The last goblin screamed briefly, and fell to the floor. Alban stood and stared at its body, before sheathing his sword and sitting down, exhausted. The battle against the goblins had lasted for over an hour and, though all of the villainous creatures were dead, he didn’t consider it a victory. Three of his men had died as well. Though they had been by name his servants, they had also been his friends, and he felt more than a little responsible for their deaths. Still, they all knew that this quest would be a dangerous one, and they had been lucky in getting this far in the first place.

 

Now only three of them remained. Alban’s close friend, Turas, whom he had known since childhood; his squire, Shardon, only seventeen years of age; and himself, Alban, twenty-three years of age, prince of the Elgonite kingdom, oldest son of king Mildar, and thus heir to the kingship. His father, though old, was still very much full of life, and the prince expected it would be some time indeed before he himself ascended the throne. But he was in no way eager to become king: in fact, he considered it a trying job, and he would prefer a life of leisure over the demanding life of a ruler any day.

 

Having already completed his tutoring, Alban began to go on a series of adventures, ‘missions’ or ‘quests’, as he called them. These were mostly concerned with hunting some or other legendary beast, infiltrating and looting bandit lairs, and other similar feats of boldness. He had learnt much about combat and bravery during these quests, and had come to depend greatly on the help of his circle of friends, who all enjoyed a bit of action as much as he did. But this particular expedition was quite a different one, proving much harder than any of them suspected, and Alban wondered if it would be worth it in the end.

 

They were now in the lands of the Vandanians, a race of giants who were, thankfully, long extinct. But their castles remained, though they were now infested with goblins and other nasty creatures, and many of them were rumoured to contain vast amounts of treasure. This particular castle seemed in an especially good condition, with much of the giants’ furniture and other utensils still remaining, no doubt because it was so difficult to reach. And, as it was told in legends, there sleeps, deep within an inner chamber, a wondrously beautiful princess, captured long ago by the giants, and put under a curse which only true love’s kiss can break.

 

Alban used to dismiss such fairytale legends as being just that, but, since he had begun his travels outside his father’s kingdom, he had indeed seen many strange and wonderful sights, and he soon decided to investigate each of these rumours, to see if some truth did not perhaps lie behind them.

 

But, to return to the present, they had still found nothing but a horde of goblins, which had put up a terrific fight, and now they had lost three of their party. Alban hoped there were no more unpleasant surprises lying ahead, as they had come too far to turn back. He looked at Turas, who gave him a slight nod, and, after saying farewell to their fallen companions, the three of them headed on. They passed through vast hallways and rooms, covered in dust but still in an immaculate condition. Many rooms were even sealed by enormous doors, and into these they could not go.

 

Eventually, after almost two hours of walking, and encountering no more enemies, they reached a room that was even bigger than any of the others. From wall to wall it must have been a quarter of a mile across. The floor of this room was perfectly smooth, with hardly any dust on it. It was also completely empty, except for a small glimmer of light in the centre. As the three adventurers approached this mysterious light, they saw clearly what it was, and their mouths dropped in astonishment.

 

There, lying on a sumptuous bed, encircled by beautiful glass lamps which were still burning, was a girl. She seemed frozen in time, not moving even a tiny bit. Alban was struck immediately by her beauty: he had been intimate with quite a few girls before, but none of them had had such a great effect on him as this slumbering princess. She seemed to be nearly his height in length, clad in a royal gown of purple and rose, with her hands folded across her chest. Her hair was long and golden, and seemed to glow in the lamplight. Her face was young and beautiful, apparently untouched by all that had happened through the years. The prince stared at her in wonder, then turned around and saw that his companions were looking at him expectantly.

 

“Well?” said Turas, shrugging his shoulders. “What are you waiting for?”

 

Alban stared at him for a moment, then began to laugh.

 

“Oh, come on!” he exclaimed. “Does this not seem a bit…easy to you, at all? I mean, who’s to say she isn’t some kind of trap, an illusion or something, meant to lure us closer so that we can then be captured?”

 

“Well, if you don’t want her,” said Turas, taking a step forward, “I’ll be happy to give it a go…”

 

“Alright, alright!” said Alban, still laughing. “I was just being cautious, that’s all. After what happened to Lirdon and the others,” here his face turned serious, “I just didn’t want…never mind. Besides, if the legend is true, she’ll only awake if her true love kisses her. What are the chances that it’s one of us who gets to be so fortunate?”

 

He turned back towards the sleeping girl. Trembling slightly, he approached the bed and brought his face closer to hers. He was no fool: he knew very well that rewards sometimes turn out too good to be for real. But if this was a trap, then they should all have been captured, or killed, by now. Since nothing of the sort has happened, he at last decided that maybe, for once, the fairytale legend was real, and that it might have a happy ending this time. He closed his eyes and, as carefully as he could, kissed the princess’s frozen lips.

 

Nothing happened. He opened his eyes, but she had not awoken. From behind him he heard Turas laughing, while Shardon muttered something about ‘leaving before it’s too late’. Alban also felt like leaving, and yet…he simply had to try again. Why he felt he had to, he did not know. Maybe there was some kind of magic involved, and it was affecting him too. He leant in close, but before his lips reached hers, something happened. Something so swift and unexpected that he did not have time to even move.

 

The princess began to grow. Or rather, her body began to expand at an alarming rate. Within seconds the entire bed disappeared beneath her, and the lamps were knocked down and went out. Turas and Shardon only just managed to flee, before they too were crushed beneath her growing body. As for Alban, he had been holding her shoulders when the growing started, and he could only hang on as she kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. Pretty soon, he found himself on top of her chest, clutching the fabric of her gown, and he was rising higher and higher into the air.

 

Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the growing stopped. Alban found it impossible to believe what he saw. The princess, who a minute ago was just under six feet in length, now measured a colossal one-hundred-and-fifty feet from head to toe. Alban was sitting on top of her right breast, and he was too dumbstruck to move a muscle. He could only watch in amazement as the giant girl came to life. She opened her eyes, then, with a gasp, sat bolt upright, sending the now-tiny prince tumbling off her breast and landing far below in her lap.

 

“Where – where am I?” she exclaimed, in a voice at once delicate and powerful. “Oh, of course…I…the curse…it’s gone! It’s over! My true love has found me! He’s come to rescue me! He’s…hey, where is everyone?”

 

“Aaaarghhh!” came a scream from directly below her. The princess looked down, and now it was her turn to be astonished. There, trying to clamber out of her lap, was a teeny, tiny, little man. He was no bigger than her thumb, and was clad from the neck downwards in light armour. He also had a sword, and was swinging it around, trying to hit whatever he could. All he managed to do, however, was tumble around hopelessly.

 

She tried to pick him up, but he stabbed her thumb, which hurt – a little. So she simply pinched his sword and threw it over her shoulder, before trying again. This time, she managed to grab him by his waist, holding him carefully between her thumb and forefinger. She held him right before her eyes, as he continued vainly to struggle.

 

“You…it – it couldn’t be you…” she stammered.

 

“Let…me…go!” prince Alban yelled, as loudly as he could. “You devil! You monster!”

 

“What? How dare you call me that?” she pinched him harder, and he cried out in pain. “Don’t you know who I am? I am princess Valerie of Vandan. And if I want to, I could crush you like an ant, you ignorant, half-witted human!”

 

“Crush me?” Alban scoffed, trying to sound unafraid. “Is that my reward for releasing you from your curse? If I hadn’t kissed you…”

 

“It was you? You? No…no, it can’t be! You’re lying! How did you even enter here, without being caught? Where are all the people who live here? My family, where are they?”

 

“Why don’t you put me down, then I’ll tell you!”

 

Valerie sighed, and did as he requested. Though she was overjoyed at being released from her sleep, she was starting to get irritated with this little human. He couldn’t have been the one who had released her. It just wasn’t possible. Besides that, she was also terribly hungry and thirsty, her head was spinning, and she really wanted to find a soft bed and lie down.

 

 The moment his feet touched the ground, the little man ran off like a flash. Valerie yelled at him to stop, but he just kept going. She tried to stand up and follow him, but was immediately overcome with dizziness. She sat down on the hard floor again, looking in surprise at what looked like the crushed remains of a miniature bed. And then, out of the blue, all her memories came back to her, and she immediately understood the situation she was in.

She was the youngest child of King Valgar IV, ruler of Vandan. Her elder brother had been the heir to the throne. Of all her family, indeed of all the giants, she alone had enjoyed the company of humans. While her brother liked to torture and even kill human captives, she could not bring herself to hurt the little people, no matter how hard her parents punished her for her ‘abnormal’ compassion. Eventually, just before her nineteenth birthday, her father had disowned her, and he decided to punish her for life. He asked his warlock, who’s knowledge of sorcery was great, to reduce her to human size, so that she may be treated as one of those she seemed to care for so much.

She was to be given to her brother, who no doubt savoured the idea of having his weak and pathetic little sister as his tiny slave. But the warlock, though he hated humans just as much as any giant, did not think Valerie deserved such an awful fate. He shrunk her, just as he had promised, but he also cast a charm on her. This charm made her fall into a deep sleep, during which nothing and nobody could harm her. She would not age, but would remain immaculate, until the day when someone who truly loved her came and broke the charm.

