"Blood Island": A Vampire Tale from the Golden Age of Piracy

[MarieDavisRPs]

"Blood Island"
A Vampire Tale
From the
Golden Age of Piracy

CLOSED TO KingOfNowhere​

Somewhere in the Caribbean Sea
The Year of Our Lord, 1721
Victoria Harrington was the name by which her captors had registered her aboard the HMS Valiant for her transport back to England. It wasn't her real name, of course; her transport from the recently established British Belize District on the eastern coastline of Central America to London was being conducted in absolute secrecy.

There were only two people aboard the Valiant who truly knew who and -- far more importantly -- what Victoria was.

The first was Rebecca Howe, the daughter of the registered owner of the Valiant, Lord Marbray Howe. While it flew the Union Jack like all Royal Navy warships did and was required to fill the demands of the Crown or Admiralty when called upon, Valiant's additional pennants flapping in the wind identified it as a privately owned vessel. Becca -- as she was known to her family and friends -- had come out to the New World with her father to establish Howe Bank, their estate on the banks of the simply and boringly named Belize River. She'd instantly fallen in love with the area and -- having great respect for the natives who'd been able to so successfully live in such a primitive land -- had convinced her father not to employ slavery as a part of their efforts to profit from the land that he was about to rape of its timber and other natural resources.

The second was Vivica Cruz. Viv -- as she was called by anyone who didn't want to lose a finger by using her much hated, full given name -- had been the daughter of the Valiant's former Captain, the man who initially brought the vessel, the Howes, its crew, some 30 settlers, and all their gear and valuables from London to Belize. Her father had been stabbed to death by a drunken sailor just days after arriving in the New World. Having feelings of responsibility for the girl's future -- as well as inappropriate feelings of lust for the then-15-year-old -- Marbray had legally adopted her to be raised alongside his 3-years-her-senior daughter.
Unbelievably, the girls had loved the voyage from England to Belize, and after the Valiant had reached its destination, Becca had nagged and nagged and nagged her father into allowing them to train as Midshipmen aboard the ship. Marbray had finally given in; after his wife's death, he'd never been able to say no to his daughter. He'd allowed them aboard only when he himself had been, permitting them to be trained during the Valiant's short trips between Howe Banks and various destinations within or near Belize.

Eventually, loaded with lumber, the ship made its way back to England, porting and unloading in Liverpool before turning around and returning to Belize. By the time the Valiant had completed the round-trip voyage, the two girls were fully trained, climbing the mast to the crow's nest for watches and even taking the helm at times.

Each of them would have believed this to be the most incredible thing they'd ever do in their lives ... until Victoria. By the time the Valiant had once again ported in Howe Banks, the town that had built up around Lord Marbray's estate was in panic over the mysterious and gruesome murders of more than a dozen men. To make matters even more shocking, the killer turned out to be a woman, a young woman, who no one would have expected could do something so horrific as bite into a man's neck and suck so much blood from him that he would die.

Victoria had been shackled and jailed for a fortnight after her capture, awaiting the return of Lord Marbray; he was, after all, the law in Howe Banks with the absence of any other member of the British judicial system. Marbray spent hour after hour with Victoria, interviewing her, interrogating her, even torturing her for information about what she'd done and why she'd done it. What he'd learned had been disturbing. How could it not be?

Marbray was a very religious man, and he was sure that whatever Victoria was, it was against the teachings of Christ; he was certain that she needed to be judged by the Church, not by her. That wasn't going to happen here in Belize, though; Marbray felt the thing to do was get her back to England, where the proper authorities could deal with her. Thus, the reason for being on the Valiant now.

They'd left Howe Banks 8 days ago, making a port call in Jamaica before heading northeast through the Windward Passage toward the Turks and Caicos Islands. But a day from reaching port a pirate ship came across them, leading the captain to turn northwest and flee for the Bahamas, specifically Nassau.

But they were about to run into yet another, even bigger problem: a hurricane.

 

[KingOfNowhere]

Henry "Willy" Williams
6'2" 210#
Muscular body with sunbaked skin
Brunette hair, brown eyes
Various scars to be described at some point

Henry looked over the stern at the pirate ship still pursuing them. The predator ship had been built for speed and had been consistently pulling down 8-10 knots all day. The Valiant, on the other hand, had been built to haul freight and had barely been making six knots in what was an unfavorable wind for them.

