The Throne I Left

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” Signe sang, stalking forward with her axeblade gleaming menacingly in the light from the torches. The humans whipped around at the noise.

Johan eyed them. The two men seemed to be around their age, in their late teens or early twenties, both armed with swords but not a single piece of armor. Either they came unprepared, or they stumbled upon the giants.

“Someone is trying to take our prey.” Note said, his voice monotone, and followed after Signe, drawing his sword on the way.

Johan glanced beyond the humans to where the giants had ended up. Dornir was back on the ground, this time kneeling, panting harshly with Viddi standing protectively in front of him.

The humans didn’t seem to know how to get closer to them with Viddi wielding his club.

Dornir glared when he noticed them approaching, but when Viddi saw them, he seemed relieved, glancing between the two groups, something Dornir didn’t take very well.

“You called for backup?! Don’t think this will make things easier for you-!” Dornir struggled to get up but Viddi quickly pushed him down again without even looking back, making him shut up and glare outraged up at his brother.

“We were here first!” One of the humans yelled at Note, pointing his sword towards him without even a slight tremble.

“Didn’t you hear the giant?” Johan drawled. “We were here first.”

At his words, the two guys faltered, glancing at each other uneasily.

“Finders keepers, right?” Johan added with a smile. It was an unspoken rule for adventurers. Not officially, of course, but it was seen as incredibly rude to steal someone else’s quest. For honor and all that.

That got the first guy angry, he whipped around and pointed his sword at Johan. “That does not count if you leave them!” He yelled.

Johan eyed them closely. They didn’t seem like adventurers, but maybe they were just new.

“Yes it does.” Johan argued, crossing his arms and pushing down a smile.

“No, it doesn’t!”

“Yes, it does.”

“No!” The guy childishly stomped his foot on the ground before taking off running. Johan only had the time to see the sword pointing at him-

A flash of black hair and a clash of metal, and they guy was thrown back. Johan hadn’t even moved a muscle, instead Note stood between them.

“Drop it.” Note snapped. The guy sucked in a breath through gritted teeth, but the sword at his throat gave him no option and the weapon dropped to the ground with a clang. “Leave.”

Despite actually being the least intimidating person ever when you knew him, Note was very good at appearing scary. One look was enough to corner the humans. Instead of attacking, the guy’s lips quivered.

The other one, the one not held at swordpoint, yelled. “This is our quest!” He cowered, using both hands to hold his sword in front of him.

Johan wasn’t exactly worried. He shared a look with Signe, who had gotten behind the guy.

“What are you kids even doing here?” Johan asked curiously. Did someone send them there to die?

The humans only glared at him.

“Hey!” The human yelled at Note, slowly inching away from the tip of the sword, voice shaking with anger and embarrassment. “You-you...beautiful- I mean- ugly-!”

Note twitched.

Ugly?! Johan’s jaw dropped. In what way was Note ugly?! He stepped forward. “Hey!”

“Ugly?!” Signe yelled, suddenly furious.

Johan’s ribbons fell into his hands. The humans should die- Wait no. Johan clenched his fists. The whole point was that they didn’t die. He shook his head. They were supposed to run them off, not kill them-

Then, before he could convince himself, Signe was there.

Johan watched as the human fell to the ground, limp.

Oh no. A bad feeling creeping up his chest. Maybe they should disregard the whole vision and just go home. There was no way the giants would trust them after this-

Johan’s thoughts paused as the guy groaned. Slowly he set his eyes on the awake human.

“You have something to say, too?” Johan asked lowly, but the other human quickly shook his head, backing up.

“Good. Take him and leave.”

The human didn’t waste any time and quickly grabbed his friend, hoisting his arm onto his back and taking off out of the cave, stumbling from the weight every now and then.

“We will be back!” The guy yelled.

Johan watched with a deep feeling of petty amusement as the head of the unconscious guy bounced off the wall, the second guy not even noticing in his hurry to get away. He followed them with his eyes until they had disappeared completely into the darkness of the tunnel, then he turned to Note.

“You ok?” He asked Note, and glanced over to where Signe was still fuming, but Note didn’t answer, just watched him in mute shock, like he couldn’t believe that just happened.

“What are you still doing here?!” Dornir suddenly yelled, reminding him that the giants were still there.

“Saving you, what does it look like?” Signe threw back mockingly and Dornir turned his glare back on her, stumbling to his feet now that Viddi stepped away from him.

“They will just come back with more now.” Viddi said silently, looking at them with big watery doe eyes.

Ah…His heart. Johan bit his lip. Yeah, he glanced back to where the humans had disappeared, it hadn’t gone completely after the plan.

