Chapter 8: Meeting

The council of elves was a good two dozen strong, though there were seats for more at the large round table. Said table was what the elves and their special winged ‘guest’ hid under and clung to as the Great Tree tumbled on down.

The council had seen centuries-old trees fall from the safety of their hollow today. They had seen many an aged home, too, crushed beneath the giant troll’s feet or carelessly tossed down her throat. But to know the Great Tree would fall, and to be in it as it did so, was a most pernicious sort of dread and despair.

The ground chamber shifted and air rushed into the hollow. It took all the occupants of the room could manage to hang on and avoid flying out the hollow, where they’d surely die upon crashing down onto the bark. Incredibly, all the council members managed to hold on, though many not without injury. One had died from the force of the impact, and a few others were crippled with broken bones and the like. One elf’s shinbone poked out just below her knee.

Great pain came from the impact, true, but not so just the injuries brought that. Pain came from knowing what the great oak’s falling entailed. The tree fell with a great earth-quaking thoom even louder and more reverberating than the steps of Bula. Those sounds were joined by that of crushed homes and more than a few trees, as the entire other half of the city was behind the Great Tree.

Smaller trees, still aged, were crushed beneath the Great Tree’s bulk, as were all the homes on those lesser trunks, and, of course, the dozens and dozens of ground-set wooden homes for the elves behind. The felling of the tree ended the lives of hundreds of elves who previously lived in the shadow of its stately trunk.

There wasn’t much time to mourn. Once the quakes from the tree ended, those of Bula’s footsteps followed. The chamber thumped and thudded in tune with the rhythmic steps till Bula was upon them. She crouched down, peering into the hollow with that face of hers: green skinned with spots on the cheeks and near the eyes. She licked her lips and stuck her hand in.

The council scrambled around the overturned table: least the ones that could walk did. As misfortune would have it, Bula grabbed one of the more uninjured elves. The council woman was lifted out with ease despite the other elves trying to tug her back by her slender legs. Bula’s finger hold was too strong, and she yanked the she-elf up and slipped them into her maw. A gulp followed.

“Mmmm~”

That curt, echoing utterance was all Bula gave in return for that elf’s life.

She reached down for more, about to grab Beimenor the council lead, when she paused. Eyes wide, she spotted the guest. Standing a mere 1 foot tall was a stark naked pointed-ear woman with rainbow hair and light-pink skin. Despite the meager size, the sparkles as she flapped those iridescent wings in flight made her more than easy to spot to the giant troll. Bula seemed to recognize what she was.

“A pixie? You were having a meeting with a pixie when I arrived? Figures, I knew you fae pests were in a partnership. Need the taller squirts to help you out huh? Or, maybe it’s the other way around?”

Rillal looked to the elves she called allies. They had met every week to discuss issues affect the Snowless Forest, and Bula’s acts were a frequent topic. Now, it seems a time had come where they met the giant troll firsthand.

The pixie nodded to Beimenor and the silver-haired woman by his side. She had wordlessly conveyed to the council her plan with just the solemn nod and the look on her face. She would distract Bula, hoping to lead the giant troll astray.

“Over here you big bully!”, shouted the pixie.

Rillal flew out of the hollow and upped her magic, spreading her pixie dust to make a disorienting light show around her body. She spun circles around the hollow at fast speeds, hoping that Bula couldn’t pluck her out of the obfuscating sparkle storm she cooked up.

Bula’s eyes followed the swirling show of light and sparkles for a short while. Rillal spoke again.

“Ha, you’ll never find the sprite village, just like you’ll never catch me!”

The pixie then continued with her plan, trying to fly off and lead Bula away. Then, the wood elves of the council could gather survivors and flee. That was what she thought would happen, but she underestimated the troll’s intelligence.

Rillal spread her wings and flapped them to soar away from Bula. Yet, to her shock and horror she was moving back towards the troll rather than away. The wind seemed to push her backwards, and it was far too late that she realized Bula had leaned forward, opened wide, and started sucking her in!

The 1ft tall pixie looked back at a gaping maw which, to her, seemed to open about 100ft tall and wide. Bands of drool thick enough to drown her dangled from the troll’s palate. The tongue was outstretched, slickened and eager for her arrival.

Rillal screamed.

--==--==--==--

A pixie! They were a rare sight given their magical tricks being oh too good for hiding and fleeing. This one seemed brave, and instead tried to trick me with clouds of magic and the like.

I think all the time around those sprites makes pixies forget just how small they are, though. I didn’t need to pluck her out of a magic cloud if I could just suck the whole thing up.

