Freiyon Fables A Tail To Remember

“I’m Oscar the Otterchief, and who do I have the pleasure of talking to?” Oscar introduced himself to the mouse.

The leader bowed as he replied.

“Captain Abrigail Cheesethief at your service, my good otter. And what are you doing here on such a fine day?”

“We’re on a venture to map out this whole strange land, and our warrior leader here wants to head west as far as possible. It’s him that’s leading us on this grand venture.” Oscar indicated Micklang with his free hand.

“Well, you won’t get any further without a ship, and as it happens, I’m one of the best around here at mapping and compass bearing, maybe I could help you out.” Captain Abrigail said.

“That would be fantastic, but do you have a ship, Captain Abrigail?”

Abrigail chuckled, along with his crew.

“Why do you think they call me a captain? Come on, I’ll show you my pride and joy.” Abrigail showed the biggest, friendliest smile Micklang had ever seen.

The group followed the captain and his crew along the beach until they came to a dock that was still under construction.

And the wonderful ship that was tied there.

It was a magnificent ship, with a long, wide deck and colourful sails. Micklang could see that the ship had more room than was needed for Captain Abrigail’s crew and wondered what it was like to live a sailor’s life.

He was about to find out.

“Aah! There she be, my good friends. My pride and joy, the fantastic ship Sea-shark. Don’t let her name scare you, she’s as nice as a mouse, I know cause I am one, Hahaha! Come along now, there’s a few more crew you have to meet.” Abrigail said proudly.

One of Abrigail’s crew members made a high-pitched whistle that echoed along the beach-line.

“Make way for the captain. Make way quickly now, the captain is coming! Ship Company, salute!” A young otter announced as Abrigail led Micklang and his gang onto the ship.

“Well, bless my heart if it ain’t my cousin Jackie, what are you doing here, you ol’ river-walloper?” Oscar said, seeing the otter that had made the announcement.

“Cousin Oscar, great to see ya. River-walloper? I ain’t that anymore, I’m a good sea-dog now. Captain Abrigail has been teaching me the way of the ocean, and I’m eager to follow him to the world’s end if I have ta.” Jackie replied, giving Oscar a mighty hug, which almost caused Oscar to gasp for breath.

Micklang studied the wonders of the ship carefully, smiling with admiration.

“This is an amazing vessel you have here, Captain Abrigail. Oh, by the way, I don’t think I ever introduced myself. Micklang Lightning-tail, squirrel warrior and next tree chief of the faraway lake.”

“Ah! So you’ve met up with Chief Tursorl, have you? How is the good tree chief going, then? Still calling it the faraway lake, by golly that tree gets dafter every time. I keep tellin’ him that he should call it Tree-kingdom, but he just keeps forgetting.”

“You know him?”

“Who doesn’t around here, eh? Sure, I know the big blighter, good pal, very short memory with some creature’s names. Keeps thinkin’ me name is Abby! Imagine, a good captain mouse like me being called Abby, it ain’t heard of.”

“Maybe he shortened Abrigail, maybe he does know it, but just likes it as Abby.”

“Hmph, well if that’s the case, he certainly puts on a good show to make it sound like he has no idea who I am.”

“Captain Abrigail, the ship is ready to leave when you are. Where are we bound?” A crew mouse said.

The mouse wore a blue jacket with small white spots on it, the same as all the other crew members, but he had buttons on his jacket, which he always fiddled with. He also had a short rapier which, like the ship was to the captain, was his pride and joy.

“Good news, Frebil my good chap. Where are we bound, you ask, well, I think that’s up to our good friend Micklang the squirrel warrior to decide.” Abrigail replied.

Micklang was silent for a few seconds, trying to think carefully, when his warrior self spoke out through him, for the first time.

“Sail to where the sun rises high, the land there you cannot sail by.

Help a prisoner, save a friend, be careful of the bends.

And look out for the one with three instead of four, he isn’t a beast like any before.

Sail with dignity, sail with pride, but don’t despair at all.

Your destiny lies beyond that which cannot be seen by all.”

Micklang shook slightly and looked like he was about to faint when Oscar caught him and supported him.

“You alright, Micklang?” Oscar asked.

“What happened? Did somebeast bang me on the head?” Micklang wondered, looking around dazed and confused.

“Far from it, Micklang matey. You were saying something very odd then, sort of a rhyme or something, but it almost looked like it weren’t you at all.”

“I’ve seen this sort of thing before, only once before though. I met someone once who said they could see the future, well I was sceptical of course, but they quoted something which I’ll never forget.

’Sail west through land and sea, become captain of all you see.

Then come to land where legends will be born, a place where evil strikes like a thorn.

Build a port for later use, your crew will name it after youse.

Then follow the beach on a stroll and find a group that will finish your journey.

Oh, Captain Abrigail, thou which will never be dirty, yon destiny awaits.’” Abrigail said.

Micklang stroked his chin in wonder.

“I don’t know about you, but that seems very clear to me, you’ve already encountered everything that the creature quoted, but what does that do with me?”