The captain came to stand near Henry just as one of the crew measuring the Valiant's speed called out, "Five knots, Captain."

"They'll catch up before sundown, Captain," Henry said softly. "They're gonna be pissed when they find we don't have much to offer them."

Henry looked to the fantail where Victoria Harrington was chained to a mast. He mused, "We could offer them her."

The Captain looked to their passenger, then to the other two women on deck. "I somehow doubt that Miss Howe or Miss Cruz would appreciate that."

Henry looked to Becca and Cruz, then to the Captain. The latter laughed and warned, "Do even think about it. One's the owner's daughter, and one's the owner's cheesecake." Henry gave him a curious expression. The Captain laughed. He explained, "She's sweet and tasty and he wants to eat her up."

They laughed together. Just then the wind shifted and increased in speed. They both looked to the storm building to the northwest. Henry gave his opinion, "It's gonna cut us off if we keep course, Captain. But if we turn away, we will head directly for the pirates."

"I agree, sailor," the Captain said. "We have no choice. We had to maintain course."

They did that for five more hours. The sun was about to touch the horizon. And the pirate ship was an hour from turning at the Valiant to cut it off. Then, things suddenly began to get rough. The Captain orders all hands not already on crew to the deck. They fought to maintain the rigging against ever building winds.

The sun was halfway down when suddenly the pirate vessel turned to its starboard. Its course was going to bring it within 50 yards of the Valiant. The Captain ordered what crew was not already on duty to get to it. They manned cannons and the swivel guns loaded with ball-and-chain shot (to take out the enemies rigging) while snipers were ordered to the crow's nest and other locations in the rigging.

The weather continued to get rougher and rougher. Then, just as the pirate ship seemed about to fire its guns, a portion of sail canvas ripped, disabling it. A moment later, a part of the rigging snapped as well. Over the next couple of minutes, pirates scrambled to repair the damage. In the end, the vessel missed its opportunity. It turned to port, away from its prey, to begin conducting repairs.

The crew of the Valiant cheered when they realized that they'd escaped the pirates. But their troubles were continuing. The storm suddenly swept over them. The Captain attempted to flee to the south, but there was simply no escaping the storm. Soon, everything was black. The sun had fallen beyond the horizon, and the sky was filled with thick, black clouds that hid the moon and stars.

The seas rose and bucked the ship violently. The sails had been furled, of course, to both prevent them from being damaged and prevent the wind from filling them and possibly snapping the masts. All control was lost when the rudder controls were damaged. This left the ship vulnerable to the high waves that her soon much higher than the main deck.

This went on for hours, until suddenly the Valiant jerked hard and heel to starboard nearly 30 degrees. It had gone aground on either a reef or rocky outcrop. Men were tossed all about as the bow of the ship turned more than 60 degrees in the same direction as the tilt in under six seconds.

The Valiant was stuck upon something big, and it wasn't coming off before that something big ripped its hull apart.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

As the seas began to worsen, Becca gestured Viv to join her as she moved to where Victoria was shackled to one of the masts. To the latter, Becca said, "Time to get you below. It's gonna get nasty--"

"Not yet, Victoria pled. "I was promised four hours a day of direct sunlight."

"Why?" Becca asked, repeating with stress, "Why...? Yes, you requested it, and yes, my father agreed to it. But I want to know why you would make such a request as that."

"And why would we give you anything you want?" Viv chimed in. "You're a murderer! I don't understand why you are even still alive." Viv pulled the dagger she kept on her hip -- mostly to remind the male sailors of what was coming their way if they tried to get intimate with her -- and lifted it to Victoria's neck.

"Viv, relax," Becca said calmly and without too much worry; it wasn't the first time her friend had put the blade to their prisoner's neck.

Victoria only smiled to the younger of the two women, then looked to the elder. She smiled -- her retracted fangs appeared as little more than common canines -- and with a playful tone answered Viv's question in Becca's direction, "I'm still alive ... because your father finds me a curiosity."

