Juliette slowly opened her eyes, moaning in pain as she tried to move.

“Keep still, Juliette. . “ came a familiar voice.

She looked up to see Leonara's face illuminated by the glow of a campfire.  A confused look came to her face but she didn’t speak.

“I know you’re wondering what I'm doing here. . . Well I'm saving your life.” Leonara said, as she gently dabbed her sister's forehead with a damp cloth.  “I knew I shouldn't have let you face them alone, but I also wanted to see you grow up and handle things on your own.” 

“what. . . What happened?” Juliette asked, weakly.

“Those little cowards!” Leonara snarled, clutching the cloth tightly in her fist.  “You were poisoned, Juliette!  You were poisoned, and they cut you up and destroyed your clothes! I found you laying passed out, half drowned, after trying to cross this lake!” She fumed.

“I. . . I can barely move my  body. . . “ was all Juliette replied.

“That poison did a number on you. . . You're lucky to be alive.   I had to pray to the gods for the power to heal you.  It isn't in your blood anymore, but you are still feeling the effects it had on you.  Not to mention your battle wounds. . . . I'm so disgusted with myself for letting this happen to you, sister.” Leo said, gently stroking Juliette's hair.

Juliette only moaned in response.

“First thing tomorrow, you're going home.” Leonara informed her, before standing up turning to tend to the fire and turn some meat she was cooking.

“I'm. . . Not done here. . . An. . . . Ant. . . “  Juliette mumbled.

“Yes you are! This is not a debate.” Leonara snapped.  “This childish spat you have going on is over!  Those slayers. . . . No. . . The entire human realm!. . . Is dealing with ME now.”

Juliette knew what that meant for the humans.  While Leonara was truly compassionate and caring for her loved ones and the kingdom's people, she had another side.  A cruel, sadistic side.  And the crime of nearly killing her sister was an unforgivable one.  She would make them pay dearly.

“Do you have the strength to tell me exactly what happened?” Leo asked after a while of sitting in silence just nursing her sister.

“It felt. . . . Like the gods themselves were fighting me.” was all Juliette said, quietly.

Leonara's visible eye got wide.

“Did the earth move on it's own?!  Was there an older looking human man?” She asked, trying to shake Juliette more awake.  

She nodded.

“He controlled the elements. . . But he also controlled the slayer’s prayers.”  She explained, groaning as she rolled and turned away from her sister. 

Leonara just stared blankly in disbelief.  She had felt that the man had to be something like a god, but she had no idea that he would be able to interact with slayers in any way.  

“Juliette. . . . I. . . I killed that man. . . . I made sure of it. . . Unless. . . . There is more than one. . . That is the only way!. . . I. . I even burned the body!” Leonara stammered, half apologizing to her sister.  

Juliette didn’t respond, trying to get back to sleep.

“Is it possible that he can make illusions of living things?” Leo asked, more to herself than to her sister. 

This was more serious than she thought.  It would seem that she would have to thoroughly plan her encounter with these slayers.  Just finding them where ever they were would not cut it this time.  

Leonara was deep in thought, visualizing every pre-battle detail, when suddenly she heard a noise from the darkness outside the fire.  She just stared into the darkness in the direction she had heard the sound.

After about 10 minutes of just listening, she decided it was just an animal and that was when it happened.

Out of the darkness, she heard a whistle and through the firelight she barely managed to see a projectile flying through the air towards Juliette's head.   In the blink of an eye, Leo jumped into action, reaching out and snatching it from the air.  In the same motion, she spun on her toes, increasing her force as she hurled the projectile [which seemed to be a tree that had been carved into a point] back in the exact trajectory it had come.

A moment later, she heard the expected gasp of the assassin as he was impaled by his own weapon . . . Or so she thought.

To her disbelief, the groan and gasped morphed into a deep, deep laugh! Whoever was out in the darkness was just messing with her. Never one to fight with her heart instead of her head, Leonara calmly drew her sword, placing herself between the darkness and her sister. 

Thinking ahead, she had placed anti-slayer prayers surrounding a wide perimeter outside the camp.  Whoever had attacked her was well within the boundaries which would explain why they had used a tree instead of a prayer to try to assassinate Juliette.  Leonara knew she didn’t have the full advantage though, as the darkness was working against her.

Instantly she came up with a plan.

She grabbed the oil lamp she had burning above Juliette's makeshift bed, and smashed it into the fire.  The flames flared as the fire grew, illuminating twice as much area as before.  In the moment it took her eyes to adjust, another tree came whizzing from the darkness but again she caught and threw it back.

