Mountain's Giant (eBook)

Rob Neuteboom (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025 | 1. Auflage
264 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
979-8-3178-0102-1 (ISBN)

Infos

Unable to escape a past wrought with heartache, Orla grieves near the sea each night for her friend Solveig, who died at the hands of the giant Koerl during Ragnarök. On one such night, a hooded stranger waylays Orla and apprises her of giants living in the mountains. Orla is the Aesir's Commander of the Guard and protector of a kingdom for disenfranchised gods newly established on resurrected Asgard. She thus feels compelled to investigate this possible threat. The giants she encounters in the mountains cause Orla to reexamine her giant heritage and question her loyalty to her friends Ask, Deonte, and Embla. Will Orla embrace a part of herself she disavowed? When she learns of the voice of a past enemy inhabiting the giants' mountain, will responsibility or old hatred prevail? Ultimately, Orla must choose between conflicting loyalties as she attempts to navigate a complex contention between gods, giants, and her contradictory sense of self.

Rob Neuteboom is a writer, educator, and enthusiast of myth and fantasy. He has an MFA in Creative Writing from Minnesota State University Moorhead and a Ph.D. in Rhetoric, Writing and Culture from North Dakota State University. His work has appeared in the South Dakota Review, Up the Staircase Quarterly, and Work Literary Magazine. The Mountain's Giant is his fourth novel. In his spare time, Rob enjoys running, reading, writing, and spending time with his wife, Jen, and their two dogs, Tilly and Letty Ro, in Davenport, North Dakota.

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Unable to escape a past wrought with heartache, Orla grieves near the sea each night for her friend Solveig, who died at the hands of the giant Koerl during Ragnarok. On one such night, a hooded stranger waylays Orla and apprises her of giants living in the mountains. Orla is the Aesir's Commander of the Guard and protector of a kingdom for disenfranchised gods newly established on resurrected Asgard. She thus feels compelled to investigate this possible threat. The giants she encounters in the mountains cause Orla to reexamine her giant heritage and question her loyalty to her friends Ask, Deonte, and Embla. Will Orla embrace a part of herself she disavowed? When she learns of the voice of a past enemy inhabiting the giants' mountain, will responsibility or old hatred prevail? Ultimately, Orla must choose between conflicting loyalties as she attempts to navigate a complex contention between gods, giants, and her contradictory sense of self.

Textauszug

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The land of the giants, Jotunheim, was a cold, mountainous realm that some gods called inhospitable. The gods considered giants even more inhospitable than the land they occupied. Enemies from the beginning, the Aesir thought the giants covetous, vindictive brutes who would stop at nothing to take by force the palaces the gods had so meticulously built. Most impressive was gold-gilded Gladsheim, Odin’s home, a bright beacon at the center of its expansive hold, where royalty and rulers reaped the glory of the world they built out of the bones of the great giant Ymir. The giants eternally hated the gods and would hurt them however and whenever they could. To preserve the riches with which the kingdom was wrought and to protect against the inevitable attacks of giants, the Aesir fashioned a massive wall from Ymir’s eyebrows, so thick and strong not even the mightiest giant could bend the unyielding structure. But this wall, despite its seeming impenetrability, did not offer enough protection. After two days of painstaking effort, an enraged giant bent on demonstrating his strength and clearing a path for future attacks plucked a single massive hair from the ground. Fear began mounting in the great city surrounding the palace—the inhabitants felt vulnerable.

Odin gathered the gods in council, asking, “What must we do? The Aesir are afraid the giants will one day break through our defenses and lay waste to our shining city.”

Stupefied by both the implication of the wall being breached and by the query of how to safeguard their city further, the gods offered no immediate suggestions, only shrugs and vacant stares. Finally, Mimir, the wisest of them all, proposed, “A fortress must be constructed that is stronger and greater than our kingdom’s current defenses, where we can guarantee the giants cannot lay victorious siege.”

The gods agreed that a fortress would pacify the Aesir’s concerns and discourage the giants’ attacks. However, Frigg, Odin’s wife, vocalized the dilemma all were thinking, “How might we build such a structure?” Not even the gods possessed the knowledge and resources to realize such an ambitious undertaking. This time, Mimir had no answer.

Odin sent a missive to all Asgard and their allies, explaining their plan to construct an unconquerable fortress and inviting anyone with the skill and power to realize this plan to report to the council of gods. Payment would be tendered for the successful completion of the fortress.

Weeks passed with nary a response to Odin’s entreaty. The land that had been cleared for the building of this fortress lay yet unbroken. Soon, murmurs of the gods’ limitations and shortcomings reached Odin’s ears. “Is there no one in all the realms astute and strong enough to ensure our kingdom’s safety?” He looked to Thor and Tyr, the mightiest of the gods, but neither knew the first thing about building a fortress.

“Strength, we have, but strength alone will not keep a fortress from falling,” Thor sadly admitted.

After Odin had all but given up, Heimdal entered the council chambers and approached the All-Father, a stranger in tow. “I present to you a builder,” Heimdal announced.

