Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

Bokuboy

I told Helena I would be another half an hour as I prepped what I needed for the ship. She didn't even bat an eye at me delaying us to go and get the ship.

“We all know you're going to do your best to give that ship whatever you want to make it better.” Helena chuckled. “You've been planning this ever since that time you visited the docks and had a tour of that ship.”

“You know me so well.” I said and kissed her, gave Vanessa a kiss, and went to my work room.

Since I didn't have to worry about making the enchantments smaller to conceal them on the large ship, with all that room to work with, I made full sized one foot wide coins for them. I also had to go back to my vault to get my old papers. I hadn't made the original full movement enchantment for a long time now and I needed the reminder on what to add back into the stripped down version I was so used to making.

Of course, I didn't stop there. I also dug out the full weight enchantment that was the Pondus Family Crest. I quickly fixed it and made one of them as well. I was sure that one would be enough; but, I had to make sure and made two instead. In the long run, it could be used as a backup if the first was ever damaged for some reason.

I made another movement enchantment for the same reason, then I looked at the old protection enchantment I had. Now that I knew so many different things, especially the concealment enchantment that I had integrated into it... I had a bit of math and a little redesigning to do. I almost laughed as I easily made the alterations and constructed a ward that protected the ship from both creatures and people.

I knew the concealment wouldn't work for a ship that big, though. I was going to have to split it up and put it around the ship to cover the entire thing. My hand touched the medallion I wore and a huge smile blossomed on my face. I knew exactly how many pieces I would use. Six. I combined the concealment enchantments into the six smaller enchantments that the cell had, modified to fix them, of course.

The problem I had was that they needed to be on the outside of the ship to work, which meant that I had to conceal them. I ran up the stairs, passed a surprised Hope, and looked around the mansion for something to hide the obvious coins. It didn't take me long to find some nice wood scroll work on a small coffee table. I grabbed it and ran downstairs to Hope and asked her who made it.

“Frank and the men made it. It's one of our best sellers.” Hope said.

I chuckled and used my knife to carve out the perfect sized coin. “I need five more of these made right away.”

Hope didn't question me at all and took the coin to the workman's wing of the mansion.

I went back downstairs and finished my carvings and used the enchantment potions to infuse them with my magic. I wasn't going to shortchange myself and made backups, just in case, then piled my work into a crate and carried it up to the front doors of the mansion.

I left it by the doors and ran up the stairs to change into the meeting suit that Helena wanted me to wear. I was quickly checked by Sara and Tabitha, who shook their heads, then I was dunked into a bath and quickly scrubbed. There wasn't time for both of them to perform the ritual, so Sara did it and Tabitha promised to perform it right after we picked up the boat and I had the first test run.

I tried to argue that I wouldn't be bathing that soon and she said the spray of the water from such a small ship was going to soak me through before I knew it. I couldn't argue with her logic, so I agreed and that made Helena laugh softly.

“You are such a good man, David.” Helena said and kissed me.

Vanessa, Helena, Hope, Sara, Tabitha, Jill, and I left the mansion and made our way to the docks in the family carriage. We would have taken more maids to see the thing; but, the carriage wasn't that large to fit so many people inside. Administrator Lannin promised to bring the others in another carriage and would meet us there. His son Gerald wanted to see the new ship launched, too.

When we arrived at the docks, it was near pandemonium. People were everywhere and slowed our progress to get to the Sellwafer's business.

“I don't need to ask what's going on, do I?” Helena asked, amusement on her face as she looked out at the people.

“I'd say the queen is here at least.” I commented and looked at where we were going to have to park. “I see two royal carriages.”

“Two?” Helena leaned over me to look out the other window. “Oh, my.”

“He came?” Vanessa asked, surprised.

“Apparently.” I said as the carriage stopped and the coachman opened the door for me to step out. “There are guards scattered all over.”

“Well, that makes sense. It's not like this is a private launch. A lot of people would have heard of it.” Helena said and took my offered hand as she stepped down. “It's hard for the royal family's protectors to stay unobtrusive with so many potential enemies around.”

I held a hand back to Vanessa and helped her down. “He would have been smart to cordon off the area before arriving.” I said and helped the maids out as well. I only offered my elbow, because they wouldn't accept my hand when I tried. “Now he's in the middle of a nightmare.”

“Oh? Not you?” Hope asked as she moved behind me.

