10

A giant was sleeping peacefully right in the path of where Jared needed to go. And on the other side of the giant, the lake Jared needed to cross and lo and behold on a shelf on the other side of the lake, Jared could see the treasure sitting next to the boat, with a skeleton hanging over the bow.

Many things about his situation scared Jared. He thought his quest might not be as easy as he thought he would be. He had not counted on a giant. That was a definite problem, but as the giant slept, he could sneak quietly around him. The lake turned out to be much bigger than he expected, but the skeleton suggested that it was crossable. Of course, a skeleton probably wasn’t a good sign of a favorable outcome. The treasure was real though and it was still there, so Jared had hope.

Jared walked around the giant and surveyed him from a distance. He figured going around the giant by its feet end was his best bet. He could see part of the lakes edge too and the best place to get into the lake was right behind the giant. The rock floor sloped down gently into the water. He would not need to make a splash to enter the lake. He hoped it wasn’t too cold, but he figured it would be frigid.

He put his pack near the stairs he would need to go back up to get out of the cave, and then stopped dead in his tracks. How was he going to get back with the treasure without making any noise? Well, he had some time yet to figure that out. He took only his bow and quiver full of arrows with him, strapping both high on his back to keep them out of the water. He took a good look at the giant again, hoping to get a hint of how soundly he slept.

The giant must have been thirty feet tall standing up. He looked like a man in his early twenties with a light reddish blonde beard and mustache in contrast to his blonde hair. He slept with his hands under his head and curled up on his side like he slept in a feather bed. His clothes were the colors of the deep woods, mossy greens and mushroom browns. He breathed deeply and evenly, without any snores escaping from his mouth. Jared expected to see cobwebs draped over the giant but he was clean and debris free. That disturbed Jared.

He had to do something if he was to get anywhere. He tiptoed along the cave wall down to the giant’s feet. Jared’s soft leather soles on his shoes made no sound as he walked around the feet of the giant which were a spare four feet from the water’s edge. As he round the giant’s heels, a midget jump up and out of the crook in the giant’s knees and started screaming at the top of his lungs.

Jared jerked back, tripped over a rock and fell into the lake which nearly made his heart stop. He thrashed around, splashing and bobbing, trying to get his breath. He felt himself jerked out of the water by the nape of his neck and hung in the air dripping. Now he couldn’t breathe because the giant’s fist was cutting off the air in his throat. His feet thrashed and kicked out, arrows spilled out of his quiver and he grabbed at the giant’s hand, trying to pry it loose.

All this while, the midget continue to yell and rant somewhere below him. The drone from the midget and the lack of air in his lungs made Jared pass out. He was shocked awake when the giant dunked him in the freezing lake and the tossed him across the cavern. Jared hit the wall and slumped to the floor. The midget ran up to Jared and continued to scream right in Jared’s face. Spittle flew in his eyes but he was too stunned to wipe it away. Eventually it dawned on him that the midget wasn’t actually saying any thing, he was just screaming at the top of his lungs.

The giant had come over to them. He stood above Jared and the midget, fists on hips and looked down at them. Then he punched the midget on the head. The midget crumpled to the ground and stopped screaming.

“Thank you,” Jared said to the giant.

“Uh.” The giant seemed to be a real conversationalist.

“Why was he screaming like that?”

“Scared.”

“Really? I’m that frightening?”

“Surprise see man.”

“I just want to get across the lake.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Mine.”

“What do you need it for?”

“Mine.”

“You said that. But I really need it and I’ll put it to good use. And you just leave it sitting there.”

“Mine.”

“What if I give you something to replace it, something better?”

“What?”

“I could be your friend. You and your midget could come live with me and my family. That way you’d have company, still be near your treasure and I could use it too. We would all be happy.”

“Friend?”
“Yes, help me cross the lake, get the treasure out of the cave and back down the mountain and then you can just stay with me and my family. The kids would love you two. And it is so much nicer at the bottom of the mountain; sunny, warm, happy. And there’s fish in the lake.”

At this point, the midget woke back up and started screaming again. The giant stuck a finger in the midget’s mouth. The midget started turning purple.

“Now cut that out,” said Jared. He pulled the giant’s finger. The giant farted. The midget started breathing again but did not start yelling again. Every one looked at each other. Jared began laughing. The other two looked at Jared as if he were weird. The midget shook his head, and wiggled a finger in his ear. He plopped down on his butt and sat quietly looking between Jared and the giant as they continued to talk.

“Will you help me?” Jared asked the giant.

“Can’t.” The giant shook his big head. He scratched the back of his neck.

“Why not? With your help we could be out of here and home in no time.”

“You.” The giant poked Jared in the chest. Jared nearly fell over. He stumbled back into the wall.

“I have to get the treasure myself? I have to do it on my own?”

“Yup.” The giant sat down next to the midget. The ground underneath them shook and a something crashed deeper in the caves. Ripples moved across the surface of the lake. Jared thought he saw something poking up out of the water but when he looked more closely, nothing was there.

