CHAPTER 31

  SOLOM’S RANDSOM

  It was in the late years of his life that the great giant King Gayant ensured years of peace. He had built an alliance with kings throughout Europe and had created an atmosphere of peace in the region. He was celebrated by local lore as being a heaven-sent guardian of all the races of the earth, including both man and giant.

  Many of the kings and lords paid their respects to Gayant in his great castle, Mount Fillon. From as far away as Asia and Africa, visiting dignitaries offered gifts as symbols of gratitude. What they gave was offered freely, and what they received was protection.

  When King Gayant died, the giant kingdom was destined to live without the rule of another leader. It was King Solom from a neighboring kingdom who would change the course of history for the giants forever.

  Solom, driven by his lust for the riches the giant kingdom possessed, began to plot against them. Solom also knew his kingdom was in no position to withstand a giant invasion. If the giants chose war, they could easily invade his kingdom, and nothing would be able to stop them. Fear ruled Solomon’s thoughts long before ambition did.

  Solom decided that to protect his kingdom, he must destroy the lands of the giants. He was a ruthless king who feared not just the neighboring giants but his own people. He had lived his entire life in fear, and now it was governing him. From that fear, he devised a plan to wipe out the entire race of giants. His lust for treasure only sharpened his determination.

  Solom’s plan was known as “The King’s Ransom.”

  The campaign against the giants was to create fear in the people and promote the idea that giants were savages. They were now uncontrollable, now that Gayant was dead. His own people spread lies across the kingdoms of Europe. There would be no controlling the savage barbarians any longer without the great Gayant, and soon they would be thirsty for new land and new blood. Solom’s people pressed to build an alliance of kingdom solidarity against the giants.

  During his short reign, King Solom wove a web of armies in the north and south. He promised heavy rewards for any kingdom that crippled giant forces in their region. Greed was his currency. Solom convinced rulers that destroying the giants would ensure their own survival and expansion. Fear-mongering was his greatest weapon.

  On his travels, Solom told stories of the great throne room and the accumulated riches stored there. He decreed that any man or any army that killed a giant warrior would receive riches of his own. The ransom spread quickly. Soon, every knight, warrior, and farmer were consumed with capturing a giant and claiming a prize. Kings and lords sent armies of warriors and knights in pursuit of wealth. The giants’ allies vanished one by one.

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  Soon, giants were falling victim to the king’s ransom.

  Gayant’s kingdom was raided without warning or just cause by the armies that Solom had pieced together. The peaceful kingdom that Gayant and the Twin Kings had built was dismantled. Giants were beheaded, burned alive, and butchered in the fields. Though they fought back, years of peace had dulled their readiness for war. They had become lazy and content with their peaceful way of life. Valleys filled with bodies. Rivers ran with blood.

  Death was not limited to just giant warriors. No giant life was being spared. Giant women and children were shown no mercy. “A giant is a giant, and every giant is worth one more than a piece of gold,” became the cry of armies. Even infants were cut apart as proof of death.

  Bodies were left in crop fields and burned. Fires raged out of control. Giant villages all over the kingdom were raging infernos. The smoke was so thick that day and night were indistinguishable. With so many dead and their lands laid to waste, the giants began to flee. Some migrated north, others to Asia or the British Isles. They fled desperately anywhere they could.

  Mount Fillon, nestled in the greenest valley, was besieged. Solom’s army captured Gayant’s castle and all of his riches. Once secure, Solom rode in on his black horse, sword in hand, and claimed the castle as his throne. He sat on the giant throne not in peace, but with division. From the great hall, Solom decided the reward for every death.

  For the limb of a baby, a few pieces of gold.

  For the head of a warrior, any single treasure in the castle.

  For kings whose armies slaughtered hundreds,

  Solom kept the finest prizes for himself. From the diamond that sat in the center of the great hall table to the majority of the gold. Legend claims he removed the crown jewels from Gayant’s own dead queen and princess Fillon. To this day, those ancient relics have never been found.

  When the killing finally ended, armies ransacked what remained. Nothing was left untouched. The castle was torn down. Solom wanted to erase all remnants of the giant kingdom from history.

  Shortly after, one of the hardest winters in history fell upon the lad. Snow covered the dead giants left in the fields. Their frozen remains reshaped the landscape, forming hills, valleys, and mountains across Europe.”

  “Grandpa,” I asked, “were all the giants dead?”

  “No,” Grandpa Jack said. “But it was the last time in their history that they stood as a unified people. After the Middle Ages, giants live on only in legend and scattered sightings.”

  Darby asked, “What became of Solom?”

  “In the end, the fear and greed of Solom would turn against him. The warring kingdoms of Europe turned on each other. Soon, Solom found his kingdom under attack. Many of his own men had pledged alliances to other kings for even greater rewards. His own men turned against him, and his kingdom was dismantled much like the giant kingdom to the north.”

  “Where did the giants go?” I asked.

  “While there is no formal history of them as a mighty unified people, there are many instances of giants beyond the Middle Ages being spotted all over the world.”

  “Even here,” I asked.

  “What I need to tell you next,” he said, “connects directly to what was happening to your grandmother and me in France. And to my own unfinished quest.”