expander Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 Note: This is just the first chapter of a new novel by myself and Angel. It's more macro than superstrength (though there is both), but I thought it might be of interest to some here. To download the whole thing, visit https://bit.ly/demons-book. “Morning, John,” said the village saddler. “Morning, Roger,” replied the blacksmith, as they crossed paths in the lane. “Any news on that new harness?” “John’s supposed to be working on it this morning,” replied the blacksmith, nodding in the direction of the smithy. They could hear the clang of a hammer on iron from here. As the blacksmith had never been a particularly imaginative man, his son was also named John. Big John and Little John, as they were known in the village. “Just going to check on him now.” “Glad to hear it. Won’t keep you then.” Nodding his farewell, Big John continued making his way towards the workshop. He paused at the doorway, watching his son working at the forge. Little John wasn’t so little, these days. He’d been working at the forge since he was old enough to swing a hammer; his muscles were thick and hard. His father’s powerful stocky build had combined with the above-average height of the menfolk on his mother’s side of the family to make him something of a giant. At six-foot-four, the 19-year-old was easily the biggest man in the village now, standing taller than his father by a good three inches. The blacksmith sighed, wondering how long it would be before the villagers started referring to them as Old John and Young John instead. Not-so-little Little John had his back to the door. He was starting the tricky final assembly of the ax he was working on. Holding the red-hot ax head with his tongs, he grabbed the polished oak handle and carefully inserted the end of the haft into the ax head’s eye. His thick cabled forearms rippled as he twisted it back and forth, working it into place, before lowering the whole thing into the nearby bucket of water to quench it. Steam billowed up, the hot metal sizzling as the rapid cooling of the steel caused it to contract, binding the head tightly around the wooden haft. As the cloud of condensation dissipated, he carefully transferred the completed ax to the workbench, to let it finish cooling. “John,” said the blacksmith, once he saw his son was finished. “Father,” said the younger one, turning around. He’d been working shirtless in front of the glowing hot forge all morning, rivulets of sweat were running down his heavily-muscled torso. He scooped a handful of water from the bucket and splashed it across his front to cool down. “You get the ironwork for that new harness finished?” “Yup,” said his son, nodding over towards the workbench where the morning’s output lay. Alongside the just-finished ax were a set of iron rings and clasps for the harness. The elder John went over to the workbench, carefully inspecting his son’s work. “You got started early this morning.” The blacksmith ran his finger over the pieces, checking them for any defects. “Well, to be honest, I was kind of hoping I could have the afternoon free.” His father’s reply was little more than a grunted hmph. “What about the horseshoes?” “I did them first thing. They’re up there,” replied his son, pointing. The blacksmith took them down from the peg where they were hanging; he hadn’t noticed them before. It was an impressive amount of work for one morning. “You’re working fast.” His son just shrugged his broad shoulders. “Not cutting corners, I hope.” The blacksmith examined the horseshoes closely, looking for any shortcomings, but eventually he had to grudgingly admit that the work was flawless. “So, can I go?” “You waste too much time fooling around with that stable hand.” Young John grinned. “But if there’s no more work to be done around here …” His father sighed. “I suppose so. But take those over to Roger, he was asking me about them,” he added, pointing at the harness pieces on the bench. “And since you’re going to the stables anyway, I assume, you can deliver the shoes as well. And for your mother’s sake, be back by dinner time.” His son was already pulling his shirt back on, grinning broadly. “Yes, sir.” John poked his head through the open door at the end of the village stable block. “Will?” he called out in a loud voice. “You here? I brought those new shoes you needed.” “Be there in a minute!” came Will’s shouted reply, from somewhere down the other end. John waited, idly fiddling with the horseshoes he was carrying. Will came in from the paddock out back, trotting down the length of the stable towards him. “Hey John,” he said, taking the horseshoes from his large friend. “Thanks for bringing these. Was just brushing down Diamond out back,” he continued, putting the horseshoes away and hanging up some of his tools. “Are you nearly done for the day? My father said I could take the afternoon, there’s something I want to show you. Something I found last week.” “Yeah, I