Enchanted Ch. 08

So John's a warlock that wants to be a wizard again. On the way he needs to learn a few more trades though. First is learning how to be a sailor... and that includes getting along with the crew.

For those waiting for things to get spicy again, wait no longer! John's making up for lost chapters in this one!

John hoped seven days at sea would give John a chance to learn some new things about sailing as well as give him some time to dedicate to learning more about himself and his magic. Instead he spent most of it mediating between Steff and Little Red or worrying about what he might say or do that would set one of them off.

"Put your back into it, John!" Steff shouted. "Hold that line tight until we get the sail trimmed and finish the tack."

Yanked from his thoughts, John felt the thick line slipping through his grip. His hands were burning and cramping from all the rope work required every damn time the Red Witch altered course to zig and zag at an angle to the wind. The rope kept slipping as the wind buffeted the sail. He'd also been forced to endure seven days of abstinence, which not only put him on edge but Zynga reminded him of his responsibilities to their Mistress every chance she had. His frustrations were mounting and the damn rope was the easiest thing to focus his anger against.

He growled and leaned back while clinching his left hand as tight as his cramping fingers would allow to give himself enough slack to wrap the rope around his forearm and hold it tight. That worked better even if they'd said not to do that. His right hand ached as the rope pinched and squeezed it, but as long as he kept his bare feet secure on the deck and leaned back, the sail wasn't slipping anymore. Sailors were a superstitious and fearful lot. After a week he'd come up with a half dozen ways to improve the way they did things and this was one more.

Steff swore from the quarterdeck. "Tie that line off!" he heard her howl before the sound of wood thumping against wood sounded behind him. John wanted to turn and look but even that much of a distraction caused him to lose focus. The rope didn't slip this time, it pulled. John's eyes widened as it sawed at his wrist and palm, squeezing with a strength unlike any he'd known.

The rope behind him was tugged tight as someone grabbed it. John grunted, the pain now spreading up his forearm as that part of the rope drew taught. It was intense, burning and tearing and squeezing. He felt something grinding inside his palm over the other pain. For a moment he lost track of everything and didn't even have sense enough about him to remember to breathe, let alone call on the magic to aid him.

Not that it might have helped. After a week his magic had gone from flushed to restless to hungry again. It was being drained from him slowly, whether that was a natural occurrence or because Mistress fed on him through her bond he didn't know.

John hissed and struggled, trying to yank on the rope to loosen it. It was pointless, his arm was being crushed by the sheer power of the wind pulling the rope taut.

He cried out as something popped in his wrist. There was more grinding, which sent a searing agony through him. He blinked through the red haze in his eyes and saw Zynga running across the deck toward him. She was going to save him! He didn't know how, she was half his size. Did imps have incredible strength because of their infernal nature?

"There!" Steff shouted. "J'rome, help me!"

Steff was there at his side then, her wooden peg holding her up while her other leg braced and pushed against the deck while she grabbed the line ahead of his hand. A heartbeat later J'rome was there, a swarthy dark skinned man with a deep voice and ready smile that showed half his teeth were missing. He grabbed the rope with her and together they fought the full weight of the wind that filled the sail.

"John!" Little Red cried moments before she forced her way between him and Steff. She added her weight and strength to the effort to try and pull his arm free.

Unnoticed by everyone except John, Zynga leapt into the air and sailed into the corner of the sail where it was tied. It was a leap three times her height and probably impossible even for a trained leaper. She hit the lower corner of the sail and, for the briefest of moments, pushed it far enough to loosen the rope.

John and Little Red pulled free of the constriction and crashed to the deck. J'rome and Steff staggered a step and then had the rope ripped from their hands as the wind snapped the sail taut again.

Zynga picked herself up from the deck and saw John clutching his arm. The sleeve of his robe was shredded and blood poured from the rips in his skin, covering the shards of bone laid bare in an instant. She took a deep breath and shook her head while Little Red cried out and ripped her scarf off her head to wrap it around his arm.

John stared in shock at the blood that covered the deck and his and belly. Little Red's brown rag darkened in seconds as his blood soaked through.

