—Chapter5 The Desert and the Oasis

There was something deeply satisfying about a dreamless sleep after the flurry of recent events. Tom awoke in this same spot for the third time but on this occasion, it was on his own, not prompted by Hinba. Her arms curled on the ground around Tom, not touching him, but close enough that he could feel the heat radiating off her skin,  He still felt her warm breath wash over his body in slow even increments. She was probably still asleep but he wanted to make sure. Careful not to make any noise, Tom rolled over to face the giant. Yep, still asleep, or she was doing a really good job of pretending. Her mouth hung slightly open, the looming darkness just beyond her teeth. 

He couldn’t go back there. The torture, or “punishment” was a little different. He wasn’t sure how much of that he could take, hell, he was practically willing to give up just yesterday. But her mouth. . . That was a one way trip no matter how resilient he was. His best chances of survival involved staying on her good side. That would be hard after yesterday, but there was something he could do. 

Tom slowly crept by the gap left between her hand and forehand. His eyes fixed on the direction she had pointed the night before. Maybe Tom actually wanted to try to escape. Maybe there was a sliver of hope that if she were telling the truth about the direction of the worldstone, and he could just run there and arrive before she woke up. Could Hinba really really blame him if he tried; if he succeeded? 

No, the real reason he wanted to run was much more bleak. It would make her happy. For all of her anger, and all of her predatory intentions. . . it was still just a game to her. If she believed he had really, “got it out of his system,” she would be able to look past his earlier transgressions, or so he hoped.  She said there wouldn’t be any repercussions, but Tom didn't buy it. It didn’t matter, whatever she did to him, she would be careful to kill him. On some level the one thing Tom truly feared, besides the obvious of course, was the repetition. How many times could he be shoved up her ass before he begged her to eat him? Before he BEGGED to be put out of his misery? And even then, if she did eat him… and it was just a dream again… He shuddered at the thought.  

So he ran. Slowly at first until he was sure he was out of earshot but then increased his pace into a light jog and then a sprint. 

Looking ahead, he could see where the dense trees were replaced by blinding white light. The sun was high in the morning sky at this point. It was quickly becoming his only real means of determining the passage of time. Unless this was another dream, he thought. Slowing his pace to a walk he looked back at the giant, still sleeping where he had left her. Would she do that to him? Tell him to run only to reveal that he is still in a cage? 

Tom banished the thought and resumed his feigned escape attempt. The desired result would likely be the same even if she was just messing with him again. It would just be a little extra security that she really didn’t need. The small tattoo she left him on the back of his neck was some sort of homing beacon. That much was clear. He could probably anywhere in her world or his and she would still be able to find him. 

As he approached the clearing, his eyes began to adjust to the flood of light. The blinding white dulled into a sandy brown. A desert? There was a small drop off and fell into a massive basin of rolling dunes of sand. It almost looked like a shallow crater, the remnants of some distant celestial impact. He could barely make out the hazy tree line that circled rolling hills and only because of how the dark green contrasted the pale beige of the sand. 

At the very center of the basin he could barely make out a small twinkle of light. The way it danced reminded him of water. He wanted to get a closer look. Inching his way forward, he peered over the dirt cliff, it appeared to be held together with a network of fibrous roots. It was about a six foot drop before the steep incline of the sand would break his fall. If necessary he could find something to attach to a nearby tree to help him climb back up into the forested region. He turned sharply to begin his search and the ground gave way from under his feet. 

He scrambled to grab onto something. His fingers pierced the loose soil but they did not find purchase. After a short free fall, Tom felt his back slam into the unforgiving sand and he tumbled backward. It was unclear how far he had actually fallen, but as soon as he came to rest at the base of the incline, he clutched his chest. The wild was knocked out of his lunges and he struggled to catch his breath. 

Tom rolled onto his back and wheezed at the sky. Maybe it was best if he relaxed for a moment. He closed his eyes and felt the pleasant heat of the sun on his face. 

It wasn’t a full five minutes before he heard the telltale rumble of Hinba’s footsteps. While still on his back, Tom debated if he should put more effort into his escape attempt. If he could scale back up to the forest he might be able to hide behind a tree or possibly find some exposed roots to crawl under. She would find him eventually but it would at least prolong the inevitable. Glancing around the rolling dunes, he knew that there was nowhere to hide down here in the valley. She could spot him against against the sand miles away. 

He needed to run, just make a break for the center of the desert and hope he could reach the center before Hinba could reach him. There was a lot of coughing as Tom tried to roll over and get to his feet as the looming footsteps were getting louder. Tom managed to get one foot firmly planted beneath himself before a shadow was cast overhead. Hinba had leapt through the air, crashing to the ground with a thunderous shockwave. Tom barely had time to cover his face before he was pelted with a wall of fine particles. 

