Knight III

Sir Clayton the Walker awoke to sunshine streaming through high windows.   He was bundled up in blankets and swimming in acres and acres of bed.  For a moment he was tricked into thinking he was a child again; cozied down in bed with his siblings.  Then the fog of sleep lifted from his vision and he realized that as a boy his bed had never been this big and the body that lay next to his was sporting long black hair.

“Jonathon . . .” He murmured, stroking the silky black hair.

His side twinged fiercely and he shifted to feel the bandages wrapped around his middle.

He remembered the events of the day before . . . . was it the day before?  The light had the look of morning and he had ridden into the keep around noon.  Also, Jonathon was beside him, a lump under the covers save for her fall of endless black hair.

“Jonathon . . .” he rasped.  “I couldn’t let him harm you.  I couldn’t.  I think . . . I think I have fallen in love with you.”

The black hair shifted and a tongue as broad as a spade slapped across Clayton’s face.  The blonde knight spluttered and wiped saliva from his face.  One of Jonathon’s giant sheepdogs – the one with long, silky black fur – shifted closer to him and licked at his face again.

“Augh!  Hold, beast!  I’ll drown!  Wait; if you are not Jonathon, then where is she?”

~*~*~*~*~*~

“I shall have a dress of the pearliest whites, with golden embroidery!  And my slippers will be the softest kid skin imaginable! And of course I am marrying the most handsome knight in all the realm; it is true that it wasn’t my beloved Raymond who liberated me from the giant, but he shall prove himself once he actually slays the monster instead of merely stealing from it like that ox Sir Clayton did.  Then I shall be wed to the bravest and most handsome knight in the kingdom.  I shall be the envy of all,” Princess Kim declared.  “Do you think I should make all the unmarried women older than I dance barefoot at the wedding, or only those of noble blood?”

Lady Ashley sagged slightly.

“You should only make your unmarried elder sisters dance barefoot at the wedding, your Highness.  Since you have no sisters, it should be perfectly acceptable for the guests to leave their shoes on,” she sighed.

The princess, several noble ladies and a dozen lady’s maids loitered in the meadow, gathering flowers, resting in the shade of the trees and of course, discussing the upcoming Royal wedding.

Princess Kim gave a light, trilling laugh.  

“It’s no fun being better than everyone else if you can’t rub their noses in it a bit!  Oh, I can’t wait to see my beloved Raymond’s face again!”

“Your wish is granted.”

Both Princess Kim and Lady Ashley looked up in surprise at the voice coming from above them, but their eyes flew back down as something heavy thudded to the ground between them.

The object bounced once and then rolled a ways before the slack features of the once-handsome Sir Raymond came into view.

Lady Ashley immediately shrieked her horror, but Princess Kim possessed enough survival instinct to look back to where the head of her beloved had come from.  

“You wanted a head for your wedding gift, didn’t you?” the giantess snarled.

Now the princess screamed.  

Kim scrambled forwards as the giantess stepped out from behind the tree she had been hiding behind and hefted a club large enough to flatten an ox with one blow.  It clipped Lady Ashley and tore her head from her shoulders, sending it flying across the clearing to strike a maple tree and send down a shower of autumn leaves.

“What in bloody blue blazes did I ever do to you?!” Jonathon bellowed.  “I kept you warm and comfortable after my thrice-damned brothers dumped you into my lap and this is the thanks I get?!  You ask for my head?!”

Princess Kim looked back over her shoulder just long enough to note that the giantess no longer wore the pretty woolen dress that made her seem just like every other noble lady – though at thrice the size.  Now the female monster wore leather and chain mail; she was ready for battle.  She had even killed Lady Ashley with such ease the Princess had to wonder if she even realized she had just murdered someone!

The giantess swung the club again, this time smashing four lady’s maids who clung to each other for comfort as Princess Kim rushed past.  

Foot soldiers came running out of the orchard, intent on defending their lady.  A soldier wielding a pike charged at the angry giantess.  Jonathon deftly deflected the spear, grabbed the shaft and used it to lift the soldier bodily and hurl him off into the forest.  A short sword screeched off of her shin guard.  The giantess thrust back with her club, knocking the soldier to the ground, then stomped with gruesome finality onto his ribcage.  The remaining two soldiers decided they really didn’t get paid enough to battle giants and fled into the forest.  

