_The Unsinkable Cassiopeia, Part 4_
(You really didn't think I was going to carry that Part/Section/Chapter/
Subsection thing all the way to the end, did you?)

Last time, Thoth was in his room getting dressed, things were exploding
outside, the main mast was tearing away from the deck, etc., etc.
(The author, at this point, did not have any copies of the previous three
parts.  He mindlessly deleted his only copies from his hard drive one day,
and now is waiting for the original recipient of this story to e-mail him
a set.  This may cause some possible incongruities with the previous
episodes.  The author sincerely hopes the readers can handle such a dramatic
disturbance in the flow of logic in this story.)

"Orbis, get some men down below and make sure we don't take on too much
water!"

"Aye sir!"  Came the reply from the other side of Thoth's cabin door.

"Shit," Thoth mumbled under his breath.  He moved quickly next to the
magnificent Princess Cassiopeia, who still laid bound, nude, on his
bunk.  He locked gaze with the Princess, seeing the triumph behind her
baby blue eyes.  "You're in this with me, Princess.  If we sink, you
die too."  Thoth then whipped out his knife and sliced through the rope
securing Cassiopeia to the rings at the head and foot of the bunk.

When her wrists were freed from the wall, Cassiopeia reached up and pushed
the gag out of her mouth.  "Yeah, but I'll be satisfied to see your rotten
carcass sink into the water, to see you thrash around like a weak puppy,
to see...HEY!"

Thoth yanked unceremoniously on her wrists that were still bound together.
He jerked her along behind him as he marched out of his cabin.  He quickly
surveyed the damage around him, then headed for the top side, dragging the
Princess with him.  His heart sank as he looked onto his ship, with the
mast tilted precipitously toward one side.  He peered into the darkness,
but couldn't make out the other ships.  He started to ponder the whole
visibility issue when a rather large boulder came flying out of the sky
and landed right next to him, tearing a rather large hole in the deck in
the process.  This, of course, disturbed Thoth mightily.

"Orbis!"  Thoth called.

"Aye Captain!"  A reply from behind.

"Wha..Geezus, don't sneak up on me like that!  Listen, get the men together.
They will probably try to ram us, since they need to come aboard to rescue
the princess here."  He took another look around, "I don't think Madoka's
going to stay afloat much longer.  We must try to take over the ramming ship.
Get the grappling hooks and the nets.  Bring my sword, too."

Orbis nodded and ran off to round up the crew.  Thoth peered intently into
the darkness, attempting to locate any of the enemy ships.  He can occa-
sionally make out a dark shape against the starry sky along the horizon.

"He's going to get you, you know."  The Princess predicted.  "Your ship is
sinking, your crew is in disarray.  You might as well give up."

"Don't count us out, my little toe warmer.  My crew is experienced in taking
another ship.  Besides, Alex isn't going to risk your sweet bottom by using
fire or arrows.  We'll have the upper hand."

Thoth peered around at his crew gathered around the railing.  He watched
the second rank cock their crossbows in preparation for the assault that was
soon to come.  He turned and watched the water, looking for any signs of an
approaching ship.  The tension aboard the ship was thick enough to choke a
chicken.  Thoth wondered what in the world lead to this.  He wondered if
fate is against him.  He wondered if the author is feeling well since this
story has taken a turn for the serious.

Thoth's metaphilosophomorical musings were cut short by a shout from across
deck.  "There she is!"  Thoth turned and saw the Buddha-with-a-Sword figure-
head of the Flying Buddha approach rapidly through the darkness.

"Over there!"  Thoth shouted, picking up his sword and bracing for collision.
The Flying Buddha smashed unceremoniously into the Ayukawa Madoka, throwing
assortment of wood particles into the air and the sea.  Thoth shouted his
orders over the din of the creaking and rending wood, and the sailors tossed
the grappling hooks onto the Buddha.  The bolts flew from the crossbows,
seeking anyone who's unlucky enough to be at the other end.  Thoth and a
group of tough looking sailors rushed the ropes now hanging off the side
of the Buddha.  Thoth turned to the Princess, "you better hang on to me."

"Why should I?"

"Because I'm your best chance of survival."

"Oh."

Thoth and the others stormed onto the Flying Buddha under the protective
cover fire of the crossbows.  Once aboard, Thoth lashed the Princess to the
railing as the others protected him.  The rag-tag pirates quickly formed a
semi- circle around the grappling hooks and fought off the crew attempting
to dislodge the ropes.  As more and more of the pirates came up onto the
Buddha, they began to fan out in an attempt to overtake this ship.  Thoth
moved among the mass of onrushing royal seamen, throwing some off to the
left, then to the right.  Suddenly the mass parted, and there stood the
Master.