Which I did.

Whatever sparkling magic it was dissipated on my tongue with a few tingles, and I kept going to get that pixie in my gob too. She flew away, fast too, but I had more power in my lungs than she did in her body many times over. Flapping her hardest she couldn’t get away, and I felt that sweet flavor hit my taste-buds once she splatted on my tongue.

“Wait!”, she cried.

To keep her from flying away I immediately rolled my tongue back in and started savoring her. I rocked her body with my “mmm”s, no doubt, I rubbed her against the inside of my cheek to get her wings nice and wet. That would keep her in my maw should she want to speak and try to bargain with me.

As predicted, she did. She started saying something over and over. For humor and curiosity’s sake, I decided to hear her out. I moved her to the side of my other cheek with a flick of my tongue, then opened wide so her voice could reach me.

She must’ve been using magic or something, cause her voice was louder with a different sort of timbre. I probably would’ve heard it regardless, though.

“Stop, stop. I’ll take you to the sprite village just please, let me go!”

I chuckled, and she yelped as that probably jostled my spit about her tiny body or something.

“I know from experience you’ll just take me on a wild goose chase. No, your immortal life comes to an end now. I’ll find that sprite village in time. Now, down my throat you go sweet treat”

Looking into the hollow, I scooped the fae back up with my tongue and stuck the muscle out to show her off. I couldn’t really see her myself, even looking down, but from the elven gasps I heard she must’ve looked pretty humiliated and soaked in my spit. That same spit kept her held snug and from flying off and away.

I slid my tongue back in and gulped. It might’ve been wise to suck off her wings first, and pixies used them to make their pixie dust and, of course, fly. But, I was confident she couldn’t escape my body, and a bit of a fluttering feeling might be nice. Even if I slurped the wings they would’ve grown back--well, they would if she wasn’t in my stomach as she’d soon be.

I looked back into the hollow where that council met. They looked horrified and frightened. Elves were more naturally in tune with magic than some of the other little folk, but pixies and most fae were just naturally gifted at magic overall. They didn’t even need to learn it, it was innate to them. Sounds nice, but I’m far more happy with the gifts I have than those little fae do. After all, not a lot of good that magic’ll do when they’re stewing in my guts.

Point was, though, that the elves had just seen me gulp down and defeat a being they lauded and probably relied on in part for the settlement’s illusory protections.

I reached in with my left hand and grabbed another elf randomly. In the process, I must’ve wounded one with my prodding fingers as I felt a wet squish and a loud screech. Seemed to have been a leg as one of the elves screamed.

I ended up pinching up a different elf. A wiry, super thin brown-haired fellow. I brought him to my mouth, swallowed, then went back in. This time, I looked into the snack hole of a hollow before grabbing my next treat. A beautiful silver-haired elf caught my eye. She looked pretty young despite the hair color, but that was common among elves. White-ish hair didn’t necessarily mean age, after all.

I snatched her up and brought her towards my lips. I was tempted to bring her to another spot given how alluring she was: even at my size I could make out the stunning shine of her copper skin and the grace of her slender limbs. I could always explore her a bit with my tongue though.

She bathed in my exhale as I opened wide. I dragged my tongue against the front of her ornate nature-y getup, wetting those leaves, cloth and bark all while getting a hint of her flavor as she tried to push my tongue from her face. Useless, of course, as I could easily suffocate her just by laying my tongue’s weight upon her.

Before I stuffed her into my gob, though, one of the elves in the hollow piped up.

“No, please don’t eat her!”, he said. “Not my love.”

I eyed him. He was an older sort. Silver hair like hers, but with my keen eyesight I made out a few wrinkles. Old was relative, since they were both probably hundreds of years in age, but for him to have wrinkles visible to me, he must’ve been up there in years.

I ignored him, moving his lover closer to my tongue.

‘If he has an offer, he better say it quick, and it better be good.’, I thought.

“I’ll tell you where the sprite village is. Just please, spare us.”, he said.

He did have an offer, and it was good.

The other elves gasped in unison at the horror of it. They figured I cared more about revenge on the fae than the elves, and they were right. Still, to sacrifice their allies like that seemed most dishonorable to them I figured.

Not that I cared.

I moved the woman away from my mouth, then moved my free right hand into the hollow. The elves were wise enough to clear the way. My palm was open and outstretched best it could be within that hole of the felled tree. My intent was clear and that male elf hopped onto my palm. I knew he’d tell me the truth. He seemed desperate to save his love.

“Alright, I’m listening.”, I said.

“No Beimenor, don’t!” said the woman in my grip.

