'You're in the army now, oh, uh, oh, you're in the army...now.' Janna hummed in her mind.

She was hungry and the tiny Horasian's secretive meeting was dragging on and on while she was waiting with only Rondria to keep her company. As an acolyte, a student of magic, the little girl with the shaven head was not allowed to attend and so Furio had gone alone. He must have made for a ragged sight in front of the splendid group of riders Janna had seen from a distance before they had entered the forest. Polished, shiny steel, gold, multicoloured sashes, a mage in a spotless white robe and a black-haired man that looked like a tiny Samurai, all on horseback the procession went.

Nearly the entire high command of the army had come, as Rondria had informed her, as well as a few Nostrian nobles, everyone eager to see. They had seen her from afar, no doubt, but so far none of them had come out of the forest to inspect her from a closer proximity. Rondria explained that it was highly unorthodox for command staff to put themselves in danger like this and Janna understood why. If, for example, the procession for some reason ran into enemies they ran the risk of getting the entire brain of their army killed at once.

If Janna wanted to kill them she'd be able to do so as well. All it would require was finding them and a footstep or two after that. But according to her agreement with Furio she was to abide these tiny men's orders, go where they told her to, kill whomever they wanted dead, and receive food in turn. First she'd go and find Laura though, no matter what they would say. Furio knew this and he would tell them. Afterwards, however, Janna saw nothing wrong with working with these technologically advanced people in exchange for a steady food supply.

She was eager to meet them, observe them, see how their people functioned. This was not how she had imagined the meeting. She did not understand this need for secrecy. All eyes and ears had been removed from the vicinity, a passing peasant with a small cart of vegetables, three Boron priests, meaning to bury the dead in the village Janna had annihilated, the patrol that had spotted her and the officer Furio had spoken to.

Rondria had clearly been given the task to entertain Janna whilst they waited and that was almost offensive, implying she would wander off like a little child and begin messing things up if she wasn't supervised. Worse yet, Rondria did not really like this task, looking up at her in anguish. And all that Janna was interested in, the cute little fact that she had found the two little wizards naked and entangled with each other after waking up, Rondria refused to talk about. Instead, the tiny acolyte made small talk, speaking more to herself than with Janna, of fighting with a staff and sword as opposed to with a staff alone. She had lost her sword the night before, and the rue over it gave her courage.

Janna had been mean to the little girl, but had resolved to henceforth be friendly to her. It was for Furio's sake for one, and then she was only the second Horasian Janna knew. Also, she was capable of magic and that was exciting.

“Could you show me a spell?” She tried to bring Rondria to give a demonstration, interrupting the passionate but tedious lecture on fighting against an opponent with sword and shield while only armed with a staff. Apparently, using the longer range to keep the opponent at bay, keeping him from using his shield as a weapon was the trick, but that knowledge was of little interest to Janna. Any regular sized opponent, shield or not, she could turn into a communion wafer with a single step.

“That would not be proper.” Rondria replied. “We are forbidden to cast spells merely for show. And I should keep my powers for when I need them. The energy is limited, you see?”

“Come on.” Janna pushed her. “Cast me a nice looking spell and I will get you a new sword.”

'And you should thank me for asking. I might just as well squeeze it out of you.' She added in her mind. To be denied so many times by such a tiny and hapless creature was bedazzling whenever it happened.

“Where would you get a sword from?” Rondria asked perplexed.

“From someone else.” Janna shrugged in response. “I'm sure they'll let me have it if I ask nice enough.”

Rondria got the hint and swallowed. Still, she replied resolutely: “If I could just use any sword I would have taken one already. Iron saps the magic, it is almost impossible to cast a spell while touching it and being around too much of it has the same effect as well. Did you never wonder why we mages wear robes instead of armour?”

“Oh.” Janna made, taken aback. She had thought the robes were for ceremonial purposes, a symbol of status. “What kind of sword can you use then?”

“Bronze.” Rondria replied. “Or copper, anything with no iron in it. If it were an iron sword it would have to be at least a third of an arcane metal, endurium, arcanium, titanium, something like that. Such a sword is rare though, and easily as expensive as half a kingdom.”

She sounded dreamily on the one hand, but mournful on the other. That she liked fighting, Janna had been able to surmise before, and of course a passionate fighter would want a special, expensive blade.

“Where might I find such a magic sword?” She asked intrigued.

“Oh, there's a few ancient ones, stacked away on display in some mages colleges or castles.” The acolyte replied. “And some really are magic, said to hold ancient, powerful spells and old arch-mages are brooding over the weapons, trying to figure out the formula.”

