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By the time Evie finished recounting the tales of Arsinia the Cruel, the sun was just beginning to come up over the horizon. The giant had fallen asleep for the most of it, but after her escape attempt had been thwarted she didn’t dare stop. Every time she considered she needed only to think of those massive, mossy teeth before continuing with a renewed sense of urgency.
But the book was finally finished. And the princess was dead on her feet.
It was a testament to her state of mind, that when the giant lifted her from the pages and carried her back to the cage she hardly noticed. Nor did she notice when he dumped her inside, and shortly after picked up a bucket by the front door. It wasn’t until a torrent of icy water splashed through the bars, soaking her head to toe, that she blinked slowly, vowing to kill herself before the end of the day.
“Rise and shine,” the giant called cheerfully, watching as the others leapt to their feet with a gasp, spitting out mouthfuls of icy sludge. “Something to drink!”
On that charming note, he headed back into the forest—whistling as he went.
The gang stood in silence as water streamed off of them, plastering their hair and clothes to their bodies before pouring out the bottom of the cage. Their first instinct was to start protesting, but that wouldn’t do any good. Their next instinct was to complain, but that wouldn’t do any good either. In the end they merely sat back down, shivering and glaring all the while.
“Welcome back!”
Unlike the others, whose moods had plummeted, Freya seemed determined to be in good spirits—quite possibly because she was the only one who’d dodged the bulk of the flood. With an inexplicably bright smile, she bounded up to the recently-returned princess—leaning in for a hug before rethinking it and giving her a wet pat on the shoulder instead.
“That was quite the workout, huh? Who knew that reading a book could double as cardio?” She faltered at the look on Evie’s face. “I’m just saying, it could be worse.”
The princess slowly lifted her eyebrows, dripping head to toe. “You mean because he didn’t eat me?”
The witch nodded soundly, flashing a bright smile. “Exactly! He hasn’t eaten a single one of us!”
Our standards have gotten depressingly low.
“No,” Ellanden muttered caustically, “he just wants us to read him stories and get married.”
“Come on,” Asher said darkly, “it’d be cute. He could march you down the aisle like dolls.”
Usually one to find the humor, the fae didn’t crack a smile.
“That’s right, because if there’s one thing that could make this situation better it’s being forced to marry my cousin in some bloody forsaken cage.”
Freya bit her lip sympathetically. “Hey, it could be...”
The fae shot her a look and she adjusted mid-sentence.
“Nope. That’s pretty much as bad as it gets.”
Evie glanced between them then shuffled to the opposite side of the circle, sinking to the wet metal and bringing her knees up to her chest. Asher was beside her a moment later, sitting close but not too close, giving her space while trying to be supportive at the same time.
He watched her carefully from the corner of his eye, just as he’d been watching throughout the entire night. She took a second to collect herself, to reconcile with the shock of what she’d just spent the last few hours doing. Then her eyes tightened as silent tears began pouring down her face.
She was in his arms a second later, sobbing quietly into his chest. “I can’t believe...I can’t believe that just happened.”
The vampire closed his eyes, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head. “I know.”
The others paused their caustic banter, feeling guilty to have started it in the first place. Once it had become clear that the giant had no intention of actually harming the princess, they’d let basic survival instinct take over and compartmentalized what they were seeing to process on a later day.
Asher had been unable to do that, living and dying with each breath.
“Can I get you something to drink?” he asked softly.
She lifted her head with a shaky laugh. “Whiskey?”
He nodded thoughtfully, pretending to consider. “How about...water from the bottom of a bird cage?”
She laughed again, still holding fistfuls of his shirt. “Ash, I just...” A wave of panic took hold and she forgot what she’d been saying, changing direction mid-course. “How are we going to get out of here?”
His lips parted automatically, then closed—thinning to a hard line as he stared helplessly across the room. Helpless wasn’t an emotion vampires were familiar with. Neither was desperation.
And yet, looking into those crying eyes, he suddenly felt both.
“I don’t know,” he said softly, tightening the circle of his arms. Her heart was racing, pulsing through them both, and a sudden sense of determination burned through him. He leaned back a moment later, staring deep into her eyes. “But I swear to you, Evie...I’m going to get us out.”
