The Chronicles of Rapina, Chapters 5-9

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This page includes:
[Rapina]005 Pirates
[Rapina]006 Pirates In Training
[Rapina]007 Red Jack's Isle
[Rapina]008 Training and Battle
[Rapina]009 Basic Pirates


[Rapina]005 Pirates

Drake was the first to notice the longship bearing down
on them. It flew a black flag with a large red X.
"It's...it's...it's," Drake stammered with his jaw
hanging open. "Red Jack!", Drake and Kent gasped in
unison. Quick!  Signal them so that they know we are
friendly!", Drake ordered.

"How?" Kent raised his hands in surrender.

"You mean that all this time you didn't know of anyway
to signal them?!?!?!" Drake asked. "They'll probably
assume we're trying to stop them and kill us all!  This
is just great!"

"Sure!  Blame me! How am I supposed to know the correct
signal?" Kent shot back defensively.

"Well TRY and be useful!  Go wake up Edgar!"  Drake
yelled not noticing that Edgar was already awake.

Edgar stumbled forward.  As he rubbed the sleep out of
his eyes he noticed the ship.  "Who is that?"  He was
jolted awake by the answer. "Red Jack?!?!?!  THE Red
Jack?!?!?!"

Rapina was as stunned as the boys, but she was steering
while the boys were gawking and arguing, and that gave
her some feeling of control.   She'd been through way
too much not to want to make a good first impression.
After all, the reverend's family would soon come
hunting, and without the protection of outlaws, she
would be doomed.  Rather than trying to stop, she
headed the boat on a course that would bring her along
side the longship and tried to keep her nerve and her
tiller steady.

The three boys looked helplessly at each other as the
ship closed. Before they could come up with a plan the
pirate ship pulled up alongside theirs.

"Lay down yer weapons and prepare t'be boarded!" A
gruff voice barked.

As their tiny boat neared the longship, Rapina's nose
prickled. She could sense lust and she had the sneaking
suspicion that a bit of the lust was not directed at
her.

"Ahoy! we're unarmed and looking to join Captain Red
Jack and his crew!  Is that you?"  Rapina tried to
sound enthusiastic, but her voice quavered a bit by the
time she said, "Is that you?"

"Oh well," Rapina thought.  At least she had managed to
say something before the pirates swarmed aboard.

And swarm they did.  They pulled the fishing boat
against their ship with hooks on poles.  Before she
knew it, a burly pirate told her to keep her hands
where he could see them, grabbed her roughly and handed
her up to a couple of crewmen on the long ship.  For
the moment, she was not sure what had happened to the
boys.  "Ouuu!" Rapina squealed as one of the crewmen
who had taken her searched her for weapons and squeezed
her in a few places that she could not possibly have
had a knife.

"Aye this one's a woman all right," The crewman said as
he held his dirk dangerously close to her throat.
Rapina stood quite still.  By pulling her neck back
from the edge of the dirk, she unwittingly arched her
back, making her breasts jut out.  She waited, hoping
things would settle down and someone in charge would
decide what to do.

The crowd of dangerous-looking pirates parted as a
tall-brightly dressed figure stepped forward.  On his
head, he wore a proper pirate captain's hat. It was
crimson with gold trim. Under his hat, his head was
covered with a scarlet bandana emblazoned with
thousands of tiny black crosses.  His eyes were hazel
and had a way of boring right through a person.  His
face, though not unattractive, was scarred and weather-
beaten.  A medium sized handlebar moustache graced his
upper lip and a tiny pointed beard resided on his chin.
When he smiled his sinister smile Rapina and the boys
noticed he had gold teeth in place of those apparently
knocked out in some past battle.  He wore a long red
jacket trimmed with gold tassels and bars of rank.  His
white chemise seemed the only departure from the red
theme of his wardrobe. His breeches, which were crimson
with black stripes, disappeared into calf-high black
leather boots.

If Red Jack was anything it certainly wasn't subtle.
He looked Rapina up and down with a lusty eye and
spoke, "Are ye sherr she's a woman?  'Ave ye checked?"
He turned and shot a challenging look at his crew and
then completed his turn face to face with Rapina.  His
hand shot out and clasped onto Rapina's loins.  His
fingers danced around a moment exploring every place
they could reach.  He withdrew his hand and smiled.

Rapina was rather terrified, but too stubborn to admit
it. "Eee!" She squealed and blushed as the captain
grabbed her.  An entire crew of pirates was focusing on
her, and the lust was nearly overwhelming.  Rapina's
nose so tickled it felt like it buzzed.  Her whole body
flushed, her nipples stood up, her loins took heat, she
panted for breath, and for a moment, she forgot to be
afraid.

"Most definitely a woman," he said approvingly.  "And
from what I understand She and her three boys want to
be pirates!"  This last comment elicited a round of
raucous laughter from the crew.

Still ablush from all the lust, Rapina smiled, nodded
and licked her lips.

"We're not HER boys! Drake said. "She's our prisoner
AND she's our gift to you!" Drake shouted.  A
threatening glare from Red Jack stopped him cold,
however.

"Number one!  She's not YOUR prisoner.  She's mine.
And so are you three. And if ye'd like to remain that
way I'd suggest ye shut yer mouth boy. Believe me, ye
wouldn't like the alternative."  He smiled wickedly and
turned to his crew.

"What say ye men?  Do we take these vagabonds into our
midst or do we feed em ta the fish?"  The crew erupted
in cheers and it was quite some time before they
quieted down enough for Red Jack to continue.

"Since I'm captain and I get first pick of the booty I
pick...the wench!" this statement elicited grumbles
from the crew, but they quickly subsided under Red
Jack's withering stare.  "As for the boys...well I'm
sher we can put em ta good use..."  Red Jack purposely
let his voice trail off as he turned to wink at the
boys.

The trio gulped in unison and looked at each other with
frightened eyes.

"Roger!  Take these guppies aboard and put em ta work!
If they don't pull their weight let Froggy take em fer
a little 'chat' Heh." A tall muscled crewman detached
himself from the others and led the three boys away
with the help of two other crewmen.

"I'll take care of giving the wench a proper pirate's
welcome...right after we get underway.  You two!  Take
her to my quarters!  And make sure she's tied up good
and tight with my best silk rope.  Oh and if she is
harmed or touched by you in any way other than that
I've stated I'll cut yer balls off!"

The men were clearly scared to death of Red Jack.  They
made all haste to do as he asked and then get as far
away from her as possible.

Red Jack began barking orders to get the pirate ship
underway...

Before Rapina could recover her wits, she was dragged
off to a structure a bit back from the middle of the
ship.  The captain's cabin was the only structure on
the long ship, and it was none too big, for the
longship was designed for speed, not comfort. Like the
ship, the room was long and narrow.  The ceiling was
probably not over a foot higher than the top of the
captain's head and the walls were lined with shelves
with tall slats above their lower edges to keep objects
from falling out.

The crewmen pushed Rapina onto the captain's bed and
tied her there with red silk rope.  Red Jack could
evidently read and write, for he had books and charts,
and there was a small desk next to the foot of the bed.
Rapina had passed it on the way into the room.  It
seemed like an eternity before the pirate captain came
in, but that was only because the pirates had taken the
"tie her good and tight," order a bit too literally.

The pirate captain chuckled as he entered the room.
"Make sure the men put their backs into it," he said to
someone outside, then shut the door.   "Comfortable?"
The captain grinned as he glanced at Rapina. He carried
a sack that he dumped out on the desk.

"Well, most of me.  They tied my wrists awful tight"
Rapina said.

"Good," The captain smiled.  "You're something of a
puzzle," he said as he pulled Rapina's borrowed shirt
up over her head onto the ropes that secured her hands
and leered at what he saw beneath it.  "And what are
ye, a 'farm girl' doin' in silk lingerie, and where did
ye and yer boys come by this?"  The captain pulled the
reverend's mage light out of a pouch by its gold chain
illuminating the chamber.

"Um, it's a long story.  I'd be glad to tell it to you
if my hands weren't about to fall off."

The captain checked her bonds.  "Ye'll be all right for
a while yet.  What about these items?"  The captain
held up Rapina's dream stone pendant and pointed to the
reverend's signet ring."

The captain's stare was penetrating. Rapina could tell
he was no dummy.  She would have to come much closer to
the truth than she had with the boys.  "Well, I'm not a
farm girl exactly; My father is a grocer."

"A grocer?"  Jack said dubiously.

Rapina sighed.  "Yes, but most of the things there
belonged to reverend Evangeline.  He was a holy priest
and nobleman to most, and a despicable lecher who
preyed on the young women of my town under the guise of
holiness to those who knew his dark side. I've known
about him for years, my Aunt used to sell curses
against him to the women he'd wronged until he had her
executed for it.  Anyhow, Dad caught me with one of my
boyfriends and it was not the first time."

"One of your boyfriends?"

Rapina blushed, "I was quite careful not to get caught,
really. If my father knew how much time I really spent
playing with boys he'd have died from the stresses."

Jack chuckled and caressed Rapina's thigh. The pirate
patted her abdomen. "You're not pregnant."

"Well, my Auntie was an herbalist.  She taught me the
plants that control a woman's menses and fertility and
the healing plants too.  After daddy caught me that
time, mother decided I was beyond their ability to
correct, so they sent me to reverend Evangeline."

The pirate nodded as if considering this new
information.

"Anyways, the reverend kept me locked up under his
temple and tried to convince me that the more he raped
me, the purer I'd become."

The captain laughed, "Now thar's an angle."

"I just wanted to tire him out and escape."

"and?" Red Jack asked.

"Um, well, I guess I overdid it," Rapina said
sheepishly.

The captain raised an eyebrow.

"He must have broken a blood vessel or something."

"He died?" The captain asked.

Rapina nodded.  His family will probably blame me too.

"For bewitching him?"

Rapina nodded.  "That's probably what they will call
it. I wish I knew magic, but they killed Auntie when I
was still a girl.  Maybe I have a natural talent that
way.  I've always enjoyed boys, but It never *killed*
anyone, not before or since."

"Anyway, after the reverend died on me, I took the
things he had in his dungeon and escaped to the river.
The constable almost caught me, but I found a log
floating in the river, freed it and rode it.  The river
kept getting bigger and joining other rivers for about
a week, then I nearly died going over a big water fall.
After That was when the guys found me.  I had passed
out on a log.  They fished me out of the river.  I
didn't realize the boys had my things.  I thought the
river had claimed them.  I had them tied to my garter
straps in pouches.  I guess the guys took them when
they first found me.  They could not stomach a life of
farming. They were on their way to find you when they
found me.  I hope the reverend's family will just
forget me, but I am sure they have probably made me an
outlaw, so I decided to stay with Drake and his friends
and look for you."

"I hope that answers your questions because I can't
even feel my hands anymore."

"Let me see those wraps," Jack said.  He turned Rapina
sideways so he could get a better view of the bonds.
"Gads!  M'boys did a fine job of tying ye up, Yessir!
I'll remove the bonds fer a bit seein' as you've been
so honest with me."

Jack eyed Rapina with a look that said, "Cross me in
ANY way and you'll regret it."  Jack tossed the bonds
to the floor and stood up.  His hot breath washed over
Rapina's back and neck as he did so.

Rapina kept her hands where Jack could see them.
"Don't worry, I've no plans to cross you.  Actually, I
think I'll be a fine crewman, once I learn how.  Um,
there is one problem though," Rapina lowered her voice
to a whisper, "I really can't help fooling around.
Daddy used to beat me when he caught me, but I still
couldn't stop."

Jack arched an eyebrow.  "Can't control yerself ye say?
Hmmmm.  Ye must have been quite the popular lass back
home!  That is reason enough to keep ye around...for a
while.  Don't see too many women like you in our line
of work. Most of the women we see are running around
screaming bloody murder.  "Oh please Mr. Pirate sir.
Please don't rape me.  Oh that would be awful.  I'd
just die." Jack mimicked in a deep woman's voice.  He
paused.  "Funny thing is when we've finally had our way
with them they practically shake our hands! Gads!  Are
pirates the only people on Ilfreann that know how to
please a woman?"

The pirate captain removed a bottle and two glasses
from a chest bolted to the floor.  "It's time ye
received a proper pirate's welcome.  We'll begin with a
toast to the most beautiful woman to ever grace this
ship with her presence. To...eh just what is yer name
lass?"

Rapina looked at the way the captain held his goblet
and did the same.  "My name is Rapina."  She raised her
glass to the captain's.

"To Rapina then" The captain drank.

Rapina drank some of the wine.  "Mmmm, this is good.
Daddy never used to let me drink."

"...It ought to be, the barge it came from was on it's
way to a baron's castle.  I'm a pirate, I'll teach you
plenty 'o bad habits, Red chuckled. Rapina's not yer
real name is it?" Red Jack gave her a piercing look.

"It's something Auntie used to call me in private."
Rapina shrugged.  "She said she dreamed it.  I haven't
gone by my given name since I left my hometown; this
way it's harder for the reverend's family to find me.

Aye, it's a good idea to have a pirate name, like Red
Jack for instance, and Rapina's a good one.  Don't ever
tell a soul yer real name, just try to forget it, and
don't tell the crew anything more than ye've already
told yer boyfriends, understand?

Rapina nodded. "Yes, you're right.  I probably told
them more than I should have.  They don't know the man
I escaped was a reverend or that he died, but they know
I'm likely to be hunted by the gentry.  I probably
shouldn't have even said that, but I was not thinking
straight when they found me."

"Finish yer drink, I'll be back in a minute.  The
captain left and returned a few minutes later.  He
scrutinized the room to see if Rapina had touched
anything, gave her a satisfied look and refilled the
glasses."

"I was tempted to look at your books, but I thought
better of it," Rapina said.

Red Jack chuckled. "Well now, what would ye have done
with a book, can ye read?"

Rapina nodded. "Auntie said that her magic would have
been much stronger if she could have read the secrets
of the ancients in books and scrolls.  She told me I
should try very hard to pick up the skill so I could
help her one day.  They killed her so my reading never
helped her, but I thought I still might learn some
magic somewhere one day.  I picked some knowledge of
letters up from a gentlewoman who helped with the
Sunday school and later from a boyfriend whose father
was teaching him.  I am not the best, but books were
very hard to come by in a grocer's family.  Daddy
taught my brothers about mathematics and coins so they
could help him at the grocery.  I was stuck home with
mom, but I helped them practice and learned what they
knew just the same.  Rapina had another drink of wine."


"Ye sound resourceful, thar's a good quality in any
vocation, includin' piracy.  On any ship, knowin' yer
letters and numbers is important because ye can't read
charts or navigate accurately without 'em, especially
in open water.  If ye can't navigate you'll never be a
captain, pilot or mate, and if ye can't keep accurate
records you'll never be a quartermaster neither.

Rapina nodded.  "Mmmm," she said rubbing her belly.
This wine makes your belly warm."

"That's the whole idea," Jack grinned as his hand
glided up under Rapina's bustier to rub her wine-warmed
belly.

Rapina blushed. Jack's desire was considerable, and she
could feel her body responding to it.

Red Jack grinned as Rapina's nipples dented the fabric
of her bustier.  "What 'ave we 'ere," he said sliding
the straps off her shoulders and pulling the bustier
down to expose her breasts.

"They have a mind of their own," Rapina blushed.

Well then, mayhap they'd like a drink.  The pirate
grinned as he raised his goblet to one of Rapina's
nipples and tipped up the glass.  After her nipple had
been bathed in wine the pirate began kissing it.

Rapina moaned and hugged the captain's head to her
breast.

Red Jack knew how to please a woman.  He had spent
years in the court of the Li'Yeiraun family wooing
every available female he could and even some that were
not available.  He had run into trouble when he had
been caught bedding Henrich Li'Yeiraun's wife Cynid.
He never could resist half-elven women.  He smiled and
thought how Cynid paled in comparison with Rapina. He
kissed her breasts and moved down towards her navel.
Jack traced circles around Rapina's stomach with his
tongue.  He could tell by Rapina's reactions what she
liked and what she didn't. Jack put that knowledge to
good use as he drifted lower...

It was a few hours before Rapina emerged from the
captain's quarters wearing a contented smile.  Along
with the smile, she wore a pair of loose scarlet silk
drawstring pants and a scarlet cape that the captain
had found to complement her bustier and panties.  The
sounds they had heard through the walls of the
captain's quarters left the crew with no doubt that
Rapina had received a proper pirate's welcome. Not to
mention the fact that Red Jack could drive a woman wild
if he had a mind to.

The pirate captain emerged just after Rapina.  He
looked as though he'd had a bracing workout, but the
salty grin he could not seem to wipe off his face told
all.

---
[Rapina]006 Pirates In Training

The same tall muscular man that had escorted the boys
away earlier came up to Jack now.  "There's been no
sign of pursuit and the men seem to be in high
spirits." He said matter-of-factly.

"Good.  Good.  Roger I'd like you to meet Rapina.
She'll be joining our crew. It's been too long since we
had such a pretty face in our midst.  I want you to
teach her how to read the charts and the stars, how to
steer like a pilot and sail like a seaman.  Make sure
the men behave around her.  I'd hate to feed 'em to the
elf when we get back." A vicious smile crept onto his
face.

Roger looked at Rapina evenly.  "Pleased to make your
acquaintance, Rapina. The name's Roger.  I'm the first
mate.  If you'll follow me I'll show you the charts."
He motioned toward the bow of the ship and walked off.
He had a very stoic manner and was polite without being
personable.

"Pleased to meet you too Roger and thank you."  Rapina
followed Roger, noting that he was not a very
enthusiastic sort though at least he did not outwardly
show that he thought Rapina had just slept her way into
navigation training.  Whether his stoic manner hid that
conclusion or not, Rapina suspected that it very easily
could. She decided that, now that she was an outlaw,
she would no longer fake having, "the weak mind of a
woman," so as not to create friction with stupid people
who believed such things.  She would take things in
just as fast as she could.

Rapina had taken little more energy from the captain
than he had naturally given her, but Red Jack had
brought her to her peak so many times Rapina had lost
count.  She had not tried to touch his mind with
suggestions at all during her orgasms. Though some of
her joy had probably leaked by her pleasure-loosened
will and touched him without her direction.  Much of
the energy was currently bouncing around in her head.
To say she felt stimulated was an understatement.  Her
whole body tingled and she could not stop smiling. She
felt so good.  When she arrived where the charts were
kept, Kent was already there as were a few young men
Rapina did not know. Rapina nodded to Kent and Drake
and smiled.

"This is where we keep the current charts, at least
when the weather's fair," Roger said. "Now before you
can be a navigator or understand what's written here,
you've got to know how to read, and you've got to
understand what you're reading.  Those of you who can't
read, you can still be a sailor, but you'll not be a
navigator until you have letters.  That takes too long
to teach, so don't expect me to do it.  Sailing's as
important as rowing, so whether you can read or not, if
you're lean and agile, and have a quick mind you're in
the right place.

I've got a list of terms we commonly use on the ship,
and one day you are going to know all 200 of them or be
lost without them. I'll read them and explain them
once, and then you'll have some time to try to learn
them.  After that I'm going see how many of them each
of you can remember and if you know what they mean.
Meanwhile the rest of you will work on learning your
knots from Sack. Tomorrow, we will go over them again.
One day you'll know them all.  Roger went through a
long list from A to Z and then let the trainees have
some time to study and ask questions.

Rapina threw herself into her work but the best she
could do was to get a long enough look at the list to
read it once, there were so many boys in the way.
After about half an hour Roger called her over to see
what she knew.

Roger led Rapina on a walk around the ship.  "Can you
remember any of the terms off the top of your head?

Rapina nodded and recited the list back to Roger from A
to Z: "Abeam, ahead, amidships...port, port
tack,...wind shadow, windward, wing and wing.  Those
are the ones I remember."

"You forgot three," Roger observed stoically. "Now can
you tell me what they all mean? "

As they walked, Roger asked Rapina the meaning of each
term.  She had a little trouble on one or two, but not
a lot.  Towards the stern of the longship, Rapina
spotted Edgar passed out on the planking next to one of
the rowing benches.  She slowed to step over him and
looked at Roger inquiringly

"Oarmaster Pike, What happened to the boy?"

"'e's a hothead, got disagreeable on me. This time I
gave 'im a warnin' punch. Next time he's goin' on a
date wif Froggy, har-heh-har-har."

Roger nodded and walked on.  "What sort of guy is
Edgar."

"Blood thirsty," Rapina reacted.  "He's not nice.  He
will probably be a problem, but I think he's a natural
born killer."

"Well then, maybe we can find a use for him after all.
Now back to work, what does it mean to jibe?

"That's when you go from one tack to the other when
sailing with the wind coming over the stern."  Roger
pointed out important areas of the ship as they passed
them and kept giving her new words from the list to
define. She kept defining them until at last they
finished the list.

"You got, 198 of them.  Was your father a fisherman?"


"No sir, but Kent and the boys used some of those
words, and Kent and I figured out how to sail the
little boat, though we are no experts.  Most of the
words I learned just now from your list.

Roger nodded, betraying no emotion, as usual.

They arrived back near the ship's bow shortly after
Rapina finished the list.  Roger took the next student
and left Rapina and the other trainees to continue to
learn and practice knots with Sak.

After quite a while, Roger finished with his testing
and addressed the pirate trainees.  "That's all the
word training for now. Most of you now have an idea of
just how much there is to learn. People, at least most
people, don't learn two hundred words in a day. You're
going to have to work hard.  If you thought being a
pirate was going to be easy, you were wrong.

There's a lot of work to be done aboard any ship, and
this one's no exception.  You're going to be given to a
more experienced crewman, and for the rest of the day
you will be getting work done.  Since the work needs to
get done right, we are going to try to match you with a
job you already have some skills at. Once you are good
at that job, we may find you another, or we may leave
you at it.  Raise up your hand if you have any
experience at all in the areas I mention: Astronomy,
blacksmithing or grinding and sharpening, bowyering-
fletching carpentry, cleaning, cleaning fish, cooking,
fishing and net-mending, rowing, rope splicing, sewing,
swimming and diving, signaling, mathematics." Roger
wrote down the skills of each trainee as they raised
their hands.

Rapina raised her hand for cleaning, cleaning fish,
cooking and sewing, none of which she particularly
liked, and also mathematics and swimming.

Drake's hand went up for grinding and sharpening,
carpentry, fishing, rowing, rope-splicing, swimming and
diving.  He did not look too thrilled at his current
situation.  Apparently being a pirate was not as much
fun as he had thought.

Kent looked considerably more content than Drake.  He
eagerly raised his hand for cleaning fish, cooking,
fishing, net-mending, rope-splicing, signaling,
astronomy, and mathematics.

Before Roger assigned each trainee to a crewman he
spoke. "We don't have a lot of room on this ship to
train you right in all of the things I talked about,
but you will be given hands-on training when possible.
You will observe an experienced crewman before you are
allowed to try your hand at it.  The reason is simple;
a pirate's ship is his castle.  If you mistreat it in
any way we'll kill you."  There was no hint of humor on
Roger's face at all. "You've got two choices here.  Be
a pirate or die.  What'll it be?" Apparently everyone
wanted to be a pirate.  A few crewman escorted the
trainees away.  Moments later they were being
instructed in the ways of sailing.

"Rapina, you'll be helping Piggy, the cook, a little
closer to dinner time. Since you can read, you and Kent
will be getting some additional training until then
concerning the charts." Roger stated.

"I've never seen a ship run so efficiently!" Kent
gasped.  Roger just looked at him.  There was something
about his emotionless gaze that unnerved Kent.

"You'd do well to learn by their example, boy.  Jack is
an unforgiving captain.  Do your job well and you will
not have a problem with him...or me. Fail to pull your
weight and we'll dump your carcass overboard." Roger
retorted.  "Now follow me to the captain's quarters and
we'll get to studying the charts."

A voice floated down from up the mast.  "Rocks to port!
Rocks to port!"

Roger walked swiftly to the portside of the ship and
looked out into the water.  Sure enough there was a
clump of rocks ahead and to port.  The ship would hit
the rocks and most likely sink if they didn't turn
quickly. "Hard to Starboard!  Hard to Starboard!" Roger
ordered.  The ship turned smoothly and safely avoided
the rocks.

