"Someone tell me that's not a giant." 

Four pairs of eyes peered beyond the tree line where they hovered for safety. Chanyeol was the first to answer. "It's not a giant."

The elf huffed, defeated already. "Thanks anyways, I appreciate the lie, but that's one huge giant. So what's the plan?"

They had found one of the few bridges that was still operable across the cold, frigid waters of the river below. The stone masonwork itself was testimony to a long ago age when the Tevinter Imperium had conquered and ruled this part of Thedas. Where empire had failed, their constructs still stood. Unfortunately, their way was blocked by a lumbering beast three times the height even of a qunari. 

"We... run really fast?" Jongin suggested, however his voice bespoke this plan as an obvious fail.

"Anyone ever seen one of these before?" asked Chanyeol. 

"Besides me?" said Baekhyun.

"Yeah, besides you."

When Jongin shook his head, they all looked at at Sehun. 

"Are you really suggesting that I might have seen and fought a giant in all my humble years?"

Chanyeol shrugged. "It was worth a try. Okay, then Baekhyun, you're up. What's the plan?"

Back to where to they started, the elf just huffed some more. "Last time I saw a giant I ran really fast in the other direction and never came back. Like seriously, it's a giant. You don't mess with them. You peek around trees where you know they're used to living, and then you sneak backwards slowly... so you don't run into another one... and then, you run. So in my opinion we should... oh bother."

Clearly, that tactic wasn't going to help them now. It was this bridge or nothing, unless they wanted to try another portage option which might take them days beyond their route. And with winter upon them, dwindling supplies, and who knew what kind of fiends might be on their trail, that wasn't a viable option at all. 

Alistair barked. 

Baekhyun had almost forgotten the hound. Since it had gotten separated from his master, Alistair was a typically silent partner. He trailed along after Sehun with his nose either in the the wind or the dirt. He hunted for his own food. He slobbered over everyone, scratched his ears and his . A veritable dog, most of the time, and yet for a while Baekhyun had forgotten the beast was in fact a fighting hound.

"How about you, Alistair? Got any cool tactics?" 

The hound barked, scratched the ground, then sniffed in the opposite direction, in the way they'd come.

"I'm guessing," said Jongin, "that he's also in favor of finding another way."

Sehun sighed. Chanyeol looked peeved. From the far side of the bridge came the lump lump lumps! of a great, burling beast smashing slowly through the brush and the snow. Shortly afterwards, a tree fell. Everybody jumped and ducked, hiding low behind the partly crumbling stonework of the ancient Tevinter bridge, but the giant had not seen them. It had not even guessed they were there, or perhaps it knew and just didn't care, puny creatures such as them. 

Alistair growled but he didn't for long. Instead he went back to sniffing the ground. A moment later he lay down and Baekhyun sighed.

"Step One. We're going to need a distraction."

"That sounds feasible," said Jongin. "Who's the distraction, and what's Step Two?"

"Step One involves Chanyeol doing a funny dance, and Step Two involves the rest of us running really fast."

"Hey!" 

Baekhyun ignored him. Jongin was musing over this plan, arms crossed over his chest even in their crouched position. Sehun was peeking over the bridge in the giant's direction. This may very well be their only option. 

"I'm serious, Chanyeol. But only because I think you've got one of the best attacks out of all of us. I can give you an initial head start with some arrows, but Jongin needs to stay with Sehun and run defensive interference if things get hairy and... well, I bet Alistair can bite his legs and keep the dumb creature turning so you can just... duck when you have to."

"Duck?" Chanyeol repeated. 

Baekhyun nodded. "Yes, duck. Beware of its arms. They're the size of tree trunks and ten times as deadly. Also, does anyone see any boulders around it? They like to throw things but they're awfully slow. See why the best tactic is to run really fast? You and Alistair distract it and the rest of us can sneak by. Then I'll pelt it with some arrows to give you guys a chance to escape. I'd say the odds are..."

"Don't tell me the odds, you maniac elf!" Chanyeol cried. Then he cringed. "Just tell me if you really think this is the best and only way to go."

Baekhyun smiled, not at all as confident as he looked. "It's this or we have to go around..." 

In hindsight, as most plans seem to go, theirs was not the best idea. They talked for a long while about individual actions, placement, and timing, what to do if some carefully thought out plan went slightly awry and how to troubleshoot. Jongin drew lines in the snow with a broken stick and Sehun munched on a piece of dried meat ("In case this is it, I can at least say I had a last meal"). Then they attacked.

At first it went well. They managed to surprise the great beast with a few well-aimed arrows, then Chanyeol rushed forward sword bared and roaring. He looked like a peon compared to the giant but between him and Alistair they successfully distracted it from noticing Jongin, Sehun, and Baekhyun bearing low across the bridge, their hearts practically pounding in their chests as each prayed to the Maker that this venture would end well.

