The garden of the giant castle of Vandan was one of Lorek’s favourite places to spend time in. Not only was it private and secluded, being walled-off and inaccessible to anyone outside the castle (except on special occasions), but it was also an endlessly fascinating place to explore. It was filled with a dense forest of gigantic flowers, many of them larger than most regular trees were, as well as dozens of fruit and vegetable plants that supplied food to the castle’s two giant inhabitants: Queen Belena, who was Lorek’s wife, and her sister, Princess Sylvie. As one of the few places where giant-sized plants, among the last remnants of Vandan’s past glory, still flourished, he could spend hours in its confines, alone or in Belena’s company. Right now, he was by himself, testing his climbing skill on flower stems that grew fifty feet high, but he was soon joined by another person.
Queen Belena came wandering into the garden from the castle door. Towering nearly sixty yards high and breathtakingly beautiful, she was the love of Lorek’s life, and he of hers. They had both been teenagers when, in quick succession, they had met, fallen in love and gotten married, but neither of them regretted what many in the kingdom thought was an impulsive start to a relationship. Now that they were both in their early twenties, there were still days where they felt like immature schoolchildren who were only beginning to understand their feelings of attraction to each other. This was made more complicated by the fact that she was both an immense giantess, capable of subduing an entire human army by herself if she was called upon to do so, and (since the death of her mother and abdication of her father) the sole ruler of a mighty realm. But such things mattered little to Lorek, who only wished to be her loving husband, in whom she could confide and with whom she could spend all her intimate hours. By birth a lowly peasant and no bigger than her thumb, he always thought it a miracle that a girl like Belena could fall in love with a boy like him. But she had, and the two of them couldn’t be happier in each other’s company.
It had been a long day for Belena, travelling around her kingdom’s towns and villages and attending to their inhabitants’ needs and complaints. Now that it was evening and she had returned home, she too enjoyed spending a while in her garden, before the time came for preparing supper. She and Lorek had the castle all to themselves for some time now: her father Alban, the previous king, now dwelt in his home city of Elgon, amongst the people whom he’d known since childhood, and he only came to visit his daughter and son-in-law occasionally, to catch up on what had been happening in their lives and to give Belena some much-needed advice for governing her subjects. As for her younger siblings, Valdan and Sylvie, they had both set off on journeys to see the unknown regions of the world, and she hadn’t heard any news from either of them in many weeks. She couldn’t help but be afraid for them, especially since her mother, Queen Valerie, had lost her own life while on just such an excursion into the unknown. But she also couldn’t leave Vandan behind and go looking for them, a task which could take months or years, while leaving her kingdom leaderless and defenceless. Being queen was a full-time, demanding job, and there were many days when Belena wished that the role of sovereign had gone to someone else instead of her.
Wrapped up in such thoughts, she didn’t notice her miniscule husband’s approach. Lorek saw her sit down on the bench in the garden and decided to surprise her. He snuck up to her feet underneath the cover of the colossal stone bench on which she sat. Her immense leather boots rose above him as he crept between her two feet. Since he’d spent the last few hours practicing his climbing abilities on the flowers in the garden, scrambling up the front of her left boot was a piece of cake. He grabbed onto the bottom of the dress she wore, inserting his fingers in-between the strands of the cloth it was woven from. Now he just had to climb up forty feet to reach her knees, where the flat expanse of her lap would make for easier ground to cover.
A few minutes later, an exhausted Lorek pulled himself over the final obstacle of his wife’s knee and rolled down into her soft lap. Belena noticed him at once and immediately plucked him up with two of her fingers. She squeezed his whole upper body into her lips for a loving kiss, before letting him relax in her cupped hands as she held him against her breast.
“Hello, my dearest,” she said softly, caressing him with her fingers. “I’m sorry, I suppose I should have asked if you wanted me to grab you like that…or were you planning on climbing the rest of me as well?”
“No, not really. I was just trying to be sneaky and surprise you, that’s all. How was your day?”
“Exhausting, as usual,” Belena said, giving a tired laugh. “Lots of walking around and visiting all the towns in the area, you know? I had to go all the way to Nevlor today and help repair some damage caused when their river flooded a few weeks back. Still, it was a nice walk, and I met some of my mother’s old friends who now live there, so I managed to take some time to chat as well.”
“You really should also take some time off to rest, Belena my love. You’ve been so busy these last few weeks, I only get to see you early mornings and late evenings nowadays.”
“You’re right, and I wish I could…but I’d just feel so…so guilty!” she confessed. “I can’t remember Mom ever complaining about how much work she had to do when she was queen, and here I am, trying to be as good a ruler as she was, which I’ll never be...”
“Oh, sweetheart, you know that’s not true! We both know your mother would be so proud of how you’re following in her footsteps, even though she never intended you to become queen already at this age. Belena…you’re doing great…no, you’re doing better than great. You’re doing…splendidly!”
“Oh, thank you, my little sugarplum!” she said, instantly cheered up by how earnest he sounded. She knew, deep down, that she was doing the best she could as Vandan’s new ruler, and that her mother would indeed have been proud of her, had she still been alive. She also had rarely heard any complaints or grievances from any of her subjects, although she was always explicit in telling them to let her know if they did have any problems with her. But she had nevertheless always looked up to her mother with the greatest awe and admiration, and she had always doubted that she’d be able to live up to that image of Valerie she’d formed for herself.
“Let’s go inside, what do you say?” Lorek said, hugging himself firmly against her bosom. “It’s getting dark already, and pretty soon it’ll start getting cold too.”
“Good idea. I’ll make us a small supper, then I’ll light a fire in our room upstairs, and then I promise I’ll try and relax!”
As it was autumn, it had been getting dark earlier each night for a couple of months now. Lorek didn’t like this time of the year, but Belena loved it. She especially enjoyed watching the leaves on the giant trees change colour and fall, blanketing the ground around the castle and the adjoining village of Rismark and creating quite a sight to behold for its human inhabitants. For Lorek, however, the splendours of the natural world paled in comparison to the beauty of the woman he had married. He could spend an entire day on her shoulder, wrapping himself up in her hair and whispering into her ear, and be as happy as anyone could be.
Supper for the royal couple was usually a very simple meal consisting of vegetables and fruits from the castle garden, and on rare occasions Belena would be given a gift of meat from one or another of her subjects, usually in the form of an entire livestock animal, or even several. On these occasions, she would enlist the help of skilled cooks from Rismark in helping her prepare such a meal, since she herself wasn’t too familiar with cooking and preparing meat dishes. Recently, however, her mealtime options had become more varied. Working with the sap from the area’s giant-sized trees as well as their seeds and fruits, a pair of alchemists dwelling in Rismark had managed to create an elixir which could cause any plant or plant-based food to enlarge in size, until it was large in proportion with Vandan’s giant lifeforms. This meant not only that more food could potentially be produced, helping to alleviate famine in times of want, but also allowed Belena and Sylvie the chance to try out new foods, such as bread, sugar, spices and many others, that they could not get from their garden. The elixir was, however, extremely costly and difficult to produce, so the two giantesses didn’t hoard it for their personal use, only using it when needed. Sylvie had taken a vial along with her on her travels, to prevent her from ever having to go hungry while she was away from home. Belena had a couple of vials too, which she used whenever she was in the mood for something out-of-the-ordinary.
Belena sat at the supper table, with Lorek sitting on top of it right next to her room-sized dinner plate, and watched the candlelight flicker on the walls around her – and she felt a twinge of loneliness, as she had often done these past few weeks. She had grown up in a household of five, which later became six when Lorek joined them, but now she and her husband were the only ones who remained in the castle. Her father Alban came and visited every now and then, but not often enough for her liking, and she longed for the return of her little brother and sister. Lorek caught her staring off into space, her meal still half uneaten. He stood up from the little table where he sat and walked over to Belena’s right hand. Then he took hold of her index finger and squeezed it as hard as he could.
