Bargar soon grew tired of crushing the newly-built houses of the town underneath his giant-sized steel boots. Nor did he bother chasing after the screaming crowds of men, women and children who fled before him. Mere helpless insects in his eyes, he contented himself with kicking over their homes with his feet, and occasionally lowering his feet on top of anyone who wasn’t fast enough to escape and listening to their pitiful cries as they died. Still, this wasn’t really a challenge, and he soon grew bored. He would’ve loved it if the men of the town had formed a militia and attempted to resist him. Then he would’ve enjoyed crushing them all to a pulp under his feet or smashing them with his fists. But every inhabitant in the whole town seemed to be making as quickly as they could for the safety of the castle.

“Ugh, I’m wasting my time here!” he said aloud. “They’re all hiding inside the castle now, the little fleas – no doubt cowering underneath the skirts of their overgrown princess! What do you say, Shalmat? Shall we make for the castle and announce our presence to the lady of the house? Shalmat?”

He turned around but saw no sign of the wizard on the platform behind him. Nor was he to be seen on the ground below, where he would have undoubtedly lain had he fallen off the suit of armour. Bargar was confused: the old man had been standing by his side just a few moments ago, but he’d been so caught up in the fun of destroying the town that he hadn’t noticed him disappear. He only looked around for another couple of seconds, though, before returning to his plan.

“That old idiot must’ve given me the slip – or maybe he ran away because things were getting a bit too exciting for him. Huh, who cares? Let him do whatever he wants, I’ve got everything I need right here! Now, where is that oversized little harlot? I can’t wait to get my hands on her and show her what it feels like to be smacked around a bit…or a lot!”

He laughed and put his hands on his hips, the armour still copying his movements exactly. Bargar felt quite comfortable being in control of this superweapon by now and he was confident that he could handle Valerie quite well, even if she decided to get a little feisty and fight back, which he hoped she would do. He began to walk briskly in the direction of the castle, taking a hundred feet with each step.

Unseen by the merciless bandit, Alban and his two companions had managed to sneak around behind the giant armour, keeping under cover behind what remained of the houses around them. Despite the widespread destruction of buildings, Alban was relieved to see that almost everyone had managed to flee to safety. However, here and there he saw the bodies of those few who had been too late to escape: men and women who had been trampled underneath the giant’s feet, some of them barely recognizable after being stepped on. He felt a cold rage fill him up and he wanted nothing more than to get rid of this monstrous abomination, whatever it was. All he could tell from ground level was that the giant’s whole body appeared to be nothing more than just the armour itself, with no flesh underneath, since he could see the sky behind its joints whenever it moved. But there was something up there where its head should have been: he could hear a voice, seemingly speaking to itself and occasionally laughing maniacally.

“I have to get up there, all the way up on top of the giant,” he told the two soldiers who were with him. “It would be a waste of time to try and attack the armour itself, and our arrows have no hope of striking the top accurately from ground level and hitting whatever is up there that’s in control of the thing. So, I’m going to try and climb it. Don’t try and follow me, Ansur! You two should continue to search through the town. There may still be survivors who need your help, trapped beneath the ruins of their houses.”

“But…sir…you alone, against that…that giant demon!” Ansur stuttered. “Forgve me for disobeying…but wouldn’t we stand a better chance against it if there are three of us instead of just one?”

“No…no, I don’t think so. I have no idea what we’re dealing with here, but I believe I’ll find out if I can reach whatever’s up there. And I’ll stand a better chance of succeeding if I go alone. The giant is more likely to see three men climbing up its side than one, and if he does, then we’ll be done for either way.”

Ansur sighed and looked conflicted, but after a moment’s hesitation he obeyed Alban’s orders. Taking the young soldier next to him by the arm, he wished Alban good luck and swiftly ran off into the town, looking for more villagers who were in need of aid. Alban steeled himself and snuck up behind the giant. The sheer size of the monster was overwhelming, even though he himself was married to a giantess of roughly the same size as this colossus. Had Valerie been malevolent, though, she would have made as frightening a foe as this new enemy; Alban hoped she was prepared to do whatever it took to stop its rampage.

He made his way right up to the heel of one of the metal boots of the armour, then grabbed hold of a protruding bit and hoisted himself up. Climbing all the way to the top wouldn’t be easy, he knew, but he was in as good a shape as he’d ever been and as long as the behemoth just kept on walking towards the castle, without breaking its routine, he knew he had a chance. Luckily for him, the surface of the armour was corroded and chipped over most of its outside; it was obviously very old, ancient even. So, he wasn’t lacking for handholds and footholds. All he had to do was hold on, continue climbing, not look down and not think about what might happen to him if he was discovered by whoever was in control of the armour.

At long last, just as the giant was entering the outer courtyard of the castle, Alban reached its shoulder. He was completely exhausted by the effort it took to climb up here and was in no condition for fighting – which was a pity, he thought, once he saw what was happening up here. He now realized who was controlling the giant armour. A man was standing between the armoured shoulders, a normal-sized man, and whatever movements he made the armour duplicated. Alban crouched low on top of the shoulder, still unobserved by the man, who was busy looking around for a way into the castle. After staring at the stranger for a couple of moments, he suddenly recognized who it was, and he gasped in surprise.

