The Discovery of the Iolaus

Chapter 2
The Taking of the Iolaus

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Chapter Description: With the pirate Captain regressed, a new Captain must take his place.

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Carman Taylor had been proud and adventurous since childhood so it was little wonder that she had taken so easily to life on the high seas. She had been fortunate enough to be the illegitimate daughter of an English naval officer, who had provided her with money enough for books, education and eventually her flight to the New World. Always an avid student of history and ancient literature, she used these advantages to research the ways of her Celtic ancestors and after a chance meeting with the tawny Roma girl, Talaitha Cassia, she had found out about the Arcane Archipelago – a place where the magicks of old tales and legends bled into reality.

Taylor had come to the Bahamas in search of the mysterious archipelago, as well as to escape the increasingly dire situation in her homeland of Ireland. She knew that there were those who shared the blood of gods, demons and fey, and that those children of myths had a natural affinity for magic. She was certain that she was one of these descendants.

The most easily attainable magicks relied on the power, and whims, of those fickle Gods and duplicitous Demons. Pantheonic Polymorphs and Demonic Dehumanizations - that is what the few remaining books on the matter named those “schools” of magic. They had been nearly forgotten and for good reason. The spells were volatile, having great chances of affecting the summoner instead of the intended target or perhaps affecting both. They were not a reliable way to use magic. They were merely a way of asking to borrow power from a superior being, but they were not the only way to harness such power. The old codices made reference to five other schools of magic and Carman was sure she would find more about them at the Arcane Archipelago.

So it was that Talaitha and Carman, two kindred spirits, had set off to find the archipelago and they both came to be prisons of the pirate ship, Iolaus. That however did not last long once they had dethroned its tyrannical captain, in a most spectacular way, by reducing him in age to a mere babe. They had found a fountain of youth and quickly explored the nearby temple for the secret texts hidden within and their next trial would be to take command of the Iolaus and find the next island. Naturally, Carman took the lead.

The red-haired lass climbed one of the mooring ropes up onto the deck of the beached ship, Iolaus, in the dead of night. The ships foolish Captain had forced his crew to take the ship too close to the island and it had run ashore. Now the fool lay diapered in Talaitha’s arms in a makeshift diaper, unable to command his own bowels let alone a crew of men. The pirates of the Iolaus were a lazy bunch when not in the presence of the Captain so Carman knew no-one would be taking their watch seriously and she was able to slip aboard unnoticed and from the deck she silently made her way to the stores. Of course, the man on duty here was more than wide-awake. He had the duty of keeping the others from raiding the supplies of food and rum, which was taken quite a bit more seriously than keeping watch on a deserted island.

“Hey there, sailor,” Carman said in her charming irish accent. He saw her and nodded, appreciatively. They had captured a few dozen women, including Carman and Talaitha, on their last prize, so seeing a woman on-board did not surprise him. In fact, he welcomed her, beckoning her over. She sauntered up to him and recognized him as Matthew McCarthy, the pirate who had stripped her friend Talaitha bare when they were first captured.

“I’m afraid a growing girl,” she pushed out her chest to let him imagine exactly which parts were still growing, “like me gets hungry in the middle of the night”

She lowered her head, and her eyes, then looked up at the man with the sweetest and most inviting look she could muster knowing that from that moment on he was putty in her hands.

“Would you be a dear and open the store for me so we can share a midnight snack? I’d be ever so grateful.”

“I’d love to… but the Captain would see me hanging if I did,” Matt said, he was clearly wishing he could so he could experience her gratitude which could only mean one thing in his mind.

“Well, that’s too bad,” Carman said, ruefully, “maybe we can just share this bottle of wine instead?”

Luckily, the Captain’s expedition into the island had been well supplied with food and alcohol and she’d taken a bottle thinking it might be the best way to bribe any sailors that stopped her. She put the bottle to her mouth, feigning drinking and then passed it to the sailor. He was a little wary but Carman was such a slight, delicate looking girl that he could not honestly see her as a threat and he took the bottle and began gulping it down. Carman smiled and moved in close so he could feel the heat from her body. She could see his stubble fading and his face becoming more boyish already but she knew she had to distract him further lest he realize. She pressed her chest against his and kissed him on the cheek. “It’s good isn’t it? I must say I’ve had quite a bit already and I’m feeling…. Well, maybe I should just show you?”

