Valdan sat in front of the hearth’s blazing fire and counted himself lucky. If those two boys hadn’t been out so early, he would have carried on floating downstream, and eventually succumbed to the cold. But he was alive, thanks to them, and was eating a bowl of meat-and-vegetable soup, while warming himself by the fire in the chief’s hut. The chief’s wife, mother of the two who’d found him, had kindly taken him in, and they were all relieved when he’d recovered. They’d even lent him some clothes to wear, since his were soaked, and were busy drying outside in the sunlight.

And then, of course, came the questions. They wanted to know where he came from – he obviously wasn’t from around here, since no sane person would go swimming in the river like that, and his clothes and well-crafted sword gave him away as well. He knew that lying to the villagers now would only cause problems later on, when they inevitably discovered the truth. So the truth is what he told, and the expected laughing and scoffing followed.

“Oh, that’s a good one, that was!” the chief’s wife, Dara, said. “Prince of Vandan, indeed! And with a giant as a sister, too! Hah! I’ve heard finer nonsense from this little one here!” She clapped her youngest son, Knut, on the back.

“He must be rich, though, Mum,” Rett said, examining Valdan’s sword. “Look, his sword’s got jewels in it!”

“Must have stolen it,” Dara sneered. “Tell the truth now, boy! Who are you really?”

“I’ve told you who I am!” Valdan insisted. “You may not believe me, but what I’ve said IS the truth! Listen, if…if I could stay here with you…”

“That’s for my husband to the decide. He’s out hunting – there’s been told of a troll that’s been killing folks’ cattle, and him and our hunters are out tracking it. But he’ll be back before long, and when he does…”

“Oh, let him be, Mum!” Rett complained. ‘He’s harmless – I’ve took his sword, and he’s got nothing else. Knut and me will look after him for now, until Dad gets back.”

“All right, son, you do that. But I don’t want to see him causing no trouble, or I’m feeding him to the dogs!” She stood and went off to fetch some more wood for the fire. The other women and children in the hut gradually left as well, leaving Valdan alone with the two boys. Rett suggested they head back up to the lake and finish their fishing, which Valdan had unintentionally interrupted earlier.

“I believe you,” Knut said to Valdan as they walked through the village. It was just a collection of simple thatched wooden buildings, without even a wall surrounding it. Only the chief’s hut, which was the only stone building, was of any great size. Valdan wondered how the people even managed to survive in these inhospitable conditions, and if he would be able to fit in here eventually.

“Shut up, Knut!” his brother said, though not in an unfriendly way. “You don’t know nothing!”

“I know about the giant Queen of Vandan, though – we all do. Didn’t know she had kids, though.”

“If she had kids, they’d all be giants too! Does Valdan here look like a giant to you?”

“My father, the King, is a human,” Valdan explained. “I suppose I take after him, while my sisters got my mother’s giant size.”

“Well, that’s just not fair!” Knut said. “I wouldn’t want no giant sisters either. Girls shouldn’t be giants, anyhow. Only boys. We’re the ones who are good at fighting and hunting and stuff. Girls should just stay at home, and make dinner and wash clothes...”

“Now you know why I ran away,” Valdan said. He was beginning to like this boy. “Sylvie was a real pain in the neck, and if I never see her again, it’ll be too soon. Let’s…let’s just hope she doesn’t find your village…”

“If she does, we’ll deal with her – giant or not! Won’t we, Rett?” Knut exclaimed, swinging his fists comically. His brother gave a contemptuous laugh.

“Huh! I’ll be the one dealing with her – you’re just a kid, Knut! But she won’t find us. She’s probably running back home by now.”

“Sounds like you believe me then?” Valdan asked.

“I didn’t say that! Now, are we here to catch some fish, or are we just going to stand and talk?”

Meanwhile, further down the river, chief Grun and twenty of his finest hunters had managed to locate the snow-troll they’d been tracking. It was living in a small cave across the river, hewn into the foot of an enormous cliff. Outside the cave entrance were scattered piles of bones, and trails of fresh cattle blood could be seen on the snow. The troll itself was standing in plain sight outside the cave; it hadn’t seen the hunters, who were hidden among the trees on the other side of the river.

Grun was a big and powerful man (his sons liked to joke that he was half-troll himself), but he knew how vicious these creatures could be, so he decided to stay cautious. They would attack with bows first, hopefully driving the troll into the cave, where it could be cornered and killed. Before his bowmen could do this, however, a long, drawn-out, incredibly loud yell was heard from the top of the cliff.

“Vaaaaaldaaaaannn!!”

They all looked up in alarm, just as the most enormous beast they had ever seen leapt down from the top of the cliff, right unto the spot where the troll was standing. It appeared to be wearing a pair of massive leather boots on its feet, but none of them, not even the chief, dared hanging around any longer to look up at the rest of it. They turned around and fled back to the village, looking behind every now and then to see if that thing was following them.

