Prolog:

Woodsmoke.

That was the smell that filled my nostrils when I came to. A nice wood fire was crackling behind me like a cheery friend warming my back.

Then the pain had hit. My arms were long tubes of agony suspended above me in a “Y” shape, the blood long run out of them. My knees were buckled beneath me from hanging unconscious for far too long. My head throbbed with every heartbeat. Knotted neck muscles strained to pull my head up as I opened my right eye and looked at the world about me. My left eye had swollen shut from the beating I’d taken before being knocked senseless.

The only pleasant sensations were that of the warm fire behind me and the smell of crisp mountain air mixed with woodsmoke. I breathed in the scent, hoping to clear my head.

I inhaled. A sharp stabbing pain, in contrast to the dull throbbing of my other injuries, told me some of my ribs were broken. My breath caught in my chest and I spent the next few moments taking shallow painful gasps as I fought to find the best way to mitigate my body’s agony. After a few minutes, I realized I wasn’t mitigating anything. I tried to cope with my pain but fear is just as much a modivator as pain is. Whomever had strung me up like a stuck pig had obviously had designs for me. With nothing better to do, I used my good eye to survey my surroundings.

I was on a high cliff. Far below and all around was a vast expanse of prairie desert that stretched to the fading horizon. Dusk had fallen and the sky was cluttered with stars. I was standing, or to be more accurate, was suspended between two posts, my hands bound in leather cords. There were also torches stuck into the posts, burning steadily and quietly compared to the flickering, crackling fire behind me.

It was as though this high cliff upon which I’d been bound were an alter upon which I was the sacrificial lamb. How had I come to be here? Who had caught me and what did they plan to do.

“Good of you to join us Jonah,” said a familiar voice from behind me.

“Couldn’t pass up the invitation,” I said evenly. My voice sounded hollow and far away. I wondered if I had a concussion.

There was laughter behind me. “No, I don’t suppose you could now could you?” His was the voice of someone who was well educated, and intelligent. A slight accent of his native frontier background was mixed in with a rich, deep baritone. It was the voice that could have belonged to a statesman or a preacher. Someone you would want to listen to, if only to hear them speak.

Footsteps sounded behind me. A shadow cast by the firelight began to stretch out past stakes that held the burning torches. It was followed by a man in a long leather coat, cowboy hat and sneak hide boots. The man was perhaps in his forties. He had a mustache and appeared to have not shaved for several days as a beard was beginning to come in. He was coated in a fine layer of dust. His belt held a pistol, turned backwards under his right hip. His hard blue eyes stared into mine.

Crechorian! Somewhere in the back of my mind, his name clicked into place. The man was called Crechorian.

“You know why you’re here,” he said with a nod of his head.

It wasn’t a question. It was a statement. If not for the leather cords suspending me upright, I might have staggered. I did know why I was here!

“Her,” I said.

Crechorian didn’t speak. He just nodded.

“You bastard,” I said.

“Guilty friend. There’s truth in that.”

“You feed her. You feed your own townsfolk.”

“And you’re next on the list partner. Crechorian stepped closer, his face in front of mine.  Bringing a cigar to his chapped, ragged lips he took a deep drag. The strong scent of the cigar briefly overrode that of the campfire as he allowed the smoke to curl out of his mouth and nose. In that instant, he looked like the devil. No mercy could be expected from this man.

“It’s your time friend,” he said in a low whisper, like a servant of fate brining judgment to the damned. He stepped away from my field of vision. On the horizon was a figure of a woman. She was walking towards us.

“You didn’t care about the rest of them do you?” I called after him.

“The rest?”

“Jones! Carpenter! Earhear! The freed slaved, Joe! Poor young Toby! He was only twenty at last year’s harvest! You killed them all too didn’t you? They ended up as food for her just like I have. They were all just sacrifices to you.”

“You’ve got it wrong, partner. They were sacrifices to her.”

“They were our friends,” I said quietly.

The gigantic woman was coming closer.

“ ’Sides,” he added, as if I’d said nothing. “You ought to thank me. You always did want to find out which one of us was best.”

We had fought. I had known he would take me here if I lost. Well, he had fought me and I had lost. Crechorian had beaten me senseless and placed me here like a morsel on a stone plate. Now I was tied between two stakes waiting for a giantess to devour me.