"What does that mean?" Viv asked Victoria. When she got no answer other than that same smile, Viv asked Becca, "What does that mean?"

The older of the two escorts was moving behind Victoria to unshackle her from the mast, saying, "It means that we get ... this thing back to England alive."

The two women escorted the third to the iron bar cage that has been built in the Valiant's hold specifically for her, then headed back to the main deck to locate the Captain. They spoke several minutes about what last ahead for them; pirates at their stern and a building hurricane at their bow concerned Becca obviously.

"We'll get you and Lady Cruz through this, Miss Howe," the Captain promised. "The Valiant has the best crew in the Gulf. You should know that; you're part of it."

The Captain of the Valiant hadn't been that thrilled with taking on two female crew when he'd taken over for Viv's deceased father. He found them a distraction and, of course, they were mere females. But as time passed, he'd come to realize that they were better sailors than some of the men serving the Valiant.

And when it came to their distraction, the Captain had discovered that he appreciated it himself at times. It had been made plainly clear to the male crew members that even contemplating touching one of their fellow female crew would result in the loss of their cocks and keelhauling, so ... hands had been kept to themselves, even if eyes did become fixated at times.

When it became obvious that the storm was nearing the point of becoming a killer, the Captain suggested to Becca that she and Viv go below. Becca countered, though, saying, "It is our duty to be up here, Captain."

They joined in with the fight to keep the Valiant under control as they entered the outer reaches of the hurricane. At one point, the crew cheered when they saw the pirate ship take damage, then turn away. The Captain attempted to also turn away from the storm, but it was too late. The sky above them had turned black, and the sea beneath them was nearly as dark.

Then, after hours of fighting the building storm, the Valiant struck something and jerked hard. Viv was in the rigging, trying to tie down some of the lines furling the sails to a yardarm; the sudden shift of the body of the ship below was amplified high up above the deck, and Viv was thrown from the main mast. She ended up in the rigging of the foremast, spinning when the lines caught her legs. She ended up twirling twice around like a human top, her legs twisted in the lines as she screamed for help.

"I'm coming!" Becca hollered from the main deck where she'd been part of a team pulling other lines tight, trying to keep the masts from snapping. "I'm coming, Viv! Hold on!"

Becca handed off her place to another sailor, rushed to the foremast, and climbed; it was near impossible as the ship continued to jerk and twist and tilt upon the rocks or reef or whatever the obstruction was. By the time she reached Viv, the latter had cut through the lines wrapped around her that she knew would not compromise the ship's integrity. But one line was wrapped around not just her leg -- which she suspected was broken or had its knees dislocated -- but her body as well, and cutting it would mean endangering the foremast.

"I got'cha!" Becca called as she reached the other young woman. She pulled her knife to cut the line.

"No!" Viv warned, indicating one of the end points of the line and its importance.

"It's too late for that!" Becca told her as she started slicing the blade quickly back and forth over the two-inch thick line. She hated admitting this but said, "The Valiant's lost! It's over. We're cracking up." As she continued slicing, she warned Viv, "Grab hold of something. When this line snaps..."

Becca didn't have to finish that warning. They had both seen what the excessively tensed rigging lines could do to the human body if they snapped and made contact. One of the thick rope's strands snapped; the severed strand's ends shot away in a flash, causing the rest of the line to stretch against Viv's leg, leading her to cry out.

"Close! Get ready!" Becca warned as another strand broke free. Viv was injured and panicked, but she'd grasped other lines in both hands and was ready. Becca wrapped her legs around the lines of the rigging on which her weight was lying and reached her free hand to grasp Viv, repeating, "Close! Get ready!"

Suddenly, with the severing of another strand, what remained of the line snapped, the ends shooting away with lighting speed; even through her clothing Viv would suffer serious rope burns that would take time to heal, presuming they survived this. Between them, the two girls managed to keep Viv from falling to the deck below.

Becca helped her friend to a more secure holding, just as the ship rocked again; despite their better holds on the lines, both women were flung through the air into the sea. They each struggled to stay atop the rough waves, finding and losing each other in the blackness several times. Becca finally found a barrel and grasped it, managing to barely keep her head above water; meanwhile, Viv had found a piece of ship debris and climbed atop it, keeping herself more above the water except for when she got dumped off it several times.

