Skyworld Act 2

Story by Gideon Kalve Jarvis on SoFurry

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#2 of Skyworld

The continuing saga of Cika the mink-thief turned sky sailor, and Kanda Har Trask, former pirate now turned Cika's lover, as they set forth onto the high skies in search of adventure and their fortunes, all while being pursued by pirates and dark powers.


Skyworld

Act 2

By Gideon Kalve Jarvis and SilverFox

Cika had never slept as restfully as she did snugged firmly against the side of Kanda Har, the rhinomale's arm cradling her body and giving her a warm, secure feeling that she didn't even remember feeling from her own mother. As the mechanical eye began to blink in the darkness of the unused furnace, the minkfemme blinking her own glitteringly black ones, she couldn't help but smile at seeing her friend rubbing his face or the look of surprise as she graced him with a good morning kiss.

If she'd been thinking, asking him to set his makeshift alarm a little earlier might have given her a little time to ensure Kanda Har a very good morning, but there would hopefully be time for that later on...though hopefully not too much later.

They readied quietly, breakfasting on the little bit of food that the mink had been able to abscond with, though Cika was decidedly sluggish. It wasn't from not sleeping, but from a delectable soreness that sang through her body at the heights of bliss Kanda Har had taken her to. As she slipped her now mostly clean tunic on, her boots following, pleased that they were nearly dry, though the clamminess sent a shiver through the minkfemme that Kanda Har hugged away, warming her with his embrace and the rather naughty caress to the cleavage of her rump.

"I'm already having trouble not being naughty," Cika whispered, her paw happily groping the still prominent bulge within the rhino's sailcloth trousers. She pushed herself against Kanda Har, looking up with a smile, biting her bottom lip a little and giving her a very innocent and enticing expression as the rhinomale continued to stroke her soft furred tushie while trapping her tail playfully between his thumb and forefinger.

"And if you don't behave, we'll never get to Windspray before the sun comes up, naughty mink!" he chuckled, closing his good eye momentarily at the feel of her little paw fondling his staff shamelessly.

Backing up after another hug, Cika tiptoed down the passageway that led to the iron grate and alley, pausing for a moment as she looked wistfully back at the abandoned furnace that had been her home for a little under a year. It wasn't much, and anything of value that she had was now secreted within a couple of pockets on her tunic she'd managed to fashion, or tucked into her damp boots.

The most important items were her lockpicks, having found enough in the way of scrap metal to fashion the delicate tools. She was still learning more complicated locks, but had little difficulty in tripping devices with up to four tumblers. Her shears went into her left boot, and a small, rust darkened and pitted knife went into the right. Than Cika looked at the rhino and saw the calm look in his flesh eye, calm and confident and felt the same fill her. This was such a pit, though the minkfemme had tried her best for something that others had, and there was a part of her that was a little sad to be leaving the home she'd fashioned even while part of her was ecstatic to be moving on to something that was assuredly better than this.

Leading the way to through the tunnel, Cika paused less than halfway, her ears rotating forward as she caught voices in the alley. She waved Kanda Har back as she strained to catch what was being said.

"This is the place we saw her," a familiar voice groused, the pig, Dawson, the rhino had named him, said.

"You're positive?" a deep, urbane voice that held the accent and tones of an individual that was obviously from the upper echelons of society inquired. "Though I don't doubt you're...familiarity with this, ahem, neighborhood, you're quite certain that this was where you encountered that bothersome mink?"

"This is it," Dawson retorted, his voice carrying a hint of anger.

Turning slowly, her eyes wide in fear, Cika saw Kanda Har backing out of the passageway, beckoning to her slowly. As she retraced her steps, her heart pounding, the mink rejoined the rhino. He placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Do you have another way out?" he asked, his mechanical eye trained on the mouth of the passage.

Cika nodded slowly. "It...it's not easy, Kanda Har," she told her friend. "It's through the sewers..."

The rhino nodded. "Got no choice, Cika sweetie. Lead the way."

The warm hug and trailing fingers down her back helped the tremble that ran through her abate and the caress helped steel her resolve. He was depending on her and she wouldn't let him down, no matter what.

Taking his huge hand with her tiny paw, the minkgirl led her companion to the part of the furnace that had been her equivalent of a bathing room and past that to a sort of ladder that was actually part of the masonry that comprised the chamber. Without hesitation, Cika scrambled up, only realizing that once she was at the top of the ledge that Kanda Har might have trouble ascending, though she was pleasantly surprised as he made it up with little difficulty.

Of course, Kanda Har was a skysailor, and had spent his fair share of time in the rigging of ships, adjusting the lines and wing like sails that helped speed airships through the ether.

Once both were on the ledge, Cika led the way to the door that the workers of the foundry would have brought in fuel for the furnace fires, only hesitating to ensure that there were no witnesses to their escape. A few rockrats scurried away as she entered the main part of the bronze works, the rhino right behind her. Feeling his presence behind her, she then guided Kanda Har through the debris on the factory floor to a place beneath the enormous water tanks that had long since dried, their contents leaking out through burst seams and rotted copper plates. She didn't even have to point at the cover to the sewer drain that was built right into the floor, the rhino stepping up and lifting the heavy grill up with his mechanical arm, hardly even registering the effort.

As he held the grill, Kanda Har motioned Cika forward and lowered her down the dark hole, letting her fall at the mink's insistence that it was only a few feet further down to the bottom of the tunnel, her boots splashing in the shallow runoff. Then it was Kanda Har's turn, again using the ladder that was incorporated into the bricks of the shaft, lowering the grill as he descended.

There was plenty of light from the rhino's mechanical eye, Cika learning that even in total darkness he could see everything, though the illumination helped her as well. She really didn't want to have to feel her way along the sides of the sewer channel, the ancient looking bricks cover in a thick, odiferous muck that both were better off not getting too familiar with.

"We go straight until the ninth branch, then left. It lets out near the jetties," the minkfemme whispered, her whiskers twitching in distaste as things scurried further into the darkness at the edge of what she could see.

Instead of taking her offered hand, Kanda Har lifted the urchin up, her shapely hiney resting in the crook of his elbow. "There's no need for you to soak your boots any further," he rumbled and snuffled the minkfemme's neck, smiling at the little gasp. He discovered that Cika was very sensitive to a great many different ways of touching, and all of them had nearly the same result to the affection-starved girl.

-

Against his better judgment, Kanda Har acquiesced to Cika wanting to give things a quick glance to make sure there was nothing waiting for them at the end of their subterranean route. While there was a pang of worry for her safety, he had to admit that she was indeed a good scout and far less conspicuous than he was. Only after a few unbearably long moments, the mink returned and smiled. "All clear," she said brightly.

Her route had indeed brought them out to the right place, and as they entered the section outside the sewers, the air much less dank and fetid and filled with the first pearly pastels of morning, Kanda Har pointed to the sail masts of Windspray's scow. "There's her vessel," he informed the wisp of a girl, noting the way she began to act, the thought of the adventure they were getting ready to set upon giving Cika a bit more animation than normal.

Still keeping an eye out for potential trouble, they made their way to the gangplank, though before Kanda Har could call out for permission to board, a practice even pirates honored unless taking a prize, Cika gasped and bolted up the ramp of the boat, throwing her arms around one of the hands on Windspray's little ship. The rhino felt a bit of jealousy at the way the mink held on to the red panda, the lad not much older than she was. Then he saw something that set his ire up as the red, black and cream colored boy roughly pushed Cika away, only catching the last part of what he told her.

"...weren't nothin' but a place to stay and a warm bit o' cunny fer me," the red panda snarled in a voice that hadn't yet begun to deepen with the onset of age. "You was an easy mark, ya know."

Looking up in disbelief, the words stinging the mink like salt in an open wound, she couldn't help the moisture that welled up in her eyes as Kanda Har and an albatross neared where Cika sat on the aged deck planks from where she'd been pushed down.

"But...but I was worried about you," the minkfemme said in a subdued tone, the hurt clear in her voice. "I...I thought you...that you got nicked."

"Like I said, you were an easy play, a bit of tail to hump, and that was it," the red panda sneered, not seeing the looks that the albatross and rhino gave, the glare from Kanda Har being particularly dangerous.

*

Try as he might to resist his impulses, of course, Kanda Har had a striking weakness for a nicely-formed bottom. Cika's bottom, incidentally, was very nicely-formed, as might be expected of an agile streetdweller with any degree of skill and success, used to running and jumping and shimmying across the cityscape and into the most outlandish of locales. As he stroked her soft-furred rump and tail, she returned the favor by giving his own grey-skinned "tail" a similar idle fondling. Obviously two could play at that game! The big rhino decided not to push the issue, though - not only were they on a distinct deadline, but he had a lot more "handles" than the wriggly little minkling.

As Cika gathered and readied the tools of her trade, Kanda Har gathered and readied his. Of course his eye went back into his empty socket, the metal of the softly-whirring orb making a barely-audible 'click' as it contacted the smooth metal interior of the metal plating that lined the inside of where he had once had an eye of flesh. It took a few moments for the big male to overcome the brief sense of vertigo that came as the mechanical eye began to react to the tiny magnets that lined the inner part of the metal plate that covered a good part of the right side of his face, but soon he rolled his eyes around together, the pair now in perfect synchronization, almost feeling natural.

Speaking of things that were almost natural, Kanda Har made sure to carefully slip the map-orb back into its hidden compartment in his arm, before he carefully checked the complicated clockwork contraption, ensuring that it would function as he needed it, when he needed it.

Going from nudity to fully-clothed took time for Kanda Har, as he first slipped a breastplate over a thin leather jerkin, a similar plate covering his dangly bits like a codpiece, followed afterward by shirt and pants. His greatcoat followed after this, before the rhino checked the harness beneath the cloth, ensuring that the oversized folding crossbow on one side and the trio of throwing axes on the left would slide easily into his hands when he needed them (not "if" - Kanda Har did his best to expect the worst whenever possible). He rounded off his personal arsenal by sticking a large knife into a specially-made sheathe in his boot, as a last resort when all other means of escape or offense had exhausted themselves. Feeling that he was as ready as he could manage under the circumstances, the rhino followed after little Cika, frowning in deep concentration as he did all he could to step where she stepped on the way back. He was concentrating so hard on this difficult task of his admittedly limited agility that he didn't see the look she gave him, her eyes going to his face, reading the steady confidence that waited there, born of long years of hard experience, coupled with survival against all the odds.

Then the voices, and the sure knowledge of to whom they belonged, and Kanda Har fell back, feeling his good hand growing twitchy as he readied himself for a grab at the weapons beneath his greatcoat, should it prove necessary.

"Do you have another way out?" he asked, keeping his glowing eye on the passage, while his good one went to Cika's pretty face, letting himself draw courage from the knowledge that he had someone to protect.

"It...it's not easy, Kanda Har. It's through the sewers..."

Naturally. It took an act of supreme will for the burly old sky pirate to keep from rolling his good eye heavenward, towards gods that were surely looking down at that moment, and snickering.

"Got no choice, Cika sweetie. Lead the way," he replied with a slight nod of his head, stroking his good hand down her back as a way of relaxing himself as much as her, the effect somewhat like that of petting a cat, before falling into step behind her, careful to stay close, but not so close as to crowd the smaller femme, and thus negate her natural advantage of agility in case they ran into trouble. That, and Kanda Har didn't trust himself to be able to react nearly as fast as Cika in case something did happen - he'd probably end up stumbling right over her. So it was that they passed through the bronzeworks, and past the grating that led into the depths of the sewers beneath the city.

It was with the greatest of care that Kanda Har lifted little Cika onto his shoulder, definitely finding it quite pleasant to have her little tushie resting on his body, and began to press forward into the ill-smelling tunnels, the light of his eye splitting the darkness before them like the rod of some mythical prophet.

-

The docks, the docks, the ever-loving, life-giving docks. Kanda Har Trask felt more alive than he'd felt in far too long as he breathed in the open air of the skyjetty, where all the ships came in and let out on the course of their myriad journeys across hinter and yon, far and wide. The big male decided right then and there that, given the choice between a fight where there was only a partial chance of victory, and a trip through the sewers, he would take the fight any day, so long as it meant he could stay with the sky within his view. He wasn't sure if he'd mind it being his last view, of course, but, well...sometimes sacrifices had to be made. Then Kanda Har's thoughts went back to Cika, and he rethought his position on the subject. After all, she was worth saving, wasn't she, even if it meant a bit of stink and darkness.

It was as Kanda Har was eagerly approaching the ship that could lead to his and Cika's salvation from the drudgery of the land that he blinked when she raced past him and up the gangplank, and right into the arms of a skinny red pandaboy. His first reaction was one of hurt and jealousy, as might be expected seeing the femme he'd loved the night before racing into the arms of another male almost the moment he appeared. But Kanda Har was a pragmatic sort, if nothing else, and he admitted, walking to the gangplank, that perhaps a pairing between those of similar age was a better idea in the first place - he could end up with a heart-attack if he had to satisfy the attention-starved little mink every night. That, and the big rhino wasn't the sort of fellow to be terribly picky about where he got his pieces of tail, when pressed to a pinch, and a rather attractive red pandaboy wouldn't be the worst bedwarmer in the world, provided the boy would see things that way as well.

Then...then Kanda Har heard the boy's words to Cika - to *his* Cika - and his expression darkened.

"Ho, Windspray!" he called out in his deep, booming captain's voice, catching the attention of the white-feathered figure standing on the bow of the ship wings spread like a visiting angel. "Permission to come aboard."

At the sound of the huge male's voice, the boy turned to look at who could be making such a racket, and immediately his eyes widened as he saw the look Kanda Har was giving him. Windspray, on the other hand - for so the broad-winged, shining bird on the bow was - looked at Kanda Har and cried out in pure, unbridled joy, such as only the pure in heart can truly feel.

"Kanda Har!" she screeched in a voice that was high-pitched and surprisingly pleasant, despite its raucous tone, obviously intended for use in a great crowd. Immediately, the shining-feathered bird leapt from the bow, dipping downward only briefly, before she swept upward and dove straight at the rhino. Had Kanda Har been any less powerfully-built than he was, he would surely have been knocked off his feet by the enthusiastic greeting of the albatross girl, who hugged him as he caught her, doing his best to not notice that she was really not wearing much of anything besides a brightly-colored halter and a loincloth of woven cotton, the typical tribal dress of her people. "It's been so long!"