can disappear for a couple hours. What is it?” John shook his head. “I need to show you. Afraid it’s a bit of a walk to get there, though.” “This isn’t like that time you wanted to show me something at Thatchet’s barn is it?” Will quickly splashed his face with a handful of well water from a bucket. “Thank the stars we got those animals out before the place burned down. Old man still threatens me with a pitchfork every time he sees me.” John couldn’t help but chuckle. “That was an accident, and you know it.” “Bet his daughter was an accident too, eh?” “Hey, she threw herself at me, not the other way around. Was I going to say no to those?” he said, cupping his large hands in front of his chest, making a lewd motion like he was bouncing a substantial pair of breasts. “Let’s go, you ox.” They both laughed as they left the stable. More villagers were out and about, now that it was midday. Young women were always looking twice at John, the most impressive specimen of a male in town. But Will was starting to get considerable attention too, despite being a year younger. He was built fine and strong at an even six feet tall, with a handsome, boyish face and a shaggy mane of rich brown hair. He’d always been glad for their friendship. Growing up as the stablemaster’s son, tasked with mucking out the stalls every morning, young Will had been wide open to being made fun of by the other children for smelling faintly of horse dung much of the time. But they’d stopped doing that after the older and much bigger John had threatened to pound the living daylights out of them. Now Will was plenty big enough to take care of himself, but he always seemed to pale in comparison when the two stood side-by-side, his striking looks outweighed by John’s sheer brawn. They passed through the marketplace on the way out of the village. A trio of young maidens gawked and giggled as they walked by. Will rolled his eyes and shook his head, figuring their attention was sparked by the sight of John’s massive muscular frame. “Absolutely disgusting.” “You really think they’re not looking at you, pretty boy?” John punched his friend’s shoulder, just hard enough to hurt a little. Will rubbed the sore spot but had a grin on his face as they left the village behind. They followed the wagon road north for a couple of miles, then cut west through the forest until they came to the river. The same river flowed through the village, but up here there was a creek that flowed over a small waterfall and into a rocky basin, a little ways before it emptied into the main river. The water had carved out a little pool, making a nice spot in which to cool off and splash around. When they were younger they could even swim in it a little, but now that they were full-grown men it wasn’t really big enough. It still made a good spot to hang out and relax in, though. John kicked off his boots, then pulled off his shirt and breeches and left them laying on a nearby boulder. He waded into the pool, stark naked, big legs plowing easily through the water. He made his way over to the waterfall, reaching down under the surface and shifting a large rock. Then he reached underneath it to grab something, lifting it out of the water as he came back towards the shore. In his hand was a perfect crystal pyramid. Four-sided, about eight inches across, gleaming in the sunlight. It looked perfectly dry even though it had just come out of the pool, as if the surface shed water like a duck’s back. “Where did you get that?” asked Will, as John came back up onto the sand and set it down on a flat rock. “Found it back in the woods, over that way,” he said, pointing. “It was mostly buried, just the tip sticking out of the ground. I had to dig it out, then I brought it here to wash it off.” “It looks valuable. You think someone stole it and buried it out here?” “Maybe,” he shrugged. “But watch this.” John touched his finger to the needle-sharp apex of the pyramid and the whole thing began to glow, a brilliant blue that was visible even in the sunlight. “It makes my whole body tingle. It feels strange … but good.” He let go. “You try it.” Will made a face and shook his head, staring at the strange crystal jewel. “What? Are you mad? I’m not touching that. That’s some evil sorcerer magic is what that is. I think we’d better leave that thing alone.” John snorted a chuckle and rolled his eyes at the notion. “Don’t be a gutless cur, it’s only a little tingle. Just touch it.” When it still didn’t look like Will was going for it, John grabbed Will’s hand with his larger one and forced the tip of Will’s finger down to the pyramid’s pointed tip. The crystal glowed blue once more and Will immediately felt the jolt of energy John was talking about, coursing through his body. He’d somehow expected pain, but it was a strange, pleasing sensation. They took turns touching it, the glow fading away each time they stopped. They noticed the blue glow becoming brighter, turning almost purplish, if