At the edge of the great forest, Valdan and Ansur hid behind a low ridge and looked out over the field that lay before them. The city of Elgon lay a mile-and-a-half to the northeast. Valdan knew that his sisters were somewhere in that direction, hidden behind the city and quite possibly already battling the giant ogres. But he and the several hundred soldiers who had accompanied him were now facing an even greater challenge: the army of Solis. Commander Ansur estimated the number of soldiers who were encamped on the field at about fifteen thousand. They was little to no chance of defeating this gigantic force with their own few warriors. In any case, that wasn’t their primary objective. They needed to get into the city and defeat the soldiers who were occupying it, and possibly deal with Argo himself. Belena and Sylvie wouldn’t be able to fight the soldiers in Elgon’s narrow streets, not without damaging or destroying a lot of the buildings.

“If only there was a way we could get into Elgon without being seen,” Valdan said. “What if we head to the northwest of the city? Maybe we could climb over the walls on that side.”

“Only if that area is not being watched,” Ansur replied. “There are only open fields and farms in that direction, and we would be completely exposed if we tried to approach Elgon from there.”

“Still, we have to try something. Of course, if Belena and Sylvie were here, they could handle the army that lies between us and the city, and we could enter the main gate without any problems.”

“I hope nothing bad has happened to them,” Lorek said. He was lying on the ground next to Valdan, trying to see if he could spot his beloved princess.

“I hope so too. If only we knew…hey, maybe you can go and find out, Lorek.”

“What do you mean?”

“Ride back the way we came and head around the eastern side of the city. Stay beneath the trees of the forest so that no-one can see you. Then you can reach Belena and Sylvie, and see if they are unharmed.”

“But…that would mean leaving you behind. I can’t do that! What if there’s a battle and you need me to fight?”

“We will not be fighting against this army, believe me,” Ansur said. “There are far too many of them, and it would be nothing but suicide to attack. No, Valdan and I will look for a way into the city without being spotted. Once inside, we will try and take out Argo and end all of this. If more of us go, that increases our chances of being spotted.”

“What the commander means is, we’ll have to leave some men behind in any case,” Valdan explained. “And you won’t be much help in a fight if you’re worrying about Belena all the time. Please try and see if you can reach her and Sylvie. Maybe you can tell them about the army and get them to come and help us. If they’re not too busy themselves, that is.”

“All right, I’ll go,” Lorek said after a moment’s hesitation. “I can’t stand not knowing anymore if Belena is all right or not. Goodbye, Valdan…and good luck. I really hope your plan works.”

“It had better work – it might be our only chance of freeing the city. But everything depends on Belena and Sylvie being successful in their attempt to get rid of the ogres. Let us hope that they will be.”

At that very moment, the two giantesses were on the other side of the city of Elgon, doing their best to stay alive. Their greater size gave them a big advantage, but the ogres were tough and ruthless creatures and the girls had to fight like they had never done before. Brandishing their giant swords, they managed to defeat the dozen or so ogres that had attacked them simultaneously. But they themselves were not unharmed. Sylvie got a nasty bite on the back of her neck from one particularly agile ogre, which had jumped on to her back while she was momentarily kneeling on the ground. Another had managed to pull out a chunk of her hair, which hurt even more than the bite.

Fortunately, Belena had come to her aid both times. Despite her lack of experience in combat and the fact that she was frightened of being killed, the elder princess didn’t hold back in the fight at all. She wasn’t just doing this to stay alive: there were thousands of people at the mercy of these beasts, and she and Sylvie were the only chance the citizens of Elgon had for deliverance. Sylvie had fought a giant monster before, but that had only been one monster, one time – and yet she, like Belena, was giving it all she had. One after another, the huge ogres fell to the blades of the princesses’ swords, until their bodies were strewn all over the field. At this point, the ogres – the few that remained – changed tactics. No doubt, in the safety of his occupied castle stronghold, Argo had seen that his ogres weren’t up to the task of defeating two young giantesses, and had decided to defeat them via a much crueller method.

The ogres retreated momentarily, but soon came charging back, and this time they were wielding a very different sort of weapon. In their great arms they swung little iron cages on ropes, almost like some sort of flail weapons – except the cages were filled with prisoners. Men, women and children had been stuffed into the makeshift prisons, up to twenty in each ten-foot cage, and all of them terrified out of their wits. So, too, were the young princesses, who now had to find a way to both kill the remaining ogres and rescue the tiny human prisoners while making sure they didn’t come to any harm.

