The Throne of Flame: Chapter Two
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
For a long frame of time, there was only darkness and silence. He was within an endless void, but maybe only darkness within his line of vision. He couldn't tell, because he couldn't move. It didn't matter. Julien was satisfied with this, that was, until voices began to permeate his relaxation, in addition to an obnoxious and very constant dripping of what must have been water, echoing through a cave. Hadn't anyone heard of leaving a dead man to rest in peace? The nerve of others.
His eyes opened, slowly and against his own volition, and he realized that he was not dead. Above him was damp rock, the ceiling of the very cave that water was dripping in. No, he was still very much alive. He could hear his heart beat within his ears; maybe his body refused to let him die in such a low quality area. He was a king, after all. What kind of king dies in a dank rock hole? A wince came at the thought of his royalty.
His head felt stuffy, full of cotton, and his throat ached more than it had the night he'd sung for hours at the top of his lungs. Granted, this time, it wasn't his fault that he was in pain. He swallowed, but there was no relief for him. Pushing that aside, he focused on where he was. The voices became clearer as he settled his mind, and he turned onto his side (realizing belatedly that he'd been laying down) to face the conversationalists. It was none other than Skipper and Marlene. Right… That would explain the cave. He must have been in her habitat.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
"I'm just so freaked right now," murmured the otter, and her paws trembled as she took hold of her teacup, bringing it to her lips with blatant anxiety.
"Stay frosty, Marlene." Skipper demanded, very much so still. He too had a cup of tea, but it looked as though he'd yet to touch it. "Once he wakes up, we'll be that much closer to knowing what's going on."
Deciding that he himself wanted to know what was going on, Julien attempted to speak up. He found out, after a hoarse attempt at words, that this was impossible. His throat was dry and in far too much pain to speak, sounding much more like a pathetic excuse for wheezing. He cleared it again, loud enough that their eyes turned to him. Upon realizing that Julien was awake, Skipper was at his side in an instant, offering him a water cup. Julien took it with gratitude, making subtle eye contact as he took a sip of the cold, clear liquid.
His throat felt much clearer after that, but he made sure to speak quietly so as not to agitate it again. "...Wh… What happened?"
Skipper's harsh glare softened slightly when he realized he was talking to the victim of this situation. "That's what I want to know."
"I heard screaming, so I got Skipper and the guys, and…" Marlene cut in, voice trailing off, and she shrunk further into her seat at the memory of what she'd seen.
Skipper continued in her place. "When we got there, whoever was trying to suffocate you was already on the run. I had Kowalski and Rico pursue the attacker, but they came back empty flippered."
The lemur seemed to think over this for a moment as he took another gulp of the fresh, clean water. Skipper stared at him patiently, eyes nearly sympathetic. He too had been strangled in the past, and it certainly was no party. Especially for someone as unsuspecting as Julien.
"I can't believe I'm alive. I thought for sure that I was really going to die that time." Julien admit honestly, before his voice became appalled at the thought of his attacker. "You don't know anything about who it was?"
Skipper looked away remorsefully. It was his job to detect these sorts of things, to always have a keen eye. "Couldn't tell. I'm guessing you couldn't, either."
Julien shook his head, and then his grimace deepened as he curled up further into a ball. "Where were Maurice and Mort…?"
"My men have taken them in for questioning." Skipper responded, his eyes now trained on the entrance of the cave, an ode to the fact that he'd been waiting for their return for awhile by that point in time. "I also want answers. They didn't exactly jump in to help, and I want to know why."
Julien sighed, almost dramatically, before he took another sip of his water. "At least no serious harm has come to the king. I have a country to rule over, you know."
Skipper glanced at him, expression bordering on facetious as he was reminded of who exactly he'd been talking to. "...Which you've totally been doing."
The lemur smiled at him, and Skipper immediately got the sense that there was far more to the situation than he knew. As though there was a truth behind his sarcasm that he wasn't aware of. Julien was a loud-mouth, though; he told everyone everything. The idea of him maneuvering to rule his country in secrecy was laughable at best.
But it was an inappropriate time to dwell on Julien's personality, when there was a hostile on the loose. Narrowing his eyes, he stepped closer. Skipper had to be fully aware of what he was dealing with. He reached out to touch Julien's neck, and felt mild surprise bubble up within him when Julien didn't lean away from the touch. Julien instead continued to drink away, as though this was perfectly natural and he hadn't almost been strangled earlier that night. He didn't even so much as look in Skipper's direction at first, and distantly Skipper wondered if perhaps Julien was experiencing shock.
But no, he was far too relaxed to have been experiencing shock. In fact, almost too at ease to have almost been murdered not long ago. It was as though Julien had experienced this before, or at least, didn't realize the gravity of the situation. Skipper placed his bets on the latter. Julien was a simple mammal, there was no way he had any involvement with death in the past.
Skipper examined the very serious marks, visible even beneath Julien's fur. He winced at how much that must've hurt, and felt partial guilt for not having come earlier. Not that he would've heard Julien's muffled shouts of panic; his base was soundproofed after many nights of loud music. Julien was lucky Marlene had been awake.
