Hidden Island Chapter 20, part 1 of 3

Hidden Island
Chapter 20, part 1 of 3

Bella took a deep breath and sat down on the bed. She was exhausted. She'd been standing unmoving, concentrating fiercely for hours. Her whole body ached. Fighting to remain in one position while the ocean rocked the floor beneath her had been much more complex than expected. Her thighs were quivering. Despite her fatigue, her eyes were glued to the mirror,

watching the scene play out in her alcove.

Tonya was naked, sitting on Bella's table, her legs spread wide and wrapped around Janie's hips. Her apprentice's heels rested on the backs of the taller woman's thighs.

"That was incredible," Tonya breathed between kisses. "You've never done anything like that before?"

Janie giggled like a schoolgirl. "No, never."

"You had him in the palm of your hand the whole time! Even beat him with the pull cord for the curtain! I thought he would get mad, but he just... let you! Where did you learn all that?" Tonya was too busy talking to keep kissing. Bella chuckled to herself. Her apprentice had a real problem with using her mouth for too many things at once.

"I used to be a Magistrate Acolyte. I just channeled all the priestesses who taught me, and a bit of my mother was thrown in, too," Janie admitted awkwardly. I very much doubt they had this in mind when giving their lessons, but I'm discovering many Magistrate skills translate well to other things."

Bella blinked in confusion. What was Janie talking about? Why was she working at Mary's?

She continued to watch, her soreness and fatigue suddenly less prominent in her mind. The scene in the mirror was far too interesting.

"We need to get you an actual whip. You can't keep using the pull cord," Tonya giggled.

"I was terrified I might accidentally open the curtain!" Jaine laughed, her eyes wide beneath her veil.

"That wouldn't have been so bad. He was dressed. So were you. I'm the only naked one."

Tonya looked down at herself. Janie's eyes followed. She very slowly ran her hands down the young witch's body, down her shoulders, around the outside of her small breasts, along her ribs and her waist, coming to rest on her hips. Tonya shivered at Janie's touch.

"If I were a real Sister, I'd be flogging you for your wantonness." Janie's voice was full of heat and insinuation.

Tonya was torn between lust and worry. She'd been flogged before. It wasn't something she wanted to repeat. On the other hand, how Janie said it made Tonya want to see what she had in mind. "Am I a bad acolyte?" she said, biting her lip and looking up at Janie through her lashes.

"Very," Janie smiled.

"I was just following the Sister's orders," Tonya did her best to look guilty. It wasn't an expression that came naturally to her. "I was trying to be good."

They laughed, unable to keep up the game or the tension any longer.

"I'm learning that it is possible to be both good and bad simultaneously," Janie said, leaning in to kiss the brunette apprentice again.

Tonya squirmed on the table. "Mumm, I'll say. Are all Magistrate folks like you? I might want to join up."

Janie shook her head, half-horrified. "Oh no, I'm... well, there's a reason I left. I don't think you'd like a Cloister at all."

"I don't even like that word. Cloister. Ewe," Tonya's nose wrinkled.

"Ewe is an apt description," Janie agreed. "I much prefer this one." She looked around the nook, thinking it was about the same size as the small chamber she'd lived in when she was younger. She'd shared it with another girl, too. Now, the idea of forcing someone to live in a space so small seemed cruel to her. Even the room she was now sharing with Tonya was more than twice the size of the alcove, and it barely seemed big enough for two.

"Here," Janie said, picking up the stack of coins on the chair her first client had sat in. She turned and handed them to Tonya. "I want you to have these."

Tonya's eyes went wide, and she held out her hands. "No, I can't. You earned that. I just sat here and got stared at while you criticized him for staring. The hardest part for me was not laughing. You did all the work."

"I couldn't have done it without you. I wouldn't have even known where to begin. I'd still be hiding in here," Janie insisted. "I don't need the money. I just wanted to see if I could do any of this."

"You can. I'd say you even have a knack for it," Tonya grinned. She reluctantly took the coins.

"I appreciate it. Looks like he tipped you pretty well."

"He did? I'm not even sure what price I was asking. I just said my rates were standard," Janie said.