Still buzzing with that surge of adrenaline, still tingling with a heartbeat that wasn’t his own, he gave her a final squeeze. Then pushed slowly to his feet, eyes flying around the length of the cabin.
Unlike the others, his eyes were designed for greater distances. The only ones who came close were the fae, but after Ellanden’s initial escape had almost resulted in dismemberment he’d put all further plans temporarily on hold. Asher had no such qualms.
One way or another, they were getting out of this cage.
Little things jumped out at him. Things the others wouldn’t think twice about, but a lifetime of getting out of scrapes with his father brought them to the forefront of his mind.
The giant couldn’t see well in the dark: he’d left a lantern on the table.
The giant couldn’t breathe well in smoke: he’d cracked the window when he started a fire.
The final piece of the puzzle clicked into place when the giant himself came back into the cabin, throwing a handful of roots down onto the table. He was hungry. So were they.
“Making some lunch?” he called down loudly, wrapping his hands around the bars of the cage. The others glanced up in alarm, while the giant’s hands paused curiously over the roots. “Must be nice. We’d love some food, too. It’s been days and you’ve kept us here with nothing to eat.”
Ironic words, coming from a vampire. It was fairly certain he couldn’t eat anything the giant might give him. But the giant didn’t consider this. And Asher had other things on his mind.
“What are you doing?” Evie hissed, afraid to make herself seen, on the off-chance that Arsinia the Cruel had a sequel. “You really want him to throw us some rotting leopard meat?”
The vampire ignored her, turning to Ellanden instead. “Go with me on this.”
The fae stared back with wide eyes, but nodded—quickly pushing to his feet. With great hesitation he joined his friend at the wall of the cage, staring at the giant.
“Ellanden said you wouldn’t know what to feed us,” Asher continued authoritatively. “He thinks that’s probably why you’ve never been able to keep other pets.”
The fae shot him a quick look of betrayal, then turned bracingly to the giant.
“It’s true,” he called, grimacing. “There obviously used to be a bird in here, but I’m pretty sure it’s dead. Did you forget to feed that as well?”
A spark of anger flashed through the giant’s eyes as he leaned threateningly across the kitchen table, wielding the large knife he was using for the roots.
“Didn’t forget anything,” he snarled. “Bird choked on smaller bird.”
The men fell momentarily silent, not knowing what to make of this. Then Asher sighed loudly and leaned against the walls of the cage, pretending he didn’t really care either way.
“Sounds pretty irresponsible to me,” he said off-handedly. “But then, I’m not the one with his reputation on the line. You’re the one who’d have to explain it to all your friends.”
The giant stomped his foot in frustration, sending a shockwave through the walls. The cage rattled and the lantern on the table tipped precariously before righting itself. Asher shot a fleeting glance at Ellanden, who nodded as a look of understanding lit his eyes.
“I don’t understand why we ended up here anyway,” the fae continued, glancing around the cage as if the entire thing was rather beneath him. “The one who caught you was much taller.”
“That’s true...” Asher said thoughtfully, frowning as he remembered. “Probably stronger, too. I wonder if it’s too late to suggest a trade.”
At this point, the giant was beside himself. In one fell swoop he crossed the length of the cabin, that enormous blade flailing wildly in his hands.
“NOT taller! NOT stronger!”
Ellanden kept a watchful eye on the knife, but answered with a shrug. “Looked that way to me. He could probably tear right through the bars of this—”
A streak of silver flashed towards them.
“—cage.”
With a scream of frustration, the giant swung the knife straight at their dangling prison. It lodged in the metal with a reverberating gong that rattled the friends to the core, starting in their boots and ending in their teeth. None of them was able to stay standing. The only reason the boys kept their heads was because the knife didn’t happen to make it all the way through.
But it was close enough. So close that, when the giant pried it free again, the metal bars tore through with a defeated screech, leaving a thin sliver of sunlight leaking between the pieces.
