Gonff crept along as quietly as he could in the looming darkness. He had passed the spot where the search party had been called off and was continuing down by the river. Then he came to an area where the river widened considerably. He stopped and looked at the ground before him. It was all torn up, as if something had been anchored there. Then it hit Gonff. Something had been anchored there, the ship that must have taken his Columbine and Gonflet away. Not having a clear enough mind to think through it sensibly, he raced down the bank after the ship that had gone this way before him.

It was several hours later when Gonff tripped on a tree root and went flying, straight into the river. He floated there for a moment, not able to gather the energy to control his own mind and body and get out of the river. Tired, aching and despairing, he blacked out and lay floundering in the river.

Gonff woke up in a cave to the smell of food and the feeling of a wet cloth on his forehead. He looked up into the face of a concerned otterwife. He tried to sit up, but she pushed him back, calling out, "The mouse is awake!"

He became aware of a second otter leaning over him, and he glimpsed more behind them. The second otter spoke to the group. "Let's let him rest a bit. He can have some food once he's feeling better."

To tired to care, Gonff fell asleep. When he awoke again, he was able to stand up. The otter he had seen before, the second one to lean over him, noticed him and came over to shake his paw.

"Hallo, there, matey, I'm called Treev. What caused you to be aflounderin' out there, looking like a bloated fish?" There was an easygoing quality to his voice and also concern.

Gonff smiled tiredly. "I guess I was just so exhausted I didn't care anymore about what happened."

Treev frowned. "And why is that?"

Gonff decided he could trust the otter. "Well, I'd been running all night. You see, yesterday my wife and son went missing, and when I followed their tracks, I saw vermin footprints and some blood. Last night, when I tracked them further, the tracks ended where a ship had been anchored. After that, I guess I just lost it. I went running down the bank, tripped on a root, fell in the river, and that's all I remember."

Treev looked thoughtful. "I don't want to judge you mate, but why is it that you were looking for tracks at night?"

Gonff looked down. "Because I couldn't wait till morning. My friends tried to get me to wait, but..." Embarrassed, he wiped at his eyes. "It's my family, Treev. My wife and son. I couldn't bear it if anything happened to them." Gonff looked up at the otter, and said determinedly, "I'll be leaving soon, to follow them again. Thank you for pulling me out of the river. I owe you my life."

With that, he started to walk towards the cave's opening. Then he felt the otter' paw on his shoulder. "Not so fast, matey. What do you plan on doing? Going back out to run along the bank again, and fall in to find that this time there's no one to pull you out? I don't think so, mate." He gave a friendly growl in Gonff's ear. "You're going to stay here, eat breakfast, and then, when you're ready and only then, you can take one of our boats and sail off after the vermin, but only with a crew of otters on board!"

Gonff knew better than to object. He looked up gratefully at the otter. "Thank you."

Oloe smiled to himself as he watched his crew hastily carry out his orders. They were all aware of his moods, and they had seen before what happened to anybeast that didn't obey him. He felt considerably happy these days, although he was troubled during the nights. The sea rat captain had spent many a night tossing and turning, haunted by his enemy, Gonff. Oloe that that by capturing the mouse's wife and son, he would feel more at ease and that the nightmares would stop.

But they didn't.

If anything, they were just more frequent, and worse than before. Nearly every night his enemy appeared before him, his eyes ablaze with anger, and leap for the sea rat captain. Oloe always woke up at this moment. He never knew what happened next in the dream, but he knew he didn't want to know. Although these dreams troubled the captain, he dismissed them as all that remained of his memories of Gonff. He was just recalling them now more than ever because he held his enemy's family captive.

Captain Oloe chuckled to himself as he thought more on that happy little bit of knowledge. It was just too perfect! He held captive on his own ship the family of his enemy Gonff, the so-called Prince of Mousethieves. Gonff had caused him such trouble in the past, but that trouble would be avenged in a short time. Oloe trembled with glee as he dreamed of the sweet revenge that he would extol upon the two mice held captive in his ship. Although he could not take revenge upon Gonff at the moment, he was content knowing that his enemy's family would pay dearly for the sea rat captain's troubles.

Columbine sat numbly on the bed, holding her son close. Delpa had left not long after telling Columbine about the Captain's dreams. The hogmaid had sensed that Columbine needed to be alone, and she had left, promising to come back the same time the next day. Now Columbine was horrified as well as confused. For some terrible, unknown reason the captain of the ship she was on had one goal: to kill Gonff. And she had no idea why.

Some time later, there came a knock at the door, not the gentle knock of Delpa, but the harsh, quick knock of a vermin, and, sure enough, there was Floptail standing at her door.

"The cap'n wishes to see you," he said gruffly. "Bring the little one, too."

Baffled even more than before, Columbine took Gonflet by the arm and followed the ferret to the Captain's cabin. The sea rat sat on his throne as before. He dismissed Floptail with a curt nod of his head before addressing Columbine.

"I suppose you want to know why you're here, and what's going on," he said in his low, deadly voice. "It's a long tale, but I have a feeling you'll be very, very interested in it.

