Melody was jostled out of her sleep by the Elder.

“Hmm? Elder?” Melody sleepily sat up from her furs.

“Wake up. Come. Need to work.” Elder stated and moved toward the exit to Alui’s cave to wait for Melody.

Melody rubbed her eyes and stood up. Raising her arms above her head, she began to stretch her body. Being from modern times, with nice soft beds and pillows, made sleeping on a hard stone with only a handful of furs between you and the cave floor terrible.

“Ready?” Elder asked as Melody approached.

“Yes.” Melody followed Elder down toward the main cavern.

As they approached the exit of the cave system, Melody heard moans and complaints of pain that became clear once she arrived outside.

“It hurts!” “I no like pain!” “Give shroom. That help!” The male giants complained.

About six adult giants were sitting or lying on the ground with various wounds.

Nearby was a large corpse of what looked like a giant bull with jagged horns. Alui was at it, hacking away at joints with what looked like a sword. From the style of what it looked like, Melody felt that it might be a claymore, but due to its dull edge, Alui was having difficulty breaking it apart.

Thanks to such weapons, though, Melody had a better idea of how tall she might be. She remembered some movie about a Scottish revolution against the English and how the sword looked compared to a man. The blade should be close to the full height of a man, so she estimated she was somewhere between five to six feet tall. Her mother was more comparable to about ten to twelve. Elder was around ten due to her hunching stature. Most of the males were closer to twelve or thirteen feet. Lastly, Rul looked to be around fourteen.

After moving beyond being breastfed, Melody found that most of a giant’s diet consisted of meat, meat, and more meat. Melody would be willing to kill for an orange or some grapes. The meat was never cooked right either. It was either almost raw or burst to a crisp. The main reason was that Rul would always change who did the cooking after they screwed up and would not let Alui or Elder try. A female’s purpose was to butcher food, tend wounds, and have children for the giants.

“Meldy. Taking healing paste. Tend two there.” Elder ordered while pointing at two giants who seemed not as injured as the other four.

“Old girl! Make fire first!” Rul ordered from a pile of wooden logs in the clearing.

Elder sighed and headed over to Rul and pulled out what looked like a dull, broken ax blade and a flint stone. Elder took one look at the pile of wood and frowned.

“Rul. Who gather wood?” Elder asked.

“Milt gather. Why?” Rul replied, annoyed.

“Wood wet. No burn. No dry leaf to start fire.” Elder answered.

Rul looked like he wanted to hit Elder but held back. He turned and went to another giant and began to savagely beat and yell at the giant.

I guess that one is Milt… Melody thought as she applied the purple healing poultice to the first giant she was assigned.

“Give drunk shroom.” The giant demanded.

Melody quietly obliged the giant and pulled one out with a set of wooden tongs. The giant took the mushroom and popped it in his mouth with glee.

As Melody finished up, the giant began swaying back and forth while chuckling stupidly, watching the other giant get beaten by Rul.

Melody moved over to the next giant. It was the one who helped her escape Olg and his crew when they forcibly took her to the ‘fun pit.’

“Want drunk shroom?” Melody asked him, which he shook his head.

“Tend wound. Have one with meat.” The giant replied.

Melody nodded and began tending the few scratches he had.

Over the last few days, she had a few close calls with Olg, but the giant before her beat Olg and his cronies two of the times. Melody did not think it was out of kindness; the giant never showed it to her. She believed it was more of protecting the best source of Whirly Shrooms and probably to get brownie points with Rul. So, Melody’s overall position in the clan was a bit safer than most, but she still had to be careful not to let her guard down.

Rul threw the giant, Milt, through the pile of logs.

“Get right stuff! Make Rul look stupid! Get right stuff or die!” Rul yelled. Melody didn’t look at him but silently thought it didn’t take much for any male giants to look stupid.

The giant, Milt, limped off to gather the things Elder listed out to him.

Melody joined Elder to tend to the last four giants. Elder looked at one of them that wasn’t moving and checked for breathing by putting her ear to his mouth. Melody felt that the giant was dead because of the gaping wound in his stomach, most likely gored by the bull’s horns.

She shook her head and called out to Rul.

“What want?!” Rul was still angry over Milt.

“This one dead.” Elder pointed at the dead giant.

“Me no care! You! Get rid of!” Rul pointed at Olg’s two cronies and had them remove the dead giant. They mostly just dragged the body out into the forest and came back five minutes later.

