"Cunning little boy!" Madam Samwell shouted a few bodies from my left. Her long blonde hair dyed red with the death she delivered this morning. "Are you going to trap and slay us in groups to keep your land?" My fighters laughed, while the few of the King’s knights who made it inside the walls with us cowered to the back of the formation. Pressing themselves against the heavy doors as if they might be able to will themselves to pass like a spirit through the steel.

"I don’t need to kill any groups after this one, you simple whore," Brine answered, making his way to the front of his men, standing in the open space between both sides. "You fail to see how predictable you’ve all become. You lead the King’s army, taking the hits for him. Without you to lead, his men will be called off. As all of you are to head the battle, you would be the first to make it into the tower. Now that I have you all here, or what’s left of you, I just have to put an end to you and I will be left alone and free to do as I please. You’ve proven to make the easiest defense of my keep yet, in all honesty. I must thank you while I still can for your poor tactics and the easy day of work for me."

I stepped forward and closed the gap between myself and the boy. He was a formidable size for his age, but with nearly all men I stood before, I looked down at least a foot to see into his eyes. "You realize that if you die then this defense still proves to be pointless, don’t you, Boy?" The confusion building in his face as I spoke. "Here you stand out of reach from your men. If I were to remove your head right now, do you believe they would still answer the calls of a dead lord?"

"How would your men fight if they watched you cut down before them here and now?" Brine gave no hesitation with his words. Whether plain foolish or just overly confident in his ability, I respected him as a shadow of myself just years ago.

"Who’s going to cut him down, Boy? The man’s a giant standing there with you!" Madam Samwell shouted from behind me once again. Almost as quick with her words as she is with her blades.

A commotion from the back of the Lord’s ranks, stemming from the doorway leading into the darkness of the tower, drew my eyes over Brine’s head. It took a moment to grasp what I was witnessing. Something I had never before seen with my own eyes, but had heard countless stories about. They were mostly gone from these lands, either hunted down by large groups of men or gone of their own free will to find a world that would better suit them. A Giantsborn.

His skin was dark, as if a mix of every color combined together and grew darkened still by the sun. Much like the Mautchon race that used to lay South of the Kingdoms, before the sun dried everything up that way. The few Mautchon I had met on the road proved to be incredible fighters and held an anger that most could never imagine. I hoped this Giantsborn didn’t have that same anger brewing inside him. 

Full blood giants hadn’t been spotted in centuries, but the Giantsborn walked among us still, growing smaller with every generation as they strayed further from their original heritage. It is said that they originally were created with the help of dark mages, who used their spells to create a way to breed human and giant. Creating something that carried a portion of the incredible giant’s size and had the wit of a man. For what reason the mages wanted them created was unbeknownst to myself.

It has been joked that I am of Giantsborn, as the size of me now proved larger than any man I had met. Those that stood as tall as me were thin and not fond of strong winds. The ones who were as wide as I usually reached a height only as tall as they were from shoulder to shoulder. Like large, square boulders, all burly with no neck. This being walking towards me, he was something of incredible size. At least nine feet of height, his arms were the size of small trees and his legs bulged with muscle, looking as though the thick ropes of veins would burst from his skin with every step he took. On size alone, I could not compete with him. If the blood of giants did run through my veins, there was much less of it than flowing through his. It took only a few steps for the Giantsborn to bring himself standing next to his lord.

"Now who looks like a giant?" The arrogant lord boy shouted as he stepped behind the Giantsborn. He looked upon me, his eyes filled with amusement, waiting for me to cower behind the unnatural size of his prized fighter. For the first time in many years, I had to tilt my chin up to look into the eyes of the being standing before me. Seeing him this close, I couldn’t help but be impressed. He had a solid two feet of height to my nearly seven. If he had been wearing a cover over his torso I would believe him to have thick metal armor on. His chest was the size of barrels. Veins and muscles showed all over him. His neck even looked thick enough to deserve more than one full swing of Anglin.