She sounded mournful, and that was cute.

“Then such blades are always the stuff of legend and there are fortune-seekers trying to uncover the lost graves of this hero or that, but I am not aware of any swords that have been uncovered in the past one hundred years.” She continued. “Most blades you find in graves and tombs are withered away to rust. No magic blade would ever rust though, they're like our magic staffs, near unbreakable.”

“Hmm.” Janna made. “Well, if I ever come across such a blade I will not forget you.”

She smiled, hopefully that it might convince.

Rondria laughed: “Aye, on that day, I'll gladly show you a spell.”

The ice was broken, the anguish gone, but Janna had come no closer to seeing some magic. Under different circumstances she'd threatened to squash the girl if she did not abide by Janna's will, but that would only be the last resort, if an option at all.

“Well, in that case.” She made to get up. “I'd like to have a word with my new employers.”

She simply stepped over Rondria and towards the forest, showing her how insignificant and powerless she was.

“No, wait!” Rondria called predictably. “Janna, you have to wait here!”

So far up, her tiny voice was almost inaudible.

“Why?” Janna asked down, indifferent.

“Please!” Rondria pleaded. “They told me to...”

“Well, they didn't tell me.” Janna cut her off, her voice rolling over Rondria's much like her foot might roll over the little girl and crush her. She knew this game and was tired of it. No, yes, please, no, it went the same every time.

“It's because of the spies!” Rondria argued then. “That's why they are meeting in the forest too! If a spy sees our generals with you, it could mean war!”

“War?” Janna asked perplexed, bending down to the little girl and hushing her voice in concern. “I thought we were fighting the giants? Aren't we at war already?”

If the giants really were such a threat, she ought to have seen more of them by now, she noted wearily.

“Yes...” Rondria admitted, swaying. “But you want to go to Thorwal, no? Thorwal is ally to the Garethians. If a Garethian spy establishes a connection between you and us, you being in Thorwal committing acts of war might spark a continuation of the Garetho-Horasian conflict!”

Janna shrugged involuntarily. She had heard of Gareth and it's empire but knew close to nothing about it. For her, war only meant more people to stomp and squish. Crushing an army would be fun, much like the battle at Sir Ludwig's keep had been. This might open the door to a whole knew game of politics and power structures that would give Laura and her something to do during the day once food supply was secure.

It was odd because back on earth she had never given a thought to politics but the idea of having power made it sound infinitely more interesting in her mind, being a player rather than a pawn. Now she had to meet the generals and officers, remember their names, what they did. Some would be high born, no doubt, for that was how this world worked, progressive Horas or backwards Andergast. There was a lot to learn, but Janna figured that it would be best to have Laura by her side to do it, with the training in anthropology to understand societal structures better. But with the high command of an entire Horasian army just a few meters away...

Rondria looked up at her, pleading, but she was able to read Janna's face like a book. She put her right hand on her shoulder and seemed to mumble something before her arm extended to point with two fingers at a small conifer nearby. With a soft 'woosh' a tiny lance of flame shot from her fingers a heartbeat later, setting the wood alight, crackling.

“Woah!” Janna gasped, regarding the burning tree. “Can you set someone ablaze with that?”

“Yes.” Rondria replied, ashamed over breaking the commandment not to cast spells for show.

Again, Janna made a note in her mind to learn about magic and get to the bottom of it. There had to be a scientific explanation, she told herself, yet she could not think of one. The glowing staffs she had seen the night before might have been of electric or chemical making, this had to be burning gas or liquid or something like that, like a flamethrower. Perhaps Christina could dissect a dead mage and look for additional organs or perhaps even trick devices. Or else, this was as supernatural as it looked.

“Can you cast another one? Some different spell?” Janna inquired eagerly.

“I...” Rondria began. “I am not so adapt in magic yet. Most spells are invisible anyhow, there is one that lends armour to my skin, which saved me when you...when you tried to eat me, do you remember?”

“I do.” Janna nodded in thought. “Uh...sorry.”

The tiny acolyte said nothing and Janna made a decision. She'd meet mages again in the future, or druids, witches and what ever else there might be, but the meeting was going on now. With a mumbled apology, she turned towards the forest, crouching, scanning the ground where she could see it. She wanted to meet high command, not crush them by accident after all. With Rondria's wailing protests fading in the distance, she found them in a clearing, bunched up, standing around a folding table with parchments.

