Marcus lost track of how long he'd been stuck inside Elise's slipper. Being worn in a giant's shoe was certainly an awkward experience, but not entirely unpleasant. The sole of her foot still smelled fresh from her recent bath, perfumed with scented oils and soap. Her skin was warm, and soft to the touch. He refrained from moving around too much. Her previous warning about tickling her sensitive feet was very clear. Better to err on the side of caution than to compound his punishment any further.
There was a crack of light in the darkness, coming from the slight opening where the side of her shoe failed to completely cover her high arch. The castle's throne room was not completely covered. Much of it was open to the blue afternoon sky, letting in copious amounts of bright daylight. In turn, that sunlight seeped its way into the narrow slit between the side of Elise's foot and her shoe. The pale wrinkles of her soft arch were illuminated in all their glorious splendor. Punishment or not, Marcus knew he was the only living person who had ever seen Elise's gentle wrinkles. Typically, a man treated to the view of a giant's soles would soon find himself crushed and broken beneath them.
It turned out the royal slippers had decent cushioning to support the Queen's pampered feet. Lying on the shoe's plush leather insole was rather comfortable, even if he was currently sharing it with Elise. Whenever her toes lifted up or dropped down, the entire shoe moved with them. At the moment, her toes were dormant, leaving the shoe resting at a relatively level position. Marcus' head was even with his feet. If she raised her toes again, all of the blood in his body would rush from his legs and feet to his lowered head. That was definitely his least preferred position beneath her foot. Never in his life had he imagined that one day he would find himself inside the giant Queen's footwear, not once. Nor would he have believed that the Queen was a kind-hearted woman, only wearing him under her foot to protect him from harm. The talk of danger from her subjects had ceased after his impromptu imprisonment. From his position beneath her, it seemed Elise was relaxed and confidant again, reassured of her complete control over the situation.
Marcus couldn't help wondering how long he would be imprisoned at the Queen's feet. The inside of her slipper had become his whole world. The sky that stretched over him was her wrinkled sole. The ground beneath him shifted as his slipper-world plummeted downward. Elise's sole squeezed him, pressing him into the shoe's insole. It felt like she was about to stand up. If that happened... The full weight of a giant would come crashing down upon him. Her shoe would have a new human-sized stain in it.
Elise uncrossed her legs, placing both of her feet flat on the floor before her. She gripped the arms of her throne and began to lean forward.
"Your Majesty! What about the bug in your shoe? Do you intend to crush it?"
"Ah, thank you Celeste, I had forgotten all about my little slave. I so rarely get visitors! It would be such a shame to waste this opportunity."
"Celeste, I want you to see that my slave gets a proper bath. I want him nice and clean when I use his fragile body to pleasure myself."
The Queen's candid remarks set off a series of sniggers in the crowd of vassals.
"My Queen! That human is dangerous! He has already attacked me with his magic. I fear for my safety should I be left alone with this battle mage."
"Nonsense! You are truly afraid of a bug, that willingly crawled into my slipper? I will order the bug not to use its magic. My obedient slave will not challenge my authority."
"But my Queen..."
"Do not spoil my evening's entertainment. I love all of my subjects, Celeste, until they test my patience."
Celeste knelt before the throne. "Yes, my Queen. He shall have a proper bath as you command."
"You may use my personal bath. Leave him in my bed chamber once you are finished."
Celeste waited while the Queen removed Marcus from her shoe and returned him to his cage. The Queen extended her arm, holding the cage out for Celeste.
"Do not damage my property, Celeste. If my slave is injured, I will see to it that you are injured by Claire's axe."
"On my honor, Your Majesty, I would never!"
"Slave, you are to obey Mistress Celeste. She has requested that you refrain from using your magic. You will follow her orders. Celeste is a powerful giant. Do not cross her."
"Your words honor me, My Queen!"
"Off with you then. Remember my warning."
Celeste exited through the rear of the throne room, traveling down a narrow hallway. She had prepared the Queen's bath many times, and knew the way to her personal bath chamber quite well. Celeste entered the Queen's bath and closed the door behind her. She raised the prisoner's cage to her face.
"Take it back."
Marcus looked into Celeste's brown eyes, which were currently narrowed at him. "Take what back?"
"You know what you said! Take it back right now!"
"I've been in a shoe for the last three hours. My memory is a bit hazy."
"You were only in the Queen's slipper for one hour, you big baby. Is that the limit of a mighty sorcerer's stamina? After you attacked me with your magic, you said my face was fat. My face is not fat!"
Celeste's black hair framed her face nicely. Her features seemed delicate and feminine. The light tone of her caramel skin blended well with her dark hair and pink lips. Being face to giant face with her did seem to disprove his earlier assertion.
"I must have erred. I uttered nonsense without thinking. You have my apology."
"That will do for now. I think you will have to work harder to earn my forgiveness. The Queen was very clear, she said you are to be bathed and returned to her undamaged. She did not say that I was forbidden from punishing you."
"I apologize, Mistress Celeste. My words have insulted you. For the rest of my days, when I am asked of my trip to the castle of the giants, I will regale my fellow travelers with tales of your wondrous beauty."
