"Hoe there my stud," Angel said to her stallion. "let me clean you before I toss the saddle up."
The near white horse had other plans, since they were by the pond it was rather wet around so he dug his front left hoof into the ground and then pulled it up, spraying himself with wet grass and mud. Angel jumped a little to the side then rolled her eyes, she knelt over and cleaned the now muddy stomach of her horse then went back to his back. Bringing the cloth over him slowly, still revelling at the muscle on the stallion that she had retired from racing years ago to stud then had made a comeback with him, she smiled wide. The horse was seven years old, a young stud, and was a prime champion. His black hooves shone brightly, as did his glistening white mane and tail, his body shined so brightly it almost hurt her eyes. Placing her hand on his light gray muzzle, she brought him to her and gave him a small kiss, the horse tossed his head up as if saying 'woman'.
"Will ya hold still!" Angel said to her horse. "Can't put the saddle on with you fidgeting around."
She had rode on the back of the horse in front of her's sire, she couldn't believe how much difference each horse had. While Phantom had been born all gray, the shade of gray of his father, he had lightened up to near white, and he was not as thin as his famous sire. Don Quixotol had been a light weight horse, he had never had a skinny day in his life and ate well but he sure was thin enough to worry everyone that saw him. Every time he had stepped on the track he had stopped and stood, proud, showing off that pure Arabian blood in him, throwing that head and tail up high and perking them ears. He had been and still was an impressive horse, not only in speed but in color. A slate gray in color with pinto markings and a very light mane and tail, his hooves, which were big and looked funny on him, were all black. Angel remembered well when she had paired him with the white Appaloosa markinged mare Luchadora, who was also a very uniquely marked, pure Arabian, horse. Phantom had been her first and her only foal, whenever she had tried breeding Luchadora to Don Quixotol it would result in no foals coming to term. Currently, at age thirteen, Luchadora was pregnant with her fifth Don Quixotol foal, she was only nine months a long, Angel hoped that this time she carried to term and delivered a healthy foal, all of her other foals had disappeared after the fifth month of gestation.
Throwing the black western saddle on Phantom's back, she quickly tightened the cinch then went and put on the bridle, Phantom wasn't a hard horse to tack up but when it came to the saddle he did like to act up some. He accepted the bit quickly then pawed at the ground, Angel shook her head then jumped up into the saddle, she hadn't even sat down on the seat when she turned her horse around and headed into the Gungan camp, where she had been asked to go see Boss Nass and the Captain.
"Head straight and ride slow my fine stallion," she said to her horse. "lets show them excellence in the Arabian breed!"
Things in camp had been going slow, a few hinges but nothing serious, they had been visited a lot by curious Gungans and a few of those visits had brought a few hostile adult Gungans, she had a few bruises on her from where the adults had pushed her down or punched her to show dominance. She hadn't acted hostile back but had just allowed it to happen, there was no other way other fight the murderous hunters that were hunting the Gungans to gain the Gungans trust. Giving her horse a little kick, she trotted into the Gungans camp, when she was no more than fifty feet in their camp she was forced to come to a stop.
"Looks like a Guarlara," a female Gungan said, she was looking Phantom over. "only it's white instead of black."
"And the hooves," Angel thought to herself. "Guarlara's have bigger hooves and have horns while a horse has smaller hooves and no horns."
"What is this creature?" the Gungan asked.
"Phantom." Angel replied.
"He looks like a Ghost." the Gungan said.
She like speaking about her horses, and would have liked to stay and speak a little more to the Gungan who was now running her hands through her stallions thick white mane, but the Captain was gesturing for her to hurry up so she said goodbye to the Gungan and rode her horse forward. She didn't have to bring Phantom with her, the Gungan camp could have been reached on foot, but she had figured it best to bring her horse with and that maybe by seeing him the Captain and Boss Nass would be a little less hostile.
"You called for me your honor," she said to the stout Gungan that was turned away from her.
Boss Nass stood up straight and turned to her, when he saw Phantom he just lowered and then raised his eyes, he did nothing more. Dismounting, Angel ground tethered her horse then patted him on the shoulder. The Captain was standing with his hand on the reins of his Kaadu, he still did not look like he had gotten any sleep.
"Yes," the boss said. "I'd like to speak to you about them men in your camp. How active are they?"
