Caution: Quills may be sharp Circulation: 192,452,310 Issue: 643 | 2nd day of Hunting, Y16
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The Brave Lutari Pirate


by gyosco

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It was four years ago when Harivi got the shock of his life. He was just a young blue Lutari back then, without a care in the world, playing on the shores of his native island. He was too enthralled in his own little world to notice the deep black clouds swirling above him. Too young to pick up on the sudden tension in the air.

     All at once, rain as large and heavy as Skeiths came pelting down. Harivi looked around helplessly as the island flew into a panic. A bump to his shoulder as someone pushed past him knocked him back into his senses. He had no idea what was happening, but he had to find his family – now.

     There were some makeshift lifeboats on the coast. Harivi pushed his way to through the crowd, desperately searching for any sign of his family. His sister Holasa's laugh, his father's overgrown fur, his mother's constant floral scent. But he was young, and the rest of the crowd was much stronger than him as they pushed their way forward.

     A pair of strong paws were suddenly pulling him onto an escape raft. "No, stop!" he screamed, "I need to find my family! Please!"

     "I'm sure they're safe," a green Lutari said monotonously, as if he had been uttering that phrase all day to other lost children. Maybe he had.

     Harivi was shaking with fear when he finally saw them – at the very back of the crowd. His father was holding Holasa, while his mother searched the crowd with wide, worried eyes. He tried his hardest to get the captain (if you could call him that) to stop the boat, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.

     "Mom!" Harivi cried out, trying to get his mother's attention, "Mom, I'm here!"

     His mother's eyes whipped over to him, and she struggled against the crowd to try to reach her baby. But she was too late, for the raft was already out to sea, drifting off to safety.

     "MOMMY!"

      Harivi woke with a start, sweat matting his fur. This nightmare was not an uncommon occurrence, but he still felt like curling up in a ball and sobbing after every time. That, however, was not allowed anymore. At the early age of fourteen, Harivi was anything but a child. He was a pirate.

     A loud rapping came at his cabin door. "Boy!" the voice of his shipmate, Jolock, boomed from outside, "You've had enough sleep, time to get to work!"

     "I'm coming, sheesh," Harivi muttered groggily. He sat up in bed, trying to control his emotions. Even though he was on the brink of tears, he knew that would not be allowed on The Blue Matu. He was just a cabin boy when he joined the crew, but even back then, tears were strictly forbidden on ship.

     "Took you long enough," Jolock said as Harivi finally made his way into the daylight. Jolock had been the one to save the young Lutari the day the storm took over. Taking pity on the ten year old, Jolock had convinced his captain to give the pet a job on board. Harivi wasn't sure what would have happened if Jolock hadn't saved him, but until proven otherwise, he owed the older pet his life.

     "Yeah, yeah," Harivi sighed. "What's in store for today?"

     "Well, word is we're going to Altador," the green Lutari said, looking out into the ocean. He knew that trips on this side of the world always frightened Harivi – they'd be passing right by his old home. "I'll make sure we keep busy 'til we get there."

     Harivi tried his best to ignore the heavy stone in his gut throughout the rest of the day, but nothing could take his mind off of the memories. Every day, he wondered what had happened to his family. The only thing keeping him from losing his mind was the small hope that they were still out there somewhere, waiting for him to find them.

     The weather turned sour, and Harivi knew that they would be approaching the island soon. In all the years since that day, the storm had not stopped once, and the island had been inaccessible for years. It was a small comfort, though, that it had started to rain. Maybe he could convince the rest of the crew that those were raindrops on his face instead of tears.

     "Drop anchor!" the captain cried out, causing the ship to come to a halt. Harivi's breath hitched in his throat. Surely they wouldn't be staying here? Not only was there enough time left in the day to make it to Altador, but the storm was too thick to stay here.

     A familiar paw on his shoulder snapped him back to attention. "Sorry, mate," Jolock said quietly, "but Cap'n Nafore would like to speak to us."

     Captain Nafore was quite frightening in general. Although he was a Meerca, and therefore quite short, his menacing glare could make the toughest man on earth crumble. He was also a highly-trained fighter, having been a Battledome pet before he turned to a life of piracy. And everyone knew that if he wanted to speak to you in private, that meant trouble.

