Ascendants of Ancients Sovereign - By Phillip Jones Page 0,126

never going to come out. Slick in there, isn’t it? I thought you might have fallen and hit your head. It’s hard to prowl from your haunches, wouldn’t you agree?” Kepler further thought to himself, He survived the cave. Fear must not control his instincts. Perhaps territorial dominance can be accomplished with this human after all.

“It’s definitely slick in there,” George responded. “It took forever to find what I was after.” He threw the staff on the ground. “There it is.”

Kroger became excited when he saw the staff. “Oh, George got pretty stick to play with. Kroger like play with stick. Let him have.”

The giant reached down to pick it up. The staff bent and broke under the weight of his finger, leaving a sharp point on one end that wedged beneath one of Kroger’s huge fingernails. The beast-man cried out in pain and flopped onto the ground as big tears began to flow.

Kepler tried to console the gentle giant, but nothing seemed to work. The demon could not get him to lie still long enough to remove the splinter.

“It hurted Kroger!” the giant screamed amidst his sobs. “Stick mean to Kroger. Make stick stop give pain to Kroger. I no like stick no more, George.” He rolled around as he clutched his finger with his good hand.

Kepler was lost as to how to handle the situation.

Kroger’s foot slammed down in his fit, nearly smashing Maldwin. “George, make stick no hurt Kroger. You give Kroger mean stick. I no like stick no more, George.”

This carried on for far too many moments. At one point, Kroger’s toe caught a few pieces of wood in the fire and sent the trunks flying. Everyone was forced to scurry to avoid being squashed.

George had seen enough. His breaking point had been reached. He exploded with all his energy. “Shut up, idiot! If you don’t, I’ll leave you here by yourself!”

Everyone became quiet, even Kroger. Babysitting the giant was going to be a pain in the rear, and George knew it.

“Kroger, listen to me!” George shouted. “Sit up! Right now!”

The giant did as he was told.

“Don’t make another noise. I want you to stop whining. I’m going to fix your finger, and you’re going to stay still. If you don’t, George will be mad at Kroger. Do you understand me?”

The giant nodded as another tear fell to the ground and splashed next to George’s foot. He sighed and stuck out his hand.

As George walked toward Kroger’s finger, the giant turned his head, shut his eyes, took a deep breath, and held it as he prepared for the pain.

George snapped out a few more comments before removing the splinter. “I’ve never seen a bigger baby in my life. You would think someone was going to kill you, Kroger. I’m sick of listening to you whine. I want you to stay still.”

George reached out and grabbed the sliver. He sized up the situation and leaned in and laid his free hand on the end of the giant’s finger. To his surprise, the ogre’s skin around his hand turned gray. The grayness moved past Kroger’s knuckles and into the giant’s hand.

George moved back and watched in horror. Nothing could be done to stop it. He knew this was going to look bad to the others. He looked at Kepler.

“What’s happening?” Kepler growled, his eyes burning bright garnet-red, while he took a defensive posture. “What are you doing to him? This isn’t necessary! Stop it!”

Kroger watched as the change moved up his arm. “What happen me? Kroger no feel my arm. It sleeps, yes?” The beast-man was confused and could not understand. He continued to speak. “Kroger make sleep stop. Arm wake. Kroger wake arm. You’ll see, George.”

The ogre’s arm was heavy as he struggled to lift it into the air. The collision it made when it slammed into the ground shook the area around them, adjusting the fire and allowing it to rekindle itself.

As his forearm crumbled into rubble, Kroger now understood it was George’s fault. “Kroger arm rock, George. Why you do me this? You hurt arm more. Why? Is George not friend to Kroger? You no like Kroger no more? Kroger like George. Kroger be good. George to fix Kroger. Please, George, no make Kroger die!”

Kepler backed away from his human travel companion, but his voice remained harsh and cold. “His whining wasn’t that bad! Stop it before he meets his end!”

George had no idea what to do. He looked at the ogre. “I didn’t mean