I'm not feeling very proud of this chapter. I will still do some edits later in the week, but for the moment being I hope you'll still enjoy it!
WARNING: this chapter contains some violence and blood, and Niddler is going through some serious trauma.
Niddler
They had to make way through a crowded marketplace and the cobbled streets felt like a foreign land under his feet. There were just too many buildings around him and way too many humans. Niddler had a hard time breathing as he watched them walking around the streets, their fine silks floating in the wind. They carried themselves as if they'd always belonged there.
No, Pandawa was not the same anymore. Too many things had changed. Although, there was one thing Niddler recognized: the slaves, held on a leash no different from the one he was wearing. Their masters paraded them around like one may show off a new piece of jewelry. Their eyes were empty, soulless.
"That arrow was a good hit, Ren. Look!" Tula pointed at some red stains on the ground. They formed a path that led from the market to another group of buildings Niddler didn't recognize.
Ren sprung into a run forgetting he was still holding Niddler on a leash. He let out a strangled squawk, and Ren stopped dead in his track. He turned, a horrified expression on his face, "I'm sorry, Niddler!"
"It's nothing, Ren." It was not a lie, the pain from the tug was nothing compared to the hell he felt inside his chest. Niddler rubbed at his neck and soared up into the air.
The blood stains led them into a square. Some merchants were selling food and ale from their stands. Pandawa had never smelled of roasted chicken, but now it did. Niddler's stomach lurched horrendously.
"Ren," it was hard to talk. "I'm going to start screaming and I won't be able to stop."
"Calm Niddler, I won't let any of them touch you." Ren meant good, but he didn't understand.
A crowd had gathered around a dais, most of the people were clad in fine silks, but some of them were covered in hooded dark capes.
There were a dozen cages piled up on top of the dais, the monkeybirds inhabiting them were wrapped inside their wings. Niddler couldn't breathe. He had been on that dais once, locked in a cage, waiting to be sold.
"We must leave this place, please!" he begged.
"There's more to this than you're telling me," said Ren.
Niddler gulped down. If Ren was to protect him he had to know the whole truth. "One called Jargis divided my family and sold me to Bloth. He-" something slammed over his wing and then clutched it tight. Niddler screeched and almost fainted at the feeling of nails digging into the delicate flesh. Fainting would have been a mercy but Niddler was still conscious when the man behind him spoke.
"Six poogats for your slave, two-legs."
He looked like a big human slug, with a mouth as large as the two moons put together. His body was a shapeless lump of fat covered in a sickening yellow skin.
"He's lean in the wings, but I can fatten him up," the slave trader's teeth were sharp.
"He's not for sale," Ren seized his wrist and twisted it until he let go of Niddler's wing.
"Noy jitat!" the slave trader cursed. For a moment he studied Ren as if considering whether it was wise for him to pick up a fight; then he spun away and dragged his heavy body on top of the dais where the slaves were displayed and sold.
He called for the attention of the crowd and made a big show of welcoming them at the auction. Niddler saw some of the spectators unbuckling the pouches from their belts.
The human slug ordered to one of the two guards posted on the dais to open a cage. That was the moment a battle cry rained from the sky. It started out with a yell, which was soon followed by another, and another. Niddler lifted his head in the sky, and could not believe his eyes.
"Jatva!" the human slug cursed. "Not again! Rebels!"
At least twenty monkeybirds were coming down on the dais, they were holding slingshots and canes.
The first projectile crashed upon the dais missing the slug slaver, the second projectile hit closer to the target but still left him unscathed.
"I'm ready for you this time! Attack!" the slave trader ordered.
The men wearing the dark capes drop them and Niddler started to shake. They were soldiers clad in an armor of boiled leather, swords in their hands.
The monkeybirds didn't flinch. They lunged at the soldiers.
"Freedom!" screamed one of the rebels, slashing at one of the men with a cane. The soldier parried the hit with his sword but was not fast enough to dodge the attack from a second monkeybird from behind. The cane crashed over the soldier's head and he dropped down to the ground.
There was a voice screaming in Niddler's head not to watch, but he could not take his eyes away. When had monkeybirds learned how to fight?
A projectile from a slingshot hit another guard in the leg, Niddler watched as a crimson stain spread, soaking the guard's pants. The man would live, but he would also suffer.
