Sometime later I sputtered back to life, coughing up mud and water. It was honestly a miracle that I didn't drown, as the giant footprint began to fill in with rain water.
My bones popped and twitched as I peeled myself up from the mud and out of the ground. It had been quite some time since I had been flat out stepped on by anyone. It was as painful as I remembered, but it came with the territory of fighting people to whom you were only slightly above ankle height. It seemed giants were born with the instinct to stomp and trample anything human sized.
It took me a moment to stop coughing up gravel but when I did, I got the full impact of the giant attack. . .
Utter devastation.
Everything leveled.
There wasn't a building left standing.
In the streets, more footprints like the one I had just crawled out of, no doubt filled with the flattened corpses of the village people. Others were buried under the rubble of their own houses and shops.
Seeing this reminded me of the inn keeper.
I turned around to see that the inn wasn't spared. It's flattened framework jutted partially out of the grime. I knew it wasn't something I wanted to see, but still I sifted through the debris until I found what I was looking for. Not the body of the inn keeper, but my sword.
With it safely secured to my back, I set off into the stormy morning. I had a new heading apart from my previous mission.
Now, I was out for revenge.
Unfortunately, I was just out of the front gate of the city, when I found the final message left by the attacker. And to be honest, it hurt worse than the rest of what I had seen. The massive loss of life was unacceptable, but someone had it out for one poor soul tenfold.
What I saw. . . . Pinned to a big tree right outside the village by his own sword. . . Was another giant slayer.
I could only tell because he wore the traditional uniform of the capital's giant slayers. A green and silver cloak with brown leather pants.
He had long, brown hair that was caked with dirt, and his lavish cloak was filthy and torn to shreds. Upon closer inspection, I saw that nearly every bone in his body had been broken and I guessed that he had been stomped pretty thoroughly.
The icing on the cake, was his sword. Every giant slayer had a special weapon. Most were swords but not all of them. It was something a giant slayer was gifted by the gods upon their creation. It had been close to 2 years since I had drawn my own, but this man's looked like it had seem better days.
The giant had run this slayer through with his own sword, not stopping until the slayer was pinned three feet off the ground and his blade fully buried in the thick trunk of the tree. It was a feat that was only possible with the immense strength of a giant.
I took a moment to reflect on what I was seeing. Not because all of the slayers were brother's in arms at this point in time, but because it proved that at any moment this could happen to me.
I wasn't in the business of digging graves, so I pulled the king's badge of honour from his cloak, placing it in my pocket, before I left him be. If it was any consolation, I was now on the hunt for this giant so if he wanted to see it as me avenging him, he could.
With it still pouring rain, I followed the tracks leading away from the village. They continued on for miles, weaving in and out of the forest's trees. Finally they reached a stone ridge and I lost the track on the hard pack.
Using my tracking skills I climbed to the highest peak I could find and looked down on the valley. In the distance, I found what I was straining to see.
About 5 miles off was the flickering Orange glow of a campfire.
Still pretty drunk from the nightcap with the inn keeper, I made my way down the ridge and continued on toward the fire. An hour later, I was at the edge of the camp.
It looked to be a full time camp, as giant clothes were hanging over the giant sized fire to dry and I spied quality built cots in 2 "smaller" tents. As small as a giant's tent could be.
Which leads me to the giant. . . . Well. . 3 of them to be exact. What I assumed to be a father, and his two kids.
The man looked to be middle aged (in human years". He was balding but had a full, dark brown beard. He had on the commoner standard, which was just a basic long sleeve shirt, and trousers. There were no shoes on his feet, which was the tell tale sign of the lowest class in both the giant and the human worlds.
The man was cooking some type of meat over the campfire, which was partially under a tent. Giants weren't as sensitive to the elements as humans were, so the tent was likely just to keep the fire from the rain.
The son was the next oldest. Early teens by the look of him. Dressed the same as his father, he was sat on a tree trunk that was serving as a bench for the campfire. His hair was cut very short by the standards of the time and He had no facial hair. He had a pocket knife and was widdling away on a piece of wood. His face read concentration.
Finally the daughter. She looked to be maybe a couple years younger than the boy. She was crouched over by the fire, playing with some human sized stick dolls. Her hair was drenched and reached halfway down her back. She too was barefoot like the others, but her ankle was adorned with a bracelet and her hair was decorated with a makeshift vine crown.
I knew in my heart that none of this matched the clues I had seen in the town. There had been only one set of footprints, not 3. That didn't mean that the father couldn't have gone alone, but it was highly unlikely. Yes, the average human would be no match for even the female child, but they were still kids, and getting into trouble is what they specialized in, so leaving them alone could be ruled out.
The second clue is that the man was barefoot. The prints had been made by boot. That also wasn't to say that he couldn't have taken them off, but that too was highly unlikely. It rained in the kingdom about 50% of the time, and those who owned boots knew it was important to keep your feet dry.