"It's been a long time, Thoth."  Alex grinned.

"Not long enough, apparently."  Thoth said between clinched teeth as sweat
dripped off of his chin.

"Well, shall we dispense with the pleasantries and get started?"

"Fine."  Thoth raised his sword.  "En Garde!"  Thoth lunged at Alex.  "Umph,
touche'!" Thoth grunted as Alex expertly parried and returned thrust.  "Cafe'
au lait!"

"Give it up, Thoth," Alex said as he took a swing at the dread pirate, "you
can't impress me.  I speak 14 languages and 37 dialects fluently."

The two combatants fought on, the conflict encapsulated into the bloody
tableau between these two similar, yet different, individual.  As the
struggle progressed, Thoth's fatigue began to weaken his strokes.  He
stepped back as Alex pressed the advantage, until the pirate backed into
the main mast.  He hopped onto the rope ladder leading onto the riggings
and began to climb.  Alex followed, continuing to press.  The action soon
moved to the cross beam thing on the mast.  They moved back and forth, neither
overcoming the other.  Suddenly Thoth somersaulted off the beam and back onto
the deck.  Not wanting to lose his prey, Alex followed with a triple somer-
sault with two-and-a-half twist, landing with a 9.96 next to Thoth, resuming
his attack.

"When was the last time you were in dock?"  Inquired Alex.

*tink*

"Oh, I don't know.  About six months, I guess."

*tink* *tink*  *swoosh*

"Ah, then you haven't heard.  Did you know the Grand Wizard Torvalds released
Linux version 1.0?"

"WHAT?!"

Alex jumped at the momentary lapse in Thoth's defense and swung the flat
of his blade at the pirate's head.  Thoth's mind exploded in neon lights
as he slumped down, stunned.

"Fool."  Alex mocked the groaning figure at his feet, "you should have
realized that the Great Wizard would never release version 1.0 until he
has included the compressed-xia4fs-NIS-superduper-remote-mountable-ISDN-6
filesystem/protocol into the kernel."  Alex looked around.  Most of his
crew has managed to defeat the pirates.  He turned to a passerby, "shackle
them up."

Master Martelli strode up to the bound nude figure at the railing.

"It's about time."  Complained the Princess.

"Sorry, Cassiopeia.  We set sail as soon as the Seer Averti saw your impending
plight in the stars."

"Well, OK."  She looked around at the scruffy bunch being chained, "what are
you going to do now?"

"I'm going to Disneyland."

                              *     *     *

Thoth glanced out at the open water, remembering his ship, his love, being
swallowed by the unforgiving sea.  "A...Ayukawa..."  A single tear trailed
down his scruffy face.  [insert mood music here]  His heart ached for the
days when he sailed the seas free on her deck.  He shifted his position to
relieve some of the discomfort from the heavy iron collar, only to wince at
the pain at the side of his head.  That blow from Alex had been wicked, and
the bloody mark still reminded Thoth of his defeat after these many days.

He looked around at the deck where he was chained along with the remainder
of his crew.  His eyes moved over all the long drawn faces, faces that knew
the imminent doom that awaits them.  All, that is, except Orbis.  Orbis'
face was still animated, still showed the youthful exuberance of a young
recruit.  He was busily talking to his depressed companion chained next to
him:  "...but you must preheat the oven first, otherwise you'll burn the
outside and not cook thoroughly the inside."

Thoth's attention then turned toward the shore as ship approached the docks.
He hadn't seen the Princess since his capture, and had only occasionally seen
Alex.  Of course, tending to prisoners was probably not high on their priority
list.  He doubted, however, that neither he nor his men would escape their
attention so easily once they were brought to the dungeon.

The huge ship slowly slid into the royal dock.  As the ship and dock crew
busied with securing the ship, the guards came by to prepare their prisoners
to disembark.  The men stood warily amidst the clanking of the chains and
the groaning of the suffering.  The guards stood the captured crew in a line,
punctuating their orders with random strikes with the whips.  Thoth, dressed
only in his breeches, winced at every contact the whips made with his skin.

Soon, horses were brought for the Princess and Lord Martelli.  Princess
Cassiopeia emerged from the cabins, now dressed in full regalia, and descended
the gangplank with nary a glance back toward the defeated captain.  However,
Thoth knew, in his mind, that the Princess would not forgive nor forget him,
and he can expect some form of revenge from the feisty she-cat.  She and Lord
Martelli were soon mounted and headed up toward the castle.  A contingent of
castle guards came aboard and led Thoth and his dastardly men off the ship
and marched them toward the castle dungeons.

