Teagan dropped her bread.
You mean to tell me that you knew the way to Whitebreeze this whole time?
The old man nodded.
Yea, I knew. However, I cannae just go and let anyone I see know the way to Whitebreeze. You could be of an unsavory type, lass. It was a test, nothing more. You passed. The names Gwyllyn, by the way. Pleasure.
Teagan glared.
That was possibly the worst moment in my life. If youre going to test people, do it some other way. The name is Teagan.
Well, Teagan, I suppose I should start giving you instructions, eh? Im not the keenest, but these instructions should hold through. I spose Ill write them down for you.
The old man went in a small drawer and produced a quill, and inkwell, and a piece of parchment. He proceeded to furiously scribble down a series of instructions for the eager Teagan. When finished, he neatly shook the excess ink off of his quill and returned it to the drawer.
This guide should cover everything you need to know, Teagan. I put them in step-by-step instructions that start from when you leave here. I inv-
Gwyllyn was cut off when a burst of flame erupted from outside the hut. Both Teagan and Gwyllyn looked surreptitiously out the door. A legion of tomkin soldiers was recoiling from a burst of flame, caused by the ignition of marsh gases by their torches. They numbered around 40, enough to overpower both Teagan and Gwyllyn. The two of them ducked back inside.
Teagan, I need you to listen carefully. I want you to sneak outside now, and Ill come out and distract them to buy you time.
Teagan gave Gwyllyn a strange look.
How will you escape, though? she asked, incredulous.
I have my ways. Believe me, Ive dealt with the little folk before. he responded.
Teagan wasnt about to ask any questions. After quickly grabbing the parchment, she crept out of the doorway, making sure not to disturb any of the willow leaves that cloaked her. She crept behind the hut, out of view of the tomkins, and started to sneak away back towards the river. It wasnt long until she heard the hoarse voice of Gwyllyn, shouting something indiscernible. Teagan shook her head and continued on. That old man was going to get himself killed.
After reaching what she thought was a safe distance from the legion, Teagan sat down at the base of a tree and rested. She pulled her box out of her backpack and opened it. Inside, the three remaining tomkins shivered. Teagan looked at each of them. She loved the fear in their miniature features, how each of them looked at her with a mixture of awe and terror. She lowered her hand and grabbed all three of them. Two of them started screaming in their alien language, while one simply resigned to her grasp. Teagan chuckled. She always did like when they struggled against the inevitable. She opened her hand slightly and looked at the three tomkins in detail. The one that was screaming the loudest was short and had dark hair, while the one hitting her hand was of moderate stature and had golden tresses. The unmoving tomkin was the girl who nearly evaded Teagan, being easily recognizable by her fiery red locks and wide eyes.
Be quiet, now. I tire of your screaming. Its rather bothersome.
Of course, the tomkin understood nothing of what Teagan said, and continued to shout. Teagan, annoyed and exasperated by the little tomkins shouts, placed one massive finger over the tomkins mouth. Teagan, while certainly hungry, didnt want to actually eat any of the tomkins yet. She simply wanted to get them some food and water so they didnt die of hunger or thirst. Teagan, however, enjoyed the fear of the tomkins, and decided to let them believe she was going to end their lives right then and there. She decided to put the confused tomkins back inside the box.
Teagan started searching for something to feed the tomkins. She wasnt able to find much except a small patch of sweet grass and a bit of edible clover-grass. She enjoyed the latter greatly, and plucked quite a bit of it, storing a lot of it inside her backpack. The clover-grass that she didnt squirrel away, as well as the sweet grass, she dropped inside the box. She then decided to observe the tomkins for a while, to amuse herself while she rested. Perhaps she would eat one of them, perhaps not.
~
Sihil watched as the giantess lowered a decently sized bundle of edible grasses inside her prison. Sihils two fellow prisoners, who she had learned were named Thanaila and Deilanaos, started eating immediately. Sihil, however, refused to eat. Indeed, if she was going to die, she would rather die from starvation than die being eaten by the fiendish titaness. Sihil stared defiantly at the giantess, who had left the lid of the box open and was observing Sihils refusal to eat. The giantess seemed somewhat amused at this, a sinister smile tugging at the edges of her mouth. She said something in her strange language, and laughed evilly. Sihil still did nothing. The giantess glared at Sihil, and moved her head closer to the box. Still, Sihil did nothing. She could tell that the giantess was starting to anger, and yet was also intrigued. The giantess paused for a second, her large brown eyes staring directly at Sihil. After a short moment of pondering, the giantess took the box in one hand and lifted it to her head, shaking around everyone inside. Sihil was terrified, but did her best not to let it show. The giantess, who was now at eye level with Sihil, lifted her hand over the box. Sihil gasped when the giantess plucked Thanaila out of the box. The giantess pointed at Sihil, then pointed at the grass, then pointed at Thanaila. Still pointing at Thanaila, she swallowed once for effect. Sihil, understanding fully what the giantess meant, started tearing the grass into bite-sized bits and eating it. The giantess watched her for a few minutes, still carrying a frightened Thanaila, and nodded after Sihil had eaten a good amount.
