Red's Rescue

by Cubby250

When Red gets kidnapped by pirates, the most unlikely Lost Boy, Cubby, is chosen to rescue him.

"This has got to be the worst idea ever," I said as Leo and Tigger grabbed each of my arms and propelled me into a chair in front of the common room table. "Why me?" I demanded, my voice quivering just a little. "Can you think of anyone on earth who'd do a worse job?"

"Of course I can, Furball. Lots of people. Anyone of us here would do a worse job. They've seen all of us a lot but they've only seen you a couple of times. You can do this, don't worry." Leo threw back the hood of my bear pelt, grabbed a straight razor, and started shearing my hair in great clumps.

"What're you... Ow! What're you doing?"

"We gotta hurry, we don't got much time," Stumble said as he rummaged through a chest he'd dragged from somewhere.

"This is going to hurt, but it's got to be done," Tig said as he pulled a stiletto from one of the pockets of his pelt. "Hold on a sec," he told his twin. Before I had a chance to object, wince, or even understand what was getting ready to happen, he thrust the thin blade through my left ear lobe and also managed to nick my neck as well. I bellowed in pain as Tig dropped the knife and put a gold earring through the hole he'd carved in the lobe. "Whatcha think?" he asked his brother.

"It looks like you were drunk when ya did it, so it's perfect," Leo said as he started hacking away at my mane again. "You know you got fleas?" he asked me.

"Hold still, Furball," Stumble said as he pulled a nasty looking mustache from the chest he'd been digging through. He dumped a bunch of evil smelling liquid from a bottle onto the mustache and stuck it on my face, below my nose. "Well?"

"It'll do, it's dark."

"Time?" Leo demanded.

"We gotta be out of here in the next half turn if we're going to have a prayer of a chance for this foolishness to work," Surefoot said. "Strip," he told me as Leo finished cutting the rest of my hair off.

"Are you nuts? Do you really think this is going to work?"

Leo gave me a gentle shove. "Course it is. If it weren't, we wouldn't be doing it, would we?"

"That's the same thing you told me when I almost drowned."

"That was different, that involved water."

"Involved water?" I asked, my voice rising just a little. "What the heck do you think this is going to involve?"

"You'll just be on the water. You won't be in the water."

"Hopefully," Surefoot muttered under his breath. I ignored that.

"Okay," I said with a resigned shrug. I stood up and shed the bear pelt. Surefoot threw me a bunch of rags and I put them on in record time. The rags fit surprisingly well and I wondered where they'd come from but decided I didn't want to go there.

"What about his head? You can tell the top of it ain't been in the sun much."

"Ta-dah," Stumble said, handing me a bandana that reeked. "Wrap this around your head, Furball."

"Nah, let me do it," Tig said, snatching it from me. "You'll mess it up."

"Sword?" Surefoot asked.

"Cutlass, and for goodness sakes, don't draw it unless you have to. You'd cut your foot off, Cub." Leo handed me the cutlass and I strapped it on, the weight on my hip feeling strange.

"Shoes?"

"Nope."

"Sling-shot?"

Tig thought about it and then nodded. "Yeah, it's the only thing he can use that he won't manage to kill himself with," Tig said as he finished wrapping the bandana around my head.

"Did you forget that time he tried to shoot the orc? He couldn't sit down for a week."

"Not helping," I told Surefoot.

"Don't worry, you've gotten better since then." Four sets of eyes rolled in unison including my own. "Just hide it under your shirt or something."

"Eye-patch?"

"No way, it'll itch."

Tig gave another thoughtful pause and nodded. "Roo's right. If we put an eye-patch on him, it'll hide at least one of those puppy-dog eyes of his."

"Forget it," Stumble advised, holding up a pink patch covered in sequins. "This is the only one we got." I didn't even want to consider where it had come from or why."

"You're up for this, right?" Leo asked as he gave me a once over. Of course I wasn't up to it. I wanted to lose the stew I'd had a few hours earlier and not just cause it had tasted like mud.

"It's for Red, ain't it?" Every Lost Boy there nodded. I swallowed, a gulp I'm sure they could have heard all over the Island. "Lost Boys forever," I said and tried to swagger as I walked towards my trapdoor. I tripped over the cutlass as it found its way between my legs.

"We're doomed," someone said in a whisper that carried.

