The Battle of Dragon's Bay

Caeruthir fucked his own slave with abandon, his cock throbbing for release and his slave screaming with pleasure. Her ass shook under his assault and Li Mei craned her head back to stare into his eyes. Teeth gritted and eyes squinting, she grunted, growled, and pleaded for him to make her come. Caeruthir wrapped his arms around her and crushed her close for a kiss.

He did not find her painted lips wanting. Li Mei clutched and clawed at him, moaning even through their locked lips for more. She quivered in his arms, her head banging against him as they fucked, and her body grew hotter in his arms.

With a great spasm, she broke from him and screamed a high squeal of orgasm. Her cunt grew wet and she flopped to the couch, legs kicking involuntarily as she clutched at the silken upholstery.

Caeruthir could contain himself no longer, and his cock spurted onto her naked body. His white cum dropped onto her warm brown flesh in long ropes, reaching from her round ass all the way up her bare back to land in her hair, and he sagged back on his haunches and panted with exertion.

Spent, he flopped himself down on the couch and Li Mei crawled atop him. When he embraced her and fondled her ass, he found it still wet with cum. She saw his mouth twist in distaste at his sticky hand and stood up.

"Master would like to wash me?" she asked, offering a pitcher of wine. With a smile, Caeruthir poured the wine over his hands to clean them, then clapped both hands on her smooth round ass and rubbed it clean. The fleshy mounds of her cheeks were hot and soft beneath his hands, and he could not resist pulling her close to kiss her waist again. Li Mei giggled, and his fingers slid into her cunt.

The girl moaned in her arms, and he felt the moan through her whole body. She sat back against him and looked him in the eye, begging for more. Caeruthir kissed her, closed one hand about her breast, and set to other to playing with her womanhood.

Li Mei gasped when he pinched her between his fingers, her mouth fell open and he kissed her again, thrusting his tongue inside her. She moaned against him, the sound lost in the cacophony of a thousand pirates fucking throughout the hall, and Caeruthir pinched her nipples as well for good measure. He played with her womanhood, stroking, rubbing, and pinching it until she came again. In the throes of a second orgasm, she melted in his arms to a quivering mess, and he laid her down on the couch beside him, utterly spent.

Mohal had become distracted, now turning his attention to the two beautiful women playing with his cock. Presently, he grew impatient and bid one of them mount him, planting the soles of her feet on the seat of his throne to fuck him in long strokes on his cock. The other woman pressed herself against him and kissed him passionately while her companion rode. Caeruthir smiled to himself, and looked for other sights to see.

Across the main banquet table from them, the fat orc Surrak was pressing a pale, slender, slave girl facedown into the pillows as he fucked her in the ass with a cock as thick as her arm. His heavy gut hung over her buttocks, his hands pushed her shoulders down, and his lips curled back in lustful aggression as he used her for his pleasure.

She was raven-haired, her jet-black hair a sharp contrast to her snow-white complexion and, when she turned her head from the pillows to gasp for air, Caeruthir saw that her wide face was beautiful, like a porcelain doll with eyes of jade. Their narrow shaped was exacerbated by her squint of overwhelming pleasure, and her whole body quivered with each stroke of the orc's massive cock.

Lying on the pillows with Li Mei draped atop him, Caeruthir felt himself stir. Li Mei noticed, and began to stroke his cock again, but Caeruthir sat up and brushed her hand away.

"That's a beautiful girl you have there, Surrak," he said, and the fat orc turned to face him. "I find myself wanting a turn with her. How about a trade?"

The orc grunted. "I paid a silver talent for this girl," he replied, his heavy bulk slamming down into the girl's sex.

"Just for as long as it takes me to come," Caeruthir assured him. "With a pretty girl like that, it shouldn't be long."

"Ten silvers," the orc offered, and Caeruthir rolled his eyes.

"As if the money matters to you. Tomorrow, we will all be so rich that silver will be worthless to us. Clothe your concubine in silk and gold, and think no more of a small handful of silvers."

Surrak scowled, but looked past Caeruthir to Li Mei, who was lying naked and sweaty on the couch.

"You've already made a mess of that one," he objected, and Caeruthir shrugged.

"She's just warmed up for you. How many times have you fucked this one?" he asked, indicating the pale, raven-haired girl, who squealed again.

Surrak shrugged himself. "Two or three times a day since I bought her." His thrusting slowed and he reached up to rub his chin. "I suppose I might be getting a little tired of her. And your whore is most easy on the eyes."