“Now you know which of us is best.”

We fell silent. The sight of the giantess walking towards us was enough to distract the most ardent debate and despite my rage at Crechorian, I couldn’t keep talking. My one, tired eye took in the last sights I would ever see. In a way I was lucky. She was a pretty sight.

The woman that would soon devour me was beautiful. She had white skin and hair as black as a raven’s. Her body was stunning; long graceful steps showed off powerful legs. Like many of the race of giantesses, she dressed scantly.  A firm fit belly showed below what might charitably be described as half a shirt that managed to cover her breasts. A strip of cloth covered her private parts. She wore nothing else.

Her eyes were fixed directly on me.

“Pardon my departure,” said Crechorian. “But I’ll be watching from the cave.”

I heard him walking off as the giantess reached us. Her face loomed before me, a wide smile showing off teeth as big as I was. My blood turned cold. I was nothing but food to her. I was in a fix. That much was for damn sure.

“Hello friend,” said the giantess. Her voice echoed across the rock cliff behind me and actually vibrated the ground beneath my exhausted legs.

“This your custom way of greeting your dinner? Hello friend?” I asked.  I was trying to be brave but my knees were shaking. I doubt that I fooled anyone. I was scared.

“Well now,” said the giantess. “Aren’t we a feisty one? You don’t look like you could swat a fly, much less put up a struggle in my belly, but we’ll give it a try all the same. I’d hate for Crechorian’s efforts to go to waste.”

“Die and rot woman,” I said.

“This may be personal between you and Crechorian but for me you’re just food. It’s natural for my kind to eat yours. I’m sorry but that is how it is.”

With that, she reached for me.

The giant hand ripped the steaks from the ground as if they were toothpicks. I was held in her hands before her mouth. She opened wide and I got a good look into the flickering darkness, the fire illuminating her moth only about halfway back before her red tongue gave way completely to shadows. Then I was thrust inside; the tongue rushing up to meet me. Suddenly, it was completely dark and I knew that I was in the giantess’s mouth and she had just closed it behind me. I felt crushed as her tongue pushed me into up and back into the roof of her mouth. Then I was thrust downwards as she swallowed.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Where did you find him?” Kari asked.

“A friend who had crossed me for the last time,” Crechorian answered.

“And he was your last friend,” she said. Her head took up most of the scenery. It was larger than the church back in Rutland. Her eyes were as big as a barn door.

“I’ll find more folk. You know I will,” he told her.

“As if I need you to do my hunting for me,” she laughed. “You think I rely on your measly offerings to sustain me? I’d be one thin giantess.”

“I do what I can,” said Crechorian evenly. It annoyed him that she didn’t respect him more.

“You could always come out of the cave where I can reach you and join your friend in my belly,” suggested Kari.

“Then I wouldn’t bring more men for you.”

“Relax. I’m just joking. If it were up to me, you’d be in my belly now. One of these days I’ll get you out of that cave. Until then, I enjoy our little talks.”

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COWBOYS AND GIANTESSES

Chapter 1

I ran under the pounding feet, large enough to crush a train boxcar flat.

“Careful Carla,” I shouted to the giantess. “You almost hit the wagon train.

If my best friend had heard me, she gave no indication. Her feet sent up a large puff of dust as they slammed into the ground and set the world rocking. I stumbled, trying to find balance on a world shaking like jelly dissert. It was my own fault for running so close to a giantess when she was walking.

Carla went after the highwaymen. They were riding hard towards a cluster of rocks some few thousands yards away. As if they had a prayer.

Carla reached down and plucked a rider from his horse as easy as I could pluck a flower from the earth. His scream was cut off as she swallowed him whole. She was already moving on to the next rider as she gulped him down.

I hurried along as fast as anyone could who had been left running on foot. Carla had already captured two more men off their horses and was pausing to swallow each in turn. She didn’t chew them either. Both got to experience being swallowed alive. Carla turned and winked at me after she ate the second one, then went back to her meal.

Now three riderless horses were running towards me and away from the giant woman who had eaten their owners. I had to hurry off to the side to avoid being trampled. They passed by me in a choking rush of hooves and dust and were gone.  I pulled my shirt over my mouth, my pace slowing as I chocked on the red Arizona soil.