Their horses were bound up a dozen metres away and went crazy at her sight and the noise she made moving through the wood. Three broke free of their reins and galloped off, screaming. The officers turned towards the sound as well, steel drawn, protective around the tiny samurai and what had to be a general. The tall, gaunt, white-haired man was clad in fine greens a golden cuirass and looked up at her, calm, with cold eyes, where his officers were in a shouting frenzy.

Furio did make for a ragged sight next to the rest of them. The white his robes were supposed to be Janna could see on the other mage present, a tiny wisp of a man with the same lipped leather cap on his head. Looking at Furio she suddenly remembered what good and old friends they were, yet, for the life of her, she still couldn't remember where it had been that they first met.

“Err, this would be her then.” The general's voice was deep and raspy, certainly made so by endless screaming of commands in battle.

It shut everyone up, perplexed by his calmness.

“Janna!” Furio seemed angry. “I told you to wait!”

“Yeah.” Janna admitted guiltily. “I'm sorry, but I was so curious! Hello, little sirs, I am Janna.”

She grinned sheepishly in hopes that he may forgive her.

The little samurai grinned with her and turned to the general: “Ha, what's done is done!”

“Aye.” The general agreed.

“Well...” Furio chewed on his beard that started to look ragged by now. “Janna, may I introduce, this is General Scalia, supreme commander of this army by the pleasure of his royal magnificence, Emperor Horasio the third!”

The green-golden man gave the slightest hint of a nod, face unchanging.

“This next to him is General Lee, right hand to General Scalia and commander of the Maraskan auxiliaries.”

The tiny Samurai beat a fist to his armoured chest, revealing that it was made of wood. His grin grew only wider. Next, Furio introduced the rest of the officers, distinguished in rank by sashes of different colours, but they were so many so quickly that she could never hope to remember them all. Then there were three Nostrian Lords in chain mail and cruder plate and finally Master Hypperio the mage.

“Sirs.” He finished. “If I may be so bold, you may put your steel down now.”

“It wouldn't help you anyway.” Janna smiled as sabres and swords reluctantly found their sheaths.

“Master Furio!” Rondria blurted as she broke through the undergrowth. “I am so terribly sorry! I couldn't stop her!”

“Well, this is happens when we breach protocol.” General Scalia remarked, displeased. “So, Giantess Janna, is your curiosity satisfied then?”

Janna felt awkward, like a child that had wandered in on an important adult conversation. It took a second to remind herself of how big and powerful she was. General Scalia's cold, collected, awe-inspiring demeanour had the power to let one forget that.

“Yes, sir!” She chirped and smiled, giving a salute that bordered on mockery. “But my belly is not. I was promised food. Did you bring any?”

“You will be fed soon enough!” Furio jumped forward while men looked at her in fear. “I apologise for us taking so long! There were many news and matters of importance to discuss!”

“What matters?” Janna asked at once.

Men started looking at the general from the corners of their eyes and Furio did not reply. Scalia was clearly the man who could decide what Janna should know but he chose to ignore her question: “Master Furio tells me you mean to go north and find your friend. Is this true?”

“Maybe.” Janna shrugged. “If you don't tell me your matters, I won't tell you mine. We're supposed to be allies, are we not?”

Their reactions were remarkable. Officers gasped and frightfully turned their heads towards Scalia, Furio frowned, Rondria sighed and General Lee laughed incredulously. Clearly, General Scalia was no man to be defied, but that would be something they would have to get used to with her. Janna was not going to be merely another soldier in their army, obeying unquestioningly like a drone. That would be far too boring.

Scalia's face was the only one to remain motionless. If he had facial expressions, they seemed to be limited to his eyes, almost impossible to spot for her. He remained silent, every second granting more weight to the fact that she had just questioned his authority. Had he answered too quickly it might have been permanently undermined, she reflected, but when at last he spoke he did not sound particularly critical.

“If you mean to find your friend you might be interested in where she is.” He said simply.

When speaking in long sentences, he paused after each couple of words as if his breath failed him. It might have been remnant of some illness of the lung that had befallen him once but it lent great solemnity to his words, mundane though or not they were.

“I know where she is.” Janna replied. “She's in Thorwal. Interesting people, the Thorwalsh. Taste just like regular people but seem to have a little more meat on them.”

She licked her lips to make the threat come out more and startle him but it only worked on the officers and lords. Scalia only looked grim, but he had be looking grim before too and by all that Janna had seen until now he would go to bed, wake up, eat, shit and die, all looking grim.

“You mean Thorwal, the land.” He said. “But your friend is in Thorwal, the city.”

