Thorn in My Side

[Crue Sarish]

It had taken every bit of patience Crue had to convince Daggle not to lay down and sleep the rest of the night. Scowling at the injustice, Daggle allowed Tooley to help him to his feet and support him as the three took off down the beach.

Despite the screams and shouts and wailing still sounding in her head from the night?s battle, the gentle rhythm of the waves made them seem a little quieter for the time being. Much of the reason she?d convinced the two to keep walking was to put off the dreams that would likely come if she closed her eyes. Fortunately the sand under Crue?s footpaws was chilled, and coupled with her lightly bruised ribs served to help keep her awake with every step.

They walked along the slightly firmer sand that resulted from the low tide, leaving an odd set of footprints to be washed away when the ocean returned to cleanse the shore again. The moonlight revealed the strange trees and tall grasses that lined the shore, whose shadows then hid vast mysteries of what lay further inland. In the dim light, the trunks of the odd trees were rough and bare, sporting a crown of huge leaves that were longer than she was. She toyed with the idea of climbing one for a better look once the sun came back up.

The longer they walked, the more debris they came across. Wooden planks, bits of rope, and the occasional strip of canvas lay deposited on the shore, still wet from their excursion. Crue picked up a few bits of rope that appeared viable, tying one longer piece around her waist in lieu of the sash she?d recently employed and putting shorter strands in one of her apron pockets. The three carefully avoided getting too close to the cold, stiff bodies that were scattered in amongst the wreckage.

Crue made the mistake of looking straight at a motionless hare, his uniform tattered and his eyes staring lifelessly toward the treeline. She stared at the face of the soldier, not recalling who it was until she looked down and saw the bandage covering his left paw. She knew this injury? the careless soldier who?d been to see her not a few days ago. For a moment she wondered if he still had some of her comfrey in one of his pockets, but dismissed the thought.

Her mind was drawn back to the moment the sea nearly claimed her own life. In the attack that came from the mysterious dark ship, she had been thrown back in a wave of air and debris, sending her careening back toward the starboard side of the pirate vessel. She would have been fine had one of the beasts who?d fallen beside her not panicked and kicked her over the side in the mad scramble to regain his footing. The taste of salt filled her open mouth as she hit the water with more of a thud than a splash, and before she could steady herself, a chunk of the railing came loose and plummeted toward her. It caught on her emergency satchel and began to carry her off toward the dark depths below.

Desperate to free herself and unable to do so with her claws alone, she reached into the satchel and clutched the knife she knew lay inside. Dragging her knife through the water, she sliced through the shoulder strap and once freed, madly pushed her paws through the water in an effort to reach the surface. Her chest burned with holding what breath she had left and her heart beat furiously in near panic. Her vision began to fade to black just before her head burst through the water and she gasped in a fresh lungful of life-giving air. Once she regained some of her senses, she cried for help, but her cries were weak and drowned out in the chaos raging above her. The screaming within the ship grew in intensity and...

She looked away from the soldier. A proper burial was what he deserved, and it grieved her that she had neither the time nor the strength to do so. She picked up her pace a touch so that a few tears could fall without her companions watching.

?Yew okay, miss?? she heard Tooley ask.

Crue was sorely tempted to maintain her composure and show the weasel that she was fine, but she found herself too tired to pretend. Her ears lowered slightly as she took a deep breath. ?No, not really.?

Several more seconds passed before another question reached her ears. ?Can I ask ya somethin???

?I suppose.?

"'Ow long 'av ye been wit' that cap'n o' yers?"

?Not even two weeks, truth be told, and it was a rare event to see him. I?ve been on a pawful of ships in the last ten seasons, but mostly in the employ of merchant vessels, cargo ships, and one incredibly tedious pleasure cruise...  If I?d known that my employer was a warmongering savage, I would have stayed in port.?

?Y? didn?t see th? signs?? Daggle asked. His voice mocked her as he stated, ?A beast o? yer great ed-jy-ca-shun didn?t know that Atlas was one plank shy of a boat??

Crue looked back toward Daggle and scowled. ?I knew he was a beast of an awful temper, but I wasn?t hired by Atlas himself? And who?s the beast who signed up to sail to a ?haunted? island guarded by a ?ghost ship? for a pile of shiny rocks??

Daggle growled between his teeth. ?Ain?t no fun wi?out a bit o? risk.?

The squirrelmaid managed to keep herself from kicking Daggle?s injury. ?Glad you?re having fun??

