The Graveyard of Empires - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Plots and Delays Most Vexatious

Calliope was always an early riser, and so she woke not long after sunrise and could not remember where she was. Then she sat up and remembered everything and flushed red down to her shoulders. It was dark in the cabin, and she could not see herself turning red, but she could feel it. The only light leaked around the small curtain drawn over the port, and she sat still for a moment and let her eyes adjust.

The room was not overly large, but it was comfortable. The bed was narrow but warm, and Alex slumbered next to her, his familiar snoring a great comfort. She thought of how thoroughly he had ravished her the night before, after her wicked interlude with Captain Kane. he had been so ardent, she had not even had time to chastise him for allowing the tiger woman to touch him like that - not that there was anything he could have done, but he was often so inflexible it was fun for her to needle him whenever he gave her an excuse.

She slipped out of bed and fumbled for her clothes, found a dressing gown and pulled it on. It was obviously for someone much smaller than she, and it clung to her shamelessly. She padded to the port and pushed back the curtain enough to peep out. It was day, but the sky was still rather dark, and there were heavy clouds around them, so she could not see anything.

Disappointing. She felt the engines humming steadily through the deck, so she knew they were moving, and she wanted to know where they were headed, for all the good it would do her. Her stomach growled and she realized she was starving. Alex, if she knew him, would not be awake for hours yet, and she had no intention of simply lying here waiting for him.

She slipped to the door and opened it, peered out into a well-lit companionway with no one in sight. She supposed she might go on deck and look for Captain Kane, but she had no intention of going out there dressed like this. The captain's cabin was down the hall, and her clothes were likely still in there. She would just creep in and get them, dress, and then go up to the helm.

Calliope slipped down the hall, wondering if she would, any moment, come face to face with a scarred pirate who would perhaps ravish her shamefully. The thought made her pulse quicken as she reached the door of the captain's cabin and tried it, found it locked. She pouted for a moment, then fished a hairpin from behind her ear - one of only two she had left - and crouched down to fish at the lock. Most locks on board these kinds of ships were mechanically quite simple, and she only took a moment to tease it loose and the tumblers clicked.

She grinned, bounced to her feet, and opened the door. Only then did she hear the low, rhythmic moans coming from inside the cabin, and her flush returned, creeping up her neck. She almost closed the door and ducked away, but then she was seized with the almost uncontrollable desire to peek and see what was happening.

Her heart beat loud in her chest, so loud she was sure it was clearly audible to whoever was in the room. She opened the door just wide enough to slip through and crept into the outer room. There was only the smallest partition between the dining table and the bed, and she could already see the expanse of moving, thrusting naked flesh.

She closed the door behind her and moved so she was partly concealed by the table, craned her neck and stared at the bed. For a moment, unused to such sights, she could not even tell what she was seeing, but then it all became clear to her and she felt herself turning furiously red. There was Eden - or Captain Kane - kneeling on the bed with her backside thrust up shamelessly into the air while a dark-skinned man thrust himself energetically into her from behind. Calliope had never, ever been taken that way and she stared. She saw his dark, slick cock pumping in and out, his muscular back flexing and his very pleasing backside bunching and tensing as he stroked inside her.

He pounded into Eden, and she moaned and grunted shamelessly, pushing back against him until her flesh rippled with the impact. They both lost control, shoving against each other, hands pawing and grasping, snorting like hard-breathing animals, and then the man drove deep and she heard him groan, saw him shiver and she realized he was emptying inside.

Eden gave a happy shiver as he drew out, and Calliope felt an unspeakable wetness flood between her thighs at the sight of his swollen, slippery manhood, dripping with their mixed juices and so big she was certain he must have been employed for this task expressly for his elephantine endowment.

She must have made a sound, because he turned and saw her, grinned and waggled his hips so his enormous implement swung back and forth. Calliope tore her gaze away and half-covered her eyes. Eden rolled on her side and chuckled. "Well, looks like we have an audience."

"I'm sorry. . . I'm sorry. . . I just was looking for my. . . my dress." Calliope was turning crimson, and the redder she got, the more embarrassed she became.

Eden laughed. "Oh the fun I will have with you, but not just now, poor dear." She sat up and waved a hand at her crewman. "Bugger off, Tim. You have things to do that don't involve your cock."

Tim saluted so smartly his cock slapped his thigh. "Yes, Captain." He quickly pulled on his pants and shirt, then sauntered past where Calliope crouched against the table, smiling at her as he went past.

"Stop cowering and come here," Eden said, and as the door closed Calliope got to her feet and came to the bed. She looked at Eden's flushed face, sweat-slicked thighs, her rosy and slippery cleft. She chewed her tongue. "Get a good look?" she said.

"Ye - yes Captain," Calliope said and Eden laughed again.

"I like that." She looked her up and down. "That gown fits you nicely. Unfair that you have the mind of a genius and the body of a doxy." She slid a finger into herself, worked it in and out, then brought it up dripping with the pirate's spending. Calliope stared at it.

"Open your mouth," Eden said, and Calliope did as she was told, feeling a little thrill in her belly just from the act of obedience. Eden might command her to do anything - absolutely anything - and it would do her no good to resist. Eden put her sticky finger in Calliope's mouth and rubbed it on her tongue. "Taste it."

Calliope licked it, tasted the bitter, salty flavor and felt her face hot with the awfulness of it. "You ever taste anyone besides Alex?" Eden said.

"I've never actually tasted him. . . not like that." Calliope found her voice was shaking.

"Really? Well, now you know something you didn't know last night." Eden sat up and kissed her her tongue probing, and Calliope felt herself grow so warm she felt as if she might melt through her gown. Eden laughed, gestured. "Your clothes are over there."

