Captive

[Tracy]

Her first thought was how she wished the world would stop moving. She was sleeping and achy and why was everything moving? Slowly coming to, Leilani woke to darkness. Her first instinct was to panic, but her Long Patrol scout side quickly kicked in and she slowly got up to examine her surroundings. Her head felt heavy and dizzy, and she would've thought her vision was blurry if she could see anything.

Lani still felt like she was moving. It was an uncomfortable, yet familiar feeling. Her surroundings felt damp, and the smell was musty and salty. She was finally able to place it. Somehow, she was on a ship. Panic started to rise again. The haremaid hadn't been on a ship in a long time, and the last time had not ended well. Taking a few shaky breaths to calm herself, she closed her eyes and listened.

She could hear soft breathing and rustling. There were others nearby, but she wasn't sure if anyone was awake. Her paws felt around in the darkness. Everything was wood, damp and moldy. Opening her eyes again, she slowly let them adjust. It was too dark to make anything in particular out, but she could see the shapes of creatures around her. She could also make out a small sliver of light several feet away to her right.

She stared at the sliver of light as she tried to figure out why she was here, and when was it? There was absolutely no concept of time in the darkness and she had no idea how long she'd been unconscious. What happened? There was a picnic. Everyone was outside because it was a nice day. She'd gone away from the main group... but why? There were others though, that had joined her. They'd gone to play a game in the woods. That was it. There was a block there. She dug her paws into her eyes and tried to think hard, but nothing else came to her.

Slowly, she stood. Between her dizziness and the rocking of the ship, she was not easy on her feet. She turned and clung to the wall behind her, using it to steady herself as she tried to make her way around to the sliver of light. She only made it a couple steps before she fell over a huddled figure in the dark. "Sorry," she whispered automatically, even though she had no idea who or what she was apologizing to. And why was she whispering?

[Wildrun]

Heinz sat quietly in the dark, his ears up and alert to any new sound in the creaking, groaning silence of the ships underbelly. His grey eyes had been closed, until the smallest of noises caught his attention. The marten looked up, scanning the blackness for a sign of movement. Not far from him, somebeast was shifting. Heinz tipped hish ead to one side, wishing he could see more clearly the shape of his new companion.

The ship lurched to one side, and Heinz could faintly hear voices overhead--the damp smell of mildew invaded his nose, and flimsy splinters poked at his paws. He bit back a grunt as the vessel swayed again, forcing him to slide forward and tumble to an abrupt stop against the wall. As he tried to right himself, he grunted again as something hit him.

Putting a paw to his head and leaning back against the wall, Heinz tried to catch his breath. This was not progressing well. The marten suddenly snapped his eyes open again as a hushed voice apologized to him in the darkness. Blinking, Heinz was able to make out the shape of a hare beside him--she must've woken up moments earlier. Shaking his head, Heinz proffered a paw.

"No need to apologize," he whispered back. "It's nice to have company."

[Grath]

Roseleaf hadn't been knocked out-- though it wasn't for lack of trying. The healer sported what felt like a huge knot on the side of her head, but had only been stunned. The vermin tied and gagged the hare, forcing her to march with the others through the forest to the cove where the ships were moored.

Roseleaf glared daggers, she knew that just around that point lay the picnic, and safety, but she couldn't reach it and was pushed into a hold. She waited there in the darkness as the hold was filled-- it didn't seem to be a slave ship, and the vixen who had overseen the loading had not seemed pleased to have them aboard.

---

Rustling, and whispering, had woken up the healer. She groaned, feeling muzzy and confused briefly, but then her mind cleared. She was on a ship. Roseleaf felt around and climbed over bodies until she found the source of the whispers. "Anybeast hurt?" She asked, setting her back against the corner of a cask and the wall of the ship.

[Tracy]

Lani had hit her head against the wall when she fell over the creature in the dark. She groaned and rubbed her head, slowly turning herself and sitting heavily against the offending wall. This had not helped her dizziness at all. Startled by an unfamiliar voice right next to her, she scooted away a bit, eyes wide. But it didn't help, she still couldn't make out who it was next to her and her vision hadn't focused enough to realize he was offering a paw in greeting.

