Princess (6 page)

As Luides' cock slipped from her mouth she cried out in ecstasy, her whole body shaking to her orgasm as she was fucked. Her mind was full of wanton thoughts, of how she'd been taken and used on the floor, in her mouth, in her tuppenny, in her bottom ring, all made receptacles for male cocks and for their jism. Then it was how her maidenhead had gone to a bull-nymph, burst across the cock head of a man-beast, her bottom entered too, and how good it felt to just be mounted and used by as many males as could possibly accommodate themselves in her body, any males.

A week after Iriel's first fucking by the crew, the Gull of Cintes reached a cape that dwarfed the Grey Cape, sheer cliffs lifting maybe two hundred man heights from the sea and higher beyond, towards a colossal peak the tip of which rose above hazy purple cloud.

By then life had settled to a routine, of galley work, meals and regular fuckings. Their place also became established according to their rank, save that Aeisla rather than Kaissia was looked to as their leader. Awed by Aeisla's reputation, Kaissia made no attempt to dispute this, while Iriel quickly found herself developing a sense of loyalty to the strong, confident Reeveling. Kaissia, despite being not only shamed but indebted, had begun to reassert something of the natural haughtiness that went with her rank, but principally to Iriel and Yi. Cianna continued as always, Yi slowly coming to terms with her new life and having to keep nine men sexually satisfied.

Despite feeling than she had the least physically appealing men to satisfy, Iriel was at least content that her accommodation was better than Cianna's and Yi's, who had to make do among the hammocks of the riggers and deckmen as best they could. For her there was a choice, if not a perfect one. Corbold had his own tiny cabin beside the galley, which although comfortable enough had the disadvantage that his massive bulk left little or no room in the bunk. Kantch also had a bunk, at one side of the carpenters shop, but while his lanky body and relative height made both sex and sleeping convenient, he had a nasty habit of greasing his morning erection and intruding it unexpectedly into her bottom. Not that she minded the buggery too much, but the grease stung and it invariably left her desperate to reach the pot before her bottom erupted. Huin and Luides slept in hammocks, but would frequently come for her in the night.

She had quickly come to know each of the four men's cocks by taste alone. Corbold's had an odd, sickly sweet flavour, almost sugary and rather like his breath. It tended to make her gag when she sucked, while his weight was uncomfortable, so that with him she preferred to be taken from the rear. Huin was better, merely salty and masculine, which was fortunate as his favourite trick was to fuck her breasts and mouth together, coming either down her throat or in her face. Luides tended to play with himself while cooking, so was always greasy and tasted of spice, while Kantch was the worst of them for his habit of buggering her at every opportunity. For all the drawbacks she found herself coming to want her orgasms more than ever, and to behave with utter wantonness once she had become aroused, making her wonder just how wonderful fucking would be with more appealing men.

She also came to learn about the ship and of Oretea in general. The green and gold colours represented those of the ruling house of Staive Cintes, the country being ruled by family groups of greater or lesser importance. She also learnt the function of the curious black tubes mounted on the castles, bombards, which hurled iron balls great distances by a process akin to magic.

For day after day they sailed south and west, across great low swells rolling in from the western ocean. The land was to the east, where a range of high mountains reared above jagged cliffs and tiny bays of black sand. Occasionally Iriel glimpsed a dwelling on the slopes or a plume of smoke rising from a gully or a grove of stunted trees, but whatever men inhabited the place, if men they were, they were never visible.

After the second week even the lonely cottages were gone, the great mountain sides bare but for coarse grass and scattered trees immediately below the snow. Slowly the mountains became less grand and ever more barren. Trees disappeared altogether, and the snow, until finally the mountains gave way altogether, to be replaced by dunes of featureless sand beyond which nothing was visible. They turned west, standing well out from the shore to avoid sandbars were the great dunes and the sea met.

After three days the dunes ended in a point, white sand washed by surf, a place of utter desolation, yet which fired the seamen with excitement. Their course was adjusted, to due south, and for another day and a half they sailed in long tacks, at last reaching a low, grass grown coast. Again they turned south and west, and as the dusk gathered lights became visible far down the shore.

