As we ran down the trunk of the massive tree dodging arrows from the guards, it became apparent how bad of condition my body was in. I was pretty much left behind and was the last one to reach the fight.
Abigail faced off with the first guard, a tall, slender man with a full beard sticking out from under his helmet.
He thrust at her with his spear but she easily blocked the tip with her sword, though it pushed her back a ways. She didn't really need my help, but I took advantage of the opening in his defense. I sprinted over, and up his spear. Using the elevation, I jumped and had punched a hole in the man's throat with my sword before he even knew what hit him.
He crashed to the ground and I pulled my sword, uncorking a fountain of blood from the hole. I looked back but my sister was already off fighting someone else. Toward the entrance, the other 3 were struggling with 3 guards. I didn't have time to watch, as I needed to deflect an arrow, but I did notice that Juliette was just standing, relaxed as she watched her guards fight us.
I turned back in time to see Abby send a slash that crashed into a shield. The man lunged forward with it, aiming to crush her into the ground. Abby saw the attack coming from a mile away and jumped up, running up the face of the shield. She covered the distance in two strides and used the momentum to land a brutal kick to the side of the man's face. His face was smashed to the side, and his body followed, plowing into the dirt.
It was then, that I noticed the mine workers for the first time. I often thought about how strange battles with slayers must have looked to other giants. From the human perspective, everyone can see the giant, plain as day. But from the other side, it must just look like your friends swinging weapons and fighting the air before falling down with gashes and limbs missing.
Inner monologue aside, they were watching all of this happen with a look of jealousy. Like they should be the ones who dispatch of Juliette and her crew. That said. . . .the Choice to release them was obvious.
In the heat of battle, I locked eyes with my sister and she read my mind. We sprinted away from the guards and made it to the first group of slaves. My sister, who was less protective of her sword, jammed it into the lock on the first prisoners shackle and with a twist, it popped open.
It only took a second for the guards to realize what we were doing before they came running. She had managed to free two more, before it was time to fight. The freed prisoners set to work releasing the others and by the time we had dealt with the first guard, the whole group of 8 was free.
We continued to fight, and dispatched the other guard as the prisoners freed the next of the remaining two groups. My mind crossed to helping the groups of humans, but the reality of the situation was that we were way too far into giant country for them to have any chance at escaping or really surviving at all on their own. I only hoped that whoever survived this battle didn't take out their frustrations on them.
It was at this point, that I heard one of the prisoners mention Juliette in a panicked voice and sure enough she was stomping toward us and. . . . She looked pissed.
The braver of the slaves continued freeing the others, and had worked through the second group, while the cowards took the opportunity to run, fleeing in any direction they could. Some make a break for the tree line, though it was so thick that movement would be next to impossible. Still others went for weapons that were on the other side of the mine in wooden crates waiting for Leonara.
The problem was, even with all the slaves freed, there wasn't much they could do against a woman with a sword nearly as tall as they were. One swing and she could likely cut 3 or 4 of them in half. For that reason, my sister decided to take her on to buy them time.
As Juliette approached, my sister closed her eyes and released one of the biggest attacks I had ever seen her use. The energy burned the air as it streaked toward Juliette. There was no time for grace or elegance now, and all Juliette could do was guard, jamming the tip of her sword into the ground to anchor it and crouching behind it.
My sister followed up, running the face of Juliette's blade before jumping high and plunging down for a killing blow to the head, but Juliette reacted too fast and dodged, rolling backward and onto her feet. Just as Abigail hit the ground, she countered with a high stomp that seemed to shake the whole camp.
In my mind, I knew that a brutal attack would be more than enough to kill even my sister if it connected. I only prayed that she was alright, and to my relief, when the dust cleared, she was standing about 30 feet back unscathed.
By this time, the men and women who had gone for weapons had returned, and now faced off with Juliette. I couldn't help but notice how small and malnourished they looked when compared to her. A man to her right took an overhead swing with a sword, but even though he was wide open to a counter attack, she only side stepped, and punched him in the face when his guard was down. He stumbled back and she raised her sword.
I thought she was going to behead him with a quick, horizontal cut, but at the last second of her swing, she turned the blade broad and just smacked the man in the side of the head with it. Even sparing his life though, the man was far from ok as he was smashed several feet away and landed unconscious in the dirt, his face bloody.
