TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS
"The fiery trials through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the latest generation."
(Abraham Lincoln)
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Rufio sat in judgment over the whole of the Lost Boys. Seated at a large chair atop a tree stump, his height gave him an even more imposing presence. Wendy and Peter were in ropes, standing before him, Tinkerbell trapped under a large glass on the ground next to them. The trial of Wendy for piracy and Peter Pan and Tinkerbell for treason had begun. No Lost Boy was appointed to defend their once mother or their once leader. One had attempted to speak up for Tinkerbell, citing her blind allegiance to Pan and the inability of fairies to feel more than one feeling at a time as the reasons for her clouded judgment, was quickly silenced. Rufio, judge, jury, and executioner, did not wish to hear anything to the contrary of what he felt. And, while he could condemn Wendy to any punishment he saw fit, he was intelligent enough to realize that the Lost Boys would turn against him if he attempted to put Pan to death for his imagined crimes. No, he would have to come up with a more…colorful punishment for the flying menace. He glared down at Wendy, his intent clearly written on his young face.
"For your crimes against the Lost Boys, and Neverland, I sentence you to death, Wendy Hook."
The Lost Boys cheered. Tinkerbell pounded on her glass encasement. In their distraction, the Lost Boys did not notice as Peter freed the fairy. She flew to his ear and her bell-like voice tinkled her secret knowledge of Wendy. Peter blushed, his heart felt suddenly very heavy, but at least he knew he could save his friend.
"You can't put her to death, Rufio!"
The boy scowled at him. The audacity! He still thought himself the leader!
"And why not? She is a pirate. And this is the fitting punishment for all pirates."
"You cannot kill her. She is with child."
Wendy blanched. Was this some ploy by Peter to save her? Would it work? She mentally went over her cycles…good heaven above, she was late for her menses. Could Peter's ploy be true? Rufio growled and hopped off of his seat, moving ever so close to Wendy. She could smell the stench of old rum on his breath.
"Leave me be."
"Is it true?"
Without fail she nodded.
"Yes."
Rufio kicked the ground, dust rising up above him.
"Blast it!"
Peter looked around the Lost Boys, entreating them.
"Men, we cannot but give Wendy leniency. She is to have a child."
With a howl, Rufio was seated again on his chair.
"If she is not to be executed, she shall be banished."
Wendy sighed in relief.
"Very well, I shall return to my husband's ship. I assure you we shall never bother you again."
A deadly smile passed over the boy's thin lips.
"Oh, no, madam. You are not to be remanded to the Jolly Roger. You are banished. Boys," he called out, and two strong looking Lost Boys stood before him, flanking Wendy's sides. "Cut her free and send her out into the wilderness. I shall go steal a cart and horse from the town and you will drive her out as far into the wild as you can. We'll leave her there to fend for herself. I shall not aide a child of that blasted pirate Captain to enter so easily into the world."
Wendy screamed her discontent, but fainted dead away from fear and exhaustion. So much the better, Peter thought, as she was placed back in the wooden cage she had spent time within prior to their trial. Rufio looked down on Peter with ill-intent.
"I have business now, but have time enough to sentence you, Pan. You are to be chained and flogged daily for the next fortnight for your sins. If, after the two weeks of punishment, you feel you wish to serve under my leadership, I shall consider it. If you continue to rebel against me, you shall be given another two weeks of punishment, and so on until you have been broken. Have you an understanding?"
Peter nodded, his proud chin raised defiantly toward the Lost Boy he wished he'd never allowed join his ranks. For once, Peter knew deep regret.
"You shall never break me, Rufio. Just as surely as you shall never be the true leader of the Lost Boys."
Rufio glared and motioned for Peter to be taken away to captivity. He would take pleasure in whipping his former leader himself. But for now, he had a horse and cart to steal, and a pirate's bride to send into likely doom. It was a wondrous day indeed.
/
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Wendy awoke to the warmth of the sun shining brightly on her face. She sat up, too quickly it seemed, and became lightheaded. She closed her eyes for a moment and breathed deep the crisp air of the meadow in which she had awoken. Her eyes fluttered open again, squintingly becoming accustomed to the bright, unaltered light. So long as she could make her way back to her husband's side eventually, this punishment was not so very bad, it seemed. She was still alive, unharmed physically, and retained all of her faculties. She stood up with purpose. Her stomach gurgled, her head spun, she retched into the tall green grasses that surrounded her. Once composed again, Wendy stumbled toward a brook, whose churnings she could hear from her vantage point.
