World of Cypheria - Teledrine's Story - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Teldrine stood on the beach watching the sun set on the ocean. Seagulls cried and flew over head, as the waves crashed on the beach. The sea breeze was warm and soft. He breathed in deeply, closed his eyes and his mind began to wander. It wandered back to the corridors of the imperial palace in Arbigahl where he lived the life of a slave. He escaped on a ship and the smell of the ocean was the sweet smell of freedom. He opened his eyes just in time to see the last of the sun dip below the water.

All along the beach, bonfires could be seen. Crews from the ships anchored in the bay were starting to cook dinner and continued the drinking that had begun at noon. A cantina started to play and the men broke out in song.

"Captain?" A voice said from behind him. He recognized the voice as that of Barak, his first mate but did not answer.

"They're waiting on you in the shack." He said, but received no response. Barak turned to leave.

"Has the ship been re-supplied?" Teldrine inquired still facing the ocean.

"We'll be finished by noon tomorrow captain." Barak answered.

Teldrine just nodded his head. He turned and started toward the shack as Barak watched him disappear into the jungle.

After walking a distance on the trail, he reached the shack. The shack was made from lumber cut from the jungle. It had obviously been done some time ago as the wood had turned gray from rain and age, and all the boards were either cracked, warped or both. It had two windows on either side of the front door, which with the shutters closed, giving it an abandoned look. As he approached the door, he heard voices conversing from within. He reached down and grasped the door handle, and pulled open the door. The talking inside ceased as he did so.

Seated in the room were some of the most notorious pirate captains to sail the ocean. Harrod, captain of the Sea Wrack, sat at the end of a table in the center of the room. Dorning, captain of the Blue Mist, sat opposite the door on Harrod's left. The remaining seven who sat around the table were captains of lesser renown. He sat at the table opposite Dorning, and to Harrods right.

"Now that we're all here, we might as well get started." Harrod said in his graveled voice. He spoke with a rough brogue. "As ye all know, we live the life of plunderin' and killin'. We sails the ocean lookin' fer profit and adventure."

"Arrr!" The other pirates growled in agreement.

"There be's only one thing that stands in our way, and that be's the imperial fleet. Those sea hounds can come swoopin' down on ya outa nowheres and sends ya straight to sea floor for sure."

"Arrr." The others said in a foul tone.

"Well I says we joins together and go straight for em. Sink a few of em and there'll be less of em to chase us." He finished with a loud laugh. "What say ya mateys?"

"ARRR!" The others yelled and raised their mugs in the air to salute Harrod as they stood.

"That's not good enough." Teldrine said. He was the sole person remaining seated.

"Uh?" Harrod snorted as he looked in surprise at Teldrine. The others quieted down as they sat.

"I said, it won't be enough." Teldrine replied in a calm and cool tone. "If you attack as one fleet, you will have them thinking we are a threat and they will devote the entire fleet to finding and sinking us. Is that what you had in mind?" Everyone in the room was silent. "As for decreasing their numbers." He continued. "They have shipyards, they will just build another ship. I'm not saying we shouldn't attack them. I think it's a great idea, but there are ways of doing things and then there are ways of doing things." He stood up. "Once we attack the fleet as a fleet, we had better stick together. They'll put squadrons of two to three ships each to hunt us down and individually we won't have a chance. I propose we find the location of any and all imperial warships when they are in harbor and sink them. I also say we burn and destroy their shipyards. They would never anticipate such a bold  attack."

"We can't do that all ourselves matey." Harrod said with a sound of bewilderment in his voice.

"Who said we would be alone?" Teldrine retorted. "Slavery is rampant in Arbigahl. The slaves that are used to work in the imperial palace and the homes of the greater families know a great deal. We can get all the info we need with the right system." Teldrine continued.

"What system would that be?" Dorning asked with a hint of building curiosity in his voice.

