Chapter 31

The first altercation between the monster girls and the human crew occurred that afternoon as they continued through The Spine. On The Dauntless, Captain Kolas stepped in and patiently listened to both sides of the story before the former captain called the man every demeaning name Kal had heard and even a few he hadn’t. He loudly explained that the crewman’s stupidity put his life in danger, then grabbed the man by his tunic, marched him over to the deckrail, and launched him into the predator-infested waters below.

“Was he so bad at sailing you wouldn’t even fight for him?” Kal asked as Kolas spun on his heel and stomped away from the crewman’s desperate screams before they abruptly ended.

“Nay. I probably could have convinced her to spare him once she calmed down, and I likely will the next time this happens. This was letting the men know I don’t value their lives over me own. They also needed to know I won’t take their side just because they were my crew. The way I see it, the less arguing I have to do for my men’s lives, the better job I’m doing.”

News of Kolas tossing the man overboard filtered through the rest of the captured crewmen, causing a marked improvement in their behavior.

Later that day, a scream from The Gazelle heralded another man going overboard after trying to push the ‘traitorous’ former bosun off the ship. He was the last man to die that day as Kal’s warning down in the hold seemed to finally sink in.

Even if Kal disagreed with their methods, Kolas and his officers did an excellent job keeping the men in line.

The following day dawned to a much more agreeable human crew in reasonably high spirits. Kal and Roka later discovered that after working with the men for most of the day, several girls looked past the human’s former profession and visited the men’s crew quarters that night. A few extra tagged along to chaperone and ensure everyone’s safety and their accounts painted the men as surprisingly well-behaved. They only had to get onto a few for being disrespectful or too rough.

A similar scene played out on The Scarlet Bitch but, unsurprisingly, not on The Gazelle. The number of monster girls compared to humans was just too close for the women to feel secure approaching them.

The three ships left the rocky spires of The Spine behind as the sun dipped below the horizon. The predators stayed close to the ships for a while longer before finally breaking away and returning to The Spine. Once beyond the rocks, the small fleet spread out and matched pace with the Scarlet Bitch. When darkness fell, Kal learned that the vessels in a fleet communicated at night using a special lantern with a large lens on the front. A lever opened and closed the two stiff leather flaps in front of the lens, making a pattern of flashes the other ships could read. The large lantern used a different kind of oil that burned much brighter and hotter than normal, and Kal immediately began making preparations to replace the oil with light stones.

Roka was familiar with the lantern and its uses when coming into port at night. But having never been part of a fleet, she had a lot to learn about signaling between ships.

Kal left the bovine to her lesson with The Dauntless’s former captain and looked out over the water. Between the three ships, Emru’s human body rode atop her larger body. It was his first time seeing it since they entered The Spine. Kal vaulted the deckrail and floated over to the whale. Her avatar stood up to greet him as he came closer.

“How are you doing?” he asked as he landed in front of her.

“Still absorbing everything that’s happened. I’ve never dealt with so much death all at once. Watching those mercenaries get ripped apart the moment they hit the water was terrifying enough, but then ferrying Naura and the others back and forth as sharks and giant squid swam around me just waiting for her to fall off...” Emru shivered. “I know it meant a lot to her, but I’m never doing that again while in The Spine.”

“You seem to have a lot on your mind. Would you like me to leave you be?”

The whale’s avatar shook her head. “No, but I’d like it if you could just hold me for a little bit.”

“I can do that,” said Kal as he stepped forward.

The next morning Emru led the ships in closer to shore and used her ability to ‘see’ underwater to steer them around any submerged rocks. About midday, they furled sails. A break in the forest alongside a tiny fishing village revealed where a large stream met the sea.

One longboat went to the village to see if they had anything to trade while the other pulled up next to the stream and its occupants solemnly marched into the forest.

