Berganashio - Chapter 13

Keenwai and Kunya were gliding above the trees, getting very close to the burrow lands where they lived. Keenwai took a double take and looked down at the festival tables which were overturned and completely ravaged. There were no meerbirds in sight anywhere and the entire place was in utter disarray. There were arrows all over the ground, as clearly a battle had occurred. Meerbirds typically fought with bows and arrows and spears. A meerbird peering from a hole screamed at them, “Hide! There’s still one out there!”

Keenwai turned behind him.

“Look out!” Kunya yelled.

They scrambled and clawed with all their strength. Their struggle was no match for a large sea-wolf who shot a rope trap at them and pulled it tight. They were caught in the rope netting before they could fly away. Several other meerbirds shot arrows at the sea-wolf but two arrows missed and the third only skimmed the sea-wolf’s chest.

“Caught ya’s! Ya’s little slimy sausages!” Growled a ferocious and especially ugly sea-wolf who was already frothing at the mouth. He was one of the last sea-wolfs there. The rest of the sea-wolfs had already pillaged the festival, having kidnapped many other meerbirds and run off back to their dilapidated death ship.

This particular sea-wolf had come with the other sea-wolfs but hadn’t caught any meerbirds like the other sea-wolfs. He wasn’t going to be caught empty-handed. His pride was too strong and he didn’t want to become the laughing stock of the other sea-wolfs. The sea-wolf slung the rope trap over his neck with the two meerbirds and took off running at a steady pace.

Keenwai and Kunya clung to one another in the rope trap. Their burrow lands became smaller and smaller. Suddenly, they felt the spray of ocean mist and splashes. The sea-wolf had hit the ocean and was racing even faster on the ocean surface. Sea-wolfs run fast on land but they can run even faster on the sea surface.

It was jarring and terrifying for the two meerbirds. All they could do was brace themselves by holding onto one another tightly. The rope netting was too strong to break out of or cut through with their desperate claws.

Finally, the sea-wolf made it to the ship and jumped aboard. A few sea-wolfs noticed and called out, “What took ya so long slow poke?”

Not responding to their question, the sea-wolf jerked the net trap down from his shoulders and dropped Keenwai and Kunya near the rest of the captives toward the middle of the ship. They both felt queasy and on the verge of vomiting from being violently tossed around. Attempting to sit up, they shook their heads.

“That was rough!” Kunya croaked. She tried looking around to see what other meerbirds from the mob were there. There were dozens of other meerbirds but she didn’t see any of her family members. She took a deep breath.

“You alright?” Keenwai asked her.

“I don’t know… I mean, I think so,” she answered. “Are you?”

“Yeah, just soaked.” He turned toward some other meerbirds, “Are Grinyella or Podder here?”

They shook their heads no. Keenwai was thankful that at least two of the three counsel members were back with the remaining meerbirds who had evaded being captured.

Captain Cragg appeared and started slowly circling the pile of meerbirds who were still trapped in the rope traps. “This is it? This is all you could get?”

The sea-wolfs nodded their heads at the captain.

“They’re punier than I thought they’d be!”

“We can try to fatten em’ up some,” offered a sea-wolf.

“Nah. That’d not be the best use of em’,” the captain barked.

“Then what do you want with us?” Keenwai asked suddenly.

“Two things. Some of you will row with the oars at the bottom of the ship.” The captain eyed Keenwai. “And some of you will smoke and cook the meat we find.” He spat suddenly with fresh, animated annoyance. “I’m tired of raw meat. It’s time for some cooked meat with some seasoning.”

Speaking for the whole group of captives, Keenwai responded by saying, “We can do that.” He looked at the other meerbirds through the tangles of ropes and they just looked back at him, stunned into silence. Kunya grimaced at the situation. What else could they do?

Captain Cragg smiled creepily. “Oh, good! I’m glad you can. Because if you can’t do what I say, then we would be forced into turning you into shish-kabob-snacks yourselves. Understood?”

Keenwai nodded and his stomach churned with anxiety.

“Not that there’s hardly any meat on your little measly bones anyway! Your not much bigger than rats!” The other sea-wolfs laughed maniacally. “Get the chains!” The captain half laughed, half belched through his sharp, yellowing teeth.

Several sea-wolfs brought out chains of various sizes. They chained the wrists and ankles of each of the meerbirds. Each chain connected to the next meerbird until it was one long line of chained meerbirds. They were then led down to the bottom of the ship. Each meerbird sat down at one of the oars and started rowing. Keenwai and Kunya were fortunate enough to be rowing side by side.

A third of the meerbirds were not stationed at the oars. They were ordered to start cooking random piles of dead sea animals that were stacked higher than the meerbirds were tall. The strong odor of the stacks of meat was overpowering.

Keenwai didn’t know what to do. Being captives on a dreadful ship was not at all how he had expected things to turn out. Despite the stressful situation, a poem came to mind and he spoke the words aloud to Kunya.

“Captives at sea,

chained, we are to be.

Tonight, the sound of sobbing,

from the rest of our mob,

can be heard,

in every heart, of every meerbird.”

Kunya sat silently, still rowing slowly. “There’s gotta be a way to get out of here.” She looked down at the tight chain cuffs that hugged her wrists. The chains had already started leaving marks.

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