Next, a short, young man who didn't even look to be out of his teens attacked with a small dagger. Truthfully, the size difference between their blades was probably the difference in their strength as well. He was about eye level with her bust and his short reach offered no advantage as he slashed wildly at her. With extraordinary skill, she expertly dodged and danced around him, making sure that all he struck was air, before in one quick move, her hand shot out and grabbed him by the throat.
He immediately dropped the dagger as he was simultaneously choked and lifted off the ground as Juliette effortlessly held him higher than face to face then turned to face the other slaves.
"Do you lot honestly think you can start a rebellion here?" She asked, her tone cold and emotionless. "The truth is, all the guards are really only here to load weapons and tell me if any of you decide to act foolish. . . Just like you are right now."
By now, the boys face was turning blue and Juliette tossed him to the ground at his comrades feet before continuing.
"None of you stand a chance, not even all together. That's probably the reason why you got captured and brought here in the first place, isn't it? I strongly suggest that you stop this nonsense and go back to work. You can rest easy knowing that I won't kill you, as easy as that would be for me, but I won't hesitate to beat every last one of you to within an inch of your life." She threatened, and for the most part it worked as I heard the clang of a few swords on the rocky mine floor.
It seemed that our little distraction ended up being just that, but to their credit, we were just about gone by the time Juliette realized we weren't there anymore. The other 3 had finished off the guards and we had reconvened with them, before making a break for it. By this point, everyone was completely exhausted and we moved much slower than when we began. We were just about 150 yards to the treeline below the outskirts of the mine, when up the road, a giant black horse came galloping in with a female rider.
From the reaction of the trio, I knew the rider was definitely Leonara.
She stopped between us and the trees and the dismounted in front of us, cutting off our escape. She purposely landed heavily with both feet and the force knocked us backward and off our feet in a cloud of dust.
A smug laugh came from above us as she witnessed our pitiful state.
As the dust cleared, I got my first real look at her. For the 2nd time in less than a week, my perception of the limit of size was shattered. The extra 15 feet that she had on Juliette may as well have been a mile from where I was now. Her body was more slender than Juliette with less curves and longer legs. Her face was much the same as her sister's but her hair was infinitely darker and seemed longer, maybe because it was perfectly straight. The blackest I had ever seen and it covered her left eye. Her right eye was slightly darker than Juliette's, with a dark ring around the iris. I had to admit that Her gaze made me uncomfortable. Her outfit also matched Juliette's for the most part, except for it was entirely black as well. Instead of sandals, she had on ankle high boots with the trademark bone anklets like the one the young giant girl had been wearing and above them, black leather leggings.
She was grinning an unsettling grin as she bent at the waist and looked us over. There was a certain madness in her eye.
"So. . . You must be the ones responsible for the bodies I found up the road." She said, her voice quiet and sinister somehow. "And what a faction you are! 4 royal slayers and. . . " She paused, looking me over with that giant, intense blue eye. "An outcast, to say the least! A slayer definitely but. . . A fugitive from the crown maybe?" She thought aloud, raising an eyebrow. "Interesting indeed." She finished, before standing up again.
By this time, we were all back on our feet, blades drawn, but it was obvious we were worse for wear. Everyone was breathing heavy and the older man was struggling to keep his sword up. Leonara just folded her arms and looked down on us, not even bothering to touch the sword at her side.
"You shut your mouth, you monster!" Thomas shouted pointing a shaky finger at her.
"Do I. . Know you?" Leonara asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Less than two weeks ago. . . GLEMSHIRE!" He stated loudly.
It looked like Leonara was thinking for a moment before her eye lit up.
"Oh yeah! My ambush at Glemshire!" She exclaimed, as if she was greeting an old acquaintance. "I had honestly forgot about that!"
"What do you mean. . YOUR ambush?" Jag demanded, speaking up.
"Ha! You fools honestly thought YOU were ambushing ME? NO! How could any pathetic little human possibly know where I was going to go next, huh?. . . That conveniently talkative man in the bar? He was working for me! All I had to do was wait. I was actually hoping for more of you guys! Oh well!"
I looked over and all 4 of my comrades faces were pale. I guess this information was too much for them to process.
"You KILLED 7 of our friends! Is that not enough for you?! Olivia barked, utter shock on her face.
"Don't get me wrong, girl! It was a fair warm up, but so far you slayers really haven't lived up to the legend my father and the other elders would have us believe!"
"I've. . I've heard enough!" Thomas panted.
In spite of his exhaustion, Thomas stepped forward, facing her down. She only smirked, like the royal brat she was. He slowly raised his sword, said his prayer and swung. . .
