Chapter 10

Skipper leaned in closer to the others, "Stay quiet, nobody-"

"HELP! SKIPPA, WE'RE CAPTURED!" Private's scream echoed through the forest.

"Private!" Rico gasped loudly, he regurgitated a crowbar and threatened the hidden animals.

Kowalski hissed at him to be quiet, but it was too late. Sharpened wooden spears shot at them. A pair of hands grabbed Kowalski and he disappeared. A vine shot out and tied Rico's beak and he was dragged away by different pair of hands.

"Stop!" Julien said, trying to preserve dignity. An arrow shot through his crown; he shrieked and hid behind Skipper.

"Alright spear-holding ringtails, we don't want any trouble." Skipper tried to reason, he was answered by a sharp rock narrowly missing his head. "Forget reason, I'm about to show you why they call me the king of brute force."

There was a whisper among the trees. Julien squealed as a pair of strong hands grabbed him. Skipper stood in fighting stance.

"No need." A tough looking gray lemur said, "We'll take you to our leader, then you will face charges. Stand down, tough guy." He added to the poised Skipper.

Rather reluctantly, Skipper followed the lemur while managing to keep an eye on Julien. "Charges? What have we done wrong?" Skipper demanded.

"What do you think penguin?" Julien said somberly, "Ow!" He was kicked by his captor.

"Silence, prisoner." The captor said forcefully.

Skipper winced at the sound of Julien's whimper. I've got to get us out of here.

They were brought to the beach, the wreckage of the plane was gone, but a faint layer of smoke and the smell of burnt metal lingered. Kowalski, Private, Rico, and Mort were being held by more tough looking lemurs.

A brown female lemur was sitting on a large pile of rocks as if it were a throne.

Skipper looked around, then faced her, "There are seven of you." he stated.

She smiled and stood up, "Release those four." She commanded.

Kowalski, Rico and Private zipped to Skipper as soon as they were released. Mort ran to the feet. "FEEET!"

"OFF THE ROYAL-OW!" the lemur behind Julien twisted his arms further. "Please to be letting go." He groaned

"I don't think so." The chief lemur said, snarling at Julien. King Julien cowered and stared at the ground sadly.

"You're the last female left." Kowalski stated, looking around "What happened to this tribe?"

"I am Sasha, Queen of the lemurs." She said, "And this fool," she pointed at Julien, "has all my ex-followers."

Julien's head shot up, "Yeah, dey abandoned you because you're no fun and a bunch of cold-blooded murderers!" he shouted; he was kicked again.

The penguins looked alarmed. "What's going on?" Private squeaked, trembling.

"You had no right to be king!" Sasha shouted, ignoring the penguin.

"You tried to have me killed! And you killed a child's parents, forcing him to grow up with a mental foot obsession!" Julien yelled before being kicked yet again. "Would you tell him to STOP KICKING ME?" the lemur king howled.

"Foot obsession?" Kowalski wondered, "Could that possibly be-"

The penguins looked at Mort who was digging into his belly button with a finger. "Sometimes my tummy has presents!" he squealed happily.

Skipper shook his head, "What's going on? Why did you kill someone for a crown?"

"She's crazy!" Julien said.

"You were too stubborn to listen to reason!" Sasha hissed to Julien.

"Reason? I was twelve!" Julien argued back

"Exactly, which made you unfit for the position. Also, you have lost members of your tribe to the fossa because you had dance parties instead of security training."

"I made it fun!"

Skipper stepped forward, "Okay, that's enough. We simply came to look for someone. We'll gladly take Ringtail and tiny lemur out of your fur and look for my sister."

"I might be persuaded to let you go, but HE" she glared at Julien, "Is going to be punished for entering our side of the island."

Julien was pushed to the sand at her feet. He was on all fours, his face covered with sand, "I suppose that's fair and-" he bolted into the trees, screaming.

Two of the lemurs chased after him.

Skipper's beak was opened in shock, "Uhh, Rico!"

"Bleh!" Poof! The penguins and Mort were gone in a flash.

"AFTER THEM!" Sasha bellowed.

The east side lemurs ran in the direction that Julien ran in.

Mort and Kowalski ran ahead, Julien was nowhere in sight. A shout called them from behind. It was Rico and Skipper.