they touched the tip for long enough. Recklessly, John grabbed Will’s hand again and forcibly held it down against the sharp tip, watching as the glow changed from blue to purple to a stark blood red. “John, let go!” cried Will, as the red glow swiftly grew brighter. A high-pitched noise began to fill the air, as if the crystal itself were screaming. There was a sudden burst of brilliant light, and then an unseen force threw them both backwards violently. John’s back slammed against a large boulder and Will was thrown into the water. The crystal shattered, its pieces magically floating in midair for the longest moment, before the jagged shards of red flew towards the two of them. The shards seemed to melt the instant they made contact with their bare skin, leaving an angry red glow that slowly faded away. Every single shard seemed to have entered their bodies and disappeared, but there was no sharp pain, only a lingering warm and tingling sensation. “Will? Are you all right?” Will sputtered as he scrambled back to his feet, his shirt and trousers drenched but apparently unharmed. “That is why we leave evil cursed objects alone.” John rubbed the places on his skin where the shards had been absorbed. He couldn’t tell any difference. There wasn’t any pain. He was breathing a little hard, but that was to be expected just from the surprise. “I … I think I’m okay. I feel fine.” He started to pull his breeches back on, slowly. At least they were dry, unlike Will’s. “You really think that thing was evil? Seems like something evil would have, I dunno, done more than startle us.” “It did do more than startle us, you fool,” said Will as he splashed his way out of the pool and up onto the shore. “At least it did to me.” He held up his arms, the sleeves of his shirt dripping water. John couldn’t help chuckling a bit, angering Will even more. He scooped up a double handful of water and flung it angrily in John’s direction. “Well, no real harm done, I guess. At least you should dry out on the way back.” Calming down a little but still irritated, Will pulled off his clothes briefly so he could wring the excess water out of them. Then he put them back on, still damp but no longer completely sodden. “Still, we should keep this quiet,” he said. “Don’t want people thinking we’ve been hexed or something.” John nodded in agreement. Neither of them had been harmed when the crystal shattered — or at least, that’s how it seemed. It was frightening for a moment, but Will wanted to believe that whatever had just happened, it was all over and done with now. “Come on. Let’s get out of here,” he muttered, his damp clothes feeling cold on his skin. “It feels like this place is cursed.” John sighed. “Damn, I was hoping that thing would fetch us a few silver pieces. I could use them. But I suppose seeing your ass drenched is a mild consolation,” he said with a laugh. The next day, it was Will who stopped by the smithy while John was working. He waited for the blacksmith to finish up the piece he was working on before interrupting him. “Hey there, Little John,” he jeered, knowing how much his friend detested his old nickname. John’s response was to grab Will by the neck with a large soot-smudged hand and slam him back into one of the smithy’s timber posts — in a friendly way, of course. “Hey yourself, Littler Will.” “Ow,” laughed Will. “All right, all right, now let go, you big goon.” John released his friend, giving him a grin. “I only came by to return some of this junk you tried to foist off on us.” “Huh?” Will held out what he was carrying — one of the new horseshoes from yesterday, which was now broken into two pieces. John frowned, taking the pieces to examine them. “What the hell? What’d you do to it?” “Nothing, I swear. I was trying to put it on Cinnamon when it just snapped in half. Quality work, eh? Father wasn’t pleased. Told me to bring them all back, and ask Big John to ‘make them right’.” He set the other three horseshoes he’d brought down on the workbench. John sighed. If his own father found out he’d be getting grief about it for the next month. Taking it over to the open door for some better light, he peered closely at the broken ends of the shoe, looking for any signs of a flaw. Will idly picked up one of the others again, fiddling with it in his hands while John was checking out the broken one. Suddenly he felt a snap and it thudded onto the dirt at his feet — now in two pieces, just like the first. “What the hell?” he said. “What did you just do?” “Nothing, I swear, I was just playing around with it.” John picked up the two pieces, holding the bigger one with both hands and applying a little bit of pressure with his thumbs. His jaw dropped open as the steel began to actually bend before his eyes, then it too snapped apart, into two even smaller pieces. “Did you use the wrong kind of iron, or something?” asked Will. John shook his head. “Not possible.” As he considered what might have happened, Will noticed a bar of steel that was laying on the anvil. “Are you sure?” he said, casually picking up the bar. “I thought there were different types for—” “DON’T TOUCH THAT!” roared John, causing Will to drop the bar. John leapt closer, seizing Will’s arm and plunging his hand into the bucket of water with enough force to nearly dislocate his shoulder. “Ow!” yelped Will. