The crowd in the bar glared at her with mixed emotions and murmured confusion. No one gave her an answer, no one had enough confidence in what they thought was happening to do so. They backed away and began to scream as they looked behind her. Visible through the open windows at the taverns entrance, two giant feet made contact with the soil in front of the building, casting a shadow where natural daylight used to shine in.
Artemis turned, and knew what had to be done. She walked to the door and slowly opened it with a creak to step outside. She looked up to see the face of a young man, thinly built and at least early 20s with a grin filled with malice, he leaned against the hill the tavern was established in and his form was covered in shadow against the bright blue sky. She looked up at the giant with a completely blank expression. She didn’t know what to expect from the crowd inside, but she no longer cared, her identity was not worth their lives.
As the giant lifted his foot over her small body she began to relax, and let the spell fade, the arcane chains tying her to this diminutive form, stretched…and shattered. She shot up to her true size and tackled the giant to the ground. Taking him completely off guard and allowing Artemis to deliver a storm of fast heavy blows to his face. Every time he tried to defend himself she struck elsewhere, every time he struck she struck him back harder.
She did not stop until he was no longer moving, breathing or even coughing up blood. Her knuckles were shiny and red and she sat forward on the grass, panting and still shaking. She looked back to the tavern to see the crowd gathered around the windows, and they all backed away in fear under her gaze and the fury in her eyes began to soften. They had looked at her like she was a monster, she couldn’t tell if they were right. Suddenly, she let out a roar as she felt a searing hot sting of pain shoot from her arm.
The hunters from the tavern had begun to surround her, all wielding weapons glowing with the magic necessary to pierce giant flesh with relative ease. “What the fuck!? I helped you!” She exclaimed through gritted teeth before she pulled the enchanted arrow from her arm. “Don’t fall for it!” The shooter spoke to the others as they circled her. “This had nothing to do with us, they spread violence to their own kind, and they spread violence to ours, she is not special. Yes, we know who you are.”
Artemis clutched her wound to stop the bleeding. “Then you know I have never raised arms against humanity.” One of the other hunters spoke “An innocent giant would have nothing to hide. Yet you hide yourself like a wolf among cattle. Is that what we are to you? Cattle?” Her eyes bore into him like daggers, and her voice was laced with venom. “What are they to you? You pretend to be a hero yet you demand heavy bags of gold to save families from being slaughtered, I wonder how much your honour is worth? “Hunter”…” He was about to shoot her again before their leader spoke up. “Hold your fire.” He said and the two archers looked at him as if he were mad. “What are you doing?” One asked in a bewildered but hushed tone. “She hasn’t done anything to harm us yet, so we shouldn’t give her good reason. Besides,”
“I think we can come to an arrangement that benefits us all.”
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Nearby a black haired giantess looked on at the scene from a safe distance and snuck away without being seen. Or at least Freya thought, but she could tell she wasn’t being followed and that was enough for her to journey back to camp. The journey this time around was quieter without her companion, Eric, who had been killed in an ambush by the legendary giant hunter that neither of them could have seen coming. She made a hard choice by not helping him when he was still fighting, but she didn’t think she could win a fight against Artemis even with his help, and she knew hunters would arrive even if she did. For now, all she could do was tell everyone what happened.
The home was in a deep hollowed out cave covered by a curtain of vines that could easily be mistaken as grass at a glance. She stepped through into a dark cozy cave lit by the orange glow of torches and was greeted by Azura. “Freya, you never take so long when scouting….where is Eric?” Freya drew quiet and looked at the ground. “Arte-“
“Sylvia…” Azura cut her off. “Artemis is a myth”
“Right, sorry. Sylvia killed him…” the room grew silent for a moment, that felt far longer than anyone was comfortable with. Until Azura broke the silence with a sigh “sorry for your loss.” Her tone sounded like it was supposed to be empathetic, but it only showed disinterest.
“Don’t let it get to your head like Sylvie let the death of her pets got to hers.” She said, this time sounding a little more earnest, but not by a whole lot. “You’re lucky you’re alive, she remains one of the only true threats to our way of life, to our culture.” She spoke plainly. “Can I trust that you will get us the intel we need?” She asked looking into Freya’s eyes, who simply nodded. Azura smiled back.
“I’m always proud of you, you know that right?” She patted her shoulder. “I have something I think might cheer you up.” Azura opened a storage compartment and pulled out a cage of humans, all naked and either panicking or miserable, depressed and exhausted and placed it on the table. Even after the horrible event of the day this sight still brought a grin on Freya’s face. She was about to reach in before she hesitated. “Go on, have 5, the others want their share too you know.”
Her giddy smile only widened as she grabbed a petrified man who fought and begged against the giant woman’s impossibly strong grip. He screamed as he watched Freya’s mouth widen and surround him like a tidal wave before engulfing him in darkness and the hot moisture of saliva and his kicking legs were sucked in between her lips. She swallowed and licked her lips before smiling at Azura and thanking her.
“I won’t let you down mother, I promise.”