The clouds slowly began to dissipate as Agra's ship continued its trek to the southwest. It had been a terrible storm, the wind had nearly blown a few of the vermin into the ocean and lightening almost struck the ship. Agra decided to have everyone stay in the cabins so no one would be lost until the storm ended.
Once the storm was gone, the vermin slowly came out of the cabin and surveyed the damage. A few boxes had been thrown around, and some were missing. And a few pieces of wood on the side of the boat had been splintered or missing; the boat would not sink from that so the vermin weren't too worried. The mast though looked like it needed repairs. The sail had received many holes from lightening strikes and one spot was still burning a little bit.
"Some storm last night, eh boss," said Blint.
"Aye, but at least the ship is still in tact," said Agra.
"Do ye think, the pretty female wolf survived?" asked Cred.
"Hmm maybe, I better go check on her to see. I want all of you to start fixing the sail while I'm down there," said Agra who then ran over to the slaves cabins.
He found Midnight where he had left her; she was tied to a pole with her head hung low and many cuts and scratches on her.
"I see my future slave survived the storm," said Agra.
"I wish I hadn't," said Midnight angrily.
"Ah but don't you want to be a slave, it'll be so much fun and I have another wolf who would just love to meet you," said Agra.
"No one will replace my Tanner," said Midnight.
"But he is dead and besides, Vex would make an even better husband for you. You will feed him, do his chores, and have children when he wants you to have children," said Agra who was holding her chin up and staring at her in the face with loving eyes.
Midnight growled and spat in his face. Agra wiped off the spit and then slapped her so hard across the face that is caused her to bleed.
"No one spits on the face of Agra the pirate, no one, and just for that you get no food for today," said Agra angrily. Agra then stormed out and slammed the door behind him leaving Midnight alone in the slave cabins.
Midnight sat there and looked out at the only window slave cabin had. She could see the vast lonely ocean before her and wondered if Tanner was still alive.
"Please Tanner, please be alive and rescue me," she said. She then rested her head against the pole and tried to go to sleep.
Slowly Tanner's eyes began to open and the first thing he saw when he opened them was Burr and his ugly face. This scared Tanner half to death and caused him to fall right into the ocean. The wolf came up sputtering and looked at Burr angrily.
"You know I don't like anyone looking at me when I wake up," he said with a growl.
"Sorry sir, it's just that we all thought you were going to die and then we would be without a leader, so I had to watch your breathing," said Burr.
Tanner slapped himself in the face and then looked over at his crew; it looked like some where missing.
"Did everyone survive?" asked Tanner.
"Sadly not, remember Lefteye the one that was burned from the lightening? Well he sank as soon as we hit the water, Needles we lost before the wave hit us, we also lost Welt, Fatlip, Gripper, Yurg, Side Splitter, and Splinter," said Burr.
"Six members gone, why did this have to happen?" said Tanner with a growl.
"Uh I guess because storms are like that and sir we lost eight not six members," said Burr.
Tanner growled and grabbed Burr by the neck. "Don't correct me, you know how I don't like to be corrected," he said.
"Sorry," said Burr.
"Oh well we still have more than Agra does, we can still win this battle, now help me flip these two boats back over," said Tanner.
Five of the vermin did what Tanner wanted and in a few hours the two boats were erect and ready to move on and find the ship that carried Midnight.
It was not until the next morning when they found the ship again. Tanner made his members go as fast as they could to reach the ship and luckily by the afternoon they reached it.
It took them a while to tie the boats to the ship though because another storm was approaching and the waves were becoming quite rough. Once all the boats were finally tied to the ship, Tanner led them up to the top.
When they reached the top, the vermin found themselves face to face with two stoats who had their spears pointed at them.
"What is yew all doing here?" asked one of the stoats named Lockjaw.
"Yeah, Agra's not gonna like this." said Blint.
"Well he is just going to have to deal with it isn't he, kill them boys," said Tanner.
Suddenly Tanner's thirteen members jumped upon them. A few seconds later, the two stoats were thrown into the sea, never to be seen again.
"What do we do now sir?" asked Burr.
"All of you find the other pirates and kill whoever you find, I'm going to look for Midnight," said Tanner who then disappeared around a corner. The others then ran in the opposite direction in search of the pirates.
The rain soon began falling and the seas started to get rough. The ship was soon rocking back and forth and Tanner nearly fell into the ocean once. Luckily he kept his balance and was soon able to find where Midnight was.
He opened the slave chamber door and saw her sitting against the pole; she looked quite weak and tired. When the door opened she looked up with a sad face until she realized it was Tanner.
"Tanner, oh thank goodness you are still alive, I was about to give up hope," said Midnight.
"Don't worry, I will get you out of here in no time, just as soon as this entire crew is destroyed," said Tanner.
Before Midnight could say anything, the door suddenly swung open. Tanner turned around to see Agra standing at the doorway, his angry expression illuminated by a nearby lightening strike.
"I see you survived our last encounter," said Agra.
"Yes and I hope to survive this next one," said Tanner.
