The Giant of Felrein CH4

Chapter 4

For the next three nights, Dara visited the giant. She told him stories of her life before she came to Felrein. Of her mother, of their magic shop, of their village. She avoided mentioning both her uncle and the giantess who had lived in her village, for either topic would cause the conversation to stray down a path she was not yet ready to take.

During the day she performed her usual tasks, all the while wondering how she and Gavin would get out of this. For she knew that unless she took him with her, every night of her new life would be haunted by nightmares of whatever fate had befallen then young giant.

She shook her head lightly, sighing to herself as she cleaned the feeding bins of the sleipnirs in the nearby river. She called Gavin a young giant but he may well be older than her. He was fairly close to her age, anyway, from what they had been able to deduce. He had been five when captured, and at that age had only been slightly taller than the ringmaster. After that, keeping track of the years had been hard for Gavin, but he supposed it had been about fourteen or fifteen. He had tried to pay attention and make note of the changing colors of the autumn leaves, for his birthday had been on the eleventh day of Bounty. But, he only saw the outdoors through passing glimpses, and Felrein's route often took them to the southern countries where the leaves did not change during Bounty. With his days and weeks and months all blending together, Gavin acknowledged that he had likely missed one or two birthdays.

Still, even if he was older than her, he was considerably less versed in the ways of the world. Through no fault of his own, of course, but denying his naivete would not do anyone any good. He was also physically underdeveloped. He was almost never on his feet for longer than the duration of the Creature of Kehlen act, and Dara had found out the stone he lifted during the show was enchanted. Dara herself could lift it just as easily, if she so desired.

So it was that Gavin lacked much of the basic muscle and stamina that would have come naturally to a typical giant his age. It would take very little force to subdue him if they were caught, and she was not sure Gavin had the endurance to stay far enough ahead to avoid capture. Not for more than a day or so anyway. Keeping hidden would likely be a challenge as well. Possibly if they escaped as Felrein passed through a heavily forested or marshy area... But then such areas had perils of their own, and Gavin and Dara might quickly find that Leo was the least of their worries.

All this on top of not even knowing how Gavin felt about leaving Felrein.He still thought his treatment was more or less acceptable. Even if she were to tell him it was not, would he want to risk his life to escape?

She dried the bins, filled them with feed, and returned them to the sleipnir's pens. One of the creatures poked its nose over the fence, nudging Dara's shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I haven't brought anything else," she said, smiling as she brushed its forelock. Patrons and staff alike frequently fed the large beasts carrots, apples, or other treats, and so the sleipnirs had learned to shamelessly ask for them.

The sleipnir flicked an ear in mild annoyance and lowered its large head to the feed bin. Apparently it was more interested in food than attention at the moment.

Dara folded her arms over the fence, watching them. They, like all the other animals of Felrein, were well-fed and groomed, and never pushed to the point of stress or nervousness. If any animal seemed even slightly agitated or moody before a show, it would not be made to perform. Just yesterday one of the drakes had been deemed too irritable to perform, and one of his sisters had performed in his place. It occurred to Dara then that her uncle did not have the animals under the power of Mentis Imperium. Whether it did not work on them or he simply chose to employ more traditional training methods, she could not say.

Still, why then must Gavin bare countless scars of whipping, while the animals had the flawless hides of animals who had never been beaten or branded?

She supposed one reason could be that people would notice scars on the animals. If these animals appeared as abused as Gavin, Felrein would surely have less patrons. If creatures as rare and majestic as sleipnirs and drakes were treated as the giant was, people would no doubt demand they be released into the custody of someone who could appreciate their beauty rather than destroy it.

Did her uncle actually deem the harsh treatment necessary to keep Gavin under his thumb? Or did he derive some perverse pleasure from exerting power over someone more than three times his size?

Dara became aware of footsteps behind her and turned to see her uncle approaching the pen. She did her best to smile warmly at him, but the gesture felt strained.

"Good afternoon, Dara," he said, moving to lean on the fence beside her. "How are you doing? I feel I haven't seen much of you since that first day. I do apologize, but this is the last day of the show and things get quite busy during that time."