“They’ll be back soon, darling,” he said to her, and she glanced down at him in surprise. “They won’t be gone forever, you know that. I miss them too, but I know they’ll be back someday soon.”
“Oh, Lorek, I do hope you’re right! This castle feels so cold and empty without them, and without Daddy, and without…”
She sniffed and blinked back the tears that came when she thought of her mother, and Lorek squeezed her finger twice as hard. Even though it had been over a year since Valerie’s heroic death, Belena couldn’t shake the feelings of grief that came whenever she thought of her. Lorek knew that his wife’s suffering was twofold – from Valerie’s death and from her own constant worrying that she’ll never be as good a ruler as her mother had been. He wished there was something more he could do to help, but all of his previous ideas had seemed to be of no help at all. Nevertheless, he once again tried his luck and came up with another suggestion.
“I think we need to leave this place for a bit,” he said, as Belena lifted him up to her chest and pressed him firmly against its soft embrace. “Why don’t you and I go for a little journey, just the two of us, in the lands outside Vandan? That will give you a chance to see more of the world yourself, just like Sylvie and Valdan are doing – and, who knows, maybe it’ll make you feel better too.”
“But…what about here? What about Vandan? I can’t just leave and abandon my responsibilities, just because I feel like taking a holiday! What kind of ruler would that make me?”
“It would make you just like everyone else, Belena. You’ve been working as hard as anyone possibly can these last few months, keeping the lands sae and looking after the people’s needs, and the people know it. They’ll understand that you need to take some time off and relax. I’m sure your father wouldn’t mind ruling in your place for a few weeks, just until you return. He’s certainly not too old to take over, far from it – he doesn’t even have any grey hairs yet!”
Belena couldn’t help but giggle.
“You…you’re right, my dearest little Lorek,” she said, giving him an appreciative kiss. “See how much you mean to me? Without you in my life, I’d be sitting here every night, feeling miserable, with no-one to talk to and no-one to cheer me up. All right, it’s settled then. Tomorrow morning, I’ll send a messenger to Daddy in Elgon and let him know of our plans… no, I’ll go there myself and tell him. I’m sure he’ll understand too.”
“Of course, he will. He loves you just as much as I’ve ever seen any parent love their child.”
“Thank you, Lorek. Come on, let’s head upstairs and go to bed. I’m not so hungry tonight. Then you can come up with some more lovely things to say about me.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I’ve got plenty more!”
Lorek rarely felt as happy as when he was lying in-between Belena’s breasts as she lay in bed, his miniscule naked body dwarfed by his wife’s shapely contours. He knew he was in the safest place on Earth in her bosom, her delicate fingers caressing him and touching him all over, but never hurting him. Her radiant body heat and her sweet perfume were all he could feel and smell, and it was heavenly. He couldn’t imagine leaving her for a girl of normal size, nor did she ever think that she would have preferred a man who was the same size as she was. The romantic spell that had come over Alban and Valerie and made them fall deeply in love with each other had now been passed on to their daughter and her true love as well. Belena drew her blankets closer around her, sighing with pleasure as she felt Lorek roll around in the depths of her cleavage. She could do so many things with him that no ordinary woman could ever do with her own lover. Without Lorek in her life, she thought, she wouldn’t want to carry on, on her own. She promised herself never to let him go.

The following day, as fair and bright a day as any in recent years, Belena felt a lot calmer and at ease. Upstairs in their bedroom, she got dressed and began to consider what she would need to pack for a journey into the lands outside Vandan. Lorek lay nearby on her bed, unable to help with the packing but nevertheless full of helpful advice. He was also the first to hear what sounded like a commotion in the castle’s courtyard, far below them, and he told Belena to listen. Sticking her head outside the window, she too heard what sounded like the clash of weapons.
“Wait here for me, sweetie,” she said to Lorek. “I’m going down there to see what’s going on.”
She left him lying on the bed and rushed downstairs, pausing only to hastily put on a pair of slippers. Upon reaching the castle’s outer courtyard, just outside its great entrance door, she found that the castle’s guards had the situation seemingly under control already. Six unknown men, evidently from some foreign land, had been captured and disarmed by the guards. The current commander of the guards, a man named Gandar, approached Belena and bowed to her.
“It was just a little altercation, Your Majesty, nothing more,” he told her, speaking loudly so that she could hear him from her great height. “Three of these men arrived at the gates seeking an audience with you. We were about to let them in, however, when the other three arrived and demanded to be give sole entrance instead. Then the lot of them fell upon each other, and they would’ve begun killing each other if we hadn’t stepped in.”
“Well, I’m glad you were able to stop the fight, Commander, without there being any casualties. If you don’t mind, I’d like to take these six troublemakers to my throne room myself. Maybe I can find out what the cause for their violent behaviour is.”
“Certainly, my queen.”
Gandar gave the order and the six foreigners were released. For the moment, they were too overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of the giant queen to continue their quarrel. Before they could recover, Belena knelt down and scooped them up using both her hands. She saw that three of the men were wearing very fine-looking silk vestments, whilst the other three were clad in more practical looking leather attire, so she assumed that these must be the two quarrelling parties. Standing up, she now held three of them in each fist, only their heads and shoulders poking out from between her curled-up fingers.
“There’s no need to be afraid!” she said smiling, seeing how frightened the men looked in her hands. “I’m just keeping you lot apart, so you don’t start trying to kill each other again. We don’t really care for that sort of behaviour here in Vandan. Now, I’ll take you inside, and you can give me a thorough explanation of who you are and what your business is here.”
She turned around and headed straight for the castle’s magnificent throne room, not far from the entrance. Seating herself on the colossal throne, she placed the three men in her left hand on one of the throne’s armrests, and the other three on the other side. All of them remained quiet the whole time and just stared up at her meekly. Had she merely been a woman of normal size, Belena thought, none of them would have shown her the slightest bit of respect, but with her enormous size and strength, she could make even the unruliest warriors quiver with fear.
“So,” she said sweetly, “who would like to start?”
“I…I would, Your Majesty,” one of the men standing by her left hand blurted out. “We are servants and messengers of Princess Klio, the legitimate ruler of the empire of Solis and Rheir, following the death of her brother Argo.”
“Argo?” Belena asked, sounding shocked. “The same Argo who invaded this kingdom with his army and a legion of monsters a couple of years ago, and caused a lot of death and ruin?”
“That’s true, great queen,” one of the men on her other side piped up. “It was he who sought to conquer your realm, after murdering his own father to become emperor in the first place. But we are representative of General Akton, a much wiser and more enlightened man, and the legitimate ruler of our empire. He will not let that despot’s sister continue to rule and carry on his evil ways!”
“Princess Klio is nothing like her brother!” the man on her left yelled back. “She is the one who led the resistance against Argo and his followers, before he left, never to return. Besides, she is a member of the royal house of Solis, and not merely a distant relation as that general of yours!”
“But she is only a woman, and no woman has ever been the sole ruler of our empire! That is our tradition!”
“A tradition that no longer serves any purpose! Besides, she has the love of the people, not Akton!”
“The people’s love will not protect our lands from danger! Akton has the command and loyalty of our army, and that’s what really counts…hey, wait! Stop!”
Before their heated argument could continue, Belena had picked both of the men up by the back of their cloaks, and was now dangling them side-by-side in front of her face. They were so frightened by this that they completely forgot their differences and clung to each other for support.
“I think that’s enough for now,” Belena said firmly. “Obviously, both of you feel very strongly that your leader should be the one in charge. At least you both agree that Argo was a ruthless tyrant, whose callous desire for revenge was responsible for the death of many innocent people in my kingdom.”
The two messengers just stared at her, too scared to come up with any responses, whilst the other four on the throne’s armrests stared up at their colleagues and wrung their hand helplessly.
