Chapter 4
Madrina made her way back to the campfire carrying a couple of fairly large fish and some palm leaves to wrap them in while they cooked. She was a bit annoyed to find Quintar with his hands in her cooking pots, but supposed he was trying to help and decided to keep rein on her tongue.
"Good evening one and all! I am so glad to have you share this night & meal with me. Just let me put these fish on the coals and we can start getting to know one another. Oh, and a request! I will need someone to assist me in helping the broken tail of this poor rat."
Kahpeh, who had earlier disappeared into the night, returned to the campsite. He was carrying a massive piece of meat in his jaws, which he dropped into Og's lap. Shaking his black mane proudly, the lion then made his way to the spot where he knew Madrina would sit. Seeing the kind deed her lion had done, Madrina turned to Og. "Perhaps you would take a knife and cut a small piece for the cat? I am not sure what kind of meat that is, but I will gladly cook it up for anyone who wishes to partake of it." Madrina then moved to her spot, taking the rat into her lap, and observed the group.
"Let me start us off," Madrina said with a smile. "I am Madrina and have travelled from a small village that sits between the savannah and deserts of this continent. Kahpeh, my lion companion, has been with me for most of my life, and has been a constant source of joy in my solitary existence. I am an Earth priestess. It came to our attention that something of great portence is about to occur, and I was sent to observe the event. That is how I came to be with this caravan. I have invited you all here this evening so that we might learn more about one another since we will be travelling together for a time. And I would like, with your permission, to record this event and include your stories." Smiling, Madrina looked at each person warmly, waiting for them to speak.
Kit10ish
Simone was more than a little annoyed at being asked to give an account of herself to her dinner before she ate it. But still it was this woman Madrina's affair, and if that was the way of her species , so be it.
"My name is Simone and I am from the land of the Pharoahs. I am descended directly from a line of cats that were worshipped and treated as gods, and so we are." She looked at her future dinner and dinner companions as if waiting for some sort of praise, then continued on. "Nine lives is our blessing and here I am over 100 years and still on my first. News reached me in my land of this caravan's journey that was set to uncover some wonderful thing at its conclusion, though what exactly remains a mystery, still, it is my thinking that if something so wonderful is going to occur that it must in some way pertain to me and my kind as we are undoubtedly the most wonderful of wonders and have held the one of most intelligent races of humans that ever existed under our spell, and so I am sent to uncover this wonder and see how it may serve our desires."
Simone was wanting so badly to take a little nibble of the faerie's wing, just to get the flavor, but she did not want to ruin her dinner by starting on the dessert first, and also it appeared that her hostess was in no great rush to begin the meal itself, and one must watch one's manners at a dinner event. So she sat back quietly and waited for another speaker to begin.
Purring_Kitten
The rat captain decided that he better open up a bit
to these strangers as he maybe could use some friends
now as he was about to lose his tail and possibly
become someone's dinner.
"I am a captain of a seafaring vessel that was struck by torpedos during the
battle with the pirates of the carribean. As is our
nature we quickly deserted our sinking ship with the
protocol of rats and captains first. It had come to
my attention of the journey of this caravan and I
imagine there might be the pirates at the other end of
this voyage waiting," the rat captain suspiciously
eyed the man in black, "And perhaps on this end
also. I have received word that the humans aboard
had managed to save our ship and so I hope also to
rejoin my ship and crew at the other end of this
continent and redeem myself in battle against the rat
pirates who seek even now to possess the full stores
of the queen's cheese."
The rat captain had seen the
note being slipped under Quintar's wing and could only
pray that those foolish rat knights would not venture
a rescue at this time.
Rat_atat
Sze took her turn at introducing herself.
"Hello and my name is Sze and I have joined this
caravan in hopes that it will bring me closer to
completing a personal mission.
The Queen of Faeries had given me a wand containing
powers that all must be used wisely and to benefit
others, only 5 powers remain and then my mission is
accomplished."
Sze stopped short of telling how when the powers were
all successfully used she would receive for herself
the greatest power of all that none could resist.
