On Ticklish Tides, Part 2:

On Ticklish Tides, Part 2:

“You must truly be desperate to ask me for help.”

Shiro Shirogane wore the robes she had worn when she had been captured, though the crew had neglected to return her bamboo and leather armour nor her blade. She had only just been granted parole and somewhat free rein around the castle after a month on board. A short chain that went across her ankles hindered her ability to move quicker than a brisk walk due to the small strides she had to make, but it was better than being nothing but the crew’s entertainment.

“Well, it occurred to me that in order to prove myself as capable of taking up the mantle of Captain of War, I should do some, you know, warring. And among us, you should know a fair bit about this.” Li pointed to herself and Hana. “Are you willing to help us?”

“And why should I do that?”

“It’s better than scrubbing pots and pans?” Hana said. The fisherman’s daughter looked disgusted, her tanned face wrinkling in distaste. “You were a legend in our village, Shiro, one of the best with a sword in the whole district. Are you really happy sitting here, getting soft?”

Shiro’s nostrils flared. “You make it sound like I have a choice, Hana.”

“Wait, you know me?”

“Shut up, fisherman girl.” The samurai seemed flustered by her own acknowledgment of the other girl's existence in the village.

“But here’s the thing, Shiro,” Li said. “You do have a choice. If I convince the Captains that you’ve reformed, I don’t see why they would have any problem unleashing you on our foes.”

“And who might those foes be, then?” Shiro demanded.

Li knew she was stepping on rotten ice. “A small tribe of the coast of South Korea. I wouldn’t ask you to attack your own people. I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“What do you say, Shiro?” Hana asked. “There’s honour in this, honour in good service.”

Li could see Shiro mulling over it—the samurai was chewing on her lower lip and she kept reaching down towards her hip as if to caress a blade that wasn’t there anymore. She nodded.

“I want you to pledge yourself to me. Swear you won’t try to kill, swear to protect me like you did your lord, and I’ll strike those irons from you.”

“I want my sword back.” When Li nodded, Shiro said, “My family must think I’m dead. Maybe it’ll do better for them to believe that. They would be disgraced if they knew the truth of my gender had become known… I pledge myself to your cause, Princess.” She knelt.

“Glad to have you.”

In the next few days, Li went about gathering swords and sailors till they filled a small boat with a dozen able warriors, not including Li and Hana. Shiro seemed more at ease here, and she had even cracked a small smile when a short sword was given to her, though she reminded Li wanted her katana back.

However, once they set off and landed on the sands and stones off the coast of South Korea, they faced an obstacle they hadn’t quite intended.

“Greetings,” Captain Kyra said, perched on tree stump. “How nice to see you, princess.” She had two dozen armed fighters at her back. Some of them were her friends from the ship, but about half of them Li didn’t recognise—mercenaries, perhaps? Most of them were men, and they gave Li and her smaller band a look that was far from hospitable.

“What’s going on?” Li said, her eyes darting to the strangers and then to the Captain of Commerce. “What are you doing here?”

“Relieving you of duty,” Kyra said. “All of you following her, come with me. With our combined forced, we’ll sweep other these Koreans with ease.”

Li’s people looked at each other with uncertainly in their eyes. Some of them took a step forward, but most of them seemed unwilling to commit to any action.

“I’m your captain, and I’m giving you an order,” Kyra said in a voice that was all sweetness. “no harm will befall our dear Princess.” Her voice turned hard. “Move. Now. Or I’ll you cut you down and dub you mutineers.”

At that, Li’s crew shuffled past her, some of them murmuring apologies while others were unwilling to meet her gaze. The only ones remained by her side were Hana and Shiro.

“I think you know what happens next, don’t you?” Kyra said.

“I have a notion,” Li said with a sigh. She felt the light brown sand on her soles where her sandals had let some of it creep in.

“You will not harm the princess,” Shiro said, preparing to draw her steel, but Li stopped her. The last thing Li wanted was to turn this into a bloodbath, especially when they were guaranteed to lose.

“Who says I plan on harming her? We’ll just have a little conversation. You’re new to the ship, but trust me, we’ll be kind and educate you on such matters.”

“It’s not worth it, Shiro,” Li said. “Don’t bother. We only fight battles we can win.”

“Then you should never fight a battle again in your life,” Kyra said, smiling a cold, thin smile.

O-O-O

Captain Kyra and half a dozen others remained by the boats while the rest of the fighters went to pillage and loot. It wasn’t bad enough that Kyra had stolen Li’s plan, but she would be stealing all the glory and spoils as well, Li did not doubt.

And there was her current predicament to consider as well. True to her word, Kyra did not harm any of them—but Li and her two loyal companions had their footwear stripped away, and they were buried deep in the sand so that only their bare feet and necks remained free to move.

