Chapter 1

“It’s a giant!” Lyra called as she ran towards the bell tower. “Everyone to the refuge! Quickly!” She said, going door to door as fast as she could.

She didn’t dare to look up until she had reached the last house, and even then she wished she hadn’t. The figure had gone from a mere blur in the distance to a perfect silhouette that had grown nearly three times its size from afar. It was coming fast, horribly fast..

“Everyone to the refuge! There’s a giant coming!” She cried as she passed the stragglers on the road, hoping to hasten the journey. Her chest heaved as she hurried to the bell tower, hoping the ringer would leave in time to save himself. The skies had darkened well beyond their normal color, as though they could sense the coming evil, and soon she could feel the ground beneath her shake as the giant’s steps quickened, closer and closer to the village. In her heart, she began to wonder if she was doomed to bring ruin to every place she lived. As a child, her parents had been killed in an ogre raid, and she had lived with the nomadic pack of survivors. When she left the pack as a young adult, she moved to the coastal town Marila, only for pirates to raid the village two years later. After that, she’d escaped to the northern city of Parthos, a relatively poor merchant’s place that was deep within the neutrality territory, but now, three years later, she was again forced to flee for her life.

It didn’t make sense, why was this land being attacked in the first place? There were treaties in place with the great folk, this was supposed to be a haven, how could they violate the pacts in place? It wasn’t even a city worth raiding! It was small, people barely had enough to live on, no one caused any trouble, it was as innocent a place as you could have, why was it under siege now? What could possibly warrant destroying a place like Parthos?

She stopped a moment to catch her breath as she reached the city gates, but no sooner had she stopped than she heard a booming voice far above her.

“Tried to warn your people I was coming?” It asked with a short laugh.

The bell suddenly fell silent, replaced by an all too satisfied hum of someone savoring a meal, followed by a loud gulp.

She ran, back towards the empty buildings, hoping she hadn’t been seen as she bolted for the nearer of the two apothecary shops, knowing it could buy her some time if she was found.

“Hellooooooo?” he called, the crash of a building punctuating. Lyra held her breath as she waited, listening to more and more homes being crushed.

“Come out, come out, wherever ya are,” He cooed.

She struggled to breathe in deeply, her heart racing as she grabbed the largest bottle of chemicals and hid with it inside a closet.

“Where are you, humans? You’ll not be wantin’ ta keep me waiting,” He said, a hint of malice in the last note. Apart from falling rubble, all was silent.

Until she heard a cry.

“There ya are!” He said, and the footsteps came closer, stopping right before the shop. She looked to the food and waited, but at the sound of breaking bricks she realized it was not the shop roof being destroyed, and she suddenly ran to the window to see what was happening, only to see the giant kneeling over the school. How had the school not cleared?! Someone must have thought hiding the children would be better, some idiot who didn’t think. Her heart racing, Lyra grabbed the stirring rod for the largest medicine cauldron and ran for the school.

“I do hope I’ve not disturbed yer lesson,” He said, leaning in closer to the screaming children. She ran and rammed the stirring rod against the giant’s knee, only for it to break, and alert the giant to her presence.

“Pick on someone your own size!” She screamed as he turned to her.

“If ya wanted to be first, you need only have asked,” He said, smiling as he reached for her, but she quickly ran back into the apothecary shop, grabbing the bottle and hiding once more.

“No use runnin’, lass,” He said as he took a single step to the shop. “There’s naught to be done, for you or the bairns. All ya can do is put off…”

An enormous chunk of ceiling suddenly fell on her, knocking her to the ground.

“…the inevitable,” he finished.

She could hear him sifting through rubble for her, and she quickly unscrewed the bottle cap in preparation, pleased at the smell of acid. Based on his approach, he’d find her any second now, but she was ready.

“Now don’t be upset, come on out like a good girl,” He said, his hands getting closer and closer. “Who knows, I might even let the tykes live if ya come along quietly.”

She held her breath, not daring to speak as she felt the piece of roof being lifted off her.

“There you are,” He said as she looked up at his huge green eyes.