“Oh no!” Belena cried out when she saw what was waiting for them. “Oh, those poor people! How…how could Argo be so cruel? How could he be so inhuman?”

“Oh, just wait till I get my hands on him!” Sylvie said, and even Belena was shocked by the tone of her voice. “I’ll teach that little monster a thing or two. I’ll break every bone in his body – one for every person who died because of him!”

“No, Sylvie, don’t talk like that! We’re not letting any more people die, do you hear? Those prisoners the ogres are carrying…we have to try and save them! All of them!”

“But…how? I don’t want anyone to die either, but…what can we do?”

The ogres were approaching more quickly now, and Belena knew they had precious little time left to figure something out. But she did have one idea, and she hoped and prayed that it would work. She told her plan to Sylvie, who seemed very sceptical, but they both agreed that there was nothing better to do.

Luckily for the success of Belena’s plan, ogres weren’t the most intelligent of creatures. They were eager to attack the giant girls, who had already killed so many of their fellows, with their improvised weapons, but when they saw what was happening, they all stopped in their tracks. The two giantesses appeared to be fighting one another! They were swinging at each other with their blades, crying out loudly, and, for a moment, the ogres had no idea what to do next. But then the two princesses charged at one another and screamed, before seemingly each thrusting their swords into the other’s chest. They both fell down immediately.

The ogres, not having any idea what had just happened, were completely taken in. All of them except one dropped their cages filled with human prisoners and approached the motionless princesses, feeling certain they were dead. Even when they were practically standing on top of them, there was no hint of movement from either of the girls. Too late did any of them notice that the girls’ swords were stuck between their chests and their arms. Now that their foes were unarmed, Belena cried out as a signal, and the giantesses leapt to their feet, swords in hand, and began to hack away at their monstrous opponents.

Belena went first for the one ogre who still carried a cage in its hands. She swung her sword furiously at the creature’s wrists, slicing off both hands and making it howl in pain. Then she fell down and grabbed the falling cage before it hit the ground. The ogre almost instantly recovered and was about to lunge at her, before Sylvie’s sword came swinging from behind and lopped off its head. Belena put the cage full of frightened people down safely on the ground, then got back to her feet for the final fight. When they saw how few of the beasts remained, it gave the girls a much-needed boost of energy. A few minutes later, and the two worn-out princesses collapsed to their knees, having managed to kill every single opponent. The field around them was covered with enormous ogre corpses, already beginning to smell rotten. The girls themselves were a mess: their armour was dented and scratched and covered in ogre blood and they were covered in bruises and aching in every muscle. But they had won, the biggest threat was gone. However, the day was still a long way from being over for them.

Belena groaned and stood up again, then helped her little sister to her feet as well. She decided that the most important thing right now was to help the prisoners. She told Sylvie to collect all the cages the ogres had dropped earlier and bring them to her, then they could start freeing the helpless townsfolk. She herself picked up the one cage that she had managed to catch earlier. It was smaller than her open hand, but crammed full with over a dozen frightened men and women. When they saw the giant princess stooping down to pick them up, they were initially afraid, but they were soon reassured when they saw she had come to save them.

“Is everyone all right in there?” Belena asked, still out of breath from the fighting. “Don’t worry, I’ll have you out in no time. Please, everyone stand back against one side of the cage, and I’ll try and get it open.”

The iron bars of the cage were two inches thick, but for Belena that was only the same thickness as a thin wire. She inserted the tips of her thumbs into a gap between the bars and pulled them apart easily, creating an opening large enough for the prisoners to climb out of. Then she put the cage on the ground and stepped back, allowing the shaken and still terrified people to escape. Sylvie came back at that moment, her arms full of cages: she must have been carrying almost two hundred people. She saw what Belena had done and immediately started to do the same thing, with Belena coming to lend a hand. Soon, everyone was free again.

