I lay on the ground, recovering from my abusive sister's tantrum. I knew she would blame me as soon as I found out I was in the same village as her partner. The truth is, it wouldn't have made a difference. I wouldn't have fought there anyway.
My brother and I didn't fight anymore. We had both seen and dealt our fair share of death and decided we had had enough. For us, keeping our heads down, and our identities a secret was our everyday.
I ate some of the meat that was still on the grill and tended to the fire, keeping it stoked even in the downpour. I could feel my body begin to recover from the beating just as the rain finally stopped some time later.
Not long after, Abigail emerged from her tent. She seemed more calm now, and sat down on the log beside me.
"Come here." Was all she said to me, pointing to the gap between her legs.
I knew what she wanted and begrudgingly sat down in front of her. She produced a knife and began to trim my hair. Long strands fell to the ground until my hair was as short as it had been in years.
"I want you to bed early. You have a long journey ahead of you tomorrow." She told me, and it didn't sound like it was negotiable.
"Abby, I need to find Jacob! I don't have time to handle your petty little errands." I argued.
"Well this mission will be perfect for you! I want you to investigate a village 50 miles from here where people have reportedly gone missing and never returned. Jacob might be there."
"Are you referring to Ellenworth? People have been going missing there for the last 20 years. Everyone in the area knows better than to venture there. There is zero possibility that Jacob would be there. That and the time line doesn't match your "Three daughters" arrival. It's a fool's errand." I said sternly, hoping Abigail would believe me and change her mind.
It didn't work.
"None the less, you are going. We haven't any clues as to the whereabouts of the youngest sister, Juliette. Any information I can gather to fill in the picture and condition of this countryside will help." She replied, as she finished cutting my hair and moved to shaving my face.
I didn't argue further. My sister was as stubborn as they came. She also seemed to get satisfaction out of bossing myself and our younger brother around. It was something we were just used to. Besides. . . I needed time to figure out how I was going to lift the tracking prayer that was currently glowing in my chest.
20 minutes later, Abigail finished with me and released me. We both just stared into the fire for a while, neither of us feeling the need to say anything. Out of habit, I reached into my cloak and retrieved the liquor that was stashed there. I just about had it to my lips when. . .
"What do you think you're doing?" She asked, an angry, disgusted look on her face.
I just looked her off, before taking a defiant swig.
Not even a second later, the glass bottle was shattered in my hand, as Abigail had thrown the shaving knife threw it.
"You are done drinking! Nevermind your inability to help anyone in that village, and threatening to kill a man and his family earlier! Your senses are as slow as they have ever been! Your connection to the gods is weak! You wouldn't last 5 minutes with an average commoner giant, let alone a soldier or heaven forbid, one of the three daughters!"
Honestly, everything she said went in one ear and out the other. I had my emergency bottle still in my cloak and I would attend to once I retreated to my tent. As long as I wasn't drunk in the morning, Abigail would be none the wiser.
I said nothing to acknowledge her, and stood, before picking up my sword and walking to the tent.
"Goodnight sister." I said, before disappearing inside the tent.
Morning came and went. After agreeing upon my return in a maximum of 7 days time I set off for Ellenworth. It really was somewhere I didn't want to be. It was infamous for travelers never returning from there. Nobody knew why. Infiltrating the city would be easy enough, but staying hidden would be a problem.
I promised my sister that I would only get what information I could, and not cause any trouble. Giant slayers had become masters of staying under the radar after the call to the capital so it was just operation as usual for me.
Honestly I didn't know what I was walking into. The fact that nobody ever returned from the city was a little unsettling, but I wasn't too worried about it. I had tangled with some of the biggest monster's and lived to tell about it.
Not as surprising as before, the road that led to Ellenworth was completely deserted. It would make for an added challenge to sneak into the city. Luckily, the city was surrounded by forest, which meant I would have some cover to slip in unnoticed.
It had been longer than 20 years since I had been to the village. The rumors didn't keep me away, but the fact that it was one of furthest most cities from the capital meant that it was an optimal hiding spot for every degenerate, and outlaw. Not ideal when you are trying not to fight or draw your blade.
As I neared the village, i noticed 2 things. One, the city had grown. . . . A lot. It looked on par with any of the biggest cities in the kingdom. I had been gone a long time, but cities didn't just grown to be this big naturally.
