Even though it was a cool day I was sweating. Nobody liked getting a summons from the empress so soon after a very humiliating and, worse, public failure. Not only that, but she had told me to meet her at the Proving Grounds and come ready for battle. My armor had not fit properly for at least two years, and it took hours to find a weapon in my tent that was not ceremonial. Meanwhile, she was fresh off the front lines, having led troops through a breach weeks ago, and rumor had it she rallied my troops herself. If even half the stories about her prowess in battle were accurate I was a dead man if she really wanted combat.
When the crest of the hill came into view I saw a lone figure standing in the middle of a circle of stones. The figure’s cape fluttered in the wind, but other than that they were perfectly still, as though they had been awaiting my arrival and were patiently watching me. I had no doubt that it was Empress Fulda, and the lack of a royal guard all but confirmed my fears. She did not like witnesses for her personal executions, which we both knew a fight with her would be.
“General Adrastus!” she called out when I crossed the circle of stones driven into the ground. I stopped, but with a simple gesture of her finger she beckoned me closer. “There’s no need to be shy! Please, come stand before me. I would like to speak with you before getting to the business I summoned you here for.” Even worse news, because she never liked to beat around the bush. However, I could not defy one of her commands, so I strode toward her until she gave me a signal to stop, about three paces away from her.
Empress Fulda had been blessed with a frame destined for battle, broad-shouldered and over a head taller than me, with a physique sculpted by decades of combat. In addition to that she was strikingly beautiful, with bright, icy blue eyes and a curtain of auburn hair falling down her back. She had come dressed for battle too, but the difference was her armor fit, and in such a way to retain the appeal of her figure. A dark red breastplate covered her chest, leaving her shoulders bare, while her purple leather tunic covered her crotch and pelvis. Her bare, muscular thighs were almost a threat on their own, while her worn leather boots were covered by metal greaves, with a bronze cup over each kneecap. Her round shield was in one hand, and her other arm rested on the handle of her mace while she tried to look amicable.
“I’m surprised you answered my summons so ready, general,” Fulda said. “With your recent history of abject cowardice, I expected to have to track you down. I had a whole company of scouts ready to go retrieve you if you were late.”
“Empress, I would never –“ I began.
“Silence,” she commanded, and I wisely shut my mouth. “I apologize if you got the impression I wanted a conversation, because I most assuredly do not. Rather, I am going to expound on the reasons for this meeting, then give you the terms for our duel. I promise you will not like what I have to say, but you will listen to it without objection as I have already made my judgment.” I gulped at nodded.
“Now, I know you’re not stupid, merely a coward who has forgotten how to behave an in appropriate manor, so I know you expect what is about to happen. If you expect my applause for coming anyway, you will be left waiting. Doing the right thing is only admirable if you expect to be able to change the outcome, which you know you can’t. Maybe you hope that I’ll be merciful in light of your obedience, but again you will be disappointed. Whatever reasons you have, they mean nothing, and I hope you know that you mean nothing to me, too.”
While she berated me the Empress seamed to grow larger, but I knew what was really happening. Hushed circles had said for a while that her favorite method of punishment was shrinking people until they were at her mercy, then letting her whims decide what to do with them. Rumors had persisted for as long as I could remember that there were dozens of tiny people who had displeased her in the throne room aside from the jars on the wall, left loose either for her wrath at a later time or to suffer the whims of random chance. I finally had confirmation of her most closely-guarded secret, but would never be able to tell anyone about it.
“I see you’re shrinking away from me already,” Fulda joked. I was a little lower than her chest looking up at her, so the reduction was already well underway. “That should be nothing new for you, though. You shrink from battle every chance you get. I’ve even started choosing you whenever I need bait, but I can no longer abide your propensity to rout. You nearly cost us the field on three separate occasions, with me having to personally break a siege for you, and later I held the line when you abandoned your post.”
The Empress berating me had driven me below her waist, and she glowered down at me while she continued. “I gave you multiple warnings and direct orders to hold or advance, all of which you ignored in favor of your own skin. How your own commanders haven’t flayed you is a wonder. You were given one last chance to redeem yourself before the end of the campaign, a sure thing, and you even threw that away. It was a certain victory and you could not even handle that.”
She seemed to be getting louder and angrier while she continued, her voice sounding like a bellow as I slid beneath her knees, but she was outwardly retaining her cool. “I would think you, of all people, would be more invested in the lives of your soldiers. You get sloppily drunk with them, gamble, and even go whoring from what I hear. And yet you leave them to die at the slightest hint of trouble. Are you hoping that the one you owe the most money to will be killed so that you don’t have to pay up, or do you simply not understand why you shouldn’t fraternize with them like you do?”
I shrank until I was lower than her ankle and kept going, stopping when I was around half the size of her boot’s toe. “It’s time for terms,” Fulda declared. “Since you’re so pathetic, I’ll give you a very generous deal. All you have to do is draw my blood, and your life will be spared. On the other hand, I have to kill you. I think this is more than fair, don’t you?” I frantically nodded, knowing that whatever I said we would be doing this. There was a way out, it seemed, but realizing it would be nearly impossible.
