Storygames Home City of IF
Free online storygaming
 

Chapter 9: The Jungle
Click here to go to the original topic

 
       Storygames Home -> Galleons of the Stars
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Kalanna Rai



Joined: 21 Jan 2006
Posts: 3102
Location: The Frozen North

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 1:52 am    Post subject: Chapter 9: The Jungle  

Okay folks I've offcially defeated Nanowrimo so guess what! I'm giving you all a gift and putting up this new chappy! Enjoy!
-------------------------------

Chapter Nine pt 1: The Jungle

Cobalt couldn't leave now, not only knowing part of the story. Edging closer she resolved to listen in on the conversation, faint stirrings of guilt rising to tell her what she was doing was wrong and she knew it. Quashing the unfamiliar feelings, she concentrated on where the glowing figure was embrancing Ambrois, a look of such total love on it's face it was almost heartbreaking. Much to Cobalt's frustration, though the figure's lips were moving, no sound reached the pluni girl's straining ears. She ground her teeth in frustration as she realized this was not a conversation she could evesdrop upon, unless she were to suddenly develop freaky mental powers like Ambrois seemed to have done.

Suddenly fear froze her heart as the luminous electric blue eyes of the figure locked with Cobalt's own. Before the girl realized what was happening she was airborn, a tremendous force hurling her through the air. She landed with a bone cracking thud against the steel floor, Angelo landing on top of her. His knees pinned her arms, his weight surprising for one of his height and build, digging in with painful pressure. One hand was wrapped tightly around her throat, the other pulled back for a punch she knew would be fatal if delivered. His long silver hair had come free, shifting around his face so as to obscure it from her eyes though it was right above her.

"Father!" Ambrois's startled cry made Angelo flinch and hiss, like a great cat who's just been deeply wounded. Pained and pissed at the same time. Cobalt's mind reeled as it tried to absorbe the information, thoughts impossible as the long strands of Angelo's hair flicked across her face. It made her shudder, the way those strands felt. They weren't normal hair...they seemed like spun metal. Sharp pains pricked her throat where something was cutting her but the force of the slim man's grip was so great she couldn't turn her head.

"Do you know what they do to people like you on some worlds? Do you?" His voice was hissed between clenched teeth, his face invisible in the curtain of hair that hung down, heavy and thick. He raised her head and slammed it down a little. "DO YOU!" For a moment Cobalt thought her vision was going dark, then she realized the blue light was fading. Angelo's head jerked up sharply. "Cele..." The name was whispered, soft and pained, and the light gave a last flash before guttering. A soft white overhead light clicked on.

Suddenly Cobalt found herself being drug upright and, when her feet hit the floor, she continued to rise until she was dangling from Angelo's grip. His hair slid over his face, his eyes burning through like twin daggers. Cobalt could see Ambrois from the corner of her vision, his form coming into focus as he took hold of Angelo's arm. "Don't kill her."

A nasty grin came over Angelo's face as he raised his other hand. Cobalt's eyes widened as she got a good look at his nails, gleaming in the light. Nails as silver as his hair, his eyes, and his wings. "My god...steel..." Suddenly she cried out as pain exploaded in her face, one eye torn away by a blow so swift that she hadn't seen it coming.

Ambrois stared in abject horror as Angelo crushed Cobalt's eye in his hands and abscently wiped the result on the weeping pluni's shoulder. "Well now that that's done, who's up for scrounging around to find a bottle." Ambrois stared at Angelo as if he'd gone mad and pointed to Cobalt.

"You just tore her eye out! Don't you feel the least bit guilty?" He said in a shocked voice.

Angelo simply looked over his shoulder and shrugged. "I'm a pirate mate. I'm over it." He then considered Cobalt a little longer and sighed. "Oh alright. I suppose we should take the wench over to sickbay. But now that..." he fell silent for a moment before picking up again. "Well now that this ship is just a ship for a while again I need to get back up to that wheel pronto. So you take her." With that Angelo disappared into the small opening that led to the outside world.

