[Half/Time 01] Half Upon a Time by James Riley Page A

huge body in the distance. “Maybe you’re done now and can go home.”
    “Unfortunately, no,” the prince said. “I had a chance to converse with this giant over the last five days. He was not the one for whom I search.”
    “Yet you killed him anyway,” Jack said. “How noble of you.”
    “That thing
ate
you!” May said to Jack, who just shrugged that off.
    “All giants deserve death,” Phillip said matter-of-factly. “The more I slay, the less there are to devastate the world. My quest only benefits mankind.”
    “That’s nice of you,” May said.
    “Oh, come
on
,” Jack said, but he had a difficult time being appropriately indignant, given that the giant
had
tried to eat him.
    “So, the Black Forest, eh?” Phillip said, though he didn’t seem too enthused over the prospect.
    “Do you know where it is?” May asked him.
    “Of course!” he said expansively. “It is no more than a day’s travel from here. We should perhaps wait out the rest of the day here, then get a fresh start in the morning.”
    Jack’s stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly. May looked at Jack, then smiled at Phillip. “We’re both a little hungry,” she admitted.
    “Say no more,” the prince said, reaching for his traveling bag. “I never leave home without preparing.”
    He untied the bag, then upended it over a blanket he set on the ground. Fruits of varying sizes and shapes tumbled from the sack as he shook it, all looking as fresh as if they had just been picked from the tree or vine. Next came bread, followed by several round cheeses. It was as if the previously thin-looking bag was now overflowing with food.
    May’s eyes widened. “A magic food bag!” she shouted, grabbing for an orange. “
Sweet!
Ours is only magically roomy.”
    The prince smiled with a royal smugness. “Please,” he said, “eat all you can. The bag cannot be emptied. It was one of my father’s rewards for his giant-slaying.”
    May tore into the orange, then proceeded to stuff her face with bread and cheese. Jack marveled for a brief moment at her feeding frenzy, then threw himself on the food with even more enthusiasm than the princess was showing. The prince seemed a little taken aback by the display in front of him, especially when half a peach landed on his shoe. May reached over to grab it back, glanced at the prince, blushed, and let it go.
    “I see that you are quite hungry,” the prince said, sounding a bit sick now.
    “Yup,” Jack responded through a mouthful. “We haven’t eaten for a while.”
    “Oh, my friend,” the prince said, shaking his head. “How could you take this beautiful young woman out into the wilds without proper provisions?”
    May looked up, her face covered with seeds and fruit juices. “We haven’t really slowed down enough to eat.”
    The prince nodded. “Such is life at times. Still, anything that I have, consider it yours.”
    May dropped a plum. “That’s so nice!” she said, her eyes soft as she looked at him, purple juices running down her chin.
    “I will do my best to live up to your trust,” the prince said, for once not interested in staring at her. “Do you know what we are looking for at the edge of the Black Forest?” he asked, moving his gaze to the sky.
    Jack and May both shook their heads. “My grandmother just said there would be someone in the forest to help,” May said through a mouthful of a tasty deep-brown bread.
    The prince raised an eyebrow. “Someone
in
the forest? But that does not make sense, Princess. Nothing lives within the Black Forest. And no man that travels into the accursed place emerges alive. Why, everyone knows that!”

Chapter 17
    May chewed twice more before Phillip’s statement hit her. After it did, Jack had to dodge bits of flying bread. “
What
was that again?” she said.
    “Nothing lives in the Black Forest,” Phillip repeated. “And no man has ever emerged alive from its depths.”
    May turned to Jack. “What’s he talking