Adelpha gratefully accepted the steaming bowl from the Orestian, savouring the honeyed scent that wafted from its contents. Adelpha, glancing to her side, saw that Phyllida seemed equally pleased, the witch's expression now happier than it had been in days. Adelpha returned her gaze to her hosts, examining each one. The young man who had answered the door and given them honeyed porridge, Laeron, was dressed simply, hair neatly combed back, a gentle expression on his tanned face. The man next to him, Firkon, was older, his countenance stern and his face rigid, as if hewn from stone. Streaks of grey ran through his black hair, and Adelpha knew almost immediately that he was most likely in charge. The third man, his name still unbeknownst to the two travellers, was harder for Adelpha to read. His face was free of wrinkles or scars, clean-shaven, and well-defined, but the cloudiness of his eyes and the heaviness of his brow seemed to betray a greater age and wisdom. He wore a heavy grey coat, like that worn by the clergy. All three were seated around a table, facing Adelpha and Phyllida. Firkon, leaning forwards, cast a stern gaze upon Adelpha.

"So, the giantess attacked your village. I am truly sorry, for I have seen what she can do. Firstly, can you tell me roughly where your village is located? If we're able to chart where the giantess has been, it'll be easier for us to predict where she is, and perhaps more importantly, where she will go. Knowledge of the enemy is key to secure victory over them."

Adelpha nodded, replying, "Our town is less than half a day's travel to the south of Nystagmenos Lake, just beyond that dreary, dead forest. I think the giantess continued on towards the lake itself after she left our village. She may still be there even now, given that the lake is a dead end, hemmed in on all sides by impassable mountains."

"Impassable for us," corrected the third man, raking his sharp gaze over Adelpha, "but far easier to transverse for the giants. Firkon has been tracking this giantess for a long time, following her as far back as Telaphonis. She wouldn't have travelled this far without a destination in mind, meaning that there's a good chance she intends to progress further in the same direction. Now, I'm not cartographer, but I've seen enough maps to know that if she makes it to the leeward side of those mountains, she'll end up in the Q'thumani desert. It would be ideal to strike in this terrain, which avails her neither enough food and water nor any cover to remain hidden behind."

Adelpha raised a hand, drawing attention back to her.

"There's something else I, or, well, Phyllida, would like to tell you. She's deaf, so I often speak for her. Anyhow, when the giantess struck, many more would have died were it not for Phyllida... she is a witch. Not a practitioner of any dark arts or such, but a simple arcanist, a sage who dabbles only lightly in the magical. She drove away the giantess with a burst of arcane energy, but when we conversed later that night, she told me that something was off. The amount of energy she struck the giantess with should have stunned or incapacitated her for at least some time, but the giantess seemed to be able to shrug it off as if it was little more than a sting. Phyllida tells me that this may be a sign of magical attunement on the part of the giantess, that she perhaps is a sorceress herself."

"Worrying news indeed," began the third man, clearly troubled, "this is most troublesome. Phyllida is most likely correct in her guess. I know it to be true that some individuals, rare though they are, are born with an attachment to the arcane in their very blood. They exhibit exemplary resistance to many of the arcane arts because of this special nature. It's a well-documented phenomenon, and from what you tell me, there's a good chance that's the case. If that isn't the cause of her resistance, and she was using warding runes or other protective arcana instead, I still think that would be equally problematic for obvious reasons. Well, thank you kindly for coming all this way, Adelpha. Why don't you stay the night, so that I may see to it that you are suitably rewarded for your efforts on the morrow? These roads are dangerous at night, and there are quite a few spare rooms that you can take."

"Thank you for this offer," began Adelpha, bowing her head humbly, "you are too kind to one such as myself. However, though you have already offered us this kindness, I must ask yet another of you, as much as I detest the prospect of begging any further from you. Phyllida and I... we lost so much to that giantess, and she and I both wish to see our vengeance through. We wish to accompany you if you seek to track and kill the giantess, and will help however we can. Phyllida is wise beyond her years and a practitioner of magic, surely a talent that would be of great use to you. I am not as skilled as she, but I can forage well enough to provide for myself without dipping into your own rations, and I can help tend to the wounded - I apprenticed under our town's physician - if you allow me to join your expedition."