They continued on in silence for a stretch, which suited Crue just fine. However, it may not have suited Tooley because he spoke up again, his voice a mixture of caution and curiosity, ?So, ?ow?d you get t? be a ?ealer??

?Someone dear to me couldn?t be saved when she was young, so I took it upon myself to learn why.? Crue wondered if she should be sharing her history with these strangers, but she found that she didn?t care. The more she spoke, the less she had to be alone with her thoughts. She told Tooley about her parents sending her to apprentice under abbots in Redwall and how she?d taken it upon herself to study under traveling healers. She went on to discuss some of her travels through the countryside and along the coast, learning from local healers and elders about local herbs and remedies, and careful to avoid the smoke swingers and spell-weavers.

?Oy, Tools,? Daggle spoke up, interrupting her train of thought. ?Set me down o?er there fer a bit. Our new slavedriver ?ere may not need rest, but she ain?t the one with one o? those ?frak-chers.??

They had been walking for nearly an hour and when Crue thought about it, she was surprised the rat - and Tooley, who half-carried him -  had made it this long. Still, she chafed at his hostility and insults. Nothing she wanted to say would help the situation, and would only spurn Daggle on to speak more viciously, so she kept her mouth shut and silently nodded her agreement to stop for a bit.

They rested for about a half-hour, with Crue occasionally engaging in innocuous conversation. Tooley and Daggle spent some of the time bantering about their past together. The latter tended to use such specific turns of phrases that Crue knew only the two of them really understood the scope of their exchange, and she was largely left in the dark regarding whatever it was they were reminiscing over. In the meantime, she checked his leg, dissatisfied with the swelling and wishing she had something? anything that would alleviate some of it.

Eventually they continued their trek along the beach, Crue telling herself they would stop for Daggle more often. In the end, he would be better off getting some sleep in a more stable location than the sandy shore, preferably somewhere with some fresh water in which he could soak his leg.

During the next leg of their journey, Crue?s ears were besieged by Daggle?s near constant commentary on his current state of pain, tiredness, and hunger. Mostly hunger, and the more he spoke of it, the more Crue was aware of how long it had been since she?d had a meal. Tooley did his best to try and curtail a bit of Daggle?s harsh criticisms, but there was only so much the weasel could do.

?I bet if Vera were ?ere, Tools, she?d have an idea of how to make a crusty squirrel in?te somethin? palatable, eh??

Tooley seemed shocked by the suggestion. Crue spun and gripped the rat?s arm, very nearly breaking the skin with her claws. Her face drew close to his and her lips began to pull back in a snarl.

?Please, Miss Crue, e?s not usually like this,? Tooley stated as he began to steer his friend toward a fallen tree on which Daggle could sit. ??Ow ?bout we stop again fer a bit.?

Crue let go and turned away, walking swiftly away without a response. With no one to legitimately complain to she muttered under her breath, ?If his leg?s hurting him that bad, I could always break his arm for a change of pace? Would make me feel better anyway.?

After another brief respite, Crue felt they should be moving on. The longer she sat, the more tired she grew. Fortunately by this time the sun had just begun to make its entrance, making it just a bit easier to see where they were at and where they were going. She somehow managed to convince them to travel one more stretch of the journey, the sincere expression of pain on Daggle?s face prompting a twinge of sympathy in Crue?s heart.

When they stopped to rest for a third time, it was growing just bright enough that some of the sun was making it through the trees now. She knew they would have to find water soon, and unless they stumbled across a river that led into the sea, their best bet was to travel inland. Knowing that Daggle would likely not be able to go much farther, she sat him down beneath one of the tall trees. She conveyed her plan to them, explaining that she would leave them there while she surveyed the area.

?I?ll go wit? ye, miss,? Tooley volunteered. ?Two eyes are better ?en? I mean??

Crue nodded, the corner of her mouth curling up at the well-intentioned aphorism. ?Considering our patient isn?t going to walk off, I think that?s a great idea. Just be careful what you pick up. We have no way of knowing what?ll kill us here? aside from pirates, right??

Tooley stared at her for a moment before he let out an amiable laugh that Crue found pleasant. She wondered how this weasel ended up on a corsair vessel and a bosom friend to the prickly rat to her right.

??Cept your pirate hun?in chums,? mumbled the prickly rat.

?True.?