"Active?" Angel repeated, not fully understanding the question. "What do you mean sir?"
"How sexually active are they," the boss said, he was slightly annoyed. "if you haven't noticed there are young ones running around including my own."
"Not a single one is sexually active." Angel said, in her mind she grew a bit worried about Peter as he could be a little perverted at times.
"Good," the Gungan sniffed. "cause I don't need to be hearing from my children or my nieces and nephews about anything from you humans did in your camp."
"With due respect sir," Angel said, she was picking her words carefully. "we are happy to be in our camp but would it be too much to ask for the young ones to give us some privacy in the night hours?"
Boss Nass looked at her oddly, once again he brought his hand up and stroked his chin, Angel felt a slight shiver run down her back. Her horse pawed the ground then started to throw his head up, before she could stop him he pulled hard to the right and started to sniff the Kaadu that the Captain had the reins to. The Captain tugged his Kaadu hard, pulling it away from her horse, he gave her a dirty look then tied his mount to a downed tree.
"The animal," the Captain started. "is male correct?"
"Yes." Angel answered, she looked at the Gungan strangely.
"Is he fixed?" the Captain asked.
"No," Angel replied quickly. "he is intact."
"Either have him castrated or control him," the Gungan spat. "I don't need any Kaadu offspring sired by that animal nor want to have to impound him."
"I'll control him sir." Angel said, she grabbed the reins of her horse.
The female Gungan that had pushed Laylie away from them and their camp yesterday walked up, she gave Angel a disgusted look then handed both men a glass of yellow drink, from the smell of the drink Angel figured it was some sort of Lemonade, it sure had a sweet, fruity smell to it. The Captain glanced her way then gulped his down slowly, his movements were entirely exhausted.
"You seem right tired mister," Angel said to the Gungan. "haven't had much sleep lately?"
"No I have not," the Gungan said to her. "thanks to you and your group I will be getting less now."
"Me and my group you won't have to worry about," Angel spoke sharply. "I'd suggest you try to get some sleep tonight so you..."
"You suggest... let me suggest you something human!" the Captain said sternly. "Keep your group away from this camp, do not interact with us and stay out of my way. If you what's good for you you will."
Angel pulled back some with shock, the Captain looked at her with such savagery that she felt fear. Captain Tarpals snatched his reins up, mounted his Kaadu quickly and rode off leaving her with Boss Nass and the female that had brought the drinks.
"I agree with the Captain and that was what I was wanting you to come here for," the Gungan said. "all it will take is one mistake... for one of you to slip up and I'll have you all kicked out of your camp as fast as you can say Slaatik hagworm, understand me?"
"Yessir," Angel replied. "I understand you fully."
"Good," the Gungan said to her, he turned around slightly and handed to glass to the female Gungan slightly behind him. "thank you Kutsi, it was very good."
Mounting her horse in a single leap, Angel turned and headed straight for her camp, she kicked her horse once very gently and he trotted then when she gave him another gentle kick he cantered. She rode into her camp, dismounted and tied her horse up next to Scout then headed straight for Peter and Steven's tent, she figured that if anyone was going to start trouble it would surely be Peter, he was humorous at times but could act a little perverted and immature. Throwing the tent flap back, she entered the tent, the first thing she saw was Steven sitting on his bed reading one of his music magazines.
"Where's Peter?" she asked.
"Out," Steven said, not looking up from the magazine. "think he went to the pond."
"Did he follow Pam?" Angel asked.
"No," Steven replied. "Pam is in her tent napping."
Exiting the tent quickly, she headed to the pond quickly, she wanted to speak to Peter now. Walking briskly past Pam and Beth's tent, nodded her head at Jonathan who was cleaning one of the three guns they had and then started to run slowly. When she was at the pond she looked around, Peter wasn't anywhere around so she started calling. After the second time calling his name she saw him stand up, he was pulling his pants up. Walking up slowly, allowing the man to finish redressing himself, she sighed heavily.
"Hey Peter." she said.
"Hello beautiful." Peter said.
"As you know we're fine with your humor and we're somewhat accustomed to your perverted ways," Angel said, she was looking right at the man, right in his eyes. "keep your perverted ways to a down low for a while."
"Something wrong?" Peter asked, he pushed his hair our of his eyes. "You seem concerned about something."
