Prologue 1
A Ship Ride to Purgatory
Under the pale light of the full moon, a large, cloaked figure trudged their way through the snow that covered the ground in a thick blanket. Rows upon rows of trees surrounded the figure, shrouding them in shadows. Even with the heavy garment wrapped around their body, they still shivered harshly as the winter air rushed through their fur. Of course, it had to be unbearably cold. It always was this time of the year. They pulled at the scarf around their neck to tighten it and let out a snarl as they pulled it too tight. They pulled and scratched at the fabric to loosen it to no avail. Great. Another thing to add to this crappy day.
The figure looked up at the twinkling stars above them standing out against the midnight blue sky, and they couldn't help but think of the flecks of blood that stood out in the snow that morning. The figure sighed, their breath coming out in a white plume. Is now really the time to think about that? This is supposed to be a happy day. Oh, so happy. Such a joyful night we're having right now. How wonderful this stupid winter is.
The figure growled angrily to themselves. Why were they even out this late at night? They shouldn't even be doing this. The screech of a bird calling overhead brought the figure out of their thoughts. Instinctively, they gripped the bag they were holding tighter. After all, that bag is the only reason they were out here. Their sharp eyes picked out a crow swooping around in the night sky, illuminated by the moonlight. Slowly, the figure pulled out a knife from its belt as the crow began to circle them. "Oh really? Just try to steal this. I dare you," they grumbled.
The crow, noticing the moonlight glinting off the knife's blade, decided to fly away instead. With a self-satisfied snort, the figure sheathed their knife. "Stupid bird. Alright, where am I?" All the figure could see were trees all around. "Wonderful," they muttered. With a resigned sigh, the figure pulled down its hood, revealing a burly grey wildcat. Her sharp copper eyes scanned the night sky for any sort of direction. Her gaze finally landed on a column of smoke rising in the distance. She groaned; she thought she would be closer by now.
The wildcat, Greymist Hawkinge, was quite large for her species, both in height and muscle mass. For anybeast that knew her, it wasn't surprising. When she got poked with a low-hanging branch for the third time, she snarled and began tearing away any branches that got in her path. Not much further, don't explode now because of some stupid trees.
A few minutes later, she finally reached her destination. A small cobblestone house with a hay-thatched roof. Greymist adjusted her cloak and walked up the wooden steps that led to the front door. She was about to knock when she realised the beasts inside might be asleep. The building didn't have windows, so she couldn't look inside and check. She hesitantly knocked on the door, trying to be as quiet as possible while still making her arrival known. To her surprise, the door opened almost immediately. A brown wildcat wearing a green tunic showed up on the other side.
"Hey Lahjin, let me in," Greymist greeted.
The brown wildcat, Lahjin Pardus, smiled and stepped aside. "What, no hello?"
Greymist walked inside, wiping her footpaws on the mat. "I said 'hey', that's good enough."
"I guess so," Lahjin closed the door and walked over to the table in the corner of the room, motioning for Greymist to sit down. "Um, do you need help with that scarf?"
Greymist waved it off. "I'll deal with it tomorrow."
The larger wildcat looked around at the cosy room and couldn't help but smile at being here again. To the left of the table was a dresser with the flower pot she gave Lahjin a long time ago on it. Next to that was a shelf filled with various ingredients and jars. On the other side of the entrance was an empty cooking pot which had been used recently. Greymist looked to her left and saw marks scratched into the doorway, presumably to keep track of how Lahjin and his younger sister grew throughout the seasons. She snickered and walked over to the table.
Greymist placed her bag on the table, causing Lahjin's ears to perk up. "What's that?"
Greymist opened the flap and pulled out a couple of parcels, handing them to Lahjin. "Just some food and snacks. I was going to give them to you earlier, but my fa- Alcaeus wanted me to do some stuff."
Lahjin's eyes grew wide as he peeled open one of the parcels, "aw, you got me these cookies? The ones I wanted?"
"Yeah, cookies. The good ones, too. They might be a bit cold though. It took me a couple of hours to walk here," Greymist commented flatly.
Lahjin smiled apologetically, "You didn't have to bring me these, y'know. I uh, I don't know what I can give you in return. We might still have some roasted corn left over. I know you like that."