"We take the merchant vessels we capture and use them to start a legitimate trading company. We set up offices and warehouses in all the major ports. This not only lets us sell the goods we steal and operate out in the open, but we can use these offices to send and receive information. Updates on ship locations, numbers, status, routes and cargo whether they be merchantman or warship." He paused. He looked at the faces of all present one by one with a stone cold face showing no emotion. The room was silent. "We need to engage in a war for control of the shipping lanes." He said in a slow deliberate manner. "If we attack the imperial fleet together, that is exactly what the empire will consider it. A WAR!" He shouted. "We will need to fight it like one. I suggest you all think long and hard about this. If you go and attack the fleet, all pirate ships will be blamed whether they participated or not. What are the profit potentials you might ask? If we succeed, we will have absolute control of the seas. We can raid the sea-lanes as we please. We can make the empire and shipping companies pay to sail safely through our seas." He finished in an emphatic tone, "The plan I have just laid out is the only one I and my crew will take part in. Anything less and you can count us out."

The assembled captains just looked at each other in silence and disbelief. Teldrine turned and headed towards the door. "You know where to find me when you have come to a decision. Let me know what you plan." He said as he opened the door.

---

It wasn't until sundown the following day that Teldrine was asked to return to the shack. The re-supply effort had been completed around noon and the men were just returning to the ship when Teldrine stepped ashore. When he entered the shack, he was motioned by Harrod to sit at the head of the table. "We likes to hear the details of yer plan, matey. If'n we likes it, we'll go for it." Harrod said.

Teldrine sat down, leaned forward and placed his arms on the table. "Very well. This is not going to be a short out campaign. We will need to have a base to operate from. We will need to have ship repair capabilities. The spy ring we set up on the mainland can provide us with details of ship schedules and shipyard production. We can make plans to sink or take ships at specific times and specific places, to weaken the economy and make the Imperial Navy look bad, lose them their support among the noble houses that lose money. We will attack ships in the harbor to make the nobles suspect each other. We can burn the Imperial shipyards at the best time to take nearly complete warship away from them. I have an idea for a weapon to use against the Imperial fleet should we need to engage them at sea. All of this hinges on forming a legitimate trading company to coordinate plans and information." He leaned back in his chair.

Captain Dorning from the Blue Mist looked up from his drink and met Teldrine's eyes. He looked around at the others. "I'll run your trading company. I've done it before. I may have some connections that will be of use. We'll need start up funds." The brogue was gone from his voice, and his eyes never left Teldrine's.

Teldrine nodded to him, once. They both knew they would talk later. There was silence as the others looked at each other thinking it over. Slowly, one by one they nodded, the old man last and grudgingly.

"Well matey, it looks as if we're with ya!" Harrod shouted out as the others responded with a resounding "AYE!"

"I gots somethin' as might be worth a fair chunk fer settin' up 'is comp'ny yers talkin' aboot. Thet captive 'o mine is rightly a Prince. The Crown Prince 'o Marapal hisself!" Harrod grinned widely, showing black teeth to advantage.

Teldrine nodded, "Is he now? We'll have to discuss how best to use him. For now, I suggest we rejoin our crews. Dorning, Harrod and I will discuss getting this thing started, and we'll let you know as communications are set up in different ports. You should be hearing from us before the spring shipping begins."

---

Late that night Teldrine sat at the small desk in his stern cabin, working on lists, shipping schedules, and plans. He heard a challenge form the watch on the deck above, and Dorning's voice asking to come aboard. He smiled, and replaced some of the papers in his desk, as the watch allowed the visitors aboard, as he'd been ordered earlier.

The following morning saw the crew of the Empress' Woe getting ready to set sail. She was a three-masted vessel that was two hundred and four feet long and displaced two thousand two hundred tons. She was a Ship of the Line stolen from Arbigahl when they escaped, and she was armed with six of the new weapons, the 'cannon' that Arbigahl had developed. The only ship so armed outside the Imperial Navy.

