I meant to develop the characters more...but got bored. Their development will come from their interactions with our pirates, so I decided pick things up a bit.

What's this? Another chapter? Dang.


Going Under: Chapter 9

Out-Sailing

Squint didn't along with Raz or Shira; his rudeness seemed more exaggerated to the two female members of the crew than that of the others. Perhaps males where just more accustomed to being annoyed and being annoying themselves. So it was no surprise that Raz was not exactly concerned about the possible concussion he'd received when the armadillo had hit him via sneak attack.

She left him rubbing his head where he sat and moved back to the rest of the crew, shaking her head. They hadn't managed to catch up to the gang of wayward luck-grabbing creatures, and their Captain's temper grew thinner by the hour. Raz didn't voice it out loud, but she had a strange notion that the Captain was acting...strange. He was moving around the deck, knuckle-walking slowly and stiffly, his face twisted in an ever-present scowl that could ward off even the most fearless of predators. Gutt was angry, and being a vicious creature down to his rotted heart, he wasn't going to rest until he'd made each member of that group suffer as much as could possibly be caused.

Raz wasn't surprised at that, of course not. But this seemed less like a sport and more like a grudge, and she wondered just what bore that grudge. She never seen any of that lot before in her life, and she had been pirating at Gutt's side for years now. The ice had been melting, and the land breaking apart for what could be a short lifetime. Most teenagers around this time, she reasoned, had probably never known of the time where there was nothing but Ice all around, and the sound of the land splitting wasn't the norm.

Gutt swung from the deck onto the bow of the ship, hanging onto a taught fine to keep himself from falling. Silas fluttered down to his shoulder, and Raz's keen eyes narrowed.

She watched Silas take off, and vanish into the mist. She didn't need to hear their conversation to know what plan Gutt had; keep an eye on the current, see if they planned any other little schemes.

She turned her head, and heard thunder roll in the distance. Her brow furrowed in contemplation. It was a heavy clash, much louder than the previous storm. Then, something else echoed through the ocean's jittery surface. A jolting sound, not sky, not sea. Land. It was breaking apart again, and it was big. Shira raised her chin, hearing it as well, and shared a look with the jill. Gutt paid no attention, apparently no interested in a fresh catch. Raz chewed on her lip idly, watching the ape as he stared ahead, as if willing the ship to go faster.

...

It felt like a lifetime since Clementine heard cheering, heard happiness. They had all remained silent for a full half hour as they drifted out of sight once more from the pirate ship, being pulled by the merciful current into the mists. Then, with the pirates out of sound and sight range, and the nets filled with food sitting quietly around them, the survivors had leaped up in happiness.

Clementine and Maut embraced each other, the bat having thrown herself at the doe's chest with whoops of laughter. Kurues laughed out-loud with them, Glett bobbing his head up and down, giving gentle grunts of merriness as Agreth leaned against the ship's trusty wood-giving tree, smirking faintly with his eyes closed.

Clementine barely had any breath left in her system to begin congratulating him on his insane but effective plan, and even if she had any air in her lungs left, it was held when Maut shoved one of the pears into her mouth.

"I have to hand it to you, Argeth, that went better than expected." Kurues commented from where he sat, his own cheeks filled with apple pieces, "Quite fool-proof."

"I still think it was crazy." Maut said, tossing a berry into the air and snapping her sharp little teeth around it; something that almost made Clementine jump in alarm, "But a good kinda crazy."

"I told you it would work." Argeth said, striding through the little gathering and impaling various pieces of fruit with his dagger, making an effective kebab.

"The buck saw us try to take that last bag...we had to leave it." Clementine sighed, feeling once again the familiar bugle of shame in the pit of her frail stomach. Maut waved her working wing, per usual,

"Ah, it's just one lil' bag. You guys sent loads of others floating out way." She shoved the next berry into her mouth, adding in a muffled comment: "Thank the heavens for them currents, huh?"

"How far do you think we're from land...?" Clementine asked quietly. Her words had, essentially, been a voicing of the thoughts to herself, so she spoke to no one in particular. However, everyone went quiet, and even Glett seemed less verbal than usual. With the fog closed around them and chilling the air, and the endless greyness of the stormy oceans, land had not been in their sights...nor on their minds at all. Almost as if it existed so far away, in another timeline, a timeline they had left after they almost died at the hands of the destruction.

Clementine realized she had brought up a hopeless sounding topic and ducked her head a little, feeling foolish as well as a little less jubilant that her stomach was now full. Finding land seemed impossible to her now, and she realized with growing hopelessness that should they find it again by some miracle of nature (and judging how nature had treated them up till now, she wasn't certain of it..as Argeth said, the land breaking apart was like one giant 'to heck with you' from Mother Earth herself) she wondered just how long it would be before another land break would send them back into the sea, or under the rubble.

Yes, Mother Nature was really going all out here.

"...We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Kurues said placidly, leaning down to munch on the rest of his apple, only to stiffen as Maut added in sarcastically,

"If that ain't already crumbled, too, by the time we get there."