Kyra sat in front of Li’s scrunched up feet with a pair of white and grey seagull feathers in her hand, and she was flanked by the two tanned twins Li remembered from before—it seemed they were her two favourite subordinates, at least when it came to the fine art of tickle torture. They had been the ones who had tormented Christina and Sapphire that time. One sat by Shiro’s long feet, eyeing the tops, while the other sat by Hana’s bronzed ones, pouting that she had landed the girl who looked to have the least ticklish feet. The remaining guards stood watch, ready to alert them if something demanded the Captain of Commerce’s attention, but till then, all attention would be focused on the wiggling feet in the sand, Li knew.

All three of the ticklers had feathers in their hands, and all three of the buried girls gasped as the first touch of those light bristles.

The news had spread like wildfire that the haughty samurai was highly sensitive on the tops of the feet, so the twin tickling Shiro focused her efforts by gliding her feather along the outer edge of the sole where the more tanned skin of the top of her foot met the paler soles. Shiro’s long feet pointed and wiggled to try to avoid the wisps of the feather, but in this sandy prison there was simply nowhere to go to escape the strokes along her ankles and the sides of her feet. The feather proved less effective on the bottoms of her feet, so the pirate discarded the second feather to scratch up and down with her fingers. Opting for a two-sided attack, she would always tickle one foot at a time, teasing the heels and arches with her fingers while the feather harassing the tops did the main brunt of the ticklish damage.

Hana’s bronzed feet were too tough for the feathers to work, but the twin made up for the deficiency in softness by scratching her nails all over the soles. When that proved to not be all that effective, she opted for a new strategy—she began digging into the sand that had buried the fishing girl till the shoulders, chest and a large part of her toned stomach were visible. Because of how Hana’s arms had been spread out when she was buried, they remained entombed by sand to prevent escape. They had naturally stripped all three girls of clothing before burying them (“wouldn’t want to get them dirty”, Kyra had said), so the pirate tormenting Hana was using her dual-wielding feathers to flick all over the exposed, nude torso. She danced those feathers all over her stomach and ribs, paying particular attention to the navel, which perennially had a feather twisting within it. The breasts were not left out, either, and the cleavage between them also proved receptive to feathers darting around there.

“You know, Princess,” Kyra said, grinning, “it’s a sad fact that most people aren’t that feather-sensitive on their feet. It’s just too light, too ethereal a sensation to garner much of a response. You’re not one of those people, are you? Oh, I can’t wait to see how you handle these feathers… isn’t it just my good fortune to stumble across these as I waited for you?”

When the tip of the soft feather licked its way up her heel to the toes, Li found herself tossing her head back as laughter spilled from her pursed lips. She scrunched up her toes, but the Captain of Commerce knew exactly what to do about that. Kyra alternating whipping the feathers all around the Chinese girl’s small, clenched toes and up and down the wrinkled arches until it rapidly got too much to hold them tense, and the toes splayed open just in time for the feathers to weave under and between them. The sides of Li’s feet always proved surprisingly vulnerable to the light flitter of the feathers.

“I could tickle these tootsies of yours for hours, Princess…” Kyra said. “I might well do so, if our comrades take too long to return. Say, have you considering throwing your support behind my dear friend Tink? She would make a fine Captain.”

Li shook her head, and Kyra smirked and began to pry and poke around her toes, using one hand to pull back two at a time so her other hand could guide the feather around, under, and between Li’s terribly sensitive digits.

“Maybe,” Kyra said, her face still and emotionless, “if your toes spend some more time with the feather, then that will change your mind. Let's see.”

O-O-O

“I bring poor news.” Captain Ruby’s face was twisted in anger, wrinkling her forehead and cheeks so she suddenly looked ten years older. “We’ve lost another irreplaceable member of our fine crew.”

The rest of the dining hall was silent as Ruby stalked up and down, the eyes of every person on her. Li noticed Captain Kyra was sitting right in the back, and the Captain of Commerce was surrounded by her cohorts. They had stoic faces as they watched Ruby.

“Clem went into town to sell her wares a few days ago,” Ruby said in a loud voice, tinged with anger. “It was a routine thing—selling dyes and fabrics. She did not break any laws. But once she got there, the local authorities arrested her for piracy. They knew she was one of us.” Unspoken was the suspicion that someone had informed on Clem, that someone had betrayed her, Li understood. It was no surprise many of Ruby’s angry looks were directed towards Captain Kyra.

A murmur of conversation swept the hall as the pirates considered these words. Li heard mutters of discontent, or derision towards Ruby, and of suspicions that Kyra had wanted to eliminate a rival. Was a mutiny coming? Li wouldn’t have thought it possible, but it seemed Captain Natasha’s disappearances had changed everything, had upset the delicate balance that kept the ship running smoothly.

“My fellow captain,” Kyra finally spoke from across her hall. “It grieves me to hear that we’ve lost such a valuable member of the crew.”

