Chapter 1. Sounds in the night

Katie slipped slowly out of bed, shivering against the cool air of the room and walked toward the curtains that were blowing gently back and forth.

She slowly reached towards them; a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach stopped her for a moment, afraid that if she pulled them back she would see something horrible staring in at her.

Taking a deep breath she flung back the billowing material and stared out into the inky night. She relaxed a little and reached for the handles of the window. Her delicate fingers grasped at them and pulled firmly towards her. Just that second, as the window closed with a clatter, a bright flash of light flickered across the sky, briefly illuminating the dark fields below.

She felt a jolt of fear inside. Something was moving down there. She was sure of it.

Her widening eyes were momentarily transfixed on a hunched black shape creeping slowly towards the house. But in an instant the light died again, the deep dark night enveloping the land once more.

A moment later another rumble erupted all around her, this time even louder and more threatening than the one that had woken her. Katie let out a little yelp and ran back to her bed, diving under the thick warm duvet.  

The security it seemed to offer only lasted a few seconds though as she heard a clatter from down stairs, followed by raised voices. She shut her eyes tightly and began to sing a lullaby to herself, her favourite tune that her dad had sung to her when she was young.

‘Hush now baby, it’s time to go to sleep’

‘Daddy’s here to hold you, there’s no more need to weep’

Footsteps. Someone, or something, was making its way up the old wooden staircase.  

‘You’re safe now honey, wrapped up in my arms’

‘Daddy will never let his baby come to harm’

She could hear every creak now, every crack. Maybe whatever it was she had seen outside was now in the house! In her mind she could picture a huge black bear with vicious teeth climbing her stairs, an evil, hungry glint in its eye.

Closing her eyes tighter still, the tears welling in the corners, spilled down her cheeks, she almost cried out in fright as she heard the footsteps come to a halt outside her bedroom door, which were quickly followed by a sharp knock, knock, knock.

‘Katie, Katie, are you ok?’

That comforting voice, she recognised instantly, her father was here to rescue her.

Although the sound was muffled under her duvet, she heard her door open and felt her bed sag as he sat down on the edge.

‘Katie honey, are you alright?’ said her father gently as he pulled back the duvet to reveal her tear stained face.

‘I’m scared dad’ replied a little voice

‘Don’t you worry yourself honey, it’s only a storm, it’ll soon pass’ he said as he put his huge arms around her and softly stroked the little girls forehead.

‘I saw something… moving around outside just now, dad’ said Katie, her voice trembling.

‘Ah… That was old Mr Cracklefolly from the cottage on the hill. Apparently his house has been badly damaged in the storm and he had nowhere to go.

I’m not surprised though, that rickety old shack is lucky not to have blown away years ago.’

‘Is he alright dad? Mr Cracklefolly?’

‘Yes, he’ll be fine, your Mum’s fixing him a nice hot cup of tea and he’s warming his toes by the fire.’

At that moment, another loud rumble sounded, causing the house to quake slightly and it made the little crystal figurines on Katie’s desk tinkle against each other, one larger ornament actually falling over with a loud ‘chink’.

Katie let out another gasp, but her father just smiled slightly, stood up and walked over to the desk.

Katie was a tidy girl, who had a place for everything. Her story books were all sorted neatly on a shelf above her desk, her school work was carefully arranged on the desktop next to a delicate hand carved pen holder that her father had made for her one Christmas. And along the back of the desk was a line of carefully arranged glass and crystal figurines depicting mythological creatures of various shapes and sizes. Each one caught the light from the open doorway in a way that sent intricate beams of multicoloured light dancing serenely onto the wall.

There were tiny figures of pixies at each end of the desk, no larger than a finger nail. Next to these were small unicorns and griffins, followed by an assortment of tall and slender elves, each carrying finely wrought musical instruments and small bows with a quiver of arrows on their backs.

At the very centre of the collection stood a magnificent dragon with ruby red eyes and gold plated teeth and claws.