She unbuckled his loosening belt, dropping his trousers to the floor. A moment later and they would have fallen by themselves and alerted him to the changes he was undergoing. Matt was already losing much of his manly figure and shrinking too, so Carman dropped to her and gently rubbed his cock so he wouldn’t realize he was now shorter than her. She watched it become erect in her hands

“Oh, this is so embarrassing being drunk whilst you’re stone cold sober,” Carman blushed and shook her head. Matt took the bait and swigged more of the tainted wine. His cock shrank almost immediately but remained hard enough for him not to notice and Carman grinned, watching as she robbed him of his manhood. Seeing it up close was wonderfully exhilarating for her. He had almost shrank down to her eye level now, even though she sat on her knees. She decided he’d gone far enough and took the bottle from him and placed it on the wooden decking then she forced him to the floor he smiled at first at her sudden, playful roughness but when he saw how big she looked and how easily she held him down he began to worry. Before he could speak she was forcefully pushing a handkerchief into his mouth then she grabbed his wrists in one hand and his belt in the other. He struggled but Carman sat him up and tied the belt around him. He was so small and weak now that the belt held his arms in place. She sat on him and searched his discarded trousers for the keys to the store then dragged him inside and got to work.

The ships cook entered the store, as per usual, come breakfast the following day. He had not even inkling that poor Matthew McCarthy was presently locked inside a wooden box that stood beside him. The newly made boy had fallen into a deep sleep after his struggle to break free the night before.

The cook took fresh water, spices and salted meats from the store and began making the same tasteless broth he did every morning and the crew lined up and took a deep ladle full each along with a cup of watered down rum. It didn’t take the hungry men long to wolf down their meals and they were soon back on deck making sure everything was ship shape for when Captain Darcy returned.

Carman and the other women watched them set about to work from the top deck knowing that the rest of the day would not carry on in the usual way in which it started. She’d told the girls, in the dead of night her plans for the men of the Iolaus and even though she had brought the rejuvenated Captain before them, they did not quite believe what she told them about the powers of the magic water. It wasn’t long before they saw the effects for themselves though.

The Carman had learnt, with astonishing speed, how to dilute the mixture in order to delay its reaction and she stood watching intently and counting, hoping to discover just how well she had done. It was ten minutes since the first man in line supped his broth that he began to change and the other men followed, one by one, after him.

All around, men panicked as their clothes seemed to grow larger. A few realized they were rapidly youthening but most believed the cursed island was shrinking them or turning them to rodents for trespassing. Some of the men turned boys even cried or peed their pants. Carman thought it delightful that the once fearsome pirates were now so afraid and it was all because of her.

“What’s going on?”

“We’re kids!”

“Look at them women. They ain’t changed a bit!”

“They’re witches. I knew we shouldn’ brought ‘em aboard. ”

The girls giggled and pointed at the boys in their oversized clothes or in no clothes at all, hardly able to believe their eyes. The boys stared up at them and at each other in disbelief and anger but they were powerless to do anything. It was foolish to let such ruthless men as pirates, carry weapons aboard the ship, unless they meant to use them to repel or attack their enemies, so the boys were with no means of reprisal against the women who were obviously the culprits. One nasty little boy tried his best to get revenge by thumping a servant girl, Fiona, in the thigh and was rewarded with a swift slap across his face that sent him away crying. The girl on the other hand hardly had a bruise.

“Listen!” Carman called out across the pandemonium and the boys stopped what they were doing to look up at her, some afraid she would do something much worse to them, others hoping she had a cure. Carman nodded to her companion and Talaitha held up a diapered babe for all to see.

“Here is your Captain. Wave to them, Darcy.” Carman began, “If you do as we say, every woman on board is your better now and you must obey them without question. If you don’t follow this one rule then, mark my words, you will end up as diapered babe like little Darcy here. I am your Captain now and this is my ship.”

“I refuse!” came the unexpected voice of a woman. She stepped forward, dressed in the fanciest of dresses.

“Who are you to give me orders? You’re just some peasant girl. I am Lady Tabitha Roland and I should be Captain!” the haughty woman said.

Carman nearly laughed at the presumptuous woman who likely had never worked a day in her life. Sure, she might have been good at giving orders to loyal servants but to Captain a ship took more than being bossy and Carman knew this. “If you wish to remain a Lady, I suggest you back down.”

“I shan’t. I am of noble blood and I will-” Lady Tabitha Roland was cut short when her own maid poor a bottle over her head and the woman screeched at seeing her dress being soaked wet.

“How dare y-” the Lady started speaking as she turned toward her maid but stopped when she saw the servant girl was a full head taller than her and smiling smugly and still growing taller. Tabitha looked over herself and found she was sinking into the many folds of her big, luxurious dress.