“You people are a queer lot.” Janna shot out. “Andergast, Nostria, Gareth, Thorwal, what else, what other kingdoms are named for their capitals? Is it that you lack imagination or have you styled it deliberately confusing? What's the capital of the Horasian Empire, oh, is it Horas?”

It had come out quickly and without much thinking. The observation was something that had been burning under her nails for a while a now. Then something in Scalia's calmness had vexed her and brought it out.

“No.” He replied patiently. “There was a village once that named itself Horas. It was razed for the insolence.”

“Funny.” Janna smirked. “There was a village once that replied cryptically to my questions and it found itself razed under me for the same thing.”

Somehow she had entered a verbal power struggle with the commander of the army. She did not know exactly how it happened, but she knew that she disliked being treated as a subject. Again she thought about how easy it would be to kill them all. The general, the mage and the lords she would squish but among the officers there were some strapping, handsome, young fellows she could spend some quality time with.

“Janna.” Furio intervened. “What our lord general is saying, is that we know Laura's exact location.”

Our lord general, there it was, the admission that he was her general and commander too. But as he spoke to her, Janna felt the anger ebb away and felt sorry so much that she had the urge to apologize.

“With you in mind he brought a map of the Thorwalsh territories with him.” Furio pointed at the table. “With this we should reach the city within a day or two. I will navigate you.”

“Navigate, haha!” The other mage raised his voice. “My dear colleague, have you forgotten that it is not a ship you are speaking of? Our giant ally must be re-united with her friend and we all should do our best to help her in that!”

The tone of his little speech was too swollen and Janna had no idea why he had made it. His words seemed utterly superfluous to her. Probably it was best to ignore him.

“My apologies, General Scalia.” She bowed her head, awkwardly aware of the fact that she was still standing over them. “And thank you. The map will be most welcome. Does this mean that Furio will come with me?”

The thought delighted her very much. He was such a good friend.

“It does.” Scalia nodded. “But finding your friend is not the only thing I require of you.” His eyes never turned away from her, not from anybody he spoke to. “You seem to have a likeness for killing.” He remarked. “You shall put that to use. There are not only large cities on this map I give you. The Thorwalsh only have four. They prefer dwelling in villages over large urban centres. Your task will be to raze as many of them as you can.”

The way he spoke, in growling huffs, it took him quite a while to say all that but once again Janna found it quite befitting. What he was suggesting was an act of war on Saturn Seven, a war crime on Earth, killing civilians by the hundreds if not thousands, targeting them directly. She did not require mind-reading skills to know what Furio thought of that. It was written plainly on his face. Janna did not mind erasing a few more Thorwalsh villages from the map. In fact, she rather liked the idea. But if Furio was against it she decided that she must take his side on the matter.

“Are we at war with Thorwal?” She asked. “I thought we were fighting giants.”

It seemed as though Scalia was tired of talking after having said so much at once and he gestured to an officer to speak for him.

“That is so.” A small man with shiny, black curls and a wispy moustache raised his thin voice. He wore the typical officers' attire and an orange sash, marking him for a major. His name was Emilio Rieu, a name Janna remembered because it sounded so remarkably French. Other names had queer Spanish or Italian rings to them as if someone had taken all the wine-drinking peoples of Europe and dumped them here to create the Horasian Empire. It was strange beyond all recognition but of little consequence now.

“But as it happens, the giant army has a new commander. The giant Albino seems to have departed his main force for some reason, giving the reins to a beast called Varg the Impaler who has been losing grip on the unruly creatures, which have been driven into Nostria as a result. We have been able to kill a few of them but others have found ways over territory we deemed not traversable for them before.”

The tiny man used much too many words too quickly, and Janna had trouble making sense of them.

“So, the giants have lost the war already?” She asked with a frown. “Aren't we in Nostria right now?”

She looked around perplexed as if expecting to see a horde of ken dolls marching overland but stopped herself quickly when realizing how stupid that was.

“Err, we are. And no, they have not.” The man was startled for a moment but went on unabashed. “Now these small groups of giants, as the scholars attest, are returning to their old ways. Females form clans, far away from our settlements, coming into contact with us only scarcely. Males wander the countryside in search for loot and slaves to exchange with the females for the privilege of mating. They are but a nuisance, stealing and murdering peasants and there will be ample time to deal with them once this war is done.”

Janna was lost, unable to follow or grasp what this had to do with crushing Thorwalsh in their villages.