A stunned silence followed the outburst. One that left the gang so shaken, Ellanden didn’t even see it coming when the giant stuck his fingers through the cage and grabbed him by the shirt.
“THERE!” he shouted directly at the stricken prince. “STRONG ENOUGH FOR YOU?”
The fae froze where he stood, white as a sheet. When he lifted a hand to his ear, it came away bleeding. He stared in shock, then hid it quickly—giants were notoriously excited by the sight of blood. But for the moment, their giant had far greater issues on his mind.
The rampage was only just beginning.
With another wounded howl he kicked through his bookshelves, punched a hole in the rocking chair. In a matter of seconds he worked his way through the entire cabin, leaving a trail of wreckage in his wake. When he finally returned to the kitchen he smashed his fists into the center of the table, breaking one of the legs and shattering the lantern at the same time. A wave of kerosene rushed across the wood, soaking the roots he was preparing to cook.
Of course, this made him scream even louder.
“STUPID PETS!” he thundered. “NOW I HAVE TO START ALL OVER!”
Without another word, he stormed out of the house—slamming the door as he stomped right through the center of his beloved garden. The friends flinched at the sound. All except the prince, who was still staring after him in a state of shock.
“Landi,” Asher called quickly, rushing over to him.
The fae glanced up in surprise at the hands clamped down on his shoulders. It was only then that Evie realized he couldn’t hear them. The giant’s shouting had made him temporarily deaf.
He turned a bit unsteadily, staring at the vampire before hitting him right in the face. “Great plan.”
Asher bowed his head with a grin, wiping away a streak of blood. “It was a great start,” he murmured, though only the girls could hear him. “The rest is yet to come...”
* * *
THE SUN HAD FALLEN, and still the giant had yet to return to the cabin. Given the state of how he left, there was a good chance he was off arm-wrestling every other giant in the five kingdoms. But it quickly became clear that whatever Asher was planning couldn’t happen until he came back.
He could, however, do a little prep-work.
“Can you help me with this?” he called across the cage.
The rest of the friends were sprawled listlessly over the floor. Three days without a bite to eat were starting to wear on each of them; particularly the princess, who’d spent the entire night running back and forth across the same wretched book. They’d put up with the vampire’s antics as best they could, especially considering the first part of his plan had almost resulted in a group decapitation. When he was unwilling to tell them the second part, on the grounds they wouldn’t dare attempt such a thing, they’d disowned him completely, preferring to starve in petulant silence.
“Anybody?” he insisted, rattling the bars of the cage. “Anybody at all?”
Ellanden was on his back, staring up at his hands. Every now and then he’d snap his fingers beside his ear, making sure he could still hear it. The deafness had faded several hours before, but the memory of it still haunted him. He lifted his head with a vindictive glare.
“I’m sorry, Ash. Did you want some more help?”
The vampire grimaced apologetically, then gestured to the bars. Even gifted with immortal strength, he’d managed to make very little progress widening the crack from the knife on his own. The most he’d been able to do was budge it open a few more inches, but the rest of it held firm.
The fae glared a moment longer, then pushed to his feet with a sigh.
“You’re weak and pathetic,” he muttered, shoving the vampire aside to anchor his own strength against the cage. “The only reason I’m doing this is because you’re so weak and pathetic.”
“Got it,” Asher murmured, bracing his hands alongside. “Weak and pathetic.”
The two men dug in their heels, pushing with all their might. There was a metallic screech as the bars moved a few inches further. In a flash Cosette sprang up to help, pulling on the other side.
“The second this is over, we never speak to each other again,” Ellanden panted, gritting his teeth with the strain. “Agreed?”
There was a deafening clang as one of the bars sprang open at last. Asher lit up in triumph, working it back and forth before popping it carefully back into place.
“Agreed.”
The fae stared at him blankly. “You’re putting it back? What was the point—”
“We can’t have him see that it’s broken. Otherwise, he’d only fix it.”
Ellanden let out a frustrated sigh, running a hand through his hair. “And why let him fix it, when you’re more than happy to oblige yourself...”
