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Skyworld

Act 4

By Gideon Kalve Jarvis and SilverFox

Windspray's beak was parted in an almost feral grin of joy as she maneuvered the sloop...her sloop, though she felt it belonged to all of them, next to her old clipper to transfer all of their belongings to their new home. The avian had acquiesced to Cika and Kanda Har buying the ship, and while larger than what she had become accustomed to with her little fishing clipper, it almost seemed as if thinking about what she wanted the vessel to do and it happened. She'd heard tales of vessels that were so well built that they responded to the lightest touch of wheel and rudder, but Windspray never dreamed that she would ever be on such a vessel, much less as it's Captain.

The albatrossgirl watched as Candi, Holly and Cika secured the two ships with the almost new lines the sloop was outfitted with and had no sooner crossed over to the clipper than belongings and other items that Windspray had outfitted her fishing boat with. Kanda Har had recommended that they take the cameras that Windspray had had mounted all over the hull, finding the devices a sound investment that the birdfemme had made. They would remount the cameras once they were underway.

Oddly enough it was Saber that had the most in the way of personal belongings and it required two of their new hands, Cinnabar and Slim along with the cobralady herself almost three trips each to gather everything. With every subsequent trip, the two young males seemed even more embarrassed than the previous so that by the time all of the purple scaled serpentfemme's things were on the sloop, the skunk and otter were both almost flaming with shock and blushing worse than a maid.

Kanda Har stepped up to the deck next to Windspray, a satisfied look on his face. "That's the last of the items from the clipper. One more stop down the quay and we can be off," the rhino said with a happy tone.

"What stop?" the avian asked with a twinkle to her eyes, knowing Kanda Har was never cryptic or evasive unless it was a good surprise.

"Well, good compensation for the clipper, I think," The rhino replied evasively though he quelled any further inquiries with an affectionate hug to the bird.

"I know what the surprise is!" Cika singsonged from behind her lovers, both turning to see the minkling hanging upside-down from the spar of the aft sail. She dropped lightly to her feet on the deck and wormed between the two to give her own hugs and a bevy of kisses to both, aware but ignoring the way her display received a look of consternation from the proud elk bull that was now part of their crew.

"So what do you think of the name for our new home?" Windspray asked with a preening to Cika's neck fur.

"The 'Lover's Star'? After you told me the story from your home, I like it!" the weaselkin crooned, leaning into the attention while Kanda Har's hand found her rump and cupped her pert hiney affectionately. "I liked how the story told of the two birds being brought back together after the storm separated them and they followed the same star to find each other again. It means we'll always be able to find our family no matter what!"

-

Philamus Tucker, or just 'Tuck' to those he served with, never truly fond of the name he'd gotten to honor a great grandfather he'd never met, was quietly pleased to still be aboard the Sapphire Lady...no, the Lover's Star. Strange name for the vessel, but then the crew and captain were far from normal. As he stood at the wheel for his turn at watch, the night sky looking as if gems had been scattered across dark velvet, he thought hard about his present situation.

He wasn't used to serving with females onboard, and it was a little distracting. In fact, there were two distractions in particular that caused the bull elk to frown as he adjusted the wheel, thereby the rudder, to compensate for a slight change in the breeze that was angled more along the beam of the sloop. A glance to the compass and a nod that he was on the heading that had been plotted allowed Tuck to return to his thoughts.

Females not only onboard, but one was his Captain now, of all things. It was certainly a situation to adjust to. It was doubly difficult as each one of the females was incredibly lovely, almost as if they were the epitome of pulchritude to their own races. It was truly a distracting situation!

The doe Holly was certainly a stunning example of beauty, and she walked with grace and surety, turning the rolling gait that all sailors of the high winds developed into a sensual strut that snagged Tuck's attention in a way that was completely disconcerting. She was almost regal in her bearing, full of poise and confidence that was utterly intoxicating! The other distraction, of course, was the little mink, Cika. The teen overflowed with sexual allure, open with her charms and affections that were at once obscene and yet most enticing.

Shaking his head at the thoughts that ran rampant and recalled how both femmes had acted around each other and the rest of the crew, not to mention vivid recollections of trim, shapely bottoms wrapped in the silks of sarong and skirt, Tuck tried to distract himself from his recollection of the two ladies by lashing the wheel to hold their course while stepping to the last addition to the ship. The four guns that had been mounted two to a side gleamed from the starlight and navigation lanterns. The little half-pound clockwork guns weren't the most powerful, certainly not like the deck cannon he was familiar with, but in experienced hands, the little self loaders could be devastating. The brass barrels were well cast, and he ran a hand down the length, his fingers unerringly finding the reloading lever and the locking toggle for the preloaded magazine of five shots. The other cassettes were set below the rail to the left and right of the guns with more below, and the cleaning kit. The placement of each enabled the crew to cover almost every possible angle of attack, and it had pleased the elk immensely that his expertise had been called upon when the purchase had been installed.

There was more to defense than simply having the guns, and placement was key.

As Tuck looked over the secured magazine cassettes, he was unaware of a visitor behind him and didn't turn around until he heard a very high pitched and amused giggle.

"I guess you like the new toys that Kanda Har got us?" Cika asked.

"These are far from toys, Miss Cika," Tucker replied before turning only to stop dead, his mouth falling open as his glacial blue eyes bulged noticeably. "Scandalous!" Tuck hissed. "Where are your clothes?!?"

Cika giggled again. "Once we're out of the lanes around civilized places we like to be as free as possible." She smiled, then instantly turned the smile into an adorable pout, grinding her toes on the deck as her paws went behind her back and looked at the elk with wide eyes and lowered chin. "Why? Don't you think I'm pretty?" she asked in a hurt tone that was completely feigned.

Tuck sputtered for several moments before finding his voice. "You're very pretty, in all truthfulness," the elk managed to get out, his eyes constantly dropping to the minkling's pert breasts, trim belly and the furless dimple of her feminine parts. "Very pretty..." he breathed, losing the battle of self control and dignity.

"Yay!" Cika said, brightening in less than the blink of an eye, her smile returning. She brazenly took the elk's hand in her tiny paw and began to pull him back to the wheel and mast for the aft sails and the large coil of rope. "See, I wanted to welcome you to the crew and let you know that we're very happy to have you here."

As soon as the weaselkin had stopped tugging on his hand and arm, she moved her nimble fingers to the buttons of his stiff, white uniform shirt. His breath caught in his chest while Tuck's heart pounded furiously. "Wh...what are you doing?" he whispered, unable to flee, unable to stop the little femme.

"Welcoming you to the crew, silly," Cika giggled as she slipped the last button free and ran her pads over the sculpted belly beneath. "You see, we're more of a family than a crew and everyone needs to know that they're appreciated. Duty's fine I suppose, but there's more than duty, isn't there? Haven't you ever done something for yourself besides duty?"

Tuck was unable to answer as little fingers and tiny claws caressed his male nipples, causing his icy eyes to flutter. "I...I wa...was an officer, Miss Cika," he stammered. "We...such...things weren't done in the Royal Navy of Burgess!"

Cika's grin became a little more smug. "But you aren't in the Navy, Mister Tucker. You're with us, and we won't abandon you like your Navy did. We don't leave our family behind, and we certainly don't let them go without a fight." She teased her way back down his belly to the edge of the elk's trousers. "We are happy that you have skills that will help us, but you're more important than just that, aren't you? Haven't you ever done anything simply for the love of it?"

"N-no...well yes," he admitted reluctantly after a moment of thought. "I...I love to be on the high skies," he admitted. "Riding the winds on a fine ship...that...that is what I love..."

"There!" the minkling crooned. "That's why you're here! See? Isn't it better to do something for love than just duty?" Cika's fingers found the button for the top of the elk's trousers. "When you do something for love, there are other rewards as well..."

"But," Tuck began, his eyes opening with more than a hint of uncertainty, "you...you're mated to Kanda Har. This isn't...er, proper!"

Cika threw her head back and laughed. "When you have a bottle of really good wine, do you try to pour it all into one cup? Or do you pour it into many and share with the people that matter most?" She grabbed the trousers with both paws and pulled the two of them together. "Besides, the rest of the crew is welcoming Cinnabar and Slim...well, Kanda Har is welcoming Slim onboard. Saber has taken Cinnabar into her cabin. Yes, Kanda Har and I are mates, but we don't mind sharing in the slightest."

"Kanda Har and Slim?" Tuck repeated with a frown. "Why, that's-"

Cika silenced his protests by leaping up, giving the elk little recourse but to catch her, the moment his hands cupped her cheeks her mouth found his, forcing her tongue past his lips and into his muzzle. The elk swooned a little at the kiss, his own forays into encounters with the fairer sex limited at best, and the forward manner of the mink was more than he was accustomed to.

"Love just is, Tuck," she whispered when they parted and looked at the bull with sincerity filling her dark eyes. "It doesn't matter where it comes from. Love is a gift to be shared freely and happily." She could see that this was an alien concept to the elk. "Let me show you."

Wanting to protest but not able to muster the resolve, Tuck could only stand there as Cika unfastened his trousers and slipped them down the fine fur of his legs after divesting him of his shirt. Both articles of clothing would have to be pressed again, but that was a moot point at the moment. Instead of standing back up, Cika simply stayed on her knees before the bull and looked up at him as her paws found the hefty sac of his balls, her soft pads caressing his orbs for several long tense moments as Tuck felt arousal and desire fill him.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're gorgeous?" the minkette inquired softly.

"N-no..."

The weaselkin smiled warmly. "You are. And very well built," she said as the bull emerged from his sheath. He wasn't as big as Kanda Har, but then she doubted anyone really was, and before the elk could say anything she graced the end of his cock with a slow, languorous kiss. The kiss turned into a bit of tongue play and she swabbed the head of the cervine organ before opening her muzzle and sliding so far down the length of the hardened shaft so that the head actually dipped into the beginning of her throat.

"Guiding stars!" Tuck whispered, his eyes rolling back in his head as he began to sway on his feet. "I...I think I need to sit, Miss Cika!"

The mink let the cock in her mouth pop free with a sound and grinned. "Not yet. I want to...explore," she said with a mischievous tone.

Tuck tried to stand still as the minkling did indeed explore him, her paws almost seeming to be everywhere at once, moving over his body and through his fur like a warm breeze that further inflamed him. He'd spent time with a lass or two in various ports, but those had been, for want of a better term, strictly 'business'. He'd never had a femme pay this kind of attention to him.

Then he felt Cika do the most lewd...yet wondrous thing as she placed her muzzle beneath his tail, the warm, wet feel of her tongue became a searing heat teasing at his tailhole, touching him in a manner no other soul ever had. It was enough to drop the bull to his hands and knees with sheer eroticism. The newness combined with the inordinate amount of time from his last amorous encounter was enough to bring him to climax right there and he grunted as he spilled a font of his seed in a gushing torrent on the deck near the wheel.

"Damn! I hate wasting that!" Cika said as she helped the elk up.

"I...I'm sorry, Miss..." Tuck began, embarrassed that he'd lost control like that, feeling unmanned before the little mink.

"What? No Tuck," she said gently, placing her paws on either side of his face to hold him still for a deep kiss. "No. It just means that it's been far too long for you." She looked at the male shrewdly. "It really has been a long time hasn't it?" She watched as Tuck nodded in chagrin. "We can fix that," she told him softly.

The weaselkin guided the elk to the coil of rope and got him to sit before wriggling between his legs to use her mouth and tongue to bring him back to full readiness. Her eyes never left his as she took first the head of his cock in her lips, kissing and nuzzling his end before slowly slipping as far down his length as she could, deep-throating the elk with a chortle at Tuck's expression. After the first couple bobs of her head and mouth full of elk meat, the bull was again at full mast. With a grin, the minkling stepped up so a foot was on either side of his hips, her feet on the braided strands and her cunny exposed to his lingering gaze.

"Permission to come aboard?" she asked with a comical salute.

"Granted," Tuck mumbled distractedly.

Placing her paws on his shoulders, Cika all but dropped onto the raging staff of cervine cock, already wet in anticipation, and more than able to take the length and girth after her steady sexual diet of Kanda Har's offerings. The mink sank as far down as she could, going that little extra bit that brought his head crashing into her cervix and sighed with a content expression. "You feel good in me, Tuck," she hissed before flexing her legs.

"Miss Cika..."

"Uh-uh," the mink said as she began a regular pace impaling herself again and again on the huge cock. "Just Cika." She watched how the elk trembled each time she engulfed his organ in her depths, the wet heat wrapping around him as she worked her muscles much as she did with her beloved Kanda Har. "You can...touch me...too...you know," she gasped as she was filled over and over.

With trembling hands, Tuck did as she said, his fingers touching thighs tentatively at first, moving up her sides. It wasn't enough pressure and caused the girl to laugh and wriggle fiercely, her motions translating to the love making. Then, bolstered by this response, Tuck began to let his hands roam over her body.

"Mmmmm! Yes! Touch me however you want!" Cika enthused.

His hands found her firm little breasts and her reaction as he brushed her nipples was wonderful, squirming and sighing lustily as he lightly pinched the pale, pink nubs with enough pressure to darken them slightly. With one hand still on her globes, his other moved along her flanks, past the swell of her hips to the trim roundness of her ass, groping happily.

"Under...the tail...there's a little spot...," Cika whispered, getting into the feel of running herself up and down the elk's cock with more vigor. "It...makes us femmes...very excited!" She smiled then squealed as Tuck found the place she mentioned. "Just like that!" the mink cried, bouncing even faster.

Slipping one paw free of its grip on his shoulder, Cika let her hand dip to where their bodies were joined, her finger pad finding her pearl and began to stroke it madly, enjoying the feel of playing with herself as the bull's cock filled her cunny like a heated stone, so hard, so warm. It didn't take long for her to feel the tightening in her lower tummy that signaled the leading edge of climax, and she continued the frantic pace until her own personal dam broke, a veritable flood of her juices erupting from her slick channel as she screamed with the release of her orgasm, cumming with enough force that all she could do was shake spasmodically until it passed.

With the afterglow tingling through her, Cika's blood rushing in her ears and stars in her vision that left everything hued in strange, beautiful colors, she got up, pulling free of the elk with a wet slurping sound. With a come-hither finger gesture, she bent over the balustrade of the rail that looked out over the main deck, her rump and dripping cunny glistening invitingly in the glow of the lanterns.

"I'm ready for boarding, Mister Tucker," the minkling teased.

His earlier inhibitions shattered and the drive of lust filling his loins, the elk stood on shaky legs and approached the willing, waiting bit of delectable quim. He needed no help in finding Cika's opening, his stiff cock pointed unerringly at the weaselkin's slick little cunny like the needle of a compass. His hands went to the rail as he lined up before plunging into the little femme, his pelvis slapping against the minkette's ass as he hilted her on the first thrust, a happy squeal peeling from her throat at the filling of her tunnel.

Tuck would have been afraid to do such had he not been aware of the girl's time with Kanda Har, her mate even larger than he was, and she'd proven on her own that she could handle his organ. Hunching his back and hips, the normally reserved elk gave in to his baser needs, each thrust of his cock into the little mink that had surprising capacity spurring him on. He looked down at where he entered the petite femme, his dark pink cock slipping into the paler pink embrace of Cika, her labia appearing to gobble every inch of his member greedily as she whined and squirmed, moaned and wriggled with every penetration.

The gasp that escaped his throat, mixed with a snort when Cika reached between her legs to grasp his sac, was full of pleasant surprise. "Fill me up," she pleaded. "Cum in me!"

That was all the encouragement Tuck needed and he soon began to hammer away, stunned that the girl could take all of him, but not turning away from the gift. He felt the stirrings of his own climax as the minkling continued to play with his balls, rolling them like giant marbles in her paw filled him with a frantic need for release and the elk snorted now with every thrust, sweat slicking his fur as much as Cika's juices slicked his cock.

Then there was no turning back and the first surge of release basted forth, painting the inside of the minkling with enough force to make the girl gasp in delight. The second and third throbs of his enormous cock put more of his scalding cum deep in her as he rode the tiny femme to his own breathless completion.

Pulling out, his erection fading almost instantly with the power of his orgasm, Tuck maintained his hold on the railing to stay upright, his chest heaving as he dripped postcum on the planking that mixed with Cika's juices. He was able to glance up to see her tailhole wink at him as she contracted with a smaller orgasm, the lips of her cunny working to keep the thick, white streamers of semen he left within her as she shivered happily.

Even as he stared at that beautiful sight, the minkling stood and turned, taking hold of his antlers, the most convenient thing for her to steady herself on, and planted her lips against his. Tuck could only kiss her back with the insistence that the weaselkin pressed into him with then opened his eyes as she pulled away slowly.

"Welcome to the family, Tuck," Cika whispered, her paw caressing his face as she ducked underneath him and headed for the door on the low deckhouse, the elk not seeing the wink or sly smile she threw at the camera that had been mounted to the aft mast.

The elk had barely gotten his clothes back on when Slim emerged on deck for his turn at watch, a dazed look in his eyes and a walk similar to the one Cika had after making love. "Fine night, eh, Tuck?" the otter inquired with slightly slurred words. "Good crew on this ship now, hey?"

"A good crew indeed," the elk replied quietly.