"Well, that is a reasonable request, but I haven't the authority to make a decision on it." the man mumbled, ponderously, "Firkon? It is your decision that is final here, although I would ask you to consider the usefulness of having an arcanist join us."

"I am not opposed to the idea, and I know you are already aware of the danger the giantess poses to us all. I will not stop you from joining us, nor will I deny you the warmth of our fires or the nourishment of our food, but you will in turn need to follow orders, no different from the rest of my men, and it is up to you, Adelpha, to convey those orders to Phyllida. Are these terms acceptable?"

Adelpha nodded. What did she have to lose?

~

Teagan, her canteen full and her spirits high, sallied forth towards the mountain pass, a noticeable spring in her step. She had quite gotten over her scuffle with the thug, and was ultimately pleased with the result, having gotten receptacles for both food and water, as well as clothes that weren't torn to pieces. She was still confused and unsettled over whatever it was that caused her feeble strike to land with such strength, but she wasn't going to dwell on it. As she walked onwards, she tried repeating the general motions of those critical moments, but every single time she punched, it came out as a punch alone, and nothing more. Teagan wasn't that upset by this, her meager disappointment with her unsatisfied curiosity entirely eclipsed by her delight at escaping the situation unscathed, and perhaps saving the life of the next traveler to pass through these parts. Teagan was especially happy with her new backpack, which had a little sewn pocket on the side just large enough to fit Sihil, who was snacking on a piece of hardtack, comfortably nestled inside a roughspun pouch. Teagan had finally been able to juxtapose her warmth for Sihil with her hatred of tomkins as a whole, firmly resolving her moral dilemma. Regardless of the fact that the last organized human resistance had been shattered, humanity was at war with every single tomkin here. Why should there be any guilt in destroying a village of tomkins when her own village had been subjected to the same fate? Why should she feel remorse for killing the invaders who settled on her own ancestral lands? While Sihil would certainly hate her all the more for any further massacres, Teagan reminded herself that regardless of her affinity for the girl, Sihil was still her captive in the end.

Teagan slowed her pace considerably as the sun sank below the horizon, still making good progress. She arrived at the foot of the first true stone mountain before the first star was even visible in the night sky, and found the pass not long after. The ground gradually got rockier and more gravelly as she went on, and she occasionally had to pause to empty a pointy stone from her boot. She was considering setting up a camp for the night when a slightly worrisome sight caught her eye: nestled in a small patch of grass was what looked like a tomkin outpost, constructed with the branches of a woody shrub. Teagan wouldn't have noticed it were it not for the tiny fire that burned nearby, around which sat four tomkins, passing around a tankard. One of them, a stout man in dyed burgundy vestements, seemed to be telling a joke or a tale as evidenced by the raucous, over the top laughter coming from the rest. Both the man's speech and the laughter of the rest were slurred and erratic, leading Teagan to the assumption that they were drunk. Teagan briefly considered slinking by the outpost, leaving the tomkins to their devices and she to hers, but she didn't want to leave even the slightest risk that she was found out in her sleep again. Teagan crept slightly closer, getting ready to pounce, but found herself yearning to toy with her victims, yearning for a little relaxed fun to help unwind after her strenous previous encounters. Teagan first looked at her backpack, whereupon she saw that Sihil was soundly asleep. Teagan gently took off her backpack, propping it against a rock and closing the pouch Sihil rested in. With that done, Teagan turned back towards the outpost, excited to begin.

~

Hassan listened as intently as he could manage as the Telaphonoi merchant spoke.

