Chapter 18: Shipmating

Well, this has certainly been interesting, Castorius thought.

After the fifth round that afternoon, he lay beside Captain Caro in the double bed of her cabin. They were both dappled with sweat and breathing heavily, the bedding crumpled up at their feet.

Caro reached down to pull the sheet over her legs. She let out a long exhale. "Oh boy!" she breathed.

"Yup," replied Castorius. This was about as much dialogue as they'd had all day.

The Captain wiped sweat off her brow, staring at the ceiling. There was an unmistakably dazed look to her. "That was . . . wow!"

"Yup." Castorius felt a wave of pride. It was one thing to perform your best when your companion was every little bit what you wanted, and when the whole business was built on a more, well, traditional foundation. But this one felt like a special sort of triumph. Even though he was hard pressed to admit it had been more enjoyable than he'd expected.

He realized this had been the first time since his very first one that he'd been with a woman considerably his senior. There certainly seemed to be something to it. Roggie may have only been teasing him extolling the woman's vigor—likely he'd no idea—but it had to be conceded that that characterization was spot on. She also definitely knew what to do, knew her way around the tactical aspects of the male physique. And though they may have had aesthetics on their side, it was more than could be said about many of her younger counterparts.

No, it hadn't been too shabby at all. In between, as they'd taken breaks for Caro to go deal with her captainly duties, Castorius had also gotten to enjoy the finest of what the Imperial military kitchen had to offer. The Captain had given him free access to the fine foods that got brought straight in her cabin—as a sort of payment, as it were. It was as Castorius knew already: the officers got much better fed than the peons ever did. That, of course, went without saying. Was it too late for him to still start thinking about rising up in the hierarchy?

Probably.

The only problem—and it was by no means a small one—was that, thanks to the after-effect of the alcohol, his sense of taste was not at all at its best. It felt like such a waste to be having veal tenderloin in a red-wine-mushroom sauce, and not getting the full flavor of it. It was a crime, to be perfectly honest. And it was one of the chief reasons Castorius did not drink. Even if it did seem to increase sensitivity in other areas somewhat . . .

In any case, he'd soon had other things to think about, as Captain Caro had run back to him—all flustered and eager like a young pup in the throes of her first heat. Castorius could not imagine there being a better endorsement of his capabilities. Well, that, and the quite interesting noises she'd make during the act itself. It was as if she'd been giving birth to Pure Ecstasy.

It couldn't but bring a smile to the lips.

Is this what they mean by "foolish pride"?

The thought struck Castorius out of the blue, almost as if uttered by somebody else, and he instantly felt his mood start to deflate. It was so not like him to put himself down after a success such as this. Had he not done all that had been expected of him? Not exceeded even his own expectations?

No, he realized. It was true. He'd thus far only managed to plow through—in a manner of speaking—only the first phase of his mission. The fun part, as it was. But the Captain was still far from knocked out. For all Castorius knew, she was just recharging a bit, and would soon be ready for another round. She did seem to have a much higher level of energy and intensity than did the women a decade or two younger. Maybe this happened to all of them? If so, the future might have had something to look forward to after all.

Try to focus, now!

Castorius still had to get Cara to ingest the potion. It was getting past five already, so he was starting to be in a hurry. It would be best if he could somehow get her tired out, then get a few drops in her while she was sleeping. That had been his original, haphazard plan, but anything he'd done so far only seemed to rile her up further. So what was he going to do?

Talk to her.

What a novel idea! He turned on his side to regard the woman, her chest still rising and falling heavily from the exertion, her cheeks flushed and her hair tousled. Her hands were tucked behind her neck. The pale skin of her naked torso was lightly speckled with freckles, and there were a few faint scars running across it. Blond tufts of hair stuck out of her armpits, and her medium-sized breasts hung down towards her sides. Her nipples were large and brown. Castorius passingly wondered if she'd had any children.

He reached out and brushed a strand of hair off her face.

She turned her face towards him and smiled, looking somehow very innocent. "Hi," she said.

"Hi," said Castorius, smiling back at her.

"This couldn't have come in a better time, you know. I've been really stressed out lately."

"That's good to hear," Castorius replied, a bit uncertain.

Captain Caro propped herself up on her elbows. "Really, though. You have no idea. To command a big ship like this?" She shook her head. "You got to be a real ball-buster. Otherwise your crew will start thinking you weak. The next thing you know, things are getting out of hand, complaints start to pile up, and soon there's some know-it-all young hot-shot soaked up behind the ears, looking to snatch up your position."

She looked into the distance, no longer looking all that happy. "Bastards," she muttered.

Castorius blinked, looking for the next line. It did not come.

Then she looked back to him, and her features softened. "Anyway, you have no idea how good it feels to let go for a while. To just be weak." She brushed his cheek with the back of her hand. "Let someone else be the strong one for a while." Her hand went to caress one of Castorius' pecs. "Nice and strong . . . "

The situation was quickly slipping out of his hands. "Um," he said. "Have you been Captain for long?"

