Erevan wakes to the sound of a dozen crows cawing and flying out of the nearby woods. He scrambles out of bed as the ground shakes. Bursting from the tent he looks to the north. Ozarrik follows, still rubbing his eyes.

What they see is three men, each over twenty feet tall, with massive stocky bodies. One carries a dragon tail forged into a makeshift axe. He steps over the walls of the camp. Now many villagers are waking to the horrible reality unfolding.

Warlord Graw’aud runs out of the giant skull building. He looks up at the giant approaching his home and he puts a hand to his black greatsword.

“Draw that sword and I crush your hall with your children in it.” The giant’s voice booms.

Erevan flinches, the voice hurts to hear.

“Why do you come here?” The Warlord yells up at the giant.

“We seek to eat our fill. We demand four tributes for each one of us.” The giant kneels down. “And we don’t care for size nor age.”

The other giants snicker.

“Who am I to decide which one of my people die?” Graw’aud asks. “What you ask is impossible.”

“Then we will eat you first.” The giant says and reaches for him.

“Wait!” Erevan shouts.

The giant looks over at the human.

“We have two horses. Take those for now, give us two days to decide who dies. We need to find a fair way to choose, and to have them say goodbye to their loved ones.” Erevan pleads.

“Alright. We take the horses and give you some time. But when we get the grumblies, we’ll come back.” He says with a sickening smile.

The three giants leave. Warlord Graw’aud glares at Erevan.

“You spoke for the tribe!” The Warlord marches towards Erevan.

“So I could finish the ballista. We need every advantage to defeat the three of them.” Erevan says.

“You… You deceived them?” The Warlord thinks for a second. “You're a genius!” Graw’aud lifts Erevan into the air.

“Yep, alright, set me down.” Erevan says quietly.

“You truly are one of my children.” The Warlord sets Erevan down.

“I need to finish the ballista.” Erevan says.

“Alright, get to it.” Graw’aud says with a beaming smile.

“Thanks.” Erevan nods and turns back around.

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His group gets started on the ballista. As they work they near completion. But most of the team grows tired and they break for the day.

Erevan joins Vali as she observes the footprints of the giants. She collects small samples that could be hair or skin and puts them in clay vessels.

“I’m gonna assume this is some sort of -mancy?” Erevan asks.

“A form of divination. Experimenting really. Trying to see where the giants are from, where they have been, and what their goal is. Attacks like this are rarely actually random.” Vali explains.

“You are putting a lot of thought into this.” Erevan nods. “You are going to mix those samples into elixirs of some kind?”

“I believe I should be able to get some readings if I try different things. Maybe something like tea readings would work.” Vali seems sure of herself.

“There from the North-West edge of the Giant Forest. They fought something recently that was our height. Not very strong, but very persistent.” Erevan looks at the readings trying to transcribe them.

“They’re being pushed out of their normal territory by something else. We will have to take care of them and then take care of another threat that might be even worse.” Vali says.

“Well, the Frostbloods can do it.” Erevan says.

“Yeah, I’m sure you are right.’ Vali sighs.

The two head to dinner together with the family. The meal is tense. But there is resolve among them. Determination to win against this exterior threat.

----------------------------------------

The group is joined by Vali in the morning. They work on the final testing and calibration for the ballista.

They complete and test fire the ballista with one of Erevan’s five ballistas. Erevan tells the clan that he will be back as he heads to Arfall. Ozarrik goes with them. They head to the Frost Stop where Erevan finds Jarn drinking at the bar.

Erevan quickly approaches Jarn, leans against the bar next to him, and places a hand on the top of his tankard. Jarn scowls and looks up at Erevan.

“What do you want?” He asks.

“Giants are coming to attack the Frostblood Clan tomorrow. I want to enlist the help of the Hunters Guild.” Erevan says.

“They chose to not be a part of the kingdom. Part of that is defending themself.” Jarn explains.

“We don’t have a town charter, but we are citizens of The Kingdom as our grandfather achieved citizenship in the war against the Reind.” Ozarrik counters.

“Fine.” Jarn shakes his head. “I’ll go tell the hunters and get a group to help.”

“That would be appreciated.” Erevan nods to Jarn and takes a step back.

“I hate fighting giants though. Always casualties.” Jarn shakes his head as he pushes himself out of his seat.

“We’ll see.” Erevan says, contemplating how he might handle more loss in his life.

Jarn exits the building.

“Hey, Erevan.” Broxton walks into the room with a bunch of clean tankards in hand.

“Nice to see you too.” Erevan says sarcastically.

“Look, I’m sorry about whats happened between us. But you were my best employee.” Broxton shrugs.

“I’m sorry too. I wish you were a better person.” Erevan nods before turning and leaving the tavern.

Broxton huffs as the door closes.

Ozarrik and Erevan walk through the snow back towards their tribe.

“What was that about?” Ozarrik asks.

“I thought he was my friend. He treated me worse when he saw I was a Crow.” Erevan admits.

“No friend should ever treat you as lesser.” Ozarrik nods.

The two trudge along a trail back to the camp. The gates open for them and they head to the dining hall. Dinner is once again tense, but Erevan informs Warlord Graw’aud that the Hunters Guild will aid the tribe. This eases some of the tension.

After dinner Ozarrik retires for the night to his tent. Erevan moves both ballistas to sit on either side of the camp along the northern wall. Hopefully he will be able to do some serious damage to slow down these massive monsters. Erevan turns in for the night as well.