Amazon Airship Pirates Pt. 03

"If it's so safe, why does it need warrior amazons along?" Charles asked.

Moira shrugged. "No ship goes out entirely unguarded. Misfortunes happen. An' in any case, there's a new recruit along this time, and someone has to keep watch over her, an' see to her instruction."

"Oh," said Charles, sinking back onto his pillow, before he suddenly gave a wordless cry, threw back the sheet, and scrabbled for his own clothes.

A few minutes later, he arrived at the airship yards, only to find no one he knew to speak to there - though one of the airships was evidently being prepared for departure. After perhaps ten minutes more, however, Sui Pai and Moira came walking up in their full pirate rig of black dresses and rigid leather corsets, with Emma Elphinstone walking between them, attired likewise, her dark blonde hair now tied in a simple braid.

Charles approached her immediately, but before he could speak, she raised a hand for silence, looked him up and down and shook her head. "Really, Charles," she said, "I know that we are not in society here, but should you not preserve some standards? No jacket, your shirt ill-fastened, and I must assume that you put those trousers on in considerable haste."

"Emma!" he said, "where are you going?"

"I have not yet been told," she replied, "evidently, secrecy is quite valued here. But if you mean how am I travelling - the answer is obviously on this airship, with some of my fellow pirates."

"But you may be in great danger!" Charles cried.

"I am told that this is a routine assignment, without excessive risk," Emma replied. "I am thought to need training, and I can hardly take offence at that. But in any event - I accepted danger when I swore allegiance to this band, Charles. I know that the pirate life is not all tupping young men."

"Or older men," Charles muttered without thinking.

"Ah - you knew that it was I you heard, then? I suppose that Moira and Sui Pai would tell you anyway. Yes... Your father acknowledged my decision with a little more calm, Charles, and he has received ... a token of my regard." Emma smiled impishly. "Please have the grace to accept what you cannot change, Charles."

Charles considered arguing further, but something in the set of Emma Elphinstone's jaw deterred him. "Very well," he said, "it seems that I must simply wish you fair winds on your travels."

"Thank you, Charles," Emma replied. Then she turned her head and called to her companions. "How long before we must board?" she asked.

"You may have ten minutes," Moira answered.

"Thank you," said Emma. She took Charles by the arm. "Come," she said. "I would like to say a calmer good-bye. There are less public places near here."

It seemed that she had familiarised herself well with the plan of the yards on the previous day, because Charles found himself drawn into a nearby storehouse that was empty of goods and of other people. When the door was shut, Emma turned to face him again. "There," she said, "I would not wish you to think that I do not appreciate your concern, or that I take our friendship lightly."

"I hope that we are friends," Charles said.

"Oh yes," Emma said. "I took you for a pleasant enough fellow when we first met, and since our adventure began, you have tried to offer me comfort, and listened to my complaints and boasts alike."

"It was my honour," Charles said.

"You have also listened to me fucking," Emma added.

Suddenly, Charles noticed that he was, somehow, not blushing. "That has been the way of things," he said. "You have listened to me also..."

"Nonetheless," Emma said, "I may have become a pirate wench, but I would not wish you to think that I have become a coquette. A... A tease."

"I did not ever think that was ever your intent," Charles replied.

"It was not," Emma said, "but I do understand that it may have been the effect of my actions. I promise, Charles, that I will always seek to treat you fairly and as you merit."

"Thank you," Charles said.

Emma stepped close to him and kissed him on the cheek, then repeated the kiss more warmly while putting her arms around him. "In fact," she said, "I think I should give you a... a token against future possibilities." Suddenly, she took one arm from around him, and her hand darted down and gently grasped his crotch. "ten minutes is not long," she said, "but it may be long enough to make a promise." She squeezed a little more. "Just a touch," she added.

Charles broke the embrace and stepped back a little, but Emma kept her hand on his crotch, where she was doubtless able to feel an increasing swelling. He looked at her and blinked. "Very well," he said, "but I understand that reciprocity is the rule in this world." He reached his own hand forward and pressed it against Emma crotch in response.

Emma said nothing, but started unfastening his belt. After a moment, however, they both wordlessly acknowledged that this was not the most efficient way to do things, and Charles set to unfastening his belt and trousers as Emma hiked her skirt up and dropped her plain linen drawers to the floor. A moment later, Charles's trousers and drawers similarly fell.

