A House Beneath the Stars

A House Beneath the Stars

Bromm II

The long stern chase finally at an end, Bromm and his eager pirates readied their grappling hooks as the brig

Horizon

pulled alongside their quarry. The big fluyt, her stern emblazoned with the name

Lauratian Stallion

, had made a run for it upon sighting them the previous evening, but its attempts to evade capture throughout the night had come to naught in the early morning. Bromm and his subordinate Serris, captaining the sloop

Fortune

, had at last run down the lumbering vessel.

They cast their grappling hooks up the side of the fluyt and clambered up to its main deck. The small crew of the merchant vessel offered no resistance. Bromm and his bosun Rhamut were first on the deck, where the crew stood in the center with their arms at their sides. While their sun-worn faces showed clear concern, they did not exhibit the panic some many showed when pirates boarded their vessels. The unwritten rule of piracy was that crews would be spared if they did not fight back. These men had wisely chosen to save themselves at the expense of their ship and cargo.

On the opposite side of the fluyt, the sloop

Fortune

was pulling alongside, and more pirates climbed up onto the deck. Bromm sheathed his sword and put his hands in his belt.

"Well now, where is your captain, sailors?" he asked, his gaze sweeping over two score assembled sailors.

The men made no immediate response, looking at the deck and shifting back and forth nervously. Bromm put his hand on his sword's jeweled hilt.

Exasperated, one man finally spoke up.

"He is in his cabin, living his last moments as a free man."

Bromm smiled with amusement. "Come on, Parash," he said, beckoning to a seasoned, dark-skinned sailor at his elbow. "Let us meet the captain. Rhamut, watch over these men while Tyralf goes below to secure the cargo."

Bromm and Parash climbed the steps to the quarterdeck and found the captain's door shut and barred. Bromm drew his broadsword, Parash his tulwar and pistol. A third sailor, Sharum, stepped up next to them and struck the door with a boarding axe. The wooden barricade shuddered but did not break. From within, Bromm heard a frightened squeal.

"Hit it again," he commanded. Sharum battered down the door in a few powerful strokes. Before the portal had finished splintering, Bromm and Parash were through it. The cabin was small, but well-appointed. There were small oil paintings on the walls, a writing desk, and a lacquered dresser. The bed was wide enough to sleep two, with fine cotton bedsheets. Atop it was the captain, facedown and naked. He was pale where his clothes hid him from the sun, his bare lower back pasty and dusted with light brown hair. He wore his chestnut hair in a sailor's cue, bound with white ribbon.

Underneath him was a girl, naked as well. She was perhaps twenty and dark-haired. Her skin was pale, and her big, soft breasts' nipples were pierced with jewel-studded rings. Her legs were wrapped around the captain atop her, her hips matching each of his thrusts into her. She wore an opal-studded silver chain around her neck and two silver rings on her rings. Her left ankle was adorned with a twisted bronze anklet. In her ears, she wore small diamond studs.

The captain sprang up as Bromm and Parash burst in, abandoning his bedmate with a terrified shriek and throwing himself, tangled in a bedsheet, against the far wall of the cabin in a blind panic. His hands scrabbled against the wooden planks in a desperate search for an escape, but to no avail. He collapsed against the floor and began to sob. The girl lay still, not even trying to cover herself even as Bromm stood within arm's reach of her naked body.

Parash stepped forward and loomed over the man, his tulwar lazily pointed towards the deck.

"Please! Do not hurt me!" the captain begged in sputtering Common, shrinking into the corner as if he hoped to melt away into the hull planks. Parash grabbed him by the hair and hauled him to his knees. His blade flashed in the sunlight streaming through the cabin windows.

"Spare him and I will be your concubine," the girl pleaded in a high, sweet voice, her hands clasped towards Bromm in pleading. She was up on her knees, affording Bromm a clear view of her naked body, still dripping with the captain's sweat. She met his gaze with some trepidation at first but held it firmly when he returned it.

"You offer this of your own will?" he asked, intrigued. She nodded and then added "Yours, but not your crew's," in a quiet voice.

Parash was disappointed, but Bromm paid him little mind.

"As you say, girl," he agreed. "I will spare him harm."

She breathed a sigh of relief and sat back on the bed, her big breasts jiggling to Bromm's delight.

"What is your name, girl?" Bromm asked, sheathing his sword once again.

"My name is Asara, master," she replied, "I was this man's slave and now I am yours."

