“Goddess!” Ester rushed forward to the site, falling on her knees, hysterically
sifting through the mounds of ash, hoping to find something. It didn’t take
long for her energy to subside. “You… You killed her.” The words dripped with
malice. But Ester was shrewd. She did not turn her anger towards them, instead the
frown went to the boulder the miracle stone had struck, and she crawled there.
Ester’s hands whisked through the brushes, searching for something lost.
Ester found the chip of the miracle stone, the tinier fragment from the
break. She pinched the miniscule thing between index and thumb and pressed it
onto her tongue, slipping it in and swallowing, then backing off.
“Milton, you alright?” Rennard helped his friend up, both of them
covered in saliva. Rennard had a slumberous blanket over him yet, Helga’s
sleeping spell beginning to weaken. Rennard hugged him. “Oh, God. I thought you
were lost. I have never known anything worse.” He turned to Henry. “What in
lord almighty’s name happened?”
Henry couldn’t take his eyes off Ada, her naked splendor back in its
full form. “I went for the miracle stone, on her forehead. Knocked it off, it shattered,
and a large piece flied into Ada’s throat.” Ada had not merely returned to her
previous form. Her skin was vibrant and sprightly, the caramel tan from all her
time under the sun gone, replaced by a pale and pure hue. And her green eyes
were back, the scars around them no more.
Ada ogled her own hands, watched the distance, down at Henry, Rennard,
and Milton, blinking rapidly. “I can see. I can see everything clearly again.”
Her smile competed with her gape, bliss and awe holding her captivated. The
tears collected on the bottom of her eyes, one of them trailing down her cheek.
Ada wiped her eyes, sniveling, letting a short laugh come.
Henry too was happy. But on Rennard, the look he gave up to Ada was one
of measured concern, a stark contrast to the air of celebration.
Milton teetered and fought to keep his legs straight, leaving Rennard’s
side. “Is she dead? Is that nasty creature gone?”
“That’s what’s left of her,” Henry said, pointing to the indistinguishable
gray, plain shape of a human body resting amidst the small dunes of ash. Some
of it had gone into the pool, drifting along the water.
“I knew it,” Rennard said. “An ordinary girl who stumbled upon great
power.”
“She was the heart of our world.” They all turned to Ester, who stood
there with teeth clenched and teary eyes glaring. “You murdered the lifeblood
of thousands of people!”
“She was a power-hungry, oppressive, brat,” Rennard returned. “Are you
blind? You didn’t see what she was doing?”
“All of us thrived under her, there was not a person dissatisfied. She
wasn’t killing you, she would have given birth to you anew, made you merry,
diligent people who wouldn’t find a complaint in the world in this beautiful
home.”
“Yeah, turn us into the brainless cattle like the rest of them,” Rennard
said. “How is that any different from killing us? We have our own homes, and
it’s not here.”
“You.” Ester’s hands balled into fists, fingertips red from pressure.
“You have killed this nation!” She threw her hands up as if receiving a gift
from above, then tossed them forward, releasing a stream of glitter. All three
of the boys jumped away, the glitter exploding where they’d been in a spurt of
dirt and pebble and ash. Rennard saw her advance on him, readied fire over his
hand.
A massive foot stomped between them, the quake felt across the grotto. Rennard’s
eyes tracked up along the naked leg, seeing Ada and her ample enormity stand
between them. Ada was about twice as tall as Ester. “You have no power over us
anymore,” Ada told Ester. “You mistress is gone, and you are nothing.”
Ester retreated with her palms aimed behind her, the walls of herbage
trembling with life. Arms glowing green, Ester pointed them at Ada. Flexible
pillars made of numerous vines, like the threads of a rope, shot out after Ada.
Ada opened her hand, able to feel the difference within her, as if she
had new organs, new places to touch and feel. She reached for this newer place,
greeted by a surge of energy. “I don’t think SO!” Ada shouted, clenching her
fist, a flash of brightness. The vines and Ester were knocked back, the pool of
water rippling, debris loosened from the roof. Ada stared at her hands again,
bewildered. “I can feel it, overwhelming, empowering.”
Henry, Milton, and Rennard gathered behind Ada. Rennard whispered to his
friends, “What do we do now?” Henry found the disconcerting attitude in
Rennard’s approach, the assumption that the three were on their own, Ada
excluded.
“You cannot stop us,” Ada said to Ester. “We are leaving.”
Henry leaned over to Rennard’s ear. “It’ll only be done with Ada.”
“But how…” Ester didn’t bother getting up, lying like a child, head
buried in the bushes. “What are we supposed to do?”