"Likewise, Windspray," said Kanda Har, his expression softening as he gently carried the white-feathered albatross, who was rather tall but quite slender, and obviously didn't weigh very much, back onto her ship, and carefully set her down on the deck. "It looks as though you've done rather well for yourself," he remarked, looking around the ship with its small crew - more than he'd seen the last time he'd been there, certainly, though the small craft still didn't have very many occupants, for it couldn't hold many. Then his eyes came to a rest on the pandaboy. "Though I think you may have picked up some excess baggage."

The red panda backed away from Cika and most especially the towering male who was not looking at him in a manner that seemed kindly-disposed. It was obviously quickly dawning on the slender teen that perhaps he had made a mistake. Kanda Har, in turn, stepped forward for every step that the teen took backward, until his back was pressed against the cabin wall at the far end of the little fishing craft. Windspray, being a kindly soul, looked quite alarmed at this, and opened her bright yellow beak to say something, before she looked at Cika's face, and the tears that were clearly visible in the girl's eyes, though the little mink was obviously fighting hard to hold them in, to keep up a brave face. Her hearing was only a little less adept than her eyes, and her eyes could pierce the Maelstrom, and she had heard the bits that Kanda Har had missed. Somehow, looking at the girl who'd come with her friend, who was really only a little bit younger than she was herself, Windspray couldn't bring herself to intervene.

His heart in his throat, it was all that the terrified boy could do to keep from wetting himself as he stared into the angry red glare of the immense rhino's mechanical eye, its whirring clearly audible now as it sprang into high gear with the fury of its owner. But it was better to look into that eye than the one of flesh-and-blood. In that eye, the boy could only see death.

"Cika," said Kanda Har, his voice like the menacing calm as the whole world goes silent in the seconds before a storm strikes. "I want to hurt this boy."

It was only half a question, mostly a statement of intent. The boy's eyes went frantically to Windspray, hoping that surely his captain would save him. But no, all he saw there was pity from the soft-hearted albatross before she turned away, not wanting to see what came next. Then, in stark desperation, his eyes went to Cika, silently pleading with her for mercy, as his voice had failed him in his mortal terror.

Cika wiped her eyes on her sleeve, feeling a piece of herself still aching inside from the shock, as much a sudden agony as the swift cutting bite of a stormshark, sharp and stinging at first, but soon settling into a cold, numb ache where once there had been pain. She was hurt in a very real fashion, and her whole heart and mind reeled from the injury she'd suffered to her heart as freely-given love was thrown back in her face. Through the red haze of this breath-catching pain, Kanda Har's words sounded like a voice out of a deep well, distant and alien. Gradually, she realized that all she had to do to ensure this boy suffered like she did, though physically instead of emotionally, was to say nothing at all. He deserved it, certainly, for so casually killing her a little more inside, showing himself a true child of the streets, vicious and opportunistic in his relationships as much as in all other aspects of his life. As she watched Kanda Har's massive fist of hard flesh and bone and sinew rise, clenching tightly with brutal intent, and then watched the look of doomed terror on the trapped boy's face, knowing that there would be no escape from the blows that would soon fall upon his body, for a long moment she felt nothing at all, and very nearly did nothing at all, letting Kanda Har do as he pleased.

But...would it make the pain go away? The answer was obvious, and Cika's eyes fell, burning with the weight of tears behind them.

"Just let him go, Kanda Har," she said softly, turning away to try and hide her face from view, struggling for a moment as she felt a pair of soft wings encircle her like a down-filled comforter, before she simply sobbed, burying her face in the downy breast of Windspray as the albatross girl hugged the broken-hearted little minkling.

The look Kanda Har gave the red pandaboy was death itself held only barely at bay. Still, despite his desires, his fist gradually unclenched.

"Go, now," he said, so softly it was very nearly a whisper, the same noise, surely, that accompanies a guillotine as it falls. No added threats accompanied this simple directive; none were needed.

Recognizing a reprieve when he saw it, the skinny pandaboy tore for the gangplank with all the might of his young body, very nearly falling right off into the endless skies below in his haste to escape Kanda Har's rage.

For a moment, Kanda Har wrestled with himself, trembling as he fought to control the fury that consumed his entire being. Then, with a long exhalation, he forced himself to calm down, the glow from his mechanical eye slowly turning from red to a more neutral yellow, and then turned toward Cika as Windspray gently stroked the smaller girl's back, her wings wrapped around the softly sobbing little mink. His own hand reached out, and he gently stroked the back of Cika's head and neck, whereupon she turned suddenly and wrapped her arms around his broad middle, her tears staining the grey skin on the bottom of his chest and his hard-muscled belly. Windspray's own wings followed, encircling both Kanda Har and Cika like the aura of a guardian angel.

"Um, Windspray?" said a shy feminine voice from a short distance off. "We're ready to cast off?"

"Set out," said Windspray, giving the speaker a gentle smile and a nod. "I think we need to get a little distance between us and the shore right now. Things make a lot more sense on the high winds."

There was a soft lurch as the mooring lines were untied, and the little fishing vessel floated gently off from the dock. On the docks, the red panda glared at the retreating ship with pure malice in his expression. He'd never forget that half-machine rhino! And if he ever got a chance to get him back for making him lose a perfectly good job over a piece of easy tail like Cika...

**

Despite the pain in her chest at Tully's rebuke, Cika smiled as Kanda Har gently brushed the tears from under her eyes with the thumb of his good hand while his real eye looked at her with a softness that all but shoved the ache in her heart aside, much as the rhinoman himself could bowl through nearly any obstacle. It was also a little astonishing to see the yellow light in the mechanical eye return to its normal bluish purple hue, though there was a distinct pink tinge to it as he regarded her.

As warmth replaced pain, affection dulling the sting of brutal and hurtful honesty, the minkfemme looked at where her tears had darkened Kanda Har's thick skin and brushed at them absently. "I guess I shoulda known Tully was a bastard. It's m'own fault."

When Kanda Har pulled her back against him with a gentle smile he shook his head slowly. "No. It isn't." Hugging the minkgirl to him with his good arm, he spun her about easily. "And this is Windspray, one of the few individuals that I call friend. Windspray, this is my...er, this is Cika."

The albatross opened her wing like arms again and wrapped them around the minkgirl without any hesitation. "It's a pleasure! Any friend of Kanda Har's is welcome on my vessel. I don't know what that was with Tully, but I can't say that he'll be missed too badly, what with looking at me and the other girls as something like his own personal harem. Hey, are you alright? You look a little queasy. Is this your first time on a skyship? I can get something to help that if you want, though I can't understand how anyone can get airsick, but they do. I remember that there was one girl that I grew up with, she had really pretty feathers...in fact they were almost the same color as your fur and she used to get airsick all the time! Anyway, there was this one time when a storm came in and we were out on a little skiff when it started to get really choppy and-"

Kanda Har gave a deep, warm laugh as he gave the albatross a hug with his mechanical arm while still holding Cika. "You know, you might want to get up to the wheel until we're out in open sky. Then once we're out of sight of Highloft. That, and I think Cika would like the view from the bow." He said the last with a wink that the minkfemme didn't catch, nor the understanding that dawned in the albatrossgirl's onyx like eyes.

"You weren't kidding when you said she liked to talk," the minkgirl whispered as she let herself be guided to the prow of the little vessel. "I...I like her, though."

"Windspray is a right good lass, and as true a friend as this old pirate deserves," the rhino agreed.

Kanda Har hadn't been lying in the slightest that the view from the bow was something she should see, and as sunlight pierced the clouds around them, the early morning light causing the great, billowing masses to light up in pastels and vibrant colors that were breathtaking, Cika completely forgot about her momentary bout of airsickness. Nor could she help the smile that split her dainty muzzle as they passed through one cloud that was as pink as you please, the thick moisture almost wrapping the little minkgirl with a warm dampness and color. Without thinking about it, she took Kanda Har's huge hand in her arms, wrapping herself around it while in the throes of glee and delight, the stink of Highloft leaving her sensitive nose with the pure air of the open sky.

It was almost like Cika's enthusiasm spread to the rhinoman, but in truth it was the same thrill he got every time when he put out to the open skies. The air currents were a gentle, though they still caused the fishing boat to sway gently, and he put his mechanical hand on the rail to steady the both of them even as he leaned into the wind that blew across their faces.

Cika wasn't sure how long she stood there, the warmth of Kanda Har, his scent mingling with the wind that swirled around them both, her delight at the realization of a dream she'd had for such a very long time. She was just about to ask Kanda Har a question about something he'd said earlier when a doe not much older than herself approached.

"Begging your pardon, Master Trask, but Cap'n Windspray wanted me to take Cika below for a bit. We've got some clothes that she might find a little more comfortable than what she's got on, and I was also told to give her some of Candi's cure for airsickness," the doe told them with wide, sparkling eyes and a pleasant smile.

Before Cika could protest, the rhino turned her about and sent her along with several pats to her bottom, one finger going a little further, though she didn't think it was intentional, but it did touch that sensitive place and that was all it took to make her flush with sudden desire. No sooner did the mink move from the prow to the deck than the doe snagged her arm and led her to the door in the center of the deckhouse that dominated the aft of the ship.

"I'm Holly," the doe said, her ears flapping a little as she smiled while her tail flicked up in a flash of white as she led the way down below.

As they descended the wooden stairs, Cika pressed herself against the paneling as a purple colored cobrafemme made her way up, her glittering eyes regarding the mink flatly, whatever her thoughts were hidden in an unreadable expression. "Who was that?" she asked as the door to the deck opened and closed and Cika hurried to catch up with the deer that was dressed in a simple orange sarong that clung to her curves.

"Oh, that's Saber. She's from Pasha. I suppose she's alright, though she does have a bit of a temper. Saber's good in a scrap, but...well, I think that she's a little lazy sometimes." The doe paused and swung a door open that let into a rather modest cabin, though considering where the minkfemme had been living, the accommodations were almost luxurious beyond belief. "Now that Tully's gone, I guess you can have the cabin we were going to give him. Go ahead and start cleaning up and I'll get you those clothes."

Before Cika could say anything, Holly stepped back out into the passageway leaving the mink alone. With a quick look around, she didn't see anything that had belonged to the red panda, though if she had Cika would have probably shoved it out of the small, round portal. The drawers were empty and the bed appeared to be unused, and there wasn't even the hint of his smell. All of that enabled the minkgirl to quell the rising anger and hurt from earlier and relax.

There was a small pitcher of water and bowl...both of them real porcelain!...and she poured a bit into the shallow dish. There was also a full chunk of honest soap that had a pleasant smell like flowers. Cika slipped her tunic over her head and laid it on the brass rail of the bed that was in the cabin, pressing down on the mattress and finding it yielding and soft. Her eyes went wide at that, realizing that it was full of actual batting and feathers. Had she known that sailors lived so luxuriously the mink might have signed onto a crew...any crew!... long ago!

Her boots came off next and the minkfemme had just started to bath with a bit of cloth that was dampened and lathered with copious amounts of the soap when there was a knock at the door and Holly reentered with an armful of vibrant colored clothes. Just as she set these on the bunk, a small gust of wind rocked the skyship enough to cause Cika to lose her footing and she careened into the deer, who caught her easily, laughing at the same time.

"Don't worry! You'll get your skylegs soon enough!" Holly said as she righted the mink. "When you're finished, come all the way down the passage to the last room. I'll have some of Candi's cure for you." Before the doe left, she gave Cika a tiny caress to her cheek along with another dazzling smile and shut the door.

Left alone, Cika tried to get as clean as possible and dried off as best she could before grabbing the first things on the pile. It was a top of some sort and matching wrap that was more like a skirt, both in a teal blue that was very pretty. What was truly surprising, though, was that the material was soft and smooth, unlike the tunic that she'd been wearing, and as it slithered over her fur, Cika couldn't help but sigh. She's dreamed and fantasized about one day have fancy clothing, but she didn't know it would feel like this! Then as she put the top on, the fabric slipping over her pink nipples, the sensation was enough to make her gasp and generated a delicious warm dampness between her legs. The cloth almost felt as good as when Kanda Har touched her.

Almost all of the other femmes onboard were barefoot, and Cika had to admit that it felt good not to have to put on her boots for fear of stepping on something sharp like broken glass or bits of scrap metal. That and it made her feel a little more stable on the deck planks without anything on her feet, her pads doing a fairly good job of keeping her from slipping, and her claws would only aid that.

Opening the door, Cika turned down the passageway, seeing the flash of orange from Holly's sarong at the end, and realized that as she walked, the fabric moved with her steps while still sliding over the parts of her body that were covered, caressing her with a sensual delectability that only spurred her unexpected arousal. That of course made her remember the previous night and what Kanda Har had done to her, and made her anxious to get the rhinomale alone again.

"Ah! There you are!" Holly said with a pleased expression as she looked at the selection Cika had made. Without any hesitation, the doe stepped up and adjusted the clothing a little, completely nonplussed when her fingers caressed the minkfemme's nipples as she shifted the top swath of cloth, nor when she pressed into the top Cika's slit as she did the same to the skirt. As the mink tried to catch the breath that was suddenly stolen from her, Holly turned to a series of shelves that rested over a small stove and had a rail and netting to keep the different bottles secure. "Here you go. Just have a couple of sips of that and you won't be getting sick at all."

Looking at the thick, green colored contents, Cika brought the bottle up and sniffed. She'd always heard that medicines tasted horrible, though her life prevented her from ever having obtained any due to their exorbitant costs, but whatever was in the bottle actually had a nice smell to it. She sipped a little and the taste was even better, sweetened with something that Cika couldn't even identify. As she swallowed it down, the residual queasiness vanished almost as if by magic.

"See? All better!" Holly said as she reclaimed the bottle.

"What is that?" Cika asked as she licked at her lips and the lingering sweetness.

"Don't know," the deer said with a shrug and smile. "Candi makes it and it always works!" The doe put the bottle back on the rack and turned to leave the galley, not noticing that Cika saw something that she was familiar with in several bottles and slipped one into her breast wrap so quickly the deer didn't notice. "Come on and I'll introduce you to the rest of the crew!"

-

Kanda Har had also gone below to bathe, though there really weren't any clothes for him to wear, though he had seemed very appreciative of the outfit Cika had been given, his eyes never far from her for very long. The rhino had opted to go shirtless while the hippogirl on the crew, Candi of the miracle cure, cleaned his clothing save his sailcloth trousers, and much as he'd watched her, Cika was more than happy to observe her friend as he made his way about the ship, even helping in setting the rigging on the wing like sails of the little ship, his muscles bulging and rippling as the rhinomale hauled on lines, tightening cables and swinging back and forth with surprising agility.

