Page 34 of Synodic

And while I knew I shouldn’t acknowledge or encourage these fantasies in any way, I still found myself saying, “If I’m a danger to you all, I shouldn’t come back here.”

Tension ridged throughout Rowen’s wide shoulders and his eyes flared with fleeting panic. “A darkness greater than you can imagine is descending upon us all, there is nowhere for you to hide anymore. We have no idea what you are. You could be a deadly tool in the wrong hands or a useful one in ours. Better we discover what you are before anyone else.”

“You said you had to find me first, that others will come looking for me. Who are they?” I asked, glancing between the two men expectantly. But before either of them could respond, a crash of wood erupted from the wall of trees, and the ground began to tremble beneath our feet.

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A large figure barreled from forest, rattling the earth with each pounding footfall. The hulking creature was almost certainly a man, though he was bigger than any human I’d ever seen. He had to be about nine feet tall, and his full, inconceivable mass was charging right towards us like a raging bull.

Hackles raised, my first instinct was to bolt back to the safety of the village. The man’s massive body was large and clumsy—there was a chance we could outrun him, but Rowen and Takoda stood firm, refusing to relinquish an inch of ground.

“You are not welcome here,” Rowen warned with a growl, holding his footing with unwavering dominance. The man nearly crashed into us as he stumbled to a halt, darkening us within the shadow of his towering form.

The intruder wore filthy pants and a cut-off shirt, torn in places where his bulging frame burst through the meager fabric. His patchy hair was shorn to the scalp, and one side of his face drooped severely down into a frozen scowl, emphasizing his wildly shifting eyes that had yet to land on me.

Rowen’s fingers itched over his sheathed weapon but his voice remained impossibly steady and calm. “Leave now, Graem. We have no wish to harm you.”

“I am here for the Synodic Son,” the giant’s voice blundered as if he was speaking around a mouth full of stones. His eyebrows puckered up in excitement, and a grimace of a smile spread across his misshapen face. “Give him to me. In exchange I will grant you a swift death. Something my Lord will not bestow to those who get in his way.”

“You are gravely mistaken. No sign of The Marked has been seen here,” Takoda said, somehow even more collected than Rowen. How they both remained so stoic and level-headed was beyond me. I was a shaking ball of nerves that wanted nothing more than to run as fast and far away as possible, but I found I couldn’t bring myself to leave the two men beside me. Some part of me trusted they knew what they were doing, even if I didn’t.

The man called Graem faltered for the first time, unsure what to believe, and his forehead puckered in confusion. “He is here,” he insisted. “He must be.” His eyes began to whirl in his head like a crazed animal, and his breathing became erratic. Chaos brewed just underneath his thick skin, threatening to boil over and destroy anything in his path.

The men beside me shot each other tense glances.

I saw now why they were handling this giant with kid’s gloves. He was unstable, and worse yet, unpredictable.

I was relieved I hadn’t run back to the heart of the village. Who knew the irreparable damage he could inflict on the town and its innocent people had I led him back there.

“The Marked is naught but a failed prophecy,” Takoda said, still trying to placate the giant. “He never arrived and never will.”

“Erovos sensed his summoning-demons awakening in this forest. Where is he?” the colossal man bellowed in confusion, pushing his vocal cords far past their intended purpose as he tore and pulled at his head.

Both men from the Wyn village slowly stepped together, creating a barrier between the ticking time bomb of a man and myself.

“Go now, and we will let you return to your Lord unharmed,” Rowen yelled over the distorted wails. “Be sure to report back your findings, or lack thereof. And never return here again.”

My skin prickled in anticipation, and I willed the giant to leave. But Graem’s whirring gaze shot through the shoulders of the men between us and landed directly on me. “What is this?” he asked, reaching for me as if I was a glass figurine in a display case.

Fast as a whip of lightning, Rowen and Takoda drew their blades, snapping back the burly arm that grabbed for me.

It was then that the giant lost control, and Graem thrashed his flailing limbs like a tree in a hurricane.

With no way to predict his erratic movements, the back of his massive forearm caught Takoda, flinging him through the air as if he were a mere sack of flour. The healer landed across the field in a graceful roll, and my eyes shot back to Rowen in dread.

Graem swatted again, but Rowen was faster and ducked just in time. The giant’s swings were wide and unwieldy, and the force behind his momentum was ferocious.

I watched in terror as he swiped again at Rowen, missing him by a breath. The time it took the giant to recover from his over-swing was just the opening Rowen needed. And in one quick motion that I almost missed, Rowen slashed his small ax down, opening the meaty flesh of the giant’s thigh.

Graem’s scream cut through the forest like a knife, splitting my eardrums. And in his pain-addled fury, his arms became dual pendulums, careening towards us with no rhyme or reason.

Takoda sprinted to the fight as a mighty blow connected with Rowen’s ribs, knocking the wind out of him. I screamed as Graem lifted Rowen by his neck and waist and hurled him directly into Takoda. The collision was brutal, smacking both men to the ground in a rolling ball of limbs.

Now nothing stood between the imposing giant and me.

Before I had time to think or move, he snatched my arm in a bone-crushing grip that stole a cry from my mouth. He yanked me towards him, and pain roared in my shoulder as he hefted me up to his towering line of sight.

I was close enough to make out every scar and mark on his distorted face. His dull moss-colored eyes bore into mine. “Are you him? Are you The Marked?” he spat at me, and I nearly gagged when his fetid breath washed over me.

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