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.
Giantess World