It has been five hundred years since the day she fell asleep, and her family were long gone. Her people had all either died or wandered away, and the castle was, except for her, empty. She wandered dazedly through the rooms, recognizing them all. Her own room, through some kind of magic (perhaps also the warlock’s doing), was, however, still in a perfect state. Her bed seemed just as comfortable as it had been when she last slept there. All her clothes looked as if they had been washed only yesterday. There was even a jug of clean water for her to drink, and the fruit in the golden bowl by her bedside tasted as fresh and sweet as any she could remember.

After she had eaten, bathed, and rested for a bit, her thoughts returned to the strange little human who’d claimed he’d released her. More and more she began to think that, maybe, he hadn’t been lying after all. And that meant that he…

“Could it really be?” she wondered. “Is the man I am destined to fall in love with…a human? I could always ignore the warlock’s words…but then, what else is there for me? I certainly don’t want to spend the rest of my life alone. And besides, I really don’t have much in common with my own people. Perhaps I should talk to the human again, get to him better…who knows? In any case, I have to find him first. He’s probably miles away by now.”

She set off immediately, taking with her a bottle of water and a large sack containing fruit and bread. Since she’d been a princess, her family had expected her to remain in the castle her whole life, and not venture outdoors much, if at all. This meant she didn’t really have any clothes suitable for travelling, so she set off in her royal gown and satin slippers. At least people would know who she was, or so she hoped.

The entrance to the castle was in ruins, and everywhere there lay the bodies of men and goblins. Valerie felt aghast at seeing this, but she kept on going. She was a Vandanian, of the most mighty race that ever existed; she need not be afraid of anything, man or beast. Still, the outdoors was a new experience for her, and she felt she had to remain wary. Around the castle, the giant trees of the forest had grown wild and thick, and, as the sun was low in the western sky, she felt she couldn’t go much further right now. After a few hundred yards (giant yards, of course), she found a suitably comfortable spot under a tree, and tried to go to sleep. She was determined to be up very early the next morning

Alban and his companions, after running as fast as they could towards the castle entrance, had quickly mounted their horses and set off into the forest. The horses of their three fallen comrades they’d set free. Alban had also taken the sword of Lirdon, one of his slain friends, since his own sword had been thrown away by the giantess. He no longer wished to continue exploring the castle: in his opinion, all giants, no matter who they were, were fiendish monsters. He had never heard of a sympathetic giant before, and he was fairly certain that this one, fair maiden though she was, was just as bloodthirsty as the giants he’d heard of in stories.

They rode all evening, and through most of the night, stopping to rest only a few hours before dawn. In this part of the world the trees and grass were as enormous as the former inhabitants, and finding a path for their horses wasn’t easy. Eventually they decided to make their camp under a relatively small bush, making sure there was nothing hiding in it first. They built a fire, cooked some of the meat from their provisions, and discussed what was to be done next.

“I say we head back to Elgon with all haste,” said Turas. “It’s a sure thing that she…that monster, I mean, will come after us. Giants are fond of eating men, or so I’ve heard told.”

“So have I,” Alban agreed. “Still, I reckon we’ll be safe for tonight. It’s just a girl, after all. Whoever heard of a female giant pursuing and attacking men before? It’s always been the male ones I’ve heard doing the killing.”

“Well, I still think we’d better get going as soon as possible,” Turas said. “I don’t wish to be disrespectful, sire, but I’m hoping you’ll listen to my advice this time.”

“Very well. We’ll rest a few hours, then resume our journey.”

Shardon, the young squire, remained silent. This was his first adventure outside his land, and he didn’t really want to have any more. But he was in the prince’s employ now, and he vowed to do what his master wished of him.

Prince Alban awoke with a start the next morning. The sun was already a considerable height in the sky; they had all overslept, and he hoped that no ill would come of it. He wakened the others, and they hastily gathered their belongings. There was no time for breakfast; they would have to eat while riding. Alban crept through the tangle of twigs and leaves of their shelter. Their horses had been tied to a twig outside the bush, it being impossible for them to lead the beasts into this dense shrubbery. But, this morning, the horses were gone. Alban was shocked, but he quickly saw the reason for their disappearance, and his heart nearly stopped.

The giantess had caught up with them. She was sitting right there, at that moment, still wearing her royal clothes, and eating an enormous pear. And she was looking straight at him, smiling. He turned around at once and rushed back, bumping into Turas and making them both fall over.

“Back! Now!” he yelled. “It’s her – the giant! Hide!”

He had scarcely finished his words when the shadows around him vanished, and bright light fell upon them. Two colossal hands parted the twigs of the bush far above them, and a gigantic girl’s face peered down at them from above. They stood rooted to the spot, hands resting upon their sword-hilts. The giantess reached down with her hand and easily caught the two of them. Shardon, who was standing some distance away, was trembling greatly; suddenly, he felt very weak, and collapsed to his knees. The princess saw him, and picked him up too. She put him in her right hand, next to the others.

Then she stood up to her full height, holding her hand before her. Alban rose shakily to his feet and drew his sword. He could see the ground almost forty yards below him, and knew that it was over. But if he had to die, he wouldn’t die without a struggle. He raised his sword and thrust it with all his strength into the flesh of her hand.

“Ow!” Valerie cried. The sword had gone in deep, and it stung. “That wasn’t very nice! I’m not your enemy, you know!” She took the sword out and dropped it on the ground. Then she eyed Turas, who was about to do the same. He thought better of it, however, and put his sword back in its sheath.

“That’s right,” she said. “I’m not going to hurt you, and I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t try to attack me in return. Now, how about a proper introduction? You all left so quickly yesterday that I barely even saw you.”

“Our names are none of your business, giant!” Alban yelled. “If you wish to kill us, do it now, and spare us from having to hear your wicked voice!”

Valerie looked shocked for a second, then began to giggle uncontrollably.

“What?” the prince boomed furiously. “What are you laughing at?”

“Oh my!” she gasped, struggling to control her mirth. “You just look so comical, standing there in my hand, fists clenched…I bet you’re quite the warrior, aren’t you? But you don’t have to fight me, little one; this giant won’t bite! I promise!”

Alban sat down, defeated. He resigned himself to the situation, and so did the others. Shardon was looking extremely pale; no doubt he was more affected than Turas and himself, being so inexperienced and all. The giantess gave them an amused look.

“Well?” she said. “Aren’t you going to tell me your names?”

“I am Prince Alban, son of King Mildar of Elgon, and these are my companions: Turas, head of my bodyguard, and my squire, Shardon. We were on an expedition into these lands, when we…”

“When you found me, and rescued me. A prince, did you say? Oh, how delightful! Now I am certain that you and I belong together! A handsome, courageous prince has awakened me, his great love for me has overcame the warlock’s curse, and…”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Alban interjected. “Are you…are you out of your mind? Do you seriously think I’m…in love with you? Hah! Me, in love with a giant…thing like you? You must be mad!”

“But, the kiss…” Valerie said, looking really surprised. “You…you kissed me, and it broke the spell! That must mean that you love me, otherwise I wouldn’t have awoken! And I’m not some ‘giant thing’! I’m a person, just like you, even if I am slightly bigger.”

“Slightly! You’re a damned mountain! Even the largest, fattest, most hideous ogre is tiny compared to you! And you think we ‘belong together’! How moronic, but I suppose that’s how you women think. Maybe your men are more sensible…”

“Enough!” she yelled, and he froze. Her hand had tightened, and her fingers curled above them like monstrous claws. Shardon took one look at her enraged face, and almost fainted. She managed to control herself, though, and, without a word, put them down on the ground far below. They looked up at her vast figure, ad saw how easy it was for her to crush them all with one small step.

“I was wrong!” she said, glaring down at them. “You’re not my ‘true love’ after all! You’re just a stupid, small-brained human who thinks far too much of himself. If I were any other giant, I’d squish the three of you right here and now. But I won’t – in fact, I used to have a high opinion of your kind, but now I see that you are no better than that callous and heartless race to which I’m ashamed to belong.”

She reached into her sack and took out a small object, which she laid at the human’s feet. It was a four-foot-long strawberry, red and ripe, one of many she’d brought along as food. The men stared at it in wonder.

“That’s just to show that I’m still willing to be your friend,” she said. “Besides, I feel I need to give you something, to make up for frightening away your horses. Of course, you could always travel with me, but I suppose you find me too repugnant to be near to, so I’ll be off, and you’ll be free from my detestable presence.”

She turned around and began to walk away. Alban and the others were still rooted to the spot. The prince looked at the oversized fruit lying before him. There was no way any of them would be able to carry it, not without their horses. Their horses…without them, they were as good as lost. It had taken weeks to ride this far – who knew how long it would take to walk back, especially now that they had to carry all their provisions by themselves? Alban looked down dejectedly, and wondered if he’d just made a very big mistake. Just then he heard Shardon’s voice behind him.