     "Welcome, boys," Nafore growled, motioning with his hooked-hand for them to sit down. "I have a bit of a special assignment for ye. Now, ye be knowing where we're at, do ya?"

     "Of course, cap'n," Jolock said, for Harivi was still too scared to speak. "We're right outside of Lutari Island. Or, what used to be the island, anyhow. Doubt there's much left of it after all this time."

     "That's where you're wrong, Jolock," the captain said, a strange twinkle in his eye, "There be word around these parts that quite a lot of Lutari stayed behind when the storm started." Now this got Harivi's attention. What if his parents had been there this whole time? "Yes, they have a bit of an underground city, they say. Now, I for one would love to think that these... poor, unfortunate pets have all been evacuated, but if they truly are living underground, we'll be paying 'em a visit."

     "We will?" Harivi said, unable to hide the hope in his voice. "How?"

     "This is where you two come in," the captain said with a sly smirk, "Ye be the only two Lutari on my ship! Ye'll be leading the search party for us. After all, why would we waste our time searching, when we've got two natives on our crew who could show us the way?"

     Harivi was at a loss. On one hand, he would be facing his biggest nightmare, only for the small chance that these rumors were true. If they were, however, he might be reunited with him family – or at least talk to the underground inhabitants, for at least one of them might have a clue as to where they are. But he wouldn't be going alone. He would be leading a band of pirates right into their safe, secret city in order to steal whatever small amount they had salvaged from the storm. Not that he had much of a choice in the matter; he would be forced to go either way.

     "Not that I don't think this is a good idea," Jolock said uncertainly, "but we left as soon as the storm hit. Where would we even begin to look?"

     "How am I supposed to know?" the pirate Meerca said with a disinterested shrug. "It's not like I've ever been there before."

     As the boat finally docked on what used to be the island port, Harivi was in a full state of shock. The weather was exactly as he remembered it from the day he left. Rain pummeled the small band of pirates as they unloaded the ship. Jolock in the lead, they slowly trekked through the desolate weather, trying to find any sign of an underground city. "Let the search begin!" he chuckled, as they all figured it would be a lost cause.

     Harivi wasn't paying much attention when one of the crew members, a Techo named Zakem, found something worth looking at. There, laying on top of the four-years-worth of mud and grime, was a shiny red Urapa Bead. It couldn't have lasted there on its own for four years; it was obviously left there in more recent times. So, the rumors must be true.

     "Over here!" the Techo called out over the rain. "This tree looks weird!" Upon closer inspection, the tree seemed to have a thick notch where a handle might be. After what seemed like an hour of trying to pry it open, the hinges finally swung forward, granting them entrance to a dark tunnel containing a mud-carved staircase.

     "Only option we've got, boys," Jolock said. "Down we go!"

     As they descended into the unknown, Harivi didn't know whether to be excited or terrified. There was no guarantee that anyone would be down here at all – this could have been someone's home before the storm, and it could very well be abandoned just like everything else on the island. If, however, there were any Lutari here, including his parents, they might not even remember who he was. After all, ages ten and fourteen look quite different, especially when those years in between were spent on a pirate ship.

     A soft yellow glow was coming from the bottom of the stairway. This was it – the moment of truth. "Wait here, boys," Jolock instructed. "Harivi and I'll go down first, see if we can get a read on the place. If there's anything worth something, one of us will come back for you guys."

     The other pirates grumbled in acceptance. No true pirate likes to be told what to do, but then again, they weren't being ushered back out into the storm, so they couldn't really complain. One of them even settled down for a nap.

     When Harivi emerged into the light, he was struck with awe. These Lutari had carved an entire village out of mud, with streets, shops, houses – everything that a real town had in it, these pets recreated. The cavern looked impossibly large to Harivi, and it seemed to stretch on for days. Several dozen Lutari were bustling about, seeming completely oblivious to the two strangers who had just entered their private domain.

     An overgrown lump of brown fur caught Harivi's eye. Trying not to call too much attention to himself, the young Lutari turned his head to the furry growth. His heart almost stopped when he saw his father, and his chest filled with warmth when he heard him talk. Sure, he was slightly angry, yelling at some random shopkeeper for overcharging him, but that was his father, no doubt about it.

