"How can we help?" Kal asked as he and Kashka joined Captain Scarlet on the docks.
"If we had time, I'd have ya stick yer cock in every one of my girls to calm their slutty asses down. Roka's in heat so bad I can smell it," she growled at the mage. "But if you're here to help, which I appreciate, start grabbing boxes unless you can magically float all this onto the ship."
"I can't do that, but I do have a couple of ideas to speed things up. Let's try the easiest but probably least likely to succeed first." He held out his arms toward the pile of cargo, "Give this all to me."
"Like fuckin' hell I'm--"
"It's only for a few minutes, and I swear I'll give it back. As long as it's rightly and properly yours to give, this should work."
Scarlet shook her head. "That's a problem. Some of this is bought and paid for by others. We're just deliverin' it."
"Okay, so that idea is out..." he said as Roka walked down the steep gangplank and gave him a smoldering look full of promise. Picking up one of the larger boxes, she made her way back onto the ship. Two crewmembers, the otter and silver fox, followed her onto the docks and together picked up another large box before carefully making their way back toward the ramp. Kal stopped them and drew the featherfall rune on the side of the box.
"You only have a few seconds before the spell ends," said Kal as the spell pulsed.
"Uh, thanks," said the silver fox before continuing on.
Kal watched in confusion as they seemed to be straining almost as much as before he cast the spell. Realizing what he did wrong, the mage jogged over, stopping them again.
"This thing's fucking heavy," growled the otter, "What do you need?"
Kal answered by drawing a strength rune over the sleek monster girl's back and activating it, then doing the same for the fox. This time, their eyes widened and they shot him beaming grins before jogging up the gangplank with their cargo.
"What was all that about?" the captain asked as Kal returned.
"The first spell made the crate extremely light, but as they walked away, I realized it didn't affect the crate's contents. So the only thing actually lightened was the box itself. The second spell boosted their strength for the next few minutes."
"I'll need you to teach Tavorah that one."
"Not to call her out, but she probably already knows it," he said while drawing another strength rune in front of Kashka. The cat picked up another of the larger crates, but its size made it too unwieldy despite her enhanced strength. Picking up a box more suited for her, she jogged over to the gangplank and leapt, with the box, over the returning otter and fox before continuing onto the ship. A few seconds later, Kashka launched herself over the deck rail and landed nimbly on the pier beside the supplies. The fox and otter stared for a moment before grabbing armfuls of supplies and repeating the cat's stunt.
As they leapt the ship's railing and landed back on the docks, surprised shouts followed them along with curious peeks over the side of the boat to see if they were okay. Kal asked the two to wait a moment until Kashka arrived.
"You don't want this spell to end as you are running up the ship's ramp with your hands full. I'll need to refresh it every few minutes," he said, stepping up to Kashka. As he drew the strength rune, the cat glanced at the other girls and lifted one side of her top. Grinning, she presented her breast as a target for the spell.
Kashka pushed her breast into his hand after he cast the spell then pulled her top back into place before picking out the next piece of cargo. As Kal stepped over to the fox and otter, he found they had both pulled up their tunics in a similar manner and wore grins nearly identical to the cat-girl's. After refreshing the strength spell and giving each girl a quick rub, he sent them on their way.
"At this rate, we might be loaded by midnight," said Scarlet.
"Midnight?" asked Kal, looking at the quickly disappearing pile of goods on the pier then up at the sun to see it was only late afternoon.
Scarlet pointed at two large wagons pulled by teams of draft horses that stopped in front of The Scarlet Bitch. "These are just the first few. So, yes, midnight." Six men holding onto each cart's sides dropped to the ground and immediately began shuttling the wagon's contents to the existing pile of supplies.
Kal got an idea--
"Shelve it, mage," said Scarlet. "I can see in your eyes what you're thinking, and we are not taking a chance on pissing off the dockmaster's porters by having a handful of my magicked girls keep pace with a dozen of their men. Relations are tense enough because of my crew's nature. I'm not letting you make it worse."
"He did seem a little testy about a manifest and some tariffs when we spoke to him. Said something about not sending the biggest woman on your crew."
The captain threw her head back and laughed. "I meant with the city in general, not the dockmaster specifically. That was his way of saying, 'please send Roka.' He just makes a fuss like that because he's expected to. The first time she delivered the tariffs, it caused a bit of an uproar, but after years of doing this, nobody really cares."
"Then why does he want Roka?" Kal asked as the bovine in question walked down the plank, making it bounce with her weight.
"The man loves big tits, and no human woman is going to compare with those." She said, pointing at the cow-woman's bouncing globes. "As 'penance' for causing such a disruption, she lets him fuck her tits. He marks off a couple of items on his copy of the manifest as rejected and lets Roka keep the extra tariffs as pocket money."
"Whatever works, I guess," he said to Roka, who stopped and listened to the last part of the captain's story.
The bovine laughed. "The first time I took him the tariff money, the way he stared at my chest had me so hot I dropped to my knees and begged him to fuck my tits." She pulled up one side of her shirt, showing him one of the subjects of their conversation. "Who do I have to fuck to get some of that magic strength? The girls are loading stuff faster than I can put it away."
"Mage, continue what you are doing, but do it on the ship so you can magick Roka and whoever else is loading and storing. Cat... Kashka, we lost one of our riggers to her mating season. While there's daylight, I want you to learn as much as you can from Ratt," she said, pointing to the rodent-type monster girl crawling over the sails.
As the captain greeted the porters and began marking off incoming goods on the parchment in her hand, Roka, Kal, and Kashka made their way back onto the ship.
"How did you lose one of your riggers?" Kal the cow-woman as they stepped onto the main deck.
"Dorli is a mantid. While mating, her partner has a fair chance of losing their head," the bovine explained. "When she comes into season, she goes bandit hunting for expendable males. I feel sorry for the girl. She never keeps the eggs from those pairings. Says she's waiting for a man who will love her before letting one hatch."
"Removing your lover's head is a strange way to show your love," said Kashka.
