As Corvus made his way into town and gathered his sister's belongings the word of their arrival started to spread. This sudden burst of activity was a great cover for the two people who walked into town. They were doing their best to bashfully hide their faces.
People were talking about the return of the assumed dead Jorgensen daughter. Smiles and laughter overshadowed the whispered gossip from people who were never happy. Those people couldn't look at the bright sky without looking for the one dark cloud. Thankfully their whispered gossip was drowned out by bright words of celebration.
Corvus loaded his cart with his sister's trunk and headed back towards his home as quickly as possible. He dismissed as many people as he could, as quickly as he could. As the word spread through town everyone wanted details. Before he knew it his throat was hoarse from yelling, "Yes she's home! I promise to tell you everything as soon as I know!"
On the north end of town two men walked through the street, they had been informed to look for an inn near the eastern side of town where the warehouse people lived. They would attract less attention if people assumed they were just traveling merchants.
They marveled at how no one really paid attention to them. This wasn't entirely true however, they were noticing them AND talking about them. Their stroke of good fortune was coming on the day the woman made her way back home. It wasn't any kind of secret that the LeLiss family worked in the southern regions. CunStead occasionally had beast-men visitors when they brought their goods this far north. It wasn't a common occurrence but it also wasn't so far off that anyone was shocked. It was more of a shrug of acceptance.
They found lodging in a small dark building where the front desk man didn't ask any questions as long as the coins were real. They nodded and headed upstairs to lock their bags in their room. Their plan of attack was dinner first. As half-giants, they needed more calories than the average human. Most people just looked at their slightly higher than average size and dismissed it as growing young men.
They were considered adolescents in their tribes. As they got older, their shoulders would broaden and their faces would square up. As a youth, they had a more human resemblance. This change was part of their cycle of puberty.
Their dinner was hot soup with large chunks of bread. Giants ate lots of broths at home where snow was plentiful and soup helped extend a meal out. Their goal here was to start the search for the dragon. They groused on the road that the trip would take too long. The last information they had insisted that the dragon was on the other side of the planet.
If that was true it would take a year or more to confirm it and return home. If anyone realized who they were it might mean death for them. They weren't sure what the humans and other demi-humans would do. Their history lessons painted all of humanity as savage murder beasts. Humans were hell-bent on dominating anything that didn't look like them. And Demi-humans were equipped for the wild savage acts of war but tended to be more family and city organized. The giants never learned these facts. Only that they needed to fear and hide when necessary.
The first giant broke the silence of dinner as he stuffed the last of his bread in his mouth. "Minos, do you think they will kill us if we get this wrong? What if we don't get a dragon?"
The other one hung his shoulders and shook his head. "Torlad you worry too damn much. We just have to investigate whatever is out there. This is far better than living on the outskirts of a frozen village being looked at sideways. At least here they look at us with fear and respect. At home, it's just loathing and a marginal level of acceptance."
Minos shook his head. "No, I think they accept us. We just haven't proven ourselves!" The young giant shook his shoulders up into a sign of defiance.
Minos wasn't a full giant. He was half-human, his mother was from a town not far from here. She was brought to the giants and allowed to birth with them when word of his conception made it up the mountain. The shaman in the village knew the risks associated with a half-breed birth. Human Fathers were a better match, human women couldn't handle the size of giant children sometimes.
Torlad was half demi-human. His father was half-human and a mix of other demi-human races. So really he was the future. A blending of at least 5 other forms of life. He looked less like a giant and more like a man who might almost blend in anywhere. He wasn't enough of anything to really stand out. This made him stand out even more at home. Because of this, he was far happier to be away from home than his misfit companion here.
Minos believed his acceptance was just one random act of fate away. So he volunteered for everything. As a child, he would take orders from adults to commit to insane suggestions. He worked harder, longer, and did riskier work hoping to be noticed for his bravery. The other giants had started to assume that he was mentally deficient. How could any good giant work so hard to do so many dangerous tasks if they weren't a little wrong in the head?
At a dining room in your average tavern or inn, most guests accepted a form of etiquette that dictated you only talk as loud as those around you could hear. Privacy and comfort were necessary for places like these. As the afternoon turned to evening, and workers started trickling in to drink, the rooms became louder. These working men wanted to blow off steam and didn't care about being overheard.
Minos and Torlad argued about the best course of action at home before they started to hear about the return of the girl to the town. And how she had been brought in by two other women of high status.
Rumors swirled that they had purchased her and were going to bribe the family into buying her back.
Other rumors spread that she had found fame and fortune in the south.
Everything had a little backing of the truth but nothing was correct. It wasn't until the word of a prophet riding north to save her on a dragon caught their attention.
Minos and Torlad looked at each other. They each had the polar opposite thought. Minos salivated internally, he would earn the respect that would make him a full-fledged member of their community. Torlad wondered how he always walked right into trouble and how was he going to get out of this.
Before Minos could run off to grill every patron about this saint, Torlad leaned over and looked at the loudest drunkard around him. "Hey, you? What'd you say about a prophet?"
The man turned angrily to threaten the younger voice who he incorrectly assumed to be smaller than him. To his surprise, the voice came from the body of someone who could easily break him. Comically the man panned his head up towards the face and blinked three times before the alcohol caught up with his thoughts and they both agreed this wasn't the day to die.
"Uh yeah, sorry, there is some guy in the south who is parading around committing miracles. Half the damn town thinks it's related to the great harvest a few years ago. The other half think we have all been bamboozled by the church and to just go back to our backwater ways." The man shrugged as he tried to look as polite as possible. His life might depend on what his brain managed to say around the booze.
A voice from across the room boomed past the other guests. The voice was being followed by a fellow in tattered work clothes and stinking of weeks on the road. "You got it all wrong! He's a prophet from the south and I've seen him. And there are two! A real one and a false one! Depending on who you ask one is working for the government and one works for the gods. How dumb is that? I'd always work where the pay is best. One prophet travels with a cat lady and a skinny asshole bard. The other travel discretely and does have a dragon. I know I've seen him!"
The man puffed up his chest and smiled. Torlad sighed. "Oh really? What color was it?"
The man didn't even stop to wonder why he wanted the color. "It was ivory colored and gold! And someone was riding it! In the bright harvest moon, it looked like a dead bone dragon!"
Torlad sighed. Not only was there a dragon on the loose. It happened to be the white gold emperor. No, he was certain he walked into a trap. He was also certain his exuberant idiot friend would chase off after it as soon as he heard this. The giant that tracks down the White Gold Emperor would be famous. Torlad was firmly set against fame.