The Quest for Romance: Sea

[Rainshadow]

  Cooper still sat on the stump.  He pulled the cloth from his nose, happy to see that his nose had stopped bleeding.
  He started trying to get some of the dried blood off of his nose, but stopped suddenly.  There was the rabbit!  "You!"
  He stood up and started walking over, trying not to appear threatening.  "I'm sorry I scared ye earlier.  I wasn't tryin' to 'urt ye, I wanted to 'elp."  He stopped a few yards from the rabbit, holding his paws up.  "Don't 'it me, please.  It 'urt the last time ye did that."

[BrookSkimmer]

We 'ave nothin' else to do 'till night, so why not just stay 'ere?"

The shecat breathed a deep sigh of relief. It would be nice to stay here in the woods for a while. Since Cooper was near by she felt safe. They could relax and talk, maybe even plan where they would go in their little ship.

The cat's thoughts snapped back to reality as the hare entered the area they were sitting in. She stayed where she was, opening her paws to show she would not try to cause anybeast harm. She willed Cooper to take things slow and easy. Perhaps the hare would come to understand they had no intention of hurting her.
____

Raven's head snapped up as she heard the knock on the door. She quickly swept the map she had been working on under a pile of parchments. The sleek otter captain cleared her throat and spoke. "Enter."

Birata came through, dragging the limp for of a rabbit. A not so large, female rabbit. Well, she could do a days work or two in the galley if she was not fit for harder labor. Casting her gaze through the door Raven knew there would be no more slaves coming. Still, having this one would be better than nothing. They needed to leave soon.

"Come closer to me Birata. Leave the rabbit there." She waited, beckoning the other otter towards her. She kept her demeanor light, coaxing him into trusting her little by little. He was a handsome creature, but she didn't need to tell him how much she fancied him right then. There would be time for that later. Now it was time for business.

"You've managed to bring me a new slave, so now I shall uphold my end of the bargain. I would like to promote you to first mate. You will answer to me and me alone on this ship. Everybeast else must obey you. Also, I would like you to watch over the slaves aboard our ship. I believe there are around a score of them. Put that wildcat Cooper in charge of the daily needs of the slaves and keep an eye on him. I don't trust that one, or his friend Birelle."

She held out a paw to the tattooed otter and smiled. "Do we have a deal?"

[W0NWILL]

Birata tried to nod, puff out his chest, shake the hand, and salute at the same time, "Aye, cap'n! I'll get the cats workin' hard!" He strut from the cabin, looking for Brielle. He kicked at a nearby rat scrubbing at the deck, "Scrub harder! That deck ain't clean 'nough!"
The rat wrinkled his nose at Birata, "Yew ain't the cap'n. Yew ain't even above me!"
Birata deliberately stepped on the rat's paw. His voice got dangerously low, "I'm the first mate, so if yew ain't scrubbing at the deck, I'll smash the other paw."
The rat nodded, tears pushing at his eyes. He went back to the deck, using every ounce of strength in his other paw.
As Birata strode away, he suddenly turned on the spot, "On second thought, tell the crew that I'm yer first mate. Show 'em what'll happen if'n yew don't foller me orders." The sudden power had gone to his head, Birata was the equivalent of a madbeast.

____

Elay was starting to stir, she groaned, "Nahlayzorn u Inlé."(Sickness to the devil.) She raised her head gingerly. A bomb went off inside her skull, a mole dug at her nervous system, all in all, she had an ear to ear, cracked-egg headache.

____

Seeing as the cats hadn't attempted to kill her yet, Phillim took the time to draw her dagger. She held it in her shaking fist, trying not to let the fear show.

[Rainshadow]

  Cooper slowly took a step back, seeing the rabbit's dagger.  "Whoa, easy!  We ain't gonna 'urt ye.  Me name's Cooper, an' this lovely miss is Brielle.  We're escapees from the Lashkeel.  Lissen, I'm sorry about earlier.  I was bein' forced inta tryin' ta capture ye."
  As slow as he could go, Cooper took out his scimitars and threw them on the ground.  "See?  We mean ye no 'arm."

[BrookSkimmer]

Brielle watched Cooper and hare, wondering how she would respond. The shecat hoped the hare would not attack Cooper now that he had no weapons. She readied herself to come to his aide if needed.

[W0NWILL]

Phillim didn't drop her knife, but she lowered it and pointed it at the ground, "You attacked me, then you don't?" She asked, evidently confused, "Cat's are vermin, bad beasts, Aticaus always said." She frowned, "Except for a few, he would add. Are you two of those few?" Her body tensed like a spring, ready to make a move if a cat were to try to attack her.

[Rainshadow]

  "Well," Cooper said, "I wouldn't say that we're bad.  We don't wanna 'urt ye.  Don't judge a beast by 'is or 'er species.  Did ye think that all woodlanders were peaceful?  Ye should see the Cap'n o' the Lashkeel!  She's an otter!  Lissen, Miss, we ain't gonna 'urt ye.  We ain't like any o' those pirates.  We're escapin' an' startin' our own crew."
  He looked down at his swords, wishing he had them in his paws.  He didn't feel uncomfortable with the fact that he was unarmed, facing a rabbit who had a knife.  Sure, he was pretty good at fighting with his paws, but he still wanted weapons.

