The gods. The gods had abandoned Penelope as the dark shadow passed over her cart. She did not know what she had done to anger Hermes against her this much…if her Shade was able to leave the realm of Hades to try a new life, she’d be more pious. These were the last thoughts that went through the young merchant’s head as she looked at the threat descending from the sky like the fabled fall of Mt. Etna upon Typhon. These were…what Penelope thought would be her last thoughts at the very least….
BABOOOOOOM!!!!....
There was a horrendous ringing in Penelope’s ears as she tried to figure out how she’d gotten from the front seat of her cart onto the unfriendly ground. Through the unyielding buzzing, she could hear the terrified neighs of her horses and the crunching of wood…the squelching of her cargo of fresh fruit rupturing under the weight of that thing Penelope had been sure would crush her to death! Looking back over her shoulder, the young woman thought back to the story of Odysseus coming home from Troy…of the ship that stopped on the island of the cyclopes and the massive foot that had crushed his troops without hesitation. Looking up, Penelope could see it was not a cyclops she had to fight against. No. It was a woman’s sandal and a soldier’s shin-guard that were currently pressing into the back-side of her wagon, splintering the carriage and destroying her wares. The flap of a skirt overhead obscured Penelope’s view of the foot’s owner…but, Penelope did the only thing her rattled brain could think to do in this situation….
Penelope screamed. Penelope rose to her own feet. Penelope charged the colossal ped…and slammed her fists into the warm flesh and hard bone of an ankle…. She could see the leather wraps around the side flex and pull tight as the massive foot shifted in front of her. The tiny merchant could hear the wood of her smashed cart continue to crunch as she grabbed a small knife from her waist and slammed it into a bit of exposed flesh under the ankle…
A moment later, she was sent flying backwards as the titanic foot kicked out in surprise.
“WHAT THE HELL?!” a voice boomed overhead as Penelope bounced across the ground, feeling the welts and bruises already starting to sprout as she squinted up into the sunlight and saw a woman’s face the size of a small house squinting down at the ankle where the knife was still stuck. Fingers the size of tree trunks reached down, deftly grabbing the blade and plucking it out before bringing it up to the discerning eyes in the mess of a tangle of brown hair. An examination…Penelope had gotten the titaness’ attention, but perhaps in a manner that garnered the wrong type of attention. She saw the small bead of crimson forming under the strap of her sandal and the white-hot rage that filled her strong face at that recognition. The foot that had crushed her cart lifted as she found herself rooted to the spot out of fear. Then, she saw it and knew the situation was particularly dire. The damned staff she’d taken from that shrine thinking she could pawn it off in town…she saw a slight glimmer and felt in her bones that the staff had caused this…and now, there it was, lodged in the treads of the sandal slowly moving in her direction with murderous intent.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM….
Penelope felt the warmth in her tunic as she knew she’d pissed herself. Looking up, she could see the titanic woman had taken a single step forward and was now leaning on the leg that had nearly pulverized her like her cart of fruit. The muscular form bent forward…the woman’s face was framed in an angry storm-cloud of dark hair as she tried to pick out the eyes. On first glance, she could only see the rage…but rage gave way to shock…and shock turned to amusement as pearly white teeth the size of her head began to glisten one-by-one as the pink lips pulled back like curtains.
“WELL…WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE? YOU’RE RATHER SMALL FOR AN ASSASSIN…” the woman mused, chilling Penelope’s blood.
“N-No! Not an assassin miss! A merchant! Athenian!” Penelope stammered, relieved that she was talking and not flattening.
The woman’s cheeks turned red as she let out a small chuckle and raised an eyebrow, “I’ve met plenty of Athenians in my time. They’re a frail bunch, but none as…well, small as you. What are you really? Some trick or sorcery meant to distract me from the real blow?”
“M-Miss! I swear, I am an Athenian! T-This is…this is a misunderstanding of sorts!”
“Oh?” The woman said with mock disbelief, “Did you plan to extract sap from my ankle then when you stuck me with your blade?”
“I…I was angry, but I wanted your attention, I swear!”
“Well, you have it. I’m called Kassandra, little one…who are you?”
“Penelope…” she said, swallowing hard.
“That’s a lovely name…and a fine blade, though I don’t agree with where you stuck it. Are you some noble’s daughter?” Kassandra asked, her mind turning with possibilities Penelope didn’t want to consider.
“N-No, I’m a merchant. Please, I can pay for the damages, b-but you did crush my cart first….”
Kassandra looked over her shoulder and laughed in realization before turning back to the tiny woman cowering in front of her exposed toes. “So I did…though I thought I was just stepping on some rotten branch to be honest. Mouse coins won’t do me any good unfortunately for you,” the titanic woman said, her face darkening. “Fortunately, I’ve heard Athenians are good with their mouths and have silver tongues, all.”
Penelope was too afraid to speak…though her eyes were drawn down as the massive toes in front of her flexed and splayed, revealing the dirt and sweat from a hard day’s walking.
“Put that tongue to work, little Athenian…kiss my foot if you want me to forget you misplacing your dagger in my ankle.”
Penelope looked up, stunned.
“What?” Kassandra asked, her other foot coming forward and now hovering over the tiny woman, menacingly. “DO IT. Do it, or I’ll use what’s left of your carriage to pick your carcass off the bottom of this foot,” she said, giving her hovering ped a little shake….
Penelope felt her face flush red as she….
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