The skies were sunny and cloudless, a late midday at the end of spring. Rennard, Milton, and Henry wandered through the path in the woods, back to their village, having just loitered by the river two miles away. The topic the last couple of minutes had concerned the giants, and Rennard's infamous fretfulness couldn't take it any longer.

”I’m getting tired of the giants,” he said. “Not the ‘oh, they’re annoying, but we can persevere’ type of annoyance that you milksops show every day. It’s reaching a goddamn breaking point. We have to do something.” To be insulted by Rennard didn’t mean much; it would rather be impressive if a minute passed without anyone’s character suffering an attack. Milton and Henry, his two closest friends, knew this well enough.

“I’ll pretend you’re not just venting and being angry,” Milton said. “If you’re serious, what can we even do?”

“I know they’re not torturing us left and right like they did long ago,” Rennard said, “but it’s the little things they constantly get away with, that they’ve gotten used to doing. If you grew up in my family farm, you’d know. Up in Hoddlestone, giant children would just come over from their village and do whatever they wanted, trample over our fences and crops, ruin the terrain, hang around like it was their home.”

“But what is there we can do?”

Rennard went ahead of them and walked backwards, facing them, smacking his fist into his hand. “We sneak into one of their villages and shit in their water. I’ve thought about this.”

Milton facepalmed, then ran the hand up his brown bushy hair. “Contaminating their water? That’s too much.”

Henry, the bald and short one of of the three, said his first words, “But he’s right, Milton. We’ve got to do something.”

“But not this,” Milton said. “You know drinking that water can make you sick? That’s too sinister, imagine if they capture us.”

“We’re sixteen years old,” Rennard said. “Barely adults to them, we can easily pass as fourteen to them. They’ll throw it off like a bunch of children’s innocent prank. Do you know the damage they do to our places, constantly?”

Milton sighed. “I’m not saying they’re right in and your complaints are wrong. I’m just telling you how it will pan out. They win in the end. We’re inferior, they’re superior, that’s how this relationship works.”

“Spoken like a milksop.” Rennard waved him away and faced straight again. “Come on, Henry, you see clear sometimes, take my side here and talk some sense into him.”

“Both of you have a point.” Henry pointed one hand towards Milton. “Contaminating their water is too much, you’re right.” He shifted it to Rennard. “But yes, we’re not that inferior, not with our magic. And, we can do something, but it doesn’t have to be contaminating their water.”

“Listen to us,” Milton said, “this is why they call us children. Talking about going to a giant village and hit back as it’s the same as stealing apples from Hanchie’s orchard.”

Rennard shook his head and grumbled a few more complaints. The trees had always swayed in the light breeze, but something came over them to the north, an unusual harshness that made it seem as if a storm spawned out of nowhere and tore through the trees.

“Do you hear that?” Henry said, all of them turning north. Henry stepped off the path, peering through the trees and bushes.

“Right there,” Milton and Rennard said, still on the path with a different angle into the woods. And they saw it charging to them. A pale pair of legs and feet stomping through the woods. She wore a yellow frock to her knees, her hair white-blonde and tied into a braid whipping behind her. The ground shook, leaves and branches falling to her body. She showed no signs of stopping.

“Run!” Milton shouted. He and Rennard jumped aside as her figure raced overhead, and for a moment they were under shadow. Wind from her closest step buffeted their clothes, cracking the earth. She crossed the road and surged through the trees on the other side, her thunderous presence fading into the woods.

“Oh lord above,” Milton said, rising up and dusting his trousers off. “I thought she was targeting us. She looked sad.” He saw Rennard, who scowled at the giant’s direction. “Hey, where’s Henry?” Down and up the path, and as far as he could see past the trees and bushes, Henry didn’t show up. “Did she kick him away?”

“She didn’t kick,” Rennard said, gesturing at her footprint on the road. They’d seen hundreds of these footprints in their lives, the toes, the ball of her foot, the line along the outside, the little bit of untouched ground under the arch and the heel imprint were all what they knew. However, a deeper print was now within it, a person’s body. They followed the footprints, the left one normal, and the right one again with a body under it within the woods. “Looks like he’s stuck under her foot.”

The footprints were less distinguishable as it went into the underbrush, but they could still follow the damaged bushes and branches. Whenever the prints showed again, the impression of Henry's body remained under the right foot, his shoes at the top of her heel and his head at the ball of her foot. He was just taller than half her foot. This size was average for giants, and Henry of average height, making a decent representation of how their sizes related.

"The bitch," Rennard muttered, leading the march. "She's doing it on purpose. There's no way she doesn't feel him. I know they call us bugs, but it's just for insult." He pointed at one particular footstep, the grass sparse in that area. "Look, his body covers maybe three fifths of her foot. That's like a bird or something to us, you can feel it."

Milton followed his lead.

Rennard raised an eyebrow his way. "Will you somehow defend this?"

"What do you mean?"

"You always find a way to pussyfoot around conflict."

"No. Just go. Kradger's cabin should be ahead, I hope he's safe. His ancestry have all been old-fashioned, there's no wizardry or magic in his family line, and he's old. If she steps on him, he'll be in danger."

Rennard glared ahead. For a moment his long red hair rose and flowed as if he were underwater, and from his fingers came sparks. "I'll torch her." They saw the beginnings of another road, small and unpaved, connecting Kradger's cabin to the village further west. The side of the cabin showed itself from behind the trees, an old thing built out of planks, half of them discoloured from age. Rennard and Milton called his name. The door creaked open as Kradger peeped his head out, a wide sun hat on top.

"Mr. Kradger," Milton said, "you must have seen a giant come through here. Look, her steps are here, just passed through."

"Oh, I saw, and I felt the tremors and heard the trees. The young girl put a jolt to my heart. She did seem troubled, though, a sad face on her. What have you three been doing?"

"Nothing this time, Mr. Kradger, we swear."

Rennard spat. "She'll have more than a sad face once I'm done with her."

"You boys be careful," Kradger said, calling his dog inside which seemed to want to run with the youngsters. "And remember, don't anger the giants, not just for yourselves but for the village. I speak mostly to you, Renny." The two jogged onwards.

Her footprints led towards a larger hillside where the trees were less and the grassy landscape opened up. The trail wrapped around the hill until the beginnings of a large figure brought them to pause. She sat on a large shelf of rock protruding from the hillside, holding her own sour face with a hand. Her blonde hair had a tint of platinum and was tied into a braid, her skin pale, and her yellow frock had a pattern of red flowers embroidered throughout it.

For just a moment, Milton interpreted her sadness as a possibility that Henry had died and she grieved for her carelessness. But no, his magical potency inherently strengthened his body and made it more resilient to giants. As long as she hadn't stomped him into a stone surface and kept it to grass and soil, which they'd seen along the way, Henry would be fine. Her right foot was flat on the ground, Henry thereunder.

"Doesn't even look like she's noticed him yet," Milton said. "But I don't know what's going on. Let me talk to her, don't flaunt your magic, that's threatening." Rennard removed the glow from his fingers, through the fire remained in his expression. They stepped up together. They were far enough to require just a mild tilt of their neck to make eye contact.

Milton cleared his throat. "Excuse me, miss." She turned their way, and the face radiated innocence. Her round brown eyes were fit for a baby, her nose and mouth small for her proportions and her cheeks round. "We're sorry for disturbing you, miss, but-"

Rennard patted Milton on the chest and stepped ahead. "Listen, girl, you better start learning how to open your eyes while crying, because you stepped on our friend when you ran through the woods. He's under your foot, you clumsy shit."

She tilted her left foot to present the sole, her white skin dirtied at the toes and ball and heels. "How tiny is your friend?" she said, trying to find him somewhere in the empty one. It didn't look like mockery.

"The other fo- Are you slow in the head?" Rennard said. "There's no way you can't feel him." He turned to Milton. "She's putting on an act."

She rose up, her full height towering. "Are you making fun of me?" Her voice was sweet and childlike, and in her question, Milton couldn't hear a challenge or threat, but a genuine want to know.

"We only-"

"You make fun of yourself," Rennard said, "or I hope all of this is still some sick joke you're pulling, and we're the ones looking stupid for thinking someone could actually be this daft. Be happy for your size, you'd be at the bottom of all creatures without it."

She pouted. "I don't like being made fun of. The giants always do it, and I hate it. But I won't take it from you!"

"I'll send you running back home with a message singed on your leg," Rennard said, throwing a fireball straight at the girl's left ankle.

"Ow!" She hopped in place and grabbed her foot, and while she bounced those few times, Milton caught the slightest site of Henry plastered under her right sole. He tried to shout that they only wanted their friend, to check her other foot, but Rennard had closed those doors. She didn't listen, frowning at them.

A red glow over his legs, Rennard raced to the side with enhanced speed and summoned a red fiery lance. With an overhead throw he sent it flying at her. She skipped a few steps aside, but Rennard redirected it after her, sending its point into her ass. It burst on her frock in a puff of flames, and she hopped in pain again. "That hurts!" She started running after Rennard. Even though Milton was closer, she had the mind not to go after him. She could be reasoned with.

Rennard dodged one, two, three, and four of her stomps with his enhanced speed, and she kept aiming for him, as if her foot was the point of a harpoon and Rennard a fish in a puddle.

Rennard had no openings to retaliate, only time to dodge, escaping the side of a heel and then a big toe and just barely jumping aside from the ball of her foot. "Any time now, Milton," he shouted, though Milton wanted no part in a fight. He waited for the confrontation to lose its anger.

Rennard thought he saw an opening, darting out from under her and bringing about a ring of fire around him.

And then a warm and dirty roof of flesh flattened him to the ground, all the fire and glow snuffed out. "Got you! You were annoying." She put all her weight onto that foot, grinding and twisting, and while she did so she raised her right one and indeed, Henry was there, worn like some kind of a small fleshy sandal without the straps. This image in front of Milton embodied their state of inferiority. The three of them were far from masters of magic, but they had a few years of practice behind them. This girl, from her looks, had nothing, yet she not only won, but utterly dominated them. A human needed years of practice with their magic to compete with a giant who needed nothing, and even then, the human could lose to a single mistake.

"You're going to say sorry," the girl said to Rennard. Rennard couldn't get a word out, his clothes and face contorting to the merciless grind. Unable to keep his mouth shut, he tasted the acrid foot. The warm friction of the grinding flesh gave way to sweat. The only noise heard was her foot scraping soil, ripping grass, smushing his body, and the occasional choked grunt and exclamation Rennard managed to produce. The sole worked him like a lump of dough.

Another minute of grinding and twisting ensued, until at last she was content with the beating she'd given him. She kept him stuck there as she turned towards Milton, who had casually approached her.

Milton raised his hands. "Miss, I just want to talk."

"Are you friends with him?" she said, narrowing her eyes.

Answering that question would be the wrong way to go about it. "Look underneath your other foot."

Still with a suspicious look, she picked up her right foot. "Oh. Who's this bald man?" She wriggled her toes, and the waves of movement it caused across her foot made Henry's adhered body dance along, like a puppet moved by its strings. "Did I win against him too?"

"He never fought you," Milton said. "When you ran through the woods, you accidentally stepped on him. That's why we're here, we wanted to ask if you could let him go."

"Oh. He didn't do anything to me, right?"

"Not at all."

The giant hovered her foot above ground, and a closer perspective made the sight even more pathetic. Her sole had smatters of dirt and fragments of grass and leaves branches, and there among them was Henry. The girl's unknowing nature made it worse, for she had, despite her innocence, reduced him to some leftover scrap on her foot indistinguishable from literal dirt, and he wasn't significant enough to get her attention. Her demeanor carried a sincere innocence, not realizing to what extent she was humiliating them. The difference between humans and giants was just that massive.

She shook her foot, which alongside gravity let Henry come off. He fell to the grass.

Milton kneeled beside him. "Henry, how are you?"

The young man might have just woken up, in a daze, eyelids heavy and unresponsive. His clothes were thoroughly wrinkled and soiled.

"Can you stand?"

Henry waved him off, resigning to where he lay. "Just give me a moment."

"Ops, I didn't mean to," she said, a hand over her mouth in concern. "But it's fine as long as you're not crushed into stone, right?"

"I guess. Now, about the other guy," Milton tentatively began, pointing to her other foot. "I know he's an idiot, but he was just looking out for our friend here."

The pout returned. "He has to say sorry first."

"Then he'll be under your foot for eternity," Henry said, present enough to add something to the conversation.

The girl peeled Rennard off and lay him on the ground. He enjoyed no more than two seconds of freedom before she placed her foot back on him, letting his head stick out between her big and second toe. Her toes were long and round like with most giants, made to fight humans.

"You ditzy cunt," Rennard said, a head between her toes. "You'll see soon enough, I'll-" His speech turned to incoherent babble as she squeezed his head and cheeks with her toes, and it brought her a fit of laughter.

She released the grip on his head, he returned to cursing, and she cut it off the same way. She let him go, giggling. "He's funny."

Rennard got back up. "What's funny is what I'll do to you."

Milton took him by the shoulders. "Henry's out, it's all fine."

Rennard pushed his hands off him. "Yeah, sure. Next time, do something other than stand there, huh, Milton?"

"If I did that, all three of us would be under her feet."

The girl put a finger to her chin in thought. "I don't think I can fit all three of you." She brought her feet together and wriggled her toes. "We can try. If two of you are under one foot each, maybe the third can fit across, under the toes, like two walls and a roof."

"No thank you," Milton said.

Rennard blew air through his mouth. "I hate giants."

"Me too," she said. "They're mean."

Milton and Rennard shared a look. Henry was sitting now, looking alright and gathered, and Milton's thoughts had only been on when to give the giant their farewells and be off. But he couldn't ignore all his questions surrounding her. The first question he had was, "Who are you?"

"I'm Lily. I'm sixteen, how old are you?"

"In no world is she the same age as us," Rennard said. "Acts like she's nine."

"I am sixteen!"

Milton leaned over his friend's shoulder. "She doesn't feel like the lying type."

"Hey, stop whispering." Her brows came together. "Are you saying something bad about me?"

"No, but there's plenty to say," Rennard said.

Henry walked in with some life in him, the three of them staring up at her towering height. "What are you doing out here? Gintessa is far away."

"Far to your little legs maybe, but not for me." She put her hands behind her back, scratched the heel of one foot with the other, and turned her eyes away. "I am from there, but I ran away."

"Why?" Henry continued.

She shrugged. "Giants are mean. They say I was born stupid, and then make fun of me all the time."

"Well, you know what they say..." Rennard said, and Milton stopped him with a tap to the chest.

"But I like being around humans, they aren't as mean."

Rennard snorted. "Maybe because the ones you've been around are enslaved."

"There's not that many slaves in Gintessa as you think, many of them are workers."

"Hah!" Rennard faked a loud laugh. "Workers, she says!"

"Well, it was nice meeting you," Milton said, "but we should return." She seemed saddened by their departure, though it was only Henry and Milton who moved. Rennard remained.

"Hold on there, friends," he said. He turned up to Lily. "You say you hate giants?"

"Yes."

"Then we can agree on something. You see, my friends and I were planning to strike. Nothing too evil or elaborate. We go and find ourselves some giants and pull a few pranks on them. Just to let them know."

"Did we agree?" Milton said, but Lily's face already glowed with excitement.

"Oh, I like pranks. That's a good idea, they deserve it."

"I'm asking if you'd want to join us in that mission."

Henry let on a wide smirk. "Remember the day when Rennard asked a giant for help."

"It's only for this errand," Rennard added, an urgency to defend his pride.

Lily put both her hands over her heart. "Really? You want my company?"

"Your help," Rennard said, "to show those giants a thing or two. If you hate them, show it."

"Yes!" She hopped a few times and clapped, the ground shaking. "We will show them."

The giants were produced in two ways. Either a giant bred with a male human, or a human female could be turned into a giant. The magic for the transformation existed in Gintessa, its nature undisclosed. The giants only existed as females, so they depended on humans for population. The women who were turned into giants were second-class citizens, called offgiants. They had to spend ten years in Gintessa before they could gain full citizenship, and until then weren’t allowed to return to Humius, the human territory. There was a certain degree of respect towards Humius from Gintessa, even though giants might not respect humans. Due to depending on humans for population, the giants understood that the well-being of humans was necessary for both parties.

It had been three days since Lily agreed to help them, and they decided to meet today where they had struck the deal. The three were headed there now, all of them wearing drab wool trousers and burlap shirts. The warm afternoon demanded no more. Henry wore a brown headband around his bald head, Rennard had his long red hair ponytailed, and Milton let the brown bushy hair be free. All three had a rucksack each.

“I’m surprised, Milton,” Rennard said. “That you’re on with this.”

“Come on, you two are my brothers. I’d follow you everywhere, even if it’s dumb sometimes.”

“You’ve been pretty quiet, is all. Which is good, do more of this.”

“We’ve gained the help of a giant,” Milton said. “That changes everything. It’s not as stupid now.”

Henry watched his friend with an amused curiosity. “What made you ask her? Especially after she had just stepped all over us.”

“If she can make this easier for us, I’ll take that. She looked hurt from when we first saw her, right before she ran over you. I believe what she says. I don’t feel she’s smart enough to think of anything else or come up with some elaborate lie. It’s like you said, Milton, she’s not the lying type.”

They passed Kradger’s cabin again and came to the open landscape by the hill. They didn’t see her, though they only looked ahead.

“Peekaboo!” Her shadow grew over the three, and her two feet smashed onto the ground to either side of them. All three of them were thrown a few yards off the ground, Milton landing on top of her left foot while the other two returned to a cracked and broken surface. Looking above, they saw her two pale legs tower up to a pair of white bloomers. Her head appeared from over the hem of her yellow frock, a gleeful look on her. “I surprised you, didn’t I?”

“Yeah.” Henry was stuttering. “You sure did.” They crawled out from under her and stood.

“We’re friends now, and friends joke with each other,” she said.

Milton tapped his rucksack. “We’re carrying things, so try not to step on us, okay?”

“Not that it’s alright to step on us otherwise,” Henry added.

“I’ve heard that humans don’t get to make demands.”

“Like you you said, we’re friends, aren’t we?” Milton said. “And friends compromise.”

“We’re partners in this mission,” Rennard said. “We help each other, we’re equal.”

She had a distant look on her, as if everything didn’t quite register. In the end, she nodded. “Ok.” She brought her hands to the new apparel she wore around her waist, a tiny leather bag somewhere in between a satchel and a pouch. “I got this like you asked.”

“Good,” Milton said. “Now put us in.” She picked them up and placed them inside to stand, the lip of the satchel reaching to their chest. The leather was firm enough to stand on without any buckling or folding. They had to tilt their heads all the way up to see her, and she had to tuck her chin in to look down on them. She was small-chested, leaving little in the way.

“So, do we go to Gintessa now?”

“No,” Milton and Rennard said together, and Rennard took the lead. “Look, not even I’m that bold. They’ll look on us sideways just for walking freely there. Go to the human villages near the border to Gintessa. There’s plenty of giants there, some of them officials from the queen. That’s a good in-between of home but still an arm’s reach into giants’ territory. Do you know the village called Trester?”

She nodded.

“That’s where we go.”

“Ok.” She took her first steps, a manageable disruption to their comfort within the satchel.  They were like three little baby kangaroos in the mother’s bag.

She headed north with a slight eastern pivot. The birch trees came ahead, peaking at the same height as her. Their branches were mostly by the top, leaving the three in the satchel relatively undisturbed while Lily had to brush past them.

Henry, who was deep in his musing, emerged with some thoughts. “You know, with her, we probably could move around Gintessa unauthorized, and be alright.”

“Maybe,” Rennard said. “But it won’t be needed. The giants have an office at Trester. I know it’s far, but with her legs we can be there tomorrow.” Rennard reached inside his rucksack and brought out a colourful cube, each of the six sides a different colour. “I’ve got a lot of trinkets here from my uncle’s theater in the capital. They’re for performances and festivals, but we’ll use them to clown the cunts right in their formal offices.” All three boys shared some chuckles. They dropped their rucksacks and sat down.

“I told my aunt we’re going on an errand,” Milton said. “She didn’t even look me at me, just waved her hand and said, ‘some magical whimsy, isn’t it?’”

Henry shook his head. “How some people dismiss magic is beyond me. It’s the only thing allowing us to exist as something more respectable than a small animal to the giants.”

“Hmm.” Milton rose up and peered outside. “We’re heading into the hills, aren’t we? There are highwaymen there.”

“What’s a highwayman?” Lily said.

“People who rob others along the road. Criminals, bad people.”

“So they’re like the outlaws in Gintessa?” she said.

Milton’s puzzled look sent the question to his friends, and it was Henry who answered. “Not quite. By the way, what kind of giant are you, Lily? Is your mother a giant, or are you an offgiant?”

“My mother is a giant.”

“Huh.” Rennard lowered his voice to his friends in the bag. “She’s a true citizen.”

“You can see if someone’s an offgiant by their neck,” Henry said. “They have markings from the transformation.”

“I have a question,” Lily said. “When you were stuck under my feet, why didn’t you try and use magic? Did you give up?”

“We need movement with the arms to bring about magic,” Henry said. “When we’re pinned, we can’t do much. That’s what they tell us in training, an immobilized mage is a defeated one.”

Lily walked throughout the afternoon, seeing a few towns and smaller settlements here-and-there which the three boys all knew the names of. The residents shook their heads and commented on what tomfoolery the three were up to now. At evening, they neared the mountains and set camp on a glade beside a lake. They made a fire and lay out their bedrolls. They had exhausted half the food in Rennard’s backpack, and Lily dug out an enchanted loaf of bread and apple from her back pouch. The enchantment caused them to fill a giant’s stomach as if they were supersized to their proportions, allowing giants to be in Humius with the same expenses as a human. They weren’t terribly easy to come by, a surprise for the three.

They drank from the lake, and Lily dipped her feet into the water. By nightfall when the stars came out, they were all huddled around the fire. Lily sat nearby, a large silhouette overlooking them. Her feet poked into their space near the fire, and she rubbed and massaged them with her hands.

“Why don’t giants wear shoes?” Rennard said.

She shrugged, Henry answering instead. “They always tear and break for them. No material can resist so much of their weight and pressure.”

Lily wore a proud smirk beyond the firelight, wiggling her toes, the joints popping. She was the first to yawn and lie down, tired and sore from all the walking. Paying no attention to how they would all sleep, Lily just lay down and stretched out her legs, her calves fencing the three in around the fire. The three eventually slept on their bedrolls around the fire, hoping she wouldn’t move too much in her sleep. The night passed without much trouble, besides Lily folding one leg and bringing her foot inwards so it brushed against Milton. In his sleep, unaware, he moved towards it, nuzzling his head in between her last two toes. When he woke and noticed, he backed off and slept again.

Lily was the first one to greet morning. She got up and watched the golden sun rise over the lake, setting the water alight. The air was humid, and a faint mist drifted over the water. Her movement broke their sleep, and they remained in their drowsiness while she got up and moved about.

Rennard was the first to break their silence. “Boys, time to get up.” He arched his back, yawned, and sprung up. The others weren’t as sprightly to greet the day, Henry in particular, so Rennard poured water on his head.

Henry zapped to life and threw a fist at Rennard’s leg, who hopped away. “Ah, fuck off, Renny.”

Rennard gave an obnoxious cackle and sprinted off. The cheerfulness vanished from his face at the sight of a stranger emerging from behind the trees.

“Gentleman, a good morning,” he said, hands raised as he bowed. He was young but older than them, wearing a dark-green cloak, old and moth-eaten, and a blue overcoat dulled from dirt and wear. “Renounce your valuables, in the nicest manners you can bring about. No one needs to get hurt.”

Before they could even bring to question the arrogance of him to approach them all alone, his comrades entered the glade in a half-circle. They were seven in total, four men and three women, all clad in worn coats and cloaks. Henry and Milton were fully awake now.

Rennard cracked his knuckles. “Let’s teach this trash a lesson. Look at them all, brandishing their swords and daggers.”

Henry went into a fighting stance, his magic being the art of the fighter. “Swords and daggers, isn’t that a little old-fashioned?”

The leading man’s smugness didn’t go away, nor the confidence of his company.

“The dumbest robbers there must’ve ever been,” Rennard said. He swirled his hands as he usually did to spawn his fire. Nothing happened. “Huh?”

Henry re-entered his stance, befuddled by his own arms. “I can’t summon my energy.”

“Guys, look.” Milton pointed to one of the women holding a globular device similar to a lantern. Inside it was a brown glowing rock.

“Oh yes,” the leading man said. “An Orkken globe. Not that we’re not proficient with magic ourselves, but it’s a lot easier when the targets don’t have a bunch of annoying tricks to escape with. When no one has magic, daggers and swords are quite effective, wouldn’t you say?”

Milton was agape. “How? Those aren’t allowed in Humius.”

“Neither is robbing, if I recalled.”

“But Orkkens only exist in Gintessa.”

“The black market is a lovely thing.”

The three friends exchanged looks. “We don’t have any valuables,” Milton said. “We’re not merchants.”

“Nor leprechauns,” Rennard added, his belligerence unaffected by the predicament. “Fuck off.”

“We’ll decide if it’s valuable,” the highwayman said. “Search their bags.” Then came Lily’s footsteps, approaching the scene with eyes on the strangers.

“Oh, great beautiful giant.” The robber bowed, his confidence unshaken. “Do not mind us, just humans associating amongst one another.”

Milton pointed at them. “Lily, they’re robbing us. They’re highwaymen, you know, the criminals I told you about yesterday?”

“I fail to see how that’s her problem,” the highwayman said. “Giants don’t involve themselves in our affairs.”

“She’s our friend.”

The highwayman visibly hesitated, looking askance. “Friend? That’s a desperate lie.”

Lily frowned with childish anger. “They are my friends.” She stepped into the setting, standing astride the three boys, sheltering them under her like a protective mother. “So you’re the bad people?”

Milton was quick to talk, edging her on. “Yes, they are. They steal things from others, leave them to starve, turn them poor. And they’ve got an Orkken globe.”

“Oh yeah,” Rennard said. “Not so smart to be without magic now, is it?”

Rennard went and took the Orkken globe, flaunting it. “Thought you were smart coming with this? Don’t know what kind of arts you have, but the fundamental magics always offer mobility. Most of you could have escaped through the trees, she would only have caught a few of you, but now you’re sitting ducklings.” Rennard went to the leader. “Where’s that shit-eating grin now? Ought to give them a proper beating as well.”

The highwayman raised his hands in defeat, offering a step back. “Evidently, we have made a mistake. We—”

Milton wouldn’t let him speak. “You’re going nowhere. Drop your weapons, first of all.” The criminals looked between one another for answers, but none of them followed the command.

Lily stomped her left foot, and everyone’s knees buckled from the quake. “Do it! And take off your coats as well.” Metal thumped on grass as they all let go, followed by their coats and cloaks, until they were only in shirt and trousers. Lily crouched down to gather the weapons and clothes. She threw all their equipment into the lake, and when she turned around, the criminals bolted towards the trees.

“Don’t let them get away!” Rennard said, tackling one to the ground. The ground shook as Lily charged in.

“Quick, before they get in the woods,” Henry urged, and he grabbed the criminal leader’s arm to hold him. The leader kicked back, Henry grabbed his leg and punched, both of them ending up in a tussle. Though it was ended by Lily’s feet. The three boys took plenty of collateral damage as Lily exchanged accuracy for speed, her stampede not discriminating between anyone. Nine were scattered on the ground, three of them the boys and six of them the criminals, trying to get back up, and Lily performed high knees on top of them, as if they were grapes being crushed for wine. The leaves of the treetops rustled, the water of the lake rippled, the birds flew off, and the tremors from her continuous stomps took the environment.

After a long half minute, Lily stopped with a pant to her breath, calm returning to the woods. She wiped her forehead. “I got them.”

Rennard groaned, barely raising his head. “You… sure did.”

“Opsie, I think I accidentally hit you too.” Crouching, she delicately dug under them with her fingers, brought them up, and dusted them off. The six criminals remained half-buried, the grass and soil pressed as if furniture had sat upon them for days. There were minor stretches of still-standing grass and bulges of higher ground, the little parts Lily had missed.

“Some of them…” Rennard recollected himself. “A few made it off.”

Lily was ready to take chase, but Henry stopped her. “No, it’s fine. We have their leader. This bastard right here.” They had to discuss the issue of what to do with them.

“Taking them to Trester is ideal, it’s not far,” Milton said. “Let them rot in a dungeon there.”

“The leader is good enough,” Milton said. “He can join us. The rest, send them flying.” With their directions, Lily threw two of the highwaymen east, one into the lake, and kicked the two remaining ones south.

“Off we go then, to Trester.”

Lily moved through the woods with the three boys in her pouch, and now also the leader of the group of highwaymen. They had the Orkken globe with them to turn it in as well. He politely sat down in his little corner of the satchel, still with an amused expression on himself.

“Rich of you to look so cocky,” Rennard said, “after she just made you and your valiant party into doormats.”

“You must be proud of yourselves, fawning over her so she might help you.”

“Fawning over her?” Rennard snorted. “She’s a ditz, we’re the ones leading her.”

Henry slapped him on the chest. “Shh! Quiet with that.”

The man laughed. “Normally, giants just dish out the beatings and humiliations, and we take it. But to see her, in our land, be enabled by other humans to do so is quite saddening and shameful.”

“Don’t talk about shame and respect for humans,” Rennard said. “Lawless scum. At least she hasn’t broken the law.”

“Oh please, a giant can easily stay within the confines of the law but still commit greater immoralities than a criminal human.”

“Whatever makes you feel better.”

“There it is.” Henry was watching the horizon from the satchel, pointing. “Trester.” The building they saw from afar at first was the only one belonging to the giants, a guardhouse made of stone bricks with a flat roof. What would have been the most monstrous piece of architecture for humans was a common guardhouse for the giants, three hundred feet high, six hundred feet wide and three thousand long. They passed the farms and enclosed lands on the outskirts of Trester, Lily not receiving many bewildered looks as the citizens were well-acquainted with giants.

“You can’t enter the heart of the town,” Rennard said. “Giants aren’t allowed in the middle.”

“Wow, that’s unfair.”

“If we start comparing unfairness between Gintessa and Humius, it won’t be close.”

“What can they do to stop me if I walk in?”

“Plenty of people with magic around,” Milton said. “But it’s mostly the giant guards from the guardhouse who will step in, so think of that.” They called for the attention of a human guard, and once they had him, she placed all four of them down along the Orkken globe.

“I know that ugly mug,” the guard said, scowling at the leader of the highwaymen. “Ron Horsten.” He spat on the highwayman’s shoes and clapped him across the cheek. “You’ll be singing the location and hideouts of all your degenerate comrades in the cell.”

Milton presented the Orkken globe. “Sir, they also carried this.”

The guard rubbed his beard and frowned. “Orkken in Humius? It only gets worse with you, doesn’t it, Horsten? We’ll want the details of this purchase as well, and we’ll inform the giants’ office of Orkken coming through. The four of you have done an excellent job. Return to the guardhouse later this evening, and our officer will give you the details of your reward.” He tilted his neck up to Lily’s face. “As for you, miss, we can’t hand out rewards to giants. You can only obtain them from the giants’ office, but they wouldn’t reward you for the solving of human troubles.”

She pouted. “But I did everything! That’s not fair.”

“Should complain to the giant’s office.” The guard led Horsten with a kick to the back, holding the Orkken globe. They could feel their ability to draw magic return as the Orkken globe left their vicinity.

“Alright.” Rennard grinned and rubbed his hands together. “The plan.” Back in Lily’s satchel, they skirted the edge of the town. The environment was grassy plains dotted with boulders and rocky protrusions. The guardhouse was on the northern edge of the town, dwarfing the city. There was only one giant guard standing by the entrance to the courtyard. She wore the standard outfit of the guards stationed in Humius, the black sleeveless shirt and a black skirt reaching half her thighs, parted in the front and behind. A short sword was sheathed around her belt, and the iron anklet around her left foot designated her rank as a foot soldier. As with most guards, she had strong legs, noticeably more muscular than Lily’s.

“She’s the only guard around the perimeter,” Henry said.

“Yeah.” Rennard cracked his knuckles. “There’s not many guards in general, they think they have nothing to worry about.”

“We’re also close to Gintessa,” Henry said. “So they feel safer than normal.” The giant guards posted throughout Humius were only concerned with other giants, making sure offgiants were sent back to Gintessa, and to help fight against criminal giants who would otherwise have too easy of a time wreaking havoc across the human societies.

“Ok, Lily, head around the backside,”  Rennard said, pointing.

The giant guard observed Lily’s neck, where marks would have shown her status as an offgiant if she were one. The guard nodded to her kinswoman. “Good day.” They moved around, the walls of the guardhouse spotted with columns of windows. Some of them were open, some of them had the wooden shutters closed. “The captain should be on the other end of the guardhouse, in her office.”

They arrived at the far end of the guardhouse, the shorter side of its rectangular shape. “Do you know which window it is, Rennard?”

“It should be one of the rooms at the top. It’s better if you throw us to the ceiling, and you can fasten us with your tethers, Milton.” Rennard put on the rucksack full of all his trinkets. Lily threw Milton first. While in the air, he waved his arms, his art being the art of the tethers. A white glowing rope shot out from his arm and fastened to the ledge, where he was redirected to. Using the tether, he reduced the speed of his fall, landing rather softly on the stone battlements. He saw Rennard and then milton fly in afterwards, sniping them with his tethers and redirecting them close to him.

“I told her to stay in place,” Rennard said. “Now, let’s move from window to window. Milton, you rope us around.” Milton summoned another glowing tether from the ledge and sent it to the nearest window. They all slid down along it, gently guiding them to the other end. The shutters there were open, but it was a room belonging to foot soldiers, and no one was there. Milton latched a tether to the next window on their left, identical to the previous one, but now a soldier lay sleeping. She was naked, her torso directly below them. The blanket was tussled up and falling over the bedside, only covering her stomach while her breasts and womanhood were exposed.

“Can you imagine,” Milton said, “when they mate with someone, they just shove them in there.”

“And it’s such a low chance it works,” Henry added, leaning so heavily his torso was over the edge. “So they have to do it over and over again.”

“Easy, Henry, you’re a bit close to the—” The warning could have come earlier, as Henry lost balance and fell towards her. With some luck on his side, Henry landed with a hollow thud on a portion of the blanket that was crumpled into a hefty lump on her stomach, avoiding a loud and fleshy smack on her skin. She didn’t wake up.

“Henry,” Rennard called, trying to find a balance between Henry hearing him and the giant not waking. “Get off her and jump up.” Henry rolled off the ruffled blanket and came onto her torso.

“Incredible,” he whispered, agape. He gently walked forward, mesmerised by her massive bosom. The diameter of one of them would stand taller than him.

“Goddammit, Henry,” Rennard said. “Now’s not the time.” She didn’t have the prettiest face, her brown hair spread-eagle under her head. But her large breast had Henry under a spell. He came between them and stroked the left one, first only to feel the skin, and then daring to feel its softness with a squeeze of the flesh.

Her hand shot up, and for a moment they thought everything would end here. She scratched the itch Henry caused, unknowingly by using him, as her hand caught Henry’s back and rubbed him into her breast. He had considered Lily’s soles to be soft, but this breast was like a cloud made graspable, a softness which made him lose all direction. In near shock, Henry remained in place after the hand left, not daring to move.

“She didn’t wake up,” Rennard said.

“Henry, stay right there.” Milton prepared a tether on the ledge. “I’ll pull you up.” With a thrust of his arm, he shot it at Henry. It missed. The end caught her left tit and pulled it instead, a hard yank, tugging the breast and leaving it in a jiggle.That would surely wake her.

Henry abandoned her chest and landed on the bed. She groaned and grimaced. Henry bent down, summoned the art of the fighter, and frog-leaped up to the window.

“Hmm?” She scratched her face and looked to her shoulders. There was no alarm on her, shifting and moving into a new position to try and sleep again. All three of them breathed out, and there was the nervous laughter caused by the thrill of it.

“I could have gotten out myself,” Henry told Milton.

“Fat chance,” Rennard said. “One more second and you might have whipped your dick out. What was that?”

“I’ve, uhm.” Henry shrugged. “I’ve never seen a naked giant before, and that close no less. She was like… a statue, you know, a statue of flesh.”

“Weird way to say just another cheap whore.” Rennard waved them on. “Onwards, next window.” Milton tethered to the next, the rope pulling them sideways as long as they held it. The next window had closed shutters, so they moved on. The next one showed a dining hall, a long trestled table with benches to either side. Bowls and spoons were set for each spot, a total of twelve, though only the cook was there. She wore a green apron, blouse, and bloomers, cutting large radishes which could only be grown in Gintessa. She spilled them all into a boiling cauldron of stew in the fireplace, the chimney running up the wall.

“Here we go,” Rennard said, taking off his backpack and picking out the coloured cube. “The cube of distaste will be perfect here. We should plant it before they gather and eat.”

“Where do we put it?”

“The best place is just above them.” Rennard put his palm against the red side of the cube, clicking it in. “I can activate it from a distance now. Milton, can you put a tether to the middle of the roof?”

Milton gave a worried look to the cook. “What if she turns around?”

“She’s busy with the stew now, do it fast.” From his palm, Milton shot a line glowing rope to the roof. He stuck the other end on the box of distaste, and they released it. Before the box swung to the other side and had time to return like a pendulum, Milton quickly closed his hands together, the rope retracting and pulling the box up until it was planted against the roof.

“They’ll have to gather first,” Rennard said. “Next window in the meantime.” Milton glanced down and saw Lily still waiting, fiddling with her fingers. The bored look on her face dampened his mood somewhat, she’d been a crucial part of the journey and wouldn’t be part of the fun. They had been using her.

At the next window, they saw what could only be the captain’s office. The yellow carpeted floor, the desk, the additional furnitures in cupboards and bookcases. The giant sitting on the desk and writing had a copper anklet on the left foot, marking her title as captain. Her shirt had sleeves, and her skirt were long to the knees. Their position on the window was just behind and over her, hemmed in by two bookcases. With a large feather from one of the domesticated waterfowl in Gintessa, she scribbled in a book.

Rennard rummaged the rucksack. “I know just the thing for this.” He brought out a yellow ball the size of a head. “Milton, lower me slowly.” Attached to the ledge, Rennard descended by the glowing rope like a spider from its web. Reaching the carpet, he was behind the captain and her house-sized chair. Taking his time to aim, avoiding the legs of the chair and the captain’s feet, he rolled the ball in under her desk. After a gesture to the window, the tether retracted and brought him up.

Rennard grinned. “Ok boys, here we go.” He brought his hands over his mouth and spoke. No sound left his mouth. It erupted from the yellow ball like an announcer instead. “Hey, whorechild.” The captain raised her head. “Yes, I’m speaking to you. What does it feel like to not be loved?” Henry and Milton held their mouths to suppress laughter.

“Who’s there?”

“I saw you the other day, touching yourself when all alone,” Rennard continued, his voice covering the room. “How lonely is your time? I can give you a tip. You know the trees growing in these parts? Incessant things with their leaves and all that getting in your eyes. But you uproot them, snap them so you get a thick chunk near the base, and you’ve got a perfect rod to ram in that hungry hole.” Henry and Milton fought the urge, letting it come out as a quiet, breathy laughter. “Yeah, don’t pretend like it’s some indecency that defiles your holy purity and professionalism, every giant is the same ravenous whore. And also, tell those girls to put some clothes on, would you? A decent pair of trousers wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

Searching all about, she found the yellow ball under the desk. “What is this trickery? I know it’s a human behind this. I’ll flush you out and punish you in here.” When she took the ball, Henry and Milton thought it was over.

“And we arrive at act two,” Rennard whispered with his own voice, squeezing his hands together. The ball erupted into a spray of yellow liquid and smog. It splattered over the captain’s face and chest, and she reeled back with a disgusted expression, the grand chair thrown back.

“My god,” Milton said, wearing a mixture of joy and repulsion. “What is this smell!” The captain’s sickened groan and waving of her arms made the boys bend over in restrained laughter, holding it in the throat. Milton had to bite his hand. The captain cursed and stormed out, no doubt to wash herself. The three allowed themselves a bit more noise, Henry tearing up.

“Captain, what’s wrong?” someone said in the hallway.

“Nothing, go and eat,” she snapped.

Rennard raised a hand to get his friends’ attention. “You hear that? The room beside this one. It’s dinner time.” With skittish giggles, they tethered back to the dining room. The giants were gathering and taking their seats, the cauldron placed in the table where they took turns ladling soup into bowls. There were baskets full of bread, two wheels of cheese and jugs of milk, all produced from the large cattle they had in Gintessa. By Milton’s magical cord, the box remained on the ceiling. “Not yet,” Rennard said. “Let them get into the dining mood.”

The first giants started eating. “Remember girls, always support the presence of real food. Enchanted human food might be just as filling and more efficient, but we eat for the taste of the food as much as the hunger. We’re not machines to be refuelled.”

“Exactly,” another chimed in. “And we would effectively lose the culture of gathering at the dinner tables. It’s a fun time for itself.”

“Fun indeed,” Rennard whispered. “Milton, bring the box down.”

Milton lowered his hand in control, the tether extending and lowering the cube. The box of distaste hovered above the cauldron.

“What’s this thing?” one of them said, spoon in mouth. Rennard triggered it with a magical command. The cube came alive, spinning as its sides opened up. With an absurd sound that could be compared to a choir of singers who, instead of singing, all turned around and farted while slapping their cheeks, the cube of distaste spinned and unleashed the smelly vapors alongside the sprinkles of a horrendous liquid. Their colours matched the side of the cube which unleashed them.

The giants all groaned and recoiled, trying to shield their bowls from its contents. One of them got a blue sprinkle of liquid in her mouth, and she jumped like a frightened cat, spitting. She knocked the table over, silverware clattering, the cauldron of soup spilling on someone’s leg. She screamed and clutched the leg where the soup burned it, trying to find the cold milk which had also been spilled. The chaos ensued, bowls being dropped, a few running out of the room, someone falling near the fireplace and violently wrenching herself away from it, swatting someone else’s face in accident. The three boys couldn’t bother covering their own sound, erupting into guffaw. The turmoil masked their noise.

More than half the giants left the room before the cube of distaste ended, a disaster of rainbowy impurity. The atmosphere calmed, the stench of waste and sewers eradicating any memory of that this was a dining hall smelling of soup a moment ago.

“What has happened here?” other soldiers said, spilling into the scene and voicing their revulsion.

The captain entered the room. With her prior knowledge of a culprit being about, she scanned the room quickly. “There’s a little trickster about. Or… tricksters, it looks like, three of them.” The boys’ glee ended when they noticed the captain’s eyes dead on them at the window. Everyone else followed her stare. The three boys felt the pressure building in their chest, a nervous fear. They were bare, left without hiding. The giants could now ascribe faces to this chaos, and it was theirs.

“Don’t let them get away.”

“Take them!” the captain yelled. “I want them here.” All three of the boys took to the roof their own way, Milton whipping a tether straight there and yanking himself up, Henry with a glowing body and eyes summoned the art of the fighter and jumped, and Rennard surfed up on the wall on a trail of flames. One of the soldiers popped her head out the window and looked up.

“We’ll be seeing you some other time,” Rennard said and stuck out his tongue. Orders could be heard shouted within, to go to the roof, to surround the outer wall and not let them leave.

Milton put a magical rope to the ledge and let the other end fly all the way towards the outer wall, explosive at the first few hundred feet of travel but with a significant slowdown afterwards, a difference so stark it was like its travel had gone from air to water. The several hundred feet of distance required some time. A trapdoor opened and a guard climbed up.

“Uh, Milton?” Rennard said. “While we’re alive?”

Milton punched forward to give the tether an extra push. “A little left.” The guard stampeded towards them.

“She’s gaining on us!”

“Go!” The three jumped on the rope and skated down the line, the guard’s foot slapping down right where they’d been a second ago. The stomp wasn’t hard, she only wanted to pin them.

They had raced more than halfway past the line, headed straight for Lily. Before the guard reached for the rope, they were off and on the outer wall. Lily came up to them with a worried look, glancing to the commotion.

“What happened?”

“We’ll tell you all about it,” Henry said, “and it was a good one. But let’s get out of here first.”

“Where should I go?” she said.

“Well, back sou—”

“They’re already here,” Milton exclaimed, and along the western and eastern walls the guards came jogging. Lily approached the wall, tall to her chest, and presented her open satchel. They all hopped inside.

“Uhm… they look angry.” Lily anxiously turned her head left and right. “What do I do? They’re coming.”

“Just get the hell out of here!” Rennard yelled, her indecisiveness giving him the fearful realisation that they might indeed get caught. As they closed in from the sides, Lily ran north. The three held on inside the satchel.

“Stand still!” the frontmost soldier of the pursuit said. “Girl, why do you aid these troublemakers? Release them now and you’ll be let go.”

“Don’t listen,” Rennard said from the satchel, genuinely concerned she might listen. Considering her silliness, it wasn’t out of this realm for her to listen to them, and Rennard urged her continuously to keep her sprint going. Their steps battered the grassy plains, shaking the earth, trail of giants running full speed. The soldiers were spreading left and right while some remained in the middle, covering sides and shepherding Lily forward.

“They’re gonna catch me!” she said, her breathing rapid, looking down to them. “Do something.”

Milton scanned the surroundings and pointed. “Lily, head through those two cliffs. Trust me.” The cliffs spoken of required a slight eastern tilt in her sprint. Milton directed each palm to a cliff, focusing, however difficult it proved from within the rattling pocket. He circulated with his hands and two circles, indistinguishable unless one actively searched the rock surface, formed on each cliff.

Lily passed them. Milton summoned a fat cord across the two linking points, taut as a strung bow. The three only wished they could it, an extension of the comedy that took place in the guardhouse. A succession of startled exclamations and curses erupted, alongside the great thumps of their knees and arms and faces hitting the soil.

“I’m tired,” Lily said in between the panting and hurried glimpses behind.

“I’ve got you,” Henry said, summoning his fighter’s energy, swerving around his body. He reached up and put his palm against her frock, on the belly, and the fighter’s energy flowed through. As if Henry were sprinting himself, he started growing tired, his breaths faster.

“I feel less tired,” Lily said, amazed, and with what little she knew she might believe god had sent her this fortitude. It was Lily’s giant legs, Henry’s stamina, and a good setback from Milton. The middle portion of their pursuers had been hampered, but the sides persisted. Rennard gave an excited holler, his red ponytail flailing.

But it died quickly at a certain sight at the horizon, the gargantuan trees which rose a few hundred feet.

“Are we in Gintessa?”

“I told you to go south,” Rennard said.

“I just had to run. I still just have to run.” The soldiers to the sides had fallen behind, though Lily’s burst of speed came from Henry’s energy and had plateaued now. Unsurprisingly, the soldiers’ endurance kept up.

“How long are these idiots going for a little joke?” Rennard said.

“For a giant to be embarrased by humans,” Milton said, “and by us three, not some prominent, exceptional, one-of-a-kind mages. It’s quite the dishonor.” They fell under shadow, the treetops now well above them. These were olhom trees, growing to as much as three hundred feet. Their leaves were all towards the top, a sea of brown pillars ahead of them. The underbrush was also large, fern plants the size of houses.

“It can be easier to lose them in here,” Rennard said. They still heard the guards’ steps, rustling through the herbage.

“But how do we make it back south?”

“Not getting caught is more important right now.” And so Lily continued jogging north, sustained by Henry. Five minutes, ten, fifteen, twenty-five, thirty-five, and forty passed. They saw signs of the giants’ civilisation, a large road here, a fence somewhere else, a cabin or outpost there.

“I think we’ve lost them,” Lily said, a noticeable but small fatigue as she stopped in a massive clearing. “I haven’t seen them for some time now. I’m sorry.” She upended her satchel and had them tumble down and land on the soil between her feet.

“What was that?” Rennard’s question was answered with a rucksack falling on his head.

“What do you mean you’re sorry?” Milton said.

“I can’t do this, it’s too shameful if I get caught. You don’t know who my family are, but this is…” She turned around head about some more, searching. “I didn’t think it would go this far, they’re seriously angry.”

“But you’re already part of this.”

“If I stop here, maybe they’ll be nicer. They said so. It’s gone too far, I’m leaving before it gets worse. I’m sorry.” She turned to leave.

“Hey hey, hold on!” Rennard waved his arms and cut her off to try and get her attention. All he accomplished was putting himself before her path and under her footstep, his body smushed by a dirty and beaten sole. Lily shook him off before proceeding, and she was away.

The three remained out in the clearing. Henry was on his back and regaining his breath, Rennard got up and and cursed her, and Milton stood quietly, digesting the situation. They may had been at Trester less than an hour ago, in the comfort of Humius and their well-known lands, but they were nowhere close now. The time didn’t paint an accurate picture. Without a giant carrying them, they were days away, and the road back had soldiers searching for them.

“Are you proud of yourself?” Milton told Rennard. “From the planning at home, to convincing Lily to help us, to the extent which your jokes went, will you admit fault for once?”

Rennard rubbed his mouth, wearing a stubborn anger. “That’s strange, I thought you were finding it just as funny back there. Definitely looked like it, or you’ve got a good fake laugh. And you agreed that having a giant with us would be better, don’t change your words because it’s easy to rail on me now and look smart.”

Henry got up and wiped his forehead, his breaths more controlled. “We need to move, now. We can’t be out in this clearing, they’ll find us too easily.” Henry picked one of the rucksacks and put it on. “Let’s go.”

“What do we do?” Milton said.

“Right now we should just lay low and wait. Then we try and move south eventually, but we have to go east or west to dodge Trester.” Each of them taking a rucksack, they moved opposite of where Lily had entered the clearing.

“It should be west,” Milton said. “That’s where you find nobles, more towns, and more civilization. East is a wasteland, full of outlaws and clans and whatnot. If you think the highwaymen were bad, try getting surrounded by several giant criminals.”

“Civilization won’t be as welcome as you think either,” Henry said. “What if we’re wanted? They’ll spread the word into the cities, and I’m not interested in experiencing what it’s like to share streets with crowds of giants.”

“Pfft, we’re not wanted,” Rennard said. “It was just a joke. Sure, they got mad, but it’s because of their pride. They wanted to take us in that guardhouse and slap us around a bit then let us go. Imagine if they try to put up posters and descriptions across all of Gintessa regions because we unleashed some farty smells in their rooms. Their superiors would laugh at them.”

Milton raised an eyebrow. “It always sounds so simple and convenient coming from you, and then it’s a heap of trouble.”

“Anyhow,” Henry said, “the plan is that we lay low and head west.” They came under the olhom trees, the diameters of their trunks around thirty feet. The underbrush, bracken and fern and bushes, were like small trees to their size. One of the olhom trees stood with a slight tilt, its western side lifted off the ground and leading into a pocket underneath.

“Should we hide in here?” Milton said. “It might be better to wait things. We won’t outpace them on our legs.” The three agreed. They passed the thick roots and fumbled through the darkness. Rennard turned his forearm into flames, lighting the surroundings. The area was covered in moss and patches of bracken, and they found a spot where they made themselves comfortable.

They waited an hour before they heard the familiar rustling of a giant moving through the underbrush. The three crept near the edge of their hole, remaining in the darkness, and saw the midsection of two giants. Their black shirts and skirts revealed they were from the guardhouse.

“The girl said she dropped them off at an opening. Must have been this one over here.”

“They got Lily?” Milton whispered.

“They can’t have gotten far on their little legs,” one of the soldiers said.

“Aren’t they quick with magic?”

“They can move in quick bursts and be difficult to pin down, but it doesn’t sustain them for long travels.”

“If I were them, the opening under that tree seems like an obvious hiding spot. Check it while I go this way.”

The three exchanged alarmed looks. They scurried to the opposite end of the pit. Through the opening they could see the soldier’s feet kicking towards them and razing the greenery, the iron anklet around the left foot. She fell down on her palms, peeping through the gap, and the three hoped they were in enough darkness.

“Are you hiding in here, you little rats?” she muttered. She stuck a hand inside and brushed through the bracken. “Oh, what’s this?” The three checked with one another. None of them were caught. But when she withdrew her hand she held one of their rucksacks, and a colourful trinket fell out of it. “The magical baubles they used. It’s theirs. Either they rested here and moved on, or they…” Her head fell back down explosively, eyes wide. The arm swept frantically through the darkness, though couldn’t reach the other end. Pulling it back out, this time she stuck in her leg, long enough. Her foot and leg were nowhere near as dextrous as her arm and hand, resulting in a lot of fumbling until her toes skimmed past Milton’s shirt. Milton tore handfuls of moss and put it on his chest when her foot inevitably returned to explore the oddity. She placed the ball of her foot on his chest and rubbed it over him, her toes curiously tugging and feeling the shape of his head.

“Found you.” The toes clamped around him and he tried to squirm his way out. Rennard zapped her foot with a jab of flames, and she winced back with a shriek, toes released. “You little shits.” She tried to stomp them sideways but was in too awkward of a position to put weight into it, resulting in mediocre swats which shuffled them around. She tried to scoop them out, but Rennard scorched her foot with another blast and followed up by summoning a flame circle around her calves, strangulating it with a fiery touch. She screamed and pulled her leg out, rubbing the hurt areas. “Everyone, come here! I’ve found the rats. I need help flushing them out.”

“What do we do?” Milton said.

“Our best chance is—” Henry’s step knocked on something hollow. “Rennard, give me some light here.” With a fireball over his hand, Rennard lit up the area somewhat. They removed a bit of moss and found a trapdoor.

“Now I can see you,” the giant said, bent down with eyes on them.

“Listen,” Rennard said, “I don’t know how far this goes or where it leads, but we’re going through it.”

Henry put a hand on Rennard’s shoulder, his voice low. “Wait, put out your fire so they don’t see us climbing through something.” Rennard threw the fireball out to strike the giant in the shoulder, and she put a hand over it and clenched her teeth.

“I’m gonna thoroughly flay the little fire guy,” she roared. “He’s mine!”

Henry raised his palms, flowing with golden energy, and slapped the trapdoor into splinters. Judging by the sound, the splinters fell quite a distance. There were rungs on one side, and one after the other they climbed into the darkness. The sounds of the giants’ planning around the three boys who weren’t there grew weaker.

“I’m on ground,” Rennard called, bringing the circular flame over his palm. With its gloomy lighting, they walked single-file through the tunnel that was just slightly taller and wider than a person.

“How long do we go?” Milton said. “What if this tunnel is longer than we can last? At what point do we make the decision to return?”

Henry shrugged. “We’ll have to see. It’s too early for that conversation. I’m sure that in an hour or so, they’ll have at least dug their way through or found some way to confirm we’re not under the tree anymore. So going back is possible, eventually. Let’s try our patience here.”

They walked for a few hours and finished the food in Henry’s rucksack, only left with the crackers and oatcakes in Milton’s packings. They finished the water flask, the lack of provisions a problem in need of an answer.

Milton sighed. “What are we doing here? I just wish I were home.” After a few more hours, when they began commenting about a return and hypothesized about what the situation by the tree looked like, they found another set of rungs. They climbed up and opened another trapdoor into a sea of hay.

“Are we in a farm?” Rennard said. All three got out, closed the trapdoor, and shuffled their way out of the haystack. They found themselves inside a giant-sized barn. Looking past the open doors, they saw a great field of waist-high grass and a number of greatox, bovine animals that were larger than human houses.

“Excuse me?” The young woman’s voice came from within the barn. All three looking in, they saw a giant wearing a simple olive gown all the way to the ankles, her yellow-brown hair tied into short pigtails. The young woman was simply massive. She was taller than Lily and the guards they’d seen, boasting a large bosom. She'd be over six foot tall for human proportions, not fat by any means, just sizable. She wasn’t ugly, but not gorgeous either, pretty green eyes and small mouth with two front teeth jutting out.

Milton looked to his friends. “Uhm…”

“You don’t look like one of the workers,” she said, her head sideways in question. Milton noticed the dark mark of a lightning-like ramification on the skin of her neck. She was an offgiant.

The two steps she took towards them made slight tremors in the ground, her feet slightly larger than Lily’s.

“Yeah, we’re not one of the workers,” Milton said, the best response any of the three could bring. All three backed one step as she came even closer.

“Oh, hold on now,” she said, an index finger to her cheek in thought. “A few guards from Humius came here and talked about three young boys they were searching for. This can’t be coincidence.” She read the unease that spread on them. “Don’t worry, I can help you.”

“Really?” Rennard said, his scepticism measured.

“I can help you stay hidden for the time being, and then you can leave after a few days. You’d want that, right?”

“Well, yeah,” Henry said, sharing an impressed look with his friends. “Absolutely.”

“Hmm, ok. Wait here. Don’t leave this barn, and don’t stand near the open doors, so no one sees you. No one else on this farm can know, they’d probably turn you over.”

“Thank you.” Milton bowed. “I don’t know what else to say, this is a lot of kindness, which is welcome.”

A humble smile touched her lips, half-bowing. “No problem. I’ll come right back.” She stepped past them, her gown brushing their heads. For a moment Milton could see her muscular legs like pillars above them, her mighty steps leaving the barn.

Milton laughed. “Well, would you look at that.”

“I’m holding my breath,” Rennard said. “We should be ready to dive back into the hay and into the trapdoor. This sounds too good to be true.”

The girl returned with a plate of water and small slices of fruit. Her name was Ada, nineteen years old, and she told them she’d been working in the farm for two years. It could be observed by the lightning-like markings on her neck. One of the ten ramifications would disappear after each year, Ada having eight of them.

“That trapdoor in the hay is apparently a forgotten tunnel from long ago,” Ada said. “It was used to smuggle humans.” While the three ate, she sat cross-legged nearby.

“How long have you been a giant?” Henry asked.

“Two years.”

“Hmm, are you from Humius?”

“I’m not a human, so no, I’m not from Humius.” There was a notable sassiness in her correction.

“Don’t the real giants call you human or offgiant anyways?” Henry said.

Ada raised an eyebrow. “I’m a real giant.”

“Yeah, but—”

Milton didn’t let Rennard finish. “What made you want to become a giant?”

“Really? You wonder? I pity you boys to not have the choice. Why would I not choose to become a superior being?”

“You lose your magic,” Rennard said.

Ada shook her head. “Typical misinformation. Giants have magic too. They say that to deter young girls from doing it. The giants don't mind this, it wouldn't be too healthy if Humius lost all their women."

“Alright,” Rennard said, “but you must admit, they still view you as a human. And every girl doesn't want to turn into a giant.”

“I know what you mean, second-class citizen and such, but now I’m only getting figuratively stepped on instead of literally. And I can gain citizenship here eventually.”

Henry yawned, the evening growing darker.

Ada uncrossed her legs and stood up. “You boys must be tired, so I’ll leave you.” She closed one of the large barn doors and left the other ajar. The three each found themselves a spot on the large haystack and lay down.

Henry took a deep breath. “Can you imagine that it was today we woke on that lake south of Trester?” No matter how hectic the day had been, at least now they had their rest.

Milton chuckled. “That’s crazy. When do you think the guards stop looking?”

“No idea, but it can’t last more than a few days, right?” There was a moment of silence, everyone wondering if the rest were falling asleep, until Henry spoke up again. “I still can’t believe Lily unpacked us like that.”

“She said something about her family,” Milton said. “About shame of what she was doing. We found her desolate and running into us from south. She must have been mistreated.”

“Feels to me like she wanted to get payback,” Rennard said, “but couldn’t handle the stress once it got heated.”

“I won’t admit to being some tenacious warrior myself,” Milton said. “I couldn’t handle the stress either, I thought we were done multiple times. I don’t know what they did to her, but I can imagine they gave her a simple slap on the wrist and sent her off after she told them where we were. We don't have that option, she did.”

It got quiet again, this time longer than the rest. It felt as if they really had closed their eyes and gone to sleep, until Rennard said, “And guys, enjoy this moment we have and relax, but I’m telling you, keep an ear and eye alert. This girl Ada and her kindness, sheltering us for nothing in return, it's just too good to be true.” And with that, they said no more and went to sleep.

Milton woke in the night with a full bladder. He pissed nearby without paying much attention, and when he finished he realised with a flush of shame that Henry's spot was nearby.

But Henry wasn’t there. Milton waited to see if he returned from wherever, then searched around the haystack in the gloomy night, finding only Rennard in his sleep. He stepped towards the middle of the barn, one of the doors slightly more open than where Ada had left it. He noticed a dim light in the corner of the barn, stepping that way. Its source was hidden behind a corner wall. Milton heard an odd sound, like a fish flopping on dock. Passing the wall, a large lantern placed on a barrel showed itself as the source of light, and continuing further, he found Ada sitting on a barrel, her gown pulled up to her waist with her pussy exposed.

She was using Henry to masturbate.

Milton stood frozen. He wondered if this were a dream, if he were hallucinating, if someone had cooked up the wildest nightmare and cast it on him through a spell. He wanted to wake up back home in the village. Had she simply snuck in, picked him up from the haystack, and started using him? Henry was naked, his clothes in a lump by her foot.

The sound didn’t stop, the wet flop of Henry passing through her womanhood, in and out, in and out, a furious pounding, as if she were angry at him and this was her way of fighting. She had him by his ankles, in and out, in and out, in and out, in and out, several sequences per second. Milton couldn’t even earn a glimpse of Henry’s face. The muscles in her arm were strained, her neck tense, her jaw clenched, panting for breath. Henry surely couldn’t use his magic, he couldn’t move. He was a ragdoll, a tool. Milton had never witnessed such raw powerlessness, such dominance, and it came from a nobody, a farmgirl. She was obliterating every shred of Henry’s worth. She huffed and puffed through her closed jaw, letting a moan slip out. Rennard was right, it was too good to be true.

“You like that?” she whispered through clenched teeth, talking to an unresponsive Henry. “Just a human, huh? If I’m just a human, how do you explain... this?” She huffed. “I can do whatever I want with you… Ah, god.” She closed her eyes in an almost pained expression, biting her other wrist to choke the sound of her moans. One sharp beam of squirt shot out and drizzled on the wooden wall, a series of smaller squirts following. Ada near collapsed backwards, the wooden beam preventing her from falling off the barrel. She left his lower body hanging so his arms were pinned, leaning back and sighing. Liquid was dripping off Henry’s limp legs.

Milton didn’t know what would happen if he stepped into the light, he couldn’t defeat her alone. But when the other option was was to turn around and leave his friend there, Milton stepped up. “Why are you doing this?”

Her green eyes snapped at him. The second of alarm relented when she noticed it was him. Ada brushed hair off her sweaty face. “Because I want to. Is that so bad? Two years, two long years since I became a giant, and they caught me trying to get into Humius. Baronness Crawford put me to work on this farm, and I haven’t had a proper chance to actually live with this size. I’ve been stuck here all the time. And now, of course, you’re going to ask me if it was worth becoming a giant, an offgiant and second-class citizen? How can anyone bear being a human? Look.” She thrust her hip forward, Henry’s legs dangling from her pussy. “Look! This is pathetic. How a world can be so cruel and allow this power dynamic. It’s fascinating, in a way. I can do this to you, and nature just lets me. This feels so much better than I ever thought.”

Milton couldn’t find the words.

“Don’t worry, the deal still stands. A few of the guards looking for you were given shelter in a few rooms in the farm, needed rest during the search. They’re still looking. Their costs are compensated by the kingsdom, so they’ll be given as much time here as they want. I’ll still help you lie low for some days, feed you. That hasn’t changed. I’m just gonna enjoy myself during the time, hmm?” She pushed Henry in until he was fully inserted, then beckoned Milton over.

“What do you want?” Milton said, hostile.

“I need to wipe, got a few drops on my legs.”

“Then get something to wipe it off.”

“Are you dense? Get over here. Don’t worry, it’s not much. Or should I get the guards on you?”

Milton complied. He could stomach this, he didn’t have the stubborn pride of Rennard. But he stopped partway. The problem didn’t end here. “Look,” he started, “we need to lie low, yes, and you’ll help us. But there’s a line to how far you can take those freedoms.”

“I know. I’ll be working most of the day. During a few breaks, I’ll peep in, bring food and water. During the time, I get to play with one of you a little. That’s it.”

“Fine.” Milton gave himself over. She picked him up. Holding him by the back of his shirt, she wiped his front side against her thighs. They were firm, yet soft and yielding, his shirt and hair soaking the scatters of squirt.

When the wiping ceased for a moment, still in her hold, Milton said, “What about Henry?”

“I’ll keep him over tomorrow as my passenger. He’ll make the day more enjoyable, no doubt.” She let the gown fall over her legs and put Milton on the ground. But before he could regain himself, her foot came on his back. He expected to be stepped on, but the weight was minimal, just a signal for him to stay. Then it gingerly stroked down the length of his body, returned back up, and stroked back down. She was petting him like a kitten. The toes gave him a couple of playful pinches before she headed off. Milton heard her giggle along the slight groan of the barn door.

The plan was simple in its nature; stomach this treatment and be out after the week. Back at the haystack, he heard Rennard moving a little in his sleep, a second difficulty to the plan. Henry, coolheaded as he was, could no doubt last through this. Milton, knowing they had to persevere through a few days, could also find it in him to take it. But Rennard was a different matter.

The question the next morning was inevitable.

“Where’s Henry?” Rennard asked. Milton didn’t have a good explanation yet, and Rennard kicked through the hay and peeked around corners, finding only Henry’s clothes. “What’s this? Where is that bald boy? Milton, seriously, where is he?”

“Listen… Rennard, we need to be calm about this. Ada has him.”

Henry had no energy in him after the way Ada pounded him the night before. She had picked him up in his sleep, his body wrapped in both her hands so he could neither make noise nor move his arms to fight back with magic. Those fingers peeled his clothes off, and before he could make sense of things, she plunged him inside and put him through a whirlwind of insertions and extractions.

Sticky from her cum, Henry woke up the morning to her holding his ankles and gently whirling him within her like one stirs a stew. It was a stark contrast to yesterday’s fury.

“Oh, are you awake?” Ada’s hold on him didn’t stop, moving him lazily. “I just woke up myself. Felt like starting off the day with some fun.”

“Where’s Rennard and Milton?” he yelled, and continued to shout questions and demands, though it only came through as loud muffles emanating from her pussy.

Ada quivered a little, flexing her toes. “Oooooh, the vibrations from your shouts. I can’t make sense of your words, boy. But don’t worry, I haven’t betrayed or broken any promise. Your friends are in the barn, hidden and quiet. You’ll join them later. I just took you for fun.” Her fingers left him in there, petting her stomach. “Something tells me this workday will be much more fun than the others. Now, if you shout your loudest like you just did when I’m near others, they might hear you.” She slapped her stomach. “So be quiet, hmm? And don’t think this gives you leverage over me. I’m not the one trying to lie low. Shout and make yourself known, they’ll suspect me of shoving a human worker in there. But I’ll just clear myself by pulling you out in your wet embarrassment and turn you into the guards. They’re still lurking about.”

With Henry pinned inside, Ada went about her workday, moving hay and cargo off new shipments and refilling the troughs with fresh water. Henry tried to wriggle his way out backwards, assisted by gravity and the shake of her movement. To earn a nip of fresh air was all he wanted, but whenever his legs stuck out her fingers would find him and plug him back inside.

When she had her reprieve, she extracted him carefully, keeping her hands closed around his torso to pin the arms. She was hunched down in a corner, a slick, naked, and defeated Henry staring back at her.

“What are you trying to accomplish?” Ada said. “Didn’t I lay out the situation?”

“I just want some fresh air,” he said, grimacing. “Come on, give me some rest here.”

“Hmm.” She rubbed her lips with an index finger. “Sure. I’ll stick you in legs first and keep your head out. However, whenever I give you a tap on the head, I want you to lick. If you don’t, it’s headfirst again.”

“I’ll take that trade. And please, I’m thirsty and hungry.”

“I’ll get you some food and water soon, for your friends too.” She put him in with the head sticking out and let the gown fall over. He had a view down over her pillars for legs and the feet at the bottom, pedalling back and forward through grass, unpaved roads, and hardwood floors. He could see through her gown a little, discerning buildings and other people. Her routes grew rather routine, Henry started recognising the places. There were constant voices, around giants and sometimes humans.

Her thighs brushed against his head every now and then. This position gave him a new perspective over her size. Aside from her her feminine physique, there was something scary in how relatable her movement and these pedalling legs were, how casually she moved this ground-shaking size the way Henry would walk. One of her thighs likely contained more muscle than Henry’s entire body times ten. The humans were like squirrels to her, when just a few years ago she had been like them. That’s what astounded Henry the most, how she had gone from his peer to having the ground shake under her feet. In a way, he envied it, he envied all the women who had this chance, no matter what oppressive situation it put her in to be an offgiant in Gintessa. How could he point his finger at her and laugh at the stupid decision she’d made, when he pathetically lay here inside her pussy?

Inevitably, she gave him a tap, the signal. This was for the sake of them laying low, let the guards give up on the chase, and have a safer way home. With that in mind, Henry stroked her lips with his tongue, and she quivered. After licking her some time, she twisted him as if he were a key in a keyhole, leaving his face upward and against her clit. She gave him another tap. That position didn’t go on for long, as Ada’s legs would fail her, pressing her lips and leaning against a wall in complete focus to contain the moans. The pleasure made her look feverish to anyone watching her, so she instructed him away from her clit for now. Henry found it quite fascinating, for a moment, as if he were in control in a peculiar way. He noticed her occasional squirms, her toes curling from pleasure, thighs pressing together; he felt like a puppeteer pulling the strings that were the nerves in her genitals.

Her pussy began to feel like the mouth of some living animal, sucking and savoring the taste of him, some contractions like the act of chewing, and the wetness had too eerie of a similarity to drool to complete the comparison.

“Be careful when you venture out there,” Ada said to other workers. “Always travel with a giant. There are still reports of humans going missing towards the mountains. Yesterday two of our own workers disappeared.” Henry noted she was extra careful when moving around the human workers, so none of them would score a glance under her gown. She couldn’t let them spot the secret between her legs.

Ada fed Henry around noon. Finding some privacy, she lifted her gown to see his head poke out of her pussy, and she smiled. “Hello, lonely head. Drink.” She carefully poured the water down her stomach, letting it roll smoothly down over her womanhood in rivulets. He drank and slurped the water off her. “Oh lord almighty,” she said, chewing her lips. “Every day would be much more exciting like this.” She fed him buttered bread and fruit afterwards. Another tap, and Henry returned to worshipping her.

As he licked and licked, Henry found he enjoyed it. Her lips were soft, holding him snugly. Ada wasn’t ugly, his boyhood certainly agreed. He realised he had to allow himself to enjoy this, to remove the guilt. He was just following the deal, after all. If this hadn't happened as a result of her dishonesty and he wasn't plagued by the concern of when they'd see home again, he’d do this willingly.

“Would you look at that.” Ada had tugged the gown at its collar and midsection to peer down at him, her face between her enormous breasts. Henry didn’t know how long she’d watched him. “I asked you to lick, but you’re kissing and worshipping and nestling against it like it’s your lover.”

Henry’s cheeks went red.

“Not that I’m against it. Keep going.” She let the gown snap back in place, and in his privacy Henry returned to his work. But he found Ada peeking at him again, biting her lip.

“Is it so bad if you stayed here?” she said. “You’ll get food and water all the time and have to do nothing but something you enjoy.”

“Must I really argue why I wouldn’t want to spend my life inside someone’s pussy?”

“It’ll let you out plenty of times, of course. And I’m not staying here forever, you won’t be stuck in a farm. It’s just, you make it more enjoyable, much more interesting. I need you to get through it. One day, I’m going to have money, make it out of here, and I’ll pay you.”

“I don’t know if you’re serious. The answer is no if you are.”

“Think about it.”

The thought passed Henry’s mind, that she might not betray them by handing them over to the guards, but she could in other ways. The three boys weren’t like the workers here around the farm or any other human in Gintessa. Although minimal, the humans who lived in Gintessa still had some protections to coexist alongside giants. Henry, Rennard, and Milton, as people slipping in from Humius without any official errand, had none. If being human around giants didn’t imply it enough, the three of them in particular were easy targets of abuse and blackmail.

Ada certainly enjoyed this. Why wouldn’t she work to keep it that way? That she would simply send them on their way after a few days, seemed, once again, too good to be true. This request of hers furthered that suspicion. They couldn’t trust her on this.

“Do you think it isn’t being noticed, you big whore?” The voice was from another giant, her great shape in front of Ada. “The complaints come, always stepping on the humans ‘by accident’, poor work, dozing away, missing for several minutes, lazy, making excuses. You think I don’t find out?” Henry felt a powerful strike vibrate through Ada’s flesh as she yelped in pain. The giant, an overseer of some kind, whipped Ada on the leg with a stick. “Don’t try and act smart around here, whore. Do you think you’re better than this?”

“I’m sorry, madam,” Ada said, almost succeeding to bring an unfaltering voice. Another strike of the wooden cane brought her to a knee, and then a few more strikes put her on her ass. Her thighs closed around Henry’s head.

“You should be good labor with that size, but you need to be dumber as well,” the overseer said, adding two more strikes to Ada’s calves. “If you don’t start acting like it, I’ll beat your head so you’re dumb enough for our liking.” She left.

Ada continued work until she had her reprieve. Then she ran off to her room and sat on the mattress, her soft flesh closing all around Henry, and he heard her sob. Henry made noise. Ada flinched in surprise. She’d forgotten he was there.

The gown was pulled up and Henry stared up at her usual smile, though he could see how big of an attempt it was for her to maintain. The skin around her eyes and cheek had a noticeable sheen from the dried tears.

“What was that?” Henry said.

“Just the madam as usual, gets a bit annoying sometimes.”

“Hmm, is that so? And that’s normal?”

She nodded. There was a silence. “Uhm, so, I forgot about you. Didn’t mean to come here, should have taken you to the barn. I’ll do that soon.” Her index came down and pressed him enough so her lips swallowed even his head. She didn’t want him to see her.

Soon after, she went to the barn with food and water. Rennard gave her an evil glare, though he didn’t attack. Milton had calmed him to some extent. She placed the plate of food and water before them, Milton moving to eat while Rennard remained.

"Is the food not to your liking, Redhead?” Ada said. “I’m afraid you have no luxury of choosing here.”

Rennard pointed at the ground. “Leave him here.”

“I agree with you, my pussy needs a break, otherwise it won’t feel as exciting. I need to build a craving.” She deliberately pulled Henry out little-by-little, letting the wet noise of his extraction fill the room. She placed his limp and naked body on the ground. Milton showed him where they’d put his clothes.

“Wanna lay everything straight?” Rennard said. “Or do you have more lies?”

“There are no lies. You’ll lie low, I’ll feed and shelter you, then I’ll send you on your way. I just decided I should gain something in return, it’s like your payment. You don’t think that’s fair? I’m a simple farmgirl, I don’t enjoy much luxury.”

“So long as you keep your end,” Milton said, chewing on an apple. “This is fine.” He spoke aggressively to overrule Rennard.

“Then I’ll be back later,” she said, “with more refreshments. One of you will be my next passenger.” She left the barn.

As Henry put his clothes on, Rennard grimaced at the smell coming from him. “There is no world where I allow myself that. I can’t do it. We shouldn’t do this. I know you’re gonna say ‘what choice do we have?’, but I say we find one. There has to be some world where we get away without having to be her fucktoys.”

“I don’t see one, unfortunately,” Milton said. “We have to endure this. It can’t be any fun being humiliated like that, but we have to stomach it. We want nothing but to be back home, don’t we? As long as we think about the greater goal, it shouldn’t be that bad.”

Henry stretched his loose limbs. “As always, you’re both right and wrong.”

They looked at him in question.

“We leave tonight.”