Skipper's eyes hardened as his flipper stroked over the reddening skin in deep contemplation. Julien lifted a paw and touched his wing gently, bringing it to a halt. Julien was eying him from behind the cup, and he set it down. There was something awfully pensive about his stare that set Skipper on edge, in addition to it's faultless grace. He often forgot how elegant Julien could be, and when his refined behavior surfaced without warning, it absorbed all those in his presence.
When nothing was said, Skipper realized that Julien was silently prompting him to speak his mind. Skipper's beak drooped in discomfort, and he grunted, feeling momentarily foolish for his silence.
"I'm not so sure you're completely safe. It looks like they meant business." Skipper commented, voice ominous as his eyes were trained on the bruises once more.
Julien stared at him, almost blankly, before he blinked out of his stupor and fear flooded his visage. "What are you saying? That they'll try to kill me again?"
His voice was so dramatic that Skipper couldn't tell if he was being serious or not, but he still nodded, and mentally made a note that Julien was simply a theatrical being. Of course he took his own near-death-experience seriously. "Most likely."
"Please, penguin Skipper, then! You must protect your king!" Julien near begged, and this time Skipper was almost sure that he was purposefully exaggerating his scared tone.
He rose a brow at this, before he turned to Marlene. She was gazing at them in mild confusion, apparently also capable of detecting what seemed like it must've been a performance on Julien's behalf. She shrugged at Skipper, teacup still in paw. He looked back to Julien, and then thought over what the mammal was asking of him.
He would have to keep a close eye on Julien, be around him almost 24/7 to make sure that he was safe. Even if whatever this was would probably blow over within the next 48 hours, it was still a lot of time to be around the king. Skipper wasn't honestly sure that he was willing to do that. Julien was annoying on his best days, the thought of being in his presence perpetually sent a dissuaded shiver through his feathers. The constant dancing, the broken English, the obnoxious self-entitled behavior. Skipper didn't particularly want to deal with that.
But then he looked back to Julien and saw the pleading in his large, auburn eyes, burnt sun and glazed over with what might have been the start of tears. Skipper thought of all the times Julien had relied on Maurice for his wellbeing, and this time, Maurice hadn't been able to help him - not when the ringtail had most needed it. Skipper had been fine before Julien had pranced and shimmied his way into his life, and then there was this bizarre explosion of color that Skipper had trouble discerning whether or not he enjoyed.
Julien was definitely different, there was that. Skipper had lost a lot of good soldiers throughout his life, had seen innocent civilians gunned down by the harshness of the world. He had steeled himself over to the idea of losing those close to him, had made himself cold and ready to allow the death of others if need be. And yet, something about the idea of Julien dying didn't sit well with him. It caused a sense of dread to well up within him, which he realized with grim fascination must've meant that he felt at least something that resembled care for the lemur king.
Skipper was reluctant to agree with the notion of becoming Julien's personal bodyguard. Though his internal conflict only lasted a matter of seconds, it had been full of thought. In the end, it was Julien who decided for him, even if unintentionally.
Julien leaned forth, his shimmering exotic pupils seeming to dilate further. His tail swept up forth and he hugged it against his torso, taking on the appearance of helpless and adorable. Skipper sighed as his resistance towards the idea subsided, and he realized that it never really was a choice to begin with.
"Fine," he muttered, mirthless as he rolled his eyes. "I'll make sure nothing happens to you."
"Promise?" Julien whispered, and even his voice sounded impotent.
Skipper cringed, but he nodded. "Yeah. I promise."
The undercurrent of piteous forgery was swept away instantaneously, as Julien transitioned within less than a second back to his expression of normality. He grinned, almost sinister if not for the sheer fact that it was coated in faint timidity, and he leaned forward to embrace Skipper.
"Oh, yes! You are being the bestest! Thank you, Skipper." He exclaimed, a bit too close to Skipper for his liking.
Skipper peeled himself away from the hug with a grunt. "Yeah, all right. You uh.. Get back to resting, then."
Marlene piped up this time, seemingly now unfrozen by the bizarre display as she chuckled beneath her breath, eased by the jocular atmosphere. "We'll wake you when the others get back."
Julien smiled as though he'd won something and nodded. He took one last sip of water before he curled back up onto Marlene's bed. Skipper resisted the urge to cover him in a blanket, and instead waddled back to the table where Marlene was seated. She sent him a soft giggle.
"He always knows how to surprise us, doesn't he?" She murmured, attempting not to alert the lemur now that he was resting once more.
Skipper rubbed a flipper over his forehead with a lengthy sigh. "You could say that. I'm just wondering exactly what I've gotten myself into."
Marlene turned solicitous at that, and she nodded. "Hopefully nothing too crazy."
He glanced back over to Julien. "Yeah, hopefully."
Neither of them had any idea of just how momentous his decision was, or what was to come from it.
