The Lore Wain and Her Nephew Pt. 12

"So, what'll it be, my little friend?" Captain Sealen eyed Zarabean with hope that he would trade Echo for the plumyum.

Zarabean stared for a moment before slowly shaking his head. "You don't... You don't have the fruit I want."

Captain Sealen tilted his head, "What kind of fruit is better for a ridgerunner than a plumyum?" He asked with confusion. "What kind do you want?"

"You can't give the kind of fruit I'm after. It's... a kind that's harvested from the inside." Zarabean responded surprisingly poetic. "It's the most important fruit of all."

Captain Sealen was quiet a moment before his face distorting to a controlled angry look. "I tried being diplomatic with you, ridgerunner, but it looks like I'll have to use force." He stood to his feet and took a bite from the plumyum in his hand as he turned to his crew of stranders. "Get the child but don't harm it. Do whatever you want with the ridgerunner." Captain Sealen said this before walking back into the crowd, which once again became rowdy.

Zarabean gulped and moved further back in the cage with Echo in his arms, not having a plan as to how he'll fend off the stranders.

The cage door was opened by a nearby strander. Since the cage was smaller than an adult sized human, they sent in a child to take the baby from the ridgerunner.

The child was about the height of Zarabean and wore a face much different than the other stranders. While the others looked cruel, this child looked miserable. It was hard to tell at first whether the child was a girl or a boy on the account of the short hair and mud caked in its hair and on its face.

This ruddy child grabbed Echo and tried to take him away from Zarabean.

Zarabean shrieked, "No! You mustn't take him!" He fought with the child.

Echo cried all the louder, feeling the tug from both sides.

"Stop, you'll hurt him!" Zarabean screamed at the child.

The child stopped pulling and looked at Zarabean with gloomy eyes before looking back at the adult stranders. "If I keep fighting with him, the baby will be hurt..." The voice of a young girl escaped the child's lips.

"Use force then! Hurt the ridgerunner so he let's go, dumb girl!" A strander barked at the girl.

The girl quivered at the order and looked back at Zarabean with a sorry look in her eyes.

Zarabean looked back at her, holding Echo close to him.

-

"Aight, Celeste. We're on course for that ship!... Care to explain what exactly happened?" Alagatha asked with a curiosity in her voice.

Celeste teared up, "It's my fault. I shouldn't of left Zarabean alone with Echo... He's too small to defend him."

Clef suddenly grabbed Celeste by the shoulders and forced her to look at him.

Celeste looked up into Clef's brown eyes with shock.

"You listen to me." Clef said with a sternness in his voice. "This isn't your fault or anyone else's except the blasted idiots who took him. Don't you dare blame yourself for this or anything else that's happened so far. It's. Not. Your. Fault."

Celeste started to cry before replying reluctantly, "Then why does my heart blame itself?" Her eyes fell to the ground upon saying this.

Clef moved his hands to the sides of Celeste's face, bringing her attention back on him. "Your heart is bleeding with grief. You can't trust a grieving heart, Celeste. All it whispers is pain. You are not at fault for ANYTHING that's happened this week."

Celeste sniffed and wiped her nose with her sleeve. "I... I suppose you're right."

"I'm not right about a lot of things but I'm right about this. Don't let that strander in the holding cell rule your mind. She was crazy not to see why her crimes ended her up in prison." Clef said before letting go of her.

Celeste blinked for a moment and nodded. A small pause followed before asking, "Clef... back in the holding cell... You became really... Well, you didn't seem like yourself... What was that?"

Clef was quiet for a long while before replying, "I was just speaking their language. That's all."

Celeste looked intently at Clef for a moment, not sure if she believed his answer. She decided against prying, at least for now. She turned her attention to the ship on the horizon once again. "What do you think awaits us on that ship?"

"Stranders, probably. I wonder if that's the same vessel they used to invade the castle." Clef replied, happy yet sober not to be the topic of the conversation anymore.

"Aye, might have pirates on it as well." Alagatha added, "I saw a good many on board."

Nibble gagged, "Piratessses always ssstink of rotting fisshies."

Alagatha glanced back at Nibble, "I thought ye liked the smell of rotting fish!"

"Nooo! Rotting fisshies isss one sssmell I detest!" Nibble protested as if this were some important matter.

"Ye can't be serious! Ye like the smell of filthy baby cloths but heaven forbid a pirate smell a little like rotten fish?!" Alagatha laughed. "A little eloquent for a Fang, aren't ye?"

Clef cleared his throat and got Alagatha's and Nibble's attention. "This isn't time for jokes, friends." He muttered and gestured to Celeste, who was at the ship's front as if willing it to go faster.

"Aye." Alagatha quieted down, "Nibble, see if ye can't see better up from the crow's nest with the speckle eye. We'll need a strategy."

Nibble flicked his tongue out, "Anything to get away from that fisshies sssmell." He replied as he scrambled up the rope ladder quickly.