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.