Jake & The Giant (The Gryphon Chronicles, Book 2) (36 page)

“
For your information, you braggart, Snorri the Shepherd is far superior to you!” she shot back.

“I am?” Snorri
echoed.

“Oh, really?
” Gorm barked. “And why is that?”

“
Snorri has a giant-sized heart! All you’ve got is a big mouth.”

Gorm
glared at her, then huffed away, his weapons clanking at his sides. His followers hurried after him, but he was so angry that he waved them off.

When he had gone, King Olaf turned to the victor. “
Now, then. Snorri the Shepherd, the Norns have woven your destiny! You will be my successor and our people’s next king. This very night, you shall marry my daughter—”

“Uh, excuse me, Your Majesty!” Sn
orri interrupted, holding up a finger. “Might I make a few remarks?”

The king smiled broadly. “Of course. Listen up, one and all! Your future king will speak!”

Snorri turned to address the King and the whole crowd, but anyone could see that most of his attention remained, as always, fixed on Princess Kaia-of-the-Yellow-Braids.

“Ahem,” he started,
only to falter. Then he tried again, more loudly. “Your Majesty, Your Highness, friends. There’s only one reason I entered this tournament—because of Her Royal Highness.”

Kaia
tilted her head with a beaming smile.

“
I wouldn’t have had the nerve to try if it weren’t for my coaches, the noble dwarves. But they gave me the courage to do what I knew was right. I never wanted to see the princess forced to marry a giant she didn’t love. Not Gorm, and not me, neither,” he said in his usual humble way. “I just want her to be happy. I may not be the smartest giant here, but I do know one thing.” He turned to the king, and his voice turned much more forceful. “Princess Kaia has what it takes to rule this kingdom by herself. She doesn’t need a husband to do it for her when the time comes. And so, Your Majesty, now that I’ve won your contest, I choose to forfeit the crown in favor of your daughter.”

“What?
B-but you can’t do that!” her father spluttered. “She’s a female!”

“If I’m
the next king, I can do whatever I want,” Snorri replied with a pugnacious thrust of his chin. “I won the right of succession fair and square, and I choose to hand over the crown to the one I know will do the best job for our people—your royal daughter, sire.”

The king huffed and puffed and looked nonplussed.

“Oh, come, Your Majesty,” Snorri cajoled him. “Kaia’s been learning from you how to rule ever since she was a wee small giantess. The people love her. She’s as smart and brave as she is beautiful.”

“Awww,”
said the crowd.

“She can do this!
And if you don’t mind my saying, you shouldn’t have put her through all this in the first place.”

“Oh
, really?” King Olaf exclaimed, turning angrily to his daughter. “Did you put him up to this? Force him into the contest from the start—”

“No!” Kaia explained.

The princess appeared to be in shock at Snorri’s public refusal to marry her.

“
It’s not her fault,” Snorri assured King Olaf. “She had no idea that this was my intention all along. Ask the dwarves if you don’t believe me.” He paused. “I know I don’t deserve somebody like her.”

Kaia gaz
ed at him with tears of wonder in her eyes. “No one’s ever done anything like this for me before.”

“I believe in you,” Snorri told her.

But the king remained befuddled. “A woman for a leader? Who ever heard of such a thing?”

“There’s a first time for everything. Sire,
won’t you just give her a chance?”

Teary-eyed, the valiant warrior
princess could no longer restrain her emotions. “Oh, Snorri, don’t you
want
to marry me?” she burst out.

“Of course I do!” he exclaimed
, bashfully lowering his head. “Everybody knows how much I love you.”

“Awwww,”
Archie said with a grin, elbowing Jake.

Princess Kaia shook her head. “I wanted you
to win the contest, Snorri, but not so you could set me free. I wanted you to win so I could marry you!”

“What?” His
eyes flew open wide.

“Oh, maybe you are
just a big, dumb oaf if you never realized how much I like you, too!”

Snorri turned bright red.

“Oh, you,” she scolded him fondly. Then she threw her arms around him in a giant-sized hug and kissed him on the cheek.

King Olaf was scowling.
“Well, if you’re going to end up married either way, what do I care which one of you is officially in charge?” he grumbled. “You should manage well enough between the two of you.”

Meanwhile, t
he Master of Ceremonies, after all that he had been through, was eager to bring the nerve-racking matter of the contest to a neat conclusion.

He gestured to the happy couple
with a courtly flourish. “Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to present the next King and Queen of Jugenheim!”

He started applauding loudly in the hopes that everyone else would follow suit.

The giants did—uncertainly. Most of them still looked rather confused about what was going on.

Jake and Archie cheered wildly, how
ever.

