Teagan's wary eyes swept over the lakeside valley as she hurried through the woodland brush, eyes peeled on the hunt for tomkins. She wasn't hungry, but she needed to find a secure area from which she could drink from the tantalizingly clear lake that lie just ahead. Sihil, who was upon her shoulder, sighed in relief as Teagan passed by the camp, glad she wasn't about to witness yet another savage attack by the giantess. The further Teagan crept, however, the more unsettled she became. Torn minuscule banners, checkered black and red, were planted in the ground. She kept on, and saw a tiny spear - not one of the sort used to slay humans, for it was too small to do considerable damage to a person. A few feet further and she saw a few more, some lodged in the ground, some discarded and stained with blood.

Then she saw an explanation for this. Dead and wounded tomkins were scattered about the area, throughout which Teagan was able to make out various trenches and fortifications. Some of the dead bore light vests and shields, some of which were dyed red. Their weaponry was composed of an assorted array of polearms, scimitars, and short spears, the former of which bore standards in the same checkered red and black pattern. However, the majority of the fallen looked quite different. They wore little to no armor, and what they had seemed to be made of substances such as rodent fur or even just dried grass. Their weapons were primitive in comparison to those of their foes - slings, pebble-headed clubs, crude wooden spears and bone knives - none of which seemed even close to adequate to harm a human. Teagan was, however, still confused - as far as she knew, the tomkins never engaged in combat on this scale against each other. She was bewildered as to what could be the cause of this battle. She glanced at Sihil, who whispered a tomkin word in her ear.

"Bellai."

Bellai... Teagan thought about the word for a second. She clearly knew what it meant - battle - but... it was too close to the language of humankind to be mere coincidence. Bellicose means warlike, bellow means warcry... this was no mere coincidence. She pondered the word concernedly, for this meant that, if true, tomkins were even closer to humans than she thought, which was an unsettling prospect to say the least.

"Bellai? How about... hmm."

Teagan scanned the battlefield, making sure that it was mostly empty. A few wounded tomkins lay dying here and there, but they weren't going to make it long. She observed that the wounded were composed almost entirely of the more civilized force. Teagan, upon making sure the battlefield was deserted, strode out into the open and picked up a sword. The few wounded soldiers on the field were terrified, some trying to scramble away as fast as they could and others simply feigning death, but Teagan paid them no mind. She showed the blade to Sihil.

"This?"

Sihil hesitated.

"Gladdui."

"Gladdui…" Teagan echoed, pondering on the word.

Teagan could think of no words for a blade that sounded similar, and her fears were subdued. She, on a whim, reached for a wounded soldier. He yelped as her hand wrapped about him, but he gave no resistance as Teagan raised him to face height. Sihil looked down, unable to stare at the wounded man.

"This?" Teagan asked, holding the man near Sihil. He remained silent as Sihil clenched and unclenched her fists, trying not to act irrationally. The man was going to die regardless, he's probably doing to die less painfully at this rate.

"Militi, or belliacor."

Teagan just barely managed to not let her jaw drop. There was no mistaking this. Militi was an obvious root, or evolution, of militia. Whatever language the tomkins spoke, it was certainly in the same branch as hers. Teagan's mind rushed with explanations as to how this could have possibly happened… but she knew that she was just grasping at straws. This revelation, however small it was, made the daunting task of learning the tomkin language a little less scary. Teagan looked back at the soldier. He peered up at her with fearful eyes, the rest of his face obscured by some sort of veil. Teagan placed him back down on the ground and turned to Sihil.

"You word me."

Sihil nodded.

"Word, for, uhm... friend." Teagan said, hoping the tomkin word sounded similar.

Sihil's face exhibited little besides confusion.

"Uhhh, shit, uh... nice."

Sihil shook her head.

"No." Sihil responded.

Teagan wracked her mind for any other synonyms that sounded different.

"Good. Harm no. Amicable."

At the last word, Sihil's expression changed. She made a circular gesture, and Teagan assumed it was a prompt for her to repeat the latter word.

"Amicable?"

Sihil thought for a second before forcing a smile and mocking an awkward one-person hug. Teagan nodded her assent. Sihil sat back down.

"Amicar." she said, looking at Teagan worrisomely. She wasn't sure what the giantess intended, and that scared her.

