FSE

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With a great heave, a white rabbit leapt from the palm tree and expertly landed on the edge of the stone outcropping. He looked up with big brown eyes at the challenge before him, and started to climb. The fortress had originally been built a few hundred years ago by the Mayans. Or was it the Aztecs? He could never remember which. But more recently it had been reinforced and improved by the Royal British Navy as a strategic fortification to better serve the empire of Her Majesty the Queen, God bless her soul. But currently, the fort was held by a group of notorious, violent, drunken, bloodthirsty, gold obsessed pirates. But not just any pirates. This crew was led by the infamous Francisca Tempest, a ruthless harpy who had led her crew in a vicious attack on the previous occupants of the fort, seizing it along with a fortune of gold and cargo. Now she lived like a queen and commanded a small fleet of ships that ravaged the seas for more treasure and booty.

The rabbit was a pirate himself, but not part of the Tempest's crew. He didn't like living underneath the heel of a captain, but hated the thought of captaincy himself. So he wandered on his own, and took a sneakier approach to the acquisition of stolen gold.

He had recently discovered through his contacts at various island taverns that Fort Tempest (as it was now known locally) held a certain item of great interest to the small rabbit. The thought of holding it in his paw made his eyes twinkle. Stone crumbled slightly under his bare foot. His mind quickly returned to the present as he clung to the wall and steadied himself. He took a brief look down and gulped. A fall now would be deadly. Even if the lush greenery broke his fall, it would do no good. They'd need a mop before they could bury him. He took a deep breath and resumed his climb, using every nook and cranny in the ancient stone as a hold, every finger and toe a fishhook.

He could see the ledge above him. Slowly, carefully, he poked his head up and looked. There were two canine guards on the roof, both armed with muskets, but both facing completely the wrong way on the seaward wall of the fort. What luck! He grinned as he quietly pulled himself over the ledge. Kneeling to steady himself, the rabbit reached behind him and pulled out a thin wooden blowpipe that had been tied to his back with thin rope. The guards were only ten feet apart. From a leather pouch he pulled a dart and, careful not to touch the tip, he loaded the pipe, took careful aim and blew hard. The dog on the right slapped his paw to his neck, swayed for a few seconds and then crumpled in a heap on the stone. His counterpart looked over to his fallen comrade and hurried over. The rabbit took his chance. As the other dog checked his sleeping friend, the rabbit sprinted towards them, his bare feet hardly making a sound. The guard looked up just in time to see the rabbit's knee come crashing upwards into his chin with a crack, sending the poor dog tumbling over the short wall and into the blue ocean far below. The sleeping dog was left alone and undisturbed.

He took a breath and calmed himself, wiping the sweat off his forehead and rubbing it onto his salt stained, black waistcoat. The humidity of the island was beginning to get to him. His red bandana, fastened securely over his head and long ears, was doing all it could to keep the sweat out of his eyes. He secured his blowpipe and then stood and let the ocean wind cool him, his baggy white shirt and black breeches noiselessly flapping the breeze. A small, delicate looking rapier hung from his belt. He had stolen the fancy sword from a Frenchman, and the rabbit had prized it ever since. It was deceptively strong, and quite lethal. Much like himself, he often thought smugly. But enough relaxing, he had work to do.

The rabbit searched the roof and found the trap door which, thankfully, did not creak too loudly when he opened it to peer inside. A single pirate, a bear, slept soundly at a table. A few empty rum bottles lay beside him. He could always count on the less disciplined members of his profession to make his job easier. Slinking past the bear, the rabbit made his way through a long corridor, mostly devoid of pirates, save a poor weasel that he hit with a dart and threw out of a nearby open window. This was almost too easy.

He had picked this day specially. He had learned that the Tempest was taking her fleet to attack a merchant convoy, so the fort would be practically undefended. It was amazing what 'loyal' pirates would say when you poured enough rum down their throats. He silently made his way down through the fort, towards where the treasure vault reportedly was. He peeked around a stone corner. Two pirates guarded the heavy door that stood between him and the vault: a one-eyed dog and very big bull. The rabbit frowned. These guys looked tough. And alert. There was no way he could force his way through those brutes. And he wasn't quick enough to take them both down with sleeping darts. He would have to find another way. A nearby window gave him his answer. Just a vertical slit in the stone, he squeezed his way through to the outside wall, and sidled towards the vault room. He prayed there would be a way in somewhere.

