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Dakkan, who LIVES!!!
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Date Posted: 03:11:46 10/19/03 Sun
In reply to:
Dakkan
's message, "Aaargh!" on 02:15:09 09/30/03 Tue
The next morning Kib rose about a half-hour before the sun. Unable to sleep for the excitement of beginning a voyage, he rolled out of his hammock and padded silently down the main hall and out the holt entrance,
A gentle, cool breeze ruffled his ears lightly; breathing deep, the ferret took in the clean morning air. He strolled down to the water’s edge and let the cool water lap his footpaws. Looking up at the vast expanse of water, Kib noticed a faint glimmer of orange at the horizon.
“Pretty, ain’t it?”
Kib whirled, startled at the noise.
Rockspar was standing three feet behind him, paws folded and a grim, humorless smile on his face. “I said, pretty, ain’t it?”
The ferret smiled meekly, knowing by the look on the otter’s face that he was to tread carefully. “Aye, sir.”
Rockspar took a deliberate step forward, shoving his face close to Kib’s. “Aye, pretty. Not so pretty for you if yore lyin’ to us, mate. I know Salpik believes you, an’ he may be right. I don’t leave anything to chance. So I’m tellin’ you right now, ferret. Cross us, just for a second, and I’ll kill you. An’ if yore tellin’ the truth…” The otter paused and took a breath, as if trying to steel himself. “If yore tellin’ the truth…then I’ll have to break my promise to myself and…accept a ferret of all things as one of my mateys.”
Kib held his ground, trying not to break his gaze. “My n-name is Kib sir,” he said shakily, and swallowing hard, he continued, “Not ‘ferret.’”
Rockspar’s gaze hardened momentarily, then softened slightly. He nodded to acknowledge the comment, then turned on his heel and stalked back into the holt.
Kib passed a paw over his brow to wipe away the perspiration that had been beading there. Sighing quietly in relief, he turned to face the sunrise once more.
Salpik was the next to come outside. He saw Kib, now crouching on the sand and watching the small sliver of sun that was visible above the waves. “Oy, mate!”
Kib turned his head quickly and tried not to show how relieved he was when he realized it was only the Skipper. “Hey, Skip.”
Salpik padded up alongside the ferret and filled his lungs with the fresh saltwater air. “Today we’ll go out, methinks…so long as we can get a boat.”
Kib turned and faced the sea otter with a confused expression. “Get a boat? You mean you’re sea otters and you don’t have a boat?”
Salpik raised his paws, shaking his head. “No, we have boats. Nice small ones for fishing, slim ones for racing…but only last season we ended up smashing in the only boat we had that was seaworthy. Y’know, big enough to handle the deep blue water.”
Kib stroked his whiskers. “Uh-huh. So how do we go about getting a ship then?”
Salpik sighed heavily. “Well, that’s where it gets tricky. My brother’s holt makes boats and sells ‘em to decent beasts. Nice boats they are, too. Only problem is they come at a price…worth every seashell…but expensive all the same. And our holt doesn’t have much of worth. We’ll have to do some bargaining to get what we need. Their otters are skilled water-wrestlers...perhaps somebeast could earn us a boat if we impress them that way."
Kib nodded. “Good thing we have Rockspar. Something tells me he may be able to give us some leverage.”
Salpik nodded, leaning over to hone his harpoon edge on a rock. “I hope so.”
It was late afternoon on a rocky section of coast south of Salpik’s holt. The breeze had stilled and the stagnant air was hot and fishy. A black otter sat on the edge of a huge boulder, drawing in a shrimp net. Tossing it onto the space next to him, he inspected its bulging folds with satisfaction. Then a flash of sea-green caught his eye. Looking up, he noticed Salpik’s tunic bobbing through the undergrowth, followed by many different colors as others followed. He guessed twenty beasts – maybe more. Abandoning his net, the otter climbed down to the beach and ran for the holt entrance.
Salpik emerged from the woods flanked with otters and with Kib at his side. A tan-colored otter with a black marking that covered the right half of his face stood before them, backed by his own, larger group of otters. “Ahoy, brother,” gruffed the tan one.
Salpik raised his rudder in greeting. “Ahoy, Rask. We’ve come to buy a boat off o’ ye.”
The tan otter’s deep brown eyes scanned the group before him. “Doesn’t look like you brought much, mate.”
Salpik nodded. “You know we don’t have much. Perhaps we could take a boat out…and bring it back to ye later. If we damage it, we ourselves will do the labor to fix it when we get back.”
Rask raised an eyebrow. “Like a loan?”
Salpik nodded. “Aye.”
The stolid otter shook his head. “You need to give something to begin with.”
Salpik played his ace. “How about a water-wrestlin’ match?”
A small smile played on Rask’s lips. “All right. Since yore my brother.” He chuckled drily. “Who will you send? We’ll have Sturgg the Strong…eh, mate?” A big chocolate-brown otter stumped forward, flexing his hard muscles with a grin.
Salpik gestured to his right. “How about Rockspar?” The sinewy otter growled in reply.
Rask shook his head. “No, we know how yore Rockspar is. Give us a chance, eh? Oy! You have a ferret with ye!”
“Not a vermin, mate,” defended Salpik swiftly. “I trust him.”
“Must be all right then,” admitted Rask. He began to grin again. “He can fight.”
“What?” said Kib, puzzled.
“You heard me, ferret,” Rask chuckled. “You water-wrestle Sturgg. For the ship.”
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