Chapter 1: A GIANT OPPORTUNITY
Almost noon. A few clouds dotted the blue summer sky. A gentle breeze stroked the rolling hills, the fields of grass and patches of woodlands. Birds were singing, bees were buzzing, cows mooing.
In a small clump of trees, three men sat on their horses, all in their late twenties and overlooking the fields and the cows upon them, the cows gracing away, oblivious to the world around them. It was a peaceful day, the kind of day you would remember for the rest of your life because you spoiled it by stepping in dog-poo.
Two of the riders where dressed in the common mans outfits, rough clothes of dark brown, grey and green with simple leather vests and worn hoods. The third of the men was dressed quite differently, wearing chain-mail and a tunic of yellow and blue, the colors splitting the tunic in half down the middle, with a large classical shield as a motif on his chest, covering a good deal of the torso. The shield was split in half as well, displaying yellow and blue on opposite sides as those of the tunic itself, one half of the motif displayed a bestial rat of myth skewered by a broadsword, the other half showed a dragon writhing in pain around the lance that had it pierced. The shield on the mans left arm was a real life copy of the motif on his chest, the shield itself showed plenty of signs of having been put to good use. Around his waist the knight carried a broad belt that in turn held a broadsword in a worn scabbard, a dagger as well as a one-handed mace with a simple four-split iron head.
They all were covered in dirt and dried mud, shoulders covered in dirt, their clothes torn and well used, their hair scruffy and their faces showing a few days old beard. Clear signs of men used to the life on the move, a life in the wild.
"Sire", one of the squires said, the squire carrying several lengths of rope over his shoulder. "It’s been five hours and still no sign. Maybe it has moved on milord".
"No Bertrand, not while there is still food around", the young knight said. "Don't worry, he’ll come".
"Well, at least we don't have to wait ’til nightfall, like with that troll last month", the other squire pointed out. "I hate the dark".
"Well, unfortunately most of our foes wander only under the moon", the knight said.
Feeling his stomach moaning, Bertrand made a suggestion. "Should I go hunt for dinner, sire?".
"No". The young sir almost sounded pompous. "We wait until the beast shows itself. Once it is slain we will eat".
Mumbling to himself, Reginald spat at the ground. "Bugger".
A few minutes did pass by of complete calm. Some mile away birds took flight, then more and even more. A rhythmic thumping could be clearly heard and the three men felt tension and their eagerness grow.
All of a sudden, Reginald reached out and pointed, "Milord, look! It comes!".
The young and eager knight said but one word. "Finally".
From behind a wooded hill an enormous creature emerged, looking like a mix of a human and a ogre, only so much bigger; far taller than fifty feet, shoulders as broad as a river, hands as large as houses, the bald head sharing the girth of the most well built turret.
A Giant!
The massive beast was picking up panicking cattle as he went, stuffing his pickings into the large bag he carried by his side, strap over his shoulder. As the giant went along he was whistling a surprisingly cheerful tune.
"Well that's one jolly giant", Reginald remarked.
"Stay here!", and with those words the young knight errant rode out to meet the terrifying monster.
Bertrand spat at the ground. "Well, of he goes".
The knight pulled the reins and halted his mount some hundred feet from the huge beast.
"GIANT!".
The giant finally took notice of the knight and stood to his full height as he put yet another mooing cow into his bag of goodies. The giant first looked at the knight with surprise, blinking a few times with his large eyes.
"Who are you?", the giant finally said with a deep, booming voice. "Besides me lunch", he then added.
The young knight straightened his back and stuck his chin into the air. "I am Jean LeClair, Knight Errant of Brionne and Bretonnia, youngest son of the Baron of Brienne!".
There was a few seconds of total silence as the giant merely looked at the young human. "And?"
"And?". LeClair sounded a bit confused and unsure himself but managed to gather his noble posture once more. "And!", he repeated with conviction, "I am here to kill you before you steal more cattle belonging to poor peasants and villagers".
Again, the giant stood silent. But soon the silence was broken by a cheerful, booming and jovial rumbling laughter, the giant placed his hands over his wobbling belly.
"You’re here to kill me?". The giant shook his head and then waved the tiny man off. "Begone before I decide to swallow you whole".
Chuckling and amused the giant turned his back on the young knight and headed after the cows once more.
The eyes of the young Sir Jean LeClair of Brienne turned dark. "Very well. So be it".
LeClair returned to his two squires.
"Well? Will he leave?", Bertrand wondered.
"No", LeClair said. "Crossbow".
He handed his shield over to Bertrand and then received a crossbow and a quiver of bolts from Reginald.
"Keep my shield and lance ready", LeClair instructed. "I'll be back for them shortly".
