Dany handed a crumpled trumpet to Nathan.
A few sniffs, and he pointed west, deeper into the battlefields. It was the most dangerous possible way to go, and, to everyone's worry, it was quieter each step they took.
No horns, no war cries, nor whooping barbarians.
Just puddles of blood.
Hungry wolves, glaring at them with vibrant green jewels, ripping and gnashing rotted blue-purple flesh from limbs. A few loped up to the trio, but one sniff of Nathan sent them scurrying.
'Least I don't feed on rot. Damn vultures,' he thought, kicking over a half-skinned skull.
Another hour or so west, atop their horses in a trot, they rode upon massive footsteps.
All three of their steeds galloped in and out, a print with four toes, several meters deep. At first glance it appeared as a small hill, and all the footprints beyond made the land appear to cave in.
Fog was thinning, and steel on steel made the horses whine.
Roars and shouts, men shoving and stabbing, yet no horns. They cursed one another, bled whoever was in front of them, and their lords and knights commanded with raspy voices, so low it may as well have been a whisper.
Not until they were within a hundred paces did they realize how many there were.
Without question the largest land battle Nathan had laid eyes one.
"Gods," he said, eyeing the fireborne flags.
Wulf-bear flags flew, beside the red fire sigils.
He almost lost his breath, until he remembered Rorik was on their side. Their side, as if he'd were even a citizen anymore.
Was there really any purpose to it? Leave, he wanted to tell himself, but he could hear the paladin's whispers in thought.
'Feed….Feed….you must feed, all animals do…..'
"I'm still a man," he muttered to himself, drawing Viperess. "Not a an animal."
William made a small grin, though at the wail of what must've been a boy, the young father gasped with horror.
Dany waved for them to follow, stalking round to the fireborne rear flank.
"Stay close William," she said, longsword hidden in her cloak. "Keep your cross-star out."
Nathan kept Viperess out, in spite of Dany's tight scowl.
It should've taken off at least a chunk of his palm long before now, yet his skin remained intact. He swapped hands, removed his gloves, and waved away steam rising out resealing flesh.
Eyes widened, he hurried putting back on his glove. "What the fuck?"
William's cross hand trembled. "Y-you're a rejuvenator?"
"Focus!" Dany snapped.
"But, if he ca-."
"I know what it means," Dany growled, face reddening, "now just focus so you don't get yourse-."
Tremors knocked the horses off balance.
The young father fell from his mount, and after trying her best, Dany fell as well. Nathan remained upright, though the lines of all warring sides fell like iron and steel pins, enemy and ally atop one another alike in confusion.
It became a cluster, soldiers trying to get the upper hand while recovering, skewering whoever wasn't quick enough.
Again, tremors shook the earth, but it didn't stop.
One step, another, a third, and towering shadows appeared within the Burning Land's thick smokey atmosphere. A lone eye beamed on one giant, red like the blood moon, and the other's three eyes shined like the sun.
"Cyclops! Cyclops!" A Rorik axman screamed.
At least forty meters high, both giants breathed like a low crackling flame.
Their claws were long as spears, hair flowed down to their backside like a wild unkempt cloak, they were lanky with stubby legs, and their arms almost touched their toes.
The one eyed giant, the one true cyclops as Nathan remembered from Father's tales, emitted smoke from its socket.
"Volley! Volley! Fall back!" A Wayfork knight commanded. "Separate! Break off!"
Within the chaos, soldiers still slaughtered one another.
Arrows flew overhead, so many it darkened the sky. Fire burst out the cyclops' eye, a beam of molten hell-fire, incinerating hundreds of soldiers at a time. Fire grazed the three eyed giant, making it wail, then swinging at it's counterpart.
A right punch to the face stumbled the cyclops back, its beam razing just inches before the trio. For a split second, Nathan felt to be in a furnace.
William screamed, and Dany covered the young father.
After dismounting his horse, the latter restless as the others, Nathan watched the giants grapple one another.
The cyclops gained the upper hand, slamming three eyes onto its back. Soldiers splattered like bone filled tomatoes, and after raising its hands in submission, three eyes dared not roar again.
Cyclops' socket shined, but fire didn't erupt.
"It needs some time before it can fire again," Nathan said, waving to Dany. "Come on!"
She nodded, leaving a shivering William.
