Claeri had been instructed to bring a jug of cold water and something to eat. In the meantime, Alden received the full attention of Big Bertha’s stare. Those brown sharp eyes shot a spotlight of attention on Alden. Underneath its intensity, he was not allowed a single mistake. Her enormous feet were spread apart, five toes to either side, and Alden worshipped them as well as he could. Having been milked several times today, with the most excruciating one recently, there was no drive left. He licked her feet like any normal person would, against their will and like it were a job.

“Five kisses for each toe,” she’d say, and he’d do it. “Take it slow with the smaller toes, be romantic.” He delivered the slowness requested, deep kisses full of tongue action to the third and fourth toe. Bertha’s foot shifted forward, the big toe bent down. “Be rough with that one, get your teeth in it.” Alden wrestled with it, chewing on its doughy texture as she wanted. “Now get in between the toes, no teeth there. Massage with your lips. Use your throat and jaw.” Alden bit the soft toe gaps toothlessly, stretching his mouth wide to make his lips thin and hard so he could press the flesh effectively between them. He followed all her instructions for a long time, his cock hanging flaccidly throughout it. Sometimes his manhood would rub up against a toe or the ball of her foot, or she would intentionally tap it. Contact with his swollen member brought jitters of discomfort. Today, he was spent.

“Do they speak of me in Gharn?” Bertha said.

Interrupting his worship to answer seemed acceptable, so he said, “They do, your greatness. They call you War Queen Bertha.”

Bertha snorted. “They cower in their fancy mansions, giant and human alike. They know my advance will reach them one day.” Bertha cleared her throat, and with a tone that carried a switch of subject, said, “You’re not weak yourself. I didn’t get to hear much, but I was told you danced with Leila quite effectively.”

Alden wasn’t sure what to say, continuing as he was.

Bertha slipped the lower half of her feet into the water, letting the balls rest on the ledge. The toes were propped up, his task clear. He kneeled and started at the big toe.

“I’d like to see your talent at some point. How strong would you say your magic is? I understand you have no art, but beside that.”

“My base magics are strong enough that, whenever someone sees it, they assume I should have reached my art. They think I hide it. Then, if I say I’m the Artless, it makes sense to them.” After finishing his sentence, his mouth returned to the second toe.

“Hmm. If you’re a good fighter, you should consider fighting for the Sorrel Clan.”

Alden paused. Only a moment after did he recognize the seconds-long absence of worship, throwing his head back into the doughy embrace of her big toe. She didn’t seem to mind.

“We have mages in our rank too. The only thing that matters is your competence. Artless, armless, headless, whatever it is, names and condition don’t matter. As long as you’re not talent-less, there’s something to do here.”

“I thought you were going to try and ransom me?”

“I thought you deemed it a silly endeavor, that there was no chance anyone would surrender a gold piece for you. That doesn’t mean I’ll release you. What would I release you to do? Still returning to work for your guild, hoping you will one day impress your father. You’re gullible, Artless.”

“You don’t know anything about me.”Alden faced away, but the tip of her big toe delicately found his chin and turned him back. “Then why aren’t you in Wessfarrow, making something of yourself? We’re practical here. In Gharn, you’re cast aside, all because of your ignorant father, and still you roam around the outskirts of those lands, finding pitiful errands to run.”

Alden would never work for this clan. Yet, he had no answer to what she was saying. He couldn’t explain why she was wrong.

“Or you could decline my offer and be among the camp’s lowly slaves.” Her big and second toe grabbed his head. They were gentler now, rubbing against him leisurely. “But you just have that look about you, that you’re not satisfied with so little. You want to do something.” The plump toes deformed as they clenched around him, making room for Alden’s head. For a few moments, his head was fully encased, as if his skull was the end-form of molten glass dripped into this coffin of toe flesh. Satisfied with that, they released.

Claeri was there now, holding a jug of water in one hand and a loaf of bread on the other. The bread had cheese on it, with olive-colored spices sprinkled atop it. The gigantic foot left Alden as Bertha got up from the pool, the hot water cascading off her.

“Think about the offer, Artless,” Bertha said, reminding him of her enormity once again as her feet dove out of the water and slapped down on either side of him. She stood tall. Her legs flied ever upwards, stout and firm, converging at those pink lips which had swollen noticeably. All of Alden and Claeri’s worship had produced results. That pussy was large enough to fit more than one human in it. Bertha snapped her fingers. “My sweet dog.”