"Now you're being a reasonable orc," Caeruthir prodded. "Just a little while, and you can have her back."

"Very well," Surrak agreed. He beckoned to Li Mei. "Slut, get over here and suck my cock!"

Li Mei did as ordered, but her eyes went wide when she saw the fat orc's girth. Nevertheless, she went to her knees swallowed his cock without protest. Meanwhile, Caeruthir climbed onto the couch to straddle Surrak's concubine.

Still quivering, she turned her head to look up at him and Caeruthir smiled. She was even more beautiful up close, with an elegant, patrician nose and jeweled studs in her ears. Despite the brutish orc's savage fucking, she retained a refined demeanor that made Caeruthir wonder what she had been before being reduced to a pirate's whore. A courtesan? A governor's daughter?

It matters not, he decided as he took his cock in his hands. "Roll over," he commanded, "I want to see your tits."

Like Li Mei, she obeyed without question, and Caeruthir was immediately pleased that she did. Her breasts were ample and perfectly shaped, pale with pink nipples and firm to the touch while still having the suppleness to shake during sex. They pooled against her chest as she turned onto her back, their motion hypnotic as he spread her legs to enter her.

Her sex was shaven, pink, and silky smooth. He pinned her legs back against the couch as his cock slid inside her and she let out a soft gasp of pleasure. In contrast to Li Mei the eager slut, this girl was cool, shy, and submissive. Yet her cunt opened to him all the same, and Caeruthir thrust himself deep inside her.

The girl moaned softly, her breasts riding up on her chest as he pushed her hips back to allow his cock to penetrate deeper. Caeruthir pushed her legs back, turning the soles of her bare feet up toward the roof, and fucked her deeply. Laying on her back, the girl played with her womanhood with one hand and her breasts with the other. She stared up into Caeruthir's eyes with her beautiful jade orbs, moaning softly with each stroke of his cock.

Behind him, Surrak growled as he turned Li Mei around and mounted her. She knelt on the floor with her elbows on the couch, and he planted his hands on her shoulders as he thrust his cock inside her. She squealed in pained delight as he entered, and Caeruthir heard the orc growl a mocking laugh. Li Mei turned back to stare up at him as he pounded her, but the orc would not meet her eyes. His eyes were turned to his cock, though he had to use one hand to lift his fat belly off her before he could see.

Caeruthir paid them little more mind, watching his own cock slide in and out of the girl while her breasts shook. She rocked gently back and forth on the couch, staring cooly up into his eyes as she played with herself. Caeruthir reached down to cup her jaw and slid a finger into her mouth. She moaned softly, her tongue caressing his finger as she might a cock, but she did not warm to him as Li Mei had.

His frustration growing, he pushed her legs further back and propped himself up on her hips, thrusting hard into her. Each slap of his hips against hers brought a little squeak of delight, but nothing more. The girl made no effort to fuck him back, taking his cock like a piece of wood.

Behind him, he heard Surrak growl, then the slap of a hand on flesh, and Li Mei's squeal. He turned, and saw the orc grab Li Mei's head with both hands and press her into the pillows.

"Stay down, whore," he growled, his bulk slamming into her and making the couch shake. "When I want you to touch me, I'll tell you."

Caeruthir shrugged, understanding why the girl beneath him was so timid. He thought to teach her how to please a man, but he was close to coming already. It was not worth the effort, and he had many concubines already who knew what to do with a cock.

His cock cried out to finish and he let it, pulling himself from her silky-smooth cunt and spurting a load of cum all over her tits. She smiled and cooed with pleasure, pushing her breasts close to her lips so that she could lick up his seed. She offered him a meek smile as his cock drooped over her and he smiled back. It was not her fault she had been trained so poorly.

He turned back to Surrak, who had also come all over Li Mei. He stood over the couch, milking the last drops from his huge cock as Li Mei lay facedown on the pillows, her cunt gaping and her legs shaking.

"You may have her back now," Caeruthir said, rising from the couch. "She is beautiful, but you must teach her how to fuck."

Surrak thrust a sweaty, cum-covered Li Mei into his arms as they passed.

"And yours is an insatiable whore," he grunted, settling onto his couch again. "Who needs to learn how to be fucked."

Li Mei clung to Caeruthir as they sat down.

"Was he cruel to you?" Caeruthir asked with mild concern. Li Mei shrugged.

