by Tom Gallier
Rising up on her toes, she kissed him, and whispered. “I’ll miss you. Be safe.”
“I’ll miss you more.”
She smiled. “I know.”
And then she was gone, vanishing into the crowd like a… wraith.
Chapter 10
To Alex, the crew looked to be in chaos. Captain Jacobi barked commands, sending sailors to and fro. The pair of tugs arrived by the time the ship was freed of her moorings. Alex realized what he thought of as chaos was practiced choreography. Everyone knew exactly what they had to do, how to do it, and when to do it so everything moved fluidly.
The crew proved to be a mixed bag, looking as motley and unsavory as in an old pirate movie. About a third were lizardmen. And there were some extremely reptilian looking fellows on board, too.
All the lizardmen had bodies resembling humans: bi-pedal, two arms, etc. Only half of them had what he thought of as “dragon” heads. Scaly, spiky, scary looking heads and faces, at that. A few even had tails and three-toed feet!
“Vivi!” Captain Jacobi shouted.
Alex did a double-take on the hot blonde that raced up to the captain. She stood about five foot even, with a spectacular body. Yeah, bustilicious came immediately to mind. Lots of bright silver-blonde hair framed a blue-eyed face. All she wore was a pale blue tunic about five sizes too small that barely fell down far enough to cover her assets. All exposed skin was as sun-kissed as the finest California girls.
“Vivi, take…” Captain Jacobi said, turning to Alex expectantly.
“Alex Hardcourt.”
“Yes. Alex is a paying passenger, so give him a private spot in the hold.” The captain turned back to Alex. “This is my cabin girl, Vivi. She’ll be tending your needs during the voyage.”
“That means don’t bother him or the crew if you need anything,” Vivi chirped. “You just talk to me.”
He fought his instinct to stare at her. Vivi looked perky as hell, and she moved with a feline grace that called to him in the most basic way. But then the captain hugged her, one hand grabbing a boob in the process. She didn’t flinch or pull away, so she was the captain’s girl?
Alex looked around. She was the only woman on the ship as far as he could see. Worse, she looked like a flirt. Then he noticed how she was looking him over: eyes bright, big smile, and tip of tongue clamped between her teeth. Yeah, she was going to be trouble.
“Follow me,” Vivi said, grabbing his hand.
Her hands were soft and delicate, so she definitely wasn’t performing hard labor. Long painted nails punctuated that point, but her bare feet looked tough and tar-stained. Alex let her lead him to the large open hatch between the two masts, finding a ladder leading down into darkness. She motioned for him to go down first.
Halfway down the ladder, he looked up. Vivi descended above him, and wasn’t wearing anything under her tunic. Alex almost fell off the ladder. So he dropped his eyes, fighting the urge to look up the rest of the way down. He found himself standing amid crates, bundles, and large ceramic jugs.
They weren’t alone down there. A short, stout lizardman with a thick tail straddled the ship’s keel, bent over a glowing pentagram.
“Don’t disturb the witch,” Vivi whispered.
Alex wondered if Helene was at that same moment in the same place on her ship, preparing to lift Wraith up into the sky. His interest piqued, he leaned against a stack of lashed down crates to watch the show. Only, Vivi wasn’t having it.
“Come on, Alex,” she said, tugging on his arm.
Vivi led him through the maze of cargo. She finally stopped and indicated a low stack of bundles.
“We don’t have proper cabins,” she said. “So this is where you’ll sleep.”
“Where does the crew sleep?”
“On deck,” she said, and pushed him onto the bundles. “See? Nice and soft.”
It wasn’t that soft, and quite lumpy, but better than sleeping on bare deck boards. Maybe. And then she straddled his lap. Her pretty face moved closer and closer, until her lips brushed his when she spoke, oh so breathlessly.
“Don’t be surprised to find the captain enjoying my company here during the day,” she said, her eyes locked with his in an intense gaze. “But you might want to check here if you don’t see me up on deck. I might be waiting for you. You know?”
Vivi ground her sex against his rising bulge. Alex struggled to think straight, panting and looking around for accusing eyes. What would the captain do if he was caught with Vivi?