Greymist couldn't help but smile slightly. "Oh, yes please." As Lahjin got up to grab some corn, Greymist clarified, "Also, it's fine. I wanted to give something to you. I just wish I had been given time to do this earlier. Preferably when your family was still awake," she said sharply.
"Oh, did um, Alcaeus not want you leaving today?" Lahjin asked from the other side of the room.
Greymist scowled at the mention of her father. "No. Especially not today."
"Why? Did he want you to carry out some holiday vigil or something?" Lahjin was clearly joking, but there was a twinge in his voice when he talked about Alcaeus.
Greymist didn't respond and abruptly switched the question. "Hey, I didn't come at a bad time or anything, right? I know it's midnight, or so. Because it seemed like you were waiting for me."
Lahjin chuckled awkwardly, "Well, Fiene and my parents are asleep, but, uh, I was waiting. You told me earlier today you wanted to give me something for Yuletide. I wanted to be awake when you came over to give it."
Greymist began to feel slightly guilty. She knew that Lahjin generally went to bed earlier than she did. "I suck. This isn't even the gift I wanted to give you, I just wanted to give your family something in return for… y'know. Being, like, good, or something," she muttered.
"Well, thanks, Greymist." Lahjin walked back to the table and handed a cob of roasted corn to the other wildcat. Greymist took it eagerly and started biting into it. "Sorry, it's cold," Lahjin apologised, "Been a while since dinner, y'know."
The larger wildcat smirked and waved it off, "It's fine. Still tastes good anyway… hey Lahjin, how was celebrating Yuletide with your family?" Greymist asked out of the blue. Lahjin crossed his arms in surprise. Generally, the two of them were okay with not talking for hours whenever they met up, and family was a touchy subject for Greymist.
"Well, uh, it was nice. Ate some food, sang some songs, y'know. Stuff like that." Lahjin noted how Greymist seemed to be actively avoiding eye contact with him. The brown wildcat rubbed his neck fur concernedly and asked, "Um, I know you don't like me asking, but are you okay, Greymist?"
"I'm fine," Greymist answered gruffly. "On another note, do you think it'd be fine with your family if I stayed here for a bit?"
Lahjin grumbled nervously. "You can't just say you're fine and then immediately ask to stay over. Is something wrong?"
"No," she answered immediately. And that's why I want to stay over. Before anything goes wrong.
"Well, you're always welcome here. I'm sure my parents would love to see you again," Lahjin said, trying to add a bit of cheer to his voice (and failing). "But seriously, if something's wrong, you know you can talk to me about it."
Greymist sighed. "I know. It's just, I already told you many seasons ago. I don't want to be around my father right now, especially during Yuletide."
Lahjin nodded in understanding, especially since this was one of the few things that gets Greymist down. "Well, now that you're staying here, wanna do something? I uh, was supposed to fix the spears this morning, but I forgot, so we can't go fishing. I still need to repair some other tools too. We can't sing or anything because it's midnight-"
"And I'm awful at singing," Greymist added dryly.
"No, you aren't, I like your voice. Anyway, can't do much right now, so… you're not tired, are you?"
Greymist shrugged. "I don't know. I just want to lie down and do nothing, right now."
"That's fine. I should probably go to sleep soon, anyway."
The grey wildcat grumbled apologetically. "Sorry, again." She undid her cloak, which had the Fort Hawkinge insignia on it, and hung it on the coat rack. "Want me to help you with fixing the spears or whatever tomorrow to make up for this?"
Lahjin chuckled sheepishly, "you don't have to. But if it helps distract you from whatever, you can."
"Great… thanks Lahjin."
The next morning, Greymist and Lahjin were awoken by the sound of knocking. Lahjin groggily lifted his head and looked toward the bedroom door. "Who's it? I'll be there in a…" he rested his head back on his cot, immediately forgetting about the visitor.
The knocking started again, this time much more aggressively. Greymist growled and rubbed her face with her paws. "Lahjin. Move."
"In a bit, I'm just…"
"Lahjin," Greymist barked, her voice more urgent, "what if it's Alcaeus?"
