At mercy

I had this one ready in case peeps responded to the last one well. And you all did! Thanks for all the support everyone, it means everything to me! Please oh please don't expect me to shove out a bunch now like I used to, I just happened to get this one done at the same time as the other one. Hope you enjoy!

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The motion was only casual to him, a desperate movement to toss the neck cuff from his aching shoulders. But to the little lady trying still to keep a sense of composure in the highly unusual circumstance, his action set everything in motion. In nearly being forced off of his person, she grabbed hold of his braided necklace till everything stopped.

He breathed in as deeply as he could without hurting his chest, almost mustering a smile along with it. The raw maroon ring around his lower neck couldn’t keep the overwhelming sensation of light and air from giving him relief. He didn’t even happen to notice the startled wanderings of his tiny rescuer staggering her way to the brink of his shoulder. She eyed the rope binding his hand to the steel tower now.

“I-I can cut that rope with…” Quivering, she reached to her hip, recollecting that opal dagger she took from the armory back home. It was going to be for defense if ever she crossed with danger out in the wilds, but this was well worth the last minute effort, too.

“Would you mind leaning again? I’ll slice the rope to free your hand.” She said, turning a look back at his calmed eyes, blindingly vibrant dagger in hand.

He didn’t look at her this time, almost like he was busy thinking about something else… and maybe he was. But all the same, her words didn’t pass him, and he carefully stepped once in the direction the human wanted to be to lean.

“Good, that’s all. I can reach from here.” He barely caught her voice and stopped moving.

The sound of twine being snapped was empowering, and it only made him feel more restless than he already was. With each chunk of thread cut in the section needed to be severed, a pulse pushed its way through his numb fingers with a livening twitch. The princess quickly noticed his growing movement by the rising difficulty in keeping him still while she continued to slice. This was… worrisome.

“Okay,” she gently called as she worked through the last bit of rope to render it ineffectual,” that’s it. You should be able to-“

Before she could conjure a reaction of any kind, the platform of his shoulder leaned back from the freed hand while it ripped right from the spires hold. No time was wasted as the giant pulled at the other rope constraining his right hand.

“Whoa, easy!” She pled in his haste.

Her words were mere noise now, things he couldn’t hear over the urge of pulling apart the last lariat. He was practically free at his rate, with only the gold harness digging into his stomach left to quell his escape. But even then, coursing every last bit of strength into his hands, he began to bend and tear the gold apart!

The human couldn’t believe what she was seeing! He managed to liberate himself from the cumbersome binds within seconds of taking her help! But as he did so, he was creating more and more movement, movement that became tedious for her to predict and stay balanced.

She tried to hurry back over to the safety of his neck before something could happen, the necklace being the only way to keep from falling. But just like fate would have it, the harness came apart under the giant’s strain and tore out from his skin, the harness they had both overlooked in keeping him standing for days on end. His knee’s collapsed under the sudden weight it hadn’t held in a great while.

He let out a short yet sharp yell of agonizing pain in his legs and waist, even arms burning across the white hot sand beneath him. Broken chain links beat his back only to join him on the twisting grains of gold burying his knees. It all felt… real… yes, he thought during his flurry of fading anguish. He could feel again, feel life batting his living skin and blood pumping right below it. It was like all the world flooded back to him in one sudden instance.

A heavy pant shifted the sands right below his expressionless face, all colors he’d become sick of seeing, but in the outskirts of his sights, he caught different shades being clouded by the sands waves a distance in front of him. A figure lay limp across the ground. He brought his head up to see what had become of the little one responsible for his escape.

No words, no motion…

Staring at her expression of rest, he clenched his teeth and narrowed his eyes as a war set off in his mind, bent on coming to a conclusion of emotion towards this development.

Was she dead?

He had to know that at least, before choosing what to do with her.

His massive hand glided over to her anxiously, using two fingers to brush carefully across her back in an almost massaging way. One steady nudge, then two before he saw a weak response: her shoulders tightening. Much to his surprise, she somehow survived falling such a long way down. It was admiring to see one so weak capable of clinging to life as death slumped so close by. And yet, an unshakable hatred still boiled within him, seeking revenge for the suffering he had endured.

Thinking, he pulled his hand from her vulnerable body to try and sit up, “Ironic, isn’t it, your ‘Majesty’? That you would be so kind as to unbind your own murderer… only for him to question his authority to do so. I should kill you.” He heaved himself up to kneel over her while his stretching shadow gave a little shelter from the sun.

He could see now with his dead set eyes that the little thing was trembling.

The sight of her defenseless and shivering form awoke something in the giant's heart, something he hadn't listened to up till this very moment. All the morality that meant something to him before this mess started, seeped through his mind, telling him to stop. His fist, ready to end this, only dug into the sand in shame for his thoughts of murdering this small half-dead being at his mercy. How could he have done such a sickening thing to a young woman?

“AGH!” He shouted as his conflict grew. He couldn’t do it! He couldn’t! And to leave her body to fade in the whipping sand would be no better of him.

His shoulders went loose and eyes softened with a conclusive sigh. This young man was no killer, and there was no chance he would become one here and now with this human girl.

“There’s… only one thing I can do to keep you from dying. So help me, this is either the worst choice I’ve ever made or the most stupidly kind.” He said in reaching his hand to scoop her from the devouring sands. As expected, the unconscious human royal gave no resistance to his handling, but seemed to tense up while he cradled her in his soft palm. In bringing her closer to him, his fingers curled slightly.

“You’re mine, I guess.”