The severe lack of energy resulted in an attack no taller than her head alone and she only moved her face slightly to the left to avoid the slow moving slash. She let out a genuine laugh, as if his pathetic attempt was the cutest thing she had ever seen.
But her joy in his failure was short lived, as she lifted her ankle boot and stomped it down on him. As her foot crashed down, my sister looked away. I didn't know her to be squeamish, but seeing a personal friend die might have been too much for her right now.
I, on the other hand continued to watch and was momentarily relieved to see that he had caught her foot and was (at least for the moment) holding her at bay. Leonara's face showed first surprise, then a bit of struggle as she tried to get her foot to the ground.
Beneath her foot, Thomas shook in his struggle, but then suddenly straightened up, successfully stopping her in her tracks. I honestly bought it for a moment, until I looked up and saw her face.
Before I could intervene, the struggled instantly melted into that horrific grin. A second later, Thomas was gone in a puff of dust with all the familiar sounds of a body being crushed under the foot of some uncaring blood whore. Her mouth emitted a sadistic laugh as she casually stepped toward us as if Thomas had just happened to be where her foot had landed. As she stepped off og him, only a crumpled pile of dirty, blood-soaked, green and silver cloak amd gore remained squashed in her boot print and every one of use moved back, probably unconsciously.
"Do you think he thought that he could hold honestly me back?" She asked, giggling. "What kind of royalty would I be if I couldn't crush commoners in a single step?"
Nobody replied, as we all stood in silence for our fallen comrade.
"You should see the look on your faces right now! They say slayers don't know fear, but you two. . . It looks as though you can barely even stand right now!" She commented, pointing at Jag and Myra. "Is this really all you little leeches have? Is this the extent of your strength once you've used up the gods?" She asked, her voice raising, and she seemed maybe not surprised, but disappointed.
"I'll. . . . I'll show you what I've got! For all my brothers and sisters you've killed!" Jag screamed before weakly throwing a slash. The energy was practically invisible and whatever amount did reach her, Leonara stopped with just her palm as the energy dissipated at her touch.
Jag's eyes got wide, both at his lack of remaining power and her ability to just bluntly stop his attack. Understandable fear was exchanged for terror and he did the only logical thing. . . He turned and ran. . .
Well. . . He tried to.
As if she was waiting for it, Leo bent at the waist and snatched Jag up by his cloak, dangling him at chest level. She brought her other hand in as a claw, poised to grab him. Her intense stare and slight grin led me to believe that she got genuine pleasure from this cruelty.
He swumg sword wildly, just trying to fend off her fingers, but she timed it perfectly and her hand shot out, grabbing him in her fist and knocking his sword out of his hand. It fell to the ground, useless. Without hesitation, she placed the tip of her boot on it and ground it into the dirt. Normal human steel would have either disintegrated or mangled beyond recognition but still Jag's blade was bent out of shape and most likely dull now.
With her foot resting on it, she regarded the tiny man with only his head sticking out from her fist. It was more than large enough to fit his entire body, and likely strong enough to crush coal into diamond if she wanted it so.
"Wow! That truly was a splendid display of ability!" She said, sarcastic joy in her voice. "But it appears that you lot honestly don't understand what is happening here, do you?" She asked, and she punctuated her question with a squeeze of her fist. Inside it, Jag groaned and something made a popping sound.
"See. . . You slayers go around fighting battles and using prayers and. . . As long as things are peaceful for the most part, a single slayers tap to the gods can be limitless. But. . . What if ten slayers need power. . Or 20. . . What if 1000 slayers need constant power? She asked, her voice becoming intense.
"The gods aren't some bottomless well! Even their power has limits. So, let's say a certain giant keeps a large amount of slayers occupied and fighting nearly everyday. . .praying. Suddenly there isn't as much power to go around." She finished, grinning wildly.
It was all beginning to make sense now.
Florence.
Florence was more or less a distraction. Or. . .the workhorse maybe? She was fighting the most densely populated fights, and forcing slayers to use up all the power of the gods, causing the rest of us to run short and be more easily exterminated.
"And now here you are! Miles from home and out of juice!" She said, grinning in his face and giving him another squeeze, earning another crunch as he groaned in pain.
Without a word, she switched up her grip so that his whole torso was exposed. His chest looked visibly crushed and he didn't seem long for this world. He didn't even struggle as she took his left arm between her fingers.
Before we could act, his arm gave a stomach churning snap as she broke it. Jag screamed at the top of his lungs as his arm fell limply to his side.