Leo walked over to the common room table. "Here's Tink's contribution," he said grabbing several small sacks of pixie dust and tossing them at me. The stuff I was wearing didn't have nearly as many pockets as my pelt, but the pockets it did have weren't full of holes like mine were so I was able to get them all put away.

"Is that enough?" Stumble asked, worriedly. I waited for the punchline about my weight that he'd have normally made, but he was genuinely concerned. I wondered if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It took a lot for Stumble not to be insulting everyone around him. "Remember, we don't know what kind of shape Red's going to be in."

"What was he thinking, anyway?" Roo suddenly erupted. "He knew they were hunting and he knew they were around here. It's not like Peter didn't warn us and there ain't nothing important enough that he had to go out there for. It was just stupid and now we're sending Cubby out and it's not like he's had a bunch of experience doing stuff like this." He caught the look on my face. "Not that you can't handle it, it's just that the whole thing is stupid. He shouldn't have gone out."

"At least he didn't lead 'em back to the tree," Leo said. "That's how he got caught. He wanted to make sure they were following him away from here." Roo snorted, but didn't say anything. I knew the only reason he was so upset was because he was worried about him. Leo turned back to me. "You know what to do, right?"

I did and I didn't. "How come I can't just take a rowboat and bring him back in it? How come we all can't do it like we do on a raid."

"Because they'll be expecting that," Leo explained patiently. "You can get closer on your own than all of us could cause they won't be expecting just one of us. It'll be... Naw, it won't be, but you can do it. We could all go if there was enough pixie dust, but there ain't and we just gotta do what we can. It'd be different if Peter was here, but..." he shrugged. "They should be holding Red near the bow because they'll be waiting for sunrise to have him walk the plank. They'll be expecting us... you to come from the Island so you're going to have to fly out to sea a bit and then come back from that direction. You gotta do it 'fore the sun starts to rise or they'll be able to see you and no matter how much like a pirate you look, it's not going to fool them if they see you flying." I glanced at Stumble, almost wishing he'd make some comment that I'd be impossible to miss but he continued being silent and anxious-looking. "Try to land somewhere on deck where there ain't a lot of the scum around. You shouldn't have to worry 'bout those aloft since they'll be looking towards the Island. Once ya get on deck, don't sneak around, but walk like you own the place, cause you do. Go towards where they'll have him at the bow. You'll be able to get pretty close to Red before they figure out they ain't ever seen you before. Heck, depending on how much they celebrated after they caught him, they may never even notice you ain't you. Dowse him with pixie dust and make good your escape. Head back out to sea and then make a big loop again since if they have anything nasty ready, it'll be pointed towards the Island and not seaward."

"So he's just going to be sitting on the deck waiting for me to come and rescue him?" I asked, a little skeptical that it would be near as easy as Leo was making it out to be.

"They'll have his hands and feet tied up, but they probably won't have him tied to anything. They might have him gagged, but probably not." He looked down at the floor. "They think they'll hear us cry for mercy." He spat on the floor. "Ready?"

I wanted to yell that there was no way a coward like me could ever be ready for something like this. That I was just a kid and how the heck could anyone expect anyone like me to be ready for something like this. The whole thing was insane just thinking about it, much less acting it out. I was going to get myself killed, which didn't bother me that much as long as it didn't involve a lot of pain. I was more worried about the fact that I was going to end up failing in trying to rescue Red and I'd cause him to be killed too. I swallowed all those thoughts. "Sure," I said with a grin that I had to twist sideways before I could force it on my face.

"Cubby, there's something you gotta remember," Stumble said in the most earnest voice I'd ever heard him use. "You gotta keep your happy thoughts close, and you gotta keep one for Red too. He won't be able to make his own happy thought, so you're going to have to do it for him. It's... yeah." He grabbed the wooden sword that I usually used and handed it to me. "Here, stuff this down your breeches so it can't be seen. You may need it."