"I'm doing fine, thank you. Everyone's been quite kind and helpful," she said. It was true. If not for the treatment of Gavin, life at Felrein would be quite rewarding and desirable. Certainly a better life than she could have hoped for had she stayed in her home village.

"Well, we had best get ready. Patrons will be arriving in an hour or so," he said, lightly placing a hand on her shoulder.

"O-Oh, yes, sorry. I suppose I lost track of time."

He chuckled, glancing at the happily eating sleipnirs. "You always did have a soft spot for beasts, didn't you?"

~*~

After the show, Dara was summoned to Leo's tent. She arrived to find him leaning over his desk, apparently making adjustments to the route he had mapped out.

"Ah, Dara," he said, looking up from his work to grin at her. She returned the grin, doing a better job of faking it than she had earlier in the evening.

"I just wanted to make sure you were prepared for tomorrow," he said.

She nodded. "Yes, Uncle. Everything is packed away in my trunk, so all I need do in the morning is collapse the tent and have Coro and Tendrin get my bed into the wagon with the others."

He smiled, dipping his head briefly in a nod of approval. "Good girl," he said, sounding every bit the proud uncle she spent her childhood believing him to be. He turned towards the back wall of the tent, beginning to pace as he spoke. "Now, I'm sure you've heard a bit about this from the others, but life on the road will be much different than when we have our shows. Luckily, the weather and the seasons are in our favor for this trip. All the same, it will mean earlier mornings and later evenings."

He glanced at Dara and she nodded silently. As she did so her eyes happened to fall on his map.

"And of course, our camps will be even more temporary than what we've set up now."

Dara recognized the map as one her mother had made for him many years ago. It had been enchanted to show the location of the circus, as well as the proposed route. The stops were marked images of smaller tents, while their current location was a drawing of the big top itself. Weather also showed on the map, and Dara watched as rainclouds rolled and thundered over the mountains to the far west of them.

"Beds are only unloaded if we're making good time," Leo continued. "If we fall behind schedule, I'm afraid sleeping arrangements will be... a bit less private," he said with a weak chuckle. "You may have to bunk up with Celia and the other women in a larger tent."

Dara hardly paid attention to him as her eyes followed the route. Something seemed to flash alongside the path, and a new village appeared on the map as Dara watched. Underneath the delicately drawn buildings, the name "Torensa" appeared. Torensa... Where had she heard that name before? In half a second it clicked and she uttered a gasp of surprise.

"What?" Leo asked, turning to regard her with a glint of suspicion. He followed her gaze down to the map, but the village of Torensa disappeared before he noticed it. "Ah, the map. Your mother made it, you know," he said.

"I know," she said quietly. "I... recognized her work." Torensa was the settlement Agnes had moved to. This map was obviously much more sophisticated than Leo realized, if it knew to show Dara the giant village yet hide it from him. Torensa was very near to the route they were about to take tomorrow. They would pass within a couple day's walk of it. Maybe-

"You must miss her," Leo said, seeming genuinely sympathetic.

She glanced up, once again caught of guard by his amazing acting. Numbly she nodded, wondering if Leo cared even a little about his late sister. Probably not, she thought bitterly as tears stung at her eyes.

"There, there," he said soothingly, putting a hand on her shoulder, his brow furrowed in fake concern.

For a moment she was tempted to break down right there. She knew he would comfort her. He would continue to act the role he always had. But that's all it ever was. An act. "I-I think I want to be alone for a bit," she said, pulling away hastily.

"Of course," he said gracefully as she ducked out of the tent.

Once inside her own tent, Dara collapsed on her bed, sobbing. Damn him! How she wished he really were the caring uncle she thought he had been. Not only had she lost her mother, she had lost her kind uncle, the only other relative she had left. Part of her felt sorely tempted to forget Gavin, forget Leo's cruelty, and just be a family again.

But she knew she could never forget. Not completely. She may be able to fool herself part of the time, maybe even a lot of the time. Then the day would end, and she would retire to her tent. That was when it would happen. Once she was alone with her thoughts, with nothing to distract her, she would remember.

"He's none of mine," she murmured aloud.