She drank deep the cold, clear water that ran through a sparsely forested area. Where she was in Neverland she hadn't the faintest, and how to return to Captain Hook…she sighed. How was she to return to him? Should she venture out, unknowingly into the wilderness, or remain here, hoping that he would happen upon her by some sheer stroke of luck? With her stomach as it was, she opted for the latter. She'd no idea if she would be capable of walking much distance, her fluctuating nausea coming more frequently as of late. She looked around at the trees which surrounded her, and their fallen brethren on the forest's floor. Well, that settled it. She would wait. And she would have to make some sort of shelter to do so comfortably.
Wendy had adequately constructed a lean-to, using the largest of the downed tree trunks she could raise as the base, and covering it with woven, thatched branches as makeshift walls. Her hands were filthy, she was exhausted and starving, but she had ample protection from the elements and the creatures who roamed Neverland in the dark. A few hours later she found herself sufficiently pleased with her little camp. She had collected firewood, dug a trench a few paces away for certain unpleasant activities, and had built a small fire pit. Her stomach grumbled, loudly, its discontent. She sighed. Ah yes, sustenance; that was of vital import.
Ashamed she hadn't paid much attention in her classes on the natural world, Wendy found herself unsure of the safety of many of the mushrooms and berries which she found in her rummagings through the forest and meadow near her camp. Although unsure of many plants she encountered, Wendy found herself assured of the safety of a bevy of plants with which she was accustomed to seeing. She found wild asparagus, their stalks much more long and thin than the garden variety, cattails near the little stream, dandelions, and fistfuls of mulberries. Her heart ached when she recalled telling the Lost Boys the story of the mulberry's coloring, but ignored the pangs for the moment. She had to focus on survival and, if she was not rescued within ample time, escape. She placed her little groceries on a large piece of tree bark she had torn off for just such a purpose when a sight in the distance caught her eye. That would certainly be an assistance! She ran toward the sight, laughing all the way. What a wonder Neverland was!
In the distance, Wendy had spotted a coconut tree, its high branches loaded with the tasty treats, in various states of maturity. The coconut palm seemingly sat in a large portion of sand very conspicuously. Nowhere near them, to her knowledge, was the sea. But she was not complaining, no, instead Wendy shimmied up the trunk and filled her greedy arms full of coconuts, both brown for their crisp meat, and green for their fullness of sweet juice. She made it to the ground again with ease and gleefully carried her prizes back to her camp. Though this forced banishment may be a hitch in her life with her beloved Hook, she was determined to at the very least eat well while she was here.
/
/
Hook was going insane with worry. The only beings which kept him tethered to reality were the two children who remained on his ship long after their leader and mates had left. The little girl, Felicity he believed her name to be, had taken a distinct liking to him. The boy, Haystack, was not so easily swayed, but, when he realized the depths of despair that Hook went through in his search for the beloved Wendy, he allowed the pirate favor. Hook spent his days, from sunup to sundown, searching every area he could. He would return to his ship some nights, others he would sleep in a little tent in whatever area he was searching through. He hadn't found her. It had been a month. Soon it was two months. Nothing. He hadn't heard anything from her, hadn't found a trace of his adored Wendy anywhere. It was pushing him swiftly over the edge. She was still alive, that much he knew from some informant's letter dropped on his chest as he slept in the wilderness one night, not long after his bride's kidnapping. The letter had said quite succinctly, "She is banished. In wilderness. Alive." He wondered at its author, but gave up the thought to focus on his dedicated task. He had to find his bride. And once he had her again, she would never leave his side.
/
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Tiger Lily stalked through the Chiz-Tkoh forest, the center of Neverland, surrounded by trees and mountains. She was thankful that the blasted usurper had been kind enough to leave the woman near one of the few sources of fresh water that flowed through the land. She could hear Wendy bustling about her little camp. Tiger Lily smiled as the auburn-haired woman's frame came into view. It had only been three months since she left the Jolly Roger, and she was showing already, a little pooched stomach jutting out from her billowing shirt. The Chieftess would appeal to Wendy's innate need to keep her child safe, a need with which Tiger Lily was all too well familiar, and would bring the woman back to stay with the Indians of the Piccanniny tribe. There she would be cared for and attended to throughout her pregnancy; Tiger Lily knew that Wendy could not return to the Jolly Roger, for pirates never aged, and the woman would be trapped forever, her babe not growing, never being born. What a horrifying concept. She wondered how the pair had even created this little life, but did not dwell on the idea. Though she would aide his bride and help care for his child, Tiger Lily still hated Hook with a passion. But the innocents deserved life and safety. She stalked into Wendy's camp, purposefully making her presence known early on so as not to startle the pregnant woman. Wendy's eyes fell on the proud Chieftess as she made her way toward her. Confusion, fear, and hope settled into her heart. What in the world could this mean?