Supper with Windspray and the rest of her crew made it more than clear that there were no other males onboard, and not a one of them seemed to be overly upset that Tully had fled the ship when faced with departing or facing Kanda Har's wrath. The mink was only half aware of the conversation around her, her focus being her rhino friend.

She had been more than a little disappointed that Kanda Har had been given his own cabin, though Cika waited until the femmes on the rest of the crew, save those that would be on watch for the night, turned in before making her way to the rhinomale's cabin, knocking lightly on the door and shifting from foot to foot until it opened.

With his trousers drying after finally being cleaned, the rhino was wearing absolutely nothing under the swatch of cloth that he held in front of himself, though he had to drop that to catch Cika as she launched herself into his arms and kissed him deeply, her tongue pushing past his lips with all of the angst that almost a full day in the throes of desire imparted.

"What's this?" Kanda Har husked in surprise.

"I've wanted you all day!" Cika breathed, her chest heaving and had the effect of pressing her breasts hard against the rhino with every breath. "You...you were about to call me 'your Cika' today, weren't you?" the minkgirl inquired, her eyes hot and shining. "It would have been the truth, Kanda Har. I...I was surprised to see Tully because I thought that he'd been caught. I...I shared a bed with him...and I thought he was a friend, but...but I didn't...didn't feel about him like I do about you!"

The mink swallowed hard, her heart beating like a drum while it felt like her stomach was full of flitterbugs, almost ruining the sumptuous dinner of cloudskippers that the hippogirl had made. She pulled the small bottle of fendis seed oil from her breast wrap, holding it up so the rhino could see the dark orange of the sweet, aromatic oil.

"I want you to take me proper. I want to be yours! I don't care if it hurts and I don't care if I ever have to share you with others. I want you in me, to fill me with your love and let it just be us for as long as I can have it!" Cika tried to stifle the tears that filled her eyes, almost mad with what roiled within her, a storm of emotions and desires that had her so off kilter.

As if to prove what it was that she asked, knowing exactly what her mind, heart and body yearned for, the mink slipped from his embrace. She pulled at the clothing one piece at a time, letting them flutter to the deck of the cabin, trembling as both the rhino's good eye and mechanical one locked onto her as she opened the bottle of thick oil and poured a bit on her fingers before dipping into her slit to spread it about her tender flesh. Once the thick, slick fluid was thoroughly spread about her tender bits, she stepped back up to the rhino and dropped to her knees, looking up with a pleading expression in her eyes as she pulled the throbbing end of the male down to her mouth, kissing the end before swabbing the plum like head with languorous swipes of her tongue.

Just as Kanda Har let out a long sigh, a tremor ran through his body as the minkfemme took him as far into her mouth as she could, straining to swallow all that meat down before sliding back up and pausing before doing it all over again. Not once did Cika pull her gaze away from his as she devoured him repeatedly, stroking the root of his cock with one hand while massaging his balls with the other. After every tenth stroke of her mouth, Cika would pull Trask out fully to nibble and lick her way along the bottom of his impressive length, then move back up to resume her feast.

When Kanda Har moaned low in his throat, his breath chuffing powerfully through his nostrils and causing them to flare, the minkfemme doubled her efforts, bobbing up and down the massive grey cock with an almost reckless abandon. Cika wrapped both hands around his base and began to pump them furiously, working in tandem with the way her muzzle slipped over his end, all the while watching, trying to impart everything she felt into her eyes, the pleading, the desire, the turmoil of her feelings. Then, just as she felt she was nearing the end of her endurance, Cika let one hand again move to his ponderously swaying balls, then past them, the soft pad of her palm pressing hard into the bulging continuation of his erection while her fingers found the tight ring of his tailhole and worked at that, stroking in time with what she did with her mouth.

Apparently the unexpected contact and pressure was just what was needed to send the huge brute of a male over and he gripped the frame of the bunk so tightly that the wood creaked dangerously in his mechanical hand while the other gripped Cika's head, holding her as he succumbed to a powerful orgasm that caused him to snort with a muffled bellow, his hips pushing forward as he let loose within the minkgirl's maw.

As it had been before, Cika struggled to drink all of him down, locking onto the head of the enormous cock like a mistlamprey, gulping every convulsive spurt of rhino semen that blasted into her mouth, hot and creamy, full of a good salty muskiness that filled her senses as much as it did her tummy. She couldn't help but moan and hum in delight as she all but drowned in the repeated blasts of cum, like shot after shot of Kanda Har's very own cannon, surrendering herself to the wanton base desires that filled her, wishing to be possessed fully by the old pirate that already had her and everything she was at his beck and whim.

When he gave up the last bit of his seed, sucking in a needed breath of air and filling his huge lungs, Cika poured some of the fragrant oil on her fingers and worked it into the still rigid thickness of Kanda Har's member as he clenched his fists tightly in the resulting sensitivity after a good, hard orgasm, her paw sliding easily up and down the grey shaft of his cock and heavy sac, cupping his massive orbs in her delicate grip. As soon as that huge, wonderful part of the rhino was covered, Cika moved to his bunk, her legs spread wide as she regarded the stunned pirate.

"Tonight and for as long as you want me," she said in a breathless whisper as her fingers dipped in and out of her tender folds spreading even more oil over herself, "make me your woman."

*

The day's work had been hard, and it had been a rough strain on Kanda Har's muscles. But it was a good feeling when it was all over, the sensation of good, honest labor running up and down his body, reminding him that he was alive with every little ache. Why he had ever thought that he could be satisfied with life on terra firma was something that the old skysailor simply couldn't fathom now that he was back on a vessel.

Of course, there were other effects of a hard, honest day's work. One of the most obvious was Kanda Har's sense of slow arousal, simmering beneath the surface like the rumblings of an active volcano. As the blood rushed from his muscles as he peeled off his trousers, the last clothing left to him by the women who ran this ship (making him slightly suspicious about their motives, though he never suspected that Windspray would be a part of any sort of plot of that fashion...Saber or Holly, though...), the weight of fluid had to go somewhere, after all. And why not between his legs?

Then there was Cika. Bubbling over with youthful energy, with the passion and lust of a girl finally and fully awakening to her womanhood, further enflamed by the excitement of the situation and the new and exotic sensations that were flooding her mind and body, Cika came to the huge rhino to sate her need. Kanda Har didn't stand a chance, though he wouldn't have tried to resist, even if he could. Now he stood, still naked, watching her as she lay back on his bunk, his erection unabated even after the force of the orgasm that had ripped through him, filling her mouth and tummy with his thick, copious seed. She'd taken his words to heart, obviously, when he told her there would be a need for lots of lubrication when they tried to fit him into her, and he reached out, catching up the bottle of sweet-scented oil she'd set on the nearby nightstand, bolted to the floor so as to keep it from overturning on the high skies.

"This," said the huge male as he knelt by the side of the bed, reaching over with his other hand to gently tug Cika forward, until her legs were dangling over the edge, "will take a while."

-

Unknown to either of the two lovers, they had a most appreciative audience. In the chamber next door, the royal purple-scaled cobra woman frowned as she carefully adjusted the antenna on top of the primitive viewscreen, the picture somewhat fuzzy despite her best efforts, but functional all the same for her purposes; it was even in color, albeit slightly too bright to be quite realistic. Not far off, Holly, the lovely young doe in the saffron sarong, was seated demurely, her legs crossed, on a plush ottoman, smiling as she watched the show taking place.

"My, Windspray's friend is certainly gifted, isn't he?" she remarked, leaning back on her hands, giggling a little as she watched the big male start to squirt out even more of the oil onto and over Cika's tiny pink cunny, before raising himself up slightly, and resting his hand alongside his immense grey shaft. It soon became apparent why he was doing this, as he held three of his thick fingers over the top of his penis, demonstrating how thick he was to the little cream-furred mink.

"This is how many fingers you'll have to take before I'll try fitting myself in you, Cika," he said, his voice a bit distorted, but the intimacy of his masculine rumble still enough to send a shiver through both doe and cobra as Saber slid away from the viewscreen, her whole body undulating with serpentine flexibility as she stroked her black-nailed hands down her humanoid body.

"Delicious," she hissed in a soft whisper, her round-pupiled eyes widening as Cika squealed loudly, her voice high-pitched and simply adorable, as Kanda Har slowly worked a single thick digit into her obviously achingly tight little cunny. "Mmm, this...this is hot," she added in her sultry voice, the long-lashed lids of her eyes lowering as she let her forked tongue flick out.

"Do you really think he'll...?" Holly started to ask, only to get a smirk from the very mammalian-looking cobrafemme, who half-turned to smirk at the younger woman.

"Oh, I have no doubt that they will try," she replied, before her attention, and Holly's, were completely riveted once more to the screen.

-

"There," said Kanda Har, smiling reassuringly at Cika at the little mink squirmed and twisted this way and that, her tiny hands gripping the bunk beneath her just to force herself to stay more-or-less in one place. "That's all the way in."

"Oh," said Cika breathlessly, her cheeks flushed, her eyes heavy-lidded, her pert little breasts heaving. "That's...that's just one, isn't it?"

"Yes," Kanda Har answered. "Just relax, Cika. You know I won't hurt you. You're safe."

"I know," said Cika in a tiny, girlish voice, looking up at her big lover. "I trust you, Kanda Har."

"Just tell me if anything feels bad," the big rhino continued, resting his metal hand on top of Cika's stomach, holding her more firmly in place, though being careful not to press too hard. "Or if anything feels good," he added with a wink of his good eye. Then his hand started to thrust.

"AAAAAH!" Cika cried out, her back arching, her body only barely held in place by Kanda Har's other hand as he held her down, his finger pumping forward and back, turned upward to squeeze against the upper part of her slick little sex. He started slow, and that alone almost proved too much for the wriggly little minkling. But as she slowly began to calm down, gritting her teeth with a precious, high-pitched whine as she forced her tushie back down onto the bed, Kanda Har started to build up speed. Every so often, during those brief moments when little Cika seemed to be more in control of her body, he would reach over and grab the bottle of oil, pouring still more over her tiny cunny, working it into her nice and deep with his thrusting finger.

It was several minutes later, when Kanda Har found that he'd built up enough of Cika's own juices along with the oil she'd brought, that the rhino's thick finger started to pump with relative ease. She still gripped his calloused skin tightly, of course, but now he could move his hand without having to put quite as much vigor into the motions. Naturally, this signaled the time to add a second finger.

-

"Hey girls," said Candi, the cute hippogirl looking a little worried as she peeked into the room where Saber and Holly were seated, watching the crude viewscreen, their faces leaned close so as to not miss a single juicy moment. "I thought I heard some screaming sounds from down here, and I was just wondering..."

Saber was there at the door almost before Holly was even aware that Candi was there in the first place. Candi, of course, simply stared, wide-eyed, as the purple-scaled snake pressed a finger to her broad, rounded muzzle, her long and sinuous tail wrapping around the big girl's waist, coaxing her inside with firm tugging. Closing the door with one foot, Saber led the smooth-skinned hippogirl over to a bean-filled leather cushion, and coaxed her down with light guiding touches. Her wide eyes looking around at her two fellow crewmates curiously, Candi's small ears flicked as she heard the sounds of girlish squealing again, before her head turned toward the viewscreen, there to see...

"Oh!" gasped Candi, both her hands covering her mouth as she blushed deeply. "Oh...oh my..."

She started to rise, not really feeling comfortable spying on the intimate couple as Kanda Har grinned like a fiend, the muscles in his neck straining as he worked two fingers forward and back into little Cika's absolutely tiny pink quim, stretching her to a degree that looked positively obscene, the noises the precious little minkgirl was making enough to send a flush all the way down Candi's body, the bashful hippogirl feeling a strange heat starting to kindle between her legs at the sight. Before she could rise completely, however, Saber was there, one leg deftly slipping between Candi's, sending the shy hippogirl plopping back down onto the cushion.

"But Saber," Candi almost whispered, her face turning down even as her eyes looked up at the smugly smirking cobra. "We really shouldn't be..."

The poor shy hippogirl's eyes widened, her blush deepening even more, as Saber pressed her sinuous, shapely body against Candi's plush form, her long-fingered, dexterous hands deftly plucking at the buttons on Candi's white blouse and short sailor's trousers. Candi could only whimper, trembling helplessly as the wicked cobrawoman's clawtips teased over the hippogirl's soft and so-very-sensitive grayish-red skin, stripping her naked whether she wanted it or not. Truth be told, Candi wasn't really sure what she wanted right then. Her eyes, though, went back to the viewscreen, as did the eyes of both Holly and Saber, even while the bad cobrawoman's hands began to palpate Candi's lovely large breasts.

-

It was too much! It was more than Cika had ever thought could be possible! Her toes flexed, her tiny bare footpaws kicking desperately as her legs were splayed out wide, Kanda Har's long, horned nose turning this way and that to brush along the extra-sensitive, soft-furred flesh of her inner thighs, making sure Cika didn't even think of closing them. It provided a welcome but all-too-miniscule distraction from the intense sensations coming from right between her legs, where the huge male's thick fingers continued to pump, arching upward against the slight roughness of the minkgirl's G-spot when he pulled out, the heel of his palm rasping against her hooded pink pearl when he thrust forward. At least, that's what he'd done before. Now, though, Kanda Har was trying to avoid contact with little Cika's clitoris, and it was a good thing, too - the poor, wriggly little weaselkin didn't know if she'd be able to stand much more of this! She was going crazy from the raw intensity! Every so often, Kanda Har would lightly nibble or suck on the tender, hyper-sensitive flesh of Cika's inner thigh, and that alone was enough to make the little mink's whole body spasm.