Teagan knelt down and extended a hand to the soldier.

"Egum amicar."

Sihil gaped at this sudden change in the persona of the giantess. She had just crudely said "I am a friend."

~

Firkon looked around the house of Volkhard. It was stately, well-organized, and even scented by small sticks of sandalwood incense. Surely, it was a nice place, but it was a stark contrast to the veritable castle Firkon thought the man would possess, considering the nigh legendary status of his deeds.

"What is your name, Legatus? Surely you must have one, and I have not yet heard it."

Firkon surveyed the man more closely. He was finely dressed, and appeared quite young for his age. Firkon remembered someone telling him that practitioners of magical arts generally aged much more slowly, and fit the pieces together.

"My name is Maxim Quintares Firkon, though I usually only go by the latter. As you said earlier, you believe to know the reason for my visit. It would be rude of me to doubt you and tell you regardless."

Volkhard smiled gently.

"How courteous of you, although I wouldn't have perceived it as such. You come to me about the giantess, don't you. I don't think an Orestian would come to me for anything else, to tell you the truth, but the fact that her arrival coincides so closely with yours is too much to be overlooked as a coincidence."

Firkon was surprised, for not even the captain of the city guard knew about the giantess, but this man did. Firkon didn't let his surprise show, however, and continued the conversation.

"That's exactly it. You're the most famous giantslayer that isn't dead or missing, and I assume there's a reason why that is. I come to ask you to slay one more giant."

Volkhard chuckled, and pulled out an armchair for Firkon.

"How surprising. Come, Legatus Firkon, come and sit. My legs tire for a seat of my own, and I'd rather die than be caught sitting while a guest stands.

Firkon obliged, and waited as the man pulled a chair over for himself. He noted the heavy coat that Volkhard wore, and wondered what warranted such apparel in a place as temperate as this.

"You want me to go and kill a giantess for you, hm? What warrants such?"

"She has devoured and crushed hundreds in her carnal lust. She is without mercy or empathy. I have witnessed her cruelty with mine own eyes, and know her to be exceedingly dangerous, even for a giant. She has evaded entire armies, though, well, she would have probably not been able to flee had said armies not been composed of peasants and cowards."

Volkhard nodded.

"So this is, on some level, personal. Well, if this giantess truly has slain hundreds in bloodthirst, as some giants have been known to do, I suppose I could venture out to kill her. Of course, it has been some time since I have embarked on such a journey, and I doubt myself of being up to the task on my own. I will slay this giantess, but only if you and your men accompany me. These are my terms. You will all carry what I say to carry, fight when I say to fight, hide when I say to hide, and die when I say to die."

Firkon was quite pleased with the results of his trip.

"I planned for no less, Brother Volkhard." he said, smiling.

"Then it is done. I will do battle, fight, and die by your side, Firkon, and upon my forebears, I swear that I will find this giantess of yours." proclaimed Volkhard. "Now that business is done, what say you we get you and your men some food? They ought to be starving by now, and I look forward to meeting with them."

"That sounds like a capital idea." replied Firkon.

~

Teagan tore up one of the tomkin banners into strips. Once she had made three, her eyes went back to the soldier in her hand. A spear had pierced his leg, and a small dart was lodged in his shoulder. The spear wound was bleeding rather profusely, and seemed to be the more dire of the two. Teagan took one of the strips of cloth in her hand and wound it tightly about the man's leg. He winced as she did this, but neither shouted nor struggled. When it was done, the wound was almost bandaged, but Teagan's fingers were far too hopelessly large to tie the thing. She looked to Sihil, who looked back inquisitively. Teagan had no idea what the tomkin word for knot was, so she would just have to demonstrate. She ripped a vine out of a nearby tree, and with some difficulty, managed to snap it in half and knot the two pieces. She pointed to the knot, and Sihil nodded.

"Nodai."

Teagan then pointed to the man's bandage, and Sihil let herself be picked up and placed next to the man, who was lying on a patch of grass.

"Is she not going to kill me?" the soldier asked, his face considerably more relieved than before.

"Honestly, I have no idea. Don't let whatever she's doing right now fool you. She's psychopathic, and normally goes out of her way to kill anyone she thinks she can… except for you and I, apparently. Keep it down, too. I don't want her to realize we're talking."