Hours passed before the sea began to settle down; the Valiant had only been on the fringe of the hurricane and, believe it or not, had escaped the most serious weather connected to it. Still, when the ocean settled enough that Becca could find a piece of debris on which she could climb and get out of the water, there was no sign of her father's ship except for the debris scattered in every direction.

As the skies to the east began showing the first signs of the morning, Becca's heart leapt with joy at the sight of land; it was a slight rise above the waves not too far away to the north of her. Removing her boots and briefs and using the strings of the former to secure them all to the debris, she lowered herself into the water and began kicking ... and kicking ... and kicking.

The sun had risen by now, and Becca found herself exhausted from the effort. She looked to the island again, finding it closer but still seemingly out of reach; the current taking her to the northwest was more powerful than her attempts to swim to the north, and she was certain that she was going to miss the land entirely.

Then, she heard a sound, a voice. Becca thought she was imagining things until she heard her name called out. Lifting herself as much as she could on the debris and looking about, she was delighted to find Viv standing tall in one of the Valiant's launches, waving both arms in the air as she called out, "Becca! Becca! We're coming! Becca!"

Her best and closest friend wasn't alone, though...

 

[KingOfNowhere]

Earlier:

Henry was below decks fighting the flooding when the First Mate came below to announce, "Abandon ship! Abandon ship! She's lost!"

He dropped his tools, threw an injured shipmate over his shoulders, and headed for the main deck. Then he caught sight of Victoria in her cell. She was just sitting there staring at him calmly. He paused, uncertain of what to do. He continued to the main deck and handed over the injured man to others, saying, "Get him in a launch."

Then, he returned to the hold. He found the cell key on the hook, unlocked the cage, and demanded, "Move it, before I leave you here to drown."

With or without her assistance, he got her out of the cage and carried her over his shoulders. (Her feets were shackled together, just were her hands, so she couldn't walk.) Out on the main deck, he hurried toward one of the launches.

Just as he was about to put her overboard to the men below, a massive wave hit the Valiant. The both of them were thrown overboard into the sea. Henry, a skilled and powerful swimmer, easily gained control of his situation, despite God's intentions to drown him and the others. His immediate concern was finding the bound woman. The shackles together weighed over 30 pounds. And, of course, they limited movement.

Somehow, Victoria was still afloat, just a few yards away. Henry swam to her, pulling her back to his chest as he commanded, "Relax! Don't try to swim! Let me do the work!"

They simply bobbed there for several minutes. They were being washed away from the Valiant as it was being torn apart on the rocks. Men in the water were screaming for help. Henry looked for a boat to board but couldn't find one in the dominating waves.

Then, finally, he caught sight of an empty launch and swam for it. Getting Victoria into it was a challenge, but he managed. He followed her into it over the rail and immediately searched for other survivors. He found men scattered all about, but the boat's oars were missing. He couldn't propel the boat to the men against the pounding waves.

The minutes of bailing water to keep the launch afloat passed. Henry began seeing fewer and fewer survivors. The Valiant was now out of sight, lost in the stormy night and possibly already sunk. He located an oar floating on the sea and brought it aboard. He used it to steer the boat into the waves in the hope of preventing them from being swamped. It worked, though, he still had to spend time bailing water.

The sea would begin settling down eventually. Henry sat back, exhausted. He looked to Victoria in the other end of the boat, sitting in the bottom facing him. He knew nothing about her. She was a prisoner, apparently a murderer, destined for the courts of London.

Even in her state looking like a drowned rat, she was beautiful. Henry had ogled her often. All of the male crew members had. Henry had imagined her face when he was fucking a whore during their port call in Kingston, Jamaica.

"So, what's your story, Miss?" he asked. When she didn't answer, he reminded her, "I saved you. You could at least speak to me."

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Also earlier, in the hold of the Valiant:

Victoria simply sat in her cell quietly as the world around her fell apart; there was no reason to panic as she couldn't do anything about her situation. The Valiant was breaking up on a shoal or reef or whatever, and all was lost; she would go down to the bottom still locked in her cell, and her trial in London and whatever followed would be avoided.

