Lysander's Diplomacy

Lysander shivered as he climbed down off of the great cat's back. Roland slid to his feet beside him. It had been a long ride, and two nights in the mountains. At last, they had reached the plateau the Rhone prince had told him of.

It was time.

Lysander took in the sight before them with trepidation. Across the snowy area were the beings they sought. Roland had shared all the information he knew about the giants, but seeing them in person was something entirely different. The moonlight reflecting on the snow painted them in a surreal, eerie glow. 

And they served the entity which had tortured and imprisoned him for so long. He shuddered. 

"Jarnsaxa, you said, is the giantess's name?" Lysander whispered. 

"Yes. I do not know the names of the others," Roland said quietly back. 

Judah had flopped down into the snow, breathing heavily but softly. Roland patted the animal affectionately. 

"Are you ready?" The prince asked, smiling encouragingly. 

"As ready as I can be, I suppose," Lysander took a deep breath and moved forward. 

As they had planned, they approached together. The giants were huddled some distance from the skeleton, and Lysander wondered whether they had even noticed it. If he hadn't been told of the landmark, he might have dismissed it in the snow-covered landscape as a collection of boulders. 

The silence was strange. Roland had said the ground shook when the giants laughed, and their voices would be hard to listen to without covering their ears. 

It must be too cold for them to be very talkative. The jungle they came from must have made them accustomed to warmth. 

As they came close enough, Lysander raised his voice and called out in a firm, steady voice. 

"Jarnsaxa! Mighty Giantess! Welcome to our world." As her attention turned to him, he affected a deep bow of respect. 

She raised one eyebrow. 

"Ah, are you the servant Tamas was to send to accompany us? That halfling has shirked his responsibilities." 

Lysander struggled not to cover his ears, but he did not mask his discomfort well enough to fool the giantess. 

"Poor thing, I forget I must whisper around you frail beings," She said more softly. "What are Tamas's instructions? Is there further news of my kin?" 

"I come to you not as a servant of Tamas, but as his enemy, to beg and warn you to turn away from following the treacherous ways of Darkness," Lysander responded. 

"To beg AND warn? How interesting," She tapped a finger to her chin. "One usually precludes the other, wouldn't you say? Are you at my mercy or threatening me with your might?" 

"I beg for my sake, I warn for yours," Lysander responded carefully. "I served the Void, that which you call Tamas, and nearly brought about the destruction of those I love. It is untrustworthy, and treacherous." 

"And you, little one–" Jarnsaxa paused. 

"Lysander." The man answered. 

"Are you trustworthy? Having served Tamas and betrayed him, I assume, what can you say to persuade us? What do you have to offer ones such as us?" Her eyes danced with amusement. Lysander was grateful to not immediately be squashed, but her almost carefree attitude was not what he anticipated. 

Still, there was some hope to be found in her willingness to hear him, even if her eye promised to make him into a meal when her amusement ceased. 

Instead of extolling his own virtues and being pushed into a defense of himself, Lysander chose a different route. 

"I can warn you of the horrors that await you once you stop being useful to the Void. As to what can be offered, I can offer you little. Prince Roland can offer you much." Lysander bowed, and stepped aside, startling his companion. 

As the former Provider, it was true that he could promise almost nothing to these giants. Roland, however, had influence over the three major nations of the world. 

"Prince Roland is unwaveringly faithful and true, and has defeated the Void before, pushing it out of this world. When the Void suffers defeat again, whose side will you be on? You may wreak some destruction if you so wish, but will it benefit you, ultimately?" 

Jarnsaxa's narrowed eyes were examining Roland while Lysander spoke, her bemusement less evident than before. 

"And how did your Prince vanquish that which you call the Void? Is it not still powerful?" She asked. 

"He banished it, and it creeps back in like a thief, a murderer, a goblin," Lysander had learned that the two races were enemies, and tried to play on their enmity. "Does it not court the goblins now, through Edmar, who approached you in the first place?" 

