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.
Giantess World
