Freiyon Fables A Tail To Remember
Chapter Fifteen: Captain Brushtail

Abrigail and Harriet found themselves staring at the lightning-tailed gang, though they did not know they weren’t evil.

“What do you want from us?” Abrigail asked angrily.

“It’s not what we want; it’s what a friend of yours wants. He was looking for you earlier, but he couldn’t. Perhaps he will be happy to know we have found you and you are safe and sound, Abrigail and Harriet.”

“Who’s ‘him’?” Harriet asked.

“You should know him by now, Harriet. You’re married to him, after all.′

“Micklang? But, how did you know I was married to him, and how do you know our names?”

“We’re lightning-tails, like Micklang, and because of that we can tell who you are before we even meet you.”

“But, we’ve got lightning-tails as well, how come it’s not happening to us?” Abrigail asked.

“You know, that’s exactly the same question that Melody asked. So, we’ll give you the same answer …”

“There’s no need to, Pig leader, I’ve already solved the mystery.” Micklang called as he entered the camp with Melody, Harvey and Geoffrey.

“Micklang!” Everyone cheered.

The feral pig looked at Micklang curiously.

“You have stopped the curse?” The pig asked.

“Not only that, but I’ve also released all the prisoners in the mountain and stopped the master-mind behind it.”

“And who was the mastermind?”

“A master-mind bat known as Medraut.” Micklang answered.

The pig leader shook his head, ashamed. “I knew it, ever since I first met that bat, I knew he was trouble.” He admitted somberly.

“He’s more than that, he’s pure evil, but he’s dead now, that much is certain.”

“How do you know that?” Melody asked.

“Remember when we were flying away from the liquid? For a very brief moment during that time, I saw him in the forest and he was alive, but when I looked back, he was consumed by the liquid.”

Everyone was silent for a few minutes, but then Abrigail clapped his hands and looked around happily.

“Well, it’s been good to meet you, and thank you for bringing us here. I’m glad we met up with our guide again and that we’re all back together again. But I must ask, how are we to get off this island, and how are we to turn back to our normal selves?” He asked.

The Feral pig chuckled a little.

“I believe I can help.” He said, beckoning them to follow him.

The feral pig led them through the forest and into a clearing where two very familiar ships were being repaired.

Abrigail gasped in amazement and, to everyone’s surprise (including his own), he gave the pig leader a big hug.

“The Sea-shark! My lovely, you’ve rebuilt her! Thank you so much!” Abrigail said.

Harvey stared at the other ship and smiled.

“The wonderful ship Mermaids daughter, rebuilt better than before. Wait until the captain replaces out.”

“Well, well, well, if it ain’t that cheeky rascal Harvey the squirrel.” Brushtail announced.

Harvey jumped around in surprise; there was his whole crew with good captain Brushtail at the front.

“I thought we left you back at Detimil, you cheeky thing. How did you get back on board?”

“It’s a long story, but it can wait. Look, they’ve rebuilt our ship.” Harvey pointed to Brushtail’s ship.

“So they have, thank you so much … oh, where did they all go?” Brushtail looked around in surprise as he realized all the lightning-tails had gone.

“They must have realized their job was finished and went to their camp. By the way, I’m Captain Abrigail.” Abrigail introduced himself to Brushtail.

“Captain Brushtail at your service. What be your reason for setting out to sea?”

“Just to replace adventure really. Our friend, Micklang here, is our guide, and where he wants to go, we’ll go.”

“Oh? And where are you heading now?”

Micklang thought for a second, and then he clicked his fingers.

“We’ll go north, that’s the one direction we haven’t headed yet.”

“North! That’s the direction we’re heading, mind if we join teams?”

“Hey, no problem, Brushtail. The more the better.” Abrigail replied.

“Alright then, crew, we’re gonna help each other move these ships back to the ocean. Then we’ll be back on our way.”

So, the two crews worked together to push the ships back to the ocean. While they did, a tree-like figure departed from the island all by itself, still waiting for the right moment…

First to go into the water was the Sea-shark, followed by the Mermaids daughter, and Abrigail got his crew on board along with Oscar’s group of otters and Harriet’s children.

While he was doing that, Micklang and Harriet were helping Captain Brushtail get his crew on-board his ship.

“I’ve got an idea, why don’t we use one of the ship’s planks to connect our ships together. That way we’ll go the same way and not lose each other.” Brushtail suggested.

Micklang looked at Abrigail and saw him nod.

“Yeah, alright, we’ll do that.” Micklang replied.

Once everything was ready and checked, Abrigail pushed out his plank as far out as it could go, and then Brushtail grabbed it and nailed it to his ship to keep it there.

“Now we can see and explore each other’s ship, and maybe even have a few parties.” Brushtail said.

“Alright, ready to sail everyone?” Abrigail asked out loud.

The reply he got was almost deafening, but he knew it meant they were happy to leave.

As they left Lightning-tailed Island, Micklang marked it on his map and made a note next to it.

‘Curse stopped, free to explore, but watch out for strange looking liquid.’

And it is still there to this day.

