Empty Bellies: A Sammy and Jackie Story by MinimanAdam

Empty Bellies: A Sammy and Jackie Story

By MinimanAdam, with characters from Iishungy and Karbo, and a village created by SilentEric

**WARNING. This story is a work of erotic fiction meant for adults 18+, and contains themes of Sizekink, sexuality, violence, emotional trauma, and LOTS AND LOTS OF VORE. Please read at your own discretion.**          

 

Sammy ducked under a creaking beam as he entered the abandoned mess hall of the ship. Floorboards complained with each step as he made his way past empty tables and littered plates towards the narrow galley kitchen. His stomach complained too, urging him picked up the pace and whinging its encouragement. Small crabs and crustaceans skittered out from underfoot as he manoeuvred his way around the scattered seats and forgotten cutlery. He was only halfway to the galley when he slipped on discarded tablecloth.

Man, he thought, picking himself up, MESS is right! I gotta get this monster cleaned up one of these days, jeez…

The Swallow was an enormous ship by any metric. This shipping vessel was unlike any of the little merchant house boats of the Negavian people that frequented the coasts. The massive hull rose from the rocky beachfront like an iron and wooden mountain. Two of its three masts stood tall from the front and rear of the ship, defiantly scraping the sky. The third lay snapped over the portside, leaning like a downed tree onto the beach. A spiral propeller jutted out at a broken and awkward angle from the aft and connected to a beat-up but working steam engine inside. Above the rudder was steel embossed lettering spelling out “Swallow”. It rusted in the salty breeze. The emblem of the bird itself had long since fallen off, leaving only a shadowed façade of where it once sat on the hull. To Sammy the whole ship resembled a scaled up but alien turn-of-the-century cargo freighter from back home.

                Home.

                Sammy paused at the entry to the galley. He’d been trapped in Felarya for almost a year now with Jackie. They’d made The Swallow as much of a “home” as they could, but it couldn’t replace the real thing.

                He couldn’t believe he missed university. Running to school in a panic. Studying with Jackie. Now he was making her clothes from old sailcloth's and scrounging for necessities like food.

                That reminded him of why he came this way. Shaking his head to clear the nostalgia he pushed into the tight kitchen aboard the ship. Never quite as good a cook as Jackie was, Sammy made do with the aging and sea-stained cookware available to him. He was lucky the ship had a steam engine. Early on he had managed to jury-rig the rusted boilers to pump heat into the stoves and ovens in the galley rather than to power the beached drive-screw. Benefits of his engineering education, he supposed.

                He knelt to ignite the burners, flicking switches to pump precious fuel into the stovetop. The ship must have been provisioned to spend a while at sea, trading along the coast. With just Jackie and himself, there should be more than enough fuel to last quite a while, even after these past few months.

                Even considering Jackie’s seemingly bottomless appetite.

                He stood, wincing from hunger pangs. They’d run through most of the canned provisions in Swallow’s stores, but there must be some more still hidden away. What they couldn’t find on the ship Jackie and Sammy would hunt, fish, and forage for, but it had been a week since they’d had much success. They were university students, not survival experts after all. Sammy started looking.

                He opened cupboard after cupboard, searching for something to eat. Most were filled with empty cans of meals gone by, or stale and stubborn hard tack. Sammy managed to find a few unopened cans of beans and some cobweb guarded crackers, but this would be hardly enough to fill him, let alone Jackie.

                “Whatcha up to cutie?”

                Sammy jumped, flinging the cans into the air as an impossibly big brown eye peeped at him through a porthole. Jackie blinked and giggled at his reaction.

                “Holy shit, you scared me!” he panted.

                “Hehe, I can tell. You yeeted those cans into space!”

                Mumbling to himself and blushing with embarrassment, Sammy collected the meagre fare from the ground, putting them on the counter by the galley stove. Jackie’s eye tracked down to the canned goods and squinted, scrutinizing them. “Whatcha cookin’? I’m starving.”

                “Not much.” Sammy admitted “a couple of cans of beans and some old crackers.”

                “Oh, lame.” she pouted. “Lame and gross.”

                “Yuuup.” agreed Sammy.  “But that's all we got right now. I can go and search the hold later, see if we missed anything.”

                “Hmmm. I think I have a better idea.”

                “Oh yeah?”

                “Yeah. Turn around.”

                Sammy turned around. Replacing Jackie’s eye was her open maw, saliva dripping down her tongue as she pushed her plush lips up against the round window frame. Strands of spit spanned the distance from her palate to her taste buds as her uvula danced in the lusty warm breath coming up from her dark throat. It filled the room and fogged his glasses.

                “Get in, big guy.”             

                Sammy’s blush returned, although not from embarrassment. The urge to throw himself into Jackie’s waiting mouth was at war with his instincts screaming at him to run from the hungry giantess. She wasn’t necessarily dangerous to him, she was his Jackie after all, so maybe he could just climb through the porthole onto her waiting tongue. She clearly wanted him to, even if it was just a tease; her mouth was practically flooding the kitchen with how eager she was. That said, he trusted Jackie implicitly. In the past, she had always let him out before when she had actually eaten him.

                Well, almost always. He snapped out of it.

                “Jackie, stop playing. I’m not just gonna let you have me for lunch.”

                “Hehehe, aww, why not?” She pulled away from the window, leaving it drenched in spit and drool. “We could replace my beans with you! My little jumping bean!”

                Sammy huffed and adjusted his glasses. “I’m serious Jackie, sheesh. I’m worried that if I keep letting you eat me like this, it’s just gonna give fuel to the curse!”

                She glowered “What’s that supposed to mean?”

                “Look, I know you don’t want to eat people. That’s the curse acting for you, I know. It just kinda feels like recently you’ve been, I dunno, giving in a bit.”

                “Excuse me?” She looked taken aback “Giving in? I can’t believe you’d say that Sammy!”

                Sammy wrung his hands together nervously “Well, there was that Negavian fisherman…”

                “Her ship crashed, and she was practically freezing to death already, late-stage hypothermia! And she was old!”

                “...That explorer duo…”

                “They admitted to being thieves! Literal tomb raiders. They were ARMED Sammy, what if they tried to rob us? Fake Laura Croft and her fuck buddy.”

                “...And that merchant caravan that stayed with us.”

                “Calvert was a jerk, and his group gave me indigestion.” Jackie looked uncomfortable. “You know I didn’t mean to do ANY of that, right? You think if I was still the same size as you, I would have looked at those people, my stomach, and been like ‘bet’???”

                Sammy felt guilty, but something was nagging at him. “I know, I know, but-”

                “But nothing!” Jackie stood, frustrated tears starting to leak down her face. “Enjoy your lunch alone, bean boy.”

                She left the side of the ship, storming off to the fore. Sammy could hear her climbing onto the deck and into the enormous cargo hold of The Swallow. The ship groaned in protest against the giantess’s weight but grew silent once she made her way inside. Sammy felt terrible. He ran from the galley and back through the mess towards the cargo hold, startling the critters who had started to move back in. He flung open the bulkheads and across makeshift gangplanks into the immense core of the vessel.

                Sitting there was Jackie, her legs tucked into her chest and her arms wrapped around them. Even with the additions the two had built onto and behind the ship she still nearly filled the space completely. She was staring over her knees at nothing, glaring into space through a watery haze. He approached her timidly on the catwalk up by her face. She didn’t look at him when she spoke.

                “Here to say sorry?”

                He pushed up his glasses anxiously “Yes.”

                “Go on then.”

                “I’m sorry Jackie.”

                She snorted, “That felt sincere.”

                “Sorry.”

                “For what?”

                “For…not sounding sincere?”

                “Oh come ON, Sammy! I know you know better than that.”

                He looked down, dejected “I know.”

                “Then what’s up?”

                Sammy cleared his throat and shifted nervously from foot to foot. He was dreading this. “Um. Ok, look, I’m gonna talk and be honest, so don’t bite my head off with what I’m gonna say, cool?”

                Jackie chuckled. She couldn’t help it. He was adorable when he was nervous. It also meant he was trying to be genuine, which she appreciated. She bit the air, the clack of her teeth echoing in the belly of the ship. “No promises.”

                Sammy laughed as well, awkwardly. She smiled wide. That was good. He drew a deep breath and spoke. “Ok, so remember when we first got here like, 9 or 10 months ago? And we learned about the curse when you…well…ate me?”

                “Kinda hard to forget Sammy, no matter how much I want to.”

                “Haha, right. Sorry, I know it’s not fun to think about but I think I gotta talk about it right now.”

                She tilted her head, her dark hair spilling over her legs. “Mhm. I get it. Keep going.”

                “Well…when we learned it was like a curse thing and that you didn’t actually want to eat me, I felt such relief. The Jackie I knew would never hurt anyone! The Jackie I knew would especially never hurt me.”

                “On purpose.” she interjected.

                “Right, exactly.”

                “But I did though. Hurt you. Accidentally.”

                He flinched “I…I know you did.” Sammy took another deep breath, getting to the point he was avoiding. “So like…after I got brought back, you promised you would try to never let something like that happen again. And we were safe about it, letting you satisfy the curse before bringing me back up and out. Never digesting me. But then it did happen again.”

                He mustered the courage to look her in the eyes to give some tough love. “It happened again to other people. Three times.”

                Jackie was silent, waiting for him to continue. Sammy appreciated her more in that moment than he ever had before, giving him time and space to articulate his thoughts. Standing up to a naga or a harpy was one thing. Standing up to Jackie, his Jackie, was another entirely. He felt flushed in the face and warm.

                “I...I guess what I’m trying to say…holy shit it is hot in here today? I guess what I’m trying to say is: I’m worried it’s getting worse. You gotta gimme reason to believe it’s not.”

                Jackie regarded him for a moment, her eyes scouring his tiny body. There wasn’t anger in them, nor contempt. She too was searching for the words to help his understanding.

                “Have you ever been addicted to drugs before, Sammy?”

                “W-what?” he stuttered “Hell no! C’mon Jackie what the hell is this?”

                “Well neither have I. But I think I know what it’s like. Sammy, I would NEVER hurt anyone. I hated it back home, and I hate it now. Violence and cruelty and death make me feel sick.” She retracted into herself, pulling her legs close to her heart and speaking into her thighs, “But when the curse takes hold, until I eat something, someone, there’s nothing else I can think about.”

                “I know that the person in my hand is…well, a person. I know as I put them in my mouth that they’re afraid to get eaten. I know that as they travel down my throat and into my stomach that I’m ending them and making them a part of me. And I absolutely hate it.”

                She closed her eyes, “The curse makes me need it. The curse makes me enjoy it. The curse makes me want to do it again and again, to feel full, to have them squirm inside me, to taste them on my tongue. They taste So. Fucking. Good. Every time I feel the need with stronger and more urgent pulls after I…indulge.”

                She opened her eyes and looked at Sammy, serious but pleading. “And I will do it again Sammy. I don’t want to. I really really don’t want to. But I will.”

                Sammy was at a loss for words. Jackie was starting to tear up again, her explanation having been met with only silence. Sammy decided to say the only thing he could at that moment.

                “Jackie, I am so, so sorry. I promise, we are gonna find a way to fix this.”

                The tears receded. Jackie grinned. “Thank you, Sammy. That one was sincere.” She leaned forward and planted an enormous kiss on his head, nearly slurping him up in the process. The blush returned to Sammy’s cheeks. His glasses were missing. Jackie noticed, giggling.

                “Hehehe, oops. I took a part of you with me.” She opened her mouth, slowly uncurling her tongue in front of Sammy. Perched on the tip and soaking wet were his square rimmed spectacles. He snatched them up, embarrassed. She rolled the pink monster back up and into her mouth with a smirk. Her stomach rumbled; Jackie having gotten a taste of him.