*

There was something about boys that Saber had always found intoxicating. Oh, men had their charms, and often in ample supply, and they certainly had their uses, but youthful, energetic younger males would always be her first love, the lithe and shapely cobrafemme decided.

Take for instance Cinnabar Blanc. The handsome skunk, while really only a few years younger than herself, just barely into his twenties, was certainly someone she would classify as a boy; certainly he was trusting enough for the role. It hadn't taken much to lure him into her parlor, as all she'd needed to do was ask if he'd help her with "this one thing, far too heavy for me to lift on my own...thank you, darling." And then, when he'd had his back turned to her, setting that last box into its proper place on one of her shelves and securing it against the rocking of the ship, she'd stepped up behind him, and just barely nipped his neck, right at the nerve cluster where neck met shoulder. Instantly the young skunk had gone stiff and rigid, completely paralyzed by the tiniest traces of cobra venom applied to the right place. It was a trick Saber had learned during her days in her first husband's harem, and something she fully intended to use on Windspray one day...probably one day very soon, now that she had so many fine, handsome males to assist her in her wicked designs. The thought of the beautiful, pure, white-feathered angelbird squirming and squawking and gushing heavily from her cunny as she was stuffed like a goose from all sides was enough to make Saber go weak in the legs.

Completely aware of everything being done to him, but also completely helpless to do anything, Cinnabar's chest was rising and falling faster, his eyes wide with shock and perhaps a touch of fear as Saber slowly guided the paralyzed male to her bed, and then gently lay him down, face forward, slipping a pillow beneath his hips to raise his lovely rump upward. She smiled sweetly at her helpless victim as she skillfully unbuttoned his trousers, sliding first his shirt up and over his head, then his pants down his legs, her hands stroking his beautiful bushy tail upward to better expose the inviting white flash of fur on the inner part of his buttocks - the "treasure tail," which framed his delightfully snug tailhole in a most inviting shade of pink, nestled snugly, temptingly in that soft white fur. His heavy sac was a similar shade of white, and Saber had to force herself to keep her self-control for the time being, at least long enough to carefully fold Cinnabar's clothes and set them on the dresser next to her bed, making sure she took her time, maintaining her composure. After all, the longer she waited, the more satisfying this would be.

"You've got every reason to be a little nervous, my dear, sweet Cinnabar," Saber said in her most sultry tones as she turned back to the helpless skunkboy on her bed, one long-nailed hand reaching out to caress his cheek, tilting his face upward so that she could look into his wide, beautiful purple eyes. She could see where he got the name Cinnabar with eyes like that, and couldn't resist the impulse to bend and lightly kiss each eye, which winked in turn to allow her lips to contact his soft, well-groomed fur. "After all, you're completely helpless right now...and completely in my power."

As though to drive home her words, Saber found the coil of soft rope she'd stowed beneath the soft pile of cushions barely contained within a frame, and smoothly, easily slipped it around Cinnabar's wrists, and then his ankles, drawing a concealed kukri to snip off little lengths of the rope to ensure she didn't bind his limbs in a position that would make it harder for her to access his most sensitive places. Wrist to wrist, behind his back, and ankles to a spreader bar, followed by a shorter bar between his thighs. With his stomach resting on one of the larger pillows, this left Cinnabar's rump utterly exposed, a situation that become even more pronounced when Saber slipped a loop of rope around its base, and then latched the other end of the rope to a collar, which she quickly fit around Cinnabar's neck, locking it securely in place.

"Oh good," Saber cooed eagerly, her long black fingernails teasing through the little bands of blue fur that divided Cinnabar's single white back stripe from the sleek, inky black of the rest of his back, before it turned to blue and then white again on his chest and belly. "I picked that collar out for you especially while you were having your little interview with Kanda Har. It's good to know I can still measure such things by sight." She sighed in exaggerated regret. "It's so hard to keep in practice around here, you know, with such sweet and innocent cuties like these as a crew." Then she giggled, slipping a ball gag into the skunkboy's muzzle with a movement so quick and subtle, he could only blink in shock as he suddenly realized the gag was in place, locked securely behind his head. "Or sometimes altogether too eager. Such naughty girls!"

For Cinnabar, actually, the experience so far wasn't really that bad. In all honesty, once he got past the initial shock of cold fear, the cushions beneath him were quite comfortable, and the ropes equally so. This sexy cobrafemme knew just how to tie knots so that they were at once secure, and also not at all painful against the skin beneath his fur. Oh, he'd need a proper brushing later, of course, but that was something for later. Right now, though Cinnbar felt a sense of rather significant trepidation, knowing that, even a his strength began to quickly return, he was really and truly completely at Saber's mercy, he also didn't feel outright afraid. A few quick tenses of his muscles almost immediately revealed to Cinnabar that he wasn't going to get out of Saber's bindings any time soon, and so he did his best to relax and see what would happen next.

Seeing that Cinnabar wasn't struggling any more, Saber pouted. She so loved it when they squirmed! Giving a soft and indignant huff, Saber's hand came down with a rather loud smack_on her prisoner's bare bottom, right in the middle of the sweet spot clearly marked off by his treasure tail. _That made him squirm! Saber laughed as she spanked her captive again, and then again, before pausing to run her long, strong fingers through the fur of his back, feeling the firm, youthful muscles beneath.

"You are such a beautiful creature, my sweet," said Saber in a voice so alluring, so sultry, it made the skunkboy shiver despite himself. "It would take a true monster to cause harm to a beautiful body like yours."

CRACK!

The riding crop made the most satisfying noise as Saber brought it down at a precise angle, so that it seared a sharp line right over Cinnabar's tense pink tailhole. For a moment the skunk simply stared, his gorgeous purple-red eyes wide in shock. And then he screamed into the gag, the muffled sound somehow _intensely_arousing to Saber, making her shudder, stroking a hand down her tight-fitting garment of purple leather, which she'd had specially made to look almost like a part of her skin, though it managed to (very barely) conceal the essentials of her modesty, fulfilling the letter of modesty laws, even while flouting the spirit.

With expert skill, Saber's deft hand reached beneath her handsome, helpless plaything, and began to stroke his sheath. She was more than pleased to find that it was already quite swollen, and it only took a little stimulation to coax his glistening, black-skinned shaft from its hiding place. The bound skunkboy looked up at Saber with an expression that was at once confused, aroused, and pleading, though whether that last emotion was for mercy or release wasn't quite clear at that moment. She answered his look with a smile, and bent low, her full breasts bobbing just before his face, while she caught one rounded ear between her lips, making him shiver as she teased him with the hint of her razor-sharp teeth. He shivered even more when her forked tongue slid into the sensitive auricle, stroking and caressing the furless parts deep within in such a way that his ear didn't even twitch, she had it aimed so perfectly.

"I'm afraid I'm the wicked one of this group," Saber explained as she withdrew her tongue, leaving the bound skunkboy breathing hard, his cheeks flushed as she continued to stroke his firm black shaft with a slow, steady pace. "You're surrounded by the most lovely angels you can imagine, my sweet," then she grinned, showing off her terrifying fangs as she parted her lips, "and one very naughty devil. But don't worry: I don't bite..." she bent close to his face, licking his cheek with her long, agile, forked tongue. "Unless I feel like it."

Stroking Cinnabar's shaft a little harder, faster, Saber kept the skunkboy nice and hard, his plump glans already starting to leak nice, fat dollops of precum onto her expensive cushions. Then, with a flick of her other wrist, she made his whole body jerk, his hips thrusting hard into her gripping hand, as she snapped the crop across his exposed bottom once more. Delighting in his expression as poor Cinnabar looked up at his captor with such adorable pleading eyes, Saber began to paddle his buns quite firmly, laying aside her crop at last to simply use her hand instead. And as one hand worked to bring pain, the other brought only pleasure, her thumb flicking over his heavily dripping cockhead, while her fingers milked and manipulated the rest of his glistening black length, her clawtips tracing every vein, every tiny ridge.

For poor Cinnabar, he didn't know what to think now, what to feel. Pain and pleasure were coming together for him, and as Saber kept up her cruelty for long minutes, the two soon blurred into one, until his entire body was trembling like a riding beast restrained during the mating season. As it turned out, the pain acted as a perfect distraction, each stinging spanking to his bared bottom forestalling his orgasm just a little more, which had the strange effect of making the pleasures that were slowly coursing through his body reach an even higher point than he'd ever experienced before. Under normal circumstances, with such a rough, hard stroking as Saber was giving him, Cinnabar would have cum long minutes past. But with pain to temper the pleasure, he just couldn't cum...he...he actually couldn't cum!

Cinnabar's face dipped downward, looking between his legs in shock as he realized what the wicked serpent had done to him - she'd somehow slipped a cunning thong of some elastic material around his balls and the base of his cock, physically preventing him from reaching orgasm. His eyes went back up to Saber's face, and his whole body shuddered at the expression of sheer, unadulterated wickedness on her beautiful and evil visage.

It was too much! Desperate now, the need to cum starting to overpower his reason, Cinnabar started to struggle desperately against his bonds. Saber gave a soft whimper as her eager eyes watched the handsome male's rump flex beneath his soft black-and-white fur, his gorgeous, youthful muscles tensing and straining against his bonds. It just made her start to pump his cock all the faster, knowing there was no way he could possibly escape from her most cunning knots. He was, after all, completely in her...

It happened so fast, neither Saber nor Cinnabar completely figured out what to do for a long fraction of a second. Just like that, the ropes that had been holding Cinnabar captive popped free, the knots unable to keep him in place any longer. Saber fell back onto her lovely, rounded rump as the insanely aroused skunkmale rose to his feet, snarling like a beast as he tore off the thong intended to tame his erection, to keep him strictly under Saber's control, helplessly in his power. Now his eyes turned to her, those red-purple orbs no longer holding any signs of sentience. This was no longer Cinnabar Blanc. Saber had restrained the poor skunk for too long, held him on the edge until the vestiges of his civilized mind had failed. Now he was a rutting beast in search of a suitable hole to fill. And Saber was a very lovely victim indeed.

With a cry of fright, Saber rolled over onto all-fours and began to crawl away as fast as she could. But it was far, far too late by then, as Cinnabar seized her long tail, hauling poor, doomed Saber back into his grip. Strong hands took hold of the sexy snakegirl's tushie, positioning her as he wanted, and in seconds, as one strong hand went to the back of her head, pushing Saber's cheek to the floor, her golden eyes looking up at Cinnabar pleadingly, she soon felt a spurt of precum splash against her exposed cunny, followed an instant later by the obscenely swollen head of the skunkmale's cock prodding against the snug, glistening pink places just past her flushed and heavily swollen purple-scaled labia.

"Please, Cinnabar, mercy," Saber begged piteously. "MercEEEEEEE!"

Under normal circumstances, Cinnabar would have immediately stopped upon hearing Saber's words. But now, she had pushed him too far, his mind reduced to its most savage, its most basic and primal. He was an aroused male, and she was a slick, tight female. That was all he needed to know, all he needed to understand as he plunged his proud, powerful black member into Saber's tightly-clenching purple-and-pink folds, his strong hands wrenching her skintight leathers from her body with a snapping of straps and buckles.

"OOOOH!" Saber wailed as she came almost immediately, her body writhing around like a snake in a handler's loop, long tail wrapping around Cinnabar's waist, pulling him in even more firmly. "AIIIEEEE!"

An instant later, Saber felt Cinnabar's own cum splashing against her inner walls like a cloud tsunami, setting her off like a firecracker on a second powerful, intense series of tremors that rocked her entire body, leaving her limbs helplessly flailing, clawtips leaving gouges in the planks of the floor. But just because he'd cum, didn't mean that Cinnabar was done with Saber. Oh no, not by a very, very long shot. As worked up as Saber had gotten him, he'd only just gotten started!

Her head lowering, Saber braced her body against her arms, yelping out "Oh! Oh! Oh!" over and over as the strong young skunk's hips slapped against her rump again and again. The snakefemme's full breasts bobbed and swayed, while Saber let her head hang loosely, her mouth slightly open, cheeks flushed with her rising arousal. Her golden eyes were dilated with the orgasms that were wrenching her body, making her juicy inner walls clench tightly on the dominating organ pistoning within her.

"Oh...oh...oh yesssss," the snakewoman hissed sibilantly as she gave a final shudder, and then went limp, her body slumping to the ground.

With a feral growl, baring his sharp teeth, Cinnabar continued to thrust a few more times, but found his cocksheath to be unresponsive. Pulling out, letting Saber roll slightly onto her side, Cinnabar then grabbed her tail with one hand, the other gripping her tight buns, spreading them as he guided his cock into place once more...and thrust forward again, this time into Saber's oiled anus.

That got a response! Saber's whole body started up as she half hissed, half wailed at the sudden penetration. It was obvious that she'd prepped her rump for such an intrusion beforehand, however, and so instead of any pain, she was only privy to pleasure as those strong black-furred hands held her down, holding her on her side as Cinnabar kept pounding away, making her whole body jiggle, especially her fine, shapely rump.

Her head bobbing with each thrust, Saber's tongue spasmodically flickered in the air, tasting her own violation and Cinnabar's arousal. It was like the sweetest nectar, and she felt herself growing drunk on the pheromones that grew thick and heady in the air. Delicious...

Suddenly, Cinnabar started to speed up, grunting and growling like an animal more than a sentient creature. Saber's claws scratched deep gouges in the wooden floorboards as she wailed loudly, her whole body tensing up with her orgasms, just as Cinnabar's own strong muscles grew clearly defined beneath his bicolor fur, before he gave a short, harsh gasp, his balls tightening as he popped his cork once more, cum gushing into Saber's clenching tushie.

Slowly sinking to his knees, Cinnabar's breath came in heaving gasps, his eyes slowly starting to come back into focus. Then, when his full rational mind returned, his eyes widened in shock at what he'd done. What had he done?! His eyes swung down to Saber, but she just smiled up at him with an expression at once sly and thoroughly sated.

"Had fun?" she asked, her words coming between panting gasps. "I know I did."

"But...but I..."

"Who's the expert on knots here?" Saber challenged with an arched eyebrow, before slowly leaning her sleek, beautiful body down against the floor. "Mmm, I'm going to be so sore in the morning." She arched her back, stretching in languorous relish of the sensations still tingling through her, and the feeling of hot, youthful cum swimming around inside of both her still-contracting holes. "But it'll be a good sort of sore." Then she turned her head, and reached out a hand to Cinnabar. "Be a dear and help me onto the bed, won't you?"

Utterly speechless, Cinnabar reached down, and carefully gathered the taut-muscled serpentfemme into his arms, then carried her to the bed of soft pillows, letting her settle slowly from his arms onto their surface. Before he could stand up again, she caught his chin with one hand, pulling him close as she lifted her head, kissing him deeply, passionately, her forked tongue darting into his mouth to wrap sinuously around his own. When she finally broke the kiss, they were both flushed once more, and Saber's hand was stroking down the skunkboy's firm belly, her tail caressing his rump.

"Next time, I'll bet I can get you even more worked up if I use one of my dildos," the wicked cobra teased with an evil, lusty grin, making Cinnabar answer with a far less evil grin of his own as he allowed her to draw him onto the bed next to her, her limbs soon entwining with his own. "Mmm, I do love younger males," hissed Saber in pleasure as Cinnabar rolled on top of her, his hips rising as she splayed her legs apart, before she hissed even more loudly as his hips dropped down on top of her, her long-nailed fingers raking through the fur of his back as he started to thrust in a slow, steady tattoo that soon had the moans and sighs of both of them filling the room.

"Welcome aboard, Cinnabar Blanc," Saber whispered seductively in Cinnabar's ear.

**

Kanda Har let the weight of his sea coat pull it from his arms before casually tossing the garment towards the wall where it caught the hook mounted into the heavy wood beam, his tricorn hat landing on the small table. He pointedly did not look at the other occupant of the cabin as he pulled down two pewter cups and set them in front of his hat before getting the bottle of rum that Cika had brought for him. She said it had been a gift from everybody, but it warmed his heart to know the little minkling had remembered his preference for strong drink. That the label was from one of the most notorious distillers in all of Skyworld was a another way that his Cika liked to spoil him whenever she got the chance.

The rhino hoped that Phillamus Tucker knew just how special his welcome truly was as his mechanical eye rolled up taking in the scene going on above deck.

Speaking of welcoming, Kanda Har deftly filled both cups, leaving the cork next to the bottle and passed the second to the otter, Slim, while the corners of his mouth quirked in a slight smile as he witnessed the elk being brought to his knees.

"Here you go, Slim. The good stuff," Trask rumbled. He tossed back his own drink, the amber liquid at first a little sweet before the potent liquor set his tongue and mouth afire, his throat soon following until the swallow splashed in his belly hit, warming him from the inside out.

As the last of the new crew quaffed half of the contents, a breathy cough following, Kanda Har smiled as he took the only other seat in the cabin, and that was the bunk he shared with his mate.

"Not used to hard drink, lad?"

Slim smiled sheepishly as he shook his head. "Not really," the otter husked, placing the cup on the table. "Beers and ales, wines of course, but never really did the heavy drink."

"No worries," Kanda Har replied with a relaxed expression. He finished his cup and cradled the empty pewter to his flat stomach with both his real and mechanical hand. "You know, I should probably warn you that Cika will most likely want you to teach her skyboarding. Not many that I've seen in all my years as a sailor that took to the skies like her. She was born for the clouds."

