Harpin’ on Harpies – 8
You spawn yourself an outfit. Tight black t-shirt and leather pants exposing your midriff. A navy overcoat with a ridiculous golden chain that only reaches down to your thighs. And a hat that seems to blend in with your pitch-black hair.
You could take the stairs like a civilized person…But fuck that.
You jump up, punching through four floors until you land on deck. There’s a lull in the battle as everyone momentarily looks at you.
“Rusty, I’m keeping my end of the deal!” Rusty’s pirates cheer, and the maroon harpy smiles.
You spawn a whip and begin grabbing flightless pirates fighting Rusty and throw them overboard. Punches clad in black flames eviscerate Claw’s pirates. Telekinetic bursts break bones and bowl over your enemies. The battle turns from a chaotic melee to one in your favor.
“Simon says…fly away!” You yell as you swing your whip with instinctual ease. “Get it? Because Simon from Castlevania uses a whip?” You ask a crying equint you’ve grabbed.
"Wh-what are you talking about you crazy bitch?!" He blubbers.
“Ah, whatever, you don’t get it.” You toss him overboard.
Does it count as killing if gravity does the job? You’re pretty sure you’re justified anyways, what with the pirates, rape, pillaging, and all. A harpy tries to take advantage of the pause in your fighting…
“Useless, useless, useless, USELESS USELESSSSS!!!”
A flurry of dark fire punches lands on him, and his broken body slams into another one of his compatriots. Jumping up, you land on both of them, crushing them. You send more energy in your whip as Claw’s pirates surround you, and it cuts neatly through them.
"Haha! Sick!"
The battle is winding down.
Until Saw runs out, battleaxes in hand! He roars out for all to hear and you lick your lips. You jump up and embrace him...with your legs. You use your voluptuous thighs to choke him into unconsciousness. You made sure your crotch was right under his muzzle. Apparently, he couldn’t work very well between trying to work his muscles, his tiny brain, and his shaft at the same time.
Why else would he faint after less than a minute without air? All that blood had to go somewhere, and the poor brute couldn't handle all the emotions. You let him go and stand up, looking over the carnage with six pairs of eyes. Because of the surprise attack and your intervention, Rusty lost only about three dozen of his men. Compared to the five hundred of Claw’s crew that were slaughtered, it was a fantastic victory. You now outnumber the ones hiding below deck.
You smirk at the irony of using pirates to recapture a ship captured by pirates. Turnabout is fair play. Your whip rolls up into your hand as you walk towards Rusty. You step over the corpse of who you recognize to be Claw.
“Quinn?”
“In the flesh.”
“I expected some sort of mage, not…whatever you are.” He’s realized what you want Saw for. Maybe you shouldn’t have been staring at the dick as you asphyxiated him.
“Does it really matter what I am, if you’re gaining something out of this?”
The lure of offering sex is strong, but you have to verify the safety of your children and the women first. You decide not to swing your body about sexily. Too sexily.
“No, I suppose not.” You offer him your hand.
“You take over this ship completely and you can have it, for a small task.” He grabs your hand.
“Seems like a deal.”
The clearing of the ship goes a lot easier than expected. All of the remaining crew either died or decided to switch sides. Which you guess is fair, considering pirates do what pirates gotta do. And Glasgow…
The fucker was smart enough to surrender without trying to talk his way out. So he was only a bit bruised as he sat the brig. He glowers at you and Rusty as you look at your prize.
“He’s probably going to offer you management and better ways to accumulate profit…He offered the same thing to Claw, and you saw how that ended.” Rusty nods.
“I should probably sell him into slavery, after I remove his gilded tongue.”
You open your mouth to protest but stop. Honestly, you don’t care. He's not your problem anymore.
“Let’s discuss payment and plans on the captain’s deck.”
The two of you navigate to the top and set up two chairs and a table by the wheel. His crew is already repairing damages and counting the booty. Not yours, unfortunately. There’s even more goods than you thought, but whatever. They’re being skittish around your demons(now clothed by you), who are acting as shields for the women. Not that they need to, there are women among Rusty's crew, several who seem like they're not there as fighters or sailors. You’ve provided the harpies with food and blankets, and they seem to be looking hopeful.
And now for negotiations.
“I’ll be honest, I want you to ferry these twenty women to a country where they can be safe. You don’t need to use this ship; you can use your old one.”
“I want to follow the deal, I really do, but if I do that I’ll only have control over one ship. There’s no guarantee that whoever’s left will remain loyal to me. And I’m not going into any ‘safe’ port. I’m wanted everywhere.”
This is tough. Seems like we’ll need a contract.
