This took longer as my laptop died. But, I managed to save the majority of my stuff and finished this chapter on my new spark-free laptop :D Yay ^^
Updates will be less frequent as tomorrow and beyond I'll be busier.
Going Under: Chapter 21
Head in the Clouds
Clementine hadn't missed being bound up and unable to move her arms; she certainly didn't now. The mast, the giant tree trunk, and been broad enough to tie them all shoulder-to-shoulder around it; some of them, like herself, with their legs dangling down. Kurues was shoved up in an uncomfortable sitting position, Argeth just able to stand. Glett, however, with his compromising shell, had been tethered down; pegs on either side of him keeping him to the floor. The possum was beside Clementine; Argeth on her left, Maut next, then Kurues and then finishing with Cocoum beside Klue, as it was a circular shape after all.
Kai was nowhere to be seen; Clementine was sure Raz had placed her somewhere else. She didn't know whether to be thankful to the jill; she felt an odd sort of respect for her, and judging by the fact she didn't grin while Squint dragged her off to implied horrors, she grudgingly wondered if she felt the same thing in return.
Clementine shifted under the vine, but it didn't do any good. Then, wordlessly, the pirates moved about. Flynn boosted out his large stomach, knocking a wooden plank out onto the side of the ship. The wayward group of survivors stiffened. She hoped the rats had some kind of wacky little idea; but she didn't hold it too high.
"If you keelhaul some of us you'll lose cheap labour." Argeth called plainly, as Gutt waltzed by without looking at him, coming to a stop beside the precarious plank.
"You won't talk your way outa this one, Flat-head." The ape retorted casually, giving a short nod to Shira. The tiger returned a more heavy one, stiff with loyalty at the silent order, and moved towards Maut's tiny form without any glint of recognizing her as a living being.
She napped the vine holding Maut; each animal had one vine tying them, leaving it as a bunch of them layer over layer. Maut fell face-down with a squawk that would rival a bird; before being pawed over to the plank like a ball of fluff a cat would amuse itself with. Maut leaped to petite feet, bearing sharp teeth at the pirates, before Gupta shoved a knife in her face. She back along, before he jabbed again…eyes wide, her feet traveled onto the wood. The pirates chortled; Flynn clapped his flippers. Clementine could feel her heart beating far too hard and far too loud.
Maut backed slowly up the plank, giving the pirates a fierce wide-eyed look that was far too comical for the situation. The pirates looked back with cheerful expressions, far too delighted. She wrinkled her little pink nose their way and glanced downwards.
The narwhals cirled around, doing a good impression of sharks. Maut flapped a wing, "Ah, I've seen scarier tune fish!"
"The boys have seen better toothpicks." Gutt retorted in an almost friendly humorous manner, and Flynn whooped with laughter.
"Toothpick, do'ya get it, cuz she's small! He-heh!"
Maut pointed a single finger at him, and her wide eyes where so piercing he covered his large gummy mouth. Maut backed up, and saw the rest of her posse where watching her with horror. Argeth was looking at her in a strange way; head bent, eyes narrowed, almost as if he'd accepted he'd lost. She didn't think much of it; he wasn't Clemmy with her sad look.
Maut knew she should have felt alarm; maybe her body didn't remember she couldn't fly. She glanced down at the toothed swimmers, waiting for a rush of panic…but instead, she spotted something. The iceberg itself was tall and bulky; with about a meter or so up of nothing but solid ice way before the deck was formed. In that solid ice, she saw…little holes. Deep ones, but since the insides where white, they didn't catch her notice before.
That is, until she saw a rat peering up and waving. So that's how those rascals lived on this thing; they lived on the insane…lil tunnels, perhaps? Looked like it. And she was just small enough to fit in one, too…
Sneaky stow-awaying, these rats had going. The pirates didn't seem to know or care how they got about. They really should have, Maut thought with a smirk. She looked up with a wry grin, the crew's own smiles fading. Gutt rose a brow, slowly. Maut looked at Clementine, and winked a big blue eye before hopping off.
"Tally-ho!"