Several sailors came below to battle the flooding from a hole in the hull, including a man she knew as Henry. Victoria had seem him ogle her during her daily visits topside; she smiled flirtatiously to him on several occasions, hoping he might find an interest in her that would lead to an escape attempt. That hadn't happened, obviously.

"Abandon ship!" an officer announced to the men below deck. "Abandon ship! She's lost!"

The men scrambled off, and as they did, Henry paused to eye Victoria. She simply stared at him without emotion; he wasn't going to risk his life to save her, no matter how flirtatious the smile was this time. And yet, a few minutes later, just as the rising sea water was beginning to slosh back and forth on this level, the man returned, unlocked the cage, and told her, "Move it, before I leave you here to drown."

Now, Victoria smiled; she moved to the door and found herself thrown over Henry's shoulder and carried to the deck. He was going to put her in one of the small boats, but instead they both ended up in the sea when a wave struck the wreck. Victoria sank initially, the weight of the shackles incredible. But an upswell lifted her close enough to the surface for her sense it, and she did her best with her bound feet and hands to continue upwards.

Victoria broke the surface, found a piece of debris, and held on enough to keep her head above water. Henry found her, taking hold of her and telling her to let him do the swimming for them. She could feel his heart beating in his chest as he held her to him, and looking to the arm wrapped around her torso, she contemplated sinking her fangs into his wrist.

But she resisted, able to do so because of her time in the direct sunlight earlier in the day. The sun tempered her hunger for reasons of which she was unaware. She'd learned this fact during the years of her first century of life. It was what had kept her from killing even more men than she had.

Belize had been a tough time for Victoria. The rainy season had led to entire weeks of virtually no direct sunlight; the cloud cover filtered something from the sun that kept her urges at bay, the result of which had been her killing more than two dozen men in less than six months. The true extent of her horrendous crimes and the length of time in which she'd been committing them were unknown to those who'd finally caught, arrested, and detained her for punishment.

In all honesty, Victoria was happy to be leaving Belize, even if it had been in a cage. Deeper into the Gulf, into the Caribbean, and finally into the Atlantic, sunshine was plentiful and would suppress her hunger. Of course, once she'd reached dreary old London -- from which she'd fled a year earlier as a stowaway on another British commercial vessel -- Victoria feared that she'd be right back where she'd been.

Eventually, Henry found them a boat, and after hours of keeping them afloat, he took a moment to sit back, look Victoria over, and ask, "So, what's your story, Miss?"

Initially, she only smiled to him, leading him to remind her, "I saved you. You could at least speak to me."

Victoria smiled even wider, then reached her shackled hands up to her bosom and pulled her dress's neckline down; her generous, firm tits popped out into his view as she responded, "I could do a lot more than just speak to you if you wished."

Just then, a female voice called out, "Help! Help me! Please, dear God, help! Over here!"

As Henry went about locating and rescuing Vivica Cruz from where she was floating atop some ship debris, Victoria returned her tits to where they belonged; she offered no help in getting the young woman into the boat, but did reach out and inconspicuously snatch from its sheath the dagger still on Viv's hip. She hid the blade below her in the boat's bottom for possible future need.

They, like Becca before them, would catch sight of the island to the north and head for it with the one proper oar and -- with it in Viv's hands -- a piece of lumber from the Valiant. Eventually, they would spot the third female in the water and head her way with Viv calling out, "Becca! Becca! We're coming! Becca!"

 

[KingOfNowhere]

Now:

Henry's eyes had widened at the sight of Victoria' incredible breasts as they were bared to him. He'd been contemplating moving to her for a feel of them. And a feel of other womanly treasures, of course. And then, of course, Viv had called for help.

He'd moved to rescue her and then did the same for Becca. Once they were all aboard, he settled back into the bow of the launch to look to the others. A natural event had befallen them, and they still might face new horrors. And yet, Henry couldn't help but smirk and suggest lewdly, "I'm only one man, but once we're ashore, if I must, I'll do my best to tend to the needs of all three of you."