“Urghh, what is that…thing? Gross!”

Sylvie was looking at the sole of her boot, which was covered in blood, fur, and unidentifiable parts of whatever it was she’d stepped on. She’d jumped off the little ridge without looking, not seeing the white, furry troll on the snowy ground below her, and now she felt as if her day had gotten even worse. She began to scrape her boot against a rock, while vowing to make Valdan suffer a similar fate if she ever found him. All day she’d been searching, calling his name as loudly as she could, but her little worm of a brother had somehow managed to give her the slip. Forgetting about breakfast, she’d set off at once to look for him, the minute she’d found out he was gone.

“I hate him so much!” she said aloud, frantically scraping her sole against a rock, as if it would make her feel better. “I’ll make him lick my boot clean – every last bit of it!”

“Vaaaaldaaaannn!” she yelled again. “Valdan, where are you?! Come back, or I swear I’ll…I’ll…” She coughed loudly, her voice sore from shouting all morning. Feeling utterly downhearted, she sat down by the river’s edge and wanted to cry. But that would just be letting him win, and she would never, ever, let him win. She was going to find him, she told herself over and over, and then she’ll make him wish he’d never been born.

As she sat and sulked, she noticed something in the distance across the treetops. It may have been faint, but there was no mistaking the tiny columns of smoke that were rising into the sky. Sylvie stood up to get a better look.

“It…it has to be a town…or a village,” she thought. “Maybe they’ve seen Valdan, and know where he is…or maybe not. But then I can still get them to help me find him.”

This sounded like a good plan to her, so she jumped carefully across the river and headed into the forest, trying not to push too many trees over. A short while later, and she was looking down on the oddest collection of small houses she’d ever seen. Not one of them was even as high as the tops of her boots.

“Huh! Well, this doesn’t like it’s going to help me much,” she thought. “There aren’t even any streets! I bet I could fit all of them into my bedroom – like little doll houses…”

While she was wondering whether or not she should stay a while, a band of armed men had formed in the village below, and were massing together to defend their homes and families. They were all roughly clad, and carried a variety of weapons. They halted about fifteen yards from where Sylvie was standing, and looked up at her.

Chief Grun looked around at the men who stood by his side, and didn’t think he’d ever seen them this afraid before. But then, he himself had never been this afraid. The monster which stood before them was one of the biggest he’d ever seen – only the dreadful wyvern of the high peaks was close to it in size – and he didn’t think they stood any great chance of defeating it The giant was clad in heavy fur garments and had a gigantic dagger strapped to its belt. And yet…

“It’s…it’s a little girl,” he stammered, looking far up at her grinning face. “A girl…the size of a small mountain…”

“What do we do, Chief?” asked his right-hand man. “We attack?” The cry of ‘attack!’ was taken up by several others, but the chief silenced them.

“Not yet,” he cautioned. “We should…we should try talking first. G-greetings!” he called up at the young giantess. “What…what is your business here, o giant?”

The sight of all those tiny, terrified men at her feet was too comical for Sylvie to bear, and she collapsed into a fit of giggling. She knew this wasn’t very polite, but, after Valdan had just ditched her like that, she was in no mood to be polite. She lifted one of her feet and held it about twenty feet above the warriors’ heads. Shrieks of fear and futile spear-throwing followed, and she kept on laughing.

“Oh my! I’m really sorry,” she said, when she had calmed down a bit, and put her foot back down on the ground. “You little fellows are so funny, with your teeny little swords and stuff! But seriously, you don’t want to attack me – I could squish you, all of you, just like that.”

With the men having given up trying to wound her, she decided she had to announce herself.

“I am Princess Isylvine of Vandan!” she called out, making sure everyone in the village could hear her. “That means you should bow to me!” The group of warriors instantly dropped their weapons and did so. Sylvie giggled again: she was so great and powerful compared to them, and no-one could stop her from making them do whatever she wanted.

She sat down, making sure there was no-one behind her who could get squashed under her bottom. Then, placing a stretched-out leg on either side of the group of men, she effectively trapped them. All she had to do was bring her legs together, and they’d all be obliterated. Not that she wanted to do that, of course, but the thought of how much power she had was exhilarating. She picked out the one she thought was the leader, and swiftly snatched him up in her fist.

“It’s all right, little guy!” she laughed, as Grun struggled to free his arms from the grip of her fist. “Don’t be scared! I won’t hurt you – unless you refuse to help me, of course!” She poked her fingertip against his head a few times, laughing as he tried in vain to escape.

“What do you want?” the chief cried, his fear already giving way to anger. “Please, name it, and leave us in peace!”

“Uh-oh! That sounded like a little ant giving an order to a princess! Did you really just order me, little ant? Then I guess I’ll have to let you go…from up here!”

