When a trade mission to the medieval city-state of Laoburg loses its draft animals, Shàonǚ forges ahead under her own power.

Original artwork by:
 AgonWolfe

Original story by:
 CSBernard03

Character created by:
 SydRaccoon

See the ORIGINAL

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The Principality of Laoburg

Midday

THE SEA BREEZE was the prince’s favorite part of the harbor. The fresh salty air that blew in from the ocean and brought cogs and galleys into port always gave him hope. The daily influx of new faces and new wares. The potential for commerce to be more munificent than conquest. That diplomacy could build what war tore down. For all these reasons and more, Prince Sydney adored the city harbor. From the meager fishing nets to the mighty merchant fleets, the sea offered nothing but abundance. In this and many other ways, Laoburg’s status as a crucial harbor was enough to keep away most invaders.

As Sydney strolled through the crowd, his ever-vigilant bodyguard stayed close at hand. The young male dragon was from the mountain clans beyond Laoburg. Over two meters tall, he stood head and shoulders above the crowd. Initially reluctant to take the duty, the young member of a highly placed dragon family was eventually won over by the diplomatic prestige this provided both his family and the wider clan. As the personal lifeguard of the prince, it cemented mutually beneficial trade and defense treaties between the two societies and boosted the image of the dragons as fierce warriors and benevolent protectors. It was also good for Laoburg’s internal politics if the prince was protected by an ally with no allegiance to any single guild or aristocratic family in the city.

The dragon watched the crowd. His hawklike vision could see to the far end of streets and almost to the city walls while his tongue flicked out and tasted the air periodically. Nothing could get close to the prince that the powerful drake could not see or smell from a great distance. Therefore, when the crowd in the nearby bazaar suddenly showed signs of agitation, he quietly turned his head and placed his hand on the handle of his sword ‘neath his cloak.

Sydney, an always alert raccoon, could not miss the disturbance nearby either. His short, pointed ears twitched toward the loud murmurs. Keen to investigate, he made his way through the crowd that clustered in the street between the harbor and the bazaar. As he politely weaved his way through the assembly, his bodyguard drew closer and silently followed in his footsteps.

Once Sydney broke through to the street, he turned and looked. The raccoon froze in his steps. The drake stopped, glanced, and tensed all over. He pulled his sword from its scabbard enough to allow for a quick draw if he needed it and kept his cloak closed over his arms. Even the fearsome and fearless dragon was given pause by what he saw.

It was a woman. A giant of a woman. With her pointed nose, protruded front teeth, wide ears, long tail, and whiskers, it was very apparent that she was a rat of some kind. But, immensely larger. Nearly four meters tall, her body looked as though it was chiseled from living marble and yet infinitely more durable. Sydney was so overawed by her height, musculature, and broad shoulders, that he was stricken with shame by how he stared at her scantily clad body. She was barefoot with naked shoulders. Her long, powerful legs and arms moved without a stitch of clothing to them. Instead, she was only kept decent for civilized society by a belly wrap that covered her chest and upper stomach and a pair of short pants tied at her broad hips.

Her massive feet thumped against the cobblestones like leatherbound timbers. She acknowledged no one despite the hushed silence and fear created by her mere presence. Children gawked and pointed while elders shushed and scolded them. Sydney stood agape. His bodyguard held his ground and impatiently bounced one foot up and down to relieve the intense apprehension in his heart.

The giantess said nothing and simply lumbered unopposed through the street. Sydney noted the chain wrapped around her waistline, fitted with two mace heads on the ends. The chain was tied over itself while the two spheres acted as catches. Below the chain, Sydney quickly spied a heavy mooring line tied around her waist. The ship’s cable pulled an entire caravan. A dozen wagons and sledges, maybe more, rumbled through the crowd in her wake. Sydney was left speechless by the multitude of crates, barrels, urns, and other vessels filled with trade goods as the train slowly ground its way behind a single woman. He was shaken from his wonder by the sudden tremor he felt in the ground as she lumbered past him.

The prince watched this strange visitor who could have conquered his city single-handedly, but instead acted as a one-woman convoy. He gently pushed his way past the last line of people in the crowd along the street through which the giant walked. He watched as each wagon and sledge creaked by, then watched the woman’s back as she traveled down the street. Once several vehicles went by him, he matched the pace of the caravan and walked alongside it. His bodyguard shadowed him closely.

The caravan and its enormous driver stopped in the square after another 250 meters. Sydney hovered nearby and slowly approached the woman as she untied the cable from her waist and bowed toward the merchants who had been eager to see her. After they exchanged bows with her, the gargantuan laborer turned and escorted the merchants and their porters down the side of the caravan. She stopped when she found Sydney beside one wagon.

“Who are you, little man?” her deep voice reverberated over the square.

The raccoon did not dress in the flashiest of robes. He preferred to simply dress as a city official might. Sydney cleared his throat as he craned his neck backwards slightly. “Oh… Er, um, well My Lady–”

The giant folded her arms under her chest and interrupted, “Duke.”

Sydney was befuddled a moment as he tilted his head slightly. “I’m… sorry? Come again?”