"The easiest power to use so far has been that of fire
as we all know you fight fire with it,and with its use
I helped defeat a great green smoking dragon that
terrorized a villiage but in the end was proven to be
harmless. The hardest to use so far has been the
power of faith as it is so hard to get others to trust
what they can see, let alone what they can't see.
But with all the interesting beings I spotted on this
journey I can't help but think opportunity might arise
at any time to use a remaining power." Her eyes
twinkled as she looked over at the rat dressed in
captains garb and clutching his blade so bravely yet
with fear showing in his face.
Sze fluttered her wings and took off, landing ever so
gently at the rat's side.
The man in black seemed to be ogling her wand, perhaps
he might learn later that powers to help others can
cause great harm to those who don't.
lilTrink
Quintar the Owl spoke to all and to no one as he introduced himself to this group of travellers.
"My name is Quintar, I am from yesterday and heading on into tommorrow. As you can see I am an owl, but a very rare bird, I am a portent owl, or an omen owl as we are sometimes called. We have ability to see part of the future of things and so our reputation as omens came to be.
Many become disturbed at my presense, thinking I have brought with me some bad luck for them, but I do no such thing and my presence is nothing more than a foreboding, I cannot create the future.
In observing this caravan I found it odd that I could not get so much as a glimpse of the future of it or any of its members, as if hidden from my view by some mysterious command.
Therefore I decided to tag along myself, to see what the future holds in store for you all, which is quite a new experience for me. But I must assume that somewhere along this journey lies my own fate. As up to this point it is only my own fates that I am not allowed to view and so must be entwined with all of yours somehow." He settled back again into his seat and listened to the next speaker.
Quintar the spy reached under his wing and retrieved the note that had been slipped to him. He excused himself from the group a minute on the pretext of having to go about owl business of a personal nature, out of sight from the others he read his note.
" My good friend Owl," it began, "seeing that you are an owl, and have therefore reputation as the wisest of beings, and seeing our Captain of Rats damaged and held prisoner by the Lady Madrina, we request your assistance and advice in removing him from her clutches as it comes obvious to us that she plans to feed him to one of you this dinner. For your services you will be rewarded by whatever it is we may impart to you, even our very lives as your dinner also. We will be awaiting opportunity."
Quintar the spy arrived back in his seat at the campfire. He looked over at the rat, who did not appear to be a prisoner at all, at the woman, who in no way appeared a captor, at the other guests, yes they did look like rat eaters, but that group must be mistaken somehow as to the situation of their captain.
"No matter to me," thought Quintar. "If I can set him on his way outside the camp, then shall I be rewarded with a dinner of choice rats for myself."
Quintar the spy turned his head round 180 degrees in both directions, taking in all that was about this campsite.
"A dozen rats for one, not bad at all."
Thundercat711
Og stared at Kahpeh and then at the meat the lion had brought him. The sharing of meat in this manner was not known amongst the great cats and Og knew this as a singular honour. Og held Kahpeh's eyes with his own and an "agreement" passed between them. He then returned his attention to the group as each began to tell its tale.
At the woman's invitation he passed some of his meat to her to be cooked. The rest he kept aside to be eaten with Kahpeh later, in his natural form.
When his turn came Og began his tale:
"My name is Og and I come from the northern mountains of the Tin Islands. I am of the breed known as "wild cat" but am unusally large for my kind. We are generally a solitary race, so, our travelling together is "unusual" for me."
"Until the compulsion came upon me, my cat form was all I knew. Since the compulsion, I have been able to take on human form. As you can see, as in my cat form, my human form is large for its race."
"I have no idea why we are all brought together or whence we travel and what we will find. For the moment it matters not. The journey is a lesson in itself and the reason behind it will come when it will. I won't waste time speculating, rather I will enjoy this meal and company"
Madrina passed Og his cooked meat looking hard into his eyes, then as hard into the eyes of Kahpeh. Og looked at Kahpeh and smiled. He had found a kindred spirit.