"It's true, I swear!" the merchant uttered, waving his tankard in the air for effect, "250 men, and the Orestian couldn't even manage to kill a single giant! I even heard that he put a sword to the neck of the Senix himself! I'm telling you, I'm telling you all, those Orestians know nothing about war, always just hiring tribal sellswords to do their dirty work. Most of the soldiers at the battle said that the giantess had the face of an ogre and blood-red hands, but a friend of mine who was in the battle says different - get this - he says that the giantess was beautiful! Well-endowed, and with a face that'd be cute if it wasn't 50 paces wide!"

"Reeeaaally?" Hassan inquired, chuckling at the thought, "you actually think that? My grandfather fought in the war with the giants, one of the few to make it to the very end. Said that the giants wore helms that covered their whole faces to hide their grotesque visages! They're an ugly lot. At least, according to him."

"Definitely not! No, no, that can't be the case..." said Aaliyah, her long black hair cascading around her face as she trailed off in thought, "think about it. Many of the beasts and plants of this land are said to just be larger varieties of what exists in the Old Land, so why would the denizens be any different? Sure, their culture is cruel, crude and merciless, but I find it hard to believe that they wouldn't look like us. I sometimes find myself wondering if we could have had peace with them... but we don't know enough to be sure. It's amazing how so few managed to actually keep record of the war, and how oral accounts are so varied, when there are a handful of giants around even now."

Hassan was about to answer when a loud snap sounded out from somewhere nearby. He rushed to his feet, only to fall back to a squat when a wave of drunken dizziness washed over him. Aaliyah and Samira, both outpost guards like Hassan, also seemed to hear the noise, both seeming quite startled. The Telaphonoi merchant, Eucharion, was conversely quite oblivious, and seemed confused at everyone else's reaction.

"Huh? What's the matter?" he asked, warily looking around into the surrounding darkness. Hassan, ignoring him, called up to the watchtower.

"Do you see anything up there?" he cried, imploringly.

"Nothing! Just darkness! You ought to relax, and if you hear or see anything else, just wait it out inside!" came the reply.

Hassan shrugged, and turned back to the fire.

"Probably just a rodent. We've tried hunting them all with ballistae, but unlike the larger creatures, they're able to hide from us quite well. They won't approach our fire." Hassan mumbled, hesitantly returning his gaze to his compatriots.

"Anyhow... can we talk about something other than maneating giantesses? It's been a rough couple of days, especially after we heard about the renewed raids by the local tribes here. A company was dispatched from Q'thuman to conquer them, but until that's done, we have to constantly be on the lookout as it is. Times are tough." Aaliyah concluded, eyes cast down.

Eucharion nodded sympathetically.

"I understand. I've been trading around Nystagmenos for around three winters now, and I know it to be a dangerous area. Let's get on to something more light-hearted, yeah? I'll let you in on a little tip I heard back in Telaphonis: exports from the Phocari merchant cities are about to get a lot more expensive, since-"

Hassan waited for Eucharion to continue talking, but he simply froze, mouth agape, eyes wide. Aaliyah, who was sitting next to the merchant, lifted a trembling arm forward, pointing directly ahead. Hassan was paralyzed with fear when he heard a loud scraping noise behind him, followed by a loud, heavy breath that almost enshrouded him in its warmth. Hassan turned around, slowly, until he was facing the same direction as Aaliyah was pointing.

"What are you waiting for! RUN!" screamed the guard atop the watchtower, flailing his arms wildly, but Hassan knew that running would be of no use to him.

He was staring into the face of a giantess, able to see his own reflection in her vast brown eyes. Her face was framed by bobs of short, auburn hair, and bore an expression that he almost interpreted as amicable, terrifyingly so. Hassan had no idea what to do. The giantess seemed to be laying down, and Hassan could faintly make out the silhouette of her body through the darkness... her size was terrifying. Hassan would have been stunned even longer had it not been for Samira, with a scream, bolting away as fast as she could, shoving him aside in the process. The giantess sighed as Aaliyah and Eucharion followed suit, all dashing off in different directions. The giantess, without even needing to move from her prone position, hemmed all three of them in with her gargantuan interlocked arms, which were wider than any of them were tall. The giantess winked at Hassan, slowly bringing her arms in and forcing everyone back towards the fire. Aaliyah seized Hassan's arm, clutching it as if it were a lifeline.

