Chapter 21 – Siege
"How did I get talked into this?" Mittens asked herself. At the moment she was holding on for dear life to a beam in the galley using her grass claws, she decided to stay there under the pretense of 'watching her children work' even though all three of them were now helping with the sails. "Admit it Mittens, you're just scared." she heard Bolt tease her from the floor. "Am not!" she said, trying to hold her mental image. "Come down here, Mittens." he finally said sternly. Mittens gulped lightly and put her grass claws away to quickly draw her wind claws. 'He knows me too well.' she thought to herself, and jumped using her wind claws to land softly on the floor of the ship. The moment she touched down, Bolt pressed himself against her, rubbing his fur into her own. Feeling the love he had for her, she finally let herself relax a little. "Thank you Bolt." she whispered. "You've been up there since we cast off." he told her. "Yah, kind of silly huh?" she asked in embarrassment. "Not at all Mittens, but if you're scared of something, it's better to tell someone rather than let that fear get worse." he told her as he let the animal hug break apart. Mittens could only smile at him, knowing he was there to quiet such fears. "How long has it been since we cast off?" she asked. "Eighteen hours." he said quickly. That was the moment Mittens' stomach growled at her. Even through the fur on her cheeks, her blush was seen. "Hungry?" Ferla asked from the kitchen. "Starving!" Was all Mittens said as she turned around. "I got just the thing, a meal I used to make for my fensha everyday when she was alive." The Neutrosian said as she went to work. "Fensha?" both Bolt and Mittens asked at the same time. "Think of it as a Neutrosian Lion/Lynx." Ferla told them after some thought.
Strats sat there, just soaking in the water around her, thinking about something. She had been avoiding Dragoon for as long as possible, knowing he wouldn't dare go into the water where she was at. At the moment she was lying at the bottom of the area surrounding the center island. 'Dragoon's responsible for Grizzlar's murder that much I know. But what can I do about it?' she would ask herself. 'I know Grizzlar wants me to be free, but I can't be with Dragoon towering over me.' Silence followed in her mind as she tried to think of a plan. Only one came to mind, 'I may not like it, but the only option I have is to rely on the Power and Magic Guardians.' "Strats, where are you?" she heard thanks to her sonar hearing. 'Dragoon must be looking for me, too bad. Come and find me you big bruit, I dare you.' she thought to herself and continued to just lie there.
Two days into the voyage, and Mittens finally had calmed down enough to walk around the ship, even though she wouldn't leave Bolt's side. "Well?' he asked. Mittens turned to him with half laden eyes, seaming happy, "Hmh?"she asked. "The ship, what do you think?" he asked. "Oh, it's nice Bolt." she said, still only half there. "What's up?" he asked as he watched her snuggle up to him. "I love you." she said almost completely out of the blue. "I love you to Mittens. Are you ok?" Bolt looked at her with a little worry. "Mhm!" she said and buried her face in his chest. "She's gone nuts!" they heard Rhino shout. "I'm not nuts Rhino." she said, "I'm just kind of on cloud nine, I guess." It seemed as if a light bulb turned on in Bolt's head, his eyes shot open and a smile slowly made its way to his face. "I think I know what's going on. We'll be in our room." he told his friend, and turned with Mittens to go back inside the ship. "Newlyweds!" was all Rhino said as he watched them disappear. "Hi Mommy, hi Daddy." Mike said as he and his brother walked by. Wolf on the other hand, had a scowl on his face. "What's up buddy?" Bolt asked. Wolf scoffed, "I've got dish duty after dinner today." he said and kept walking. Mittens smiled at this, and sighed. "I'm proud of them. This voyage is turning out to be a real character builder for all three of them." she said. "Yah." Bolt agreed, as the two of Kits turned the corner. "I'd like to have more children someday." Mittens said out loud. Bolt stiffened up like a board, "You would?" he squeaked. Mittens chuckled at his reaction, "Not now." she said to him. Bolt literally exhaled a breath that he didn't know he was holding, more in disappointment. "But someday." she said as she rubbed up against him. As she walked away, Bolt smiled and hopped once before jogging after her.