"Mind the lines," Steff barked at J'rome and then knelt down on John's other side. She looked at the blood dripping from the bandage and then up at Little Red and John. She shook her head and then glanced away and muttered, "Stupid."

John clenched his teeth. His arm didn't hurt, but it didn't feel right or good either. It was numb and hot at the same time. Every squeeze of Little Red's bloodstained fingers caused him to wince from the pressure.

"It's not spurting," Little Red said, hope tinting her voice.

"I told you not to do that!" Steff growled at him. "I said, mind the lines don't wrap you up. You'll be done and gone ere you know it!"

John nodded. "You did... I know."

"But you done it all the same!" she persisted. "I thought mages was supposed to be smart?"

Zynga snickered behind her.

John looked up over them and met the woman's eyes. She looked at his wrist and shook her head. Then, in typical fashion she offered the one and only sign language she knew: her finger pumping in and out of a hole made with her other fist.

John opened his mouth to bark at her when he remembered the cut on his arm— not the near dismemberment from the rope but the dagger cut that Harold had given him. When he'd killed Harold with his spear the cut had healed. Not completely, but the wound had scabbed over and now, a week later, there was nothing but a pink scar where it should still be scabbed, weeping, and sore.

But that meant killing someone with his spear to steal their life force. He couldn't do that here, on a ship full of people that had done him no wrong. Sure, Steff and Little Red seemed a little more distant every day, but they still cared and he counted them as friends. Red, the ship's captain and Little Red's older sister, had even taken a liking to him. Sasha, Red's lover, tolerated him now, which was a victory in itself.

"I'm no barber, but I think the hand should come off," Steff judged. "What I saw was a lot of mangled bone. It'll be useless if it heals. More like it will fester and kill you. Damn shame, you were good with your fingers."

"Hey!" Little Red snapped at her. "John's—"

"What this? Another fool caught up in a line? Steff, you're to make sure they know not to get caught up like that," Red said as she leaned over the railing from the quarterdeck. "Looks bad. We could turn in to Land's End to see if they've got a healer. I'll not pay for a priest. Might be better to heat up some coals and be done with it."

"I told him!" Steff said. "I warned him day after day."

John nodded. "She did. I couldn't hold it... I didn't want to let the crew down."

"Because you're much more useful to us with one hand?" Red asked. "I'm no wise-woman, but don't mages need their hands and fingers to cast spells?"

John nodded. The numbness was starting to fade, leaving his arm hotter than ever and throbbing with pain.

"I don't suppose you can fix yourself?" Red asked.

John closed his eyes and fought through the waves of pain. The magic was there still, but it was sluggish. Was it weak because he was injured, or because it had been too long since he'd fed it? Or was it because he could barely stay focused on it?

When he opened his eyes he saw Zynga cupping her breasts through her shirt and then she moved her hands down to rest on the imaginary hips of a woman in front of her before she thrust her groin forward and back.

John's eyes widened in shock and in wonder. When he's killed Harold with his spear he'd felt the same pull of energy as when he brought a woman to her climax. He'd never bedded a woman while injured though... could it be the same result, just a different means?

John looked up at Red and gave shaky nod. "I think so... but I'll need help."

"Help?"

"I'll help!" Little Red offered.

"You're needed on the deck," Steff pointed out. She glanced at John's arm and then his crotch before lifting her eyes to her captain. "I'll help him... if Sasha can watch the crew?"

John swallowed. His hand was injured far worse than his arm had been and he'd taken all of John's life force to heal it. If all he had was Steff he wasn't sure if it would be enough... or if she would survive. And they were nearing the Sunset Isles, they'd all need to be at full strength.

"Both," John said. "I need both... and I need to not be disturbed."

"Both?" Red asked. She looked back and forth between the two women, locking their eyes before saying, "I need both of you back in one piece... and don't be stabbing John because he can't keep his leering eyes off of the other one of you."

"Thanks," John muttered.

"Don't thank me too much," she said. "If things don't work out, I promised Sasha she could be the one to leave you marooned."

John winced. He tried to stand up but between the pain in his arm and having both women crowding him, he needed their help rising to his feet.

"Use the armory," Red said before turning away. She called over her shoulder, "And be sure to clean up that blood!"

"Come on," Steff said and slipped her shoulder under his good arm.

