The ship had sailed for days without the crew seeing either land or sunlight. These waters weren’t on any maps, and the thick fog made navigating by the sun or stars nearly impossible. It was only thanks to the memories of an old man who had escaped from the terrible island many decades ago that they were able to find it. It loomed out of the fog like a tower of stone. At first they could see only one, but soon other islands and cliffs could be seen all around them. All were of the same grey stone, as grey as the fog and the sky and the ocean itself. After sailing along the base of an immense cliff for quite some time, the ship found a place to anchor, next to a rocky beach. Behind the beach lay a boulder covered slope, stretching up as far as could be seen in these conditions. Once the ship was at anchor, the leader of the company of soldiers commanded them to disembark, but no-one dared.

“Come on! You useless cowards!” Prince Argo shouted at his men. “What are you waiting for? You knew what lay at the end of this voyage, so why did you volunteer in the first place?”

“”Well, sire, we thought…” one of the commanders of the soldiers said. “You see, we didn’t actually think the island existed. I mean, it sounded so far-fetched, just like some of your other…”
“What?” Argo yelled, advancing towards the man. “My other what?”

The soldier gulped nervously, regretting his words. None of them really liked the prince, but they still had to show the proper respect. Argo gripped the commander’s shoulder: he was easily a foot taller and much stronger than his subordinate. Without saying another word, the heir to the thrones of Solis and Rheir pulled out his sword and impaled the soldier with it, lifting him clean off the ship’s deck. Seconds later his lifeless body fell on the deck with a thud.

“Anyone still left on this ship a minute from now shall share that man’s fate,” Argo announced.

His men didn’t need to be told twice. They grabbed their weapons and shields and streamed down the planks to the shore. The old man, Gligo, who had guided them here got to his feet and made to join the soldiers, but Argo held him back.

“Not you,” the prince said. “You’ll stay here. We need you to get back to Solis once we’re done here. Besides, these ‘monsters’ of yours can’t be hard to find – if they’re as huge as you say they are.”

“Oh, they’re huge all right! I reckon even you will feel like a mouse next to one of the ogres of Uqlum, my prince. Don’t know how you’ll keep them from eating you…”

“That’s not your concern! Just stay here and wait for us, and you’ll be rewarded once we’re home. Now, just point me in the direction of the ogres’…cave, I guess? You said they live in caves, didn’t you?”

Argo leapt off the ship, ordered his troops to form a double-file formation, then told them to march in the direction Gligo had pointed. He followed behind with the remaining two commanders, all of them keeping their eyes and ears open for anything lurking in the fog. After climbing up the immense slope – no easy task – the men found themselves on a desolate plain, littered with boulders. The only signs of life were a multitude of enormous trees, most of which appeared to be dead. Many of them had giant marks on them that looked like they were made by claws or teeth. Argo felt a thrill as he saw these marks, left no doubt by the islands’ inhabitants – but he wondered if they were not still a bit too small.

Many hours later, the tired soldiers came to the base of another cliff, but this one was far from monotonous. It featured the entrances of several immense caves, more than a hundred feet high. The plain at the cliffs’ base was littered with bones, some human or animal, but most belonging to some kind of immense beast. The soldiers were wondering just what kind of beast it was, when they suddenly got to see several living specimens up close.

One of the large boulders which surrounded them came to life. It rose up on a pair of stubby legs, and immense arms appeared on its sides. Standing before the petrified soldiers was a living ogre, something none of them had seen before. Soon the other boulders in the area rose up as well, and yet more ogres came shambling out of the caves, making a tremendous racket. Soon the men were surrounded by a ring of the stone-grey giants. The smallest ogre stood at least sixty feet tall, and some of the larger ones over a hundred feet. They were jostling with each other to get to the front of the crowd, their long arms reaching for the tiny soldiers, who were waving their weapons in front of them to ward off the monsters. Argo knew he had to do something quickly, before they were all killed – or eaten alive.

Unlike previous visitors to the island of the ogres, Prince Argo had come prepared. He’d learnt from ancient records that the city-state of Solis had been attacked by ogres several times in the distant past, and that each time the beasts had been driven off. Eventually he found out why: an ancient sorcerer had crafted an orb that could repel these creatures and could even be used to control them, since ogres had very simple minds, even though they did show occasional flashes of cunning every now and then. After scouring the city and its surroundings for months, the prince’s men finally discovered something in a crumbling tomb that matched the orb’s description. Of course, there could be no way of knowing whether it was the same orb, so coming here had still been a tremendous risk…but Argo was determined to get his revenge, and if his plan failed he could always make his escape while ordering his men to stay behind (and get eaten).

“I am the Emperor of Solis and Rheir!” he exclaimed, pulling out the orb from beneath his cloak. “I command you to obey my words! Back away and obey me, you giant brutes!”

A roar of fury was heard from all around them, but not one of the ogres tried to attack them. Instead they all took a few steps back, forming a wider circle around the relieved soldiers. None of the men had been privy to Argo’s plan, and they now waited anxiously to see what would happen.

“I am the Emperor!” Argo repeated, though that title still belonged to his father, Malmo. “I possess the orb of Adaruat, your ancient conqueror. You know what power it holds. If I wanted to, I could make you turn on each other right now and devour each other. But I have a better use for you. I need you to take care of some giants for me.”

He began to explain to them what he wished them to do. Less than an hour later, Argo and his soldiers were on their way back to their ship, while behind them the island’s inhabitants had begun uprooting the dead trees and carving out canoes from the logs using their teeth and claws. The ogres had at first objected to Argo’s plan, but of course they couldn’t withstand the power of the orb. And once the man had explained to them how, in return for their help, he would give them entire cities full of humans to devour, or otherwise use as they wish, they began to listen eagerly. Vast new supplies of food awaited them, much more than they had to eat on this desolate island, and all they had to do was kill three giants – female ones at that.

Argo was enormously pleased with himself. Everything had gone perfectly. Not only had not one of his men lost their lives (except for the fool who had had the nerve to mock him earlier), but he was now in command of a large group of vicious man-eating beasts. He could finally have his revenge on Princess Belena of Vandan, and make her pay for the insolent way she had treated him. He would take care of her giant mother, Queen Valerie, her father, King Alban, and anyone else who stood in his way. Then nothing would stop him from becoming the sole ruler of Vandan, something he would never have become if he had married the giant princess. Of course, he first intended to depose his father and become emperor of Solis and Rheir, so that he could have full command over its armies as well – but that shouldn’t prove difficult, not when he already had an army of giant ogres obeying him.