Sitting on a rock so enormous that you'd think it'd been broken off a mountain, they saw him. Big and powerful to behold, maybe two to three times Belili's size. Qingu's skin was dark grey-black; hair and beard, also grey, grew wildly, uncombed. He was wearing leather armour; it was aged, stiff and cracked. Above his knee lay a large crooked sabre. The blade was greyish dull. Around his neck, on a leather cord, hung three tablets without inscriptions. He looked old. He was, most of all, a sad sight. He sat so motionless that you might think he was a statue. But he was awake, and his eyes looked directly at Belili.

She stopped in front of him. She leaned on Belbarel with both hands on the hilt. She looked up at him composedly and said:

"Be greeted. If you are the guardian of this crossing, we request permission to pass."

Without answering, he stood up with his sabre slung over one shoulder and with a voice as deep and booming as one would expect from his size:

"Doth such a wretched scrap of mortal filth believe she may come hither and demand leave to cross?"

"I asked politely. Will you block our way?"

"What if I would?"

'Yes, what if he does,' thought Belili. And then: 'I can be fairly certain that he will.'

She had to carefully consider her response. He was a god—or at least, he had once been. Despite his towering size and grim exterior, however, he did not frighten her. She pondered what it must mean to have lived through millennia, stripped of power. To be condemned to a shadowy existence among unworthy, insignificant creatures. To inspire terror in passing travellers without feeling any true satisfaction from it. What a mockery of former greatness, what a tragedy. What bitterness it must have bred.

But they had to cross the bridge. She had to face the challenge, and she was convinced that she could overcome his resistance. She simply did not wish to humiliate him. So, she answered him politely.

"I have no desire to harm you—truly, I do not. But we have matters to attend to beyond this crossing, and, to speak plainly, if necessary, we shall force our passage through."

She said it calmly and plainly. Where she got her confidence from, she didn't know, but she never for a moment doubted her strength. Besides, they were within their right to pass, she argued to herself. Yuxo looked on curiously and appreciatively. He obviously saw no reason to take action.

"How darest thou!" The giant was furious now. First, he grew like reaching for the sky. Then he dwindled. His eyes became a muddy green in green. He lifted his sabre slowly and with an effort.

Belili's sword, for her part, started to glow a bright green. She moved it in a sweeping motion from side to side while her left hand made a rapid upward motion. Instantly, the sun broke out, and plant growth squirmed up from the rocky ground around the giant's legs, causing him momentarily to lose balance. He didn't fall but dropped the sabre as he grasped in the thin air with his hands.

"Thou shalt not dare to wield thy sorcery against me, mortal witch!" he thundered, his voice a deep, rasping boom. "Knowest thou not who I am? I am the mighty Qingu, he who smote the rebel uprising!"

Despite his boastful demeanour, Belili sensed he was as much trying to convince himself. What had thousands and thousands of years done to him? How often had he had to face that he was losing all impact on the world of the living?

"I know exactly who you are, and I have heard a different account. Consider me unimpressed."

He bent down and narrowed his eyes as he looked at her.

"Thou must needs understand that in opposing me, thou dost meddle with thine own fate. I am the bearer of the Tablets of Destiny, and thy future lieth wholly within my grasp."

"Spare me your talk of destiny," Belili said wearily. "And, by the way, your tablets are blank. Could it be that you have lost the original ones?"

Such taunting he could not sit unheeded; it caused him to fly into a rage. Yuxo was alert this time, ready to defend Belili. But a bolt of lightning from the tip of Belbarel struck the giant in the chest. At the same time, a movement of Belili's left hand sent his sabre flying out of his reach.

Belili took a step closer. She grew to the same size as Qingu, and she held his gaze.

"How dare you!" she thundered. "How dare you show such disrespect to Ishis' Chosen One?"

She cast a shadow over the ageing god, and her eyes shone. He looked at her in awe.

"Pardon me," he said. He fell to his knees and bowed his head. "For I knew not what thou wert.

"I cannot pardon you. You were already pardoned aeons ago. Now, leave us be and let us pass."