Chapter 9

Mina shrieked in horror as she tumbled into the darkness. She felt herself sliding down a long, slippery tunnel. Powerful walls of slick muscle squeezed her from all sides, forcing her little form ever downwards. The force was almost unbearable and she feared that this sickening embrace would crush her utterly. After a few torturous moments, she was pushed through a narrow opening and entered a much wider chamber. Mina found herself in freefall for a terrifying split second before she landed with splash in a lake of viscous sludge. 

The tiny woman sank into a swirling maelstrom of beer, mashed potatoes, and chewed up foodstuffs. In a panic, she swam upwards, fighting and kicking until her head broke through the surface. Mina took a gasp of foul-smelling air. Paddling blindly in the dark, she found a small island of roast beef and pulled herself onto it like a castaway clinging to driftwood at sea.

She could hardly contemplate what had just happened. Sapphire had swallowed her! The woman that she loved and trusted like no other had gulped her down whole like an oyster. As betrayed and horrified as she felt, Mina knew she had been warned of this danger. Eulalia had cautioned her about her bite-size nature. And Sapphire had always been forthright about her voracious eating habits. Even so, Mina had never fully believed it could come to this. She was very small, yes, but surely not an insignificant mass. Was Sapphire so drunk that she couldn’t feel Mina squirming in her mouth? Couldn’t feel her fighting and kicking all the way down?

Mina’s ears were assaulted by the deafening gurgles and groans of the massive chamber around her. Several feet away, the muscular walls shifted, causing the murky lake to suddenly churn violently. The tiny girl clung tightly to her beefy life raft as it was tossed this way and that. A powerful wave sent her slamming roughly into a nearby wall. Mina balled up her fists and pounded them against the wrinkly barrier of flesh.

“Sapphire!” she cried. “I-I’m in your stomach! Let me out! Oh God, Saph, please tell me you can feel this!”

The wall before her rumbled with a powerful vibration that shook Mina’s whole body. At first, she dared to hope that it was a signal from her giant friend. Had she made contact? Then, the horrible reality set in.

Sapphire was patting her belly.

* * * *

The redhead slapped a hand lightly against her pleasantly full tummy. It had been a very satisfying meal. She covered her lips and suppressed an unladylike burp.

“Mmm,” Sapphire muttered, massaging her abdomen. “That hit the spot.”

Nearby, Diamonda could only stare in morbid fascination. She had taken a seat at the table across from Sapphire and had watched, wide-eyed, as mouthful after mouthful had vanished down her gullet. Now the plate was empty and there was no sign of the little bug-girl anywhere.

This had played out better than she could have hoped. If Sapphire had found Mina on her plate, Di would have shrugged it off as a practical joke. But the red-haired dancer had hardly paused to chew. She’d gobbled up the whole mound of potatoes and the tiny stowaway with it. By now, Mina had either been torn to pieces by Sapphire’s teeth or—Di felt her pulse quicken at this next thought—had been swallowed whole and alive. Diamonda eyed Sapphire’s corset-clad belly, trying to imagine what little Mina might be experiencing in there. The rather twisted thought sent a shockwave of arousal through her. Unconsciously, the blonde slid a hand under her dress, searching between her legs.

Sapphire meanwhile was busy seeking a chaser for the potatoes. She reached for her beer mug, brought it to her lips, and began to guzzle down her drink. Diamonda shivered slightly as she watched that slender throat bob with each gulp.

* * * *

Mina screamed as gallon upon gallon of beer began pouring from the ceiling. She coughed and sputtered as it landed atop her. Beer washed over her like a waterfall, stirring the swamp formed by Sapphire’s dinner and prompting more churning of the stomach.

Was this fate’s cruel joke? Mina had finally found happiness, only to be consumed by the very object of her affection. Was God punishing her for her sins?

“Sapphire, please let me out!” she called desperately. “I—I don’t want to die…”

* * * *

Sapphire swallowed the last of the beer and set the tankard down on the table. She wiped her lips with the side of her hand. Her head was swimming and she was starting to see double. Perhaps Mina was right and she’d had a bit too much that evening.

Her torso was wracked by a sudden spasm as she hiccupped. “Heh. Drank that last one too fast. I know, I know, I should slow down, right, Mina?”

The redhead leaned over the table but found that her tiny friend’s spot on the napkin was empty. She frowned in puzzlement and glanced around the tabletop.

“Mina? Where ya hidin’, swee’ pea? *HIC* ‘Scuse me.”

There was no sign of her miniature partner. Sapphire was by now starting to worry. She continued her search, lifting or pushing items aside on the table. As she did so, her tongue idly worked at a small object caught between her teeth. It felt like a sesame seed but she didn’t remember any of the dinner rolls being seeded.