"Yes sire", Reginald nodded.
"What about your helmet, milord?", Bertrand held up the barrel-shaped helmet of Bretonnian standards, dented and scratched at numerous places and without any adorning headpiece.
"Maybe some other time", LeClair said and then turned his mount around and rode back out into the fields.
Reginald dismounted and headed back to a mule tied to a tree; the mule carried supplies and clothing and necessary survival gear, as well as an array of assorted weapons, including four lances, two tied on either side.
"Do you think he'll favor the piercing tip or the gashing tip?", Reginald asked as he looked at the different tips of the lances.
Bertrand took a look over the shoulder back at his companion. "How the bloody hell should I know".
As LeClair approached the giant spotted him and abandoned his foraging.
"Oh, so you're back again are you", the giant said with his booming voice.
"Aye!". LeClair was undaunted, reins in one hand and the crossbow in the other. "This is your last chance giant, leave these lands or perish this day on this field!".
"Why you little cocky bug!!".
LeClair spurred his horse and it was in the last of moments that the mount manage to bring its master out of the way from the descending fist that slammed into the ground where they once had stood. The giants massive hand left an imprint in the ground some two feet deep. LeClair took his horse in a wide circle around the giant, the monster grunted and retrieved a cow mooing from panic from the large bag. The cow was hurled through the air, mooing like a mad beast with it's testicles stung by a bee. LeClair pulled hard on the reins, the horse skidding to a halt in the grass, the cow crashing into the ground just in front of them, tumbling along the fields, rolling of into a ditch. LeClair was quick to take aim and launched the bolt. The giant roared so the ground shook, covering his right eye with both hands as he staggered backwards. LeClair distanced himself from the wounded monster before leaving the saddle to ready and reload his crossbow. While he did so, the giant staggered over towards a small patch of woodland.
From their end of the field, Bertrand and Reginald watched the battle unfold.
"Oh, look at that", Bertrand said with two eyebrows raised. "One arrow and he’s already on the run".
"Odd". Reginald watched the giant stumble away from their master. "I thought giants had more spine than that".
As they watched they saw the giant grabbing hold of a tree and pulling if free from the ground, roots and all, gripping it like a massive club and turning to face the pesky human.
"Ah, of course", Reginald slapped his forehead. "Should have seen it coming".
"This could get interesting", with that Bertrand took some water from his leather-pouch.
LeClair was back in the saddle as the giant roared out of uncontained fury. The massive beast came running at the knight, tree held high in order to crush man and horse alike in one blow. LeClair spurred his mount and yelled, riding at full speed away from the enraged giant. Looking over his shoulder Jean LeClair could see the furious giant keeping pace, swinging the tree time and time again, sometimes the branches of the tree missing with mere inches, causing LeClair to flinch involuntarily.
For a brief second, a shadow overtook them; LeClair reacted at once and veered his mount to the left. The second after the tree came crashing down right where they had been, smashing the ground rather than crushing the young knight errant. The giant growled and pulled the tree free and in one motion let it come down against the pesky human once more. LeClair pulled the reins once more, forcing his steed to a halt; mere feet before them the crown of the tree and all its branches hit the ground, churning the grass and dirt. LeClair spurred his horse.
The giant pulled the tree free once more and raised it high, ready to bring it down once more in an attempt to crush the human and his four-legged appetizer. But the giants enraged face turned puzzled and confused; the little human was gone, as was his appetizer. The giant started looking around, but they were nowhere to be found. He rested the tree against his shoulder and started scratching his head.
LeClair gripped the crossbow with both hands and took aim at the sky, right up between the knees of the huge giant, hidden as he was between the legs of the giants broad stance. For a brief moment LeClair wished he could say that aiming at what he saw was the worst sight of his life. Indeed; He had seen worse. Much worse, he regretted.
The giants face turned into an oversized prune; wrinkled, turning pale to red to deep purple. His hands grabbing the groin, then opening his mouth towards the sun he let out a deafening and ground shaking roar of immense pain. LeClair spurred his mount and rode as fast as he could, behind him the giant was toppling over, the massive bulk of the immense monster crashing down towards the ground like a crumbling mountain. The giants head hit the ground mere feet away from LeClair's fleeing horse.
LeClair quickly headed over towards his two squires as fast as he could.
"SHIELD AND LANCE!!", he shouted for all his worth.
Reginald and Bertrand rode out to meet their master, handing him both lance and shield after LeClair had tossed the crossbow into the arms of Reginald. LeClair hurried to adjust his grip on his wargear.
"What about your helmet sire?", Bertrand asked, but before he even had time to reach back and retrieve it he was given an answer.
"To hell with that damned tin cup!".