“The remaining force of giants will soon have to face a new enemy.” The man went on. “Queen Effine of Andergast, widow of late King Aele, is to marry Lord Edorian Zornbold who has assembled a large Army under his banners, most of the other lords' support and King Aele's heir, the bastard-born Prince Erwin. Now, total war in Andergast may mean more giants washing against this border, for which our army will require more men and supplies to close the aforementioned gaps and re-enforce our existing garrisons in crucial junctions.”

Some officers gave the man pitiful looks while others looked annoyed at his lecture and one, beefy Nostrian lord looked so angry that Janna feared he might go off like a grenade at any second. Furio seemed to study an insect buzzing around his head but Rondria intently listened to every word. Scalia's face wore no expression. He looked as grim as always. The Asian-looking General with the wooden armour rolled his eyes and started drinking heavily from a field bottle clearly not filled with water.

“The Margraviate Windhag and Kingdom Albernia, both part of the Garethian Empire, are charging us high tolls to move goods and forces through their lands. The people of the Hylailos Isles say that infinite gold is the sinews of war. We do not have infinite gold, you see? So, our supplies are transported at sea.”

“Good grief, Sir!” The Nostrian noble exclaimed. “Be like a spear, will you?! Have a point!” His head was red and sweating and he breathed loudly in anger, spitting when he talked. “Can you not see that she can't follow any of this?! Do you understand any of this?!” He turned to Janna. “And good grief, woman, sit down when I am talking to you! My neck!”

“Sorry.” Janna replied perplexed, lowering herself to a cross-legged position, noisily flattening a tree beneath her arse.

“By account of our trusty Master Furio I was given to understand that she is remarkably intelligent for a monster.” Major Emilio Rieu replied as though Janna couldn't hear right before turning to her as well. “Could you please recapitulate what I said?”

This was not a smart man but if Janna wanted to be informed of these matters she had to show that she was able to understand them too.

She let a gust of air escape through her lips to gain time thinking: “Uh, there are giants slipping through this border, and there might be even more when those Andergastians start fighting them for real. Therefore you need more men and material which are best transported over sea.” She surmised as best she could. “Is this where the Thorwalsh come in, 'cause they're like pirates?”

She was only guessing at this point but Emilio Rieu turned to the Nostrian with a broad, smug smile on his face: “You see?”

“Good grief, Sir!” The chain mail clad fat man said again. “The wench is twice as smart as you! It took her a twelfth of the time to say the same you took so much of all our lives for! Perhaps, on the next war council, we had best bring her along instead of you!”

Janna was flattered but disliked being called a wench. Also, she was being degraded to being a subject again, commanded by pitiful mites whose lives she could snuff out at a whim.

“Oh, offended are you?!” The Nostrian noble went on berating the officer, entering into a full-on tantrum. “Go on then, draw that glove! Isn't that the way of you cunts?! Let's have duel to whatever fucking blood you want! I'll stick my sword up your arse so far that you can never waffle again!”

“Sirs!” General Lee exclaimed angrily and the officers and lords started shouting as well.

“If I sit on you, who becomes lord of whatever you're lord of?”

Janna shifted in her seat, making the broken tree groan and crack beneath her. Her threat hung in the air silencing everyone. For a queer moment she thought to be able to see a smile play around General Scalia's lips but it was gone as soon as she had seen it and it might just as well have been a shadow.

“Now.” She began, regaining her composure. “You were just about to enlighten me on how the Thorwalsh fit in all this that you have told me. Go on, have no fear. I don't bite. Well, I do, but I could swallow you whole just as easily. I bet you could ride a horse down my gullet, though you'd never ride it out again.”

She smiled. Scalia remained cold as ice.

Major Rieu swallowed hard and made sure not to waste any more of her time: “Jarl Olaf and his fleet of Thorwalsh have been raiding our shores in the south and were coming north again when they discovered our supply ships which they have been attacking ever since.” He explained quickly. “This can not stand. So, we mean to send you north to lay waste to his people, forcing him to go home and face you at which point you crush him and his army as we believe you did to late King Aele and his army at a place called Ludwig's keep.”

“Yeah, I smushed that king.” Janna shrugged before she remembered her purpose which was to agree with Furio. “How would that jarl learn of Laura and me doing this though? He's at sea, right?”

“Eh, we think it best to send a vessel into his arms to inform him of the demise of his homestead.” Emilio replied. “Sacrifice a few men to save many. Jarl Olaf is notorious for questioning his prisoners and granting life and thrallship to those who supply him with useful information. For all his bloodlust and brutality the man is not without cunning, everyone agrees.”