“C’mon, this ain’t funny! Where did ya—*HIC*—go? Hey, has anybody seen Mina?”

When the redhead looked her way, Diamonda quickly (and guiltily) pulled a hand out from under the table, blushing crimson. She shrugged and tried to look innocent.

The mystery item finally came loose and Sapphire reached in to extract it from her mouth. She held it up in confusion, closing one eye and squinting with the other to try and focus. The ginger dancer’s blood ran cold. It wasn’t a seed at all. It was a tiny shoe, smaller than her smallest fingertip.

“Oh, shit,” Sapphire said. Her stomach growled loudly as her dinner sloshed about within. The redhead stared down at her tummy in disbelief. Had she really just…? Despite herself, Sapphire hiccupped loudly once again.

* * * *

With each tremendous hiccup, Sapphire’s diaphragm heaved, bouncing the contents of her stomach about. Mina lost her grip on the chunk of beef as it hurtled about in the vast roiling cavern.

“*HIC*”

The stomach lurched again sending Mina bouncing off a fleshy wall and riding a wave of bile and foodstuff back the other direction. She plunged into the murky lake as the “waters” swirled and pulled her under.

Mina paddled frantically, unsure which way was up. If the horrendous motion didn’t finish her off, she would almost certainly drown. And if she somehow avoided those fates—Mina didn’t want to think about what would happen next. Already she could feel her skin beginning to tingle and burn. Tears were streaming from her eyes, though they were lost amid the myriad other liquids filling the giantess’s belly.

“*HIC*”

Another powerful lurch sent her flying as the enormous stomach was sent into spasm after spasm. This was it. She was going to die in here. Mina tried to take comfort in the fact that she’d become a part of the woman she loved.

* * * *

“Oh God, Oh God, Oh God—*HIC*” Sapphire babbled as she fled from the room. “Hold on, Mina! I’ll—*HIC*—get ya out o’ there!”

She bolted up the stairs to her apartment and stood over the wash basin. Sapphire thrust two fingers into her mouth and down her throat. She gagged repeatedly but nothing seemed to happen. She jabbed her fingers deeper, hacking and choking. At last, when she thought she’d failed and consigned her tiny lover to digestion, Sapphire retched one final time. A stream of vomit burst forth into the basin.

Sapphire wiped off her lips and peered down with dread. There, lying prone in a sickly puddle, was the tiny form of Mina. Her purple dress was in tatters and her skin looked raw and red. She wasn’t moving.

Tears rimmed Sapphire’s eyes. “Please don’t be dead,” she prayed. “Oh, Jesus, Mina, what have I done? I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”

After an interminable moment, Mina coughed and spat out a mouthful of Sapphire’s supper. She looked up weakly at the towering redhead looming overhead.

“S-Saph…” she whispered.

“Oh, thank God!” Sapphire cried. “Mina, I-I don’t know how I could’ve—to think that I—oh, sweet pea, can ya ever forgive me?”

Mina’s answer was incredibly faint, forcing Sapphire to lean closer.

“What was that, honey?”

The little woman tried again. “Saph, that wasn’t what I meant…when I said I wanted to be… inside you.”

Despite her state of panic and guilt, Sapphire couldn’t help but laugh. Her body was wracked by sobs once more, this time in tears of joy.

* * * *

Mina lay stretched out on a pillow, stripped down to her skivvies. Her skin was still as red as a beet and every part of her stung sharply from the pain. Several giant figures towered above her, most notably the town doctor. The gray-haired bespectacled man was inspecting her with a large magnifying glass. As gently as possible, he attempted to rub a soothing ointment on the tiny girl’s body. Mina winced but did her best to endure it.

“How did this happen?” he asked in concern.

“Never ya mind how it happened!” Sapphire answered with a hint of embarrassment. “Just tell it to us straight. Is she gonna be all right?”

“She was burnt pretty badly but I don’t think there’s any permanent damage,” said the doctor. “Though it’s hard to do a proper examination on someone so, uh, small. Near as I can tell, Miss Minnie is extraordinarily resilient. She just needs time to heal.”

“How could you be such an idiot, Sapphire?!” Goldie raged. “I told you to take care of my star! You nearly deprived me of—I mean, deprived poor Miss Minnie of her life. Next time, watch what you eat, don’t just stuff it down your gob!”

“Yes, Miss Goldie.”

The doctor did a double take. “I’m sorry, did you just say she…ate her?”

Sapphire’s face blushed a deeper red with shame. “Concentrate on your patient, doc,” she insisted.

The old man leaned forward and peered once again through the lens of the magnifying glass. Mina felt rather self-conscious to be scrutinized so closely.