Argeth snorted. It was the closest thing to a laugh Clementine had ever heard from him.

Something reverberated across the land, brief but heavy, echoing and deep. Clementine knew that sound, and though it was do distant, so far, she knew what it was. And it came from the opposite direction they were going in; the current pulling them away.

"Land..." Kurues murmured, quietly.

"Or what used to be land." Argeth corrected lowly, watching the mist, keen brown eyes narrowed to slits. Clementine pulled on her ears gently.

Argeth shrugged, "Hmm, maybe they'll go back looking for fresh meat." Kurues turned his head instantly, giving him a hard look.

"I'm sure you don't mean that, Argeth."

The armadillo turned away slowly. Clementine glanced at Kurues, suddenly feeling the tension between the two rise once more now that the danger of starvation had been vanquished for the time being. Kurues stood up slowly,

"The way you where speaking to that...brute that calls himself Gutt...it was almost as if you knew him." It was a statement, blunt and lined with suspicion. Maut's jaw dropped open and Glett grunted in a perplexed manner. Clementine slowly transferred her gaze to the back of Argeth's head, her hands slowly lowering away from her ears.

"...Do you know him, Argeth?" She uttered quietly, tentatively. The armadillo's posture had not changed, he stared ahead, arms at his side. His large nose and flat head didn't turn to face them; the dagger in his hand glinted softly in the dull cloudy light. Clementine knew he'd saved their lives, more than once, but she knew from his silence that what Kurues guessed was true. And he of course knew about the pirates, that they were out there...

"Were you one of them...?" She found herself whispering, suddenly feeling guilt tear at her soul. But she had to ask, even if he'd saved her life without question. Argeth finally turned his head, glowing at them with those dark, narrow eyes of his.

"...No. I chose not to be. And boy did that make him mad."

Clementine swallowed.

The ship gave a sudden jolt, and they all stumbled. Kurues lifted his head, staring at the water. There was no other waves; an individual wash had hit them, an echo of the land cracking far, far away. He breathed in,

"...The land is collapsing again...it may never stop..."

"So what do we do...?" Maut asked blazingly, peering at the armadillo in particular. Argeth retorted with his unmoving frown.

"We survive as we go along. No plans for the far future; which getting to land currently appears to be judging by the fact its crumbling like ash."

"Ohyeaaah." Maut droned, giving a nonchalant shrug. "So what's the...non-far future plan?"

"Try to out-run the pirates. Or out-sail, whatever you wanna call it." Argeth followed his arms, siffly. Kurues shook his head,

"So this..Gutt has a person vendetta against you?" Apparently he wasn't going to drop this. The armadillo didn't appreciate it, scowling at him with a vengeance.

"Obviously, Prissy Hooves." He said scathingly, "Guess you're sorry you let me on your berg, aren't you?"

Kurues watched him, quietly. Then, to everyone's surprise, the elk slowly shook his elongated head. "No. I don't regret helping you, never will. You saved us." Argeth stared back, arms folded, and for a second Clementine could have sworn she saw that internal frown of his waver and his eyes lighten just by the tiniest gleam.

"...You really are out of the ordinary for an era like this." The armadillo sighed, raising a hand to massage his forehead. Kurues beamed, eyes twinkling in slight humour.

"I'm quite away..."

"I'll deal with Gutt. He's my problem, and I'm the one he should be after...I'll make sure he knows it." Argeth said, turning on his feel and striding off to the front of the glacier, "A storm's coming. We'd better find a way to tie this food down."

"Right...and maybe with luck, the rain water will gather in the hollows..." Kurues said, trotting after him. Clementine watched the two continue their little leader-chatter, wondering if she was the only one whose head was still bombarded with questions. How did he know Gutt? Why? What did he do to start this grudge...?

Kurues seemed to be putting it aside to get work done faster, Maut just looked indignant that she hadn't been informed. Glett, however, cast her an odd look. Almost as if he knew what was troubling her. Clementine bit her lip and he nodded once.

The thunder roared across the sky, and was drawing nearer. Clementine felt the wind begin to pick up, and a dampness coat the air. She stood, rubbing her arms, and prepared herself for the next round of sickening lurches the sea offered in such conditions.

However, as she looked across the waters, something caught her eye. Something brown, not blue-grey, and bobbing up and down. Her mind jumped to a tree, and indeed it was; a tree trunk floating out their way.

There was more; roots, dead plants, and torn bits of earth latched onto pieces of broken ice, all floating along the bumpy sea. The others had gone quiet, looking over, too. The debris of the far away land, already torn away to sea.

"Dang...mother nature does hate us, huh?" Maut remarked, leaning against her leg. Clementine didn't look at her, eyes latched on the log drifting a few meters out. The wind grew stronger and the rain had come, as if following the log and other bits of rubble. Something different than the rubble caught her eye, however, and she looked closer.

Her stomach heaved.

It was something furry. Floating in the water, face down. A body.