Claeri rounded the pool and came up to her side, refreshments presented. Bertha received them but didn’t take her eyes off Alden. “Take the bindings off him, let him swim. He’s not allowed to leave. Return to my quarters before sunset. And, Artless, don’t try anything funny. You will immediately end up on my bad side.” She chugged half the jug in one go, then waltzed away with her bread. Even her casual steps left dim vibrations along the ground.

Alden perked up. He shrugged in an effort to show his tied arms behind him. “She said to take them off, right?”

Claeri got on her knees and put the jug down. “I think so. But, you have to be a good boy and do as I say.” She gave him a castigating index finger. “You’re my slave, ok?”

“Pretty sure I’m Bertha’s slave.”

Claeri crossed her arms. “If you’re my slave, then you can be considered Bertha’s slave too. But you’re my slave first and foremost.”

“Well, could you unbind your slave? He’s quite uncomfortable.”

Claeri’s left hand wrapped around his legs, picking him up. She stared at him blankly, pressing her lips together nervously.

“Honest now, I’m so beaten up after today, my arms are sore, all I want is to float in that pool. I won’t try anything.”

“Good. Because you should know that I’m pretty fast.” Her free hand slipped in behind him, picking at the bindings. “Does it hurt there?” Claeri’s blue eyes were on his groin.

Alden nodded.

Claeri leaned in and planted a kiss on his member.

Alden writhed. “No, please.”

“Don’t worry, it’ll help.” She kissed again, and even her tongue slipped in underneath and stroked upwards.

The aching groins returned. “No, stop. Please. It’s not like that. It just hurts more.”

Her upper lips were over his belly button, the lower set cupping his scrotum. “Are you sure?” she mumbled into him.

“Really. I appreciate it. I feel undeserving, in a way. You’re full of love. But not there, not now.”

She continued picking at his bindings until they were off. Alden stretched his arms forward. His shoulder blades were practically crying with relief. Claeri observed him carefully, her nose and eyes right before him.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything,” Alden said. “In the water, we’re immobile. Even if we can move our arms and summon magic, there’s not much to do in our empowered state. We won’t swim much faster, and we can’t really jump.”

She nodded. “Because if you start misbehaving, I’ll get punished too.” Claeri dipped her legs into the pool, lurching back in. The water reaching to her waist, Claeri waded into the middle, fingers clenched around Alden’s lower body.

“Thinking of it, why are you so full of love?” Alden said. “What have I done to deserve it?”

One of her shoulders drew up shyly, blushing. “You seem like someone I could be friends with.”

Alden could make sense of that reason. Leila humiliated and looked down on him, Lady Hex treated him like a tool, Bertha dominated him, the other girls who were called dogs savored him like a piece of candy. Amidst this circus, Claeri was normal, and her impression of Alden can’t have been very different. However, the impression on her was far stronger, a kind belonging to the family of ‘love at first sight’.

Claeri put him in the water. The moan escaped his mouth, he could feel it from his very lungs. The hot water washed the unease off him. For a moment, the day was gone, he had not been trampled under Leila’s foot. hadn’t been strung up, hadn’t been slobbered and sucked apart by hungry mouths and hadn’t had his poor member drained of all its contents. For a moment, he was gone, lost in peace.

When he opened his eyes, Claeri’s hands hovered about him, ready.

“Like I said, after the day I’ve had, a bath like this is all I want. Running isn’t on my mind now.”

“I’ve seen some who tried to run… It’s better if you don’t.”

Alden saw an angle there. “Have you ever tried to run?”

Claeri rubbed one wrist with the other hand, looking to see if anyone was nearby. “I don’t know.” The hesitance was good. He feared there would be undying loyalty.

Alden kicked idly, his knees splashing. “It’s yes or no.”

Claeri submerged in the water, up to her chin, like the way one would throw a blanket over themselves in embarrassment. “I don’t know where I would go, if I got away.”

“It’s easy for a giant to find work.”

Her large head drifted towards him, unable to take her eyes off his manhood. “Does it feel better now?”

“If you’re wondering whether or not I’m ready for another go, then the answer is no.”

She pouted. “I’ve been nice. You should be nice and give me something back.”

Alden turned around and swam closer to her mouth. “Of course I will. But, Claeri, I’m not looking for some exchange of cheap favors. I want a partnership. Something deeper, something beyond all this.”

She smiled, as Alden hoped she would. The moment he neared those lips, they smooched him on the head. “Me too. I haven’t known you long, but I think I like you.”

“Then let’s do it.”

The close atmosphere saw an interruption as she staggered in confusion. “Do what?”

“Let’s escape together.”