Charles took a tentative step forward, but then, suddenly, Emma fell to her knees in front of him. "A promise," she murmured, "oh heavens, yes." She planted a half-dozen kisses on his cock and balls.

Charles reached down and took her under the armpits with both hands, raising her up again. She gathered up her skirts, revealing blonde hair on her loins - lighter in colour than that on her head, Charles noted, as he reached forward to caress and probed with the fingers of his right hand. Once his hand was in place, Emma reached forward herself and grasped his erection, and began gently easing her hand up and down.

"Oh my..." Charles sighed, "that is..."

"I thought it best that, if I were to fornicate, I should fornicate as well as men in this place have come to expect," murmured Emma. "And so I have asked for advice..."

Waves of passion were drowning Charles's rational mind, but some small element decided that it would be better not to ask for more details of Emma's advisors. Instead, he merely moaned "faster..." And, a moment after Emma obeyed, he groaned as he felt a surge through his cock. Emma released her hold as he sank to his knees on the floor, his own hand still investigating her female parts.

"So that is how it appears at that moment," said Emma, thoughtfully contemplating her damp and sticky right hand. "Condoms are useful, but they hide... Oh!"

As his mind had cleared, Charles had set to work applying some of what Sui Pai had taught him. Emma seemed to go weak at the knees, so that he felt that he was supporting much of her weight on his hand as he sought to fondle and probe her to best effect. Then she gave a shrill squeal, before carefully moving away from his hand and then sinking to her knees to face him, still holding her moist right hand away from her body

They smiled at each other, breathing heavily. Charles found his trousers still around his ankles, and managed to extract a handkerchief from the pocket. Emma took it and cleaned her hand with it as best she could, while Charles stood up a little unsteadily and pulled his clothes back up.

"Please," he said, "come back safely."

"La, Charles," Emma replied, "one would almost think that I was your only likely partner in fornication."

"That is not what I meant..." Charles began.

"I know." Emma smiled as she rearranged her own clothes. "And I do also realise that your current wenches are departing along with me, although I am sure that you will survive. But I am sorry - I am not at all ungrateful for your..."

But at that moment, the door of the storehouse opened, and Moira looked in. "Come, Emma," she said. "Duty calls. And leave that poor young boy be. You do not know where he has been or what he has been doing."

"I have a fair idea," said Emma, handing Charles his handkerchief back in passing. He hastily but gingerly pocketed it. Moira blinked, grinned, and nodded to Emma.

Back at the airship, Charles found his father also present, though deep in conversation with two of the craft's engineers. Most of the cables which held it down had been released, and it had already risen three or four feet, and was straining at its remaining restraints. Its propellers were turning at a slow rate, not yet enough to move it through the air. One door was still open, pivoted and unfolded downwards to form a set of lightweight steps which just brushed the dusty ground.

Sui Pai was waiting alone, and turned to Charles as he arrived. "Take care, young man," she said, "you must make a decision, so try to think clear."

Before Charles could reply, or react in any way, a call came from the doorway, and the engineers bade Charles's father a hasty goodbye, and scrambled up the steps, followed by the three amazons, Moira, then Emma, then Sui Pai. Once they were all aboard, a crewman began retracting the steps. As the doorway closed, the three women waved and blew kisses in a pantomime of coquettishness. "Be good, you two men," Moira called, "and if you cannae be good, be careful!"

The door closed, someone aboard the airship blew three blasts on a whistle, and mechanics on the ground release the remaining cables. The airship sprang upwards, and its propellers became a spinning blur. It soared above the island, and turned on its chosen course.

"Three fine women," said Oswald Dartington to his son, with a twinkling, wry smile.

"Yes," Charles agreed.

"But while they are away, we must discuss other matters," his father continued. "I am afraid that my circumstances will force you to make a hard choice."

"Sui Pai already reminded me of that," Charles replied. "But first, may I suggest that we both may need some breakfast?"

And so, father and son fell deep into conversation, and went on their way.

******

(This story will wrap in Part 4 with an epilogue, which will reveal Charles's decision, plus some not-totally-gratuitous-really sex. But this has turned out to be an origin story, so that won't be the end of things for Charles Dartington.)