"Where's Private?" Skipper asked, "Aw crud. Alright, let's move south-"

"No!" Mort squealed, "South is fossa…evil fossa…"

"Okay, what's north?" Kowalski asked.

Mort shrugged.

"Alright, Rico, you and I will find Private and Julien; Mort and Kowalski, head up north." Skipper ordered.

Rico gave Kowalski a walkie-talkie and slid off with Skipper.

Private had become separated from the group; a pair of hands grabbed him and dragged him into the bushes, clamping his mouth shut. Private tried to break free.

The hands released him. "Say nothing." The harsh whisper was barely recognizable. It was Julien. Private stopped struggling and looked at Julien.

"I'll explain." The lemur king said distractedly, "Promise." He added in response to Private's skeptic look.

Julien and Private crouched further into the bushes as they heard cracking from above. The lemurs were close by.

"Where are they?" one of the lemurs asked gruffly.

"How am I supposed to know?" the other snapped back.

"Queen's gonna kill us if we don' come back with 'em." The first said nervously.

"We should have joined the west side lemurs when we had the chance." The second said gloomily, his companion nodded in agreement.

"Hey, Kevin, you reckon they went south?" the first lemur asked.

"No, Will. They wouldn't dare go into fossa territory." Kevin answered.

Private leaned into a rose bush and yelped as he was stung with a thorn; Julien grabbed Private's beak. "Shh!"

"We already heard you." Will said.

Private scrambled out of the bushes; Julien plopped out of the bushes, and then got up, trying to keep his dignity.

"Don't worry, we'll help you." Kevin said.

Private sighed, "All we are doing is trying to find Skipper's sister."

Kevin nodded and led them to a small pathway that looked disturbed. "Go north along here; I saw something being dragged through here a while ago."

"Can't let you do that." A deep voice said. A strong looking lemur jumped out the tree behind them. "He's coming with us, and you two are arrested for treason."

"Kato, you wouldn't." Kevin said weakly, "Your own brother…"

"Traitors are no brothers of mine." Kato said stonily.

"HYAH!" a webbed foot hit Kato and he was down before he could attack. Skipper snarled at the barely conscious lemur. "And for your information, brothers stick together." He growled at the lemur.

Kowalski appeared behind the other two, scaring them behind a tree. "Skipper, they're coming, let's go!" he said.

Private and Julien muttered a thanks to the two lemurs as they followed Skipper and Kowalski.

Mid-day; the four of them finally found Mort and Rico.

They spent the day traveling up north; Skipper's instincts grew more persistent.

Finally, it was evening and they were exhausted. Private found a small clearing where they could rest for the night. Mort fell asleep quickly.

Kowalski was writing a mission log when he remembered something. "Julien?"

"Mm?" Julien said, staring up into the starry sky.

"What happened to Mort?" Kowalski asked.

Julien looked around, "Nothing, he's right he- oh, you meant…" his voice faltered, but Kowalski and Rico nodded encouragingly. Skipper moved closer to listen; and Private sat up, paying attention.

Julien was surprised at the rapt attention from the penguins. "Alright. I suppose I should begin with after my coronation. It's when I was named King." He added in response to Private's puzzled look.

TEN YEARS AGO…

A small gray lemur was playing with his crown.

"Juju, don't touch it." an older female lemur said, smiling at the younger one.

"Mama, I don't want to be an adult, it's boring!" the twelve year old Julien complained.

His mother hugged him, "You've wanted to be king ever since you were born." She told him.

"Yeah, but mama, I wanted daddy to see me be king!" Julien huffed.

"Ms. Queen?" a small voice came from behind a tree; a fourteen year old portly lemur came out. "Is this a bad time?"

"No, Maurice." She said, "What's wrong."

"Mom didn't come back yet." The gray lemur said, his orange eyes sweeping the ground.

"What?" Claire said, "They were supposed to be back an hour ago." She exited the grass hut.

"Mama, what's going on?" Julien asked.

"I'll be back darling, stay strong." She kissed him and vanished into the trees.

"MAMA!" Julien screamed. "Maurice, we have to do something!"

Maurice paled, "I'm an advisor in training, what can I do?"

"Gather the best soldiers we have!"

Maurice scratched his head, "Er…we don't really have soldiers."

"You, boy king!" a sixteen year old female lemur huffed. "The fossas are attacking, do something!"

"AHH! FOSSA!" he scrambled up a tree and cowered.