LeClair turned his steed around and spurred it, urging it to a gallop with a yell, charging down the fields towards the giant. The terrible beast was slowly beginning to push himself up from the ground into a sitting position; one hand held over the aching nether-regions, one eye shut tight, the face distorted and twisted with pain and rage. Hearing the hooves of the charging horse and the warcry of the oncoming knight, the giant turned his one good eye on his enemy, the eye reflecting nothing but hatred and unleashed fury.
LeClair leveled his lance, took aim, screamed out emotions of anger and fear. As the lance struck with full force into the chest of the giant, the brutish impaling device broke off, twisting itself free from LeClair's grip and from his hands. The giant fell back down to the ground, head landing hard. LeClair held in his mount and turned, the giant was still down, half the lance deep in its chest, blood flowing freely from the serious injury. It was clear that the massive monster was breathing with alot of effort.
LeClair climbed down from his steed and freed his broadsword before walking over to the huge giant. He stopped some twenty feet away from the gigantic beast, waiting, the giant did nothing, it simply struggled to breathe. Some confused cows came stumbling out from the giants bag, looking around in total amazement, the cattle were unable to fathom what they had just been through. LeClair dropped the shield to the ground and gripped his sword with both hands as he walked over to the giant, positioning himself by its shoulder. He raised the sharp steel high above his head, the sun reflecting upon the blade. The heavy sword came down with full force.
+++ +++
The villagers cheered and applauded the three men as they rode into the small settlement, the simple people rushed out to great them. The village elder stood with a smile on his face, leaning against a thick cane, their saviors rode up to him, surrounded by the cheering villagers.
"One giant dead", the young knight errant said triumphantly. "As promised. These lands are safe once more".
"How can we ever thank you?", the elder asked, his mouth well hidden in his thick beard. "Please, tell us what ever you want?".
Jean LeClair held up a hand and urged silence, and slowly the villagers stopped to listen. Bertrand hid his face in his palm, as if expecting an embarrassing moment to spring forth at any moment.
"I require no pay", LeClair started. "As a Knight Errant, I am sworn to protect the servants of Bretonnia. Valor and virtue is all I require. I am sworn to risk my life to aid others in need".
The crowd stood in awe for a brief moment and then erupted in cheers once more. LeClair looked around and spotted a fair girl in her late teens; the knight errant smiled and winked, the girl smiled in turn, looking at the ground and then back up at the dashing would-be-knight.
+++ +++
Night had fallen and the three friends, master and serfs, sat around a small fire not far from the side of a country-road.
"I was thinking", Bertrand said as he placed some more wood on the fire that kept a kettle going. "What if we were to accept payment for our deeds just once. You know, to see whats it's like; Going to taverns, have a feast, take part in the celebrations proper".
Something stirred in Reginald's eyes. "Yeah", he voiced loudly. "Think about it, we’ve must have turned down at least a thousand gold-crowns in all these years".
LeClair smiled and simply shook his head, poking a small stick in the growing fire. "Gold-crowns the villagers and peasants require to pay taxes, rebuild farms, shoe their horses, buy new tools and to buy food. No my friends, true valor has no price. We seek honor and glory, not wealth and riches".
"Honor and glory? What about that peasant girl?", Bertrand asked.
The knight tossed an annoyed glare at his servant. "I was fatigued and needed comfort", LeClair said.
"She was the third this week", Reginald pointed out. "In two towns".
"It's been a long week", LeClair answered annoyingly.
Bertrand raised an eyebrow. "And the week before?".
"I never touched that nun!", LeClair snapped as he sat up straight.
"What about the merchants wife?", Reginald inquired.
"Well…", LeClair shrugged his shoulders.
"And her cousin", Reginald continued.
LeClair made a face to shrug the matter off. "Well she doesn't count".
"How so milord?", Bertrand asked.
"She was drunk", LeClair explained.
"But you weren't!", Bertrand quickly pointed out.
LeClair quickly tried to find a way out of it all. "Well, she didn't remember it".
They all fell silent for a short while, looking at the fire, adjusting their seating on the ground.
"Where to on the morrow?", Bertrand finally asked.
"I was thinking about going west".
"Further into the west?", Reginald said.
LeClair simply nodded. "Yes, why not?".
"But those are lawless lands, sire".
"My bread and butter", the knight errant said casually.
Reginald was obviously not as keen to go further into the western provinces of Bretonnia.
LeClair continued. "I'm sure we can find deeds worthy of our attention in those remote fiefdoms of our realm". LeClair pulled his blanket tighter around him and rested his head against his arm. "Now be quiet, Im going to sleep".
"Good night, sire", Bertrand said.
Reginald was not all that happy, "I still don't see what harm a few lousy silver-coins would do".