"And she's your mate, yeah?"

The rhino smiled happily. "She is. Though, I don't know what she sees in an old man like me, sometimes."

"Maybe that you're a good person," Slim said as he stood from the single chair of the cabin and stepped towards the bunk. "And she's not jealous about my being in here?"

"Cika?" the other male asked with a laugh. "I don't think there's a jealous bone in her little body. How someone so small can have such a large heart, especially the way she was living when I found her, is beyond me."

"A good response," the otter said with an easy smile, "but not really one that answers what I was asking," Slim said as he peeled his tunic off, giving the rhinomale a heavy look as his head came free.

"She knows and she's more than fine with it," Kanda Har replied as the young male let his loose shorts fall to the deck, his eyes taking in the lanky otter.

While Slim was almost as delicate-looking as his Cika, there was a lithe toughness to him, his lean muscle looking like whipcord and cable as it rippled beneath Slim's thick fur. The rich brown and splash of white down his front almost glimmered in the light of the cabin's lantern where it swung from the overhead hook, the yellow illumination dancing over fur that was designed to protect him from water and make the otter faster as he swam. In the soft light it looked almost silken.

"I'm glad she's not jealous," Slim said softly as he stepped forward before kneeling on the edge of the bunk, his motion carrying him ever forward until his furry lips met the grey skin of Kanda Har's mouth.

When Slim pulled back he couldn't help but smile, his sheathed member had been concealed as he moved forward, but with the conclusion of the kiss it was fully emerged, almost a reflection of its owner in that it, too, was long and a bit on the thin side. The smile the otter wore turned into a pleasant grin when the rhino's hand cupped his furred sac as his thumb stroked the base of the shaft.

"Apart from Cinnabar, I haven't had another for a long time," Slim admitted. "Well, another male. There were the girls from the taverns, but I sort of like a variety." His hands moved to untie the strands that kept Kanda Har's shirt closed one at a time as he spoke. When the shirt fluttered open, the otter moved to the belt and fastener for the rhino's trousers. "Do you think variety's a good thing?"

"A sailor has to be a pragmatic sort," Kanda Har agreed as he was freed from the suddenly tight confines of his clothing. Without breaking eye contact, Slim's hand helped pull the rhino's enormous cock out before hefting the mass of his balls. "You seem to be a rather pragmatic person."

Slim grinned again, his eyes heavy as he slid down. "I am."

As the otter wicked away the dribble of precum that leaked from Kanda Har's thick cockhead, the rhino was immediately aware of how different it felt from when his lovely Cika pleasured him. She was talented, of that there was no doubt, and never failed to satisfy. But there was a difference when males tended to each other. They knew the vagaries of their bodies and how to apply that to another, and Slim proved that he had been an apt pupil.

While his canine teeth weren't as sharp as his beloved minkling, they were wider apart and Slim used this to keep Kanda Har on course as he slipped his muzzle along the rhino's length, over his tongue that moved in little stroking circles along his glans until he was as far as the mustildae could take him. On the withdrawal, Slim rapidly flicked his tongue back and forth until just the dark grey head was in his mouth and wormed the tip into the tiny slit at the terminus of Kanda Har's member. His paws were busy as well, alternating between stroking the rhino's perineum, sac, and running his fingertips and claws along the inside of the other male's thighs where the thick hide was more sensitive.

Kanda Har was only able to watch what was done to him through the miracle of his mechanical eye, his one of flesh and blood closed tight at the wet heat and talented tongue the otter applied to his pillar of male meat. When he placed his hand on the back of Slim's head, the lad began a deep throated humming grunt that had the effect of almost tickling Kanda Har's sensitive head and ran down the length of him to do the same to his testicles.

With the expert attention, it didn't take long for Slim to bring the other male to the edge of rapture, and he knew how to read body language, the sudden forward twitching that he felt from the surprisingly gentle rhino so he was prepared when the steady trickle of precum became the first blast of thick cum that filled his entire muzzle, so much that his cheeks bulged slightly before he swallowed down Kanda Har's pleasure in preparation for the next intense throb and ropy strands of jizz.

With his mechanical hand knotted in the blanket of the bunk, Kanda Har's head was pressed hard against the bulkhead, his bellow of release and orgasm actually vibrating the wood behind him as he filled the latest crewmember with phenomenal amounts of his rich cum over and over, his sac eventually relaxing from where it had tightened to help in the release of his sperm laden offering. When he twitched with the after coitus sensitivity, Slim released him, a testament to the boy's talent and experience in that there wasn't a drop that had to be cleaned from his muzzle as he smiled happily.

"I thought I brought you in here to welcome you aboard, not the other way around," Kanda Har chuckled when he could speak again. His arms went about the otter as he pulled him against his body, feeling the youth's own erection slide against his taut belly.

"I would have thought you were the Captain," Slim began. "But even as Captain Windspray's right hand, I need to show that I'm happy to serve," the otter said with a nuzzle beneath Kanda Har's chin, not unlike Cika would often do.

The rhino's hand of flesh slipped down and caressed the otter's tail and rump before a finger slithered under the tail and elicited a gasp of pleasure and shudder from the boy. Be they male or female, he always was a softy where the cute ones were concerned. "Not serve, lad. This group is more than just a crew. I never saw the likes of it before, but this group is special. More so than I have the words for." He petted the lad's head gently. "Now for your welcome aboard..."

Setting Slim on the mattress, Kanda Har stood and fully divested himself of his clothing, draping everything on the chair back while the otter reclined with a very affectionate expression, his paws behind his head, one leg bent and slightly raised, giving the other male a full, unobstructed view of all the lad's nude glory.

Because of his time as Ebenezer Craw's cabin boy, Kanda Har learned that he liked males as much as femmes, finding nothing at all wrong with the sharing of affections and pleasure so long as there was respect between the parties involved. That and he'd missed having a good, healthy and appreciative lad in the sheets. He loved his Cika to distraction, but there was something special about the way men could show each other physical love.

With that surprising grace and almost gentle way of moving, Kanda Har got onto the bunk, his snout lowering to Slim for a long, languorous kiss, their tongues twining about each other as the otter pressed upwards to meet the other male. The rhino could taste himself on the other, the scent of his cum on the boy's breath, and found it as heady and intoxicating as the forgotten bottle of rum. When they parted, Kanda Har snuffled at Slim's neck, slipping down his chest while moving back and forth across the expanse of off-white fur to the edge where it darkened to a rich brown. His tongue teased the otter's nipples beneath the thick fur, finding the oil that his skin exuded as a form of protection to be an aromatic musk that was still clean and enticing.

As he moved lower across the expanse of trim, flat male belly, Slim quivered a little but his smile grew. When the exhale from Kanda Har's immense lungs riffled the fur, the otter couldn't help but chuckle and squirm a little. What was with the cute ones being so confounded squirmy all the time, the rhino thought to himself.

Slim gasped lightly as the end of his cock was brushed with Kanda Har's chin, and he tensed all over, already worked into a highly aroused state. Instead of letting go a bit of witty banter, the rhino shrugged and took the boy into his mouth. While long, Slim wasn't quite as massive as many males Kanda Har had whiled away time with and it was easy to take the entirety of him. In fact, the rhino was able to do something that he'd done to Cika a number of times and a few other males in the past and curled the edges of his tongue around the succulent shaft of the boy.

Slim gasped as his cock was almost surrounded by the slightly rough texture of rhino tongue, the upper part forced against the ridges at the roof of Kanda Har's mouth, the two different sensations as the rhino worked up and down were completely mind blowing. The otter couldn't help the long, low moan that escaped his throat, his paws grabbing a hold of the other male's horn as he was completely devoured. Surely Kanda Har was as experienced at this as he was sailing the expansive skies!

So intense was the pleasuring that he received that Slim yelped in astonishment as he came, his well massaged sac and balls drawing close to his crotch as his spurt of seed rifled out of his cock, drawn by the incessant draw of the male that loomed over him. His grip on reality was shattered, and Slim wasn't sure how long he lay there, panting with ecstasy as his body continued to thrill with the expert fellatio he'd been given. It was with almost as much surprise as his orgasm had caught him that he found Kanda Har holding his lithe body in an unbelievably affectionate and gentle embrace.

"Easy there, lad," the rhino whispered, his flesh hand stroking Slim's head fur along the lay. "Easy now. I've got you."

A slight gasp of delight drew both males' eyes to the chair where Cika sat with rapt attention on the two male lovers, her legs thrown over the armrests while the minkfemme's fingers dipped into her extremely exposed quim with frantic rapidity. "That...was...hot!" she husked, smiling as much as possible when Kanda Har and Slim chuckled warmly, that deep, throaty sound that was all male, and only heard when there was sex involved.

"Tuck didn't work it all out of you, did he?" Kanda Har inquired with a snort of amusement.

"I-I-I wa-was all right until I s-s-saw tha-that!" the minkling squeaked stutteringly as she continued to stimulate herself.

Kanda Har chuckled again. "Think you can help me out here a little? I'm an old man after all, and Cika's a very energetic young lady..."

Slim looked at the self-indulgence before him, his appreciation for young ladies quite evident as his slowly retreating erection reasserted itself with gusto. "You don't mind?" the otter asked with his dark eyes going wide at the sight of the minkette's desperation.

Kanda har kissed the side of the boy's head. "Not at all. In fact, I think I have to insist."

After nodding in fervent agreement, the rhino whispered instructions to Slim that Cika couldn't hear, and was too distracted to pay attention to anyway. She did let out a small yelp when Kanda Har picked her up out of the chair and held her to him even as he placed her over the head of his cock. As he impaled her, she let out a sigh, her eyes closing as she was filled with her mate's massive shaft. Cika was just getting into the feeling of him stroking her deep when she felt the otter behind her, only having enough time to open her eyes and turn her head as her tailhole was slathered with her favorite fendis oil.

Cika moaned with desire as Kanda Har filled her cunny and Slim placed the end of his long cock against her rosette. After her time with Saber, she knew how to relax, and within moments the newest member of the crew was sliding deep into her rear passage. The warmth and pressure of both men deep inside her was enough to make the minkling sob with the delectable sensations of two men filling her and threw her head back as they began to move in sequence, one entering, one withdrawing before they switched directions. Beneath her, she could feel it as the sacs of the two males that partook of her body rubbed against one another.

Supported by two pairs of strong arms, Cika leaned back against the otter, her arm reaching behind her to wrap around his neck, her fingers in the fur at the back of his head while her other caressed the face of her mate. "Harder!" she whimpered. "Please! Harder!"

Kanda Har only looked at her questioningly, to which the girl nodded, her mouth open, her dark eyes sparkling with need. Then the rhino did something he'd never done with his beloved before and let go his usual restraint. Cika all but bounced on the mass of his grey cock, every drive home eliciting a tiny squeak of encouragement. Behind her, Slim tried to maintain the counterstroke, his narrower cock plumbing her backside with almost reckless abandon.

When she finally came it was with all of the force of a hurricane and she released her own torrential downpour of rain, soaking both males with what felt like bucketfuls of her juices, her head thrown back and the scream she wanted to release coming out as a choking gasp from her open mouth. When Slim let go deep in her tailhole all she could manage was the trembling of her lower jaw as tears flowed as copiously from her eye as her quim dripped.

It was more than Cika could handle and she went limp between the two, her head falling forward onto Kanda Har's chest while her paws came to rest on his thick hide. A small hiccup sounded deep in her throat and a whispered, slurred expression of gratitude before she passed out, spent, used and happier for it. It was up to the rhino to disentangle all of them, and as he cradled his mate to him, she curled up like a child would as he carried her to the bunk and placed her in it, tugging the blanket up over her.

Slim watched this with wonder, his mind reeling from the almost wanton abandon he'd participated in, then in the loving tenderness that he observed as the burly rhino tended to the little femme. It was beyond moving, and the otter witnessed a depth of love that he had never even thought about witnessing. It was almost too much and he felt his throat catch between one breath and the next as his chest tightened.

This really was a different kind of crew. And very much a family. Slim wondered if he'd somehow pleased that gods and goddesses of air and water to be made a part of this.

"She'll be out until morning," Kanda Har said softly, still looking at the mink with his heart in his eyes and voice as he brushed her hair back from her forehead.

"What about you?" the otter whispered.

"Hmm? I'll be all right."

Slim shook his head with a smile, still stunned by what he'd seen, touched to his very soul. "That's not what I meant," the boy said as he pushed himself out of the chair he'd fallen into. "You have...needs."

"I'll be..." Kanda Har began before turning around and finding the otter presenting himself to him, his thick, rudder like tail lifted to expose the pink ring nestled in the valley of his boyishly trim rump.

Slim had a warm, inviting look and already he glistened with the application of the aromatic oil Cika liked.

"Are you sure, lad?"

A tear slid from the otter's eye. "I just saw the most kind, loving thing ever in my life," Slim whispered. "I don't think I will ever have someone look at me the way you did Cika, and I would sell my soul to share in that."

"I'm not small, Slim," Kanda Har said as he stepped up behind the otter.

"I hate to brag, but you aren't the biggest I've made love to," the otter chuckled softly in response.

The rhino smiled as his hands came down and caressed the proffered backside, relishing the feel of firm male rump under his touch. With a nod from Slim, Kanda Har placed himself at the boy's rosette, wanting to be gentle as he doubted what he'd been told when the otter pushed back, giving a hiss as he accepted the hot pillar of flesh into his body.

"Gods and Goddesses!" Slim whispered as he was filled, his eyes closed as Kanda Har stroked that place that all males have within them that made such things a true pleasure. When he could, he opened his eyes and turned to look over his shoulder. "Make...make love to me like you do your mate," he whispered pleadingly.

With a nod, the rhino reached forward to touch the eager, open face of the boy, the kind of honest expression he saw on his Cika every morning. As he did so, Kanda Har began to slide in and out of the willing lad, his pendulous balls swinging forward with every thrust to collide enticingly with the otter's.

Already worked up, it didn't take long for Kanda Har to feel the semen boiling within him, the pressure feeling like hunger and thirst and primal, a power that he couldn't restrain as his plunging into the accepting orifice became more frantic. Just as he was about to reach the cusp, the rhino slipped a hand around and grasped Slim's erection, his hand stroking the almost delicate shaft with tender ferocity, spurred on by the little grunting gasps as he hilted the trim ass of the otter on every stroke.

It was almost more than both could withstand, and no sooner did Kanda Har's continuously leaking cock convulse with a mighty heave of his spunk than Slim mewled with his own orgasm. While powerful, the otter's cum wasn't as copious as before, mostly spent between his earlier attentions by the rhino, then the rhino's beautiful little mate.

Sated, near exhausted, Kanda Har withdrew slowly, his sigh mingling with Slim's as both turned to each other and grinned with all that had been shared.

"I would stay for another drink, but I need to get up on deck for my turn at watch," the otter said softly, not wanting to disturb Cika. "That and to make sure that your mink hasn't done in our oh-so proper leftenant!" He gave Kanda Har a warm embrace before padding over to where the mink slumbered and kissed her softly on the cheek. "Thank you," he whispered, noting the smile on the girl's muzzle. "Thank both of you," he added to the rhino before departing to clean up before watch.

Kanda Har was too tired to do more than slip under the covers next to his beloved, the minkling immediately turning and snuggling against her rhino lover. "I love our family," she mumbled drowsily, her words barely coherent. "But not as much as I love you."

The last was added with a tightening of her tiny arms around the burly male's body as the weaselkin let out a contented sigh.

As he reached up to extinguish the lantern, Kanda Har also sighed happily, the darkened cabin lit by the rosy glow of his mechanical eye.

-

"This is their ship," Amber hissed to Talia Redcoat as she held on to the leash that was attached to the collar the red panda wore.

Behind them were most of the crew of the Blood Crow, all of them armed with a variety of firearms and blades of every description, the bloodlust clear in the eyes of many of them, greed on the faces of the others at the thought of getting the treasure map their former Captain had stolen away with.

"No watch?" the vixen inquired quietly, more surprised than anything else. What fool didn't have a watch, even while in port? "Tam. Go investigate," Talia ordered firmly.

The tiger only bristled momentarily at being ordered about, but his lessons had started to stick and he swallowed down his rebuke before padding silently up the gangplank. In less than a few heartbeats he disappeared into the deckhouse, and a few more before remerging.

"They're gone!" the tiger snarled in frustration. "Even the cabins are empty!"

Her eyes narrowing in suppressed anger, the vixen slowly turned her head to regard the pet she kept on the end of the copper chain. The tug that she gave the end dug the collar painfully into Amber's throat for a moment. "What skullduggery is this?" Captain Redcoat inquired icily.

"I don't know!" Amber wailed, flinching from that awful red-eyed glare. Amber dropped to her knees in supplication, fear making the former thief's heart flutter. "I swear I don't know, Captain!"

Talia's glare hardened by degrees as she looked at her toy before thrusting the end of the leash into the first person's hands she encountered. "We'll get to the bottom of this," the vixen snarled. "At least you had better hope we do, Amber."

The red panda watched as his Captain stormed up the gangplank to the abandoned clipper, Dawson and Davios following while Peels held onto the leash. Getting to her feet, Amber returned the glare that Tam gave her.

"I thought you said that Kanda Har and the mink were on this boat," the tiger accused, amused and angered at the glare that was returned. "What are you trying to pull, catamite?"

