Marooned With a Hare

Aboard the Merciless…

A storm was coming, that much Captain Duris Swordfur knew. What sort of captain would he be if he couldn't tell that? The clouds above his ship twisted and shifted, thunder rumbling ominously, the wind picking up, carrying with it the smell of a powerful storm brewing. Duris' fang's glimmered as he smiled; they were filed to a point and carefully polished every day. Yes. Oh, yes. This was perfect. He would finally be able to prove to his crew, and to himself, that he had what it took to captain this ship. Ever since the previous captain, a huge wildcat of considerable reputation among the pirates, had been thrown overboard… accidently in a previous storm, Duris, the first mate, had taken over; but filling a spot where such huge paws had been before was not such an easy task. Many of the crew were skeptical as to how a mere ferret would be able to captain the Merciless. It was, after all, one of the most feared pirate ships ever to sail the high seas. They couldn't afford to have some pansy as a captain.

Duris had been preparing for this moment ever since he'd pushed the Captain overboard; a storm to prove he had what it took to be a captain. His teeth were polished and sharpened, his dark gray and black fur brushed to a shine, his favorite blood red coat hung elegantly off of his thin shoulders, making them look more muscular than usual. His good sword, a scimitar, hung on his belt, and his whiskers had been straightened and then curled just slightly at the very tips. He had looked in the mirror earlier and had thought so himself: all in all, he looked quite striking. He looked like a capable captain, one who could be admired, feared, depended on, but definitely not trusted, all at the same time. And once he got through this storm, the crew would have more than just his impeccable appearance to be able to tell that.

Yes, yes. Everything was perfect. Duris had been born for this. To captain the Merciless was his destiny, and once he gained his crews' undying loyalty… Duris' eyes, as bottomless and cold as the waters the Merciless now sailed over, narrowed.

His revenge would be swift and, well, absolutely merciless.

Aboard the Cheerful Wave Hopper…

Just a little too far away for Duris Swordfur's sharp eyes to spot, another equally reputable ship (but for completely different reasons) sliced through the darkening waves heading towards where the captain knew in his heart the Merciless to be. The Cheerful Wave Hopper, a notorious pirate hunting vessel, known to her raucous crew as Lady CWH, was eerily silent, considering that it was just about nearing suppertime. The crew of Lady CWH considered meals to be sacred moments; joyful holidays which punctuated their hard, but still cheerful, existence.

That was because the vast majority of the crew were hares. And hares never miss a meal if they can help it.

If that's the case, then where was all the crew? The galley and the crew's quarters below decks were empty and silent; not even a soup pot or two set on the stove in the galley or a single lazily swinging hammock occupied by a sleepy hare below decks.

That's because they were preparing for battle. And not just any battle, a battle between too evenly matched ships and crews, one that would be drawn out and bloody.

On the fore deck of Lady CWH…

"Yor still set on goin' through with it then, eh, Captain?" Malby, the cook, asks fingering his apron nervously. The hare standing beside Malby is still young and strong, but old in spirit. He stands unnaturally still for a hare, gazing out to sea.

Captain Rorik nods, lifting his old spyglass up to his good left eye (blinded in a battle with a certain wildcat three years ago), squinting into it, hoping to see a speck on the horizon that will mean he's finally found the Merciless after all these years.

"You can't stop me! …..I'm sorry, Malby, old chap, for dragging you and the crew into this, but I just… I need to do this. That wild cat, he murdered my sister in cold blood. Marooned Satinspar, without food or water, or a way of getting home, and then forgot about the blasted island. I'm going to capture him alive, sink his ship, and then maroon him on an island, and see how he feels about it!" A grim smile lights up his face.

"I wasn't goin' to stop you! I was just goin' to say, me and the crew, we're with you! And, I'd say by how fast she's goin', Lady CWH is too, wot!"

"Malby," Captain Rorik rested one weary paw on his old friend's shoulder, "Thank you,"

The two ships, one merciless and the other cheerful, rushed towards each other, while the sky raged above, both vessels doomed for watery deaths.

Aboard the Merciless...

No.

It could not be.

It just wasn't possible.

Duris Swordfur clutched the spyglass so hard he left claw marks on it.

"What," He growled, "Is that?"

"Uh, sir, it's, a, uh, a ship, sir," The terrified lookout rat next to him stuttered, backing away.

"AGH! I can see that, you worm brained fool!" Everything had been going perfectly up until this point. It had started to drizzle; and most of the crew were on deck, preparing for the storm. Duris had been strutting around, checking things over, ordering the crew about, and making sure they knew who was boss, making sure that they knew he had everything under control even though a nasty storm was growing above their furry heads.

And then that blasted ship had appeared, coming towards them, at full speed, with the wind at their backs. Whoever they were, they'd reach the Merciless exactly as the storm hit full force.

All that Duris had asked for was a nice storm to solidify his leadership aboard the Merciless so he could go after those blasted hares who'd murdered his beloved little sister in cold blood just because she was a ferret, and supposedly 'evil'.

Well, maybe she was a bit of a thief and a liar, but Snow had been the closest thing Duris had ever had to a creature he would've died for, a creature he loved. And those hares had taken her away from him. That was the real reason he had joined the crew of the Merciless to begin with. The hares were on a ship, a ship called the Cheerful Wave Hopper, and they hardly ever came on land. He'd heard that they occasionally stayed a few days at Salamandastron, but there was no chance of taking that place. No, the only way to catch the Cheerful Wave Hopper was to be on a ship. That was the reason that he had fought his way up through the ranks on the Merciless to become first mate. That was the reason he had killed for the first time, when he pushed the old captain over board and took control. That was the reason he needed this storm to go perfectly right now.

"Cap'n…?" The lookout rat asked again, and Duris realized he'd been saying that for the last five minutes. Enough reminiscing about Snow, concentrate. He twisted the rose quartz necklace that hung around his neck thoughtfully-

"That ship's going to reach us no matter what we do, and we need some more grog anyways. We're going to take that it! Get ready to board!" Duris raised his voice so that the crew around him could hear. They cheered. Grog always excited them.

And, plus, taking a ship and riding out a wild storm on the same night would be even better for Duris' reputation among the crew.

Yes, things were looking up again.

(To maybe be continued...)