His hand approached, but as his fingers encircled her she dumped the acid onto the bare skin of the top of his hand and wrist.

“AUGH!” He screamed, instinctively drawing back his hand, and she instantly ran off, imagining his skin burn and blister from the acid as he held his hand and cursed.

“Don’t think you’ll be getting away with that, wench!” He hissed, still cursing under his breath from the pain.

“If you want me, come and get me!” Lyra called, standing in road just long enough for him to catch sight of her before she bolted for the next best destination, praying the children would be okay. The next apothecary’s shop was further south, too far to reach, but the smithy was close, and she’d at least have some weapons there. She ran to the smithy just as the giant had bent down to catch her, and she practically threw herself inside to prevent being snatched up, slamming the door behind her.

She cringed at the mix of labored breath and laughter just outside the door.

“I do like a challenge.”

Suddenly the door and Lyra went flying forward. She suddenly realized her stupidity at standing against the door, she should have known the giant would punch it in.

“Come now, tired already?”

She quickly ran towards the swords, grabbing the sharpest looking of the smaller swords.

The earth shook beneath her as he stamped the ground with a laugh, knocking several of the swords off the wall.

“I’m comin’ iiiiinnnn.”

She held the sword as best she could and ran for the nearest cover as she saw this fingers push through the wall, ready to rip it off with one pull. She ran as far back as she could, hoping it would be out of reach. He bent his head to the ground and peered in at her through a single eye.

“Peek a boo.”

She resisted the temptation to try to jab his eye and waited for him to reach for her. She ran backwards, just out of reach from his hand, and angled herself to try to slice his wrist, but he was careful, planting his wrist on the ground. Instead she went for the top of his fingers, and she almost smiled as he wrenched his hand back.

“If you think a sword’ll save ya, you’ve got a lot to learn, lass.”

Suddenly the roof came down in a thousand pieces, jabbing and stabbing her in every direction as she struggled to shield herself. Suddenly saw fingers moving through the debris and she frantically reached for the sword. She looked up and saw the shadow of his palm above her, and she sliced his now exposed wrist, stabbing the sword into it after making the first cut. Dark blood stained her clothing crimson as she ran, darting into a nearby house. The only thought on her mind was to lead him away from the children, if she could make him forget about them it would all be worth it.

“Enough!” He screamed, the pain obviously much greater than even Lyra had imagined.

She waited with bated breath.

“So you think a girl like you can slay a giant?”

The singsong quality of his voice before was completely gone.

“Let’s see which one of us lives to tell the tale.”

Before she could even process the words a great clatter of buildings reduced to nothing surrounded her. She didn’t know which was worse, the knowing that her life was about to end or the anticipation of that ending. No chance for a quick death now, not with the fight she’d put up. He’d make her suffer for it, all the giants, to their enemies and to their prey. In this case, she was both, and bound to fare the worse for it. Trying to think, she remembered a shortcut to the apothecary down the road, but how could she make it without being seen?

“Gone all calm and quiet, have we?” He asked. “You’ve scarcely said a word.”

Another home was destroyed.

“Plannin’ yer next move? Or are ya too afraid to speak?”

That was the problem with giants… well, one of many… they were manipulative. Not just intelligent, but they knew what buttons to press, knew how to tempt the strongest men to do the stupidest things. They were intimidating, vicious, and they liked to torture their victims, play with them, give them false hope they might live. They were sick, fiendish brutes, and Lyra hated them all. At least, she hated all the ones that raided small folk’s villages.

“Given up, girlie?”

Think, she told herself, think fast, what do you have to stop him? Looking around the living room of the house, she saw an extinguished torch, the embers still lightly ablaze. Would that help? Her mind raced as she heard another home being smashed. What’s flammable… suddenly it hit her: the acid on the giant’s hand. Organic acids were flammable! If she got close enough, it just might work!

Before she could think any further, the house came down around her, just as she grabbed the torch. A discolored finger passed her, and she knew he was using the hand she’d burned him with. Mentally she willed the hand to come closer. All of a sudden two fingers grabbed her shirt, and she quickly whirled around and slammed the torch into the blistered flesh. As she suspected he hadn’t cleaned off the acid well at all, and the skin went up in flames before she could even let go the torch. He dropped her instantly, but tried to grab her with the uninjured hand. Thankfully it was clearly his dominant hand that had been injured, and he didn’t have the reflex speed to catch her with the other hand.