"Freedom!" yelled another monkeybird. He was white as a cloud, except for some blue feathers dotting his wings. He held a slingshot in his hands and had projectile at the ready. He made the mistake of flying too low, too close to the soldiers, and before he could shoot, the slash of a sword caught him in his throat. His white feathers had already turned red by the time he hit the ground.
Niddler's scream went unheard in the din of the fight.
Some of the rebels had managed to get on the dais, they had hammers they were using to smash the locks. Some of the prisoners were already flying free.
The human slug saw them. "Thieves! Criminals! This is Jargis' private property!" He stuck a hand under his sleeve producing a dagger. Niddler felt awfully helpless as the slave trader hauled himself towards the rebels, still smashing at the locks.
That was the moment Ren sprung into action. He launched himself at the dais, grabbed one of the planks and lifted it right before the slave trader stepped on it. He stumbled and fell down, giving the rebels enough time to free three more monkeybirds and flee.
"In the name of our queen, freedom!" one of the rebels cried out from the sky.
"Long live our queen!" yelled another.
"You want your queen, do you?" the slave trader shouted. "That's been arranged. Bring her!"
Two more guards stepped on the dais, carrying a cage. The soft shade of violet of the monkeybird's feathers looked awfully familiar. How did they find her? Hadn't she left Pandawa?
"Water, please!" the Queen Mother pleaded. Even from the distance, Niddler could see she was terribly famished. "Water!"
Niddler's heart shattered into pieces and his legs failed him. He dropped down on the ground, shaking. The rebels too had stopped, they stood there now, flapping their wings in the air, their faces twisted in horror.
"Now do I have your attention?" the slave trader asked. "The only subjects she'll ever rule again are the mold mites in her dungeon cell!"
The guards let the cage fall on the dais. The Queen Mother grimaced.
"Please don't hurt her," Niddler moaned, but that moment he knew the slave trader had won. The monkeybirds were not flying back without their queen. Their mother.
"If you surrender. Cause if you don't," the slave trader got hold of his dagger once again. "Then I'll-" he stopped mid-sentence before he let out a startled cry. Niddler almost screamed too.
At some point during the commotion, Ren had jumped on the dais and he now kneeled down in front of the cage. His hands were cupped, and full of water, the queen was drinking from them.
"Out of the way, two-legs!" the slave trader ordered, but Ren paid him no mind.
The human slug reached for the whip hanging from his belt and lashed at Ren. He caught him on his arm and Ren cried out. Niddler grimaced when he saw the red mark the whip had left there.
"Stand away, I said! She is not for sale!"
In response, Ren unsheathed his sword. Never had Niddler seen such fury in his eyes.
The slave trader gasped.
"Fool!" somebody shouted from the crowd.
"Monkeybird lover!" another voice joined.
The guards were approaching him from every corner now, Ren could not fight them all.
"End him!"
"Ren! There you are!" another voice thundered on top of the others.
Niddler saw Ioz shoving people out of the way, a smile was on his face. "I told you, young mate, no more ale! Why is it cabin boys can never stay out of taverns?" he laughed.
Once he was close enough, Ioz reached for Ren's ankle and tugged. "Come away, child! Time to get you back to the boat!"
Ren's lips quivered but he lowered his head and followed Ioz. Niddler crawled behind them.
"We've lost valuable time, Ren!" Ioz snarled once they were out of earshot. "While you were taking in the local color I sent Tula to scout ahead."
"Sorry, Ioz. I guess I acted without thinking," Ren kept his head low.
"No harm done," said Ioz. "Come, we have a Compass and a Treasure we need to steal back!"
"Forgive me, Ren," Niddler couldn't bring himself to look at him in the eyes. "You risked everything and I did nothing."
"There's nothing to forgive. It was my time to act, not yours," Ren placed one hand on his wing in a comforting gesture.
"Here! Ren, Niddler!" Tula shouted from a crossroad. "The fat little piglet can run!" she said, pointing to the street on her right. Niddler could see them now, three figures running.
"But he can't hide!" said Ioz, before he plunged into the chase.
To their credit, despite the fatigue, the pirates ran far and fast. But it was not long before they ended up in a blind alley. Once they realized there was no escape, they unsheathed their weapons.