“Duke. I am a Duke,” she explained.

“O-oh! I’m sorry, then. Your Grace,” he said with a slight nod of the head.

“And you are?” she stonily replied.

“S-Sydney… Prince Sydney!” He nervously raked his hand down the back of his head to surreptitiously smooth down his hackles.

The giantess turned her head slightly, as if to make sure that she heard him correctly. “Prince Sydney?”

“Aye,” the dragon interceded. He stepped from behind Sydney and placed himself slightly in front of the prince to put his body between the little raccoon and the titan.

The crowd was momentarily startled as the giant suddenly stepped backwards, knelt on both knees, and placed her hands on the ground. With her palms down, she lowered her head. “Your Highness.”

Sydney was inwardly distressed, but captivated by the fact that, even in a prostrate position, the giant emissary’s broad back rose over his head. He marveled at her back muscles and how they twitched and shifted in rhythm to her breathing. “Welcome, Your Grace, to Laoburg.”

The giantess bowed her head lower. “I am well met, Prince Sydney.”

“What is your name?” the raccoon prince curiously ventured.

“I am Lóng Shǔ Shàonǚ, court magician and emissary of the Dragon Throne. My Khan sends his warmest regards as well as this caravan of goods to be sold here in your markets, Your Highness.” Shàonǚ raised her mast-like arm and extended it toward the wagons and sledges.

Sydney cleared his throat and folded his hands behind his back. “Yes… well… Of course. You may rise, Your Grace.”

The ease with which she shifted her enormous weight and then rose all at once gave the raccoon a slight case of vertigo. She was immense, yet so quick and agile. He glanced down and touched his forehead. He focused on the ground and then turned his head back to her face. “Do you… make it your business to haul entire trade missions on your back, Your Grace?”

Shàonǚ’s nose twitched and she tilted her muzzle upwards. With brazen haughtiness she replied, “My porters and draft animals were, unfortunately, snatched away in the middle of the night by marauders.” She raised the corner of her lip, slightly, “Your Highness.”

Sydney’s dragon bodyguard did not appreciate this sleight. Sydney, himself, frowned with concern – he understood the foreign dignitary’s aspersions against the lack of protection that his principality was honor bound to provide to travelers within its borders. “My word,” he sympathetically responded. “I am sorry to hear of this tragedy.”

The colossus put her hands on her hips, “Indeed. Once my affairs are completed here, I endeavor to seek out those who attacked us and punish them for their insolence.”

Sydney glanced to the caravan and then back to her, “You brought the goods here, first?”

Shàonǚ tilted her head to one side and said in a cool, detached manner, “I believed that the attack was meant to slow or interrupt our trade mission, Your Highness. I was duty-bound to ensure its success for the sake of our diplomatic ties to the West. I suspect that Laoburg is more worthy of our time than some of the nations that surround you. The fact that someone would go to such trouble to arrange such a raid convinces me that anyone who must be the target of such devious machinations must be an important rival or a valuable ally.” She smiled with a sly smirk.

Sydney chuckled nervously and cleared his throat. “Well! I… must say that I am flattered by your worthy praise, Your Grace. Rest assured! If there are highwaymen within our borders, we shall spare no efforts to find them and return your missing compatriots and stolen horses.”

The giantess scoffed, but still with her coy smile.

Sydney then dropped his head, coughed into his fist, and quickly added, “But, after such a long journey. Please, return with me to my manor house for a bit of repast. I would…” he struggled a moment. “I would appreciate the company of one so… grand as yourself.”

The enormous woman’s demeanor hardened as she stared back at him. She then tilted her head back to the sky a little and laughed with such boisterousness that the thick muscles on her abdomen twitched up and down as the rest of her upper torso heaved a bit. It made Sydney feel like a cad to stare at her as long as he did. She did not notice him, or perhaps did not mind. Instead, she reached to her side and touched the chain wrapped around her waist. She muttered one word.

With a sudden rush of wind, the giant diminished in height, weight, muscle, and ferocity. Sydney watched in astonishment as she shrank and her meager clothing mystically expanded or unfurled into more fabric. Several seconds was all it took for the grand woman that had lumbered into his capitol to dwindle down, not to a rat. But… a little brown female field mouse. Not shocked enough to experience further dizziness, but still amazed, Sydney was eventually left with a woman so small that he stood a head taller than her. He exhaled in wonder, “My god! What an astonishing mystical feat, Your Grace!”

The mouse, now humbler in her features, merely bowed. In full dress regalia he saw that her wild mane of hair had whipped around itself into a long, long braid that extended to the base of her pink tail. When she stood upright, he noted that what was more captivating about her facial features was not the now removed red markings on her muzzle, but instead it was the great, mahogany eyes that serenely stared back at him. She closed those eyes and answered softly through a smile, “As I said, Your Highness, court magician.”

The dragon guardsman relaxed and caught himself with his mouth slightly agape at the transformation. Sidney smiled, “And a most accomplished one, at that!”

Shàonǚ nodded her thanks for the compliment and answered with a smile, “About that repast?”

End