Chapter 12

Mina took the fairy chieftain’s hand with trepidation. He led her to the very edge of the bedside table and stepped out into open air. The fairy hovered there, waiting. Mina inched backward in fear though the chief did not release her hand.

“I don’t have any wings!’ she protested. “I can’t fly like you!”

“Of course,” Chief Black Vole said. “How foolish of me. One moment.”

The man gestured expansively with his free hand, releasing a cloud of twinkling dust. Mina began to cough as the dust struck her square in the face and spread over her nightgown.

“Try it now,” insisted Black Vole. “Trust me.”

Mina gulped nervously but extended a tiny bare foot over the table edge. When she hesitated to do the same with the other, Black Vole gave her a gentle tug. Mina staggered off the edge and gave a little shriek. But to her astonishment, she did not fall. The girl looked around in wonder to find that she was floating in the air, as if standing on an invisible floor. Mina gasped in shock. Black Vole continued his mid-air journey, leading her forward.

“I know the wisewoman said you are one of us, a Nunnehi,” said the chief. “That is not entirely accurate. You are not one of my folk, not exactly. But neither are you human. You are something in between. The woman who made you used ancient lore to grow a tiny being from a simple barleycorn.”

“Yes, I know that part,” Mina said. She stared down at the distant floor in wonder, marveling at her new airborne perspective.

“But do you know where your spark of life originated?” Black Vole asked. “Human alchemy can approximate a life form but you would have been no more than a lifeless husk or a mindless animal without our intervention. As you grew within the seed, your maker asked for our blessing. We agreed. You were infused with the spirit of an unborn Nunnehi. And thus was born a halfling child, human in shape but possessing the size and magical properties of one of the Fair Folk.”

Mina had been listening so intently to the chief that she didn’t notice where he had been leading her. After a few moments, they touched down gently on a solid surface formed by several narrow platforms that extended in either direction. Mina looked down and realized they were perched upon the upturned toes of Sapphire’s right foot.

“Um, what are we—?” Mina began.

“Merely taking an evening stroll,” said Black Vole.

“Yes, but why—?”

As she slept, Sapphire’s toes twitched and flexed ever so slightly. Though they were restrained by fairy ropes, their movement caused the ground below Mina to become unsteady. She stumbled for balance.

“Careful not to fall in between. These things pack a wallop,” the chief warned her, stepping over the small gap of two parted toes. Once he reached the middle, he slid nimbly down the tilted angle of the digits and led Mina onto the top of Sapphire’s foot. The girl followed in puzzlement.

“You want to take a stroll here? On Sapphire?” Mina asked.

“Why not? A sleeping giantess makes for rather lovely terrain,” the chief told her. “Now, where was I? Ah, yes. In ages past, the Tall Folk across the sea had a name for your kind, Wilhelmina. For little manikins created via magic. They would call you a homunculus.”

Mina slid cautiously down Sapphire’s instep and joined Black Vole at the giant woman’s ankle.

“Homunculus,” she repeated, testing the word thoughtfully. “Are there others like me?”

“Once there were many,” the fairy said. “Shamans and wizards learned the secret art and created numerous homunculi. In fact, our legends say that there was once a League of your people who served as spies of a great chief.”

As Black Vole shared this tale, he and Mina walked side by side down the staggering length of Sapphire’s shapely leg. They stepped carefully over the ropes that bound that mighty appendage in place. Mina frowned at the sight of her friend’s bonds but tried to remind herself that the Nunnehi were simply afraid. They did not mean any harm and had promised to release Sapphire later. Mina vowed to hold them to that promise.

“Tell me about this League,” she said.

“Within that tribe,” the chief resumed, “was a miniature woman not unlike yourself, a beauty hatched from a barleycorn. The ancestors of my people called her Princess Maia. The Tall Folk of those lands named her Thumbelina.”

“A tiny girl like me?” Mina asked. “She must have been very brave.”

“Indeed,” Black Vole agreed.

They crested the small hill of Sapphire’s knee and proceeded onto the much wider expanse of her thigh. The distance between the giantess’s legs had narrowed and Mina could see the other thigh across the gap, like a small island on the opposite side of a channel. Her heart pounded at the thought of what lay between those thighs, hidden just below the silky fabric of the negligee. She shook herself from this reverie and followed Black Vole over the pliant, fleshy ground. Each step along the soft, spongy surface caused Mina’s feet to bounce a little.

“Princess Maia is your foremother, Wilhelmina,” the chief resumed. “Though homunculi can be created in various ways, the lore of the barleycorn was passed down, mother to daughter, over many ages. The seed which birthed you is descended from that which produced the lady Maia. Or so the legends claim.”

They had now proceeded over the hem of Sapphire’s garment. The terrain had changed from soft, pink flesh to the black silk of the negligee. The fabric felt wonderful beneath Mina’s toes and she tried to concentrate on this, rather than on their sudden proximity to the woman’s naughty bits.