[W0NWILL]

"I've heard worse ideas." Phillim said, half convinced. She set her knife down, "Don't get any more ideas, I learned boxing from Aticaus." She narrowed her eyes, "So, who are you?"

[Rainshadow]

  "Thankee," Cooper said, glancing at the knife, which now lay on the grass.  "My name's Cooper, an' this is Brielle."  He stuck out a paw in greeting.  "Wot's yer name?"

[W0NWILL]

Phillim looked at the paw, but didn't take it, "I am Phillim Torsorem, daughter of Hlina Torsorem, granddaughter of Leiern Torsorem."  She made a fist with her right paw by her side, "And I ain't afraid to fight, wot!"

[BrookSkimmer]

Brielle came forward a little as Cooper spoke. The hare had put down her weapon and was shaking paws with the wildcat. That was a good sign. They just needed to convince Phillim that they were not going to try to hurt her.

"Lo Phillim. As Cooper said, we aren't bad beasts. We're actually trying to escape some bad beasts."

She held out her paw to the hare.
______

Nahlayzorn u Inlé.

The Captain looked over the heap of a rabbit who was still nearby. She had ordered Birata so quickly that she had not told him where to put the new slave. The evil otter smirked and walked over to Elay. She kicked the rabbit lightly with her booted footpaw to see if it was conscious. The captain kept her guard about her, knowing woodlanders often played tricks to get away.

"What are you mumbling woodlander? I hope you like the look of that deck.
You'll be spending the rest of your worthless days scrubbing it."
________

Churrup flew from Redwall, making his way back to the coast. His flight was a little lower and slower than usually owing to the seedcake he had eaten. Still, he wanted to get more information quickly and get even more seedcake! The robin's sharp eyes spotted the two wildcats and the hare in a clearing. Apparently there was no fighting going on. However, Churrup was quite convinced the wildcats would attack the woodlander. He alighted in a nearby tree, unseen by the wildcats or hare. There was nothing he could do to help and so he watched to see what would happen.

[W0NWILL]

Elay struggled upward, "Lapine methe A, ol leeth-naylte. Layth zorn A I."(Speak lapine, of north-rabbits, I. Will kill I you.) She could understand the language of most beasts, bur could hardly speak it, "I," she searched for the word for speak frantically, "talk Lapine, like north-" Again she paused, it was quite embarassing to not know the name of her species in commonspeak, "-naylte. No commontounge. I kill you." She nodded, satisfied with her speech powers, "I kill you." She repeated, "Nahl dert-hlelt zor A." (No deck-scrubbing for I)

OOC: Sorry if it's hard to understand, I tried to get as close to possible on the translation. Tell me if it's hard to understand and I'll start using proper grammar. At least that grammar is acceptable in Lapine.

BIC:

"That seems what a vermin trying to kill me would say." Phillim raised her fists in a boxing stance, "And I'm in no mood for dying today, wot wot!"

[Rainshadow]

  Cooper held up his paws, taking a step back.  "Whoa, we ain't gonna fight.  We don't wanna cause any trouble to ye, Phillim.  In fact, we were goin' on our way, weren't we, Brielle?"
  Cooper slowly picked up his swords and sheathed them, backing away.

[BrookSkimmer]

Brielle sighed as the hare took up a boxing stance. Perhaps there was no talking her. As the situation stood, the hare would come to no harm as long as she didn't go back towards the docks. The two wildcats could go on their way and commondere a ship in the night. Brielle loved the thought of sailing with Cooper. It would be so good to be out at sea and not bothered by bad otters and the like.

"Come on Cooper, it looks like there's no talking this one into believing the truth."

She took a few steps back and then turned her back on the hare once she was out of range of immediate attacks.  It would have been nice to have another best for the crew but, the shecat didn't really want a beast that couldn't trust them and therefore couldn't be trusted on board.

"Where should we wait for nightfall?" She asked Cooper as they began to walk away.
_____

Churrup ruffled his feathers quietly as the exchange took place below him. He supposed the wildcats were not as evil as they might look.
_____

Raven's expression of scorn could not have been heavier as the rabbit lay helpless on the ground. She was gabbling away in some unknown tongue. When Elay mentioned she would kill the captain Raven laughed coldly and then kicked the rabbit again. This time harder. She spoke, her voice dripping contempt.

"You, kill me? Ha! That's a good one! When you are well, perhaps we shall duel? Then we shall see who kills who? Or, would you rather try the cowardly way? Slipping a knife between my ribs at night? Not likely rabbit."

She turned towards the open door. "Birata! First Mate do you hear me? Get this worthless scum down to the lower brig!"
______

The robin's keen ears picked up some sort of commotion coming from a ship out at the harbor. He took flight and went to investigate. He had to have more news if he was to get seedcakes!

[Rainshadow]

  Cooper was already walking away, his back turned to Phillim.  He turned around swiftly, hearing something fly away.  Seeing a robin taking flight, he shook his head and turned back.  I'm too jumpy, he thought to himself.

  "Where should we wait for nightfall?"

  Cooper shrugged.  "I dunno, just not 'ere."  He looked around, but didn't see any area that appealed to him.  "Do you see anyplace good?"