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.