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Pushing Past


         The knight quickly scanned his immediate surrounding area for the strongest vine he could find.  He found a beautifully thick one a few feet to the right of where he was standing.
         He turned his head back to the giant just in time to see his massive arms coming down in another tremendous attack.  With sword in hand, he jumped out of the way just in time.  The reverberation from the blow caused him to lose his footing, but the warrior jumped up as quick as he could and sprinted toward the vine.
         He grabbed it, and without missing a step, turned toward Alteus and began running toward the son of earth.  Alteus was readying his tentacles again, but just before they shot out the earth shook.
         The knight was surprised.  He hadn’t expected this tactic, but almost instinctively he leapt into the air to avoid losing his balance.  When he landed, he took the thick vine and ran with the free end of it around Alteus, so that it circled loosely around the giant’s midsection. 
         A few paces before him, the warrior saw a heavy rock.  He silently thanked the gods, because he hadn’t thought of what he would do when he got to this point.  Instead, he ran to the rock and lifted it as quickly as he could, placing the free end of the vine underneath it.  Then he let the rock come down and pulled at the plant to make sure it would hold.
         Alteus had turned to face the knight again; it’s back to the big tree.  It was quicker this time.  The giant was extremely frustrated, and the warrior could feel its anger rumbling underneath the surface of the misty earth.  It wasn’t going to be holding back.  That was just fine, because the warrior had no intention of holding back either.
         The young hero held up his sword and slowly broke into a charge.  Alteus set loose the vines.  They were coming at the young knight with a blinding speed.  It took all his focus to deflect one, slice another, but there were too many.  Swinging wildly kept the tentacles from his upper body, but his waist and legs were already entangled, and he was slowly being dragged toward Alteus.
         The knight was directly in front of the giant when he was brought to halt.  Alteus’s empty eye sockets ignited with the flame from his midsection, and he raised his massive arms in preparation to crush his opponent.  If the knight’s plan was to work, now was the time to act.
         With a mighty swing, the knight sliced through one of the Alteus’s legs.  The vines immediately set him loose, and it was obvious that Alteus was in incredible pain.  The knight didn’t hesitate, he readied his blade and the arc of his swing came around again, severing the other leg.  With nothing steadying it, the giant began toppling forward to the ground. 
         As quick as a flash, the knight pulled the vine free from under the rock and began sprinting towards the massive tree, where the other end was secure high up in the branches.  The momentum of the knight’s running and pulling flung the torso of Alteus up against the wide trunk of the expansive tree.  The knight ran around that great trunk in circle after circle, securing Alteus’s body to it.  Once he’d finished, he tied the loose end of the vine he held to one of the lower branches of the tree.
         Alteus was wriggling under the vine.  Already the giant’s body was attaching itself to the tree, trying to draw strength from it the knight suspected.  It wouldn’t get the chance to finish.
         The stalwart warrior drew his sword, and with a battle cry he thrust the sword into the chest of Alteus the earth giant, driving it in to the hilt.  The flame that burned inside the chest of Alteus died out, and its body went limp.  It had been defeated.
         The knight went to his knees, the exhaustion of everything he’d done catching up with him.  He breathed in deep.  The wind blew past him, and he could hear the princess’s voice faintly calling out for help.  At that moment, he wanted desperately to rest.  But he came to this island to find her, and saving her was all that mattered. 
         Wearily, he stood up.  It took great effort, but he pulled his sword free of the tree.  The corpse of Alteus was held firm by the vine.  The knight looked down at himself.  What once used to be a white under-tunic had become stained dark green and brown with the effort of his toil against the earth giant.  A breeze blew past him, carrying upon it faint cries for help from the Princess Cecily.  Slowly, the young hero walked in the direction the wind led him, the sun setting slowly in the distance.

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