Editor's note: this story contains scenes of non-consensual or reluctant sexual situations.
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I had been minding my own business and preparing the temple for the first festival of Spring, the ancient celebration of the planting of the first seed. Going out into the nearby hills in search of branches of buds and the first leaves and small flowers to adorn the alter was tiring work, but it needed to be done. As the offerings I found would last only a day or so, my first collecting could only be done the day before the festival began. As was the ancient custom I did my collecting naked and I piled the scratchy twigs and other gatherings I collected into a small cart pulled by nanny the goat.
On my way out at first light I followed the new road the Romans had laid, going for a mile or so along it before making my way into the hills, and in the evenings I usually returned the same way.
On this morning it was chilly and I shivered as I left just before sunrise, eager for the day to heat up.
I had gone a mile or so and decided it was time to strike off into the hills. I left the road along a clear track and lost myself in looking about for the first signs of a fertile spring and saw none. I did not notice him at all.
"Friend," I heard a voice call.
I hesitated and looked about, but could see nothing.
"Here friend, help me," the strong deep voice called again.
I was sure that I now knew where the voice had come from, and leaving nanny and my cart, went to investigate. At the bottom of a small gully I found a giant barbarian smiling up at me. The last winter rain had made the sides of the gully slippery and I could clearly see where the man had tried to get out, but had slipped back in. He was coated in mud now and looking up and down the gully I saw he was possibly trapped in there. It was mud all about, and the small trees had been knocked down by a mudslide at one end. It seemed that he was now effectively in a pit.
"I am not strong enough to pull you out," I said to him, seeing his predicament. "But I can look for some branches that may help you."