"Hassan, I'm afraid." she whispered, between shallow breaths, "We're helpless. There's nothing we can do. I don't want to die like this. She’s treating us like toys."

Hassan slowly reached down to his scabbard and unsheathed his sword. Freeing his other arm from Aaliyah's grasp, he wrapped both of his hands around the sword's grip, holding it outwards, leveled towards the face of the giantess. The giantess seemed surprised at Hassan's action, her eyes widening in mild shock. After a few seconds passed, however, she began to heartily laugh, throwing her head back in hysterics. Eucharion and Aaliyah seemed a bit less scared the giantess, while Samira seemed to quake with even more fear as the giantess howled with laughter. Once the giantess was done giggling, her right hand darted towards Hassan with incredible speed. Hassan yelped as the giantess seized his sword between her pointer and middle fingers, wrenching it out of his grasp with almost no effort. She examined the weapon for a bit, holding it delicately, before tossing it aside, no longer interested.

"...Sword..." the giantess said, beaming. 

"What?! She can speak!" Eucharion cried in disbelief.

"I'm not talk word." the giantess said, her friendly smile assuaging some of Hassan's fears.

"I wonder if she understands what we're saying right now." Aaliyah said, walking closer to the giant face, "She clearly has a limited vocabulary. She seems friendly enough, though."

"Friendly?! This very well could be the same giantess that decimated our border towns a few days back! I'm sure that she's killed hundreds!" Eucharion growled, standing still as if petrified.

"I am Teagan!" the giantess exclaimed in a honeyed voice, clearly oblivious as to what Eucharion was saying. Hassan's remaining trepidation, for a second, became genuine excitement. All recorded attempts to communicate with the giants in the past ended inconclusively at best, but before him was a giantess that not only could communicate, but seemed to actively want to engage in such. She even had a name, albeit a strange one. Before Hassan could even consider replying, he heard the twang of a bowstring and the whizz of an arrow. In that split second, that glimmer of hope Hassan had faded into darkness. The giantess cried out as an arrow struck her directly in the left eye, causing her to recoil. One of her arms shot up to cover her injured eye, opening an escape route. Hassan, not wanting to potentially subject himself to retribution, found himself running alongside Samira and Aaliyah. Eucharion was cowering in fear behind a nearby boulder, although it was more akin to a pebble to the giantess. Hassan looked back to see the giantess demolish the watchtower with a single swing of her arm, sending splinters flying in all directions. Herjaz, the guard in the tower, was flung to the ground, a composite bow in his grip. Hassan winced as the giantess slammed her fist down on the disoriented archer in an explosion of gore, but he felt no pity for the man, as it was clear that he had brought this upon himself. The giantess ignored Eucharion entirely, pouncing instead at Hassan and the other fleeing guards with a speed they couldn't hope to match. Hassan felt his knees grow weak as he saw the giantess' terrible, wide grin, a clear indication of the sadistic pleasure that lie ahead. Samira, who was straggling behind, yelped as the giantess' hand closed around her. Hassan dove to the ground as the giantess swiped next at him, hoping to fall under the passing hand, but the giantess easily scooped him up all the same, squeezing him tightly to Samira, who was struggling hopelessly. Hassan felt a rush of dizziness as the giantess raised her fist again, his stomach turning at the sudden change in elevation. Hassan nearly passed out as the giantess shot her hand out once again, presumably to catch Aaliyah. Surely enough, after Hassan had been jostled a little more, the giantess' closed fist opened just enough to force Aaliyah inside. Aaliyah threw her arms around Hassan, lightly pressing her forehead to his, trying to put aside her fear.