Elder and Melody tended to the remaining three giants, but Elder seemed sure that one of them would not last the night.

This was the life Melody had to get used to. The male giants would go out and hunt for monsters to eat. Most of what they brought back were ones who would attack instead of running away from the giants. They were unable to catch the more nimble or quick beasts of the forest.

Alui finished hacking the limbs and head off and was working on gutting the beast.

Milt returned with a bunch of dried leaves in his pelt shirt and dead, dry wood. He dropped everything next to the stone circle, wandered a few feet away, and collapsed to rest his beaten body.

Elder left Melody to finish up with the last giant and went to get the fire started. Elder piled the leaves down first and put several smaller branches atop them. She then used her flint and broken blade to strike sparks on the leaves several times before they began to take.

Melody wanted to go over and help Elder do it right, but was wary of Rul and the other males. Elder had warned her before not to show that she was intelligent, or else the other giants would kill her or worse. After spending so much time trying to stay out of trouble in the clan, Melody felt that death would be a sweet release for females from the hell they had to live in.

Elder fanned the small fire with a piece of bark while adding more leaves here and there until the logs finally caught fire. Melody knew that the best way to make a fire with a flint and steel was to use kindling, like leaves or dried grass that was rolled and frayed by rolling it between her hands first, while adding small sticks to build up the fire. Logs were supposed to be the last thing to add to the fire as they took too long to catch. And since this would have been more like a bonfire to a human, they needed a lot of wood.

Melody finished up applying the poultice to the last giant and joined Elder at the fire.

“Go help Alui. Ready meat.” Elder ordered.

Melody went over to her mother and started skewering the chunks of meat on sticks and moving them closer to the fire. Rul seemed to have already picked the cook of the day, one that usually did a decent job.

“Give drunk shroom.” The giant demanded.

Melody knew this was bad. The last time she gave one of the Whirly Shrooms to a giant on cooking duty, the meat all got burned to a crisp. It made Rul so angry he nearly beat the giant to death. That was not the reason that concerned Melody as she didn’t like any of the males, but the part was when Rul had her share in the blame for giving the giant the shroom.

Melody had been pulled into the trouble caused by the males a few times. She was thankful, though, that Rul would typically leave Melody’s punishment to Elder to do.

Elder would use what looked like a staff for some monk to wield. Elder would smack Melody’s back with the staff in such a way that would make a lot of noise but not hurt too much. Though at some point, Rul became suspicious, so Elder had to throw in the occasional real hit. Once Melody got better at timing her cries and flinches, Rul backed off, seeming satisfied.

Melody knew she should not give the shroom to the giant but also knew the giant would punish her out of sight if she didn’t. She was trapped and had to think of something.

“I can no give. Rul get mad. But make deal?” Melody offered, hoping the giant would bite.

“Hmm? What deal?” The giant asked.

“Meldy give one with meat. Then Meldy give one with sleep.” Melody was getting anxious. If the giant didn’t take her up on the offer to sneak him one when he would go to sleep, she would be punished with him.

The giant thought a moment, “Give two with sleep.”

“Rul count shroom! Rul notice too many missing.” Melody countered.

The giant frowned but seemed to realize he might be pushing his luck. He accepted Melody’s deal, much to her relief.

Melody left the giant to start cooking while she went to prepare more skewers. Elder was there assisting Alui and Melody with food preparations now.

“Good job, Melody,” Elder whispered to her.

Melody had to hide her smile while she helped. She couldn’t let any of the males, especially Rul, see her smile, or else they would get suspicious of her and cause trouble.

Alui finished pulling all the guts and internal organs out. “Melody. Take and burn.” Alui asked Melody, who had just returned from taking another set of readied skewers to the cooking giant.

“Yes, mom,” Melody said as she gathered up the parts and took them to the fire.

Things that the giants did not eat were the internal organs and the head. They would eat everything else but those. The things they did not eat, they would just toss into the fire. Melody felt it was a massive waste, but she followed orders and kept her head down until she had the strength and skill to escape.

“Alui! Rul food!” The cooking giant yelled.

Alui headed over and gathered the cooked ribs from the giant and had to reverently present the food to Rul.

“Good day! Good hunt! Eat and joy!” Rul called out as he took the ribs and crunched into them, meat and bone together.

Before Alui could move away, Rul grabbed and began to fondle her as he ate. Melody hated days like this. She hated seeing her mother treated like some kind of object. One of the worst things about seeing Rul do this was that her mother would not be back for the rest of the night, only to return in the morning, beaten and in pain.

