City of IF

[Lebrenth]

Episode 5, Fabled Island, Cat in the Bag

“You say it was licking the blood off of your face?” Thomas asks Chia in the drawing room with most of the treasure hunters that morning.

“Yeah, gross huh?”

“Sounds to me like we need more blood,” he says, half-jokingly drawing his long knife.

“I see where you’re going with this,” Ethan says, looking up with near enthusiasm. Ross detects the malevolent implication from the next room over. He enters the room by only a step, blocking one of the doorways.

“We might lose some dead weight while we’re at it,” Thomas replies lightly, teasing the idea without much pressure. “Perhaps Chia or Father Charles?”

“Wait a minute,” Lawrence pauses eating to say, his relish of the freebooters rations abruptly interrupted by the way Ethan and Ross react to Thomas’s off-handed comment. “There are other ways to bait a cat. We don’t even need blood.”

“Maybe it should be you,” Ross threatens. “You're always stealing, you can’t fight, and you didn’t even bring your own food.”

“I can’t believe you people,” Jim says. “You’re joking about murder!”

“And I’ve been nice to everybody!” Chia jumps in. “Why would you make fun of me like that?”

“Maybe we’re not joking,” Thomas says.

“Ross has a point,” Ethan redirects. “Lawrence does nothing for us.”

“Look, this is crazy,” Lawrence appeals. “And I’d thank you not to stand so close, Ross. I think I need some air.”

But Ethan intercepts him. Chia steps back, and Jim starts to stand, but Ross pushes him back down and stands over him with a tight fist.

“Please… Thomas, I’ll leave. You don’t have to kill me,” Lawrence says. “I’ll go off in the jungle and you’ll never see –”

His words cut off when Thomas raises his knife. He dodges. Ethan catches him. Thomas reaches around and cuts a smile in Lawrence’s throat. Ethan drops him. Lawrence holds his neck and awaits death, for it is certain to come soon. He begins to choke before everything fades.

“Now we wait for the cat,” Thomas says as though he did nothing more than set a piece a cheese on a mousetrap.

“You murdered him in cold blood!” Jim fearlessly accuses, though still shaken, but no one feels threatened. Chia covers her pallid face with her hands, trying to will the scene away.

“We’re better off. Now we should leave the body alone for a while,” Thomas says, cleaning his knife and sheathing it. Ethan sits by Lawrence with one of the freebooter’s bags. Ross approaches Chia and tells her not to worry:

“… you’re too pretty to kill.”

She throws her fists at him, pummeling his scarred face, though he can feel very little of the petty impacts. He pushes her away.

“Why did you do that?” she yells at everyone and no one. She runs from the room. The shocked treasure hunters stare at each other till Ethan barks at them to go away while he waits for the cat. Jim lingers for a moment longer, but not because death was so horrible and unaccustomed to him. He sailed for years and had many stories, but the only one anyone wanted to hear anymore was the last one he ever wanted to talk about. Seeing Lawrence dead on the ground reminds him of the young Captain Kelly. And if the similarities go any farther, he knows this is just the beginning. It seems fate will never let him go.

“I’m going to see the boat,” Jim says. “Come, Father, there’s nothing you can do.”

Fear has reduced Father Charles to a child, first they wanted his life, then they showed how quickly they could take it. He is terrified of Ethan sitting beside the body, but feels compelled to offer a prayer.

“No need to say Grace, Father,” Ethan says. “We’re not going to eat it.”

Father Charles gives a swift prayer: “May the Lord take thee and rest thy soul.” And he’s immediately off his knees and hurrying outside with Jim.

The time drags, but Ethan has the patience of a hunter on his side. The treasure hunters do not strain themselves as they wait, though they accomplish a few small things. Jenn has found small things around the mansion that might work for crude lock picks, Jim has acquainted himself with the sail boat and seen it is in good condition, Juan has foraged a few fresh fruits from forsaken trees, and the general layout of the city is better understood.

