Chapter 16

Dent was getting used to waking up next to or entangled with a warm body but this morning there was something different. Lying on his back he felt not one body but two, one on each side. Sneaking a peek he could see Nesho splayed out half on top of him, head resting on his shoulder and one leg hooked over one of his. Twisting his head slightly he discovered Sosho in an almost identical position but on the opposite side.

Both women were awake and staring at each other over his chest. When he moved they both tilted their heads up to look at him but soon returned to staring at each other.

"Well," Sosho said breaking the silence. "It's my turn down here, Mother. What are you doing?"

"If I remember correctly, darling," Nesho replied with just a hint of bite. "We agreed that at least one of us would sleep with him every night, not that it was limited to just one."

"It's a bit crowded for all three of us, don't you think?" Sosho said with a falsely sweet voice.

"Not at all," Nesho replied with the same catty voice. "Dent, are you uncomfortable?"

"Ah, only if you two are going to fight. Otherwise I have to admit this not only feels comfortable but wonderful!"

"Oh, so you like having two women in your bed do you?" Sosho rose up slightly her eyes narrowed and locked onto his. "You think you're man enough to keep two women happy in one bed?"

"Sosho!" he sighed somewhat exasperated. "Man enough or not I'm still a man. Given the option of having one of the most beautiful women in the world in my bed or both of them of course I'm going to pick both. I may be a fool at times but I'm not crazy or stupid!"

"Do you really think I'm beautiful?" she said her frown melting into a mixture of confusion and desperate longing.

"No I don't think you're beautiful, I know you're beautiful." Pulling her up towards him with his arm he was able to kiss her softly until the simple kiss started to become somewhat more heated.

"None of that now, you two," Nesho chided. "We don't have time and besides unless I miss my guess your junior wife is probably a little sore this morning."

"Ouch," Sosho moved her leg a little and grimaced. "I am a bit sore down there. Not that I'm not ready to go again if we can..."

"I'm sorry baby!" Dent struggled to get up. "I didn't want to hurt you..."

"Oh hush," Sosho said slapping his chest and pushing him down. "Of course I'm sore, you goof. What did you think would happen when you stuck that huge thing up where nothing has ever been before? Now shut up. I know you didn't want to hurt me but it's something that had to happen sooner or later. Besides, it will go away soon enough won't it, Mother?"

"Of course dear, A few days and a few more times and it will be nothing more than an unpleasant memory. Maybe you can get him to kiss it and make it feel better tonight."

"Hmm, sounds wonderful. What's this about junior wife?"

"I think I can safely assume I will be senior wife, given both my age and being first with him. Besides, you may be my co-wife but you are still my daughter."

"Don't I have a say in this?" Dent interjected.

"No," came the simultaneous response. They hadn't even looked up at him. Sensing a losing position if he pursued this tack Dent decided there were some things he just shouldn't get involved with.

"So you are both my wives now, are you?" he said.

"Well, what would you call us, oh lord and master?" Nesho said glancing up at him.

"Yes," Sosho chimed in, "are we your wives or just slaves you take to bed for comfort?"

"Damn it, you know I love you both more than life itself," he said diffusing the situation as quickly as he could. "Are you my wives? I would be honored to be considered your husband. What I'm trying to ask, and doing it rather poorly I admit, is if you two really think of yourselves as my wives?"

"Of course, dear," Nesho patted his chest again. "We may never say the vows in front of a priest but I'm very much afraid you have two wives whether you want them or not."

"Strange," he mused as he snuggled down in the bunk drawing them in as tightly as he could without crushing. "Within a few short weeks I have gone from being as scared as I have ever been to being as happy as I could ever have imagined. Life can be very strange!"

The next few days came as close to holidays as Dent had seen since their time aboard the Pinya. The weather was fair but breezy. The steady winds that should have sped them along were being offset slightly by the fact there were headwinds forcing them to tack more than the captain wanted. Having finished the repair and cleaning of the combat gear, Dent spent most of his time exercising, talking, playing games with the women or listening to Vel relate tales of distant lands he had visited in his misspent youth as he put it. For the most part this was done up on the piloting platform where Vel seemed to be rooted in place. He claimed with his watch crew split among three ships he was needed there almost continuously.

