Fog slicked the decks and shrouded the seas. They were guided not by their eyes but by the burning in their sparks. The thirst within them would soon be sated. Onwards they sailed, their lord ahead of them, towards the distant land they had been promised. The far-seer told them it was so. Someone crashed a baton against a drum, and a hymn to the gods rang out. Spears clanged along the decks in rhythm.
The Queen admired the sky through the glass of her court's chamber. The glass warped and stretched the splatters of light into shapes distantly familiar. Fascinated, she stretched out her hand and traced the space between them in the air, hoping to trace the connection that her mind could not. She would be with them soon, among the stars. Their preparations were nearly complete.
"My lady!" gasped a voice from behind. It was a Linkpin of the Line, prostrating himself before her vacant throne. The Queen abandoned her reverie and turned her attention to the knight.
"My good Linkpin, what brings you hither? Why dost thy countenance wring itself thusly?"
"The giants, my lady," he replied, curled into a ball of penitence. "From the East. They sail towards our shores at this very moment with numbers unthinkable. I can scarce think upon it without panic."
The Queen frowned. The giants were a grave threat indeed. They were known to be more than just legend- the sailors of Simfur had spotted them before, mistaking them for islands adrift. With great effort, they had even taken one prisoner to learn their language. But this was the first time they intended war.
"Rise, good Linkpin, and banish thy fears. All is not lost. Assemble the troops. I shall meet the giants on the seashore. There, we will decide what becomes of them."
"Of course, my lady!" cried the Linkpin, rising to his feet. He sprinted from the chamber, for a royal order was not one to be taken lightly. The Queen shifted into her travelling shape and alighted on the sacred golden path laid for her, churning her humours to red-hot. She released the brakes that held her in place and steamed towards the sea. Her people needed her a while longer.
The water beneath their keels grew shallow, and they slowed their approach. The hymns stopped too, if only to surprise their quarry. At the head of the flotilla was their battle-king, the masterful conqueror of land and sea: Whaleroad, who had broken the shields of the Shield-Breakers, the mightiest of all the Sea-Boilers. On his right was his bound concubine and far-seer Stormcloud, who had told of the mists they would sail through that night. Her ability to predict the sky was a gift from the Spear Father himself, whose mighty eye discerned all that transpired in the world. With their battle-king and far-seer, the Sea-Boilers were invincible. They had crushed the Shield-Breakers and now sought new lands to conquer. Stormcloud had told them of the island fortress and the Small Ones that lived there. They covered themselves in bronze and worshipped flame and water, they had bounteous gemstones and other treasures stored away within their fortress walls. They were ripe fruit on the tree of life. Tonight they would be picked.
Whaleroad stopped in the water and assumed his walker-shape, standing in the shallows. Stormcloud followed, and then the rest of the war-band. The battle-king held his spear at his side, and he pointed forwards. Something in the mist glowed.
"They have prepared for us, brothers," he warned. "But it would be no battle without battle-sweat. I will advance and judge their strength. When I know we can take them, I will call for you. Until then, remain at the ready. Come, Stormcloud," he said, and gestured for his far-seer. The two crept ahead until the mist swallowed them. They marched towards the glow until it took form- a war-line of Small Ones (their name betrayed their size- some stood as tall as the fine warriors Whaleroad's band) held torches aloft. They stretched across the sand like bronze driftwood, they had that lifeless quality about them.
At their center stood more of their kind, in elaborate armor. Unlike the torch-bearers, they were not so uniform, they had a sense of life about them. Some were taller, others were wider, there was a short one and a fat one too. Their armor was brightly colored, and they wore gems. They were battle-kings, like he was. Whaleroad was not afraid. He had felled warriors more war-clad than them. From between them came another, a femme. She was not the tallest nor the widest nor the shortest nor the fattest. She was, however, the fairest. Her raiment was green like a harbor sea and gold like the sunset. On her brow was a pointed crown, and her head was wreathed in flickering cinders. Her whole body glowed as if she was aflame, like a living bonfire. This was new to Whaleroad, and perplexed him.