The two made their way into the strange forest, having agreed to split up and return to Daggle before too much time had passed. Crue stepped through the dry, sturdy grass that grew up to the treeline, finding it fairly disagreeable to her bare footpaws, but the further she went inland, the softer it grew. Eventually, the dim light that penetrated the floor of the odd forest revealed strange and beautiful flowers in vibrant colors, odd shapes, and both neutral and fragrant scents. She found these to be a good sign that water could be found somewhere nearby, if she could only find it.

She carefully plucked a few of the flowers and their leaves and placed them in one of the pockets of her apron to inspect more closely when she had the time. A couple of times she nibbled on the edges of a couple of the plants, but many of them were bitter and sour and far from palatable. Knowing there was likely a reason they seemed inedible, she decided not to try more, instead keeping her eyes to the ground for something that might be a little more familiar to a woodlander.

Her hunger and thirst grew with every passing minute as she trudged through more dense foliage, as did her body?s desire to lay down and sleep. [Her eyelids grew heavier, though not heavy enough to keep her from trudging on], but their weight distracted her long enough that she didn?t notice the large stone obstruction until she almost ran right into it. Startled by the sudden appearance of the pillar, her eyes widened and she looked around at the strange space she?d somehow wandered into.

The stone was cut and carved with strange figures and patterns and lines. Looking just past it, she saw that the nearby plants camouflaged the depression in the ground, which Crue surely would have fallen into had she not been stopped. The floor of this part of the forest had been lined with those long, compound leaves that crowned the tops of the trees and their crushed appearance made it apparent that something had been walking on them in recent times. Two lines of yellow flowers made a small path that led to the pillar, recently placed judging by their lack of wilt.

We?re not alone on this island, she realized with a mixture of trepidation and curiosity as she bent down to make herself as unseen as she could. The fur on her tail stood on end and it was all she could do to keep it from twitching. Her ears strained for any sound that another beast was nearby and her nose lifted to try and catch a stray scent on the wind that blew from behind her toward the clearing. After a minute of waiting, she was fairly certain that nothing was waiting to jump out at her and she ventured forth.

She stepped lightly, doing her best not to disturb anything. Despite the developed appearance of this area, she could see no clear path that led away or anything nearby that would alert one to its presence, and she doubted whether or not she could find this place again when she left. When she turned to look up at the stone pillar, she was surprised to see that part of the stone had been cut away to make a small shelf of sorts. Atop this shelf was a collection of items that left the squirrelmaid both disgusted and intrigued.

A small stone knife was covered in blood. Big, fat grubs had been sliced down the middle and laid open to the elements. Skewered on several thin pieces of wood were large beetles, some the color of gold and some as black as the heart of her former commander. One twitched half-heartedly before going motionless once more and Crue grimaced. A small snake lay on the stone, its head nowhere to be seen. Unfamiliar yellow, orange, red, and brown fruits and a few small gold coins were scattered among the offerings, completing the scene.

Primitives, she told herself as she examined the altar. She tentatively reached forward until her claws gripped the handle of the knife. Pulling it back toward her she wondered if it would be better to leave it and keep the illusion that no beast had been there, or take it in the event that the island?s inhabitants were less than cordial. Having lost the one from her satchel, she made the decision to put it in her pocket, as it was unlikely their presence would go unnoticed for long.

She nearly screamed when she heard a beast trudging through the forest. She gripped the knife in her pocket and prepared herself for action when a familiar figure stepped through the leaves and tumbled down into the clearing.

?Tooley!? Crue whispered, releasing her hold on the knife and moving to retrieve the weasel?s hat. When she looked up, she took note of the curled stump of his right ear and for a moment wondered where he?d earned that. ?Are you okay??

?O? course, miss!? Tooley replied when he regained his footing. ?Th? ground just weren?t where m? footpaw were.? Taking his hat back from her, he took a moment to peer around the clearing. He stepped up to the stone shelf, examined it for a moment, and then proceeded to reach toward it. In a cheery tone he stated, ?A right lucky find, Miss Crue!?

Unsure the weasel understood what he was reaching toward, she asked, ?Don?t you see what this is??

Tooley grabbed one of the red fruits and one of the skewers. He passed the first to the healer and then proceeded to take a bite out of one of the helpless beetles. After a few crunches that the healer found rather off-putting, he replied, ?Breakfast??

Crue wanted to put the fruit back, but her belly betrayed her with a vicious roar. As much as she wished to leave the area undisturbed, she couldn?t overcome the logic that this would keep her alive at least a bit longer. On top of that, if the fruit truly proved edible, she?d have a better idea of what to look for in the future. ?Let?s take what we can carry and get back to Daggle. It?s not safe here.?

