* * * * *
"28 Apr. 1923 (cont):
'To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Fraulein Taranga?' I asked (thereby subtly insisting on keeping things semi-formal, at least). "
"She smiled, as she replied: 'I want to save you and your comrades from yourselves.' "
"I confessed that I did not understand what she meant."
" 'There is a cursed object aboard that ship, Gustave. One that will be the death of you all if you do not leave it where it is!' "
" 'Is it some personal possession of yours, related to your imprisonment, here?' I asked."
"She shook her head, and sighed: 'Perhaps it would be easier if I showed you.' "
"Whereupon, she got to her feet and began to remove her skirt! And, she laughed as I gasped. For, instead of dropping it to her feet, as I had half-expected, she merely waved it up and down. Like a stage magician's cape. And, with similar results."
"Her legs had now conjoined into a giant fish's tail... with scales of the purest silver!"
"Laughing, again, at my open-mouthed astonishment, she leaped forward into the lagoon. Landing with enough force to shower me with water, and soak my clothes to the skin. Still laughing, she rolled over and sat up. Thereby allowing her to grab me up in both hands. Naturally, I tried to protest. But, she silenced me with a salty-tasting kiss (her lips covering my entire head and upper torso)!"
" 'I hope you are good at holding your breath, little one," she playfully remarked."
" 'W-W-What do you mean?' I asked, already half-suspecting the answer."
" 'We are going for a little swim in the ocean...and down the River of Time.' "
"Whereupon, she rolled back on to her stomach; bounched upright on to the flukes of her tail; placed me in her right hand, entirely; and then jumped once more."
"The impact with ocean surface outside the lagoon nearly drove the breath from my lungs. As did the torrent of bubbles she formed from her swift path through the depths. Then, just as I figured I could not hold my breath anymore, she rolled over on to her back a second time. Placing her right hand over her ferally-grinning mouth!"
"For a moment, I thought she was going to swallow me. But, instead, all she did was blow me upwards in a veritable geyser of bubbles. I broke the ocean's surface, gasping for breath. The next moment, however, I was sucked back under by a massive whirlpool. A whirlpool caused by Taranga inhaling water!"
"I thought that I was truly done for, this time. Yet, again, she blew me upward. Only to reverse the process a second time. And, then, repeat the whole torment a third time. Then, a fourth time. And, a fifth!"
"She topped toying with me only when she saw how nearly exhausted to death I was. Whereupon, she finally swam up to the surface, herself. There, she raised her head above the waves, so that only her eyes and the bridge of her nose were showing."
"This I saw, in her reflection in the seawater, while I inhaled and exhaled on top of her head. When my lungs had finally regained their equilibrium, she pointed something out to me."
" 'Behold, Gustave,' she said (in a 'voice' that I seemed to hear mentally, rather than physically): 'Man's inhumanity to man, in the pursuit of wealth and worldly power.' "
"What I saw was a naval battle. Between a Cantonese dragon ship, larger than any such I had ever seen before, and three smaller vessels. Specifically; two pirate dhows of the type used by the Bugis people of the Dutch East Indies. And, a slightly larger vessel of the type that the Byzantine Empire had often referred to as a dromon! Only, this one flew a banner with Japanese ideograms from its equivalent of a crow's nest. Furthermore, the bow was decorated with a figurehead that I recognized as a shachihoko. A tiger-headed sea monster, from Japanese folklore, which most mythologists regarded as ancient misidentifications of the orca, or killer whale."
"Only, this representation was capable of projecting fire from its perpetually open mouth! And, Greek fire from the looks of it. For the crew of the Cantonese dragon ship that leaped overboard, in an effort to douse the flames, tragically failed to do so."
"Then, the strangest thing, yet, occurred. The air rippled, like a wave of heat. Or, should I say 'like a film dissolve?' Because, the next thing I knew, I had a close-up view of the hand-to-hand fighting going on aboard the dragon ship! And, between two combatants, in particular."
"To my right, there was a Japanese ronin (or mercenary samurai), with long black hair...and a slightly longer katana. While to my left was his opponent. An Occidental with salt-and-pepper hair and matching beard; a basket-hilted maine-gauche (with sword-breaking ricasso); and one of those quaintly-named 'hand-and-a-half' swords (with a painted black cruciform hilt)."
"What truly caught my eye, however, was the chain mail shirt he wore. On top of it was a sleeveless white tunic...offset by a black Maltese cross."
"Just as the two began to trade blows, Taranga suddenly lifted me up off her head and threw me back in the direction of Kapu Hiva!"
" 'Beware, Gustave!' I heard her call out, just before I awoke: 'Beware the Curse of Le Bec-de-bardiche Giserne Chinois!' "
"I sat bolt upright in my bed, my sheets and under-garments drenched with sweat. At first, I did not know where I was. Then, I remembered the dream. Especially the francophonic tail-end of it!"
" 'Beware of the Chinese Bill-hooked Battleaxe?' I muttered."
tbc
Giantess World