“Excuse me, sire, but shouldn’t we…go after her?  I mean, I know she’s a giant, and I…well, I am a bit frightened of her, but she…she sounded sincere, or so I thought. Maybe…maybe it’s not too late…”

“He’s right,” Turas added. “Giants are a cruel, inhuman lot, but there are many men who are like that as well. Likewise, it would seem that there are giants who are friendly to common men, and that this one, girl, princess, whatever – I think she’s one of the friendly ones.”

“Maybe,” Alban said. “But to be carried back home, like helpless babies, by a maiden – what would my father, and the people of my kingdom think? No, we’ll head back on our own, in a manner as befits a prince and his warriors. Besides, she must be far off by now – you saw how fast she walked – and chasing after her would be a waste of energy. Come, gather your belongings: we’re walking back, right now.”

“If I may speak freely, sire, I think you’re making a mistake.”

“Thank you, Turas. I’ll remember those words, once we’re back in Elgon. I think it’ll be quite apparent then that you were the one who was mistaken. Now come on! It’s nearly noon, and the road ahead is long.”

“By all the gods, is this the brave and noble Prince Alban I see before me? Or are my eyes deceived by some kind of trick?” Bargar the warlord laughed as he surveyed the two men who had been quite easily captured by his own forces. They were staring back defiantly at him, but he knew the look of defeat in a captive’s eyes, and it pleased him to see that same look in the eyes of his prisoners.

“No, your eyes are seeing quite clearly,” Alban answered, cursing himself for being this easily captured. They were on the borders of their own kingdom now, it being two weeks since they had parted ways with Valerie. All the while they had been heading along as quickly as they could, and by the time they’d reached the borders of Elgon, they were almost too weary too continue. He and Turas had set out into the forest to hunt, leaving Shardon behind to make a camp.

It was here that they were captured, caught up in a net which they’d failed to see hidden in the undergrowth. Then, from out of the shadows of the trees, two dozen armed men had sprung upon them. They fought back as best as they could, but there was no chance of escape. They’d been taken, stripped of their weapons and shackled, to the fortress of the notorious Bargar, a one-time bandit who had slowly built up his own villainous little domain on the border. Now this villain and his small army, all men who hated King Mildar, were looting and killing any who were foolish enough to travel or settle in what Bargar called his ‘empire’.

“I’d often wondered when I would run into you,” Alban continued. “It’s high time you and your hive of criminal scum were taken care of.”

The bandits all roared with laughter, as did their leader, who was busy amusing himself by playing with Alban’s sword.

“Is that so? Then why, may I ask, is your old drunkard of a king so frightened of us? We smite and pillage as we please, and he remains shut up in his filthy little castle! And they say that he is a better ruler than me! What nonsense!”

“My father has many duties,” Alban replied. “If he has not seen to you yet, it can only be because he does not consider you at all great a threat.”

“Shut up! Mildar is a pathetic swine, whose throne he is not worthy to even look at, and you are nothing more than a piece of hogshit, a brat who thinks he’s some sort of ‘hero’! Don’t make me laugh! And you!” he turned to Turas. “You…hell, I don’t even care who you are! Get rid of him, Kassel!”

A sinister-looking man stepped out from behind Bargar and, with one quick motion, stabbed his sword into Turas’s chest. Alban screamed in anger, and tried his utmost to fight back, but it was in vain. The bandit-chief turned towards him with a menacing grin.

“That,” he said, glaring at Alban, “is what will happen to you, if your father does not pay the ransom for your release. Two hundred thousand in gold, and control over one third of the kingdom. Or else, his darling little boy will get hacked to pieces!” The men all laughed loudly, and Alban was dragged off into the fortress’s holding cells, cursing his stupidity, his vain lust for adventure, which had led all his friends, and possibly himself, to their deaths.

Almost all of them, actually. Shardon, who was never much good at hunting, had remained to look after the camp. He didn’t like to be left alone, though, so, after making sure the camp was in order, he set off in the direction the others had headed. He hadn’t gone far, when, to his great dismay, he heard the sounds of fighting, Alban and Turas yelling, and a dozen or more strange voices screaming. He crept forward a little further, and was just in time to see his prince being led off a captive.

He should have gone after them, he knew it. He should have been as brave as the man whom he served, but he wasn’t. He was just a boy, with very little experience in fighting, and his only job was to look after Alban’s arms and belongings. Compared to living on the streets, this was a very noble life indeed, and he was immensely grateful to the prince for taking him out of his previous, miserable circumstances, and giving him this opportunity to serve a man of royal blood.

“I owe Prince Alban my life,” he thought to himself, still hiding in the forest. “I should go after him, or at least find someone to help rescue him. If only…no, no, wait, that would never work. Maybe…”

He sat for many hours, wondering what to do, as the day grew darker, and his chances of remaining hidden grew smaller. The nearest friendly village was a day away on foot, and he knew that the villagers would never dare attack the infamous warlord Bargar. The nearest Elgonite military encampment was much further, and Shardon would have to travel through places that were infested with bandits, and some things even worse. The road back was safe, however, but there was no-one in that direction who could be of any assistance. No-one…except her.

“I must try to find her, and convince her to help!” he thought. “I know she’s only a girl, but she’s a bloody huge giant too! Even Bargar has to be afraid of someone like her!” So, in the end, he set off, back along the route they’d been travelling these past few weeks. He knew his chances of finding Princess Valerie were small, and he had almost no hope that she would even be willing to help him if he did. But it was his only option, so he decided to pursue it.

In his excitement and eagerness to find the giantess, Shardon had forgotten completely that Vandan was now crawling with goblins. He had been travelling for three days, and had almost exhausted his food and water. But he kept going, and forgot to be on the look-out for danger all around him. Now, finding himself surrounded by a score of goblins, the last faint traces of his courage left him.

“I’ve failed!” he thought to himself. “My master depended on me, but I’ve failed him, and now both of us will die! Oh, I wish I could have seen my home again! All my friends, too – but what would they think of me? A coward, who left his companions to die…” He began to cry, thankful that no-one will ever see him in this deplorable condition.

The goblins, who had been arguing amongst themselves in their strange language, had finally decided what to do with their prisoner. They planned to cut him up into small pieces, so as to divide the meat equally between them. The goblin chief raised his rusted sword, grabbed the boy by the hair, and yanked his head backwards. Shardon closed his eyes, and felt the blow of the sword against his neck. He fainted from the intense pain.

But he was still alive. The sword only went in a few inches, before the goblin chief dropped it. He, and all the other goblins, suddenly found themselves under attack. An enormous purple slipper came down on them from above, and crushed half of them in one shot. The others began to flee, but they were too slow, and found themselves squished by the giant feet within a few seconds.

Valerie looked down at the carnage she’d just caused. She saw the tiny form of the human amongst the bodies of the goblins, and bent down to pick him up carefully. With a gasp of surprise, she saw that it was the boy she’d seen a few weeks ago, the one who had been travelling with that obnoxious prince. He was still unconscious, and the blood was flowing copiously from a wound in his neck. She took out her water-bottle, and rinsed his wound, but didn’t touch him for fear of injuring him further.

The cold water gushing over Shardon’s body revived him. His vision was terribly blurry, but he still recognized the giant face looming above him. And he was no longer afraid of it. He heard her voice, telling him that he will be all right, that she was looking after him. But he did not care about his own condition. He had to tell her about Alban, to convince her that she had to help him.

“P-princess…” he whispered, so softly that she almost couldn’t hear him. “P-p-please…help…my master…c-captured…”

“Hey, hold on a minute, little one! Let’s get you feeling better first. I’m taking you back to my home; there must be some medicine or something there, that will help you heal…”

“No…I-I won’t…make it…please, help the prince, he’s….” here he coughed violently, and his wound began bleeding anew, “he’s…p-prisoner…in the fortress…n-northwest…”

“Alright, that’s enough! I’m not doing anything until I get you all up and able again. You’re not…listen to me! You’re not going to die, do you hear?”

She stared in horror as his tiny body stopped moving. For several minutes she kept attempting to revive him, but it was too late. His soul had left him, and she placed him carefully on the grass beside her. Then found herself beginning to cry; it was not the first time she’d seen a human die, but the death of this young boy, who only wished to help his master, seemed so…utterly unnecessary and pointless. If only she’d appeared on the scene a few moments earlier, and he would still be alive.

Despite being upset about how Alban had treated her, Valerie still couldn’t help  thinking about him. She didn’t believe it at all possible that his kiss could have broken her curse if he hated her as much as he appeared to. She began to think that one more talk between the two of them would help them to know each other much better, so she’d set off in the direction she thought they’d went.

“And now he’s been captured,” she said to herself, after burying Shardon’s body as best as she could. “I can’t say I’m surprised; he did seem rather…short-sighted, I guess. Still, he did release me from the curse – I mean, there has to be something special about him, if he was able to do that! His servant-boy risked his own life to beg me to help him – why would he do that, if his master was not a good man? Well, I can sit here and think all I want, but that’s not going to do any good, so I’d better get up and go then. I hope you’re ready, prince Alban – your princess is coming to save you, whether you want her to or not!”

