“Just a little bit higher, Lil, and... Perfect! Now just hold it there for a minute!” Liliana nodded as she struggled to hold the split rafter above her. Upon returning to the ship, Morgana gave the order to immediately set sail for their next—and hopefully final—destination in their journey. It was only a couple days away, and in the meantime, Morgana decided to put the crew to work repairing as much as the damage caused by the sea monster as they could. One of the key rafters on a lower deck had split in two, almost impaling Liliana's poor belly, and had to be fixed as soon as possible before the deck above it collapsed. So here Liliana stood, holding the two halves together above her head, while her older sister ran off to get some materials to stabilize the beam.
Liliana's arms strained against the weight, but she knew if she let go before Morgana could tie it up, the whole ceiling could come crashing down. So she stood atop the small stool, her arms above her head, feeling beads of sweat start to form on her neck and across her stretched, tight stomach.
“Well, would you look at this. The gods seem to be rewarding me for something right now.”
Richard walked into the room and looked up at her with a devilish smile, his eyes taking in her face, then lingering on her midsection, which was at the same level as his face. “Richard, don't you dare, this whole ceiling might fall if I don't hold it up!” Liliana warned, although she herself had a hard time keeping the playful smile from her face. She suddenly became very aware of how vulnerable her belly was, stretched so much that it was pulled in slightly, her navel barely more than a vertical slit. It was completely at Richard's mercy, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Richard took a step closer, eliciting another, “Don't, please, don't you dare!” from Liliana, and lightly traced her prominent hip bones with his finger. She suppressed a squeak and her stomach muscles tightened a bit, but she remained where she was. He then ran his finger down the line in the center of her smooth, flat tummy, then circled the rim of her innie a few times. He watched with delight as her belly convulsed at his touch, slight fear growing inside her due to his proximity to her sensitive navel.
Richard took the next step, slowly inserting his finger into her belly button and swirling. Liliana struggled to keep from giggling, trying to focus on her arms and holding up the beam while ignoring the torture her belly was undergoing. She pulled her stomach in even more, though she knew it wouldn't help.
And then, impossibly, he made it worse. Taking her hips in his hands, Richard leaned forward and planted a passionate kiss over her belly button. Liliana gasped in surprise and pleasure, and heard the creaking of the strained rafter and quickly tried to refocus. But Richard was relentless, as he let his tongue slip into her navel and licked the inside walls and base of her belly button.
Liliana gasped again, sucking her belly in even more. “No Richard please stop you're going to make me fall!” she squeaked out in one breath, her voice becoming higher with each word. “Please no not the belly button please leave my belly button alooone!”
An ominous creaking noise filled the room, and Richard quickly backed away from Liliana's midriff. “Do you mind waiting to pleasure yourself with my sister's stomach until after she keeps the roof from caving in?” Morgana said with annoyance as she returned with a second stool and several tools. “Just hold it for a little bit longer Lil, you're doing great.” She gave her sister's bare stomach a quick pat before climbing up next to her and going to work on the rafter.
***
Two long days they spent wandering the sea, with nothing within sight except for the endless blue expanse of the open ocean. Finally, early on the third morning, there was news. Morgana was below deck, playing a game of chess with her sister, her finger thoughtfully swirling around inside her own navel as she contemplated her pieces and their movements. The sound of someone thundering down the steps at high speed interrupted their game. “Captain! Captain!” came a frantic voice.
“What is it? Have we reached the island?” The crew member stopped in the doorway, leaning on the frame to catch her breath. Morgana recognized the young woman as one of the deckhands in charge of the rigging, if only because the girl also had a tendency to bare her midriff, albeit usually just her lower belly. Morgana was embarrassed to say that the girl's name escaped her, however.
“Yes, Captain, but there's something else.” Her features were distraught as she struggled to regain her breathing. “There’s... another ship.”
Morgana's eyes narrowed at this, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw both Liliana and Richard sit up a little straighter. “Could you tell who it is?”
The girl nodded. “It's Flint.”