“So, I suppose that the reason you came here was to seek my help in getting your preferred leader onto the throne of Solis, is that right?” she continued. “Well, I suppose it would be a good thing for me to do. Solis and Rheir is a mighty empire after all, whose influence reaches far and wide, and our two nations aren’t exactly on friendly terms at the moment – but maybe I can change that. However, I’m not going to decide here and now how to settle this dispute. Only once I’ve visited your land and met both of your would-be rulers for myself will I say who I think should be in charge.”
“P-please do so, Your Majesty,” the herald of Princess Klio said. “If you don’t come to our aid soon, I fear a great war may be imminent.”
“No-one wants to see a war,” the other man in her grasp added. “But if the people of Solis do not willingly accept their rightful emperor, General Akton, then there will be no other outcome.”
“I understand,” Belena said. “But, for now, I don’t want to hear any more bickering and accusing each other of all sorts of things, understood? I’ll hand you all back to the guards now, who’ll look after you and make sure you’re all fed and refreshed. I’ll also send an urgent message to my father in Elgon, letting him know that I’ll be leaving here tomorrow morning, so that he can come and rule in my place whilst I am gone.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” the first man said. “Please, may we also ask you for fresh horses to take us back to Solis? It has been a long and arduous journey here, and I’m afraid our own horses are no longer in a fit enough condition to bear us all the way back.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t have been so hard on the poor animals on the way here in the first place,” she scolded him. “But there won’t be any need for that. All of you will be travelling with me on the way back.”
“You mean…you’ll carry us, all the way there?”
“Of course! Why, do you think it’s too much work for me? I can carry all six of you in one hand, just as easy as that!”
As if to prove this, she gathered up all six men in one fist, squeezing them together a little uncomfortably, but not enough to hurt them. Of course, she had no intention of carrying them back to their homeland in this crude, inconvenient fashion. But before she could make any further plans, she had to let both Lorek and Alban know. After sending a messenger in the direction of Elgon, she rushed back upstairs, where Lorek was still waiting patiently for her on the edge of her bed (it was much too high for him to get down to the floor, of course).
“I almost thought you’d decided to leave without me!” he complained, as Belena gently picked him up and placed him on her shoulder. “Isn’t it about time you made us some breakfast, gorgeous?”
“Sorry about that, my love, but sometimes the job comes first. Yes, let’s go down and get something to eat, then I’ll tell you what just happened.”
Upon hearing that Belena planned to leave for the distant empire of Solis early the next morning, Lorek immediately asked if he could join her. She agreed, feeling it was better for the two of them to stick together, rather than leaving him alone at home, constantly wondering whether or not she was still all right. Being a giantess, she could easily take care of her husband and protect him when he was close to her. After breakfast, Belena decided to start packing for the journey, leaving Lorek by himself in the throne room to greet any visitors on her behalf. Besides several changes of clothes and a thick blanket on which to sleep during the nights, she also decided to take two flasks of the special elixir which caused regular food to grow to her proportions. She had no idea how long she would be gone from home: she knew that the great harbour and city of Solis was at least a week’s journey distant from Vandna, even for a giantess such as her, who could walk much faster than any horse could run. Ad once she got there, she had no idea if she’d be able to quickly and effectively deal with the problem she’d promised to solve, or even if she’d be able to deal with it at all. But she saw it as a nice challenge to her newfound skills as a ruler and had no intention of giving up halfway and coming back home instead.
“I wish Mother was here to help me and tell me what to do,” she thought to herself. “Maybe she’d have done things differently…but what else could I have said? The whole thing with Argo was such a terrible affair…I wish the little creep had never come here in the first place…but maybe this is an opportunity for me to make things better, for the people of his country, but for myself as well…as Queen of Vandan.”
The next morning didn’t take long to arrive, and Belena and Lorek were both eager to set off on their journey. Neither of them had ever ventured outside the wide lands of Vandan before, so they had no idea what to expect. At least they were in no danger of getting lost, since Belena planned on taking the six messengers who had journeyed from Solis back with her. As he waited downstairs for his wife to get dressed and finish the last of her packing, Lorek talked with his father-in-law, King Alban, who had arrived last night to see them off. Alban had agreed to take up the responsibility of rulership again, even though after Valerie’s death he had felt that he’d never be able to do so. But seeing his own daughter now fully grown, and how capable a job she was doing as queen, had shown him that Valerie’s own life’s work had been a success, and convinced him that he couldn’t let her down now.
“It’ll be wonderful to leave home and see more of the world,” Lorek said. “I’ve never been more than half a day’s journey away from Rismark with Belena before.”
“I think you’ll enjoy it a great deal, Lorek,” Alban replied. “I know I did, going on adventures and travelling to distant lands, when I was your age. And, with belena looking after you, this adventure ought to be a lot less perilous for you than mine were for me, back in the day.”
“I hope so, but we’ll see. I still have no idea what’s waiting for us at the end of the journey. I can’t imagine the citizens of Solis and Rheir will give Belena a warm welcome when she gets there, considering what…what happened…but hopefully I’m wrong. Oh look, here she comes!”
They both looked up and saw Belena descending down the grand staircase, her magnificent figure completely overshadowing their own minute selves on the floor below her. She was wearing a bright red dress with a wide skirt and looked almost too grand for words. On her back she carried a large pack containing all her travelling necessities. With a grunt she heaved the pack from off her shoulders, then stooped down to pick up her father and her husband.
“Ready to go, my little love?” she said enthusiastically.
“Yes, of course I am! Let’s go and get the others, then we can leave.”
“Ha-ha, you sound even more eager than I do! Well, it looks like this is goodbye for now, Daddy. Thank you so much for coming here and helping me. I really appreciate it.”
“Oh, there’s no need to thank me, my dearest daughter,” Alban said. “I’m just so gladdened, seeing you this happy. You’ve been working so hard this past year; you deserve a little time to go out and enjoy yourself.”
“Thank you…but it won’t be all rest and relaxation, you know. There’s a great task awaiting me at the end of the journey, and I hope I’ll be up for it.”
“Yes, you will be, don’t worry. You have all of your mother’s strengths, Belena – not just her physical strength, as you know, but her strength of character and her compassionate heart as well. You will make her proud, I know it, and me as well.”
Belena lifted him up to her face so that he could kiss her on the cheek, then she carefully set him down at her feet again. She lifted up her pack and began to hurry towards the door, afraid that she would start crying at any moment. This really wasn’t the moment for her to lose control of her emotions, she told herself. But Alban had been right: she was continuing the task that her mother had begun. For the first time in her life, she truly felt that she was no longer a child. Lorek clung on tightly to the strap of her pack as she walked, her golden-red hair swooshing back-and-forth across him.
“Up here is a nice spot for me, darling,” he said, “but where are all of the others going to sit on the journey? I guess there’s room enough for all of us on your shoulders, but what if they start becoming unruly again?”
“Hmm? Oh, yes, I almost forgot to tell you. You’re probably wondering about the beautiful dress I’m wearing? I’ve never had an occasion to wear it before. It was one of my mother’s, made especially for her by the people of Rismark and given to her on her thirtieth birthday. It’s rather special. Here, let me show you.”
She plucked Lorek from her shoulder and stuffed him into one of the dress’s pockets, and gave me a little poke with her finger. He found himself caught between two layers of the soft, heavy red fabric, but then he saw a gap on the far side of the pocket and slipped through it. To his surprise, he found himself in what was essentially a tiny room, sewn into the lining of the skirt, complete with a hammock for him to lie in made from the same fabric. There was also a window, covered with red gauze, which let in a small amount of light and allowed him to see outside if he pressed his face up against it. It had been invisible from outside, looking like any other part of the fabric. Lorek gazed down at the castle’s floor, nearly thirty yards below him, then crawled back into the outer pocket and into Belena’s waiting hand. She pulled him out and lifted him back up to her shoulder.