He trailed off when he realized the vampire was no longer listening. Asher’s eyes had locked on the clouds of blood stained down the fae’s neck. Ellanden wiped it irritably with the back of his sleeve, shooting a sharp glance in the process, and the vampire quickly lowered his eyes.
“This is going to work,” he said quietly. “Just trust me.”
As if on cue, there was a distant crash. The friends lifted their heads at the same time, listening to one crash blend into another as the giant stomped back to them through the forest.
“It had better,” Ellanden murmured. “One way or another, we’re about to find out.”
* * *
THE DOOR BURST OPEN before any of them was ready, before they even had a chance to step away from the bars of the cage. Not that it mattered. The giant was in far better spirits than when he’d left them—probably something to do with the bruises and blood smeared across his face.
“I told you,” he said smugly, without a hint of context. “I am stronger.”
Hopefully that means there are a few fewer giants in the world...
Asher smiled warmly, nodding his head.
“Yes, I can see that now.” He cocked his head once more to Ellanden. “My friend and I were just wondering which of us is stronger: a vampire or a fae.”
Ellanden turned to him with a withering look.
Again? Really?!
“Actually,” his hissed under his breath, “I was wondering why you keep picking me for all your precious little demonstrations.”
The giant was too distracted to listen, staring down with a puzzled frown.
“I keep picking you,” Asher murmured, “because of all the people here I figured you’d be the one most excited for a chance to kick my ass.”
The fae considered for a moment, then turned to the giant with a radiant smile.
“That’s right, we were,” he announced, rolling up his sleeves. “I said it isn’t that hard to beat a vampire, but Asher here disagrees.”
There was a mighty creak as the giant stepped closer to the cage, examining them both with a tilt of his head. “Vampires are very strong...but fae are very strong.”
Evie tried not to roll her eyes.
A brilliant assessment.
“It seems there’s only one way to settle it,” Freya piped in helpfully. “A fight to the death.”
Both men glanced back in alarm, finding the to the death bit a tad extreme. But the giant’s eyes lit up immediately, dancing with a feverish sort of glow.
“Yes—YES!”
Asher frowned thoughtfully, pretending to think it over.
“I guess it is the only way to settle things.” His eyes flashed to Ellanden with the hint of a grin. “And who knows what might happen. I’ve been recently told that I’m pathetic and weak.”
The fae smiled sweetly. “I bet there was a good reason for that. Come on then, vampire, hands up. We really haven’t got all night—”
“Hang on.” Asher shook his head, resting a tentative hand against the bars of the cage. “We can’t do it in here. There isn’t enough room. And what if one of the girls got hurt by accident?”
Evie stared at him a moment, then pushed to her feet with a hidden smile.
“What if you do it on the floor?” she asked innocently. “Plenty of room down there, though it might be too far down for our giant friend to see.”
“He doesn’t have to see,” Cosette chimed in. “We can see it for ourselves and tell him what happened later.”
The friends all vigorously approved this plan, but the giant’s eyes had been darting between them—growing more and more frantic with each pass.
“No!” he finally shouted. “I will see! I will be the judge!”
Without further ado, he snapped the cage right off the chain and set it down in the middle of the table. The bars quaked precariously but held firm as the friends walked tentatively to the door.
“Yes,” Asher said quietly, lips curved up in a secret smile, “this will do nicely.”
The giant ripped open the door a second later, grabbing both men and dropping them onto the wooden slats. A moment later it shut again—sealing all three girls inside.
“Perfect!” he cried excitedly. “Now fight!”
The smiles faded slightly as the friends realized what was actually about to happen for the first time. The men had sparred many times before. Having grown up together, they’d even fought on occasion. But never had they raised their hands the way they’d be raising them now.
“So we’re really doing this?”
Ellanden’s voice was arrogant, almost mocking. But his eyes told an entirely different story, latching on to his friend’s face as he desperately tried to intuit the plan.
“We’re really doing it,” Asher said with a hint of nerves. “Though I imagine it won’t take that long. Just try to be careful.” His eyes flickered to the heavy candle at the end of the table, a replacement for the lantern that had broken earlier. “We wouldn’t want things getting out of hand.”