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” “How bad is it?” “You nearly pulled my arm off, you big oaf!” “No! How bad is the burn?” “What burn?” John looked at his friend, then down at the bar of steel lying on the ground at the base of the anvil. “That bar you picked up … it didn’t burn you?” “What? No, what the hell are you talking about?” “It was hot.” “It wasn’t glowing.” “Not that hot, I was letting it cool on the anvil before I— never mind. Anyway, it was plenty hot enough to burn you, and pretty badly, too.” Will shrugged, flexing his fingers which were now dripping wet but unharmed. “It didn’t.” John squatted down over the fallen bar on the ground. Setting his jaw, he reached down and tentatively touched his pinkie to one corner of the steel. Feeling no jolt of searing pain, he touched it a little more firmly, then with a second finger — until finally he picked it up. He held it in the palm of his hand, a quizzical expression on his bearded face. “You’re sure it’s hot? How do you know?” John gave him a because-I-know-what-I’m-doing kind of look, then lowered the bar into the bucket of water. As soon as it touched the surface there was a loud sizzling sound and a cloud of steam billowed up, the water boiling violently enough to make Will jump back a little. “It came out of the furnace just a few minutes before you got here.” Curious, he went over to the furnace, using the tongs to pull out another metal bar, one he’d been heating for a while. The second bar was glowing, a bright yellow-orange that promised extreme danger. Will sucked in his breath as John laid it on the anvil, then reached down and touched it with his bare finger, flinching just a tiny bit as he made contact. “John?” “It feels strange. Warm. Very, very warm. Almost like I can feel how hot it is, but it still doesn’t burn me.” He looked at the finger he’d prodded it with, but there was no sign of injury. Then John picked up the glowing bar, his muscular forearms barely twitching as he proceeded to bend it in half with his bare hands. There was a look of wonder on his face as he folded it in two again and again, until the bar was just a misshapen lump. He held it in his palm and closed his thick fingers around it. His forearm rippled as he clenched his fist, and curling tendrils of cherry-red hot steel extruded out from the gaps between his fingers. Even Will knew that what he was seeing should absolutely not be possible. “Sorcery!” he muttered. “If this is sorcery, it’s not so bad,” said John, grinning. “It’s that pyramid thing from yesterday, isn’t it? It … it did something to you.” “To us, my friend. Who broke the horseshoe?” John wadded the still-glowing metal back up into a ball, then tossed it to his friend. Will caught it automatically, reflexively wincing and nearly dropping it as he expected to feel searing heat burning his palms. But there was nothing more than a little warmth. In fact, it was rather pleasant to the touch. He laughed incredulously, starting to use his fingers to pull and knead the glowing steel, almost like dough. It seemed to be offering a little more resistance with him than it had when John was working it. But the metal had cooled a little by then — not to mention the fact that John was considerably stronger to begin with. “Incredible! But everyone will think we’re cursed.” “It seems more like a gift than a curse to me. But you’re right, we should keep this quiet.” A couple of days later, Will was working in the paddock, putting out fodder for the horses. Winter was over, the warmth of spring was definitely here to stay. Will was working shirtless; toting the heavy bales of hay around always made him work up a sweat. Today, though, the bales felt unusually light. He was tossing them around like pillows. Maybe John was right, he thought to himself. Maybe the ‘curse’ really was more like a gift. Pity John hadn’t found the strange crystal sooner, he thought. Will could have used this kind of strength earlier in the season. This was probably the last of the winter hay he was putting out now. In another week or so, the grass would be tall enough that they could just let the animals out in the pasture to graze and this tedious task would be done until the end of the fall. “Good morning, Will,” came a young woman’s voice from behind him, as Will carried another bale of hay from the barn out to the paddock. He set it down on the ground and turned around. “Good morning, Mary,” he replied, nodding politely. The daughter of the farmer down the road was standing at the fence, watching him work. She fluttered her eyelashes demurely. “On your way to the