Sorry to keep you all waiting, but I'm lacking inspiration and time so I'm not that fast lately. Now then, chapter time!

12. Negotiations

The next day Buck, Diego and Shira went on a morning walk together. Buck wanted to discuss the idea of a meet between Gutt and the herd.

"Okay, slow down..." Diego said, "first of all, Gutt is on this island?"

"Yes." Buck and Shira responded at the same time. Diego and Buck looked at her with surprise.

"Wait, you knew?"

Shira hesitated. She'd betrayed herself.

"Yea, but..."

"For how long?" Diego became angry.

"Not that long. Louis had crossed him some time ago and..."

"Louis knew as well?!"

"Wait no, I shouldn't..."

"Shouldn't... what?" Buck asked.

"Listen. Louis was petrified, because Gutt threatened to hurt Peaches if he did tell anyone. You know how much he likes her!"

"He does?"

"Duh." Shira said in a teenager style, rolling her eyes.

"I didn't know th..." Diego tried, but he got no attention.

"And for myself, I've seen a bird that I thought to be Silas, but I wasn't sure. I've spoken to Louis about it and he said he'd met Gutt earlier, that's how I found out. But I wasn't suppose to talk about it with anyone, for Peaches' sake, you gotta understand that."

Diego kept quiet, ashamed of his unjustified anger. He changed the subject.

"But Buck, what did you say your plan was?"

"Well I think we gotta bargain with this captain."

"I don't know, he's not that much of a talking type." Shira debunked his plan.

"We still gotta give it a try, mate. Raz tells me that guy has changed."

"Changed? Gutt? Haha!" Shira laughs at the idea of the primate trying to act gentle.

"Raz said that he's not actin' as violent as he used to. Not that I know his usual standards, but he showed a form a' compassion with her when I followed them."

"Hmm, sympathy isn't really his thing, that's true..." Shira now gave serious thoughts to the idea of Gutt having a good side after all.

"You've only missed one small detail."

They looked at Diego, who drew a pensive face.

"I don't think Manny wants to have any of us involved with Gutt again. No matter how changed he is, he still tried to kill us all, including Manny's family. There is no chance he'd approve an encounter."

All three knew this was true.

"Are you trustin' enough to meet this ape?" Buck demanded.

Diego looked from him to Shira and back to him.

"I have full confidence in Shira, if she believes he can and is changed, I do too."

The sabress blushed and felt warm, but quickly recovered.

"I think it's worth a try. Besides, we're strong enough to tackle him if he still tries something."

"Then that's settled, we three meet the pirates and will discuss our situation. I'm sure he's willin' to do so as either, ey?" Buck stated.

.

"You want WHAT?!"

Gutt was now filled with anger, disbelief and mistrust. Mostly mistrust. Raz knew this was going to be tough. The captain had sworn never to negotiate with the enemy, ever. Although she thought the current situation was highly exceptional, she should've known that he would beg to differ.

"I'm not going to simply hand myself over to that plumb, hairy mammal! Have you lost your mind Raz? Are you plotting with the mammoths?" Gutt yelled frustrated.

"Ya know I won't capt'n."

"Do I now? I also thought you'd be discrete about us staying here, which you haven't done either!"

"I haven't said anythin' about ya, nor 'bout Silas."

"How can I be so sure of that? How do I know you don't conspire with this weasel-guy?"

"Cause I ..." she didn't know what to say to this.

"Well?!" he yelled again.

"Cause ya don't." she said.

Gutt was stunned by this answer, expecting another defensive reply.

"The only thin' ya do know, is that I've been a member a' your crew for a long time, which should be enough for ya to trust me!"

She walked to the edge of the cave. Gutt trusted her with her life, yet simply conversing with the mammoth that ruined his life? That was unspeakable to him and she should know why. The only word that he could think of to describe it was treason. Not that Raz was treacherous, but the idea was.

"If you got any other idea's to improve our current situation, fire away capt'n." Raz remarked.