Katie’s father picked up the fallen figure and gazed at it, watching how it caught the light. It was a perfectly crafted centaur, proud and brave,

He stood the stricken creature back in its place as once again, thunder rolled through the valley outside.

Katie had always had an over active imagination and her father knew exactly where she got that from, for he himself had been fascinated with fantastical creatures and stories ever since he was a child when his own father would spin tales of far away lands, of mythical beasts and the great wars of long lost civilisations. It was one of these stories that came to him now, unfolding itself through years of work and stress and family matters. He remembered being huddled up behind the family sofa, whimpering slightly as thunder crashed overhead, when in walked his father who picked him up, sat him on his knee and told him a wonderfully exciting and comforting story.

‘Giants!’ Katie’s father exclaimed.

The little girl look puzzled, ‘Giants?’ she enquired.

He walked over to her bed and sat down on the end.

‘Many, many years ago, there was a village here in the valley, did you know that?’

She shook her head.

‘Well, the Chief of the village was a man named William. He was a brave and adventurous chap, and was only happy when off on some daring quest in uncharted lands. It was on one of these quests that he discovered the Giants!’

Katie made herself comfortable, she knew her father could go on for hours when he started a story, but they were all so wonderful that she had no objections.

‘It happened quite unexpectedly,’ He continued ‘for he was only 12 days into his journey. What his original quest had been, none could tell, but it is said that he was hunting late one night in the forests of Thetford, when he came upon a clearing and in the centre he saw the strangest sight. A group of men were gathered around a huge dark mound in the middle which was slowly undulating like the chest of a massive sleeping bear. He knew all about bears for he had hunted them in the north on one of his many adventures, but this seemed far too large to be anything of the sort. The men were beginning to light fires all around it and one of the men, standing on a little hillock was shouting orders to the rest.

As the flames grew and flickered in the clear night air, William saw the strange mound roll slightly in his direction, and as it did a draft was blown up, causing the flames to gust higher, illuminating a huge face, but not of a bear or even some other wild beast, it was a man! A giant in fact.

Some of the men jumped back and cowered, but after some more shouting from the man on the hillock, they ran back to the giant and resumed their task.

It was difficult to tell if the creature was awake or not as the light from the flames cast dark shadows over the giant’s deep set eyes, his bushy black eyebrows also doing their best to shield them from the fire.

William carefully approached the group, keeping low in the long grass. He wanted a better look and as he got closer he saw what the men were up to.

The huge man was now obviously unconscious, otherwise he probably would have been complaining about the fact that the men had a large saw designed for tree felling and they had already chopped off two fingers from his left hand! And they were halfway through a third!

William, sickened by the sight, reached for his bow, drew an arrow from his quiver and aimed carefully at the head of the man on the hillock.

Then he slowly stood up, keeping his aim steady and called out ‘Halt!’ The men with the saw jumped almost as much as they had when the giant had stirred before, for William had a powerfully commanding voice.

But the man on the hillock just turned to face William and laughed. He pointed at him and called out in a language that William did not understand. One of the men standing by a fire, slung a crossbow from his back and fitted a bolt in one swift movement.

William turned to aim at the man, but before he had a chance, the giant convulsed, swinging his left arm out and knocked one of the men holding the saw flying through the air.

William ducked down into the grass, as the airborne fellow landed with a crunch thirty feet behind him, the man with the crossbow sent a bolt in William’s general direction which thudded harmlessly into the ground. He then quickly reloaded and fired another shot, but this time at the giant who was now sitting up and not looking best pleased.

The bolt struck the giant in the shoulder and he let out a wincing growl. William stood up and took aim again at the man, but before he could release the arrow, the giant brought his right fist swinging down and squashed the man into the earth. A huge tremor resounded throughout the clearing knocking all of the men to the ground.

The leader of the group, who had stopped laughing, was the first to his feet and made an upward sweeping motion with his arms, as he did so the fires around the giant roared into life and blazed high into the air.