“But that would work without me killing innocents as well.” Janna pointed out. “He has no way of verifying the story.”

“He will.” The officer replied wearily. “As soon as he meets fellow Thorwalsh at sea, fishermen, perhaps, or traders. Then he would come south again and we would face the same problem as before.”

“Master Furio suggested the same thing during our meeting.” Another officer added, tall, strapping, young. “The point is not to just draw the man away from us, but to kill him, kill him for all the evil he has done. His raid south has killed thousands of innocents already and he will continue to do so if he is not stopped. His brute, Halmar Boyfucker, has been raping boys as young as six years old to death! This must stop. There must be justice, there needs to be revenge.”

“Aye!” Two or three men cheered.

“But why wage war on the backs of innocents?” Janna asked in reply. “I'll go north anyway, and I may, on occasion, eat the odd villager or two, but for me to go from village to village, snuffing out civilian lives is just wrong! Tell Olaf I'm wrecking his kingdom or whatever you call it and I'll make sure Laura and I stand on the beach of Thorwal, awaiting his arrival and giving him what he deserves. You said Laura is already at the capital. Now, I can assure you that it is not a pleasant experience for anyone around. There has been sufficient destruction, the innocents have suffered enough. You cannot get justice or revenge by slaughtering people who have nothing to do with the matter!”

She was speaking heatedly, Janna noted, and sounding remarkably unlike herself. It was for Furio that she had assumed this position, but now that she had defended it so passionately, she felt less strongly about it. Furio could be a real hippie and him getting in her way of having fun was a thing that really stood between them. It was odd how she had not remembered that a moment ago.

When she looked at him she expected to find him look back at her with approval but instead he was dark, brooding, as if he didn't believe she meant what she said. If truth be told, Janna wasn't sure any more either. If crushing Thorwalsh was the order, crushed Thorwalsh there would be, and Janna was already looking forward to hearing their pleas before crushing them.

“Sirs, lords, distinguished officers and generals!” The other mage, Master Hypperio, launched into another speech. “Our giant ally is clearly concerned for the lives of innocent civilians! If it is not her wish to harm them, it is not for us to make her act against her good heart! I know the Thorwalsh have defeated our northern fleet, but let us send out to besiege our emperor, his royal magnificence Horasio the third, to send another fleet to guard or convoys! For now we shall make due with what we have, and have our good ally not taint her hands with things she does not wish to be tainted with! Send ships to kill a pirate and maintain a clear conscience in the eyes of gods and men!”

A few men seemed to agree with that, but only a dwindling minority.

“There are no innocent Thorwalsh!” An officer spat in reply. He looked remarkably more common than the others with his stubbly beard and wild hair that sprouted out from under his helmet, his slouched stature and hard, disillusioned face. Janna could not help but think that this was a career officer, not from wealth or high birth as without a doubt most of the others were.

“They are warlike, murdering, pillaging, wale-worshipping barbarians, every last one of them! Even their women are murderers, calling themselves shield maidens, as if butchering fisher folk and tradesmen is what it means to be a great warrior! They say they worship freedom and oppose slavery, yet they turn around and have half their farms run by slaves they made themselves! A gentle heart may be a good thing, but I tell you it is wasted on them!”

“Why are we having this discussion?” Yet another officer asked. “I was led to believe our agreement with her is not unlike an agreement with a sell-sword. Must we convince every sell-sword now, to do our bidding?”

That last remark was such a huge step back that Janna would have liked nothing better than to squash the man flat where he stood.

Scalia remained silent and expressionless, while Lee peered around with uncertainty.

“Janna.” Furio began, getting up. “Do you really have scruples to kill the Thorwalsh civilians?”

It was a question so pointed that Janna was certain he already knew the answer.

“Well, it's the way of war, right?” She replied, uncertain of what to say. “They kill our small folk, we kill theirs?”

“So, no.” Furio remarked blankly. “And what did you feel when you crushed the inhabitants of Rovalmund underfoot yesterday?”

“A...hint of resistance?” She shrugged apologetically.

Lee snorted, though she had not intended it as a joke.

“Sirs, the matter is settled.” He sounded dark and tired as he turned to the crowd. “Let us retire and let Janna break her morning fast. The wagons must have arrived by now and my acolyte and I will have a bite ourselves along with the fresh, clean robes that I asked for. The last matter to discuss is what is to happen to the men driving the wagons.”

They must be kept silent somehow, Janna knew at once, them spreading the tale that they had been serving a meal to a giant giantess would undermine all the secrecy of meeting in the forest.