"He was not a generous man. But his cock is huge!"

Caeruthir laughed and reached for another pitcher of wine to wash her off. She stood naked before his couch as he poured wine down her back to pool on the floor below. They scrubbed her bare body together until she was cleaned of the fat orc's sweat and come, then sat down on the couch again.

Caeruthir let out a long breath. Through the front doors of the hall, he could see the sun going down in the east. Having fucked himself to near exhaustion, he pulled Li Mei close and drifted off to an early night's sleep. Tomorrow would be the day.

---

Caeruthir awoke before dawn in a restless mood. Stepping quietly over the naked, snoring bodies, he dressed and picked his way toward the door. Looking east, he could see the horizon growing a dull orange. He turned west and climbed the hill to where the lookouts perched, a reddish glow guiding his way to their firepit.

Atop the windswept hill, three men huddled around the fire. They hissed to each other in the islanders' sharp tongue as he approached, and one man stood up with a hand on his cudgel.

"Who goes there?" he called in the Leiyani traders' tongue. He stepped forward, but stop with a start when the moonlight caught in Caeruthir's eyes. "Apologies, master elf," he said with a low bow imitated by his companions. "I didn't know it was you."

"It is good to be vigilant," Caeruthir replied. "Have you seen anything?"

"No," the lookout replied. "It is still too dark. We were just keeping the fire going."

"I will sit with you then," Caeruthir replied, and the three men nodded uncomfortably. Caeruthir took a seat on a low bench facing west and waited. Slowly, the sun crept over the horizon behind him, lightening the sea except for the long shadow cast by Gaodeng Island. His companions waited anxiously beside him, studying the western waters with their spyglass. Only a handful of tiny fishing boats broke the water's surface.

But Caeruthir had dreamed of this. The emperor's fleet would come, he knew. He looked downhill, to Mohal's palace again. The palace was stirring, cookfires burned in the kitchen windows, and even from this distance he could hear carts clattering across the main square. He hoped the orgy had not left the others too hung over to fight.

He smiled with faint amusemen. The rumors that swirled around the emperor's fleet indicated that perhaps even hungover pirates would be enough to carry the day. Looking over the packed harbor, he knew he would have the weight of numbers. Never before had a pirate armada of this size been assembled! Sixty ships lay at anchor or pulled up onshore, and more than ten thousand men thronged the little village that Mohal had claimed as his capital. From mighty galleons to small sloops, Caeruthir's fleet carried more cannon than the emperor had in all his armies ashore.

Cannon that would soon roar with fury. Caeruthir looked west again.

Dark shapes dotted the far horizon. He sat up and reached for his spyglass.

"See something?" inquired one of the lookouts.

Caeruthir felt his heart quicken. Just peeking over the horizon was a line abreast of five ships. He could only see their masts, but atop them he could see the emperor's gold and jade banner shining in the early morning sun.

The fleet's vanguard was here.

"Yes," he exhaled. "They have arrived."

The lookouts passed greedy smiles from one to another, and one reached for the firebrand.

"No," Caeruthir commanded, raising a hand. "No smoke. They must make it through the strait unawares, for by then it will be too late."

The lookouts nodded. Caeruthir stood and beckoned to them.

"Come, we must prepare."

---

Daiyu rose to meet the day in low spirits. For two weeks they had sailed east into the rising sun with the wild frontier lands of her father's kingdom on their starboard flank, and they had taken their toll on the fleet. Three nights ago, one of Heavenly Grace's escort ships had lost her station in the dark, colliding with the great junk in a terrible collision had knocked the smaller ship's captain overboard to drown. The next night they had sailed into a fog and awoken to find that two of the vanguard's ships had run aground and been left behind.

The princess could see that her father's wars had left the fleet in a terrible state. Many sailors looked lost, many captains either too young or too old. The great junks were in good repair, but many of the smaller ships had worn sails, rusted guns, and rotting timbers.

Her mood was not unique, for she saw the same malaise in the crewmen who passed by outside her window, where she spent her days perched, looking at the world passing by.

"Your Highness." Daiyu turned to Zhi, who sat across from her. "You look unwell."

"It's the sea," Daiyu replied. "It wears on me."

"It wears on us all, princess. Look, Lady Jiao can barely stand."

Together, they looked over the rail to the pavilion's lowest level, where Lady Jiao lay sprawled on a mound of pillows.