"Many years ago, when I was much younger and more powerful, I was Captain of a huge ship, the likes of which have not been seen in these waters since. I've seen many great ships in my day, but none as large and powerful as the one I commanded and sailed, the Soul Crusher. My ship was a thing to be feared, and feared it was. Everyone was terrified of the mighty Soul Crusher, its fearsome crew, and most of all, its deadly, mighty, all- powerful captain, One-leg One-eye, or Oloe, as I was called. Captain Oloe. We sailed every body of water and took captives from every land we came in contact with. We killed the weak ones, but the stronger ones became our slaves. They rowed our ship or did other tedious tasks that our mighty crew would never stoop to. We raided and plundered every land and made it ours.

"Then one day we came to an island, beautiful, fertile, and, best of all, filled with potential slaves. We went in and took over. We killed most of them and then left the older ones to farm the land while we took the young ones aboard our ship. Few families stayed together, but one family managed to all get aboard the ship.

"It was a family of mice. The mother and father were young and strong, that's how they were selected to be on my ship as oarslaves. They had three young ones, and the oldest one was called Gonff. The other two were too young to be very strong, so we used them as deck hands, and they did odd jobs on the ship. The older one, Gonff, was quite strong, and he was on of the few who could pull the oar by himself. He was obedient, but only because he knew I would kill his family otherwise. He always did the work, but all my guards were afraid of him because of the undisguised hatred he had for them. I tried to be very careful with that mouse. I knew he would escape the first chance he got.

"I'll admit the mouse was smart. When I came below deck one day, he was able to steal a piece of flat metal right off my boot as I walked by him, and I didn't notice until long after. I was told by the slaves that once I left, he tried to give the "key" to his mother so she could go lose. But she, too, was smart. She knew that she wouldn't be able to get past the guards, even when freed. She also knew she had a family to take care of. I'm told that she gave the metal back to Gonff, and she and her husband told him to escape. They distracted the guards while he escaped. He somehow got up to the deck, stole one our rafts, and was about to jump over the side with it. That's when I saw him.

"I ran at him with my sword, and I almost got him, but he jumped to the side. I only got his shoulder. I charged again, but he jumped again, and it got stuck in the side of the boat. I was thrown to the side by the impact, and Gonff got the sword before I had a chance. He came at me, but he knew I always wore armor underneath so that no slave or mutinous crewmember could get me. He managed to get the one part that wasn't covered.

"I had had a wooden leg for years, but the one I had been using up to that point was hollow. In that hollow leg, I had a treasure map. That map was given to me by a Seer, who said that if I could translate it, it would tell me where the greatest treasure in all the world was. But it was coded in an ancient, no longer used language. I had had it for years, and had no idea what it meant. Then, on the island I had most recently attacked, there was an old otter that knew that language. But he was too stubborn to say anything, so we decided to torture him until he decided to talk. But the mouse ruined any chance I had of that happening.

"He came at me with my own blade and cut off the wooden leg that was, in a sense, my treasure chest. He must have planned on using it as a paddle. I recovered my blade, and just as he was jumping over the side, I raised it high in the air and threw it at him. It left my paw, hit the wood of the railing where he had just stood, and was hit by a bolt of lighting. The ship caught on fire and split in half. One half had my crew in it, and that took off in one direction. The other half, with the slaves on it, was carried off by the waves in a different direction. Neither half sank, although many must have died on both halves on the journey to land. My half landed on our lands, but I have never seen the other half since.

"That night, I lost my mighty ship. We were aware it was storming, but weren't worried because there was nothing high up that could get hit by lightning. Nothing metal was in the air until that mouse forced me to lift my blade up high and throw it. The whole ship was made of wood, and the fire spread too fast to put it out. If it weren't for him, the ship would not have been destroyed. That vile, stupid, cheeky, insolent little mouse cost me my ship, and with it my power!"

At this point the sea rat was nearly screaming. His voice dropped back to its calm, deadly tone.

"I swore that day that I would hunt that mouse down and kill him, very slowly and painfully, for all that he has done to me. I nearly thought it would be impossible to find him." The sea rat grinned, a smirk of evil triumph. "But now, I have done even better. My ship went for a simple raid in Mossflower, and what did I find?"

He reached out and stroked Columbine's chin. She recoiled, drawing Gonflet and herself further back.

"Now I have found his dear, darling wife Columbine, and his precious little son Gonflet." The sea rat's one eye was filled with horrible wrath. "You two will be my blackmail. Either Gonff faces me, or you two die. But of course, he won't let that happen, if I know that mouse, he will do all in his power to save you. He always has put family first. And when he does find me, I will have already found him. I will kill him. I will make him wish he was never born. Gonff the Prince of Mousethieves will regret the day he met me."

Columbine turned away in horror, clutching Gonflet. She was horrified at the words the evil sea rat spoke, but in her mind she was already thinking.

No, vermin, you will regret the day you enslaved my husband. You will not kill any of us. I know my Gonff, and I know myself. It is you who will pay.
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