They hiked for more than an hour with a guide from the village to take them beyond the villager’s lands. Naura eventually stopped and looked around. The trees were a little bit thinner and you could still see and hear the stream from where they stood. “This looks like a place we would have built a house together,” said the otter. Kal stepped forward and began drawing out the area for the fox’s grave, then used the spell from back when he planted Eludora’s seed to lift up a much larger and deeper plug of earth. As he set it aside, Ria retrieved the vixen’s body and laid it beside the hole.

Kal stepped away as Scarlet offered up a beautiful eulogy for the fox girl. She told stories of shared moments of triumph and laughter that left many of the surrounding women crying tears of both sadness and mirth. The vixen’s former captain then stepped back to let Naura and the others say a few words.

Kal originally also planned on giving a small eulogy like the others. But as Scarlet spoke, he realized that he really knew nothing about the fox-woman or her life beyond the vixen’s visits to his cabin on the Scarlet Bitch. When it came to his turn, he remained silent and nodded for the woman beside him to go ahead. Once everyone was done telling their stories and celebrating the fox’s life. Kal and Tavorah arranged the body to better fit the circular hole, and Ria moved the vixen to the bottom.

Each of the mourners took a small handful of dirt and tossed it in before walking away. Leaving Kal and Ria to finish up. Naura’s sobs had begun to fade in the distance before the mage began drawing the spell to lift the plug of dirt and place it back in the hole.

“Are you okay Kal? You didn’t say anything.” Ria asked while storing the large chunks of dirt that fell from the bottom of the plug and placing them around the fox’s corpse.

“Yes. I’m just disappointed with myself. I’ve been so proud of how much I’ve helped some of these women, but I couldn’t help her enough to keep her from throwing her life away.”

“That seems a little unfair, Kal. Even those closest to her were surprised by how she died. How could you have known?”

“I understand, Ria. I know that logically I shouldn’t be blaming myself any more than I should with the merchant woman. I feel like if I had dug a little deeper she might still be alive just like if I had pushed harder for my nameless merchant to settle in Telsin.” Kal poured magic into the spell so it could lift the plug of dirt into the air then pivoted until it floated over the hole before gently setting it inside.

“Will you continue beating yourself up over this like you have with THE merchant lady?” asked the sprite.

Kal understood her emphasis’s intention to remind him that the merchant woman was never actually his. “No. She died defending those she loved from being put back in chains. Claiming fault for such an honorable death feels ... disrespectful.” Kal smoothed out the edges of the grave then used a bit of geomancy to build a small cairn from nearby stones buried just beneath the forest floor before following the others back to the longboat.

He’d barely taken two steps when he felt Kashka’s surprise, followed by the deathly stillness of her anger. Kal felt that The Scarlet Bitch would be missing some crew when they returned.

Sure enough, The Bitch’s course and topsail flapped freely in the wind when he reached the longboat. The Dauntless’ former second mate and an accomplice got the bright idea to try commandeering the ship while the mage and most of the officers were away. Unfortunately for them, they decided to begin the mutiny in front of Yalli. They only got as far as cutting the two sails free and shouting for the other men to join them a few times before the armadillo-girl’s large claws and powerful arms dismembered them. The armadillo went into a bit of a berserker rage, and they were still throwing small chunks of the men overboard when the longboat pulled up to the ship.

A short investigation showed that the men acted alone and had apparently hoped that the other human crewmembers would join them once the mutiny started. The girls on the ship said that none of the other men moved a muscle except for those who backed away from the mutineers, not wanting to be associated with them by proximity.

Stories of the vicious manner in which the attempted mutiny was put down led to these being the last deaths of the Dauntless and Gazelle’s former crews. Kal later wondered why it had taken this long for the weight of the men’s situation to sink in.

The second longboat returned from trading with the villagers bearing little of value besides the three pigs and some fresh fish for tonight’s meal. Kal helped them unload a swine onto each vessel before returning to The Dauntless. All three ships would eat well tonight.

After supper, Kal visited Emru again. She greeted him with a surprisingly passionate kiss.

“My season should be starting in the next week or so,” she said, blushing prettily with embarrassment.

