"Blowgun's Run"

(Author's Note: After crafting a spectacular death scene for his character, Vinklinar's writer requested that we remaining three contestants make no more references to the basilisk lizards, the implication being that Vink had totally wiped them out in his final blaze of glory. Normally I would have had no problem honoring such a request, but unfortunately Vink never consulted with us before posting his death scene, and since I was the one who'd introduced the basilisks into the story in the first place - and since there was still a possibility I might need them for my own death scene in the event that Vodola was to meet her end - I was forced to violate Vink's wishes. [Turned out I never did need them for my death scene ... but I did write it, as you will see later on ... ] Sorry, Vink!)

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As the three of them stood admiring the nearly-finished Indigo and the glorious tropical sunset over the shimmering sea, something made Vodola turn around and look behind them. "Uh-oh," she muttered. "We've got company again."

Pyr and Cayenne turned to see for themselves that another group of the basilisks stood among the trees at the jungle's edge, studying the three mammals. For the moment they made no move forward, but a sense of anticipation was in their attitudes. It was almost like a replay of the earlier occasion when the lizards had turned out to evict the castaways from this section of the beach.

Pyr made a face. "Ungh. I was hoping Vink had slain them all."

"Unless those're ghosts," Cayenne said, "I'd say a few got away."

"A few dozen, by the look of it," Vodola nodded. "And they sure don't look like ghosts to me."

A couple of the basilisks stepped forward and started toward the three companions. "Think they're gonna try and force us away again?" Cayenne speculated nervously.

"I'll be sent to Hellsgates before I'll stand by and let that happen!" Vodola spat, drawing both her shortswords and rushing toward the lizards, shouting and screaming an incoherent battle cry. Cayenne and Pyr tensed to join her, in case the vixen needed their aid.

It wasn't necessary. When the two-lizard vanguard saw Vodola rushing recklessly at them with her blades drawn and twirling about her head, they immediately retreated to the tree line to rejoin their fellows. Vodola stopped and called back over her shoulder, "I don't think they'll bother us. After what Vink did to them, they have no way of knowing whether any of the rest of us might be able to wreak similar havoc among them."

"Hope you're right," Cayenne called ahead to her.

Vodola faced forward once more just in time to feel a light thunk! against her left breast. She saw one of the basilisks lowering a long straight reed from its mouth. Looking down, she saw a tiny feathered dart sticking from the green fabric of her habit. Not stopping to pluck it out, she spun and ran back toward Cayenne and Pyr as fast as she could.

"Everybeast, into the Indigo!" she shouted. "They're shooting at us!" Behind her, several more of the lizards had raised hollow reeds to their scaly lips and aimed them at their adversaries.

Pyr and Cayenne needed no second bidding to do as they were told. Waiting just long enough for Vodola to draw abreast of them, they turned and ran up the gangplank, onto the Indigo and belowdecks.

"Cayenne, get that hatch shut and barred! Pyr, get this dart out of my backside!" Vodola flopped down on her belly, and her two friends could see the ornate feathered dart protruding from her tail end.

Cayenne slammed the hatchway closed and locked it, while Pyr withdrew the dart. The healer vixen sniffed its pointed tip; it smelled mediciny, not like poison. "Are you hit anywhere else, Vodola?"

Vodola rolled over onto her back. The first dart still stood where it had impacted in her left breast ... or rather, into the book which she had replaced in her pocket there once they'd finished their day's work on the Indigo and realized they were nearly ready to sail. Vodola had decided to keep the book on her until their departure - a move that now might very well have saved her life, or at the very least kept her from being taken prisoner by the basilisks. The dart in her buttocks, which had found flesh beneath her habit, was enough to make her woozy, even though Pyr had hastily extracted it.

Overhead came the sound of claws clambering over the deck. Scratching and pounding came from the sealed hatchway, but the door was solid and held against their blows and fumblings.

"What do we do now?" Cayenne worried. "They'll tear the sails and wreck the mast again! Maybe even hole the hull ... "

"Maybe not," Vodola said drowsily. "They want to get at us, not destroy the boat. But I don't think they'll be able to get in. As long as they don't set the Indigo on fire ... " And with that, Vodola's eyes fell closed and she passed out