As the Man O War closed with the cargo ship the first mate on board called out,
“
Ahoy! We are four months out of Port Cholandra! We seek supplies and word of home!”
Men started appearing at the railing looking down at the weather beaten ship, many were commenting on the sad state she was in,
“
Port Cholandra you say? How goes it there?”
The first mate cried back,
“
Throw a ladder over the edge and the Captain and I will come on board and tell you all about it!”
The sailors on board reacted immediately under the orders of their own Captain and a ladder came over the side. With the two ships riding the swell of the sea both the Captain and first mate made their way on board, the captain was ushered away to chat in the cabin. The first mate began chatting to the crew that were gathering around him on the deck.
Madeira came into their cabin and prodded Wollfen.
“
Come on let’s go on board the cargo ship and I can see if there is a sorc on board.”
Wollfen looked up at her and grunted,
“
One small problem, I’m supposed to be a prisoner?”
Madeira sat down on the cot,
“
Oh, yes, it didn’t even occur to me.”
Wollfen sat up a bit,
“
You can go you know, you don’t need me along.”
Madeira pulled her lips to one side,
“
Nah I’d rather stay with you, come on deck with me.”
She grabbed his hand and pulled hard almost tipping Wollfen onto the floor.
“
Hey hang on, wait up I’m coming, I’m coming.”
Staggering as he got out of the cot he allowed himself to be pulled along and out onto the deck. They walked together to the cargo ship side and looked up, a few men were at the railing looking at them.
“
How goes it?”
The sailors watching and seeing the sorc were careful how they replied to Wollfen.
“
We aren’t looking forward to the rest of our voyage I can tell you, how is it really?”
Wollfen responded quickly.
“
Well just give our ship a good look and that will tell you everything,” Then Wollfen took Madeira’s hand, “But if you have the company of a beautiful woman it isn’t so bad!”
The sailors were gob-smacked, the man below was holding the hand of a sorc!
Madeira looked at Wollfen with a critical eye.
“
That’s not funny.”
Wollfen looked at her with a smirk.
“
C’mon we better go back inside before we have to start fielding difficult questions.”
Wollfen led Madeira as they left the deck.
Back on board the cargo ship the sailors were looking at each other and exchanging looks, finally they all decided to talk to the first mate.
“
Sir? We have some questions?”
One of the sailors had decided to be spokesman and as the murmuring spread around, the first mate turned and nodded his head.
“
We just saw a tall blonde sailor on board with a sorc, who is he?”
The first mate replied immediately.
“
Oh that would be Wollfen, he is a prisoner of ours.”
Now all the men that knew what had happened below only a few moments ago gasped. The first sailor went on.
“
But shouldn’t he be in chains or something? He just gave us some cheek about the sorc, I’m sure you won’t let that go unpunished.”
The first mate looked back a little surprised.
“
Me? Punish?” He thought on best how to reply to that one, “The thing is he is sort of the crew now, he is very good, but the other part is, well, he is a sorc too.”
The murmurs grew around him, they all wanted to hear more about this male sorc prisoner. The first mate held up his hands,
“
Alright alright, I’ll tell you what I can.”
Then for the next ten minutes they heard of how this prisoner was a male sorc of the Kingdom. He talked about Wollfen having free reign on board. No one doubted his fairness to all and he was so tough their biggest crewman was knocked out by a single slap to the face. They also heard how he joined in with even the most menial tasks and did not set himself above any of them.
The first mate also explained how Wollfen had on occasion joined in tasks during storms and even once single handed saved them all. Then there was the sick crewman who was going to be tossed overboard and how this Wollfen saved his life by standing up to the captain, even managing to nurse the sick man back to health. The babble of voices grew and some rushed off to tell others, this story was exciting.
So it spread, the exploits of Wollfen grew and became more fantastic each time it was told over the next few days. Even after the Man O War was long gone it continued on spreading from ship to ship of a powerful male sorc who even though was an enemy was allowing himself be taken to Isogorr and showed equal tolerance for all.
In the cabin Madeira was sitting with Wollfen at the table wondering how long it would be before they turned around again and continued on their way. They were less than two months from their destination and she really wanted to get her feet on dry land again. She remembered how she felt exactly the same way when they had first sailed to the Kingdom. Only this time it was a little worse, she was well aware of what would come as the time wore on, before, not knowing made it a little easier.
There was a knock on the door and Wollfen rose to see whom it was. Opening it Wollfen was greeted by Jake standing there with two huge mangoes in his hands,
“
I thought you might like one of these each, we have a crate full on board now.”
Wollfen smiled in return,
“
Thank you Jake, you are most kind.”
Jake smiled back and left. Wollfen turned and sat one on the table then began cutting the other apart. He handed a large piece to Madeira who gratefully accepted and began sucking and munching intently, the juices dripping from her chin. It wasn’t long before she had juice all over the lower half of her face, her eyes roving over the mango in her hand with deep concentration. Madeira realized Wollfen was watching and looked up to see him smiling at her.
“
Now, that’s what I call a sexy look,” he winked.