Still though.
These giants even being in human country was against the law as decreed by the current king. Not that I cared anything about the law, but it meant that I would be in the right to kill them. That coupled with the fact that I followed the tracks here. . . In spite of all the facts that said otherwise. . . I had to confront him. . . Or them, or whoever.
Trying and failing to compose myself, I stumbled out into clearing. My face was illuminated by the comparatively massive fire that was casually burning. The man was the first to notice me. He gave me a quizzical but friendly look.
"Can I help you, stranger? " he asked, his voice deep and warm.
"Yes. . . Yes you can. . ." I slurred. "I'm just curious to know if you happened to pass through a little village not 20 miles from here in the last day or so. ."
The man gave it no thought and answered immediately.
"No, I can't say that I have. I didn't even know there was such a place, but you humans seem to sprout up new towns every time I blink my eyes." He chuckled to himself.
By now, both of the children were staring at me, with no real emotion on their faces.
"Hmm. That's odd. . . Because. . .that little town just happened to have a giant attack today and. . .The footprints just happened to lead me directly here." I said, my voice accusatory.
"That IS a coincidence I suppose." Said the man calmly, as he continued to cook the meat. "Are you sure you didn't get turned around in this rain? It can be kind of hard to track anything in this weather." He offered.
I was beginning to lose patience with him playing dumb by now.
"Yeah, it is a coincidence. . . Or maybe someone attacked specifically on this day, for that exact reason!" I shouted, taking a step forward.
The man sighed and stood up, rain water rushing off of his clothes and hammering off the ground below.
"So. . . Just what are you accusing us of, son?" He asked, clearly trying to stay calm.
"I'm not accusing you of anything, but you giants just being here is grounds for execution in this kingdom. " I said, trying to focus the nine giants I was seeing right now.
These words earned a gasp from his daughter and she moved to stand behind her father. The boy had also switched his pocket knife from a widdling grip, to an aggressive wielding grip.
"Look. . . I'm not sure whose authority you are acting on, but we aren't here to cause any problems! We are here to escape the turmoil in our own capital!"
"That would be the authority of the king! But I'm sure you already knew what the policy on giants was, didn't you?"
"We are just trying to survive and live in peace. . . We have never harmed humans!" The man said, trying desperately to avoid conflict.
"Hmm. . . That's odd. . Because your daughter's ankle bracelet says otherwise!" I said, reaching over my shoulder and grabbing the hilt of my sword.
The man looked at his daughter's bracelet. It was a simple rope bracelet, but the charms were what I was talking about.
Human skulls, with other various bones in between.
"She. . . She just found those bones! I told her not to take them, but you know kids!" He exclaimed quickly. "She was just trying to dress in the style of the 3 daughters!"
"As true as that is. . . I do have a job to do. . " I said solemnly before I prepared to attack. This wasn't something I wanted to do, but somebody had to take the fall.
I was just about to draw my sword, when for a brief moment I felt a strange presence before. A split second later I was blindsided.
Some time later I opened my eyes. It took me a moment to realize I was being drug backwards by my cloak. I stayed perfectly limp, as to not let my assailant know I was conscious. I counted to 3 in my head, before a swung my arm full strength to take out their legs.
I hit nothing but the attacker released my cloak and I was free. I looked above me just as the figure touched down from dodging me.
I scrambled to my feet, but before I could raise a fist, he closed the gap between us, and hit me with a massive punch to the stomach. I barreled across the clearing, but just as I was about to hit a tree, the figure appeared ahead of me, and with a downward punch, my head was smashed into the ground.
I groaned, out of annoyance rather than pain. The strikes were strong, but not strong enough to put me down. The mystery slayer just stood above me, waiting to see what I would do. . .
Gritting my teeth, I lunged forward in an attempt to tackle him, but to my surprise, he caught me by my throat. I was held off my feet as he strangled me with one hand.
"By the Gods, you've gotten weak!"
"Are you about finished, sister?" I asked, my voice ragged.
"Pathetic!" She spat, tossing me to the ground.
"What the hell are you doing here, Abby? Shouldn't you be in the capital, servicing the king?" I asked, rubbing my throat.
"Stopping you from drunkenly attacking innocent people, apparently!" Abby shouted at me, before I was belted with another punch to the stomach, this time hurling me into a nearby tree, splintering the thick trunk.
"Innocent?! Just by existing they are committing a crime in your king's eyes!" I shouted, looking around for any signs of them.
"We are miles away from them now! I know as well as you do that they didn't hurt anyone!" Abby said, turning and walking into the trees.
"Let's go, my camp is just up ahead." She called over her shoulder.