Calliope swallowed, blinked, and looked to see her dress hung up neatly beside the wardrobe. "Oh, yes. Of course."

"Oh never fear, I intend to see that you are thoroughly ravished, but I'm not going to rush through it." She smirked. "You remind me of me when I first came out here. You are so adorable, I don't know how Zenobia stood it." She bounced off the bed. "Come on, let's get dressed. I have something for you to see."

---

They went out onto the deck, and the wind came in strong and cold. Calliope hunched down inside her coat, glad now that her dress was made of stern stuff, though she missed her petticoats. She tried to keep her thighs together so the wind would not chill her nethers as they went out into the bright sun and climbed to the helm. The tiger-woman Zenobia was there, and she made Calliope decidedly nervous.

"We almost there?" Eden said.

"Close enough, you want to steer?" Zenobia said.

"No, you have it. I just want to see her face." Eden leaned against the wall and folded her arms. Even in tight breeches and a shirt she seemed untroubled by the chill.

Calliope shivered. "I don't know how you take this cold," she said.

Zenobia laughed. "Always cold if you ride high enough. You should try it in winter."

"Indeed," Eden said. "This is warm. Try December and a thirty-knot headwind - that will give you a shiver." She chuckled, then pointed ahead. "Here they come."

Calliope turned and looked, and her breath caught in her throat as the thin clouds parted and opened up like a curtain in the sky. At first she was sure she was seeing the approach of a mountain, and then the prow split the clouds and she realized it was a ship.

She stared as it emerged into sight, impossible and yet every line of her was familiar. It was the vision in her mind made manifest, alive in the world. She went to the glass and pressed her nose against it, not caring that her breath fogged it.

"The Olympus," Eden said. "My ship. The ship you designed. The ship no one believed would really fly." She gestured. "There she is."

The Warlock pushed through the last shreds of cloud and then the sky seemed to open up. There between a rippled floor of pearled white and a vault of gossamer overhead touched with the gold and rose of dawn there flew a squadron of at least thirty ships. Calliope's head spun as she took in all the different kinds and models, all the shapes of wind-driven and screw-powered craft - open-decked and closed, copper-plated and steel both. And as the centerpiece there was the triad of the monstrous leviathans she had made, never dreaming she would see them fly.

"I never thought they would be real," Calliope said. "I worked at the designs for so long, but the tanks and the compression system needed testing. I was sure they would need so much work before they would be reliable." She turned suddenly. "Have you had problems maintaining pressure gradients in the forward gas turbine exchangers?"

"Yes," Eden said. "We had to rig a bleed system to siphon off the excess and store it, but the pressure is so high we keep blowing seals and have to refill the trim tanks and pump it through the safety valve backup."

"Oh, that would work, but it sounds like a waste of gas," Calliope said.

"It is, I am hoping maybe you could do something about that," Eden said.

"Oh, well I would love to look at the ship and see what can be done." Calliope almost bounced in place, and Eden laughed.

"Well, more likely you will be horrified by the changes made to your designs and the things we have had to do to keep the ship running." Eden clapped her on the shoulder. "Come with me and we'll get you started. Zena? Get us alongside so we can debark."

"Aye," Zenobia said, mocking a salute.

"Come on," Eden said, drawing Calliope down from the helm. This time she hardly noticed the wind, staring up at the approaching ships until she was dizzy.

"Oh, oh I never thought they would be so beautiful," she said.

"They are," Eden said. "They are also the largest, most advanced and dangerous war machines ever made." She beckoned. "Come on, let's go wake up your husband."

---

Zenobia skilfully drew them alongside the Olympus and even Eden was impressed all over again by just how big the warship was. On board or out of sight it was easy to forget, but this close, in the shadow of the massive hull, it was an overwhelming sight. They hailed the other ship and the mechanized gangplank extended and locked onto the Warlock's deck.

Eden turned and saw Calliope just staring in rapt appreciation, while her husband looked more than a little intimidated. She took the girl's arm and guided her to the ramp. "Come on, all aboard!"

Calliope didn't even look down, while Alex seemed frozen in place. As soon as he was close to the rail he stared down and looked green. "I. . . I can't. . ." He turned away, closing his eyes.

Calliope looked down as well and Eden saw her sway and caught her. "Easy, easy. First thing you learn is not to look down. You don't look at the drop and you do your best not to think of it." She held her and urged her ahead. "Come on, cross quick."

She half-carried the girl over the short step of the ramp and into the Olympus' hull. She looked back and saw Zenobia sling Alex over her shoulder like a bale of cloth and just carry him over without a downward glance.

Eden didn't see Quill, but that didn't mean anything, and she didn't worry about it. She led them all down the corridor and through the bulkhead doors out of the wind. As soon as the door slammed down, Diamondback Sally appeared in the doorway from the upper decks, looking annoyed.

Sally was Experimental, like Zenobia, only she was part snake, not part tiger. She was short and had golden skin and sleek black hair. Clothed, only her golden slitted eyes betrayed her nature. They could not see the stripe of diamond-patterned scales down her back.

She folded her arms. "I get a message about meeting up with some gringo cargo hauler, and now you come aboard with strays? I don't know why I ever listen to you."

"Relax, Sal," Eden said. "I've got us a resupply on the way, a fortune in gold, and a bonus." She pulled Calliope forward. "This is Calliope Van Drake, the genius who designed this behemoth, and she's going to help us keep her flying."

Sally's face broke into a broad smile. "Well, that is the first sensible thing I have heard all day," she said. "Though to be fair, I was sold as soon as you said 'fortune in gold' ratoncita. I don't need anything more than that to be happy." She bowed theatrically. "Welcome, Calliope Van Drake, to the Brethren of the Sky."

Continued in Chapter 9

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