Melody felt something boiling deep within her, a primal fury that she had to keep under control and could not let it show on her face. If Rul knew of her real feelings, Melody would definitely die brutally. It was not the first time the feeling had appeared. It had started around the days following her forced trip to the ‘fun pit’ with Olg and his minions. In her previous life, Melody had never been an angry person. She couldn’t be. The curse that plagued her would sap her of all of her strength if Melody became angry. But now that she was no longer affected by it, her anger seemed almost uncontrollable. Melody was afraid of it, fearful that she wouldn’t be able to control it one day and would die because of it.

Melody hated the male giants. All they ever did was take, take, and take. Melody hoped she could perfect blending in with air soon. She would perfect it, teach her mother and Elder how to do it, then Elder could teach the other females, and they could all sneak away, leaving the males to die out alone.

Once all the males had their fill, they headed inside to rest, leaving only Elder and Melody behind to cook their own food and clean everything up. Melody had to watch as Rul dragged her mother away to force himself on her.

The bubbling in her core came back, and she had to squeeze her eyes shut and stay still until she could force it back down.

“Melody?” Elder called to her in concern.

“I’m… okay. Is there anything left?” Melody asked as she moved over to Elder.

Elder shook her head. “Almost none. You eat. Need strength.” Elder handed a single chunk of uncooked meat on a skewer to Melody.

The piece was a decent size that Melody knew she could split between the old woman and herself. Melody looked over her shoulder and saw the two giants on guard were fast asleep.

“One second Elder.” Melody found the sword her mother was using and used it to cut the hunk of meat into strips as best as she could with a dull blade.

“What doing, Melody?” Elder Elder looked over Melody’s shoulder to watch.

Melody pulled out a handful of light brown leaves and put them into her stone bowl, and used her pestle to crush them.

“Sweet leaf?” Elder was curious about what Melody was doing.

“Elder, do you have some Burgan Moss?” Melody asked, which caused Elder to reel backward.

“Why want that? That bitter.” Elder said.

“Please trust me.” Melody gave her a smile.

Elder pulled out a handful of the bitter moss, and Melody added it to her mix. After turning it all into a paste, Melody taste tested it to her satisfaction and applied it to the strips of meat. Once coated, she sat close to the fire kept a close eye on them.

Elder had no idea what Melody was doing and carried what few bones were left over to a pit several yards away from the entrance of the clan cave. The hole was where the giants threw all their trash and relieved themselves. The smell around the area was horrible. Melody would usually relieve herself in private from the cave and the pit and use some soft leaves to clean herself. Melody always loved going to the secret cavern because she could at least wipe her body off. The giants really didn’t have the drive to wash.

Melody pulled the skewers and tore a piece off one of the sweet-smelling meat since it looked done. Melody smiled as the meat was an excellent medium. Popping the piece into her salivating mouth, her smile widened from ear to ear.

“It good?” Elder asked, which Melody handed the full skewer to Elder.

“Try. It is delicious.” Melody said as she bit into her food.

Elder was a bit hesitant, but seeing Melody was not recoiling from the bitter moss, she tentatively took a bite.

Melody could have sworn she saw stars in the old woman’s eyes as she devoured the skewer.

Sweet leaf to counter the bitter taste of Burgan moss, creating a nutritious and slightly sweet coating. Melody smiled as she finished off the last bit of her skewer.

“Melody. That too good,” Elder leaned in, “Make more next time.” A wide smile came to the old woman’s face.

Melody promised that she would.

It took the two of them twenty more minutes to finish cleaning up and head into the cave for the night. Though on their way in, Melody took a side path to deliver on her promise. The only thing worse than breaking a promise with a giant would be breaking one with Rul.

Melody found the cook giant nodding off in his private cave.

“You late.” The giant said, grimacing at her.

“I need clean up. Here shroom. Meldy always good on promise.” Melody took a Whirly Shroom out of her side bag with the tongs and handed it to the giant.

The giant took the shroom and popped it in his mouth and told her to leave.

Once Melody was back to the main path, she moved deeper inside, making sure to stick close to the walls if she needed to blend in to hide. Melody didn’t have to make it all the way back to Elder’s room but just her own. She had to be careful of the two locations. They were the main cavern and the path to her cave. The two locations were where Olg and his crew would watch for her the most.

