The Flying Ship

 

The night was young.

The cold light of the waning moon illuminated the shabby walls of the old castle. Girlish voices could be heard from the dining room window.

"So, the princess is at least one step ahead us. What a shame!" Dame Athanasia, a tall slim brunette, put her needle-like fangs inside the red liquid in her wineglass.

"But she still doesn't get the Paddle, so we have a chance, milady, don't we?" Wolffang, a young greenskin girl, asked a bit nervously, putting some sauerkraut in her mouth.

"Yes." the vampiress nodded. "And that's why we need to find the last part of the Paddle before her. And before the demons."

"The main problem is even not the lack of time," Kajira, a redhead witch, noticed. "Only someone, who has the elder blood in their veins, can open the vaults. And as we know, only princess Maera and her mother meet these requirements. This is one thing, which can't be fixed even by ancient magic." She sighed.

"That's why we need to find the last part of the Paddle before all our rivals." Dame Athanasia smiled. "And then we'll just wait, till the princess will bring us all the parts of the paddle. Or I will drink her blood to get the last part and all the other myself. I guess, if I will taste her blood, it will count that I have the elder blood in my veins." the vampiress laughed.

"I guess so, milady," Livonna, a tall, buxom girl with wolfish features said carefully, chewing raw meet.

"And that's why we need to get the power crystal, girls!" Dame Athanasia nodded at a large ship in the castle main hall, which was visible through the door frame. "Tonight "Night Flier"'s construction will be completed. And we need to make it fly."

"As I said, milady, the most reliable way to get a crystal is to borrow it from a local mage guild," Kajira smiled, sipping her beer.

"Alright, girls. Lets finish our little supper. We don't have all night. Time to go and get the crystal! Nobody can stop us!" Dame Athanasia grinned.

Few hours later an unremarkable stone panel slowly moved, making a creepy screeching sound and opening a cobwebbed, cramped underground passage. She-werewolf carefully looked out from the darkness, carefully sniffing air.

"All clear, milady!" she whispered.

"Excellent! Now let's find the crystal!" Dame Athanasia stepped out from the darkness.

"I wish I knew what it smells like!" Livonna sighed.

"Just try to find anything with the most powerful smell, Livonna," Kajira patted werewolf's shoulder. "I bet my ass this crystal will be the most charged thing in this vault."

Livonna nodded and walked forward. She walked slowly between the shelves, sniffing carefully. Dame Athanasia walked right behind her, giving her impatient looks.

"Is it somewhere close?" she asked.

"I'm not sure, milady," Livonna said carefully "Here are too many smells..."
"Maybe I should give you a spanking, to make your nose sharper?" Dame Athanasia crossed her arms.

"No, no, no! I think I feel the smell we are looking for!" Livonna shivered and quickly went to a built-in wall locker. "I think, it is here!"

"Let me have a look!" Wolffang came closer quickly and took the lock picks. "Kajira, isn't the lock enchanted?"

"Let me check." the witch's fingers quickly folded in a witchcraft sign, while Livonna carefully sniffed the lock. "I don't smell anything but something powerful inside the locker." the wolf-girl said.

"It surely isn't cursed. When I was a student in a School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, before I was expelled for seeking for powerful dark magic, we never locked almost all of our lockers or doors. It was almost useless, since we all were practicing magic..." Kajira laughed, but when Wolffang quickly picked the lock and opened the door. "Oh, Isaiah's silver panties! What had you done?! Yes, the lock isn't cursed, but I'm pretty sure it was enchanted to start the alarm, if somebody will open it without the right key!"

"It doesn't matter now!" Dame Athanasia shouted. "Just grab the crystal and run! Kajira, open the portal!"

"Consider it done, milady!" the witch prepared read the spell from a scroll, but suddenly shook her head. "Oh, crap! We need more space, or the portal will just collapse, consuming nearby shelves!" she ran back to the secret passage

"Quick! Go! Go!" Dame Athanasia ran behind the witch, while the she-werewolf and the orcess quickly followed her. Kajira hurriedly read the spell, and the portal finally opened.

But before the girls could jumped into it, suddenly few masked figures appeared right behind them.

"Nobody expects the Heoths Inquisition!" the tall man in black masque said, while his minions took Dame Athanasia and her henchwomen. Right in the moment, when he said his words, Kajira dropped the crystal, which disappeared in the portal, which collapsed right after that. Nobody noticed that.

The man in black masque ordered to his men with a gesture to turn their captures face him.