Morgana leaped to her feet, fingers closing around the hilt of her sword at her hip. “Lil, Richard, prepare the guns. I'm going to attempt to do this without violence, though I have no doubt Flint's going to make this as hard on us as possible.” She turned to the deckhand and said, “Alert the rest of the crew, then get to your battle station.”
The girl nodded and ran further into the ship while Morgana sprinted up to the deck. Liliana jumped into action, Richard right behind her. “What's the problem? Who is this Flint guy?” he asked, baffled.
Liliana looked at him in disbelief for a moment, then remembered that he didn't become a part of the crew until after the fiasco with Flint. “Flint was an old flame of Morgana's. She was actually his first mate on his ship a few years ago, before she and I got our own ship. I don't think Morgana's ever loved a man the way she loved Flint, and I'm not sure she ever will again. He was the first man she'd ever let have his way with her stomach. Before Flint, while she did like showing it, I don't think she realized how much people were drawn to her belly. When they were together, I think he was the one who opened her up to that world, made her realize the power she could have over others with her stomach. He was her world after that.”
“Sounds like quite a guy. But what happened? Why's she getting ready to blow him out of the water now?”
Liliana took a deep breath as she filled the cannons with gunpowder as Richard loaded them with the heavy iron spheres. “He... broke her heart, although that might be an understatement. She never liked talking about it much, still doesn't, and it took me a while to convince her to tell me what happened. One night while they were docked in Tortuga, Morgana caught him with another woman. And it wasn't even that he was sleeping with her that sent her over the edge, it was that she caught him doing the same things to the other woman's stomach that he promised he would only do with Morgana's. She... didn't take it well, after all the time and passionate moments they shared together. Flint tried to have her killed, but she managed to escape. I never did learn the details of that, and I'm not sure I ever will.”
“Oh, I see...” Richard said quietly, his eyes becoming distant. They lapsed into a silence after that for a few minutes. Liliana had never really seen much of a connection between Richard and her sister, beyond the simple one of a captain and one of her crew members. She was a bit surprised to see such an understanding and sympathy for Morgana in his features, and smiled gently at him.
She coughed awkwardly, and he shook out of his thoughts. “Well, uh, weapons are loaded and ready, we should probably get up on deck to see if Morgana needs anything else.” Richard nodded and muttered in agreement, and the two quickly made their way to the surface.
***
Morgana took a long, deep breath, then pushed open the door to the busy deck. She wasn't quite sure how she would react to the coming events, but she was going to try her best to keep her cool, she told herself. Sure enough, off the port side, another large ship with dark sails sat in the water. In front of them, several miles out toward the horizon, was a large and rocky island, the destination of Morgana's ship and no doubt Flint's, as well.
And there he was, climbing atop the railing of his vessel, one hand holding onto the rigging next to him. He was just as suave and roguish as ever, though he still bore the large burn scar down the side of his face, neck and shoulder from the last them they saw each other. Morgana took some small satisfaction in that.
“Well now, it's been a long time, Captain Morgana Ravenblack. Your reputation precedes you, word of your adventures since we last parted ways reached my ears rather quickly. I should've known you'd find your way here.”
“Hasn't been long enough,” Morgana muttered under her breath. She had no doubt Flint did know she was going to be here, and his false ignorance fell flat. “No, I think you knew exactly where I'd be, Flint. In fact, I seriously doubt you have any kind of interest in the jewel, you were just looking for me. Come to finish what you were too cowardly to do before?” She cursed herself, for she knew she let her emotions rise into her words, and she very much did not want Flint to realize how much she was still hurting inside.
Flint laughed harshly, pointing to her midsection from his ship with his curved sword. “I see you haven't completely renounced my influence, you've been utilizing that belly of yours as much as you can, I hear.”
Morgana's cheeks flushed red, and she prayed Flint could not see them from that distance. “Last chance, Flint. Go home. I think we'd both be happy if we just never saw each other again, and since you have no interest in the jewel, I really don't want to have to waste time and ammunition sending you to hell.”