"When do you expect to make port?" Dent asked one afternoon.

Squinting as he gazed at the horizon Vel grunted. "Tomorrow, maybe the morning after. The winds are good but the Pinya wallows like a pig in these headwinds; slows us down." He was silent for a moment and then continued, "Garth died this morning."

Festou had mentioned that when he delivered the noon meal to the women but had been in such a hurry he hadn't provided much detail.

"I heard. I have to admit I'm surprised; I didn't hurt him that badly."

"I find that difficult to believe," Vel snorted. "You can't tell me you didn't expect him to die from those injuries." Dent shrugged, he had hoped the fat sailor would die but he had also seen men with far worse injuries live through them and go on for many years. "Well he didn't die from what you did to him anyway. Somebody slit his throat sometime last night."

"Hmm, well I'd be lying if I said I was sorry," Dent said. "Do you know who did it?"

"Oh, I'll be investigating, I suppose. Hard to get too worked up about it, though. Whoever did it saved me the trouble of stretching a rope with him. He wasn't too popular to begin with and with the leaving his post and being a thief and all... That little fireball of yours wasn't out and about last night was she?"

"Captain I can guarantee you she was in our berth all night." Dent almost grinned thinking about the night he had had. Sosho's tenderness hadn't lasted for even one night and once she discovered there was no pain involved had become insatiable, demanding either his cock or tongue inside her almost all night.

On their second night together Nesho was amused and tolerated her greedy daughter's demand for his full attention but on the third put her foot down, hard. "You can either spend the night by yourself," she said, "or you can snuggle in beside us but it's my turn and you can't have him until I'm done!"

Sosho pouted and whined like she had as a child but this time it wasn't an extra sweet or a pretty bauble she was trying to wheedle out of her mother. Nesho was willing to share but she had no intention of permanently relinquishing her place in bed. Only slightly cowed, Sosho watched hungrily as Dent first licked and then fucked her mother to a series of orgasms. Only after a weary and panting Nesho rolled onto her side did Sosho pounce on an equally weary Dent sucking his now flaccid cock into her mouth trying to bring him back to life. In a triumph of enthusiasm over skill she was able to get him erect again and rode him for two of her own orgasms and one of his.

Dent was convinced this twofold female attention was going to kill him but gamely did his best to please both of his companions. Although he woke in the morning feeling tired and sore he soon came to find exhaustion was a small price to pay. Not only was the sex beyond his wildest boyhood dreams, he discovered just how pleasant two well-fucked women were to be around when awake.

If he thought he had been pampered before it was nothing to what he experienced now. Neither one seemed able to be in the same room with him without either touching or rubbing up against him. He felt like some kind of Putram as they waited on him hand a foot, Nesho with a soft dreamy smile, Sosho with more of a predatory smirk. If his senses didn't tell him otherwise he would have been convinced he had died during one of the battles and was now in the heaven of myth.

"Neither one were out last night," he repeated. "In fact I haven't heard either one even mention his name for days."

"Well it could be an old enemy seeing his chance at last," Vel chuckled. "Or it might have been one of your women's many admirers paying him back. They seem to have a good number of my crew under their spell. Are you sure they aren't witches? I know at least a dozen men here that would gladly trade their ship's share to buy one or both from you. I wouldn't mind having the mother for myself. They are mother and daughter aren't they?" Dent slowly nodded. "Thought so. You know that only increases their value don't you? Almost as much as if they were sisters. I know! I know! They aren't for sale, but you can't blame an old man for trying.

"Seeing the three of you together brings back memories of my home country. Back there it wasn't uncommon for master and servant -- we didn't call them slaves -- to be together and in love. In fact some of the best and longest lasting marriages were from just such a bond."

"You never talk much about where you came from, Captain. What was it like?"

"Ah well it's vastly different from up here, I'll tell you that. Much more land for one thing. You could travel for months inland and never see the sea. Vast grasslands with nary a tree to be seen for miles, forests so thick you'd swear the trees were blades of grass, and mountains so tall they reach higher than the clouds. A beautiful place it is."

"It sounds, exciting. Why did you leave?"