"You think you can melt my heart with pretty words? You embarrassed me in front of My Queen. I do not want your empty flattery. I will unlock your cage now. Remove those filthy rags you call clothing."
Marcus undressed while he watched Celeste preparing his bath. She placed an unusually large clay bowl on the floor. It was much bigger than any bowl that a giant would normally eat from. A steaming pot hung over an open flame. She carefully took the pot from the fire by its wooden handles, slowly pouring the heated water into the large clay bowl. Next, vials of what Marcus assumed were scented oils were dumped into the hot water. Celeste stirred the steaming bathwater with a long wooden spoon, before reaching for Marcus.
"We must wait a bit for the water to cool. Your new Mistress has a task for you while you wait."
Marcus found himself being lowered to the floor, placed at Celeste's feet. She promptly slipped out of her shoes, using the toes of her left foot to shove the discarded shoes toward him.
"There is a pebble stuck inside my left shoe. It is uncomfortable. No matter how many times I try, the stubborn thing refuses to shake loose. You are the perfect size to enter my shoe and remove it."
Her simple brown flats lay before him. They were not the shoes of a Queen. The leather material they were constructed from looked stiff, likely chosen for durability above comfort. The smell of hard-working feet began to fill the air.
"Do this for me, slave. Please your Mistress."
His clothing was discarded, far out of reach on the table high above, per her orders. He had nothing to cover his nose.
"I should not be so kind, but I will help you with your task just this once."
Her fingers swiftly pinched him, lifting him over her left shoe, and then dropped him onto the moist surface below. For the second time in a single day, Marcus found himself inside a giant's shoe. It smelled of stale leather and musty sweat. He pulled his face away from the hot insole. The inside of her shoe was still radiating warmth from her recently removed sole.
"Strange," Celeste observed from up high, "I expected you to say something about my feet. Perhaps my tired feet are a bit stinky? You are oddly quiet."
"I smell nothing displeasing, Mistress Celeste. It is my pleasure to clean your shoe for you."
Marcus glanced around quickly, hoping the offending pebble was close at hand. His eyes began to water from the strong aroma of her feet. It was hard to believe, but he longed for his time spent in the Queen's royal slipper.
"The rock is at the other end of my shoe, where my toes rest."
A darkened footprint stretched the length of the shoe's insole. The thought of crawling into the dark, reeking cave that held her toes turned his stomach. Marcus covered his mouth with his hand.
"Do NOT vomit in my shoe! I will make you stay in there until you clean up every last drop of your stomach's foul contents. You can survive my shoe for five minutes. Serve your Mistress with honor."
Marcus forced himself forward, traveling along the uneven ground that had been pounded into the shape of her curvaceous sole by an untold number of footsteps. Whether or not he needed a bath before, he certainly desired one now, anything to wash the foot stink off his naked body.
"You are a beautiful woman, Mistress Celeste. I consider myself a gentleman. That is to say that, I would never refuse a favor asked of me by a lovely lady. You have given me a simple task. It will be my pleasure to alleviate your discomfort."
"Your long-winded flattery is quite impressive, but the rock still appears to be inside my shoe."
Marcus did his best to tune everything out. If he focused hard enough, the lingering odor could be ignored. His situation was only temporary. Soon he would bathe in the scented bath. The soggy smell of Celeste's flats would be a distant memory. He marched forward into the mouth of her shoe with a firm resolve. The smell increased ten fold. It was difficult to see through his watering eyes. He moved with a purpose, but carefully. Falling face-first into her sticky toe prints was the last thing he wanted to experience. A dull-colored rock sat along the inside wall where her smallest toe would rest. It seemed to be wedged partially under the insole. He tugged it free with both hands. The rock was larger than his closed fist. To Celeste, it was merely a bothersome pebble.
"I've found it," he called out. "I don't think I have the strength to climb out of here on my own. Would you be so kind, Mistress?"
"You're certainly a very demanding slave... I suppose I have to pick you up anyway, now that the bathwater is ready. You would not be able to climb into the bowl on your own with that weak little body."
"You are too kind, Mistress Celeste! I will drop the pebble outside of your shoe so that it troubles you no more."
Marcus dangled from her fingertips over the huge steaming bowl. "Isn't this bath a bit too big for just me?"
"Who said it was only for you?"
She loosened her grip on him, causing him to fall from her fingertips into the warm water below. With a splash, he sank below the surface of the bathwater. He kicked his legs until he resurfaced, taking in a lungful of scented air.
The gears in his head finally clicked into place. The large bowl on the floor, probably big enough to bathe an entire village of humans. His steamy bath smelled of the same scented oils he had experienced in the Queen's shoe. Celeste was about to give herself the royal treatment, at his expense.
"No."
"Wait..."
"You can't do that! It isn't safe!"
Much to his dismay, Celeste responded by raising her feet above him. Her pale soles descended toward him, eager for their warm bath.
"I just love a good soak," Celeste giggled.
