Two close calls

Characters: Kentar, Kluner

Location: Shoreline

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Kentar is walking along the top of the cliffs, a wooden pike in his paw as he walks, the stoat trying to get to his ship before Kalz can.

Kluner is sort of lagging behind the stoat, been a long time since he has been on land, and he needs to stockpile his rock collection. He bends over periodically to pick up colored stones, and he rolls them in his paws, laughing a little bit. He sees that Kentar has walked on ahead, he catches up putting the tree rocks on his pocket, "Mista Tent-Tar, How fars is its, to ya ship?"

Kentar peers around his shoulder, chuckling a bit. "At least a day and a half now. Your ship would probably get there by then so I we must move as quickly as possible." he nods.

Kluner nibbles the end of his tail, "Oh Ka, I tink Kaltz would have givied up by nows... You is just a stoaty, and i is just a liitle kid... not worf it, to folloed us dis far" He thinks aloud, as he has to run to keep up with the stoat.

Kentar eyes the weasel. "He'll still follow us. I promised him lots of money, remember?" he says. "He'll keep trying to find it, I'm sure, since he is after all a pirate. So..." he then tilts his head. "How did you end up on that ship?"

Kluner tail twitches in his mouth, and pulls it out, "Kluna not knows... Kluna's firstests ting he can rememeber is been on dat ship..." He rubs the back of his head, "I tink i was bornded on dat ship..." He goes back to eating his tail.

Kentar ohs and nods slowly. "Any beast like you on that ship?" he asks. "I mean treat you nicely." he corrects as he keeps walking.

Kluner thinks about for a moment, "Kluna remebers dat one beasty, who lookked liked me, She wassa nice... till da crew wrapa her in a clodth, and tosses her in da waters..." He sniffs a bit, as he slows just a bit, "Shes wassa nices to me..."

Kentar pauses dead in his tracks, guessing that she was his mother. "Why? Why did they toss her overboard?" he asks.

Kluner almost bumps into Kentars leg when he stops, he mumbles "tha never tolded me... One day, shed stopped mvoing... an din da tossed 'er ova... I misses her..." He walks around Kentars leg and keeps going in that direction.

Kentar sighs and walks again, slower this time. "I'm sorry." he says quietly. "Do you have any family?" he asks.

Kluner has his tail stuffed in his mouth, so he just shakes his head.

Kentar frowns and sighs. "Do you want some?" he asks, still walking along. "I mean. I probably would be a very good father, but I could try if you want. Seeing as how we're alone for the moment."

Kluner stops and turns around to look at the stoat, "Tent-Tar? Fajer?" He strokes his tail as he think about it for a minute. The tail twitches as he thinks, "Ifd youa Klunas fajer? Would Tent-Tar still be ya friend?" He asks not knowing.

Kentar chuckles and ruffles the weasel's headfur. "Of course I'd still be your friend." he smiles. "Why wouldn't I?"

Kluner smiles and hmms, and his head is ruffled, "Stills bes me friend?" He walks slowly up too the stoats leg and gives it a small hug, "Ifd ya still bes Klunas friend, den its oh kas, if you is my fajer..." he smiles a little bit. Not knowing knowing who is real father is, he doesn't know what to think of it.

Kentar smiles some and hugs for a few more moments. "Yeah. I'll still be your friend" he smiles softly.

Kluner lets go, and shoves his tail in his mouth, but you can still see that he has a tiny smile on his face. He chuckles a little bit, and runs off ahead of the stoat. He stops to pick up another rock, before continuing on.

Kentar chuckles. "Hey now, wait up!" he smiles as he follows behind him quickly.

Kluner laughs and continues to run ahead. He reaches an area of the cliffs, where it seems to be a little rockier than the other places. He trips, and slams into the ground. He yells, "Owie!" and sits up, rubbing his nose.

Kentar frowns and runs over. "Are you alright Kluna?" he asks, kneeling down and looking the weasel over a few dozen times.

Kluner wrinkles his bloody nose at the stoat, "Kluna is fine, just brokeded me nose..." He pops his nose back in place, and stands up rubbing his paw on his shirt. He wipes the blood dripping with the back of his paw, and continues to walk ahead, slowly this time.