Finally, finally, after many long, pleasurably tortuous minutes, Cika's inner walls simply couldn't grip down as tightly as before. Her body had simply worn itself out too much for her to be able to continue spasming and clenching and flexing like she had. Now, Kanda Har rose, and slowly, so very slowly, squeezed a third finger alongside the other two. Cika's eyes widened and then crossed, and she started to hyperventilate. But then Kanda Har's lips were on her own, and her body relaxed as she kissed him back, her whole world awash in endorphins. She was vaguely aware of her juices squirting out onto Kanda Har's hand, onto the bed, onto the floor, but that had already happened more than once, each time making her entire world reel with crashing waves of pleasure, raw and undiluted. Just when she thought that there couldn't be another height to which she could be taken, Kanda Har had kept proving her wrong, had kept lifting her upward, toward heights of pleasure that seemed to be wrenched from Heaven itself, until Heaven's pleasure seemed almost as painful as the fire of Hell, the two sensations mingling over time into a strange mix that left Cika's whole body jerking and spasming, and her screaming at the top of her lungs, noise that would surely have woken the entire ship if Kanda Har's kisses hadn't kept Cika quiet, when she didn't think to bite down on her arm, or his arm, or a twist of the blanket, or the nearby pillow. Now, though, Cika knew: this had to be it. There simply couldn't be anything more intense than what Kanda Har was doing to her right n-

"You're ready now, Cika," said Kanda Har softly, rising slowly all the way, letting his heavily-leaking cock flop weightily onto Cika's tummy as he carefully withdrew his fingers from her cunny, making the little minkling squirm through another orgasm just on the pullback - not that she could really tell any more where one orgasm ended and another began. Her entire world was centered now on that cock, that huge, massive, titanic slab of thick, hot, grey male flesh that was even now nudging at her very gates. "Nice and gentle," he murmured, his muzzle right next to her ear as he covered her with his body, using his much-greater mass to hold her still, keep her in place, prevent her from injuring herself with the spasms of aftershocks that still kept shaking through her entire slender young body like jolts of electricity.

-

"Skies beneath," whispered Holly in awe, licking her lips to wet them as her huge eyes were riveted to the screen, watching with rapt attention as Kanda Har slowly, so very slowly, lowered himself on top of little Cika, his impossibly immense cock squeezing by fingerspans into the wide-eyed, wide-mouthed little mink beneath him.

Candi moaned wordlessly nearby, which made quite a bit of sense, seeing as how Saber had taken the opportunity to tie up the cute hippogirl after she'd stripped poor shy Candi naked, and then cinched a knotted white strip of cloth into Candi's mouth as a gag. Now the sinuous and flexible cobrawoman was all over the squirming, jerking cutie in her clutches, her tail rasping between the snugly-clenching dimple of Candi's labia, the hippogirl's slick juices running down her inner thighs and Saber's tail quite copiously. Of course Saber's attention was also riveted to the screen, every squeal, every moan, every loud grunt of the brutish male on top of little Cika just adding further fuel to her desperate lust, lust which she was more than happy to take out on poor, sweet Candi, who, though she certainly had the strength to push Saber away if she'd wanted it, didn't stand a chance against the overwhelming lusty desires of the sultry cobrababe.

"Yesssss," hissed Saber as Kanda Har's hips came to a stop, almost two-thirds of his impossibly huge length somehow squeezed into little Cika's achingly tight folds, her speech becoming more sibilant as she lost herself in her own passion. "That'ssss it - rut her like a beasssst!"

With that, Saber closed her mouth on one of Candi's plump, dark nipples, biting down at the same moment she jerked her tail with especial force and vigor. Candi's squeal of sudden, unexpected orgasm was almost as loud as Cika's as Kanda Har ground his hips, gyrating his cock inside of little Cika, making her squirm like a skyfish on a hook, her little hands going to her breasts, fingers roughly pinching her perked nipples in her desperation to find something, anything, to somehow express the passion that was overwhelming her utterly.

**

'I'm dying,' Cika thought, her mind in an absolute fog of nearly continuous orgasms that rolled through her as Kanda Har's immense shaft plumbed her depths, 'because nothing...NOTHING is supposed to feel this good!'

He had taken his time, as he said he would, the rhino preparing her with surprising gentleness, first using one of his enormous fingers that was far larger than Tully had been at full arousal, then adding a second, and finally a third after what seemed to be an eternity of bliss. Eventually he'd deemed her ready and carefully lowering himself onto her tiny form, most of his weight supported by his arms, he slid home into her channel, filling her with the girth of his monstrous cock.

Even as the plum like head stretched her to capacity, the mink felt the heat and pressure building again for another soul searing climax, cumming again before the previous one faded. As Kanda Har slid as far as he could before causing actual injury, he ceased his onslaught, his hips pulling back in a slow, excruciatingly pleasant withdrawal before diving forward again, adding a rolling motion that pistoned him into her body in a circular fashion, his filling of her cunny brining even more delicious agony. He stretched her beyond belief, touching places and parts of her that Cika was unaware she had, each stroke in and out milking more of her own juices from her now pliable body.

Despite the work the rhino had done to ready her for this moment, her body continued to convulse, the walls of her tunnel fluttering around the pillar of hot flesh snugged deep within her body. No more of the oil was needed as their fluids mingled, providing both lubrication and warmth to their joining and she relished every moment of accepting Kanda Har into her with reckless abandon.

Her breath came upon each withdrawal and Cika screamed with unparalleled joy as he reentered her, her voice swallowed by the rhinomale's mouth upon hers, drinking down her voiced passion and wails of ecstasy until her voice cracked. When Kanda Har pulled his head up, parting their kiss, Cika could only pant as he continued his expert advance and retreat, her mouth open and eyes glazed as she stared up at her lover, her own paws alternately crushing her firm breasts and rolling her taut, pink nipples to the point of almost bruising. The pain became pleasure, aches like caresses, and the driving cock deep within her body the means to her own personal paradise. Then there was the feel of the rhino's heavy sac impacting with her pert ass with every stroke, the huge orbs of his maleness accentuating every penetration.

When her own breasts were tingling with the pinches Cika lavished on them, the minkfemme lifted her arms, her tiny paws finding Trask's own nipples and began to fondle them, recalling the reaction he had when she had first touched them. She smiled when the rhino hissed as she rubbed her soft pads over those delicate spots of dark flesh, slowly increasing the pressure she applied, then the deep moans and snorts of approval as Cika began to pinch and roll his male nipples. If she could have, she would have smiled.

Then when Kanda Har lowered his head and snuffled her neck, his lips and hot breath teasing her throat, she gasped as another climax engulfed her. How many times could she cum? It was unbelievable! So primed was she that Cika could swear that the burly rhino and his expert manipulations of her body, he could induce orgasm by a simple touch, even a glance!

Still he pummeled her cunny with an almost gentle regularity, her body growing accustomed to the rhino so that she could feel each variation of his massive cock as it slid past her labia and deep inside her, each vein, every difference in texture so that Cika knew him with the same familiarity as her mouth now had with Kanda Har's endowments.

Rocking back and forth on the bunk, the inertia of Kanda Har plowing into her, the minkling felt another sort of hunger building in her and she wanted...more. With a smile, she used the agility that years on the streets as a thief had bestowed and folded herself upwards, using the rhino's own body for support as her mouth found first one nipple, then the other, suckling on each of the vestigial organs with as much fervor as she could muster, Kanda Har's deep, chuffing sighs telling her that her attentions were very much appreciated. His flesh here tasted lightly different, the smell of the soap he'd used for his own bath mingling with the rhino's own earthy scent, his skin tasting clean with just a hint of a salty tanginess, not unlike his wonderful cock but at the same time wonderfully different, and she was unable to refrain from the flicking of her tongue against the tiny, taut buds of his nipples, nor when she began to nibble on the succulent, sensitive flesh.

"Cika!" Kanda Har rumbled happily, his voice a deep, thrumming whisper like far off thunder, looking down at her with his mechanical eye whiring happily and suffused with a rich, pink hue, the eye of flesh squinting slightly with pleasure and a smile that pulled at his mouth that warmed the pearly grey femme all the way to her soul.

"Ka...Kanda H-Har...please! Faster!" Cika stuttered as she lay back down on the bunk. To open herself even more to her lover, she slowly reached down and grasped each ankle, straightening her legs. "Mo...more! C-cu-cuuummm in me!" the minkling husked as another climax caused her to shiver violently, the release of heat, pressure and her juices no less intense than any of the others, but she was nearing the end of her endurance. "I-I-I...I wa-want it...pleeeaaassse!"

Her name coming out as a grunt, the rhino obliged, the strength and will to give her what she asked for causing Kanda Har to increase his pace. Both looked down to see the mass of the rhino slipping in and out of Cika with rapid, almost desperate thrusts as balls slapped against the mink's ass with thick, wet sounds from the copious amounts of her own nectar that had soaked into her fur. Just as the little minkfemme began to squeal with yet another rapidly building orgasm, Kanda Har's pace began to fluctuate with the increasing pressure of his own imminent release.

"Yesyesyesyes! Oh! Ancients! YES!" Cika screamed as one more thrust brought the rhino again into her body a moment before a mighty throb of his cock gave way to Kanda Har's torrent of thick, creamy cum, the scalding flood of his semen filling the few tiny spaces that the monstrous cock had yet to touch.

Kanda Har bellowed his way through the mind numbing release, his hips pushing forward almost of their own accord as he only partially withdrew before running home into the petite weaselkin, another surge of his spunk blasting into the thoroughly worked Cika's cunny. Despite his orgasm prior to bedding the girl and the phenomenal amounts of precum that streamed constantly, he filled the mink to overflowing, every pulsing spasm of his cock exploding with what felt like bucketfuls of his essence, and Cika doing everything in her power to keep him seated firmly within her tunnel as he unleashed his passion in the tight confines of her body.

It seemed like a timeless forever as Kanda Har rode his climax to completion, and Cika reveled in the final orgasm her lover's release triggered. It was so much more than she'd thought or dreamed was possible, a sense of complete satisfaction and fulfillment rocking her both physically and mentally. Without knowing where the strength came from, the minkfemme was able to haul herself up, her arms latching onto Kanda Har's neck as shuddering breaths filled her lungs, her whimpers of full, womanly joy escaping from her hoarse throat and tears of ecstasy spilled from her eyes while still impaled on the rhino's impressive erection.

"Thank you, Kanda Har," she wheezed between soft sobs. "_My_Kanda har! Thank you! Thankyouthankyou!"

Cika slipped from consciousness from one moment to the next, the day having been long, and the culmination far more than she had dared hope for, all of the events far more than the youngster was prepared for. Feeling an even greater fatigue before, and suffused with his own satisfaction, Kanda Har did his best to clean both of them up, the minkgirl before himself, then climbed up onto the bunk with Cika tucked peacefully in the crook of his arm. He looked down as she snuggled closer, her head upon his broad chest, her paw almost petting the thick hide of his belly and a happy smile pulling at the corners of her mouth as he stroked the soft fur of her back and rump.

Almost as an afterthought he disengaged the mechanical eye and set it on the small, railed shelf bolted next to the head of the bed, then kissed the top of Cika's head before closing his eye of flesh, a sigh escaping his mouth as smile formed and sleep claimed him for its own, not paying attention to the deep blush of the device in the gloom of the cabin.

*

"Mmm," sighed Saber, stretching langorously before running her black-nailed fingers down her purple-scaled breasts and trim, sinuous belly. "I simply _must_have that little mink. Certainly, the male is an impressive specimen, and I suppose it would be fun to have a round or two with him, for sake of completion, but that dear, sweet little darling..." her forked tongue flicked over her lips. "Delicious."

Not far off, poor Candi was lying on the ground, still bound and actually quite helpless at this point, her cheeks deeply flushed, slick juices wetting the smooth grey-pink skin of her inner thighs, several harsh bite-marks covering both her generous breasts and her neck. Her helplessness didn't come from an inability to get out of the soft ropes binding her - even as gentle as she was, the cute hippogirl could have snapped the ropes with some effort, as they were sturdy, certainly, but not sturdy enough to keep her bound if she really put her mind to escaping. Rather, her helplessness came from the multiple incredibly intense orgasms that had shaken her body right to its core. Being ravished so thoroughly by the wicked and sultry cobrafemme, while watching such an intensely erotic session of lovemaking between the huge male and tiny female, had left her quite breathless, her consciousness wavering in and out as she struggled in the failing battle to stay awake.

Holly, seated not far off, looked rather hot and bothered herself, wiggling her white-furred tushie on her seat, her tail hiked high, her cheeks quite flushed as she squeezed her thighs together. However wanton Saber had been with Candi, Holly wasn't the sort of girl to engage in lewd acts in front of others on a general basis. She had, however, built up quite a lot of fuel for the passion she would simply have to let out the moment she could get back to her own little cabin. The white-tailed doe was just glad she tended to have very quiet orgasms - as keyed-up as she felt right then, if she was the sort to make noise, she was sure she'd shatter the heavens themselves.

"Best to set this back to its intended purpose," Saber was saying as she stalked, confident in her svelte nudity, knowing full well just how attractive her sleek-scaled body was, and how naturally mesmerizing it could be to watch every little sway of her feminine hips and bobbing breasts. With a few adjustments, the screen blurred, turned into a series of lines, then turned to snow, and finally flickered into an image of the sky surrounding the little fishing craft. This image slowly shifted as the viewscreen cycled between each of the cameras set up around the vessel. After all, skyfishing was a great deal easier if you could see in all directions, and the little cameras, each about the size of a breadbox, made such a thing possible. Besides that, of course, they also made it possible to keep a near-constant lookout, even when nobody was in the crow's nest. Of course, for a bird like Windspray, someone used to thinking in three dimensions and able to soar naturally on the myriad currents of air that wafted across the endless skies, besides having the far-sighted vision of her kind, these little luxuries were mildly superfluous. Still, they were conveniences, and they helped make the rest of her crew just as effective as she could be.

"I'll be up for a while yet, I think," said the purple-scaled woman as she walked to the door, giving Holly a knowing glance and flick of her long, forked tongue. "As will you, I'm sure...but you have more pressing matters that need your attention. I suppose I'll spend some time on deck, watching the horizon."

For a moment, as the sinuous snakewoman made her way out of the room and up the stairs, Holly thought that Saber might actually be showing a rare moment of altruism. Then she remembered: Windspray usually slept in the crow's nest at night, and Windspray was the only person on board (barring Cika and Kanda Har, of course, but they would learn) who didn't seem to know that Saber had _intentions_on the white-feathered birdgirl's person.

"Well, it does give me some time alone," the pretty doe admitted with a smile, before she rose from her seat, and went to Candi, who was still sleeping where she'd been left by the wicked woman who'd just left. "Sorry, Candi," Holly apologized to the hippogirl, even as she untied her, "there's no way I'm going to be able to get you to bed. I just hope you wake up before you get too stiff."

Adding a blanket over the top of her large friend, and sorry that she couldn't really do more - the willowy whitetail knew she had zero chance of lifting the much larger femme - Holly took the time proffered her to get some much-needed sleep.