“Viddi,” He started gently. “Even if they come back, we will just send them right back home.”

Viddi seemed conflicted. “But...”

“Let’s go back.” Johan said simply.

They walked back in silence, soon taking the ride down on the platform. Even the giants were quietly watching them, not saying anything. They almost seemed angry, but not quite, like they were cautious.

“This is awkward.” Signe whispered.

Johan shrugged, he didn’t mind either way. The giants probably didn’t know what to expect from them.

“We’re back.” Johan called out, following the brothers into the makeshift throneroom. When the old giant saw them, he hummed thoughtfully, looking pleased.

“Boys.” Hymir acknowledged, looking over the two brothers. Then the old giant took a deep breath, turning his eyes on Johan. “Once again I will ask. What is your purpose here?”

Johan huffed. As if ten minutes was going to change his answer.

“I don’t know.” He finally admitted. What was the giant going to do? Kill them? Kick them out? They could try. The best thing the giant could do was to give them a reason to do something. Despite all the time in the cave already, they weren’t anywhere near knowing what the vision meant yet.

The old giant watched him searchingly and Johan waited in suspense. If anything would happen, it would happen now and whatever it was, he was ready for it.

So he waited.

Then-!

They weren’t attacked.

Johan frowned as booming laughter filled the room. He glanced bewildered at Note and Signe but they looked as dumbfounded as him.

If it was their plan to catch them off guard it was really working. But that didn’t seem to be it.

The old giant slammed his cane against the ground and suddenly giants surged inside, like they had been waiting for just that moment. They came in loudly, but this time they weren’t talking to eachother, instead all their attention was on the three of them in the middle of the room.

Johan shuffled unsurely, fists tight around his ribbons. What was going on?

“Children!” The old giant started, staring straight at Johan with a big smile. “You have proven yourself, I can see kindness in your heart.”

Kindness?! Johan glanced at Note, had he done something while Johan wasn’t looking? He was the only one out of the three of them that could even be considered kind.

“I invite you to a feast! Let us all celebrate our new friends!” The old giant hit his cane on the ground twice and the room erupted in cheers, the whole horde of giants suddenly running around, spreading across the room and some disappearing almost as soon as they had arrived.

Johan’s jaw dropped. Friends?! He mouthed the word in shock. Signe’s eyebrows almost touched her hairline when he turned to her, and Note looked completely speechless.

Viddi dropped to his knees in front of them with a bang, and suddenly Johan found himself in the air, engulfed in coarse hands. The air in his lungs was squished out as he was crushed against the hard chest.

“Friends!” Viddi yelled and hugged him close. Johan hit him weakly.

“Viddi!” Johan coughed, and the giant laughed but put him down. He stumbled and Note quickly grabbed him as he tried to regain his balance. The giant laughed.

“I’m sorry, friend! Humans are so small and fragile!” Viddi apologized, his kneeling form leaning even further down, his face almost to the ground as he tried to get a good look at Johan.

“It’s fine,” Johan waved off the apology, he just got a little overexcited, nothing to apologize for. Johan patted Note’s arm comfortingly.

“Children!” The old giant boomed over all the noise. He patted the raised ground beside him. “Sit with me.”

While Johan was gathering himself, Dornir had at some point also come over and had started arguing with Singe about who saved who back in the dining area, though not in a heated way, weirdly enough they both seemed to be enjoying it.

“I believe we have much to talk about,” Hymir continued and Johan yelped as Viddi very kindly, and not frightening at all, nope, grabbed him and lifted him up onto the seat next to the old giant.

He looked over the edge. What was only up to the giant’s thigh was more than high enough for a human to fall and break something, about the height of a small house.

Soon Note was deposited next to him and Viddi sat down next to them again, Dornir and Signe quickly following. Johan stared as Dornir lifted her up gently, all while they glared at each other.

“We have a lot to speak about, children.” The old giant started, and while he was staring intently at all of them, Johan noticed the eyes lingered more often on him.

They had stuff to speak about?

“We do.” Johan agreed without elaborating, no idea what he meant.

Note’s arm snaked around him, pulling him closer. It was obvious that he wanted to change seats, putting himself between Johan and the old giant, yet somehow he managed to pull it off so it didn’t look like it.

Turns out the giants didn’t have any small bowls so Johan, Note and Signe all had to share one, while everyone else got one each, which was fair enough, Johan didn’t think they would be able to finish the big bowl at all.

“Mmm, they made it especially delicious today.” The old giant chuckled, patting his belly. Johan frowned down at the porridge. It was very watery, more water than anything, really. Was that what they lived off of?

