**Warning: talk of blood and gore in this chapter.**
"He's got a new ship and with the help of the hyraxes, he'll have it stocked and ready by tomorrow morning. We've got the day to figure out a plan involving stealing his ship because if we don't, Gutt will ride that current back to the mainland." Akira said from where she stood beside Manny, joints aching. Each day she was growing closer to meeting her cubs and she could only hope that they'd hold on a little longer.
Manny glanced up from where Sid and the hyraxes drew a layout of the land on a rock slab, the latter more so than the former. "We'll need a big distraction, one to stall them long enough to get you and them," he jutted his head at the younger hyraxes, "onto the ship." Akira nodded, "We could have some help from the ones Gutt already has captive. If we could get a message to them somehow, I'm sure they'd fight." Without having to say, she was beyond pleased that the mammoth was letting the rodents come with them. They'd grown so attached to them in the short time on the island, especially Akira to Kirri. She couldn't forgive herself if she left the young rodent and her family on the island at the mercy of the furious captain.
"We can't just leave him here, Manny. As long as he's alive, he'll hunt us down." Diego said as he approached, sparing the plan a glance and then a roll of his eyes when he caught Sid's little doodle of Gutt. He stopped to stand beside her, catching her eyes to ensure she was okay before he looked back at Manny. "He can't follow us home." Akira nodded in agreement, flexing her claws into the dirt. "I call dibs on ripping his throat out."
And who could counter the sabress' right knowing well what the ape intended for her and her cubs? None of her herd did, the hyraxes none the wiser the conversation happening. Manny himself even relented to the show of brutality, "I'll hold him down." Akira shot him a slightly surprised look because the mammoth didn't do blood and violence despite how well he could hold his own against any enemy that came their way. He fought defensively, never on the offence like the sabres often did in way of protecting or surviving.
Manny returned her stare, however, not faltering. He understood more than anyone the need to protect his family and if Gutt posed a recurring threat, there was really no other way than making sure he was dead—because the ape wouldn't stop as long as he lived. "I got your back, tiger."
By the afternoon, they had a plan and the things they'd need to ensure it went right—that every mammal made it.
There would be a group of hyraxes able to fight that would draw the pirates away, eventually leading them into a trap laying in wait, set to activate when the mammals would be racing back to the ship. This distraction would allow a team that snuck up to untie and commandeer the ship with the help of the enslaved hyraxes, due to be killed the morning Gutt would leave. The herd had been sickened, to say the least when they discovered that this wasn't Gutt's first time on this island, having circled back every few years to kidnap the fittest of the rodents and then kill them when they ran out of purpose.
The pair to sneak close would be Sid and Granny who would untie the ropes and let the ship catch the current. The team following would be Akira and the youngest hyraxes, the firsts on the ship as the ones who couldn't go as fast as everyone else, sloths included. And as a failsafe, Akira, particularly, because the mammals didn't trust Sid to not get sidetracked and they certainly didn't trust Granny to keep him in check.
But only those involved knew the plan past the distraction at the top of the hill. Jace and Shira believed that the actual herd would be at the top of the hill and that only Akira and the young rodents would be running to the ship. The sabress had scoffed when they purposely discussed the plan too loudly while she listened. "Your ground team is baby hyraxes and a pregnant sabre? Do you have any idea what you're up against?" Her brother shuffled from paw to paw anxiously but he said nothing, keeping quiet.
Akira kept her expression calm, shrugging as she tilted her head at the sabress. "Does he?"
They had faced worse things than Gutt in many ways save sheer ruthlessness. They knew creatures with bigger teeth, sharper claws, and louder roars and they had survived them without so much as a scratch. Plus it all, they'd survived a flood and avalanches and brutal blizzards. Gutt would be another obstacle added to their list that they had overcome. But Shira and Jace doubted that and as long as the ape lived, that made them liabilities. So come evening when Diego brought the sabress water, he 'accidentally' dislodged one of the roots and walked away without a second glance.
When night fell and the bustling of the camp came to a stop, the mated sabres and mammoth heard the two sets of paws that snuck from the camp, one set first and the other hours after. Akira and Diego tracked them longer than Manny could, hearing the moments they believed they were far enough, racing off into the night.
Inside her hollow, Akira curled further into her mate, Diego purring softly as he nuzzled her. She had hoped her brother wouldn't have followed, that maybe he would have stopped Shira or maybe alerted them but no, he had followed right after. The sabress could only hope he knew what he was doing in the long run.
An hour before dawn, everyone was up and ready, practically buzzing with nervous energy. Akira shifted where she stood, an uncomfortable but necessary weight on her back. What little they had was packed and ready to go—food for their journey, extra rations they could scrape together, with the help of Precious unbeknownst to anyone else, for if and when the cubs would come. The sabress felt that the time was near and it terrified her, in all honesty, what would transpire in two hours but between her sheer determination to survive for her cubs and her herd and their stubborn will to never leave another behind, she had faith she'd be okay.