Pipedreams
The man in black simply gazes silently at the other creatures. He shows no
signs of surprise or even the slightest interest when they tell their
unusual tales. Only after they've all finished recounting their stories
does he speak.
"You fools. Don't know where you're going? You are heading into the most
dangerous stretch of barren desert in the known world. Dozens of caravans
have passed into this desert in the past month, and none has returned. You
will face terrible sandstorms, violent marauding thieves, horrific monsters.
And then there's the Djinn, the terrible fire spirits who rule over this
desert. They hold immense powers, and they are completely unpredictable.
You never know when one of these demons will pop up and reduce this caravan
to smoldering ash."
He gazes at the rat. "And you are the biggest fool of all. Don't you know
you're going north? You're heading AWAY from the ocean! Where could your
ship possibly be? In the frozen wastes of the Arctic Circle?"
He shakes his head and scoffs. "You all go to your doom. If you follow
this idiotic prince to the northern forests, you will most surely die. Your
best hope is to steal whatever loot you can from this pompous prince and
head back to civilization as soon as possible." He glances at the little
fairy. "And, speaking of which, I didn't even look at your wand once, you
disgusting pixie. I'm not stupid enough to touch anything belonging to one
of you filthy, treacherous sprites."
Oreja
Madrina sat there in shock at this man's outburst.She had to lay a calming hand upon Kahpeh who had stood defensively, growling. It took her a moment to control her own emotional outburst before she dared speak. "Mr. Thief, for that is the only thing you have told us about your own self, and based on your present behaviour it is obvious you have not had much home training on proper manners. You were given a friendly invitation to join us for dinner and end up belittling your companions. Most of us seem to be following the Prince in good faith that he is leading us to a most important event, and we follow despite the possible dangers that lie ahead. Perhaps the Rat Captain is a bit lost and misguided, but that may be the journey he is meant to take along with us. As for the faery, your own admission of stealing only justifies her suspicions of you possibly eyeballing her most precious possession!"
Madrina had to stand up at this point to get a better hold of Kahpeh's black mane to keep him held back from going after this man in black. "In regards to the Prince, he is far from idiotic. It is very possible that he is the future of our Earth, someone who will right the wrongs by Man against Nature. And if he is truly this man, then I am confident that the Djinn's will help him on this journey rather than attack us. Look around you, Sir. These are kind souls with hearts of gold and pure intentions. We are not helpless and as meek as we appear, and we can protect ourselves. Perhaps you should take your cowardice and follow your own advice and return from whence you came! And thank you for the warning. We now know to take measures to protect the little we have."
Madrina bent over, realizing that the Rat Captain had been on her lap before she had stood up. She picked him up tenderly, checked him for any damage his fall might have incurred. She then spoke in his ear softly, "I think we may be able to just bind that broken tail and not have to resort to cutting it off. The faery has offered her help in easing your pain while we doctor you. I hope you will find this a better solution." Madrina then looked at all the companions. "Please, help yourselves to tonight's dinner while I mend the Rat's wounds." She then eyed the thief from head to toe before commencing to work on the Rat's tail.
Kit10ish
Simone's tummy was grumbling at the thought of rats and faeries.
And what was the matter with that man in black? Holding up dinner with his silly talk of dangers and troubles. "I guess he just doesn't realize who his traveling companions are," Simone thought to herself, "but first things first and dinner is first!"
Simone strolled over to the rat and the faerie, and stood on her hind legs to view them both, then she turned and headed back to her former spot, sat down and began sipping some cool water that had been provided.
"I guess I cant eat them now, surely their powers will be needed by me before this journey is done, but then..........." Simone's tummy grumbled once again, "Oh quiet you, better days are coming and you shall have your fill."
"So Madrina," Simone called over, "Killed any good prey lately?"
Purring_Kitten
Sze spoke a piece:
"So this one is after the prince's wealth alone hmm? I would doubt that very much. This kind of leech takes its nourishment from whatever source it can. Be it a king's ransom or a pauper's penny. Fooling himself no doubt into thinking that a great taking of another's goods will set him for life, but in truth it sets him for death."