"Hmm. . .As much as I would love to see what the "employment" of the king affords you. . I'm going to have to respectfully decline." I said, straightening my cloak and turning the other way.
"It isn't a choice!" She said, in a tone I knew all too well. "You are a fugitive from the crown, and you are in my custody now! Either you cooperate with me, or you go back to the capital to face execution!"
"You revere your beloved king so much, that you would deliver your own brother for execution?" I asked, sarcastically.
"I swore my allegiance to the capital and to the gods!" She seethed.
"A fool's allegiance that I'm sorry you fell for! " I quipped, as I began to walk in the opposite direction.
A second later, Abigail appeared in front of me.
"You're right! A giant slayer with no purpose at all is so much more noble!" She spat, placing her hand on my shoulder and stopping me in my tracks.
"Get out of my way, sister." I said, my voice deadly serious.
"Or what? You're drunk off of your ass! Even if you weren't, you know you can't beat me! You never have!" Abby challenged, shoving me back a step.
. . . She was right. I had never beaten my older sister in a fight. Since we were kids, she had always been the superior fighter, over both myself, and our younger brother. A fact that she never let us forget growing up.
I weighed my options. Either refuse her, and most definitely get beaten to a pulp, and hauled back to the capital to face execution. Or. . Hear her out, wait until the precise moment, and make my escape.
"Alright. I'll go with you. . " I said, calmly.
Abby narrowed her eyes at me.
I had no time to react, before she closed her eyes and a moment later her right fist began to glow red. In a flash, the fist slammed into my chest. Not with any force at all, and her fist lost its glow immediately.
"What was that about?!" I asked, rubbing my chest uncomfortably.
A moment later, a symbol of the gods that I didn't recognize began to glow red under my skin.
"It's a tracking prayer. A new one that we had the gods create. I figure it will be useful for when you inevitably try to double cross me or abandon your duties." Abby informed me with a knowing look.
"And just what duties are those?" I asked, annoyed with having been tricked.
"Gathering information and investigating occurrences." She said, as she began to walk again.
"Could you be any more vague?" I complained as I followed her through the woods, still in the pouring rain.
"We are looking for anything that can lead to the assassin that killed the giant king." She said, as she stepped over a fallen log.
"The giant king is dead?!" I questioned in disbelief.
"That is common knowledge brother. . . . Have you been living under a rock for the past 3 months? " she said, her voice on the edge of reprimand.
"Actually yes, I have! News doesn't travel very fast out here. It's the perfect place to avoid assassinations and the conflicts of the crown. Maybe you should try it!" I said, giving my sister attitude, but she just ignored it.
"Yes, he is dead. Not the end of the world, except that it was a slayer who killed him. And not just any slayer. . . . The giants claim that he was clad in the colors of the crown!" Abby explained, as she pushed through an especially thick shrub, revealing her camp on the other side.
It was covered 360 degrees by thick brush, so that humans couldn't see her still burning campfire. Her horse, Jasmine was tied up to a tree near the outer edge, and there were 2 good sized tents set up.
"You are in with the crown. . . . Who was it?" I asked, sitting down next to the fire and taking my sword from my back.
"It wasn't the king! He doesn't know who would want the giant king dead." She replied, going into one of the tents. "Obviously humans would have no reason to want to start a war with the giants."
I really wasn't interested in the politics of it all. I had only ever heard stories of the giant king. He was a legend in both the human world and the giant world. While there had been countless human kings since the beginning of creation, there had only ever been one giant king.
He was said to be the original giant. I don't know if that was true or not, but it didn't matter. He was dead now, and a representative of the human kingdom was thought responsible
"So why doesn't the king just deny that the assassin was sent by him?" I asked, feigning interest.
"He has. He sent word the moment he heard about it. Apparently, It made no difference." My sister said, coming out from the tent with what looked like seasoned meat.
"What do you mean "It made no difference?" It's not like the humans are at war right now."
"True. They aren't at war with the giant army. That is because all of the soldiers are busy in a war with other giant clans. But, that is what brings us all the way to the outer rim." She said, placing the meat on a grill she had over the fire.
"The assassination didn't go unnoticed. The whole of the giant world is outraged, and we are expecting the worst. There is talk of an invasion force being formed in the capital."
"And what do you and one partner plan to do about it?" I inquired, yawning with boredom as much as exhaustion.
"The invasion is just a rumor. The people are still upset with the king for leading them to war with the other clans, so organizing a force to deal with the humans in his name is risky business. That being said, the signs are pointing toward a different, more dangerous threat." She told me, pacing back and forth as she had done ever since we were children.
"Which is?"
"The three daughters. . "
"The three daughters?" I repeated, slightly intrigued as this was the 2nd time I had heard this name.
"The three daughters of the giant king?" She said, like I should know who they were.
I just shook my head.
She just stared at me in disbelief.