“You said there were many homunculi at that time,” Mina repeated. “Are there not anymore? What happened?”

“The secret was lost,” Black Vole told her. “The Tall Folk turned to the new ways of science. The old wisdom and magic was forgotten, save by a small few. The existence of homunculi and even of my own people came to be regarded as myth. Perhaps it’s better that way. We are safe from the Tall Folk if they do not believe in us and do not seek us out.”

By now, the pair had wandered onto the vast plane of Sapphire’s belly. The ground below them rose and fell gently as the giant woman breathed. The silken material was quite thin and sheer, allowing Mina to see the flesh and muscles of the massive abdomen under their feet. The tiny girl tried to draw her eyes away from this sight and back to the chief. In her distracted state, however, Mina stepped directly onto Sapphire’s navel. The fabric sank into this depression, taking the little woman’s foot with it. Mina’s leg slipped into the belly button and sank until it was buried almost up to her thigh.

Though she was still asleep, Sapphire reacted to this ticklish sensation. The muscles of her abdomen twitched and flinched. Mina cried out as the ground rippled below her. Black Vole merely hovered an inch or so into the air, avoiding the cresting motion of the belly. He took Mina’s hand once again and helped her climb out.

“Watch your step, child,” he said.

Mina was hoisted upward and stood once again upon the wide, smooth belly. She felt uneasy being so close to that enormous stomach. It was surreal to think that she had once been imprisoned within it, that her beloved Sapphire’s cute, flat tummy had nearly been the death of her. As if to remind her of that horror, the belly below them suddenly began to rumble. A powerful vibration knocked Mina off her feet and she faceplanted onto the silk. As the gurgles and grumbles ceased, Mina was almost certain she could hear a faint, muffled cry of terror below.

She blinked in surprise. “Wh-what was that? It almost sounded like a voice. Is someone…in there?”

“Only a fool who got too close,” the chief insisted. “As I mentioned earlier, this giantess is quite dangerous, even when unconscious.”

“You mean Sapphire…swallowed someone? Oh my God, we’ve got to get him out of there! We have to save him!”

“In good time,” Black Vole said with a dismissive gesture. “Like yourself, we Nunnehi are quite durable. He’ll survive.”

Hardly listening, Mina knelt upon Sapphire’s stomach and pounded her fists against the flat surface.

“Can you hear me in there?” she asked. “Don’t panic. We’ll get you out!” All too well, Mina remembered the horrific experience of being inside Sapphire. She could not bear the thought of someone else suffering the same fate.

Black Vole grasped Mina’s arm gently and coaxed her to stand.

“Leave him for now,” the chief insisted. “Our journey is nearly at an end and we still have much to discuss.”

Reluctantly, the miniature maid stood up. She began to follow the fairy chief, casting hesitant glances back at the giantess’s belly.

At last, Mina looked ahead at their new challenge. Sapphire’s colossal bust loomed before them like a pair of enormous hills. The movement caused by her breathing was more dramatic here, causing the mountainous landscape to undulate like the waves of the sea. With ease, Black Vole flapped his wings and floated up to the very peak of Sapphire’s bosom. Mina did her best to follow, trying to climb up the slope of a gigantic breast. The fabric of the negligee gave her something to grasp but the steady rise and fall caused the tiny girl to lose her balance. Several times, she tumbled over backwards and slid down the curve of Sapphire’s chest to land in a heap upon her stomach again.

Black Vole called to her from the mountaintop overhead. “The fae dust I sprinkled on you should still be in effect. Try to fly.”

Mina’s eyebrows arched at this. Fly? Could she really do that? When they had hovered across the room, Mina had been holding the chief’s hand. Could she duplicate that effect on her own?

The girl stood up unsteadily and took a few steps back on Sapphire’s abdomen. She tried not to think about the poor soul trapped somewhere below her in that rumbling stomach. Once she had a running start, she sprinted forward and leaped into the air. Sure enough, she shot upward, rising further and faster than any normal jump should take her. The laws of gravity no longer applied. Mina gave a triumphant shout as she rose past the curving wall of Sapphire’s breast.

She was so excited that she overshot her target. Mina went hurtling past Black Vole and her trajectory carried her in an arc towards the other side of the peak. She began to descend rapidly, tumbling towards Sapphire’s neckline and the imposing chasm of cleavage between those fleshy hills.

Black Vole scrambled after her and caught Mina by the leg. He pulled her back before she could tumble into the crevasse. Mina and the chief landed on one another in a heap atop Sapphire’s breast.

“Careful!” the fairy chided her. “You could get lost in there!”

“I sure could,” Mina thought. “And I’ve done so on occasion.” She crawled on hand and knees to the edge and peered into the depths of the giant woman’s décolletage. Now was not the time for spelunking however.

Black Vole stepped to the edge of the breast and stood beside her. “I have told you the truth of your origins and a little of the history of your race. Now it is time to discuss your future.”

Mina looked up at him in surprise. “My future? What do you mean?”

