XXVIII: The Navigator
Conrad swiftly called a meeting after hearing of Limptail's return. Twelve creatures all crammed their way into Conrad's tent, including Swiss, Davian, Weltsnout, and, of course, Limptail himself. The only creatures who weren't there were Garland the ferret and Yugu the weasel, who were guarding the slaves. They weren't very important members of the group anyways, so Conrad didn't care about their absence.
Conrad sat at his desk, a single candle illuminating the entire tent. The fox didn't waste time in beginning his interrogation. He turned to Limptail and asked, "So, did you find me a ship?"
"Yeah, we did," replied the ferret. Limptail had been considerably luckier than Davian during the fall, only breaking a couple of ribs and an arm, and not very severely. He was fully healed now. "Me an' Wemys, we're walkin' along, lookin' fer ships, like ya said, Conrad. So, then we sees this one, way off in the distance. We waited fer it to get closer, an' it did. So, we hide behind this bush as the ship stops. Then, all these small little boats come from the big ship an' sail towards land, filled with searats all over. Then Wemys says that I oughtta go tell ya while he waits there, an' that's exactly what I did."
"This is good," Conrad said, smiling, "In no time at all, we'll be in the northlands, leadin' a huge horde of hundreds, maybe even thousands. I don't wanna waste any time, we don't know if those searats may leave. So, we're gonna break camp first thing tomorrow, ya got that? Weltsnout an' Davian, yer in charge of the slaves. Jeld, yer the supply chief, so make sure we don't accidentally leave anything behind. M—"
"Wait, wait, wait," interrupted Jeld, a stoat that was flipping a gold coin around in his paw as he stood in the corner of the tent, "Supply chief? When did I ever become a 'supply chief'? Wot exactly does a 'supply chief' do, anyway? It makes it seem like I actually hafta do sumthin'."
"A supply chief is just a creature that looks after all our things," Conrad explained. He never had much patience with Jeld, who gambled constantly and always won. Everybeast had learned not to let him entice them into any games, because they always lost their possessions, so Jeld had spent most of his time lately gambling with the prisoners, even though none of them really had anything to pay him with. "Since the only things we have is all yer useless knick-knacks that ya keep around fer some reason an' my tent, I figured that you'd be the best fer the job."
"'Ey, none o' that stuff I have is useless," Jeld shot back, holding his gold coin to his mouth and biting down on it nervously, "It's all got… personal value. Like that one pair o' dice, it's my lucky pair. And that one medal, it belonged to my father, y'know. Very important stuff, all o' it."
"Oh, please," muttered a female rat named Murkeye, "Ya swindled that medal off o' me in a rigged game. It belonged to my father!"
Jeld took a step back. "'Ey, I don't rig games. I play 'em all fair an' square." Several of the creatures in the tent rolled their eyes or coughed. "It's true, I tell ya!"
---
Outside, in the dark, were the two that had been assigned to look after the slaves, Garland the ferret and Yugu the weasel. The twenty-three slaves were all chained together, stuck in a small wooden pen. Garland leaned against a post casually, holding both a torch and a spear. Yugu stood silently in the dark, looking up at the moon. Her sword was still sheathed.
Garland yawned. "So, wot d'ya think they're talkin' 'bout in there?" he asked his partner, not really interested but bored enough to say it. Yugu merely shrugged, not even averting her gaze from up at the sky. Garland shrugged as well.
"I bet they're talkin' 'bout ways they can cook us up an' eat us!" exclaimed one of the prisoners, a mangy-looking stoat with wide, yellow eyes. Garland sighed. After guarding the prisoners for a while, he had gotten to know their mannerisms, and most of them just annoyed him.
"Ah, shut yer gob, Buvul," Garland snapped, "Yer not gonna get eaten. Yer just gonna have to row a boat fer a real long time. So shut up with all this stupid nonsense about how they're gonna cook ya an' stuff."
Buvul shirked away, avoiding questionable glances from some of the newer prisoners like Skrobb. Buvul had been one of the first to get captured, and he had been extremely paranoid ever since then, and possibly even before.
"I can't believe yew would do this," muttered a female weasel, one of the two that Weltsnout had just brought in that day, "We're just like yew. Why couldn't ya get some more peaceful creatures ta be yer slaves?"
"Be quiet, Reyla," whispered the other weasel Weltsnout had captured, this one male, "We don't want ta make any trouble with these beasts. We don't know wot they may try an' do."
"Lissen ta yer mate, Reyla," Garland announced, puffing his chest out boldly, "Yew don't wanna mess wit' me. I can put ya in a world of hurt!" He jabbed his spear forward quickly and slightly impressively. None of the prisoners said a word. Reyla and her mate began whispering things to each other rapidly. On the other side of the pen, Yugu stifled a snicker. Garland was as intimidating as a baby vole to her.
Then something caught Yugu's eye. She noticed a rustle of a few bushes just north of the pen. Quietly, she motioned to Garland and pointed at the bushes. It didn't take long for the ferret to notice the rustling either. He put out his torch and silently moved over to where Yugu was, gripping his spear tightly.