Caro's hand stopped caressing his chest, and she let it drop. For a second, she nearly looked taken aback by Castorius' question, but then gave him a gentle, nearly maternal look. "Probably longer than you've been legal," she said. A playful spark in her eye said that she did not find that thought only amusing, but titillating as well. She gave a little girlish giggle, and leaned back on her cushion. "What is it that you really do, anyway? Are you a . . . professional?"

He should have seen that one coming of course, but was caught off guard, and felt a stab of indignation. "No!"

"I didn't mean to offend," said Captain Caro. "I just thought it would explain your sure touch, is all." Castorius wasn't sure if she said that merely to soothe him, but decided to take it as a compliment nonetheless. "Thought maybe someone I know sent you to me as, you know, a gift."

"Or maybe your crew did. You know, to mess with you."

Caro's head shot up then, and an alarmed look lit in her eyes. A potential of violence crept into her being. At that moment, all tensed up, she looked quite dangerous.

Castorius raised his hand into a calming gesture. "Take it easy, I was only joking! Nobody bought me, okay?"

It took a few seconds for the wariness to die out in Caro's gaze. But slowly her look softened up again, and she relaxed back down. "Don't joke like that around me, alright? There's some things I take very seriously."

"I'm sorry," Castorius said softly. He reached out his hands to caress Caro's face.

She closed her eyes. "Well, that's alright," she said. Castorius could feel her soften up. "You couldn't have known."

To his great relief, she didn't ask any more questions. He'd not have any answers at the ready.

But it was clear this talking thing wasn't going too well. Maybe if he'd just get her to unwind some more. He moved his hand from her face up to her hair, smoothed the sweat-moistened curls. "Just relax," he purred. He gently played with her earlobe, as he'd sometimes noticed that having a soothing effect.

Captain Caro grabbed Castorius' arm stroking her. She slowly ran her hand up its length, then squeezed her fingers around his. She started pulling his hand lower, past the mounds of her breasts, down to her belly, and beyond. She placed the hand over her sex.

I see.

The Captain opened her eyes, giving Castorius a very earnest, almost pleading, look. "Would you?"

Castorius smiled, but only on the outside. "Of course."

And so he did.

Castorius jolted awake and quickly sat up. It took him a few moments to determine his exact location, and to figure out why in the world he was naked and in a strange bed.

Then reality whooshed back to him, and the first coherent, if panicky, thought to form in his mind was: Oh gods! What time is it?

His heart lurched as he gazed at the clock on the wall. Seven already! He was late! Did the entire mission hinge on his success here? Would they be canceling the whole thing if they thought he wasn't carrying his weight? Was this the only chance they had? And if so, what would Ulfric do? What about Captain Malaney?

The memory of the unsettling sea captain was enough to expel the last specks of sleepiness from him consciousness. He'd not want to face that man angry—to Oblivion with Ulfric. Maybe he would just have to stay here as Captain Caro's love-stallion. Certainly that wasn't the worst one imaginable as far as fates went.

Speaking of which. Only now remembering that the said Captain was still there next to him, Castorius looked down at the woman, and found her on her back, eyes closed and wheezing . Well, finally!

This was likely the one chance he'd get. His clothes, along with the vial containing the potion, were still lying on the ground close to the door, so he'd only have to sneak off to fetch them without waking her up. That shouldn't have been too impossible a feat to accomplish.

Very carefully he started rise. The bed creaked and groaned under his shifting weight, each and every squeak grating his ears and his nerves. He held his breath. Almost there.

Then, right as he had gotten his legs over the side, he heard Caro say something, the words just escaping him. He squeezed his eyes shut in frustration. Damn it, did I wake her?

He looked back. No—she had merely been mumbling in her sleep. Though she did have a little frown on her, and she'd also pulled her hands over her naked torso, as if trying to hug herself. She seemed a bit restless.

She's cold, Castorius realized. The air in the cabin was chilly now that the heat of their fornication had faded. He'd better put a blanket on her before the cold woke her up.

He reached back toward the foot of the bed where the bedding once more lay in a crunched-up bundle. He grabbed the counterpane, and slowly and carefully started to pull it up the length of her. To avoid creaking the bed any more than was strictly necessary, he had to lie in an awkward position, propped up on one elbow and legs dangling off the side. His cheek was brushing lightly against the tuft of hair about Caro' sex as he worked the blanket slowly past her knees. He did his best to get it on her without it touching her skin too much.

He startled as he felt something land on top of his head. Caro's hand. "Mmmm," she muttered. "What are you doing?" Her voice was still clouded by sleep.

Damn it! Damn it! Castorius looked, and saw that her eyes were still closed."Nothing," he said.

Cara smiled a dreamy sort of smile, and her hand started to stroke Castorius' head. "Mmmmm, no?"

"No," said Castorius. What now?! At a loss for what the proper course of action ought to be, he did what came most naturally to him. He lowered his face onto Cara's warm, soft belly, and started to plant kisses around the navel. "Nothing." He kissed it a bit lower. Then lower. And lower still. "Nothing at all."

"Oh?" Cara said, her eyes still closed. Her breathing got heavier, and her smile bigger, more sensuous. Castorius buried his face in her bush. Her fingers grabbed harder at his hair as he went lower. "Oh!"

"Oh", indeed.