boulders; over seas where whales swam; over icebergs where seals would once gather and now only snow whispered. They flew through wind and cloud. Frost covered their scales and icicles hung from their mouths. Finally, after what seemed a lifetime of flying, they saw the Jet Mountains ahead.
They rose like fortresses, black as memory. No snow covered them. Their surfaces were polished, like shards of black glass glued together. When the light caught them, it nearly blinded Memoria. She remembered Amberus's parting words. The Giant King lives upon the mountaintop. It's him you must face. He has Adoria's Hands.
"Remember your training," Terra repeated. "We've killed griffins. We can kill gia—."
A howl tore the air.
Memoria narrowed her eyes, and her heart pounded. She looked around but saw nothing.
"Giants," she whispered.
Terra nodded. "Keep flying."
The Jet Mountains were getting closer. The sunlight blazed against them, shooting toward the two dragons. Memoria grimaced and squinted. She could barely see.
The howl rose again. A second, then a third howl answered it. The mountain seemed to shake. Memoria covered her ears. The howls were deep, guttural, and ached in her chest. Memoria had heard armies of griffins shriek, but she had never heard anything so loud, so cruel, a sound like tumbling boulders.
"Do you see them?" she called over the roars.
Terra flew beside her, eyes narrowed. The light from the mountains turned his bronze scales white. He growled and blew fire.
"No!" he called back. "They've seen us. They—"
"Terra!"
Something came flying through the light toward them. She could barely see it. She grabbed Terra and pulled him down. Air whooshed above them.
"What was that?" Terra cried.
"Fly up! Higher."
They soared and emerged from the blinding light. Snow and ice rolled beneath them. When she looked ahead, she saw the Jet Mountains closer than she'd ever seen them. Shadows raced across them. Panes of stone moved, and light drenched her again.
"They're using some kind of stone mirrors," Terra said and cursed.
The giants' howls rose. A boulder flew from the mountains, tumbling through the beams of light toward them.
"Watch out!" she cried. She swerved right. Terra swerved left. The boulder passed between them, flames coiling around it.
"Not the most pleasant welcoming," Terra said.
Memoria flew higher, shooting up in a straight line. The air grew thin and cold. She could barely breathe. She looked down and saw giants scurrying across the mountainsides, adjusting their stone mirrors. Memoria had always imagined giants to be slow, lumbering beasts, but these creatures were so fast, her eyes barely caught them.
"Higher, Terra!" she shouted. "Fly out of their boulders' range."
He flew beside her, and they kept soaring, until Memoria gasped for breath, and darkness clawed at the corners of her eyes. She had never flown so high.
Are we safe? she wondered... then saw more boulders flying toward her.
She cursed and swerved, but a boulder hit her leg. She screamed. Pain blazed, and tears sprang into her eyes. More boulders flew. She dived, whipped around them, and swooped.
"New plan," she growled, the wind roaring around her. "Let's burn the bastards."
Terra swooped beside her, flames dancing between his teeth. The giants howled below them. Beams of light blazed, nearly blinding Memoria. The clouds swirled. From the mountains, twenty flaming boulders came flying.
Memoria spun. Three boulders missed her. One grazed her back. A second boulder slammed against her wing. She screamed and tumbled, plummeting toward the mountains.
"Terra!"
More boulders flew. Though her wing blazed, she forced herself to fly. She dipped sideways just in time. Boulders shot around her, their flames licking her. She swerved, dived, spun, and swooped.
"Memoria! Fly with me."
Terra swooped beside her, claws outstretched. His scales were chipped along his left side. They veered left and right, up and down, dodging the boulders. The beams of light kept hitting them, blinding them. A boulder hit her tail, and she screamed, but kept swooping. She saw two giants scurrying across the mountain beneath her.
She was close enough.
She blew flame.
The giants leaped behind boulders. Her flames rained against the mountain. The giants screamed.
Terra blew his own fire. The flames hit the mountainside and cascaded like a river of lava. A giant burst out from behind the boulders, hair blazing, a club in his hands.
For an instant, Memoria faltered. It was the first giant she had seen up close. He's hideous. The giant stood thirty feet tall, each foot covered in boils and coarse white hair. He wore only a ragged loincloth, and a stench of stale sweat rose from him. His nose was bulbous and red, sprouting white