- Text Size +

Started off at one in the morning, just like normal. lol. Okay, this chapter is mainly the back-story of my story. Basically, it’s the “history” of my “world.” Lol

 

 

 

A Charmed Life

By

Right Wing Attack Dog


Previously in A Charmed Life…

 

Tor smirked at the little man in her hand. Grinning so that she showed off her teeth, she asked in a too-innocent tone of voice, "Now why would I go and do a thing like that?"

Eric eyed the young woman warily. "I probably shouldn't respond to that comment, should I?"

The giantess smirked again. "You are a swift learner, little man." She stood to her full height, the young man still in her hand. "Now then, let's get going. I need to find my brothers before they move camp."

 

oOoOoOo

 

Tor sighed, sitting cross-legged in front of the fire she had made.  Her leg was bandaged and clean but it still was sore and stiff.  The little human that had become her “pet” was sitting next to her, finishing off a bit of the trail mix crumbs she had given him.  At first he had refused and started to argue, but, one look from her quickly shut him up.  Now, he was mulishly chewing on the crumbs on the pretzel stuff it looked like. 

 

Her blue eyes darted to the mustang that was still tied to the tree.  Her lips pursed in thought.  If she took the tack off the animal now, it was very unlikely that she would be able to get it back on.  So… that would mean she would just have to fight the animal to get it to respond to her again.  At least… until she got to Maude’s.  Maude had a round pen and some things she could use to work with the animal.  The most important thing he needed was manners.  That meant teaching him to lunge, respond to the bi—

 

“Hey, Tor!  Yoo-hoo, air-head!”   Blessed silence reigned.  “Tor!”  And then it was broken.

 

With a growl, she turned to look down at the tiny human that was yanking on her shorts.  “What?!” she snapped.  God, he was annoying.  Why did she take him on again?

 

Eric cowed for a minute before straightening his back and lifting his chin.  “Where do Giants come from?”

 

Oh yeah, because he was stupid.  She blinked at that question.  “What on earth is that supposed to mean?  Where do Humans come from?  And the correct term is Elders.  If you call somebody a giant, you’re liable to be squished before you can say ‘southern fried chicken’.”  Mmm… Chicken.

 

Eric blinked, his brows screwing up in this rather cute, for a pet that is, way.  “What do you mean where do humans come from?  God made them.  That’s a stupid question.”

 

Her lips twitched to the right in annoyance.  She was beginning to think “stupid” was an understatement.  “Yah, and God made Elders before he made humans.  Humans are just a miniature copy of us.”  She closed her mouth, thinking that particular conversation at an end, as her mind once more drifted to just how on Earth she was going to get back on Idiot.  Maybe the old rock in the ear?  That might work…

 

Eric frowned as she once more slipped into thought.  Yanking once more on her shorts, he called up to her.  “Where did you get your information from?  Giants are just lumbering copies of humans.  Not the other way around.”  He yelped and backed up until his back hit the heel of her boots when her fingers came down in the “flicking” pose.  The foolish boy gulped as the middle joint on her middle finger lay flush with his body.  His green eyes darted up to her stormy blue ones.  I am sooo screwed, he thought.

 

“You had better learn to hold your tongue when in the presence of those who could kill you in less than a heartbeat,” she hissed through clenched teeth.  “Don’t you ever, ever call my people ‘lumbering.’  We are older than your race, though probably not by much.  We have kept records of our lives, and yours, from almost day one.  And let me tell you something, human, your people didn’t even think of creating civilizations, governments or any inventions until my people either showed you or you found out our secrets.”  She was sickly pleased with the absolute fear she could see in his eyes.  Still, it wasn’t enough for him to be scared shitless, she was, after all, being nice about what he had called her.  Her brothers would have killed him before he could open his mouth to apologize.

 

“You, you little snot, don’t know jack squat.  Your history is so messed up due to the immense pride your race has, you don’t know fact from fiction.  So, let me tell you so you can be one of the educated few among the human race.  Elders created fire.  One sweet Elder girl found a half frozen human male and brought him to the cave where she was staying.  Leila, her name was, put him by her fire and warmed him up, saving his life.  When he was coherent and better, he stuck around until he learned to create fire.  Then, he took it back to his little camp and showed his family and friends and who knows what.  They took the story and said he stole the ember from an Elder’s fire and brought it back.  That is how you were taught humans created fire, wasn’t it?” 

