"Two additions to your crew!" Sidhe hollered back. "H'oh yeah?" a different voice returned. "We 'aven't 'eard of any h'additions to th'crew." Some mumbling followed this comment and Banagher strained his eyes to see who was onboard.
"It's on the authority of Major Lucien Blair!" Sidhe continued. The mumbling stopped for a moment, then started up again. Sidhe rolled his eyes and sniffed impatiently.
"H'alright, then. Permission t'come h'aboard."
The squirrel and otter stomped up the gangplank to reach the ship's deck. A few torches were lit, but it took a moment for their eyes to adjust. Suddenly two beasts emerged from the shadows into the dim light.
A very fat, middle-aged mouse came first. He snorted, then spit on the deck of the ship, causing a small noise of displeasure from the beast behind him, who was revealed to be a young otter.
"H'and what do we 'ave 'ere?" the mouse asked, squinting his eyes a bit. Sidhe stepped forward, always the ambassador.
"The name's Sidhe Cruiskeen. That's my mate Banagher Vale." The mouse scowled at them. "We're joining you to sail across the South Seas."
"Y'are, are ya? Well, h'if 'tis on the h'authority of Blair, there's nothin' we can do h'about it." He snorted again. "M'name's Graal, h'and this 'ere's Seven," he pointed a paw at the otter.
"Can you even sail?" the otter asked in a clear voice that was a stark contrast to that of the mouse. It also revealed that the otter was female, which surprised Sidhe and Banagher, although they kept silent.
"Of course we can," returned Sidhe, craning his head to look up at the main mast. "And we can row, too, if it comes to that," he added in a dry tone that might have been meant to be humorous. The female otter raised an eyebrow.
"Were you oar beasts, then?" The otter, Seven, seemed blas� about the topic.
"Aye, we were. Banagher longer than myself." Sidhe turned to Banagher. "How long were you aboard that tub?" Banagher rubbed his callused paws unconsciously.
"Ah. Almost a year."
"Oh. Just that?" Seven took a seat on one of the many spools of lines.
"Don't mind 'er," the mouse advised. "She's threatened by yer. But she'll live up t'er brashness. None of us h'even know what 'er real name is. We call 'er Seven, 'cause that's 'ow many sea rats she's killed." There was a note of pride in the mouse's voice as he spoke, and Banagher relaxed slightly as he picked up on the easy relationship between the two crew members. Hopefully the rest of the crew would be the same.
"When does she set sail?" Sidhe asked the two.
"Two days. Are you staying on the ship until then?"
"Ah, no, I don't think so. We'll be staying with the Major," Banagher responded.
"You work h'on th'shore, normally?" the mouse asked, addressing Sidhe. "You've got th'look of a longshore beast."
"Aye, I did. And I'll help you load the ship before it sails. Banagher will, too." The mouse nodded in acknowledgement of this fact. "How many other crew are there on board?"
"Graal there is the cook," Seven pointed with a small dagger she was fiddling with. "Our Captain is Sagueney, you'll meet him if you come back tomorrow. I'm the first mate. We have three crew members, and a navigator. They're dependable - they all came in with us. We don't like to pick up crew members in places like this..." She trailed off, looking at the otter and squirrel.
"Well, luckily, we're not from around here." Sidhe replied gruffly but good-naturedly. He had no great love for the natives.
The boat heaved back and forth in its moorings, groaning as it strained against the thick lines. Banagher looked out to sea, where the stars were bright in the black sky. The moon formed a thin, pale yellow crescent towards the east, lending an eerie, over-watching presence but no light.
"Should we head back?" Banagher asked suddenly. Sidhe sniffed as if tasting the sea breeze.
"I suppose." But he remained standing in place, pulling out his flask. He opened it and took a swig, then held it up to the mouse and otter with a questioning look.
"Sure enough," Graal intoned, grabbing the flask and tossing the drink back for several swallows. He wiped his mouth when finished and offered it to Seven, who shook her head, eyeing the flask with distaste. The mouse handed the flask back to Sidhe, who pocketed it again. Apparently flask-passing was his calling card.
"Say," began Graal, wrinkling his nose in thought, "you 'aven't been flashin' that thing h'about, then, 'ave yer? There's beasts h'around 'ere'll go mad fer somethin' shiny like that."
Banagher looked sideways at Sidhe, but the squirrel simply snorted.
"That doesn't worry us. But my otter friend here is right, we'd best be heading back. We'll come around early tomorrow to help with the loading of the ship." Banagher nodded in acquiescence.
"H'alright then, maties. Watch yer back leavin' 'ere." Sidhe nodded, and the two beasts turned and began to make their way down the gangplank. Seven remained seated, fiddling with her knife.
Halfway down the plank, Banagher sensed that something wasn't right. He could smell something in the air, something sharp and slightly repulsive. He swung his eyes from left to right, down the opposite ends of the dock they were about to alight on. Nothing seemed awry.
"I hope the rest of the crew is that amiable," the squirrel muttered to no one in particular. Banagher nodded as his right paw hit the dock, when something caught his eye to his left - a quick movement in the shadows. Sidhe stopped in his tracks, removed a cigarette, and coolly raised it to his lips.
"Brace yourself, riverdog. There's lemurs about." He widened his stance, seeming rather unconcerned. Banagher looked to his right - just as the first blow came from his left.
The attacker rushed Banagher, tackling him at the waist. The otter went down, catching a glimpse of an odd gray beast with a ringed tail. A second lemur postured behind the first, making tremendous hissing noises and urging his friend on in a language that Banagher didn't understand.
Sidhe, meanwhile, was in a similar predicament. Two more lemurs had rushed in from the right, one of them tackling the gray squirrel. He reacted with every inch of his body and quickly rolled over on top of the lemur and began to pummel him with his fists, until the other lemur jumped on his back and got him in a choke hold.
Banagher had used his powerful back legs to kick his first attacker off of him, into the water, but the other lemur was quick to take the first's place. Banagher got to his feet and grabbed a pole used to catch lines from the dockside. With this he successfully fended off his second attacker, neatly maneuvering him to the dock's edge, then pushing him off of it with a swift kick. Neither lemur could swim.
Gasping for air, Sidhe continued to pummel the lemur underneath him, his blows growing stronger as he grew more infuriated. Suddenly a dark shape swooped in down the gangplank and knocked the lemur off of Sidhe's back, just as Banagher was disposing of his own second attacker. In the glow of the torches, the dark shape revealed itself to be Seven, who dispatched the lemur with her knife before knocking him into the water.
Sidhe, at this point, had pummeled the lemur below him into unconsciousness, and the blows now were simply out of uncontrollable rage. He refused to let up, despite the growing amount of blood on the lemur's head. Banagher watched him, his eyes wide, the pole still in his grasp.
"Heads up, boys!" Seven shouted, loud enough that it caught the attention of both otter and squirrel. "There's more coming." Sidhe turned around to face the land-end of the dock.
The torch-light caught four pairs of eyes, rushing quickly down the dock, knife blades flashing.
Sidhe got to his feet, and the two otters and squirrel braced themselves for the next attack.