“Let her have them.” Scalia settled the matter at once.

Thus, breakfast was five wagons of food, ten oxen and fifteen men. The officers departed the forest on a detour while Janna carried Rondria and Furio in her hand to where the wagons were. Huge ones like these, completely overladen with stuff, required more than draft animals and a coachman. Sometimes, the vehicles would topple over or break wheels and axles on a bump in the road. Then, many hands were needed.

The trusty crew had gotten the heavy wagons safely over from wherever they had come from without knowing that they would share the same destination as the things they were transporting. It was all the same to Janna but she took some secret joy from the fact that they were Horasians. Eating allies had the flair or the forbidden where eating enemies had not. It was remarkable that they had not tried to flee as well.

“Oh, I knew we'd meet you!” One coachman swore. “All the camp is talk of the giant girl, wandering out of Thorwal!”

'So much for secrecy.' Janna thought bitterly. Someone must have seen her and told and then the message spread like fire. Alas, she didn't really care.

Rondria's new robes were like her old ones, only clean, plain, white linen. Furio's new robes were different from how Janna remembered them. Before, he had worn white robes of some fine material that had gold at the fringes, glyphs or insignias, something along those lines. His new robes were white as well, but where before there had been a bunched mass of cloth around his shoulders, was now fine white fur. Where before the fringes had been golden, they were now red and the white tainted into a hint of grey, making it look as though the red had been burned on somehow. From a modern, earthly perspective, they sure looked ridiculous, but in this world, given the knowledge of how powerful the beholder of this attire was, they passed for splendid clothing.

“You look cute, you two little lovers.” Janna teased them after they had gotten them on.

“Janna!” Furio hissed. “We must keep this a secret! No one can know!”

There seemed to be a certain frostiness between them, she noted, talking only official business with each other using brief sentences devoid of any emotions. They avoided eye contact as well. That would be fun to explore on the journey, surely, a fresh little wound to poke around in.

“Relax.” Janna reclined to the side while the wagon crews unloaded and opened her food for her. “There's no one to hear or see where we are going and you two can fuck as often and openly as you want. Just, not on my hand, please.” She chuckled.

Her mouth watered as she watched the tiny workers at their job afterwards.

Furio and Rondria had received some new equipment as well, ink, quills, coals, parchments, an empty skin with water and a not empty one with whine, as well as a stone clay bottle that Furio regarded, shook his head at and said: “Lee.”

Then there was the map, of course, drawn on sheep skin and larger than any map Janna had ever seen by comparison. A new bronze or copper sword for Rondria had not been included though.

Janna let the mages pick their food first, and they each collected a bite out of this barrel and another one out of that, until they had ample supply for themselves. With that out of the way, she ate the food stuffs quickly to get the good bits she was saving for last. After tearing the first of the remarkably calm draft oxen from one of the wagons, the man complained that they would not be able to get the wagons back to camp that way.

“You're not supposed to bring them back.” Janna informed him smiling after crunching the animal in between her teeth.

It was roughly the size of a baby mouse to her, such as she had dissected in class before, and she did not feel anything towards them. They tasted of raw beef and blood, mainly, a taste she had grown accustomed to by now.

“So, uh, we're walking back then?” The coachman asked dimly with a shrug. “Fine by me!”

“No.” Janna laughed in reply. “When I'm done with the oxen, I am going to eat you.”

She let it hang there, eating another two oxen, observing their reactions. Plainly, they didn't believe her and the man who talked to her thought she was joking. Only one of them was smart enough to run but Janna caught him lazily before he got very far.

When she sucked his struggling form into her mouth, closed her lips and swallowed, their faces slipped in stupid disbelief.

“Wha, bu, bu, wha...” The man stammered and Janna laughed again.

“Sorry.” She mused. “Can't have you lads tell anyone about this.”

“Oh, we won't tell!” The man said, looking at his companions for support who vigorously started shaking their tiny heads.

“And it's already talk in the camps!” A younger man added quickly.

Janna didn't know if they were too stupid or too smart to try running away.

“Milord mage, help us!” A third one started to plead.

“Talk is that she has been seen, not that she is allied to us.” Furio threw in from his meal. “Now, shut up and get eaten in peace!”

He was still dark and brooding. He had a good heart indeed, but was forced to obey orders as well. To protect his conscience he seemed to have build a wall around it, shielding it from reality.

“Then cut out our tongues!” The first man offered, drawing a dagger. “Make a fire, we'll do ourselves!”

“Hm, that might work.” Janna mused, turning to the tiny mages to force them be part of this.