Baekhyun paused only enough times to let off an arrow or two and give Chanyeol an edge, but those only enraged the giant. He roared even louder, thunderous sonic booms that chilled one to the bone. The trees trembled under its bellows, settled snow falling to the ground in great tufts while the giant lunged and slashed at the two flies attacking its feet. Alistair barely dodged one of its great feet, but the impact of it was enough to drive Chanyeol to the ground. 

Everyone gasped, but the warrior wasted no time scrambling back to his feet and, dazed or not, continued his attack. 

"That smell, ugh!" Sehun cry-whispered as they neared it.

"Hush!" Jongin warned.

The giant took no notice of them, and the two were through. 

"Chanyeol, now!" called Baekhyun, already dodging trees as he mentally rerouted their journey through this new side of the forest. 

The two-handed warrior did not immediately run. Baekhyun whistled, and Alistair bounded quickly back. Only then did Chanyeol turn his back on the giant. 

And so they ran. They ran and ran, leaves bursting across their faces, snow crackling under their boots. Until Baekhyun's heart was near to ending and his muscles ached. Still the thing followed them. They could hear it bowling through the trees which slowed him down but not enough. The forest seemed dead to all but their feet, their breaths. Once or two they slipped in the snow and another bent down and ran back to drag him up. Blinding white was their vision as they ran and ran, until the trees grew still and the chase grew long and Baekhyun could not longer hear the snowy carnage behind them. 

"Jongin, slow down!" Baekhyun whispered dramatically, after what felt like forever. 

The party slowed, breathing loudly,. Baekhyun huffed and bent over, one hand on his knee and the other over his pounding heart. 

"I'm going to die," said Sehun.

His face was blood red, hair standing on end. Jongin looked like he'd run into several trees head first. His hair was grey mixed with the snow. Baekhyun heaved, then stood up, hobbled over to him and began absentmindedly to shake a hand through Jongin's hair. He peered around. 

Chanyeol looked utterly awful. He was wheezing, and there was blood running down from his shoulder, dirtied now and mixing with sweat. 

"Chanyeol?" asked Jongin, now thunderstruck. "What happened? Are you okay?"

The tall warrior sniffed. He clutched his shoulder and looked at his injury as if seeing it for the first time, his breath showing heavy in the frozen air. "It's only a flesh wound," he said. Then his legs gave out and he collapsed onto the ground. 

"Chanyeol!" everyone screeched as they ran to his side. 

Only Baekhyun paused long enough to check that their lumbering giant was not still on their tail. Since they'd cleared the bridge Baekhyun had been steering them off the path, away from the trail and directly into the woods, hoping to lose the creature amongst the trees. It seemed they were successful. 

"I think, I may need to rest here a bit," said Chanyeol. 

"Okay, okay, let's do that," said Baekhyun. With Jongin's help they began pulling aside the torn wool of Chanyeol's shirt. Right there, beneath a break in the armor, was a slash wound as from a sword. 

"Uhm..." 

Chanyeol cringed. "Don't say anything, okay... That giant was tough. I got turned around once trying to dodge it and my sword got stuck against my body after I swung it over my head. It was either my neck or my shoulder, I had a choice, when that thing's arm came flying down and smashed me so... yeah."

He looked embarrassed. Tired and injured, and embarrassed. 

Sehun was the first to snort. Wordlessly Chanyeol lowered his eyes and glared at him. Alistair barked. Jongin just nodded. "I'm actually more impressed that you didn't do more damage to yourself than just this."

"Gee, thanks."

They cleaned him up the rest of the way in silence, everyone still trying to catch their breaths. 

Alistair barked again. 

"Hush, puppy," said Baekhyun, halfway annoyed. If they could just take another twenty minutes to rest, maybe divide up the last of their remaining stores for a midday snack, then they'd be fine again until they hopefully came along a village or farm. Baekhyun would take even an elven community at this rate. Anywhere they might at least find decent food they didn't have to spear, shoot, or bludgeon first, and perhaps a warm, dry place to sleep.

The hound did not settle down. Finally even Sehun came over to the animal and sank his head into Alistair's mane to try to calm him down. Alistair moved, his head, then went right on barking. Suddenly he growled. 

Th-ump.

The whole ground shook. 

Jongin stood up, suddenly grim. He pulled his sword from its sheath. Baekhyun paled.

Th-ump. More snow disloged from the branches over their heads.

"Oh no, no, no," said the elf. 

Another thump followed, this time with the accompanying sound of a tree being split in two. 

"It's the giant," Sehun gasped. 

But it was coming from the wrong direction. 