                “So big guy, since I can’t have you, what’s for lunch?”

 

*                              *                              *                              *                              *                              *                              *

 

                “That’s it. We need to trade for supplies.” Sammy chucked the empty can of beans over his shoulder. It clattered into some musky shadow of the ship. A baker's dozen of the aluminum containers lay open beside Jackie who looked wholly dissatisfied.

                “Yeah, not to dump on your cooking Sammy, but I’ve had bigger and better meals from the campus cafe, and that place was crap.”

                “Agreed,” nodded Sammy, “plus nothing has been biting on the fishing lines and it’s like there’s been no animals in the woods recently. What’s up with that?”

                Jackie shook her head “No idea, but I think you’re right. We’re gonna have to trade. Something. With someone.”

                Sammy snapped his fingers. He had an idea. “Hey, do we still have that map? The one of the whole continent?”

                “I dunno, I think so? It’s on the bridge, I think. Why?”

                He jumped up. “Lift me up to the deck, I’ll go get it!”

                Jackie lowered her hand down to Sammy which allowed him to step onto it. The two had become used to the unusual manoeuvre these past few months so Jackie lifted him speedily and steadily up out of the hold onto the open deck.

                Once atop, Sammy hopped off her hand and ran up the bridge. Rickety wooden stairs spiraled up to the command centre of The Swallow and Sammy had to be careful not to lose his footing. He didn’t like going up to the bridge, avoiding it when he could, but this was important.

                Once up top and inside he quickly spotted the map. Hanging behind the captain's command chair was an enormous piece of faded parchment detailing the entirety of this part of Felarya, with special emphasis on the Torpaline coast. Carefully he peeled it down, making great pains not to rip the delicate sides. He rolled it up and made his way back down to the topdeck to find Jackie peeking up from the hold, waiting for him. She once again extended her fingers, as he crawled on. She brought him down to the ground in front of her crossed legs.

                He unfurled the map with flair, letting it spread out like a bedsheet over the metal floor. Dramatically he pointed to the tip of a bay on the Topazial Sea.

                “This is about where we are, see the angle of the bay? And this” He scooted up the map to a small, highlighted area “Is approximately where the Rosic Neko’s have their village. It’s about a 3 to 4 day walk North from us. Well, for me it is.”

                Jackie tilted her head like a confused puppy “Wait, really? How do you know that?”

                Sammy put his hand behind his head “Uh well…Calvert told me. It’s where he and his guys were going with their caravan. Before they…ya know.”

                “Oh. Right.” Jackie held her bare stomach and looked away shamefully. “Yeah. I suppose I wasn’t really paying much attention to what they were saying.”

                Sammy got up and patted the side of her calves. “It’s ok. What’s done is done. The good news is we still have everything they were bringing to trade with the Nekos, so we should be able to get a lot for it.”

                Jackie looked fired up “Well what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

                Sammy stopped her as she began to stand. “Wait! Jackie I uh, I don’t think it’s a good idea if you come along on this one.”

                Jackie’s flame diminished slightly. “Why not?”

                “It’s a village of Nekos all my size, girl! What are they gonna think if a giantess like you comes striding up to their village? Calvert says they’ve got some really unique ways of warding off predators.”

                “And I’m a predator?”

                Sammy winced, “No! That’s not what I meant.”

                Jackie scoffed and changed the subject “It’s a three day walk for you, big guy. You gotta lug all this stuff there to trade and then lug it all back. It’s less than a one day walk for me and would hardly weigh me down. You can bring more too, if you let me come.”

                “But Jackie-”

                “But nothing! I’m coming. I’m not letting you end up as dinner for some fairy or something on the way. Let’s go.”

                 He knew there was no more arguing, no point once her mind was made. With that settled, Jackie and Sammy began setting about packing the goods that Calvert and his men had meant to trade with the Nekos. They packed it all onto a ramshackle sled to allow Sammy to pull it to market when they neared the village. Curiously, most of the goods were things like instruments, horse hairs, oils, and polishes. There was parchment and ink, as well as books written in strange languages but clearly had notation within them, like sheet music. Sammy wondered what kind of village the two were headed towards and what clientele Calvert had intended to sell to.

                They left just before midday. Sammy sat on one of Jackie’s shoulders, the sled slung over the other one like a miniature backpack or purse. Sammy couldn’t help but think she looked cute, once again finding himself thinking of the time before they came to Felarya. He used to love seeing her with a new purse.

                Just before they reached the edge of the forest he looked back at The Swallow. He hadn’t expected it, but this small excursion had him already missing the beached ship. He felt homesick just to look at it.

                Jackie trundled through the leaves and vines and into the woods. Soon Sammy couldn’t make out the water. Then the shoals and sand of the coast disappeared. Finally, the tall masts of their shipwreck were lost among the trees. Safety, security, and their haphazard home was behind. Felarya and its wonder and beauty lay ahead. All its danger, too.

                The two marched dutifully onward for the better part of the afternoon. Sammy was immediately grateful that Jackie had insisted the two go together watching her effortlessly cross bushes and brambles that would have given him and the sled trouble. Creatures and critters that stalked the corners of the forest gave way to the much more intimidating giantess carving her path. There were few things higher on the food chain than Jackie on this side of Felarya, but many more so than Sammy.

                A day’s trek was still a day’s trek, and due to their late start the sun was soon starting to set. Sammy estimated that the two were a little more than halfway to the village when they finally started to lose the light. The forest came to life as predators and prey began to stalk the woods. Vision was replaced with the drone of dozens of nocturnal creatures harmonizing in the night air. In the artificial bowels of The Swallow all you could hear at night was the crashing of waves and the creaking of the ship herself. Here, the night was alive.

                It was also far, far more treacherous. Jackie stumbled more than once on an oversized root, or a boulder the size of a house. She eventually stubbed her toe on a particularly stubborn stump cursing loudly in the evening din.

                “Son of a bitch! God dammit, that hurts…” She checked to make sure Sammy and the sled were still safely on her shoulders and then looked at her tiny boyfriend pleadingly. “Hey Sammy? I don’t think I can keep going like this. I can’t exactly see in the dark.”

                *Grrruuuuuuuuuu*

                Jackie blushed in the low light. “And um…we should probably find something to eat if we can.”

                He laughed “Good point, grumbles. The longer we wait the more likely you are to scare off anything we could catch too.”

                “H-hey! That’s not cool! Besides, it's not that loud…”

                Her stomach chose that moment to punctuate his point, and Jackie ceased all arguments. The two had planned to forage on their journey as it wasn’t too far to get to the Rosic, but they had made the mistake of not doing so in the daylight. Sammy had to admit he was also starting to feel hunger pangs.

                They flailed about the forest for a while, too long in Sammy’s mind. Anything they hoped to catch likely sussed them out before they had a chance to pounce, and any edible vegetation was hidden and indistinct in the growing dark.

                A grumpy Jackie groaned and was about to give up when something glinted off Sammy’s glasses; a light. He tapped Jackie on her neck and pointed in the direction of the source.

                                “Jackie! Shh, look! Light! It might be people. I bet they can spare some food or something.”

                The giantess squinted. “I think you’re right! But what are they doing out here with a light that bright? Seems risky.”

                “Beats me,” shrugged Sammy, “but it’s worth a shot for us! Keep quiet and get to ‘em slowly. We don’t know if they’re friendly.”

                Jackie got low, sloughing the sled into her hand and trying to stabilise Sammy on her shoulder. Instinctually he hunched over, though it did little to add to their stealth. They crept through the night as quietly as a giantess would allow, approaching the lightsource. They got close enough to smell smoke. A bonfire. That IS brave thought Sammy, brave and stupid.

                Jackie stopped a few dozen meters away from the mysterious campsite “I can hear voices!” she whispered.

                Sammy heard them too. An older man was muttering something in gruff undertones to a younger woman, but he couldn’t make it out. “Lower me down,” he whispered in Jackies ear, “I’m gonna go sneak a peek and drop some eaves.”

                Jackie nodded and raised a hand up to her shoulder. “Be safe!” she cautioned.

                The moment Sammy got down to the forest floor he took off into the bush. Being careful not to get too close and to not lose sight of Jackie, he slinked forward until he could see the entire scene more clearly.

                Five people were spread out around a rudimentary campsite, four humans and a neko. The one he heard speaking was a greying and rough looking gentleman sitting on a downed log by the fire. He was addressing a young woman in glasses and a long dark traveller’s gown. She kept looking over her shoulders nervously. The man waved a hand at her dismissively.

                “I told ya Lor, you can calm down. We got a Neko with us. The predators around here know better than to go after one o’ their kind. You wouldn’t eat your favorite books, would ya? Same thing for them with Nekos. Relax.”

                “Not just ANY Nekos, only the Rosic.” The young woman pushed short raven hair out of her eyes, adjusting the glasses on her face as she did so. It was in a way familiar to Sammy whenever he was nervous. “And easy for you to say, Jole. Lighting a fire like this in the open is exactly what got my last expedition killed. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be sleeping in my tent tonight than in someone's stomach.”

                “Ha! Either way you’d be sleeping soundly. Trust, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Isn’t that right Elorie?”

                A buxom Neko girl struggling to pitch her tent by the base of a tree perked her ears up at her name and stood. She faced the group with what one could assume was her best attempt at a reassuring smile.

                “T-that’s right! The Rosic Neko’s are renowned for their musical talents, even among predators! We’re close enough to the village that even if we did stumble into one they likely wouldn’t eat you as long as you’ve got me!”

                She played with her long brown braided hair nervously “At least, in theory…”

                “In theory they won’t eat her, just us.” interrupted a human in a shouldered cloak leaning casually against a boulder. He had one mechanical arm which he used to point a metal finger accusingly at the gruff man by the fire. “This plan is messed up, Jole. She’s not even a Rosic. What if we DO run into something, huh? Do we even know if she can sing? Did you even ask?”

                They took a moment to turn and look at Elorie. There was a pregnant pause, her tail puffing up anxiously. “Eh? I can sing! Anyone can sing! Don’t worry about it!”

                Jole threw a stick into the fire that crackled and burned up. “Ahhh can it, Horvan. If the girl says we’re fine, we’re fine. Have a little faith.”

                “I agree with Jole!” A young man in smocks and no older than Sammy piped up from the fire he was roasting meat on. “Elorie got us this far from Nekomura, so I trust her. We’re almost there after all, and soon we’ll be dining in beautiful amphitheatres listening to the finest performances in Felarya.”

                Jole stood and slapped the young man on the back “That’s my boy! Listen to young Alistair here! We’ll all be fine. After tomorrow you can all say you visited the jewel of the Torpaline Coast!”

                Lor huffed, playing with her glasses again. “You better hope you’re right, old man. I didn’t come all this way to go home empty handed.” She spoke to Alistair, softer with him than with Jole “Hey kid, when’s dinner?”

                Sammy could smell the roasting meat from his hiding spot, making his stomach rumble. Alistair was seasoning some sort of game animal over the bonfire on a spit. Maybe they could spare a bite or two. They seemed friendly enough, and they even thought that predators would be kind to them! Something to do with the Neko guide they had. Regardless, Sammy surmised that Jackie’s presence would be a very convincing argument to share their supper.

                He scooted back into the foliage as quietly as he could, out of earshot and within distance of Jackie, towering in the dark.

                “Jackie!” He whispered into the din “Jackie they’re friendly! I think…” He jumped up and down, waving his arms trying to get her attention. She had rapt focus on the campsite ahead. Eventually his antics caught her eye and she waved to him. He began motioning forward with both his arms and whisper shouted “Come! Quietly!”

                The giantess nodded, determined. Slowly she inched forward, each step of hers like ten of his own. He decided he also needed to be closer and brace for the introduction. Back into the bush he scrambled, quiet as a mouse.