“I have not been entirely honest with you, Wilhelmina,” the chief said. “We are not journeying across the giant woman merely to take in the sights. I wanted to remind you of how utterly massive these folk are and how perilous they can be to people like us. Do you truly wish to spend your life among them?”

With that pronouncement, Black Vole began to slide gracefully down the curving slope. He held out his hands for balance and shot down the hill like a skier, stopping at Sapphire’s collar bone. Mina didn’t feel quite as confident and opted to sit down instead. She scooted down the slope on her bottom and joined the fairy at the base of Sapphire’s upper chest.

As they walked cautiously along the woman’s neck, Mina’s eyes were cast down at the trunk-like throat under their feet. With a shiver, she remembered what it looked like from the inside.

“You are faced with a choice, my child,” the chief said as he rose into the air and landed upon Sapphire’s face. Black Vole stood beside the woman’s nose, one foot propped atop it like an explorer resting on a boulder. Mina hastily followed, doing her best to clamber up onto the giantess’s chin.

“You could continue to live among the Tall Folk, forever at risk of being crushed, dropped, stepped on, or eaten,” the fairy said. As if to punctuate his words, Sapphire’s thick red lips parted in another massive snore. Kneeling upon her chin, Mina gazed into the black abyss of the giant mouth and felt a rush of wind tug at her hair and nightgown. The tiny girl clung to the flesh of Sapphire’s face tightly, fearing to be swept inside.

“Or you could forsake the giants and join my tribe,” Black Vole continued. “You could live out your days among people your own size with whom your very soul shares kinship. We would even craft wings for you to fully integrate you into the Nunnehi. What shall it be, daughter of the barleycorn? The choice is yours.”

Mina thought about her time living with humans. She thought of the terror of being underfoot, scurrying about like an insect fighting for life. She thought of the dangers of falling from a shoulder or a shelf or a tabletop, plunging to her death in a world built for people much larger than herself. She remembered Diamonda’s tortures and how helpless she felt when the blonde cast her icy gaze upon her. Most of all, she thought of the horrors she endured after being swallowed alive, trapped inside one of these gigantic beings unable to fight back or save herself. She peered once again into the darkness of Sapphire’s mouth and shivered with fear.

But then she thought of Sapphire herself. Not as a collection of deadly, gigantic masses but as a person. She thought of her kindness and gentility, her sweet yet bawdy personality and the way she made Mina laugh. Her heart still melted at the memories of this lovely giantess who had shown her friendship and taught her the ways of love. Mina remembered the joy she felt in being with Sapphire and the thrill of dancing for an adoring public at Goldie’s club. How could she give that up? How could she turn her back on the very things that had given her life meaning?

“I…I thank you for the offer, Chief Black Vole,” the girl said. “But I want to stay where I am.” Sapphire sighed quietly in her sleep and Mina rubbed a tiny hand affectionately over the skin of her cheek.

The fairy chief regarded her for a moment then nodded his head. “A pity,” he said. “Though not unexpected. If that is your decision, allow us to leave you with a gift.”

He whistled sharply, signaling one of his warriors to join them. A fairy brave flew over and lighted upon Sapphire’s face, clutching a small bundle wrapped in sackcloth. He handed this to Mina and quickly took off again, anxious to be away from the imposing giantess. Mina unwrapped the bundle curiously and found a collection of miniature bottles and vials. Each was filled with a mysterious liquid.

“These are magic potions made by my people,” Black Vole explained. “Not unlike the ones used by Princess Maia many ages ago. They will help to keep you safe among the Tall Folk. I can instruct you in their use if you like. First though, I suppose we should retrieve my warrior from your friend’s guts before he gets himself digested.”

The chief escorted Mina off Sapphire’s face and back to the nightstand. He barked orders to his braves in their own language and soon several little men were gathered around the redhead’s lips, once again emptying the contents of a barrel into her mouth. They loosened or cut the bonds around her head and shoulders then swiftly flew out of range. 

For a moment, nothing happened. Then the colossal belly began to gurgle and groan, more loudly than before. Sapphire’s eyes shot open suddenly in alarm and she leaned over the side of the bed, spewing the contents of her belly onto the floor. Lying in the pool of bile and half-digested supper was a small and quivering fairy. Several of his comrades flew to his side excitedly, only to recoil and hold their noses when they caught his scent.

Sapphire moaned miserably, her face contorting in pain.

“Ugh…must have been somethin’ I ate.”

After a few seconds, she peered down at the pile of vomit and the tiny figure just beginning to stir within it. Her eyes grew wider.

“Or, um, someone? What in tarnation is…?” She stopped abruptly, finally noticing the little winged people gathered about the room.

“Um...friends of yours, Mina?”

The tiny girl called to the redhead from the tabletop. “I’ll explain everything, Saph.”

“Oh, I can’t wait to hear this,” Sapphire said. She tried to sit up but found that her torso and legs were still bound to the bed. 

“Hey, why am I all tied up? Your friends ain’t kinky, are they?”

To be continued..