Thump. Th-ump.

"Uhm, guys?" said Baekhyun more calmly than he felt. 

Chanyeol gulped. "No, it's a different giant." And Baekhyun agreed.

Thump. Th-ump. Th-ump.

"Hate to break it to you," he said, "but that sounds like more than one."

A small animal screeched pitifully from nearby. Sehun, who had stood up, jumped and fell backwards. He landed on a halfway broken branch which snapped with enough force to alert a small army. Or, two giants. 

The echos of their foot stamps grew faster. Baekhyun almost couldn't tell from which direction they came from. His vision was still a daze, and every direction appeared the same. 

"Baekhyun?" Jongin questioned hastily.

"Uhhh. I am so, so sorry," Baekhyun finally replied. Because he had just led them across the boundary of one giant's territory, right into the den of another's. 

Three things happened at once. 

Sehun shrieked. A giant appeared in their periphery. And a flash of light shot through the trees, almost blinding them. Baekhyun couldn't have said at first where this flash of light originated. He was too busy leaping to his feet, Alistair at his toes, and reaching for a throw of arrows. 

"Chanyeol, up, now!" he shouted. "You can fall apart later. Right now we've got to run!" Now suddenly Baekhyun understood the mabari's incessant warning barks... If only he'd paid a little more attention sooner, then perhaps they might actually survive this. Unknown pools of adrenaline kicked in right as he ran, then landed, on the feet of their newest giant friend. 

"Baekhyun!" someone howled. 

Baekhyun cursed just as the giant's foot came up to squash him. Fortunately, bewildered though he was, Baekhyun was still faster. He rolled beneath it, sidled up against the other foot, and when the first one came crashing down, he leaped upwards and dodged again. Jongin met him on the other side. One hand holding onto Sehun, he reached onto Baekhyun's arm and lugged him too. They turned around. Chanyeol was on his feet again and fighting the giant with Alistair by his side. Maybe if it was only the one giant again they could make it like last time. Except the second giant appeared between the trees, cutting off their escape route. 

Another flash of light flew between the trees followed by a crash of power that shot the first giant right in the eyes. The beast looked a little stunned but it hardly slowed him down. It was only enough for Chanyeol to make a run for it. 

"What was that?" he yelled, hobbling towards their brief respite between two magnanimous smelly giants. Another streak of magecraft shot off from behind the trees. 

"I don't know," cried Jongin, "but we've got an ally and I'm not going to argue right now."

The unknown mage was by now dueling with both giants alternately, just enough to keep them from noticing the small powerless humans and elf hiding in the brush and branches. Baekhyun waited until the farthest giant stumbled past them before popping his head up to see. There, almost too far to see, was a recognizable figure. 

"Yixing! It's Yixing!"

"What?" cried Jongin.

"Is he alone?" whispered Sehun. 

Alistair growled. 

"I don't know," said Baekhyun, "but he's clearly on our trail so I hazard a guess we should get out of here, let him deal with those things and then come after us later. If all else fails, he can shift into a dragon and turn them into ash."

Jongin tacitly agreed. They limped away, each supporting the now sorely injured Chanyeol, as fast as they dared go. And this time Baekhyun kept watch lest they run blind into any more giants.

They made camp that evening next to a low ridge in the landscape. Sehun sighed at the remains of their last available rations. Tomorrow would be civilization or bust. Jongin struggled to cheer him up. Baekhyun made constant digs that they'd probably freeze to death before they died of starvation. Chanyeol just moaned. His wounds had been treated with the few herbs Baekhyun knew to use, his chest tied up, but even so blood was beginning to seep through his bandages. When a lone figure appeared in the shadows, one twig cracking to signal his arrival, no one was sad to see the mage who had probably saved their lives.

"Yixing?" Jongin stood up to greet him. 

"I find you at last," said the mage. "Ahh, what's the fare tonight? Dried roots and jerky? Lucky for you guys I found a small woodcutter's cottage not long ago and traded for some real food, plus ale."

As they all cheered and dived for the bag Yixing laid at their feet, only Sehun looked around confused. 

Alistair was missing. 

The morning after sleeping at the loggers' village was halfway to blissful. They'd had a tremendous meal the night before, homecooked, comfortable pallets on a solid floor before a roaring fire which even after burning all night was still blazing warm from the embers. Kyungsoo was not the first one awake, but he was the first one to groan and roll over. This trajectory brought him farther from the fire but right into the sleeping nose of Tao, the once-upon-a-time werewolf. Even now there was something wolfish to the boy who was likely twice or three times Kyungsoo's age. Yet, he was innocent of so much, compared to Kyungsoo.

It's time to go. He whispered in his head, feeling around for Minseok's conscious. 

No, said a sleepy voice in reply.

