The giant roared defiantly at the thin circle of men around him, the setting sun stretching their shadows like willow leaves across the parched earth. He was at least five cubits tall—easily head and shoulders taller than the tallest man there—with broad, bull shoulders and limbs like tree trunks. He wore a simple skirt about his loins, frayed sandals upon his huge feet, and his black beard was braided into a tail that flopped against his hairy chest. His eyes were ringed with black eyeliner in a vaguely Egyptian fashion that lent an even greater ferocity to his glare.
He bared his teeth in a terrifying grin. “Who dares stand before Hanun the Bull?” he shouted, spittle flying from his lips. He pounded a massive fist against his chest. “Who wants to make their wives into widows?”
There w