Sze noticed the cat eyeballing her like some delicious delicacy. "Poor Kitty," Sze thought to herself, "a different kind of nourishment has her thoughts turned round."
Sze fluttered her wings and flew back over to the rat captain. "Fear not, kind rat, for I perceive that you are a creature of noble intent, and believe that faith has set you upon this journey and that you follow not the directions found on maps to seek your ship, but do follow where your heart leads." Sze raised her wand and brought it down ever so lightly upon the rat's broken tail, as a bright flash escaped the wand's tip, momentary but blinding. "Your tail is mended for you, kind rat, on you have I used the power of healing, and believe to have done so in accordance with instructions received from the Queen of Faeries herself."
Turning to the others she said,
"I am not here to guard the prince's wealth from theives and cut throats, nor am I here to protect any from desert creatures and evil personified. Our unfriendly and uncouth guest may do as he will, as long as it doesn't endanger my well being , or of those that I would call my friends."
Sze sat back upon her stone and thought to herself:
"Another power used now, and just 4 more to pass, and then the greatest power of all shall be mine which none can resist. And then this tiniest of creatures shall possess what wise men seek and what giants fall subject to."
"Sorry if I've helped to ruin your dinner, Madrina," Sze called across the campfire....
LilTrink
"All go to our doom?" thought Quintar.
And he may very well be right. I am not permitted to see my own fates and see not even a glimpse of this entire caravan's fate, I was hoping to take that to mean that I am just destined to travel to its conclusion, but one never knows, maybe just travel along till my own conclusion.
Quintar the dinner guest excused himself from the others' company as he headed back to the wagon he had been residing, in order to prepare for sleep.
Didn't have a chance to surrender that rat captain to those armored rats, he told himself. But tomorrow, well, who knows what opportunities tomorrow may bring.
Quintar the trader had his mind spinning as he drifted off to sleep. With thoughts and plans of how to trade the life of one rat for that of a dozen dinner sized rats. And waited for the first available opportunity to present itself.
"Not bad for an owl," thought Quintar, "Not bad for an owl at all."
Thundercat
The rat captain smiled as the pain left his body.......his tail now healed by the powers of the faeries wand. "Thank you Sze," said the captain as he bowed with a flourish, sweeping his hat through the air to rest on his side. The captain said nothing in response to the arrogant man in black..... for he knew what he was about.....arrogant and blind to what's about him, thought the captain, for indeed his ship did lay in the direction the caravan was headed.....waiting for its captain......and waiting to set sail to parts unknown to do battle with pirates and save the lives of many just folk......many are the kinds of ships that can float upon the waters....arrogant and blind to what's about him, thought the captain......as his eyes drifted upward into the starlit sky. He thought of his ship as he stared upwards and toward the direction of home. It was then he remembered the rats in armor and ended their existance with a single thought. I can think them up
again should I need them, the rat captain acknowledged to himself........or perhaps something worse!
Ratatat
Og sat quietly eating, observing the others indignation of "the man in black."
"A Thief", he thought. "Enough said". Greedy and self centred and definately not worth the energy to think on further. As to the dangers the thief had mentioned, all life was a continuous journey of danger. Who knew what each days dawning would bring? Worrying about it would not change anything, so why worry. He had food and, whilst his destination was still a mystery, it was still a destination. That was sufficient.
His companions on the journey were a strange mixture. True to his original nature, he realised he was ambivilent to them, but, his new "human" nature was awakening thoughts that were strange and new to him. The journey was one that drew them to-gether for a purpose and, for the first time in his life, he knew that self reliance would not be enough. He would have to rely on these companions. The certainty of that fact worried him. He had never relied on anyone but himself. That now had to change.
Och well. If he had to change, he had to change. He was not about to lose any sleep over it. However, sleep was not on the agenda for to-night. He would join Kahpeh later in his true form and hunt. That thought brought a smile to his face and peace to his mind. It was sufficient to the moment.
