Chapter 3

Ta'awen found it doubly difficult to concentrate on her task as she entered the Va'aad's mind to coerce it to reveal the screts of its race's devices. Forcing herself into another's thoughts was unpalatable enough - to the Aa'saani, it was a crime - but Marishanna was also close by, her aura, even though it was now restrained, still tainting Ta'awen's mental processes.

The Aa'saani also struggled to keep herself from watching the small, dark-souled woman. She expected the swordswoman to attack at any moment, but for now Marishanna seemed content to prowl back and forth, either glaring at Raniv's winged back or gazing at his long and rather feminine dark leather boots.

Ta'awen got the distinct impression that Marishanna was looking at his boots for some reason other than that they were closest to her eye-level...

Weak from its recent emergence from a long hibernation, the Va'aad soon submitted, offering the promise of incredible knowledge to Ta'awen and her master. Many of the salvaged devices had been damaged in the crash, and were useless for anything except research, but more still had, to Raniv's disgust, been rendered inoperable by the manner of their removal from the wreck. Only a few of the machines could now be made to function, most of them portable versions of other devices, and Raniv was not exactly overjoyed.

"A water reclaimation machine?", he snarled, pointing to a blue glass cylinder in a transparent box, a length of pipe extending from each end. "That's all this is?"

***Yes***, the Va'aad replied weakly. ***Very important in space it is...***

Raniv's eyes rolled towards the ceiling. He had to take a few deep breaths before he felt he could speak again without losing his temper. "Tell me something I want to hear", he said impatiently. "Tell me about the girl, Marishanna..."

***Sample five-four-seven point four-zero-three***, said the Va'aad. ***Native to planet F772. Endangered species. Warrior culture-grouping. Talent for sub-reality energy manipulation...***

The Dyal slapped his captive, and the creature nearly fell over, its slight frame too light to resist the force of the blow. "In terms I can understand!", he snapped.

Ta'awen stepped in to explain. ***Marishanna is a warrior with magical skills***, she said, her psychic communion with the creature allowing her to better understand the concepts it used.

"An unusual, but potentially highly effective combination", remarked Raniv. "Those are both skills I could put to good use."

***Don't take her too lightly, My Lord***, advised the Aa'saani. ***Her inner darkness is strong.***

"We'll see", replied the winged man, and his attention shifted to the little swordswoman.

The Dyal strolled over to Marishanna. "The creature is co-operating", he said to her. "Now, how about you?"

"I volunteered my services before, and was rejected", the girl replied coldly. "Now you expect me to just surrender to you? Not now. Not ever - unless..."

"Unless what...?"

A sly twinkle came to Marishanna's large slanted eyes. "What do your precious laws have to say about duels?"

"They are tolerated, for the settlement of genuine grievances", Raniv replied.

"And what of...ah, exchanges of property and rights, dependent on the outcome?"

The Dyal smiled. "They are binding, if validly witnessed", he informed the swordswoman.

"First blood, then", declared Marishanna. "You win, and I am yours to do with as you wish. I win, and this ship and all associated rights and privileges are mine."

"Agreed - but on one condition", said Raniv. "No magic. The Va'aad has informed me of your skills. Steel against steel, nothing more."

Marishanna gave the Dyal's terms only a second's thought before accepting them. The crew seemed uniformly surprised that Raniv had wagered so much, but inside they knew that their somewhat falmboyant captain did not make deals without being certain that the outcome would be in his favour.

Three seconds...

Three seconds, and Raniv lay dead on the deck, cleaved in half from right shoulder to left hip. He had assumed his greater reach would win the day, but Marishanna was too agile, too swift on her spike-heeled feet...

After ten seconds, three more sailors joined their captain in the remorseless embrace of death. Not once did Marishanna call upon any magic other than that which existed within Silver Death - mainly because she simply could not, a state of affairs that concerned her greatly.

"Do any more of you want to waste your lives?", she then asked the onlookers. "Surely you did not care that much for your captain?"

One voice, and one alone, dared to respond. "Maybe not, but we knew him", said the Succubus's broad, grizzled first mate, who had formally witnessed the terms of the duel in accrodance with Trading Law. "We don't know you."

