Rhana could see the looks she got from the locals the closer it came to the end of the day. She only chuckled. She had never failed to make it home during a three month seasonal event, and she wouldn't fail tonight.

Rhana sighed as she made the last sale, folded up her purse, and placed the goods in her cart. She looked at her human companions.

"I have to head home. Make sure you put things away properly, and send it to the valley in the morning." Rhana stood up from her stall, stretched her eight foot frame and sighed.

"We'll make sure it's properly put away, Miss Rhana." The woman looked around. "You better get going, Mistress. The others are giving you a lot of funny looks." Rhana snorted.

"Don't worry about them, Linna. If things don't match up to our ledgers when they arrive, an entire contingent of my kin will come to settle the accounts with this town." She smiled, and revealed her slightly longer, and sharp canines.

"They understand, Mistress. It's not the questions later they are worried about." Linna blushed, and looked like she wanted to ask something, but Rhana smiled.

"Little bunny, you couldn't handle one of my kin while in heat." The large hand lightly cupped her cheek. "Don't try to tempt us." Rhana chuckled softly, while Linna's friend pinched her arm. Rhana had already turned and left the town at a fast foot pace.

"Are you a fool? You already know what can happen, but you still want to know first hand?" Jenni asked her.

"No. I can't say that I'm not curious though. Can you imagine it?" Linna whispered. Jenni snorted.

"Sister, you are too slender, and small." Jenni put her hand on Linna's belly. "If she's only the smallest, it would come up to here." She touched her just at the rib line.

"Is that why everyone looks so skittish?" Linna asked.

"Only the men, dear sister." Jenni rolled her eyes as she knew the stories. "Only the men."

* * *

"Close the gates!" The gate guards shouted after Rhana dashed by. He heard her soft chuckle, and shivered. His friend rolled his eyes.

"Damn it, Jorge! She's over eight foot tall! How are these walls going to stop her if she comes back?" He said angrily. "If you keep inciting her, she'll turn back and remember who you are by scent alone!" Jorge paled.

"She'd hunt me down?" He whispered. His friend rolled his eyes.

"No one knows, Jorge. The last guy who pissed off a giant is missing his arms and legs! She ripped him into pieces, and that was after more than a few insults." Dean said quietly. "We don't know what set her off, but after a few drinks, that guy said something that crossed her bottom line."

"So if someone already angered her, even just one wrong word could be the end?" Jorge whispered.

"Maybe. Why do you think no one steps out of line? A single family can eradicate an entire town. We work with them in order to maintain peace. If this town disappears, we're just a piece necessary to calm their anger. Didn't you read the sheet the baron gave you when you joined the guard force?" Dean asked him quietly.

"Can't read." He said in a much lower voice.

"Then learn, Jorge." Dean said firmly. "It's a requirement for a reason."

* * *

Rhana smiled as she passed over a small hill that marked the halfway point.

"I'm making good time. I should be home in enough time to give my girls a really good thrashing." She grinned as her long legs bounded over the familiar terrain.

Unfortunately, she met a problem on the path. A loud roar filled her ears.

"You bastard!" Her eyes hardened. "I'm almost home, and you have to be right in my way when I need to get home quickly!"

A large wild black bear had sauntered onto the path of the giantkin. In the last two hundred years, the first being her childhood, and the second her teenage years, this was the first time she's found a bear on her path.

She sped up, and spread wide her arms. Claws on the ends of her fingers elongated like a cat. Long fangs gleamed in a low light as she bared her teeth. The black bear hadn't noticed her at first, but when it did, it roared at her.

Rhana's rage rose and before the bear could rise up onto its hind legs, she swatted it to the forest floor.

"Rrrraaaaaaa!" Rhana roared at the bear and attacked it in her frustration. Before the bear could rise again, her claws shredded its flank. She was enraged for a reason.

Without this bear in the way, she would have made it home before her heat kicked in. Unfortunately, she could feel the wildness surge up from down below. Her heat was prematurely triggered before the moon rose in the sky.

The bear never had a chance.

* * *

"No one takes a fat bastard like me to Europe for a prank." Baris said angrily. He poked the stone and tapped it with the hilt of his new sword.

"Solid stone, not veneer. Lime mortar. Hundreds of years old if this decay is any indication." He frowned. "These stone blocks are all carved, but they aren't carved with a machine. They are split using chisels and hammers." He touched one of the edges of the block.

"Such craftsmanship. I can barely feel the points in the edge where the chisel was used. They must use a smoothing stone to take off the sharp edges." Baris was quite impressed. "The stone is quite old, and stained with dust, but this place is still solidly built. Does any rain fall here at all?"

He pushed open another door to a short hall. He found a small office before the stairs, and looked inside. One dried corpse sat at a desk. He frowned and walked inside.

"Everyone is the same. They all died at the exact same point. No one was sick as a sickness doesn't just steal life like this." He remembered the corpses in the main room of the dungeon. Some were in the process of moving prisoners. Others were seated. Some just walked in. They all died at the exact same time.

This was either a staged play, or a place of some sort of mass suicide incident where everyone used a poison at the specified time.

The office had a shelf filled with books, but most turned to dust when he touched them. Only one book stayed together.

"Age verified. Books only turn to dust after a few centuries exposed to the air. But why are you intact?" He lifted the only book to not fall apart. Strange symbols started to shine on the cover.

"A book lock, but it's open. They must have unlocked it when they died." Baris didn't hear the click, and missed the obvious. The book unlocked when he picked it up.

"I can't read these symbols." He whispered. Certain symbols stood out, and his eyes grew unfocused.

"That looks like Spanish. Piedra." Baris lifted his hand instinctively. From his hand, a stone shot outward, while his eyes glowed only a little. He turned his head as soon as he felt a burst of something and saw the stone shoot from his hand to the wall and bounced off fiercely.

"Fuck me. Magic."