"Five crowns is pretty normal. We can change depending on what we do for a client. You just got paid for talking and hitting a guy. I usually get paid for fucking them. There's another girl who works here who does kind of what you did, but she doesn't do the religious thing, and she whips them and fucks them, so I'm not sure it's comparable."

"Maybe I'll work my way up to that," Janie mused. As soon as she said it, she knew she wasn't interested. Having sex with someone she didn't know, especially as a business transaction, really wasn't something that excited her. She didn't have any ethical problems with prostitution. Not anymore, obviously. She just wanted sex to be meaningful to her. Then she looked at Tonya on the table and realized she'd only known the young witch for a matter of hours, and she'd already had thoughts of sex with her. That seemed fine, but the idea of sex with the man who'd just paid her was mildly repulsive. She didn't know either of them well, and the man hadn't seemed like a wrong sort. Why were they so different in her head? She'd put so much time into learning to diagnose motives. It irritated her to feel conflicted about her own. She'd have to think about it later.

Tonya tucked the coins away into her purse. "Should I get dressed, or will we do that again?"

"I think I'm done for the night," Janie said. It was an exciting experience, but primarily for my self-discovery."

"I don't know about you, but I discovered some things," Tonya smirked.

"Oh?"

Tonya grinned. "Yeah. Before tonight I didn't know it was possible to talk a guy into Cumming in his pants!"

All three of them laughed.

Tonya and Janie's laughter cut off abruptly. They whirled to face the mirror. Instead of their reflection, they saw Bella nude, her face painted in white symbols. She was sitting on a large bed in a dimly lit room. She gave them a small wave, "Hi."

Captain Vex sat on the steps of the stern castle, her first mate next to her. Mister North sat a few steps lower, leaning back on his wife's knees as she ran her fingers back and forth across his bald head. The three of them were observing the crew's nightly revelry now that the day was done.

The sun had gone below the horizon, leaving only a strip of lighter purple at the western edge of the black sky, and the lanterns cast long shadows that moved with the swaying of the ship.

Having enjoyed their supper and rum ration, some of the crew danced to the music of a lively fiddle while others played games of dice and cards on barrels and benches scattered across the deck. New and old lovers cuddled up to each other, whispering soft endearments, accompanied by the waves.

"Is the anchor down?" Belita asked.

"Aye, Colin did it right before he finally went to bed," Danica said.

"That boy's too damn stubborn by half," her husband grouched.

"This is about as close to quitting as I've ever seen him," Belita said with a slight shake of her head. I used to think it was impressive, but now I wish he'd just... "

"Stop," Danica finished. Belita nodded. They were quiet for a short time, listening to the fiddle music and the rhythm of the waves.

"I thought that would take longer," commented Mister North in his rich baritone, gesturing to where Will Sterling, Jacqueline Hunter, and Lace Webber were sitting side by side, thick as thieves.

"I'm not. Lace is all thunder and no lightning," Danica replied. "She gets mad easily, but I've never seen her hold a grudge."

"I mostly meant Will and Miss Hunter," her husband explained. "I thought they had a problem we were supposed to watch out for."

"Aye, they do. It looks like they're working through it," Belita said after taking a sip off her cup.

She was pleasantly buzzed. "I am not an Inquisitor, but I can tell what folks are thinking' well enough when they are not trying to hide it. Those two are looking for excuses not to be mad at each other. They're both just shit at talking things out."

Mister North chuckled. "Speaking of folks who don't know how to talk, you're doing that with your accent again."

Captain Vex rolled her eyes. "Don't ye be given' me none o' your sass, ye Mainlander gombeen."

"Ouch, Captain, that hurts," North said with exaggerated shock.

Danica started laughing. "What the hell's a gombeen?"

Vex had to pause to think about it: " A small-time crook. A bloke always looks to make a few extra coins, usually by cheating."

"Oh. Yep. He's a gombeen," Danica said, rubbing her husband's scalp.

"Oh, sure, take her side," North said with mock indignity. She gets drunk and unintelligible and starts making up words, and my wife thinks it's hilarious just because she's right."

"You poor, poor gombeen," Danica mocked.

"Look what you've done?" North said to Belita. "You've taught her a new word, and I'm never going to hear the end of it."

"Sounds like she did have a problem understanding me," Belita said, taking another drink.