She fell; letting her useless wing feel the air and the narwhals splash about in eagerness; the pirates cheering and the survivors crying out in horror…then something grabbed her ankle, and she hung upside down. A rope of rats, paw-to-ankle, had leaped out and caught her, swinging back to the side of the ship. Then, they pulled inside the little white hole in the ship. Maut grinned all the way, and gave a fake yelp of horror before the ice roof of the narrow little tunnel blocked her view of the sky. The rats high-fived inside, scurrying along inside, further into the glacier.
Maut gave them a thumbs-up. "Clemmy was righ 'bout you guys…"
Clementine don't know why Maut winked, but hearing the yell of horro below made her feel sick and the pirates jeering didn't help. Squint turned his head and sent her the nastiest smirk he could muster, and she glared back with loathing. But, tears prickled in her eyes and she wasn't strong enough to cry. Maut had been her friend; a crazy by loyal friend that had stood by her…she hadn't known her long, but she'd become part of this life they had now; a life where surviving was hard and everything beforehand was just a blur.
She felt a horrible weight fall over her; a stinging in her chest. Clementine lowered her head; her whiskers brushing against the vines. Beside her, Argeth's eyes where locked on the far end of the shop opposite him, narrowed, but there was a dimness Clementine hadn't seen before.
"You're all sick…" Kurues rasped, his voice thick, "Sick in the head…"
"Maybe so." Gutt replied, offering a toothy grin, bearing uneven yellow teeth that make Clementine feel ill, "Its predictable you'd say tha, though I did expect a bunch of wails…"
"What IS your problem?" Klue asked, his voice cracking between high-pitched and slightly not high-pitched. "This is insane!"
"That's the fun, worm-tail!" Squint had whipped over and shoved the point of his blade under the youth's round pink nose. Klue's eyes where wide enough for his bulging eyes to pop out. Clementine reached out a foot the best she could and bucked it at Squint; knocking his blade away. Squint looked infuriated and brandished the blade her way instead,
"Watch it, girlie, or your next!" He yelled boisterously. Clementine gave a bitter glare, deciding not to reply to him. His sneer only broadened at being ignored and he gripped her ear; tugging it- Argeth's defeated look vanished and his brown,bloodshot eyes sparked.
"'EY!"
Squint was so startled by the bark, so much like that of a dog's, that his rabbit instincts must have forced his body to leap back. Squint jabbered in a strangled manner at his own move, and clearly blamed the indignity on Argeth, throwing a starfish at him. Argeth's cheek was sliced as it flew by; the armadillo's head jerking. Squint gave a short huff of laughter. "Hah!"
"You'll regret that you lil' punk." Argeth lifted his head slowly; the right side of his face tinted red as he glowered at the younger. "I'll stuff your own tail down your throat."
Gutt gave a gruff, curt laugh nearby, "And here I thought you weren't yourself anymore, Shorty."
"Am I going on the plank?" Cocoum inquired slowly, green eyes vividly wide. Gutt gave him a patronizing smirk,
"Sure, junior. We'll get around everyone, don't you worry." The crew snickered, making the survivors tense with both agitation and plain annoyance. Clementine, her chest stinging with pain, thinking of Maut, gone…just gone, made her loathe the faint smile on Shira's dignified face. She felt numb. Maybe it didn't hurt as much as she thought because she knew she'd be joining her..
Clementine thought that facing her death would make her scream, shiver, and perhaps faint. It probably would have before this whole misadventure, but not it just seemed…expected. Guess being close to death made you less afraid…
Still…it made hr heart sink knowing that the only time she had friends was when she was about to…die…
Or, had she not accepted it? Did she still think some random miracle or last-minute plan of Argeth's would save them? It wouldn't save Maut…
"All right, who's next?" Gutt's patience had worn thin; they'd let Squint and Argeth have their banter, now it was some other sap's turn. Clementine's stomach felt like a knot and she stared up at Kurues, eyes wide. He stared back, his mouth closed, eyes wide…pleading, almost, for forgiveness. Clementine couldn't form words.
Suddenly, a black arm reached out and snatched Klue from the tangle of vines. Clementine stared, gaping, as Gupta threw the possum out onto the plank.
"Gah!" He wobbled, the wood shaking precariously. Cocoum strained against the vines, struggling,
"H-hey, you can't, you-" He stared up at Gutt, panting, as the older ape looked down at him, unfeeling.
