Hidden Island Chapter 28, part 2 of 3

Hidden Island
Chapter 28, part 2 of 3

"Oh, you poor thing. Must have sex to help a friend. Poor you," Tonya snarked.

Caine looked pensive, then let out a small sigh. "All right, good point."

"Is sex the only way to do this?" Janie asked.

"It's the only way I know how to do it," Tonya shrugged. "Do you know another way?"

"Prayer?" Janie answered. "That's the way I learned."

Tonya laughed. "I wouldn't even know where to start."

"I didn't know how to transfer energy through sex until recently. You could both learn," Janie shrugged. "Prayer isn't complicated; it just takes longer.

There are certainly fewer distractions."

"No," Caine said in the same firm, flat tone he'd used earlier.

Now, it was Janie's turn to look confused and upset. "Why not?"

"Because I said no," Caine repeated. "We'll do it Tonya's way."

Tonya and Janie looked confused, but Tonya shrugged and turned to face Caine with a grin. She sauntered towards him, “Come here, old man.”

Doctor Kalfou lurched and tripped, stumbling into the stairwell wall and dropping the large armload of supplies she'd been trying to carry.

"Dammit," she cursed as the small boxed and rolls of fabric tumbled down the steps. Getting her balance under her, she headed back down the stairs again.

Jack and Quinn came out of the door to their cabin. Jack spotted Friday's trouble and trotted over to help.

Quinn followed at a more measured pace. As the doctor reached the bottom of the steps again, Jack handed a bunch of stuff she'd picked up over. "Where are you headed?" Jack asked.

"The Captain's cabin," Friday answered.

"Go ahead," Jack said. "We'll pick up the rest and follow you."

Doctor Kalfou nodded and headed up the stairs. The buffeting storm made everything more difficult. She wasn't used to walking while the whole ship was jostling back and forth. Going up the stairs tossed her from one wall to another more than once. She needed to learn how the sailors managed.

They barely seemed bothered by the rolling of the ship at all. Come to think of it, neither did Quinn. Jack at least had the decency to stumble a little bit, but Quinn didn't seem aware the ship was moving. She made her way across the deck, squinting against the rain, and threw open the door to Captain Vex's room. She was surprised at how spacious it was. The ship's cabins were usually cramped, but the captain spared no expense in her quarters. It was an office, a den, and a bedroom all in one. Given what she knew of the Captain, the wall display of delicate cups and plates she had seemed strange to the Doctor. An impressively large bed dominated the center of the back wall, which seemed more in keeping with the Captain's personality. Doctor Kalfou unceremoniously dumped the armload of old sail patches, minor cases of bottles and bandages, and other supplies onto the floor.

Jack entered the room and followed suit, adding the supplies she and Quinn carried to Kalfou's pile. "Need help?" Jack asked.

"Not needed elsewhere, you?" Doctor Kalfou asked.

"If we get boarded, we will be, but until then, I'm supposed to stay safe and out of the way," Jack shrugged.

"Here seems better than our cabin. Closer to the action, I might be able to help somewhat before any fighting starts."

"Know anything about medicine, you?" the Doctor asked.

"Just basic field first aid," Jack said. "I've had to stitch people up once or twice. They didn't get infections, so I did all right."

"Good enough," Doctor Kalfou nodded. We need to prep for the wounded. Get all the blankets off the bed and shove them underneath it. Take the big sailcloth and fold it a few times, then stretch it over the bed. Tie it off to the posts to keep it in place. That is where we work."

Jack and Quinn took orders well. In short order, the captain's cabin was converted into a makeshift hospital room. Doctor Kalfou was not looking forward to having to do triage in a storm, but here in the captain's cabin, at the back of the ship, the jostling and rolling of the vessel was as minimal as it could be. She was thrilled to discover the water pump. Sea water was not as good as water that had been boiled clean, but the salt brine was not a terrible method of cleansing wounds. In the short term, it would be fine. Doing the initial wash with sea water and finishing with a splash of alcohol would get any wound clean enough.

"Ready here, we," Friday said once they were as prepared as possible. "Who should I talk to about how I want to receive patients?"

"Reeve, the Bosun," Jack said. "The first mate and the Captain should know your system, too, in case something happens to Reeve."

"Thank you. I will speak with them," Doctor Kalfou nodded. She headed for the door.

"Quinn, go with her. Help her keep her feet under her," Jack said.

Quinn followed without a word, offering the doctor his arm. She was a bit confused but took it. Immediately, she noticed that holding onto him was like having a handrail.

"How do you do that?" she asked, amazed.

"Do what? " Quinn asked.

"Stay still with the ship trying to throw us around," she said as though it should have been obvious.

"I feel the flow of the sea and do not fight it," Quinn explained.

"That doesn't make any sense," Doctor Kalfou scoffed.

"And yet it is true," Quinn said with a slight shrug.