That got Lahjin's attention. The brown wildcat stood up, allowing Greymist to get out of bed. "Do you think he followed you?"
Greymist scoffed, "I wouldn't be surprised." She put on her chestplate and opened the bedroom door only to find Lahjin's younger sister, Fiene Pardus, about to open the door.
Fiene turned sharply toward Greymist and blinked. "Greymist? Why are you here? Wait, does that mean-?"
"Out of the way, pipsqueak." She pushed Fiene behind her and stood in front of the door. Greymist took a deep breath and slowly opened the door. Lahjin and his parents, who had come out to see what was happening, froze when they saw who was on the other side.
Even without his armour, Alcaeus was a fearsome figure. The heavy fur-lined coat he was wearing didn't do much to hide his massive frame which was larger than most wildcats, even Greymist. The Fort Hawkinge insignia was displayed proudly in the centre of his tunic. Alcaeus grinned and reached for the belt wrapped around his hard-muscled waist, pulling out a flashy dagger. Fiene squeaked and ran behind Lahjin for cover. Greymist stared dead into Alcaeus' eyes, not moving a muscle. Alcaeus raised the dagger and swung it…
… Cutting the scarf still tied around Greymist's neck to the ground. Alcaeus smiled warmly and snickered, "oh dear. You couldn't get it off again, could you?"
Greymist grumbled as she rubbed her unharmed neck. "Why are you here?"
"I just wanted to check up on my daughter. She ran off yesterday without telling anybeast. I was worried, but luckily, she was just here. Again," Alcaeus answered sincerely. Greymist felt a twinge of guilt as she looked at her father's nervous face.
But that guilt faded quickly. "I'm fine. Can you leave now?" She spat.
Alcaeus blinked with surprise, his face softening. "Oh. Do you want to be left alone, right-"
"Yes, leave. Please."
Alcaeus nodded slowly, patting his daughter on the shoulder as he did. Greymist flinched and turned away. "Alright." Alcaeus looked past Greymist toward Lahjin and his family, who were all cowering. "You take care of Greymist, alright? I know I can trust you all, Greymist has nothing bad to say about any of you."
Lahjin nodded quickly.
Greymist watched as Alcaeus' bared his fangs, his smile growing colder. "While I'm here… say, Lahjin, have you thought about joining my army, yet? We could use strong beasts like you, and you get to spend more time with Greymist. She'll be commanding her own rank next autumn; I'm so proud. But I could set things up so you're with her," he said almost mockingly.
Lahjin chuckled nervously, choosing his words carefully. "Uh… I will, I am still considering it, Alca- lord- sir."
"There's a good lad," said Alcaeus, tapping his dagger against the doorframe. Lahjin hugged his arms around his waist, chuckling anxiously.
Alcaeus' smile returned to normal as he looked back at Greymist. "Hug before I go?"
Greymist glanced back at Lahjin. She was pissed. Stop trying to get Lahjin to join. That damn army of yours is… he wouldn't survive. Greymist reluctantly pulled her father in for a hug. "Love you," she muttered, quietly so only he could hear.
"Love you too," Alcaeus responded. He pulled away and nodded. "Good day to you. Just remember." Alcaeus pointed to the insignia on his chest and smirked. "If any of you need help, just call for me. I will find you."
With that, Alcaeus closed the door and left. For a while, nobeast moved. That is until Greymist walked up to Lahjin and asked, "are you alright?"
Breathing heavily, Lahjin gulped and nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I'm still here, at least."
Greymist sighed with relief. "That's good… I can't…" She rubbed her arms nervously, staring into Lahjin's eyes. "Can we talk outside? Fiene can come if she wants, too," she asked flatly.
Lahjin nodded. "Yeah," he answered quietly.
There wasn't a lot of privacy in the house. Whenever Lahjin and Greymist wanted to be alone, they usually hung out in the nearby woods. However, given that it started to snow, and it was getting colder, they settled on going inside the tool shed. Greymist watched silently as Lahjin brushed Fiene's fur while trying to comfort her. Fiene fidgeted with her dress sleeves as she muttered back and forth with Lahjin. Greymist couldn't help but feel guilty for many reasons. She hugged her legs close to her chest and growled. "I'm a terrible friend, aren't I?" She asked suddenly.