“Um, excuse me…”
Our heads both turned to one of the harpies. She steps forwards nervously. You recognize her. She’s the harpy that sat next to Valentine.
“I have nowhere to go. And even if the Empire was still around, I still would hesitate to go back. It was an uphill battle to get where I was, and I wasn’t even head cook on the ship. We were expected to rear children and nothing more. But down in the brig, when I had lost all hope, you, Lord Quinn, were there to shield us. You and your ilk protected us where nobody else could. I want to follow you, where ever you go.”
She bowed. Four more nervous women stepped forwards as well. They looked scared that the others would hate them, but only Grim looked away. A few more came up until seven of them stood side by side. Surprisingly, they weren’t the ones closest to your demons. You guess the conversations and stories really got them closer to you.
“Well, I suppose that does make transportation easier. If you’re okay to go where the others went, but it may be a bit crowded at first.”
If three imps give you two rooms, what does thirty-six demons end up with? You’ll have to find out when you get to land. You don’t want to fly all the way in some random direction, for hours on end, with nobody to fuck.
“We’re fine with the arrangement.”
You nod and motion for the demons to hold onto the harpies that want to go. Holding your hand to each of their heads, you send all of them, save Monday and Sunday, into a hell of your making.
“Monday, could you convince Saw to agree to go with you?”
Monday nods and walks over to the chained up Saw. She slips off those short black shorts you made for her and stuffs his face between her legs.
“You want some of this? Then come along.”
Saw rumbles in pleasure and rolls closer to her. You put your hand on her forehead and send her back.
“Remember to feed him.” You say right before she disappears. She nods once more, and is gone.
“Now for the rest of them, we’ll have to draw up a contract.”
“Ah, a magical contract? I’ve heard of very powerful mages and shamans using them to seal demons. Your kind must be very powerful to be so proficient in magical scripture.”
Holy shit, he doesn’t know. Even the harpy women are shifting uncomfortably, unwilling to tell him.
“You could say that. If you’re unwilling to trust your first mate, then we can make a three-way contract.”
“Perfect! Venture, get up here!” A beefy back minotaur strides up.
Impressive, but not Saw-level.
“What are the conditions of the contract?”
“There has to be equivalent exchange every part has to have done or will do something to fulfill the terms of the contract. So, to begin…” You magic up the contract paper. “In exchange for Quinn’ assistance in the capture of the royal vessel formally known as the Sword of Virtue, and her release of 99% of the cargo…”
You had to get the blankets and food from somewhere.
“Rusty’s first mate, Venture will escort the thirteen women that have been imprisoned in the brig of the Sword of Virtue to a safe country where they can rebuild their livelihoods, in a healthy condition. A healthy condition means that they are not injured, starved, raped, or otherwise harmed through preventable action of the crew and the first mate, Venture. Nor are they to be sold into indentured servitude or slavery. If any of the crew break this clause, they will pay for compensation.”
The pen wrote down the lawyer-speak and waited for the next part.
“Now, I’ve done something for Rusty, and Rusty, by ordering Venture, is doing something for me. And since Venture is doing this for me through you, you have to provide something for him. Set an acceptable condition Venture.”
Rusty is suspicious.
“Relax, sir. Since I’m babysitting, I want all of my usual cut while I’m away. At least like this, I’ll get paid even without fighting. For the crew I’m taking with me as well.” Rusty grimaces, but accepts.
“Venture and his crew will receive their usual cuts for the duration of the escort. No bonuses will be applied, and nothing can be detracted.” Venture nods and points to a few crew members and tells them to gather a hundred crew members.
A skeleton crew, but it should work if they’re going for speed and discipline. You hand him the pen after you and Rusty have signed, and he finalizes the contract. It pops out of existence.
The crew members start to gather on the other ship, and the women follow them onboard. Each of them passes you and thanks you, tears of happiness brimming in their eyes. The last to board is Grim. She’s facing away from you.
She’s a acquired a knife
Uh-oh.
“I’ve failed.”
Huh?
She’s still not looking at you.
“I thought demons were the root of all evil. The cornerstone all that is wrong with this world. After all, I’ve witnessed demons overrun my family’s home.”
Oh.
“I swore from then on, to protect the Empire and its people from the greatest evils of the world. I swore that I would slay any demon I saw. And yet I saw one sacrificing herself for us.”
“Well, not so much sacrificing. But I did have your best interests at heart.”
Grim takes a deep breath.
“You gave them hope where I could not. You gave them life and hope, when I was drowning in despair and prayed for death. In my pride, I did not see that my two vows contradicted each other. I failed to save the Empire, because I was away, hunting demons. I failed to save my crew, because I did not find unity in a common foe. And I failed my cellmates when I did not thank our savior. Seven of them even acknowledged this by joining what we had long believed to be our enemies. One even lays with one of yours.”