The giant screamed in pain as his arm was engulfed and he quickly withdrew it to his side of the flames.

‘The other men in the group had decided that they had had enough and began to run for the tree line. William, a little shocked at the chaos, swung his aim to the leader and quickly loosed the arrow at the man’s head.

It soared though the air and its aim was true, but before it reached its target, the man lowered his arms making a slicing motion on the way down. The arrow splintered in mid air and showered him with little more than matchsticks.

The fire died back down to reveal a terrifying sight! The giant was standing, teeth bared, a malicious vengeance playing in its eyes. One of its arms was blackened and smoking, the other ended in a mess of bloody fingers, one of which was still hanging half off with the saw blade embedded in the bone. Taking two steps forward, he roared a mighty roar

Seeing the leader distracted briefly, William drew back another arrow and launched it again at the strange man. But then, would you believe it, the giant reached out with unbelievable speed and snatched the flying arrow out of the air!

He raised the point of the arrow to his eyes and glared at it, the flicker of the firelight reflecting from the metallic tip

The strange man on the hillock smiled at his fortune and pulled a finely wrought dagger from a sheath at his side, drew his arm back and aimed at William.

William dived for the ground again, but before the man had a chance to throw his weapon, the giant swung his arm down again, as fast as when he had snatched the arrow, and plunged it deep into the mans chest!

The man staggered back a few paces, before falling to one side and rolling down the hillock, dead.

The giant gave a satisfied grunt, glared at William for a moment and muttered what sounded like, ‘ank-you’. Before turning towards the way that the other men had fled and bounded off in their direction until he disappeared into the trees.

William wandered over to one of the giants severed fingers. It was nearly as big as he was. ‘What on earth were they playing at?’ he thought to himself.

Anyway, William made camp by one of the fires and managed to catch his supper on the edge of the forest, but he couldn’t rest that night and lay awake for hours, partly due to the excitement at meeting that huge creature and partly in fear of any of the strange men returning.’

Katie had been listening intently, but now her eyes focused on a dark figure at her door and she pulled her bedclothes quickly towards her face. Her father noticing her distraction turned to face the doorway.

‘Oh bravo!’ a cracked but jolly voice resounded into the room. A weather beaten old chap, with a wry smile and a glint in his eye, stepped through the doorway. He leaned heavily against his black polished cane and removed the flat cap which was covering his head of thin white hair.

‘Ah, Monty, I think you’ve found the wrong room.’ said Katie’s father. ‘I asked Susan to prepare you a bed in the guest room along the corridor.’

‘Why yes of course.’ Replied the old man apologetically. ‘I was just passing by when I overheard your tale of adventure! I must say, I haven’t heard that story in many a year, though I have thought of it often. And I see that your father passed on his gift for storytelling to you’

‘Thank you Monty. Yes, that’s right; you and dad were quite close when he was alive weren’t you? Are you sure you’re okay, you’ve had quite a fright this evening.’

‘Yes, I think I’m quite alright now thank you Martin, Susan makes a wonderful cup of tea, I don’t doubt that it could cure even the most unbearable of ailments, although I wish I could say the same for my poor house, but alas, things come and go, at least I’ll always have Matilda.’

Katie lowered her quilt a little and peered round her fathers shoulder.

‘Ah!’ exclaimed her father. ‘Monty, I’d like you to meet my daughter Katie. Katie, this is Montgomery Cracklefolly.

‘Hello Dear, it’s a pleasure to meet you’ Smiled Mr Cracklefolly.

‘It’s nice to meet you too Sir. I’m terribly sorry about your house, but I’m pleased that you and Matilda are safe.’

‘Yes, we shall be fine dear. Although your father and I must wander up to the house once it is daylight too see if I actually have anything left. But for now, do carry on Martin, I shouldn’t have interrupted.  

Mr Cracklefolly sat down on a small white stool by the doorway.