"We're going to be okay. All of us. I think I'm going to visit my mother back in Q'thuman tomorrow. She always told me that she wanted me to serve in the city garrison instead of joining the frontier guards. She said that this was more dangerous, and that it'd be easier for me to visit her if I lived in the city barracks. I said that I wanted the excitement of the frontier... can you believe it? I certainly can't, not now. I asked for this."

"I-I just j-joined to pay off the debt on my new h-house!" bawled Samira, still struggling in vain against the giantess' grip. 

Hassan was silent. What was there to say? He was still even as the giantess unfurled her hand, looking at the three captive guards with a face that sent a chill down Hassan's spine. She still had her other hand over her left eye, but from what he saw of the uncovered portion of the giantess' face, she was experiencing a mix of rage, pain, and anticipation, the last of which scared Hassan the most. Slowly, the giantess took her hand away from her injured eye. It was closed, but Hassan could see a reddish tinge to the tears that flowed from it. The giantess first grabbed Samira with her free hand, dangling her by the shoulders rather than gripping her tightly. Hassan already had a solid guess about what was going to happen next, but he still couldn't avert his eyes as the giantess opened her mouth and extended her tongue. Samira kicked and screamed with renewed vigor as she too realized what fate the giantess had in store for her, but the giantess only giggled before dropping Samira on her tongue. Samira's struggles weakened before ceasing entirely as the giantess slowly retracted the sobbing woman into her mouth, until even the tip of Samira's head disappeared behind the lips of the giantess. Aaliyah silently cried, tears running down her face, but Hassan was too deep in thought to grieve over the impending deaths of both him and his comrades. This, he realized, was exactly why there never was a peace with the giants. An arrow was loosed upon her even as she tried to make simple conversation, but she intended to kill, no, to devour all associated with the perpetrator of that fear-driven attack as recompense for what amounted to little more than a splinter in her eye. Hassan snapped out of thought as the giant hand he rested upon dropped out from under him, causing him and Aaliyah to drop directly onto the giantess' throat. The giantess then placed her hand on top of the two guards, pressing them tightly against her throat.

Gulp.

In just that instant, Hassan's cool denial of his entire situation faded away. As he heard Aaliyah scream in horror, he felt his heartbeat quicken. As he felt the giantess' throat abruptly rise and fall under him for only a split second, he choked up. As he saw the giantess trace her finger down from her throat to her stomach, he knew that he was already a dead man, his fate sealed. He resigned himself to death as the giantess then wrapped her hand around him, lifting him up just as she had Samira. Samira... a quiet girl, a gentle soul, a collection of hopes and dreams and follies and achievements... gone in an instant, consumed for the amusement of her murderer. Hassan prepared to join her, when he realized that the giantess was carrying him away from her mouth, not towards it. As Hassan passed by her stomach, he was filled with a mixture of rage and sorrow as he heard faint, muffled screams of what he could only assume was agony emanating from within. Hassan threw kicks and punches at the giant hand that carried him, but he knew before he even started that it would be ineffectual. He felt his blood boil as the giantess pulled down her trousers, revealing her partially shaven crotch in the full. Hassan felt a twinge of desire rush through him even as he cursed the giantess for what he realized she intended to do. Hassan was helpless as the giantess inserted him, head first, into her sex, pumping him in and out at an abrasive speed. Hassan sputtered for breath as the scent of her flesh encompassed him, trying in vain to push away the soft flesh that yearned to engulf him. Hassan screamed in pain as his shoulder was forced out of its socket, sending a flash of white-hot pain through his entire body. Still he was pushed and dragged, pushed and dragged, arm trailing limply behind him, until the blissful release of unconsciousness gave him rest.