Valerie stood firmly in front of the bandit-fortress’s gates. The walls weren’t even as high as her knees, but she did not ‘invade’ the place yet. She didn’t feel at all comfortable at the thought of killing men, even if they were villainous robbers and murderers, and she hoped there was a chance she could talk this whole situation through. In her hand she carried her ‘weapon’, a forty-foot tree she’d uprooted, and with which she hoped she’d be able to fight without actually killing anyone.

The men in the fortress below were scurrying about in panic. Many of them had longbows, but none of them fired at her – they were too completely overwhelmed by the presence of a 150-foot girl at their gates, and didn’t know if they should attack her or run away from her. Suddenly she spoke, and every man in the courtyard, on the walls, and inside the keep stopped moving, and listened to her.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone,” she said, loudly and clearly. “But I believe you are holding some men prisoner and – and I want you to release them! Please, just let all your prisoners go, and I’ll leave!”

She was trying to think of what to say next, when she heard a roar of laughter. It came from a man, standing on the highest tower of the keep. He was clearly the leader of the bandits, since he was dressed in expensive robes, and had a troop of bodyguards surrounding him. Valerie walked around the walls, to get a better look at him. The tower was still less than half as high as she was, and she had to lean forward to hear what he had to say.

“Is this what that fool Mildar has sent to defeat me?” he said, still laughing. “An oversized damsel! Ha ha ha ha ha! How little he must think of his worthless dog of a son! Tell me, have you brought the gold I asked for, you hideous…whatever you are, hmm?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Valerie said, feeling a strong urge to squeeze this nasty villain until he began to cry. “I just want you to release Prince Alban, and his companion, and any other innocent people whom you are holding here. That is all – oh, and please don’t insult me again: you’ll regret it.”

“Ha ha! You think I’m afraid of you, you overgrown whore? I have a hundred and fifty men at my command, all of whom are as fearless as I am, and they would gladly cut you down in an instant. As for the prisoners you spoke of, we have only one such man here now, though he won’t be alive much longer, I’m afraid. You see, I’m having quite a lot of fun torturing him, and…”

That was as far as Bargar got. At the word ‘whore’, Valerie had had enough. She no longer worried about hurting people, especially if they were as horrible as this one. She stepped over the little wall, while the men below screamed and fled. With one swift movement, she knocked down the bodyguards surrounding Bargar, put her hand down in front of the villain, and gave him a flick with her finger. He went off into the blue, his screams quickly dying as he flew out of sight.

With their leader gone, it was every bandit for himself. Most of them decided to run away as quickly as they could, and they hurriedly threw open the gates and began to pour out of the courtyard. Some of the men on the walls decided to fight back. They drew their bows, and fired a few volleys of arrows at the giantess. The arrows stuck harmlessly into her dress, and glanced off the exposed skin of her face. She shielded her eyes (her only vulnerable spots), and waited for the firing to stop.

Now it was her turn, and she swung her tree against the walls, brushing the men off as if they were dust. Next she swept the ground beneath her, where a few men had been trying to attack her feet with spears and swords. They, too, were caught up in the branches of the tree, and were flung through the air with great speed. Within minutes the bandits had all either fled, or were lying around, injured and helpless; some had even been killed. Only Bargar’s bodyguard, including his right-hand man Kassel, remained standing, on top of the central tower.

They had brought out a ballista, and quickly let loose a bolt at the giantess. It hit Valerie in the stomach, and caused her no greater discomfort than if she’d been poked. She raised her club above her head, and brought it down with all her might next to the men. They fell to the floor from the shock, and their ballista was smashed into tiny splinters. She raised the tree again, but this time one of the men in the group cried out for mercy.

“Enough!” he begged her. “We surrender! Don’t kill me, please! I’ll do anything you ask!”

He threw down his sword, and his companions followed suit. Only Kassel remained defiant, but one look at the giant maiden’s wrathful face convinced him that he was on the losing side. He cast away his weapons and threw himself flat upon the floor like the others.

Valerie looked down at her defeated foes, glad that it didn’t take long to end this. She hadn’t enjoyed the battle at all, and now only wished to free her prince, and anyone else who was unfortunate enough to be imprisoned here. She told her request to the men, who rushed off at once to see to it.

As it turned out, Alban was indeed the only living prisoner currently held by the bandits. They brought him up to the top of the tower, and Valerie gasped at how awful he looked. He was wearing only a rag around his hips, and his body had been beaten and whipped all over. His handsome face was bruised and bleeding, and he could barely stand. She picked him up gently and stashed him in a pocket of her dress; he’d just looked at her dazedly, and hadn’t spoken. The bandits also gave her all his clothes and weapons, and these she put into her sack.

“I really ought to punish you, hard,” she said to Kassel and his few remaining men. “But I’m not in the mood for any further violence now. However, I’ll be staying on in this region, and if I ever hear that you, or any of the others who’ve run away, have harmed anyone again, you’ll be really, really sorry.”

With those words she left, leaving the bandits staring after her in mixed wonder and fear. She threw the tree away, as well as her slippers, since they’d been severely damaged in the battle, and were stained with the blood of all the men she’d accidentally crushed. Now barefoot, she headed off into the surrounding forest, away from her own home. It was now almost sunset, and she had to find a safe place for the two of them to sleep.

Eventually she found a clearing among the trees, which was just-just large enough for her to lie down in.

She lay down on her side, and placed her tiny companion gently on the grass before her. She rummaged around in her bag for some food, which she then offered him. But Alban was still in no condition to do anything, and he merely sat and looked up at her incredulously. At long last, after Valerie had grown tired of trying to engage him in conversation, he uttered a single word: “Why?”

Upon hearing this, she found she could no longer contain her frustration, and burst forth in an angry rant.

“What?” she exclaimed, making Alban cower down in fear. “Is that all you have to say? Your servant gave up his life so that he could tell me about your predicament, and I risked my own life, standing up to a horde of barbarians, and you cannot even reply with a simple ‘thank you’? I killed all those men, even though I absolutely hated it, and you…you just…”

She began to cry loudly, making such a sound as Alban had never thought it possible for a mere girl to make. He sat there miserably, shivering in the growing darkness, and felt at a complete loss at what to do. The news that Shardon, too, had died, made him want to cry himself. He realized now, for the first time, how horribly great all his mistakes had been. All of his friends had died, and it had all been because of him, and his desire for fame and glory. Now that he had been freed from certain death at the hands of Bargar, he almost wished himself back in that dungeon.

“I should have been the one to die, not any of them,” he thought. “Especially not Shardon. He was only a boy, and yet he risked his life to find someone to help me. Oh, if only I had accepted her help…”

He stood up and carefully approached the sobbing giantess. She didn’t notice as he cautiously crept up to her hand, which was lying on the ground, and took hold of her seven-foot finger. Only when he spoke her name, did she try to control her sobs, and when he spoke to her, she grew quieter and calmer.

“My lady,” he began, not knowing how else to address her. “I…well, I would ask you to forgive me, and to forgive all the despicable things I’ve said and done to you, but we both know I don’t deserve it. I may be the son of a king, but that doesn’t make me noble or…or worthy of respect. I have done nothing noble with my life, and I have caused others to lose theirs’. I deserved what Bargar and his men did to me.”

“That’s not true…”

“It is true! You have saved my life, Princess, even though my behaviour had been all but chivalrous! No, I am not worthy to be treated like royalty! I should have listened to my friends, but I was too proud to do so, and now they are dead because of me! Why should my fate not be the same?”

“Because…” Valerie interrupted, before pausing. She did not know why she was saying this, only that it felt right in her heart. “Because I love you.”

Alban froze and looked into her eyes. Did he just hear what he heard? Why would she say such a thing? How could she not hate him, after all the misery he’d caused her?

“Princess, I…I don’t know what to say. I…” He fell speechless, as she wrapped four fingers around his bruised body, and lifted him effortlessly. She sat up and brought him right up to her face, so close to her lips that he could reach out and touch them.

“I don’t know why,” she whispered, and her breath washed over him like a wave, “but I couldn’t stop thinking about you. Not even after I’d left you, so upset by your behaviour that I tried to convince myself you weren’t the one who freed me. But…you were! You did save me, and it must have been because you…loved me. I mean…how did you feel when you kissed me the first time? Did you feel anything for me, in that one moment?”

“I did feel…I cannot describe it, but…I was drawn to you. I couldn’t take my eyes off you, but then…”

“But then I grew to my original size. Did that change the way you felt about me? Am I no longer the same girl who lay on that bed, the girl whose allure you felt so strongly back then? Do you no longer love me, simply because I have changed in size? Tell me, Alban! Please, tell me how you feel!”

“I…” he began, but said no more. Instead he pulled himself upwards, out of her grip, and, reaching for her nearby lips, pressed his upper body against them. She immediately responded, parting her lips slightly, so that she could let her tongue glide over his body. Alban went completely numb: he hadn’t eaten for days, and his strength was almost gone. Right then, he didn’t want to do anything, except relax, and let her giant lips and tongue touch him and soothe him. However, he still had enough strength in him to say the one thing he’d been meaning to say all evening.

