vi.

"You'll regret it!" the sorcerer called after me. He didn't chase me. I don't think sorcerers know how to beg or plead, and with his wife and child there, he was distracted. I wanted to keep the Giant baby more than he wanted to tear her to tiny bits to enchant and brew and sell and sew.

Perhaps it was Bea I should be grateful toward that no guards came for me. No one had troubled me from his estate. I'd walked past the half-built city. Now, instead of rising up, it looked like it was all collapsing. I had saved the baby from the villagers; I thought I saved her out of greed, but a nauseating sense of acknowledgement swept through me. I saved her because I was too weak and sentimental to do anything else. That weakness had cost me comfort and security for the rest of my days.

Soon the crying stopped, but my eyes continued to water. I tried not to blink. Each time I did, that haunting quilt of gold was spread out before me, a vision I had dreamed of a thousand times while struggling on the road. The less times I thought of it, the less my legs would resist me. The less I would feel like there were hooks embedded in my skin that would only stop tearing if I turned around.

"You are a horrible little monster." I hissed at the child as I'd bundled it up on my donkey, whose ribs protruded less than mine. "You gave me everything and tore it away." The blankets were tight around it, and she squirmed and whined like she always did when I had to bind her up. I took to the road. If I got at least one town away, she'd be safe.

That evening, while stopping between towns, we took refuge beneath a wide stone ledge with a small waterfall further down the cliff face. I made a small fire. I spread out her blanket and let her play on it. I tried in vain to fish with my stupid, unenchanted stick and line, tying random bugs found beneath the rocks to the end. Hours passed, and I fell asleep before the baby did.

"Da-Da." My eyes flew up at the weird noises. In my lap, the baby was slamming her fist into the outside of my thigh. I jerked away, the skin blossoming with a bruise beneath the fabric of my pants.

"I should have sold you." I rubbed the injury tenderly. She climbed forward again, slapping at my thigh with her crumpled little fist. "You're ruthless!" I cried, scooting away from her on my behind. She chased me, slamming her little fist into the pebble-ridden dirt.

"Da-da!" She cried. "Da-da!"

I stopped from the shock. Da-Da? Like... Dad?

"Whoa, whoa. I'm not a Giant, kid, I'm not your dad." I said, waving my hands in front of me frantically. She laughed and punched my thigh brutally. I hadn't expected the patricide attempts to start on the very day I had been warned about them. Wait! Not patricide! Because I was not her dad.

Finally, after I'd felt like my leg was pulped raw, I grabbed her little fist and held it up in the air.

"Knock it off, you brat!" I shouted. Her face crumpled in dismay, and then she was crying. The spell had worn off, and her lungs worked perfectly. I winced at the ear-shattering noise, immediately regretting yelling at the insufferable infant. "Hey, hey..." I swung my arms around her and pulled her onto my lap. "It's okay. It's okay. Calm down."

After ten minutes, she sniffled one last time, and then thrust her fist into my chest.

"Da-Da." She said. She uncurled her fingers with some effort. In her tiny palm I saw a small flower. The petals were tiny at the base, billowing out into a gently lumped fan. The inside was tinted pink. The tender and sweet center had been crushed by her tight fist. It had stuck to each fingertip in strands of sweet pulp.

"A mallow flower?" I asked. I reached down and peeled it from her palm.

"Da-da!" She jerked her messy hand away from me, orange eyes furious. She aimed her palm at the edge of the cave. "Da...Da..." Her face tinted purple from effort, her lips sputtering as she worked on her next sound. "Da...n..key!"

"For the donkey?" Picking her up, I carried her over to the dumb animal. She wanted help because she couldn't reach the donkey's mouth by herself. I'd helped her feed it dandelions and other random tufts of plants before on our trips.

The donkey licked the remains of the mallow flower from her hands. She giggled the entire time its sloppy tongue drooled on her tiny hand. I was surprised at myself for being jealous her first word had been about the donkey, but it made sense. Where would she learn da-da? I said 'dumb donkey' about a dozen times a day, but never 'daddy.'

(( A/N: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that's all for chapter 1! See you next week when I'll be uploading all of Chapter 2 as one part. What do you think about Azark's newfound fatherhood? I'd be intimidated in his situation, even if the little Giant is a cutie. What sort of monster orphan would you like to find? I've always kind of wanted a baby Beholder... though I'd have to get him some shades, haha.

 Can't wait for the next part? Consider purchasing the paperback edition at my CreateSpace website: https://www.createspace.com/5621397

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 I'll be uploading the entire story here too, one chapter a week, so you'll get the tale if you're patient. Also please spread the word if you enjoyed the story! Your feedback means the world to me! ))