I took the sword and carefully placed it down inside my left pants leg and immediately picked up three splinters in my leg. There wasn't enough room between my ankle and the bottom of the pants leg for it to slip out, but it meant I couldn't bend my left knee at all. Maybe anyone who saw me hobbling that way would figure I had a peg leg or something. I walked to the spot under my trapdoor, looked around, and jumped. It was idiocy to think I'd be able to make it, especially with my left leg, but I grabbed the edge on my first attempt and pulled myself through. I tumbled outside and hit the ground. It felt weird as though the Island I was used to wandering had been replaced with something else. The stars weren't warm like I was used to, but gave off the harsh sparkle of broken glass. There were none of the night noises that I was either used to or terrified of. The trees around the clearing were quiet and it seemed like they were listening to something that only they could hear. Even the night air, normally perfumed with what seemed like a hundred scents and odors, had a flat odor too it as if it had hung around too long. "What's happening?" I asked Roo in a whisper as we fell into a single-file line and started for Pirate's Cove.

"It knows," he whispered back, shrugging. "The Island always knows when something like this happens." As explanations go, that was probably one of the least helpful ones I'd ever heard as well as the most complete one. The trip from Hangman's Tree to the cove was surreal, even for the Island. Not a breath of air moved and not a sound disturbed the un-tranquil quiet. This was a quiet that didn't belong anywhere and the fact that it had come to rest over the Island scared me. There was no downhill or uphill to the path as it wound through the trees that gave the impression of grudgingly giving way to the trail. At one point I had to stop and finally got rid of the stew I'd eaten what seemed like a century ago when things had been normal and the only thing that had worried me was latrine duty the next day. No one said a word.

The trail ended all too quickly at the trees surrounding the cove. We came to a stop and looked out across the water at The Jolly Roger. It didn't look any different from every other time I'd seen it in the early morning except that there were a couple more lanterns at the bow than normal. There were no moon or clouds and the stars that had turned strange didn't provide enough light to get rid of the shadows that had gathered all over the place on the beach, the sea, and the hull and deck of the ship. Leo pulled out Pan's spyglass and examined the ship. "Pan'll banish you if he finds out you have that," his twin warned.

Leo closed the spyglass with a snap. "Ain't no good. All it does is bring the darkness closer. He's gotta be there, though." He looked at me. "Ready?" he asked again.

"Quit asking me that," I snapped. "You think I'm going to suddenly say 'no' and run and hide?"

He grinned, his teeth managing to shine in the sickly starlight. "Lost Boys forever," he whispered to which all of us whispered it back in response. "Head down the beach about a half-mile or so, fly out to sea and then come around and fly to the ship from the water-side and rescue Red. We'll be right here. If you get in trouble, give a yell and we'll have your back."

I didn't ask how they figured they were going to have my back when they'd have to swim a few hundred yards to the ship if I did yell since I had all the pixie dust and there wasn't any convenient rowboats around this time. It didn't matter. I was too awed by someone telling me they had my back. It was an unusual and a weird feeling. I made a conscious effort to quit repeating the phrase to myself. I turned and started to walk away when I felt someone grab my shoulder. I turned to see Stumble staring at me with that unnerving earnest look he'd been wearing all night. "Don't forget the happy thoughts. Two of them. Even three if you can. He's going to need it. Promise." I promised I wouldn't forget and started off down the beach.

Walking down the beach while staying in the trees to keep from being seen by anyone looking from The Jolly Roger wasn't easy, but the tree trunks were far enough apart that it wasn't insanely difficult either. I started out walking but got so worried about the time it was taking that I ended up trying to gallop in the woods. Big mistake. I don't know how many scrapes and bruises I ended up with from tripping over everything from branches and holes to my own paws. After what seemed forever, I finally made it to where the water formed a small inlet into the woods. I crept carefully out from the woods to see if I could see anything of The Jolly Roger. There was no sign of the ship or anything else because a mist had sprung up and was beginning to cover everything. I tried to decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

I walked across the beach to the water, expecting a yell from somewhere as I took each step. Nothing happened and I reached the water's edge without incident. The waves looked weird, as though it was chore for them to reach the sand from wherever they were coming from. I didn't think it was possible for a wave to be lethargic, but these managed quite nicely. The waves breaking on the beach did make a sound, thank goodness, but it was muted as though my ears were stuffed with cotton. Knowing it was the Island and strange stuff happened all the time made it a tiny bit easier to bear, but not much.