‘Oh, you don’t mind if I stay a while do you? especially as you’re getting to the good part.’ He said cheerfully.

‘Well no I don’t mind, but you must get to sleep soon Katie, you have chores to do in the morning.’

‘Oh Dad, I want to know what happened to William… and that Poor giant!’

‘Very well then.’ He continued ‘The next morning, William found some eggs in a tree on the edge of the forest and cooked himself some breakfast, before setting out to look for tracks. He thought that a giant would be easy to follow, what with the huge foot prints and devastation they must leave in their wake. But there wasn’t a single trace of the creature to be found! and William being an experienced hunter and tracker was puzzled.

He wandered through the dense woodland for several hours, until eventually he did find some tracks. But they were not made by the giant, these were man-made, three sets of feet had passed this way recently. He followed them for nearly an hour, until eventually he saw pale sunlight through the trees ahead.

Quietly he crept along, the trees thinning out around him and before long he could see a large clearing of small rolling hills, covered in heath-land.

A column of dark grey smoke was rising steadily into the clear midday sky, but due to the undulating landscape it was impossible to see its source.

William had seen a place like this before, many years ago he had visited the burial grounds of the Kings of Norway and these hills before him greatly resembled the burial mounds or ‘Barrows’ of that great family.

A small brown rabbit appeared at the top of the nearest barrow and sniffed the air, its ears twitching. A moment later it froze for a second and then darted off to William’s left.

Not long after he heard what had startled the rabbit, for he could hear voices, and they were drawing near. He crept back behind the line of trees and prepared his bow.

A group of men came into view, there were three of them, all dressed in leathers and fur. They spoke in a language which reminded William of the men from the night before.

They were all armed with bows and each carried a metallic walking stick of a reddish metal which glinted in the sunlight.

All of a sudden the rabbit which had darted past William before bounded back into sight from behind a thorny bush, sniffing the air again.

One of the men spotting the movement hushed the other two. All three fell silent and crouched low to the ground.

The rabbit hopped forward a few feet and looked William straight in the eyes, cocked its head to one side and started to hop towards him.

The men were now creeping down towards the rabbit, each bow notched with an arrow, ready to fire.’

William began to panic. The rabbit would lead them right to him!

He began to flap his arms at the helpless creature, ‘Shoo!’ he whispered’

‘But it just ignored his attempts to deter it and hopped closer.

Picking up a small stone, he aimed carefully and threw the little rock at the bunny. As the stone bounced gently off the rabbits back, it leapt into the air in fright and bounded off into the forest, just as an arrow struck the ground where the creature had been standing.

One man gave a shout as their quarry disappeared into the dense thicket of tree trunks and all three gave chase, running past the tree that William was huddled up behind.

He let out a sigh of relief and after checking that there were no men left in sight, emerged from the trees and climbed the nearest hill.

He peered over the top and saw more of the leather clad men milling around a long way off. The smoke he could now see, was issuing from a hole in the ground. Many of the men were gathered around the opening and as he watched, he saw them lift a huge tree stump and hurl it into the pit.

Strange blue flames and sparks briefly licked the air before dieing back down below ground level.

William’s eyes followed the puff of deep blue smoke that escaped from the vent, contrasting against the thick black smoke surrounding it. As it rose he could see that the smoke was not disappearing on the wind as he had expected it to, but instead was forming into a huge black cloud which was slowly spreading out larger and larger above the clearing. Intermingled with the thick black blanket were pockets of the same deep blue smoke, alongside swirls of red and green which let the sun through, tainting it with their colour in the most peculiar way, causing a strange effect in the air, like the pearlescent shafts of light from a stained glass window, reaching all the way to the ground.

Another group of the men were approaching from the forest carrying more fuel for the fire. They were straining under the weight of the log, but then a horrible feeling crept into William’s stomach, it wasn’t a log they were carrying, but one of the giants fingers! They must have gone back for them after he left the clearing that morning. The group reached the pit and rolled the finger into the enveloping smoke. More blue flames blazed and again the smoke changed colour with it.