Ellanden followed his gaze, paling with a little shiver. “No...we wouldn’t.”
Then the giant stomped his feet impatiently and they flew towards each other.
For as many times as Evie had imagined such a collision, she was completely unprepared when it happened now. Both men had been trained by their fathers, and fought with a skill that would have made the five kingdoms proud. But there were things working against them.
They loved each other like brothers. They didn’t really want to hurt each other. And they were being watched by an unhinged giant who wouldn’t be satisfied until he saw blood.
Lots of blood.
“Come on,” Ellanden taunted, flipping backwards to avoid the vampire’s attack before back-handing him across the face. “Don’t hold back.”
Asher suppressed a smile, spinning his body forward and catching the fae in a chokehold that could easily have snapped his neck. “I’m pretty sure you want me to hold back.”
Ellanden’s hands flew up to his arm. But instead of trying to pull himself loose he simply launched himself into the air, collapsing the vampire before landing lightly upon his back.
“I’m pretty sure I don’t.”
It was a magnificent display of talent, especially because there were few things more difficult than trying to make a fake fight look real. There was a breathtaking grace to how the fae moved, a kind of weightlessness that suggested the presence of wings. While the vampire ghosted around like liquid smoke—attacking and vanishing so quickly it was nearly impossible to fight back.
Unfortunately, a fight happened to be required.
“Not like that! REAL FIGHT!”
It soon became clear the tactics the men had been using weren’t going to cut it. If there was one thing a giant knew, it was violence. He could tell when they were pulling their punches. He could tell when they would duck a second before a kick could land. Even when they sped things up, blurring so quickly around the table the princess had trouble keeping track, the giant’s eyes followed along—seeing through their best intentions to the lie just underneath.
There was a little pause as each of them pulled back, panting softly and looking each other up and down. They’d been making good progress, but there was still a long way to go before they reached the edge of the table. It didn’t help that every few minutes the giant had banged the wood in excitement and sent them flying right back to where they’d started.
Perhaps a little more force was required.
“All right,” Ellanden said quietly, catching his breath, “a real fight.” With no further warning, he whirled around and kicked the vampire right in the center of the chest. “I’d be delighted.”
Asher flew backwards twenty feet, digging his fingers into the wood to stop the slide. A look of pure astonishment whitened his face as he lifted a hand to his bloodied chin.
“You’d be delighted,” he repeated after summoning the breath to speak.
The fae smiled, slowly walking forward.
“Don’t tell me it’s never crossed your mind.” He tilted his head appraisingly, spilling ivory hair to the other side. “Who’d actually win between us.”
Asher pushed to his feet in one lithe movement. “I know who’d win between us,” he said quietly.
Ellanden’s smile faltered for the briefest moment, then hardened into something new. “Let’s find out.”
Evie pulled in a silent breath as they came together. This time was nothing like when they’d started. This time she could feel the impacts. See the drops of blood flying through the air.
The giant was delighted. She felt like she was going to be sick.
Faster and faster they moved, relying no longer upon tactics but pure muscle memory. One would swing, the other would duck. One would attack, the other would counter. An occasional gasp broke through, an occasional hiss or muffled cry. But aside from that, it was dead quiet.
Just get to the point, she thought nervously, fighting the urge to cover her eyes. Just finish this.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
In a lot of ways, the fight was inevitable. Tensions had been brewing ever since the friends ventured down into the tunnel—unaware of the basilisk that lay waiting, that the vampire had forgotten the blood. They’d made up that night in the witch’s cabin, vowed to put it all behind them. But try as she might, Evie could never forget the look on the vampire’s face when he’d lost all sense of himself and decided to take the fae’s blood.
She was willing to bet Ellanden couldn’t forget it either.
She was willing to bet Ellanden was thinking about it right now.
There was a flash of white hair then the vampire let out a piercing cry, flying back at such speeds he almost fell off the side of the table. He took a moment to steady himself, spat a mouthful of blood, then slowly got to his feet, staring at his friend with an indecipherable expression.
“This isn’t the time,” he said quietly.