From high in the rigging, Lace saw a moment captured by the quick ripple of sheet lightning lighting up the clouds above them. At the prow, Danica North and Mister Lynch stood next to each other. Danica had a spyglass in her hand. Lynch leaned on a rifle that was as tall as he was.

Doctor Kalfou and Quinn speak to Mister Reeve on the main deck. Sailors all around hauling ropes and helping reposition the sails to cut the force of the winds. The Captain, resolutely manning the helm. Colin Strong stood beside her, ready to lend strength to the wheel if she needed it. Behind her, the witch Bella, naked in the rain, clad only in the markings of her craft, sitting in a complex circle and beginning her work.

Across from her, with the mizzenmast between them, was Will Sterling, sitting at a makeshift desk and looking over his shoulder at the churning black seas. Behind the Kestrel, bearing down on them, much closer than Lace had expected, was a black ship with dirty, shredded sails. It was close enough now that she could make out the tiny shapes of the crew on her deck. She only had a moment to look at the ship, but she was an experienced enough sailor that the wrongness of it struck her immediately. None of the ship's crew were moving.

Then everything was black again. The afterimage from the lightning hung in his eyes.

"Captain, they're gaining fast!" Will called out.

"How long?" Belita called back.

"No idea! Their speed keeps changing! I can't measure it!" Will yelled.

"How far to the island," Belita shouted back.

Danica called something from the prow, but it was lost in the roar of the ocean and the howling winds. Reeve echoed it. "Rocks, dead ahead!"

"Aye, rocks!" the captain answered, confirming she'd heard.

"Keep them to our starboard! That's the edge of the reef!" Will called.

"Rigging, tack to port! Keep an eye on those rocks!" The captain shouted.

"Aye! Tacking to port!" Lace echoed from above. "Swabs, mainsail angle to portside!"

Reeve barked orders to the swabs. They hauled the lines to help the riggers reposition the sails and held them in place. "Tie those lines off with slip knots! Ensure they'll come free with a good tug, but don't let go of the lines!" Reeve bellowed to the swabs on deck. This wasn't the first ship chase the big bosun had been through.

When the sails were adjusted to where the captain wanted them to be, Reeve knew the most critical part of his job was ensuring the crew didn't waste unnecessary energy holding onto the sail ropes and fighting the wind.

Exhausted crews made fatal mistakes.

 "Stand down, but stay ready!"

The Kestrel shifted course. Ahead, a jagged cluster of rocks came into view at the edge of the lantern's beam.

The waves crashing against the stones sent huge sprays glowing in the light. Around it, they curved, rocking and lifting with the waves. At first, the winds were in their favor, keeping them well clear and not trying to dash them into the stones, but then the island loomed at the edge of the light. The winds were pushing them right toward the beach.

"Tack starboard!" the captain shouted.

"Aye, tacking starboard," came Lace's answering call. The riggers and the swabs once again canted the sails, this time to try to fight against the direction of the wind. This was a much harder thing to pull off. It required that the sails be precisely placed so that they were almost parallel to the direction of the wind. It was a redirection of the force rather than simply riding it.

The Captain and Colin were hauling on the rudder with everything they had to turn the nose of the ship away from the island shore. The Kestrel slowly reoriented herself again. The winds started hitting the boat from the broad side, shoving her sideways toward the beach. The looming rocks passed their starboard side, and the seas became calmer.

"All right, we're inside the reef!" Will shouted. "Keep the island to port, and watch the water's surface on our starboard! The reef is pretty shallow here, so it breaks the waves. The seas shouldn't be as rough as we come around the island, but we're risking running aground on both sides!"

"Aye!" Belita called. "We're in a good place now! I do think the other ship can catch us here! There's not enough room to come up on our broadside. If we drop sail right as we come out the other side of the reef channel, it might give us enough speed boost to keep ahead of them for a while longer!"

"Or it might rip our mast off!" Will called.

"Aye, we'll need some luck!" Belita grinned over her shoulder. "Bella, whatever you do, now is the time. "

Bella dropped a small hammer back into her pouch and ran her fingers over the horseshoe she'd nailed to the deck. "I'm ready."

On the other side of the mirror, the winds and the ocean muffled the shouting sounds. Janie, Tonya, and Caine could make out what Will and Bella were saying, but they were lost to everything else.

They were distracted anyway.

"Holy shit," Tonya said, staring at Caine. She had just pulled his tunic off but had already forgotten she was holding it in her hands.

Caine's body was covered in scars. Long, narrow lines, diamond-shaped punctures, and jagged tears were everywhere, overlapping in many places. He also had the most overly defined muscles any woman had ever seen. Every part of him was corded. He reminded Janie of the statues of the martyred warriors in the Grand Cathedral.

"Get it over with," Caine said, slowly turning around so they could see more closely.

"What happened to you?" Tonya asked.

