As he and Myronel followed Edeline out the front door, Hamond knew he shouldn't relax just yet...and still somehow, he felt relieved. Certainly, the gigant visible down the street, back to them, was a threat, but it was one that was much more simply dealt with. The Witch of Wrath had vanished, there were no more aggressive victims of the Sluice's spell around...nothing at all that could prevent them from returning to safety.

  Ugotlas ought to be pleased as well, given the winged girl now following them. Sedat looked on edge, her attention squarely on the gigant. It was understandable. She'd probably never seen a gigant before all this, and combined with dealing with the changed to her body, it would seem impossible. So much of what they'd done would seem impossible, and yet they'd done it anyway.

  Myronel chose that moment to yawn. As amusing at it would be to imagine it was out of boredom at the sight of the gigant, Myronel was still very exhausted. Both Edeline and Hamond had offered to lend a shoulder to lean on, but he'd turned them down. At least the time it had taken for Edeline's brother to wake up enough to get moving had given them the opportunity to find Sedat a blanket for modesty, which now was wrapped around her body.

  "Stay here," Edeline warned, then strode towards the gigant. Under normal circumstances, Hamond would've considered what spells might distract it, but they couldn't afford him to draw the gigant's attention to Myronel or Sedat.

  This was Edeline's fight alone, one she had prepared for. Hamond did wonder if Edeline was going to try the new spell, or just settle for blowing the gigant apart. He'd know soon enough, as Edeline slowly walked closer to the rocky beast-like form.

  Edeline answered the question, raising one hand instead of her sword. The new spell it was then. "Terra volt!" she called out.

  A tendril of lightning shot from her hand, catching the gigant in its shoulder as it turned. The energy of the spell flowed around the limb, the faint glow Hamond knew to be there barely visible under the bright sunlight. Edeline pulled her arm back, and the gigant halted, bracing itself against the force of the spell.

  It could not hold, and with a thunderous crack, Edeline pulled the arm off of the gigant.

  So it did work to some degree, although not as much as Hamond would've hoped. His original thought on Edeline proposing the spell was that it could lift the entire gigant and fling it around like a toy, and she had been able to do so with some large boulders they found as they'd traveled north. It seems this gigant's enchantments and construction made it too resilient for that.

  "Who dares to attack a guardian of the seal?" It was a voice Hamond had not heard in months, confirmed by the sight of the carved face of this gigant. So this was the guardian gigant that had been protecting the Sluice. That led to another question: why had it ventured away from the statue it was supposed to be protecting?

  "I believe I do!" Edeline said, flinging her hand forward yet again. The severed limb of the gigant, floating under Edeline's spell, descended with a crash right into the gigant's body. The arm shattered on impact, creating a cloud of dust that drifted around the gigant.

  "So it is you again. You shall not escape me this time!" The gigant lumbered forward, showing no damage from that last attack other than a few cracks on its upper body.

  "Terra volt!" Edeline answered with the spell again, this time aiming for the other arm. Once again she pulled back, this time unbalancing the gigant. It collapsed forward, the limb held extended in front of it. For a moment, it too held, but in the end Edeline's spell won. Another crack, and now the gigant was apparently helpless.

  Hamond wasn't about to bet on that, though. Gesturing for Sedat and Myronel to keep their distance, he walked closer. There were a few questions he had for the voice coming from the gigant, now that he had a rough guess as to the source of the voice. Also, it was an opportunity to study how the spells on it worked, something Hamond hadn't been able to do before.

  Edeline sheathed her sword, then stood there as Hamond caught up. "I am glad this proved to be so easy," she spoke to him, her gaze fixed on the toppled gigant. "I doubt I would have the stamina for a much longer battle."

  Hamond figured that was a reminder to not linger here. "I just want to confirm something. Teleios horama."

  Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

  A quick glance at the gigant supported Hamond's suspicions. There were a series of enchantments there, with some of them clearly disrupted by Edeline having torn the two arms away. More importantly, a thin tether of energy appeared to be leading off of its back. While Hamond could not see which direction in flowed in - it faded away into the air a few paces from the gigant - it clearly indicated some form of distant control.

  "You would break the seal then. Do you truly seek to doom this kingdom?" Despite laying face down, the voice was in no way muffled.

  "Who...who are you?" Edeline asked, sounding startled.

  "The Sculptor," Hamond voiced his theory, hoping he was right. "That's it, isn't it? You are seeing to the defenses of the other members of the Elemental Hex."

