bonfire, expectant, and so on for the next two days, until they entered a gorge that made its way through a not so large mountain range.
“At the end of this gorge, in a huge camouflaged cave, lives my friend, the White Magician.”
But before anyone could answer, they were surrounded, from the irregular and not too high elevations flanking the gorge, by a hundred chunky giants measuring about thirteen feet height and brandishing their weapons in a threatening attitude.
Sergiker advanced to the giant with the most majestic bearing.
“Father, this is Syriel and Lirieth, princes of Delfia and Teberion. They and their men, orcs and dwarves, showing a distinguished bravery have saved me from the claws of the harpies I was held captive by and are escorting me to the White Magician’s abode to find the best way to bring me home," announced the giant prince, with a marked affectionate tone and thanks to his liberators.
Then he added, turning to the princes, filled with pride:
“I present to you my father, Magellan, the king of Granlesia.”
“I am indebted to your highnesses for saving my son," thanked the enormous king as he approached his heir and the rest of the giants relaxed, lowering their weapons.
Father and son fused in an embrace for a few seconds, then the giant king rebuked his offspring, affectionate but forceful.
“What am I going to do with you? How can you abandon your people and expose yourself to the dangers of these lands? When are you going to learn? When are you going to assume the role of prince that corresponds to you?” almost begged the giant king, with a certain harshness, although without ceasing to show a clear fatherly affection.
“Father," replied Sergiker, solemnly and expressing deep repentance, "I am very sorry for all the affliction I have caused you with my acts of immature rebellion. I give you my prince's word that it will never happen again and that from now on I will submit with illusion and desire to the learning tasks proper to my condition of future king,” promised the boy, looking furtively at Lirieth and Syriel.
“What made you change so radically? asked the pleased father.
“The princes have made me see that just as I can't help being a giant, I can't help being a prince and a future king, so I've decided to face my destiny as best I can," said Sergiker enthusiastically.
After holding his son tightly, he looked with deep gratitude at Syriel and Lirieth.
“I will never forget your help. If you ever need anything that is in my hand, don't hesitate for a moment to ask me. I am doubly indebted to Your Graces,” the great king compromised himself, with tears of joy in his eyes.
“Forgive me for daring to speak to you so soon, but we have seen that the dark ones are not counted among your friends and it is possible that soon we may need help in the face of an attempt by them to invade our kingdoms," said Syriel.
King Magellan ordered a wasteland to be brought to him. Instantly, one of its giants gave him a cage with a bird and the king offered it to the prince.
“Princes and future kings of Teberion and Delfia," he said, "I give you this most precious and beautiful bird. It is a balardi, if you let it free, it will come to me to follow it to the place where you released it. Therefore, when you need me, release him and he will take me wherever you wait for me. The balardi is a very fast bird, the only one faster than the falcon, and it will not take long to warn me of your invitation. It is the first time that I have given one of these birds to someone who does not belong to my people," confessed the monarch.
Syriel took the cage delicately and thanked the king for the valuable gift.
“We are very honored by your invaluable favor, although I hope I will never have to use it. If not, do not doubt that it will be because of a desperate situation in which we hope never to find ourselves," the prince wished.
Sergiker, fed up with all the flattery, interrupted the regal conversation.
“And my friend, the White Magician?”
“Here," replied a snow-white figure who appeared behind the giant prince, just at that moment.
Sergiker turned and embraced the snowy apparition, which reached beyond his waist, with touching affection.
The White Magician was really a being of dazzling whiteness, he had the typical point-shaped ears of elves and a pearly mane, straight and silky, that almost reached him halfway down his back. But surely, he was not known as White Magician because of the hair color which was already almost perfect white, but because of the marked albino tonality of his skin, as well as of the eyebrows, and even of his eyes, whose pearly shade could not even be distinguished the apple of his eye’s cornea. In spite of having more than two thousand years of age, his appearance was like that of a healthy human halfway between the sixties and seventies, although without any beard, as was usual among beings of elfic race.
Once the effusive greeting between magician and giant was over, the White Magician addressed the princes.
“I also thank you for saving my little prince. Welcome to my abode," he invited as a magical breach opened in the middle of the rocky mountain. “Go ahead, there's room for everyone, even the giants if they bend down a little as they enter.”
They entered caves of enormous dimensions, as much as the dwarfs, and even more so since only the White Magician lived there.
With a gesture of the magician towards one of the corners, some stables appeared with everything necessary for the rest and provisioning of the horses.
And to another gesture of the white-skinned wizard, some tables and stools of various sizes were materialized for the comfort of men, orcs, elves, mediam, dwarfs and giants, with everything necessary to initiate the most succulent and sumptuous of the banquets that could have been done for those lands.
That night the wine and beer of some small magical casks ran out and they could also eat until they got fed up with fountains full of the richest delicacies and bewitched in such a way that, when someone took the last piece of them, exquisite food would immediately come up again.
All night they rested placidly and comfortably until long after dawn.
At the foot of the colossal Dragons’ Mountain was the somber squadron camped out. General Baldin informed his future queen, accommodated in her luxurious tent, of the encounter that the group that was able to escape with the giants from the Peaks Pass.
“Giants?" roared Elenir, angrily. "What was a group of giants doing there? Their lands are much further north! Why have they come through these lands just now?" complained the dark princess angrily.
Elenir received nothing but an uncomfortable silence from her general, who did not know what to answer.
“How many survivors?” asked the shadow princess, with marked harshness.
“Only two, my lady," replied the intimidated general.
“Two survivors of one hundred and eighty warriors, well-prepared and dark! And not a single scratch was made on any of the giants!” a disgusted Elenir lamented.
“There was also a very powerful elf magician. He was white as snow, even his eyes, but he didn't seem to be blind. There were almost a hundred giants plus the magician,
