
Hiding how unlike a true giant she was, how embarrassing she must be to her two giant parents.
“Roral!” her mom shouted, and her dad’s face turned red. “We’re not keeping you a secret, Lena. You know that they just wouldn’t understand. You look so human, and after what happened to the former king all those years ago, they’re… not the most forgiving.”
Lena nodded, her brown hair falling over her face, only for Rufus to knock it back out of the way with another headbutt. “I know that, but—”
Her mother gave her father a long look, and after a pause, he seemed to recognize it was his turn to make excuses. “It’s not about hiding you, Lena,” he said. “We just don’t know how they’d react. Only the king knows about your size, and he’s never been the most open-minded of giants. Even the Growth Ring isn’t a permanent fix—”
“She doesn’t need a fix,” her mom corrected him before turning to face Lena. “You’re the exact size you’re meant to be. It’s the others who have it all wrong.” She looked away and was silent for a few moments before continuing. “Still, you were invited, and maybe it’d cause more curiosity if you didn’t come.…”
Lena’s eyes opened wide. “Wait. So I really can go? That’s what you’re saying?” As much as she hated having to disguise who she was with the Growth Ring, the idea that she could actually go to the ritual for the first time, the ritual that only giants could attend, made her forget everything else.
Her mom smiled slightly. “Only with the Growth Ring. Oh, and if you are bringing Rufus, you’ll need to hide him.”
“I will! I’ve got the collar that shrinks him down to my size!” Lena shouted, patting the infinitely large pouch on her belt. “Thank you, Mom!”
Her mother reached down to hug her gently with two fingers, and Lena wrapped her arms around one of them, squeezing as tightly as she could. “Ow, hey!” her mom yelled. “That does hurt!”
“See?” her father shouted. “No one believes me until they see for themselves. She’s definitely a giant!”
“Of course I’m a giant!” Lena said, grinning widely. “I’m just a compact one. I’m so excited!” She turned and leapt on Rufus’s back, not wanting to waste the time running back to her room in the tiny dollhouse her parents had made for her years ago, not when Rufus could get her there so much faster.
“There are going to be strict rules, you know!” her mother yelled after her, but Lena didn’t care. She knew there’d be all kinds of things she couldn’t do or say, but that was fine. The most important thing was she was actually going to the ritual, the one that every other giant child went through at her age to become an official part of the village and receive their true last name, their epithet, like her father, Roral the Unburdened, or her mom, Cedra the Terrifying.
Lena couldn’t even imagine what name the Sparktender would give her, but she knew it’d be a name only a true giant could live up to.
Lena would touch the Spark, just like the other giants, and get her name, just like the others. And then, finally, everyone would know who she really was: a true giant, just like they were.
“Look at this,” she heard her father say from the other room, his voice booming. “I think I’m bruising!”
CHAPTER 4
YOU?” the Golden King shouted at the Last Knight, his mouth dropping open. “Guards, take him!”
Jin groaned. Guards? What a waste! Why didn’t the king ask him instead? If he’d wished for it, Jin could have taken this knight down in a matter of moments, and the king would only have one wish left.
But no, the Golden King had to hoard his wishes like some greedy sort of… well, person who’d turn his entire castle gold.
The castle guards rushed toward the knight, their swords drawn, but the knight disappeared, reappearing just behind the king, with his oddly translucent sword held out against the king’s throat, a weird white glow coming from the weapon.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the knight said, nodding at the guards as the king shrieked in panic. “Now, I think I asked you about the twins. Would they be around, or…?”
Jin blinked, wondering how the man could possibly have moved so fast. He squinted at the knight, driving down beneath the surface to examine the magical light inside, but weirdly, there was nothing there, not even the black shadows of the king.
Jin frowned. Something odd was happening here, and not just the knight’s teleporting.
“Don’t hurt me!” the king shouted, trembling as the knight held him. “Please, you can have anything you want! Is it gold? I can make you enough gold to last a lifetime!”
The knight released the Golden King with a disgusted snort. “You really are just a worm, aren’t you?” he said. “But no, I don’t care about gold. Give me the twins, and return the other rebels to me, and I’ll allow you to live, though apparently without any dignity.”
As the guards surrounded the king once more, he sneered at the knight. “You have no dignity, you! And now that we have you, I think it’s time for you to join your friends in my statue collection.”
He nodded at the side of the throne room, where golden statues lined the wall opposite Jin. He looked over curiously, having never really examined the statues before, and realized for the first time how many of them looked just as surprised and terrified as the king’s father and brothers behind the throne.