But when Snorr
i gave Kaia a big, wet smooch on the lips, the boys looked away, laughing, even as they exchanged a slightly revolted grimace.

“Oh,
that’s disgusting,” Jake mumbled, still clapping.

Archie chuckled while Re
d cawed in approval. “And they all lived happily ever after.”

At least, for a
little while.

PART V

CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

A
New Alliance

After the triumphant solving of the riddle and the victorious conclusion of the tournament, the boys and their large friend dragged themselves back to Snorri’s cottage to rest and recover from their exhausting voyage to Valhalla.

While Snorri scrubbed hims
elf in the pond (with soap) to clean himself up for his wedding, Jake tended Red’s scratches from his battle with the Valkyries, still brooding on his vision of his parents that he had glimpsed in Odin’s pool.

What could it mean? W
hat if they were still alive somewhere, somehow? What if, after all this time, he wasn’t really an orphan?

He didn’t dare let himself hope
…

Meanwhile,
Archie went out to the shed to continue repairing the Pigeon. The boy genius worked on his contraption for an hour before he finally fell asleep right on the floor of the shed.

That was where Jake foun
d him.

Jake called the eager bridegroom in to pick the little fellow up and carry him back inside. Snorri lifted Archie gingerly in one hand, then tiptoed in and deposited him on the same huge chair where the boys had slep
t before. Archie never even stirred.

Since his cousin was out cold, Jake took a nap, too, before it was time to go to the feast and stand as witnesses at Snorri’s royal wedding.

Unfortunately, not everyone was as happy as they were about the outcome of the competition.

Hours later,
Loki was still fuming. Indeed, he was outraged. How could he, a god, have been outwitted by two meddling boys and a giant with the intelligence of a soup spoon?

It would not stand! No,
he vowed to himself, this defeat was only temporary. In a little while, he’d have the giants surrendering to him completely, begging for mercy.

But first he
would need a little assistance…some brute muscle.

Still
disguised as the Ice Wizard, Loki stepped into the garden behind the great hall and found himself staring at the only other person who was as angry about all of this as he.

Prince Gorm sat alone and sulking. He glanced over
, hearing him approach. Oh, the arrogant warrior appeared to be in a terrible mood after losing to the village loser.

“What do
you want?” he growled.

“The same thing you do, I wager.” Loki leaned on his gnarled wizard-staff. “Wouldn’t you like to get back at them, just a little?”

Gorm glared in the direction of the feast. He’d heard Kaia was set to marry that idiot Snorri in the town square this very night. “Of course I would. You don’t have to be a sorcerer to figure that out. But what can I do? It’s too late now.”

“Well, i
t may cheer you up to hear that I know a way to punish those fools as they deserve. But I’d need your help to carry it out.”

That was the secret curse of his devilish existence. He always needed a willing accomplice to get anything really big done.

Gorm turned to him slowly, a gleam in his eyes. “What did you have in mind?”

Loki gave him a crafty
smile. “Come with me and you’ll find out.”

Gorm thought it over for
a second. “Why not,” he muttered. Then he rose and obeyed, following Loki into the shadows.

CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

Nightmare From the Volcano

At the wedding feast that night, the giants would bang their cups every now and then to insist that Kaia and Snorri have a kiss, and Jake would nearly lose his appetite.

He a
nd Archie looked away, gagging, every time.

But
it was now official: the princess and the winner of the tournament had been married for about an hour.

A
s the night wore on and the mead flowed and the giants got up to lurch around in their comical dances, the boys and the Gryphon stayed out of harm’s way, safely perched up on their handrail to avoid getting stepped on.

Watching
all the proceedings, Jake reflected on the first time he had seen Snorri outside that mountain cave on the day that Archie had been kidnapped. It was hard to believe that their silly giant friend would be the next king of Jugenheim, but at least now no one would have to worry about the end of the world.

Or so Jake thought.

But then, as all the giants were enjoying the feast, without warning, a distant rumble of thunder filled the night.

“What was that?” people exclaimed.

Jake instantly jumped to his feet, fearing Thor had finally tracked him down. “Time to go!” he yelped to Archie and Red.

The
n a flash lit up the dark sky, but when Jake looked toward the mountainous horizon, he saw it wasn’t really lightning.

His eyes widened as the rumbling noise continued
on and on.

“Hold on,” he murmured to himself, heart pounding. “That’s not thunder…”

The giants stopped dancing. Somebody silenced the musicians and everyone turned to look toward the mountains.

In the distance, a sinister
, red-orange glow cast a weird illumination over the landscape.

“What is it?” the giants
asked.