Fulda drew her mace but retained her relaxed pose. She looked down at me contemptuously, practically begging me to make the first move. I shook beneath her gaze and looked at the spear in my hand. It was finest craftsmanship I had ever seen, and naught but a toothpick to her. “Well?” she goaded, her voice a powerful rumble at my size. “The least you can do is die an honorable death.” The empress took one thudding step forward, and I broke.
An honorable death was good, I always told myself, but a comfortable death in bed was even better. I turned and ran from the giantess encroaching on me, beating tiny tracks through the cleared dirt circle. The spear was still clutched in my hand in case I needed to vault over something – it was useless as a weapon. If I could make it into the grass beyond the stone circle I might be able to evade her gaze and escape. Maybe I could find a tribe of fairies to take me in; going back to human society was unthinkable.
Fulda walked after me at an almost languid pace, as though she wanted me to get away. Each of her carefully considered steps made a tremendous thud when her sole slammed down, and her cold eyes never lost sight of me. It was like she was toying with me, trying to ramp up the fear before she struck. The relentless thudding of her steps did get to me, and only made me more dedicated to get as far away from her as possible.
I neared the stones, and she was still several strides behind me. Almost there. With a last surge I dashed forward, toward the smooth white stone in front of me, and ran head-first into an invisible barrier. Dazed, I fell backward, splaying out my arms and legs. Booming laughter came from above while the empress continued forward. “You really thought I’d let you run away?” she managed through peals of laughter. “I overestimated you, you’re just as dumb as you are yellow!” She took another thundering step forward while I struggled to even see straight.
Fulda took one more step, then stopped when she stood over me. The towering empress looked down at me between her feet and finally managed to get her laughter under control. “Come on, at least put up a fight!” she chided. “I almost feel bad for you!” She kicked her boot into the ground, pelting me with a storm of kicked-up dust when it landed with a great crack. “Not as bad as I feel for the people you left to die while you ran back to the baggage train, of course.”
If she wanted a fight, I would give one to her. I rolled over to the side and slowly got back to my feet, my head still pounding from colliding with the wall of force. Despite my blurry vision I could still clearly make out her boots. They were large targets, after all, and close enough I could practically smell the tannin of their leather. All I had to do was jab this spear into her thigh and I would be free to go.
Unsteadily I began charging the toe of one of her boots, gaining momentum as I advanced. A swell of valor overtook me as adrenaline surged, and I straightened out my approach. My vision cleared, and when I was near the boot I jabbed the butt of my spear into the dirt, launching me into the air. After a low arc I landed on the hard leather in a crouch, then quickly stood and made for her leg.
The toe of her boot provided surprisingly steady ground while I moved over it, the light shining off her greaves acting as a beacon for me. She did not try to stop me as I launched myself onto the towering leather spire ahead of me, just managing to latch onto a lace behind the metal plating. Immediately I set about scaling her boot, hoping to reach the vulnerable target of her bare thigh before my adrenaline rush wore off.
The tower I was climbing rose, then Fulda stomped her boot onto the ground. My feet slipped from their hold and I was left dangling precariously by one arm, desperately clutching the rope of her laces. The most important thing was that I continued clutching the spear. I could recover from this slip, but if I dropped that I could not even hope to wound her. A cloud of dust rose from the ground, and particles the size of my fist slammed into me while I swung my legs, trying to get back in position for the climb.
Suddenly the Empress swung her leg to the side, wrenching my wrist and throwing me off her boot. I spun head over foot on the way down and landed in the dirt with a loud crack, my arm shattering beneath me. The spear flow out of my grip mid-air, bouncing harmlessly off the wall of force and clattering to the ground what may as well have been miles away. Dust choked me, and I began to cough uncontrollably as it overwhelmed my mouth.
A low chuckle rumbled from high above. “Well, you tried,” Fulda boomed. “That’s more praise than I’ve been able to give you for years.” A shadow fell over me, and I looked up to see the sole of her boot looming over me. The hardened leather was scored with thousands of tiny points and gashes from miniscule weapons trying to harm her just as I had. “Unfortunately, trying just isn’t good enough.”
The sole of Fulda’s boot swung down on top of me, denting my armor with a loud metallic squeal. I screamed when my other arm snapped under her foot and she drove my weight down onto my other, already broken one. She shifted her foot to the side, rolling me over onto my back, and pressed down harder. My chest plate buckled under her enormous weight, and the scored leather came close enough to brush my face.
“I win,” she declared, pressing down harder. My greaves buckled when her foot slowly rolled over them, and I was beyond screaming from pain as my feet and shins were reduced to powder. Fulda’s boot continued to slowly compact my body, with my legs crumbling under the pressure. I only wanted it to end at this point. A series of creaks while my armor flattened, drowning out the shattering of my pelvis. Finally the rest of her sole slammed down, liquefying what little was left of my mangled body.
Fulda relished the feeling of the tiny person being crushed beneath her boot, and knew that each little pop meant a little more of him had been ground to dust. She almost did not want to finish the job, but the last squelching sound as he became little more than a mangled mess made it all worth it. For a second she drove the toe of her sole down on him hard, pressing him down into the dirt before pulling her leg back and admiring her work. He had been so completely smashed no one would even recognize that he was once a person.