Pocket Universe

This...this is none of the things I should be working on, but it's what wanted to be written today. It's for my 50originals claim, the pirates prompt.

Quick Summary: Mari is set to marry a governor when she is captured by pirates and forced to confront her true nature.

Warnings: Shockingly (for me at least), no mind control. Just semi-explicit sex and abuse of folklore.


The Wail didn't look it, but She could outrun any vessel manned by mortals. Or so Captain de Callow claimed. Mari did not trust the woman. She swaggered too much like a man, leered too much like a man, stroked the Wail's railing and spoke of the ship too much like a man.

She even looked like a man, at least on a first glance. Her hips were slim, breasts bound beneath the cotton shirt she wore unlaced past the point of decency, or what would have been the point of decency if it weren't for the binding. But on a second glance, she could not be mistaken for a man, not with her pointed chin and wicked eyes or the high trill of her voice.

"And how is the newest addition to my crew?" Captain de Callow slung an arm around Mari's shoulders and drew her back from the railing, as if she could tell Mari was trying to work up the courage to jump.

Mari pulled away. "You kidnapped me! You can't claim me as crew."

"From where I stand, I liberated you, sweet maiden of land."

Mari smoothed her skirts -- ruined from the salt and sun, but she would die before she wore pants -- and tugged at the high collar of her dress. She was thankful for the cover it provided, not just because of the way Captain de Callow eyed the swell of her breasts, but also because of the brutal sun. Mari's face was burned, her hair bleached lighter than was proper for a woman of her station.

"You would say that." Mari turned back to the railing, shielding her eyes to look out at the endless expanse of rippling sea. "You're a pirate."

"Was a time I was a merchant's wife," she said thoughtfully, and when she joined Mari at the railing, for once she didn't leer. "Was a time I wore dresses as fine as yours."

"I was to be a governor's wife, Cedric hal Lowen's. He'll be on you soon."

Captain de Callow stroked the railing, bleached gray from the sea and sun. "He'll chase us for a spell, yes, but the Wail won't be caught."

Mari sneered. The Wail seemed a poor ship, small and battered with dingy sails and faded paint. The sleek vessels of His Majesty's Navy would easily overtake them once mobilized. She just had to hold out a few more days. Three at most. Then she'd be taken back to Cedric. Then she'd be married.

Then she'd forget the wet flutter in her stomach every time Captain de Callow leered at her. And she'd forget the warmth of the Wail's railing beneath her hands as the small ship rocked in the sea. Like a lover, an almost-voice crooned in the back of Mari's head, but she ignored it. A woman of her station could not have crude voices in her head.

* * *

She was not allowed the privacy of her own cabin, but the other women in the cabin did not disturb her. They were kind enough, Mari supposed. One even offered to help Mari with her hair, her fingers gentle on Mari's burned scalp. Another offered a salve to ease Mari's sunburn.

She hated her feeling of gratitude. These women kidnapped her!

Rescued, the almost-voice corrected, and Mari's hands tightened in her skirt. Two more days. In two days, a vessel from His Majesty's Navy would be upon them.

The almost-voice laughed, and the Wail seemed to rock with it.

Captain de Callow sauntered up to her. Mari still had trouble walking on the Wail, and the captain's easy gait made her angry. So did the knowing grin the captain flashed her. "Three and three and three are nine. It's a powerful number."

"I can add," Mari huffed.

"And can you count? How many days since you joined my crew?"

"I haven't joined your crew. You kidnapped me."

Captain de Callow laughed. "Very well, then. How many days have you been on board the Wail?"

"Seven." And each day was one too many. The Wail rocked, and Mari stumbled.

Captain de Callow caught her, her grip firm on Mari's upper arm. "Careful, now. Lore has it you'll have your sea legs after nine days."

"You're making that up."

The captain's grin was wicked. "Maybe. But even you, sweet maiden of land, understand something of the sea. You can feel it, yes?"

Mari drew herself up straight. "What I feel is certainty I'll be rescued."

"And is that the same certainty you felt standing on the deck of the Sea Song when we plundered it? So certain you were on your way to your wedding? A lovely bride you'd be."

Mari slapped her. Captain de Callow's grin faded, and for a moment, Mari thought the woman would hurt her, but all the captain did was grab Mari's stinging hand and place a kiss on the palm. Mari's heart raced, and the wet flutter in her stomach became a wet jab, pulsing in time with her heart.

That night in her hammock, her hips rocked in time with the Wail. Mari's palm still burned from the captain's kiss, and Mari couldn't stop herself from sliding that hand down her neck, over her breasts, her stomach, down further, her fingers curling in the soft hairs on her mound before she remembered herself and jerked her hand away.

The other women in the cabin were asleep, their breathing and snores mingling in a swell of sound that complemented the rocking of the Wail. Mari took a shuddering breath and rolled out of her hammock.

The deck was empty, though Mari knew one of the crew was up in the crow's nest keeping watch. The night was clear, stars spilling across the sky. Mari searched for the familiar formations -- The Weaver and the Bear, the Fair Mother's Ladle, the Pole Star -- and found none. So they had dipped beyond the edge of the world.

Mari drew her nightshirt tight at her throat. No matter, she told herself, trying to settle her fear. The edge of the world wasn't really an edge, just a point where the familiar -- the familiar for people like her, anyway -- fled. The navigators in His Majesty's Navy would know these stars. She was not truly lost.

Not until the ninth day, the almost-voice said, sending a wet jolt through Mari.

Mari raised a knuckle to her mouth and bit. She would be saved.

* * *

On the dawn of her ninth day on the Wail, the lookout spotted the sails of a Navy ship.