Melody made it to the cavern entrance and heard a lot of snoring. After taking a deep breath, she exhaled and used air blending. It took her a couple of minutes of concentration, but she was now imperceptible unless someone bumped into her.

Melody had not fully mastered blending with air yet, it took her time, effort, and she could only move slowly. Quietly, Melody began her long trek across the cavern. She kept her danger sense open and picked up readings around the exit she had to get through. Focusing, She saw movement behind a snoring giant whose alcove was near her goal.

I see you, you bastard. Too bad you won’t see me. Melody knew it was Olg. He had tried that before and disturbed the giant he was hiding behind, getting himself a savage beating.

It took Melody about thirty-six minutes, but she slipped down the tunnel to her cave. Once she was inside, she went to her usual corner and blended into the stone to wait.

Just as she predicted, Olg marched into her cave and looked around angrily. He got even madder that he could not find her and left to search elsewhere.

Melody sighed and began practicing her air blending more. She hoped she could master it soon. Olg’s obsession was getting worse. One of the multitudes of bad things for female giants was a rule that they were not allowed to fight back against males. If they did, it meant their death.

Melody took slow and steady breaths and shifted in and out of air blending, working for the technique to be as natural as breathing. She felt it was not too long before she could master it. The current limitation maintaining it while moving. Melody’s goal was to get it to where she could walk at a normal pace before they could all escape. The current movement speed was too slow and made the chances of escaping too low.

Loud steps came from the cavern area. “Why I care?” An adult male asked.

“Meldy missing! I swear!” Melody heard Olg say.

What the hell?! He’s now bugging others to get me in trouble?! Melody had to think of something quick. If someone told Rul that she went missing, he would assume she left the cave without his permission and punish her.

Melody lifted some of her mother’s furs and climbed under them while trying to stay flat. All she needed was for the giant to call for her, for her plan to work.

Melody sensed the giant arrived in her cave.

“See! Meldy gone! Leave cave with no word!” Olg accused.

“Hmm? Meldy, you here?” The adult male asked.

Melody smiled internally and stirred under the hides, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “Hmm? Need potion?” She asked, pretending like she just woke up.

“Why hiding?” The adult asked.

“Not hiding. Waiting for Alui.” Melody faked a yawn.

“She lie! She not here before!” Olg was becoming irate and annoyed the adult.

“No. She fine. You waste time!” The adult giant punched Olg, knocking him over. Olg tried to protest only to be kicked across the ground. The adult beat on Olg a bit longer before yelling at Olg’s cronies to take him away and not waste his time again.

The adult giant stepped up just outside Melody’s cave, took one look at her, huffed in annoyance, and headed off toward the ‘fun pit.’

Melody smiled at how her plan worked out perfectly, and she felt she had bought herself a week of peace. Though her plots never took much effort with the intelligence difference. Olg was just too dumb and arrogant. It made his actions easy to predict.

Melody moved back to her corner and continued practicing her air blending skill.

Hours passed, and eventually, Alui returned, limping and holding one of her arms.

“Mom!” Melody rushed to her collapsing mother.

Alui was in worse shape than she usually was. Melody helped her mother over to her furs, quickly prepared a Loca Grass drink, and tried to feed it to her mother, but she only coughed it back up.

Melody rushed, making another, held Alui up at her shoulders, and set her head on her shoulder.

“Please, mom, drink.” Melody slowly fed Alui the drink sip after sip until it was gone.

“Thank… you… Melody…” Alui barely got out.

This is not enough… Identify. Melody used her skill on Alui.

Giant: Name: Alui. Age:21. Level:10. Danger Level: High.

A giant (female). Giants age quickly and live an average of fifteen years or less. Violent and low intelligence. Loves her daughter Melody. Dying.

Melody needed something more than just the Loca Grass. Her mother was dying. She left her mother in their cave and quickly moved to Elder’s.

The old woman was still asleep on her furs, and Melody began using her skill on the various herbs.

Loca Grass- Nope.

Burgan Moss- No!

Rola Moss- Please!

Glendale Root: Dried. A rare root with healing properties. Bingo!

Melody was not sure how much she would need, so she woke up Elder.

“Huh? Melody?” Elder was a bit delirious.

“Please, Elder! I need your help. My mother is dying!” Melody cried.

Melody’s plea seemed to wake Elder up completely. The old woman noticed Melody had already pulled the Glendale Root.

