TRC - Lord of the Glass Desert Ch. 29

"If we're inside three paces of the stone, we can hear them, but they can't hear us."

The bovine thought for a moment, then chuckled, "That is what you said the first time isn't it?"

"Yes. I overcomplicate things sometimes. Sorry about that. Can I ask why we are doing this?"

"I thought I heard something from the wheelhouse," she said with a mischievious grin.

The Scarlet Bitch's wheelhouse was located on the quarterdeck beneath the captain's quarters. This smaller ship had no quarter deck and the wheelhouse shared the area beneath the poop deck with the captain's cabin. The rack holding the ship's maps created a short hallway before opening up into a room with the helm, compass, and navigation table. A bench had been built into the outer wall for seating, and a small stool stood socketed into the floor within arm's reach of the ship's wheel.

Roka opened the door, and she and Kal crept forward. Kal immediately heard what the cow-woman picked up outside. Muffled moans were punctuated by rhythmic wet slapping that didn't quite fit the sound of people having sex. Kal also heard a low, droning murmur but couldn't make out the words or who was speaking.

The mage and first mate peeked around the corner and beheld a most unexpected sight. Gavim lay across Pon's lap on the benches with his arms pulled up tightly against his chest. The ship's navigator had her shirt pulled up and cradled his head as the young man suckled her breast. The rhythmic sound came from her other hand as it stroked his cock.

"That's it, little boy, suck Mommy's tits good, and I'll help you get out all those bad thoughts so you can concentrate again..." Only the occasional admonishment for thrusting his hips upward or spitting in her hand for more lubrication interrupted Pon's constant stream of encouragement whispered at the boy.

Hearing footsteps behind them, Kal and Roka retreated out the door and signaled to those approaching to stay quiet.

"I wasn't sure what to expect," said Kal as Kashka, Naivoo, and the others gathered around, "but it wasn't that. Especially since she never came to visit me."

Roka chuckled. "I'm sorry to say this, Kal, but you are a little too average in some ways. Your height and physique aren't that different from most of the men who enslaved us. I think Gavim is feminine enough Pon doesn't find him threatening."

"I know Pon was getting him all worked up," said Naivoo. "I helped him piss, then let him fuck me before showing him around."

"Ummm, how are those related?" asked the otter.

"Pon got him so hard he couldn't pee. So, I helped him piss, and then he was still horny, so I let him fuck me."

"I'm not going to ask how you helped him take a piss," said the otter, leaning away from the squid-girl.

"With my mouth. How else are you going to help a man who's so hard he can't let it out?"

"That's why I didn't ask."

"Hush, you two, sounds like they're almost done," said Roka as the young man's moans increased in volume and the wet sounds of stroking got faster.

"What are they doing in there?" Naivoo asked.

"She's jerking him off."

"Dibs on cleaning his cock!" said Naivoo, raising her hand excitedly.

"That's going to be a little awkward since she doesn't know we're out here--"

Roka was interrupted by a louder and longer muffled moan from Gavim as Pon cooed loud enough for them to hear, "That's it. Let it all out for Momma. Good boy, you're such a good boy."

Kal looked around at the gathered women. "Is this a thing that I've somehow missed?"

"Why? Want to try it?" Roka asked, hefting one of her large breasts.

"I'm tempted, but getting rubbed is usually just the appetizer before the main course," he looked into the wheelhouse and cringed slightly, "Not the whole meal."

"Try it. You might like it," said Roka.

"Like I said, maybe as an appetizer. But I feel like there are better places on or in a woman to spend myself than her hand. Let's move back a little and turn off the soundstone. It'll give them a few seconds to get cleaned up and situated before we barge in on them." He stopped for a moment and blushed slightly. "Now I feel bad for spying."

"We should both feel bad for getting distracted by those two," said Roka. "What Captain Ervol told us is far more important," said Roka

Kal grudgingly nodded in agreement and spoke the command to deactivate the soundstone. "Though it could be said that Gavim may help Pon with her fear of men, and the crew's wellbeing is your responsibility."

"That is a sorry-ass argument Kal, and you know it. Still, thanks for trying," she said as the group walked back to the wheelhouse.

They re-entered the cabin to a far less interesting scene. Pon had tied off the ship's wheel as she explained to Gavim the correlation between the radial lines on a map and the numbers on the ship's large compass.