Lahjin and Fiene looked over. "No," Lahjin answered.
"Damn it, Lahjin, you know he's going to get you to join, eventually. Whenever he wants something, he always gets it." Admittedly, Greymist couldn't help but admire him for that, but she hated that tenacity.
"I mean… right, but… what else can I do?" Lahjin said dejectedly.
Greymist lay down on the ground, placing her paws over her eyes. "If I didn't become friends with you, you wouldn't be in this situation.
"That's not true," Lahjin said adamantly, trying to cheer Greymist up. "If anything, you being my friend probably stopped him from immediately forcing me to join."
"Lahjin, I don't want you to get hurt. Because of me, you're going to-"
"Greymist, you're fine."
"You're not, though!" Greymist snarled. "I've had to tag along with some of those ranks for the 'experience' or whatever, and I don't want you to go through what amounts to a death march."
The three beasts went silent. Lahjin eventually sighed and said, "no offence, Greymist, but you're not making me feel better."
"Yeah? Well, this situation sucks no matter how you look at it."
Lahjin crossed his arms. "Unless we suddenly have a way out, there's no way either of us are getting out of this."
Greymist took a deep breath. There was another reason she came to visit Lahjin, after all. "Lahjin, can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, what?"
"Do you remember when, I think it was five seasons ago now, that we both wanted to leave this place and go somewhere else?
Fiene, who had been silent for most of the conversation, looked up at Lahjin with surprise. "What? You two talked about that?"
Lahjin smiled awkwardly. "Um, I- uh, maybe?"
"Do you two still want that?" Fiene asked nervously.
"Are you kidding?" Greymist responded sharply. "Sorry. But I've been thinking about that for seasons because I can't stand-"
"Wait, sorry," Lahjin interrupted, "why are you bringing this up all of a sudden?"
Greymist went silent. She reached into her bag and pulled out a sheet of paper, placing it between the three of them. Lahjin glanced at it sheepishly and chuckled. "Um, can you read this for me?"
Greymist's face went red. "My bad. The short version is that we finally have an out."
"We do?" Lahjin asked excitedly.
"Yes." The larger wildcat nodded. "A few days ago, a squirrel met with my fa- Alcaeus a few days ago and asked for help. Obviously, he said no with how stupid the request was, but they were asking for help. Specifically, they want to recruit some beasts to get on a boat all the way to a place called Dawnsbury and assassinate the leader there."
Immediately, Lahjin and Fiene looked worried. "That's… aren't there bad consequences for murdering the leader of a city or whatever Dawnsbury is? Also, whoever is asking us to do this must be pretty desperate if they're coming here to ask for help," Lahjin brought up.
Greymist scoffed. "We're not going to help, obviously. We're just going to agree to help, hitch a ride with them, and leave."
"Where will we go from there? I don't know anything about Dawnsbury and I don't think you do, either."
"Look, Lahjin," Greymist growled, "Alcaeus has been asking for you to join ever since you turned 18. He is getting impatient, and I am sure that suggestion he made earlier today wasn't a suggestion. You don't want to join, and I don't want anything to do with him. If we want to leave, now is the best time for us to do so. I doubt a better chance will come by next autumn."
Lahjin stared intently at the piece of paper. On one paw, he didn't want to leave his parents alone (even if he knew they would be fine if he left), and he had no idea what awaited them in Dawnsbury. On the other paw, Greymist told him how Alcaeus treats his armies and he shuddered.
"Alright. Tomorrow," Lahjin asserted. "We're leaving tomorrow."
There was much he liked about being on the open sea. Despite the fact that this was the first time he even stepped on a boat, Imanol Honeyblade was already loving it. He had never gone outside of his homeland before, so he was excited just to be here…
… Then he looked at the kitchen knife in his paws and chuckled. Who would've thought the first time he left home, it would be to help assassinate somebeast? He wouldn't have thought so. He was a cook by trade. Murder and scheming just weren't for him. Not that he was against it, but by his own admission, he wasn't that smart, and he definitely wasn't strong. Short and pudgy, Imanol was the last beast he'd ever agree to let help carry out an assassination.