Side by side for a moment, Nathan broke out in full stride. He calmed himself, keeping Dany in his sight. They paced faster than passing horses, some riders of the fireborne kingdom recognizing him.
When they reached the cyclops, its eye burned.
Nathan took the left ankle, Dany took the right. One flash of steel, Viperess hissing like a venomous breeze, and they sliced open tendons. Blood gushed in an instant, and the cyclops folded over its right ankle.
Fire beamed towards the sky, but withered.
Nathan and Dany darted away, missing the cyclops' back by inches. As it squirmed, volleys loosed again from the fireborne kingdom. Rorik riders heaved spears, and the cyclops' eye was ridden with iron and steel as it wailed.
Three eyes staggered back, swinging down at Nathan and Dany.
She slid beneath dozen meter claws, recovering to dash for three eyes' ankles. Nathan leaped overhead, and scaled up the giants arm. Within a stride of three white shining sockets, a furnace rose behind him.
It was either the heat of the beam, or the impact. On top of feeling the furnace scorch his back, he felt as if his lungs were being hammered with steel.
In a few blinks he was flopped on the ground, bones broken all over.
While he tried to breathe, Dany sliced open three eyes' ankles. Once the giant fell, she carved out two eyes with her longsword, one swing each. Behind him, cyclops was stoning, granite covering the one-eyed monster's skin every passing second.
It was silent for a moment, the cyclops completely frozen, its eye gored beyond repair.
Three eyes bled out, twitching after Dany leaped from its bloody skull.
She hurried to Nathan, his vision blurring fast.
"Stay awake!" She shouted.
"Nathan?" Sir Robyn said, riding up to them with dozens of knights. "Gods be damned, the forsaken son of Nordwell still lives?"
He knew the captain of The Order's knights saw the fangs.
In a an instant, every sword was pointed towards him, Dany standing over his shivering body.
"Touch him and I'll kill you!" Dany shouted, and every single one of them tugged their reins.
Robyn dismounted, trying to reason with her. "We mean no harm, my lady of the Embers. You and the former kingsguard gave us our lives, we'll help you in any way we can."
Nathan groaned, his back blistering.
Pins nibbled at his spine, like steel mosquitoes picking him by the hundreds. Skin crawled behind him, then every sting seized, his blackened flesh anew. While rising to sit, he coughed uncontrollably, thirsty beyond comprehension.
Without a second thought, he crawled to the nearest puddle, diving his face inside.
Dany cursed, and the knights keep their swords raised.
Sir Robyn was speechless, Nathan looking back with a face full of blood, licking his lips. He dove back in, to what was three eye's spreading dark pool. It was thick like the gargoyle's, yet warm.
Upon raising his head, his arms felt numb, as if he'd had a few pints.
"For fuck's sake," he mumbled, growing a small grin. "Giants blood!"
Dany helped him up, and Robyn led them the regrouping Rorik and fireborne forces.
Wayfork had seen enough, her majesty's army retreating deep into the fog farther south. William caught, all but one of the horses which was scathed by fiery debris. The young father kept a hand on Nathan, as the trio joined Robyn a few paces behind the marching army.
At the front of the fireborne led force was Fat Carl himself, leading his men back to camp. Nathan's vision was returning, better than before, and he saw his majesty was a bit less round.
"He's done a bit of growing up out here," Robyn said, wiping blood from his sword. "Among the war, his never-ending feud with Isaac."
Nathan cursed beneath his breath.
Robyn laid a hand on him. "I will see what I can do, but the terms of your excommunication, and…this, recent develop-."
"Don't worry about it," Nathan snorted, brushing Robyn's hand away.
Robyn sighed, "Again, for what it's worth, thank you. Giants on the field has been a death sentence, even in retreat. I've not the understanding how I've managed to stay alive."
"Unholy luck," Nathan muttered, then asked about Larosa.
Robyn shook his head. "I've not seen her, though I did see one of your other Embers, a spear wielding fellow."
"Arthur? Larosa wasn't with him?" Dany asked, rubbing her forehead.
"Afraid so," Robyn said. "The lad was passing through, appearing to have a mad look on his face. He slaughtered quite a few riders, and took down a wyvern when…."
He cared no more to listen.
Larosa was lost, out there in the worst war of the age.
And, he hadn't the faintest clue where to start looking.