"Do I need to spell everything out for you?!" She shouted angrily.
I wasn't phased in the least.
"In case you didn't notice, I don't give a shit about any of that type of stuff, ok? I'm out this far because I DON'T want to know or be involved." I said flatly, using a stick to poke at the grilling meat.
"Well you are going to give a shit when one by one every village in the kingdom is flattened from the outer rim to the capital! Eventually there will be nowhere left to run to! Is that what you want?!" Abby barked at me.
"Is that what anyone wants? Of course not! But either way, it's not my fight."
"It is now! You're a fugitive from the crown, and I captured you. You are to do as I command until I feel that your debt has been repayed, or I can just kill you right now!" She said matter of factly.
"You're talking mighty casually about executing your own brother. Is this what the crown has done to my dear, loving older sister?" I spat with a smirk.
It only served to infuriate her.
"This isn't some joke Ant! If the three daughters are here, it's already the beginning of the end for humans!"
"Exactly. . FOR HUMANS!" I said loudly.
"We were created to protect humans! And, lest you forget, it was a slayer who killed the king. You can bet your blade that they won't stop until all of us are made an example of!"
That instantly reminded me of the slayer I had seen crucified outside the village.
I reached into my pocket, and retrieved the king's badge. Without warning, I hurled it at her. She caught and examined it.
Her face went red with rage.
"Who did you steal this from!?" She demanded.
It was well known that the king's badge was highly valuable all over the kingdom, and even more so in the land of the giants. Thefts were not uncommon as all representatives of the crown possessed them, and those individuals didn't always live long lives.
"I didn't steal it. He didn't need it anymore." I said coldly.
It didn't help the situation.
"So you killed him then?!" Abby accused me, and I could tell I was a few choice words away from getting beaten to a pulp.
"Someone killed him. . . I didn't see who."
My sister's face went from red to white. She clutched the badge to her chest.
"Who was he?" I asked, turning and flipping the meat.
"He. . . .was my partner." She said, just staring blankly at the muddy ground as the rain continued to pour.
I felt a brief twinge of sympathy, but the moment passed.
"Well. . . . I'm sorry." Was all the condolence I offered her.
As slayers, death was nothing rare. We were created to bring it, and conditioned to have no fear of it. With the life span of giants, you live to see the birth and death of untold lives as you drift through human lifetimes just following whatever path you choose to follow.
"Tell me everything." Abigail said, sitting down next to me.
"There isn't much to tell. I was searching a different village for Jacob, following the rumors, but when I got there the town was completely empty. Or so I thought. In that village. . . " I started, thinking about that whole situation.
"In that village. . . A female giant took all of the adults, and gave them a stone burial."
Abby's eyes got wide as she listened to my tale.
"I rescued the children from the village, and decided to go in a different direction. Just my luck, the next village gets attacked too. I woke up in the middle of the night, and went outside to chaos. Pouring rain and smoke. Before I could find the giant's location, I was blindsided and trampled. . . . When I came to, the whole village had been wiped out. Not a soul left alive and not a building left standing."
"And where was Lemus?" She asked, calmly.
"I found him at the entrance to the city."
"Did he say anything to you?" She questioned, with a glint of hope in her eyes.
"No, he was already gone. The attacker. . . . Took their time with him. Every bone broken. Then, they ran him through with his own blade and pinned him to a tree." I shared, solemnly.
I knew what would come next, with Abigail being my sister. One of two things. .
Through the rain, I heard her breathing heavily through her nostrils and I knew her rage was building. Then came the inevitable question.
"Were you drunk?" She asked, her voice eerily calm.
"Abby I-
"WERE YOU. . DRUNK?"
There was no talking my way out of this.
"Abby. . Liste-
In the blink of an eye, Abby caught me with a massive punch to the face. I bounced off the trunk of a far tree, before whirling to the ground. My body ached from the impact but I didn't have time to complain as Abby's hand snaked into my hair and pulled my head up.
"You could have helped save a village full of innocent humans, but instead they were all killed because you were drunk!" She screamed at me, and a downward punch smashed my face into the dirt.
"Lemus might still be alive!" She screamed, kicking me in the stomach and lofting me 10 feet in the air before I slammed to the ground.
"It's. . . Not my fault!" I gasped, holding my stomach as I tried to get to my feet.
In an instant, she was right in front of me and my body served as her punching bag for a right left right combo, that dropped me to my knees.
My body wasn't conditioned to take a beating like this. While it had been two years since I had even drawn my sword, it had been even longer since I had gone full bore with a giant or another slayer.
I did the only logical thing, and yielded, covering the back of my head with my hands in a position of surrender.
To my relief, Abigail decided not to end my life, and I looked up just in time to see her disappear into her tent. Pathetically, I crawled back to the fire and just layed down flat on my back next to it.
Giantess World