Oh well. Who cared about that right now? He certainly didn't. Imanol gazed down at the endless blue sea stretched out before him and giggled. "We're a bit far from… well, anywhere. Where're we?" He asked to nobeast in particular.
Imanol looked behind him. The ship was actually just docked. One side was facing the ocean while the other opened into a large port which was bustling despite the winter morning. "Say, have you tried looking, you blind cat?" he responded to himself.
"Oh, I'm not blind. You can't call me that."
"Well, you are what you eat, Imanol, and you've been eating mostly plants, and they can't see."
"But don'cha know? Potatoes have eyes and you've just bought a potato from that vendor back there."
Imanol chuckled at his cruddy joke as he rested his chin against the ship's railing, continuing to look out into the sea. His golden fur glowed in the morning sun. Imanol's ears twitched as he heard pawsteps behind him. He turned around to see the captain walking around for some reason. "Heyo cap'n," Imanol greeted, "aren't you supposed to be at the head or the wheel or the front or wherever you drive this thing?"
The captain, a grizzled old otter, shook his head. "Nay. We're docked."
"Oh. Right." Imanol nodded. "So, why'd we stop at the Ignis Isle port? This is like, the fifth stop we made and we're not even close to Dawnsbury."
The old otter reached into his jacket pocket, pulled out a pebble, and began sucking on it. "Eh. The paranoid moron that hired ye all fer this trip suckered in three more beasts t'join."
Imanol snickered. "For somebeast trying to put together an assassination, he isn't very organised, huh? He really didn't have a plan and just kept visiting places in hope that more beasts would join."
"And three did. For some reason."
"Right. That's a great haul," Imanol said dryly, "that's the number of beasts that agreed to do this thing already. I wonder why? It's almost as if asking for help to kill the leader of a… what is Dawnsbury, again? Is it a city or something?"
The captain chuckled. "Eh, I live there. That's prolly why he hired me. That, and I'm cheaper. I'll tell ye 'bout it later, but 'tis a city."
Imanol tilted his head. "Speaking of payment, 'tis actually quite funny. I don't even know what I'm getting paid here. No wonder nobeast is agreeing to help. What are we getting from this? Who knows."
"Ye don' know what yer gettin' from this?" The captain asked in disbelief. "Why'd ye come here, then?"
Imanol tapped his temple and grinned. "For the free ship ride away from home. I don't know the other two here that well, but I am willing to bet 'tis for a similar reason. Asking for help with an impossible task far away from anywhere with no listed reward? Now that's just asking for a certain type of beast." Imanol chuckled. "Guess I'm that certain type of beast."
The captain nodded with understanding. "Ah, so I'm guessing yer lookin' fer a fresh start. Can't blame ye. Sometimes 'tis just luck o' the draw, an' yer dealt a bad paw. Hey, I'm not judgin'. I don' care 'bout this mission an' I did somethin' similar. Ran off when I was a scamp t'get away an' now I'm here sailin' beasts back an' forth fer money."
Imanol gestured with his paws. "Really? That makes me feel a bit better, honestly. I'm excited to be here, sure, but I'm also a bit nervous."
"Don' worry, I'm sure things'll end up fine… did ye take my good knife?"
Imanol looked at the kitchen knife he stole earlier in his paw. His normally confident expression grew sheepish as he chuckled. "I uh, got a bit nervous. I'm a cook back home, y'see? Holding this just makes me feel better."
The otter smiled with amusement. "If ye want, ye can help me get a start on lunch. Got some better vittles when we stopped at Dalry a bit ago, so I can actually make somethin' good fer once. I might also restock at this port here."
"I'd love to!" Imanol said excitedly. He ran down the steps to the main deck, looking for the galley.
"Hey!" The captain yelled. Imanol stopped and turned around. "Don' run wit' that knife."
The golden wildcat mumbled sheepishly and continued on, walking slowly this time. "So, what did you even find at Dalry? I didn't think you could find much there."