“My princess…Valerie…would you accept me, if I told you that…that I loved you?”

“Yes!” she replied immediately, kissing him more passionately than before. His miniature body felt almost weightless in her hand, so small and delicate, a mere insect in comparison with her. And yet, she knew he was the man she was in love with – despite all his flaws, she didn’t want him to be any other person than he was now. She now knew his true character, and she was glad she hadn’t abandoned him to his death. From now on, she would be his protector, his companion, and his lover.

She laid him down gently in her lap, and removed his ragged clothing. He didn’t object, as she opened her water bottle, and poured clean water on him. She rubbed him softly with her fingers, washing off all the dirt and blood. Then she tore off a piece of cloth from the end of her sleeve and wrapped it around him. She let him drink from her cupped hand, and she gave him enough food to help him recover from his ordeal.

“You see?” she said, after he had eaten and drunk, and she had wrapped her fingers around him again. “I’m not such a monster after all.”

He stared up at her, and even in the night’s darkness, found her extremely beautiful to look at. Once again, he felt ashamed at how he’d treated her when they’d first met, and he begged her forgiveness.

“I am yours, my lady,” he said, not looking her in the eyes. “I didn’t see you at first, only the giant I’ve been told about in stories. But you are not such a being – a monster; you are a beautiful woman, beautiful in all the ways there can be. Please, do with me as you will.”

“I will, my beloved prince. And I forgive you, for everything you have done which you now regret. When tomorrow comes, you and I will begin our new life – together. But now, you need to rest. Sleep, Alban, my love. I will watch over you.”

She lay down on her back, and folded her hands across her chest. There, right next to her heart, Alban slept, feeling more whole and fulfilled than he’d ever felt before. He had never, in his wildest dreams, imagined that his true love would be a giantess like Valerie. But he was glad, in the end, that she was.

Alban awoke early the next morning, while his new companion was still sleeping. He carefully slipped out from underneath her hands, and crept along on top of her chest. Of course he was still naked, and while he didn’t mind Valerie looking at him undressed, he wouldn’t want any passing travellers catching him in this rather embarrassing state. He climbed down her shoulder and landed on a carpet of golden hair. For a while he just sat there, inhaling the scent of her hair, and staring at her face next to him, enthralled. It was simply astounding how much bigger she was than him, and he seriously wondered how his life would be like, living with her.

Soon afterwards, he set off quickly towards her bag, which was lying at her side, and walked into it. In there he found his shirt, trousers and boots, which he put on at once. He also took his sword, and attached it to his belt. When this was done, he helped himself to some of her food, knowing that she wouldn’t mind.

“She probably eats more in a day than I do in ten years,” he thought. “It’s a good thing she has her own castle where she can live – I doubt whether there’d be enough to feed her, were she to stay with me in Elgon.”

When he went outside again, he saw that they were not alone anymore, and he quickly drew his sword. A huge grey ogre, about twenty feet tall, and carrying a stone club, was prowling around near Valerie’s head. The beast seemed confused by the giant thing which lay before it, and Alban was able to get very close to it before it noticed him. He’d fought ogres before, though none of them had been this large, and he had no doubt that this one was hungry, and looking for fresh meat.

The monster noticed him before he could attack it, and it turned to face him, snarling loudly. Alban tried to dodge a blow from its club, but, after his imprisonment and torture, he wasn’t exactly in a monster-fighting condition. The club hit him in the stomach, sending him thirty feet through the air. His sword flew out of his hand and landed fifteen feet away from him. He began to crawl towards it, but the ogre was faster than he was, and soon it had him pinned to the ground with its foot. He couldn’t move, and as the beast raised its club to kill him, he closed his eyes.

All of a sudden all the weight on his body vanished, and he opened his eyes again. The ogre was no longer on top of him, but dangling a hundred-and-fifty feet above him. It was Valerie who had saved him, of course. She’d been awakened by the noise the monster had made, and by Alban’s cries, and had jumped to intervene when she saw he was in danger. She had grabbed the ogre by its legs, and was now deciding what to do with it. It continued to struggle in her grasp, bashing its club against her fingers, which hurt her so much that she nearly dropped it.

At that moment she couldn’t what else to do, so she took aim above the surrounding trees, and threw the ogre off above them with all her strength. It must have landed nearly a mile away, and Valerie had no doubt that she’d just killed it. She felt rather bad about it, but the thing had been tying to kill her beloved prince, so she decided that she’d done the right thing. She now turned her attention to Alban, who was still lying at her feet, completely blown away by what he’d just seen. She stooped and picked him up. He sat trembling in her hand, and looked at her with awe.

“Are you all right?” she asked, and he nodded. “I’m sorry if I scared you, sweetie, but I couldn’t leave you to die, could I?”

“No…it’s just…being rescued all the time by a girl…a girl who’s so much bigger and stronger than me…well, it just feels a little…uncomfortable.”

“Well, in that case, I suppose I’ll just stop doing it then…”

“No, please…” he looked around him for something to hold; he found her thumb, and embraced it. “I’m really grateful for your help, Valerie. What I told you last night, about how I feel, was the truth. But, you must understand, this is all very unusual for me. I mean, where I come from, everyone is taught that it’s the man’s job to protect his wife, not the other way around, and…I guess what I’m trying to say…”

Suddenly he stopped talking and began to laugh. She looked at him in bewilderment, but eventually she began to laugh too. Just like the women in Alban’s country, Valerie had also been taught to be meek and obedient, and to not try and be better than the men in anything. She had thought this rule was unfair for most of her life; and now she no longer needed to obey it.

“I assume,” she said, when they’d finished laughing, “that the fact that your sweetheart could crush you with her thumb doesn’t upset you, then?”

“Oh, not really,” he said, giving her a kiss just above her thumbnail. “Though it would be nice if you could occasionally let me handle these kinds of situations. I am a warrior, after all – I don’t need a princess to protect me.”

“Very well, then. From now on, if we were to be attacked by some hideous giant monster, or by a horde of barbarians, I’ll pretend to be in some sort of peril, so that my brave, invincible warrior can come and save me.”

“No, that isn’t what I meant…”

“It’s all right, Alban!” she said, laughing. “I was only joking! I know what men are like: they always feel they have to show off to the girls in one way or another. But you don’t have to show off to me! Just promise you’ll always be there for me, whenever I need you, because I’ll always be there for you, and I’ll look out for you in every way I can.”

She pressed him to her lips, enjoying the feeling of his tiny body against her skin. Who needs a giant man, she thought, when you can have a little one like this, to hold in the palm of your hand, and call your own?

After she’d eaten breakfast, they both agreed that they must go to the capital city of Elgon. Alban had been away from it for quite a while, and he would like to see his home again, before he went back with Valerie to her land. He also knew that he had to the families of his friends about their deaths, which wasn’t going to be easy, since he’ll probably get all the blame. But, most importantly, he was going to have to tell his father, the king, about Valerie. What the old man’s reaction would be, Alban couldn’t even begin to guess, and he hoped with all his heart that she would be accepted by his kinsmen, though this seemed extremely unlikely to him.

Just before setting off, Valerie put Alban on her shoulder, where he could hold onto her dress and her hair, and where it was unlikely that anyone on the ground below would see him. He was a bit uncomfortable at first, but soon got used to the ride, and enjoyed looking at both the countryside from this high vantage point, and at his beautiful princess, whose enormous face towered right beside him. She walked about as fast as a horse galloping at full speed, and he guessed it would only reach her a couple of days to reach the royal city.

She left the forests behind, and begun walking along a major road, keeping an eye out for other travellers. She met many of these, from soldiers to beggars, and every single one of them ran off in terror when they saw her. Valerie just ignored them and kept walking; she didn’t feel like trying to explain to every one of them that they didn’t have to be afraid of her.

The next day the countryside started to become less wild and more populated. Every now and then they would arrive at a small village or farming community, whose inhabitants, upon seeing the giantess approaching in the distance, quickly hid themselves indoors. A few of them dared to look out of their windows, only to see a giant girl smiling and waving at them as she walked past. Valerie always walked around the towns; she was afraid she’d accidentally step on a person, or a house, if she tried to go through them.

At last they reached the capital of Elgon. It was a large city, several miles across, encircled by a wall fifty feet high. To one side there rose a large hill, and it was on this that the king’s castle, Alban’s home, was situated. Valerie kept following the road towards the main gate of the city, but soon realized that this wasn’t going to be easy. A large group of soldiers were waiting for her, at least several thousand of them. They were armed with spears and bows, and there were also a number of large catapults. She stopped a few hundred feet away from them, and looked down at Alban.

“What is happening here?” she asked. “Did you know about this?”

“No,” he replied, uncertain if she was accusing him or not. “I swear, I didn’t know. They must have sent the word ahead – our messengers can travel as fast as you can, and they usually ride throughout the night as well. Please, let me go to them, and I’ll explain to them that you’re not an enemy.”