Kal guessed it was pheromones from her coming season that made her look so attractive in the waning sunlight but also hoped it was because he had begun to overcome his disgust with her type of monster girl. The mage quickly realized it didn’t matter. Even if it was pheromones, he could use that the same way he used the sex drive of the girls on The Scarlet Bitch to overcome some of their hang-ups.

Emru broke away from the ships, swimming further out to sea as they chatted. Her avatar seemed to be having a hard time keeping her hands off Kal, and he found himself not minding the attention.

Still feeling full from supper, Kal laid back with his hands beneath his head and stared up at the stars beginning to peek out on the eastern horizon. Emru laid down on her side next to him, continuing to run her hands up and down his body as they talked. The conversation reached a lull and they laid there in silence for a few minutes before Kal felt fingertips brush lightly over the front of his trousers. He glanced over to see a look of worry and anticipation on the whale-girl’s face. Her pensive expression broke into a smile as he gave her a slight nod and stared back up at the sky.

Emru traced the outline of his cock through the fabric a few times before starting to work at his belt with one hand. When using her song, the men always took care of their belts and trousers for her. She spent a minute fighting with the metal clasp before finally looking down to see how the mechanism worked. She had loosened the belt, but the prong slipped into another hole further up the strap. Instead of continuing to fight with the frustrating piece of clothing, she slipped the tips of her fingers beneath his trouser’s waistband and moved closer to the mage.

Her soft lips covered his as she slid her hand into his trousers and took a firm grip around the base of his cock. Her breath smelled minty with just a hint of the sea as their tongues intertwined. Kashka let him know over the bond she had picked up on his plan to visit Emru earlier that day and had Hali deliver another of the mint lozenges.

Kal pulled her upper leg over so it rested on his thigh, exposing the avatar’s sex. Since his other arm was pinned beneath her body, he flipped his hand over to caress her folds. It wasn’t the most comfortable position for his arm, but Emru’s sigh and the way she pressed against him as his fingers glided over her pussy were worth it.

Kal’s erection was at about half mast before her hand gripped the shaft and started slowly stroking him. He used his unoccupied hand to unbutton his trousers and push them down to give her more room to work. Emru stopped kissing him and just watched her hand stroke up and down the length of his cock for a few seconds before mashing her lips to his again, but harder.

The second kiss didn’t last long as the whale’s avatar slid down his body. Like when she came closer earlier to kiss him, there was no worming or scooting as she moved, but the mage ignored the unnatural motion. Kal took the opportunity to have Ria store his pants so they were out of the way as Emru positioned herself between his legs. The whale-girl pushed his cock against his belly and began sucking and licking at the underside of his prick. This continued for a few minutes before she flattened her tongue and dragged it from the base to the large dollop of clear liquid forming at the tip.

The mage groaned as Emru’s soft lips enveloped the head of his prick. Holding the base of his cock she spent the next few minutes giving him one of the most sensual blowjobs he’d experienced. It didn’t help that he refused to look down his body and watch her, much as he wanted to. Kal didn’t want the sight of the tendril coming out of her back to ruin this moment.

Kal eventually tugged on the avatar’s arm. Emru’s head popped up with a worried look.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“Not at all. In fact, that was nothing short of amazing. But I’m getting close, and I think you wanted me somewhere else when that happened.”

Emru only took a second to realize what he was saying before squealing with delight and kissing him on his lips and all over his face while thanking him profusely.

Kal appreciated the sentiment, but after such a wonderous blowjob, his cock wasn’t willing to be ignored, and he raised his hips up until the head of his prick bumped the avatar’s sex. Emru gasped and her back straightened for a moment in surprise before a smile crept onto her face and she reached down between them. She grabbed his shaft and pointed it at her sex as she slowly shifted backwards, occasionally rocking forward before taking him a little further. The mage groaned as she enveloped him completely, and the muscular walls of her sex began milking his cock. Emru put her hands on his chest and started grinding her pussy back and forth as Kal’s hands went to her hips and coaxed her to move a little faster.

He felt drops of water hit his chest and looked up to see tears in the whale-girl’s eyes.

