“Come on, show me one more time! Don’t give up now, you’re getting the hang of it!”
Princess Valerie threw the sword down at her feet, feeling discouraged. For several hours now, her husband, Prince Alban, had been trying to teach her how to use a sword in battle. Having never done such a thing before, she found all of the stances and moves she had to learn needlessly complicated and difficult to remember. Besides, she thought, the whole exercise was kind of pointless – what enemy could there possibly be in the world against which she’d have to use a sword.
Valerie was a giantess, standing thirty times as tall as a regular human woman. Being the last of her kind, as far as she knew, she couldn’t think of any threat she’d have to face in the defence of her land and its people that could come close to her in size. Perhaps, in the distant mountains far to the east and south of Vandan (her homeland), there might be dragons or similar beasts that were bigger than her, but she couldn’t picture them venturing this far away from their homes anytime soon.
She sat down on the table on which Alban was standing. Her husband was taller than most men his age (they were both in their early twenties), but compared to her he was smaller than a doll and scarcely larger than her thumb. Despite their huge difference in size, the two young royals were deeply in love and had gotten married, despite it resulting in Alban’s father, King Mildar of the nearby land of Elgon, disowning him. Alban had never been on good terms with his father, always preferring the company of his mother since he was little. But, unless his father were to change his mind about Valerie, or pass away – which wasn’t too unlikely, given his excessive lifestyle – Alban was essentially cut off from his own home city and family. But he had begun a new life now, one which demanded all of his time and effort.
The ancient giant castle of Vandan was mostly in ruins, but one section of it was still standing, and here Valerie had taken up residence. Outside the castle’s outer walls, a small town had begun to spring up. Its inhabitants were humans – lower-class farmers, poor people, those who were outcasts or who had been persecuted in their homelands and had fled here. They had all heard about the giant princess, and that she was kind and compassionate and willing to protect those who were without protection. So, they had come here and settled, and built houses and begun to sow crops. By now there were several hundred of them, living in a cluster of houses that formed the new town of Rismark, or in scattered smaller settlements in the vicinity. They all looked up to Valerie to lead them and rule over them, though she didn’t call herself their queen yet. But if many more came, she might yet find herself the ruler of a new kingdom. The old Vandan, the cruel, oppressive realm of the giants of old, was just a memory now. The new Vandan, Valerie promised herself, would be a place where everyone was equal and no-one would need to live in fear or poverty. That was her vision, but making it a reality would require a lot of work.
That was why she found this sword training to be a waste of time. Though she knew Alban was just trying to help her, she’d much rather spend her free time with him in a more romantic fashion. She wrapped her long, delicate fingers around him and picked him up, then began to smother him with kisses. He struggled to break free from her grasp – unsuccessfully, of course.
“Valerie, not here!” he said, as soon as his face was free from her lips. “We could be seen!” They were sitting in a small courtyard, on the other side of the castle from the town, and in fact just outside the door leading to the castle’s kitchen.
“No, we won’t!” Valerie reassured him, hugging him to her chest and caressing him. “No-one but us ever comes here, you know that!”
“But what about your training?”
“Oh, forget the training, Alban! I’ll never master a sword like you have. Why would I want to? I’ll never face a dangerous monster that’s any higher than my knees, and even a great warrior like you, darling, isn’t able to reach higher than my ankles! I took on your father’s entire army, remember? That was right after I saved you from that horde of dangerous bandits, which I did all by myself too…”
“Yes, I remember – how could I ever forget?” Alban interrupted. “I’ve still got scars from that experience…not to mention losing Turas and Shardon.” He grew quiet as he remembered his late friends, who had died on the same adventure in which he’d first met Valerie. She remembered them too, and she squeezed Alban tighter against her chest, covering him in her hands.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save them too, my love,” she said softly. “I was too late that day, but I managed to save you, and I’ll never let any harm come to you, as long as I live. Nor will I let anything happen to the people who have come to live here. I’ll be all right, Alban. I know you worry about me too, and I’m glad that you do, but I can take care of myself. If you really want to help, I’m sure there are many young men in Rismark who’d love to learn how to fight and defend themselves and their loved ones. You can show them how, and then they needn’t be afraid whenever I’m not nearby, which I won’t be all the time.”
“Yes…yes, you’re right. It’s just…well…difficult for me to accept the fact that my darling wife is thousands of times stronger than the strongest man who’s ever lived. What can I say? I’m just a man after all, and when I’m with a beautiful woman whom I love, I feel the urge to protect her, even though she’s really the one protecting me. But I’m still learning, my dearest Valerie…learning how to show you how much I love you and care for you, and how to be the husband that you want me to be. So please forgive me, and bear with me whenever I come up with ideas like this.”
“There’s nothing to forgive, Alban, my sweet little prince,” she said, kissing him again, but with more restraint and tenderness. “I adore you with all of my heart and I appreciate all that you do for me…but we have others who live under our protection now, and we have a responsibility to them as well. Come on, let’s head over to Rismark and see how our little townsfolk are doing today. But first, I think a nice, soothing bath would be good idea. Just to wash away all of the sweat, and to change into something that’s more appropriate for a princess to appear in public in!”
She placed him on top of her shoulder, which was his usual spot whenever she carried him around. From up here, he had a great view of everything around him and could talk to his beloved princess at the same time, without being overheard by the people on the ground below. He was also looking forward to Valerie’s bath, since she almost always took him with her when she bathed, and they could have all sorts of sexy fun in the tub. It was just one of the many bonuses that came with being married to a giantess.