"Tell me, Small One, why you are burning," Whaleroad commanded.
"The fire heats my humours," the Queen explained, speaking their language. "I have answered thy question. Now you answer mine: Tell me, giant, why thou art here."
The gathered Linkpins had rarely heard their Queen forego her formalities before, but they supposed that giants did not deal in formalities. After all, she was probably no queen to him.
"Our far-seer told us of a rich land of the Small Ones. We are here to claim it. By might, it is rightfully ours."
"This land is the kingdom of Simfur," said the Queen sternly. "It belongs to a noble people and has belonged to them for vorns. Why dost might decree that such ownership has been transferred? What sacrifice to might has been slighted? What prayer has been misspoken?"
"Might has yet to decide," conceded Whaleroad. "But it favors the Sea-Boilers. Whoever sheds the most blood loses claim to the land."
"I beseech thee, giant, to reconsider," the Queen smiled knowingly. She raised her hand towards the sea, and the fog parted, exposing the giants that had been lying in wait. Stormcloud clung to Whaleroad's arm, and wailed softly.
"I did not forsee this… it is a sorcery!"
"A sorcery? Small One, do you think yourself a god?"
"The authority with which I rule my people is said to be divine. Those that held my office before me believed it. I do not. I rule my people by my own authority. It is that authority that commanded the mist to move, and it is that same authority that will slaughter thy warriors where they stand, if thou dost not reconsider."
Whaleroad stood still, silenced by her words. Within, he quaked with rage.
"Leave, Stormcloud. Return home with these brave warriors. It would be foolish to waste your lives here."
"Then we will not conquer this land?"
"Not while this witch lives."
Stormcloud understood, and turned away. She retreated into the sea, and Whaleroad's warriors followed. The battle-king had been shamed without even lifting a blade. Sorceries were dangerous, and if she had one, she had others. Was he a coward for saving his loyal warriors? No, he concluded, tightening his grip on his spear.
The Queen lowered her hand, and the mist closed behind the retreating giants. "Hast thou renounced thy claim?"
"I have. But I am not done here."
The Queen nodded, and reached for the two royal tenders she had placed at her feet before the giants' arrival. The left unfurled into a shield, which secured itself to her forearm, and from the right she drew her sword. The weapon was unlike any that Whaleroad had ever seen, hewn not from metal, but crystal-clear gemstone. It twinkled in the torchlight, its brilliance unbefitting a weapon. Her knights stepped away, and soon only the two rulers stood on the beach.
"Then we have work to do." she smirked, raising her weapon to point at Whaleroad.
The Destron lunged forward and the sea at his feet whipped into a raging foam. His opponent was a complete mystery. He needed to tease out her secrets. He swung his spear out in a wide arc and kept himself as far from the other end as possible. The green femme raised her shield and deflected the spearhead, staying firmly put. Whaleroad cursed the gods for his misfortune. He had hoped she would move, so he could judge her speed before she could use it offensively.
No, he insisted, I will make her move yet.
He brought forward his own shield and covered his vulnerable torso. He charged ahead again, this time determined to close in. This gave her two options- she would run, or stay put and be crushed under his feet. She chose the former and dodged around to Whaleroad's left flank. She was fast- not flier-fast like the Sky Rulers, but very fast for a Small One. Whaleroad now fought against his momentum and pushed towards her again, this time shoving his shield outwards. It was too close for her to dodge- she would have to demonstrate her strength. She pressed back, but the sand beneath her feet gave way. With a second shove, Whaleroad sent her skidding away. He had a read on her now.