                Or so he thought.

                Sammy pushed a branch a little too hard. The dry lumber snapped in his hand as he made his way towards the campsite. The one-armed man immediately bolted upright, a pistol in his mechanical grip pointing towards the sound Sammy had made.

                “Dammit Jole, this is on yours and Elorie’s heads if it all goes sideways.”

                The woman in glasses moaned picking up a rifle “I TOLD you this was a bad idea. If that’s anything bigger than an Ostralik, with these peas shooters we’re screwed.”

                “Shut it!” ordered Jole. He was retrieving an old blunderbuss and pointing at Lor. “Lor, cover Elorie. If it’s sentient she can handle it. If it isn’t, Horvan, Alistair, and I will deal with it.”

                Sammy blinked. Maybe they weren’t as friendly as he thought…and he had just invited Jackie into view! He made an abrupt about face, hoping to catch and stop her, only to run directly into her toes.

                Jackie looked down on the campsite sheepishly. The firelight had cast eerie glows of red and orange onto her face as she loomed above the adventurers. Jole stared up at her, slack jawed. Lor and Alistair were visibly shaking, while Elorie and Horvan were standing perfectly still in their terror.

                Jackie gave a little wave. “Uhhh, hiya! How we doin’?”

                Lor suddenly reactivated, grabbed the stunned neko behind her and threw her forward. “Elorie, your time to shine!”

                Elorie stumbled to her knees. She looked back at her companions, terrified. “What!?! What am I supposed to do?”

                “Sing dammit!” growled Horvan “It’s half the reason we brought you, now show us you were worth it!”

                “Eh? Oh! Right! Uh...” She craned her neck up at the visibly confused Jackie. Fearfully she cleared her throat. “ Ah-Ahem-hem!”

                “aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!”

                The entire forest grew quiet. The sour note was left to linger, shamefully alone. Jackie had plugged her ears and Sammy had ducked for cover as if an air raid siren had gone off. Elorie’s group was aghast. The following silence was as uncomfortable as it was lasting.

                Lor sighed. She threw down her rifle, resigned to her fate, and sulked towards Jackie at the edge of the site. “Welp. We’re dinner. Thanks for nothing guys, see you on the other side in the morning.”

                The rest of the camp started to panic as Elorie began to wail, begging for mercy on her knees. Jackie rolled her eyes. The giantess groaned down at Sammy, flabbergasted, wordlessly asking for help.

                The man took his cue. “Wait wait wait, it’s ok! Calm down, all of you!” Sammy called out revealing himself from his hiding spot. He had his hands over his head in a surrender pose as he approached, hoping to disarm the situation. “We’re friends! Friends! She’s not gonna eat anybody!”

                There was a brief quiet from their confusion at his surprise appearance. Sammy’s efforts were immediately undermined by a loud growl erupting from Jackie’s midriff. Pandemonium re-ensued in the camp until the two were able to appease everyone and explain the awkward situation. Soon they were all seated around the campfire in a tense peace. Jole huffed, a hand thoughtfully stroking his chin.

“Hmph. Well, if you’re headed to the Rosic village, you’re welcome to share our fire. Any friend of the Neko’s is a friend of ours. Besides,” He warily glanced at Jackie on the edge of the circle. “Having a girlie like you around guarantees nothin’s gonna bother us tonight.”

                “Yeah unless she changes her mind about friends not being food…” murmured Lor, who promptly received a swift hand to the back of her head from Alistair.

                “Mind your manners!” he chided “They’re guests to our fire; we should treat them with respect.” The young cook smiled apologetically at Jackie and Sammy. “It’s like Jole said, we’re all friends here.” He put a hand on his chest and bowed “I’m Alistair, I’m a cook as you can see. You’ve met my ol’ geezer Jole, he’s the ringleader around here. He’s old friends with one of the village elders of the Rosic. This glowing ball of sunshine is Lor, she’s an anthropologist studying the tribes. And that friendly fellow is Horvan, our hired muscle.”

                He then gestured back to just outside the sitting circle where Elorie was leaning against her tree, her patchy tent pathetically propped up beside her. “And those two are our guides, Elorie and Timor.”

                Sammy was confused “Huh? Those two? I just see the cat girl.”

                Elorie sat up. “It’s okay Timor, you can come out. It’s safe.”      

Much to Sammy’s surprise, Elorie’s chest began to move of its own accord. Breasts bounced boobily while Sammy stared. An annoyed Jackie was about to say something to her oggling boyfriend when a tiny little man popped up and out of the Neko’s ample cleavage. Elorie clasped her hands together and smiled “This is Timor.”

                The tiny man nodded in greeting. “Hey.”

                “No freaking way!” Sammy stood up and ran up into Elorie’s space to get a better look “Jackie are you seeing this? It’s like honey I shrunk the kids or something!”

                Jackie couldn’t help but laugh at his innocence. “Yeah, I see him, you dork! You know it’s not that crazy, this is how I see you every day, hehe.”

                Sammy was a couple of inches from Elorie’s chest when Timor coughed. “Hey kid, can you please not invade my personal space? Or Elories for that matter.”

                “Huh? Oh.” Sammy caught himself. He was quite literally staring into a stranger's chest. Elorie looked embarrassed and uncomfortable. Sammy put his hands up, backing away apologetically “heh, sorry about that Elorie. I uh, guess I got a little excited.”

                “Ha!” guffawed Jole, “The lad’s never seen a tom thumb before.” He walked over and slapped a meaty hand around Sammy and led him back to the fire, away from the flustered Neko. “Don’t worry my boy, when we get to Rosic you’ll see plenty of ‘em although, heh, they may not be in such a fortunate position as ol’ Timor there.”

                “That’s an understatement” mumbled Lor. She was shot a dirty look by Horvan forcing her to be quiet. Sammy didn’t understand.

                “What do you guys mean? Is it dangerous for tiny people there?”

                Timor and Elorie seemed embarrassed. Lor started to speak, but Horvan raised a single finger “Shut it. Not worth talking about that bad business when out in the wilds.”

                She was incredulous “What? It’s just a fact of their culture.” She pointed at Alistair, “We’re bringing them a literal chef! Who are we to judge?”

                Alistair rolled his eyes “Rich talk coming from the girl who lamented becoming an appetizer a few moments ago.”

                “That’s totally different,” she argued, “giant feral barbarians don’t have any culture.” She shrugged up at Jackie. “No offence.”

                “Some taken.” said the giantess.

“It’s not different Lor. Maybe if you read it in a book you’ll understand.” Horvan mocked, “Out here we’re just like those tinies in the village, one and the same.”

                Alistair intervened “Alright alright enough! Dinner’s ready. Shut up and eat. I hope you’re hungry cuz there’s a lot of meat here to go around.”

                The animal roasting on the spit smelled amazing. Fat dripped off the charred carcass in igniting sizzles onto the flames below, filling the camp with a savoury aroma. Sammy’s mouth was watering while he watched Alistair carve enormous chunks out of the haunch. Everyone around the fire was given a steak the size of a dinner plate. Even tiny Timor received more than his fair share. Once the last portion was served Alistair looked up at Jackie with a grin.

                “Ok big lady, the rest is yours. Enjoy!”

                “Don’t mind if I do!” called Jackie, reaching across the group and lifting the entire spit off the fire like it was a mini kebab.

                Everyone dug in greedily, the sound of knives and forks on wooden plates filled Sammy’s ears as he also filled his stomach. He had no idea how he was going to finish his delicious, gigantic steak, but was very grateful for the meal. He checked on Jackie to see how she was doing.

                Jackie was frowning at the spit in her fingers. Sammy raised a concerned eyebrow.

                “Jackie? All good?”

                She forced a smile “Yeah! No worries, Sammy. I hope yours is as good as mine looks!” She opened her mouth, put in the spit, and took the entire roast off and inside in one bite. Sammy nearly choked. He understood why she looked so worried. Jackie chewed once, twice, thrice, and swallowed. Her stomach growled a frustrated rumble.

                It wasn’t nearly enough.

                Jole misunderstood “Ha! The girl's gut gives compliments to the chef, I see!” He tapped Jackie on her foot in a fraternal way “How was that then, eh? My boy Alistair cooks a mean woodland steak.”

                Jackie laughed politely as her stomach begged for more. “It was really really good, Alistair. Thank you so much for sharing with us. I only wish I could have seconds!” The compliment was heavy with truth.

                Alistair bowed with overexaggerated flair “The lady flatters me. Honestly, I’m just glad we’ll be arriving in Rosic in the morning. Whenever I do a roast like this the fat and juices always get all over me. I feel like I might as well have glazed myself! I could use a warm bath.”

                Jole nodded sagely and put his fork down on his empty plate. “Couldn’t we all after this long journey. Well folks, best to turn in for the night once you’re done eating. We’ve got an early morning tomorrow if we want to make Rosic when the Elders wake.” He gestured to Horvan. “You’ve got first watch my friend, and Alistair will relieve you. Let the ladies get their beauty sleep, eh?”

                “Beauty sleep?” Horvan huffed, “Is that why you’re going to bed too, old man?”

                “Can’t you see? I’m the most beautiful one here! Ha! I need my rest so we can compensate for your ugly mug. Now get settled. See you all in the morning.” Jole hobbled to his tent raising a hand in goodnight.

                One by one the rest of the camp turned in for shuteye until it was only Jackie, Sammy, and Horvan awake. Jackie was rubbing her tummy smoldering. Sammy touched her thigh. “Hey. Everything ok?”

                She gave him a thumbs up “Just peachy. I’ll be ok Sammy. We should go to bed.”

                “If you’re sure-”              

                “I am.”

                He held her gaze for a moment, trying to read his girlfriend's face. There was concern in there, but was it for her own wellbeing, or for someone else's?

                He shrugged. “Alright Jackie. Goodnight.”

                She winked at him to reassure him “Good night, big guy.”

                Sammy got into his sleeping roll by the dwindling fire. Jackie laid down next to him with a dull thud. He rolled over and tried to fall asleep to her rhythmic and therapeutic breathing but found himself struggling to do so. Something was bothering him. Something didn’t feel right.

                Slowly, despite his feelings and in spite of himself, Sammy drifted off to sleep.

 

*                              *                              *                              *                              *                              *                              *

 

                “Where is he? Where in the hells did he run off to?”

                Sammy awoke to shouting, desperate footfalls, and the sound of tents being torn off their pegs. He stretched, confused, putting on his glasses to better see the situation.

                Jole was in a fury, flipping supplies and running from tent to tent. Horvan and Lor were trying to calm him down, but he was having none of it.

                “Alistair? Alistair my boy, where the devil are you?!?!”

                Sammy lurched himself out of bed. Jackie was still snoring peacefully behind him. That was good, at least the sudden outburst wasn’t disturbing her rest. Whatever was bothering her last night she had seemingly gotten over.

                Jole had grabbed Horvan and was shaking him, surprisingly strong for a man his age, “Where is he Horvan? You were the last one to see him so you must know something!”

                The mercenary shook the old man’s grip off “I told you, I woke him for his watch and that’s all I know of it. If the kid ran off in the night that’s his problem. I don’t protect runaways.”

                “He wasn’t a runaway, damn you, he was my son! A prodigy! A gourmand! And he wouldn’t just abandon us in the middle of the night, that would be suicide. Think, Horvan! Where would he have gone?”

                Lor tried to comfort Jole “Maybe he went off to get ingredients? Fresh herbs to wow the elders! You know how these creative types are”

                Jole rounded on her as Sammy approached Elorie who was watching from a distance. Timor was sitting quietly on the Neko's shoulder.

                “Hey. What’s all the yelling about?”

                Elorie shook her head sadly “Alistair’s vanished. Horvan says he woke him up for his watch and no one’s seen him since. Seems fishy to me.”