2nd, was the wall. A massive 15 foot stone wall had been erected around the entire city. Only one way in or out.
For humans anyway.
Climbing the wall wouldn't be an issue. It was the watch towers that had me concerned. It was odd to say the least, but it did shine some light on why nobody ever returned. . . Or should I say "escaped". The place looked like a giant prison.
I merely observed for the first hour or two, staying out of view in the tree branches above the wall. At first glance, it appeared to be a city like any other, but the more I studied, the more I began to understand the inner workings of it.
The people weren't. . . . Interacting naturally with each other. Their actions were almost mechanical in nature. As if something was driving them. Nobody was just "In the streets". Everyone was doing some sort of job, which was rare no matter what village you visited. There were always some lazy bystanders just loitering in the street.
But not here. The guards made sure of it.
The guards. .
That was another oddity.
Every group of workers had one or two overseers. No one was allowed to stop working for more than a moment, before the guards punished them as of their own lives depended on it. The guard towers, which were sprinkled along the wall ever 500 feet or so helped them keep watch.
The fact that nobody has ever returned from this place in 20 years spoke volumes o it's security. And now. . . I was about to enter willingly.
The last design feature I noticed was a massive building in the direct center of town. It looked less new than the wall, but still newer than any of the surrounding buildings and huts. . .
Curious.
I finally decided I had seen enough to safely enter the city, and when I was sure that the people in the guard towers were occupied, I lept to the top of the wall and then down to the ground below.
Glancing around to make sure nobody had seen me, I made my way down a narrow alley between two very long 1 story buildings. I hid in the shadows as I crept toward the center of town. I figured the best place to start was the completely suspicious giant building.
As I moved cautiously, groups of workers combed the streets doing various jobs. With precision timing and the help of the incredible speed that slayers possess, I was able to get within two blocks of the giant building in the center. The problem was, by this stage the population was so dense that there was no way I could sneak through unnoticed.
Another item of note was the population. More diverse than I had ever seen. Usually everyone in a village reflected the part of the kingdom they were in, but here. . . . People from the desert region, the sea ports, the frozen North mountains, all intertwined and seemingly forced into-
"Are you new to Ellenworth, mister?" Came a voice above me.
I was shaken from my inner dialogue to see a young girl sitting on the edge of the rooftop swinging her feet and looking down at me with curiosity on her face.
I said nothing, deciding it was best to let her take the lead and talk my way through it accordingly.
"Cuz' if you are, I can take you to get your assignment! That's worth 3 whole credits!" She said excitedly, holding up 3 fingers.
"I would love to, but I'm actually just looking for a hotel right now." I said politely, as if I had no idea what was going on there.
"What's a "hotel"? She asked, confused.
"It's a place where you can pay to sleep for the night. ." I said, a little surprised that she didn't know that.
"You don't have to pay, silly! Everyone just stays in the barracks with their work group! It's super fun! All my friends are there! Hey, maybe if we ask Emelia, she will assign you to my work group and I can show you around!" The girl exclaimed, standing up.
"Emelia?" I questioned, knowing I was on the right track to really learning something.
"Yeah! She is leader of the city! She gives everyone their jobs and keeps the city safe from bandits and villains!"
"That sounds pretty nice of her! Just what does this Emelia look like?"
"Umm. . " The girl said, deep in thought. "She has. . Twirly dark brown hair. . . And brown eyes. . She always wears really nice clothes. . . And long brown boots!" The girl rattled off.
". . . . Nothing else?" I asked, looking for the most obvious characteristic.
She thought for a moment. .
"Nope! That's it! I think if we hurry we can meet her today! C'mon, I'll take you!" She motioned for me to follow her.
"I. . .uhh, have some other things I need to do first. Why don't I come find you tomorrow and we can go meet her, huh?" I said in a soft voice, the way a parent talks to their child.
To my surprise, her face shown inner struggle. Like she was deciding what to do. Then she spoke.
"The rules are : If anyone who is new refuses to go to Emelia, I'm supposed to call the guards." She recited from memory.
Before I could comprehend what she was saying and tell her not to, she was already screaming her head off for the guards.
A split second later I heard the familiar sound of running footsteps on cobble stone, and a moment later I was surrounded on both sides of the alley by guards.