Pipedreams.
Chapter 4
Madrina made her way back to the campfire carrying a couple of fairly large fish and some palm leaves to wrap them in while they cooked. She was a bit annoyed to find Quintar with his hands in her cooking pots, but supposed he was trying to help and decided to keep rein on her tongue.
"Good evening one and all! I am so glad to have you share this night & meal with me. Just let me put these fish on the coals and we can start getting to know one another. Oh, and a request! I will need someone to assist me in helping the broken tail of this poor rat."
Kahpeh, who had earlier disappeared into the night, returned to the campsite. He was carrying a massive piece of meat in his jaws, which he dropped into Og's lap. Shaking his black mane proudly, the lion then made his way to the spot where he knew Madrina would sit. Seeing the kind deed her lion had done, Madrina turned to Og. "Perhaps you would take a knife and cut a small piece for the cat? I am not sure what kind of meat that is, but I will gladly cook it up for anyone who wishes to partake of it." Madrina then moved to her spot, taking the rat into her lap, and observed the group.
"Let me start us off," Madrina said with a smile. "I am Madrina and have travelled from a small village that sits between the savannah and deserts of this continent. Kahpeh, my lion companion, has been with me for most of my life, and has been a constant source of joy in my solitary existence. I am an Earth priestess. It came to our attention that something of great portence is about to occur, and I was sent to observe the event. That is how I came to be with this caravan. I have invited you all here this evening so that we might learn more about one another since we will be travelling together for a time. And I would like, with your permission, to record this event and include your stories." Smiling, Madrina looked at each person warmly, waiting for them to speak.
Kit10ish
Simone was more than a little annoyed at being asked to give an account of herself to her dinner before she ate it. But still it was this woman Madrina's affair, and if that was the way of her species , so be it.
"My name is Simone and I am from the land of the Pharoahs. I am descended directly from a line of cats that were worshipped and treated as gods, and so we are." She looked at her future dinner and dinner companions as if waiting for some sort of praise, then continued on. "Nine lives is our blessing and here I am over 100 years and still on my first. News reached me in my land of this caravan's journey that was set to uncover some wonderful thing at its conclusion, though what exactly remains a mystery, still, it is my thinking that if something so wonderful is going to occur that it must in some way pertain to me and my kind as we are undoubtedly the most wonderful of wonders and have held the one of most intelligent races of humans that ever existed under our spell, and so I am sent to uncover this wonder and see how it may serve our desires."
Simone was wanting so badly to take a little nibble of the faerie's wing, just to get the flavor, but she did not want to ruin her dinner by starting on the dessert first, and also it appeared that her hostess was in no great rush to begin the meal itself, and one must watch one's manners at a dinner event. So she sat back quietly and waited for another speaker to begin.
Purring_Kitten
The rat captain decided that he better open up a bit to these strangers as he maybe could use some friends now as he was about to lose his tail and possibly become someone's dinner.
"I am a captain of a seafaring vessel that was struck by torpedos during the battle with the pirates of the carribean. As is our nature we quickly deserted our sinking ship with the protocol of rats and captains first. It had come to my attention of the journey of this caravan and I imagine there might be the pirates at the other end of this voyage waiting," the rat captain suspiciously eyed the man in black, "And perhaps on this end also. I have received word that the humans aboard had managed to save our ship and so I hope also to rejoin my ship and crew at the other end of this continent and redeem myself in battle against the rat pirates who seek even now to possess the full stores of the queen's cheese."
The rat captain had seen the note being slipped under Quintar's wing and could only pray that those foolish rat knights would not venture a rescue at this time.
Rat_atat
Sze took her turn at introducing herself.
"Hello and my name is Sze and I have joined this caravan in hopes that it will bring me closer to completing a personal mission. The Queen of Faeries had given me a wand containing powers that all must be used wisely and to benefit others, only 5 powers remain and then my mission is accomplished."
Sze stopped short of telling how when the powers were all successfully used she would receive for herself the greatest power of all that none could resist.