"It's not my fault that when you get drunk, you forget things like the ends of words and which vowels go where," North snarked. "My wife's just more fluent in drunken pirate than I am."

Belita raised her middle finger and waved it back and forth in front of North's face. "Ye fluent in this?"

"Absolutely. I might not be fluent in north islander gibberish, but I'm practically a scholar of rude gestures," Mister North grinned.

"Have any of the new crew done anything stupid yet?" Danica asked. "I was a little worried after the morning announcement about having a witch on board."

"Not yet," North said. "Give them a few days to settle in."

"Ye think someone's going to do something' daft?" the Captain asked.

"Probably," Danica said. We only had time to vet the new crew quite as thoroughly as usual.

They're all competent sailors, but we must be more careful with determining their temperament this time. One or two aren't Kestrel material. Hopefully, they'll keep their mouths shut and get off at the next port instead of causing a problem.

"I trust ye tae handle it. Maybe we can change some minds," Belita said.

"Ever the optimist, Captain," Mister North said, raising his cup. I hope you're right."

"When is the next port, anyway?" Danica asked.

"Two weeks," Belita replied. We're adding a stop because we have to leave Bastard's Bay without our full load of supplies." It should be easy sailing until then. We'll have to follow the Akula buoys to get through the Kinnet reef. Besides that, it's a pretty straight course.

This time of year, the waters are pretty calm, and there are a lot of Magistrate patrols around that passage. We might be stopped again, but I had that Lieutenant stamp our papers, so the next inspection ship we run intake should let us through without much hassle."

"Lace will like that news. It will give her time to sort out all this stuff with the small boats and the new ladders," Danica said, looking at the ropes still tacked down all over the deck.

"What's all that about anyway? I had to bust my ass to get the rigging ladders she wanted, and now she's just making new ones?" Mister North complained.

"They're too big. They messed with the crossbeam," Danica explained.

"We already cut the bottom twenty feet off the first ones she tried. There's no way I can sell those now," North grumbled.

"Once she's done with the new ladders, I'll have her splice the old ones back into working shape. You can sell them at a discount. We might not recoup everything, but you'll find a buyer. You always do," Danica rubbed her husband's head again.

"Ye Gombeen," Belita snorted.

All three of them laughed, and Danica stood up. "Come on, gombeen. Take me to bed."

"Duty calls," North said with a look of exaggerated suffering on his face. He stood up with a groan.

"Good night," Captain Vex said to the pair as they left. She sat on the steps for a few more minutes, then stood up, too. A bed sounded pretty nice, or a bath, or both.

She made her way to her cabin, enjoying the floating sensation that the rum had given her.

When she opened the door, Bella was naked and talking to the mirror.

"Where's your big green friend, anyway? Haven't seen him since Lace tried to stab him," Will asked Jack.

"Oh, he's around. He doesn't like people much, so he keeps to himself," Jack answered. Her voice was a little tense.

"What?" Will asked, noticing Jack's tone.

"I don't need to do that thing where the former man in my life tries to learn about the new one subtly," Jack said flatly. Lace burst out laughing.

Will tried to backstep. "I wasn't... all right, maybe I was a little. I'm mostly just curious. I've seen a few Asura before but never met any of them up close before Quinn. He lives up to the reputation."

"He's not quite what the stories make them out to be," Jack said.

"Well, now you have to tell," Lace said, nudging her with a shoulder.

It was a warm night, but after being trapped in the galley for so long, they were all enjoying the comparative coolness of the air. Jack had put her wet shirt back on the right way. Will was still shirtless. Lace was wearing her usual nearly-topless outfit and wasn't soaked in how she'd managed that after the steam-filled galley was a mystery. Jack's shirt was slowly drying but was still damp enough to hang heavy and cling, outlining her breasts nicely. Will was having trouble not looking. Jack had noticed and found it amusing but hadn't said anything about it.

"Asura are... servants. It's a cultural thing, and I don't know much about it." Jack said. She swirled the rum in her cup and spoke about it. "So it's not an equal relationship. It's not even really a relationship at all. He does what I tell him and looks out for my interests. He does it all on his terms, however. He's not some obsequious footman. He speaks his mind and does things according to what he thinks is best for me, even if I disagree. If I ordered him to do something he didn't want, he'd do it, but he'd probably do it in a way that made me regret my decision. I try to be careful not to do that."