She let him dangle in front of her face, upside down, holding on to one of his legs.

“No, please!” he cried, continuing to struggle. “I didn’t mean no offense! Please, I have a wife…and children!”

This last comment brought Sylvie back to her senses. By now the warriors were no longer the only people she could see: other men, women, and, yes, even children, had come out of their homes. They all looked frightened to death, but they were ready to defend themselves and their home against what they still believed to be a threat. And here she was, acting like a mean bully instead of a dignified princess. With a barely audible apology, she put the man down and drew her legs up to her chest, so that they were no longer trapped.

“Uh, listen, could any of you perhaps help me?” she asked. She tried to be friendly, but her anger at Valdan didn’t exactly make her want to be pleasant to these humans. “I’m looking for my brother, Valdan – or Prince Valdan, as I expect he’d like to be called. He’s about this big,” she held her finger and thumb about six feet apart, “and he’s got blond hair, and green eyes, and…and he’s a real little sissy, who’s always whining and complaining, and he doesn’t want to accept that I’m always right, so he ran off like a little baby!”

“That, uh, that’s all?” the chief asked hesitantly. He was still unaware of Valdan’s arrival earlier that morning. Sylvie wanted to add a few more things, but a large, stout woman pulled the chief aside and whispered in his ear. So she waited patiently, amusing herself by folding her arms around a nearby house, and picturing herself lifting it up and carrying it away easily.

“I’m so much stronger than these people – I could be their queen,” she thought to herself. “Maybe…maybe I could ask them? I could make them serve me, and look after them – but then I’d have to live here, in this wasteland. And I couldn’t do that. Oh, I wish I could go home right now…I’d give my right arm for a nice, slow, warm, relaxing bath!”

Grun listened to his wife’s story, and wondered what the right course of action would be. He wanted nothing more than to see this giant leave: his people seemed were looking up at her in fear, even though she might very well be just an inoffensive child. But he also couldn’t ‘make’ the boy Valdan go home with his sister. Whatever else they may be, his people didn’t turn their back on strangers in need.

“Uh, excuse me, uhm, Princess?” he called up to her. She was playing with a nearby tree, shaking the snow off its branches and catching it in her hands. “I…I have made my decision. Your brother…well, he is gone out with my sons, but they’ll be back soon. But…”

“Really?!” Sylvie squealed. She fell down on her knees (the villagers could feel the ground shake) and grabbed the startled man with both hands. “Oh, that’s wonderful! Thanks, little guy…uh, I mean, thank you, sir! Can I have him when he gets back?” She saw the chief struggling for air in her grasp, so she put him back down again.

“Let’s…umm…let’s wait till they return, alright?” Grun said weakly. “Maybe…maybe he’d rather stay with us, hm? He does seem to prefer living here, my wife tells me.” The giant girl’s smile turned into a glare, and he regretted his words at once.

“But I’m sure your brother would love to go home with you!” he quickly added. “In the meantime, is there…you know…anything, anything we can offer you?”

Peeking around the corner of one of the houses, Valdan watched, terrified, as the village folk offered up baskets of fruit and bread to Sylvie, who gobbled it up eagerly. He had no idea how she’d found him this quickly, and was at a complete loss as to what he should do. Running away again might work, but he was reluctant to do so after having found a place where he could stay without having to worry about surviving in the wild. And staying here would only result in Sylvie catching him and stuffing him in her pocket again. But could there be a third option, he wondered.

Rett and Knut were also staring at the princess from their hiding place. The looks on their faces were almost comical, Valdan thought; they were clearly utterly gobsmacked. He hastily pulled them back behind the house, and began to explain his plan.

“You two go out and talk to her,” he said, trying to get them to listen, when all they could think about was the fifty-yard tall girl they’d just seen playing with their dad like a toy. “Go and tell her that we were on the way back, when a bear came out of the trees and attacked us. We tried to run back to the village, but I tripped over a rock, and it got me…”

“That’s a lame story!” Knut interrupted. “I ain’t scared of a bear! Only a coward would leave his friend behind to get eaten!”

“Really? You’re not scared of bears? How about giants? Would you kindly go and attack Sylvie, then? You know, draw your sword and chase her away?”

“I would! And Rett would too!”

“No I won’t!” Rett retorted. “Don’t be an ass, Knut! I say we follow Valdan’s plan – I mean, it’s all we got, and we need to get rid of that girl giant quickly, before she eats all our supplies.”

As they went over the plan once more, a small child came out of a house a few yards away. She saw them, and recognized Valdan, since she’d seen him earlier that morning. Without thinking the twice, the little girl ran to raise the alarm. Valdan cursed and dashed out, trying to stop her, but it was too late. He was out in the open, in plain sight of the whole village and his sister. Feeling sick to his stomach, he lowered his gaze just as he saw Sylvie looking at him. It was over – his new life had vanished in an instant.