Whether they knew it or not, it was helping Leonara pinpoint their location.  They were closer now than they had been.  She took a deep breath, slowing her heart rate as she just listened. 

No sounds.

No movements.

Leonara stayed this way until the sun came up the next morning.  There was never any other attack on her sister.  In the light, she could see where both stakes had landed on the ground.  Both had deflection marks where they had been blocked.  She also saw footsteps leading to and away from her camp.  

Leo wanted to follow them immediately, but she had a responsibility to wait until the guards came from the capital to escort Juliette back home. Finally they did show up, late in the afternoon.  

After sending her sister off, with a very real threat of what would befall the guards should anything happen to Juliette, Leonara was finally able to follow the tracks.  What she found odd, was that there was a trail of blood, along with the footprints, which turned to horse tracks.  Leo could also tell that this person was far larger than a normal human or even an average sized slayer.  She stalked slowly along, her mind and body tired from being awake for the past 36 hours.  True, she could have asked the guards to stay while she napped, but Juliette needed more help than she could provide in the middle of nowhere.

Walking through the trees, she was simultaneously following the slayers prints, as well as Juliette's.  Her sisters were sloppy and wild, and a trail of her own blood was present as well.  The further Leo went, the smoother Juliette's tracks became, first reverting to her normal paced walk, then as she kept going, Juliette must have been running as fast as she could.

Finally, after 3 hours of walking, Leonara crested a hill and saw what she was searching for.  But it was. . . Not what she was expecting at all.

She knew how Juliette fought, and her capacity for destruction, but this was above and beyond her normal chaos.  

Walking down the hill, the first thing she saw was the wall around the city.  It was 100% smashed the whole way around.  Leo stepped quietly over the rubble and into the perimeter of what used to be the city.  Now. . .. nothing stood.  No buildings anyway.

What she did she a few blocks away, where earth pillars still standing.   She began heading that way when suddenly she noticed a group of humans, who appeared to be looting the remains of the city. The group was all men, and they froze when they saw her, but they didn’t seem afraid.

A man with long, black shaggy hair stepped out in front of the group. He folded his armed and just gazed up at her as if she wasn’t many many times his size.

“Leave whore!” The man said to her, his confidence brimming.  “This town and everything in it belongs to us now!  My friend here is a giant slayer, and if you don't want your head on a pike, I suggest you get lost!” 

Leonara's gaze turned to the slayer in question.  He was certainly taller than the others.  7 feet by the look of him, but Leo knew humans on rare occasions could grow to be that height.  He did have a sword, but only closer inspection would determine if it was a slayers blade.  His face also didn’t seem to betray any dishonesty on the black haired man's part.

“Did you not hear me!?  I said be gone!” The man shouted at her.

Her fists clenched at her sides and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  Visions of decimating these annoying little worms played in her head, but she was much too tired to chase them, let alone think clearly if this slayer would prove to be formidable.

Leonara opened her eyes and looked the men over.  The leader had a look of irritation and disbelief that she wasn’t listening to him.  His intimidation tactics must have worked on some giant before to warrant this behavior.

To his left, another human man. He appeared incredibly uneasy with her presence.  Almost as if he recognized her from somewhere.  He kept glancing around as if looking for a way out of the situation.

To the left of him, another oblivious looking human.  He also seemed to have enough faith in the slayers ability that there was no need to fear her.  Or perhaps her or her sister's reputations hadn’t spread this far into the human realm yet.

. . . . Although Leo didn’t really tend to leave anyone alive to tell her tales.

Regardless, here these men were.  The only thing she knew for sure was that she was too tired to deal with it.

So she walked away.

Or rather. . . She walked through them.

Her sudden movement made the humans jump, and while it wasn’t really intentional, her first step was aimed directly at the slayer.  The black haired leader dove out of the way as Leo's boot came close, and collided with the slayer.  As she had come to expect, he put his hands up to try and stop her, but it was useless.

Leonara felt a minor resistance, before her boot pushed him off his feet and continued down to the ground, where the loud, crisp sound of bones let his allies know that he was gone as Leo's unfathomable weight embedded him into the street.

The oh so familiar look of sheer terror was on the leaders face now as he just curled up and began to shake as the giantess stepped over him.  The next unfortunate soul was the man on the far left of the row.  The one who hadn't shown any fear.  

Well. . . Fear was present now, but so much so that he foolishly turned and ran straight down the street Leo was travelling.  She honestly didn’t plan it, but her right foot just happened to fall right where he was currently running.  It knocked into his back, shoving him down, before overtaking him.  

