guardian giant story thing

	Cassandra was not having a good day.

	First there was the giant worm. Overnight it had eaten part of a barn and bunch of livestock. The farmer was worried his house would be next, so she had to wrestle it out of the ground and kill it. Then she returned to town only to find some Orcs had dropped by for a healthy round of pillaging. Fortunately, the guards were putting up a good fight, and she only had to squish a few of the raiders before the rest of them ran off. After that, though, she learned that in the confusion caused by the raid some Kobolds had snuck into town and kidnapped half a dozen people.

	Now Cassandra was climbing through the craggy highlands overlooking Hapsdale, heading straight towards the largest cave in the area. She knew the Orcs and Kobolds would not strike simultaneously by coincidence. The red dragon that had taken up residence here a few weeks prior was likely involved. Cassandra usually tried to stay close to the village and fight on the defense, but now that there were prisoners involved she had no choice but go dragon hunting.

	Negotiating the tight gorges and rocky cliffs was time consuming, even for someone as large as Cassandra. It didn't help that she was tired. Fighting the worm had been rough, and the dragon was an even more dangerous threat. The rational part of her knew that it was wiser to wait a day and engage the dragon when she was fully rested, but the thought of leaving even one of her villagers to such a fate made her stomach clench in horror. She would find a way to rescue them. She always did.

	As Cassandra vaulted up a small (to her) ledge, the cave came into view. It was below her, at the bottom of a wide, shallow basin in the rock. Shaking a bit of soreness out of her muscles, Cassandra checked the straps on her shield, and readjusted her grip on her sword before clambering down towards the cave.

	She knew the cave was fairly shallow, but with the sun shining brightly overhead its interior was covered by inky shadow.

	“Veraxis, return the humans to me and I will spare your life,” Cassandra shouted into the cave.

	There was a hiss, and some raspy mutters she couldn't quite make out, then, “Begone, giant! I have no time for your threats!”

	“Don't make me come in there, Veraxis,” Cassandra replied, as she crept towards the cave mouth. Her sword and shield were raised and ready, but she was still surprised when the dragon rocketed out of the cave in full flight. She narrowly ducked out of his path, and spun to face him as he took up a position hovering above the basin.

	Though out of reach of her sword, Veraxis was still close enough to begin blowing gouts of fire down at Cassandra. She blocked a few with her shield as she scanned the basin, looking for an avenue of attack. Behind her, and slightly to the left there were a few step-like ledges leading up to a large rock that jutted out in into the air above the cave.

	As soon as the flames stopped Cassandra took off towards the rock. She pushed her tired body to climb quickly so she would be in position before the dragon readied his fiery breath.

	As she made for the edge of the basin, she heard Veraxis behind her, mocking, “Running away already, giant?”

	She could give no reply through her labored breathing, nor did she want to.

	Reaching the top of the rock, Cassandra switched direction, running straight towards the basin, and towards Veraxis. She knew if she hesitated she might rethink her plan. She leaped off the rock, aiming straight for the dragon. Even in his surprise he maneuvered out of her way, but she caught his wing, sending both of them crashing to the ground.

	Cassandra landed mostly on top of Veraxis, but the impact still sent jolts of pain through her bruised and weary body. The dragon was stunned and she wasted no time in lining up a killing blow, sword clenched tight with both hands, aimed right at the dragon's heart. Before she brought the blade down the dragon kicked her off with his hind legs.

	She had been too slow, too tired. The realization of her body failing her was shocking, and in the split-second of hesitation that followed, the dragon was upon her. Veraxis tore away Cassandra's shield and used his mass to force her down. He he tried to make a swipe at her neck, but she caught his claw in her left hand and held his scaly foreleg back.

	Cassandra tried to stab him in the belly with her sword, but he moved to pin her right arm, holding it down with his leg. They were deadlocked, but Veraxis had the advantage. He inhaled deeply, drawing his head back in preparation to incinerate Cassandra with a point-blank blast of dragon-breath. Before he could, Cassandra used all her strength to throw his leg out to the side with her left hand. Caught off balance, Vedraxis stumbled for an instant, giving Cassandra the time to rip a dagger of her belt and stab him in the neck.

	Instead of searing flames, Veraxis released a pained screech and staggered off to the side. Cassandra pushed him off of her, and got to her feet quickly. Her muscles screamed, but she would not miss this opportunity again. With two hacking blows, she decapitated the dragon. Stumbling over his lifeless body, she only made it halfway back to the cave entrance before collapsing herself. She rolled onto her back. Caked with sweat and dust and blood, Cassandra was exhausted but victorious.

	It took a moment for Cassandra to compose herself. She needed to know if the prisoners were alright. Her limbs felt so heavy it was almost impossible to move. She struggled to rise, but paused when she heard the sound of tiny feet pitter-pattering across the stone. She turned her head just in time for a young girl to run smack into her face.

	“Oh, Cassie, Cassie, I knew you would come!” the girl squealed, hugging Cassandra's nose.

	Cassandra was still worried, though. She gently pinched the girl's shirt from behind and pulled her off her face.

	“I'm glad you're alright, Annah, but where are the others?” she asked.

	“Reena got her leg hurt when they captured us. Cedric and Abel are carryin' her. An' Livia is working on Theo's bindings.”

	Cassandra finally allowed herself to relax. Everyone was safe. She could rest up for a minute, and then take them back to Hapsdale. She turned her head back and closed her eyes to wait for the others.

	However, after only a moment she felt small hands gripping her flank. Cassandra popped an eye open to see Annah trying unsuccessfully to climb up onto her stomach. She smirked, and maneuvered a finger to push the girl up. After getting her balance on the living surface, Annah trounced up Cassandra's torso, and leaned over the swell of the giant woman's chest to see her face.

	“Theo said you wouldn't come because you couldn't fight the dragon, but I knew better,” Annah started. She was dirty, and probably hungry, and had just been kidnapped, but she seemed undaunted. Her blue eyes shown brightly and she spoke with childish excitement. Cassandra couldn't help but smile.

	“I'm sure Theo is very happy he was wrong,” Cassandra chided in a motherly tone.

	“Well, maybe he is, but it's still silly. You licked that poor dragon so bad all his little lizard-heads ran off!” Annah said.

	“Lizard-heads? You mean the Kobolds?”

	“Yeah, the Koballs.”

	Cassandra chuckled, “It's Ko-bold, -bald, like your daddy.”

	“Oh, whatever.”

	Cassandra heard some heavier footsteps. She sat up, scooping Annah up in her palm automatically as she did so. She didn't feel quite so tired anymore. Maybe some of the young girl's energy was rubbing off on her.

	Out of the cave Cassandra could see two young men carrying a middle aged woman between them, supporting her with their shoulders. Her leg appeared to be broken. Somewhat behind them a young woman helped an older man along.

	Cassandra glanced down at Annah.

	“I'm gonna have my hands full with all these people, do you want to ride on my head?”

	The look of complete amazement Annah gave her is something she would never forget.

	“I can do that? It's not too dangerous?”

	“You'll have to hold on to my hair, but I can catch you if you fall,” Cassandra replied, smiling.

	“Awesome!”