The king was consistent, at least.
“You shouldn’t keep them out in the open like this,” the knight said, also looking at the statues, though his lighthearted words were offset by the dark tone in his voice. “It’s like you’re daring me to steal them, and turn my friends back.”
“If only you had the power to do so,” the king sneered. “Get him, you fools! What do I pay you for?”
This time the knight didn’t bother moving as the guards advanced and instead opened his arms wide. The closest guard reached out to capture the knight…
Only for his hand to pass right through the rebel.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did I forget to mention I’m not actually here?” the knight asked, shaking his head. “So forgetful of me. Does sort of make you wonder which of your nobles helped me in.”
The king, his face contorted with rage, slowly turned toward the cowering nobles before him. “One of you helped the rebels?” he whispered, his eyes widening.
The nobles all began talking at once, a few even dropping to their knees to swear oaths that they’d done no such thing, but the king gestured, and half the guards surrounded the nobles, pushing them out of the throne room. When they were gone, the king turned back to the knight, his face red with rage. “You’ve embarrassed me for the last time, you little wretch. I will send all my Faceless to find you, and there will be nowhere you can hide, not even in the Cursed City!”
The knight laughed. “You think you can find the Cursed City after all this time? Good luck with that.” He turned away from the king, looking all around the room, and then he seemed to notice Jin for the first time. “And what have we here? A boy with smoke for legs?”
Jin gasped and looked down at his bottom half, realizing he’d forgotten about the magic that made him look human. “Oh, sorry!” he shouted at the knight and the Golden King. “Trick of the light. That’s just, uh, smoke from the torches.” He quickly solidified himself to look fully human again, wincing as he knew he’d be paying for that once the knight was gone.
The king’s face looked even more angry at this, which Jin wouldn’t have thought was possible. “Enough of this nonsense. The twins are mine,” he hissed, leaning toward the knight. “And you shall never have them. I’ve got an entire castle full of Faceless to guard them. But you will see them soon enough, once I’ve taken enough magic to build their power.”
“So they are here?” the knight said, nodding. “Perfect. I figured you’d never keep them anywhere else, but I didn’t want to do a whole elaborate break-in and find you’d smartened up. That’s good to know, and really, all I needed, so I’ll be on my way. But you’re right that they’ll be seeing me soon, as I’ll be back when you least expect it.” He began to disappear, waving goodbye at Jin.
“You’re not going anywhere, you pathetic cretin!” the king roared, now much braver without the knight actually in the room. The Golden King leapt forward again with his golden glove, but the knight was gone before the king reached him, leaving the king to stumble awkwardly, almost tripping on his long golden robes.
Jin swallowed hard, wishing he hadn’t just seen that. Without a word, the Golden King stood up, straightened his robes, then turned and grabbed Jin’s arm as he passed, pulling him into the quiet of the adjoining hallway and then to the king’s waiting room. Off in the distance, Jin could hear the nobles yelling as the guards locked them away in rooms, which probably meant that there were going to be a number of new statues in the throne room soon.
But unfortunately, Jin knew the king would be dealing with him first.
The Golden King’s private rooms were, if anything, even more gaudy, as everything within was made of gold, from the walls to the furniture to the floor. Again, pretty tacky in Jin’s mind, and not at all comfortable, either, so a lose-lose all around.
“Well, that was a surprise, Your Majesty!” Jin said as the Golden King closed the door quickly behind them. “Honestly, I think you could have taken him, if he’d really been there.” He looked up at the Golden King innocently. “Or if you’d like, you could always use a wish, and—”
Any attempt by the Golden King to appear calm disappeared the moment the door closed, and he stared at Jin for a moment, his fists clenched. “My nobles betray me. The Last Knight mocks me. And now you have revealed one of my most powerful weapons to the enemy!”
Ah. Right. “Oh, I’m sure he didn’t know what I am. There can’t be that many genies in this world, since as far as I know, I’m the only one young enough to have to serve humans. Still, if you want to make a wish, I’m sure I could—”
The Golden King sneered, then squeezed two fingers together in response, cutting off Jin’s air. Jin’s eyes widened, and he put his hands to his throat, but he knew it was useless. The king had absolute control over him, up to and including making him want to breathe in the first place, something genies didn’t need to do naturally. Forcing him to draw in breath, then keeping the air from reaching his lungs was just the kind of cruelty the king enjoyed.
