He selected a direction and kept walking for the entire day without reaching the border of the giants farm. As night fell he scavenged for food and he found a huge blackberry that had fallen on the Ground. Using his sword,he carefully hacked off a big chunk and ate it sitting in the small hollow of a gigantic tree trunk. He slept fitfully that night, woken by chitterings of night creatures and nightmares about being eaten by a giant squirrel. When daytime arrived, he polished off what was left of the berry, cleaned up as best as he could using his waterskin. The was about to start climbing down the tree when he heard voices. He cautiously peered out from behind his shelter and had to look around for a bit to realize that the voices were coming from the Ground. At first he was delighted to see other humans, thinking that his troubles were finally over and he could seek their help to get away from this place.
However as he climbed down, he could actually start to hear what they are saying. They were arguing quite loudly. One of them was loudly saying, “The Lord sent us to teach the giant a lesson! We must fulfil our duty!” Another looking like a common soldier, said, “This is absurd, how are three humans like is supposed to ‘teach’ a giant anything? I don’t know about you, but I would rather not get eaten!” The first guy replied, “Don’t be such a coward, that is why Milord sent the wizard with us! He can control the giant via the beads of the necklace he is wearing. We will be perfectly safe. All we must do is present the new terms from our Lord and then leave.” The third companion now spoke up, “In point of fact that is what makes me nervous, we already take 80% of his farm production, will he not fight back at the increase of the tithe by 3 tons?” The first man gave a sharp grin and slapped the man’s shoulder, “That’s what we have you for! Now let’s get moving I want to reach the giant’s house by dusk.”
The knight watched them leave with a solemn countenance. He had not expected what he had heard, that was practically slavery! For some reason the knight decided to follow the men, indignation burning in his chest.
To be continued….
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