Askar felt a throbbing pain in the side of his head and warm fluid soak his neck as he sprang up from his defense, grasping his spear. He thrust it at a blond barbarian.

From the corner of his eye, he saw the Suevians lunging at his comrades with their weapons of war.

Next to him, Elkas drew his sword and swung at their opponents. An enemy spear went for his side, and he dodged with a movement of the hips. He twisted his body and waved the sword at his attacker. The barbarian parried with the pole of his spear.

The pain on Askar's side became numbing. He growled and clenched his fists. He felt it with his fingertips. It had brushed his skin and cut through it. But it was not too deep, and it had not touched any vital points.

His instincts kicked in, and he blocked a sword with his shield, then countered with his spear. It penetrated his enemy's stomach. He kept pressing forward, impaling him.

Another barbarian attacked him. He pulled the spear back while he blocked with his shield. The enemy lunged forward, the bronze tip of his spear menacing to pierce his ribs, but Askar aimed higher. He stepped to the right and pushed his way into the soldier's neck.

Next to him, Adna had killed two barbarians with his lance. He had wounded two others. Their other comrades had incapacitated the rest, and now there were only two barbarians standing. The legionaries advanced with their spears and shields forward, surrounding them. The barbarians dropped their axes and spears, and fear sparkled in their eyes.

"Askar!" Elkas approached him as Askar kept his hand on his neck. In the heat of the battle, he had swallowed the pain that was becoming unbearable. "You're wounded, brother!"

Askar kept covering his ear, feeling warm blood drenching from it.

"It's just a flesh wound," he answered.

"Put something around it!" Elkas shouted. "It's not deep, but I've seen lighter ones get infected. You, Ignatius!" He called the one who was carrying the healer's bag. "Come over here and cover his wounds. And iron it first."

"Aye, Decurion!" Ignatius responded.

The two barbarians remained with their gazes low. But Askar could perceive the hatred in their eyes as Ignatius wrapped a long gauze around his neck.

"You scum!" Elkas exclaimed, pushing one of the barbarians. The man fell on his buttocks and remained there, with fear in his eyes. "You have no honor, I should execute you both. Now you will be taken to our camp and . . ."

"I am sorry!" one of them cried, raising his face, in a coarse accent. "I really did not want them to do it, but they did not believe me."

"Now beat your friends when it comes to cowardice!" Elkas said, walking toward the man, bending his back, and breathing in his face. Elkas unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the man's neck.But please... No! Don't kill me," the man clamored, joining his hands to beg. "I have a wife and child. I know about the giant; I saw him, I saw him!"

"What about the giant?" he asked.

"I was at the village when it happened. It leaped through the air, from the forest, and fell next to the village. Then, he jumped again, we saw him when we were tilting our land, we..."

"I'll see if you're telling the truth. Tell me, what did he look like?" Elkas asked him, keeping the sword against his neck.

"He... Like the color of limestone, its bones could be seen. Then we went to see where he had been, and there was a big hole."

"Where is that village?" Elkas asked.

"North!"

"Good! This is what we're going to do!" Elkas sheathed his sword and gave the man a cold glance. "We're coming back, in peace, so you better not do anything. We will come with fifty men. No harm to you and your people if you let us be."

***

Convincing the rest of the headless legion was not easy, but they did it. Elkas gathered at least twenty-five soldiers and they marched into the forest that very day, when the sun rose to its zenith, and they advanced, following the two Suevian men whom they had spared.

Stolen novel; please report.

The village was beyond the forest, guarded by a wooden wall that rose sixteen feet high. Right behind it, there were ditches guarded by wooden spikes. A wooden bridge led into the main gate. Askar saw the Suevian men, who wore capes of blue, bare-chested, their loins covered with skirts, and their hair and beards long and untrimmed, with a small bun of hair bound on the side of their foreheads. Some of them, the wealthiest ones, wore ornaments of gold and silver. The women wore long clear skirts, colorful blouses, and brooches of silver that hung around their bosoms. The inhabitants glared at them, like pestilent bugs disturbing their health, murmuring curses and spells in their harsh tongue.

"This way!" The man guided Elkas and the rest of the legion up the hill, into a moor covered in heather. There, they found a hole in the ground, similar to the one where the Giant had landed, next to the wall.

"This is what you've brought us for?" one of the soldiers who had joined the company asked. "We saw the same ones right next to the walls."

"We can follow him," Elkas responded. "We have to walk the same distance and find him."

"This is a waste of time," the soldier continued.