"That sounds like a relationship to me," Will said. You wouldn't want an obsequious manservant anyway."

"True. It took me a while to get used to the idea of having a servant at all. I haven't had one since I was twelve. I didn't miss it," Jack said. "I think of him more like a bodyguard than anything else. He looks out for me, and I care about him, but he never lets me forget that our involvement with each other is temporary and has obvious boundaries regarding the roles we play regarding each other."

"Temporary?" Lace asked. "Why? Don't you pay him enough?"

"He'd be offended to hear you say that. He'd accept any payment he received for something I asked him to do on my behalf, not his own. If I ever personally tried to pay him for his service, he'd never respect me again. To his people, service is sacred." Jack sounded like she was having trouble finding the right words. "It's a religious thing."

"Work for other people and never get paid for it? Sounds like a shitty religion," Lace scoffed.

"I won't argue with you. I don't understand it, but asking questions has gotten me more confused or been met with very polite non-answers," Jack said into her cup.

"How'd you find him in the first place?" Will asked.

"It was... shortly after I cursed you," Jack said guiltily. "I guess I'd done enough to get noticed."

"Noticed?" Lace asked. "What, there's someone who hands out Asura bodyguards? Where can I get one?"

"Essentially, yes. The Asura only serve... well, they use the term 'great people.' It's some meritocracy. That's why all the stories are about Asura serving kings or leaders."

"I've met many great people who aren't kings," Will said. "Pretty much all of them."

"I agree, actually," Jack shrugged. "I don't think I'm a great person, but when Quinn offered to serve me, I wasn't about to say no."

"So why is it temporary?" Lace asked.

"Eventually, the term of service ends," Jack said.

"When?" Lace asked.

"I don't know," Jack shrugged again.

"Doesn't make any sense," Lace rolled her eyes. "Hope the sex is good."

Jack smiled and took another drink. "He can go forever. Asura, don't run out of stamina."

Will coughed into his cup. Lace's eyes went wide. "Damn," she said. "Can I borrow him?"

"Sure," Jack said.

Lace's eyes went wider. "I was just joking."

"I know. If you want some time with him, though, ask. He won't say no. He'll ask me." Jack stretched her legs out from the bench and crossed her ankles.

"That doesn't seem right," Will said. "Being able to say yes or no is pretty important."

"To us, yeah. To Asura... well, I don't know. I guess it's a different kind of consent. He put me in charge of those decisions when he consented to serve me." Jack continued. "It was one of the first things we discussed when I first agreed to be his master. I asked many questions. Some of the answers also unsettled me, but that's how he is. He even... encouraged me to offer his services to people as a reward. I balked at it, but he said I should consider him more as a tool to achieve my goals than a servant. He also said that power is only power if it is used."

"I don't know if I agree with any of that," Will said.

"Me either," Jack shrugged. "But ultimately, it's his choice. He doesn't have to give me that kind of power over him. He isn't some brainwashed religious zealot who gave up their free will because of nonsense. There's something deeper going on there, and I'm only starting to scratch the surface of it. I think he wants to see what I'll do."

"Like whether or not you're the kind of person who would order him to have sex with someone, regardless of how he felt about it?" Will asked, a bit flatly.

"No," Jack shook her head. "You're misunderstanding. I think he assumes that I am exactly that sort of person. He wants to know under what circumstances I'd make that choice and what I'd get out of it in return."

"That's... pretty fucked up," Lace said. Jack nodded and took a drink.

"So the Asura religion is about giving humans control of their lives to... what? Test our morality?" Will was incredulous.

"I don't know," Jack shrugged. "It seems that way from the outside, but I don't think I have anywhere close to the whole picture."

"But you're still willing to have sex with him?" Will asked. "Even though you can't be sure if it's what he wants?"

"I was hesitant at first," Jack said as she finished her rum. "He brought it up and offered the very first day. That's normal for them. I turned him down. Occasionally, he'd offer again.

Eventually, I just decided, why not?"

"Sounds like he was into it to me," Lace grinned.

"That was my conclusion, too," Jack said with a wink.




To be continued