This excerpt is from an old story I was working on years back and that I just found in my drive recently. I remember having a lot of grand plans for it, and I have plenty of notes leftover. I think I’ll get back to the story eventually, though it isn’t on a front burner by any means. However, since everyone loves a good chase scene (bonus for it being giants), I figured I would toss this one on here.
The story was titled Mediator and it was centered around the tried-and-true story premise of “someone drawn into another world, shenanigans ensue.”
A crash sounded. Delainey whirled around to face the direction the sound had come from. She watched with fear as she expected a lightning storm to kick up, even though she could see the clear blue sky. At length, she saw … something come into view.
Then, as that something came into clearer focus, Delainey’s heart dropped to her stomach as she slowly looked up.
The crashing was caused by a pair of gigantic boots. The gigantic boots were worn over equally gigantic feet which, as Delainey gazed upward, connected all the way up to a gigantic giant. Delainey’s jaw dropped to see the towering figure over the trees, wading through the forest like a pool of water. And then, she almost fainted to see that this giant was closely followed by another. Delainey was dumbfounded; she was staring at two impossibly giant beings, and they were walking casually towards her.
They quickly closed the distance until not fifty feet separated them. That’s when something new happened that snapped her out of her daze.
The first giant, who was already scanning the ground before him, spotted her.
Delainey knew that look as his eyes widened in some sort of recognition. The 80-foot man had definitely seen her. He stopped in his tracks and held out a hand to halt his friend. The other looked at him quizzically. The first looked back at his comrade and held his index finger over his mouth for silence.
While they were looking away, Delainey quickly shuffled backwards until she was sure she was out of sight. Still, her stomach flip-flopped as the giants turned their gazes back towards her. The first one held out a hand and pointed in her general direction, though he couldn’t see her anymore.
“I saw one, right over there. In that clearing. A little one.” It said in a booming voice.
Delainey ran, not caring that she broke her cover in doing so. Never before had she wanted so much to flee, to run until she had no energy left. All her caution and pacing was thrown out the window. All that remained was her speed, improved even more by her fear. Fear that spiked when she heard and felt the giants begin walking again, following her.
“Don’t let it get away!” one of the giants boomed. “Catch it before you lose sight of it again!” Delainey wished she could just huddle up and cry, hearing the eagerness in the voice somewhere high above.
But still she sprinted on, dodging around trees and vaulting right over some low shrubs. She was sure that, out in the open, the giants would already have caught her. At least the forest provided her with some cover.
Her heart jumped again when her pursuer called back to the first one. “Try to circle around and head it off that way!” She didn’t know where “that way” was, but she found out soon enough.
One set of crashing footsteps abandoned caution for the trees and picked up the pace. The ground, already shaking beneath Delainey’s giant pursuers, rumbled deeper as suddenly one of them was on the right. She caught sight of one of the massive boots before scrambling to change direction, though she knew she was being herded.
“I saw it! Keep heading it in that direction.” The first one exclaimed as it resumed its brisk pace after her. At length, Delainey realized why the giants had chosen “that way.” With a surprised gasp, she left the treeline for a very sudden clearing, and a wide one at that. High cliff walls lined the opposite side in a jagged arc.
Delainey had effectively been cornered.
She came to a halt at the base of the cliffs, her eyes searching frantically for a new escape route. There were none. She whirled around and watched like a deer in headlights as the two giants joined her in the clearing, looking smug.
“There it is,” boomed one of them, pointing Delainey out to the other. “Trapped.”
She was, indeed, trapped. Shaking like a leaf, Delainey backed up until she was pressed against the rock wall behind her. She feared every second what the giants might do. One of them knelt before the cliff, watching her curiously.
“I think it’s a female!” the giant boomed with something that sounded like surprise to its companion.
“You think she has offspring nearby?” the other asked, looking concerned.
“Nah … she’s too young, from the looks of it.” Delainey listened to the conversation, too scared to try sneaking off while they were distracted. Her chest heaved with deep breaths as they discussed her like a common critter.
Time seemed to slow down when, suddenly, a giant hand was approaching her.
Unfortunately, Delainey found that she slowed down, too. She couldn’t move. No matter how much her pounding heart warned her, she could not make herself move. The wall of a giant hand soon blocked all exits, and still she just shook like a blade of grass, pressed against the cliff wall.
The huge fingers slowly and carefully closed in around her. They pried Delainey away from the rocky wall, surprisingly gently. Delainey was caught. When she felt her feet leave the ground, her ability to move came careening back to her.
She began to squirm mightily, though her body was engulfed in the giant fist from just below her shoulders to her ankles. No matter how much she pushed against her bonds, she remained irrevocably captured. Still she found herself ascending rapidly.
Delainey could no longer stop her tears as the giant stood to its full, imposing height of 80 feet and held her before his face. The other leaned in close to look at her as well. She shut her eyes tight as she struggled and cried, but not before catching a glimpse of their curious scrutiny.
“She looks really scared,” the other giant commented. Delainey turned her attention to him, her eyes searching his face. She pleaded with her expression, pleaded for her life. She was disappointed, though, for he simply continued to watch her without trying to help.
A few more frightful tears streaked down her cheeks. Slowly, she stopped her attempts to struggle free. It wasn’t doing any good.
Writerly Things 