"Well," Captain de Callow said, coming up to Mari. Her crew parted around her, scrambling to their posts. "It's like something out of a story, a last minute rescue." She grinned at Mari, fingering the butt of her gun. "Still wish to be a governor's wife, sweet maiden of land?"

"Yes," Mari said, ignoring the regret settling in the pit of her stomach.

The Wail slowed. Captain de Callow laughed. "I don't think the Wail quite believes you." She strode up to her station at the helm. "Look lively, ladies!" she yelled. "We'll give those boys a sight they won't forget."

"More like they'll give you a sight," Mari said, clamoring up to stand beside Captain de Callow.

The captain tossed her a grin. "Not likely, though you are a fetching prize." Her expression turned serious. "Don't interfere, or I'll have to have you locked below."

Mari sniffed. "I won't interfere." She smiled at the captain for the first time. "If only because I want to see you caught."

The Wail stopped, and Mari licked her lips. The wind was picking up, making the sails snap and dance. They were the only part of the ship that moved at all. The Wail wasn't even rocking, though the wind tore Captain de Callow's hair from its braid so it writhed around her face like…

Like nothing you've seen, the almost-voice whispered. Mari found herself reaching out, her palm throbbing in memory of the captain's kiss.

"What are you?" Mari asked, but the wind swept away her words.

The Navy ship drew closer, close enough for Mari to make out the flag, the fine carvings on the decks, the dull gleam of cannons, the sailors manning their posts. They all looked so foolish, puffed up in their uniforms, so sure of their mastery of things they did not understand. How pitiful.

This was her rescue? Captain de Callow's claim -- From where I stand, I liberated you, sweet maiden of land -- echoed in Mari's head.

This was a game to the captain. A game to the Wail. Mari braced herself on the railing. The ship shuddered beneath her.

"I could jump."

Yes, and give yourself to the Wail, the almost-voice agreed.

Mari's mouth twisted in a wry smile. "It hasn't quite been nine days. I'd be giving myself to the sea."

"You assume the Wail would let you." Captain de Callow spared Mari a quick glance. "She's grown fond of you." She laughed. "Look now, they're going to fire."

The Wail lurched, and then it was rolling. Mari braced herself for the cold rush of water, but as the deck of the ship dipped below the sea, she felt the humid press of air. Mari straightened, blinking. A ruddy sun hung halfway over the horizon, vivid pink and orange clouds arcing towards them. Lush islands dotted the distance, dark green in the fading light.

"Looks like shore leave, ladies," Captain de Callow announced to the delight of the crew. She had to raise her voice to be heard over the whoops of her crew when she turned back to Mari. "But no leave for you."

"I'm not part of your crew."

The captain's smile was wolfish. "Not yet."

* * *

The captain's quarters were sparse. Mari wasn't quite sure what she expected, finery, perhaps, for the Wail was a pirate ship. The almost-voice laughed and said, There are many forms of piracy.

Captain de Callow settled on a bench built into the ship. She spread her legs wide. Too much like a man, Mari noted, biting down on her lip. Her heart stuttered, forcing Mari to admit she was far more nervous than she had been the only time she met Cedric.

Cedric was nothing like this woman. His province was nothing like the Wail.

"Nine days, sweet maiden. I think you're now a maiden of the sea."

"For how much longer? I've noticed the way you look at me. Like you fancy yourself a man."

Captain de Callow laughed. "Oh, I know I'm a woman." She stroked the bench. "Or was. You never wanted to marry your governor."

Mari drew herself up as tall as she could. "It would have been a good life."

"By everyone's standards except yours."

"And, apparently, yours."

Captain de Callow's mouth was a little too wide for her face. It made her knowing grins all the more unsettling, made that uncomfortable heat uncoil low in Mari's belly. "And the Wail's."

The ship seemed to arch into the captain's caress, rocking up higher than the waves should allow.

"What are you?" This time, there was no wind to steal Mari's question.

"The Wail's chosen captain." She rose and stalked towards Mari.

Mari held her ground even though the captain pressed too close, the warmth of her skin as invasive as the sun's. "I begged my husband to take me on one of his runs. He had no idea of my true reasons." The captain's mouth twisted into a bitter smile. "No idea I hated his touch."

"You jumped," Mari breathed.

"Aye."

"Did…did you drown?"

The captain's smile turned distant. "The Wail claimed me. Seems it was lacking a suitable captain."

"And now?"

Captain de Callow kissed her, hard and insistent, like a man would, Mari thought hopelessly, but she was returning the kiss. And she was working loose the cloth binding the captain's breasts. And she was the one pushing the captain down, the one straddling the captain, the one leaning down to tease the captain's breasts with her mouth. And she was the one parting the captain's slick folds with her fingers.

The captain's moans flowed around her. Mari drank them in, and then she moved to drink the captain in, the taste of her musk exploding in the back of her throat. It was a heady feeling. Mari couldn't help her greed. The captain's thighs trembled around her, the captain's hands curled in Mari's hair, and the Wail…the Wail rocked beneath them, heat pulsing through the smooth wood.

Captain de Callow tensed and cried out, her fingers digging painfully into Mari's scalp, but Mari did not let up, not until the captain went slack beneath her, panting and coated with a fine sheen of sweat. Then Mari rose up on her knees.

The captain's smile was wide and lazy. "Welcome to my crew."

Mari wiped her mouth, then licked the captain's juices off the back of her hand. "I keep telling you, you can't claim me as crew."

Captain de Callow propped herself up on one elbow. "Booty, then?" she asked, reaching for Mari with her other hand.

Mari leaned forward. "Yes. Every good pirate captain needs a claimed woman." she said, letting the captain pull her into another kiss.

The Wail rocked beneath them as its captain claimed her prize.