"All you need to know for now is that I am now captain of this vessel", the warrior-sorceress replied, "and that I will generously reward any who serve me well."

Marishanna looked over to where an uneasy Ta'awen stoodd. "My first act as captain is to offer you a choice, mind-witch", said the Salvandireen. "Serve me as you served Raniv, and this ship, as a full member of the crew with most of the privileges and benefits, or stay a slave. There may not seem to be much difference between the two, given that you may not leave the ship on your own in either case, but I have my own way of handling slaves..."

Marishanna raised the wrist bearing the bracelet, and unclipped one of the little silver figurines. She placed the tiny charm on the deck, and stepped back to give it room to grow into a huge hunting cat, a ferocious creature with black fur striped with vertical slashes of tawny gold.

"The bracelet can accommodate thinking beings as well, and all become unquestioning servants of my will", the swordswoman explained.

***Then I shall accept your first alternative, My Lady***, said Ta'awen. ***You offer more freedom than any have granted me for many a year.***

Marishanna smiled to herself. Give freedom's spark tinder, and it will burn brightly again.

The Salvandireen woman uttered the magic word that transformed the cat-charm back into its tiny metallic state, put it back on the bracelet, then headed back below decks to claim Raniv's quarters as her own. She did not doubt for a moment that her command would be challenged, and that more blood would be spilt, but the crew of the Succubus - her ship, now - would learn to respect her. She had, after all, ordered that the three sailors brave enough to attack be treated as honoured dead, and sent to their rest in accordance with the traditions of the star-sailors - but that been purely to gain favour with her crew, and not as any mark of respect on her part. Only Raniv's remains were to be disposed of as garbage...

Later, once Marishanna had retrieved the last of her magical gear - a ring that clothed her in enchanted armour on command - and made herself comfortable, Ta'awen came to the warrior-sorceress's cabin bearing something the new captain of the Succubus had asked for. The Aa'saani could not understand why Marishanna would want Raniv's boots, and the small, black-tressed woman volunteered no explanation as she took delivery of the boots, still spattered with his blood, and disappeared back into her quarters with them.

Satisfied that she would not be disturbed, Marishanna threw the boots onto the bed, and reached behind her neck to unfasten her dress. She slid the soft leather garment down her body, relishing the feel of the leather moving and wrinkling against her skin, then removed her near-shoulder-length leather gloves as well. Her own boots she kept on - she felt incomplete without them, and their absence would spoil her enjoyment of what was to come.

Marishanna climbed up onto the bed, her ankle-length black hair spreading out on the sheets around her like a cloak, and crawled over to where she had deposited Raniv's boots. She lay on top of one, trembling and purring to herself as the cool, fine leather touched her bare flesh, and began to lick off the spots of blood. Partly congealed, the blood was sticky and resisted the Salvandireen girl's lapping at first, but Marishanna did not mind. She had plenty of time, and in a situation such as this, plenty of patience.

These boots are too good for some false demon, she thought, sliding down so that the foot of the boot she was enjoying nestled against her crotch. I doubt he ever really appreciated them - not as I do...

The Salvandireen adventuress shifted the foot of the boot so that the toe hooked underneath her pubic region, then closed her legs to lock it in place. She then lifted herself up into a kneeling position, and the toe of the boot pressed firmly against the damp, trembling wrinkles of her labia...

Marishanna let out one quiet gasp of pleasure. Tensing her thigh and calf muscles, she made the toe of the boot slide against the slick flesh of that most sensitive area of her body, and each movement sent a ripple of ecstasy through her, right up her spine and into the pleasure centres of her brain.

Not knowing how long the Va'aad had kept her asleep, frozen in their infernal "egg", Marishanna extracted every last scrap of joy from playing with the boot, "riding" it until she was thoroughly exhausted. She fell asleep with it in her arms, the ankle still trapped between her legs, the supple shaft held close to her body so that the cuffed top of the boot folded into her cleavage...

As she slept, Marishanna dreamed of all that she was going to do to make up for the time she had lost whilst in the clutches of the Va'aad. She would find a way to restore her magic, then blaze a glorious path across the stars. Sooner or later, she would find the homeworld of the Va'aad, and make every last one of them pay for interfering with her life...

 

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