About three hours earlier the Blue Mist under Capt. Dorning set to sea, leaving himself and Harrod on the island. Dorning took with him the sword that Teldrine had given him. It was a ceremonial piece, designed for show, as nobody in Arbigahl would give a pleasure slave a usable weapon. But appearance was vital, and the gems that crusted the useless thing were very real, and worth a small fortune. He had, after all, been a personal slave of the Empress.

He walked up the beach to take a look at Prince Byock. The Prince presented several interesting opportunities, and he hadn't yet decided how to use him. What he found made the point moot. The two crew men guarding Byock had their throats cut, and Byock along with a ship's dinghy was gone.

---

The Empress stalked into the room, unmindful of the priceless silks that trailed the floor behind her. She shed them negligently and strode across the room to stare out the arches leading to her private garden. The slave caught the delicate fabric as it drifted, and laid across his strong arms. He placed them aside for a maid to tend later, and stood stiffly nearby to await her command. She left the arches and reclined on the huge bed, scattering pillows with jewel tones around her perfect form. She was thinking feverishly as she waved a hand for chilled wine.

She watched him as he poured from the chilled decanter. The decanter was kept cold in a glacette, packed with snow delivered from the distant mountain peaks that towered over the city. Melted bits of snow traced a path down his forearm, following the lines of muscle, as carefully toned as her own, and kept so for her pleasure. He brought her the goblet, eyes carefully downcast. He was well trained, for anything less would have been an insult to the Empress, and the ruin of his family.

She sipped from the goblet, a fresh fruity wine, not too sweet. It cleared the palate well, and was refreshing in the tropic heat. Her other hand lightly stroked her inner thigh as the last details of a plot came togther in her mind. Her eyes sharpened on him, as her mood and her thoughts shifted. She was appreciating the light behind him defined the curves of his flanks. He was aware of her gaze on him, and trembled slightly as she smiled a slow, sultry smile.

The Empress gestured for him to come to her, the motions of her indolent fingers sending him to his knees on the cool stone floor beside her bed. She took another sip from the goblet, then handed it to him to set aside. Her hand drifted further up her thigh, one finger lightly parting the hair above her labia, as carefully trimmed and cared for as the rest of her. Gesturing again at him, her fingers instructed him to undress.

The slave untied the knot holding the loincloth that was his only clothing and let it fall to the floor. He took himself in his right hand, and caressed his skin in the way that he had learned she liked to see, and brought himself to an erection. For this he had not only been trained, but bred and selected from childhood. If a young slave displayed the inability to form and sustain an erection, they were castrated and trained for other kinds of service. His hand slid firmly and smoothly along the shaft of his organ while she watched and teased herself. Her fingers moved again. He leaned forward as she commanded, with a single gesture, and used his lips and tongue to give her pleasure, each motion trained precisely to her preferences.

She moved under his mouth, and he followed, tongue moving in flat circles over the small area that now occupied her thoughts. He was very good at his work, and soon she was wet, and the tongue was no longer enough. She commanded him over her, and he positioned the head of his manhood where his tongue was previously. He rocked his hips forward and slid his rigid length inside her, slowly and sensually.

He was careful to keep his weight off of her unless she pulled him down. She began to undulate beneath him, as his strokes added sensation deep inside her, loosening her control in this one activity. The pleasure rose within her and she locked her feet around him. She moved her legs around his ribs, rotating her pelvis up to allow him deeper penetration. Her hands reached under her thighs and gripped his buttocks. She pulled his hips against her core, demanding that he move deeper, and harder.

Then her hands released his flesh and clutched at the bed. She arched back, gasping and moaning to the ceiling as she reached her peak, and he burst inside her.

He barely got a full breath back in his longs before she kicked him off of her, livid in her anger. "How dare you to do such a thing! How dare you spill your seed in me! Go! Get cleansing regeants immediately, and then you shall pay for your temerity!"