“This can’t be happening,” the woman panicked, “I’m a Lady! I have friends in London. You can’t do this to me!”

The little Lady shrank further and tears streamed down her face. She was quickly becoming lost in her great, frilly garment and when she looked up all she saw were the faces of Carman, Talaitha, Fiona, her own servant girl and the other women, all staring down at her like she was some kind of child! There was a wet pitter-patta on the deck and the other womens’ faces turned from curiosity to pity, or in Fiona’s case, delight. Lady Tabitha had peed all over the wooden deck and her pretty dress. Her legs turned to jelly and she dropped to her bottom in the little puddle she’d made, feeling every bit the child she now appeared to be.

“Don’t look at me!” she wanted to say but her tongue seemed tied or otherwise incapable of making the noises she wanted.

“You didn’t have to use the whole bottle, Fiona,” Carman chided the maid, “she’s more of a handful this way.”

“I’m sorry, Captain. I promise to take care of her myself.” The maid said. Her smile was sweet but her apology was dishonest and she gave off an air of mischief. Carman thought she’d have to keep an eye on this one.

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Fiona stood with one sleeve lowered over her shoulder to expose a soft white breast that she currently held out for Lady Tabitha (now simply called Tabby.) She should have expected Captain Taylor to punish her in some way for regressing the former noble woman much further than the Captain had ordered, but she hadn’t expected to be left with baby Tabby latched onto her swollen nipples several times a day. If she’d known she’d still be at the Lady’s beck and call whenever the little miss got hungry she probably wouldn’t have went so far but she made sure to get her own back on the little madame.

Tabby was wearing a little frilly dress and bonnet that were both made from the Lady’s expensive dress. Fiona had relished cutting it up in front of the little Lady and sewing it back together, albeit much smaller and much more childish than it had originally been. Fiona, on the other hand, still wore her black and white maids’ uniform. Of course, she was no longer a servant but an integral part of the crew, in charge of repairing the sails and she’d even learnt to work the rigging. She’d reasoned that she needed to shorten her skirt to give her more mobility but it didn’t hurt that it often meant she flashed more of her behind than was necessary. Besides, she still enjoyed the way the boys would try to look up her skirt now and then, pretending they still men, and she especially enjoyed punishing the ones that did, which is why she was on deck now to watch some of those naughty boys be disciplined.

The tan-skinned Talaitha Cassia stood tall, smiling proudly over the line of guilty looking boys before her on the deck.

“Turn around and drop your draws!” she barked at the boys, sounding like a strict boarding school teacher, admonishing her unruly class. The boys pouted, dragged their feet and sulked but in the end, each boy obeyed. They remembered well, being big strong men of the sea, so it was all the more humbling that a petite teen aged girl now stood over them giving them commands.

Talaitha squatted down close to the boy called Matt McCarthy. He was one of the three men that had forcefully stripped Talaitha and Carman on their first night aboard the Iolaus. Back then he’d been exceptionally muscular. Now he was a dough-bellied little boy that trembled before the larger girl who loomed over him, eyeing him like a wolf, though to anyone else she more resembled a little lamb.

“Matty, isn’t it?” the gypsy teen asked with authority and knowing the indignity it would cause.

“It’s Matt,” the former adult said, predictably disgusted at being called such a childish name.

“Hmm, you look more like a Matty.” Talaitha chuckled and pinched the boys lower cheeks causing him to jump. “What an adorable little bottom! It’s a shame I’ll have to spank it.”

“S-sorry,” said the sheepish, blonde boy, “It were Captain’s orders. I din’ want to strip you, honest!”

“Don’t tell fibs. You enjoyed it as much as I’m going to enjoy reddening your rear. You boys are little trouble makers, aren’t you?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Matty sniffed, “We din’t want to be boys and we talked ‘bout changing back.”

Talaitha tutted and shook her head, “well you know what happens to naughty boys with delusions of being men. Bend over and lets’ get this over with.”

Matty did as he was told and Talaitha gave him three quick swats across his cheeks. She then turned him to hug him tightly to her soft, bronze breast and he promised not to be naughty anymore. She felt a sense of pride and accomplishment. He’d been quite a rowdy boy at first but he was growing more docile by the day and she felt more powerful for it. Captain Carman Taylor had appointed her ships Quartermistress, in charge of managing and disciplining the boys and the stores. It was a job Talaitha had taken to well and wasn’t afraid to admit she enjoyed.

A crew of boys didn’t require nearly as much food and they were easily controlled by the women. Something had awoken in the boys. They had been brought back to a time in their lives when they were docile and subservient to authoritarian women, whether they had been mothers, teachers, babysitters or even older sisters – the women of the Iolaus were now all these things to the boys.