“I’ve never made love to a man like this,” she said, answering his questioning expression, “and now we’re trying for a daughter. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy before.”

Nodding in understanding, he reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek before holding her hips and thrusting upward as she dropped onto his shaft. Her moans of pleasure quickly turned into shrieks as Kal continued thrusting into her while simultaneously fighting to hold back his climax until she came.

Emru’s pussy seized up around him as the entrance to her pseudo-womb kissed the tip of his cock. The increased friction sent Kal’s seed rocketing out the end of his prick and into the whale-girl. The avatar’s belly rolled and it felt like her cervix was sucking in the tip of his cock, drawing out even more cum from his balls.

Kal lay panting from the unexpected intensity of his orgasm while Emru calmly sat astride him, positively glowing with happiness.

“What was that at the end there? I’ve never felt anything quite like it,” he asked as his breathing slowed

Emru dropped a hand to her belly. “I can store a man’s seed there and keep it viable for about a week. My bottom works the same way, as does my stomach, but seed stored in those places has a much lower chance of success.”

“Oddly, I don’t remember any mention of that reading about the sandworms, but it makes sense to give you some leeway finding a mate.”

“Plus, like most monster girls, we get a little cock crazy when we come into season. This allows us to find a man with all our wits about us.” She wiggled her hips, reminding Kal his half-hard cock was still inside her. “Think you are up for another go?”

“Only if you get me hard again with another one of your blowjobs.”

“You liked it that much?”

“Most definitely.”

“We’ll have to thank Hali for teaching me then,” she said, letting him slip out of her sex as she slid down his body.

Kal tried to agree, but his reply turned into a groan as Emru’s lips slid down his shaft.

Velus stomped back and forth around her room, seething with rage. “How dare that ... fucking cow order me back to my quarters!”

“She’s the ship’s captain,” said the lavender bag of holding avatar sitting on the edge of the fold-down table in the mage’s quarters. Liru kicked her feet like a child, letting the small wings on her ankles flutter. “At sea, on her ship, her orders are final. Kolas explained that to us when we boarded The Dauntless.”

“No wonder peons are drawn to sailing. It’s the only way they can get any say over their betters.”

“Then what about your mage-boy?”

“He’s just a fool who doesn’t have the upbringing to see what is right in front of his eyes.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that, Veles. The man has plenty of companions besides the cat, and none are noblewomen. Perhaps you don’t fit his tastes.”

“How do you know all this?”

“After they returned from the funeral, you didn’t dismiss me before your midday nap. Ria, his bag of holding, and I had a long talk.”

“What else did you find out?”

“That your insistence on a mage’s duel is a lost cause. He sees no need for it, and from Ria’s stories, you don’t stand much of a chance. He has huge flawless crystals, and his body can channel massive amounts of mana at once. You may have more spells and be more skilled. But all he needs to do is wear you down until you’re out of mana.”

“Why would she tell you that except to make me want to fight him more?”

“No, she thinks you’re being dumb, too. Ria thinks Kal will need to hold back just to keep from killing you.”

“Nonsense! How could he—”

“Veles, stop. Ria pointed out something that you really need to think about. Kal has a bag of holding of his own. He knows exactly how powerful we can be. Which is more dangerous to give you, me or your daggers?”

The mage’s face softened before saying, “You.”

“Yet he gave me back to you. Ria says he’s wary of what kind of damage you could cause, but the man is powerful enough he doesn’t see you as a threat.”

“How could such a young man get so powerful?”

“I don’t know,” said Liru, “but maybe that’s why the oracle sent you here. Perhaps something in his blood has made him such a strong mage already, and he can pass that on to his children.”

Images flooded Veles’s head of teaching her son various different spells as a young boy. A smile appeared on her face, and her heart swelled with pride as he cast spells that would take apprentices at magic schools years of training. The scene shifted, and her smile faded. Her father proudly announced her son as the heir to the throne. Her smile vanished completely as the scene shifted again. An older version of her son was being installed as the new head of the house. A title and honor that should have gone to her if it weren’t for her father’s prejudice.