The land was growing darker as the cloud expanded, blotting the sunlight out like ink spilled into crystal clear water.

A man emerged from another hole in the ground, he was dressed as the others except he was richly adorned in chains of gold and silver, and where they hung around his neck a faint glow could be seen emanating from the precious metals. In his right hand was a huge metallic walking stick which also appeared to be more elaborate than that of the other men, the top was shaped into five sharp points and the rest of the rod had been etched with a delicate pattern, somewhat resembling the swirling colourful clouds in the sky.

Suddenly two things happened at once, the man called out an order at the top of his voice, causing all the men to turn and look at him, and at the same time William heard footsteps pounding rapidly behind him. He turned quickly to see two of the three men who had chased off after the rabbit running towards him, but they paid him little attention, except for a quick, puzzled glance before continuing their sprint toward the main group.

William could feel the earth begin to tremble, like an earthquake was about to wrench the ground asunder, then several loud cracks combined with an ear splitting tearing filled the air. The trees of the forest seemed alive with movement, the tops of them swaying violently as if caught up in a terrific hurricane; some were even wrenched up some twenty feet into the air before crashing back down into the canopy.

Shouting erupted from behind William, no doubt this had disturbed the activities of the strange men and he wondered if the two strays had told the group about him.

The ground was quaking now and a tree was wrenched up close to the edge of the forest, right before William, then moments later a giant burst out from the undergrowth, swinging the stricken cedar like a cricket bat. William gasped aloud, frozen to the spot in fear; he just stared at the creature, while right behind him more giants were appearing from the forest. The giant with the tree spotted William lying against the side of the hill and roared as he swung the tree up above his head, with all the intention of crashing it down onto William’s.

But before he had a chance, another giant grabbed the tree bearer from behind and grunted an order in his ear.

William noticed the lack of fingers on this new giant’s left hand; it was the one from the night before.

The giant who was still holding the tree, seemed to struggle with the idea of not smashing this tiny creature into the earth, but then looking up over the hill at the group of tiny creatures around the fire, he let out another roar and stepped over William.

William could see a giant who had just appeared, toying with the wretched, bloodied, form of the third man he had seen earlier. The sight made him feel a little queasy, yet he felt no pity for him.  

There were more than twenty giants now and he could see the trail of devastation that they had left behind them. A permanent path, forged for as far as the eye could see, how he had not heard their approach earlier, William had no idea.

The eight fingered giant, his partially severed finger now bound in what looked like a cows hide, looked at William and muttered ‘Come’ before scooping him up in his right hand and placing in him in a foul smelling pocket on his leather jerkin.  

William had smelled worse, but not much. The dried up entrails around his feet suggested to him that this particular giant like to keep his lunch in here. William just hoped that he wasn’t going to be a midday snack and held on tightly as the giant bounded forwards.

Every footstep nearly shook him to pieces as they approached the group of men, who surprisingly had not fled in terror, but were instead rooted to the spot with a determined look in their eyes. The giant with the tree was the closest to them and raised it above his head again, preparing to strike. But as he approached, the elaborately dressed man raised his arms into the air, pointed his walking stick at the giant and called aloud a single command.

A blinding flash of light issued from the sinister cloud above and forked lightning shot down to the man, arcing on the base of the rod which he held aloft. A brief moment later, the lightning appeared again, issuing from the five points pointing directly at the giant.

The lighting bolt struck the giant directly in the chest, who screamed aloud and the tree burst into flame. He fell mid stride and released the burning weapon, which flew forward and crashed into two other men who were attempting to flee a few seconds too late.

The giant collapsed onto the ground, smoking, and causing such a tremor that even the giant carrying William stumbled slightly.

All of the giants around him let out cries of anger, but they did not falter and kept thumping towards the men of lightning. Some of the men who William thought were running away, all stopped at the same spot, reached to the ground and picked up their own staffs. They were just plain rods but all the fear seemed to leave the men as soon as they touched them.