"Oh. Ye can't," the captain answered bluntly. He began walking down the steps, tugging on the cap he wore on his head. "I got lucky, though. Somebeast at the port there- well, I call it a port but t'was more of a dock- was selling vegetables. Poor morons. What did they expect selling stuff at Dalry? Guess they were just takin' a stop there. Anyway, they were desperate fer coins, so I got t'buy at a lower price, which is good fer us."
Imanol opened the door that led into the galley and hummed. "Dalry, huh? Isn't that where the other two beasts here are from?"
The captain nodded. "Aye. Interesting bunch, too. Have ye talked t'them?"
"A little. I don't know much, though." Imanol held the door open for the captain, who thanked him and walked inside. Right before Imanol shut the door, he saw one of the other two passengers trying to climb the mast. Imanol chuckled to himself and closed the door.
Thoughts rushed through his head like wildfire. What he wanted to eat, what does wood taste like, how much would it hurt to eat wood, how would it compare to those times when he got stabbed, would he have to fight somebeast where he was going, what is Dawnsbury, and so much more.
And just like his thoughts, Sparrow was constantly moving. The russet-coloured wildcat grunted as he dug his claws into the mast, hoisting himself up with his strong limbs. Sparrow pulled himself up onto one of the yards and perched on it, chuckling as he looked out into the ocean. The wildcat slowly tried to stand up, wobbling as the ship bobbed back in forth in the ocean. Grinning, he slowly balanced his way toward the end of the mast, looking down at the ship's deck below.
"Ooh, this is lookin' pretty rough," he chuckled. On a whim, he decided to try to turn around. He held his paws out, balancing himself as he oriented himself toward the port. Sparrow squinted as he saw a couple of concerned onlookers pointing toward him. Sparrow chuckled and looked down. "Yup. I'm pretty high up. Might as well ease their worries a bit." He turned around once more so he was facing the ocean. Sparrow walked as fast as he could toward the end, hoping to jump off and land in the water.
While he was walking, he slipped.
Only then, did he realise this may not have been the best idea. But when he looked closer, he was already above the ocean. Nevermind. This was great! Sparrow cackled loudly as he fell past the ship and into the water. The impact sent waves of shock and pain through his body. Way more than what he was expecting.
Back on the deck, somebeast was watching Sparrow. An orange wildcat, Raven, sighed darkly as she leaned against the ship's railing. She drummed the railing with her fingers as she waited for Sparrow to surface.
He didn't.
Raven let out an annoyed snarl as she berated her brother. "Really, Sparrow? Are ya trying to bring attention to us? Bloody moron." As much as Raven wished she could just let Sparrow drown and call it a day, having a dead body floating in the water would attract more attention to this area, and attention was the last thing she and Sparrow needed.
And yet, he still insists on being an idiot. Lord. There were a lotta beasts watchin' him being an idiot, too. I don't wanna have to swim to him and save him. I didn't sign up for that. Taking in a deep breath, she wiped all signs of anger from her face and replaced it with concern. She walked to the galley door and knocked on it. A couple of seconds later, the captain opened the door with a confused look on his face.
"Help! My brother fell into the harbour, can you please help him?" Raven nearly cried, staring at the captain with wild eyes.
The captain wasted no time running to the side of the ship and diving into the water. Confused, Imanol moved past Raven to see what was happening. Once Imanol and the captain were out of view, Raven sighed and boredly wandered into the galley. The room was relatively small, and it wasn't comfortable to walk around in at all. Still, there was something she needed to grab in here. Walking over a jar that fell and rolled onto the floor, she found an array of knives lying on the table. Both she and Sparrow discarded their weapons before they got on the ship, lest they be searched, so they didn't have anything to defend themselves with. Quite casually, Raven slipped a knife into her pocket. They're not gonna miss one knife. I saw that yellow cat carryin' a knife with him anyway.
As Raven began to walk out of the galley, she noticed a small block of cheese that had been cut into cubes on the table. Shrugging, she pocketed some of those too. With all that over with, she exited the room and walked out onto the deck. She glanced out into the harbour and saw the captain helping Sparrow to shore. Good enough. She walked down the stairs on the other side of the deck that led down to the sleeping quarters. As she walked through the hallway, she passed by a bunch of the ship's crew who looked at her suspiciously. Raven scoffed. Of course, they knew they were transporting beasts who signed up for an assassination (something that seemed stupid to Raven. Shouldn't this be a private matter instead of asking whoever to help?), but they didn't need to look at her like that. Besides, she wasn't even planning on helping with the mission.