The Queen righted herself and hunkered down behind her shield. He was as strong as his size suggested. She quickly evaded another thrust of his spear and closed the gap between them, making a shallow cut in his left ankle as she ducked between his pillar-like legs. He may have been a giant, but the Master Sword still parted his flesh like any knave. The wounded leg disconnected itself from the ground, trailing sand down onto her as it left. She barely had time to raise her shield before it came crashing back down. The soft earth beneath her crumbled as she was pelted by a high-pressure wave of sand. She closed her eyes and felt a weighty collision against her shield. Weightlessness followed, and she found herself soaring over the shore, locked in the giant lord's grasp.
"I have had enough of your fire," said Whaleroad, his huge head far below as he held her overhead. "I will drown it out."
The weightlessness doubled in strength as the giant flung her down into the sea, the waves doing little to soften her landing against the shallows. As the sand around her began to settle, she could see the stars flickering on the other side, visible through oceans of water and sky. The currents pulled at her and pleaded for her to join them further out, deeper. It was so serene in contrast to the sharp pain through her back. But the stars beckoned yet. She could not slight them. The sea surrounding her began to bubble and rage. She jammed her sword into the seabed and wrenched herself upright. The Queen emerged from the water into a cloud of steam, which was exactly what she wanted.
Whaleroad had nearly scaled the cliff face beyond the shore when the fog crept in. He released his grip and dropped back to the sand as the world around him was swallowed by endless mist.
"Sorcery," he growled, raising his shield and stomping forward. A shrill whistle broke the eerie silence. Try as he might, Whaleroad could not identify the source, but he knew it was the work of the witch.
"Unbent knee doth not suit you, giant," said her voice, dancing through the mist. Something glowed in the mist and darted towards him, and he felt another cut on his left leg. He saw the glow move again and felt another cut on his wounded leg, and then another, and another, and the attacks began to run into one another. Whaleroad roared in agony and stumbled forward, catching himself with his hands. The mist drifted away, and the mighty Destron found himself kneeling in a sea stained green with his own blood. The Queen stood before him, an arms' length away. She was wreathed in flame now, a trail of cinders and ashes flowing out behind her like a sooty cloak of flame. The water at her feet boiled, and spurts of steam issued from regulator valves across her body. She looked like the sea when it gave birth to islands, tempestuous and unchained.
"H-how?" he whimpered.
"It is and shalt remain unknowable to you, giant," she replied, returning her blade to the tender that had become a scabbard. The boxlike shape unfolded, doubling in length, and she pulled out on the hilt once more, drawing a sword much larger than the one she had wielded previously, but no less brilliant. "It seemeth to me that thou hast shed the most blood."
"Aye," groaned Whaleroad, the salt stinging his wounds.
She placed the sword's tip at the base of his neck.
"Mayhaps thou hast now reconsidered thy claim? If thou hast, I shalt let thee go free."
Whaleroad nodded, and the Queen lifted her weapon away.
"Very good. Be on thy way then, and remember that such an offense will not be forgiven twice."
The Destron flopped into the water and painfully transformed into his sailing shape, sloshing away with a trail of blood behind him. The Queen knew her threat was hollow. She would be gone soon, and no one would be left to challenge the giants if they returned. She knelt in the waves, looked up at the stars, and wept for her people.
"And that is the story of… the Queen... and the Giant," yawned her father as he closed the codex.
"But what if it was different?" asked Soundwave, pulling the covers up to her chin.
The older mech checked his watch and sighed. "What do you mean?"
"The Queen could talk to the giants. Why didn't she work something out?"
"Probably because she was more concerned with keeping her power. It's a very bourgeoisie kind of fairy tale."
"But if she had stayed around she could have talked to them when they came back."
"Do you think things would be different then?"
"I don't know," murmured Soundwave, her eyelids heavy. "But I can imagine."
"I bet you can. Now go to sleep. You've got classes tomorrow."
He flicked off the light switch and slipped out of the room. Soundwave waited until she heard his door shut, and snatched the codex from the nightstand. She buried herself under the covers and began to page through the stories, determined to find a better answer.