Soon the entire ship settled into the peaceful dreaming of the dark skies at night. Little did any of them imagine the danger that was even then rising to seek them out.

-

"I, of course, will remain in Highloft," said the elder Tammany as he rested his weight on his sturdy sword-cane, fingering the silver demon's head fastened to the top. "I have far too much business still to attend to here. My son, however, could benefit from some time on the skyways. I place him under your complete command."

The younger tigerman seethed silently as his father casually handed him over to the beautiful blood-furred vixen in bright green doublet and soft leather breeches, a hat of significant size and plumage gracing her head. Still, for all his obvious distaste at the thought of being anyone's mere crewmember, he didn't dare to defy his father's wishes.

"I'll make sure we bring back the little mink you're after, Count," Captain Talia Redcoat declared with a broad sweep of her hat and a low bow. "You may count on the crew of the Blood Raven."

Obviously not wanting to spend much time around someone he regarded as a social inferior, and of an especially noxious class of social inferior at that, Count Tammany didn't take long to make his farewells, bordering on the impolite with his haste. As soon as he was out of sight, the brightly-colored vixen turned her face to the Viscount. Her smile was rather less-than-pleasant.

"Head aboard, Tam," she said flippantly, her manner openly daring the younger tiger to defy her, or to take offense at her casual abbreviation of his name and title. "We'll be casting off soon enough."

Biting back his obvious ire at his present situation, Tam (for he knew this was to be his name for the duration, since he hadn't done anything to stop its use) went up the gangplank, followed shortly thereafter by the athletic, trim vixen, who carried herself with poise and confidence, her walk almost like that of a man in its straightforward, proud, commanding step. At the sound of her bootfalls on the boards of the deck, the ruffians and cutthroats and pirates who made up her crew made sure that each was obviously busy at work, none of them demonstrating an idleness that might draw the attention of their captain.

"Now, young Tully," said Redcoat, resting one long-fingered hand on the shoulders of a red pandaboy standing near the gangplank as it was hauled in, "I believe you were telling us all about the intended route of a certain fishing vessel."

"Yes ma'am," answered the boy eagerly, his eyes shining with excitement at the thought that he should be the center of attention for a figure as dashing in appearance as the beautiful, striking vixen.

"Yes captain," Redcoat gently corrected with a gentle smile, even as, behind her eyes, she was making such delightful plans for the pandaboy, whose presence in her quarters that night would be so much more immediately gratifying than the tiger. Tam's eventual taming would be far more satisfying, of course, but also far more time-consuming, and Talia was in the mood for a cheap thrill that night. "If you're going to serve on my crew, you'll need to respect my position, and obey my every order. Is that understood?"

"Yes captain," Tully returned right away, adding in a salute in his eagerness.

"Good," answered Captain Redcoat with an obviously pleased nod. "Then report to my quarters, young Tully," she motioned towards a door near the stern of the ship, "and we'll discuss what you know."

With another salute, Tully raced off to obey his new captain, completely missing the knowing and occasionally sympathetic glances of the rest of the crew in his haste. Then Redcoat's eyes fell on the hooded figure who was briefly visible in the window of what would normally be the quarters of the ship's doctor, and she only barely restrained a shudder, not wanting to show weakness before her crew. Frere Vermis might dress like a monk, complete with heavy-hooded red habit, but there was nothing holy about his presence, that much was certain. Still, it had been the dark brother that had directed Redcoat to finding the former Captain Trask in the first place, and who had soon after pointed her crew toward the boy. Whatever else might be said about the forbidding priest, he knew things, and those things gave him power.

Frere Vermis had come to Captain Redcoat some months back, not too long after the former captain of the Blood Raven, Kanda Har Trask, had decided to retire, setting off in a much smaller craft toward points unknown, so as to get away from the piratical life for good, or so he claimed, leaving no return address, so to speak. When the dark brother had appeared, he carried a strange tale for Redcoat, claiming that Captain Trask knew the location of a far greater treasure than anyone had been led to believe. Of course, Talia had initially discounted the priest's words, but he had produced a rather sizable chest with what he claimed was only a fraction of the wealth Talia and her crew could share, if only they would hunt down their former captain. Within the chest had been gold and other precious treasures of an obvious value that staggered even Talia's greed-centered mind.

After that, it hadn't really mattered if Kanda Har had been holding back or not: the sum Frere Vermis provided at the start was more than enough to buy Redcoat and her crew into his service, at least as long as the job stayed fairly simple and ripe for profit. And, so far, it had, the minor difficulties at bringing the canny rhino to bay being gradually overcome, one by one, by the dark priest's weird powers of knowledge.

"Go check with the quartermaster, Tam," said Captain Bloodcoat as she started toward the door to her cabin, pushing her concerns aside as she allowed herself to lick his chops hungrily. "He'll get you squared away, and set you up with a post. As for me, I have...business that needs my close attention."

**

"Make sure the point of the tip lines up with the center of your elbow," Kanda Har told Cika as he began the minkfemme's first lesson in sword fighting, though the term sword in this case was a bit of a misnomer.

Windspray had a few weapons on board, including a couple of rather antiquated muskets and a blunderbuss, but when it came to blades, the albatrossgirl was limited in her selection. While what the diminutive Cika used seemed like a fairly decent sword in her paw, for the rhinomale it would have hardly been considered more than a moderate-sized knife.

"Set your feet flat, but keep your legs loose," Kanda Har instructed. "Bend the knee a little more. You need to have solid footing, but there also needs to be an ability to react quickly, moving either forward, back, or even to the side at a moment's notice."

Cika didn't complain and did her best to follow her lover's advice. To be honest it wasn't overly strenuous, and once she got the stance down, it was oddly comfortable and felt...right. "Like this?" she asked, wanting very much to gain Kanda Har's approval and to make him proud.

The rhino nodded as he walked around, observing the mink's stance, how she held the blade, making adjustments as needed, though there wasn't really much he needed to correct. While the other women onboard carried on with their tasks, Windspray at the wheel, there was actually very little for the two passengers to do.

As he worked with Cika, Kanda Har was able to get her to a level of confidence and competence that he began to work on actual attacks and parries, though he used a wooden belay pin and moved at half speed. By the time he called for a break, he was actually breathing heavy and the minkfemme was panting in the warm sunlight that splashed onto the deck. When the albatross girl called to both of them in her bright, cheery voice that food was ready, both were more than happy for the rest.

"You're picking this up quickly," Kanda Har told her with his mechanical hand on her shoulders before drawing her closer for a small hug, the girl beaming up at him with a joyful expression.

"I might be better if I wasn't a little...tender," Cika admitted with a giggle. "But what a wonderful way to start the day!"

The rhino said nothing, only smiling as they entered the galley of the small ship, not wanting to embarrass either Cika or the other ladies by commenting, though it had been a wonderful way to wake up indeed.

In a display that was fair demonstration of Cika's youthful resilience, Kanda Har had awoken to the minkling happily riding his morning erection, the feel of her engulfing him in warmth while her pretty face and adoring expression was the first thing he saw. She had happily declared herself 'his woman', and aimed to demonstrate that there was nothing that she wouldn't do to make the old pirate happy. And while pleasant, he wondered if he would be able to keep up with the energetic teen.

Both received bowls of the stew that Candi had made along with a type of biscuit that was a far cry from the hardtack that Kanda Har had grown up on that no amount of soaking had ever helped soften. They ate with gusto, Cika even going back for a second and third bowl, unaccustomed to anything remotely resembling a regular diet and not realizing that she didn't need to pack away the food that might have to last her a day or more. Candi, however, gave the minkfemme a shy, gratified smile when Cika finished all of it before burping happily.

When Saber, the cobrafemme with almost iridescent purple scales passed by with her own meal, Cika yelped softly in surprise as the serpentwoman's scaly tail almost seemed to caress her posterior as she sat at the bench. When she looked up it seemed as if the sinuous femme was completely unaware of what she'd done, though it might have been an accident as the quarters were rather cramped in the galley.

Far more disturbing was the behavior of Holly and sometimes Candi, the doe and hippogirl occasionally looking at Cika and Kanda Har with strange expressions, almost as if they were both privy to a rather sordid secret, before blushing and turning away, though the embarrassed seeming display from Candi was far more noticeable.

Windspray sat at her normal place at the head of the long table, running an almost constant commentary about the skyfishing over the past few months and how she was having to go further afield so she wouldn't be competing with some of the larger fishing vessels, and Cika wondered how she actually managed to get any food into her with the running commentary. Kanda Har had been right in that Windspray was a wonderful girl, not much older than Cika herself, but she truly did talk an awful lot, and there were times that the mink had to stifle a laugh at the way conversation could change track in less time than she could blink, jumping from subject to subject.

When the meal was over, Cika volunteered for scullery duty, her lover pointing out that it was only good manners to help out as much as possible as they were guests aboard Windspray's vessel, her offer happily accepted by Candi who normally wound up with double duty as cook and clean-up. Before Kanda Har slipped back up to the deck Cika made sure that she gave him a warm, lingering kiss to tide both over until they returned to her lessons that afternoon.

The last to leave the galley was the cobrawoman from Pash. As Cika scrubbed at the crockery, using first a half barrel that was filled with water and a powerful soap, then rinsing in the other half of the container before drying and putting things away, Saber eyed the little minkgirl with extreme interest, finding the succulent weaselkin precisely what she liked the most; young, warm, innocent and oh-so very desirable. Had Candi or Holly still been in the galley they would have realized precisely what was going through the voluptuous serpentfemme's mind by the way her tongue constantly flicked out towards the minkgirl in slow, languorous lashes.

Cika was humming to herself, letting her mind drift to the myriad things that she had discovered with Kanda Har, so many experiences that she didn't even know existed. Not only were they things about the world at large, but things about herself. Her mind flitted from one thing to the other, first meeting the rhinomale, the first time she pleasured him with her mouth, learning how to use a sword, the lingering and delicious soreness between her legs from the previous night, how seeing him smile was as fulfilling and invigorating as watching the sun come up, and the grand adventure they were now on.

She was only aware of the other femme's presence when a hand was placed on the small of her back and a deeply purple scaled arm reached past her to deposit a bowl in the soapy water, the contact causing Cika to start a little, not having heard the cobrafemme slip up behind her.

"Aren't you a sweet little thing," Saber whispered almost in Cika's ear, her tongue actually flicking the edge lightly.

"Pardon me?" the minkgirl replied trying to pull away a little.

"Helping out, I mean. It's rather...adorable."

Cika couldn't help but flinch away as Saber seemed to lean against her, increasing the pressure of their bodies together as the ship swayed in the current of the high skies while her hand on the minkette's back slipped down over her cheek, the fingers all but groping her.

"Ooops," the serpentfemme tittered innocently. "Ssssoorrrry. Ssssometimesss I find that the sssway of the ship ssstill catchessss me off guard." Despite trying to make the contact seem accidental, Saber had leaned forward, her head almost next to Cika's as her tongue flicked out again, slithering across the mink's throat.

Not feeling comfortable in the slightest, Cika ducked slightly before spinning away and to the side of the cobrawoman, holding the pot that she'd just finished rinsing up between them like a shield. "Yes," the minkfemme agreed cautiously. "It does take some getting used to."

Saber smiled, but it was far from a comforting expression and stepped back from the makeshift sinks. "Well, duty calls, but I have to admit that I look forward to seeing you again."

The last remark and the strange way that the serpent regarded Cika had a decidedly unwholesome feeling to it. As the other retreated to head back up to the deck, Cika finished her chore before rushing out of the galley and the open deck, finding the confining space suddenly an unpleasant place to be. Not only that, but there was a sudden craving for Kanda Har's presence.

As soon as she could, the mink found her lover and began to resume the lessons with fervor, though she was keenly aware of the purple scaled femme and the rather intense looks that she was receiving as she began to run through the exercises that Kanda Har imparted.

*

It wasn't fair, of course. Last night had ended...well...it had ended, and that's about all that happened for Saber. The purple-scaled cobrawoman had tried her best to hunt Windspray down and seduce her, but the airheaded albatross was too fast asleep for it to be any fun! While she was a great many things, Saber wasn't a rapist...for the most part. Even when she was perhaps a tad too forceful, she honestly wanted the experiences she had with others to be at least as satisfying for them as they were for her.

It was a strange dichotomy, that the wicked, worldly woman's selfish pleasures would include a strong component of giving as well as receiving, but there were few sensations that could quite match the feeling of having someone need what you could provide, knowing full-well that it would be very, very good. This, to Saber, was power, a power she could understand and manipulate to its fullest.

Now the cobrawoman was sharing a ship with two lovely, sweet, delightfully-innocent and delightfully-sweet girls, so tempting and succulent their mere presence made her tongue tingle with their scent-taste...and the thrill of the hunt was slowly driving her wild! The hard work above deck was normally something Saber avoided with all the skill of her cunning mind and cloying charisma, but now, now it provided both an opportunity to remain close to both of her prey, and also to work off some of the feverish heat that shivered through her cold-blooded body. Patience, patience...but oh how she wanted to taste that squirming little minkling, almost as much as she wanted to ravish the white-feathered, nearly-angelic albatross.

Not far off, Kanda Har was showing Cika the motions of a very basic weapons form, taking his time as he moved side-by-side with her, letting her watch and copy his movements. The morning had been for working off some of her energy and enthusiasm, natural products of youthful vitality, and to give her a sturdy foundation from which to work, without stifling her with too much of the boring parts of fighting training. Now, as they were both tiring from their efforts at training, sweat running down the rhino's body while Cika was led to panting (a rather fetching look for her, Kanda Har thought, with her cute little bosom heaving, darling pink tongue sticking out every few breaths), it seemed like an appropriate time for the more cerebral parts of combat training.

"Forms are as much meditation as practice," Kanda Har said as he swung his heavy chopping blade downward. It was a two-handed, square-topped blade, something like a large machete, that was really intended more for hacking through blocks of ice than normal battle, but which Kanda Har made into a serviceable single-edged and one-handed broadsword. "They allow you to lose yourself in the motions very easily. This, however, is a trap - never use these motions without purpose, unless you want to become a pacifist monk...or nun, in your case," he added with a wink. "Somehow I don't think you'd enjoy the lifestyle much. I know I wouldn't like it one bit...you being celibate, that is."