I stood on the sand, the waves soaking my pawmocs, and snagged my happy thought, playing follow-the-leader with Ember. It might not sound like much, but if you've ever played that game with a wolf you know it can get interesting really fast. I opened one of the pouches of pixie dust and sprinkled it over myself. I concentrated on my happy thought, lifted to tiptoe height, and came to a stop. "C'mon," I said to myself in disgust. I tried jumping up and down and flapping my arms as hard as I could but every time I tried, I settled back down to tiptoe height. It took four more bags of pixie dust to get me airborne which left me three. I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I started flying out to sea while frequently turning around to see how far away from the Island I was. Even with constant checking and worrying, I got lost. I managed to lose sight of ship, fog bank and even the Island all at once. I started zigzagging back and forth in the direction that I thought I needed to go and it was only through the luck of hearing a pirate yelling an oath at someone that I was able to figure out where I needed to be. I zipped into the fog and almost immediately saw the side of The Jolly Roger in front of me. It's not possible to come to a screeching halt when you're flying, or any other type of quick stop. I hit the side of the ship hard enough that my teeth rattled and I saw stars. The collision knocked me back a few feet, but I did come to a stop and hovered in the air. I listened, but no one seemed to be concerned over the fact that a body had hit the side of the ship. I whispered a prayer of thanks to whoever the patron of Lost Boys might be if there was one, and circled the ship. I found a place amidships that was dark enough that no one should notice me. I lined myself up, dropped my happy thought, and landed on the deck.

Using pixie dust to fly is something I've gotten sort of used to and have even managed to have fun doing. The bad part is the landing. No matter how hard I try, no matter how much I practice, no matter how many times I'm shown how, I can't land. Well, I can land, but it's normally a two-step process in which my feet hit the ground followed by my face. This time was no different, except that instead of digging a furrow in the ground, I ended up with splinters in my nose. I turned over on my back and looked up to see a pirate in the rigging facing the Island. There wasn't any sign that he'd seen me or was paying any attention to what was happening on deck, so I ignored him and stood up.

I moved as quietly as I could and thought that even Surefoot would have been, not impressed, but approving of my performance. The ship was as noisy as the Island had been silent. The sound of the water against the hull, the creak of the wood, and the murmur of voices forward was almost deafening to me even as low as they were. The ship stank of unwashed bodies, tar, vomit, urine, rum and powder. It was impossible that an open deck could smell bad enough to come close to gagging someone, but it pulled it off in magnificent fashion. I couldn't ever remember it smelling so bad the few other times I'd been on board. As I got closer to the bow of the ship, it became easier to make things out, even through the fog that was drifting around. There was a group of pirates gathered around something near the rail on the Island side of the ship and I knew that's where Red had to be. Remembering Leo's advice, I stopped sneaking as I came to the end of the cabin that had been hiding me. I took a deep breath and started out across the deck as if I'd been walking it all my life. I was almost positive no one could tell my legs were quivering. My self-confident manner lasted exactly eight steps before I tripped over a coil of rope.

I'd been noticed the moment I left the shadow of the cabin but no one had said anything, even when I tripped over the rope. Most of them were busy along the rail, staring at the Island, or were paying attention to whatever it was they were crowded around. There were guffaws and one of the pirates used an expletive to start a very long description of one of his fellows that ended with 'drunken sot.' I got back up to my feet and continued on towards the bow where everyone was gathered. I was still a good 15 meters or so away when I realized that the only ones there were pirates. They were all grown-ups and there was no sign of anything even vaguely resembling a fox-pelt at all. I came to a sudden halt and started patting myself as though I was trying to locate something in a pocket. I gave a dramatic sigh and turned back towards the cabin shadows.

"Where ya think you be going, ye lubber?" a voice called from the group at the rail. It was a voice that didn't seem to have much experience with vowels, which all came out sounding as though they'd been dipped in gravel before being released by his mouth.

"I fergot jug thing," I called back in as garbled a voice as I could come up with. Being scared to death helps you garble your voice a lot whether you're trying to or not. Someone repeated the drunken sot comment, although now I was the one it was directed to.

"Yeah, well same to you." I could always come up with the best comeback lines. No one else seemed interested in me and I quickly made my way back to the shadows, collapsing on the deck when I'd reached them. Red obviously wasn't on the bow and there wasn't any activity on the stern. That meant he had to be somewhere below deck. I stopped and wracked my muddled mind trying to figure out where he might be below deck before I remembered my most recent trip to The Jolly Roger.

