Lewis could not believe his eyes, as he knelt down at the foot of the bed. It was like looking at a miniature doppleganger of himself! The face was smoother; the mud-brown hair was shorter and better combed; and, of course, the body was much smaller than his.
But, in all other respects, this was still his identical twin brother, Clark.
The latter smiled up at him, as he shouted: "Howdy, big brother! You look like you've seen better days."
It was not a funny joke. The irony of it, however, was too much for Lewis, after everything else he had been through so far. He sat down, completely, and started laughing. The kind of laughter that sounds more like crying.
Amelia, naturally concerned, knelt down beside him and returned the comforting hug he had given her, minutes earlier. Eventually, he managed to calm down
"I'm dreaming. Any moment, now, I'm gonna wake up back at the waterhole and find out this has all been a bad dream!"
"Afraid not, Lew. You're as wide awake as I am."
"B-But,...half-naked giantesses that can turn into black panthers? And, shrink able-bodied men just by sucking their blood, or whatever? How, in God's name, is any of that possible?"
"I don't know, Lew. All I _do_ know is that it's happened to me, and every other man in town below the age of fifty."
"Leif O'Reilly told me you brought some Yankee cavalry with you, when you first came home. Weren't they of any help at the time of the attack?"
"The troop I brought here, from Fort Union, was meant strictly to hold Fort Pecos for U.S. re-occupation. We learned from Skinner and other scouts that the Rebs (No offense!) had abandoned it, in order to head south of the border with Kirby-Smith's boys.* And, we didn't want any other die-hard stragglers from your army taking it over."
Clark went on to add that he had not brought the whole troop to town, the day of the wedding. He had left half of them on duty at the fort. The rest were to serve as his nuptial honor guard.
"I figure I lost one or two percent of them during the first couple minutes of the surprise attack. The rest rallied pretty quickly against those desperadoes. Then, _they_ butted in."
The stained glass windows of the town's church shattered from within as the burly bodies of the Amazonian viragos came flying out. Each one of them ten feet tall, with fangs!
"Tennessee managed to rally most of the men-folk around my men. Helping us fight a delaying action so Reverend Shepard could lead the women-folk here, to the Oxbow. Seeing as it's the most structurally-reinforced building in town (what will all the drunken brawls it's had to survive)!"
"How many men did you lose?"
"Shrunken, like me? About a couple dozen, including three or four of my men. The rest? Well, let's just say that our stepdad is the only surviving member of the town council, and leave it at that."
"What about Lauren? When did they make off with her?"
"During the initial confusion. I think they also made off with her bride's-maids."
The Cross brothers were silent for a moment. Then, Lewis spoke up, swearing he would get Lauren back for Clark, if it was the last thing he ever did. The latter was very dubious, though.
"I appreciate the thought. But, you don't even know who--or what--you're up against!"
"Perhaps, I can answer that, senores."
The Colt from his right-hand holster was in Lewis' hand before his tiny twin could even blink. Its business end was now trained on a middle-aged man who was dressed like a Vatican priest (including a domed, round-brimmed black hat). And, yet, he sported a moustache-free beard, just like a Quaker or one of the Amish.
Fleischer was standing right behind the man, one of his own Colts pointed at the back of the stranger's head.
"He insisted on seeing you, mein hauptmann."
Lewis stood up: "Como te llamos usted, padre?"
"Hola, senor capitan," bowed the priest: "Yo soy Padre Cypriano de La Sociedad San Umberto. At your service."
Lewis and his mother looked at each other.
"The Saint Hubert Society?" echoed the former.
"Si! We are an...esoteric branch of La Iglesia Santa Madre. Named for the patron saint of hunters."
With his free hand, Fleischer held up a crossbow. Indicating, with a slight nod of his head, that it belonged to the strange clerygman!
"I see," muttered Lewis: "And, what is you hunt, exactly?"
Father Cypriano smiled: "At the moment, senor? The same prey as you."
tbc
Giantess World