“Here’s how it is,” Henry said. “You’re right in that it’s not that bad to endure this, if we know the time is limited and we get something we need from it. But Rennard is also right in his concerns. I thought of it during the day. We can’t really trust her. She claims it’s a few days of lying low, but when does ‘a few’ turn into several, several into many, days into weeks? We’ve got no information in here, she can say whatever about the guards still being around and we’d have no idea of knowing. She’s going to find a way to keep us around, at best, take one of us for her horny adventures. The more time we give her to think something out, the worse. We need to leave on our terms, while we still have options.” Rennard agreed, and Milton, although hesitant, had no choice but to follow along.

“But one of us will be with her during the night,” Milton said. “Should we not run right now?”

“No, in the night,” Henry said. “Our best hope is sneaking in, join up with the third one she has while she sleeps, and sneak out of here. Thing is…” Henry raised an eyebrow at Rennard. “You have to take the sacrifice.”

Rennard’s response was expected. “Why the fuck is that? I’m not gonna be used by this lowlife farmgirl.”

“Someone has to,” Henry said. “I’d take the bullet, but I know the way around here better than you two, I’ve just spent the day looking out from between her legs. I’ve got a decent idea of what it looks like, where her room is. So it’s between you and Milton, and Milton’s tethers will be important in moving around quietly.”

Rennard crossed his arms and looked into a corner somewhere, sullen. “Fine.” Milton and Henry exhanged a quizzical look.

“Huh? Really?”

“Yeah, really.” He neared Henry and sniffed the air. “That’s fucking nasty.”

“It’s not so bad.”

“Piss off.”

When Ada returned, Rennard spoke up before she did. “Take me, then.”

She smirked. “Oh, someone’s eager. I expected more of that. You boys should be eager. I’m not so ugly, am I?”

“Get it over with. But don’t take my clothes off, you whore.”

She bent down and picked him up. “Nope. I don’t want a rough roll of cloth scratching my pussy.” Ignoring his protests, she took his clothes off, raised her gown, and held him ready before her pussy.

“Smells goddamn awful, do you—” She speared him inside. They heard a shout from Rennard, the unclear noise of damning Ada’s mother and her mother before her. Ada left with a happy spring to her steps.

“She must be having the time of her life,” Henry said. “If I’ll borrow Rennard’s language, the sorry insecure tramp must have been picked on throughout her human life. Then she became a giant, thought it would end, but didn’t realise offgiants don’t have it the best either. And now she finally has the chance to bully someone.” Henry used hay, as poor was it was, to wipe some of the cum off him. Then he used a bit of the drinking water on the plate left to wash himself. Milton did the same.

“Wish we could fit some revenge in our plan,” Milton said, “but it’s best to just get Rennard and leave. I planted a tether root on his leg so we can pull him out of… you know.”

“Her pussy.” Henry had no reservations. “Milton, I’ve been through enough to lose my modesty. You’ve seen enough too.”

“I know. I just thought maybe we could pretend nothing’s happened, that we make it back without admitting how fucked everything’s become.”

They got as much sleep as they could unto nightfall. Henry woke Milton at midnight, jumping and jogging to get the lethargy off them. They drank some lukewarm water, pissed, and ate the last of their food.

“Can I tell you something?” Milton said, nothing but one another’s silhouette to look at.

“What is it?”

“Rennard doesn’t take responsibility. If a stranger told me that, I’d say, yeah of course he doesn’t. But this surprises even me. The entire ‘prank’ of his on those guards, getting Lily to help us and run us off into goddamn Gintessa. When you were with Ada, I tried to get some guilt out of him, make him feel a bit of responsibility, but there was none. He should be thankful we don’t bring it up and hold it against him, but he talks about it like we’re equally responsible, a third for each, just because we found his tricks funny and laughed along him.”

“Hmm.” Henry moved towards the barn door, Milton following. When Milton thought that was all he had to respond with, Henry said, “I think he takes blame and feels guilty, he just doesn’t show it. I was surprised when he offered himself up to be the one taken by her for this night. Rennard would never do that. Then I thought, maybe, he tries to make it up for us because he feels guilty over everything.”

“You might have a point, but I won’t credit him too hard. You already spent your time with Ada, you know the place, and we need my tethers if we’re sneaking around. He had to be the choice, it wasn’t some noble sacrifice.”

“Actually, your tethers won’t be that necessary. There’s a door for humans, which they don’t bother locking cause there’s no fear for what an unwanted human breaking in might do. And we won’t be ascending.”

“Still need my tether to fish him out of there,” Milton said.

“I guess, but it would have been arguable. The same old Rennard would have argued for that one. Alright, hushed voices.” Henry slipped out in front of him. They didn’t need much discretion in the far-off barn. The shape of the wooden fence was tall and black against the starlit skies, and Henry led the way along it, the grass just above their waistline. The dark and massive lumps of the sleeping greatox were visible across the field. They crossed under the fence and continued into other fields, passing stalls and repositories. Henry looked at them in the darkness to try and make out if those were the dorms, and finally they arrived at the lodgings.

Still with Henry leading the way, they had no trouble finding the double doors with the overhead lantern. There was a smaller swing door within it for humans. Henry put a gentle palm against it and pushed, barely creaking. They both slipped inside to a hallway gloomily lit by a row of lanterns. The doors were many and not far apart, meaning the rooms couldn’t be wide for giant standards.

“They only sleep in these rooms, they eat together in another,” Henry said. “The room is going to be small, and it’s a mattress on the ground she sleeps on, so we’ve got to be careful where we walk.” These giant doors also had smaller ones for humans, should they need to reach the giants. It was the fourth room to the right Henry led Milton to. Cautiously he pushed the flap door open, and it was pure darkness inside.

“Not even a window,” Milton whispered.

“It’s definitely no luxury for them. Careful now.” There was only a slit of light coming through bottom of the door, and the hallway outside was poorly lit while the room, although small for giants, remained massive for the boys. Even their eyes accustomed to darkness wouldn’t be enough. They had their arms in front of them, ready to touch something.

“Here, something,” Milton said, his hand finding a low wall of flesh. A soft stroke along its rough surface revealed wrinkles there, exploring until he felt the hard toenails and confirmed it was her foot lying sideways. “She’s lying on her back. This way, between her legs.” They rounded her heel and had to duck under the hem of her gown, proceeding past her legs while crouched. It was then Milton realised how many factors were out of their control, how precarious this was. She could shift in her sleep, one of her legs sweeping over them and closing over one another. She could wake. What she would then do, he didn’t know, and it scared him. If they even had an opportunity to fight back, the commotion would wake others, so that wasn’t an option. They’d have to go back to obeying her, and judging by how they were positioning themselves now, Milton knew what she’d do. He didn’t want to imagine the humiliating ways in which she could abuse all three of them at the same time.

The scent made it clear they were nearing the middle of her legs. In a hushed voice, Milton said, “Hey, Rennard, are you here?”

The muffles in front of them was the answer.

“Alright, calm down, don’t wake her.” Milton reached his hand forward, contacting the tether root he’d placed on Rennard. He drew his arm back like one draws a bow, and a tether shot out from her pussy straight into Milton’s hand. He and Henry grabbed on, leaned back to put their weight into it and started heaving. “God, she has him tight.”

“I know well enough,” Henry said. The squelching of him moving through her became clearer. He exitted, and they grabbed his lower half and pulled him free.

Rennard spat. “Fucking goddamned whore."

"Quiet," Milton said, letting his tether vanish.

Rennard wiped himself using her gown. “Any way we kill her here and now?”

“No, we leave.”

“Leave? Let her get away with this?”

“We’re the ones getting away with things,” Milton whispered. “With what we did to those guards. Come. Henry, where are you?”

“Huh? Right here.” Henry joined them, hoping they didn’t notice him sneak a quick taste of Ada’s pussy. He couldn’t lie to himself anymore, he had enjoyed it, and he would miss it.

The scratching of fabric had them dead still, though it proved to only be an itch at her stomach she took care of without waking. They succeeded, rushing out between her legs, through the door, and hopefully, towards freedom.

The three boys spent about two hours moving under the massive olhom trees blanketing the sky. When they arrived at a stream amidst a clearing coming out of the mountains, they decided to rest. The stream didn’t foam and crash, but rolled gently over the rocks in smooth lumps. They were tired and hadn’t slept much at all. Milton weaved his magical ropes together to make layers of them, functioning both as soft mattresses and as covering, and it worked adequately for the night.

They woke in the early morning to someone’s voice. “What are you boys doing out here?” Their alarm disappeared at the sight of a harmless middle-aged man with his donkey. The donkey had baskets tied to its sides with freshly picked herbs leaning out of it. “You don’t look like folks from the farm.”

“We’re not,” Henry said, rubbing his neck and yawning. Milton groaned and stretched his back as Rennard got up and rubbed his eyes.

“Do you know the way to Humius?” Milton said. “I assume it’s south, but we’ve been waylaid.”

“Well, sure, it is south, but on your own legs it’s neither close nor easy.” He pulled out a metal plate from his pocket, the size of his palm and with a particular insignia in the middle. “This one is Baronness Crawford’s sigil, shows I’m a worker on her land. Helps protect me. If you’ve just wandered in here from Humius without anything like it, then it’ll be hard.”

“We know,” Rennard said. “But do you know any good routes other than ‘straight south’?”

“Apologies, son. I don’t know much about the lay of the land.”

“Aren’t you from here?” Milton said.

“I am, but what does ‘here’ mean? If it’s Crawford’s lands and establishments, then I know a decent share. But I don’t know much about Gintessa. It may be a beautiful land, but it’s too large and dangerous for us to explore on our own.”

“There’s no freedom for humans here,” Rennard said. He moved towards the stream. “Is this water clean?”

“Absolutely.”

Rennard cupped his hands and started drinking.

“Strange things going on as of late, humans disappearing in these areas, there were giant guards from Humius who spent the night in our farm then left.”

“Come again?” Henry said. “Giant guards came and left?”

“Yeah, came in search of something, I heard, but they left yesterday morning. Only spent the night.”

Rennard gave his friends an angry look. “Looks like the bitch was lying to us.”

The man raised a curious eyebrow, though decided not to question what they knew. “How did you end up all the way here from Humius? I passed little Adam a while ago, he’s running back to the farm with his gossip, wild talk of three youngsters sleeping out here. I figured you’d be slaves who were on the run.”

Milton stepped forward. “Hold on, we were seen before by someone? And he’s running back and telling everyone?”

“Is there a problem with that?” The worry exchanged between the three confirmed there was.

“Sun is rising over there, so it must be east,” Henry said. “South is that way, over the stream, let’s go.” The three slaked their thirst before jumping into the stream, and waded their way across, leaving the man puzzled. They jogged south and came under the olhom trees eventually.

“We should run with our magic,” Henry said. They all used what was known as base magic, the fundementals before the arts. Rennard’s colour was red, Henry’s was a bright gold, and Milton’s was white. Their legs shone with their respective colours, a firefly’s glow, and they sped up. The average of their superspeed still couldn’t compare to the giants’ legs and strides, but in explosive bursts of a few seconds, it could outmaneuver them in some instances.

What they needed now was to clear off the area, and they had to go far. The two hours they’d spent escaping the farm last night would be matched in minutes of a giant jogging. To think of it in numbers wouldn’t help in keeping a sense of hopelessness away, so all they focused their energy on was making sure every second put them further away.

They swished through the vegetation, large ferns and tall grass, hopping over the fat bulge of olhom roots and rocks and boulders. Sometimes an olhom or copse of smaller trees split them and they converged soon thereafter. What the youngsters failed to keep in mind was that they had no compass and ran wildly, and their momentary splits and regatherings caused an eastern tilt to creep into their southern direction. They neared a large projection from the mountain, like a narrow shoulder sticking out, and by another source of water they took a respite, catching their breath and drinking. They’d been running for forty minutes.

“Alright,” Milton said, gasping and airing his shirt. “What do we do? Rest and keep going?”

“Yes,” Rennard said, pointing to a prominenet point up in the escarpment. “I’ll try and get there to get a view. I think it’s slightly higher than the olhom trees. And the olholms are clearing a bit, maybe because we’re near the mountains.”

Henry pointed. “Take that route. It’s too steep here.” Confident in not getting too tired, Rennard jogged off, rounding the foothill to find a more welcome climb to the highpoint.

Milton sighed, sitting down. “I just want to be home.”

“Agreed. If we get back, we have to give Trester a wide berth. And when we cross the border, we have to be careful not to be seen by border guards. They’ll wonder why we’re walking into Humius from Gintessa, assume we belong here, or want us to prove we’re on an official errand. And even if we can talk our way out of it, it’ll be too much attention. They’ll have too many chances at uncovering us as the ones who pulled that nonsense against the guards.”

Milton grimaced, leaning back on his elbows. The grass was shorter by the mountains, the olhoms in these areas being part of a grove more than a forest, sparser and with less undergrowth. “I don’t care anymore, man. Rennard was probably right the first time, they’ll see us as young boys who tried to be funny. There’ll be some punishment, but it’s better than what we’ve been through so far.” They sat a few more minutes. Milton stretched and lay down fully. Henry took a distance from the mountainside to scan the face of it and see Rennard’s progress, but something else grabbed his attention.

Dimly, and only when all else was quiet and still, could the vibrations be felt in the ground. Though their strength only grew, becoming tremors, powerful steps announcing her presence. The dark-green gown, her yellow-brown hair tied into pigtails, green eyes, large frame and enormous breast. Ada’s upper body appeared above the foothill, walking towards them. She had a pant of her own from having run this way.

Milton rushed up and joined his friend. “She’s here.” She saw them, approaching. The two stood ready with magic at hand. Ada stopped a distance away.

Henry said the first word. “Either you’re very keen on helping us lie low, or I was right in suspecting something.” Her response was a blank expression. Henry leaned into Milton. “Listen, we’ve got to buy time for Rennard to return, then we can do this as three.”

Ada showed her recognizable smirk. She grabbed her gown, folding it up to reveal her womanhood, and a naked pair of legs were sticking out from her.

“Fuck, she already got him.”

Ada pushed him back in. She let out a long and slow breath, biting her lower lip. “Finally, the three of you out here where no one will come, no one will interrupt. You at my mercy. I had dreams of this.” She walked towards them, her feet flashing out from her gown with every step, both with a hunger to squish them.

“Get ready, Milton,” Henry said, getting in stance. “This is for our freedom.”

Henry summoned the art of the fighter and charged head-on. Ada’s stomp was expected, Henry skipping to the side. He rushed right back in after her foot landed and, leaning back with a fist brimming with golden energy, punched the side of her foot.

Ada flinched, sucking air through her teeth. Henry hopped, expecting the sweep of her foot. She swept right back like a pendulum and Henry dove out of the way. Lying down and exposed, Ada chanced another stomp, but like a frog, Henry bounced off with a leap. He was under her gown and near her stationary foot, where he, glowing with the art of the fighter, unleashed a succession of ten rapid punches.

“Ah!” Her forward foot came straight back and punted Henry with the heel, sending him into a continuous roll. Like a princess walking up the stairs she raised her gown, opening the view under her. When Henry charged in for another strike, she was ready. Henry landed a roundhouse kick and was immediately swept aside by a row of toes. He returned, relentless, and she kicked him away with the back of her foot. Henry didn’t expect her follow-up, a roof of flesh collapsing on him.

His quickest reflexes only got him out from the middle of her foot, lower body pinned under the toes. They curled, gripping him like the jaws of a predator. Lifting her foot, she swung him about like a doll, hammering him against the ground, slapping him against the calf of her other leg.

Milton hadn’t gotten the opening he searched for and resorted to helping Henry instead, sending out glowing ropes from the olhom trees. Two of them grabbed her standing heel and pulled, and when already standing on one leg, it didn’t take much more to throw her off balance. Ada teetered. Milton found the angle where her balance failed her the most and sent two tethers there, on her neck and elbow, to pull further. She fell on her side in a crash which shook Milton’s legs. Henry pried her toes off him and sped away.

“Clever little tricks,” she said, getting up. With mild force required, she pulled the tethers off. Ada cursed and took her bare foot in hand, as Henry had let loose another beating there. Ada turned around and went for Milton who stood too comfortably in his position. Milton used the base magics, his legs glowing white, and ran into the grove. He couldn’t compare to Henry’s mobility, and her quaking steps gained on him. Using his speed in bursts, Milton dodged her first attacks, and as the inevitability of being caught closed in on him, Henry arrived with a distraction. He used his hardest strikes on the foot he could hit, though his rashness opened him up to a counterattack. She swept him, but Henry absorbed the hit by hugging the foot.

Ada kicked upwards, throwing Henry into the air. She followed his trajectory through the air as if he were a bouquet thrown into the crowd and she a wild admirer, pulling at the collar of her gown to receive him with her bosom. None of Henry’s magic could help redirect him midair, powerless as he watched himself plunge towards her breast. Henry landed on her collarbone and continued down. Ada squeezed her chest together to press him in place. From outside the dress her hand pinned him against her left chest, and she started fondling herself, kneading him in against her breast. While she did so, she chased Milton and eventually had him under her foot, rolling him back and forward like a rolling pin.

All too happy, she continued massaging Henry into her breast and scrolled her foot back-and-forth over Milton for a minute.

She fished Henry out of from her bosom, took his clothes off, and threw him away. She similarly undressed Milton and threw him to his friend. Now naked, the two regrouped, but they were losing confidence. To make matters worse, Ada jerked the gown off her shoulders and let it drop down. Her naked body proved a more successful taunt than any of her smirks, a statement that her pleasures were prioritised over effectively fighting and capturing them, and still the fight wasn’t close. It told them that here at the edge of the grove beside the mountains was a closed room, where nothing would come out and no one would ever learn what took place here, and she could free her most twisted and innermost self.

They knew enough of how sizable she was, but the gown hadn’t let it be shown fully. Her breast were voluminous and firm, thighs muscular and large, her stomach flat but ample. Her pussy was wet and swollen, and all her movement had caused Rennard’s lower body to slip out just a bit. She pushed him back in and advanced on them, putting extra weight in her steps.

“What’s her goddamn problem?” Milton whispered, catching his breath and rubbing his sore areas. “What do we do?”

“Just… more of the same. We have to free Rennard. Maybe there’s a chance if it’s the three of us. But it’s harder when he’s in there. Try to get a tether in there and yank him out.”

Ada’s quaking steps stopped, one foot on either side of them and her pussy right above. Hands on her hips, they had to raise their necks all the way up to see her. She was a mountain of muscle and flesh, a statue, a piece of art. To simply stand above them and announce the size difference earned her a mental advantage.

Her knees buckled slightly, a jolt of pleasure. The skin around her pussy was moving, signs of Rennard’s hopeless struggles. Just to taunt them, she reached in and pulled out his legs, putting his helpless kicking on display, like the legs of a duckling sticking out of a heron’s mouth. She even gyrated her hips to swing him around, a single drop of cum loosening and landing between Milton and Henry. Ada shoved him back inside.

“Ready for another round, my little challengers? I’m not close to done.”

Milton spread his arms, a tether in front of him materialising and shooting out to each foot. They wrapped around her ankles and tied them short, like shackles. Ada jumped, closing her legs, her shadow growing larger upon them. The two boys dodged to a side each, almost losing balance to the immense pressure of her landing. Milton became her target, though he could outmaneuver her limited movement. Unable to ignore the restraints, the muscles in her right thigh flexed, Ada clenching her teeth as she tried to abduct her leg and pull the tether apart.

Henry squatted down and flied up in a frog leap, hitting the side of an olhom tree and kicking himself off it. He flied straight towards Ada’s back, his legs aimed, knees bent. A surge of golden energy flowed through his body, gathering at his legs, and he stabbed her back with an explosive drop kick. Ada tumbled forward as if someone had shoved her, unable to find balance with her ankles tied. She fell on knees and hands.

Milton summoned a tether underneath her and shot it upwards. It latched onto her lower stomach, a miss. Ada pulled it off, and she covered her womanhood at the sight of another tether launching at it, blocking its entry. Ada pulled them off, got up, and with explosive leg force, snapped the ones around her ankles. Ada turned around to find Henry midflight in another drop kick attempt. With a downward sweep, she caught him in her hand.

“Nice try,” she said, bringing him to her face. “Time to get punished.” Ada held him from the knees down and began smacking him into her breast like a drumstick. While doing so, she approached Milton, who didn’t bother putting up a fight when he was alone. She picked him up as well, and like a gorilla pounding their chest, she repeatedly smacked both of them into her great breast. They tried to fight in her grip, straighten their spine and gain some posture, brace for the collision against her tits, pry her hold around their lower legs. But they only had a second to do any of it, as they had less than a second in the air before slamming into her breast again, all of their efforts vanquished to a dizzying slam. They grunted with the efforts, groaned at every slam, the wind knocked out of them, and all Ada did was hold them in front of her chest and pivot her wrists. The consistency in her movement made her wrists and hands look like machinery.

The forest was filled with the fleshy spank their bodies made against her tits along with their protests. Their arms were indeed free, but when they could barely hold their bodies straight and the trees were inverted and the ground was scrolling every other way, they couldn’t focus on anything. They were ragdolls in her merciless swinging, the skin on her breast reddening to the continuous impacts, the soft flesh yielding to them, but so large it consumed them.

“Look at you,” she said, biting her lip. “Helpless little boys. This makes for a decent tune.” Ada swayed her hip to the rhythm of the chunky collisions, stepping left and right, shoulders bouncing, performing a poor pirouette. “I should be a belly dancer.” The two boys transitioned from her breasts down to the stomach, made to an instrument together with the expanse of skin and flesh. They spent some time banged onto her stomach, then to her inner thighs. For the finale, she spanked them onto her ass cheeks, Milton on the left and Henry on the right, then she swapped for another minute. She swiped them across her pussy, enough wetness there for them to collect, and shivered. “Fuck, I can’t contain myself anymore.” She threw them to the ground.

They did not get up, overwhelmed, stunned, sore and hurting. All they did was lay down where she had dropped them, breathing and trying to salvage a shred of their dignity. But their composure was shattered, and they were so removed from the moment that even when Ada hunched down and masturbated with Rennard’s body just a few yards above them, they didn’t react, didn’t move, wanting rest and nothing else.

Her orgasm didn’t need long to arrive, the entire fight had been one long build-up for her. Pumping Rennard’s body in and out with one hand and rubbing her clit with the other, Ada shifted on her heels to aim, make sure the cum hit both of them. The cum came in an explosive jet. It looked like some animal marking their territory. Periodic, smaller squirts followed for a horrifyingly long time. So thoroughly tired and defeated were the boys that even when showered on by her liquids, they closed their eyes and mouth and waited it out. They only wanted rest. But the rest took long to come, she had enough in her to recurringly cum for minutes, and even amid the smaller ejections, a large blast would join, pounding their skin. An entire pool was building underneath them, too much for the soil to absorb.

She faltered and fell on her knees, unable to keep balance. Ada screamed out loud at the final climax, echoing off the mountains. The biggest burst of squirt shot out like a geyser, so impressive it literally moved their bodies a few inches.

Ada released an airy moan and lay back, her legs on either side of them. Everyone remained that way for several minutes, Milton and Henry in exhaustion, Ada in the tranquilizing waves of pleasure. Not a word was spoken.

At last one of them moved, Ada, getting up again and standing over them. The boys writhed about somewhat, signs of life.

“Please…” Milton groaned. Using her foot, she picked them up from the puddle of cum and placed them elsewhere. She placed her feet gently upon them, positioning their heads between the big and second toe of each foot. Two of them under her feet and one in her pussy, they had not simply lost, but been demolished.

“How long have you three practiced your magic?” None of them answered her. Ada used her big toes to rub their cheeks. “I’m asking you. How long have you practiced your magic?”

Milton forced the words out of himself. “A few years each.”

Ada gave a delighted hum. “Hmm, a few years each.” She stuck a few fingers inside her and let Rennard’s lower legs stick out. “Do you know how many years I have? Zero. No magic, no training in combat. And look at what I’m doing to you. Look at how powerless you are. How does it feel to lose to a basic girl? This isn’t even close. I can’t believe the things I’m getting away with here, the things I’ve done to you. Some part of me deep down expects repurcussions, that this is simply too much and I’ll pay the consequences for this.” She chuckled. “But there is none! I won’t be punished for this. I can literally do whatever I want with you and there’s nothing to stop it. If I lay down and did nothing, you’d need five lifetimes to repay the humiliation I’ve put you through these days. Look!” She pointed down at them. “I was once your size, and now both of you are stuck under my feet, your friend is inside me. You have no response, and I literally don’t have to do anything. I’m dominating you simply by standing on this spot, by existing. For a human to dominate another human, they usually need so much authority, power, influence. It’s so much harder, and does less. I, a nobody, a farmgirl, can just stand on top of you. Nature really is cruel, isn’t it?”

They had nothing to say.

“Fuck, I’m getting horny talking it up like this. Why don’t you start licking my toes? We haven’t tried that yet.”

“No,” Milton said, raising his head over her toe to shout over to her other foot. “Don’t do it, Henry.”

“I won’t. We’re not listening to her.”

She chuckled. “That’s fine, I only need your bodies, and you’ll come around eventually. In fact, I like that you have the mind to resist, that you have the self-respect. It turns me on even more to know these are smart and independent creatures I’m doing this to. It would be boring if you just surrendered and did whatever I said.” Again she rubbed her toes against their cheeks, almost caringly, like a mother’s soft touch.

“Listen, I want you to talk with me now,” Henry said, done catching his breath. “Tell me what you want. You can’t do this to us out here forever, you have to return to the farm eventually. There are no guards in the farm anymore, we know they left. The only reason you managed to keep us hidden is because we needed to stay low. Now, you have no leverage over us. You can’t keep all three of us hidden there.” They could only hope that she spent the silence understanding the logic behind his words, thinking, reconsidering.

“That’s gonna be my problem,” she said.

“Well, tell me a solution then! There is no plan to this. You have nothing left, you can’t take all three of us back and hope to continue as you have been. We will make noise, break loose.”

“Humans from Humius in here without a reason? It won’t help your situation to be discovered like that.”

“We don’t care what it means for us, we will do it to spite you, so you don’t get what you want.”

“You won’t.”

“You wanna take that bet?”

That gave her some pause. She gave their heads another toe-squeeze.

“You need a long-term plan,” Henry said. “I know you don’t enjoy your life, and even if you don’t admit it, becoming an offgiant and having to work under close watch in Gintessa isn’t the life you expected. I know that fucking with us is one of the few pleasures you’ve had in a long time. But this isn’t sustainable. Tell me a long-term plan. We’re getting hungry, thirsty, surely you as well. We can’t be out here forever, and you can’t keep us hidden in the farm for your own use.”

The expression she had showed none of the smug playfulness with which she’d toyed with them lately. Ada stared off into the distance; Henry’s words had certainly accomplished something.

Both of them were under her feet, covered in her drying cum, and their friend was inside her pussy, and somehow a conversation was being had.

“I’ve thought about running away,” Ada said. “East, where I can be free.”

“You mean criminal,” Milton said. “It’s a wild place full of outlaws. It’s known that desperate offgiants go there in escape from the organised west. You’re just gonna fall into the same trap as everyone else?”

“It’s a freer life. I refuse to work here for eight more years until I gain citizenship. In the east, I’ll have choice now, I can make something of myself now. It’ll be hard, but it’s possible. Here, it’s not possible.”

“Ok, then go,” Milton said. “Take our blessings with you. We have a home to return to.”

She didn’t say anything at first, wiping the side of their head with her big toe once again. “You’re coming with me.”

“Please, don’t,” Henry said. He would have gotten on his knees and begged if he weren’t trapped. “Let us go. I beg you.”

“Right now, except for that gown over there, I have nothing. All I have is you. And this isn’t just about my pleasure. I am now on the run, I am desperate. As much as I enjoy having you around, I think I’ll have to sell you there. I need money.”

“Sell us?” Milton shouted. “That’s not allowed!”

“In the east, it definitely is. It’s looser.” The big and second toes started fondling their cheeks caringly, as if trying to soothe them. “I don’t hate you, but I need money. I’m the most important person in my life now. I wish I could provide for all of us and have you along with me, but I can’t.” She walked, both of them stuck under her feet. The cum on their bodies were drying, plastering them to her soles. Henry tried to get a few words in, but every footstep cut him off. Their kidnapper put her gown on and traveled eastward. Home was getting farther and farther away.

Milton contemplated what choices he’d made in life to end up in this position. His only view this journey were her massive legs towering above him, pedalling back-and-forth and in and out of vision from the flickering curtain that was her gown. When Milton looked over to the neighbouring side, witnessing the sight of Henry under her other foot in the endless cycle of swinging ahead of one another, he never realised how pathetic it looked to an outside perspective. Ada was using them as sandals, and they could do nothing about it.

The monotony of it didn’t help either. His lower body rising first with her arch, and then his chest being pressed by the ball of the foot, pulled off the ground, and descending into the ground with a tight press. He didn’t get used to it. He wondered if she even spared them a thought as she strolled through the woods. So small had they become, dominated for every passing second without her needing to do anything. Milton would benefit from not reminding himself, but whenever his backside crackled through branches or crunched on leaves or swept across grass, he couldn’t help but remember that this was where her feet belonged, where he now belonged. The worst moments were when she took care of an itch at her toe by scratching it against their heads, absent-mindedly. To them, the ball of undertoe flesh was an overwhelming and oppressive force flicking their heads around. To her, she was merely taking care of an itch.

Ada stopped for a moment. “I never knew that walking could be this fun. Your heads are like the sixth toe on my feet.” She pulled her gown back to get a better view of them. “I’ve got an idea…”

“Won’t be happening,” Milton said. Not doing what she said was the only thing they had left. If they obeyed her, they’d lose everything.

“How about a deal? Whoever licks my toes spends the travel in my hands or pockets instead of underfoot.” There was a silence, Ada shifting an excited gaze between them. “I can see you’re considering it.” The two raised their heads to make eye contact, gaining determination from one another.

“The answer is no,” Milton said.

“Come on, Henry,” Ada said, stroking his head. “You’re gonna let him speak for you?” Start with a simple kiss, you’ll open up to it.”

Henry shut his mouth and turned aside.

“Suit yourself. Think about how much that pride earns you and if it’s worth it. Enjoy the forest bed.” She continued. Due to the cum on their body drying while she had been standing on them, they were perfectly glued to her feet this time, incomparable to any other hold. Even if she slept with her feet dangling off a ledge, gravity would need more than a night to free them. There was no world where they’d be free without Ada ripping them off herself. If their freedom depended so heavily on her, the hopelessness found an easy avenue into their thoughts, thoughts of how their next stop would be her handing them over to slavers or likewise. There was no room in between for them to have a say about it. While Milton took these thoughts and fell into despair, Henry was plotting. The offer she’d given him was the only opportunity around.

Crossing a road and seeing the occasional ranger and traveler, Ada met a fair share of giants, sometimes in avoidance with a head held low while trying to remain inconspicuous, sometimes in request for directions. She picked who to trust and was more cautious now as a runaway. At one point she was approached by royal rangers, and the boys could see the apprehension on Ada. She gave them her name, they checked the list of runaway offgiants, and fortunately for her, it would take several days before she made the list. They asked what errand she was on, and right then the boys yelled for help. Ada said the humans were workers from Baronness Crawford’s land trying to illegally run to Humius, and Ada had been sent to retrieve them. Ada explained she had to move with such urgency that her overseer sent her without a permit.

Milton and Henry were disappointed at how such a sloppy and unverifiable response would be enough, how little human wellbeing mattered to them. Other times Ada would silence the boys with a big toe possessively held over their head.

Ada traveled into the mountains through a wooded valley. She was careful not to walk on rock; human magic had a harder time protecting against stony surfaces. Stone was a giant’s primary way of killing a human.

At a mountain spring she sated her thirst. She dipped her toes in for them to drink, and inverted Rennard’s position to be stuck legs-first inside her, letting his head stick out. “Fucking whore,” he shouted the first chance he got. Rennard received a heavy splash of water from her hands, managing to drink a few mouthfuls. There were blueberries the size of a human’s head along the mountainsides. Ada ate plenty and fed the three boys as well.

“It would be a lot easier if we could hold them with our own hands,” Milton said.

“I like feeding you. You look so funny, three little heads poking out of my body.”

“Enjoy this while you can,” Rennard said. “There’ll be vengeance, you won’t be laughing forever.” She provided them with more berries and water, then placed her index on Rennard’s head and shoved him inside before continuing.

Towards the evening and still within the mountains, as the sun fell, Ada settled by another stream. There were edible herbs and berries in the area which provided them some sustenance for the night and would prove a passable breakfast, although scanty. She raised her gown and extracted Rennard’s head. “You’ve got some flames in you, right?”

“Ready to burn you, yes.”

“I need a fire, actually. Yours are magical, you can surely make something isolated on this spot that burns continuously through the night.”

“I could, but you can’t make me.”

“Well, it’s not for me. My body has no problem staying warm during the night. A fire is simply nice to have, and I can put my feet close to it to keep your friends warm. Their naked backsides might need it. Think of them rather than me.”

Rennard frowned, glanced at his two comrades under her feet. “Fine. Free my arms then.” Ada enclosed his entire body with her two hands, aimed him at the soily patch she wanted the fire at, and released the hand holding his torso. Rennard drew his arms through the air, a red outline following them to complete a circle. At his command, the circle expanded and rooted itself on the place of interest. Within it, a fire materialised, flaring explosively at first but burning steadily thereafter.

Rennard instantly threw his hands up, launching a stream of fire through his finger towards her face.

Ada evaded with a quick turn aside, grabbing his torso with her other hand. “Predictable. You don’t deserve my pussy.”

“No one deserves your pussy, no matter how criminal.” Ada punished him by rubbing him against her armpits and underside of her breast, wherever the day’s tire showed itself in trails of dried sweat, then slapped her own pussy with his body for half a minute. It was back inside her pussy after that, headfirst. She sat down cross-legged, stroking Henry and Milton’s backsides with her index fingers.

“There should be some civilisation coming up,” Ada said. “The first which lead me eastwards. I’ll miss you boys. I wonder how much I get for each of you, see if I get enough from two of you so I can keep the third.”

“Who would you keep?” Henry said.

Ada smirked. “It’s not gonna be the loudmouthed fire boy, so it’s one of you two. You’ll have to compete for that.”

“Won’t happen,” Milton said. “We’re all together on this.”

Henry planted a kiss on the side of her big toe.

Ada stirred. “What was that? Henry, did you just kiss?”

“No.”

“I’m sure you did.”

“I didn’t. Don’t listen to her, Milton, she wants you to think I did.”

“I know.”

“Huh,” Ada said, raising an eyebrow. She lay down and placed her soles near the magical flames, letting their backsides be warmed. Although far from comfortable in their positions, Henry and Milton could appreciate the calm. There was never any rest to be had when she walked, but at least now they were still.

Henry woke up during the night to Ada’s toes rubbing him. He noticed that she was awake and sitting, staring at him.

She winked with an eye and whispered, “They’re asleep, they won’t know.” Lazy from sleep, Henry had no idea what she implied at first. “Don’t be shy now. Look, he’s asleep. Let yourself come out.” Henry looked over to her other foot, Milton deep in slumber, his slack head resting on the gap between her first and second toe. Ada’s toes kept insisting, caressing Henry. She knew this was the time to get him.

And she was right. Henry started by nestling his head back against her peachy toes, like a cat rubbing its head against the owner’s legs. He smooched, and that moved to kissing, and kissing became licking, and licking became a full-blown worship, making out with her big and second toe.

“The moment I saw the way you worshipped my pussy in the farm,” Ada said, “I knew you were that kind of guy.”

“I don’t want to be sold,” Henry said. “I beg you to keep me. I won’t deny I enjoy this as well.” Henry licked and sucked at the soft flesh between her toes. Then he put his lips around the side of her big toe, stuck to it like a suction cup, and worked it diligently with his tongue. His lips left it with a wet kiss, and he’d left behind a circle of clean, pale yellow skin.

“Look at you, making it your mission to clean them. Can you taste the farm grounds and the woods I walked through? Does it bring you back? Can you taste the dried cum from when I masturbated over your bodies?” Ada raised her head to the sky with a soft moan. She moved the foot with Milton away, both to get the sleeping boy away from the noise and to open her legs up. Ada raised her ass and pulled the gown to her waist, rubbing her clit.

“Please, Ada,” Henry said with a mouthful of foot, “can I be the one between your legs? I miss it. Ever since you took me out of there, I’ve missed it.” He was red with embarrassment, more at the possibility of Milton waking up and seeing his pathetic display, but it made his pleading more genuine.

“Of course,” Ada said, still rubbing herself. “But you have to earn it. Show me how much you want it. 

“Yes, mistress.” When Henry said that word, a shudder of pleasure zapped across her body.

“Oh, god, call me that again. Call me that again.”

“You’re my mistress.” Henry licked and kissed, turning wild, lightly biting her toes and wrestling with them like a dog with their toy. But her toes soon hit back, slapping his face, grabbing his head and pressing his cheeks together. He could hardly move his head anymore, pinned, a clear sign who the dominant party was. “I’m your slave, forever to worship you.” Her hips convulsed, quivering, her jaw shut. Her fingers rubbed furiously, and squirt shot out from her and across the fire. From there onwards, her energy subsided, her posture loosening.

“Can I be the one between your legs, please?” Henry repeated, and he needed to word the request carefully. “I’ll massage you with my arms and worship you at the same time.”

“Ah, a pussy massage, that’s a good one. Keep thinking of ideas like that.” Rennard’s indistinct groaning could be heard within her, unhappy over his disturbed sleep. He hopefully hadn’t figured out what happened outside the walls of her pussy.

She folded her knee to bring Henry close, and digging her fingers under him for a good hold, peeled him off her sole. Henry felt reborn when placed on the ground again, moving his limbs. Ada massaged the sole where he’d covered it. “Time for the swap,” she said, bringing out Rennard. He was already soaked in her liquids, which meant she’d have no problem making him stick as well as Henry had. She placed a laggard Rennard on the ground who groaned complaints and only wanted to lay still and sleep. Ada stood up, not on her sole, but on the back of the foot so as to not trample Milton and wake him. The same position as Henry, she put Rennard’s head between her big and second toe and placed weight, beginning the adhesive drying process.

“Leave me alone,” he moaned, barely opening his eyes.

“Ten minutes,” she told him. Henry moved around some in the meantime, rotating his shoulders, stretching his arms and legs.

“I’m ready for plenty more rounds like that one,” Ada said, a drunken smile. “This mistress-slave relationship is new territory.” After standing on Rennard for several minutes, Ada returned to her original position, soles against the fire. Rennard hadn’t dried as much as she would have liked, but the impatience grew. Ada took off her entire gown and grabbed Henry.

“Let me massage them with my arms,” he reminded her, now whispering. He was inserted to the chest, arms free. Henry started using his hands and fondled her clit alongside the licking. Her womanhood had him tight, a creature determined to keep him. Ada leaned back on her elbows, eyes closed and breathing heavily while Henry worked her up methodically.

“What are you again?” Ada whispered.

“Your slave,” Henry said, grabbing a fold of flesh and sucking, “Your pussy slave.” She quivered again, her tiny movements jerking Henry around with her. Henry held her harder, his massage firmer, as if her pussy were some wild beast losing control and he had to tame it. “I will live in here, my sole purpose will be to pleasure my goddess.”

“Goddess.” He knew it was coming through her spasms, but the squirt surprised him nonetheless. He shut his eyes and mouth and covered his face. It was a deluge battering his body. Where he lost control, her hand arrived and took over, working out new sprinkles of cum when Henry thought it was over. Ada’s hand disappeared. She collapsed. Henry returned to a gentle massage, kissing her, slurping. He kept going like this for twenty minutes, soothing her into sleep. She hadn’t said anything or moved for a while.

“Ada? Hey, Ada.” He reached up and tapped her lower abdomen. No response. “Alright, let’s go.” If she hadn’t cared about him massaging her, it would all be for nothing. But she’d beaten down on them enough for some overconfidence to slip in and not take so many precautions, and now, his arms free, Henry summoned the art of the fighter. He had to push himself out without waking her, and in there was a balance between strength and caution which he worked towards. Henry pushed until his thighs were out, and when it was only the knees, he kicked his legs free. The pool of cum underneath received him with a splash.

Henry rushed over to Rennard first, shaking his shoulder, and with a hushed but sharp voice woke him up.

“Huh? What’s happening?”

“Rennard, we’re getting away from here now. I’m free, she’s sleeping. I’ll help you and Milton off and then we’ll be on our way.”

A jolt of vigor woke Rennard as well as a bucket of cold water would. “Serious? I love you. Free me from this fucking foot.”

“Let me wake Milton as well, so we’re all ready to disappear at once.” Henry woke and informed their other friend, then returned and started ripping Rennard off with his enhanced strength. He did it meticulously, limb by limb, then repeated it with Milton. They were all nervous, the freedom too sudden for them to responsibly manage. Ada remained asleep.

“Which way do we go?” Milton said, looking up at the night skies and the shadows of the mountains.

“Away from this fucking bitch is where,” Rennard said. He sprinted into the darkness, and they followed.

The three jogged naked throughout the night, tromping through bushes and whacking past low twigs, exclaiming to the occasional bite of a rough branch. The silhouettes of the mountains against the night skies guided them through the valley, plenty of tumbling and unsteady steps along their way.

“When do we stop?” Milton said with a windy voice. “I’m getting tired.”

Rennard called for them to gather by him, panting between the words. “Listen. We should rest, just a little bit.”

“What if she wakes soon and starts looking instantly, she’ll easily close the distance we just made.”

“And if we continue to run for another hour, she’ll still close that distance easily. We wait for the beginnings of predawn for there to be just a wee bit of light, then we can see better and run with empowered speed.”

“What do we do then?”

“That’s for then, getting away from her is everything now. She’ll come after us without a bloody doubt, not just because she’s a horny whore, but she wants to sell us. We’re money and she’s broke.” The three made their way to the mountainside and found a cavelike pocket to get inside.

"Serious thought here," Milton said. "Should we just wait it out in here instead? She'll have a hard time finding us, an advantage to our smallness, if there ever was one. If we stay here all of tomorrow and she doesn't find us, it should be enough to make her give up on us."

"Why not just fight the whore?" Rennard said. "She caught me alone last time. All three of us are together now."

"Just shut your mouth," Milton snapped. "There's no room for your dumb, impulsive anger. She'll fucking rape us again."

"Let's sleep on it." Milton prepared the soft tethers for them to lay upon and cover themselves with, and the three tried to earn some sleep.

Henry slept the least, ready for the skies to brighten somewhat. He woke the other two when predawn arrived. “Guys, I found giant berries growing on bushes just above this pocket. We must have missed them in the night. Let’s eat up first. Whether we plan to run, hide out, we need to fill up.” Milton used the tethers to yank the giant berries off their stems. The predawn was blue and the clouds parted, the sun’s side a visible yellow creeping up over the horizon. Munching on the supersized berries, the three looked like squirrels with nuts. The sun rose over their breakfast.

"Waiting it out is an even better idea now," Milton said. "Now that we have food near our hideout. I'm even more convinc—"

“Guys, bad news,” Henry said, wide eyes down the valley. The two followed his stare to see Ada scanning the bushy bottom of the valley like one does knowing they’ve dropped an item in the vicinity. The trees parted to her chest, branches snapping, leaves falling, a powerful presence waking the wildlife.

“Where do we go?”

“Maybe up the cliff and—”

“I think she’s seen us.” Her face was their way, and the meticulous search around the woods turned into a hectic rush, barreling through the trees and straight towards them.

“What’s the pl—”

Milton answered by bolting down the mountainside and into the woods. “No goddamn time for that, run!” Rennard and Henry were after him, the three slipping in under the trees and undergrowth and continuing down the valley. The normal-sized trees would help cover them, but the valley wasn’t wide enough for them to outmaneuver her. The storm of crackling branches, tearing bark, and rustling leaves swept through the valley and towards them. They could feel the tremors.

The mountainsides framing the valley declined as they went, at first hopeful at gaining more directions to run towards, but the undergrowth was less and less, the trees sparser, and when they got out of the valley the went downhill for a while and then the land flattened.

“Wait, guys,” Henry called, gaining their attention. “Left, let’s get around the mountainside, she’ll think we went strai—”

“OUT OF THE WAY! She’s in the air!” Her shadow grew on them, the gown fluttering up like a falling umbrella with its frames broken. She'd jumped from the top of the decline they'd run down from, earning her even greater height than normal. The three boys barely dove out of the way in time, her feet smashing into the ground. The boys were blasted away like specks of dust, trees shaking, tiny rockslides tinkling down the closest cliffs. Ada rose up and stepped off her landing spot, having left ditches in the ground with broken soil around it. Milton, Henry, and Rennard regrouped where the blast had thrown them.

“Well well,” Ada said, smirking. “I was right to suspect your tiny legs wouldn’t get you far. I’m disappointed in you, Henry. I still think with time, you’ll learn to enjoy my company more than your two friends. But this can’t go unpunished.”

“We can’t outrun her,” Milton said. “Fuck.” He sighed, shoulders dropping. “Goddamn it.”

Rennard didn’t share one drop of their hopelessness, fearless eyes straight at the giant. “Then we fight.”

Ada peeled the gown off her shoulders and let it drop. “Oh yes, we will.” She stepped out of it in her naked glory. Seeing those large breasts took them back to repeatedly being smacked into her body, her pussy of how of how she'd used them to masturbate, her feet recalling their smell and texture and the the feel of them flattening one into the earth. Her body was full of reminders of how she had dominated them, and already the fear returned to Milton and Henry.

“Oh, please,” Milton said, falling on his knees. “Can we surrender?”

“What the fuck?” Rennard pulled him back up. “We’re fighting this whore.”

“She’ll destroy us,” Milton said. “You didn’t experience it like we did. We don’t stand a chance.”

Rennard put both his hands around Milton’s neck. “Look me in the eyes, brother. You’ve got me with you now. I’ll be the difference maker.”

“He might be right,” Henry said. “We’re all three, maybe there’s a chance. It’s better than surrendering.”

Ada laughed. “Good, I like the hope. Before we start fighting, as a rule, keep away from the mountainsides and the rocks, will you? I don’t want to seriously hurt or kill you boys. Stay on the grass and soil where I can smush you nice and easy.”

“Gonna torch you nice and easy is what’s happening.” Rennard rushed in, Henry after him, Ada haughtily awaiting them with hands on her hips. Henry went in and attacked the lowest point like before, dodging the kicks and stomps as well as he could while trying to injure her toes with a powerful blow of his own, dancing around her feet. She scored a good punt with the heel to knock Henry off his acrobatics and got the ball of her foot on him. Ada leaned forward to reach for him with her hand.

Rennard was there however, a lance of fire bombarding into her calf. Ada winced back, her foot coming off him. Henry dashed out just in time. The giant turned to Rennard who’d been focusing and had several attacks ready. Ada’s first steps were hampered by pillars of flame Rennard summoned, and on the ground were several red glowing marks.

Henry flied in from behind with a well-placed dropkick on the bend of her knee. Ada’s leg buckled, kneeling, her lower leg falling on one of Rennard’s red marks. Rennard activated it, a burst of flames punching her leg with a hot blast.

“Ah, fuck.” Ada jumped up and back, rubbing her knee. “Annoying one, aren’t you?” She saw Henry approach her again, and backed up by Rennard’s blazing tricks, it was annoying to deal with. Ada took one, two, three steps, a fourth towards him. Henry had no difficulty dodging the telegraphed move, almost growing hopeful at her supposed slowness, but that move was a preparation, as she'd made for higher ground and squatted down after the fourth step to leap up to the skies. For a moment, that too seemed confusing, as they had plenty of time to dodge this as well. And it was when she descended that Henry recalled her previous jump, and how she didn’t intend to land on them at all. All she did was land close enough with her mighty weight, and the earthquake-like pressure threw them off ground.

She rushed up to Rennard first and caught him in a toegrip, then, walking tiptoed with him, rushed towards Henry just before he could gather himself. Ada gave him no time, Henry dodged the first two stomps narrowly but was at a disadvantage, and her big and second toes had him clamped eventually.

“It’s inevitable,” she said, proudly looking down at them. Ada wiggled her toes, rubbing and wrestling their bodies around. “Twice now you’ve tried to run from me, and twice I get you. I’ll admit, I was worried when I woke up with an empty pussy and my sandals gone. You could have climbed out of the valley, gone down either of its two directions, be hard to find under those trees and whatnot. But I found your direction through those ripped bushes, went down that way, and see you eating berries on the mountainside like mice drawn to cheese crumbs.”

“You… fucking…” Rennard fought to get the words out through her assaulting toes.

“I’ve won from this point,” Ada said. “I’ve got you. But as you boys well now, I like to toy with you. Lick my toes and I’ll release you and give you another fighting chance.”

Rennard spat. “You lie!”

“Why would I? I like fighting you, and I know it’ll be a few minutes before I have you in this position again. Give my toes a good licking, and I’ll step off and give you ten seconds to take position. Or…” She made a few clumsy tiptoed steps as if on high heels, jabbing them into the ground. “I can just settle with my victory here and keep walking east.”

“We have to do it,” Henry told his friend.

“Like hell I’m doing it.”

“There’s no choice, we’re stuck. At least we’ll have a chance if we do it.”

“She’s been spitting half-truths the moment we met her.”

“Still, just the chance of her holding her end of the bargain is a chance. If we don’t, there’s no chance whatsoever.”

Ada squeezed Henry’s head softly. “That’s why you’re my favorite, Henry. Maybe you should go first to ease your friend into it, you’re the experienced one after all.”

Rennard groaned. “Where the fuck is Milton anyway?”

A boulder the size of Ada’s fist struck her upper arm. She shrieked and held her side, stumbling forward and losing her toe-grip on both. They darted away with a burst of speed.

During all that fighting, Milton had retreated to the mountainsides, and there he bound tethers to all the loose rocks and chunks of stone, which had increased with the quakes caused by Ada. He’d broken others off with base magics, tethered them to firmer stone and the ground, and all that preparation earned him a collection of large stones to slingshot.

“Sorry for taking so long!” Milton yelled.

“This is good,” Henry said to Rennard by his side, “with your fire and his boulders to back me up, we can cause some damage. On her legs are most important, make it hard for her to move.”

“Those boulders are no joke either,” Rennard said. “More than a distraction, if Milton hits her in the head with one of them, she’ll be out, enough for us to make a good run for it. Only problem is that jump move this fucking cow does, the whole world starts shaking.”

Unlike any of Ada’s exclamations and reactions to the stinging pain the boys’ magic would inflict, when she saw what caused the attack, seeing Milton’s position, something darker overcame her. This wasn’t annoyance, but anger.

“You want to play near the rocks, huh? I warned you, and you still went there.” Ada got on a knee, a sprinter getting ready, and charged forward faster than ever before. Henry realised how much she’d been going easy on them, as now, with the art of the fighter, he couldn’t find a single angle of attack against the charging mass of flesh and muscle. He aborted in the last second, each step tearing the ground, and after diving out of the way he saw her footprint where he'd stood, a few pebbles pulverized, and he gulped. Rennard raised a pillar of flame straight to her knee, which she pushed through with teeth clenched in pain. Rennard tried to jump out of the way, not making it in time. Her sprinting steps didn’t hit him, but the sheer force of her charge blew Rennard away. Yet his indisposed position became no point of attack for her. Milton was the target.

Like a commander signaling the army forward, Milton gestured and slingshot bits of the mountainside. She ducked from an incoming boulder, sidestepped another at her throat, got hit by one at her thigh. Her advance lost its explosive burst, giving Henry and Rennard time to catch up. Though it wasn’t looking good, she had played her moves correctly by ignoring them and heading straight for Milton. Another boulder grazed her forearm, leaving trickles of blood on wounded skin.

Milton had to abandon his post, jumping off the shelf of rock he stood on, but she was there and cornered him against the high rock. The glare she wore showed nothing of her usual amused self. “I could get seriously hurt if those larger boulders hit my head.”

“Alright, I surrender,” Milton said. That didn’t stop her from putting her foot on him.

“You want to play by the rocks, huh?” She applied pressure, pressing him into the stone, and Milton screamed.

“Please stop!” Henry leaped up the mountainside. “You could maim or kill him! Ada, I beg you.” Henry hugged the foot pressing on Milton, though didn’t try and move her. There was no fight to be won, her forgiveness was the only way out of this. “Have mercy, please, we won’t run or misbehave, I’ll do anything you say. Just don’t kill him, he’s like a brother to me.” Feeling that there were no words to increase his chances, Henry kissed and licked her foot violently. Ada’s face seemed sculpted out of stone, giving no information. However, Milton felt his breaths return, the pressure relenting.

“I’m sorry,” Milton repeated, and he too took any chance there was of neutralizing the situation by licking her toes from where he lay. For a minute, her foot remained on him but didn’t threaten a crush, and the two worshipped, not being told to stop or continue, not shown a single smile to indicate any enjoyment. They lapped away like dogs, the collapse of sanity that was fearing for one’s life, an experience unfamiliar for the two. Suddenly it wasn’t so bad to be toyed by her or even be sold, for at least they’d be alive then.

“My mood has soured,” Ada said, withdrawing her foot. She reached for both of them and held them in her hands. “No more fighting, it’s over.” Ada’s hold naturally brought them close to her breast, not giving them any leads, and the two obediently leaned forward and took her nipples between their lips. Ada pulled them out of reach. “Stop. Not like this. I don’t want you to fear me. I got a bit too angry, maybe.” She sighed, closing her eyes.

“Hey bitch, up here.” Ada turned her head up to find Rennard on the shelf of rock Milton had jumped off of, a long-charged fireball in his hand. There was a door-sized projection of rock pointing out from the ledge between them, and Rennard smashed the fireball straight through it. The stone shattered into a hailstorm of fiery rocks pelting Ada’s face. She wailed, dropping Henry and Milton as her hands rushed to her face. She fell down the rocky slope in a series of echoing rolls and crashes. Her great body ripped a rockslide down with her.

It was the agonizing screech Ada gave that woke the three, that made them understand they had entered a point of no return. Forgiveness was long gone.

“Run for your fucking lives!” Milton shouted, and with their enhanced speed they hurried down the rocks. The sound of her pain urged them on. They made it to soil and grass, past a few trees, and then Henry stopped them.

“Look.” She crawled, one hand over her eyes and the other fumbling around for them. A trail of blood escaped the bottom of the hand covering her eyes, threading over her nose. Reddened skin and bruises were scattered over her body.

“Please, don’t go!” she yelled, and the beginnings of a cry shook her voice. “I won’t do anything to you, I promise. I can’t fucking see. I… I might be blind. Please, lead me out of here, I need your help.”

“I don’t care,” Milton whispered among his friends. “It’s been our best opportunity to get away from her. Let’s go!” They went, away from the valley and away from her. Henry thought he saw fear on her, thought he heard her sob. He ripped his attention away, afraid he might start pitying her.

From the open terrain where they had defeated Ada, the three young men ran through another valley and came into a large pocket within the mountains with grass and birch trees and a stream coursing through it. Several corridors led into it, but for now the three boys sat under a tall birch beside the stream. The warm sun protected their nakedness from any cold.

“Oh, god,” Milton said, sighing. All three collapsed in the grass beside the pebbly shore of the stream, not uttering a word for some time. Catching their breath, the three didn’t think of any plan, of what to do now, letting their mind rest as much as their body. They were nowhere near home, but away from danger at least, and they had learned to appreciate that.

Henry sat up. “Those rocks tore her eyes. I think she’s blind.”

Milton bobbed his head towards Rennard. “Man, that was a hero shot.”

“Told you, didn’t I?” Rennard threw a smug smirk at the blue skies. “The difference maker.”

“Blind and alone out there, she might die,” Henry said.

Rennard perked up, a menacing frown at the slightest trace of sympathy. “So? WE might die out here, and it’s because of fucking her. We escaped her but we’re nowhere near safe. She was going to sell us as slaves. Let the whore die.”

“I have to take Rennard’s side here,” Milton said. “I was surprised she got so angry over me launching those boulders, that it could ‘seriously hurt’ her, or whatever she said. Does it surprise her I’d use any means to escape? Who knows where or whom she’d sell us to? She didn’t understand the seriousness. She was clearly fucking around, but to us, it always was a matter of life and death.”

“So, what do we do now?” The dreaded question came from Henry. “How do we get back?”

“It should be a few hours left until noon,” Milton said, shading his eyes while searching the skies. “The sun rose from around there, which should be east, so south is that way. We need to walk back out the way we came, into the open, and move south. It’ll be unknown territory, but we know Humius is at the end of it.”

“Question is,” Henry said, “do we ask for help if we see it, or do we try this on our own?”

Rennard shook his head. “We tried taking someone’s help, and it got us raped by a farmgirl. Remember that.”

“I’ll wager we were unlucky,” Milton said. “The distance we have to travel ourselves, without a giant, is too much. Even if we run with magic, we’d need plenty of food and water to sustain that, which we have none of. If you think about all the walking and running that Lily did getting us across the border, all the walking we did in that tunnel, the running we did from the farm, and how far Ada walked with us, we’re more than two weeks away from Trester if it’s our own two legs.”

Rennard spread his arms to encompass the situation. “Look at us, three naked nobodies in Gintessa with no papers or protection from anything. If I know something about giants, it’s that any of the cunts will take the chance to abuse us.” Henry splashed water on his face by the stream and drank.

“Problem is we don’t know anything,” Milton said. “We can’t even be sure if south takes us to Humius, maybe we underestimate just how far east we’ve gone and we passed Humius’ eastern border, and it’s southwest we need to be going. We remain cautious, we don’t get too close to anyone, but we need to ask for some help at some point. Just the smallest amount would make a difference.”

Rennard shrugged. “Alright.”

“We’ll most likely see any giant before they see us,” Henry said. “We watch them together, observe what they look like, and come to a conclusion. Maybe we see a sweet giant girl up here from some mountain village, gathering berries in a basket. That’s an example of someone safe to approach and ask a few questions.”

Rennard snorted. “Yeah, or a humble, innocent farmgirl.”

“No offgiants should be a rule,” Milton said.

“No offgiants,” the other two repeated.

“So, anyone going for a bath here?” The stream wasn’t deep enough to swim in, but they waded in and lay down, washing the dried cum off their bodies. Rennard couldn’t last long and came close to hyperventilating.

“Can’t take the cold." He huffed after a brief dip and kicked his way out of the water. The breeze was cool at first, but the sunlight’s steady touch warmed him. The water alone managed to get the dried cum off them, but the scent would require a thorough soaping to be gone. That alongside the toe prints plastered on their torsos reminded them to be ashamed, of what had happened. It felt that even though they’d successfully escaped and repayed her in blood and they could be sure she was nowhere close, it wasn't enough. With those toe prints and the scent of her pussy on them, somehow she still felt close by, in their heads.

The three had their rest there, satisfying their thirst but remaining hungry. Henry found a smooth little rock on the stream and put his head against it, like a high pillow, while the rest of him was submerged. He meditated.

“What a freak,” Rennard commented. “Milton, let’s have a look around. We haven’t seen what’s in this part of the mountains yet, maybe we can find food.” They walked under the birch trees, only grass and not much undergrowth in these areas. When they came to one of the corridors leading out of the pocket, the grass gave way to hard soil which looked more like a path judging by the hints of giant footprints. They were few and covered, a pathway not often used.

Milton craned his neck, the steep cliffs of the mountains hemming the aisle. “A bit dangerous to venture in there, all open with no trees to walk under, and there’s only two directions. Let’s not look this way.”

As they backed off, they heard something which they froze and turned towards with the alarm of disturbed deer. It came from behind a vast shoulder of the mountain projecting into the grass and trees, the soft shuffle of paper folding.

“Should we check it out?” Milton said. Rennard responded by taking the lead. The sound didn’t persist, so they couldn’t update their mental image, rounding the rocky projection carefully. Past the trees they saw the backside of a giant down on one knee. Her dark hair was ponytailed, her skin a light bronze, wearing a short makeshift skirt, a strap for a bra, and a backpack. They couldn’t see her front, but she seemed young and more of the thinner and agile kind, while Ada had been a bulky powerhouse. She was looking down at a map.

“How did we never hear her? She’s not terribly far from where we stopped.”

“What do we do?” Rennard whispered.

“She looks like she knows the way around here, a traveler or something. But she seems young. I can’t get a good look on the side of her throat, that’s where we would see the marks, if she’s an offgiant or not.” They shared a moment of silence.

Rennard snorted. “We need the most basic help, directions and tips or whatnot. How scared have we let ourselves become to hesitate on something so easy? I’m walking up to her.”

“Alright, fine, but let me talk. We need tact and diplomacy here. No offense. Actually, you’re welcome to take offense.”

Rennard waved him ahead. “Go ahead then, Mr. Ambassador.” They entered the slight opening amid the trees where she was huddled. The girl furled the map and put it in a side pocket of her backpack. She turned her head back to do so, spotting them. Her face reinforced the youth they presumed, not possibly older than sixteen. She had round cheeks and a small mouth, a delicate but dirtied face.

“Oh,” she said, showing pleasant surprise at their presence. She turned around and walked towards them.

“Miss, we’re lost out here,” Milton began, “and we—”

It all happened too fast. The marks on her throat to show her offgiant status, the rope tied around her midriff where three humans, two males and a female, were tied to and hung over her belly, all the bad signs were noticed too late, and the final destination of her two feet weren’t before them, but on top of them, as the movement they assumed to stop anytime soon continued until her soles flattened them underneath. Her feet weren’t as soft as Ada’s, but she was more light-footed.

“I think this is what the expression ‘handed on a silver platter’ is for,” the girl said, reaching for a pouch around her belt while remaining on top of them. “And for some reason, they’re naked.” She pulled out strong cord, strings to her but rope to a human. Her right foot came up first, picking up Rennard.

“You’ve got to be fucking joking,” he roared. “Never asking this cursed specimen for help, EVER again!” He wriggled and fought as he could in her hand, to try and get magic going, but she held him tight. One forearm at a time, she tied the cords around him and then fastened it to the rope around her midriff, where he, along the other three humans, dangled from like decorations.

“Welcome to the club, son,” the man hanging beside him said. “Where the hell are your clothes?”

“I’ve got other worries right now, old man,” Rennard said, pulling with his arms and kicking around, succeeding only in twirling his own ropes and slapping against her lower abdomen.

The giant added Milton to the collection, all five of them spread evenly across the front of her waistline.

“Please, we only wanted help,” Milton said, and the three of his new peers laughed.

“Seeking help from a slaver, that’s rich, kid.”

“For you to be walking around out here, you’re begging to be taken,” the woman said. The giant walked, and from the corner of his eyes Milton saw Henry hiding behind a tree, watching in horror as the youth took them away.

Henry had no choice but to watch the copper-skinned giant wander off, wearing his friends as a belt. He couldn’t beat her alone. She wasn’t as imposing as Ada, perhaps his strength with the art of the fighter would make a greater impact on her smaller weight. But she was still a giant, her feet would swallow his body under them. In fact, her smaller figure and agility might have made her a harder foe, as she would have an easier time catching him.

“Goddamit,” Henry muttered, following her footprints. “My art is worthless.” A strengthened physique meant nothing when giants always won the battle of raw power. Even worse, to get physical, realistically, the most accesible part for him to attack were their lower legs and feet, and that was the last place any human wanted to find themselves near when fighting a giant. A few enforced punches in exchange for getting stomped was no fair trade. Even though his friends stood no chance against a giant either, Rennard with his flames could at least repel their hulking size, Milton and his tethers could find ways to be a legitimate threat. They could be creative, they had a say in those fights. Henry would only get smushed and kicked around without accomplishing anything.

Hours passed of Henry following her trail. He would have to use the art and run after eventually to catch up, hoping she would rest somewhere. It was only afternoon. The corridors opened up as the mountains split aside, crowning a much broader terrain. Henry didn’t like the openness, too easily seen with flat grass and a few trees. He was thinking of how he’d have to approach the giant, his best bet being to sneak in and get them out while she rested. If she kept them tied to her waist as he’d seen, his one chance would be while she slept. It wasn't impossible, but several factors had to go his way, and luck hadn't proved trustworthy.

He heard scraping and shuffling of rocks. Turning that way, a giant eased her way down a rocky mountainside, steps careful and hands finding large projections for support. Her weight ripped loose tiny rockslides as she came down. “Ah, what do I do?” Strangers hadn’t been the source of any goodness. But this one seemed an unreasonable ask. Henry didn’t simply require directions or help with a small matter, his friends were kidnapped and needed rescuing, and to think a giant would help him rescue humans was unthinkable. If he were lucky, she would just brush his request off and move on with whatever she was doing. If the lucky scenario resulted in him gaining nothing, there was no point trying.

She jumped the last bit she had left unto solid ground, the impact reaching all the way to Henry, tiny jolts teasing his legs. The terrain was so open that Henry had quite the distance left for the nearest tree. His legs growing bright gold, he spurted there and hid sideways behind it, daring to lean his head forward for a peek. In the warm climate, the blonde wore a brown vest and an unobtrusive short skirt which fell past half her thighs, made of a rough material. Her yellow hair was tied to a bun, and she carried a lot, both around her belt and in a large backpack. She had a toned body, seeming at home out here in travel.

She got closer, and Henry didn’t dare look anymore, unmoving. The steps padded closer, closer, and stopped.

“You can come out. I saw your little body speeding across the field.” Her voice was firm but light.

Henry remained for a moment, weighed his options, and when peeking out again, saw her lower legs near the tree in wait. He stepped out from under the tree with a lowered head. She had a sweet face but piercing blue eyes, and there were no marks to be found at her neck.

“Please, I don’t want any trouble.”

“Not that you could cause any, by the looks of it.” She got down on a knee, one of the most inviting signs Henry had yet received. “Who are you, what are you doing out here, and why are you naked?”

“Uh, well, it’s a long story. The short of it is that my friends were taken by a giant.”

A spark of interest lit her face. “Really? Tell me about this giant.”

“She was an offgiant, had copper skin, was young, wore a strap around her chest and a short skirt, and had my friends and three other humans tied to a rope around her waist. I didn’t see what words or actions led to what, she just took them.”

“You’re not from here, are you?”

“I’m from Humius.”

She looked over her shoulder, then back at him. “A long way from your small lands. But back to the giant you saw, which way did she go?”

“There are tracks over there, her footprints.” Henry pointed. He couldn’t call her a friend yet, but at least the giant didn’t seem hostile. Though even Ada had seemed that way at first. “I’m Henry, by the way.”

The young lady’s eyes were towards the place he’d pointed. “And I’m Velvet Rowfield, a bounty hunter. The girl you described seems like a basic thug, but she’s likely working for or with the criminal I’m after.”

“So…” Henry tried to contain his hope. “You’re going after her?”

“Indeed.”

“Can I come with you? Please, I won’t slow you down. If you have no space or don’t want to hold me, just stick me to your foot and move me that way for all I care. Just let me join you. They are my closest friends.”

Velvet chuckled. “Calm down. I can easily take you with me. But I can’t guarantee your safety. I have a job to do, and when the time comes for it, I won’t pay much attention to you.”

“That’s alright by me, I just want my friends free, and then I’ll be gone.”

“If I were to reunite you with your friends, you’d remain far from safe in these lands, you know that, right?”

“That’ll be our problem. Ever since this journey started, I thought it couldn’t get worse, but it always did, and now it’s at its worst, and I just want my friends safe and with me.”

“Alright then, sounds like you’ve been through things. I’d be interested in hearing it.”

“Maybe.”

“You’re gonna have to entertain me with a story.” She grabbed him by the torso, stood up, and put him inside the chest pocket of her vest. Her breast pushed him somewhat, though he still found comfort standing there and enjoying the view. Velvet found the trail and followed it. “When did you last see her? Is she far?”

“I’ve had no track of time, but it must be hours ago when I started following her. She’s walked, and I’ve walked, so she’s hours ahead of us. Maybe she jogged for some parts of it, I don’t know.”

“I’ll be able to tell by the footprints,” Velvet said. “She’s been walking so far.”

“Who are these criminals you talked about?”

“It’s an enormous and dangerous group in the east, called the Gray Rhinos. Not just for humans, but giants too. This girl you mentioned probably sells to them, and I know one of their people is holed up in these mountains.”

“What do they want with humans?”

“Nothing nice, I’m afraid. Humans are great sources of magic, they’re looking for ways to exploit that, harness it, unknown experiments and such. And then there’s just the slavery aspect of it. I can’t promise you much. I want this Rhino in shackles and I want my bounty from it, whether your friends are saved or not isn’t my priority.”

“I’m fine with that. I expected no help at best, so I’ll take this.” The ride was rocky inside the pocket but manageable. Velvet went on to speak about herself, growing up in a family of sharecroppers in the intersection between the west and east half of Gintessa. She always had an interest in fighting and would spar and fence with whoever was available. During a bad drought, the family lost its produce and Velvet fell into stealing to provide, and that, in a strange turn of events, led her to the other end of that spectrum, helping the law catch criminals. They were many to be found in the east, bringing her here at twenty-four years of age.

She drank from her flask of water, dug out a few hard oatcakes, and gave a portion to Henry that, to her, was negligible. “Now, you can’t expect me not to want to hear your story and how you ended up so far away, deserted, naked, and…”

Henry looked up at her. “And what?”

She had a tentative smile. “Get going with your story first.” Henry talked first a little about the village they were from, their background from the countryside with practice in magic as a means to raise their stature. He loosely went through their prank on the guardhouse.

“That’s as bold as it is stupid,” Velvet said. “Perhaps more stupid.”

“I’d tell that idiot never to try and convince me if I could go back.” He continued speaking about the giant they had on their side, Lily, which served to make matters worse. “I think taking the punishment from the guards at the time would be better than what we went through escaping it.” He continued speaking about their escape, the farm, Ada, their ‘complications’ with her and how it led them here.

“Tried to run east and sell you as slaves,” Velvet said thoughtfully. “It’s normal for offgiants to take that leap eastwards, misled to believe in a better life there. That’s all an interesting story. But you haven’t told me why, and let me be frank here, you smell like pussy.”

Henry blushed. “It’s that clear?”

Velvet sniffed at the air above him. “I’ve gotten used to it, but the noxious air was there when I first picked you up. Was it the farmgirl? Your story went quite fast when you reached that part.”

“Yeah, she... did things to us, abused us. I don’t think every giant is like that, but it felt like her most twisted self was unleashed when she realised she could do whatever she wanted with us and we couldn’t fight back. That arrogance took her too far.” The conversation continued throughout the day until nightfall, when Velvet set camp by a river. She said she would rest up well now to jog after the girl tomorrow.

That night, Henry dreamed of Ada’s feet stomping after him, though not in the way it had happened these last few days. They were playing, both laughing during it. When she caught him, it wasn’t in the crushing step of battle, but a gentle pressure, her sole engulfing him. Her soft and doughy toes wiggled playfully, grabbing his head, rubbing his hair, and he simply took it. She lay down on the ground and pointed at her breast, and Henry climbed onto her and crawled to where she gestured, kissing her tits, snuggling against them, wondering how the world allowed such a divine being to be besmirched by lowly farm work. He tried to compensate for all of it by making her feel like a goddess, kissing, following her orders, spoling her.

Henry woke with a sweat in the warmth of Velvet’s pocket. He crawled out of there, falling down a short way as Velvet lay to the side. “What was that dream?” he muttered. His manhood was hard. It was time to confront these feelings. No one was around, he had nothing to be ashamed of, no one to confess to. These feelings had first come when Lily accidentally stepped on him, treating him like a piece of dirt under her sole. He understood them better when he met Ada, when she used him, when he gave in and worshipped her. He missed that. He couldn’t properly appreciate it at the time for a genuine concern of returning home. Now that it was past him, Ada had been right. When she made him lick her toes in that night, when he was her pussy slave, she was right in discovering that he enjoyed it.

Henry stepped out of Velvet’s field of vision, even though she slept, for fear of her waking and seeing him. He stroked his manhood at, not daydreams or hazy fabrications in his head, but the reality of what had happened. He thought of his time between Ada’s legs, when she had toyed with him, her beautiful large body standing over them, her attitude. To his embarrassment, he even used their battle, when Henry and his friends in all earnest tried to defeat her and return home, he used that as fuel for his horniness. "My god," he said, panting, remembering the things she'd done to them. Henry trembled onto his knees and came within a minute.

Even though he felt free wandering out of that pocket, no one to see him, the shame fell upon him like a stack of bricks. “What the hell is wrong with me?”

The three people alongside Milton and Rennard claimed to have been working in farm near the mountains when the giant girl snuck in and kidnapped them. The five of them had dangled there throughout the day as their captor hiked on.

“What’s your story, lads, all naked and smelly out here?”

“None of your business,” Rennard said. “I don’t care that you shared your shit story. Doesn’t mean I owe you one.” Rennard raised his legs and slammed them back, slapping the girl’s belly. “Hey, bitch, aren’t you too young for this? Shouldn’t you be with your mommy?”

“Ugh, you’re so annoying,” the giant said, swatting Rennard with her palm as if she went after a mosquito. “I wish I had something to tie your mouth.”

“I’ll tie your hands and feet together and roast you, nasty tramp.”

She flicked his head with her index. “How can you talk so much when you’re just a stupid little human?”

“Free my arms and I’ll show you what stupid and little feels like. I already put down a giant just before you.”

“Hey,” the man beside Rennard said. “You believe what you’re saying, son?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Gods help you then.” Despite her age, the girl was surprisingly unflappable toward Rennard’s insults, marching on. The older man in the middle groaned heavily, coughing.

"What's wrong?" Milton asked.

"She damn near broke my ribs when she stepped on me," he croaked. "We don't have much magic, not as resilient I'm afraid."

"You're fine, stop being babies," the giant girl said. Milton passed the time by conversing with the other prisoners. Their captor took them between another valley, the river coming therefrom. In the late evening, she found a pocket amongst those mountains where a giant’s cabin sat near a pond, which a waterfall crashed into. The door scrolled aside and a lady in dark robes stepped out. She was over thirty, with full lips, piercing green eyes and black hair tied into an enormous bun. Different from the rest, her body and clothes were washed and clean, not much dirt visible despite living out here.

“I have five of them here, milady,” the girl said while presenting her stomach.

The lady’s eyes scanned across them, their biting intensity putting fear in all of them except Rennard. Her hands went to Rennard and Milton, rubbing her fingers across their naked bodies, fondling them. They tried to close their legs, squirm away, but there was no hiding. “Why are these two naked? And it happens to be the two youngest and good-looking ones. Did you screw around while on the job?”

The girl lowered her head. “No, milady, I swear.”

Rennard kicked at her grasp. “Get your fucking fingers off me, lady.” Milton sighed at that. He only made it worse, and perhaps Rennard knew it himself, but he didn’t have it in his body to take the humiliation. He had to show something, if only to let them know he wasn’t one to take it quietly.

The lady stepped closer, almost pressing onto the girl. Her other hand left Milton and now both were on Rennard, fondling, touching, and stroking him. She parted his legs and stroked his manhood, pinched his ass, and petted his hair.

“Think you’re… funny,” Rennard grumbled. He contained any sound of discomfort.

The lady laughed. “I’ll enjoy breaking you, boy. Do you know who I am? They call me the Charmer. You and your naked friend make a handsome pair. I might keep you close instead of sending you away after I’m done with you.”

Rennard spat. “I assume the hundreds before me you refer to were like the sissies next to me. These twats won’t open their mouth for a single word. I don’t get scared because someone’s large. If anything, it makes their fall even harder and more satisfying.”

“Shut up!”

The Charmer cupped the girl’s mouth aggressively. “Don’t speak for me, girl.”

Whatever confidence she spoke down to Rennard with died in an instant. “Yes, milady. Also, I stepped on them, but they weren't too harmed from it.”

"Is that so?" The lady’s hand brushed down the girl’s throat, rubbed them over her tiny breasts covered with a bandeau. Then it came down to her belly and untied Milton first and then Rennard. They fell and landed on the girl’s feet, the Charmer’s larger pair just ahead of them. Rennard took the first chance he got and exploded with flames. Both the girl and the Charmer stepped back, the girl more so with a shriek of pain.