Sihil started tying the man's bandage, but purposefully slowed herself to gain more time.

"What's your name?" she inquired.

"I'm Al-Valizi. I came from Q'thuman to deal with a tribe of barbarians who had been raiding our settlements on this side of the mountain. There were thousands of them… we were just a large scouting party. We held on as long as we could, but they swamped us. Who are you?"

"I'm Sihil. I come from Orestion. I would still be there, but the giantess kidnapped me. For whatever reason, she spared me from the deaths that awaited my comrades, and here I am now."

Sihil finished tying the bandage, and looked up at Teagan. Teagan pointed to the man's shoulder, where the dart was stuck. Sihil nodded.

"Valizi, was this dart serrated?"

Al-Valizi shook his head.

"Alright. I'm not a doctor, and, well, this scares me, but I'm going to have to take it out."

Al-Valizi grimaced as he shifted his shoulder down a bit.

"I guess it has to come out sooner or later. Might as well get it over with now. I have some rudimentary medical training, so just listen to what I tell you, alright?"

Sihil nodded.

"Grab the dart as close to the head as you possibly can. If it's two pieces, make sure to get the head and not just the shaft. If it's just one, for the love of the gods, make sure it doesn't snap."

Sihil complied, grabbing the dart.

"Now, pull gently straight up. Don't twist, don't rip, don't shake it. It should slide right out. If I, uh, if I ask you to stop, ignore me. It's going to hurt, but it won't kill me if you do it right."

Sihil began gently pulling. Valizi sucked air in through his teeth, squeezing his eyes and shaking his arms. Muscles in his neck tensed as the dart slid out of the wound, covered in blood. Valizi slammed his fist into the ground as the last of the dart slid out of his wound. Sihil cast the blood covered dart away, and Valizi sighed. His shoulder still throbbed, and the small hole in it stung badly, but it felt better overall.

"Gah! That... that hurt. Thank you, though. See if you can get another strip of cloth from the giantess, alright?"

Al-Valizi tried to stave off his pain as Sihil was handed another makeshift bandage. Sihil wrapped it about his shoulder, covering the gash.

"Thank you, Sihil. I, uh, I never thought I'd see a giant and live, much less see one and be saved from death by her."

Sihil shrugged and chuckled lightly. As horrible and traumatic as her situation was, the absurdity of it all was simply amazing. Never before had a tomkin had so much influence and power over one of the giants that wasn't a slave or prisoner. When Sihil finished tying a knot on Al-Valizi's second bandage, Teagan deposited the two of them in the palm of her hand. Al-Valizi was quite uncomfortable with this, but Sihil had grown accustomed to it at this point. Valizi turned to her.

"Can she understand what we're saying? Clearly she has some basic grasp on language."

"She knows some basic words, and the Giants' language apparently isn't that different from ours. Just speak somewhat quickly and you should be quite alright."

Al-Valizi nodded and seemed content for a moment. However, it wasn't long until he started looking around at his surroundings.

"Sihil... this path leads directly to the settlement of the tribesmen. The tribesmen that we're at war with, to be exact. Can you tell her that?"

Sihil looked up to Teagan, and waved her hands. Teagan looked down at her and raised her eyebrows.

"Belliacorae. Multei belliacorae."

Teagan nodded at this, and seemed assured with what she was doing. She lifted Sihil up to her shoulder, leaving Al-Valizi in the palm of her left hand.

"Yes."

~

Teagan knew that the primitive tomkins had to be ahead, and that was exactly her intent - to reach them. She could reach them, convince them she was some sort of deity, assuming they were as primitive as they appeared, and then use them to kill the other tomkin army that was more of a threat. Once the more advanced army was slain, she could do as she wished with her crude army.

Teagan soon came into view of what appeared to be a collection of small huts and sheds, arranged in overlapping circles centered around fire pits. Tomkins, some wearing furs, some wearing discarded bits of stolen clothing, and some wearing nothing at all, went about their business. Three wooden spear wielding guards stood watch at the settlement's edge.

Teagan looked to Sihil, who seemed nervous, even more so than usual. Teagan thought for a second before listing off a string of words.

