The Speed of Darkness
Chapter 46 - Chicanery
DARKNESS.
The area the three of them stood in currently was lit well enough to see quite a bit down the passageway in front of them, but there was also a strange darkness about it. It was not because of a lack of light, but rather because of a relative feeling that air held. Skipper knew that feelings such as these were not generated by one's physical surroundings. Rather, it was something that was experienced at the personal level; Julien and Rico may not be experiencing the same thing.
"Where r'we?" The large bird asked the darkness. His voice cracked slightly with a hint of fear as he rubbed where he had hit at the end of his fall. Skipper stood next to him, looking down the long tunnel in front of them. It was lined with the same blue torches he had become familiar with, but had arches that extended towards the ceiling. Behind him the steep, slippery slope ended with the hard ground they had landed on.
"This looks just like it did when Manfredi, Johnson, and I got separated the last time we were here. This tunnels we were dropped in before all met up at some point down the main passage. The trick was to not get distracted by the doors on the side. I'm sure if we just keep moving down this way, we will meet up with the others," Skipper explained, pointing his flipper.
Rico began sliding ahead on his belly, putting some distance between himself and the others. "Rico," called the leader-penguin. The large penguin stood up and turned around. "Stick close this time. We can't afford another incident like what just happened."
"Sorry," he wheezed, letting his captain and the lemur catch up.
"Would it not be faster to just be using one of de doors?" Julien asked suddenly. "De others are just on the other side of dis wall. One of de doors could go through."
"Those doors," said Skipper. "Nothing good ever came out of those doors the last time we were here. We need to stay on the main path."
"We can at least be trying de doors. If one of dem must be leading us to Marlene and de others," insisted Julien as he made his way for one of the latches.
Skipper jumped forward and grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks. "I'm telling you ringtail, those doors mess with your head. You'd be smart not to open one."
"I am not to be believing you silly penguin. Dis must be a faster way," he said, pulling his arm away from Skipper.
"Ringtail!" Skipper shouted suddenly, making Julien freeze again. He turned back around, bewildered as Skipper's voice echoed around them. "You're part of my team now, so you will listen to my orders. Do not open one of those doors."
Julien scratched his head, curious. Skipper knew the self-proclaimed king would not be quick to accept being denounced as an inferior and accept orders. He was used to being on top; giving the orders rather then obeying them. He only worked for what he really wanted, and nothing else. The flat-headed penguin knew that the mammal would need to learn to obey orders, or at the very least follow directions, if he was going to survive. Acting only on his selfish wants was not going to get him very far against Sarge.
"What could be happening," the lemur dismissed, turning back around and walking towards the door. Skipper crossed his flippers. He knew the lemur would rebel against him. There wasn't much he could do about it now, though. Fighting against his ego wasn't going to get them any farther than letting him just open the door.
"Let us see if door number one is being the lucky choice," he mumbled as he grabbed the latch on the tall door and yanked it open. He gasped as he saw what laid behind it. It was a jungle, or rather, a tiny piece of jungle. A tall trunk extended from the center of the tiny room that was behind the door and it shot towards the ceiling. Vines with flowers crawled up its bark and a variety of ferns grew around its base. Rico gasped, but Skipper was not impressed. He knew strange things existed behind the doors in this hallway.
"It looks like de Madagascar," Julien said, jumping with excitement. "But what is it doing in a place like this?"
"The temple's playin' tricks," Rico blabbered, his surprise now replaced with fear. He didn't look like he wanted to mess with whatever magic Skipper also knew was conjuring the image.
"It is not making a lot of sense why der would be a jungle room here, but de King thinks it is a good addition, no?" Julien said smiling.
"Stop being so naive, Julien," Skipper called. "So its a room with a tree. Big deal. Let's get going before we miss our chance to meet up with the others."
"It is being so beautiful, though," Julien said, his face beaming. "I want to see it up closer."
As the ring-tail lemur stepped closer, a strange ghostly fog began creeping out of the room. It traveled along the floor, but to Skipper it didn't seem to be particularly cold nor moist. It wrapped around Julien, covering his feet as he shuffled.
The next thing took Skipper's breath away. Several translucent lemurs, not unlike Julien, stepped out of the room. The ghostly fog swirled behind them, and they moved towards Julien. The lemur-king looked surprised at first, but smiled when they came close to him. The figures ran their long fingers over his fur and caressed his face.
Skipper decided it was time to act. Johnson had been right, his knowledge relayed through Manfredi; this place was designed to make you want to stay. The leader penguin wasn't sure if something supernatural was going on or if it was just some sort of technology that was making these hallucinations, but he knew Julien was getting roped into the room. The penguin propelled himself forward on his belly, parting the eerie fog as he did so.
The lemurs near Julien had produced a ghostly, non-existent crown and were attempting to put it on the lemur's head. Skipper dove for the lemur, but cried in surprise when Julien dodged his attempt to tackle him.
"Silly penguin," Julien laughed. "You are seeing that there is nothing bad here. These strange Antarctic-an lemurs merely want to worship their new found leader."
"You're out of your mind, Julien," Skipper returned, recovering from his missed attempt at tackling the lanky lemur.