Suddenly Vel's face became an emotionless mask. "That's something I don't talk about. Suffice it to say that my reasons were twofold: First I had the sailor's wandering heart and second, my brother did something incredibly stupid. Stupid enough that it made living there impossible for my family. At least I assume my family's no longer there; I haven't heard from them in a long time. Enough of that, I don't wish to speak of it anymore. So tell me, have you decided what you're going to do when we reach Harv'el?"

"Ah, yes," Dent floundered for a moment at the quick shift in subjects. "I think we will take your offer for release of contract. I don't know what we'll find but I'd rather not be tied down to any one thing right now."

"Wise," Vel replied. "You may find that Harv'el is better than you expect. I've certainly seen a lot worse. Plenty of opportunities for someone bold enough to take the chance."

"I hope so. If nothing else, someone should be hiring warriors. I'm just not sure what to expect. I've never lived where slaves were common. What will it be like for Nesho and Sosho? I know as their master I'm not supposed to worry about them but you know I do."

"Aye, I can see that you do and after getting to know them a little better I can't fault you. Actually once they're marked Harv'el will be very safe for them, probably safer than for you. Jeevel is very strict when it comes to property and slaves are of course considered property, very valuable property. Theft or abuse of property is handled quickly and harshly. Once marked, your two little beauties could walk down the main street naked and no one would touch them. Of course you would be responsible for anything they did, so you might want to warn them to be somewhat circumspect, but for the most part they will be fine."

"That's good to know. I can't say I'm happy about what has happened to us but all in all it has turned out better then I expected."

"Fortunes of war, my young friend. You aren't what I expected either, although I consider myself lucky you were aboard that ship. Sometimes misfortune has a way of turning into good fortune. You certainly came out of this smelling of perfume with yourself and your ladies intact. That's no small feat. Although I must say I do believe you've been a bad influence on my crew."

"How's that?" Dent said puzzled.

"Not only do you have half the crew mooning over those women of yours but I've noticed them treating the captives like I've never seen before. The Bo'sun had to break up a fight just the other day when some young buck took exception to how the youngest one was being treated. Taken a fancy to her himself is what I think; wouldn't be surprised if he bids on her down at the block. In fact they're all in such good shape I wouldn't be surprised if they fetch double or more than what I would have normally expected."

"I'm glad if my being here has helped them even that small amount," Dent sighed. "I never understood why you allowed them to be so abused, especially if you really considered them as valuable as you say you do."

"Crew morale, mostly," Vel confessed. "It's difficult enough to keep these buggers in line without keeping them from their loot and pleasure after battle. It's customary for captives to be available to the crew. But now that I've seen the results of better treatment, maybe next time will be different. That is if I still want to stay in the business of course. Things have been heating up between Jeevel and Malshall; it may be too warm to be doing any raiding for a while. Jeevel pays well, but not enough if meeting with the likes of the Vengeance is going to be common. With what I made this trip I just may retire to something a little safer."

"I'm certainly not going to try to dissuade you, Captain. This isn't the life I would prefer. I know the reasoning behind it but taking innocent and defenseless merchantmen just doesn't seem right to me."

"Well the last one we took wasn't quite so defenseless now was it?" Vel chuckled as he slapped Dent on the back knocking his breath away momentarily. "Right or wrong, it's all part of war and politics. Would it be better somehow if we were part of Jeevel's navy doing it? Don't kid yourself, my young friend. I've seen the results of their boardings. You may think us vicious animals but compared to them we're little more than a pail of kittens."

Dent just shrugged and taking his leave, returned to their tiny cabin.

True to the captains prediction, the jutting peaks of Jeevel came into view the morning of the second day. The winds had changed blessing them with winds abeam for their final leg into the port of Harv'el.

Spread out along the coast like lichen on the side of a rock, Harv'el was larger then Dent had expected. The red-tiled roofs baked prettily in the midday sun and various pastels used in staining the stucco building walls gave the feeling of festival time back in Salas. As with most things, it was prettier from a distance than up close. The piers were the first things he noticed. While there were more than he could count jutting out into the harbor, most were empty. And not just empty but the kind of empty that gives the feeling they had been that way for a while. So were the warehouses at the foot of the docks. The doors were gaping dark holes with very little, if any, activity noticeable.