We'd been on a raid and I'd managed to take a wrong turn and somehow ended up near Hook's cabin at the stern of the ship. There hadn't been anything to see as far as the cabin door went. It was what was a short distance down the companionway or corridor or whatever it was called that I'd noticed. It was a small cell with a barred door. It had been empty and I hadn't paid a lot of attention to it as I was more concerned about getting the heck back on deck with both skin and pelt intact. I'd asked Red about it later and he'd said that was Hook's cell for 'special guests'. He'd looked as though he'd seen a ghost when I'd asked him about it and I'd let it go. As soon as the memory of the cell wandered to the surface of my mind, I knew that's where Red had to be. I stood back up and headed aft, trying to remember how I'd stumbled into the place the first time I'd seen it.

Predictably nothing looked familiar except in a twisted, backwards sort of way. I tried cocking my head to the left side and to the right while both squinting and non-squinting. It didn't make things any clearer as it sometimes did. I opened one hatch and went through only to find myself in one of the sleeping quarters. There was a lot of snoring, muttering, and the occasional evil laughter. Fortunately, everyone appeared to be asleep and I backed out as quietly as I could. I wrapped a piece of stray cord around the hatch knob and tied it to some sort of bracket or brace hoping that if something happened later, that might keep them from joining in for a little bit.

I walked all the way to the stern of the ship and looked forward trying to make sense of anything I might recognize from earlier raids. I started back towards the bow, carefully scanning the deck for any hatches that might lead below. The first one was locked and I had a feeling that was probably the one I was looking for. I moved a few feet ahead and came across another hatch, this one unlocked. I started opening it and grimaced as it made a horrible squealing noise. I gently let it fall closed and, not having brought any oil with me, spat all over the hinges. It didn't solve the problem entirely, but it quieted the screeching enough that I wasn't worried my heart was going to jump out of my mouth any longer. I went through the hatch to the deck below, once more gently closing the hatch. I made sure I could reopen it before I moved on. There had been way too many times I'd forgotten to do that in other situations to forget to do it in this one.

I found myself in a dimly lit hallway. There were shadows all over the place from the one dim lantern hung from a wall a couple of yards towards the bow. The passage also ran towards the stern, but I decided to go forward since that was where the lantern was. Pirate disguise or not, I snuck on tiptoe trying to look in all directions, not breathe, and listen to everything all at once. There was a doorway on the left from which a bit more light was shining from. I peeked around the doorway and discovered I'd found the galley. It smelled rancid and sour and I was fairly certain that not even I would eat anything I might discover in it. I didn't have to worry about exploring, though. Mr. Smee sat at a table facing away from me and talking to an enormous brown skinned man who was stirring something on a stove also facing away from me. I took a quick look up and down the passage I was in, but didn't see anyone in either direction. Not that it would have been easy to see someone towards the stern end of the passage, but I didn't hear anyone either.

"I don't like it," Smee was saying, just barely loud enough for me to hear. It seemed pretty obvious that he was worried about someone overhearing him but fortunately he didn't bother to check to see if anyone was in the doorway to the galley.

"What's not to like?" the pirate that I decided must be the ship's cook said in a voice not nearly as quiet as Smee's. "One of them brats walks and that's one less of 'em we haveta worry about. It be one of the most straight-forward plans the Cap'n come up with."

Smee tossed back a cup of something, banging the empty metal container on the table. "Oh, aye. We be the most feared crew this side of the Locker and we be killing children. That be what I signed up for as did the rest of these swabs." He shook his head and refilled the cup from a bottle. "The boy, now the boy be different. I think..."

Whatever it was that Smee was thinking was left unsaid as a scream broke the quiet of the deck. It scared me at first and I pulled my head back so quickly that I managed to hit the door frame and once more saw stars. The scream was repeated once and then the quiet returned. I risked a quick look in the galley, but the sound hadn't caused either grown-up to move an inch. Once I was sure they wouldn't be following in my wake, I headed back as quickly as I could towards the stern, breaking into a gallop. I knew who was screaming and my cowardice had retreated a little on hearing it. For a moment I wanted to howl out a challenge to whoever was causing Red to scream like that, but even though my courage had moved up a quarter-notch, I was still craven enough that I wasn't about to announce my arrival.