To the girls’ great relief, there had been no casualties among this group of people, although there were many injuries, wounds and broken bones, most from when the ogres had dropped the cages earlier. Still, everyone was thankful for the giant princesses’ help. Several young men who were among the imprisoned, and who had suffered the least injuries, offered to escort all of the people to safety, allowing the girls to get on with the task of saving Elgon. Belena didn’t agree, however: she felt she had a duty to make sure all of the people made it safely out of any possible harm’s way, so Sylvie offered to take care of the rest of Argo’s forces on her own.

“After what we just did, handling one little army of ankle-high soldiers shouldn’t be any trouble!” Sylvie reassured her sister. “Besides, I know what to do to make those tiny cowards run for their lives – hopefully without having to stomp on any of them! You stay here and help these people, then you can join me once you’re finished.”

“Very well…but, still, be careful,” Belena said. “They may not be as much of a threat as these ogres were, but we don’t know, maybe they still have some form of weaponry that can hurt you. Take care!”

Sylvie smiled and gave her a reassuring wave, then headed off on her own, leaving Belena to deal with the captives. But, as it turned out, she had someone to help her. Lorek, having watched his dear Belena emerge triumphant on the field of battle from a safe distance, had come running up to her as soon as the fighting was over. This wasn’t easy, with all the colossal ogre bodies piled up all over the fields, and he had even been forced to climb over the huge carcasses once or twice, which was far from being pleasant. But he finally made it to Belena’s location and, when she saw her tiny husband emerging from the ruin around her, the young princess fell to her knees and scooped him up in one hand.

“Lorek…what are you doing here?” she cried out. “You…Lorek, you can’t be here! I told you to remain at the castle, didn’t I? Darling, it isn’t safe here for you!”

“I…well, it looks pretty safe at the moment, doesn’t it? Thanks to you and Sylvie. Belena…wait, please listen to me! You know I can’t just wait back home for news of you! What if something happened to you? I needed to come! Please don’t be angry! I stayed far away from the battle until it was over, really! I’m not stupid, I know I would’ve been killed in two seconds if I’d tried to come and help you fight. But I’m here and I can help now. Please don’t send me back, my love…I really just wanted to know you were safe, that’s all!”

He didn’t say anything about Valdan or the other soldiers: he could see Belena was in a very bad state and, more than anything, he wanted to comfort her and tell her she’ll be all right. But now was not the time for that, there was more work that needed to be done. Belena gave him a brief, but loving, kiss and cradled him in her hands.

“I should be angry at you…but, well, maybe you’re right,” she acknowledged. “I always try to handle everything by myself, but maybe I could use a little help every now and then. All right, darling, you can stay and help. These people have been captured and hurt by Argo and his monsters, and we need to get them to a safe place. We can’t take them to Elgon until it’s been taken back from Argo, so the forest is the best option. I’ll carry them in groups of twenty – that’s about as much as I can hold in my hands safely. You stay here and help the ones who aren’t hurt defend the others. I see you’ve brought a sword with you…”

She smiled at Lorek and realized that him being here was actually a good thing. All this time she had seen him as a tiny, helpless thing, to be loved and protected from everything around him – but now she knew that perhaps that wasn’t the right way. He could be capable of a lot more if she let him do his own thing every now and then, and she knew he wouldn’t respect her any less for that. She also greatly appreciated his help, now when she could use all the help she can get.

Meanwhile, Valdan and his small band of troops had managed to sneak around to the other edge of the city. There were a lot fewer enemy soldiers here, but getting into the city unseen still seemed like a long shot. But luck, it seemed, was on their side. Watching from their cover among the trees, they saw a troop of soldiers on horseback arrive in the midst of the encampment. They were too distant to be heard, but it seemed they were giving orders to the men on foot, and soon afterwards the whole company of soldiers gathered up their weapons and began to march off, around the city. Valdan couldn’t believe it, but there wasn’t any time to waste. He turned to the men behind him and motioned towards the city, which was now mostly unguarded.

“They must have gone off to fight Belena and Sylvie,” he thought, hoping that it was the case. If his sisters had managed to defeat a force composed of giant ogres, he was sure they wouldn’t have any problems dealing with this army of human soldiers. But that was just speculation, which he didn’t have time to do right now. He had a city to protect – his father’s city – and he would do his best to rid it of these evil invaders. As for Argo himself, Valdan didn’t know what to do about him – but he would see to it that he didn’t escape justice, no matter what.