At this, Flint threw his head back and roared with laughter. “Oh, Morgana, you really don't know what would make me happy. All right, boys!” he said over his shoulder, though his eyes were still on Morgana. “Blow them out of the water and send them to the abyss!”
As soon as Flint's ship erupted in activity, Morgana's crew mirrored them. She was proud that she didn't even need to give them any orders to do so. At that moment, Liliana and Richard ran out on deck, Liliana's monkey clinging to her hip beneath her belly chain. “This may prove to be a bit tougher than fighting zombies,” Morgana said, brandishing her sword, “so the both of you better be on your toes.” She raised her weapon high above her head as a signal, and across the water, Flint did the same. Morgana waited, a slight smirk appearing on her face. She simply had to wait, and she would catch Flint with his pants down.
“On my signal!” Flint shouted, his voice easily carrying across to Morgana's ship. “Ready... aim... and—” “FIRE!” Morgana screamed.
Before Flint's crew had any idea what was happening, they were being pummeled with massive cannon balls, the heavy iron missiles tearing through the hull as easily as parchment. A high shot even managed to catch part of the main mast, splintering the wood and sending razor sharp shards down on Flint's head.
“Ready the second volley!” Morgana ordered, a satisfied grin on her face.
“Crafty *****,” Flint growled. “Prepare to board!”
Chaos erupted in the space between the two vessels. As Flint's crew hurried up the rigging to their boarding ropes, a second set of explosions rippled from Morgana's ship utterly annihilated her enemy's hull. She noticed that they managed to take out several of Flint's crew members, but the majority had managed to swing across from the masts and onto her ship before theirs began to disappear beneath the waves. With her sword in her right hand, Morgana raised a flintlock pistol in her left and manage to blow Flint's new first mate into the sea.
“Flint's mine!” she shouted, her voice ragged, as the rest of his crew engaged in close combat with her own. Liliana found herself locking swords and a rough-looking beast of a woman, and her petite form was rapidly being pushed back by her opponent's larger body. “I'm going to make you mine,” the woman hissed menacingly. With little effort, she shoved Lillian down to the deck, the point of her rusty blade moving closer to her shallow innie. Liliana desperately pulled her stomach in, keeping her belly button away from the sword. She looked around desperately, but her new pet was biting the ankles of another enemy pirate, and Richard was nowhere to be seen.
She felt the rusted metal tip touch the inside of her navel at the center of her concave belly, and she was unable to suck it in any farther. Just before the killing blow was struck, however, a tough voice yelled, “HEY!” causing both women to turn.
Richard stood nearby, a hatchet in one hand and a sword in the other. The monkey dropped from the rigging onto hit shoulder, a small stick in its tiny hands. “Get away from her.”
The woman laughed, removing her sword but planting a heavy boot on Liliana's bare tummy. “Or what? You and your little critter gonna come punish me?”
With surprising speed, Richard grabbed a large cloth next to him and threw it away, revealing a cannon underneath. Liliana's monkey leaped from Richard's shoulder to the gun's fuse, and both Liliana and her attacker realized that the stick was actually a lit match.
The woman's smug smile was quickly wiped from her face as Liliana put her hands over her ears. “Oh, damn.”
The explosion knocked Richard off his feet as the large cannon ball flew through the air, slamming into the woman's soft, exposed belly. For a split second, Liliana saw her stomach compress beneath the incredibly force of the iron ball before she was thrown overboard and into the water.
“Are you all right?” Richard asked, using one hand to help Liliana up while the other fingered his ear to rid himself of the ringing.
“Yeah, I'm fine. That was pretty impressive!” She tried to wipe off the boot print from her belly as best as she could. “No time to celebrate yet, though!” Liliana retrieved her own sword and her now dead attacker's, and rushed off as she saw the young deckhand that first warned them of Flint's ship trying to keep her bare lower belly from being slashed open.
***
“FLINT!” Morgana shrieked as she climbed onto the crosspiece of the mainmast, sword at the ready. Flint turned his scarred face from the battle below to look at her and smiled. Morgana hated that she still found it to be unbelievably attractive.