Jonathon ignored them to pursue Princess Kim.  Her Royal Highness, along with the remaining maids and pages, ran headlong back towards the road. For the lone giantess to try to catch them would be like trying to catch a flock of sheep.  

Luckily, Jonathon had help for such a task.

At a sharp whistle, two enormous dogs burst from the cover of the woods and fell upon the frightened women.  Ladies screamed in pain and terror as their friends and compatriots were torn limb from limb.

Jonathon let the dogs have their fun, watching for a black-haired figure dressed in yellow.  She saw it.  Princess Kim clawed her way over injured maid and struggling page alike to make a break for the tree line.

The giantess narrowed her eyes.  She hefted the six foot long pike she still grasped in one hand and hurled the pole arm like a javelin.   

Kim screamed as the weapon slammed into her, pinning her to the ground like an insect on a bit of cardboard.  The lofty princess squirmed on the shaft, spitting blood and tasting bile.  She was helpless to move as the giantess paced close to her.

“You should have left me be,” Jonathon stated calmly.  “You would have had your knight and I would have had mine and everyone would have been pleased.  You would have had your fancy wedding with your idiot knight.  Now . . . now I’ll put you in the stew and all because you couldn’t leave well enough alone.”

A not at all pleasant smile curved Jonathon’s lips.

“But don’t worry; you won’t be parted from your beloved Raymond.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Sir Clayton had managed to get down from the giant-sized bed without aggravating his injury, only to require a stool to reach the toilet.  The sheepdog tagged along with him, determined to keep him within sight as all times.

The large knight made his way down to the kitchen and got some bread and cheese from the pantry to still his rumbling stomach.  He was starting to worry for Jonathon when the door opened and the giantess’s other dogs pranced in; prizes clamped in their teeth.

Clayton hadn’t eaten anything all day.

This was for the best, or else he would have vomited at the sight of slim, fair skinned arm being chewed on quite merrily.  

In horror, the blonde knight looked at the other dog, who proudly brandished a leg, an embroidered slipper still encasing the foot.  The sheepdog who had accompanied Clayton all the day sniffed at the body parts, eliciting defensive growls from the other two dogs.

“Magpie.”

The black-furred dog looked up at her mistress, who stood in the doorway, blood spattered and be-armored.

“Here you are; good girl.”  The giantess reached into a large bag that looked as if it had been made from a pavilion tent and forcibly wrenched an arm from a thankfully hidden corpse.  

Magpie took the limb and settled down on the hearth with the other dogs.

“W – w – what have you done?” Clayton wheezed, feeling his legs begin to wobble.

“I made certain the princess wouldn’t be sending any more warriors after my head,” Jonathon stated calmly, hefting the sack onto the long table at the center of the room.

When she released the canvas, one corner fell back, revealing the body of a woman.  Her face had been smashed in, but Clayton recognized the embroidery on her dress.  She was one of the ladies at court.  

Only his experience on the battlefield kept him from screaming in horror.

“Why have you brought them here?” He asked hoarsely.

“It would have been wasteful to leave them be,” Jonathon stated, setting her club in the corner.  “Also, I grow tired of mutton.  Human will be a nice change.”

Clayton did choke, then; his empty stomach churning and roiling dangerously.

“You – you – you are going to eat them?!”

“Why do you think knights slay giants?” Jonathon asked coolly.

“B-but . . . . you never harmed the maidens!  Your brothers brought them back untouched!”

“They know better than to harm their pets, Sir Clayton.”

With a smile, the giantess leaned down until she was face to face with the large knight, cupping his chin affectionately.

“Don’t fret; I won’t eat you,” she said in a way that was supposed to be comforting.  “I’ve grown so lonely with only my dogs for company; I think it’s time I took a human pet of my own instead of finding new homes for my brothers’ collection.”

Sir Clayton gaped in horror at the enormous giantess.  A pet?!  He was nothing more to her than a pet?!

Jonathon leaned in to kiss the human knight on the forehead.

Clayton jerked back as though she had stabbed him and staggered backwards to fetch up against the wall.

“Have you gone mad?!” He gasped.  “I am no one’s pet!  I am a knight of the realm!  I will not stay here!”

“Oh, calm yourself, my Clayton.  You will get used to your new role.  In time, you will come to think of this keep as your home.”

After a moment, a long scream of anguish echoed up from the giant’s keep.