"Who are you?" she asked, and not all that politely. She wasn't about to trust any random beast right now. "And where are we? Why am I here?" The haremaid was still rubbing her head gingerly, imagining she could already feel a bump.

Her long, sensitive ears shifted at the sound of another voice, this time a familiar one. "Roseleaf?" she said aloud, and it was even evident just in the tone of her voice how relieved she was to find someone she knew trapped on this strange ship with her. "I-I'm okay," she replied hesitantly. Her head was pounding and with each lurch of the ship, she felt more nauseous. But better that than dead, she supposed.

"D'ya know where we are? What's goin' on? An' who else is here?"

It was easy to see she was a scout. All she wanted was answers. Not knowing what was going on drove her crazy, and was bothering her far more than her aching head and steadily elevating nausea.

[Wildrun]

((Sorry for the wait. No wifi in this hotel--had to find a Starbucks.))

The marten withdrew his paw a fraction, seeing he had startled the hare. He opened his mouth to introduce himself, when a new voice slid through the blackness.

"No," Heinz said to the voice, "I am not hurt." His two companions clearly knew each other, and the first hare visibly relaxed upon hearing her friend. Heinz let himself relax against the side of the ship, his breathing settling down in time to the swaying. He pursed his lips, faintly irritated--he had no answers to give, no explanation for what was happening. He wished fiercly there was some immiedate action he could take, but it was clear that if he and these other beasts were to escape, they would be playing an unfamiliar game.

He coughed slightly, unwilling to interrupt the two maids but feeling the need to lighten the tension. "If either of you can shed some light on our situation, I'll be most grateful. As it is, I unfortunately cannot do so myself. My name is Heinz Schreibner--I'm just a wanderer, although I do enjoy solving a mystery." He smiling slightly, raising his paw in greeting, although he doubted they could see him at all well. "It's a pleasure to meet you both. May I ask how you came to be here? It could provide a much-needed clue as to what is going on."

[Elizabeth]

"Anybeast hurt?"

"Yes..." Muttered Maria, the dark-furred long-patrol runner. She spoke in a voice that almost went unheard. All that could be seen of her was her glistening outline like a shadowy ghost- and her shinning, deep, emerald-green eyes. She nursed a long, ugly, bloody, gash on her right arm. It ran down from her shoulder and almost reached her wrist.

She let her eyes adjust to the darkness around her. "Roseleaf, Leilani... you're here to?" she said. She had no idea what was going on but she remained silent, taking deep breaths to calm the initial shock.

"If either of you can shed some light on our situation, I'll be most grateful. As it is, I unfortunately cannot do so myself. My name is Heinz Schreibner--I'm just a wanderer, although I do enjoy solving a mystery.[...]It's a pleasure to meet you both. May I ask how you came to be here? It could provide a much-needed clue as to what is going on."

"Heinz? I'm not all sure... Maybe my companions know better?" She waved a hand toward the other Salamandastron haremaids. She sat cross-legged and held a paw to her arm wound.

[Elicia]

The darkness was almost welcoming to the brigadier. Her sense of pride had been severely bruised: she had allowed Elicia to drag her into the game, therefore putting her off her guard. But now was not the time for regrets. She sat up, fumbling for her saber twice before remembering that it was not strapped across her back as usual.

Listening to the others talk, Rora frowned. I didn't see anything that I couldn't have imagined, but this smells- literally- of rats. She wrinkled her nose. Their cell, or room, or whatever, smelled terribly. It made her headache grow worse. First the mountain, then the woods, then the ship. All without a weapon. I'm certain no one here is armed.

"Roseleaf, Leilani, Maria, and- Heinz?" It startled Rora that she knew all of their names, especially considering that one of them was a Varilde. However, at this moment, she could not bring herself to snub the haremaid; she gave in to a spark of good nature and called Leilani by her first name. Maria was the one next to her, Heinz was the only male voice, and Roseleaf was distinctive.