Next morning they came into Staive Cintes. Iriel and the other girls watched from the rail, doing their best to keep out of the deckmen's way but too fascinated to go below. For Iriel it was the only city she had seen beside Aegerion, and very different. In place of the tall, high-gabled grey-stone houses of the Aeg, Staive Cintes consisted of squat, block shaped structures, the raw yellow of sand or washed in glaring white. Here and there, domes or squat towers rose above the other buildings, copper green or a brilliant pale blue, while tall palms sprouted from what were presumably gardens.

The harbour was a wide blue pool behind what at first seemed to be a line of dunes but as they came around it was revealed as a great breakwater against the outside of which the sand had piled. There were other ships, more than Iriel could ever recall seeing in the harbour at Aegerion; trading carracks like the Gull of Cintes, green hulled warships with the black mouths of bombards extending from each side in lines, what seemed to be fishing vessels, and highly decorated craft with no obvious purpose at all.

Iriel watched in fascination as they drew close to the quay. As at Aegerion, a broad area of flagstones ran the length of the waterfront, with warehouses behind, piles of nets and cargo, and the stalls of merchants and the vendors of seafood set here and there. There the resemblance ended. The small stature and yellow-brown skin of the Oreteans she had grown used to, but while the clothing of all but the high-ranking seamen was plain and functional, that of the citizens was not. Even the longshoremen who warped the Gull of Cintes ashore wore brilliantly coloured turbans; orange, purple, viridian green. The clothes of the stall holders were more vivid still, loose trousers of silk tied with sashes and ankles knots, split vests that left the belly and chest showing, even on the women. These, although tiny, with little rounded bottoms and breasts never larger than a fair sized apple, still looked indecent, and Iriel wondered why there were not simply ravished on the ground. On most, delicate catches of filigree joined the two sides of their vests, but many among the poorer and the younger had no such safeguard, so that with the movement of their bodies and the shore breasts slices of rounded flesh and even pert nipples were frequently exposed.

All five girls had come to the rail, and descended the gangplank as soon as it was in place, to gather on the quay with the seamen, several of whom bent to kiss the rough yellow stones at their feet. Aeisla and Cianna came together, the others remaining with the men they had serviced, no two among them having any particular attachments. Luides joined Iriel, his round, fleshy face beaming.

‘Advise me,' she asked him. ‘What should I do to secure a position in trade?'

‘Simply visit the appropriate shops and ask,' he said. ‘There are clothiers, and if they have no openings, sail making might prove a choice, or the sewing of sacks, net making even. Not that you wish to take employment yet, surely? We are newly ashore, full paid!'

‘I have no pay, nor anywhere to sleep, unless I am allowed on the ship.'

‘No pay? Not so, Captain Baltrank distributes the purses once he has been to the purser at House Eriedes. You have worked the galley, have you not?'

‘Yes, but…'

‘Then you will be paid. Me, I am for a brief visit to my family, a draught of good black beer, then the House of Cunt.'

He smacked his lips in anticipation, then went on.

‘You should go there, were you not so proud. I would introduce you to Madame Hivies, who would be glad to have a girl of your strange beauty working for her, either piecework or in house.'

‘I do not understand, this what you call a brothel?'

‘Yes, and most popular in Staive Cintes, if not truly the best. Most girls bring their men there for half what is paid, which is piecework, while others live in, thus gaining board and shelter, but less money and the occasional application of Madame Hivies' dog switch to their backsides. You would earn well, ten times what an apprentice seamstress could hope for.'

‘It is impossible, strange too. Why would a man pay for what he can take, and thus honour the girl?'

‘Strange to you, perhaps. In Staive Cintes any man who takes a girl… ravishes her as you say, would have the watch after him, and she would not feel honoured, far from it.'

‘I do not understand at all, but I will not be going to this House of Cunt. Corbold, or Huin perhaps, will be able to provide advice.'

‘Huin will be seeing to the nymphs. As to Corbold, ask him.'

Iriel turned to see the fat cook coming down the gangplank, his round red face split into a grin, only directed not at her, but at a dumpy Oretean woman who came straight to him, followed by a group of dozen well-fed children.