"I don't think so," said Agra who then slashed at Tanner. Tanner barely had time to move as Agra's sword scratched him across the face.
Tanner howled in pain as he grabbed his sword and started slashing at Agra, but Agra was quick and was soon out of the slave cabins and onto the deck. Tanner followed the ferret out to the deck where they began their long swordfight.
The two vermin fought as the ship rocked back and forth from the storm. All around them lightening flashed and waves reached up to the deck, but they both paid no head as each tried to outdo the other.
Suddenly a wave caused the boat to tilt; Tanner lost his balance and ran into one of the cabin doors. Tanner rubbed his sore back from the impact and before he could get up to fight some more, Agra came charging in and slashed Tanner in the chest. Tanner growled and slashed back, missing the ferret by a few inches.
They continued to slash and stab at each other, some strikes struck home but were not life threatening and they continued on as the seas began to get rougher.
Then just as they were about to charge at one another, lightening struck the ships mast and the mast came crashing down on the ship. Both vermin were thrown back from the impact.
Tanner felt himself flying when he was stopped short when he ran into the hull on the side of the ship and ran into a splintered piece of wood that pierced him in the shoulder. Tanner howled in pain as he tried to pull himself out of the terrifying predicament. But it was stuck in him. The only thing he could do was chop part of the wood off so he could finish what he was doing with Agra.
By the time he did get himself free, he had lost a quite deal of blood and felt like dropping where he was. But he did not want to give up, he wanted to finish that ferrets life once and for all. Suddenly he heard a voice.
"Oh Tanner, where ye be, are you a coward and don't want to fight anymore," yelled Agra.
Tanner looked to see where his voice was coming from and then saw him pass the wolf. That was when Tanner had an idea. Slowly the wolf took out his dagger and aimed at the ferrets back. When he felt he had the right aim, he threw. The dagger hit home right in the middle of the ferrets back. Agra cried out in pain and fell to the floor while Tanner weakly got up and walked over to him.
Agra looked up at the wolf and grunted in pain.
"You cheated," he said weakly.
"Oh I bet you pirates do that all the time," said Tanner who then grabbed his dagger and stabbed the ferret in the ribs. Agra cried out in pain as Tanner lifted him up and threw him into the sea.
Tanner watched as Agra tried to stay afloat but soon disappeared as a huge wave engulfed him into the sea. The reign of Agra the Pirate was over.
Tanner smiled at his success, but was so weak from the fight that he had to sit down. Tanner sat on the edge while the ship rocked back and forth. Tanner watched the waves that seemed to be so hypnotizing and before he knew it, he lost consciousness.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Tanner awoke to find the sea was calm and the sky was as blue as powder. A few seagulls could be heard and voices were nearby. Suddenly Midnight walked over to him with a wet rag.
"Oh wonderful you are finally up, I thought you would never come around," she said happily.
"How long was I out?" asked Tanner weakly.
"Three days, we're heading back home now too," said Burr who sat right beside Midnight.
"You are lucky to be alive, that piece of wood almost went right through you," said Midnight.
"Yeah and you will be scarred for life from that, not to mention the one Agra gave you on your face," said Burr.
"Eh that will just make me look more evil, which I want any way. Also did we loose anyone else?" asked Tanner.
"Just Fatgut, Jergle, and Kilum. Jergle actually fell into the ocean during that storm the other two were killed by the pirates but don't worry all of those pirates are now dead and sinking to the bottom of the ocean," said Burr.
"We lost eleven members on this trip, more than I would have wanted," said Tanner who was rubbing his head in anger.
"Oh I would not worry too much about it, besides, you are going to get another member soon," said Midnight.
"Oh really, is he a pirate?" asked Tanner.
Midnight shook her head.
"Is he just a traveling vermin would wanted to be a part of us?" asked Tanner.
Midnight shook her head again.
"Then what is it? Out with it woman," said Tanner who was getting a little angry by this.
"Oh Tanner I'm pregnant, you will have a son in a few months," said Midnight.
Tanner stared at her in awe, he had totally forgotten about that romp he had with her that night when she was captured, he had just been worried about her, and wasn't thinking that their playfulness had worked this time.
"Finally a son, once we head back to the group, we will first burn this wretched ship so there will be no memory of Agra ever again, and then we are celebrating our new fortune with a party," said Tanner happily.
"Yay drinks all around," said Burr.
They all laughed as the ship slowly took its course back to the east where the group belonged.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------There's that chapter for you, I hope you liked it. Sorry it took so long getting up, we are selling our house right now and I have to leave the house almost every day for someone to look at it and I am usually home kinda late. So don't be surprised if my stories are behind, it's just because I am selling my house, but I will try my hardest to write. Any way Strider will be back in the next chapter just to let you know.
Also thanks to Aubreta for the review and the help you gave me I'm glad you still like it and sorry about the name Catspaw I just thought it would be a different name for a badger. Thanks to everyone else who reviewed too, I really appreciated that. Well have fun writing everyone.