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.