"You show him much loyalty for a slave," Bromm remarked.

"As I said, he has been good to me. Not all masters are so kind to their slave girls. If you show me kindness, I will return it."

"And so I shall," Bromm said. He took her delicate hand in his and kissed her brow. "You will find me at least as generous a captain as he has been," he promised. The captain lowered his gaze as tears ran down his cheeks.

"Captain, what are you carrying aboard?" Bromm asked.

"V-very little gold," the captain answered, trying to cover himself with a bedsheet. He had encountered pirates before, Bromm knew. "I have sixty tons of raw cotton, forty tons of copper, thirty of sugar, ten of caucho, plus provisions, rum, timber..."

"That's all good. I am taking your ship," Bromm pronounced, cutting him off. The captain had expected that but was unhappy all the same. "My man Parash will come aboard and ensure that you reach Torvuls, where I will meet you in time."

"And what of me?" the man asked timidly, his head half hidden beneath the bed sheet.

"Please, captain," the girl begged, crawling towards him on the bed, close enough to put her arms around his neck. "Captain Jannek has been good to me. I would not like to see him harmed." Her brown eyes welled up with tears and she leaned in to kiss his bearded cheek. The girl was either a good actress or she actually cared for the man. Bromm smiled.

"Then he will be free to go," Bromm promised, cupping her chin. "I could not refuse you such a simple request." He scooped up the captain's discarded clothes with one boot and kicked them to the man. "Time for you to leave, Jannek. This cabin will be Parash's until you reach Torvuls. You can share a hammock with your men. Parash, once he is shown his new quarters, select fifteen men with you and make this ship ready to sail."

"Aye, aye, captain. What am I to do?"

"Sail with our prize to Torvuls. Get as good a price as you can on the goods and the ship, then wait for me at the Naked Nymph."

"What of the crew?" Parash asked.

"Do as the girl pleads and release them. They can find a new ship to sail with, but I will not have them enslaved."

The crew did not like giving up easy silver, but they had stuck with Bromm long enough to know he would not let them go poor. The cargo they had already stolen would afford them some good times in port.

"Oh," Bromm added "and take some of these sea rats who have made for poor sailors with you. Once you reach Torvuls, give them their silver and tell them to find a new ship. I won't waste good treasure on giving these wretches a share."

Parash nodded, then grabbed the captain by the neck and marched him out onto the deck, naked. Jannek paused at the door and looked back at Asara, his stiff cock flopping lamely in front of him.

"I just wanted to come in her one last time," he mumbled before Parash shoved him out the door.

Serris, captain of the

Fortune

entered the cabin with a blunderbuss over his shoulder.

"A fine prize, Captain," he said casually before waving at the hull around him. "And the ship too."

Bromm smiled and put his arm around the girl, ushering her off the bed to stand naked in front of him. He put his hands on her hips and pulled her nude body against him, enjoying the feel of her body pressed against him.

"I am claiming her for my share of the plunder, but there is plenty left for the rest of us."

"No gold?" Serris asked.

"I'm afraid not. There is likely silver in the pay chest, but no bullion for us. The captain says he is carrying dye and sugar. That will fetch a good price in port."

Serris shrugged. "I was hoping for bullion."

"There is still time yet."

"Then we had better not waste it. Put a prize crew aboard this vessel and let us continue west as soon as possible." Serris eyed the girl up and down, a mischievous smirk creeping across his worn face. "though we're not likely to find finer jewels than this one." He reached out and pinched the girl's nipples. Asara grimaced and turned her gaze away.

Bromm slid her backwards to stand next to him, clutching her close in a protective hug. "Put your men back aboard. We are leaving as soon as we can." Serris shrugged, cast a last look up and down the girl's bare body and then left.

"Caturn," Bromm called to one of the sea rats on the quarterdeck, "go through the cabin, find all the woman's clothing and jewelry and bring them to my cabin."

"Aye, captain," the scrawny man obeyed, throwing a long, lecherous look at Asara as he slid by her into the cabin. Bromm held the girl around her shoulders as the descended to the main deck where his first mate Topii waited.

"Topii, I am claiming this woman as my share of the plunder." Topii was the next to give Asara a look over, as did the crewmen present from all three ships. Bromm could tell that this was not the

Stallion

sailors' first look at their captain's concubine. "I will forfeit a share of the plunder as needed."

Topii nodded and made a note in his log. "What of the ship?" he asked, though distracted by the sight in front of him.