“Um, you’re the captain’s girl, right?”
“Sure. Why not?”
Her head tilted, lips parting slightly. Alex leaned back as she pushed towards him.
“I don’t want to piss off the captain.”
Vivi looked startled. “Why would you piss on the captain?”
“No. It’s a foreign expression, meaning to anger someone,” Alex said. “I don’t want to do anything with his woman that would get me tossed over the side.”
Vivi paused, her eyes glazing over. “Hmm, pissing on the captain would certainly make him angry. You’d be lucky if he only threw you overboard. Ha! But rolling me won’t anger him. You’re a paying passenger. You got rights.” She winked. “Besides, I sleep with everyone. And you are the most beautiful man I’ve seen in forever. So…”
“Shut up!” a voice echoed through the hold. “I’m trying to concentrate, you stupid little harlot.”
“Who was that?” Alex asked.
“Kaaki,” she said, scowling. “The Lift Witch. Stupid liz is always spoiling my fun.”
“I heard that!”
“Good!”
Vivi slipped off Alex’s lap. “Captain Jacobi prefers passengers stay down in the hold, but you can go up on deck anytime you want.”
She gave him a naughty little brow wag, looked longingly at his shoulders for a second, and then rushed away. Alex stared at her, wondering what just happened. Did she say it was kind of her job to sleep with him? Or she just slept around for the fun of it?
Just like a dream to go all crazy time on me, he thought, and headed back toward the deck. Kaaki started chanting as he approached, so he stopped to watch the magic show. Let’s see how they lift a ship up into the air.
To his surprise, Kaaki’s pentagram was glowing red. The Nagu witch had his athame in his left hand, and a small ceramic bowl of blood in the other. Alex watched him dribble a little blood from the bowl onto the pentagram, which flashed brighter. It wasn’t all that flashy when the flup-flup pilot did his magic.
And then the earth moved under his feet.
“Holy crap,” Alex cried out, feeling the ship starting to rise. Kaaki glanced back at him, but Alex couldn’t read the witch’s reptilian face to know if he was curious or annoyed. “Sorry.”
“Clear!” Vivi called from above. “Captain says take us up another hundred feet.”
“Aye!” Kaaki replied, and poured more blood as he continued to chant.
Alex quickly scrambled up the ladder. Vivi winked at him, but stayed in her spot next to the open hatch. Captain Jacobi stood in the bow, alternately looking down, up, and at the flags high atop the two masts. When the flags suddenly swung around to fly in a different direction, he shouted for the sails to be unfurled. Well, he called out for specific sails, but Alex didn’t know what any of it meant.
Swift Wind slowly turned around to face the same direction as the wind, and then the main sails were unfurled and the ship stopped rising. The sails fluttered, making the ship tremble under his feet. And then they filled with a pop, and Swift Wind lurched forward.
Sails and flags flapped and snapped, the ropes and wood creaked, and the wind became loud in his ears. Alex grinned as he looked all around, reveling in all the sights and sounds of actual flight. He was riding in a flying ship.
The captain flew them down the river until the Great Sea spread out before them. Alex marveled at the sight of that aquamarine water, with sailing ships actually on the water and above it in the sky. He spotted sev
en other ships flying about, all at different heights and traveling in different directions.
Once over the sea, the main sails were furled and Swift Wind began to rise again. Rise quite swiftly, too. Everyone looked up at the flags. It didn’t take Alex long to figure it out. The wind blew in different directions and speeds at different heights. They were almost to the scattered clouds before Captain Jacobi found his winds.
The mains were unfurled again, and Swift Wind headed southeast. Toward Qûm and their first port of call, Tymnos. From what Alex knew, Tymnos was a very large and powerful city state in the south of Qûm. Twice as large as Kandos, according to Helene. It would take several days to reach it, and they wouldn’t be stopping until they arrived.
It took several hours to cross over to the northern point of Qûm. Alex spotted a huge walled city down there, with smaller cities spreading down the coastline. Hundred of sails could be seen dotting the water, even as more ships flew towards those cities. Swift Wind stayed high above and sailed straight toward the center of that huge island.
