Chapter 22

 

 

Jamie stopped more than once on the dell to look back. Why did he bother? Grace wouldn’t be there. He’d sent her away. He hated himself, but he had to do it. He didn’t want to lose her, now that he finally got her.

He went back to the village and stopped at Ganny’s cottage. He found the McLeans standing in the doorway. Christie tightened his belt, and Arch settled his plaid on his shoulder.

“Ye awright, lad?” Jamie asked Christie. “Ye took a hard knock.”

“I’m awright,” Christie replied. “I’ll no be sorry tae get home again.”

Jamie stiffened. “Ye’re goin’ home? Ye’re no stoppin’ ’ere fer a bit?”

“No, mon,” Christie replied. “That’s me message tae ye from Lachlan. Those flyin’ things as came out o’ the north the other night—they attacked us down at the Tower Hoose. Lachlan’s up tae his neck in ’em e’en now. He could ainly spare us tae come and tell ye he cinnae help ye any lainger. He mun’ defend his own land, though he wishes he could stop these giants tae protect ye. He cinnae spare any more men, and now Alec’s gone as weel. We mun’ return tae the Isle. That’s all the message. I’m sorry, mon. We’d like tae help ye, but we cinnae. Ye understand.”

“Aye,” Jamie murmured. “I understand.”

Christie approached him. He laid his hands on Jamie’s shoulders. “I wish we were ta’en ye back wi’ us. I dinnae like tae face those things withoot ye.”

Jamie pulled him into a hug. He tried to laugh it off, but he never felt worse in his life. “I feel the same way aboot ye lot. Gang ye on yer way, ye dogs. I ha’e no more use fer ye. Go and tend tae yer own hoose and leave me tae mine.”

“Let me tell Lachlan the alliance still stands,” Christie begged. “Let me tell him our Clans are still united o’er this, and ye’ll no turn aside o’ us because o’ it.”

“Our Clans’ll ne’er turn aside o’ the alliance,” Jamie told him. “Ye ha’e done more fer us than anyone could ask. Gang ye alaing home, and dinnae let me see yer faces on me land again.”

Christie gave him a strained laugh. Arch nodded to him on the way out the door, but he couldn’t smile. The McLeans passed outside, and a moment later, the wolf pack galloped up the dell and disappeared from view among the dense trees heading south.

Jamie let out a deep sigh. So that was it. The McLeans were gone. Now he stood alone between his Clan and the giants. No one would come to help him, now that he’d sent Grace away.

He couldn’t do this. He didn’t want to admit he needed help, but now he couldn’t deny it. The giants would trample him into the dust and march right over the top of his reeking corpse. They would destroy the villagers, with him defending them or without.

Only one course of action remained. He had to get help. He had to fly home to Urlu and roust the Guard. Angus would send Ewan and the others to protect the Clan.

He took a step out of the cottage. The clear morning rang high into the deep blue firmament. It was a perfect morning to go flying over mountains and trackless wilderness, a perfect morning to come flying into Urlu where the other dragons played.

Grace was right all along. He should have taken her on his back and flown there as soon as they woke up this morning. He shouldn’t have wasted all these hours arguing with her and sending her away. He could have been back with a hundred dragons by now instead of dragging his sorry backside around this village.

He kicked up his heels and ran toward the planter. He landed one foot on it to launch himself into the air when he saw it. A giant broke over the far mountaintop. It shook the Earth stomping toward Piper’s wing.

Another appeared, followed by another. Jamie fell back onto the ground. While he stood there wondering, another five poked their heads above the trees. In seconds, they covered the landscape. They appeared in a wide circle encompassing the whole mountain range.

Jamie didn’t stop to count them. He vaulted onto the planter and took wing. He couldn’t leave now. He didn’t care if he wound up dead. He would do what he could and take the consequences. He could do nothing more.

He raced up the brae on a bee line for the villagers’ camp. The giants didn’t notice him. They kept their eyes fixed on the ground in search of their prey. They hunted around until they saw tiny people far below. They moved in with their clubs.

Women and children screamed and scattered. Even the armed men ran for the hills. Whatever plan Jock devised to defend these people went right out the window. Ten giants surrounded the camp. They raised their clubs and smashed down on the clearing, but the people had already darted between their legs and bolted into the trees.

The giants spun around to chase them down. They tromped over hills and up gullies, pounding their clubs against the ground all the way. They came to the mountain where high granite walls cut off their path. They started to scale it to the peak when Jamie came zooming past their noses.

He let out a hot breath of fire, but he didn’t aim for their faces or their clothes. He shot it into the air where it sizzled next to their heads. The next instant, he raced away into the mountain air. He didn’t want to kill them—not just yet. He only wanted to distract them, to draw them away from the villagers.

It worked. The giants spun around to roar at him. They swung their clubs at him, but he swerved out of the way at the last second. He ducked and dove between them on a breakneck course for the far mountains.

More giants converged from all directions, but Jamie didn’t care. He spat fire every which way to catch their attention. The giants went after him, just the way he knew they would. They forgot all about the village.

Jamie whizzed up and over the mountains, through valleys and through forests, and back into the sky. He antagonized the giants until they attacked him in a rage. Then he disappeared and reappeared somewhere else.

This couldn’t go on forever, though. He had to think. He had to find a way to defeat them, but there were far too many of them. They destroyed trees with every step. They smashed their clubs into the mountains, and massive blocks of stone and debris went flying.

