A Plague of Giants (Seven Kennings #1) - Kevin Hearne Page 0,49

speak to him,” he said, “but he is in poor shape. He needs time to rest, and I’ll need time to cleanse his blood.”

That didn’t really satisfy anyone, but we couldn’t argue the facts. Obviously something horrible had happened, and Father requested that we get both the constabulary and the mariners at Setyrön involved. Normally we took care of our own business at the clave and didn’t want outside authorities involved, but everyone wanted to find the rest of the du Hallards.

Tarrön woke on his own from a bad dream in midafternoon. Mother and I were with him in the back of the wagon along with the hygienist. His head began to turn back and forth in troubled sleep at first, a prelude to his horror, then he sat up, fully awake, and screamed, “No!” And then when he realized where he was and with whom and that he was safe, he just wept, and it pulled tears out of my eyes to see him so upset.

“You’ll be fine, Tarrön,” Mother said, pulling him to her, and Father, who’d been outside, appeared at the back and peered in.

“Can you tell us what happened?” Father asked. “Where’s your family?” Tarrön simply shook his head and took great shuddering breaths, holding on to Mother. “Were you attacked by bandits?” Another shake of his head.

“Really, we should let him rest,” the hygienist said. “Perhaps a tea with a soporific would do.”

Unsure why I spoke, I blurted out, “Did you see a pale giant, Tarrön?” and he startled, eyes turning to me, and caught his breath. The barest nod. “We saw one, too. Halfway to Möllerud. Where did you see one?”

“Nuh, not far,” he managed. “Road to Göfyrd. Top of the peninsula. Due north of here.”

“Sunburned? Starved?”

“Uh huh.”

“What’s he talking about?” the hygienist asked. “He saw a Hathrim?”

We all ignored his question, and Father said, “Did the giant do this to you, Tarrön?”

His eyes shifted to Father and welled with fresh tears. He pressed his lips together, and they trembled, trying to hold back another sob. He nodded once.

“Bryn drown me…and your family? Umön and Lyra and your sisters?”

Tarrön couldn’t keep it in after that. He gave one disconsolate moan and dissolved into sobs.

The hygienist’s mouth dropped open, and he turned to Father for confirmation. “He’s saying a Hathrim murdered his family?”

“Not a Hathrim. Something else.”

“That’s three encounters we know of if you count Mella’s,” I said. She had left by that point, and I hadn’t thought to ask her precisely where they had seen their giant or what had happened afterward; we’d been distracted by bacon.

“What did he want, Tarrön?” Mother asked.

He gulped and sniffed. “I don’t know. We couldn’t understand him. He talked for a while and then just—started killing us. I fought back, tried to choke him, but he got loose, took off in his stupid boat.”

The story came out in little spoonfuls after that. Tarrön had come to the clave for protection instead of going to the city, since he realized that no one might believe his story and then he’d be blamed for his family’s deaths. But we knew he was speaking truth; he would have our backing, plus the du Bandres, if the constabulary wished to make anything of it. Once word spread around the clave, another family confessed to seeing one of the strange giants.

When the Setyrön constable showed up, she was willing to believe that Tarrön was innocent and had fought off somebody…but she seemed oddly unmoved that four coastal traders had encountered what sounded like a new race of people from across the ocean.

“You can’t get across the Peles Ocean,” she said in a flat tone that communicated her disbelief. “What you saw was probably a tall Fornish pirate. I hear they have little colonies scattered around the archipelago, maybe even on the Longarm Isles. Been there ever since the Rift, you know, isolated, maybe a bit…uncivilized.”

Father scowled. “You think they’re Fornish pirates? If that were the case, why would they be landing all the way up here? By themselves, in four different places, speaking a language that sounds nothing like Fornish, and somehow growing two or three feet taller than normal while looking like they haven’t eaten in months?”

The constable shrugged. “I don’t know. I admit I’m speculating. I’ll ask around and see if the mariners have seen anything strange. We’ll make sure your family is given proper rites, Tarrön. And if we run into these giants who aren’t Hathrim, we’ll contact you.”

Her attitude