"I'm not trying to pull anything, you stupid cat!" Amber retorted hotly. "I owe that little slut Cika more than you do! And when it comes time, I'm going to be the one that cuts her throat!"

"You think so?" Tam asked softly as he moved incrementally closer, his tone dripping with malice and contempt. He hadn't meant to, but his paws raised, heading for the red panda's throat, fingers curled and claws extended.

"Try it!" Amber hissed, her hand darting up with a curved, slender dagger that had been keenly honed and hidden in the back of her skirt. "I'm not afraid of you, and you won't take me. Not from behind or any other way ever again!"

Tam moved back with the appearance of the weapon, his surprise giving way to a feral grin as he pulled his own dagger. "How much are you willing to wager?"

Peels reacted by stepping between the two even as he hauled back on the leash to put Amber behind him. Looking flatly at the tiger, the yellow dog shook his head slowly. With a snort of derision, Tam sheathed his weapon and stalked away. Once the threat was gone, the mutt looked down at the red panda.

"I don't need you to protect me, stupid bastard mute mongrel!" Amber growled before spitting on the cobbled surface of the quay. She then stepped away as far as the leash would permit before crossing her arms over her still boyish chest and glared hard at the clipper, not seeing the hurt in the canine's eyes.

Not for the first time Peels wondered if he would ever be able to get away from the life he was beginning to regret.

*

It had been a little while since Talia Redcoat had done some proper investigation work. As the captain of her own ship, she had plenty of ready sailors whom she could assign almost any task, and they would accomplish those tasks to the best of their ability, some out of loyalty, others out of fear, and still others out of a strange sort of love, though most with a mixture of the three. However, Frere Vermis was waiting, and though there was never any visible emotion in the shadowed face of the heavy-cloaked clergymale (a face that Talia had seen only once, and would never describe to anyone, even if she could), she knew he would not wait forever, so she took this task on herself personally.

Not that the task was terrible difficult, all-told. A brief inquiry at the docks pointed her toward the harbormaster's office, where she was greeted quickly by a trim and pretty lamb, hardly more than out of her girlhood, fresh and sweet and obviously the harbormaster's daughter, filling in for her father while the elder ram was busy elsewhere. Talia could hardly restrain herself from drooling as she approached the white-fleeced girl at the front counter, the girl's cheery greeting doing nothing to dispel the obvious brightness and innocence to her personality.

"Good day," Talia answered the cheery hello of the girl at the front desk, removing her hat like a proper and polite sailor ought in the presence of a woman, motioning to the tall wolf and broad pig behind her to wait just outside while she dealt with the young woman within the office. "I was wondering if you might be able to help us, dear lass."

"Oh, I'd be happy to assist in any way that I can," assured the sweet lambkin, fairly bouncing on her dainty hoofed toetips as she stood behind the counter in her proper and conservative homespun dress. "What needs have you?"

You cannot even begin to imagine, Talia thought to herself with a soft, barely-restrained growl in the back of her throat. However, what she actually said was "Have you any record of the recent transaction that took place, involving the sale of the unnamed skyclipper out by the quay?"

"Oh, certainly!" the bright and eager pubescent lambkin fairly bubbled over with enthusiasm. "It was quite an exciting thing on an otherwise common day. And what a strange little crew for a fishing vessel: an albatross as captain, even though the big rhinoceros with her was the one everyone thought was captain. And she a woman beside! The albatross, that is, if you'll forgive my outburst, good woman," the lamb added with a gentle blush to her already adorable features.

"Talia Redcoat, at your service," Talia answered with a smile she hoped came across as charming. It seemed to work, though, as the lambkin quickly plunged ahead with her tale.

"Polly, ma'am," the young sheep introduced herself in kind. "Well, it was quite the thing, really. A little girl was with them, a weasel, I think, from the look of her. You can't trust weasels, of course, as everyone knows, but she had a purse of money with her, and went on quite the spending bender all over the wharfside while she was here. She was often with the big rhinoceros, and it was rumored by some - if you'll pardon my saying so - that the two had some sort of relationship going on. And him at least twice, perhaps even thrice her age, too!"

"Shocking," Talia commented dryly, though inside she felt the most mild of twinges of jealousy for the girl who had taken Kanda Har, and seemed to have made an honest male of him.

"I know!" the lamb exclaimed conspiratorially, leaning in a bit closer to continue her sordid tale, not even noticing the way the vixen's red eyes drifted downward, peeking down the front of the girl's bodice to admire her pleasantly trim bosom. "The sorts of things some sailor types get up to at that; it's certainly nothing good, honest folk should have dealings with. Anyway, they sold off the little clipper they were with, and among the weasel's many purchases, she also paid upfront for a fine sloop that had been in possession of Old Harry, something he won in a card game. It was named the Sapphire Lady or something akin to that, but the new owners took on a new name for it, calling it the Lover's Star, and they took on a few of the sloop's former crew as well, three strapping lads from foreign parts, before they set off again. It's just not decent at all, though." The lamb shook her head, clucking her tongue in disapproval as she held onto the last bit of scandal, obviously to hold the attention of her audience.

"Do tell," Talia prompted with an appropriately scandalized expression, her mastery of her own body and face, something begun by the years she'd spent while growing up enduring the constant taunts and insults of her childhood playmates about her ghost-white fur and blood-red eyes, and perfected when she'd decided to take command of her life in her young adulthood. That, she had to admit, was another thing for which she owed Captain Trask, and she felt a softness inside of her that made her almost willing to let him live out his life in peace, if only he'd give her his map to the treasure of Captain Craw. If only her crew could be persuaded to feel the same...

"Well, Old Harry got a good look at the crew of the little skyclipper as they were transferring over all their belongings to the Lover's Star," continued the lamb with the least prompting, "and there was only four others aboard: the albatross captain, even though she was hardly older than myself; a whitetail doe from Ominus, obviously far from home, poor thing; and a big hippopotamus girl and a purple cobra from Pash, unless I'm sorely mistaken. And you _know_how cobras are!"

It was immediately obvious to Talia that the lamb, in truth, had no idea how cobras were; she was merely repeating what she'd heard from the gossiping fishwives that lurked around the quay. Knowing what she did about fishwives, actually, Talia strongly doubted that they had any idea what cobras were like. Being married to a skysailor usually meant you spent far too many nights in a cold bed, and so vicarious salaciousness was often the closest those biddies could get to the real thing, making them turn all their lust that should have been reserved for the bedroom into a lust for gossip. Still, it didn't hurt to humor a gossip, especially not one as cute as this little lambkin.

"Surely that's not the worst of it," Talia said, leaning forward to rest her elbows on the countertop and resting her chin on the back of her forward-bent, gloved hand, obviously all ears.

"Not at all!" continued the lamb, eager to fill her audience's ears with buzzing gossip. "They were all femmes, save for the rhinoceros. I simply can't imagine what sort of things they must've been up to on that little vessel they came in on; the little thing's got hardly enough room for a crew of two to get the least amount of privacy, and there were six of them aboard."

I know you can't imagine, Talia thought to herself, only barely restraining the smirk that threatened to spread across her pretty, red-dyed face. But I'd be happy to teach you.

"Five femmes and one male...and now four males, after they took on the three layaways that had been set aground when Old Harry won the Sapphire Lady off her old captain." The lamb, Polly, clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "That foreign sot's been drowning his sorrows in the local rum dens on the rougher side ever since he got here, and that was before he'd started to gamble. They say he's likely to drink until he runs out of money, or he drinks himself to death, whichever happens first. If he lives through his bender, though, they say he's a fine captain when he's sober, and shouldn't have a hard time finding more work if he looks for it, Stormhaven being the place it is."

"Hmm," murmured Talia, before she reached over, gently stroking the pretty lamb's cheek. "You're not just a pretty face, I reckon. It seems you know a great deal of what goes on in your part of the world," she praised the girl, making the lamb's pretty, white cheeks flush, both at the compliment, and also at the touch, far more affectionate than was normal from a stranger like Talia Redcoat. "Surely a beautiful and clever girl like yourself could tell me where the Lover's Star was headed when she left port."

"Oh, well, I...I suppose I could," stammered Polly as Talia leaned in a little more, her long, slender vulpine muzzle only a few fingerspans from the girl's sweet face and large blue eyes. "But, um, I don't know," she turned away suddenly, taking a step back as she did so. "My father says I really shouldn't be sharing the bearings of the ships leaving harbor. It's just not a safe practice. Why, if that sort of information got out," her voice lowered to a dramatic whisper, "eventually it might end up in the ears of pirates."

This is simply too precious, Talia thought to herself, even as a most toothy smile spread across her face. It was the wicked smile that only foxes could do properly, at once irresistibly seductive and chillingly intimidating, as befit the wickedly seductive and distinctly predatory reputation of foxes themselves. Let's not split hairs, Talia thought to herself as she lifted the hinged board dividing her side of the counter from Polly's side, stepping through toward the adorable teenaged lamb, while the girl took another step back, and then another as the vixen advanced, until suddenly there wasn't any more room to retreat as her trim little bottom, its outline visible through her homespun, bumped against one of the filing cabinets at the rear of the little office, all foxes are sluts. And when I finish with you, lassie, you'll be a slut yourself!

"Um, miss?" Polly said hesitantly as Talia drew close, one long-fingered hand reaching out to tease along the girl's jawline, making the sweet lamb shiver at the uncomfortably intimate touch. "Miss Redcoat? What are you doing?"

"I was just thinking you'd be willing to make an exception," Talia answered with that wicked vulpine smile, leaning in close enough to share her breath with the lamb, whose pert bosom was heaving beneath her simple dress at the unaccustomed closeness of another female, whose stance was so much like a male - not that she'd have ever allowed a male to get nearly so close. "Just this once." A finger rose, and lightly touched the very tip of Polly's nose. "For me."

"I...I really shouldn't," hedged Polly, trying to move to one side or the other, Talia's subtle countermovements quickly making this impossible. "It's just not done. And how ever could I face my father after such a betrayal of trust...why it'd reflect so poorly on the very office of harbormaster!" She shook her head firmly, even as her deep blue eyes met Talia's red ones with an astonishing degree of courage from a sweet young lamb like herself. "No, I'm terribly sorry, Miss Redcoat, but I simply cannot share such information."

Normally, Captain Talia Redcoat could have simply done a simple wander down the quay, or perhaps drifted into a few of the taverns that lay not far distant from the ships that docked there. For a woman of her looks and means and experience, she knew all the right things to do and say that would have the information she wanted pouring out of the mouths of a half-dozen horny barflies and wharfrats within minutes. But, really, where was the fun in that? So instead of simply bidding the sweet little lambkin a good day and putting her ear to the rumormills of the quay, she took two steps back from Polly, giving the lamb just enough room to relax a little, before she gave a soft chuckle.

"A pity, dear miss Polly," said Talia, her smile turning so seductive that it fairly smoldered, making the lamb's face turn quite pink through her snowy white fleece. "I'm afraid that means I'll have to be even more persuasive. Xotl, if you please."

How the lean jaguar, wearing little more than a very brief loincloth bound about his clearly-defined male parts, had managed to enter the office unseen and unheard, only he would ever know. But he had, as he often did when Talia went ashore, as her insurance policy and general hand of the Gods, and had been waiting and watching all the while as Talia listened to the silly, gossiping lambkin. Poor Polly had barely enough time for her eyes to widen at the sight of the mostly-naked male, his sleek yellow fur with its spotty rosette pattern visible for hardly more than an instant, before his strong arms were closing around her, one pinning her arms to her sides, the other wrapping around her neck. Her mouth opened to give a bleat of surprise, only to have Talia's gloved hand easily stifle the cry. Then Xotl's arm tightened just so around her neck, and Polly knew no more.

"Take her back to the ship," said the red-painted vixen with a lusty smile, licking her chops eagerly as she watched her jaguar crewmember easily hoist the unconscious little lamb onto his shoulder. "She'll be telling me everything I want to know soon enough."

-

There was nothing quite like the thrill of flight. Windspray knew this feeling so very, very well, and it was still something that, though she'd been born with the potential for flight under her own power, something that most of the people of their world lacked, she always reveled in. There was an almost erotic thrill to that first leap out into the void, feeling the wind caressing your most intimate places, that little lurch in the pit of your stomach that tingled up to your heart, and down to your groin all at the same time. It wasn't really something Windspray could describe to others. But now...now there was someone to whom she didn't need to try; he knew just like she did.

Last night, Windspray knew that there had been a number of...goings-on on board her new ship, with the three new crewmembers getting their own "maiden voyage" courtesy of her own dear friends, her family in the endless skies. Actually, though she'd supposedly been asleep last night, there was no way she could miss the sounds coming from the deck below her sleeping area in the crow's nest, and neither Tuck nor Cika made any pretense at trying to hide what they were doing out there. Windspray had always been, and still was, quite hesitant about the thought of sex, that is, her having sex. She'd explored once with Cika, even let the beautiful mink have her virginity, something Windspray didn't regret at all, but...it was still so hard to think of herself as a sexual being, and positively terrifying to think of herself..._being with_a male in that way. Another femme, at least a gentle one like Holly or Cika or maybe even Candi, that wasn't too bad, not really. It was more a sort of sharing, showing each other love as equals, without really giving or taking. But with a male, there was a certain voluntary surrendering of power, of independence, of placing yourself completely at the mercy of the person about to fill you up with his manhood. For Windspray, this thought was absolutely terrifying...but after watching Cika and Tuck last night, there was something about the act that was also undeniably alluring; she just couldn't keep herself from thinking about it.

When the dawn had come, Windspray had floated down to the deck, just as the sleek, shorter male, Slim, the otter, was getting off his watch. He'd glanced over, the otter's eyes wide with surprise and wonder at the broad-winged white bird that descended like an angel from heaven.

"Wow," he'd said. "I can't believe I didn't really think about you flying before. I mean, it's obvious now, but still...you're incredible, Captain."

"Um, just Windspray," Windspray had gently corrected the brown-eyed boy, a light pink tinge touching her cheeks as she'd walked to the deck, doing her best not to overtly notice the way Slim's pretty eyes followed her, admiring her. "And thanks. I've, uh, just gotta hop over the side for my morning fly, and maybe see what the air will be like today."

"Hang on!" said Slim, his laid-back demeanor brightening instantly at the mention of flying. "Just wait there a moment!"

Not knowing what else to do, Windspray did just that: she waited, as Slim raced to the stairs and down them, and then, after several minutes, came back up again. Except now, under one arm, was a long, smooth-polished board with a pair of flexible wings folded against its sides.

"I love skysurfing," Slim explained with a big smile as he raced to the side, quickly looping a few straps on the board around his waist and arms. "C'mon, it's gonna be a great day!"

Windspray's beak dropped open as she watched the lithe and lanky male raced to the side and leapt over the gunwale. Had he just...but no, a moment later, Slim darted up into view once more, the wings on the skyboard unfurled. He whooped in childlike glee as he skimmed along next to the Lover's Star, and Windspray couldn't help but get over her surprise at seeing a skyboard in action for the first time enough to laugh at the otterboy's love of flight. A moment later, she'd joined him, diving over the edge of the ship to take wing.

Now Windspray was halfheartedly thinking about whether she should regret her decision, even as she hovered alongside the agile, beautiful-bodied male with his sleek, torpedo-shaped body who was skimming the skies right beside her, his eyes bright and excited and obviously overjoyed at the thrill that only flight, true flight, could provide. Thoughts of regret faded instantly, though, like clouds before the wind, when Windspray saw the same thrill she always felt reflected in the eyes of a male not of her kind. Why worry about the troubles of the ground? This was the sky, and all that mattered in the sky was flight. Without even meaning to, her instincts compelling her to seek out companionship in the void of the everlasting sky, Windspray gradually drifted closer to the sleek little otter on his sleek long board, her great, white-feathered wings gently stroking over his back and trim, firm little rump and relatively short legs.

When the pair finally landed on the deck, side-by-side, Windspray found herself just a little bit out of breath, but not really knowing why. She wasn't tired, of that she was certain, since she'd gone on far longer and more strenuous flights than that little dip into the skies and hadn't felt a thing. But her heart was pounding, and she felt strangely flushed all over, a feeling that just grew more intense as she watched the leanly-muscled, naked male lean his skyboard against the mainmast of the Lover's Star and slowly arch his back, raising his arms above his head as he stretched himself, his calm brown eyes closing as he let the tension of his body flow out of him in almost visible waves. Despite herself, Windspray found her dark eyes settling on the otter's trim, streamlined "package," still slightly swollen with the lingering excitement of flight, and though she knew she was staring far more than was really polite, she couldn't make herself look away.

"That was a good flight, Win," said Slim suddenly, his voice breaking the spell his exposed genitals had cast over the white-feathered albatross, her eyes immediately going to his brown-eyed gaze, fearing scorn or amusement or lustful interest, but finding only serenity and acceptance. "It'll be okay if I join you tomorrow too?"

"Y-yeah," stammered Windspray, realizing that her beak was slightly parted, the avian equivalent of openly drooling, her cheeks and chest right down between her breasts, all the way to her belly, turning pink, clearly visible even through her feathers. "It's nice to have some company out there. I'd forgotten how nice it is to have someone to fly with."