"The easiest power to use so far has been that of fire as we all know you fight fire with it,and with its use I helped defeat a great green smoking dragon that terrorized a villiage but in the end was proven to be harmless. The hardest to use so far has been the power of faith as it is so hard to get others to trust what they can see, let alone what they can't see. But with all the interesting beings I spotted on this journey I can't help but think opportunity might arise at any time to use a remaining power." Her eyes twinkled as she looked over at the rat dressed in captains garb and clutching his blade so bravely yet with fear showing in his face.
Sze fluttered her wings and took off, landing ever so gently at the rat's side.
The man in black seemed to be ogling her wand, perhaps he might learn later that powers to help others can cause great harm to those who don't.
lilTrink
Quintar the Owl spoke to all and to no one as he introduced himself to this group of travellers.
"My name is Quintar, I am from yesterday and heading on into tommorrow. As you can see I am an owl, but a very rare bird, I am a portent owl, or an omen owl as we are sometimes called. We have ability to see part of the future of things and so our reputation as omens came to be.
Many become disturbed at my presense, thinking I have brought with me some bad luck for them, but I do no such thing and my presence is nothing more than a foreboding, I cannot create the future.
In observing this caravan I found it odd that I could not get so much as a glimpse of the future of it or any of its members, as if hidden from my view by some mysterious command.
Therefore I decided to tag along myself, to see what the future holds in store for you all, which is quite a new experience for me. But I must assume that somewhere along this journey lies my own fate. As up to this point it is only my own fates that I am not allowed to view and so must be entwined with all of yours somehow." He settled back again into his seat and listened to the next speaker.
Quintar the spy reached under his wing and retrieved the note that had been slipped to him. He excused himself from the group a minute on the pretext of having to go about owl business of a personal nature, out of sight from the others he read his note.
" My good friend Owl," it began, "seeing that you are an owl, and have therefore reputation as the wisest of beings, and seeing our Captain of Rats damaged and held prisoner by the Lady Madrina, we request your assistance and advice in removing him from her clutches as it comes obvious to us that she plans to feed him to one of you this dinner. For your services you will be rewarded by whatever it is we may impart to you, even our very lives as your dinner also. We will be awaiting opportunity."
Quintar the spy arrived back in his seat at the campfire. He looked over at the rat, who did not appear to be a prisoner at all, at the woman, who in no way appeared a captor, at the other guests, yes they did look like rat eaters, but that group must be mistaken somehow as to the situation of their captain.
"No matter to me," thought Quintar. "If I can set him on his way outside the camp, then shall I be rewarded with a dinner of choice rats for myself."
Quintar the spy turned his head round 180 degrees in both directions, taking in all that was about this campsite.
"A dozen rats for one, not bad at all."
Thundercat711
Og stared at Kahpeh and then at the meat the lion had brought him. The sharing of meat in this manner was not known amongst the great cats and Og knew this as a singular honour. Og held Kahpeh's eyes with his own and an "agreement" passed between them. He then returned his attention to the group as each began to tell its tale.
At the woman's invitation he passed some of his meat to her to be cooked. The rest he kept aside to be eaten with Kahpeh later, in his natural form.
When his turn came Og began his tale:
"My name is Og and I come from the northern mountains of the Tin Islands. I am of the breed known as "wild cat" but am unusally large for my kind. We are generally a solitary race, so, our travelling together is "unusual" for me."
"Until the compulsion came upon me, my cat form was all I knew. Since the compulsion, I have been able to take on human form. As you can see, as in my cat form, my human form is large for its race."
"I have no idea why we are all brought together or whence we travel and what we will find. For the moment it matters not. The journey is a lesson in itself and the reason behind it will come when it will. I won't waste time speculating, rather I will enjoy this meal and company"
Madrina passed Og his cooked meat looking hard into his eyes, then as hard into the eyes of Kahpeh. Og looked at Kahpeh and smiled. He had found a kindred spirit.