She licked her lips, tasting blood. Whispering in the dark, Rora said, "Roseleaf, come here." Her cheekbone and jaw felt like they were on fire, but Rora did not dare to speak up other than her brief summons. It's nothing I had any right to complain about. Doubtless, when they had knocked her unconscious, whatever they had used had connected soundly with her cheek, breaking the skin on impact. Raising a paw, the brigadier felt the left side of her face gingerly. She had bit through her cheek, but she wouldn't mention that; mainly her cheekbone hurt. Or, rather, it throbbed with pain like white fire that blazed up when she touched it.

Shaking her head, but not bothering to stand, Rora felt again for her saber, and, not finding it, looked over in the direction of Heinz's voice. "Vermin," She said. "I think. We were in the woods, and then we were here. Who could it be-" Rora shrugged, "-but vermin?"

[Grath]

Lorna paced around her cabin, her tail lashing and her expression dark. That lubber-scum! She was conscious of eyes on her, but she ignored them as part of the furniture. Vulpes damn that rat! What was she supposed to do with a score and a half of Long Patrol prisoners? She had only been able to procure chains for half the group, her crew had had to shackle the rest with rope.

She stopped, claws digging into the back of her chair. Captain Ripeye owed her. He owed her big time. Her annoyed expression changed to one of cold calculation.

---

"D'ya know where we are? What's goin' on? An' who else is here?"

“On a corsair ship, captained by a vixen. She didn’t seemed pleased to have us on board.” The older haremaid dutifully reported. Though she was a crack shot with her bow, she had only rarely had to use it in battle, and only as covering fire. Lani, on the other paw…

"Yes..."

Roseleaf turned, crawling on her knees towards the voice. A soft clank sounded with every movement. How had she not noticed these before?

She let her eyes adjust to the darkness around her. "Roseleaf, Leilani... you're here to?"

“Yes…” Roseleaf breathed, her voice low as she reached Maria. Her paws reached out, ghosting in a search for a wound. “What can ye tell me, Maria, is it?”

"Roseleaf, come here."

“I am here.” Roseleaf repeated. “Are ye injured, Rora?”

[Tracy]

"If either of you can shed some light on our situation, I'll be most grateful. As it is, I unfortunately cannot do so myself. My name is Heinz Schreibner--I'm just a wanderer, although I do enjoy solving a mystery."

Leilani, realizing this creature was going to be of little use to her, quickly lost interest in him. She didn't even bother introducing herself. If he couldn't give her any information or provide insight on how to get them out of this predicament, he was not on her list of beasts with whom she wanted to speak. Then she heard Maria's voice, shortly followed by Rora. Lani wasn't as relieved to hear these voices. How many of them had actually been caught? Her eyes were starting to adjust and she was identifying the creatures in her immediate vicinity.

"Roseleaf, Leilani, Maria, and- Heinz?"

Lani was probably even more surprised to hear Rora say her first name aloud. She was always under the impression herself and her siblings fell under the umbrella of "Varilde" and that the brigadier had actually taken strides not to know any of them by name. She wasn't sure she cared one way or the other, but it was interesting.

Annoyed with the utter uselessness of the information provided her, Lani crawled over to the sliver of light that must be a door. Standing carefully and very uneasily, she felt around with her paws, but the door was flat and unmovable. There wasn't even a lock of any sort that she could even attempt to fiddle with. She had to assume a heavy padlock lay on the opposite side of the door.

"Vermin," ..."I think. We were in the woods, and then we were here. Who could it be-" ..."-but vermin?"

Already frustrated with the situation, Lani spun around. "Brilliant! Thank you so very much! Vermin!" She slapped her forehead, as if it all made sense now. She opened her mouth to continue, but instead gave up with an aggravated groan, sliding back to a seated position and allowing herself a quiet spell to think.

[Vikenti Whitedeath]

"We've all been captured by pirates," a calm voice came out of the darkness, "no doubt to be used as oar-slaves or sold to some vermin." Alastor Eriel had been searching for his enemy, Lysistra Darkmoon, when he had come across a small group of the pirates going to check one of their traps. Alastor had drawn his blade and slew several of them before they knew what hit them. Then the rest of the crew came to help them. Alastor fought hard, but he was match for the superior numbers of the pirates. He was dragged to ground and tied up.