“Would you look at that,” the Charmer said, adjusting her robes and giving the two of them their space. “You have magic powerful enough to have reached your arts. I will absolutely make you my personal accessories now. You’d provide helpful firepower from my shoulders. You, the other one, what’s your art?”

Rennard spoke for him. “Oh, you’ll know soon enough.”

“Rennard, behind us!” The younger girl had been sneaking up on them. Rennard threw a fiery spear and Milton launched a web of spinning ropes which functioned like bolas. The fire burst on her thigh and the bolas caught her ankles together, making her trip. They retreated from her fall, though noticed too late how they’d not only kept their eyes off the Charmer but retreated into her. A shadow grew over them, until her graceful and mature soles squashed them flat.

“Art of the tethers and the flames,” the Charmer said, flexing her long toes victoriously. “Those will do well in my arsenal. I’m curious where you’re from, I doubt you were someone she snatched up from a farm. How did you come by these two, girl?”

The girl, pouting, untangled her ankles and rose up, rubbing her hurt areas. “I just found them in the middle of nowhere, naked. I swear. They were asking me for help.”

“Hmm.” The Charmer kept standing in place. “Go and empty those three in your box and be gone. Head down the hill beyond the pond and get something to eat. You did well.”

“Thank you, milady.” The girl walked past her and into the cabin, returning back out with an empty waist, skirting the pond and leaving the premises. Now it was just the charmer, the sound of the waterfall, her cabin, and the two boys under her.

The big toe of her right foot perfectly smothered Rennard's face, and she raised the lithe appendage to let him get some words out. “The Charmer, some title and all, yet you use the same dirty tricks as any other giant.”

“Dirty tricks? I assume your boyhood fantasies of an ‘honorable’ fight, whatever that is, would benefit you quite well. But don’t worry, I have some magics which justify my title, and you will experience them.” The toe struck back down over his head. Using them as her sandals, the Charmer went into her cabin and retrieved some cord, peeling them off her feet and tying their arms together behind their backs. She dumped them under her desk and resumed whatever she’d been busy with before their arrival, sitting there and writing unfinished letters.

“Hey!” Rennard called out from underneath. “We haven’t gotten anything proper to eat and drink for a long time. I’m not expecting trash like you to give us the grandest inn experience, but we’ll die of thirst at this rate. Your tiny brain has—”

Like the admonishing strike of a ruler, the lady's foot gave him a quick slap. They were helpless with their arms tied. Continuing to write her letters, they could do nothing to prevent her from idly toying with them, scratching and rubbing them with her toes, rolling them around, flipping them around like pancakes. They were a pair of kicking legs and nothing else, the difference in strength a piteous thing to observe. The one reprieve was that her feet weren’t very dirty compared to other giants. Rennard didn’t make more noise whenever he had the chance, not because she would shut him off or not listen, reasons which had never stopped him before, but his mouth and throat were getting dry.

“God, you’re distracting me,” she said eventually. “I need to get these written and delivered today. Can’t focus while having too much fun with you.” The Charmer reached down, took them, and tossed them onto her chair. She sat, a wall of cloth squashing them. They could feel the warmth of her flesh through the fabric, their bodies covered by asscheek and thigh. It well exceeded the smothering force of a foot, as at least a foot had an arch, gaps between the toes, with plenty of room for ventilation. Now, there was pure darkness and not a fingertip to move, her backside like a switch which turned off the world. At the very least, the Charmer had a lovely fragrance from scented baths. It couldn’t compare with Ada or the girl afterwards with their dirty and travel-worn bodies. The Charmer, befitting her voluptuous and ladylike appearance, was washed and clean.

The evening became night, a few servants coming and going. The Charmer finished her writings by night, finally standing up. A smirk came to her when glancing down at her chair, the two boys sprawled out in an unmoving defeat. She gathered her papers and called the servant.

“Ready boxes three and four to be shipped tomorrow,” she said, referring to the ones containing humans. “I will spend the next three days at Springfall.”

“Yes, milady.” The Charmer picked up the boys.

“What…” Milton groaned. “What are you going to do with us?”

“Why, charm you, of course.”

“Is that some sick way of putting it?” Milton said. “That you’ll torture us until we do as you say?”

“Hmm, no, I’m not one for torture. Well, your coming day will be quite unpleasant, but it will be better afterwards. Afterwards, you’ll be in bliss.”

“What the hell are you even talking about?” Rennard said. “Give us some fucking water.”

With her letters and papers under an arm, she took them to a back room where a pentagram had been chalked in the middle. Taking her place within it, she whispered an incantation, and with a puff of light they were all gone.

They appeared on another pentagram in a similar room. The two boys were passengers as she went about in the new gloomly lit cabin, setting her letters and debriefing another servant. “I’m done for the day. Make sure these letters reach Miranda, the Rhinos in the area will depend on this.”

“Yes milady.” The Charmer left to a grand room, nicely decorated and with a large bed, no doubt her own quarters.

“Let’s see… You boys don’t look clean.” The Charmer raised them and gave them a few sniffs, raising an eyebrow. “I expected you to smell bad, but not carry the specific scent of a rank woman’s love juices. That stupid girl definitely had her fun with you while on the job. I’ll punish her accordingly.” They found no need to correct her. Their tied arms were placed over tiny hooks on the wall, where they hung helplessly.

“Please,” Milton said. “What do you want from us?”

“I’ll be back soon, sweethearts.” She left the room.

“She’s going to use water to win us over,” Rennard said. “Torture us with thirst. We need to do what’s necessary to survive, get the water, but keep it there. We’re not becoming her lackeys.”

Milton sighed, licking his lips. They were parched.

The Charmer returned with a bowl of water which she placed on a small table. Then she retrieved them from their hooks, dragged a chair to the smaller table where she sat while observing the two in her hands. “I’ll start with you,” she said, an eye on Rennard.

Rennard glanced at the bowl. “I know your plan, tramp. So what are you gonna make us do to get that water?”

“You understand some of it,” she said. Her fingers released Milton. He landed on her foot and rolled off. The Charmer sat and brought the bowl closer. “But I wouldn’t recommend you drink this.” Without further warning, she plunged Rennard into the bowl, and he realised it was warm and soapy. Her hand resurfaced, letting him catch his breath while rubbing her fingers over his skin and long red hair. “So filthy.” Her fingers came to his manhood and the area underneath, giving him a gentle squeeze to make him squirm. The fingers were rough Rennard suffered another couple of dives into the water. When she finished washing him, the Charmer used her gown to wipe him dry.

“I don’t need a bath,” Rennard said afterwards. “I need to drink.”

“I’ll be doing the opposite this night,” the Charmer said.

“What’s the opposite of giving me water? Take water from me? You make no sense, bitch.”

She raised him to her face, pointing his lower body towards her mouth. Her seductive, full lips parted. Her mouth was the opposite of theirs, glistening from wetness, the pinkish tongue sheening amid two rows of pearly teeth.

“What? No!” Rennard’s sudden thrashing was that of a prey about to be eaten. “You’re insane, you can’t do this!” She brought him closer, thumb and index around his torso. His legs spread and he planted a foot on each of her lips, steadying against her entry. A chuckle slipped through those lips. Her tongue snaked its way out and prodded his exposed manhood, causing Rennard to reflexively close his legs. Legs closed and straight, she shoved his lower body inside and her delightful lips closed around his waist.

“Fuck you!” Rennard yelled, a voice faltering in defeat. He kicked the roof of her mouth, used his knees against her teeth, did everything with his legs, but he couldn’t fight off her tongue from its goal, his cock, the sweet little candy she sought. Her fingers let him go, holding him with her mouth alone. Her lips wouldn’t stop kissing and cuddling with his waistline, as if she were trying to chew him down without using her teeth. A force pulled at his lower body, her cheeks caving in as she sucked, the muscles in her throat in a constant dance. Her eyes locked on him with a casual mood. That look drilled into his soul, and its simple continuity was the worst, letting him know he couldn’t hide from her. At his most vulnerable, trying to contain his moans, Rennard couldn’t bear being looked at.

Milton averted his eyes elsewhere, but he didn’t have his hands available to hold his ears and shut the sloppy noise. The greatest shame might have been with him more than Rennard, because Milton’s manhood stiffened from watching, unable to deny the reality of the Charmer’s beauty as she raped his friend with her mouth. Milton walked away, but her foot cut him off. Turning around and looking up, her deadpan eyes were on him now while her mouth didn’t relent on his friend. Her big toe gently grazed his manhood, and she winked. He was next.

With another taunting show of casualness, the Charmer reclined on her chair and untied the bun, her dark and lustrous hair falling over her shoulders. The suction drew Rennard in further, from waist to hip and then almost to his chest, his tied arms dangling behind him by her chin. Her tongue reached for his belly, tickling him, and he did his utmost to not laugh but couldn't. She tickled, bit with her teeth, fondled his manhood, sucked, and set him into a delirious whirlwind of giggling from the tickles and grunting from pain and moaning from pleasure, the sounds of an insane man to ears alone. Rennard gathered whatever moisture his parched mouth could bring and spat at her cheek. She sucked harder, the tip of her tongue getting rougher with his balls. His body couldn’t deny it, and his incredibly stubborn will which wanted to withhold her the pleasure of getting him, it failed. He couldn’t resist.

Rennard came. His cum motivated her mouth and tongue to work fanatically, milking every last drop out of him. Rennard hung out of her mouth limply, a stupified expression. She licked it all off inside her mouth and spat him out on the floor. He didn’t move. Rennard’s efforts and the warmth all added to the tire, added to the thirst, and as Milton was picked up and it was his turn being washed, he realised the reason for this. Making them cum dehydrated them further, the opposite of giving them water.

“Do you want us to die of thirst?” Milton said as she moved him towards her moist mouth. “We haven’t even defied you. Who the hell tortures someone without asking questions, without wanting something?”

“As I’ve already said, I’m going to charm you,” she said. “My power has very unique conditions. All will make sense in due time.” The lips closed around his waist and repeated the sucking and kissing she’d given Rennard until he too was a drained, fatigue lump of meat. After being thoroughly milked, she spat him out on the floor next to Rennard, both of them like discarded banana peels, like pieces of trash.

“Good night, my sweethearts.” The Charmer walked over them, to her bed, and went to sleep.

One of the copper-skinned giant youths stepped out of a cluster of mountains to an open tract, scanning the surroundings. “They said there were estates southwest, where the humans are sent on their lonesome to gather herbs. That should be a good place.” She adjusted the bandeau and the rope around her waistline, threw the long braid behind her, and took a sip of water from her flask.

“Hey, where the hell are my friends?” The shout came from Henry who revealed himself from behind some nearby trees. “I saw someone like you take my friends. Show me where they are.”

“Huh, what’s a human doing out here on his own, and naked?” She kept those words as a low mutter to herself. “Whatever, it’s a free catch.” She cleared her throat and said, in a kind voice, “I think I know where your friends are, I’ll show you.” The girl advanced on him. Henry was, understandably, viewed as nothing to be threatened by, so she felt no urgency to quickly step on and subdue him. Coming close, she crouched down to grab him.

Henry summoned the art of the fighter and elbowed the middle of her palm. With a shriek, she recoiled as if having touched fire. Henry jumped up and drove an upwards kick up the bottom of her chin, clinking her teeth together.

“Ouch!” She fell on her ass with the look of having tasted something disgusting. She kicked her foot out to hit Henry, but he dodged and sprinted off. “You’re gonna pay for that!” The girl got up and gave chase. Henry didn’t believe she’d be so fast, her stomping steps narrowly trailing behind him. With a glance back, he’d see a row of toes slamming down a yard or so behind, falling back, then the next foot appearing, able to feel the wind and dust expelled from her steps. The toes would curl upon landing, an attempt to clasp him tight should he be trapped thereunder.

Henry made a sharp turn left. The giant, not so dexterous, had to let her momentum take her for another couple of steps, puffing in annoyance. “You’re gonna regret it when I catch you.”

Henry rounded a cliff, and when the giant did so as well, she found Henry hiding behind another giant’s ankle. Velvet Rowfield, hands on her hips, met the girl with a cold stare.

“Um, hello, ma’am, I—”

Velvet’s hand flied up in half slap and half grab as she smacked a grip onto the girl’s ear. “So the Rhinos are using little thugs like you?” Velvet yanked the girl so hard she lost balance, putting her front first to the ground. Velvet put a knee on her back and grabbed her braid. “It’s not so fun when someone bigger comes along, is it?”

“I’m sorry!” she said. Her weakened, cry-ready face along with how Velvet held her reminded Henry of how, underneath the size, these girls were no older than fifteen.

“I don’t care about your sorries,” Velvet said, her grip iron-hard. “Tell me where the Charmer is.”

“She’ll punish me if I say, ma’am.”

“She won’t be punishing anyone when I’m done with her. The only one who can punish you now is me, and I am going to punish you. But you can make it better for yourself by helping me. If you'd like, I can start by breaking the bones in your fingers and toes.”

“No, please!”

“Where is she?”

“Ok, ok! She’s in those mountains. The human saw me come out of them. There’s a bunch of mountains close together that way. There’s a lot of corridors in it, like a maze. Whichever corridor has a mark in the rock somewhere, like a horn, is the right path.”

“Hmm. Is the Charmer there now?”

“I think she left for somewhere else.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know, I swear!”

“Which goddamn way is she returning from?”

“I don’t think she walks. I never see her travel somewhere, but she goes places.”

Velvet raised her eyes to the distance. “Hmm, probably teleportation. How long until she returns?”

“She never goes away for more than four days.”

“Four days…” Velvet got up. The girl tried to follow, but Velvet put a foot on her back. “Stay down.” Velvet reached for a side compartment in her backpack and pulled out a pouch. In it she scooped up something powdery which, with a wave of her hand, flowed as one tenuous unit around her fingers. With the swirling matter around her fingers, she brought her hand down to the girl’s ankles. None would have guessed the stuff was once a powder, as it solidified into blue shackles fettering her ankles together. Velvet created another pair of shackles for her wrists, linking them to the ankles. She could move with relative freedom, but they were still constraints in the end. She helped the girl stand, who could not take long strides nor extend her arms fully.

“You will head into the nearest town and find yourself some royal guards. They have the magic to break these shackles.”

The solution granted the girl no respite. “Royal guards?”

“Oh yes, darling. Did you think you wouldn’t end up in trouble?” Velvet flaunted the pouch full of the powder before putting it in the rucksack. “They only provide licensed bounty hunters with these. You either go to them to get these shackles off and repent your crimes, or evade them and live with these chains for the rest of your life. Also, whoever sees you with these chains will know you’re a criminal, so it’ll be best to try and get them off as soon as possible.” Velvet shoved her. “Away with you.”

The girl ended up before Henry, who she stood over with a poisonous glare. “I hate you.” Her toes curled; she couldn’t stomach leaving without payback. Her foot rose what distance the fetters allowed, hovering over Henry. Though the fear from Velvet still hung over her, so all she did was wrinkle her foot to sprinkle little pebbles along fragments of branches and leaves off on him. Her slender toes went yellow from pressure, trying to scrape every bit of debris off.

Henry was far from fussing over his hygiene after the last couple of days, giving her a jolly look. “Have fun with your chains.” Her foot fell beside him, but Henry didn’t budge.

“I said away with you.” Velvet gave her another shove, and the girl was off, magical chains clinking.

“It’s okay for her to just wander off like that?” Henry said. “Surely there’s some other way around those shackles?”

“It’s possible with immense magical power, but she probably won’t think that far. She’s just a kid. Also, she has no bounty on her. I don’t get paid for her, and I have to be efficient when I’m out for bounties. I can’t spend too much time on things that aren’t my bounty, even if it means turning away from an injustice. If I hadn’t needed information on the Charmer, I wouldn’t have bothered catching her.”

“I guess I’m lucky I don’t cost you too much of your time.”

“Exactly.” Velvet picked him up and put him in her chest pocket. They followed the direction the girl had pointed towards, and the conspicuous cluster of mountains were surely those she’d spoken of. They saw one of the corridors from afar, but Velvet made camp in a lowland out of its sight. “We don’t march in there now. The girl seemed too frank and scared to lie. In four days, we’ll know the Charmer is back. Going in now into the midst of it all and waiting seems worse. I don’t know how deep their network is, but if I waltz in there and wait, I doubt any of them would have the power to challenge me, but they could contact the Charmer and warn her from returning. And I don’t have the resources and manpower to play babysitter and detain all of them. So we go in on the fourth day, I’ll overpower and detain the Charmer.”

“You’re confident. I wish I’ll have power like that someday.”

She put him down. “Need the obvious be said? You likely won’t have, since you’re human.”

“Aren’t there humans who can challenge giants?”

“Massive exceptions. Also, the giants keep a close watch on them. Most of the humans who have the power to beat a giant, one on one, are usually hired by the kingdom. Some of them are tasked to fight the Rhinos. And they’re not allowed to be in Humius, can’t let that kind of power sit and fester with the humans. So if you ever found yourself so powerful, you wouldn’t be allowed to keep it to yourself. You’d have to take a respectable position within the kingdom, which isn’t bad at all, or be branded an outlaw in need of being dealt with.”

“Hmm.”

Velvet took her backpack off. “Your future looks bright, sixteen years old with decent progress throug your art. It’s far from a bad thing to work for the kingdom, if you ever get there.”

“I just feel so helpless when fighting a giant. You… you’re so big. Maybe you can give me your perspective.”

Velvet shrugged. “I haven’t really fought humans. Even then, fighting humans isn’t some particular category of its own. There are no secrets giants have. The girl who just chased you, she didn’t have any deep thought process or strategy behind her approach to deal with you.” Velvet let her left foot stand on its heel, then slapped it down. “Naturally, she just tried to stomp you, because you’re tiny and on the ground.”

“Maybe we could spar,” Henry said. “You could share some insights of the experience. I could learn something.”

Velvet half-smiled. “Spar?” She tapped the ball of her foot along the ground. “You mean me trying to trample you, and you trying to fight back?”

“Hey, sometimes I do land successful blows. You could tell me what you find annoying about what I do, maybe I can develop some fruitful strategies.”

“Some other time. I need to focus on what’s at hand here.”

“It’s gonna be a long wait, could kill some time. And it won’t be too tiring for you, so it won’t burn through your rations.”

Velvet gave a small laugh. “What insistence. It almost feels to me like you want to get stepped on.”

“No, of course not.” Henry blushed.

Velvet sat down against her backpack. “I’ve mostly been around giants my life, so I’m not used to the male body. That manhood looks pretty funny, like a little cord hanging from the legs.”

Henry had forgotten his nakedness since Ada had stripped him long ago, but he hoped it would go unmentioned. “Yeah, sorry. It’s unseemly to be like this.”

“Don’t be. But I wonder, when it stiffens up, is it due to fear? I would think so, it was stiff when that girl chased you, and when she threatened to stomp you. Even when I first met you, it pointed up.”

“Um…” Henry turned away from her. “It’s complicated.”

Rennard woke with a headache, his body sore from the awkward sleeping position coupled with the wooden floor. Milton remained asleep, front first, naked, forearms tied together behind the lower back. When Rennard lurched his way upright, vertigo struck him like a rock on the head. He closed his eyes to a spinning world and gently lay down again. “Aaaah. Lord help us.”

The Charmer wasn’t in her bed. The large window revealed a bright morning outside. Rennard tried rising again, using his knees mostly. He stood unsteadily, then tried walking. His mouth had never been so dry, his eyes hurting. “Hey, Milton. Wake up.”

His friend grumbled, turning ever so slightly. He met the morning with an instant grimace. “Oh god. Is it over? Is the nightmare over?”

“Whatever dream you had was better than this. Unless nightmare means yesterday.”

Milton too got on his knees, enduring the intense dizziness. “Where is she?”

“I don’t know.” Rennard’s voice wavered. “I was going to ask you what to do, but I doubt there’s any plan. She’s got us. I hate to say it, but the bitch has us. I don’t care about pride anymore, about winning small battles. We need water. We’re halfway to death. I don’t want to die. But she doesn’t even seem concerned with that. Tell me, what does she want? You said it best yesterday, who tortures someone without asking questions? What does she fucking want!”

Milton sighed, forlorn. “I don’t know. It feels like she’s busy and has important affairs to deal with. But I don’t see what the reason for this is.”

The door opened. It wasn’t the Charmer who entered, but a giant servant, a pale youth with a green gown to her knees. Her brown hair was tied into two braids falling over her shoulders. Pale feet padding softly across the wood, she carried a flask of some beverage and poured it into a container by the bedside. Milton and Rennard ran up to her.

“Miss, please,” Milton yelled.

She ceased pouring and turned her head and looked down at them, two round and green eyes matching her short gown. The girl might have been sixteen, around their age.

“We’re dying of thirst, we beg you for just a small bit of that liquid.”

“Literally dying of thirst,” Rennard added.

They got enough of her attention for her to crouch down, her head perched on top of her two knees. The frock didn’t fall over her knees, leaving the pale flesh of her calves and thighs exposed along her underwear. Two curious eyes observed every bit of their naked bodies.

“Well?”

“Shut up, Rennard,” Milton snapped. “A bit of humility for once, yeah?”

“Hmm, you must be the two ‘promising’ mages the Lady mentioned,” the girl said, a light voice. “There doesn’t seem to be anything special about you, don’t know why the Lady is wasting time on you.”

“Neither do we,” Milton said. “Could we please get just a little bit to drink? We don’t need much.”

“Nope.” Legs unfolding back up, she returned to her towering height and resumed pouring what remained in her flask.

“Come on!” Rennard said, jumping in frustration. “Come, let’s see if there’s any spillage.” They both scurried up between her feet. Looking up, they saw her pillars for legs reaching up to her underwear. She was neither thin nor too bulky, well-built and toned. “Look if there’s any drops.” They searched under her for any droplets, droplets to her, but for their size it was far from negligible.

Milton found a large drop of the yellow liquid on the side of her big toe. It gave him a moment of pause. But just a moment. This was about survival. He got on his knees, bent down, and licked it up. Her foot didn’t have a taste, it was plain flesh. As with the Charmer, and no doubt a trend set by her, the girl had a clean and well-kept body. The liquid had the earthen flavor of a tea, likely from a leaf grown here in Gintessa.

Her reaction didn’t come immediately, and not for a lack of notice. She saw what he was doing, then stared for several seconds, puzzled, then abashed. At last her foot left him. “What the hell are you doing?”

“No, I just—” Looking up to explain, Milton saw a frowning face and a descending sole. Her big and second toe parted, closed around his torso, lifted him up, and with a kick she threw him across the room. Milton helplessly rolled over the floor like a skipping stone.

“Hey, what was that for?” Rennard stepped up in defence of his friend, but backed up when she accepted his confrontation, dwarfing him. “Don’t take it out on me.”

“Your dumb friend was licking my toe. Unless…” Her momentum paused. “Did the Lady tell you to lick my feet?”

“Huh? Of course n—” Rennard didn’t know what she was about to do in her irritation, and saw an easy way out. “Yes, she did. That’s why he did it. Lady’s orders. I think you owe him an apology.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Why would the Lady… huh. Fine.” An embarrassment had crept up on her from the moment she noticed Milton lapping away at her toe, and now it showed itself in reddened cheeks. She presented her left foot. “Go ahead then.”

“Pardon?”

“Lick. If the Lady ordered it, then it should be done.”

“Oh.” Rennard saw another chance, studying her feet for traces of tea droplets. Though there didn’t seem to be any.

“Well?” she said. “Go ahead.”

“Listen, when I said that ‘the Lady’ said for it to be done, what I meant was that she hadn’t said it.”

The girl rolled her eyes. “Ugh. Just get out of my way.” She turned around and casually kicked backwards, a gentle slap with the sole to send Rennard bounding across the room to his friend. The girl filled the container and picked up some empty plates along other trash before she was done. She walked towards the door and stopped just before the two boys lying defeated on the ground. “Can’t believe the Lady is going to waste time training this.”

“Train?” Rennard croaked the words. “What part of this torture is training?”

The girl made for the door, but didn’t leave. Blushing, she peered down the hallway, listened, then glanced back at the boys nervously. She returned inside, standing over them, biting her lower lip.

The boys just lay in their misery, barely paying attention to her, until it fell upon them. Her left foot descended slowly onto Milton, and her right onto Rennard, a wall of soft warmth pinning them in place. Her soles didn’t smell. They were relatively clean from a recent wash, but still dusty from the little bit of walking between then and now.

With another glance back at the door to reassure no one was coming, the girl stood on them for a while, then lightly twisted her feet to grind them. Perhaps it was at the sound of someone coming, but in half a second she skipped off and scurried out of there, with a timid look bordering on shame.

Milton licked his lips. “That bit of tea was worth it.”

“I don’t want to speak anymore, my throat’s too dry.”

The morning became noon, the noon afternoon, the afternoon evening, and the boys were convinced they were either forgotten or left to die a slow death. To save energy, they barely moved, letting the hours pass by in a vegetative state. Soon they would have to sleep, wake, and complete two entire days without food and water.

The door opened. The Charmer entered. A spark of life, perhaps one of the last ones available in their body, set the boys in motion. The Charmer wore a velvety robe to the shins, a glowy red with a pattern of yellow flowers throughout. Her dark voluminous hair was untied, falling in long curls behind her back.

“How are my boys doing?” The desperation overcame any shame they had over the state they were in, running up to her feet and falling on their knees.

“You don’t want to kill us, right?” Rennard said. “If you do, do it now. Just fucking end this, for god’s sake. And if you don’t, then give us something to bloody drink before we die.”

She raised a teasing eyebrow, then made an indication to a ceramic bowl in her hand. “What do you think we have here?” Raising the bowl to her lips, she slurped profusely. The Charmer kissed the air and made a satisfied sound. “Is that fresh, cold water from the mountain spring?”

“What do you want? Just tell us what you want!”

“Your undying obedience.”

“We’ll do whatever you want,” Rennard said. “You haven’t even given us a chance to prove it.”

The Charmer brought a thoughtful finger to her chin. “But what happens after you get this water? You’ll do what I say now, but once your thirst is sated, you might grow rebellious, perhaps even vengeful.”

The two exchanged looks. Milton said, “Look, if you’re threatening to have us die slowly if we don’t do what you say, then the answer is obviously that we’ll do whatever you say as long as you don’t kill us.”

“Oh, of course. I will have your obedience. I’m just teasing. Come.” She closed the door and made her way to her bed, placing the bowl of water on the bedside table. When they caught up to her feet, she said, “If the water is in front of you, you do not drink it. You drink it by following my commands. Understood?”

“Yes.”

The Charmer took them in a hand each and placed them on the bed, the plush yet heavy blankets folding slightly to their weight. Her entry on the bed caused a slight decline towards her, but they held steady. Stretching her legs out, the Charmer gathered several pillows against the back of the bed and half-sat against it. She tugged the robe off her shoulders, pulling it down to her waist, freeing her breast which more than fulfilled the promise they had given underneath the clothing. A perfect roundness and size, her pale breast didn’t suffer a speck of imperfection. Not one mole or particular wrinkle besmirched its smooth surface, the nipples an ideal brown-pink.

The Charmer brought the bowl near her, then dipped her left tit into it.

“Of course she would,” Rennard whispered to his friend. “These bitches are getting predictable.”

“Shut up. Just the tiniest bit of assurance that we’re getting water, and you’re right back to that attitude?”

“We do whatever’s needed to get the water, like we said. But after that…”

“I don’t know what happens after. If she starves us through this torture again the moment we disobey her, I think it’s best if we do listen. Keep our heads low and look for a way out.”

“Hushed whispers, I hear,” the Charmer said. “Are you admiring me? Or keeping secrets? Don’t worry, soon enough, you’d rather die than not tell me everything.” She finished dipping her other breast into the water, letting a good amount drip back down into the bowl. The Charmer got into position, picked up the two boys and placed them on her stomach. Due to her half-sitting position, they could reach most of her breast by standing on the beginning of her ribcage. “Go ahead.”

They rushed in, Milton for the left teat and Rennard for the right. Their recently-taken-upon mantra of everything being too good to be true gave them a fear that the Charmer would pull them away after a few seconds, and so they licked violently the first seconds, like wild hounds, taking as much as they could in what might be a brief moment. But no deeper lie presented itself yet, they kept licking, half-kissing and sucking, lapping up all the moisture and wetness without interruption, the room filled with the slippery sound of their tongues against her breast and wet pops from sucking. The water was indeed fresh and cold. Although she was incredibly attractive, her breast smooth and soft, they didn’t pay any attention to that. They didn’t even get hard, a sincere display of the state they were in, their desperation the overwhelming emotion. The water was everything that mattered.

For just a moment, Milton noticed her self-satisfied expression overlooking them and thought about how this appeared to an observer, two broken people enthralled to her, slaving away at her breast. But the taste of fresh water in his mouth, the drops moisturizing his throat, it quickly pushed any qualms away. He didn’t care what this looked like. He had to survive.

Rennard got on his tiptoes to reach the uppermost part of her breast, then lost balance and tumbled down her stomach. The Charmer hummed in amusement. “There’s more.” She dipped her fingers into the bowl and brought them quickly, still dripping, over her breast, letting the water trail down. They caught the streamlets with open mouths and licked the trails, their bodies advancing on her chest, making impressions. But the moment they lost footing, the breast pushed back, reminding them of their smallness. She ordered them to wait by the nipples, and aimed the delivery of new water there, earning herself their mouth-work on her most sensitive part. Milton took her nipple in his mouth and sucked hard, and it had the celestial plushness of cotton candy which wouldn’t melt.

The Charmer seemed relatively unaffected. Beside a satisfied expression, she showed nothing, not a single moan, squirm, the need to touch herself. Like the way she’d worked them with her mouth yesterday, her lovemaking had a strange restraint, as if not done solely for her enjoyment. It contrasted starkly to Ada who’d dominated them to feed her shrieking pleasure. Though it further underscored the question which had been there from the start, what the Charmer’s purpose really was. There was never any command from her to stop. They spent somewhere between forty minutes to an hour licking water off her breast until first Milton fell back and lay on her stomach, then Rennard.

“Thank me.”

“Thank you.”

“Mistress.”

“Thank you, mistress.” All three of them lay until they fell asleep.

Lying in the folds between her robe and stomach, Milton and Rennard were woken by her gentle fingers. “Good morning, my little mages.”

“Good morning, mistress,” Milton said. Today’s waking was infinitely better than yesterday’s. They remained on her soft skin, Milton even nuzzled against it without thought.

“Water was the most pressing urge I can imagine, but I suppose you’re hungry as well?”

“Yes, mistress, we are,” Rennard said, the enthusiasm having found a home inside him, more than just a brief spark.

The Charmer brought a bowl different from the one with water, this one with a spoon in it, likely brought in by a servant this morning. “Come.” Scooping up half a spoonful, she gently tipped the yellow soup to pour over her breast. “A soup made from milk, mushrooms, greens, and cream. Enjoy.”

“Thank you, mistress,” they both said, back to licking, the soup thicker than the water they were used to and requiring a good couple of slurps. After a short while, she asked for their names, and they both answered. As a passing notion, both Rennard and Milton noticed how diligently they referred to her as mistress, despite one brief command before their sleep to adress her as such.

“I want both of you to look at me while you eat.”

“Yes, mistress.” They both did, while the Charmer drank a cup of her tea, yawned, closed her eyes and relaxed. At first, they watched her face because she asked them to. But the act of doing it lost its demanding air. The more they watched, the less attention they paid to the soup, the more they fell, fell into someplace unknown, and after a while they leaned onto her breast and stared at her like one admiringly watches the beautiful constellations in the sky.

“I love you, mistress.” A second after saying that, Milton visibly flinched. He observed his surroundings with a sudden concern, as if he’d been dropped here a second ago. When he saw the way Rennard stared at the Charmer, he didn’t recognize his friend. And if Milton himself had looked like that a moment ago, he assumed something had to be wrong with him.

“So do I,” Rennard said. “I love her too.”

“Rennard.” Milton took a wobbly step over to the other side and headbutted his friend on the back.

“What?” A flush of sobriety overcame Rennard as it had Milton. “Why did I say that?”

Her quiet laugh got their attention, her eyes still closed. “To fully understand my power was difficult. I didn’t know how the charm worked for a long time. I thought it had to be lust, that if they yearn for me, desire for me, I can charm them. It seemed to work that way. My attractive figure would be invaluable in accomplishing that. But there was constant failure. I would bring them to climax, use my body to arouse them, but it didn’t work. I couldn’t charm them. Then I realised. The ones I try to charm are often fighters, stronger enemies who have seen battle, who I have battled and captured. They don’t desire me, in fact, they hate me. The fact that I can manipulate their body, bring about sensual pleasure, it doesn’t mean they desire me. I had to earn such a deep, earnest desire, beyond the shallow want to fuck. I can’t threaten them to have it either, because then it’s fear, not desire. I had to find a way, not to force them to worship me, but bring about conditions where they do it themselves and it’s genuine. And then hunger and thirst came to mind. I starve them. There is nothing so delicious in this world as water when you’re thirsty, something you boys might know well enough now. When your throats were like a barren desert and I poured water all over myself, you’d kill in order to throw yourselves at me and have a taste. And even though it isn’t for my body, that immense desire to slake your thirst is just the right emotion, and that’s what my charm needs. And with all that contact against my body, all that desire, I easily establish the bond.”

“So you tried to charm us?” Rennard said.

“I have charmed you.” The Charmer didn’t seem bothered by his self-awareness. She fumbled for something in the bedside table, her hand coming up behind them. With a small cutting tool, she snipped the bindings off them. They waved their arms around, shoulders sore. “You’re free to leave.”

Rennard and Milton watched each others agape, then turned up to her. “What’s going on here?”

“Did you not hear me? You’re free to leave. The door is slightly open.”

“Just like that?” Rennard extended his arms and worked his shoulders. “You know, for what you had us suffer through, you think we’re just leaving it like that?”

“So you wish to stay?”

“Just to show you a thing or two, right, Milton?”

“Yeah.”

Rennard’s body glowed red from his base magics. “You deserve a beating.”

“Look me in the eyes, take a deep breath, and tell me I deserve a beating.”

“Sure!” Rennard marched up between her breast, fist held back in preparation, flowing with magic. “You deserve… You.” He fell again into that unknown place when he made eye contact. He shook his head. “Fuck.” Rennard took a deep breath. For the hours he’d spent on her body, his nose had gotten used to her lovely scent, yet it felt as if it invaded his nostrils with a renewed presence. His fist wouldn’t move. “You…”

“Don’t.” Milton was beside him, holding his hand. “Don’t punch our mistress.”

“Why not?” the Charmer said. “Did I not deserve a beating? The door is partly open, you can punch me and leave.”

“I don’t want to.” The magic faded, and Rennard fell on his knees, watching his own hands in disgust. “What’s happening?”

“Do you two wish to stay with your mistress?” Her words were irresistible.

“We do,” Milton said, head lowered.

“There’s a reason why I told you everything after the deed was done. The moment you threw yourself at me to drink that water, it was over.” She leaned forward, mouth above their heads, and whispered, “Worship me.”

“Yes, mistress.” They reluctantly went to a teat each, hugged it, and worshipped. There was no urgent thirst or hunger, no restraints, the door open behind them. There was nothing they could say in their heads to convince themselves there was a cause for this. An outside observer would see what appeared as the Charmer and her two slaves, and that’s what it had become. Their kissing and licking was for no reason other than to please their mistress.

“You two belong to me now.”

Rennard and Milton were on the windowsill of the Charmer’s room, looking out. The area was nestled between mountains, hidden in an enormous dead end. Here the mountains were lusher than where they were caught. The trees, many of them giant-sized, were rich with leaves, most of the surfaces moss-covered with plenty of flowers growing from them. There were wooden buildings thereabout, larger and smaller ones. Young giants sparred on the field, kicking and performing rehearsed drills on one another, some practicing archery on targets, others fencing. The Charmer’s house overlooked the practice fields, perched on a shelf of the lush mountains.

“You two will grow strong under my wing,” the Charmer said, standing behind them. “This is one of the five places I travel between. Here, promising prospects are trained for the Gray Rhinos. You are lucky, humans are rarely considered among the promising ones. They often have… other uses.” They recalled the boxes filled with humans being shipped off in her previous abode. “What I want for you two is training of raw power.” She raised Rennard’s chin with an index finger. “I want your flames to carry a fierce bite.” Her other finger went to Milton. “And I want your tethers to be as strong and durable as possible. Your value would be immeasurable if you could ever bring about ropes that wouldn’t break to a giant’s strength. There was a man like that once, but the kingdom had him killed, considered too dangerous.” That brought a visible fear over Milton, but the Charmer got on her knees and was quick to allay. “Don’t worry, we are not the kingdom, we are the Gray Rhinos, a widespread group across Gintessa. While loyal to me, you’ll forever have a home with the Rhinos. With us, your usefulness is rewarded and cherished, not punished. We find value in everything, and the kingdom doesn’t like that kind of thinking.” The Charmer stood again. “Now, do you see that young lady over there, practicing her kicks near the cliffside?”

They noticed her in the distance. “Yes, mistress.”

“That’s Hilda. She will be responsible for you. If you need to train against someone, she’ll be there. I’d recommend you specifically, Milton, to train your tethers with a giant, let them try and break them, then construct new ones. I wouldn’t recommend the same for you, Rennard. They’d be quite annoyed to constantly feel your flames. If you wonder about food, sleeping, cleaning, ask Hilda. The girls will certainly find a pair of human recruits interesting, so you might have to endure a temporary fame. Well then, off you go. The day has just begun.”

The two jumped off the windowsill and landed before her. About to walk off, Milton couldn’t resist touching her ankle, then hugging it. “Mistress, when will we see you again?”

“Don’t be greedy, sweethearts,” she said. “Off with you, and make me proud.”

“Yes, mistress.” The two boys were aware of the charm, that just two days ago they’d never behave like this. But it didn’t matter. Their days of sobriety was a fargone, different time, as if recalling one’s silly behaviour when younger.

They navigated through her many hallways and found the main door, left ajar. After leaving, the door closed. They came out to a soil path hemmed in by moss wounding its way down the mountainside. The trees were birch of Gintessa, about a hundred and fifty feet tall. The noon sun shone brightly, warm and welcome, the mountain air clean.

“To learn how to fight giants,” Rennard said, rubbing his hands together. “I’ve wanted that for a long time. And when you think about it, in Humius, the oppressive presence of the giants comes from the kingdom. Not these Gray Rhinos. Seems to me like the Rhinos are fighting the good fight.”

“Makes sense. And we never hear of the Rhinos in Gintessa. It’s probably the kingdom making sure we don’t know.” They neared the end of the path, opening up to the field of training giants.

Rennard pointed past a few trees. “I think the girl was that way.” They already got the attention of several giants, all of them young, between fifteen and twenty-five years old. Moving where they remembered Hilda to be, they encroached on some of the training grounds, its surface hard-packed soil.

The attention on them was almost a tangible thing, brimming, a confrontation inevitable, and at last it came. A shadow overtook them, a large brown foot decisively placed before them and ordering them to stop. Following her toned leg, up the knee and naked thigh, the copper-skinned giant wore a thin loincloth, standing over them. “You boys sure do stand out despite being so small.” Her larger breast covered loosely and a chiselled face were the primary signs of a more mature age, above twenty. The forehead and stomach sheened from sweat, a few strands of hair breaking loose from her braid. The young lady got on her haunches, dwarfing them. “I’m Alluere, pleased to meet you.” She extended her finger, which they took turns shaking.

“Any chance we can get some clothes around here?” Rennard said. “Not sure if it’s normal for us to be naked like this.”

“There’s no human clothes here. Something makeshift could be done, but truth be told, clothes are just annoying here. Warm sun, constant training, the sweat is unending.”

“And it’s pure coincidence that you’re staring at our cocks like a hungry dog?” Rennard said.

Alluere laughed, a hearty smile showing her teeth. “Sassy, I like it. Listen, if you need help, you come to me, alright?”

“Mistress told us to go to someone named Hilda.”

“Hilda? That quiet girl? Huh, maybe the Lady is trying to teach her responsibility, get her to open up. But if you find her lacking, come to me.” She winked.

“Mistress said we should be with Hilda, though. Is she that way?”

“She is. You sound stupefied or something, must be the doing of the Lady's magic. Whatever. I’ll have plenty of time to get through those thick skulls.” Alluere sprung back up and left, her loincloth flapping about and revealing glimpses of her womanhood.

“Man…” Milton watched the girls’ drills with an open mouth. “They’re fighters. Imagine, if they were our size, they’d beat us. And they have that size to go with it. What do we have that they don’t?”

“Get that attitude out of here,” Rennard said. “We’re here to get strong.” They found Hilda beyond a few giant birches in a more secluded area of the training grounds, kicking at one of the sturdier trees dressed in cushions at a few intervalls for low, medium, and high kicks. If she missed the cushions, her kick would meet bark, and the bruises on the front of her lower legs revealed a few of those instances.

“Oh, it’s her,” Rennard said, recognizing the girl from yesterday who entered the Charmer’s room to refill the tea.

“Oh, it’s her.” They both had a realisation. A good first impression wasn’t possible anymore. Hilda wore a pair of simple brown shorts covering from waist to upper thigh alongside a bandeau for a small set of breast.  Despite a massive tree, comparable to olhoms, it shook to her kicks even in her fatigued state. She spun in a roundhouse and struck the upmost cushion, the one for the head, skipped back on her tip toes, lunged forward with a backward sweep to the midsection hitting once, twice. Milton called her name to get her attention, and she first glanced them, finished a few more kicks, then stopped.

Panting, she wiped a hand over her forehead. “So you’re here.”

“As delighted as you are,” Rennard said.

“Which one of you is the one with fire arts?”

Rennard raised his hand.

“The red-haired one, that’ll be easy to remember. There are modrocks around that corner, you can practice your flames on them. They absorb magic very well, so you can hit them freely, unlike other material.”

Rennard snorted. “As if I don’t know what modrocks are.”

“Whatever. And the other guy, you had some magic with ropes?”

“The art of the tethers, yes.”

“Yeah, I’ve thought of ways we can work with that. Also, I should say that I’m responsible for you, which means that you’ll do whatever I tell you to.”

“I’m not sure about that,” Milton said. “We do whatever mistress tells us to.”

“Obviously. It’s not my word over the Lady’s, but here, when we train, during our daily routines, if I tell you to do something, you do it.”

The two boys shared a look and didn’t say yes.

“Ugh, whatever. You can go to the modrocks, Fire Boy. If you two aren’t putting in your best efforts at all times, you won’t fit in. Well, you already don’t fit in, but you’ll fit in even less if you don’t work hard.”

“There’s no worry there,” Rennard said, patting his own chest. “This man’s far from lazy.” He marched over to where she’d indicated the modrocks to be, leaving Milton and Hilda alone.

“Mistress said your name is Hilda. I’m Milton.”

“Call me madam, not Hilda.”

“How old are you?” Milton said.

“Sixteen.”

“We’re the same age then.”

“So?” With two large strides, a surge of wind from her steps brushed his hair as she planted her slender toes a yard in front of him. He had to lean back just to make eye contact. “Do you notice a difference? We’re not very equal. Respect your elders and superiors is what they say. I’m your superior.”

“I get it.” Her toes curled in and raked the soil, so abrupt it made Milton recoil. Looking up at her expression made it easy to recognize the irritation. “I get it, madam.”

There weren’t many signs of appreciation. Hilda taking a step back eased the tension, giving him space. “I’ve gone through the most intense parts of my drills, so you came at a good time.” She pointed down at her feet, somewhat red from constant use. “Tie my ankles together with your ropes.”

Milton lunged both his arms forward, a white glowing ball forming between her feet. Rotating his arms, the ball of light gained firmer texture. Then he spread his arms apart, and two tethers spawned from the glowing ball and found an ankle each, wrapping around and tying them together.

Milton could see how she too benefitted from it as workout as she abducted her left leg to tear them apart. But with one gentle pull, it didn’t come off, making Hilda stare in wonder. Her leg jerked harder, the tether taut but unbroken. With a grunt and her left abductor muscles tight, the tether snapped at last.

“I know I’m tired,” she said, trying to hide her amazement. “But those ropes are stronger than I thought. I can understand what potential the Lady sees. Do it again.” Hilda took turns with her legs as Milton kept recreating the tethers, trying to make them as strong as possible each time, again and again and again. At one point, he actively held against and tried to make the rope retract the opposite way she was pulling, and the increase of difficulty for Hilda made her question.

“I can steer the ropes after they’ve been created, madam.”

“That’s good, that’s very good.” With that, a broader curiosity was opened, and she questioned and they explored the aspects of his tether. He bound his tethers to two high points so they made a form of swing, and Hilda tested her weight on it to see how much they could hold. Putting a moderate amount of her weight onto one foot made it tear. There was an area for lifting heavy things, boulders and fallen trees, where she had him hoist them up the cliffside with the tethers.

The training went on for a few hours, and then Hilda said, “Listen, you’re definitely not going to be fighting against giants on your own. You’ll have a supportive role from the side.”

“What do you mean?”

“For example, you could be behind me It’s not like you’ll fight any giant on your own, I will be, but you’ll help. Honestly, I can’t think of many giants that I’d lose to in a fight if you hinder them with your tethers.”

“Understood.”

“However, you could end up in a bad position sometimes, and we should still practice around some of that. You need to have some competence in dodging.”

“Dodging attacks? I agree. So, how do we do?”

Hilda hesitated for a moment, then avoided eye contact. The fatigue and intense drills were over an hour behind her, and she’d drank plenty of water and splashed it on her face, so the red tints on her cheeks were nothing other than blushing. “I’ll try and stomp you, and you’ll try and dodge. That makes sense, right? Giants always stomp humans when fighting them.”

Milton shrugged. “Makes perfect sense, don’t see the need for explaining.”

“In case you’d think it was weird.”

“Why would it be?”

“Whatever. I’ll go easy. Ready?”

Milton’s body shone white. “Ready.” Her dirty sole descended quite predictably. Milton dove out the way. His only experience being Ada’s frantic stampeding, Milton was instantly on his legs again, watching. But both of Hilda’s feet remained on the ground, unhurried, and only once he’d gotten up and was fully ready did the same foot rise, almost theatrically, and go for him again. Milton had no trouble hopping aside. He noticed her foot tapping the moss gingerly, a far cry from the tremors of steps taken in battle, the steps which shook the earth and left depressions, which completely snuffed out sunlight and any trace of the outside world to those caught underneath.

“Pause,” Milton called. “Aren’t you being overly careful? That’s not how you or any giant goes after a human they fight.”

“You want to get stepped on?”

“No, but if I had to choose I’d rather want it to happen in practice than sometime serious. So it has to be realistic here, helps me improve. I mean, look around, look at your shins, no one’s sparring without a bit of hurt. It’s fine.”

“Suit yourself. Ready?”

“Ready. Come o—”

Hilda’s foot snapped forward like a snake. Milton felt the side of her big toe grazing his ear as it sussed past him and cracked the ground. Before he got up, the same foot immediately swept after him, punting him away. The moment he stopped rolling, he looked up, and it was too late. Hilda’s sole flattened him. He groaned with a compressed mouth, about the only action he could take thereunder.

“I can’t hear you,” she said, keeping him there. After all her training, there was a fine layer of dirt on her sole, and the hot suffocating kiss of her foot was giving some of it to him. She raised her foot at last, Milton somewhat stuck to it. Hilda wiggled her toes to have him fall off. “You shouldn’t spend so much time looking at what I’m going to do. It’s obvious what I’m going to do: step on you. If you stay in one place for just a few seconds, you can expect a foot right where you stand. You should try and move without thinking too much about where. Just move. So, ready?”

“A second,” Milton stammered, brushing his hair. They went again, and he fared better than last time, although stomped eventually. They went a third and fourth time, and then Milton said, “Alright, I think that’s enough.”

“Already? Don’t be lazy.”

He watched her in question.

“We’ve barely gone at it. It’s over when I say so.” And so they went a fifth and sixth and seventh time, and before anyone knew it, what had first been treated as something minor, Milton’s dodging skills, had received over half an hour for itself.

During perhaps the thirtieth time under her foot, Milton grumbled loudly.

Hilda stepped off him. “Said something?”

He gasped, his body sweating. “Haven’t we taken it too far?”

“I thought you wanted this.”

“To an extent, yeah, but…”

“How about when you licked my foot?”

Milton half sat up, frowning. “What? When did I do that?”

She pretended to wipe sweat from her forehead, perhaps to try and play off her blushing cheeks as a result of the heat. “Yesterday. I went into the Lady’s room to take some plates and fill up on refreshment, and you got on your knees and worshipped my toe.”

“Oh, that. We were quite literally dying of thirst, and there was a drop of the liquid on you. So I drank it.”

Hilda narrowed her eyes, hands on her hips. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“It’s the truth. What other explanation is there?”

“That you worshipped my foot because you’re weird. And now, when we were sparring, you asked me to go harder. It’s like you wanted to be stepped on. Again, pretty weird.”

Milton forced a laugh to perhaps help her see how ludicrous the suggestions were. “First, I was thirsty, and two, I argued for a more efficient way to train. What are you talking about?”

Hilda waved a hand. “Whatever you say.”

“Now that I think of it, what were you doing back there? I was well out of it then but I remember now. You stood on us for a good minute, grinding us under your feet. And I’ve noticed these subtle things you do now, standing on me a bit longer, grinding me sometimes, a bit too ‘touchy’ with your feet. I thought I was reading too much into it, but now it all adds up. If anyone enjoys it, it’s you.”

“You were well out of it then, and you still are. Maybe you dreamed of that happening because you like it.”

“So you’re telling me you did not stand on me and my friend in that room?”

“I’m telling you that you’re weird, end of story.” She marched past him. “I’ll go and get something to eat, stay here.”

“What is it with her?” Milton mumbled. He got up, rubbing his skin. Her feet did a number on him, leaving dusty toeprints all over his chest and face and arms, and she somehow claimed he enjoyed it.

Moving a short distance away, he saw his friend in the distance. Considering how Alluere had instantly approached them the moment they touched the training grounds, it didn’t surprise him to find her in Rennard’s company. As if they were playing a game, Rennard threw fireballs at her, and she, wielding a club adorned with modrock, tried to hit them.

Their first morning and afternoon as Rhino recruits seemed to be going alright.

Towards the evening, Milton was told they would relax and wash in the hot springs, and Hilda sent him ahead. He couldn’t find Rennard or the giant Alluere he’d been with, so he chose to go alone, although preferring not to.

There was one larger pool and multiple smaller sections, the stone fortunately covered in moss. Most of the giants were in the larger one, sounds of conversation plenty. Young naked ladies around his age would usually be an exciting prospect, but Milton didn’t feel safe around giants. He moved towards the more secluded portion. To him, the low wall of stone encircling the water was a cliff he had to climb. Using the base magics made it easy, however, skipping his way up like a grasshopper. On the lip of the pool he overlooked the clear waters, barely steaming, then jumped inside.

He landed on a mat of yellow hair. He must have missed the giant underneath, who sat just against the bit of rock he’d stood on top of.

“Oh lord,” he said, losing balance. She stirred into movement. Milton fell ahead but grabbed a wet bunch of hair, swinging onto her face. His torso was on her nose, his knees down at her mouth. Two green eyes were locked on him.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Her hand took him from behind and pulled him off her, hand enclosed around his chest and groin.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.” Then he realised his mistake, uttering the classic phrase giants used to mock humans. “No, I mean I—”

She raised him high and threw him in a wide arch. Wind whipped at his skin. Milton summoned his base magics and hoped he wouldn’t land on stone. The clean surface of a pool raced up to him. Breaking the surface was quite an impact, but far from anything Milton couldn’t handle. He swam up. First he had urgency, to surface, take a deep breath, stay afloat and gather his surroundings. But no one was in the pool, and slowly the calm began to set, the warm easing his nerves, the quiet an echantment, the sunset by the mountain peaks gleaming through the mist with its faded yellow.

Milton drifted around on his back with closed eyes. He missed the Charmer, his mistress. Someone could repeat to him a hundred times that he had been charmed and that it was the work of magic, but that didn’t matter for him. To him, he had seen the truth, he was reborn. To love the Charmer was the way of life.

Milton swam over to the side of the pool where he could sit back against a moss-covered boulder, legs still in the water.

“I thought I saw something flying into these areas.” It was Alluere, the copper-skinned giant who Rennard had been with. She leaned on the edge of the pool, breast squeezed together, a hearty smile. “Who did you annoy?”

“Oh, it’s you,” Milton said. “Was an accident. Do you know where Rennard is?”

Although it seemed impossible, her smile widened. Alluere stood to her full height and stepped on higher ground, raising her waist above the wall of the pool. Doing so revealed her womanhood, where Rennard was, his head sticking out between her lips like a large button. She put her hands on her hips triumphantly.

“Hello pal,” Rennard muttered, a stubborn frown.

“What’s going on?” Milton said, mistrust creeping up on him. It was inevitable that they’d get bullied around here, though there had to be a limit to how much they would take. However, the fact that Rennard wasn’t cursing and yelling, instead sitting all agreeable inside her, told Milton that nothing had gone too wrong.

“I lost a bet to her,” Rennard said. “If I got three fireballs out of five past her club, I’d have won. Fuck, I was close. I was gonna make her do what I say until sunset, impress everyone around her.”

“But instead,” Alluere said. “I got him until sunset. Isn’t that right, sweetheart?”

“Yeah yeah, sun’s almost down, so I hope you enjoyed it.”

She rubbed her thighs seductively before his eyes, brushing them against his cheeks, then petted his head with a finger. “I certainly did.”

“You’ll be sure I’ll win the next time,” Rennard said, and of course Alluere smiled at the prospect of repeating this. She must have been quite perceptive in how she approached Rennard. Rennard was headstrong, stubborn, and confident in his own abilities, of course he’d take a bet. And his problem was that no matter how one-sidedly he lost, he’d always find the light, the opportunities to win, and consider it possible, and worth another shot. In some ways it was inspiring, most of the time foolish. He was also honest, not one to turn back on his word. Alluere had identified the best angle to get Rennard where she had him without his complaints.

Alluere dipped one foot into the water, and Rennard immediately reacted. “Hey, relax! I can’t breathe if you go in.”

“I’m aware.” The outermost part of the water only reached her knees. Alluere moved along the periphery, coming to Milton. Once there, she pulled enough of Rennard out so he could push and wiggle himself free, splashing into the water between her legs. He swam towards the bank by Milton while Alluere leaned back and drifted through the pool, sighing.

“What did you do today?” Rennard said.

“A lot of training, strengthening my tethers and… practicing my dodging skills.”

“Why’d you say it like that?”

“I don’t know. Feels like we spent a lot of time on it, on her behest. Hey, I was going to ask you, back in mistress’s room when we were thirsty and weak, did Hilda not come in and stomp us?”

Rennard watched the skies in thought. Alluere surfaced from a dive, streamlets of water dripping off her, her long hair looking even darker.

Milton tried to help him remember. “When we asked her if we could have something to drink?”

“Oh. Yeah, she did. In fact, she stood on us for a long goddamn time, even twisting us.”

“Right?”

“That girl pretends to be incredibly modest and reserved,” Alluere said. “But deep inside, there’s a wild Hilda. I’ve seen her in battle. We raided a royal convoy once, and I saw her shatter soldier’s head with a kick, and she’s got a resounding warcry.” The waves Alluere’s movement produced came washing over the boys’ legs.

Milton listened eagerly. “Really? Doesn’t feel like her.”

“It’s certainly there.” Alluere had aimlessly floated around, and now she was near them. Her head above water, she got up enough to let her breast emerge too, the nipples staring them in the face. “You know, Renny boy, there’s a bit of sun left peaking over the mountain.”

“Give it a goddamn rest.”

“Come on now.” She drew closer, her shadow engulfing them, the left tit heading for Milton and the right for Rennard. “You can join in on the fun, Milton, you must be starving for some after a day with Hilda.”

They hesitantly pulled back, but whatever inch they retreated her breast took, until they couldn’t even nod their heads without bumping into the nipple before them.

“It’s fine, they won’t hurt you.”

They remained unmoving.

Her expression soured. “Are you boys feeling alright? I can’t imagine the size changes so much. How different can a giant’s attraction be from your ordinary women? Or do you prefer each other?”

“We love our mistress only,” Milton said.

“Huh.” Alluere floated back, giving them space. “I do wonder how much of you is left under the Lady’s magic. I’m sure you wouldn’t choose to be here, but I can’t imagine you’d deny me.” Alluere watched the skies, finger rubbing her chin. “Or am I that ugly? Maybe I am.”

Hilda appeared, naked but holding a hand over her chest. “The Lady said you two will spend this night in her room.”

Milton and Rennard lit up from the news, fistbumping and shaking hands in victory.

Alluere didn’t share their sentiment. “I thought they would be our responsibility, including where they’ll sleep.”

“They need to be close to her every now and then. If they’re too far apart for too long, the charm will weaken. The Lady is leaving for a few days tomorrow so she wants to intensify its effect before that.”

Alluere noted how interested the two were in hearing that. “Wasn’t very smart to let it fall on their ears, was it?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Hilda said, stepping into the pool and submerging down to her chin. “They’re too dumb from it to care.”

“What do you mean by dumb?” Rennard said. “If being away from her means this love weakens, then I want to be by her side forever. To lose my love for her… I can’t imagine it. This information makes me want to be near her more than ever before.”

“Exactly,” Milton chimed in.

Hilda raised an eyebrow to her giant friend. “See? They’re mindless.”

Alluere was adrift while Hilda remained by the edge, only head sticking out. “I do wonder what they’re like without this charm.”

“Probably the same,” Hilda said. “It’s just when you bring the Lady up that they talk stupidly.”

Milton leaned towards his friend, sighing at their ignorance. “They don’t understand.”

“So,” Rennard said. “When will we be fighting the kingdoms’ trash? It’s good to train and all, but aren’t the Rhinos admitting they’re losers to sit here, holed up in the mountains like this?”

Alluere chortled. “My, someone’s ready. The Rhinos are far more than what you see here. Some districts in the east are entirely controlled by the Gray Rhinos. We’re just one of the Lady’s many factions, and the Lady is one of many commanders. She’s not even the highest ranked. And yes, we do things from here. We have an ambush planned. Our information tells us one of the queen’s puppets, Baroness Chandler, is having captured Rhinos transported to a royal prison through a pass not far from here. It’s in four days. We’re intercepting them and freeing our sisters. But I doubt you’ll be coming.”

Rennard raised his arms in objection. “Why not?”

“You don’t know anything,” Hilda said. “You’re new.”

“I thought you were surprised at my potential when you saw my tethers.”

“Potential for what you can become, not what you are now. It’s not enough now. Right now you’d just be a doormat for any giant. And you could be useful fighting from my shoulder, assisting with your tethers, but we need to practice that, and there’s not enough time.”

“It’s not our decision in the end,” Alluere said. “But it would be hard to integrate you enough in this short time so that you won’t be a hindrance when we fight.” Alluere turned to Hilda with a sudden grin, floating towards her. “Though I heard you’ve worked him hard.”

“Like I should. And I heard you’re just messing around with the other one and having fun.”

Alluere’s smugness hadn’t faded. “Are you sure you weren’t enjoying yourself? Your boy mentioned how much you trampled him, over and over and over again. All for the sake of ‘practice’, hmm?”

Hilda blushed, irritated eyes directed at Milton. “What did you tell her?”

“N-nothing.” Milton pointed at his friend. “I just told him about my day, and she overheard.”

“My girl.” Alluere swam up behind her, and in an instant she grabbed Hilda’s waist and yanked her upwards, bringing her torso up from the water. Hilda instinctively covered her chest. “Why do you hide them? You never were ashamed of having small tits. Or are there new eyes around that’s changing you?”

“Ugh!” Hilda threw an elbow back at Alluere’s shoulder, and Alluere dodged by releasing and throwing herself back with laughter. Hilda escaped to the other side of the pool, sitting closer to Rennard and Milton. They braced themselves for the waves made by the giants’ splashing.

Alluere dove underwater. They could see her shape moving towards Hilda, who sat with red cheeks, chest underwater. Hilda perked up, and Alluere rose from the water with the pale giant’s calf resting on her shoulder. “Come on, girl,” she said, smirking. Alluere’s hands moved to Hilda’s thigh, a gentle stroke and push, leading to a continuous rub. “You always liked this. Why start pretending otherwise? Just because a couple of humans are here? Who are they? Tiny little things, we don’t care what they think. That’s why we do whatever we want when we’re near them, to show them their opinion doesn’t matter, that we swat them away like mice when they think they can judge us.”

Rennard and Milton didn’t know how much they should take those words to heart. Alluere was hard to take seriously, ever playful and with a joke in mind, feeding off of others’ discomfort. But Hilda had successfully been lulled into such a state, closing her eyes and reclining as Alluere massaged her leg.

“You’ve worked hard, my girl,” Alluere said, her fingers working the tired muscle. “Lay back and let Big Sister Alluere take care of you. You always love it when I do. Deep down, you just want all of us to get down and treat you like a princess, don’t you?”

Hilda hummed, whether in response or from pleasure was unclear. She wasn’t her own uptight self, and it was near impossible for her to be. After the many hard days on end, stiff muscles, bruised shins, fatigued body and mind, the hot springs helped massively in melting them all away. And it didn’t matter if Alluere’s motives were to open her up or make the boys uncomfortable, Hilda wouldn’t say no to being pampered like this.

“You want to be someone important, don’t you?” Alluere whispered, kissing the calf beside her head, hands still working on the thigh. “You want to be one of those high-ranked Rhinos one day with a bunch of subjects and slaves. Not just human slaves, no, the ones with giant slaves. Humans are nothing. You want giant slaves who get on their knees before you.”

Hilda’s other leg came up and planted itself on Alluere’s free shoulder.

“There we go.” Alluere gradually fell back until she had her feet before her, massaging them, closing her hand around every toe and squeezing them. With time, she leaned in and placed two delicate kisses on the arches. Hilda hummed again, mouth agape, head slackly hanging as if asleep. Alluere stuck out her tongue, and stroked the soles along their length with just the tip. The toes flexed when tickled, and it became evident that not all the movement was Alluere’s. The feet would search for Alluere’s face on their own accord. While Alluere kissed Hilda’s right foot, the left one planted itself on her cheek and drew circles, even pinching her sometimes. When Alluere moved over to the left foot and closed her lips around the ball, the toes of her right foot came and grabbed her nose, making her inhale her scent. It felt like Hilda’s feet moved on their own, possessed, or they were moved by her heart rather than mind.

Then Alluere’s eyes turned to the two boys, who tried to pretend they were elsewhere. Hilda was supposed to be the prudent one, and when even she had surrendered to Alluere’s games, the two had nowhere to turn for a return to normal. Alluere moved towards them, still with a pair of pale feet eating away at her face. Hilda didn’t sit far from them; her outstretched legs could close the distance. Alluere ended up just a few yards before the boys where she resumed her worship.

“See how easily she can be tamed?” Alluere whispered, mostly directed at Milton. “Are these the feet that trampled you today? All they want is to be loved.” Alluere caught the big toe with the mouth and sucked, giving a sassy wink to the boys. Then she took the other foot and presented it to Milton. “Just a taste. You would get on her good side instantly.” Alluere gave another toe a good sucking. “Give them a bit of love, and they won’t hurt you again.”

“I doubt that,” Milton said, flushed.

“I can guarantee it,” Alluere urged, pushing the foot closer to him.

“She won’t even feel anything from me.”

“Of course she will, it’s like the tip of my tongue, a gentle little tickle. But it’s the knowledge that someone is pampering her that brings her satisfaction.”

Milton noticed how little her feet moved now, as if not possessed by the greedy pleasure anymore. He didn’t want to follow those legs all the way to Hilda’s head to see if she’d opened those eyes and were watching him, too ashamed of eye contact, for he was certain she indeed was watching. He could almost feel the intensity of her stare. As much as it was Alluere presenting the foot, he felt that the lack of an objection from Hilda meant she too, in a way, was presenting it to him. And then the presented foot moved a little, the toes rubbing against one another, curling, wrinkling her sole, an almost flirtatious act. Now it was an invitation. She wanted it.

To watch Hilda’s face was death. Milton knew the moment he made eye contact, he’d uncover her, Hilda would know she’d been uncovered, and she would know that Milton knew what she wanted. With how obnoxious and argumentative she’d been when Milton insinuated she’d trampled him for enjoyment more than practice, the downright denial she’d entered when speaking of the incident in the Charmer’s room where she’d stepped on them, Milton couldn’t go down that road. And as fruitful as it would be for his future here to be on her good side, becoming her foot slave was no solution.

Milton took the best option left; he rejected the foot with a show of unawareness, giving it the appearance of a rejection to Alluere’s games more than Hilda’s invitation.

“You just won’t fucking let off, will you?” Rennard said. Holding Hilda’s ankles, Alluere pressed her soles on both of them, giving them a quick smothering on their moss-covered platforms before letting go. Hilda’s feet retracted, trying to show that only now had she returned to her senses.

“Nasty thing,” Rennard said and threw a casual fireball striking Alluere’s shoulder.

“Ouchie!” she said in half humor, but the smile didn’t need long for a return.

The rest of the bath was quiet and peaceful, even Alluere allowed herself some peace and floated about with closed eyes. Not long after, Milton and Rennard were taken to the Charmer’s house. In her room, she sat by her desk with only a gloomy candlestick to light the room, slicing an envelope with her letter opener. She wore a bright blue satin bedgown, her dark hair arranged in lovely curls. Her right leg was crossed over the left, foot dangling.

Milton and Rennard scampered over to the darkness under her table, to the standing foot, Milton hugging the heel and Rennard lying over her toes.

“Oh, it’s you,” she said, peering down from the table ledge before returning to her letter.

“We’ve missed you, mistress,” Milton said, both of them nuzzling against her foot like kittens. “A day apart is too long.”

“You’ll have to be more tenacious than that, my boys,” the Charmer said. “I will leave for two days tomorrow, to Underfall, where I first received you.”

“Two days?” Rennard said in a moan, burrowing his head into the soft gap between her third and second toe.

“Be strong, and think about me when it feels difficult. I will return in due time, before the charm wanes.”

“Please don’t let it go away,” Milton said. “It’s the happiest I’ve ever felt.” As the Charmer kept reading her letter, her expression soured, and Milton noticed. “What’s wrong, mistress?”

“They uncovered a Rhino hideout. It was a key position to get an angle on an important duchy. The kingdom are recruiting more and more powerful magic-wielding humans.”

“They should be ashamed,” Rennard said, sticking his head out from her toes. “Royal puppets.”

“It’s a new tactic they deploy,” the Charmer said. “They have new soldiers, called Mageriders. Humans’ importance have usually been put aside when giants fight, understandably so. Very few mages can challenge a giant in combat alone. But the kingdom invested in developing technology, and it’s led them to these new tiny ‘saddles’ where the mages can be buckled in place on a giant’s shoulder, and from there they comfortably support them with magic. Even if the mage isn’t powerful enough to defeat a giant, they don’t need to. They need to help their fighting giant defeat the enemy giant, and in that, a mage will absolutely tip the balance. These Magerider units, typically a soldier and a mage on each shoulder, have given them an enormous edge. The Rhinos are slow to adapt. I’ve planned to test this strategy for some time. I already have my two sweet mages, I just need those shoulder-saddles, which only the kingdom have. We don’t even have any sketches to build them ourselves.”

“We’ll help you take anyone down,” Rennard said.

“Indeed you will. But I need you to work hard and train. You are replaceable. There are powerful mages out there who you’ll be competing with. I’m on the hunt for mages to charm, and if they’re stronger than you, I’ll be picking them.”

Their holds around her tightened, both of them moaning urgent worries and concerns. The Charmer’s foot kicked to the side, sending them both tumbling away. “Silent! Greedy dogs.” She left the letter on the table and pushed her chair back, both feet on the floor.

“We’re sorry!” Both of them scurried back towards her.

“Stop.” They froze in place before her digits. “Know your place, you worms. You don’t deserve my love, you earn it. Get on your knees.” They did, and already did they feel so terribly cold when away from her touch, the sight of her but unable to touch the most tortorous temptation. The Charmer stood up, took the candleholder and snapped her fingers by the waist. “Follow.” They jogged after her. She had a graceful lady’s walk, her hips swaying, feet flashing out from under the glossy gown. The Charmer placed the candle on the bedside table, then pointed to the legs by the bed. “You will sleep on the floor today.”

They didn’t dare complain. “Yes, mistress,” Milton said, both of them with heads lowered.

The Charmer crawled onto the bed, blew the candle out and went to sleep. In the morning, the Charmer was gone, and the boys resumed practice with Hilda and Alluere.

The station where the Charmer had first received Milton and Rennard was Underfall, and when she teleported back there she spent merely a few seconds exitting the room and peering down the hallway before knowing something wasn’t right. She moved down the hallway, went to her room, to her desk, slipped a hand under the table and searched. With a rip, her hand came out with a knife between the fingers.

Not one servant had greeted her yet. Underfall had two of them, and at least one of her scouts should have been there as well to provide a report. Wary, the Charmer stepped towards the front door, opened it, and Velvet Rowfield awaited in the grass. Behind her, the two servants kneeled subserviently, bruises on their cheeks and foreheads. One of the thugs drifted face down on the pond nearby, the waterfall having pushed her corpse to float on the opposite shore. Velvet’s large backpack had been discarded nearby, her belt heavy with equipment. Henry stood beside her ankle.

“I killed the ones that felt too loyal and resisted too much,” Velvet said, a confident show of happiness. “Others I sent off with shackles and broken bones.” She gestured behind her at the servants. “These were needed for information. But now the real price is here, Charmer.”

“Hmm.” The Charmer walked down the steps of her porch, brows coming together. “Don’t throw the word thug around so comfortably when you lick the kingdom’s boots for money. Evidently, you’re strong, yet you choose to demean yourself like this by chasing money.” The Charmer took one slow step at a time, soles soft against the grass.

“Didn’t come to talk and hear Rhino gospel,” Velvet said, drawing her dagger. “Come, Charmer, and die honorably in battle. It’ll be the one honor your filthy life has seen.”

“And here I thought we wouldn’t be preaching.” The Charmer lunged forward with a stab, Velvet arching her back to dodge. Velvet grabbed her by the elbow with a free hand and jabbed with the other holding the dagger, and the Charmer navigated that attack as Velvet did with a grasp on the elbow, the two left locked with one another. Both swung their daggers and both dodged again, a twirl and a clang of steel, the Charmer’s robe spinning graciously. The Charmer summoned a globe of silver energy and threw it. Velvet blocked it with a shining palm but still lost footing to the impact. The Charmer took the opening and rushed in, though Velvet, dexterous as ever, was unfazed by her position and made it look as if she were just as comfortable almost falling as she were standing in place. From a falling position, her one standing foot twisted with her hips and her other leg came flying, a roundhouse kick slamming into the Charmer’s side. The Charmer fell with a grunt and Velvet hopped the other way from recoil.

Henry got out of their way early, and although he watched this fight knowing that if the Charmer won nothing mattered and he was done for, he trusted Velvet. She’d explicitly told him not to get in the way, and as the Charmer rose up and they were at it again, a dance of daggers and magic, Henry knew he’d just end up kicked around and crushed by those feet if he were anywhere close. The two servants behind Velvet had already made off towards the cabin, even they not wanting to get involved, which confused Henry at first. Though when he thought of how confidently Velvet produced that roundhouse kick while seeming to be on the backfoot, he understood their fear of going near her.

Henry had to remember his purpose. Find his friends and leave. He had to forget Velvet. She herself had specified she didn’t care about his objective of finding his friends, but let him come along so long as he didn’t get in the way. She never expected or asked for his help, and hopefully she wouldn’t need it, so Henry ignored her fight.

As to his friends’ whereabouts, no better starting point presented itself than the cabin before him. The door remained ajar after the servants. Henry escaped the site of the duel, leaped up the porch and entered the cabin. The first room was spacious, not just to him but in relation to the whole cabin. The walls were lined with maps and bookcases filled with bokos and scrolls and jars full of odd substances. A cupboard had nice piece of porcelain and decorative silverware on top, and on another side were paintings and a banner of a large silvery horn, likely the symbol of the Gray Rhinos. The clang of daggers meeting and the swoosh of magic tearing the ground reminded Henry he was on a timer. If Velvet lost the fight, the Charmer would come upon him. Henry needed speed more than caution.

Squatting down and leaping up to the large table, it was filled with unopened letters and unfinished ones to be written, some schematics, and plenty other things Henry with a glance deduced meant nothing to his search. A loud thud came from a room down the hallway, the two servants who ran back here. Henry couldn’t forget them. The loud tone and occasional shout muffling past the walls revealed they were arguing. Henry heard more sounds in the silence between their arguments, nearby, hushed and continuous. One of the bookcases contained three rows of numbered boxes, four boxes per row. Henry jumped off the table and approached, and the closer he got the clearer these sounds were.

Voices, people within speaking, asking what the noise outside their dark and closed world was. The only light they received was from a slight gap between its open top and the shelf of the row above. His friends had to be in one of these boxes. They didn’t sound equally packed, the bottom row filled, and towards the top empty. Henry thought of how to go about it, first considering jumping inside and kicking it out of the bookcase from within. That might knock the box off the bookcase but wouldn’t do too much to free them. The box was made of wood, so Henry summoned the art of the fighter and decided to break it. He didn’t go too hard, to not shatter the wood too explosively and spray the splinters onto the captives inside. With a measured palm, he struck the side, a loud knock zapping the people inside with worry. Their voices faded from where Henry could hear them, backing away from his spot. Henry threw a few more palms, not on the same spot, but around it, spreading the force, fissures and cracks forming until a few splinters fell off with a puff of dust. Henry dug his hand through those openings and peeled the fractured wood off. He tore open a long stretch several yards broad and slightly taller than a person. The people emerged from the darkness, bewildered rather than hopeful.

A middle-aged man stood before them all. “Who are you, son?”

“I’m Henry from Humius,” he said. “I’m looking for two of my friends.” The people didn’t rush out of their little cell, weren’t overjoyed at the supposed freedom, but neared the edge of the opening Henry produced and peered outside warily.

“What’s going on?” a woman asked him. They were all haggard and pale, clad in the simple garb of farm workers, some of them sootier from stonework.

“A bounty hunter has come, she’s battling the Charmer out there. I came with her to look for my friends, two young men around my age and height, one of them with a nasty temper you’d instantly notice, long red hair, and the other a more agreeable fellow with bushy hair.”

His words might as well not have been heard the way they continued to glance past him and into the room. Henry recognized this nervousness from when they had just escaped Ada, the explosive realisation that they could move on their own and the oppressive hold on them was gone. “The Charmer is dead?” one of them said.

“No, she and a bounty hunter are fighting just outside.” Henry’s voice was impatient. “Nothing is over. Have you seen my friends or not? They were taken a few days ago.”

“Few days ago? Likely shipped off, then.”

“Shipped off? Where?” The first five or six stepped outside the box through Henry’s hole, watching, unbelieving. One of them stepped down onto the floor, the bookcase’s bottom shelf with no gap underneath so humans couldn’t crawl thereunder. “Hey, shipped off where?”

“No idea,” was someone’s offhand response. They were too busy realising they could simply leave. But as the crowds poured out, ten, twenty, thirty, parents taking their children in hand, Henry found a lack of hope. Empty eyes, guideless stares, slack and droopy postures, it was confusion and shock more than belief of a bright future. And how could they be blamed? Where would they go in these lands with a size so magnified to their little legs? None of them were even restrained, meaning they never had any magic competent enough to break free from those boxes. They were helpless. Leaving the was the very first step of a long journey.