"Save the lesson for later," said Roka as Pon and Gavim looked up from the map. "We have more important things to discuss. Pon, give us an approximation of where this ship and The Bitch are on the map."

"I'm not the best--"

"You're the best navigator on this ship," said Roka, gesturing at the map.

Pon's eyes widened as she realized the truth of the bovine's words. She took a moment to check their heading on the compass, then scribbled down some numbers on a piece of parchment before placing small wooden markers on the map. "If we were supposed to beat The Bitch to The Spine tomorrow morning, this is my best guess."

"This ship was supposed to slow down and chase The Scarlet Bitch into The Spine, not beat it there. At roughly midnight, it would alter course slightly, then in the morning, angle in behind The Bitch as if they made a mistake overnight. We would have sailed right into their second vessel in our haste to escape this ship."

On the map, a tapered tail of blank, rough-edged shapes extended out from the southern tip of Azumbaho, marking the jagged rocks and islands of The Spine. Roka tapped on it. "Given how we have crossed here before, I need to know where you could hide a ship and cover as many paths through as possible. Kal, how will having a mage on board affect their strategy?"

"Captain, I've never been at the helm when we sailed through The Spine," said Pon as she made some small adjustments to the marker for their ship based on the new information.

"Then plot some likely courses and give me a best guess."

"But--"

"That's an order, helmswoman."

Pon stood up in surprise, her back straight as a board. Her sharp intake of breath was followed by a long silence before she finally said, "Aye, Captain," and bent over the table to closely study the map.

"Kal?" The bovine asked.

"How they use their magic-user depends upon the wizard's focus. They want to take the ship and crew alive and intact, so they probably won't use fire. Geomancy would be nearly useless. A cryomancer could drastically slow the ship, as could a water mage. A diviner would make trying to evade their trap useless, and an illusionist could hide the entire ship. On top of that, many generic but powerful spells are in almost every magic-user's spellbook."

"That doesn't help us, Kal. We have no way of knowing what this mage has specialized in."

"I know, I'm just thinking out loud. I believe the most important piece of information is they want to take all of you alive but are willing to fight if that doesn't work. The mage needs to incapacitate all of you without hindering their soldiers."

"Soldiers?" asked Naivoo.

"The other ship has a full security complement aboard, plus the extra crew from this one and a mage."

A gasp ran through the room, and the mouse-girl, Muri, whimpered.

"Save the panicking for later, ladies," Roka growled. "We aren't in cages, we aren't helpless, and we have some help. I need you focusing on plans and solutions."

"We have to assume that they will know whatever way we will be crossing The Spine," said Kal. "One of the low-level clairvoyance spells creates a magical floating eye the wizard can see through. Great for peering around corners, but you can also send it quite high into the air, well over a ship's mast.

"Cryomancers are extremely rare, so we probably don't need to worry about one of those. So, our main threats are an illusionist and a generalist mage."

"Why the generalist?" asked Roka.

"Because Sleep is a very powerful spell on its own. A specialist mage will gravitate towards their expertise, while a generalist mage, especially one that had spent some time adventuring, would immediately see it as the most viable option to do what their employer wants. If the mage has a big enough mana crystal, I think he could put the entire ship to sleep with only a couple of spells. The sand for the spell must be high quality, but the size is irrelevant to its effectiveness. The grains could be small enough to carry easily on the wind."

"But how would they get the sand upwind of the ship?" asked the mouse.

"That is a very good question. The only thing upwind would be this ship," said Hali

"There are dozens of rocks in The Spine that enemies could hide behind until we went past, then lob bags of sand onto our deck," Pon suggested, pointing at several examples on the map.

"They'd need men stationed at each of the paths. With the extra crew from this ship, I think that would be possible," Kal said as he studied the map.

"But a waste of manpower," said Roka. "And after they caught us, they'd have to pick up all those men. Sailing through The Spine is dangerous enough. I can't see a captain with any sense tacking against the wind while weaving through those rocks to pick up someone else's crew. I wouldn't, and I doubt Scarlet would."

"What about dinghies?" asked Kal

Pon shook her head. "Most of the rocks are sheer faces. It'd be safer to move all the cargo to one side and lean the ship then have them jump from the yardarms."

His eyes widened. "You can do that?"

"If most of your cargo is soldiers, it would be easy," said Roka. "But I don't think it's very likely. Why waste time and effort risking your ship to place and pick up all these men when you have a ship faster than your target following right behind them."