The island dominated the eastern end of the Inner Sea, which stretched out for hundreds of miles to the west. Since Alex failed to find a legend on the temple map, he had no way of knowing the exact size of the Inner Sea. It looked big on the map. He originally thought Qûm would be about the size of Sicily, but after seeing it he changed his mind. There was a snow-capped mountain range stretching off into the purple hazy distance. So, maybe the size of Ireland, or larger? Great Britain? And that meant the Inner Sea had to be even larger than he thought.
It’s a big world, he thought. With a lot of cities to explore. He glanced at Vivi, who stood staring adoringly up at Captain Jacobi in the stern. And a lot more women to explore.
Since he’d spent two full nights, and was on his third day in that world, Alex still wanted to believe it was all a dream. But how could a dream last that long? How could he have sex so often, enjoy it so intensely, and not wake up? If it was a dream, then it was drug-induced and he was the Hardcourt Manor’s staff’s comatose prisoner.
At least it’s a fun, adventurous dream.
Yet, the possibility of everything being very real occurred to him, as well. People vanished off the face of the earth all the time. Were all those sailors and pilots lost in the Bermuda Triangle on that world, too? Was Elysia where all those missing ships and airliners vanished? And Amelia Earhart? Was Hardcourt Manor another portal to this world?
“Storm a-coming off starboard!”
Alex hurried over to the starboard side. Everyone stopped to gawk. Yeah, it was an ugly looking storm, all cobalt dark with flashing lightning. At that height, it looked like a monster bearing down on them. The crew only froze for a moment, before erupting in frantic activity.
Alex moved to the stern with Vivi, while the captain and crew struggled to pull in their sails and Kaaki adjusted their height to pick up different winds. He heard the captain and mates debate trying to outrun the storm, or to just drop down into a river or lake to ride it out. Everyone looked nervous, though Vivi’s eyes were bright with excitement.
There’s an adrenaline junkie in every group, he thought.
Seeing the fear in the crew’s eyes frightened Alex even more than the approaching storm. If they were afraid of it…
“There aren’t any good safe havens below, boys,” Captain Jacobi shouted. “So let’s fly! We’re going to outrun that godforsaken storm!”
A gale force wind struck them. The ship tilted, all the timbers groaning, and then quickly righted itself. Alex looked up and around, wondering how they kept the right side up all the time. Magic?
That first blast of wind heralded the edge of the storm. The dark and rain might be off to starboard, but the leading winds were way out front. The ship rocked and rolled, and one crew member almost went over the side.
“Come with me,” Vivi cried, grabbing his hand. “It’s going to be too dangerous up here for you. And you’ll just get in the way.”
The idea of being “trapped” in the hold worried Alex. He wanted to see disaster coming, but then one of the mates growled an order to Vivi to get him below. Hostile looks from the crew decided it. If his presence hindered them in any way, then he had to go below as ordered.
He let Vivi lead him back to his assigned spot in the hold. She still looked more excited than worried. Odd, he kind of felt more excitement than fear as well. When the ship rolled back and forth suddenly, he found himself crushing poor Vivi up against the rear mast.
“Sorry, should I lash myself to this mast until the storm is over?” he quipped.
“Oooh, you want to?” she asked, nodding vigorously. Instead, she pushed him away, grabbed his hand, and rushed him back to his pile of lashed down bundles. She found some rope, ordered him to lay down, and then quickly bound him spread-eagle in the middle. “Perfect!”
Alex struggled against the bindings. That wasn’t what he meant. He’d never been tied up before, and found the experience distressful to the max. But then Vivi crawled up, yanked his pants down around his knees, and then straddled his waist. And the hot little blonde pulled off her tunic.
“Hello!” Alex cried.
Vivi clung to Alex as the ship rocked and rolled, and fed him a nipple with a giggle. He hesitated, but then… What the hell?