I passed by the ladder that led to the hatchway I'd used and kept galloping. Ahead of me was where the passage ended at Hook's cabin door. It was the doorway off to the right before his cabin door that I was after now, the one for 'special' guests of Hook. I was positive that was where Red was. Something big reared up between myself and the cell and I attempted to bowl over it. Normally I'm good at that for obvious reasons, but whoever it was took exception to me running over them and grabbed my ankle and brought me to a halt. I don't know how I managed to keep myself falling except that it must have been my luck. Fortunately, the pirate had grabbed my right ankle, so I was able to draw the wooden sword without any more trouble than getting a few more splinters in my leg. I could have drawn the cutlass, but every time I pulled a sharp metal weapon, either I or one of my friends ended up losing blood. Leo hadn't been joking when he'd warned me against using it.

The pirate still had a death grip on my ankle, even though I was kicking as hard as I could at the hand holding onto it with my other foot. I heard a howl and guessed that not cutting my toenails in awhile had paid off. "I'm going to tear you apart," the pirate growled releasing my ankle and standing up. "I dunno what ye be up to, but I'm going to..." He took a swing at me with his fist which I managed to duck more by accident than any plan when I briefly lost my balance while trying to duck. "So ye be thinking you be hornin' in on the fun?" He pulled a dagger and made a wide, lazy swing at my head. I tried to become a turtle, but didn't have the neck for it. Still it was enough that the dagger only grabbed the bandana, pulling it off, and nicked my head. The pirate stopped battling for a moment and stared at me before a malicious grin slowly grew on his face. "Oh ho, another brat to gut."

I realized that in the dim light he must have thought that I'd been another pirate that had had too much rum. I wasn't sure why the removal of the stupid bandana revealed I was a Lost Boy but a tiny part of my mind got a bit irritated that it probably hadn't been necessary to cut off all my hair after all. The pirate, deciding that it was an enemy and not a shipmate he was fighting with, got serious and came at me with the dagger. I swung the wooden sword back and forth as rapidly as I could and it and the dagger managed to collide. The pirate's thrust and my swing were both hard enough that the dagger's blade bit into the side of the wooden blade and got caught. The pirate started tugging at the dagger, trying to get it free, but the sword wouldn't give up its grip on the blade. I may be fat but I'm also strong, so the pirate wasn't having much success moving me or breaking my grip on the handle of the wooden sword. He punched me in the chest with his other hand and I didn't think I'd ever be able to breathe again, but kept my grip on the sword. The pirate started bellowing. I couldn't tell if it was rage at not being able to get his dagger from me or if it was for help. Red must have figured out what was going on, though, because he started yelling again. It was loud enough to compete with the pirate's bellows but was something that those around were used to hearing, so no one came to investigate.

The pirate decided to stop pulling and bellowing at the same time and instead dropped the dagger and rammed forward into me, slamming me against the wall across from the cell. I felt pain all over and lost any stew I'd had left in my stomach. The pirate began pounding me against the wall and I was sure that the next adventure was going to be pretty quick in occurring. I tried to yank myself from the pirate's grip and one of my feet slid in the recycled stew on the deck causing me to lunge forward. My weight carried both of us across the passage and against the cell door. I had my eyes closed and couldn't tell what happened, but the next thing I knew, I heard choking sounds from the pirate who was still grabbing my tunic. None of us moved for what seemed like forever, then the choking sounds grew a bit louder and the hands gripping my tunic released it. I opened my eyes to see the pirate being supported by his neck which had a set of arms wrapped around it coming from between the bars of the cell door. The arms unwrapped themselves from the pirate's neck and he fell bonelessly to the deck.

I stood there staring at Red, through the cell door, who looked more dead than alive, and at the pirate laying on the deck. "Did you kill him?" I whispered. Neither one of them gave an answer. I walked over to where the pirate lay and dragged him away from the door. Moving to the cell door, I tried banging on it. It wasn't impressed. "Where's the key?" I asked Red. He just stood there, swaying on his feet. The red of his fox pelt was stained and it was as ripped and as messed up as mine normally was which meant that things weren't good at all. There were bruises all over his face and his nose was bloody. I asked Red if he knew where the key was in a louder voice, but that just made him cringe and back away from the door. I checked the walls to see if there was a nail or something that it might be hanging on, but didn't see anything. The pirate let out a low groan, but didn't move from where I'd dragged him. A thought rose in my muddled mind and I checked around his neck. Sure enough there was a leather thong tied around it with a key on it. I pulled the thong off his neck and tried to put the key in the keyhole of the cell door.