Roger joined Rapina and Kent and motioned towards the
captain's quarters. "I hope neither of you are afraid
of heights, because if you are too bad. Everyone takes
a turn at lookout, even me." he said.

The three spent the remainder of the afternoon and all
of the early evening studying navigational charts.
They learned the difference between latitude and
longitude and how to use them to plot a course.  They
learned how to read a map key, and how to use a few
navigational tools.

Rapina and Kent listened as the first officer went over
a list of navigational terms. "Steady means maintain
heading and speed. Full ahead means maintain heading
and increase speed to fastest possible. Bear port means
turn left, Hard port means turn as sharply to the left
immediately. The same terms apply to the Starboard of
the ship, which is the right.  Bear starboard and hard
starboard.  Full astern means back up as fast as
possible.  All rest means to stop, and hull strikes
means fire at the enemies hull."

Some of the terms were repeats from the earlier ones
that she had learned with the sailors. Rapina had
little difficulty with any of them.  She found the
charts and information on astronomy interesting.  She
could see that the pirate ship could be a prison in
some ways but she also saw it as an opportunity to
learn things that no on in normal society would ever
teach her.

Evening came and Rapina was ushered off to help Piggy,
the cook, prepare the meal. Piggy was a heavyset
middle-aged balding man with bushy grey eyebrows and a
pinched face.  He didn't say a word to Rapina.
Instead, he pointed or demonstrated what he wanted
done.  Eventually Rapina realized that he had no
tongue. Later she learned Piggy had mouthed off to Jack
once and paid for it.

After dinner many of the men were able to loaf and see
to personal chores in the last few light hours of the
evening, Rapina and Kent were obliged to do the dishes.
Their extra training was coming right out of their
personal time.  The last rays of the sun were
illuminating the horizon when Rapina finally got off
work. Rapina looked around for a crewman who's name she
knew.  Excuse me, oarmaster Pike, How do I take a bath
around here?

Ye either do it in the river in the dark with the men
after we weigh anchor each night, or ye get the wash
tub and do it on deck. I might be able to score ye some
soap, if ye're willing ta let me rub it on ya," Pike
grinned.

Rapina considered a moment.  "If you'll toss keeping
the mongrel hordes back while I bathe into the bargain,
then it's a deal."

"Sure, I can keep 'em back save for the few officers
that out-rank me.  I can't put any guarantees on them,
but I'd be willin' ta keep the rest out o' the way."

"Okay, then it's a deal."  Rapina extended her hand.

Pike grinned and shook Rapina's hand.  "Head fer the
stern.  I'll be with ye in a moment."

Rapina had been given a sea chest under one of the
rowing benches not far from the captain's quarters rear
of the center of the ship.  She fetched the long shirt
she still had from Drake and returned to the stern.
Soon pike came wearing a lusty grin and a wash tub, and
carrying a tea kettle.

"Got ye some hot water and some soap too heh-heh.  I'm
hopin' to earn me a bonus."  Pike winked.  Pike set
down the kettle and lowered the tub into the river to
fill it.

Rapina smirked at Pike's comment.  "First lets do my
hair and clothes."

"Clothes?  That's going ta be extra," Pike winked.

Rapina took off the baggy drawstring pants and then
undid her bustier.

Pike sat down on a rowing bench and handed her the
soap. "Ahh, what a view.  Wish the light was better,"
Pike chuckled.

A small crowd gathered about five feet away from the
proceedings, but three burly oarsman kept anyone from
coming any closer than that. In so doing they were
guaranteed ring-side seats.

Rapina felt like a circus attraction, but she really
needed to clean up. A crewman found a torch, lit it and
gained new popularity as Rapina finished washing her
bustier and pants.

"Hand those here and I'll get them hung out to dry,"
Pike said.

Rapina handed her clothing over.

"Milo, see that those get hung on a line."

About a quarter of the crew gathered near the stern to
watch Rapina bathe and the rest were none too happy
they had been unable to see anything from behind the
first few ranks of men.

With many of the men gathered astern watching oarmaster
Pike bathe Rapina, the area around the captain's
quarters was rather quiet.  Within, Roger reported his
observations about various new recruits to captain Red
Jack.

"Edgar's the runt of the litter.  He hasn't learned to
mind.  He may never, but I hear he's bloodthirsty.  My
recommendation is that we give him a little weapons
training and set him loose on our next raid.  If he
lives through it, then maybe he will be worth something
to us."

"'An if he don't live we'll be rid of 'im.  I like it.
What of the others?"

"Drake's athletic, charismatic and not too stupid,"
Roger said. "He'll make a good sailor, oarsman and
raider.  Tim's lean, he'll be a decent sailor, but I
wouldn't count on him in a raid.  Jake's like Drake
without the charisma.  As for Kent, I can picture him
as a future officer in any navy.  He's intelligent,
interested in sailing and navigation and the best of
the bunch in my opinion, sir."

"What about the girl, Rapina?"

Roger scratched his head.  "She... well sir, she scares
the pants off me."

"Why?" asked Jack.

"You know that thing I do the first day when I give the
trainees 200 nautical terms.  I go over them once, and
then they get a few minutes to look at the list, but
most of them could not read it to save their souls
anyway."

Jack nodded

Roger continued. "Most of them can remember ten or
fifteen terms plus a few of the more common ones. Maybe
they can tell you what 20 or 25 of 'em mean.  If I can
teach them five or ten new ones a day, they are all set
in a month.  Rapina, she got a look at the list maybe
enough to read it, maybe not.  There were plenty of
strong boys who wanted to see the words shouldering in
ahead of her, and asking questions."

"Didn't she do very well?" Jack asked.

"Sir, that whole exercise was to show the trainees how
much there was to learn, but, well sir, she remembered
197 of the words, and recited them to me in order.  And
when given the word to start with, she could define 198
of them.  It was spooky sir, and she doesn't get it. I
told her she missed three and the look on her face was
easy to read.  She was thinking she really should have
paid closer attention."

"There's something not quite human about her, sir.  I
just can't place her.  When I think of Kent, I can
picture him as a ship's officer.  With Rapina, I just
can't picture her.  I tried a whole lot of professions,
and could not place her for the longest time, until..."


"Until What?" Jack asked.

"You know those wizard's, not the fortune tellers in
the gaudy costumes, but _real_ wizards."

"Ya mean the rare ones who can make balls o' fire come
from nowhere and torch a ship in a eye-blink?"

"Yes sir, that's precisely what I mean.  If I met one
of those wizards, Rapina would not be out of place as
the wizard's apprentice.  The uncanny intellect, the
flawless beauty, the taint of magic, everything, it all
fits, sir."


"She told me her Aunt was some sort of witch, I guess
she wasn't liein'."

"Yes sir."

"Do you think she's a danger to my ship?"

"Hard to say, sir.  I don't think she bears us ill
will.  She seems to enjoy learning, but at the rate she
learns, sir, we're all going to run out of things to
teach her in short order."

Under ordinary circumstances, Red Jack dealt swiftly
and ruthlessly with any possible threat to his ship or
his sovereignty over his ship, but the circumstances
were not ordinary.  Jack had already slept with Rapina,
and he had a weakness for beautiful women.  Getting in
trouble for bedding a nobleman's wife was what had made
him an outlaw and a pirate in the first place.  Now
that he had Rapina, he was unwilling to let her go.

"I 'preciate your observations, Roger.  She's a two-
edged sword; she could be real good for us, or real
bad.  Ordinarily I don't like to gamble, but life's a
whole lot 'o nothin' without a little joy, so in her
case, I am going to take my chances.  Keep an eye on
'er.  If she's got magic, maybe we can use it, but if
we're going to use it, we'd better understand it."

Back near the Stern of the ship, Rapina had finished
washing her clothes, and Pike had washed her hair, face
and neck and was working on Rapina's full breasts.  "No
question about it, mates, roundest, fullest, firmest,
pair I've had occasion to play with."

"'zat a bulge in yer pants, I see oarmaster?" Froggy
asked.

Rapina snuck a look.  "Is that why they call you pike?"
Rapina giggled.

"That'd be it."

The crewmen had a good chuckle.

Rapina had never been one to make a spectacle of
herself, but she needed to take a bath sometime, and
the lust being aimed at her was making her tingle
pleasantly.  Her nipples stood out with excitement as
Pike washed her chest.  Rapina grinned, "Pike, I think
they're clean a few times over."

"Heh-heh, just think of it as part 'o my bonus," the
oarmaster winked.  Pike soaped Rapina, back and front,
down to her waist, then poured water over her chest and
back.  "'ave a seat on the end of the bench there and
I'll do yer feet."  Pike washed Rapina's feet, then her
legs.  He spent some extra time caressing her thighs.
"I won't even try to describe it mates, soft as silk
and twice the spice," Pike grinned.  "Okay, stand up
there are we'll get the last bit of ye."

Rapina stood and pike turned her around with his soapy
hands. Pike soaped up Rapina's high, beautifully
rounded rump, then gave it a slap.

"Oooowch, hey that wasn't scrubbing," Rapina squealed.

Pike chuckled, "Quite an ass there, wouldn't ye say,
boys?  Pike soaped Rapina between the legs.  "Now bend
over and I'll rinse ye off.  The oarmaster poured water
over Rapina's bottom, finishing her body and giving the
men quite a bit to look at.  We got us the prettiest
woman on the Augustana river, right here on the crew 'o
Jack's longship, and clean as a whistle," Pike smiled
as he toweled Rapina off.  There ye go, girl.  No sense
you bein' as dirty as a bunch o' 'ol pirates.

"Thank you oarmaster Pike."  Rapina kissed Pike on the
cheek.

"My pleasure," Pike grinned.  "Soap, mates, it's the
best investment a man can make," Pike winked at the
assembled crewmen as Rapina put on the oversized tunic
shirt she had from Drake. "I got ta admit I liked what
ye were wearing before lots better, Rapina, although
this outfit shows off a good bit more leg.  One 'o
these days men, lets get together and pillage our wench
some more o' that lacy lady's finery so she's got more
to parade around in and drive us to distraction," heh-
heh-heh.  I'll bet one o' you sail-sewers could whip
somethin' up for 'er till then, but if ye give it a
try, make sure not to use too much fabric, heh-heh-
heh."

That night Captain Red Jack invited Rapina to his cabin
and she got to read one of his books while he was
finishing up his day's records.  Later he made love to
her and afterwards Rapina slept contentedly by his
side.

The next day went by rapidly.  Rapina spent most of the
time in training or working for Piggy, the cook.  She
got to climb the rigging, tug on lines and tie knots.
One thing she realized, she was more flexible and as
dexterous as any of the boys, but pretty much every one
of them was stronger than she was.

Life as a pirate hadn't been living up to Edgar's
expectations. He had been knocked unconscious the day
before for mouthing off. He glared at everything that
moved as he scrubbed the deck.  He would make them pay
for the humiliation he suffered at their hands. The
same pirate that had knocked him out the day before
walked by and spat on the deck in front of Edgar.  "Ya
missed a spot lad!  Ha!" he guffawed. Edgar fought the
urge to pound his face in.  He had no desire to repeat
the events of the day before. A voice reached his ears.
He looked up and saw Kent conversing with the first
mate.  "Figures," he thought "Kent becomes Red Jack's
lackey-boy and that bitch gets free run of the ship
because she has great tits and a firm ass.  Life just
isn't fair!" Edgar scanned the deck to see what Drake
was doing.  He saw him hoisting the main sail.

The wind was picking up.  Drake would not even have
noticed the subtle changes in the air before, but now
that he knew what to look for there was no mistaking
it.  He had to get the sail up soon or else the wind
would be too strong and he would have to fight to hoist
the sail too much. Drake knew that hoisting sails and
checking rigging was a waste of his talents.  He also
knew that Red Jack had something bigger and better in
mind for him. He had heard him talking to Roger the
night before.  They had mentioned something about him
having potential and the qualities of a leader. Soon
they would be having him learn every aspect of the ship
so that he could better understand how to command it
one day. Drake wondered why they would want to train
him to be a captain. They already had enough people to
run the ship under Jack's command.  Maybe Jack was
getting ready to expand.  Maybe one of the existing
pilots had crossed Jack.  Either way Drake knew that he
had to do his best no matter what the task.  He had no
desire to become shark food.

Pike seemed only too eager to wash Rapina again the
next evening, so she remained quite clean and was
rapidly becoming something of a celebrity aboard the
longship.  On this particular evening, the captain did
not invite Rapina to his quarters so she was obliged to
bed down like any crewman. Rapina had been given a sea
chest and bedroll stored under one of the rowing
benches aft of the main mast.  Rapina bedded down and
slept rather lightly until someone squeezed her foot.
It was oarmaster Pike.  He had whispered in her ear
while soaping her thighs that if the captain did not
call for her, he would wake early for his watch and
would squeeze her foot on the way by if she cared to
dally.  She crept towards the Stern of the ship soon
after the signal.

Pike whispered to her and guided her to a rush mat he
had put down. There he caressed her body much as he had
while washing it, but with even greater heat. He
lingered long moments over the full majesty of her
breasts, kissing them passionately and making her
nipples swell and blush red with arousal.  His lust
made Rapina's senses and her loins tingle with
anticipation and before long she was wet and eager for
him.

She found the object of her desire, freed it and
plunged its throbbing immensity into her hungry warmth.
At first, the shear size of him scared her even as it
aroused her, but there were only a few moments of pain
and trepidation as he thrust in his entirety to stretch
her to her limits.  Then Rapina's body seemed to warm
to its task, gradually she made the accommodation,
transforming pain to pleasure and trepidation to lust.
After a time, she wetly thrust her hips in answer to
the pikeman's charge. Many exquisite moments of ecstasy
passed, then Rapina's mind blazed with pleasure.
Before the wave of bliss had fully passed from her
mind, her body supped at the delicious fountaining
flood of the oarmaster's energy.

Rapina slept deeply that night, the modest portion of
oarmaster's energy she had drawn more than made up for
the time her tryst with him had taken away from her
night's rest.

The next day Captain Red Jack guided his ship briskly
down the river until lunchtime, then he dallied,
letting the men teach more sailing technique to the new
recruits in the widened area of the river they had
reached.

In the late afternoon, the captain again sent the ship
briskly down the river, and as the late afternoon
shadows lengthened, the longship quietly sailed into a
marsh teaming with cypress trees. The captain himself
guided the ship through the marsh where one slip could
have grounded the vessel.  Within the marsh, the
channel deepened and the ship sailed into a hidden lake
fed by many channels.  That evening Rapina and the
other new recruits stepped onto Red Jack's isle, and
had their first taste of life at a pirate camp.  Rumor
had it that it was here that Red Jack's recruits would
train to fight like true pirates.
---

[Rapina]007 Red Jack's Isle

Red Jack felt the new recruits were doing well.  Most
of them were, anyway. One tried to make a break for it
as soon as the ships were unloaded, but he did not get
very far.  A few of the pirates had chased him down and
surrounded him.  To his credit the would-be escapee had
lasted through twenty-five minutes of constant
pummeling. He would have made a great pirate had he the
stomach for it. Jack shrugged and surveyed his base
camp.  Logan appeared from inside one of the many tents
and shacks the camp was composed of.  Jack was pleased
to hear that everything went smoothly during his
absence.  He knew that Logan was a trustworthy and
capable man. Jack dismissed him and took a walk through
the camp.

"Why do pirates have to plunder such heavy things?"
Drake mumbled to himself as he hefted a large chest out
of the rowboat.  He had never really stopped to
consider how much actual work was involved with being a
pirate.  He almost wished he had stayed a farmer.  No.
A farmer's life was not what he wanted. He wanted to
lead men into glorious battle.

"I guess I could have always joined the King's army,"
he mused.  That thought came a little late.  It was
beginning to look increasingly like he was going to be
a pirate for the rest of his life. He wondered when he
was going to learn all the important stuff about being
a pirate captain.  He had heard Roger and Red Jack
discussing it a few nights ago.  At least he thought
they were talking about him. Drake decided that he
would do his best to prove how capable he was.  They
would not be able to overlook the great feats he would
accomplish.

Kent had just finished stowing the oars and checking
the rigging. Only a few more checks to go before he
would row to the island with the remaining crew. Roger
was directing the few men who were left on the ship.
The first mate walked up to Kent looked him straight in
the eye and set about checking Kent's work. He turned
to face the young man and said, "Not bad...for a land-
lubber that is.  We'll make a sailor out of you yet.
Yes. That's right.  I said sailor. You can be a pirate
after you learn to sail.  Think of it as a sort of
graduation.  Until then keep working hard."  Roger
turned and walked away without any hint of emotion
playing on his face. Kent pondered his words for a
moment.  He had never heard it put that way before, but
he had to admit that it made sense.  What was a pirate,
but a ruthless and cunning sailor?  He picked up his
things and went back to work.

After finishing his duties, Edgar sat heavily on the
ground. Could they give him duties that were any more
boring and humiliating?  He was itching for a fight but
he realized that he would most likely get the stuffing
beat out of him again if he tried something. Edgar
decided to explore the camp instead.  He noticed that
the pirates kept a very close eye on his every
movement, but that was to be expected.  "I'm dangerous
and they know it!" he muttered to himself.  A chill ran
down his spine and he stopped abruptly. Looking around
Edgar could not find who it was, but he knew that
someone was watching him intensely.  He turned and
almost jumped back ten feet when he saw the eyes
staring at him.  They were an emerald green and
possessed an intense savagery.  He inadvertently took a
step backwards. The eyes were peering at him through
the bars of a metal cage.  It looked like an oversized
birdcage hanging from a large tree.

Edgar squinted as he tried to get a better look at the
inhabitant of the cage. He dared not get too close, but
from what he could see, it looked like some island
savage.  The savage had coppery-red hair, bronze skin
with blotches all over it, and deep penetrating green
eyes. Edgar was startled when Froggy came up behind him
and slapped him on the back.  "I see ye've met our pet
elf, boy!  Come say hi.  He won't bite.  Oh. Wait.  Yes
he will bite."

Froggy laughed and then stepped up to the cage and
shined his lantern into it. Edgar saw that the savage
was indeed an elf.  He also saw that what he had
mistaken for blotches on the savage's skin were
actually a series of tattoos. They were the most
intricate tattoos he had ever seen.  They seemed to
twist all over the elf's body in a colorful struggle
for dominance. Some of the tattoos seemed graceful and
elegant and others seemed harsh and sinister. Talk
about contrast!

A sound that could only have been described as feral
startled Edgar from his reverie.  The cage swayed as
the elf tried to grab at Froggy who was hitting the
bars of the cage with a stick.  For a moment, Edgar
thought the elf would surely escape as his muscles
bulged and the bars whined in protest.  The bars held
and he leaned back with a growl.

"Aye.  Ye'd do well to calm yerself elf!  Either ya
gets a better attitude or ya gets dead." Froggy laughed
as he walked away. "C'mere kid!  Time to fix up some
grub."  He grabbed Edgar roughly by the shirt and
pulled him along.

Jack could not help but smile to himself as he watched
the scene with the elf, Froggy, and Edgar unfold.
Although the elf was too dangerous to let out of the
cage, he was useful in another way. Everyone was afraid
of him, including Jack although he never would admit
it.  The threat of rooming with the elf was enough to
keep every man in the camp in line.  He would keep the
elf as long as this was the case. Jack was hungry and
the smell of cooking food reached his nostrils.  He
smacked his lips and headed off in search of its
source.
---

Rapina was sent to Red Jack's Isle with Piggy not long
after the longship weighed anchor in the hidden lake.
The first thing Rapina noticed about the marsh was the
great number of biting insects that called it home.
Rapina swatted her shapely calf. Of course it didn't
help that she was wearing only a very short sail-cloth
skirt that Milo had made for her, and a small rough
silk tunic with a v-neck that oar master Pike had won
for her by beating one of the smaller sailors at
knuckle bones.

After the ship's boat that carried them to shore
landed, Piggy led her up a trail through the encampment
to the central fires where they met the camp cook.

"Oi, what 'av we 'ere, a prisoner?" the cook said,
rubbing his hands together.

Rapina thrust her chest forward and cocked her head.
"I'm a crewman, not a prisoner."

"Crewman, prisoner, it's six 'o one half a dozen o' the
other for a green recruit it is," Fishy chuckled.  "Me
name be Fishy, once I war a stout pirate, but ill luck
struck me down.  'Least that's what I call 'im, I ne'r
got 'is name.  A woodcutter 'e war, swung an 8 foot
length 'o log and shattered both o' me knees.  Hurt
like the devil, but I were movin' fast enough that I
fell forward and gutted 'im with me sword.  Leach
Kennon, fashioned me legs o' cypress wood, but I canna'
run no more."

Rapina swatted a fat mosquito on her thigh. "These bugs
are horrible!"

Heh, heh, heh, you got a lot o' fetchin' skin showin'
thar, you'll be wantin' some o' Leech Kennon's bug
ointment.  I gots me a bottle, but I had ta pay for it.
I'd consider lettin' a bit o' ointment go fer free long
as I were controlin' that amount by puttin' it on ye
meself.

Rapina looked at the stout cook.  "You and oar master
Pike must think alike."

"We do?  Na what would a man o' my short stature have
in common with that muscle-bound North man?"

"He suggested the same arrangement as you did, only
with regard to soap."

"'Ee did?  Why 'ee stole me idea then, the rapscallion.
Did ye take 'im up on it?"

Rapina nodded, "He washes me each evening."

Lucky devil.  Glad ye told me though, Ifn' I were ta
pinch ye too hard, Pike 'd likely crack me jaw for me
trouble.  'Might be worth it, but I be needin' me jaw
for tastin' the food.  If I can't taste it an' I make
it bad, Red Jack'd have me roomin' with th' wild elf in
yonder cage.

Rapina turned and looked across the central clearing.
There were a few rough buildings to the right and to
the left was a cage hanging from a tree.  Inside she
could make out a humanoid shape, but the shadows of
evening were too long for her to make out more than
that.  Rapina turned towards Fishy, behind him she
could see another building, a house of sorts, built
with greater care than any of the other buildings in
the compound.  She guessed the little house must belong
to Red Jack himself. Just then, another bug bit her on
the neck.  Rapina swatted it.  Ouch!

Fishy grinned.

"Oh, all right put it on me."

"heh heh heh, th' pleasure be all mine."

Fishy produced a bottle and rubbed ointment from it on
Rapina's feet, and up her legs.  He lingered as he went
up her thighs. Rapina looked down at him, "hey."

"Well, we wouldna want ye'er precious gettin' bit up
would we," Fishy chuckled and moved on.

Two weeks ago, Rapina would never have dreamed of
letting a stout, scarred and muscular raider lustfully
rub ointment under her skirts, but for better or worse,
things, and Rapina herself had changed considerably.
The drooling, grabby men were much more appealing if
one's senses were attuned to lust.  Rapina drifted into
thought.  Surrounded by pirates, Rapina's senses
tingled most of the time, and her own lust had been
kindled to such a degree that waiting for night when
she might have a man seemed like a longer eternity
every day.  "Perhaps if I could contrive to have more
than one man each night," Rapina mused. "Maybe that
would make the day seem less long." Rapina snapped out
of her reverie as she realized that Fishy had his hands
down her shirt and had been anointing the fullness of
her breasts for far too long.  Rapina glared at the
pirate.

Fishy chuckled and moved on, finishing his job on the
captivating young woman.

"Thar now, thar be cookin' ta do, and now that th' bugs
won't be eatin' ya, ye can help Piggy 'an me cook the
eatin' fer the men.

After the cooking was done, Rapina weathered the swats
and pinches from the men as she helped serve the food.
She really didn't mind the coarse attention she got
from the pirates, save the ones that pinched too hard.
She was sure she would have been greatly annoyed if not
terrified had things been different, but the mens' lust
lubricated her senses, and somehow all the coarse
attention she got just made her that much hungrier for
a lover. When the captain emerged from his house and
sat at a table not far from the central fires, The
cooks sent Rapina with his tray of food.

"Here you are Captain Red Jack, sir," Rapina said,
maintaining a certain mannerly formality in front of
the men.

"Thank ye wench," Red Jack grinned as he patted
Rapina's rump.