“I could kill everyone around us long before anyone could harm you.” I said and we almost immediately had a ten foot wide clear area around us. Helena and Vanessa covered their mouths to hide their laughs and I led everyone through the now parting crowd that didn't try to stop us as we walked down the docks. The coachman carried the crate for me, since both of my arms were busy.

We made it to the business without incident and went inside. I didn't comment on the dock workers keeping watch and making sure that no one overstepped their allowed area.

“Lord Drake!” The same young woman gasped when I stepped through the door. “The ship is beautiful!”

“I'm sure it is.” I said and heard the door be locked behind us. “Take us through, please.”

“Of course!” The young woman said a bit loudly and led us into the back.

“Ah, there you are.” The Baroness said, her face happy. “It was a right pain in the backside to keep so many people from barging in here.”

“The men have taken to security well.” I said and her happy face beamed a smile.

“They really have. No one has tried to rob us or anything and even the vandals leave us alone.” The Baroness said and gave me her hand. “I have you to thank for that, don't I?”

“Perhaps.” I said with a knowing smile and kissed her hand. I had arranged the first bit of money to make it into the right hands, thanks to one of Frank's workers. With them to help, word had quickly spread that more money would come if they kept the place safe. No one was disappointed by the arrangement.

“Then please, come and look at the very first masterpiece our company has created.” The Baroness said and looked at my arms, both of which were occupied, and she laughed softly. She made a hand wave and her husband seemed to appear out of nowhere and he escorted the Baroness.

I thought it was telling that neither she nor her husband had greeted Vanessa or Helena. Since we weren't in a more formal setting, I couldn't call them on it; but, both Helena and Vanessa had suffered the slight rebuff and I knew that they wouldn't forget it, just like I wouldn't.

Then we saw the small clipper ship.

It was a work of beauty. The ornate state of the outside, made of a dark wood, gave it the polished look of riches beyond anyone had ever seen on a ship before. The details were stunning, the scroll work prominent, and the carvings stood out as intended to draw the eye along the smooth lines of the ship.

“Lady Bassinger really went all out.” The Baroness said with a laugh. “The bow spirit is so lifelike that I thought someone had petrified a beautiful woman and suspended her from the front of the ship.”

I walked around the ship to look and saw that she was right. I didn't recognize the woman, which meant it was either an exclusive model or just someone that Lady Bassinger's uncle made up. Either way, she was showing off a lot of cleavage in the thin dress the figure wore. If she wasn't made of wood, she would have been highly erotic.

“Good god.” Vanessa whispered and her face went a little red.

“It's amazing, isn't it? Everyone will be looking at it!” The Baroness said, quite proudly.

Yes, and not for the reasons you think. I thought. At least I now knew where I was going to attach one of the shield enchantments. The bow spirit was going to gain a medallion around her neck to protect her modesty and to cover her exposed breasts.

“Is the crew ready?” I asked and the baroness nodded.

“They're waiting in a boat in the harbour, just off from the launch site. They'll board then and have the main mast set into place and the sails rigged in twenty minutes.”

I nodded and looked at the women with me. “Ladies and maids, please go with the baroness to wait while I check this over for myself.”

“I hope you are going to take us on the maiden sail.” Helena said.

“You and Vanessa will be the first to ride on her.” I promised. “I'll pick you up by the platform.”

Helena gave me a kiss and nodded to Vanessa, who kissed me as well. They left me there, alone with the crate of my work, and I looked at the ship. In my head, I chose the right spots for the outside enchantments and then got to work.

I would need the one on the bow, one on the stern, and then two on each side, an equal distance apart from the others. I knew there couldn't be any variance in it, considering the way the cell had been constructed, and it took me ten minutes to get them into the right positions. I could feel them with my vigilance technique and when they were in the right spots, I used number ten potion to secure them.

I went to the rudder that was near the back of the ship and saw that it wasn't a rudder at all, it was a large steering wheel instead. I almost laughed, because it complicated what a simple stick could do. I marked it mentally in my head and went below deck. Not surprisingly, it was the captain's cabin that was directly under the steering mechanism.

The back of the ship had windows in it as well and I shrugged at the unnecessary visual. The best part about the cabin was that there was a lot of room inside and I easily mounted two enchantments, one each of movement and weight, right onto the ceiling. If you weren't looking for it specifically, you wouldn't even notice the two extra wood protrusions from the ceiling.