“It’s quite neat, isn’t it?” she said. “There are actually no less than eight little compartments in the upper part of the skirt, around my hips, and ten more lower down. So, you see, there’s plenty of room for our little companions to stay on the journey, without us having to listen to them griping all the time!”
“Wow, it’s…well, it’s very unique, Belena. And it looks a lot more comfortable than riding on your shoulder is. I guess this makes you sort of a…a moving house, in a way.”
Belena laughed loudly at his joke, even though it was pretty accurate. Entering the castle’s courtyard, she found the six messengers from Solis waiting for her, surrounded by a small group of her guards. They had all been given a bath and a fresh set of clothes, though all of their weapons which had been confiscated by the guards were not returned to them. Belena picked them all up in one hand and explained how the journey would go from here, then put them all into her dress’s pocket and let them choose their own compartments for the journey. She’d eventually need to get directions from one or more of them, once she had left the lands that she was familiar with, but for now it was just Lorek on her shoulder, keeping her company. She said farewell to the guards and set off towards the west, her spirits high.
“I wonder who I’ll meet on this journey?” she thought to herself. “Maybe I’ll run into Valdan or Sylvie…but no, what are the chances of that? I wonder where they are at the moment. Wherever it is, I hope they’re doing well and that they’ll be back home by the time I return.”

Several days later and five hundred leagues away from Rismark, Prince Valdan found that he was too was missing his family, and his home as well. Belena’s human-sized younger brother had enjoyed his time travelling by himself immeasurably. He had seen sights and experienced events that he never would have had he stayed in Vandan his whole life, and the freedom and lack of responsibilities that came with being alone abroad had been very enjoyable as well. But, after several months away from home, he had begun to feel lonely again, and he longed to see his father and sisters again, even if only for a short time. That was why he had decided that, starting tomorrow, he would begin making his way back north to Vandan.
At present, he found himself in a miserable-looking inn on the outskirts of a village that itself looked rather cheerless. It was located in the foothills of a large range of misty, sharp-peaked, craggy mountains, which the local inhabitants called the Tugusars and which lay between Valdan and his distant home to the north. Tomorrow morning, he would have to begin traversing one of the few passes that led through the mountains, a route which looked neither very welcoming nor very safe. But he had no other choice, unless he wanted to return by the same road he had already travelled, a much longer and more circuitous route which curved far to the east.
While he was debating which option to take, he looked around the main room of the little inn, wondering if any of its patrons were worth beginning a conversation with. Most of them seemed to be the same sort of rowdy, uncouth, heavy-drinking men that he’d usually encountered in inns like this, and who were a lot different than the more well-mannered folks from back home to whom he was accustomed. On his travels so far, he’d managed to make friends with several strangers he’d encountered in these kinds of places, but mostly he tried to keep himself inconspicuous and stay out of trouble. It seemed that that might be the best option for tonight as well. Near the door of the inn sat a few local peasants and farmers, but most of the other customers seemed a lot shiftier. Some of them were playing cards or other games of chance (and which seemed to involve more shouting and grabbing each other than actual playing), while several seemed to be more interested in him and were watching him intently. In one corner sat a massive cloaked figure whose face was obscured by a hood, but who also gave Valdan the impression of watching him. He quickly turned his attention back to his drink, and his thoughts to the journey that lay ahead.
“That’s a fine-looking sword,” a loud voice suddenly spoke in his ear.
Valdan turned to his right and was face-to-face with one of the men who had been busy gambling at the table behind him. He was a short but brawny-looking man, bald but with plenty of facial hair and gleaming eyes. He was pointing down at the sword that hung from Valdan’s belt. Valdan glanced down as well, then looked back up at the man, unsure of what to say.
“Oh, well, thank you,” he replied. “It was my father’s once; he gave it to me before I left from home.”
“Really? I was hoping you’d be able to tell me where I could find a sword like that myself. It looks pretty valuable.”
“I suppose so, but unfortunately, I think that this one is unique. But if you travel north to my homeland of Vandan, I’m sure you’ll be able to find similar swords there for sale.”
“Oh, I didn’t say I wanted to buy one. I said I was looking for one. Now, why don’t you hand it over?”
Valdan had been afraid that it would come to this – this wasn’t the first time on his journey that a robber had tried to relieve him of his sword or other belongings. Usually it was only one man, sometimes two, who threatened him, and he’d been able either to fight them off or make an escape. This time, however, things looked a lot less advantageous for him. Every other ruffian in the inn seemed to have suddenly become very interested in him, whilst the few peasants who had been sitting near the door quickly got up and made a run for it, leaving their drinks behind. He turned around to the bar, but innkeeper seemed to have quietly fled as well. There was only one door and a flight of stairs that led to the upper rooms, and both of them were blocked by the men who were encircling him. Only the huge cloaked figure in the corner stayed still, not moving at all.
“All right, all right, I’ll get it for you,” Valdan said, as he unsheathed his sword. But then he quickly leapt over the bar counter and pressed his back against the wall, giving himself a slightly more defensible position. His action didn’t make anyone flinch, however: in fact, it just drew a lot of contemptuous laughter from his opponents.
“Why don’t you tell us your name, lad, before we start cutting you up?” the bald-headed villain said. “Mine’s Kereg, by the way…not that you’ll be knowing it for long.”
“It’s Prince Valdan. I am the son of King Alban and Queen Valerie of Vandan.”
“Vandan? Never heard of it! And a prince, you say? Sounds like a load of bosh to me! Well, I’m not going to hang around and wait for an honest answer. Hand over that fancy sword of yours, or we’ll come and take it!”
Even though his odds didn’t look good, Valdan had no intention of obeying. The sword had been his father’s weapon throughout his whole life, and Alban had taken it with him on many travels and through many tight corners far more perilous than the one Valdan now found himself in. So, he lifted the sword up in a defensive position and waited for the attack to come. One of the men behind Kereg came dashing past his leader and leapt at Valdan, sword raised, only to immediately fall back with a scream of pain as Valdan drove his sword down into the attacker’s leg. The group of thugs immediately all took a step back: it seemed that none of them had expected their young target to actually fight back. Another attacker leapt over the counter to Valdan’s left, but a blow to the head by a well-aimed ale bottle laid him low for the moment as well.
“Enough prancing around!” Kereg yelled. “Come on, boy, let’s see what you’re really made of.”
He and three others all lifted their swords and prepared to charge, but suddenly two of them fell down to the ground, dead. The other criminals, and Valdan as well, all gasped in surprise. The mysterious hooded figure who had been sitting and watching silently had decided to join in, seemingly on Valdan’s side, and had made quick work of the two ruffians with a huge longsword. Valdan didn’t have time to thank his unexpected ally, however, as Kereg now came running towards him, whilst the rest of the crowd all concentrated their attack on the immense stranger, who didn’t seem to be having too much trouble in taking on ten attackers at once.
“Friend of yours?” Kereg spat at him. “Too bad – my friends will make short work of him, while I deal with you!”
“You’d better hope they will, or else you’ll be in trouble,” Valdan retorted, as he dodged a blow aimed at his head and managed to land a hit on Kereg’s side. The would-be robber snarled in pain, but he managed to get his own back with a swing that hit Valdan on his left shoulder, making him stagger backwards. He almost dropped his sword, but he quickly pulled it back to him as Kereg loomed over him. Before his opponent could finish him off, however, Valdan quickly slashed out at Kereg’s foot, his sword leaving a deep red gash across the ankles. Kereg screamed again and dropped to his knees, while Valdan wasted no time in getting back to his own feet and pressing the tip of his sword against the other man’s neck. Kereg was about to counterattack, but thought twice about it when he felt the cold, sharp steel tip tickling his throat.
“Looks like I underestimated you, lad,” Kereg said, his tone of voice suddenly shifting. “You’re not such a pathetic little welp after all. How about joining me and my gang, eh? You look like someone who’s in need of some friends.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Valdan asked. “You just tried to rob me and kill me! Besides, it doesn’t look like your ‘gang’ has a lot of members left.”