That little vixen was all over him for the next few hours. The ride got scary rough, but it never dampened her ardor. Vivi kissed, licked, and sucked on his lips, neck, fingers, toes, and cock. Mostly his cock. She rode him like a professional cowgirl into screaming orgasms. Fear and stress stoked his libido to new heights, and they weathered the storm in the best way imaginable. The storm was still raging when Alex finally passed out.
A sudden stillness woke Alex. Vivi stirred atop him, murmuring in her sleep. He looked around. The wind still howled, but the ship remained relatively still. Then he heard the sound of slashing water.
“What happened?” he asked, throat raspy after all that amazing sex.
Vivi roused, lifting her head and looking around. “Sounds like we found a safe port to ride out the storm,” she rasped out. She looked him in the eyes. “You want to have another go?”
“Yes. No!” he said, and laughed. “I do, but my curiosity is getting the better of me. I want to go up on deck and see the damage.”
He thought she might object, but Vivi sat up and stretched. For a second, seeing her amazing body so well displayed, Alex regretted his decision. She quickly untied him, before she rolled off to pull her tunic back on.
“I should go find Jacobi. He usually needs some of my special attention after a day like this,” she said, and winked. “If you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask.”
And she vanished. Alex shook his head. First, how lucky was he that she was in charge of taking care of him? Secondly, this world, dream or not, was the best life he’d ever known. And third, how did she disappear so quickly and easily? Magic?
After getting himself decent again, he headed up topside. He found the deck a disaster zone. Broken rope and ripped sails lay all about. Crewmen were sprawled out all around, gasping for breath with cups of wine in hand.
“Here you go, friend Alex,” Kaaki said, pressing a cup of dark red wine into his hand. “We celebrate our victory over the gods! We get to live another day. Drink. Be thankful.”
“For life?”
“No, for how well Vivi tended to you during the storm,” Kaaki said, and laughed. “You two were almost as loud as the storm.”
“Well, Vivi is a screamer,” he said, and took a sip. He knew better than to drink that world’s wine too quickly. It had a kick like vodka. Probably just as potent. Yeah, it burned sweetly going down. “Wow. This is good wine.”
He walked over to the rail with Kaaki. A big smile spread across his face.
“Where are we at, friend Kaaki?”
The Nagu witch spat over the rail. “Zarana.”
He spoke the name like a curse.
“How long will we be here?” he
asked.
“A day or two,” Kaaki said. “Repairs are minor, so will go fast. But I suggest you stay safely aboard Swift Wind. Zarana is a terribly wicked city. Very dangerous.”
“Oh, really?” Alex said, a smile slowly spreading across his face.
Chapter 11
A new day dawned bright and cool. Alex emerged from below decks to find the storm wreckage already cleared away. He found the crew crawling all over the ship, mostly up in the rigging. The exception seemed to be Vivi, who was buck-ass naked and pouring water over herself. It took him a moment to figure out she was bathing. And not a soul was watching her.
How jaded are these guys? I could watch that for days and days.
Captain Jacobi stood on the pier with his first mate and three tall, slim Nagu in flowing silk robes and tall, elaborate hats. Two of the lizardmen were quite human like in appearance, just with scales. The third, and obviously the leader, looked like a cross between a human and a velociraptor.
“Who are they?”
Kaaki looked back at him. “Port authorities. They’re not happy about us docking without permission last night.”
“Trouble?”
“No. It’s just a way to force the captain to line their pockets with gold.”
Ah, good ole bribery. Even in otherworlds, graft and corruption ruled. Alex watched the captain hand over a small purse, which instantly vanished within the robes of the head official. They spent a moment bowing to each other, praising each other, and finally parted ways. And then Captain Jacobi left to find carpenters and sail makers.
Alex turned his attention to the town beyond the docks. The docks snuggled up to an unwalled town nestled at the base of quite steep hills. He could see most of the town rising up and scattered across the ridges and hills above them. Like back in Kandos, every structure was whitewashed so that they practically glowed in the early morning sunlight.
“How much time do I have?” Alex asked.
Kaaki gave him an appraising look. “I think repairs will be done by midday tomorrow. But don’t expect the captain to wait for you if you’re not on board the moment Swift Wind is ready to sail.”