“To be sure,” Ruby said, in a scornful voice. “And coincidentally, your woman Tink is now the more valuable craftsman on-board. Funny how that works, no?”

“I had nothing to do with this. I’d wager it was that Japanese warlord that we slighted—the one who took Natasha.”

“My lord is dead,” Shiro said in a quiet voice. “His wound was fatal. But he had a sister who had more cruelty in her little finger than he could ever muster. I’d bet my right arm this is her work. She was known to dally with the jailors and torturers.”

“Natasha would never betray us,” Ruby shouted back.

“Never? Even if she were tortured for days? It doesn’t matter what’s it made of, but a rope pulled and wormed at for days and days will snap.”

“What now? Do we plot rescue?” someone shouted from behind Li’s table. A hundred other voices suddenly made their opinions loudly known as the crew began to argue among themselves over what was the appropriate course of action to take.

All in all, Li found it difficult to have too much sympathy for Clem, who must be enjoying some well-deserved time in the local stockades by now. Li’s feet still tingled from the buried sand suffering she had endured under Captain’s Kyra’s hands, and she considered what had happened to her as nothing but a rank betrayal as well—taken away from her were her planned raid, her recruits, her spoils of conquest, and of course, her glory. The cracked pride of being humiliated by a rival was another factor as well.

She tried to imagine it, imagine the woman with the multi-coloured hair predicament she must be in. Li pictured an elevated wooden platform in the very centre of the town. Clem’s paint-stained hands would be bound behind her back and her legs would be fitted into a set of wooden and steel stocks, with her comely head in a large hole while the two smaller ones below contained her bare feet. They would likely strip her of her colourful raiment and leave her naked, too, in order to emphasise the shamefulness of her crime. A sign in front of the feet would enthusiastically encourage all townsfolk to tickle torture the criminal for her transgressions.

Before long, Clem’s feet would be very pink from being constantly tickled by every passer-by that strolled past. Some of them might only give her a quick scratch along her feet as they walked past to make her squeal, but some of them would sit down and really make her scream, particularly the youngsters with a lot of free time on their hands, the shop owners on a slow business day, or the old folk with little to do to occupy themselves.

Maybe a restaurant owned would come over with a set of dining tools in hand, and he would use fork and spoon to stroke along her arches and the ball of her feet, while Clem could do naught but twitch. Maybe a pair of rambunctious teenagers would decide they wanted a literal taste of her pale, pretty feet, and a pair of long, pink tongues would lap and lick all over her soles and toes. Clem’s flamboyant hair would fly back and forth as the tickling got more and more intense. Maybe her laughter would be so loud it would bring more and more people to the stockade till she was tickled nonstop for hours.

Doubtless, the Alchemist’s fate would be something similar, Li thought. It put a smile on her face.

O-O-O

“How do you know me?” Hana asked as Li paced back and forth along the corridor outside Captain Ruby’s cabin. “You called me the fishing girl.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Shiro said. She leaned against the wall with one hand resting on the hilt of her short sword. From the way she stroked the rough handle, Li could tell she would much rather have had her katana at her side. “It’s stupid.”

“Then why can’t you tell me?” Hana insisted.

“Fine,” Shiro said with a sigh. “Some of the others in the village kept away from you because you were smelly and helped catch fish, so you were always alone. I guess I could empathise. Many swordsmen of my own rank would invite me out to drinks or celebrations, but I would always have to decline because I was afraid I might… well, give myself away.”

“That’s the only reason?” Hana sounded disappointed.

Shiro shrugged. “And I considered marrying you. I’d have to do it for appearances’ sake if nothing more, and you didn’t seem the type to blab about my secret if I told you not to.”

“Really?” Hana’s voice had a light, playful quality that Li had never heard in it before. “Even if they tied me up and tickled me really bad?”

That made Shiro chuckle. “Well, you’re lucky enough to not have feet as ticklish as mine.” She frowned. “Some samurai I turned out to be.”

Hana put a hand on Shiro’s shoulder. “You make it sound like your life is over. It’s not. There’s always another day, always another chance to catch a big one.”

Indeed there is, Li thought as the door to Ruby’s cabin swung open.

“What do you want?” Ruby shouted. The rest of the meeting went about as well as could be expected with such an inauspicious beginning. The Captain of Intrigues took the offer of cooperation to save Clem with ill grace, roaring, “I don’t need your damn help. I’ll do it myself.”

The meeting with Captain Kyra went equally poorly. “We can replace her,” Kyra had declared with the air of a callous boss dismissing an old servant with nary a concern. “In fact, I believe Tink will be more than able for the task.”

“What now?” Hana asked after their latest balking.

“What now?” Li repeated in a slow, uncertain voice. “Well…”

“May I offer a suggestion?” Shiro asked. “The solution to me is simple—when your foes serve you fire and steel, you serve them the same. Such is the way of war. The same principles apply here, don’t they?”