     "Excuse me," Harivi said quietly, once he had finally found his voice. "Sorry to bother you, but would your name happen to be Novirt?"

     "Hah, that's me," the brown Lutari said with a chuckle. "I'm surprised I haven't seen you around here before, being another Lutari and all. How'd you find your way out here?"

     "I was born here," Harivi practically whispered, tears pooling in his eyes. "But I was swept out to sea during the start of the storm."

     A flicker of recognition passed over Novirt's face. "Harivi...? Could it really be you?" The younger Lutari nodded, and was instantly engulfed in a bear hug. "After all these years... We thought we lost you."

     Harivi was about to answer, but a scream from where they entered interrupted his thoughts. "The others!" Jolock said. "They must have come down!"

     Jolock, followed by the newly re-acquainted father and son, ran to the entrance of the cavern. Apparently, they weren't operating fast enough for Captain Nafore, because he had decided to pay them a visit. He was blocking the only exit, his sword out and ready. He must have already begun to call out orders, because there were some Lutari placing what little possessions they had at his feet.

     "There has to be more than this!" the captain screamed. "You've been down here all by yourselves for years now – this can't be all of it!"

     A white hot rage filled Harivi as he saw some of the Lutari start to cry. He couldn't even remember why he had stayed with this horrible Meerca. At the time, it had seemed better than trying to start a life on his own, but now he wished that he had never even met this dastardly villain.

     "Stop!" he heard someone call out in a brave voice. When everyone turned to look at him, he realized that the voice had belonged to him. The angry pirate captain turned his gaze to Harivi, slowly stepping closer.

     "I knew I shouldn't have sent ye down here," Captain Nafore snarled. "Soft. That's all you are. A soft little coward, who wouldn't last a day without someone," he gestured to Jolock, "watching over ye. Wouldn't last a day as a real man."

     "Because he's not a real man," Jolock said quietly, trembling with anger. "He's a little boy. A boy I should have never even brought into this terrible world of thieving and fear."

     The Meerca laughed in agreement. "Ye be right, Jolock. He is a boy. A little boy who wanted nothing than to be with his precious little family. So tell me, boy," he said, turning to the crowd, "which ones belong to ya? Which ones do I get to tie up and take back to me ship? After all, I believe that's how I'm going to get any work done around here."

     In a startling move of bravery, Harivi shoved the Meerca as hard as he possibly could, and snatched up his sword in a moment of confusion. "Which ones are my family?" he whispered. "They all are. Every last one. And no one is going to threaten my family. I've been without them for way too long, and I'm not going to let anyone take them away from me."

     Harivi's chest heaved as he stared down at his former captain. The Meerca seemed to be at a loss for words, as was the rest of the cavern. "Get out," he rasped, and Captain Nafore didn't hesitate as he leapt up and ran out of the cave, up the stairs and into the pounding rain.

     The cheers from the Lutari clan echoed off of the walls. The crowd hoisted Harivi into the air, and apparently they had found out his name, for they were chanting it with such abandon that he was afraid they'd cause the whole space to cave in from the sound vibrations. Jolock just looked on and smiled, as the rest of the pirates tried to make their way out of the cavern without being noticed.

     "Um... Son?" Harivi's father said after a moment, clearing his throat, "Is there something that I should know? Particularly as to why you know a pirate captain."

     "You know what?" Harivi said, smiling for the first time in what felt like years, "Let's save the stories for another time. I'm just really glad to see you again."

     After the hours of congratulating and re-meeting the town, Harivi was finally left alone. His sister hadn't stopped crying tears of joy since she'd seen him, and his mother was in no better shape. Harivi was about to see their home – his home – for the first time when he spotted Jolock standing awkwardly near the entrance.

     "Why are you still here?" Harivi asked the green Lutari. "I thought the ship would have left by now."

     "I'm sure it did, actually," Jolock chuckled, "but I didn't really feel like joining. Thought I might stay here for a while. I had a wife before we left; figured I might try to find her while I was here. See if she missed me and all that."

     "Well," Harivi said with a smile, "let the search begin!"

The End

 
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