Carla had reached the rock cluster about the same time the bandits had. She raised another man to her lips and popped him in, this time chewing a few times before swallowing. She went to her hands and knees to better search for the elusive O’Grady Gang, whose last few members had taken refuge among the rocks, hoping to stay hidden.

I could help her find them, if only I could catch up. I’m a good runner but I still had some distance to cover before I arrived. I urged myself on faster as I watched the giantess before me.

Carla was searching among the rocks, picking up boulders that must have weighed tons and tossing them like pebbles. She must have gotten close to one of the robbers because he suddenly jumped from his hiding place and began firing his six guns at her as he hurried away. He must not have had much experience with giantesses. I could have told him a six gun has no effect on a giantess other than to annoy, or possibly amuse her. Judging from Carla’s expression, it was the former. She picked up the tiny man and dangled him over her mouth to give him a brief but terrifying look at where he was going. She dropped him in and gulped him down in one gulp, giving the men before her a good view of her throat and the bulged that had been forced down it.

(picture link)

http://thewiking2000.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d5fubfy

http://thewiking2000.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d5fubyx

She renewed her search. At about the time I was coming up on her hindquarters. She was just as beautiful from behind as she was in front. I watched as cloth covering her backside stretched as she bent forward to grab another member of the dangerous gang.

Before me, a man that would have been easily missed from Cara’s point of view, was hidden under the rocks. Fortunately for me, he was admiring Cara’s marvelous tush instead of looking my way. I arrived a moment later with a rock I had scooped up along the way. I bashed his skull and the bad guy reeled. He punched me right in the gut. I was already breathing hard from an all out sprint for over a mile. He caught me as I was breathing in and the air exploded in my chest. Lucky shot.

I sat down to catch my breath as he took off away from Carla. She was eating someone else but I was too busy trying to breath to watch.

(Picture link)

http://thewiking2000.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d5fubsp

A moment later, Carla noticed that I was behind her. I indicated the man running from us. In half a stride she had caught up to him. She grabbed him and then sat down next to me, placing her back to the rocky cliff. Picking me up far more gently than she did the highwayman, she placed us both on her belly.

Her bare stomach was below us. It was well muscled and tanned. I had seen how much Carla could eat and knew it could easily hold the two of us despite her having just eaten nearly a dozen men. Beneath our feet was the rest of this man’s gang. He didn’t seem to miss that particular point as he looked a Carla. She was beautiful to behold, although if you were a potential meal, she would also have seemed terrifying. Like all giantesses, her face was incredibly beautiful, but it seemed to me that she was even prettier than all the other unearthly beautiful giantesses I’d ever seen. Her long red hair had fell in beautiful crimson curls. Her green eyes twinkled as she stared down at the thief, ignoring me completely.

The man fell to his knees on Cara’s firm belly and held up his hands beseechingly.

“Oh please!” he wailed pitifully. “Please let me go! We didn’t do nothing wrong!”

(Picture link)  

http://thewiking2000.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d5fucnd

A moment later, when the train robber had joined his friends beneath my feet in Carla’s belly, I finally spoke up.

“Good haul,” I said to my gigantic friend.

“You said it,” she agreed, rubbing her stomach and being careful not to knock me over when she did so.  “Those guys tasted even better than the three bank robbers in Huston did.”

I threw myself onto Carla’s belly, lying on my back to rest. “You could have carried me all that way you know. I didn’t have to run after you.”

Carla laughed, making her stomach go up and down as the muscles beneath me tightened and relaxed. It bounced me uncomfortably. “Oh you didn’t mind. It’s good exercise.”

“Okay but next time let me ride on your shoulder? It’s a lot more fun to watch you from there.

“And look down my shirt?” asked Carla. My face grew hot.

“Well, I didn’t say that I would,” I said.

“We both know that you do. I’ve caught you doing it before. If you want to then why don’t you just say so?

Giantesses have a different idea about modesty than most normal sized women. It must be because they are practically invulnerable to men that they give scant regard to whether or not their bodies are easily seen by men. Another reason for this might be that it would be impossible to cover things up completely to men who were so diminutive, that they had to have a cavalier attitude about nudity. They regard modesty among normal sized females as understandable but could hardly care less if a man sees them naked.