"I like flying with others better too," agreed the whipcord male with a light twitch of his thick tail, before he slowly yawned, his hand finding and picking up his skyboard once more. "I've been told Cika's gonna want lessons on how to use this thing," he commented idly as he started toward the stairs. "Knowing her, even for as short a time as I do, I don't doubt it for a moment. But that's for later." He gave Windspray a slow wink over his shoulder before he began heading down toward the crew quarters. "Right now, I need some sleep."

It was only after Slim had left her sight that Windspray was able to move again, was able to properly breathe again. As an avian, she was more visually attuned than the females of the land-based peoples, and, well...he had a really gorgeous butt. She supposed it came from all that swimming he did. It wasn't like Tuck's firm, square-cut, muscular bottom, or Cinnabar's gentler, almost feminine curves. Instead, Slim's tush was a pair of nicely-rounded half-globes, firm, but yielding, fluid like the water that had birthed his people; like all of his musculature, actually. His thick rudder-tail just accentuated the flexing of his buns when he walked, making it impossible for Windspray not to stare.

Was it possible? Was she infatuated with this strange new male? Windspray had never felt like this before, not for any male, not even Kanda Har, however much affection she might feel for the big rhino and his precious little mate, her dear friend and lover, Cika.

Confused and deeply thoughtful, Windspray didn't notice the purple cobra behind her until Saber rested a hand on her white-feathered friend's shoulder.

"You're thinking about it too much, silly," said the cobrawoman with a teasing smirk, before bending forward and kissing the birdgirl on the juncture of shoulder and neck, making Windspray shiver at the sudden, unexpected contact, something that Saber had never done before, even though the feathered femme knew full well that Saber had wanted to do quite a bit more to Windspray than just simple kissing during all the time the cobralady had been a part of her crew. "He's a male, and he thinks you're hot, so there's no need to worry about what he thinks. All that matters is what _you_want to do with him." Saber flicked her forked tongue out and glanced down the stairway leading to the crew quarters, from which the sounds of the others starting to wake up were clearly audible. "Right now, he's tired, so you've got some time to think it over and decide for yourself what you want. Once you've figured it out, though," Saber shrugged, "act. That one, Slim, he's not the kind to hurt anyone, as long as you both know it's supposed to be for fun. So don't be afraid, and don't hold back." Removing her hand from Windspray's shoulder, Saber grinned in her most wicked way. "Of course, if you're not interested, I'm sure I could find some room for a sexy otterboy in my parlor..."

"No!" said Windspray, a bit more loudly and more firmly than she'd planned, her cheeks immediately turning quite pink once more as she covered her beak with one hand. "I...I mean, that won't be necessary, Saber. I think I can...handle this myself." Her eyes drifted back toward the stairs that Slim had only just descended, and she heaved a long, slow sigh from deep inside of herself. When she turned back to look at Saber again, the cobralady was nowhere to be seen. After all, she had a hot skunk tied up in her room, and a proper lady didn't keep her victims waiting...too long.

**

Everyone that the mink encountered got a warm hug in the way of Cika telling them 'Good morning!' as she headed to the galley, her nose filled with the delights that Candi had cooking for breakfast. Already at the table that was bolted to the deck sat Tuck, a heavy ceramic cup of tea in his hand and a plate of some kind of pastry. Unlike the others on board who had taken to the lack of clothing quite happily, the elk bull sat in freshly pressed trousers and shirt. It seemed that the huge male's only concession to the rather casual state was the upper two buttons and the collar were left open.

Cika only smiled warmly at the elk as she stepped up to the hippogirl, giving the large lass a slightly warmer hug than everyone else. "Good morning, Candi!"

"It is, isn't it?" the hippo asked. "By the way," she said in a whisper that didn't carry past the counter that separated the kitchen section from the dining table, "that was quite the show you put on last night!"

With a giggle, Cika only grinned as she looked at what her friend was pulling out of the oven. "What are those?" she inquired with interest, her nose wiggling as she sniffed the sweet, delicate flavors wafting up.

"You've never had scones?" Candi asked with a surprised look.

"I've heard of them, but I never had them. When...when I was on my own, breakfast was normally the leftovers that I could beg or steal from whatever inn I was near. Or maybe some pilfering from the kitchen of someone's house."

Candi's eyes grew wide and soulful as she impulsively pulled Cika into an embrace, squishing the minkette into her breasts with a sigh. Everytime she heard or thought about what her diminutive friend had been through it almost made her want to cry. "I don't know how you made it through such terrible things, but I'm glad you're with us now!"

"You know, I'm pretty happy to be where I'm at now, too!" the minkling said as she squirmed a little further into the warm, ample cleavage, a mischievous look brightening her dark eyes.

The bit of play turned into warm embraces of genuine affection before the hippo sent the other femme off with a plate of fresh scones, clotted cream and butter and a cup of fragrant coffee before turning back to her cooking. As she left, Cika paused to give the elk a lingering kiss on the side of his head before skipping out, heading to the deck above.

Chewing slowly, Tuck considered what he'd just witnessed along with the other interactions of the crew that had accepted him, Cinnabar, and Slim onboard. It was far from what he'd been accustomed to in the Royal Navy, of that there was no doubt. It was enough to cause any veteran near apoplexy.

But they all worked so well together.

Prior to his 'welcoming', he'd thought hard that perhaps he'd made a miscalculation signing on. Then when Cika had appeared...well, needless to say, his perspective had certainly changed course. Cika told Tucker that they were more than a crew. She'd said that they were a family, and the more the elk watched and observed, the more the term fit.

There was a joy, a sort of lightness to the dynamics on the ship, and honest affection and caring that the still young male hadn't even experienced in his own family. His father had been a hard man, fair to a degree, but exacting and rather expectant of perfection. It gave him a somewhat detached air. His mother had been a good wife, quiet, demure, almost subservient, doing all she could to embody the ideal her husband had had for her and their station. Then there was his own tenure in the Navy, where perfection was the order of the day, both onboard and on shore.

Now, here he was with...well, rabble, those he would have hardly called sailors before being forced into retirement, but he found them just as competent as any crew he'd served with, and far more caring. It was a bit to work through, and Tuck was in the midst of a revelation that perhaps he was in the right place after all.

"You look far too thoughtful for a fine morning like this," a deep voice rumbled.

"Sir!" the elk said absently as he sat up straighter, relaxing and letting a small smile pull at the corners of his mouth as Kanda Har took a seat at the more accommodating bench instead of a chair.

Feeling lighter in heart and soul than he had in a while, that translating to a certain amount of banter, the rhinomale looked left and right. "Sir? I don't see any 'sirs' about."

The brevity vanished as Tuck recalled his time the previous evening with the other male's mate and felt the flesh beneath his fur redden in response. "Um, about last night..."

Kanda Har shook his head and waved away whatever the elk was about to say. "Don't, Tuck. There's nothing to explain. Before you ask, yes, Cika and I are mates, but...well, we don't own each other. She's her own woman, and to tell the truth, I wouldn't have it any other way."

"You...you aren't angry?" the bull inquired, his eyebrows rising in shock. Back in Burgess it had been common for duels to be fought between males for one even looking at another's wife or intended. And Kanda Har was comfortable with her bedding another? Several others from what he'd been able to gather.

The rhino shook his head with an easy smile, even going so far as to grab Candi as she brought him a mug and bit of breakfast, pulling the lass onto his lap with a laugh and deep kiss that was happily returned. "The only thing that could possibly make me angry is if Cika or any of the others is hurt, or has the attentions of another pressed upon them without permission. I might not have led the most...heh! exemplary life, but I've never raped, I've never beat a woman, nor have I killed anyone that wasn't trying to kill me or a friend. I expect others to be the same. As long as someone treats others with respect, we have no truck.

"What you two enjoyed was with consent, and from everything I heard, you both enjoyed it immensely! What's to be angry about? Besides, I'm not all that young anymore, and Cika is a lass with astonishing appetites and stamina. I'm just glad there are others that can aid me in keeping her happy!" The last was added with another kiss to Candi and a pat to her large but extremely firm and shapely bottom that caused the hippo to giggle.

"Cika's special," Candi agreed with a blush that delved into her exposed cleavage. "I never thought I'd meet someone so small that could love so much. I know that I'm happy to know her." She plucked Kanda Har's horn with another giggle. "The same goes for you!" she teased in an uncharacteristically open manner before heading back into the kitchen of the galley.

"Like family..." Tuck murmured as he rubbed his chin between a finger and thumb.

"Definitely," Kanda Har agreed.

The elk was about to ask a question when Holly's voice sounded from the door leading to the deck above. "Sky shark!"

Had it not been for the pistol shot that had hit Tuck in the knee, forcing his retirement from the Navy, he would have beat Kanda Har to the deck. As it was, the burly rhino was surprisingly fast and agile as he took the risers of the steps two at a time, bursting out onto the deck and began immediately looking around.

Windspray was at the helm with her feathered hands tending to the wheel and the engines that the sloop was equipped with. "It's on our aft following our wake!" the albatrossfemme told the two males.

Without being told, Kanda Har darted to the nearest port gun while Tuck took the starboard, stepping up to the small weapon, his fingers already telling him the gun's status by touch before he hauled back on the lever that loaded it.

"Cika, pull back the charging lever," Tuck said calmly, watching the mink out of the corner of his eye as he also observed the sky shark. "That's it. Now yank it back and let it go. It'll load the first round out of the cassette. Good lass. Now, set the back ring to zero. We won't fire until it gets closer. Then, just as it's about to strike, we let him have it, all right?"

The mink only nodded, her tail twitching with the adrenaline that was running through her, fear and excitement and anger all vying for dominance in the little cutie. "Not gonna hurt my friends or home!" the weaselkin snarled determinedly.

Tuck couldn't help but smile at the girl's attitude as he gave his full attention to the shark.

The creature was moving at a good speed, long sweeps of its fan like tail pushing it through the air while minor adjustments of its huge wing shaped pectoral fins kept it on course for the sloop.

The call from Holly had brought everyone else up on deck, Cinnabar running to the other gun next to Kanda Har while Slim took up position next to Windspray, his skyboard in one arm, the other holding a harpoon and a long diving knife stuck into the belt that was his only clothing.

"It's getting ready to make a run!" Kanda Har called out.

"Captain! Turn us to starboard once he's closer!" Tuck called out. "When he's near, we'll let him have it! Kanda Har! If it gets by us, you and Cinnabar should have a good shot at his back or belly! Either way he'll be showing you his tail!"

"Sounds good," the rhino agreed, giving Windspray a nod.

Swallowing hard, the albatrossfemme looked back, her tummy quivering in anxiety. She'd seen sky sharks before. It was inevitable to encounter them when skyfishing, but she'd never seen one this big.

"It's got to be fifty feet long!" Cika breathed in astonishment, suddenly wondering if the gun that had seemed so powerful back in Stormhaven now appeared to be extremely tiny and wondered if they could do more than just anger the huge air fish.

"That's a fair guess," Tuck said, his eyes narrowing. "Just remember, big shark means big target. We'll put our shots right down his gullet!"

"He's getting closer and moving faster!" Slim called out, his skyboard on the deck as he readied his harpoon with both hands.

"Turn now!" Tuck yelled when the shark started after them with a wide sweep of its tail, the sudden surge of speed causing the animal to double its velocity as it headed for the sloop. Behind it, tendrils of clouds swirled in the displaced air, its mouth opening to reveal row upon row of serrated, triangular teeth.

To Cika it looked as if the creature were headed right for her, and she was suddenly filled with the image of getting swallowed whole, knowing that the shark would hardly even consider her a morsel. It looked big enough to swallow the entire ship! Whit a nervous jerk she squeezed the trigger of the gun, the recoil more than she was expecting, and caused her shot to go well over the beast.

"Steady!" Tuck almost growled, his focus intent on the target. "Almost...almost...NOW!"

Trying to compensate for the recoil of the previous shot, the mink's next one was low. Instead of trying to compensate, though, she kept firing, walking the shells upwards, only one of the rounds hitting true, though it seemed as if the damn thing swallowed the shot. While she was having difficulty, his experience with cannon enabled the elk to put all of his rounds right on target. The small explosions, while seemingly ineffective, sent shrapnel and fragments through the huge shark's head and deep into its body.

"Hah! You stupid guppy!" Tuck called out as he was slapping a fresh cassette into the receiver of the gun. "You'll dine in hell tonight!"

Inertia carried the shark over the sloop, and with her eyes tracking the beast, it's blue-grey body passing over her and blotting out the sun, Cika's finger continued to squeeze the trigger of her gun, the firing pin clicking harmlessly. As the creature continued past the other rail on the starboard side, a delayed 'Pop!' sounded from within, the shark's belly bulging slightly before the titanic skyfish belched fire and smoke and began a slow, arcing plummet that carried it into the clouds far below.

"Good shot, Cika!" Tuck cried out as he surprised the minkling with a hug that lifted her off the deck.

"Wha...what?" she asked, still trembling with adrenaline, her eyes a little too wide.

"That belly buster was the shot you fired!" the bull said with a laugh. "You just gave it a very bad, and very final, case of indigestion!"

"I did?" the weaselkin asked as she was put back on the deck, the others joining her.

"Blasting the head off or blowing up their innards is about the only way to stop one that big," Kanda Har said with a grin as he took his turn to hug his lover. "Pity it's going down, though. It would have made you a nice trophy!"

No sooner did those words leave the rhino's mouth than the sloop lurched hard, Slim calling out to the others where he strained in keeping a rope locked to a belay. "Help me cinch this down and I'll go get her a trophy!" the otter said straining, the others noticing his harpoon was gone. "That and a few steaks! Sky shark's a delicacy back home!"

Once the others had helped with the rope, Slim grabbed his board and launched himself over the rail with a 'Whoop!' of joy, Windspray wordlessly following after the otter. They both returned almost an hour later with teeth and cuts of meat for the kitchen before cutting the body of the shark loose to let it continue its downward journey.

Cika, however, had gone to the cabin she shared with Kanda Har to try and get over her shock and sat in the far corner with the blanket wrapped around her, shivering with silent tears coursing down her cheeks. When her lover appeared, she didn't resist as he pulled her into his arms and held her. She had been training to fight, and learning to defend herself, but he'd seen others soil themselves and run at seeing smaller sharks than the one his mate had faced.

"You know that I am very, very proud of you," he rumbled with a kiss to her hair between her ears.

"Y-y-you ar-re?"

"Very proud," Kanda Har repeated. "I've seen many an old salt lose their bladders at smaller sky sharks and try to flee, trailing puddles behind them. But not you. You faced that demon down and you gave it what for. That was one of the bravest things I've ever seen anyone do."

Cika blinked and rubbed at her eyes with a tiny paw. "Bu-but I was s-s-s-so scared! I s-still am!"

"Cika...sweetling, that's what being brave is," the rhino rumbled gently, holding the minkette tight. "Being afraid, but still doing what has to be done. That's bravery. And you were very brave, indeed!"

"If you s-say so," she acquiesced. "But I don't feel very brave."

It was further proof that despite everything so far, his lovely little Cika was still something of an innocent and it warmed the rhino all the way to his toes. "Come on. Candi's made us all a good dinner, and a little bit of brandy might do you well, too."

As she was led off the bunk and to the door, the minkling held tight to Kanda Har's arm. "I just know I'm gonna have nightmares about this," she muttered.

"Just remember that I'll be there to hold you," the rhinomale said with another kiss to her head and a proud gleam in his good eye.

*

With a start, Polly came to herself, her eyes wide and fearful, her modest, white bosom heaving. That horrible vixen! She'd gotten so close, far too close for proper comfort, certainly far closer than any decent femme would have...and then there had been those strong arms around the pubescent lamb's slender neck. The spotty-furred feline! She had to get away, had to get...

Why couldn't she see?

Blinking, Polly realized with a start that she was blindfolded, and, as she tried to move her arms, she found that they were bound above her head, holding her suspended, her dainty little hooves barely touching the floor, enough so that she didn't have to support all her weight on her shoulders, at least. Taking stock of herself, forcing her heart to slow a little, Polly realized with shame that her dress was gone, leaving her in only her under-bodice and knee-length bloomers. Scandal! No decent woman would ever be seen without her dress in public! Not like that vixen, wearing trousers of all things. Oh what would the fine fishwives back home say to such forward behavior?

Speaking of back home, where was she now? Polly swallowed nervously, wriggling a bit against her bonds, her ears picking up the slight creak of well-made wooden planks, her hooves giving her the impression of a soft carpet beneath her feet. So, she was on a ship, a supposition confirmed by the gentle sounds of the wind near the docks of Stormhaven, a sound she'd heard since the day of her birth, and could never forget. At least the ship hadn't set sail yet, Polly realized with a long sigh of relief. There was still hope for a rescue. Hmm, but why carpet beneath her feet? Polly's normally-smooth brow furrowed slightly as she worked that one out in her head.

"You're in my bedroom, little Miss Polly," came the voice of the wicked vixen who'd taken her prisoner, the sound from somewhere not far off at all. "And here you'll stay until I'm fully finished with you."

"W-what do you want with me?" Polly asked, trying (and failing miserably) to keep the lightly bleating quaver out of her sweet, high-pitched voice; it was a shame and an embarrassment to all civilized folk to let their basic animal natures show in such a fashion. Only savages and the most base of pirates allowed themselves to make bestial noises without concern for the social ramifications of such barbaric behavior. "What are you going to do with me?"