“Yes, these burns would be consistent with a strong acid,” he said. “But to emerge relatively intact from the human digestive system—remarkable! When she’s recovered, I should like a more thorough examination of Miss Minnie.”

“You and half the territory,” Goldie said.

“Er, not like that,” stammered the physician. “This girl is a wonder of medical science. By rights, a person of her minute dimensions should not even physically exist! Imagine what we could learn if given a chance to study her in more detail!”

“No,” said Sapphire.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Ya ain’t turnin’ Mina into a lab animal! She’s been through enough already!”

“And who’s responsible for that?” Goldie said.

“It wasn’t Sapphire’s fault!” Mina cried out. The enormous figures above all turned and bent down closer to listen. “Well, not entirely at least. Diamonda buried me in the mashed potatoes. Probably meant to eat me herself if Saph hadn’t gotten there first.”

“Ya mean she knew ya was in there the whole time?” Sapphire asked, appalled. “And she just let me—God, that’s sick even for Di.”

“Diamonda has had an issue with Mina from day one,” said Goldie. “I think it’s past time I have a chat with her.”

Just then, Opal burst into the room accompanied by a small, mysterious Native American woman. Though seemingly in her middle years, the newcomer possessed a rather striking beauty. She had sharp features, a proud aquiline nose, and sparkling brown eyes that conveyed both wisdom and mischief. Midnight black hair streaked with silver draped over her shoulders. The woman wore a deerskin dress and a thick cloak of buffalo fur. In her hand was a tall staff carved from a fallen branch.

“Saph, I brought the medicine woman, like ya asked,” Opal said.

“Hmmph. ‘Medicine woman’ indeed,” the doctor scoffed. “What would a savage know of medicine?”

“Watch it, sawbones,” Sapphire scolded him. “Dancin’ Storm is a friend of the Mine. She’s helped a few of the gals avoid…unwanted visitors. The kind that arrive after nine months, if ya get me. Anyhow, Mina ain’t exactly a normal girl. If your medicine couldn’t help her, I wanted to have a back-up plan.”

“Ridiculous,” the doctor muttered. He handed Sapphire several small bottles. “Apply this ointment to the burns every few hours. And give her a drop of morphine for the pain if it gets too great. Make sure she gets plenty of rest. Come fetch me if her condition worsens.”

With a scornful glance at the Indian woman, the old man departed from the room. Dancing Storm ignored him and drew closer to the pillow on the tabletop.

“Well, Storm, do ya agree with the doc’s prognosis?” Sapphire asked. “Will Mina be okay?”

Dancing Storm held her hands above Mina, casting the tiny girl in their shadow, and chanted quietly in her people’s language. When her prayer was finished, she answered in English.

“Yes. Little Nunnehi is strong.”

“Nun-what now?” Sapphire said.

The medicine woman produced a small bowl from the folds of her cloak and began to mash up a collection of herbs, plants, and berries using a stone.

“Nunnehi,” she repeated as she worked. “The Travelers. Spirit people. What is the white man word? Fair Folk?”

Opal’s eyes lit up. “I told you she was a fairy!” the girl exclaimed.

Sapphire rolled her eyes. “Yes, Opal, you’re very smart. We’re all impressed.”

“Been watching this Nunnehi many years,” Dancing Storm continued. “Like my own. And in a way, she is. I gave her spirit flesh. Helped bring her into this world.”

Mina stared up at the medicine woman in shock. “You were the one my mama went to for help having a child!”

Dancing Storm smiled down at her.

“I have so many questions!” Mina said. “Where did I come from? How did you…create me? Am I really a fairy, like Opal said? Are there others like me, other, um, Nunnehi?”

“Many questions, yes,” Dancing Stormed repeated. “But not right ones.”

The tiny girl stared up at her quizzically. “What do you mean?”

Dancing Storm produced a miniature doll-sized bowl from somewhere in her garments. She spooned a minuscule bit of the mashed herbal mixture into it and handed this to Mina.

“Eat. Nunnehi must recover strength of body and spirit.” She set the larger bowl with the remainder of the mixture on the table beside Mina’s pillow. “For later.”

“Dancing Storm,” Mina said as she slurped up the herbal remedy. “What did you mean when you said I wasn’t asking the right questions?”

“Nunnehi is focused on her beginnings. Where she comes from. But she knows where she comes from. Does she remember who is missing her there?”

Dancing Storm kissed her fingertip and touched it lightly to Mina’s head.

“You think,” she said. “I check back on you later.”

Before Mina or the others could protest, the medicine woman turned and marched briskly from the room, her wooden staff tapping all the way.

To be continued...