She picked him up and held him before her eyes.

“All right,” she said. “I believe you. Go and talk to them if you want to, but if any one of those soldiers decides to attack me, I won’t hesitate to defend myself, do you understand?”

“Of course. You know I’ll be there to defend you as well, but I hope it won’t come to that. I know many of these men – I’m sure they’ll listen to me.”

She put him down carefully at her feet, then sat down and watched him head off towards the army. Looking behind her, she saw several crowds of people in the distance, though they were too far away to see clearly. No doubt news of her had spread throughout the country by now, and she guessed that those were all people who’d come to see for themselves if she was real. She was also blocking the road into the city, and people had stopped their travels in and out of the gates, so she reckoned that was another reason for the crowds.

Alban had reached the edge of the contingent, and was immediately recognized by several of the officers in command there. An older man with a plumed helmet approached him, gasped in surprise, and embraced him. It was his uncle, Monar, his father’s brother, and a general in the military. Unlike the king, Monar was a good-natured man, and Alban often felt more comfortable talking to him than to his father.

“Thank the gods you’re safe,” the old man said. “We’d heard rumours that you were captured by that bastard Bargar, but when some of our troops arrived at his fortress, they found it destroyed, and we were afraid that you and your companions were dead.”

“Alas, uncle, I am the only survivor. My friends have all died during our travels, and I would be dead too, if a very special person hadn’t arrived and saved me.” He pointed towards Valerie, who was looking at all of them with interest, though she was too far away to tell what was going on. The general, his fellow commanders, and all of the soldiers who were standing nearby, all looked at Alban in wonder.

“Saved you?” Monar exclaimed. “We thought you were that…that thing’s prisoner. We’ve been hearing reports of a giant stalking through the countryside, and that it was carrying a man on its shoulder…was that you?”

“Yes, I was travelling with her. Oh, and she’s not just any giant: she is the princess of Vandan, the last living member of her race, and she does not want any hostility between her and us humans. She defeated Bargar and his legions single-handedly, and has rescued me from his dungeons.”

“But why would it…would she do something like that? Does she want anything from us?”

“No,” Alban laughed. “You see, I rescued her first, from an ancient enchantment. A curse, which they say only true love can break. Uncle Monar…well, there’s no other way to say this, so I’ll just say it. I think…I think I’m in love with her.”

Chaos suddenly erupted around him. From all sides men were shouting at him, so much so that he couldn’t make out anything that they shouted. The soldiers all seemed to forget that he was their prince, as they mobbed him relentlessly, until Monar yelled an order. He managed to get his men in line, and they made way for him and Alban to pass through their ranks. The general offered Alban his horse, and told him to hasten to the castle at once.

“I don’t know if what you say is true,” Monar said, “but, if it is, you had better tell the king at once. I will give the order that no-one is to attack the giant, as long as she remains where she is. Alban,” the old man paused and shook his head, “Alban, I’ve always loved you, you know that, and I would support you in anything you did, but this…”

“It’s all right, uncle. I haven’t gone mad, and I’m not trying to make a fool of you or anyone. I was wary of Valerie – that’s her name – at first, but I have gotten to know her well over the last few days, and more and more I began to feel that she was the girl I wanted to live with, to be by my side, even if she is so much bigger than any of us. She is not our enemy, and if neither you nor my father accept her, then I’ll leave with her, whether you wish me to or not.”


He rode off towards the city, and the general watched him go, completely dumbfounded by what he’d just heard. He couldn’t imagine that any man, much less a warrior like Alban, would want to live with a woman the size of a battleship. But, he had to admit, she was very beautiful, at least from this safe distance. He headed back to his soldiers, and hoped that they wouldn’t end up having to battle the prince’s girlfriend.

Alban’s father, Mildar, had been the ruler of Elgon for over thirty years. In all those years, he had been required to deal with many things which threatened his kingdom, but none of them had given him as much concern as the tale he’d just heard from his son. He, and all of his subjects who were present in the throne room, were utterly confounded. None of them could imagine that their future king was really intent on leaving his land, to go and live with a giant princess, with whom he had somehow fallen in love.

“No!” the king finally exclaimed, ending the silence which had hung over the room. “There is no possible way, Alban, in which I would allow you to throw away your duties as my heir, for such a mad, such a preposterous, notion. Whatever has gotten into your head, my boy? How could you even think up something so deranged?”

“Deranged? I am not deranged, father, not even close! I am sorry that Turas didn’t return, or any of the others; I don’t think a day will pass from now on, where I won’t blame myself for their deaths. If you think I should be punished for their deaths, then I agree. The only thing I wish of you, is that you would welcome Valerie as a friend and ally of Elgon, and that you would accept the fact that we love each other, that we…”

“That’s enough! I’ve heard enough, and I can see it’s going to take some time for you to get back to your senses. You will be punished, in due time, but first I want you to get off and tell that giant…friend of yours, that if she does not leave our lands at once, I shall order my forces to attack and kill her. There’s never been a giant who was friendly to humans, in all of history, and I strongly doubt that this…whatever her name is, is any different.”

There were nods and voices of agreement from almost all the others in the chamber. Alban felt his heart sink, even though he had already half-expected this response before he arrived here. He made his way towards the windows, not looking anyone in the eye, and wondered what he could say that would change his father’s mind, at least a small bit. Unfortunately, he could think of nothing, except that perhaps it would be a good idea to say goodbye.

Back outside the city, Valerie had grown tired of sitting and waiting, and had decided to get up and take a look around. As soon as she moved, the small army that had been watching her responded, and she saw a myriad of bows being drawn, and catapults being loaded. But they weren’t fast enough, and she easily walked past the soldiers, who weren’t able to keep up with her. She left them behind and headed towards the western edge of the city.

On this side the walls ran alongside the face of the castle hill, whose sides were steep, almost cliff-like. So close were the two structures, that Valerie could almost touch the top of the castle if she stretched out her arm. She was standing right next to the wall, which only rose a little bit higher than her knees. On top of it, armed guards were running to and fro, some of them firing arrows at her, some running for their lives. She just ignored them; she wasn’t planning on staying long anyway, since that army was still heading in her direction. She wondered if Alban was in the castle right now, and what he was doing.

“Oh, just shut up, won’t you?” she cried, after yet another yell of “Die, monster!” came from the wall below. “I don’t even look like a monster, and I certainly don’t act like one!”

The guards stopped their futile attacks, and looked up at her, frozen in their tracks. She crouched down, so that the top of the wall was at eye level to her. Smiling at the frightened men, she carefully seized one of them by the waist, and picked him up. He seemed scared beyond words, even though all she did was flick his helmet off and give him a kiss on the head. She put him back down again, and he promptly collapsed.

“Some soldier you are!” she laughed. “Frightened by a sweet lass like me, hmm? That’s just not acceptable! I’m…”

She stopped upon hearing her name being shouted, and looked up. High above her, in one of the castle’s windows, she saw her prince, leaning out and calling to her. She quickly stood up, but before she could ask him what was going on, he suddenly leapt out of the window and came plummeting down towards her. She had to react fast, but she managed to catch him safely in her hands.

“Alban?” she exclaimed, as he struggled to get back on his feet. “What’s happening? Why did you just jump like that?”

“We have to leave!” he ordered her. “Right now! I tried to tell them, but…they all think you’re here to destroy the city, or something, and my father has decided to attack you!” He looked up and, sure enough, there was the king, and his nobles, watching from the throne-room windows. Some of them were screaming, terrified by the sudden appearance of the giantess right next to the castle. Meanwhile, the guards on the wall had regained their composure, and had begun firing arrows again. Valerie turned around and, to her alarm, saw that she had lingered too long. She was completely surrounded by the army, and even more men, both soldiers and commoners, had come out of the main gate, to boost the ranks. She didn’t think she was in any mortal danger, but the army was huge, and she was trapped, with no way of escape, other than to fight her way through the legions of soldiers.

Alban looked down from the safety of her cupped hand, and regretted the decision to come here. They should have gone straight back to the Vandanian castle, but no, he had to introduce her to his people, foolishly thinking that they’d all have the same change of heart he’d had. He didn’t want to ask Valerie to fight the soldiers, but he couldn’t think of anything else to do. Looking up at his giant girlfriend’s face, he was surprised to see a look of determination on it. Had she thought of something, some plan to get out of this mess? She didn’t say a word to him, but put him firmly on her shoulder, where he clutched onto a few strands of golden hair.

Valerie lifted each of her feet, to shake off some pesky soldiers who’d been busy stabbing her with their swords. Then she turned around a few times, taking in the entire crowd at her feet, as well as the people in the castle, before addressing them.

“Listen to me!” she yelled, and they did. “I’ve just about had all I can take! How can an entire kingdom be so…stupid? After all the care I’d taken not to hurt anyone, or break anything, while travelling through your lands…and you still think I’m here to kill you and eat you? Seriously? I don’t even want to stay here! I just came to say hello to my darling Prince Alban’s family, and to meet the people of his city, and maybe even offer my services to the king of Elgon. But I couldn’t do any of those things, because I’m constantly being bombarded by arrows and spears, even after it should have been obvious that you can’t…defeat…me!”