Hinba stood and turned to face Tom, she began to walk towards him. Tom couldn’t see her expression but the all too familiar twinge of fear bubbled up through his core and as he tried to inch his way backward. With the steep wall of loose sand preventing any progress, he had nowhere else to run. She was upon him in no time, kneeling down almost on top of Tom. There was a knee to his immediate left and right, her crotch blocked his path forward. In what felt like only an instant he was trapped. 

The glare of the sun cast a dark shadow on Hinba’s downturned face. There was a long and tense silence as Tom held his breath, doubting his decision to run. Hinba broke the silence, “I kinda thought you would have managed to get farther,” 

Tom let out a sign of release as he gripped his chest. “So, you’re not mad?” 

She didn’t respond to Tom’s question, probably to leave the door open for a later punishment or some other twisted reason he couldn’t quite gleam. Her hand reached down between her thighs offering a platform to Tom. “Hop on.” 

Tom still could not see her expression but he moved to the hand anyway. As he got closer, moved her hand away until the back of her hand was pressed against her skirt that covered her crotch. Oh no. Here we go. Tom felt sick. 

“Hurry up, human.” she said with an amused tone. 

Tom swallowed a dry lump of air and walked towards her hand. Taking a large step he hoisted himself up onto the outstretched hand. If she was going to do anything, now would be the time. Tom could smell her arousal. Out of muscle memory and sheer instinct, he tensed his entire body. When the hand suddenly shifted, he was thrown off balance as he raised up to her face. 

She wore a warm smile, “Are you feeling better?” 

It was an absurd question but there was always a risk in ignoring it. “Sure, but can I ask you a question?” He didn’t wait for an answer, “Is this real?” 

“Are you asking if I’m making you dream again?” Her smile kept its warmth but Tom was mentally preparing himself for the slightest hint of anger. It never came. “This is real. You can trust me.” She brushed a finger down his back. It was meant to calm him down but he still felt a tense unease from being held by a giant. “Come on, we have to get to the oasis before dusk or it will be too cold for you to wash off.”

Her hands wrapped around Tom to make sure he did not fall out as they walked to the center of the desert. Tom only had a moment to glimpse at the oasis from the tree line and it seemed like it would have taken him all day if he had been the one walking, but for Hinba it would only take about 10 minutes or so.

They arrived at the oasis in no time. To Tom, it looked like a small lake that was deceptively deep. To Hinba it was more of a large hot tub. She crouched down and opened her palm close to the ground, prompting Tom to jump off near a small pile of smooth rocks warmed by the midday sun. Hinba walked a short way to another small pile and stood facing away. Tom wasn’t sure what to do in the silence but thankfully it did not last long. “Human? What is your name?” 

His name? She had really gone this far without asking his name? “Tom,” he said blankly. 

“Tom,” she said, tasting the word. “Do you trust me, Tom?” 

“How can I trust you?” He shot back with a little more anger in his voice than he would have wanted. 

“I have told you the terms of our deal and I intend to see them though. You may not like it but that’s not what I asked.” She didn’t face Tom as she spoke. “When you asked me if this was real, I said yes. You believed me, correct?” 

He did believe her. That was the problem. On some level, her intentions were painfully transparent. She wanted to eat him, whole and alive. She also wanted him to be completely willing to the affair and, to Tom’s dismay, she was not going to let him do anything to prevent that from happening. Her intentions were an open and shut book. He still couldn’t say if he trusted her but he could lie for now and hope it would aid him, somehow, in the future. “I believe you have made your intentions clear. If that’s how we are going to describe ‘trust’ then sure.” He didn’t elaborate, that was enough for now. 

“Excellent. Now take off your clothes.” 

“How about you tell me what we’re doing here first?” He was punching his luck, sure, but something had to give. 

“We are here because we both could use a bath. The world stone is not far now and there is one more spell that I need to place on you before I send you home.” She turned to face him, “I can remove your clothes if need be, but I did not bring anything else for you to change into should your current outfit become. . . Ruined.” 

Tom met her gaze as he began to disrobe. He knew he didn’t have a choice in the matter “I hate how you are able to talk about trust in one moment, then threaten me with violence in the next.” She didn’t respond, merely watched as he stripped out of his jacket. Satisfied that he was doing what she asked, she also began to remove her clothing. 

As soon as he realized what she was doing, Tom spun around. A part of him knew that she didn’t care how naked she was in his presence. He honestly just didn’t want to give her the satisfaction. As he removed his shoes and pants he called back, “Can I leave my underwear on, at least?” There was a loud crash as her skirt hit the ground. Tom waited for a response to his question before hearing a second crash. He didn’t need to turn around to know she was completely naked. 

“God damnit,” Tom muttered to himself. There was something about taking off all of his clothes that felt like a personal betrayal but he already knew that’s exactly what she wanted. He heard the giant footsteps approach, he did not have long to comply before his dignity would be taken by force. His whole body tensed as a shadow passed over him. “God damnit,” he muttered again as he slowly reached to pull down his underwear. 