"I wonder. . . Will your friends even try to help you if they don't have their little prayers?" Leonara asked Jag, looking between him and us with a smirk.
This got Olivia's attention, and she made a move. Instead of wasting her energy with a prayer, she reared back and threw her sword as hard as she could end over end. It cut through the air with a whistle but Leonara was a bit too fast and she moved out of the way and watched it fly by
She let out a chuckle and turned back to Olivia.
"Nice try." Was all she said.
Olivia collapsed to her knees in dispair. Leonara turned her attention back to the broken slayer in her hand.
Her pupils seemed to get bigger as her thumb found it's way to the side of his head. She was loving this, and snapping his neck would be the ultimate high.
I knew Jag wouldn't take much more, and as the only one who seemed to have still have enough energy to fight back, it was now or never. Closing my eyes, I invited the goddess in. This time, there was very little burn, as my body was in much better condition now, all things considered.
Working with her, I released massive burst that I purposely aimed low and got more than the desired effect. The attack tore into the ground, kicking up a colossal cloud of dirt and dust on it's way to it's target and this time. . . There was no just shrugging it off.
As the attack closed in, the grin disappeared from Leo's face and her eyes got wide. At the last possible second, she was forced to drop Jag and draw her sword. Unfortunately, she was able to block the attack, though it actually managed to knock her back a few steps.
Either way, we had our opening.
Under the cover of dust, in one tandem action, Olivia caught Jag, my sister grabbed both Thomas' badge of honor and Jag's sword and we all 3 sprinted the rest of the way to the trees where we disappeared from view.
As the dust settled, I looked up through the branches and saw Leonara glaring down at us as we made our descent into the thick foliage. Noticably, she had blood trickling down from somewhere her hair covered her face. At this point, there was nothing more she could do. Though the trees were to her scale, the leaves and branches were too thick and dense for her or any giant to even attempt to follow. In one last show of her displeasure, Leo kicked a foot full of coarse mine sand down into the trees on top of us before turning and thundering away.
We slowly made our way to where Thomas had stashed the wagon. With Jag loaded in the back, and me driving, we started for home at full speed. The troublesome part, was that we were exposed in the middle of the morning in giant country. The path wasn't too highly traveled, but we had a verbal agreement that we would kill anyone who tried to stop us, no questions asked.
[Back at the mine]
This was a disaster.
Leonara knew it.
Juliette knew it.
In the course of about 13 minutes, half of the guards had been killed, and half of the slaves had escaped now, some of them taking the brand new weapons with them.
The sisters began their duty of helping the wounded, after the slaves who were too afraid to run were locked up again. They didn't bother to chase the others. They wouldn't get far. The mine was in a remote part of the eastern mountains. There wasn't any civilization for miles, and even so. . . They were all clearly branded with the mark of the crown.
Any village they came across would immediately apprehend them and hold them until a representative arrived to collect them.
"I can't believe this happeded!" Juliette fumed through tears as she cleaned a stomach wound on one of the guards. "Things were going so well, too!"
"Calm down! Nothing has changed. If anything, this can work to our advantage." Leo said, as she moved from wrapping a man's arm with bandage, to bringing him water from a barrel outside the tent.
"How do you mean? There are 8 guards dead! When Florence finds out that we couldn't handle 5 slayers, even with all of the guards. . . . " Juliette trailed off, not wanting to think about the consequences their sister might bring for.
"You were ambushed Julie! This was an assassination attempt and a coordinated attack on behalf of the human king! An act of war if I have ever seen one! Once the word gets out that they tried to kill two of the princesses. . . There won't be enough room in the army for everyone who enlists!" Leo said, enthusiastically.
"Just leave it to me, baby sister. I will take the weapons to the capital as planned. I think it's time we start on phase 2 of the plan anyway. Why don't you start with that little town where you met that slayer, hmm?"
An old smile crept across Juliette's face. It had been so long since she had really let loose on anyone. It would feel great to get back into the swing of it.
"But. . . Before you do that. . . You should pay a visit to that village down the mountain."
"For what?" Juliette asked as she finished wrapping the man's stomach and helped him lay down on a cot.
"Find out exactly who our little slayer friend was. I'm 100% sure he has a bounty. I want you to. . . Raise it. . . A little bit. Get people interested in him and his subsequent capture and return to the royal family. . . . ALIVE." Leo explained, her grin returning for the first time since that slayer had attacked her.
Giantess World