Again, he was in luck. No windows, but a small hole in the wall that had probably been blasted open with cannon fire long ago. He clambered up the wall towards it and took a careful glance through. His eyes and smile widened. There was indeed treasure there. Several half open chests filled with gold, crates of precious silks, and tables of curious artefacts filled half the room. It wasn't so much a vault as it was a prison, with precious booty kept captive behind heavy iron bars. But his smile quickly turned into a frown. There stood an enormous brown crocodile, at least twice as tall as the rabbit and five times the weight. Easily the biggest person the rabbit had ever seen. The croc wore a heavy, dark blue frock coat over a ragged red shirt that struggled to contain the massive gut within it. A large cutlass and blunderbuss hung from the waist of the baggy trousers. A classic, but much worn tricorn hat sat atop the crocs dome. He reminded the rabbit of a cannonball. An enormous cannonball of brawn, fat, muscle, scales and teeth. The crocodile leaned against the bars of the booty prison, facing the door, and almost directly side on with the rabbit. He yawned a great big yawn, and the rabbit flinched at the sight of all the teeth.

At a table across the room sat two more dogs playing a game of dice. Both were heavily armed, and damn ugly. The rabbit watched as the giant croc walked towards the table. He listened closely as one of the dogs pointed at the croc.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? Get back to your post," said the dog.

"I've been here all day. I want to play." The crocodile's voice was deep and rough.

"Too bad. You need money to play, and you don't have naught. And besides," the dog yawned and stretched. "Me and Otto here have earned ourselves a little break, me thinks." The other dog, Otto, nodded and laughed.

"We're supposed to stand guard here," replied the crocodile.

"So you stand guard, Tooth. We're going to stretch our legs."

"But-"

"Shut it, and do as you're told, or the captain'll have your guts for garters!"

The crocodile seemed to sulk as Otto laughed. "We're just going to be few minutes, we promise. We'll be back before you know it. Remember, if you do a good job then you might get a bonus extra, aye?"

The crocodile nodded as the two dogs left the room, one of them muttering "stupid sack of scales," barely out of earshot.

Now was his chance. Very slowly, the rabbit slid the blowpipe from his back with one paw while his other held fast to the wall. One-pawed, he pulled a dart from a different pouch. He didn't like using these darts very often, but he didn't want to take any chances with the monster that guarded his prize. He aimed at the crocodile's neck, a large target, and blew. The dart hit home into the flesh of the giant. The croc shuddered, pulled the dart from his neck with two massive clawed fingers and stared at it. The rabbit breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the reptile slide down the bars of the prison with barely a sound. Probably the most graceful thing he's ever done in his life, the rabbit thought. It's a shame he won't ever get up to appreciate it.

The rabbit squirmed through the hole in the wall and approached the barred cage door. Pulling a thin piece of metal wire out of a waistcoat pocket, he worked the lock, hearing a satisfying click after only a few seconds. The cage door swung open and he excitedly strode inside. Strode past the gold, and the silks, and the jewel encrusted statuettes of big bosomed women. On one of the tables sat a small, plain wooden box, only a few inches across. He lifted the lid, and smiled. He had found it. With shaking fingers, he reached his paw forward and took the item from inside the box. It was an old compass, wrapped in leather, with a thick metal chain attached. The delicate metal needle swung around as he handled it. He carefully looked it over. This had to be it. He fought the urge to whoop and dance, and instead hugged the compass to his chest. This was what he had risked his life for. Now to quickly get out of this place.

He stashed the compass in his waistcoat and turned to leave. A fist the size of his chest slammed into him, and threw him into a pile of gold. Gasping for air, the rabbit tried to scramble to his feet but an enormous scaly hand pinned him down.

"What are you doing here?" the crocodile snarled. The rabbit couldn't believe it, the croc was swaying a little but very much alive.

"How are you still standing?" he spluttered, gasping for air. The giant reptile shook his head, and held a dart in front of the rabbit's face.

"Did you do this? It really hurt."

"Ah, yes. Sorry about that. You see, I um..." the rabbit floundered, panicking. He hadn't planned on getting caught like this. Especially by someone who should have overdosed from deadly poison. "I'm testing the defences. Looking for cracks in the security. Seeing if there is room for improvement." The crocodile stared at him with yellow eyes.