"I've just been told that all it'll take for them to throw us out of our camp is for one of us to louse up. So please keep you libido down for a while." Angel said.
"Them? Who them?" Peter asked, he looked a bit offended.
"The Gungans." Angel replied.
"I'll keep my ways down in front of them," Peter said, he stared at Angel, looked right into her eyes and didn't look away. "but when it's just us I will be open."
"That'll be fine." Angel said. "As you know I don't want any trouble, it seems that they are looking for some at every twist and turn."
"Really... honestly... "Peter whispered, he slid forward a little. "I don't like them, but I'll be respectful to you and obey your order boss."
"Thank you Peter." Angel said. "It's going to be..."
Before she could finish a shot was fired, at first she thought it was from Jonathan who was cleaning the gun in the camp but then she saw five men rush out at them. She took one look then pushed Peter to the ground, when the men got closer she put her hand to her belt and took out a knife, she stabbed one in the gut then let the knife go when he fell to the ground, when another man came forward she grabbed the spool that was on her belt and with a quick yank pulled a thick wire from around it and severed the man's head from his neck. A third man had stayed back, he stood by the pond and looked at them coldly, turning around on his heels he headed off in the direction he came from.
"Redhead!" the man shouted at them. "Heed this warning! Leave your camp and the island if you know what's good for you. We will attack you if you remain where you are."
Angel wasn't paying attention to what the man had yelled, Peter had heard it well but she hadn't. Angel had raced into the camp and had jumped one of the men that had started slashing at a tent. When she had flattened him to the ground she started slamming her fists against him, he shook off her blows then kicked her off, before he could get up Jonathan lowered his gun and placed a bullet into the middle of his head. The other man had entered Sue, Wendy and Laura's tent, when he exited he had one of the girls, the other two were screaming from inside in pain. Angel got up and with a high kick, flattened the man to his back, when he touched the ground she grabbed her knife and with a flick threw it into his face. He screamed out in pain for one second before flopping over to his side. He died in that position.
"Like I said things are going to start getting serious." Angel said to herself.
"Angel... Ang..." Steven shouted, he rushed from his tent with a rifle in hand. Once Angel saw the gun she grabbed it from him and tapped it against his leg, tripping him up.
"It's Abigail Nigro!" Angel spat.
Angel felt right bad about tripping Steven up and calling him by his last name, after a few minutes of getting herself under control she bent down and wrapping her hand around his arm helped him up to his feet. She handed him the gun then opened the flaps of Sue, Wendy and Laura's tent, she met with a horrible sight when she entered the tent. Sue had been carried off, when Angel had kicked him down he had dropped her, she had run off someplace. Laura and Wendy, both were bleeding, Wendy looked like she had had a gun slammed into her head, she was lying on the bed on her side, there was a large cut to her forehead, and Laura's arm was cut open.
"Get these two to the medical tent pronto!" Angel ordered. "Steven!"
"Yes ma'am..." Steven said, he was standing by her arm.
"Come with me," Angel said. "we must find Sue!"
The attack on their camp had not gone unnoticed by the Gungans, when the shots had gone off all of the Gungans that were near their camp had fled, screaming, further into their camp and soldiers, both on foot and on Kaadu, had rushed forward, many had had poles with them while others had blue spheres. The Captain had galloped his Kaadu forward, he had had a pole in one of his hands, he was now standing twenty feet from their camp. Angel ran to Phantom and with a flying leap got on his back, turning him around quickly she headed away from their camp, Steven ran up to Scout and just put a bridle on him, he pulled himself up onto the horses back then headed in the direction Angel had gone, she was currently yelling out Sue's name.
"Sue!" he called out, he threw his head from side to side. "Sue where are you?"
Scout stopped dead in his tracks and would not budge so Steven dismounted, awkwardly, then looked around. He took three steps then felt a hand wrap around his ankle. With a yell he turned around and pointed his gun down. Laying in a fetal position in a bush next to him was Sue and she looked terrified.
"Abi she's here!" Steven yelled to his leader.
Kneeling down beside the scared girl, Steven gently placed his hand on her shoulder, she looked up at him then lowered her head and started crying. Placing his gun down, he wrapped his arms around the girl and picked her up, she had a cut to her leg but was unharmed. Sue buried her head in his shirt and started sobbing heavily. Turning around, Steven grabbed the reins of his horse and walked to their camp, Angel rode up next to him, she said nothing for a few seconds.