"He woulda died anyway, Junior. Don' worry, you'll be going too…" He then looked at Clementine, as if contemplating throwing her out, too. Clementine's mind decided to shut down. She neither hoped he would or he wouldn't, just waited. Squint's eyes where on her, she could see them in a blury corner of her eye…
"I think its just the possum left." Gutt remarked loudly, "Though don't think the rest of you are off."
Argeth stared at him, eyes hard. Clementine shuddered, though for which reason she didn't know. Her eyes blurred over as she didn't blink…but then she saw a purple and black pair of blurs poking out.
She blinked. Yards away, looking through a porthole on the side of the ship; obscured by a pile of fruit…was Maut and one of the rats, waving at her with wide, silent grins. Clementine's heart soared and she looked down; feeling a warmth spread all over, from her chest to her toes and the tip of her ears. Argeth had seen them, too, Kurues just glancing…and they all looked away as soon as they had seen.
Yes, their minds screamed. We're back in defiance, we have an advantage. Clementine loved those rats, and made a mental note to put on a fantastic fire-show for them that involved at least Shira's precious pelt being singed.
But, Klue wasn't in one the plan. He stared down in horror at the narwhals, and Gutt slammed a fist down on the plank, jolting it. Klue fell, gripping the side of the wood. Cocoum squirmed and struggled against the vine, Clementine doing the same. Kurues tried to buy time;
"Can't we come to an agreement?!"
"Ho-ho!" Gutt glanced at his crew then back at the elk, tone above patronizing it was that low, "Now we're gettin' desperate!"
The pirates outright laughed, raucously, at the elk. Clementine caught the eye of the kangaroo hill, whose smile faded a bit at her blazing look. Kai was still nowhere in sight, and Clementine wanted to know why.
Klue, the attention off him, looked about for means of escape, any means. Then, something wrapped around his ankle, tight and slimy. His head jerked to look downwards.
A thin vine had lopped around his foot like a snake, and the next moment it tugged, hard and sharp, and his paws where ripped from the wood. He gave a shriek, the air rushing in his ears, as he fell…and then suddenly he hit against the side of the berg, the scream being knocked out of him and extinguished. He blinked, mind muddled. What had just happened?
Slowly, he was tugged, upside down, into somewhere grey and small, his head aching.
Cocoum gave a pained yell, struggling violently as the pirates's laughs rang around him, and heis whole body shook until a whisper came to his ear,
"They're fine. Rats helped…"
He stopped. Fine? Rats? He had no idea what that meant, but Kurues's voice was so certain…he felt the horror and the desperation fade, and he resisted the urge to giggle like a mad person in relief. Gutt watched the group, their heads bent and silent, in grim satisfaction; a half-smile present on his face.
Inside, the survivors glowed…until they heard the sharp claws slicing in the air like unsheathed blades. They all looked up, and Argeth prepared his nerves for what he knew was coming.
The vines where cut and they fell; slamming against the floor- and Argeth was sliced across the chest by Gutt's blade-like hands. It knocked him back against the tree, and Kurues tried to weakly buck his antlers at Gutt- but missed, being his down the side and falling to his knees. Cocoum scrambled back, watching with wide-eyed horror as Glett;s stubby leg received the same hit…then Clementine's small, frail body was smacked, and she slammed against a slab of ice nearby before falling face-down; another set of scars dribbling down her side.
Cocoum stared up; pressing himself against the tree, at the giant looming that was Gutt. Gutt's eyes where narrowed and remorseless; no pity, not amusement. Cocoum's vivid eyes stared up, numb, then he felt a sting…but not as bad as he though.
He fell on his side; in a daze, seeing everything as if people where standing on face had been slapped; but not scratched. No blood trickled down his cheek. It shocked him more than anything else. But, midst the pain, his mind began chanting: They're alive, they're all fine.
Clementine raised her head by an inch, trying ignore the horrible pain and the cackles of the crew. Once again she stared at the jill, who regarded her with a frown; a dark frown with a half-smirk settled in beside it. But, something moved below her waist and Clementine spotted a pair of watery pale blue eyes watching her from her pouch.
…You're kidding…
Clementine closed her eyes as Raz shoved the joey's head back down and out of sight, indignant, as Squint idly wondered what became of the tiny little bunny he'd seen.