"My name is Alastor Eriel," he said to the others, "I am a stoat, but I am not evil." He managed to struggle upwards from the lying position the pirates had thrown him in, despite the ropes around his paws. "We need to escape before we are sold," Alastor said, "you're long patrol hares correct? Who is your commanding officer?"

[Wildrun]

Heinz shook his head slowly in the darkness. The stench of rats was so strong as to almost drown out the migled odors of the other vermin who no doubt lived aboard this floating bucket--the fact that they were victims of pirates was only too obvious, and now the bruises he had recieved from them before being tossed into the cargo hold were starting to throb.

Breathing in through his nose, the marten turned his head in the direction of Maria's voice--barely perceptible underneath the cauldron of sea smells was the metallic tint of blood. Heinz could make out various grey shapes in the darkness, but couldn't tell one from the other. The ship lurched to one side, and Heinz hissed through his teeth as his head thwacked against the wood behind him. Steadying himself with a paw agaisnt the wall, Heinz did his best to stand, and managed to find his footing.

Taking a tentative step forward, Heinz spoke in response to Alastor, "I agree--escape is of the utmost importance. I have an idea, but it will required some acting on the part of Alastor and I. You say you are not an evil stoat, and I am not an evil marten, but maybe we could pretend that we are."

Heinz stopped moving when the smell of blood increased in intensity, and he slid back down to sit by Maria. Rummaging through the pockets of his coat, he produced a pathetically small roll of bandages which the vermin had overlooked. Passing them to Maria in the dark, he ried to ignorethe fact that their captors had taken his only weapon, a small knife, and got ready to elaborate on his plan.

[Grath]

"Brilliant! Thank you so very much! Vermin!"

“Leilani!” Roseleaf snapped, still working on Maria’s arm. She squinted through the darkness, but her sensitive paw pads were still the best thing she had to guide her. “Ye are in no position to complain about others’ intelligence gathering skills!” The marten slid down beside them, and offered something. Taking it, Roseleaf realized it was a roll of bandages. Small, but still.

She used the soft, buckless belt she had been wearing and the bandages to bind the long gash up, tearing off a short length of belt with her teeth when she was done. “Anybeast else injured?” She asked, cursing the fact that her pouch had been stolen, and there was no water to wash wounds with. She just had to hope that Maria’s arm didn’t acquire an infection. That could lose her the arm, or even her life.

“Brigadier.” She said, looking in the dark towards where she’d last heard the Brigadier speak. “What do ye have in mind?”

[Elicia]

The pain in her cheek was already fading away. Relieved, Rora glanced around to where she heard Alastor's voice. It was impossible to make out anything clearly, but she knew that this new beast was not a hare. It didn't matter, though, because it was clear he was no vermin either. He seemed to be competent enough: it was smart, she supposed, to find the highest ranking officer.

"I am," Rora said. "I suppose, unless there is someone else here. My name is Brigadier Marianna Aurora Samira. Though," she amended, "I am usually called Rora."

She was strangely accustomed to giving her full name in introductions, even though she had only ever been called Rora in her life. In the darkness, though, the title hardly mattered, except that all of the other hares would look to her for a plan.

Rora looked around, counting the creatures that were held with her. There were not enough to stage a full-on attack, but the brigadier would never have dreamed of trying that plan out. There were too many- and one injured- to try and slip away in the dark. The stoat and the marten most certainly were benefits, and Heinz's idea was not a bad one.

The hare didn't know what to say when Roseleaf turned to her for a plan.

I wish I were better with other hares, Rora thought dryly. Out loud, she said, "If Heinz and Alastor can pull off acting as vermin, then that may be our best chance of escape. As it is, not one o' the hares will get out of this room because we are all goodbeasts, and these pirates know it. We have no weapons, one injured gel, and a bloody lot of bruises to show for attempting to escape the pirates the first time around. I suppose that we'll have t'put a bit of faith in our companions, though that doesn't mean we hares won't be doing anything. We- Miss Maria especially- most certainly can't swim back to shore. At the very least we'll have to steal a boat, and that will require planning."

