章節 367: Daphne and the Valley Girls

The sun had just fallen behind the horizon in the Yorkshire Dales; twilight was falling upon the world…

The hill upon which Ginny had chosen to camp on for the night was located in the middle of nowhere, which meant that soon, the only sources of light available to Daphne would be the stars and the moon. In about half an hour, she wouldn't even be able to see one foot in front of her, let alone see where she was putting her feet, so she accelerated her pace.

The ground suddenly shook, and Daphne almost lost her footing.

"GRAWP NO GO! GRAWP STAY!"

There was a small thicket halfway down the hill; whatever monster had just roared was bound to be hiding in there, because it was making the trees shake wildly, scattering fallen leaves to the wind.

Only a little bit farther…

Daphne could see several ash, oak and elm Wood Nymphs cowering in fear at the edge of the small woods; they were terrified, but they didn't dare leave their home and escape to the plains and hills beyond.

"HAGGER?" the monster called out. "HAGGER, WAKEY!?"

There was loud cracking noise, followed by a dull thump; several trees toppled over, causing to the Nymphs to whimper in fright and huddle together.

Suddenly, Daphne didn't feel like going inside the thicket any more, but seeing the frightened Wood Nymphs in such a state, she couldn't help but feel sorry for them. Upon seeing Daphne stride towards them, the Nymphs recoiled in fear, but they soon discovered that this invader felt somewhat familiar.

"A yew nymph?" a rowan Wood Nymph inquired cautiously upon seeing her.

"Something like that," Daphne said. "What's going on over there?"

"It's a Giant," a quaking aspen Wood Nymph moaned, trembling in terror. "We're all going to die!"

"The oak will always endure," an oak Wood Nymph said wisely.

"So will the ash," an ash Wood Nymph added.

"Stop copying me," the oak Wood Nymph hissed. "You're always doing this!"

"You're the one who's copying me," the ash Wood Nymph said snobbishly, before muttering under her breath in an insulting manner, "you Dryads think you're the centre of the world just because you're the most famous…"

Daphne looked at the Nymphs incredulously; were they not concerned about the fate of their little thicket? She was shocked to discover just how much their personalities differed, just based on their subspecies.

"Er… Could we perhaps get back on topic, please?" Daphne said tentatively. "Once the Giant flattens your tiny forest, won't you have nowhere left to live?"

"Like we need your help, you old hag," an elm Wood Nymph sniggered. "You long-lived subspecies think you're just soooooo much better than the rest of us just because you live longer."

Daphne could only wordlessly gape at the snooty Nymph. In all of her fifteen years on this pale blue dot called Earth, nobody had ever called her old; much less hag!

"Hey, I resent that," the oak Wood Nymph said angrily. "I bet you're only saying that because your tree is too small to catch the Giant's attention; you're just hoping our trees get knocked down so you can get more sunlight! I, for one, welcome this stranger's help."

"I also welcome the stranger's help," the ash Wood Nymph quickly added.

"I thought of it first!" the oak Wood Nymph snarled. "You Meliae have no imagination!"

"Dryad!" the ash Wood Nymph shot back, as if it were an insult.

The Wood Nymphs then began quarrelling loudly again, which quickly devolved into hair-pulling and name calling. So preoccupied were they with their squabble, that they did not notice the enormous Giant loudly sneaking up on them, despite Daphne's urgent warnings.

The Giant didn't tower over the trees, but it had to be around the height of a regular suburban house. Its body had the proportions one would expect from a baby; albeit a sixteen-foot-tall one. Its skin was slightly greyish, and it was wearing a sort of tunic made from stitched-together animal skins. No doubt the monster had forced some hapless human to sow the lot of them together.

Suddenly, the Giant's hand shot out towards them, faster than anything that size had any right to be, and it grabbed the two out of the three most annoying Wood Nymphs.

"HANGERY," the Giant roared at the terrified Nymphs trapped inside his fist.

Daphne was forced to dodge out of the way of the enormous globs of spittle raining down when the Giant talked. Meanwhile, the remaining Wood Nymphs immediately scattered and retreated to the woods without so much as a goodbye.

"Please don't eat me, I'm not delicious at all!" the captured oak Wood Nymph squealed in terror, "I'm full of bitter tannins, so you'll get a heartburn if you eat me!"

"Don't eat me either!" the ash Wood Nymph screeched, as she struggled helplessly to get free from the Giant's fist. "I'm full of tannins too!"

"She's lying, ash trees don't have tannins!"

"We so do, don't listen to her!"

The Giant frowned. The Nymphs' high-pitched voices were giving it a headache; it was beginning to regret having picked them up in the first place… Perhaps they would stop making annoying noises once they were inside its stomach? They didn't smell like humans, so surely it would be fine to have a taste?

Upon seeing the Giant open its maw wide and reveal a series of rock-like teeth, Daphne knew the time for discussion was over. She summoned some roots and wrapped them around the Giant's ankles, which were about as thick as the rest of its legs.

She already knew that the Trace could detect her usage of runic magic, but she had no idea if her ability to command plants would similarly set it off. For now, she'd restrict herself to plant manipulation, but if her life became endangered or if Aurors began showing up, then she wouldn't hesitate to unleash the full unbridled might of her magical abilities.

"Over here, you overgrown lump!" Daphne called out to get its attention. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

The Giant paused what it was doing and cast its gaze down, searching for the source of the voice.

Unfortunately for Daphne, she was wearing Translating Earrings, which meant that the Giant immediately understood her words. The Giant might not have been able to understand the English language very well, but it had no trouble understanding Giantish!

Unknowingly, Daphne had hit upon this particular Giant's sorest point; standing tall at a mere sixteen feet of height, it was considered the runt of the litter among its kind. So when Daphne had compared its size to hers while speaking in perfect Giantish in an insulting manner, was it any wonder that it became immediately enraged…?