As she said these last words, she stamped her feet hard against the ground. The circle of soldiers who were closest to her retreated hastily, and she had a bit more room to walk around in.

“I am not your enemy!” she repeated, turning to face the king. “I am not here to invade you – in fact, it would be an honour for me if some of your people would come and live with me in my land. Vandan’s only inhabitants right now are goblins. and I wouldn’t be much of a queen, if I had only an empty land to reign over. But I gather that you’ve all already made up your minds about me, so I’ll just leave right now, and not cause you any further problems.”

She turned around, glad that her speech seemed to have had an effect upon the crowd. The ring of soldiers surrounding her seemed unable to make way for her, even after she asked them politely. So she simply nudged the front row of men with her toes, pushing them gently aside, so that she could place her foot on the ground between them. Eventually they realized it would be impossible to stop her, so they moved aside and gave her enough space to walk through them.

General Monar watched the giantess walk away, with his nephew still riding on her shoulder. Then he turned towards the castle, and wondered how Mildar was reacting to this extraordinary situation. In his opinion, the king had become a bit erratic in the last couple of years, sometimes making decisions without fully thinking them through. Usually he, Monar, had to try and talk his brother out of pursuing a particularly rash or unwise course of action, and he expected he’d have to do the same now. For his own part, he thought it best to order the soldiers not to pursue the giantess, whom he already regarded as a potential friend.

“That went well,” Alban said sarcastically, as Valerie headed off on the journey back to her home. “I’ll be lucky if my father even wants to see me again after this, let alone talk to me.”

“I’m sorry, Alban,” Valerie said, taking him into her hand, and holding him against her chest. “I sort of knew that something like this would happen, but that doesn’t make it less hard to bear. But thank you for sticking with me through everything, it really shows me what a wonderful man you are.”

“Hmmm,” he muttered, nestling against her breast. “I never thought I’d fall in love with a giant, you know? What young lad would? Certainly not my father, who has had three wives, and divorced them all when he was no longer attracted to them. I hardly ever see my mother anymore – she was his second wife. The first didn’t bear him a son…”

She listened to him talk about his relationships with his family members, and thought it was no wonder that he preferred going on adventures to a life at court. There was too much unpleasantness that goes with that territory, it seemed, and she vowed that she and Alban would never stop respecting and loving each other, no matter how difficult and complicated their own lives might become.

When it grew dark, she lay down next to a small forest, and they ate some of the bread and fruit from her sack. There was now only enough food for a couple of days left, but she could walk fast, and knew that they could reach Vandan before it ran out. When they’d finished, Valerie took a few moments to tend to the wounds on her bare feet. The soldiers had been vicious in their attacks, and several of the sword-cuts went in deep.

“I am definitely taking a bath once I get home,” she sighed. “A long, warm, relaxing bath, and after that, a nice, long rest in my royal bed.”

“That sounds marvellous,” Alban said, helping her rub some ointment she’d brought on the soles of her feet. “In fact, I think I’ll join you.”

“Join me? In my bath? Now that’s going a bit too far!” She snatched him between finger and thumb, and gave him a good, firm squeeze. He made an attempt to break free, which didn’t succeed in the slightest. So he gave up, and let her have her way with him. She caressed him for a while, before giving him a long, tender kiss.

“Actually,” she said, “I would love for you to join me, in my bath and in my bed. Big girls like me have desires too, you know.”

“I see. And can a miniscule man like me fulfil those great desires of yours?”

“Oh, I think so. But there is only one way to be certain.” She looked at him suggestively, and, all of a sudden, Alban could also no longer wait to get back to Vandan.

It is two months later, and Prince Alban was helping the latest group of settlers adjust to their new home. Within a few weeks of his and Valerie’s return to the kingdom of the giants, a small group of farmers and their families had arrived, carrying all their possessions with them. They were mostly from the borders of Elgon, where goblins and ogres roamed freely, and where bandit attacks were common. They had heard that a giantess, who was rumoured to be friendly to humans, was now living at the old castle, and they had decided to go and ask her permission to live under her protection.

For Valerie, this had been a wonderful thing to happen. As much as she and Alban enjoyed spending time together, just by themselves, they had begun to miss the company of other people; especially Alban, who sometime felt extremely out of place, living in this giant world. There had also been very little to do, except for making sure that the remaining goblins stayed away from the castle, which they soon did.

Now, a couple of months later, and over a hundred people had arrived at the castle, seeking a new place to live. They were almost without exception very poor, but the vaults of the castle were filled with riches and supplies, and there was enough fruit and vegetables growing naturally around the castle to support both Valerie and her ever-growing population of citizens. With her help, the settlers soon managed to build a decent village for themselves, just to the south of the castle, where there was enough good soil for them to start their farming life anew.

On this particular day, Alban was out helping a group of travellers, whose homes had been destroyed by an ogre attack, find a good place to camp. Since Valerie was now the queen of Vandan, he might one day be regarded as the king, though he supposed he had to marry his beloved first. Up until now, he hadn’t thought about it too much, but he supposed that the people might begin to wonder at what exactly his relationship with her was.

“I’ll propose to her tonight,” he said to himself. “It might be a little sudden for her, but we’ve already made love to each other, and she no longer doubts how strong my feelings for her are. She’ll say yes, I know she will.”

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud cry, and he looked up to see a troop of soldiers on horseback emerging from behind a giant peach tree. They were bearing down on the village with great speed, causing everyone to panic. Alban recognized their insignia: they were soldiers of Elgon, no doubt sent here by his father to get rid of the giantess once and for all, and bring him back home. The riders, who were about fifty in number, spotted him, and headed towards him. The captain ordered his men to round up all the villagers, while he dismounted and walked up to Alban.

“Hello,” Alban said friendlily, while his hand rested on his sword-hilt.

“Where is she?” the captain interrupted. “Where is that gigantic maiden, who insulted our king and mocked our army?”

“Lady Valerie is our queen, and you will respect her!” yelled one of the farmers. He was swiftly repaid by a punch in the gut. Alban now decided to draw his sword, though he still hoped the soldiers weren’t really going to attack unarmed villagers.

“She went to fetch water from the stream,” he replied, which was the truth. “She’ll be back any moment now, and I suggest you leave before she does.”

The captain began to laugh, but Alban had been right, for, at that very moment, Valerie came walking into sight. She was carrying two thirty-foot high pails of water, and, from her clothing, appeared rather more like a peasant girl than a queen. But she found these clothes easier to work in, and she usually spent at least several hours a day helping to build new homes for the immigrants, serving them food and water, and so on.

She put the pails down and advanced towards the soldiers. They, in turn, drew their bows and aimed them straight up at her. The captain drew his own sword, and Alban now saw that a confrontation was almost certainly going to happen.

“That’s close enough, giant!” the captain yelled. “Our arrows are tipped with a lethal poison – one further move from you, and I give the order to fire!”

Valerie stopped and stood still. She was dreading the thought of yet another battle, and this time it looked as if she would be the one who will lose. The soldiers were too heavily armed for Alban and the villagers to take on, and she herself certainly didn’t want any poisoned arrows fired at her.

“What is it that you want?” she asked, hoping to win a little time and come up with some kind of plan.

“Ah, so you are willing to be reasonable,” the captain smiled, pleased to see that his words seemed to have frightened her. “That’s excellent! All right, these are the king’s demands: his son is to return home to Elgon, immediately. So are all these others, who will be punished for deserting their country and setting up camp alongside an enemy stronghold. As for you, if you are not willing to come with us peacefully, to be locked up in your own dungeon, we will be forced to shoot you right now.”

There were cries of protest and dismay from the men and women of the village, which were quickly silenced. The soldiers still had their bows trained on her, and they seemed eager to fire. Valerie still had no plan, but she wasn’t going to let anyone be wrongly imprisoned, least of all herself. There was nothing for it – she was going to have to fight, and hope that it would at least give Alban and the others a chance to escape.

She took a step forward, and the captain gave the order to fire. She quickly raised her hand to protect her face, and managed to block almost all of the arrows. As they pierced the skin of her hand, she shrieked in pain: it felt as if a bucket of acid had been spilled on her, stinging her to the bone. After a few seconds, however, the pain lessened, and her hand began to feel numb. The soldiers, who had clearly expected something more impressive to happen, quickly fired another volley at her. She blocked the arrows again, and decided that her turn had come.

“Is that the ‘lethal poison’ I was threatened with?” she asked, taking another step closer. “Well, I suppose you should have tested to make sure it was lethal for giants like me first!”

As swiftly as she could, she bent down, grabbed the captain by the legs, and let him hang upside-down, a hundred and fifty feet above the ground. He was swinging his sword around wildly, until she took it away from him, and all the while he was screaming and shouting curses at her. His men were now completely uncertain about what to do, but most of them kept their bows aimed at Valerie’s head.

“Tell them to drop all their weapons!” she ordered the captain. “Or I’ll let go, and we’ll see if you survive the fall. I rather doubt it, though.”