Kanda Har stepped forward, the downward-swung blade rising into a straight lunge, and then flicking upward. All the while, he kept his mechanical arm tucked close to his side, bent and ready to act as a guard for his body against physical blows. He'd had to correct Cika a few times on this, making sure she didn't let her hand stray too far away from her body, or too close, making sure the angle was ideal for deflecting attacks, and a few other little details. Every time he moved, or corrected her, or did...well...anything, he added explanations for why these things were being done.

"This forward thrust," he said, "could drive through the ribs of your foe. Or perhaps it is a stab at their face, or down to the groin. Maybe you are aiming for the fingers of the weapon hand, or to slit their belt, making their pants drop, hindering their movement. Defensively, you could be aggressively striking as the foe tries to strike you, aiming to make that attack as costly - or more - to your foe as it will be to you. The upward motion could be a parry, turning aside a weapon, or perhaps it is injuring the off-hand, reducing the likelihood that your foe can use some other weapon against you, like a gun or a throwing knife." He made a slashing motion, and then turned with surprising smoothness for someone of his side, now facing toward what had been his right. "Your foe is now finished, and another awaits. We repeat the former motions." And as he moved, Cika beside him, he nodded slightly in approval, though most of his focus was on performing the form as perfectly as he could manage, all the better to teach Cika to do likewise. "Good. Very good. Always remember: I've only told you a few possibilities that can come out of a form. Forms can be toolboxes, working movements into your body's memory so that you can call them up whenever you need them. This only works, though, as long as you are always thinking, always making the movements of a form into a living library, rather than a dusty old tome. A library...of scars!"

With these last words, Kanda Har spun, his blade lashing straight for Cika's head. With a shocked squeak, she ducked beneath the blade, and then jabbed her own knife forward, straight toward the rhino's blade hand. If his metal hand didn't push inward, open-handed, just at the last moment to shove her weapon off its mark, she might have taken off one or two of the big male's fingers. Grinning, Kanda Har stepped back, raising his blade in the salute that signaled a fight was either beginning or ending - one of the first things he'd taught her, so that she'd know when she was in "safe" territory - before stepping forward and wrapping his flesh arm around her waist, holding his sword up so that it didn't get in the way.

"You're learning fast, Cika, dear one," he murmured softly, not seeming to notice the lusty and half-envious eyes that watched from a fine-scaled face not terribly far away. "There's one other lesson I want you to know, though. It's the first law of fighting: if you get into a fight, you might lose, and you will almost certainly get hurt. Because of this unavoidable truth, the best fighters, the ones who truly understand the nature of combat, avoid fighting whenever possible. Now, I'm not telling you to be a pacifist. I'm certainly not telling you to be a pushover. But I am telling you to use those brains of yours, and think your way out of situations before you have to fight your way out of 'em. Or, better yet, don't get in the situations to begin with." Then the rhino's face spread in a grin. "'course, I think we may be a bit beyond that point in our adventures, huh?"

"Yeah," giggled Cika, thinking back on the brushes with danger they'd both already been through, and then feeling a secret thrill at the thought of the excitement that surely waited beyond the horizon. Then her eyes turned toward Windspray, standing at the wheel, carefully guiding the small fishing craft onward into the wide expanse of blue and white. "Are we ever gonna tell the others about...you know?"

Kanda Har's eyes turned toward Windspray as well, and this time he noticed the eyes of the snakewoman lingering on him and, most especially, on Cika. It was an expression he recognized, and his own expression became thoughtful as he considered...possibilities. If Cika didn't mind the idea, of course.

"We'll have to tell her most of the truth," he said finally. "It's the right thing to do, especially since we're putting everyone here in danger for our sake."

"You don't think we're still being chased?" asked Cika, her eyes growing wide before she looked around at the wide expanse of the skies surrounding them. "I mean, we're so far away from the city..."

"Captain Redcoat's crew shouldn't have been able to find me in the first place," Kanda Har answered grimly. "But they did. I don't know much about Tammany, but what I've heard indicates he's not the sort to let a few leagues of sky stand between him and settling a score. In other words, we're safe for now, but I wouldn't count on things staying that way. We've got...I'd guess a few days lead. We might get more if I can get Windspray on board with our plans. Otherwise, we're going to have to get dropped off somewhere, maybe Rasceen or Wutherskull, and figure out a ship from there."

Gently releasing Cika, though not without a pat on her bum, followed by a gentle squeeze of affection, which then trailed up to stroke her tail, Kanda Har stepped away, and turned to go toward Windspray.

"Keep working on that form I showed you, Cika," he said with a gentle, reassuring smile over his shoulder. "I'll join you again when I'm done explaining things to our host."

As she watched the strong rhino, her lover, walk off, Cika couldn't help but feel more than a little trepidation. After all, this was going to be one of those pivotal moments, with Windspray's reaction to the truth about hers and Kanda Har's situation deciding so very much about their immediate future. It was hard to focus on training with so many other thoughts crowding in...at least at first. Soon, though, Cika found that Kanda Har was right: forms made for a good sort of meditation. She quickly started to settle into the motions of the routine he'd taught her, though she also soon found that it wasn't as easy to perform alone - she'd need more practice before she really had it down fully. Preferably with a partner...

"Hello there," said the lilting, sultry voice she'd heard only a short time ago in the galley. Turning quickly, almost raising her long knife by instinct, Cika faced the purple-scaled cobra. "No need to be defensive," Saber said, raising her long-nailed hands placatingly. "I'm here to offer to help."

"What do you want?" asked Cika, keeping her blade down, though her stance was still wary, knowing there was something...suspicious about this wily serpent. Though she'd grown up on the streets, the concept of females lying with females hadn't really occurred to Cika, nor had she really encountered the practice before that time, having done all in her power to avoid the flesh pits of Highloft, like the place that had claimed the life of her mother, and very nearly dragged her in as well if she hadn't escaped. Certainly, she had a lot of information about sex from hearsay, but the reality of it was that, aside from her experiences with Tully before, and now with Kanda Har, she was still just figuring out how everything worked between men and women. That a woman might have lusty designs upon her was only a half-realized notion, though the more time she spent around this sloe-eyed cobra, the more the idea was starting to dawn on her, though what she might think of it when it did finally come to her full realization...well, that was still up in the air.

"Peace, talita," said the purple-scaled woman as she smiled, dressed only in a fine silk halter and skirt, both of which were translucent in the right lighting, doing little to disguise her seductive, sinuous figure - she was obviously a very beautiful woman, the wickedness that seemed stamped onto her hood-shrouded face somehow enhancing that beauty. "I'm just here to offer to help you train. I recognized the form of the buffalo your lover was showing you, and just thought you might enjoy a little company, to make the training easier."

For a moment Cika thought of flatly refusing to have anything more to do with the serpent; it was simply too obvious that, whatever she was up to, it had to be no good. But then Kanda Har's recent words about avoiding fights in the first place came back to the young mink, and she realized that, in the closed quarters of the ship, there really wasn't any way to just avoid someone if you didn't want to be around them. Worse yet, if she got the cobra angry at her, it would only be a matter of time before that anger built into worse things in such close confinement.

"All right," Cika finally said warily, though she fought to make herself seem friendly. "I guess I could use some pointers." Then she blinked as a thought came to her. "What does 'talita' mean?"

"It means," said Saber as she produced two long, slender blades seemingly from nowhere and gave the salute signaling the start of training before stepping into the first stance of the form, "little lamb." Her smile as she glanced at Cika was enough to make the little mink shiver, though with what emotion exactly, she wasn't quite sure. "My sweet, tender talita."

**

'Little lamb?' Cika thought, swallowing hard at the connotations calling her that held. Did she mean that the mink was a fluff-headed pretty, or, from some of the tales she'd heard from other lands while skulking through taverns looking for a mark, something to be sacrificed to ancient deities...

The look that Saber had in her reptilian eyes was almost similar to how Kanda Har looked at the minkfemme...a sort of heated hunger, appreciation and...lust. Could women see each other that way? As, well, desirable? It was something to think about, and Cika was unsure how she should feel about that. Should she be flattered? Repulsed? It was even more confusing as she belonged to Kanda Har. Her feelings on that were quite clear and the thought of intimacy with someone else seemed...strange.

Shaking her head to clear it of all these weird new thoughts and wanting to get back to her rhino lover's lessons, the minkling raised her blade in salute, the gesture returned by Saber, and settled into the ready stance.

Kanda Har had taught Cika not to look at any one point, but to sort of relax and see everything all at once. He had told her in his deep, rumbling but infinitely patient and tender way that by letting herself focus on one particular spot that it would be too easy to miss an unexpected attack, and now she finally understood as the purple cobrawoman began to weave her swords in a slow pattern of flashing steel. Had she not tried to follow Kanda Har's instructions, she knew that she would have been mesmerized by the spinning blades and completely missed the first attack.

-

Saber smiled as the delectable little mink regarded her for a long moment as she obviously tried to figure something out, and it was oh-so very precious the way one ear dipped lower than the other as concepts and thoughts worked their way through her pretty little head. Then when Cika gave her salute and dropped into a ready position, her face such an adorable mask of seriousness only the very young wear when they were trying to be more grown-up than they were.

Unable to refrain from using more than just feminine wiles on the tasty little creature, Saber let her swords begin their dancing pattern, a simple ploy, but one that had befuddled foes before. It was the serpentfemme that was surprised though when she moved forward with a fairly simple attack and the pearl grey darling not only saw it coming, but avoided the blow altogether. Using her innate agility, Cika dropped to the deck in almost a dancer's splits before bouncing back up closer to Saber than the cobrawoman thought possible and it required a bit of her own natural grace to avoid the flick of the minkling's own weapon.

Saber almost laughed in complete delight as she slipped to the side to try a different angle, though the yummy little girl followed her ploy, her bare feet sliding on the deck planking. The second attack was also dodged and instead of trying for her own counter, Cika simply improved her position, the little pout of concentration completely adorable. Soon the purple scaled woman found that her breath was heaving as much from the vigorous exercise as it was arousal, and it was all she could do to keep from sheathing her weapons to wrap the petite talita in her arms and with her body right there!

While Saber was an experienced fighter, for a moment she forgot her opponent wasn't, no matter how much natural promise Cika exhibited, and visions of assorted naughtiness had the effect of exciting her a bit too much. It wasn't until the delectable little minkling retreated with a little cry of pain that the sultry serpent knew that she had made a terrible mistake.

-

All of Kanda Har's lessons thus far had enabled Cika to use the forms that he had been imparting, though she realized just what he meant by incorporating other things and to not become set in the basic block on motions that the exercises were built upon. While the rhinoman had honed his agility through years and years of life of adventure and danger, Cika had been born with a certain level of agility and flexibility, and she used this to her advantage. Despite all of this, though, there was only so much that she was prepared for, and Saber was fast.

The snakewoman was so fast that the minkfemme had dodged one blade only to feel the icy bite of the second as it opened a cut on her left forearm. With a small cry of more surprise than pain, Cika leapt backwards, holding her weapon up in the ready while her dark eyes darted to the wound. It was a testament to the keen edge of Saber's blades that it took a few moments for the injury to start bleeding, but as soon as the thought crossed her mind that perhaps the hurt wasn't so bad, crimson began to well within the nearly white fur of her arm before dripping onto the deck planks.

Cika let the knife slip from her fingers as she grasped the place above the wound, her eyes dismayed, but not nearly so as the cobralady.

"What happened?" Kanda Har asked as he thudded across the deck in a surprisingly fast trot, dropping to his knees as he tried to ascertain the amount of damage, his good eye flashing dangerously as his mechanical one started to glow almost as red as Cika's blood.

Saber sheathed her weapons and also dropped to her knees next to the minkling, her facial coloration mottled with darker spots in her chagrin and shame. She truly hadn't wanted to hurt the girl. "A foolish missstake on my behalf," the cobrafemme admitted. "And a tessstament to your lessssonss and Cika's natural talent. It was almost like sssparring with a far more experienced opponent." Saber shook her hooded head. "Thisss isss my fault and I will make thisss right. It'ssss only proper I make amendsss." It was a testament to how vexed she was with herself that her speech was more sibilant than normal.

Cika didn't protest when the snakelady picked her up in deceptively strong arms and carried her below decks, Kanda Har giving her a nod and wink from his good eye that it would be alright.

Saber set Cika down on her bunk in a cabin that was appointed with drapes and hangings in shimmering silk with pillows and cushions strewn about in a manner that appeared to be both planned and haphazard. As soon as she had the minkgirl sitting on the extra thick mattress of her bunk, the cobrafemme looked at the injury she had caused. "The Queen of Serpents be praised it isn't too deep," the darkly colored woman said in a distracted whisper. She found a small bottle in one of her drawers and unstoppered it before pouring a bit onto the cut, the contents having the effect of numbing the injury almost immediately. "I am truly sorry, talita. I didn't mean for this to happen."

While her cut was cleaned and bound, the minkling looked around the cabin absently, her eyes falling on something that was carved from a deep, dark wood that was polished to the point it gleamed, and was very similar to another item that was made from brass. There was even a third that looked as if it had been formed from glass and yet a fourth that was twice as long as the others with matching ends.

Her ears flaming in shock and a little arousal, Cika realized that they were shaped a lot like Kanda Har's impressive organ, but substantially smaller. She gulped loudly as her dark eyes widened. "Um...wh...what are those?" she whispered and pointed with her uninjured right hand. That was also the point that little Cika realized that mingled with the decorative hangings were straps of leather and silk, ropes and shackles and even...muzzles.

The look that Saber gave the young femme was almost...soft, and the smile she gave the friendliest one the minkling had seen on the mouth of the serpentwoman. "Not all of usss have the blessssing of a companion sssuch asss your Kanda Har. And it isss mossst lonely when one issss plying the high ssskiesss for monthssss on end." She picked up the wooden phallus as soon as Cika's arm was tended and bound, caressing the wood with her long, black claws in an almost affectionate manner. "With thissss I can imagine a lover of dreamssss, one to make me feel asss your man makesss you feel..." She let her eyes turn to the young girl, still innocent and incredibly desirable. "Or I can ussse them when I take another woman to bed to ensssure her pleasssure. Would you like me to sssshow you? Hmmm?"

Cika gulped again, her pert chest heaving a little as the air suddenly felt very warm. "I...I b-belong t-t-to Ka-Kanda Har-r," she swallowed.

"And what if he gave hisss blessing?"

There was no denying the warmth that manifested in the girl's tingling cunny at the thought of Kanda Har letting another enjoy her, and there was something enticing about the images that came. "I...I-I-I wou...would d-do anything to make Kanda Har happy..."