“There’s nobody who knows where my two friends might have been shipped off to?” Henry said aloud. The crowd looked between one another, no one saying anything. The sound of the two servants arguing in some nearby room grew.

“Where do we go?”

Henry turned behind him, but the question was indeed asked for him. And then he noticed how the lack of hope dared to vanish on some, expecting eyes now directed at Henry.

“Father, what will we do?” a daughter said.

“The naked boy might know something,” he said. Henry noticed his nakedness with a flush of shame.

“You seem to be a competent mage,” someone said. “Can you help us?”

“Uhm.” Henry couldn’t help but think back to how Ada had toyed with him and his friends simultaneously, how helplessly he watched the slavers take them. The word competent didn't fit him. “I don’t know. Are there more people?” He pointed to another of the boxes.

Someone said yes, but someone else stepped up. “We need to leave, quickly. There’s no time to rescue everyone. God knows if even we will—”

“Shut up! Get over here!” There was the heavy thud of something being dropped, a massive door slammed open, and the voices had the clearness of no closed walls standing between them. “Get a weapon, we have to help the lady, you little brat!”

“Leave me alone!” The whelp was girly and young, Henry recognizing the voice from the younger of the two servants. They felt the vibrations on the floor, steps booming, and she rushed in through the doorway with watery eyes, snivelling. She spared just a moment of pause for the crowd between her and the front door, the crowd anxious and cowering.

“Get back here, young girl.” The young servant watched down the corridor, no doubt the other servant coming after her, and she bolted straight for the front door, too scared to worry about the humans in between.

“Run!” a man yelled. They tried to disperse as fast as they could, the young servant charging towards them. Some dove out of the way as the shadow of her dirty, pale foot raced overhead. The rhythm of her soles slapping against the wooden floor was interrupted by a muffled thud as she stepped in, the sound dampened by someone’s torso under the ball of her foot and someone else’s legs caught by her heel. Her other foot barreled through the crowd, kicking five people, one launched high into the air, another rolling and tumbling across the floor as if thrown sideways, and three sent straight into the wall. And then that foot had to land as well, an unfortunate one there to receive the roof of foot flesh. It caught him so well that he stuck to it as she continued towards the door, opening it and bolting out.

Someone screamed, rushing to his near-unconscious daughter whose torso had been caught under the foot, her eyes part-open, her beaten cheek having received the swirly print of the servant’s big toe. The people tried to regroup, tried to gather near their loved ones, a few scattering.

“Where’s my son?” a woman demanded, turning her head about hectically. “Where is he!”

“I believe he got stuck under the girl’s foot,” someone said.

“Sweet Emelie, can you hear me?” the father said beside his daughter, caressing her cheek, holding her hand. “Are you ok?”

“Father…” she groaned. And then the boom of the other servant’s sprint, ignored till now, came closer, and the shadow came upon them, and if the daughter wasn’t unlucky the first time, she certainly was now as the next foot, slightly larger and heavier, found her with another stomp. The father was kicked away with the rise of the foot, joining four others sent flying from her sprint, and another three casualties were pounded by those doughy soles. The two servants had razed the crowd without even sparing them a thought. In that moment, Henry found their inferiority as humans so much he felt disgusted with himself.

The older servant grunted by the doorway, not proceeding the chase. “Little brat,” she muttered. Larger than the younger one, her bosom stood out underneath the thin gray robe, sleeveless and reaching her hefty thighs. Although older than the younger one, she was still comfortably in her mid twenties. In a way her physique reminded Henry of Ada, sizeable and curvy, but a little less so. Her chestnaut hair had been tied into one long braid falling down alongside her spine.

Not chasing the younger servant, the older one glanced at the fight between the Charmer and Velvet, which had taken them around the pond. Then she glanced inside with a raised eyebrow at all the humans wandering about. “What’s going on in here?” She shut the door and stepped inside. The father kept crying by his daughter, who after the second round was less responsive. Someone else tried to stand on their pained leg, holding it and hollering obscenities.

The servant stepped up to them, and at the sight of her feet everyone fell down with hands over their heads as if artillery whizzed over them. “Pathetic,” she said, hands on her hips and catching her breath. “This is why we keep you protected in those boxes. Why did you get out? Actually, how did you get out?” Her confused look went to the long cleft along the side of the box. From instinct, the people near Henry gravitated towards him, taking his side, some huddling behind him, and that subtle gathering took the servant’s attention. Her brows joined together at the naked Henry. “You’re the little pet rat that bounty hunter had by her side. Did you lead her here?”

“No, I swear. I followed her here. I came looking for my friends. Where are these people shipped off to?”

“As if that’s your business.” She raised one mighty foot theatrically, indicating a want to walk forward, and everyone nearby dispersed, even leaving Henry’s side. Those two feet clapped their way across the wooden floor and settled to either side of him, the servant standing astride him. Up through the underside of her robe, nestled between those thighs, Henry saw her white thong. Henry almost felt embarrassed taking the fight, afraid of what would happen if he fought her. The shred of hope these people dared to have could be extinguished if he allowed this servant to beat him. But as with Ada, when the one option left was to surrender, he had to take any other option available, to fight. And, glancing back at the crowd watching, something welled up in him, perhaps pride, or the intense desire to stand up and lead in these hard times when there was a people in need, the qualities they said belonged to a true leader, or, if he dared, a hero. His thoughts went to Ada, and finally they didn’t do so with pessimism, thinking of what she’d done to them. They went to the end, Rennard’s miraculous shot at her face, blinding her, their victory. They had beaten a giant. It could be done.

Henry turned to those mighty feet, following up the calf and ample thigh, at the thong, past the hem of her robe, then craned his neck all the way up to find her face. “Bring it on.”

“So you’re their little champion?” The optics of Henry standing up against her must have looked silly to anyone else as she absolutely dwarfed him. Those ten bulbous toes flexed on either side of him, scraping against the wood. Faint lines of muscle moved visibly by her calf and ankles. “They think a mage can save them. I’ll make an example of you before these humans.”

Henry sent his arms skyward, enveloped in golden energy. “Are you gonna fight or talk?” That line did well in provoking her. Her left knee bending, her dusty sole rose up and blocked her face, growing larger as it fell. Henry sped forward. He spun and kicked the side of her standing ankle, enough force to give it a slight pivot.

The prickle of explosive force surprised her, the raised foot kicking back in pure reaction, a quick sole tapping him. But Henry braced for the impact well, catching himself after the short flight and establishing balance immediately. When she turned and jumped towards him, he had plenty of time to act. Henry jumped towards the ledge of the table and kicked himself off it so that, when her soles crashed right where he’d stood, Henry flied towards her chin. He landed on the decline of her collar bone and immediately threw two stubs of golden energy up, striking the jawline. She exclaimed through a shut mouth, grimacing and holding her mouth. He made her bite her tongue.

A hand came fast, and Henry dove down. Hasty and with difficult balance on her collarbone, Henry jumped sloppily. His crotch fell straight on the neckline of her robe, straddling it, but the momentum of his landing had him reel inwards, so he fell into her breast. The two fatty globes received him, and looking up past her neckline, a large angry face glared back, eyes watery from having bit her tongue. Henry dove in between the breast, trying to push through, but she hugged herself. The world was a cage of soft flesh, and the walls closed around him, pinning everything just below his shoulders. Henry’s head stuck out between her breast, visible from outside as a little lump prodding through the robe. The fragrant scent of a lime perfume barely made it past the smell of sweat and hot fabric. He grunted as she squeezed harder, the soft and malleable tit flesh claiming all the space around his outline, but Henry persevered and remained alert. This hold was far from absolute. She had to squeeze hard to keep him there, and if the pressure relented, Henry could pull his arms free and push himself out. The servant underestimated Henry’s tenacity by thinking this hold on him was ideal and that damage was being delivered, continually pressing, giving the gentlest release just to squeeze again, pumping him. “Do you see, people?” The servant spoke to the group. “Look at how I toy with him!”

Scoring a glimpse past her neckline, her lips showed a satisfied smile. There were a few horrified gasps and others sounds of dejection from the crowd. They thought she was winning. “This is nothing!” Henry shouted. “If you think she’s winning, then—” The compressing flesh interrupted his words.

She laughed victoriously. “What’s the matter, boy? If this is nothing, how do you have trouble speaking? Hmm?” There was a certain direction to the tit compressions now, pushing forward, clamping, then retracting. She tried to move Henry deeper within, swallow him whole.

Due to how she pressed her breast, the nipples were directed inwards, close to Henry’s head, and he saw his way out. Only able to move shoulders and above, he reached with his head and caught the fluffy nipple with his mouth. Henry bit, she shrieked. His tight world shook and opened, her breast parting to remove the source of pain. With a wet pop, Henry released her nipple and used the freer space to push down, barely dodging the palm which enclosed the nipple. Henry plummeted from her breast, her ribcage and stomach scrolling past him. She thrust her hip forward and the edge of her thong caught his legs, sending all his momentum into the cupped slide of her thong. The smell and heat brought him back to Ada, a pair of lips before him which could swallow him snugly from shoulder to shoulder. Fortunately, the thong was loose, letting his weight sag into it instead of being tightly pressed. But Henry dove down as soon as he collected himself, for he expected, correctly so, a hand to come slapping against her nethers to trap him. He hung onto the thong line directly under her, for the moment she felt his weight missing between her legs, she expected him to be falling down. She stamped wildly, up and down, sweeping the floor with her soles, her feet searching frantically for the human expected underneath her. The movement caused Henry to be flailed about from where he held her thong, spanking against her thighs like a pendulum, and he used the momentum to swing with his arms and release. Feeling him, the servant stopped her stampede and closed her thighs together to trap him, but it was too late. Henry had already thrown himself with an outward momentum, out from behind her ass, and he found his way out from the labyrinth that was her body as she stood bewildered at the lack of a prey between her thighs.

A shocked gasp came over the crowd, excited whispers, several pointing at him. “He’s out, and he’s fine!”

Chin on her shoulder, the servant saw him with a turn back. Not amused, she had one hand over her mouth and another over her nipple. With a sideway turn, her foot went for him. Henry dodged to the side and unleashed three rapid punches dripping with energy right on her pinky toe. She exclaimed and swept the foot, Henry dodging again. He might not be able to deliver one decisive blow, but all his smaller ones mounted, death by a thousands cuts.

“Do you surrender?” More of a taunt than a legitimate question, Henry grinned alongside it.

“Yea!” a younger boy from the crowd shouted, him and his twin brother jumping ecstatically. “Show her!” Their mother tugged at their ears and hushed them.

The servant made a stupid noise with her mouth, frowning. “You’re only making it worse for when I do catch you.” She came charging at him. Henry dodged the first stomp, though it wasn’t so much of a stomp as it was another casual footstep, leaving her with plenty of mobility to send a second foot right after him. A line of toes punted him across the room, a stunned exclamation erupting from the crowd. Henry collided into the wall just beneath the roof, sliding down. The floor came earlier than expected, and he realised he was on a high shelf. Beside him were columns of glass containers, the nearest one a glittery green liquid Henry knew as feredur. It was an enhancer, if spilled upon an area and left there for a few hours, it would strengthen all magic used there, most useful for rituals and long, demanding spells.

It was also very expensive.

With his empowered strength Henry pushed it to the lip of the shelf where just a breeze the right way would send it falling, and leaned against its side. “Can’t imagine your boss would be happy having a bottle of feredur wasted,” Henry said, shooting her a cocky look, and her advance towards him stopped. “And at the hands of a human you couldn’t subdue. Quite an embarrassing ordeal, that. Actually, looking to my left here, I see two vials of senzlem, some sillersten, and ardrot. Not easily replaced, are they?”

The servant was fuming, jaw clenched, hands balled into fists.

Henry laughed. “Speechless, are we?” Though he found himself at a difficult situation. What would he do with this advantage? He only had this control over her while up here on the shelf, these vials were no hostages he could take with himself. The moment he left the shelf he’d lose the leverage. There was only one option. “You’re going to get the hell out of here, just like the younger girl before you. If you don’t, there’ll be an expensive mess here to explain to your boss.”

The two twin boys who were no older than eleven jumped at the front of the crowd, triumphant and loud. “That’s right! Tell her!”

“You get out of here, you big bitch! Humans are strong too!” A few members of the crowd behind the two giggled.

Henry chuckled too, an exciting tickle in his heart. He was doing it. He was winning.

The servant was red with fury and shame, a feeling of helplessness delivered by humans. But something in her deadpan expression changed. Watching the two boys and the crowd in what was silent anger at first, it changed to something more measured, a thoughtfulness which unnerved Henry. She should be at a loss. Her eyes turned to him, a smirk arriving from a place Henry could never have predicted.

“The thought of me crashing all this stuff is funny to you?” Henry said. He didn’t understand. The servant watched the crowd, then him again. Now he did.

She marched towards the people. The twin boys and their aggressive excitement died to the shadow overcoming them, as the servant raised a careful foot and placed it upon them. Shoulder to shoulder under the sole, one of them had his head under her third and fourth toe, the other one’s head was under her first. The crowd gasped and backed off, all except the mother who ran up to the foot and got on her knees.

“Please, lady, those two boys are all I have!” she hollered out. One of them had his head sideways, the big toe resting possessively on his skull. His one free arm reached out and punched the foot in vain. In response, the big toe added pressure, his cheeks pressed together so his mouth formed a long O and started drooling. He whelped pathetically, tears forming, and the other twin between the third and fourth toe writhed and moaned uncomfortably.

The mother cast herself over the giant’s foot. “Please, anything. Don’t hurt them.” She kissed the big toe which threatened her son’s head, licked maniacally, leaving a stretch of clean dust-free skin along the tongue’s path. “Anything, I beg you.” She grabbed her son’s hand to comfort him.

“Hey, leave them alone!” Henry shouted. “Need I remind you? I’ll—”

The servant pointed below her. “If you don’t come down here and surrender, I’ll destroy this crowd, starting with these two boys. I wonder how well their bodies will take it, without magic as strong as yours.” The big toe gave the boy’s head another threatening add of force, pressing the whelps out of him as if he were a squeaky toy. The mother didn’t worship anymore, all eyes on Henry, and it hit him how everything depended on him. Although Henry had fought her well, he did so by outmanoeuvring her, not by challenging her sheer power. He couldn't stop her size if she unleashed a rampage on the crowd.

Henry jumped down the shelf, forsaking the one advantage he’d found. The crowd had always been there for her to use. Perhaps she’d been inspired to take hostages from Henry doing it with the chemicals, or perhaps those loud-mouthed twins got her attention and provoked the idea. Whatever it was, Henry had to march obediently before her.

The servant’s right foot was on the twins, and the standing left one raised the front, supported on the heel. “Get in,” she commanded. Henry lay under the ball and toes hovering above him.

“Alright, leave them al—”

Like a trapdoor, the foot swung down upon him. His head was under the fourth and third toe, slightly more towards the fourth, and from there to the big toe his torso was fully covered. Her right foot rose, leaving the twins, the mother embracing them. It came to Henry and fell over his lower body, altogether a row of eight toes swallowing him.

“Time to pay,” she said, and the toes started flexing upon his body, curling and uncurling, clawing at him with soft flesh. The toes turned yellow from the pressure, curling in, reaching out, then curling back in. Each retraction brought him closer, and when they had tucked him tight underneath the space between the toes and the balls of her feet, her heels left the ground, putting more weight on him, the toes continually clawing. He kept his mouth shut, but he couldn’t contain his choked groans from being heard, the toes ruthlessly finding ways to get them out. Henry lost track of time and space in this pressurized foot oven. He felt like his bones were disappearing, turned into a lump of stubborn dough being worked by the baker. The incessant grinding of his naked body against her toes produced plenty of heat and sweat, sweat which his skin and her flesh exchanged and merged with one another. Henry couldn’t tell where her toes ended and his body began, the world a constant force of heat and sweat. The toeprints from Ada had just started to fade, and now this servant made sure to replace them with proper ones which would last even longer.

The kneading continued. More than Henry, it was a message for the crowd, to punish them for daring to hope. Every additional squeeze and toe press, every extra second was to make sure even the tiniest opinion of thinking a human stood a chance were gone. Henry was a symbol for human hope, and if hope were water and he a wet rag, the toes tried to wring it all out of him. And after all the jumping around he’d done, she wanted to make sure he’d be down and defeated after this, so she went the extra mile, prolonging the process, ensuring not one speck of his body went untouched, the toes like vampiric fangs trying to drain him of all vitality.

Someone in the crowd wanted to ask if it weren’t enough already, but another stopped him. Henry did his best to keep his mouth shut, breathing the hot foot air through his nose, but an exceptional bit of force scored a gasp out of him. So all-consuming were her feet and toes that the instant his lips parted, a mouthful of toe flesh found its way inside. It was surprisingly soft, the nub of flesh just on the tip of her fourth toe’s underside. It claimed all the volume within his mouth, and it seemed she recognised the situation, for that portion of her foot retracted harder, making sure the entire tip of her fourth toe was jammed into his mouth. His cheeks puffed out from fullness. Henry didn’t know his mouth could fit so much as the flesh claimed more and more volume, his drool gathering and dripping down her toe. It was almost as soft as her nipple, Henry found. Just moving his tongue into more comfortable positions caused him to inadvertanly lick it. Why was his manhood reacting? He could understand when her tits enveloped him. Ada’s words came to mind, when she said Henry was that kind of guy. He had to control himself. There was plenty to lose in becoming servile. Even as he lay here, her feet and toes a ruthless meatgrinder destroying him, Henry retained his pride. Yes, he retained it, for he had not lost, he had given himself over in exchange for these people’s protection. He had fought his battle admirably, and managed to handle her. This was an act of heroism, and everyone there knew it. So he had to resist the succulent nub of toe flesh in his mouth, to not worship, not give in to his desires, for there was plenty to lose down that road.

The mixture of grinding balls and flexing toes ceased, and the world had never been such a peaceful place. Like the rip of wallpaper, her right foot parted from his lower body, their sweaty marriage undone. The air was cool against his legs. The left foot rose, though with no pressure elsewhere to keep him down, he followed, a helpless ragdoll plastered in place.

The servant brought that foot over the crowd, rotating her ankle gracefully, as if this were some piece of art and they judges to assess its value. “This right here is your champion,” she said. The foot hovered about for everyone to see. “This is what happens when humans challenge us. Do not forget that you were shivering in those boxes just a moment ago. That is your true place. Humans who try and become strong, who choose to fight, end up like this.” It returned to them, the drooped shoulders, the cowering pose, the disbelief with which they had greeted the world when their box had been smashed open and poured inside. They were dumb for ever believing.

Wrinkling her sole to have Henry loosen somewhat, the servant kicked and sent him flying. He landed right before the front door. He could have gotten up and moved with great effort, but didn’t bother. With the crowd as her hostage, he was under her mercy anyway.

The servant turned to the crowd. “Now, I want all of you to get in line, and one by one you’re going to pass him by and give him a kick while he’s down. Two kicks are encouraged.” There was inaction, and the servant stepped closer, threatening them with her nearness. “Or is anyone else interested in what it feels like to be a hero?”

Henry couldn’t recall if the fight between the Charmer and Velvet had been this audible before. Understandably, his time in the oven of grinding foot flesh had blocked the rest of the world from him. But they were terribly close now. And he didn’t hear the metal of their daggers clanging. Their steps were now on the porch.

The front door slammed open, and there stood the Charmer, her grace all but gone. Her long hair, in elegant dark locks first, was now tousled from constant tossing with plenty of stray hairs. Her dress by the stomach was ripped open with plenty of other tatters hanging from it, the hems wet and dripping. She held a bleeding shoulder, a few drops of blood splattered on her cheeks. For the first split second, desperation overcame Henry, thinking of how Velvet’s dead body floated in that pond and how the Charmer returned in her bloody victory. But those wide eyes of hers were those of fear, her hurried breaths were those still in battle. The Charmer rushed inside, and her dirty sole landed straight on Henry. His sweaty body made him stick to it easily, and when her dirty foot laden with twigs and blades of grass rose, he rose with it, following her sprint in a crushing hurricane he was well-accustomed to by now.

The servant voiced worry at her mistress’s wounds, approached to help, but was wholly ignored as the Charmer bolted for the hallway. One hand held the bleeding shoulder and the other was empty, the dagger missing. Velvet rushed in through the front door, holding two daggers. The servant cowered from the bounty hunter’s path, and Velvet paid her no attention, the steely resolve of a predator as the Charmer was the only thing in the world which mattered.

The Charmer burst into a room down the hallway, a gloomily lit one with a pentagram in the middle. She forced herself to stand still upon it, Henry yet underfoot, and found a sliver of disciplined calm in the moment. The Charmer recited an incantation. Velvet Rowfield appeared at the doorway and threw one of the daggers, finding the Charmer’s upper arm. She ground her teeth together, seething, but proceeded with the incantation. A light appeared.

“No!” Velvet screamed, not throwing the other dagger but running towards the Charmer with a glowing palm, trying to interrupt the spell. Her palm struck the Charmer’s shoulder blade, the light, first a tranquil thing to take her away swiftly, wavered now like bubbling water. It hissed, but grew still, and with a flash the world went white.

Henry woke. The first thing he noticed was that he lay on thin and sparse grass, the soil loamy. He sat up, within a woodland. The Charmer wasn’t around, nor Velvet, nor was he on another pentagram. The spell had been interrupted but still went through. There were a few treetops, and an especially large one told him he was still in Gintessa. But that said very little, especially to a human. “Where the hell am I now?”

Henry wandered through the woodlands, no plan in mind. It was late morning, the sun bright and the day growing warmer, the treetops providing ample shade. The songbirds wouldn’t leave the quiet alone, incessant in their erratic chorus of chirping and tweeting. Henry pushed past the underbrush. He had jumped up a giant-sized tree towering over the normal ones and hadn't been able to see mountains in the distance. The teleportation must have sent him quite a way. Velvet Rowfield had been too late to cancel the teleportation, instead making it unstable. Henry doubted these woods had been the Charmer’s intended location, and if it were, the three should have arrived together. Henry sighed. Finding his friends became secondary now; he had to know where the hell he’d ended up himself.

He wandered for a good hour, swatting insects away and even picking a tick off his ankle. A sound reached him, different than that of the woodlife that had gone on for the past hour. A chiming, or tinkling, if you will, of bells, and as he moved towards it the metallic clang became clearer. He saw the trees clear up ahead, scaling a small rise, and beyond it was a lake with a tract of grass beside it. Cows were grazing, wearing bells which clanked occasionally as they moved about, their tails twirling happily. "There has to be human settlements nearby," Henry muttered.

Henry dove into the lake, a cold surge of life invigorating him. It would help somewhat against the scent of the servant’s feet, though after the past week of being cooked in Ada’s pussy and sprayed on by her cum, trampled by her feet, and then being mashed by the servant’s feet, Henry needed a good soapy bath to feel proper again. But the water did well in the meantime. When he rose up from the lake with a deep breath, the cows stared at him, lazily chewing grass. Henry swam towards the grassy shore, somewhat to its side and not too near the cows. His feet could feel stones, and he stood with water up to his breast.

“Excuse me,” a girl’s voice said. She stood at the rear of the herd, a blonde youth, wearing a plain brown skirt and poncho with a long neckerchief hanging over her front.  She took a few steps forward but didn’t go too near the lakeside. “Who are you?” The girl had her hair tied into one long braid, thrown over her shoulder.

“Umm. My name is Henry. You could say I’m lost. Could I ask you where we are?”

“We’re close to Kelter, a human village.” She pointed down a broad stretch behind her between the trees and without underbrush, just sparse grass left from the cows’ perpetual trampling. “I’m from there. How are you lost in Gintessa, without…” She had trouble finding the right words.

“Without falling prey to the giants?”

“Yeah.”

“Long bloody story. Thing is, I’m from Humius.” Henry studied her reaction.

Her brows came together in confusion. “All the way from Humius? How’s that even possible?”

Henry’s heart sank. The teleportation likely put him farther from the border. “How far are we talking?”

“Maybe ten days on a wagon? A giant’s wagon, that is.”

“Goddamnit. East or west?”

“East.”

Henry had to laugh. “This just keeps getting better.”

“How did you end up here?”

Henry sighed, hands slapping the water in frustration. “I don’t know how to answer that. Me and my friends did something stupid, one thing led to the other. A lot of magic involved. Now I’m separated from them.”

“Oh.” Although far from a detailed answer, the involvement of magic did seem to grant her some understanding. There was a lot of variance in that. “Is your magic strong?”

“I have my arts, but it depends on what you mean by strong.”

“Having your arts definitely means strong.” Henry should know better than her what passed as strong, but the last several days had muddled his mind. Part of it was humility, but most of it was from the recent week. After being toyed with the way he had, he couldn’t call himself strong without feeling like a liar or without the massive asterisk of being so within human context, which meant nothing in Gintessa.

“By the way, any chance there are clothes around?” Henry said. “I’m naked, you see.”

“Oh. Umm.” She looked around with intention, then picked a rolled-up blanket she'd thrown aside. “I bring this in case it rains.”

Henry chuckled, shading his eyes towards the sunny skies. “Rain.”

She returned a polite smile. “The clouds can surprise around here.” Nearing the waterfront, she tossed the roll towards him, and Henry caught it. The girl turned around, letting Henry emerge from the water, unrolling the blanket and tying it around his waist so it hung to his ankles like a makeshift robe. “You said there’s a human village around? And what’s your name?”

“I’m Elly. The village is called Kelter.”

“What do you mean by human village? This is Gintessa. Any chance we can go there?” She led the way through the broad path made by the cows’ hooves.

“Ah, you mean like that. No, we’re not very free. We give a lot of our crops to the giants. There are enchantments to make our food fill their stomach as it would be their size, so human produce is still important to them. Is it true that in Humius, people are free?”

“Freer than here, certainly. Although giants, not offgiants, can come in and act superior, they can’t do whatever they want. There are giant guards to keep order if it gets bad. As much as they hate to admit it, they depend on us for their population, so our well-being has to be respected to some level.”

“Why don't they have that respect everywhere? Where do they draw the line?”

“Humius is where they draw it. Sons of bitches can’t be too kind for some reason.”

Elly chuckled. They left the grassy plot and were under trees again. Henry watched the cows.

“It’s alright to leave them?”

“They know their way home.”

Henry nodded. Elly seemed near his age, and, behind her, he found himself staring at her braid fixedly, her hips, her feet wearing those wooden sandals. Ada, the thug kidnapping Rennard and Milton, all these offgiants with the ramifications on their neck had been like her once. His peer, standing eye to eye, a respectful offer of her blanket, conversing on the goings of life. Where did it go wrong? Was it just the spiteful humans who were turned into offgiants, or did something happen when they were turned, or after?  Perhaps the change of humans standing beside them, shoulder to shoulder, to dolls roaming around their feet, produced a cold distance, made it harder for them to show empathy. Henry didn’t know, but from the brief interaction with Elly, she seemed a harmless and kind girl, yet he watched those sandaled feet and imagined them hovering above him as this massive sole canvas, and that she towered above him. How different could that Elly really be?

“You said they depend on ‘us’ for population,” Elly said, a dejected voice. “But it’s mostly us, the girls, that they take and transform.”

“A human can impregnate a giant.”

“But it’s hard and rare, they mostly transform instead of mate. In Kelter, there aren’t many girls left. I’m fifteen, you see.” Her eyes were downcast. “I think they’ll come by any time. The people in the village talk to me like I’m ill and on deathbed, soon to be gone.”

“They can’t be taking all the girls?”

“They take the ones they consider pretty.”

Henry nodded. “Yeah, I’ve heard that. Then they claim they're superior and that our women are ‘ugly’ compared to them. What a dumb breed. Who is it that comes by and ‘takes’ girls, from your village specifically?”

“Our village is in a larger province owned by Lady Leylee Richwood. She’s not part of the Grey Rhinos, but she’s friendly with them, talks and deals with them. I assume you know the Rhinos, or maybe not if you're from Humius.”

A spark lit up in Henry. “I was going to mention it myself. My two friends, they were taken by this Rhino commander, called the Charmer. Do you know anything about her?”

“The Charmer?” She was agape, which did not bode well. “I don’t think you’ll see your friends again.”

“That just can’t be true.”

“Unless you go and get captured with them.”

Henry remembered how the Charmer moved between various locations through teleportation, how elusive and powerful she was. “Is there anywhere, anyone, to turn to for help?”

“I guess you could join the kingdom’s efforts to fight the Rhinos, but I don’t know if you’d be considered powerful enough.”

Henry knew the answer would be no. Only the most elite of the human mages belonged there.

“You should rest first,” Elly said. “I’ll tell my father. Are you hungry?”

“I am. Thank you, Elly.” Their path gained more straightness, not as wild and unclear anymore. There were ramifications, nearing areas where people regularly walked, with signposts even. Henry could see houses, roofs of straw and walls of whitewashed stones. It was rather sparse and spacious, plenty of clear areas, most likely for the occasional giants passing through. There was no point building too many fences and tight roads, for the giants would rather trample over the annoying parts than pay heed, a message that the humans must adapt to the giants’ needs.

At the entrance stood a group of younger boys, who bowed respectfully to Elly but turned a nasty scowl to Henry. “Who’s he, madam?”

“I found him at the lake. He’s lost, it seems.”

“Lost?” They looked at one another with a skepticism as if she'd claimed Henry had dropped from the skies. It was unfeasible to be freely wandering about as a human in Gintessa. “Just like that?”

Henry was getting tired of repeating the line. “It’s a long story. But I was with two of my friends from Humius, and we got separated.” Henry thought that would draw curious glances, make him look exotic to be from so far away, giving them an eagerness to hear more. And while this happened for a few, the prominent person who spoke, along a few taller ones beside him, the oldest among the bunch of kids, searched their memories for some reason.

“Hey, Peter,” one of them said to the oldest, twenty or so years old. “What about the news they came with this morning?”

The oldest, named Peter, studied Henry. “Bald…” he muttered, probing eyes moving down his bare torso. “Hilda, did you find him naked?”

“He was naked in the lake, yes. Why?”

“Your two friends,” Peter said, eyes on Henry, “does one of them have red and long hair, with fiery magic, and the other able to construe magical ropes?”

Henry didn’t know if answering the question was harmful or not. But his hesitation invited them to make assumptions, and Henry decided to be frank. “Yes, those were the two friends I came with. How do you know this?”

“It’s got to be bloody him!” one of the younger ones shouted. “Peter, it’s him, no chance it isn’t him.”

“You have to leave.” Peter’s voice wouldn’t allow anything else.

“What is this?” Henry said, turning to Elly, and her returned confusion was reassuring, letting him know he wasn’t alone.

“Peter, what is this?” Elly said.

“Listen, I’m not being expelled by a bunch of goddamn kids pretending to stand guard,” Henry said. “Get someone older over here, or explain something.”

“I’ll explain. News arrived this morning. They caught an offgiant running from a western farm, just at the border to the Charmer’s mountains. Her eyes were bleeding, blinded partially, and she claimed three humans did this to her. Humans from Humius, and she described all three of you, and you seem to be a perfect match. The news erupted over all of Gintessa. Both the kingdom and the Rhinos are in search of these humans. The Rhinos contacted our Lady, Madam Leylee Richwood, asking for her help. She’s set her hounds out for you. They’ll find you, and we don’t want them finding you here, thinking we helped you. Clear off.”

The giant with bloody eyes they found must have been Ada. Henry stood speechless, for he had awaited insults and exaggerated caution against outsiders, but not such a good and proper reply. They weren’t belligered kids. They had every reason to cast him out.

Henry turned to leave, but Elly took his arm. “Wait. Peter. When was this? How don’t I know?”

“The news are as fresh as this morning, miss. I implore you, it’s for our best. They’ll punish all of us, not if, but when the Lady’s hounds track him here and find him in our houses. Better they catch him out there, alone as when you found him.”

Elly turned to him. “I’m sorry, Henry. But if the hounds are after you, there’s no helping it. Leave.”

Henry had a lingering stare, wanting to ask about these goddamn hounds, more about this story, but those impatient eyes weren’t eager to answer him, they were eager for him to turn and leave. So he did. Not from where he’d come, but another angle through the woods, walking and walking, for half an hour till it opened up to rolling hills of grass where sheep and goat grazed, and there he lay down and stared at the skies where the sun wasn’t.

Apparently he was wanted, currently hunted. Apparently there was an inveitability to this hunted status, spoken of as if these hounds would find him as certainly as there would be future sunrises. Henry sighed. He had to laugh. “It just keeps getting worse, doesn’t it?” he said to no one. “At least the weather’s nice. And hey, I’m not completely naked. Got myself a blanket.” He lay there for some time, perhaps an hour, and then he heard someone clear their throat.

It was Elly standing there, holding a bowl of stew and a cup of water.

“You’re just too kind,” Henry said.

Her smile was lukewarm. She approached him, sat beside him and handed him the bowl and cup, the containers made of earthenware. Elly tucked her knees in against her, straightening her skirt. “I asked more about this story, if you’d like to know.”

“Gods please,” Henry said, slurping the stew, feeling a piece of asparagus and mushroom.

“The offgiant was almost blind, her eyes bleeding. They used healing magic, but could only return partial function. So she can see, but not well. She said human workers had run from her farm and that she was out to find them, but they’d sought shelter with rogue mages from Humius who attacked her, blinded her, tried to kill her, but she narrowly escaped.”

Henry’s fingers clenched around the yellow cup. “Lying bitch. She captured us, was taking us eastwards to sell us to slavers.” He breathed out, taking a sip of water. “Sorry, continue.”

“Humans from Humius coming in and almost killing a giant, you can see how seriously this is taken, so it’s apparently spread rapidly across Gintessa. They keep a tight watch on humans, to suddenly learn there’s a trio no one’s heard of who almost killed a giant, it scares them. So everyone’s searching for you, the kingdom for their own reasons, the Rhinos for theirs. Punishment for hurting that giant, to recruit you, I don’t know what the reason is. But the Rhinos want you. They should already have two of your friends, from what you said. So now you’re the only one left. Since there’s no idea where to look, they went to Lady Leylee Richwood. Her hounds can track anyone down. They’re currently hunting you. And her manor is close. It shouldn’t take long.”

“These hounds,” Henry said, finishing the last gulp of the stew. “What are they? Giant-sized dogs?”

“Umm, no. It’s hard to explain. When they turn humans into giants, the process is very… flexible. You can shape them somewhat, make them more determined, kind, dumber.”

“That is incredibly advanced magic,” Henry said. “So much it’s barely talked about.”

“But Lady Leylee Richwood has access to that. Her hounds are, well, giants who behave like dogs. They walk and run on all four like dogs, they’re dumb and can’t talk. They have a scarily accurate ability to track things based off one whiff of your scent, and they’re fast. It’s said that if you’re a human in the east and her hounds have your scent, you might as well walk to Lady Richwood’s manor and turn yourself in. The hounds are specifically good against mages. Mages who can beat giants can still lose to them.”

“Any more good news?” Henry said, forcing a grin. There was a silence. Henry resigned to his fate. He lost the will to get up and not surrender as they had so often done along this journey. And Elly didn’t go further on about these hounds, sparing him of the details. He’d know soon enough.

Elly broke the quiet at last. “You… You must be very strong, if you almost killed a giant.”

Henry made a farting noise with his mouth. “Pure fucking luck. My friend got a one-in-a-million shot. Otherwise, she was fucking us for hours, figutatively and literally. She was toying with us, dominating us in the most embarrassing ways you can ever imagine. She reduced us to things. We weren’t humans, but things. That’s why I was naked when you found me, she took off our clothes and did things with us you can’t even imagine.”

Elly blushed, hand over her mouth. “Oh.”

“Sorry.” He put the bowl and cup aside. “Thanks, was delicious.” He cleared his throat. “Feels good to have gotten that rant out. Back there, those boys respected you awfully much. Are you someone important?”

“They’re scared of me.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Any day, I could be taken away by Madam Richwood’s guards, and I’ll be made large. It’s not unusual for them to train you when you become an offgiant, to push you away from your human past and make you embrace a new identity. The normal way is they take you to where you grew up, to the people you knew, and they…” She tried not to weep.

“I understand. One day, you could come towering over them, and they don’t want to breed any vengeance in you.”

“Exactly. But it just makes it worse, you know? I wish they treated me worse in Kelter, made me the most spiteful wench there ever was, cast me out and hated me, for maybe then I could find pleasure in taking vengeance. Instead it’ll be remorse, heartbreak. My father even lays out plans of how we’re going to do it. He told me, if the day comes, I should march up to him without hesitation and step on him.” Elly flexed her toes, fingers tracing the lines of her sandals. “My close ones telling me how to hurt them, to convince the giants I’m one of them. And that’s if I’m lucky. Those hounds… One of them was girl I knew, from Kelter. I saw her a month ago, running past these fields on all four, with a blank, stupid expression on her, unable to speak a word, like an animal.”

“God, I hate these fucks. Listen, Elly, one day, they’re going to pay. Not Lady Richwood specifically, not the Rhinos, but every goddamn giant is going to pay for how they treat us. Don’t ask me how, don’t ask me when. I’m just letting you know. And you said my friends are done for because they were captured by the Charmer. Well, I’ll tell you that you haven’t met Milton and, especially, Rennard. We made that one giant pay. Was it luck? Perhaps. But I think about the journey we took since we left Humius, and honestly, I’m feeling proud. Our perseverance, our problem-solving, always looking ahead, always making something happen. God bless Rennard, that man especially. You know, as false as that bitch Ada’s story was, the apprehension it spread among the giants is accurate. They should be scared. Because there truly is three humans who have entered Gintessa who will not just stand by and take it.”

Henry made his farewells with Elly, the girl he’d just befriended. He joked that perhaps they’d meet each other again at Leylee Richwood’s manor, him captured by the hounds and her taken to become an offgiant. She took the joke well. They had to learn to find something to laugh about.

On Elly and the villagers’ behest, Henry left the fields to get even farther away. They didn’t want the hounds’ course to come anywhere near the village when they would hunt him. It made the event feel more calamitous for Henry, as if a hurricane were following him. Elly had described the hounds as giant girls who behaved like dogs, walking and running on all four, not speaking in words. Henry knew not to underestimate the term girl when it was a giant, for even the sweetest and frailest of girls, when a giant, could overpower him. These hounds were coming to retrieve him, so he thought they shouldn’t harm him if he didn’t resist. Henry wondered where they’d gotten his scent. Perhaps it was the clothes Ada had taken off them and discarded in the woods, or perhaps the scent of Ada’s love juices as he certainly carried some of its rank fragrance still, or they’d retrieved his scent from her foot as he’d been stuck on it for a long time. Whatever it was, they required only the slightest things and they’d be able to find him. Henry watched the rolling hills, the midday becoming afternoon, envisioning the sight of… perhaps a great naked girl running towards him on all four? He still wasn’t sure what to expect.

After an hour, a grove interrupted the monotony of the grass fields. The trees gave him ample shade, both normal and giant-sized ones. There was a cool stream coursing through it which Henry sat within. He crossed his legs, closed his eyes, and meditated, the water pouring over his waist.

He became accustomed to the sound of the leaves rustling to wind, so much that when they were stirred into movement by something else, he noticed the difference accurately. It came closer. Henry retained his composure, meditating. It came even closer. The rustle of leaves received an addition of sharp crackles, branches snapping, whipping back to place after being pushed aside, underbrush flattened to feet, or, if Elly’s description was true, to hands and toes. The intensity receded, her pace slowing, but the sounds closer, a stone’s throw away. They stopped. She was surely watching him. Henry couldn’t ignore it anymore, his curiosity breaking his peace as he peered over his shoulder.

She was young. That was Henry’s first impression, round cheeks and innocent blue eyes fixed at him. Her mouth was open, tongue hanging and huffing like a dog. She was on all four, as expected, wearing a bandeau to cover a small chest. She was thin, though it no doubt helped her agility. Her yellow-brown hair reached the neck, plenty of leaves and twigs trapped within them. A brown thong covered her womanhood, the flat ass bare, and she wore plates of black modrock, specifically a piece along the length of her forearm, on the back of her thighs, a piece in front of her abdomen, and there were spikes of them coming out of the collar she wore. They would absorb magic well.

They entered a staring contest. The girl was cautious, sniffing at the air before her, lowering her head to the ground, reaching forward with one hand and completing a small stride, a cat skulking forward. She circled around him, hand entering the water lightly.

“I don’t want to fight,” Henry said, hands raised. Every half-circle the girl completed around him brought her closer, head expectantly weighing to the left, then right, as if expecting a punch. Then one of her hands touched the edge of the stream, her chin almost on the ground as she advanced towards him. The nose tapped his shoulder and retreated instantly, testing him. But Henry did nothing. Her face returned, nose finding a comfortable home against his arm. The wind surged cold and fast past his neck and shoulder as she inhaled. A delicate touch, her nose brushed his skin as it probed over him, sniffing, exploring, confirming it was him. Henry stirred as a wet and warm touch picked at his backside. It returned, the tongue taking more time and going beyond a simple touch. It caressed his back, patted along his length. Her lips closed around his bald head and sucked him like a lollipop for several seconds, then released with a wet pop.

“What do you want?” Henry said timidly, not wanting to provoke her. This was far better than the promises of brutality he expected, and he wished for it to stay that way.

She didn’t respond. Head sideways, her lips closed around the sides of his torso. The girl lifted him like a lioness holding the cub in her mouth, but she quickly brought him back down and guided his naked body through the water, washing him. Her hands, in the meantime, with the first display of human dexterity, ripped some of the underbrush off and made a mattress on the forest bed. She placed him on it, front first as if he were on a massage bed, and her tongue returned. The girl licked along the length of his body, legs to head, down and up, down and up, the soft wet muscle tasting him over and over again. Her mouth narrowed into a tight O, she let a drop of spit fall on his ass and the tongue returned to spread it over his backside, painting him with her saliva. With a flick of her nose, she flipped him onto his back, his boner on display. She brought her cheek against his chest and nuzzled against him, friendly and amiable, the soft side of her face caressing his front.

Careful, Henry brought up a hand and patted her nose. “You’re an angel,” he said. “Such an evil reputation, yet so amiable. Well, you’re still going to capture me, aren’t you?”

She made a simple smile befitting the innocence on her face. The lips returned, now smooching and nibbling on him instead of sucking. Henry couldn’t resist giggling when she did it to his stomach. That made her release a gleeful sound the closest to any form of vocalization she’d yet given, something between a hum and a giggle.

The girl slipped her tongue under his ass, raised his lower body slightly, and brought her lips over his manhood. Henry’s inner thighs and groin were barely past her lips and in the mouth, while his legs traced her lips from the outside and reached out beside her cheeks. Now came the harder sucking, the tongue massaging the area between his legs. The skin on his nethers was being pulled inwards to the suction, like several hands pinching his thighs and tugging at them. The tongue touched his manhood, the sound of her lips making out with his manhood overpowering the stream of water nearby.

Henry came quickly. He groaned, moved his hips, and at the taste of his cum her sucking intensified, her throat and cheeks almost undulating as the muscles worked rhythmically. The tip of her tongue pushed at the area between his ass and manhood, stroking up, pressing out all the cum. Henry couldn’t believe how much he had in him; she was draining him, sucking him dry.

He exhaled loud and long when he was done, the girl swallowing. She still had his groin in her mouth, in the same position, and her tongue still explored him after she’d swallowed, although with less vigor. Henry didn’t feel like moving. He lay in the glory of his orgasm, though not undisturbed as the girl just seemed to continue with afterplay when he was already finished. Henry had never been so checked out.

But he realized it shouldn’t be like this. He had orgasmed before, and although he’d never been so spoiled as the treatment he received now, he couldn’t imagine all of it to be explained by the effects of an orgasm. His first movement was hard. Just raising his crunching his chest slightly was like lifting a bag of bricks. The abs had to work ridicolously just to raise his torso somewhat, and when he leaned on his elbows, it felt so heavy that a person might have been standing on his shoulders. “What’s going on?”

Too good to be true. That had been their new mantra since entering Gintessa, and this girl, this ‘hound’ as they called her, had fit the bill perfectly. Sweet and innocent girl crawling up to him and spoiling him like this, when these were creatures who carried a far nastier rumor. This lethargic state had to be her doing.

“Hey, I think that’s enough,” Henry said. Sitting upright was hard, not just for her holding his groin between her lips and raising his lower legs off the ground, but his odd fatigue. Henry put his feet against her cheeks and tried to push, unable to get her off. “Hey, girl, I appreciate it, but I think it’s enough.” He slipped one hand under her upper lip, small for her proportions but lush and massive for him, and another hand under her lower lip. Like some bear trap on his groin he tried to pry them apart and push with his legs simultaneously. He felt his weakness. His endeavor led to nothing, but in response to the attempt she sucked harder, pulling him in. “I’m already finished,” Henry snapped. He summoned the art of the fighter, pried her lips apart and hopped away.

Like a cat dodging the lunge of a snake, she recoiled to his sudden power. Henry was slick with her saliva and decided to move towards the stream. He didn’t complete one step before the mouth returned, and even if Henry had anticipated it he might not have been able to react. Lips and teeth snatched his torso in a swift lunge. Head hanging out from one end of her mouth and lower body on the other, at least Henry’s arms were free. But before he could plan a single move, she ripped her head back and forth like a wolf trying to kill the rabbit in its mouth, teeth clamping him in place. Henry thought he was inside a tornado, his free limbs slapping against her cheeks from the lightning-quick turns. He screamed, teeth grinding him hard to hold him fast to the blinding speed of her head-turns. “Stop! S—” One word was all he could get out. The world was a blur.

There was sudden stability, cold air, and he realised he’d slipped out from her teeth and been thrown off. He saw the ground coming up to him, had to come up with a plan, but his hands and feet spent less than half a second on the forest bed before her hand slapped him away. He rolled, stabilized, but she was upon him and slapped him away again, the motion of a cat's paw striking the mouse. Henry stabilized again but went for the offensive, a jump kick towards her face. But the girl snapped back and punted him with another sideways palm. She was instantly upon him again. Diving in with her head, she caught his upper body between her lips, ripped him back and forth again until he was thrown.

Henry didn’t stand a chance. It became clear why Elly had spoken of these hounds as the human’s worst enemy. They were terribly mobile, and despite being thin, they were still giant and strong. He couldn’t outmaneuver her. His weakness certainly played a part, but he was sure he never stood a chance anyhow. Surrendering like he originally planned turned into the most attractive plan once again.

“Please, stop!” Henry shouted, raising hands and lying back down. On all four and with her jumpy readiness, she circled around him and poked into his space cautiously with her head. Henry didn’t move. She dared to come close again, her nose back upon him, sniffing his body and nuzzling against him. He couldn’t understand her. She licked him again, the scatters of leaves and soil over his skin ignored by her tongue and taken. Then she grabbed his groin into her mouth again and resumed what Henry had interrupted. She kept licking and kissing his nethers, and before Henry knew it, he was getting hard again, she was getting there, and he came one more time. It hurt this time, his manhood aching, and her tongue worked every last drop out of him.

“Oh, god,” he moaned, in pain as much as pleasure, and the fatigue wore on him harder now, an additional onerous blanket thrown over him like a web. It definitely had a connection to what she was doing. Henry couldn’t believe she was still going after his second orgasm. The only thing he knew was he couldn’t resist.

Half an hour later, she made Henry cum for the fifth time, and the pain was absolutely overriding the pleasure. He felt drugged, unable to move, and at last she grabbed him with her mouth, flipped her head up and opened wide to help send him inside. Henry feared she’d gulp him whole and alive, which normally wouldn’t be a clever thing for a giant to do with a competent mage, but Henry didn’t have the energy to as much as walk. He only prayed this fatigue was temporary and that he would recover.

Luckily, she didn’t try and swallow him. Her cheeks were puffed out from him filling the space inside her mouth, only his shins and below sticking out between her lips, and the girl was on her way.

Milton was about to complete his second day with the Charmer’s absence. He didn’t feel any different, the charm needed more time between the host and the victim before it waned, and Henry had gone about his training as usual.

Towards the evening he went to the hot springs and found a vacant pool. He swam and drifted inside it some, then climbed up on a moss-covered shelf of rock where he lay and closed his eyes. His body was sore. Practicing his dodging skills was the harshest part. Milton was getting better at it, but it was basically a session of him just getting stomped by Hilda over and over again. And she had grown a little too comfortable with it all. How the practice went was that she said go, and her soles would start chasing him, Milton dodging as best as he could. When he was caught, it would be the end of it, she’d step off him and they would restart. But today, Milton felt she would stand on him a couple of extra unnecessary seconds. Sometimes he could have sworn to feel his skin wrinkle and twist, a very subtle grind from her part.

Milton heard a loud splash. Hilda had stepped into the pool, the backside of her naked body in its pale and youthful glory facing him. Hilda’s thin shape made her far less meaty, but her ass had somewhat of plumpness still and the thighs and calves were adequately muscular for her size. She lay with her head against one side, and owing to the irregular shape of the pool, in this part the walls of the pool caved inwards. The distance between where she put her head and where Milton lay could be closed with the length of her body, and she propped her feet up right on the ledge Milton was on, comfortably claiming most of the space. The sun was behind Milton, shining its golden sunset light on her feet, making the drops of water on them sparkle. Not a word had been spoken, Milton unsure if she even knew he was there. The toes flexed, and with all that water alongside the ripples of wrinkles forming along the length, it produced a glittering wave of motion under the sunlight. From heel to toe, her feet were perhaps a doorway and a half tall.

Those large peds moved so effortlessly, a wiggling dance. The toes were slender, to her thin stature, but a surprising amount of folded flesh presented itself when they curled and moved. Her left foot went over her right, the toes grappling with one another playfully, sliding in between each other’s gaps, taking care of each other. It looked like an act of seduction, like a woman dancing for him, trying to bring him closer. Milton did stare at them dumbfounded, but it was in awe of their size. Although giants were no new sight for him, since crossing the border he’d never had a single laid-back moment to simply observe. Now he did. He crawled closer and juxtaposed his foot next to hers. “So big…”

The feet tilted aside, revealing long legs leading to crotch and then torso under water. Her shoulders and head were above the surface, a raised eyebrow staring back at him. “When did you get there? You know, I’m not surprised to find you by my feet, staring at them like that. I knew you were weird when you wanted me to stomp you hard in training, but it’s becoming more and more obvious. You boys have no tact.”

“Wha— I was here first, actually. You’re the one who put these feet in my space.”

“You keep telling yourself that. Stop looking at me.” Her feet closed together in front of him, a wall blocking most of his view. “And you’re supposed to call me madam.” Milton sighed, and she cleared her throat self-importantly.

“Yes, madam.”

“Good. Don’t forget your place, human.”

“If I’m just a human, how are you so affected by me looking your way or the things I say? It should be insignificant to such an important giant like yourself, madam.”

“Stop trying to sound smart.” Her feet stooped forward, threatening to take him. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t endured already from training. “But, hey, listen. Umm…” Milton cautiously leaned to the side and peered past her foot, and she stared absently into the water, biting her thumb, a reddish color on her cheeks that might have been from the heat, or from nervousness. “My soles hurt, and I think it’s your job to do something about it.”

“What? But you—”

“Let me explain!” she defensively added. “Yes, I kick a lot and take plenty of hurt and I’m used to it. But ever since you came along and I have to stomp after you, my soles have begun to hurt. The reason being that I don’t normally have any practice or drills where I stomp the ground like that, so this is your fault. Or, maybe responsibility is a better word. My feet hurting is your responsibility. So, umm… I think you should do something.”

“Like what?”

“What do you think? Use your head.”

“You’ll barely feel anything if I massage with my hands. It would be a thousand times better if you did it yourself, or get Alluere to rub you off or something.”

“Shut up!” The feet snapped forward, almost slapping him, and Milton recoiled. They returned to their position. “Don’t worry about what it feels like sensually. It’s about you taking responsibility. If you want me to take you seriously, then show me you’re willing to take responsibility.”

Milton knew there was no point in arguing this. Whether he liked it or not, he’d be spending many days from now on with her and didn’t want it to get worse. “Fine, madam.”

“Good.”

Milton moved forward to the massive doors of pale flesh. He had no trouble picking at the soft arch and gathering folds of flesh between his fingers, kneading and rubbing them. The toes above him reacted, a girlish squirm, trying to endure the ticklish sensation. Milton didn’t try the heels, they were too hard and wouldn’t yield him any supple flesh to grab onto. The creamy arches, on the other hand, were welcoming. He was very curious as to what face she wore now, but didn’t dare peer past her feet to find out. “I’m thinking, maybe I can use my tethers? Pull and push methodically, that kind of thing?”

“Um, no? What do you think I am, some wagon you’re fixing? I’m a lady, and we need to be cared for.”

“That doesn’t sound like a mighty giant speaking to some insignificant subordinate. That’s more like a woman speaking to a fellow man.”

“Shut up.”

Milton continued picking at her arch, unable to even enjoy the sunset as it was behind him, behind the pool wall. “So, um, what’s your background? How did you end up with the Rhinos? There are no marks on your neck, so you’re not an offgiant.”

“Actually, I was an offgiant before.”

“Really? But you’re sixteen. It takes ten years for the marks to disappear. How old could you have been when they did it?”

“Four.”

Milton paused. Then, he said, “I’m sorry.”

She snorted. “Sorry? Humans are so full of themselves. It’s not a bad thing. If anything, it’s better to have it done early. You become a true citizen earlier, you get an easier road into the giants’ way of life. When it happens as you get older, you’ll have enough of your old human life to be attached to, makes it harder to grow out of it.”

“I guess you were lucky, madam,” Milton said. “You ended up fighting for our mistress, for a good cause. If that’s the end, then I don’t see the harm either.”

Hilda snorted again. “Some sensible words, but I know it comes from that charm. Deep down you’re still dumb.” She cleared her throat. “Now, be quiet and keep rubbing. I want some peace.” Milton kept tending to her arches for the rest of the evening.

Due to the Charmer’s absence, Hilda would see to his accommodations. When Milton thought she would take him to some lowly hole to sleep in, she took him to the giants’ barracks, into her own tiny, dark room with a mattress and night table and two pegs where two sets of clothes hung.

Milton watched the one mattress in the room. “Are we sleeping on the same spot, madam? I can’t betray my mistress.”

“Idiot. Are you assuming I’d want it? Don’t get full of yourself.” She dropped him onto the end of the mattress, opposite of the pillow. “You stay on that side.” Hilda lay down and stretched out her legs. Fortunately, she didn’t fully cover the length of her mattress, her feet close but not intruding on his space. Sleeping next to a human who moved too much in their sleep was annoying enough. A pair of giant soles slapping him around would be impossible. Hilda wore a short linen shift reaching her thighs, and a thong to cover her womanhood. Her legs came together. “I better not catch you peeping at me.”

“Like I said, I wouldn’t betray my mistress.” She always hated those answers from him.

The late evening became night, little light coming in from the window. Milton lay curled up at the end of the mattress, and an issue quickly arose. “Psst, madam, are you asleep?”

“What do you want?”

“It’s cold. Isn’t there a blanket or something?”

“No, we don’t need blankets. It’s not cold for us. That’s too bad for you.”

“Am I just supposed to freeze? You have some spare clothes, could you put them over me?”

“No, my clothes aren’t blankets for you to use.”

“You’ve got to do something. You’re responsible for me, right?”

“Ugh, fine.” There was a lot of shuffling, and Milton noticed large shadows to either side of him. “You can snuggle up against me.” Milton crawled over to her left foot, which lay on its side with the sole pointing towards him, and he pressed himself up against the arch. The skin was warm and welcoming, plush to lay upon. Unrequested, her other foot came in and sandwiched him. It was a very light sandwich, Milton could move decently within but was in constant contact with her soles. Her feet warmed the air in between, and already it felt better. But then he thought about how she was positioning her feet, soles facing one another, an unnatural way to sleep. She was going out of her way to do it.

Milton managed to fall asleep, but woke during the night and noticed her feet were even closer. There was bare movement, the feet wrinkling and rubbing against him gently. Perhaps that had woken him. Milton was too tired to mind and slipped back into sleep. He woke to a bright predawn. Milton tried to crawl out along the length of her feet, but as he scraped against the balls, the toes moved in to take care of the itch he caused. Milton was smothered in between. The toes curled and scratched, the right side using Milton’s body to scrub her left. He was surprised by the angles in which the toes found around him, slipping in under his armpits to lift him, toes grabbing his face. The precision was notable. Was she really asleep?

When Milton got out, he peered down the length of her legs and scored a sight of her thong. Her foot lazily came and knocked him off his legs. It was awfully convenient for them to not have ever parted from him as he lay in between, entrap and smother him as he tried to get out, and kick him once he left them. Hilda groaned and rubbed her eyes, then sat up, her light brown hair tousled. Her tired eyes found him quickly. “Was it warm?”

“Umm, yes,” Milton said, stammering. “Madam.” Now he was the one blushing, turning away from her. Though he found himself overcome by something, a hole within him, a dark empty thing draining away at all meaning. He didn't know what the hell he was doing here.

“I’m changing, look away.” She got up and moved to her training outfit hanging on the peg. "What's wrong with you?" Hilda asked.

"Huh? Oh, nothing." The blank expression on him must have been obvious. A sense of duty returned to Milton, helping him get up on his legs and go about the day. No, it hadn't been the emptiness which can come on those terrible mornings when one has no motivation to get up. It was the absence of the charm. The Charmer hadn't returned yet, as she should have, and the effects were creeping in.

After another day of training, at the hot springs during evening, Hilda asked Milton to tend to her feet again. He stood on the same spot, she lay comfortably the same, presented her feet to him, but this time she placed her arches on the ledge so the toes were level with him.

“Take care of them this time,” she said. “You did a good job yesterday.” It was quiet. “Aren’t you going to say thank you?”

“Um, thank you, madam.”

Hilda rolled her eyes. “Looks like I have to teach you basic manners too.” Milton kneaded the tip of her pinky toe and slowly moved down the ten digits. It was only going to get worse. Hilda’s requests would only increase, her advances on him would become bolder. The only thing protecting him was her shame, that she held onto some strange pride and would still put on the performance of him being some worthless little thing in need of her guidance.

“Get in between the toes too,” she said. “At the base.”

Milton reached deeper inside, but the toes took the invitation too hard, reaching forward so he was in between the second and big toe. They were holding his waistline snugly. Milton blushed, working the base of her big toe. “I— Is this really necessary, madam?”

“Stop being weird about it,” she said with a hint of shame which, evidently, revealed she couldn’t act normal about it herself. “You’re not touching my legs or something like that, I’d never let you. This is meant to be demeaning, not romantic. You’re tending to the feet that crush and toy with you with in training. It’s a reminder of your place.”

“Well… Some people find an attraction in the demeaning part…”

“M—Maybe you do, because you’re weird.” She had a very defensive tone. “Keep your eyes lowered, don’t look at my body.”

Milton did. He had to provoke her embarrassment sometimes, to let her know he had an eye on her advances. Her shame was his last bastion. If she lost that, nothing would protect him. But it felt as if his efforts weren’t enough. She was slowly inching towards him. This morning had confirmed it, the sight of her wet pussy after a night of him sleeping beside her feet. He watched the pale, slender peds around him, knowing they were hungry for him, that each day they worked to get closer to him.

“Umm, so where are you from, madam?” Milton said. He tried to occopy her mind, maybe earn some of her respect so she wouldn’t see him as a tool. “Where did you live before they took you and made you a giant?”

“Just some village. It wasn’t far from the border to Humius.”

Milton squeezed her second toe. The foot was relaxed. “Huh. Sounds like a strange place for the village to be in. Didn’t people try to flee towards Humius?”

Her head leaned back against the moss-covered stone, eyes drifting through the skies. “The dumb ones, yeah, but they’d get caught, and it wouldn’t end well for them.”

“Do you miss your family?” It was a bold question. He feared she’d frown and punish him for trying to be friendly with her. But she watched the skies thoughtfully instead.

“Yeah, I do. I see them sometimes.”

“Really?”

“After a few successful missions, I get a visit home, and I bring them some money. Alluere told you we have a mission soon, interrupting a royal escort and freeing our sisters? After that, I get a visit home.”

“You know, yesterday, you told me that it’s better to be made a giant early, to get into the giants’ way of life easier. But family is family, there’s no breaking that tie.”

She hummed. Her eyes came down and caught him looking at her. Milton shied away, but she didn’t scold him for it, so he dared to stare back. They made eye contact. She had a rather cold look, though it didn’t show any resentment. Her big toe moved up and down along his back, rubbing him, and Milton got goose bumps.

“Your body must be sore,” Hilda said. “I can return the favor and give you a rub, but you have to ask nicely.”

“It’s fine, madam,” Milton said, a nervous smile to play it off. “The warm water does wonders.”

Now she gave her customary frown. “Your superior is offering kindness. Me asking is just a formality, you’re supposed to say yes.”

“Um, yes,” Milton said with mild discomfort. “Could you please show me your kindness, madam?”

“I can.” Her feet retracted and left him alone. Hilda swam towards him, her size fleeting closer and closer until she loomed over him. Her pink little nipples stared right at his face. They were stiff. Hilda’s hands arrived, put Milton on the moss with his chest down, and an index finger ran across his spine with mild pressure.

“Thank you, madam.”

“I can be kind too. But only if you behave. Now, tell me how you got here all the way from Humius.”

And so Milton told where he was from, what it was like in Humius, and he recognized Hilda tried to be apathetic about it or downplay the meaning of freedom for humans. He went on to his story, minus some of the details around Ada. He wanted to suppress those details, still unable to believe what the farmgirl had done to them. Hilda was engaged, asking questions, giving her own opinions, and the two were bonding.

From the kind finger working his muscles, all five fingers wrapped around his torso and threw him across the pool.

Milton swam up and drew breath. “What are you—”

“Evening, Alluere,” Hilda said, her attention elsewhere. “What are you doing?”

Hilda didn’t want to be caught being soft towards him, and Milton withdrew with understanding. But the sight of Alluere brought its own confusion, as she came running on all four. Rennard was on her scalp, holding a pair of ropes, a makeshift pair of reins tied to Alluere’s nose. Alluere arrived at the lip of the pool and reared back, imitating a horse.

Rennard laughed victoriously. “Would you look at that, Milton! I won the bet. I’ve ridden her over these mountains like a good, obedient animal.”

Alluere watched the sunset. “And that’s the last of the sun. It’s down.”

“Hey, come on now,” Rennard said. “It’s my first time winning, loosen up a bit and don’t be a sore loser. Another couple of minutes, yeah?”

“It’s all according to the bet, and sunset is over,” Alluere proclaimed. “You’ve had plenty of minutes.” A thoughtful smile came to her. “Hmm, actually, I can humor you a bit. I can be your dog.” Alluere started barking, growling, snapping her head forward as Rennard held himself.

“Be a good bitch now and—”

Alluere threw her head to the sides, reared back and cast her head forward. Rennard was thrown off. “And dogs love to lick their owners!” Alluere lunged at him while he was down, grabbing his torso with her mouth and giving a long, wet kiss, which transitioned into a rabid licking session as she slobbered all over him, her tongue assaulting his body. Rennard exclaimed whatever couple of words he could get out before the stroke of her tongue passed his mouth and interrupted. He tried to wrestle the soft, wet muscle off, but her head moved frantically, up and down, up and down, bringing the tongue with it, slipping in the occasional wet kiss.

“Bad bitch!” Rennard yelled, still enough playfulness in him to entertain the joke. Alluere had changed him. Alluere focused the tip of her tongue around his belly and sides, more methodic now, and it prompted chuckles out of Rennard. She was tickling him, and that ensued for a good several seconds until she returned to making out with his chest. Alluere grabbed his torso between her lips and rose, a dog with the toy in her mouth. Her lips closed around his body and the irregular squeaky sound of suction came, her cheeks hollowing in.

From the sides, Hilda watched with a visible flush on her cheeks, a shy hand over her mouth.

“Bad bitch!” Rennard yelled again and used a free arm to slap her cheek with a fiery punch. Alluere recoiled with a twist of the head, Rennard released from her maws with enough momentum to be thrown into the pool. Alluere rubbed her cheek with a giggle.

"You know, there are specialized giants who behave like dogs," Alluere said. "A powerful magic that changes them when they're made. It belongs to a powerful woman, Leylee Richwood. Some of her hounds came here the other day, hunting you two, but when they knew the Charmer had you, they left."

"Why would they be after us?" Rennard said, to which Alluere shrugged. She joined the pool and the evening proceeded as usual, Rennard and Milton speaking with one another, Alluere and Hilda mentioning the upcoming raid they had on a royal escort, and sometimes Alluere poked around and teased someone.

But then there came a moment for Milton he couldn’t quite explain, a flush of some feeling erasing everything he currently felt. Emptiness was the closest he got to describing it.

“Hey, are you ok?” Rennard said. His expression made it very noticeable.

Milton blinked and shook his head. “I don’t know.” He asked to withdraw early, and Hilda took him to the dormitory when it hadn’t gone very dark yet.

“You’re pretty quiet,” she said. She changed to her linen shift in front of him, no request to make him turn around.

“Yeah.” That was the only answer he had.

Hilda lay down and stretched out her legs, feet on either side of him. “I got kind of surprised back there, that’s why I threw you.” That was the closest thing to an apology Milton would get. “I’ll be nice and continue with the massage.” Though the detail she omitted was that she didn’t plan to do it with her hands this time, as her big and second toe came and pinched his leg and dragged him to lay nice and available before her. The peds of her right foot rested on his back and flexed, ever so slightly, alternating between a smooth sideways, stroke of a motion and a harder, downwards press. She was getting more and more comfortable dealing with him by the days.

“I was thinking,” Milton said, a part of his mind still in the blank state he started experiencing. “You’re a true citizen, you know. If you went to Humius, you could settle there and the kingdom’s guards wouldn’t send you back.”

“And?”

“I mean, you could sneak your family in there, get them a freer life.”

“Why do you assume I hate it here, that the human life is the best thing for me? I’m a giant.” From his thigh to neck, her toes tucked him in against the ball of the foot and compressed, soft and warm flesh gently working him. The affection was a stark contrast to the brute force of the training sessions.

He reached behind him and stroked a toe in a return of kindness. “For your family, perhaps. I only mean that there are other options. Wouldn’t they want it?”

“Stop talking about my family.” Hilda said nothing thereafter. Perhaps it was how reasonable his suggestions were and how she began to see the alternatives which made her uncomfortable.

Then Milton realised the source of his emptiness. He lost purpose in seeing why he was here. He was homesick. Although his thoughts of the charmer were still aglow with love and adoration, the things surrounding her were fading. Yesterday he saw purpose in Hilda being here due to fighting for the Charmer, now he was suggesting ways for her to get out. The charm was weakening.

“When is the mistress returning?” Milton said.

“Maybe tomorrow. I’ll be busy preparing for the raid on the royal envoy tomorrow, so you’ll have to train on your own for the most part. When I leave for the raid and hopefully return, I don’t know how things will change. Maybe I won’t be responsible for you anymore.” She left it there, and Milton didn’t know what to make of that. Was it a suggestion? What he did know was that a slender second toe slid under his chin, and the big toe rested on his scalp, brushing his unruly hair. “I can be kind too, you know.”

“You should show it more often,” Milton said. He could sense where this was going, her toes becoming more comfortable around him, especially with the first and second toe holding his head and idly caressing him. Unlike Rennard, Milton didn’t have the defiance to push back, and although Milton and Henry could be grouped as the two with some form of composure, Henry had the character to stand for himself when the time needed it. Too mild, lenient, and soft, those had been Milton’s problems, always the one of the three prone to bullying. So if Hilda abandoned her pride and pushed herself upon him here and now, he wouldn’t know what to do.

Sunlight faded more and more through the one window. Not a word had been said for a while, her toes contiuing to cuddle with his body. It had the faint touch of an absent-minded motion, brushing over his back lightly, the second toe placed on his cheek and drawing little circles, but the tension in the air was palpable. The pretext of her giving him a massage was being stretched thin, these slender, dexterous toes exploring different options. Milton’s heartbeat rose. Behind the pair of knees, no doubt her expression was flushed and anxious.

A row of toes grabbed his torso and lifted him. The knee curled, bringing him towards her, and placed him against her calf. “You can get warm in there.”

“Thank you, madam.” Like a duckling hugging its mother’s underside, Milton snuggled in under a fold of her soft calf muscle. Although it wasn’t needed, the foot of her other leg approached and plugged him inside, surrounded by warm comfort. Milton pushed the nervousness aside and went to sleep.

He woke in the middle of the night to her touch. More specifically, the touch was around his nose and mouth, and it was her big toe prodding him. This wasn’t movement during sleep, the repeated precision was very much conscious. Hilda was awake. There was nothing to hide behind, the intention was clear. She was testing him, seeing if he would accept the offer and kiss.

Milton feigned complete ignorance and pretended to be asleep still, not moving, not responding to the gentle advance. Then he heard a soft, vulnerable little sound in the still night, a girlish squeal emerging from this Rhino warrior. It barely registered in his ears, her attempt of keeping quiet almost succeeding. The legs squirmed somewhat. With his heart rocketing up to his throat, Milton realized she was masturbating. All her discretion made it somewhat difficult to tell, but once he suspected it, it was clear. Perhaps it had been the dawning realisation that she would leave for this raid and might not see him again, or jealousy had overcome her when she watched the way Alluere behaved and wondered why she couldn’t enjoy those liberties herself. Milton prayed she had enough pride, shame, or whatever mixture of the two it was to keep her desires at bay. He lay quietly and endured the probing toe which tried to earn his worship, all the way until her efforts died down and he fell asleep again.

He woke in the morning from her movement. Hilda had gotten dressed, and of course pretended nothing happened during the night. “I have to go speak with my sisters. Something has happened. You go and train as usual. And don’t be lazy.” On the way out she stepped on him, mushing him into the mattress to wake him up.

Milton made his way to the usual spot, by the large boulders and fallen trees he would hoist up with his tethers. But there was no sense of duty, no need to do anything. “What the hell am I even doing here?” The Charmer should have returned some time ago, and her absence was taking effect. The enchantment was all but gone, and all the effort with which Milton had diligently trained and made sure to be strong for his mistress, it was replaced with the familiar urgency of finding a way home. They were supposed to find the border. Where the hell had they ended up?

“Milton…” Milton turned around to see Rennard approaching him, and those keen eyes were full of sober intent. The two saw each other for the first time in days. “We’re getting the hell out of here.”

Rennard and Henry were hunched down by the perimeter of the training areas, by the trees Hilda would normally be kicking against. Many of the women had been gathered towards the other end, outside the barracks, their commander going through things. There was an unruly air to the way things moved amongst the soldiers, mentions of the Charmer having been assassinated, or at the very least an attempt of it.

“Use a tether and pull us up the mountainside,” Rennard said, pointing behind him.

“No, look at how they're standing, where they're facing. Even if it’s far, there’s fifty pairs of eyes this way, there’s a good chance one of them sees us. Come.” Milton waved him over and took the lead. “Follow me.” The course was alongside the mountain, where it was lusher, easier to stay hidden in contrast to the cleared gravel and soil fields in the middle where most of the sparring took place and where the Rhinos were now gathered.

Rennard slapped himself on the cheek as they moved. “Working for these Rhinos, making the bitch proud, I believed all that shit. She was the world to me. What was wrong with me?”

“It did require very specific conditions and set-up, but that’s some powerful magic,” Milton said. “I don’t know why she hasn’t returned or what's happened to her, but if she's alive, we don’t know if she can reactivate it simply by being near us. We need to get distance, as fast as possible.”

“They’re all getting dizzy like dumb fucking hens, just because the Charmer hasn’t returned.” Rennard peered past the brushes and moss with a scowl. “I don’t think they’re all charmed, right?”

“Of course not,” Milton said. “They weren’t like us.”

“Which means they’re all normally stupid without even being charmed. Simple-minded trash, down to the roots.” They made their way through the lush perimeters, nearing the passage which led out of this pocket of the mountains.

“I think they have scouts beyond this area too,” Milton said.

“I know, but they’re looking outwards, and for giants. We can sneak on by. We should look for the highest peaks soon, get a good view of the area.”

“Sounds good.” They made their way to the passage, the two mountains coming together and leaving a pathway between narrow for a giant but broad for the two boys. The pathways were smooth soil, shaped by massive soles. No one stood in their way as Rennard and Milton crossed. On the other side was more spacious terrain but still hemmed in by the green mountains. They hugged the right side and moved along.

Though not long after did they hear the familiar rustling of trees and flattening undergrowth to a giant’s advance, from where they’d come. A young teenager emerged, noticeably younger than the two but not a child either. She was fair-skinned, though somewhat dirty, with a tattered skirt barely reaching half her thighs and a bandeau over her thin chest. They recognized her as one of the ill-treated servants, an offgiant forced into labor here, her thin stature showing she didn’t get much to eat. Her hair was yellow and ponytailed but with plenty of stray hairs pointing about.

“I don’t like that one,” Rennard said, nodding her way. “She would always stare at me, like a dog watching another dog. The kind of person you know you don’t want to be alone with.”

“I only noticed her once, but thinking of it, yeah, she did stare at me too. I quickly forgot it back then.” After exiting the passage like the two, she stared about frantically.

“No doubt she’s trying to use the unstable situation to sneak out like us, but she’ll have a harder time.”

“What’s she looking for?” Milton asked.

“Don’t know, a way out?” Though Milton had been right to wonder, for if she were careful about scouts or guards noticing her attempt at sneaking out, she wouldn’t have rushed out like she did, charging through the trees. Nor would her eyes search so lowly on the ground if it were for giants. But then her blue eyes found the boys, fixated on them.

“This is bad,” Milton said.

The girl chewed on her lower lip, glanced around her to see if any giant was around. Then her eyes returned to the boys. Her thumbs dug in under the skirt by the waistline, a firm hook catching the panties as well, and she pulled them both off, revealing a wet pussy. The giant stepped out of them and didn’t spare a second, running straight towards the boys.

“This is very bad.”

“Run!” The boys’ bodies glowed in their base magics as they sprinted off down the mountainside, and the girl was after them. Whatever bush they whipped past was soon trampled by large feet, her soles dropping off some dirt and moss and leaves while taking some with them, every step an exchange.

“Please stop, I need help!” she called.

“Don’t listen,” Rennard said between his breaths. “Horrible liar. Only one reason to take those panties off. We should turn and fight, we can take her.”

She waved her hand. “Just wait up. I want to ask something.”

“No fighting," Milton exclaimed. "Hold onto me!” Immediately he shot up a tether from his hand which struck high on the mountainside. The decision was rushed, the coordination off. Rennard hugged his friend’s torso but didn’t get a good hold. The tether pulled them up in an arc, and right before the explosive snap Milton aimed for to send them high, Rennard lost his hold. Milton was catapulted high while Rennard missed out, haphazardly thrown off with whatever momentum he’d had at the moment. Rennard’s hands were ready, and he grabbed onto a root hanging out from a tree growing uniquely off the mountain.

Rennard looked up to see where his friend would end up, looked down to see how high he himself had gone. It wasn’t high at all, and by then he’d spent too much time doing nothing as a sweeping hand came and snatched him from where he hung. The fingers entrapped his arms against his torso, exploring him curiously, amazed by the touch.

Two wide and blue eyes were on him, teeth nervously clamped onto her lower lip. “I’ve never held one. I—I’m sorry, I just want to try…” She glanced around herself like before, seeing if anyone was around, then ran with Rennard in her hand.

“Rennard!” Milton shouted from atop. “Goddamit.” He hopped his way down, Rennard’s continuous shouts updating him of her whereabouts. She didn’t keep running, nor had she gone very far. Nearby, at a caved-in portion of the cliffsides, she lay down against the mountain and spread her legs wide, pointing Rennard’s legs towards her womanhood.

“You can’t be fucking serious!” Rennard shouted.

