Through The Ruins (Penny Bone)
The light of the tunnel entrance was soon lost as the wayward group of castaways moved deeper into the structure. Perhaps ruins is a more suitable description. The stone work of the floor was uneven and the walls were crumbling. Signs of life were however apparent as they moved through the tunnel. Here and there a part of the wall was fixed up to keep it from collapsing. Other places holes in the floor had been filled in. The most notable were the torches.
Far and few inbetween torches had been placed on the walls to light up the way and the first intersection that the beasts came across. Like the hallway they were in the tunnels to their left and right were tall enough to accommodate a badger and wide enough for several beasts to stand side by side "Well...where do we go now?" Kazi asks. "That is...an excellent question!" Tera replies, turning to Kilby who in turned pauses before turning to the captain.
Orlop gives a befuddled sigh and rubs the back of his neck tiredly, "I say we go right. As me old gran'ma used to say 'The right way is the right way'." From the back of the group, Vincent shakes his head in annoyance and pipes up, "I'm not about the let the words of some woodlander oldie determine my future! Who /knows/ what's to the right?! I'm going left." and with that he pushes his way to the front of the group and starts down the left tunnel, walking with a confident strut. Fronko starts after his brother, saying over his shoulder, "If you all wanna follow some woody, by all means go right. But I'm sick o' having to take orders from 'im"
Kazi pipes up, "You know, I think that's a good idea. I'm getting tired of following ol' fuzzbut myself." He starts to follow the wayward foxes until Tera pulls on his arm. "And you think that following twiddle dee and tweedle dum are going to be better? Come on guys! We don't have time for this. Get back here!"
"Oh eat a potato you mangy mammal." Cid shouts suddenly. "I'm going with the beasts who didn't just try to use me as bait! So...you know what. Forget you guys." The lizard steps forward and falls behind the two foxes. Kazi watches him leave then looks to the pleading look Tara gives him. With a sigh he releases himself from her grasp. "Ok...fine. I'll stay with lord fuzz bottom a while longer then."
The lizard though continues to move away from the group despite Kilby's protests, "Get back here or...or we will have you hanged! The lot of you!" At this rate there will be no one left to lead when he eventually stabs the captain in the back himself!
Orlop looks quite annoyed at the receding backs of the other group and he shakes his fist after them, yelling, "FINE! Run off like the cowards you are! Good luck finding your way out once you've gotten HOPELESSLY LOST!" Vincent scowls and looks back over his shoulder; about to say some stingingly witty remark. However, as a result of looking back he misses the taut, clear wire directly in front of his footpaw! He stumbles, barely stopping himself from falling, "What tha..." Suddenly, from the ceiling there comes a terrible rumbling and through the holes that were once mistaken as holes in need of repair, shoot sharp spikes. One spike skewers the young fox, killing him instantly, while another spike smashes down towards Fronko, pinning his tail to the floor! Yet another spike crashes down and skims along Cids shoulder and arm, leaving a furrow in its wake.
The lizard lets out a terrible wail as his flesh is rendered so. He falls to his knees and then collapses in pain. "By the stars!" Tera shouts. The fat vixen takes a step forward before Kazi grabs the beast by her tail, "Don't! Nobody move! Stay where you are!" The pine marten voice echoes across the room.
"Blazes! They booby trapped their own tunnels?" Kilby shouts back. "We need to get out of here!"
"No! I'm not just going to leave them to die!" Tera growls, fighting with Kazi.
"NO one is leaving anyone to die! But you are not going to get yourselves killed trying to save them. Now sit back and let me handle this!" The pine marten practically shoves the fox away from him. He moves slowly towards the beasts in the left hallway. Cid, Fronko, don't move! I'm coming to get you." Cid doesn't reply though. He rolls back and forth, clutching at his arm and crying in pain.
The spike in Fronko’s tail tips over from its pointed position and further smashes the fox’s tail. The young fox screeches in pain and falls; pulled down by the weight of the mass crushing his tail. Orlop stares grimly at the grizzly scene and throws a cautious look into the right tunnel. Maybe it would be best to let someone else walk at the front of the group....Meanwhile, the spikes have ceased their hail and the floor in now littered with their bodies.
Cautiously the marten stalks his way to the beasts. All Kazi can do for poor vincent is to mourn him. Or curse his name if he get's himself killed as well. The martin goes for the fox's brother first though while saying, "Cid, if you can stand, now is the time to do so. I can't pull you both off at once. Fox, stay still. I'll help you out of this." With the lizard struggling to get back to his feet with only one arm, Kazi focuses on freeing the fox by pushing the spike off of his tail...
Fronko nods, a tad deliriously, to show he understands the martens plan. As Kazi pushes, the fox grits his teeth and gingerly pulls his tail free of the spike. Once this far, he falls back into the floor and lays there panting, slowly regaining his strength. After a moment he scrambles to his feet, careful to move his tail as little as possible, and limps towards the skewered from of his brother.
Once there he bends down and gently closes the other fox's wide and terrified eyes, muttering as he does so, "Not watching where you were going, as usual." He gives a half chuckle, "And you still owe me ten silver." He squeezes his eyes shut to stop anything from escaping. Death sucks. With a sigh, he releases Vincent's cutlass from it's sheath and tucks it into his own belt, then stands straight once again and turns back towards Kazi and Cid.
Meanwhile----------
Juan hovers between sleeping and conscious, his ever present stomach ache keeping his from any true rest. He has gained at least twenty pounds and his stomach surely shows it. He looks like a very solid lump of a rat. Boredom and an effort to stave off fear have resulted in a tiny house in the middle of his cage, made from various twigs and sticks. In it sits a small rock. Hopefully safty arrives soon, or Juan may just slip into insanity!
