Layla used the metal in the giant’s weapons and armor to make a noose that she wrapped around his throat, ensuring it was tight enough to hurt but not cut off the air.
“Who are you?” Layla asked.
“He works for Fuvos,” Jidor said. “How can you do this?”
“Flame giants were almost exterminated,” the giant said. “It’s time you knew how that felt.”
“You started a war and lost,” Hyperion said. “I’m not sure you get to blame anyone else for how that ended.”
“What do we do with these unicorns?” Kase asked, pointing at those Layla had kept tied to the ground.
“Whatever we do, it should be quick,” Layla said. While the three unicorns had calmed and had stopped trying to get free, keeping them still while also wrapping the iron mixture around the giant’s throat was taking a lot of power.
“Can we just let them go free?” Harry asked as he reentered the clearing.
“They will attack again,” Jidor said. “There’s too much blood here. They might seem calm at the moment, but they are not.”
The flame giant laughed. “You care about those stupid animals?”
“Animals you used as a weapon,” Kase said. “They don’t deserve to die for you being an asshole.”
The giant struggled, and Jidor punched him in the face hard enough to knock him out.
“He a flame giant too?” Layla asked.
Jidor shrugged. “No way of knowing until he activates his power. Apparently, we’ve had enemies in our midst for centuries and didn’t know. Living and working alongside us, coming to our homes, being friends. It makes me feel sick.”
“I’m sorry,” Tarron said before turning to the unicorns. “Can they be moved to another area before being released?”
“That might work,” Jidor said. “But whoever released them would need to leave in a hurry.”
“I have an idea,” Hyperion said. “I’ll go with Layla and her panther to deal with the unicorns. The rest of you, try to get something out of the giant. Kase, can I borrow you for a moment?”
“I think it’s safe to say that Fuvos knows we’re onto him,” Harry said.
“Good,” Kase said. “I hope he’s worried.”
Hyperion and Kase used their ice power to create a sled before the three unicorns were dragged aboard, their metal tethers allowing Layla, Kase, and Hyperion to move them with relative ease despite their bulk and weight. Layla thought that the unicorns watched Tego with a mixture of anger and fear.
“You see it, too, don’t you,” Kase said. “They look at me the same way. They fear Tego because they haven’t seen one of her kind before, but they’re angry about it because . . . actually, they just seem to be angry at everything. I always thought of unicorns as peaceful, beautiful creatures.”
“They’re still beautiful,” Layla said. “Just in a bloodthirsty, crazed way.”
Kase stared at her friend for a heartbeat. “That’s either really sweet or really scary.”
“I haven’t decided either,” Layla said, matching her friend’s smile with one of her own.
When the unicorns were on the sled, Hyperion wrapped them in tendrils of ice, allowing Layla to remove her power, much to her relief.
“You know, these would be easier to just kill,” Jidor said.
“I know,” Layla said. “That’s why we’re not killing them.”
Moving the unicorns didn’t take long, as Hyperion and Kase were able to push the ice sled away from the clearing and toward a nearby field, where everyone stopped.
“This should be fine,” Hyperion said, taking off and hovering a dozen feet above the ground. “You two head back to the clearing, and I’ll release the unicorns.”
Layla and Kase stopped at the nearby dirt path and watched as the ice melted and the three unicorns made their displeasure known to Hyperion, who was far too high for them to be a threat. The creatures turned and ran off toward the distant plains.
“I feel good for doing that,” Layla said. “There are enough times when we need to kill things that actually saving something makes a change of pace.”
“I get the feeling that the killing isn’t done,” Kase said.
The pair entered the clearing to find Fuvos’s giant ally in the exact same position as when they’d left.
“He told you anything?” Kase asked.
“He keeps telling us how we’re all going to burn in the fires of flame giant justice,” Tarron said with a roll of his eyes.
“I got help,” Harry said, emerging from the catacombs with Mimir in tow.
“Is that helping?” Kase whispered.
“Fuck off,” Mimir said. “I can hear you.”
Kase shrugged.
“So where is the big prick?” Mimir asked.
“It’s the giant,” Jidor said, pointing to him.
“Yeah, I was being facetious,” Mimir told her. He stopped, removed a pipe from his pocket, and lit it before taking a long drag. “Some days I really need this stuff. Dealing with other people makes it a worse day than usual.”
“Can you get answers out of him?” Layla asked.
Mimir sighed but made no comment. Instead, he stood by the giant and slapped him around the face hard enough that it echoed all around the clearing.
“Damn,” Harry said. “That was harsh.”
The giant growled, low and threatening.
“You’re a nasty little fucker, ain’t you?” Mimir said, shaking his head slightly. “This one likes killing horses . . . sorry, unicorns. He’s not a nice giant. And you’d be better off killing him and dismembering the body as a warning to others.”
“No one is being dismembered,” Layla said. “Not at the moment, anyway.”
Mimir tapped the side of his nose. “Saving it for later? I get it.”
“I’m not . . .” Layla stopped and took a deep breath. “What did the flame giant have in his memories?”
“Mostly awful stuff that he’s done to unicorns. Some really nasty things he did to a few people who figured out who Fuvos really was. He was looking forward to what he had planned for all of you. He wanted those unicorns to rip you apart. Lots of other unpleasant things. He has issues with his parents. He has issues with women. He has issues with a lot of stuff. I’m pretty sure Fuvos kept him in check from going full mass-murdering fuckwit, but only just.”
“Okay, he’s a bad guy,” Kase said. “But does he know what Fuvos has planned?”
Mimir shook his head. “Nope. No one does, apparently. Fuvos keeps that information to himself, because he doesn’t trust anyone. He killed your giant friend, by the way. Sneaked up on him and stabbed him through the back like a coward and then ran off to help the other giant round up those unicorns.” Mimir stopped and looked back at the giant. “Interesting. Fuvos is having to move his plan up. He wasn’t quite ready for it to be completed, and you people arriving really fucked up his timing.”
“But we don’t know what that plan is,” Harry said.
“Nope,” Mimir said, taking a long drag of his pipe and blowing rings with the smoke. “My guess is you need to get back to Utgard pretty damn quick.” He looked over at Zamek. “There were dwarves involved.”