  "Your answer betrays you. Now you shall perish." The magical energies inside the gigant suddenly began to swirl rapidly, collapsing in on themselves. Hamond didn't know what would happen when whatever spell it was calling forth finished.

  Hamond didn't need to know.

  "Run!" He grabbed Edeline's hand and pulled her away. A full sprint, as much distance as could be put between them and it. It wasn't enough, he was too slow, she was a step behind him, it-

  Something burst at them from behind, flinging the two of them forward.

  Laying there, Hamond took one deep breath, than another. It didn't hurt, not really, being more of a numb feeling throughout his body. But he had that feeling, proving he still lived. Glancing over at Edeline, he saw she was already pushing up into a sitting position.

  "Ah...my foot," she grumbled, reaching around to touch the heel of her boot. "Let's...not do that again."

  "You alright?" Hamond asked, rising to his feet.

  "I have been worse." Edeline stood as well, testing the foot. She winced as she tried to put weight on it. "I think I twisted it."

  "I'm just glad none of the rocks hit you." Myronel slowly walked up, his eyes fixed to where the gigant had been. All that remained now was some scattered shards and a slowly thinning cloud of dust stretched across half the street. "Aether's blood...did you know it would do that?"

  "No," Hamond admitted.

  "Heka," Sedat said quietly, "You all...just what are you?"

  "Tired and hungry," Edeline quipped, then paused, probably rethinking what she'd said. "We can answer your questions later, after we get back."

  "We could do that along the way, you know," Hamond reminded her gently. It shouldn't take too long to get there, so there wouldn't be that many. Even if Edeline and Myronel were not feeling up to conversation, he would be willing. It would also give him a chance to ask Sedat a few questions of his own.

  Edeline shook her head, but didn't offer any other objection as they began to walk.

  "We're travelers from the south," Hamond told Sedat, "We came here to research into something related to spellcraft...heka, as you call it." A little too late he realized that from Sedat's perspective, he ought to be calling it heka as well. Then again, he supposed he wouldn't fit in there.

  "Same thing that did this to us?" Sedat ruffled her wings.

  "We think so." Anyone who had been transformed deserved this much of an explanation. Since it seemed none of the other victims were currently capable of understanding, for now that just meant Sedat.

  "Can we be changed back?"

  Hamond had expected that question. "I don't know if there is a way to reverse the spell, although we might try. What we can do is make sure this never happens again, not to anyone else."

  "Good," Sedat said, smiling slightly.

  His turn then, Hamond supposed. "So, you-"

  "Might not mind this if I could fly," Sedat cut him off, her smile vanishing. "But can't."

  "Wait, you can't fly?" Edeline clearly hadn't realized the truth of Sedat's plight yet. "But...you have wings."

  "Birds teach their fledglings how to fly," Hamond pointed out, "Who was supposed to teach her?"

  "Can't even get off the ground." Sedat's tone grew harsher. "Tried jumping off a roof. The wings just slowed the fall."

  "So you can glide," Hamond said, wondering if that meant it would be possible for her to learn to take wing. Not that any of them would know how to instruct her on it. It would be something Sebat had to figure out on her own. Unless...

  ...no, that wasn't something they could do in the time they had. It was such a pity, but all Hamond could do was find a new home for Sedat. This wasn't going to be another Jylania situation, where there was no one to take the girl in.

  "Better than nothing," Myronel commented.

  "Would rather have hands," Sedat replied, "Not be like this."

  Maybe a change of topic was needed, but Hamond was at a loss to come up with anything that didn't lead back to either Sedat's time as an ashabti or the effects of the Sluice's spell. If her life was anything like Senby's, it would've been little more than misery. Even with the spell's obvious effects, she was likely better off now than she'd ever been.

  At least this led Hamond to a simple enough question. "Have you seen any others like you? People transformed by the spell, but who stayed themselves?"

  "Yeah, a few the night it happened. They...didn't last."

  Hamond couldn't say he was surprised. He wasn't about to mention the one who had shown up a couple of nights ago, since they had no actual proof if he had kept his mind. While there may yet be a few others lurking hidden somewhere, searching all of Lasfont for them wasn't practical. Ugotlas was just going to have to settle for whatever Sedat could tell them.

  "You did well to keep yourself alive," Edeline added.

  Sedat didn't answer, instead biting her lip. It was as clear a sign as possible that the time for questions was over. Silence descended, with only the faint sound of the breeze blowing, as they continued on their way to safety and rest.

  Check out the Heirs of Hyarch website!