Rapina's chest flushed, and her errant nipples swelled
at Jack's touch, denting the raw silk tunic she wore.

"Now thar's a wench!"  Jack chuckled.

Rapina noticed that Jack's pirate-like mannerisms were
much thicker when he was with the men.  In private, he
seemed more cultured and educated.  Either way,
Rapina's body was schooled to the fact that he was as
fine lover as she had been with when he wanted to be.
She had great difficulty not responding to his touch.

"Make no mistake, mates, this pretty wench, crewman
Rapina, be captured booty belongin' ta me, just like me
ships.  I've nothin' against ye enjoyin' 'er bein' 'ere
and I'm enjoyin' this sail skirt Milo made for 'er as
much as the rest o' ye," the captain said making Rapina
squirm as he reached under the short skirt and fondled
her. "But ye best treat 'er well.  Ye wreck me wench,
and ruin me fun, ye'll suffer the same as if ye wrecked
me ship.  An' if ye damage 'er w' yer gloms 'er tryin
to force yer salty spar on 'er, ye'll be roomin' with
the elf."  Jack pointed at the cage hanging at the edge
of the central clearing wherein the men sat. Jack's
grin gleamed above the central fire as he saw some of
the men swallow in fear.

After the captain's speech, there seemed to be a
consensus among the men that a pat was safer than a
pinch. Rapina was much happier with the new
arrangement.

After the meal was served, Fishy put together a gruel
jumble of what was left into the large leaf of a swamp
plant set in a wooden bowl with a long handle on it.
This'n be fer the caged elf.  Offer it up to 'im, but
don't ye get too close, and don' let 'im grab the bowl
from ye.  If he tries it, yank it away an' 'e don' get
no dinner if 'e grabs the bowl, understand? 'Ee grabs
the leaf out o' the bowl or 'e gets nothin'.  'E's a
wily an, a dangerous sa watch ye're self. Fishy handed
Rapina a torch on a long spear handle.  Plant this'n in
th' ground well away, so ye have light an both hands
free for manin' the feed bowl pole.

Rapina nodded. After taking the feeding instrument and
torch across the clearing Rapina planted the torch a
dozen feet from the cage and took up the pole-handled
bowl.  The elf was quite a sight; his body was a
tapestry of tattoos that seemed almost alive in the
flickering torchlight.  Rapina stood well back from the
cage and stretched out the bowl, hoping the elf would
take the leaf, but steeling her grip in case he tried
to take the bowl instead.

The elf stared at Rapina for a long time.  His emerald
eyes seemed to be able to see right into her soul. His
gaze never wavered the whole time their eyes met.
Despite the savagery he had exhibited earlier the elf's
eyes possessed a strong sense of lucidity. The cage
swayed gently as he leaned forward.  A heavily muscled
arm reached through the bars and towards the bowl.  A
macabre mix of tattoos danced their way up and down and
around his arm.  Delicate vines wrapping around his arm
were being eaten and hacked away at by demonic
creatures.  A beautiful full moon on his shoulder was
marred by a tortured face within its diameter.
Graceful steeds galloping across his forearm were being
chased by foul creatures, and a falcon in flight on the
back of his hand was flying through a sky of dripping
blood.  These were the first of the elf's tattoos to
come close enough to Rapina for examination.

As his hand neared her, the tattoos seemed to flare up
with an unearthly light. A muffled sound escaped the
elf's lips as he withdrew his hand and sat back in the
cage. He had not grabbed the leaf or the bowl.  He was
just sitting there looking at Rapina with his head
cocked to one side.  His eyes narrowed and a moment
later he spoke.  The words were unintelligible, but
were harsh on the ears.  They almost hurt.  It was like
listening to someone describe the most horrible thing
that could ever happen to a person.

"I can't understand what you are saying, or what
happened to you, but it sounded terrible and sad. I am
sorry; you must have been through a lot.  Aren't elves
supposed to live a long time and be more civilized than
humans?"

Doanthalas waited for a moment and then leaned forward
in the cage once again. The elf reached out and deftly
removed the leaf from the bowl.  The cage swayed
slightly as he sat back.  Before he started eating he
looked Rapina straight in the eyes and said,"Théau
luneah."  This time his voice sounded soothing and
gentle.  He sat back and started eating his food
quickly.

Rapina watched the elf eat.  He was about the right
height for an elf, she supposed, but he was certainly
more powerfully built than she had heard of elves
being, and his movements were much more savage.  Rapina
smiled as she felt the elf's lust dance through her
sensitive nose.  Certainly, he was a man, and he had
revealed a hint of something not at all savage just now
that left her confused.  Rapina imagined how it might
be to make love with him -so much rippling muscle
covered in magical tattoos.  Her errant nipples
responded instantly, denting the fabric of her tunic so
rapidly that it made her blush.  She bid the elf
goodbye and decided she would have to ask an elf what
"Théau luneah," meant if she ever ran into one who
spoke common.

After the dishes, oarmaster Pike appeared and he and
Fishy contrived to give Rapina a bath.  She was just
getting dressed when word came that the captain wanted
to see her.

Captain Red Jack's house was small, but well built.
There was a guard posted outside the door who let
Rapina in and motioned towards the door on the left.
Inside was the captain's parlor. It was not very big,
but it was surprisingly luxurious.  Tapestries bedecked
the walls and bee's wax candles lit the room.  Inside
sitting on a comfortable chair, was a man Rapina had
never seen. Jack himself sat on a couch.

"'ave a seat thar Rapina," Captain Red Jack said. "This
here is Leech Kennon, 'e's our camp doctor.  Ye'll be
off kitchen duty now, Kennon will be usin' ye in the
afternoon after ye do combat practice w' the recruits.
Right now I want ye to see if ye and Kennon can fix ye
up with those same herbs ye told me about that keep ye
from conceivin'. A pirate camp's no place for
children."

Rapina named the herbs she used, but Kennon was only
familiar with the one that brought back a woman's
menses when she feared she might already be pregnant.
The herb Rapina had used on a daily basis was unknown
to him.

"Sorry Captain, I'm a Leech not a midwife.  I'll be
taking the girl to hunt and pick herbs to be dried for
poultices for the men's wounds, maybe she can locate
the plant she needs.  If she can, then we can set up a
supply for her."

"That'll have to be the plan then, Kennon.  See that ye
locate the plant soon and put up a supply."

"Yes sir," Kennon said.

"Rapina, yer ta report to Leech Kennon's hut straight
away after arms practice tomorrow, understand?"

"Yes sir," Rapina replied.

"That'll be all then, Leech Kennon, dismissed." Red
Jack nodded towards the door.

"Aye sir."  The healer got up, and let himself out.

Rapina relaxed a bit as the captain put his arms around
her.

"There now, I've some ship's logs to finish up, would
you like to do some reading before bed time?"

"Yes, I'd like that," Rapina said, barely disguising
the enthusiasm in her voice.  Of all the people she'd
known, perhaps only the late reverend Evangeline owned
more books than Captain Red Jack, but the Reverend's
books were mostly religious texts. Aboard the longship
the captain had nautical books, and one book had
maritime stories.

"Well then, I guess ye'll be wanting to see me library.
The captain took Rapina's hand and led her out the back
door of the parlor and up a tight spiral staircase.
Soon he opened a door to a room with a table, shelves
and a great many volumes.  A great oak desk stood
against one wall.  The captain lit the room's candles,
hung Rapina's mage light from the chandelier in the
center of the room and settled in at the desk.  "There
we are, find ye'rself a book and do some reading if ye
like.

\Rapina\

"Thank you Captain.  I had no idea there were so many
books not about religion." Rapina was nearly
overwhelmed.  The captain had maybe thirty volumes
aboard his ship but here were hundreds, enough that she
was unsure whether the reverend had more than the
captain did.  She did not know where to start.

The captain chuckled.  "Ye'll find better caches in the
houses of most noblemen, but I've gleaned many a volume
headed for a nobleman's library by raiding ships and
towns over the years."

"It's a wonderful collection," Rapina smiled as she
looked at books.  Rapina looked at one book; it was all
maps.  She put it back, she wanted to read words, not
look at pictures.  The next book left her mouth wide
open.

"What's a matter, did ye find a dirty joke in there?"
The captain laughed heartily.

"This book, it's all words."

"That'd be a dictionary.  It's a reference book, all
the words are in alphabetical order.  If ye get stuck
on a word in another book, ye can look it up in there
and see what it means."

"Can't I read this one?  I had no idea there were so
many words."

The captain grinned.  "Sure ye can read it if ye like,
but I'll caution ye not ta try out the words on me men.
They'll think yer speakin' code or talkin' down to
'em."

\Rapina\

"Okay," Rapina said softly, her mind already fascinated
by the number of words she had never seen before.  At
first, the wordbook was frustrating.  Many of the
definitions contained words that Rapina did not
understand.  When she looked up those words, sometimes
their definitions had other words that were also new to
her. Nevertheless she found the book as fascinating as
it was puzzling, and spent the entire evening reading
about words starting with the letter "A." By the end of
the evening, she was understanding most of the
definitions much better, and did not have to look up so
many words beginning with letters other than "A," just
to figure out what the "A" words meant.

The captain chuckled every time he looked up from his
logbooks at the enthralled expression on Rapina's
beautiful face.  Had anyone asked him the name of the
most fascinating book in his collection, he would have
rated the dictionary right near the last just before
the few holy books he owned.

The next morning the captain rose early.  He rummaged
around in a sea chest and came up with a narrow swatch
of cloth.

\Captain Red Jack\

"You're going to combat training this morning.  Here,
take this and bind yer breasts tight ta yer chest.
Ye'll be running a lot today, and yer a big girl, I
wouldn't want to see yer pretty tits loose their shape
on my account."
---

\Arms master Hock\

Hock looked the men over and raised an eyebrow when his
eyes lit on Rapina. "Why the captain even bothered
sending a wench to him, he would never know.  The
sooner she washed out, the better.  Let her spend her
time on her back, cooking and washing dishes, not
wasting his time," Hock thought.

"So, ye all want to be pirates eh?" Hock asked gruffly.

"Yes sir"

"What did ye say? I couldn't hear yer pansy voices."

"YES SIR!!"

"That's better.  Now, The thing that separates a pirate
from a common sailor is steel.  The arms master held up
a cutlass.  This is the traditional weapon o' sea
pirates, the cutlass.  It's relatively heavy, and it's
made o' cheap steel, but it hacks pretty good if ye
know how to use it.  Bein' as how we are inland, we
also run up against plenty 'o village guards wielding'
short swords.  They're a little lighter and made o' the
same cheap steel. They don't hack as well, but they
have a better stabbing point."

"Now I know what ye're thinkin'. You don't see these
weapons on the veterans here about.  The preference is
for Viking swords, axes, long swords, broad swords and
the like, but we don't issue those kind of blades to
recruits.  They aren't as common, there's more steel in
'em, and it's harder to make one that's serviceable.
If ye want a good sword once ye're out o' basic
training, then ye'll have to pillage it or save yer
loot and buy one from someone who's got a spare.  Here
we're going to whip ye into shape and teach ye the
basics 'o sword and shield.  Fletcher Arzael will teach
ye a bit o' archery."

"First thing we're gonna do is run ye 'round Red Jack's
Isle ta see how tough ye are.  Then we'll separate ye
into groups.  Yer going to see some walls and obstacles
set up.  They're not there for ye to run around,
they're there for ye to climb or jump over,
understand?"

"Yes sir!" the recruits hollered.

"I don't cater ta wimps here, an' this trainin' is
orientated ta survival o' the fittest.  When ye get
back here, ye're going ta form a line.  If ye get back
first, ye'll be first in line.  Me an' Froggy an' Buck
are goin' ta help each of ye select a weapon. We have a
motley assortment here; some weapons are lots better
than others are. If ye get back first, ye get yer pick;
if ye get back last, ye get yer pick of the few trashy
items that're left, understand?  Stay ta the course,
it's clearly marked.  I got men watchin'. If ye take a
short cut, I got somethin' for ye.  Hock patted a whip
at his side.  Okay now, get lined up here behind this
length o' rope, and when I blow me horn, head between
them two barked trees over there and foller the course.


"The horn sounded and Rapina ran with the boys.  She
was so glad Pike had found her a pair of men's sandals
that fit her.  She ran as fast as she could, but soon
realized that most of the boys were passing her.  She
out-paced only a few of the smallest sailors, and one
with a bad leg.  The first obstacle she jumped without
difficulty, but the second required climbing.  Thanks
to the river trip, her arms were stronger than they had
ever been before, but she was still no match for most
of the other recruits.  Her long legs and good
coordination carried her through jumps, over logs and
low fences, but climbing walls and embankments slowed
her down.

By the middle of the course, Rapina was exhausted and
all but a few of the boys had run by her.  Her breath
came rasping from her throat.  As she ran, she flashed
back; she was running down the river in calf-deep
water.  She could hear Constable Rasper and his dog
Blitz crashing through the brush in the distance behind
her. She remembered bits of the river trip and the
power, the Reverend's power, the life force that had
sustained her through her escape.

Rapina smiled.  Drake, Kent, Edward, Pike and Red Jack
had all contributed small bits to her current store of
power.  It had been a while since she had done it, but
she now drew on that power. As she ran, her aching
muscles eased, her rasping throat knitted, her stride
lengthened and she overtook a few of the boys who had
passed her earlier.  The climbing still slowed her, but
her arms did not feel the horrible fatigue they had
been feeling.

Rapina began to pass exhausted recruits, one after
another, until there were more behind her than there
were ahead of her by the time she broke out of the
forest.  There she gritted her teeth and with a final
burst of speed, she ran through the clearing. She
passed two more recruits before getting in line.  Ahead
of her, she could See Drake, Jake, and many of the more
athletic recruits she did not know.  Surprisingly, she
saw Edgar only a few recruits behind Drake.  He had not
seemed as athletic as Drake, perhaps what he lacked in
physique, he made up for in will power.  Either that or
he had gotten away with a short cut.

After the boys ahead of her had selected blades, Froggy
took Rapina out to look at what was left.

"Fer a wench, you'll want a short sword.  There's less
strength, more dexterity and cunning involved with the
short sword.  Froggy pointed out three blades. "Those
are the best ones left, but take what you want."

Rapina tried each of the three.  One had some fairly
fancy workmanship on the hilt and she was tempted to
take that one.  After trying all three, she decided on
the second one; it too had some hilt workmanship,
though not as flashy, and it seemed a little lighter
and easier to swing.

"Good choice.  That one came from a village garrison
sergeant; it's not a bad blade, better steel than the
others.  Now take a shield, ya might as well have this
one, it belonged to the same man.  Froggy grinned and
handed a shield to Rapina. "It's a scutum."

The shield was rather large, but Rapina trusted the man
whose sword she now possessed knew more about what went
with a short sword than she did. Next Hock sent Rapina
across the field to Fletcher Arzael.  He was lean, wiry
and not as tall as Rapina. His features were fine and
the tops of his ears nearly came to points.  He was
dressed in forest brown with green accents, and he wore
a long thin blade of a type unfamiliar to Rapina. From
the shape of his ears she decided one of his parents or
grand parents must have been an elf.  He grinned at
Rapina as she approached.  It was a welcome change from
arms master Hock's scowl.

"Hello sir," Rapina said.

"Hello," Arzael nodded to the first female recruit he
had seen in quite some time, and without a doubt the
most beautiful.  Her raven hair and emerald eyes
enhanced her pretty face, the curves of her body were
more magnificent than any he had laid eyes on, and he
was older than he looked.
"How strong are ye lass? Pull my arms apart like so.
Use all your strength."

Rapina tried to pull Arzael's arms apart, but he was
deceptively strong.  "Strength isn't my best feature,"
Rapina sighed.

"In Archery a good eye and a dexterous hand are of as
much importance as strength.  You've done all right for
yourself in running the course.  Many of the stronger
boys have been here already, but they've taken up the
stronger bows.  You'll need a lighter bow, and they've
hardly been touched.  This one here is the best of the
bunch.  It'll be a bit stiff for you, but if you can
bend it, it'll treat you well.

Rapina smiled.  The bow was long and not easy to bend,
but she could do it.  She was tempted to take a lighter
or shorter bow, but the evident quality of the bow, and
the fletcher's charming manner convinced her to do as
he said.  "It will take some growing into, but it has a
good feel to it.  I'll take good care of it."

Arzael beamed with approval at Rapina's promised care,
as if the bows he gave the recruits were living things,
entrusted with some ill ease to careless youths.

After the new recruits had weapons, they were
instructed in their care, then the recruits were taught
some basic moves with their weapons. After their first
training with weapons, the recruits were sent to lunch
with instructions to stow their weapons in their sea
chests and their bows on the pegs in their barracks.
From then on, they were told to bring their weapons
only after lunch, for the morning exercises would be
conducted with practice swords made of wood on practice
dummies filled with straw.

This first day things were reversed and the real
weapons were to remain stowed until tomorrow after
lunch.  Rapina found her sea chest in the barracks
where the rest of the recruits were assigned to sleep.
Rapina wondered how often she would really be sleeping
here. She hoped it would not be often.  Red Jack had so
many interesting books, Rapina would have preferred to
do nothing but read.

The remaining two or three hours of practice was filled
with grueling exercises and knocking into dummies with
shields. Rapina did not hit hard enough, and received a
tongue-lashing from the arms master.

At last the arms practice ended and Rapina joined Leach
Kennon at the medical hut.  It was a welcome change
from assisting the cook.  During the remaining daylight
hours, the leech and three pirates, Duke, Rabid, and
Gash delved through the marsh and the surrounding
forest in search of herbs.  Duke was a large,
powerfully built man; both Rabid and Gash were lean and
wiry with long legs.  Rapina suspected they were along
to do more than protect the doctor. Duke and Rabid
stuck to Leach Kennon like glue, and Gash never let
Rapina out of his sight.  Although sometimes one or two
of the pirates would lend a hand, at least one would
always stand on alert watching.

As it turned out, Rapina was unable to find a stand of
the herbs she needed.  At first, Leech Kennon looked as
if he felt their existence was dubious, but by the end
of the day, Rapina had identified enough unrelated
plants that the Leech had a little more confidence in
her ability.  At last they passed an area that was
about right for the plant Rapina was looking for, but
since it was already beginning to get dark, Leach
Kennon said that they would have to continue the search
tomorrow.  The leach had some of the herbs he had been
looking for, and employed Rapina in washing and hanging
them for drying once they had returned to camp.

At last the cooks served dinner and Rapina got off
work.  She did not miss having to do the dishes.  Her
new job was superior to the old one in that respect.
At last she'd have an hour or two when she could sit
around the fires with the men. Then maybe she would
dally with one or two of them in a thicket to renew the
supply of energy she had begun to tap during the
morning arms practice.

At dinner, Rapina talked to Drake who was stationed in
the same ramshackle barracks as she was.

"What did I miss not sleeping at the barracks last
night?" Rapina asked between spoonfuls of fish soup.

Drake gulped down the last of his soup and grimaced.
"What foul swill that was!  Ack!"  He turned to Rapina
with a Roguish grin. "What did you miss at the
barracks?  Well not much.  Only about an hour's worth
of complaining, five fist fights, and a bunch of smelly
snoring pirate 'recruits'.  That's all. Heh!"

He seemed to be in good spirits although he was
obviously tired from the day's work.  Drake had done
well in almost every area of the training.  His
technique was not very refined yet, but he had the
strength, stamina, and will to succeed.  The fact that
he was very likeable did not hurt either.  He had
already made quite a few friends at the camp.  A few of
them were sitting around him as were Kent and Edgar.

Kent was not enduring the physical exertion as well as
Drake and Edgar were.  He had practically come in last
during the obstacle course and had been berated just as
much, if not more, than Rapina during weapons practice.
He had a lot of work to do yet. Although normally quite
talkative, Kent did not say a word. It looked like he
might fall asleep in his soup at any moment.

Edgar shoved Kent who almost fell onto the ground.
"Wake up pretty boy! Isn't time for you to go shine
Roger's ass?  Hmmmm? I hear he's teaching you ALL the
tricks it takes to be a good little pirate boy.  Too
bad your skull will most likely be crushed by one of
these pirate thugs before the end of the week." That
said Edgar shrugged and went back to eating his soup.

After dinner, everyone went about his duties.  Kent
went and studied with Roger, Drake went to work with
Arms master Hock, and Edgar got stuck doing guard duty
with one of the most unfriendly pirates in existence.
He never did tell Edgar his name, but anytime Edgar
started to doze off he was awakened by a big meaty hand
pounding him in the head.

Dinner last evening had been especially late, much as
it often was aboard ship when the captain wanted to
take advantage of all of the daylight hours for
sailing.  This evening it had been a little earlier.
Rapina was due to go back to Leech Kennon's after the
dinner hour, but she had a few minutes left.  She found
Fishy loading up a large leaf with a jumble of the
nights leftovers for the caged elf.  "Can I feed him?"

"Aye, ye can; me wooden legs 'd be glad ta be spared
the walk. Careful though.  Remember ta keep a good grip
on th' handle and not go too close."

Rapina nodded she took the food to the elf. She could
see a few more of his tattoos this evening.  They had
an eerie appearance bathed in the glow of the setting
sun.  The reflections made them seem almost alive, but
without the flicker of the torch to impart as much a
sense of movement, they looked as if they were frozen,
waiting for the darkness to grant them life.

"Hello, sir elf, time to eat," Rapina spoke, planting
her feet carefully and extending the bowl on its pole.

The elf-savage gazed at Rapina with his deep emerald
eyes for a long moment, but did not say a word.  He
seemed calmer when Rapina was about.  He never tried
anything when she walked by, but if any of the pirates
strayed too close to the cage, he would always try to
grab them.  Some were lucky and jumped out of the way
in time.  Others still bore the scars from their run-in
with the elf.  None of them ever got too close to the
cage again.

The cage swayed as the elf-savage reached through the
bars and gently lifted the leaf with his food out of
the bowl and pulled it back into his cage.  His gaze
lingered on Rapina for a moment more before he began
eating. He desired her.  There was no doubt of that.
What man didn't desire Rapina?  The difference was that
the elf-savage did not allow his desire for Rapina to
influence his actions in any way.

Rapina returned the pole-bowl to Fishy.

Thankee darlin'.  Ye be sure ta come by a little later.
Pike an' me be fixin' ta give ye a bath. I heard tell
from a good source the captain be pleased with ye bein'
clean fer 'is pleasure, sa we be more like th' official
bath 'ouse men now.

Rapina smiled, she enjoyed being clean, and having a
tall, burly Norseman like Pike do the cleaning just
made it all the more memorable.  "Okay, I'll come as
soon as Leech Kennon lets me out. See you."

"Aye, lass we'll be seein' ye later."

Leech Kennon spoke to Rpina. "For now, I'll be using
this couple of hours after dinner as a teaching period.
The captain says you can read?"

"Yes sir, though I have some trouble with some of the
words.  I need a dictionary nearby."

"I have a healer's dictionary of sorts, I'll let you
use that.  I have a book on herbs I would like you to
read.  You can start with the first chapter tonight."

Rapina nodded.

Kennon sat Rapina at a desk in his back room, in front
of an array of tallow candles that he lit. "There now,
here's the book, and here's the dictionary.  I'll ask
you some questions at the end to see how much you
understand."

Rapina nodded.  She was already formulating a plan. All
the words educated people knew that she did not were to
found in dictionaries.  They were like whole books of
cheat notes that only wealthy people owned.  Rapina was
determined to read them while she had the chance.  When
Kennon left her, she opened the herb book and got an
idea of how many pages she would have to read.  Then
she pushed hard, forcing herself to read as fast as she
could and keeping a finger earlier in the chapter.

Kennon came in to check her twice, but she heard him
and flipped back to an earlier part of the chapter. In
spite of having to look up a few words, she finished in
just under an hour and began to read the dictionary.
Some of the "A" words were the same as in Captain Red
Jack's dictionary, but some were different. When Kennon
returned to check her, she pretended she was looking up
a word from the chapter. By the time Kennon returned to
quiz her on the chapter, Rapina had read all of the
"A", "B", and "C" words and was in the midst of the "D"
words.  She stopped when she heard Kennon coming and
pretended as if she were just finishing the chapter.
In spite of having read the chapter quickly, Rapina had
no trouble answering the Leech's questions.  When she
was finished, he let her leave for her bath.