Ambrois, with a look of distaste, helped Cobalt to her feet and tried to ignore the fact his shirt was rapidly becoming stained with the pluni girl's blue blood. As he tried to shift her down the ackward angles and tight spaces he often found himself getting tangled up. Finally even Ambrois's even temper snapped, which was truely a feat for the one nicknamed 'St. Ambrois'. "Dammit girl! Help me or I'll leave you here!"

"Why don't you? I'm sure your FATHER wouldn't mind." The way she stressed the word made him flinch ever so slightly and Cobalt pressed the attack. "Must really be something to be the son of the man who's trapped his dead wife's soul in a heap of lifeless ironwood and solar canvas."

"It's not like that!" Ambrois snarled back. "She's not trapped, he's not some heartless monster! It's a beautiful and wonderful thing that she loves him enough to stay behind for him." He turned hard, unpitying eyes on her. "And maybe that's something that's just a little beyond you Cobalt but I swear, if you tell anyone I will finish what he started." With that he heaved his wing free, making a little muffled noise of pain as he did so. Pushing her ahead of him, he soon had them out of the twisting passages and back into the regular corridors.

Once in the sickbay he rummaged around, looking for any manual that would tell him how to run the machines. Cobalt watched him anxiously, knowing that every minute he delayed was another minute lost in the race to save her vision. "Why don't you just ask the damned A.I. how to start the damned thing!"

He shot her a sharp gaze. "Because, the only A.I. beyond basic systems is currently down thanks to your interference. Do you realize how much energy it took for her to do that? More than she normally uses in a month! And when you went a broke her concentration like that it was wasted."

"Oh well excuse me. Maybe if you two hadn't gone slinking off like that..."

Ambrois slammed down the box he was holding, opening a basic med-kit and slapping a patch over her eye. "We did not slink off. We left, and I for one, never dreamed you'd be so nosey as to follow. You know maybe he should have..." Ambrois never got to finish as suddenly the entire ship lurched and pitched them headlong across the room. A few moments later, as they were untangling themselves, Saul's glowing features entered the room.

"Land Ho!"
-------------------------------

Donovan leaned over the side of the ship and gazed out over the jungle that spread in every direction. He'd noticed instantly when the scent of salt water had begun to permiate the air and had wandered up toward the deck, leaving Saul to the business of searching for secret compartments. The younger boy had been happily rapping away when Donovan had come on deck and been greeted with the sight of his first touch down. Angelo had deftly spun the wheel to fill the sails with normal wind as the hull had smoothly eased into the water with nary a change in pace. Donovan felt as the throb of the engines ceased and the galleon scudded along before the wind.

Walking over to the rail he cast his nose to the wind, jaws falling open happily to allow his toung to loll in the breeze. His ears swiveled to catch the cries of what passed for sea birds, although they looked more like insect cats. He tried to keep his tail still but it was like trying to pen up a river with a single pebble...at least he didn't bark as some people expected him to. Angelo's laughter caught his interest making him close his mouth with a snap and turn to gaze at the slim man. "First splashdown eh? It's quite a thing...especially if your steersman isn't as good as he thinks he is."

"Are you as good as you think you are?" Donovan asked with laugh in his voice.

"I'm better than you think I am, let's put it that way." Angelo replied with a knowing wink. A broad grin bloomed on his face. "Say mate...you might want to hold on."

"Why?" Donovan asked, turning so that he might see what the slim man's eyes were fixed on. Once he had he let out a yelp and wished he hadn't, scrabbling for purchase on the deck with all the might of his stubby claws. Finally he simply wrapped his arms around the rail and held on for dear life as a massive current shot the star galleon forward, twoard the narrow mouth of an inland river. His ears picked up Saul's footsteps just as the boy came on deck and he reached out a hand as they went whizzing forward.

