"Are you sure you don't want someone to go with you?" Darius asked Brooke, she seemed almost as large as she had when he was under the effects of the necklace.
She nodded, "It shouldn't even take more than a few hours, I will be back by the time you guys are"
"You don't think you should be with the other two when they go into town?"
Brooke laughed, "Trust me, if I was there they might be overwhelmed, if Wendy and Nika aren't enough to deal with as is"
"If she ever wakes up" Nika said with a laugh, smiling over to where Wendy lay curled up by the tree line.
"So...How was your meeting with Rodrick?" Brooke asked with a smile.
Nika sighed, "He is perfect! The things he has forged with his own hands" She shuddered slightly, her tail flicking side to side, "It's incredible"
"So, did you guys do anything more than talk?" Darius asked with a grin, Brooke rolled her eyes.
"No, we didn't" she gasped, as if it were so strange.
"Really?"
She nodded, "I know it's weird, I mean generally I love to just hop right into that, it is a way to truly get a feel for someone...but with him, I don't know I want to but I don't!"
"Why not?"
"I'm trying to figure that out, I feel like I want to hold it over his head! Like tease him with it but not give in myself, so when we finally do it" She sighed, "I think something happened to me when that jewel exploded"
"You became normal?" Brooke laughed.
Nika scoffed, "Just because you happen to tie all these strange moral rules to sex doesn't mean it's normal"
"What ever, well I am going to go, I will see you guys this afternoon"
"Bye!" Nika said with a small wave. She smiled back down at Darius, she seemed to be beaming.
"So what next?" He asked with a grin.
She shrugged, "Well, I might have told him we would be paying a visit to the village tomorrow. And we might decide to go for a little walk together"
"Sounds like fun" Darius looked over and smiled to see Wendy sit up, stretching her arms upwards and giving an adorable yawn.
She had woken to the sound of horse hoofs, Sarah was riding along side Luthor, who was holding the reins of another horse behind him.
Darius shook the princes hand, "Morning"
"Good morning Darius, here is the horse I promised, will make keeping pace with these titanic women a little easier"
"Aw, but we love to carry around our little Darius!" Nika said kneeling next to them.
Darius shook his head, "I am more than happy to ride" He mounted the powerful black steed, "This is a fine horse"
"The finest I could find" Luthor said with a nod.
As they rode Luthor and Darius talked, Sarah riding silently behind them mostly to keep Wendy company, who could still carry a conversation somewhat easily at her current height.
"So you plan to help Sarah instate herself as Queen?" Luthor asked sitting back in his saddle.
Darius nodded, "It is the right thing to do, I feel that I have failed my father with my life's ambitions and it is time I helped truly avenge his death"
"What do you mean?"
"When I first set out, I was only out for the life of a man. My father died more than a man, he had ideals, he had morals. He died for a cause and I failed to live up to his standards of goodness. In order to avenge his death I must do more than punish the guilty, I must help give rise to a lost age"
"Or perhaps a new age, an even more prosperous one" They looked back towards Sarah, she smiled before turning her head back upwards towards Wendy.
"She is certainly the one to do it" Darius said turning forward, "Her heart is in the right place, and her mind more than able"
Luthor nodded, "We spoke deeply while she was visiting our palace. She said she wanted to copy our systems, no more tyrants no more close minded monarchs. It is the people who choose their ruler, and it is they who get to decide when they are unhappy. She has lived a closed life, trapped in her room, but they could not take her ability to learn and dream. Her mind, though older, still absorbs knowledge like a sponge"
The town soon came into view, a crowd had formed outside as they awaited these strange new giants. Luthor introduced them himself, also alluding to the taller Brooke who was off collecting her tiny belongings. The crowd shifted nervously under the giantesses anxious gaze, a few long minutes of uncertainty hung in the air until Rodrick finally broke through the crowd, much to Nika's delight. With him followed children, their worried mothers hand close at their backs as they sought to play with the giant women. Wendy was more than willing to let them climb atop her lap and hands. Nika, however, was more interested in Rodrick.
