The Throne of Flame: Chapter 20

Skipper was frantically pushing through the jungle, whipping vines out of his way and slashing branches as he went. One thought endlessly pulsed through his mind, forcing him forward with velocity; he had to get to Julien before Maurice could pull the trigger. Maurice might have been cunning with this whole double-crossing operation, but he was weak. There was no way he could match Skipper in a face to face battle, upper handed knowledge with the land or otherwise. It was only a matter of whether or not Skipper could get there in time to stop him.

His expression grew more determined, sweat riding down his brow, as recollections of the kiss he and Julien had shared flashed through his mind. He would not let that glimmer of happiness fade, not by a chance in hell. He still had yet to speak with Julien about that, too. Still had yet to confront the idea further - he had no idea what the two of them were at the moment, all he knew was that he liked Julien more than he'd ever liked another before. Even Lola couldn't hold a candle to him. He didn't want that to disappear not when he had just gotten it.

But he refused to let his love distract him, only allowing it to fuel his rage. Maurice would not get away with killing the man he adored, not if Skipper had anything to say about it. He'd kill the aye-aye before he'd let that happen, rip out his heart, disembowel him, douse him in acid. He would do whatever it took, and he wasn't afraid to make a mess.

At the same time, he was only one little penguin. He couldn't search the full expanse of Madagascar's jungle before Maurice took care of Julien, and he cursed, trying to find any semblance of a trail within the jungle. Lemurs hopped from tree to tree, though, and he wasn't exactly capable of emulating that, which left him to blindly search from ground level. The situation was appearing hopeless, and his heart broke within his soul at the thought of losing Julien.

He was entrusted with the job of protecting Julien. It was his firm designation, the very thing Julien had begged him for. He hadn't known what he was getting into at the time, but he had solemnly sworn to uphold the duty. He refused to fail, not like this, not when he had been so close to finding love. Julien had trusted him, hadn't he? He couldn't let Julien down, it was as though he was physically incapable. His body pushed him forward no matter how his feet weren't meant for the terrain, no matter how tired he got.

Madagascar was vast, and he wasn't even sure how much of it belonged to Julien, let alone whether or not Maurice had taken Julien outside of his territory or not. Maurice was clever - would he take Julien out of lemur territory as a precaution? Or was the notion of such so obvious to anyone who thought about it for more than a second that he would keep him within the most blatant place available? It was puzzling to Skipper, and he didn't have Kowalski to give him options.

Not that he necessarily wanted anything to do with his boys at the moment.

How could they have done this? Betraying he and Julien like that. They were under the pretense that they were following his order, he understood that part, but didn't they know him well enough to surmise that he would never plan to assassinate Julien? Didn't they know that he valued helping others above all else? Didn't they see the way he looked at Julien, couldn't they tell how he felt? Nothing about his actions had clued them in? Why hadn't they confronted him, at the very least, made sure their intel was correct? Made an effort to make sure?

Maurice must have been damn convincing for his story to have slipped past even Kowalski. Then again, he didn't have a habit of dishonesty, so he supposed there was the clean slate to account for. Or, at least, he didn't have experience being caught lying. What else could he have lied about? Just wondering still made Skipper feel sick to his stomach, bile rising. He fought it back as he continued his one man search party, restlessly exhausting all edges he could reach. But it was no good - it had been at least an hour, and he'd still yet to locate Maurice and Julien.

There was a good chance that Julien was already gone, and he internally lamented at the idea, but kept on pushing. He wouldn't give up, not until he was absolutely sure. He'd go days if he had to, even if it meant that the only thing he'd see would be Julien's corpse. The mental imagery made him cringe, but he knew that he would regret it for the rest of his life if he didn't see Julien at least one more time.

Just as it seemed like all hope was lost, however, Skipper saw a flash of familiar brown fur in the midst of lush jungle foliage. The dark brown tail stood out in the sea of deep green and reddish brown, and he locked onto it and sped forth. Just as he did so, he found the culprit of the evil deeds that plagued him, and tackled Maurice. The two of them landed in the dirt and rolled for a moment before Skipper ended up on top, gripping so tightly he was probably cutting off blood circulation.

"Where's Julien?! What have you done with him?!" Skipper snarled right in the aye-aye's face, holding the alarmed lemur down against the ground. "Speak!"

Maurice only stared back blankly for a moment or so. He licked his lips before he answered, as though taking a moment to contemplate the question. "...I saved him."

"Bull," Skipper spat. "Tell me what you did to him!"

Maurice stared back up, seemingly unintimidated. There was this impenetrable sense of calm about him that only angered Skipper further. It was far from smug, but it was satisfaction, contentment, as though Maurice had achieved what he'd strived for his entire life. Skipper slapped the vile foe, but it had no effect, aside from a soft flinch and a huff.

