Tales of
Myth and Legend
Part 1 –
Prologue
By
Richard C.H. Davies
Warning
this story contains: Giantess witch, fantasy fiction, Shrunken Man, Shrunken
Women, giantess, kidnap, giant woman lick, soft vore, naked giantess, chase,
hard vore, human to animal transformation
"Dammit!" Kat shouted
out as she stepped into a boggy puddle with a wet squelch. Her foot carried on
sinking, she didn't know how deep it was going to go.
It caused her to stumble and fall
forwards. She managed to brace her fall with her elbows, they bore the brunt of
the muddy ground. She landed with a grunt.
"Are you okay?"
Michelle and Tanya rushed to her side, but taking care to skirt their way
around the boggy ground.
Peter huffed at the side and
crossed his arms. He was completely caked in mud as well.
They were surrounded by craggy
and twisted trees, with huge trunks. The bark of the trees was thick and wavy,
the roots that bore out to the sides were also thick and intrusive, causing
many trip hazards.
They were following an animal
track through the wood, perhaps used by deer or other woodland livestock.
The trees reached up into the
sky, tall and spreading out into a dense canopy. The wind caused the multitude
of branches to waggle wildly in the wind and the leaves to rustle
menacingly.
"I'm not getting you out
again. Get yourself out," he complained.
The ladies all looked up at him
with slow grim looks and then all focused back on trying to help Kat crawl out
of the boggy ground.
The two ladies grabbed Kat under
her armpits and gripped her forearms and dug their heels into the muddy ground
and pulled. Visibly and audibly straining to pull her out.
There was a very loud squelching
and sucking sound as her leg and boot started to ease out of the puddle.
Suddenly she was released and
they all stumbled and landed in a muddy heap together.
"Oh, fuck it!" Katie
shouted out, looking at her foot, her sock was half off and the boot was
missing.
"My boot got left in the
bog!"
"Oh, for god’s sake,"
Rich commented as he approached, returning from his spot at the front of the
trail that they had been walking.
"What's the hold up?"
Neil asked, following Rich.
"The girls have got caught
in the mud… again," Rich stated bluntly, rolling his eyes.
Peter huffed again.
"I don't know what you're
complaining about you've both got caught in the mud too!" Tanya spat out
at them, as she tried to wipe the mud away from her knees, it just smeared the
fudge textured mud across her trousers even more.
Kat managed to retrieve her boot
from the boggy ground, but looked at it forlornly. It was completely covered in
mud. She smacked it against the side of the nearest tree to try and clear it of
mud.
"Fuck’s sake!" She
shouted out, pulling the boot onto her foot. "We're definitely lost
now!" Kat growled towards Peter, Rich and Neil. "You mugs have got us
all lost well away from the trail,"
"I don't see you
navigating!" Neil responded bitterly.
"Bit late now," Tanya
replied, "the horse has bolted… short cut my arse, this route is more like
a long cut," she kicked at a stick that was crossing the path.
"And it's getting
dark," Michelle noted nervously.
"You've taken us well off
the trail. We should head back," Kat demanded.
"We're not heading back.
We've gone too far," Rich stated.
"I agree with Kat, we should
head back," Tanya nodded.
"Has anyone noticed it's
getting dark?" Michelle commented, nobody acknowledged her.
"Come on, just a bit
further," said Neil. "I feel like we are nearly through this wood
now."
They all looked around
themselves. It was just a dense wall of trees and mud as far as the eye could
see.
"I remain to be
convinced," Tanya put her hands on her hips.
"We can't split up, it's not
safe, so shall we take a vote?" Peter asked.
"All in favour of carrying
on with Neil's route," all three men put their hands in the air, as did
Michelle.
"Michelle," Tanya
glowered scoldingly at Michelle.
"It's getting dark… besides
if it was a split vote, it wouldn't do us any good, we need to get out of this
place. It's spooky." Michelle shivered.
"Come on let's just get
moving again, I'm getting cold," Kat trudged forwards a few steps, her
muddy boot squelching loudly. Her shoulders slumped in resignation.
Neil shouldered his way through
some branches and took his position at the front of the group. Michelle and
Tanya trudged along at the bag.
Michelle held her own arms in a
close embrace, looking around nervously.
A loud and sharp squawk from
above made them all jump out of their skins. They all looked up and saw a jet-black
crow looking down at them with discerning beady eyes.
The crow squawked again and
ruffled its feathers.
"Shoo!" Tanya waved her
arms and jumped up and down. The crow just blinked and looked down its beak at
them.
"Horrid creature,"
Michelle commented.
"Come on, keep moving,"
Peter broke the silence. The growing darkness was causing them all to get a bit
jumpy and the crow hadn't helped.
They continued walking through
the wood, the darkness crept in like the change in the tide of the sea.
Rich cracked a glowstick and
hooked it on the back of his large backpack. He cracked another and hung it off
his belt.
The others copied him.
Neil paused and brought out his
map and compass to try and get a bearing. It was difficult without any
landmarks. Their GPS and signal on their phones had stopped working several
hours ago.
Neil peered down at his compass
in disbelief. He gave it a shake and then held it out again.
Everyone crowded round him. With
their large backpacks and hats on they all looked like a gang of ninja
turtles.
Rich pulled out an energy bar and
started chomping down on it.
They all closed around
Neil.
"This compass isn't working.
Can I try someone else's?"
Tanya and Rich both brandished
their compasses. Rich passed his to Neil, Tanya looked down at hers and double
took her look at it. The compass was spinning in circles, quite fast.