“Well I couldn’t keep you balanced on my shoulder when I’m chasing after my lunch. And having you riding in my bra just doesn’t seem like the image I want to portray when I’m chasing after bandits. They wouldn’t take me seriously. Besides you don’t mind running after me. You always liked looking at my rear end more,” said the giantess.

The rhythmic motion of her breath carried me up and down on the firm but comfortable surface. I lay my head sideways on her belly and was suddenly able to hear her stomach digesting its contents. Over the sound of gurgling acids, a voice from deep within her belly clearly shouted “Joe Bob! This is all ‘yer fault!” I jerked my head up on instinct, as if I had laid it on a hot stove. Someone was still alive in there, maybe even several people. Apparently they were playing the blame game in their last few minutes of life. They were in my friends belly and were now nothing more than food. Carla had probably stopped thinking about them other than a pleasant sensation in her stomach.

“So what’s our plan from here?” asked Carla.

“Got back into town and send a telegraph to Marshall Weist in the Fort Henry. He’ll credit us the money he owes us for you eating the O’Grady Gang. They were priced at $300 apiece as each one of them had killed a lawman that had come after them. I won’t even mention numbers of the innocents they murdered.”

“How awful!” said Carla, and burped. She held a hand to her mouth, the one that had been stroking her belly, and excused herself.

“Well, I’m ready if you are,” I said. “Can I count on you to carry me this time?”

“Sure thing dear. I don’t see a need for you to run after me.”

The sign over the building read “The Grand Diner.” According to the directions I’d received from the train conductor, this was the place. I walked up the steps. A man in a fancy black and white suit with a bowler hat opened the door for me.

“Welcome to the Grand Diner sir,” He said.

“Well thanks partner,” I said.

I entered the room. It was dimly lit but I could clearly see the desk in front of me.

“Here to volunteer sir?” said another man behind the counter. He was short, had a grey mustache below his nose and circular spectacles resting above it. The dim light reflected on his bald head. He seemed a reassuring sort of man, if not a little overly bookish.

“I am,” I told the man.

“Then sign your name on this book right here and we’ll take y’all out back to get selected.”

I signed and the man gave me three shots of whiskey on the house to “take the sting out of the process.”

I followed him out back. Looking out at the valley below I saw different giantesses.

“Plenty of them tonight. They’ll come over when they get hungry,” said the man, and left me standing alone.

________________________________________________________________________________

“The name’s Dorothy friend,” said my giantess. She had brown hair and was lounging in a pond like it was a bathtub. To her perhaps it was. She had picked me up off the cliff and carried me back to the valley. Like all of them, she was beautiful. By looking at her she might have been twenty-three but giantesses age differently than other people. She might be a hundred and three for all I knew.

“Travis,” I told her.

“And you volunteered to be my dinner,” she said simply. “Mighty decent of you Travis.”

“Have you eaten anyone else tonight?” I asked.

“A few fellows, yes. I’m not filled up mind you but I’ve had my share. I expect you’ll top me off for the night.”

“You come to these giantess restaurants often?” I asked.

“Suppose so,” she shrugged. “I’m not particular where I get my victuals from. The prisons are usually more than generous with their handouts. No one seems to mind if a few convicted disappear. Still, ever since people learned that men out there will volunteer to be eaten, these giantess restaurants have come in handy. It sets alright with me if someone is asking to be eaten.”

“Do you like these better?” I asked.

“Oh, it’s all the same for me, although it makes all the difference for those I eat. I don’t have a preference as long as I’m fed. Used to be that a girl like me could just snatch up folk and munch on whomever she wanted.”

“I know. Granddad used to tell me stories about that,” I said.

“But with the reconciliation of 1844, giantesses agreed to no longer eat unwilling citizens. Just criminals, slaves and volunteers. Of course, the “Civil War” you humans had ended that slave part of it.

“But after the war?” I asked.

“After? Well, I go to places like this and get people like you. Far less exciting. What I wouldn’t give to chase someone down. Ah well. You’ll have to do for tonight,” she winked.