Little Red cradled his wounded arm and together they made their way across the deck. Each step was awkward as he bounced between the two women. The swaying of the deck as the waves came at them off the port bow added to the difficulty, but Steff and Little Red were experienced sailors. John, to his surprise, had handled the shifting seas fairly well. A little bit of nausea on his first day sailing was the worst of it. Or so he thought. Now a mangled hand topped his list.

Steff threw open the door in the fo'c'sle to the armory and led them in. Little Red shut it behind them while Steff went and opened the shutters on the round windows on both side of the hull. There was light enough for John to see barrels of swords and spears, as well as an unlatched chest. Crates, sacks, and closed off barrels were stored and secured by ropes deeper in.

"All right then, what sort of help do you need, John the Long?" Steff asked him.

John winced even as Little Red stifled a giggle.

"Long or not, he's not long enough for the both of us," Little Red said.

"Hold on you little slut, I had him first!" Steff growled.

Little Red hissed and backed up a step before catching herself. "Aye, and he came to me after and found something he liked more. Isn't that right, John? Tell her."

"Aye, tell me," she said. "Tell me that what we done wasn't special."

John grimaced from the pain. "Steff, Little Red... Please. Now's not the time for another fight. We can do that later, if we must."

"Later? What's first then? How are you to fix what can't be fixed?" Steff obeyed his plea and asked.

John took a deep breath and let it out. It did little to stop the pain but it gave him a moment to think. "All right, so you know I'm different."

"So different," Little Red giggled.

John ignored her innuendo. "I'm not a wizard, I'm something else. A warlock, I suppose. Or maybe a sorcerer. I don't rightly know the title or even all that I can do. My power isn't like a wizards. A wizard must study and learn intricate and complicated rituals, movements, and words to invoke magical powers and put them into the form of spells. I am working to learn how to do that, but that type of magic can't help me now."

Both women stared at him, rapt and attentive but both equally confused.

He saw the looks in their eyes and sighed. "It's hard to explain and harder to understand, I know. The magic I have in me can help me, but I don't have enough power left... I need more."

"How do you get more?" Little Red asked. "How can I— we— help?"

John noted the glance Little Red gave Steff. Maybe this just might work. "Well... you've both felt what I can do to you— for you, I mean."

"Make me wetter than a tropical storm and leave me afloat in a sea of pleasure, you mean?" Steff asked.

John chuckled. "Well... yes."

"Aye," both women said.

"Well, that's what I need."

Steff and Little Red met each other's eyes this time. Steff asked, "You need to bed us to mend your hand?"

Little Red shrugged and said, "Okay."

"Half a minute," Steff argued while Little Red was already untying the laces to her pants. "What's this, then? How is you fucking us going to make your hand better?"

"Remember how tired you were?" John asked.

"Aye, I slept half the day away and then a full night after Sasha kicked me out of my bunk," Steff said.

"That's how I refill my power. By being a good lover to you I am rewarded."

Steff and Little Red locked eyes again. Steff laughed first but her younger companion was quick to join her.

"You mean to say you've got magic that only works if you're getting a woman off?"

John shrugged. "That's the short version, yes."

"What sort of magic is that?" Little Red asked.

"It's what my Mistress has given me," John said.

"Hold now, your Mistress? You've got a woman already?"

"No, nothing like that. She's... she's a powerful being. I'm pledged to her service. In return for that pledge she has granted me boons. Favors. Power, like this magic. The rules to use it are what I've said. I must pleasure you ladies before I can take my own pleasure."

The women exchanged grins as well as looks this time.

"Blessings of the saints for this mistress of yours!" Steff said. "Maybe you should start up a church dedicated to her. More men could learn a thing or two about how to touch a girl. Maybe I'd have to touch them less to finish meself off."

John glanced at her peg leg and then away before she got any ideas.

"So this is going to leave us dead to the world again while you're fresh as a babe after a nap?" Little Red asked.

"Worse, I think," John said.

"Worse?" they said in unison.

John nodded. "Before I gave you back some energy... you know... at the end."

Little Red gasped. "When I— we— drank from you?"

John nodded. "Yes, that."