A smile crept across Li’s face. She wondered what it said about her, what about her had changed so drastically during her time on board this ship that what came to mind when she said those words was that particular method of torment. “When you put it that way, they do indeed… Let’s go ‘persuade’ us some captains."

O-O-O

Tink? What do you have for me? Your note was most intriguing.” Captain Kyra’s voice was light and relaxed, just the way Li was hoping as they waited in ambush for the Captain of Commerce.

Kyra pushed open the door to Tink’s workshop to find the spectacled mechanical genius in one of her very own devices. It was a wooden and metal frame in the shape of an X. Tink’s grease-stained overalls were removed from her, and the only article of clothing she retained were her grimy undergarments and her spectacles, which were tied around the back of her head with a leather strap.

As Kyra gasped and looked prepared to scream for help, Li was waiting with a flintlock pistol aimed at the redheaded captain’s temple. “None of that, please.”

The two guards that always followed Kyra were similarly pacified. Shiro put her blade at the throat of one of them, and Hana shakily aimed her gun at the other. Li was sorely grateful that the guards surrendered meekly enough once it was clear a ticklish fate awaited the captain, not a more eternal one, for Hana’s nervous hands did not inspire much confidence in a firefight.

There were a variety of other bondage apparatuses available in Tink’s workshop, but Li thought it would be amusing to see if the X-frame could support two. So, a grumbling and sour-faced Kyra was similarly stripped down to her smallclothes, and then piled on top of a squirming and complaining Tink. To two of them were face to face, like they were lovers, and Li was amused by how undignified the position made the two proud women look.

“Apologies, Captain,” Tink mumbled. “My guard was down. I let them jump me. They made me write that note.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Kyra said, groaning, “I always thought there was a possibility two of us would end up so close together at some point, albeit never quite like this.”

“You two sound far too chatty,” Li said in a loud voice to interrupt their quiet conversation. “Not sure I like that. You really should be laughing and squealing and squeaking in your position.”

“Can’t we just skip all the tickle torture?” Kyra said. “Tell me what you want, and I’ll give it to you.”

“What if I wanted to tickle you? What then?”

“Then, I’d be doomed.”

Li smiled. “But that’s not all I want. Your tinkerer has some weapon designs squirreled away somewhere. All I need is your blessing, and I’m sure she’ll bestow them to me.”

“You can have them!” Tink yelped. “They’re in my safe! The code is 1-2-8.”

“Checks out, boss,” Hana said as she pulled open the heavy bronze safe in the corner of the room.

“Well, I thank you for your cooperation,” Li said, though she didn’t sound very thankful. “But there’s no substitution for a good bit of ticklish vengeance. And I’m afraid you two owe me and then some.”

Kyra sighed. “You had a good try, my dear.” Both women flinched as the first attack made its mark. On the X-frame, their ankles had been paired together and tied down, so Tink’s right foot was bound to Kyra’s left and vice versa, and they were both wrapped in rope and lashed to the leg of the frame.

It was a strange picture to look upon, like one of those sights that just looked awry. The two feet beside each other looked so different. Kyra’s was longer and slenderer with black painted toenails and pointed down at the creaky brown floor, while the other, Tink’s, was paler and chunkier and it pointed up towards the wooden ceiling. Li used her index finger to go from the browner foot to the pale one, circuiting both soles as she went from foot to foot, up and down. It was amusing how they seemed to have different reactions to the tickling. Kyra’s feet seemed to have her combative nature, and they squirmed and wiggled and flexed as far as the rope around her ankles would allow. Tink’s feet were more sedentary, perhaps reflecting her keen precise mind. They quivered in place, but they rarely moved in response to the teasing touches. If you were just looking at the feet, one might conclude the pampered, polished feet of Captain Kyra were more sensitive, but Tink was the one who seemed to be laughing more, though Kyra’s high-pitched squeals punctuated the laughter frequently. Before long, both sets of her feet were significantly pinker than they had been.

Having disarmed and sent Kyra’s guards scurrying, Hana and Shiro were free to contribute as well, as from Hana's grins and eager movements, she was clearly relishing being on the delivering end of the tickling for once.

Hana went to where both women had their armpits stretched and exposed by the X-frame. Similar to the feet, Kyra’s right armpit was right next to Tink’s left one and vice versa, so they were both within easy access. Hana would tickle both of them in the same way to see if they had different reactions, but sometimes she would decide to be a bit unfair and devote all ten of her fingernails to scrabbling into one woman’s helpless underarm.