"Okay, everyone remembers their roles?" Scattered nods and assuring exclamations. Manny seemed satisfied enough but his eyes narrowed when his passing gaze landed on Sid and Granny—the former in particular. "We're relying on you, Sid, you got that?" The sloth looked at his friend in steely determination, saluting, "Sir, yes, sir. Totally focused, sir." Akira huffed softly, expression softening but worry burned a bitter taste on the back of her tongue. So much could go wrong and yet. . . Granny waved a dismissive paw, "Don't worry, it'll be pretty easy since we don't have to guard those ol' sabres anymore."
For those who knew, their surprise and inkling of horror were for show though that from the hyraxes and Sid weren't. The sabres and mammoth shared a glance while everyone was focused on broken roots and paw prints leading off into the forest. They shared a nod before Manny looked back at their group, projecting authority. "Okay," he began, catching their attention. "We need to move now."
As Akira grabbed a hold of the vine that tied her pack together, supported by a series of twigs, her chest tightened and her body's ache seemed to worsen. Each step felt like pinpricks but the sabress didn't say a word as she pulled her weight, walking alongside her herd.
"Squint!" The rabbit practically vibrated where he stood, eager for orders as he stared up at the monster in admiration. "Batten down the hatches." The mammal scurried off as Gutt scaled the tallest tree that stood erect in the centre of his newest ship. "Raz, hoist the anchor and Gupta, fly the colours. We're setting sail for vengeance lads." As his crew ran about to do as he said, Gutt's grin was feral as he stared off onto the horizon where the Sun had barely begun peering over. He could practically hear the screams and taste the tang of blood.
He was broken from his reverie when he heard Flint's voice cut through his bloodlust, the ape rolling his eyes skyward before he bothered to focus on what the seal was saying. "Oo, I love vengeance!" The half-witted idiot giggled, clapping his flippers excitedly. Dark eyes scrutinized the seal, considering the wonder Flint was. He was brainless but he was brawn and had size on most mammals they came across. He did as told without questions and couldn't fight for the life of him but most attacks bounced right off him and his. . . demeanour. . . caught others off-guard. So he was useful if a bit brain-dead.
Gutt cast Flint an insufferably fond look as far as the seal was concerned. The latter didn't suspect that the ape was imagining any other uses for the amount of blubber he was. He went to speak, condescendingly so to the seal who would know no better but paused his descent as a blur of gray that jumped atop his ship became black and white at a standstill. "Captain!" She called, seemingly out of breath. Gutt's eyes flashed as he peered down at her. His hungry look dissipated into faux concern. "Oh, Shira!" He exclaimed, "what a relief. I thought we'd really lost you."
The gleam in his eyes worsened as he watched the sabress sense the insincerity of his words. Watched her hesitate to meet his eyes. Watched the tension of fear string her muscles tight. He delighted at the resignation in her eyes—her defeat and his victory. "The mammoth," Gutt neared, mouth-watering as his blood ran hot with fury, "he washed ashore with me. He's—" Dead. Scattered to the wind in pieces. Blood splattered on the ground. Oh, how many possibilities of the beast's fate. He ached to know. "Did you sink your fangs into him? Did he beg for his life?"
He had neared with each word and near lost his battle with greed as he listened to Shira's heart beat so powerfully, like a hummingbird that had yet to be strangled. "No. . ," his eyes flashed and his claws twitched, "the sabres took me down."
Gutt dropped any and all pretenses as he snarled, advancing on the sabre in a blink. He felt a perverse power as she flinched back, cowering under his gaze. "You're a failure." He hissed, no longer bothering to suppress the thought of how much more she'd be of use to him as a pelt rather than a big cat gone soft. "I need warriors," he growled, delighting in the thrill as she stumbled back with each step he took forward, "and all I have are kitty cats and bunny rabbits." He finished in disgust.
The ape near rolled his eyes when Flint perked up, chipper as ever. "And a seal and a kangaroo." A gaggle of idiots, really, he thought with an exasperated sigh and a glance over his shoulder. When he turned back to Shira, his eyes were ablaze once more, hand flexing, "You take that sabre down or you die trying," he warned, his grin widening with sickening pleasure as he pressed a claw into her lower abdomen, "leave the pregnant one for me." He murmured lowly as he traced an imaginary line up the sabre's stomach.
"W-what about J-Jace?" She breathed, barely managing to get her words out without pushing further into his claw. Oh, how Gutt wished she would move enough so he could cut her deep. He could imagine the hot blood that would gush out. The heat of her insides. "If he knows what's best for him, he'll keep running." Gutt finally said, tearing his gaze away as he trailed his finger up to the junction where Shira's throat and head met.
"Maybe once I rid that sabre of her burden, I'll break and make her into exactly what I need. Make her a better pirate than you ever were." He whispered softly, the underlying threat loud and clear. She was dead either way, though the when was wholly depended on her competence. Something Gutt now heavily doubted after the last couple of days.
Shira didn't so much as breathe while his claw pressed into the underside of her jaw. He suspected she would have held it till she passed out and despite the itch to test that theory, he had places to be. Gutt released her, revelling in her gasps as he turned to his crew. "Mr. Squint!" The rabbit scurried over, standing at attention.
