The Angkhora Warriors

Part 3: Secret

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Sriga whispered, gesturing to Dinda to be as quiet as possible. Dinda nodded back repeatedly. Yes, yes.

The Giant they were watching had turned suspicious and was sniffing into the air, trying to smell for the human and asura. Dinda thought the Giant was acting a little strange, he looked frenetic and traumatized and it sounded like he was crying.

She ducked her head lower and took a step back, but her foot landed on a branch, letting out a sharp crack into the still air.

Oh No.

The Giant turned and looked at the stone where Sriga and Dinda had been hiding and her heart sank to her stomach. Sriga lifted his finger to his lips, gesturing to Dinda not to panic. The Giant walked slowly toward the stone, sniffing as the scent got stronger, and he picked up his pace until he was running toward the stone.

"Ruuun!" Sriga screamed.

Sriga darted out from the stone to distract the giant. He leaped onto the nearest tree and ran up its trunk, hiding in its thick leaves. The Giant grabbed the tree trunk and uprooted it effortlessly, like uprooting a carrot from the ground. He peered into the leaves and shook it. Nothing dropped out. He uprooted another tree and shook it violently. Sriga managed to leap out and land on another tree. The Giant lifted his leg and stomped down on the tree, crushing it into pieces. But Sriga had already managed to elude the massive beast, jumping onto the next tree. He ran on all fours along a high branch and quickly leapt again into yet another tree, leading the giant away from Dinda.

With a booming roar, the Giant rampaged through the forest, knocking down rows of trees, carving a path in his wake, and the whole forest tremored with his thumping steps, the birds panicking and flying away.

Dinda ran the opposite direction, looking back every few steps to see whether Sriga was safe. After some time, Sriga and the Giant were both out of sight. She hid behind another large stone and waited for Sriga to find her. She could feel the tremors getting fainter.

Eventually, the thundering steps stopped. She looked up from the stone but Sriga was nowhere in sight. She sat back in her chosen hiding place and waited, pulling out her dagger and examining it, wondering how she would have used it against the giant. The ankle? The shin? The knee? She swung it lightly and pretended to have stabbed the giant.

"Yup, that's how you do it," a voice came from above. "You would have to run up him and stab him in the eye though." Sriga chuckled, hanging upside down from a branch.

Dinda looked up. "Sriga!" she exclaimed with relief, joy in her voice.

Sriga summersaulted before landing gracefully in front of her. She rushed forward and hugged her friend. Sriga sank into Dinda's arms, but when he started wrapping his arms around her cautiously, she quickly pulled away, turned around, and pointed, stating, "That way!" and started walking in the direction she had indicated. Looking over her shoulder, she saw Sriga frown, but he decided to follow.

After walking a distance in silence, Sriga quipped, "That was a baby."

"What....?" Dinda was stunned.

"Yeah, he's just a baby. Something must have happened to his Mama." Sriga opined.

"What?" she repeated, still in shock at the thought. "How big is the Mama?" she looked at Sriga with wide eyes.

"As tall as the mountain." Sriga pointed to the mountain in the horizon. "Halfway reaching the SkyOcean."

Dinda's eyes widened even more. "So, what happened to his Mama?"