"You already came with me, now let's get rid of that creature for good. He killed our centurion. It's only a creature, we surely can deal with it."

"This is a joke." The soldier shook his head and turned around, giving his back to Elkas.

"Let us press forward into the woods once again, northward," Elkas calmly said. "We have covered quite a distance in only a few hours."

"Let's go," Adna said.

"For now, men, do what you will," Elkas said to the group. "I am going up, you may follow me or remain where you're at."Proofread lightly:

"Listen," Karvatis, the one with deep black hair and blue eyes, said. "If we're out too close to sunset, we'll come back. We have a post to guard."

"That's fine," Elkas said. "We shouldn't take that long. It's barely morning."

They descended from the moor and passed by the wooden walls and the ditch, full of wooden poles and spikes. As they crossed, they encountered old women who threw turnips and onions at them.

"Killer!" they heard from their toothless mouths. And so, they had indeed killed that very week, but they did not change who they were, nor their intentions.

When they crossed over to the other side, where the northern wall of the village was protected by a creek, they saw a rider approach in haste. Even from such a distance, Askar noticed his unnaturally pale face, as if sick or terrified, contrasting with his dark brown hair and the Suevian knot on his forehead. He wore a simple tunic and a golden necklace with the sign of a hammer. The man stopped abruptly next to the guards, just as Askar was passing by.

"Hitaria! Hitaria is no more!"

"What are you saying?" their guide asked.

"It has been destroyed!" the rider shouted.

"Destroyed, by whom?"

"We know not, but it was monstrous, it was vile... We must gather our troops and march!"

Elkas seemed to take notice of what was being said. He turned around and strode toward the guards.

"What happened?"

The messenger pulled the reins, and his horse stood on two legs, delivering an angry neigh.

"What is this imperial soldier doing here?" he asked with a frown and spat on the ground.

"We mean no ill," Elkas clarified, looking straight into the messenger's blue eyes. "We are looking for a monster that was seen yesterday. It leapt up into the air, moving northward."

"What monster is he talking about?" the messenger asked the guides, not addressing him directly.

"I saw him too," one of the guides stated. "It was taller than the evergreens, maybe as tall as a mountain. Its flesh was like rocks carved into a menhir with a monstrous face."

The messenger scratched his chin. He stood silent, hesitating.

"You, foreigners, go north, if you wish, but you will not like what you will find up there. Search for your monster, and know that you shall not come back. Nothing was left standing. Men, women, and children were stomped without mercy, their limbs torn and crushed like insects under boots," the messenger declared. His voice broke, his expression was wry, and a shade of agony distilled from his eyes. "If you go up, if you encounter it, you shall die."

The legionaries looked at each other.

"Elkas," Askar muttered. "He is right. We may not return."

Elkas took a deep breath. "But you all say the creature came here. We saw its footprint. But why, then, did it not touch this village? Was there any survivor?" he asked, ignoring Askar.

"There were," the messenger stated. "A few men, wounded, but their words were screams of madmen, consumed by fear.""Let's go," Elkas said, glancing at his group.

"Are you mad, Elkas?" Adna stood in front of Decurion. He put his hand on his chest, like any good friend would. "Listen to them. Did you hear Elkas? He killed the Centurion like he was an ant. I don't believe our arrows can hurt him. Nothing can!"

"Let's take a look. Let us see what he did, and maybe from there, we may find their weakness."

"I am sorry," Adna said. "But Elkas, you are taking this wish of yours to earn the phalera too far. You can still be brave and demonstrate valor, you can earn your damn medal without being suicidal. Did you hear the man? One beast against a village, and only the wounded remained. Maybe damned souls who barely survived. I guess those were not just peasants; they must have had sentinels, guardians, soldiers!"

"I am not saying to engage, Adna. Listen, any report from our side would be useful."

Another soldier cleared his throat.

"This is suicide."

"Once again, if you wish to leave me, you may. I would go alone, for all I care."

Askar considered leaving anyway. If they were to encounter the creature, they were dead. He did not want to die, no matter what. He had a loving wife and a child soon to come.

Elkas looked at the messenger. "Are you delivering your message to the mayor of this town? If you do so, please tell them we wish to venture north. If anyone wishes to explore with us, we shall respect and protect them."

After an hour, although some left the company, Adna, Askar, and most of the group agreed to keep going. A group of Suevian warriors decided to join them and see what had been done to their relatives. It was, in the end, forty-five men: twenty-three Gadalian and twenty-two Suevian, who marched up through the forest that day, armed to the teeth, searching for a giant.