Hearing the
frightened murmurs go rippling through the square unnerved Jake a little. The boys exchanged an uneasy glance, both wondering what could have the crowd of big, powerful giants so spooked?

But King Olaf quickly
took control, stepping up to the platform. “Settle down, everyone! There is no need for alarm. The volcano is far enough away that you won’t be in any danger.”

“Volcano?” Jake turned to Archie, wide-eyed.

“Brilliant!” Archie whispered, instantly going into scientist mode.

“I assure you,” the king continued, “our ancestors were
too intelligent to place the village in striking distance of the lava. Don’t worry, every fifty years or so, the volcano gets a little indigestion and must let out a belch.” He patted his stomach with a grin. “Happens to the best of us!”

The villagers
laughed nervously, reassured.

“It must be a sign from the gods that they approve of the match!” someone suggested.

“Indeed!” King Olaf raised his drinking horn in a toast to the happy couple. “Cheers!”

The villagers followed suit, but just as they all started to calm down, another loud boom came f
rom the distance. This time, a plume of bright red-orange lava spurted up into the black sky.

“Ohhh, ahhh!” said the giants.

“What a rare treat!” Archie exclaimed, reaching for his tool-bag. “I hardly expected we’d be so lucky as to witness a volcanic eruption on our trip to Scandinavia!” At once, he lifted his telescope to his eye and settled into position to watch the fiery show. “Incredible…”

Jake looked at his scientific cousin dubiously.

For one thing, he was not sure if Giant Land, balanced on some great branch of Yggdrasil, still counted as Scandinavia.

F
or another, a mountaintop bursting into flames seemed rather dangerous to be viewed as entertainment.

But after staring
through his telescope only a moment longer, Archie lowered it from his eye, turning pale. He pointed at the volcano. “What…is
that?
”

Jake turned to look and a
ll the watching giants gasped in horror as
something climbed out
of the volcano.

Everyone
stared in disbelief as a huge, fiery creature like a dog, but flaming red, crawled out of the hole in the mountaintop and shook itself, bracing all four paws atop the volcano.

T
hen it threw back its head and howled.

The long terrifying notes of i
ts dire baying echoed through the night.

And with that,
the fiery beast jumped off the volcano and disappeared among the hills.

Archie turned to Jake. “What was that?” he yelled over the sudden screaming of
all the giants.

Pandemonium had broken out in the square.

Jake shook his head dazedly. “I have no idea!”

The feast turned to chaos as panic took hold
; the giants overturned the tables and tore down the wedding canopy in their scramble to escape.

Kaia was yelling at
them, trying to tell people to exit the square in an orderly fashion, while Snorri stayed near his new wife.

The boys stood frozen with shock on the handrail outside of the great hall.

Archie turned to Jake, his eyes wide behind his spectacles. “Do you think it’s Loki?”

“But my dear children
, I’m standing right behind you,” a nearby voice drawled in amusement.

They whirled ar
ound to find the trickster god back in his mad prince form; he was leaning casually against the wall, watching things unfold.

Red growled at him, but Loki’s
devious smile never wavered.

“What have you done
, you loon-bat?” Jake demanded.

“Oh, I
just thought I’d bring my little doggy out to play.”

“What?” Archie cried.

“His name is Fenrir. Isn’t he adorable?” Loki feigned a frown. “Oh, but I’m afraid he’s not very friendly—or obedient. In fact, he only listens to me. So you can tell your giant friends that I’ll be waiting, whenever they want to surrender.”

“
Nobody’s going to surrender to you,” Jake said warily.

He smiled.
“They will if they want to survive, Cakey, old boy. When they’re prepared to swear allegiance to me, then I will send the Fire Wolf back into the volcano. If not, he will soon turn all of Jugenheim to cinders. Try not to get eaten, boys.” With that, Loki turned himself into a crow again.

S
quawking with rude laughter, he flapped off to watch the catastrophe unfold from the safety of the dark night sky.

In the next heartbeat, the
Fire Wolf reached the outskirts of the village.

Staring at it, Jake could not believe his eyes.
The beast was nearly as tall as the giants—a terrifying monster with blood-red eyes. Its body was made of fiery orange lava, with plates of cooling black rock instead of fur that shifted when it moved.

Its tail was pure flame and had set the forest on fire as it h
ad leaped from hill to hill heading this way.

Then
it leaped over the buildings into the square and began tearing the village apart.

Gor
m and his warriors came running. Perhaps the prince saw this as his chance to play the hero and show up Snorri for once and for all.

He waved his men into a semi-circle around the beast, but
screams ensued as the Fire Wolf ate them one by one.