"God. Divine. Angel."

Sihil stopped Teagan at angel, and pantomimed what appeared to be swinging something. Teagan shook her head. That wasn't quite what she was looking for.

"Uhm, heavenly. Deity."

Sihil stopped her again, and this time pointed to the sky. Teagan nodded - she assumed this was the word she needed.

"Dei." Sihil said.

Teagan, armed with this newfound knowledge, strode out from her cover and into the view of the guards. They panicked, shouting and pointing their spears, rather nonthreateningly, at Teagan. She laughed and shook her head.

"Egum dei." Teagan proclaimed, in as booming of a voice as she could muster.

The guards paused for a second, but when reinforcements came in the form of 20 odd tomkins armed with slings and darts, they raised their spears once more. Teagan glowered.

"Egum dei. Negui bellai."

'I am a god, no war' it meant, but it still seemed to have no effect. Teagan bit her lip, restraining the urge to murder the entire force in front of her, when she heard the tomkin soldier she rescued call to her. Teagan brought the little soldier up to her face. She intended to kill him to show the tribe her friendly intentions, but he might have something useful to tell her. He slowly constructed a simple sentence in the tomkin language.

"Negui verbai, belliacorae diciti."

Negui was no, and verbai most likely meant word or words. Belliacorae must refer to this tomkin tribe, and diciti… diciti had to mean speak, considering how similar it was to dictate and diction.

They didn't speak this language.

Teagan held her breath, remaining calm. She put Sihil and the soldier securely on her shoulder, and had them hold on. Once they were secured, Teagan exhaled, and any shred of collectedness she had vanished.

"Gods curse you all! Stupid, useless fucks!"

The tomkins recoiled as Teagan shouted expletives, and some of them lowered their weapons. This proved to be an error, as immediately after her outburst, Teagan stomped down on them with her right foot, crushing four of them into little more than red splotches on the mud. The rest panicked, and Teagan shielded her eyes as a barrage of tiny stones and darts bounced off of her. A few darts managed to pierce her skin, but they were no worse than a large splinter, and only made Teagan more eager to stomp her foot down again, grinding another three tomkins into the dust. At this point, the force of 20 or so had swelled to at least 200, many others cautiously gathering around to observe Teagan's entry. Only now did they realize their mistake and begin to flee, but it was already too late for many of them. In another heavy stomp, Teagan decimated 6 more lives, feeling the individuals under her foot pop like berries. She lowered a massive hand and swept it into the crowd, grabbing 5 more tomkins. She grinned at them all before sliding them, one by one, in her mouth. Teagan heard screams from inside of her mouth as she swallowed one, then another, and then another, until her mouth was empty again. Teagan watched with glee as the tomkins trampled each other to escape, leaving children, older tomkins, and wounded soldiers to die in their panicked stampede. Teagan reached another hand in and grabbed 4 stragglers, 2 young girls, a boy, and a man who was limping away. She licked her lips before tossing the three children in her mouth and gulping them down all at once, feeling the tangle of their arms and legs slide down her throat. She chuckled as the wounded man screamed himself hoarse, watching those lives become nothing more than a bulge going down Teagan's throat. He struggled and kicked with his good leg, and actually managed to land a solid blow on Teagan's finger. It felt like almost nothing, but Teagan was nonetheless tired of this one - he'd be a pain to eat too - and so she simply crushed him in her grasp, her muscles tensing up in pleasure as his bones snapped and his flesh yielded.

Teagan briefly glanced to her shoulder. Sihil was silently weeping, gaze averted, while the soldier was watching everything, jaw agape. Teagan was glad he was watching. We're it not for these brutes being useless to her, this would have been his fate. Hell, it might still be.

Teagan's attention turned back to the slaughter at hand when she felt more tiny spears prick her. A few foolishly brave warriors were flinging throwing spears, rocks, and even tiny sticks at her in an attempt to ward her off. Teagan laughed as loud as she could at this, plucking the darts out of her clothes. When the barrage had subsided, the warriors realizing the futility of their attack, Teagan bent down and picked up a heavy branch, easily the size of a tree to the tomkins.

"My turn."

