A Maiden and Her Knight

22: Have Faith

     Rain continues to fall throughout Albion, the downpour coming down heavy as flashes of lightning light up the sky for brief moments at a time. With every flash of lightning, one can see a woman hurrying across the wet ground in her bare feet. Soaked from the rain, her short red hair weighed down and her clothes clinging to her body. Her midriff is exposed because her shirt is too short to cover her, her pant legs just barely cover her calves because of a similar problem. One would have to assume that she is poor because of how she is unable to afford clothes for her stretched out body.

She is looking for anything that could be used for suitable shelter; a cave or someone's home. Taking shelter beneath a tree is not an option, with how the wind is blowing the rain would still hit her. She continues to move quickly, hoping that her body heat will keep her warm enough until she can find some suitable shelter from the storm. Even that will only last so long. The cold rain hitting her body and the wet grass beneath her feet are slowly draining that.

Another flash of lightning rips through the sky, lighting up the surrounding area for a moment once again. In that brief moment, her eyes see the one thing she has been searching for. "Shelter!" she shouts out optimistically. She picks up her pace, hurrying towards the barn which she has just recently found.

Crossing over more wet grass she finally arrives at the large doors, the only thing keeping her from just waltzing inside where it is presumably warm and dry. She can't wait to remove her wet clothes and bundle up in a warm and dry blanket, which she hopes that she can find inside. The hinges start to creak as she begins to push the large door open. Now having an opening which she can enter through she steps inside, she is greeted by the sound of a loud voice which sounds like it belongs to a weak woman, "Gabriel?"

Her first thought is that someone else here is taking shelter and that they are waiting for their loved one to return. "Sorry," she begins to apologize, "I'm not..." When she turns to face the woman said "Gabriel," she is rendered speechless by the sight of a giantess who is laying inside the barn. She had always believed that she was tall, but this woman who is laying before her is huge. This giant of a woman is unable to stretch out her body because she is taller than the length of the barn.

Her first instinct is to back away from the giantess, survival instinct telling her that something so large is a danger to her well-being. Yet the look on the giantess's face is saying something completely different. She is smiling, albeit weakly, in a friendly manner.

She then recalls a series of tales that have been circulating the local towns, tales that involve a maiden who is traveling with a knight. These tales all describe the maiden as being an enormous beauty. Her size often being described with her being taller than a tree, twice the size of the largest dragon, and even large enough to carry a full-grown man as if he was a child. But there is one detail that all of these tales do mention, the maiden is a kind and gentle soul. Surely this woman who is laying before her has yo be the same maiden from those tales.

"Sorry I'm not who you were expecting," she finally manages to say, "I needed shelter from the storm outside, I hope you don't mind if I wait it out here." She is hoping that she won't mind, a woman of her size could easily toss her out; which is saying something since she easily towers over most people.

"Of course I don't mind," Ashley answers weakly, "It is nice to have company as I wait for Gabriel to return." A loud rumbling can be heard from the maiden's midsection, a clear indication of why she is so weak right now. "Hopefully he returns with food soon."

She is having a hard time registering what she is being told. Gabriel, whoever he is, left in the middle of a storm to get this giant maiden something to eat? Not only is he traversing a downpour, but she can only imagine just how much he would have to procure to feed such a massive woman. She can eat a lot and she isn't even a fifth of the maiden's size. "I am guessing that you mean a lot to Gabriel if he is running such an important errand for you."