“It means that your quote will happen as well, and we need to follow each clue carefully, otherwise we could muck it up big time.”

“‘Sail to where the sun rises high’ that would be in the East, the direction we were heading to start with. ‘The land there you cannot sail by’ that’s obvious, just means we will have to walk from there.” Oscar said, thinking about the quote.

“Whoa, belay there, matey. Sounds like we have a long way to go before we’re even in SIGHT of that land that’s been mentioned.” Abrigail interrupted.

“Right, you heard the captain. All hands, prepare to sail! We’re off to sea again!” Frebil announced.

“Hurray! Hurray for the captain!” The crew cheered.

As they sailed off along the ocean, Micklang enjoyed the experience of sailing and was extremely excited to see a rope ladder that lead up to the crow’s nest and to the rigging (Ship talk, Micklang had no idea why they were called this).

Micklang climbed up to the crow’s nest and joined the watcher who was having a break. It was a young koala, something which Micklang had only seen pictures of back at his prison, who, like Micklang, quite liked the idea of sitting in a high place watching all the magnificence of the sea flow past.

“Thought I’d join you, matey. You don’t mind, do you?” Micklang asked.

“Course not, mate. But tell me, those ain’t REALLY platypi down there I see, are they?” The koala replied, pointing to Pistachio and his mum as they hurried about to keep an eye on Harriet’s kids.

“They most certainly are, my friend. Have you heard of them before?”

“Heard of them? Matey, I’ve seen the blighters more than any around here. They come from the same place as me, but one wouldn’t think it with the way they look and act.”

“By the way, my name is Micklang …”

“Lightning-tail, yes I heard you announce it down there. Kale the koala at your service, Micklang. Would you like a gum-leaf, they’re delicious.” The koala showed Micklang a bunch of leaves by his side.

“Yeah, alright. Pass over two; I’ll give it a go.”

The two of them sat together, munching on gum-leaves and nuts, as Micklang recalled his tale to Kale.

Kale sat there, not interrupting at all, but thinking about all the close encounters that Micklang had.

When Micklang finished talking, Kale asked a few questions that bothered him.

“You say you never learnt how to sword fight, and yet ever since you came here you’ve mastered it without any teaching, why is that?” Kale asked.

“Well, I think it may have something to do with touching that very last strand of fence when I escaped. After that, tons of things changed about me, especially my tail. It didn’t used to look like this you know.”

“Also, I’ve never heard of any animal able to fight off a tree single-pawed. That must have been frightening and hard, eh?”

“Oh, no doubt about that, Kale. I thought I was gonna die when that huge tree attacked me, fortunately I was able to fend him off with some help from Tursorl.”

Kale seemed satisfied with that and scanned the horizon again for any sign of land, but finding none.

“What about you? How did you end up becoming a watch guard upon a ship?” Micklang asked Kale.

“I’ve always loved high-places; I guess you could call me the Australian version of a squirrel. Heights have always interested me, but they have to be sturdy heights. If they sway and seem like they might fall at any second, I don’t like it one bit. I came to be here on this ship when the tree I had made my home in had been struck down by lightning and left lying on the ground. The trees here are different to those in the other world, like you know. The Captain found me slightly north of the land where he found you and your lot and knew instantly I was helpful with sight-seeing, so ever since then I’ve been here, telling him if there is land or another ship ahead. You’ve got to have your wits about you when you’re up here, Micklang.”

Micklang nodded and scanned the horizon as well.

He shook his head and looked again when he thought he saw something jump out of the water.

Kale saw the movement and scanned the area where Micklang was looking.

“Well blow me down with a cannon-ball! Dolphins! They’re dolphins!” Kale announced in excitement.

“What do you see, Kale and Micklang me laddies?” Abrigail called from the deck.

“Captain, there’s a flock of dolphins coming our way, frolicking in the ocean.” Kale replied.

Every animal looked over the starboard side of the ship in excitement.

Sighting a dolphin was a very special event, especially for these creatures.

One of the dolphins noticed the ship and jumped over to it.

“Greetings from the creatures of the sea. My thanks to you, gentle beasts, for not trying to kill us while we were looking for food.” The dolphin announced.

“What? Who would want to kill a beautiful creature like you?” Harriet asked.

The dolphin stared at Harriet and sighed.

“You’d be surprised the type of beasts that would do that. Sharks, sailing rats, octopi, humans and other creatures on or off land.”

“Wait, you’ve seen humans before?” Oscar asked.

“Before we arrived here we did. But I’ve never seen any here.”

“That’s horrible.” Harriet said.

“That’s reality, friends.”

After the dolphin left with her group, Abrigail issued a lunch break and Micklang climbed down to join them.

Before he left Kale, however, he promised he would bring something up to him.

“That would be good, I’m running out of gum-leaves and when that happens I start feeling tired, so you might have to hurry it up.” Kale had told Micklang.

Micklang was surprised that he was the first in line in the galley as he awaited the lunch to be served.

“Two plates, someone likes their food.” The cook rat said to Micklang.

“The other dish is for Kale the watch guard.”