village?” he asked. “Mmm-hmmm,” she said, her eyes traveling up and down Will’s strapping body. Her gaze took in his broad shoulders, his heavily-muscled chest, his large strong arms. She usually contrived some excuse to go down the road whenever she saw him working in the paddock — especially when he had his shirt off. She’d shivered a little as she watched him carrying out a bale of hay that probably weighed 200 pounds, tossing it down like it was nothing. She could swear he’d grown even more muscular since the last time she’d seen him putting out hay, just a few days ago. Will nodded down towards the basket she clutched in her hand. “Buying or selling today?” he asked, just to make conversation. The question startled her, she’d been busy admiring his chiseled abdominal muscles. “What? Oh, selling. Every spring the hens always lay far more eggs than we need.” He smiled at that, and her heart melted a little. The young blacksmith in the village may have been brawnier, but Will’s handsome smile was second to none. “I hope you get a good price for them,” he said politely. He looked back towards the barn. “Well, I should probably get back to work before my father catches me loafing about. Good day to you, Mary.” She nodded, letting out a little sigh. “Good day to you too, Will.” She didn’t want him to go — she would have happily stood there all day watching him — but the sight of his broad strapping back was some consolation. Standing there as he walked away, she watched the thick muscles ripple and bulge until he disappeared into the gloom of the barn. Will smiled to himself. She was a nice enough girl, he supposed, but he wasn’t interested. She was probably looking for a husband before the year was out, and he wasn’t ready for that yet. Putting Mary out of his mind, he looked up at the hay loft, stroking his scruffy chin. Time to get back to his task. There were only a couple more bales up there; Will decided he might as well put them out as well. The spring grass was nearly ready for grazing anyway, there was no need to hold back the last of the stored fodder. He sighed, wishing he’d decided that when he was up in the loft earlier. There was nothing to do for it, though, he’d just have to climb back up there again. Suddenly Will felt dizzy. He closed his eyes, pressing his fingers to his temples. It felt like he was spinning, but the sensation passed quickly. He opened his eyes tentatively, not really taking in any of his surroundings, distracted by staying on guard for any hint of the dizziness returning. When it didn’t, he shook his head and tried to get back to what he’d been doing. It was only then that he realized everything around him was wrong. He was staring straight into the hay loft. He could see the bales he’d been planning to climb up to fetch, stacked against the back wall. He looked down; his boots were still planted firmly on the dirt floor of the barn. What in the world …? he thought. He felt perfectly normal. His body felt normal, his clothes felt normal. Everything else was wrong, though. The barn seemed oddly shrunken around him. He reached into the loft, grabbing a bale with one hand and picking it up. It was toy-sized, it weighed almost nothing. But it looked like straw, it felt like straw. He brought it closer to his face and sniffed it — it even smelled like straw. He took a step back. His boots pressed heavily into the ground, leaving deep prints in the dirt. It was as if … as if he’d grown larger. And not just a little larger. He had to be three times as tall as he was before. Three times taller, and broader, and thicker. Which meant he’d be many more than three times heavier … and stronger. No wonder the bale had felt light. Will’s mind reeled. Maybe the pyramid really had cursed him. What was he supposed to do now? There was no way he could go in the house; he barely even fit in the barn. He’d have to drop to the ground and crawl through the door just to get outside. Then he heard footsteps approaching, outside. Footsteps, and his father’s voice calling out to him. “Will? Are you in there?” Will panicked, not knowing what to do, wanting nothing more than for this madness to be over. Just then there was another quick burst of vertigo. Will grasped one of the barn poles for support to keep from falling as his father pushed the door open. “Ah, there you are,” said the stablemaster, seeing his son standing there. “You about done putting out the hay?” He noticed how Will was clutching the pole and frowned. “Are you all right?” Will looked around him. Everything seemed normal again. He glanced up — the barn looked to be the right size again. His father was standing at the entrance, looking normal except for the quizzical expression on his face. “Will?” repeated his father. “What? Oh, yeah, I’m okay.” Will let go of the pole, straightening himself up. “Just had a funny turn for a second, I’m fine now.” His father nodded. “Good. I’m thinking you might as well put out the last of the