Outside, Chia tries to calm Slowpoke down. The donkey seems to know Lawrence was dead, and refuses to move or eat. Realizing that the donkey will die or be killed if it doesn’t snap out of it, she persists, which seems to make Slowpoke more nervous and more stubborn.

Then white cat appears, it’s hair wild from the conditions it’s lived and not being petted. It smells Ethan and suspects there is something not right about him, but it also smells blood, which means food. It can no longer afford to pass an opportunity to feed. It slowly and silently approaches the body, constantly looking at Ethan. He waits for it to bend its head before he lunges. It springs back, but a moment too late. He has it.

The bag thrashes about and the cat yowls inside it. He considers hitting it against the wall to knock it out, but decides it might die that way, so he ties the bag up and leaves it on the ground for the cat to waste its energy. When it finally calms to a breathing bump, he picks it up and shows it off. The treasure hunters react with mild disapproval, if anything, but have to admit it is the most practical way to take the cat back.

“We should take it back now, before it dies on us,” Ethan says, naturally more concerned about the money than the well being of the cat. It seems sensible and now they finally have something to cash in.

“Should we take the boat?” Jenn asks.

“Why not?”

“Because of the donkeys!” Chia says.

“There’s room enough,” Jim says glumly.

The crew goes to the small docks off the south side of the sandy northwest peninsula, leaving Lawrence where he lays. Those who care enough to want to bury him don’t want to look at him and those who killed him couldn’t care less what happens to his body.

“They won’t go!” Chia insists as they try to pull the donkeys onto the boat. They are characteristically obstinate, and nothing will convince them to get on the tossing boat.

“They’ll be fine,” Thomas says. “We’ll come back for them later. They can just graze.”

Though it can hardly be assured they will be fine, Chia lets them stay, taking all of her things and packing them on the boat, and putting her sleek white helmet on.

“If they get lost or killed I’m going to hold you responsible,” Chia says to Thomas. Thomas smiles non-committally and changes the subject.

“So why doesn’t this boat have a name? Isn’t that bad luck?” Thomas asks Jim, but Jim is in a very sour mood.

“There’s no such thing as luck. It’s just a boat that belonged to men who didn’t want to be noticed and remembered. It’s just as well we keep it this way.”

“Maybe we should give it a name, even if we don’t paint it on the sides,” Jenn says indifferently.

“There’s no reason for it,” he says and busies himself with the riggings. Though the others might be able to lend a hand if he would only give them a little instruction, he does it all himself, as though he had something to prove, and he reproves anyone who tries to assist him, saying they’ll only screw it up. The wind blows robustly from the west, and though not ideal, Jim knows how to work it to advantage. The wind feels soft and revitalizing. It softens the heavy memory of the morning’s event. And with the cat shut in a trunk they found on board, they can easily forget that anything shady had happened.

“We’re getting a bit far out, don’t you think?” Chia asks.

“Don’t tell me how to sail. The map shows a lot of rocks and we know there’s a wreck. Anyway we’re not that far off.”

“We should take a look –” Thomas says, but Jim snaps at him.

“At the shipwreck, I know. I can handle it. Just sit down and relax.”

One person is certainly having a trying time with the relaxing part. Aspi isn’t biting herself in anxiety but neither is she perfectly at ease. She keeps a constant hold of a rope tied to the base of the mast and doesn’t want to move for even the smallest of things.

Not all of the rocks are hidden beneath the waves, though there are many of them that are. The crashing of the waves makes buffets of white splashes, like smoke from a volley of cannon fire. The rocks are like the teeth of a saw chewing 2 square miles off the west coast. The wreckage of the Spice Runner waits like a tarnished coin on the nose of a rabid dog. The closer the crew gets, the dumber it seems to be. But Jim won’t allow himself to be daunted. He picks a path and quickly shifts the sails, all on his own and still forcing everyone out of the way. Then he helms the rudder, thinking to himself how much he could use just one proper sailor to help keep things going smoothly.