They set to paddling again. They needed to make the shore of the island before the current carried them too far to the west. It took hours, though, not as many as it had felt. A final big wave swept them up onto the sand, though. Henry jumped out into the surf, waited for another wave, and used it to pull the boat up to safety. He offered help to the women, not knowing whether they'd want or accept it.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Immediately upon coming aboard, Becca pulled Viv to her, hugging her friend tightly while also glaring past her at their prisoner. Becca didn't know whether to be surprised or not that Henry had saved Victoria from going down with the Valiant; he'd always shown respect to her as both a Lady and his boss's daughter, while simultaneously treating her as a crew mate, as he would any of the males aboard, when it had been appropriate to do so.

The two friends rattled on with each other a moment about what had happened and about miraculously being saved before turning their attention to Henry as he teased, "I'm only one man, but once we're ashore, if I must, I'll do my best to tend to the needs of all three of you."

Becca smiled at the comment, lewd as it was; Viv, however, immediately reached for the sheath on her belt as she growled, "You're not going to tend to the needs of..."

Viv had been fumbling for her dagger's hilt while she'd been talking, only to find the blade missing. She looked about her in the bottom of the boat finding nothing, then glared at Victoria, thinking maybe she had it. Their prisoner only stared at her without emotion, seeming to imply that she had no idea what the issue was.

"Settle down, Viv," Becca told her friend. She looked to Henry, saying with a respectful tone, "Mister Williams here just saved all three of our lives. We owe him our thanks..." And leaning a bit closer and saying with emphasis, finished, "...but nothing ... in addition to that."

Becca took over for Viv in helping Henry row, and after what seemed like an eternity, the ocean was washing them ashore. Henry offered his hand to Becca, which she took as she leapt out onto the wet sand. Viv leapt over the other side of the boat, away from Henry; it hadn't been an intentional slight, though Becca wouldn't have been surprised if he took it as such.

"Let's go," Becca told Victoria, offering her a hand as Henry had her. Despite still having shackles around her wrists and ankles, Victoria refused the hand and -- with athleticism that surprised Becca -- leapt out of the boat onto the sand before slowly walking up the beach in little steps that the shackles permitted. Becca told her as a reminder, "Don't go far. You're still a prisoner."

Victoria looked up and down the beach, then back to the others, saying, "I don't think there's anywhere to go if I wanted."

After they helped Henry pull the boat up past the high tide mark, Becca and Viv looked over the island. The latter headed up toward the jungle forest as the former studied it from here. She couldn't see it all from here, of course, but after they'd had a chance to explore the island, they'd find:

• It was roughly teardrop shaped:
  • The pointy end was at its due north.
  • It was 3 miles long and 3/4 of a mile across at its widest.
• Almost dead center in the middle of its widest spot was a single peak:
  • It was a still active volcano, though it hadn't done anything more than puke out noxious gases since long before Europeans had explored the Caribbean.
  • It was perhaps 120 feet tall at the ten-foot diameter caldera.
  • The southern edge of the volcano reached the ocean, where there was a cliff 200 feet wide that ranged from beach level to about 30 feet high in the middle.
• The entirety of the island with the exception of the beaches and top 30 feet of the volcano was covered in thick, tropical forest.
• There were signs of other Humans having been here long ago:
  • The debris of a boat from decades earlier.
  • A palm hut from about that same time that was now little more than a wooden frame and a fire pit.
  • Other bits of mostly unusable debris from previous shipwrecks, one just recently.
  • And feral animals, as described below.
• The forests were filled with animal life:
  • Birds that had been here since God put them here; many lived in the cliffs at the south end of the island.
  • Feral pigs from Europe and guinea pigs from South America.
• There are several tiny freshwater springs, but -- as they will learn -- most of them go dry after prolonged periods without rain.

Becca looked to Henry, asking, "What next, Mister Williams?"

 

[KingOfNowhere]

Henry looked up and down the beach. It was desolate with no signs of human presence. They would find signs of previous habitation here in the hours and days to come.

Becca looked to him, asking, "What next, Mister Williams?"

"Fire, water, food, and shelter," he said without hesitation. He saw some surprised looks. "This isn't the first time I've been casted away on some deserted island."

He set to pulling the boat further up the beach as he continued, "Of course, last time, I was with a dozen other men. And the ship was just off the shore, breaking up, but still above the water and accessible. We spent 'bout a week there before a passing merchant ship picked us all up."

