The calm mist of the dawn swept across the plains that rolled up to the edge of the forest, swirling and dancing amidst the remains of the celebration the night before. The bonfire had been put out not even ten minutes before, and yet there were already early risers leaving their tents and vardos to begin making breakfast. The homey scents of smoked meats, fresh breads, porridge, and spiced juices wafted heavily down the road towards the sleeping giant.
As the sun raised higher, the encampment of travelers began to wake and ready their camp to be packed up once again. Miklian woke mid-morning to the sounds of fearful movement nearby in the brush.
"Do you think it's alive?"
"Shhh! Don't wake it up! Of course it's alive, it's breathing..."
A pair of young voices crept closer, but he did not want to completely terrify them and give them more reason to fear him, so he yawned loudly and rolled over in the cart. Even pretending to still be asleep, the two small creatures seemed to have satisfied their curiosity and began running down the road as quickly as they could. The giant listened carefully until he was sure they were far enough away before opening his eyes slowly and glancing around.
He was startled to see a pair of deep hazel eyes staring up at him from the edge of the cart, a human child standing on the road just near his head.
"Hello..." Miklian's voice was calm but questioning as he stared at the small thing that did not move away from him.
"Are you gonna eat my feet?" The young human asked brazenly.
"What? Of course not. Who in the world told you that?" It was not the first time stories such as this had been told about his people. After all, they did invade. They were an occupying force. It was only natural for the native residents to shy their children away in any way they could.
"My granpappy says all giants eat childrens' feets and hurt ladies." At this point he could see the young creature was dressed resembling the elder human women, so he moved to slowly sit upright.
"Well, he might be right about some giants, but not me. I don't like eating meat, and especially not people like you. Where is your granpappy?" He looked up and down the road, but he could only really assume she had come from the travelers Wynessa and Timias had visited the night before. Actually, realising the time, he scrunched his brows in worry about the pair.
"Down there at home." She pointed her arm towards the camp that was growing more noisy by the moment. Miklian sighed, sticking a thumb towards the back of the cart.
"Why don't you hop on and sit back there and I'll give you a ride back home, alright?" He barely finished his question before the small human beamed excitedly and ran towards the back of the cart. While she clambered up into the wagon, he hopped off to re-hitch the grupy ox that he had tethered to a tree the night before. As soon as Miklian pulled the yolk over his head, Brute was rearing to get back on the road. Something had the great creature worried.
Meanwhile, the overly curious pair of boys who had found the sleeping giant had run straight back to the camp, shouting as they neared the edge that they had seen one! A real one!
"What are you jabbering about?" The two elders pulled the boys over towards them as their guests were finally waking amidst the sounds of packing and jovial conversation. "Seen what? What did you find? Was it a Lurcrow? You know those great birds will eat you right up if they spot you!"
"No! A giant! A really sleeping giant! We saw one Granpappy!" The younger of the two boys excitedly bounced on his grandfather's knee.
"Is that so? I'm sure that's not the case. What did it look like?" One of the adult women spoke up nearby, questioning the trouble makers as Wynessa finally overheard what was being talked about.
She shook Timias's shoulder to wake him faster, the splitting headache that made the too-loud and too-bright world spin as she tried to stand up.
"We have to go. Now!" She hissed in his pointed ear as he struggled to stand beside her. The noise around the hungover pair was deafening. Everything was too much. Trying to hobble their way towards the road, they had to pause multiple times as each one in turn keeled over to launch the contents of their stomachs into a nearby ditch.
The elders had gathered around the young boys and a frantic woman began shouting about her daughter who had wandered off with the troublesome pair.
"You left your sister alone?! There's a giant out there, and you left her to be eaten by him!" The woman shouted, her face ping-ponging between red with anger and white in fear. Neither of the young children could speak a word as she berated them, calling them irresponsible and terrible siblings. "What if she's dead, huh? Did you think about that?"
Wynessa closed her eyes tightly as the pair finally made it to the edge of the road, holding each other up as best they could as the familiar rumbling of their cart and ox came towards them. It was blindingly loud as the cart rolled to a stop just before them, and the screams of terror from the camp behind them erupted at the sight of the tall blue-grey man.
"Thank you for bringing me back, mister giant!" A gleeful voice sounded off from the back of the cart before a small bundle of fabric and messy blonde hair went skipping off into the tents and people who were eagerly grabbing weapons of any sort.
"Let's go. Quickly." Miklian's voice was soft as he waved his companions onto their transport. As soon as both had a solid hold on the cart and were hoisting themselves up, he urged Brute on. The ox quickly obliged, sending the group down the road as rocks and various debris were being thrown at them until they were far enough out of range that the trio sighed.
"How was your night?" An hour had passed since he had picked up the aching pair, and though he tried to add humour to his question, he was more than aware that he had put them in danger by coming to get them. Wynessa crawled up to the front seat, letting Timias remain where he lay curled up in blankets and surrounded by the constant gentle rocking of the cart on the Kingsroad.
"We drank. A lot. It was a wedding." Her voice was soured with the smoke from the bonfire the night before, but she held tightly to the waterskin in her arms. Build to quench a giant, the water bladder was as large as her torso and a welcome balm to her throbbing head.
"That sounds nice. Did you have fun?" The giant could feel some jealousy welling up behind his heart that left a burning in his throat. He knew what tended to happen at giant weddings, and so assumed similar activities of passion happened at human or elvish weddings.
"There was a lot of dancing, and I'm not a dancing-type-person, so I just drank and watched. The fire was nice though. Lots of laughter. The brides were beautiful too." Her voice teetered on the edge of breaking as it sounded like she was holding back tears. Unsure what to do, Miklian hesitantly lifted a hand to pat her shoulder gently, knowing his strength was far greater than hers at the moment. Before they rounded the next bend in the road, a soft sob escaped her and shuddered through her. Without thinking, he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer to his side.
"You'll have that too some day." He promised, quietly as she let herself be wracked with sobs, soaking a small patch of his shirt. After a few moments where the only sound was her crying, she lifted her head and breathed raggedly.
"It's not that. I miss my father." She stated simply, pulling herself from his grasp. He quickly retracted his arm from around her, not wanting to pressure any further. Wynessa felt her face flush with heat as she wanted to stay within his arms. It felt safe there.
"He was with the Resistance, right? I'm very certain they are safe. The army had absolutely no idea of the incoming revolt and honestly, the last known whereabouts of any resistance was on this side of the city. I'm sure they're fine." It barely registered to him that he was divulging secrets of his previous leadership, but Timias heard every word from where he lay behind them. "Trust me. They all thought the mine was impenetrable, that was the whole reason for it being there in the first place."
"No, it wasn't. That was just a side effect." She stated flatly, sighing heavily as she began to explain the truth of what happened in the labour camp she had spent so much of her life in.