Kereg looked around and saw that he was right: of his fellow thugs, at least five lay dead on the floor of the inn, whilst the rest seem to have run off in fright. The only other person left standing was the cloaked and hooded stranger who had come to Valdan’s aid. This mysterious figure, Valdan realized with amazement, stood nearly nine feet tall, nearly as high as the ceiling of the room. In his state of surprise, he was nearly caught off guard by Kereg, who attempted to swat away his sword and make an escape. But Valdan managed to grab a nearby bottle and break it over the villain’s head, knocking him out cold.
“You shouldn’t leave him like that,” the gigantic figure said in a whispered voice. “He’ll come back for revenge. It’s better to finish him off.”
“I…I don’t want to do that,” Valdan said, looking up with trepidation at the figure towering over him. He tried peering up under the hood, to see the face of whoever was speaking to him. “I don’t like killing people, even scum like him. I’m grateful for your help, stranger, but I’ll be fine on my own from here on.”
Instead of an answer, he only got a little derisive laugh in return. As he was busy wrapping up the small wound in his shoulder, without warning, the figure lunged forward and grabbed Valdan around the waist, tucking him underneath an arm as though he were a small child, before heading for the door. He tried fighting back, but his own strength was much too little in comparison and, with his arms pinned to his side, he couldn’t reach for his sword. He had no choice to go along with this strange individual and hope that, whatever was about to happen to him, it wouldn’t be the last thing that did.

Valdan was carried outside by the towering warrior and into the stable next to the inn, which at present housed only his own horse, since no-one else appeared to be staying there. He was then shoved roughly against a wooden pillar and pinned there by an arm that seemed impossibly strong. Then the stranger removed the black cloak and hood, and Valdan gasped in surprise once again: his kidnapper was actually a woman. Beneath her cloak she was wearing a full set of plate armour, fashioned out of some strange-looking dark metal. To Valdan, however, that fact wasn’t nearly as astonishing as her size: she was fully three feet taller than he was. Her skin was deeply tanned, while her hair was long, untidy and as black as her cloak. She was staring at him with a pair of piercing brown eyes set in a young, attractive face, although at the moment it seemed much more frightening than alluring to Valdan, giving his situation. She also had a smile on her lips, but not the friendly kind.
“Please…please let me go!” Valdan asked fretfully, wincing from the pressure she put on his chest as she pressed him against the pillar. “I don’t mean you any harm! You can have all the money I’ve got. I promise!”
“What about that little sword of yours?” she asked, grinning at him. “You seemed pretty desperate not to let those brutes in there have it.”
“Like I told them, it’s a gift from my father! I can’t just give it away!”
“Your father? The one who’s a king of some place called Vandan?”
“Yes…wait, you were listening?”
“Of course, I was listening, and I heard a lot of nonsense, to be honest. Do you really expect me to believe you’re some kind of prince? If that’s true, then what on earth are you doing in a place like this?”
“That’s none of your business! Look, just…just kill me, if that’s what you’re planning to do. Then you can take what you want from me.”
“You’re not going to try and fight back? Those idiots back there in the inn certainly gave it their best shot.”
“No, I’m not. We both know I wouldn’t stand a chance against you – you’re twice my size!”
She gave him another grin, then let go of his chest. He fell on the floor below, landing on hands and knees, and didn’t make any attempt to get up. The mighty female warrior picked up her cloak and wrapped it around her again. Valdan waited for her to finish him off, almost too scared to breathe, but that moment never came.
“You can get up now,” she ordered him. “I’m not going to kill you, little ‘prince’. So you can relax as well.”
He stood up and dusted himself off, but had no intention of relaxing. He looked up warily at his new opponent – if that’s indeed what she was.
“Thank you for your help in there,” he repeated. “I probably could have handled myself against one or two of them, but I’d never have been able to take care of a whole room full of thieves. Here, please take this in return.”
He held out a bag of gold coins to her, the only money he had left from his long journey. His dwindling number of coins was another reason why Valdan felt it was about time he made his way back home again.
“No thanks, I don’t want your money,” the woman said, looking down at him with a softer expression than before. “Taking care of those rats was no big deal for me. I just hate seeing men like them preying on others, but it seems that no matter where I go…”
“Yes…I understand. Well, thank you all the same. I…look…you never told me your name.”
“No, I suppose I didn’t. It’s Marigal. And before you ask…yes, I am a real-life, in-the-flesh Selkarian warrior.”
“Selkarian?” Valdan thought for a moment, trying to recall where he had heard that word before. Then he remembered: about two weeks ago, in a town that lay many miles south of where he was now, the inhabitants had told him of the Selkarians – legendary warrior women, who long ago had been numerous and hostile enough to keep all the inhabitants of this part of the world living in fear, but who were now merely a shadowy remnant of what they had once been. The man who had told him the story didn’t seem to take the legends very seriously, so Valdan had just assumed it to be nothing more than a myth.
“I…I didn’t think you were…were real,” he admitted. Marigal laughed at his astonishment.
“How about now?” she asked sarcastically. “You can’t have been travelling all that far and wide, ‘Prince’ Valdan, or else you’d have known that there are actually quite a few of us Selkarian ladies still around.”
“No, I guess I haven’t been. So…are you travelling as well?”
“Look, if you don’t want to tell me who you really are and what you are doing here, then I don’t have to share with you either. Now, why don’t you go back inside, hmm? Things should be safe for you inside, for now. I don’t think any of those thugs will be bothering you again – not tonight, at least.”
“What about you? Aren’t you staying at the inn too?”
“No…not exactly.”
She looked around impatiently, kicking aside a few stones that lay on the dirt floor of the stables. Valdan stared up at her, confused for a few moments, but then he figured it out.
“You’re sleeping here?” he asked. “Right here, I mean…in the stables?”
“So?”
“But you could get a room at the inn, just like I did?”
“With what money? Not everyone is lucky enough to be royalty, like you! I have to get by with what I have, and tonight that was only enough for one pint at the inn. Now, why don’t you leave me alone, all right?”
“But you can’t stay in here! It’s dirty and smelly, and it gets really cold during the night. Why don’t you come and sleep in my room instead?”
She stared at him with a withering look and he immediately blushed when he realized how inappropriate his request had sounded.
“No, I don’t mean ‘sleep with me’, I just…look, you can have my bed for tonight, and I’ll sleep in one of the chairs in the room. I’ll be leaving very early tomorrow morning in any case.”
“So will I…leave, that is.”
“Are you heading north?”
“Why, what’s it to you?”
“Well, if you are…then the two of us can travel together. I haven’t journeyed through the Tugusar Mountains before, but everyone I’ve met who has, has told me how dangerous the way is. If we go together…if you’re actually going that way, that is…then it’ll be a lot safer, I think.”
“And all I have to do in return is put up with your annoying presence? I’ll have to think about it first.”
“I’m not annoying!” Valdan protested. “That’s more my sister Sylvie’s speciality. But if you don’t want to do it, that’s fine. Then I guess this is goodbye.”
He turned around and headed out into the cold night air, then hurried back to the inn. The common room on the ground floor was still deserted, with only the bodies of the unfortunate thieves Marigal had killed still lying where they fell. Kereg, however, seemed to have come round again, since he wasn’t lying where Valdan had left him. He hoped that it would be the last he would ever see of that unpleasant fellow. Since there was quite a bit of damage to the place’s furniture, Valdan left his bag of coins in a shelf underneath the bar, hoping that the innkeeper would find it there when he returns, whenever that may be. Then he headed to the stairs, but before he could climb them to his room, he heard a noise behind him. He turned around and saw Marigal enter the inn, bending almost double to fit her lofty frame underneath the door. She caught up with him in a few steps.
“You were right…it is pretty cold outside,” she said, sounding just the slightest bit apologetic.