They divvied up the tasks Henry felt needed to be accomplished in short order. He knew how to start a fire with just a pair of sticks. He had one burning in less than five minutes.

"I'm gonna take a walk 'round this place," he told them. He looked to Becca and Viv, then to Victoria. "Keep an eye on her, I'd say. I'd stay out of the jungle for now." He didn't know if they'd heed his warning.

He headed north up the beach. They'd landed on the west side of the teardrop shaped island. Sticking to the wet sand near the surf made the going fairly easy. Along the way, Henry came across some debris from previous shipwrecks. Some of it might serve them in the future. Most of it wouldn't.

It took a full hour to reach the north end of the island. The forest gave way to a triangular point of sand reaching out into the sea. It was protected from the ocean's eroding power by coral reefs on each side. If not for them, the point would have disappeared all the way back to the tree line. Henry wondered how much of the island was protected by reef and how much was protected by the hard basalt of the volcano.

He turned to his right and headed south down the island's east side. It was must more of the same: ocean to the left, forest to the right, and sandy beach beneath. Another hour passed. Henry found the sandy beach giving way to rocks that became an ever-growing cliff.

He had two choices: reverse course or enter the forest and follow the cliff's edge. Henry chose the latter. The jungle was thick, making travel difficult. By the time he'd leave it for sand again, his arms and legs would be covered with cuts from various plants.

Thrice, he turned to his left to check out the cliff. At its tallest it was perhaps 30 feet above the crashing waves below. He found the rockface crowded with nesting birds. He carefully climbed 10 feet or so down a moderately safe spot. There, to the chagrin of their parents, Henry thieved a dozen eggs from half as many nests.

He had tucked his shirt tightly into the waist of his trousers to carry the eggs. Carefully climbing, he made it back up to the top. More struggling through the forest brought him again to the sand. And ten minutes after that, he was showing the surviving 7 eggs to the others, saying, "Breakfast. If we can find something to cook them in. Pot? Pan? Soldier's helmet?"

Henry left finding something in which to cook the eggs to the women. He had eggs down his shirt and even into his trousers and breeches. He walked to the ocean until the waves were hitting him about waist level. One piece of clothing after another was stripped off and splashed about to clean them: shirt, trousers, breeches.

With his back to the women, Henry stood naked in the surf. He used handfuls of sand to roughly clean his skin. When done, he turned and headed back to shore. Despite the cold of the ocean, his cock still appeared longer and thicker than the average man's.

Henry laid his clothes out over the boat to dry in the sun. Then, still naked, he headed down the beach, calling back, "I thought I saw something we might be able to use."

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

"Fire, water, food, and shelter," Henry said when Becca asked what was next.

He took off up the beach, leaving most of the tasks for those four things to the women. Becca tasked Viv with keeping and eye on Victoria while, despite Henry's warning, she entered the forest to look around. She found a trail, but the familiar cloven hoof prints of feral pigs told her what had created and been using it.

Her path was taking her nowhere, so she backtracked to the beach and headed south instead. She ended up at the opposite side of the same cliff that Henry would discover in a few hours. Again, she entered the forest, walking the rocky terrain until she found a tiny trickle of fresh water coming out a crack in the basalt. She filled her belly, then headed back to the other women.

She found them both sound asleep, Victoria still on the warm sand and Viv leaning back against a trunk at the tree line. She let them be, falling asleep as well next to her friend. After a couple of hours, she awoke with a start to find Henry presenting them with bird eggs, saying, "Breakfast. If we can find something to cook them in. Pot? Pan? Soldier's helmet?"

"I got that handled," Becca said, standing and stretching. She urged her friend awake, giving her instructions. Viv didn't like the idea that those instructions left Becca alone here with a prisoner and a male, but she headed south down the beach as told.

Henry walked into the ocean stripped, cleaning his clothes as he went. Becca was thoroughly impressed with the man's physique. She looked to Victoria who was smiling hungrily. She looked up to Becca, winked, and asked, "Can I be the first to ride that stallion?"

Becca ignored her and, when Henry turned her way, giving both women a full-frontal view of him, she turned to return toward the forest. Behind her, Henry told them, "I thought I saw something we might be able to use."