She never spoke in this tone to her captain before, which made Gutt feel like a child getting reprimanded. Yet, he had no other idea's in stock so had nothing to retaliate with. His notion to steal weapons was one thing, but what was the next step? He rubbed his beard. Nevertheless, meeting with his sworn enemy was something he would never ever do and he was sure that his foe thought exactly the same way.

"She has a point, mon capitan." Silas said.

'Yes, I already figured that out.' he thought.

"I know, I know" he said trying to shut the bird.

Raz turned around, did she hear that correct. Had he just listened to reason, while being angry? That had never happened before. She had to ask one final thing to make sure that he was changed.

"So do ya agree that we should meet 'm?" she asked.

"No, of course we shouldn't!" he replied.

"Why not?"

"If you were in their position, would you trust us?"

"Ehm..." Raz had given any thought to that point of view.

"Don't forget, we tried to kill them more than once."

"I think not." she admitted after a moment´s thought.

"But you do believe that we can just come over to their place and say hi?" the captain put up a fake smile, portraying a lady, waddling, making a courteous gesture with his hands.

"So what do you want us to do instead?" Silas asked.

Gutt dropped his act, sat down and sighed.

"I don't know yet..."

They all kept silent, thinking about this problem, not a single crewmember could solve.

"Hey, what's the sadness in here, mates?"

Buck suddenly appeared in the entrance of the cave. Gutt regained his anger upon seeing him. That guy thinks he´s so clever, although there are so many things he didn´t take into account with his offer.

"You didn' tell him about our cave, did you?" he asked Raz.

"Indeed I didn't!" she defended.

"Then how can he be here?!"

"I heard ya screamin' when I was walkin' by." Buck responded.

Gutt was hauled over the coals by the visitor.

"You're back early." Raz said.

"Ai mate, I got good news and bad news."

"What's the good news?" Silas asked.

"I can arrange a sort a' meetin'."

"And the..."

"Bad news is, it's only with the sabres."

Raz and Silas looked upon one another, surprised.

"Actually, that's more good news, mate." Raz said with a smile.

"And why's that?" Buck asked.

"Well, the capt'n doesn't want to negotiate with the mammoths and we're sure they in turn, don't want it either."

"Yea, that's what I concluded with my mates too. Still we need to find a way to solve the problem a' you and them stayin' on one island. So I thought to give it a try with just the three of us, for now?" he replied.

They all agreed, even Gutt. The more he speculated about it, the more he'd rather forget about that entire herd than to waste more energy in trying to have his vengeance. Deep inside the feeling of hate was still itching, though it had lost a lot of influence on Gutt's mind in the past few days.

"So we got ourselves a deal then?"

"If you say where and when, then I'm in." Raz stated.

"Me too!" Silas said.

The all looked at Gutt. He wanted to cheer, but kept his dignity and simply raised a hand, confirming he accepted the proposal.

"I'm thinkin' about this evening at the beach cliff on the west side of the island." Buck scratched his ear waiting for an answer, "So, what do ya say?"

"Aye."

.

"Are you sure you want to meet him again?" Diego asked.

"Yes, for the last time, I'm sure" Shira said, rolling her eyes, "if he is changed, I want to witness it myself".

They were standing on edge of the mountain, looking down on the lake. It was now in the afternoon so it was crowded with animals, big and small. All of them wanting to drink or just chat with others at the water's edge.

"What if Gutt sets up a trap?"

"Then we are too smart to simply walk into it, or at least I am."

Shira smirked and Diego laughed.

"Hey tigers."

Buck appeared hanging upside down in a nearby tree, which spooking both.

"I spoke to the pirate guys."

"And?" Diego knew that, although he hoped for a 'no', the problem had to be solved so he hoped equally much for a 'yes'.

"They agreed to meet ya both, this evenin' at the beach cliff, west from here."

"Why there? Why not the beach?"

"Nah mate, it's too dangerous to keep meetin' on the same spots. Nonetheless I can think of fancier places too. See ya guys tonight then, ey?"

He duck back between the leaves, vanishing in almost the same way he showed up.

"That weasel is one odd little man, isn't he?" Shira said.

"You don't even know the half of it." Diego confirmed.

That's it for this episode folks! Will the meeting go as planned? Or is there a hidden danger? We'll know next time...