She reached for me and lifted me up. I looked down at her partially submerged form, her white skin still visible through the water in the moonlight. She held me above her mouth and lowered me down. Into that dark gullet I went. Her tongue caressed me like a lover. Then she swallowed and down her throat I slid until I reached her belly. It was funny to realize that her stomach was underwater. Here I was being digested in a giantess’s belly, under water.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

There was one hell of a party back at Dust City. The name of the area is something of a contradiction as the city only spans about a few steps for me (about five blocks for Malcolm.) Despite this, they built up a bonfire outside of town, a few fellows broke out instruments and everyone got to drinking like it was their own profession.

The celebrating was on account of how Malcolm and I stopped the O’Grady Gang. Seem that O’Grady had himself a showdown here in Dust City only a few days back. He shot the sheriff in cold blood out in the center of the street. Folk were so scared that they didn’t do a darn thing, just let the bunch of thugs walk all over them and pretty generally got treated like a cow pie.

Of course the news that O’Grady and his band of varmints’ were safely in my belly and being digested came as welcome news to all. The decent folk of Dust City were mighty kind to Mal and me, which was why they were throwing us a party and getting pretty drunk and dancing together around the fire. It looked like an awful lot of fun to dance. I wished I could have joined in but of course my size prevents that. I’d probably step on someone without meaning to. I’ve done that before once and it was a terrible feeling. So I content myself with watching as those tiny folk danced around each other, the fellows trying some rather fancy footwork and the women twirling their skirts about them. A few people insisted on dancing on my belly. This was fun and tickled a lot. Eventually I had to put a stop to it. It made me laugh so hard that I nearly lost control of my limbs. I relocated the “belly dancers” to the fire pit and went back to watching the humans.

 It was like looking through a window at a party you can see but never join. Even with Mal, my best friend, I can feel lonely as a giantess. I can never go inside normal folk’s homes, just peer in through the windows. (I once accidently caught a young, attractive man while he was changing. He fell over a chair when he saw me looking in. I apologized later but it was a real hoot to see his face!)

The fiddler, who was pretty decent, took a break to catch up on his drinking while Mal amused the local townfolk of how I had eaten the train robbers. I was lying on my side with my head propped up on my hand. My bare belly was serving as the backdrop for Mal while he told his story.

“And then she grabbed them right off their own horses!” said a rather drunken Mal, waving his arms about like a windmill. “And she ate them one at a time, whole and alive! Both of them!”

Several people gasped, others cheered. Mal held his hands up and waited until they settled down before continuing. I took a sip of water from the barrel they had rolled out for me. The townsfolk had been happy to provide it to me when I explained I needed some water to help digest my food.

“And I’ll be a monkey’s uncle if she didn’t just keep on going ‘till she caught up with the rest of those fellas’ who musta’ got it into their head to make some kind of a stand at an outcropping of rocks next to a cliff,” said Mel.

“I know that place!” said a boy in the crowd. “Me and my best friend Jeb catch rattlers there.”

The boy was quickly “shushed” by his neighbors for the interruption and Mal was urged to continue.

“Sure and that was the place!” said Mal nodding to the boy. “Now these fellas’ go about aiming their long rifles at my best friend,” pointing at me with his forefinger out and thumb up to mime a gun, “and take to shooting at her. Now of course this only makes her mad and me even more so…”

I listened to Mal with mild interest. He has always had the gift of telling stories, although he takes liberties here and there with exact details. Still, he did a rather descriptive job of telling how I ate the dozen men. He did seem to embellish how I ate the last guy though. I don’t recollect him taking out a bowie knife and trying to slice into my stomach to get his friends out, with Mal jumping in and fighting him hand to hand before he got the knife away and I ate him. But that was how he told it and there were pretty girls in the crowd so I let it go.  

“And sure as you’re standing there,” he gestured towards the group of enthralled listeners, “the O’Grady Gang is now inside your friend Carla’s belly right there.” He turned and pointed towards my bare stomach behind him.

I laughed, nodded to confirm the truth of the story and grinned at the audience as I stroked my belly. “And a very tasty meal they were too!” I added to the laughter of all. It would have been timely if I could have burped right then. A shame I didn’t have to.

The fiddler started his good work again and everyone took to dancing. Like I said before, I can’t dance with folk lest they get trod on, though I sorely wish I could. Instead, I find the best way to make friends is by talking with them. Occasionally I give people rides too. But some people don’t like it; especially the elders that remember the days of giantesses indiscriminately eating folk. Still, I had found several young men and women who were eager for a ride. After taking them on one, they said that they had enjoyed the experience. I think I went a long way in ensuring them that most giantesses are friendly now.