I was so nervous, I was babbling to myself and it took me a moment to realize that the reason the key wouldn't fit was because I was trying to put it in upside down. "Way to go. It's a wonder you can find your hands at the ends of your arms," I muttered to myself as I slotted the key in the lock, this time in the right direction. I turned the lock and then removed the key and placed it in my pocket. I was pretty sure it might come in useful later. The door screeched as I pulled it open and I held my breath again, waiting for someone to come and demand what was going on. I looked down the passage towards the galley, but didn't see anyone in that direction. The light was still bad enough that half The Jolly Roger's crew could have been hidden beyond the dim light and I wouldn't know, but some things ya just have to take on faith. I entered the cell and looked down at where Red had collapsed on the floor. "Are you okay?" I asked which was probably something that would get me the dumbest question in the world award.

"Cubby? It's you, right? I thought I was dreamin."

"It must've been a nightmare, then. Can you stand up?"

He looked around the cell as if he was seeing it for the first time and then looked up at me. "Yeah, I think so. They wanted to make sure I could walk the plank I guess. Give me a hand." I held out my hand and pulled him carefully to his feet. He sucked in a breath as he made it to his feet and he stood there swaying for a minute before steadying himself. "You got anything to eat?" I started digging through pockets before remembering that I was wearing pirate garb and not my own pelt.

"No, but maybe I could find something," I said doubtfully. The last thing I wanted to do was to try and find something to eat even though I knew where the galley was.

Red gave a weak chuckle. "We should probably skip it for now, Furball." He squinted an eye at me as he looked me over. "Have you gained weight?"

"What?" I demanded as quietly as possible. "I come to rescue you and you ask if I've gotten fatter? What kind of a question is that?"

Red smirked as much as was possible. "I owed you that for the bedbug incident." He stared at me another moment and looked as though he was either crying or laughing. "What happened to your hair?" I knew when he asked, it was laughter he was trying to cover.

"Shouldn't we be trying to get out of here before someone figures out what's going on?" I wasn't in any mood to discuss my lack of hair. I was pretty sure that Leo was going to have to pay for that somehow since it hadn't really had to have been done.

Red's smirk vanished, and for a moment I wished I hadn't brought it up, but he recovered quickly. "Right you are, Cubbs." He took a step, faltered and then took another, stronger one. I breathed a sigh of relief as he made it through the doorway, more steady than not.

"Here, take this," I said as I pulled the cutlass from its scabbard and managed to cut one of my fingers with it as I handed it to him. Red took it and shook his head at my clumsiness, but the half-grin he gave was worth it. "When I came on board everyone was at the front of the ship. We can leave from the stern and be gone before anyone notices."

He nodded. "Is that where the rowboat's at?"

"We ain't got one because Leo figured they'd be expecting that. We're going to fly. I got some pixie dust." I left out that it had taken me a lot more than it was supposed to and that I didn't know if we had enough to get back. Red gave a shrug.

"That'll work. Be lots quieter than trying to drop into a rowboat. I'm not sure I could climb down a rope anyway." He turned and started towards the hatch ladder with me behind. I hadn't made it more than a few steps when something grabbed the arm I was holding the wooden sword with. I'm ashamed to say I let out a yelp as I turned to see what had grabbed me. It was the pirate that was supposed to have been unconscious. I heard Red turn around as I tried to yank my arm away from the pirate. I didn't want him and the pirate tangling and tried yanking harder. That didn't have any effect and I saw the pirate raising his other arm. I didn't know if he had the dagger or anything else in it, but I really didn't want to find out the hard way. I grabbed my held arm with my other and pulled it to my mouth and bit the pirate. Those who don't think I bathe enough should discuss pirates. I was pretty sure he hadn't bathed in a couple of years.

The pirate let go of my arm and let out a roar. I swung the wooden sword at his head and managed to connect. The pirate's eyes rolled back up into his head and he collapsed to the deck once more. He was still breathing, so I didn't think the wound would kill him.

"Good job, Furball. Now let's get the heck out of here." There was nothing I wanted to do more and followed him to the deck above. The mist that had been around when I'd gone below was fading away and it looked as though the horizon was getting lighter.

