Not far away from them, frozen in a massive block of ice, was what appeared to be a half-naked female. It wasn’t the first time seeing a frozen and well-preserved body for any of them; it was something else that constituted the disturbing character of this finding. The woman in the ice was quite a bit larger than average; to be precise, she was more than twice as tall as Mathias who, standing at 6 foot five was the tallest of their group. »I’ve never seen a woman this tall… I mean do you see her… breasts?« Taras exclaimed after the first shock had passed and approached the ice. Standing right in front of it, his head wasn’t even on the level of her waist, her legs almost as broad as his shoulders. »I bet these are the first breasts you see since you were suckled at your mothers tits« Silias taunted.

Philian chuckled half-heartedly but still hesitated to come near the ice. »Careful now boys, keep your jokes to yourselves and come back. We should get the hell out of here. I doubt that this creature is human even if it looks like that. I’ve never heard of any human being growing more than seven feet tall. There might be others around somewhere and I’d rather not run into them.« Lysann stated obviously worried. »Look at her, of course it is a human being… what else could she possibly be. Besides, if we go back the way we came, we’ll all be devoured alive by that devil«, Silias responded. While the others began to discuss the pros and cons of continuing their expedition underground, Philian couldn’t keep his eyes of the giant creature in the ice. Its skin seemed not as pale as it should after being frozen underground for who knows how long, heck she had a stronger tan than he did. Her hair was of dark colour and seemed perfectly preserved. If she really was a human, she had to originate from the southern lands. Her eyes were big and brown. Wait her eyes were brown? Weren’t they shut only a few minutes ago? Philian’s heart was racing as he slowly turned to the others to check whether they had noticed anything. In the corner of his eye he noticed it. The woman’s eyes had moved…

»Look at her eyes, she’s alive! «, Taras, who too had seen it, exclaimed. The others gathered around the ice in a half circle and watched the woman’s eyes intently. Her eyes were indeed moving, taking glance after glance at every single one of the strangers that had found her. In the end her eyes rested on Taras and he could have sworn that she tried to implore him to help her. »We need to set her free, she’s trapped!« He exclaimed and began looking through his stuff to find a tool appropriate to the task at hand. »Are you mad lad? She could lift you up and break you into two pieces« Mathias yelled but Taras kept searching. »She’s a living being and obviously she must be in great pain… Awake while trapped in ice… what a nightmare« Lysann said.

Philian looked at Kyra, but she seemed clueless about what to do. Taras had found a chisel, picked up a stone from the ground and started to work the ice. Mathias backed off to the other end of the cavern and pulled out a knife. »If she attacks, I’d suspect her vital points to be the same as ours. Try to aim at her kidneys…«, he said and assumed close-quarter combat position. The others seemed rather unsure on how to act or prepare themselves for whatever was about to happen when Taras was done. Slowly but steadily he broke away the ice until with a loud crack the rest of it splintered and the whole block imploded.

As he raised his arm in front of his eyes to protect them from falling ice shards he didn’t realise, that the giantess he had set free now lacked the proper support, couldn’t stand on her own and fell towards him. The others shouted his name in unison but it was too late. Taras backed away a little bit but was buried underneath the top half of the giantess he had freed from her prison. »Ugh« the woman groaned as she tried to lift herself up but failed. Quickly the others came and tried to lift her off their friend and with combined strength they managed to roll her of Taras who had turned red for more than one reason but elsewise seemed to be okay. A few bruises on his arms and legs as well as some aching bones and muscles couldn’t keep him from enjoying the fact that his face had been buried beneath this giantess’ bosom. »She’s warm…« Kyra noted as she took her hands of the woman. »She was trapped in ice… how is she warm?« she mumbled more to herself.

»”She” is named Andvaka and she is warm because her body provides her with warmth as it always has« the huge woman spoke and while she didn’t yell, her words were mighty and echoed through the cavern and the connected tunnels

Kyra was more than surprised and while the others seemed yet more intimidated, her curiosity prevailed over her fear. »You speak in our tongue? Who are you?« she asked.

»I could ask you the very same questions. Only I believe I know the answers already.«, she replied and after taking a deep breath started another attempt to get up only this time she was successful. Now she towered over the group of explorers that stared at her in fear and awe as she looked in pity at the man she had nearly crushed. »I’m sorry for falling on top of you like that. I couldn’t do anything about it. Are you alright?« she asked and gently poked Taras legs with her enormous toes. »I’ve been worse« he replied »But I don’t think getting up is an option for the time being« Taras smiled in light agony and coughed a little.

»What do you mean, you know the answer? Do you intend to share your wisdom?« Kyra said in a manner more aggressive than was intended. The giant woman looked at her and raised an eyebrow. She hadn’t expected a girl that small talking to her like that.

»You might have noticed that while you certainly have a big mouth, in size you are like an infant to me… there is a reason for that as you might have suspected.« Andvaka stated and turned to Kyra. »I noticed…« she responded trying not to appear as intimidated as she was.

»It leaves us with two possibilities. Either you’re astoundingly intelligent new-borns of my species or, and that’s more likely, you’re specimen of the surface species that derived from us millennia ago« she explained. Kyra didn’t know what to say. What did she mean by derived? Andvaka sighed as she realised that her saviours had little to no idea what she was talking about. »Be that as it may, you are not supposed to be here and if it weren’t for the fact that you saved me from a terrible fate, I would probably dispose of you right away. I’d suggest you tend to your little friend here and then go back whence you came.« She said and turned to leave. »I’m sorry A…Andvaka but there is an ice-devil hunting on the surface. We can’t go back into its territory it’d be suicide.« Philian now said. The giantess stopped and looked at him. »It’s not only that… we have come here for another reason and I don’t think it is a coincidence that we found you. A couple of years ago our uncle and our aunt vanished in this area and a couple of miles to the south-east we found a map carved into stone with this place being marked. We have reason to believe that it was our uncle who carved it. We can’t just leave now… I need to find out what happened to him, what happened to both of them.«, Kyra argued.

Some time passed before Andvaka answered. »You saved my life, I spared yours. My debt to you has been paid so I won’t promise you safe passage but while I’d advise against it you may accompany me to my tribe and talk to my mothers and sisters about your concerns. Be warned though, they might not be too keen to see your kind down here«. Without bothering to ask for consent among the others Kyra nodded in agreement. Once again the giantess sighed. Then she picked up Taras from the ground with ease and went with him under her arm into one of the tunnels.

»What in the name of the mighty wolf Kyra?« Mathias exclaimed who still couldn’t believe what was happening. Kyra didn’t respond and simply followed the giantess.