The threats had been dispersed and the guggles had been scared off. However, Xania's arm was a growing reason for concern. The guggles' mangled teeth ... and all the bacteria they must have carried. For the moment, all I could think about was that I needed to treat it. And the only sure way I had at my disposal was magic.

“You can …” Xania stammered.

“Cast spells, yeah,” I said, my stiff jaw still causing me to slur my words a bit. I remembered that sorcerers had a bit of a reputation around here, but that hardly mattered to me right now.

“Talk!” Xania said, still three steps behind the matter at hand. "Guggles don't talk!"

“I’m not a guggle!” I said, less impatient with the comparison and more so with the urgency of the situation. "I'm just ... me ... Lilly. Your Clover. And that needs to be enough for now, for you to let me help you!"

The words barely seemed to reach her.

But I wasn't sure where to even begin. That I had ... snuck onto their island? That she had unknowingly kidnapped me? That I had been trying for days to communicate, but kept too drugged up to manage?

“Look …" I said. "TLDR, I’m trying to get home with my crew. We saw this island and stopped to trade for supplies. And when I walked into the bar …”

“I grabbed you and put a gag in your mouth,” Xania said, her knees starting to wobble. Shakily, she lowered herself into a sitting position on the ground while I helped her. “I took your clothes ... I brought you to Hask Farm … I milked … I branded you! I branded a person!”

At this point, she started to hyperventilate.

I braced her torso against my knee, unable to even start to explain why I was still okay, throughout all of that. All I could say was, “I’ve been through way worse. Sorcerer, remember? A little bondage is ... pretty much my average Tuesday. You’ve been ... nothing but kind.”

Xania shook her head several times. “I shoulda known! You came into town in a full outfit! You even have horns and a tail like a person!” She then met my eyes with a sort of desperation. “Clover, I’m so sorry!”

“Xania ..." I said, needing to force myself to take a deep breath. "I need you to drink from … me. I know it's ... pervy magic. But it's the only way I know to help you right now.”

Xania looked at her wounded arm, as if for the first time. Her eyes grew larger at the flesh dangling from it, blood seeping into her fur.

“If I’m tricking you for pervy reasons, you'll know," I said, trying to rush a concept which ... no normal person could. "You can pummel me or drag me to whatever jail, if I am. Just ... let me fix this.”

After one last unsure glance, Xania finally nodded. I knelt so she could wrap her bovine lips entirely around one of my breasts. As she drank, the wound began to close. I could feel the magic leaving me ... but did everything in my power not to display any measure of arousal.

Xania then pulled away and glanced at her wound. The flesh mostly mended, except for a bald patch in her fur. It was enough that she was able to move her arm around without any visible pain. “You … really are one of those sorcerers.”

I nodded, finally able to breathe. I fell into the dirt to just ... sit for a moment. All of the adrenaline from the fight finally having a chance to settle. For a moment, my thoughts wandered to everything that had happened over the past few days. At having watched helplessly as Xania lost ... everything.

After another few moment, I finally broke the quiet between us. “You ... could come with us if you wanted. We're going to the mainland."

Xania didn't seem to know what to make of this, at first. It took her a few moments before she glanced back at her ransacked home and barn. "To ... become a sailor? Or ... a sorcerer? Or ..."

I glanced at the horizon.

Even from here, I could see the outline of Hask Farms, dwarfing all else beneath it.

“A pirate," I whispered.

Xania’s eyes widened as she stared out with me. After a while, her jaw tightened. “I think ... I'd be okay with that.”

-O-

The night was dark, mist heavy over black waters. I waited antsily as the Seacow slowly approached its first target–a wooden cargo ship with “Hask Farms” etched into the side. It was a bulky ... vulnerable ... built for transport instead of battle.

As soon as we were close, our circle-dragon crew went to work, tying our ship to the much larger vessel. Every one of them quiet as shadows.

Minutes passed.