A giant to the right of William, launched him self into the air in an incredible jump, as bursts of lightning began to descend from the sky toward the group of men, now with their staffs raised high. Bolts shot haphazardly past him, but all of them missed, grounding them selves naturally. He crashed down onto one man, who disappeared under the crushing force of the giant’s feet.

A bolt flashed past William’s giant, but a cry of pain from just behind told him another had not been so lucky.

The leader with his powerful, pointed staff was close now and he randomly sent a forked bolt at the group of giants, two taking the full force of the strike. William’s giant received a shock too. William felt a sharp burst of pain and he could feel more of his entire body in that brief instant than he knew existed.

He could feel his hair standing on end and he could smell cooking meat. He tried his hardest not to think about what he was standing in. But it had not deterred the giant, he just let out a deep growl and swung his humongous fist down toward the attacker, who dived out of the way just in time as the crushing blow collapsed the barrow the man had been standing on.

Looking to the left, William could see the man already on his feet and running to the opening in the ground that he had emerged from.

One man, struggling to use his staff properly stood in the way of the entrance to the mound and the Leader, summoning another bolt from the sky sent it directly at him! The bright blast lit the shocked mans face briefly before sending him flying into the air, his fur edged clothing igniting instantly.

The giant stepped toward him, his hand darting for the man again, and once again missing him by inches as he dived into the entrance like a rabbit into its burrow.

The giant stood up and looked around him. Lightning bolts were still streaming across the land, lighting the landscape with blinding flashes, but these were weaker than those issued from the leader’s staff, most just stunned the attacking giant pack briefly and now they were pounding the ground, squashing the fragile men into the dust.

The giant reached into his pocket, picked up William, placed him onto the ground and kneeling before him, looked William directly in the eyes.

‘He evil man,’ said the giant. ‘Killed our children, burned their bodies, takes our fingers, all for his black magic. No more’

The giant’s eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment, as if some painful memory had returned to him, before focusing on William once more.

‘Find’im’ he said pointing to the hole in the ground.

William was about to protest, when he realised that the giant had no chance of fitting down the small shaft himself.

Nodding solemnly, William drew a dagger from his belt and peered down into the murky darkness of the hole.

He could make out the top rungs of a wooden ladder, strung together with twine. He carefully place one foot on the first step and tested its strength, it easily held his weight and barely moved. Gripping the knife between his teeth, William descended into the darkness.

It seemed pitch black as he climbed down the first few feet, but soon his eyes adjusted to the dark and he could see a faint glow from about twenty feet below him. No movement could he discern in the deep shadows, so he continued his steady climb down the shaft.  

He was almost at the bottom now and could see three lamps made from hollowed stones filled with oil; two were blazing brightly, illuminating the walls around him. The rock was light grey and brown with sparkling black seams, which at first William thought must be some precious gemstone by the way it caught the light, but on closer inspection he could see is was a jet black flint of the finest quality he had ever seen.

The shaft had opened into a circular tomb, with small hollows all around its edges, barely large enough to squeeze through, but more light was radiating from the narrow tunnels adjoining the shaft.

The flickering light was more intense down one of the tunnels to his left and getting to his hands and knees, William peered down the long tunnel.

About ten feet into the passageway, another lamp had recently been knocked over and its burning contents had spilled onto the uneven floor. The fleeing man must have gone this way, but William could not see a way past the burning liquid.

Crawling a few feet into the tunnel, he could feel the heat on his face. At first the ceiling had appeared very low, but it seem to rise a few feet further down so he could now stoop rather than scrabbling around on the loose chippings that littered the floor.

Quickly shooting an arrow through the flames to be sure that no-one was on the other side, William removed his leather jacket and hurled it over the flame. The light died almost instantly, to be replaced with an enveloping darkness and choking smoke fumes.

