Fictioneers Conflict Prompt Writing Contest - A Giant Win

I am lucky enough to have found some great artists here on steemit in the week or so I've been here. But my luck wouldn't have been so great without the efforts of folks who put in the time and effort to make contests like this flourish. Thank you.

The prompt for this story's conflict: Man v God/Fate
Word Count incl Title: 496

I've been reading on steemit lately about silver minted coins, so I worked them into the storyline. Well, I tried to, anyway, but they ... well, you'll see.

Fictioneers Writing Contest here:
https://steemit.com/fiction/@jrhughes/fictioneers-writing-contest-150-sp-delegation-prize

Steem Silver Coin Update:
https://steemit.com/steemsilvergold/@phelimint/update-on-steem-silver-coin-round-design-winner-and-purchase-details-update

Image Credit: Stesha Warren http://steshawarren.com Used With Permission

A Giant Win

“Seriously, that’s what she said! ‘You will die on a bed of gold with those around you in complete despair.’ So yeah, I think this time we find it!”

“Because some old woman who happened to be your grandma says something so cryptic that it’s meaningless. She could mean you soiled your sheets and they ‘despaired’ at cleaning it up.”

“Laugh all you want! ‘Some things are not understood by man nor beast.’ Granny always believed that.“ Jack stopped climbing, looked down. “And you know how she was. Could talk the fire out of a third degree burn, if you believed it.”

The thing was, I’d seen her do exactly that. To my leg.

We climbed through the thick foliage for a few hours, stopped briefly to eat only when we reached the plateau. A thick fog lay across the land. We could see a castle a ways away, so we headed toward it.

“I can feel it!” Jack was almost running. It was like he’d never heard the story at all.

“Hey, Jack! Don’t you think we should be a little more cautious?” I was singularly aware of who lived at the top of the stalk.

“Don’t you get it, Johnny? Did you ever see her wrong?” Jack slowed his pace but kept moving forward with quick purposed steps. “I’ve always known I’d be rich. Can't you smell it? Two thousand silver coins!”

I remembered for a moment what she’d told me that day, when she caught us both smoking in the shallow ditch behind our house. After she sent Jack to his room with a bar of Lava in his mouth, she sent me down the road to my Mama.

“You’d best be your own man one day, or you’ll find yourself dead in another man’s greed! You won’t be able to hide then, boy!” His Granny had the strangest way of talking. I had no idea what she meant, but I never forgot.

Jack led the way and I followed. Our fears subsided a bit when the castle door turned out to be only slightly larger than normal, about eleven feet.

“See?” I could barely hear his whisper. “Giant-smyant. I’m going in.”

We opened the door, crept into the great hall. In the center was the treasure Jack sought: two thousand gold Steem coins spread out across a very large, low table. We were expecting silver coins. A giant win!

“Eurek-!” Jack cut his whisper-shout short as the giant walked into the room. Jack grabbed my shoulder, shoved me down beneath the table.

“I know you’re in here! Show yourself!” His words were eleven feet tall.

Jack didn’t flinch. He had Granny on his side. He leapt onto the table and laughed.

“I’ve come to claim what’s rightfully mine! I have the power of prophecy!”

The giant took two brisk steps across the room and clobbered Jack’s head. Jack fell to the gold, dead.

Remembering Granny’s words, I cowered below.