hay.” “Yeah, I was just about to do that. Only two bales left up there anyways.” “That’s what I thought. And when you’re done with that, I want you to check out Nutmeg’s front foot. It looked to me like she was favoring it a little bit this morning when I took her into the village.” Will nodded. “Yessir, will do. I’ll take a look at it.” He let out a sigh of relief as his father turned and left. What had just happened? “John, are you busy?” “What?” He turned around to see Will at the door. There were some newly-forged pieces sitting on the anvil. “No, not really. I’m just waiting for those to cool and harden a bit before I can finish working them.” “Come with me, then.” “Where are we going?” “This time there’s something I need to show you.” John didn’t want to get in trouble with his father for abandoning his work, but Will was like a brother to him, he couldn’t say no. Not to mention the fact that all manner of interesting things had been happening to the two of them lately. As if shaping red-hot steel like putty in his fingers wasn’t enough, just the day before he’d discovered he could lift the anvil one-handed, the heavy block of solid iron seemingly light as a feather. “All right. But no more than an hour, okay? I’ve gotta get back and finish those.” “Yeah yeah, fine. Now come on,” said Will, waving for him to follow. John followed his friend down the lane, past the stables and the paddock, all the way down to the hay barn. It was empty just then; the animals were all out in the pasture. Will closed and barred the door after they entered; it took their eyes a second to adjust to the interior gloom. The bright sun outside could be seen only through the cracks between the sideboards. “What’s the matter?” asked John. “Something happened to me a couple of days ago.” “Something new? More of our ‘curse’?” “You could say that.” Will backed away a few steps, motioning for John to stay put. He’d been practicing, but his control was still a little uneven. He didn’t want to bump into John when he did it. “Watch.” Then he saw John’s eyes go wide and his bearded jaw drop open as Will suddenly tripled in height. John looked up at Will, unable to speak. It wasn’t just a little up, either. John — who was accustomed to being the tallest man in the village — didn’t even come up to the stable hand’s waist. Will’s muscled thigh was nearly as thick as John’s whole body. John hadn’t felt so small since he was a very young boy. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one little bit. He felt a stab of jealousy as he looked up at his towering handsome friend. And then suddenly he realized — with ironclad certainty — that he could do this, too. Will stumbled back as suddenly John shot up alongside him. “Oh for fuck’s sake John, you couldn’t let me be the tall one for five minutes?” John laughed. “Nope!” With both of them having tripled their height, John was back to being the bigger of the two as usual. His black hair brushed up against the barn’s rafters; it was feeling a little crowded in there with two gigantic young men. “Seriously … I’ve been practicing for, like, two days. How did you do it just like that?” “I’m not sure. All of a sudden I just knew that I could.” Will rolled his eyes. “Monkey see, monkey do, I guess.” This earned him a punch from his friend. “Ouch! Goddammit John, that hurt!” he complained, rubbing his shoulder. “Will?” came the voice of Will’s mother from somewhere outside. Both of them suddenly realized how much louder their voices were at this size. “Are you all right?” Will pointed down, and John nodded hurriedly. The two of them shrank back down to their normal size, almost without even thinking. The barn door rattled as she tried to open it. “What’s going on in there?” Will hastened to the door, unbarring it and opening it. “Nothing, mother, sorry.” “You were making a terrible racket.” She noticed John standing there, and her face grew suspicious. “John and I were, uh, just settling a little argument.” She huffed and rolled her eyes. She looked around the barn, as if checking to see if everything was still intact. “I swear, the two of you will be the death of me.” Then she looked up at John, who towered over her by at least a foot. “Shouldn’t you be working at the forge, young man?” “Yes, ma’am. Sorry, ma’am,” said John, managing to look appropriately chastened. She turned and stomped off back to the house, shaking her head and muttering imprecations. John shot Will a brief grin, which Will returned. “She’s right, though. I really should go.” As he started to leave, Will caught his arm. “Tonight, after supper? Meet by the bridge?” John nodded. “I’ll be there.” Will scarfed down his supper as fast as he could, bidding his parents a quick goodbye and hightailing it towards the river. John was already waiting when he got there. “Sorry,” he said, catching his breath. “Got away as soon as I could.” John nodded. “C’mon.” He looked to the west, where the sun was already low in the sky. “We