The Naked Trader

     If only the villagers of Stump knew what really approached them, then maybe they would cease with their futile efforts to ready themselves. A cosy hunting village surrounded by woodland and cut off from most of the world’s perils, Stumps inhabitants had only ever heard trader’s tales of what lies beyond the forest. It had been long time past since the village had seen any imminent danger, only stories passed down through the generations told of the villages history. A village set in simple ways, a village grown ignorant to the dangers of the world. Not a courageous one among them. So when word of a vicious giant and his pet beast reached the ears of the villagers, a fear than can only be described as cowardly took hold of the villagers.
     Little did they know that what approached them was a runt giant and a mutt. A trader had come staggering into the village a few nights ago, with no caravan, no shoes, no clothes and nothing to trade. The villagers fed and clothed him as he shook violently, uttering crazed words ‘Giant ha-ha-hand! De-de-demon hound! Coming, here! He was a fairly old trader, one of the villagers said they recognized him, said he’d passed through here before. When the trader awoke the next day the villagers were eager to hear what he had to say. The old man had been travelling on the trader route a few days before he staggered crazed and naked into the village. He said he had stopped the night on the side of the road to camp, as many do, when the giant hands emerged from the darkness and scared away his pack horse. He said the hands tried to grab him but he escaped, so the hands went for his trading caravan. He described the hands as grotesquely large, pale and strong. When asked about the ‘demon hound’ the old man said there were red eyes in the darkness and a deafening wolfish growl. He had lost his clothes in fear that the demon hound might follow his scent, clever but unnecessary.
   The old trader sat in comfort as the villagers divulged in his terrifying tale of experience. Not soon after the villagers had heard the trader’s story were they preparing the village for an attack. A few days had passed since the trader had stumbled into town with his story, and the villagers were on full alert. Some were ready to face the vicious due, or so they said. Others fortified their homes and planned to stay hidden. They were preparing to face fear, instead they were to be met by a well read, runt-of-the-litter giant and a clumsy mutt.