Pike and Fishy had put their heads and backs together
and set up Fishy's largest caldron in the middle of the
pantry shack.  It was full of steamy water, and the men
were at least as steamy as the bath water.  Their lust
drove Rapina to distraction.  After using up a portion
of her store of power during the obstacle course,
Rapina was hungry for more.

When Pike began to wash between Rapina's thighs, she
thrust her hips against his hand several times and
sighed.

Pike looked at Fishy.

Fishy looked at Pike - both men grinned, as their hands
flew to loose their pants.

Rapina felt like lust incarnate as first Pike, then
Fishy, then Pike again filled her with his lust and
power.  Rapina was amazed at Pike's stamina, for she
pulled just a bit more energy from the two men than she
had yet taken from pirates.  She was hungry, and knew
she would need what they gave her. Arms master Hock,
though he did not seem like he was picking on her, had
paired her with Beck, a wiry recruit about Rapina's
height who was lean, fast and practically immune to
fatigue.  Though most would have forgotten, Rapina
remembered that the boy had been second in the line
after the obstacle course.

After her bath, Rapina had a little time to talk around
the camp fires with the men before the recruits were
called to return to their barracks.  There they faced
another horror of pirate camp life.

Brackston watched gleefully and chuckled as the
recruits filed into the ramshackle barracks. Next to
him was a large, dirty, yellow dog whose look was as
mean as his master's.  "Dare now, I am Brackston and
dis be me dog Thumper, heh, heh heh.  Standing in da
doorway here is me friend Froggy, and last night we had
de joy to watch yew fight and listen to yew grousin'
and complainin'. Heh, heh, heh.  Now I know who is de
trouble and who is not.  Now I let yew in on de rules
here.  If yew want ta complain, yew complain to me,
hear?  'An I love ta here yer pretty voices, come an'
wine any time yew like, hear? Maybe we can work sumfin
out... Heh, heh, heh."

"Now to de rules.  Ye foller orders snappy like, yew
get here when de recruit horn sounds fer bed, yew get
ta yer practice an' other duties snappy like, yew don'
question de orders of a superior.  Yew do what yew'r
told. Yew go ta sleep when I tell ya, yew get up when I
tell ya. If yew want ta fight somebody, yew come an'
set it up wif me, otherwise yew're in trouble,
understan'? If yew slip up, anytime, anywhere yer
problem is gonna be told ta de Brackston.  Brackston
poked his scared and burly chest with his index finger.
But that's jus' fine, I like boys plenty, like ta deal
with yer problems.  Me an' Froggy, we're good with
problem boys, real good. Heh, heh, heh.  Maybe yew have
a problem yew need help wif.  Yew come to Froggy, or
me, we can work sumfin' out with yew. Heh, heh, heh."

"Now, see dis Connor boy?  Before Connor could react,
Brackston had clamped a black iron collar around
Connor's neck.  Brackston jerked on the chain attached
to it and the young man's head was dragged down near
the foot of Brackston's bed, where the chain passed
through an iron eye set in a buried stone. Brackston's
bed was the only bed that was not a bunk.  It was just
beside the door to the barracks. "I notice two things
about de Connor boy yesterday.  He has a big mouf, full
of complainin' and he has a big ass, just de kind me
and Froggy like de best. Heh, heh, heh. Brackston
locked the chain to another iron eye near the head of
his bed.

Now let us look at Connor's complainin' butt.
Brackston jerked the recruit's pants down.  Not bad
aaye?"  The burly pirate took off his belt and gave
Connor a few lashes until his buttocks were an angry
red.  Then looked at the other recruits.  "I know, some
of yew are thinkin' me father did that, so what, I don'
have no problem wit it.  Now I show yew what de father
did not...

Brackston dropped his drawers revealing a long, wicked
erection. He smeared it with a bit of lard from an
earthenware container sitting by his bed, then cleaned
his hand off between Connor's buttocks.  Before the
poor boy could react, the dirty pirate impaled him.
The boy screamed.  The other recruits stood by
incredulously while Brackston wickedly abused the boy.
When Brackston finished, Froggy laughed heartily and
made Connor scream anew.

When it was over, the bravado had completely drained
from the eyes of the recruits.  "Dere now, yew complain
all yew want, yew be late as much as yew want, de
Brackston is happy when yew are bad. Now Froggy and me
be done, but Connor, he complain so much. Look at his
sorry butt, any yew want to make him scream, I give you
free dis time.  Heh, heh, heh."

The recruits did not say another word.  Most were too
scared even to breathe. One recruit, however, was
sitting there rocking back and forth.  His lips moved
as if he was speaking, but no words came out.  He had
an intense and wild look in his eyes. His name was
Trevor and he was one of the more savage recruits. He
had already beaten a few recruits to within an inch of
their lives during weapons practice.  The sight of him
was intimidating.

But for the ripple of lust from a few of the more
sadistic recruits, Rapina saw nothing but fear and
dread in the eyes of most of the boys.  In spite of the
brutal demonstration, Rapina slept well on the hard
barracks bunk, the glow imparted her by Pike and Fishy
fortified her strength.

[Rapina]008 Training and Battle

The next day was almost identical to the first minus
the race and weapons selection.  More time was devoted
to the physics of sailing and the finer points of
cleaving your enemies' skull in two.

Again Kent struggled through combat training, although
he excelled at the more cerebral activities.  Drake did
well as did Edgar. Towards the end of combat practice,
Arms master Hock called everyone together.

"Well now ye've got tha basics down it be time fer
seeing how well ye fare against a real foe.  Killin'
dummies is easy. Killin' people isn't.  People hit
back.  We'll be usin' wood swords an' shields fer now.
We can't 'ave too many of ye dyin' on yer second day
'ere now can we?"  He snickered and doled out the
weapons.

The recruits paired off and went at it.  For the most
part it was a sorry sight.  Fishy's movements were more
agile and graceful than a lot of the recruits. The
winners of the first round paired off and fought again
while the losers did the same.  This happened a few
more times until only a few recruits were left in the
winners group.

Among the winners were Jake, Edgar, Tim, Drake, and
four other recruits. Hock paired them off.  Jake fought
a recruit named Jonas.  Jonas was strong and dexterous,
but just wasn't fast enough to stop Jakes lightning
fast strikes.  Jonas quickly fell. Tim fought a recruit
named Wilden, Drake fought Ducretes, and Edgar fought a
loud mouth called Jink. Edgar's bout was by far the
most interesting of the four.

Edgar hefted his wooden sword and stepped into the
circle.  He had met Jink the night before and already
he didn't like him. Jink had a big mouth and a bad
attitude.  He had said some nasty things about Edgar,
but a couple pirates had prevented him from pounding on
Jink. "Ready to get your face pounded in Jink?" Edgar
asked as he circled him.

"I'd ask you the same thing, but it looks like somebody
already beat me to it.  By the gods I HOPE your mother
isn't THAT ugly," he retorted.  Jink shrugged, "She's
probably worse.  I don't even want to think about your
father!  Ugh!"

Jink was muscular and agile and had a handsome face.
He leered at Edgar as they circled each other.  He was
going to enjoy beating Edgar down. Edgar's lunge caught
Jink off guard, but he recovered in time to block the
attack and trip Edgar up.

"You'll pay for that!", Edgar hissed as he stood up.
Jink attacked this time and landed a glancing blow on
Edgar's cheek. Jink was tougher than Edgar had
expected, but no matter he would just have to use more
skill and less brute force to defeat him. Well maybe
not MUCH less brute force.

"Well, you coming at me or do I have time for a nap
here?" Jink taunted.  Why wasn't Edgar attacking?  He
just kept circling and watching.  "Enough of this play.
It's time to finish the job!" Jink yelled as he lunged
at Edgar.

His training had paid off!  By watching Jink's stance
and the way he switched his weight, Edgar knew that the
lunge was coming.  He deftly parried Jink's lunge and
smashed an elbow into Jink's face. Jink stumbled back
dazed and bleeding.  He looked at Edgar incredulously.
Edgar just smiled a wicked smile and pressed his
attack.

Jink parried a few of Edgar's blows, but far more of
them found their mark.  Soon it was all Jink could do
to keep his sword in his hand. "You have a big mouth
Jink.  I don't like people with big mouths," Edgar
said.  With a quick strike he knocked Jink's sword from
his hand.  Time seemed to slow as Edgar began a
graceful turn that brought his sword to bear on Jink's
head. A loud crack pierced the air.  Jink's head lolled
to the side in an unnatural way as his body struck the
ground.

The camp seemed silent for a long moment before Hock
spoke, "Now thar's some'un who's been payin' attenshun!
Good work me boy." He motioned to a few of the
recruits.  "Drag Jink's body to Dulgar.  He'll dispose
of it.  Well watchya all starin' at!?!? Get back to yer
trainin'!"

No one paid too much attention as Tim and Drake won
their fights. Everyone was still thinking about the
death of Jink at Edgar's hands.  The reality of a
pirate's life was beginning to settle in on the
recruits.

Rapina had been glad to get some rest while watching
the bouts take place.  Arms master Hock seemed always
to pair her with one of the smaller boys who had the
greatest endurance. Rapina wondered what the arms
master was up to.  She tried to save her limited supply
of magical energy for when she really needed it, but
she knew she was using more than she was replacing, and
that did not sit well with her.  Now that she had a
little time at the end of the day to talk to the
pirates, she hoped maybe she could find one or two more
to help her beat arms master Hock's game.

Seeing Edgar murder the other boy did not sit well with
Rapina.  She was a desperate woman hunted by the
nobility.  Drake and Kent were naive boys who wanted to
escape a life of farming, but Edgar was truly
bloodthirsty.  He _enjoyed_ killing.  Rapina shuddered.
Before long, Edgar would fit right in with the most
murderous of the pirates.

At archery practice Rapina did better and she was
tempted to nibble Fletcher Arzael's nearly pointed ear
when he was close to her helping her with her stance.
Rapina's relationship with the archery trainer was
quite the opposite of her relationship with the arms
master.  Whereas the arms master was cold and acted a
bit like Rapina was a waste of his time, the Fletcher
could not help but give Rapina a little more attention
and much more contact than he gave the other recruits.
Her arrows did not fly as far or go as straight to the
target as the arrows of the boys because they wielded
much heavier bows.  Nevertheless, Rapina was
intelligent enough to calculate her range and arc of
fire to make up for her weaker bow when ranges were not
extreme.  She was already showing that she had what it
took to be a competent archer.

While being tempted to nibble the handsome Fletcher's
ear, Rapina realized that Arzeal must be partly elvish
and whispered, "The wild elf in the cage told me,
"théau luneah," do you know if that means anything?

"Théau luneah you say?  Hmmmmm." Fletcher considered
the words for a few seconds, "I'm not quite sure.  That
savage-elf must speak a different elvish tongue than I
do, but I do have a guess.  Most of the elvish tongues
derived from the same language millennia ago so...théau
sounds like it was derived from théaulai which means
'shining'.  And luneah...now that one's a bit more
difficult.  But if I had to venture a guess I'd have to
say it means 'moon' or 'moonlight'.  So he either said
'shining moon' or 'shining moonlight'.  Now what that
means in elvish isn't the same thing in means in your
'crude' human tongue. Elvish isn't as literal as common
is. We tend to say things in a more...beautiful way."

Noticing that Rapina was getting annoyed that he wasn't
getting to the point he continued, "Basically it means
'thank you'.  You see? It sounds much better in our
language.  Don't you agree?"

The fletcher seemed to be subtly flirting with Rapina
which was quite a change from the rest of the pirates.
Most of them probably didn't even know what subtle
meant, much less how to behave that way.

"Shining moon means thank you?  It is more beautiful,
but I find the connection between moons and gratitude
so abstract it's difficult to grasp. Perhaps Brackston
would see a clearer connection," Rapina smirked.

The next three days went by in a flash.  The boys were
unusually well-behaved after Brackston's horrible
demonstration, but Rapina only saw them on two of the
three nights because Captain Red Jack had her over on
the first and second nights.  Not surprisingly,
Brackston gave Rapina no trouble for being invited to
sleep in the captain's luxurious bed, though he was
quick to tell the boys they were lovely and soft, just
the way he liked boys.  This had the effect of making
them all try to seem extremely tough. Rapina had to
hide a smirk.  The brutal Brackston knew how to handle
boys.

Rapina put the time in the captain's library to good
use. She was currently reading words beginning with "q"
and was still convinced that the dictionary was a way
scholars and noblemen maintained an intellectual
superiority over commoners.  Rapina found Leech
Kennon's books nearly as interesting as Captain Red
Jack's large dictionary.  She was digesting them as
rapidly as she could. Thankfully, Rapina had also been
able to locate the herbs she needed to keep her from
conceiving and was hoping she was not too late.

During the day, arms master Hock continued to beat
Rapina down by assigning her to the indefatigable Beck,
and the nearly equally tireless Emery. Both took turns
sapping her energy faster than she could replace it and
making her dip deep into her limited stores of magical
energy.  By the second day Rapina knew she needed a
plan and needed one fast.

On the third day she had to stifle a smile.  She had to
be subtle and very careful of Hock's roving eyes, but
Rapina began to subtly change her body language.
Mentally she pulled at her opponents' lust all morning
and into the afternoon. They became distracted, prone
to more errors and somewhat easier to deal with, but
they were nearly as tireless as ever and seemed almost
to be purposefully trying to exhaust her. Rapina's plan
had largely failed.  She was scared what might happen
if she did not come up with something better. She had
thought about telling the captain, but she felt it
would be impossible for her to prove that Hock was
really assigning the most tireless boys in her size
range to practice with her.  She didn't want to seem
like she was whining.
---------

Rapina was tired and sitting by the fire talking to the
men at the end of her third day when Beck looked at her
from the other side of the fire.  His lust was
palpable. This was not surprising given what Rapina had
subjected him to during arms practice.  Suddenly an
amorous smile lit Rapina's face.  She stood and walked
around the fire.  On her way past Beck she drew her
thigh across the seated boy's back and gave his lust a
tug.

Rapina wandered to some bushes she'd seen behind the
pantry shanty.  Before long, Beck appeared from the
shadows.  She smiled at him and embraced him.  Already
she could feel his hardness through the fabric of her
short, sail-cloth skirt. In minutes, Rapina had his
pants down and he was taking her beneath the bush. He
did not last long before he filled Rapina with his
energy. Rapina drank him in with the same kind of
enthusiastic gusto he used to tire her with during arms
practice.  Unwittingly she brought him more ecstasy
than he had ever imagined possible.  She had pulled
firmly at his energy, and she had developed much better
control than when she had last fed deeply at the hands
of the despicable reverend Evangeline.

Astonishingly, although his muffled moan of bliss
lasted over a minute, and he collapsed on Rapina for
several minutes thereafter, he recovered his excitement
and began thrusting insistently again. Rapina thought
better of bewitching him when he brought her to a
magnificent orgasm just before pouring himself into her
for the second time.  She drank less deeply of his
essence this second time, but even so, his eyes bulged,
his mouth opened and pleasure overwhelmed him all over
again.  Rapina let him rest on her for several minutes,
then the horn calling the recruits to their barracks
blew and Rapina spent several tense moments shaking the
boy before he came to his senses.  All aglow with
Beck's energy, Rapina slept contentedly while Beck
slept like the dead, his body attempting to recuperate
its considerable losses.
--------

Drake, Kent, and Edgar didn't get to spend too much
time together any more. The pirates kept Kent busy
learning how to navigate while Drake learned how to
clean and care for weapons.  Edgar didn't spend much
time with the other two even when he had the time to
spare.  He was feeling alienated and humiliated by the
menial tasks he was given to perform every day.  When
night fell things changed for Edgar.

He was on watch as he usually was, but instead of the
normal uneventful watch he was used to he instead found
himself confronted with a dilemma.  The pirate he was
assigned to keep watch with had fallen asleep almost as
soon as Edgar had joined him.  The pirate's name was
Kipper and Edgar didn't like him. Kipper had been
abusive to Edgar during their previous watches and
Edgar was none too happy about that.

As Kipper slept Edgar's eyes focused on a point just
over his left shoulder. There he saw a man dressed in a
dark suit sneaking up on their watch post. Edgar knew
that if he waited too long to wake Kipper, the man
would kill him. He waited anyway and woke Kipper just
in time for him to stare down at the sword protruding
through his chest.

Edgar raised the alarm before lunging at the man with
his sword. The man rolled to the side as Kipper's body
slumped to the ground.  Edgar noticed that the man's
sword was still stuck in Kipper's chest.  He smiled as
he pressed his attack on the now unarmed man.

Back in the camp pirates were rushing around grabbing
weapons and torches as they prepared to defend
themselves.  The pirates on the ships raised anchor and
rowed away from shore lest they be boarded with too
small a crew to defend the ships.

Soon pirates were rushing to meet the attack of the men
dressed in black who were emerging from the woods.
Arrows flew back and forth before the first combatants
were close enough for melee. --

Rapina had been awakened by Brackston as were the other
recruits and told to arm for battle.  She boiled out of
the barracks with the rest, but Brackston told her to
report to the pantry with her bow.  Fishy hoisted her
up where she took her place lying on the far side of
the peaked roof shooting arrows at the foes with
various archers, Fletcher Arzeal among them.

"I know you aren't used to killing, Rapina, but if any
of those men get across the clearing, they'll be up
here and cutting you and the rest of us down with
swords before they realize you're a woman," the
Fletcher cautioned. "Don't shoot too close to one of
our men, you're not accurate enough for the risk. Get
the close ones that break through well into the
clearing.  I'll be concentrating on the far ones in the
dim light and the other archers here will be dealing
with the ones they can see at the edge of the clearing.


Arzeal was deadly accurate and had keen night vision.
Hardly an arrow left the Fletcher's bow that didn't
transfix the chest of an enemy.  Fishy, though less
accurate was a good archer who shot a heavy bow. Rapina
was the novice of the group. Her arrows usually missed,
and her rate of fire was about half that of the others.
Sometimes she could not find anyone close enough to
shoot at, but that meant she looked around the clearing
more than the others who were intent on battle did.

Somehow five of the black-clad men had gotten through
the defenses and were coming at the pantry shed from
the opposite side of the clearing as the main enemy
forces.  A few of the five men had torches and pottery
jugs with rags protruding from their narrow necks.
Rapina shot at the lead man and yelped, "behind us."
The arrow fell a little short and stuck smartly into
the man's hip. His leg failed him and he fell forward.
The jug broke to pieces, and when the man's torch hit
the ground, the area in front of him erupted in flames.
A second man lit the rag on his jug and hauled back to
throw but an arrow from Arzael's bow shattered the jug
drenching the man in burning liquid that smelled of
pine resin. Fishy shot a third man in the chest as
Rapina's second arrow transfixed the right shoulder of
a fourth, ruining his throw.

After that, a few pirate recruits led by Hock and
Froggy including, Drake, Kent, Connor and Beck finished
the team of five enemies off.  Beck who was still
wearing a crooked smile, seemed wholly unperturbed by
the battle. His unnatural calm seemed to give him an
edge over the other combatants. While Kent used his
wits and struck primarily at the men who were wounded
by arrows. Beck maneuvered around his opponents and cut
them down while they were paying too much attention to
Hock and Froggy.

Rapina was quite shaky after the incident with the five
men, but the battle did not last much longer.

Men dropped on both sides as the battle ensued.  The
battle itself was short, but it WAS bloody.  A lot of
lives were lost on both sides.  In the end the pirates
won.  They had an intimate familiarity with the
immediate area that the attackers didn't have.  Just
when the attackers seemed to be winning Red Jack would
order his men to alter their attack and would succeed
in pushing the enemy back. After the last attacker was
killed, Red Jack called a group of men to him.

"Listen up ye scurvy dawgs!  Thar could be more of 'em
out thar. Hunt 'em down and bring me any survivors.
Otherwise bring me thar 'eads."  Red Jack turned as
Logan came running up to him from the middle of the
camp.

"Captain!  Sir!" Logan barely managed to say as he came
up to the group breathing heavily.  "The camp's secure,
but...the...the...elf.  He's escaped sir!  He killed
one of the men.  I'm not sure which one..."

"What do you mean you're not sure which one?" the
captain asked.

"It's his face sir...well...there's not much left of
it." He blurted out. "It's like he ripped it of with
his bare hands. I've not seen the like of it before
captain."

The men were quiet as the realization sank in.  The
elf-savage was free.  No one would be getting much
sleep this evening.

When that battle was over, Rapina was assigned to help
Leech Kennon tend to the many wounded pirates. During
that time she found out that the wild elf had escaped.
From what anyone could tell, in the confusion, some
unlucky soul had ventured too close to the elf's cage
and paid with his life. Theories of how the elf had
gotten out of his cage abounded.  Leech Kennon believed
that the elf had ruined the dead man's sword weakening
a couple of the bars of the cage that the elf had then
bent apart.  Somehow, he had squeezed through the
modest aperture thus created and made his escape.

The next evening, Captain Red Jack gave most of the men
time off so he could honor the dead and recognize the
heroes of the battle.

"I've called ye all together tanight ta pay respects ta
are dead and ta recognize the heroes o' last night's
battle.  First let's see ta the dead. Roger, read 'em
off.

"We lost Kipper, Rabid, Ducretes, Tim, Jason, Artie,
Bastar, Hammer, Denton, Badger, Conol and Ren. They
will be missed, Roger intoned in an emotionless voice."


After a moment of silence the captain spoke again, "We
got many wounded as well, Leech Kennon, who's out o'
commission?

The leech read off a list.

Rapina was all too familiar with the list of wounded,
though she had not seen them all.  She'd heard Drake
had been wounded, by some reports badly, Beck, Trevor
and Connor had taken bad gashes but would likely
recover fully. Kent had taken a minor wound and would
be fine after a while, Roger, Piggy, Sak, Logon, Hock,
and Buck had been wounded, and Arzael had been deeply
grazed under the arm by an enemy archer.

"Now let us do honor to our heroes.  O' them fighting
on foot, Brackston teamed with 'is dog Thumper made the
most kills. Give 'im a cheer!"

The pirate men hailed bloody Brackston and his mean
yellow dog.

"Tween screetchin' orders and lookin' out fer the rest
of ye, Logan still managed ta out do ye all save
Brackston in combat. Provin' once again why he commands
Red Jack's Isle. Give 'im a hand."

The men cheered.

"'O the archers, nobody touches the Fletcher.  He was
supportin' the men at battle way 'cross the clearing
from 'im an' as usual 'is kill total is second ta none.
We found a whole quiver o' his signature arrows in
enemy chests and none stuck in our own.  Now I know
archery ain't as dangerous as combat up close and
personal, but it's damned efficient killin'.  Give 'em
a hand. "

The pirates applauded, a few thanking the Fletcher for
picking men off their flanks when they were
outnumbered.

"We got us a good bunch o' recruits.  I'll recognize a
few of 'em here tanight.  Edgar raised th' alarm and
saved all of are butts. Kipper went ta sleep at the
switch and paid for it with a sword through 'is chest.
I know 'im well enough ta know he's a better swordsman
than ta get run through like that when 'e's awake.  It
took a couple a men ta pull the sword out.  Edgar
sounded the alarm, finished the man who killed the
Kipper and made more kills in the battle than any other
recruit save Beck 'an Trevor. Let's give 'im a hand."

The pirates cheered, and many slapped Edgar on the back
in congratulations.  Edgar had suddenly earned himself
a reputation that few recruits could boast.

Beck killed far 'an away more enemies than any other
recruit, 'an he killed as many as some 'o me seasoned
crew. That 'an he was wounded in action, first time.
Give 'im a fine hand!

The men roared their approval, Beck grinned and wore
his wounds proudly.

Trevor did some fair killin' as well, he's got a small
commendation comin'.

The pirates cheered for a short moment.

"An in case ye've been wondering why I keep Rapina
around other than as a fondlin' toy, Jack winked..."

The men laughed.