She then winked at Sihil and put Thanaila in her mouth anyways.
~
Teagan pushed the petrified young tomkin around in her mouth, savoring the sensation. It made her feel powerful to know that she was in charge of this insignificant beings life, that she could end it whenever she chose to do so. The blonde tomkin was cowering in the corner of the box again, but the red-haired girl was simply standing in place, to shocked to react. Teagan pinned the shaking tomkin in her mouth onto her palate, running her tongue over the tiny creatures body. The tomkin gave as much resistance as she could, hitting Teagan as hard as she could, and yet it amounted to nothing. Teagan giggled as the little tomkins struggles tickled the roof of her mouth. Teagan tilted her head back agonizingly slowly, savoring every little movement the helpless woman in her mouth made. Finally, with a sort of glup noise, Teagan swallowed the poor tomkin woman, and traced the slight bulge in her throat with her pointer finger. Teagan let out a satisfied sigh, and returned her attention to the box. The blonde tomkin in the corner was crying her little eyes out. Teagan decided that she would be the next victim. The red haired girl, however, had simply fallen to her knees, and was murmuring to herself.
Although she didnt want to acknowledge it to herself, Teagan had taken a strange sort of liking to this particular tomkin. She watched as the poor creatures spirit broke, and her will to survive vanished. Teagan came closer than she ever had before to feeling empathy for a tomkin. She was going to eat this girl in the end too, of course. Teagan simply would have a little bit of pity for the girl as she became another meal. Teagan, satisfied by her meager snack, shut the lid of the box, latched it tight, and went to sleep.
The next morning, Teagan awoke drowsily. After her typical morning routine, Teagan unrolled the parchment the old man gave to her, and read the first step.
You are to head towards the rising sun from my abode, until you reach a small grove of white birch trees. From there, you are to follow the Great Northern Star until you reach a forest of dead trees.
Teagan smiled. Her journey had begun.
The sun cast a warm glow upon the lush greenery that blanketed the Eastern Expanse, a series of beautiful plains that were populated only sparsely by civilized tomkins. Teagan hummed to herself as she strolled along, pausing occasionally to munch on some tangy clover-grass. She paid no thought to her two unwilling captives as she walked merrily along, surveying the area around her. Teagan's short black hair blew back in the wind, bringing a short laugh from her. Teagan was spirited, happy, and finally headed towards Whitebreeze Keep.
Of course, isn't it always times like this when things take a turn for the worse?
Teagan's eyes grew wide when she heard rustling nearby. She couldn't tell which direction it came from, but she knew she heard it. Instead of bolting, Teagan kept walking at a normal pace, trying not to let on that she had heard anything. At least this way she'd be able to retain some of the element of surprise. Teagan heard the rustling again, and could tell it came from her right. She tensed her muscles and took a surreptitious glance at the grass to the right, and saw a few bustlings among the dense hedges. That's when Teagan heard the rustling again but to her left.
She was surrounded.