"What are you thinking?"

"This ship has a front-mounted ballista," said the bovine. "Usually, there are bolts secured on the deck beside it, but I didn't see any."

"Questions for the former captain?" Kal offered.

"I think so."

---

"The captain, or whatever he is, of the soldiers took my man-at-arms aside while I talked with our employer, the mage, and the other captain in his quarters. Once we were underway, I forgot to ask him about their discussion. There's just too much to do with such a small crew. Check the armory. I heard him say something about bringing bolts up tomorrow morning after the fog burned off."

"Again, you have been surprisingly helpful," said Roka.

"And again, you walk away, and my head is still on its shoulders. Good enough for me," he said before crawling back into his hammock.

---

Standing in a dusty room in the corner of the cargo hold filled with barely maintained swords, bows, and small shields, Kal traced the strength rune on Roka's shoulder and activated it. She grabbed the iron lock on an out-of-place box on the armory floor and twisted. The metal of the lock and hasp survived, but the surrounding wood popped and splintered as she ripped the lock free. The cow-woman lifted the lid of the rectangular box then shifted to the side so Kal could shine his magical light inside.

The mage nodded. Four ballista javelins lay point-to-fin inside the box, but instead of pointed metal, stuffed canvas sacks were tied securely to the tips.

"Should we pull one apart and see if it's the sand for the spell?" asked Roka. But Kal was already shaking his head. The mage pointed to the small piles glittering in the light beneath each sack. As she looked where he pointed, the bovine's breath lifted and swirled the fine grains of sand.

"I'd bet those are just covers for transport," said Kal, "and that there is another loosely-woven sack beneath," said Kal. "All they'd need to do is hit the aft sails, and the wind would spread it along the rest of the ship. Two of these would be enough to affect everyone abovedecks."

"We have our answer," Roka growled. "Let's gather everyone in the wheelhouse again and hear their ideas now that we know what the other ship planned."

---

"What if we tried to use their ballistae against them? I'm sure Kal could cast the same spell," Naura offered.

Kal considered the otter-girl's suggestion for a moment, then shook his head. "I doubt it would work. The sleep spell's biggest drawback is it becomes very easy to resist if you expect it. I'm sure the mage aboard would warn the soldiers and crew as soon as we hit them with the sand."

"We could go in ahead of The Bitch and ram the other ship," suggested Hali. "Maybe even set it on fire?"

After getting the pained look on her face under control, Roka was the one to shake her head. "It sounds good, but these ships are constructed too well. Ramming won't do much damage, and any of that damage would be well above the waterline, where it won't matter much. The wind and currents of The Spine probably wouldn't keep them together long enough for the fire to spread to the other ship. At best, we might torch their sails and take out a few of their yards. Aside from that, we'd need someone to steer this ship into the other, then somehow get to safety. I don't want anyone on this crew trying to swim in The Spine's waters except Emru."

"That's fair," said Hali as Naivoo nodded in agreement. "Too many predators in the water around here."

"Why's that?" Kashka asked.

"There are a lot of shipwrecks in The Spine. Those turn into reefs, reefs bring fish, fish bring bigger fish, and bigger fish bring bigger predators. Naivoo and I can outswim most predators out in the open ocean, but here... as soon as you escape one, another is chomping at your tail. Emru is big enough that they leave her alone."

Roka cleared her throat. "Back to the issue at hand. Are there any other ideas for dealing with the enemy ship?"

"What about if we have those two do what they did with this one?" Muri suggested, looking at Kal and Kashka. "I heard the stories about them with the bandits and the gnolls."

The mage shook his head. "Gnolls aren't known for their combat prowess and were using spears and sticks against us. We wouldn't have bothered if they weren't about to attack us. The raid on the bandit camp was at night, and a surprise attack, like this one. We are going up against a full complement, and I'm not sure exactly how many that is, of trained mercenary soldiers in the middle of the day. I think she and I could take out quite a few of the soldiers, but with a mage involved, things could go very bad very fast. That's also assuming none of the ship's crew jumps into the fray. I don't want The Scarlet Bitch, or any of you captured, but I also won't throw away mine and Kashka's lives for you."

"I didn't mean--"

"I'm sure you didn't. Based on what you've heard and seen, I'm sure we seem invincible, but that's just not true."