“Morgana, please,” he said with a chuckle. “Just surrender your ship, since you so rudely destroyed mine, and none of your crew will be harmed. I'll even keep you alive, maybe not necessarily in one piece, but alive nonetheless.”
Morgana responded with a wordless yell of rage, and Flint had to admit she moved much more quickly than he anticipated, barely blocking her slash with his own curved blade. He responded in kind, dancing his sword around hers with careful finesse, opposed to her angry, primal attacks. She struggled to control her emotions, to focus on keeping herself alive instead of her desire to punish Flint, but she wasn't sure if she was winning that internal battle. She refused to die by his hand, however, and the air echoed with the clangs of their blades against each other as each tried to maintain their balance atop the mast.
Unfortunately, Flint was larger than Morgana, and he certainly had kept in shape over the years, as she felt her feet being pushed back toward the end of the crosspiece. He locked his weapon against hers, and she felt the space just behind her heel, knowing she was less than a step away from a very long fall to the deck below. She strained her muscles, trying to keep Flint's sword at bay, but in her initial savage assault she had used up too much energy, and with a flourish flick of his wrist, Flint pulled Morgana's sword from her hands and sent it spinning to the deck. The act had thrown her off balance, and she began to fall backward, reaching out at the last second to grab hold of the rope rigging. She was stuck leaning back out in space, the toes of her boots firmly planted on the crosspiece, one hand holding on for dear life to the ropes while the other swung uselessly at her side.
And Flint, as she knew he would, added insult to injury by slowly, deliberately, reached out with his curved blade to her deep navel, causing her to pull her stomach in and away from the sharp point. When she could suck her stomach in no more, Flint stopped, allowing the blade to hover less than an inch from her belly button. Morgana risked a glance down, now struggling to keep her belly concave in addition to not falling, and saw her entire crew, Liliana and Richard included, disarmed and at the mercy of Flint's men and women. They had even managed to catch Liliana's monkey in a small sack, which writhed around in a large pirate's grip.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” Flint called down to them, his voice triumphant. “The ship is ours!” A victorious cry carried up to Morgana's ears, and she felt a sickening heat build in the pit of her stomach, near her belly button. “And by the way, Morgana, you were quite wrong,” he continued in a lower voice, meant only for her. “I do, in fact, have an interest in this jewel of unlimited wealth. And I'd love for you to see me take it from you. So, let's go see what awaits us on that island out there. Together.”
Liliana's arms strained against the weight, but she knew if she let go before Morgana could tie it up, the whole ceiling could come crashing down. So she stood atop the small stool, her arms above her head, feeling beads of sweat start to form on her neck and across her stretched, tight stomach.
“Well, would you look at this. The gods seem to be rewarding me for something right now.”
Richard walked into the room and looked up at her with a devilish smile, his eyes taking in her face, then lingering on her midsection, which was at the same level as his face. “Richard, don't you dare, this whole ceiling might fall if I don't hold it up!” Liliana warned, although she herself had a hard time keeping the playful smile from her face. She suddenly became very aware of how vulnerable her belly was, stretched so much that it was pulled in slightly, her navel barely more than a vertical slit. It was completely at Richard's mercy, and there was nothing she could do about it.
Richard took a step closer, eliciting another, “Don't, please, don't you dare!” from Liliana, and lightly traced her prominent hip bones with his finger. She suppressed a squeak and her stomach muscles tightened a bit, but she remained where she was. He then ran his finger down the line in the center of her smooth, flat tummy, then circled the rim of her innie a few times. He watched with delight as her belly convulsed at his touch, slight fear growing inside her due to his proximity to her sensitive navel.
Richard took the next step, slowly inserting his finger into her belly button and swirling. Liliana struggled to keep from giggling, trying to focus on her arms and holding up the beam while ignoring the torture her belly was undergoing. She pulled her stomach in even more, though she knew it wouldn't help.