“I—I just want to try!” she said, a shaking voice, and by her fear and their furious annoyance one would have thought they were the ones forcing themselves on her. Rennard kicked with his legs and tried to get them apart and block the insertion, and her fingers came to correct the issue by holding them together. Rennard’s feet entered as she began penetrating herself with his body. Only his knees were in and a gasp broke from her.

“Milton,” Rennard shouted, his head sticking out of her closed hand. “Do something for lord’s sake!”

When Milton dared to get close, one of her feet lunged for him, two toes trying to pinch him. Milton hopped back and watched her large feet on the ends of those spread-out legs. If he moved in between her legs, her peds would flank him on both sides.

Rennard’s thighs were entering. Although the girl was incredibly wet, no other giant had been this tight. Rennard felt his lower body being squeezed the hardest of all prior experiences. “Milton! Today, if you could!”

Milton shot out a tether and latched onto a knuckle of the balled-up hand inserting his friend. He attached it to a tree and retracted. She pulled harder on her end, her arm overpowering the tether and making progress on getting Rennard’s hips inside. The giant gave off a girlish squeal, her toes flexing.

"We should have fucking turned and fought like I said!"

Milton added another tether to the hand, and the frail girl had to pull harder. She barely made any progress as Milton focused, drawing his arm back as if pulling a bowstring, making the tethers retract to save his friend in a ridiculous tug-of-war between her hand and his ropes. However, the girl simply grabbed the wrist with her other hand and used both, easily winning, and the entry of Rennard’s waist was announced with a high-pitched sound of pleasure. A few drops of sweat ran down her forehead, chewing on her lower lip, eyes almost closed with an expression that spoke of pain. “I—I’m sorry,” she said guiltily, her breathing rapid. The muscles near her legs were tense, her pussy compressing Rennard’s stomach.

When the giant realised she could pull the tethers off her hand on her end, Milton was helpless. He threw some tethers on her foot or knee or shoulder to pull and annoy or distract her, but nothing could stop her from pushing Rennard inside. If one only saw her face, one might have thought she was giving child or was being tortured. She gave off pained gasps as Rennard’s shoulders were the final hurdle needed, and with a longer exclamation and one last push, Rennard was slurped whole by her nether mouth. Rennard’s red long hair hung out, and his face was visible when he raised his head upwards, a pussy so tight his cheeks were squeezed together by her pink lips.

“Milton, you—”

The tip of her index swirled his long hair into one lump, placed it on his face and poked him into the little bit of depth that was left. She grabbed her pussy lips and folded them over his head, sealing him within.

“Please… I just need,” she gasped, her pussy contracting and working Rennard’s body, hugging him tight, unwilling to let go of this delicious treat it was tasting for the first time. Her fingers started rubbing her clit, her body rocking electrically.

Milton watched helplessly. There was no point of attack left, just a giant girl he couldn’t move doing whatever she wanted with his friend. There was nothing left but conversation. “Hey, miss. Will you let him go when you’re done?”

She didn’t respond, lost in her own world. The orgasm didn’t need long, her back arching, toes yellow from pressure as they curled inwards. Her hand moved furiously over her pussy and the squirt shot out in periodic drizzles. By the mounting sounds she made and the intensifying movement, she was reaching the climax of all climaxes, and a burst of squirt reminiscent of when Ada used them came shooting out of her nethers. What Milton didn’t expect was his friend spearheading the liquid like the cork on a champagne bottle, ejected out of the warm and tight prison to slam straight into him. The two rolled a ways off, a passing of squirt showering over them.

Milton jumped up and helped his friend to his legs. He slapped the dizzy Rennard across the cheek to wake him up. “Let’s go.” The girl lay in the afterglow of her orgasm, twitching slightly.

“To hell with this world,” Rennard muttered, picking up the pace and jogging after his friend as he wiped the giant’s love liquids off his hair and and spat it out.

“W-Wait…” The weak voice was hers, her awareness returning too fast. A hand reached for them longingly as she fought to get up with her near tranquilized muscles. The boys used their base magics to run, though they didn’t slap past many bushes before she got up, peered back out from the little pocket and gave chase again, drops of cum falling off her pussy and thighs.

“Be ready this time, and hold well,” Milton yelled, readying his hand to shoot a tether up.

“No, wait!” Rennard grabbed Milton’s arm and yanked him abruptly, straight towards the mountain. There was a crevice, narrow for a human. They sidled their way within and soon darkness fell upon their crevice as the giant was there, blocking out sunlight. She reached in with a hand, though they had just made it out of reach. Then she sat and kicked a sideways leg inside, and a row of toes punted Milton and slammed him against the side. They possessively sat over his body and curled to bring him closer, trying to work him in between the toes and the ball where the digits could fold over his body for a perfect grip.

Rennard sliced at her ankle with a flash of fire, and the foot released him with a snap and a girly yelp. “No, please. Don’t hurt me. Don’t go!” They didn’t have much left to be out of reach from her leg.

But their hearts rose to their shoulder as they stepped into emptiness and fell. The sight of a large, confused foot searching the stones frantically became smaller and smaller as they fell. The falling didn’t stop, darkness growing around them, the window of light above becoming nothing but a dot which, eventually, was also consumed by the darkness, and the boys hollered and held each other, and the touch they granted one another, the sound of their voices and the wind sweeping past them were the only things telling them they were indeed still in the real world and hadn’t fallen into a void barren of existence, for that was what the continuous fall and the darkness told them.

Henry couldn’t fall asleep or as much as relax in the hound’s mouth. He filled out the space fully, pushing at her cheeks, with his knees and below even sticking out from her lips. Not only was his journey rocky, bouncing up and down as the giant moved on all fours, but Henry had a neighbor. The inside of the mouth was shared with a tongue, a tongue which wouldn’t leave him alone, picking and prodding at his body and most of all at his manhood. His manhood was her favorite thing to pick on and play with. She’d already licked and sucked him to orgasm over five times, each one more painful and less enjoyable than the last, but there was no end to her thirst.

Normal orgasms several times in a row would be exruciating enough, but these giant hounds possessed some power to drain his vitality with it. Henry hoped it would pass, for now he felt like a vegetable, unwilling to move, no vigor in his body. He squirmed somewhat, and instantly the teeth clamped his shoulders in response and the tongue returned to lap away at his manhood.

“Oh, god,” Henry groaned. “No, please, no more.” At least her pace wasn’t so hectic, the licking becoming more of an absent-minded task. Henry lost track of time, sucked on like a caramel as she ran, her breathing audible through the nose above him. As time went on Henry would hear voices from below, humans, and he noticed  they were trying to keep quiet as the giant passed them. Eventually the voices couldn’t be ignored, revealing it grew more and more crowded, and they came from above, from giants. Doors were passed, guards and personnel were signalling to let the hound through, and sounds were echoed across large halls.

“And what is brought before me this time?” a mature voice said, dark and rich.

“My lady, this hound belongs to the squadron sent after the three humans from Humius,” a guard said. “Hound, present the target.”

The hound sucked on Henry so hard he thought she tried to rip the skin off him. Most of the saliva was drained off his body, and then she lowered her head and opened her mouth wide to let him out. Henry landed on a green carpet. The air was cool, the world bright, and he writhed there like a prisoner isolated for months whose door had just been opened, greeted by light for the first time. The hound withdrew.

“Rise, scum,” the guard said. “You stand before Madam Leylee Richwood.”

It was a battle to get up on all fours. Henry raised his head, heavy as metal. Two beautiful, giant sandaled feet stood before him. Sandals easily broke and tore when giants used them. Wearing them signalled comfort, luxury, and a complete absence of any physical demand in one’s daily schedule, a sign of the upper class. The hazelnut color of the sandals fitted her tan skin perfectly, and the strap running from between the big and second toe to the ankle was adorned with glittering jewelry. Two humans were there, and at first Henry thought they stood on top of her feet. But no, they were tied in place, their feet tied to her fabulous anklets and their wrists tied to a garland partway up her shins. On the garland was a yellow glowing stone, morningrocks, which shone with the light of dawn when in the presence of magic. No doubt the two humans were mages, used to fuel the morningrocks’ glimmer. They were also dressed in nice vests and pants pinned with jewels, and their expressions were blank, showing no emotion, a shell of themselves. Who could blame them, when they were literally worn like decoration? Henry didn’t dare think how long she’d had them there.

Eyes travelling up her shapely legs, Henry saw the golden hems of her skirt which ended under the knees, and a green and glossy fabric thereafter. Leylee Richwood wore necklaces and armbands of gold, a circlet of diamond, and two more mages tied at her forearms like on her lower legs, morningrocks shining near them. She was older, a mature lady, a strong chin, and the rich green eyes and golden hair complemented her clothes. Her hair came down in long locks, falling over her chest, draping her regal pose, and as Henry drank in the sight of her towering over him, he felt worthless. The size wasn’t the issue this time, he’d gotten well used to that. With her jewels, all the giants under her command, the four mages tied to her, the pristine and glamorous beauty which illuminated the room as if she were the sun itself, she radiated power. The human kind of power, the one of status, command, and wealth. But the mixture of the human kind of power with the giant’s size, the ability to wear humans so nonchalantly, look down upon Henry so imperiously, it joined together for the most dominant result Henry had experienced. Human nobles would look down upon peasants as if they were dirt, but many superficial factors had to be manipulated to achieve it, such as placing the throne high for the noble to look down upon them, forcing the peasant on their knees. Leylee Richwood needed only to stand before him. No superficiality was needed, for it wasn’t superficial. Her towering height was authentic, her ability to flatten Henry out with one sandaled foot was real. Henry could don the most fabulous clothes and stand as tall and proud as possible and it wouldn’t matter. He felt like a speck of dirt before this goddess, unable to fathom that she and him were creatures in the same realm of existence.

“So you’re one of the three humans who snuck in and attacked a giant?” Leylee Richwood said, a rich and dark voice.

Henry nodded. He was on his knees, not through anyone’s instructions or command, but he simply felt this was his place.

“Your two compatriots were under the Charmer’s control, so it was only you left,” she continued, head maintained high, only her eyes down on him. “Rogue mages never find any success here.” She raised her left foot on its tiptoes to show the human tied to her shin, then alternated to the right, opening her arms to present all four tied humans. “These were a party of powerful mages, sent to assassinate me half a year ago.”

Henry swallowed. They’d hung there for half a year, utterly helpless, and if Leylee willed it they would remain there for the rest of their lives.

“We were defending ourselves, my lady,” Henry dared to say, his voice lacking courage. “The offgiant attacked us first. It’s her word against ours.” That would always favor the giant, but Henry hoped it would be different with an offgiant. “We ended up here by accident. Our presence in Gintessa is one long accident, all me and my two friends wish for is to be home in our village in Humius, where we’re from. If only your greatness would bless us with that kindness.” Only now did Henry notice the room, a vast space for giant standards, made of polished marbles with colonnades along either side. Red banners hung symmetrically across the room with a golden lion in the middle, no doubt her symbol.

The giant hound who had taken Henry there moved up towards Leylee and nestled against her leg. Leylee petted her, the hound smiling and humming happily. “One like yourself cannot simply be sent on his way. And the veracity of your story shall be tested in our arena, against the giant you harmed.”

“Ada?”

“That was her name, I believe. I have good use for offgiants, especially one so sturdy and large like herself. My healers managed to restore some of her eyes, although not to full function, and she will be here tomorrow. Our arena is where truth is revealed, where captors shape their fates. You and Ada will compete in the arena. Should you be victorious, I will let you return to Humius. Should Ada be victorious, she will decide what happens to you.”

“B-But I can never win on my own against her.”

“Feigning weakness? You were capable enough to blind and almost rip her face off.”

“We got lucky, and it was with two of my friends. She was toying with us. If anything, the arena will prove how I don’t stand a chance, how she is lying.”

“You question our traditions, our honored arena?”

Henry’s courage shrunk, lowering his head. “I’m sorry, my lady.”

“That is your fate.” Madam Leylee Richwood scratched her hound by the ear, lowering her head and whispering to her ear, “Did the mage taste good?”

The hound purred blissfully and nodded, coyly eyeing Henry. She licked her lips.

“Are you hungry for more?”

She nodded again, giving a happy sound somewhere between a squeal and a bark. Madam Leylee Richwood snapped her fingers as she turned around and walked to her luxurious armchair by the end of the room, the hound following her. Henry was confused as to what to do. But when Leylee sat down and the hound was obediently by her side, Leylee gestured for Henry to come. He did as commanded.

Leylee snapped her fingers and pointed at her feet. “One kiss for each prominent diamond.” Henry searched as he made his way there, scared of any missteps. Both of the straps along her sandals had plenty of jewels decorated on them, but the first stone, just above the gap between her big and second toe, was a distinct white piece of glimmering beauty. Those had to be the glimmering diamonds.

Henry caught the perfumed scents of lemon and lilies from her feet as he got near. Worshipping her wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. If the hound hadn’t sucked his dick dry several times today, he’d do it happily. He stepped onto the sandal, like the step of a normal flight of stairs, leaned forward and kissed the diamond of the right sandal. Then he moved over to the left and did the same. Henry backed off to see her face and next command.

She snapped her fingers and pointed down again. Though it was the hound who dove in, smooching her sandaled feet, kissing the jewels and even the mage tied to the shin, nowhere near the wet sloppiness with which she ravaged Henry. Henry didn’t know if he should do the same, though Leylee quickly answered that. “You’re not worthy of touching me.” Leylee pointed to her hound. “The highest you earn is servicing my beast. Do for her what she is doing for me.” While still massaging Leylee’s feet with her lips, the hound’s eyes went to Henry, an excited wait. She was on all four, bending down to service Leylee, and Henry walked down along the length of her body until he ended up by two pale soles staring up from her kneeling position. The balls of her feet and toes were relatively dirty, as she’d use those when moving on all four. The arch and heel were relatively clean, but it wasn’t as if they completely avoided all contact with the ground either. There was some faint stretches of brown to be found there. The toes wiggled excitedly.

Henry got down and got to work. Without anyone supervising him, he lay over the left foot and focused on the soft and already clean arch. There were numerous wrinkles to choose from, a feast for a slave, and Henry systematically tended to each little fold of flesh. He picked at a lump with his lips and ran his tongue over it, making out with all the wrinkles. His legs were tugged and pinched at from her frantic toes, dancing in ecstasy.

“Dear god,” Henry whispered. He stared up past the leg and ass before him, and past the hound’s body he saw Leylee’s gorgeous face reading a letter she’d been given. Despite worshipping her soles the way he was, the hound felt irrelevant to Henry. There was no personal air between the two of them. All of it came from Leylee, an oppressive pressure without even touching or sparing him a glance, and it was stronger than anything any giant had put upon him. Leylee certainly knew what she was doing. Despite having been toyed with the past few weeks by many giants, this woke a newfound shame within Henry, a new level of domination. His dick perked up in response, though it ached after the treatment the hound gave it and turned slack again.

Leylee received guests as Henry transitioned to the hound’s other foot, tending to all the wrinkles on that arch as well. The audience were giant villagers, speaking of their woes, two arriving with their conflict over someone accidentally burning portions of the other’s cropland. The hound’s presence was a sign of power, of what powerful magic Leylee had in her arsenal to make humans end up that way during transformation. Henry felt unnoticed as he continued worshipping throughout the afternoon.

Then Leylee dismissed any further guests and asked her servants if the banquet was ready. They said that in the next hour it would be, and the guests had arrived in the city. Leylee rose from her chair and the hound flicked her foot to throw Henry off, turning around and grabbing him with her mouth. She bolted off, and Henry saw hallways and great marble decorations flash by as she went. With the mention of a banquet, Henry couldn’t imagine it taking place anywhere else than where the hound took him, to the long table of decorated glazed wood, with a lavish rug and glittering chandelier overlooking it, the light dazzling on the burnished marble walls. The hound stopped by the legs of the most outstanding chair at the end of the table, dropping Henry there. An ornate rug received him, and before Henry could gather himself, her tongue arrived, starting at his legs and ending at his head, swiping across his body one, two, three, four, and up to ten times, hungrily lapping away at him. There wasn’t much drool this time, perhaps a conscious effort from her as she wouldn’t want to slober all over the nice rug. The groove surface of her tongue stroked his skin. Then, she went over to kissing repeatedly, and at last she grabbed his groin between her lips and sucked.

“You can’t be serious…” Henry groaned. Her thirst was unsatiable. Henry saw the legs of servants coming and going, setting the table, the clutter of large silverware continuous. The hound tried to keep a low profile and didn’t make too much noise, though the dexterous efforts of her tongue returned to his manhood. She wanted more.

Another head peeped in above Henry. His first instinct was that a girl had crept under the table, but he soon noticed it was another hound. She had a similar profile, young, thin, wearing modrocks over her abdomen and the back of her thighs and along the forearms and as spikes coming out of her collar. Her hair was longer and untied, perhaps as she wasn’t out hunting.

She immediately peeped down and sniffed Henry’s chest, exploring him, and then she closed her lips around his throat, sucking on his bald head like a lollipop. The lips advanced, passing his shoulder and settling on his waist, kissing his waistline as her tongue lapped away at his smooth head. One sucked on his manhood while the other made out with his entire torso. The original hound growled, unhappy. Her teeth found a good grip on his lower body, took him off the ground, and it became a sloppy tug of war as they fought by sucking on him opposite ways. Despite how dry he was, Milton felt it returning, he was about to come as these two young and sweet mouths were displaying how ravenous they were for him. However, the new hound who held his chest bit down with her teeth and tugged abruptly, and with cold air on his lower body she'd wrestled him free from the other. His erection was on display, strands of drool tracing back to her lips, and the new hound was about to turn around and steal him away. The first hound threw a hand, slapping her across the cheek hard enough to launch Henry out of there. He landed with several rolls on the carpet, and the hounds growled at one another, frowning. One threw a hand, with the motion as if she were a cat with a paw. The other skipped back and returned the hit. They got too close, entangling with one another in rapid hits, breaking off, sparring some more, and in their next bout one of them jumped up and struck the table, knocking a readied glass down.

“What in the world,” a servant exclaimed. “You two, get out of there, now! Important guests are coming soon.”

The two hounds peeped out from under the table, though the first one glanced at Henry and wanted to return underneath.

“Now!” The servant kicked at her and both hounds whelped, somewhat girlish in sound, and bolted off. Henry watched around him. Only the hounds knew he was there, and they’d been chased off. The table was massive, for giant standards even, and he saw the bare feet of servants padding about, discussing where to put what and how to arrange it, who would sit where, and a younger servant was scolded by her elder for a slight error.

Henry wiped the saliva off him, using the carpet. It was green and with a welcome surface, yellow decorative patterns swirling throughout it. There was no telling if it was better to march out before the servants and announce himself or if he ought to remain. Perhaps they would put him in a cell, so he decided to remain here. He didn’t know what they would do with him until he’d face Ada in the arena.

“Ada.” The thought reminded him. He’d forgotten, not allowed a moment of peace from the hound having dragged him around. He would face Ada in battle, to determine his fate. Ada would gain ownership of his fate if she beat him in the arena, a likely scenario. “Fuck…” He was genuinely afraid of what she would do to him. Henry remembered when they fought her the last time, as all three, and when Milton went to the mountainside and catapulted large boulders against her with his tethers. The seriousness it brought out of her, the foot she placed onto Milton in vengeance, ready to crush his mage body onto a surface of rock. Henry remembered the dread as he pleaded her to spare his friend, seeing her deadpan expression, thinking she would do it. She had been merciful. They had narrowly escaped her serious side, but now Henry wouldn’t be able to. He could place hope in one thing, that although they were far from friends, Henry had the best relationship with her out of the three. At times he’d reached her gentle side, played into her games and satisfied her, shown her he could do what she wanted. He knew she could reason. And it was Rennard who launched the attack. If she could put the vengeance aside for a moment, perhaps Ada could see not to unleash all her anger on him.

The dark scrape of chair legs on the carpet brought him back from his thoughts, and multiple guests were sitting. Greetings and pleasantries were exchanged, the guests welcomed, and all around him the guests were finding their seats. Ornate dresses covered from the knees below, varying shades of red and blue and green and gold with intricate embroidery across them, the glossy fabric sheening like the polished marble of the hallways. All of them wore sandals, large and mature feet of giant ladies decorated with anklets and toerings. Henry recognized Leylee Richwood as she sat on the far end, the two mages still tied to her shins. There was nothing he feared more than ending up like that. As long as Leylee was diligent with keeping them tied and subdued whether she took them off or kept them on, there was literally nothing they could do, the definition of helplessness. They could be worn by her for literal years without a thing to do about it.

“A radiance and splendor that is unmatched, Madam Richwood,” a guest said. “Both in yourself and everything with your toil put in it.”

“We are blessed to be received, madam,” another added.

“I am blessed to receive you, ladies,” Leylee said. “Please, forget everything that burdens you, and let yourselves be spoiled this night.”

Henry stuck his tongue out. “Politics,” he muttered. Though he couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed. It was a big world, and not just literally. These were powerful women, the political kind of power which exceeded their size, and he felt like humans were never meant to have a say. They should be overjoyed to have their little Humius. Henry watched those mages tied to Leylee’s ankles again and missed home more than usual, for now he knew what a treasure his village was.

Henry kept to the central parts of the large table, so not even a sly angle from one of the guests could catch him. The guests’ chatter started crashing together into a susurrus as everyone spoke with their neighbor or in smaller groups. Henry ambled down the length of the table and observed the guests. One guest had copper-brown skin with sandals styled in a simple yet beautiful wooden style, with a few emerald fashioned as leaves prickled throughout the strap. From what he overheard, she was from further northeast, and Henry wondered how many of these had connections with the Gray Rhinos. Another was tan with gladiator sandals and a matching pair of toe rings. The next giant stood out, pale skin paired with a matching white dress contrasted against the previous darker colors. Sapphire blue lacings trimmed the hems of her dress, ending at her shins, and while the previous pair of feet were ladylike and mature with regal composure, these pale feet had left their slippers and were playfully wrestling with one another, drawing circles on the carpet, the toes grappling with one another. She was young. She reminded him of…

“Wait.” Henry searched and searched, and every detail he wanted to find to confirm it wasn’t her did the opposite. The more he kept looking, the more it correlated, and as he moved closer he realised he couldn’t forget them. How could he ever forget the feet which had come sweeping past the woods back when Henry walked with his two friends and everything was alright in the world? This was the pale and innocent sole which had introduced him to what it felt like to be stepped on, treated like dirt, dominated, all in accident. How could he forget where this crazy journey all started?

Henry had to move closer to eliminate the slighest chance of a mistake, and as he got a glance of her chin, mouth, nose, and then eyes, no doubts were left.

It was Lily.

Henry didn’t know what to do. Lily was before him. The ditzy, clueless giant they first met back at home, who ran through the forest and accidentally stepped on him. It all began here. If only Henry and his friends hadn’t tricked her into going along with their plans. Although nothing was Lily’s fault, it wouldn’t have ended up like it did if the massive pair of legs before him hadn’t carried the three into Gintessa.

The sight before him was familiar, yet so different. The last time they met, her pale feet were dirtied and travelworn, twigs and other forest content plastered on her soles. Now they were perfumed, perfectly washed to display her pretty pale hue with a darker texture on the soles. She brandished pretty silver anklets and even a toe ring. Henry observed her sandals, a white complementing her colors with a mixture of creamy yellow. To even have sandals along with her jewelries, that she was here to begin with, it all said plenty of her stature. Who was she?

Henry moved past her sandals. One of her feet was placed over the other, idly twiddling. Henry wanted her attention, but only hers, and had to be careful not to startle her. Henry approached the ten digits, thinking.

He couldn’t account for the sudden lunge forward, her right foot punting him down and resting on top of him. A pleasant scent of strawberries and mint overwhelmed him along the warm flesh. The foot twisted, grinding his naked body under the ball and arch. The action was deliberate, explorative, and soon the foot withdrew for the toes to come and touch him, squeezing, exploring this strange thing. Lily’s face dove under the table, her eyes on him, and she was agape.

“It’s you!”

“Hush!” Henry managed to get a hand out and put an index in front of his mouth. “Quiet.”

She nodded and put her index to her own mouth, mimicking him with a sudden, dutiful seriousness.

“What are you doing here?” Henry said, realizing right after how the question was much better suited for him.

“Mother said we’re going to go to a dinner, and I’ve never liked them, but I have to. They were really mad at me for running away.”

“So you’re among the aristocracy?” Henry chuckled. “Would you know.”

Her foot came off him, pinching his head with the big and second toe and raising him up to his feet.  “Why are you here? And where’s your clothes?”

Henry shook his head. “It’s a long bloody story… but it started with where you left us. Right now—”

“What are you doing?” The voice came from Lily’s side, the panic on her face apparent as she hit her head on the table on the way up. “Who were you talking with?”

“No one, mother.” Lily’s toes grabbed him quickly and dove for the sandals. She put them on, Henry now worn with them. He was under the left foot, and the straps of her sandals were three around the middle portion, giving Henry the freedom to poke his head out between the big and second toe. Though the moment he got out, the big toe rose and sat possessively on his face, trying to hide him. She even applied some force, to push his head into the cushy surface of the sandal.

“Try and maintain some manners, for once in your life.” The voice was her mother’s, far darker and richer than Lily’s, and the picture completed in Henry’s mind. When he and his friends found her running, crying, this was the life she wanted away from. She wanted to get out of here as much as he was.

The pressure on his head relented, the big toe pulling back. It settled beside him. She didn’t duck under the table to speak with him again, understandably so, but she didn’t let him go either. Henry had to think of something. He knew Lily could be influenced, the right words and the right argument could definitely get her on his side. But as he looked about, stuck in Lily’s sandal, he didn’t know what the next move was.

It seemed Lily would make that move for him. Lily excused herself and got up, walking out of there, the glamorous ballroom flashing past Henry from the rollercoaster of her sandal. They exited the room, the hubbub of conversation receding as Lily made it down several hallways. Past a door of curtains, the light was dim and cozy, a little room with a large bed lined with ornate pillows and cushions and covers. The room was one where guests could go in, sit back, and relax, and there Lily sat, taking her sandals off.

Lily sighed. “I don’t like it there.”

Henry crawled out of her sandal. “Lily, listen, I need help. I need to get out of here. You could sneak me out by keeping me in your sandal.”

Lily leaned her cheek in against her shoulder nervously. “Umm, I don’t know. Last time it didn’t go well when I did like you guys wanted.”

“No, Lily, this is different. Just keep me in your sandal throughout the day, and when it’s time to leave, walk out with me in there. No one will notice.”

She crossed her arms, eyes to the side, no signs of agreement.

“It won’t take any effort. Just keep me in your sandal, go about your day as usual, and when you’re outside, toss me to the side. No one will know it was you.”

“Won’t they find you anyway? They have those hounds.”

“I’ll get a good, soapy wash to get my scent off, it might help. But I have to do something. Lily, I need your help.”

Lily groaned, her toes fidgeting. “Uhm, I’m sorry.” Henry approached those digits carefully. He put a hand on her big toe, rubbing it, and it calmed them down.

“Come on, I’m in a bad place right now. My friends are gone. I need help.” Henry gave her big toe a few squeezes. His hand went over to the ring on her second toe, a plain piece of silver.

Lily pouted. “I know you’re trying to worship me just so that I’ll help you.” She said it as if it were an act of great discernment on her part.

Henry got on his knees and rubbed her toes more intimately. “Would you want that?”

Lily crossed her arms and turned her head to the side. “Nope, I won’t do it. I did like you wanted last time and it got us all into trouble.”

“Lily, I see what’s going on. You don’t like this life. You want out of this as much as I do, it could be our escape. Am I wrong? Did you not have fun with us out there?” He kept stroking her toes.

She kept her avoidance, though it became a visible effort to do so. “I can’t. I’m sorry. I tried, but it doesn’t work. I’m not so tiny, and my mother won’t leave me alone. I can’t just go away. It’s not that I don’t want to help you. But I can’t.”

Henry sighed and fell back. Despite how foolish she was, Lily had her limits. She leaned down and stroked her index against his cheek. Henry appreciated the gesture more than he believed he would.

“I have to get back. Are you hungry? I can sneak food under the table.”

“I’d appreciate that, thanks.” And so Henry climbed back in under her right sandal, her pale foot entombing him. With Henry’s last days in mind, Lily’s feet were probably cleaner than his body. However, as her foot flattened him with every step on the way, soft foot flesh grinding his skin, mashing his face to the side, Henry became aware of how casual this domination was. He was getting more and more subservient, accepting treatment like this.

The stamping ended as she sat at her chair, conversation at the dinner table bustling well around him. There was the clatter of silverware. Food had been served. Her foot relented its pressure and rose somewhat, allowing him to crawl his head out between the big and second toe for fresh air.

“What were you doing?” Lily’s mother said, somewhat hushed to keep it between them. “Can you sit nicely in this chair and behave? And smile some, a girl so pretty, and you waste it by opening your mouth instead of letting your beauty speak.”

“What a nasty person,” Henry muttered. He felt bad for Lily. Despite his own predicament, he felt an urge to help her, remorseful that he couldn’t.

Lily’s big toe pressed up against his cheek, and when Henry tried to retreat, her second toe was there to flank him, and the two digits began playing with his head. A trace of sweat made it past her perfumed scents. A peek at her other foot revealed they were equally lively. She was nervous. As her toes grabbed at his head, squeezed his cheeks together, contorted his face, she might have simply forgotten about him and was using this round thing between her toes like a stress reliever. Henry wrestled with them and managed to capture a bit of toe flesh between his teeth. He bit gently. They recoiled, froze, remembering he was there. The toes returned, though without the feisty energy. The big toe rubbed up against him, reminiscent of her index finger, trying to comfort him. It kept those strokes going, up the side of his smooth bald head, tender in its touch, petting him like a dog, and the fact that it came from her goodwill, trying to console him, made it more humiliating in a way. It reminded him of their first encounter when she accidentally stomped him, running off and unaware of how he was stuck to her sole like the sandal she now wore. Lily was dominating him without even trying.

The food she promised came. However, Henry expected to be freed and to eat with his own hands, but the foot remained on him firmly, and the little spoon she ate with deposited a puff of mashed potatoes on the toe gap. Henry wondered what was going on, saw the cloud of creamy yellow on her foot with prickles of green spices, and made a decision. He tilted his head forward and ate what was provided on the foot.

Like before, she didn’t intentionally keep him stuck and force him eat off her. She simply didn’t think very far. Licking and sucking at her toe gap to get every bit of potato mash was unavoidable, and again, she dominated him without trying. The moment he licked up every speck off her soft toe gap, another delivery arrived, and he returned to it. He almost couldn’t tell the difference between the flesh of her toe gap and the puffy potato mash, so velvety and soft was she. Henry thought of this giant above him, how she likely didn’t even view it that way, thinking she was just kindly feeding him, and it made his manhood rise up against her sole. The unintentional domination had a fiercer bite than the intentional. When he finished the potato mash, he kept licking at the toe gap, even going up to the toes. She likely couldn’t tell he was flat-out worshipping her like a slave at this point, and even if she noticed, she’d think he was being nice or playful and tickling her or something, in line with her oblivious attitude.

The spoon returned down with dessert, a raspberry-flavored cream dotted with cake crumbs. Henry had his feast, and the flesh of her toe gap melted in his mouth along the fluffy meals, chewing her with his lips, playing with its gummy texture. Henry lost track of time. Then he realized, with a flush of shame, that the food deliveries had ended a while ago. He had flat-out been worshipping her toes with no excuse in between, and now her toes returned to play with his head. As he thought, she considered his worship an act of play. He even heard her giggle.

“What are you doing?” Lily’s mom peeked underneath. “What is it you obsess over under the table?” Lily’s foot couldn’t hide him in time. “What’s that?” Her eyes drilled into Lily with motherly strictness. “Bring him out. Do it now, young lady, before there’s a scene.” Lily’s foot retreated from the sandal, dragging Henry out alongside. She deposited his naked body on the carpet. Henry tried to produce as much dignity as he could, getting up and bowing to the lady. The wide-eyed mother had passed her pale texture onto Lily well, though she had a sharper, more ladylike look, one which complemented the mental image forming under the table when he'd heard the rich voice. Two braids formed a circlet around her scalp, the long yellow hair falling freely thereafter.

Henry didn’t want to draw attention to himself, not retreating when her foot withdrew from the sandal and went for him. Long and mature toes grabbed his head, unkind force suggesting what was to come, and brought him under her chair. “Seems like the young man needs some discipline.” The big and second toes of her left foot had him suspended by the arms, and the second foot slapped him. The toes, the soft ball, they struck him with a relatively muted spank, the entire ordeal comparable to bringing a child over the lap and smacking their bottom. Henry closed his eyes and endured, swinging about wildly. The sounds of the feast concealed the pummeling underneath.

“Always up with some funny business,” Lily’s mother said, her voice strained from minor effort.

“He hasn’t done anything wrong, Mother.”

“Scum like this aren’t your friends. It’s the same attitude that led you to your dumb little venture out there.” The spanking ceased. “You will call a servant and tell them that some trash managed to slip in.” There was no response. “Girl, do it now.” With a swift maneuver between hand and foot, Henry was now held in the lady’s hand. Lily received him, holding him between cupped hands. “Ugh, not like that. You hold him like some piece of precious glass. He is not only trash, but a distraction putting you away from your duties. Do as I said.”

“Um, excuse me,” Lily called, a servant quick to approach. Lily held Henry by his legs, dangling upside-down. “I… umm, I found this little rat sneaking about. Could you take him away?” Henry knew not to take the gesture to heart.

“Of course, miss.” The servant took Henry’s torso in a balled-up fist, legs hanging freely. A few nearby guests witnessed the ordeal, and even Leylee Richwood caught a glance of it.

“Wild humans just sneaking about?” someone commented. “Even at a Richwood banquet, they find some hole.”

“At my castle, no such thing ever occurs,” another guest said. “Humans have grit, you have to chastise them frequently to keep them where they should be.”

The servant hurried out of there and gave Henry to a guard. The guard raised an eyebrow, holding him in her hand. “You’re supposed to be in the dungeons, awaiting your fight in the arena.” And like the servant she carried him in a closed first, and the susurrus of the banquet faded, replaced by passing conversation in echoing hallways. Henry heard their descent as the sounds floated above, moving down staircase after staircase. Iron gates screeched open, the air got damper.

Henry was dropped, soaring through dusty and cool air. A hard and fuzzy carpet received him. He’d been dropped through a hole leading down into a relatively large cell, though not proportioned for giants either.

“Come and sit by the fire.” The voice was an older man’s, his eyes staring into the brazier which burned on a stony patch in the cell.

“Uhh…” Answering the man wasn’t Henry’s first priority. He got up and dusted himself off, probing the surroundings. The cell had stone walls on all ends except one, and there the iron bars were tight. It opened into larger cells made to fit giants, and his was like a smaller pocket next to it. Henry stepped up to the iron.

“Run!” someone screamed, and in the distance in one of the cells Henry could see a cluster of humans running from a giant. She wore shabby clothes, dirty, and clearly belonged in these dungeons.

“Wasn’t very smart to put humans in next to the giant criminals,” the old man said. “But that’s how it goes.”

“What makes us so lucky?” Henry said.

“We’re scheduled for the arena. They want us untouched and whole for the challenge.”

A giant foot entered his field of vision and stepped right in front of him, a small tremor produced. But no, this wasn’t just any giant. There were two pairs of feet Henry would be sure to have in memory, Lily’s, and… Indeed, it was her. Henry remembered their roundness, those long toes which had battled and squeezed him, those firm soles which had worn him across miles of woodlands. His eyes traveled up those firm calves and meaty thighs, ended by a short, tattered skirt barely concealing her womanhood. To see between her legs would be the final detail, for he'd recognize that too, the vagina that had tasted, kissed, and swallowed up his entire body. But he was certain without seeing it, the lower body was enough.

This was where everything had first gone wrong, his opponent in the arena who would decide his fate, Ada.

Ada must not have noticed Henry as she stood about idly before his smaller cell. Henry gulped. Everything beyond her upper body was obscured by the roof of his cell due to how close she stood. He earned no glimpse of her eyes, to see what state Rennard’s attack had left them in. Leylee Richwood claimed that her healers had managed to restore partial function.

Thinking and thinking, Henry couldn’t place his expectations anywhere. There was a world where her rage was boiling hot, intent on vengeance, and there was one where she was lenient and understanding of her faults back when she’d kidnapped them and how their reactions were reasonable. Anything was possible.

Shouts echoed throughout the dungeons, the screams of humans who ended up in the same cells as giants.

“God, why couldn’t I have gotten a cell with humans,” Ada muttered. It was her voice, and Henry remembered everything so vividly upon hearing it, of how she chased them, crushed them, dominated them. “I’ll get my chance tomorrow, though. Little Henry won’t get away.” Henry backed deeper into his cell.

“If the sight of a giant scares you so terribly, you’re in for hell, my boy.” Henry forgot about the old man in his cell. He wore a shabby grey jacket torn on one side and a dirty pair of trousers, with a stubbled grey beard and a bald head.

“Oh.” Henry tried to keep his voice low. He joined the man by the brazier, burning on one stony patch of the otherwise carpeted cell. “No, it’s just that I have history with this particular giant. Bad history.”

The man leaned back in understanding. “Hmm. Yes, the arena is used for personal affairs. Well, it’s used on just about every feud. The Richwoods and their cursed arena.”

“They said that the winner gets to decide the fate of the other,” Henry said. “How can that be true?”

“You and this giant, any of you someone special?”

“I’m from Humius, the offgiant is some runaway worker from the west.”

“The arena can mean many things, legal battles and such. A human with no rights, an offgiant, for two nobodies like yourselves, they make you battle for their entertainment, and the results are extreme.”

“How can it be entertaining? She’ll crush me.”

“They’ll tinker with the odds to make it interesting.”

“What do you mean?”

The man shrugged. “They'll throw in what they call 'props'. You won't be alone to fight her. Also, there are some giants who have a strange interest in watching humans get trashed around. So there’s always an audience for this business.”

Henry snorted. “Goddamn psychopaths. What are you in here for?”

“Don’t have a feud with anyone. I said something I shouldn’t have, so I’m a prop.”

“A prop?”

“Yeah, in your fight specifically. There’ll be more than me. Additional humans who are thrown in there to help the human in battle. But really, they're there to be part of the giant’s rampage. It ain’t exciting enough if it’s just one human getting pummeled.”

Henry rubbed his fingers against one another, then stared up at the hole in the roof he’d fallen through. “Wait, are these walls just pure stone? Maybe I can break through.”

“Under the surface of every wall and stone in these dungeons is a coating of modrock, so they’ll take any magical force you throw at it.”

“Of course there’s modrocks…”

“And they have plenty of orkken shackles, so I wouldn’t misbehave or they’ll put those on. And you surely don’t want those on. Orkken shackles on a mage is like cutting a bird’s wings off.”

Henry groaned. “Yeah.”

“So, don’t mind a man prodding, but what bad history do you have with that giant specifically? We’ve got time to kill, and I don’t want to just shoot you down with bad news.”

Henry realized they indeed had a lot of time and told most of his story, all the way from Humius.

The old man snorted, glancing over his shoulder to Ada’s feet by the iron bars. “Same story with these young offgiants, they always make the wrong choice.”

Henry chuckled. “Which one? She made many terrible ones.”

“Coming here to sell you and your friends as her way out, that sticks out. There’s plenty of whispers in the underworld, of an island region on Humius’s eastern shores. Offgiants live freely there.”

“What? I’ve lived on the eastern parts of Humius and have barely heard about it. They told us that sometimes giants were seen by the eastern shore and we were told to avoid that place.”

“Those are offgiants, my boy. They successfully fled and established something there.”

“I’ve heard that Gintessa was claiming that land.”

The man laughed. “‘Gintessa claiming that land’, as if Gintessa is one united place. That’s typical speech of someone from Humius. These big women aren’t united, my lad. But I won’t ridicule you too much, this island region isn’t particularly known. The nobles here in eastern Gintessa keep this information under strict control. Sometimes they weaponize it, spread it controllingly towards the west so offgiants there make an attempt and come this way to reach the island region south of here. But it seems the offgiant you came across didn’t even know that, instead bought some lie of ‘eastern freedom’ and tried to sell you for money. That takes a dumber mind to believe in.”

Henry stared up at the roof. “So there really is a place where offgiants live freely?”

“Possibly. But good luck getting there from Gintessa if you’re an offgiant, they’ll be watching your every step, breathing down your neck.”

“By the way, mister, what’s your name? I’m Henry.”

“Leeman. I’ve spoken enough on my part, back to that incredible story of yours. You’re telling me that daft giant who stepped on you back near your home ended up as royalty, all nice-dressed in the banquet over here?”

“I know. I’m realizing as I talked about it, how unbelievable all of this is. Almost with a bit of pride.”

“You should have pride,” the old man said. “That’s a story to tell the folks back home, when you’re old like myself.”

Henry scratched his behind. The carpet was scratchy on his bare skin. “It’s unlikely I make it back home, and even if I do, I’ll return alone with my two friends gone. It’s hardly a story I’d want to reminisce about, more a nightmare to forget.”

“It’s not always the happy experiences that are the most memorable. Memories can be looked back on fondly, even if it was hell at the time.”

“Huh.” Henry pondered on those words. It brought him back to his conversation with Elly on that hill, how it filled him with pride to think back on how he and Milton and Rennard got their way out of multiple predicaments. “You have a point.”

“And you’ll probably find your way back home.”

“What makes you think that?”

“If the rest of your story is true, then you seem to have a habit of making it out of these situations.”

Henry stared deep into the fire.

“Really, think about it. At some point you can’t call it luck any more.”

“Thank you, Leeman. You’ve given me confidence.” Henry stood up and marched all the way over to the iron bars where Ada had been standing in her own cell, unknowing all this time. The brazier from his own cell wasn’t near enough to provide light, but Ada’s had plenty of torches, casting gloomy light all about.

Henry took a deep breath. He knocked on the iron. “Ada, it’s me, Henry. I’m standing in a smaller cell next to yours.”

“Wha—” Her large feet took a step forward, leaving the relaxed position she had against the wall. They were on tiptoes, swirling left then right. “Henry?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Where?” The tone only revealed urgency. He couldn’t gauge her mood.

“Where you were just standing, against the wall, there’s a smaller cell.” Those large feet marched right back, the familiar sight of those ten, large, bulbous toes before him, memories returning of how they’d smothered and crushed and squeezed him, how he’d worshipped them. He’d fought them before, and he’d fight them again tomorrow.

There was a scuff of wood against iron as she detached one of the torches, and she hunched down, her voluminous calves and thighs dwarfing his vision. She wore a short, tattered brown skirt, barely reaching her knees, and there was nothing to obscure his view of her womanhood. Those bulging pink lips stared at him, and just like her feet it brought back memories. He still couldn’t believe all the things she’d done to them. His eyes traveled further up, past the sizeable yet flat midriff, the bare bra barely containing her round and large breast, and the lightning-like marks of an offgiant.

And then he saw her face, and he flinched. There were wrinkly welts and scars scribbled over her face, one across the lips, a few over the cheeks, up the forehead, around her jawline, like the slashes of a drunk artist. But one of those slashes travelled up the left socket and appeared again over the eyebrow and across the forehead. Her left eye, once green and glimmering, had a milky color to it now. The right had a clearer texture, though a portion of the inner side was bloodshot.

“Hello, Ada.” Henry cleared his throat. “How are you doing?”

“I’ve been better.”

“Yeah, I…” Henry had been able to distance himself from how Ada had ended up, how they left her sobbing for help, bleeding and blinded. They did what they could to escape. But as he watched those eyes, the words left his mouth without thought. “I’m sorry how things ended up.”

“Coming from you, I do believe it. Kind of.”

That response gave him relief. “How are your eyes? I heard their healers restored partial function.”

Ada pointed at the left one, tinted with a pale, dead color. “My left eye can’t see much beyond what’s close.” Her finger went to the right one, with a livelier texture but also with the bloodshot portion. “This one sees fine, but has a not-so-small blind spot. All in all, it’s better than being blind, but it’s also far from the eyes I used to have. I've had plenty of emotions. I've been terrified, then relieved when I lived, somewhat happy when I gained partial function back, then depressed at how different it is from seeing perfectly. I've been so mad, I've regretted not killing you, for screwing around too much back when I had all three of you in my control. But with time, most of my anger has gone to that redhead. Rennard, he was called.” Ada leaned closer, peering past Henry and into the darkness. “They said they found one of you, and your two friends were captured by some Rhino commander.”

“We got split up after we ran from you. It’s full of dangers out there.”

“You don’t seem too fazed or broken down, considering how much fight you delivered when I had you.” The tone carried a hint of spite.

“There was more hope back then,” Henry said. “We were closer to Humius, and I believed I could get through to you. And honestly, if…” Henry couldn’t keep it to himself. “We were close to getting back. If it weren’t for you, we’d all be home now. Even if you hated that farm, you were better off there than where you are now.”

“That’s the angle you’re going to take? Against your soon-to-be mistress?”

“Mistress?”

A smirk formed on those lips. “You don’t know what happens next.”

“We’re going to fight, the winner goes free and decides the fate of the other. That’s what I heard.”

“Sounds about right. So I decide what happens to you. Can you guess what I’ll do?”

Henry found strange comfort in her smirk, signs of Ada being her usual self. “I have an idea.”

“I missed our time together,” Ada said in half a hum, a voice of reminiscing. “I’ve thought about it during these dark days, and it’s helped me get through, thinking about how good it felt. I just miss being around humans, just standing over your tiny frames. Whenever I think about the things I did with you and your two friends…” She took a deep breath. “It warms me up. And I’ve been counting the days that I get my hands on you again.”

Henry noticed her pussy this time, glinting in wetness from the torchlight. “Really? Have you learned nothing? This stupid pleasure-hunting was what got you, no, all of us, in this mess! Are you so short-sighted?”

“Shut your sanctimonious prattle. You can't pretend with me, Henry. I've seen your true side. When you worshipped my pussy, worshipped my toes, right underneath the nub of my big toe, I remembered when you specifically closed your lips around that part and sucked. And it didn't feel good just for me. Don't pretend, it doesn't make you better."

Henry couldn't pretend. He recalled the night he slept near Velvet Rowfield, the bounty hunter, the literal night after they escaped Ada. He had masturbated to those memories himself.

"And this time, it’ll be more than what it was out there. I’ve spoken with the people around here. There’s a better plan this time, and you’ll see it. Richwood is powerful, it’s not coming from nothing this time.”

"You're delusional."

“What are you two youngsters babbling about?” Leeman stepped into the light of Ada’s torch, next to Henry. “You spoke of having bad history with this giant so ominously, but instead it’s children’s squabble.”

“Youngster? Children’s squabble?” The words hit Ada where they annoyed her the most, a human treating her like an equal. “You’re one of the props, aren’t you? I’ve seen some of the other guys who are in there to give Henry a fighting chance, and you’re definitely the oldest. Not smart to rile me up before the crushing session tomorrow.”

“I believe I should be afraid here,” the old man said, even letting out a genuine yawn. “But there’s been worse, my sweet.”

“Wait.” Henry was struck with a sudden idea. “Mr Leeman, didn’t you say there was a safe haven in Humius, where offgiants live freely? That would be a plan for you, Ada.”

Ada raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about?”

“I don’t know if she’d be more interested in that, or the miracle stone I’ve heard rumors about, deep underneath the mountains. Restoring those eyes back to their healthy selves would be a trivial thing for its powers.”

“You’re making things up.” Ada didn’t sound overly dismissal; it was a challenging tone, inviting Leeman to convince her. She wanted to believe it.

But Leeman shrugged. “You surely know best.”

“Could you act serious?” Henry said, becoming the mediator of the conversation. “Leeman, tell her all about it.”

“Maybe if she could arrange something for me in return.”

Ada chuckled. “Henry, this old fart is a lying con. Why do you think he’s here? His careless attitude annoys me. Good thing there’ll be nothing that separates us tomorrow.” Ada rose up. She put her left foot against the iron bars and flexed her toes against them, like a cat's paw longingly scratching against the window. “I’ll be seeing you tomorrow.” She put the torch back in place and retreated deeper into her cell.

Henry retreated into his and had to find a way to go to sleep. Eventually he did, and he woke to the sound of stone scraping. One of the stone walls slid to the side with one of the loosely-clad guards crawling into their small cell. She picked both Henry and Leeman up and crawled back outside. Her closed fists covered their upper bodies, obscuring the world from them. Plenty of noise passed them, conversations of a few and then the murmurs of crowds. Leeman was left somewhere else, and Henry was dropped through another hole. Henry landed on hard-packed soil in darkness, though some light made its way into his area. A double-doored gate was obvious before him, the light spilling in through its outlines. Henry heard a speaker's shout echoing over a broad space. This had to be the arena.

The speaker punctuated her introduction with a final word, and sparse clapping ensued. Henry waited, and waited, unsure if he was doing anything wrong. He hadn’t been given any instructions.

The double doors opened at last, the sunny daylight glaring into his pocket. Henry stepped out to a grass field, and the vastness before him took the breath out of his lungs. It was a marble colosseum for giant proportions, the walls behind him scaling high and high for hundreds of feet onto the seats where an audience of giants spectated. A little less than half the seats were filled, which impressed Henry. Perhaps the day’s schedule had more impressive bouts, but he didn’t see what was interesting about his feud with Ada.

“That’s the one who came from Humius,” Henry heard someone above him say to her friend, pointing at him. “It’s said that he harmed an offgiant, almost blinded her.”

“It’s the one he’s fighting against.” Of course, Henry thought. they must have built up the story to make it interesting.

“Alright brother, how do we approach this?” A young man just over twenty approached Henry, wearing a pair of shabby trousers and no shirt.

“Wha— Who are you, and what are you doing here?” Henry realized the second after asking, the other opened double doors around the arena and several other humans coming out. “Ah, you guys are the ‘props’?”

“Indeed,” he said. He grabbed Henry’s shoulder as if they were brothers. “Now, listen, we need to make a plan.” He pointed across the arena, and there she was. Ada’s curvy and sizable body was barely contained by her clothes, those thin bras trying to keep her round breast in place, and the short skirt, at best, barely hid her womanhood and ass. Ada scanned across the arena, her poor eyesight searching for him.

“We need to fight from a distance,” the prop beside Henry said. “She’s got shit for eyes, and she’s a goddamn powerhouse. Can’t get up close. We need to keep away from those feet, I mean, lord above, look at those massive things. Those long and round toes were made to catch us, they’ll eat us alive, ground us to dust. And her breast, one swing of her hip and you get hit by those big things midair, and you’ll fly across the arena, so even aerial attacks will be hard”

"She’s massive and we should avoid her attacks," Henry said. "You don't say."

“What’s the bloody attitude for? We’re in this together. She loses, we’re all free. Hey, hold up. What’s the old geezer doing?”

What the prop caught sight of was Leeman, who was approaching Ada. Leeman stepped right up to her. “So, have you considered my offer from yesterday?" he said. "Those eyes of yours could be fixed in a blink with the miracle stone.”

Ada raised her foot and hovered it over him. Leeman didn’t move an inch.

Ada stomped. Henry felt the tremors. A light giggle traveled across the crowd. Ada raised her foot, Leeman plastered to it, and scrunched her sole. Leeman fell off along scatters of dirt and grass, barely conscious. Ada marched on through the arena, searching, finding some props.

“How strong is your magic?” Henry asked the prop next to him.

“Well, I’m a few months in. Most of the boys aren’t even halfway to their arts. We heard you’ve reached your arts, so you need to bring something together here. We stand behind you.”

“None of you are even close to your arts?” Henry turned around, desperately hoping the prop spoke to someone behind him. “I’m the strongest?”

The screams of men raced towards them. Henry and his new companion ducked as two props flied over their heads, their bodies pounding across the grassy field.

The prop beside him looked at Henry expectedly. “Well?”

“We’re doomed,” Henry said.

Henry had nine props in this fight with him, the humans thrown in to help him even the odds. Most of them were younger men, between twenty and thirty. But as Henry watched Leeman lying in defeat from Ada’s stomp, as he saw one, two, and three props flying through the air after receiving Ada’s kicks, as he saw them scatter before her advance, it became clear they were there for added entertainment. Henry had dared to hope when he saw all the peers with him in the arena, but Leeman had been right.

The props who she threw away rallied towards Henry, and the sixteen-year-old could only shrug. “I don’t know. From a quick glance, I look like the youngest one here. You guys think of something.”

One of the props thankfully stepped up, pointing inwards to the arena. “Look there.” The arena was covered by a field of grass hemmed in by the marble walls, but in the middle was taller vegetation. One prominent tree grew from it especially, more than tripling Ada’s height. “They call that part the Garden of Chance. I’ve heard there’s supplies thereabout. Not sure what it is specifically, but they’ve put stuff there-”

“Trees, objects,” Henry said, “whatever it is, we need anything to help us pull some tricks That’s how me and my friends did it last time. We—”

More and more props gathered around Henry, until nine could be counted. That was all of them excluding Leeman. Ada had ushered them all towards Henry, and before they knew it her shadow was over them, two gargantuan pillars of toned flesh towering over them. Her damaged eyes were fixed on Henry, and he knew her well enough not to be surprised by the moisture having amassed by her pussy, almost enough to drip upon them.

“Make for the tree!” Henry commanded, and all nine of them shone with their base magics and sprinted. Their group of nine couldn’t keep together, the slowest trailing behind and the fastest getting ahead. Two massive soles were after them, thirsting for humans to crush as they shook the earth for their prey. The crowd laughed at the sprint, the pathetic display of the humans’ collective flight enough to provide these upper class giants the midday entertainment they had come for.

Henry and his ragtag company were making progress towards the middle, the Garden of Chance, and Henry himself was near the front of them. Though not all of the nine had it too well, as the two young men in the back continued to lag behind, having to watch those ten toes gaining purchase, and every aspect of her steps, the tremors they produced, the blasts of wind they produced as they slammed into the ground, it all came closer. They nervously peered back as they sprinted, trying to respond with an extra burst of adrenaline-induced speed. But they didn’t have it in them.

Ada’s right sole found the first prop, swallowing him up under the confines of its doughy softness. When it rose, he was nowhere to be found on the grass, plastered to her sole. Her left sole found the next victim, reducing them to the status of rubble, indistinguishable from the grass and lumps of soil and twigs her soles otherwise picked up along the way. Ada’s sprint unhampered, she stampeded after the group of humans counting to seven as she did so with a new pair of sandals.

“It seems our tiny company have made their escape to the Garden of Chance,” the speaker called aloud. “As many do. Will they piece something together, or flee helplesly evermore, as humans are wont to do?”

Henry and his new comrades raced past waist-high bushes and smaller trees. “All of you listen!” Henry shouted back while moving. “We have to make her fall over. Make her trip, then go for her face. That’s the only way.”

“She’s coming through!” someone called. Everyone jumped aside as Ada’s feet plowed through. Bushes and patches of soil propelled through the air. Ada hunched down and reached for a prop who lay awkwardly after jumping aside. The prop used his arms and legs to leap away, but Ada’s hand followed him. Her fingers caught one of his legs, and he kicked and punched and flailed about wildly as she rose with him in hand. A few of them battered at her toes, Ada flinching back and shooing them away with light swings of her feet. With the victim in hand, Ada raised the hem of her short skirt and pointed him right at her swollen, wet pussy.

“We have to get him out!”

“Come on, together!” the props shouted.

“No, back off, to the big tree!” Henry yelled. Indecision rooted them where they stood.

Ada’s fist was encased around the prop’s upper body, helpless as she burrowed his lower legs between her lips. With a thumb over his head, in one swift nudge, Ada slid him inside. The wetness made for a slick and smooth entry, her pussy happily devouring his body. Ada bit her teeth together, closing her eyes. There was a hint of constraint, not being too showy or arrogant with it, uncharacteristic for Ada.

“He’s gone too,” one of the props complained, a frown given to Henry.

“Trust me, get to the tree,” Henry said. “There’s rope coiled around some of the branches, I see it.”

“Bloody hell, are you—”

“Out of the way!” another prop yelled, for Ada was on the move again. One of the props engrossed in their conversation panicked and ran straight into a small tree. The tree bent and threw him back into a daze. Ada grabbed him as well. She raised the back of her skirt, directing the prop behind her, and from the tailbone she guided him downwards feet first, slotting him right in between her butt cheeks. Her plump, voluminous cheeks held him nicely between them, his scalp barely visible at the top. When she let the skirt drop, even his head fell out of view.

“Would you look at that!” the narrator shouted from atop her perch. “Humans are resilient and the brutish giant has no tools to restrain them, so she’s problem-solved it by using her body. Certainly, a method which requires a certain lack of shame, but that wouldn’t impede Ada, the large boor!”

One of the props turned to Henry. “We’ve lost four of them now listening to your strategies.”

“We wouldn’t have lost them if we followed his instructions to begin with,” another prop said, a relief to hear. Henry needed the support.

“Gentlemen, we need to run, now!” Ada was charging at them again. With Leeman still incapacitated from Ada’s first stomp, two others pasted to her soles, one inside her pussy and another entombed between her cheeks, only four props were left by Henry’s side out of the original nine. And as they sprinted through the greenery, he glanced back and noticed Ada’s focused look, how she hadn’t indulged when she put the prop inside her, didn’t taunt them or act like her usual self. Perhaps she’d learned from the mountainside, how her overconfidence and overindulgence had been her undoing against Henry and his friends. Ada wasn’t foolish enough not to learn from something which left her eyes in this state. Although that experience surely played its part, Henry had noticed how Ada shyly peered over her shoulders from how the narrator described her, the quiet withdrawal of someone being bullied. Before other giants, Ada was at the bottom of the hierarchy and did feel shame. She wanted to get this over with, this embarrassing affair where she was a dunce put on for entertainment.

Henry jumped up the branches of the massive tree, scaling it, the props following behind him. Ada’s quaking steps closed in, the poor young men under her feet continuously trampled and pancaked under her meaty soles. The last prop narrowly escaped Ada’s hand as she jumped to reach for him. All five of them got up and gathered on a thick branch.

“Well well, it seems the humans barely got out of her reach, led by our human participant,” the narrator said aloud. “But I do hope he’s well aware that continued hiding will lead to us proclaiming his forfeit, and worse, an unexcited audience, which wouldn’t bode well for his future beyond this match.”

“What’s the plan now?” one of the props asked. All of them wore shabby trousers, one of them with a vest and the other in shirts.

“By the way, why are you naked?”

Henry frowned. “It’s really not the time for that.” He pointed above, one branch sagging and laden from holding a thick coil of rope. “Someone get to that. And over there, there’s a box of something tied to that branch. Get the stuff and throw it on the other side of the tree, opposite of where she’s standing. Hopefully she won’t see us move through all the leaves, especially with her eyes.”

“If our human continues to hide and wait, we will view it as forfeit,” the narrator said. “But our giant is also encouraged to take action. The rewards of this battle is determined by more than mere victory or defeat.” That brought Ada out of her wait, ramming the thick tree with her shoulder, kicking it with her human-clad soles. Ada’s attacks on the tree were impactful but foreseeable, and Henry promptly adapted the habit of warning the others. When Ada leaned back, brought her foot up with a bent knee and was about to extend a kick, Henry called for the group to brace, and they fell down on their spot and hugged their branch. When she showed her shoulder and initiated her charge, Henry again called for the group to brace. Ada responded by tightening the intervals between the attacks, and although they were weaker, they still caused enough rumbling to make them lose their footing upon the branches. Henry’s warnings became so frequent one of them told him to shut up and lend a hand. It became hard to move at all, and they waited her out to tire her.

“The humans choose to play cowardly,” the announcer said, “what does our audience think of that?” There were complaints, faint boos here-and-there. Someone bellowed for them to get off the goddamn tree, another wanted the humans to get it over with, for it was the next battle they bought their tickets for.

The branches were still at last. Ada had to catch her breath.

“Listen,” one of Henry’s companions up in the trees said. “I’ve been a prop here awhile. We’re not winning this battle, just like we never won any before. Best we can do is entertain the crowd, maximize our rewards in the inevitable loss.”

Henry threw a dismissive hand. “Get out of here with that. We’re getting down now anyways, throw the equipment down on the other side.” They gathered what they found, ignoring the additional material even higher up as it was too much for all of them to even use, and traveling further up and away could prompt further anger from the crowd.

“Would you look at that, there’s fireballs in these!” One of the props opened a box, and when he moved it the contents clinked together. The fireballs were translucent, glassy orbs, which absorbed the presence of magic and harnessed it into a force which detonated upon impact.

“Good, get them down.” They hopped down the branches of the tree opposite where Ada stood. They regrouped under a small tree surrounded by smaller bushes. “Alright, we need to make her fall.” Henry selected two of the brawnier types who hadn’t been the fastest when they were running. “You two handle the rope. One of you stay in here, the other…” Henry saw a similar cluster of shrubbery. “The other there. The rest of us will be over there and get her attention. She’ll come at us, and you’ll pull the rope together.”

“She’s far too heavy for us to stop.”

“You don’t need to match her, just give her foot enough of a trip that it gets her off balance.” As Henry went through the plan, one of the props charged a few fireballs, the crystal balls glowing with a certain glimmer within them, as if a storm were contained within and thunder occasionally sparked.

“When she falls, we try and free our boys?” one asked.

“No,” Henry said.

“You must be joking. Rick and Steve are being crushed under her feet every second, Michael is plugged inside her slimy and stinky nethers, and Berren is right next to her bloody arsehole.”

“They may be your friends," Henry said, "but it’s a waste of our efforts to get them out. If we use this opportunity to get them out, then what? She chases us and we flee helplessly like before. An opportunity like this is what we strive for, and it has to be used to attack.”

The same one who’d supported Henry up on the tree grabbed the other prop’s shoulder. “He’s right, brother.”

Ada was moving, they could hear it. The crowd had alerted her of the humans’ descent from the tree. The five of them split up, Henry and two props grabbed two charged fireballs each from the box and made off, away from the massive tree, while one of the brawny young men took the rope and made off to the other clump of shrubbery. There he crouched, pulling in as much rope as he could to his end before the prop on the other end resisted, leaving it taut.

Ada rounded the tree, poor eyes searching. Henry empowered his arm and threw a fireball straight at her. It zipped over her shoulder and hit the tree with an explosive flash. Henry raised his fireball, the two beside him following his lead, helping Ada’s poor eyesight find them. She adjusted her thin brassiere and jogged towards them.

“Don’t be nervous,” Henry told the two next to him, even though his own heart was racing. This was their best chance.

Ada’s quaking steps neared.

“Retreat lightly,” Henry said, him and two props easing their way backwards. Henry had one fireball in his hand, the others had two each. The two props holding the rope made eye contact as Ada approached their line. Henry watched their actions carefully, trying to time his move with theirs. They’d wound the rope around their wrists to get an even better grip. If the line didn’t provide enough resistance, Ada would simply kick through it.

They nodded. Ada was nearing. Both of them raised the rope overhead to get as much height as they could, then pulled it towards themselves, anchoring their heels into the soil. Ada’s right ankle stepped through the rope. The two props were yoinked off the ground and whirled around her ankle like the balls of bolas, but they succeeded in yanking her foot back. The startled expression Ada made inspired confidence. Her knee came up to greet the ground instead of her foot, and Ada was late to catch herself with her hands, grunting as her elbows did it instead. The crowd gasped.

“Go!” Henry and his two companions sped forward. They waited too long to get a good sense of where she’d land, needing several seconds until they got close. Ada rose her head and saw them. “Throw!” Henry threw the one fireball he had left, his two companions threw one of theirs. Henry’s fireball hit her chin first, shattering with a bright crackle. Ada cursed and flinched her head downward, grabbing her chin, a reaction which aided her well as the fireballs of the two props came thereafter and burst upon her scalp instead of her face. Henry relentlessly rushed in, not a good chance, but the best they’d get. He jumped towards her head, body flowing with golden energy.

Ada reactively swung an arm back-and-forth, afraid of further impending fireballs, and Henry couldn’t have asked for any worse luck as that swinging arm found him and slapped him aside, deflecting his advance by sheer accident. He landed with a couple of rolls and stabilized. “Damn.”

“No, she got them!”

Henry watched and could only sigh with a shake of the head as he figured it out. Due to Ada lying on all four from the fall, her soles pointed upwards, presenting the two props who were thoroughly smushed to her feet. The ones who tripped Ada with the rope and had been thrown forward with her hadn’t taken the chance to get away. Instead they thought they could free their friends from her soles, no doubt an effort led by the same guy who’d challenged Henry’s proposal and suggested they free some of the props trapped in her body. Ada had caught them both, rising up with both of them in a hand each.

“A valiant effort from our humans,” the narrator shouted. “But they ended up losing two more!”

Ada tugged at her tight brassiere, opening it up on the left breast and depositing one of them there. She deposited the other on the right, and with a snap the fabric sealed them in. Their outlines were visible through the brassiere, hugging them tightly against her chest. Two under her feet, one between her butt cheeks, one in her pussy, and two in her breast; her body was their prison. Only Henry and two props remained, with Leeman uselessly lying where he’d first been stomped and six of them trapped in her body.

But Ada had some rearrangement in mind. She picked up her left foot, grabbed the left leg of the prop stuck there, and peeled him off. The slashing sound of torn paper as the prop parted from her soft foot demonstrated well how thoroughly married he’d been to it, a yellowish, human-shaped frame left on her sole. The prop dangled limply from her fingers, all energy meticulously trampled out of him. Ada threw him far away, then picked up her other foot and did the same to the other prop. Both of them joined Leeman in their torpor, knocked out of the fight. Though as Ada’s feet stepped together, those toes wriggled vivaciously. The soles were freed up and ready to take two more. Henry and the two props remained.

There was no time for strategy or to even wallow in their pity, Ada stepped towards Henry. He had nothing left but to meet her challenge, summoning the art of the fighter and charging in. That surprised the crowd. Ada and him had performed this dance before, Henry dodging her stomp, weaving in punches and kicks wherever he could, absorbing her hits tactically where he could so long as it wasn’t a stomp. When he caught sight of her face, she tried to contain a smile. This was what she loved. One of her sweeps caught him, punting him away from the Garden of Chance, back on plain grass with none of the concealing comfort of shrubbery.

“Goddamn it.” Henry breathed long and slow. He didn’t get up. “There’s no point.”

Ada’s shadow grew on him. But instead of her attack, Henry heard her yell with the crackle of fireballs exploding. The two props had thrown their last fireballs, detonating on Ada’s thighs. She grimaced and ground her teeth, rubbing her thighs where they’d hit. Her chin had already reddened where Henry had hit his. They indeed stung, but stinging pain couldn’t win a battle alone, not with the little they had. When Ada saw the two props who’d fired at her were empty-handed, she returned her focus to Henry. His motivation was shot, but Henry still dodged a stomp, ducked out of the way from a sweep of her foot, narrowly escaped the toes which fished for him with a grip.

A large glob of liquid fell on Henry’s head. “Huh?” It was her scent, and memories returned. He looked up the pillars of her legs above him and saw that she was dripping wet, and that the prop she’d shoved into her pussy now poked out with his head. All of Ada’s movement had progressively eased him out.

Distracted, Ada’s ankle caught him. Her right foot pinned his arm down. Her left sole rose up, ready to bring it down on him.

Ada quivered. Weakness ran through her body like a jolt of thunder. She stepped back, off of Henry. Ada bit her lower lip and closed her eyes, containing her moans. The prop inside her pussy used his free head and attacked her nethers, kissing her pink and swollen lips, grabbing her clit and sucking aggressively.

“Oh, god,” Ada whispered. She knew it was best to stop him, but her discipline had its limits, and she was helpless as the prop did his best to paralyze her from pleasure. The two other props sneaked up behind her and wanted to launch an attack. The prop’s assault on her most sensitive area worked too well, as Ada’s legs failed her. She fell backwards. The two props watched in horror as two round and enormous ass cheeks plummeted towards them. Ada sat right on top of them, their shapes consumed by her gummy flesh.

The crowds burst out in laughter. That laughter, as well as the narrator’s insulting descriptions of Ada earlier, visibly picked at her. A wash of sobriety came over Ada like a dive into a freezing lake, steeling her composure and pushing the prop deep into her pussy, sealing him inside once again. Ada had pride, and other giants could wound it.

As Ada rose up, the two props were gracelessly stuck to her cheeks. But the hold wasn’t firm, and her jiggling movement caused them to fall off. They didn’t get up. Not from an inability, but the motivation was gone. It was pathetic.

Henry watched the scene of defeat and let the hopelessness find its way inside him. How stupid was he for thinking he ever stood chance, for letting confidence slip in? Elly back in the village being awestruck over the tales of him and his friends defeating a giant, Leeman by the brazier in the cell yesterday praising his long journey in Gintessa, for a moment Henry believed he was anything extraordinary, but the reality was obvious. Luck. That’s all it was. He had never stood a chance against a giant, and not one example proved the opposite. Rennard made one lucky shot on that mountainside, a lucky shot born from Ada’s overconfidence, overconfidence which could only be nurtured by how much Ada had toyed with them. Winning wasn’t impossible, but Henry needed more years under his belt. As he was now, there was simply no way.

“I surrender,” Henry said and lay on his back. He just wanted rest. True rest. A room and a bed where he knew he’d be undisturbed, where he didn’t have to fear anything. As he lay and stared at the skies, hearing complaints from the crowd, he realized he hadn’t gotten any high-quality rest since their dumb prank in that guardhouse. He didn’t want to fight anymore. He didn’t want to have any hope. No next plan or scheme or thought of what to do. It was too exhausting.

“What a coward!” someone shouted, one amongst many complaints. They weren’t happy to see Henry avoid a proper beating.

“Get to him as well,” a spectator urged Ada.

“It’s only right he gets beat up at least as much as the props!” another added.

“I was told the human was responsible for the giant’s eyes. I expected vengeance and bitterness.”

“It seems the crowd wants pain!” the narrator said.

Ada stepped up to Henry, standing astride him. Her thick and toned legs consumed his view, and her pink lips stared right at him. The skin around her pussy moved dimly, the prop within trying to escape. The movement he made caused a smaller drop of cum to loosen and drop, landing right on Henry’s chest. Ada leaned forward, her face coming forward, her damaged eyes finding him. Wearing a smirk Henry recognized, she crouched down, covering him in her shadow.

“And that’s it, Henry,” Ada whispered. “I win. I choose what happens to you. I was told to try and make this crowd happy, that it’ll boost my rewards from this victory. So I’ll rough you up, and I’ll go hard.” She winked and blew a kiss. “But I know you can take it, honey. That’s why you’re best suited to be my slave, Henry. I’m rough, but you can handle it. And more than that, you like it.”

“Come on, you dumb bull, do something!”

The smirk on Ada’s face died off as she rose back up. Ada pulled her leg up and hovered her right foot above him. It contained blades of grass, stretches of soil, and the skeleton of a branch which fell off and landed next to his head. There was a human-shaped print of cleanliness along the middle, not at all free from the contents of the arena, but a noticeable mark nonetheless.

Ada stomped, and not lightly. The wind fled Henry’s lungs, opening his mouth to be filled with doughy lump of foot flesh right underneath the ball of her foot. He couldn’t believe they were so soft despite the rough treatment they received. The foot twisted, then settled upon him, and with the bit of cum she’d spilled onto him he had no trouble sticking easily. Henry came up with her foot the next time, and she stomped again. And again, and again, one, two, three, four, five, six, and Henry lost count as he snapped up and down, up and down, the pounding of her foot compensating for how little he’d endured throughout the fight with the props taking most of it. A rotation ensued, one between fresh wind seeping in under his backside as the foot rose, and firm, smelly foot heat in front sending him down until both sides crushed him. The world became more and more distant.

At last the foot didn’t descend and the rollercoaster ended. Her hand came and ripped him off her sole. Dangling from her hand, Henry thought he caught sight of Lily in the crowd. Her demanding mother had likely brought her to the arena, to try and harden the girl’s nerves.

Ada wasn’t done with him. Henry would be a fool to think it ended here. Holding his leg, Ada smacked him against the inside of her thigh. She was kind enough not to tighten her leg, but the impacts were harsh nonetheless, Ada marking her thigh with red prints using his body. It may have been ten or twenty spanks, Henry couldn’t tell anymore. What he knew was that he was conscious when the spanking ended, she threw him away at last, and the crowd laughed. He wished he could see Lily’s reaction, to find sympathy somewhere, though he didn’t have it in him to look. He lost grasp of the world. Ada still walked after him. As she did so, she casually removed the props from inside her brasierre, the one inside her pussy, and the one between her ass the way one would take off attire upon coming home. After tossing them aside, the props made no attempts to resume their fight, knowing she already had her victory.

Ada made a move reminiscent of the servant back in the Charmer’s house. The four toes of her left foot, the pinky excluded, came over his torso, and the four from the right over his lower body, and she got on her tiptoes, spearheading all her weight onto his tiny body. Henry couldn’t hear or see much of anything, the world crushed into nonexistence, nothing but the amassing heat and sweat as her toes flexed upon him. They raked in stretches of soil and grass, their soft and spongy texture melting his body. Henry felt the pressure peaking, and then, a sudden release, free to view and breathe the world again.

Ada had jumped.

He realized it just before the earth-shattering impact arrived, robbing him of all his peace. Like an explosion directed down, her landing produced a tiny crater, a pocket where Henry lay. The feet twisted, and enhanced with sweat and dirt gained a firm grip on Henry’s body, wrinkling his skin with every turn and grind. They squeezed the final bit of spirit out of Henry, and it might have been in combination with the poor sleep he’d gotten in the dungeon the night before, as he didn’t remember much afterwards. There was noise and conversation, being carried in someone’s hand, echoing hallways, him lying in a room, Leeman checking up on him, experiences and memories so hazy and fleeting Henry believed they were dreams.

He woke and stared at a roof of white marble lined with dark veins. The room was proportioned for a giant, an enormous space for him. Sunlight from a row of high windows almost near the roof poured in, illuminating the glazed surface of the marble, making the walls shimmer.

“You awake?” Leeman sat beside him. Henry noticed a soft surface underneath. With a yawn, rub of the eyes, and raise of the head, he noticed they lay on a red glossy blanket in the corner of the room, flanked by rows of plush square pillows with golden tufts at their edges. One portion of the room was elevated, fifteen feet up covered by three giant steps. There was the dark rumbling of water there, a large golden maiden holding a goldfish under her arm with water sprouting out from its open mouth and into the pool. There was a cupboard with bowls of fruit and unlit candles upon it, a sleek and exquisite quality of wood standing near their plush corner. Paintings of scenery and important giants lined one wall.

“Quite the room, isn’t it?” Leeman said.

Henry sat up straight, taking a few moments to endure the heaviness in his head. “Where are we? How long have— What happened after?”

“She won. Sorry I couldn’t be of much help during the fight, but I hope you weren’t expecting much from me. Well, I should hope you didn’t think we’d win to begin with. It’s been a few hours.”

Henry noticed a few faint lines along his torso. It was the swirly print of her toes. His arms felt heavier, and upon inspection, they were clad with a stretch of modrock. The black mineral was encased around his forearms with a distinguishable line across it, revealing they were like long cuffs for the forearm. A keyhole sat in the middle. Modrocks could take magic, and although it didn’t repress magic in its surroundings like the much more oppressive, rare, and expensive orkken rocks did, it was a potent inhibitor as long as it made contact. And an encasement around his forearms certainly qualified as contact. Henry might still be able to summon the art of the fighter, but it would be like moving with iron weights tied around the legs and waist and shoulder. The other props were in the room too, spread about, naked aside from the cuffs of modrock covering the forearms.

“They put those on us and put us in here,” Leeman said. “It’s sometime after midday now, I’d think. A few hours after the fight.”

“What…” Henry cleared his throat, gravelly from lack of use. “What did she say? I mean after the fight, what did Ada decide would happen to me?”

