The darkness fades

Rey flew through the door of her quarters, wringing the rainwater out of her hair and magically locking the door behind her. She knew her girls had trouble fastening it properly, but she didn't mind. After all, they didn't have her skills, and that wasn't their fault.

As the fairy doffed her coat, hanging it next to the door, she froze in mid-air, her wings beating faster than her heart. Something was wrong, she could feel it. She knew her ship better than anyone, and she knew this room better than any other part of that ship. Something was different than how she left it, but the one person who had been in the room when she left had been...

The sound of breaking glass shattered her state of mind. She whipped around and confirmed her suspicions: the jar where she had been keeping her prisoners had just fallen to the floor, with no little women in sight. Taking a look below herself, Rey also noticed the bag of Hilda's belongings was left open on the floor, and a quick zip down confirmed what was missing. The pirate couldn't believe herself; had those idiots actually escaped without notice on a rubber duck? It was too ridiculous to believe, and yet there was no other explanation. They hadn't even taken any of her clothes, as far as she could tell, simply leaving in the buff, as it were.

Rey sat on her bed, putting her mind to work. Trying to find them was fruitless. Assuming they had even survived the storm, which was unlikely, they were two minuscule women, and without magic, they were likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future. No, it seemed trading them back to their family wasn't going to work out after all. Perhaps she'd have to rethink her strategy going forward.

Then an idea dawned on her, and she started to grin from ear to ear. It would be a bigger job than they'd ever done before, but it promised riches beyond what they'd imagined. If the rumors she'd heard were even close to true, it would be more than possible to pull off. As lightning struck outside, the tiny pirate began to laugh to herself, celebrating her brilliance. Once the storm ended, they'd set sail for the Brandt Keep, as planned. They had better watch out, as the scourge of the sea was coming to get her gold, one way or another.

The first thing Tina felt was a dry silty substance on her tongue. As she blinked against the sun, she spit out particulates of sand that had gathered in her mouth, reaching up to rub them off her tongue. Unfortunately, that was not the only place the sand had gathered, and it was not an easy fix to clean off the rest of herself.

The naked knight sat up, rubbing her bruised neck and trying to remember what had happened. Looking around, she appeared to be on a beach and a very wide one at that. She didn't even have to look down to confirm that she was naked; the sun on her pussy and sand in her butt confirmed as much. What surprised her more was that her mother was also with her and just as naked. The waves lapped against her toes as she lay on her back, unconscious.

However, it was their third companion that brought everything streaming back: a giant, slightly deflated rubber ducky, its head sinking into the sand as most of the air had escaped. As she stared at the giant toy, Tina's hands drifted to her stomach, where several threads of twin were still wrapped around her, rope burns left on her skin.

They had escaped. They were free.

Putting that aside for the moment, Tina crawled over to her mother, calling for her to wake up. She shook Hilda's shoulders, hoping that her mother was still alive. Running out of ideas, something dawned on Tina that just might work. Holding her own throat to best modulate her voice, Tina, in her best impression of Sally, said, "Oh, my Lady! What an unscrupulous position I've found you in. How submissive and breedable you look. It would sure be a shame if someone took advantage of this."

"Huh, *snort* don't be a stranger, what?" Hilda startled herself awake, sitting up and blinking awake. Tina rolled her eyes; she could only hope that her own secrets never became as well-documented as her mother's someday.

As the light entered her eyes, Hilda yawned and reached back to brush sand off of her back. "Tina? Wha... where are we?"

Tina smiled. "You did it, mom. You got us off that ship. We made it."

Hilda looked behind her at the deflated Mr. Tootsie and then down at herself. Somehow, despite her condition, a feeling of immense triumph washed over her. "I... I did it." She stood up, hands on her hips and breasts hanging open for all the world to see. "Take that, Ms. Pinkie Toes. I, Hilda Brandt, escaped your prison and am ready to take you down." Grabbing her blade, which through all of their turmoil had remained in her grip, she extended it to the sky and called out. "We are victorious on this day!"

"Um, mother," Tina ventured, blushing, "I think you're forgetting something."

Hilda looked back at her daughter confused before she suddenly remembered what she was holding was not a sword, but a sewing needle. And with that realization came the reminder that both of them were still six inches tall and naked. Blushing, Hilda held her hands over her pussy and turned to face Tina, who mirrored her motion. "Ah, yes. I suppose you have a point there."

"What are we going to do?" Tina asked, fear entering her voice. "Dad and everyone else back home is still in danger. We have to warn them."

"Quite right, dear, quite right." Hilda stood a little straighter, looking around nervously. "It was about a day's journey by horseback to the keep, but... well, you can imagine why it might take longer to get home like this. All the more reason for us not to dally."

"Mother, you can't be saying we must head home in this state." Tina protested, gesturing to herself as if that was all she need say.

"I don't see that we have many other options. As you said, that pirate is going to head to the keep and catch the staff off guard. We have to warn them and take up arms."

"Don't you know anyone who can fix us, first?" Tina asked, pleading. "I don't know how much help we'd be to father while we're the size of my childhood dolls. You must know someone who deals in magical fixes to problems." Hilda thought for a moment, and the color drained from her face. Tina inched closer. "I saw that. You thought of someone, didn't you?"

"What? No, of course not. I don't know anyone like that." Hilda started to sweat, shifting her eyes back and forth and smiling unconvincingly.

Tina's eyes narrowed. "Mother, I'd rather not stay like this any longer than I have to. If you know someone who can fix us, I don't care what it takes."

Hilda sighed. "It's not that, it's just... oh, well, I supposed this is more important." She turned away from the ocean, squinting in the sunlight. "Assuming that's Captivia over in that direction, he should be a few days' travel East." She pointed to the greenery edging into a forest off to their right.

Tina's face brightened. "Great, that's not too difficult."

"Well, it wouldn't be at our normal height or if we had horses. I have no idea how long it will take with us like this, but we have to try, anyway."

Tina reached out to grab her mother's hand. "It'll be alright, mother. You're the strongest knight in the land, remember. If anyone can get us to this wizard, it's you."

Hilda smiled, meeting her daughter's gaze. "Of course," She turned, picking up an acorn from the ground, breaking off the shell, and donning it as a helmet. "Now, come. Glory awaits!"