Raven walked through the doorway that led to the passenger's quarters and shut the door.
"Woo! That was crazy," Sparrow exclaimed.
The captain's face was stern as he lay Sparrow down on the deck. "Are ye hurt anywhere?"
Sparrow chuckled. "Yes, everywhere. But that doesn't matter. Did ya see that? Did everybeast see that? They should."
"Don' climb up the mast again, aye?"
"Aye aye, cap'n."
The otter nodded and stood up. He turned to Imanol, who was watching and beckoned him closer. "C'mon. The new arrivals'll prolly be here by noon. Let's go."
Imanol nodded and followed the captain back into the galley, leaving Sparrow alone on the deck. The russet wildcat slowly sat up and looked around. With nobeast watching him anymore, him jumping off the ship stopped being funny. He stood up and walked over to the railing overlooking the port. There were a lot of beasts walking around. So much so that he'd bet that if he did something stupid in the middle of that crowd, everybeast would instantly pay attention to him.
But being alone brought clarity and the realisation that he really did need to stay under the radar. How unfortunate. Sparrow grumbled and rested his chin on the railing. How long does it take for whoever is joining them to get here? He wanted to get far away already. Far enough so that nobeast would know what he did. He didn't care himself, of course, but other beasts did, for some reason.
Sparrow sighed dramatically. He was about to leave when he saw a lanky squirrel walk into the port with three wildcats in tow. A large grey wildcat wearing a blue cape, a brown wildcat wearing a green tunic, and a smaller wildcat wearing a purple dress. The first thing Sparrow felt was relief when he saw that he didn't recognize any of those cats, but it was quickly replaced with excitement. He began to pace the length of the ship as they walked closer and closer to the ship.
Following the squirrel, Greymist, Lahjin, and Fiene stepped onto the ship. Lahjin and Fiene looked around wearily while Greymist seemed almost bored. She glanced at Sparrow, who was eyeing them curiously and frowned. "Where can we put our stuff so nobeast can steal them?" She asked, misinterpreting Sparrow's stare.
The squirrel gave a tired glance toward the stairs and mumbled, "there." Without any further explanation, he left. Fiene and Lahjin glanced at each other and began heading down the stairs.
Greymist looked around. She'd certainly been on larger ships before. That wasn't the point, though. She was finally away from Fort Hawkinge. She let out a sigh. Even with everything that happened, she couldn't help but miss her father dearly. "Damn you, Alcaeus. Damn you for letting me care about you this much," she mumbled.
After the captain restocked on a few supplies, did some checks and maintenance on the ship, and did a role call on the crew and passengers (mainly because of Sparrow), they set off. At noon, everybeast was called to eat lunch, but Greymist decided to skip it. With everything that had happened, she couldn't bring herself to eat. As ashamed as she was to admit it, she already felt homesick. Most of the afternoon was spent pacing around or lying down somewhere. She was planning on not speaking to any of the other passengers for most of, if not the entire trip, but Imanol had other plans.
At dinnertime, the golden wildcat walked up to the cot Greymist was lying on and cleared his throat. "Ahem, uh, ma'am? If you have the time, can you meet the rest of us up on the deck? We're having a bit of a meeting just to get to know-"
Greymist turned and looked at Imanol with annoyance. "No."
Imanol sighed. "Your friend, I think his name was Lahjin, wanted you to go. You didn't eat lunch and we brought some food up there, too."
"I know," Greymist answered flatly. Ugh. Why did he have to call me up there? Fine.
Greymist begrudgingly got up and followed Imanol to the deck. Now that they were out in the open sea, the ship rocked more than earlier. Greymist was fine with it, but the small yellow wildcat was struggling a bit. "Never been out on the sea, huh?" Greymist asked.
"Heh, nope."
Imanol led her to the front of the ship where the other four were sitting in a circle. Lahjin handed Greymist some food and she took it gratefully. "Thanks, I guess." Lahjin smiled in response.