Coughing, gasping for air, William scrambled forwards as quickly as he could, grabbing his jacket as he passed by and continued further into the tunnel.

His eyes were streaming as he entered another shaft similar to the first one he had climbed down into, except the floor was covered in rubble. He stumbled on the loose ground and fell onto his side. The knife he was holding skittered away and into the cracks of the loose rocks.

A moment later sparks of electric blue light filled the air and William felt a spasm of pain across his back. Rolling over he could see the glowing metal around the neck of the man who had attacked him. Sparks leapt from one chain to the other and the rod in his hand radiated a white hot glow at its tip.

Above him William could hear the battle still raging, rumbling impacts shook the earth and flashes of lightning could be seen high above the opening of the shaft. It had started to rain heavily and muddy streams of water were running down into the shaft, forming dark puddles around the feet of the two men.  

William tried to stand, but his body would not respond, his legs flailing as the other man slowly stepped towards him, once again chanting some ancient verse. The chains around his neck began to glow brighter, illuminating his eyes which chilled William to the core as he gazed into them, for they were nearly entirely black now, with just a shocking blue edge to them. He raised the metallic staff high into the air with the five points aimed directly at Williams face; he was shouting his chant now, his face contorted into a mask of hatred.

William, in fear kicked out wildly with both of his legs, just as an intensely bright streak of white lightning shot down the shaft and arced on the staff. William’s foot connected with the underside of the staff, as the concentrated lightning bolt shot from the tip. It impacted with the cavern wall which in turn exploded in a shower of white hot shards of rock, flint and ore.

William rolled feeling some of the debris slicing its searing path across his back. He couldn’t see the other man, but his screams were silenced almost quickly as they had begun.

A loud crashing noise erupted from the tunnel next to where he lay. It was collapsing. Dust and rubble began to spill forth into the cavern and William found that he could hardly see, but another noise above him caused him to look up. A giant eye was peering down the shaft, blinking as the clouds of dust rose. Finding the feeling returning to his body, William pulled himself to his feet.

Everything went dark. The noise surrounded him; a rushing, rumbling, crushing force enveloped his body. It felt like the cavern was collapsing in on itself. William closed his eyes, prepared for the worst.

The next thing he knew was the blast of cool clean air hitting his face as the giant opened his hand and let William’s beaten form roll onto the refreshing wet grass.

Glancing back at the shaft William could see that the giant had pulled him out just in time, as the mound collapsed in on itself.

Tattered and weary, he got to his feet and steadied himself even though his head was spinning. Looking around, William could see scorched earth and collapsed mounds. There were no strange men left, although several large forms of dead giants were scattered around the landscape. The giant who had pulled him from the shaft now knelt before William, a solemn look on his face.

Two more giants approached them, one of which William was pleased to see was the poor eight fingered  character that he had saved the night before, who gave William the slightest of smiles.

The third giant William had not seen before, he was dressed more elaborately than the others, in a bright red velvet jacket, with a gold and emerald chain around his neck, which reflected the sunlight brilliantly. Glancing up he could see that the huge black cloud had now all but dispersed, leaving behind just a haze of colours, like a patchwork rainbow filling the entire sky.

The third giant stopped and bowed low. William did the same and they met each others eyes as they rose again.

‘Timbale here tells me of your daring rescue prior moontide. And now here you are again, it seems as though you were sent to protect our kind does it not?’ the giants voice alone caused the ground to tremble ever so slightly.

‘I think you give me too much credit Sir, but I thank you, it seems as though we are indebted of each other.’ replied William.

He gave a hearty laugh. ‘You honour us with your presence little man, you may have the stature of a human, but you have the heart of a giant and no mistake.’

‘And yet I was just hunting Sir. Once I saw what those terrible men were up to, I could not just sit by and take no action.’

‘Well you shall have no need to hunt tonight; you shall join us for a feast in your honour. What is your name little man?’

