Tava Lenn's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Tava Lenn's sling throw should have killed the giant. Instead it only grazed its skull, and now the wounded thing was climbing into the highlands. She watched from her tower window, a hand on the cold stone. If that giant reached a herd, it would lead the whole pack back down the slope. Down to her tower. Three giant teeth hung from her belt. She wanted a fourth, and a seat among the slayers who guarded these passes. A limping giant did not earn that. It ended it. Her owl shifted on the windowsill, stone-grey and silent. "I missed," Tava told it. "So I have to catch it." She grabbed the one weapon that could drop a giant fast. The throwing spear's tip gleamed wet and green with poison. One good hit anywhere would stop the heart before the beast found its herd. She ran from the watchtower into the broken hills. The blood trail was easy. Dark drops crossed the stones, then wide smears where the giant had stumbled. Tava climbed hard. Her lungs burned. Above her the owl cut silent circles, then dove and screamed. It had found the thing first. The giant stood in a gap between two ridges. It swayed on tree-thick legs, one hand pressed to its bloody head. Beyond it, far down the far slope, Tava saw the small dark shapes of a herd grazing. The giant had almost made it. It turned its huge face toward her and roared. Tava planted her feet. The throw had to be perfect. Miss again, and the roar would carry, and every giant below would look up. She drew her arm back. The giant charged, each step shaking loose stones down the ridge. She waited one breath longer. Then she threw. The spear struck the giant's chest and sank deep. It took three more steps. Its knees folded. The huge body crashed down an arm's length from her boots, and the ground jumped. Green froth bubbled at the wound. Then the giant went still. Tava stood over it, shaking, her breath loud in her ears. She had done it. No herd would come down tonight. She knelt and worked a tooth loose from the dead jaw, then hung it on her belt beside the other three. Four now. The owl landed on the giant's shoulder and stared past her, down the slope. Tava followed its look. The herd below had stopped grazing. Dark heads lifted, one after another, all turned toward the ridge where the giant had fallen. They had heard the roar after all. Slowly, the first of them began to climb.