Kentar goes to stop the weasel. He kneels down and rips some of his already torn tunic and goes to dry the blood from Kluner's nose. "Didn't that hurt when you popped it into place?"

Kluner chuckles as the stoat stops him, and wipes the blood away, "Yes'es... Id hurted everytimes i does it... But Kluna, is use to its..." He shrugs, "... Usea happen all da time, back on da ship..." He struggles a little bit to get away.

Kentar doesn't let Kluner away. "Well. It doesn't seem all that fun." he cleans him up properly before smiling and standing. "There."

Kluner frowns and wipes a paw across his lip, and to his surprise all the blood is gone. Not even dry remnants, "All gones?" He hmms, and gets close to the stoat, "Yous leads da ways... Donts want to falls and brokee me nose agains..." Once they start moving again, he says, "...It was nevers funs...I hateds it..." He frowns, and sticks his tail in his mouth.

Kentar chuckles and smiles. "All gone." he stands and tosses away the cloth. Almost out of tunic now. "I can imagine.' he says as they go. "So. When we find my ship, what's the first thing you want to do?" He asks. And unbeknownst to them, they're being watched.

Kluner bobs on the balls of his paws, "I wantest to see da gold! an den i want to see da captains quarters! and den" He keeps blabbing on about what he wants to see next. And being only a kid, he cant really tell that there being watched.

Kentar laughs and smiles. "You'll see the gold. The captain's quarters. Den." he laughs. "Whatever you want. " he grins. But then Kentar stops and goes to grab Kluner, pulling him close. "Shh...don't make any sound.."

Kluner goes wide eye at Kentars grab of him. When he is pulled close he grabs onto the stoats leg, and whispers, "Whas... Wha, goings on?" He looks around the leg to peer.

Kentar places his paw on Kluner's head. "Shh..." he then quietly readies his pike but as soon as he does, an arrow comes wizzing out of the bushes, burying itself in Kentar's bad shoulder, sending him falling off the cliff, just after pushing Kluner away.

Kluner is pushed away and thrown to the ground. He looks around and doesn't see Kentar. He hears the rocks moving over the cliff and he peers over the edge. He screams when he sees the stoat rolling down, "Tent-Tar? Fajer?!?" He looks behind him, and sees movement. Biting his tail, he slowly makes it down the cliff. Rather take his chance with the cliff, then the beasts.

Kentar landed on a landing a few feet down. "Ow..." he says after over powering his daze. Slowly the stoat sits up and takes the arrow out of his shoulder with a yelp. But then the landing under him cracks and breaks, falling down to the beach below. He stayed on it, so when it lands, it just throws him off and he lands on his stomach on the beach. Not moving.

Kluner knows not to look down while climbing. He bites his tail a little harder as hears the yelp and nearly bites his tail off, at the rock slide sounds. After a while, he finally reaches the beech, and looks over to Kentar yelling, "Fajer?" He climbs over the ledge as a shortcut to get to the stoat. Getting to him, he pulls on what's left of his tunic, "Tent-Tar! Tent-Tar! Fajer?"

Kentar groans. "I think I broke something..." he slowly reaches under himself and pulls out a broken wooden stick. "Ow..." he tosses it aside and rolls over, slowly sitting up, his shoulder bleeding quite badly.

Kluner bobs on his paws, "Fajer! yous alives!" He goes wide eyed at the blood, "Tent-Tar! B-bloodining!" Is all he can say, as he points at the stoats shoulder. He strokes his tail anxiously.

Kentar groans and looks at his shoulder. "Darn it." he grumbles. The stoat rips a bit of his pant leg now and bounds the wound with a loud groan of pain. "There...that will do." he says after a few moments before slowly standing up. "Come on...I have a feeling whoever shot that arrow at me will be following us." he starts to walk along the shores again.

Kluner eeps and looks around quickly, as if there standing right behind him. There is nothing there, and quickly makes after the stoat. He places his furry tail on Kentars leg, "Yous was rights... Da is follin usens..." He frowns, and looks around frequently.

Kentar nods and keeps his ears moving as they walk. "Listen Kluna...There are caves up the shore. About ten minutes from here. I want you to run as fast as you can and hide in the caves. Okay?"