"...She was up with the archers. She still can't shoot
too good, but she's got a sharp eye an' a quick wit.
The enemy sent a special little team ta take out are
efficient killin' archers. Five men with fire bombs.
Rapina shot the first, spoiled 'is throw an' had the
brains ta tell the other archers what was up behind 'em
while she was loosin' 'er first shaft.  The archers
took out a few more 'afore Hock 'an Froggy arrived with
a band o' recruits and put the' rest down fer good. Ta
her I'll grant a wee little reward.

"Now, those I mentioned 'ave a special reward comin' to
em in keepin' with their deeds. Near as we could tell
these men were little more than pirates theirselves.
They're a band o' mercenary bounty hunters.  The nobles
here about must have taken up a collection, an' we got
a better price on 'are heads than we did a month ago.
Fer booty we got a good selection of arms and armor, an
a bit 'o money.  Lay out the booty there boys."

"A few trusted lieutenants spread out an array of
weapons and armor."

"Now those of ye who 'ave a special reward comin' to
ye, name it, boon or booty.  If it's a boon ye seek and
it is not beyond what ye've earned, then I will grant
it to ye. If it's booty ye be wantin' then choose from
what's here, if it's no greater than yer deeds, then
it's yours."

"Brackston, have at it."

Bloody Brackston glanced at the booty. "Yew know, I've
got me weapons 'an spares. Let's see..." Brackston
scrutinized the better-looking boys who immediately
blanched. Heh, heh, heh.  Boon!

\Captain Red Jack\

What'll it be?

"I'd like permission to add me own hut, er cottage,
onto me end of the recruit barracks."

"Done!"

The men cheered.

"Logon, what'll it be?" the captain asked.

"Booty Sir, gold, silver as much as ye'll part with.
I've been meaning to get some things for my place.

"Heh, I was anticipating that request.  Consider yer
palm greased with what's in the urn on the left."

The men applauded.

"Fletcher Arzael, what would ye be having?"

Arzael whispered something in Red Jack's ear.

The captain whispered something back and then said,
"Done!" and chuckled heartily.

The men laughed with the captain.

The Fletcher smiled.  "I'll be taking the Rapier and
Main gauche."

"Now, ye recruit heroes, ye won't be gettin' out o'
basic so don't even think about askin' for that kind o'
boon, but thar be plenty o' good hardware here, and I'm
offering ye a chance at it. Ye can have a weapon and
maybe armor if any fits ye.  Just remember one thing,
armor on a ship is double edged.  If ye fall off th'
deck in a suit o' chain ye sink like a rock."

"First off, I'd like ta reward Edgar fer soundin' th'
alarm and for his impressive killin'. It's true, 'e
didn't have as many kills as Beck, but 'e had quite a
few an 'e sounded the alarm ta boot, savin' are butts.
Feel free ta consult with th' arms master er' one o'
the men on yer choice if need be.  What'll ya have?"

Edgar had been looking eagerly at the pile of booty on
the ground for some time.  A particularly stylish and
wicked looking sword had caught his eye. "There will be
no need for any consulting Captain," Edgar answered.
"I would like that sword and...a suit of
armor...although I don't know if any will fit..."  He
looked from suit to suit.  There were a few suits of
leather armor, two suits of studded leather, some
padded armor, and a suit of chain mail armor.

"I like yer style, Edgar. Yer not so huge an' burly,
but ye got brains, instincts an' the bloodthirstiness
of a true reaver. Armor that fits yer size could be
hard ta find raidin' towns and such, but I got many a
suit o' leather armor here. If any fit ye, then it be
yours ta go along with the blade."  Red Jack had just
gained a tiny bit of respect for Edgar.  The sword he
had chosen, a bastard sword, was small enough to be
wielded with one hand, but had a handle long enough to
be wielded with two.  It was a very versatile blade and
a smart choice for any warrior. He also noticed that
Edgar had ignored the metal-based armor and
concentrated mainly on the leather and studded leather
armor.  Anything else would be too cumbersome for a
pirate.  He nodded approvingly to Edgar

Next, with the help of the arms master, Beck chose a
fine broad sword for himself, and Red Jack let him try
on the leather armors.  The men cheered, and then
Trevor followed in Beck's footsteps.

"Now fer Rapina.  What ye did was good. It showed a
quick wit, saved a few important lives, and it proved
yer loyalty, but I dare say those men ye saved will
thank ye in their own ways.  For meself, I'll grant ye
a tiny boon. I've a special book I'll be letin' ye see,
soon as ye finish that herb book Kennon's got ye on."

"That be it, Fishy, Piggy, roll out the barrel!"

The pirates cheered heartily and most of the men began
drinking and celebrating.  Rapina must have danced with
30 men that evening, and she snuck off with Pike,
Fishy, and Emery at different times during the
festivities. Emery had been rather quick, but given her
need for magical energy, Rapina had not minded that at
all.

[Rapina]009 Basic Pirates

\Narration\

The next few days went by much more smoothly for
Rapina.  Beck was wounded and could not practice at
arms. No one else Hock paired her with had quite the
staying power of Beck. Moreover, Rapina was beginning
to adapt to the constant activity, something she would
not have been able to do so well had it not been for
the powers she'd inherited from the lust sprit.

Rapina finished Red Jack's dictionary at the end of the
week. In front of the men he'd promised to let her see
the new book after she'd finished with Leech Kennon's
book, but in truth he had told her she could see it
when she was done with the dictionary. According to
Jack, it was a cryptic book which even he could not
make heads or tails of, and Rapina would need a large
vocabulary even to begin to understand it.

On the seventh day, Captain Red Jack gave everyone a
day off. Most of the men used it to wash their clothes,
take a bath and take care of personal business.  Since
Pike and Fishy washed Rapina's clothes and her body
each night, Rapina thought she had some spare time,
until Fletcher Arzael caught up with her...

"Rapina, I was waiting for the right moment to tell you
how much I appreciated you saving us from the fire-
throwers the other night."

Rapina blushed.  "I was glad I could do something for
you, my shooting wasn't exactly stellar."

Arzael smiled, "Nor would I expect it to be after just
a few days of archery training.  I have a gift for you.
Arzael brought a hand-tooled weapons belt from behind
his back.  On it hung the rapier and main gauche he had
selected from the booty the night after the battle.
"I've noticed you haven't the build for a broad sword.
Neither do I.  I think these weapons will serve you
better, but these are just things, the real gift I'd
like to give you is the training in how to use them."

"Rapina smiled brightly.  Thank you Arzael.  This belt
is beautiful. Did you carve all the flowers into it?"
Rapina put the belt on.  It fit well and lent itself to
the deadly grace of the weapons."

"Yes, I did.  Leather working was something I
originally picked up so I could make my own quivers and
arm guards, but it's become something of a hobby in
recent years."

"I can see you've gotten very good at it," Rapina
smiled.  "When did you want to train me to use these?"

"I was thinking we could start today, and I will work
something out with Kennon to lend you to me from the
time you get back from the fields and forests until
dinner at least a few days a week. He may keep you at
work a little longer after dinner, but at least you
stand to gain a means to defend yourself with weapons
more sophisticated and suitable to your build than
short sword and shield."

"I think it will be a good thing," Rapina affirmed.

The training Arzael gave Rapina in the use of the
rapier was worlds apart from the training she was
getting from arms master Hock in short sword.  Hock
taught toughness, mercilessness, drill and repetition,
whereas Arzael seemed more like a dance instructor than
a drill sergeant.  There were stretches, exercises,
positions, stances and moves, each with it's own little
tune that Arzael hummed or strummed on his lute.

Where Rapina struggled and gritted her teeth under
Hock's training, she laughed and jumped and danced her
way through Arzael's. Rapina spent most of her day off
dancing and laughing and learning the basics of the
graceful art of fencing. The practice yard was the
whole of Red Jack's isle.  By the time it began to get
dark, Rapina knew she was going to enjoy her time with
Arzael more than anything else.

"Ah, I see the sun says our time is up." Arzael
grinned.

"Already?  Goodness, where did the hours go?  It's been
so fun! When you first proposed it I thought I'd be
spending more grueling hours bumping into dummies."

"What did you say?  Hock's style of teaching is
suitable only for dummies?  Oh I quite agree, but never
let him hear that. He'll flay you alive," Arzael
smiled.

Rapina grinned.  "Thank you Arzael, for the finest day
I've had since arriving here on the isle."  Rapina
hugged the fletcher and could not resist nibbling his
ear.  When they parted, it was Arzael who was blushing.
"I couldn't help it.  You have such cute ears," Rapina
smirked.

"Do you really think so? I have heard such more than
once," Arzael feigned vanity. I'm so glad you enjoyed
fencing.  I'll be looking forward to our next lesson."

"Me too." Rapina replied.

Although the camp was in high spirits due to their
recent victory, no one was sleeping well.  The savage-
elf was still on the loose.  He had been spotted a few
times by the night watch, but had easily eluded any
pursuit.  Stories about his evil supernatural powers
spread throughout the ranks of the pirates. Some were
convinced he was a ghost.  Others thought he was a
demon.  Whatever the opinion the reaction was always
the same. Fear.

Drake had heard all of the stories twenty times over.
Drake had been grievously wounded during the battle.
The bloody bandage wrapped around his chest was
testament to that fact. He had fought valiantly and
saved many lives including Kent's.  He had proved
himself a capable fighter that night and a few pirates
had come to visit to express their thanks.  Drake
humbly accepted their thanks and talked amiably with
them until they had to return to duty. Kent was the
only one who hadn't come to visit him yet.  This
bothered Drake. Kent was his friend and should be here.
After all he didn't blame Kent for his condition.  A
smile crossed Drake's face as Kent walked in.

"Hey Drake," Kent said meekly.  "How are you feeling?"

Drake tried to shrug, but stopped as fingers of pain
shot through his body.  "Ugh!  Surprisingly well for
having been skewered," he replied. "You know Kent..."

"Drake!  Listen...I'm sorry!" he pleaded as he knelt
next to Drake.  "I know it was my fault that you were
wounded.  I...I just don't have what it takes to be a
good pirate..."

"Listen to you!" Drake practically laughed.  "A good
pirate? Is there such a thing?  A good pirate is about
as rare as a good meal from Piggy or Fishy. Heh.  Don't
worry Kent...it wasn't your fault."

'Yes.  It was!"

"No!  It wasn't.  I made the choice to take on two
people at once.  I was the one who foolishly let one of
them get behind me..."

"Yes, but if I hadn't gotten myself in trouble in the
first place you would still be fine."

"Kent.  Listen to me.  You're my friend.  Friends look
out for each other. You were in trouble.  I couldn't
just stand by and watch you get killed.  So what if I
was wounded?  I'm not dead! And I WILL get better.
Don't worry so much about this.  You would have done
the same for me."  Drake reached out and squeezed
Kent's shoulder.  He smiled as Kent looked up.  "I'm
okay.  You're okay. So what's the problem?  I don't see
one.  Now go away.  I'm tired."

Kent smiled back at Drake.  He was glad that Drake was
alive.  He still felt bad, but Drake had eased his mind
a lot.  "Okay. Rest up my friend.  I'll visit you again
tomorrow."

"Okay.  See you tomorrow."

The captain had been watching the exchange from just
outside the door.  He stepped through as Kent turned to
leave.  "Thar ye are Kent!  Roger's bin lookin fer ye!
So quit yer lollygagging and get to yer lesson!"

"Yes sir!  Sorry sir!"  Kent practically sprinted out
the door.

Red Jack waited for Kent to leave before closing the
door and sitting down next to Drake.  He studied the
young man for a few moments.

"Captain?  Uh...good evening...um...Is there something
I can..."

"Yes.  There is.  Be quiet."  He paused before
continuing. "I've heard a lot of good things about you
from my men.  And most of them came from men who were
trustworthy."  He paused and smiled inwardly.  His
dramatic pauses always made the men nervous. Jack loved
that.  "It looks like even Kent owes you a debt of
gratitude.  Tell me about it."  He paused as he awaited
Drake's response.

"well sir...Kent and Tim had gotten themselves cornered
by three of the raiders and were in deep trouble.  I
was busy fighting off my own raider just a few paces
away.  Kent isn't very good in combat...at least not
yet...so he wasn't much help for Tim. To his credit Tim
fought bravely right up until...until those bastards
killed him!"  Drake paused long enough to collect
himself.  Kent didn't stand a chance against three
raiders. Luckily I had just dispatched my opponent and
was able to help him.  I jumped in front of the raiders
and positioned myself so that only one of them could
get at Kent. Kent was able to hold off his attacker
while I did what I could to hold off the other two."
Drake paused and winced in pain. "sorry sir.  Sometimes
the pain is too great for me to continue speaking."

"That's quite all right.  Continue.  Please."

"Kent's opponent was a better swordsman than him and
apparently disarmed him. But before dispatching Kent he
turned and stabbed me through the back.  I thought I
was dead for sure.  I don't really remember much after
that, but from what I understand a few of the men came
to our rescue and finished off the raiders." Drake
winced again and looked to the captain.

"Hmmmm.  Interesting story."  He paused.  "And it
matches the story Logan related to me.  There aren't
too many men here who would risk their lives like you
did.  They would rather save their own hides than help
out a comrade. That's why I like to keep the men like
you close to me.  Roger, Logan, Arzael...they're all
like that.  It's what has kept us all alive this long.
What I'm saying is this: When you're all healed I want
you to report directly to me.  I have something special
in mind for you.  Until then take this."  Red Jack
handed a flask to Drake.

"what is it captain?"

"A little something to speed up the healing
process...you didn't get a chance to choose your boon
or booty the other night so this is your substitute.
With that elixir you should be up and ready for action
in a matter of weeks instead of months.  Drink most of
it and then pour the rest on your wounds."

"Thank you captain." Drake said as the captain walked
out the door without replying.  He smiled to himself
when he reflected upon the captain's words. He was
startled from his reverie when Rapina walked in.

Rapina had been cleaning wounds, changing dressings and
applying herbal poultices to various men's wounds since
the end of the day's arms training.  Now it was Drake's
turn.  Rapina got more herbs and bandages from Leech
Kennon's stores, cleansed, and then refilled her basin.
She walked into the infirmary room where Drake was
staying just off the main room.  "Hi Drake, time to
change your dressings."

A dark figure peeked in through the window.  The figure
was well concealed from the eyes of the pirates.  The
savage-elf was very adept at staying out of sight.  It
was how his people had survived unmolested for so long.
He had been listening in since Kent had arrived.  He
would have continued listening to Drake and Rapina had
a drunken pirate not wandered too close to his hiding
spot. The pirate stumbled around the corner of the
infirmary and belched loudly. The belch startled the
savage-elf and was loud enough to be heard by Rapina
and Drake.  Light from the pirate's torch fell upon the
savage-elf's face just as Rapina and Drake turned to
look out the window.

Rapina's head turned as a pirate belched near the
window. What she saw in addition to the pirate's face,
closer in, was writhing images that caught the light -
the wild elf's tattoos. Rapina blinked, "was that...?
I thought I saw the wild elf."

The drunken pirate stared in horror at the savage-elf
and was about to scream when a powerful fist slammed
into his throat. The pirate crumpled to the ground
clutching his throat.  He couldn't breathe let alone
make a sound. The savage-elf stealthily made his way to
the tree line. No one save Rapina, Drake and the pirate
had seen him.  The pirate wouldn't be raising the alarm
anytime soon.

Rapina heard the sound of a fist slamming into firm
flesh and then nothing.  She waited for just an instant
before running back into the main room of the
infirmary. "Leech Kennon, it's the wild elf, Drake and
I just saw him out the window.  I think he's hit
someone."

Rapina rushed out the door with the Leech and his burly
guard, but all they could do was help the man who'd
been punched.  The elf was nowhere to be seen...

That night, Brackston told Rapina to report to the
Captain's house after her bath.  When she arrived, the
Captain took her up to the library.  There on the table
was a large, heavy volume bound in ancient leather.

"We found it years ago on a merchant ship that carried
a few passengers. There was a man there who made a
torch he threw flare up bigger than a bon-fire as it
hit are rigging.  But for the strength of are men at
th' oars, that ship would have out-run us.  The torch
man jumped overboard as we boarded, and we never found
him. We were a goodly distance from shore too. No man I
know could have made the swim under water.  If we
hadn't been busy with the ship's crew, we'd have nabbed
'im, but he got away clean. Are archers never saw his
head come above water once 'e jumped in."

"We found his stateroom and belongings aboard the ship
though. There were two books originally, this one and
another.  Deeth, one of the ship's mates looked through
this book, and then the second.  The second volume
burst into flame when Deeth looked at the first page.
Deeth was blinded and burned beyond recognition.  Blind
and in pain, useless as a pirate, he stabbed himself
through the heart. It was a sad day.  Deeth was a
promising officer.  I had another man look through this
book again, just in case.  I'm in no mood ta see yer
pretty face torched." The captain said.

"Thank you Captain Red Jack."

"When we're alone, Jack or Red'll do fine."

"Okay Cap, er Red,"  Rapina smiled.

"See if ye can make any sense of that thar book.  I've
looked at it meself, I don't have the patience fer it.
It's cryptic as code even though it's usin' real words.
I know it's about magic, but It'll be a chore ta make
heads 'er tails of it."

Rapina's face brightened.  "Magic?  Wow! Thank you
Jack," Rapina said hugging the pirate captain.  "I'll
try to figure it out."

Jack had not been kidding about the book. It was about
magic - magical theory, and it was very difficult to
understand. Rapina's vocabulary had grown tremendously
from reading the dictionary, but there were still words
in the book that she had no definition for.  The book
also seemed to assume prior knowledge.  Some of the
knowledge, such as knowledge of herbs or gem stones,
Rapina had or could come across in Jack or Leech
Kennon's libraries, or by asking one of Jack's
officers. There was even a section on sex magic, one
that Rapina found quite interesting.  A week or so
later when she found the section, she read a few of the
more fascinating lines to Jack.

Sometimes Rapina just couldn't understand a passage
without doing more research than she was willing to do
until she had at least read the book once through.  On
those occasions she just kept doggedly reading in hopes
that some later passage would give some clue as to the
meaning of the earlier one.  After two weeks, Rapina
had read the book once, and had a pretty good feel for
it. It was a book on magical theory.  It contained no
spells unless one counted a few odd exercises. Many of
these were mental exercises that Rapina started trying
on nights she could not look at the book because she
had to sleep in the barracks. On nights when she
visited Jack, she continued to do research trying to
understand the innumerable difficult passages she had
bookmarked.  In many cases, understanding a single
passage required reading several other books in Jack's
library.  It was a daunting task, but to Rapina it was
the most interesting kind of puzzle.

In addition, during the weeks after the battle, Rapina
continued to struggle in arms master Hock's basic
training. The wily arms master seemed determined that
she was a waste of his time, and that he would make
sure she washed out.  Luckily, he couldn't be too overt
in his methods or Captain Red Jack would hang him from
a yard arm.

During one of her enjoyable fencing training sessions
with Fletcher Arzael, Rapina dropped a hint.  She said
she could swear Hock deliberately paired her with the
most durable boys, the ones that had claimed the top
positions in the obstacle course race.  That is, as
long as they were not so huge as to make the mismatch
painfully obvious.  She had noticed that Arzael had
looked over from the archery butts at the training
grounds more often during the morning while he trained
another group of recruits at archery. Yet, even if he
too suspected Hock's methods, they were too subtle to
make the arms master culpable of anything.

With Beck wounded the arms master could not use his
finest agent of exhaustion on Rapina.  He still used
Emery, but Rapina had been able to seduce the boy at
the party after the battle. Once he had made love to
her, he had treated her better.  Often she was able to
sneak off with him in the evening so that he would
"donate" enough energy to make the others Hock threw at
her less of a problem.  Unfortunately, Hock had a good
eye for when a boy was tired and inevitably paired
Rapina with someone stronger. She could not possibly
make love with every recruit possessed of a strong
constitution, but she had found a few good men who
helped fortify her against Hock's daily onslaught.

In spite of the powers she had gained from the lust
spirit, Rapina was hard pressed against Hock's astute
attack.  She was frequently tired, and her power
reserves often dwindled dangerously low. On the other
hand, in the four weeks of basic training thus far, the
power she had expended had not gone to waste.  Captain
Red Jack, who was the only one who regularly saw Rapina
nude under good light had told her, "I don't know what
Hock's got ye doin' girl, but yer gettin' darn right
muscular. If it weren't fer the fact that yer shaped
nothin' like a boy, I'd be complainin', but ye look
good, fit an' vital."

In the four weeks of exhaustive drill and repetition
thus far, Rapina had learned to be handy with a short
sword and shield, but not nearly as skilled as she was
becoming at the art of fencing.  Arzael's training
methods were uncanny.  Fencing was a song and dance
Rapina enjoyed. It was a pleasure to wield a rapier.
Often she did not realize what progress she was making.
Arzael made it so fun it never really occurred to her
that she was practicing something that could be
potentially deadly to her foes.

Rapina's archery was slowly improving as well.  The bow
that had originally been too strong for her now bent
easily enough, and her arrows flew true to the target
more often than they once had.  Arzael had upped the
ante, however, and was sometimes using sliding and
swinging targets that were more difficult for the
recruits to hit.  Thankfully, a great deal of hitting a
moving target depended on intelligence and dexterity,
two qualities Rapina had in greater abundance than most
of the boys. The fact that Arzael seemed to spend just
a little bit more time during practice helping Rapina
with the finer points of archery than he did with the
other recruits had not hurt either.

A few weeks after the battle, Drake was well enough to
resume his duties.  He reported to the Captain as
ordered.  Red Jack was engrossed in one of his many
books when Drake entered. Drake waited a moment before
speaking up. "Reporting...as...um...ordered sir."

"Ah yes.  Drake.  Come.  Sit."  Red Jack motioned
towards one of the chairs in the room.  "How are you
feeling?  Better?  Good. Has Roger been tutoring ye as
I instructed?"

"Yes sir.  He has.  I'm not sure why, but..."

"That's why ye're here Drake.  Ya see...I like what
I've seen.  Ye're going to make a fine leader.  But ye
lack a few of the essential skills...such as bein' able
ta read, but I have set Roger to remedy that, and I'm
going to have ye trained in th' skills ye lack." "Why?
Ye may ask.  Because I need a man like yerself ta help
Logan keep an eye on things here at the camp.  Logan's
done a damn fine job, but it's a lot of work an' he
needs some help.  Ye're going ta provide that help.  Do
ye understand?"

"Yes sir."

"Good.  Now report ta Logan.  He'll begin yer
trainin'."
---

It was evening and Leech Kennon had just let Rapina off
work.  Earlier she had a lesson with Arzael so her
usual time to dally with the men before bed had been
cut in two.  Pike and Fishy probably had a bath ready
for her. There was no question that she needed one
after the day's exercises.  Rapina made her way through
the trees on the edge of the clearing.  As she passed
the cage that had once held the wild elf captive she
noticed that the bent bars had been put back in place.
There was a new horizontal bar wove its way around the
cage reinforcing the vertical bars, including the ones
that the elf had bent. Fishy and another man had used
their grasp of the blacksmith's art to reinforce the
cage during the week immediately after the battle.

The wild elf had been spotted only a few times during
the last few weeks, and there was a contest going
between Brackston and Arzael as to who could first
recapture the wild elf.  While after the wild elf,
Brackston's dog Thumper had more than once got a nose
full of pungent herbs that had ruined his ability to
track the elf for a day or so. Leech Kennon had helped
by contributing a sleep-inducing drug that could be
used to coat arrows, traps or darts, but neither
contestant had been successful thus far.  In a way,
Rapina was glad.  It was not right for the wild elf to
be caged and displayed.

Rapina continued walking as she neared her favorite
stand of bushes behind the pantry shed.  After she
passed them she would enter the clearing and go around
the shed to where the door was. Then Pike and Fishy
would welcome her to her bath.

Suddenly the wild elf dropped from a tree in front of
her. Rapina let out a squeal of surprise, jumped to the
side and was caught in the bushes.


The savage-elf looked around quickly.  Once satisfied
that they were alone he held out his hand to Rapina.

Rapina looked at the elf's hand for a second and then
put her own on top of it.  The elf gripped her hand and
shook it.  His grip was very strong, but he did not
hurt her.