"Did the captain send you?" he growled, eyeing the helpless rabbit. He must mean Tempest, the rabbit thought.

"Er, yes. She sent me. Sent me herself she did." He grinned.

"I don't believe you."

Shit.

The crocodile shook him roughly. "What did you take?"

"Okay! Stop!" the rabbit hissed at the croc, worried that any loud noise would attract the guards from outside. Hopefully, the heavy door was muffling most of the sound. Squirming, he pulled the compass from his waistcoat. "I'm after this. Just this. None of the other stuff. This is worthless compared to the rest, no one will miss it!"

The crocodile squinted in confusion. "Then why was it locked up with the treasure?"

"It doesn't matter!" The rabbit thought desperately. He needed to get out of here somehow. "Look, how about we make a deal," he grinned slyly.

"A deal? But I could just kill you now."

"Or! Or..." He tried to think of an 'or'. Instead he remembered the two dogs from before. "Those other two that were here, do they always treat you like that?"

The crocodile tilted his head, unsure what to think about this change of subject. "They don't think I'm very smart. They call me stupid." His razor teeth lowered into a frown.

"Really?" The rabbit exaggerated. "That's not very nice, throwing unwanted insults at such a handsome specimen such as yourself."

"Yeah. And they always tell me what to do, everyone does."

"What brutes! And I think I understand you, sir. I also used to be part of a crew that belittled and undervalued me. Because of my size, they thought I was useless."

"Because you're little?"

"Indeed. But I showed them. Do you know what I did to get revenge?" The crocodile shook his head, eager to hear what came next. "During the night, I set a rowboat port side of the ship, and quick as I could, I made off with all the gold they had plundered and left them with nothing. I escaped and now I am my own man, with no one in charge of me."

The crocodile laughed a low rumble. "I like the sound of that. No one orderin' me about. Doing what I want."

"I can help you do that," the rabbit whispered. "But I need you to help me. If you want to! I only ask for your assistance."

The crocodile looked the rabbit over carefully, and then slowly removed his clawed hand from the white torso. The rabbit sucked in a deep breath, and gently rubbed his sides where he had been pinned. To the rabbit's surprise, the reptile held out his massive hand. The mammal took it and was hauled to his feet.

"People call me Tooth," the croc rumbled.

"I can't imagine why. My name's Sidney Sweet." They shook paws, and Sidney tried not to think too much about how his entire palm was roughly the same size as the tip of Tooth's index finger. "Now all I need is this," he waved the compass before stashing it in his waistcoat, "and I was going to escape the way I came in." He looked to the hole in the wall. "But there is no way that you'll fit through there. Plus you'll need your paws for carrying gold, not climbing." Sidney glanced back up at his new partner. "How well do you know this fort?"

Tooth stared at the floor and breathed heavily for a few seconds, thick tail swinging slowly side to side behind him. Sidney looked at the croc expectantly, and opened his mouth to say something when Tooth spoke in a slow and deliberate tone.

"At the bottom of the fort is a place for row boats. It opens up into the ocean. They use it for getting cargo from the ships into the fort. We could get out there. It's below us. I know how to get there."

"Perfect!" the rabbit grinned. "We can escape through there. I have a small skiff hidden on the other side of the island. Could we row around to there?"

Tooth thought for a few more seconds. "Yes."

"Wonderful! Tooth, my new friend, you have the makings of a master tactician." He clapped his paw against the reptile's arm, who glared at him. Sidney cautiously shuffled back and grinned nervously.

"What's a tac-ishon?" the croc snarled. Sweet spread his arms wide in a friendly gesture.

"Someone who makes really good plans."

Tooth paused, and then grinned. "Master plan maker. I like that. You are a good friend, Sweet," he rumbled, reaching around the shorter pirate's shoulders with one gigantic arm and hugging him roughly to his scaly side, nearly snapping the rabbit's neck. Sidney quickly removed himself from the crocodile's grip, coughing a little.

"Yes, very good," he spluttered, rubbing his neck. "So how do we get to the row boats?"

"Through there." He pointed to the heavy wooden door. The door that Sidney knew had a couple of guards stationed right outside. "And how are we going to deal with your friends out there? I'd rather avoid a fight, and I don't want every pirate in this fort chasing after us."