“You’re her slave now, her property. They’re getting the paperwork done, stamped with a Richmond seal. Makes it fairly official, I’m afraid.”

Henry nodded and looked forward, a hallway connecting to this room.

“You don’t seem too dismayed.”

“I expected it.”

“And it’s better than being owned by the arena.” This wasn’t Leeman’s words, but another prop who walked in on their conversation. “Apologize for not being of much help in the fight. I got stepped on right near the beginning when she chased us, couldn’t get off her foot.”

“It’s fine,” Henry said. “Why are you apologizing?” He swept a hand across the room. “You guys needed to win as well.”

“We need to perform, not win. Like I said, we’re owned by the arena. You might have misunderstood things, a victory wouldn’t free us. Some of us serve sentences here for some ‘wrongdoing’, like a prison, and for others this is like our ‘livelihood’, a forced livelihood, I should say. We live here. Well, not in a room like this, but in the dungeons, and they throw us into the arena as props for someone else’s fight. We get bonuses if we perform, perhaps something to send our family, and for the ones serving a sentence, it can be shortened. Or we can be bought out by someone, hopefully someone in the audience we impress. For you, winning was what mattered. For us, performing is, and I had far from a good showing.”

“Did anyone have a good showing?” Henry said.

“I heard about the tricks you guys tried to pull on her. That’s interesting, shows a creative mind. Those things matter. But I also heard many didn’t like how much you ran and hid in the tree, and they enjoyed the giant’s attempts.”

Henry snorted. “They can eat shit.”

Leeman chuckled.

“Anyways, how the hell did we get placed in here? I would happily accept this room instead of the dungeons, but it doesn’t seem right.” More of the props moved towards the blanket and pillows, seeing Henry had woken.

“The arena let her decide what happens to you,” Leeman said. “But it also rewards her for her efforts and entertaining the crowd. The way I understood it, this is her reward.”

Henry nodded his head to another prop who approached. “Hey, you know why we’re here?”

“Heard the same as him, that we’ll be spending the day in here,” he presented his arms to show both the modrock encasements as well as his nudity, “like this, as part of the giant’s reward. Don’t understand rightly myself.”

“That giant, you know her?” another prop asked Henry. He was one of the younger ones, no older than twenty and close to Henry's age.

“We’ve tangled before, yes.”

“You’re a lucky man,” he said. “She wants you, and she’s not bad-looking. I mean, she’s not the most good-looking either, but those eyes looked good somehow, even when hurt. And if she’d let her hair down instead of those stray ugly pigtails, and got a wash, you know, she can have that powerful beauty-look.”

“Are you ok?” Henry asked.

“Man was the one who got put up inside her pussy,” another added. “And he’s already in love. The young age speaks for itself.”

“Gentlemen, I’d like your attention.” They all turned to one of the middle-aged props, perhaps near forty. He pointed over his shoulder, to the top of the cupboard which stood near the pillows and carpet. “These modrocks are making it hard, but if we work together, we should try and get to that. Ripe and delicious fruit, just sitting there.”

“Sure,” Henry said. “I might be able—”

“No, we’re not allowed.” The one who spoke up did so with a shy attitude. “We can’t misbehave. I also heard we have to do everything she says. They said it was part of her reward, and its misdemeanor if we don’t follow it.”

“Oh.” That brought a wave of understanding over everyone.

Henry turned to Leeman in question, and the old man answered, “Misdemeanor can increase the sentence, lower rewards, and such. That’s what folks in here try to avoid.”

“They must really be spoiling this brat if we have to do everything she says or it’s a misdemeanor,” someone added. “What a reward she’s getting.”

“They said she did her best to make the crowd happy. And it’s only for a day." He pointed at Henry. "It’s only the challenger here who’s her slave for life.”

Slave for life. Henry hadn’t thought about it that way, and it sounded harsher and more absolute than he thought it was. He’d be her slave for life. Even thinking about it, he knew he didn't properly understand the magnitude of a lifetime, and he feared the day he would.

The groan of a door echoed through the hallway connecting to this room. Everyone turned their heads that way. It groaned, screeched sharply, then swung back with a clack and closed. Then followed the rhythmic clap of sandals striking against heels as a giant walked down the hallway. When she arrived at the turn and was in view of them, Henry thought it wasn’t her, for the sound of sandals assumed wealth and high power, and the sight of a luxurious, purple satin gown didn’t fit her either. But the profile certainly did, the height, the size, the movement, and as she stepped into the light of the room, it indeed was Ada.

“God, have they spoiled her,” one whispered. The youngster's comments, seeming ridiculous a few minutes ago, turned prophetic, as Ada’s hair was freed from the pigtails and she indeed looked much more womanlike and, Henry had to admit, gorgeous. The glittering purple gown gave a slim touch to her massive size, no doubt adding to the newfound splendor and beauty with which she marched into the room, carrying a feminine allure. They’d even let her have a pair of sandals for the day, protecting those feet which, normally dirty and travelworn, had been washed and cleaned to a pristine, shiny, glass-like fragility, and if one didn’t know Ada they would truly believe these innocent feet hadn’t braced the dangers of the world and were in need of coveted protection from these sandals. If Ada had simply marched on by for Henry and the props to observe, he’d be proud to announce his past dealings of her, of what she’d done with him, of how she’d used him and how he’d worshipped her. In that moment, for just a second, Henry was proud to be her slave.

But it was indeed Ada, and she didn’t march past them. She strode straight up to their plush corner of pillows and stopped right at the lip of the blanket, on the marble floor. The rubbery sound of her toes grinding against the sandals brought their eyes off her body and down to them, and she flexed those long and round digits inwards, yellowing from pressure, grasping against the sandal’s surface, grappling with the straps around the big and second toe. Context was everything. Before battle, in her worn-down, dirtied, barefoot self, it was a threatening show. Now, it was a coquettish advance, a lure, the honey she flaunted before these ten bees.

“In the grand scheme of things, we may all have been puppets entertaining these rich people,” Ada said, and in the marble room her voice echoed. “We may all be trash, insignificant lowlives who don’t matter.” She brought her shoulders together and tugged one end of, and then carefully, she shimmied out of the purple gown, letting its glossy folds wash down over her body and reveal clean, naked skin. The gown fell to her ankles. Ada stepped out of it, sandals still worn, and joined them on the blanket, towering over them in her naked glory. She licked her lips. “But right here, in this room, I am your goddess.”

Naked aside from a pair of sandals, Ada towered over all ten of them. Henry looked around at the nine props with him, compatriots from the arena, equally naked to Ada, except they had a pair of modrock cuffs around their forearms suppressing their magic. They would suffer in battle and now they’d suffer in this closed marble room. Happy, fearful, sad, angry, they hadn’t registered what was coming their way enough to show an emotion yet. It was mostly confusion, the studious face full of thought, they were in the process of realizing what she wanted, what was about to happen. The young one who’d earlier complented Ada’s looks and showed envy of Henry’s situation as officially being her slave, he showed the most awe, staring agape at her curvy and ample physique. There were marks over Ada’s body, several faint, wrinkly lines of healed wounds across her thighs and torso. Henry remembered the fall she’d taken from the cliffside after Rennard’s shot at her eyes.

The distance she had from them now, two large strides for her, must have been enough for her to make out who was who, for those wounded, milky eyes moved across the ten humans but had a particular focus on Henry. Her tongue came out and slowly licked around the lips in one, slow, circle.

“Finally,” she said. “The arena should be proof enough that you don’t stand a chance against me. But the fact that you’ve got those modrock cuffs on you should erase any thought of meaningful resistance. More than that, there’ll be misdemeanors on you if you don’t do as I say today. Extended sentences, lesser rewards, I hope you props know what it means.”

“We know well enough.” One of the middle-aged props named Michael said that, and he did it with a surly tone. “And we’ve been informed.”

“You’ll address me as goddess or mistress.”

The props shared looks between one another, and a disharmonious variation of ‘yes mistress’ or goddess was given.

“A good start,” Ada said. “When this is over, I’ll select two of you who did the worst and tell them you didn’t go along with what I said, earning you a misdemeanor mark. So more than merely following orders, you should also be eager to do a good job to stay out of the bottom two.”

Those were not joyous looks, but there was nothing for them to do. “Yes mistress,” the youngest one said.

“Someone is looking to be my favorite.” Ada took her first step towards them, and the second brought her sandaled foot beside them. Ada straddled them, all of them craning their neck up to follow the pillars that were her legs until they saw the great pink eye of a pussy staring at them. “It would only be natural for me to start with my exclusive, lifelong slave.” Ada squatted down, everyone uneasily shifting about as an imminent crush seemed likely. But the ass and thighs paused above them, dwarfing all ten of them with a passing perfumed scent of kiwi and lavender. The hand reached for Henry.

Henry wasn’t surprised to be the first one out. She likely wanted to humiliate him before the others, go hard on him first. The fingers closed around him firmly and lifted him. He was brought before her face, able to see the wounds around her eyes in better detail. Somehow, in that moment, he found it in him to pity her.

“In the end, I got you,” she whispered. “Ever since that barn, you’ve done a lot of fighting, you’ve played coy for a long time, but now you’re my slave. And you’re going to like it.”

“Yes, mistress,” Henry said, and he realised that unlike the others, it wasn’t an act for the day. She was his mistress and he was her slave, by definition. There was a document of it somewhere, in the archives, stamped with what they called a “Richmond seal”, one which covered the Rich-families of the east with the Richwoods being one of them. Ada walked away from the props without an order, the slap of her sandals against her heels echoing across the marble room. Henry wondered what her move would be. No doubt she’d use him before the rest to embarrass him, try and rid him of all shame and make him accept his position.

Ada stopped at the cupboard. First she plucked a grape from the bowl of fruit and plopped it into her mouth, then opened one of the drawers with her free hand and rifled through objects therein. She procured a short coil of rope like thin threads to her size. Ada put Henry front first onto the cupboard and pinched his hands together, tying the wrists. Henry thought of the many things she’d do with this rope, where on her body she’d wear him. What he didn’t expect was for the bindings to stop at the wrists, for her to put him down on the floor and then tie him to the leg of the cupboard. She left him there.

Ada took two steps away from him and turned towards the props. With one hand on her hip, she assumed a regal pose, pointing down. “All nine of you dogs will get down and crawl to my feet. Now.”

It did not happen in obedient unison, but all nine did get down and started crawling eventually, from their comfortable blanket onto the open marble surface.

“Remember the bottom two,” Ada said, and that put a bit of haste to the laggards. They arrived before a row of ten round and long toes, so thoroughly cleaned and washed that one would believe the sandal-clad feet were those of a rich young lady who’d never braced the dangers of the world, a far cry from the dirty, stomping monstrosities that had hunted them in arena. “Worship.” The one word was spoken with a dark and commanding voice. Ada loved the role she could play in here, this closed room where she, spoiled for a day, could believe that she was a powerful lady. And she didn’t have to be delusional to enter some otherworldly trance where all of that was true. Imagination wasn’t needed. Reality was clear as nine humans crawled around her, kissing, licking, and slobbering over her sandaled feet. The enthusiasm amongst them varied, though the few who worshipped passionately made others realize they might become the bottom two, and competition began.

It was exactly as Ada said. In this closed room for this day, she was their goddess. The room was filled with the smacking of kisses and the slimy stroke of tongues across saliva-coated foot flesh, competing with the rumbling from the jet of fountain water pouring into the pool. They tended to her toes, in between them, the soft inner side of the feet entering into the arch, the rougher outside and heel, and even her sandals. Henry could visibly see Ada’s breath quicken, her breast moving. The mere act of watching the nine props underneath her made her quiver, understandably, for this was a level of domination Ada had never achieved. Not even when she captured Henry and his two friends. It wasn’t even comparable, for the three of them stubbornly defied her all the way, with a slight exception for Henry. But these nine props had little choice and obeyed. He could see how she was drinking in the sight of them at her feet, how she sometimes had to rear her head up with closed eyes, as watching for too long was intoxicating. Her pussy had swollen up noticeably from when she first entered the room.

“Ah, god,” Ada moaned. “At ease, my dogs.” They stepped back from her feet. Ada kicked her sandals off and sat right before the nine props, stretching her legs out. She sat against the cupboard too, giving Henry a view right down the middle of her legs. The nine props couldn’t ignore the large sensitive pink lips staring right at them, hungry for the taste of humans after the foot-worshipping foreplay had warmed her up. Ada observed the nine props who waited for instructions between her calves. Then she leaned forward, hand reaching for one of the props. It was the most muscular one of the group she grabbed, one named Ben. Ada held him to her face. “You look like a big, strong guy.” She put him down right in front of her pussy, enough to have the scent of its wetness fill up his nostrils. “Do you think you can handle your lady’s most sensitive parts?”

“O- of course, mistress,” he said without eye contact, staring slack-jawed at her nethers.

“Then you’ll be responsible for worshipping it. As for the rest…” She singled out two other props, Leeman and another who, likely not coincidence, was the other older man of the bunch. “You two will worship my feet. The rest of you…” She showed her palms and spread them apart, the gesture of an open invitation. “My legs, pick whatever part, and get to work with those little mouths of yours.”

“Yes mistress.” They spread apart. Leeman and the other older figure took the feet, the six others spread apart, three on each leg, and the muscular one in the middle set to lapping away at her lips. Ada planted her palms onto the ground behind her with a slight lean and watched the nine humans worshipping her, granting her a fantasy so few could dream of ever having. The devotion she received, the veneration they showed, it was something comparable to a bronze age of slaves enthralled to statues of their deities. This trascended pleasure and mere carnal domination; the experience the props provided took Ada to a godlike high, making her think for a moment she was some literal sun goddess and these temple builders had gone on a long pilgrimage up the mountains to worship her.

The younger one of the props, Michael, who’d been shoved inside Ada’s pussy during the battle in the arena and had reciprocated Ada’s lust the most, he had rushed to upper part of her thigh upon their received task and was now ogling jealously at the muscular prop who worked at Ada’s pussy. In half hug and half massage, Michael held onto as much as Ada’s thigh as he could and made out with the soft and supple flesh, his manhood rising. Most of them gave that response, except for the elder at her feet, for this was likely the best punishment the props had endured. How much they liked Ada or what they thought of her didn’t matter, their unfulfilling lives here in the arena where they likely never had the chance to properly meet a woman meant they indulged in the chance to taste a soft, creamy chunk of feminine flesh. Even when they thoroughly coated one tiny patch with their saliva-riddled worship, there was plenty of creamy and soft virgin skin left to place their lips onto, skin that had been cleaned and buttered with royal creams and ointments.

The one part which didn’t register for them was in between Ada’s moans as she called them slaves and dogs. The dissonance was clear on some, causing pause to their worship, half blanching. It was their pride. They had some self-respect, and Henry felt like the odd one out, for he would never flinch in his worship. He gave in, he succumbed, he took it all, and he’d be lying to himself if he denied it played a part in the pleasure.  That night when he’d masturbated to his memories of what Ada had done to him and his friends, or even when the servant in the Charmer’s house ground his body underneath her toes, or when Lily kept him in her sandal during the feast and he literally couldn’t contain himself. He took that innocent girl and worshipped her toes to enter a fantasy where she was dominating him.

And Ada knew it the most. That was why she’d chained him to the leg of the cupboard with a perfect view of her spread legs and the nine props giving her a complete lower body worship. With his hands tied behind his back, Henry couldn’t even touch his raging boner, and all he could do was comfort himself with the idea that Ada would get to him eventually. She was only playing, teasing, and it had played to his favor that she was always so sexually ferocious that she’d never been able to contain herself. It meant Henry never had to wait, she’d get down to business swiftly. But now he received nothing, for there were others in place, and fear crept into Henry. Fear and discomfort, over being replaced, tossed aside, someone else found. The fact that he was her official slave had now become a comforting thought.

Ada stooped forward with her torso, trying not to move too much and disturb everyone. “You two, the foot bitches.” She shook her feet to punt them off and get their attention. She arched her feet forward. “I want you to focus on this one particular part.” She pointed to the underside of the big toe, right under the nub and slightly outwards, where the second toe often touched against. “You’re going to lock your mouths in on this part and work there. I had an experience there once, and it’s a sweet spot of mine.” Ada gave Henry eye contact alongside a taunting grin, lighting up his lonely corner by the leg of the cupboard with her first bit of attention since being worshipped. “I call it the H-spot.” With that, she leaned back, and the two older men tried to follow instructions by wrapping their arms around her big toe and aiming for the spot.

Henry tried to think. The look she gave him, the way she said it, the H in H-spot being a clear reference to Henry, what was he supposed to know?

The memory returned. As they locked their mouths onto that soft, outer portion of her bulbous big toe and sucked, and how Ada reared her head back and moaned out loud in response, her legs shaking, the scene came to him, that night when Henry and his friends escaped from Ada’s body. Henry initiated the escape by doing as she wanted, and what the two men were doing to her big toes had been Henry’s move back then. The deep kiss, the way the lips locked onto the soft toe like suction cups, Henry had pioneered that. Ada was now shaking to the attention brought onto both her H-spots, falling back on her elbows, electricuted with pleasure. The frustration rose in him. These two were mere amateurs. Leeman’s mouth was pathetic, the suction was supposed to be far more aggressive, like an attempt, albeit impossible, to suck all of her doughy toe flesh into the mouth.

“Goddammit…” Henry whispered. His manhood was screeching for touch. There was nothing but pure marble floor around, he couldn’t touch it with anything. The way the inner portion of her big toe yielded to their touches, it made Henry think of the potential. Back when he’d done it, she had trod on forest ground for days, she’d literally walked on him, and even then he had considered it soft and yielding to his mouth. Only the lord above, or the lucky sons of bitches currently at her feet, knew what heavenly taste they offered now after a proper cleaning. Those ointments and creams had likely buttered those toes up to melt like a piece of the clouds between their lips, the tongue free to press and explore its swirly expanse, for it would yield to the gentlest touch, yet simultaneously one could never subdue and beat its impressive size. A strand of drool literally escaped Henry’s lower lip, and he noticed how taut the rope to the cupboard was, drawn to her like a moth to light. He backed off and tried to snap out of it, not wanting Ada to see his delicious defeat.

“Ah, FUCK!” Ada yelled, catching everyone by surprise. Perhaps it was Ben stepping out of bounds and entertaining himself as he masturbated and rubbed his manhood against her pussy and her wanting to interrupt it, or it was mere coincidence, for Ada’s right hand went to the muscular one worshipping her pink lips. She grabbed his legs, breaking his flow, and he couldn’t voice a single complaint beyond the reactive grunt before she plunged him into her pussy. Only his ankles stuck out. Another deep moan came from Ada, amplified by feedback from her two H-spots. With the busy hand Ada adjusted her grip on his ankles and with the other arm planted her elbow behind her to lean on. She drew him out of her pussy, slow and slimy, then cautiously eased him back in. After a couple of test-runs assured she had the right hold and precision, the madness came.

Ada pumped him in and out ferociously. The prop flied in and out with a blur, completing several exits and entrances before one could even count a second.

“Keep… fucking… worshipping,” Ada hissed, pushing the words out between clenched teeth, for the props near her thighs were stunned and at a pause, watching in horror at the kind of tool she had turned him into. A stick to pleasure her pussy, that’s all he was. They tried to ignore the rapid rhythm of several wet slaps per second, and return to worshipping. The muscles in Ada’s forearm were tense, her amassed wetness along the pounding making splatters of cum eject every now and then. Inevitably, the drops would end up on her thigh, and Michael collected the drops with his mouth eagerly.

Ada’s orgasm came fast. It was as if the waves of pleasure from her pussy and H-spot merged to produce electricity, zapping her body with spasmic pleasure. Ada’s moan suggested pain rather than delight as it warned well of the coming squirt. It shot out in recurring jets, the stray discharges spraying on the props trying to worship her legs. It made sense now why the muscular one had been chosen for her pussy, as his bulk and size meant he filled her up nicely.

The cum was pooling in a long stretch down between her legs. Henry wished some of it reached him. He eagerly wanted a taste. But no quantity or explosiveness could compensate for how Ada leaned forward, the low angle of her squirts shooting straight into the marble floor and carving a stream of it up between her legs. It didn’t look natural, and Henry thought she might do it purposely to leave him dry. She might know Henry was so desperate he’d jump at a taste of her cum, and she denied him even a tiny accidental drop his way. Henry felt his shell coming off, all pride stripped off, as she’d read him cleanly.

Leeman and the other old prop’s endurance was impressive. During all her violent, orgasmic shakes they held onto her big toe, even with their legs clamped around her sole, and unfailingly delivered stimulance to her H-spot. Perhaps they knew that the better they did and the faster she got over her peaks, the quicker this would be over with. But on Ada’s finale, as she screamed out loud, echoing in the marble room, her toes flexed forward and smushed their heads in between their doughy clamp, and their arms and legs lost grip, now hanging by the head like ragdolls from the vicegrip of her toes. Ada collapsed backwards, the toes releasing them so they fell down. The muscular prop was left inside her, the rest still between her legs. Some of them stared slackjawed at the stream of cum between her legs, amazed at the sheer quantity she’d put out. It didn’t surprise Henry too much. He and his friends had been one of the first to experience its unending volume.

A few scatters of it had gotten near him. Henry walked towards the drops of her cum, salivating at just the scent of its somewhat sweet scent beginning to perfume the air. His manhood was raging, he needed something. But alas, the rope was too short, and even as Henry got on his knees and spearheaded his mouth forward, the pinnacle of pathetic display, he couldn’t score a touch of her nectar which the other slaves had the luxury of bathing in.

One of the slaves, Michael was his name, kept worshipping Ada’s thigh while the rest were gathering themselves. With each kiss on the inside of her thigh he moved closer to her pussy, bloated from containing another human, and he chanced a few kisses at her lips. Ada stirred. Her feet fell down to cover the two old men who’d worked on her H-spot, and then her legs closed in against each other. The unsuspecting props in between were knocked off balance, startled, and before they got a grip of things her legs caught them and closed them in towards the middle, over the stream of cum. They were sandwiched. Ada rubbed her legs against one another, not too harsh, still tranquilized from the orgasms. Her feet clapped together to get the old men too, all eight of them clamped shut by her lower body, Henry and the prop in her womanhood excluded. The sandwiching continued for a short time, everyone rode it out. Michael, the most subservient of the props, kissed her thighs as much as he could. Then, her legs parted, leaving everyone on the cum-drenched marble floor. A few grimaced and moved away, trying to wipe their hands before realizing there were no trousers nor shirts to wipe them on.

Ada rose up to her feet, wearing a drunken smile. She swiped the back of her hand across her forehead and adjusted her hair behind the ears. Those damaged eyes tried to find Henry, but it was unlikely she could make out the details on his face. She surely wanted to see his pathetic state, his leash tightened, his pulsating manhood desperately wishing to receive her attention.

But her attention returned to the props gathering themselves around her. Without command or warning, her feet moved, targeting the props. Neither stomps nor kicks, Ada punted them lightly with her toes, knocking them off their legs.

“Isn’t it enough?”

“What are—” Their complaints were pithy and died quickly, no lingering demand to know, remembering the situation. Her toes grabbed someone’s leg and dragged him onto the biggest accumulation of cum, a smooth and slimy travel across the marble. Then it punted someone else to his location, and like the dirt swept towards the dust pan she shuffled them towards one spot. A few of them sat up, a few of them remained lying down, wearing unhappy faces. With a wet splash she stood astride them, hands on her hips. For a moment she only stared at them with her broken eyes, biting her lower lip, drinking in the sight of them. A silence followed, everyone awaiting her next, twisted move.

With the wobbly movement of a penguin, Ada pulled her feet in towards one another, squeezing the eight props in between. The props’ naked bodies smushed together, not much space left to give and returning resistance to her feet’s advance. But Ada’s thigh flexed in response, abducting, applying even more force to thoroughly pancake them. Most of them were being compressed, but two props were slipping out from the ends like the filling pressed out of a bun. Henry didn’t expect her to let them slip out, and she didn’t. Ada turned a straight right, planting her feet on the two new ends which, if paired with their previous position, would have completed a square around this pathetic clump of cum-soaked men. Her feet shepherded the two stray ones back in and compressed the props again from a new angle. With sheer force she tried to shape them into something new, take these eight humans, these eight heads, bodies, sixteen legs and arms, and fit them into a space that shouldn’t be possible. The slippery cum made it all a lot easier. Her feet bulldozed their helpless bodies together into a lump akin to some deranged artwork of end times, where sanity and human worth was gone. Their complaints became directed at one another, someone’s knee shoved into another’s back, elbows poking, chins digging.

Peace arrived as the squeezing stopped at last. Though it was horribly short-lived. They could barely enjoy the lack of pressure before those with heads directed upwards saw the knee rising, the foot leaving the ground, and a large sole hovering above them. The last thing they saw was a young woman’s entranced face, her right hand massaging her pussy, and the great, soft sole coated with cum descended upon them. They’d been compressed together so well, her foot was longer than the entire lump, beginning at her arch and ending at her toes. At first, the ball and toes touched them gently, grazing over the surface of heads, legs, and arms. But as much as they explored, they were also aiming. Light pressure was applied at one location, then else, almost like a doctor searching for pain points with their patient. Then, she stood on that foot. Loud groans, curses, hollers, and grunts were pressed out of them, and those who had a free mouth were soon shut out as the other foot arrived and planted itself on the remaining portion. Ada literally sunk a visible distance as her full weight squashed them, her feet competing with them for the sparse space their collective lump dared to occupy. Her toes wriggled gleefully over them, curling in and resting on top of them possessively, arms and legs and heads being rubbed in between the toes.

She raised her heels and focused all her weight onto the balls, and their hollers and grunts were cut off, so thoroughly pancaked that their mouths and muscles had no room to operate. Ada’s hand found the ankles of the prop inside her pussy and she played with him again, though not with the same haste as before, all while directing her weight onto the eight humans.

She seemed to reach a point again and Ada stepped off the lump of humans, their stupified faces unresponsive. It seemed as if they were made of rubberb by how much her feet had been able to shape and compress them. Ada squatted down, one hand on the ground for support, and now the pace to the masturbation went up, pumping the large prop in and out above the lump. Ada ground her teeth together, a short moan, and although it was nowhere near the previous eruption, a few bursts of squirt shot out and drenched the lump of eight props. A few of coughed and spat it out, but other than lazy movements of the head as if one had been woken in the middle of night and tried to return to sleep, they showed nothing.

Ada stood back up and shoved the prop into her pussy again, his resting spot. She took one long, airy, exhale. Henry thanked the heavens; Ada was walking towards him. He backed away, his head craned up and expectantly watching her like a dog before its owner. Her feet slapped the marble floor in wet spanks due to all the cum.

Ada stopped right before him, watching him with her wounded eyes, getting to study the details of his desperation. She smiled, hands on her hips. Henry took one hesitant step forward, Ada didn’t budge. Henry ran up to her left foot and threw himself at the row of toes before him, licking, slurping, and swallowing her sweet-tasting nectar which they were drenched in. As he did so, he humped maniacally, hands still bound, and found a good angle against one of her toes. So sensitive, teased, and greedy was Henry’s raging boner that his orgasm arrived in two thrusts. He kept thrusting, powering his ejaculations, moaning pathetically. Henry humped one last time, then collapsed onto her foot, and instant regret washed over him.

He wanted more. That was what he found when he explored his regret. It wasn’t the regret of succumbing to her games, of fulfilling his duty as her slave. It was that he’d wasted his orgasm on something so quick, fleeting. Henry wanted more. He rolled over to meet her foot and gave it a couple of kisses. Ada’s other foot came and the big toe brushed his torso in short, continuous strokes, petting him.

Henry wanted more, but it was fine. He would have all the time in the world.

Ada had won.

Not the fight in the mountains nor the one in the arena, not even the one in this marble room when she tied Henry up and made him watch her unleash her lust on all the other props, edging him on until he threw himself at her obediently. She won the greater, overarching battle, the one which began when Henry with his friends stumbled upon her in that farm she worked in. Back then, Henry had dignity, purpose, hopes of returning home, and Ada suggested back then that he spend his time with her instead, pocketed in her nether lips. That was the fight, Henry for his return home and his independence, and Ada over him, and Ada had won it, because Henry had gone from the man he was back then, to now, on all fours, wearing a collar with a chain tied to her second toe, lapping away at the fluffy underside of her digits.

Ada was lying comfortably on her side with elegant poise by the collection of plush pillows upon the blanket, having put that purple glossy gown back on, reassuming the glamorous air a lady of stature exuded. If one ignored how carnally she’d dominated all the props an hour back, the massive pool and splashes of cum near the cupboard, Ada would certainly look the part. Especially when the frizzled strands of her hair from sweat and effort had been collected and combed back over her shoulders.

Henry’s collar was tied to the second toe of her left foot, presented sideways, and Leeman had been ordered to worship her right one, though only Henry had the collar and chain. Ada could easily reach for the fruit in the bowl down by her thigh, but three props were tasked with picking any of the giant nuts and grapes and pomegranate seeds, then clambering up the slanted pillows and presenting them to her reclined face. Ada would open her mouth, and they’d toss them in, then return down for another journey. The five other props had been ordered to worship her sandals, and although she hadn’t worn them terribly long and they hadn’t accumulated that timeworn musky scent, it brought her pleasure to see them slave away at her footwear.

Henry had moved to the sole the last several minutes and stroked the tip of his tongue in along those wrinkles, but his chain clinked and rang. Ada’s big toe waved in one elegant circle to wrap the chain around itself, then yanked, nudging Henry towards the front. She wanted him at the toes. He moved back to front, grabbing the nub of her third toe with his mouth and making out with it.

And so it continued for a while, a far more relaxing atmosphere. Even Ada had her limits. She wanted to take it easy, recharge, perhaps take them for another ride later. But Henry saw a chance to take control. The big, bulbous big toe loomed above him, and Henry fixated on the outer portion under the nub, her H-spot. Lying down with her gown back on, her most sensitive part between the legs was unavailable. But her H-spot was a secret tunnel, a backdoor, and Henry wanted to match her, set the tone and establish his position.

Henry moved his mouth along the base of the third toe, smooching all the way until he was at the ball of her foot. He dragged his tongue upwards, her silky skin giving way to his touch. Upon reaching the base of her big toe, he moved inwards, along the neck and then out on the globular digit. He didn’t rush to the H-spot immediately, he homed in on it like a shark around its prey, circling in towards it, passing the nub, closer with each second. Once there, he went gently, smooching, biting it with only his lips, and it didn’t seem enough to spark something in her. She retained the laid-back, dreamy state, occasionally receiving a snack from a prop trekking up the pillows.

As if it were newly fallen snow he tried to bunch up, Henry used his hands to bunch up the fluffy flesh of her H-spot and stuff as much into his mouth as possible. With his cheeks puffed out, Henry sucked, chewed, and essentially attacked her H-spot like a hungry dog would a bowl of food.

“Ah!” Ada’s whole body recoiled, the wiggle of her foot knocking Henry off balance, but his hold on her H-spot was so strong he stuck to her big toe like a leech. Her impaired eyes went to him, a smirk creeping up. Her second toe flanked his head, and together with the big toe, they clamped around his skull. “So eager. You’ll have to wait, slave.” The two toes flicked back-and-forth, grinding his head between them and knocking his hold off her H-spot. She was in complete control.

A moment later, Ada removed the toe-chain on Henry and had them all be moved to the pool on the other side of the room. A jet of water shot out from the mouth of a marble goldfish held by a maiden, and by pressing a button high on the wall, Ada turned it off. She stepped into the first step of the pool, her ankle in, then the next, up to her knee, and finally sat down and lay back, her massive bosom sticking out of the water.

“Slaves, you can enter the pool.”

They took the chance happily, diving in, swimming on their backs and enjoying one of the few pleasures they came across in this arena. Henry didn’t know if it was kindness he saw in her. Of course, Ada thought of Ada before anyone else. But as Henry saw the props swim about or relax by the edge, he wondered if she perhaps used her chance to provide these miserable props with something none of the commanding giants would. Henry dove in himself, the hot pool easing his beaten body. It was now he realized just how much he’d been through the past several days.

“You, old guy,” Ada said. “I want a word.” She gestured at Leeman, who swam towards her in response. She grabbed him and took him out of the water, placing him at the edge of the pool near her head.

Henry swam closer, curious as to what Ada wanted.

“You blathered about many things back in the dungeon, hell, even in the arena before I flattened you. A miracle stone healing my eyes or something.”

Leeman chuckled. “I threw out the name offhand and you still remember it. Seems like it made an impression on you.”

“So, were you talking out of your ass or not?” Ada said. “Whatever you say won’t change anything anymore, so just be honest.”

“The miracle stone is an artefact of great power. Restoring your eyes would be trivial for it.”

“And why is it that this powerful tool is something an old prop here in the arena prattles about? Madam Richwood would send her best to retrieve it. Even western houses would ransack the lands to find it.”

“It is said to be found deep under the mountains, with a population of humans, safe from the reach of giants.”

“Deep under the mountains? That could be just about anywhere. Why should I be bothered with it??”

Leeman shrugged. “I was trying to get your attention, get an edge in the fight or for myself. But as you said, there’s nothing you can do for me now anyways.”

Ada snorted and reached for him.

“Wait!” They turned their eyes to Henry, floating about in the water near her chest. “Tell her about the island where offgiants live freely, the one you told me about.”

Henry’s knees touched something, and before he knew it Ada’s hand rose underneath him, the air chill on his skin as he left the steaming pool. Ada dumped him onto her left tit.

“What’s he talking about, old man?”

“Oh, that. Well, fresh and young offgiants usually don’t live happily in Gintessa. Exploited, pushed around, realizing it’s more than size that makes power, there’s a lot to hate about life in Gintessa, something you might have learned about. So some of them managed to slink away a decade or so ago southeast while the kingdom tried to crack down on outlaws in the east, and they’ve made a life for themselves off the shores around a couple of islands. It’s closer to Humius than Gintessa, but they’re secluded. They’ve successfully laid low.”

“How would you know this?”

“Word goes around, and I’ve been around a long time. Why do you think I’m here? My niece was recently made a giant, and I mentioned it, wanted to get her out of here. Richwood’s soldiers overheard me talking, and now I’m here.”

“I’m sorry,” Henry said, holding onto her tit with arms and legs. Ada had a distant look, staring off towards the ceiling.

“So it’s supposed to be some utopia over there?” Ada said.

“Not sure how it is, but offgiants who wanted a better life made their way there. Make what you will of that.”

Ada shook her head. “Someone’s got to be in charge, some greedy bastard who does what’s best for her. It can’t be what it sounds like. I’m here now anyways. I spoke with the officers before I came here, and I have errands to complete.”

“What errands?”

Ada looked down on Henry with a smirk. “Our errands. You’ll be with me every step of the way now.” Her index finger touched the back of his head and guided him to her nipple. Henry did the rest, nibbling on it like a mouse provided with a piece of cheese. At the same time, the ever thirsty and most horny of the props, Michael, had swum his way to her floating stomach and cuddled against it. Ada thrust her hip up, her pussy emerging from the waters, and Michael drifted thereto like a bee to honey. There he solidified his position and stroked her lips with his tongue. Ada moaned.

“You dumb fucking dog,” another of the props hissed silently. “You’re getting her in the mood again.”

“Don’t care,” Michael whispered. “I’m going to enjoy something in this cursed arena.” He poked his head inside her and got to work in there. The other one swam over and pulled him out, the two of them ending up in a splashing tussle between her legs.

“What’s going on here?” Ada said, though answered herself quickly. “Competition, it looks like. So eager to please me.” Her hand arrived and plucked the one who interrupted Michael and put him on her right tit. “You know what to do.” She nodded towards her other tit, where Henry was making out with her nipple. He couldn’t match Henry’s ardor, but went to work anyway.

“Hey, old man.” Ada turned to Leeman. “Hop into the pool. You don’t have to do anything, just enjoy something in this place which gives you nothing.”

“Is that compassion I sense in the pleasure-hunting fanatic?” Leeman said.

“I like to enjoy myself, but I’m not heartless.” Ada leaned back, petting Henry and the other prop on their heads with her index fingers as they excited her nipples. Meanwhile, Leeman took the offer and dove in, drifting about on his back.

Ada moaned. “Ah, lord above.” Michael massaged her clit with his mouth, and coupled with the two at her nipples, she was elevated. “Just one thing missing.” Ada rearranged herself to point her legs to the side instead of into the pool, putting her feet on the ledges. Four props were taken from their leisure swimming and placed there, two for each foot. With her arches on the ledge, the balls and toes of her feet stuck forward, and, on their knees, one prop took the first and second toe while the other took the remaining three, on each foot. The two props of the ten left, Leeman excluded, were instructed to worship her calves, and so they had all returned to business. Lying at an angle wasn’t too comfortable for Ada, but receiving worship on all of her key spots and more certainly compensated. Ada’s head hung slack, mouth open and eyes closed, and occasional puff of breath coming out as an airy moan.

While spoiling her nipple, Henry would glance back and stare down the stretch of her floating body. Him and another at her breast, one at her pussy, two at her calves, and four at her toes, the sheer amount of worship left Henry in awe. Those marks by her neck reminded him of the stunning reality that she had been human once, like them, of their size, and now she was their goddess. It wasn’t long before Ada grabbed Michael and took all his agency away, pumping him in and out of her pussy.

And so the day continued, an unending spree of hedonistic debauchery. There were ropes in the drawer Ada used, tying them up, using them, sitting on them, swiping them across her body, and by the day’s end every inch of her skin below her neck had been touched by someone’s tongue. Everyone orgasmed multiple times, but Ada’s lust was unmatched.

Henry woke in the morning, barely able to recall the details of yesterday’s events. It had all melted into one thing, its separate events indistiguishable. He lay in a pool of cum. Other props were sprawled over the floor, and Ada’s foot rested on the side near him. Morning light glared in from the windows on the high wall.

The door creaked open. Ada stirred from her slumber, groaning and rubbing her eyes. One of Richwood’s soldiers stepped in, grimacing at the sight. “I suspected you’d use your reward this kind of way. But the day’s over.” She tiptoed around the cum, casually kicking one of the props away. Henry noticed the avoidance in Ada to acknowledge the soldier’s presence, the most uncomfortable she’d looked this entire time.

Ada sat up and yawned. “When do I get to work?”

“Today. Get whichever one of these is your slave and go wash yourself. An officer awaits.” The soldier made her way to the hallway, turning around there. “Do you know why it’s so obvious you’re an offgiant?”

Ada didn’t answer.

“The enjoyment you find in beating on regular humans, as if they’re even worth the time. It shows how tiny your perspective is. Pathetic.”

“Who are you to preach about this stuff?” Ada said. “A regular runt running around here?”

“You’ll be below me, the lowliest runt of them all, and half-blind at that.” She chuckled. “They’ll likely send you out on something you’ll have a hard time completing, and if you fail, no one will come looking for you. You were entertainment for the arena, like an animal, and they’re simply honoring the arena’s traditions to have to reward you. No one wants you around.”

Ada picked Henry in a closed fist and followed her out. She was led to the showers where the soldier waited outside. Ada let the water pour from the showerhead as she sat against the wall, placing Henry on the floor. She took the soap and rubbed it over her without any thought, staring emptily at the wall.

Henry started with wiping the cum off himself, though he couldn’t ignore the elephant in the room that was Ada’s listless demeanor. He walked up to her thigh, her torso sheltering him from the water. “Don’t listen to these degenerates.”

His attempt at comfort brought a slight smile to her. “Henry… Do you know why I went so hard on all of you in there? It’s because I know I’ll never get the chance, so I overcompensate. It’s the same back in the farm. Now that I know I’ll have you with me, it won’t be all about that.”

Henry felt the relief blossom within him, the thoughts he’d constantly had of how she must have been somewhat reasonable underneath. They were all confirmed.

“Henry. You like it, right? Acting like my slave, worshipping me, it’s not my own fantasy, is it? I’m not crazy here, right? Please, tell me you actually like it.”

“You’re crazy,” Henry said. “But so am I. We’re on this together. I’ll be your eyes.”

Ada closed her hand around Henry’s body and brought him to her chest. She didn’t smother him into her breast or have him lick her nipples. Henry was hugged into her heart, the most tender side she’d presented. “You’re too good for me. I’ll try and be better, too.”

Rennard and Milton had wandered for hours deep in the roots of the mountains. The one solace they had was Rennard’s flames, keeping both their naked bodies warm down in the damp depths and lighting the dark tunnel. Though the comfort was small. They had just snapped out of the Charmer’s hold and escaped, when, once again, fate managed to waylay them in the form of a random horny servant. The rank smell of her pussy lingered on Rennard, even after he’d unleashed a blaze from every inch of his skin to burn as much of it off as he could.

Rennard led the way with his forearm bathed in flames, used like a torch. The tunnel occasionally opened up, though seldom departed from its narrow tendencies. Streaks of moss helped cushion their steps, otherwise unkind. Bats would flap in their wake sometimes, drips of water and small streamlets could be heard. At least they had pure water to drink.

Milton sighed. “Still nothing in sight.”

“I can tell, genius.”

“If this path doesn’t go up anytime soon, we should start looking for cracks and crevices upwards. Going straight won’t lead us to the surface.”

“You hear yourself? These tunnels have kept going, they’re reliable. We have water. I’ll roast these goddamn bats if hunger gets to it. But I’m not sidling up some cramped crevice.”

Milton sighed again, not in disagreement but general annoyance.

“I know,” Rennard said. “It’s all gone to shit. If we somehow get out of here, I’m not trusting a single fucking giant ever again. Have we gotten bad luck with our encounters? Maybe. But it’s insanity to have gone through what we have and try the same shit. We’re doing it to ourselves at this point.”

“You know what?” Milton raised his arms in surrender. “I’m with you. I don’t want to overthink this anymore.”

“Good.”

“I wonder where Henry’s ended up.”

“All started back when that dumb brat grabbed us and took us to the Charmer. Henry might have ended up worse than us, who knows.” Rennard snorted. “Gray Rhinos and who knows fucking what.”

“I was thinking, if we could just reach some officials of a reputable house, loyal to the kingdom, and prove we’re from Humius, they might send us back.”

“If they’ve got any dignity worth glancing at, which we can’t trust. If we see the most well-dressed officer strut out of the ministry, if the opportunity bloody falls into our laps, then maybe. But for now, we make for the border ourselves. Fuck giants. It’s on us.”

“Absolutely.”

They proceeded through the tunnels for another hour until the walls were lost, opening exceptionally, a vast cavernous space where the rumbling of a river echoed off the walls. The massive grotto had a lake in the middle, a waterfall crashing into it, and it was sunlit, and at first the two young men were confused, thinking they had indeed walked upwards unaware, for the rays of sunlight from the cavern’s roof was too authentic. Both jogged to the lakeside expectantly.

Rennard squinted at the sunlight. “It doesn’t look right.”

“What is that?”

“Sunrocks, it looks like. They can conduct sunlight.”

“Sunlight, as in from the sun and outside? So those sunrocks are connected to the surface?”

“Yes. So, either these sunrocks are terribly long and extend all the way to the face of the mountain, or we’re closer to the surface than we thought.”

Milton studied the sides of the grotto curving up. “I can’t see any way up.” They circled the lakeside, observing. The sunlight which the sunrocks brought from the surface was authentic, enabling an interesting ecosystem. Here within the mountains, bushes and tiny trees grew near the lake on fat mattresses of moss and soil. There were rowan trees and cranberry bushes. Rennard and Milton feasted on the berries. They ate plenty, lips and fingers stickily red, and washed it down with the mountain’s pure water. Plenty of water poured into the lake, and they found a point where a stream flowed out and down another tunnel, but they didn’t want to head downwards. Searching further, near the waterfall, another tunnel went narrow first and opened later, following upwards along the stream which poured into the lake. Rennard’s flames were needed in the dark space again. They traveled up with it, a promising sign.

After half an hour, Rennard froze, a paused hand raised. “You hear that?”

Milton focused. Echoes of voices were bouncing off the rock. “It’s men. They’re humans.” The two scurried forward with curious hope. The voices became clearer, individual words distinct, along with the tunnel becoming steeper and steeper. Bushes and vines shrouded the passage. They pushed through, and combined with a sudden plateau of the ground underneath, they stumbled into the bushes, kicking and jumping out of it.

Three middle-aged men stared slack-jawed at them. Their shirts and trousers were made of leaves, and they held spades and tillers. Rennard and Milton had barged into another vast openness, rivaling the lake they had come from. Sunrocks shone down upon the space here as well, with long stretches of soil for farmland. If one shaded their eyes, ignored the distant stone walls, one might think they were outside.

“Where’d you boys come from?” one of the men said.

“And why in lord’s name are you naked?”

Rennard threw Milton a smile. “We fell down someplace. Long goddamn story, friends. But we need to find a way back up to the surface. I assume we’re close?”

“Back to what surface?”

“The surface.”

His response didn’t seem to register.

“You know, above these caves, on the mountains, with the skies above you.”

The three exchanged looks amongst one another, confused still.

“What part aren’t you getting?” Rennard said.

Milton added to the question. “Have you seen the world outside? Out of these caves, I mean.”

They found the question amusing. “No, we haven’t.”

Rennard rubbed his hands together, a jittery beginning to frustration. “Come on now, gentlemen, there’s got to be a way out of here.”

“Does the name Gintessa ring a bell?” Milton asked. “Or Humius?”

They shrugged and shook their heads amongst one another.

Rennard snorted. “Good lord.”

A woman from behind called, emerging from one of the many cabins along the farmlands. One of the three men went to meet her, and the two men who stayed spoke amongst each other. Milton and Rennard did the same, turning around and lowering their voices.

“So we happened to stumble on some underground civilization?” Rennard said.

“They don’t even know about the rest of the world. I don’t want to be negative, but the chances of finding a way out of here, with these people having lived here for all their lives and not knowing anything about it, it’s slim. Honestly, this is a half-decent life they’ve made for themselves down here, free from the giants. But it doesn’t seem like they’re hiding. They’re genuinely unaware.”

“Then…” Rennard nodded his head towards the opposite end of the room where an enormous tunnel led out, with cattle and a wagon moving through, suggesting further areas of this civilization. “We can be sure there’s no way out from there.” Rennard looked back at the bushes and thickets they’d emerged from, shrouded in the corner of this cavernous space. “But do they know about that tunnel? If not, then they don’t know there’s not a way up from where we came. We’ll see what they say. If it’s not good enough, we might have to think about backtracking. There were plenty of branching paths we left unexplored.”

“Lads.” One of the men approached them with two cotton shorts. “Put these on for Goddess’s sake.”

Rennard snorted. “We didn’t choose this.” They both received the legwear and put them on, tight and barely covering their knees, but welcome to receive.

“You two seem puzzled, with a lot of questions. We’ll take you to Goddess Helga, she’ll surely be able to help you.” They followed the man. As they did, it progressively dawned on them just how vast the space was, a good twenty minutes until they even reached the large hallway leading out of there. A few sunrocks along the top helped illuminate, otherwise there were torches and stones lit by magic. Most people wore clothes made of leaves and interwoven vines, which did not seem like natural handiwork, for none of them had withered.

“Do you make those clothes yourself?” Milton asked.

“It’s Goddess Helga’s enchantments that touch these lands and enable miracles.”

Milton and Rennard received plenty of stares and looks; this limited population knowing every face along with them being half-naked made them stand out.

“When we emerged from the bushes,” Milton said. “There was a tunnel thereunder. Do you guys know about it?”

“We’re aware. But Goddess Helga doesn’t wish us to go there, so we don’t.”

Rennard grinned. “Does Goddess Helga tell you when to shit as well?”

The man did not find that funny, and Milton gave his friend a scolding swat on the arm. Milton had a growing suspicion and decided to ask the man. “This Goddess Helga, is she a giant?”

“She is a goddess, the one who nourishes our lands, and she is giant, yes. I’m not sure what ‘a’ giant is supposed to mean.” The boys decided not to push it.

The walls of the tunnel gave way to the next pocket of space, the town, sunrocks along the top doing their best to convince them they were outside, a premise undercut by the ascending rock undersides of the mountain. The houses were made simply of wood and stone. Wood was no rare commodity with sunlight and soil and water available.

Rennard knocked on Milton’s shoulder to get his attention, indicating ahead. A large girl’s head poked above a rooftop down the street ahead of them, and to their surprise, she didn’t seem too enormous. A couple of villagers thanked her for an errand and left. Milton and Rennard were used to the giants being around sixty to seventy feet, but this one stood around thirty-five to forty. Of course, she still towered over them as the guide led them before her, though it wasn’t what they were used to. Her young and lively feet, from heel to toe, would cover them up to their chests while the usual giant’s foot comfortably swallowed them up. The girl was a teenager, with brown bobbed hair and wearing a dress made of leaves. The dress was without sleeves and fell to her knees.

The man who led Milton and Rennard stepped ahead of them, bowing to the girl. “Dearest Disciple. These are two confused young men I found by our farms. They emerged from the forbidden tunnel, wearing nothing but their own skin. They seem terribly absent, speaking of returning to some ‘surface above’. Could you help them?”

A few people had gathered, the attention Milton and Rennard brought along with confronting this ‘Disciple’ culminating to something of a gathering. The giant needed time to think, studying the two boys.

“Of course, good of you to bring them. They should come with me.” She stepped past the man, coming before Rennard and Milton. Rennard gave his friend an uneasy look, but the disciple got on a knee, a welcome gesture. She presented her two palms. “I will now take you, if you are fine with it.” Despite a measured expression towards the boys, she had an affable and dutiful aura, enough that the boys trusted her and stepped forward. Her hands grabbed their torsos, unable to encircle them with her fingers. She rose with them in a hand each, evading the crowds. Likely due to her smaller size compared to normal giants, but she had the most unobtrusive advance of any giant they’d noticed, her soft feet like feathers against the packed soil. She was relatively thin for her size as well, her fingers warm against their chest.

Leaving the streets, she arrived at a corner by the periphery of the town and placed them on a rooftop, level to her chest. “How much of that man’s explanation holds true?”

“Everything except for us being confused.”

Milton had to cut in. “Can we establish one thing first. Do you know that there’s a world above here, on the surface?”

Despite the measures taken to be far from any ears, she turned about one last time to check for others in the area. “I’ve heard about it from Goddess Helga, yes.”

“Surely there’s a way out of here?”

“Keep your voices lowered on these topics. Yes, there is, something only Goddess Helga would know. But you’ve stirred a lot of attention, which isn’t appreciated. How did you end up here in Greenreach?”

“We were chased, and fell,” Milton said. “It was the most obscure corner you could imagine. I can see how this place isn’t found.”

“You were chased?”

“Umm, yeah.” Milton realized late how their awkward nature made them look, so he had to be frank and reduce suspicion. “There’s a girl who tried to fuck us. I can’t explain it better than that. Do you feel the stench from my friend?”

“Well…” The disciple had carried herself with grace so far, and now she visibly flushed. Rennard didn’t enjoy Milton’s forwardness either.

“What I meant to get at,” she said, “is if they saw you fall, saw the way down here.”

“I doubt it. It was too narrow for her. And she was some lone actor, a nobody. So are we. We’re not important people. We just wanted to go home when we were intercepted.”

“For about the millionth time,” Rennard muttered.

The disciple measured them for a while, then said. “You must meet Goddess Helga. She will know what’s best.” She picked them off the rooftop and marched on. Already they could see her likely destination, the large flight of steps at the end of this cavernous space leading to a gargantuan doorway more than enough for a giant to fit through. Two identical statues of a giant woman towered high, naked, the people who walked thereunder small and insignificant.

The disciple rose multiple steps in one stride, nodding in return to those who greeted her. Curiously, whether out of respect or knowing their place, they didn’t ask who Rennard and Milton were despite the clear desire to know. Stares trailed after them, whispering to each other after the disciple passed. A few of them took an interested walk after them, but the disciple urged them to stay behind, and they did.

After the final step, the disciple stepped into the hallway, somewhat shadowy but with vines growing along its walls with purple and blue blossom. The hallway turned, and thereafter they could spot the massive figure sitting in the distance. She was on a great throne of stone coiled in leafy vines, lush with flowers of yellow and red and green and violet. This Goddess Helga herself wore a resplendent white dress, reaching her shins. Helga had a rather thin shape, a pale complexion, but just as this disciple surprised them in being under the usual size of a giant, the Goddess exceeded the normal. The common adult giant was around seventy feet; Helga was just over a hundred. Each step the disciple took steadily removed doubts, doubts they wish were true. But the closer she got, the greater Helga seemed.

A feeling that arose within Rennard and Milton when the disciple carried them, and now was fully actualized, was that they were no longer in control. Little ideas of breaking away from the disciple holding them and rushing straight out popped in their minds, back out the tunnel, to the farmlands and through the bushes, back to where they were in control, for there was no world where they would put a dent on the giant before them. More than her size was something the boys as wielders of magic could sense, the aura she emanated, especially from the tiny stone on her forehead. There was something uncanny about it, something beyond this world. And her face told the story of a young lady, with a delicate round face, lustrous blue eyes, pale delicate skin and yellow hair falling like a cape behind her. The youth contrasted to the way everyone spoke of this goddess, something traditional and long-lasting. The jewel on her forehead pulsated with a bluish white light, and although tiny, it clearly protruded from her skin.

The throne room was tremendous, Goddess Helga and her throne nearing the back end. A river coursed through its middle, travelling under a bridge, and her throne seemed like the middle of all the growth of the room, the confluence of all the roots, and along its gigantic vines closest to her throne trees of apple and orange and peach grew plentifully.

The disciple crossed the bridge and placed Milton and Rennard on a circle of lilies before the throne. They craned their necks high to see the Goddess’s face studying them, unable to read emotion. Before them were her pale feet, larger than any pair they’d seen before. Even though Helga had a thin stature and was small for her proportions, her foot was longer than both boys combined, clean, smooth, and free of wrinkles.

The disciple’s head barely reached the arm of Helga’s throne. Helga leaned down and the disciple whispered for a long several seconds. Helga sat upright in the throne again, a radiant smile that Rennard wasn’t buying. “My children,” she said, an unfitting rich and dark voice belonging to an older lady. “I must speak to these two visitors, in private.”

Everyone in the room moved out, no hesitation. There were whispers at the far end, glances back, but they left, and the disciple trailed after the last one out and stood sentry by the doorway.

“We never get visitors around here,” Helga said. “Certainly, you must have told your story to others multiple times. But I ask of you to tell it to me one last time, and with great detail.”

Milton nodded to his friend and took the lead, going through everything from their village in Humius to underneath these mountains. They were becoming experts. When he finished his story, he asked, “So, my lady, you do know of a world outside here? And that there’s other giants like you?”

Something about the question didn’t sit right with her, and Milton couldn’t figure out what. “Yes, I know of the world outside. They do not know about us. That is what keeps us safe.”

“Please, we only want to return home,” Rennard said, finding some hope in Helga he hadn’t had earlier in their journey. “It’s a humble village much like this place. We are the same as these people.”

“I understand. But you must understand my concern about the safety of our home.”

“What danger would we pose?”

“You know of this place. That knowledge is a danger to us.”

“What are you suggesting?” Rennard couldn’t be still when the scary notion of them being unable to leave floated about. “There has to be a solution.”

Helga leaned forward, her torso folding over her legs. The two boys stepped back as she presented her hands flat before them. As with the disciple, there was an inviting and respectful air about them. Helga especially with her angelic demeanor made it an act of spite and disrespect to refuse her, so they both stepped onto a hand each. She rose back to her seat, bringing Rennard and Milton to her lap. The skin of her palms was as smooth as the fabric of her dress, as if stroking the clouds themselves.

“I apologize, but you have to tolerate staying here awhile.” Her thumb ran up and down along their backs, in under their armpits, along their chest, both examining and petting them. They didn’t know if she was establishing superiority, but the act came very naturally to her. “You will be made comfortable, treated well, because I would like to see the contents of your character. And then I’ll decide. Your happiness will be of utmost importance.”

Rennard and Milton looked between one another. Were they allowed to leave this instant? No. But thinking back on their journey, what all the other giants they’d come across had done to them, it put her offer in perspective.

Rennard met her eyes. “You know what? That’s the best damn offer we’ve gotten.”

Ada’s first task was very much expected; she was to deliver a letter written by Lady Melinda, Richwood’s right hand, to one of the dealers of magical trinkets in the region’s western end. Lady Melinda might have been an important person, but the letter involved no serious matter. These smaller errands were to get Ada going, test her, and Ada expected to be running lowly tasks in the beginning.

The first day of travel took them out of the crowded Richwood capital and into the outlands. Henry had been on Ada’s shoulder, holding onto her hair, and whenever there was anything notable in the distance or signs to read, he’d help her. He would be her eyes, like he promised. Now with Henry officially her slave, a magical mark had been placed on him, one which would glow when presented to a document in Ada’s possession. A similar document existed in the Richwood archive, and as long as Ada had something carrying his scent, even parts of her body Henry clung to, the Richwood hounds could track him down. That service would cost, however, but he knew Ada would exhaust every option to get him back. That notion made him feel strangely adored. He was everything Ada had at this point.

However, sitting on Ada’s shoulders and holding her hair while guiding her through the countryside was far from captivity. Thoughts of how to escape wasn’t on Henry’s mind. He didn’t know where his future lay; he would take the days as they came. Somehow, he found pity for Ada. One thing was true, Henry going off on his own wouldn’t bode well for him in Gintessa; the border wasn’t nearby for his small legs. And if they worked together, it would help them both. They hadn’t properly confronted and explored the emotional end to their episode in the arena, with Ada dejected in the shower, apologizing to him. Henry could feel a difference, however.

Long farmlands of giant barley and wheat stretched to their sides. As a human in Gintessa, being unobtrusive was no difficult task. From Ada’s shoulder Henry regarded the passersby on the roads, feeling small at the sight of so many giants, and even the most innocent civilian who’d never seen combat could overpower an entire village of humans. Henry urged Ada to ask one of the passing wagon drivers, pulled by the greatox, if she could ride at the back. Ada was surprisingly shy to other giants. When she finally got to doing it, the second driver she asked accepted and let her on.

Ada lay against the side of the wagon, near a group of waterfowl locked in coops. She wore a plain brown sleeveless daydress provided to her from the barracks, the Richwood emblem embroidered under the collarbone. The hems reached just above her knees, and her yellow-brown hair fell over her shoulders, blanketing Henry. Henry himself wore a pair of simple trousers and nothing else.

“It’s beautiful,” Henry mumbled, staring over the golden fields of rapeseed. With an awkward stutter, he realized Ada couldn’t see it so well with her injured eyes.

She placed the backpack beside her and dug for some hard oatcakes, washing the bites down with water. Ada let Henry down to sit, giving him crumbs which more than filled his belly.

“Is that good? Just tell me if you need more.”

“It’s more than fine, thank you,” Henry said. He kept waiting for a signal, an order for worship. He waited for Ada to arrive. But it didn’t come. She repositioned and fed him humbly, fingers treating him with care he wasn’t used to. Sitting modestly beside her shoulder and being so near her face was a new perspective, a modest shame which, despite their history of wild debauchery, brought a strange intimacy. Henry saw her differently.

They were on the wagon for two more hours until they split course with the driver.

Ada bowed down. “I’m sorry, miss, but like I said, I have nothing to thank you with.”

The lady chuckled and waved the notion away. “And like I said, I don’t need anything. It cost me nothing. You just be careful, young lady. And don’t sacrifice too much for…” Her eyes went to the emblem on her dress.

“I understand. Thank you.” They parted ways, Ada heading down the road where it was smaller and less traveled, through the woods. A few hillocks emerged here-and-there, the land becoming less and less flat.

“What’s your plan now?” Henry asked. He tried to sound genuinely curious rather than questioning.

“Climb up the ranks. That lady said I shouldn’t sacrifice myself for this, but there aren’t many other options. I know I’ll be running errands, but I’ll have to be opportunistic, take any chance I can. I’m just taking the days as they come. I’m on the bottom right now.”

Henry peered at the lightning-like ramification around her neck, eight in total, eight years left. “Will things get better after your offgiant status is gone?”

“Better, yes. But…” She paused, needing that extra clumsy second to identify the root bulging out from the road as she stepped over it. “It’s more than just offgiants and pure giants. Magic is highly valued. That’s what giants respect the most in humans, which they don’t like to admit. You probably know this, but humans have potential for magic, a natural connection to it. Even if you haven’t trained it, the natural potential is strong in and of itself. When girls are turned to offgiants, the power from that potential is used to fuel the transformation. Your ability to train magic vanishes. If you weren’t a mage before transformation, you’ll never be one post transformation. Pure giants, who are born from a giant having mated with a human, they’ll inherit the potential from the human father. So, loosely speaking, the ranking goes: giants who have affinity for magic first, then giants who don’t, and offgiants at the bottom.”

“You weren’t a mage when you were transformed?”

Ada shook her head lightly. “I had no training then, now it’s impossible. So my opportunities will be limited.”

“Hey.” Henry tapped her shoulder. “You’ve got me.”

She smiled, a restrained one, tarnished with a tinge of guilt. Ada walked for many more hours, the sun lowering towards evening. Priority shifted towards finding a good place to sleep. Using the emblem on her dress would be a viable way to find lodging with someone, showing she was on a Richwood errand. However, Ada wished to impress, not wanting to demand resources. The minor things might build up her profile. She preferred to find a nicer place outdoors, and after an hour she arrived at a stream near a foothill, where the water tinkled calmly in small glistening lumps over the stones. Ada set down the backpack. She was going to let Henry down, but he summoned the base magics and jumped down himself. Ada let herself collapse against a massive tree, one extended breath signaling her resignation for the day. Henry couldn’t share the feeling.

“I’m sorry,” Henry said, half smiling. “I didn’t do much today, just stood on your shoulder.”

“It’s fine,” Ada said. “You were my eyes when I needed them.”

“It’s not that I like being inactive. Getting a break after these weeks is welcome, but it feels wrong someway to not have done much. I haven’t gotten to practice in a while.”

Henry sat down and shut his eyes, meditating. For a while, they sat to the harmonious sound of the tinkling stream and songbirds. The sun descended beneath the horizon of treetops. Henry heard Ada move, heard water splash, and opened his eyes. She was by the stream, refilling her waterskin, drinking, washing her face. Then she sat down and dipped her feet in, working the dirt off with her fingers.

“Can I ask,” Henry said. “When Leeman mentioned this miracle stone, this island off to the southeast with free giants, it really caught your attention. Do you believe in any of it? He didn’t seem like a liar.”

“I don’t think he lied either. He says what he believes, or what he’s heard. I’m just not sure. This miracle stone as well, returning my eyes back to normal, of course it’ll take my attention. I want it to be true. It might be, this fable of a miracle stone, but I’m sure with all these powerful factions around, someone else would have gotten to it before me. The best he had was ‘somewhere under the mountains’, so if it exists it’s as powerful as it is hard to find.”

“Hmm.”

“Do you want me to believe in it?”

“I want there to be hope, for bettering things.”

“Like I said, head hanging low and following orders, but opportunistic if the chance comes.” Ada retreated to the tree, stretching her legs out. Her right foot ended up noticeably close to him. Henry couldn’t find his focus, hearing the joints pop as she flexed her toes. The long, round digits rubbed against one another, and then the left foot shuffled over and rest over the right, rubbing it.

Eventually, when Henry realized how unnatural the movement seemed, it was as if he snapped out of a spell. He looked up and saw her smirking at him.

“I’ve been meaning to ask, Henry, but my feet are aching terribly after all the walking today. You wouldn’t mind rubbing them, would you?”

“Of course not,” Henry said. “I’ve got to make myself useful somehow.” The left foot returned to its place, the right one waiting expectantly, lying on its side. Henry put his hands to either side of the big toe and got to work. With the arms he pressed inwards, and with the fingers he kneaded. Her long and bulbous toes required a lot of work, but Henry had the energy in him after a day of doing nothing. When Henry felt like he’d worked the head of her toe properly, he moved down along the base. There was no response from her end, a glance up revealing she had closed her eyes, leaning back against the tree in complete relaxation. Henry thought she’d want to take it further, just like in the wagon, just like throughout the day, and he even felt his manhood stir, wondering if he should sneak a few kisses in. But she said nothing, and he remained dutifully to massaging. He also removed fragments of grass and leaves and branches, mercilessly crushed and abducted by these fleshy vehicles.

Henry continued and finished her five toes off, then moved to the ball of her foot. They were noticeably tougher and unyielding, and Henry decided to use his base magics. His skin shimmered steadily with golden light as he now had the strength to easily make the rough flesh yield to his muscles.

A light hum escaped her. “Good thinking. Don’t hold back, it’ll take a lot before it starts hurting.” Henry proceeded with the base magics, not the arts, and hugged the width of her sole and worked inwards, from the ball of her foot to her heel. At the heel he required more strength, his elbow like a giant’s fingertip as he jabbed and held it pressed, rotating with the shoulder.

The toes flexed. “I can feel the difference between my feet.” Ada’s voice was low, eyes closed still. “Both of them were aching terribly, but it’s like you swept the pain away from the right one, and it’s like the left foot has been borrowed from some wearied worker.”

Henry took that as the cue to move to the other foot. There he repeated the massage, starting from her toes. When he was halfway down the sole, Ada murmured a quiet, satisfied phrase.

“I’m surprised you didn’t say something sooner,” Henry said. His heart beat faster as he decided to breach the subject. “It’s… been a stark contrast to the Ada I’m used to.”

“I… I’ve felt sorry for what I’ve put you through. It just didn’t feel right to keep on it. And don’t you remember what I said in the shower? I was like that because I had nothing, and I thought I’d never get anything, so I pushed hard when I had the chance. But now it’s different, I know you’re with me. I’m not like that all the time.”

Despite having always wanted more reflection from Ada, Henry felt strangely disappointed. “I understand. But think back to what we said. You felt guilty, you asked me if I really enjoyed it myself, and I said yes. I wasn’t lying either.”

“So…” She pressed her lips together, tilting her head. “If that’s true, why haven’t you worshipped me yet?”

“Uhm, I’ve awaited your signals. I’m the slave in this relationship.”

Ada chuckled. She leaned forward, her hair falling forward. “Let’s make one thing clear, my sweet little Henry. There will never be a time where you start worshipping me, and I say no.”

Henry had never found her more attractive.

“But in case it needed to be said, my slave, it is simply unacceptable for you to spend that much time near my feet and not use your mouth at all. Now how will you remedy this problem?”

The role came so naturally to Henry, as he kneeled and put his fist against his chest. “By devoting my undying worship to my mistress and ensure I have touched every single inch of her soles with my tongue.”

Ada leaned back, and the smile wasn’t overly eager and lustful. It had a restrained, content nature, still in her role. “Then get to work, slave. And take off your pants.”

Henry pulled and kicked those darn things off before rushing off to her left foot, casting himself at her toes. He started at the bottom end this time, from the pinky toe, grabbing the little digit with his mouth and kissing it passionately. While he did so he rubbed the bottom of the toe with his hands, his naked front pressed into her sole. As he moved up the row of toes, Henry spied between the gaps and saw the expression on her face, the rhythmic waves of pleasure visualized. It made him feel connected to her entire body, that his mouth, through the surface of her toes, was truly reaching her whole being.

“Massage, worship… These feet can cross all of Gintessa without a single complaint if they get this daily pampering.”

“And they will,” Henry said in between his kisses on the third toe. Ada saying what she did filled this task with meaning beyond just sensual pleasure, a meaning which filled the dissatisfaction Henry had with not doing much throughout the day. He realized how he was systematically sucking, kissing, and biting all the ache and tire out from her feet. This contributed to their journey. He was thanking these toes for carrying him. They were indeed tougher and more leathery than their lotion-soft state back in the marble room of the arena, but Henry didn’t mind. In a way, her pristine state back then felt too perfect, their silky texture too flawless. Henry liked them in their travelworn state more, for he felt that his worship meant something, helping them recover.

“I know you enjoy worshipping me, but you seem to have a special attachment to my feet.”

Henry sucked on the nub of her second toe and released with a kiss, then shrugged. “I don’t know. Without you, I probably wouldn’t be like this. Your feet specifically, your toes, they’re just perfect.”

Ada put a hand to her chest, fluttering her eyebrows in exaggeration. “You’re making a girl blush. But I don’t buy that. You think if it was any of your two other friends, they’d ever do what you’re doing now?”

“Hmm, probably not.”

“You’ve always had it in you. I might have triggered it, unleashed it, but Henry has always had a naughty side within him.”

Henry took a pause now. “I also think… Around Rennard and Milton, or in general, all three of us wouldn’t behave in certain ways around each other. I think different sides to all three of us would emerge if we were alone.”

“So they’re off somewhere now, worshipping another giant’s foot?”

“Probably not.” The notion made Henry smile at first, though it faded quickly, and a crestfallen air followed.

“What’s wrong?” Ada noted his inaction.

“I just started wondering where Rennard and Milton are now.”

“Oh.” The mood spread to her. “Shouldn’t have mentioned them. I’m sorry, I really was an idiot back then.”

Henry waved his hand at her. “Don’t think about it. Someone else came along and kidnapped them, a slaver of some sort. I think they ended up in the hands of a Grey Rhino commander, someone called the Charmer. I put the blame on them when I think about what separated us.” He wondered if Ada believed that lie, because Henry certainly didn’t. Deep down he assigned blame onto Ada as well, justly so, for starting the chain of events leading to the boys splitting up. And Ada likewise was probably cursing Rennard’s name whenever the inadequate sight troubled her in her daily life. It was the great ghost hanging over them, whose existence they didn’t wish to acknowledge. Dwelling on those things now wouldn’t lead anywhere good.

Henry wanted to restore the atmosphere to what it had been. His target was her big toe, more specifically, the inner bottom quadrant of the bulbous digit, her H-spot. Henry captured the fluffy flesh with his mouth and chewed on the portion named in his honor. From its relaxed position her foot twitched with a yelp.

Ada laughed. “You naughty little thing.” Henry wrapped his arms around the throat of her toe, like one holds onto a lover, and made out with her big toe. From forehead down to chin, Henry buried his face into the plump flesh like a puppy snuggling against his owner, mouth constantly at work. A good minute of his face and her big toe locked in an unseparated snuggle ensued. Then, Henry heard shuffling, movement. Parting from her big toe, he saw how Ada had pulled the daydress up over her waist and lowered her beige panties. He realized it was his first time seeing her with panties. The pussy he knew well was free and on display, glittering with moisture.

A force pinched Henry’s back. It was the toes of her other foot, yanking him away to itself, as if her feet were two distinct lovers jealously wanting him for themselves. Henry ensued his lovemaking with the toes of her other foot. The swishy flutter of the branches above could be heard, Ada writhing against the tree. Her moans, the visible lumps of cum coalescing on her pink lips, they were like the dry coal thrown onto the fire that was Henry’s energy. They made his tongue more accurate, diligent, the angles from which he approached her toes more creative. It felt as though he were pushing buttons controlling the waterworks of her womanhood, the causality between his mouth on her toe and the excretion of her liquids very direct.

One of her moans persisted, and a tiny stream shot out from her pussy. With the foot Henry wasn’t worshipping, Ada kicked the panties down further, sending them to the ankle where Henry was. Ada masturbated while Henry kept delivering his symphony of measured tongue to her toes, arriving to the H-spot of her big toe, and Ada squirted impressively. She shot all the way past her extended feet, her three fingers circulating around her clit and sprinkling more of it out. When it subsided, she had a moment of pause, so did Henry. He thought she was done, lazily leaning against the tree and not bothering to adjust.

“Henry. Come here, quickly.” She said it from her near passed-out disposition, her index pointed straight to her pussy. Henry jogged dutifully between her legs, his steps squelching in cum-soaked soil. Between the hallway of her naked legs, her enormous, swollen pink mouth gaped at him, hungry.

Upon arrival, Ada leaned forward and reached, closing her fingers around Henry. Ada inserted him until his legs were inside, then released. Henry had to flex his core to stay upright. Past her pink nub, the large bosom, he saw her raise an eyebrow with teeth biting the lower lip. He could hear her voice in his head: ‘Do I really need to give a command?’

No, she didn’t. Henry crunched up to reach her clit and started with kissing, a few deep ones, peppering several quick ones in between, all the while his arms were swimming, massaging her lips. Now he didn’t need to look over, her head always in the periphery of his vision, and he noticed her head rear back with an airy exhale. He worked her up, teasing her with kisses and smooth massage. His arms glided effortlessly over the lubricated lips. Then the tongue action came, lapping away like a dog. All the moisture his tongue collected, he swallowed, letting himself be nourished with her bodily secretions. Ada’s lower abdomen spasmed, her breath quivering. Henry stole a glance backwards, saw her massive legs and the toes at the end curling, turned back up and took in the sight of her round bosom behind the daydress and the stray strands of her yellow-brown hair falling over her forehead. It all completed a very womanly picture which further turned Henry on, a sense of awe mixed in, how he could sensually overpower this massive, earth-shattering animal with his mouth alone.

“Your mouth…” Ada gasped, head craned back. “It is magic. A magic mouth. I wouldn’t trade you for anything in the world.”

One might think Henry tried to devour her clit by how he stuffed it into his mouth. Ada yelped the beginning of a scream, cutting it short with a swallow-like reflex. A hand came up to her lips, keeping the noise behind closed lips. There were no certainties others didn’t live nearby. Her vaginal walls were tight around Henry’s legs, ensuring this delicious human treat would never go free.

A first drizzle of squirt dripped on Henry’s face, interrupting him first, but he immediately rushed back in and doubled his efforts when realizing she was getting there. He slurped and sucked, massaged and kneaded, and Ada rocked back and forth where she sat. The squirt shot out, Henry having to recoil back to let it pass overhead or it might shoot him out with it. Unavoidably however, plenty washed over his torso and face. Henry shut his eyes, swallowed and spat whatever entered his mouth, tried to maintain balance in the convulsing fits of Ada’s movement, and relentlessly pushed on like a soldier, his mouth returning to her clit.

In the rainstorm of squirt, the minute felt like an hour, until Ada’s energy died down. Her liquids stopped. Henry fell back with a deep breath, his torso hanging out of her pussy. The cum literally dripped off his head and hands, able to feel the streamlets coursing down from all around his torso.

He could push himself out with relative ease, her pussy bloated and relaxed. Henry fell into a pool of cum, one of many. Ada seemed knocked out, her waist bent a bit sideways as she now lay down fully, past the tree. Henry’s manhood was raging, he too needed release. He marched down between her legs, the grass drenched. Henry got on his knees by her left foot and buried his face into it. He inhaled and kissed while mashing his face onto the creamy sole, pumping his manhood, and it took literally a few seconds before he shot his own load into the grass. He produced quite a lot, yet as a contribution to the total pool of cum around it was nothing but a drop in the bucket.

Henry lay down, her pinky toe serving as pillow. He lost himself to the sight of the starry skies above, and coupled with the utter relaxation of his collapse, Henry thought he had left the earth, drifting hazily through the skies and towards heaven. It was the most peaceful transition to sleep Henry might ever know.

Henry woke to Ada’s foot shuffling about. The songbirds were unhurried, with lone, individuals chirping back and forth, one at a time, as the sun had yet to peek above the treetops. The stream tinkled gently.

Henry rose to his legs and yawned while stretching his arms, shoulder and elbows popping. His skin sheened from Ada’s dried cum. Looking back, she seemed asleep still. He leaned forward and planted a gentle kiss on the nub of her big toe. He remembered her words last night, that there would never be a time where he worshipped her, and she would say no.

The following action came naturally. Henry masturbated while burying his face into her big toe, smooching it tamely to not wake her up. This had less of yesterday’s fervent passion, tending to his desires like an animal now. He came within a minute, and it was liberating to simply do it because he felt like it. “A great start to the day.” Spending the day with Ada’s dried cum over his skin didn’t seem ideal, so he went and took a dip in the stream. The water was cold and jolted his mind awake. It was a calm stream, for a giant. Henry had to use his base magics to swim against the current. After a few minutes of that, he swam to shore where the water was waist-high, and there he sat and meditated with just his head above the water.

