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sorts.
    Shum let him catch up.
    “I should check in with Dragon. It’s been awhile,” he said. “And if we go too far, I can’t connect.”
    “ Do as you will, Wizard. I’ll scout ahead.”
    “No,” Bayzog said.
    “Beg pardon?”
    “ Oh, nothing,” he said, scanning the area. “Don’t let me hold you up. I’ll be fine.”
    Shum and his horse blended into the brush and out of sight.
    Bayzog took a deep breath. It was still day, but dark under the heavier foliage. The trees seemed foreboding. The sounds of nature―the trickle of the creek, the buzzing wings―did little to soothe him. He was alone and anything could happen. Like running into an Ettin. He shuddered. They were some of the most fearsome things he’d ever seen. So big. Strong. Unpleasant.
    “Ease yourself, Bayzog,” he said to himself. “Check in w ith Dragon and Sasha.”
    He started the incantation for the communication spell , and magic filled his body. His mind became a spring of energy.
    Thoom.
    The ground shook. He lost his concentration.
    Thoom.
    His horse stammered and snorted. He clutched at the reins. Heart pounding.
    “Alright, Shum, where are you?”

 
    CHAPTER 11
     
     
    The villagers. The Legionnaires. Sasha and Brenwar. They all fell silent.
    The Ettin had said, in words all could understand, “The women are all dead.”
    Children sobbed. Tears watered in men’s eyes. The hardened soldiers ’ faces were creased in worry. And there stood the second Ettin. Arms folded over its chest. Gloating.
    “NO WOMEN TO TRADE.” All four of its brows lifted. “BUT, LET MY BROTHER GO, NO MORE HARM. NO MORE DEATH … SCALY ONE.”
    “You lie!” I said.
    I’ve said it before. I’m good at telling the truth from a lie. And Brenwar had already told me a thousand times that Giants are liars.
    But the villagers. They didn’t know that. The soldiers didn’t either.
    I searched for Sasha. She was tending to the wounded in the field. I hope d maybe she could contact Bayzog. Tell him to hurry. At the moment, we were at a standstill. I had to buy time. I had to calm the villagers.
    “Ben!”
    He ran over to me. Marveled at the Ettins, then turned to me.
    “Yes, Dragon ?”
    “He’s lying. The women are n’t dead. Spread the word around.”
    He started to run off.
    “And be convincing!”
    The villagers wouldn’t stand for this much longer. They’d attack. So would the soldiers , and more of them would die. I couldn’t let that happen.
    “I’m losing my patience, Ettin.” I turned my bow on the second Ettin. “Perhaps it’s you that would be better off without one head. Perhaps one doesn’t agree so much with the other.”
    The Ettins scratched their heads. Turned to one another and whispered in Ettish.
    I could understand it.
    I whispered to Brenwar. “Get your chest.”
    “Why?” he said.
    “Just do it.”
    “And what?”
    “I don’t know. Think of something. Ask Sasha.”
    Brenwar looked at me and the Ettin’s knee.
    “Just one more lick, ay?” He lifted his bushy black brows.
    “Go!”
    “Alright then.” He hopped down and marched off.
    The Ettins turned back to me. The second one scratched one of its heads. The first one looked worried. At least I had them thinking.
    “YOU WON’T SHOOT. YOU SHOOT. WE SMASH PEOPLE.”
    “I shoot, one of you won’t be smashing anything. And need I remind you I have plenty of arrows?”
    I knew one of my arrow s would hurt them. But kill them? Maybe. And I wasn’t so sure it was alright to kill an Ettin. Even if it had killed many innocent people. It was all confusing. But, I should be able to outsmart an Ettin.
    Twang!
    The Ettin ducked. My arrow sailed high over its head.
    “HA! YOU MISSED!”
    “No, no I didn’t. Take a look behind you,” I said.
    The Ettin’s heads turn ed.
    KABOOM!
    The Ettin flinched and covered its eyes.
    Everyone screamed.
    Less than a hundred yards past the second Ettin, a hundred-foot-tall oak cracked and groaned. Its trunk was bigger than the