“Good choice. Grind and turn to powder. Mix in water.” Elder took the root and broke off a little over a third. “Use this. More than need, but Alui must live.”

Melody nodded and got to work. Using a short sword, she cut the root into thin slices, dropped them in a stone bowl, and began breaking it up with a pestle. Elder left to tend to Alui as best as she could while Melody worked.

She quickly added the powder to a small barrel, adding water until the powder was dissolved within. Identify.

Glendale Root Drink: Very Low-quality healing potion. Capable of preventing a being from dying so long as injuries are not fatal.

Melody nodded, picked up the barrel, and ran down the hall.

As she was making her way, she was ambushed by one of Olg’s cronies.

“Got you!” He wrapped his arms around her.

“No! Let go! Alui dying!” Melody pleaded.

“Me no care. I take you. Not Olg.” The crony said.

Melody continued to struggle as the bastard tried to fondle her. He was getting nowhere with how much she was thrashing in his hold. Melody kept one hand over the top of the barrel to keep its contents within as she struggled to break free.

The crony then began trying to drag her back toward the ‘fun pit.’

“No!” Melody looked to the side and saw a tunnel, the one that led to Rul’s cave. She had to try. Melody took as deep a breath as she could.

“ALUI DYING!” Melody screamed with all of her might. She wasn’t sure if Rul had heard her, but the crony loosened his grip on her, and she broke free.

Melody got a few steps away before he tackled her to the ground. Melody hammered her elbow into the stone to keep the barrel from breaking on the floor, yelping from the pain. A small amount spilled out before she got her hand back on top.

The crony got up on top of her and was trying to spread her legs. Melody was disgusted, wanting to escape to save her mother, only to feel the weight leave her back.

“WHY TOUCH POTION MAKER?!” Rul shouted at the crony as he lifted the now terrified giant.

“Rul!” Melody cried, “Alui dying! Need potion here!” Melody said while holding up the barrel.

Rul’s expression change terrified Melody. “Go. If Alui die. You die.” Is all he said.

Melody struggled to her feet and ran down the tunnel, hearing a furious roar and repeated wet crunches fade behind her.

Melody arrived at their cave. Elder had finished applying Rola Moss paste to most of Alui. Elder looked up and saw Melody’s condition.

“What happened?!” Elder wanted to help Melody, but the girl moved up to her mother, lifted Alui at her shoulders, and began feeding Alui the potion.

“Please, mom… don’t die….” Melody sniffled as she kept feeding her mother the potion.

Elder decided not to ask at the moment and began tending to Melody’s bloodied elbow.

Twenty minutes passed, and Melody had repeatedly used her skill on her mother to no change yet.

“Alui breathing. Heart beating.” Elder finished her latest check.

Rul stomped into the room, most of him covered in blood, a wild look in his eyes. “Alui live?!” He shouted.

“Alui alive. Potion working.” Elder replied.

Rul’s eyes fell on Melody’s back, but her eyes were locked on her mother, identifying her once more.

Giant: Name: Alui. Age:21. Level:10. Danger Level: High.

A giant (female). Giants age quickly and live an average of fifteen years or less. Violent and low intelligence. Loves her daughter Melody.

Melody began to tremble, and tears flowed down her cheeks.

“Meldy?” Elder said, worry slipping out in her voice.

“Mom will live….” Melody choked out, no longer seeing the Dying tag in Alui’s information.

“Good. You come.” Rul grabbed Melody by the back of her furs and carried her out of the cave. Melody did not have the energy to fight back. She was emotionally drained.

Rul entered the main cavern carrying Melody. “WAAAAAKE UP!” He roared, nearly shaking the cavern.

All of the giants shot up, several hitting their heads in their alcoves. Rul ordered all giants to be gathered and waited at his stone seat.

It took about ten minutes, but all the giants were gathered, except for Elder, who tended to Alui.

Melody limply hung from Rul’s hand. “Alui almost die.” Rul began. “Stupid giant stopped Meldy from potion-making.” Rul’s eyes locked onto Olg. “If any stop potion maker… You die.” Rul lifted Melody up so all of the giants could see her. “If any stop Meldy from potion making… You die.” The giants looked at her and back to Rul. “New rule. If see giant bugging potion maker. Kill.” Rul’s eyes never left Olg.

Rul dropped Melody to the ground, and she stood. “Go. Tend Alui. Nothing else.” Melody nodded and left the cavern, not caring at all for what was said. Melody would leave this place, and she would take her mother, one way or another.