“The order is to kill them.” Furio replied. “Now do it, or I'll do it myself.”

Janna mauled the remaining oxen in her mouth and burped noisily after each swallow.

“But questions will be asked!” The younger man continued. “The question of were we went with the wagons!”

“I think they'll just...” She made a discarding gesture with her hand. “...chalk you off as deserters.”

“That's not right!” It was the first man again. “I don't want to be remembered as a deserter?!”

“You drive an ox-cart.” Rondria replied, annoyed. “No one is going to remember you anyway.”

“But some of us have wives and children!” The man argued. “If we're deserters, they don't get their pension coppers! They'll be put out on the street and starve!”

Janna took two more men, lowered them in her mouth and swallowed.

“That's very noble of you to think of them, but I don't care.” She grinned at them after. “Now, who of you has ever pleased a woman with their mouth?”

First two, then three reluctantly raised their hands. Predictably, it was better looking lads who simply had more game when it came to sex. Janna was pleased to see that none of them was old or gross. They would do and she separated them from the others, putting them aside to where she could observe them from the corner of her eye.

Rondria and Furio looked up at her in revulsion but that was exactly what she had had in mind.

“What?” She grinned. “I have those kinds of needs too and just because there's no man my size around to satisfy me doesn't mean they go away. If you don't want me to use them, go ahead and offer yourselves. I wouldn't recommend it though. I can be very demanding.”

“So, you'll not kill us?” One of her chosen three dared to hope.

She gave him a pitiful look: “I'm going to fuck you. Look at me. Does it look like you can survive that? Yeah, I know, it depends on how I do it, but I will make sure that you spend every moment of the rest of your miserable lives pleasing me. I'll use you like you have never been used before. You'll die eventually, I promise you that. It will be sooner or later. Either I break you while playing with you or I will get bored with you and crush you like bugs.”

The power coursing through her veins was intoxicating.

“I'd rather be eaten!” The youngest and obviously stupidest of her would-be sex slaves raised his hand.

“Silly boy.” Janna chuckled. “You don't get to choose what I do with you. That's the point.”

She opened the button on her jeans, undid the zipper and shoved the three young men into her panties to her crotch. Her lips were wet and swollen all over again but this was no time to get herself off.

“Now to you.” She licked her lips at the rest of the men when she had buttoned up her pants again.

They looked distraught, crushed in spirit, but seemed to oddly accept their fate. Soldiers of any army had to be familiar with the concept of death, she figured, and to some degree they had consented to it.

“What happens to us, in your belly?” The coachman asked with a sad voice.

She had to think on that for a moment. A student of biology, she knew the exact process of course, but her food would neither understand that nor did she know the words for all the scientific termini in the local tongue, if they existed yet at all. Thus, she decided, a children's explanation would do. She used one of the men to demonstrate, ignoring his kicks and screams.

“Okay, after going into my mouth and down my gullet...” She put him into her mouth and swallowed, tracing his struggling form down her oesophagus a finger. “...you go into my stomach.” Her finger halted. “There your presence makes my body pump out acid, which is already going on of course, since I just ate. Then you get dissolved, basically ripped into very small pieces, and pass on in mere bits. Next you go to my guts, basically, the smaller kind first, where you get broken down even finer and my body takes what it can use from you. The you go into the big kind, drained for fluid and finally stored as stool that I...well, you know how that works.”

“Oh.” He made bitterly.

They were all shaking now.

“I don't want to be turned to poop!” One of them wailed hollowly.

“Err, could you kill us before you swallow us?” The man asked. “This whole dissolving business does not sound very pleasant!”

“I expect it's pretty painful, until you die. You might as well suffocate of course, but not immediately.”

She picked up another one of them, slurped him up, swallowed. Someone wedged in her nether lips twitched pleasantly.

“Janna!” Furio called, standing by Rondria, both their new bags on their backs. “Time to go!”

“Well, little ones, it has been pleasant.” She mocked them one last time. “Here's my offer. You all get into my mouth quickly and I will chew you before I swallow you, okay?”

She left them no time to respond but laid down, flat on her stomach and opened her mouth at an angle that would allow them to climb over her lower lip. They froze in their shaking for a moment, unsure what to do, but then the talkative man went first and the others followed like ducklings.

Her mouth full of people, Janna picked up her two mages, her own bag, and went, quickly, going where Furio would point her to. When she got bored slushing the people around in her mouth she started to chew eventually.

“How do you know all that about the, uh, digestion?” Rondria inquired charily after she swallowed.