"Parash will lead the prize crew and wait for us in Torvuls. I don't mean to be much longer at sea. I will put the girl in my cabin and meet you at the helm to plan our next move."

Bromm threw a leg over the gunwale and grabbed on to one of the ropes. He beckoned to Asara and showed her how to descend as well. Then he pushed off and descended the tall hull back to

Horizon's

main deck. The crewmen aboard her were fascinated by the sight of a nude girl descending the ropes to their ship and dropped what they were doing to watch.

Bromm alit on the deck first and helped Asara off the rope behind him. The crewmen around him crowded in to look at her, her cheeks red with embarrassment as the pirates leered and jeered.

"I have taken this pretty little thing from the fluyt's captain," he declared, "she is to be my concubine, which means the lot of you can look but not touch!"

The crew broke out into a wild cheer for their captain and his new prize. Someone leapt down from the ropes and Bromm turned to see the quartermaster, Tyralf. The man peered out from under his unruly mop of blonde hair, readying his pen and ledger.

"You are claiming this wench for yourself?" he asked.

"I am, mark it down in your ledger." Bromm gave the quartermaster a wary look, conscious of the man's ogling. Tyralf slowly wrote a note in his book, all the while keeping his eyes fixed on Asara, who blanched and clung close to Bromm as her cheeks turned red.

"The whole crew participated in catching this prize," he said slowly, closing his book and putting the pen to his lips. "It only seems fair that the whole crew gets to share in the spoils." He stretched out his hand and touched her breast with the quill.

Bromm shifted her backwards protectively. "The crew will get their spoils in the form of silver, when we fence the cargo and sell the ship. Then they can use the money to buy their own women."

The men liked that. A raucous cheer went up among the crew as they began conferring about their favorite whores and whorehouses in port. But Tyralf was unconvinced.

"Silver will buy a girl for a night," he said quietly, nearly drowned out by the cheering pirates, "but these men will not earn enough to last more than a few nights. Certainly nothing like keeping this girl in your cabin, all to yourself."

Bromm's hand drifted down to his swordbelt.

"I've claimed her, she offered herself to me. Mark it in your ledger and get back to cataloguing our prize, Tyralf."

"Hmm," Tyralf said as he turned to go then stopped, "Seems to me that you're getting more than your share. You'll claim this girl for yourself and then some money to go along with her. Meanwhile the men will buy their whores and be penniless before we set out again. Once at sea, they'll be stuck watching as you take this little wench into your cabin every night and day."

Bromm stared at him hard. This was a triumph, but this scheming snake always had to turn good things into bad.

"What seems fair to me," the quartermaster continued, "is for the girl to become the crew's property. We can keep some entertainment on the ship instead of going into port every time a man gets his cock hard. No sense letting all that silver leave the crew."

Bromm did not like the thought of this girl getting passed among the hundred sailors on his crew. She was his concubine, whatever Tyralf wanted.

"Have you ever seen these men when a woman is involved?" he countered, putting on an amused air. "There would be a fight immediately and they would all be dead before the first man could finish. Then where would you and I be? Alone in the middle of the ocean with no crew and no plunder. Am I right, lads?" he said, turning to the watching sailors. They laughed and cheered, accompanied by much joking and accusing.

Bromm turned back to Tyralf. "The men know their limitations. They could not bring themselves to share a woman for a whole voyage."

Tyralf frowned. "Perhaps just among the officers, then," he said, reaching out towards Asara again.

"Oh, ho!" Bromm cheered as he swatted the man's grasping hand away, "He says share her among the officers! I wonder why that might be!" the sailors laughed again, and Tyralf scowled before turning back to the rope.

"But Tyralf is right about women lads," Bromm went on, "it costs a lot of money to keep you sea rats satisfied, so let's push off this old thing and go searching for a treasure galleon full of silver! See how many whores that will buy you!"

The men cheered and hollered, as Tyralf slunk away up the rope, pausing at the fluyt's gunwale to cast another lustful look at Asara, who lowered her gaze and shrank behind Bromm as much as she could.

"Make ready to sail, men!" Bromm commanded as the cheers died down. "There are still galleons out there, waiting to be taken!"

"Just like the fine ladies of Torvuls!" cheered the sailor Aichis. The others joined in on yet another cheer.

