The underbrush cleared and the trees were fewer, the mountains parting from one another. Garrick exited the valley, and the road was close. It traveled along the fence of a farmland, all giant-sized. The houses of the town were in view, just north with the road. This had to be the one Liza had visited.

Garrick was tired, out of breath, but allowed himself a very short break before letting the magic shimmer through him again. He got on the road and jogged on, enjoying his freedom upon it. Though Liza’s storming of the forest had humbled him. The shocking nearness of Garrick’s recapture was a good reminder of what he was fighting. And her plan, which was a golden opportunity to overhear, put the spring in his step. This was a fight against time. Liza was taking the slaves and running away.

A giant was coming down the path, girl younger than Garrick. She wore a teal dress with a pinafore over it, a harmless expression with an innocently open mouth. She carried a pouch loyally against her chest, clearly on an errand. Garrick sprinted up to her with the intention of catching her attention, but something about the sight of her two bare feet swinging their way towards him gave him a pause. They were smaller than Liza’s, padding on the soil innocently. Although there was nothing wicked about her, giant feet summoned the sceptic in him.

“Uhm, excuse me,” she called out, a fair voice. “Do you need help?”

Garrick tried to get past her, interrupted by a pale foot cutting his path. The hem of her dress was over his head. Staring up, Garrick was met with her worried look.

“Why are you naked?”

“I’m just…” Garrick took a few steps back. “I think I’m heading into town, I need to see the guards.”

“What happened? I can take you, if you want.”

“I appreciate it. Really, I do. But it’s fine.” Garrick sidled around the arc of her toes, then resumed his enforced sprint, leaving her with perhaps more confusion than worry. He passed another giant who looked at him curiously.

Persistent on the path, Garrick saw the houses near as the farmlands were behind him. Two guards stood immediately at the entry, wearing the uniforms of vests and short skirts. “Excuse me!” Garrick cried out, rushing up to one of them, a lady with short blonde hair. “I need help! My friends, we need help!”

“Huh? What’s happened to you?” The other guard joined, four large legs towering over him.

Garrick gestured towards the mountains, which were well in sight. “Me and my friend were kidnapped by a giant in the Koll mountains. She kept us imprisoned for weeks. Have you heard about humans disappearing around those parts? It’s her doing! I just barely slipped away. Her name is Liza.”

“Liza?” The two guards exchanged a look. They knew the name.

“I swear to you.” Garrick tone was becoming a plea. “My friend is still there, with five others. She keeps us enslaved, makes us do everything she says, fucks us for her own twisted pleasure.”

“We…” The blonde raised her eyebrows, flinching from his words. “Well, those are big claims. You see, we’ve had a lot of patrols around those areas, and Liza has cooperated with us well.”

Garrick couldn’t let her go on. “No, she’s a mountain of lies! She puts on a bloody performance.” Garrick pointed. “Just down across that farm, you’ll find a forested valley. Follow it through to its other side and you’ll find her, I swear!”

The blonde got down on one knee. “We know where she lives, young man. Question is, what are you doing all the way out here alone, and naked?” The handful of passersby glanced at Garrick.

“You can’t be serious.” Garrick gave them an accusatory finger. “One of your guards, wearing the same clothes as you, she’s also in on it! Her name was Mia, that’s why you think you that place is clear. You’re getting false reports from her.”

“Mia?” The other guard spoke, tapping her peer on the shoulder. “That doesn’t surprise me. Mia can’t get trouble off her, especially her… ‘troublesome’ relation with humans.”

“Hmm.”

Garrick couldn’t interpret to which side their musing took them. He didn’t like how this matter was currently decided by whatever two guards happened to be stationed here at the periphery of the village.

“Can I visit the guardhouse and meet your officer?”

The blonde nodded. “If you know something special about the case of the disappearing humans, then I don’t see why not.” Garrick noted the way she turned her hand, ready to present it for him to step onto.

“Hey!” the standing guard called, turned towards the street behind them. “I think you’ll be relevant in this matter, get over here.”

“What’s the matter?”

Garrick knew the voice. He didn’t even need to round the crouching blonde’s obscuring frame, but at ground level he saw those two caramel lower legs and feet coming this way.

The ones he’d worshipped this very morning.

They looked livelier now than when they’d entered Liza’s cabin, returned to the world with a revitalized bounce after Garrick’s mouth had pampered them. The blonde stepped aside, and there Mia was.

“This human mentioned your name.”

Upon seeing Garrick, Mia smiled. “Oh, well hello. Yes, we certainly know each other.” Mia winked seductively. There wasn’t even half an attempt at masking the fact that they were familiar, which Garrick found both confusing and reassuring. His story was given credence by the perpetrator herself, but why she would do so was beyond him.

“You know him?”

“He’s a real sweetheart, the human I’ve always wanted.” Mia got between the blonde and Garrick, putting herself closest to him. “He knows how to take care of a woman.”

“I’m telling you,” Garrick shouted again, for Mia’s comrades. “She and Liza, they were fucking us in that cabin. They’ve got several kidnapped humans there who they use for their own twisted pleasure! I swear it on my mother’s life.”

Mia recoiled, as if stung. “Huh? What?” Either she put on the best performance across all of Gharn, or this was genuine, for even Garrick believed the sincerity of her surprise to his accusation. Mia got on a knee, Garrick backing away. “Don’t you remember me? You know…” She pointed to her right foot, flexing the toes he’d worshipped. “Just this morning, right? You loved the taste of them.”

“No, I didn’t!” Then it clicked. The act Garrick had put on to frustrate Liza, the one which earned him her liberating, enraged stomp, Mia actually believed all of it. She thought he had escaped and tailed her all this way to cast himself into her embrace.

“I… uhm.” Mia flushed, barely glancing at her two comrades who gave their puzzled expressions.

“What’s going on here, Mia? Explain.”

“There’s some history with this guy, I’ll solve it.” Garrick didn’t expect it amidst the pressure mounting against her. He believed she was the cornered one, so he had no time to react to the open hand she snapped at him. Her fingers clamped around his head and arm. “Just leave this one to me.”

“Wait! Stop her! She’s going—” The hand constricted further, a section of her middle finger muffling him.

“Hold on here, Mia.”

Mia plucked him off the ground and left.