Chapter 2

Learn said, “How do you get by without a woman?”

Crag replied, “I didn’t exactly say that I did. There are women around here. There were none I wanted to spend many years with. Sex is a need, a wife is not. I couldn’t take a human in and watch them have children, then watch them grow old. Their children probably wouldn’t get enough magic to live a full giant lifespan. No, probably a lot of heartaches there for me. Besides, I have been boffing humans all my life and none of them ever got pregnant.”

“I think I understand. My understanding is humans and giants can’t have children together. Good thing as a full-size giant baby could easily kill the mother. No, to the question of why I was willing to have you plunder my tender young body, you brute. I’m only 21 years old. I won’t come into season for a couple more years. You are a cad and a cradle robber, sir! Hee hee.”

Alas, it was not to be. Lierin was only with me a week and a half before she continued her journey westward. I dearly loved her and fell somewhat in love with her, however, I saw from the first, that she didn’t love me. I think my giant features were a put-off. I am nowhere as ugly as an ogre, but I am not comely enough for her delicate elven sensibilities. She’s used to the prettiness of elven men. Just calling it as I see it.

We both gained from the experience. She got a chance to pause, rest up and get ready for the rest of her journey. She learned enough about men to be able to make better choices in the future.

Me, I realized I had put off taking in a woman long enough. She reminded me that women can be a blessing, so I wrote my mother a letter asking her to send a suitable lady. I was more than ready to start a giant-style family. I couldn’t go east to gather a wife because I had responsibilities here. Whoever came would not have problems because nobody ever tried to take advantage of a female giant. We men are almost unstoppable, an angry female giantess is nothing you ever want to see.

Things went along well for a few weeks until I felt a presence. Whoever this person is, was felt out of place. I pulled my shirt off, pulled my brigandine on, pulled a larger shirt over that, and grabbed my belt of weapons. I shut and locked my door and started heading towards the feeling I was getting.

When I got near to whoever was there, I started using woodcraft to sneak upon him. He probably couldn’t hear me anyway, because he was cutting wood.

“Just what do you think you are doing here, human?”

“What’s it look like to you, you dolt? I am cutting this tree into logs for my cabin.”

So, trespassing on my property, stealing my pre-felled log, and insulting me as well, should I kill you now, or torture your tiny little ass, first?”

“Ha, I own this land. I have a patent from the new king, asshole.”

“You do? Let me look at that.”

“I don’t have to asshole.”

“You won’t need to breathe any longer if you don’t. I pulled one of my hand axes off my belt.”

He put his ax down and went to a pack and pulled a paper out. “Here asshole, read it and weep.”

I took it and stepped back from him, I held the paper in my left hand and watched him over the top of the paper. It was a patent from the king signed by an underling saying the bearer of this writ was awarded 25 hectares of land for services to the king. It had a few caveats, one of which he had to have improved the land in some way and he could only settle on unoccupied land.

“You know dick-face that this says it must be unoccupied land.” This mountain had belonged to my family for over a thousand years. My relatives planted each and every tree here. It started as rocky hardscrabble pasture suitable for goats only. Not only are trying to steal it, but you also lied about your worthless patent.”

“You are not a person by Eastland standards.”

“So, I am not a person? I asked as I threw my hand ax. He had a startled look as he tumbled forward to the ground.”

“Not a person indeed. A non-person just killed you for being too stupid to be able to live here.” I knew he would not have lasted. The first bear or mountain lion, or another hungry predator that saw him would eat his citified ass within weeks.

I returned to the cabin to pick up some tools. I made a quick lunch from a slice of bread and a piece of ham I had traded for in town. What took time was making the tea to go with it.

When I got back to his body a couple hours later it looked like the local wolf pack family had found him. I sensed them just a few hundred yards away. I think I disturbed them, so I returned to the house for the rest of the day. I could clean up after them tomorrow. They had helped me immensely.

The following morning I dug a shallow grave, threw what was left of him in, and buried him. I burnt his “patent” so it would not fall into unscrupulous hands.