She sprinted for the apothecary shop, what would probably be her last stand, hoping to find some more useful chemicals to stall him with. She just needed to stall as much as possible, as long as she could, do anything to keep him away from the school and hope that the kids had fled in the commotion. What else could she do? When she reached the apothecary she quickly searched through the inventory for anything she could use to slow him down, but the only things she could see an immediate use for were chloroform and benzodiazepines, powerful sedatives. But how much would she need, and how would she get it into him? One quick jab, even of a full syringe, wouldn’t be enough to slow him down, and how was she going to give that jab in the first place? The chloroform could be inhaled, but how could she get close to his nose and with enough to slow him even a fraction?

Lyra jumped as she heard houses being decimated in rapid succession, knowing he was now more than ever out for her blood. She quickly ripped off a piece of her dress, covered her face with her sleeve and doused the torn fabric with chloroform, careful not to inhale it herself, then she decided to set the whole bottle aside just in case, then started to fill the syringes on the table with benzodiazepines. He wasn’t even speaking now, just destroying everything he could in the direction he knew she’d gone. She tried not to think of dying, not yet, just of stalling, just of the children’s lives. They had to live, even if she wouldn’t. She had to make sure they lived.

Suddenly a fist came down hard through the roof, and without thinking she dumped the chloroform on his hand.

“What, out of ideas?” He asked, “It doesn’t even hurt…” The fist rose from the room and suddenly she realized if he passed out he’d fall right on top of her.

“Mmm, what a sweet smell,” he said, obviously inhaling his hand, “Are you planning ta settle me with some perfume, lassie?”

She held her breath as the hand came back down, knowing it may not have affected him yet but it would knock her out sooner than he could kill her. She quickly grabbed two syringes and injected the sedative.

“Ouch,” he said, “how terribly painful after you burned my other hand twice.”

She took two more needles and waited.

“You really are out, aren’t ya?”

He reached in again and she injected twice more.

“You’re really beginning to annoy me, girl.”

She took the last three in her hands and held her breath, knowing it was her last attack.

He reached in, she jabbed the needles, jumped back, and waited.

“Haven’t ya learned not ta… poke giants?” He said, sounding confused on the last few words. “What… you little…”

The drugs were kicking in, but he was noticing the effects much more quickly than she’d hoped for. The ground trembled so hard it knocked her to her feet at a bad angle, the walls and roof were suddenly gone, and she was staring directly up at the giant’s face. She stood, but when she tried to run her legs betrayed her. She was badly injured now, too badly. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, all she could do was wait.

She stood, quietly defiant, holding her breath while wincing as the enormous fingers clutched at her. Her arms pinned at her sides, held just tightly enough to make breathing difficult, he lifted her to his face with a horrible grin.

“You lost.”

With the last of her courage she mustered a smile.

“You lost.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“I may be a bit woozy but don’t think you’ll be killing me with what you used.”

“I wasn’t trying to kill you, I never was.”

“And what would you call all that burning and stabbing you did?”

She struggled to inhale, then forced another smile.

“Well?!”

“Playing.”

The look in his eyes suddenly changed, and Lyra knew he was figuring out her plan. The realization seemed to hit him hard, whether because of the drugs or the thought that he’d been outsmarted she couldn’t tell. The wheels of his mind seemed to turn for quite some time before he finally looked back at her with something she couldn’t name in his eyes.

“I’ll deal with you later,” he said, stuffing her into his breast pocket, and with that, just as quickly as he had arrived, he headed back for the village gates, to return from wherever he’d come from, passing the school without even stopping to look. Looking out of the pocket, Lyra heaved a sigh of relief. She’d won after all.

Author's Note

Hi, everyone! First proper story here on Writer's Cafe, I hope you enjoy! Please read and review, or leave me a comment, feedback is greatly appreciated!