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Word soon spread throughout Nassau of Captain Darcy’s downfall at the hands of the new Captain Carman Taylor. They were just rumours at first but it wasn’t long before people caught sight of the ship full of young boys themselves, not to mention the small babe that the “Witch Captain of Iolaus” often carried in her arms on her trips into the pirate haven. Her intentions were clear to Darcy. She meant to humiliate him by letting the people see him and gossip about his reduction in status.

Talaitha and Carman confidently strutted into the rowdy bar trailed by a small servant boy. The Captain held the baby Darcy to her breast. They had paid for information that would help them find the next ancient islands and had come here to collect.

It was two years since the founding of the island Carman christened as “Bimini” and in that time she had recorded the many recipes for transformations that the island held and begun to use profits from piracy as a means to pay for the many ingredients she needed for the transformations. She was already becoming quite skilled in the lost art of Alchemical Alterations and the island had also unlocked information on two other schools of magic: Image Inducement and Tactile Transference. She was sure the next island would help her secure these secrets and increase the power of her and her crew women. They had let very few of their cabin boys age at all in the two years.

“Quieten down boys,” Carman said, threateningly to the rowdy patrons of the bar, “You wouldn’t want to disturb poor little Darcy.”

As soon as she had spoken, the bar quietened significantly, which pleased the lady Captain greatly. The men feared having their manhood and independence taken by the Witch Captain. More than a few times a noisy drunk had ended up a swaddling babe in the lap of a busty wench who moments earlier had been perched on his own lap. Presently, one such couple fled their table to make room for Carman and her company and she nodded appreciatively and sat down.

“Pee-yew! Smells like someone in this bar made an oopsie. It wasn’t you was it, Captain Potty-pants?” Captain Taylor said, loudly and theatrically. Talaitha Cassia, ships bosun, stood beside her Captain and bent over to look Darcy in the eye. He turned away ashamed.

“Honestly, Darcy. We can’t take you anywhere without you making a mess. Bring us the diaper bag, boy, before I have to force you to wear one too.” She commanded and the servant boy, Matty McCarthy hurried to her side, struggling to lift the heavy diaper bag up to the table that was as tall as he was. He knew it wasn’t an idle threat, only a day before he was wearing, and using, a cotton nappy.

“Good boy,” Talaitha patted Matty’s head, condescendingly, “Perhaps next year I’ll let you grow to six years old.”

Matty was a far cry from the man who had torn her clothes off years before. It seemed to him like it happened a lifetime ago but the ramifications persisted still. Talaitha had taken a special interest in his “schooling” making him her personal assistant. She bathed him, changed him when he had accidents and even taught him to read and write. Being poor he had never had access to education and he found himself somewhat thankful for Talaitha’s special treatment. He especially liked it when she cuddled with him or let him sleep on top of her in her hammock with his nestled in her warm, soft chest. He obediently followed her everywhere clinging to her legs like a boy to his mothers’ dress.

“How does it feel? These people once feared you and now they laugh.” Carman lay the infant, former Captain down on the table in the centre of the bar for all to see and pulled the pin from the cloth diaper, which was all that covered his shame. “You had me humiliated. Stripped naked in front of strangers but now it’s your turn.”

Darcy squirmed with his legs in the air, hoping it would help him keep at least a little dignity from the prying eyes of the sailors and whores who were discretely watching his nappy change with a mixture of amusement, fear and disgust.

Carman gently wiped the squirming babe clean and swapped the messy diaper for a fresh one, saying, “Now, now. You only have yourself to blame. You did poop your pants in front of all these people, after-all.”

While Carman finished pinning the cloth, an odd woman in a bright flowery dress, slinked up to their table and slid into a seat. Talaitha eyed her cautiously but she knew not to intervene unless her Captain signalled to.

“A fitting punishment for these men,” said the strange woman who looked very out of place among the pirates and whores. She eyed Matty McCarthy like a snake does a mouse and the boy stepped back to hide behind Talaitha, peeking out from behind her thighs. “The Greek Goddess of Youth, Hebe, restored Iolaus to his youth so he could fight Eurystheus. It only stands to reason she would she would want to punish these foolish boys for tarnishing her champions name.”

Carman gave the stranger a wary but confident look, “Who are you and why are you here?”

The woman offered a hand to the Witch Captain, “Rosina Sebille. I am pleased to make your acquaintance, Captain Taylor. As for why I am here, well, I know where the next island is.”

 

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