"Aye, sir." Loyal and stupidly so. Exactly what Gutt needed. "You're first mate now." He said, uncaring as he walked away. He could practically taste the sabre's realization as it dawned on her that she was so very easily replaceable. He didn't need her. Her place by his side had been a preference—mercy—but he was no longer feeling merciful.
The ape grinned to himself as he heard the rabbit hiss, "Outta my way sabre, you answer to me now." He held back a snort, morbidly amazed by the lack of brain activity but such was short-lived as Shira's voice cut in. "Gutt, listen, he's coming for the—"
A noise sounded in the distance. Just loud enough to be heard. A horn. He scrunched his face in bewilderment, turning to the noise atop the crest of the hill behind them only to falter. A rebellion it seemed. Of hyraxes with tiny, little spears. Gutt had never been a witness to anything funnier. He had tears in his eyes as he barely managed to keep his composure, doubled over in a fit of full-bodied laughter when another noise sounded.
This one. . . it was different. Deep and mellow. Long and threatening. A warhorn, this time, one that emitted a warning that had their fur standing on end. He looked back at the crest and his lips twisted up into a snarl as he saw the silhouettes of the herd appear on the horizon. His entire demeanour changed, the ape reaching for a spear propped against the center tree.
"Grab your weapons, mates!" He barked, muscles trembling, urging him to break into a sprint right away. "Arrgh!" His crew responded as they armed themselves, soon itching as he was. Gutt didn't hesitate then, falling onto three of his four limbs into a full-fledged sprint. "Follow me!"
Watchful eyes followed the angry crew as they fell for the ruse. Akira felt a spark of amusement as Diego appeared beside her, snickering to himself. "Some ruthless captain he is." The sabre mocked, his mate huffing softly as she bumped him with her hip. They were a little behind as everyone had gone to do their jobs. "Go on, I'll get the prisoners and meet Sid and Granny at the ship."
Diego straightened at that, smile falling off his face as he nodded. "Yeah, okay," he muttered, leaning close to press their heads together, "be safe." Akira relished in his warmth, vaguely recalling that their last rendezvous on a ship had ended in them being separated. If it happened this time. . . the sabress was well aware she'd be as good as dead.
"I'll try." Because to say she would be okay would be the biggest lie she would ever tell. Not when they were stranded on an island, many of the food sources friends, not prey, and her babies due any given moment with a crew of murderers out of their blood. Intensive luck could only get them so far.
They parted with one last moment of lingering touches, Akira watching Diego run into the treeline, stealthily alongside the pirates who were none the wiser. It was another second before she turned to join her team of hyraxes, meeting Kirri at the base of the cliff by the cages.
The hog of Gutt's crew usually guarded them but with him gone, all that stood in their way was cleverly tied rope that was cut away easily. At first, they cowered as far back as they could in the small enclosure until Kirri scrambled to the place between her ears, chirping encouragingly down at them. Akira tried to help by making herself look as non-threatening as she could—which wasn't much—but it did work.
The first prisoner uncertainly hiccuped, tiptoeing forward as the bravest among them and hoping to entice them along a bit quicker given their time crunch, Akira lowered herself slowly, purring low in her throat. Kirri, ever the darling, followed suit as softened her chirps. "That's it," she purred, eyes bright with reassurance, "you're okay. You're safe now."
One by one, the hyraxes braved the possible danger to escape their confines, taking comfort in each other, holding their buddies close as Kirri jumped down and courageously ushered them along to where the boat awaited them. And Sid who had been explicitly told many times no distractions in the act of getting distracted. "Oo, berries!"
Akira near rolled her eyes in exasperation before she noticed the colour of the berries, frowning as the sloth hobbled over to them, "Sid, she began, still thinking hard when it hit her, her eyes widening, "Sid, no!" For the berries that were toxic and the fact that the ship wasn't being held, drifting along until it caught the current. Kirri exclaimed and raced along, the rescued hyraxes following but Akira had to detour to seize Sid before he ate the berry.
She didn't make it there in time and Granny merely tilted her head, curiously watching her grandson as he popped a berry into his mouth. The sabress snarled half-heartedly in her frustration as Sid made a face, smacking his lips. "Ugh, too bitter." She gritted her teeth as she nudged the sloth away from the bush, glancing at the ship again. The current wasn't moving it far and some of the hyraxes had gotten aboard, securing the ropes for the remaining others—ones in less than stellar condition—to be hoisted up.
"Yes, Sid, because lotus berries are poisonous and cause paralysis. Now, come on. Maybe we can get you on the ship before they kick in." She rushed the sloth along, acutely aware that he was slower than usual—even for Sid— his stare blank-eyed even as he nodded, stumbling along. Granny stood by where the ship used to be, Akira urging the old sloth along to where the hyraxes had lowered a rope to drag along.
She'd barely grabbed a hold of the end of it, intending to tie it to Granny when a thump and a gurgle sounded behind her. The sabress growled under her breath, eyes rolling skyward in annoyance.