Yugu had drawn her sword. "Go check out the bush, Garland," she whispered, "Go put whatever's in there in a world of hurt or whatever you just said you do to creatures that mess with you."
Garland looked at the weasel skeptically. "We should go up there together. Safety in numbers an' all, y'know? It's only smart."
"Are you too afraid to go up there alone?" Yugu smirked. Now there was no way Garland could stay back.
"Fine, I'll go," muttered the ferret, not wanting to hurt his pride. Incredibly cautiously, he tip-toed up to the bushes, making sure not to step on a leaf or rock. Breathing as quietly as he could, he held out his spear and slowly prodded the bush at a distance. Nothing happened. Closing his eyes and gritting his teeth, Garland slowly leaned over the bush, his spear trembling in his paws. There was nothing behind the bush, either.
Great, he thought, this is just like how it always happens. Then, right now, whatever was behind the bush will suddenly jump out at me and take off my head.
The ferret slowly turned around, and shook his head at Yugu. The weasel shrugged back. Then, suddenly, her eyes grew wide, and she pointed her paw at something behind Garland. The ferret froze in fear. Whatever it was, it was right behind him. Nervously, he craned his head backwards.
There was still nothing there.
He looked back at Yugu, who was laughing hysterically. Grumbling angrily, Garland stormed back to the pen. "Yeah, yeah, funny joke. Nearly scared me ta death, that's wotcha did. Ha, ha."
"I couldn't help myself," Yugu replied, still laughing, "You're so silly sometimes. Although, I do wonder what was making that rustling noise."
"Ah, don't try an' play me again," Garland snapped, "I know ya got Jeld or some other joker like him ta go an' rustle the bushes, an' then run back inta the woods. Yer always playin' these dumb jokes on me, an' it ain't funny."
"Nah, they all went into the tent to talk to Conrad, didn't you see?" Yugu pointed out. She was about to say something more when suddenly Buvul the stoat jumped up again, pointing at something on the other side of the pen and stammering uncontrollably.
Garland and Yugu both looked up immediately. There was some dark figure, obscured by shadows, that was slowly making his way across the camp, heading straight for Conrad's tent. "I betcha that's what was making the rustling noises!" Yugu exclaimed in a hushed whisper. Garland nodded. The figure slowly reached Conrad's tent, and then entered it without hesitation.
Garland and Yugu exchanged worried glances.
---
Jeld had now invoked the wrath of almost every member of the group. They had him pinned in his corner, all of them demanding their things back. Jeld still denied every having rigged any of his games, but the others were not listening. Conrad sat at his desk, annoyed. He decided he would step in soon.
"'Ey, I tolja, that game was—Owowowow! Leggo o' my ear, ya fiend! Yowch!"
They were so preoccupied with Jeld that none of them noticed when a newcomer walked right into the tent. He stood at the entrance, watching the events with mild interest. He went unnoticed for a long time, until Davian finally saw him.
"Who izz you?" asked the lizard. Suddenly, Jeld was relinquished and the entire group was looking at the new arrival.
He was a weasel, although it was kind of hard to tell. He wore an eyepatch and a goofily large pirate hat. All of his clothes seemed too big for him; the sleeves of his faded blue jacket went way past his paws, his eyepatch took up a good quarter of his face, and he was wearing boots that looked like they might fit a badger. There were no visible weapons on him, but there were numerous spots where they could have been concealed. Conrad looked at him apprehensively, although his appearance was joyful, and he looked unable of dealing harm.
"My name is Abren," the weasel replied, tipping his hat slightly, "I was the navigator of the ship Battletide. Perhaps you've heard of it, perhaps you haven't. Well, my ship crashed and sunk not too long ago, and I've been wandering about for a while now. A little bird told me that you are all planning on getting a ship and sailing. I'd like to join you."
Instantly, almost every creature in the tent whipped out their weapons and pointed them at Abren. Weltsnout chuckled. "Heh, we always got room fer another slavey in our crew," he announced.
"Put yer weapons down, ya morons!" shouted Conrad, "Didn't ya hear him?! He's a navigator! That's at least ten times as useful as a single slave! Abren, of course you can join our crew. But I wanna know what ya want in return before we do anything officially."
"Mebbe he can be zlave and navergater," Davian suggested. Conrad merely glared at him, and the lizard was silent.
"What I want?" Abren repeated, "I just want to be back on the sea again. I can't live without it, almost. Yeah, I know it's silly, but—"
Abren suddenly slumped over, unconscious. Standing behind him was Garland, who had hit the unfortunate weasel over the head with his spear. "I got that 'un, Conrad! Ya don't hafta worry now, I snuck up behind him and knocked him out!"
The other vermin all just stared at the ferret blankly.
Author's Note: You may begin to notice that the characters who were important in Part I, Wemys, Davian, and Limptail, are being overshadowed by these new guys. If you haven't, that's okay; you'll probably really see it next chapter, or the one after that. Either way, I do that on purpose.
Also, does something seem fishy about this new Abren character? I sure hope so. ;)