"So this is our new home?" Nesho said from behind Dent's shoulder.

"For a while anyway," he said without turning.

"It doesn't look very busy."

"No, but then I don't know what it should look like. For all I know this could be one of their slow days."

"True. Do you know what we are to do when we pull in?"

"Yes," he said turning to her now. "You and Sosho need to be on deck when we dock. The Bo'sun will bring up the other captives. There will a representative from Jeevel coming onboard and we pay the tax and get you fitted with the salidin. Actually Vel has the tax taken care of and we have to pay for the salidin." Dent grimaced like he bit into something sour.

"Now Master," Nesho laughed running her hand along his cheek. "I've talked to the Captain who seems to know quite a bit about these salidin things. He says they are really very safe and actually very pretty."

"Yes and they are also very permanent!" he hissed.

"More so than a tattoo?" she asked and Dent just shrugged. "Given the choice between the two, I'd rather have the salidin, thank you very much."

"I wish I was smarter and could think of some way to keep you from having to make that choice," he sighed. "But I can't think of anything right now."

"That's all right, sweet thing," Nesho said smiling. "We'll just keep our eyes open and maybe something will come up. If not there are much worse things that could happen to us."

"I suppose so," he shook himself slightly. "Well be that as it may, the Captain asked me to oversee the collecting of the belongings for the dead men. I'm told its part of the Armsman's duties. There may be some poor relative who wants them and if not then the Sailors Guild can put them to good use. If you need me just send Festou, he should be able to find me fairly quickly."

As predicted within minutes of making fast a parade of brightly clothed dignitaries complete with armed guards trooped up the gangplank to the Death Grip's main deck where they were met by Captain Vel. Nesho and Sosho were close enough they could hear most of the conversation.

"So Garishnie, I see you're still Jeevel's chief lackey and tax collector." Captain Vel was talking to the leading figure in the colorful boarding party.

"Watch your tongue, Vel!" the figure hissed back. "I am his Excellencies' personal representative; you will address me as you would he himself!"

"Yes, yes, to be sure, all honor and glory to his most exalted Excellency, the Putram of Jeevel." Waving his hand Vel seemed to be less than awed by His Excellency and even less so by his personal representative. Not surprising since Garishnie was short and fat with long oiled hair that looked more dirty and unkempt than was then in fashion. Even at this distance Nesho could smell his sickly sweet perfume attempting to hide the stench of rancid olive oil.

"That's better, Vel," Garishnie sneered. "Now what are you bringing in today?"

"Two prizes: you can see them docking now, cargo, arms and about twenty-five slaves in all, fourteen females here on the Grip and eleven males on the other two. I also have forty-some hostages that will be ransomed to Malshall at the earliest opportunity."

"Hostages? What do you mean, hostages? There's nothing in the provisions for hostages. You either have slaves or crew, nothing more!"

"Well now I have more. See that second ship over there? Look familiar? Well it should it's the Vengeance Mine, the Malshallian frigate. I not only have the ship but most of the crew and captain. I'm thinking the Malshall would like to have one of his nobles and a couple dozen trained fighters back, probably for a lot more than what I could get for them as slaves. If you want to consider them as part of my crew then more power to you, but I don't intend to put them on the block."

The argument continued in this vein for a fair amount of time. Nesho couldn't understand most of it since it seemed to consist mainly of hand gestures and screaming by the Putram's man and smiles and shaking of the head by Vel. Finally Garishnie apparently gave up or decided to pass this particular problem up to his superiors. He raised his hands and pointed toward the large palace-like building set on the top of a hill in the middle of town. Vel nodded and shrugged after which Garishnie made a violent gesture as if to say continue and Vel called for the Bo'sun to bring the captives out.

As they marched out on deck in a single line Nesho noted the difference between their present condition and what she had seen just days after their capture. Nesho had stayed in almost daily contact with the captive women, tending to their injuries and general well being. Although she mentioned it in passing to Dent, it wasn't something she elaborated on. Knowing how much his inability to help them hurt, she felt this was something she could and would keep to herself. At first it had been horrible, every single one had been repeatedly raped and if that wasn't bad enough they were kept in the slaves' quarters between these assaults, a crowed, dingy and almost airless hole.