Shiro did the same thing on the other side, as Li had claimed ownership of both pirates’ feet. Her tough hands were more measured and elegant, alternating from slow, steady stroking to rapid fire poking—her tickling style was very similar to the one she adopted for combat, for she understood that using the same rhythmic approach again and again was not always truly effective. You had to mix it up, and you had to never let your foe get used to what you were doing and be able to predict your next strike. She was muttering and looking bored at first, but the samurai soon began to smile and even mutter comments under her breath like "tickle, tickle, tickle..." that indicated the stoic warrior was starting to get into the mindset of tickler.

After a while, Li allowed her comrades to rotate so she could have a shot at Kyra and Tink’s armpits, and Hana and Shiro could have some fun with the helpless feet. Li lamented that her captives’ navels were inaccessible, but at least she could still prod and poke along the sides and ribs.

It soon became too tempting to ignore the arsenal of tools stockpiled in Tink’s workshop, and all three women equipped themselves with silver pins attached to a handle.

“What are these?” Li asked, genuinely curious. She gave the metal pinpricks a spin. “These things seem too sharp for tickling.”

“Wartenberg wheels,” Tink said, panting for breath. Her dirty blonde hair was fast becoming disheveled, and she spat out a lock of hair that had gotten in her mouth. “A medical practice from the west. It’s used to test nerve reactions. I thought it might have tickling applications.”

“Well, we will have to see if you’re right, won’t we?” Li said.

“Gah, can’t we talk about this?” Kyra said in a hard, hoarse voice. From her bound position on her belly, when she looked up, her dark shrouded her face like a veil. “You’ve had your fun, now let’s put an end to this. I have things to do.”

“We can’t leave until we’ve finished testing these out, surely. Wouldn’t you agree, ladies?” Li glanced at Hana and Shiro, and she was pleased that her two allies knew to chime in with an enthusiastic “yes!” at this point.

As the cool metal tines rolled down Kyra’s soft and pampered foot, Li was not disappointed by the shivering, gasping reaction it ripped from the haughty Captain. She also wouldn’t have thought that such a device would be all that effective on armpits and sides, but from the twisting, twitchy reactions Li and Shiro were garnering from their experimentations up there, it proven to work there as well, though the pink dimples it left in the skin were a little concerning.

Then again, a bit of blushed flesh was nothing to worry about, Li surmised, and she pushed such thoughts from her mind as she had a go sweeping the wheel along the toepads. Tink’s chubby toes had resigned to their ticklish fate and would be more cooperative, but Kyra’s longer, black-varnished ones still squirmed and twitched like no tomorrow, so Li had to hold them firmly with one hand while stroking away with the other—she didn’t actually want the Captain to cut herself from all her flailing, after all.

It soon also became apparent that the metals pins of those wheels were most effective teasing up and down the lengths of deep, sensitive arches, so Li summoned her two teammates so they could all have a feel, and with four ticklish feet to share between them, there was no shortage for the three of them, though all of them wanted to tickle the mighty Captain of Commerce with those high sensitive arches she had on those pale and beautiful feet of hers. Li hoped Tink wasn’t feeling self-conscious about her own less attractive feet as a result of it.

Their time together had been Li’s highlight by far, and the Chinese princess hoped it wouldn’t be the last time she was on the tickling end as opposed to the one always being tickled...

O-O-O

“Late night negotiations,” Captain Ruby said in a light, unafraid voice, as if she had just bumped into Li in the dining hall, “I’m not stranger to it, but I have to say I’m surprised to see you behind it.”

“It seemed that we could both benefit from talking. And I think in your current position, you’d be fairly willing to listen.”

“Well,” Ruby gave her red-painted fingers and toes a wiggle, smiling. “What’s this about?” She was bound eagle spread on her bed with rope. Her hair was an auburn tangle across her brow, and her two guards had been dealt with and now Li and the Captain of Intrigues would have a private meeting all to themselves. “We can make a deal, can’t we?”

“Can you guess what I want?”

“I imagine there are two items in particular that you’re lusting after.” Ruby raised two fingernails, but the gesture was less effective because of the way her limbs were stretched. “You’d like my assistance in rescuing Clem, and you’d probably want some revenge for all the times I’ve tormented you. Am I correct?”

“Partially,” Li admitted. “But answer me this—why did you refuse my help the last time? I’m trying to save your right-hand woman.”

“Yes, but you want to take her position,” Ruby said in a hard, blunt voice. “You want to be a Captain.”

“I’d be good for the role, if you looked past your prejudices. I’ve secured weapons for the operation from Kyra.”

“Oh? That is impressive. But do you have swords? Loyal allies?”

“That’s where you come in.”

Ruby chortled. “Well, you certainly don’t lack confidence. Alright, I’m in. Let’s do this.”

“Not so fast. There’s something we’ve forgotten to do.”

Ruby sighed, then her comely face broke into a wide ‘oh-damnit’ grin. “I was honestly hoping I can smooth-talk you into forgetting that part.”