“You will have to do without Goddess Helga,” Milton proclaimed, entering
the conversation, standing between Ada’s feet. “You can lead these people. They
respect you.”
Ester brought her face out. “Look at all the plenty around you. It will
soon die without Goddess Helga.”
“You ate some of the miracle stone,” Henry said.
“It was no more than a fifth, if even that.” Ester pointed at Ada,
accusatory. “You have to succeed her. Whatever Goddess Helga’s power came from,
you took nearly all of it.”
“I’ve no interest in ducking around a network of tunnels, never to see
the sky again.”
“Why not?” It was Rennard who spoke, and Ada turned and looked down to
see him. “You’ll be viewed like a literal goddess for these peasants, and they
can lick you and do whatever you fancy every day.”
Henry swatted his friend on the shoulder, hissing. “You don’t fucking
know her.” They exchanged a moment of angry eye contact.
“I think my previous answer serves well,” Ada said. “I’m not living
underground.”
“But the amount I inherited won’t be near enough,” Ester said. “We will
see far less yield.”
Milton shrugged, though not without a sympathetic look. “To be
heartless, I must simply say that you will have harder times ahead of you.
Hardship hits everyone. Civilizations survive anyway. This is your opportunity
to become a leader, not merely by whatever artificial power Helga had, but true
leadership.”
Rennard smirked. “That’s my boy.”
“He is right,” Ada repeated. “Now you make sure to return my dress and backpack,
what I wore when I came, when your pretend goddess shrunk me.”
“I know where it is.” Ester rubbed her forehead, finding it in her to
get up. “I hid it so no one would see it. They don’t know about giants.”
Ada pointed to the part of the shrubbed walls Ester had entered through.
“Then you make sure to get out there, clear everyone from the route out of here
so no one sees us when we walk out, bring back my dress, and we will not see
each other again. Us not being seen is to your benefit, not ours, so stall, do
a poor job, or plan something else, and we’ll just waltz out of here ourselves.”
Ester didn’t say yes, didn’t say no. “How will I tell them all of the
goddess’s disappearance? How will they come to terms?”
Rennard strut forward confidently. “As we said, tough times ahead.”
“You’ll handle it,” Milton said. “And it’ll make you stronger.”
Whether his words had an impact or not, one couldn’t tell. Ester wiped
her eyes and left, nudging her way past the wall of foliage. That left Ada,
Henry, Rennard, and Milton alone.
“How are you feeling?” Henry said to Ada. Ada took one, two steps
forward, a newfound appreciation for her size, flattening the bushes under her
soles, her curling toes pulverizing all the herbage caught in between. She got
on her tiptoes and spread her arms wide, open to receive an embrace. The base
of the blueberry bushes, the branches of the apple and cherry trees, they all
extended, reaching for her.
“I can feel them,” Ada said airily. “It’s like owning a new sense, a new
place I can tap into, commune with, and there are so many ways it is expressed.”
“And your eyes truly healed?”
“Yes!” She turned around with a smile of pure delight, the innocent
happiness of a child.
“Ada.” Henry pointed at her throat. “Your offgiant’s mark, it’s gone.”
“What?” Ada couldn’t see the area under her jawline well, but she pressed
her chin in, peering down, feeling with her fingers. “You’re right.”
“Leeman turned out correct,” Henry said with a laugh. “That strange old
man in the arena, he was spot on. To heal your eyes was a trivial thing for the
miracle stone.” When the silence settled, Henry noticed how alone he and Ada were
in their reveling. On his other side, Milton and Rennard said nothing, timidly
staying back. Rennard especially, the tension oozing off him was unmistakable.
“So…” Milton’s voice was unobtrusive, trying to get Henry’s attention.
“What happens when we get outside?”
“You boys,” Ada said, sensing their reservations. “I’m assuming your
first priority is returning home, back to your village in Humius?”
“Always has been,” Rennard said, petulantly.
“Three humans waltzing around alone in Gintessa, you won’t get by
without notice, or trouble. I will take you there.”
Henry smiled to his friends, but they weren’t so eager to spill their
joy.
“Everything you said
about me was right.” Ada started walking, one lazy footstep at a time. “And you
had all the power over me, just today, and you showed mercy when I didn’t
deserve any of it. Behind that loud mouth, there is a large heart.” Ada got on
one knee before getting too close, not towering over them. “You made me feel
guilty with your kindness, so much that I wished worse on myself, I wished that
you’d struck me with your flames, that maybe if I suffered, we would be even.
But now that guilt has turned into a desire to be better. And I will begin
here, by taking you across the border, back to your home. So let me help you.”