                “Damn that sucks.” Sammy scratched his chin, “I didn’t even know he was Jole’s son! That’s crazy.”

                Elorie giggled “You’re kinda oblivious sometimes, aren’t ya Sammy?”

                “Hey! I thought he was just some cook. A good one, but still.”

                “Two things can be true!” she smiled, “Yeah, he’s some sort of world class chef. This whole expedition was to get him a job cooking for the Rosic Neko’s. They paid a king's ransom to have Alistair cook at their concerts and feasts.”

                Sammy whistled “No shit! I wondered how he made such a good meal in the middle of nowhere.”

                “That’s Alistair for you.”

                Horvan and Lor had managed to get Jole to sit by the embers of last night's fire. The man was stewing, breathing heavy and slow, trying to calm his nerves. “I just don’t understand. He knows how dangerous the forest can be, he’d never go out alone at night. And he didn’t even change out of his cooking robes, his apron is missing for pity’s sake. Where would he…”

                Jackie’s tummy grumbled. Her intestines gurgled and rolled as their contents traveled deeper within her bowels. The sound filled the camp as the hundred-foot-tall giantess wiggled in her sleep, adjusting to better digest. A particularly loud growl bubbled up her body.

                She burped. Quiet and cute.

                Jole’s eyes ignited. He rigidly looked from Jackie’s bare belly to Sammy.

                “YOU.”

                He suddenly bolted across the campsite with surprising speed, kicking through the coals as he went. His face was beet red He reached his hands out in front of him and wrapped them firmly around Sammy’s neck. Elorie screamed.

                “I knew it was too good to be true!” He seethed, angry spittle flying from his mouth as he tried to choke the life from Sammy. Sammy’s glasses fell off his face and into the dirt. “Clever ruse, boy! A giantess and her little boyfriend seeking shelter in the night? Ha! What did she offer you, eh? Gold? Sex? Or maybe if you found her a suitable replacement, she wouldn’t send YOU down her greedy gullet! Well? What was it you bastard?”

                Sammy gargled an unintelligible response. Jole was a large man, greying but strong. His grip would not be easily shaken, even with Sammy’s youth and vigor.

                Elorie tried to pry the thick hands from Sammy’s windpipe “Let him go Jole! You don’t know if they had anything to do with it, let’s not be hasty!”

                Jole ignored her. Sammy felt his vision getting fuzzy, fuzzier than it normally was without his glasses. His head started to feel light. Then he felt like he was floating. He heard Elorie scream again; it looked like Jole was floating too.

                Oxygen unexpectedly rushed back into his lungs as Jole’s chokehold relaxed and then left his neck entirely. Sammy gasped and gulped the fresh air, desperately sucking back as much as he could manage. He quickly learned why he felt like he was floating; his legs were dangling several feet into the air. Across from him hung an equally elevated and frothing Jole.

                Jackie was furious holding the two aloft, “Don’t you EVER touch my man like that, you hear me? What the fuck is wrong with you people?”

                “What’s wrong with us? US?!?!” Jole kicked as he swung in the air between Jackie’s fingers, “You ate my son, you monster!”

                “Jackie,” coughed Sammy. His throat felt mere inches thick and raw. “Did…did you eat Alistair last night after we all went to bed?”

                Jackie looked between Jole and Sammy, her anger fading into confusion and then something else. Remorse? Doubt? Sammy didn’t know, but he did stare into those big brown eyes of hers for several moments before Jackie inhaled shakily.

                “No.”

                “LIAR!” Bellowed Jole, who renewed his struggles. “Liar! A bold-faced lie!”

                Jackie ignored him, focusing on her boyfriend. Her eyes welled. “Sammy, listen to me closely. I did not eat him. Get it? I didn’t eat him. I didn’t…I didn’t want to…”

                Sammy immediately understood. His heart broke for his gentle girlfriend. “I know. I know you didn’t.”

                “WHAT?” Roared the other man in her clutches. “Boy, hear me now, I don’t know what game you’re playing-”

                “She said she didn’t eat him! I know her. She didn’t do it. She’d never do it.” He smiled at Jackie, sympathetic. “I believe you.”

                Jackie burst into tears. Elorie shuffled anxiously in place below while Timor watched intensely from his perch on her shoulder. He whispered something to Elorie that seemed to calm the Neko down. Jackie lowered Jole to the ground where Lor and Horvan were standing, and they rushed to his side. She then put Sammy on the ground next to Elorie, well away from the three angry humans.

                A beat passed as Jackie sobbed and Jole was cleaned up. The camp was thick with tension, so much so that Sammy wasn’t sure if it was the atmosphere or his crushed larynx that made it so hard to breathe. As Jackie’s sniffles died down, he clapped his hands together to break the ice.

                “So.” He said, eyes jumping from Lor, to Horvan, to Jole “Onward to the Rosic village?”

                “Are you mad?” growled Jole “You think for a moment we’d travel with you and this…thing you’re with? No. When I get to the village, they’ll hear of the kind of creature your pretty little pet here is and you’ll all be up in irons.”

                Elorie put a hand on Sammy’s shoulder “I don’t think that’s a very good idea Sammy. Jole’s right, there’s no way Jackie can come anywhere near the village. Not now.”

                “That’s not fair!” Yelled Jackie, “We had every right to go as you do!”

                Sammy held a hand up for her to stop. He was thinking.

                “What if only I went on from here? Jackie, you head home. I’ll find my way back to you.”

                Jackie looked insulted. “Excuse me? Sammy, you’ll never make it! I’m the reason we got here as fast as we did in the first place! What if something else picks you up? What if I’m not there to protect you? What if-”

                Elorie cut her off. “Umm, actually Jackie, if your home is South of here, I’d be happy to escort him back! I am a guide after all, and Timor and I have some business with the merchants along the coast before heading home to Nekomura. I’d be happy to!”

                Jole spat on the ground “You’d travel with these charlatans and murderers?”

                Elorie frowned at him “She said she didn’t do it.” She looked to Jackie. “I…I believe her.”

                “So be it.” Jole was trembling with rage, “I cannot wait for our business to be concluded, Neko, so that we never see hide nor hair on that feline arse of yours ever again.” He turned to Lor and Horvan, “Pack it up. Let’s leave this accursed place and bring the terrible news to our former patrons.”

                The group made to tear down their already ruined campsite. Sammy faced Elorie and slouched his shoulders, exhaustion and gratitude overwhelming him. “Thank you, Elorie. You really didn’t have to do this.”

                Elorie smiled, leaning in to whisper in his ear. “You guys are cursed, aren’t you?”

                Sammy couldn’t hide his shock. “How…how did you know that?”

                The Neko giggled “We’ll talk on the trail. I gotta help these guys tear down, I’m still their guide! For now.” She trotted off to take down her own tent with Timor holding tightly onto her blouse. Sammy left her to her work, wary of how she could possibly know about Jackie’s predicament. As for Jackie herself, the giantess’s face a mix of complicated emotions.

                “I don’t want to go.”

                “I know.”

                “Not without you.”

                “I know.”

                “And I def don’t like leaving you with these people.”

                “Seriously though.”

                “So don’t make me.”

                “I’m not making you do anything, you stupid.” He hit her knee playfully. “I’m asking you.”

                She rolled her eyes “Ok, then please don’t ask me to.”

                “I won’t be gone long and we need to do this. We won’t survive in The Swallow without supplies.”

                “I know.”

                “Then you know. This is the way.”

                “Oh my god, you dork.” She laughed bitterly. “You better be safe, ok? And come home fast.”

                “I promise.” The two stood, Sammy to his full six feet, and Jackie to her hundred and six. He waited a moment, debating what to say, then called to her. “Jackie?”

                “Yeah big guy?”

                “Promise me you won’t give in. Not again. Ok?”

                She stared at him for a moment before closing her eyes. “I promise Sammy.”

                He kissed her foot, then left to go and help Elorie pack up. Jackie waited until the camp was torn down and her boyfriend pulled the sled of goods North into the underbrush before she too left the ashes of the fire and began meandering listlessly South. Her gut grumbled as she walked, apparently as annoyed with the situation as she was. She rubbed her belly soothingly.

                Alistair wasn’t sitting very well.

 

*                              *                              *                              *                              *                              *                              *

 

                “We’ve got about an hour to go still before we reach the outskirts of the village. After that it’s just a short ten-minute walk to the centre of town!” Elorie walked close beside Sammy as they made their way towards the Rosic. Unlike her compatriots that were walking a good distance ahead of him, Elorie chose to take up the rear at a leisurely pace with Sammy as he pulled his sled. It seemed they were close enough to the village to not have much use for their hired guide.

                “Sounds good Elorie, thanks again. For everything.”

                 “Of course! You and Jackie seem like good people. I can always tell.” She bumped him with her hip “You two are awfully close too! Married?”

                Sammy blushed and adjusted his glasses. “Ha! No. Just dating. And I dunno if you can really call it that either. We kinda were a situationship at first that just… stuck.”

                Her ears twitched atop her head “Sounds…complicated. Ah! That’s not to say it's not good! Just…different.”

                “Heh, yeah. It is good.” He glanced at Timor, silently riding on her shoulder. He imagined this must be what it looks like when Jackie takes him places. “What about you two? Dating or…?

                “Eh?” Elorie’s tail swished, “Ah! N-no! Nothing like that! Timor’s just a good friend to me. We’ve been through…a lot.”

                “I owe her a great debt.” The stoic tiny finally spoke up. He looked distant as he spoke, like his mind was elsewhere. “When the curse that shrunk me took effect, I was certain I was a goner. Elorie saved my life. Simple as that.”

                Timor may have said it was simple like that, but Elorie looked very bothered by his account of the relationship. There was something neither of them wanted to talk about. Sammy shrugged it off. Not his business.

                “Aha!” He said, segueing “That’s how you knew Jackie was cursed. You guys have one of your own to deal with. Good eye, cat lady.”

                Elorie lifted her dour demeanor “Hehe, it was actually Timor who pointed it out to me! He’s always been observant about these sorts of things. It’s what makes us a good team.” She hummed thoughtfully, coy and cautious. “Ummm…if it’s not too forward, I’m curious, how exactly does her curse work?”

                It was Sammy’s turn to be coy “Ahhh…that’s a difficult question. Long story, ya know?”

                She folded her hands behind her back. “We’ve got time…if you feel like sharing that is!”

                He chuckled. Elorie’s charm inspired openness. “Well, I dunno if I mentioned it, but Jackie and I aren’t originally from Felarya.”

                “I kinda figured.”

                “That obvious? Damn. Well back where we come from Jackie is in school to become a doctor. She always liked helping people, even if it was to her own detriment.” Sammy sighed wistfully, “It’s my favorite thing about her. That and her memes; girl always had the BEST memes.”

                Elorie smiled, comprehending without fully understanding “Aha. Sounds…nice. Like you really love her.”

                Sammy scratched his chin, grinning like an idiot “Haha, yeah. Anywho, I was at the same school for engineering and was working on a teleporter. Jackie came to watch a test run one day and shit hit the fan. I messed up. Next thing that I know she’s giant and naked, and here we are in Felarya.”

                Sammy stopped pulling the sled. He stood still, remembering “I don’t want to go into it too much, but that night we learned about the curse. Jackie, my Jackie, who would never harm anyone, who was always so sweet and so kind and gentle. She suddenly got cravings to, well, eat people. People smaller than her. People she could swallow whole.”

                He shook his head “It’s like she becomes a different person. There’s no reasoning with her, nothing could shake her out of it. Once the curse takes hold, she needs to eat someone, or she won’t stop.” He stared up at the sky “It’s not her fault, ya know? She doesn’t do it on purpose. It’s all an accident, I just don’t know how I’m supposed to-”

                Sammy stopped. Elorie had put both her hands on him, facing him with solemn determination. Timor was gently comforting her neck as her lip quivered.