                             *       *       *

The dungeon stank.  Of course, Thoth had never been in a dungeon that smelled
pleasant.  He decided to take a couple of minutes to assess his situation.
After all, he had nothing better to do, dangling by his wrists nude against
the cold dank wall.  He looked over to his left and saw a few of his men
strung up like he was.  He looked to his right and saw a few more.  He looked
at the center of the room and saw several braziers (that's "a pan for holding
burning coals", not "a woman's close-fitting undergarment with cups for bust
support".  Trust me, I looked it up.) containing red-hot coals.  In them,
wicked looking tools stuck out like needles on a porcupine.  Of course,
porcupines aren't heated, normally, to a cherry red color.  This does not
look good, thought Thoth thoroughly.

Ever since they were brought to this dungeon several hours ago, they have been
chained up and hung like sides of beef.  Thoth figured midnight was probably
approaching.  The click of the lock on the dungeon door drew Thoth's attention
toward the portal.  As the door swung open, Thoth saw that it wasn't midnight
at all, but Cassiopeia.  Princess Cassiopeia was now dressed in a more muted
colors, befitting a casual night's trip to the local shops.  Notice the daring
use of wildflowers in her coiffure.  The light summer flowers accented her
beautiful blonde hair, and brought a touch of innocence to her overall aura.

Thoth watched as the Princess made her way through the dungeon over to where
Thoth was hanging.  Since he's hanging about a foot off the ground, he craned
his neck and looked down at the Princess.  She glanced first at the ground,
then straight into his chest, finally up shyly into his eyes.  She ran one of
her fingers in a trail on his chest.

"You know," she began, "the time I spent with you?  It was, well," she paused,
searching for the right word, "it wasn't all that bad."

"Well, then, are you going to let me and my men go?"

"I can't," she replied, "since kidnapping a royal personage is a capital
offense.  Besides, Alex is quite put out with you.  He and Laylah were
planning a long well-deserved vacation when he had to come and save me from
your evil clutches."

"Yeah, but..."

"No, I'm sorry," she cut him off, figuratively speaking of course, "you'll
have to be punished, either by death or castration."

"Excuse me?"

"Death or castration.  You know, you'll be hung, or not hung."  She continued
to play with his chest, then slowly moving her hand down toward his nether
region.  "We really never got acquainted."  She started to stroke his now
attentive cock.

"Um, are you feeling well?"

"I thought I give you one last thrill before you lose it, one way or another."

She continued to stroke, picking up the rhythm as she felt him responding.
She glanced up at him slyly and saw him with his eyes closed, savoring her
nimble fingers on his manhood.  As she stroked, she felt the blood swell under
his skin.  Faster and faster, she brought him closer and closer to the peak.
When she felt him nearing climax, she pulled a hat pin hidden in her dress
and stuck it though one of his testicles.  The pin brought a blood curdling
scream from Thoth.  The pain also put him over the top.

"Ewww, ick!"  Princess Cassiopeia tried to shake the sticky stuff off of her
fingers.  Not being too successful, she finally wiped what she can on the
panting and wheezing Thoth.  "You were not suppose to enjoy that!"  She
pouted.

Thoth looked at her weakly, not able to summon up enough strength to glare at
her properly.  He gasped in pain as she pulled the pin out.

"Poo, you sure know how to ruin a girl's fun."  She turned and started for the
door.  "Well, I'm sure tomorrow you won't find your predicament so enjoyable.
Tah tah!"  She waved as she stepped out of the dungeon.

Thoth hung, exhausted, in the dark dungeon after she left.  The pain was still
shooting up his groin and belly, which made thinking and time tracking rather
difficult.  After what seemed like hours, mostly because the torches on the
wall had long since died down, Thoth heard the click of the lock again.  Thoth
groaned miserably at the possible repeat of recent events.

The figure that stepped through the door, however, was not the figure of a
woman.  It was also not the figure of Alex, Thoth was sure.  The hooded
figure moved silently through the darkness to stand just beyond the edge of
what little light was provided by the hot coals.  Thoth stared at this person,
trying to determine who he was and what his intentions were.

"So, it was the great Thoth that perpetrated the kingdom-shaking kidnapping."
Came the deep voice from the hooded figure.  It was a voice that Thoth recog-
nized!