She unsheathes her dagger.
“I swore I would kill any demon I saw.”
And she stabs her own eyes.
But you stopped her. Telekinetic force is pushing the knife away from her face.
“You still have people to protect. You’ll need to watch over them.” You float the knife into her scabbard and Grim lowers her head.
She turns her head, and her eyes are closed.
“I see no demons here.” She turns to walk onto the ship, but you stop her.
“Wait.” You place your hand on her head.
“I bless you with strength. Not just physical strength, but the mental strength to do what is right, to see through the lies and find the truth, so that you can act on it.”
You feel the tingle as it coalesces into Grim and she gasps. She opens and closes her mouth a few times before she nods, her eyes still closed, and hops onto the ship. And they sail away. You keep watch until they’ve disappeared over the horizon. You and Sunday observe all the boxes on the deck. There’s got to be at least a thousand crates. Asking Rusty about it.
“Well, I guess you can take about nine more crates of supplies. What do you need?”
“Just water and food. Maybe a few books.” The harpies in hell are going to need them, after all. As for the books, there may be some time when you’ll need to entertain yourself through other means.
Ha.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Well, unless they were educational. Those could be useful, like for magic.
“Sure, go ahead. You can even take a water amulet, there’s a load of those.”
“A what?”
“You know, a water amulet? As long as you give it magic, it takes water from somewhere, like a purifier near a leyline, and it teleports it to you. Pretty much necessary for trips.”
Neat.
So one amulet, eight crates of food, and one crate of books.
“Take this back with you, Sunday.”
“Yes, Lady.” He touches the pile and you send him away.
Now…You can enjoy these pirates to yourself.
“Captain Rusty!”
Trouble?
“We’ve found an odd glyph in a room with a giant golden cross thing. It was hidden underneath the bed.”
The equint passes it over to Rusty, who observes the strange piece of metal. You’re a bit curious, so you spot the thing that looks like a three-dimensional sniper scope. Only three people could have left that in the Emperor’s quarters, and only two were smart enough to use glyphs. Neither of them are good possibilities.
“Throw that thing away, it’s dangerous.” Rusty nods.
“Glyphs we have no idea what can do are a liability.” He tosses it in the ocean. “Looked like a tracking glyph anyways, but more complicated.”
You let out a sigh of relief. That’s one plot point you do not want to deal with.
“Captain, the balls-less prisoner escaped!”
Fuck!
You check soulsight and find him making his way…He’s in the emperor’s quarters. Doing something.
“I’ll go take care of him, he’s in the ankh room.”
You rush down the stairs, his motionless soul bringing more fear than him escaping ever could. You slam open the door and see him chiseling… The ankh. He starts chiseling faster and you rush over to him.
He makes
One.
Last.
Strike.
…
The prana of the room has changed. It seems like the ankh is no longer emitting but… Absorbing.
“Hahaha! I’m not going to become a slave ever again! I choose my fate, and I choose to go out, but not alone!” He screams and points at you. “You’re dying with me, bitch. This thing is going to go critical very soo—AAAAAAAAURGH”
He screams, his feathers and skin pulled into the darkening ankh. And when the ankh turned black, he was completely absorbed, along with everything else in around it. It starts floating slowly downwards, the only thing keeping it from cleaving a straight hole in the ship was inertia and weird levitation. You try to telekinetically grab it, but even your magic is absorbed.
Shit, shit, SHIT!
You need this ship to get you to land! And get in a sexy pirate orgy. You’re struck with an idea. If the ankh is a symbol of life and purity, does the thought process involving magic have to be similar?
You ease your mind…
You let go of your DESIRE…
You’re losing a lot of it, but that’s fine…
And you will the ankh to move.
It stops lagging behind. You concentrate more, thinking only of holding onto the glyph, your wings opening so you can fly up through the hole you created earlier. You fly up, the dark ankh following you at a moderate pace. You fly through the hole, ignoring the screams of panic as the ankh follows you into the air. Flying high above the ship, you toss the ankh in the ocean. The black ankh drifts slowly into the ocean until it disappears beneath the waves.
You’re exhausted.
That wasted a lot of energy.
You look at the awed pirates around you and smile sultrily.
“Who wants to have—”
BOOOOOOOOOM!
A wave of heat and holy energy buffets you until you’re flung back from the purgatorial force. Far, far away from the pirate ship.
Dammit.
…
The wave of energy carries you far, for what seems like hours. You can’t really do anything, the energy has paralyzed you. You can’t even see where you’re going. Until finally you land…on a sandy beach.
Ugh.