And then, impossibly, he made it worse. Taking her hips in his hands, Richard leaned forward and planted a passionate kiss over her belly button. Liliana gasped in surprise and pleasure, and heard the creaking of the strained rafter and quickly tried to refocus. But Richard was relentless, as he let his tongue slip into her navel and licked the inside walls and ba
Liliana gasped again, sucking her belly in even more. “No Richard please stop you're going to make me fall!” she squeaked out in one breath, her voice becoming higher with each word. “Please no not the belly button please leave my belly button alooone!”
An ominous creaking noise filled the room, and Richard quickly backed away from Liliana's midriff. “Do you mind waiting to pleasure yourself with my sister's stomach until after she keeps the roof from caving in?” Morgana said with annoyance as she returned with a second stool and several tools. “Just hold it for a little bit longer Lil, you're doing great.” She gave her sister's bare stomach a quick pat before climbing up next to her and going to work on the rafter.
***
Two long days they spent wandering the sea, with nothing within sight except for the endless blue expanse of the open ocean. Finally, early on the third morning, there was news. Morgana was below deck, playing a game of chess with her sister, her finger thoughtfully swirling around inside her own navel as she contemplated her pieces and their movements. The sound of someone thundering down the steps at high speed interrupted their game. “Captain! Captain!” came a frantic voice.
“What is it? Have we reached the island?” The crew member stopped in the doorway, leaning on the fr
“Yes, Captain, but there's something else.” Her features were distraught as she struggled to regain her breathing. “There’s... another ship.”
Morgana's eyes narrowed at this, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw both Liliana and Richard sit up a little straighter. “Could you tell who it is?”
The girl nodded. “It's Flint.”
Morgana leaped to her feet, fingers closing around the hilt of her sword at her hip. “Lil, Richard, prepare the guns. I'm going to attempt to do this without violence, though I have no doubt Flint's going to make this as hard on us as possible.” She turned to the deckhand and said, “Alert the rest of the crew, then get to your battle station.”
The girl nodded and ran further into the ship while Morgana sprinted up to the deck. Liliana jumped into action, Richard right behind her. “What's the problem? Who is this Flint guy?” he asked, baffled.
Liliana looked at him in disbelief for a moment, then remembered that he didn't become a part of the crew until after the fiasco with Flint. “Flint was an old flame of Morgana's. She was actually his first mate on his ship a few years ago, before she and I got our own ship. I don't think Morgana's ever loved a man the way she loved Flint, and I'm not sure she ever will again. He was the first man she'd ever let have his way with her stomach. Before Flint, while she did like showing it, I don't think she realized how much people were drawn to her belly. When they were together, I think he was the one who opened her up to that world, made her realize the power she could have over others with her stomach. He was her world after that.”
“Sounds like quite a guy. But what happened? Why's she getting ready to blow him out of the water now?”
Liliana took a deep breath as she filled the cannons with gunpowder as Richard loaded them with the heavy iron spheres. “He... broke her heart, although that might be an understatement. She never liked talking about it much, still doesn't, and it took me a while to convince her to tell me what happened. One night while they were docked in Tortuga, Morgana caught him with another woman. And it wasn't even that he was sleeping with her that sent her over the edge, it was that she caught him doing the same things to the other woman's stomach that he promised he would only do with Morgana's. She... didn't take it well, after all the time and passionate moments they shared together. Flint tried to have her killed, but she managed to escape. I never did learn the details of that, and I'm not sure I ever will.”
“Oh, I see...” Richard said quietly, his eyes becoming distant. They lapsed into a silence after that for a few minutes. Liliana had never really seen much of a connection between Richard and her sister, beyond the simple one of a captain and one of her crew members. She was a bit surprised to see such an understanding and sympathy for Morgana in his features, and smiled gently at him.
She coughed awkwardly, and he shook out of his thoughts. “Well, uh, weapons are loaded and ready, we should probably get up on deck to see if Morgana needs anything else.” Richard nodded and muttered in agreement, and the two quickly made their way to the surface.
