Dozens of giants trooped along behind Tyrant and his pair of frost elementals. The weather was colder than usual, even for this part of the Wastes, though he didn’t feel the chill. Ever since Shiva had bonded with him he never felt the cold. Heat, on the other hand, was best avoided, for a number of reasons.

A middling height giant came loping in, club carried in one hand. The other hand held a twelve foot ice blade of Tyrant’s creation. The giant came to a walk by Tyrant’s side. “The whale is nearby, maybe a mile or two off. It is a great one, like you asked, maybe two hundred feet long.”

Tyrant nodded and waved the giant away to join the others. A great Frost Whale. That would be a worthy prey indeed. Not that Frost Whales were true whales. They had more in common with the wyrms of the Wastes than the whales of the sea, except they were far leather and wider than any wyrm, and had flipper-like limbs with claws to pull it along the ice. They also ate everything in the wastes they could catch, from huge swaths of ice to giants and wyrms. They were deceptively quick, given their size.

Frost Whales also boasted a hide and fat layer that were nearly impervious to blunt damage, which rendered the clubs used by most giants useless. Only the sharpest of blades wielded by the strongest of arms would be able to cut that hide.

Giants didn’t use blades. They didn’t do any metal craft at all, given the fragility of metal in the cold. He hoped to change that in the future, figure out some cold resistant metal, that was a project for another day. Today was about the first Frost Whale Hunt to ever succeed.

It wasn’t long before the whale became visible, though its mottled grey skin did make it more difficult to make out, almost like a hill-sized rock moving on the horizon. Some of the giants stopped walking with the group, no doubt remembering horror stories of the great beasts. Tyrant and most of the others continued on.

Once outside what he considered the minimal safe distance Tyrant stopped, many of the giants stumbling to a stop with him with only a few being more comfortable. He was sad that Kamala was not here but knew she would return soon with more magic users. At least the other mouthy she-giant was here. He intended to keep the first promise to her this day.

“For too long the Frost Whale has plagued the Wastes. They live without fear of the giants, eating those they catch. Today that will change. Today you will learn to slay the mightiest of beasts, to take its power as your own. This hunt will provide the food for countless young, so that your numbers will swell until they shake the ground and can grind the Jeweled Gate to dust!”

Roars and shouts rose from the assembled giants, with many of them slamming their clubs into the ground.

Tyrant spread his arms out wide and closed his eyes. Spellwork swirled to life beneath his feet and he felt his connection to the ice deepen as Shiva helped guide the spell. His eyes opened, blazing with blue light. A massive spear of ice rose up, a foot across and over forty feet tall. Before it could topple over, one of the elementals reached out and took it with both hands. Not long after, a second spear was wielded by the other elemental.

Leaning over and bracing himself with his hands on his knees, Tyrant waited for the wave of exhaustion to pass him by. If any of the giants had wanted to kill him, now would have been their chance. Not that Shiva and the elementals would have let them get away with it, but it was still a possibility.

None tried.

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Straightening up, he looked at the giants. “Some of you already have ice blades that I made earlier. Those will be important. For those who aren’t aware of the plan, my elementals will try to pin the beast. Those with blades will rush in to strike while it is distracted. If it turns, you need to leave immediately. Otherwise you may get killed and eaten.”

There were a few scattered protests, mostly from those who only had clubs. Tyrant didn’t care. Only the giants he trusted not to turn on him had been given blades, not necessarily the best warriors.

After one last look around, Tyrant nodded and sent off his elementals. The response was immediate.

The Frost Whale turned and charged the elementals, clawing and undulating across the icy terrain. All too quickly the two forces collided. The elementals were sent flying, not but before managing to blind the beast. Each one had targeted an eye, getting a single jab in with inhuman accuracy. The spears did not have time to sink in deeply before the wielders were thrown. They managed to clutch their shortened spears at least.

Several of the blade armed giants moved to attack. A barked command from Tyrant stopped all but one, an over-eager pup who ran screaming at the Frost Whale. There was a whip of a blind head, the crunch of bones, and half a giant disappeared in a bloody spray.

“Wait for the elementals!”

The remaining giants waited impatiently as the elementals lumbered back in, darting in with quick jabs before jumping back and to the side. Eventually they settled into a pattern, drawing the beast in a circle.

“Go!”

They went.

Icy blades slashed deep lines into thick hide until the Whale snapped and turned towards the giants. They backed off, running out of range until the elementals had the beast slowly turning again. This process continued for a while, the ice growing stained with blood. One giant slipped and took a slamming hit that sent him flying, though he avoided getting eaten.

Tyrant watched the fight until finally he felt he had the pattern and timing down. He raised his hands towards the sky, reaching out with Shiva’s help to the clouds high overhead. Water and ice coalesced to form a javelin even larger than the spears he’d given his elementals.

Once the javelin reached the proper size he dropped it. It came screaming out of the sky. The Frost Whale turned its head upwards at the south just in time to take the blow to the face. Ice penetrated straight to the brain, killing it instantly.

All the giants grew silent, no doubt shocked at seeing the death of what was considered one of the most powerful creatures in the wastes.

Suddenly, cheers and screams rang through the air. Clubs slammed the ground before the watching giants raced on to talk to and congratulate those who had fought.

Tyrant watched them all in silence, feeling frosty phantom arms wrap around his shoulder and a whisper in his ear. “They’re yours now.” He turned the watch the mouthy she-giant, who noddedat him.

Yes. They were his now.