Eucharion watched in minutely aroused terror as the giantess pulled her top away, revealing a pair of breasts large enough to flatten a house. He didn’t dare to try and flee, instead hoping that he could wait the giantess out, not having to abandon his goods. He winced as the giantess kneaded Aaliyah into her breast, slowly crushing her. Aaliyah pleaded with her gods, but it did her no good - Eucharion heard a jarring crack from Aaliyah’s body as the giantess arched her back, moaning in pleasure. The giantess, left panting from her intense orgasm, slowly extricated Hassan from between her legs. Eucharion gagged as he beheld the man, one of his arms rolling loosely about, covered in the giant woman’s vaginal fluids. The giantess, apparently done with the guards, dropped their limp bodies into a large wooden box, something Eucharion hadn’t noticed on her person earlier. Eucharion was relieved as the giantess stood up, seeming ready to move on, but his heart sank when she turned her head back at the outpost, affixed directly on him. A smile spread across her face as she dropped to all fours, looming above Eucharion, the tip of her tongue snaking out from between her lips.

“Wait! Wait! Please, no, please! I’m not one of the guards! I didn’t do anything!” Eucharion pled, dropping to his knees.

The giantess extended her open hand, palm flat, on the ground in front of Eucharion. She nodded quickly at it. Eucharion, knees buckling, stepped slowly onto the giant hand, staggering as the flesh gave way under his tread, like walking on a massive pillow. He fell down entirely as the giantess lifted him up to her face, terrified of being eaten, but managed to struggle back up to a kneeling position as she lifted him past her mouth and up to her left eye, the one stricken by an arrow. Eucharion saw that the eye was still teary, and though the eyelids around it were reddened and puffy, there was still an arrow lodged in it. The giantess put her hand directly adjacent to her face, and pantomimed a pulling gesture with her thumb and forefinger, like one would unwind thread from a thimble. It was obvious that she wanted Eucharion to extract the arrow. Eucharion, not seeing much of a choice on his end, delicately grabbed the arrow’s shaft. That simple action alone was enough to cause the giantess to suck air in through her teeth in shock, but she kept her hand steady. Eucharion, trying his best not to tremble, slowly pulled the arrow from the wound. The giantess balled her free hand up into a fist, taking shallow breaths as the shaft was slowly and presumably painfully extracted from her eye. As Eucharion pulled the head of the arrow out, the giantess pounded the ground with her bloodstained fist, but Eucharion was able to retain his focus, fearing what she would do to him if he made even the slightest mistake. Eucharion cast the intact arrow aside, exhaling deeply. He wondered if she’d let him live even after he took the arrow out of her eye, knowing that she had no reason not to do as she wished with him now that he was no longer useful to her. Eucharion was certain that his suspicions were confirmed as the giantess lowered him to her mouth level, bringing him to her lips. He shut his eyes and balled his fists, knowing the futility of pleading with her, when he felt her lips encase his head for only a second before drawing away. The giantess had given Eucharion a kiss, and now gazed at him with a relaxed, half-lidded grin, smug in her superiority to him but bearing no ill will. She set him back down on the ground just as gently as she had picked him up, depositing him near the ruined outpost.

“I am Teagan.” the giantess reiterated.

Eucharion, with a shaky bow, replied “I am Eucharion. Hello, Teagan.”

Teagan frowned, muttering “Hello? Hel-lo?”, painstakingly sounding out every syllable. Eucharion realized that she didn’t know what it meant. He performed another bow, accompanied by a pretend handshake. If Eucharion had any luck, perhaps the giants had these gestures in their own culture. Surely enough, Teagan let out an utterance of realization, followed by a giggle. Eucharion was shaken by her levity only moments after she had killed two of his would-be companions and captured the other two. 

“Hello, Eucharion!” she said, with a quick wave of her own. She, seemingly on a second thought, then stood to her full height. Eucharion marvelled at the towering giantess above him, craning his neck upwards until he was woozy just to look at her face. She returned his bow, moving her massive form with the lithe control of a lioness, before striding away into the night, leaving Eucharion alone amid the scattered wreckage of the Q’thumani outpost.

“Teagan…” Eucharion muttered, awestruck.