Kayva glanced almost unconsciously at her bracelet, made from the nets that had ensnared her before. As a seasoned hunter of humans, she knew they were crafty and deadly despite their small stature compared to her. It would be safer to track and capture a dozen or so out on a hunt. They would be equipped to hunt boar and moose, and probably not have the discipline of the trained soldiers towns big enough to suit her would have. And Kayva loved swimming, but really didn't want to interfere with the boats along the numerous river ways. Sleepy watchmen in crow's nests were one of her favorite midnight snacks. And even if the hunters would know the woods almost as well as she did, Kayva was sure she would be able to subdue them without having to kill too many. The thought they might actually be able to resist her never entered her mind.
The hunting party she eventually found was one of the larger ones. She hadn't come through this section of the realm in almost a year, and people had forgotten the constant terror of wondering if a giantess was lurking just beyond the treeline. But then, Kayva mostly came right out and crushed things if she was serious about someone dying. But this party still kept some precautions from the days she'd frequented this town. Each night several guards kept watch, and carried crossbows that looked more lethal than the ones she'd last seen them with. And the leader was obviously a veteran woodsman. She was mildly concerned when he called a day's break and went off by himself. Kayva had had some trouble keeping up with him as he went off through the dense forest, and almost stepped on him when she found him again. Thankfully she was paying close attention. If she could kill him and make it seem like an animal did the deed, she would avoid causing a panic among the rest of the group. But she was the only thing that would crush someone flat.
Kayva spent another few days after finding the party double-checking her observations. A mistake would be embarrassing. Not pouncing into the middle of them at night and devouring all the hunters was surprisingly difficult. It had been almost a month since she had last ransacked a village, and she hadn't been able to safely eat any lost travelers since before she'd started shadowing the hunters. Deer and boar were good enough, but Kayva had a special taste for humans. But finally she decided the time was right. After a successful boar hunt, the group was in high spirits and spent a night getting loudly drunk. If they had done that when she had visited before they would have become her feast in minutes. But she let them have their fun. To their credit, they did remember to post sentries before falling asleep. Unfortunately, the sentries also fell asleep. And Kayva was especially good at picking off the sleepers. She let herself drift into one of the sentries' dreams, altering a few things and startling him awake. He reached for his spear, thinking he had heard something nearby. Kayva was very close, but in the opposite direction from where the sentry was looking. He woke his two partners, and the approached a dense cluster of trees with spears poised. The first to wake stepped a few paces ahead, and lunged into the thickets jabbing wildly. His spear point bit into bark and leaves and vines, but no giant elves. He turned around to tell the other two guards of the false alarm. But instead found himself face to face with two giant feet. He slowly looked upwards, until his eyes passed Kayva's sizable bust and reached her predatory grin. One watchman was crushed beneath a foot, and the other traveled down her throat with a *gulp*. The final sentry tried to sound the alarm, but Kayva silenced him with one swift movement of her foot. Now the camp was hers for the taking.
The giantess savored the tasty lump in her stomach, still struggling a little. Then she began to return to the camp, still silent as a shadow. She passed beneath a rocky bluff, above which the mountainside was dotted with caves.
'This might do as a lair', Kayva thought. The dim embers of a fire were visible through a break in the trees up ahead, and Kayva went over all the responses to different situations she had thought up during her hunt. She was going over how to deal with heroes when something landed softly on her back. She thought it was just a squirrel of other small animal, and went to brush it off. That was when it sunk a knife into her shoulder. She fought against crying out in pain, knowing that would ruin everything. The thing on her back was as nimble as anything she had ever seen and easily jumped around her darting fingers. It jabbed her with the cold steel again and again. Kayva realized she might be in mortal danger, and did the only thing she could think of. She toppled over backwards, hoping her tormentor would be crushed under her. No such luck, but down on the ground, where Kayva could use her full size the fight would be over in seconds. A shadowy figure tried to dart from between her thighs, where he had fallen. Fortunately for Kayva the fall had injured him and he tripped over a damaged ankle. She quickly snatched her would-be killer off the forest floor. It was the leader of the group, as she had expected. He still struggled and fought, but knew it was over. Kayva did him the respect of quickly squeezing the life from him for giving her a real scare, instead of slowly crushing each bone in his body for coming close to hurting her.
Compared to her silent scuffle in the trees, the seizure of the camp was easy. She merely burst into the clearing, accidentally crushing one sleeper, and woke those who weren't already alert with a wicked laugh. The first hunter to reach for a crossbow was smashed to a pulp. When the giantess didn't start slaughtering everyone else, the survivors listened when she told them to not move. And just like that, she had her first slaves.
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