"Nonsense. You see, dey have been trapped here for many moon-cycles, and have been waiting for the arrival of a king suitable to guide them"
"Nu-uh," urged Rico who had followed Skipper. The large penguin lunged at Julien with far more success than Skipper had experienced. The two of them tumbled to the ground, rolling several feet. Julien's mysterious ghost crown bounced several feet away from him.
"What are you doing? Get off of me you crazy penguin!" Julien cried, trying to force Rico off of him without success. The ghostly fog that was coming from the room, and the ghost-lemurs began to walk slowly back into the jungle room. Their faces were downcast.
"No, where are you going?" Julien cried, his face twisted with anger at Rico. Rico diligently held him down even though he was flailing wildly. The lemurs disappeared back into their room and Skipper slammed the door shut.
"They only wanted to be adopting me as der king!" Julien insisted. Rico let him up finally, and he immediately moved towards the door. Skipper stopped him short, though. He cocked his flipper back and gave the lemur the hardest slap he could muster. The lemur king was dazed, holding the side of his face.
"Don't you see what's going on here?" Skipper asked him, shaking his shoulders. "Manfredi was right. This place is trying to make you stay forever."
"But those lemurs..." Julien whimpered.
"They weren't real!" Skipper exclaimed. "It was some sort of strange hallucination. Something's playing a trick on you!"
Julien didn't respond, but rather looked back at Skipper with confusion. It was like he wanted to believe the lemurs were real; wanted to believe there were Madagascan lemurs that wanted to worship him as a king. Skipper knew Julien was smarter than that, though. He knew they hadn't been real. Their ghostly figures had shown that.
"Think about it," Skipper continued. "What would Marlene think about that room?"
"She..." Julien stuttered, then averted his eyes to the ground. "She would know it was not being real."
"Exactly," Skipper concluded, giving the lemur one last shake and then letting go of him. The lemur looked drained now. A few moments of silence passed between the trio before Julien spoke again.
"Marlene would be thinking I was stupid for believing dose were real."
"Nu-uh," Rico said, shaking his head. "She not think you're stupid."
Julien looked up at the buff penguin, his eyes wide. He didn't look like he was going to cry, but rather like he was defeated. His pride was hurt.
"You are thinking so?" Julien asked.
Rico walked over and clapped the lemur on the back. "She think you're smart."
Julien smiled, but then looked thoughtfully back at Skipper, then said, "Dat was a stupid move on my part..."
"Next time when I give you an order, I want you to obey it. Is that clear, soldier?" Skipper asked.
Julien merely nodded. It didn't resonate with the confidence that Skipper wanted to hear from the lemur, but he knew that was good enough. Getting Julien to listen to him was all he really needed right now. He needed everyone to be in their best state of mind.
"This place is really being creepy," Julien said, shivering. "We should be moving."
Skipper and Rico exchanged a glance, but then nodded in agreement. The three of them finally began walking down the tunnel. Skipper hoped they would meet up with Manfredi and the others before they happened to cross paths with Sarge. He didn't want to attempt to take on him and his henchmen with Rico as his only real ally. He knew Julien would try his best, but he wasn't expecting the lemur to do much.
"Hey, Skipper," Julien said suddenly, breaking the leader from his thought. He turned to look at the tall lemur as the continued moving down the hallway. "Are you thinking Marlene is okay? I hope she's okay."
Skipper couldn't help but smile at Julien's sudden sign of compassion. He had never seen anything but selfishness out of the lemur-king before, and this was a welcome change. He was in love with the otter, that much Skipper knew. He didn't realize that would actually bring about this change, though. Skipper had wondered before if Julien would ever be worried for anyone other than himself.
"Like I said before, she's fine. She's with Manfredi and Private. I know they won't let anything happen to her. Besides, after all that training with Rico and Private she seems pretty able to defend herself."
Julien clenched and unclenched his fists. Skipper wondered if he was thinking about the quick, two-week training session he had also endured. He said, softly, "I don't know if she can be fighting. She seems like she might be too scared."
"Marlene?" wondered Skipper. "No way. She's as brave as any of us. She came onto the dock to save Private, didn't she?"
"Yeah, but I am wondering about when she gets scared. Every time I have been seeing her grow scared, she freezes up. The first time dat evil fishy-penguin attacked her in her habitat, she didn't run or fight back or anything."
Skipper looked curiously at the lemur, wondering if he was onto something. When she felt free, Skipper knew Marlene was a force to be reckoned with. That time she had gone completely insane in the park had been a clear example of that; even he had been defeated by her. Was fear the controlling force that kept her from attacking everyone?
"That might be true," said Skipper. "And if she did attack that human lady when she left the zoo after us, it was probably because she was not afraid at the time. She let her confidence get the best of her."
"Confidence is seeming like something dat she needs, though," countered Julien.
"You're right. She can't do it when she's afraid, and if she isn't afraid, she'll go bonkers. Maybe she needs something extra to help keep her in line. Something like a sort of regulator to make sure she doesn't loose it?" Skipper wondered.
"Something like me?"
"Maybe. Just rest assured, we'll find her soon enough. I just hope we find her before Sarge does.
"Me too," whimpered Rico.
~Author's Note: Day 3 of 11. Going strong so far. This was an interesting chapter I feel. I think Julien is one of my favorite characters. He's so stuck-up and conceited in his comfort zone but can really break down when forced outside of it. Ah, well. Check back tomorrow.