The Throne of Flame: Chapter Six


The cave lighting was dim when Skipper slid in. It always was, but it seemed to be more so when death lurked in the midst. Maurice followed after him, albeit with more panic in his steps, stumbling forth. Upon entering, they were greeted with a horrific sight. Marlene, Kowalski, Private, Rico and even Mort had backed up towards the walls and far away from Julien. The lemur king was laying on the floor, panting, twitching, and drooling with an empty gaze focused on the space in front of him. They seemed to stare down in utter shock, no doubt frozen with surprise, but Skipper wasted no time.

"Explain!" He barked out as he launched himself forward, examining Julien by turning him over and feeling over his fur.

Private was the first to stutter out a response, seemingly still too scared to move from his trembling spot against Marlene's wall. "W-we don't know, Skipper! But I think a dart hit him. It looked like it shot down from the ceiling!"

Skipper found the dart in question sticking out of Julien's stomach. He recognized the label anywhere, even without the ability to read; rattlesnake venom. The nastiest trick in the book, aside from perhaps fire ants, which was honestly more of a Blowhole thing to do… Still, whoever did this was definitely aiming to kill this time around, if they weren't the first time. Skipper wasn't about to let that happen.

He hissed in malice and got to work, throwing the deadly weapon to the side and placing his beak at the flesh of Julien's abdomen. He sat him up to slow the blood flow. Julien let out a soft, distant squeak from above him, and Skipper knew he had to hurry. He began to suck violently, tongue rolling around the skin to help urge more liquid out, but even with his racing thoughts, he knew that there were more effective and safer ways to go about this. Especially when his beak wasn't exactly malleable enough to fit against Julien's flesh.

Most of his options were cut off, however, being that solutions often involved professional medical treatment that he didn't exactly have access to, what with being not human and all. He did, however, remember his prior experiences with snake bites in the past - aside from the time Rico had to suck the venom out of Skipper himself, there was the time in Copenhagen when he'd used a device to save Hans from a rather nasty bite.

Hans had guided him through it, being somewhat able to function throughout the endeavor, despite his hazy mind. It definitely wasn't the first time Hans had interacted with venom. Skipper had saved his life that night, which had eventually shown to be an unfortunate turn of events. There was no time to lament on past mistakes, however. Not when Julien was about to slip from his grasp.

Pulling back, Skipper spat blood out onto Marlene's floor, earning a soft gasp from the otter woman. "Kowalski, get us both some water. Rico, I need a suction, stat!"

They all seemed to be broken from their spell of terror, and immediately the two soldiers in question got to work. Marlene ran to aid Kowalski and Private was by Skipper's side within the moment, helping to hold up Julien's body. The lemur was lolling his head to the side, seemingly dazed. He mumbled under his breath incoherently, and Private looked at him in what could be described as uncertainty. His helpful actions seemed almost false in intention, for whatever reason… Despite his paranoia, Skipper had to remind himself that Private was practically incapable of dishonesty, though he wouldn't have known the reason behind it anyway.

Private tilted his head to the side. "Skipper… I thought-"

He was interrupted as Rico finally managed to hack up the suction. Skipper took it from him without so much as a single word and before anyone could even blink, it was placed against the wound and activated. Skipper allowed the thing to do it's job, all the while staring at Julien's unfocused eyes in sheer apprehension. Private shut his beak at this, and no one moved, save for Kowalski, who nudged the cups of water closer. They seated themselves in a circle around them, all anxiously awaiting the results of the vacuum.

They waited quietly as the poisoned drained from Julien's system. It took at least a good twenty minutes in total, and Skipper made sure to keep the site of venom below Julien's heart at all times by holding him up. Vacuums generally only got out what was in the immediate area, but Skipper was sure that he'd acted fast enough that it had done it's job. There was no way that the venom could have spread throughout his body when he'd been on the case in the matter of time that he was. Still, that didn't quench the fear that ran through his system when Julien closed his eyes and remained limp in his arms.

No, he promised to keep Julien alive. And aside from staying true to his word, he wanted Julien to keep living. The lemur king needed to stay alive, if only to keep being one of the few constant variables of Skipper's life. With the ever-changing world, Julien seemed to be one of the only things that always present, and Skipper wasn't prepared to lose that in the same way he wouldn't easily let one of his own men fall.

His grip tightened on Julien and his glare hardened. He knew that all he could do was play the waiting game. He couldn't increase the power on the suction because that could cause too much blood to leave his system. He couldn't shake him awake because that could only agitate the fleeting venom. All he could do was will Julien to open his eyes again, and soon, because the tension was eating away at Skipper.

All was silent in the otter habitat, save for the soft rhythmic drip of water from Marlene's pool. No one could gather the confidence to speak, but eventually, Julien, who had passed out, stirred in Skipper's arms. Everyone else seemed to back up once more at this, no doubt wanting to give the two room. When he opened his eyes, Skipper could see right away that he was languished and still a bit fuzzy. He waited a moment for Julien to collect himself before offering him the water, which Julien gratefully took.