Odin smiled broadly. He rose from his throne and hurried across the marble floor to greet the stranger. “Welcome! You are a builder of castles?” Odin asked.

“Aye, I am a builder of strong towers that never topple.” The man raised a shirtsleeve to reveal muscles as hard as iron. “I heard you seek the construction of a fortress impenetrable to giants. I can build this for you.”

Odin took the stranger’s hand and wondered at the power of his grip. “Yes, good. How long would it take you to build our fortress?”

“Three seasons,” the builder said confidently.

“You have a large crew to help?” Odin asked.

The man surprised Odin by saying, “Just me. No one else is needed.” The man slapped his iron muscles. “I can deliver a fortress no giant could ever penetrate.”

Odin marveled that a single being could accomplish such a momentous task in less than one year. “This pleases me,” Odin said. “What do you wish for payment?”

The builder stroked his beard as if in thought. Then he said as if stumbling upon the idea suddenly, “Something of little consequence to one so great as you. I would have Freya, the beautiful and the mighty, as my wife and with her the sun and moon.”

Odin’s eyes narrowed. “This is a steep price. I must consult the gods.”

“Make haste. Enemies have a nasty habit of showing up when you least expect them.” The man followed Heimdal out of the room.

Odin called an emergency council meeting. The discussion was brief and unilaterally opposed to the stranger’s price. “Offer him gold, ten thousand head of our finest herds and flocks, and the most beautiful armor crafted by dwarves instead,” Thor demanded.

“Yes.” Frigg nodded vigorously. “You cannot send our treasured Freya to this stranger as payment for a fortress. I’d as soon give up Brisingamen or my falcon cloak.”

“Moreover, this stranger has also asked for our children Sol and Mani, who bring light and night to our world and Midgard. In this builder’s hands, our days and seasons would be at his whim.” Thor shook his head. “We cannot accept this offer.”

“Yet, we need the fortress,” Loki said. “The giants will stop at nothing to tear down our wall and smash our city to rubble. Is this not why we are building the fortress?”

The council members reluctantly nodded.

“What if we could have both our fortress and keep our sister Freya and our children, the sun and the moon?” Loki asked. “Would that not be the best of both worlds?”

Odin eyed Loki suspiciously. “What do you have in mind?”

“Let me manage the negotiation. I will make the conditions of our agreement such that the builder will not be able to fulfill his end and will forfeit his claim on his payment.” Loki grinned mendaciously.

“You mean for Freya, Sol, and Mani to be pawns in a bit of trickery?” Odin asked, head shaking with disapproval.

“No,” Frigg said.

“This builder isn’t playing fair,” Loki argued. “I am merely suggesting we give back in kind. Lure him to the bait and hook him before he knows he’s caught.”

Enough of the gods tentatively supported this plan that Odin grudgingly approved.

Odin summoned the builder to the council chamber, where the gods awaited. “Well,” the builder said, “do you accept the terms of my agreement?”

Odin and the others nodded. Speaking for the council, Loki said, “On one condition, of course.”

“Speak it,” the builder said.

“You must complete the fortress by the end of winter, and no one else may assist you,” Loki said.

“It can’t be done,” the builder said.

“You understand that we need the fortress now,” Odin added. “Yesterday, you reminded me of our urgency. We don’t know when our enemy will attack.”

The builder mulled over this new development before speaking. “If you let me have my horse, I will agree to your terms and try to complete the work by the end of winter.”

“If you don’t finish,” Loki added, “if even one stone remains unplaced by the first day of summer, you will not receive Freya’s hand or the sun and moon.”

The builder hesitated. “With my horse’s help, I accept.”

When Odin shook the builder’s hand, Mimir and the leader of the Valkyries stood as witnesses, and an uneasiness settled over the room. Freya quaked in her seat, Thor glared at Loki with distrust, and the heavens grew dim from fear as Sol and Mani trembled with worry. The gods would wait and see how this builder fared under the constraints of a seemingly impossible task.

The gods were surprised and dismayed when, after a day’s work, the builder and his horse had dragged all the rocks needed for the fortress, and the builder had begun piling them into place. Day by day, the fortress grew as rocks the size of mountains rendered the fortress thicker and stronger than any structure in the city. While the fortress began to resemble what the gods hoped for, the speed at which the builder completed the work denoted that he would likely meet his deadline.

Odin was furious with Loki. “How could you make such an agreement? Look what we stand to lose!” Odin paced the chamber, stopping at a window overlooking the growing fortress. “I’ve been watching the builder. It dawned on me that he was too strong to be Aesir. He is certainly not mortal—working night and day.” Another pause. “I believe he is a giant. You convinced us to make a binding contract with our enemy who, if he finishes the fortress on time, will take one of our own and have command of the light and dark.”

“How was I to know he was a giant?” Loki asked. Then he complained, “It’s that horse. He works twice as hard and much faster than the builder.”

Odin gripped Loki’s arm. “You...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 16.5.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Fantasy / Science Fiction ► Fantasy
• ISBN-13: 979-8-3178-0102-1 / 9798317801021