"You'll never find him," Maurice murmured distantly. "Clover is keeping lookout so that no one comes for him before he's gone."

"Mother of pearl!" Skipper exclaimed, infuriated. "Clover's in on this too!"

He should have known. She and Maurice were always at each other's sides. A shame, truly, since he'd grown to like her. She was just as militant as he, a kindred spirit. That, of course, only made her perfect for the job. He wondered how Maurice had managed to convince her, though; she seemed pretty loyal to King Julien. He must have had something she wanted… He shuddered at the thought.

Still, despite his aggravation, the rest of Maurice's words registered. Skipper's brow evened out as he frowned in hopeful confusion. Clover was keeping look out so that… No one would find him before he was gone? Slowly, he backed off from the lemur, giving him room to sit up yet still keeping one foot firmly planted on his tail in case he intended to run.

"Wait… So you're telling me you didn't kill him yet?" Skipper questioned, wanting to make absolutely sure.

Maurice gazed at him with a raised brow. "No way. Your team tried in Marlene's cave... And then I tried, back in the sub, but I just couldn't do it. I just… I couldn't." Maurice looked at his hands, shaking and slightly perplexed.

But it didn't add up. Skipper was mildly astonished at the mention of the two attempts, but still, they lacked in true explanation. "Then… What do you mean, she'll guard him until he's gone?"

Maurice didn't look up from his palms. "I'll let nature take it's course."

Another moment of speculation, before Skipper understood. He gasped with fervent alarm. "You're going to let him starve to death, you monster!"

Maurice shrugged.

"How could you do this?!" Skipper practically shouted, furious in every sense of the word. "He was your king, and you were his advisor! You've been with him his whole life, you two are best friends, family even! You loved him, and he loved you!"

"Julien doesn't love anyone." Maurice's response was automatic, trained even. His tone settled, and he looked up from his fingers to stare intensely at the penguin before him. "Especially not you."

Skipper saw red, and before he knew it, he was back on Maurice, ready and willing to punch him until his face broke. Just before he could release the blow, however, there was a tug on his arm, pulling him back. He tumbled slightly, off of the ghastly lemur and into something… Furry?

He looked up and was shocked at who he saw. The day was just full of surprises. "Classified?"

The husky showed hints of a smile, before his face transformed back into stoic firmness. "Good to see you too, agent Skipper."

"What are you… What!? What are you doing here?" Skipper was flabberghasted, and he looked to Maurice, who seemed just as clueless as he.

Granted, Maurice didn't seem to be fully there at the moment.

"As elite members of the North Wind, my team and I have been given the duty of protecting the lemurs from themselves and others who might cause them harm, especially with recently rising controversy. The South African Control Squad was offering, and my group was happy to take the mission." Classified sniffed pretentiously. "What are you doing here, pengwing?"

"I'm…" Skipper hesitated. He realized he'd failed in his objective before he'd finished his sentence, but with a heavy heart, he continued on anyway. "...I'm here to protect the king."

Classified looked slightly surprised at this, and he then seemed to take notice of Maurice. "Oh… Are you his majesty, then? I was under the impression that you were a ring-tailed lemur, not an aye-aye."

Skipper spun around to face Maurice, who was silent and unimpressed. He made a point of staring at Classified as though he were looking through him, and Skipper felt disgusted by his apathy. It was as though Maurice had changed, and he couldn't tell if this had been the real version of him all along, and the rest was all an act. It upset him no matter how he looked at it.

His glare hardened. "This deceitful, dirty, back-stabbing, treacherous, no-good lemur is Maurice, and he's the one who put the king in danger to begin with!"

He lunged forward to attack, but Classified stopped him once more.

"Whoa there," he chastised, voice not truly antagonizing, being that he was fond of Skipper. "The ruling of the Malagasy lemurs has been an ongoing controversy for years, and it's a delicate situation that we can't just jump into with violence. That's exactly what radicals like the Mozambique Jackal Embassy and, previously LALA, would have wanted."

"You don't get it, he deserves violence. He kidnapped the king and he won't talk!" Skipper explained, intensely exhausted by all this conversation. He wanted action, he wanted it now!

"Then we'll just have to conduct a digital search." Classified reflected on the thought with a tap to his chin. "I'll contact my team and let them know. In the meantime, let's head back to the safehouse to store the... Suspect for questioning."

Classified sent Maurice an incredibly supercilious look, evidently disliking him immediately (which pleased Skipper). Maurice shrugged and simply followed as the husky began to walk away. Skipper gaped for a moment or so, before he followed. After having worked with Classified before, at least he knew that the husky had good resources and would help him find Julien soon. That, and he had the feeling he could trust Classified.