She watched him scuttle to the adjoining chamber, where the chambermaid did not dare even glance at him. He returned, shaking but spilling no drop of the warm water and soft clothes he brought to her side. He bathed and dried her gently, flushing her with clean warm water to remove the error that could well mean his life. She stared silently as worked with shaking hands, making not the slightest error for her to strike out at.

When he finished, and disposed of the used items, she sent him to the far side of the room, where loops of rope protruded from the wall. He turned and leaned back against the wall, placing his wrists in the ropes, shaking everywhere now. The maid pulled the ropes tight from the other side, and fastened them down.

The Empress took up a quirt from the nearby table. She began whipping him, about the thighs, belly, and flanks, working methodically to make a ring of pain around the offending part of him. He shook harder, jerking with each blow. The whip continued in a steady rhythm, she was using it as an exercise, working each arm in turn, working from different angles to increase the workout.

She continued until he was raw and bleeding in places, from his waist to his knees, except his groin. That she left untouched. He gripped the handles placed near the wrist ropes to keep himself upright, eyes rolling in his head, sweat running and mingling with the blood.

She returned the quirt and oiled her hand and began to work on his penis, massaging him gently. The contrast between the burning pain and the sensual touch brought him to full arousal, as it had in all the years of training. She watched as he lost more and more control, unable to keep silent in spite of his fear. He groaned in pain and need, thrusting into her hand, and she stopped. She picked up the whip.

Teldrine woke, gasping, rolling with the movement of the ship to get away as he realized that she had reached him again, if only through memories. His groin ached, though not the slightest swell was present. He hadn't become aroused while awake since his escape. The rage woke in him again as he worked loose of the sheets and dressed. He went to visit his guest.

---

Teldrine looked into the small room. He paused when he noticed his guest was awake. He entered the room and closed the door behind him. "Awake at last your highness," He said flatly. "Hungry?"

Byock nodded his head wearily. "Wh-Who are you?"

Teldrine grabbed the chair in front of the wall-mounted desk and slid it next to the bed. "My name is not important right now. Know however, that you may be among friends. I have a few questions to ask. After you have answered them, I will call for our dinner. Firstly: What were you doing on the sea that Harrod was able to capture you? Secondly: What was Harrod doing when he captured you? Thirdly: Did you hear any boasts or whispers from his crew? Fourthly: Tell me about the ships that his crew saw on the horizon? It was in the same area that he captured you."

Byock put his hands over his face and let out a sigh.

"I tell you what. I will arrange dinner. You can think over the questions, and answer them over dinner. How does that sound?" He stood up from the chair and looked down at Byock.

"Ye-Ya, that sounds great." Byock answered weakly.

Teldrine returned to his cabin, and sent the cabin boy after food from the galley and some clothes and wash water for the Prince. After spending time as a prisoner of Harrod, then the fight on the beach, and most of a day drifting senseless in the dinghy after managing his escape, Byock didn't look much like a prince. Still, he was a survivor, and could be very valuable to Teldrine's plans. He needed to know more about him.

Rupp, the cabin boy, brought Byock into the Captain's quarters, looking much better for a wash and clean clothes. The sunburns, old and new, were painful looking, but they'd heal. The Prince gazed with almost desperation, at the food and drink on the table.

Teldrine gestured him to go ahead. "Take it slow, or it'll come back up. But eat as much as you like. The water is clean, but again, take it slow." He smiled as Byock ate and drank.

The drug was subtle, and would make him slightly tired, which he had reason to be anyway. It would also loosen his tongue, and dull his suspicions. The captain also ate slowly, watching as Byock paced himself, stopping well before he would have liked, judging from the regretful glances he cast toward the food.

"You can continue to nibble as we talk. A little at a time will stay down and do you good. The fruit will aid your recovery and help replace the water you've lost as well."

The wasted prince nodded at him in appreciation, and sectioned one of the orange fruits from Arbigahl.

Teldrine had kept a taste for the fruit, since his independence. "Have you considered my questions?"