“Do you eat this everyday?” Note asked.

“Yes.” Hymir grinned down at him.

Johan eyed it suspiciously. It seemed fine, so he took a bite. It wasn’t bad, but it didn’t really taste much of anything.

“That man that came here years ago,” Hymir simply said. “You are his son.”

Johan choked, looking up with wide eyes. How did he know?!

The old giant’s crescent eyes glinted in amusement. He smiled. “So I was right. You are the new Fate.”

Johan stared. Around him, Note and Signe paused in their conversations, glancing at him warily, and even Viddi and Dornir went quiet in the loud room.

“Don’t worry, child. Even we have heard of Heaven’s commotion. You are safe here.” Hymir said gently. “My condolences for your father. He was a good man.”

“Thank you.” Johan said shortly, eyeing the food. What was he supposed to say to that? Earlier the giant had called his dad a fool. The journal felt heavy in his pocket.

“So that is why you are here?” The old giant continued. “Because of his wants?”

“No,” Johan said curtly. “I didn’t even know.”

“Then?”

“I had a vision.” He sighed. It seemed like the giant knew more than he let on.

“Ah.” The giant fell silent. Hopefully he wouldn’t ask what the vision was about. He had a feeling the giant wouldn’t take it very well to know giants were murdered there, even if it was in the past…and there were skeletons still outside.

Hymir’s next word surprised him. “Good.”

Good?

“There weren’t any clues.” Johan started. “That’s why I don’t know why we’re here.”

“Hmm.” The old giant made a thoughtful noise. “Maybe I will tell you a bit about us and our story, then. It might give you some insight.”

“Will you?” Johan looked up.

“I am Hymir. The oldest of us. Not too old, though, heh.” The old giant started. “Our leader, as you would call it.” He winked at Note, a rumbling laugh in his chest. “Years ago we were chased away from our home by vengeful humans. Deities had murdered someone and put the blame on us to force the humans’ wrath on us.”

Johan looked down. Of course it was something like that.

“But we got away. And we came here. Dwarves resided here before us,” Johan’s eyebrows rose. Dwarves?! He looked around. Well, that explained the technology they had here. “They had made this as their home and workshop but abandoned it long before we came. Giants and dwarves share the same magic, so we were lucky to be able to take use of the technology they left behind. We settled down here, but it is not the ideal place for us. It’s too deep underground and it’s too far from the forest. Despite it being right outside, the small tunnels make it hard to exit and enter.”

Hymir took a deep breath, voice lowering. “When we came here, we were met by the sight of the genocide of another horde. They were killed by humans, and I assume they met the same fate we would have met if we had stayed behind in our home. You might have seen some of it back in the playground.”

Right…Johan shared long looks with Note and Signe. That confirmed it. The vision he had seen was from the past.

Hymir hesitated before continuing. “Recently humans have found out that we are here. It has been harder to go out to gather food. We have tried to stay low, but even without a reason, humans will still come here eventually. Humans are afraid of what they don’t know. We are expecting an attack any day now. I assume that is what you saw in your vision.”

Johan didn’t answer for a second. That was not what he saw, but he didn’t say that. “How did you know that?” He instead asked.

“It is clear, you have felt bad for us since the humans arrived.” The old giant fell quiet for a second before continuing. “We will not survive another attack, we are prepared for this to be the end.”

…What?

“That’s horrible!” Johan jerked back in shock. “You can’t just lay down and die!”

He jerked up to his feet, barely getting any closer to the giant’s face but it was enough. He glanced around the room, watching the giants eat happily, chatting and laughing with each other. They seemed so full of life! Johan turned back to Hymir. “You can’t just do nothing! Life is always worth the attempt to live!”

“Child, it is not your job to protect us.” He tried gently but Johan wasn’t having any of it.

“You don’t know that!” His thoughts raced, then he crossed his arms, getting an idea. “You are taking the other giants and moving to the mountains at Molteholm. You are not dying as long as I have a say in it.”

“Wait, Johan.” Note stood up. “Is that mountain even fit for giants?”

“I don’t care.” Johan argued back. “We’ll figure it out. There’s many places on that mountain where they could live, don’t you think? Maybe the nøkk’s place-”

“It’s not nearly big enough.” Signe interrupted, but Johan refused to falter, he turned to glare at her but found her grinning. “But I heard the dead village killed all the giants on the island, so there should be caves up there somewhere.”

Johan sucked in an excited breath. Things were working out, he bit down a grin.

“So?” He turned to the old giant challengingly.