Figuring that she had no time to waste, Teagan sprang to the right and landed on all fours, eliciting a number of shouts from the surprised tomkin soldiers who thought they were hiding from Teagan. They carried greatswords and spears, the only weapons that could deliver a serious injury to a human. Teagan grinned as she realized that a great deal of these soldiers were directly under her. She lowered her massive body, and immediately the soldiers under her tried to scramble away. In a quick motion, Teagan fell to the ground, pressing her full weight onto the unfortunate soldiers underneath her. Four of the soldiers were directly under her sizable chest, and three of them died almost instantly. One of them barely survived, but was rendered unconscious by the trauma. Two more were under her abdomen, which crushed them easily. Teagan, satisfied with the deadly results of her attack, started to return to a standing position. One soldier, a reckless young man who was dangerously close to Teagan, charged at her and buried his spear as deep as he could inside Teagan's lower body. Teagan yelped with pain and wrenched the little spear out of her side. She then turned her attention to the little soldier who wounded her so, her eyes cold and steely. He began to ran, but her hand darted out and closed tightly around him. Without a second thought, Teagan struggled to her feet, faced the remaining soldiers, and after stripping the armor from the soldier in her hand, placed him in her mouth and swallowed him. The other soldiers, who numbered 10 in total, were certainly shaken by this. Two of them dropped their weapons and fled, leaving only 8 soldiers to face Teagan's anger. Teagan leapt at them, doing her best not to show that her wound was causing her any pain. She immediately grabbed three of the soldiers and squeezed as hard as she could. She felt bones splinter and crack in her vise-like grasp, and felt a surge of power as she turned the three soldiers into broken and battered corpses. Two more soldiers rushed her. They both were able to slash her with their greatswords, but Teagan easily shrugged off the flesh wounds and returned their attack with a crushing blow from her fist, reducing one soldier to a pile of gore and crippling the other. Teagan turned her gaze to the remaining three soldiers, who each wielded spears. In a show of bravery, the three of them charged Teagan, who simply grabbed them all up, disarmed and armored them, and tossed them in her little box.
After this was all done, Teagan looked around. It seemed that all the remaining soldiers had fled, leaving her in safety. Teagan was worried; the spear wound that was inflicted on her by the young soldier was bleeding profusely, and Teagan was getting mildly dizzy. She staggered forwards, sat down on the ground, and used her last bandage to staunch her bleeding. After this was done, she continue used onwards, despite the pain it caused her. The escaped soldiers would indubitably return with reinforcements and overpower Teagan if she stayed.
Teagan limped onwards, determined to reach the forest of dead trees. By mid afternoon, Teagan had reached the birch grove. She made a sharp turn left and started heading north, as the guide told her to do. She gradually grew accustomed to limping, despite the discomfort it initially caused her.
~
"That accursed whore! I'll find a way to kill that giant bitch, even if I die trying!"
Sihil watched as the commander of the three soldiers paced back and forth, trying to hypothesize a way to escape and kill his captor. Deilanaos had told him of everything she knew about this giantess, from her crave for the flesh of people to her sadistic teasing. The captain, who introduced himself as Legate Firkon, immediately entered a state of denial. His two subordinates; Ansiliana, a young woman with pale skin and brown hair, and Thestaran, a dark-skinned lad who looked to be just old enough to no longer be considered a boy, were still in a frenzied stage, just as Sihil had been when she was first captured. Thestaran was trying to scratch a hole in the corner of the box, while Ansiliana was trying to find a way to undo the lid of the box from within. Deilanaos, the blonde girl, tried calming them, but her soothing words and false reassurances had little effect in them.
"I'll figure out a plan to kill that giant harlot soon enough, don't worry! I've slain two of these vile creatures before, and I know exactly how they think. They're certainly not as smart as us, as many if our finest scientists have proven. They don't even speak our language! This must mean that we can outwit this monster, somehow."
Deilanaos spoke.
"No."
Firkon glared at her.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked.
"I mean that we're all doomed. There is no escape."
Firkon walked over to Deilanaos.
"Don't lose hope yet. We may not have strength on our side, but we can certainly outwit that giant brute. Of course, we will only succeed if you all dedicate yourselves to this and put aside your doubts." he said.
"I'll do anything to get out of here! Whatever you want!" shouted Thestaran, who had given up his efforts to tunnel out of the box.
Firkon grinned.
"We have determination, and we have the advantage of intelligence. This savage is up against worse odds than she may think."
Sihil spoke for the first time since Fersi perished.
"You're wrong."
Firkon turned to Sihil.
"I already had this discussion with your friend Deil-"
"This giantess is just as smart as us, if not smarter. She can strategize, predict, and plan just as well as we can. She isn't stupid. I think that she even speaks her own coherent language. After all, the humans do talk to each other-"
Firkon cut off Sihil with a shout.
"You're wrong! She's nothing more than a stupid savage with a big box! This language you speak of is just the utterances and grunts these primitive giants make at each other to show their primitive needs and desires. The very fact that they have clothing is surprising, considering how simple their culture is. They are..."
Firkon went on and on, droning about how the giants were an inferior race. Sihil said nothing, but she knew the truth.
The giantess understood their pain and their suffering, she knew it well.
She enjoyed it.
Giantess World
All is Lost by Enzo
Author's Chapter Notes:
And so Teagan begins her violent rampage of a journey,.
Chapter End Notes:
Wow, that was one long chapter! As always, reviews are appreciated, and if you'd like to see something else, don't hesitate to say so.