                “I understand. More than you know Sammy, I understand. I know how it looks. I know how it sounds. I also believe you, and her. It was an accident. I know the difference.”

                She sighed and pulled him into a hug, Sammy’s head going over the opposite shoulder of Timor. “But you have to understand, this is how Felarya works. These things happen here, and big eats small. Even if they don’t always want to.” She pushed out of the embrace “You sometimes do what you have to do, even if you don’t like it. Even if it makes others uncomfortable. Ok? That’s survival in Felarya.”

                Sammy didn’t know what to say. Elorie had this insistent look that he didn’t want to doubt, but Timor was focused down on the dirt, his mind elsewhere. Sammy wondered if he was someone Elorie had made uncomfortable in the past, in order to survive. He didn’t question. He settled for thanking her.

                “I appreciate it, Elorie. Really. It means a lot to hear that from someone like you.”

                Her tail flicked happily “Not everyone who’s in Felarya was raised here, nor wants to be here. The dangers of this world are the reason I take risky jobs like this, so that one day I get enough money to send my sister into Negav for her safety.” She patted Sammy on his arm affectionately and skipped ahead of him. “You’ll figure it all out sooner or later. For now, stick with me and Timor! We’ll keep you safe.”

                Sammy hitched up the sled's reins over his shoulders, hurrying to catch up with the Neko. “Sounds like a plan to me! Thanks again, Elorie.” She grinned, feline and toothy as he caught up to her. “So, a sister at home huh?” He asked, “Makes sense you want to get her somewhere safe. I gotta ask though, why not leave Timor back with her? Gotta be at least a little safer there than out here for a guy his size.”

                “O-oh! No, absolutely not!” Said a surprised Elorie. “There’s no way I’d leave Timor alone with my sister for more than a second!”

                “Wha? But why not? She’s your sister.”

                “Exactly.” Sighed Elorie “She’s my sister, and a Neko just like me. She can’t help it but…there’s really only one way that ends.”

Sammy stared, blank faced and lost as they walked on. Elorie chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of her head, dumbfounded at his continued obliviousness. “She’d eat him, Sammy.”

 

*                              *                              *                              *                              *                              *                              *

 

                They heard the village long before they saw it, a cacophony of sound that carried lightly on the wind as leaves floated in the breeze. The jumbled symphony of dozens of instruments, voices, and languages curiously did not create noise like you would expect. Rather it was surprisingly harmonious, refreshingly soothing, and painted a crystal-clear image in their minds of the achievement of civilization in Felarya that was the Rosic Village without them even having laid eyes on a single building.

                As the party pressed forward, they eventually came across the outcroppings of the society that so gracefully heralded them; simple farmsteads and hunting cottages, dovecotes and crude fields, and all the Nekos who tended them. The forest didn’t give way to these artificial constructs but melded seamlessly with them, the Rosic Nekos going out of their way to contour to the muses in nature rather than bend it them to their will. Sammy noted that unlike other cultures that lived in the forests and jungles of Felarya, these people built their homes down on the ground, fearless (or ignorant) of the carnivorous wilderness surrounding them.

                While they walked, the laborers they passed by were serenading them with the sweetest songs Sammy had ever heard. Every working Neko it seemed, from farmhand to forager, had a talent that back home would have been cherished for its originality, range, and fullness. Each sound rose in harmony to blend with another that worked an entire plot away.

They continued onward. Elorie found a moment to stealthily grab Timor off her shoulder and tuck him away into her ample cleavage. She buttoned up her blouse to the top to ensure no prying eyes caught a glimpse of her tiny passenger. Sammy must have been gawking, because the guide blushed, flustered. “J-just in case!” She explained. Sammy nodded. He wondered if Timor could breathe.

                It didn’t take long for crops to give way to gardens, which gave way to huts, shops, and stages. The architecture of the tribe seemed designed with acoustics in mind, allowing the audible delights to be shepherded both into the village center and out to the woodlands. The circular format of the village streets encouraged this. Unlike most creatures of the Torpaline Coast, the Rosic announced their presence instead of hiding it.

                In the center of the village stood the elders' long hall. Less a formal seat of government and more akin to an auditorium, its arches and layered seating created an atmosphere of inclusivity that inspired the engineer in Sammy to want to explore his creative side. Lor, Horvan, and Jole were waiting at the entrance with sour expressions. Elorie stopped Sammy a little way back. “Could you um, wait here a sec? I gotta finish up with Jole’s group.”

                Sammy nodded, and Elorie strode up to Jole with the forced confidence of the businesswoman she was trying to be. “W-well Jole, this concludes our travel and completes our contract. As agreed for safely escorting the majority of your party to the village I’d expect the full guild rate of-”

                “Half.”

                Her ears twitched “W-what?”

                “You’ll get half, cat, and be damn grateful I’m paying you at all.”

                “But…but guild rules clearly state that as long as the majority of your party arrives alive at their destination then I’m supposed to get-”

                “Don’t quote the guild’s terms at me, girl!” thundered the old man, “I was a member before you were even a twinkle in your papa’s eye! Aye, you got us here. Three out of four of us. Unfortunately for you, the one who didn’t make it was the entire reason for our expedition. Without him…without my son…I…”

                Lor put her hand on Jole’s arm which he aggressively shook off. He glared at Elorie. “Without Alistair there is no profit, and I’ll have to inform the Rosic Elders of our failure. No profit means your employment goes from being a reasonable expense to an active net loss, girlie.” He stepped in close. “Not to mention lying to us about your singing abilities, siding with the monster that ate my boy, and cajoling on with your traitorous new pal. Half is more than you’re worth.”

                He snapped his fingers, “Horvan, her money.” The one-armed mercenary produced a bag of coins that even Sammy knew was far too small for this kind of gig. He hucked it underhand to Jole who caught it and extended it to Elorie.

                “Take it or leave it.”

                A very angry shuffling was coming from Elorie’s shirt. Timor was trying to break free to give Jole a piece of his mind. Fighting back frustration, she took two fingers and pushed the squirming tiny deeper into her cleavage to silence him in her blouse.

                “Fine. Half.”

                Jole roughly shoved the pouch into her arms and went back to his group. “Done. Now, be gone with you, and may our paths never cross again.” He put his hands around Lor and Horvan and herded them into the hall “This will be brief. We’ve no reason to stay here for long now.”

                The three humans disappeared inside. Sammy dropped the sled's reins and hustled up to Elorie by the steps of the hall. “Hey! Are you ok?”

                Elorie was sniffling, bravely trying to save face. “No. No I’m not. Dammit, why does this keep happening?” She wiped her eyes and counted the meagre sum inside the coin purse. “There’s barely enough here to cover my costs…” she pleaded, “Sammy, what am I gonna do?”

                Sammy didn’t know. He wanted to hug her, but that felt inappropriate considering the tiny Timor was stuffed inside her chest; he might crush him. He decided to give her a piece of her own advice.

                “You’re going to do what you have to do, even if others don’t like it.” The words lingered for a moment before he took her hand. “Come on. Help me sell this stuff at the market. Maybe there’s someone there who needs a guide back the way you guys came? Worth a shot doncha think?”

                She perked up noticeably, wiping her eyes. “Y-yeah. Yeah, you’re right Sammy.” She smiled at him, dusting off the gloom “Thank you. Here, let me help pull the sled. The market’s this way.”

                The pair set off east, as directed by Elorie, towards the Rosic’s market row. It was not long nor wide, but it was busy. Buskers and street performers were more numerous than the shops and stalls, and their already pathetic pace was slowed by multiple musical performances that got in their way. Sammy and Elorie dragged the sled up to what they assumed was some sort of general store, waving to get the attention of the Neko keeping it. A man in bright green attire was idly strumming a guitar inside. He noticed them and hopped to attention to greet them.

                “Welcome, welcome weary travellers, to my humble establishment. How can I serve you today? Buying? Selling?”

                “A bit of both” grunted Sammy as he dropped the sled and massaged his shoulder. It was sore from pulling it all this way and he was already mentally dreading the trek home, even with Elorie’s help.

                The well-to-do Neko inquisitively floated over to the sled. “My my my, let’s see what we have here then! Hmmm.” His swishing tail froze in shock at what he beheld. He plucked a lute from the pile. “Good heavens. That’s a Dayama original. And these; Negavian warhorse hairs. Chiota polishing oils, Tambor drumskins, oh my my my!!!”

                The shopkeepers exuberant and dramatic appraising of the haul Sammy had brought to town drew the attention of other vendors and even some of the errant performers. Soon a crowd was pulling pieces out of the sled to examine them. Elorie had to run interference on grubby, greedy hands while Sammy negotiated his fees. Surprisingly difficult task to do, given his lack of knowledge on both the currencies of Felarya and on the value of instruments and their accessories. Elorie aided as best she could but was by no means an expert either. The vendors withdrew to deliberate.

                Several of the merchants that had gotten together with the shopkeeper were murmuring excitedly. Sammy knew he had struck gold by the look on their faces. For performers, they weren’t very good at hiding their emotions. He kept a straight poker face to pretend he knew what he was doing to counter their lack of subtlety.

                The shop keep came back with a hop, wringing his hands eagerly. “Well good sir, you have impressed us to be sure! Quite the treasure trove you’ve brought our people, rarity upon riches. There is a slight setback to our continuing of business however.”

                Sammy puffed up his chest while lowering his glasses to try and look intimidating. “I’m listening.”

                “Yes well, while the supply you’ve brought to us is truly staggering, we don’t have enough coin among the vendors and performers present to even pay for half of it…” The shopkeeper's eyes flicked shiftily around as he leaned in close to Sammy “perhaps we can come to…other arrangements.”

                “Hmmm” Sammy thought aloud, trying to look important. He had them. “I might be persuaded. You guys know about the big shipwreck south of here?”

                The shopkeeper nodded, inquisitively examining him “Yes, the Swallow. Quite a wreck, isn’t it? She washed ashore some three years ago. Her crew unfortunately kept to the behemoth's namesake and ended up a part of the local fauna”

                “RIP.” agreed Sammy, “Tell you guys what. Pay me what you got and the rest I’ll take in monthly supply drops to the ship. Say…for a year? You do that and I’ll give you everything I’ve got.”

                “Deal.” The merchant didn’t even haggle. Sammy started to wonder if he got ripped off, but he had achieved his goal and didn’t feel too bad about it. The very large bag of coin that was heaved into his hands as he emptied his sled had a calming effect on his nerves too.

                The nekos resupplied him with a cornucopia of goods; the first of his many future drops. Meats, cheeses, breads and vegetables filled his sled as heavy as it had been when he first arrived. Sammy couldn’t be happier. Simple tools, clothes, and even a spyglass or two stuffed their packs and pockets. Even Elorie was exuberant after witnessing all the cargo.

                By the time they had unloaded and reloaded the sun was getting low in the sky. Elorie proposed that they spend the night with the Rosic and Sammy agreed. It would allow them to rest up for their journey back to the Swallow. Sammy was eager to get back, back to his home, and back to Jackie.

                The safety of the Rosic village and its penchant for musical and dramatic performance meant that it had no formal tavern or inn, at least not for rest. The entire village might as well have been one big open-air hostel for travellers. Elorie and Sammy pitched camp just outside the market. She suggested that they find some fresh food within from one of the stalls to spare their fresh supplies. Sammy nodded, eager to spend some of his newfound earnings. The evening food vendors hocked their wares well, from cured meats to fresh fruits, Sammy couldn’t decide what to try first.