Kluner blinks a few times, but nods quickly "Caveses? Yes... Kluna can gets there... Are's...Are's you coming too?" He bites his tail. Is this some sort of trick? Is Kentar planing to leave him by the caves, and never show up? He blinks a few more times, as he looks to the stoat.

Kentar pushes Kluner gently towards the caves. "Go. Quickly. I will be there soon." he smiles softly. "I promise."

Kluner nods quickly, as he goes north to the caves the stoat he told him about. First beast he has ever trusted, and he doesn't know what to believe. He wipes a paw across his eyes as he runs forward. He trips over his long tail, and quickly scrambles back up stuffing the fluff in his mouth.

Kentar sighs. "Goodbye Kluner." he says quietly, not expecting to live after this. He grabs a piece of wood from his stash of pikes that he kept on his side, taking the only not broken one and holding it as they're followers, a stoat, fox, two weasels and a huge rat, comes out of no where from atop the cliffs. From where Kluner is, there's a loud yelp, the sound of arrows flying though the air, and a beast falling onto the ground.

Kluner continues to run ahead, closing his eyes for the sandy wind was getting into them, and he runs into another Rat. He falls backwards and stares wide eyed at the beast. He yelps loudly and naturally runs underneath the beast, causing him to trip on accident. The weasel continues to run forward without looking back, as tears of fear fill his eyes. Good thing he could run so fast, or he would have been mowed down by arrows.

Well, now that the group has disposed of Kentar, they meet up with their rat friend and follow Kluner until he's cornered in a cave. "Well now what do we have here? A weasel?" "More like a runtsel! haha!" clonk. "Shut up fool! Just for that, you get to stand guard outside." The stoat grumbles and vanishes to the outside of the cave. "You'll be even easier work then that stoat. Haha!"

Kluner is in the very back of the cave curled up, sobbing quietly. He looks to the beast closing in on him, but doesn't do anything... What could he do, he is unarmed, and little against those beasts, and there is nowhere to run off too. He sniffs to himself, as they talk about the stoat. He just sits there and waits for it to happened to him.

The big rat goes over and tries to grab Kluner by the tail, holding him upside down, grinning. "Look lads! We've got our selves a meal!" they laugh and cheer. "Now lets get a fire going and..." from outside the cave there's a loud clonk sound and a beast screaming. Then nothing. "Check it out!" the rat growls. The others storm outside, yelling and screaming to chase whoever made the noise off. But then there's more clonks, screaming, then nothing.

Kluner is lifted by his tail and screams as its pulled at the roots. He has to fight back somehow, he tries biting his oppressor or even trying to claw at him, to no success. He is too low and too far way to any real damage to the rat, and he is just making his tail hurt even more. He sobs loudly when they talk about eating him, and then its gets louder when he hears the screaming and thinks there is an even bigger beast here... Even if he did manage to get away, he wouldn't stand a chance to a beast like that.

No bigger beast. Just Kentar. He steps into the cave slowly, a cutlass in his paw. "Let...my son...go." he growls. The rat blinks and drops Kluner. "Hah! So you managed to survive the volley of arrows, have you?! You may have killed my friends, but you shall not kill me." The rat draws a sword and charges Kentar. But right before the rat can get anywhere near him, the stoat puts his training to good use. Even though he has only one usable arm, he still uses it to his advantage. As the rat gets in range, He sidesteps and thrusts the sword under and though the rat, killing him after a few seconds. "And stay down." he growls, wiping off the blood on the rat's fur.

Kluner falls to the ground and places his paws over his head to protect it, if not he might have a cracked skull right now. He is woozy and slowly ambles up rubbing the root of his tail. Wiping a paw across his eyes, he then looks to Kentar, just seeing him wipe the blood of his sword, on the rat. He slowly walks forward and eyes the rat, never seeing a slain beast before, "Is... hims... dead?" he asks slowly.

Kentar quickly puts the sword away. "No no no." he says. "He's just sleeping. He'll wake up tomorrow morning." he smiles. "I'll bring him outside so that he wakes up with all his friends." he nods, dragging the rat out and piling him up with the rest of the bodies before going back in. "Are you okay?" he asks. It should be noted, that he's covered in blood, and most if it is his own.

