The giants were produced in two ways. Either a giant bred with a male human, or a human female could be turned into a giant. The magic for the transformation existed in Gintessa, its nature undisclosed. The giants only existed as females, so they depended on humans for population. The women who were turned into giants were second-class citizens, called offgiants. They had to spend ten years in Gintessa before they could gain full citizenship, and until then weren’t allowed to return to Humius, the human territory. There was a certain degree of respect towards Humius from Gintessa, even though giants might not respect humans. Due to depending on humans for population, the giants understood that the well-being of humans was necessary for both parties.

It had been three days since Lily agreed to help them, and they decided to meet today where they had struck the deal. The three were headed there now, all of them wearing drab wool trousers and burlap shirts. The warm afternoon demanded no more. Henry wore a brown headband around his bald head, Rennard had his long red hair ponytailed, and Milton let the brown bushy hair be free. All three had a rucksack each.

“I’m surprised, Milton,” Rennard said. “That you’re on with this.”

“Come on, you two are my brothers. I’d follow you everywhere, even if it’s dumb sometimes.”

“You’ve been pretty quiet, is all. Which is good, do more of this.”

“We’ve gained the help of a giant,” Milton said. “That changes everything. It’s not as stupid now.”

Henry watched his friend with an amused curiosity. “What made you ask her? Especially after she had just stepped all over us.”

“If she can make this easier for us, I’ll take that. She looked hurt from when we first saw her, right before she ran over you. I believe what she says. I don’t feel she’s smart enough to think of anything else or come up with some elaborate lie. It’s like you said, Milton, she’s not the lying type.”

They passed Kradger’s cabin again and came to the open landscape by the hill. They didn’t see her, though they only looked ahead.

“Peekaboo!” Her shadow grew over the three, and her two feet smashed onto the ground to either side of them. All three of them were thrown a few yards off the ground, Milton landing on top of her left foot while the other two returned to a cracked and broken surface. Looking above, they saw her two pale legs tower up to a pair of white bloomers. Her head appeared from over the hem of her yellow frock, a gleeful look on her. “I surprised you, didn’t I?”

“Yeah.” Henry was stuttering. “You sure did.” They crawled out from under her and stood.

“We’re friends now, and friends joke with each other,” she said.

Milton tapped his rucksack. “We’re carrying things, so try not to step on us, okay?”

“Not that it’s alright to step on us otherwise,” Henry added.

“I’ve heard that humans don’t get to make demands.”

“Like you you said, we’re friends, aren’t we?” Milton said. “And friends compromise.”

“We’re partners in this mission,” Rennard said. “We help each other, we’re equal.”

She had a distant look on her, as if everything didn’t quite register. In the end, she nodded. “Ok.” She brought her hands to the new apparel she wore around her waist, a tiny leather bag somewhere in between a satchel and a pouch. “I got this like you asked.”

“Good,” Milton said. “Now put us in.” She picked them up and placed them inside to stand, the lip of the satchel reaching to their chest. The leather was firm enough to stand on without any buckling or folding. They had to tilt their heads all the way up to see her, and she had to tuck her chin in to look down on them. She was small-chested, leaving little in the way.

“So, do we go to Gintessa now?”

“No,” Milton and Rennard said together, and Rennard took the lead. “Look, not even I’m that bold. They’ll look on us sideways just for walking freely there. Go to the human villages near the border to Gintessa. There’s plenty of giants there, some of them officials from the queen. That’s a good in-between of home but still an arm’s reach into giants’ territory. Do you know the village called Trester?”

She nodded.

“That’s where we go.”

“Ok.” She took her first steps, a manageable disruption to their comfort within the satchel.  They were like three little baby kangaroos in the mother’s bag.

She headed north with a slight eastern pivot. The birch trees came ahead, peaking at the same height as her. Their branches were mostly by the top, leaving the three in the satchel relatively undisturbed while Lily had to brush past them.

Henry, who was deep in his musing, emerged with some thoughts. “You know, with her, we probably could move around Gintessa unauthorized, and be alright.”

“Maybe,” Rennard said. “But it won’t be needed. The giants have an office at Trester. I know it’s far, but with her legs we can be there tomorrow.” Rennard reached inside his rucksack and brought out a colourful cube, each of the six sides a different colour. “I’ve got a lot of trinkets here from my uncle’s theater in the capital. They’re for performances and festivals, but we’ll use them to clown the cunts right in their formal offices.” All three boys shared some chuckles. They dropped their rucksacks and sat down.