“So, you’ll be staying with me tonight then?” Valdan asked.
“Yes…but you can keep your bed. It’s much too small for me. I’ll just lie on the floor if that’s all right. It’s what I’m used to, and this cloak of mine makes a pretty comfortable pillow.”
“All right, whatever you prefer.”
They headed upstairs, and Valdan had to force himself not to laugh at how awkward Marigal looked as she walked, bent over, through the inn’s low-ceilinged corridors. He wished she would tell him more about herself: where she had come from, what she was doing here all by herself, and whether or not the rest of her people were just as tall as she was. But it was getting very late and both of them were feeling tired, so they just said goodnight and went to bed. Or rather, he climbed into his bed while she lay down between him and the door, her head and feet nearly touching the two opposite walls of the room. He had been unable to make her tell him if she’d be willing to be his travelling companion tomorrow, but he hoped that she would agree in the end. After such a long time he had spent wandering by himself, it would be nice to have some company for a change. Especially if said company was a nine-foot-tall warrior woman who could take on ten men by herself in a fight without breaking a sweat. Of course, compared to his giantess sisters, Marigal would only be doll-sized in comparison. He wondered what she would say if he told her that fact.
“Probably wouldn’t believe me,” he thought to himself. “Oh well, I guess that can’t be helped. I don’t really have any proof I am who I say I am. Maybe I could convince her to travel all the way back with me? Then she’d see that I was telling the truth…but no, I don’t think she’d be willing to do that. As long as she can help me get through the mountains safely, though, that’d be enough for me. Marigal…what an odd name! But rather beautiful, in a way. I wonder what the other Selkarians are like?”
As he tried to picture what her home was like, he gradually fell asleep.

Valdan woke up early the next morning, when everything was still cold, damp and foggy. Even though dawn had not yet arrived, he saw that Marigal had got up and left already. He wondered if she had had second thoughts about joining him on his travels – or perhaps that had never been her intention in the first place. Whatever the case may be, he figured it was best to leave this place himself as quickly as possible.
There was no-one in the common room downstairs, though Valdan did notice that the bag of gold he had left beneath the bar counter last night was gone. He wondered if he should find the innkeeper and make sure that it was indeed him who had taken the money, but he decided against it. The faster he left this place behind, he thought, the better. He found his horse in the stables (where there was no sign of Marigal either), quickly strapped all his belongings to it, then mounted and rode off into the fog. He took the road north into the mountains, having made sure the previous day which was the correct way, just in case the sun didn’t shine the next day, leaving him without a sense of direction, as happened to be the case. The road was level at first, but soon became steeper as the first slopes of the mountains loomed, and Valdan began to be more careful of his surroundings. He had no wish to lose his footing and tumble down to his death into a crevasse.
He had not gone far when he heard footsteps on the road in front of him. He hoped it wasn’t one of the villains who had accosted him last night, but whoever it was must have heard his horse’s trotting by now as well, so he decided to go forward and investigate. To his surprise, it was none other than his new acquaintance, Marigal, walking by herself and going he same direction that he was. He rode up beside her, and was stunned when he saw that, even though he was sitting on the back of a horse, she still looked down on him.
“Hello again!” he said, trying to sound as friendly as he could. “Looks like your attempt to escape my company was unsuccessful.”
She looked over at him and sniffed.
“Good morning, ‘Your Majesty’! Enjoying the lovely view on this fine morning?”
“Yes, it’s very impressive,” he replied, ignoring her sarcasm. “But seriously, why did you leave me behind like that? You could have at least woken me up and said goodbye.”
“Well, you are riding on a horse, whereas I’m going on foot, so I figured I’d get a bit of a head start, that’s all. I knew you’d catch up to me before long.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I won’t leave you behind. Does…does this mean you’ve decided to join me on my journey to Vandan, my home?”
“No…not yet, at least. I still don’t believe a word of your story, you know, about who you are and where you’re from. But…well, to be honest, you were quite friendly and polite yesterday, and it has been ages since I’ve spoken to someone for more than one or two sentences at a time. Also, I’m getting tired of this place – cold nights, dreary days of fog and rain, everyone I meet treating me like some kind of monster. I’ve never been north of these mountains before, but it can’t be any worse than here, can it?”
“No, it can’t – in fact, things are a lot better up north, believe me. You’ll see.”
They headed on in silence for a few minutes before Marigal suddenly asked:
“So, who are you, really? You can tell me the truth. I swear, I will not belittle you or make fun of you, as long as you’re honest with me.”
“But I’ve told you only the truth so far, really, I have!” he protested. “I really am a prince, and my father really is a king – well, a retired king, at least – and my mother…well, she’s dead now…but she was the queen of Vandan, and she was the last living giantess too!”
“A giantess? What on earth would that be? You mean she was really tall, like I am?”
“She was really tall, much taller than you, in fact. Taller than most trees, believe it or not. Look…it’s really a very long story, my family’s tale…maybe you’d like to hear it some other time?”
“Oh no, let me hear it now! There’s nothing to see and nothing to do besides climbing this pass until we reach the top, so you might as well tell me now. Who cares whether it’s real or not? I can already tell it’s going to be very entertaining, at least.”
Valdan sighed, knowing full well that the story of his family would strike most people as being too incredible to be true, and he had no way of proving it either, not at the moment. Nevertheless, he began to tell it, starting on that day many, many years ago when his father Alban had first ventured into the ruined giant castle, looking to find the sleeping princess he’d heard about in legends all his life.


A few days later and very, very far away, Belena had finally reached her own journey’s destination, or at least had it in sight. After descending down a steep ridge of almost clifflike mountains, she came down into the lands of the Empire of Solis and Rheir. Ahead of her stretched a flat, sunny, verdant plain, covered in farmlands, rivers and small villages. In the far distance, almost a hundred miles from where she was standing, she saw a line of blue on the horizon. She knew this had to be the ocean, even though she’d never seen it before, and she couldn’t wait to get a closer look.
Inside his little compartment in the lining of her dress, Lorek climbed out of his hammock when he felt Belena stop. He looked out of his window and saw the same stunning view that she was gazing at. They had both seen glimpses of it during the last few days, through gaps in the mountains, but now that they had finally arrived in the land itself, they could fully appreciate its beauty. Belena stuck her hand in her pocket and called her husband’s name, and he climbed into her waiting fingers so that she could put much higher up on her shoulder.
“We’ve made it!” he said to her, sounding both relieved and excited.
“Yes, darling, we have. Why, just two days ago you were complaining that we’d never make it out of that steep-sided valley we’d gotten lost in, and now look where we are! Oh, Lorek, isn’t it one of the most beautiful sights you’ve ever seen?”
“Yes, it is…although it doesn’t come close to your own beauty, my sweet Belena. I’m sorry I was so despondent – I guess I’m just not used to travelling for such a long period of time, and I was beginning to miss our home. Still, I’m glad you carried on, despite my complaining.”
“So am I…but we can’t relax just yet. Remember, there’s still a strong chance that this land can be engulfed by a civil war any day now – if war hasn’t broken out already, that is. By the way, would you be so kind to go and fetch all of my other passengers, and have them join you? I think we might need some directions again.”
She put Lorek back inside her dress’s pocket, and a few seconds later retrieved him again, along with the six inhabitants of Solis who’d come along on the journey back to their homeland. Tensions between the two factions of the group had remained constant during the whole journey, although Belena had managed to keep them from leaping at each other’s throats easily enough. They were all still too frightened by her to attempt to disobey her commands. She put the six men down on the ground at her feet, believing that they’d prefer to stand on solid ground for a change after riding along as passengers inside her clothing for over a week.
“Here we are, gentlemen – back in your own country,” she addressed them. “You must admit, it’s a lot faster travelling by giantess than it is by horse, wouldn’t you agree?”
