“Those stones reminded me of a story,” Crier said, coming up to stand beside Ayla. “It’s about giants who turn to stone in the sunlight and only awaken at night. As soon as the sun sets, they can move around and do whatever it is giants do. But they are most vulnerable in those moments of transition from stone to flesh, and therefore it is forbidden to enter their territory during sunset.”

Skin prickling, Ayla tried to focus on the story. The cadence of Crier’s voice.

“Wherever they stand as stones, the giants leave big craters behind. And there’s a rumor among the people of a nearby village that the giants’ craters are filled with gold and precious gems. One day, a man from the village sneaks into the mountains at sunset and watches the giants awaken. Darkness falls, and he hurries down to see the craters they left behind. Sure enough, each crater is filled with the giants’ treasure: piles and piles of gold and precious gems, items shimmering with magick, tapestries woven from the finest, most delicate thread . . . enough treasure to make everyone in the man’s village, and the next six villages, fabulously wealthy for the rest of their lives. But the man isn’t thinking about the people of his village. He is thinking only of himself. He fills his knapsack with gold, but it’s not enough. He pours gold coins into his pockets, his boots, his hat. Overcome with greed, he loses track of time.” Crier’s storytelling voice was hushed, as if she wasn’t just recounting the story, she was there, watching it play out before her eyes, taking care not to disturb the players.

“Go on,” Ayla said. Dinara and her right hand, Fen, were bent over the compass, conferring in whispers. The others were taking the time to drink from their waterskins, shake pebbles from their shoes.

“Suddenly, the man realizes the sky is beginning to lighten. Sunrise is coming, and with it, the giants will return and settle back into their craters. Giants are creatures of habit, you see. More than that, their bodies form the topography of the mountains. If they moved to a new place each night, it would change the landscape entirely. Maps would be useless. Travelers would become hopelessly lost. So the giants always return to the same craters. The man knows he has only minutes before a giant the size of a house settles back into this crater and crushes him. Terrified, he tries to climb back up the crater wall. But, as you’ll recall, his knapsack and pockets and boots and hat are filled with gold. And gold is very heavy.

“He begins to panic. He keeps trying to climb out, but he cannot lift his own weight. The obvious solution is to leave the gold behind, but the man has become blinded by his own greed. The idea of leaving the gold behind is preposterous. He won’t do it. He’d rather die. So the sun begins to rise, and he hears the giants returning. It sounds like an avalanche, their footsteps shaking the earth. And the man keeps trying to climb. He can see the giants now. He can see them finding their craters, settling in, the first rays of sunlight turning their skin to stone. And he keeps trying to save himself without sacrificing a single stolen coin.”