The crew slowly dispersed, taking their last looks, and Bromm led Asara into his cabin. He closed the door behind them and gestured for her to lie down on the bed. She obeyed, and he stood for a moment, admiring. She was a beauty, even more so now, in his bed. She crossed her white legs to guard her shaven sex from his gaze and lay on her side, looking to him. Bromm stroked his cock through his breeches, thinking of what a blessing he had been given by Nystra, Goddess of Tits and Wine. In this moment, with his blood and his cock up, he would not trade the naked girl before him for a galleon full of gold.

"Do you wish to join me, Master?" she asked sweetly from the bed, her finger idly drawing a circle on the fine linen sheet. The others would be waiting for him, he knew. He could hear boots on the quarterdeck, which would be the helmsman and others preparing to choose a new heading. He saw their shadows pass over the cabin's skylight.

Asara rolled onto her back, keeping her legs closed, and looked up through the skylight. She lay perfectly framed by the quartered square of morning sunlight, like a ship's cat resting in the sun. Her soft white flesh glowed in the sunlight as if she were an angel or the Goddess of Pleasure herself. The small gold rings in her nipples flashed as she shifted her body on the bed.

"Does the sight of me please you, Master?" she asked lazily, and Bromm had his breeches off in an instant. He shed his coat and hat as he moved to the bed, where she took him in her hands and began to suck his cock. Bromm leaned over her, putting a hand on her soft breasts and another between her legs, where he began to work her womanhood with his fingers. Asara moaned in pleasure as she sucked him, running her long tongue down the shaft of his cock and over his balls.

Soon, Bromm could take it no longer and climbed atop her. Sliding his cock inside her shaven sex, he wrapped her in his arms and locked his lips with hers. The girl moaned as he took her with long, passionate strokes inside her warm and welcoming purse. Bromm was building a rhythm to his fucking when they were rudely interrupted.

The door to the cabin pushed open and in walked Caturn, a messy pile of women's clothing in his arms. He stood in the doorway for a moment, transfixed by the sight before him. Bromm, all too aware that Caturn had found him in the same position he himself had found Jannek in earlier, looked down to his sword belt on the deck. Caturn dumped the pile of clothes on the deck by the door and leaned against the wall to watch.

"Pretty girl you've got there, Captain," he drawled through his yellow teeth. Bromm made no reply except to raise himself up to a sitting position and keep thrusting. Each time his hips slapped against her body, the movement sent waves through her soft breasts, and the sea rat nodded in appreciation. Asara, exposed now that Bromm no longer lay atop her, put an arm over her breasts to stop their undulation and to cover them from Caturn's gaze. Bromm reached down and moved it such that it kept her breasts exposed, though he allowed her to steady them.

Bromm locked gazes with Caturn, never breaking rhythm with his thrusts.

"You need something else, sea rat?" he asked coldly.

"No, Captain. Just admiring the sights."

"Move along. This is a girl too fine for the likes of you. Keep your hands and your cock to yourself or I'll keelhaul you and send what's left to Tarnilaen."

Caturn scowled and stood up from the wall. Looking into his ugly, greasy face as he has made Bromm fear he would lose the stiffness in his cock. A stiffness which the sea rat had found for himself, going by the rise in his breeches.

"Aye, aye, Captain," the man grumbled as he slowly made his way to the door. He left it wide open as he shuffled out onto the deck, so Bromm threw an abandoned boot at it, knocking it shut.

"Now it's just us again," Asara said, running a pale, delicate hand down his chest. Bromm smiled at her and she smiled back. She giggled in delight as her breath quickened with his strokes.

From above, a shadow fell across her bare body, and they both looked up, through the skylight. On the deck above, sailors had gathered around the skylight to gaze upon Asara's naked body in action. When they saw they had been noticed, some of the men looked away guiltily, but others smiled at the captain and gave their signs of approval. Tyralf gave Bromm a mocking salute.

As much as their leering annoyed him, Bromm had to admit to himself that he enjoyed their presence. He could see the envy in their faces, and that drove him to fuck the girl even harder. His thrusting quickened, the rhythmic slap of his thighs on hers echoing through the little cabin as she squealed in mounting delight.

While he fucked her, he could see her sneaking looks at the men watching from above. She even threw one of them a sultry wink. Bromm felt himself overcome with jealousy and grasped her by the throat. She moaned with pleasure and bit her lower lip. Bromm looked up at his audience and gestured rudely. Then he wrapped his other hand around her neck as if to say "she is mine."