The Lore Wain and Her Nephew Pt. 27

"Who will be here soon?" Celeste asked with great worry. "The other ridgerunners?"

Another voice replied for Zarabean from the trees. "You have to be foolish to show your face here again."

The whole crew looked up into the apple tree and spotted another ridgerunner.

Just one look at this lofty creature caused Janner to run off toward the house to his mother.

This particular ridgerunner looked about the same size as Zarabean but with one major difference. This ridgerunner had a bit of a potbelly and yet somehow maintained a skinny frame.

"Pummi." Zarabean said, trying not to seem nervous but failing miserably. "Don't... don't do this."

The ridgerunner in the tree, whose name was Pummi, glared down at him in a clear boiling hate. "Move in!" He shouted.

Within an instant, twenty, maybe even thirty ridgerunners appeared from both the tree tops and around the bottom of the tree trunks. They surrounded the group with spears and small daggers with very shifty eyes.

They all appeared particularly wary of Nibble for obvious reasons. However, they appeared to be also wary of Cynthia's talons despite her being only a child.

One of the ridgerunners poked Cy with the end of his spear, seeming content with the horror her expression held.

Zarabean's nervous behavior became rageful. He found himself reacting immediately by swiftly moving to Cynthia's side and taking the ridgerunner's spear from his hand. "Don't lay a hand on her! She's a child!" He shouted quite loudly before snapping the spear in half over his thigh. This action caused the other ridgerunners to back off a little bit.

"Don't cower!" Pummi shouted from the tree, "Don't you remember what this disgrace did last time he was here?! We can't let him get away with it!"

Celeste looked at Zarabean with confusion. "What does he mean??"

Zarabean looked up at Celeste. "Zarabean... stopped them from taking your supplies... but you didn't hear how he did that..." He looked down at the ground.

"He tricked us!" Pummi shouted with toddler like anger. "You said you would lure them in but instead you left with them on their ship! Traitor! You didn't even kiss mom goodbye! How could you be so selfish!?"

"Oh, just shut your fruit eating mouth!" Clef shouted as he drew his sword and pointed up at Pummi, "Maker help me but your brother has more sense in his brain than you all do!"

Pummi scowled at Clef and shifted his gaze to the ridgerunner next to him.

The ridgerunner, next to Clef, responded to Pummi's glance by jabbing Clef in the back of his knee.

"Ow!!" Clef shouted before instinctly kicking the ridgerunner like a football... the creature went the distance.

"Take them down!" Pummi commanded.

The ridgerunners just looked at each other in confusion.

"Hello? Why aren't you taking them down?!" Pummi shouted.

"It's just... They're really big and we have little arms... I'm not so sure how well this plan was thought through..." A ridgerunner stated honestly with an anxious shrug.

Pummi's eye twitched in silence.

"Pummi???" The ridgerunner asked.

"Use the darts! People, the darts! Good grief, you're all like human children sometimes!" Pummi suddenly shouted.

"Wait!" Celeste shouted but it was to no avail.

These 'darts' Pummi spoke of came shooting out from the other trees from other ridgerunners. Everyone present in Celeste's party had no chance to respond; they all received a dart in the neck. However, the ridgerunners made sure to double dart Nibble, as his kind was most likely to over power everyone else there.

Most of crew dropped to the ground and laid there unconscious.

Once they were all seemingly knocked out, the ridgerunners pick pocketed all their fruit (if they had any) and ridgerunner-napped Zarabean from the group.

However, they didn't notice Cynthia's eyes were still open in their rush to leave.

-

"Kinabrick!" Alagatha shouted as she headed up the steps to the Captain's wheel. "If Long Johns isn't gonna tell me his story, ye got to. Something 'bout him isn't sittin' well in me belly."

Kinabrick looked at Alagatha and sighed. "You're really that curious. Why can't you leave the news up to him?"

Alagatha groaned, "Because me patience ain't what it used to be and Ramger is prickily as a cactus. Just tell me."

"..." He looked at her for a long moment before replying, "Ramger was married to Priscilla for five years when she passed away... She got really sick..." Kinabrick looked to the floor. "He blamed his wife's death to the ridgerunner flu, which you can catch if you have contact with fruit a ridgerunner touched when they were sick. Priscilla loved fruit." Kinabrick seemed to get a tear in his eye just recounting the story. "Ramger was a single dad raising his infant son in Torrboro and... One night some stranders broke into his home and..." He looked back at Alagatha solemnly. "They took the child. Ever since that night, he's been... paranoid to say the least. Of all dangers."

Alagatha stood there speechless a moment, simply digesting what Kinabrick had just told her.

It made sense, all of it. The wariness of ridgerunners and the hate of stranders... It tied together. Ramger had become so paranoid that he no longer thought of stranders as people nor ridgerunners as simple creatures. He hated them all. He wanted nothing to do with any of them.

She looked at the floor and back at Kinabrick. "How do ye know Ramger so well?"

"... He's my brother in-law. Priscilla was my older sister." Kinabrick sighed with sorrow.