"They're not my friends," Tooth snarled. Sidney looked over to see the crocodile sifting through the treasure, picking out the smaller and more expensive looking items and secreting them away in the many pockets of his heavy coat and trousers. The rabbit watched him methodically pick out diamond rings and gold chains, things that could be easily hidden. He's really a lot smarter than he looks, thought Sidney.

"So how do we get past them?"

"I will just walk out. Tell them I will be back, but then not come back," he said, placing a small sack of gold doubloons under his tricorn hat. Sidney raised his eyes in surprise. That could actually work.

"But what about me? They'll recognise that I'm not part of the crew."

"I will have to hide you." The croc checked that all his pockets were secure, and that no glint of gold could be seen on him.

"And how do you propose that we do that?" Sweet asked, and placed his hands on his hips.

Tooth smiled a toothy grin that Sidney did not quite like the look of.

"I have a plan."

* * *

"Hey. Wake up." The dog was jabbed awake when the bull punched him in the shoulder. The dog's remaining eye shot open.

"I wasn't sleepin'," he protested. "Just restin'." The bull snorted, folded his impressive biceps, and leant back against the wall. Both the guards jumped when the door suddenly creaked open, and that giant twit of a crocodile strode out.

"Oi!" the bull yelled, "where ya off ta? Yer 'sposed ta stay in dere and make sure naught 'appens ta the captain's 'aul!"

Tooth just snarled and shook his head, and kept walking. The bull reached out and grabbed the reptiles arm. "Don't be walkin' from me, Tooth. I said, where you goin'?"

"A walk," the croc rumbled through gritted teeth, the deep voice reverberating through the massive mouth and skull. "Back later."

"You ain't going' nowhere, scaly. Yer job is to stand guard inside dat room until such a time as the captain sees fit to release ya."

Tooth stared at the bull for a few seconds, then swallowed. When he spoke, he made sure the bull and his partner had a good view of his long rows of sharp, yellowing teeth.

"I need to take a walk. Unless you want me to shit all over the captain's gold, then you let me step away," he growled, shaking the bull's hand from his arm.

The dog looked away and snickered, while the bull frowned in disgust. "Fine. Don' take ta long." He leaned back against the wall and eyed the crocodile as he turned and started to walk away. But then the bull noticed something on the croc out of place that shone and shimmered.

"Hey, Tooth, wait. Where'd ya get dat little toothpick from?" The pirate pointed at a dainty French rapier that hung from Tooth's belt. The tiny thing looked ridiculous on the huge croc. Tooth blinked and thought for a second.

"Found it," he said simply. The bull put his hand on the butt of his wheel lock pistol and sidled up to the giant.

"Found it where?" The two stared at each other.

"A little bunny tried breaking into the treasure vault. Murdered him. Took his sword. Threw him out the hole he crawled through. It's shiny."

The bull and dog looked at each other with raised eyebrows. The bull sighed, and jerked his thumb. "Fine. Get out a here."

Tooth lumbered off. He rounded a corner and entered a corridor, out of sight of anyone. The crocodile heaved his chest, and a lump appeared in his throat and travelled upwards accompanied by a horrible gurgling sound. He opened his maw and Sidney, covered in drool and slime, a horrified look on his face, slipped out and pooled onto the stone floor. The rabbit got up on all fours, coughing and spluttering.

"I'm alive!" he gasped.

"Are you okay?"

"That was not part of the plan!" Sidney hissed, wiping viscous fluids from his face. Tooth just shrugged his barrel sized shoulders, and then held out his hand in assistance.

"I didn't know what else to do."

"Never mind, we can talk about this later. Or preferably never again. Right now we need to focus on getting down to the row boats. Which way?"

"Hey, Tooth!" The two of them froze at the voice, and the bull rounded the corner before either of them had time to think or move. "Why is da gate open? Ya don have a..." His voice trailed off when he saw an unfamiliar white rabbit, covered in what looked like drool, being helped to his feet by that thick-headed monster. "...key."

Sidney scrambled to his feet and held out his hands towards the bull in what he thought was a calming gesture. "It's not what it looks like, mate."

But the bull pointed at the rabbit and screamed. "Thief!"

"Okay, it is what it looks like."

The bull yanked his pistol from his belt and fired it towards the rabbit, but Sidney was quick. He jumped out the way as the leaden ball crashed into the stone. Tooth pulled out his own blunderbuss and fired but without taking any time to aim. The bull dived for the floor and the spread of shot slammed into the corridor wall leaving a crater.

