The crushed poppies beneath his bent knee gave off an aroma not unlike burnt sugar, as he held the apple in his outstretched hand. He had kind eyes but a wicked smile, and he touched the knot of his tie with the uncallused fingers of his off-hand as she examined him critically.
“Just a bite,” he promised, “and you’ll see everything differently.”
“I don’t like peaches,” she told him, and he looked down at the pink-and-yellow fruit cupped in his hand with the air of someone who has forgotten something very important… but can’t remember what. “And anyway, I think you’ll find we have more pressing concerns. The giants are almost here.”
He rose quickly, drawing a sword and turning in one smooth motion, the peach dropping from his left hand. “Then quickly! Get behind me.”
“I can fight!” she objected.
“In those skirts?” he scoffed. “You’ll only get in the way.”
“I have never been defeated in combat,” she reminded him. “Perhaps you should get behind me.” She strode in front of him, powerfully muscled legs clad in the finest deerskin breeches, and he lifted a fold of his robes out of her way as he scurried behind her.
“We make a good team,” he suggested with his wicked smile. “The wizard and the warrior fair. Perhaps, after you’ve defeated the giants, I can remind you just how good a team.” The trees trembled as the giants came into view; they towered above the tallest pine, and their shadows left all beneath them shivering with a cold they wrote of as simple fear.
“A little less flirtation and a little more magic?” she reminded.
He waved his hands and summoned energy deep from within, and petals rose into the air and danced as the magic thrummed and the giants moved ever closer. As the petals rose she rose with them, her limbs stretching and growing, until she faced the giants nose to nose across the tops of the trees.
“My friends!” she called out. “You’re almost too late for the wedding! Maude would have been furious!” She waved the guestbook she held in one hand like a sword.
“The… wedding?” one of the giants asked, scratching his head. Another sniffed, scratching himself under his prickly hide shirt. “Oh. Yes. Of course. Right. The wedding,” he allowed, as the strains of music met his ears.
The giantess gestured to the field beyond, where the tents had already been erected, and a group of fairy musicians were serenading the bride to be. “There’s plenty of ale. Watch you don’t step on my pet wizard – he’s very short.”
The giants nodded and agreed. They each kissed her cheek as they passed, and one of them patted the wizard politely on the head. She picked him up as they left, and placed him on her shoulder, his favourite place to watch the world go by.
“Come along,” she told him. “Who knows where the story might go from here.”
Image courtesy of April Milne. April is a fantastic illustrator and fine artist. See her work at her website, or check her out on Our Contributors Page.