***
Morgana took a long, deep breath, then pushed open the door to the busy deck. She wasn't quite sure how she would react to the coming events, but she was going to try her best to keep her cool, she told herself. Sure enough, off the port side, another large ship with dark sails sat in the water. In front of them, several miles out toward the horizon, was a large and rocky island, the destination of Morgana's ship and no doubt Flint's, as well.
And there he was, climbing atop the railing of his vessel, one hand holding onto the rigging next to him. He was just as suave and roguish as ever, though he still bore the large burn scar down the side of his face, neck and shoulder from the last them they saw each other. Morgana took some small satisfaction in that.
“Well now, it's been a long time, Captain Morgana Ravenblack. Your reputation precedes you, word of your adventures since we last parted ways reached my ears rather quickly. I should've known you'd find your way here.”
“Hasn't been long enough,” Morgana muttered under her breath. She had no doubt Flint did know she was going to be here, and his false ignorance fell flat. “No, I think you knew exactly where I'd be, Flint. In fact, I seriously doubt you have any kind of interest in the jewel, you were just looking for me. Come to finish what you were too cowardly to do before?” She cursed herself, for she knew she let her emotions rise into her words, and she very much did not want Flint to realize how much she was still hurting inside.
Flint laughed harshly, pointing to her midsection from his ship with his curved sword. “I see you haven't completely renounced my influence, you've been utilizing that belly of yours as much as you can, I hear.”
Morgana's cheeks flushed red, and she prayed Flint could not see them from that distance. “Last chance, Flint. Go home. I think we'd both be happy if we just never saw each other again, and since you have no interest in the jewel, I really don't want to have to waste time and ammunition sending you to hell.”
At this, Flint threw his head back and roared with laughter. “Oh, Morgana, you really don't know what would make me happy. All right, boys!” he said over his shoulder, though his eyes were still on Morgana. “Blow them out of the water and send them to the abyss!”
As soon as Flint's ship erupted in activity, Morgana's crew mirrored them. She was proud that she didn't even need to give them any orders to do so. At that moment, Liliana and Richard ran out on deck, Liliana's monkey clinging to her hip beneath her belly chain. “This may prove to be a bit tougher than fighting zombies,” Morgana said, brandishing her sword, “so the both of you better be on your toes.” She raised her weapon high above her head as a signal, and across the water, Flint did the same. Morgana waited, a slight smirk appearing on her face. She simply had to wait, and she would catch Flint with his pants down.
“On my signal!” Flint shouted, his voice easily carrying across to Morgana's ship. “Ready... aim... and—” “FIRE!” Morgana screamed.
Before Flint's crew had any idea what was happening, they were being pummeled with massive cannon balls, the heavy iron missiles tearing through the hull as easily as parchment. A high shot even managed to catch part of the main mast, splintering the wood and sending razor sharp shards down on Flint's head.
“Ready the second volley!” Morgana ordered, a satisfied grin on her face.
“Crafty *****,” Flint growled. “Prepare to board!”
Chaos erupted in the space between the two vessels. As Flint's crew hurried up the rigging to their boarding ropes, a second set of explosions rippled from Morgana's ship utterly annihilated her enemy's hull. She noticed that they managed to take out several of Flint's crew members, but the majority had managed to swing across from the masts and onto her ship before theirs began to disappear beneath the waves. With her sword in her right hand, Morgana raised a flintlock pistol in her left and manage to blow Flint's new first mate into the sea.
“Flint's mine!” she shouted, her voice ragged, as the rest of his crew engaged in close combat with her own. Liliana found herself locking swords and a rough-looking beast of a woman, and her petite form was rapidly being pushed back by her opponent's larger body. “I'm going to make you mine,” the woman hissed menacingly. With little effort, she shoved Lillian down to the deck, the point of her rusty blade moving closer to her shallow innie. Liliana desperately pulled her stomach in, keeping her belly button away from the sword. She looked around desperately, but her new pet was biting the ankles of another enemy pirate, and Richard was nowhere to be seen.
She felt the rusted metal tip touch the inside of her navel at the center of her concave belly, and she was unable to suck it in any farther. Just before the killing blow was struck, however, a tough voice yelled, “HEY!” causing both women to turn.