"Okay, I'm just, um," Becca started, trying not to sound shocked by Henry's actions. Oh, she'd seen naked men before but never in such a circumstance as this. "I'm going to find some more firewood."

Half an hour later, when Viv return with a thin, wide sheet of basalt from the cliff where she'd happened to remember noticing them earlier, Becca laid it atop four stones she'd brought out of the forest. She let them heat up nice and hot, then began cracking eggs onto them. They sizzled on the fiery hot rock, turned when appropriate by Becca with her dagger.

When she looked up and saw Henry nearing them, Becca put the last two eggs on the stone for him. She and Viv had each had one, and she'd given one to Victoria, telling her when she got a dirty look, "Be happy I'm feeding you at all."

 

[KingOfNowhere]

Still walking naked, Henry returned to the boat for his clothes. They were fully dry yet, but they weren't dripping either. He dressed, then moved up the beach toward the women.

Becca was cooking the eggs Henry had gathered. She gave two each to him, Viv, and herself. To Victoria's reaction about getting just one, Becca said, "Be happy I'm feeding you at all."

Henry chuckled. Becca was a beautiful, young, sexy thing. But she was also a hard edged task master who Henry knew would have made a great prison Warden.

"I found evidence of feral pigs on my walk," he told Becca, not knowing that she had, too. "If we're going to be stuck here a while, maybe I'll go set a share."

He looked out toward the ocean. "With any luck, a ship will pass by tomorrow, the next day. We'll need to build a signal fire."

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

"With any luck," Henry said, looking out on the sea, "a ship will pass by tomorrow, the next day. We'll need to build a signal fire."
"I'll help with that," Victoria offered, standing from the sand for the first time since their arrival. She held her shackled arms out, asking, "Anyway I can get out of these?"
"Not a chance on hell!" Viv snapped, adding, "Sit down ... make yourself comfortable."
The prisoner didn't, though. Instead, Victoria turned toward the jungle, doing her best with shackled ankles to walk to it.
"Stop!" Viv chastised as she headed Victoria's way, hurrying through the dry sand. "What the hell?

Vic stomped a foot down on the shackles between the shackled woman's feet, landing it on the chains. She growled, "I said stop!"

The result was that Victoria's feet ceased moving forward while the rest of her continued, sending her down onto the sand on her elbows and belly.

Becca shook her head, saying, "Stop that, you two. There's no need to--"

Suddenly, Victoria rolled on the sand in a way that tangled Viv's ankle in the chains, and a second roll combined with hands reaching out, resulted in Becca's best friend suddenly being on the sand in Victoria's arms ... with Viv's own knife to her own neck.

Becca panicked, immediately surging the direction of the other two women, crying out, "Victoria! No!"

"Stop! " Victoria threatened. "Or I'll cut her from ear to ear."

Becca stopped as ordered, and Victoria glared between her and the small group's only male; for her part, Viv struggled to both get free and get the knife, but she found herself outmatched by Victoria's unexpected strength.

"We're on a tiny little island in the middle of a vast ocean," Victoria reminded them. "I'm not going anywhere."

Tossing the blade in a harmless arc to land at Becca's feet and pushing Viv away so hard that the woman rolled over and over three times before coming to a stop in the dry sand, Victoria claimed, "And I am not any more of a threat to you shackled than I am unshackled ... as I just demonstrated. So, please ... unshackle me ... and let me help build a signal fire that will get us rescued."

Becca had gone to Viv, reassuring her that she was safe; she found a line of red on her friends neck where the dagger has broken the skin just enough to make it bleed a bit.

"She should be dead!" Viv growled. "Let me. I'll do it."

"No one's killing anyone," Becca whispered as she comforted her friend. She picked up Viv's blade from the sand and almost offered it back, then thought better of it and tossed it to land near Henry's feet.

Victoria meanwhile was again standing, telling them, "I'm going into the forest to collect firewood."

She headed that direction, and Viv tried to get back to her feet to again stop her. But Becca held her tightly, whispering, "She's not going anywhere. She said it herself. She's stuck on a deserted island. Just like us "
Becca looked to Henry for some help in how to handle the situation.