Grinning, Imanol looked at the other wildcats and nodded. "So. The squirrel who put together this mission wanted us to talk with each other and come up with a plan or something. Which is just great, because I don't know what Dawnsbury even is, or what it looks like. So instead, let's just do some introductions!"
Lahjin, Greymist, and Raven groaned. Imanol chuckled and added, "it can just be a quick one, you don't have to explain your whole life story or anything. At the very least, we should know each other's names. So, who wants to go first?"
As expected, nobeast responded. Lahjin and Greymist just seemed quiet, Sparrow and Raven seemed guarded, and Fiene was nervous. "Okay," Imanol began. Greymist watched as the short, golden wildcat wearing a matching green jerkin and pants over a yellow tunic stood up. His grey eyes moved from beast to beast as he spoke. "My name is Imanol Honeyblade. Back home, I was a cook and-"
"Wait," Raven interrupted, "why would a cook be joining something like this?"
Imanol chuckled nervously. Greymist opened her mouth with disbelief that he didn't expect anybeast to ask this question. "Uh, well, I thought it'd be a… an interesting experience?"
It was immediately obvious that nobeast believed him. Well. There's no point in lying now. "Okay, stuff happened back home and I think this is the easiest way to get away from it all."
The rest of the group had a reaction to that. Fiene looked at Lahjin. Greymist and Lahjin glanced at each other. Raven scoffed. Sparrow chuckled.
Imanol smiled sheepishly. "Ah, but if- I'm wagering by your reactions that… nevermind."
At this revelation, Lahjin slowly raised their paw to go next. Standing up, the brown wildcat brushed off the green jerkin covering his green and brown tunic and spoke. "Uh, hi everyone. I'm Lahjin Pardus. I, uh… I'm also here to get away from some stuff. Nice to meet you all. Back home, I'm a farmer, so… yeah. That's it."
After those two, Sparrow felt comfortable enough speaking. The russet wildcat adjusted the blue wrappings he was wearing and grinned. "Th'name's Sparrow. Like the bird! Back home, I fight beasts for money. It seems like y'all're runnin' away from home too. Guess what? We are too! Raven an' I went up to this hedgehog and beat-!"
Raven stood up, interjecting quickly. "We did nothing o' the sort," she snarled.
Sparrow was getting too into the story and continued anyway. "Ooh, Raven tricked 'im an' got the blighter to follow her to a river where I beat 'im to death with my mace! Like, bam! Sent him bloody and bruised down the river and he was found a day later-"
"Sparrow," Raven snapped. "Shut up."
"Poor hedgehog was important or whatever so we had to run."
Fiene listened to their story, mouth agape with shock. "Why would you do that?"
The orange and white wildcat, Raven, grumbled and rolled her eyes. She fixed the dark blue dress she was wearing under a teal poncho. "I don' have to tell ya anything. I had a reason. He didn't."
Sparrow simply grinned, not bothering to deny it at all. He seemed to be enjoying everyone's gaze.
Fiene simply stared at Sparrow. Before he could say any more, she introduced herself as well. The small brown wildcat stood up and bowed with her purple dress. "Uh, my name is Fiene Pardus. I'm here because Greymist and Lahjin came, and I didn't want them to leave without me. Um, I help Lahjin back home, and I'm learning how to be a healer and stuff."
Finally, it came to Greymist. Sighing, she stood up; her blue cape draped behind her large, grey figure. "My name is Greymist… Hawkinge. I'm here for the same reason as most of you all. I'm trying to get away." She didn't feel like elabourating further and sat down. With all the introductions over with, the group went silent. There was an almost melancholic feeling in the air as the realisation hit that they were all running away from something. The specifics didn't matter. For a brief moment, there was a sense of solidarity between them.
Clearing his throat, Imanol addressed the group. "Well. Uh, I don't know what any of you are plannin' when we get to Dawnsbury, but why don't we all help each other until we figure out what to do? I mean, we're all far enough away that nobeast knows who we are, hopefully. So… y'know, we don't have to be scared of each other."
Slowly, they all nodded, so for the first time for this group, they all agreed to stand by each other.