He didn’t know how much time passed, but the darkness of his closed eyes glowed yellow, and he opened them to see sunrise. Its radiance made the water sparkle, breathing life into the morning. He saw a couple of rabbits down the stream, great as horses with long furry ears reaching the ground. There was shuffling behind him. Ada sat up, heavy eyes wincing to morning sunlight. She rubbed her nose and eyes, yawned, and adjusted her position. There was no life in her at first, the typical morning languor. When she noticed her discarded panties however, the faintest trace of a smile came to her lips, and once she saw Henry in the water, the smile went wider.

“A wild night we had.”

“Won’t you join me?” Henry gulped two mouthfuls of the fresh water. “There’s nothing like cold water to sharpen your wits at the start of the day.”

Ada shook her head.

“I didn’t know the mighty giant feared a bit of water.”

“Uh, it’s not warm now at sunrise and won’t be for another couple of hours. I don’t have a big, lovely lady to warm me up.”

“Does a lovely lady put her nethers on full display?”

The remark made a dent, but Ada could take it playfully. “My oh my, it seems my slave is rather disobedient. A disciplining seems to be in order.” Ada got up and stamped those mighty feet towards the riverside. Henry dove underwater, crawling along the bottom with his hands to resist the current. Her hand dove in, grazing the bottom and unearthing stones and dirt. Past the rippled surface he could see Ada’s massive form crouching over the ledge. The inaccuracy surprised him, until he recalled the state of her sight. To evade her was suddenly in poor taste, making her more aware of her debilitated sight. Instead, Henry swam towards her hand and gave a sneaky tap on her thumb. The hand snapped after him, catching his leg.

Surprisingly, she pushed him down. But she didn’t choose it. Her other arm plunged in, her knees and shins, and he heard a yelp as he was snapped up into the cold air and water splashed about as Ada retreated. Dangling by the leg from her hand, Henry was thrown about as she scurried from the waterside, breathing rapidly and shivering.

“Ah, so goddamn cold.” Ada hissed air through her teeth and shivered.

Henry laughed. “You’re sent running from going in knee deep to a bit of water?”

Ada hunched down, balling up to keep herself warm. She brought Henry before her face. “Someone is being really naughty this morning. But I’ve got the perfect solution, both to punish you and warm me up.” Ada closed both her palms over him and rubbed him back and forth, exhaling her hot breath over him.

“Hey, this isn’t too bad,” Henry said, his words comically fluttering to her insistent rubbing.

“Got to get you nice and warm first.” Ada warmed him up for another several seconds. Then, she sat down, raised her dress, and aimed him at her pussy.

“Punishment?” Henry kissed the air. “You know I’m ready to devoutly worship you any minute of the day.”

“Try and think a little.” She kept him suspended there with the gaping mouth of her pussy staring at him. Staring at his face. She held him headfirst.

“Oh.”

“Oh yes.” Henry was plunged inside, the lips accepting him greedily. The pace was slow at first, as he knew it to be. She eased him in and out to get into the mood, getting used to the stance, the position, habituating her wrist. Henry tried to kiss and lick, to reciprocate and establish control, but he never saw the face of her pussy, only the walls within. And she was speeding up. In and out, in and out, turning into a flurry. Henry closed his eyes and braced as the heat started building and everything became a blur, his body beaten in the tornado that was her pussy.

“A slave… needs… to know… his place!” Ada moaned out loud as she pounded him harder and harder. The orgasm arrived, the explosion of squirt reaching all the way to the stream. After a while, Ada collected herself and stood up, Henry’s lower body dangling from the mouth of her pussy. To see him, she pulled her dress up. then jiggled her hips, watching him slimily slip out. Henry released and landed with a wet splash between her feet.

“Have we learned our lesson?”

Henry smiled drunkenly from where he lay, unmoving. “Yes, my mistress. I’ll be sent into a tornado of hungry pussy if I disobey.”

“Very correct.” She tapped him on the head with her big toe. “Looks like someone needs to take another wash.” Ada took the water flask and moved towards the stream, drinking and refilling, washing herself off carefully as the chill of the water made her cringe. A half hour or so later, both with their clothes back on, they were ready to move.

Henry had something to say. “Ada, I thought of how I can contribute. With my art of the fighter, I can become the vessel for your vitality. I used it on the giant as we escaped from a bunch of guards, when we first ended up in Gintessa. The girl was far from a soldier, but she ran for a good hour or so, using my energy.”

“So, you’re telling me I can run, and you’re the one who would get tired?”

Henry nodded. “And, not to boast, but my vitality and strength is my strong side, since my art is that of the fighter. For us, our magic and physical strength coexist, unlike other mages.”

Ada had her hand under her chin in thought. “That sounds far more useful than what you’re making it out to be. We have to try this.” Henry was set on the upper portion of her rucksack, where it held him firmly against one of her shoulder blades. A stable position would be needed when Henry was focusing during her jog.

When they found the trail, Henry clapped his hands together, and as if one contained gunpowder and the other the ignition, it sparked, a golden white light. He placed his glowing palms onto the skin of her neck, just over the hem.

“I’m not feeling anything special,” Ada said.

“Try jogging.” Ada took the first couple of steps as if she were a child learning to walk, daring to speed up until she was jogging. For the first several seconds she didn’t know what to think, but as half a minute passed, she could feel the mysterious lack of fatigue, not even needing to quicken her breath.

“Oh God.” Ada watched her own hands an awe as she ran, scanning her body. “How? I’m not even… This is incredible!” Running without spending any energy filled her with more, feeling as if she could take off, fly, weightless and soaring. The jog became a sprint, her feet pounding the earth into slight tremors.

“Hey, hey!” Henry called out between his breaths. “Don’t be rash, that energy isn’t coming from nowhere.”

“Huh?” Ada turned her head back, then chuckled. “Oh, that’s true.” She slowed down, but the problem remained of her being unable to gauge where to keep the intensity as she couldn’t tell how tired he was getting. Henry continually updated her, and she adjusted her speed where he could maintain it. But once that was established, Henry’s stamina kept Ada going for a good hour. Henry called it off and released his hands from her skin, the gold-white glow fading. They were near a crossroad leaving the woods. Ada reached behind her and put him down, Henry was sweaty, exhausted, and panting.

“Are you ok?”

“Yeah. Just tired, tired from running.”

“You… have very good stamina.” Ada smiled. “Like you claimed, of course. My little Henry is a strong man.”

“Is there any water?”

“Of course.” Ada put her rucksack down and brought out food and refreshments. While helping to tilt the flask carefully to his mouth, she said, “We just covered a lot of distance. I’m not the most well-trained myself, but with you…” She gave him a quarter of a giant walnut which he munched on along with pieces of a cracker. “You’re not ill or anything? It’s just that you take on my tire, nothing more?”

“Yeah,” Henry said somewhere between the gasps for air, mouthfuls of walnuts and gulps of water. “Just tired. It’s nothing strange.”

“It sounds basic, but it does so much. You won’t burn through as much food and water as me, so it’s better if you get tired. What am I even talking about? Forget messengers, imagine fighters…”

A wagon trundled on by, Ada letting it and the driver’s ears pass out of earshot before continuing.

“This is gold-worth. Imagine if I were well-trained, and, well, had better eyes. The strongest giants out there would absolutely value having something like that in their arsenal. I’m talking about the elites, like Thora Thunderfoot, or the Devourer.”

“That sounds great.” The fatigue didn’t leave Henry in much of a talkative mood.

Ada watched down the road. The distant look on her was normal with her poor sight, but now it seemed contemplative, thoughts of someplace else. She nervously chewed her lower lip. It was good news for her that Henry’s useful abilities were with her.

Henry swallowed food and water. “What are you thinking about?”

“I have to be smart. It’s not like we can just share this with everyone else, they’ll take you away.”

“Don’t I belong to you?”

“I’m still a pushover. They might pay me some throwaway amount or whatever, but they’ll get their hands on you someway. Let’s focus on the task at hand first.” When Henry had eaten up, Ada took her turn to walk with Henry lying down in her cupped hands.

“Who’s Thora Thunderfoot and the Devourer?” Henry asked.

“Thora Thunderfoot is a Richwood ally, one of her strongest fighters. She’s massive, even taller than me, and to her name, has strong legs and massive feet.” Ada smirked. “Maybe you’d like her. But on a serious note, she’s incredibly strong. Thora has magic similar to your art of the fighter, now couple that with her size, and you’ve got a recipe for some immense blows. She can bulldoze through formations of giant soldiers and can pulverize even the strongest mages under her feet, without a rocky surface.”

“Oh boy. And the Devourer?”

“She’s one of the Gray Rhinos. She has powerful magic and unique, vampiric abilities. With a bite against a giant, she can drain them. Against humans too, you really want to avoid her mouth.”

“Aren’t Richwoods ‘dogs’ the same? That’s how one of them got me.”

“Yes, but they’re cheap copies, not on the same level as the Devourer. The Devourer’s kiss can leave you bedridden for days.”

“What a fun circus it is out there. Where would the Charmer rank compared to them, if you know about her?”

Ada stared up. “Hmm, the Charmer. I’ve heard about her, but I’ve no idea. I think she’d be weaker than both. What made you ask about the Charmer so specifically?”

“Well, I encountered her. She took Rennard and Milton. I went with a bounty hunter, an exceptional one, who was after the Charmer. They had a fight and the Charmer narrowly escaped. I got caught up in that and was sent east by a malfunctioned teleport.”

Ada stopped walking, bringing Henry up and staring at him. “That’s valuable information. Word got out that the Charmer went missing, and the Rhinos have been looking for her, as well as the kingdom who want to imprison her.” She continued again with a gleeful gait. “Overperforming these errands, sharing information, these tiny things can end up mattering for us.”

More than Ada jogging with Henry’s stamina, the simpler and more underrated aspect of the transfer was to simply walk. Ada had walked as much as she could all of yesterday, a feat demanding several breaks and one she likely wouldn’t be able to replicate in its entirety today. But after she had marched for an hour or two, Henry took over and she continued walking through him, able to take a long break while still moving. They covered a great distance that day, likely to make it there tomorrow morning. They made their resting place just outside a farmland, both tired but not exhausted.

“I’ve got just the mattress for my little soldier.” Ada raised her dress to pull her panties down, stepping out of them, and laying them on the grass. Upon them Henry took his rest, nuzzling in their fragrant dampness. He knew her smell very well now. Ada too lay down, stretching her foot out to reach him. Henry took his pants down and surrendered to the row of toes on her right foot, the long and supple digits trying to roll him in between the toes and ball. Once she had his torso there, she flexed her toes with a varied rhythm, a full body massage. Her feet were dirty after all the walking, but hardly clean himself, Henry didn’t care. He lay in complete relaxation and surrendered to her doughy digits as they worked him. He lost himself, in a trance, feeling as if he were in an iron maiden made of pillows, with just the bitter foot smell anyone should revolt at, but that he enjoyed being cast under.

“A lifetime supply of pussy and feet,” Ada whispered, her toes prodding his manhood. “How does that sound, slave?”

“Amazing.” The toes stroked him until he came, and when she was done, Henry returned the favor and worshipped her H-spot until she had her orgasm. They slept very well thereafter.

On the morning they refilled water in the farm and trekked onwards, from the nearby village of giants up to the hilly landscape. The dainty cottage was built into the hillside, away from the village. There Ada knocked on the door before stepping inside, a gloomily lit room allowing scant sunlight inside. Magical herbs hung from the roof, drying, and a few mushrooms in water-filled cans were twinkling with all kinds of colors.

“Lady Melinda’s letter?” an older voice said from another room. “This is quite early. But I’ve been adamant on that earlier is better, helps me prepare. So well done. Leave it on the table. Uhm, the one with the talking toad.”

The room was dimly lit, not terribly, but for Ada’s eyes it was enough to make things difficult. “Talking toad?”

“Ask who the prettiest lady of them all is.”

Ada did, and a squeaky voice said that she was. Ada moved over to the table and placed the letter, peering at the thing which had spoken. It was only the head of a giant toad, its eyes black and lifeless.

“He’s a prototype,” the lady said. “Currently he’s a bit too promiscuous with his compliments. When he’s done, his compliments will be exclusive to one girl. Will be royal brats’ favorite toy. You’re welcome to stay; I sense some delicious magic you’re carrying. Is it a human or a tool? Or both?” She laughed.

“It’s fine, thanks,” Ada said, stammering, not interested to see what was going on in her room which the lady couldn’t take her attention from. “I’ll be on my way.” She left, back to the comforting sunlight.

“So, it’s back to the capital, then?”

Ada patted her dress. “Back to the capital it is.” She didn’t take the same path to the village, instead skirting the cottage and crossing the hill. The village could be seen from the hilltop. Ada moved around the fences, with broad enclosed land and grazing cattle bordering to the woods and hilly landscape. At one of the more prominent pieces of land, jutting out toward the hills, Henry noted a distressed giant holding a smaller one.

Henry pointed from Ada’s shoulder. “Hey, I think something’s going on with them.” Ada made it towards them, the two looking like a mother comforting her daughter. The mother was tall, wearing a green day dress, and her daughter had a short frock and brown hair tied into ponytails. The daughter might have been just about six years old, sparkling cheeks from dried tears and bloodshot eyes revealing she’d cried plenty. The pale skin on her legs was hurt, with plenty of sore red spots and to-be blue and purple bruises, the hems of her frock slashed and torn. Ada prepared to say something, but it was the mother who eyed her first, a notable glance to the emblem on her dress.

“You’re part of the Richwood branch?” Her hands were around her daughter’s shoulders.

Ada felt shy to shoulder that remark. “Well, maybe not strictly—”

“Bloody do something!” The daughter buried her face into her mother’s dress. “Some cursed human bandits tried to steal from us, my daughter caught them in the act and chased them off into the woods, but there they turned on here, wielding magic! Have we arrived at hell? How does a trio of mages sneak in here and attack my daughters so brazenly? What’s your name, girl?

“Um, Ada, madam.”

“Do something, Ada.” She pointed a finger to the woods and hills. “Either get in there and deal with them or bring someone with the dignity to wear the emblem and who will do something about it.” With her daughter in hold, she marched back to her farm, muttering a mixture of assurances to her daughter and curses at inadequate security.

“We should get someone,” Henry said.

Ada didn’t move on that suggestion, thinking still. “Actually, I’m thinking we go in there now. Listen, it’s unusual for loose mages to be out like this, attacking giants. If I go and call someone in, they’ll march in and deal with it, and I’ll just be the lowly messenger in between. I can get the credit this time. And if I call someone, it might take forever, the mages could get away. We have to be opportunistic, like I’ve been saying, and this is the chance.”

“They were three mages, they beat up the girl’s legs badly. We don’t know how strong they are. It’s not good to run in alone on this.”

“But I’m not alone, I’ve got you. One giant and human against three humans. Hell, I’d like my odds alone against three humans, it’s looked pretty good for me so far.”

“Hey.” Henry was petulant. “My point is that you don’t know how strong these mages are, not all humans pose the same challenge.”

Ada’s toes curled in and raked the soil. “My feet beg to differ.”

Henry shrugged. “Fine.”

“Henry.” She leaned in against her shoulder, her face closer to him. “A trio of mages stumbling around in Gintessa… Do you sympathize with them?”

“What?”

“I hope not. They stole from the farm and attacked a child. I need you to be in on this with me. Not halfhearted, not maybe, but with me entirely.”

“I am. I just want to ensure you make the best decision.”

“Do you think we’re strong together, Henry?”

“Yes, I do. And I’ll be with you.”

Ada marched towards the woody hills. “Then let’s go.”

Signs of the village and civilization fell behind them as Ada crested a hill and entered the woods. Some of the tall birches were level with where Henry stood on her shoulder, several short elms at her waist. Only a few giant trees speared high into the sky, and they were found on the balanced ground between all the hills.

“I…” Ada pushed trees aside with her stride, focusing her damaged eyes to see past the branches. “I don’t know how I’m supposed to find them if they try to stay hidden. Should I call out? Do you think they want a confrontation?”

“If they’re near, they’ve surely caught notice of you already.”

“Hey, you tiny thugs,” Ada shouted. “Why would you harm that little girl? Come out and face your consequences with a bit of dignity, and your punishment will be lessened.” Nothing happened to the silence.

“I’m looking as best as I can, but it’s harder to see things from up here. The trees are in the way.”

“Henry, I think we should split up. More importantly, you should get down, you’ll have a far better chance finding them. It’s like I’m after rabbits, but you’re the one who can go into their little holes.”

Henry didn’t fancy the comparison. “What would I even do if I found them? I would guess that I can’t beat them by myself.”

“Call for me, I’ll be there. And I doubt they’ll be as hostile to you. Worst case, you’re fast with your arts, aren’t you? Come to me, I won’t let you get hurt.”

“Fine.” Henry jumped off her shoulder, landing with a puff of golden light. Ada took her way, and trying as she might, was unable to keep quiet in the woods. Henry tried the opposite way, a mixture between a fast march and jogging. Ada’s assumption they wouldn’t be as hostile towards him, that they would greet him with welcome arms as a fellow human, made Henry roll his eyes. To be fair, he too had held misconceptions over the giants’ unity, of Gintessa as one whole.

Henry forgot those thoughts, dodged the thickets and paced forward. The woods weren’t untouched, plenty of flattened underbrush from previous giants, though the farther he got from the farm and the entry into these woody hills, the rawer the terrain became. Henry moved away from Ada but tried to keep a mental map of how he’d gone in relation to her. The hills were rising toward mountains, where Henry headed.

“Goddamn mountains,” he muttered. “They don’t end in Gintessa.” He approached the little pass between two hills, passing and rounding its left side.

Voices.

Henry paused, ducked, advancing like a cat, his steps rolling along silently from heel to toe. He saw their heads near a larger birch. Down on even his hands, Henry watched for twigs and the like as he skulked forward. A bush hugging a tree made for good cover as he eavesdropped.

One woman and two men, they were older than Henry, but young still. The woman had short, brown hair, and the little she had was tied into a tiny bun behind the head. She had a decently athletic build, wearing dark shorts which didn’t pass her knees and a tank top covering a small chest. One of the men was tall with a prominent jaw, his long hair tied into a ponytail, wearing an odd, ceremonious brown robe patterned with clouds releasing thunderstorms. The last man was notably shorter, half bald with dark hair. He wore a white shirt and a vest over it, dark breeches, and an out-of-place lute over his back.

“It really wasn’t worth the attention, Raymond,” the woman said to the tall, ponytailed man with the lightning-patterned robe. Their clothes were all travelworn, drab and with faded colors.

“I inventoried plenty,” Raymond said, gesturing to their discarded packs at the campsite. “The rations wouldn’t be enough if the trip down takes too long. We needed those rations.”

“He’s right, Stina,” the half-bald man with the lute said. “We don’t know how long it’ll take down there, how long the tunnel goes. It may feel strange but moving on the farm was the safer option. They’ll never find us once we enter anyways. The miracle stone is above all else in importance.”

Henry perked up. Were they after the miracle stone?

The woman, Stina, pointed to where Henry had come, prickling his nerves at first. But she didn’t look his way. “Whatever, there’s a dumb giant out there looking for us now. I saw her just now.”

“Whom we’ll deal with if she gets in our way.”

“That’s not a solution. We’ll have jeopardized the miracle stone’s location.”

Raymond flicked at the air with his hand. “Shut up, get ready, and let’s move. The surest way to make it worse is to stand around and nag about it.”

Henry tried to assess the situation. The notion of taking on a giant didn’t faze these three, yet Ada shared their confidence. However, the trio gained more credibility. Mentions of the miracle stone made it evident they were on a mission, in Gintessa, not a low feat. Ada felt more unaware of the two parties. Henry decided to disengage.

And with ill fortune, Henry retreated from the bush and tree right as the woman turned from the end of their conversation, and she glimpsed him. “Hey, who’s there? Come out.”

“Who is it?”

“A young man, by the looks of it.”

His initial gut feeling told him it was harmless. Henry stepped forward, into the clearing. “Hi, I’m Henry.”

“Stina,” the woman said.

“Raymond,” the taller long-haired one said.

“Marvin,” the half-bald one with the lute said. “What brings you here?” They were stepping forward quite a bit, observing Henry’s shirtless top, his trousers, especially Raymond and Stina. Their gaze was more intense.

“I’m from the village,” Henry said, and as he did it dawned on him that he hadn’t arrived with a plan to converse with them and had no good story.

“Quite an unnatural way to stumble in,” Stina said, arms crossed, eyes narrowed. “And you were walking away as I spotted you. Surely you listened in. Where might you have been headed?”

There was no good lie out of this one. “Listen, did you steal from that farm and attack the daughter, a little girl?”

“Dumb dolt was stomping after us, thinking we were just easy humans to kick aside,” Stina said. “We taught her a valuable lesson. Now I want a good answer on where you were planning to go before I interrupted you.”

“I was going to return to my friend and ignore this.”

Stina and Raymond exchanged a look, both sneering. “Right.”

“Does this friend of yours happen to be a giant?”

“Listen, you idiots,” Henry said. “You can’t just attack a goddamn farm and their child, pure giants at that. You’ll bring hell down on not just yourselves, but the humans who are stuck here and unable to make a better life. The giants will just take out their anger on them.”

Raymond chuckled. “The young one is trying to lecture us.”

“Seriously, me and my two friends were like yourselves, it didn’t end up well for us. And we even tried our best to stay low and get home, not attacking them, and trouble still followed us. Just get out of here while you have the chance to do it quietly.”

They exchanged amused looks between one another. “Kid, you don’t know the errand we’re on,” Stina said. “From powerful giants in the west. No more than you should know.”

“Then you must be stronger mages,” Henry said. “Are you from Humius?”

“Yes, but we work in western Gintessa now.”

“So you’re strong?”

Raymond smirked. “One might say. Now get over here.”

Henry stepped back. “What do you mean?”

“You listened, you know, and it’s nothing we want to send you away with to tell your giant mistresses.”

“I won’t say a thing, I’ll just forget about it.”

“We won’t hurt you. Just bring you with us, tie you up, and release you once we’re done.” Raymond sighed. “Stina, get him.”

“You don’t give me orders,” she snapped at him, all the while beginning her walk towards Henry.

Henry didn’t have to think on a decision, the instincts knew well enough. He clapped his hands together and was enveloped with golden light, speeding off where he’d come from. He barely heard their surprised exclamations behind the whipping branches he ran through.

The sounds he left behind were echoed. Stina was chasing him. The noise behind amplified, growing; she was closing the distance. How was she closing the distance? Was she so out of his league that her base magics enhanced her body enough to outmatch his arts?

Henry passed the two hills and returned to familiar territory, able to hear the trees Ada were moving. Fingers clasped his neck. His chest was slammed to the ground, his right cheek on the grass. Stina kneeled on his back. “Art of the fighter, huh?” Her strength was immense, Henry unable to break free. Looking back, Henry saw their glow identical in color, tranquility, and shape around the body. They had the same art, and her attire made sense now, the tank top and shorts, the bare feet. “Who did you train under?”

“Self-taught, mostly,” Henry grumbled, trying to glance back at her. “But I sent a letter to Sho’s academy back home.”

“I trained there; I can give you some tips.” She grabbed his arm and folded it in over his back. “As soon as we let you get after we’re done.”

Henry raised his head as much as he could. “Ada! Help! I’m here!”

Stina watched toward the sound of moving trees. Henry wouldn’t wait. With her momentary glance, he jerked up with all his might and curled his leg up, kicking her behind. Stina lost balance, toward him, and with his free hand he grabbed her head and threw her over him. He rose, and immediately she sped towards him. Henry hopped back and threw a globe of pure energy. Stina blocked with a palm, a moderate effort required which gave Henry hope. She sent another back at him. Henry braced similarly, but the force from hers threw him off balance, stumbling backwards. Stina rushed up and grabbed his arm, Henry grabbed hers in return, holding fast and not letting her throw him. She kicked him off the ground and slammed him down.

Her attention snapped elsewhere. They’d both been engrossed in the fight, a second of pause allowing them to notice the closing tremors. Stina dashed aside as the shadow grew over them, and Henry saw Ada’s, large, glorious leg outstretched over him and that big beautiful foot falling down. She stomped right next to Henry, where Stina had been. Ada’s feet were to either side of him, her two shapely legs stretching up above him to those pretty panties he’d lay in yesterday, under the umbrella of her hemline. It warmed his heart to see her stand over him so protectively, to glance to his sides and see the pair of feet he’d worshipped so much return their love for him.

“These mages sure are gutsy,” Ada said. “Stealing from a farm, attacking a child, attacking my slave. Where’s the rest of their gang of thugs?”

Henry got up, staring at Stina from the safety of his position under Ada. “They’re further back.”

Stina didn’t wait for further word, she retreated, and Ada stampeded after her, Henry trailing after. Now Stina was the one being chased, though there was no fear of being caught. Ada couldn’t go full speed with the trees and her poor sight. They returned past the hills once more, Stina regrouping with her two comrades. Ada and Henry arrived at the clearing.

Raymond sighed. “Good job.”

“Quiet,” Stina snapped. “I don’t know how much more evidence you need to see how shit your farm plan was, all the attention it brought.”

“Both of you, shut up,” Marvin said. He stepped forward and pulled out the lute from his back.

Ada laughed. “What’s the plan, to make my ears bleed with your song?”

Raymond pulled the sleeves of his robe back. “Won’t be laughing soon. Stina, you handle your little brother in arts. Marvin and I will take the big-breasted giant.”

Ada rubbed her hands together. “Oh, I’ll enjoy this.” It was a jousting of confident remarks. “Henry, just hold out. I’ll deal with those two then come and help you.”

Henry was the least confident there. It was his first time fighting humans.

Henry’s unplanned journey into Gintessa had led him to no shortage of peculiar situations. However, this had to be one of the strangest, standing side by side with a giant and facing off against three mages.

Stina stepped aside, eyes on Henry. He knew he was weaker than their counterpart, he just had to buy time. Ada’s idea was that she would deal with the other two then come to him.

Ada didn’t hesitate. She dropped her backpack and charged in, jumping with both her feet aimed at the two men. Both dashed aside with their base magics. Raymond, the taller blond, raised his arms up high. Sharp yellow light coruscated around him and converged around his hands. He shot a bolt of lightning right at Ada’s calf, and she exclaimed with a step back. From the other end, Marvin pulled out his lute and played a tune. Along the sound a blue light emanated, blue notes materializing. The notes flied straight at Ada’s behind as her attention was on Raymond, blasting in a puff of blue on her ass. Her back arched from the impact. Ada ground her teeth and went after Raymond. Raymond’s robe became a mantle of flowing lightning, darting off around the bushes and trees. Two massive feet were stamping after him, crushing the earth, flattening bushes, her soles mowing the underbrush. Occasional trees presented another issue. Raymond shot back another zap of lightning, snapping any branch they crossed and fizzling on her knee. Ada cried out again, the magic unlike anything she’d faced.

Raymond shot a pillar of scintillating yellow lights up, above the treetops. A smaller dark cloud formed, just below the height of the hilltops. The cloud sparked and shot projectiles of its own, which together with Raymond’s own arsenal became a tempestuous flurry Ada had to flee. Henry had never seen her in that state, the genuine discomfort on her face, Ada on the backfoot. She had to do something, an emergency jump after him. Raymond dodged the pair of feet. Right after landing, Ada was after him, furiously chasing so he had no opening to return fire. But Marvin had charged up and played an especial tune. A cone of blue notes shot out like a spiderweb, forcing Ada to hold her ears when it hit her. Marvin shot his arm forward, a follow-up blue blast knocking Ada down to her bottom. The crackles of lightning grew as Raymond charged an attack, too ambitious in how close he was. Ada had the alertness to swipe after him despite her fall, slapping him where he stood and throwing him straight into a tree. Still sitting but without a moment to spare, Ada raised her butt and threw her foot out. Her toes landed on his lower body, clenching and finding a leg through the robe. Raymond roasted her grabby toes and Marvin unleashed one great explosive note striking her chest.

Ada was in pain. From the glimpses Henry could earn of her fight, it wasn’t looking good, especially as he spent most of his fight against Stina fleeing in circles. He just ducked a globe of energy and hopped out of the way as Stina’s leg slammed the heel down towards him, shattering the earth.

“How did you introduce yourself in the letter to Sho’s academy?” Stina grunted. “Expert flee artist? Prime coward? They have no place for castoff, giant-slaves whose greatest accomplishment is touching the mere surface of the arts.”

“It’s almost like I’m only sixteen years old,” Henry spat out. “With better control of my emotions than you. Have you tried meditating?” Henry ducked, an enraged fist passing overhead and smashing into the tree. A good opening, Henry thrust his palm right into her abdomen, a blast of energy sending her flying. He felt quite proud at that moment. “Your trainers must be honored to watch you, watching some self-taught bumpkin treat you like this.” She didn’t look happy upon getting up.

The tremors closed in. Ada ran towards him, a strange sight, and right next to him she bent down and swept down with her hand, grabbing him. Ada pressed through the trees, holding Henry up to her shoulder.

“Don’t let them get away!” The three mages chased.

“Henry, I need your help,” Ada said, panting, and her distress wasn’t just from being tired.

“What? I can barely handle my opposition. I thought you had this.”

“Yeah, but, AH—” A jolt of lightning grazed her heel. Ada scaled up a naked hill and down the other side, splashed through a river, larger mountains looming ahead. “You don’t have to beat her. Just grab her, try and hold her, and I’ll get her. Once I get her, we can go two on two against the two remaining ones. Ok?”

“I told you we shouldn’t have—”

“Henry, try and slow her down. Your only job. Ok?”

“Let’s go.”

“Let me just… find…” Ada breathed faster, seeing a clearing amid the trees. She went there and dropped Henry, who landed gracefully on grass. The three mages arrived behind them. This time, Ada stayed closer to Henry. Raymond and Marvin were getting ready to batter Ada with their magic again, and Henry rushed in.

Stina backed away from his lunge and kneed his stomach, throwing him away. “New strategy? Running worked better for you.” Stina rushed in after him this time, feigning a couple hits. Henry didn’t try to dodge, but absorb, catch, receive. A high kick came with a force unexpected, throwing Henry away as he was unable to grab it. Hands ready to move underneath, Henry lay down, pretending her kick did more than what had showed. Stina was coming upon him. Henry turned and flung his arms around her waist. He had her.

“Ada!” he shouted, clasping his hands together to lock himself around her like a belt. Stina punched and elbowed his back, tried to pry him off her. Henry thought his back might break, crying out and holding on. He had to buy time.

The savior came, her shadow growing upon them. Ada’s sole flattened them both, Stina and Henry pancaked together. The pressure relented somewhat as Ada eased her weight, fingers digging in and getting them both out. Henry lay in an open palm while Stina was constricted by five fingers. From his vantage point, Henry saw the yellow flashes of light forming above them. Raymond was charging.

“Ada, above! Run!”

Ada trusted him enough to not even look, hopping and ducking to get under the trees immediately. A massive bolt of lightning struck the earth she’d stood on, a chaos of glitter and strewn soil and grass and twigs scattered from the blast. Three parades of blue notes stormed through the woods as Marvin played a rapid tune. Ada didn’t panic, retaining her steel grip on Stina while releasing Henry. He too retreated with her, branches scattered, trees snapped in half, hurricanes of leaf fragments thrown about. As annoying as the woods were for Ada to navigate through when trying to catch them, they provided ample cover from the magical bombardment.

The frenzy subsided.

“We’re over here!” Stina shouted from Ada’s hand, offering her partners guidance.

“Yes you are,” Ada said, getting her hair out of her face. “You’re right here.” She raised her dress and pinned the hemline in place with her chin, then lowered her panties with her free hand. Stina was aimed head first.

“What in all that is holy are you—” Her head entered. Ada swirled her for a couple of seconds to open herself up, then pushed her right in. Marvin and Raymond arrived just in time to see Stina’s feet enter, the two hungry pink lips closing after. The skin around Ada’s pussy moved from Stina’s struggles. The panties snapped back; the dress fell over like curtains.

“Y— You disgusting whore!” Raymond shouted. Their reaction made Henry realize how far from normal he’d fallen, to not harbor any reaction. That was normal for him.

“Oh, it’ll get better,” Ada said, a hungry smirk. “I don’t think you’re ready for when I get my hands on you. You look handsome especially, lightning guy.”

Marvin’s eyes went to Henry. “Have you no shame?”

“The people who attacked a little girl are dishing out lectures?” Ada said, and Henry appreciated her defense, for he had no good words himself. “Let’s get them, Henry.”

Marvin didn’t hesitate, heading straight for Henry. With a dash forward and a set of fingers snapping across the strings, a line of notes flied right towards him. Henry jumped to the side. The notes followed. Henry caught himself in the jump and threw himself in another direction. The notes exploded on earth and tree, splinters of soil and bark cast about. Wherever Henry landed didn’t matter, for Raymond had a shot of lightning right at him. The bolt struck his chest and burst, a hot jab knocking the breath out of him and tossing him into a tree. He tried to get up, he had to, before they could follow up.

He was slow, it hurt, he needed time, but it didn’t matter. The tremors came first, then he raised his head and saw them scatter to Ada’s advance. Only now, unlike before, she had caught them off guard, dodging barely and out of pace. Raymond narrowly escaped Ada’s right foot, and the closeness with which he’d gotten away, the jolt of adrenaline from almost being caught, had him overdo the distance he made afterwards. Ada pivoted her focus instantly to Marvin. She speared her left foot right after Marvin, who jumped out of the way with a bloom of music. Ada was right after him.

Marvin landed and enjoyed ground no more than a second before Ada’s right foot kicked him, launching him into a whipping flurry through the branches. The lute dissipated into a blue mist. Magical, of course.

Marvin got stuck in the branches and blasted his way free, falling, but during that time Ada charged through the trees and got there. Right upon his fall, her foot stomped right into him. Her toes curled, the foot twisting, grinding him.

In the meantime, Henry had challenged Raymond, but his energy was trounced by Raymond’s lightning. In their clashes, Henry had been thrown back, but Raymond saw Ada pick up Marvin from under her sole, encased in her fist, her attention now coming to him.

“Fuck.” The lightning enveloped his body and Raymond sped away.

“Chase him!” Ada shouted. Henry did, his art of the fighter able to keep up. As Henry ran, he did so in explosive bursts, kicking the earth, flashing energy, all to leave markers behind for Ada to pursue. Raymond tried to throw bolts of lightning back, Henry dodging, gaining on him.

Raymond was returning to their camp, to the clearing. Henry didn’t know what he was planning. Perhaps there were essentials he had to grab before fleeing. Perhaps they had something with them to turn the tides. Henry didn’t want to find out. He threw his golden energy forward, forcing Raymond to dodge. Henry caught his leg with a blast, knocking Raymond off balance. He fell and tumbled, finding balance with empowered arms. But Henry gripped his robe at his back and threw him down, planting his knee on Raymond’s back.

“Listen, just give up,” Henry whispered with a panting voice. “It’s over, okay? Just—”

“Worthless, shameless, depraved giant-slave…” Raymond’s head, body, it all shone, and he cast his arms up. An explosion of lightning shook the clearing, Henry zapped off the premises and sent into a succession of rolls across the grass. What he saw through his painful flight, however, was Ada entering the scene. She stomped Raymond before he got up.

“And there we go.” Ada caught her breath, staring at Marvin in her hand. Her thumb came up to stroke his cheek. Marvin flinched away uselessly. “I want you to guess what I’m going to do to you.”

“Fuck you.”

“Don’t be like that now. You know, it wasn’t smart to run out to the woods with no eyes around. You’ll wish other giants were around, because now I’m alone with you. And that means I can go all out.”

“Eat shit, blind degenerate giant.”

Ada raised an eyebrow. “One would almost think I’m the bad guy here, that I’m the one who stole food and attacked a child. You’re just making me feel even more honorable.” Ada hunched down, raised her empty foot, and placed Marvin under it. The moment her fingers released and hand snapped back, her sole fell over him. She stood to her height, her toes wiggling happily over the new captives. Ada breathed deeply. “Oh, it’s time.” She slipped the neckline of her dress over the shoulder, slipping the arm out, then followed with the other. Arms free and out, she pulled the dress down, first over her voluminous bosom which jiggled firmly, then dragged it down her waist. It fell around her ankles. The panties soon joined, Ada standing in her naked glory.

Henry knew what was coming.

Ada couldn’t hide her excitement, pinching her nipples. Henry wondered if he should feel ashamed for knowing what she was going to do to them and looking forward to it, shame that, upon having seen Ada insert Stina between her legs, let that be a motivation for him in the fight.

Ada stepped out of the dress, Raymond and Marvin stuck to her soles. She waved Henry over. “You wouldn’t mind coming over and help me teach them a lesson?”

Henry bowed, a mixture of seriousness and humor. “Let us deliver justice, mistress.” He ran over to her and jumped into her open hand. Ada curled her index and middle fingers over his shoulders, his head poking out between the gap. She brought him over her clit, hanging upside-down with legs reaching for her belly button.

“I need your magical mouth, sweetie.”

Henry smooched her velvety pink flesh, seeing her toes curl in pleasure. He kissed deeper, grabbed the clit with his mouth. The fingers of her other hand arrived, thumb and index entered her pussy. When they came out, a woman’s lower body followed, wearing Stina’s shorts. When her waist was out, Ada inserted her again, then back out, and so the slimy rhythm started. Henry’s manhood stirred, making out with her clit more passionately by the second. And with that, the pace with which Stina was pumped in and out increased. The hand which held Henry, the massive body under him, it all shook, her knees buckling from weakness. Airy breaths slipped out of Ada, the hints of a moan noticeable, the first of many.

“Oh. My. God.” Ada groaned darkly, like some animal on its last breath. “This is the best fucking combination ever.” Henry’s mouth working her clit while she simultaneously had someone to insert, it made a torrent of pleasure. Ada squeaked, a few droplets of squirt sprinkling out. Henry was about to intensify his worship, but she pulled him back, the pounding of Stina also ending.

“God above,” Ada whispered, standing with her legs further apart and squatted down, keeping her feet flat to not give the other two any opening. After adjusting, Henry was returned to her clit. “Come on, Henry, give me your best.”

He went all-in with his mouth, kissing, licking, and making out with it furiously. Ada started pumping Stina again, the pace seeing an exponential escalation. Henry thought about how Stina had outmatched him, her strength, her speed, her superior training, a far more competent mage and fighter than he. And in the end, here she was, being clapped in and out of Ada’s pussy like anyone else. The ferocity with which Ada was running her in and out began to assume the appearance of an attack, pounding her into her pussy.

Ada’s peaking moans announced the waterworks, and the squirt shot out in an impressive spray. It drizzled on the grass and soil, soaking into the earth. But Henry kept worshipping, Stina still sliding through the vaginal walls, and the squirt kept coming, forming tiny pools around the base of a sturdy tree. Together, Henry and, unwillingly, Stina, sustained multiple orgasms.

Ada’s moans abated, pushing Stina all the way in and leaving her there. Ada almost fell over, the freed hand immediately grabbing the tree for support. Ada put Henry down.

“Ah, it never gets old,” Ada said airily, giggling. “Let me get it together here, Henry. I’m not done with them.”

“Sure.” Henry got up, not sure what to do about his raging manhood. He could just deal with it himself now, but it felt pathetic. He was sure Ada would help him with it later. “What’s the plan with them afterwards?”

“Take them to a guardhouse with a credible officer so I can receive the credit. If it’s the wrong runt they could just snatch them from me. These are powerful mages, there’s good praise waiting us.” Ada stood up to her full height, biting her lower lip. “But yeah, after I’m done with them.”

“Alright, because I heard them talk about the miracle stone. You know, the artifact Leeman mentioned?”

Ada’s mouth was open in thought. “Huh. We’ll question them on that. You can go and search their belongings, see if there’s any clues there. But if this lead is as dry as Leeman’s offhand mention, I’m getting tired of hearing about it.”

Henry moved to their camp. “We’ll see.”

“In the meantime…” Ada licked her lips. With Raymond and Marvin helplessly stuck to her soles, Ada stepped into the cum-drenched soil around the large tree, sodden enough to have her steps squelch into the earth, soaking them in it. Ada squelched around by the tree as if playing ring around the rosie, trampling Raymond and Marvin into her liquids. Ada even began to jump around in it, like children playing in water puddles.

Henry focused on his task of rummaging through their belongings. Occasionally, he’d return to the moment, realizing the ongoing splashes in the background was a human being pancaked between sweaty, soft foot flesh and a layer of squirt. Henry was reimmersed in his task as he unearthed a note with a fine handwriting, and it detailed how the chances of success were slim but could give House Harrows a path back to becoming one of the greatest houses in all of Gintessa. They were instructed to search near the tarn atop the highest mountains in the southeast, where long ago, a battle between bandits and a royal convo had led to a draw and the Compass had been lost thereabout.

“You… slimy… whore!” Henry snapped back to hear Raymond’s wavering voice, ripped out from under her foot and held in her hand. He was dazed and not present enough to protest beyond those words, hair and robes dripping with cum.

Ada’s thumb brushed his wet hair. “As a matter of fact, you’re the slimy one.” She ripped his robe and undergarments off, the struggle revitalizing in him. Ada pinched his arms in place, his resistance futile, and there was nothing to do as Ada had him naked in her hand. “You’ve got a good body, lightning boy. I’ll make good use of it.”

“You really have no shame, do you?”

“In front of the right people, I do. But you don’t deserve any of my shame.” Ada pinned him under her armpit and kicked her foot up, Marvin plastered to the sole. She peeled him off and undressed him as well, then brought Raymond out from her armpit, holding the pair in her closed hands.

“You are little more than an animal.” Marvin spat. “Enslaved to base desires.”

“And you three, oh powerful mages, what do you have to show for your power? Lost to this base animal, didn’t you?” Ada’s thumbs teasingly stroked their cheeks. “You know, the three of you, even the two of you, were tough. Your magic hit hard. If Henry hadn’t been by my side to distract you, I don’t think we’d be here. But that’s what I love about humans, no matter how strong, you keep them stuck and unmoving, and they’re nothing.” Ada rolled her shoulders about to flaunt her breast, noticing where their eyes went. “Do you like what you see?”

“Those fat, cow’s tits are right in our face,” Raymond said. “What else is there to look at, except your nasty face?”

Ada smiled and lowered them, presenting them before her massive pink-brown lips, glimmering with moisture. “Your friend still struggles sometimes, maybe you can see it. She’s probably taking notes of what a real woman should look like. Oh how I wish I could fit all of you in there.”

“You’re sick.”

“And ready for more action.” She slammed them against her pussy, each of them on either side of her lips. Gently, she stroked the front of their bodies against her, up and down, up and down.

Henry tried to return to business, search for further details of this mission beyond an instruction to find this ‘Compass’. Another note detailed how there were rumors from a village’s elder in the north, of how a guiding rock called the Compass would lead the way to the miracle stone. This information probably came before the previous note, altogether completing a loose clue. There didn’t seem to be much faith in the miracle stone’s existence, or that anyone would actually return with results, explaining decently why these three were tasked with pursuing one of the many clues House Harrows were uncovering. They were shots in the dark, hoping one of them turned out successful.

“Would you look at that.” Ada took them away from her pussy after minutes of rubbing, and holding their torso, Raymond and Marvin’s dicks were on full display, erect and aroused. She brought them back up and delicately placed their cocks against her stiff nipples, then rubbed with expert precision, stroking their erections. Raymond and Martin tried to hide the feeling, assume a stony face, but their fighting only made their expressions seem pained.

“Come on you two, surrender. Accept it. You’re not getting out of here until I decide it, so why not make the best of it?” Ada grinned, enjoying the caress on her nipples herself. But they were still fighting it. “It must be that silly pride you have. I’d bet that if you were alone with me, you’d get down on your knees and worship me.”

Marvin huffed, Raymond gritting his teeth and trying to keep it together. But they couldn’t control their embarrassingly predictable physiology. Ada paid close attention to their faces, able to feel how they were thrusting their hips. Right as she predicted it to arrive, she pulled them away from her nipples and squatted down. She raised her toes where she stood and did the rest against the underside of her third toe. Ada burst out laughing as her toes finished them off, sending their ejaculation into the soil.

“Several minutes under my feet and you love them so much already?”

They had no response, their energy diminishing until they hung in her hands in their limp shame. Ada mashed their faces into the cracks between her toes. “Look how kind I am, giving you your fill.”

It was the strangest thing for Henry to notice, considering how long he’d been with giants lately, especially Ada. But the juxtaposition between the pitiful amount they produced from their ejaculation, doing no more than wetting a few blades of grass, to Ada’s geyser of an orgasm soaking the very soil around the entire tree, offered yet another perspective, yet another shocking difference in size. On some level it even fascinated Henry, after staring up at these colossal feminine bodies for the past weeks, to still find another dimension to the reality of just how much larger they were.

“That’s enough fun for you. I’ll be nice enough and hide you, you probably don’t want to be looked at.” Ada smothered them into the lower and inner portion of her ass, near the upper thigh, massaging them in place. And then she sat, right on the cum-soggy grass and soil, sealing them off from the rest of the world in a coffin of endless, cushy flesh. Ada gyrated her hips, grinding them. The slick surface eased the motion, lessening friction. Ada focused her thrusts downwards, into them, adding a mixture of twirls, side-to-side swerves, and even bouncing up and down, repeatedly slamming them into the ground and causing slight tremors. Henry had felt the stifling smother that was being under her foot, but he couldn’t imagine the vast expanse of flesh under her ass, every trace of the world snuffed out. In there, all of existence was hot spongy flesh compressing them from every angle, lubricated with cum.

After spending a couple of minutes fascinated by how hard she was dominating them, Henry broke free from the spell and returned to searching. There were other notes and essentials for travel to rifle through, but then in one of the backpacks his hand stumbled on something hard, rocklike. He brought it out, a brown bowl-shaped thing which seemed to closest resemble stone, feeling somewhat powdery, like charcoal. Turning it around revealed its true nature. On the other side, four points were marked on it, N, E, S, W, clearly the four points of the compass.

“The Compass,” Henry muttered. It had to be what was mentioned in the notes, of what would lead to the miracle stone. Between the northern and eastern sections, a blue globe shone, likely indicating where to go. The notes seemed clear, but this nonetheless required a questioning. Glancing back and seeing Ada’s insistent humping, he doubted they’d be very cooperative after this. Anyhow, he felt satisfied with his search and turned back to her.

If anything, Ada humped harder and faster than when Henry last checked, now pumping Stina in and out as well again. Her lust truly knew no bounds. Henry imagined what the three were going through, what their state of mind was. Henry remembered his first time, when Ada used Rennard’s body to masturbate over him and Milton, the earth-shattering realization that being many times larger allowed her to do literally whatever she wanted with them. It took time to simply come to terms with it. And thinking back to the attitude these three had, their power came with significant egos, perhaps increasing Ada’s pleasure, knowing she wasn’t just dealing with small fry. Every single thrust, her ass and pussy were vampirically draining away their pride.

In her skyward moans and swerving head, Ada caught Henry staring. She bobbed her head at her right foot, smirking. “You’re making me feel weird, Henry. Get over here and join the party.”

He didn’t hesitate, running over as if called to rescue. The heel was anchored to the ground to provide stability for the wild hip movements. Henry pulled down his pants.

“Show me why I named my H-spot after you.”

His eyes went to the bulbous big toe. Henry jumped up and wrapped his arms around it, nuzzling away the few chips of bark and blades of grass, and then dove straight in. Ada was already well into it, Henry knew this was no place for foreplay and build-up. Henry sucked and chewed on the pulpy flesh, savoring the cum residues.

Ada rocked back with a sharp gasp. Henry hugged the big toe as tightly as he could and wrapped his legs around the foot, holding fast like a leech to the increasing turbulence. The instant reaction to his worship aroused him as well, and he humped his manhood into the transition between the arch and the ball of her foot. Ada rubbed her clit, and along the pounding of Stina, the humping of Raymond and Marvin, Henry took her to a new high with his mouth. Her squirt shot out and sprayed on the tree.

Always able to push it a step further, Ada stopped pumping Stina and instead held her in front of her pussy. The rocking brought to a temporary pause, Ada rubbed her clit rapidly while Henry stimulated her H-spot, and now there were no stray shots, no leftover sprinkles; the squirt lasered straight onto Stina. Stina was properly woken from the shower, coughing, cursing in rage, grimacing and closing her eyes and recoiling. But Ada’s hand held her locked, nowhere to hide, forced to tank the geyser of love juice. And Henry didn’t feel like another one of the three. The added vivacity when he started sucking her H-spot allowed him to see his own efforts in this, the extra oomph in her propulsive hips smothering Raymond and Marvin, the extra squirts spraying Stina, they were his doing. This was a conjoined effort. He was the puppeteer from her foot, getting his revenge on Stina for how she’d thrown him about by enhancing Ada’s rabid onslaught.

Ada screamed Henry’s name upon climax, and lord almighty did it get to him. He thrust his manhood into her foot like a crazy monkey, and he came, and he was certain no force in the world was powerful enough to pry him off this foot.

Once his climax was over, relaxation came like warm fingers easing all the tightness out of him. He let go and fell on the ground with a happy smile. Ada too was finished, pushing the soaking, slimy Stina in under her meaty thigh and leaning onto the tree, closing her eyes.

The breeze steadily whisked the trees, the sunlight steady on Henry’s body, and in that tranquility Henry dozed.

An afternoon nap right after combat made no sense. It fit more after a hectic lovemaking session, but with Ada, lust and fight weren’t far apart.

Henry got up, the joints in his shoulder popping as he stretched. The sun told him it was just past midday, not having slept for long. Ada hummed delightfully in her drunken sleep, no doubt having the happiest of dreams. Her yellow hair hung in sweaty strands over her face, the soil near the tree soggy from her bliss. Looking down beneath her legs, Henry couldn’t find the slightest trace of the three mages there, entirely snuffed out by her vast flesh, as if she were a mother bird roosting on them. Raymond and Martin were under her ass, and Stina under her left thigh.

“Ada, are you there?” Henry called as he put his trousers back on. She stirred somewhat, mumbling incoherently. The heavy eyelids parted slowly, revealing her lazy eyes.

“Hello there, sweetie.” To get off the tree required effort, using both her hands to push from it, its many branches rustling in response. Ada’s plump, massive bosom pushed out as she breathed deeply, sitting upright. “Waking up has felt better and better lately, Henry. It feels like there’ll always be joy when you’re around.”

Henry had a timid affection close to blushing, the comments more and more intimate. “Me too.”

Her eyes went down between her legs. “They’re still there, flattened under me. I can feel their warm little bodies. I’m addicted to this.” Ada folded her legs back in, planting her soles on the ground, and stood. They were indeed all there, Marvin and Raymond plastered to her bubbly asscheeks, and Stina to the inner portion of her left thigh. As her flesh jiggled, the ripples of movement made them flicker as well. They were glued to her and unable to do anything.

“Alright, Henry, did you find anything useful in their camp?”

“It seems so, and no small thing either. From what I understood, these three were sent by a smaller noble house from the west, House Harrows, who are somewhat obsessed with ancient artifacts. The miracle stone is their goal.”

“That’s great and all, I’d like to have it too, but are they any close?”

“Supposedly, this artifact called the ‘Compass’ is meant to lead to it. And I’m fairly certain this compass-shaped stone they have is exactly that. They’ve retrieved something that leads the way to the miracle stone.”

There was twitching at Ada’s ass. “You son of a bitch!” Raymond pathetically wriggled where he was stuck to her.

“Where does the Compass point?” Ada asked.

Henry jogged back to their camp and picked it up. Ada followed with a few steps, the three mages plastered firmly on her. “There’s a blue globe shining in the northeastern section. Now that I’m paying attention, it’s somewhat warm as well.”

“Hmm.” Ada put her hand under her chin in thought. “You three, anything to add to that?”

“Nothing at all,” Stina said brusquely.

Hands on her hips, Ada leaned forward and looked down between her legs. “I should let you know, you three aren’t going anywhere. The plan is to turn you in, and despite the fact that I fucked your minds out, you’re a pretty strong bunch. That you were sent by this house, Harrows was their name? It won’t make the Richwoods happy to know you attacked innocent villagers on her land. Failing to find this miracle stone probably isn’t the worst thing in the world, but bringing all that trouble over the house name? Not so good.”

“She’s not wrong,” Marvin said.

Stina tried to make eye contact with her peers. “You’re not seriously listening to her, are you?”

Ada shrugged. “I’m just saying, it’s possible for you to bargain your way out of this. Give us everything you know about your progress on the miracle stone, and I’ll let you all go without turning you in.”

“Yeah, trust the word from a deranged, nymphomaniac bitch,” Stina shouted. “Get out of here.”

“Oh, I will get out of here, off to the nearest guardhouse and turn you little fucktoys in. Then we’ll pursue this miracle stone ourselves with wherever you left off. Suit yourself. Henry, collect their useful notes, and let’s go.” Henry did as told while Ada returned to where she’d undressed, putting her panties back on. The fabric barely touched and didn’t cover any of them.

“Come on, would it be so bad?” Marvin whispered to his friends. “The Compass should take them far enough, giving them a little advice to be set free is the best compromise we can make.”

Stina was stalwart. “We’re not giving this whore anything.”

“You’d rather be turned in to the Richwoods? Who knows if Lady Harrows even bothers to aid us? We could be sold to the bloody Gray Rhinos for all you know, used in all their occult magical experiments.”

“He has a point,” Raymond added.

From picking up her dress, Ada’s head came close to them, staring at them upside-down. “Are we getting anywhere? Any changed minds?”

“No,” Stina barked, though the dissent among the three was clear, and Ada simply shrugged, self-content, and put her dress on, concealing them thereunder. She invited Henry back onto her shoulder while carrying most of their equipment with her cupped hands. Henry pointed her the way according to the blue globe, and Ada carried on with a spring to her giant strides.

“The blue globe is rather steady, so just keep on it,” Henry said. “We could use some water too if we find a stream, I definitely need a wash.”

Ada leaned her head towards him slightly. “What’s the matter? You don’t like your Ada-scented bathwater?”

Henry smiled. “Don’t worry, the scent remains. I’ll need soap for that. I just feel a little sticky.”

“I could use a scrubbing myself. But realistically, it won’t be long before you’re covered in it again.” Ada blew a kiss in the air, and Henry blushed once again. He stared at her for a long time before she noticed him doing so, returning a smile.

The hills were increasing as they went northeast, growing larger, with larger, stony impressions, until the distinction between hill and mountain became hazy. They found a small stream, Ada, washing her lower legs, hands, and face while Henry took a dip. The sun would do well in drying them out. Henry ate some of the three mages’ rations and Ada left the rest of their belongings by the river, leaving without them.

“Henry.” Ada spoke quietly to him on her shoulder. “I think they’re whispering under there.” Ada tugged at her collar. “Leave the Compass with me and sneak down, listen in.”

Before leaving her shoulder, Henry gave the latest update on where the Compass pointed, the northeast tilting slightly more north now. Then gave her the Compass, a pebble to Ada, and leaped down. He slid down her collarbone and was caught between her breasts. Henry didn’t summon his magics and make it easy. He wormed and wrestled through, letting the squishy flesh sandwich him. Every bit of the way, he kept his mouth open, tasting as much of her tits as he could. Ada playfully squeezed her breast in a few times too.

Past the breast, he slid without much resistance. The navel told him he was nearing the middle of her legs, reeling his way down with a grip on her dress. Past her waist, the dress hung more loosely, causing him to swing about somewhat. Beneath him he saw the top of her upper thigh pedaling back and forth, also able to hear hushed conversation. They were indeed talking down here.

Henry kicked and caught the hem of her panties with his foot. Stiffening the leg and kicking forward, he stretched it out and clambered down until he felt confident in letting go. He fell into the slope of her panties, and they threw him back into the hot embrace of her pussy, one that he knew so well. However, he’d never been in her panties, because, well, she hadn’t worn any during their encounters. This felt more snug, cozy, and it added to the feeling he’d had of late with Ada, the traces of something more long-lasting between them. Even though they’d had their rabid sessions, the moments in between amounted to something more, beginning to not just like her, but finally able to cast aside the large bitter ghost hanging over him, the one about their first encounter and all the context surrounding her part in him and his friends splitting apart. That didn’t matter. That was the past. Now they were here.

“I’m telling you, no matter how you go about it, Lady Harrows’s name is attached to this now. We can’t be turned in.” Marvin’s voice brought Henry back to the moment.

“I fucking told you two clowns it wasn’t worth it!” Stina exclaimed. “All that risk for a little food?”

“You’re one to talk?” Raymond said. “Marvin and I were whittling the giant whore down. You couldn’t handle your inferior counterpart.”

“Shut your mouth.”

“Both of you, it doesn’t matter. None of that matters now. What matters is we can’t allow ourselves to be turned in, period. Forget the trouble we bring on Lady Harrows, think of us? We’re in eastern Gintessa. We could just be sold off to the Gray Rhinos.”

“We’re supposed to trust this whore she’ll let us go?” Stina said. “We give her information, she could just decide not to let us go.”

“What’s the other choice?” Marvin asked. “To just not cooperate for fear of her not doing so? That’ll guarantee we get turned in. Just risk it on her trust, that’s all we have. Listen, there’s no surety the miracle stone will be lost. What if the entrance unlocked by the Compass is small and the giant can’t make it down there? What if they struggle to find it, and we retreat as fast as we can and bring reinforcements? There’s plenty of ways to play with this even after helping them. We could ambush them when they resurface.”

“While they wield the power of the miracle stone? No thanks.”

“Stina. Do you want to be in the hands of the Richwoods? Potentially sold to Gray Rhinos?”

She didn’t respond.

“Then it’s the only way.”

They didn’t say much more. Hearing their schemes made Henry uneasy. He had no confidence an object of great power simply lay in wait for them to sweep by and pick it up.

Ada’s feet trampled on, flattening bushes and crackling twigs, the trees parting to her hips. Her walk was getting uneven, however, a large boulder here, a hillside there. The panty hugged Henry closer to her pink lips. He eased his way between them, nuzzling against one of the sides, sticking his tongue out and stroking in an incredibly lazy pace, indiscreet, not wanting to prod her attention. His manhood stirred, but he had to restrain himself. Conception between human and giant wasn’t just theoretically possible, but one of the main ways giants procreated, together with turning female humans into giants. It was difficult and especially unlikely if Henry just let it out on her panties here, but there could be no risks, so he kept his hands away from himself and just snuggled with her lips.

After a while, her hand approached from above and picked him up. She dragged him back up, having stuck her arm inside the dress to fish him out without getting the others’ attention. Henry was back on her shoulder. “How did it go?” she whispered, not walking anymore.

“They’re concerned we won’t let them go even if they cooperate. How do we convince them? I mean, you were intending to let them go, right?”

Ada twisted her mouth. “It’s not that I’ll be dishonest, and maybe it’s the walking that’s getting to me, but how useful is this? Because turning these three in would do well with the officers. There’s a guaranteed gain, and it’s not small. Unless we find the very miracle stone itself from this, it’s more valuable to turn them in.”

“You’re not wrong.”

“And we don’t know where this Compass will take us. It just said northeast. It could be the northeastern end of Gintessa.”

They spent a moment in silence. Henry pointed to her hand. “Actually, the blue globe moved slightly in the little you walked before I went down. What does it say now?”

“Can’t tell. Too small, and, you know, these eyes.” Ada presented the brown stone between index and middle finger. Henry received it.

“Hey… The blue globe, it’s showing a sharp northwest!”

“What do you mean?”

“It was a sharp northeast before.”

“Really? We’re close then?” Ada looked about. Henry did as well, and she had covered quite a distance. The rising land around them were definite mountains, not hills, streaked with greenery. “It’s at least worth a look, isn’t it?”

“Hmm.” Henry wasn’t eager to agree so readily. “We know it’s close west, but latitudinally we have no idea. It could be hundreds of miles north. Let’s try walking north and see how much the globe moves. That way.”

Ada had the distant stare of not following, then broke it with a giggle. “As you say, sweetie. You seem to know your thing.” She proceeded north.

“Also, the way they spoke about certain things, like the entrance going underground, in a way where it feels like they’ve got some extra details in them. They’re mostly concerned about not getting turned in. They’ll probably say everything if we agree to let them go.”

“I’ll have to think on that. They bruised my legs properly, and it wasn’t getting better. I’m not interested in fighting them again.”

“We’ll avoid that. Hey, look.” Henry pointed to translucent stretches of stone along the mountains. “Those are sunrocks. They can transport sunlight, like water through a pipe. I’m sure they’re fairly rare.”

Ada squinted. “I think I can make them out. But they’re on most of these mountains, aren’t they?”

“Yes, it’s a lot. This area seems strangely undiscovered, it’s not that long from the farm we were just at. Sunrocks are useful, this has to be unknown, as odd as it is, because no one would simply leave it untouched.”

“Are we just tripping over and finding gold?” Ada said. “The usefulness of your art, capturing these three, now this. We’re returning with ten times the value of our errand.”

Henry checked the Compass, and the blue globe had moved down to a firm west. “Ada, it’s straight west now. It moved already. We’re close. What do you say?”

“We can’t just leave this unexplored.” She followed Henry’s guidance, though that proved far more difficult than it first seemed. Now there were entire mountains in the way, Ada climbing up what she could, but skirting around and finding different ways was unavoidable in some instances. The mountains were denser, pressed together, narrow valleys between them, and the greenery was lush and plenty, with a rainforest-like richness. Massive vines threaded down the face of the cliffs like drapery, adorned along their lengths with the beautiful heads of flowers.

At Henry’s next direction, Ada breathed out. “Aren’t we going in circles?”

“I think it’s over this ridgeline here… but I think we were behind it bef—”

“Hey! We can help!” It was Marvin hollering from Ada’s ass cheek. “What’s the problem?”

“Well…” Ada glanced down, then to Henry.

“Bring him up, I say.”

Ada raised her dress, revealing them having been pathetically plastered to her bottom all this time. Her hand covered Marvin and slowly ripped him off, enclosing around his torso and pinning his arms. Ada brought him up to her face. “We’re having a bit of trouble finding the place. This Compass says we’re close. You should know, if we don’t find anything, I’ll just give up on it and return, turning you three in.”

“Alright. The Compass leads to an entrance, which leads to where the miracle stone lies. The Compass opens the entrance.”

“How much do you know about this entrance and where it leads?”

“It’s supposed to be ‘near water and enclosed by tall rock’, there was some riddle which described it as such.”

Henry looked about them. “This ‘tall rock’ is surely the mountains. For now, get up over this ridge, we rounded it and the Compass kept pointing towards it as we did.”

Ada held onto Marvin as she went up. “What does this miracle stone look like?”

“It’s supposed to be very small, smaller than a person’s fist. But it is white, radiant, pristine, and far from indistinguishable. You’ll notice it.” Speaking of its descriptions like that instilled hope.

Panting, Ada clambered her way up and at last peered over the ridgeline, Henry holding her hair. It turned back down to a tarn lying there amidst the green, a small pocket nestled amidst the mountains.

“The Compass points towards it,” Henry said. As Ada eased her way down the other side, Henry noticed the blue globe moving especially fast along the southwestern quadrant. Down by the lakeside, Henry jumped off and navigated on his own, only several steps needed for the blue globe to move. Henry stepped uphill when the blue globe moved to the center of the Compass, enveloping it, and it became hot. Henry paid attention to the surroundings, the rich boscage obscuring plenty. Traipsing around, his foot fell into a pit. It was only knee-deep, and the Compass’s heat increased further, unpleasant to hold for too long. Henry slapped the thicket away to see the pit was shaped like a bowl, like the Compass. Henry placed it inside.

“Would you look at that!” Ada pointed to the face of the slope. A large square-shaped portion, its vines and bushes and rocks, all vanished, revealing a tunnel. A giant would have no trouble fitting through. Ada brought Marvin in front of her eyes. “And the miracle stone is supposed to be there, Magical Bard?”

“Down there, yes. You… Fuck. You don’t realize how groundbreaking this is.”

“Or maybe you’re just making a thing out of it so I let you go instead of turning you in.”

“What? Don’t bother throwing mind games around. Every noble giant would sell all their mansions and jewels just to be at this point. This is the moment many have dreamt of reaching.”

Ada chewed on her lower lip in thought.

“Can I take the Compass out?”

“Yes,” Marvin said.

Henry retrieved the Compass, its heat dwindling. The tunnel remained.

“Put it in again and it closes. There should be a similar keyhole on the inside of the tunnel to seal the entrance.”

“What do you think, Henry?” Ada said. “What do we do?”

“I don’t know how true his claims are on the amazement of this discovery. But there has to be something to it. Look at what we’ve found all the way out here. We can’t turn around from here. And extending this journey with those three isn’t smart. Having to constantly keep them down, and the slightest chance they get they’ll run or fight back. And…” He didn’t want to admit their strength before them, but Ada knew. Even if Ada and Henry had won, fighting them wasn’t an endeavor they wished to repeat, while the other three, especially Stina and Raymond, were eager for battle. The three mages were powerful, had slipped up, and were not intending to do so on a second chance.

Henry moved towards the tunnel and peered down its depth. There was light somewhere deeper down, the fragments of sunrocks bringing sunlight to the dark depths. Henry conveyed this information.

“Fine,” Ada said. “We’re going. How do we let these go?”

“We’ll be on our way and drop this matter. Just tell us where our equipment is.”

Henry pointed over the mountain. “I believe their equipment were left by a large river, southwest.”

“Can we really trust they’ll just drop this?” Ada said, first to Henry, then a raised eyebrow to Marvin in her hand.

“Just let us go and it’s history!” Raymond added from below.

“Alright. But you better be sure, you go back on your word, and I’ll fuck you even harder the next time, make that last time look like child’s play.”

Marvin kept a stone face. “Sure.”

Henry found the keyhole inside the tunnel, and Ada decided to toss them separate ways. She reeled back, the hand holding Marvin behind her, and slingshot forward with an overhead throw. Marvin was catapulted through the air, the lush greenery ready to catch him somewhere in the distance. Then she ripped free Stina from her inner thigh. The young woman held a furious expression, her body glistening from the dried cum.

Stina’s eyes went to Henry. “You’re an embarrassment to our clan.”

“Be a good girl now and scurry off.” Ada similarly threw Stina in the same direction. Lastly, she pulled Raymond free. “Oh, I forgot I took your clothes off,” Ada said with a chuckle. “That’s your problem now.” And he was last to be sent flying.

Henry waved her over. “Let’s be quick here, in case they rush back. Taunting them really didn’t help.”

“Couldn’t help myself.” Ada joined him and they entered the tunnel. Henry found the dome-shaped keyhole and placed the Compass. Light was choked out as the barrier reappeared, left with nothing but the ambient light down the tunnel. Henry helped her find him with constant calls and she let him stand on one cupped hand, the other used for support. It didn’t take long for signs of life, the tunnel opening into a smaller cavernous room with an out-of-place giant orange tree growing on one side. Colorful flowers encircled the pool, a rainbow wreath, and the sunrocks from above were like windows bringing sunlight in.

“Does something about this feel strange to you?” Ada said.

“Yeah. The water’s purity, the freshness of all that grows, everything feels too perfect and bright.” They both drank from the water and Ada bit dents into the oranges to peel them, and the oranges were ripe and juicy, releasing that wonderful fragrance where one needed only the nose to tell it was ready to eat. They ate and drank until they were ready to descend deeper. The continuing tunnel had ambient light but was otherwise dark.

“Are you ready?”

Ada didn’t answer. The hand Henry stood on ascended, bringing him up to her chin.

Henry turned around to face her, the slight smell of oranges coming from her mouth. “What’s wrong?”

Her chin hovered closer, her lips pressed together, met his face, and released him with a peck. Only after they parted and a few seconds passed did Henry realize she’d kissed him.

“How did that feel?” Ada wasn’t smirking or playing; she was holding her breath, blushing. “You’ve kissed my body so much, so I thought I should return one.”

Henry nodded. “It felt right.”

Now she smiled. There was mutual movement, Henry stepping to the edge of her palm, Ada hovering closer, and they kissed. Henry smooched her upper lips while she pecked his face and some of his chest. When they parted, they stared into one another’s eyes for moments that felt much longer than the mere seconds they were.

She stared past him, into the tunnel they had ahead of them. “Let’s go then, my love.”

Rennard and Milton were kept in a massive grotto, with a fresh coursing river, trees of peach and orange and pear and apple and cherry, with bushes of blueberry and cranberry. Sunrocks gave a clear indication of when it was day and night, and the flat, square-like projections of stone from the walls covered in moss were the beds of the room.

“This is more than just magic,” Milton said, sitting amid a bed of flowers by the water and chewing on blueberries. “Her power to manipulate all this. No, not just manipulate, but produce actual food and nourishment from seemingly nothing. It is miraculous.”

“And she’s kind.” Rennard threw a stone across the water. “Seems like it, at least. But there’s that voice in the back of my head, of how it’s too good to be true. Always has been, so far.”

“I can understand her concern,” Milton said. “I haven’t heard a single word about this place. Sending us out with knowledge of this scares her.”

“I hope she has a good plan. For now, I’ll take this.” Rennard and Milton spent the day enjoying the fact that they weren’t on the run, no immediate concern to address. They lay for the most part, spoke of home, of their family and how they rationalized the three boys’ absence. Hopefully they didn’t make too much of a fuss about it, for it to reach that guardhouse in Trester and for the guards there to pin the boys’ shenanigans on their family.

“Trester…” Milton snorted. “That felt like ages ago.”

The great wall of vines parted, and the disciple entered, brushing aside strands of her brown hair. Despite being thirty-five feet tall, the tunnel she emerged from was more than three times as tall as her. She had a crown of leaves atop her scalp, her hair falling just below the jawline. The sleeveless dress reached her knees and was a dull brown, prickled with leaves and flowers. Both Milton and Rennard rose from where they sat relaxed.

She noticed them and walked their way. “Hello there. Is your room to your liking?”

Milton said, “More than fine. We’ve no complaints, really.”

“That’s good. Our goddess told me to look after you.” The disciple arrived before them, half as tall as the usual giants, but still towering over the two.

“What should we call you?” Rennard said. “The others referred to you as the disciple?”

“You can call me that, yes.”

“Do you have a name?” Milton asked.

The disciple stepped over them to the nearby cliff, covered in moss, and sat down against it. “My name is Ester.”

“I’m Milton, and my redheaded friend here is Rennard.”

“The goddess herself will be here shortly to speak with you.” She tucked her knees in and beckoned them over. “Come.” She said it very matter-of-factly.

They did, although not without hesitation. “What’s the matter?”

Once in reach, she grabbed them both and brought them to her, having them lie back over her raised legs. “Are you uncomfortable?”

“Uhm…”

“It’s a tad too, touchy,” Milton stammered, both with the uncomfortable wriggle over her upper leg.

“I hold everyone dearly,” Ester said. “It’s what Goddess Helga has taught us, especially me. Everyone in here is like family.” She was sweet and good-willed, so they remained there. After all they’d been through, complaining over too much kindness would be absurd.

“I’m sorry you’re kept away from everyone else in here,” Ester said. “But it could lead to confusion, the way you talk about the surface.”

“We understand.” Rennard scratched his neck, resting against a flower on her dress. “We’re not eager to meet anyone anyways. We’re eager to go home.”

“If I understand right,” Milton said, “no one in here knows about a surface, a world beyond these caves?”

“They do not. I don’t know much either. Goddess Helga has told me some, she frequently goes out through her secret exit and cleanses the sunrocks while warding away potential intruders.”

“How did you come to be?” Rennard said, brash as usual. “You’re not as large as the normal giants.”

“How large are the normal giants?”

Rennard shrugged, standing tall on her hip instead of leaning against her leg. “Maybe double your size. Also, this Goddess Helga is larger than most giants. Where do you come from?”

“Goddess Helga has been eternal. No one can remember a time before her. I was one of the villagers, but the Goddess has given me her milk and made me strong. Her secretions grant strength.”

“Her milk…? You mean she breastfeeds you?”

“Yes.” It wasn’t strange for her at all.

“The Goddess can turn people giant?” Milton gawped back at all the fruit trees and berry bushes, the sheer life that was produced. “There’s that moment of hesitation in me, but the reality can’t be denied here.”

Ester smiled at that. Milton stepped off her waist as Rennard asked if she had magical powers, and she did, and he heard the sizzle of magic in contact as they likely tested one’s strength against each other. Meanwhile, Milton watched her feet paired together. He compared them to what he remembered of Hilda in the training grounds. Ester and she had a roughly similar build, with Hilda being more athletic, but Hilda and the usual giant’s foot would engulf him easily. Ester’s feet were perhaps two thirds of his length.

“Goddess,” Ester called out, and Milton turned around. Goddess Helga had passed the curtain of vines which were just as tall as her enormous, hundred-foot-height. Ester put Milton down and got on her knees, head lowered. Hesitant and unsure, Milton and Rennard stood beside Ester as Goddess Helga came closer and closer. Despite being the largest giant they’d ever witnessed, her steps were unassuming and quiet. Milton could have sworn he saw a blueberry bush flattened by her sole, and after she’d stepped off it, it rapidly grew back with an instant, richer yield.

“Come, disciple,” Helga said, her voice rich and dark. She sat down cross-legged, her celestial white dress having no trouble re-finding its form over her legs despite her many movements. Helga’s hair was in a crown braid, glowing with a lustrous yellow. But the thing which always drew one’s eyes upon seeing Helga was the translucent, shining dot in the middle of her forehead, pulsating with life.

“It’s time to feed,” she said. Helga slipped her left arm out of the dress and let her breast fall out, a small little globe with a pink nipple. They assumed their roles without any pause, Ester like an infant crawling into Helga’s embrace and grabbing that nipple with her mouth, sucking.

Milton and Rennard gave each other a look. Despite being literally told this was a thing, seeing the breastfeeding in action remained strange.

“Ester here claimed your milk is what has given her that size,” Milton said.

“Indeed. All my secretions provide strength, but there is something special in the milk. I am still improving.”

Rennard raised his eyebrows in amazement, taking his view of the rich gardens in this grotto. “I’ll be damned, ‘still improving’?”

“May I ask where you come from, my lady? How did you come across these powers?”

“I don’t come from anything. I have simply been. It may seem intuitive for you to associate me with a giant, but giants are nothing but large, female humans. I am more. As for our home down here, humans have fallen through the cracks of the surface here-and-there, abandoned by the cruelty of that world, and here I have taken them in gradually, and with my bountiful blessings they thrive.”

“But they don’t seem to know about the world outside of here?” Rennard said.

“The first populations were long, long ago. And it does them well not to know, all the misery and depravity out there. In here, they are safe, and their ignorance of the outside helps their well-being.”

“Speaking of,” Rennard continued, “how well do you know of the outside?”

Helga patted Ester on the shoulder as she sucked. “Some, but not as much as I would like. The Gray Rhinos, the noble houses, the wild east, the kingdom to the west, I know this picture. The latest news and details, I’m unaware. Sometimes I head out to clean the sunrocks, guard the areas. I have produced an illusory barrier around these mountains which makes it unlikely for anyone to pass through above us, but sometimes someone slips in, and I must deal with it.”

“Huh.”

“This has all been very strange for us, my lady,” Milton said with a polite chuckle. “But finally, we have some reprieve, and for that we are thankful.”

“We just hope to return home,” Rennard added. All niceties, the hospitality, the plentiness, it was all very pleasant, but ultimately, returning home was what mattered.

Helga produced a thoughtful hum which made them uneasy, for it wasn’t a yes.

“What makes you doubt?” Rennard said. “What do we need to do to show you we’re harmless?”