Gorm was the last survivor, but he only last
ed a moment more. He tried to run away, but the Fire Wolf bounded up behind him and gobbled him up in one bite.

That was all Red had to see.

He cawed angrily at the boys, nodding toward his back, ordering them aboard.

“We can’t just fly awa
y! A Lightrider doesn’t abandon his friends!” Jake protested. But Red leaned near and hissed in his face, showing Jake that it wasn’t a request—it was an order.

With a scowl, Jake
joined his cousin on the Gryphon’s back. Red soared skyward, carrying them, at least, to safety.

As they rose toward the clouds moments later, Archie pointed toward the sea. “Look!”

Jake squinted into the distance. “Is that…?”

It looked like a flock of
pale birds racing toward the village.

Archie peered through his tel
escope and confirmed it. “The Valkyries are coming!”

Jake stared grimly into the distance.
This must mean it’s really as bad as it looks.
The celestial guardians of Valhalla would not have abandoned their usual posts if the giants were capable of stopping the Fire Wolf themselves.
Maybe there’s no way to kill it,
he thought with a chill down his spine.

Red swept higher, lifting the boys
out of the way, just as the flock of winged warrior women raced by beneath them, heading for the fight.

Odin’s battle-maidens
were in their beautiful forms this time, vengeance stamped on all their delicate faces, swords in their hands.

The boys felt the rushing currents from their beating wings as the
flock of Valkyries passed beneath them. Their screeches filled the night as they got into attack formation.

Below, the terrified giants sent up a feeble cheer, welcoming the
unexpected help.

A
staccato series of piercing birdlike cries rang out as the Valkyries circled above the Fire Wolf in the sky.

T
hen, at their leader’s signal, the winged beauties attacked the beast from all directions.

Red flapped
higher so the boys could watch the Valkyries’ progress in battling Fenrir from a safer altitude.

That was when Jake noticed the
giant-sized wild animals fleeing the forest fires that Fenrir had left in his wake. Huge, Jugenheim-sized reindeer, lynxes, wolverines, and badgers the size of ponies stampeded out of the burning woods, trampling the farmers’ crops as they galloped in a panic through the fields.

As for the Valkyries, it did not take long for them to discover that their swords could not
even make contact with the Fire Wolf.

Any metal blade that got clos
e enough to pierce him simply melted before it ever touched his hide.

The best the Valkyries
could do was to swarm around the savage monster to keep him from eating people, try to keep him contained.

The
Fire Wolf fought back, snapping at the beautiful warriors with his jaws, swatting them with his tail, and setting a number of them on fire.

Here and there, the flaming warrior women spiraled to the ground like sparks popping out of a bonfire.

As Jake glanced across the landscape, he suddenly had an inspiration. “Go back down, Red!” he ordered. “I think I may know how the Valkyries can deal with the Fire Wolf. Hurry!”

Red let out an unhappy growl at this command, but he seemed willing to give Jake the benef
it of the doubt. He carried the boys back down to the ground, landing out of the beast’s sight behind a corner of the great hall.

“I’ll be back before you even miss me,
” Jake promised in a breezy tone, jumping off the Gryphon’s back to slip cautiously around the corner. Then he went running over to where one of the singed Valkyries had landed.

She had obviously g
otten too close to the beast. Her sword had melted, her short pastel dress was smoking, and one of her wings was on fire.

Thinking fast,
Jake grabbed a leftover pitcher of water from the abandoned feast and splashed it on the gorgeous creature, putting out the flames.

The poor, burnt Valkyrie groaned a little, but a minute later, she was already
regenerating, slowly getting up to return to the fight. “Thank you,” she panted.

“You’re welcome. Wait, don’t go!” he shouted as she turned to
fly away. “I have an idea that might just help you defeat that thing!”

The Valkyrie pause
d, cocking her head to the side. “Yes, what is it? Quickly.”

“D
rive the monster that way!” Jake pointed toward the forest where Snorri had undergone the terrifying test of courage. “A dragon lives in those woods! Old Smokey will be more of a match for Fenrir than any of us will. At least he’s fireproof! He’s also highly territorial. If you can herd the Fire Wolf toward the dragon’s lair, Smokey should come out to fight him!”

“Yes, I see…fight fire with fire. Excellent. Thank you.
” The Valkyrie nodded. “I’ll tell the others.” She took a few running steps, leaped into the air, and flew off to rejoin her warrior sisters.

Jake paused,
watching the Valkyries, and noticing in the meanwhile the clusters of frightened giants hiding around the village square—some behind overturned tables, others cowering beside broken walls. He gathered they had not been able to escape during the Fire Wolf’s attack and now were trapped in their hiding places.