Gauntlet

Sitting in silence, the dark walls around him were unkind and unfamiliar. Lost from the outside world, he waited in his chains. Costume jewelry is how Hyde thought of the metal links that were meant to bind him.

If he could break them accidentally, then that wasn’t saying much about their fortitude. Hyde spent most days meditating, only opening his eyes when the gruel they tried to feed him slipped through the bars, they would often try to offer him slivers of meat the first few days as some strange sign of generosity to a kidnapped monster forced into a tiny cell, but the flesh went untouched, not as a sign of rebellion against the Capital’s gracious offering, but simply because Hyde didn’t like eating meat, he never had, and in the forest when he became friends with almost every animal, it was clear he had chosen the right path.

When he could eat, he did so by the flame of a flickering candle stretching to the end of a long hallway, but with his legs crossed, his eyes closed, and the silence the jail allowed, he found himself home, in the forest where he belonged. As he knew full well the only remnants of his woods were in his mind, the rage that swirled within his being was insurmountable, but contained by breathing. It was honed like any great weapon.

CRASH!

Taken out of his enclosed serenity, Hyde looked to see shadowy figures of men clanking in armor, rushing and running in every direction, trying to find their posts or personal safety. Hyde wasn’t sure what the sound that scared the soldiers was, but his imagination wandered as he remembered an old research paper he’d read as a boy.

‘Man must learn from the giants, as smart as we are to melt iron into shells and explode the barrels of flint locked pistols to kill others’ loved ones, we must stop to consider the genius of the stupidest race that walks this earth.

’Never once has a giant been reported of killing anything unprovoked, and in many cases, even provoked, these mountainous creatures never aim to harm but to stop their attacker from doing more harm, or harming others, as dissecting their massive brains will show a mirror image to ours except for their temporal lobe, being extremely larger than any other part of their mind.

‘Which is why the fear of man is such a shame, as I write this paper today, humanity has wiped the last giant off the face of the earth, before ever being able to learn their ways of patience and insurmountable love.’

With a sigh, Hyde had often wished he could have met that last giant, they probably would have been good friends. Thinking about it more, he realized they might even have more in common than what the eye could see, as the fear cursing man’s mind often drove them to commit incredibly heinous acts. Hyde knew from the scars that lay under his leathery exterior—scars of fear left by other men who didn’t understand that he didn’t want to hurt them.

After watching the last shadowy figure of a guard trip and fall, it was clear now that the time Hyde had been waiting for was soon upon him, the chance to make his great escape.

Flexing his biceps and chest to expand the chains that lapped his torso, it felt like only licorice candy ropes had been knotted across his body as links snapped and the whole bundle of steel plummeted to his feet.

Standing to gain his composure, he reached back, punching out the lock to his metal bars, he forced the metal to snap as its hot shards gave way to his force, now simply rolling on their hinges as he stepped beyond the bars.

Hyde’s locksmithing didn’t seem to alert anyone compared to the thunderous smash outside, and as he finally stepped down the long hallway his eyes had only ever wandered down before, he was soon greeted by more movement.

The trembling of terrified men, clanking and tinging as they were moved to shake from fear that the impenetrable beast had so easy left his kennel. But it was not as if Hyde was snarling, foaming at the mouth and thirsting for blood, he just stood on the other side of the tight squeeze most men called a doorway.

But the three men held their ground, one seemed to have a muscle spasm as he screamed and lunged forward, the blade of his spear only puncturing halfway into Hyde’s bark-like armor. The man’s arms now struggled to make any headway for driving his weapon further or pulling it from whatever stone in Hyde’s side that caught it.

Pinching at the tip, Hyde extracted the spear, denting its shaft as he dropped it to the ground, not acknowledging the men as he walked past, his current goal was only to find fresh air as he missed it so.

The guard who was left spearless was understandably petrified as his only duty had been floundered, and he was left to question his existence if he could so easily be bypassed. But one of the other two seemed to retain his wits if only for a moment, reaching near the entryway of the cell and clanging a large metal bell that hung from a rope.

“THE CREATURE HAS ESCAPED, ALERT, THE CREATURE HAS ESCAPED!” the man yelled.

Looking back at the man, Hyde furrowed his brow, upset at his choice of words, but the lack of any exposed hair on his body made it hard for him to convey his emotions as Hyde was sure his face was just a mosaic of cracked skin with eyes and teeth roughly where they were meant to be.

But it would seem he would soon find one other who would have no problem understanding his body language. As Hyde pressed himself through another tight stone doorway, he was at last gifted the breath of fresh air he craved as open arches were left in the frame of the castle letting in the crisp spring air.

But amongst his many fresh breaths, a coppery, putrid, union-based odor soon crept its way past his chipped nostrils. Hyde was certain he had entered a maids washing quarters, with many unwashed undergarments, but instead of a busy employee, washing their fingers to the bone, thumping feet soon made their way from behind another wall, through a much larger entryway came an interesting sight.

“How does freedom feel, little man?” the deepest voice Hyde had ever heard bellowed out of the seventeen-foot tall figure standing before him.

“Are you asking because you have never known life outside these castle walls?”

“I get life handed to me on a silver platter, don’t you worry about that” the small giant contested.

“Do they just keep their prize pony groomed and fed like a pet project?”

“For races just like this I’d image,” the small giant yelled across the room as he charged, his massive feet denting the brick floors as he ran, Hyde braced himself with a wide stance, crouching so he was positioned even lower on his titan’s body. As he came within reach, Hyde took one of the massive legs mid-step, forcing the pillar of flesh and bone back and up—as most of the giant’s weight rested on his shoulders—for only a moment as the momentum of the giant’s massive frame had gathered and soon brought him into the wall behind Hyde.

Knocking every brick down in a cloud of dust, the giant rose, wiping silt from his shoulders, a large grin splintering from his round face as he approached much slower, walking casually with his fists raised like a boxer.

“So, bark boy knows a few moves,” the giant said, taunting Hyde as he shadowboxed the air in front of him playfully as if he was excited to finally have someone challenge him. Hyde took the opening he saw as he went for a jab—right for his protruding gut. Not knocking a gush of wind from his lungs but instead forcing his hand to now clock Hyde upside his head, causing him to stagger as he regained his stance.

The giant’s knuckles now bleeding from such hard contact with Hyde’s skin, his face winced as he shook his massive mitt, “Tough cookie, aren’t ya?” the giant joked as he too resumed his form and continued his assault, reaching back his left hand for a devastating southpaw. But Hyde saw right through his sluggish movements, sidestepping the punch and unleashing his own fist, connecting just under the giant’s jaw, making another flesh wound seep blood from his clean-shaven throat.

Spitting a loose tooth out with a swig of blood, the giant growled, “I have never lost a sparring match and I don’t plan to start now.” The giant lunged, striking back faster, square on Hyde’s forehead, but again, Hyde anticipated as he headbutted the rhino-sized knuckles coming for him.

Which of course resulted in both fighters inflicting tremendous pain, but Hyde was sure he heard a snap in the big man’s finger. Shaking the stars off, Hyde let loose a flurry of fists, five fierce wallops to the giant’s chest, that tore his custom-made clothing to tatters.

Giving the giant space to see if he had enough, Hyde backed off, his heel hitting the back of the wall that opened to the stone archway windows. The tower looking down from the heavens, it would seem so high up. But as Hyde looked back, expecting to see the crumpled giant waving a white flag to surrender, he saw the same charge the giant greeted him with before, but much lower so it couldn’t be reversed and too quick to be dodged.