"The latter depends on how well you respond to the former," answered Talia, and Polly couldn't hold back the shiver that ran through her as the vixen's long-fingered, gentle hand stroked the lamb's delicate chin, fingertips teasing down Polly's exposed neck. "I want to know where the Lover's Star went."

"That's confidential information!" Polly blurted out, her voice rising slightly in pitch when Talia's fingers found the knot at the top of the lamb's bodice, and started to carefully, skillfully untie and then unlace the scant undergarment. "Please," whimpered Polly, squirming lightly against her bonds, shaking her head in growing desperation, "please, I just can't tell you. I just can't!"

"Oh, don't be so silly, little lambkin," Talia said with a light laugh, even as her surprisingly gentle hands parted the undone bodice, spreading it apart, making Polly shiver and whimper softly as she felt the slightly cool air of the room tease over her naked breasts, making her perfect pink nipples stand at almost immediate attention (but it was just because of the chill in the room, Polly reassured herself; only the chill). "You know full well that nobody has to do anything. You could tell me in a heartbeat, if you wanted to. After all, it would save you from a most terrible, ignoble fate." And as she said this, Polly couldn't restrain a soft, barely-restrained bleat as the vixen's skilled fingers slipped beneath the waist of her bloomers, stroking tenderly over her lightly-fleeced pubis, and into the achingly snug indentation beneath. "You just don't want to tell me, because you want me to do terrible things to you, guilt-free. After all, you're just a victim here, a poor, sweet, innocent little lamb about to be gobbled up by the big bad pirate. It's certainly not your fault if you...enjoy it."

"Maaa-aaa-aaah!" Polly wailed, unable to restrain the sweet bleat that Talia's talented fingers forced from her throat as the vixen stroked her fingers into Polly's virgin white cunny, her palm arching upward with the arch of the helpless lamb's hips, the heel of her palm rubbing firmly against poor Polly's previously untouched lovebud. "It's...it's not true! I'm a good_girl! I'd never enjoy..._baaaaah!"

"Then where's your maidenhead, little lamb?" Talia teased as she carefully worked two fingers into the deliciously tight and deliciously sweet lambkin's cunny, arching them back toward her as she started to thrust her hand, nice and slow at first, just warming up the precious little dear for what was to come. "Surely you didn't offer it to some lusty male on the docks?"

"It...it wasn't my fault," sobbed Polly in utter embarrassment. "It wasn't...I was just...just exploring, looking at myself with a mirror, and then I just wanted to see what it felt like to...to...you know. But when I put my fingers down there, it hurt! It hurt so bad! And there was blood and, and," the poor little lamb gave a soft sob, her head lowering as she sniffled adorably. "I just knew the gods were punishing me for being a bad girl, just like my father said they would. I've always been a good girl ever since - it was only the one time, I swear!"

"You are so precious," cooed Talia, leaning in to give the flustered, terribly embarrassed little lamb a sweet peck on her cheek. "Well, don't fret, little lambkin: you're not in polite society any more. In fact, there's not a respectable being on my ship, and I'm the least respectable one of all, which is why I'm the captain. I and my crew are going to do terrible_things to you. _Horrible things. And you, my lovely, precious, sweet little lambkin, are going to enjoy every last one of them."

Polly opened her cute little mouth to protest, to declare that she would resist to the last, that she wasn't some pirate's trollop...but Talia simply slipped the fingers of her other hand between the teen's lips, and Polly obediently, almost unconsciously, wrapped her lips around the invading fingers, sniffling a little more in sweet despair even as her body shuddered slightly as the vixen pirate (for she had to be a pirate, as wicked as she was) made the helpless little lamb's body start to flush and moisten in ways that Polly knew neither her father nor the preacher on Godsday would approve, no, not one bit. Then Talia's hand started to speed up, and Polly couldn't keep her hips from moving in counterpoint to those almost harsh, very nearly brutal thrusts, any more than she could restrain the loud, adorable bleats and whimpers and moans that soon began to be forced from her lips, though muffled slightly by the fingers now thrusting in and out of her sweet little mouth, fingers that the innocent lamb couldn't resist suckling upon, almost as though they were her mother's teats. The muffling of her voice somehow made it even easier for Polly to give a voice to the strange, overwhelming, wonderful, and so very, very sinful feelings that were starting to wash over her entire body, bubbling up inside of her belly like molten lava from the core of a sky-island, as though having her voice partially restrained meant that it was somehow all right for her to just let herself make as much of the sweet, arousing noises that were forced from her lips as she could. Then, with a sudden, violent jerk of Talia's fingers, and an even more violent thrashing of Polly's hips, the powerful, forbidden feelings bubbled over, and Polly felt herself the center of an eruption of raw, damning pleasure, her entire body tensing up, bucking and gyrating and thrusting back against the fingers plunged deep, _deep_inside of her until there wasn't anything more she could give, and Polly's entire world turned into an explosion of white sparks across the field of her sightless vision.

When poor, ravished Polly came to once more, she was dangling limply from the rope holding her bound to the ceiling, her slender little body trembling with the immensity of emotions that had wracked through her. There wasn't anything she could do to stop her captor as Talia's hands easily unlaced the knot of soft ribbon at the top of Polly's knee-length bloomers, and then slowly drawing them down the sweet little lambkin's body, the vixen's deft hands being sure to stroke over Polly's bouncy, fleecy little bottom as she denuded the precious little virgin lamb, and then to squeeze those trim, tight buns firmly as she stroked her hands upward once more. Polly shivered, biting her lip to stifle the loud moan that still forced its way out of her as Talia kissed the helpless little lamb right on her smooth, flat tummy, just above her navel. The next kiss was directly on Polly's bellybutton, and she couldn't restrain her moan this time as the vixen's smooth, agile tongue slipped within that cute little indentation, teasing the delicate little wrinkles within until poor Polly wasn't sure if she was going to giggle or squeal or just burst out with a scream.

"I found your special booklet, little Miss Polly," said Talia, the teasing grin audible in her voice, making the helpless lamb flush all over, even if she hadn't been already deeply flushed from her recent orgasm. "It wasn't hard to find, really, squeezed in among the ledgers I borrowed as well. 'The Princess' Perils Among the Pashmani.' Quite a salacious bit of reading material for a 'good girl,' don't you think? Why, whatever would your father think about his little girl with her nose thrust eagerly into something like that? Though," and here Talia giggled almost girlishly, "it does explain where you got the idea to try a little masturbation. Poor thing," the vixen gently patted Polly's fleecy tushie as she blushed furiously, shame filling her at being found out for the fraud she really was - had always been, actually. "The first time can be so painful if you're not careful about it. I'm so sorry you had to hurt like that just from a little innocent self-exploration." Polly moaned loudly as Talia's next kiss centered right on the lamb's pink-flushed pubis. "But, as you'll soon learn, there are bad sorts of pain, and good sorts of pain."

This confused Polly, and it must have shown on her face, for she felt Talia's finger on her lips soon after, gently shushing her before she could give voice to her confusion.

"Shh, sweetie," soothed the vixen as she circled around Polly's lithe, dangling form, her hands now both stroking down the helpless teen's sleek back, before gripping Polly's fleecy rump firmly. "It's better to show you what I mean, rather than explain it...mmm, and you have such an adorable little bottom." The wicked vixen giggled again. "Where I came from, we used to call a tushie like yours a 'tomato bottom.' That's because it's round and firm and juicy," and Polly suddenly gave a startled bleat as Talia squeezed the lambkin's rounded rump quite firmly beneath her surprisingly strong hands, "and just begs to be pinched!"

Her lily-white cheeks now beet red, Polly stammered for a few moments, obviously trying her best to give voice to her outrage and embarrassment at such things being said about her. Instead of being able to say anything coherent, however, she felt a strong, obviously masculine hand cup her chin, turning her head to face forward once more, before the unknown male's other hand carefully slipped a rubber ball gag into Polly's little muzzle, and then locked it behind her head. Luckily for Polly, there was a hole through the middle of the gag, letting her breathe without too much trouble, but unluckily, it also meant that her voice was quite unlessened in volume when she squealed, very loudly, as Talia's tongue began to invade her tense little white tailhole!

"Mmm!" squealed poor Polly as she felt the hot breath of the male that had gagged her wafting over one exposed, perky breast, before, a moment later, a raspy tongue lashed over the delicate pink nipple - it was the jaguar that had grabbed her back in the office! It had to be! "MMMMF!" she squealed even more loudly as a second tongue, this one a smooth canine oral organ, began to lap at her other breast, and then closed down over almost the entire plump mammary, sucking on it roughly. The jaguar's muzzle, meanwhile, was more gentle as his lips closed on her delicate, perked nipple and began to suckle tenderly, but still quite eagerly.

More eager, hungry mouths joined the ones already there. A broad, blunt muzzle thrust up between Polly's thighs, large, strong hands easily keeping her from closing her legs as she felt the hot breath of another eager male taking her scent, before a thick, powerful, and so-very-smooth equine tongue forced its way between her heavily-leaking cunny lips, starting to slurp and lick and smack quite loudly as the big male feasted on Polly's sweet pink parts. Yet another tongue joined the four already abusing poor Polly's innocent body, making her gyrate most fetchingly as she was ravished while dangling from the rafters of the room. This eager muzzle came from behind, stroking up her back, before an affectionate muzzle closed on the back of her neck, suckling eagerly on that so-sensitive spot, even as strong yet startlingly gentle canine hands began to stroke Polly's wooly sides and back, fingertips teasing the delicate skin beneath.

She was being eaten alive!

These were the last thoughts that ran through Polly's head before the slender tongue of the vixen behind her and the thick tongue of the horse in front of her both plunged forward and up, thrusting deep, deep_inside of the achingly aroused little lamb's tiny body. She was vaguely aware of five strong bodies, four male and one female, moving around her, closing in, touching her, licking her, molesting her _everywhere...and then her whole world burst once more into sparks of light and blobs of darkness as the pleasure proved too much for the inexperience little cutie to endure.

When Polly was next able to form coherent thoughts, she realized she was looking up at three handsome faces, the solemn face of the rosette-furred jaguar among them, now joined by a shockingly handsome steel grey wolf, and a floppy-eared yellow dog with a strangely cute face that made Polly want to smile despite her present situation.

"Gently now," said Talia to Polly's side, while a tall, blue-black and beautiful stallion carefully lowered her to her knees on the soft carpet of the sumptuously-appointed bedroom she could now see. "We don't want to hurt the sweet little lambkin, after all."

She could see! This hit Polly hard, and she soon started to look around, memorizing everything around her, drinking it all in. They'd removed the blindfold somewhere during her post-orgasmic daze, and it made her vision somehow even more acute...and also more stimulating, as though a portion of her already-acute sexual arousal had been siphoned up into her eyes. This feeling only intensified as Polly saw, arranged around the room in the most strategic positions possible, several large mirrors, and looking into those mirrors quickly showed Polly their purpose: she could see everything in the room, from multiple angles, without even having to turn her head more than the slightest degree. This realization left Polly feeling utterly exposed in a way she couldn't quite describe, and yet it also made her whole body tingle with arousal so intense, it almost made her scream into her gag.

Polly did scream, then, as the pirates all around her closed in, their strong hands seizing hold of her delicate young body, bending her forward until her chin rested on the ground, while pulling her bound wrists between her legs, another hand slipping a pillow beneath her knees. A glance into one of the mirrors showed Polly what was being done to her, let her see how the big, beautiful stallion lashed more of the soft rope around her calves and ankles, and then cinched them firmly to her thighs. Talia, with her usual deft skill, then easily bound the rope still attached to Polly's wrists to her inner thighs, wrapping it this way and that, until the helpless little lamb was resting on her knees, her adorable little bottom thrust almost straight up into the air, the perfect, white rosette of her tailhole and lily white and quite puffy folds of her labia placed on full display, thanks in no small part to how this position made her trim rumpcheeks part slightly, exposing _everything_to the lusty and eager gazes of the pirates surrounding her.

She was doomed. Polly knew there would be no escape for her now, not from the fate Talia Redcoat had planned for her, whatever it might be. The worst part of knowing she was doomed, however, was that poor Polly honestly didn't know how she felt about knowing she was doomed. As she was still struggling to come to grips with what she knew was about to happen to her, Talia stepped forward and unfastened the gag in Polly's mouth, pulling it free.

"Please," whimpered the helpless, adorably squirming little lamb as she looked up at her captors, her cheeks heavily flushed, her breathing coming faster as she couldn't resist looking at the swollen, proud penises standing at erection around her. "Please, just let me go. I'll tell you everything you want to know. I'll tell you everything!"

Polly's voice grew more frantic as she felt the firm but precise grip of the jaguar's hand on her uplifted bare bottom, his other hand stroking his cock, the rubbery barbs that lined its upper parts, near the pointed tip, stroking up and down as his hand passed over them, even as he guided that pointed tip into place at Polly's tense white tailhole, before looking up at Talia.

"Go ahead," said the vixen with that wicked and lusty foxy smile. "You've earned it, and she should be slick enough. Just go slow - I don't want her hurt."

"Noooo!" wailed Polly as she tried to clench her little bottom, to somehow keep him from violating her precious little tushie, but all in vain as her eyes went almost instinctively to the mirror showing the jaguar's conical glans slowly parting her tiny white tailhole, stretching it bit by bit...until, suddenly, the tip popped inside, and both of Xotl's strong hands gripped the helpless lambkin's cheeks firmly as he thrust, slow and steady, almost straight down into her pulsing, clenching bum. Unable to hold back, Polly gave a loud bleat, her cheeks flushing deeply once more, as did her neck and chest between her perky breasts. This wasn't from pain, however: the worst part of all of this was, it felt good.

"Now your turn, Samson," Talia coaxed as she lay back on her bed nearby, spreading her legs as she eagerly watched the show taking place before her. The burly blue-black stallion, his beautiful musculature perfectly visible through his short-trimmed, well-groomed fur, knelt behind his feline shipmate, his immense chocolate-brown cock jutting out before him like the bow of the ship they were on, its length mottled about halfway down its length with tannish-pink skin.

"Oooooh!" wailed Polly, her head jerking up, eyes and mouth wide O's as the stallion named Samson slotted his broad-headed cock into place at the lamb's juicy little white cunny...and then slowly squeezed himself forward, stretching Polly's pudenda wide, and all right before her eyes as she stared at her own violation in the mirrors around her, able to see everything. "Oh please, oh please, oh please..."

"Go ahead, Hans," said Talia, prompting the yellow, floppy-eared dog to kneel in front of Polly and gently tilt her head upward slightly, careful not to overstrain her in her present position, her slightly elevated position, perched on the cushion beneath her knees making it possible in the first place.

"Hush, cutie," said the cute-faced canid with a wink as he teased his pointed pink cockhead against Polly's resisting lips. "Don't you fret none: we want you to enjoy this as much as we do."

Though she squeezed her lips together, shaking her head as she looked up at Hans with a pouty expression, like a little girl refusing to eat her vegetables, Polly couldn't resist for long as the yellow dog gently stroked her neck and cheeks, holding his cock firmly in the other hand, stroking it to keep it nice and hard, while milking out thick droplets of precum right onto the helpless little lamb's lips. At first she instinctively flicked out her small pink tongue to clean her lips of the dribbling dogjism. Then she started to lick it more eagerly - it tasted good! Much better than she'd thought it possibly could! And then, with Hans' steady, gentle coaxing, Polly slowly, tentatively opened her mouth wide with a cute, half-bleating 'aaah' sound, which was quite abruptly cut off when Hans popped his cock into the darling lamb's mouth. Looking up at the cute-faced male with her wide, adorable blue eyes, Polly meekly closed her lips around his warm, throbbing, heavily-leaking shaft, and started to bob her head as much as her present position allowed, though Hans had to do most of the thrusting himself, petting her fleecy head with one hand as he ravished her pretty face.

"Such a good girl," he praised her, and Polly couldn't help but feel a strange warm glow in her belly at the words.

"And now you, Davios," said Talia, and for a moment Polly was puzzled...until her eyes widened as she felt Samson shift slightly to the side, a moment before she felt the steel-grey wolf's thick cockhead pressing against her already thoroughly-stretched cunny. Surely they couldn't mean to...

They did.

"Mmm!" bleated Polly around the plump penis filling her pretty little mouth as Davios' glans somehow found purchase against her tightly-stretched cunny lips, and then started to squeeze alongside the immense horsecock filling her up. "Mm mmph mmm MMMMM!"

All the males surrounding her, gang-banging her, suddenly grunted, deep and harsh and guttural, even the ever-stoic Xotl, as the sweet little lamb they were thoroughly stuffing from all sides started to clench down on them, hard and fast. She was cumming! Just when she thought she was going to burst, instead, her whole body came alive, an electric sensation coursing through her, making her feel more alive than she ever had in her life as the wolf's proud shaft sank slowly into her right alongside the thrusting stallion's member.