"She okay?" Angel asked.
"Yeah," Steven said lightly. "just real scared."
"Lets get her in the youngsters tent," Angel sighed. "she needs rest."
Sue getting rest was far from what she got, a few hours later she, along with Wendy and Laura, all got very bad fevers and couldn't eat ot drink, every time they tried to keep something down they would throw it up. All three girls were in their tent, Angel had requested that they be moved to their tent because it was cooler than the medical tent. She was sitting next to Sue, the youngest, and had not left their tent in near two hours.
"First we're attacked," Peter sighed, he fought the anger he felt inside. "now the young ones fall ill. What else can go wrong!"
"Now that you've said that," Steven replied, irritated. "a lot will happen. It always does after you say that sentence."
Suppertime was not a pleasant one, Peter almost had to force himself to eat, it wasn't out of illness but out of worry. He was real worried about the young girls, all of them had refused to eat and Sue's fever had grown to her also having shivering fits. Andrea was extremely busy going between the three girls, keeping them warm and hydrated, she had put IV's in their arms and that was all that was keeping them hydrated. Angel was doing all she could to help, she had been going to the pond to fill up their water bottles with cool water for the girls, so far Peter had heard that of the three girls Sue was the one that they were really concerned about. Peter had heard that she was shivering violently, was refusing all food and water and could not sleep. Looking up from his almost finished plate when he heard someone lifting the flap of his and Steven's tent, he saw that Steven was walking in, his overshirt was half buttoned and his pants legs were rolled up, in his hand were his shoes.
"The hell did you do?" Peter asked.
"A little bit of pond fishing." Steven replied.
"Catch anything?" Peter asked.
"Yes this odd looking fish," Steven said.
Steven held up a small green fish that Peter had never seen before, most of the fish was a Fern green in color, under its body was a big bubble, from the mouth back to the tail fin, which did not look anything like a tail fin but he figured that was the best word he could come up for it, the eyes of the fish was red. The fish wasn't very big, maybe under twelve inches.
"You eating that?" Peter asked, he almost gagged on the question.
"No I think Andrea would tear me a new bunghole if I did." Steven replied.
"What's that on your pants?" Peter asked, he leaned his body over slightly.
Steven turned his body around, when he caught view of what was dangling from the seat of his pants he jumped up. Dropping the fish he had caught, he wrapped his hands around the animal and with a big tug pulled it off of him. When he turned around he threw it on the ground, it bounced twice then landed in front of Peter's feet. Peter placed his plate off to the side then reached down, he poked the fish once, when it didn't move he picked it up. The fish had a tall, narrow body that was redish orange in color, when he ran his hand down the side he felt it was well armored, it had a large tail fin that was orange and white.
"Looks like you found a new girlfriend pal," Peter half joked. "an ugly one at that."
"What's that in it's mouth?" Steven asked, he was bent over picking up his fish.
Peter turned the fish around and looked at it more closely, the eyes were black, pure black, he couldn't detect a pupil, the mouth looked similar to a Piranha, it had small, sharp looking teeth in a small round mouth.
"Looks like something from a horror movie." Peter said, almost to himself.
"Yeah it does," Steven said. "why don't you hang onto it for a while."
"Thanks but no thanks," Peter said, he threw the fish at Steven who dodged it. "I like my women without sharp teeth thank you."
Steven walked over to the fish and picked it up, he placed it on the stick that he had brought with him then exited the tent, he headed for the medical tent as he saw that someone was in there and he hoped it was Andrea. Walking faster, he reached the tent when the flaps opened, Andrea walked right into him.
"Woops sorry Steven," Andrea apologized. "didn't mean to walk into you."
"No problem," Steven said. "how are the girls?"
"Wendy and Laura are stablizing, Sue though is not." Andrea replied. "I'm real worried."
"Think one of these might help her?"
When Steven held up the fish Andrea's eyes widened, she grabbed his arm and led him to her tent then pulled him inside, when they were in her tent she took the fish from him and placed them on her short desk, which was really a small chair table.
"I'll look at them when I'm done fixing up Sue and the girls," she said. "most interesting fish there, especially the orange one."