I went to the middle of the ship and mounted the other two, far enough away from the two I would be using that I could still use them and also to protect them from being damaged if the ones at the back of the ship were somehow lost.

With my work done, I left the ship and went outside to nod at the baroness. She looked very happy and she cast some kind of spell to make her voice carry as several workmen came over to me. We set up the ship's launch as the baroness talked about how this was a revolutionary ship, the smallest and fastest of its kind, and how she was very proud to have had a hand in building the future of the Gulf Kingdom.

“She's definitely getting full of herself.” One of the men commented as he tied off the rigging to open the massive doors. “I'm half-hoping the ship sinks, just so she'll shut up about it.”

The other men laughed, as did I. None of them questioned why I was laughing with them.

“All right, she's done talking. Heave HO!” One of the others said and four of them pushed open the huge doors and two grabbed onto the rigging to yank on the ropes to fold the doors back and not let them flow freely. There were appreciative sounds from the gathered crowd as they caught sight of the ship and then the work crew pulled out the stoppers holding the ship in the dock.

I quickly climbed up and went to the large steering wheel and grabbed on. If I wasn't careful, the ship could tip to the side or even capsize if it hit the water wrong. The work crews grabbed the guide ropes on the front of the ship and pulled. Nothing happened, so I activated the weight enchantment. The men pulling hard on the ropes fell down as the boat shot forward and the ropes went slack.

There were several screams mixed in with the cheers as the ship slid out as if it was on grease and splashed into the water. It wasn't the slow and graceful exit that any of them had expected from a ship launch and that was kind of the point. I held the rudder steady and eased the weight back and the boat bobbed down a lot into the water. The ship was drifting a bit too far, thanks to the quick water insert, so I activated the movement enchantment and brought the ship to a stop.

Every single person that saw it instantly became quiet, even the men in the little boat that were supposed to climb aboard to finish the ship's assembly. The only people still talking were the ones from my family.

“I knew he could get it to work.” Helena said confidently and waved to me. “David! Hurry up and pick us up!”

I chuckled and moved the ship to the side about ten feet for the men to climb up. “You heard the lady. Let's go. She needs to ride this thing as soon as possible.”

“Yessir!” The men said and scrambled up the side of the ship where we had left a rigging net for them.

It took twenty minutes to get the ship to be seaworthy, just as the baroness said, and the men departed back to their little boat. I brought the ship around, to everyone's surprise except Helena's, and eased the ship next to the docking platform. I used the weight enchantment and the ship sank down to be at the same height as the platform, which really shocked everyone.

“My Lady. My Lady. My maids. Your ride awaits.” I said and waved at the ship.

“Thank you, Lord Drake. How gracious of you.” Helena said and accepted my hand as she stepped onto the deck without using a gangplank or even stairs, since they weren't needed. “I think you need to talk to the Pondus Family after this.”

“Are they here?” I asked and she pointed off to the side of the platform. I turned to look and saw six people, the two brothers I had dealt with, two older men, and two women. They all had shock on their faces. “I'll give them the third ride, after the king and his family.”

“Good choice.” Helena said, laughter in her voice.

I helped Vanessa and the maids on, made sure they had good places to sit and hang on, then I moved the ship away from the platform and raised the ship until it was almost all the way out of the water.

“Get ready, here we go.” I cautioned them and they did so, then I added my magic to the movement enchantment. The ship responded a bit sluggishly and I chuckled.

“What is it?” Helena asked.

“I'm too used to only using enough magic to run my other boat with the weaker enchantment.”

Helena laughed. “You didn't leave any flaws in at all, did you?”

“No.” I said with a smile.

“Then let yourself have some fun, my love.” Helena said and blew me a kiss. “You know how much I love to feel your magic.”

“I do.” I said and took a calming breath, then let myself go and my magic poured out. Helena shivered, Vanessa looked surprised, and Tabitha looked stunned. “You better hold on tightly.”

There were nods all around and then I put that magic into the movement enchantment.

“Oh, my GOD!” Helena gasped and had an orgasm, because the ship took off as if it was only a flat bottomed boat and not a keeled clipper ship. “YES! YEEEESSSSSS!” She yelled as she revelled in both the speed of the full movement enchantment and my magic.

It reminded me of the first time she had been in a boat with me and I smiled. Her actions really did speak louder than words, since she had sat in front of me without her underwear on and she let me see how much she enjoyed it.

It was nice to know that she still enjoyed the simple things in life.