And there were more; some on the pieces of ice, others entangled in the torn vegetation that had once been on land. Maut's witty remarks where all but spent and Clementine turned away, feeling her stomach heave. She clamped a paw over her mouth. The others stared out, horrified, unable to look away. Argeth frowned still, staring in silence at the sight. The storm's results lay before them, the ones that hadn't been as lucky as they had. Clementine slowly turned her head, daring to look for reasons she did not know...and saw something else. She saw small forms, not ice or soil, caught onto the log, clinging like moss. She squinted, peering the best her eyes would allow, holding her breath as if moving only a little could knock her gaze out of balance.

Animals. Bigger than her, but smaller than Kurues by far, where clutching onto the log for dear life, wafting in the freezing waters, their fur soaked to the bone. Clementine's jaw fell open.

"Kurues..."

Of course, the elk acted instantly, his legs pounding swiftly to a vine and hooking it into his antlers, ready to buck it over to them when they were close enough. Clementine turned back and rushed to the edge of the ship, calling through cupped hands,

"Hang on!"

"Argeth, grab the end!" The elk called, and the armadillo slowly took hold of the other end of the vine. He looked reluctant, but Clementine didn't ask why. Maut looked a little uncertain about this, too, but Kurues was not hesitant at all.

He tossed the vine out to the creatures clinging to the log. The waters where violently bashing against the ship's sides now, and Clementine almost slipped, giving a small gasp. When he looked back, she realized she could now see just what the animals where.

Her heart twisted. Soft fur and facial features, big wide eyes and trembling bodies. Children. And, as she looked closer, she saw that a small, black-furred ape child had grabbed onto the vine tossed his face, a pair of leaf-green eyes wide yet dim, as if exhausted. His fingers where dug into the bark of the log, strong already even at his age. Beside him a smaller child clung with both hands to the wood, not daring to so much as look up, far more afraid. Clementine's mind jumped to the kangaroo she'd seen back on the pirate ship, and realized that here was a kangaroo child, small and reddish-pink in fur, with little darker patches.

Argeth began pulling on the vine, and Clementine grabbed a hold to help. However, the ape child also began pulling, dragging himself, and the large log he held onto, towards them, huffing. The log hit against the side of their ship, strong and heavy, and the child dragged himself up onto it, his hands shaking with effort. Clementine watched as he pulled himself aboard, landing on his side and gulping down breaths, quivering. She went to his side to see if he had been hurt...but found, miraculously, the little ape hadn't received more than a few bruises.

"Tough kid." Argeth commented plainly. Which was more than could be said for the pink-red kangaroo clinging to the log, too afraid to let go.

Clementine felt a pang of empathy, and knew the feeling all too well. Being so scared that you could not move.

The child, a girl by the sound of her high-pitched squeaks, was hyperventilating with shock. Clementine looked at the ape boy, who continued breathing heavily, awake, but too exhausted to speak.

Kurues walked to the kangaroo girl, still latched onto the log that was now stuck to their ship, impaled on the pointed sides Argeth had created. The elk lowered his head, so his antler was in her reach. She didn't move.

"Clementine, I can't get her to budge!"

Clementine blinked, "Uh..."

"You the cute n' cuddly one, be...nice or somethin'." Maut elaborated, gesturing with her working wing. Clementine stood and stumbled to the side of the ship, kneeling down, feeling lost on what to say or do. She swallowed.

"L-look...I was scared when I washed from shore, too...but y-you need to let us help you. " The girl didn't move, but her eyes where open now, watery blue balls looking up at her in fear.

Clementine reached out a paw, just managing to pet the small tough of fur on her head. "You can manage it. You survived till now, didn't you...? Just let go..."

It was hard, and she tried not to feel angry at Argeth's irritated glare. She knew what this was like, she'd lived through it...not when she'd been thrown from sure, but before it. She knew.

Slowly, the joey raised her head, soft fur fluttering in the wind. Kurues remained where he was, and the child stared at his broken antler with a shudder.

"It's okay...he helped me. He'll pull you aboard with your friend..." Clementine said, keeping her voice steady and gentle, though the wind whipping at her soaked body almost made her teeth chatter. Finally, the girl reached out an gripped the antler. Kurues hook her from the side of the log and on board. As soon as she was placed down, she gripped his leg, trembling.

Kurues blinked, but allowed her to curl there, breathing out slowly. Clementine felt relief as well, but also unease. She didn't quite know why. Maybe it was because the two children had been saved by a bunch that pirates had set their teeth on.

Argeth regarded the log that was stuck to the side of their ship.

"...Well...I think we have some material to work with..." He paid no attention to the two young mammals, who where now both curled close to Kurues's leg. The ape boy's heavy breathing had subsided, and he eyed the armadillo with keen green eyes.

Argeth sneered back, "What're you looking at, kid...?"

A cocky, toothy grin slid onto the young ape's face.

"...Nothing much."


Cocoum is back. And he's ready to annoy.