The man tried to argue for a few moments, but he was starting to feel really afraid, and he did as she ordered. As soon as the soldiers dropped their bows and swords, Alban and several of the men of the village confiscated them. Valerie then put the captain back down on the ground. He tried to make a run for his horse, but Alban sprang in before him and blocked his way.

“If you’re trying to run back to my father, forget it,” he said. “You’re not leaving without an apology, and a promise that we shall not be attacked again.”

“That’s right,” Valerie said, sitting down next to them. “It’s time for this hostility to stop. Why are you so determined to get rid of me in the first place? Is it because I am a giant? Because you are afraid of me?”

“I…I’m just following His Majesty’s orders,” the man stammered. “Ever since his brother, general Monar, tried to supplant him, the king has vowed to destroy the source of this crisis – you.” He pointed his hand at Valerie.

“My uncle,” Alban exclaimed. “What has that bastard done to him?” He grabbed the captain by the shoulders and shook him.

“Nothing!” the man answered, breaking loose of Alban’s grasp. “The general fled before he could be captured, and some of the soldiers went with him. No-one knows where he is now; the only rumours I heard was that he was heading here.”

“Is that so?” Valerie pondered for a few seconds, before taking the captain up in her hand and addressing him.

“Now listen here, little man: you and your little band will return to Elgon, and inform your foolish, unreasonable king that this conflict is over. He had better not come and bother us here again, or I swear I’ll go over there and break his castle down. And then I’ll take him and squeeze him in my hand, until the blood comes out of his ears. Will you do that for me, hmm?”

The man nodded, but he didn’t look at all comfortable. She wondered what would happen to him when he delivered this news to Mildar. It certainly wasn’t impossible that he’d be imprisoned or executed, for failing to complete his mission. She realized that another attack would come in any case, and that she needed some way to keep the king’s mind occupied with other interests. So she stuck her hand in her pocket, and took out a gold coin. It was about three feet wide, and the captain stared at it in wonder as she laid it in front of him.

“Centuries ago,” she said, “the men of Vandan searched all over the world for gold. They were obsessed with it, and, right now, there is more gold in that castle’s vaults than you can even imagine. If King Mildar wants more than just one coin, he’s going to have to assume a more tolerant state of mind. I’ll pay him three of these coins each month, if he leaves me and my people in peace.”

“I’ll…I’ll be sure to tell him,” the captain said. He was trying to pick up the coin, but it was too heavy for him to even budge. Valerie set him and the coin down again, and told him that it was time for him to leave. He obeyed, and she asked one of the villagers to lend the soldiers a wagon, so that they could transport the coin back to Elgon. A few minutes later, and they were gone.

The villagers then began to celebrate, and to praise their leader for keeping them safe. She was just as glad as they were, but she saw that Alban still looked unhappy. So she took her leave of the townsfolk, and, taking her prince up in her embrace, headed into the privacy of the castle. When they were alone in her bedroom, she put him down on the small table by her bedside, and lay down on her bed. She kissed and stroked him a little, before she asked him if he was all right.

“It must be very hard for you,” she said, “to be torn between two people whom you love, when they are on opposite sides. If you’d like to go back to Elgon, without me, to make things right with your father…”

“No, it’s all right,” he said. “It’s not your fault – or, at least, it’s not only your fault. My father and I have had many arguments over the last few years, mostly because I just wasn’t interested in becoming his successor. I’ve always wanted to go my own way in life, and it frustrated him to no end. I would like to see him again, but, right now, I feel that I’ve done all that I could to make things right between him and me. It’s up to him now.”

“I understand. I mean, why waste time on what’s sure to be a failed attempt? And now there’s this business with your uncle, and the soldiers attacking…it’s a wonder we get any time to spend by ourselves.”

“Well, we’re alone now…”

“Yes, we are.” She began to fondle him again, eventually picking him up and bringing him close to her lips. But before she could plant a kiss on him, he stopped her.

“Wait,” he insisted. “Valerie, before we go on, I have to ask you something. I know that this is hardly the right…” At that very moment, he was interrupted by the sound of a horn blowing loudly outside the castle doors. Valerie sprang to her feet, placing Alban on her shoulder and trusting him to hold on. When they were outside, they saw exactly what they’d been expecting to see: another troop of soldiers. This time however, the men didn’t prepare to attack the giantess; instead, they dismounted and, in unison, sank to their knees.

“What…what’s going on?” Valerie asked, wondering how much more of this she could take.

“Hey!” Alban cried suddenly. “That’s my uncle!”

Indeed, it was general Monar, still looking like royalty, despite what had obviously been a long and difficult trip. The old warrior rose to his feet, and held out his hand in a greeting. Valerie got down on her knees and put her beloved on the ground beside her. He ran to embrace his uncle, and the soldiers, glad to see that they were in no danger, rose as well.

“I feared you were dead!” Alban exclaimed happily. “But, somehow, you’ve arrived here…what are doing here, by the way?”

“Nothing that has to do with getting rid of me, I hope?” Valerie asked.

“No, no!” Monar replied, looking up in awe at the colossal girl. “In fact, we are here to join you, as it were. Rumours of the giant queen of Vandan are spreading throughout the lands, and not all men imagine you as an enemy.”

“That’s good. Because if I have to tell one more asinine soldier that I’m not hostile…”

“We know that, Lady Valerie: not all of us are as unknowledgeable as my brother. No, the reason we are here are to offer you and Prince Alban our services, as an army. We are here to protect you, and we will follow your commands.”

“Hmm,” she said, finding the idea rather alluring. “That is very kind of you, general. But I happen to make a very good army, all by myself.”

The soldiers began to look worried and whisper amongst themselves. They had never heard a girl talk like this before, and they were amazed by how much strength she seemed to possess.

“Well, in that case,” the general continued, “please allow us to live here, in your kingdom, as citizens. Our opinions about you have made us unpopular back in Elgon, so we cannot go back. And I am sure there is some other way we can be of service to you.”

“Of course there is!” the giantess laughed. “I was only having you on a little, you see? I’m sorry, but that’s just the way I am. Seriously, though, you and your men are welcome to stay here.”

“And our families? May we send word to them, so that they can come and join us?”

“Yes, certainly! Come, let me show you the village!” She placed both Alban and Monar on her shoulder and headed off towards the settlement, leaving the soldiers to follow her on foot.

“Unbelievable!” Monar said to his nephew. “She’s just…unbelievable! And this is the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with?”

“Yes, Uncle. She’s the one I love, and there’s no-one else like her. Although, she can be a bit too much to handle sometimes…”

“I heard that!” Valerie said, turning to her little passengers and smiling. She gave Alban a slight nudge with her chin, and he fell off her shoulder, screaming in surprise. But she caught him just as he reached her waist, and put him down safely on the ground, along with the general.

“Here we are,” she said, “Now, lets get all of you a place to stay.”

It was late at night before Alban had Valerie all to himself again. They were lying in Valerie’s Titan-sized bed – or rather, she was lying in it. He was sitting happily on top of her bosom, wearing nothing but his underwear, playing with a few strands of her golden hair. She was fondling his body, gently squeezing his chest and arms, thrilled that she could have such a muscular man as a lover, and still be able to let him sit upon her breast, as if he were a little pet.

“So, darling,” she said, feeling ready for a night of pleasure, even though she was a bit sleepy. “What was it you wanted to ask me, before we were so unfortunately interrupted?”

“Hmm? Oh yes, yes, of course! I was going to ask you…well, you know…I mean, what I wanted to say was…”

“Oh, just ask me already!” she giggled. “You know very well that my answer will be yes!”

“You…you knew?” he stammered. She laughed and hugged his body in her hand. Alban looked a little embarrassed, and climbed out of her hand. He slid in between her breasts, a spot he always enjoyed spending time in.

“You’re not the hardest man to read, my little prince,” she said. “I could tell that something had been bothering you for days now, and…I mean, what else could it be, but the worryings of a man who doesn’t know how to ask his girl to marry him?”

“So that’s it, then? You’ll be my wife?”

She laughed again at his awkwardness. Bringing him towards her lips, she wrapped his body up with her lips, letting him bathe in the warmth and moistness of her kiss.

“Yes, my love. I will marry you, and be your wife – but on one condition.”

“Oh yes? And what’s that?”

“That you’ll let me plan the wedding. You may be a great warrior, sweetie, but you don’t really have a taste for the romantic side of life.”

“Oh, is that so? Well, I guess I’ll have to prove myself, then…” He took off his underwear, giving her a nice view indeed, before wriggling in underneath her gown.

“Don’t get lost!” she called after him, knowing full well that he was very familiar with her body. Then she just sank back into the pillows, and let him have his way with her.

“My sweet prince,” she thought afterwards, long after he had fallen asleep in her cleavage. “You’ve certainly come a long way, haven’t you? Are you ready to go even further, with me? Oh, I hope so, because I’m never letting you go. Sleep tight, Alban, and sweet dreams.”

With those thoughts, she drifted off herself, happy that she’d found true love, even if it came from a person she’d never expected she’d fall in love with.