It was a lucky thing he did otherwise they might very well have lost Saul who had just said 'Hey guys, what did I miss.' before the force of the tidal change sent him flying like the cork of a champegne bottle. Donovan just managed to grab hold of his collar, something he seemed to be forever doing for Saul, and hold on as the ship settled on the calm surface of the river. Donovan reguarded Saul with a lopsided grin as he hauled him back abord.

"Well my friend," he said with a laugh. "You almost missed your next birthday." The sound of the anchor dropping accompanied their laughter and Angelo strode past them.

Putting both hands on the rail, he looked down and seemed to search for something for a few moments. "Ah ha! Right on the nose!" He looked back at them and winked. "If I'm not back in an hour, bring some lemon wedges!" With that he hopped over the rail, plunging down toward the river. There was a strange sound that Donovan couldn't place but, by the time he and Saul looked, the slim man was safe on the other bank...and dry too.

"Well," said Saul with a wink. "I'd better go tell the others we've arrived."
----------------------------

One hour had passed, then two. The orphans hadn't given Angelo much thought until now, not with Ambrois busy explaining to all of them the relationship between himself, Angelo, and the Muse herself and Cobalt busy making up excuses about why she had lost an eye. Between them they'd managed to get some of the equipment in the sickbay working, not much but enough to repair the damage although not to regrow or replace the eye. Instead, Cobalt was wearing a rather fetching eyepatch that Jasper had found. It even matched her other eye in color.

Now though, as the shouting had died down, Jasper looked around with a puzzled expression. "Hey...anyone seen Angelo?"

"Not since he went over the side." Donovan replied then, glancing at the clock, he sheepishly lowered his ears. "That was two hours ago."

Saul groaned. "He said to bring the lemon wedges after one." And of course the orphans couldn't let that statement alone and quickly pried the whole story out of Saul and Donovan. The whole group of them went up on deck and leaned over the rail where Angelo had hopped off. There was some singing, drunken off key singing, emanating from the bushes not too far off shore.

Jasper looked inquiringly at Ambrois. "Ambrois, if you climbed to the top of the mast and jumped off could you glide over there with a rope?" They all looked up at the top of the mainmast and Ambrois shrugged.

"There's only one way to find out." He grabbed a coil of rope and, with only minor difficulty keeping his wings clear, climbed through the rigging to the crow's nest. He looked down at the orphans on the deck and a sudden sense of vertigo assailed him. "You got the other end?" Nods replied and Ambrois looked again, stretching his wings and testing the air with several beats. "God save my broken body." And with a death grip on the rope he jumped.

He made it, crashing down hard but unharmed, and soon enough all six of them were walking toward the noisey bushes. None of them had any doubts as to what they'd find but it was still quite a site to see Angelo, six empty bottles at his feet, sitting on a hollow treestump singing a song so bawdy Saul turned bright red. He blinked as he saw them, a grin stretching his features. "See, my stash! I been here many *burp* many times. Now, did any of you bring the lemon?" He squinted at Cobalt, features turning outraged in the manner of a drunk who's been told he's drunk. "Hey, who said you could bring the blue haired doxey? Nevermind."

After a quick search revealed none of the orphans had brought any lemon, Angelo lurched to his feet.. "Well then, let's got call upon some old friends of mine for some. And besides," he said with a wink. "It's about time we started talking treasure. Quick! Into the bushes!" And with that they plunged into the jungle behind him, the mention of treasure outweighing their doubts.
-------------------------------

They'd been walking through the jungle for what seemed like days even though it couldn't have been more than a couple of hours at most. Of them all, only Angelo and Donovan seemed to be uneffected. Angelo had drained both bottles he'd taken from his 'emergency cache' already and was singing a bawdy sea tale about a man who'd married too many women on too many worlds. Donovan was running rings around the group like an anxious hound, darting off only to come thundering back breathless and ready to yak your ear off about his latest discovery.

Ambrois, the Twins, and Cobalt all wandered miserably behind, occasionally commiserating about the heat supplied by the glaring suns above them. Saul, his normally cheeful attitude destroyed by the temperature and terrain, had subsided to that staple of every fifteen year old male under stressful circumstances...bitching and moaning.