It didn't end there, though. Just when Polly thought she might be able to get control of her body, to somehow calm herself down before she...she didn't know, burst into flames, or something, suddenly Hans thrust forward until his balls bounced against the lamb's chin, making her lose her ability to breathe for a moment as he held himself there just long enough for Polly to start to get desperate, her dainty little hooves kicking in the air as she began making cute, pleading noises around the thick male meat plugging her throat, until he pulled back, letting her draw in a few gasping breaths, before he thrust forward once more. The rush of adrenaline from this sudden abuse left Polly feeling tingly all over, hypersensitive, which just left her vulnerable when Xotl started to hump_her, thrusting straight down into her well-stretched tushie, making her bottom bounce with each slap of his hips against her trim buns, while Polly's eyes strayed to the jaguar's own trim, hot bottom, clearly visible, along with her own anal violation, in one of the nearby mirrors. This, of course, led Polly's eyes naturally downward, to the gorgeous, firm bottoms of Samson and Davios as the stallion and the wolf thrust forward and back in tandem, one pulling back as the other surged forward, faster now, more roughly than before as the little lambkin felt herself stretching enough to take them both...even though she felt _so very full.

It was when Davios' skilled fingers slipped around the curve of Polly's hip, finding her clitoris and starting to stroke it, that the chain reaction happened. With a loud bleat! of startled pleasure, Polly clenched her lips down firmly on Hans' shaft, her tongue arching upward slightly just beneath his tip, and quite suddenly the yellow dog gave a bark of his own peaked pleasure, before Polly's eyes widened as her muzzle was immediately filled with the dog's hot, strangely tasty cum. Gulping down the savory semen as quickly as she could, her present position making it hard for her to do anything else, Polly's heavy-lidded eyes strayed to the mirror showing Xotl's face as the jaguar snarled, his lips spreading wide in a feral, savage expression, before Polly gave a squeal as she felt her taut tailhole suddenly filling up with thick, copious catcum. An instant later, Davios' lips curled back as well in an expression at once similar and very, very different from Xotl's, and he was joined an instant after that by Samson, whose lips peeled back from his broad, flat, and very white equine teeth as he gave a loud_whinny_ of orgasm. Her ears filling with the bestial sounds of primal orgasm, even as her quim and butt and tummy filled up with hot malecream, Polly's whole body trembled uncontrollably as she came and came and came, until it seemed there was nothing left in her world except for sweet pleasure, more than mortals could endure.

Suddenly, grunting deeply once more in a primal sort of chorus, the males all around Polly pulled back, their cocks popping free from her well-used little holes, final spurts of cum splashing on and across her face and tushie and inner thighs, even as her tailhole and cunny leaked copious dollops of thick, potent wolf-and-stallion cum. Utterly used, and utterly spent, Polly just lay there, her cheek resting on the floor breathing hard, her eyes almost closed as she basked in the sweet sensation of afterglow. Gentle hands were on her, stroking her, squeezing her affectionately, gently stroking her like she was some treasured pet. Actually, the image of her as a pet, complete with leash and collar, pleased Polly in those moments before her inhibitions could come back up once more, leaving her feeling warm and happy all over. Then the hands were lifting her, setting her gently on the softest bed she'd ever felt, and Polly soon stretched out as the deft hands of Captain Redcoat untied her from her bonds.

"Such a good little lambkin," cooed Talia sweetly in Polly's ear, making the lamb feel warm all over as those gentle hands rubbed her, soothing her into blissful sleep. "And when you wake up, I know there won't be any more fighting left in you. You'll be a good little slave-pet, won't you, dear Polly?"

Polly could only nod sleepily, before her eyes closed completely, and she let her grip on the world fade at last.

**

The debris of soap, tepid water and a number of cloths that had been used to clean the pubescent lamb had already been removed, and Amber finished the final touches that Captain Talia Redcoat had instructed her little cross-dressing cabin boy to finish before she returned to the cabin. It sent a small thrill through the red panda as she snapped the collar around Polly's dainty neck, the rest of the newest 'crew member's' attire having been put on by the boy-turned-girl herself.

Despite Amber shucking the previous life that had found him named Tully and eking out a life...of sorts, as a street thief, the red panda had embraced her new role as the Captain's play thing and occasional entertainment for the crew. Though here were times that old longings and desires came to the fore, and the slave girl recalled when she used to be he. With the reemergence of those half recalled times, Amber felt the tingling of the burgeoning erection beneath the silken skirt she wore.

Her tongue flicking out to wet thin lips that were suddenly dry feeling, Amber began to pant as lust caused her loins to ache. Her eyes narrowing with budding desire, she slipped a black furred paw under the very abbreviated cloth wrapped around Polly's hips, the clumsy caress of the lamb's thick, snowy looking labia causing the cabin girl's mouth to water. It had been difficult to clean the sheepfemme without becoming aroused, but then the work had taken all of Amber's attention. Now, though, it was a different story.

Looking about furtively, Amber rolled the sheepkin while parting her legs, the stark contrast between Polly's soft, white wool and her own dark furred paw was enticing, especially as it moved higher up the girl's thigh. Panting even harder, Amber exposed the lamb, her flesh still blushed deeply from the gangbang that she'd gone through. Polly only stirred a little as Amber began to massage the plump labia that now had a clean scent since she was bathed. Almost of its own volition, Amber's other paw had pushed aside her own skirt and was happily stroking the shaft of eager, erect cock.

Climbing on top of the lamb, Amber kissed the unresponsive lips, adjusting her position so that her head was pressed into the warm bit of cunny, a shiver running through the red panda's body. It was with a start that Amber realized that the last actual bit of tail he'd had was the mink, Cika. Recalling just how easy it had been to get into her britches, made Amber smile maliciously. Recalling how the troublesome little bitch of a mink had cost him his position on Windspray's crew caused the smile to falter.

Looking down at the lambkin, Amber blinked when he didn't see Polly, but Cika. She felt rage fill her that was just as powerful as the lust that boiled within her loins and wanted to savage and violate and hurt her. With lips pulling back from her teeth, Amber tensed to make the initial penetration a painful, violent act.

Instead of the snarl of anger that had been building in her throat, Amber cried out in pain as it felt as if a hot iron had been laid across the cheeks of her ass. Leaping up with a start, her heart hammering in her chest and making her wrap feel tight, Amber spun just in time for Captain Redcoat's paw to take him by the throat, her claw tips pressing into the flesh beneath the fur as her fingers tightened against her windpipe.

"What do you think you're doing, Amber?" the fox inquired, her time onboard telling Amber that this was the sign of Talia Redcoat being at her most dangerous.

The vibrant red eyes had also darkened to something that was more in line with the color of cooling blood that had been spilled. Amber tried to answer but was only able to manage a subdued squeak followed by a loud swallow.

"I didn't tolerate what happened to you with Tam," the vixen whispered venomously. "What makes you think I will tolerate you doing the very same? Do you think being a kept pet protects you?"

Amber flinched when Talia Redcoat's eyes narrowed even further.

"You were about to take something that does not...belong...to...you," the vixen growled, her face drawing even closer as her teeth were exposed. "I do not allow my property to be stolen. Not by you or anyone else!"

Still unable to speak, Amber had no choice but to follow as she was dragged by the vixen to a padded bench where Captain Redcoat held her while the parrotfemme, Blue, fastened the bindings that Amber knew there was no escape from. Trussed front side down, the red panda could only weep silently as she knew what was coming next, especially as Blue began to peel away her shirt and breast wrap. When she heard the key turn in the lock of Talia's special cabinet, Amber bit her lower lip to keep the sob from escaping her throat, her effort in vain and making her sound even more piteous.

"What...what's going on?" Polly asked as she finally opened her eyes, still not strong enough to do more than turn her head at the goings on in the cabin.

"Ah, sweet Polly," Talia crooned warmly, her voice completely devoid of the anger within her as she stripped off all of her clothing save her boots. "You're just in time to witness a very important lesson."

"Le-lesson?"

"Oh, yes. A very important one," the vixen said as she pulled a flog out of the cabinet with precisely braided leather strands and small weights at the ends, swishing it experimentally while Amber sobbed again.

As Talia was speaking to the lamb, Blue moved forward with a ball gag, holding it before the red panda, both knowing that it would be futile to resist. Opening her mouth, Amber felt the tugs as the gag was situated behind her fangs and the straps tightened. When Blue backed up, it was hard for Amber to miss the way the soft parts of her beak curled up in a smirk, or the anticipatory gleam in the birdfemme's eyes.

Squeezing her eyes shut, more tears leaking into the fur beneath her deep brown eyes, Amber swallowed hard as she heard the flog again swish through the air.

-

"A great deal of actual skyboarding is how you move your body," Slim said as he helped Cika stand on the board, her paws firmly holding the lines that would help control the folding wings. "These get you in the right direction, but moving your body a little this way and that really makes everything work.

"And never forget to pay attention to the clouds or the feel of the air. That will be the best tell if the wind will suddenly change on you, or even just stop altogether. It's more than seeing, though. You gotta feel it, too. Relax and just let her guide you!"

The minkling had just taken her first skyboard ride, and it had been incredible! All of her fears about more skysharks had vanished as soon as she and the otter had gone over the rail and she wanted to learn more. Was this how WIndspray felt when she flew?

"I still have a lot to learn," the weaselkin said as Slim helped her out of the ropes that worked like a harness, keeping her and the board together even if there was a mishap.

The admission was one that was very grown up, and it wasn't lost on those within earshot, especially Kanda Har who was working on keeping the lines for the sails tight with Holly and Tuck.

"Not so much," the otter replied distractedly. "Once you get the basics, the rest is learning how you and the board fit together and what the two of you can and can't do."

Cika looked up at Slim's change of tone and looked where he was gazing, seeing the object of his attention was Windspray, the albatrossfemme leaning over the rail and looking at the far off skies. With the sigh the otter let go with it was easy for Cika to determine the reason for his distraction.

"She does like you," the mink said softly. "As in like likes."

"Really?" the otter asked, his face brightening before the elation fell. "Then...well, how come she doesn't talk to me?"

The weaselking smiled. "She...she's never been with a man before. When she was back with her people, a lot of them made fun of her or ignored her. She's never been told how pretty she is, or had anyone interested in her for her, you know? Sure, she's had some that wanted to bed her, but not be with her because she's Windspray...if that makes any sense," Cika said with a frown, not sure if she was conveying what she wanted to say clearly.

"But...but she's beautiful!" Slim whispered, his voice tinged with awe. "Why, if I were an albatross like her, we'd never stop flying together!" The otter's tail fell to the deck with a thud as his shoulders fell. "But I'm not," he said dejectedly.

"Wow. You've got it bad," the little mustildae whispered.

"What? I...she..." Slim almost seemed to deflate. "Yeah...I guess I do," he admitted, turning back to coiling the lines for the board and fastening the wings before putting the whole contraption against the mainmast. "What am I going to do, Cika?"

The minkette developed a rather mischievous twinkle to her dark, sparkling eyes. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do. What kind of question is that?" Slim inquired, pulling back from the little femme in surprise that she would ask such a thing. "Why? What do you have in mind?"

Cika giggled. "Well, tonight's a full moon. Windspray always enjoys a flight in the full moon! I told her I'd take watch already. When she goes for her flight, I can let you know! I...I've seen how you two are when you fly! You don't need words when the two of you are soaring through the air! You just be ready and I'll take care of the rest!"

Before Slim could say anything, the mink bounced up the rung of stairs to the upper deck and began talking to Windspray.

-

Windspray looked out over the silvery accented clouds, the clear sky twinkling with a handful of stars that weren't blotted out by the brilliant full moon and sighed, her heart feeling a bit lighter with all of the other worries that had been churning inside her vanishing in the cool night air. Stretching out her wings, feeling a slight shiver of anticipation roll through her, the birdfemme just leaned over the rail, letting gravity take her for several moments before snapping her arm like wings open. Minute changes to the angle of her large primary feathers took the lift that had formed and used it to change her plummet into a speedy climb, coming out from the shadow of the sloop into a beam of pure, unblemished moon light.

Her legs stretched straight beneath her, one cocked up and bent slightly, Windspray held her arm wings out as far as they would reach, bathing in the glow that suffused her, looking like some angelic being from a religious tome with the way her feathers glowed. When her arc reached its terminus and she stalled, the albatross simply twisted and turned the descent into a long graceful glide.

A slight change in the feel of the air immediately pulled her attention away from the moment, thoughts of the skyshark suddenly intruding on her moment of peace and she looked around, her eyes settling on the skyboarding otter that was close enough for her to touch if she wanted to. It was a bit of a surprise, but Windspray was able to regain her composure and heard his words over the rush of air that embraced them both.

"I have always loved flying," Slim told her his eyes sparkling in the moonlight that cast him half in shadow, "but flying with you is like heaven itself!"

It was the look in his eyes, though, that caused Windspray to falter slightly, her speed decreasing minimally. He was looking at her the same way that Kanda Har looked at his mink. It wasn't lewd, or possessive; she knew what those looked like. It was tender and kind and it made her heart thud heavily in her breast.

Cika had talked to her earlier that day, finding out that the birdfemme was worried about being with a male, that what they did was alright, but the thought of a male being inside of her was...frightening. Instead of laughing at her, the mink had taken her hands and talked honestly.

"It can be scary at first," the weaselkin agreed. "You're letting all of your defenses down and allowing someone get so close. But it can be wonderful, too. To know that it's a special way to hold someone that matters...to let something happen that makes both of you feel so wonderful! I like being with you and the others because I can show you just how special all of you are to me, that I love you all so much I want to try and make you feel what I feel in here," she said and touched herself over her heart. "I can't think of showing someone else that they matter than to do that."

"But I never thought that I could do that with another," Windspray whispered. "I'm so plain and no one has ever really looked at me..."

Cika had taken the other femme's face in her hands. "I look at you that way, but Slim almost worships you! He sees you the same way the rest of s do! You're beautiful, Windspray! You're so very beautiful! And Slim even told me that he wished he was an albatross just so the two of you could always fly together."

"He...he said that?"

"I swear on my heart and love for Kanda Har he did!" the mink proclaimed. "He has feelings for you, but he doesn't think that someone like you could ever care about someone like him."

"I'm nothing special," Windspray countered.

"Yes. You are," Cika disagreed gently, giving her friend a gentle kiss. "You are very special, and he knows it too."

Now here she was, soaring through the evening air with the otter. The fear of letting a male so close was still there, but it was rapidly being surpassed with the sheer joy of flying with Slim. Emboldened, the albatrossfemme drifted over both otter and skyboard before settling behind him, her feathered arms slipping about his waist as her beak rested on his shoulder, the warmth that radiated from his body suffusing her and causing a blush to run from her throat to her tummy.

"Show me how you fly," Windspray whispered into the otter's ear before snuggling closer against his back.

*

Even as fast as the Lover's Star was purported to be, according to her very personal inside source, Talia knew that the Blood Raven was faster still. Though she hadn't liked the communication much, she'd conversed with Frere Vermis not long after extracting what information she wanted from her new little lambslave. After that conversation, the details of which still somehow escaped the pirate captain's normally rapier-sharp mind, she had set in a course, and then set Dawson to work at the tiller, with the rat brothers Rogan and Tosh ready to take shifts in their turn. Then, after many hours had passed and the sun was just starting to set on the horizon, with her duties performed and the ship well underway, Captain Talia Redcoat opened the door to her cabin and quietly shut it against the various minor disturbances of the outside world.

It was at this time that Polly came, groggily, to herself. At first the fog of sleep clung heavily to her brain, the exertions of earlier that day having drained her quite thoroughly. Then she felt the slow sway of the ship around her, and suddenly her eyes snapped open with a sharp cry of realization, all the memories of what had happened before flooding back in with a rush of emotion. She'd been taken prisoner by pirates! She'd been raped by pirates! And now the ship on which she was being held captive was most assuredly on the move, her home in Stormhaven surely leagues away now. Would she ever see home again?

In a rush, quite unbidden, Polly's mind flashed back to some of the atrocities perpetrated against the comely heroines in the little books she'd occasionally bought from passing traders. She knew she shouldn't read such things, knew she shouldn't even think about such things, and yet it had always been a weakness of hers, a low-level obsession on which she'd spent those little tidbits of money she'd accumulated from tips while working at the harbormaster's office, starting back almost two years ago when she'd received one as her first "tip" from a too-friendly skysailor. The story of that first bad book replayed on the stage of her mind in perfect clarity, making the still-dazed teen whimper softly as she saw in her mind's eye the foolish, spoiled young heiress with her many foppish suitors, keeping them all at arm's length, and yet teasing them mercilessly with dresses cut far too low. The preface of the book hinted that the tale within was to caution young ladies, but the events that followed were hardly cautionary, as the foolish, flirty young noblewoman went riding close to the beach at the edge of her skyisland, many suitors in attendance, only to be set upon by a band of lusty pirates, all of them unwashed, raw-boned, strong and virile rats who'd been at sea for months without even a hint of girlflesh to keep them company. After they'd made quick work of the powder-headed noble scions who'd been courting her, the pirates then seized their helpless prey, and set themselves to the pleasant task of stripping the foolish noble mousegirl naked, before drawing lots to see who'd be the one to claim her virginity.

A memory of the woodcut in the middle of the book came quickly to Polly, where the largest and most wicked and foul-smelling of the uncouth criminal rats had just plunged his immense member into the heroine's pristine quim, the wail of violation clearly visible on the elaborately-coifed mousegirl's face, while not far off the other rats laughed and drank around a campfire as they watched the show, their ragged-sailed ship in the background. The artist who'd done the woodcut print had a certain simple but effective skill to his art, such that the drawing reached out to Polly, burning itself deeply into her innocent mind.