There was noticeably less noise from his demise, as slayer bones were many times stronger than a humans.  A juicy squelch could faintly be heard under the usual thunder and shake of a giants step, and that was all.  Leonara continued towards the center of the city as if nothing had happened.

The leader rushed to the fallen slayer, but the mangled mess in the footprint told him he was gone. The sight brought him to tears and thoughts of vengeance overtook him.  He reached down and pulled his comrade’s sword from the crater.  

Leo walked on, her mind racing at what she had seen from the top of the hill.  With her size, she reached the city center in only 3 strides and she had trouble believing her eyes.  From the hill, she'd seen a hole. . . Or rather a pit . A massive pit.

Leo stepped to the edge, which was raised to form a rim about 25 feet high, and carefully peered over.  Her eyes widened.  

The hole was at least 350 feet deep. . 

Leonara didn’t know what to make of it.  She had seen the types of craters Juliette made when she was fighting all out. . . But this was nothing like that.  It made sense now how the ridge had formed.  Some of the earth had to be displaced to create this.  

What was notable about the ridge, was that it appeared like something had flattened out a section.  It was also stained with blood.  It was definitely Juliette.  This was where she must have escaped from the pit.  

Leo continued to stare. . .

The amount of power that this mystery man possessed. . . . It seemed off the charts.  To be able to create a pit big enough to swallow Juliette or herself completely, if they weren’t careful.  Although she had seemingly bested him in combat previously. . . How could she ever really be sure he was even dead?

She. . . She had crushed him. .  Severed his spine. . . . And burned his body. . . And still he showed up here and nearly killed Juliette. . . Not to mention. . . He is working with the slayers now. . .

It was all too much for her.  Leonara was so deep in thought that she didn’t notice that the leader of the bandits had crept up behind her wielding the slayer’s sword.

He held it in both hands, sneaking ever closer, before he stabbed the tip into her leg, just above her ankle.  To his utter shock. . . The attack did nothing.  Her leather leggings were too thick for a human to penetrate, even with a slayers blade.  All he managed to do was earn Leonara's stone cold gaze.

Her look froze him in place, snuffing out any emotion he might have been harbouring in an instant and the blade fell from his hand.  Leonara looked down at her leg, and then back at him.  The man nearly pissed himself as the giantess reached down for him.

All of a sudden, the other man who had looked fearful before ran from the shadows and got between Leo qqand his boss.  He dropped to his knees with his hands together in the traditional sign of respect in the presence of royalty.

“Please!. . “ He shouted, not daring to look up and make eye contact. “Please. . . . I beg you to spare his life, your highness!” 

Leo paused, her open palm waiting to engulf the man.

“How do you know who I am?” She questioned, withdrawing her hand and folding her arms, intent on hearing what the man had to say.

“S-Stories of a raven-haired giant, leagues taller than any other giant ever seen. A brutal woman of unmatched beauty and a piercing blue eye. . . . Annihilating city after city. . . L. . Leaving no survivors or resources in her wake!  Rumors that she was the spawn of the late giant king himself!”

Leonara just huffed and looked away.  She didn’t like the idea of every little human knowing her business. 

“So. . . . If you are aware of my reputation, why are you still here?  You know that I could kill you without a second thought, don't you?” Leo threatened,  returning her gaze to him.

“I. . . Don't believe you are evil!. . . You were just avenging your father's death.  Who would blame you?” the man said shakily, as he stood. 

“You know nothing about me!” Leonara shouted, causing both men to begin trembling. “Move.” She commanded the man, flatly.

The man held his ground, staying between Leo and his boss.

“I cannot let you harm him!” He exclaimed, holding his arms out wide.

“I said. . .MOVE!” She repeated, stomping her foot, causing both of them to nearly topple over.  

“Your highness!. . . I beg you! He is my brother!  All I have!  He. . . He will not bother you again!  I swear it!” The man shouted, dropping to his knees and clasping his hands.  

Leonara glared down at him, thoughts of her own reason for being in the city on her mind.  If she had lost Juliette, the lives of every human and slayer on earth would not have been fair enough payment for that crime.   Her heart felt heavy seeing this human ready to die an inevitable death, to protect his family.  

She sighed.

“Fine! But if I see you, or your brother again. . . . Both of you are dead!” Leonara threatened, before turning and walking away.

She left the city, heading back towards the giant realm.  Going and finding the slayers responsible for Juliette's condition right now would be a mistake.  Any group of fighters who could very well kill a healthy Juliette on the right day, were not to be taken lightly.  That was not Leo's way.

She would research, learn, and plan every detail of her revenge. .

For now, she would go to talk to. . . 

Him.