I watched as the little humans danced with each other, smiling as occasionally someone would come and talk to me, or ask permission to rub my belly. Usually they would stay for a moment before wandering back to the dancing, singing and drinking again.

After a time, I was approached by two young boys of about ten years. One of them introduced himself.

“I’m called Joseph and this here is Bradford. What’s your name Miss Giantess?” said the boy

 “I’m called Carla my friends. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“We’re real pleased you ate the O’Grady gang Carla?” said the My Pa says they’re awful folk. They shot up our town and even made Mr. Crabb give over his whiskey. I don’t care ‘bout that part much. Mr. Crabb’s awful mean!”

“Well you needn’t worry yourselves. They’re in my belly right now,” I assured them.

The boys seemed pleased with this news. The one named Joseph decided that if I was still hungry that I could eat his schoolteacher. He began to give me a detailed description of the man.

“And is about six foot tall.” To illustrate this, he stood on tip-toes and raised his hands above his head. “He wears a bowler hat and spectacles. You can’t miss him. I bet he’d be awfully tasty. He deserves to be ‘ate too! He used the switch on me for not learning my ‘rithmetic last week.”

“He switched me too on account of my not remembering to cross my ‘t’s,” Bradford added helpfully.

I was doing my best not to laugh at the young man’s request. It was an amusing turn of events that the object of the young man’s hatred chose that moment to come into sight.

“There he is!” urged Bradford. “Go after him!”

Now I was having serious difficulty keeping a straight face. “Oh dear. Are you Mr. Standish the school teacher?” I asked.

The man removed his hat. “I-Indeed that is my name Madam Giantess,” he said politely. He was clearly not used to giantesses and seemed a bit scared. I wasn’t used to being addressed so formally but I did my best to sound intelligent so he would like me.

“I was just talking to your pupils. They were quite keen to learn that I have just eaten the O’Grady Gang,” I said genially.

“So I’ve heard. Delightful news,” said Mr. Standish. “The entire town is in your debt.”

“They were instructing me to devour you next sir. Unfortunately, my favorite food is little boys who don’t do their mathematics.” I slipped him a wink.

  The color drained from the two young men’s faces.

“Do these boys learn their mathematics Mr. Standish?” I asked.

“No ma’am. As poor a pair of students as you would ever hope to find.” He put his hands on his hips in a theatrical display of extreme disappointment as he glared over his spectacles at the two boys. “Bon Apatite to you. I doubt anyone in town will miss them, their parents included.”

“What? No!” cried Joseph. “Don’t eat us!”

“Well,” I placed my head on one palm, tapped one side of my head with an index finger and pretended to be thinking things over. “I have already eaten a lot today. Maybe we could give them just one more chance Mr. Standish?”

“Well, alright. But if they don’t shape up I’m sending them to you for your dinner Madam Giantess.”

“I appreciate your kindness sir. I’d be happy to eat them if you see no improvement.” I said. “As for you two! Go study your books before I change my mind!”

The two boys hurried from sight as fast as their legs could carry them, leaving me snickering and Mr. Standish with a strange look of triumph. I wondered how long he would hold the threat of being eaten by a giantess over the heads of those two young men before they stopped reacting to it.

This left me alone again, but not for long as people came in ones and twos to thank me about what I had done for the town. Eventually two young men walked over to me

“Ma’am, my name’s Thaddeus. We would like to volunteer for your next meal,” said one.

My eyebrows went up. It’s not as common that you find volunteers in towns as small as this. In New York City I could eat as many people as I wanted, such were the numbers of volunteers then. In the Spanish American War I ate my fair share of soldiers but in tiny little run down settlements in the middle of nowhere? There would hardly be a person to eat at all.

“How old are you boys?” I asked.

“I’m twenty and Lee here is nineteen.”

“And you boys are so sick of living that you want to be eaten by a giantess?” I said skeptically.

“Yes ma’am. We want it. If you’ll agree,” he added uncertainly.

“Boys I’m going to be leaving town tomorrow and if I take you with me and you change your minds I won’t be turning back. You’ll have to ride with me to the next town and I’d drop you there. Then you’re stuck miles away from home with no family and no work.”

