AN/ Remember, my plots never quite take you where you were expecting to go. Where they take you is where you wanted to go all along, but didn't know it.
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Chapter 7: I Really Want That... So I'll Take It.
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(Age 15)
I had been tracking the herd for weeks. Up from The Fist of the First Men, Across Skirling Pass, through the Frostfangs, and into the vast grassland north of the Frozen Shore. At least 50 beasts. Big beasts. Rare and delicious beasts.
I had caught a few of the wondering and herd-less bulls over the last year as I wondered. It took everything my skins had to bring one of the massive beasts down. They were power given flesh.
Legs as thick as steers, with tusks the size of a snowbear. Thick layers of fat coated in thick skin and whither wool. Looking through Fang's eyes at the herd, I spotted something even more uncommon than the mammoths themselves.
Giants.
I pulled Fang back, immediately, before the Giants caught his scent.
Giants come in three types.
Cave giants. Live in caves. Eat raw meat. No language or other method of communication. They are avoided when they can be, and slaughtered when they get too near a village. They are only twice the size of a man.
Forest giants. Live in log huts. They eat tubers and pine-nuts. They avoid people and keep to themselves in the depths of the Haunted Forest. I heard they spoke the Old Tongue from a few travelers that had heard the tale of a few brave hunters. I wasn't sure they existed. Supposedly they were 2-3 times the size of a man.
The Mammoth-riders. The mythic kings of the Giants herded the massive mammoths and rode them into battle. They wore furs and worked metals like men. They wielded bows of untold size and strength. They were the kings of the north in the times of old. Mythic and ancient, I'd never seen a mammoth-rider. They were said to be 4 times the size of a man, on the small side. Some, even larger.
Sneaky thoughts formed a shaky plan.
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A snow-hare found it's mind crushed and it's body used as an extension of my will. I watched through it's eyes as the Giants went about their evening camping routine as the Mammoths stopped for the night.
It was tough to keep up with the pace the mammoths set as they trudged through the snowy grassland at a speed that was comfortable for the long legged beasts. The giants had sleds similar to the one I had of my own. The rabbit's eyes and nose told me there were 7 giants. I could not tell which were male, but I could tell that one was female, as she had a swaddled babe nestled to her breast.
You couldn't tell by looking at her. Giants all looked the same. Like a wrinkled old man, with a full beard of gray hair and more warts than a wood's witch could ever dream of. Who could tell it was a female, when her beard fell down to her waist. They could all be females from what I could tell.
One of them pulled their furs down to take a piss. The stream of yellow barely missed the snow-hare as it hopped away. That one was definitely a male. A male with more wart than cock, it seemed.
I started to put the armor on my biggest bears while the cubs ate. I was up to 12 Snowbears. Fang, Claw, Rip, Tear, Scar, Tooth, and Moon were all adults. I'd bred Fang to Claw, Rip, and Tear to produce Scar, Tooth, and Moon. Scar, Tooth, and Moon were only cubs when I'd gone south, but they were adults now. All of my females were pregnant again. not counting the cubs. I had 4 female, and 1 male cub.
The male had been born even bigger than Fang, and I wanted to start breeding him like I did his father. I would have an army of snowbears one day. And mammoths too, if I did well tonight.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
The armor was loud, so I'd have to move them slowly. Giants were known for their sense of smell, not their hearing. The steel was covered in fur, to dampen the noise, and the other 3 snowbears were clad in the chainmail undercoats.
As much protection as I could afford.
As the giants settled down for the night, the bears moved in. I kept them upwind and moved slowly.
The giants had 4 tents. One tent held 3 heavily pregnant cows that appeared close to birth. Two others contained what appeared to be the tents of two mated couples. The last contained the mother and babe.
One giant kept watch next to the fire in the center of the tents. He appeared to be asleep, but the way he jerked his head at every sound, and sniffed deeply gave that hope very little credence.
It was well nearing dawn, with the bears only 100 yards away, and slinking slowly closer when the wind shifted suddenly. As quick as lightning, the giant rose to his feet, roaring. he shouted something in a hoarse and guttural tongue.
I had the bears begin to sprint. The giant reached down and lifted a bow from the ground. made of a single tree, it stood 20 feet tall. a bow only a giant could wield. Drawing back an arrow with a shout, he let fly into the darkness.
It struck one of my sprinting cubs.
Hissing in anger, I rushed the Snowbears forward.
There was movement in the tents as the giants were roused by the commotion. They had a damn good sense of smell to be alerted that quickly with a wind change. It was worth the risk for a herd of mammoths.
Another arrow flew into the darkness, missing my bears completely.
Fang sprinted at the archer. steel armor flashing in the fire's light. All muscle and bone, Fang was as fast as a shadowcat. Teeth ripped out the giant's throat in a spray of blood in the freshly fallen snow. There were no stars for the giant to look up to as the light left it's eyes. It could see only gently drifting snow, and hear the screams of it's kinsmen as they were ripped apart by a pack of steel-clad snowbears.
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I walked slowly into the camp as the bears feasted on the abundant meat. There was one giant survivor I meant to deal with personally. I pushed aside the ripped mammoth-skin tent-flap and took in the sight before me.
A little giant lay in a bundle of blood spattered furs, wriggling as fang crushed it's mothers femur and lacked the marrow like honey from a hive. It tasted delicious. Giant was delectable to a bear's tastes. Better than man-flesh.
The bundle wailed as I unrolled the furs from it. exposing its young flesh for my eyes to gaze on. It was plump and round like a baby. Yet its face was ugly, hairy, and wart covered. Its body was the size of a 10 year old child's while it's skin felt as soft as snow to my touch.
There was no sign of intelligence in her eyes. Only primal fear and hunger. A very young female.
I grabbed her facial hair and drug her over to her mother's steaming corpse. I used my sword to cut away the fur from the giantess's chest and pushed the infant close for a final meal from the massive teats that spilled out into the cold air.
The wailing stopped as she suckled from her mother for the last time. I claimed the other nipple as my own and drank the sweet mother's milk deeply. It was the sweetest and thickest milk I'd ever had. I looked across the massive breast at the suckling giant babe as I drank.
The nipple fell from her lips as my mind forced it's way into her own. Ripping, tearing, and crushing, I made it my own. The screams cut off as the giantess's eyes opened and I looked at my dirty human face. I went back to drinking.
In both bodies, this time.
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