A streak of lightning shot past Jamie’s wing. He spun around fast to find a giant right on his tail. The giant brought his club down to knock Jamie out of the sky when another blistering splat of lightning glanced off the monster’s head from behind. It ricocheted off and went crackling into the sky.

Jamie banked and zoomed around in a circle to shake the thing off. The giant roared in rage and spun around at the same time. He raised his club to destroy whatever attacked him when a third bolt of lightning shot out of the nearest mountain peak. It split the sky on a shimmering path straight for the giant’s head.

That’s when Jamie noticed a tiny figure standing atop the mountain. It was Piper. The old man raised his arms above his head. He held a thick stick in one hand, and the lightning exploded from its tip. Piper fired this thing at one giant after another.

He sent a fork of lightning at the giant nearest Jamie. It hit the giant’s club and shattered it to smithereens in the giant’s hand. The giant bellowed and set off at a lumbering trot toward the miniature wizard.

Piper held his ground. He fired his magical lightning at dozens of giants in rapid succession. He whipped around from right to left and fired as fast as he could. One bolt struck the nearest giant in the shoulder. The monster whirled away. Piper’s next attack hit him on the back of his neck, and the behemoth plunged headfirst into the forest.

Jamie’s heart soared. He wasn’t alone after all. With Piper fighting for him, he just might have a chance to get out of this alive.

Now he concentrated all his fire on the giants. He flew at them in murderous rage to kill with extreme prejudice. He soared faster than ever between them, but this time, he set as many on fire as he could get near. He covered them in flame and sent them flailing across the countryside.

Their burning arms womped the air. They beat their sides to extinguish the flames. If any of them succeeded in putting it out, he came back and gave them another dose. Not one of them had the brains to head for the river.

One after another fell behind the trees. Jamie catapulted through the skies on his mission of destruction. He came across more than one giant in its death throes from Piper’s lightning. That fool wizard hid his power all these years. He waited until now to show what he could really do. If only he could cast the spell, he might get rid of the giants once and for all.

Jamie swooped around the mountain. More giants converged on the spot from every side. Piper couldn’t see as much of the landscape as Jamie could from the heights. He couldn’t battle giants until they came into his view.

Jamie tilted to the other side of the mountain. He had to stop these giants getting near Piper. Piper could handle the giants coming at him from the south and west. Jamie would deal with the north and east. Between the two of them, they might be able to stop this.

Jamie flew far into the distance to destroy as many giants as he could. He cleared the north side of the mountain when he heard a deafening crash from the south. He feared the worst and whipped around the peak. He didn’t see Piper anywhere.

When he got there, he found three giants pounding the mountaintop with their clubs. They split the rocks, sending boulders tumbling down to where the villagers’ camp used to be.

Jamie exploded in a rage. He had to destroy them for killing Piper. He set to work on the three of them. He sprayed their legs and arms with flame and turned his sights on their heads when a powerful burst of lightning zinged past him from the ground.

Jamie snapped around to stare. Piper stood between the trees far below, aiming his staff at the giants. The flames licked up their clothes to their faces, and Piper finished them off with blasts of his power. He knocked them out of the sky to crash to Earth.

Jamie’s spirits soared. He turned his wings to the east when something hit him so hard it stunned him for a moment. He reeled in the air, and a giant caught him by the tail.

Faster than Jamie could react, the giant whipped him through the air. He cracked Jamie’s spine with a mighty jerk of his arm. Jamie’s wings and neck snapped forward and back. Pain screamed through his every sinew. He tried to right himself, but the giant raised his arm and smashed Jamie down on his other palm.

Jamie lost consciousness for a moment. He couldn’t go down when he’d almost won. He fought his way back to consciousness. The giant hauled back his arm with Jamie still dangling by the tail. The wide countryside sailed past Jamie’s eyes. He caught sight of giants all over the place before they vanished in the blink of an eye.

All at once, something overpoweringly tight crushed Jamie all over. The giant grasped him in its fist and brought Jamie up close to its face. Jamie opened his mouth to spit fire in the monster’s face, but the giant moved faster. He pinched his finger and thumb together and snapped Jamie’s mouth shut.

Jamie thrashed and struggled, but he couldn’t break free. He whipped his tail against the giant’s hand, but it didn’t make a dent. Jamie started to panic. The giant could yank his head off in one pull, and that would be the end of the glorious career of Jamie Cameron.

At that moment, a thunderous clap sent Jamie’s head spinning. A catastrophic bolt of lightning winged off the giant’s head. It sliced through the giant’s scalp and zinged off into the Heavens.

The giant spun around to face Piper. The wizard stood on the mountain’s shoulder where a shelf cut out of the rock. The old man raised his staff to fire again. The giant wound back his arm and hurled Jamie at the wizard with all his force.

Jamie tumbled through the air going faster than the wind. He tried to extend his wings, but he lost his balance in the air. He hurtled across the valley and slammed into the mountainside hard enough to shatter the ancient stones.

The mountain shivered from the impact. Jamie bounced off and somersaulted head over heels into the valley far below. He didn’t see what happened to Piper.

When he came to rest among the trees, Jamie struggled to his feet. He had to stop this fight before it got any worse. He took wing as best he could, but every limb ached.

Why, oh why didn’t he listen to Grace when he had the chance? Hadn’t he learned from seeing his brothers marry four other women just like her? The Cameron brothers all had to learn the hard way to listen when these women told them what to do.

Now it was too late. He flapped over the treetops, and his heart sank. More giants appeared from every point of the compass. He knew it would come to this. The curse would keep sending them. It would create them out of the natural world itself, and they would never stop—never.