[Tracy]

Despite their ideas and strategizing, as the evening progressed the captives' situation only got worse. Amidst their discussions - planning and bickering alike - the heavy padlocked door blocking them from the unfamiliar world outside, swung open with a foreboding thud.

A few of the hares who were quick and alert, including Lani, had tried to take advantage of the situation, rushing the door. Not only did it end up being utterly pointless, it even proved detrimental. Lani had been the closest to the door when it opened, and when she jumped up, ready for a fight, she was practically blinded by a shining lantern. Before she could recover from the sudden glaring light, she was shoved roughly up against the doorframe, restrained.

The rest of the captives were rounded up and restrained in quick order, quite outnumbered; though some of those further back in the room were able to put up a bit of a better fight than the now-dazed Varilde runner. Each captive had at least one vermin marching them from the room, and some of the more able-bodied had two. Lani, despite being nearly incapacitated, had a vermin holding each of her elbows after her paws had been reshackled tightly behind her back. Many of the vermin walked at awkward diagonal angles to avoid being kicked by the shackled captives, especially the dangerously leggy hares.

As they left the room, there was still no fresh air or sign of the sky. They'd been kept in the bilge, which explained why it'd been so damp and why Lani felt like she could feel every small motion of the ship. Forced up several cramped sets of stairs, the lot of them finally found themselves on the deck of the ship, and they were given the opportunity to see their whereabouts. Lani couldn't immediately see land in any direction but she supposed they really couldn't be that far from the shore yet. The sun had just set, but out on the Western Sea, there was still a bright glow flooding out from the horizon, leaving a decent bit of visibility left for the evening.

Lani took a deep breath of the clean, if still damp, air, and already started to feel her crippling headache begin to ebb. Looking at the sunlit horizon for a moment, she heard a sharp crack behind her and she turned quickly to see what it was. A couple weasels and a rat with oars was the last thing she saw before everything went black... again.

"...I came to 'bout halfway 'cross... they bludgeoned the lot o' us an' rowed us 'cross..."

The young hare runner woke to muted voices, and even as she acknowledged the heavy aching of her head, a shuddering wave of nausea hit her. It wasn't until after she got sick, leaning to the side, was she able to take in the fact that she was still shackled, only this time to an oar shaft. She slumped against it, eyes shut tight as she tried to fight back another bout of nausea.

In some small way, Lani understood everything that was going on. She could piece together that they'd been moved and that she was now an oarslave, but she wasn't really reacting to any of the facts now. Her head ached, her stomach was doing flips and everything was just moving too much. At this moment she could barely lift her own head, much less try and reason herself out of this new situation.

[Grath]

Roseleaf struggled as they left the room, trying to get her long legs into play. Unfortunately, all it gained her was bruised shins and elbows as they were knocked against the sides of the ship. As they passed through the dim passages of the ship, Roseleaf became ever more aware of a building ache in her head. The headache persisted as they came out on the deck and were confronted by a vixen.

The russet furred vixen was dressed in elegant silks, and she looked upon the captured hares with a sneer of disdain. Once the entire group was huddled on the deck, she gave a signal and corsairs waded into the crowd wielding clubs. Roseleaf’s world went dark.

---

The haremaid came to slowly, her brown eyes focusing slowly, but eventually the fuzzy images came into focus. All around her there were various beasts, many of them the hares she had been captured with, most of them not. She was in an uncomfortable position, leaning forward and to the side. It occurred to her fuzzy brain suddenly that there were tight bands of metal cutting into her wrists and ankles.

She shifted more upright, pausing to rest her pounding head and hearing the heavy scrape of metal links on the wooden floor. There were whispers nearby, but she disregarded them, instead focusing on sitting up without losing whatever she had eaten earlier.

Finally the slim hare was sitting upright, and she turned her head slowly toward the noisy whispers.

[Wildrun]

Heinz had his mouth open, and was about to explain his plan to merge in with the vermin, suppoedly outraged that he had been shoved in the bold with a bunch of weakling goodbeasts, when the door slammed open and everything happened very fast.