"I cannot go on," the woman moaned. "This is not proper for women of my status!"

Daiyu suppressed a smile as the junk swayed gently beneath her. They had not even run into a storm.

"I am feeling a bit better now, thank you, Zhi."

Her handmaid smiled. "It will all work out, I promise." Zhi reached across the table and took Daiyu by the hand.

From outside, there was a sudden screech. Daiyu turned with a start and beheld a sea eagle sitting on the yardarm, its sandy brown plumage and cream-colored head shining in the sun. It turned toward her and cocked its head to one side.

"Zhi," Daiyu breathed, "It is a sign."

The bird keened again, and Daiyu leaned close to the window, straining through the slats to better see it.

"A sign, Highness?" Zhi asked, "I'm afraid I don't understand."

"A sign of deliverance," Daiyu replied, her face pressed against the window. The eagle cocked its head to one sign and called again. "Three times it calls!" Daiyu exclaimed, and the eagle took wing, soaring away over the fleet to the south.

"Your Highness," Zhi warned in a low voice, "It is better that you put this from your mind. Do not get your hopes up."

"No," Daiyu replied. She watched the eagle disappear into the wide blue sky, then turned to Zhi. "This is the day."

---

Caeruthir buckled on his silversteel cuirass as he checked the sea charts one last time. A flurry of activity had followed his return to the palace with the sighting of the fleet, and now at long last his armada was putting to sea.

Constant runners from the lookout had kept him apprised of the fleet's progress, and it was just now rounding the headland and turning south through the strait. He looked over the charts he had long ago committed to memory and smiled.

Gaodeng Island was notable for its position at a confluence of wings. Approaching from the west, the Leiyani fleet would be carried along by a strong wind blowing from behind it. But once it passed through the strait between Gaodeng and the mainland, the fleet would have to battle against a strong southeasterly wind. Positioned to its northeast, Caeruthir's armada would sweep southwest, across the wind, and tear apart the beleaguered enemy fleet with ease.

Tempest lurched beneath his feet, her sails billowing as she caught the southeasterly across her deck. The rest of the armada was stretched out to either side, in three long columns each led by the flagship of a noted pirate lord. Excitement was on the wind and even separated from the other ships by many hundreds of yards, he could hear their singing in expectation of victory. His own crew was abuzz with anticipation. Far off, Caeruthir's elven eyes could make out Thoramar at his helm, clutching a blade of cold starlight in one hand as he led his column to the attack.

Rounding the headland, the emperor's fleet lay ahead of him, strung out across the expanse of Dragon's Bay like pearls spilled from a bag. A thin cordon of ships lay on the fleet's windward flank, protected ahead and astern by two further lines of warships. The four great junks sailed in the guarded space between them, each protected by its own squadron of warships.

Yet all of them were struggling against the wind, barely making headway. Caeruthir knew these waters well. Against this wind, they would barely make two knots. Unable to sail against the wind, their only choices would be to struggle on, let themselves be run aground on the shore, or turn back toward the armada bearing down on them. His lips curled back in a wolfish smile, and he tore his red steel blade from its scabbard and thrust it toward the great junk at the center of the fleet, trailing an enormous banner of green and golden silk.

"Beat to quarters and open the gunports. We attack!"

Linanthras bellow the orders toward the crew, who went to work with an eager cheer. The drummers beat the call to battle stations, and Caeruthir felt his heart quicken to a run. Linanthras moved up beside him to hand him his helm and report.

"All ships are underway, Captain," he reported. Caeruthir looked behind him, where his ships Starseeker trailed Tempest, followed by the xebec Sea King. Menaithas and Unrelenting were proceeding west at the head of his reserve squadron. All was going according to plan, and Caeruthir nodded his approval. His eyes turned toward their prey. "Look at them. They can't get away now."

Caeruthir leaned forward on the rail, sea winds whipping through his hair.

"Oh, what a day this will be."

---

"Pirates!"

Daiyu jolted up from her seat at the panicked cry.

"By the gods, there's so many of them!"

She hurried to the port side of the pavilion and looked out. Through the junk's rigging, she spied a line of white sails on the horizon, heading straight for the fleet. There are so many, she thought. Too many.

"Zhi!" she called, and her handmaiden scrambled up the ship's ladder to her side. "Pirates." Daiyu pointed east at the approaching armada. Zhi's face grew taut, and the handmaiden swallowed hard.