darkness inside him.
It seemed to last for a very long time.
CHAPTER 24
'It wasn't your fault.'
Saltlick didn't seem to hear me.
'You wanted to save him. In the end… well, I don't think a man like Moaradrid could understand that.'
'Stone gone.'
So that was what was bothering him? Not Moaradrid's plunge into the abyss but the loss of the chief-stone he'd taken with him. No, I'd heard how Saltlick had bellowed when he realised the warlord wouldn't let himself be saved. I recognised that tortured glint in his eye.
But now there was something else there as well, something I hadn't seen before. It was present too in the way he moved, and in a new set to his features. I couldn't begin to guess what was going through his mind.
I glanced nervously to the far side of the chasm, where a minute ago Moaradrid's men had been waiting, poised to intervene. They were gone. Apparently, avenging their master's death wasn't a higher priority than saving their own skins.
Would the rest of his army flee too, back into the distant North? We could only hope.
I turned my attention to Estrada and Alvantes. Alvantes's face was ashen and waxy, and his eyelids flickered constantly, as though even staying conscious was a struggle.
'We should get him inside,' I said, 'and see if we can tend that wound.'
That brought Saltlick out of his stupor. 'Help Alvantes,' he rumbled.
He stomped over, and went to lift Alvantes from where he sat.
'Careful!' I squatted in front of them and asked Estrada, 'Do you think he can walk?'
Alvantes glared at me. 'I can walk.'
He stumbled to his feet, and would have fallen as quickly if Estrada hadn't slipped her shoulder beneath his outstretched arm. Alvantes grunted with pain and resignation, and sagged against her. I moved quickly to support him on the other side.
In that manner we reeled along behind Saltlick, who'd gone ahead to call for the gate to be reopened. Fortunately, a number of the giantesses had followed behind us, and had been waiting in a crowd on the far side of the palisade. There followed a brief discussion, with Saltlick translating and much gesturing on all parts, as to the best way of getting Alvantes somewhere where his injuries could be treated. In the end, Estrada and I donated our cloaks to form a makeshift stretcher, which four giantesses took up. All together, we trudged down the bank and through the tree line.
A minute later, the giantesses indicated that we should separate, pointing Estrada and I to one of the banner-walled 'rooms' while the rest trudged on with Alvantes.
'Hey,' I cried, suddenly alarmed. Did they know what they were doing? What if giant anatomy was radically different from ours?
They only clucked at me and kept going.
'Heal well.' Saltlick spoke with such certainty that I couldn't doubt him. Without Alvantes to worry about, my thoughts turned to myself. I couldn't quite persuade my mind or body to believe it was all over. My legs ached with the need to keep moving, as though they'd forgotten how to be still. My mind was in turmoil, images and sensations popping like sparks behind my eyes. I felt violently tired and fiercely awake. I flopped onto the grass and lay back, propped with my arms behind me.
'We won.'
The words sounded hollow. Moaradrid was dead, a sorry and stupid death. His armies still squatted throughout the land. The giant-stone was lost, the giants split over the length of the Castoval.
Still. We had won. I tried hard to feel glad of the fact.
Saltlick sat beside me. One glance told me he was going through much the same internal struggles as I was. That change I'd noticed before remained, though, and I thought I recognised it now. If he was distraught, he nevertheless seemed stronger than before, more sure of himself. Perhaps his ever-sobrief spell as chieftain had given him a little self-insight; perhaps he approved of what he'd discovered.
Saltlick's mother had stayed behind with a couple of the other giantesses. They busied about, bringing first buckets of water and then fresh fruit and vegetables from the wilderness nearby. I was glad of the water, but the thought of food turned my stomach — until I tried some.
Everything was delicious beyond my wildest imagining. I knew I hadn't eaten in well over a day, and that probably accounted for why it was so good now, but all I really cared about was the pleasure of cramming food into my gullet. I ate until I couldn't manage any more. Then I lay back and closed my eyes. A giantess draped a blanket over me, and raised my head to tuck beneath it something soft and yielding.
I smiled, too drained to express my gratitude in any other way, and hoped they'd understand.
It was still light when I woke. I looked around, to discover that Estrada was kneeling beside me. Behind her, the giantesses had lowered the banners almost to the ground, creating a little privacy more suited to our scale.
'Good afternoon,' I said.
'Actually it's early morning. You slept all day and night.'
'Did I? I feel like I could do with a few more hours.'
'Well, the giants say you can stay as long as you like. But Alvantes and I are starting back in a few minutes. I came to ask if you wanted to join us, or to say goodbye if you didn't.'
'What about Saltlick?'
'He's said he wants to talk to us all.'
I threw off my blanket. 'If Saltlick has a speech planned I want to be there for it. At the very least it should be a masterpiece of brevity.'
Estrada smiled. 'He's been acting strangely. Well, not strange exactly…'
'Determined?'
'Yes. That's it.'
'I noticed that.' I climbed to my feet, and stretched until I felt as though my joints would pop. 'He would have been a good chief, wouldn't he? I was so convinced he was just an oversized dolt.'
'You know what I liked most about being mayor?' asked Estrada, drawing a flap in the wall-banner aside. 'The way that when it came to it — when what needed doing seemed too hard, when I thought I was asking far too much of them — people always surprised me.'
I nodded. 'I can see how that might appeal.'
Estrada motioned through the gap. 'Shall we see what he has to say?'
She led the way, and a minute later we were once more within view of the gate. There were giants everywhere, in a loose crowd up the embankment. At the base of the slope, keeping well apart from the press, stood Alvantes. His foreshortened arm was strapped with bandages of coarse, green-tinged fabric, and he was supporting himself against a crutch tucked beneath the other shoulder. His face had been carefully cleaned, revealing countless small abrasions over a background of blackening bruises. For all that, he looked far better than when I'd seen him last.
He tilted his head in acknowledgement as we drew close. 'They're arguing about something,' he said, 'but I'll be damned if I can tell what.'
Saltlick was standing at the cusp of the bank with a dozen giantesses close around him, amongst them his mother. They were all speaking together, though it was clear that Saltlick was directing the conversation. That was new in itself. As Alvantes had pointed out, there was a definite sense of discord in the air, and Saltlick's mother seemed particularly agitated.
'Is everything all right?' Estrada asked.
Saltlick nodded. 'Told them, tell you. Go find brothers. Bring home. No more fight.'