"That was a test." She sneered, "You are not king material, surrender your position to me immediately."

"Sasha! That was a mean trick." Maurice said angrily.

"You know what's also mean, telling the new family to take a trip down south." Sasha chuckled.

"WHAT?" Maurice screamed, "Mortimer is only ONE!"

Sasha grinned evilly, "Surrender the throne or else."

"Or else what?" Julien demanded, standing on a branch.

She shrugged casually, "Nothing…Juju."

"What have you done?" Julien asked in horror.

Sasha grinned again.

"AAAAHHHH!"

Maurice gasped, "Over there!" he ran in the direction of the scream.

Julien glared at Sasha before racing after Maurice.

A female lemur clutched her baby, trying to get out of the ring of fossa. The fossa pounced.

Maurice screamed, throwing rocks at the fossa.

A small furry thing ran out of the crowd, it was the baby.

"Mort." Julien whispered. He grabbed a vine and swung down, grabbing Mort as he went by. "No worries you are-OOF!" he smacked into a tree, almost losing the baby. Mort was holding Julien's feet, whimpering.

The fossa growled, "She said you'd be here." One of them growled, "Your mothers are quite tasty."

Julien snapped, he grabbed a stick and began hitting them with it. The fossa gasped and ran away.

"YES! They have run away from me with cowardice!" The young king cheered.

"I don't think so." Maurice squeaked, pointing at the trees.

Sasha jumped down, "Now will you reconsider my offer?"

Maurice's eyes narrowed, "You cold blooded-"

Julien screamed as two lemurs dragged the bodies of his and Maurice's mothers into view. Another lemur brought Mort's father.

Rocks clicked together, and then there was fire.

"NO!" Julien screamed. He ducked as a rock flew at his head.

Maurice dragged Julien away; Mort was still clutching one of Julien's feet.

They didn't stop until they reached the beach. The other lemurs crowded around them, gasping.

Julien shook and sobbed, "I promise to be a good king." He gasped and fainted.

When he woke up next, Maurice was holding a coconut shell for him. "Peach juice."

"Thanks, Maurice." Julien looked down to find Mort. "Mortimer, off my feet."

The baby cooed and cuddled the feet.

"Why?" he demanded of the baby.

"My guess is that you knocked his conscience out of him when you smacked into the tree." Maurice suggested, "You have to make a royal speech today. These lemurs are pretty young."

Julien nodded, he got up and walked to the throne that used to belong to his father. Maurice was holding Mort.

"We lost some pretty good lemurs last night." Julien said somberly, "But we're going to keep pushing ahead. I decree that we have dance marathons instead of boring old meetings!"

The lemurs cheered.

"What? This fool as king?" Sasha screeched, "I should be in charge." A few of the older lemurs nodded in agreement. "This child cannot possibly be king."

"Yeah, this child is banishing you." Julien said.

"WHAT?"

"You led my mother into a trap and killed Maurice's mother along with baby Mort's parents!"

Sasha growled, "Those of you who do not want this snot-nosed brat as king, follow me." She stalked off, followed by about twenty lemurs.

"Good riddance!" Maurice yelled; his statement was followed with cheers. Then they quieted down. "Now what?"

"The king says PARTY!" Julien said, trying to mask his pain.

END OF FLASHBACK

The cheers seemed to echo through the years as Julien finished his story with tears in his eyes.

"You were given too much at a young age." Skipper whispered.

Julien nodded. Private finally succumbed to tiredness and fell asleep; Rico fell asleep shortly.

Kowalski and Julien fell asleep around the same time.

Skipper stayed awake, his brain riddled with thoughts. He thought he could hear children: one was high on a glacier and the other was in the water below.

"The water's cold!"

"Come on Skippy, don't be a baby!"

"I am a baby!"

"Soldiers aren't afraid. You do want to be a soldier, don't you?"

"Yeah, just like Dad!"

"Then let's go!"

Then the dream changed and the children were staring up at their ice house.

"Brilliant, Skippy!"

"Rocks? What if something happens?"

"Build a new house."

"No. I mean, what if we get separated?"

"Then I'd find you."

"Promise?"

"I promise, Skipper. And would you?"

"Of course, Rocky, I'd go to the ends of the earth for you."

"I promise I'll find you." Skipper whispered.

A/N: And the search continues in the next exciting episode of CAMARADERIE.