Teagan hurled the branch at the village with all the might she could muster. The tomkins near it were sent flying as the stick slammed into them, splintering bones and crushing skulls. The stick continued on with most of its momentum, crushing the pitiful huts of the tomkins and bulldozing anybody inside. Teagan marched forth, her footfalls turning a few unlucky tomkins into red stains, and made her way into the center of the village. There were still plenty of fleeing tomkins, and Teagan knew that they lacked the means to harm her in any way. She tossed aside her top, revealing her breasts and her flat and slightly muscular abdomen. Making sure that Sihil and the soldier kept their grip on her shoulder, Teagan lowered herself onto a group of fleeing tomkins. Her entire body contracted in pure ecstasy as she felt the houses of the tomkins under her resist her weight, kicking and pushing in a futile attempt to ward off the massive body closing down upon them. Those under Teagan's breasts were the first to perish, her bust engulfing them in a funeral shroud of soft flesh that weighed down upon them until they burst, becoming little more than red stains on Teagan's chest. The tomkins under her stomach only had a split second more before they too were crushed under the woman's weight, their feeble bodies succumbing to the crushing force pressing them deep into the ground. When Teagan stood back up, her breasts wobbled slightly, and bits of gore fell off of them and onto the ground. All that remained of the tomkin huts under her were small clusters of snapped sticks and crumbled dirt. All that remained of the tomkins themselves were bloody patches on the ground. Teagan was enjoying this immensely, and so she was greatly disappointed when she noticed that the village was all but deserted. A few stragglers remained, but Teagan was on the thrill of a high, and a few individual tomkins would do nothing for her. Teagan exhaled, the adrenal rush that provoked her subsiding, and sat down slowly, unwittingly crushing a hut and the family that was hiding within it under her butt. She felt their warm remains ever so slightly through her trousers, but it did nothing for her. The high of the slaughter was over. The hunt had concluded, and Teagan's desires had been left mostly fulfilled.

~

Al-Valizi retched, feeling the bitter acidic taste of bile in his mouth as he beheld the slaughter around him. How could she save him and call herself a friend one minute, and then murder an entire village the next? Sure, perhaps he too was at war with the savages, but the idea was simply to get them to yield and then annex them, nothing close to this wholesale slaughter.

"She... she ate fucking children! The infirm! The fucking mothers trying to save their families!" he exclaimed, his horror and disbelief giving way to despair and anger.

What could he do? She could end his life in an instant, just as she saved it. Al-Valizi was no hero, and he knew this well. He might be disgusted with the giantess, but he would nevertheless not just lay down his life to seek vengeance. There was nothing that he could do. No weapon that he had been trained to use could kill her, no ambush or clever outmaneuver could force her hand, no shield could block her blows. This giantess was a murderer, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Al-Valizi felt more powerless than he ever had before.

He looked over to Sihil. She was squeezing her eyes shut and holding on to the giantess' doublet, grasping so hard that her knuckles were all but completely white. Al-Valizi made his way over to Sihil, careful not to fall off the shoulder of the giantess lest he be caught in the maelstrom of death under her. He reached Teagan and placed a gentle hand on her back, trying to console her.

"It's alright, okay? Surely the giantess will be slain eventually. All others of her kind have fallen similarly, so how hard could it be to kill one more? I'll escape as soon as I can and summon help, alright? You're going to be okay."

Sihil shook her head.

"I care not for myself anymore. It hurts so much seeing all these innocents perish... and for what? The pleasure of a deranged giantess? Just as I start to think I see some scrap of compassion in her, she slaughters those who have done nothing to her. It hurts so much, and I can't do a thing about it. What's far worse, though, is that she spared me for whatever reason. Why me? I would have died to save the lives of any of those poor souls down there... so why did she spare me?"

Al-Valizi cast his gaze aside. He felt similarly, and the guilt of it all was tearing him apart already. This giantess saved him, then murdered hundreds of others. Even now, he felt her stamping down on the huts around them, killing anyone hiding inside.

"Sihil... where is she going? You said you've been with her for some time now. Do you know what direction she's heading?"

"She's been heading North for a while now..." Sihil responded, "why do you ask?"

Al-Valizi's eyes widened.

"Q'thuman is North of here, Sihil. The largest city in the North."

Sihil felt like vomiting as her mind pictured the potential carnage.