haven’t got much daylight left.” Together they crossed the bridge and headed down the road. The road skirted the edge of the woods, and it didn’t take long before the village was out of sight behind a curve. “Should we try it?” John nodded, planting his boots wide and concentrating. The first time he grew it had been on impulse, practically. It had been effortless, but now that he was trying to do it he struggled a little to summon the right thought. Will, who’d been practicing by himself since he’d accidentally done it that first time, beat him to it. He grinned down at John from eighteen feet in the air. Having to look up at that was enough to inspire John, who a second later was standing next to him, nineteen feet tall. Will sighed. It was the first time they’d grown anywhere but the barn. Walking down the road felt fairly normal, but it was strange how quickly they covered ground. When they reached the first fork in the road — a milestone they were both very familiar with — John turned and looked back, as if he’d never been there before. “We’re walking three times faster, my friend,” chuckled Will, seeing the blacksmith’s confused expression. “I mean, I knew we would, it just feels strange to have come this far already.” Will nodded in agreement. “I know. So, which way, you think?” The left fork headed into the woods, while the right one skirted along the edge of the fields. John pointed left. The two resumed walking, but John stopped again before they’d gone far. “Should we try to get bigger?” Will swallowed, but he’d been thinking the same thing. “As tall as the trees?” John shook his head. “Twice as tall as the trees,” he grinned. A few seconds later they both stood 120 feet tall — twenty times their regular size. The leafy woods were no more than waist high to either of them. (John, naturally, was a few feet taller.) “Wow,” said John, looking around. Though the sun was almost to the horizon, from this height they could see for miles around. Off to their left, the river appeared as a broad gap in the treetops, a path snaking through the sea of dark green. “I never thought I’d see the world how a bird does.” John looked down. The narrow road — really little more than a pair of ruts from wagon wheels — threaded its way between his boots and headed deeper into the woods. They decided to continue following the road, if only so they would be able to find their way back if it got dark. The woods started to come alive as the nocturnal creatures awoke with the setting sun. As John walked, in between his steps he could hear rustling branches and frightened animal cries from the forest below. Then he’d swing his boot forward and drown them all out with a great heavy BOOM as it hammered down. He grinned at the thought that now he was the most feared beast in the dark forest. They’d gone several more miles when John suddenly put a hand out across Will’s chest, forcing him to stop. “What?” said Will. John put a finger to his lips for silence, then pointed. In a meadow to their right, several deer were cropping at the grass in the fading evening light. Will nodded, immediately understanding. It was almost laughably easy to catch one — they seemed to move so slowly, compared to the two young giants looking down at them from 120 feet up. They picked out a young buck and circled around, trapping it between four enormous boots. Then Will reached down and caught it, snapping its neck with his hands as if it were nothing more than a rabbit. John was sorely tempted to massacre the whole herd, but he suppressed that urge. One was enough. They were very late getting back to the village — they’d returned to their normal size as they got close, of course — but the dead deer slung across John’s broad shoulders made up for it. His mother’s very cross expression turned to delight when she saw it. She ran to fetch Will’s mother and the two of them immediately set about dressing it. Both their families would be eating well for a month. To read the rest, visit https://bit.ly/demons-book. 4 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bear Posted March 1 Share Posted March 1 Downloaded the book, loving it dearly & already! Thank you so much for sharing this, I'm SO IMPRESSED with it!. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dredlifter Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 May I ask, what is the level of violence in this story? Is there gore? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
portamivia Posted March 2 Share Posted March 2 11 hours ago, dredlifter said: May I ask, what is the level of violence in this story? Is there gore? Yes it’s pretty violent at times. But then as the two characters progress, it becomes more a fantasy tale, if you want. We’re still talking about pretty ruthless giants, anyway. I’ve read the story and it’s amazing! Thank you Expander for sharing it… 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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