Unfortunately, with his trembling hands, it became evident that he could not drink it without a bit of help. Skipper hesitantly lifted the cup to his lips for him, and their eyes met as Julien took a long sip. He was instantly reminded of Julien's strange fake drinking act from before, but shook the thought from his head. As weird behavior as it was, it was completely unrelated to the situation at hand. There was no need to dwell on Julien's uncanny habits.

"How do you feel?" Skipper asked, tone lacking any sense of humor, though relief was not far from his voice.

Julien, of course, shrugged and seemed to nestle further into Skipper's personal space. "Oh, I am being a little warm. The air in here is humid." It wasn't, but that was really just Julien's way of telling Skipper that the penguin himself was a source of warmth.

Skipper stared at him blankly, unable to process this at first. Julien was joking, even though he was close to death only moments ago. "Uh… You know that you almost died, right?"

Julien waved a paw. "Oh, do not be being ridiculous, the Skipper. It's not that humid."

Skipper was openly gaping now. Luckily for both he and Julien, they were interrupted by the mouse lemur.

"Oh, Julien! We were so scared! I thought you were going to be dying and I almost was the dying!" Mort cried out, voice high pitched as he rushed over.

Before he could do such, Maurice scooped him up, knowing that Julien probably did not want his feet cuddled at that very moment. His face was utterly grim, and Skipper knew that his suspicions about Julien's assassin being adamant were confirmed. His frown deepened and he realized that Maurice was entirely correct.

"I'll uh, I'll just. I'll just go make some more tea." Marlene sputtered out, and she moved to the kitchen area. Private followed suit, eager to help.

"Kowalski, explain how a dart came from the ceiling." Skipper demanded, turning to his second in command.

Kowalski looked to him numbly for a moment, before he nodded and turned to the ceiling. "Well, Skipper. It seems there was a spring trap that Julien activated."

Skipper's eyes narrowed. "How would they have known that ringtail here would be the one to activate it?"

Kowalski gave him that confused glance again, before he replied. "They… Couldn't have, I suppose. It would have required extreme calculations, but even then, I guess any of us could have been targeted."

Endangerment of his men? That would absolutely not fly. It was one thing to hurt Julien (which was awful in itself) but to potentially take out his own flesh and feathers? He growled at the very thought.

"That dirty dog," Skipper hissed. "Well, they're playing in my ballpark now, and I take foul play very seriously. Now we play hardball." Just as Maurice had wanted.

Kowalski seemed befuddled by his analogy, before he slowly nodded. "Right… I'll go see if they need any help with that tea."

When he was out of earshot, Julien turned to Skipper. It was then that the penguin realized he was still holding him. He was just about to let go, discomfort evident, but Julien leaned up and embraced him before he could so much as move. With the lemur's chin resting at the side of Skipper's head, the bird felt him smile and nuzzle up to him.

"Thank you for saving me again, Skipper. I knew that I could be counting on you." He murmured, soft enough so that only the commanding officer could hear.

Skipper was taken back by both the proximity of Julien and his words, but slowly, he registered the social cue to react and gently patted Julien's back, even if unsurely. He wormed his way out of the hug with an awkward smile and nodded, clearing his throat into a flipper when Julien only grinned back, eyes alight with gratitude that was only meant for Skipper to witness.

"I told you I would, didn't I?" He responded, feeling more confident in his words now that they were no longer hugging.

They stared at each other for a minute, and it almost seemed as though Julien was leaning in. His eyes seemed to grow more tender with each passing moment. The smoldering hue of gold that seemed to shimmer even in the darkness, with just the slightest hint of burning orange, like a warm fire... Skipper was so caught up his stunning irises that he didn't realize that the gaze they were sharing wasn't exactly exclusive.

Maurice cleared his throat, setting down Mort, who scampered towards Julien to gaze longingly at his feet. Skipper was instantly snapped out of his trance and he took a step back, yanking his gaze away from the illustrious king, who seemed almost disappointed at the interruption. Maurice stepped forth, his expression determined, if not slightly uncomfortable with the intimate display.

"But you see what I mean now, right? About how serious this is?" He shifted so that he was directly within Skipper's line of sight.

Skipper's smile fell and he tapped his chin. "Yes, I do. It's obvious now that they aren't playing around. We have to act fast if we want to keep Julien alive."

Julien examined his nails, unimpressed with the conversation, as Marlene, Kowalski, and Private returned, all holding cups of tea. Maurice leaned in, being the most involved with the conversation, and Mort only stared at Julien's feet in rapt attention. Kowalski's beak fell open, knowing most of all that a serious decision was coming up. Skipper's expression hardened as he realized exactly what he had to do.

"Boys, pack up your things. We're heading to Madagascar."