                He didn’t know where to start when a curious stall caught his eye. Atop the counter were dozens of people the same size as Timor, some human looking, others with mouse tails and ears. They appeared apprehensive as a neko shopkeeper stood over them, cross-armed and cold. “Hey Elorie, look!” Called Sammy “More tiny people like Timor! I thought they weren’t supposed to be in this village?”

                Elorie looked, and immediately her ears drooped, uncomfortable. “Oh. Uh, Sammy, I think that um…I think they’re exactly where they’re supposed to be. Let’s go look at another booth, ok? I’m sure we can find something more to your liking.”

                But Sammy didn’t move. He watched as two women approached the stall, their tails flicking predatorily. The tinies on the countertop trembled as the ladies’ passed coins above their heads to the vendor. Suddenly two were plucked up, mouse-like Neera each, squirming and struggling in the clutches of the giggling women. They didn’t register the tiny peoples protests, or their desperate attempts to break free. Quite casually they parted their lips and pressed the poor tinies face first against their tongues. With a slurp and a smack, the tiny mouse people were sucked up and into their mouths, noodle-like tails disappearing behind painted and stained lips with a pop. Not a moment later the women put their hands on their necks and swallowed, relishing the struggles of the bulge traveling down their throat. Not once was there a break in conversation or any remorse. They patted their satisfied stomachs, enjoying the struggles withing, and left into the evening with fanciful laughter.

                Sammy stared, shaken. Elorie gently touched his arm. “I’m sorry you had to see that. Was that hard for you?”

                “Is this what Lor meant when she said it was a cultural thing?”

                “That was, er, kinda a bad joke on her part.”

                “No shit. So. What’s the cultural thing?”

                “Huh?”

                “Well??? Explain the joke. What about the cultural thing was Lor talking about?”

                “Sammy…” Elorie was attempting to meet his eyes, trying to explain, “We’re nekos. We’re predators. It’s…it’s how Felarya works. The big eat the small.”

                “So you’d call yourself a predator?”

                “Well, kinda. Yes. It’s just a fact. I can’t change that. Does that make you see me differently? I’m a predator. So’s Jackie, you know.”

                “How could you say that? Don’t ever say that ok? She’s not.”

                He had startled her. “I-I’m sorry! But Sammy…she ate Alistair.”

                “By accident!”

                “I know! But that doesn’t change who and what she is. Jackie is a lovely person, but to her I’d still just be a snack. This whole village is. She can fight against it, and I can see that she does, but it doesn’t change the fact. I thought you understood that.”

                “And I thought YOU understood. She’s not a monster.”

                “Am I a monster?”

                “Elorie, come on.”

                “No! Am I a monster?”

                “No! You have Timor. You don’t eat people. You’re just like Jackie. You’re not like,” He gestured wildly at the village of nekos “all of them!”

                Her eyes went wide, and her ears flattened in frustration. Sammy had struck a nerve. She pushed past him and pulled two coins out of her coin pouch as she went. Elorie marched up to the vendor and practically threw the money at him, surprising the seller. She reached down and plucked a squirming Neera girl up by the collar. She turned, never taking her eyes off Sammy.

                The mouse girl was raised up above her head. As she passed her nose Elorie caught a scent making her mouth begin to instinctually water. Sammy looked on, stunned as Elories lips slowly, unsurely parted. Hesitantly she began to lower the kicking tiny into her open maw. The neera’s squirming legs touched her tongue giving Elorie her first taste. Her trepidation vanished. The mouse girl tasted good. She closed her lips around her midriff to prevent escape. Elorie let her go from her fingers. The Neera slumped forward and started pounding on Elorie’s lower lip in futility. She could feel the tiny legs kicking against her probing tongue.  Elorie slurped.

                                The tiny girl slipped inside the neko’s mouth up to her neck. Sammy could see a little face pleading between her lips, fighting, but ultimately defeated in spirit. One more slurp and the Neera girl was sucked into Elories mouth and deposited in her cheek with a squeak. She swished the girl back and forth once to taste in more detail before forcefully swallowing.

                Inside Elories shirt, pressed up against her chest and wedged between her breasts, Timor was sweltering. Elorie had begun to sweat as well in her nervousness and frustration with Sammy, and her heart was going a mile a minute. He knew what she was doing. He didn’t like it, but what could he do? The kid had to learn a lesson, one Elorie would reluctantly teach. Timor heard the gulp and braced himself. He hated this part. The Neera slid down Elories throat in a panic, a small lump slipping past her collarbone and out of Sammy’s view, but not out of Timor’s hearing. He heard the poor thing shout her final cries for help as she traveled down into his friend’s stomach. A gurgle boiled up from down below Timor’s soft prison. He felt a rumble as air and gas escaping upward.

                Elorie belched.

                She walked back Sammy, embarrassed. “T-there! I had my dinner. As a Predator and as a monster. Now go and get yourself something. I’ll see you at camp.”

                She left him alone in the market of the Rosic, his appetite gone, lost in shock among a sea of predators his own size.

 

*                              *                              *                              *                              *                              *                              *

 

                It turns out that the Rosic have a village that very rarely sleeps. Sammy thrashed and rolled in his bedroll by the sled trying to tune out the merry drinking songs and mirthful melodies. By this point everything was becoming far too whimsical for his liking, especially after what he witnessed at the market. After he learned what nekos really are.

                Elorie hadn’t spoken to him. She was snoring softly nearby, the occasional quiet burp as she digested her meal. The neera hadn’t proved enough, so she had taken to a small loaf of bread from the sled, promptly retiring after she had eaten. That suited Sammy fine, he hadn’t really been in a mood to speak to her either. The hour was late when he found himself finally starting to fall asleep. Some bard had taken up a lullaby and it was working.

                That was when he felt a weight on his chest. It wasn’t all that startling; He was outside, and Sammy was used to small crustaceans crawling over him inside the wreck of the Swallow. Slowly he raised his hand to grab whatever had climbed on him and chuck it off. He was getting close to snatching it when the lump spoke.

                “Please don’t grab me like that.”

                Sammy opened his eyes to see the stone face of Timor kneeling on his chest. “Hey.”

                “Noooooooope.” complained Sammy “Nope. Not doing this dude. I’m trying to sleep.”

                Timor ignored him “You really upset her you know.”

                “Not gonna lie, I don’t really give a damn right now. She pissed me off back there.”

                “Because she ate that Neera?”

                “No shit sherlock.” Sammy rolled his eyes “Ya know what, I can’t believe it doesn’t bother you as well.”

                “Who said it didn’t?”

                That caught Sammy off guard. Timor sighed “This is difficult to talk about, but I want you to know why Elorie understood what Jackie was going through, and why she understands something about her that I don’t think you do.”

                Sammy scoffed, “I know my own girlfriend, bro.”

                “I’m sure you think you do. That is, you know WHO she is, but you don’t understand WHAT she is.” Timor crossed his arms. “A few months ago, when I was cursed, it wasn’t just me. There was a group of us, raiding some treasure. I don’t remember the why or for who, it’s all a blur to me now, the reasoning behind it all. What I do remember was after we were shrunk down, we came outside to find our guide, Elorie, who was the only one that wasn’t cursed.”

                His eyes grew distant “She accidentally ate three of our group that day. Digested them fully. I was the only one who wasn’t eaten.”

                Sammy blinked “Timor, I-I’m so sorry.” He let the moment pass before bursting out “Ok but how did she just ‘accidentally’ devour three of her friends?”

                “I dunno,” Timor smirked “How does Jackie do it?”

                “Dude, shut up. Totally different, she’s cursed! She can’t help it!”

                “And yet she hasn’t devoured you because of the curse. You’re still here.”

                Sammy grumbled “Yeah well…trust me, it isn’t for lack of trying.”

                Timor groaned “Look kid, it’s frustrating for me that you don’t see that that is exactly my point. I know Elorie. I’ve got her back, and she’s got mine. She’s been helping me try to find a way to fix this curse for a long time now.”

                “I also know what she is. She’s a Neko. A carnivore. A predator. She’s got instincts, needs, and wants. And yet for all that, I’m still here. She could have eaten me countless times and probably should have. When we were in the wilds scrounging for food, when we didn’t have money for groceries, or when she gave up her own dinner to feed that terrifying sister of hers. But she didn’t. And she usually tries not to eat tinies. Usually.”

                Sammy laughed bitterly “Pfft. Sure. Tonight was the exception, not the rule.”

                “Spot on, kid, and she made an exception for you. I’m not gonna sit here and say she didn't enjoy part of it. A girl’s gotta eat, and sometimes these girls have…interesting tastes. She was trying to teach you a hard lesson the only way Elorie knew how to at that moment. She’s not exactly a wordsmith, but she was trying to show and explain that by judging and not understanding what she was and where she comes from, you weren’t giving a fair shake to who she was trying to be, often in spite of the former. Whether you believe it or not, you’re doing the same thing to Jackie. In Felarya, that’s only gonna end in heartbreak.”

                Sammy was quiet for a moment, thinking. He threw one hand up in the air. “Ok, so you ‘understand what Elorie is’. That doesn’t terrify you?”

                Timor chuckled darkly “Hells, every day! Elorie is sweet, kind, and genuinely wants to help me lift my curse. I appreciate everything she’s done for me, and I will honor my debt to her because of it.” He cocked his head “That doesn’t mean I don’t think that one day this is gonna all end in the exact same place, exact same way it did for my old adventuring party. That or in her crazy younger sister's stomach, I swear the girl could wipe out a whole colony of Neera if given the chance.”

                Samy was confused “And yet…”

                “And yet here I am. Still by her side, her eyes and ears. Elorie can be amazing, but she can also be a little clumsy and forgetful. She needs someone like me.” The little man smiled “I know my place on the food chain. It scares and horrifies me, but I know it. And I know hers. I needed to accept that before I could really get to know her and appreciate the efforts she’s going through to fight that. Otherwise it would drive me insane with paranoia. Nearly did.” he shrugged, “That’s the only way we can live together in Felarya.”

                The cursed man slid off Sammy’s chest, turned, and patted him on his arm. It was stiff, but not without kindness. “Think about it and get some sleep,” he instructed. Sammy watched him go back over to Elorie’s sleeping bag to get his own rest. To Sammy’s surprise, Elorie had her eyelids open, watching her tiny ward trek back to her. She lifted the side of the bedroll to let him in, an appreciative and warm smile on her lips.

                She was listening, realized Sammy. He caught Elorie’s lidded eye for a moment before rolling over. Her face was soft, sleepy, and tender. Sammy didn’t know what to think.

                He barely slept. His mind was awash with conflict and confusion from his midnight tete a tete with Timor. What sleep he could manage was wild with broken dreams and thrashing limbs. He hoped that tomorrow would bring him some peace, if tonight could and would not.

 

*                              *                              *                              *                              *                              *                              *             

                The morning did not bring peace. Sammy felt like he was hungover; so rough was his sleep that he had a kink in his neck and his back was killing him. Elorie and Timor weren’t in camp when he woke, but they had left their belongings, so couldn’t be far. Despite their disagreement last night, he didn’t think Elorie would abandon her promise to guide him home.

                As expected, Elorie and Timor returned. Sammy was breaking some bread from the sled for his breakfast when they came into camp. He couldn't see the cursed man but knew he was there, tucked away in her bosom. A small unnatural shift in the fabric confirmed that. Elorie didn’t say or do anything other than giving a curt nod in greeting. Sammy sighed. He had to make this right.

                “Elorie?”

                The neko nearly jumped out of her skin. She hadn’t expected him to want to talk to her. “Yes Sammy?”

                “I’m sorry.”

                “Eh?” she blinked, confused. “You are?”

                “Yeah. I had time to think about what happened yesterday. I want you to know I think I get it. I don’t like it, but I can accept it. For you. Because you’re a good person Elorie, being a Neko and a predator doesn’t change that.”