"Set fear aside glowing one.  Our lives flow together.
Our shadows mingle."  The savage-elf paused.  His
emerald eyes drank deeply of Rapina.

Rapina was a little confused by the elf's flowery
language, but guessed he wanted to be her friend,
either that or he was making a prophesy.  Rapina could
not be sure, Elves were so poetic. Rapina's senses
quivered with the vitality the elf's strength and
ambient lust, and she realized she had best do
something to distract her mind from her senses before
her body did anything untoward.

"What is your name?" Rapina asked.

"Doanthalas...to chase away the clouds.  Your tongue
can not speak my true name as your ears do not hear it
entirely." Doanthalas looked around once more to see if
anyone had snuck up on them.  Satisfied he began anew.
"Rapina, though you are the favorite of the pack you
still walk the precipice."

"I think I understand what you mean, Doanthalis,"
Rapina pronounced the name slowly so she would get it
right.  "There is danger here and I must be careful. In
the world away from these pirates, an evil man of rank
and power tried to enslave me, and failed.  I fled the
greater danger of his vengeful family, but those who
harbor me are dangerous too."

"Events have been set into motion which threaten this
camp with destruction. You are the eye of the storm."

Do you mean those soldiers who attacked?  Are there
more to come?  I don't understand how I am the eye of
the storm.  How do you know these things?

"The children of the forest see everything and hear
all.  They know.  Soon the winds will come and blow all
this away." Doanthalas indicated the camp with a sweep
of his arm.

What will cause this destruction?  How can we be
prepared?

"Warn your friend Drake and any others you wish.  I
shall return with the sun."  As Doanthalas turned to
leave a sound reached his ears.

Fletcher Arzael had noticed that the wild elf, thus
far, had been sighted on the outskirts of camp in the
late evening before bed.  He did not understand why the
wild elf had not left the area, but it was obvious that
he had not.  The Archer had made up special arrows;
small game blunts tipped with needles coated with
Kennon's sleep-inducing drug.  Arzael now customarily
spent the evening sneaking around the outskirts of the
camp with an arrow knocked, trying to catch the wild
elf as he spied on the camp for a reason that eluded
the Fletcher.  Arzael was moving stealthily through the
trees when he barely heard a sharp squeal from far off.


It took him a little time to silently reach the
location, but as he neared it he saw in the distance
that Rapina was cornered by the wild elf.  He aimed low
to make doubly sure that he would not hit Rapina's eye
in the unlikely event that he missed his target.  The
arrow flew true, nailing the elf in the thigh.  The
drug would not put the elf to sleep immediately, but in
a minute or two the elf's leg would be numb and
unusable.  Arzael knew that if he could track the elf
for just five or ten minutes, sleep would overtake his
quarry. Arzael would best Brackston and claim the prize
Captain Red Jack was offering for the return of the
wild elf.

In an instant the wild-elf was tensed and ready to make
his move. Unfortunately Arzael had already made his.
The arrow made a muffled thwacking sound as it embedded
itself deeply into Doanthalas' thigh.  The only sound
the wild-elf made in reply was a snarl as he leapt
towards his assailant.  His movements were swift even
with an arrow embedded in his leg.

Arzael was a seasoned warrior, but never before had he
fought anything like the wild-elf.  He made the mistake
of slipping his bow into the case on his back and did
not have enough time to draw his rapier and main gauche
before the wild elf was upon him.  Doanthalas grabbed
Arzael's wrists as he drew his swords and pressed his
thumbs into the flesh as he moved Arzael's arms out and
apart.  Arzael's grip was compromised and his blades
were flung out of reach.  Doanthalis then dropped the
half-elf's hands and grabed Arzael's neck.  As the
wild-elf's steel-like grip tightened around his throat
there was only one thought going through Arzael's mind,
"I'm dead!"

Rapina ran after Doanthalis and picked up the arrow
that had fallen as Doanthalis ran at Arzael.  It was a
small game blunt fitted with a long needle. She
recognized the drug Kennon had made at the base of the
needle.  When she reached the two elves she dropped the
arrow and pulled with all her strength at Doanthalis'
arms to no avail. "Stop that! The whole camp is afraid
of you; don't you see?  They don't think they are safe
with you sneaking around.  I know the pirates have not
been kind to you, but Arzael was just trying to protect
his mates. He is a good man and part elf, his arrow was
drugged, not deadly, and if you kill him the Captain
will kill you, can't you see?


The half-elf slumped to the ground as he hacked and
coughed trying to catch his breath.  His terror-
stricken eyes never left Doanthalas as the wild-elf
released his grip and stumbled backwards.

Doanthalas' eyes fell upon Rapina.  The look on his
face was unmistakable; it spoke only of betrayal.
"Wh...wha...whu...", was all that he managed to utter
before turning and sprinting into the forest. His
sprint, more of a fast-paced limp than an actual
sprint, carried him swiftly away.  It wasn't long
before Rapina and Arzael lost sight of him in the
forest.

Arzael coughed but stood. "Go fetch Brackston, I must
follow his trail," Arzael said in a hoarse voice.

Rapina ran to the nearby barracks but found Brackston
gone. Drake was there, so Rapina very briefly told him
what had happened before she ran back to see if she
could catch up with Arzael.  Thankfully, she found him.


At first, the trail was hard to follow.  A few random
drops of blood and some displaced leaves were the only
evidence of the wild-elf's passage.  As the sleep
poison set in, Doanthalas dragged his bad leg
increasingly, leaving a clearer trail.  It was all that
Doanthalas could do to keep moving.  About thirty
minutes later Arzael and Rapina knew that they had
almost caught up to him.

"Did you hear that?  It sounded like a dog barking."

Rapina nodded, "Let's hurry, it sounded like Thumper."

Arzael and Rapina broke into a small clearing and found
Brackston and his dog Thumper assaulting the now nearly
helpless elf.  Blood ran freely from countless wounds
on the wild-elf's body. Thumper had torn through
Doanthalas' flesh in many areas. Meanwhile Brackston
was busy pummeling and kicking the elf.

"That's it Thumper!  Git 'em!  Yer not so tough now are
ye elf?" Brackston spat at the elf and turned as he
noticed Rapina and Arzael.  "Ey!  Lookee what I
caught." Thumper had a firm grip on the elf's already
wounded thigh and was violently tearing a large gash in
it.  Doanthalas feebly attempted to fend off the dog,
but could do little is his drugged up state.

"Dammit man!  Call off your dog!  The elf is helpless.
I already hit him with an arrow laced with sleep
poison."

"Oh no ya don't!  I caught im fair and square.  He's
just...resistin'...ah...arrest...heh."

"Resisting nothing!  He's practically unconscious.
Call off your dog!"

"Nah.  Not just yet."

Arzael pulled another drugged arrow from his quiver and
pulled the sheath from the needle-tip.  He nocked the
arrow, "Call off your dog!"

"You wouldn't!" Brackston seemed incredulous.

The bow twanged and the dog yelped as the arrow sank
into his shank.

"Damn you!  I'll kill yo..."  He stopped abruptly when
he felt the cool metal of Arzael's rapier against his
neck.

"Thumper is only slightly wounded.  The sleep poison
will give you enough time to clean and dress that
wound.  I'd suggest you get started before he wakes up
and tears you apart like he did the elf."

"Cap'n Jack will hear about this!" Brackston shouted as
he stomped off with his wounded dog cradled in his
arms.

The master archer waved Brackston away and hurried over
to the elf. Doanthalas had been badly beaten by
Brackston and mauled by Thumper.  "this is bad.  I'm
going to need your help Rapina...otherwise he'll bleed
to death."

When Arzael turned back to look at the wild elf he saw
that Rapina had already started cleaning and bandaging
the elf's wounds.

Arzael and Rapina finished attending to Doanthalas'
wounds.  He was barely conscious, but still he
struggled.  The soothing words they uttered did nothing
to calm the wild-elf.  Not until Arzael started to
sing.  It was a beautiful and haunting melody. Rapina
couldn't understand the words, but they sounded
beautiful whatever they meant.  And they seemed to calm
the wild-elf.

"This leg is in bad shape.  Thumper has torn an artery.
We'll have to get him back to camp to properly deal
with it.  Let's wrap it for now."

Rapina applied a tourniquet to the artery as Leech
Kennon had taught her.

The wild-elf was covered in blood and sweat.  His eyes
tried vainly to focus on something, anything.  How he
was still conscious Arzael could not figure out.  The
sleep poison should have knocked him out a long time
ago.

"I thought you were going to kill me for sure." Arzael
said to the elf.  "I'm guessing Rapina helped me out
there, but whatever the reason...Theau lunea. And for
what it's worth...I'm sorry."

The wild-elf's eyes cleared for a moment.  Doanthalas
grabbed Arzael's hand and fixed his emerald eyes on the
archer.  He uttered a single word before finally
passing into unconsciousness. "Chubrité."

The master archer's body straightened and then trembled
as if hit with a massive shock.  "Come Rapina, Let's
get him back to camp."  Arzael barely managed to say
the words.  He seemed choked up over something.

Rapina guessed, now that Arzael realized that
Doanthalas was not both mute and insane, he was feeling
very badly about the way the wild elf had been treated.


With Rapina's help, Arzael was able to convince Red
Jack to allow the elf to be treated in a guarded hut
instead of his cage.  The wounds were severe enough
that he would not be able to escape easily. Guards were
assigned to keep an eye on the elf and Logan was
charged with overseeing the reinforcement of the hut.
As his assistant, Drake was responsible for ensuring
Doanthalas did not escape as well.

Logan inspected the door. "This door will have to be
changed.  I want thicker wood and it should bar from
the outside.  Make sure the hinges are mounted on the
outside as well." Logan looked at the wall and rapped
on it with his fist.  "These walls will have to be
reinforced. Come here and take a look at these windows
Drake."

Drake walked over and examined the windows.  "Hmmm.
These windows will never hold him as is."

"So what do you think we should do about it?" Logan
asked.

Drake scratched his head.  "Well at first I thought
about boarding them up completely, but then we'd be
going in blind every time we opened the door.  So I'd
suggest barring the windows instead.  We'll have to
take out these windows and replace them with specially
constructed windows."

Logan nodded his head approvingly but said nothing.  He
then ushered Drake inside.  The wild elf was lying
unconscious on the sole bed in the room.  His wrists
and his ankles were tied down.  "Looks quite peaceful
for a savage...eh, Drake?"

Drake muttered, "Yeah."  He was in awe of the elf.  His
tattoos were magnificent and Drake had never seen an
elf before.  He was shorter than the average human and
a bit leaner.  Yet he looked solid for an elf.  Drake
imagined elves to be a lot less muscular than the wild
elf.  He looked just a strong, if not stronger, than
most any man in the camp.  Drake feared him. He had
heard all the stories.

The hut was reinforced and the elf's rope bonds were
replaced with manacles. Drake visited every night to
check up on things. Leech Kennon and Rapina were put in
charge of seeing to the elf's recovery.  Captain Red
Jack stopped by the day before he was to leave on a
raid.  Rapina was cleaning Doanthalas' wounds when he
entered.

"Thar's me beauty!  How's me pet elf doin'?"

Doanthalas glared at the captain with steely eyes.  He
didn't utter a word. He just fixed his emerald eyes on
the captain and stared.

"Thankfully he is a strong elf and that really nasty
bite has not become infected."

"Come.  Walk with me Rapina.  Ye can do that later."
The captain escorted her outside. "Now thar's a reason
I put ye on 'elf' duty.  Heh.  I understand he has a
soft spot for ye so I'd like ye to talk to 'im.  See if
ye can get through to him.  We could use someone like
'im.  What d'ya think?"

"You could do lots worse than having an elf like him
under your command. He's stealthy and a good fighter.
I'm not sure what his past is or why he stayed around
camp.  I'll try to figure out his interest and if he
wants to join the crew instead of spying on us, you'll
be the first to know what he decides."

"Ye realize that things are strained 'tween Arzael and
Brackston concernin' the elf, don't ye?  They're not
happy that I made em split the reward.  I don't think
it'll affect ye...just be careful."

Rapina nodded, "I think it will be okay.  If that arrow
had been a broad-head instead of a needle-tipped blunt,
I don't think they'd ever make up.  As it was, the
wound looked nastier than it really was once the arrow
was pulled out.  Brackston pretends he doesn't love
anyone or anything, but he loves that mean old dog,"
Rapina smiled.

Rapina decided she would try to get to know Doanthalis
before she broached the subject of joining the crew.
It occurred to her that the wild elf might join the
crew just so he could get free of his bonds.  Then he
might try to escape.  Rapina could not blame him if
that was what he wanted to do, but she could give him a
fighting chance by not mentioning the captain's offer
until Doanthalis' wounds healed.

At the end of the forth week of basic training
everything changed.  Captain Red Jack, his ship and his
crew, including oarmaster Pike left to go raiding to,
"pay the bills." Meanwhile the recruits still had their
second month of basic training to endure.  Logan now
took full control of the camp. Rapina could no longer
visit the Captain's bed, nor would Pike be seeing her
at bath time. Both were far away, sailing the river
Augustana. Rapina was given access to the captain's
library by Logan at least once a week, usually on her
day off.  He allowed her to borrow up to ten volumes to
be kept on Leech Kennon's shelf during the week; thus
Rapina was able to continue her work deciphering the
puzzling treatise on magic.

As soon as the captain left, arms master Hock started a
program to train the small and weak to defend
themselves against the big and strong.  Hock made sure
Rapina got her exposure to big and strong first thing
in the morning, the better to exhaust her and let her
fatigue guarantee that she would take a beating in the
rest of the day's practice. Rapina was inevitably
subjected to the biggest and strongest of the big,
namely Lester, or Jake who was nearly as big as Les,
but faster.

With Pike gone, Rapina had one less lover to help her
heal from Hock's clever ploys.  Thankfully, other
lovers had become available.  Both Drake and Beck had
recovered from their wounds. Even so, Rapina was often
forced to expend the full amount of magical energy
gained on a previous evening just to partly heal her
many bruises and to keep fatigue from overwhelming her.


The number of bruises was a problem too.  Rapina did
not dare do more than partly heal the area below the
skin because she knew revealing her magic would be big
trouble. Partly healed bruises still caused pain,
especially if a person had enough of them. Some days
she had little or no power to expend on fatigue because
of the number of painful bruises inflicted by the
large, strong recruits. During these times she counted
on will power and her improved physical condition to
carry her through the rigors that Hock happily threw
her way.

Thankfully, Rapina was much stronger than she had been
four weeks ago, but Hock was really bringing out his
big guns.  Had Rapina been a normal girl, the
accumulated debility of the minor injuries she was
sustaining every day would surely have made it
impossible for her to continue. Yet, thanks to the lust
spirit, she could heal those hurts, if only partly for
fear of revealing her magic. As it turned out, Rapina
often lacked the power to do more than take the edge
off her injuries anyway.  Some days she encountered
more lovers or faired better in the combat training and
accumulated energy, but just as often she sustained a
worse than normal battering and had to drain her stores
of power.

It seemed the longer Captain Red Jack was away, the
meaner and cleverer Hock got.  On the first morning of
the second week after Captain Red Jack left, Hock
started Rapina with Jake, then switched in Les. After
that he paired her with Domonic, a boy who combined
endurance nearly as great as Beck's with strength and
speed approaching Jake's.

After Dominic, he paired her with Trevor, and then
Edgar, the two meanest, deadliest and most sadistic
recruits around. Rapina literally limped to archery
practice.  Her face was red and she was holding back an
immense flood of tears.  Rapina sniffled her way
through archery practice, doing quite poorly
considering her skill.

After practice she got her Rapier and reported to
Arzael's workshop for a fencing lesson.  After limping
in and closing the door, Rapina just fell on Arzael and
burst into tears as half-elf held her.

"I saw it lass, I saw it too.  It wasn't fair at all. I
saw what he did to you.  He used big, strong boys first
to wear you out, then Trevor and Edgar to hurt you.  He
might as well have taken you aside and beat you
himself.  I know about those two boys.  They already
have reputations around camp.  Hock's usually a good
man, but he has a blind spot about women.  He thinks
they don't belong at an arms practice."

"If I didn't know the recruits as well as I do from
training them at archery, I wouldn't have been able to
see that Hock's been picking on you, but today, any
fool could have seen it. Logan doesn't know the
recruits like I do, but he knows Trevor and Edgar.  If
Hock does that again, I can take it to Logan.  I wish I
could take it to him now, but Hock would shrug it off
as just sour luck that you got both bad apples in one
day."

For today's practice, Arzael led Rapina into a room she
hadn't seen before and pointed to a neatly made bed.
Let's dress your wounds and then you can take a nap.
There's no sense in aggravating those cuts and bruises.
A good trainer knows when his student has had enough.
Rapina reluctantly let go of Arzael and let him cleanse
the deep scratches she'd sustained from the dull points
of the wooden practice swords.  Her bruises were worse
than the scratches, but there was little that Arzael
could do about them. Afterwards she held Arzael for a
moment then collapsed, too exhausted to ask for the
love that she needed to heal.

After her nap, Rapina felt a little better.  She was
still badly beat up, and Arzael mentioned this fact to
Kennon after he walked her over to work.  Kennon shook
his head all the while he applied herbs to Rapina's
scratches and bruises.

"I'd say this was excessive for a day at arms practice,
Kennon frowned.  I won't even bother telling Hock, he
already knows, but I can mention it to Logan.  It won't
amount to a hill of beans unless it happens more than
once, but it won't hurt either.  I need you in one
piece if I am going to get any good work out of you.
Fact is I've never had a better assistant. Captain
Jack's never given me a recruit with half your
intelligence, and I'll be damned if I'm going to stand
by while Hock lets some stupid, sadistic half-wit
pirate recruit brain you with a practice sword."

That evening Rapina was well enough to feel the hunger.
Fishy started her off at bath time.  After that Rapina
found Drake and Emry.  The truth of it was Rapina was
fighting mad at Hock and she was storming inside.  She
began to use her powers with a certain detached
ruthlessness, enjoying Beck, and then seducing Dominic
and Jake in rapid succession. As Jake sweated over her,
and she drank his power like a wanton lush drinks wine,
just by chance she thought of Hock and wondered why.
She'd been given an answer - Hock didn't like women,
but did that explain what was going on in his mind?

Rapina moaned and pulled Jake into her with all the
might of her strong thighs as he gushed his lusty power
into her.  Rapina smiled but not as genuinely as she
normally would have.  She was using Jake for power.
Had Jake known what was going on and welcomed it just
the same, then Rapina would have felt much better, but
she really didn't even particularly like Jake. She was
using him, and she did not like herself for it.

"Mmmm, that felt so good," Rapina said, trying to steal
the genuineness from the memory of a simpler time with
oarmaster Pike, and surprising herself with what a good
job she had done.  "We'd better get back to the fires
though.  I love men, but if it were too plain that I
spent a lot of time with other men, I don't think Jack
would appreciate it.

Jake stiffened as if stabbed.  "Yeah, you're right. Ah,
damn you're dangerous.  I could really get in trouble.
Jake grinned, but I'd die happy."

"I think Red knows me well enough to know that I'm not
going to be a nun while he's gone, but it doesn't hurt
to make it appear as though I am.  It's certainly not
something you want to brag about doing."

Jake wagged his head from side to side.  "No bragging
here ma'am, that would be suicide.  Lord knows what
Brackston would do to me."

Rapina got up and mopped herself off a bit with some
leaves. "See you later," she whispered huskily.

Jake got his pants on quickly.  "Uh-huh," he said,
making tracks.

As she walked the outskirts of camp, Rapina put herself
in Hock's place.  "Women don't belong in combat, so
she'll wash out in a week or two.  She's not washing
out, but the minute things get tough, she'll wash out.
Damn, I can tell Beck is too much for her, why hasn't
she folded?...  Rapina traced a possible progression
from disdain to curiosity to alarm. She tried to
imagine Hock's reports to the captain.

"Captain, that woman's tougher than any I've ever seen.
It just ain't natural..."

"Keep an eye on her for me Hock, her Aunt was a witch.
I need to know if she's got powers she's not telling us
about."

Rapina could imagine what might have been happening
behind the scenes in her mind.  On the other hand, Hock
could just be doggedly trying to get her to wash out.
He might be utterly convinced that women washed out,
and determined not to prove himself wrong.

The trouble was, though Rapina had just made love with
a hoard of men, the only thing she could possibly do if
she used the power they'd given her was to implicate
herself as a witch. Even though she had tried to make
sure she stored the power away rather than letting it
flow to her wounds, her control was not perfect.  She
could feel that her wounds lacked the depth of pain
that they had had earlier in the evening.  Rapina would
have to be very careful.  She was in a very difficult
situation.  If she showed magic she had failed to tell
the captain about, then she was doomed, but if she did
not use her power more strongly, Hock's latest
onslaught would wash her out.  How could she win?

As the newly gained power ricocheted around Rapina's
stimulated mind, she quickly saw there was only one way
out.  She must not heal any faster than she had been.
She could use her power against fatigue to attempt to
avoid and minimize wounds, but she would have to
continue to limit its use on wounds already sustained.
Any trick she could use to prevent wounds would be
essential, and she would have to do all she could to
learn more. Rapina wracked her brains for the names of
the smallest of the pirates.  Certainly Arzael would be
an invaluable resource, but Rapina would have to use
every ounce of her intelligence to save herself from
Hock's impossible trap.

Rapina worried about who she might trust.
Unfortunately, if there was a test of her magic going,
it was most likely the inner circle of officers who
were in on it.  Rapina needed to make sure that her
background information was good before she asked anyone
with too much rank to help her learn to weather the big
men.  She started at the bottom of the heap with
Dulgar, the pirate who disposed of bodies, cleaned
latrines and did every other horrible job no one else
wanted. She caught up with the pirate scooping sewage
out of an over-filled latrine for dumping in the swamp.
The smell was hideous.

"Dulgar, of the small men, which do the best in raids
and fights?"

Dulgar pulled a piece of hard roll out of a pouch with
his filthy hand and took a bite.  He blinked at Rapina
in momentary confusion.  "Why you askin' me?"

"You clean up the dead bodies, don't you?"

"Uh-hu."

"Then you must know which of the small men has been
around for a while that you haven't planted in the
ground, right?"

"Dulgar scratched his head.  Dulgar knows," He said
succinctly. "Why you want to know."

"For arms practice.  They're doing big against little
and the big guys are bruising me to a pulp."

"Hoho, I see.  Take these buckets to the boat, an I
tell you."

Rapina wrinkled her nose involuntarily but complied.
With only a skirt on there was nothing preventing her
spilling on her bare legs. She tried not to but was not
entirely successful.

"You go look for Skitch down by the shore.  He's the
little man you want to see.  He raids, but Captain left
him here to help protect de camp dis time. He is a
horse trader, but smart, you know?  You go see him,
work somethin' out."

Rapina thanked Dulgar, and After a visit to the well to
fetch water to wash her legs, Rapina found a man nearly
a head shorter than she on watch at the lake shore.

"Um, are you Skitch?"

"That'd be me," Skitch grinned.  "Now what's the
captain's lady doin' lookin' for a humble pirate like
me?  Carryin' oders?"

"No, actually I need your help."

"What seems to be the problem?"

"Hock is training big against little, and strong
against weak. The big men are hurting me, they're
beating me bad."

"'Least you got someone else beatin' ya.  Stuck on this
island the only one beatin' me is meself.  It's a real
ferocious problem."

"You beat yourself?" Rapina asked in confusion.

Skitch grinned, "in a manner o' speakin' a man has ta
get relief somehow."

Rapina's tingling lust sense told her Skitch's meaning
even if her small-town upbringing didn't.

"Those big guys bruise me up bad every day and it's
really hurting.  If you can teach me some things that
really work, I would be so grateful."

"An how grateful would that be?"

"As grateful as my body was bruisless."

"I got the tricks ya need, and I see ye've got the
currency I'm needin,' but how do I know yer gonna give
it over?

"How do I know your tricks are going to work?"

"Hmm, na I'll tell ya what I'll do. Fer just the
littlest taste o' currency, I'll teach ya one o' my
best tricks, an' if it works, then maybe we do some
swappin in th' evenin's ta come, deal?"