"We're all going to DIE here! I'm too freaking young to DIE! There are things I still want to do in life! Like grow over six feet tall!" He continued in this vein for several minutes until Angelo smiled drunkenly over his shoulder at the young boy and hiccuped.

"Relax. I've been here before. I know exactly where I'm going." He then stumbled head long into a tree and began swearing enough that the bark should have blistered. Finally, still rubbing his head, he glared at it balefully. "Who put THAT there? Wasn't there last time..." He wandered off muttering about strange trees that sprang from nowhere.

This, naturally, did nothing to hearten the orphans who gave each other 'oh shit' glances and continued on follwing him since not even Jasper had a better plan for once. Saul's continuing laments, however, had the entire group wanting to tie him up and gag him with his own underware before long. Finally, as even Donovan began to look a little droopy, Angelo called a halt.

Saul flopped himself down on a fallen tree and shook his head. "We're going to wander around in circles until we STARVE!"

Ambrois, after casting a critical eye around, shook his head. "No, there are plenty of coconuts around. We could eat those for quite a while." He stared up a tree and, after a few moments Saul joined him.

"Yeah...I bet I could shimmy up there and get one of those." He exclaimed as Angelo walked over to see what they were staring at.

The pirate shook his head. "No, there's nothing up that tree."

"But I can see them! There are coconuts right there!" Saul said pointing. But Angelo shook his head again and looked around before finally selecting a tree three trees over.

Walking up next to it he grinned. "This is the right tree. Watch." With that he negligently thumped it hard with his elbow and extended his hand just in time to catch the bottle that fell from the top. Uncorking it and taking a long swig he grinned at their shocked expressions. "See mates? I told you I've been here before."

"Woah! Let me try that!" Saul said as he dashed up to the tree and gave it a hearty whack before Angelo could even speak. Almost instantly a coconut came plummeting out of the tree to strike Saul a glancing blow on the head.

While the younger boy hopped around rubbing his swiftly bruising head and stuttering with pain, Angelo gave a soft laugh. "I was about to tell you mate...tree doesn't serve underage..."
------------------------------------------

Alright, this is just the first part. There is more on the way soon!
Back to top  
Mephistopheles



Joined: 24 May 2007
Posts: 612
Location: Not where I want to be.

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 4:01 am    Post subject:  

yay! humor! thanks for the laughs rai.
Back to top  
Crunchyfrog



Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Posts: 3998

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 2:47 am    Post subject:  

Now this is more like it! :D
Back to top  
Chinaren



Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 8878
Location: https://www.NeilHartleyBooks.com

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 3:51 am    Post subject:  

I'm not sure about all these non-DP chapters Rai.

Anyway, a little more lively this time at least. Still not sure about the humor though. :?
Back to top  
Kalanna Rai



Joined: 21 Jan 2006
Posts: 3102
Location: The Frozen North

Posted: Wed Nov 28, 2007 6:19 pm    Post subject:  

This is the first half of the chappy China. A second half with a Dp is forthcoming.
Back to top  
The White Blacksmith



Joined: 02 Apr 2006
Posts: 2629

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 12:33 pm    Post subject:  

Excellent! Love the gore...

More, please. *holds out plate with 'galleons' written on it*
Back to top  
Lilith



Joined: 10 Feb 2007
Posts: 1597
Location: Happily curled up in a Daemon's lap

Posted: Fri Nov 30, 2007 8:02 pm    Post subject:  

*rolls on floor laughing so hard she cracks a rib*

LOVE IT RAI!

KEEP IT GOING!

*whispers in Rai's ear* Kill the doxey off ASAP.. manipulative whores who are less than at their best (like losing an eye for instance) aren't worth squat.
Back to top  
 
       Storygames Home -> Galleons of the Stars
Page 1 of 1


Powered by phpBB Search Engine Indexer
Powered by phpBB 2.0.16 © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group