She stuffed her pockets with the fruits and Tooley took the rest. They walked quickly back in the direction of the beach and then in the direction she was sure they?d left the rat.

Sure enough, Daggle was waiting for them where they expected, a scowl on his face and something that looked like a huge green nut in one paw. When they grew closer, he shouted, ?This tree ?ere tried t? kill me while you two were off on your liddle adventure.?

Crue looked at the ball and up at the tree. ?What a shame. I suppose the trees here have bad aim.?

Daggle scowled. Crue permitted herself a small grin before the three went about partaking in the small meal they?d stumbled upon. The fruit was split between all of them, but Crue outright refused to put a bug in her mouth. It wasn?t a large meal, but they found the exotic food to quite delicious and it was enough to restore some of their vitality.

Once they had finished, Crue scrubbed her paws with sand to take some of the stickiness off. She stood up, more hopeful that they could survive, and shared the idea she?d developed over breakfast. ?We still need to find water, and I have a feeling that it?s not much farther. We should get moving before it gets too hot.?

?You gonna carry me? Ain?t walkin? no more with this leg o? mine.?

Crue was about to respond scathingly when she came up with an idea. Together, she and Tooley gathered together a number of the huge branches that had fallen to the ground and she used some of the rope she?d collected to tie them together. Once that part of the work was done, the two of them helped Daggle to lie carefully on the leaves. ?Now hold still or you?re going to fall off.?

Crue took one of the ropes and Tooley took another, and after some practice - and causing Daggle to spill out onto the sand - the two were able to drag the rat across the sand in their makeshift sled. The already tired beasts were soon wearied, but they kept going just a bit more, and then just a bit more. Just when they were about to stop for another break, Crue spotted what she was looking for: a small stream that ran down into the ocean.

Rejoicing, she and Tooley dragged the rat the rest of the way. Crue dropped the rope and moved forward to check the stream, and sure enough, the water was fresh and clear and cool. She drank just enough to sate her thirst before turning to help Daggle into the water. Instructing him to keep his leg in the flow to help cool his injury, she surveyed the area.

Upstream a short ways, she saw a small clearing in the trees and decided that this would be a good a place as any to set up their camp. Relieved at having something go right for a change, her body reminded her just how tired she was. If she didn?t sleep soon, she would be no use to anyone, but she was loathe to sleep out under the elements. Instead, she took the longest piece of rope she had and strung it between two trees that grew relatively close together. Then she gathered more of the tall leaves and began to prop them up against the rope.

Tooley caught on to her plan and began to assist her. He, too, was showing the strain of the day, and yet he worked diligently until their makeshift shelter was complete. He then turned to her and said, ?I jus?... wanted t? thank ye again fer helpin? Daggle, miss. ?E?s th? only friend I got left ?ere.?

Crue sighed, but his words of appreciation left a warm glow in her heart. ?I?ll keep doing what I can. Right now we could all do with a bit of rest.?

They helped Daggle into the shelter, and though it was a bit cramped and warm with the three of them all together, none of them had any trouble falling asleep.

------

Crue?s ears caught the faint sound of voices and her blissfully dreamless sleep was snatched from her grasp. When she stepped out of their shelter, she judged by the sun that it was an hour or two before noon. Once her eyes readjusted to the brightness, she was able to look down the shoreline at small group of figures headed in their direction. It was difficult to make out exactly who they were at a distance, but one was definitely tall and stocky, and another was slightly on the rotund side.

Adjusting her headband, she stepped back toward the shelter and awoke her two companions. ?Someone?s coming!?

Tooley and Daggle?s eyes fluttered open, but once her words sank into their ears, they woke up a bit more quickly. Tooley helped his friend out of the shelter, as they all wanted to know who else had survived last night?s ordeal. They crossed the small stream and headed up to meet them. Once they were a bit closer, Crue recognized one of them as her associate, Robert Rosequill, which brought a smile to her face. The others she couldn?t place.

The tall, stocky one she?d noticed before turned out to be a sea otter, but his garb and air of annoyance was proof enough that he was not on her side. She turned to Tooley and asked, ?Who is that fellow there??

?Oh, that?s Chak! ?E?s?? Tooley?s words trailed off, but he reached into the air to wave enthusiastically and shouted out, ?Ahoy!?

Tooley?s joyful greeting was in stark contrast to the storm of emotion that was brewing on the otter?s face. If she didn?t know better, she could swear she saw the madness of Atlas behind his eyes.

This can?t be good!