"Deal," Rapina agreed.

"Na I'd like that taste."

Rapina blinked.  "Um, what were you interested in?"

Skitch cupped his fingers under Rapina's left breast.
And grinned like a sea dog when he saw both of Rapina's
nipples rise in unison and dent the fabric of her
tunic.  "I've been noticin' ye've got quite a pair
here, been wantin' a taste fer quite some time."

Rapina blushed and looked around to make sure the coast
was clear.  She smoothed back her raven hair and lifted
her tunic over her head. Her breasts came free of her
shirt, moving just slightly as it came up over her
head. After the band of men she'd seen this evening,
her breasts were extra full and flushed, and her
nipples protruded pinkly.

Skitch inhaled, "Mother o' all the gods, such divine
majesty I have never afore beheld. I must bow down and
worship at the holy altar of the first fetishical
church o' the holy nipple." Skitch fondled Rapina's
breasts with greedy fascination.  Then he bowed down
and began kissing, suckling and worshipping Rapina's,
"holy orbs."

Rapina giggled, then moaned and then practically
writhed with sensation.  After a while she struggled to
regain her composure, "A taste, you have a taste."

Skitch threw back his head and sighed, "Ahhh, indeed I
have, and a good taste it was.  Now fer the first
trick, and one ye can use right away tomorrow if ye
practice it with me a few times." Skitch grinned, and
taught and grinned.

The trick was brilliant and took advantage of the high
center of gravity of large, tall men.  It was a little
difficult to practice on Skitch, since he was neither
large nor tall, but Rapina made do.  She went over it
several times with the pirate before she heard horn
calling the recruits to come to bed at the barracks.

Rapina fell asleep replaying the trick in her mind with
Jake, Les, Drake and every other big, tall man she had
ever sparred with.

Rapina still took a beating during the remainder of the
fifth week of basic training. Thanks to tricks from
Skitch, Rapina's beating was not quite so severe, and
Rapina happily nixed the wily pirate's need to beat
himself.

The sixth week was a mixed bag.  The wounds she
sustained were not due to lack of preparation.  Skitch
was truly inspired, and Arzael had done everything he
could do to teach Rapina the considerable number of
tricks he knew for beating big and strong men ever
since the day she limped into his shop.

Rapina was now using more energy to banish fatigue,
keep alert and avoid being hit badly than to actually
heal wounds.  She used every trick and dodge she could
think of to minimize damage, and to get the friendly
boys not to hit her with the full force their arms
could generate.  Every night as she fell asleep she
went over the things that had worked and the things
that had failed and why.  She tried to invent new
tricks and she made sure to visit Skitch whenever she
could. She also tried to visit as many of her most
energetic lovers as she could squeeze in on the side.

In spite of this, during practice Trevor crushed her
foot by stamping on it.  Rapina fell and rolled
clutching her foot and then got up stepping very
gingerly.  The sadistic boy had hated it when he was
outwitted by one of Rapina's many tricks, and this had
been his revenge.  Rapina had felt bones snap.  She did
not dare heal the wound until the bones had been set,
but she could not let Leech Kennon do it or he would
know she had a broken foot.

Instead, Rapina limped and grimaced her way through to
archery practice and then took a break to, "relieve
herself."  In the trees, She gritted her teeth and
snapped her own bones back in place just as Kennon had
taught her on a wounded pirate not so long ago.  She
then tried very carefully to knit the bones without
healing the bruises on the top of her foot.  She
managed a certain degree of success, and then collapsed
into a crying heap.  Never in her short life had she
endured so much, but she knew that revealing her power
could bring her a quick death at the hands of the
pirates.  In time, she hoped to learn other magical
talents and then she would pretend to learn sex magic
as well.

That night Rapina talked to Skitch.  "Crushed yer foot
did 'e, I outta brain 'im meself.  Did he break it?"

"I think he cracked the bones.  I was really lucky, the
turf was soft. "

"Skitch nodded.  "No more Mr. nice guy!  Tanight I
teach ye some dirty, mean, low down tricks ye can use
'gainst scum like Trevor who ain't got enough sense ta
take it easy on a lady."

And teach he did, ears, noses, balls, kidneys, no
vulnerable body part was taboo on Skitch's short list
of the dirtiest dirty tricks.  To top it off, the
pirate threw in the clean trick he had been going to
teach Rapina before she told him what Trevor had done.
Rapina enjoyed amply rewarding her diminutive lover.

The end of the seventh week of basic training saw Hock
in a sourer mood than ever before. He practically raged
at Lester, Jake, Jonas and Dominic, not to pull their
punches just because Rapina was a woman.  Lester really
tried to hit Rapina.

To his credit, Jake took the arms master's abuse and
undermined him at every turn, refusing to hit Rapina
hard.  Jake was a loyal friend of Drake's and although
she had originally seduced him out of pain, he had
since earned her respect and genuine affection.

Drake, though he tried to keep Rapina on her toes,
never hit Rapina with his full strength.  This was not
surprising given that Drake had made love to Rapina
many times since they had met, and Rapina had largely
been the one who tended Drake's wounds when he was
down.

Lester honestly tried to hit hard, and he was the
biggest of the big, but not too bright.  With her
arsenal of tricks from Skitch and Arzael, Rapina felled
the poor boy as a lumberjack fells an oak every time
Hock threw him her way.

Jonas was another story, Hock was able to scowl the boy
into hitting hard and he was faster than Lester ever
thought of being.  Even with Rapina's growing hoard of
clever tricks, Jonas hurt her every time she was forced
to spar with him.

Dominic was clearly intimidated by Hock's brusque
manner and he was even more effective than Jonas was
against smaller people. Fortunately, He had a soft spot
for Rapina, and even when Hock was on his case, he was
careful not to do more than give Rapina a few bruises.

Trevor and Edgar were by far the most dangerous boys to
practice with although they were not as big as some of
the others. Both were bloodthirsty and sadistic.  Both
enjoyed hurting people, and both thought nothing of
using the kind of dirty tricks that Skitch had taught
Rapina, but that Rapina was too honorable to use.
Early in the training, Beck had been better than both
Trevor and Edgar, but after being wounded in battle,
Beck had only been able to watch training for a couple
of weeks. Edgar and Trevor were now more than a match
for him as long as they were able to use some of the
dirty tricks they'd devised.

Near the end of the seventh week, Skitch somehow
wheeled and dealed some time off during Rapina's arms
practice and spent most of his time watching Jonas,
though he appeared to be watching everyone.  For the
remainder of the week, Rapina spent a portion of her
evenings, attending Skitch's class on, "harpooning"
Jonas.

The next week Jonas really did not know what hit him.
Hock's mood went immediately foul.  His best weapon
bested by a girl! On Wednesday Hock's theme was,
"surviving a fight with someone more skilled than you."
The arms master brought in several pirates from camp
including Brackston.  Rapina was saddled with Buck,
Hock's right hand man.  He was unnecessarily brutal
until he missed taking off Rapina's left nipple by a
fraction of an inch.

To Rapina's surprise, it was Bloody Brackston, "mother"
to her recruit barracks that spoke up.

"Go ahead an' hurt 'er Buck, take off 'er nipple.  I
want ta watch Red Jack feed yew yer balls as an
appetizer ta that first meal ye'll be havin' wif the
wild elf.  Heh, heh, heh."

Buck's face went so pale it was nearly blue. He
realized the truth in Brackston's words. A recruit
might be forgiven if he inadvertently damaged the
Captain's wench, but Buck was not a recruit, and he
knew how Jack's mind worked.  Piggy mouthed off, so
Jack cut out his tongue.  If Buck damaged Jack's red-
hot wench, he would be loosing his balls, just as
Brackston said.

Buck's manner was transformed, and though badly bruised
at the beginning, Rapina actually learned a few things
from Buck that day and the next about fighting an
overwhelming foe.

Friday was the first day of final fights. By the end of
Saturday, the best recruits would be known.  The
elimination fights were short.  The first person to get
in three good hits won. Anyone who lost three fights
was eliminated from the competition. There were around
32 recruits and they were divided into four groups of
eight by a random drawing to start.

Rapina breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that
she was in group two, whereas both Edgar and Trevor
were in group one. The battle between them would be
that group's first fight.  With any luck, they would
mangle each other so badly that no one would have a
problem with them. Oddly, when they fought each other,
though Edgar lost, the fight was clean.  Somehow, this
made Rapina nervous.

Rapina, Drake and Jonas were the top finishers from
group two and went on to compete in another
elimination.  When it was over, Rapina, Drake and Jonas
were still in the running along with Trevor, Edgar and
Dominic. The next day would determine the winners.
Rapina's first fight would be with Dominic, while
Drake's would be with Jonas.  The most interesting
fight would likely be the third one, Edgar's first
fight.  Edgar and Trevor would again face each other.
Rapina wondered if they would fight clean this time.

The Archery practice was shortened that day because of
the time it took to do the eliminations.  The Archery
eliminations were much easier.  The first test was a
fixed target at medium range. Each recruit took three
shots.  The markings on their arrows identified the top
twelve shooters. The top twelve archers then fired at a
moving target, also at medium range. The top six were
selected for the next day's contest.

Rapina barely managed to be one of the twelve best
archers on the initial fixed target test.  For moving
targets she came out number four and would thus play a
role in both the missile and hand-to-hand competitions
the next day.  In archery, she would be competing
against Drake, Trevor, Beck, Jonas, and Dominic.

That evening, while Rapina was busy preparing for the
next day's competition by wrapping her lovely, long
legs around as many of her favorite boyfriends as was
practical, Captain Red Jack's longship slid onto the
marsh and docked at Red Jack's Isle.  The captain was
to have been in port two days ago but a river blockade
erected by the local nobles had delayed him. Since the
trouble with the mercenaries, the captain had been
using a "fishing boat" to scout the waters ahead of the
longship for major difficulties and potential targets.
A well-organized land assault using a skeleton crew
aboard the longship to draw the enemy's attention had
cleared the blockade and netted the pirates another
cache of arms and armor.

That night in the captain's hall, Red Jack conferred
with his officers.

"...Good and what have ye found out about Rapina, arms
master?"

Hock scowled, "That yer damned wench is smarter than
me, that's what! Let me tell ya captain, I tried real
hard.  At first, I was sure she'd wash right out, but
that was stupid.  The obstacle course ain't everything,
but it's a pretty good indicator and she came in
bettern' half the recruits, but sometimes my head's
just a bit on th' thick side.  I had ta justify how a
wench could be doin' so well, so when I talked ta ya
and ya said ta watch fer magic, I was sure that's what
was up.  That wench was magicin' 'er way through
training."

"I was all convinced about it, but I'll tell ye, she
didn't fight like magic.  She be bright as they come,
but she got bruised up like the rest 'o the recruits,
more so 'cause a who I had ta pit 'er against ta see
all them spells I thought she must be usin'.  Well now,
fact is I can't say if she be using magic 'er not.  She
heals right fast but so does Beck, an he ain't a witch,
I'm pretty sure.  It's hard even fer me ta tell just
how bad a blow is.  I can tell within reason, but the
bruisin' don't appear till later, and Rapina, she don't
bruise easy, but you an' I both 'ave seen bruises on
'er."

"Hock shook his head.  One time I really hurt her, put
'er in with Trevor 'an then Edgar.  They both fight
dirty, an let me tell ya, after Kennon and Arzael here
worked me over about it I felt like a real cad.  They
acted like they couldn't talk to an old salt like me
about such a thing to the lady, but that didn't prevent
'em from comin' over an' given me hell in private.  I
hurt the poor wench an them two saw the wounds.  They
healed quick, but magic quick?  I can't say 'less the
magic's mighty sluggish.

"'One thing's certain, she's a devil with that damn
pussy a her's.  I had 'er watched clandestine-like off
'an on.  I know she tol' ye she couldn't help foolin'
around right from the start, so I didn't do nothin'
about it, but I'll tell ya, that wench's frisky as a
rabbit in heat an' she knows how ta use it. Every time
I foun' a boy who'd really tire 'er out and knock 'er
around, she'd make eyes at 'im all durin' their
fightin' anytime when I wasn't lookin'.  No boy could
stand up ta a wench like that makin' eyes at 'im. Every
one, 'ed loose it right there. 'Ventually some evenin'
she'd take 'im behind the pantry 'an, bang 'is balls ta
th' moon.  After that 'ed be worthless as a wooden
nickel.  No magic in it, what man would want ta
endanger 'is chances ta get back between _them_ legs
again?

"It weren't magic that spoilt my plan ta wash 'er out
or detect 'er magic though.  It twer' lots simpler:
Brains and determination.  That wench endured more
pain, spent more brainpower and time trainin' at arms
than any other recruit I had. When she kept endurin'
an' not washin out 'er castin' magery a man like me
could detect; I threw the big guys at 'er.  I thought I
had 'er.  She turned around, an' foun' that damn Skitch
without the help of o' single officer here, I might
add.

That Skitch is the wiliest damn pip-squeak on th' isle,
an' she got 'im ta teach 'er all about how the small,
weak, fast an' brainy can bust up the big dumbs.
Pretty soon my big guys were trippin' all over makin
fools of 'emselves tryin' ta fight 'er." 'f ye ask me,
th' only magic I can be sure she has is th' magic
'tween 'er ears and the magic 'tween 'er legs."

Captain Jack smiled, "Any observations Fletcher?"

"I was puzzled about Hock's treatment of her, but now I
understand.  She is a very healthy and affectionate
woman.  It was all I could do not to sleep with her,
especially when she nibbled my ear."

The officers laughed.

Arzael waved his hand, "I make it a point not to sleep
with my basic students. It wouldn't be right.  She is
the most unusual recruit I've ever known, so much so
that I wonder why we got her at all."

"I wish I could say she has no good reason ta be here,
but I can't.  Even in two-bit small towns, the powerful
are not always honest 'r kind."

"Enough 'o the wench fer now.  Truth is if she's got
magic, she don't trust us enough ta tell us. 'Can't
imagine why neither, don't I have a honest face?"

Coarse laughter filled the air.

"I figured the combat angle might be a long shot,
that's why I let 'er read that damned magic book.  Gods
know I can't make sense of it.  How's she doin' on that
Kennon?"

"Well sir, it's hard to keep track of her intellectual
abilities.  At first she seemed kind of average in her
reading ability, but after you told me how fascinating
she found your dictionary, I tried a few tests of my
own.  I think while she was reading my herb book and
looking up words as she went along, she absorbed the
contents of my medicinal dictionary.  Now I can use any
word in that book and I never get a blank stare from
her.  It wasn't that way at first, mind you, but now
there's not a word in that book I can't use.  After
about the third week when she probably finished both
dictionaries, she could read anything on my shelf, and
she just keeps getting faster, sir."

"This magic book of yours has had her engaged for quite
a while. Sure, I could be wrong, but it looks to me
like she is really applying herself to figure it out.
It doesn't seem like she knows it already."

"Logan, what's yer view."

"I agree with Kennon.  The book interests her a lot,
and she's been borrowin' volumes from your library
every week trying to get enough background to figure it
out. I don't know how in hell she reads more'n a
chapter outa ten volumes, but I guess it's like Kennon
says, she's gettin' fast.  Sometimes your library is
just not up to it an' she can't find the answer she's
lookin' for.  If this is all a fake, It's so damned
good she'd have ta be a wizard, and if that's the case
'an she don't like us, then we can all kiss are ass
g'bye.  Want my opinion?  She's just a brilliant kid
with heart-stompin' good looks."

Red Jack grinned, "Enough 'o the wench then.  We may
not know all 'er secrets, but she's never struck out at
anyone, Hock 'ere ain't been turned into a frog and 'e
still's got 'is wits about 'im.  Th' way I look at it,
she passed th' test.  If she's not tellin' us
everything, she'll do it in 'er own good time.  I'm
sure glad we got the results we did, 'cause I'm fixin
ta dip me wand in 'er magic soon as I can. I been with
a lot 'o women, but she's hotter an sweeter than any
five of 'em put tagether."

"What about the festivities tamorrow, Hock, who's gonna
be competin'"

"In hand-ta-hand we'll have Drake, Dominic, Edgar,
Jonas, Trevor, and Rapina, sir.  That last one's my
fault.  I kept pittin' her up against the best of 'em
tryin' ta make 'er wash out 'er cast spells.  Instead
she just learned ta manage 'em." Hock shook his head.

Red Jack smiled, "An' what o' th' archers, Fletcher?"

"Beck, Drake, Dominic, Trevor, Jonas, and Rapina, sir."


"Sounds like a good group.  If no one has anything ta
add, let's all get some rest.  We won't be gettin' any
tomorrow night, thar's gonna be one hell of a party ye
won't want ta miss."

The next day was packed with activity.  Practically the
whole pirate camp had gathered to watch the best
recruits in their rite of passage.  It was a fun and
boisterous occasion for the spectators and the winners.
The losers, while still far ahead of everyone else in
skill, had a less enjoyable experience. The first three
bouts were between Rapina and Dominic, Drake and Jonas,
and Edgar and Trevor.  Rapina and Drake both won, but
no one noticed since everyone was fixated on Edgar and
Trevor's fight.

The curious thing about the fight was that nothing
happened. Well nothing DIRTY happened.  It was a clean
fight.  Trevor won, but no one was sure if he was
better or if Edgar had just let him win. Rapina won her
next fight against Jonas.  Jonas was good, but her
extra training with Skitch had given Rapina the edge.
Drake and Edgar fought next.  It was a down and dirty
fight.  Both recruits beat each other severely.  In the
end, Drake won out. Edgar's dirty tricks could not
compare to Drake's strength and skill.

After the bout with Edgar, Drake was in no condition to
take on Trevor.  Still he held his own and managed to
keep Trevor from mauling him. Edgar and Dominic's bout
was over quickly.  Edgar managed to knee the
unfortunate Dominic in the groin before he pummeled him
into submission. Somehow Rapina managed to squeak past
Trevor in the next fight.  It almost seemed like he let
her win.  Still he did leave a few nasty wounds as
reminders. Drake, although badly battered, was able to
defeat Dominic.

Rapina and Edgar's match was next and everyone gathered
to watch. Rapina's training helped her to stay alive,
but that was about it.  Edgar beat her mercilessly.  He
was much better than anyone had ever guessed.  It
seemed that he had also found himself a mentor, but had
managed to hide it from everyone until now. Edgar's
last fight was with Jonas.  Jonas had to be carried to
the infirmary after the match.

The last scheduled bout of the day was between Drake
and Rapina. It appeared as though Rapina could barely
stand up, let alone fight, but she won the match. It
looked to some that she had landed a lucky blow to
knock Drake unconscious.  In truth, she had an ace up
her sleeve.  She was beat to a pulp after Edgar, but
she still had a good store of magical energy because
her other fights had gone relatively well.  She healed
the underbellies of her wounds but acted as though
still devastated.

Drake had fallen for a clever trap based on her
favoring her "damaged" right side.  It happened that
the part Drake had left open was his head, and Rapina's
over-eager reflexes and her training from Skitch had
done the rest. There was the possibility that Drake had
thrown the bout for her, that her head blow had not
been accurate or powerful enough to fell Drake for the
full fifteen seconds.   That was something only Drake
could know for sure.

It was no wonder Edgar had put Jonas in the infirmary.
Trevor had bruised the poor boy to a pulp in the
previous match, and then Edgar unleashed his nasty
tricks and training on poor Jonas in the next bout.
Since Trevor had also bested Jonas, that left both
Trevor and Rapina, each with only one loss. Drake and
Edgar had two losses each.

"We 'ave a close battle 'ere.  Rapina an' Trevor each
'ave four wins in five bouts, an Edgar an' Drake Each
'ave three wins in five bouts."

That means we 'ave ta make some new bouts till we got a
clear winner. Rapina an Trevor'll be up for a rematch
next while Drake regains 'is wits.

Trevor looked at Edgar and smiled the devil's smile.

Rapina swallowed hard.  She wondered if Edgar had not
thrown the bought to Trevor in return for him throwing
the bout to someone they both thought had little chance
of winning - Rapina herself. Rapina knew what she had
to do, she just was not sure she would be able to do
it. She dug into what little remained of her magical
energy and released some of it into her mind to keep
herself alert.

Trevor came on strong circling towards Rapina
vigorously, trying to keep her on the defensive,
raining blows off her shield as she sidled and backed
in the face of his mighty onslaught.  He knew she would
weaken, she was a girl, and he only had to hurt her
good and she would be out of the battle. Trevor bashed
the lighter woman with his shield throwing her
backward, and then he rushed her off-hand side and
scored. He only wished he could have hit her harder.
The wench had turned too quickly.  Edgar had not hit
her hard enough earlier.  She was somehow recovering
her mobility, but now she was shaken and Trevor would
press the advantage and find her weakness.

Rapina kept moving, trying not to get clubbed in her
off side again.  Trevor was watching her very closely,
just waiting for an opportunity.

Trevor saw his chance.  The stupid girl had her foot
out just a little too far.  He had put her out of
commission this way once before.  Suddenly he stepped
in and slammed his foot down. As he came in, he swung
towards her head.

Rapina felt the vibration on the ground as Trevor's
foot slammed into the area hers had been only a
fraction of a second earlier. She ducked straight down
with all of her strength she brought the edge of her
large shield slamming towards Trevor's instep.  She
felt the wind of his practice sword as it swished over
her head and then heard the most hideous crunching
sound as her shield struck its mark.  She smiled behind
her shield as she realized that Trevor had fallen for
her trap.

Trevor screamed as several bones in his foot broke
under the edge of Rapina's shield.  She had brought it
down like on his foot like an axe.

Rapina pushed forward and Trevor fell backwards.  She
moved her shield aside and smacked Trevor's broken foot
with everything she was worth.

"Break! That's one hit each.  You got 15 seconds ta get
up Trevor, or ye loose."

Somehow Trevor forced himself to stand though horrible
pain lanced up his leg. The damn wench had figured his
favorite trick and used it against him.

This time it was Rapina who circled rapidly and rained
a few blows against Trevor's shield.  She went faster
and faster then slammed her shield into his shield,
forcing him to catch himself with his broken foot or
fall backwards.

Trevor grimaced and launched a blow at Rapina's head.
Her shield caught the brunt of it, but it gave her
enough of a rap that it counted as a hit.

As she tried to fend off the head hit, Rapina spun
Trevor and jabbed her practice sword into his kidney
with every ounce of her strength for her second score.
For a few moments after the head blow, her vision swam,
but she managed to recover her wits if not her bruised
skull. Trevor stared daggers at her for the kidney blow
and his mangled foot.

"Shieldless!"  Trevor challenged.

"If you were behind in scoring, you could demand a
style change, but we're even, challenge denied," Rapina
smiled menacingly.

"I'm going ta kill you, you bleedin' bitch!"

Hock rang the bell.

Rapina circled to Trevor's off side again, keeping low
and compact, then she slammed into him like a bullet.
He fell backwards but pulled his feet away too fast for
her to hit them.

After he was up again, Rapina circled in the opposite
direction, she crossed swords with him for a few blows
then pivoted and bashed him down once again, this time
rapping him on the thigh. She was now ahead, 3 hits to
2.

"Shieldless!"

"Doff yer shields."

Rapina carefully put her shield aside and met Trevor
once again. Trevor launched a rapid series of blows,
feinted and punched Rapina hard in her right breast.
Rapina screamed in pain and jumped to the side too late
as Trevor landed a practice sword blow and a big bruise
on her left arm.

"Three hits ta three!"

Trevor swung for the wench's pretty face then launched
an unexpected kick at her knee with his bad foot.

Rapina jumped above the kick and parried. The blow
glanced off her sword.  Her fencing training had saved
her.  As she landed, she stepped in.

Trevor grabbed the bitch's ear and was about to rip it
off when her knee hammered into his balls like a
battering ram. Trevor roared with pain.

Rapina felt Trevor's grip on her ear loosen and she
pushed him hard.  She had not telegraphed her move
because she had not needed to glance down at his groin.
His sexual energy had guided her.  He fell on his back
and pulled his feet in, but Rapina was already swinging
her practice sword.  Its tip thumped against Trevor's
good foot, and then she jumped to the side.

"Four ta three!"

Trevor got up, but even his good foot was hurt now.
He'd fix that wench.