‘Corbold will want to be with his family,' Luides remarked. ‘As I will be with mine just so soon as I have my purse. If you wish to meet later, I will be at the House Taepenk, where you may taste black beer, sour bread, olives, honey cake and all the fine things of my land.'

He moved off as Captain Baltrank appeared with a bald old man in a robe of brilliant emerald silk. Iriel looked around, feeling somewhat lost. Aeisla and Cianna were together, with the Navigator Steithes, Yi with a group of riggers, Kaissia nowhere to be seen. At last she went to join the queue, tagging herself on to the very end. After a moment Aeisla called out to her, saying she would be at somewhere called Oxtan's Yard. Iriel responded with a wave but stayed in the queue, waiting patiently until her turn came.

The bag given to her by Captain Baltrank proved to contain a number of coins, six silver pieces roughly the size of a thalar, five of copper, larger and heavier and a single piece of gold, thick, yet no larger than her thumbnail. Taking herself to one side, she carefully concealed the silver and gold in an inner pocket, put the copper in an outer and returned to the open quay. None of the other girls were visible, and she crossed the quay to the largest of those streets opening onto it, looking around herself in wonder and drinking in the strange sights, sounds and smells.

Everything was bright, intense, the sunlight so strong it hurt her eyes and shining from clear skies, no different from conditions at sea for the last few days but strange now that she was in a city. The scents were also stronger now that she was in the shelter of the street, spice and baking bread, fruit and meat, dung and decay, all so richer by far than in Aegerion. It was also odd to be so much taller than those around her, only the very largest of the men equalling her height, while no women came up to her chin.

As Captain Baltrank had promised, none accosted her, despite numerous curious glances, some admiring, some questioning, some shocked or even fearful. Several times she passed pairs of armed men in neat green and gold uniforms, but otherwise the citizens seem to go without protection, even the men, which seemed highly peculiar, yet none seemed to wish to take advantage.

Walking to the top of the low hill, she paused beneath the high white wall of what seemed to be a keep or palace of some sort and looked back. The street led arrow straight to the quay side, with the sea visible over the rooftops, cut by the masts of ships. Her confidence had increased, also her hunger, and she determined to sample some of the exotic delicacies Luides had spoken of, keen for anything so long as it was not lentils and spiced meat.

Her first enquiry produced only a puzzled glance, and she had to repeat her words several times, the woman she had stopped unable to comprehend her accent although there had been little difficulty with the seamen. At last she was shown towards a building, in the dim cellar of which she consumed two large mugs of the thick, potent black beer Luides had recommended before discovering that she was not in the House Taepenk.

The owner gave her instructions, which only resulted in her getting lost, and twice more she stopped at inns, each time ordering a mug of beer before asking directions. Finally she found the place she wanted, a single story compound to the north of the dock area. An arch led in to an open yard, in which people sat at tables, eating, drinking from the earthenware mugs and talking. Several curious looks were turned to her as she entered, but once more nobody disputed her right to be there.

See chose a vacant table and sat down, feeling somewhat dizzy. Determined not to look foolish, she put three of her big copper coins out in front of her, as others had done at the surrounding tables. A man in a leather apron approached, giving her a quizzical glance.

‘Black beer,' she stated, trying to sound confident, ‘with a plate of bread, olives and honey cake.'

‘Olives and honey cake together?' the man queried.

‘I was advised by Luides, from the Gull of Cintes,' she answered. ‘I hope to meet him here.'

‘Yes,' the man answered, ‘I had heard there were barbarians in. I will fetch a platter, at three tenths, yes?'

Iriel nodded, not at all sure what she was doing but happy so long as she was fed. As the man departed, one of those at a nearby table turned to her.

‘You were with Luides then, on the Gull? I am his friend Meles, this Nuidan, this Dound, that Bages. And what is your name?'

There was a wolf like quality to his grin, and his eyes had been fixed on her bodice more than her face, but Iriel found herself smiling at the four young men, glad of any friendly attention. Also, the least of them was notable more handsome than Luides, for all their small size.