“What am I doing this for?” said the mage, sitting down on her bed.

“How many times have you asked that since you left your father’s lands? A few dozen? A hundred? And I still don’t have an answer for you, Veles. Your devotion to your father’s dream of a male heir seems asinine, given your power. A mage of your skill should be capable starting her own house. One that could rival your father’s in just a few years. Then you can choose an heir on your own terms, not his.”

“At the very least, I wouldn’t need to deal with this damned mage ever again.”

“I don’t know if that’s the best course of action.”

“Make up your mind, Liru, because I thought you were trying to talk me out of this mess.”

“I am, just hear me out. You are a powerful and skilled mage. I have watched you blossom into that power since you left your father’s estate. If his gift can be passed on, Kal can give you children even more powerful than you.”

Veles grinned like a shark at the thought. “Go on.”

“But compassion and empathy are not your strong points. I want you to consider what will happen once your children surpass you in strength and skill while still thinking like you.”

The mage’s expression went through a range of emotions as she ticked off the possibilities in her head, each outcome worst than the last, and far too many of them ending with a knife between her ribs. She looked at Liru, her face bordering on desperation. “But I’ll be their mother. Surely they will treat me with respect and dignity.”

“The way you treat your mother?”

Veles flinched like she had been slapped. Despite living in the same house, it had been years since she and her mother spoke. Once the mage hit puberty and it was clear her father would not be producing any more children with Veles’s mother, or any of his concubines, she was shunted off to the side and hardly spoken of. Everyone knew of her dalliances with various staff at the estate, but as long as she kept it quiet and they never produced a child, the rest of the family ignored her indiscretions.

“I think this is why the oracle sent you to Kal,” Liru continued. “He’ll give you strong, healthy boy capable of powerful magic, but not until you’ve shown him that you can be a good mother to his child.”

“You don’t think I can be a good mother?”

“Not the way you are, and not in the way Kal thinks of a good mother. Ria said his own mother gave her life to bring him into the world, then raised him alone after his father was killed.”

“So, she didn’t die during childbirth?”

“I don’t quite understand it either, but Ria wouldn’t elaborate. She said it was Kal’s story to tell, not hers. But besides that, she was a strong and loving woman who worked herself to the bone, running a farm and raising Kal at the same time. You know I love you, Veles, but you aren’t capable of that kind of sacrifice. You have been doing all of this to secure your future in your father’s house, then once the child is born, you will pass it off to the nannies just like your mother did to you and your sisters.”

Veles’s clenched tight as she growled, “Go back to your bag.”

The wings on Liru’s ankles became blurs as she stood up, floating in the air to bow at her master before fading away.

The mage bounced up off her bed and paced her tiny room. She was angry because Liru was right. She had no plans to raise the child once it had been weaned. What Liru didn’t understand is that even if she had planned on being the mother Kal wanted, her father wouldn’t hear of it. His grandson would be raised in the manner of his choosing, which would mean utter devotion and loyalty to him and him alone.

But to go against her father seemed unthinkable. And to start her own house? With its first heir being the son of a powerful but houseless mage?

Her thoughts went back to the battle and watching him cast strength spell after strength spell, each of which would have taken large bites out of her own mana crystals. Then once he joined the fight he activated two of the runes on his bracers one that glowed with the red of the strength spell and a second that she didn’t recognize. Then after the cow killed Darrow he went and helped the elf heal the wounded before killing one of the crewmen in the hold with a magic arrow. The man had used a massive amount of mana that day. Twice, or maybe closer to three times the combined capacity of her crystals and natural reserves.

And that’s only what she knew about. It’s possible he had cast other spells she wasn’t aware of that day. She was also ignoring that he used a healing spell usually only available to clerics and had at least two spells she had never seen or heard of before, the unknown one during the battle and whatever he used that acted like featherfall but at the same time wasn’t featherfall.

All that didn’t really matter, though. If Kal could beat her easily in a mage’s duel then so be it, but she wasn’t going to just flop on her back and spread her legs for him. Of course, even if she did, he wasn’t interested.