"Then let ussss assssk him," Saber cooed softly.

-

Kanda Har sat back after supper with the other femmes off on their own and rubbed his chin as he looked from Saber to Cika, the little minkfemme squirming a little from where she sat on the bench to the long table in the galley.

"Would...would you...enjoy that?" the minkette asked. "I...I just wa-want you to be happy," she said softly.

The rhino leaned forward, his elbows on the table and stretched his hand of flesh out, his fingers closing in the tiny paw that accepted his gesture without hesitation. "I can't lie, sweet Cika. I think I would enjoy it a great deal." He gave the girl's hand a little squeeze. "The question is, would you like it?"

The femme sat up a little straighter and nodded slowly before whispering earnestly. "As...as long as I can be with you, I'll do anything!"

Very few things could have been as moving as the complete trust that the minkling had for her lover, and that she was more than willing to attempt something on the off chance that it would please him was more than a little sobering. "I'm trusting you to be gentle," the rhinoman informed Saber, the cobrawoman almost vibrating in anticipation. "Cika is very precious to me."

"I give you my word she will not only be safe, but she will enjoy my attentions." The serpentfemme's tongue flickered out, tasting the excitement in the air that was increasing with each passing moment from both Kanda Har *and* the delicious little mink that would soon be in her power. Saber leaned closer to the rhino, her purple, scaled hands on the edge of the table. "As will you," she cooed seductively.

Seeing the flicker of anticipation in his young lover's eyes, Kanda Har nodded. "I'll give you a few minutes to prepare."

Walking down the passageway with a little more sway to her already saucy strut, Saber felt her normally cold blood warming considerably with what the night would entail.

As far as she was concerned at what was about to happen, Cika was barely able to repress a shiver at the excitement that filled her and set her nethers to flaring with anticipatory lust, having seen the flash of surprise and hunger in Kanda Har's good eye when she broached the subject of the snakelady wanting to play with her. The minkfemme was very familiar with the change in her lover's scent as he became aroused, and there was no denying that he was more than a little intrigued at the prospect.

What Cika wasn't anticipating was the preparation that would begin before Kanda Har joined them.

No sooner had she entered Saber's cabin, the air perfumed with a light incense, then the lushly formed woman spun her about, grasping both of her wrists, though mindful of the bandage on her arm, and pushed her against the wall next to the door and pressing her cool lips to the mink's. At the small sound of surprise, not only from the kiss but also the way that the serpentfemme writhed against her, seeming to press against her breasts and crotch with a teasing rub of her soft scales over her sensitive cunny and nipples, despite the barrier of thin cloth, Saber's forked tongue flitted into her mouth, teasing and exploring with as much expertise in the erotic arts as Kanda Har.

"Mmmm! Such a sweet, warm talita!" the snake hissed in delight, her belly quivering at the delectable gift in her possession.

Maintaining her hold on the minkling's arms, she directed her to the bed and between kisses and caresses, fighting to unwrap her present before the rhinoman arrived, Saber trussed up Cika with the concealed ties and bondage paraphernalia that she so loved to use, hoping one day to find one that would expertly bind her for the pleasuring she enjoyed bestowing.

"I think that we will forego the gag this time," the sinuous cobrawoman whispered. "This is so you can learn your limits and I truly want you to be able to tell your lover just how much you are enjoying what I'll be doing to you."

As if that were the cue that was needed, a subdued rap on the door announced Kanda Har's arrival. As the door was opened the first thing the rhinomale saw was his beloved little mink trussed and spread almost obscenely wide though her clothing still hid her delicate parts , her body supported by a pile of silk swathed cushions, her eyes bright and breasts straining against her wrap with the deep breaths that filled her lungs.

"Get comfortable, Kanda Har," Saber told the rhino with a sultry smile as she shut the door. "Tonight is going to be rather...interesting."

*

"That's the sum of things," finished Kanda Har as he related a rather abbreviated, but nevertheless accurate and reasonably detailed account of his adventures with Cika thus far, and the tale of the treasure that his former shipmates sought. Windspray's expression was serious yet contemplative as she listened, but with that same faraway look in her eyes that was always there, her mind not really working in the same way as others'. This was one of the reasons she'd left her old rookery, where her people gathered in flocks with populations almost as great as some cities. Some said she was a seer, and though Kanda Har wasn't the superstitious sort, he'd found that the white-feathered femme seemed to have some astonishingly good ideas at times that belied her apparently airheaded nature.

"Why would they be hunting you if the treasure you've saved up isn't that large?" the birdling murmured mostly to herself, her eyes scanning the horizon even as she slowly, subtly shifted course toward the direction Kanda Har had indicated was where the distant island where his treasure lay. "Pirates might be greedy at times, but it's only your share from what you'd done before. Even someone like Captain Redcoat, from what you've told me about her, wouldn't steal another pirate's share, especially not one who was retiring. She'd never be able to inspire confidence in her crew that way, and that's an important part of keeping any band of cutthroats under control."

"I get the feeling there's something I don't know about going on here," Kanda Har said with an agreeing nod at Windspray's words. "Maybe somebody convinced her I've got more stashed away than I really do, wealth that's more than my share. That'd be the easiest way for her to justify coming after me without hurting her credibility with the crew." He snorted in disgust. "Skies below, if the right spin was put on it, they'd be howling for my blood. But who could've convinced her that...?"

"Where is your treasure hidden, Kanda Har?" Windspray asked, her eyes widening as she looked straight at the direction the rhinomale had indicated was where he'd hidden his accumulated loot from years of raiding and looting. "What's the land like?"

"Well," Kanda Har thought a moment, then shrugged, "I guess it's just a random sort of island, one of many in the area. The place is part of an archipelago about," he mused a moment, nibbling on his lower lip, before he gestured off into the blue-and-grey distance "a few hundred leagues in that direction, give or take. I'd never seen the place drawn on any maps, so I don't think anybody knows it's there. But old Captain Craw knew it was there, and he shared the location with me, so I'd always have someplace where nobody else could follow me if I needed a spot to hide."

"The Tinthian Archipelago," Windspray said, her voice almost a whisper. "The shamaness in my rookery sometimes told stories about the place when I was a very little girl. They were the sorts of stories you tell children to make them behave," she gave Kanda Har a wry smile. "You know the sort: 'be a good girl, or the boogeybird will get you.' But the Tinthian Archipelago was one of those places that was supposed to have been made by devils - what some people call the Other Gods. Bad little boys and girls were carried off to the Tinthian Archipelago if they didn't mind their parents, and fed to the Other Gods, who were always hungry for more bad little children."

"Carried off by whom?" asked Kanda Har, frowning. Windspray just shrugged.

"Dunno," she answered, smiling once more. "Nobody would ever tell me."

"Well, I never saw anything bad around the place," said Kanda Har with a shrug. "Of course, I never went to more than the beach of any other island in the chain. Just enough exploration to make sure there wasn't anybody else living on those other islands who might go poking around if they noticed me hiding chests of booty. Craw's Island, the one I use, didn't have anything on it except thick jungle and the occasional small animal. I think I saw really old ruins on some of the other islands, but there were never any fires or smoke or noises, or anything really that would give away if someone was still living there."

"A few hundred leagues will take us two weeks to reach," said Windspray as she looked upward, measuring the weather with that skill that good sailors develop, and birds have naturally. "It's good weather, mostly, so we'll get good speed." Then she looked back at Kanda Har. "So will anybody following us. And if they've got a bigger ship, they'll have proper engines. You know as well as I do that a little skyjammer with floatstones and sails like mine can't compete with the power of an engine-driven craft."

"We may have to sail into a storm," Kanda Har said with a grim expression, rubbing the back of his neck with his good hand. "I'm not looking forward to something like that, but I know that, if anybody can bring us out all right, you can, Windspr-"

Suddenly Kanda Har heard the cry of his love, and spun, racing toward Cika before conscious thought could catch up and slow him down. He heard Saber's explanation, and could only nod, accepting her offer to tend to the wound she'd caused, giving Cika a wink to reassure her as the startlingly strong snakewoman lifted the small minkling in her scaled arms. Of course, Kanda Har thought to himself as he went to the mast, resting his good arm against it as he leaned for a few moments to steady himself after the rush of adrenaline: snakes were built differently than other creatures. They had a lean, wiry sort of strength, as he'd found out for himself on more than a few occasions, when raiding ships from Pash, or in back-alley knife fights. It was the sort of strength that complemented their slender bodies quite well indeed, and yet could make some of the bigger specimens as strong as he was. Kanda Har's advantage, though, came from the lack of endurance snakes usually had. The best way to beat a snake was to outlast the whip-fast reptile.

Idly, Kanda Har wondered if that would prove the case in bed as well...

His thoughts were interrupted as Saber came up from below deck, her expression as subtle and sly as it ever was, the heavy eye ridges of her face giving her a permanently wicked look, though now it had a hopeful quality as well.

"The worst is past," the hooded woman told Kanda Har, resting one sharp-nailed hand on his good arm, gently tugging him forward, "but your love would dearly like to see you now." Her tongue flicked out, eagerly, and Kanda Har could quickly sense that there was a great deal more to this desired visit than just wanting his comforting presence. "She has a question of some importance to ask."

-

This, of course, brought Kanda Har to the present moment, when he was seated on the edge of a pile of soft cushions, wearing nothing but a brief undercloth that was hardly more than a highly-abbreviated loincloth (having quickly doffed his garments when he saw that he was more than a little overdressed), while he watched the sinuous serpentfemme moving with obvious delight around the small room, preparing for the fun she intended to have with Cika.

Cika, of course, was tied down on her back on the main bed of the room (if any of the piles of cushions could truly be called a bed), her arms bound above her head, the rope tied to an eyebolt fastened quite securely into the wall, while the mink's somewhat shorter legs were bound with her ankles tied to her thighs, restraining them in a position that was highly reminiscent of a frog's crooked legs. The position wasn't nearly as uncomfortable as it might have been, thanks in no small part because the cunning Saber had used a very soft rope, and she'd also ensured that Cika had some "give" to her legs, so she could move them when she needed a little additional circulation. Ungagged, at least for now, she had to fight back a soft whimper as she experimentally twisted a little in the ropes holding her fast. Of course, being a mink, Cika was astoundingly flexible. But when she tried, just to see if she could, to slip her wrists free of the overhead binding, she discovered that, although there was no loss of circulation, Saber had done an astounding job of cinching the ropes in place. It was sort of like a Pash finger trap, where the harder you pull against the trap, the tighter it binds, except that, unlike those finger traps, which could be thwarted by slow and careful wriggling, these bonds were quite secure - there would be no escape. It left Cika feeling very, very helpless, and, as she felt the purple-scaled snakewoman's gentle hands stroking down her clothed body, even more vulnerable and exposed. It was a feeling at once frightening and exciting, and Cika felt herself becoming sopping wet as she thought about the spectacle she must be presenting to Kanda Har, seated so close, yet partially obscured from her sight by the hanging, filmy curtains that draped the room. It made it so easy to forget that she was being watched, that there was more than just her and the wicked, lusty cobra in the room.

"So many decssssisions," Saber hissed to herself as she carefully, deliberately located each of her many toys, and set them one-by-one, onto a low table lying next to the cushions where Cika was restrained. As the arrangement of phalluses steadily grew, Cika's eyes grew wider and wider, and she simply couldn't help but start to squirm, even knowing it was useless against the cunning knots that were holding her down, her breathing coming faster and harder, until it felt as though her heart was going to hop into her throat. She'd never thought in all her young life that there could possibly be so many different ways to design a penis, and yet, when she looked closer, she could see tiny words at the base of many of the faux-cocks standing straight and ready so very close by her helpless body, some of them names, others just species designations. There was the penis of an echidna, with a fanlike tip, each tip having its own little hole. Then there was...wait, was that a dragon's penis? That's what it said at the base, though, of course, everyone knew that dragons were mythical...weren't they? A flared horse's penis and a knotted dog-dong soon joined the collection, each made of different materials, ranging from wood to metal to glass. There was even a very large, shining penis of obsidian, carefully polished until it was perfectly smooth. This Saber lovingly caressed, holding it up between her breasts as she knelt by the side of the bed, her forked tongue flickering out over the flare-capped head.

"The captain of my first husband's guard," she explained with a wink. "A lovely zebra stallion, very well-endowed even for a stallion." She held it out to Cika, turning it slowly so the little femme could look it over in detail. "As you can see, it's a close match to your lover, at least in size." Her smile was quite wicked indeed as she teased the tip down Cika's slim, helpless body, and then slipped the tip just beneath her thin wrap. "You shall feel it for yourself, that I promise...eventually." She drew the black phallus upward, slowly, so slowly, baring Cika's slim ankles, her firmly-muscled, compact thighs, the precious heart-shaped dimple of her downthrust bottom, with its relatively short tail making it more like the spade card than the heart. Setting the shining, reflective penis aside, Saber's fingers deftly untied the little bindings on Cika's wrap, and then continued to stroke her hands upward, exposing Cika's tiny pubic crease, which was quite flushed at that moment, and then baring her flat belly, making Cika shiver when the naughty snakewoman teased her flexible tongue into the little minkling's navel. Cika's breasts were heaving as they were exposed next, her whole body feeling like it was on fire, just from the light caresses and whisper-gentle touches of the sinuous female who had her so completely in her power.

"Please," she whispered desperately as Saber tugged the last of her clothes away, leaving Cika naked and utterly exposed on the bed, knowing full well that she was completely at the mercy of this cunning, sexy woman. "Please..."

What she was going to beg for, Cika didn't know. All thoughts failed her as Saber's lips met her own, kissing her long and deep. That tongue...it was so strange, so exotic, feeling the twin prongs gripping her own flat mammal's tongue, stroking it almost like her hands had stroked Kanda Har's penis in the not-distant past. The mental image left Cika's bound legs trembling, her juices already matting down the fur of her inner thighs.

Then Saber's cunning fingers found Cika's clitoris, and the whole world was blasted into bursts of raw white pleasure.

Slowly coming back to herself, Cika discovered, as she blinked her eyes in some initial confusion, that there was a rubber ball gag cinched into her little muzzle. Saber smiled, and stroked the younger femme's head apologetically.

"You are such a noisy sweetling, talita," she explained. "You almost woke up the winds with your screaming." She leaned in, then, licking her lips with that dexterous forked tongue. "Don't fret, though: I'll make sure we have plenty of reasons to keep the gag there."

