Presents

The next morning, Karl woke to a surprise birthday present from the last person in the world that he thought would give him a gift.

The Hill Giants.

The attack alarms started to blare just before dawn, alerting all forces to come to the front lines. Karl was on morning shift, so they would have been headed there anyhow, but not for another two hours.

That must have been why the Hill Giants attacked now, when the predawn twilight made it hard to spot them, and when the night shift would be at their most inattentive, just before they had to look professional as the next shift woke up, and the morning light revealed them to the eyes of supervisors.

Karl and his team equipped their armour, and Karl called out the beasts to serve as mounts for the run across the distance between the camp and their assigned position.