“I told my aunt we’re going on an errand,” Milton said. “She didn’t even look me at me, just waved her hand and said, ‘some magical whimsy, isn’t it?’”

Henry shook his head. “How some people dismiss magic is beyond me. It’s the only thing allowing us to exist as something more respectable than a small animal to the giants.”

“Hmm.” Milton rose up and peered outside. “We’re heading into the hills, aren’t we? There are highwaymen there.”

“What’s a highwayman?” Lily said.

“People who rob others along the road. Criminals, bad people.”

“So they’re like the outlaws in Gintessa?” she said.

Milton’s puzzled look sent the question to his friends, and it was Henry who answered. “Not quite. By the way, what kind of giant are you, Lily? Is your mother a giant, or are you an offgiant?”

“My mother is a giant.”

“Huh.” Rennard lowered his voice to his friends in the bag. “She’s a true citizen.”

“You can see if someone’s an offgiant by their neck,” Henry said. “They have markings from the transformation.”

“I have a question,” Lily said. “When you were stuck under my feet, why didn’t you try and use magic? Did you give up?”

“We need movement with the arms to bring about magic,” Henry said. “When we’re pinned, we can’t do much. That’s what they tell us in training, an immobilized mage is a defeated one.”

Lily walked throughout the afternoon, seeing a few towns and smaller settlements here-and-there which the three boys all knew the names of. The residents shook their heads and commented on what tomfoolery the three were up to now. At evening, they neared the mountains and set camp on a glade beside a lake. They made a fire and lay out their bedrolls. They had exhausted half the food in Rennard’s backpack, and Lily dug out an enchanted loaf of bread and apple from her back pouch. The enchantment caused them to fill a giant’s stomach as if they were supersized to their proportions, allowing giants to be in Humius with the same expenses as a human. They weren’t terribly easy to come by, a surprise for the three.

They drank from the lake, and Lily dipped her feet into the water. By nightfall when the stars came out, they were all huddled around the fire. Lily sat nearby, a large silhouette overlooking them. Her feet poked into their space near the fire, and she rubbed and massaged them with her hands.

“Why don’t giants wear shoes?” Rennard said.

She shrugged, Henry answering instead. “They always tear and break for them. No material can resist so much of their weight and pressure.”

Lily wore a proud smirk beyond the firelight, wiggling her toes, the joints popping. She was the first to yawn and lie down, tired and sore from all the walking. Paying no attention to how they would all sleep, Lily just lay down and stretched out her legs, her calves fencing the three in around the fire. The three eventually slept on their bedrolls around the fire, hoping she wouldn’t move too much in her sleep. The night passed without much trouble, besides Lily folding one leg and bringing her foot inwards so it brushed against Milton. In his sleep, unaware, he moved towards it, nuzzling his head in between her last two toes. When he woke and noticed, he backed off and slept again.

Lily was the first one to greet morning. She got up and watched the golden sun rise over the lake, setting the water alight. The air was humid, and a faint mist drifted over the water. Her movement broke their sleep, and they remained in their drowsiness while she got up and moved about.

Rennard was the first to break their silence. “Boys, time to get up.” He arched his back, yawned, and sprung up. The others weren’t as sprightly to greet the day, Henry in particular, so Rennard poured water on his head.

Henry zapped to life and threw a fist at Rennard’s leg, who hopped away. “Ah, fuck off, Renny.”

Rennard gave an obnoxious cackle and sprinted off. The cheerfulness vanished from his face at the sight of a stranger emerging from behind the trees.

“Gentleman, a good morning,” he said, hands raised as he bowed. He was young but older than them, wearing a dark-green cloak, old and moth-eaten, and a blue overcoat dulled from dirt and wear. “Renounce your valuables, in the nicest manners you can bring about. No one needs to get hurt.”

Before they could even bring to question the arrogance of him to approach them all alone, his comrades entered the glade in a half-circle. They were seven in total, four men and three women, all clad in worn coats and cloaks. Henry and Milton were fully awake now.

Rennard cracked his knuckles. “Let’s teach this trash a lesson. Look at them all, brandishing their swords and daggers.”

Henry went into a fighting stance, his magic being the art of the fighter. “Swords and daggers, isn’t that a little old-fashioned?”

The leading man’s smugness didn’t go away, nor the confidence of his company.

“The dumbest robbers there must’ve ever been,” Rennard said. He swirled his hands as he usually did to spawn his fire. Nothing happened. “Huh?”

Henry re-entered his stance, befuddled by his own arms. “I can’t summon my energy.”