"Swords, mostly. And spears. A few axes. Arrows, knives. Rocks. Some teeth. Oh, and a bit of fire. That's the worst," Caine shrugged.

"Who... are you?" Janie asked. It was the only thing she could think to ask.

"Just a soldier who managed to stay alive," Caine said.

Tonya tentatively reached out to touch him. "Can I?" Caine nodded. Her hand brushed down the length of a scar that started at his shoulder, ran across his collarbone, and ended in the middle of his chest. "This looks like it should have killed you."

"I got lucky," Caine said, trying to dismiss their concern. "Look, I don't like being the center of attention like this, and we have work to do."

Tonya let out a breath and laughed. "Right. Work." She tossed Caine's tunic to Janie and started drawing a sigil on his chest. He stopped her.

"What's this for?" Caine asked, guarded.

"It's a transfer sigil. It will let us move the energy we gather into the mirror," Tonya explained.

Janie caught the shirt without thinking about it, then set it aside, still watching with a combination of amazement, horror, and arousal, her eyes exploring Caine's impressive but scarred body. At the same time, Tonya convinced him to let her draw on him.

"All right," he said after a moment's hesitation. "I don't know if this will work, but we can try it."

"I've never seen it not work?" Tonya reassured him. "As long as you can imagine the transfer, it will do the rest.

It's supposed to be something anyone can do, even if they know nothing about spellbinding." She quickly finished the sigil. "Just be careful not to smudge it."

She ran her hands down his hard stomach, but Caine stopped her hands as she started pulling his belt free.

"Wait." Caine looked over to Janie. "You sure you're comfortable with this?"

Janie nodded. "Just... pretend I'm not here."

"That doesn't seem right," Caine shook his head. "You and I don't have to do anything together, but I doubt we can ignore each other. Seems like it would be uncomfortable to try."

"It's ok. I... like watching. I even like being watched. It seems only fair. Just don't push for more than that, all right?" Janie said a bit shyly.

"I would never," Caine said with a reassuring smile.

"You two are adorable!" Tonya grinned. She tossed Janie the grease stick, then yanked Caine's pants downward like a magician, revealing what was hidden behind the curtain. Caine's legs were as scarred as the rest, but Tonya wasn't paying attention. She took a gentle grip on his manhood. He wasn't hard, but he quickly responded to her touch. "Looks like you managed to avoid getting scarred where it counts."

Caine chuckled. "I guess I'm more careful with some parts of my body than others."

"Lucky me," Tonya grinned and dropped to her knees.

Janie felt her cheeks redden as Tonya engulfed Caine's hardening cock. She bit her lip and stared, feeling herself responding too. Caine was a handsome man, even with all the scars. He wasn't beautiful. His proportions would have been a dream come true for a sculptor, but his features were best described as rough.

Still, he had a competent and self-assured presence to him. He was dangerous, but in a way that was reassuring rather than threatening. She still didn't want to have sex with him, but she was already enjoying watching.

His eyes closed in pleasure, and he rested one hand on the back of Tonya's head. She had to back off as he hardened fully. Soon, she could only take about half of him in her mouth.

Tonya had seen a lot of cocks. Caine's was around average length but was nicely girthy. He'd never been circumcised, which Tonya preferred slightly.

There was something fun about the reveal of the head as she pulled the foreskin back.

Janie had never seen an uncircumcised penis. Both Thomas and Will were circumcised, as were most Imperial Mainlanders. Janie had thought Caine came from the mainland, too, but now she wasn't so sure. As Tonya slowly pulled on his shaft and revealed the head of his cock, Janie's brows rose. The mechanics of the whole process probably shouldn't have been surprising to her, but they were.

Then his hard cock was in Tonya's mouth again. The pretty young apprentice bobbed enthusiastically, making satisfied noises in her throat. Caine groaned. Janie's hand ran up the front of her stomach and squeezed her breast through her bustier. She shivered a little with anticipation and pleasure, then went shocked still as Caine turned his head and met her eyes. She knew he might be watching her. She was watching him right then.

Still, something about the unexpected eye contact surprised her. Embarrassment flushed through her as he caught her playing with her breasts. He gave her a small, knowing smile, then turned his attention back to Tonya.

Her arousal thundered through her. Then confusion. Why had Caine caught her playing with her breast? It was exciting. There was an element of shame; she certainly didn't like that. Or did she? She knew there was nothing to be ashamed of. Not really. If Tonya and Caine were comfortable with her watching them, why should she feel any embarrassment at the idea of them watching her while she watched them? No, that wasn't it. It was being caught reacting to watching them. It was the fact that Caine knew that watching them was turning her on. Still, though, that wasn't wrong. There was no shame in that. It hadn't been long since she'd been forced to confront it, but she'd already made peace that she was a voyeur. So, where was this sense of embarrassment coming from? And why did it excite her?



To be continued