Gailina packed a few hours’ worth of supplies into her satchel. If all went well, she would be back home by the end of the day. She’d put on a blue tunic and attached a small dagger to her belt, just in case the ‘foe’ proved a bit more difficult than she’d expected. When she was ready to leave, she picked up the tiny Erryl and placed him on her shoulder. He grabbed firmly onto the collar of her tunic; luckily her shoulder was so large that he was in little danger of falling. He looked up at her magnificent face. Her long hair, brushed behind her ears, was like an unfathomable curtain to him. She turned her head to look at him, and smiled.

“Shall we go?” she asked.

“All…all right!” he called up to her. “Just keep heading south, and I’ll direct you when we get to my country!”

She stepped out of the door and into the cool morning air. Erryl suddenly found himself holding on with all his strength; her speed was so great that he felt as if he were in a hurricane. After a few minutes he felt as if he were about to faint, and he cried up at her to stop.

“Oh dear,” Gailina said contritely. “It seems neither of us took my speed into account, huh? I’m sorry, Erryl, but it looks like I’ll have to stash you somewhere safely for now. I’ll take you out whenever I’m uncertain of the way.”

“Good idea!” he said, out of breath.

Out of her satchel she took a little velvet bag, which she emptied. Then she put her miniscule passenger into the bag and closed it securely. Inside the bag, all Erryl could see around him was darkness. He didn’t know that Gailina had stashed him deep into her cleavage, and would probably have been quite a bit humiliated if he did. She laughed a little at the absurdity of the whole thing: a modest girl having to take care of a noble knight by tucking him in between her breasts. She promised herself that she would spend more time with humans from now on. They were just too much fun to live without.

Over the crumbling ruins of the city of Rurak, Carinne strode victoriously. At her feet, survivors were running frantically, desperate to escape being crushed like insects. Carinne was tempted to just exterminate all of them at that moment, but she let most of them escape. Crushing ordinary villagers was only fun for a while, then it became stale. She made her way to the castle, whose walls she had already begun to demolish. Somewhere inside was the man she was looking for, the man who had only narrowly escaped her during the previous battle. The governor of Ruralia himself.

“I can’t wait to tear that little shit’s arms off,” she said to herself. “How dare he call himself my superior? And to laugh at my demands like that…well, he won’t be laughing today, that’s for sure!”

The handful of soldiers still remaining on the castle walls scattered as soon as she came near. Several of them leapt to their deaths, a fate preferable to being captured by her. Every time she took prisoners, she would always let one of them go, to tell other of the horrific things she’d done. Her vast armoured form easily strode over the forty-foot walls and into the courtyard. A group of refugees were hiding there, and Carinne grinned evilly. She reached down and grabbed the nearest one of them, a peasant woman, who screamed loudly until Carinne told her to shut up.

“Now listen to me, you filth!” she said, and the people listened, frozen with fear. “I’m growing tired of easily beating you day after day, so I’ll make you an offer. Hand over your coward of a governor, and I’ll leave you alone from now on.”

She paused a moment for her message to sink in.

“Otherwise,” she continued, “I’ll make sure no-one, no single human of the entire region, survives this day. All of you will be exterminated, and your cities crushed. If I do not have the governor as my prisoner in twenty minutes, I’ll begin killing every human I see!”

In the refugee group women, children, and even some men, began to cry. There were no soldiers around, no nobles, no-one who had access to the castle. The governor hasn’t shown himself for some time now, and they didn’t even know where he was. Carinne knew she could destroy the castle itself if she wished, but it would take a lot of effort, and she was already pretty worn out after laying waste to the city. She looked at the sobbing woman in her hand. Absentmindedly, she began to tear the woman’s clothes off, until she was completely naked. Carinne pressed her fingers down on the woman’s breasts, and she began to scream in pain. Just at that moment, however, a voice from below cried out.

“Stop! I know where the governor is! I can take you to him!”

Carinne put down the woman, who was quickly enveloped by her frightened husband. All the refugees now retreated as Carinne turned to face the man who had spoken. He seemed to be in good condition, but that was probably to be expected if he’d been with the governor all the time. She grabbed him harshly in her steel-clad hands.

“About time, too!” she said. “Take me to him now, do you understand? And don’t try to trick me, or you’ll regret it!”

Erryl managed to nod, even though his body was convulsed with pain. Luring Carinne out of the city was his idea, and it had never occurred to him that it might be dangerous to him as well. His captor saw that she was hurting him a bit too much, and she relaxed her grip. Erryl gasped and groaned.

“The governor…he’s at…a secret camp in the… the forest,” he sputtered out, “directly…north of here.”

“All right, then let’s go and see. I’ve got nothing to lose, and if you’re lying, well…” She left her sentence unfinished, leaving Erryl to wonder what horrible fate would befall him if something went wrong. The forest to the north was very thick, and most of the trees were taller than Carinne. She shouldn’t be able to detect a trap, but he knew there was always the possibility of failure. She headed off towards the north, her mighty arms and legs flattening any unfortunate trees that stood in her way. Erryl didn’t move as she held him tightly in her fist. He could only stare in awe at her powerful and presumably well-muscled body, at her beautiful, yet arrogant, face. She was a living colossus, and he prayed that no more Algarans should ever decide to invade this land again.

After ten minutes or so, they reached an especially thick section of the forest. Carinne once again asked the whereabouts of the governor, and Erryl assured her that he was just ahead, no more than a hundred yards from her. She ducked underneath a giant oak tree’s thick branches, and bumped straight into something. To her it looked like a blue curtain of some kind of thick, soft fabric, stretching off into the forest on either side of her. Above her head it rose towards the sky, and Carinne had to tilt her head fully backwards to see where it went.

When she saw what it was, she froze. Her hands fell to her sides, and Erryl found himself being dropped absentmindedly. He fell almost forty feet and landed in the thick undergrowth beneath him. He recovered just in time to see enormous fingers curling around the helpless giantess’s body, lifting her entire bulk up effortlessly. No sound came from her lips: the shock of seeing someone so much larger and stronger than herself seemed to have brought her mind to a standstill.

Gailina looked at the six-inch tall warrior whom she now held in her hand, and smiled. The smaller giantess’s face was a mixture of fear and disbelief, and she almost looked like she was about to cry. Gailina nonchalantly tore Carinne’s sword off her belt and threw it away. Now Carinne began to realize that she was in possible danger, and she began to squirm and struggle, and tried to hurt Gailina with her fists. But the Sky-Giantess wasn’t bothered at all, and she tightened her grip on the unfortunate Carinne.

“The fun’s over for you, you little bitch,” she said. “You’ll apologize to all those whose lives you made miserable, and then you’ll come along with me, to your new home. Oh, and it won’t be a nice home, either, not at all!”