“Why not?” the fae countered, advancing once more. “As long as we’re dancing...”
There was another cry, but this time the prince was the one who went flying. He flipped twice through the air, by no intention of his own, before falling hard onto the table.
“I thought this was over,” Asher insisted, eyes dilating in spite of himself. “It was done.”
“There was nothing for you to get over,” Ellanden panted, pushing to his feet with a glare.
A cold hand closed around the princess’ wrist.
“What are they talking about?” Cosette asked softly. “What haven’t you said?”
Evie opened her mouth to answer, then stared helplessly through the bars. Of all the times for the moment to have come upon them, she couldn’t think of anything worse.
“Over,” Ellanden scoffed, shaking his head slowly. “What about just a few moments ago, when I saw you looking at my blood? Again.” He flipped his hair back so the stains were clearly visible on the side of his neck, watching the vampire’s reaction. “The wizard was right, wasn’t he? You’re never going to stop thinking about it. Just looking makes you want it all the more.”
For a split second, Asher had no idea what to say.
Even though they were pounding each other to a pulp, he clearly hadn’t expected the fae to ask the question so directly. Once it was in the open, it caught him completely unprepared. He knew how he wanted to answer. A part of him might have even believed that answer himself. But it was impossible to lie to a fae. Even more impossible to lie to his best friend. And the longer the words hung between them, the more his face heated with an incriminating flush of guilt.
Ellanden stared a long moment, then turned away. “That’s what I thought.”
At this point, the fight was basically over. The skill of two such opponents was a dangerous thing to leverage, and short of resorting to lethal harm there was no way either of them could win.
But there was still a job to be done. And the giant wasn’t so easily satisfied.
“COME ON!” he shouted, pounding the table. “FIGHT!”
Asher slowly lifted his gaze, levelling him with a chilling glare. “I have a better idea,” he said softly. “Burn.”
Faster than sight, he ripped the broken bar off the cage and hurled it like a javelin straight towards the candle at the end of the table. The wax rattled precariously, tipping at the base, then gave way a second later when the fae streaked to the window and kicked it from behind.
In what felt like slow motion it fell onto the slats of wood, simultaneously igniting the kerosene that had spilled from the broken lantern just hours before. A second later, the entire table was ablaze. And the giant. And the little birdcage, from which the girls were still trying to escape.
“FIRE!” the giant shouted, like they were unable to see it for themselves. “FIRE!”
He jumped around like a maniac, slapping wildly at the flames crawling up his knees, while the boys doubled back to the cage—prying open the rest of the bars so the girls could slip through.
It only took seconds. And seconds were all they had.
From the moment the candle touched down, the world around them had burst into flame. Sizzling their skin and burning into their lungs as they grabbed each other and leapt into the open air.
“NO!” the giant cried. “Get BACK here!”
They might not have been dangling from the ceiling, but it was still a long way down. Each of the friends let out a painful cry as they smashed into the floor, lying dazed for a moment before forcing themselves up and racing full-tilt across the floor. Not surprisingly the giant beat them to it, but by now his mind was on other things. With a final cry, he abandoned the cabin altogether and kicked open the door—running full-speed to the garden pond.
The friends waited just long enough to him to run past before sprinting forward themselves. Leaning on each other for balance as they finally crossed the threshold, back into the real world.
The giant was soaking himself in the water. He never saw them melt noiselessly into the trees. It had been a brilliant plan, executed to fiery perfection.
There was only one problem.
The giant’s screams hadn’t been contained to their part of the forest. Neither had the sight of the blaze. Less than a minute after that candle had fallen over, the garden gate burst open and half a dozen other giants came rushing into the yard. They stopped in joint astonishment, staring at their companion who was still hitting patches of fire from his clothes.
“FIND THEM!” he bellowed. “DON’T LET THEM GET AWAY!”
The friends shrank into the greenery, staring with wide eyes as the giants scattered instantly through the garden, pulling up bushes and searching through the trees.
“How about it?” Evie whispered, grabbing Asher’s sleeve. “Do you have a plan for this?”
“Yeah,” he breathed, watching as the monsters came closer. “...run!”