The swishing of the tide between sharp rocks makes the crew feel helpless. They can’t tell if Jim has any control at all. Then in the trough between waves, they feel and hear a loud bump and a scrape. Jim seems unperturbed. The rocks get more crowded.

“Get the oars out,” he says in a loud calm voice. “They’re right under your seats.”

The crew fumbles quite a lot. Lacking communication and trust, the oars get stuck, get pulled and pushed in opposite directions a few times, and one oar is even dropped in the water before being bravely rescued by Aspi of all people.

“On the left! Port-bow! Push the boat away from those rocks!” Jim says, again without urgency but very loud and clear. They spear the rocks with the oars and push hard. It takes everyone’s effort, though Ross is convinced he does the majority of the work single-handedly.

“Oars in the water! Paddle us to the right, starboard!” Jim says. The opening he wants to take seems far too narrow with these waves.

“We aren’t going to make it through that!” Jenn yells.

“Don’t question my judgement when it comes to sailing! We can make it, you just keep rowing!”

Jenn and the others do as he says, but they keep pausing, doubting that the boat can honestly pass through without hitting. Jim yells at them to keep rowing. The boat scraps the rocks on the port side.

“Push away from the rocks on both sides! Keep us steady, don’t rush!”

An oar gets caught in a crack in the rock and boat rises on a wave, it tips and the oar’s head breaks off. The boat sways and sea water slips in over the side, but the boat rights itself again and they pass through the rocks.

“This is suicide!” Father Charles says with his fingernails biting into the oar. But the Spice Runner is just a few yards more. Jim abandons the rudder, and throws a rope on a broken railing alongside the back half of the Spice Runner. He ties a few more anchors on the leeside of the ship, protected from a few of the waves.

“There better be more than spices on this ship!” Thomas says. “What’s supposed to be on here?”

“I don’t know, Lawrence was the one who found out about it,” Jim says with a little bit of ‘told-you-so’.

“Ross, why don’t you check it out?” Thomas slyly suggests. Ross never backs down from a challenge, and climbs up the side of the ship easily. Jim looks at the rocks, looking for easier directions to take in and out, while Aspi nervously splashes the water out of the bottom of the unnamed boat. The others wait for Ross.

The half of the ship he checks shows signs of forced entry, but no signs of anything valuable or useful. On the broken edge of the ship, he looks down into the tumultuous water and can see the rest of the ship between waves. He takes in a deep breath and dives in. The others can see nothing.

Below the waves there is still a strong back and forth current that tosses him to and fro. The light ebbs and flows with the waves, but he can see well enough to make out the outline of the ship. One of the doors of the ship swings back and forth beside him as he latches onto the wreckage and pulls himself inside the darkness.

Time holds still for the rest of the crew. Chia holds her breath to try to guess how long he should be underwater, but gives up with a blasting cough. It makes her claustrophobic to think he still hasn’t breathed; she feels as though drowning herself. But Ross still doesn’t come up.

Like a rocket, he pops out of the water, just before a wave throws him against a rock. He clings to the rock a moment, gasping for air, before he swims back to the boat with lines of strange round red spots on his body.

“What happened?” Jim asks as they pull Ross into the boat.

“An octopus or something. It was big.”

“Did you see anything?” Thomas asks.

“No. It grabbed me the moment I went in.”

“I never met a man who was attacked by an octopus,” Jim says. He looks down when he feels water on his ankle.

“It sucks,” Ross says. He stands up. “I’m in the mood for calamari, I’ll be back.”

But no one hears him because they’re all noticing the water at the bottom of the boat rising.

“Hold on…. Where’s the hole?” Jim demands. The crew scramble to find where the water is coming in, but they can’t see it. “Someone start pailing!”

“With what?” Chia asks frantically. There are no buckets on the ship. She takes her white helmet off and uses it with some success. There are only two helmets amongst the crew and it is difficult to see if they are making any progress or just postponing the finale.