Not that Jin could suffocate, even when in a human form, since if he fell unconscious, he’d just revert back to his gaseous, spirit state. But not breathing definitely wasn’t comfortable in the meantime, and the king could make him feel like he might die, even if that was impossible.
“You seem to forget which of us is in control,” the Golden King said quietly. “Now, are you done with your jokes? I would think a little respect might be in order, considering.”
Jin gritted his teeth, then nodded, hating having to do it.
The king kept his fingers pressed together for another moment, only to abruptly release them. Air came flooding back into Jin’s lungs, and he gasped, then took a deep breath, just enjoying the feeling, not caring if it was real or not.
The king looked down at the lower half of Jin’s body. “If not for the Last Knight’s attack, the court might have noticed your legs were missing. Do that again, and I’ll punish you for real.”
Jin nodded again and glanced down himself to make sure the legs hadn’t gone anywhere. The king insisted on keeping him around, just in case of danger, instead of letting Jin relax inside the ring, like his brother had. But that meant Jin had to disguise himself as human to hide his natural form, which was basically an intangible spirit that looked like a cloud of smoke.
Originally, Jin had chosen what he thought was a fairly handsome form, giving himself all kinds of muscles and appealing features, but the king had immediately shut that down and forced him to instead look completely forgettable, which did work, in that most humans in the castle barely even noticed Jin was there. His dark brown pants, gray shirt, and thin gray hooded cape helped with that, though Jin was just glad not to have to wear gold.
“The Last Knight has gone too far this time,” the king said, pacing around as Jin finished looking himself over. “Up until now, he’s just been an annoyance, interfering too often as I dealt with the magical threats to my people. But now he means to take the twins back? I will not allow it!”
Jin opened his mouth to ask who the twins were but decided this wasn’t the best time for questions and shut his mouth instead. Besides, the king sounded like he was about to do just what Jin was hoping he would do, so the last thing he wanted to do was distract the man.
“For my second wish, genie,” the king said, turning back to glare at Jin, “I want you to capture the Last Knight from the Cursed City and bring him here, to me, in chains.”
And there it was. Finally, the second wish. Just one more and he’d be free!
Jin tried to hide his excitement as he bowed low. “It shall be done, Your Majesty.”
And it would be too, no matter what it took.
All Jin had to do was figure out… well, how to do it, considering how little magic he had.
CHAPTER 5
Lena happily looked herself over in the giant-sized hand mirror her mother had given her, taking up one entire wall of the dollhouse bedroom. She’d so rarely had clothes she liked, since everything her parents had provided had come from dolls.
Of course, once she’d discovered the human city on the ground below the clouds, that had all changed, but she couldn’t let her parents know that.
While the other giants would be getting dressed up for the ritual, Lena knew that she couldn’t wear anything too fancy, not without her mother wondering where she’d gotten the clothing from. But she wasn’t going to wear some ill-fitting doll clothing either. So she compromised by wearing one of the more giant-looking human-made outfits she’d discovered, satisfied that at least it fit. And the magic of the Growth Ring would ensure it grew along with her, so that was helpful too.
As she checked to make sure she’d belted her tunic correctly, the mirror began to mist over, and Lena frowned. Not this again. That was the trouble with trying to use magic mirrors to dress yourself.
“You will meet the love of your life very soon!” the mirror said in a spooky voice.
Lena rolled her eyes. “Oh yeah?” she said, glancing over at Rufus behind her. “If they’re not better than my cat, I don’t care.”
The mirror snorted. “Hey, no one’s making any claims about them being better than anyone. I’m just making prophecies here.”
“Well, don’t,” Lena told it. “I’m trying to get ready! And how many times do I have to tell you? I don’t want to hear about any love stuff!”
“Oh come on, you never let me do anything fun,” the mirror said, and a face began to appear inside the glass, a boy’s face with brown hair. Lena groaned and immediately looked away, not wanting to see anything more.
This wasn’t the first time the mirror had tried to show her this ‘true love’ person. But Lena just couldn’t bring herself to care.
“All right, stop it,” Lena said, trying to sound firm. “Don’t just go showing me some guy when I said I wasn’t interested. I’m busy!”
“He’s not some guy,” the mirror complained. “He’s the one you’ll spend the rest of your life with, happily ever after!”
“Ever after what?” she asked. “What does that even mean?”
“Not really sure, honestly,” the mirror admitted. “It’s just part of the prophecy. Ever is like ‘forever,’ I imagine, so maybe you’ll love him after forever?”
