Gena and Roxanne walked through the crowded market streets of Felwinter, glancing at the selection of food, weapons, jewelry, toys, pottery, and trinkets that lined the cobblestone on either side of them. It was evening now, marked by a starless sky from above that rained down a thinning darkness, causing the merchants to begin packing in their wares for the night. As the girls strolled on, the streets began to clear of peasantry and lights in all the homes begin to flicker on by candlelight as the families sat down to eat.
“Look at this,” Roxanne laughed, picking up a can marked ‘Newb-Gone’ from one of the nearby street counters. “I wonder if it works.”
“Maybe we should try it out,” Gena said, grinning down at Frankie as he dangled from her necklace.
The lady behind the counter—a mysterious lady whose age and features were masked by her hooded cloak—noticed their interest and grinned. “That’s eye candy, really. If you ask me, a boot works just as well.”
“Yes, I suppose it would,” Roxanne said, putting back the can. She scanned through the rest of the wares and was amazed by what she saw—newb swatters, newb traps, newb nets, jars for sealing in newbs, newb recipes, even little packets of crystallites that were made for freeze-drying a newb permanently. “You really…have something against newbs, don’t you?”
The lady shrugged with a half-smile. “I’ve been in this business since before you were born, and let me tell you—this is what sells. We have to keep the newbs away from our homes.” Then she eyed Frankie, kicking his legs as he swung from Gena’s necklace like a pendulum. “But I see you already have a newb that is quite at home.”
“Yeah,” Gena said. “He’s…a friend of a friend.”
“I am not!” Frankie cried out. “She kidnapped me! Please, you have to help me, old lady!”
“Old?” the lady laughed. “I’ve have you know, little boy, that I’m quite young. You should learn to respect your masters.”
“We’re still breaking him in,” Gena said as she picked up a snowglobe with a newb inside and shook it. The newb banged against the glass repeatedly and then fell to his knees as the fake snow rained from around him. Just when the snow had almost settled, she shook the globe again and laughed. “You have some really cute toys.”
The old lady glanced at the snake staff hanging from Gena’s back. “So do you. You’re a Necromancer, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“My, you’ve come a long way then! It’s not often that we’re greeted with denizens of the Forsaken.”
“Greeted, huh? The way people look at us, you’d think we’re worse scum than newbs.”
“Never, never,” the old lady said. “I’m…always glad to see fellow members of the Forsaken.”
Gena looked up from the snowglobe. “You come from the land of the Forsaken as well?”
“There was a time—yes, yes—but it’s hard to make a living over there, especially at my age. I came here to…retire, quietly.”
“Well, it certainly is quiet,” Roxanne sighed, leaning against the counter and staring out at the now barren streets. Shadows danced in the flames of the torchlights as a few lost stragglers found their way home. “And peaceful… Damn, I hate it. Where’s all the action?”
“You’ve come at a good time,” the old lady smiled. “The Tournament of Champions is tomorrow. It’s one of Felwinter’s most exciting days of the year. You know, just looking at you two standing there reminds me of me in my youth…” She faded back into memory and smiled again. “Why, you should sign up for it! If you’ve been trained as good as you would’ve been in my day, you could simply wreck havoc on the competition. A Necromancer and a Black Knight in the same contest… Ha, one of you is a surefire win. I’d bet these old bones on it, I would!”
Gena shrugged. “We’ll think about it.”
“Yes, yes, think about it! Do. I would love to see a Forsaken take home the prize this year… These eyes grow tired of watching Jinx snatch the glory year after year.”
“Jinx?”
“He’s a nasty little guy. Not much is known about him, but he’s supposed to be a master of some dojo outside this kingdom.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Roxanne said between bursts of laughter. “You’re telling me that a guy—a newb—wins every year?”
The old lady nodded.
“You mean…a guy? A little one? One that I could squish like this?” Roxanne grinded her metal foot into the earth and twisted, but the old lady only continued to nod.
“Do not be so quickly fooled by one’s size,” she said with the wisdom of age. “Like so many things, it is not what is on the outside, but what is inside that counts. Newbs are a threat. If they weren’t, I wouldn’t be selling the things you see before you.”
“But they’re so…little.” Roxanne lifted her leg and watched the grounded dirt and rock trickle from her foot onto the cobblestone path.
“No girl has defeated him in all the years he’s been a master. They say that he is the oldest man alive and one squish would be enough to turn his bones to dust… I’m glad they don’t say the same about me.”
Roxanne brushed back a strand of hair and turned around. “Well, I’ll be the one to see him squished.”
“Then you may need some…” the old lady whispered, her eyes darting to the corners of the streets, but there was nobody there but them. “…Assistance, shall we say.”
“What kind of assistance, shall we say?”
The old lady snapped her bony fingers and spoke louder now. “I can see that you’re only interested in the…exceptionally rare. I think then, you would be most rewarded to consider this…” She reached under the counter and pulled out a tiny vial with a tiny black beetle-like creature inside.
“A bug… Great.”
“This is no ordinary bug! It’s…a leetle!” She tapped on the glass. “A leetle is a special kind of insect that can only be found by breeding a beetle with a leech.”
“And you know this—how?” Gena asked.
“That’s not what matters. What matters…is what this leetle can do. It can help you!”
“How? What’s it going to help us do?”
The old lady held the vial between her eyes and cast a wicked, toothless grin into the night. “Win!”
Giantess World
