The House Is On Fire

[Vera Silvertooth]

As pirates and Waverunners fought across the Silver Maiden?s deck, Vera threw another bucket of salt water on the flames licking around the galley. How long had she been trapped in this endless, hellish repeat? Across slippery deck on sore paws. Bucket over the side, then drug back, paw over paw. Arms burning and trembling from the strain. Salt water sloshed over paw and fur, stinging the cuts and blisters. Back across the deck to the galley.  Over and over and over again.

Tooley and one other pirate fought this losing battle with her. She had hoped they would get the fire out before it spread, but when the huge Waverunner?s ship had rammed them again, it scattered burning debris all over the deck. Though the fire in the galley had been almost extinguished, now it was creeping up the rigging and mast.

A volley of arrows hailed around them. Vera screamed and fell. Her bucket sloshed water uselessly across the deck. Her silver ruby amulet, still safely nestled in the underside pocket of her apron, dug painfully into her belly. Nearby, a ferret who?d been less lucky cried out as an arrow took him. Drawing a sobbing breath, Vera staggered back upright and ran to the rail once more.

Back to the fire she ran, but out of the corner of  her eye, Vera saw a hare break through the pirate ranks. The hare, sword in paw, saw her as the next foe. So she swung the full bucket and let the rope slide through her claws. The hare tried to block with the sword, but the momentum staggered him before the bucket?s contents drenched him. Vera used the diversion to duck through the open door of the smoldering galley. The hare either didn?t see her, or decided the smoldering room would finish her off just as well.

The roof to the galley had caught, but the room's floor was just a soggy, steaming, blackened mess of biscuits, charcoal, and sea water. She ducked low under the smoke. Weapon. Weapon. Weapon. Her sore paws scrabbled through the mess, searching for anything she could use. Wooden spoons. Cast iron skillet. Rolling pin. Clay mixing bowl. Crab mallet.

Knife! She found her knife! Her paw closed around that and then she spotted the huge iron cookpot, still hanging from it?s chain from the heaviest beam in the galley.

Still full of boiling hot, thick stew.

She tucked the crab mallet and knife into her apron strings and ran to the wall where there hung the pot?s wheeled trolley. Every time she?d used the cookpot during this voyage, she had used the metal trolley to get it out on deck to keep the crew from traipsing through the galley and making a mess.

Hacking from the smoke, which was growing thicker as the fire started spreading again, she hauled the trolley down and shoved it over to the pot. Vera scampered on all fours to the spot where the pot?s chain attached to the wall. A quick touch and she pulled back a burned paw with a hiss. Then, using the corners of her apron, she grabbed it, unhooked it, and maneuvered the pot onto the trolley. The pot dropped and listed sideways, but stayed in the frame. Crouching down, she ran out the door.

She tried to aim it for the railing side of the Silver Maiden where the Waverunners were coming over. ?Have some soup!? she shrieked and gave the pot?s trolley a good hard push, sending it careening madly across the deck. The hot pot crashed through three hares, a squirrel, and two otters before it toppled sideways and another two hares screamed as the pirate crew?s hot supper sloshed over them.

Wheezing, she ran back to the galley and ducked inside. She peeped around the doorway and surveyed the scene before her. Blood and gore littered the planks. Dead and dying tripped up the living. Those who fought on moved eerily in the flickering firelight. Above them all towered a badger in full plate who dealt out death with a broadsword.

I should have just gone home! A little voice whimpered in Vera?s head. Too late for doubts now.

Then she spotted Tooley fighting with a hare. Tooley had a cutlass and she stared as it clashed with the hare's fancier looking cutlass. For a moment, she felt a bit of awe. I didn?t know that little weasel had it in him. His bravado steeled her.

Then Tooley lost his grip on his cutlass and fell hard to his rump. He looked up at the hare and his eyes went as big as the biscuits she'd so carefully baked that afternoon. The hare stood over him with his sword held at his side. Any second now, he'd finish Tooley off.

He's dead. Unless...

Vera plucked the hefty crab mallet from her apron, ran the short distance, and clobbered the hare on the back of the head. He dropped like a sack of potatoes.

?Looked like you needed help,? she said and held out a paw to help Tooley up. As he looked up at her, pure horror overtook his face. His eyes widened and he clutched his tattered, patched hat to his head with a scream. Vera whirled around. She raised her crab mallet against whatever foe suddenly struck such terror into the weasel.

No foe stood behind her. Rather, she looked up at the Silver Maiden?s sails. They were burning.

The oars are gone. The sails are gone. We?re dead in the water. Fire above and fighting on all sides. Time to go!

She reached out to grab Tooley. ?The ship?s lost! We?ve got to get out of here!? He pulled away from her. ?Tooley!? She grabbed an arm and tried to drag him with her. ?Come on!?

He shoved her away and as he did so, an arrow thudded next to them. Vera yelped, but Tooley gave no sign that he noticed. He crouched down, lacing his paws behind his head and clinging to that ridiculous hat of his.

?Some dread pirate you are! You?re on your own then!? she screamed and in case more arrows were coming, she grabbed the unconscious hare and hoisted him up in front of her to use as a shield.

?Oy! Vera!?

She looked up to see Vasily coming across the deck. The wildcat looked a little worse for wear, but at least he wasn?t oblivious like Tooley. ?You know how to get those life boats down, right?? she asked.

Instead of responding, he stared at Tooley. ?What in ?Gates name happened to him??

?I don?t know. As soon as the sails went up his eyes just glazed over.?

?What should we do with him??

Vera stared, but only for a moment. Doesn?t this cat have any sense of self-preservation? ?Leave him!?

Vasily opened his mouth as if to say something. He closed it. Then he said, ?We? we could carry him, right??

Vera shifted her grip on the unconscious hare so she had an arm under his armpits and across his narrow chest. ?Carry him if you want, but I?m getting out of here!? She began working her way towards the railing and away from the fighting. Vasily hesitated before getting behind her. When several Waverunners turned as if to engage them, Vera held her kitchen knife to the hare?s throat. They wavered then.

Behind them, the massive badger that Vera had spotted earlier hacked his way through pirate and woodlander alike. Some of those woodlanders now looked behind as well as before, torn in spirit between aiding a fallen comrade and defending against an even more deadly threat.

In the end, their own desire for self-preservation prevailed and they let Vera, Vasily, and their hostage pass. As they walked with their backs to the rail, Vasily clung to her like a sticky potato peel. If I didn?t need him to lower the boat, I?d leave him behind, too!