They wore only the lightest of armor, but their weapons all looked to be matching and of the highest quality. When you're a slayer, you know that you never REALLY have to do as humans command. Truth be told, in my prime I could wipe out half a village with one swing of my sword. But. . . I learned that I often gained access to places and knowledge I wouldn't have otherwise found, by letting them have control sometimes.
And so I went through the routine. Letting them close in on me. They put me in cuffs and the lead guard awarded the girl a voucher for 2 rations. Next I was dragged down into the lowest level of a building across the street from the giant one in the center.
On this level was, just as I suspected. . . A jail. There were what looked to be various workers locked down there, in various conditions of health. The whole place smelled of sickness and misery.
The guards led me to the last cell on the right. There was another man, who appeared to be sleeping, leaning up against the wall in there already. His face and head were covered by his cloak and I didn't get a good look at him. They rudely shoved me in, before locking the door and leaving.
I made myself comfortable, leaning against the adjacent wall to the man and closed my eyes as well. There was no telling how long I would have to be there, but the city only had a week for me to find out it's secrets before big sis would supposedly come to tear it apart looking for me.
I didn't have to wait long. The man in the cell with me decided to run his mouth almost immediately.
"Well what do we have here? A fresh faced baby boy come to join Emelia's army!" He said, his voice greasy sounding and dripping with sarcasm. I didn't know a thing about him but he had the vibe of someone who belonged right where he was.
I decided to see what he knew.
"Emelia's army?" I asked, feigning confusion.
"Yessir! That's just a little name we workers like to call ourselves!" He exclaimed proudly.
"And just who is "Emelia"?
He chuckled, and cleared his throat like he had something important to say.
"Oh my! You're in for a real treat when you meet Emelia! She is our lovely, 100 foot tall hostess for the past 20 years.
There it was. The admission that this Emelia character, was indeed a giantess. . . I didn't know what I intended to do with that information yet, but it was a start.
"100 feet tall?" I asked, conveying disbelief.
"Yessir. 100 feet tall. . . Well, 90 feet. . But don't let her hear you say that. Heavier than anything you can imagine." The man said, describing this woman like some type of mythical beast.
"So when you said "Emelia's army". . . What do you mean by that?"
The man was silent for a moment before he spoke.
"It's only logical I guess. . . Why be an ordinary housewife in the land of the giants, when you can be a queen amongst humans? And that is exactly what Emelia did. She showed up out of the blue one day, and that was the end of it!" He said, his voice bitter.
"So what, you're slaves now? All of you?" I probed.
"Yeah. . . All of us." He answered, his voice trailing off as he no doubt thought back to his days of freedom.
"You guys didn't try to fight her?" I questioned, adding some passion to my voice to gauge the state of morale in this jail.
That question was met with laughter from every soul in there.
"You don't FIGHT a giant, kid. . . You hide out until they lose interest, then count your losses." He said, solemnly.
"But there are so many of you! Surely you have the numbers!" I tried again, just trying to see what spark could be lit for the sake of it.
"It's been tried!" He shouted harshly, his anger boiling up. "You can only see your friends and family crushed so many times before you start to question how bad you really have it. . "
I let the silence be for a second, before I spoke again.
"Well. . . . Did you try to contact a giant slayer?" I asked, innocently.
This earned me even harder laughter.
"You have a lot to learn about this place kid! Primarily. . . There is no calling for help. Why? Because nobody, nor information is allowed to escape. Emelia makes sure of that! All the outside world knows is that you come here, you don't come back. Even the guards are just slaves who she is threatening. Do what she says at any cost, and she won't see fit to pay your happy little home a visit."
That made perfect sense. The guards were forced to abuse the general population in order to keep their own loved ones safe.
"Even if we could ask for help. . . You think those abominations would lift a finger to help us? Yeah right! They are all too busy in the capital having tea parties with the king! Plus, all the slayers that did refuse to go to the capital have either been rounded up and executed or crushed by giants by now. No. . . Unfortunately, we are stuck in this little predicament until the lovely Madam Emelia finally dies naturally. And what a glorious day that will be!" The man ranted, and it was met with cheers from the other prisoners.
"Don't worry though, kid. You get used to it here. . .
Giantess World