                Putting aside his worries for Timor, Sammy hugged her. The action startled Elorie again, but she quickly relaxed and returned the brief embrace. When they separated Sammy was looking directly into her eyes. “But dude, never do that in front of me again. Cool?”

                Elorie sighed, his funny way of talking granting the human a certain charm. “I promise Sammy. I probably went too far. I’m sorry too.”

                The tension cut, they finished packing up camp and gathered the sled for departure, Elorie on the right side and Sammy on the left. Timor got some relief from the heat of Elorie’s bodice by choosing to hide among the supplies for the journey out of town. Sammy took in the town’s atmosphere and artistry once more before leaving. He thought to himself that he would miss this place. Even though their culture had its “quirks”, there was an irrefutable wonder to the village of the Rosic nekos that was truly unique to Felarya. He hoped if he could one day cure Jackie’s curse the two would visit again as a couple, and not as a threat.

                After a while of leaving from the way they had come the day prior, they came across a young and roguish looking boy sat upon a low stone wall near the village's outskirts eating some fruit. His ears twitched, inquisitive as the pair labored past them.

                “More travellers! Are you with the group that left earlier? You’ll have to hurry to catch them, there’s safety in numbers in the forest.”

                “Other group?” Elorie wrinkled her nose, “What did they look like?”

                “Aha,” grinned the boy “I’d love to tell you that information but I just spent my last coin on this here juicy citroise.”

                Elorie rolled her eyes. She reached into her pouch to toss the kid some money. The boy winked appreciatively.”

                “Now I remember! Humans like him. One was old, another was a bookish looking girl, and a mean man with a metal arm. Must’ve come by here an hour or so ago.” He smiled, biting the coin. “Like I said, best to hustle up!”

                They left the kid to his wall. Elorie darkened “Seems Jole and the rest spent the night, too. I hope we don’t run into them on the road.”

                Sammy laughed “Yeah, that would be awkward. But don’t worry about them, we don’t even know if they’re headed the same way. Besides, they’ve got an hour’s head start and we’ve got this heavy SOB to deal with, so let's focus on it and not on the SOBs up the road.” He hefted the reins dramatically.

                She smiled “Thanks Sammy.”

                They tried to pick up the pace despite the news about Jole’s party for the sun was already getting high in the sky and they’d hardly left the Rosic. The sled really was very heavy. Had Sammy not had Elorie’s help he wondered how fast he would have been able to move. It wasn’t like he was out of shape, far from, but he was still only one man.

                “Hey Elorie?” he said when they stopped for a quick breather and some water. “Thanks for everything. I know you’re going out of your way to help me and Jackie. So here,” he reached into the large coin purse he got from the Rosic, withdrawing two handfuls worth of assorted coins, “This should cover your fee for guiding me home and cover the amount Jole stiffed you on, right? It’s the least I can do.”

                Elorie was taken aback, “Sammy are…are you sure?”

                “Yup.” He put the coins in her hands, “You deserve this. I hope it helps you and your sister.”

                Timor nodded, “That’s real good of you Sammy.”

                “Too good.” concurred Elorie, “I don’t know how I can repay this to you.”

                “Get me home, duh.” grinned Sammy. He dusted his hands off walking back to the sled “Speaking of, enough slacking doncha think? Let’s go.” Elorie nodded and got back into position. The two friends picked up the reins refreshed and determined. Sammy pointed forward “Alright, rollout!”

                They carried on like this for the better part of the day and into the early evening, making good progress and only stopping for occasional breaks. Both pullers had worked up a decent sweat by the time the sun was setting. They were quite satisfied with their progress; they’d nearly made it to the beach and out of the woods. It would only be three days to the Swallow if they continued at this pace.

                Good thing too thought Sammy I’m glad to be out of that forest.

                They had a quick supper of meats and cheese before deciding to continue onward while they still had some light. The more of the jungle they put behind them, the safer they were. At Elorie’s suggestion they skirted the edge of the greater treeline, granting themselves ample distance from both the ocean and the foliage in case anything bigger than they were was stalking them. Elorie was an experienced and pleasant guide. Sammy had come to enjoy her explanations and insights on overland travel and survival in the wilderness.

                Night began to fall. Elorie instructed Sammy to keep an eye out for somewhere for them to camp in safety. They pulled the spy glasses purchased from the merchants out of their packs, using them to scan the brambles and shoals on either side. For all their searching nothing particularly suitable revealed itself. Elorie was starting to get antsy; they would have to be less picky.

                Then Sammy spotted it. In the dying light less than two kilometres ahead along the treeline was a thicket, dense bushes awning over what could only be a decent sized clearing. It would be hidden from outside eyes while providing ample space to camp, assuming it wasn’t already occupied. He pointed it out to Elorie who held her own spyglass up to her eye to scout the site. She frowned “Hey,” she nudged Sammy, “What d’you make of that?”

                Sammy followed her direction and spied on some lumpy blobs out a few meters from the dense brush. He struggled, adjusting his glasses trying to focus. They looked like random piles, which Sammy realized were clothes. A rough cloak, some traveller’s packs, and a long dark gown that looked very familiar. Weapons were strewn about as well, a rifle, a pistol, etc.

                Elorie tapped his arm again and pointed further up the coast. A little way up hanging on some branches high above the ground were what could only have been sails, massive sheets blew idly in the breeze. They appeared to be fashioned into crude garments. A top. A skirt. Sammy’s heart skipped a beat.

                A rumble erupted from the den, noisy and rude. Sammy lowered his spyglass, the blood in his face following suit. “Oh no.” he mumbled.

 

*                              *                              *                              *                              *                              *                              *

 

Jackie burped, feminine and loud. It echoed off the dense foliage creating a rippling cascade through the leaves that amused her but terrified her two remaining guests. She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth a few times trying to remove a foul aftertaste that was souring the otherwise tasty treat in her tummy. She had never liked the flavour of iron. “He really couldn’t remove his metal arm huh? I wasn’t gonna try; it seemed too cruel. Still, I find it hard to believe there wasn’t a way. Sammy’d call that shitty engineering”

                Jole was silently glaring, trapped in her fist. Beside him and equally stuck, Lor wept angry, desperate tears. “Cruel? You ate him! You ate Horvan, you barbarian! You giant bitch!”

                She frowned at the tiny woman “Hey, that’s not very nice! …but yeah, I did. Hehe, guilty as charged! Man, he’s really giving my tummy a workout too, that arm packs a punch, huh?” She laughed at her own humor and patted her grumbling stomach with her free hand. She quietly tried stifling a burp again, Horvan’s struggles making her gassy. “Oop! ‘Scuse me. Hey, when you two get in there can you tell him to settle down? It’s not helping either of us with the way he’s acting.”

                “You lied to us!” cried Lor.

                Jackie blinked “Huh? I didn’t lie, seriously, he’s not getting out and it’s really hard to focus with him thrashing like this…”

                “About Alistair!” she sobbed “You and your little boy-toy, you lied to us!”

                Jackie looked away “Not really. I mean I did eat him. But it was just like now, I couldn’t help it!” She leaned in close like she was telling a dirty secret “I’m cursed, you know. That’s why I can’t help but want to gobble up you adorable little guys.” she pouted “It doesn’t help that you all taste so good too. Take Alistair for example! He practically seasoned himself for me.” Jackie angled her head at Jole. “I hope that comforts you a bit. For what it’s worth, he was a really good cook, Jole. So yummy. I’m sorry.”

                Jole finally spoke, never breaking his steely gaze “Ha! Sorry? Keep your pities, demon. There is no level of the hells deep enough for your kind.” He nodded towards her naked body “Send me to my boy and let me die in peace. At least I’ll be with him in the end.”

                Jackie’s eyebrow twitched at the old man's stubbornness “Oh don’t worry, you’ll be joining him soon. Only thing is, tasty little Al has a day's head start on you guys.” She playfully poked her lower abdomen. “I’d say he’s around here somewhere…or maybe over here? Let’s just say he hasn’t left the party yet, but he HAS gone down to the basement.” She moved her hand off her gurgling guts to separate Lor from Jole. “Speaking of parties, you’re invited Lor! Welcome, it’s BYOB, and we didn’t get snacks, but that’s what you’re here for!”

The tiny girl scrambled to hold onto the old man, and he did the same, but Jackie was simply too powerful for both to handle. She lifted Lor up and out of Jole’s grasp towards her giant face. The anthropologist's view was soon filled with soft lips and a smug giantess’ smirk. She whimpered

That triggered something. Something that nibbled at the back of Jackie’s brain. For a moment, as she watched Lor squirm between her thumb and forefinger, she hesitated. A voice broke through her hunger, asking, begging her to reconsider this course of action. A slew of guilty thoughts and attempted reason attacked her psyche in an effort to snap her out of this feeding frenzy:

The old Jackie wouldn’t have done this.

You’re hurting them.

They’re people, like you.

It’s the curse, Jackie, fight it. You don’t really want to eat them.

…

What would Sammy think?

Lor noticed the hesitation. She shook away the tears and slowed her struggles, looking at Jackie with a scared, weary confusion. There might have even been a fleeting hope that she wouldn’t be following her party members into Jackie’s digestive system.

Something else in her head fought back against the voice.

You aren’t that old person anymore.

You’re hurting yourself by not eating.

They’re food.

It’s what you are now. You don’t want this, you NEED this.

She licked her lips.

And Sammy doesn’t need to know.

Jackie winked at Lor “If you catch up to Alistair in there, tell him I said hi and give my compliments to the chef, k?”

Lor’s face contorted in terror as Jackie opened her mouth and popped the tiny girl in like she was a piece of popcorn. With a flick she soared through the air, passing Jackie’s lips and towards her slightly extended tongue. Midair, Lor had the existential realization that she was nothing but food; a part of the larger meal for the giantess that included her friends and allies. The girl landed on Jackie’s pillowed tongue with a splat and was quickly withdrawn inward by the giantess. Jole could only see her calves kicking and flailing while muffled shouts came from inside the enormous mouth.

Jackie pursed her lips and slurped the rest of Lor inside at an agonizingly slow pace. She was enjoying the sensation of Lor resisting while sliding inside. The girl disappeared with a pop, now only known to Jole as a bulge in Jackie’s mouth.

                “Mmmmm” the giantess moaned, a little drool escaping her mouth as she poked and prodded the girl held in her cheek. Jackie’s tastebuds were awash with her naked flavor, and she relished it. She flung Lor back and forth, using her tongue to wrap around and explore every inch of the anthropologist's body. She had a much fuller taste than Horvan, cleaner and less earthy with no metal arm to spoil it. She clearly took good care of herself, which Jackie could appreciate. She swished Lor from cheek to cheek and back again, fully appreciating her taste like a fine wine.

                Satisfied, Jackie swallowed the limp and exhausted girl in her mouth. Lor barely had the energy to scream as she was squeezed down Jackie’s esophagus. Jole watched a little bump quickly and cleanly descend Jackie’s throat into her beautiful naked body. The grey man grimaced, full of disgust. “Pleased with yourself?”

                Jackie was lovingly rubbing her belly, full of something else. “Very” she cooed, “Lor was delicious.” She glanced at Jole mischievously, “Not as good as Alistair, but definitely better than Horvan.”

                “Damn you.” he cursed “I hope we give you the worst indigestion you’ve ever experienced. May my spirit carve a hole through your belly in fiery vengeance. My ghost will haunt your every breath!”

                Jackie burped again, giggling “Meh, I think that was just Alistair’s ghost I brought up, so I’m not too worried about yours. Better your spirits come out this end anyways or that wouldn’t be very ladylike, would it?" She lifted her last human up to eye level. “I hope that you taste just like your temper! I miss spicy food. Anything else you wanna get off your chest before I eat ya?”