The sound of foot steps draw near. Perhaps it is not the salvation the rat so desires but the lizards bring forth a guest to keep him company. Much to the beasts protest.
"Get your claws off of me you darn dirty lizard!" The hare shouts as she is dragged kicking and screaming by two burly lizards. One of the reptiles is sporting a black eye. "Let go! Slimy toads! I'll sue the lot of you!" The hare is a little older than Juan himself. She wears a pair of tattered shorts and cloth wraps around her chest covered by a vest colored multiple shades of green. Each ear has no less than 3 earrings, each made from brass and slightly different than the others. A red bandana rests on her head.
The door opens swiftly and the brown furred beast is tossed inside. The lizard with the black eye hisses dangerously before slamming the door shut."Yeah! You better run!" The hare grabs the rock from inside the rat's little fortress of solitude and rakes it across the bars, "You can't keep me here! I demand to see who is in charge! I demand you release me this instant! I demand that I..." It is here that the young hare realizes that she is not alone. Her head slowly twists around to stare at the fattened rat behind her. "Juan?" says Flori, sail maker for the Penny Bone...
Juan's eyes flutter open as the hare in all her noisey glory are shoved into the cage, "F-florri?!" His voice cracks piteously and he reaches out weakly with one paw; a true picture of degenerated rat. That is, until he sees her reaching for the rock and raking it mercilessly across the bars of their enclosure, "DON'T HURT HIM!!!" The rat scrambles to his feet, having some trouble with the whole 'standing' thing. He staggers over to the hare and snatches the rock, holding it close like a child, "Mr. Baiter doesn't like being used as a weapon." His words would suggest he's had experience in this field. After a moment of making sure his dear rock is alright, he narrows his eyes and examines the hare, "Wait a second. You're not supposed to be here. Why aren't you on the ship?"
The hare can only stand and stare in shock at the site of the rat. Never in her life has she wanted to ask so many questions at once. Last she saw of the little rodent he was not quite so...corpulent. Or apparently insane. "Um...ok?" Realizing that she is locked in a cage, alone, she decides it best not press the issue with the rock quite yet. The subject of the ship makes her no less uneasy though.
"WeeeEEEeeeeEeell...ya see...thing is....The ship kind of...crashed against the island." The hare quickly adds, "It's still in one peace, we just beach it after the mutiny...the er, other mutiny." The hare began to cry, "Oh Juan, you guys don't know how lucky you were. I decided to join the mutiny because I got tired for takin orders from the captain. But the next beast that come in line was even worse...he ended up being fed to sharks! THen the next guy got stabbed in the back and...and it was horrible! The crew ran out of food, beasts got all angry and there was so much fighting no one was safe and..."
The brown furred hare wraps herself around the rat in a tight hug. "It's so good to see a friendly face! I thought the lizards were going to eat me when they caught me out in the jungle." She releases the rat then asks in a concerned voice, "Juan...why are you here in their camp...and why are you fat?"
At Flori's sudden burst of tears, Juan glances at Mr. Baiter and shrugs. Hares. He comfortingly pats her back, a rather bemused expression on his face, "Ah, don't worry. They wouldn't eat you out in the woods." He smiles softly, trying his best to cheer the hare up, "They wait to eat you till you've been sufficiently stuffed," he gestures loosely to his own physique, "And then they butcher you. They already took Rolli." He purses his lips and sighs, moving towards the back of the cage, "Besides, they'll take me first. They've been feeding me for DAYS" this is followed by a groan, "I think they're saving me for some sort of birthday party. I wouldn't be surprised." He adds in a curious tone, "I wonder if they'll serve me with salad or something else?" He shakes his head, as if to clear it, and walks back to the hare, "Me and Rolli were on a scouting mission at night. That's when these walking strips of jerky found us, and the rest is history."
It takes a moment for this information to register on the hare. "Pfft, nah, nah, they wouldn't do that!" Flori tries to laugh off the rat's comments as general insanity. After all, he was talking to a rock after all. Surely he must be mad! Slowly the hare's situation began to sink in though. "No...no they wouldn't...they...they couldn't!" She rubs at her neck, casting her gaze to the rat as if looking in a mirror. She could see herself there, fat, bloated, waiting for the day when they finally came to...
Flori lets out a terrified scream, throwing herself to the bars with all four paws, "You can't do this to me! You can't me! You can't e-e-e-at m-e-e-e-e..." With her paws still clutching at the bars Flori slides down onto her stomach, sobbing quietly with her head buried onto the wood.
Juan shake his head and starts to say, 'Nope, they're definitely going to eat us.' however he only gets as far as 'definitely' before he sees the effect all this is having on the hare. His eyes loose some of their foggy look and he bends down to gently pat Florri's shoulder, "Hey...it's gonna be okay. Orlop and the rest are still out there." He gives a half chuckle, "Maybe through some twist of fate, they'll actually end up finding us." He sets Mr. Baiters down beside the hare, muttering, "Here. He always gets me through these moments." With a rather troubled sigh, he retreats to the other side of the cage.
The hare sits up, crossing her legs. She seems to rock back and forth, watching the lizards happily make them a bowl of gruel. She glances side ways to the rock and stares at it for a long time. This was it. This was how she would die. Fattened up for a lizards meal. And her only company was an insane rat and his pet rock. "Orlop...orlop is coming to save us?" Tears form again and she casts her head back in a loud wail, "We're doomed!"
- Thanks for reading!*
