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?”