"Speaking of invincible, we do have a member of our party who is nearly invincible," said Kashka.

"Ria? You're right. She should be a part of this conversation. Ria, come out here."

"I was thinking we could go with the idea of putting the other ship to sleep, but with a potion instead of a spell," said Kashka as the sprite appeared and sat on Kal's shoulder. "I could make one like when we signaled Emru to come get us and make it pop into a cloud of sleeping gas."

"Do you have what you need to make such a potion?" asked Roka.

"I have the ingredients to make the potion explode and most of what I need for the sleeping potion," the cat replied. "Tavorah should have the rest of what I need in her stock. If I make the potion, Ria can deliver it to the top of their mast and drop it in the middle of the ship."

"I like it," said Roka. "But that means you need to get back to The Bitch as quickly as possible tomorrow morning."

"I can take care of that," said Kal. "And if I have time, I should probably come back and get you. If it comes to a fight, you need to be on board The Scarlet Bitch."

"Fair enough. Send Emru to get me if she can... wait, how are you planning on getting back to The Bitch without Emru?"

Kal shared a look with Kashka before saying, "I can fly, so I hope you don't have a fear of heights."

Roka snorted. "Best I've seen you do is float. Of course, if you jump from the top of the mast with a tailwind, you might be able to float a good way."

"Regardless, I'm going to fly Kashka to The Bitch and then come back for you as soon as we are in range."

"I think I weigh a little more than your cat."

"Remember throwing me from the ship in Kuji? It'll cost me some extra mana, but I can make you that light too."

"...Oh."

"You mean you can actually fly? Like a bird?" asked Hali.

"Not quite like a bird, but yes. I used the spell to rise out of the water during our swim with Emru. I don't want a bunch of people knowing, so I'm trusting you to keep it to yourselves."

"We will, and that's an order," said Roka, glaring around the room until each of her crew nodded in agreement. "Gavim, I heard you and Naivoo had some fun earlier. I'm asking if you would take care of any other girls feeling frisky tonight. Normally it would be Kal's responsibility, but I'm calling dibs on him after we're done here. Then he and Kashka need to rest up for tomorrow. I don't see you as being much help in a fight, so I'm asking you to take over for Kal tonight. This is a request, not an order." She looked around at the women, "Those of you that want to have some fun with Gavim, do your thing, then get as much rest as you can for tomorrow."

The boy's face went from being terrified that Roka knew about him and the squid girl to confusion about what she was asking. "You want me to sleep with them?"

"Only if they ask. If this battle goes badly tomorrow..." The cow-woman frowned. "If The Scarlet Bitch gets captured tomorrow, it will only be a matter of time before this ship joins them. With such a small crew, this ship can't sail for more than a few days. If the previous sailors didn't have things in place for the night, we would still be setting the sails, not making battle plans."

Roka looked around the table, then asked, "Does anyone know what this ship's name is. The former captain didn't mention it, and I haven't seen a name anywhere."

"The word 'Gazelle' is on the back of the ship," said Naivoo.

"Seems appropriate with how quick it is," she muttered before turning back to Gavim. "As I said, It's a request, not an order. As for the rest of you, you heard me. I know we're running with far less than what we really need for a ship this size, but get what rest you can. You all are dismissed. Kal, join me in the captain's quarters, please"

"Not going to try out your newest crewmember for yourself?" Naivoo asked.

"No offense to Gavim, but I'm a big girl, and while he's bigger than I'd expect on a man his size, it isn't magical," Roka replied before leading the rest of the crew out of the wheelhouse leaving Gavim, Naivoo, Pon, and Muri.

"Magical?" asked Gavim.

"It changes size," Naivoo explained. "So, it can be big enough to satisfy Roka without splitting our mouse in two."

"Actually, I like being stretched until it hurts a little," said Muri as she slid her pants down and stepped out of them, "and Kal's cock won't do that. He told me he can make it bigger, but the enchantment stops before he can stretch me how I like it." Gavim hadn't moved from his seat during the meeting as he didn't feel qualified to offer his opinion or ideas, not that he had much to give in the whirlwind of everything happening. The mouse straddled him where he sat on the wheelhouse's bench. "I'm not sure if anyone told you, but The Scarlet Bitch was a slaver ship whose current crew was once its cargo. Consent means a lot to us." She looked down at where his cock rested against her pussy. "May I?"