“Nice try. But have you forgotten how you made me spend three nights as your personal bedmate? It was a few months ago, so I can understand if it’s slipped your mind.”

“Would it offend you more if I said I remembered our nights together perfectly? Or not at all?”

“Hmmm, I think the former would be more upsetting because of how strongly I remembered that night. In fact, I was in exactly the same position as you are now. Only I had fewer clothes on.”

Ruby giggled and her dark eyes sparkled with cheekiness. She glanced down at her silken smallclothes, which were black slashed with red lace. “If you want to get a bundle of feathers and start tickling me down there, I must say I wouldn’t mind. Only fair to return the favour, after all. Just don’t deny me for me than an hour, okay? That’s only how long I kept you waiting…”

“Actually, you know it’s funny that you bring that up.” Li whistled and Shiro and Hana appeared. "You know what happens when you pay a debt late? Usury. You end up paying more than what you owed.”

Ruby slumped back on her fine pillows and silken bedcovers and smiled. “Three girls at once in exchange for three nights at my mercy? I suppose that’s as close as fair to as you get in this world.”

“That’s the spirit!” Hana said, who was all smiles and bubbly enthusiasm. She had a silver pinwheel in her hand. “I hope you don’t mind that we brought some toys we borrowed from Tink.”

“And some stuff we borrowed from your stores,” Shiro said, who was dour and frowning. “Your alchemist whipped up something that made my feet as soft as, well—” She glanced at Li “—a princess. Let’s see how sensitive you are after we use it on you.”

Ruby was already laughing before the tickling even started. It seemed her toned, lithe, dark-skinned body was so receptive that even the process of rubbing in Clem’s oils all over armpits, belly, and feet alone was enough to create a ticklish reaction. The tanned skin glistened in the dim light as all three girls quickly took their positions.

Hana hovered over Ruby’s right foot, spinning the wheel around in her coarse fingers. Li could see the envy in her eyes at the Captain of Intrigues’s immaculate feet with the shimmering and tidily cut toenails. If things improved, and Li was able to become a captain, she promised herself to treat the fisherman’s daughter to some well-earned pampering at some point. Hana used the wheels of the strange device she had picked up from Tink’s armoury with the same patience of a lifelong fisher. She slowly rolled the tines up and down, watching the trembling, flexing foot for the slightest of reactions. Li did not doubt that within a few minutes, the fishing girl had a keen understanding of just about every sensitive spot on the Captain’s foot, for she seemed to be so laboriously gauging reactions with every swipe of the tool, her eyes darting from the foot to Ruby’s face constantly. The oils that were smoothing out the soles as if Ruby were wearing the smoothest nylon stockings in the world also seemed to be working wonders.

Shiro, who had initially been so dismissive of the virtues and efficacy of tickle torture (“it’s stupid”), had quickly claimed the other foot. Li theorised that it gave her a sort of thrill to see a strong and toned swordswoman brought low till she was giggling like a toddler. After all, that was exactly what had happened to Shiro herself. Ruby’s jewel-encrusted rapier lay discarded on the ground, and Li couldn’t help but notice Shiro pawing at the weapon with her foot as all ten fingers unleashed a potent ticklish fury on Captain Ruby. She had claimed Ruby’s right foot, and she seemed to be focusing especially on the tops. She scraped and scratched that spot with quick little touches, sometimes with one hand, other times with both to really hit all the fun areas along the ankle to make the toes splay and dance. Shiro might use her other hand to brush along the arch or poke around the slender digits, but the hand on that instep was always constant. It made sense that a tickling amateur would assume that everyone had the same ticklish spot, for the tops were famously Shiro’s biggest weakness on those long feet of hers.

Li herself straddled Captain Ruby’s stomach so she could spider her finger along the very centres of the hollows while Ruby’s biceps strained and quivered. Playing with the slick and smooth underarms of the Captain of Intrigues was a special kind of pleasure, Li thought, her fingers darting over to tease Ruby’s prominent collarbones and even along the ears. Li remembered that the neck had been a particularly erogenous for the captain, having been made to kiss it during her three-night servitude, so the fact Ruby must have been suffering from some frustrated loins made this even more precious. When Li became captain, she wondered if this would become a regular occurrence. Straight out coercion, especially if done frequently was likely be frowned upon, but there was always the possibility of friendly wagers as a result of now being in the same social class—win this game of cards, and your feet are mine for the next hour, for instance. It was tantalising, but Li tried not to allow herself to be distracted.

She had work to do, first.

O-O-O


Maybe it had been some kind of extrasensory perception, but when Li came across Clem the Alchemist with her own eyes, it was almost exactly the way the former Chinese Princess had imagined.