                Jole was fuming, “I’ll never understand you Giantesses. Nagas and Harpies and Dryads I understand. Monsters and demons and animals, the lot of them. Faeries, too, can burn for their cruelty. We’re different species with different abilities and different places in this world. I hate ‘em, but I understand ‘em.” He sneered, “But a Giantess? You’re the exact same as me, just bigger. I bet I could point out every vital organ and explain every flaw you got. I could probably tell you exactly how long it’s gonna take for me and my party to reach that fat arse from your vile mouth.” Jole eyed her bare sex between her legs below, “Hells, I could even show you a damn good time girlie, knowing exactly what to do and where to do it. But no. Instead, we’re nothing but food to ya, just like we are to the rest of them.”

                He spat “Where’s your humanity?”

                Jackie stared. The voice in her head was screaming his words over and over at her: Where’s your humanity? Where’s your humanity? Where is it, Jackie? Not for the first time did she find herself questioning who and what she was in this place she was forced to call home. Part of her wanted to believe that nothing had changed, that she was still the same person she was before she and Sammy had been torn away from Earth. They still were together after all, still joked together, still were each other's favorite person. They had meals, built a home, and made love.

                And yet, there were obvious, glaring differences between them now. Not just the superficial physical differences in size, but the subtle problems that came with it. The need for more space for shelter forced them to seek a compromise that was inconvenient for both. The inability of being able to sleep too closely for fear of crushing Sammy in her sleep inspired distance between them. There was the issue of appetite, where Sammy was content on a can of beans, Jackie would need a hundred. Not to mention her new choices in diet.

                Her stomach grumbled and glorped, digesting her two unruly guests, still hungry for one more. The curse pulled her back to the moment with a sharp need. Her attention returned to the bite-sized man in her clutches. The curse told her what she was.

                She shrugged “Tell me if you find my humanity when you’re inside me.”

                Jackie lifted Jole into the air above her head, pinching him by the waist with her fingers. She opened her mouth and stuck her tongue out as far as she could, allowing the wriggling snack to see directly down her gullet. Jole glared into her maw, resentment fueling his struggles. Fresh secretions of saliva drenched the inner walls of her cheeks and tongue as Jackie’s mouth eagerly awaited its final treat of the evening. A line of spit connected her uvula to the back of her tongue and danced in her heavy breath. Jole allowed himself to look away from his doom to scan the area, one final observation of the world outside the giantess’s stomach. Night had fallen. The moon shone bright in the sky, its light reflecting off the moist, dewy leaves of the trees and bushes above him as much as it did off Jackie’s freshly wetted lips and dripping tongue below. The foliage around them was green and lush and reminded Jole of home.

                And there, standing at the entrance of the thicket, was a catgirl and a man, one with her hands over her face in terror, the other stunned in shock and disappointment.

                Jole cackled, mad with vindication “See, boy? See what she was this entire time? Witness me, and join us inside soon enough!” Jackie’s fingers parted. Jole fell into her mouth, vanishing from view.

                “Jackie, wait! NO!” shrieked Sammy.

                The giantess gagged, startled. Jole hit the back of her throat like a stone, causing her to cough trying to dislodge him. Her fist beat against her chest as she desperately and instinctually swallowed. Jole thrashed and fought, his body being pulled and pushed by Jackie's throat in every gasp. His face was squeezed by her flexing esophagus, trying to pull him in with increasing strength and need. With a final urgent gulp, she managed to get him down. Fast and hard Jole travelled until he was deposited securely into her stomach with a plop. Tears filled Jackie’s eyes as she coughed again from the choking; she’d barely gotten to taste the man.

                Her fit subsiding, she looked guilty and fearful toward her boyfriend, clearing her throat one more time. “A-hm! S-sammy? What are you doing here? You weren’t supposed to be here!”

                Sammy had dropped to his knees in horror, frozen. Elorie had to speak for him, her voice trembling, “W-we were on our way back! We were looking for a place to shelter for tonight and found you in this thicket!” The neko quickly and awkwardly tried to compose herself. “What are you doing here? I thought you went back to your ship?”

                Jackie hiccuped, “I was going to, but there’s been no game in the woods by the ship for a while now and we were out of supplies! I figured since you guys caught something the other night there’d be more to hunt closer to the Rosic.” Her stomach gurgled, morbidly confirming her point.

                The sound snapped Sammy out of his stupor. “You…you ate them…”

                “Sammy I-” She stopped herself. The urgent pull of the curse was subsiding as its needs were sated. She no longer felt the need to lie and defend what her boyfriend had just witnessed. She wasn’t hungry anymore. Her posture shrank in shame and self loathing, head bowed. “-I didn’t mean to…”

                “So spit them up.”

                Jackie looked up. “Huh?”

                “Spit them up.” repeated Sammy.

                She shook her head, slightly annoyed “Sammy, don’t be dumb, you know the curse won’t let me do that. Besides,” She rubbed her slightly bloated tummy in circles “It’s really getting going in there.”

                Sammy scowled, rising to his feet “See this, this is what I’m talking about Jackie! The whole giving in and letting yourself go to these impulses! This isn't you. The Jackie I know would do anything to get those people out of there!”

                She frowned, “Yeah, well, the Jackie you know is also starving Sammy. The curse gets stronger the longer I go without eating. Do you have any idea how fucking frustrating it is seeing your peers strut around Felarya with full bellies while you’re stuck surviving off a handful of fish and some ancient alien beans?”

                “Yeah I do actually! Cuz I do it every day too! And I’m your peer, so-”

                “No Sammy, you’re not!” She snapped at him. Elorie took this moment to slink away, mumbling something about going to get the sled and check on Timor. Sammy barely heard her, his attention was completely on his giant girlfriend. Jackie sighed “The other giants of Felarya are my peers. You’re just my boyfriend. A human boyfriend.”

                “You’re human too, idiot!”

                “Am I?” she asked sincerely.

                “Now who’s being dumb” grumbled Sammy “Of course you are. Look at you, same Jackie as always.”

                “Except I’m not Sammy! YOU look at me.”

                “I am!” He insisted.

                “I’m one hundred and six feet tall.”

                “I like bigger girls.”

                “I wear sails for clothes!”

                “It’s just Felaryan fashion.”

                “I hang out with snake women and faeries!”

                “So what? You aren’t like them-”

                “I EAT PEOPLE!”

                She shouted the last part so loud that birds from nearby treetops took to the skies in fright. Jackie looked defeated. “It was the one thing that I clung to that didn’t make me like them. I have eaten more and more people these days. I’m scared, Sammy. I try to fight it but sometimes…I just don’t want you to hate me. I don’t want to lose you.”

                The human looked on in disbelief at his giantess girlfriend. He remembered his conversation with Timor the night before and something started to click. Elorie could have eaten the shrunken man at any time after he was cursed. She had eaten tinies before, still ate them now, but she didn’t eat him. Like Jackie with her curse, there was something inside Elorie that drove her to hunt tiny prey, and yet she chose to fight against it. She chose to protect him. She didn’t want to lose him.

                Sammy didn’t want to lose Jackie, either.

                He walked up to the nude giant woman he’d arrived in Felarya with and touched her hand gently. “It’s ok Jackie.” he said, “I’m not going anywhere. Not because of any people, not because of any curse, and definitely not because of you.” He kissed her hand, “I love you.”

                Jackie swept him up with speed, knocking the wind out of Sammy. She brought him to her lips, loudly and wetly kissing him so hard he thought he was going to pop. “MWAH.” she said as she broke her lips off him “I love you, too, you dork. I’m so so so sorry Sammy. I promise, I’m gonna try harder to fight it, the curse. I have to, for you and for us.”

                “I know you will.” he whispered, head still spinning from the sudden onslaught of affection. He wasn’t sure if he believed his own words, but he buried those doubts and reveled in the embrace of his girlfriend.

                A minute later Elorie returned, huffing from the exhaustion of pulling the sled all the way to the thicket herself. Sammy greeted her, warmly thanking her for her efforts. Elorie brushed it off as something any guide worth their salt would do, but didn’t argue when Sammy insisted on setting up camp himself. She lounged against the goods in the sled, casting curious and nervous glances at Jackie whose stomach was noisily processing her former party.  The giantess excused herself momentarily to retrieve her clothes now that the company didn’t just include her dinner and her boyfriend. She still had her decency.

                It was a tense night that Jackie was absolutely unaware of. Elorie was acting as her usual pleasant self while Timor was expectedly mute, but Sammy had spent enough time with them in close proximity to know that they both were anxious. The guides supped in relative quiet while Jackie prattled on about a Judo tournament she had been in back on Earth. It was a good story, had either Timor or Elorie heard of Judo or knew the rules they likely would have been impressed. Sammy was grateful when the fire died, and it was time for bed.

                Elorie had tucked Timor into her chest and removed herself to some bramble on the far side of the thicket, “For warmth and safety” she had said. Sammy thought it had really been to have as much distance from Jackie as possible. He couldn’t fault the logic. The giantess herself was laying on her side drifting in and out of consciousness. He stumbled over to her, emotionally drained and physically sore, and slouched against her soft gut. There were no screams, no shouting nor movement. Jackie’s stomach had long since churned Jole, Lor, and Horvan into her intestines for processing. The only sound was the low rumble of her bowels pushing her unwilling guests along, absorbing them into something greater than themselves.

                The pops and squelches of her digestive tract were quickly putting him into a drowsy state. Coupled with the warmth of the giant woman's body heat, it was a surprisingly effective sleep aid. Heh, thought Sammy darkly, Felaryan ASMR. He fell asleep pressed into her tummy next to her belly button, listening to his girlfriend’s natural processes throughout the night.

                When he woke up it was very early in the morning. The sun had only just begun to force its way through the dense branches and leaves of the thicket and most of the forest still lay asleep in darkness. Only songbirds heralded the morning’s arrival.

                Elorie and Timor were gone. Her pack was missing, as well as a few non-essentials from his supply sled. Sammy couldn’t blame them. After witnessing what they had last night they must have made the shrewd assumption that to stay after their former party finished digesting as dinner was to risk being digested as breakfast. Besides, there wasn’t much need for a guide now that he had reunited with Jackie. She’d get them both home in half the time and a quarter of the effort.

                Still, he liked Elorie and Timor and regretted not saying goodbye properly. He hoped that this wouldn’t be the last time they’d meet and wished for the next to be under less stressful circumstances. Maybe Elorie will have gotten her sister into Negav, or Timor would have his curse broken.

                More likely she eats him as “emergency rations” snickered Sammy. Stay safe my friends. See you again soon.

                His silent prayer into the air complete, he returned to his snoring girlfriend. She had rolled onto her back (luckily not her front) in the night and was drooling happily out of the side of her mouth. He smiled. Even like this, he thought she was beautiful. He began packing up camp quietly so as not to disturb her. He was about done when a noisy growl came from low in her guts.

                It rumbled through the ground powerful enough that it shook his feet. He went to her side and put his head against the curve of her hip, curious. Loud rolling gurgles flooded his ears, the party having since moved deep within Jackie’s bowels. He knew the sludge coursing through her pipes was once human like he was and found himself conflicted again. He thought of Timor’s words, Elorie’s actions, and Jackie’s curse. He looked up at her face again to see her smiling in her sleep, content with a full belly and a restful night. She was sleeping as soundly as the most innocent baby in the world, even after everything. Was that a man-eating giantess he was watching dream, or his poor cursed Jackie he thought he knew?

                A loud glorp right next to him made Sammy pull his hands off her body. He stared at the curve of her hip for a long time, as if expecting someone inside to ask for help. Nothing came but another bubble of gas moving along.  Sammy frowned, determined.

                “We have to break this curse,” he said, “We have to fix you, Jackie.”

THE END