By the end of the third day, the island came into sight. From a distance it looked like a lone volcano, just standing by itself in the middle of the ocean. Only when you got close to the shallow shelf could you see the entrance on the west side, no bigger than a giant's front door. "Lower the anchor!" Mr. Avona shouted. Within moments a large splash was heard and the ship was jarred into a stop. "In the morning we begin the siege, you three go back to your rooms and get some sleep." he told Mittens, Bolt and Rhino. Then turning to the NeoNeutrosians he said, "You two come with me, I have a special assignment for you." The three guardians began their trip to their rooms, until Angeliera stopped Rhino. "Rhino, may I walk with you?" she asked. "Sure." he said. Angelira closed her eyes lightly, within seconds she began shrinking quickly until she was his size. As she opened her eyes, she saw Rhino bow to her and extend his arm in the direction they were going. "I wish I could go with you." she said. "Ah, it's probably better that you don't. I would be very sad if you got hurt because I wasn't there to protect you." Rhino responded. Angeliera chuckled a little, "I know that. I just wish I could help." she told him. "You can." he said, "Just keep cheering for us." When she looked to him to see if he was joking or not, Rhino had his face pointed to her, eyes closed and a bright smile stretching from cheek to cheek.
Dragoon stomped throughout the fortes of a cave. The scowl on his face showed an insane anger flowing throughout his soul. "Where is she?" he growled. Approaching the cave entrance he gazed out at the water's surface and it struck him. "Clever, but you had better do your part." he said calmly and turned to find his own place. Almost ten minutes later, Strats surfaced to peek her eyes out of the water. She soon brought her entire head out to gaze at the night sky through the opening of the ceiling. "Wish I would have figured it out earlier, Grizzlar. Why did you have to die to get me to realize I loved you?" she whispered. It wasn't long until she heard a loud roar echo across the entire world. Her frown deepened, and she slipped back into the water, hiding from her agony.
The morning came, and Centant trudged across the shallow area carrying Bolt and Mittens on his back, with Rhino tucked safely into his hair. Slink took this opportunity to swim around, jumping out of the water every now and then and whooping happily. "She's having fun." Bolt said. "She can swim." Mittens retorted. "Are you jealous?" he whispered into her pointed ear. A shiver of pleasure ran up her spine, making her shiver in delight. "A little." she admitted with a smile. "We must focus." Centant said, "Strats could ambush us at any time." "I'm on it." Slink said happily as she jumped as high as she could before sliding back down into the shallow water. "Penny never dives into water that shallow, but Slink seems to enjoy it a lot." Bolt said in recognition. "She loves shallow water, she swims fastest in it and has leaned to use her body to guide her flow as she hits the water surface." Centant said enlightening his friends. "She always did have a grace I was jealous of." they heard Strats say from the inside rocky surface. Turning around, they saw the pink scaled NeoNeutrosian sitting against the rocks as if she were trying to seduce someone. "Nice day isn't it?" she asked. Bolt growled at her, before he remembered Grizzlar's words, "Let us take care of Dragoon." he said out of the blue. At first she showed surprise, like she wasn't expecting him to offer that. It only lasted a second, until she closed her eyes and laughed hysterically. "You know I can't let you do that." she said and jumped down from the rocks. "Then try and stop them." Centant said, and he reached back, grabbed Bolt, Mittens and Rhino and hurled them into the air towards the island. "Go and put a stop to Dragoon's madness." he called out to them. In mid flight Mittens used her wind claws to create a current of air strong enough to carry her, and Bolt with Rhino on his head, towards the shore. Upon landing, Bolt and Mittens both took off into the cave and disappeared. "No, wait, come back." Strats said without raising her voice, and her tone told everyone she really didn't care. "If you were just going to let them go, why try and stop them?" Centant asked. "Because I want to die," she told him, "I want to die like Grizzlar did, in the heat of battle. Maybe then I can see him again." she said and poised herself into an attacking position, standing tall with her webbed feet apart and her clawed hands to her sides. Centant scoffed, "Then so be it."
End Chapter 21