Cika's body jerked despite herself as the sultry cubrawoman started to featherkiss her way all over the helpless cream-furred female's body, taking her time, alternating kisses with little flicks of her tongue. Her cheeks, her neck, her armpits, that delicate spot right behind her kneecaps, these and many others were the targets of Saber's wonderfully-skilled, unerringly accurate mouth, until Cika felt as though she was just going to melt, or maybe fly into a million pieces, her whole body charged with too much tension, too much need. She was almost ready to scream again, this time in needy frustration, teased up to such heights, and yet unable to reach a final climax, when Saber bit her.

It wasn't a very deep bite, just the lightest jab of those impossibly-sharp fangs against and into the delicate flesh of her inner thigh. Then Saber bit her again, this time on the opposite breast from the thigh she'd just marred. This information slowly started to trickle into Cika's lust-addled brain, and she felt her adrenaline rising. Her eyes went to Kanda Har, but she realized that he hadn't seen the bite - it had happened too fast, and Saber's own body had been in the way each time. Was she...was she going to die?

"Only a very little venom," Saber answered the question reflected in Cika's eyes. "Just enough for spice."

What did she mean...?

Cika didn't have much time to consider this, however, before she was being gently rolled over, her pert little bum thrust up into the air in open invitation. Saber's hands stroked Cika's taught buns, gripping them, groping them, rolling the firm flesh of each lovely half-globe. Cika realized with a deep flush that Saber was off to the side by now, meaning that Kanda Har would be able to see everything that the wicked older woman was doing to her. The thought made her start to get even wetter, if such a thing was possible, and she wished that she could see him in this position, but that really wasn't possible with her cheek pressed into a pillow right then.

The snake venom started to kick in at almost the same moment Saber started to drip slick, warm oil over Cika's exposed pink parts - including her very exposed and very vulnerable tailhole, she noticed with some vaguely-rising alarm. Wait! That's not where a finger was supposed to go! Cika's inner protests, however, were suddenly cut off as her whole body convulsed, her heart racing, her veins feeling like they were on fire. It was...it was so good! This was something Cika had never thought possible, even more intense (though not by too much) than her first experience being stretched open by Kanda Har's immense rhinocock. It only got better as Saber pressed her mouth against the squirming girl's tasty, juicy pink slit, and started to suck on everything, wrapping her flexible mouth over all of Cika's girlparts, her tongue flicking and lashing and thrusting everywhere.

Cika was pretty sure she kept screaming throughout all of this, though she really couldn't say for certain. Things were hazy for her right then, when her entire world was reeling from too much pleasure. Over the last few days, the little teen had endured more intense sensations than many girls experienced in their entire lifetimes, and it was starting to get close to being more than even her young, healthy, energetic body could handle. Even knowing this, though, she welcomed the pleasure eagerly, craving more even when she knew it might be too much. It was addictive, and Cika wasn't sure that there was such a thing as "too much."

Not far off, Kanda Har had discarded his undergarment, and was sitting there, completely naked, his penis standing at full mast, leaking heavily. His hands, metal and flesh, gripped the cushion tightly, and he did his best not to even look at his own aching, erect manhood, focusing all his attention instead on the tableau playing out a short distance away. He knew that he wouldn't be able to hold himself back for much longer, knew that he would soon either have to relieve the pressure himself, or do so inside the body of one of the tight females in front of him. Little Cika's bottom was wiggling almost uncontrollably, her hips gyrating as Saber turned her mouth this way and that, stretching herself almost as though she were trying to swallow an egg before pulling back slightly, thoroughly and rather noisily suckling on Cika's most sensitive places pretty much all at once. It was soon going to be too much for the rhino...

Heedless of the male's rising passion, or perhaps fully knowing of them and not really caring, Saber suddenly pulled back, making Cika's body slump forward, breathing hard. Her black-nailed hands soon gripped the rope binding Cika's wrists, untying it from the eyebolt in the wall, and then tugging them gently between Cika's legs, tying them once more to her ankles this time, making her sweet little tushie thrust even more upward. Of course, Cika was too worn down with pleasure and the heightened sensitivity of the cobra venom in her veins to be able to even think about making any resistance. The purple-scaled femme then deftly selected the smallest of her dildos, this one coming from someone named "Vernon," her other hand pouring out a generous dollop of oil from a nearby jar over Cika's lovely little bottom...before she fitted the plump tip of the thick little faux-phallus right up against the perfect pink bud of Cika's tailhole, and began to slowly work it in a tight circle. Cika's eyes widened, and she began to make whimpering, worried noises, but these quite suddenly turned to an adorable squeak of surprise as the smooth metal dildo suddenly popped past her anal ring, taking her last virginity.

"Vernon here was a very nice foxboy," Saber explained as she started to move the warm metal shaft back and forth with one hand, the other selecting a knotted canine penis of some significant size (not as big as Kanda Har, obviously, but significant all the same) made of sweet-scented and highly-polished red oak, bearing the name "Hrothgar" at the base, and then gently squeezing it, nice and slow, into Cika's nearly gushing little cunny. "A rich country noble who put me up for a few months when I was in need. He had a certain fondness for anal sex, so I thought it was only right that a nice boy like him should be allowed to pop your tailcherry, talita." She smiled wickedly as she bent forward, nibbling and then sucking on Cika's ears while the sweet girl whimpered, her eyes squeezing shut as Saber worked both cocks forward and back inside of her, moving them in tandem, so one pulled back while the other thrust forward. "Hrothgar was a traveling wolf mercenary, a warrior from no land I'd ever heard of before. He was a fabulous lover, though - he taught me almost everything I know about oral pleasuring." She winked conspiratorially. "He's the one who showed me that whole-mouth trick."

Twisting and thrusting the two cocks in her hands harder now, faster, Saber was already starting to breathe quite hard herself, her purple-scaled cheeks flushed as her tongue flickered with a faster rate. Cika's breasts were rasping against the cushions beneath her, her perky little bottom clenching, as did her trim, flat belly, with each thrust or pull, making her entire body almost constantly in motion from the pleasure - Cika was, after all, an active lover, her movements just enhancing the experience for herself all the more as she felt her entire body on fire, raw lightning instead of blood in her veins.

Then, with an effort, as Cika's tushie was clenching down rather tightly, Saber popped "Vernon" free, giving him a loving final caress before she set him back in his place on the long display table she'd positioned by the bed, and picked another dildo, this one actually composed of two cocks of smooth clear crystal, attached to a smallish crystal ball at a wide "V" angle. Tiny words marked the twin cocks as belonging to two people, named "Hunahpu" and "Xbalanque." With a low, breathy hiss, Saber squeezed one end of the fat twin dildo into her own heavily-leaking cunny, stretching her scaly labia quite widely in the process. Releasing the wolfcock she'd been pistoning in and out of Cika's cunny, Saber drizzled even more oil over the other cock of the pair, using both hands to stroke it until it glistened, before those hands went to Cika's little backside, gripping it firmly. The cobrafemme fit the tip of the other cock against Cika's clenching pink tailhole almost as though she were a male herself...and then, slowly, carefully, lovingly squeezed herself forward.

"Yessssss!" she hissed loudly, crying out as the ball at the base if the paired penises bumped against her cunny as well as Cika's bottom. Reaching down, Saber took a firm hold of the wooden wolfcock, and then started to work it at the same time as her hips, taking a good, fast, vigorous pace, squealing almost as loudly as Cika as she reached down and undid the gag, letting it drop to the bed only moments before she silenced herself and Cika with a desperate, passionate kiss. Cika tasted venom leaking copiously from Saber's small, rear-placed cobra's fangs, the taste making her tongue tingle, at once spicy and bitter and strangely intoxicating as well, just enhancing the powerful sensations blasting through her body all the more.

Then Kanda Har was there. Cika became aware of his looming presence when she felt him kneel behind her and Saber. She really_became aware of his presence when he grabbed Saber's trimly-rounded bottom, and rather roughly began to squeeze inch after thick, meaty inch of his immense penis into the whining, wailing, and soon screaming cobrafemme's vertically-oriented tailhole. Saber's own vigorous gyrations just got even more violent, more passionate as she was stuffed right up to the brim with rhinocock, until Cika's own screams joined Saber's as they both started to cum...and cum...and cum...while Kanda Har began to _thrust, grunting like an animal as he plowed both females good and hard, holding back only just barely enough to keep from hurting Cika - barely - as he began to hammer Saber's bouncy scaled butt with a will, the loud slapping of his hips against her buttocks filling Cika's ears almost as much as the loud cries of the three lovers as their bodies squeezed tightly together.

**

There was so much to cope with, sensations, feelings, unbelievable ecstasy, that Cika was nearly mindless with the savaging of her backside by Saber, the wicked cobrawoman all but taking over as she drove forward into the minkette, the crystal cock filling her tailhole completely before she withdrew and slammed herself home on Kanda Har's pillar of meat, assisted by the huge rhino's own forward thrusts that hilted him at every stroke in the bare, furless rump. Over and over the serpent arched her body, her scaly skin so flushed and warmed by the energetic loveplay that her normally purple coloration had darkened to a deep amethyst.

Both femmes screamed and moaned in alternating patterns, the minkling's high voice and squeaks a counterpoint to the deeper sultry moans and groans coming from Saber. On top of all that the huffing breath and snarls from Kanda Har at every thrust of his magnificent cock and the meaty sound of his pendulum-like balls as they smacked both the snake and the mink.

The continuous series of climaxes quivered through the tiny waif, no longer in crashing waves, but in mind numbing ripples, like a pond disturbed by a constant wind. As she knelt with her face pressed into the cushion, completely dazed as she was plowed over and over, the wolf phallus still thrusting vigorously into her sodden quim, Cika could only lay there, not unlike the myriad of toys that awaited their owner's pleasure.

Then Kanda Har really got going, and despite the pulsing heat that still wracked her body, the minkfemme was able to turn a little as he took control and pulled Saber back with both of his enormous hands. So unexpected was this sudden assertion of control, that the snakelady had little recourse than to give into what the rhino desired. As the purple-scaled cobrawoman was hauled back onto the mass of Kanda Har, the crystal phallus was pulled free of Cika, the wolf dildo following a moment later, and the wisp of a girl was temporarily forgotten as the mink's lover did to the woman from Pasha what he couldn't do to her, and that was drive into her body with all of the wonton abandon he desired.

Saber was unmindful of the crystal cock slipping out of her to land on the cushions, too caught up in the savaging of her own rear passage. She hissed in approval, stretching out almost alongside Cika, her arms in front of her as her tongue continued to flick in and out with every powerful thrust.

Not missing a beat, Kanda Har withdrew from her accepting and very accommodating pucker and when he thrust forward again it was to slam home in the cobrafemme's cunny. No sooner did he slip into the well-slicked folds of her completely furless gash then he hilted her with gusto. That was when the rhino demonstrated the unbelievable stamina he possessed and began to piston in and out of the purple snake like some great engine powered by fire and steam.

Even Cika, who was finally recovering from her lustful ravaging, was in awe as her love methodically plowed Saber, his lips lifted in a snarl of lust and desire. As for the oh-so-wicked serpentfemme, she arched herself backwards in a demonstration of natural flexibility to wrap her arms around Kanda Har's thick neck, the pleasuring she received stealing her voice so that all that emerged from her gaping mouth were thin, high sighing hisses.

The minkling, still trussed like a holiday bird, managed to move a little more and fell on her side and though panting as the ministrations to her young body continued to tingle within her, she looked raptly at the mass of Kanda Har slipping into the depths of Saber, every thrust and retreat pulling and tugging at the supple purple flesh of the cobra.

Finally, the rhino snorted so heavily that his breath stirred the silken hangings in the cabin as his balls released their torrent of cum, the dazed and thoroughly used serpent femme jerking a little as she was filled from within by the scalding climax Kanda Har released. Cika knew so well her lover's capacity, having joyfully supped on his member and feeling him as he unleashed his love within her tiny form. She watched with rapt fascination as he continued to pump in and out of the wicked older femme in spasmodic thrusts that forced almost as much of his essence out as he filled her body with.

And as she observed, Cika realized that she might not be able to take her dearest in the full throes of desire, but she very much enjoyed watching him with a woman that could. Seeing the rhino that was more precious to her than her own life cum in another, hilted as deep as he could go, triggered another orgasm within the minkling, knowing full well the satisfaction that Kanda Har experienced.

As he convulsed one last time deep in Saber's well-worked cunny, Kanda Har released the cobrawoman who simply collapsed on the cushions, her breath almost whistling as she looked without really seeing the cabin around her, her serpentine eyes completely glazed as copious amounts of the rhino's orgasm trickled from her body.

With a strange, almost enigmatic smile, the rhino looked at the scaled form of the snake and nodded slightly before untying his mink from the bonds of silk ropes and carrying her out of the cabin after bundling his clothing under an arm, uncaring if anyone else saw them. He set the mink on the bunk and gave himself a cursory cleaning until Cika touched his broad back with her delicate paw.

"Kanda Har? Make...make love to me. I...it was good, but...cold. I w-want warm, now," the girl asked softly. "I want to feel your warmth." She looked at him with her eyes still dazed, but they were also filled with a deep, heart searing love and affection. "Un...unless you're too tired..."

Kneeling down, the rhino brushed the fur of her cheek in that gentle way that he had that seemed so incongruous with his size and phenomenal strength. "Are you sure?" he asked softly, smiling when the minkling simply nodded. "You know, warm is good. Saber was nice, but I tell you truthfully, she will never compare to my dear, sweet Cika."

There was no need for a build up or preparing the minkling this time, Saber having taken care of that quite effectively, and as the rhino helped his lovely young lady get into position, he slipped into her with only the slightest difficulty. Her eyes were dark and sparkling as he filled her, his motions as tender and gentle with the minkette as they had been near violent with the snakewoman. When he finally came, Cika following along in a moment of shared bliss, the tiny femme screaming Kanda Har's name and completely uncaring who heard her, it was a moment that she knew she would always treasure.

When they finally snuggled together in the bunk, Cika kissing her love as deeply and with as much passion as she could, her mind drifted to what the rhino said about Talia Redcoat not giving up on finding them so easily.

'Hmph! Let the bitch vixen come!' Cika thought as she wrapped herself around the rhino and sighed happily, her tummy warm and her heart beating with the power of her love. 'I'll let no one take my Kanda Har!' As the rhinoman shifted a little, his hand holding her close, aloud she whispered, "I love you, my dearest."