"Nobody expects the Heoths Inquisition!" he said again dramatically. "Our chief weapon is surprise... surprise and fear... fear and surprise... Our two weapons are fear and surprise... and ruthless efficiency... Our three weapons are fear, surprise, and ruthless efficiency... and an almost fanatical devotion to the Divine Order.... Our four... no... Amongst our weaponry are such diverse elements as: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the Divine Order, and nice stylish uniforms!" he shook his head. "All right! Stop right here, criminal scum! Nobody breaks the law on our watch! We're confiscating your stolen goods. And you'd better prepare for the punishment!"

The girls shivered.

"What a punishment do you mean, sir?" Wolffang asked carefully, being almost sure that she already knew the answer.

The man in black masque smirked.

"That depends on what did you stole, wenches!" he turned to his minions "Search them!"

The inspection didn't take much time, since only Dame Athanasia and Wolffang were dressed at all, but inquisitors found nothing suspicious. The man in the black masque shrugged.

"It looks like we caught you right before you found what you came here fore, preventing your stealing. That's good. But you still should be punished for violating the law by trespassing." he turned to his minions "All right. We'll start with the orcess! Bend her over that table and hold her tight!" he turned to Wolffang "And you partners in crime may watch. They will be next one by one anyway."

Wolffang tried to struggle, but was easily overpowered and quickly found herself bent over the wooden table with her bottom bared. The man in black masque smirked and before she even tried to protest some more, the riding crop landed heavily on her round buttocks. Wolffang screamed and wagged her bottom, trying to make the stinging sensation easy at least a bit. The second stroke came quickly. Then were third and fourth and fifth and even more and more. Wolffang cried in pain, squirming over the tabletop. Dame Athanasia sighed, feeling completely powerless. She often threatened her henchwomen with spanking and almost as often spanked them herself, but even while she never seen anything wrong with putting them in danger, even she also never really liked seen them suffering for nothing. Kajira just whimpered feeling sorry for Wolffang and even more for herself, since she knew, that she should be next.

"You bastards!" Livonna suddenly growled. "Let us go with a warning! We even didn't stole anything!"

"I will let you all go with a good warming!" the man in the black masque responded "And you will be next, werewolf-girl!"

Livonna snarled, but didn't dare to actually bite anyone. And it was still not so easy for inquisitors to made her bend over the table. Suddenly Dame Athanasia called out to the man in black masque.

"Grand inquisitor, please, don't hurt her! Can't you see, she's just a beast, who don't know anything, but following orders?"

The man in black masque smirked and took the crop in his left hand.

"Good. I won't hurt her more than needed." He raised the crop. His minions smirked understandingly. Dame Athanasia and her henchwomen couldn't know that the man in black masque was ambidextrous.

Livonna gritted her teeth, promising herself to show this man no weakness, but it doesn't took too long from him to make her squirm on the tabletop, furiously kicking and howling like a wounded from the pain. The crop in his hand was stinging her soft flesh like an angry hornet. The werewolf struggled to break out from the inquisitors grip and wept bitterly, screaming out loud at each burning stroke of the crop landing on her now terrible sore and welted bottom.

When Livonna's cry finally turned into a wolfish howl completely, the man in black masque finally stopped whipping her and gestured his men to release her. The she-werewolf, howling and sobbing, limped in the corner, where already was standing Wolffang. Both girls looked at each other, whimpering, but kept silence.

Inquisitors stripped Kajira from her mantle and made her bend over the table. The witch was much left used to spanking comparing to she-werewolf and orcess, so even the first stroke of the crop made her scream almost as loud as she could and kick her bot legs. The man in black masque nodded to his minion to hold her tight and continued whipping poor witch's bottom, leaving sore welts and making her furiously squirming and kicking at each stroke. Kajura bawled in pain, but all her weep and pleading were in vain.

When her punishment was finally over, Kajira gave her poor bottom a gentle rub, but the man in black masque suddenly gave her hands a swift stroke with the crop.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. No rubbing! Gentlemen, make sure that these ladies, won't rub their bottom until I'll say that their punishment is over."

"But you already gave my poor girls a thrashing! Their punishment should be over!" Dame Athanasia protested, while inquisitors were stripping her from her top.

"It's not over 'til we say so!" the man in black masque said, giving Dame Athanasia a strict look. "And now, lady, it is your time to bend over and take your punishment."

Dame Athanasia gave him an arrogant look, but bent over the table, sticking her firm bottom out. One of the inquisitors gripped her wrists, securing her on the tabletop.

"This is not necessary." the vampiress said "I will take my punishment like a true lady and knight as I am!"

"Your behaviour is very unladylike, Dame." the man in black masque said sternly, raising the crop. "Invading mages vaults in the night, keeping company rubbing shoulders with thieves, witches and even werewolves. You should be ashamed of yourself." and with this words he gave Dame Athanasia's porcelain-white buttocks first hard stroke of the crop. Dame Athanasia growled through clenched teeth, but held still. The notation man in black masque just gave her was much worse than the pain from his crop. But after the first ten strokes the vampire knight broke in tears and finally started wiggling on the tabletop, wagging her now sore and striped bottom, wailing in pain.