Pipedreams
The man in black simply gazes silently at the other creatures. He shows no signs of surprise or even the slightest interest when they tell their unusual tales. Only after they've all finished recounting their stories does he speak.
"You fools. Don't know where you're going? You are heading into the most dangerous stretch of barren desert in the known world. Dozens of caravans have passed into this desert in the past month, and none has returned. You will face terrible sandstorms, violent marauding thieves, horrific monsters.
And then there's the Djinn, the terrible fire spirits who rule over this desert. They hold immense powers, and they are completely unpredictable. You never know when one of these demons will pop up and reduce this caravan to smoldering ash."
He gazes at the rat. "And you are the biggest fool of all. Don't you know you're going north? You're heading AWAY from the ocean! Where could your ship possibly be? In the frozen wastes of the Arctic Circle?"
He shakes his head and scoffs. "You all go to your doom. If you follow this idiotic prince to the northern forests, you will most surely die. Your best hope is to steal whatever loot you can from this pompous prince and head back to civilization as soon as possible." He glances at the little fairy. "And, speaking of which, I didn't even look at your wand once, you disgusting pixie. I'm not stupid enough to touch anything belonging to one of you filthy, treacherous sprites."
Oreja
Madrina sat there in shock at this man's outburst.She had to lay a calming hand upon Kahpeh who had stood defensively, growling. It took her a moment to control her own emotional outburst before she dared speak. "Mr. Thief, for that is the only thing you have told us about your own self, and based on your present behaviour it is obvious you have not had much home training on proper manners. You were given a friendly invitation to join us for dinner and end up belittling your companions. Most of us seem to be following the Prince in good faith that he is leading us to a most important event, and we follow despite the possible dangers that lie ahead. Perhaps the Rat Captain is a bit lost and misguided, but that may be the journey he is meant to take along with us. As for the faery, your own admission of stealing only justifies her suspicions of you possibly eyeballing her most precious possession!"
Madrina had to stand up at this point to get a better hold of Kahpeh's black mane to keep him held back from going after this man in black. "In regards to the Prince, he is far from idiotic. It is very possible that he is the future of our Earth, someone who will right the wrongs by Man against Nature. And if he is truly this man, then I am confident that the Djinn's will help him on this journey rather than attack us. Look around you, Sir. These are kind souls with hearts of gold and pure intentions. We are not helpless and as meek as we appear, and we can protect ourselves. Perhaps you should take your cowardice and follow your own advice and return from whence you came! And thank you for the warning. We now know to take measures to protect the little we have."
Madrina bent over, realizing that the Rat Captain had been on her lap before she had stood up. She picked him up tenderly, checked him for any damage his fall might have incurred. She then spoke in his ear softly, "I think we may be able to just bind that broken tail and not have to resort to cutting it off. The faery has offered her help in easing your pain while we doctor you. I hope you will find this a better solution." Madrina then looked at all the companions. "Please, help yourselves to tonight's dinner while I mend the Rat's wounds." She then eyed the thief from head to toe before commencing to work on the Rat's tail.
Kit10ish
Simone's tummy was grumbling at the thought of rats and faeries.
And what was the matter with that man in black? Holding up dinner with his silly talk of dangers and troubles. "I guess he just doesn't realize who his traveling companions are," Simone thought to herself, "but first things first and dinner is first!"
Simone strolled over to the rat and the faerie, and stood on her hind legs to view them both, then she turned and headed back to her former spot, sat down and began sipping some cool water that had been provided.
"I guess I cant eat them now, surely their powers will be needed by me before this journey is done, but then..........." Simone's tummy grumbled once again, "Oh quiet you, better days are coming and you shall have your fill."
"So Madrina," Simone called over, "Killed any good prey lately?"
Purring_Kitten
Sze spoke a piece:
"So this one is after the prince's wealth alone hmm? I would doubt that very much. This kind of leech takes its nourishment from whatever source it can. Be it a king's ransom or a pauper's penny. Fooling himself no doubt into thinking that a great taking of another's goods will set him for life, but in truth it sets him for death." Sze noticed the cat eyeballing her like some delicious delicacy. "Poor Kitty," Sze thought to herself, "a different kind of nourishment has her thoughts turned round."