Now, though, the fantasy depicted in that first book had become Polly's reality, and she felt a shudder deep in her belly that finally helped her shake off the last dregs of pleasure-riven sleep. Those pirates had made a point of sharing their captive among all of them, as though she were just another sort of booty, until her belly had grown full and swollen with the child of the cruel rodents that had taken her their prisoner, and finally ended the tale with the girl humbling herself, and finally winning the heart of the pirate captain, a tall and especially strong breed of mouse rather than a rat, before convincing him to retire from a life of piracy to live out his days with her, their lives one of pleasant relaxation thanks to the ill-gotten gains he'd accumulated as a pirate. This was reality, however, and while Polly doubted the truth of the happy ending of that story, she didn't doubt for a moment (especially not after her last encounter with the pirates!) that the part about pirates sharing their captive women among themselves was anything but the absolute truth. After all, she'd already had a taste of such treatment, and didn't doubt that more of it awaited her in the too-near future.

It was as Polly tried to rise from the soft bed where she lay that she discovered that she could move neither her arms nor her legs. Her eyes wide in growing trepidation, she looked around her, only now catching sight of the soft ropes that now lined the perimeter of the bed, tied between each of the four posts like guidelines. This actually wasn't far from what they actually were, for as Polly looked closer, and then up to her wrists, spread-eagled away from her body and tied to the square of rope surrounding her at the sides. With the way the ropes were arranged, Polly could move her arms directly above her head, and very nearly all the way down to a right angle to her body, but that was the extent of movement allowed to her. The lamb's legs were even more restricted, her calves still bound to her thighs, while her thighs were now similarly bound to the side ropes, keeping them splayed widely apart as she lay there on her back. She wasn't tied nearly as tightly as she'd been before, which was why she hadn't noticed the bindings before that moment, besides the dimness of the room, so her present position wasn't really uncomfortable. But it was so very exposed, and Polly couldn't restrain a soft whimper as she felt a light breeze from the door, somewhere off in the dimly-lit room, brush teasingly across her exposed little sex and tiny tailhole, where her soft wooly fleece didn't cover her.

An answering whimper in the darkness drew Polly's attention as she turned her head, gasping softly as she saw someone dangling not far off, just as she'd been dangling from her wrists, bound to the ceiling when she'd first awoken on the ship many hours past. It was a red panda girl! The poor thing looked as tired as Polly knew she'd been after the thorough deflowering and ravishing she'd received far too short a time ago. Half-turned away from the teenaged lamb's eyes, Polly couldn't restrain the wince of sympathy that came as she saw the rather thick metal cylinder thrust deep within the poor pandagirl's firmly-rounded bottom, a wince that turned into a gasp of horror as she realized the cylinder was ticking - a clockwork device of some sort! It seemed to be shuddering and shivering almost as much as it was making the poor dangling girl do the same, the ticking clockwork within causing the device to move inside its helpless victim. Then, just as the red panda's hips started to buck, obviously, even to Polly's inexperienced eyes, about to reach a forced climax, the ticking lessened in noise, and presumably the shuddering of the device lessened similarly, leaving the squirming captive right on the edge of release, and yet not quite able to attain it.

Then both Polly's and the red panda's heads snapped to the side at the sound of the cabin door opening. There was no restraining the whimper both captives gave as they saw who it was: Captain Talia Redcoat. The tall vixen was slender and well-shaped, like the rapier she wore on her hip, and which she now slid off along with her weapon belt. As the two watched, their attention rapt on the beauteous pirate leader, Talia slowly shed her outer coat, and then the green vest beneath, before kicking off her boots, leaving her in her trousers, white blouse, and her large, feathered hat. The hat, as it turned out, was the only thing that stayed in place as the vixen mmm'ed in eagerness, pursing her lips as she bent forward, wriggling her tight leather breeches down over her firmly-muscled yet still-feminine rump, hiking her tail high as she did so, surely scandalizing whoever might have glanced that way through the still-open cabin door. Then, kicking the door shut with a careless backward shove of her foot, Talia parted the buttons on her blouse, and let it slide from her shoulders, laying her plump handfuls of breasts bare to the eyes of her two helpless captives.

Now clad in nothing but her hat and hip-high black leather boots, the proud vixen strode forward, her red eyes raking the helpless girls before her, a lecherous smile on her beautiful foxy face. Polly met those eyes for only a moment before she turned away with a fearful whimper, knowing that she would surely be ravished still further. No amount of begging or pleading for mercy would save her, of that Polly was certain. What was also certain, however, was that Polly would indeed plead for mercy in the too-near future.

"You're very talkative, you know," cooed Talia, glancing at Polly coyly as she gently stroked the red panda's bottom, exposing the lash lines running through the fur of the helpless dangling captive where she'd surely been whipped in the not-distant past, then ran her fingers through the poor girl's long, prehensile tail, making the poor thing moan softly, desperately through the gag in her mouth. "You probably don't remember it, though: you were pretty out of it after the first bit of fun we had with you. All the same, it took Blue all of two minutes to get you talking again - that naughty parrot simply loves licking the mess out of the girls she's bathing."

The snowy white lamb's eyes widened: had she truly given up the secrets of her father's office so easily? The creak of a ship in fast pursuit all around her gave her an unimpeachable answer to the question without her having to say a thing. Instead, she simply whimpered softly, closing her blue eyes in the desperate, doomed hope that it would simply all go away if she wished hard enough for it.

"You're lucky, little miss Polly," continued Talia, her voice forcing the teenaged lamb to open her eyes to look, so commanding was the vixen's natural presence. "Amber here very nearly did terrible things to you while you were...indisposed." So saying, she tapped the dangling pandagirl's hip, making her swing slightly...and making Polly gasp as she saw, with a flush to her cheeks, that the red panda was, in fact, not a girl at all! "I saw the look you gave my other pet, my dear. Believe me, you shouldn't feel sorry for her: she is getting exactly what she deserves." Talia stroked her fingertips through the helpless faux-girl's chestfur, making the gagged boy moan even more loudly. "Perhaps I'll show dear Amber mercy...in a couple hours."

Chuckling wickedly, the vixen pirate strutted toward the bed where Polly lay captive, her manner confident and captivating, the sway of her hips enhanced to mesmerizing levels by the equally-alluring sway of her tail. Despite herself, and despite her belief that she'd never had an interest in females "that way," Polly found she couldn't look away from Talia's full, beautiful breasts with their bright red nipples standing out like holly berries in the snow. So captivated by the vixen's beauty was Polly, that she only realized with a start how close the other femme was to her when Talia bent, and pressed her lips against the lamb's!

"Mmm," sighed Talia happily as she broke the kiss, licking her lips as she withdrew her tongue from the younger girl's mouth, Polly's cheeks - her entire face, actually - had turned a bright red after the astonishing skill of the vixen's kiss. "You taste so sweet, my dear, lovely Polly. And I simply can't wait to hear you bleat again."

"Oh no," whimpered the poor, helpless little lambkin as she watched Talia's fine, toned bottom, even as the vixen turned and bent and opened a seachest near the bed, pulling out two phallic-shaped devices. "Please, I...I told you what you wanted, didn't I? Please, why can't you just let me go? I promise I'll never tell anyone about what happened."

"I know you wouldn't, my dear Polly," Talia said soothingly as she turned and approached the bed, letting Polly see clearly that one of the two objects was a shining silver bullet-shaped device, which she somehow sensed as much as saw was like the one thrust firmly into the rump of the dangling effeminate boy not far off. Setting the other object on a nearby table, Talia began to carefully coat the surface of the thick clockwork bullet with a liberal dose of water-based lubricant from a metal can next to the bed. "It would surely ruin your reputation, I know, to say nothing of your chances at a respectable husband. But, really, why in the world would I ever let you go?" The vixen grinned wickedly at Polly, making the lambkin shiver in fear and arousal in equal measures as the femme fox leaned over the helplessly bound teen. "You're just so much fun to play with, my lovely little lambkin."

"No!" wailed Polly as she saw and felt Talia teasing the slightly cool metal dildo down her inner thigh, trying desperately - and all in vain! - to close her legs, to somehow resist what she knew was surely about to happen. But for all their softness, the ropes holding her fast were strong and well-tied; Polly never had a chance. "Nooooooo! Baaaaaah!"

Talia shivered in rapidly-rising arousal as she heard the little lamb's desperate bleat, even as she smoothly squeezed the oil-slick vibrator into Polly's pale tailhole, stretching it nice and wide. The poor violated cutie bucked and squirmed on the bed at the rude violation, making a host of cute noises which only increased in volume and frequency when the naughty vixen finished winding up and then turned on the vibrator. It would last for hours at a full winding, and, because she felt merciful, Talia was using a clockwork vibrator that wouldn't cut off in waves like the one presently punishing Amber. Little Polly deserved some breaks, after all.

As she started to adjust to the new intruder in her snug backside, Polly looked over the ropes encircling her, watching as Talia picked up the other object, which looked rather like a dildo with two ends to it, and straps in the middle, only barely restraining the cute little noises of forced arousal that the vibrator was coaxing out of her, most of the time. Polly's eyes widened as she saw Talia bite her lower lip upon stepping into the straps, one at a time, and then pressing one sizable side of the significant blunt object to her juicy wet cunny. Biting her lower lip to stifle her own rather loud whimper, Talia slowly sank the back half of the dildo into her body, panting hard as she tightened the straps around her waist, her cheeks flushed as she turned and crawled onto the bed between Polly's wide-splayed legs, the other end of the dildo standing at proud erection. It looked almost exactly as though the vixen had grown a penis in place of her now-covered vagina! And Polly knew exactly where the other end of that immense length was destined...

"Oh please," whimpered the helpless girl, struggling in vain against the ropes holding her bound to the bed. "Please Captain - please!"

"Please what my lovely?" asked Talia with feigned casualness as she lovingly stroked copious quantities of lubricant up and down the length of the cock jutting out from her hips, her lips parted as she panted, her eyes heavy-lidded at the pleasure that it gave her, the tiny magnetic studs along its length making her whole body tingle - and that was nothing compared to the feeling that came when she actually put it inside of someone else! "Please ravish you again? Please make you bleat like a wanton harlot? Please blow your mind with raw pleasure?" Talia's smile was at once wicked and tenderly loving. "Of course, my lovely - I'd be happy to."

"No," whined Polly as Talia climbed over her, covering her, her tiny pink nipples rubbing against the larger breasts and longer nipples of the vixen as Talia lowered herself over the helpless little lamb. "Oh no...oh!"

This last exclamation came as the very tip of the metal-studded dildo touched Polly's pussy, the lamb's slickness wetting the bulbous cap, setting off a host of powerful tingling vibrations through both femmes as the electromagnets did their work. Polly's cry became a long, drawn-out moan as Talia grunted_almost like a male, panting hard as she sank inch after girthy, heavenly inch of the powerful metal-studded cock into the helpless little cutie's cunny. Then, with a high-pitched _bark, the vixen's hips squeezed firmly against the short-fleeced inner thighs of the sweetly bleating lambkin.

"Don't worry, my lovely," cooed Talia into Polly's ear as her hips started to move in long, slow strokes that gradually began to build up speed. "I promise you it will only get better."

"BAAAAAAH!" answered Polly, her hips arching up to meet Talia's thrusts as the first of many orgasms overwhelmed her senses once more.

-

It was amazing how short a distance separated civilization from the wild open skies. Cika stood on the deck of the Lover's Star, her eyes watching the graceful swooping back and forth of Windspray and Slim. All it had taken was for them to set their heading just right, where nobody ever went, and just sail for a full day and into the night, and they were far from anyone who might see or judge the two flying figures, skyclad and free. Though she knew it wasn't right, Cika couldn't restrain the minor feelings of envy that sparked through her as she watched Slim wheel and spin beneath Windspray, ever-so-lightly brushing her snowy underbelly with the tips of the wooden wings of his skyboard. Windspray tucked and wheeled herself a moment later, doing the same to the lithe, lanky otter's naked back and firm rump and rudder tail. Each time they flew past each other, Cika saw the flight growing steadily closer together, and could feel the steadily rising passion of the two skyflown lovers. It was an achingly beautiful aerial dance, something Cika had never seen before, something special and private, and yet also something to which she was now allowed to bear witness with rapt, awed eyes.

With the brilliant light of the moons above throwing everything into gleaming silver contrast, Cika could clearly see Slim turn himself around on the skyboard, lying flat on his back as he positioned himself facing up, his beautiful, upward-arching penis clearly visible to Cika's keen eyes, as was the single shining droplet of precum at its tip. Windspray wavered slightly, her concentration slightly faltering as she positioned herself over the beautiful male, the one she'd chosen to be her first. With a soft shudder, she left herself drop downward, even as Slim arched his hips upward, his arms following suit, pulling the skyboard toward Windspray at the same time she lost altitude. Their bodies met suddenly, smoothly, and Cika_gasped_ softly in arousal as Windspray's cry of sudden orgasm came to the young mink's ears: that was all it had taken for the white-feathered angelbird to reach her climax, so aroused had she been at the intricate aerial foreplay.

The two lovers turned and twisted and gyrated in the air, making love to the wind as much as to each other. Sometimes Slim was on top, and sometimes Windspray, even as their legs kicked behind them, their bodies entwined, wings outstretched, forcing them to rely solely on the strength of their thrusting hips to drive their mating flight. Then, with a soft cry of his own in his sweet voice, Slim buried his face in Windspray's shoulder feathers, his whole body tensing up for a moment before Cika's eyes, before the beautiful bird-girl's wings folded around them both, and they dropped down into the dark abyss and out of sight.

Moments later the two conjoined lovers rose once more, wings outstretched again. At least, Slim's skyboard's wings were outstretched. Windspray was resting on top of him, obviously breathing heavily, her beautiful dark eyes closed, letting him do the work of keeping them both aloft while she basked in her sweet afterglow, cuddling close to the beautiful male she'd chosen as her first, the one to show her just how beautiful she really was as well.

It was then that Cika's eyes drifted slightly upward at something that caught the edge of her peripheral vision. A dark shape was visible there, along the edge of a distant cloud bank. Whatever it was, it must have lain hidden in the clouds of the night sky, essentially invisible until that moment when it emerged. Frowning, Cika searched around for a spyglass, finally finding one in a protective case hanging from the compass binnacle in easy sight of the wheel. When Cika lifted the glass for a closer look, several more dark-winged shapes had joined the first, making her heart thump within her chest.

Twisting the spyglass, Cika's eye widened in fear as she saw what the creatures were: they looked at first like winged stags, with branched horns and great bat wings and talons like one of the dragons of myth. Twisting the tube of the glass a little more, Cika gasped in horror as she saw the oversized mouths of the creatures, complete with protruding fangs, turning the normally-expected docile, herbivorous appearance of a deer into something hideous. Their eyes gleamed red in the moonlight, and the swift-flying monsters closed quickly on the two lovers. Even before she screamed out, Cika knew it would be too late.

The first of the bat-winged monsters slapped into the side of the skyboard, flipping it onto its side, followed immediately afterward by a second, which tore the straps on the back of the board, the essential ones that kept Slim firmly in place. With a cry, Windspray and Slim fell from the skyboard, before Windspray clutched herself close to the otter, her cry for him to hold onto her audible even at that distance to Cika on the deck, even as the sleek little mink raced for the stairs to the hold, screaming at the top of her lungs for the others.

Kanda Har was the first on deck, his mechanical eye whirring loudly as he focused on the dark-winged shapes even now heading off into the distance, two struggling captives held firmly in their clutches. His expression was grim as he went to the wheel, and turned it toward the receding monsters.

"Perytons," he said in a voice full of portent as the others came onto the deck. "They've got Slim and Windspray," he explained to everyone else, even as he rested his good hand on Cika's shoulder, pulling her close against his broad body, letting her bury her face against his side, using his sheer size as an emotional shield against the fears that sprang up inside of her. "For those of you that don't know, they're monsters of the uncharted skies. Captain Craw said he'd seen them near the island where the treasure is buried, but then, Captain Craw said a lot of things - I never believed in perytons, until now." His grim face followed the bat-winged monsters as the ship slid smoothly into their tack and started pursuit. "They're supposed to be what happens to sailors who lose their souls. I've heard they eat the hearts of their captives, as a way of stealing the souls of others to temporarily fill in the gap inside of them."

"No," whimpered Candi fearfully, only to have Holly gently embrace the hippogirl. "Not Windspray and Slim!"

"They're real enough," said Cinnabar, moving to a nearby line to the sails and giving it a tug to aid the ship's flight speed. "I've read enough out of books to know that. Wherever they come from, however they're made, they're intelligent creatures, and utterly evil." His own face was as grim as Kanda Har's as he looked at the others. "I'm...a bit of a self-made expert on things supernatural, things that people say don't exist," he admitted a little sheepishly. "If what I've read is true about perytons, though, we might be able to save our friends. They can't properly feed on a victim unless they've performed proper rites, and that can take some time. There are accounts of skysailors that managed to save their crewmates by catching the perytons by surprise during these rites."

"Then," chimed in Tuck, pulling the bolt back on the clockrifle in his hand, "we'll do just that, and make sure they rue the day they ever tried to take our friends away from us."

Grimly, the entire crew of the _Lover's Star_set to work in the riggin, even Saber, setting all sails and the ether engine to full power to catch the perytons. They all only hoped they would not be too late.