"I don't see that the answers would betray anything. I was hunting on the Ozmaroc-Khalzistan border, nearer the sea than I realized, when the pirates happened on me apart from my men. They always warned me about the risks I was taking. Guess they were right!" He grinned weakly at Teldrine. "Harrod was anchored in a cove with another ship, far from any town. He must have been smuggling or something. Probably up to no good with the Ozmaroccans. They're always up to no good. He killed the captain of the other ship, just as we got to the island. Killed him in cold blood, right out in the open!"  He reached out and took another gulp of wine, eyes focused inward.

Had he never seen a killing before? Harrod or another of his ilk, made not much difference. Teldrine had little respect for most of them, but they were available to his use. He nodded encouragingly at the Prince.

"I heard the sailors talking about the strange ships. They saw them far to the north. I wonder what they were doing so far north? There's nothing up there but cliffs and trees. The trappers all come south to trade. Anyway, they just saw sails on the horizon. They talked about them being a strange shape or something. Marapal is landlocked, you know. I don't know much about sailing."

"We found you adrift in a small boat, out of your mind and like to die by noon. Couldn't let Harrod's captive Prince die, now could we?"

Byock startled, looking wildly up him.

Teldrine smiled. "Aah, then your wits are still about you! Good! I will not give you back to Harrod. No man deserves slavery!" He realized that he had put a bit more vehemence into that statement than was needed. "What I do with you depends on you. We have much to discuss, you and I, when you are stronger, Prince Byock. You are free of the ship, none will touch you unless you try to leave somehow. We have left the islands and are on the open sea, so there is really nowhere to go!"

---

That evening the prince appeared on deck. He made his way to the stern to take care of necessary business, then make his way forward to sit in the bow. Teldrine approached, his bare feet silent on the smoothly polished boards of the deck. "It's a ramtoe."

Byock startled, turning to look at him. "They are found in my native jungles, trained for great labor, and for war. It was thought a fitting mascot for the greatest warship of the Empress' fleet." He turned and braced his back on the rail, facing Byock. "I am called Teldrine. I am from..."

"Arbigahl." Byock interrupted him. "But how is it that a man commands the greatest warship of the Empress' fleet, and consorts with pirate scum like Harrod?"

"It is no longer part of the Empress' fleet, and I too am pirate scum, although I hope not such as Harrod. I was a slave. The Empress' own concubine. I stole this ship, the night after its inauguration ceremony, and took my freedom. Now I intend to bring the Empire down!" Teldrine grinned at Byock's expression. "As they say, if you must dream, dream big!" He turned back to the darkening sea. "You will help me in this dream."

"So you will ransom me after all, as any other pirate would do. I suppose I must thank you at least for treating me as valuable merchandise!" The young prince turned looked to the sea.

Teldrine looked at his back, amused at his pride, even after all he'd been through. Hopefully, he would earn such pride, if Teldrine could handle him adroitly enough. "Your ransom would buy many men and more ships, but hardly enough to bring down an Empire!" He laughed. "I will ransom you, if you leave me no other choice. At least I will ransom you to your own kin, rather than selling you to Ozmaroc, as Harrod sought to do!"

"No!" Byock started back in horrified surprise. "It never occurred to me...the effects of such a thing. If Ozmaroc was to gain power over Marapal and the Maresium mines!" The Prince met Teldrine's eyes squarely. "That must not happen. The effects could be disastrous, not just for Marapal, but for Kahlzistan, Arbigahl, the entire trading economy could change!"

Teldrine grinned in satisfaction. At last, the reactions of a prince! "That is what I want from you! No, not your value to Ozmaroc," he waved away Byock's tight-lipped expression. "Your knowledge. Your princely education in politics, economics, business. I need your mind, and I hope to win it willingly. As I said, I will ransom you if I must, for I cannot afford to waste any resource. But you could be far more valuable to me than that. I want you as an ally!"

Continued in Chapter 2

---