The giantess's brow creased in anger, but Lysander held her gaze. 

"I do not believe you." She said after a moment. "A former follower of Tamas? Why would your word carry weight?" 

"My word means nothing, except that it is truth," Lysander replied. 

"You still have offered me nothing." She frowned. 

"And what is it you desire? The rescue of your kinsman from the goblins? A home and food in this world? A return to your own, with protection from the gargoyles?" Lysander listed a few of the things he thought she would value highly in negotiations. He wasn't sure that any of those could be delivered, but finding out someone's priorities was an important part of negotiation. 

Jarnsaxa's expression subtly changed. Her lips softened and curled slightly, and her nostrils flared. 

"All those sound simply lovely," She leaned forward, "And I do find myself quite hungry just now. Will your prince offer you as a snack for me, to induce me to break my allegiance to Tamas?" 

Lysander maintained a stoic face, and glanced towards Roland. 

"I will not," Roland replied firmly. 

"But if you cannot stop me from taking what I want, why should I listen to you at all?" She leaned forward and reached out her great arm to snatch Lysander up, and both men took several instinctive steps backward. 

Judah pounced from his resting place near the edge of the plateau, and hissing, placed himself between the hand of the giantess and the two men. 

"Ah, I see." She said, her eyes narrowed. She withdrew her hand from her prey. "I noticed you were very well informed about my desires and enemies, as well as my allegiance. I wondered at it, but now see that one or both of you must have been to my world. Were you one of the ones in our pen?" 

Lysander was confused by the question, and so ignored it. 

"We know enough, it matters not how. What matters is how you will respond." He said, glancing at Roland for support. 

The man was mumbling under his breath, and Lysander blinked a couple of times at him. Apparently the prince would not be fully joining the conversation just yet. 

"And how would you advise me to respond, little one?" Her eyes widened mockingly. "To trade a powerful entity for two little men and their pet?" 

Judah hissed again, and Jarnsaxa smiled. 

"The Void underestimated our people before, and was defeated." Lysander urged. "Though I beg for your merciful departure, or your mighty aid, I am confident in our survival regardless. Evil will not win." 

He said the words more bravely than he felt them. It wasn't that he didn't believe it, but his worry clouded his judgment. He was anxious for his wife, and his city. 

Still, beside the man who had freed him from the Darkness, he felt his courage grow. 

"Would you serve the same master who courts the service of your enemy, the goblins?" He shook his head. "I would not have thought you so low in dignity." 

"What evidence have you that Tamas has entered negotiations with the goblins?" Jarnsaxa sneered. 

"I heard it myself. Edmar was carried to the Below to negotiate with them." Roland raised his voice as he looked at her. 

The corners of the giantess's mouth tightened, and her eyes bored into Roland. 

"And, little prince, should I believe you?" She asked. 

"Because I desire not your subservience, but your alliance." The man's voice was firm. 

"An ally must be as powerful as a master to deserve our cooperation," Jarnsaxa replied. "So far I have words and stories, but no proof of your abilities." 

"Mother, why do you humor them? Can't we just eat?" The younger giant complained. She raised her hand to silence him. 

"They claim it will be to our advantage to ally with them over Tamas. I am willing to give them one final chance, before we eat them, to prove that they are not worthless." 

Lysander froze, not knowing what possible demonstration of power the two men could possibly offer to impress the giants. He knew of nothing. 

"A little help would be fantastic right now. Please?" Roland said quietly. 

"I don't know of anything–" Lysander began. 

"I wasn't talking to you," Roland looked at him a little oddly, perplexing Lysander. 

"Then who were you talking–" He began, but the giantess interrupted. 

"Time's up! Hugi, go ahead and eat, sweetheart." Jarnsaxa announced. 

The younger giant leapt to his feet, shaking the ground, and took three large steps towards the men with a malicious grin on his face.