“We don’t intend to change our minds on this. We’ve decided to let you eat us.”

“Last man your age who volunteered in a town like this changed his mind before we were out of sight of the town. You sure you want this?”

“Yes ma’am,” said the one called Lee. He looked Chinese although it was hard to tell with the dim light of the fire.

“Alright then. Say good bye to your family and let them know your decision. Meet me at sunup here tomorrow morning and we’ll leave then.”

“We already told our folks,” said Thad. “We’ll stay the night with you.”

“As it pleases you. And my name’s Carla. I won’t have you ma’aming me until I eat you. You can consider it a deal. I’d be delighted to eat you for lunch tomorrow.”          

Mal chose that time to arrive. “Hey there pretty lady!” He said to me, slurring his words rather drunkenly. “We best be off ta’ bed tonight! I hear about a fella’ who feeds people to giantesses.”

“Are we going to visit him so I can have someone too!” I ask excitedly.

“No, no. You’ve got it all wrong,” He seemed disappointed that I don’t have the idea. “We’re going after him. After him cuz… cuz…”

“Because he’s feeding them to her against their will?” I ask.

“Bingo!”

“Alright then. We’ll hit the trail tomorrow.”

The gunslinger walked outside, never taking his eyes off me.
Barely surprised rage seethed from his body as he clenched and unclenched his
fists. I tried to remain calm as walked out with him, nice and slow and my hand
never far away from my Peacemaker.

We kept going until we left the bar and were in the middle
of the street. No one bothered us or got in between us as we walked. A good
crowd followed us out of the saloon and lined up on the street though.

Carla was probably watching from somewhere but I had no time
to spare a glance to find even so tall a sight as her. I had eyes only for my
opponent, a man named Roscoe whom I had only met a few hours ago at the card
table. He had been free with his money and heavy with his drinking. The
combination had made me a lot of money in the past few hours. Then he had
accused me of cheating. I was willing to let the insult pass but he had
demanded that we throw down. So here we were out in the middle of the street
with me wondering just how fast this gunfighter really was. If his shooting was
as bad as his card playing I might live to see morning. If not, well… Carla
would have to find a new traveling companion.

We studied each other for a moment, each considering his
odds. Then Roscoe went for his gun. I drew and fired and saw my shot hit.
Roscoe fired too and the shot went wide. Out of the periphery of my vision I
saw a spectator gasp and sink to the ground. Damn. I hated it when innocents
were harmed.

I ambled over to where Roscoe was lying on the ground in a pool
of his own blood. He was still alive. Shot through the belly. A painful wound
but not a fast killing one by any stretch. His revolver was in the street where
he had dropped it, now several feet out of his reach, though he stretched
mightily for it as he let out gasps of agony. As I came upon him he gritted his
teeth and stared at me with all the venom that any man has had for another.

“Finish it dude!” he said. When I did nothing he added.
“Finish it or the Devil take ya’!

 We both know this is the end. Have the
gumption to make it quick.”

“I’m not going to kill you,” I told him. “She is.”

Carla stepped over the General Store and into the main
street, taking obvious care that she did not crush an innocent in the dark.
There was a gasp from the crowd as she lowered her hand to where my opponent
lay in the dust and scooped him up. He let out an agonized cry as she did this.
Then she had him to her mouth and was slipping him inside. With an intake of
breath she sucked his kicking legs, still protruding from her lips, into her
mouth. A moment later she swallowed and by the light of the moon a bulge
sliding down her throat was visible. Scattered applause from the crowd could be
heard.

“Needed a bath to be honest,” she said frankly.

Several cries of pain came from the roadside and I turned my
attention there to see what was up. The spectator who had been hit by Roscoe’s
bullet was still writhing in pain. The local sheriff and surgeon were with him.

“He’s been shot through the liver and by the way he’s
coughing up so much blood, the round turned around and went through his lung. I
don’t see an exit wound so he’s still got the bullet in him. I have no way of
knowing where it is. His chances of living are zero,” he pronounced solemnly.

“Then my friend would be obliged for the extra food,” I said
to the men.

“No!” said a woman, running up. “He’s my husband and he gets
a proper Christian burial. He should lie down in the Earth with his kin.”