Seeing the hares rounded up without preamble, the marten's immiediate reaction was to lash out at the vermin grabbing him. He was rewarded with a vile curse and a club over the head. Fighting off the encroaching blackness, Heinz gritted his teeth an stayed limp as his captors dragged him through the ship with the others. He had no idea where Alastor or the rest of the would-be escapees were in relation to him, and sound melted inside his ears. Time trickled by slolwy before Heinz finally shook the last of the pain away and fully opened his eyes.

The roughness of the wood underneath his paws and the wetness of the air slapping his face made him sit up--he was sitting on the very back bench of a rowing galley, chained to an oar. All around him, other beasts were rowing in time to a droning chant from some creature up front. Beside him on the bench, staring straight ahead with steely eyes and a grim mouth a shrew was gripping tight to the oar and heaving to and fro. Heinz shook his head slowly, remembering his plan and hoping the hares he had met earlier would understand and play along.

Taking a deep breath, Heinz stood abruptly and raored in his coarsest voice, "Wot the Hel are doin ta me, you bloody clodheads!? You idjits chained me to a bench with a blinkin' shrew! 'oo's in charge a' you thickheads? Get these damned chains offa me!" Snarling as though infuriated, Heinz violently shook his chained paws, nearly lashing the shrew across the snout. Glaring at him, the shrew spat and muttered a curse. Out of the corner of his eye, Heinz saw her shift and stop rowing. With a sudden trickle of dread, he saw taht her paws were just thin enough to slip in and out of her shackles--as an outraged vermin came down the aisle, Heinz readied himself for a fight.

((Sorry for the wait, bad stuff going on with me right now. Also sorry for any accidental godmodding, I'm assuming most of the vermin crew are OCs. The shrew is actually another character of mine, Trickio, and it's terrible of me to say this but I'm looking for a way to, uh, kill her off. I want to use her a bit more before that happens, though, so I was thinking she could come in at the last moment during some scuffle with the pirates and go out with a bang. How any vermin managed to hold on to her, I can only guess.))

[Vikenti Whitedeath]

Alastor Eriel was further back in the hold of the ship when the door was thrown open. When the lantern was thrust into the darkness he had time to adjust to the light. When he saw the vermin coming at him, Alastor met them head on. With his paws tied together he wasn't able to punch, but he still managed to swing his fists in a hammer like fashion. Several pirates received nasty blows before they were able to get him still.

Alastor was marched up onto the deck with the others and surrounded by vermin. Alastor snarled at the vixen who seemed to be in charge. She reminded him of Lysistra. At her sign, a rat came at Alastor wielding an oar like a club. Alastor ducked the incoming blow and threw the rope that bound his paws together around the rat's neck. Before he could strangle his captor, a weasel hit him from behind, causing him to black out.

Alastor woke up like the others, chained to a bench and with an oar across his lap. He shook the fog of unconsciousness from his head and looked around the room. Alastor was tough beast, so recovering from the blow to his head was a relatively easy task. "That weakling," he muttered about the weasel who had hit him, "the coward couldn't fight me from the front." Alastor hadn't been chained with another beast. Apparently they were afraid he would hurt them because of how wild he had been. There were plenty of goodbeasts he hadn't seen before rowing, as well as those who had been captured with him. Alastor saw Heinz sitting a few rows ahead of him with a shrew. The pine marten seemed to be sticking to the plan, so Alastor did the same.

"Aye, my mates bloody right!" Alastor yelled after Heinz had finished, "who do ya' think your chaining up 'ere!" He tried to stand up, straining against the chains that held him. He noticed with some surprise that the shrew Heinz was with could get out of her chains. He hoped Heinz could hold up to her long enough for their plan to be put into action.

[Elizabeth]

It all happened so fast. The vermin came in. The light. The scuffle.

Maria stood feebly but she was grabbed and shoved by a vermin weasel. Maria did not struggle, but glared at him, her deep emerald eyes bore into his. "You'll be sorry you ever did this." Maria snarled at him. He gave her a nasty sneer and pushed her forward. Another vermin came up and was going to help lead Maria out, but he decided she was weak enough in her present state, and that she probably did even have to have one vermin retraining her. Maria sighed as he left. The vermin were probably right, she was absolutely defenseless in her present state.