Instead of moving backwards, like any sane man would, I stepped forward, close enough to feel the giants breath on my face. He lifted a corner of his mouth into a snarl, growling a deep rumble and exposing jagged teeth that could chew through a man’s bone. I felt a pat on my back and heard Uncle Henry speaking next to me. "What say a challenge, Lord Langdrin? You against my leader here. Whoever wins will be called the winner of the battle and the other army will surrender?"

"You take me for a fool, Oldtimer? Your best man against my giant. If anyone is brave enough to face him, that is. Maybe he’ll even let some of you leave here alive if you’re kind enough to him."

"And if your giant is beaten?" Uncle never one to shy from a wager.

The boy laughed, hard, as did most of the men standing behind him, shielded by the giant. "Age has made you senile, old man! You have a deal! Any one of your men best my giant and I surrender." He paused to look back and see the joy across his armies faces. "I’ll even let your fighter use a short blade to help even the fight!" His laughter continued, growing louder as his men grew more excited.

"Looks like you may get your ass kicked finally," Uncle said into my ear, trying to hide his amusement. I drew my short blade then, gripping it tightly and bringing it to my face. The giant growled louder, warning me of what was to come. I tossed the blade behind my back, freeing my hands.

I had spent the entirety of my life fighting. Always paired against bigger, better fighters in my youth. I was fighting full grown adults before my tenth year, as no one near my age could prove a challenge. To win those fights I had to channel the anger I always had burning inside me. Father and Uncle taught me to be ruthless, to use weaknesses against my opponent and to ensure I was the more violent fighter against anyone I faced. I enjoyed nothing more than a true challenge. That was the fighters blood that coursed through me, the fire burning in my heart. I wanted to bring pain and I would take the chance whenever I could. I prayed for this giant to hurt me. I wanted him to break me so that the fire inside me could burn free and I could show him the wrath I was born to bring upon the world.

His size proved him to be slower than he looked. I grabbed the giant with one hand behind his head and clutched onto the opposite wrist with my other. Turning as hard as I could and pushing my hip into his thigh, I used my weight to overturn him with the leverage on my body, and drove his head to the ground. He went down hard. Between my force and his weight, the world shook underneath us. I secured both hands on the wrist I was holding and heaved with all my might, rolling his body and putting his face into the dirt. I then placed a knee onto the back of his neck and delivered two blows to the side of his head. I knew with any man, this would be enough to bring them to seeing only blackness. The giant just grunted and looked to get more angry.

I pushed off of him and came to my feet. I waited until he was propped up on his knees and one hand, about to bring himself to his own feet, before I threw a knee square into his nose. Black blood sprayed across his face and over his head, causing a dark mixture in the sand behind him. I stood there, just inches from the Giantsborn and stared into Brine’s eyes. Showing him with just a look that I was more deadly than anything he could ever put in my path. My eyes telling him I would expose all to a new level of hate and pain that the Gods never should have allowed to walk the world. His eyes showed me there was no fight left in him.

I squatted down and slammed my open hand into the giant’s throat, impacting it hard enough to take the breath from his lungs. I used the strength in my legs to stand and pull him up with me, bring him high until I had to look upwards to the sky again. Both of his hands clasped around my arm, devouring it to the point that almost none of my skin was visible through his massive fingers. The giant jerked me into him and lifted me from the ground, bringing my face to nearly meet his, my feet dangling beneath me. The blood from his broken nose casting a stench sour enough to leave a bad taste in my mouth.

One of his hands clasped around my throat and he began to squeeze. I let more strength in my hand, closing his airways at least partly, though my hand covered much less of his neck than was preferred. What a sight it must have been to those who watched; a true Giantsborn standing at full height, lifting a man as close to his size as one could be, straight into the air by his throat. Both matched together in a will of strength, desperately trying to squeeze the other’s life away with a single hand. For any onlookers, I could be sure it did not appear I was going to win this feat of strength.

My vision started to grow blurry and I knew this to be the time I should allow fear to consume my thoughts. But fear helped to do nothing other than cloud judgement. Instead, I looked inside myself for something more. Something that could prove more powerful than the giant’s strength. I looked into the fire. I felt it at all times, burning there inside my chest, but I could only call on it when I most needed it. An endless amount of strength fueled by rage and hurt. A fire that was built on past miseries that have since been repressed into my subconscious and forgotten by my young mind. But the fire never forgets. I looked into the burning flames and begged it to consume me, to ignite my mind ablaze.