“Now Martha,” said the Sheriff. “You know that any giantess
may consume anyone not long for the world or sentenced to die. It’s the law of
the whole territory.”

“You can’t deny him last rights. Where is Reverend
Breakridge?” she sobbed.

The reverend turned out to be easy to find since he had been
watching the whole commotion. He was slightly drunk himself but rattled off
last rights as though it were a practiced thing. Carla loomed over the
proceedings like a beautiful Valkarie, waiting to carry the injured man to
Valhalla.

When the sermon was finished, Carla addressed the man in a
soothing voice. “Thank you very much for filling my belly friend. I know you
didn’t plan on it but I will remember and appreciate the sacrifice you are
about to make.”

Everyone agreed that these were downright kind words from
the beautiful woman. Everyone except the widow to be who had to be led away for
her own good before she did herself an injury.

Gently, almost reverently, Carla picked up the bloodied man
and in one swift motion, swallowed him whole. She was kneeling down in the
street as she did this so we got a good look at the man as he disappeared into
the darkness of her mouth. Then her lips came together and in one swift motion
that was timed with a flick of her head, she gulped him down. Now the bulge
moving down her throat was obvious.

It had been three weeks since we had left Dust City. Since
then Carla had only eaten the two volunteers that had come with us from there.
We expected three prisoners from the local jail tomorrow who had been accused
of being horse thieves but it didn’t mean that Carla didn’t miss a steady diet
of tiny men. Heaven knew that she never missed an opportunity to remind me
while we were on the trail.

“I should have saved those two nice young men for longer,”
she would say. “They were so tender and tasty. It’s so rare that bandits taste
that way. That delicious Lee was so yummy, you have no idea Mal. And what a
treat when I ate Thaddeus. He was so spirited in my belly. He must have
struggled for five whole minutes. I really need to get to a big city with more
volunteers.”

Those two boys had become Carla’s dinner our second and
third night after leaving Dust City. Generally Carla didn’t remember the names
of whom she ate but the two young men had gained some measure of immortality in
her memory partially for being so enjoyable and partially because they were the
last two men she had eaten up until now.

Carla was obviously enjoying the sensation of having humans
in her belly again. She rubbed her stomach to more applause, despite the fact
that two of the local townsfolk were within and only one disserved to be.

“Feel better Carla?” I asked.

“Not in the least Mal. Granted things worked out for us- you
with surviving the gunfight and me with a couple tasty men in my belly but you
know how I hate it when you duel! My heart was in my throat the whole time.
Imagine if you were shot instead of him.”

“Then I imagine I’d be in your belly right now in his
place.” I joked.

“Don’t even joke about that Malcom. You know perfectly well
that I have no intention of eating you.”

“Even if I had been bleeding to death?” I asked, genuinely
surprised.

“Well,” she considered. “That isn’t the point.”

I snickered.

“There is Nothing funny about this mister,” said Carla in
her businesslike tone of voice. “I told you not to do any dueling. When I do
the fighting then I eat and you stay alive. Everybody wins.”

“Except for the guys you eat,” I pointed out.

“Well yes. Except him.”

“It wasn’t my choice anyway. The man was itching for a fight
and would have drawn on me if I didn’t agree to take things outside. I didn’t
have time to call for you. But everything worked out in the end. I won the duel
and you got two meals out of it.”

Carla smiled at that. “Yes, things did go my way didn’t
they?”

She picked me up and I stared at her beautiful face. Her
gigantic lips gave me a kiss on the whole of my chest. Beautiful, soft lips. It
was hard to imagine anyone cringing away from them in fear like Roscoe had done
only a few moments ago. Of course, he was not being kissed at the time but being
eaten alive.

“Okay you little ball of fire,” said Carla. “Time for bed. I
want you on my belly tonight. Tomorrow I have the three prisoners for breakfast
and then we move on to find that other giantess.”

We stopped by the local jail on the way out of town. Carla
let me down to speak into the barred window.

When the three men inside were up and staring out at Carla
she smiled down at them.

“I just wanted to remind you boys that tomorrow at this time
you’ll be in my stomach,” she told them with an evil grin. She lifted her shirt
and rubbed her bare belly as she smiled at them. “Sweet dreams. See you
tomorrow.”

Then we left for the outskirts of town where she lay down
and we went to sleep.