Rich's and Neil's were all doing
the same.
"We must be standing on or
near something with a magnetic field," she commented and started walking
in the direction they had been heading.
They could see her face glowing
eerily from the glowstick dangling across her chest.
They all started walking behind
her. The darkness intruded further. There was no longer much natural
light.
Fluttering of wings could be
heard above them.
The crow squawked again.
"Shouldn't you be asleep by
now?" Peter shouted up at the bird. It was night time. A check of the
watch said it was 9pm.
He threw a stick up at the
bird.
The bird flapped and complained
noisily and hopped to another branch and then leaned forwards, clutching to its
branch and squawked down at them again. The squawk was louder than before and
more belligerent.
"My compass is still
screwed," Tanya commented after ten minutes of walking.
"Mine too," Neil said.
"And I can't see shit ahead of me. I can't tell if I'm going to step in
any boggy ground."
"Shall we make camp?"
Kat asked from the back. "My clothes and socks are sodden. We could make a
fire,"
"Good idea but let's keep
going," Neil replied.
"I think she might be
right," Tanya replied. "Without our compass and any landmarks to
guide us we could be going in circles.
"Okay I've got an
idea," Rich replied, ever the innovator. He pulled out another glowstick,
cracked it to release the chemical reaction creating a thin tube of fluorescent
light and he hung it on a low hanging branch.
"If we see this again then
we are walking in circles…"
"Okay let's go," they
walked on for another ten minutes. Through the pitch-black wood.
All of them stumbled over a root
or a fallen branch at some point, causing them to swear every time; and
sometimes even fall in the mud.
"Hey look there's
light!" Neil pointed ahead of them. The light was swaying from side to
side as if someone was walking. "HEY!" He cupped his hands around his
mouth and called out.
A cloud of mist billowed out from
his mouth. It was suddenly getting colder; the temperature change was
noticeable.
Neil tramped on ahead crunching
through twigs and then slowed down and squinted, looking ahead at the source of
the light.
"It's the glowstick swinging
in the wind…"
"Yup… We've been going in circles…"
Peter moaned.
Tanya brought out her map. The
wood they were in was very large. No visible markers.
They all crowded round to have a
look at the map, all shining their lanterns on it.
"I think we should make
camp," Tanya decided. "If we keep walking all night, we will just get
tired."
They all nodded agreement.
When she lowered the map, they
all looked around them in shock.
They were completely surrounded
and enveloped in a low and drifting white mist.
"What the hell?"
Several of them said. Raising their arms and looking down at the mist.
"Where has this appeared
from?" Neil asked rhetorically.
"This sometimes happens when
there is a temperature and pressure change," Rich responded. "It's
perfectly natural,"
Squawk!!!
The crow made them all jump. It
was above them somewhere, loudly squawking and ruffling its feathers.
"Either we've been going in
circles and he has stayed where he is and we've been pissing him off, or he's
been following us…" Tanya muttered.
"This place is freaking me
out," Michelle shivered.
"Let’s make camp then,"
Tanya replied.
"Okay but let's get away
from the crow…" they all agreed.
They walked for another ten
minutes, then they saw light again, it was barely perceptible in the mist.
Initially it was a very faint glow that made them think it was a mirage.
"Oh, for god’s sake!!!"
Rich growled angrily. "We've gone in a circle again, it must be the
glowstick,"
As they approached the light it
started to multiply in their vision, or seemed to, there was more than one
light source.
They heard the eerie fluttering
of the crow flying overhead.
"Unless I'm seeing something
or your glowstick has bred little light babies I think this is something else
entirely," Tanya muttered quietly.
"Maybe its someone's
camp," Neil added hopefully, walking ahead a bit faster, causing him to
stumble over a root.
They approached rapidly. The mist
swirled around the light sources, but they soon slowed down as they realised it
was a timber cottage.
"Someone lives in this shit
hole?" Peter exclaimed. They approached cautiously, holding their LED
lanterns ahead of them.
The mist seemed to clear around
the cottage, as if it was in the calm eye of a tornado storm.
"Go on then, knock,"
Tanya waved her lantern at Neil.
"What me?" His eyes
widened with sudden fear. "Why me?"
"You got us into this
mess," Tanya replied bluntly.
"Fine," Neil tramped up
to the door, it had a large iron knocker, very large. It was the size of a
small child.
There was an angry… or scared…
looking gargoyle character as part of the knocker. It looked like it had been
frozen for all eternity.
He tentatively reached out,
tapping the knocker. It barely clanked.
"Oh, for pity’s sake,"
Tanya stepped forwards, budging him out of the way rudely. She grabbed the
knocker and thumped it three times.
The banging was very loud and
caused them all to pause. It echoed and reverberated through the inside of the
cottage and the sound bounced around the woodland around them creating a
disconcerting echo.
Then there was silence.
They all waited, hearts
thumping.
Then they heard loud footsteps on
wooden floorboards.
Several floorboards creaked as
the footsteps approached the door.
The footsteps stopped and there
was absolute silence. Even the rustling leaves seemed to stop for a
moment.
Then there was a loud grinding
sound of a metal bolt being pulled back on the inside of the door.
The door creaked as it opened up
inside.
The group looked in anxiously,
but were instantly at ease as they saw that the occupant was an incredibly
beautiful looking blonde lady.
She looked like she was in her mid-twenties,
her skin and hair were immaculate.
She had a very wide and warm
smile.