All around the small crew of pirates, the townsfolk milled about on their duties, with only the occasional curious glance shot their way. Fishermen and bakers shouted their wares, craftsmen toiled with their tools, and everyone seemed to be walking quickly in this bustling town, eager to achieve their own objectives. And the looks they were getting were more because of the fact they were all women rather than the fact they were all armed with steel swords at their hips, flintlock pistols tucked into their britches, and wooden shields slung over their backs. But that was all for the best.

They had already made their impression with the only person who really mattered in all this—the mayor.

Had she been here, Captain Natasha might have tried to storm the stockade and trust in their numbers and technology to grind them towards victory, but it could also easily shepherd them to their graves. Captain Ruby would have tried an intricate scheme of blackmail or coercion that might have incensed the proud mayor of this town. Captain Kyra would have likely tried to iron out some kind of trading agreement that rested heavily on the mayor being the kind of person who cared more about money than morals, for if he was not that kind of man, the lot of them would likely join Clem in the stocks.

Li’s solution was elegant, simple, and uncomplicated. Some quick inquiries to the guards revealed Clem had been arrested for possession of stolen goods and selling without a licence. Li had paid the hefty fine to the magistrate, and as she had done so, she had stood flanked by her powerful guards so the magistrate knew she wasn’t the kind of woman who could be bullied. The sight of Tink’s fine steel weaponry glinting in the sunlight had induced quite the intimidating effect from the guards clad in rusted bits of dinted mail, tattered leather jerkins, and nicked swords of bronze and iron.

She hadn’t been able to haggle for a return of the stolen goods, but at least Clem had been allowed to take back most of her materials, such as dyes and potions. Besides, there would always be an opportunity to recoup lost funds, for on the way back, Li had her group hide their faces with handkerchiefs and they briefly played the role of highwaymen (or was it highwaywomen). They had made sure to do this a few miles out of town so the local militia would not get involved.

Li had asked Maya, a dark-skinned woman who was easily taller than most men to play the role of leader. With her rumbling voice and towering physique, the robbed merchants would suspect the thieves had been men, and Li had cunningly concealed Maya in a local tavern during the meeting with the mayor precisely for this purpose—there were brazen pirates and there were old pirates, but there were no old brazen ones. The last thing she wanted was the mayor to connect the thieves to a band of women he had met on the same day.

By the second or third mugging, Maya seemed to embrace the role, as her voice became gruffer and menacing till it was almost over the top, she began making more provocative and bantering with the merchants she accosted, saying colourful things like, “I’ll rip out your guts and feed them to you if you don’t drop those swords right now.” From the grin on her face, she was enjoying herself tremendously, and Li realised she had just made a valuable new ally.

Their final bout of larceny was also especially enjoyable, for riding the wagon flanked by half a dozen guards was a woman decked out in an expensive dress and a copious amount of jewelry. From her pompous manner, makeup, and fine head of blonde curls, she had to be a noblewoman, which meant that the crew had a particularly enjoyable time interrogating her regarding the location of her treasures.

Even after her sage velvet gown was soaked with sweat, her sleek golden hair was disheveled, her makeup began to stain, and her flushed cheeks were streaked with tears, the crew still delighted in tormenting this haughty noble, especially on those pampered, soft-looking feet of hers. They had gagged her, stuck her in the back of her own wagon so only her feet dangled out, and the crew had gang-tickled her all over for a few intense minutes. Then, they would remove the gag, and if the woman didn’t have something helpful to say straightaway, the cloth would be stuff right back into her mouth, and they would all get back to it. In fact, after she had finally confessed to where she hid her emergency supplies, the crew had kept it up for another hour or so. This was partially in case she was lying, but also because the prideful woman needed a clear lesson in some humility, which Li was pleased to impart, especially when they discovered the secret ticklish spot the noble had been hiding in her arches.

There was even some clamouring to bring the woman on board as a prize, but Li vetoed the suggestion. They were too far from the ship, and it was likely to cause trouble if they ran into others on the road. One could conspicuously hide gold and other treasures, but it was harder to hide a kidnapped woman.

After they had relieved a few more merchants of most of their worldly possessions, the trip had overall proven to be quite a bountiful one indeed. Every member of the crew had more rings, pendants, and clinking gold coins in their pockets, and they had Clem back.

When Li returned to the Mistress Ambivalence, she gave a third of the other two captains to show there were no hard feelings. Captain Kyra, who had doubtless had eyes in Li’s camp during the entire operation, was stoical and reserved as she always was, but Li sensed a respect, an understanding between the two. “Congratulations on your first raid,” she said in a quiet voice at the conclusion of their meeting. It was the closest thing to praise Li had ever heard from the dark and solemn captain.

Captain Ruby greeted Li with a fierce hug, laughing in her ear about how brilliantly it had all gone. Li smiled at the taller woman’s embrace, knowing that she had secured support there as well. Ruby had her Clem back, and for that she was eternally grateful, or at least Li hoped so.

