Kal and Roka stepped back, and the other crew members rushed forward to retie for the second lift. Above them, Ratt and Kashka began moving the upper pulley out to the ends of the yardarms.
"This seems like a lot to go through if there is an emergency on board," said Kal as he looked over the ship's rail to see at Emru's entire body for the first time. He had no idea fish could get so enormous. Nor had he seen a fish with a sideways tail before apart from the ship's resident mermaid.
Emru floated to the surface, and a blast of air erupted from the two side-by-side holes on the top of her body, reminding him that she breathed air and wasn't a fish, despite looking like one. He frowned as he remembered Kashka and Naivoo's description of Emru as a 'gentle giant.' It didn't fit the sleek form below. That felt strange to say about such a massive creature, but he felt like a couple of flicks of Emru's giant tail could have her flying through the water.
Up near the whale's head swam the mermaid near a metal contraption with a lever on the side attached to the end of the rope. The device's other end held onto a large loop of rope that ran down and around Emru's mouth
Roka stepped up next to him. "In an emergency, everyone lifts the boat's outer side, and we shove some planks under it and brace them on the rail. Then we push it over and into the water as if our lives depend on it. Which they probably do at that point. But launching such a heavy boat like that is hard on the wood, and a longboat that shatters and sinks when it hits the water isn't much use, so we do things the slow way any other time."
Kal pointed at the buckle. "What's that?"
"The lever releases the rope around Emru. We tried just using loops, but the knots became too tight for Hali to untie," she explained. "Emru didn't like being attached to the ship if she ever needed to escape, and Red didn't like the damage she might do to The Bitch if that ever happened. With that thing on the rope's end, no matter how hard Emru pulls, Hali can release her with a tug on that lever. Tavorah designed it and made the first out of wood here on the ship, but it fell apart on its first use. A Calferan blacksmith made that one."
"What do you do when Emru isn't with you?"
"The same thing, just with the entire crew on the other end of the rope."
"Why not do that instead?"
"Because the rest of the crew can be doing other things besides hauling on a rope, and Emru wants to help. She sees us as her best and safest chance at a child and wants to give something back in return."
"Safest? Helping you dodge and outrun pirates is her safest option?"
The other crew finished readying the longboat for the second lift. Roka waved Kal over into his previous position at its side. "She thinks so, and we appreciate the help." The First Mate pointed up. "When Emru lifts the boat, the pulley's position will make it swing out and over the rail. We need to steady the longboat and make sure it doesn't slam into the ship's side. Watch out for those planks," she said, pointing at the pieces of wood propped up between the longboat and the rail. "They're to protect the rail and will flip up as the boat swings out."
Kal nodded in understanding, and Roka shouted for Emru to pull again. The smaller vessel slid up the planks and over the rail just as Roka explained. The planks dropped into the water below as Kal and Roka strained to maintain control of the longboat when it swung free of the ship. At the first mate's command, Emru stopped swimming and let the rope drag her backward. The whale's mass and the water's drag on her body acted as a counterweight to slowly lower the boat into the water.
As Kal watched the longboat slowly descend, large hands grabbed his waist. The mage shouted and flailed his arms as Roka picked him up and held him over her head. "Since you are so interested in Tavorah's contraption, you should help Hali unhook Emru," she said before stepping forward and pitching Kal over the rail. Her enhanced strength ensured he would splash down well clear of the longboat, but Kal instinctively activated the featherfall rune. He soon realized it would only carry him further from the ship and make the swim back longer. He had the flight rune pressed against his back, but the mage still didn't want to reveal he could fly without good reason. Using his cloak, Kal spun around and made a rude gesture at Roka before canceling the featherfall spell and dropping into the water.
The mage surfaced to see the bovine woman's head thrown back in a full-throated laugh. "That makes us even for yesterday, and I'll take that as a promise on my next turn!" she shouted. Roka continued laughing until a very excited Naivoo ran up to her. Kal was too far away to hear their exchange, but moments later, Roka picked up the squid-girl and launched her out into the water as well.
The squid-woman's body seemed to unravel. Her mantle stood straight up from the top of her head, and the fins on either side flapped like sad little wings. Her arms and legs untwisted into their individual tentacles, then flattened and curled backward to catch more air as she attempted to glide. Finally, she used her ability to shoot water jets from her tentacles' tips to get even more distance.
"Wheeeeee!" Naivoo screeched before dropping headfirst into the water just short of him. Kal was astonished at how far she flew without the help of a featherfall spell.
The squid-girl jetted toward him underwater and wrapped a 'hand' tentacle around his arms before towing the mage toward Hali and Emru. Despite her ability to let Kal breathe underwater when they touched, Naivoo made sure his head stayed above water as they swam. Halfway to Hali, another happy shriek echoed off the ship's side as Roka sent the otter-girl sailing through the air.
Naivoo used two tentacles to hold Kal and two more to propel them through the water. Another two slipped beneath the belt of his trousers and wrapped around his cock. The tiny suckers at the tentacles' tips felt dozens of tiny kisses along his shaft. She only got the mage half-hard in the short trip to the mermaid and whale, but after this morning, it was enough to make him groan in frustration as her tentacles slipped out of his pants and formed back into human-looking arms. Without a word of explanation, Naivoo released him and jetted back toward the ship. Kal watched her for a few more seconds as the suckers that were so gentle with his cock let the squid-girl effortlessly crawl up the side of the ship and onto the deck.
"Aren't human men supposed to bring gifts when they visit a woman?" asked the mermaid. Swimming in front of him, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her bare chest against the mage.
Hali's breasts were smaller than average for monster girls, and she lamented not having more to offer him during their tryst earlier that week. Though small, they were extremely sensitive, and Kal thoroughly enjoyed lavishing attention on them to show he didn't care how big they were.
When they returned to the ship later, she explained most mermaids were small-chested like her. Kal asked the mermaid if her race's propensity for small chests was natural or if there was a specific reason. Hali spent the next couple of hours giving him a rough account of her race's early history.
Like elves, merfolk predated monster girls, and Prentas's spell proved disastrous to them. Merfolk had an unusually high number of males in their population compared to most other races, with only a quarter of eggs hatching into females. This worked out in the past because the sea was a dangerous place, and it wasn't uncommon to lose several men a year while out hunting or defending the village. Within a decade of the monster girl's appearance, their male-centric society found itself without sufficient hunters or defenders, and no more eggs had been laid to replace the men's waning numbers.
Before this time, the women were the gatherers, farmers, and child-rearers. As they took on more of the mermen's roles, it quickly became apparent that larger breasts males preferred offered no advantage when hunting for food or defending their underwater villages from predators. The sleekness of smaller-chested mermaids made them faster swimmers and more nimble in the water. While all of the merwomen took up the defense of their villages, large-breasted merwomen generally continued as farmers and child rearers, while those less endowed became the village's hunters.
The hunting patrols were the first to encounter fishermen and discover their newfound attraction toward human men.
Instead of laying eggs and covering them with the male's seed like a fish, merfolk had sex to produce offspring. When a mermaid felt the urge to have children, she and her suitor would find a quiet place to couple. There was no thrashing or thrusting that could attract predators searching for an easy meal. Sex for them involved as little movement as possible.