“No, it cannot be…you’re dead!” he exclaimed, forgetting that he should remain quiet. “Bargar! How is it possible?”

He suddenly abandoned caution and charged forward towards his old enemy, unsheathing his sword as he did so. Bargar didn’t respond in similar fashion, however. He merely lifted his arm to his shoulder and mimed the action of picking something up. Then Alban saw how foolish he’d been. He’d hoped to attack the outlaw and quickly subdue him, but he hadn’t reckoned with Bargar’s ability to control the giant suit of armour, which could move a lot faster than he could. Just as he was about to reach his quarry, Alban found himself snatched up by an enormous steel hand and left dangling high above the ground. Bargar looked at his captured foe with amusement, before in turn realizing who he was dealing with. He burst into laughter.

“Can it be…Prince Alban himself?” he cried out in glee. “Well, well, well…looks like you’ve once again stumbled right into my clutches. I could so easily kill you right now…but wait! With you in my possession, does that mean your, ahem, ‘lady love’ will come charging to your rescue, just like last time?”

“Valerie is not afraid of a lowlife like you, Bargar!” Alban yelled back, hoping and praying that she was indeed on her way to do just that. “She defeated you easily once, she’ll do it again!”

“Oh, will she? Will she really? You wretched little shit, I really should have done away with you when I had you in my power the first time! But don’t worry – once your girlfriend arrives, she can watch as I drop you to the ground and step on you…slowly…crushing you flat beneath my boot! Then it’ll be her turn…and I won’t be giving her a quick and easy death either!”

“You’ll be the only one who dies today, Bargar, you bastard!” Alban yelled. “You’ll be sorry you came back here!”

“Is that the best you can come up with?” Bargar laughed again. “Ah, but you’re already too late, ‘Your Highness’. I have already begun reducing your little town to dust! After I take care of you and your inhuman whore, all of your people and your entire kingdom, pitiful as it is, will belong to me! I will found my new empire here, where the giants once stood, and I will be more powerful and more feared than they ever were! Shalmat…wherever the hell he is, the old fool…can have his bits and baubles from your cellar, and I will have everything else!”

“Aren’t you ever going to stop talking?” a defiant voice announced in front of them. Bargar stopped paying attention to the man he held in his grasp and looked ahead, only to see an extraordinary sight. Princess Valerie stood before him – but she looked nothing like the scared, helpless girl he’d been expecting to see. Wearing a suit of armour nearly identical to the one he was controlling (though it appeared to be in a much better condition) and brandishing a sword even bigger than the one he himself had, she stared directly at him with a look that showed she meant business. Standing nearly as tall as his own armour did, her fierce appearance actually made Bargar gulp in shock. But he quickly recovered his bravado when he realized that he held her beloved husband in his hands and could end Alban’s life in an instant.

“Stay…stay where you are!” he shouted, and was dismayed to realize that his voice didn’t sound nearly as loud and commanding as hers had. “Take one step closer, Princess, and your little pet princeling will find out what a bug feels like when it gets stepped on!”

“And then what, Bargar?” Valerie shouted back. She didn’t dare show it, but she was scared to death that the bandit would really carry out his threat against Alban’s life. But she knew that showing any trace of fear or weakness was exactly what her enemy wanted, and that she had to make him believe that she was the one in control.

“What happens after you kill him?” she continued. “Do you think I’ll just lie down and weep and let you kill me as well? I will fight with every ounce of my strength to protect my husband, my people and my land, and if you so much as harm one more person, whoever it may be, you can be assured that you will share their fate!”

“Really? And who will stop me, hmm? You? You’re just a child – a female child at that! What do you know about combat? About facing an opponent who’s infinitely more skilled than you’ll ever be? Nothing! I can take you on with one hand tied behind my back!”

“Then stop talking, you little creep, and do it! Fight me like the man you claim to be! If I’m such a pushover, then surely you can take care of me first before you hurt anyone else.”

Bargar thought for a moment, but in the end the thought of wanting to kill Valerie right here and right now was much too tempting.

“All right, you big bitch!” he snarled. “We’ll do it your way! Your little pet can stay and watch as I make you scream in pain, then I’ll do him afterwards!”

He bent down and dropped his captive on the ground from a low height. But before Alban had a chance to flee for cover, the colossal boot of Bargar’s armour came swinging towards him, striking him full-on. Valerie watched in horror as Alban was sent flying across the courtyard, before hitting a stone wall and falling in a heap on the ground. He didn’t get up, but just lay motionless where he fell. She took a step towards him to see if he was still alive, but at once decided against it. If she took her attention off Bargar for even a few seconds, the fiend would come charging at her. So, she turned back to her enemy, forced back the tears behind her eyes with all of her willpower, and lifted her sword high.

“You’ll be sorry you did that, Bargar,” she said quietly. “This time, I’ll make sure you stay down.”

Bargar simply laughed at her and swung his sword idly by his side. He didn’t for one moment think she stood any chance against his superior strength and skill. As long as he could prevent her blade from reaching anywhere near the platform on which he stood, something he felt confident he could achieve, he’d be safe.

“Oh, this will be fun,” he thought to himself. “It’s about time I had some fun for a change!”