Characters in this story are all over 18. There are no minors in any sexual situations implied or described. This is a futanari tale set in contemporary times. It may be difficult to keep up with the story without reading from the beginning.
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The smooth hull of the floating yacht gleamed in mid-morning splendor. We called everyone to come see it. Eddie squinted and rubbed his eyes. Eli and Karina came out of the shack and also looked up at it.
"Oh, wow!" Karina gasped in wonder. "It's gorgeous!"
"Is that a boat floating up there above my house?" Eli murmured.
"Sure is!" Irina said. "All done and ready to set sail - err, fly!"
"It's not ready," Morgana stated. "It still needs a name."
"Starlit Dream!" Irina blurted.
We paused, many an arched eyebrow turned her way.
"What? It's a pretty name for a pretty boat!" Irina said.
"Perhaps, but doesn't it feel like someone has used it before?" I asked as tactfully as I could.
"You don't like it?" Irina asked.
"Well, not that much, I guess," Karina said. "I think we need something more suitable for a ship on a quest."
We discussed it for a bit, and finally settled on the name Ray of Dawn, which had also been Irina's idea, and sounded even more familiar.
"We would have to go with the Love Boat if we wanted anything
less
original," Lucille teased. "I love it though. Ray of Dawn. Bam!"
"You know what they say," Morgana mused, "Nothing new under the sun."
"Even if it isn't original, I like the imagery," Irina explained. "A light breaking upon the world, striking into every shadow."
"Well said, my lady," said Denny. We all agreed we were happy with the name and besides, we wanted to board the ship and look around.
"So, is that official?" I asked. "Is someone going to hocus pocus the name onto the hull somewhere?"
"Allow me," Morgana said with a wave of her arm. 'Ray of Dawn' appeared in beautiful embossed script on the ship's aft. "All set!"
"That's not how you make it official," Lucille pointed out. "We need a bottle of champagne so that we can actually christen the ship."
Morgana smirked, amused by Lucille's attachment with old naval tradition, but Irina played along cheerfully. "Alright! Champagne, no problem!" the perky blonde said, conjuring a bottle of bubbly out of thin air. "Hurry up! Let's do this!"
Both Lucille and Morgana were surprised by her conjuring champagne so adroitly. The raven-haired head witch gestured to the ship's bow.
"Irina, you came up with the bottle and the name. Please do the honors!"
"Why, certainly!" She flew up and away from the boat, then turned and zoomed toward the bow. She spun, letting go at precisely the right time and flinging the bottle against the pearly hull with an athletic twist. The bottle exploded on contact, the pressurized contents and green glass shards rained down on the forest below.
"I christen this ship the Ray of Dawn! Come on everyone, check it out!"
I sighed, my heart swelling with admiration for the girl.
The vessel was hovering at least a hundred feet off the ground, so we used a mass levitation spell to get our luggage and our non-flyers up to the top deck, including Eddie, for a little tour.
The coven consisted of Morgana, Lucille, Irina, Karina, myself, and Erica. We also had four Faroldian knights: Denny, Gaff, Bellevon, and Stu. Eli was not a knight, but he fell right in as one of our guardians and he was very handy with a gun. If that was our ship's manifest, then I kept a few demonic stowaways. Zurknod was a tiny homunculus, he knew how to stay out of sight and was often invisible. I knew he was eavesdropping on us constantly but at least he appeared when called. He had a Hornunckthulide, a tentacle fiend capable of laying eggs in people which would hatch individual mutant tentacles, of which some forty or so were lurking in a pocket dimension under Zurknod's control. Also dwelling in that dimension were four succubi: Twin sisters Rak'hel and Rashiva, Shay, and Mimi.
Morgana, Irina, and Lucille led us on a tour of the yacht, starting with the top deck. The yacht was sleek, colored pearl white, with gold high-traction matting on the top walkways and decking. The aft and fore were fairly streamlined and unfurnished, they were designed with aerodynamics in mind. There were no rails nor flag.
The lower deck separated fore and aft deck, being about four feet lower than the latter. It was fifty feet long all together, ringed by large windows. A thick door capable of pressurization was the boat's only entrance. It reminded me of a door on a jumbo jet. Descending a few stairs, we entered a spacious dining area lined with tinted windows and nautical blue curtains. There was a tiny galley off to the side of the dining room, perfect for whipping up a meal or baking or brewing magic cookies and potions. However, we ended up calling that galley the kitchen, and calling the entire dining area the galley instead.
We looked around and got acquainted with the folding tables and seats, the pantry, and also the stowing compartments for weapons and cookies. We took a moment to stow the cookies we had brought with us in the neat little cubby holes provided specifically for magical cookies.
Then lovely Lucille led us into the helm, which had a gorgeous wraparound windshield. The control console sported a few small flat screen monitors, very few instruments and switches, and some nautical accents. Instead of a steering wheel, the console featured a pure white globe at its center. This was the pilot's interface: magical intuitive flight controls. There was also a lever with an "On" and "Off" marking, and below it was a placard that read "Stealth Mode."
After showing everything to us, the tour said that the berthing was next, and started to head back to the galley.
"Dare I inquire of the parachutes?" Denny asked.
"Mm, as in do we have them? No, but the ship won't crash. It's safe and all automatic!" Irina chirped. "It gets its lift from four levitation spheres which are all attached to steel ribs in the hull and linked to this white control sphere here in the center console. It also flies intelligently, and it can fly inverted, so-"
"My lady, your confidence is admirable but misplaced," Denny interrupted. "We are going to be contending against the most potent of magical foes. Her magic can defeat our magic. Were the Tranquil Adept to target the 'levitation spheres,' the ship would start to plummet like a cannon ball dropped from a rampart. We non-flyers would surely consider the extreme utility of a parachute a vital precaution."
"You're right," she admitted. "I think."
"You know so, my sweet," he said. She smiled, because she loved when he called her that.
"What did he say?" Lucille whispered to me, nudging me with her elbow to let me know she was just kidding.
"We can add anything you need," Morgana assured him. "This was just the beginning, the combined efforts of just the three of us."
We all agreed it was very impressive helm and galley so far, and naturally it made sense that with a little magic, we could implement any good suggestions right away. We did not leave to tour the living quarters until we had conjured up parachutes and stowing compartments. Whenever the coven used magic, it made me think of sex.
"Ah, I wish I could make it permanent," Morgana muttered.
"What?" Karina asked.
Morgana took a step closer to Karina and lowered her voice. "I can give the knights the power of flight. However, it would wear off after a few minutes, making it very dangerous. To make it permanent, I would need to cast an eighth tier spell."
"Oh," Karina said.
"I take it the levitate spheres are different?" I asked.