Niddler was no skilled fighter, but he could see the pirates had little hope of winning. It was three of them, Konk and the two bulky pirates. The Lug brothers, they used to call them on the Maelstrom. Good fighters, but one of them had been injured by Ren in the Atani's cave. The pirate leaned against the wall, panting, his face grey as ashes and covered in sweat. In that state, he was as threatening as a candy clam.
"So it ends, Konk," said Ren. "Cornered in an alley, Bloth not here to protect you, and you have something of mine." Ren extended his hand. "My Compass and Treasure, please?"
Niddler wondered how could Ren be so polite all the time.
Too late Niddler noticed the door standing at their right; fast as a lightning bolt, the peg-leg sprung towards it. The brothers followed suit and before Niddler's shipmates could strike the pirates were gone. The door now locked behind them.
Ren approached it and knocked. "Yoohoo, Konk?"
Ioz stepped forward, his sword in hand. "Let me try my hand, Ren-"
"Save your steel, Ioz." Tula jumped and kicked the door right off its hinges. Niddler gaped at her, he had never imagined Tula could be so strong.
The room was dark, the only light coming from a dozen small candles. Konk and the brothers were standing there, next to a man.
Niddler's blood froze in his veins.
Jargis had replaced the fancy silks he used to wear for a sober white tunic, and he'd go fat. So fat. But his face hadn't changed. The high forehead, hooked nose and drooping lips that haunted Niddler's nightmares were suddenly there in front of him. And there was not waking up from the nightmare now. He screeched.
"Jargis," said Konk. "Me have trouble with this boy. You mind?"
"For you Konk, of course not." The slave trader's voice hadn't changed either. It was the same low, slow, monotonous sound.
Jargis clapped his hands and six black figures emerged from the darkness of the room. They all at swords at the ready and there was too many of them for his crewmates to fight.
So they backed off and ran as fast as they could. They were still running when a group of people appeared in front of them, cutting their way out.
"Oh, in trouble again!" said the human slug. The henchmen that had fought against the rebel monkeybirds stood behind him. Ioz had not fooled them after all.
"Where are the Securitat when you need them?" the slave trader was amused.
"That's what we need!" Ren panted. "The Securitat!"
"Ren!" Niddler screeched. "That is the Securitat!" he pointed at Jargis' men gaining ground behind them. "Jargis runs this island! I told you Pandawa was cursed!"
"Well, Ren?" urged Ioz.
"What next?" Tula sounded strangely calm.
"Noy jitat!" cursed Ren. "Put away your weapons, this is one fight we can't possibly win!" he surveyed the street around. "This way!"
Ren jumped high up, grabbing a torch holder protruding from a wall and lifted himself up. After that he started to climb, as fast as a spider, grasping at the uneven stones, until he was safe on top of the building.
Ioz and Tula hurried to do the same, and Niddler too didn't need any further encouragement to fly away from the ground.
He saw Tula's foot slip on the stones but before she could tumble down Ren promptly grabbed her and helped her up.
Ioz was too slow. Niddler grabbed the pirate from his shoulder and flew him up. He was the heaviest weight Niddler had ever carried.
Ren and Tula had grabbed a cauldron they'd found there on top of the roof and dropped it down at the men trying to pursue them.
Niddler hurried to do the same. He found a metal ladle and flung it down. It crashed upon one soldier's head, and Niddler's entire body suddenly shook with laughter. "And that's just the beginning, you mullets!" he heard himself say. "And if you want more, we'd be happy to-"
Ren's hands were on its wings yanking him away from the edge of the roof. "This isn't the time, Niddler, not now!"
They ran to the harbor, desperate to get back to the Wraith.
"We'll return to the sea, anchor on the leeward side of the island," Ren said, panting. "And steal back into town."
That was when Ioz stopped and gasped.
And then the rest of the crew saw it. Or didn't see it, Niddler thought grimly. The Wraith was gone.
"The Wraith!" Tula hollered.
"Some thief's stolen her!" Ioz clenched his hands into fists.
"Takes one to know one, uh, Ioz?" was everything Ren said.
Ioz raised his fists but before he could say anything a voice came from the sky.
"Friends! We bring you freedom!"
It was a monkeybird, as yellow as the sun. He seized Ren and flew him away from the dock. Two more monkeybirds followed him grabbing Ioz and Tula.
Niddler turned to glare at the island and then finally he flew away.
The next chapter of Break Up will be up on December 6.