Sze fluttered her wings and flew back over to the rat captain. "Fear not, kind rat, for I perceive that you are a creature of noble intent, and believe that faith has set you upon this journey and that you follow not the directions found on maps to seek your ship, but do follow where your heart leads." Sze raised her wand and brought it down ever so lightly upon the rat's broken tail, as a bright flash escaped the wand's tip, momentary but blinding. "Your tail is mended for you, kind rat, on you have I used the power of healing, and believe to have done so in accordance with instructions received from the Queen of Faeries herself."
Turning to the others she said,
"I am not here to guard the prince's wealth from theives and cut throats, nor am I here to protect any from desert creatures and evil personified. Our unfriendly and uncouth guest may do as he will, as long as it doesn't endanger my well being , or of those that I would call my friends."
Sze sat back upon her stone and thought to herself:
"Another power used now, and just 4 more to pass, and then the greatest power of all shall be mine which none can resist. And then this tiniest of creatures shall possess what wise men seek and what giants fall subject to."
"Sorry if I've helped to ruin your dinner, Madrina," Sze called across the campfire....
LilTrink
"All go to our doom?" thought Quintar.
And he may very well be right. I am not permitted to see my own fates and see not even a glimpse of this entire caravan's fate, I was hoping to take that to mean that I am just destined to travel to its conclusion, but one never knows, maybe just travel along till my own conclusion.
Quintar the dinner guest excused himself from the others' company as he headed back to the wagon he had been residing, in order to prepare for sleep.
Didn't have a chance to surrender that rat captain to those armored rats, he told himself. But tomorrow, well, who knows what opportunities tomorrow may bring.
Quintar the trader had his mind spinning as he drifted off to sleep. With thoughts and plans of how to trade the life of one rat for that of a dozen dinner sized rats. And waited for the first available opportunity to present itself.
"Not bad for an owl," thought Quintar, "Not bad for an owl at all."
Thundercat
The rat captain smiled as the pain left his body.......his tail now healed by the powers of the faeries wand. "Thank you Sze," said the captain as he bowed with a flourish, sweeping his hat through the air to rest on his side. The captain said nothing in response to the arrogant man in black..... for he knew what he was about.....arrogant and blind to what's about him, thought the captain, for indeed his ship did lay in the direction the caravan was headed.....waiting for its captain......and waiting to set sail to parts unknown to do battle with pirates and save the lives of many just folk......many are the kinds of ships that can float upon the waters....arrogant and blind to what's about him, thought the captain......as his eyes drifted upward into the starlit sky. He thought of his ship as he stared upwards and toward the direction of home. It was then he remembered the rats in armor and ended their existance with a single thought. I can think them up again should I need them, the rat captain acknowledged to himself........or perhaps something worse!
Ratatat
Og sat quietly eating, observing the others indignation of "the man in black."
"A Thief", he thought. "Enough said". Greedy and self centred and definately not worth the energy to think on further. As to the dangers the thief had mentioned, all life was a continuous journey of danger. Who knew what each days dawning would bring? Worrying about it would not change anything, so why worry. He had food and, whilst his destination was still a mystery, it was still a destination. That was sufficient.
His companions on the journey were a strange mixture. True to his original nature, he realised he was ambivilent to them, but, his new "human" nature was awakening thoughts that were strange and new to him. The journey was one that drew them to-gether for a purpose and, for the first time in his life, he knew that self reliance would not be enough. He would have to rely on these companions. The certainty of that fact worried him. He had never relied on anyone but himself. That now had to change.
Och well. If he had to change, he had to change. He was not about to lose any sleep over it. However, sleep was not on the agenda for to-night. He would join Kahpeh later in his true form and hunt. That thought brought a smile to his face and peace to his mind. It was sufficient to the moment.
Pipedreams.
Chapter 5