Kluner looks to the stoat. He is not that stupid. He has lived on a pirate vessel long enough to hear stories of beast being slain all the time, just never seen one before. But this is just like they describe in those tales. He stutters out "Y-You is lying... They is d-dead... Yous k-killeded dem a-all!" plops down on the ground, and begins to sob again. The stoats last question is ignored, why would he tell it to him.

Kentar sighs and sits down nest to Kluner and goes to give him a hug, wincing from his wounds but not seeming to care, still there is no pain, mostly from the huge adrenaline rush he still has. "Shh...shh...I'm sorry I lied Kluner. But if I didn't kill them, you might have died. I wouldn't forgive myself ever if anything were to happen to you." he says. "I'm sorry."

Kluner doesn't want to, but he leans into him, "Da was gonna killded me?" He asks. He closes his eyes, and sobs a bit more before saying, "Yous came to helps me not be killded... But youd killded them..." He is still not getting the whole picture, "I donts like dis... dis is noting like da stories..."

Kentar winces again but says nothing. "I know. I know. I'm so sorry. I promise not to kill any beast unless I have to. They would have killed you, and I didn't want that. So." he then sighs, pain starting to appear. "So Kluner. When I get my ship back, do you want to come with me to my home?" he asks.

Kluner looks up to the stoat, "Homes? Isnts ya ship, homes?" He sticks his tail in his mouth, thinking if he really wanted to or not. His only home that he can remember was his ship, but he hated it. Are all homes like that? He asks, "Is its gonna be like me olds homes?"

Kentar tilts his head a little. "Well. Its not really...my ship. But it can take us home...and no, its going to be much better. Its underground. I think. Big comfy beds, a dining hall, wonderful gardens." he smiles.

Kluner's eyes widen as he talks about it, and he lets his tail play behind him, he epps in delight "Munches better! Undersgrounds? Comfry beds? Gardons?" He rubs his head, not knowing most the stuff he said, or what they were. But he liked every word of it.

Kentar grins and nods. "Yeah. And I have my brother there. My best friend. My..." he pauses and sighs, wiping away a tear. "Er...never mind. Its just a really...er...just a nice place to live."

Kluner climbs up onto Kentars lap and looks up at him noticing the tear, "Whatsa matter Tent-Tar? Whys yous sad? dats places sounds wondersful! And ye evens gots family dere!" He places his head onto the stoats stomach, then places his tail on top of his own head, "Wherevers you go, Kluna goes... fajer"

Kentar Sighs and wipes away a few more. "Somebeast I loved very, very much died near there. I miss her every waking moment of my life now. It was wonderful. Until the day she died, and when I was picked up by that cat's ship." he sighs.

Kluner says, through his fluffy tent, "I is sorries, she must have been like... the beast who liked me... i was sad when she went away, and i stills misser her... but, nows i gots you" He sniffs a bit, and rubs his head against the stoats stomach.

Kentar winces. Why wont he be careful! "Maybe. She had the most beautiful green eyes you would ever see and her voice sounded so wonderful. We were going to get married and spend the rest of our lives together. Until that...fox came back into the pictured and took her away from me." He growls.

Kluner nods a little bit, thinking the growls is just him coughing or something "Dat fox, must have been bad... to do dat to you... you is much nicer den some... whats are's you gonnas do?" He stifles a yawn.

Kentar sighs. "He was quite bad. And I plan on making him pay for what he did to me." he then chuckles at the yawn. "I guess little dibbuns need to be going to bed." he grins.

Kluner yawns a bit more as he jumps off the stoat, "Yeses, i needs me strenghts if is we gonna make it to da ship soons..." He chuckles, as he curls up and uses his tail as a small pillow. He yawns again and says, "Night Fajer..."

Kentar watches Kluner and nods, running his paw over the weasel's side with a soft smile and sigh. "Night Kluna." he says quietly.

Kluner hmms at the paw, and is soon snoring lightly. A small smile on his face.

Kentar's smile slowly fades. After binding his wounds and limping to the outside of the cave, he sits down on a big bolder, watching the reflection of the moon in the sea. "Fox. I swear upon my love for Garnet, I will hunt you down until the end of your days and make you pay for what you've done." he says to the moon before wiping away a tear. "I love you so much Garnet and I'm so sorry I failed..." After a while of sitting outside, he goes back in and lays next to Kluner, falling asleep soon after.