004 - Giants by the Sea

"Another?" Rolf wiped his face with a sleeve.

"Another!" Magnus slammed down his tankard on the wood top, the Seamaiden's barmaid placing two new tankards of amber coloured brew before them.

"Look!" Rolf gestured behind Magnus. "Shhh! It's Ingrid!" Rolf and Magnus turned on their stools to oogle the giantess who stooped down to enter through the street side entrance.

She frowned on seeing them, wolfish grins plastered on both their faces. "Huh. Little man-lets, you gonna do anything more than stare?" Ingrid demanded, passing them by with a single stride. The tavern opened up to a cathedral like hall, a new addition to the old building made to accommodate all the giants. Their eyes followed Ingrid around the giant-size fire pit to a massive table.

"Ah." Sighed Rolf, "such legs, what a beauty."

"I could lose myself there for hours . ." Magnus gulped down his drink.

"You'd get lost, that's for sure." Rolf laughed.

"Yeah . ." Magnus sighed again. "For days, weeks."

"Soon, eh?" Rolf grinned.

"Soon. Six days." Magnus replied.

"I was wondering, you know, when you're a giant are all things in proportion." Rolf's expression turned serious. "Or, can the Alchemist change it, you know, maybe apply a little more potion here or there."

"Don't know. I'll have to ask next time I see him." Magnus put on a polite tone; "Oh Alchemist, Sir, I was wondering could you spare a little potion for my friend Rolf, just a bit, to help him grow his little . . ."

"Right!" Rolf punched Magnus in the arm. "You should ask if he's got anything to fix a crooked head."

Bang! A stool made from the trunk of a tree cracked several stone tiles as a giant leapt to his feet from a table near the fire pit. "Say that again!" The giant bellowed, Rolf and Magnus' faces paled.

"I said," a giant opposite him rose to his feet, drink still in hand. "That all we're doing is waiting and dying in the sand. For what?"

The first giants face turned red, "for what? For Kloster! For our land! For our families!"

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"That's why we should attack! Take the fight across the seas, to Doohama! I'm sick and tired of waiting for those black skins to attack. We oughta take the fight to them, not wait around for the next swarm!" The second giant's voice rose, his speech was met by a chorus of cheers from other giants.

"Too right!"

"Attack, take the fight to them!" Rolf and Magnus cheered alongside them until a deep voice cut through the hubbub.

"Enough." Magnus recognized the giant - Harkness. He was at the other side of the fire pit, furthest from the bar, but when he stood he was taller than either of the closer giants. "We've all fought shed blood on the beaches. We've all lost friends and family. Attack or defend, neither you nor I have a say in the matter. We follow the Lord." His voice rumbled the rafters of the Seamaiden. "A toast." Harkness raised up a massive drinking horn. "To Umar, Jorin, Soph, and Hir." The giants all raised their drinks. "May their spirits live for all eternity!"

"Hear hear!" The whole tavern responded as one. The two giants settled down, Harkness returned to his table. Magnus and Rolf gazed admiringly.

Harkness was a hero, the strongest and tallest giant who hadn't turned into a sentinal. His mind sharp as it had been as a normal human, and they both remembered him from before. He'd been their teacher for a year, training them in combat and to grow their cores. Not that much had come of that, for Rolf or Magnus - they had the talent in a fight, but fell short in every way when it came to core techniques. Rolf had tried the hardest, training day and night and managing to improve his grade up to a three, barely, no where near the warrior threshold.

Their reverie was interrupted by the blast of a trumpet, from the tavern door entered a fat man in a blue frock with a trumpet. "Hear ye, I bring news from Lord Tygis. To all giants in Kloster, the Lord announces that an expedition will be mounted to assault the creatures lair at Doohama. All fighting personnel must attend!"