Livonna, Kajira and Wolffang could only whimpering, hearing their leader's weep.

After a few minutes, which seemed like an eternity to Dame Athanasia, the man in black masque finally stopped.

"I think now all of you are punished properly." he said, gesturing his minion to release the vampiress. Dame Athanasia slowly stood up from the table, still weeping bitterly, but got herself together enough to not to rub her bottom. She just looked down at the floor, trying to avoid the inquisitors gazes.

"Now you four better to run away from here and never come back." the man in black masque said. "And if I'll ever catch any of you again, this will be a walk in the park in comparison!"

Sobbing and whimpering, the girls ran away quickly.

It still was about some hours before then dawn, when Blood Moon Gang found themselves in the dark woods.

"Well, at least we are still alive and free." Dame Athanasia smiled through tears. "And now we knew, where to look for the crystal! Tomorrow night we will come again and finally get it!"

"Maybe not tomorrow, milady?" Wolffang asked carefully, gently rubbing her terrible sore bottom "Don't get me wrong, I'm all for implementation of you plans, but I'll prefer not to take any risks to get another spanking before I'll be able to sit down comfortable..."

"I wonder, why the portal closed right after it opened?" Livonna asked suddenly "And how did it happen, that the inquisitors didn't find the crystal? Did we just got spanked for nothing?" she pouted.

"I'm not sure. Maybe something fell into the portal, when I opened it... Ow! Ugh! This hurts so bad!" Kajira complained, rubbing her welted bottom "But that doesn't explain, what happened to the crystal. You held it, milady, right?"

"Yes, I took it right when we found it..." Dame Athanasia sighed. "I think I accidentally dropped it, when those dorks grabbed me. Maybe the crystal just rolled under one of the shelves? Do you remember, how it smells, Livonna?" the vampiress patted the werewolf's shoulder.

"Yes, milady!" Livonna replied proudly.

"At least we'll find it much quickly, when we'll make a second attempt. But yes, we won't return to this vault until we all will be able to sit down comfortable again!" Dame Athanasia winced.

They reached Dame Athanasia's castle right before the dawn.

When Dame Athanasia, Livonna, Kajira and Wolffang finally arrived to the castle, spent some time, nursing their badly sore bottom and complaining about their failure.

Only when she finally felt better at least a bit, Dame Athanasia decided to check her notes, so she went to her cabinet. First she didn't believe her eyes. She blinked once. Then twice. But the crystal they found and lost in the vault was laying right on her bureau, glistening in the candlelight. The vampiress couldn't help but laugh happily.

"Livonna, Kajira, Wolffang! Come here! I have a surprise for you!" she called.

The girls appeared quickly, still grumpy and rubbing their bottoms. Dame Athanasia smiled.

"It turned out that our punishment worth it!" she said. Her henchwomen gave her a puzzled looks. Dame Athanasia smiled wider and showed them the crystal. Her smile became even more wider, while she watched, how their faces changed.

"So this is why the portal collapsed so quickly!" Kajira said, smiling exactingly. "You dropped the crystal right into it milady."

"Yes, my dear witch. And now nobody knows that we have it! All turned out just perfect!"

"This was very painful perfection!" Livonna complained.

"No pain, no gain, my dear werewolf." Dame Athanasia smirked, making Livonna wincing. "Anyway, now we have all we need, and "Night Flier"'s construction is finally completed. We're leaving tonight!"

"I'll prepare the crystal," Kajira took the crystal from Dame Athanasia's hand and leaved. Wolffang followed her. Livonna shifted from one foot to the other.

"Milady, are you sure, we are not making a mistake?" she asked carefully "What if this expedition will be a point of no return for us?"

Dame Athanasia patted she-werewolf's head.

"Even if so, we'll face it together, my friend. And we will win this war."

Right before twilight Kajira started the ritual. She put the crystal at stand and cast a spell, awaking it's power. The crystal started glowing, and it's shining heated inside the air balloon, making it inflating.

Dame Athanasia gestured her revenants to open the gates. They started rotating the wheels, moving the massive mechanism. The castle roof above the main hall suddenly moved, opening.

"Everyone to your places!" Dame Athanasia commanded. "Good bye, earth! Godspeed!"

"Night Flier" slowly lifted off the ground and began to gain altitude. Dame Athanasia seated into a captains chair on a soft cushion. Kajira stood near the crystal, casting a new spell to make a tailwind. Wolffang took the helm. And Livonna went to the nose of the flying ship, taking the position of the lookout.

"Our destination point is the land of the Orcs!" Dame Athanasia said. "Off we go!"