He saw the wyvern’s carcass in the clearing. It looked like a scab, on an otherwise healthy patch of forest. Not even the carrion would touch it. The perfect circle of blue flowers made the place seem unnatural though. Talon alighted briefly on top of the stone mound that was Loudin’s grave. Hyden wondered what sort of place the hunter’s spirit was in now. He didn’t dwell on the question, because it saddened him, and the curious thought was soon forgotten as Talon shot back into the sky.
The hawkling found a column of warm air rising up from where the sun was heating a patch of dark stone, and rode the currents into the heavenly heights. From there, Hyden could see several hundred valleys in every direction he looked. The only real visible change in the terrain, was to the far north: the white-capped mountains were taller, and seemed far less hospitable, while to the south, the sharp peaks, and jagged precipices gradually rounded and smoothed, giving way to warmer, greener foothills.
Talon soared around into a dive, and with his wings tucked back, came streaking down toward the valley where they were camped. It was exhilarating. Even laying on his blanket at the camp, with his eyes clenched shut, Hyden felt the rush of it.
The joy was suddenly eclipsed by another warning sensation rippling up his back. More movement, the flashes of something white and fleeting, darting through the trees at the northernmost ridge above their valley, had caught Talon’s eye. He aimed his diving descent in that direction to investigate. There was another, and then there was a third snow white creature, scrambling through the woods.
They were four-legged creatures, running friskily about the trees without a concern in the world. At the ridge, the density of the canopy thinned, and three of the beasts came leaping out into the open. They were wolves, big wolves, and white as snow. Two more darted out, and the pack pranced in the clearing anxiously, before scattering off in the same general direction on five different trails. One would chase another for a bit, then break off, and playfully take up pursuit of another of its pack mates. They were coming down into the valley towards the camp, and Hyden counted nine of them in all.
These weren’t the gray dusky wolves that lived in the valleys and foothills of the lower mountains, like the one he had healed in the ravine. These were the Great Wolves from the high peaks around the giants’ hidden city of Afdeon. These were the wolves that Berda had told him about on more than one occasion, and recalling that, he knew suddenly why they were here.
Hyden grew excited, and sent Talon up over the ridge from where the wolves had come. Sure enough, he found them there – three giants striding purposefully up the valley towards the ridge.
Borg and a young giantess walked side by side, and behind them, came another huge male, whose bearing and stride were so regal, that Hyden could only assume that it was King Aldar himself.
Hyden jumped to his feet, grinning with anticipation. The sorrow of Loudin’s death was lost for the moment in his excitement. In all his days, he never thought he would ever get to meet the Giant King that Berda had spoken of so often. She had held such obvious regard for this being, that Hyden had always envisioned him as some sort of god on earth. And now, he was going to meet him.
At once, he sent Talon to go land on Borg’s shoulder so that he would know that they had been seen and were expected. Then, he turned to Mikahl’s worried expression, and explained why he had suddenly grown so excited.
“We’ll have to meet them somewhere more open,” Hyden said, as he started to gather up things around the camp. “This is too low. There’s a place by the stream pools where the branches are higher, and the stream bed is open to the sky. I think that will be best.”
“What are you so nervous about?” Mikahl asked. “It’s my future, and my destiny that King Aldar is about to unveil, not yours.”
“Aye,” Hyden laughed lightly. “It’s true, but I’ve heard about this king all of my days. He crossed the desert and treated with the Krags that live on the other side. He’s killed vipers that Berda said were at least a hundred paces long; and his grandfather and a few other giants once killed a dragon. Its skull sits in the council chamber of my Elders. To the kingdom folk, we Clansman seem to live as free men, and we are, but we live in the Giant Mountains, under the protection of King Aldar.”
He paused to take a reverent breath. The importance of this meeting to him, radiated from his expression like the rays of the sun.
“It is no small honor for any Clansman to meet the King of the Giants.”
“Aye,” Mikahl nodded his understanding. “It’s no small honor to meet any king.” He was thinking of King Balton when he said the words, but he found that they awakened something inside of him.
According to Lord Gregory, he was a King, and he decided he would try to act like one when he met King Aldar. He began double-timing his work then. He hoped to be able to wash himself, and he wasn’t sure, but he thought there might be a fairly decent set of clothes stashed in the bottom of Windfoot’s saddle.