‘I am William of Ambervale. And may I ask yours’

‘Yes you may, William of the Amber Vale. I am King Morbold the third.’

‘It’s a pleasure to meet you King. I would like to know, what happened to all of those men, the men of lightning?’

‘We know them as the Léomen. Many of them are now dead, although those that have escaped will return. They need us, and they will be looking for you too I fear.’

‘Then I shall not return home till they are all defeated, I cannot bring them to my people’ said William determinedly.

‘No, you shall return home, for as long as the giants live we will not let any harm come to those of the Amber vale.’ assured the King. ‘And I must now depart; there is much work to be done. Timbale, you shall look after our guest until the feast is prepared.’

And with that, the giant king turned and headed towards the other giants who had begun to tend to the dead and wounded.

‘Ank-you agen Willum’ Said Timbale, who then picked up William and placed him once again in his front pocket.

That evening a great feast was prepared. The giants sat around a huge bonfire, roasting meats and drinking a strong, heady ale so dark that it was almost black.

They sang songs of battle and times gone by, and then William told them a heroic gest which caused some excitement and much merriment all around.

As the night wore on and the fire burned low, William was prepared a bed of wool where he quickly fell asleep as Timbale watched over him.

The next morning, William awoke to find the giants preparing to leave. Timbale explained that they were leaving to find a new home, away from the forests, but that he had been charged with returning William to Ambervale before they leave.

‘Well thank you Timbale, although I am sure I can make my own way home, I shouldn’t delay you if you are to leave soon.’

‘I’m ‘appy to Mr Willum, an’ t’ see where ya live would make me even ‘appier.’

‘Well alright then’ said will William with a smile. ‘But I’d rather not ride in your pocket if you don’t mind.’

And with that the giant picked him up and sat William on his shoulder.

‘Which way?’ asked Timbale

‘North from here.’ said William as he clung onto a fold in Timbale’s jerkin.’

The giant was swift and before he knew it, William could see the valley where his village lay hidden from the world. Timbale set William down on a little path running alongside a copse of ash trees.

‘G’bye Willum’ said Timbale sadly.

‘Yes, good bye Timbale, thank you for bringing me all this way. Hopefully we’ll meet again one day.’

With a mournful grunt, Timbale gently patted William on the back (almost knocking him to the floor!) and then turned and wandered off into the east, until he was lost from sight behind a large wheat covered hill.

When William returned home he told the people from his village about the adventure he had been on, very few believed him but enjoyed the tale none the less. Yet William knew the truth, and from then on, whenever he saw the flashes of lightning in the distance around the valley and the pounding, rumbling that followed, he knew that the giants were still out there, protecting him and his family from the dangers of the world.’

‘Did he ever see Timbale again dad?’ asked Katie.

‘No one knows, but there are many more strange tales of the giant folk in these parts, so maybe he did, for it seems that they never went away. And now you must be getting to sleep honey.’

Katie’s father hugged his daughter, stood up and walked to the sleeping form of Mr Cracklefolly.

‘Poor guy, he’s been through a lot today’ he said as he gently shook the old man’s shoulder.

Montgomery awoke with a ‘What what! Oh, oh my, I must have dozed off. Yes a cracking story there Martin, well done!’

‘Let’s be getting you to your room Monty. Good night Katie, sleep well.’

And with that Katie’s father helped Mr Cracklefolly to his feet and out of her room, closing her door firmly behind them. Katie snuggled up under her quilt once more. The storm outside was still going strong, but she was no longer afraid, and as she fell asleep, her dreams were full of heroic giants, defending her valley from the evil men of lightning.

CHAPTER 2

The Cracklefolly house

Sunlight streamed in through Katie’s bedroom window. The storm had long since retreated leaving a bright and beautifully clear sky in its wake. The world glistened as the sunlight reflected on the untold millions of dew drops that were clinging to everything. A large spider’s web just outside of Katie’s window appeared as though it had been decorated with hundreds of tiny jewels.