“We should get back to land,” one treasure hunter says.

“We should be able to get back to Gadiri Harbor,” Jim says, presuming the water isn’t leaking in fast enough to prevent it and knowing they could get proper repairs there.

“I can take the octopus,” Ross says confidently, but logically concerned that the crew won’t wait if he dives in without their approval….

[LordoftheNight]

Quote: “No need to say Grace, Father,” Ethan says. “We’re not going to eat it.”

Actually, I am getting pretty hungry now you mention it.

While of course, Ross has only one thing on his mind. Best watch yourself Chia.

Personally, I think we should let Ross do the thing he does best - killing stuff - and sic him on the octopussy. The rest of us should be bailing water, while heading within swimming distance of land.

[Chinaren]

Quote: “No need to say Grace, Father,” Ethan says. “We’re not going to eat it.”

Great line!! :laf:

I totally f5 Lordy here. Time for him to get in and do his thing with the octopus.

Maybe whilst he is fighting it, we can swim past it.

Great chapter Lebs. ~Wipes his knife~

[D-Lotus]

Quote: “Your always stealing

You're

Quote: Ross approaches Chia and to tell her not to worry

and tells her- or Chia to tell her
___________

Sorry to be picky, but great authors must not make mistakes! ;)

My first impression is that the characters have developed from ghosts into characters. Now they finally have a personality! I guess that the discussion in the last chapter was really useful to you. The syle, as usual, is fast paced and with brief details outlining important things from time to time. I like your landscape descriptions, and they are especially important in this island you have created. The more we know of our surroundings, the better we are able to integrate and be truly 'surrounded' by the story.

For the DP- Challenge Ross (since he can't resist) to look under the helm, to check for holes. If he finds the tear, we may be able to fix it. If he cannot find it, then we must sail towards safety ASAP. Make Thomas watch out for the octopus with his rifle, since he's such a great marksman.

[chiacutie]

My charactor would, once again, be traumatized Im sure. Especially since Lawrence's death was almost hers. She wouldnt want to let ross go, not after seeing the death... She would be terrified to lose another she is just geetting to know.

I bet shed try to stop him ;)

Im trying to get into charactor...

[Chinaren]

Quote: Make Thomas watch out for the octopus with his rifle, since he's such a great marksman.

I can still hit it from a distance, say from in the boat. ;) I am hardly likely to hang around near something that will pull me in and eat me!

Maybe we can throw in Chia, whilst she is still in shock, and use her as a distraction? :laf: Okay, that was joke. ;) Or was it? :-o

[Kalanna Rai]

Being my ever pessimistic self I say we get the hell outta there. Don't bother trying to repair the boat until we're close enough to land that it won't matter if it sank and have Thomas and anyone else with a ranged weapon watching the water for anything that might want us for dinner.

We can always return to the Spice Runner but I don't think any of us could make it swimming through the rip currents if our tiny boat sinks. And I'm sorry but I'm not a fan of the shows 'Survivor', 'Shipwrecked', 'Castaway', or 'Lost' so I'm not up for the whole 'Swiss Family Robinson' thing. Particularly since we'd end up eating Chia and the Priest rather quickly.

Get out and collect on the cat before doing anything else.

[Jack_D.Mented]

Quote: alongside the back half of the Spice Runner

A bit of sailorly education, if you don't mind me saying so, Leb. THe technical term for that is fantail.

And...

Well, while I want to hop right in there and kill that thing, I also want to make sure that I'm not left high and dry while I'm persuing my little hobby. Is there a lock on the trunk with the cat in it? If so, I'd be sure to take the key with me, so as to make sure everyone stays put while I open up a can of whoop a**. If that's not possible, I'm gonna hang back from the attack for now, but with promises to return later.

[LordoftheNight]

And you think they couldn't smash the lock later?

[chiacutie]

chinaren wrote: Quote: Make Thomas watch out for the octopus with his rifle, since he's such a great marksman.