 

The young man nodded slowly, afraid any sudden movements would goad her into flicking the daylights out of him.  “So,” he spoke quietly, “my whole history is a lie?”  Well, this was certainly news to him.

 

Tor pulled back her hand, relaxing her fingers.  “No,” she said after a moment, her blue eyes calculating, “not entirely.  The underlying message—that your life was based upon that of the Elders’—is true.  You young ones,” Eric scowled at the depreciating nickname given to his race by the Elders, “are so… so… boastful, so prideful, that everything has to be done your way or it’s wrong.  Even the history of our peoples!  You humans came first.  You are the originals, not the copies.  At least, that’s what you want everyone to believe.”

 

The princeling gulped.  “That gian—err.. Elder—did attack our camps, did it?”

 

Tor’s face grew thunderous.  “No,” she bit out, “my great-grandfather did not attack your camps.  You humans stormed our lands and he was chosen to go as an envoy of peace.  He was wearing white and carrying the flag of truce.  You little pipsqueaks outnumbered us because you didn’t care how many brats you made or how damaged your lands were becoming.  You just wanted bigger of everything because we were bigger.  So, you took your massive armies, tied his legs together, toppled him and slew him before a single Elder could reach for their lance.   My family still grieves for his loss.  My grandmother never knew her father and my great-uncle never had a real male role model to look up to.  To his dying day, he was filled with bitterness over his father’s death.  He was the one who taught my father, who taught his sons, to hate humans.”

 

“The one Elder’s anger roused an entire community to fight?” whispered the pale looking boy.  “Your people…they marched to our armies and … all but decimated us.  Of those who weren’t killed straight away… worse fates were in store for them.  Eating them alive… chewing, boiling, baking them alive… Gnawing off joint by joint, toe by toe, finger by finger.  Then crushing their windpipe just enough to where they suffocated in the sheer terror of your stomachs… Using the men as … as … playthings.  The five who escaped where the damndest, luckiest of them all.”

 

“My people are peaceful.  But our anger is fierce when roused.”  The young woman’s searing blue gaze bored into the tiny human by her leg.

 

Silence pervaded the camp for the majority of that evening.  When Tor stretched out on the rain slicker she had pulled from her saddle bags, Eric curled up in the joint of her knee.  As the night wore on, he was constantly awoken by the hoots of an owl, the scurrying of the mice and the general night noises that now seemed so much larger and more threatening than before.

 

For the next few thousand years, the vicious war raged between the two races.  Many casualties on both sides were created and no one was spared.  The Elders suffered heavier losses, though, simply for their lack in numbers.

 

Around a thousand years ago, a tense truce was created.  Leaders from both civilizations came forward and searched for an end to the bloodshed.  For years, the debates over land rights, boundaries and food dragged on.  There were times when everyone considered forgetting their ideals of peace and simply attacking and fighting for what they want.  However, they were quickly dissuaded when brought before the evidence of the failings in that plan.  Eventually, a truce of sorts was reached. The continent was divided in half. The Eastern half would belong to the Elders while the Western territories would go to the humans. This assuaged parties on both sides and boundary lines were agreed upon. As time passed, this agreement became less and less agreeable for the Elders who began to expand their race. With the advent of technology and the uprising of the younger generations, ideals of communing with nature were slowly forgotten.

Families began to grow bigger and land began to become more and more sparse. A mere few hundred years after the treaty was signed, a new one was needed to compensate for the Elders' nearly explosive growth rate. After some months of discussion, it was agreed that the Elders could begin to settle uninhabited parts of the Western continent on the agreement that their vehicles were left behind.

The taller of the two races readily agreed to this compromise. They needed more land and the needed it
now. So they couldn't bring their vehicles? No one had said anything about horses or other livestock. Thus, the resettling of the West commenced


OoOoOoO

There is a bit of a hole in the story, cyber cookies to the one who finds it, but I know it's there and I have my reasons for leaving it there ... for now.

 

Questions? Comments? Concerns?  Leave them in a review. ;)

 

For drawings of Tor and Eric, you can visit http://coalwhite.deviantart.com

You must login (register) to review.