Milton cut in. “I understand if us knowing about this place is a scary thing to release out there. But couldn’t you make us forget this? That wouldn’t surprise me, your power is immense.”

“I have thought of that. But I think there’s more potential here. We are disconnected from the world hereunder, yes. I do not wish to keep it that way. One day, I will emerge, with my devout followers whom I have strengthened.” She stroked Ester’s hair as she said that. “And we will end the perpetual war and misery. As we grow, I want us to stay hidden and safe. But when the time comes, I want to be prepared. I want to establish a connection with you two as I have with my people down here. Then, I can communicate with you no matter the distance, and you could help paint me a picture of the world above.”

“Like scouts?” Rennard said, dubious.

“Not so specific. You boys wish to go home, no? What I want are general news.”

The two nodded at one another, the agreement reaching better grounds. “That’s reasonable. It’s not hard to get ahold of big news and what’s happening. A short trip to the capital should capture most of what’s going on.”

“How do we establish this ‘connection’ you described?” Milton said.

“You must ingest my secretions and be near me for some time. Everyone in here is connected with me.”

“Wait, hold on.” Rennard raised his hands. “Let’s be concrete here. Ingesting your secretions, like what Ester is doing now?”

Helga glanced at her. “My milk is a privilege you haven’t earned. It would have to be my spit or my sweat. The people regularly come and worship my feet when they feel despondent, and it rejuvenates their vitality. That would be my recommendation. Not just for the connection, but I wish to see your devotion.”

Ester released the nipple with a wet pop, wiping her lips.

Milton had to cut in before Rennard escalated. “This is something to think about.”

“Indeed,” Helga said. “That is my offer. Take your time and think.”

Towards evening, as the sunrocks above provided the waning, golden light of sunset into the grotto and Milton and Rennard were alone, Rennard said, “Well, is it time for you to convince me why we should lick the sweat off her feet?”

“You’re unbelievable. She has extended us the chance to go, something no one else has done. And it’s not without its reason. She doesn’t want to humiliate us, doesn’t want to put us down. Her reasons are valid, better than anyone we’ve ever faced.”

Rennard hunched down by the waterside, popping a blueberry into his mouth. “Didn’t say I’m against it. That’s where we’re at. I just want to hear the arguments. From the sounds of it, she’s going to join this cataclysm of giants fighting one another up there, hoping to end it all. Her strength is undeniable. Making an ally for free in all that wouldn’t be so bad.”

Milton nodded, impressed. “Yes, exactly. And really, everyone in here worships her. There’s nothing embarrassing about humbling oneself before her, not in here. Did you notice how the verdure comes back to life after she tramples them? I don’t know what she is, but the distinction between her and giants, with giants being big, female humans, and her not being that, I can understand it. I don’t know if I would attribute godhood to her, but there’s something divine there.”

“I feel it too. It’s settled then.”

When Ester came and checked on them, they made their decision clear. They would establish a connection and worship Goddess Helga.

“It is to worship a deity,” Ester said, carrying Rennard and Milton through the lush tunnel. They sat on a shoulder each, holding her neck and shoulder for stability while Ester had her hands around their legs, the way one would hold onto the straps of a backpack. “That pride, the ego, it is pointless before Goddess Helga. To make it personal is like feeling affronted by the river when its currents throw you around, or the sun for baking you with its rays.”

“We get it,” Rennard said. “We’ve already agreed to doing this, don’t need to give us the sermon.”

“Can I ask, how long have you been drinking her milk?” Milton asked.

“Two weeks.”

“And in that time you’ve grown this big?”

“And my magical powers come from the milk as well. I am still learning, it is still a tool to master, but Goddess Helga provides it. She is also experimenting with the extent of this. I wasn’t just chosen, I had to agree, because this is, in the end, an experiment.”

Milton watched the passing walls of fruity herbage, some of them emitting a steady and pleasant green glow, lighting the tunnel. “In theory, if we were to drink it, we could grow stronger and larger?”

“Yes,” Ester said. “But Goddess Helga is being cautious. If it works out with me, she’ll give it to more, raising a strong population, the strongest to have existed.”

“Huh.” Rennard scoffed. “Imagine a giant male. The people above would shit themselves.”

“Theory isn’t that far from practice,” Milton said.

Ester tapped their legs with her thumbs. “Don’t get greedy. What the Goddess will give you is what everyone already receives. She wants to be connected to you, not give you strength.”

The tunnel they were in branched off many ways, leading to various grottos. Milton and Rennard had received the most secluded one and were intentionally kept away from the rest, a treatment they had accepted. The language they used, referring to Ester and Goddess Helga as ‘another giant’, or the continuous references to the world and their life above here would perplex the population in a way Helga didn’t want. This did give rise to a creeping thought within Milton. Everyone indeed loved Goddess Helga and the life she breathed into these caves were undeniable. However, Milton wondered how much she was controlling them.

In line with keeping Milton and Rennard’s presence as hidden as possible, it was currently late evening, with waning sunlight from the sunrocks and some of the herbage needing to glow, which was another quaint discovery of these caves. Firefly-like bulbs of light hovered about and some of the bushes could shine, covering the darker hours like streetlights.

They entered the throne room through a wall of branches, the two massive trees around it forming an arched doorway. Everything had to be large enough for Goddess Helga to fit through, leaving no passage small. The throne room looked like a whole cupped dome of lush greenery with the one conspicuous entrance from the city. But in reality it was prickled with enormous holes leading into passages, hidden by all the vines and leaves and flowers and trees.

Goddess Helga sat on her throne in the middle, faded sunlight bearing down on her like a spotlight. Hands on the arm rests, straight posture and head staring forward, she had a very neutral, statue-like bearing. Helga wore a green dress glimmering under the light, her yellow hair rolling over her shoulders and breast. Despite her enormous excellence, the tiny stone glimmering on her forehead managed to take a decent portion of one’s attention, like a third eye shifting with light.

Ester placed them close to the throne and stepped back. Not a word spoken, Helga’s great feet reared up on their heels. Milton and Rennard looked at one another, nodded, and stepped forward to a foot each, Milton for the left one and Rennard the right. They lay down, moss and flowers receiving their backside. Her feet lowered on top of them like the lid of a casket.

They were entombed in the fleshy vastness. The lower end of their legs stuck out under the arch, open to the world outside, but their torsos were up by the balls of her feet and firmly covered. Her foot flesh was unbelievably soft. With an application of force, the flesh yielded to their bodies and formed a human-print upon the sole, inviting their bodies to go deeper into the foot, surrounding every part of them. There the heat arrived little by little, and Helga twisted her feet gently, grinding them, though not harshly.

Although it seemed strange to cast themselves into a position where they were so vulnerable, they knew she had always had the power to subdue them. The moment they had first stepped before her was akin to surrendering to her might, for she could have done this at any moment. So they lay there under her feet with nothing but trust and hope, for they had no other options.

A slick layer of moisture was building on the flesh covering them, the friction and heat increasing. “Drink,” she commanded. “Get as much of it as you can, children.”

The sweat hadn’t manifested into clear drops, only able to lap up the moisture on her soles so far. They had to do it, and did, and it was delectable. The bizarre lack of a detestable smell had hinted it, now it was confirmed. Rennard, grimacing the way one braces for impact, expecting the retch-like reflex to bubble up within him, to fight against the ingestion of acrid sweat, instead met a sweet honey-like flavor which belonged with pastries. Goddess Helga had no shortage of miracles.

With the hurdle of a sour taste being gone, replaced with a motivating deliciousness, what doubts were left? The prospect of it being humiliating might have been there, but they didn’t feel it. The feeling was as Ester had claimed. As they stroked their tongues across the flesh available to them, the feeling of a recipient, a person being on the other end, wasn’t there. It was like kissing a statue, they could feel the lack of attitude in these feet. So with a delectable taste and the lack of humiliation, and knowing that her secretions, perhaps mostly her milk, granted positive properties, there was nothing left between the boys and surrendering to a full-blown worship. And they did, not a thing of necessity anymore, but want and benefit, working the muscles in their neck to nod up and down and to the sides, swiping their tongue across her smooth soles, grabbing mouthfuls of moist foot flesh and sucking out droplets of her sweet sweat.

Can you hear my words? Her voice whispered in their heads, competing with sound, taste, thoughts, and all else which grabbed their consciousness. They felt a new space in their heads, an avenue through which one could travel, and there they actively thought their sentences. They answered yes by thinking it.

Good. Our bond is establishing. Continue, and— They wondered if the cut sentence was their bond being in its infancy, but no, her feet had paused, and they rose and let air breeze in through. It was an interruption in the peace.

“Someone is here,” Helga said brusquely. Her feet planted beside the boys. She stood up, stepping to the side of her throne. Milton and Rennard got up, nonplussed.

Ester came closer with a measured look around the gloomy throne room. “Goddess?”

“An intruder, through the secret passage.” Helga’s voice was stern, unlike herself, staring at the darkest corner of the massive room.

“Already in the secret passage?” Ester asked. “Couldn’t you sense her when she was outside, goddess?”

“No. They carry something that has kept them hidden. Ester, clear the city gateway. It might be a giant. None can see this.”

“Yes, goddess.” Ester jogged towards the doorway opening into the city.

Rennard and Milton rounded the throne and stood by Helga’s ankles, staring the same way as her. “Is it a giant?”

“Likely. You two stay behind me.” Helga walked towards this ‘secret passage’ previously mentioned, the darkest corner of the throne room.

“Hey,” Rennard said with a wave of his hand, head lowered in secrecy. Milton came. Rennard spoke right into his ear, not for Helga to hear. “This secret passage has to be a way out.”

“Probably. Keep it down. It’s probably the way she goes whenever she heads outside. Come, let’s be careful.” They followed Helga, keeping behind her as she had ordered.

A tense waiting ensued, the silence interrupted shortly by someone whisking through greenery. It came from the darkness, Helga’s attention placed accurately. Although the distance made the whisking quiet, the noise had an enormity to it, confirming it was a giant.

Helga’s right hand shone green, humming readily. The crinkling of leaves and branches grew nearer, louder, and suddenly larger, more than just footsteps but a body pushing through a wall.

“Where the hell does this lead?” she said.

Rennard turned to his friend sharply. “That voice… I recognize it.”

Milton concentrated. “Me too.”

The giant emerged from the darkness and greenery with somewhat of a trip, stepping into the light.

Rennard’s eyes widened. “There’s no fucking way. It’s that goddamn bitch from the farm!”

The recognition was mirrored on Ada’s face, who couldn’t see Rennard so far away with her poor eyes. “It’s his voice, Henry. Your friend.”

“Rennard! Milton!”

“Wh—” Milton and Rennard stared at each other, dumbfounded. “Henry?”

“Quiet!” Helga thrust her glowing hand forward. From the walls, vines lunged like snakes and grabbed Ada’s wrists and ankles, and despite such a large giant’s greatest efforts, Ada couldn’t make sheer greenery budge. She was locked.

On her shoulder, Henry summoned the art of the fighter and ran out along her left arm, hammering away at the vines holding her wrist. His impacts puffed in white flashes and did less than they would have against metal and stone.

Helga was already upon them, Ada about two thirds of the goddess’s height. From the benign, angelic divinity she normally exuded, Helga snapped back with shining eyes and mouth, as if possessed. Then, baring her teeth and with hands in a claw-like pose, she assumed a bestial form as she pounced. Hands on Ada’s head and shoulder, Helga bared Ada’s neck and sunk her teeth in like a vampire. Ada shouted for no more than a fraction of a second before Helga’s hand covered her mouth. Helga was quick to release, however, for Ada lost the energy to make a sound just two seconds into the bite, groaning like an old woman suffering from aching joints. Helga released.

“Ada!” Henry ran back along her arm, but Helga’s hand grabbed him, fingers squeezing him then throwing him back. He landed with a muffled crinkle on the bushes, about to summon his art again, but he couldn’t. The fingers that had just held him, it felt like they were still there, phantom fingers holding not his body, but his magic.

“Henry!” Milton and Rennard ran up to him, taking his side. “Fucking hell, she had you this whole time? Where have you been?”

“Long goddamn story, brothers,” Henry said, not in the rejoicing mood his two friends were. They hugged him and he returned it with one arm, eyes on Helga advancing on them.

Them knowing each other gave Helga a pause, not attacking yet but towering over them, a stony face showing no emotion. “You are more than associates, by the looks of it?”

“Everything we told you that we’ve been through,” Rennard said, stepping between Henry and her, “the third person we’ve mentioned in those stories? This is him. It’s Henry. He is as innocent as us.” He turned back to his friend. “Go on, tell her how this bitch caught you and kept you against your will.”

“Huh.” Henry needed a moment to go from fight to conversation, and once he collected himself, he stepped forward. “We didn’t mean any harm. We just came down here looking for something that could fix her eyes. The miracle stone, or some nonsense like th—” Henry noted the shining dot on Helga’s forehead. “The miracle stone…”

Helga’s expression was ice and anger, turning about, abruptly worried if someone were nearby, if someone had heard.

Ada didn’t seem to be a concern anymore. Glancing past her, the boys saw something they had never seen nor heard of in their lives. Ada was shrinking. On her knees, barely able to make a noise and shuddering from continued weakness, Ada’s brown dress became larger and larger upon her.

“What is going on…” Henry muttered, his first time witnessing Helga’s unparalleled power.

“Listen,” Rennard called. He pointed behind Helga, at Ada. “That bitch is evil and nasty, you’re right to attack her. But the three of us, we’re bloody harmless. We’ve done nothing wrong.”

“I’m afraid you’re not going anywhere.” Helga pointed her hand at them. Her fingers merged. Like puppets on strings, the three boys were slammed together, unable to move. Goddess Helga raised her foot. “Now, go to sleep.” The creamy sole fell upon them, flattening them against the ground, one foot able to cover all of them when they were squeezed together. Rennard and Milton could tell how different the sole felt from their previous stay thereunder.

Helga’s sole shone and blasted them with a soft lull, putting all three of them to sleep.

Henry woke to the blare of sunlight. The shade was luminously yellow yet not overly warm, suggesting sunrise. Then he noticed the grassy ceiling, the upended trees growing off the roof with their branches stretching down from gravity. The light came from sunrocks.

Sunrocks.

Everything returned to him, the massive giant and her unchallenged power. Rennard and Milton had been there as well. It was no dream.

Henry jerked up from where he lay, resting on his elbows. He was surrounded by a neat ring of bushes. Beyond them the greater grotto was visible, slanted walls of abundant greenery, no apparent doorway in sight. He could hear water running as well.

Henry stood. The streamlet coursed out of a hole in the walls and tinkled down, the surrounding fern and moss and flowers of its established path sheening from the dampness. It pooled into a peaceful pond which continued down and onwards through another hole.

Milton and Rennard were there. Along the shoreline of the pond, he saw his two friends lying in what he hoped to be sleep. How they had gotten here, what had happened, everything, Henry had to know. Above all he was happy to see his friends alive and unharmed, an onerous, devilish knot releasing from his chest, realizing just how worried he’d been for them. Despite the new predicament they found themselves in, and they had no shortage of them, they were alive and well. Other concerns were suddenly trivial.

However, as Henry waded through the bushes and trampled through the greenery around the pond and to his friends, his eyes constantly wandering around the area to get a grasp of where they’d ended up, he spotted another body closer to where he’d been, up the lush slope at the back end of the grotto, away from the pond. She was naked, and as Henry focused his gaze, more of the memories returned to him.

“No way…” he muttered, turning course now, towards her. He remembered how that massive giant had bitten into Ada’s neck, how he faintly recalled her shrinking, an outrageously shocking discovery somehow a lost detail in all that mayhem.

And he could confirm it as he arrived before her, Ada’s naked body spread before him in human size. The enormous body he’d always stared up at, towering over him, shaking the earth underneath him, was now lying here before him as his peer. She was on her side, unmoving. The faint rise of her side confirmed she was breathing and alive.

He didn’t know how long passed, how long he just stared, bewitched, but finally she groaned and moved. Henry was behind her, she couldn’t see him. She jerked up, hands grazing the moss underneath her, index and thumb finding a flower.

“No…”

“Ada?”

Ada turned with a jolt, her damaged eyes the widest he’d seen them, sizing Henry up from top to bottom. “No… No…” The words were like a breath spoken, barely perceptible. “No!” She lurched, retreated, crawling back pathetically on hands and knees. “I’m so sorry, I’m really sorry!”

“What are you—” Henry had to hold his hands up like one carefully approaches a frightened dog. “Ada, it’s fine. Don’t you remember me?”

“Of course I remember you. Don’t you remember me? All the things I did to you, your friends?”

“You can drop the remorse, didn’t we decide that?”

“We did when I was big, when I was stronger. Now I’m…” Her hands went over her stomach, down her thighs and knees, her toes curling the flowers. Ada eyed all his details as if there was more to see than the plain person before her. It was the same for Henry. There was nothing marvelous or arcane about their looks, but to see one another at this size felt like one had woken up and the world had reversed, constantly double-checking, something before their eyes not corresponding with the mental map they had.

There was noise from the pool; Rennard and Milton had woken.

“Just calm down,” Henry told her before making his way down and skirting the pond. He called for his friends. Rennard was up and moving, and they met with another hug, Rennard patting Henry’s back.

“My boy is alive,” he said, an exhale signifying that same devilish knot had left him as well. “We keep finding the most trouble, but at least we’re reunited.”

“My thoughts exactly.” Over Rennard’s shoulder, Henry saw Milton getting up, returning from the slumber the giant had put them in.

“Milton.” Henry greeted him, hand on his forearm and the other on his shoulder. Milton returned it. Unlike true sleep, attention was restored quickly once they woke.

“Lord above,” Milton muttered. “It’s felt like ages when it hasn’t even been that long. I can’t even make sense of the time we were under the Charmer’s spell.”

“You were with her?” Henry said, releasing from the embrace. “I arrived at the Charmer’s cabin with a giant bounty hunter, but I didn’t find you there.”

“We were teleported elsewhere.”

“Ah, I suspected that. The bounty hunter chased her off, I ended up in the midst. The Charmer made a hasty teleport which malfunctioned, and I ended up somewhere east.” Henry breathed out. “Listen, we’ll catch up sometime, but I need to ask who the hell that giant is. How did you two—” Henry noticed Rennard’s absence, turning about himself, and then he saw him.

Rennard had marched all the way over to Ada, his arm ablaze. “You fucking bitch.”

“Wait!” Henry summoned the art of the fighter and frog-leaped across the pond, dashing right after his landing. He halted like a bullet caught, right between Milton and Ada. “Rennard, what are you doing?”

“What am I doing?” His unlit hand threw an index finger past Henry, at Ada. “It’s her! You know it’s her! You were with her, something you should clarify, by the way.”

Henry didn’t say much, but he continued to stand between them. Ada was on her knees, turned the other way, face hidden behind hair.

“She’s not our problem now.”

“Have you lost your mind?” Rennard shouted, and although Henry had plenty of arguments with his friend, there was a unique rage in Rennard’s voice this time. “Taking her side? Everything is her fault. All of this is her fault. She fucked us over, literally fucked us. She would do it right now if she were giant, but she’s down to our size, just like us, except that unlike us, she’s a pathetic miserable worm cowering over there, unable to even look me in the eyes.”

Henry grabbed his friend’s shoulder, an iron grip to show strictness behind the brotherly gesture. “She wouldn’t do any of that if she were giant.”

“And what would you know about that?”

“I have been with her. We stuck together because it benefitted us to work with one another then be alone, and after time in that partnership, I can attest, she wouldn’t do that.”

Rennard looked at him askance. “Fat chance. Partnership? What did you do together? I can only assume two things you could have wanted, to find me and Milton, or go home to Humius. Was she ready to help you with any of this? Because last I remember, we pleaded her to just let us go and run back to the border, when there was still hope, when we were decently close compared to whatever mess we’re in now, but she would rather fuck and kidnap us.”

Henry couldn’t find a response. There was no good response. He had omitted the crucial detail of how he and Ada even got in this ‘partnership’, how they had fought in the arena and that Henry, according to the well-recognized Richwood documents, was literally Ada’s slave, a result of her efforts. And then Henry had to confront the ghost hanging over him constantly as he was with Ada, never wanting to ask her if she could take him back to Humius, because that would broach the forbidden topics and ruin the illusion their relationship was built on. Henry stared back at Ada, sitting, turned away from them, reserved. How much had Ada really changed? Had Henry just been thinking with his manhood?

“Henry.” Milton stepped in. “What point are you trying to make? Everything Rennard says is true.”

They were right, but Henry returned to the moment. “Fine!” Henry stepped aside, leaving nothing between Rennard and Ada. “I don’t claim she never did any wrong. What was I interrupting you from doing? Are you going to batter her with your flames? She’s harmless right now, defenseless. What will you accomplish by hurting her? We’re sitting here with shared problems, and vengeance against her does nothing to fix that.”

Rennard stepped forward, raising his arm, his fist morphing into a hammer of flame. “Bitch. Turn around. Have the guts to at least look at me. You lacked no courage when you were all big, shoving me in and out of your cunt, and now you’re whimpering like the most innocent flower of the world. You were never strong. You were just big, a bargain you took in exchange for all your pride and honor. And now even your illusion of strength is gone. And what’s left?” It was quiet.” Bitch, look at me. Show that there’s a shred of strength in your character and muster the goddamn courage to look at the people you screwed over when it was so easy to do so.”

Ada adjusted her hair and turned around. The glistening streaks of running tears were threading down her cheeks, her nose red, but it wasn’t Rennard’s sentimentality which made him stop at the sight of her crying. It was the welts of wounds scribbled across her face, the one slashing up across her left eye, leaving it milky and distant, the right one with a bloodshot portion. Rennard remembered how they had gotten away from her, the last attack he launched. “Are you blind?” The question was one of concern, his voice one of anger.

“Not fully blind,” Ada said, keeping a firm voice. “Just worse.”

“Will it get better?”

“No.”

Rennard remained motionless, flames flickering. He clenched his teeth together, raising his enflamed hammer-hand. He swung sideways, over her, throwing the flames across the corner. The fire landed onto a cluster of bushes and exploded, throwing scatters of burning leaves. Rennard left her. “You paid your price.”

They heard crinkling. At the site where Rennard’s flames hit, the bushes regrew to their previous glory.

“What the hell is this anyways?” Henry said, both fascinated and a good opportunity to change the subject. “This place, that giant. She was massive.”

“It’s a whole underground population,” Milton said. “And that giant is called Goddess Helga. The people in here worship her as a literal goddess.”

“What people?”

“You haven’t seen them. She’s tried her best to keep us hidden from them. I don’t know what she is, but she’s no usual giant. Her power, you can’t just boil it down to ‘strong magic’. It is beyond power and magic.”

“I can see that.” Henry took in the sight of the grotto, the bountiful harvests. “For God’s sake, she shrunk Ada. Has such a thing ever happened?”

“Unheard of,” Rennard muttered absently, his anger still needing time to wane.

“What were you two doing down here?” Henry asked.

“In the endless chain of escapes we’ve found ourselves in since we came to Gintessa, we fell into the most random crevice there likely is. We ended up here. The goddess seemed sympathetic, willing to let us go if we worked with her. Everything pointed to her being the exception of everyone we’ve come across.” He glanced at Ada, who was downcast and quiet. “But the moment you two stepped in, it all changed.”

“She wants to keep the people under here unaware,” Rennard said. “Stupid like cattle. Another giant stepping in made her afraid. She didn’t want anyone to see that.”

“I’m not sure afraid is the right word. She’s all-powerful. I’m struggling to think who on the surface would even challenge her, among the strongest giants even.” Milton turned to Henry. “Your turn, how did you end up down here?”

“We were led here by an object called the Compass,” Henry said. “We’d heard rumors of this object, called the miracle stone, which would be able to cure Ada’s eyes, among other things. That…” Henry lost himself in thought.

“What’s the matter?”

“That tiny glowing dot on her forehead, what is that?”

Rennard shrugged. “Probably some nice little gem she conjured up for herself.”

“I don’t know, it was pulsating,” Henry said. “And maybe I’m imagining things here, but when she asked what Ada and I were doing, I mentioned the miracle stone, and it seemed to set her off. She’s never mentioned it to you?”

Nothing came to mind for the two. “First time we hear it.”

“There is no hope of fighting her, conversation is the only way.”

“Guys.” Rennard stared towards the other end of the pond.

Helga stood there. No sound, no entry, nothing to note, she was suddenly in the grotto. She started walking around the pond, not many steps needed to round it and advance on them. The boys huddled together, Ada trying to capture the sight of this giant, feeling the other perspective. Her eyes couldn’t capture the details, but seeing that monumental size move so casually towards them had her agape.

Helga stopped so close to them the hemline of her green dress almost touched their heads. They craned their necks all the way up.

“Goddess, please,” Milton said. “Whatever you ask of us, we’ll do it. What can we do to convince you we don’t want any trouble?”

She stared down at them, an icy expression. With a wave of her hand, two pillars of leaves shot up from underneath Rennard and Milton, raising them all the way up to her chin. Her fingers closed around them, their legs sticking out of the bottom and head out of the top of her closed fists.

And with that, she turned around, took them to a corner of the grotto. Helga took a deep breath, and with her exhalation came a blue mist, expanding, growing, manifesting into a hazy circular swirl large as Helga herself.

“What about us?” Henry called.

“You may do whatever you please,” Helga said. “It won’t matter.” With that, she stepped into the mist, Rennard and Milton in hand, and they vanished.

Henry thought he’d explored nearly every corner of the grotto, pushing through the bushes, sidling past the vines and branches, though the outcome never changed, always met by an unmovable rocky surface. The grotto was too vast to explore in its entirety, he couldn’t cover everything. The hazy mist Helga had stepped through remained like some portal, though Henry didn’t dare enter it. Thinking back to her parting words, how they could do as they pleased for it wouldn’t matter, made him think there might not be a way out for him. She boasted powers beyond his understanding.

Henry returned to Ada, who had retreated higher up the slope, sitting cross-legged next to a spread of colorful flowers. Fiddling with the flowerheads, her shoulders and posture had a lifeless sag, hair sprawled over her back.

“How are you holding up?” Henry said.

Ada didn’t move. “I have had my darker days. Before I became an offgiant, in the farm when I was an offgiant. But I always had hope it might get better one day. There is no hope left. I was a magic-less giant with impaired eyes, now I’m a magic-less human with impaired eyes. A worthless little thing. Worst of all? I don’t deserve any pity. I’m not some unfortunate soul, some bystander caught in the midst who deserves none of this. I brought it on myself.”

“When did you become so bleak?”

“Henry. Everything your friend said is true. Think about that. Think of those three mages we encountered, who we took the Compass from. If they were here, they would kill me. The real question is why you are extending me so much charity.” Ada lay down on her side, her finger wandering across the flowerheads.

“I’d like to think that, through all the running, planning, fighting, trying to do with the situation we’ve been given, amidst the endless circus of trying to get by in Gintessa, I saw cracks of your personality at times, and I liked it. I believe that there was something more we enjoyed than the mere fantasies we indulged in. I’d like to think that. Am I wrong?”

Her head lowered, staring down in thought. He hoped his words were making an impact. And as Henry’s attention, like the course of a stream, ran down her naked body, from the shoulder down to the valley of her waist, back up to the hip, down her thighs and ultimately her feet, he remembered the first time seeing her in that barn. He had thought back then how she was large for her proportions, not just for being a giant. He had always seen past that.

He tried a bold move. “There will never be a time where you worship my feet and I say no.” After quoting her old words, Henry kneeled by her legs, got further down on all four, and planted a kiss on her sole.

Ada withdrew her feet.

“I will mirror your concerns now and ask,” Henry said, remaining on his position, where her feet could reach his face if she extended her legs out again, “did you just like me because I was smaller?”

“Of course not! I’ve been the one who tried to erase those doubts. Even after the arena, as joyful as our time was, I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t tell if you truly wished for any of it, what choice you would make with absolute freedom.”

“What am I choosing to do now? Ada, same size as me. Me, with all the power now.” Henry lurched forward the tiny gap there was between them, planted another kiss on her sole, then retreated.

Knees extending, her feet followed him, proffered to him like food on a platter. Henry buried his nose and mouth into her arch and kissed.

“I…” She brushed her hair aside and looked him in the eyes, morose. “I just feel guilty receiving your kindness.”

“Am I not allowed to be kind? I’m a kind person. You don’t have to feel guilty, have thoughts about whether or not you don’t deserve it. Just accept my kindness.” He kissed her feet once, twice, thrice, and he could notice the wave of relaxation settling over her legs, tension releasing. Henry stared at the wrinkles, fascinated, the same feet which had dwarfed him entirely now in front of him. He smooched her arch, went a bit harder on the rough heel, focusing on the parts he couldn’t properly tend to when she was giant. Then, grabbing her arch, Henry introduced his tongue to the kisses, savoring the soft flesh. He heard a low hum sing out from her. All her guilt, her self-loathing, her regret, if it were gathered into a ball of negative energy within her, Henry was therapeutically siphoning them out from her feet with his mouth. He chewed on the balls of her peds, working on the left one, and her right foot sat on his bald head, guiding him down on the ground. While he made out with her left foot, the right one rubbed his cheek and pinched his nose, her first show of dominance.

Irrespective of her giant status, her toes had always been long, round, and here they grappled with his face dexterously. Henry abandoned her left foot and caught the second and third toe of her right one, sucking. The toes he always made out with in their giant form as if they were a face, now he plopped them into his mouth and slithered his tongue around their length.

When he got to her big toe, Ada moaned. “Oh, Henry.” Her H-spot remained. In this size he needed to be far more precise to score that soft, lower portion of the nub, and he was sure he couldn’t emulate the gentle precision of his tinier relationship.

“An interesting exchange,” Ada said, with hints of her own playful voice back. “As a giant, the quality of the toe worship was better while the soles and heels less so. But now, it’s the opposite.”

“Quite the observation, madam researcher,” Henry said. “When might we expect this groundbreaking knowledge to reach publication?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Her big and second toe pinched his tongue. “I believe we need more material before making conclusions.” As Henry’s face and Ada’s feet were locked in their merry cuddling, kissing, smothering, pinching, licking, Ada reached for something, ripping things off a bush with the swish of branches jostling. One of her feet left Henry, raising her knee and bringing it back up. He didn’t pay much mind, but when the foot returned, the balls and toes were dyed a purplish dark-blue, and he saw the crushed pulp of blueberries between her toes.

No communication was needed. Henry lapped up the juice off her feet, nibbled at and ate the blueberry skin and flesh left there, cleaning them. He restored them as close to their previous glory as was possible, shades of dark-blue left upon them.

“You misquoted me earlier,” Ada said. “I said ‘There will never be a time when you worship me and I say no’. I didn’t specify feet.” Ada rotated, lying on her back, legs spread apart, and looking up, Henry saw her pink lips staring him in the eyes. They were swollen.

Henry didn’t crawl straight there, he kissed up along her legs, from the ankles up to the calves, to the knees, to her meaty thighs, and as with her sole and heels he could explore the flesh of her body in a way at this size he couldn’t when she was giant, planting large meaningful kisses upon her womanly flesh.

“I can’t fucking wait anymore, you tease.” Ada took the tip of his ear with her index and thumb, steering him away from her thighs and to her pussy. Henry stared at her womanhood, astonished at the fact that he’d literally been inside it.

“This smell I recognize,” Henry said. “It was like a garden before, now it’s just the flower.”

“Aren’t you the romantic? Get going now, your dinner is waiting.”

Henry ate away happily, Ada rearing her head back with a gasp. Her hand stroked the top of his head, encouraging him. “See if you can find anything in there.”

Henry stuck his tongue inside, the tip meeting a couple of balls. He fished them out. Blueberries. Henry crushed them against her pussy, blueberry mixed with her wetness, and Henry slurped it all up. Her thighs clamped his head.

“Lie down.” In unison, they both rolled aside, Ada’s knees to either side of Henry’s head. She sat on his upper chest, put her hands behind his head, and pushed him into her pussy. Henry couldn’t keep up, her hands locking him against her while her hips thrust faster and faster, riding his face. At some point he just stuck out his tongue, giving her the runway for her pussy to slide over, back-and-forward from chin to nose.

Ada quivered, gyrated, and finally released his head, leaning back. She wiped his face with her hand, then turned around, her head facing down towards his legs. Henry lifted his waist to help her pry his shorts off, throwing them away. “Henry. I believe it’s my turn to return the favor.”

The sentence existed no more than a second before her mouth fell over his erect manhood. Ada sucked from the shaft up, her tongue wrapping around his dick. Henry groaned, trying to reciprocate and reach up to the pussy hanging over him. He managed little more than a lick and kiss on her ass before collapsing back down. He came, and Ada didn’t flinch, gulping it all up.

When finished, Ada rode his face until she came, squirting over his face. Then, she lay down next to him, hugged him into her breast. With a kiss on his head, they dozed away, and even if it would last for just a moment, they grabbed the moment and cherished it, trying to remain there, this relaxed state where all their troubles were forgotten.

Helga reappeared at her own quarters through the misty portal. The quarters could not be reached physically. There was an enormous bed, vast as a farmland, with four pillars of burnished wood and curtains of glossy satin falling in hanging arches. The pillows were palatial, yellow tassels dangling from their corners. The herbage was arranged more orderly here, avenues of pink cherry trees lining the borders of a stream, shelves holding golden statues, as well as a collection of books and stacked documents. She had a watchful eye on the world above, biding her time before surfacing.

“Circumstances have changed,” Helga said, dropping them before her. They landed on two pink flower pushes, which formed two columns lining a path from the portal toward her bed. There were topiaries of armies fighting, chiseled stone rings around pools and various fountains spouting rainbowy water.

“What has changed?” Milton said, crawling out of the bush, him and Rennard gathering in the middle of the path. “Why can’t we go on like we previously decided? Establish a connection with us, and we can help you from above.”

“I don’t think so.” Helga’s foot came forward from the hem of her dress, one slow step. The boys retreated several steps, and then she took another massive stride, deliberately slow, carrying enough threat to flatten them that they had to keep their pace backwards. “Your friend and the giant he came with, they certainly aren’t allowed to leave. And that’s not something you would just accept. Every second out there, thinking of your friend, explaining to his relatives why he’s gone, mind constantly drifting down here and considering plans of how to get him out. The scenarios are endless. It is the fear of death I see on you two. But don’t worry. I will not kill you. I will give birth to you anew.”

“Give birth?” Rennard’s voice wavered, a concerned glance to his friend. Not even his intrepid nature could remain staunch against her limitless strength. “What are you talking about?”

“You will journey in my body, and I will give birth to you. When you come out from me, your loyalty to me will be steadfast, without thought or, perhaps, even memory of this life.”

“Why?” Milton yelled. “What’s the sudden problem? Was it the mention of the miracle stone?”

She raised an eyebrow, the shining dot on her forehead unmoved by whatever contractions her face made. “You simply know too much, what not even Ester knows.”

“I swear on everything holy in my life, right now and that will ever be,” Rennard hollered, “we shall not say anything.”

“No, you won’t.” Her next step was fast, aiming for them. Both dove out of the way and ran down the path with their base magics. Rennard scored a quick look back to see what she would do.

Helga was smiling.

“Come.” Rennard tapped his friend’s shoulder and veered off the path, past the row of bushes and under the short trees. The herbage was like a tiny jungle for the two, but nothing higher than the knees for Helga. They bolted past branches and bushes, kicked and slapped their way forward, and sought shelter under a willow by the pool.

“Where do we go?” Milton whispered, panting.

“I don’t know. I thought about the streams, they have to course through somewhere, right? Maybe just dive into them, I’ll burn pockets away, give us some air. It sounds ridiculous but what’s left?”

“How about returning through the portal?” Milton said. “Take us back?”

“But then you’ll be in the same room, where there weren’t many options.” The voice was Helga’s, right behind them. Startled, the boys turned to find her lying front down upon everything, her chin resting on the soil.

They dashed, but Helga snapped forward like a snake. She caught Milton’s left arm between her lips. His whelps caught Rennard’s attention, who returned. Helga was frozen like a statue, not one muscle moving, yet Milton couldn’t gain one inch of his arm back. He threw a tether at a tree and made it tighten, Rennard grabbing his free arm and pulling as well, and it amounted to nothing.

With an explosive suck, Milton vanished as if a hurricane had taken him away, slurped inside those lips. Faint groans muffled past her cheeks, Milton being wrestled around by her tongue.

“Let him out!” Rennard punched her lips, the flesh buckling in and absorbing his pitiful strength without a care. He summoned his flames and tried to torch her as much as possible, and it seemed to make less of a dent than his punches. She opened her mouth to let him see Milton, coated in her saliva.

“Milton!” Rennard rushed in to grab him, but the tongue punched him back out. The lips closed again. A faint smirk formed.

“You…” The smile Rennard had witnessed, the smirk before him now, the way she toyed with them, it removed any visage of impersonality she had tried to show them before. “You’re not some goddess or deity, you’re nothing. You’re just a fucking brat who stumbled upon… something. Miracle stone, whatever it is. You’re nothing without it!” Rennard paid attention to the tiny, radiant stone on her forehead, as large as a plum. He formed a fireball over his hand and threw it right there.

Helga flinched. As insignificant as it was, it was something. She raised her head off the ground, covering her forehead as Rennard threw more fire there. Helga opened her mouth again and presented Milton on her tongue, who lay unmoving with half-open eyes, drowsy.

“Rennard… I’m sleepy.”

“Brother, just hold on.”

Helga closed her mouth again, reared her head up, and swallowed, a distinguishable lump rolling down her throat.

“It might not be that bad,” Henry said. “Maybe you regained your affinity for magic.”

Ada gave him a light tap on the cheek. “Please.” She was currently sitting on Henry’s chest, her legs outstretched and leaving his head sandwiched between her thighs.

“The mark of an offgiant remains on your neck.” Henry smooched her left thigh. “There’s still a lot of questions.”

“I suspect the answers won’t be good.” Ada’s index finger trailed over his nose as she shaded her eyes looking up, the sunrocks giving daylight. “I don’t know what happens next, but with that giant’s power, I’m ready to just kneel. Subservience and hope for mercy. At this point, I’ll be happy just to be alive.”

Henry’s mouth stayed at her thighs, savoring her delicate flesh.

Ada smiled, patting his head. ”And as long as I’m with you. But…” She scanned the surroundings briefly, not able to see much. “How will you tell this to your friends?”

“You are not the same as before,” Henry said, “I’ve seen that. With time, they will too.”

“Maybe. But you and I are quite…” Ada’s tongue rolled along the inside of her cheeks, a sly look. “Lecherous, lustful, active. We’ll have to be on our better behavior around them. At this point, if a day goes by without your magic mouth adoring my body, I’ll feel strange.”

Henry’s mouth parted from her thigh, leaving a moist circle. “First thing you’ve got to do is quell that language, because it brings me in like the bee to a flower.”

Ada giggled. Her left knee bent, folding her leg to bring the foot in. The juicy sole hovered over him, her mature toes flexing. Henry reached up, Ada pulled back, and for a while she teased him that way. At last she let it fall, plopping her supple toes into his mouth. For a while, his tongue wrestled with her toes, sucking and kissing. Ada recruited her other foot and said, “Stick out your tongue.”

Henry extended it as far down he could, trying to touch his chin. His tongue made the perfect runway as Ada swiped her soles over it, alternating between them, left, right, left, right, heel to toe, heel to toe. Gradually, her soles stole away the moisture from his tongue.

“Keep it out,” Ada said. “It feels different like this. It feels…” Ada turned her eyes up absently, index scratching her chin, rolling her mouth around as if she were tasting wine. “Rough, scratchy, right where it needs to be. It can strike my hard ankles and stimulate them, yet without being overly rough on the soft arches.” Henry tried not to laugh, keeping his mouth and tongue still for her usage.

When her soles were done brushing him, Ada was quick to say, “Wait. Keep it out. I’ll be the one to moisten it.” Ada turned around and planted her feet to either side of him. She used his tongue the exact same way, as a runway, this time for her pussy, and this time each swipe added moisture instead of taking it, and Henry became damp with her liquids. Ada humped him faster and faster.

“Hey! Henry!” Rennard’s voice, full of distress.

As if sobered up by a bucket of ice-cold water, Ada jumped straight up, Henry following suit, emerging from behind the bush that hid them. “Rennard?”

Rennard had run out from the portal, an expression of sheer terror, one Henry had never seen on his otherwise fearless friend. Henry jogged down the slope to meet him. “What happened? Where’s Milton?”

Rennard clutched Henry’s forearms. “She, she ate him!” The frantic quiver of a cry was in his voice. “She fucking ate him! Swallowed him whole before my eyes.” He threw a finger towards the portal. “She’s coming. We can’t do anything.”

A giant arrived, not the one they expected. With a rush of crinkling leaves and branches, Ester stepped out from a wall of herbage, a section Henry could have sworn he had checked and found nothing. “Who’s that?”

“You!” Rennard ran towards her, every two seconds with a hectic peek back at the portal.

Henry followed him, Ada trailing last.

“Your goddess is nothing but a power-hungry devil,” Rennard bellowed. “The devil herself. She swallowed my friend, she plans on killing us!”

Ester’s shoulders rose shyly, a glance at Rennard, Henry, Ada, a quick scan of the surroundings. “Uhm, what do you mean? What did the Goddess do?”

“Talk some sense into her! She ate my friend and she’s planning on ending us all.”

Ester had no proper response.

“I told you to stay in the throne room, Ester.” Helga stepped out of the portal, marching towards them.

Rennard signaled to where Ester had emerged, Henry and Ada running after him. Just as he shouldered his way past the first layer of herbage, a green glow bloomed from the vegetation and blasted him, Henry, and Ada back, thrown all the way to the waterfront of the pond.

“Goddess, what’s going on?” Ester said as the three collected themselves.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Helga said, “now return. I shall explain later.” Helga opened her closed fist, releasing a flying thread resembling Milton’s tethers. Like a bird of prey, they homed in on Rennard, ensnaring his legs. He tripped over. Henry returned to his side, but before him he saw the great green dress, knees hitting the ground, then two palms, and then Helga’s face descending upon them.

Henry activated his arts, clutched Rennard’s wrist, about to throw him over his back. Before anything of what he had in mind happened, Helga’s lips clamped around Rennard’s torso, another jerk ensuring her teeth had him too. With his art of the fighter, Henry did compete with the casual hold Helga had on Rennard, but it ended with a slurp sucking Rennard inside. Slivers of flame trailed out between her lips, Rennard’s efforts in display, but Helga didn’t flinch. Henry punched her chin, cheeks, nose, throwing blasts of pure energy. The helplessness washed over him, draining motivation, arresting all further attempts. Henry wasn’t pounding into a resilient thigh or back, this was her nose, her cheeks, what ought to be sensitive targets, yet his attacks didn’t even make Helga raise her head to escape his reach. She simply remained down at ground level, taunting him with her inaction, toying with Rennard in her mouth.

Ester stood frozen, not having obeyed Helga’s command to leave, yet not helping either. She observed, her fingers fidgeting together. Ada stood with her mouth open in shock, cowering next to a boulder. Henry saw the fear in Ada, understanding this fate awaited them as well.

“Fucking bitch!” Rennard yelled, muffled from within her mouth. Henry gathered all he could into one strong dropkick, pounding into her cheek. Her lips parted momentarily, and Rennard had grown drowsy just like Milton had before being swallowed.

Amid the hurricane of panic that kept hurling frenzied thoughts around Henry’s mind, of his friends dying, the end of his future, the complete flip from his delightful time with Ada to the horror this was, one phrase stuck out like a needle and took his attention for a second.

The miracle stone on her forehead.

Arm ready, Henry jumped up over her eyebrows and swung his arm. It wasn’t a punch; his index, ring- and middle finger were poised forward, arm shooting forward. Henry struck the tiny globe on her forehead, right on its side, and angled his wrist to hit it with an outward scoop.

The miracle stone was displaced, launched away by Henry’s strike. A network of blue veins cut through Helga’s face, gripped by sudden seizures, groaning, her skin graying. The miracle stone sailed through the air and cracked onto the boulder next to Ada, shattering into a small and large piece. The large piece flied straight into Ada’s open mouth, settling in the back of her throat, and with a convulsed choke and reflex, Ada gulped it down. She doubled forward and held her throat, barely able to as much as grimace.

Rennard threw himself out of Helga’s bottom lip, Henry catching him and retreating from there. Helga’s face was demented, drawn-out, a horror-painting, her skin crepitating like dry clay. One could notice the fight she tried to make, her tremulous, decaying hand reaching for Ada, trying to remain upright. But she collapsed, her dress and skin turning to ash, and she shrunk rapidly, from her hundred feet height to seventy, fifty, thirty, down to a gray, pallid, human corpse, like a painted mannequin, the corpse she would have been had the miracle stone not sustained her life for so long.

Amidst the piles of ashes, Milton surfaced with a sharp gasp, stumbling forward.

“Milton,” Rennard groaned, returning to his senses as Henry let him stand on his own. Despite his own condition, he reached for Milton. “Thank God.”

But the spectacle wasn’t over. Another groan took their attention, but unlike Helga’s feeble, dying sound made of a person in sickbed, this one was vitalized, an energetic war cry. Everything was the exact reverse. Ada’s skin turned a vibrant, young hue, little welts and scars vanishing, and before Henry finished the thought, it happened.

Ada grew.

“Goddess!” Ester rushed forward to the site, falling on her knees, hysterically sifting through the mounds of ash, hoping to find something. It didn’t take long for her energy to subside. “You… You killed her.” The words dripped with malice. But Ester was shrewd. She did not turn her anger towards them, instead the frown went to the boulder the miracle stone had struck, and she crawled there. Ester’s hands whisked through the brushes, searching for something lost.

Ester found the chip of the miracle stone, the tinier fragment from the break. She pinched the miniscule thing between index and thumb and pressed it onto her tongue, slipping it in and swallowing, then backing off.

“Milton, you alright?” Rennard helped his friend up, both of them covered in saliva. Rennard had a slumberous blanket over him yet, Helga’s sleeping spell beginning to weaken. Rennard hugged him. “Oh, God. I thought you were lost. I have never known anything worse.” He turned to Henry. “What in lord almighty’s name happened?”

Henry couldn’t take his eyes off Ada, her naked splendor back in its full form. “I went for the miracle stone, on her forehead. Knocked it off, it shattered, and a large piece flied into Ada’s throat.” Ada had not merely returned to her previous form. Her skin was vibrant and sprightly, the caramel tan from all her time under the sun gone, replaced by a pale and pure hue. And her green eyes were back, the scars around them no more.

Ada ogled her own hands, watched the distance, down at Henry, Rennard, and Milton, blinking rapidly. “I can see. I can see everything clearly again.” Her smile competed with her gape, bliss and awe holding her captivated. The tears collected on the bottom of her eyes, one of them trailing down her cheek. Ada wiped her eyes, sniveling, letting a short laugh come.

Henry too was happy. But on Rennard, the look he gave up to Ada was one of measured concern, a stark contrast to the air of celebration.

Milton teetered and fought to keep his legs straight, leaving Rennard’s side. “Is she dead? Is that nasty creature gone?”

“That’s what’s left of her,” Henry said, pointing to the indistinguishable gray, plain shape of a human body resting amidst the small dunes of ash. Some of it had gone into the pool, drifting along the water.

“I knew it,” Rennard said. “An ordinary girl who stumbled upon great power.”

“She was the heart of our world.” They all turned to Ester, who stood there with teeth clenched and teary eyes glaring. “You murdered the lifeblood of thousands of people!”

“She was a power-hungry, oppressive, brat,” Rennard returned. “Are you blind? You didn’t see what she was doing?”

“All of us thrived under her, there was not a person dissatisfied. She wasn’t killing you, she would have given birth to you anew, made you merry, diligent people who wouldn’t find a complaint in the world in this beautiful home.”

“Yeah, turn us into the brainless cattle like the rest of them,” Rennard said. “How is that any different from killing us? We have our own homes, and it’s not here.”

“You.” Ester’s hands balled into fists, fingertips red from pressure. “You have killed this nation!” She threw her hands up as if receiving a gift from above, then tossed them forward, releasing a stream of glitter. All three of the boys jumped away, the glitter exploding where they’d been in a spurt of dirt and pebble and ash. Rennard saw her advance on him, readied fire over his hand.

A massive foot stomped between them, the quake felt across the grotto. Rennard’s eyes tracked up along the naked leg, seeing Ada and her ample enormity stand between them. Ada was about twice as tall as Ester. “You have no power over us anymore,” Ada told Ester. “You mistress is gone, and you are nothing.”

Ester retreated with her palms aimed behind her, the walls of herbage trembling with life. Arms glowing green, Ester pointed them at Ada. Flexible pillars made of numerous vines, like the threads of a rope, shot out after Ada.

Ada opened her hand, able to feel the difference within her, as if she had new organs, new places to touch and feel. She reached for this newer place, greeted by a surge of energy. “I don’t think SO!” Ada shouted, clenching her fist, a flash of brightness. The vines and Ester were knocked back, the pool of water rippling, debris loosened from the roof. Ada stared at her hands again, bewildered. “I can feel it, overwhelming, empowering.”

Henry, Milton, and Rennard gathered behind Ada. Rennard whispered to his friends, “What do we do now?” Henry found the disconcerting attitude in Rennard’s approach, the assumption that the three were on their own, Ada excluded.

“You cannot stop us,” Ada said to Ester. “We are leaving.”

Henry leaned over to Rennard’s ear. “It’ll only be done with Ada.”

“But how…” Ester didn’t bother getting up, lying like a child, head buried in the bushes. “What are we supposed to do?”

“You will have to do without Goddess Helga,” Milton proclaimed, entering the conversation, standing between Ada’s feet. “You can lead these people. They respect you.”

Ester brought her face out. “Look at all the plenty around you. It will soon die without Goddess Helga.”

“You ate some of the miracle stone,” Henry said.

“It was no more than a fifth, if even that.” Ester pointed at Ada, accusatory. “You have to succeed her. Whatever Goddess Helga’s power came from, you took nearly all of it.”

“I’ve no interest in ducking around a network of tunnels, never to see the sky again.”

“Why not?” It was Rennard who spoke, and Ada turned and looked down to see him. “You’ll be viewed like a literal goddess for these peasants, and they can lick you and do whatever you fancy every day.”

Henry swatted his friend on the shoulder, hissing. “You don’t fucking know her.” They exchanged a moment of angry eye contact.

“I think my previous answer serves well,” Ada said. “I’m not living underground.”

“But the amount I inherited won’t be near enough,” Ester said. “We will see far less yield.”

Milton shrugged, though not without a sympathetic look. “To be heartless, I must simply say that you will have harder times ahead of you. Hardship hits everyone. Civilizations survive anyway. This is your opportunity to become a leader, not merely by whatever artificial power Helga had, but true leadership.”

Rennard smirked. “That’s my boy.”

“He is right,” Ada repeated. “Now you make sure to return my dress and backpack, what I wore when I came, when your pretend goddess shrunk me.”

“I know where it is.” Ester rubbed her forehead, finding it in her to get up. “I hid it so no one would see it. They don’t know about giants.”

Ada pointed to the part of the shrubbed walls Ester had entered through. “Then you make sure to get out there, clear everyone from the route out of here so no one sees us when we walk out, bring back my dress, and we will not see each other again. Us not being seen is to your benefit, not ours, so stall, do a poor job, or plan something else, and we’ll just waltz out of here ourselves.”

Ester didn’t say yes, didn’t say no. “How will I tell them all of the goddess’s disappearance? How will they come to terms?”

Rennard strut forward confidently. “As we said, tough times ahead.”

“You’ll handle it,” Milton said. “And it’ll make you stronger.”

Whether his words had an impact or not, one couldn’t tell. Ester wiped her eyes and left, nudging her way past the wall of foliage. That left Ada, Henry, Rennard, and Milton alone.

“How are you feeling?” Henry said to Ada. Ada took one, two steps forward, a newfound appreciation for her size, flattening the bushes under her soles, her curling toes pulverizing all the herbage caught in between. She got on her tiptoes and spread her arms wide, open to receive an embrace. The base of the blueberry bushes, the branches of the apple and cherry trees, they all extended, reaching for her.

“I can feel them,” Ada said airily. “It’s like owning a new sense, a new place I can tap into, commune with, and there are so many ways it is expressed.”

“And your eyes truly healed?”

“Yes!” She turned around with a smile of pure delight, the innocent happiness of a child.

“Ada.” Henry pointed at her throat. “Your offgiant’s mark, it’s gone.”

“What?” Ada couldn’t see the area under her jawline well, but she pressed her chin in, peering down, feeling with her fingers. “You’re right.”

“Leeman turned out correct,” Henry said with a laugh. “That strange old man in the arena, he was spot on. To heal your eyes was a trivial thing for the miracle stone.” When the silence settled, Henry noticed how alone he and Ada were in their reveling. On his other side, Milton and Rennard said nothing, timidly staying back. Rennard especially, the tension oozing off him was unmistakable.

“So…” Milton’s voice was unobtrusive, trying to get Henry’s attention. “What happens when we get outside?”

“You boys,” Ada said, sensing their reservations. “I’m assuming your first priority is returning home, back to your village in Humius?”

“Always has been,” Rennard said, petulantly.

“Three humans waltzing around alone in Gintessa, you won’t get by without notice, or trouble. I will take you there.”

Henry smiled to his friends, but they weren’t so eager to spill their joy.

“Everything you said about me was right.” Ada started walking, one lazy footstep at a time. “And you had all the power over me, just today, and you showed mercy when I didn’t deserve any of it. Behind that loud mouth, there is a large heart.” Ada got on one knee before getting too close, not towering over them. “You made me feel guilty with your kindness, so much that I wished worse on myself, I wished that you’d struck me with your flames, that maybe if I suffered, we would be even. But now that guilt has turned into a desire to be better. And I will begin here, by taking you across the border, back to your home. So let me help you.”

For Ada and Henry it was a return, for Milton and Rennard a new place, but they emerged out of the tunnel unlocked by the Compass. Ada could feel the magical gateways and opened it herself, thus they left the Compass with Ester, not taking this key into their world back out. The population was terribly defenseless now.

Milton and Rennard ran up to the tarn, assessing surroundings, while Henry and Ada had a moment of remembering. Although they had not been under the mountains for long, that time was spent with the genuine fear of death, belief in how they might not see freedom and a spread of skies above them again. And to arise from that, they did with a newfound appreciation. Especially Ada, who with a visit to her old human perspective allowed her to enjoy the giant size again.

Ada was clad in what she’d descended into the tunnels with, the brown sleeveless dress reaching her knees and with the backpack slung behind her. The Richwood symbol was embroidered between the bosom. But to say Ada looked the same would be a lie. Now she was revitalized, eyes back to function, skin vivid and pale with the caramel sunburn effaced. Even her hair had a sheen to it, the shades of brown and yellow resplendent under the sunlight.

“How do you plan on taking us home?” Milton asked her.

“By walking there.” Ada explored her throat again with her fingers. “I no longer carry the offgiant’s mark. Pure giants can enter Humius. And you’ll be safer with me.”

“What do you plan on doing afterwards?” Henry said.

“I’m not sure.” Ada stared over the ridgelines. “I’m thinking of those islands Leeman mentioned, just off the coast to the southeast, where there’s rumors of offgiants fleeing to, where they’re free and build a life for themselves. That might be something to pursue. Come.” Ada kneeled, placing Henry on her left shoulder. She presented her palm to Milton and Rennard. They stepped on it, Ada giving them her right shoulder to share. They were not entirely comfortable like Henry, and only Henry asked Ada questions which concerned her own wellbeing.

With tufts of her hair for the boys to hold onto, Ada began the march. “A straight south is the plan, right?”

“Yes,” Rennard said.

“Once we get to Humius, we shouldn’t have any trouble making our way around.”

“Also, a new dress for me.” Ada patted the embroidery between her breasts. “This is the denomination for the lowest ranks. It would surprise some to see it on one without an offgiant’s rank. For the perceptive, I will draw attention. We don’t want attention.”

“Aren’t you all-powerful now?” Rennard said. “That goddess-character’s strength was something else. If you’ve inherited that, then it’ll take far more than average border guards to stop you.”

“You three aren’t the only ones concerned with a quiet leave.” Ada balled her hands together. “As much as I can feel this power, it is mysterious. I am a fledgling. A giant in Richwood clothing charging towards the border in a magical onslaught, that’ll get plenty of attention, and it won’t leave me alone.”

“To be fair,” Henry said, “they would treat you much better now. A pure giant, with unique, never-before-seen powers.”

“There’s a select few who know me there. They’ll wonder how I got rid of the mark, what’s happened. It’ll be riddled with suspicion. Even if I wanted to find allies in Gintessa, powerful ones even, I would be hopeful over that prospect.” Ada crested a hill, the step she took off it a pronounced kick, her teeth clenched. “But no. I don’t want allies who only care for my power, for what I can provide them. Damn these self-serving, walking mountains of arrogance.”

Rennard nodded solemnly. “Amen to that.” Ada tramped on a while longer. A calm stream prompted the suggestion of a short break before the journey ahead of them. There, as the three boys drank and spoke some, Ada felt a bit of hunger. Her mind went to the many fruits growing under those mountains.

Something pointy prickled her right foot, underneath the arch. She pulled her foot away, revealing a rough, wooden stalk. Even with her foot removed, she felt it, like an ethereal rope tied between it and this new sense she had. Ada contacted the rope, not letting go. With her attention thrown like a spotlight towards it, she strengthened its presence in her mind, and her attention was like nourishment. The stalk poked out, at first like a thin, wooden finger, but then the branches emerged from its increasing thickness, leaves unfurling.

“Woah.” The three boys turned, watching it pillar higher, and higher, and yet higher, beyond a normal tree, and amongst its branches, oranges grew in ample clusters. Just as the tree continued beyond the normal, so did the oranges, reaching the size of watermelons.

Another exclamation of awe from the boys brought Ada back. Having lost her concentration, she’d poured her attention on it, letting it get out of control. The orange tree froze, tall as Ada herself, the bunches of melon-sized oranges weighing its branches down.

“You meant to do that?” Milton called out.

“Uhm, sort of.”

“Well, lunch is sorted.” Using their base magics, they scaled the trees like monkeys and helped themselves to the oranges. Ada ate them as well, their small size compensated for by how plenty they were. They were ripe and luscious.

“Providing food like this,” Milton said between bites. “Its value cannot be measured.”

“Yeah.” Ada bit her lips, as nervous as she was excited. Many would be interested in her, in ways which might overlook her own wishes.

Everyone readied to move on, Ada seating them on her shoulders again. Rennard said, “Helga, she was interested in building a force under there. Nurture her own giants, then storm the world up here. She preached about her kindness, but I could feel the same old power-hungry, bloodthirsty bitch behind that visage.”

“She was calculative, despite her strength.”

“No wonder,” Henry said. “She perished with a punch in the right place. Funny how, despite all her cautiousness, she was arrogant in just the wrong time. She could have easily kept her forehead out of reach.”

Ada swiped her fingers over her forehead, watching her forearms. “I don’t know if it’s appeared the same way on me. I swallowed it.”

“That seems far better. No obvious weak point. Only downside is you didn’t get the whole thing.”

“I…” Ada smiled. “I can live with that. It would be an aristocrat’s entitlement not to.”

Their march continued for the rest of the day, Milton and Rennard recounting their encounter with the Charmer, the thirst and duress she put them under to ensure her charming magic worked, the outlandish experience of their bewitchment, to genuinely believe the Charmer was everything. Rennard was shyer with the details while Milton divulged the domination they endured.

They left the lush mountains and the sunrocks upon them, left the hilly landscape, and arrived at the fields. Henry and Ada could see the avenue they’d entered through, the property where the lady with her hurt child hollered for help, where they’d gone after the three mages.

Ada skirted the farmlands. A giant exited the village through a main pathway, checking her satchel and arranging several letters. A mailwoman. Ada approached her and asked directions, the quickest route to Humius, how long was left. She told them the quickest path southeast crossed emptier forests, taking less than two days, but outlaws were known to have taken residence thereabout. The one which went straight south took between two to three days for the mailwoman, but was safer. Grateful, Ada left her.

“Southern one, I’m assuming?” Ada said.

“Yes. We could make it faster too with you using my energy.”

Ada patted her thighs. “I feel fine so far. I think my constitution in general has seen a blanket improvement.”

Rennard watched the giant houses, the paths, the civilians ambling about. “It’s fine for us to just waltz around here?”

“Of course,” Ada said.

“Feels strange to see so many of them casually pass. Not one giant has turned out an ally so far.”

Ada cleared her throat.

Rennard had to concede. “Enemy turned ally, indeed. For once, it feels good to have the big legs walk for us.” They crossed the village through the concourse cutting across its middle. The idea of not drawing too much attention, of staying hidden, it dissolved halfway through as not many spared them more than a glance. Rennard and Milton understood how average they appeared to the rest, how few reasons there were to stop or even bother them.

Out the village, Henry suggested sprinting using his energy. The three boys held firm in the space between her rucksack and upper back, holding her dress, and Henry planted his palms on her, linking his stamina. Ada pulled the rucksack close to sandwich the boys against her back, then ensued her jog. Her feet pounded the unpaved road for over an hour until Henry called it. Milton and Rennard returned to her shoulders, while Henry lay on her palms, resting, enabling them to cover distance still.

“At this pace, we should make it across the border by tomorrow,” Milton said. “I still can’t believe it.” Ada marched all towards sunset. The residents at the next village provided them with water. Then they followed the path a way out and snook off by the roadside, finding a brief clearing under the tall birch trees. There Ada put the rucksack down, sighing.

“Henry, isn’t it your turn to tell us about your journey?” Milton asked.

And Henry did, detailing the bounty hunter he met right after Milton and Rennard were kidnapped, the encounter with the Charmer’s servant, the teleportation, the Richwood ‘hound’ that came after him… and then his details were elusive, scattered, and incohesive. He dodged questions.

Ada entered the conversation from where she sat against a tree. “He isn’t telling the truth. I wandered those mountains after you blasted my face, was found by Richwood people. One of their healers managed to salvage some of my sight, otherwise I would have been fully blind. I told them three humans from Humius had come and attacked me. I lied, made myself the victim, let their hounds use the scent of my pussy to locate Henry and bring him in. In the arena, I fought against Henry, won, and my prize was to receive him as a slave. He is officially my slave.”

Henry was abashed, seeing his friends processing the story.

Rennard said, “And in which part of this did you start becoming friends? How have you changed so much?”

“After that, our time together was pleasant. But I felt guilty, I knew all of it was built on actions I couldn’t defend, and truth be told, I had nothing. I was in no position to be charitable. That can explain, but not justify, the things I did. And when I became small, what terrified me the most of being a half-blind, magic-less human, was that I felt I could never repent. My humility would mean nothing, my good deeds would mean nothing, my kind words empty. Is she nice because she’s powerless? Those doubts would never end, it would seem false. But now I might be one of the most powerful giants, individually. Returning you home after I did what I did is the least I can do, and to be kind now, from this position, it is sincere. It means something. I apologize for everything.”

The somber tone overwhelmed them, unsure of how to respond at first. Milton and Rennard nodded to one another.

“At first, I put all my trust into Henry,” Milton said, pointing to his friend. “But if he were gone now, I would have no qualms trusting you. Don’t ask for an apology, you have more than made up.”

Henry woke during predawn. Ada had made three beds of mosses for them, shaded underneath a large tree which alone had generated an abundance of apples, pears, and pomegranates. Now it was withering already, the leaves yellow, the bark flaky and shriveling. The embers of their fireplace had gone cold, having burned with Rennard’s flames. The three were covered under the same piece of cloth, from Ada’s rucksack.

Henry got up, yawning, stretching. The air was child through his throat. Ada’s head was near the fireplace, her monumental body stretching out from their little campsite. He noticed the grass near her had an extra sprightliness to their green shade, a few flowerheads poking up.

Henry ambled about, and the sight of Ada’s feet caught his attention. Henry moved over to them, a wary eye at his friends, still asleep. Ada slept on her side, both her feet lying sideways, the right one atop the left. Rounding her heel, he fell out of view from his friends, able to adore the wall of feet before him. He remembered these in human size yesterday, brushing all over his face and tongue, their creamy texture melting into him. Henry’s manhood stirred under his shorts. Moving along their length brought him to her toes at last. Apart from his usual fascination with them, they felt different now. Not just pretty, they belonged to a pretty person. The character Ada showed yesterday, his friends now convinced, it made him proud to be at her side. He’d fallen in love with Ada, and it made her even prettier.

Henry snuck closer to her toes. He didn’t want to wake her, didn’t want to put her in the awkward situation of being turned on but unable to do it. They couldn’t do it in front of his friends. With utmost caution, Henry kneeled and lay his face against the underside of her third toe, grazing it with his nose. He inhaled the scent of all her walking, the dried sweat, nuzzling against it like a cat against someone’s leg. Henry dared to stick out his tongue, taste the salty dirt on the nub of her toe. It took all his willpower to resist grabbing the soft flesh with his mouth, to kiss, bite, to lose himself. This lust wouldn’t do, not around his friends. Henry whipped out his manhood, and with the mere touch of his tongue and nose, he arrived at ejaculation in less than half a minute. With a faltering moan, he allowed himself one kiss, and his seed shot out into the grass.

He heard shuffling, from where he’d slept himself. His friends had woken. Henry pulled up his shorts and rounded Ada’s other side, to enter the campsite from around Ada’s head and not her feet. Although he for a moment had wished he and Ada had some privacy, seeing Rennard rub his eyes and get up, Milton turning about and greeting the morning light, it felt right. Compared to when he had woken out alone with Ada, there had always been the questions fraught with worry, forever unanswered. Now there was nothing. They were safe and headed home.

Ada didn’t wake long after. After a breakfast of produced strawberry, tomato, and peanuts, Ada put them on her shoulders and they were back on the southern path. After an hour of that, she jogged with Henry’s energy for an hour and a half, and thereafter Ada walked for another hour. Already, they arrived at Hemden, the town closest to the border. Ada had to find herself a new dress. If she wore the current Richwood garb, she would receive questions at the border.

“Tell them you’ll get them a fruit tree at their property,” Rennard suggested.

“I’m not sure erecting a fruit tree out of nothing goes well with lying low,” Milton said, to which Ada gave an approving nod. Instead, however, as Ada asked the locals where she might find new clothes, a shopkeeper recommended one of her friends out on the farm who had torn her dress yesterday.

There, the lady in question presented the blue garb with a pattern of green flowers from the waist down. The sleeves reached the elbow, the shoulders somewhat puffed out. From the hemline at the left shin, a tear zipped all the way up to the thigh. The lady offered it at a low-price, not free, but Ada had nothing.

That was when Rennard pointed to a large, empty basket and asked if it could be traded for pomegranates enough to fill the basket. The lady accepted. Ada left the premises, away from witnesses, where she summoned the tree and filled as much as her rucksack could fill, as well as pulling the hems of her dress and stocking them up there. She returned to the lady, trading them for the dress.

Back out beyond anyone’s eyes, Ada undressed. “You boys have seen me naked enough not to blush, haven’t you?”

“I’ve seen the insides of your cunt,” Rennard said, and she chuckled. Ada’s ample bosom jiggled as she slipped the Richwood outfit over her, tossing it aside. The blue dress fit well, albeit slightly too small given Ada’s large size. With the tear up to the thigh, Ada’s bare leg flashed out as she moved. Rennard burned the brown Richwood dress to leave nothing behind.

They were on their way again.

“I realize, we weren’t simply unlucky all this time,” Milton said, reacting to how unhindered their current travels were, “but we were out in the middle of nowhere. Encounters with the more indecent people are bound to happen out there.”

Ada put on a guilty smile. “I’m just here pretending you boys aren’t talking about me.”

“To be fair, we were in trouble before we stumbled on you in that farm,” Rennard said. “Who knows if we would have had an easy way home otherwise. Maybe greater dangers awaited us in another world, where you hadn’t done what you did and we were left on our own.”

Ada made in impressed expression. “I appreciate the sentiment.”

They marched for the entire morning. Not one mountain in sight for the past hours, the landscape had changed to flatter terrain. Ada jogged again with Henry’s energy.

At a sign, she stopped. The border was ahead.

“Ok, rest up and put on your best behavior,” Ada said.

“It shouldn’t be much of a hassle,” Milton said. “We’re from there.”

Ada walked casually towards the giant gatehouse through which the road went. It heralded a massive flag, the Richwood symbol, announcing to any eyes afar that this was a station to cross. The fields were open and unobstructed. Crossing the border without notice was far from impossible, but the chance of being caught wasn’t worth it, especially with how pure giants were allowed to enter Humius.

“Greetings,” the guard said to Ada and the boys on her shoulders.

“Hi, madam. I am returning these three to their homes. Through a series of unfortunate events, they ended up deep and couldn’t get out.”

“Hmm.” The issue was out of the common guard’s authority, so she led them into the building and up to her officer. It reminded the boys of where it all started, the giant guardhouse at Trester, where their prank with Lily began this cataclysm.

There, the officer, a middle-aged giant, asked the boys where they were from. They detailed their village and home to her, that they were three mages in training having reached their arts. They gave the names of the schools they practiced under, if they had, in the case where Henry was self-taught, and answered other general questions that made clear they were from there. Then, at last, the officer dipped a wad of cloth into a special solvent and rubbed it over Ada’s throat to see if an offgiant’s mark hadn’t been concealed through ointments or other known means. Ada’s pale skin remained untarnished. With a document given, they were allowed through. The document detailed the date Ada had come through, at what station, a very brief summary of her visit, and the date, a week later, at which she would be expected to return to Gintessa. Giants guards in Humius would meet her and ask for the document.

“They’ve got things well-arranged,” Ada said, folding the paper and putting it in her rucksack. Just into Humius, the path remained large for a giant. “But I won’t be returning.”

“You’re really going to bet on those islands to the southeast?”

“Leeman turned out right before. And even if I’ll try to move humbly, not bring attention, if attention does come, I can stay safe from most things. I’ve got the freedom to explore options. The islands are first. So, anyway…” Ada paused before a crossroad, the large path splitting into a few smaller ones, two of them heading into the nearby village from different angles, another still large and ongoing. The signpost didn’t reach Ada’s knee, and Ada kneeled for the human signpost. Milton knew the village name.

“We’re close,” he said, exhilarated. “Trester, where we went through previously, is much further north than this is, so we’ve gone down quite a bit. What’s left is going west.” He picked the path for her, giving directions. Ada had to move alongside the road, to not outcompete the humans who traversed it and put them in a position where it was either moving aside or being flattened by her soles. The cattle weren’t startled, the horse drawing the wagons unworried. They were used to giants, but Ada still tread gently and paid respect.

Milton and Rennard watched the human-sized houses, the citizens roaming around and busy with their everyday lives. “Home.”

Off the village grounds and into the woods, Ada resumed her faster pace, her feet covering more than half of the narrow road. All the three boys felt the thrilling tingles touch their chest. It was only noon, and they would get there today.

But Henry wasn’t free of concern. Returning home had been everything that mattered, yet now, to depart from Ada put the bitter into the sweetness. He was losing something. He thought longingly of the lovesome episodes they had shared, both her giant and human form. He imagined how easy it would have been to bring her home if she truly had nowhere else to go, had she not been giant. He still wished to be with her, he wondered if she did as well. Ada had been the one who lewdly cast herself at him first, covering him in her feet, swallowing him with her pussy. Now he feared the relationship had swapped, she with her power and plenty to look forward to had forgotten him, and him obsessing over not losing her. Her silence on the topic further plagued him. She had offered to take them back, a show of kindness, and he wondered if she mirrored an ounce of Henry’s melancholy over their coming departure. The minutes, hours, they were passing, Ada getting nearer and nearer to their home, the topic yet unexplored. He wished for a moment alone with her. Perhaps the presence of Milton and Rennard was the true issue here.

Milton pointed across the woods. “Just cut across here, over that hill.” Ada ignored the road according to his suggestion, ascending the hillock and down the other side, pushing past the chest-high trees.

An interruption to the trees came, stepping onto a road. “This is it!” Rennard called. Activating his base magics, he hopped down, then Milton, then Henry. This was where Lily had come stampeding over them.

Rennard stared down the familiar road. “We’re here.”

“Would this be a good place to leave you?” Ada asked.

“It’s perfect. We’re immensely grateful. Forget everything in the past.”

“I won’t.” Ada put her hand on her heart. “I know you didn’t exactly pop into my life and feed me the miracle stone, but it was the storm of events that came with you, and it’s correct to say that without you, none of this would have happened. Without you, I’d still be in that farm, drudging away another terrible and mundane day.”

Milton half-bowed. “What’s more satisfying is seeing how much you’ve changed.”

Although she spoke to everyone, her eyes crossed Henry’s. “I’ll remember you three. Now, I will go eastwards. If I am ever lost, I’ll pass by, trying not to be a burden.”

“Please do come by.”

“Well then.” Her feet twisted, turning, facing the other end of the road. “Farewell.”

Watching those pale, dirt-stained soles he had made so much love to, which carried them so far, kick one step after the other farther and farther down the road, it consumed Henry with an emptiness. For a second, he forgot how close home was, forgetting this was the anticipated moment, how they had spent their nights dreaming of being here. And here he was, a pit within him, a hollowness consuming all meaning.

Milton and Rennard were on their way back, their steps springy, speaking of what they would say. Henry trailed after.

“Go after her.”

Henry snapped up. Both his friends had stopped, looking him in the eyes. “Huh?”

Milton just repeated himself. “Go after her.”

Rennard groaned. “Come on man, she’s getting away. Go and have your private goodbyes, we’ll wait here.”

Henry spent another second before it clicked. And when it clicked, he turned on his arts and bolted down the path. As long as she kept it at a leisure walk, he would catch up. The road would turn ahead, wrapping around the hill Milton had told her to take a shortcut over. The path showed a steady rhythm of her footsteps, which Henry didn’t think he’d need, but they helped him notice when they stopped appearing.

Henry halted, backed up. Where the footsteps ended, few trees to the side were slightly bent over, entangled in one another, a few branches broken. He recognized the giant’s path well. Proceeding down that way, her shapely feet had left decent impressions there as well. They led out to a grassy openness against a hillside, where they had confronted Lily after Henry had stuck to her sole.

And against that hillside, Ada sat, hands on her knees, watching the skies thoughtfully.

He jogged over the grass with less urgency, and she noticed him. “Henry? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.”

Ada bent forward and extended her palm, and Henry got on. She brought him up, holding him under her chin and before her breast. “You’re not going home?”

“I am.”

“Oh.” The deflation in her voice was clear, one of disappointment. “For a moment, I thought you decided to come with me. It really would have been a wish come true.”

“Yeah… for me too, in some ways.”

Ada brought up her other hand with a halting gesture. “Henry, no, don’t let me convince you of anything or make you guilty. You should be going home.”

“I know. But there’s also a time to leave home. And at that time, I would want to be with you.”

“This isn’t the end,” Ada said. “Far from it. I can visit. No, I will visit. You can be sure of it. I’ll have to play my cards right here, but as it looks, I’m a free woman now.”

“When will you visit?”

“I don’t know, but I will.” Her face flied forward to him, smacking a swift kiss onto his torso. “This is but a temporary separation, think of it that way.”

Henry smiled. “Honestly, this is all I wanted. It felt like we never got our chance to talk, to give our farewells.”

“Right? I thought so too, but I didn’t want to split you from your friends. It feels good to have gotten a word in. But remember, you shouldn’t be the one seeking me out, I’ll be in far less danger than you out in the road. Trust that I’ll come.”

“I will.”

“And Henry.” Ada kissed him again, and this time her lips lingered close to him. “I love you.” Her breath was warm on his chest.

“I love you too.” He kissed her upper lip, she his face and shoulders. They kissed for several seconds until she released him with a deep, final smooch.

Ada placed him on the ground. “Farewell for now, Henry.”

“Farewell.”