Catchear regained consciousness with his muzzle buried in the sand. He spat several times, groaned, and sat up quickly. Good -- he was the first one to revive, no one else had seen him like that. He took one look at his beloved Cruelbeast and let out a groan of mortal agony. "Ruined," he lamented. "She'll never float again!"
He glanced around helplessly at the remains of his crew scattered on the beaches. Who knew which were corpses and which were still capable? Oog ... there was a stoat who would obviously never move again. Well, all the better. Catchear had never been fond of stoats.
With a start he remembered his family. Surely they couldn't still be in the cabin --
He scrambled up the rocks that had impaled his craft and dodged onto the deck. Kicking away debris, he wrenched open the door to the cabin and stumbled in.
Jilti lay crumpled in a corner, her head thrown back against the battered wooded wall. Catchear's heart plummeted. It wasn't possible --
Jilti shook her head slowly, coming back to consciousness. Catchear fell to her side, holding her hand while she gradually focused in on the world around her. "Bloodthirst?" she whispered weakly.
A squall from one corner told the two parents that their son was at least alive, if not uninjured. Catchear followed the noise and found Bloodthirst, still wrapped in his blankets, squirming to get back to his mother. The captain picked him up and carried him back to Jilti. She smiled up at Catchear -- both were unharmed. The captain had never felt so relieved in his life.
The crew was beginning to stagger to its feet when Catchear emerged from the ruined ship with his family in tow.Some of the crew washed wounds in the sea, grimacing as the salt water stung their flesh. Others, relatively unharmed, took it upon themselves to decide which of their shipmates were living and which ones were dead.
What made Catchear's crew unique from any other was his certainty that female vermin could accomplish as much as male. (Most of this opinion was due to Jilti's influence.) In a move completely unheard of, he had taken on several "ladies" for this particular voyage. This idea now proved to be invaluable.
A white-and-black female rat with a scimitar at her side approached the captain, limping a little from the impact the night before. She saluted casually. "Cap'n, me friends and I wants ta' know if ye needs us ta tend the injured?"
"Snowfur, thank you," Jilti said, before Catchear could respond. "Let me help. We'll whip them corsairs into shape in no time!"
She went off with Snowfur, carrying Bloodthirst and winking at Catchear as she left.
The searat captain was still staring after his wife when he was approached by a confused weasel named Pilfer. "Captain, should I asses th' damage, sir?" Suddenly Pilfer's ears picked up. "What is it?" Catchear snarled, annoyed.
The searat shrugged worriedly. "As I was sayin' Captain --"
A squall split the air and Pilfer glanced skyward fearfully. A black spot in the clouds grew enormous as they watched, coming down swiftly and angrily, absorbing the crew's attention until somebeast had the presence of mind to scream:
"Eagle!"