Steff licked her lips without realizing it and asked, "So what's the problem? You can't share this time?"

"Oh, I can," he said. "It's just that there's one of me and two of you."

Little Red looked to Steff and the second mate looked back to her. "We was thick as pirates once," Steff said.

Little Red nodded. "Up until I had to know if what you said was true about John and snuck away to find him."

"It was," Steff said.

"Truer than north," Little Red agreed.

Steff glanced back at John and then to Little Red. "So, are we good?"

Little Red smiled. "To help John... and for us too. I don't know how I feel about sharing him after though."

John held up a hand before Steff could respond. "You won't need to. After this business at the Sunset Isles, I'll be off on my way. I have a different path than the course Red sets for the Red Witch."

"For your Mistress?" Little Red asked.

John nodded. "For her... and for me."

Her hands returned to finish untying her breeches. She pushed them down and stripped off her tunic, leaving her naked in front of them. "Well, John the Long, let's enjoy what time we have then!"

"Not without me!" Steff cried and quickly stripped her own clothes off.

John smiled and fumbled with his robe. He lifted it as best he could but Little Red fell to her knees in front of him and took the robe in her hands. She lifted it up and handed the bottom to Steff, who helped John slip it over his good arm and head and then let it hung from his wounded arm. Little Red's sash was wrapped around the tattered remains of his robe on that arm, trapping it and preventing him from dropping it entirely.

"This reminds me how much I love sausage," Little Red said before she slipped her lips over John's flaccid tip and sucked him into her mouth. She moaned around him and let her tongue dance around his crown.

John bucked in her mouth, shocked at how eager she was and the sudden hot and wet sensation. Then she began to suck and he almost forgot about the pain in his arm.

Steff slid herself against him and steadied him. He turned to look at her and offer her a thankful smile, but she kissed him instead. Her lips captured his and her tongue slid between them, probing deeper and digging into his mouth with a purpose. She reminded him that she was a woman of action and aggression.

Between Steff stealing his breath and attempting to take his tongue with it and Little Red suckling at him he grew and grew until he filled her mouth. Her moans turned to a squeal as he pressed against the back of her mouth and tickled her throat. She came up gasping and nuzzled his manhood, kissing and licking it before sliding her lips down the bottom of it and then kissing and sucking on his balls.

Steff pulled away and looked down, seeing him ready. She grinned and kissed him again, hard enough to smash his lips between her teeth and his. Now that she had him off balance she grabbed his cock and spun herself around so that her bottom and back were against him. Little Red had to duck to the side. She reacted by scowling and slapping Steff on the thigh.

Steff looked at her and smiled. She winked at the scarlet haired woman and reached out to rest her hands on Little Red's shoulders. She bent over, exposing herself and then spreading her legs to open herself further.

John looked down and saw the part in Steff's ass open wider. He swallowed and caught the first hint of her arousal as her aroma lifted to his nose. His manhood twitched and urged his hips forward. Too long denied, it knew what it wanted and would not be denied any longer.

John put his hand on her hip while he probed her silken folds. She was already wet and very, very eager. She adjusted her stance as he pulled back and positioned him perfectly against her entrance.

"Put your fucking cock in me already," she groaned.

John fought the urge to bury himself in one thrust. He held back, pinching her hip to hold her in place while he called on the magic. His arm still ached like it was burning inside but his lovers had managed to distract him from the pain. The realm and power of lust, it seemed, was his happy place... in more ways than one. At libidinous times such as these his magic was ready and waiting. Sex woke it up and urged it forth, like a beast in a cave lured forth by some sweet smelling bait. The bait here was two young, beautiful, lusty sailors.

John reached out with his magic. He'd gotten accustomed to directing and guiding the magic but with Steff it surged forth on a predefined path. It entered her and he realized there was still a bond between them. It had grown faint and nearly broken. His magic, now that he focused on it, kept it alive and began to rebuild it.

Steff moaned and shuddered in his hand. She shoved herself back, nearly forcing him inside of her. "Put you cock in me, already!" she hissed. "I need it!"

John reversed from pushing to pulling. He slammed into her, sinking over half his length in a single thrust before she could take no more. Steff's mouth was open in a silent scream while John held himself still and waited for her to react.