Richard stood nearby, a hatchet in one hand and a sword in the other. The monkey dropped from the rigging onto hit shoulder, a small stick in its tiny hands. “Get away from her.”
The woman laughed, removing her sword but planting a heavy boot on Liliana's bare tummy. “Or what? You and your little critter gonna come punish me?”
With surprising speed, Richard grabbed a large cloth next to him and threw it away, revealing a cannon underneath. Liliana's monkey leaped from Richard's shoulder to the gun's fuse, and both Liliana and her attacker realized that the stick was actually a lit match.
The woman's smug smile was quickly wiped from her face as Liliana put her hands over her ears. “Oh, damn.”
The explosion knocked Richard off his feet as the large cannon ball flew through the air, slamming into the woman's soft, exposed belly. For a split second, Liliana saw her stomach compress beneath the incredibly force of the iron ball before she was thrown overboard and into the water.
“Are you all right?” Richard asked, using one hand to help Liliana up while the other fingered his ear to rid himself of the ringing.
“Yeah, I'm fine. That was pretty impressive!” She tried to wipe off the boot print from her belly as best as she could. “No time to celebrate yet, though!” Liliana retrieved her own sword and her now dead attacker's, and rushed off as she saw the young deckhand that first warned them of Flint's ship trying to keep her bare lower belly from being slashed open.
***
“FLINT!” Morgana shrieked as she climbed onto the crosspiece of the mainmast, sword at the ready. Flint turned his scarred face from the battle below to look at her and smiled. Morgana hated that she still found it to be unbelievably attractive.
“Morgana, please,” he said with a chuckle. “Just surrender your ship, since you so rudely destroyed mine, and none of your crew will be harmed. I'll even keep you alive, maybe not necessarily in one piece, but alive nonetheless.”
Morgana responded with a wordless yell of rage, and Flint had to admit she moved much more quickly than he anticipated, barely blocking her slash with his own curved blade. He responded in kind, dancing his sword around hers with careful finesse, opposed to her angry, primal attacks. She struggled to control her emotions, to focus on keeping herself alive instead of her desire to punish Flint, but she wasn't sure if she was winning that internal battle. She refused to die by his hand, however, and the air echoed with the clangs of their blades against each other as each tried to maintain their balance atop the mast.
Unfortunately, Flint was larger than Morgana, and he certainly had kept in shape over the years, as she felt her feet being pushed back toward the end of the crosspiece. He locked his weapon against hers, and she felt the space just behind her heel, knowing she was less than a step away from a very long fall to the deck below. She strained her muscles, trying to keep Flint's sword at bay, but in her initial savage assault she had used up too much energy, and with a flourish flick of his wrist, Flint pulled Morgana's sword from her hands and sent it spinning to the deck. The act had thrown her off balance, and she began to fall backward, reaching out at the last second to grab hold of the rope rigging. She was stuck leaning back out in space, the toes of her boots firmly planted on the crosspiece, one hand holding on for dear life to the ropes while the other swung uselessly at her side.
And Flint, as she knew he would, added insult to injury by slowly, deliberately, reached out with his curved blade to her deep navel, causing her to pull her stomach in and away from the sharp point. When she could suck her stomach in no more, Flint stopped, allowing the blade to hover less than an inch from her belly button. Morgana risked a glance down, now struggling to keep her belly concave in addition to not falling, and saw her entire crew, Liliana and Richard included, disarmed and at the mercy of Flint's men and women. They had even managed to catch Liliana's monkey in a small sack, which writhed around in a large pirate's grip.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” Flint called down to them, his voice triumphant. “The ship is ours!” A victorious cry carried up to Morgana's ears, and she felt a sickening heat build in the pit of her stomach, near her belly button. “And by the way, Morgana, you were quite wrong,” he continued in a lower voice, meant only for her. “I do, in fact, have an interest in this jewel of unlimited wealth. And I'd love for you to see me take it from you. So, let's go see what awaits us on that island out there. Together.”
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