Until, I finally heard a splash, followed by the cutting the ropes. Presumably, those holding up the gangway. Without it, the minotaur crew would have a bit of a swim before they were able to call for help.

One by one, we then watched the torches go out on the deck of the ship.

Xania had done her part.

Tab’s magic then brought her whisper to every ear. “Take what you were instructed, and get back here. Minotaurs are big but slow. Outmaneuver and scare them if you can, but do not engage in combat if you can help it.”

“Yes, Captain,” everyone replied, in whispers of our own.

I led my team onto the Hask ship first. The crew was split into three teams. A-Team was being led by Qas to grab the food. B-Team was led by Raathgur to retrieve barrels of drinking water and some kind of citrus drink. And I was leading C-Team to retrieve tools from the kitchen.

By the time we were all onboard, Xania was already waiting on the deck for us. With a wide if slightly nervous grin on her face. I followed her down to the hull.

The first room we reached was the mess of the ship, filled with long tables where the crew was presumed to eat. It was connected via a large doorway to the galley.

I led my team toward it, while Xania moved to help the others. Immediately, the crew began to grab as many items as they could carry.

I tasked myself with collecting the knives and wrapping them in a burlap cloth. One I'd enchanted to make much larger inside than physically possible, using Qasven's magic. Each minotaur knife I stole felt much closer to a machete in my hand.

I could hear the other teams passing on the deck directly above us, presumably with cargo already in hand. We’d nearly gathered everything we could have when the sound of a bell made me jump.

Immediately, I turned and shouted, “Take what you have and let’s go!” I led them back through the mess and up the stairs. Ready to use my magic against any minotaur who stopped me.

When I reached the deck, I froze at the sight awaiting me.

Nearly two-dozen minotaurs in Hask Farm uniforms had surrounded the circle-dragon crew. Some held torches but the majority held wooden poles connected to ropes. I had seen these on the walls at Hask Farm, presumably for wrangling escaped guggles.

My heart began to race ... as the reality of the situation set in all at once.

What the hell had I gotten myself into? Everything had gone so smoothly at first that, for a moment, I'd forgotten that this was our first real foray into piracy! I was a sorcerer ... not a pirate!

“Catch every last one of these pirates!” said a minotaur, the one in charge.

Raathgur stood between him and the rest of the crew with his mechanical war-hammer in hand. He had it raised but hadn’t actually dared to attack. It was easy to see the problem, with nobody armed to guard his flanks.

I looked around desperately for anything to help me. It wasn't long before I noticed a rope ... dangling high between the platform I now stood on and the main deck ... where Raathgur's team was cornered.

I glanced again at my bag full of enormous knives, until the loose equivalent of a plan took hold. Nerves screaming, I took a knife from my bag and cut the bottom of the rope, holding the loose end in hand.

Full of doubt that any of this would end well, I bundled the knives and tucked them between my legs.

Then ... I jumped.

For just a few seconds, I felt like the badass pirate of my dreams. Swinging overhead like the nimblest of bilge rats.

I released the enormous knives from between my legs, right when I was over my comrades. I relished the half-second of satisfaction as the weapons clattered to the ground. The crew already reaching for them, ready to fight.

Before I felt something that knocked the wind and sense from my body entirely. My torso was struck first, followed by my head. I'd hit ... the mast itself ... all at full speed.

I dropped like a sack of potatoes to the deck.

Around me, I could vaguely hear shouts, scuffles, and fighting. And yet, it was all I could do just to try to draw in breath. Until, finally, I found myself lifted into a pair of strong and fluffy arms.

"Did I ... pirate good?" I mumbled nonsensically, the words looping through my battered skull.

“You absolutely pirated good,” replied Xania, rushing me back to the Seacow.

The clashing of metal was no longer sounding behind us. When had the fighting stopped? Did I miss it?

“That’s everyone! Cut ties and let’s go!” Tab shouted.

Xania leaped on to our ship, just as ropes were cut and the ship pulled free.