An affirmative ‘yes’ came from all of the men on the ground, who looked no larger than insects to Lorek from his vantage point on his wife’s shoulder. One of the followers of Princess Klio, a man whose name was Dorhan and who was the eldest of the group of Solians, stepped forward from the rest. He put his hands around the sides of his mouth and shouted up to Belena.
“Thank you for bringing us back home, O Mighty Queen of Vandan! Now that we are here, would you kindly allow us to return to the city of Solis at once? Then we can inform our princess and her court of your imminent arrival, and warn them not to be alarmed when they see you outside the city walls.”
“That’s not a bad idea, although it’s a very long way for you to walk on your own,” Belena observed.
“That shouldn’t be a problem, Your Majesty. We can purchase new horses at any of the farms in this region.”
“Wait!” cried the leader of the other half of the group, a man named Glavan. “I beg you, Your Majesty, please let my men and I leave as well, that we may reach General Akton’s encampment north of the city, to warn him of your impending visit.”
“All right – as long as both of you promise to stay away from each other and to not try and hinder the other’s journey,” she replied. “Do I have your word?”
Both men quickly swore to her that they would make immediately for their own destinations, bowing down almost to the ground as they did so. Dorhan took a few moments to explain to Belena which way the capital city lay, then all six of them turned on their heels and almost ran off across the fields.
“They’re all still terrified of you,” Lorek said, laughing as he watched them. “But you were very strict with them the whole way here.”
“It was for their own good,” Belena said. “I can’t abide it when fully-grown adults act like children and fight over the smallest differences in opinion – and the youngest of them had to have been at least five years older than me, too!”
“That’s what makes you such a great queen, my love. I have no doubt you’ll do the right thing here as well and make the right decision as to which of the two leaders is the worthiest to rule this land.”
“I can only hope so, my little dearest. But that must wait until tomorrow. Evening is already approaching, and I doubt I’d be able to reach the city before it gets dark, even though I can easily walk fifty miles in an hour. Come on, let’s find somewhere safe and secluded to spend the night. I think the best place to look would be back among the mountains we’d just left. They don’t look like they get a lot of visitors.”
After searching around amidst the valleys and crevasses that lay in-between the imposing mountains that formed the border of the empire, Belena and Lorek finally came upon a little glen that seemed the perfect place to make their camp for the night. The ground was covered by soft grass and there were plenty of small trees the young queen could use to make a fire with. There was even a 150-foot-high waterfall that came gushing down the side of one of the cliffs, which made it the perfect height for Belena to use as a shower. She waited until it was fully dark before making use of it, though, just in case any hidden eyes happened to be watching, which left Lorek rather disappointed.
Much later, long after night had fallen, Belena still lay awake, wrapped up in her blanket. Lorek was already asleep, curled up in her hair next to her face, and she could just about hear his breathing. Tomorrow would be a big day for her, she thought, one that would really test her qualities as a queen and a ruler. Not for the first time, she felt incredibly thankful that she was the daughter of a giantess and that she had inherited Valerie’s colossal size and strength, as well as her mother’s unwavering sense of justice and her compassion towards those who were in need.
“I won’t let you down, Mom,” she whispered as she looked up at the stars that shone down from between the peaks of the mountains. “I don’t know if you can see me and hear me from beyond, but if you are, you can be sure of that. You’ve taught me so much over the years we spent together, and I wouldn’t be one-tenth as good a ruler if it hadn’t been for you.”
As she turned her head, she ever-so-carefully picked up Lorek from among the locks of her hair and tucked him in-between the folds of her blanket, before closing her eyes and trying once again to empty her head of all thoughts of what lay ahead and go to sleep instead.

Belena stood before the mighty walls of the city of Solis early the next morning, having covered the hundred miles that lay between the mountains and the coast in less than two hours. She was eager to see what the famed city, which had indirectly played such a large part in her life, looked like. Now that she was here, she could see why the two claimants to the throne were willing to go to war to decide who would be the sole ruler of Solis. The city was several times larger than Elgon, which was the biggest city she had seen before, and its fortified walls rose almost a hundred feet above the surrounding fields, which made it difficult for her to climb over them should she decide to do so. Inside the city itself rose several towers that were even higher than she was, including the turrets of the great palace that stood by itself in the northern section of the city. It was there that Belena now headed, walking alongside the walls and occasionally peering down into the city on the other side of them. The streets were filled with crowds of people who all stared up at her, most of them in a mixture of amazement and terror.
She had come dressed for the occasion, wearing a flowing blue and white gown of velvet that she’d brought along with her, which came with a dark blue sash that she wore tied around her waist. Lorek wasn’t riding on her shoulder as he usually did; instead, Belena had hidden him away in a little cloth pouch, small enough to fit in her palm, which she had then tucked in-between the folds of her sash. She didn’t want him out in the open, where he’d make an easy target for any potentially hostile archers that might be waiting on top of the walls. Luckily, there didn’t appear to be any hostility from the city guards of Solis, most of whom were perched on the walls surrounding the palace, although they were all heavily armed and looked ready to fire upon her at a moment’s notice. But Belena herself was much too gigantic to be in any immediate danger from the guards. She walked right up against the walls surrounding the palace, her waist brushing against their parapets. The palace itself was close enough to her that she could’ve leant forward and grabbed one of its towers if she’d wanted to. She decided it was time to introduce herself.
“Good morning!” she said in a loud voice. “Is anyone home?”
A small group of people appeared on one of the palace’s balconies, the one that was closest to her. A ring of armed guards surrounded a smaller group of men in the middle, as well as one young woman, whom Belena knew had to be the princess she’d come to see. This was soon confirmed when the woman stepped forward from the rest of the group, still protected by the barrier of her bodyguards, and responded to Belena’s greeting.
“Good…good morning, Your Majesty!” the young woman said timidly, her voice trembling so much that Belena thought she was about to faint. “Are…are you…Queen Belena of Vandan, come to help me against my enemies?”
“Yes, that’s right…although as of right now I still haven’t made up my mind as to who the real enemies are. And you must be Princess Klio, am I correct?”
“Yes, I am…and I assure you, I am the rightful ruler of this empire, not Akton! I am the only one left of my family, and…and he…he wants to get rid of me…to kill me! Please, you have to help me! You have to protect me from him and his army!”
“All right, there’s no need to panic! I haven’t come to depose you, Princess, or anything of that sort…and I promise I won’t let any harm come to you whilst I am here either. But…look, I’m sorry, but would you mind if we talked privately? It feels a little awkward, having a conversation in front of hundreds of soldiers and thousands of people, doesn’t it?”
Though she tried to sound as friendly and unthreatening as she could, Belena could see that the little crowd of people on the balcony remained apprehensive and fearful of her. By this point in her life, however, she was entirely used to it. She put both of her hands casually on the wall in front of her, in-between the fretful sentries, and leant a little forward for a better look at her new acquaintance. Princess Klio was tall and attractive, just as her brother Argo had been, with waist-length locks of black hair, and she was wearing a richly embroidered gown. However, her demeanour seemed the very opposite of Argo’s. Instead of being arrogant, conceited and demanding of respect from those around her, she seemed almost ill at ease and withdrawn, as though the role of ruler was something she had no idea how to fulfil. Belena’s fear of having to deal with another Argo were slowly disappearing. One of the princess’s courtiers, an elderly man wearing a dark robe and tall mitre, now spoke up.
“Giant maiden!” he said to Belena. “I’m afraid Her Highness the princess cannot go with you, just like that! How do we know you are not already in the service of that fiend Akton, and that you haven’t come here to kidnap and dispose of our rightful sovereign?”