"We gotta hurry," I said as we approached the stern rail. We both skidded to a stop. From above us there was a yell. "Prisoner at the stern."

"That can't be good," I muttered.

"Maybe they'll think you're a pirate and you're taking me somewhere."

"He's escaping," the pirate from above decided to add.

"Maybe they won't," I said, fumbling through my pockets trying to get the rest of the pixie dust out. I couldn't get the first bag open and ended up ripping it with my teeth. I accidentally swallowed a little of the pixie dust and immediately started burping. "Here," I said, as I flung the dust over him. Behind us the murmur of angry voices was growing. I got the next bag open without resorting to my teeth and flung the contents over him. He sneezed, covering me in spit. "Think of a happy thought," I yelled. The sound of slapping feet were approaching quickly.

"I'm trying. I'm trying. It ain't easy." I was panicked because Red was panicked. I remembered what Stumble had told me.

"Pie fight," I yelled at Red. "Naw, food fight!" There was no reaction. "Food fight!" I yelled again at the top of my voice. I almost laughed out loud at the looks of confusion from the pirates as they slowed to a stop, suspecting some sort of trap. Red's feet rose an inch off the deck and came to a full and complete stop. "Aw, c'mon." The pirates, seeing that I hadn't unleashed some sort of terrible weapon, had started moving forward again but slowly as if suspecting some sort of trap.

Red shook his head, the humor going out of his face. "It ain't no good. You go on, I'll catch up."

"Yeah, that's going to happen after all this," I said to myself. I shredded the last bag and dumped it over Red then took a step forward making sure one paw was right in front of the other causing me to go sprawling on deck. I could see the gold ring around a pirate's toe it was so close.

Behind me Red burst out in renewed laughter. "It's working; it's working. You did it."

"Blueberries, blueberries, blueberries," I yelled. I rose from the deck sluggishly and came close to crying with relief. I felt the whistle of wind as one of the pirates took a swing at where my head had been with his sword. I heard a solid thunk as the sword hit the deck. I was halfway over the rail as I started sinking. I didn't have enough pixie dust to get me flying again. I closed my eyes, waiting to feel a ton of pain when I was suddenly yanked into the air. I opened my eyes and looked up to see Red above me. "Out to sea and then head around so they can't shoot cannon at us," I said as we headed out into the lightening morn.

Red followed my instructions and we quickly left The Jolly Roger behind. I was just above the water and was getting my face slapped about every third wave. I kept thinking my happy thought as hard as I could and suddenly thought of something. "You're holding me up by my pelt tail, aint' you?" I asked.

"It's the only way I can keep us both in the air. I think you really have gotten tubbier."

"Aw, great. I'm never going to hear the end of this. Stumble is going to have a field day when he finds this out." The wind was favorable and we made excellent time as we headed towards the horizon that was just becoming the faintest of light around the edge where sky met sea. As The Jolly Roger disappeared behind us, the wind changed and drifted us around in a huge curve before blowing back towards the Island. The way the wind acted, it would have been impossible for us not to have lost our way this time. Not that the attempt wasn't made, but the breeze was insistent on carrying us in the right direction for which I was extremely thankful. The sea below us became sand and then dirt as we were gently deposited on the Island by the breeze. It sounds corny to put it that way, but it's the only way to describe it. Even stranger was the fact that as Red and I approached the tree line, the rest of the guys popped up. Red let go of my pelt tail and I belly-flopped onto the ground. At least I didn't have to worry about landing this time.

"The trees told us where to find you," Roo answered distractedly when I asked aloud how they'd found us. "He's been beat up pretty bad," he continued after examining Red, "but he shouldn't have any problems."

"Is he going to be okay?" I asked, spitting sand out of my mouth.

"How should I know? Probably, but for all I know a tree could fall on him on our way back or a bunch of bees could sting him to death. If you mean will he be okay from the beatings he got, then yeah. Maybe."

"Maybe? But what if he's not?" I asked, almost pleading. It wasn't something I normally did.

"Forget it, Dragonbait. Even you should know by now you can't ask that question. It'd be helpful if you had something other than sawdust in your head."

I nodded at Stumble in agreement and grinned since the fact he was insulting me meant that everything was okay for now.