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.”
Giantess World