At the end of the month, it was not a surprise that Li became the third Captain on board, and she was dubbed the Captain of Fortune, not only for her skill in creating funds, but also for her ability to change her situation. For a woman who had come on board the ship as a harem slave, it was quite the rise.

Li kept the cabin much the same, for her first focus as a new Captain was to find out exactly what happened to Natasha… Even if it might result in her losing the power of her newfound position, she couldn’t abandon a friend without knowing exactly what had happened to her…

O-O-O

Smooth sailing was Li’s captaincy, both figuratively and literally for the most part. However, it was not without cause for conflict. With every day that passed, Li saw that the figure reflected in Natasha’s looking glass resembled more and more like a pirate and less and less like a princess. Li had cropped her hair shorter so it wouldn’t get in the way. She kept a dagger and a pistol at her waist, and she found time every day to practise with both, so they weren’t just for show. She had used to wear pearl necklaces and long dresses that were so large and ostentatious that they were a cumbersome to move around in, but now, she favoured rings and amulets that showed her status as Captain without being a hindrance.

One day, Captain Li found herself as the sole leader of the ship. Captain Kyra had gone to a nearby village to iron out a trade agreement—her tenacious nature and eye for detail made her the perfect candidate for such a task. Captain Ruby had gone to a different town to do some recruiting—her eye-catching looks, bubbling charisma, and easy manner of speech made her ideal.

Ye the allure of power was a tantalising one, especially when she walked the decks of the ship and saw every woman on board eye her with respect and reverence. When a scout in the ship’s crow’s nest, which was a lookout in the upper part of the main mast of the ship, reported a ship flying the flag of the Chinese Emperor, Li found herself torn in two different directions at once.

The possibility had always occurred to her, but here it was, staring at her right in the face and growing larger and closer by the second. What was the right thing to do? Was she the princess or the pirate captain? She could fight them as a brigand, or she could return home as a princess.

Li made the decision she knew she wouldn’t regret.

Many months later, Captain Li walked the deck of her own ship, which she had rechristened The Fair Maiden.

“Do you think you’re ready to settle down now?” Hana teased, standing behind the captain. “Ready to have a wife?”

“I really regret telling you about that,” Shiro said, sounding annoyed, but there was a broad smile on her face. She thumbed the hilt of the katana at her waist. She was smiling a lot more now that her weapon had been returned to her.

“The lookout has spotted The Mistress Ambivalence, Captain,” said Natasha, whom Li was thankful hadn’t been upset about being relieved of her captaincy duties. Natasha had been a captive of Aika, the Japanese Lord’s sister for several months, enduring every manner of tickle torture till Li and the others had rescued her. The proverbial tide had turned once Li took command of that Chinese Navy ship. She had declared her identity, gone over, and taken over the ship with the pirates capturing and declawing most of the grew. Li had explained her identity and said the men would be spared if they served her on one quest. With the two ships, they had stormed the Japanese stronghold and rescued Natasha and the others. And Aika, the elegant, graceful, and supremely vengeful Japanese beauty who had led them, was now stocked and gagged in Natasha’s cabin as a present for Li’s first mate. Maybe Li would pay her a visit after this was all done. Last time Li had seen the Japanese noble, Shiro and Hana had been tormenting the captive’s softened feet with fingers and a generous helping of Clem’s sensitivity-enhancing oils.

Li went over to the other ship and greeted the newest of the three captains onboard the The Mistress Ambivalence with a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“How are you, Captain?”

“I still can’t believe they made me one of them,” Christina said, tucking a blonde lock of hair behind her ear. Li’s old friend from Guangzhou seemed to be prospering in the role though, based on the healthy flush in her face and her fine clothing. “How is the privateering?”

“Business is booming.”

“That’s pleasing to know,” Captain Kyra said, with the stern look on her face that said she was all business. “I’ve got some reports for you. There’s some competition of ours you can knock out for us.”

Capturing pirates was what Li did now, mostly on commission from various towns and villages. Naturally, she did not go about hunting down her friends, but the good folk on the The Mistress Ambivalence would often direct her to the less amiable pirates in the area.

“Good to see you, Li. Anything we should know about?”

“I’ve got an updated list of patrols for you,” Li said, nodding. In exchange for intel on other pirates, Li told them what the other privateers and companies were doing, which created a powerfully mutually beneficially agreement indeed. “Let’s discuss further in your fine dining hall. I miss the food here.”

“No way,” Ruby said, laughing and clapping Li on the back. “It hasn’t been that long, has it? You need a lot of nostalgia to consider our humble grub gourmet.”

“Nah, nothing like that,” Li said, smiling.

"Oh, are you looking for an excuse to become our entertainment for the night?" Ruby asked, grinning. "I wouldn't mind that, after all, you were among the cutest for that role."

Li shrugged and turned away. “I’m just happy to be here. After all, there’s no place like home.”