I wasn’t too worried. Now that I thought about it, killing the asshole had been hasty, but I never understood snotty little humans with no magic, looking down their noses at other beings that had magic and other traits that were obviously very more useful. Human lives are short, they fight with each other constantly. By the time they begin to get a little wisdom, they are often dead. What a shame.

I lived in an area that humans had moved into, but we were the original settlers here. The locals knew not to enter my woods. Not because I forbade it or anything. It just happened to be very dangerous for them.

After burying the stupid boy after breakfast, I fetched the mules and hooked up the wagon so I could take some firewood to town. I loaded it up with a half load of wood, and two red deer I had been hanging to season for two days. I also added a small pile of rabbit furs. On the way in I shot a pheasant with my bow.

I normally didn’t share my deer with the townsfolk, but these were excess. The stinkers kept nibbling in my garden. I had warned them once, shot them with a slingshot the second time I caught them. The third time they got killed for their crimes, being caught in my garden yet again. They just would not leave my red potatoes alone.

The red potato leaves are so tasty people even eat them, but if the deer eat the leaves down to nothing, I will have no potatoes next winter. They also like to nibble at carrot tops, radish tops, and spring onions. I plant the red potatoes earliest because they have a long growing season. Every year I rotate the crops.

My road into town is maintained by me. A couple of times a year I use a garden scythe to keep the trees and bushes from taking over the roadway. Even though it was well maintained, nobody uses it but me. When I got to town, I found I had a visitor from the eastern mountains.

Her name was Shale Verbarg. She was only thirty-two and thought it might be healthier further west with me. It seems the Easterners thought they could displace the magic people from the mountains. I think it was an excuse, using familiar neighbors to locate a male looking for a traditional giant short-term arrangement.

I went around with the firewood, deer, and hides and introduced her to most of the people in town as I did my business. I doubled down picking up the bread with a house guest and all.

“It was worth the trip here, just for this stew,” Shale said while sitting in the inn’s eating house enjoying a thick goat stew and bread with cheese.

“The baker is acceptable, but living out here far from civilization does not lend itself to new things. She said, “I have a sister in Riverbend, that’s a good size town. Now they have bread.”

“Have you been there?”

“Not lately. I am pretty much stuck here. I am usually the only one around here that can go into my forest.”

“Is it caused by Magic?”

“Oh no. The forest is thick with game because that’s what my forefathers and uncles wanted. It is full of several types of deer, rabbits, birds of all kinds, giant squirrels, wild goats, and a few mountain sheep, but the real problem is there is also every type of predator you can think of. There are bears in brown, gray, and white, dogs, wolves, coyote, foxes - both red and gray, mountain lions, bobcats, and all kinds of smaller predators. Plus snakes, although they are not venomous or they are weakly venomous.”

“Oh my goodness, but they leave us alone, don’t they? White bears did you say?”

“They leave us alone usually. The white bear I ran into might have been an albino. We are awfully far from an ocean. He died of something, probably damage by a brown bear.”

“What do you mean by usually?”

“You can come across sick crazy animals, but most animals avoid us naturally because we contain mountain magic. I always keep weapons with me in case. Sick animals are somewhat rare, but let a big cat get the foam mouth disease and who knows what can happen.” “OK. Oh, we are here. Your cabin looks lovely. I was worried it was an old broken down shack.”

“Haha, no. I totally redid the place decades ago. It’s very well set up and in good condition.”

“It’s almost pink.”

“Ya, about that. I used a whitewash after sanding it down. I wanted it white to blend in better during winter and keep the summer heat down to a minimum. Evidently, the red oak timbers bled through the whitewash after a few months.”

“It’s lovely, can we go in, I want to see the insides, I still have fears of a dirty piece of fur in the corner to sleep on and who knows what else, cobwebs and dust bunnies maybe?.”

“Ha, ha, ha. No, let’s go in, I am sure you will like it.”

“Oh my. Pastel yellow colored walls, varnished oak floors with a few carpets in the kitchen. The kitchen is very surprising. Not one stove, but two. Cabinets, oooh, lots of pots pans, and kitchen things. You may have a hard time getting rid of me.”