A Giant's Heart: Chapter 5

My eyes shut tight I sob wrenching heavy sobs and wait for the giant to crush the life out of me.  Here at the end all of my glorious accomplishments seem so trivial.  All the lives I’d saved, the fabric of reality itself preserved, yet here I was.  Lonely and lost and scared.  The friendships and the life I had built soon to be erased forever.  My marriage, fruitless and cold comfort in my final moments.  Perhaps I ought to have thought more about my legacy.  It was too late for that now.  King, beggar, hero, in the end we all face death alone.

Her hand comes as I knew it would.  Her fleshy palm cupping around the side of my head, her long fingers wrapping around the back.  Weak as she was she lets her wrist rest on my shoulder.  Her arm is heavy but I bear it without protest.  She holds my head as I might a boules during games night.  All she had to do is squeeze.

What I feel instead is her wide thumb swipe across my wet cheek with a surprisingly gentle touch.  Opening my tear filled eyes I see her looking at me with a shared pain and a shared pity, almost as if her simple mind could recognize another tormented soul.  She swallows hard and licks her parched lips with a dry tongue, her breathing shallow from the pain of her wounds.  She was summoning her strength for one final effort.

“Go ahead.” I whisper.  “Do it.”

Lowering her hand she takes me around the right side of my chest and with a great burst of her ebbing power heaves me up onto her body.  I am laid flat, her torso nearly the height of my entire frame and much thicker.  My head lands between her large breasts.  And there she wraps her arms around me.  Shivering and weak she holds me close and I realize that, while I may be the enemy, she did not want retribution.  She simply did not wish to die alone.  To at least have someone bear witness to her last moments.  With arms as thick as my waist she hold me close and begins her song once more.

Her smell is earthy and musky in equal measure combined with familiar aroma of blood.  Her stout built body is soft but cold from her exposure to the elements.  Her ruddy brown skin far more supple than I would have imagined, the hair of her arms as soft as down.  I had never actually touched a giant except to inflict violence up on it.  With those incredible amber colored eyes she gazes down into me as she sings, the song barely a whisper.  Beyond anger, beyond judgment, only a lost soul seeking connection if even for a moment.

I rise and fall to the rhythm of her breathing, interrupted by intense bouts of shivering.  The arms around me grow weaker.  The song grows quieter.  Her gaze was becoming hazy.  She would be losing consciousness soon.  These were her final waking moments.

With a hesitant hand I reach up and stroke her cheek.  Her tears feel hot against her cool clammy skin.  Her eyes focus for a moment, they flare as she gasps a wet cough.  Then she falls silent.  Her breathing slows.  I see the spark ebbing from her.  Images of allies fallen on the battlefield flash through my memory.  So much blood, so many lives.  Why them and not me?  Why this giantess?  Pulling myself forward up her torso I continue to caress her cheek and her thick lush curly black hair.  While I did not know the words I did know the tune, I don’t think I’d ever forget it, and so I hum it for her.

I could see and feel her relax beneath me.  Her mouth widens into a weak smile as she listens to my deep voice humming her lullaby.  Her gaze drifts back to the heavens.  Her lips move, as if to talk, but no sound comes forth.  Her eyes roll, a long sighing breath, and a moment later the darkness claims her.  Her arms fall limp to her sides.

Her hair fallen away from her face the moon washes her face in cool white light.  For the first time since I first saw her in that gully she looked at peace.  As I gaze upon her, truly seeing her like I never had any giant before, I again cannot help but notice her soft kindly features.  She was almost…beautiful, in her own coarse brutish way.  Not entirely different from the women of the common peasant stock that I was born from.

It was a damned shame for such a kind face to belong to a violent and savage creature such as this.  She had only spared me because she was cowed by her injuries and the fear of death.  I had no doubt had she and her parents come upon me unawares that she would have gleefully struck the killing blow.

From her shallow breath I knew the giant was still alive though her chances of seeing the dawn was slim bordering on none.  Time would now finish what my sword arm could not.  All I had to do was nothing.  I roll off of her to kneel at her shoulder, continuing to stroke her soft though matted hair in my hand.  Once more the fates had blessed me.  I was alive and unharmed, a monster lay fallen before me.  I did not feel blessed.  This was not victory.

“Not tonight.”  I whisper.  “Later we will fight and I will kill you then giant, but you will see the morning.”

Standing up I brush the dirt from my knees, wipe the shameful tears from my face and assess the area.  The space beneath the boulder was clear of underbrush, protected from the wind, and would be partially shielded from rain or snow by the stone itself.  A perfectly suitable camp.

I clap my hands and give them a rub to warm them.  “Let’s get to work.”

Chapter 6