“I suppose you’ll just have to trust me, that’s all,” Belena replied. “But, if I had come here to do those things, I wouldn’t need to ask the princess’s permission first before taking her in my hand, would I? I could just grab her and be off, and none of you would be able to do anything about it. But I’m not your enemy, I swear. All I want to do here today is to get to know you better, Princess, and to determine whether or not you’d make as fine a ruler of Solis and Rheir as your followers have been telling me you would the entire journey here. Please, if you would be so kind, step into my hand, and I’ll take you somewhere where we can talk, just the two of us. Afterwards, I’ll return you to your palace safely and unharmed, I promise.”
She stretched out her arm and held her open hand right next to the balcony, and the crowd of nobles and palace guards began to stir about in alarm. They knew that what the giantess had said was true: that there’d be nothing they could do to stop her from taking the princess captive if she wished to do so. Klio stood where she was, frozen in uncertainty, but when she saw that Belena made no attempt to grab her or anything like that, she took a step towards her hand. Then another, and another, until she climbed over the balcony’s railing and dropped down into an opne palm ten feet across.
“I…I…I’ll trust your word, O Mighty Queen,” Klio said, putting an effort into sounding brave. “Please, t-take me with you, and I’ll…I’ll tell you how things stand here, in my realm.”
Belena smiled at her, impressed by her newfound courage, then withdrew her hand all the way to her chest. Below her on the wall, the sentries all lifted their bows directly above their heads, ready to fire in an instant if their princess appeared to be in danger, while far below on the city’s streets a great murmur spread through the crowds. Their reaction was exactly why Belena didn’t want to discuss the state of affairs with Princess Klio right here and now. She didn’t want to have her every word and movement scrutinized by an agitated crowd and by a legion of soldiers who regarded her with hostility. Holding Klio carefully against her breast, she began to walk north along the city wall until she reached its end. Then she turned west and headed down towards the coast.
There are few things in the world large and vast enough to impress a giantess like Belena, but the ocean was one of them. As she walked along its shore, she gazed out across the endless blue expanse, trying in vain to see if anything lay on the opposite side. She wondered if she’d be able to swim across its waters, before dismissing the idea as silly. Ships might be able to sail across the ocean, but no ship had ever been built that was large enough to carry her, so she resigned herself to the fact that she would never know what lay across the sea. Then she turned her attention back to her tiny passenger. After several minutes of walking, she reached a large rocky cliff that plunged steeply into the sea, with tremendous outcrops of rock arranged all about its base. Belena found a comfortable seat on one of these, out of sight from the city and inaccessible to any normal-sized people, who would have to descend down hundreds of feet of cliffside to reach her. She smoothed out her skirt, then put Klio down carefully in her lap. The tiny princess sat down and looked up at Belena with wide eyes, still clearly frightened by her, but also impressed by how the giantess had carried her without hurting her.
“You can tell me your story in just a moment, Princess,” Belena said. “First, there’s someone else who’ll be joining us.”
She reached in underneath the cloth tied around her waist and drew out the little pouch in which Lorek was. He soon joined Klio in his wife’s lap, where Belena introduced the two of them to each other.
“You’re…her husband?” Klio asked Lorek, sounding very shocked. “But she’s…she’s a giant, and you…”
“He’s just a regular human being like you, Princess, but I love him nonetheless,” Belena chimed in. “Lorek is one of the most important people in my life, and I cannot tell you how much poorer my life would be without him.”
Lorek blushed a little at the praise that she was giving him.
“She’s just being over-generous, as usual, Your Highness,” he told the foreign princess. “But I love her too, more than anyone or anything else on Earth. Her being a giantess does not change that at all: she’s the kindest, most generous and most understanding person I know. You don’t have to be afraid of her, she means you no harm.”
“Oh…well, I’m happy to hear it,” Klio replied. “I just thought…well, after what my brother and his army did to your land, that…that you might decide to take revenge on me too.”
“I don’t blame anyone for what their family members have done,” Belena assured her. “My own family has its own share of villains in it, believe me. My human grandfather, King Mildar, was an ignorant and callous man, who disowned his own son after learning that he’d fallen in love with a giantess, my mother. As for my giant grandfather, who died many ages ago – well, the less said about him, the better. I’ve never met him, but from what my mother told me about him, I’m glad I never had to. If giants like us have a bad reputation among humans today, it is entirely due to those who were like him.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that too, great and powerful Queen Belena. Yes, my brother was a monster and an enemy of all good things, and there are very few of my people left who have fond memories of him. Not even Akton, the usurper who seeks to challenge me, was on Argo’s side. When our army – Argo’s army, that is – returned from their failed invasion of your kingdom a couple of years ago, it was Akton who took over as their commander and gained their loyalty. Now he has left with them to his fortress in the north of our realm, but I fear he might return at any moment, to kill me and take over the kingdom!”
“This General Akton, is he anything like Argo at all? I mean, would he try and destroy the city of Solis and massacre its people, if that’s what it took for him to get the throne?”
“I…really don’t know,” Klio admitted. “I’ve hardly ever spoken to him before, certainly not when my father and then my brother were ruling the lands. I was always kept away from any official state and military meetings: it wasn’t considered right for a girl like myself to concern herself with what the government was up to.”
“Then perhaps there is a chance that I could go and talk to him, and persuade him to abandon his attempt at seizing power. You see, I would really prefer not to have to fight another army from this place. Once was enough already.”
“You’d win, though, wouldn’t you?” Lorek asked. “If you had to fight against Akton’s army, you’d be more than a match for anything they could try against you.”
“Yes, I suppose so…unless they’d managed to invent some form of powerful weapon since…well, since the last time. But I would very much like to avoid any kind of conflict, my darling. You know how much I hate it when I have to fight. I didn’t even bring my sword or any kind of armour, just this little dagger of mine that I always carry at my side. Besides, what could I do if Akton decides to split his army in two, with one half keeping me busy while the other attacks the city itself from another direction? I can’t be in two places at once!”
“You’re right, Your Majesty, and I also hope that war can be avoided,” Klio added. “Perhaps your mere presence will be enough to frighten Akton into surrendering…wait, what’s that noise? Can you hear it?”
Belena and Lorek both listened intently, and sure enough, they heard a noise too. It was like a continuous droning sound, like a distant storm or the crash of waves upon the seashore…but it came from the direction of the land, not the ocean. Belena stood up to get a better look, and immediately she saw what was the cause of the noise, as did the two people she held in her hand. A gigantic host of people, evidently soldiers, were marching in the distance, moving in the direction of the city of Solis. They were crossing fields and meadows unhindered and were causing a great cloud of dust to rise towards the sky. Accompanying them were thousands of soldiers on horseback, as well as a large train of what Belena could only assume had to be military siege equipment, though she couldn’t make it out clerly from this great distance.
“It’s Akton and his army! They’re attacking already!” Klio cried out in an anguished voice. “Queen Belena, you have to go and stop them right now, before they reach Solis! We don’t have even one-tenth of the number of fighting men that they do. Please, you’re our only hope of victory!”
“Not so fast, Your Highness…they haven’t reached the city yet,” Belena answered, trying to sound calm and comforting. “First, I’m going to take you back to Solis, to your palace. I know the enemy army is heading that way, but you’ll still be safer there than if I just left you somewhere out here, in the wilderness. I’ll have Lorek stay with you, then I’ll know that both of you are safe. After that, I’ll go out and meet this general and his army, and we’ll see what happens. You can be assured of one thing, though: I won’t let any of the people of Solis fall to their swords, and I’ll do whatever it takes to make sure no-one loses their life.”
She turned around and began walking along the coast back towards the city. At the great speed she was able to walk at, she knew she’d arrive back there at least several hours before the army could – perhaps even a full day, if they were marching slowly. That would give her enough time to figure what to say to General Akton in order to get him to cease his attack. She wished that her sister Sylvie, at least, was by her side – two giantesses are more intimidating than one, after all. Even more than that, she wished that Valerie was here too, with her wisdom and her innate ability of resolving conflicts. But neither of them was going to appear, so she, Belena, had to rely on her own intelligence, strength and integrity to prevent a war. She hoped she was up to the task.