Madeira scowled and finished by poking her tongue at him. Wollfen cut another large chunk and held it out to her, she reached for it and he lifted it away just out of her reach. Without a thought she got up on the table and followed the mango with an outstretched hand and giggling, but still Wollfen held it back.
“
What are you doing you naughty wolf?”
She got a gob full of mango for her answer, Wollfen smeared it across her face and she cried out half shocked and half laughing then he ran it through her hair,
“
Ah! You bastard!”
Madeira grabbed some mango and slapped it on his chest and rubbed it around, but Wollfen hadn’t finished. Hugging her close he slid the mango from her hair and went down her back inside her robe and she shivered.
“
Oh, you are disgusting!”
She smiled and Wollfen smiled back, she pushed at him and the table almost went over so he relented. The cot caught the back of his legs and he went over, Madeira falling on top of him as she squealed.
Wollfen chuckled at her and Madeira smiling pulled herself up on her hands looking down at him, then she leaned back down and kissed him. Softly at first then more passionately, the mango adding an unusual flavor to the kiss. Wollfen slid his hands onto her sides and lifted. He stared at her a bit, emotions were torn,
“
No, we cannot.”
Madeira nodded and let herself slip down to his side. They lay there for a while, things had become a little more somber again. She lay her hand on his chest and felt it rise and fall with his breathing. Then, lifting her head a thought occurred to her.
“
Wolf?”
He looked at her.
“
What is it?”
“
You and Dark?”
“
Yes?”
“
How is it you and her without the need to stop like we do can remain celibate? I mean, I have realized I could imagine a life without my magic. Haven’t you ever imagined that?”
“
All the time, sometimes I wish I didn’t have it at all.”
“
And yet you manage to resist those temptations with Dark and manage to preserve your virginity and magic?”
Wollfen let out a big sigh, he had been wondering how long it would be before she questioned that, now it was here he realized he still hadn’t prepared an answer that would be easy on her.
He turned to Madeira and looked her straight in the eye. There wasn’t anything for it but to tell her the truth, maybe it was time anyway.
“
I lost my virginity in my teens Madeira.”
She looked at him not quite comprehending what he was saying.
“
You didn’t.. what?”
Wollfen waited a little before going on.
“
I’m saying that I have a normal sex life the same as any other man.”
Madeira sat upright.
“
It's not possible, how can that be? We are taught right from day one, any sexual encounter will destroy the ability. We sacrifice any chance of having children to follow the path.”
Madeira looked around the room without actually seeing anything,
“
Maybe, maybe it is only relevant to women? Maybe men have that freedom, it could be a physical thing.”
Wollfen held her face and made her look him in the eye.
“
No Madeira, I know of quite a few women who not only have had normal sexual encounters but have gone on to have children and still retain the power.”
Madeira pulled away from him and got off the cot.
“
And why haven’t you told me of this before? At what point were you going to tell me? Were you going to tell me or allow me to continue on in ignorance?”
He looked up at her with an apologetic look on his face.
“
I am sorry Madeira, I simply wasn’t sure how to tell you or even when the best time would be.”
Madeira’s mind was working overtime again. Questions were filling her head once more. She turned and walked out of the cabin and Wollfen let her go, he knew she needed to be alone for a while.
Out on deck Madeira was at the bow looking out, her head was in a spin again. She couldn’t remember how long it had been since she was so unsure of herself. How could it be true? All the little inconsistencies had been building up over the last couple of months and she had come to doubt much of what she was taught. The virginity law was one of the fundamental truths taught by the clique of sorcs and if that one law proved to be totally false what did it say about everything else? How did the Queen police it?
Madeira thought about the whole structure of their ways, the teachings of how the men of their society were there to serve the Clique. She remembered how she was indoctrinated into thinking of them with disdain. The older sorcs were always making examples of them to the sorcs in training by using their magics to prove their superiority. In retrospect Madeira could see how her attitudes had been built. Men were never allowed to mix with the females and any deviation from that was punished very heavily. An old memory came flooding back of a friend she had when she was in her teens. Madeira’s friend had been caught in the embrace of a man that frequented the kitchens of the sorc tower. Not only had the young man been put to death, but her friend had been denounced and publicly executed in the courtyard for all other sorcs to see. She wondered now if that girl had really done anything at all beyond the embrace?
Just then another revelation struck home, as part of their acceptance ceremony at becoming a full sorc they had to carry out one more act of dedication. They deliberately sterilized themselves using their own magic. It was a supposedly selfless act to prove their devotion to the order of sorcs as well as removing any desire to have children.
She leaned against the railing and cried not because she was hurt by anyone and not because she felt loss for what she had missed out on all these years. She cried because finally she was realizing she was nothing more than a pawn to serve a select few of her order. Madeira also realized she had just as much importance to the sorc hierarchy as the men they chose to place below them.
Lied to, cheated and manipulated. Madeira fell to the deck clutching her stomach as she threw up, her whole life was a lie and that final truth was hitting home hard. Sobbing for so many reasons, the lies, her lost friend, sterilizing herself for nothing. The Clique hierarchy had taken everything from her, even the most basic fundamental desires of a woman and they had convinced her to revel in it and cherish it like some sort of weird trophy.