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He crushed his tusks through solid bone, already cracked and weakened by his earlier attack.
The jötunn howled as he stumbled, trying to find his balance while gulping for breath.
The human soldiers scattered as fast as they could, trying to avoid the giant’s crushing feet.
Kai rushed at his ankle again, bashing it in with his thorned tail this time and swiping in rapid succession with the sharp tips of his wings. Then, he followed that up with a torrent of dragon fire.
Finally, the Frost Giant fell, the resounding thud making nearby mountains tremble and the earth crack and crater beneath him.
The humans scrambled to get out of his way, scrabbling to avoid falling into fissures in the earth that widened into canyons.
Still, the giant tried to get up, his hands finally able to tear the ropes from around his neck. Two arms levering to push him out of his body-sized pit.
That was when Eir noticed a rumbling hum. It radiated from Kai’s body, vibrating the thick, hard scales beneath her, until the land itself seemed to sing with him.
Rocks and trees began to move, falling and rolling into the giant’s pit on top of him.
The more he tried to claw his way out, the more the earth worked against him. The pit splitting deeper, the earth crumbling when he tried to grasp onto it.
The humming grew, not louder but more resonant, rolling across the land like thunder.
A song of earth, Eir realized.
Kai was unleashing his true powers and harnessing the energy all around him to aid in this battle.
The earth obliged, breaking apart and coming together in sync with his will, but also its own will.
Boulders didn’t fly. They rolled into the pit on top of the dazed and wounded jötunn. Trees didn’t leap from the ground, but their roots wove like manacles to trap the giant within them.
Now, Kai stood over the jötunn’s pit, humming deeper, head bowed, eyes closed. The Valkyries landed on hills and rock facings nearby, surrounding them like sentinels, watching. The humans stood several steps behind him, awed and astounded by what they were seeing.
The jötunn flailed and twisted, trying to free himself. But the thick vines only doubled with each one he broke. The rocks that buried him grew heavier with each layer.
Until finally, he was covered entirely under fifty feet of earth and stone, and tree roots shot through his flesh and became his very sinew. Soil and rocks shifted tighter together until not even a hairline crack remained.
Almost instantly, the air cleared of ice and snow, and the dark clouds parted overhead.
Sorin, Ere and the rest of the villagers rushed up to surround the land beneath which the giant was buried.
“Is he gone?” Ere asked. “We didn’t even get to light the moat.”
Kai rolled one dragon eye toward his brother in a speaking glance. Eir did the same.
“Not that I mind, of course,” Ere hastily added.
“Disaster averted without my having to lift a finger is always a win. Good job, and all that.”
He patted Kai on the snout, while the dragon shook off his touch impatiently. But not before a long, pink tongue darted out to slurp a wet path down Ere’s face and neck.
“Yuck! Dragon breath!”
Kai chuckled evilly in deep, body-shaking huffs.
And Eir couldn’t help but smile.
“Will he be back?” One of the villagers asked, looking uncertainly down at the cold, hard ground.
