The Giant (G/T)

Part 9

Chester woke up the next morning before me, as his belly was grumbling for breakfast since neither of us had eaten the previous night. I awoke to find myself cupped in his hand as he lifted me off his chest.

"Good morning," he yawned, "How are you feeling?"

I winced and rubbed my bandages. "I'm hurting a little bit. What about your head?"

Chester gingerly touched his own bandage. "It's throbbing, but I'll be alright." He nuzzled me gently with his gigantic face. "I'm just glad you're alive."

"All thanks to you for saving me." I patted the bridge of his nose with my hand. "Let's get some breakfast." Chester carried me to the kitchen and set me down on the counter while he whipped up some French toast. "Chester?"

"Hm?" Chester responded to my inquiry as he cracked some eggs.

"What do humans taste like?"

Chester raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Well... each individual human tastes a little different. Some better than others I suppose. Men tend to have more of a hearty flavor, like a very high-quality cut of meat. Women are more likely to be sweeter, like a fine dessert."

"What about me? What do I taste like?"

The giant got a bit flustered at this line of questioning but still answered. "You're a perfect mix of both. Sweet and savory. Probably the best human I've ever eaten." He flushed at this remark and eyed me cagily. The color drained from my face as I realized his mouth was watering, and the look he was giving me was not entirely innocent in intentions.

"We probably shouldn't discuss this topic while I'm hungry," Chester added hurriedly, averting his eyes and turning his attention back to his cooking. I silently agreed and continued watching him without speaking. Soon enough he completed the task and piled up a mountain of food on a huge platter. Almost without thinking, he placed me on top of the stack and carried the plate to the dining room table. I felt a twinge of alarm at this development. After the horrors of the day before I wasn't ready to be eaten again, not this soon. Was he expecting me to comply with his desires? I wasn't sure.

As soon as he set the plate down, I scrambled off the mound of food and onto the safer area of the table. The giant acknowledged my action with a curt nod and cut off a piece of French toast for me to munch on. He also gave me a monstrous blueberry that was the size of a beanbag chair. Sighing in relief that I was not about to be devoured, I ate my breakfast while he dug into his meal with his usual voracity. I appreciated that he was willing to respect my wishes in spite of his carnivorous urges. Not to mention, it was mostly my fault that I had warmed up his appetite in the first place with my naïve questions. I made a mental note never to broach the subject before the giant was about to eat.

Once Chester had thoroughly cleaned his plate, we went to his study so he could get some writing done. I picked one of my new magic books to read and Chester opened it to the first page for me, then got to typing. The book was written by giant scholars who could not themselves use magic, so it was mostly secondhand information gleaned from old documents, witness accounts, and interviews with human wizards in the distant past, who may or may not have been under duress when passing along the information, with some speculation thrown in. From what I read, there were lots of different types of magic and spells. Not every human was capable of using magic, and even those who could may not be able to cast all categories of spells. The individual had to have a particular aptitude, or consume a special concoction that would grant him magical power. Additionally, a new magic user required the use of a special object such as a staff or wand to channel energy.

Essentially, most magic could be broken down into traditional elemental classifications, such as fire, lightning, water, ice, earth, wind, light, and shadow. There were other oddball categories like blood and metal as well. Even if the spell itself did not explicitly express an element, the underlying type of magic involved had some sort of elemental basis. For example, a healing spell might have light or blood magic as a base, depending on the spellcaster's aptitude.