“We can’t-”

Johan interrupted him. “Who says you can’t? I say you can, so you can.”

The old giant looked shocked at being interrupted.

“Are you just going to stay here and let your people die?” Signe challenged from her spot, still sitting comfortably on the ground. “A leader needs to know when to let his pride go.”

“It is not my pride that is holding me back.” Hymir snarled, finally having enough. He looked down on them and Johan frowned unhappily, meeting his angry eyes. “I have been a leader for years, ever since my brother died in the last attack roused by deities. I do not trust deities nor your human village to not bring us more pain.”

Johan glared and opened his mouth to argue but before he could, Viddi was there.

“Uncle!” Viddi started, standing up. “They have proven themselves!”

“Hush! You three are welcome here, but we are not taking your help. And that is final.”

“So what? You’re just going to die?” Johan challenged.

“We will not be taking your help.” Hymir said, refusing to answer the question and settling a seething glare on Johan.

Not out of pride, he said. Yeah right, Johan thought bitterly.

“But uncle!” Viddi and Dornir both yelled. They started arguing, the old giant staying silent for most of it. Johan didn’t hear any of it though, instead he turned to Note and Signe. He had made a decision. The giants would be coming with them. Johan was not going to let them die, no matter how hard they wanted to do so.

Note and Signe nodded seriously, having reached the same decision.

Good. Johan glanced at the brothers. It didn’t seem like they would go down without a fight. So five they were! Johan refused to let the giants die, the Hymir would just have to deal with it.

Now what could they do to trick Hymir into taking their help? It wouldn’t be easy to trick someone that old, even if they were as dumb as Hymir. He probably thought he had all the intelligence in the world, yet he stubbornly sat on his throne waiting for death to get them?

Johan thought hard. What if they-

Suddenly the little girl ran through the doorway, halting all conversation in the room and bringing everyone’s eyes to her. Breathing harshly as she stopped in front of the old giant.

“Grampy, grampy!” She yelled, breathless. “Daddy is-”

BOOM!

Her words turned into a scream as the walls shook. Johan’s head jerked up and debris rained down around them.

“They are already here.” The old giant’s damning words carried loudly through the quiet room. “Dornir, Viddi. Bring out guests outside and lock the doors.”

The two brothers had stopped their arguing when the explosion went off and at the order they shared a silent look, yet after a moment's hesitation, they did as they were told.

“Wait!” Johan yelled, dodging Viddi’s grasping hand. “This is ridiculous!”

“Child, how do you plan to get us out without engaging in this fight?” Hymir asked sternly and Johan faltered. He didn’t have an answer to that. He didn’t think things would happen so soon. “Leave now, before you get involved.”

Johan eyed him, jaw clenched.

Around them things were moving quickly, giants were running around gathering things while yelling, a dark ambiance taking over as warriors gathered near the platform, but instead of leaving the cave like Johan thought they would, they sat down.

They were going to wait until they were forced to engage, Johan realized.

He looked around in a panic, unsure what to do, then he met Note’s eyes. Johan watched as he moved one arm to his sword, a questioning look in his eyes.

Oh.

They would have to fight.

Johan nodded quickly. Yes. They would solve this for the giants.

He turned to Signe but she had already caught on, grabbing her new axeblade from where it sat on the ground next to her.

“Come on, you can’t stay in here.” Viddi pleaded as they evaded his hands, tears beginning to gather in his eyes. “At least you guys have to live.”

Behind Viddi, Dornir had already given up the fight and was waiting near the platform with the other warriors, hand on the lever and ready to open the door for Viddi to get the three of them outside.

Perfect.

“Fine.” Johan sighed unhappily, then crossed his arms over his chest as he was grabbed, hiding the way his ribbons fell into place in his palms. Signe held her new axeblade closely and Note seemed almost bored as they were brought to the platform.

“Thank you for coming.” Viddi sniffled above them, setting them down gently, and the platform started moving. He smiled wetly at them. “It was nice to meet you.”

Oh, his heart.

“Don’t worry.” Johan said gently. “You’ll be just fine.”

Then he made the mistake of looking back. He met the old giant’s eyes and watched as they widened with the realization of what the three of them were about to do.

“Wait!” The old giant yelled after them, standing up in alarm. “Close the door! Don’t let them out!”

But he was too late. Dornir went for the lever to stop the platform but Johan just grinned as he grabbed Note and Signe, ribbons ready for this situation, and he launched them outside. In the air, he gave Hymir a small wave, watching his enraged face for the whole second before the door slid shut between them.

“Ready?” He asked. He turned towards the playground.

Time to deal with some humans.