The fact pissed her off more than a little. She knew how she looked. It drew the ire of her older sisters and made them cheer on her freedom to pursue magic instead of competing with them to produce their father’s first heir. Earlier today, her looks got her yelled at and sent back to her quarters for distracting some of the crewmen despite the abundance of naked flesh the monster girls were showing off. Yet this mage, Kal, seemed immune to her charms.

But Kal wasn’t some horny lower noble thinking he could make Veles his next conquest. He had his choice of any of the women on the three ships. The man also seemed to have a special bond with the cat he fought beside and was in the process of forming one with The Dauntless’s new captain. She questioned a few of the crewwomen about Kal, and they mentioned the mage had several children. Liru had also given the impression that his harem consisted of more than these monster girls.

She didn’t mind the harem or that they consisted of monster girls. Like her father, powerful men had many women. It was just the way of the world and a good sign of Kal’s virility and power. Once she began learning magic, Veles quickly rejected the notion that monster girls were demonic in nature.

The witch sighed and touched the bag on her hip. Liru thought Kal was a good choice to father her children, even if he was a lowborn. Over the years, and especially since she left home on this quest, the bag of holding’s advice had been sound and, at times, lifesaving. For her to push Veles towards the mage meant the avatar perceived something in the man she didn’t, or couldn’t, see.

But compassion? Empathy? Those were dangerous in her world. She had heard the stories growing up. Not the fairy tales told to the lowborns to keep them in line, reinforcing the superiority of the nobility and making them think that love and togetherness were all anyone needed to be happy. No, she heard the real stories of how a lord loved a son or a wife too much, and people used that love to destroy them. Or how a nobleman tried to be kind and generous, only to have his ranks infiltrated by enemies because his ‘compassion and empathy’ didn’t let him see the threat until it was too late.

Compassion and empathy were death sentences in the world of nobility.

Her thoughts went back to what Liru had said earlier about what might happen once her children surpassed her power and skill. At best, she ended up like her mother, trying to find happiness bouncing on a cock in the corner of the castle, and at worst, she ended up with a dagger between her ribs to remove any challengers to her child’s inheritance. There would be no tender mother and son or mother and daughter moments like she had witnessed during her adventures. No celebration of each other’s achievements or happiness. As with her own mother, there would be a brief period of genuine affection before she began seeing her child as a threat to her position, and her child would see her as an obstacle.

She expected this life, but was it the one she wanted? Liru thought she could make her own house and become a noble in her own right. But again, was that what she wanted? Did she want to live a life of waiting for a knife in her back and vying for the king’s favor? Or did she want her son as a young adult to run up and lift her into a great big hug as he announced that he proposed to his lover and she accepted?

The second option felt so good, but so alien at the same time.

“Liru,” she called lightly.

The little avatar appeared beside the bag on Veles’s belt, then flitted up to float in front of her face. “How may I help you, mistress,” she said coolly.

“If I do as Kal says and learn to be compassionate and caring I won’t be able to return to my father’s house. I will be targeted and taken advantage of until I am either exiled, a husk of a woman like my mother, or dead.”

“Veles ... you’re a mage. You don’t need your father’s house. You don’t need any house. You can build your own home far away from the intrigue and backstabbing of the nobility. Not just a house, but a mansion where you can raise your own family without worrying about answering to your father. You can have a family that you love and loves you in return instead of treating you like a piece in their game of power.”

The witch nodded slowly. “So ... how do I start?”

“Roka, you will stay in port once we reach Soma and begin recruiting and training operations,” said Scarlet as they finished up supper in Ratt’s cabin. The commandant looked noticeably uncomfortable during the beginning of the meal sitting opposite her seat for the past few years. But this was now Ratt’s ship, and the seat at the head of the table was hers. “Wonna you will take The Bitch’s time-critical cargo onto The Gazelle and set sail as soon as you are loaded. I will stay with The Scarlet Bitch and help Ratt replace those cargo contracts if we can.