Minseok.... Kyungsoo cautioned. 

Regardless he pulled himself up and pushed down his pallet. Someone's leg had gotten stuck with his in the night. It was Jongdae's. He shoved it off and the assassin barely moved.

Kris was awake already. He reclined near to the fireplace, sleepy eyes and disheveled hair betraying his alertness to anything that might be amiss. Kyungsoo appreciated his self-awareness. 

Minseok, wake up.

Noo... 

A glance at the apostate told Kyungsoo all he needed to know. In between the pallets and one shared blanket, he could barely make out where Minseok left off and Luhan began. Kyungsoo scoffed. Kris met his eyes, followed his gaze to the two sleeping enemies, and chuckled. The sound was enough to bring Jongdae to full consciousness. Somewhere by his side, the dwarf also awoke. What should have taken minutes to get everyone up and ready to move out took well over an hour. They were getting sloppy. 

And Kyungsoo was impatient. 

"Game plan, assess," said Jongdae, when they were finally packed. They'd said their goodbyes to the old logger and his family. Kris and Tao loaded up their goods and extra baggage on their backs like pack mules. Everyone else carried more than their fair share of accessories, all except for Kyungsoo who, while healed, was still feeling the effects of his battle with the drakes. For a long time now, magic hadn't worked as effectively on his body. None but him and Minseok understood why, and even the mage could not explain it fully. 

Kyungsoo heaved his poor body onto the road beside the rest of the party and each of them leveled a look at Minseok.

The mage shrugged like this was a casual little jaunt into the countryside. "Well, Luhan and I talked last night..."

"Luhan, and you." Jongdae was not impressed. "Okay, tell us more." 

"And, we agree that we should continue tracking down the others. I... didn't exactly want to tell you guys why, but I think it's worth clearing up a few misunderstandings.

What?! Kyungsoo telepathically shouted.

Minseok grimaced. He shot Kyungsoo a daring set of eyes. Not everything, just something.

"It's about their safety, so I think a few of you, Jongdae, might agree with me here." Then, slowly, he pulled out a small bound bundle from his pocket. "Most of you would recognize this object except I refuse to take it out. The last time I touched it, I almost died."

Kyungsoo watched something click in Jongdae's eyes as an old memory resurfaced. After a few moments, the same dangerous clarify crossed on Suho's face, followed by Kris. Luhan betrayed no surprise, as Kyungsoo already expected. Tao merely blinked. 

"You have Changmin's ring." It was Jongdae who spoke first. He stalked towards Minseok, shocked and a little betrayed. "That ring was cursed and sent you into a trance. Why do you still even have it?" He paused, as if assessing the cause in his head. "It's evidently important. Tell us, now." 

Are we really doing this? 

Again Minseok didn't reply. He continued speaking like nothing had happened. "Best if we get moving and I will explain as we go."

"No, now," Jongdae insisted. 

Minseok sighed, and Kyungsoo smirked. "Alright, then. As I told Luhan, this ring is indeed cursed, but that's not all. It's part of a set. I have one, courtesy of Changmin. Sehun has another, a necklace though he doesn't understand the significance. And, there is a third jewel. Together they unlock a dangerous secret from those who would seek it. Sehun's life is in danger as long as he has it. That's why he's being pursued. It's not just because he is an heir and a potential threat but because they, whoever they are, want it. I will tell you the rest of the tale, what little I know about it, but I must insist we start moving now. I have... set a seeking spell on Alistair. I believe he went with them and probably still is there. He will lead us to them, wherever they are. I should admit, part of my fear stems from my brother, Xiumin."

Jongdae seethed audibly, and his hands bound tightly into fists. "What about him?"

"He wants that necklace too. He will find Sehun first if we don't set out."

"And you will tell us about this secret? Why the gems are so significant?" Jongdae pressed. 

"I can," said Minseok, "but I won't."

"No, because I don't know enough. But there is someone here who does."

Kyungsoo bristled. No, no you don't....

But Minseok just smiled. Then, his smile settled on Kyungsoo. 

Your story, my friend. This is your story now.

3,540 words

Ha ha~! Bet y'all thought you'd seen the last of me. Okay I'm going to admit, having a baby is SO HARD. But worth it. Check me on twitter for cute pictures daily. In other news, here is a chapter of dragon age and GUESS WHAT! There will be ANOTHER full-length "special" chapter coming out before the weekend is up. I am trying super hard right now to keep focused and write this story, not so that it feels like just another task (which I'll admit, I've felt that more often than not in the last couple months) but right now I have renewed joy in the story. So, hopefully that translates well into writing. NO idea yet how many more chapters there will be, but if you can't guess already, we are in the final stretch of our adventurers' journey. 

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