Rapina kept her knees bent, she knew Trevor would try
to do something unexpected.

Trevor hopped forward tangled swords, and overbore
Rapina, pushing her down with his superior weight.

Rapina went into a backwards somersault and came up
standing. She parried Trevor's sword and stepped
backward as she caught his fist in her hand and jerked
it towards her.

Trevor felt his arm being pulled, he could not keep up
the pace, not without stepping forward on his useless
foot.

Rapina could see the pain in Trevor's face as he took
the weight on his bad foot then quickly stepped forward
back onto his good foot.  Rapina reversed direction and
stamped his good instep with everything she had.

Trevor roared with pain and fell forward onto his
knees.

Rapina slammed her knee into Trevor's nose with a
crunch at the same time as she crowned him the with
hilt of her practice sword.

Trevor felt a blow near the top of the back of his head
and then everything went black.

"Five ta three.  Rapina wins.  See here, in a raid, a
good pirate fights dirty 'an ta the death, but fightin'
dirty in a friendly bout is double-edged.  Pretty soon
them folks who usually fight clean is gonna make an
exception in yer case. Thisn' gives Rapina five wins
outa six. The winner O' Drake and Edgar is going ta
have four outa six, same as Trevor. That means Drake or
Edgar is goin' ta be fightin' Trevor, assumin' Trevor
wakes up.  Seems ta me anybody who can't beat a boy w'
two broken feet ain't worth a sack o' potatoes."

Although he was still hurting from his earlier bouts
Drake was feeling much better after his short rest.  He
stretched his sore muscles before stepping into the
ring.  "Well my 'friend'.  It's time to see what you're
really made of."  Drake raised his sword and shield and
beckoned Edgar forth.

Edgar was also a little worse for wear, but he
definitely had enough energy to make Drake eat his
words.  He smiled inwardly. "I held back last time.
You won't be so lucky this time, heh." Edgar brought
his sword and shield to bear and stepped towards Drake.


Edgar had indeed been holding back.  Drake was having a
more difficult time of fending off his attacks and
landing blows of his own.  Fortunately, Drake had not
needed to use all of his skill to defeat Edgar in their
previous bout. Now, however, he would have to use every
ounce of skill he possessed. Their wooden swords
clattered against each other, off their shields, and
even found their mark occasionally.

So far, it was a dead heat.  Neither attacker could
gain the advantage.  Edgar frowned.  He was exhausted
from his earlier matches.  Yet he was sure that Drake
was feeling no better. Nevertheless, if he did not
score a decisive hit soon he would have too little
energy left to stand let alone win.

Drake was tired.  His muscles ached and he had more
bruises than he could ever remember having.  Still he
fought on.  Edgar would have to use every bit of his
energy if he wanted to beat Drake. Drake patiently
waited for Edgar to make a mistake.  He knew that
eventually one of them would.  He just hoped that Edgar
would be the first to slip up. Unfortunately Drake's
leg cramped up horribly and gave out on him. Drake
crumpled to the ground and Edgar saw his opportunity.
He brought his sword around in an arc hoping to bash
Drake's skull in with it. Fortunately Drake was cool
headed enough to retain his senses and brought his
shield up just in time to fend off the blow.

"Damn!" Edgar hissed as he stumbled past Drake.  He had
put too much behind his swing and had lost his balance.


As Edgar stumbled past, Drake brought his sword to bear
on the back of Edgar's knees.  His sword found its mark
and Edgar toppled backwards.

Edgar looked up in astonishment just in time to see the
hilt of Drake's sword. A moment of pain was followed by
darkness.

"Ouch!  Drake wins!  Forget tha score!  Edgar's out
cold!  It looks like it's just you and Trevor left
Drake."  Hock rolled his eyes.  "This oughta be an
excitin' match."  Hock yawned.

The match between Drake and Trevor did not last long.
Trevor could barely stand.  Drake just danced around
him and landed his blows easily.  He could have really
walloped Trevor, but he just settled for landing
scoring hits.

The archery contest took far less time to complete than
had the hand-to-hand contest.  The six archers took
five shots each at a moving target at close, medium and
long range.  In the end, Rapina came in third.  Dominic
won first place, and Drake came in second beating
Rapina by equaling her at the two closer ranges and
besting her at long range. Beck came in forth, Jonas
fifth, and Trevor, who could presently neither stand
nor see straight, came in last.

The contests finished in the late afternoon, and the
pirates returned to the central clearing where Fishy
and Piggy were already to begin serving a feast.

"Before I reward these fine winners taday, I've got an
announcement ta make," Red Jack hollered so that all
could hear. "We was late gettin' back here because we
had ta knock out a blockade.  Luckily are scouts saw it
before we was on top of it 'an we were able ta sneak
aroun' one side by land an' take 'em by surprise.  It
took a while for the toadies on th' the other side o'
the river ta figure out what was happenin.' They tried
ta come over the blockadin' barges ta help their mates,
but by then we was just about done killin' 'em and were
ready as each wave 'o soldiers arrived down the narrow
neck o' barges blockin' the river.  We slaughtered 'em
with arrows.  We got some wounded, but we did mighty
well considerin'."

"Now this blockade was in the narrows o' the river
before she widens out and starts gettin' marshy here
about.  What I'm thinkin' is that the men in black we
fought a month back were missed by whoever paid 'em.
They know we have a camp in this marsh an that's why
their soldiers in black never came back. They figured
ta catch are boat, and then use captured pirates ta
lead 'em here through the confusion o' the marsh.
Instead we killed the soldiers and smashed the
blockade, an' now they ain't got many soldiers left ta
attack us with.

But ya got ta understand nobles.  They got deep pockets
from taxin' the snot outa' the peasants.  Taxin's just
like raidin' only it keeps the peasants alive an'
producin' year after year. Most nobles are tight-wads
in spite of their hoards, an' they don't much like
throwin' money down a rat-hole searchin' for are ships
which amount ta a needle in a haystack. Unfortunately
now they got are general location, and they got their
spoilt brat noblemans' pride hurt.  They'll dig deep,
hire 'em selves an army an' maybe call on the bigger
lords fer aid. Ya can bet on it."

The blockade was mostly a string o' barges spannin' the
river, but close ta shore there was a big merchant ship
housin' the officers.  We captured that boat an' got it
parked closer ta the mouth o' the marsh.  Tanight we
party, but not as hard as I'd like, 'cause tamarra
we're goin' ta strike this camp an' take loads a stuff
in the longships out ta the merchant ship and stuff 'er
full.  Then we're going ta get the hell otta here, set
up a camp somewhere else, an go back ta bein' a needle
in a haystack again.  This was a great secret camp, but
it ain't secret no more."

"The up side 'o the blockade destroyin' is we got a new
hoard o' weapons an' armor and I'm going ta give the
winners here first stab at 'em.  I see some of ye
winners were also former battle heroes.  Ye may already
have better weapons then these.  If ye do, take a spare
or ask fer a boon.  I'll see what I can do. Now, don't
be too disappointed, ye still can party hard, we're
jus' going ta have ta double the watch and get are
drinkin' done early so as we can get ta bed before dawn
and get us a few hours o' sleep.

Now, back ta the rewardin'.  The surprise winner in
taday's hand-ta-hand was Rapina.  I watched 'er fight.
She's fast, she's alert 'an she keeps goin' even when
she's beat ta shit. Any o' the top six might o' won.
It was a close match.  Seein' as how we have a good
hoard 'o blades, I'm offerin' every one o' the six a
weapon.  Fifth an' sixth place gives ye one item, third
an fourth gives ye two items, first an' second gives ye
three items.  If ye won at hand-ta-hand and archery,
add 'em up. First place gives ye a special winner's
boon or another item. If ye already got the weapons ye
want, then ask fer a boon. Rapina, ye've a winner's
boon, plus ye got 3 items fer bein' first in hand ta
hand, an two items for bein' third in archery. What'll
ya have?

While Red Jack was talking, Rapina had looked over the
weapons. "May I ask Arzael to inspect the rapiers for
me, Sir?

"Indeed ye can."

There were only three rapiers.  They had all of them
carried by officers, no doubt.  Arzael tested each
blade, and handed one of them to Rapina.

"I see this one has had a few gems removed from it's
sheath, hilt, and guard.  It is a blade of utmost
quality, at least as good as my own, probably better,
and obviously quite new.  The steel is unusual.  I see
no signs of rust. I've never seen such a clear and
elaborate tang mark before, either.  It's a tiny coat
of arms.  The script makes it clear that the blade was
forged in Montfort."  Arzael handed the blade and
sheath to Rapina.

"Aye, it warr a nobleman's blade, the commander an'
chief o' the blockade, an' a fine swordsman.  Thar's a
main gauche that goes with it over thar."

Arzael nodded and handed the main gauche to Rapina.

Rapina smiled, she had never seen weapons of such
quality. Rapina looked at the armor, but it was easy to
see none of it was shaped as she was. She found a
throwing knife in a kidskin sheath, but that was the
only other item of interest.

"Is that all ye can find girl? What else will ye have?
Ye still have yer two items from th' archery contest
an' th' winner's boon."

"Boon, Sir," Rapina said.

What'll it be? The captain asked.

Rapina went to the captain and whispered in his ear.

Whisper and counter whisper traveled back and forth
between Rapina and the captain.

"Ye drive a hard bargain, wench. DONE!"

"Rapina's no longer me own booty.  She's a free wench!"


The men cheered!

Red Jack grinned a salty grin, "She says I got certain
qualities guaranteein' I'll not be sleepin' alone if I
asks 'er over, so get one thing straight.  My wench 'er
not, any 'a ye sea dogs hurts 'er an' ruins me fun,
ye'll be suppin' on yer own balls, understand? Don't ye
worry too much.  If ye don't hurt 'er too bad I'll
serve 'em to ye cooked 'stead 'a raw," the captain
glared at the men with a look so deadly that the men
involuntarily felt themselves being castrated by the
captain's knife.

"Y'er, not ta fight over 'er nor treat 'er like yer
property, neither.  When I free a wench, damn it!  She
stays free. Don't be thinkin' yer gonna sweet talk 'er
an' get 'er all ta yerself Neither.  That aint goin' ta
happen.  She's a pirate not a nun. That wench is
hotter'n a bank o' embers, an ye try ta steal 'er fer
yerself, ye'll be facin' down half an' army o' fightin'
mad pirates. One more thing, I'll have no pimpin'.
There'll be no makin' deals with each other fer the
wench's favors.  Now that I've freed 'er, the only one
in charge o' Rapina's favors is Rapina. Understand?

Yes Sir! The men replied.

The captain wiped his brow.  "That's the biggest
winner's boon I've granted in years, but the odds o' a
wench winnin' hand ta hand over thirty some strong men
are so long as ta be near impossible.  Th' way I see
it, she earned everything she got."

"Now ye got two more items comin' to ya girl, what'll
it be?"

Rapina smiled, "Permission to build my own place at the
new camp, sir?"

"Now ordinarily that would be a boon I'd never grant ta
a new crewman, but Leech Kennon has told me that ye are
fast becomin' th' finest medic he's ever had th'
pleasure ta train.  Lots' o' times ye'll be tendin' the
wounded at odd times' o' the night so as Kennon can get
some sleep 'least half the time.  That an' bein' as ye
moan like a hyena when ye're under a good lover, I'm
goin' ta have ta grant somethin' just so me men can get
a decent night's sleep," Jack chuckled.

Rapina blushed.

"As are chief nurse, I'll give ye yer own room off the
infirmary, done!"

"Now, ye got one more, wench, make it good."

"There were a few things on our little boat the boys
had from me, and then you got them when we joined up.
I'd like them back."

"Oi, now girl, ye had some good stuff there," the
captain chuckled.  Ye had a goodly bit o' coin an' a
chunk 'o gold but I've gone and spent most o' that.
But I tell ye what, I'll give ye back the few silvers
remainin', plus any clothes an' weapons ye're presently
usin' from me stores, 'an th' two pendants ye had,
includin' the lighted one.  No sense in yer goin' blind
readin' in th' dark.  A blind wench can't 'preciate a
man's... good looks," Captain Red Jack winked.

The pirates laughed.

"Well now, I've been hard pressed fer boons.  Imagine
that, givin' a wench both 'er freedom an' 'er
possessions back in one day.  Ye'd think I warr some
kind 'o gentleman."

The crewmen gasped.

"I'll have ta do some raidin' and torcherin' just ta
get me bad name back," the captain chuckled.  "Now who
do we 'ave next?

Edgar pushed his way to the front.  "I am sir!" he
belted out as he scanned the booty.

"Now hold on there Edgar, ye finished fourth in hand ta
hand. Ye'll get yer things, but ye'll have ta wait fer
them that finished before ye."

Drake patiently waited for Edgar to finish his outburst
before stepping forward to claim a splendid sword and
parrying dagger.

Ye still 'ave another item fer yer second place in
hand-ta-hand and three more fer yer archery win, Drake.
Use 'em 'er loose 'em.  We got quite a selection 'o
armor.  I've seen a few suits that might fit ye.  If
yer done with takin' blades I'll let the next winner
have a go at it.

Drake nodded and went to try on a couple of suits of
armor.

After the others had gone, Edgar found a particularly
wicked looking dagger and sword that he claimed as his
own.

Drake found a fine suit of leather armor.  The leather
plates smelled good as they had been boiled in bees wax
for extra strength.

The captain again spoke to Drake, "Ye're nearly as big
o' winner taday as Rapina, ye got 3 more items fer yer
second place in Archery, Drake.  Arzael, show the man
some 'o them bows we captured."

Arzael handed Drake a heavy bow.  "Try it, if you can
bend it, you'll never need another bow.  That's elven
craftsmanship there, and there is none better."

Drake could bend the bow but it was not easy.  Although
an elf had made it, the bow had obviously been made for
a burly human officer.

When he saw that Drake was able to bend the bow, the
fletcher handed the quiver of arrows that went with it
to Drake.

Ye 'ave another two ta go, what'll it be?

Drake could not think of much else, but then realized
there were a couple of things he could use.  "Boon,
Sir.  "

"What da ye want?"

"Broadsword training, and ship's pilot training as soon
as I am ready, Sir?"

"Done!  Ye'll have the broadsword trainin' first an'
when ye 'ave yer letters down ye'll be gettin' pilot's
training."

The other winners took weapons, armor, special duties,
weapons training or job training, as their rewards.

Inside Rapina glowed with the triumph of victory, but
outside she felt like one huge, painful, walking
bruise. The feast the followed the prizes was the best
she had eaten so far.  During and after the feast one
pirate after another congratulated her.  Many of them
clapped her on the back or touched her bruised arm.
Rapina was in even more pain than she had been before
the rush of victory had subsided.

Rapina found that a pint of ale helped ease her
suffering.  Two pints made her belly swell but allowed
her to completely forget her pain.  Three pints and her
coordination and better judgment dissolved like salt in
water.  She danced too close to lusty men often bumping
against them. Sometimes she groped back when she was
groped, and she practically jumped oarmaster Pike and
dragged him into the bushes.

Had it not become such a habit, she would never have
remembered to control the energy to prevent healing her
wounds too completely.  She barely managed to keep from
letting her need drain too much energy from her lover.
The tryst with Pike helped; it eased her wounds a bit
and momentarily cleared her head a little.  Rapina
realized she would be in big trouble if she did not
curb her drinking. She decided she had better avoid the
center of the party for a while and took a second mug
of ale and some food to the infirmary for Doanthalis.

The wild elf's numerous wounds were almost healed.
Rapina did not know what Captain Red Jack planned to do
with Doanthalis now that the pirates were moving, but
she decided she had better see if he wanted to join the
crew before the Captain made any irreversible
decisions.

"Hi Doanthalis.  I brought you food and ale.  How are
the wounds?" Rapina asked.

Doanthalas' emerald eyes settled on Rapina, but he
didn't smile. He never seemed to smile...ever.  "My
strength returns as does the sun at the dawn." He
looked down at his manacles and tugged at them
absently.  The elf sighed and looked back to Rapina.

"I'm glad you're feeling better.  I felt like one big
bruise before I drank too much ale," Rapina grinned;
but I was so lucky today.  We had the final combat
bouts for arms training and I took first place in hand-
to-hand combat and third in archery. Now we're having a
big party.

I've brought some news, too. I am a little more of a
free woman today.  For our winning, we got to choose
several items of booty, arms and such, or boons,
getting the captain to grant us some favor. By a boon,
I am no longer the captain's property, so I am a freer
woman, though I'm still a pirate.  That's kind of a
necessity. I crossed a powerful man who wanted to
enslave me, so now I'm stuck as an outlaw keeping the
company of outlaws.

You should know something else too.  The captain's ship
destroyed a river blockade on the way here.  The local
nobles know there is a pirate camp somewhere in this
marsh.  Captain Red Jack said that we have to be
difficult to find or the nobles will use their wealth
to hire an army to put us down.  Since our camp is no
longer secret, we're going to strike it tomorrow and
leave this area.

"So far, the Captain hasn't said what he plans to do
with you. I don't know what brought you here to this
marsh or if you are attached to this area, but I think
I can get Captain Red Jack to let you join the crew if
you want to.  I've heard him make remarks in praise of
your fighting technique."

The muscles in the elf's face tightened and a troubled
look entered his eyes. One hand absently traced the
outline of one of the more demonic looking tattoos.
"For countless seasons my life has not been my own.  It
seems that my life may never again be my own."
Doanthalas looked away and swallowed hard. "My only
attachment to this place are the manacles that bind me
to this bed. My...home...lies...many dawns away."  A
deep melancholy seemed to settle in over the elf.  He
was quiet for a long time before continuing.

"Your...captain...is right in that I fight with the
ferocity of a cornered forest child."  Noticing
Rapina's confused look he said, "A forest child...as in
a panther or wolf...or bear..." Tremors seemed to
ripple through his body.  "The...the spirits that dwell
in darkness were my guides.  They killed the elf and
gave life to the savage." Doanthalas looked at his
hands.  "The taint of their vile spirits and the blood
of those I have killed will always stain these hands."
The tattooed elf closed his eyes.  "Your captain
already controls my life.  It seems as if we are
already joined.  Tell this captain that if these bonds
are removed I will do his bidding."
---

Later that night, the captain invited Rapina to his bed
and she slept with him until early the next morning.
Logan got the camp up and running, hangovers and all.

While she was dressing, Captain Red Jack came with her
things. Here now, don't put yer shirt on just yet, I'd
like ta admire those tits fer a minute 'er two more,
an' I got yer things.  That damn Trevor punched ye
pretty hard in the right one, I expected a much bigger
bruise.  Ye sure ye ain't got some magic power?

"Aunti said I'd have my own set of talents.  Maybe
healing fast is one of them, or maybe I was just
lucky," Rapina shrugged. "It really hurt when he
punched me."

Aye, I could tell.  An' if it weren't fer th' fact ye
broke 'is feet, I'd a had Brackston work 'im over fer
damagin' me goods. Ye've got quite a collection o'
bruises there, but ye're doin' pretty well considerin'.
Most times th' recruits're sore for a couple o' weeks
after th' end o' basic.

"Here's th' silver an' agate pendant," the captain put
the pendant around Rapina's neck and looked at the way
the dreamstone nestled just between the fullness of her
breasts. "Heh, if it warr any bigger it wouldn't fit,"
The captain grinned.

"Here's the crystal light. I'm throwin' in th' little
black leather pouch ta keep it from lightin up yer
lower chest. Arzael made it. Lucky that chain's a bit
longer'n th' other or ye'd never be able ta wear 'em
both.  Looks good, but I'll bet that gold chain came
off from the holy symbol I already sold off."

Rapina nodded emphatically, her breasts bouncing
buoyantly as she did. "Yes, it did, but the light was
more useful to me on a chain than the holy symbol was."


"That be th' case always,"  The captain chuckled.  I
sold the symbol an' the signet off, but I foun' out the
name o' th' family yer reverend Evangeline belonged to.
His father warr th' Marquis of Avengene.  Th' way I
understand it, th' marquis was the son o' a Northern
baron, who was killed by orcs or some such. His dad
gettin' killed must a made 'im madder'n hell 'cause 'e
made 'imself into a war lord, an' expanded 'is holdin's
considerably.  He grabbed a lot o' land, an' 'is barony
gave th' crown some fine military service in the border
wars 'bout twenty-five years back.  'Cause a those
things th' crown granted 'im a bigger title.  Now 'es
got ta be seventy ta eighty w' one foot in the grave.
Chances are good 'is first born is already filin' half
'is shoes.  I'll say one thing for ye, when ya go about
getting yerself in trouble, ye get in trouble w' the
best."

Rapina frowned.  "Just my luck, a Marquis.  Why
couldn't he have been the second son of a landless
knight?"

"Look at the bright side, girl, ye've got extra
motivation ta become a wizard,"  the captain smiled.

Rapina nodded.  "Now that I'm out of basic, maybe I'll
have more time to study."

"Ye should have a little bit more, though not as much
as ye might like.  We're goin' ta be catchin' ye up
with Kent in navigation trainin' and Leech Kennon is
goin' ta keep ye goin' on medicine 'till 'e runs out 'o
books.  Right now we'd better get dressed and help w'
th' move.  Here's a lighter version o' th' money pouch
ye brought.  It's all silver an copper, but at least
it's spendable.  Now let's get goin', I've got an elf
ta free an' a camp ta pack up," the captain smiled.

For the rest of the day the pirate camp was a flurry of
activity. A small crew including Kent and oarmaster
Pike took Red Jack's longship back and forth between
the merchant vessel nearer the river and the camp
itself.  Everything movable had to go.  Rapina spent
most of her time helping Leech Kennon and his guards
load up as much of the infirmary as they could fit in
the boat. By evening, every pirate looked exhausted as
he ate a simple meal.

"Ye did good, men, but ye're not done yet," Captain Red
Jack announced. "Are scouts say th' way is open
tanight, but we can't count on it stayin' that way.
We're goin' ta do some dangerous sailin' tanight while
th' nobles are still lickin' their wounds an' meetin'
w' one another.  Sailin' in th' dark is th' only way we
can slip the nobles without 'em knowin we left, 'er
whether we went downstream 'er up. Load up the last of
it and git yerself on a boat.

Doanthalis, I 'ave a special job for ye.  I don't much
like entrustin' it to a green recruit, but It'll give
ye a chance ta prove yerself.  I know ye elves can see
in th' dark, an though the wind be favorable for us
this eve, I can see by the clouds its goin' ta be
darker'n a wolf's mouth.  I want ye ta climb the mast
an' be th' look-out.  Arzael, yer goin' ta pilot.  An
the other ships are goin' ta follow us in a line.
We'll have bullseye lanterns kept flashin' at are other
boats if need be, but that'll be the only light on are
ship, hardly more'n a firefly.  I got some green tinted
glass we can use ta make it the firefly color.

Two longships and a large, bargish merchant vessel
slipped out of the marsh that night and headed upstream
- West on the river Augustana.  It was the opposite of
the logical direction, so Red Jack took it. Rapina
helped man the sails for the first part of the night,
then went to bed and slept very soundly.  When she
woke, the ships were moored in a bayou that was
surrounded by thick forest.  Rapina spent most of the
rest of the day learning navigation from Roger and
reading Jack's magic book. She took a nap in the late
afternoon and was up in time to help get the ships
underway.

The second night went much like the first, but this
time Rapina was up all night helping with the sails and
signal light.  The third night the wind was calm and
both longships were used to tow the merchant ship.
Oarsmen took twenty minute stints at the oars, rowing
as hard as they could, then resting until it was again
their turn. After a week of night sailing, Captain Red
Jack changed the schedule.  For the next seven days the
ships sailed day and night.

When the captain was satisfied that he had traveled far
enough, scouts were sent out to find a new camp.  Red
Jack preferred large marshes for his pirate camps. They
were difficult places for large, organized armies of
foot soldiers to attack, and ships could easily run
aground or become lost in them. Unfortunately, the
banks of the river in this area were high, and marshes
were scarce and small.  Eventually the pirates found a
large lake that opened into the river.  At the center
of the lake was an isle, one Red Jack claimed as his
own.

The story continues in [Rapina]010 New Beginnings.