Darius found himself just outside of the village leaning his back against a fence. Sarah walked over with a smile, leaning back next to him.
"This is going well" He said with grin, watching Wendy laugh in the distance as a crowd of young children pretended to tackle her to the ground.
"Yes it is, I was not afraid though, knowing Wendy"
Darius nodded, "And I see Nika is off with her new husband to be"
Sarah laughed, "How did you know they would be so well together?"
Darius shrugged, "I know them both pretty well. It seems opposites really do attract. Rodrick is a master with metal and fire, Nika is a master with the arcane and magic"
"Have you put anymore thought...into what I said?" She looked towards him.
Darius sighed, "A little, but I think we should still look to get you in there first"
"A queen has never risen to power without a king Darius"
"There has never been a queen like you before" Darius said with a smile.
"So...you do not want to be my king?" She turned away.
"No, Sarah...Only a fool would turn you away like that" She turned back to him, "But am I really the one you want by your side? Think about it"
She nodded, taking his hand in hers, "I will"
~~~~
As evening came the four set off to the area where Nika's house still lay in ruin, her belongings spread across the hill that sat before its foundations. It became clear that Brooke had not returned.
"Where do you think she is?" Nika asked looking around.
"I don't know" Darius said softly, they would have seen her in the open plains...she must not have come back, "I will ride to her house, on horseback I will make it there in a few hours"
"Should we go with you?" Wendy asked.
Darius shook his head, "I am practiced at going around unnoticed, if I do not return then there may be reason to worry"
"Don't do anything foolish" Sarah said coming to his side.
Darius shrugged, "Come on, you know me"
"That is what I am worried about" Nika laughed, but shook her head her face growing stern, "Just be careful, I hope Brooke is alright"
~~~~
Brooke moaned, reaching to rub her forehead but her hand was cut short. She opened her eyes, her arms hung on either side of her head. They were held up by massive iron chain links. She strained to move but found her legs bound by similar chain, curled under her. Her body ached and her back felt as though it had been scraped across stone. She looked around, trying to recall where she had been.
"I see you are awake" A female voice called, a loud clacking of heels against stone echoed in the wide courtyard where Brooke had been chained to one of the castle walls. She was too large to fit anywhere inside.
"What do you want with me?" Brooke snarled down at the Queen.
The Queen looked up at her, a broad white smile surrounded by blood white lips grinned up to Brooke, "Only to seek out your services"
"I would sooner-"
"Yes, yes, you have told us already...I am sorry your keeping must be so primitive but you can understand we cannot contain you in a simple cell at your current stature"
"Then why don't you just kill me"
"Well, being as you would be such a powerful tool I am willing to give you a second chance...perhaps a little more coaxing is in order? I mean really Brooke, do you truly care about the people of this kingdom?"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh Brooke...you don't think that the king had kept close record of every little recluse and shopkeeper?" The Queen leaned her weight to one leg, "We know much about you, and your craft. That is why we were so interested in you in the first place. I can only wonder what drove you to expand yourself in such a way, but all of my magicians were unable to make you more manageable...like the many, many people who have tried to stop our inevitable expansion. But lets get back to you" The Queen nodded towards the giant necklace, "This looks oddly familiar, perhaps a once prized possession of my family?"
"Your family? Are you out of your mind you were never part of the Royal family you were just another mistress the King couldn't hide under his carpet!" Brooke spat, "You know full well that if you failed to produce a son you would have met the same fate as all the others"
The queen laughed, "Of course of course. That is why I am so glad your friend has made way for me. I would have done it myself, to think of going through many more years lying down with that bearded brute, it still makes me sick to my stomach" Brookes ears burned as the details poured over the queens tongue...she knew about everything! "Really I don't want to punish you at all, that is of course you continue to be so uncooperative"
"You will never get anything out of me"
Giantess World