“You’re learning.” She said from above before leaving him to head towards the water. Tom watched as she dipped her toe into the small pool to test the temperature before stepping all the way in. The water level rose considerably and she waded in, threatening to overtake him on his small patch of smoothed limestone. She took a deep breath and submerged. Tom took the brief moment away from her prying eyes to lift an arm to smell himself. He definitely could use a shower. On top of all the sweat and dirt he had accumulated over the past few days, there was the lingering musk he knew commemorated his time spent in Hinba’s asshole. He walked quickly to the shoreline and started the extensive process of cupping water onto himself one handful at a time.

The water began to recede while Tom was still trying to do his best to clean himself. He saw Hinba rise above the water. His eyes went wide at the sight of the fully naked giantess, finally able to see her with the sun at his back. She was beautiful… and she was smiling down at him with mischievous intent. He desperately needed something to pull his attention away from Hinba. He needed to get home... That’s it! “You said the stone is not far. Could you give me a more precise time frame? I’m sure my friends are wondering where I am.” Tom asked with hopeful optimism. 

Hinba nodded a few times before speaking, still knee deep in the clear water. “That really depends on how agreeable you are. Like I said I have one more spell to place on you. Our bargain calls for you to eventually come back to me. I need to ensure that you can’t go running off” 

His heart sank, the more she brought it up the more he felt hopeless to do anything to stop it. He was about to protest but Hinba spoke first, “I promise, no harm will come to you. I’ll make no attempt to trick you into doing something you don’t want to do.”

“Where are you going with this?” Tom could feel his heartbeat in his ears as his mind started to race. 

Hinba was moving forward out of the water, walking on her knees to keep from towering over Tom. She wanted to make it as easy as possible to maintain eye contact. “I’m trying to say that I’m not trying eat you.” she stated bluntly and she began to crawl on her hands. “This spell requires some level of . . . intimacy, but if you’re willing to trust me, I promise it can be very enjoyable for both of us.” 

While she might intended her slow crawl to seem harmless or even placating, to Tom it was nothing but predatory. Her hips swayed from side to side with every step and her gaze was intensely focused. He only managed to take a single step backward before slipping, and landed on the cool rock. He winced at the slight pain on his back side before refocusing his eyes on Hinba. She passed over him and pressed her forehead on the ground behind Tom, not necessarily trapping him, but still forcing him to lie down completely. . 

Unsure what to do, Tom just laid there looking up at Hinba, her large face took up his entire field of view. She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply through her nose. Once she was satisfied with Tom’s scent she exhaled through her mouth. “What are you doing?” He was unable to remain quiet. The entire display was deeply unsettling and he could no longer endure it in silence. 

“I’m trying to calm you.” she responded in a whisper. “Please Tom… I need this.”

It was the first time he’d heard her say “please,” and, to Tom’s dismay, she sounded genuine. As terrible as his situation was, this might be his one and only chance to get on her good side. “Can you at least tell me what you need me to do?” he let the question hang in the air for a moment, “-before I agree to anything!” The past few days were taking their effect on his mental faculties. His mind was becoming a mess as the constant internal screams of self preservation were becoming a background hum against his overloaded senses. 

She lifted her head up and moved her hips closer to Tom who was still too stunned to do more than flinch. Spreading her knees wide, Tom’s eyes drifted to her womanhood. It was still damp from the pool but while some of the liquid dripped off in fin droplets, others formed long strands as they fell to the ground. “You need to be inside me for the spell to work.” 

She moved a hand between her legs and began to slowly rub her fingers into her flush lips. Tom was too shocked to peel his eyes away. He heard a long, content sigh from above as her fingers spread open. They revealed a pink cavern of flesh that could easily swallow his entire body. The smell invaded his nostrils and his vision to haze.  Alarm bells started to ring in his head as his body began to move on its own, first standing then taking shaky steps forward. 

“That’s right, human. Just go as far as you can and I’ll handle the rest.” 

Tom closed the distance to the giant womanhood. It twitched as he brought up a hand to feel along the folds. “It’s very . . .wet,”  he said before immediately regretting it. His hands made their way to a small opening near the base and gently pressed forward. There was a small gasp from above. In his dazed state, the sudden noise startled Tom and he tried to pull his hands away. The once soft flesh gripped his hands tightly, pulling his forearms into their embrace. 

The trance-like state that gripped Tom faded in an instant as he looked upward searching for Hinba’s face. He found her staring back at him but bearing no regard for his pleading expression. “Here, let me help you,” she stated before moving a single finger under Tom and pushing him inside up to his waist. Taking a moment to enjoy the sensation before easing Tom the rest of the way inside 

The last thing Tom remembered was the feeling of her warm flesh swallowing up his feet before drifting off.