She was led onto the main deck. She sharply gasped in the fresher sea air. She was breathing heavy and feeling rather faint and sick at this time. Her whole body shook violently and she tried to concentrate her mind on something, but her head seemed so clouded.

She realized suddenly the the weasel had left her side now. As she was trying in vain to figure out way, she her a loud thud behind her. Like the pounding of a hammer. Or the beating of a drum. There was a throb in her head that made it feel like it would have burst. She heard the wicked laugh of the same weasel behind her. She turned slowly and with her clouded green eyes saw him tossing club back and forth, smiling. There was an excruciatingly, dizzy, pain. Then she swooned, and collapsed to the deck unconscious.

-------------------

When Maria "woke up" she still felt like she must have been half dead. At this point, all the pain was really starting to come alive. Despite Roseleaf and Heinz's efforts, her arm felt like it was burning up, she couldn't move it. The cut was more raw and bloody than before, from splitting open again when she fell on the deck. Her head throbbed steadily with pain. She couldn't move and she was sweating despite her lack of motion.

She looked down and saw that her trembling paws were chained fast to a large wooden oar. I can't row... she thought. She looked to either side of her, and saw that the vermin must have been thinking the same thing... To the left of her was a burly otter. He was tough but still seemed hard pressed to row well. And to the right of her was a stoat. She wondered why the vermin was there. He glanced over at her and saw her quizzical look. Rolling his eyes he responded, "Ah'm a deserter."

Maria nodded then let out a painful cough. She lifted her head to look for her friends.

"Wot the Hel are doin ta me, you bloody clodheads!? You idjits chained me to a bench with a blinkin' shrew! 'oo's in charge a' you thickheads? Get these damned chains offa me!"

"Aye, my mates bloody right! Who do ya' think your chaining up 'ere!"

At first Maria froze when she heard Heinz and Alastor's voices, then she remembered the plan and smiled feebly.

Maria made up her mind not to interfere with the escape because of her injury. She nodded deciding she would try to save herself. If she couldn't... well then, that's that.

[Grath]

[[Rosie is on the port side of the ship, about in the middle. she is sitting on the aisle side of the bench. ]]

The haremaid looked down at her wrists, at how they draped over the oar they were chained to. The oar moved rhythmically with the pound of a drum, she looked to her left, two gaunt-looking otters, as alike as peas in a pod, were rowing, looking ahead with a set expression. Slowly her paws closed over the much-smoothed wood, growing accustomed to the rhythm she started to row.

"Wot the Hel are doin ta me, you bloody clodheads!? You idjits chained me to a bench with a blinkin' shrew! 'oo's in charge a' you thickheads? Get these damned chains offa me!"

"Aye, my mates bloody right!" Alastor yelled after Heinz had finished, "who do ya' think your chaining up 'ere!"

The haremaid glanced up briefly at the commotion, but the nearest otter nudged her ankle with his footpaw, chains rattling across the wood. Her eyes met his, and they stared for a few moments, understanding passing between them. He shook his head, and the hare and the otter bent back to rowing.

---

“Ah shaddap!” the ferret growled as he stalked down the aisle. “We know ex’ctly who ye twa are… think ye kin jest annoy the Bloody Terror o’ the seas an’ git away wi’ it?” He leered at Heinz, he daren’t get close to Alastor, the stoat had been chained alone aft for a reason. The bony ferret cracked the whip he held over the watching slaves heads.

“Git back t’work, ye miscreants!” He roared, glaring around at the newcome hares. “Cap’n Russetfur sends ‘er regards.” He sneered once more at the two vermin and returned to his place forward, bringing the whip down on slacking knuckles.

[[ Sorry, I don’t think we decided if this would succeed or not, but knowing Lorna, if she had vermin prisoners she’d definitely make sure the others knew they weren’t there on accident. But if you wish this removed, it is absolutely no problem. ]]