The Lightning-tails watched from their hiding spots in the forest as the ships left the island.

“Far weather and good adventure to you, Micklang Lightning-tail.” The Pig leader said.

About two hours later, well into the night, Abrigail decided to host a sing-along party and invited Brushtail’s crew to come along.

Laughter and cheers spread through the ship as many creatures tried to out-sing each other to a song that was well known to all of them (except The Lightning-tails, but they tried to catch on anyway).

“Sailing high and sailing low, replaceing treasure wherever we go.

A ship is good for us, we don’t need to fuss.

From land to sea, we’re busy like a bee.

The only rest we’ll get is singing to this song.

Sailing near and sailing far, we’re not like sticky tar.

You’ll see that we’re right, because the sea is nice and bright.

What is the best thing to see?

Why, the great and mighty sea!”

The crews sung together.

Then Micklang got a turn to sing, and he recited his song from when he first came into the adventurous world.

“This is the song of a lonely traveller, who does not know where to go.

He met a tree chief, a brilliant fighter, who helped him out to know where exactly he should go.

The two were joined as father and son, a certainly odd thing to see.

But another tree felt that no-one should be chief save he.

The two trees fought angrily, while the traveller helped out.

The battle was won, thankfully, by the tree that helped the traveller out.

Now the traveller is off alone with no help, save for the warrior inside his heart,

And he will travel until he comes to help, those who are close to his heart.

This is the song of the traveller, which you know is true, the traveller with the tail of blue.”

Micklang sung slowly.

Then it was Harriet’s turn. Every voice stopped to listen to Harriet’s beautiful voice.

“True love is awfully hard to replace, but is something that can keep you in a bind.

Every creature that walks the earth was meant to have love at first birth.

And even though love might become a dangerous thing,

The last thing it will do is destroy your living.

Love is a strong, kind instrument, like a flute or violin, and should never be used for evil.

Love is stronger than death itself, for it will last forever and defeat the evil.

And that is what love can do for you, my lovely one. That’s what love can do for you.”

Micklang sniffed when Harriet finished singing and clapped his hands. The entire crew joined in and congratulated Harriet’s lovely singing.

A few hours later, very late into the night, both ships had gone extremely quiet as they sailed along the sea. The reason? Everyone was asleep.

Well, almost everyone.

“How is it going, Frebil my lad?” Abrigail asked Frebil gently as he steered the ship carefully.

“It’s very quiet and calm, captain. But if I let go of the ship’s control, then we could end up steering in the wrong direction, so I shall continue to steer as best as possible.”

“Good mouse, I shall go and see how Micklang is going and if he has spotted anything, eh?”

“That would be much appreciated, captain, by him and me.”

Abrigail smiled as he worked his way up to the crows’ nest, where Micklang was having slight trouble keeping awake.

“Need some company, Micklang?” Abrigail asked.

“Company is always appreciated, captain.”

Abrigail sat down besides Micklang and drank some water from a bottle he brought up.

“Would you like some?” Abrigail asked, indicating the bottle.

“Thanks.” Micklang replied, taking a sip of water.

For a while, the two of them sat there, silently, watching the sea going pass them.

“It’s quiet, isn’t it captain?” Micklang asked Abrigail.

“You can stop calling me captain, you know, you ain’t part of me crew. But, you’re right, it is rather quite. Do you think we should count ourselves lucky nothing has happened?” Abrigail replied, looking down at Frebil for a tiny second.

“Well, you know the seas better than me, Abrigail, but to be honest I don’t like it when things are quiet and calm, it usually means something bad is about to happen.”

Abrigail sighed and looked up at the stars.

“Micklang, the whole world isn’t made up of bad things about to happen. It’s not just good versus bad all the time, you know. I mean, look at the stars, they just sit there, not moving at all, calm and quiet all the time. And yet, sometimes, very rarely, you might see a flash of stars fighting and arguing about something. But that’s just like us, we do the same thing. There are times when there is nothing to do, when everything is nice and calm and quiet, and then there are times when everything is going awful and things couldn’t look any worse. All we have to do is continue without worrying about the next thing bad that might happen. Yes, I know that anything could happen to us in the next couple of seconds, but that’s a matter of the future, not a matter of the present. Believe me; the best thing to worry about now is just enjoying the peace and quiet.”

Micklang nodded and stared up at the stars as well.

“Do you like being a captain, Abrigail?”

Abrigail chuckled slightly.

“Oh, definitely. Sailing across the sea with a crew of mice and otters ready to work for a good payment is quite rewarding, especially when you replace unexpected treasures along the way.”

“Treasures?”

“Well, when I say treasures, I don’t mean the glittering type, like gold or stuff like that. I mean the other type, the opposite sex, so to speak.”

Micklang chuckled when he realised what Abrigail meant.

“You’re very cheeky.” Micklang said, smiling.

“That may be, but I’m a good captain, and everyone agrees on board. I have not had one single mutiny since I started being captain.” Micklang nodded fondly and the two relaxed in each other’s company, watching the stars glitter above, until they both fell to sleep.