"That one seems to have teeth like a Piranha," Steven said to his friend. "it was dangling on my pants and I didn't know anything about it."
"Anything missing on you?" Andrea asked, a hint of a laugh in her voice.
"Nope, everything intact." Steven replied, he gave her a slight smile.
Andrea nodded her head then exited her tent, Steven took one look at the fish that she had put on her desk then followed. He wondered if the Gungans would help the young ones in their group, surely they wouldn't be too hostile towards the younger members. Heading for then entering his tent, he nodded at Peter then pulled the curtain that separated his side of the tent from Peter's. He too off his wet clothes then put on fresh, dry ones. When he took the curtain down Peter had finished what was on his plate.
"What's the occassion?," Peter asked. "what's with the professional gear?"
"I'm headed to the Gungan camp," Steven replied. "I'm going to see if they'll give us some sort of medicine for Sue, Wendy and Laura are getting better but Sue is not."
"I'd better go with you," Peter said, he stood up quickly. "just in case something happens and you need an extra hand."
When they walked into the Gungan camp the children in the camp looked at them curiously before being herded off by worried adults. They hadn't taken ten steps in the camp before a Gungan with a pole ran at them, yelling. Steven stood motionless, Peter though did not. He took one step forward and, to Steven's surprise, the Gungan lowered the pole and jabbed him with it, when he did the pole's tip glowed blue, Peter jumped back with shock.
"What the hell!" he exclaimed. "Those damn poles are electrified!"
"Dat is right!" the Gungan yelled at him. "Yousa both go back to yousa camp now!" Hearing the sound of an animal trotting at them, Steven and Peter looked to the side, coming at them was the Captain. He looked none to happy to see them.
"Why are you here?" the Captain demanded.
"We're wondering if you could help us," Steven spoke slowly. "the young ones in our camp are ill, one right badly. Would you be so kind as to help us get them back up to health?"
The Captain was silent for a few minutes then he signaled to the Gungan with the pole, the Gungan that was holding the pole pointed it at them and with a sharp jab, struck both of them. Peter pulled back in pain, Steven shook his off. The pole was silver in color with a dull gold spiral that went all the front around the weapon, the top was triangular and came to a sharp point. When the Gungan pointed the pole at them again Steven walked forward and grabbed it in his hands, he yanked it away from the Gungan then threw it away to the side.
"All you had to say was no," Steven said to the two Gungans. "you didn't have to get violent with us."
Turning around, Steven gave the Captain a glance then headed back to his camp, when he got back he saw that Angel had left the tent, she was walking towards him and Peter, who was holding the area where the Gungan had zapped him twice.
"What happened to him?" Angel asked.
"Zapped by a friggin' electronic pole." Peter growled in pain.
"We went to the Gungan camp..." Steven started to say.
"You did what!" Angel exclaimed, she rushed at Steven and looked him straight in the eye. "Why did you go to their camp? We are not allowed to enter their camp unless invited!"
"We went to see if they could give us some medicine for Sue since she so sick." Steven replied.
"You idiot!" Angel yelled at him. "We have medicine to cure her, you didn't have to go bother them people for something that we already have."
Steven took a step back, hurt, he didn't want to admit it but besides the fact that he was a big fan of Angel's racing he also had a slight crush on her. Peter took a step to the side then stopped, his hand was still on the area he had been zapped. He, too, looked shocked at Angel calling Steven an idiot.
"I'm sorry Ang... I mean Abi," Steven apologized, a hint of hurt was detected in his voice. "I was just so worried about Sue that I wasn't thinking... I'll start from now on."
Steven walked off, his shoulders slumped forward and he seemed to have a defeated look to him. Peter looked at Angel and saw that she still had a hard face on. Sighing, he moved off, following Steven. Before he could get fivee feet he felt a hand wrap around the arm that had been zapped, he didn't move away, he felt someone press their body up against his back.
"Quit acting afraid of them and quit acting like your in pain," Angel said in his ear. "he didn't use that much electricity on you."
"It did and does hurt..." Peter started to say then stopped. He sighed heavily then changed his sentence. "yes ma'am, I'll stop making a scene."
"Head back to your tent and stay there." Angel ordered. "If we go to the Gungan camp it's by my orders or by invite hear me?"
"Yes ma'am." Peter said, he looked down at the ground.
*****11****