The fire gave me new strength and delivered it all to my hand, squeezing harder now at the giant neck it was wrapped around. I squeezed with muscles I shouldn’t have had. The pressure on my throat let up and the blood returned its flow into my brain, clearing my vision and slowly letting me back towards the ground. I felt my feet meet the sand once again and I allowed more strength still into my hand. I squeezed until the giant’s knees buckled and I was now the one holding him up as his muscles gave and his body went limp in my hand.

I called on the fire more and allowed it to flow free through my other hand, showing itself in the form of a fist that flew into the giant head, over and over. Until blood sprayed over both of us. The stench filling the air. Punching still, causing bones to break and the massive jaw to shift free from its rightful place. I heard someone shout for me to stop, but the words came from a great distance. The fire inside me roared loud and consumed all other sound. My fist came down harder, bringing a loud crunch into my ears. I released the giant then. Allowing him to collapse into the ground. His face disfigured, more monster now than either giant or human.

I took a breath with a new appreciation, as I couldn’t take one just moments ago. A silence filled the air around me, an uncanny sound for the middle of a battle where hundreds had already died. I looked to the keep’s protectors and saw nothing but fear in each man’s eye. The young lord himself looked on in horror, not understanding how a man had just overpowered his giant. I turned back to my fighters and saw similar expressions, but with some smiles mixed in between them. Uncle looked disappointed as he walked towards me. "Will I never get to watch you get the beating you so deserve?"

"What say you now, Lord Brine Langdrin? Shall your men surrender or have you another challenger who dare step forward?" I asked the boy.

"We surrender!" An immediate answer came from the man who stood next to him, tripling him in age at the least. His armor shone with gold where the others were all silver. The captain of the army if I were to guess.

"Open your gates, then, and do it quickly."

The captain motioned to the men atop the wall and they began at turning giant wheels, slowly lifting the heavy gate back into the air. Sir Eisen and his men began to pour through the opening, ready for a fight and stopping as they felt the fear lingering in the air around them.

"A Giantsborn? And you fucking killed him?" Sir Eisen asked in surprise as he stood himself next to Uncle and myself.

"He isn’t dead, but I brought him close to it." I replied, wiping at the thick, black liquid covering my knuckles.

"Great news, Slate!" Sire Eisen exclaimed. "The King will be happy with you adding him to his ranks," he continued as he cautiously got closer to examine the unconscious monster. "Would have been preferred if you hadn’t damaged his face as much."

"The giant can’t fight with the King," Uncle started. "Giants come from the blood of old, they nature themselves on instincts rather than logical thought. More animal than human. A Giantsborn of blood this pure will still live the same values. He could follow who he chose as a free fighter, but now that he’s been beaten, he’ll look on to my nephew as his leader."

"I’m sure he could be persuaded with enough lashings," a light chuckle emitting from his lips. Sir Eisen, the Bringer of Pain they called him. I always knew a day would arise allowing me to challenge the title.

"If the King wants to lead this giant, you can have him come here and defeat him in combat himself. Until then, he remains with us." Uncle tightened the grip on his sword, showing Sir Eisen that he didn’t fear the name. Uncle and Eisen used to both be commanders of the army, before Uncle chose to leave the castle with me.

"Are you making a threat to me, Henry? Shall you be reminded of your place in the Kingdom?"

"Let’s worry about the giant later, Sir Eisen. Just before the gates were lifted, Lord Brine here surrendered to the King. As his adviser, could you tell us what the King shall have us do with the remainder of his army?" I stepped between them as I spoke, knowing Sir Eisen wouldn’t be as brave in my wake. "We can worry about old men fighting on a different day, unless you’re set on settling this now?" Anglin now in my hand, a few inches removed from his sheathe.

Sir Eisen hesitated for a moment, then looked on to Brine and his army, smiling with his answer. "As you know Slate, the laws of the Kingdom state that a royal army can not slaughter those once they’re surrendered," he paused to laugh. "You and your group of mercenaries however, may do as you please once my men clear the Keep."