“Guys, look.” Milton pointed to one of the women holding a globular device similar to a lantern. Inside it was a brown glowing rock.

“Oh yes,” the leading man said. “An Orkken globe. Not that we’re not proficient with magic ourselves, but it’s a lot easier when the targets don’t have a bunch of annoying tricks to escape with. When no one has magic, daggers and swords are quite effective, wouldn’t you say?”

Milton was agape. “How? Those aren’t allowed in Humius.”

“Neither is robbing, if I recalled.”

“But Orkkens only exist in Gintessa.”

“The black market is a lovely thing.”

The three friends exchanged looks. “We don’t have any valuables,” Milton said. “We’re not merchants.”

“Nor leprechauns,” Rennard added, his belligerence unaffected by the predicament. “Fuck off.”

“We’ll decide if it’s valuable,” the highwayman said. “Search their bags.” Then came Lily’s footsteps, approaching the scene with eyes on the strangers.

“Oh, great beautiful giant.” The robber bowed, his confidence unshaken. “Do not mind us, just humans associating amongst one another.”

Milton pointed at them. “Lily, they’re robbing us. They’re highwaymen, you know, the criminals I told you about yesterday?”

“I fail to see how that’s her problem,” the highwayman said. “Giants don’t involve themselves in our affairs.”

“She’s our friend.”

The highwayman visibly hesitated, looking askance. “Friend? That’s a desperate lie.”

Lily frowned with childish anger. “They are my friends.” She stepped into the setting, standing astride the three boys, sheltering them under her like a protective mother. “So you’re the bad people?”

Milton was quick to talk, edging her on. “Yes, they are. They steal things from others, leave them to starve, turn them poor. And they’ve got an Orkken globe.”

“Oh yeah,” Rennard said. “Not so smart to be without magic now, is it?”

Rennard went and took the Orkken globe, flaunting it. “Thought you were smart coming with this? Don’t know what kind of arts you have, but the fundamental magics always offer mobility. Most of you could have escaped through the trees, she would only have caught a few of you, but now you’re sitting ducklings.” Rennard went to the leader. “Where’s that shit-eating grin now? Ought to give them a proper beating as well.”

The highwayman raised his hands in defeat, offering a step back. “Evidently, we have made a mistake. We—”

Milton wouldn’t let him speak. “You’re going nowhere. Drop your weapons, first of all.” The criminals looked between one another for answers, but none of them followed the command.

Lily stomped her left foot, and everyone’s knees buckled from the quake. “Do it! And take off your coats as well.” Metal thumped on grass as they all let go, followed by their coats and cloaks, until they were only in shirt and trousers. Lily crouched down to gather the weapons and clothes. She threw all their equipment into the lake, and when she turned around, the criminals bolted towards the trees.

“Don’t let them get away!” Rennard said, tackling one to the ground. The ground shook as Lily charged in.

“Quick, before they get in the woods,” Henry urged, and he grabbed the criminal leader’s arm to hold him. The leader kicked back, Henry grabbed his leg and punched, both of them ending up in a tussle. Though it was ended by Lily’s feet. The three boys took plenty of collateral damage as Lily exchanged accuracy for speed, her stampede not discriminating between anyone. Nine were scattered on the ground, three of them the boys and six of them the criminals, trying to get back up, and Lily performed high knees on top of them, as if they were grapes being crushed for wine. The leaves of the treetops rustled, the water of the lake rippled, the birds flew off, and the tremors from her continuous stomps took the environment.

After a long half minute, Lily stopped with a pant to her breath, calm returning to the woods. She wiped her forehead. “I got them.”

Rennard groaned, barely raising his head. “You… sure did.”

“Opsie, I think I accidentally hit you too.” Crouching, she delicately dug under them with her fingers, brought them up, and dusted them off. The six criminals remained half-buried, the grass and soil pressed as if furniture had sat upon them for days. There were minor stretches of still-standing grass and bulges of higher ground, the little parts Lily had missed.

“Some of them…” Rennard recollected himself. “A few made it off.”

Lily was ready to take chase, but Henry stopped her. “No, it’s fine. We have their leader. This bastard right here.” They had to discuss the issue of what to do with them.

“Taking them to Trester is ideal, it’s not far,” Milton said. “Let them rot in a dungeon there.”

“The leader is good enough,” Milton said. “He can join us. The rest, send them flying.” With their directions, Lily threw two of the highwaymen east, one into the lake, and kicked the two remaining ones south.

“Off we go then, to Trester.”