“Helemys please, it’s the only way to save our village!”, he shouted back.

“You can’t trust her she’s-”

I moved my thumb over the she-elf’s head to shut her up. She started fidgeting. I brought my open palm up, and this ‘Beimenor’ up with it, towards my face.

“Stop, you’ll suffocate her!”, he shouted.

“You’re not in a position to tell me what to do squirt, but if you tell me where that fae village is, I’ll spare her.”, I said.

“It’s to the north, a bit west. It’s under a large red-capped mushroom. The village is tiny, even for us, but the mushroom is huge. Well, maybe not huge to you, but you won’t miss it for sure. Now, please...”

His voice trailed off. He answered so fast it was pathetic. I smiled.

“Thanks.”, I said, then brought him towards my open maw.

--==--==--==--

Beimenor had told the troll the info. She had said thanks and not a moment later started moving him towards her open maw.

“Wait, wait!”, he shouted. “You said you’d spare us!”

She paused, a big grin on her face. Delighted malice twinkled in those green eyes on pure white sclera.

“I never said that. I said I’d spare your lover here, and I will. In fact, you can even see.”

Bula moved Beimenor’s wife towards her navel. She had moved her thumb from the she-elf, Helemys, who promptly chastised her husband.

“What have you done!”, she shouted.

Beimenor had no reply. He simply watched in Bula’s palm, angled for that purpose, as the giant troll’s left hand moved itself and his wife towards a belly ring.

The large golden hoop hung just above the navel of the green-skinned giant. Holding Helemys in-between two fingers, Bula used the other digits of the hand to pry the ring open. The segment with a sort of metal grilling pattern to it opened, and Bula started stuffing his wife inside the piercing.

“Wait no! No no you can’t!”, he shouted. His wife seemed displeased too, and tried to grab hold of the ring to keep herself out. Bula’s finger was stronger, and she stuffed the elven woman inside without too much fuss. The ring was big, but the elves were a taller race and thus the elf woman didn’t have too much room to move around in there. Seeing his wife ‘caged’ liked this brought Beimenor to near tears.

“How could you, you monster, you vile, dumb monster!”, he said.

Bula shut the ring back together. Helemys was stuck inside the piercing prison now as it hung near the troll’s tummy. Bula brought Beimenor back to her face.

“Dumb?”, she chuckled at the repeat of his words. Every utterance of hers now washed him in her humid breath. She continued.

“You’re the one that sold out another village just to spare one elf, your own lover: selfish and dumb. I heard dumb thrown around a lot by you smallfolk but it’s all by your ‘little’ standards. For example, even if I could read, would you make books my size?”

“P-perhaps if you were nice.”, he stammered.

Bula let out a belly-deep roar of laughter. She scoffed after.

“Puh-lease, don’t jest me now. Lot of good your civilization does when its stewing away in my gut. You wanna get a good look at your settlement, I’ll give you it as its gurgled away. I’ll gulp down all the other council members too, that way you can have one big last meeting in my stomach.”

“No, no stop you foul monster of a-”

Bula stuffed him into her mouth. She suckled him some, snapping his limbs with the force. Then, she gulped.

Her face moved back over the hollow.

“Time to gobble you all up. You should’ve taken my deal. I bet you’re the ones feeling real stupid right about now~”

She dug her hand into the hollow. What was left of the meting table crushed beneath her curling fingers. She scooped up a handful of the council members, and brought the elves to her mouth. That a bit of the ruined table was caught in her grasp didn’t seem to bother her one bit.

*Gulp*

The remaining council members shuddered, fleeing towards the exterior of the hollow as that giant green hand reached back in. Bula was wise to them, though, and simply dragged her hand around the curve of the hollow as though the appendage were a shovel. This way, she scooped up the last of the council, many now crippled, and brought them to her mouth.

In they went and down to her stomach they traveled. The prideful elves had their garbs sullied and their bodies slimed by the tight, slick contractions of the giant troll’s throat. Through a similarly slimy sphincter they were squeezed and plopped right into that churning gut.

Bula gave her tummy a pat, chuckling. She heard a meek voice.

“Monster!”, said Helemys. “You’re a monster! A rotten one at that.”

The she-elf yelped as Bula tilted the ring up and looked down at her prisoner.

“I’m not rotten at all, quite clean in fact. But, as far as ‘monster’ goes, I’m not quite done yet.”

Bula looked towards the last patch of intact elf settlement. It had a few waist high-trees surrounding a smattering of elven ground homes.

“There’s still a bit of this city left to wipe out.”, continued Bula.