I can still hit it from a distance, say from in the boat. ;) I am hardly likely to hang around near something that will pull me in and eat me!

Maybe we can throw in Chia, whilst she is still in shock, and use her as a distraction? :laf: Okay, that was joke. ;) Or was it? :-o

Stop trying to kill main charactors! Father charles? Sure! But me? I paid, and Im sponsored!

[LordoftheNight]

Seems a perfectly good reason to kill you then. Plus, you have sponsership fables we can steal.

[chiacutie]

Yes, but you smell funny. We have to kill you for our nose's sakes!

[Lebrenth]

Quote: A bit of sailorly education, if you don't mind me saying so, Leb. The technical term for that is fantail.

And...

Well, while I want to hop right in there and kill that thing, I also want to make sure that I'm not left high and dry while I'm persuing my little hobby. Is there a lock on the trunk with the cat in it? If so, I'd be sure to take the key with me, so as to make sure everyone stays put...

Oh yeah, that's right. You're in the navy, huh? Thank you for the information. I'll remember that.

I don't think you'll have to worry about being 'high and dry'. You're more likely to be left low and wet, not to mention possibly eaten. The trunk has a latch but not a lock and anyway the crew operates on polls not individual actions so if they don't vote for you going in, you have no choice.

Someone asked me in a P.M. whether non-participants could comment in the forum so I thought I would answer it here. Certainly. I have no problem with outsiders making comments, they're just not allowed to vote.

I'm still getting used to this forum, but I think it will work out really good. We could even open up other threads for secondary votes if we wanted, though I did try that in "Heroes Never Panic" and it didn't catch on much.

Thanks for showing me that trick, Chinaren. You know, the one where you split the topic and don't have to start over with the favorites lists and stuff. It's tricky but it works great.

We'll give it a few days for suggestions, yeah?

[Lebrenth]

Jack_D.Mented wrote: Quote: alongside the back half of the Spice Runner

A bit of sailorly education, if you don't mind me saying so, Leb. THe technical term for that is fantail.

And...

Well, while I want to hop right in there and kill that thing, I also want to make sure that I'm not left high and dry while I'm persuing my little hobby. Is there a lock on the trunk with the cat in it? If so, I'd be sure to take the key with me, so as to make sure everyone stays put


Grr.... I just lost what I posted!

Thanks for the info, Jack. I'll be sure to remember it. I almost forgot you are in the navy. The trunk has a latch but not a lock. Anyway individual actions are dictated by the group vote, so without the rest of the crew wanting you to dive back in, you have no choice but to stay. I'm being careful not to let this turn into an old-style RPG.

This forum rocks, but I need to get it setup. Thanks to everyone who helped with SGotM. We might even have secondary polls in other threads, but I'm not sure about that. I tried it in "Heroes Never Panic" but it only had limited success.

So we'll wait a few days before setting up the poll. It's pretty much a three option poll, really, but then I've been surprised many times before. As always, it will help to have specific ideas on how to do what you vote for.

Thanks again!

[Lebrenth]

lordofthenight wrote: I'm slightly lost Lebbs. Where's the map?

Click the compass at the top of the thread. I do need to make it more obvious.

Oh look! I didn't lose my post after all!

[chiacutie]

That's what I wad thinking-

and jusyt as a side note when I say what I think my charactor would do, it's just an opinion. I know we have to vote on things and can't pick our own actions, you know, individually, its just, you know, ideas :D trying to be helpful ;)

[Lebrenth]

Ok the new poll is up! We're going to assume that whatever efforts can be spared to repair the boat will be afforded.

By the way, Kalanna... I think your signature pictures are stretching the thread and making it a bit harder to read the posts. do you think you can move them a little closer together?

[Lebrenth]

Looks like we've got a good majority, but I'll leave the poll up a few more days till I have some time to start another chapter (between work and NaNoWriMo, it's getting kind of tricky, not to mention a RL, yeah?)