Marcus panicked as he was pushed underwater by one of her huge soles. Her feet forced their way into the bowl, shoving him out of the way with ease. He pounded desperately at her sole with his fists, but it refused to budge. His puny struggles had no chance of moving the feet of a giant. He would have to swim free, and quickly, before he ran out of what little air remained in his lungs. It was his only chance. He kicked his feet furiously, feeling his way along the length of her sole with his hands. Where there were wrinkles, he used them to pull himself forward. With his lungs burning, he reached the underside of her toes. They weren't spread apart. He couldn't slip through them to the life-giving air above. With the last of his energy, he pounded the underside of her nearest toe, praying for some kind of reaction. Her toes stubbornly refused him his freedom. It was the end, a humiliating one. Light poured into the murky water as she fanned her toes out. Marcus clawed desperately for the surface. He gasped for air, taking in deep breaths of the humid air between her toes.
"Oh good, I was hoping you could swim. Having to explain to the Queen how you drowned beneath my feet would have been dreadfully embarrassing."
Her toes weren't fully submerged. He sprawled himself out over the top of her nearest toe, still catching his breath.
"While you're down there, you should make yourself useful. Scrub between my toes."
Marcus reluctantly climbed back into the water, repositioning himself to reach the soft skin between the two nearest toes.
"I should be disposing of you, not bathing with you. If my foot slipped and crushed you into the bottom of that bowl, we would all be a lot safer. Accidents happen. No one would blame me."
"Please Mistress, don't say such things. If you did that, who would clean between your beautiful toes?" He punctuated his words with a kiss to the side of her wet toe.
"Somehow, you've tricked the Queen into trusting you. I won't be fooled so easily. I'll be watching you. You'll wish you had drowned under my feet if you try anything funny with Queen Elise."
"I will obey my master until my dying breath. Your Queen spoke the truth." His hand stroked a particularly sensitive spot, causing Celeste's entire foot to quiver. "Apologies, Mistress, I wasn't trying to tickle you."
"It has been a long time since a man touched me there. It shames me to enjoy such things."
Marcus continued to caress the sensitive spot he'd discovered, eliciting a soft moan from above. "Are there other places on your feet you like to be touched?"
"You are a naughty little devil!"
"Or maybe you prefer being kissed?"
He lowered his face, dragging his tongue along her skin in long strokes. Celeste squealed with delight. Glancing upward, he saw her tightly gripping the hem of her dress with each of her hands.
"Do NOT do that again!"
Marcus defiantly continued to lick the sensitive skin between her middle toes. The wooden chair creaked as she squirmed.
"You are not mine to play with. You belong to Her Majesty! It is disrespectful to amuse myself with My Queen's personal property!"
"She won't mind. She told me to please my new Mistress."
"That is NOT what she said!" Celeste stifled an involuntary moan with her hand. "Will you please stop licking my toes!"
"You have such supple skin, and the bath oils taste sweet. Would you like it if I nibble under your toe?"
Celeste gasped loudly, leaning back in the chair, nearly tearing her dress as her back arched.
"That's too far! You've gone too far!"
Marcus idly kicked his legs, treading water as Celeste pulled her dripping feet away from him.
"I think that's enough of that. Your bath is over."
"Have I displeased you, Mistress Celeste?"
"There's only one person you should concern yourself with pleasing, and she isn't here. Lie on this towel and dry off."
The cool air attacked his exposed skin as Celeste snatched him out of the bowl and dumped him onto a folded towel lying on the stone floor. He shivered as a cool draft blew across his bare back. Something warm and heavy pressed against his back, pushing him down into the towel.
"Now I will teach you a secret that every giant knows. You will soon understand a truth that humans have somehow forgotten. Bugs are meant to be under our feet. They enjoy being stepped on."
The unpleasantness of the cold stinging his back was replaced with a blanket of warm flesh. Marcus laid on his stomach, beneath her sole. The ball of her foot pressed into the towel in front of him, with her arch folded down over him. Her warm skin on his naked body felt wonderful after a hot bath.
"You like that, don't you bug? You like it when I step on you."
He watched as she lifted the ball of her foot, before lowering it again. She rocked her foot back and forth over him, lifting her heel, and then her toes; shifting the weight of her foot back and forth across his body.
"Humans are dirty little things, crawling at our feet. They aren't happy with their miserable existences. Only our mighty footsteps can bring a joyous end to their misery. You know I speak the truth. When we leave this room, you will miss the touch of my bare sole. You will long to be stepped on again. Humans must constantly be reminded of their rightful place."
Her sole left his back suddenly. The cold air returned, briefly, before he felt the bulbous pad of her big toe press forcefully into his back. Pressure came in waves as she lifted her toe, then pressed it down upon him, over and over. His back popped loudly as the rhythmic massage continued. A flash of intense pain rushed through him, but was quickly replaced with a blissful feeling as her toes continued to dance across his back, working out the kinks in his spine.
"One day, my feet will take away all of your pain. Your suffering will finally end. No longer will you be plagued by that tiny, fragile human shell. I will send you into the next life with a single blissful step. I am sorry that day will not be today. It is cruel to tease you like this. I apologize for prolonging your existence in that horribly inadequate bug-body. Perhaps spending some time under the bottoms of my feet will be enough to comfort you for now."