“Don’t get, can’t keep.” The giant and the midget nodded in unison.
“I have to get the treasure myself in order to keep it. Makes sense to me. Well, I guess I better get going then.” Jared took a couple steps towards the sloping edge of the lake. He wasn’t looking forward to getting back in that fridged water.

The midget jumped up and began clapping and dancing from foot to foot. The giant turned around knocking the midget over with the toe of his shoe. Jared turned around to look at them when the midget began yelping.

“Well, here I go. My named is Jared. In case I don’t get back, remember me. I know I’m stalling, but do you two have names?”

“Me Tiny,” said the giant. “He Sparky.” Tiny pointed at the Midget.

“Tiny, Sparky. It was nice meeting you. If I really didn’t need the gold and jewels to help my family, I’d say let’s just get out of here, but we are really poor.” Jared shrugged his shoulders and Tiny and Sparky mimicked him.

“Are you sure you can’t give me a hand?” Jared looked at Tiny hopeful. Tiny looked back at Jared with a blank stare, then a light seemed to go off in Tiny’s eyes. Tiny shoved Jared in the water.

Jared sputtered and floundered in the water. Each time he broke the surface he saw Tiny grinning and Sparky clapping. Finally, Jared found a flat surface to stand on. He stood up, wiping water from his eyes and wringing his hair out.

“Very funny,” said Jared. His teeth were already chattering. He clamped them together, turned in the water and pushed off towards the opposite shore. The movement helped him warm up a bit, so he kicked his legs extra rapidly. His foot hit something. He thought the lake must be rather shallow if he could kick the bottom. He swam about a third of the way across the lake and felt himself get winded. He decided to stand in place for a minute to get his breath.

He stopped stroking and drifted to a standing position and sank under the water. He immediately began treading water to get his head above water again. He must have kicked a boulder hidden under water before. He would just have to keep swimming. He struck out again, only this time with a little less vigor to save some of his energy. He pulled his arms through the water which was getting more difficult. His muscles were feeling very heavy. On one stroke through the water his hand brushed against what must have been a big fish. He was now three quarters of the way to the other side. He stopped to tread water again and to take a little rest before his final stretch.

He turned to look back at Tiny and Sparky. Tiny waved a big hand at Jared and grinned, then waved him on. Sparky was jumping around again and pointing at Jared. Jared turned back towards his goal and began swimming again. It wasn’t long and he reached the opposite ledge. This side had no sloping ledge he could crawl up on, but a rock shelf jutting over the water. He held on to the ledge and tried to find a foot hold. As he moved his legs around a fish slithered up his leg. He kicked out to shake it off, but it kept rubbing up against his leg. Jared’s foot finally found a toe hold under the ledge and hoisted him self up onto the rocks.

Jared lay there shivering and breathing deeply. He rested for a few minutes to regain his strength, rolling over and looking at the ceiling of the cave. The gold and gems reflected light and rainbow colors that Jared watched as he rested. He had thought of this moment for so long and now here he was just laying here on the ground. He thought that if he looked at the treasure and touched it, that it would vanish. He thought it best to get it over with and see if it was real or not.

He rolled over and stood up. He took a few steps towards the boat draped with a skeleton and loaded with precious metals and jewels. It looked real from where he stood. He walked over and touched the skeleton which fell apart into individual bones and dust particles. A ring slipped off of a finger bone and rolled to Jared’s feet. He picked it up. It was a signet ring. This must have been the old king who had left the treasure here. Jared wondered why the king had died here.

Jared gathered the old king’s bones, said a short prayer and dumped the king’s bones into he water. He looked up and saw Tiny and Sparky waving and shouting at him. He couldn’t hear what they were yelling. The noise echoed around the vaulted ceiling. The sound was so loud that it affected the water, which had begun to boil and churn. That made no sense. He looked more closely and he saw something rise up out of the water. A thick broad head broke through the surface with huge round black eyes and a mouth filled with long needle like teeth. It came up and slithered above Jared its nose barely inches from Jared’s head. Jared fell over backwards in his fear. He lay looking up at the vicious long teeth of the beast. He saw that they were so long that the beast could not open its mouth to bite. In fact the teeth looked like a comb or a sieve used to winnow grains.

Jared crawled like a crab back away from the monstrous beast. As he moved back it moved forward. It followed him as he inched his way back but it never touched him. Jared banged his head into the boat, making the boat rock on its keel. The big snake like animal hovered over Jared and moaned. It whined and whimpered like a hurt puppy dog. Jared sat up leaning against the boat’s side. The ferocious looking wormy creature rested his chin on Jared’s knees and Jared saw why it was crying. One of its sharp pointy teeth stuck up through his upper jaw poking through the skin.

He reached out a tentative hand and gently stroked the animal’s nose. It made a sort of purring noise deep in its throat. The offending tooth had come loose from the worm’s jaw but was entangled with the other teeth. Jared continued to pet the animal’s snout with one hand while he grabbed the tooth from the pointy end and yanked. The beast let out a yowl, thrashed its head around and knocked Jared into the water. Jared hit his head on the edge of the rocks and passed out. He sank to the bottom of the cave lake.