"Run!" yelled Sidney.

"This way," Tooth roared, leading the rabbit down the corridor and through a door to a staircase that headed deeper into the fort. They could hear the bull yelling behind them in a voice so loud that any pirate in the fort would surely hear. Sidney followed just behind Tooth, nimbly avoiding his thrashing tail, amazed at the speed of the oversized reptile. They reached the bottom of the staircase and Tooth ploughed through a wooden door, shattering it into splinters. They kept running through a room full of bunks, several pirates diving out of the way of the charging crocodile in surprise, while a few others, who had heard the bull's shouts, bravely tried to tackle Tooth who simply swatted them out of the way with a single fist.

At the end of the bunk room appeared a snarling, muscular wolf, a ragged scar across his face and a rusted long sword in one hand. He waited patiently at the room's exit and gurgled a rotten laugh. Sidney smiled as they ran towards him.

"He's mine!" With the skill and expertise of a seasoned acrobat, the short rabbit dashed up the crocodile's thick tail, pulled his rapier from the crocs belt in one smooth movement, ran up his back and then leapt off Tooth's head. The wolf's evil smile turned into an open mouth of disbelief as Sidney sailed through the air, sword drawn back and ready to strike. Sidney slammed into the wolf, sword first, spearing him straight through the chest with the thin, razor sharp tip. The rabbit's momentum sent them hurtling backwards, smashing the wolf into the floor. Sidney quickly got up and yanked his rapier out of the dying wolf's body, who in his last few seconds of life could only wonder what in God's name had just happened as he watched a tiny rabbit and a huge crocodile run off through darkening eyes.

* * *

Alarm bells rang and echoed through the stone fort. Sidney cursed their clanging, for now every pirate within the fortress knew of Sidney's theft and Tooth's betrayal. Muskets and pistols popped behind them, and lead balls whizzed past their heads as a few of the pirates tried chasing them through the stone corridors.

"This way!" Tooth roared, suddenly turning into an archway. Sidney skidded and ran after him onto a wooden balcony that seemed to be inside of a natural cave. The balcony overlooked a shallow pool of water that led into the ocean. About fifteen feet below them, three rowing boats were grounded up on the cold dirt beach, little waves lapped around them rocking them slightly. Sidney couldn't help but smile and sigh. They had made it.

"Put yer filty foocken paws in th'air, 'fore I blow yer foocken 'ead off!" screamed a voice. Tooth and Sweet turned to their left to face down the barrel of a musket, being held by a mangy dog. It was Otto, one of the dogs that had left Tooth all alone in the treasure vault in fact. His partner stood next to him, cutlass at the ready.

"C'mon ya daft bastard. Give back what ya took and we won't be too harsh on ya," sneered the other dog. The black pupils in Tooth's yellow eyes shrunk to pinpricks, and he snorted a blast of hot air from his snout.

"You're not going to tell me what to do anymore!" He screamed as he rushed at them. Otto fired, but the bullet simply grazed past the raging crocodile's arm and ripped a hole in his blue jacket. The other dog panicked and held up his cutlass in a scared defence as Tooth hurtled towards him like a reptilian cannonball. Weapons clattered uselessly to the wooden floor as Tooth grabbed them both by the throat in each of his huge clawed hands, lifting them into the air, before smashing their skulls together and throwing them over the balcony. Otto landed in the shallow turquoise water with a splash, while the other dog fell groaning onto the beach.

Sidney couldn't help but admire the croc's raw power, but at the same time made a mental note to never again anger his new partner. A blast behind him made him jump. He saw the bull and the one-eyed dog running hard from within the fort with weapons drawn. The bull threw his spent pistol to the side and roared, brandishing his long sword with an expertise that gave the rabbit cause for concern.

"We have to go now!" Sidney called to his raging partner, who grunted in the affirmative. The rabbit ran for the edge of the balcony and nimbly vaulted over, landing safely on the cold dirt below him. Tooth also jumped, but landed heavily with a wet crunch onto the stomach of the writhing Otto. Blood spurted from the crippled dog's mouth with a wail, but Tooth wasn't done. With anger and hate still sparking in his eye, he drew his oversized cutlass and with one brutal stroke he hacked halfway through the dog's meaty neck.

Two heavy thuds landed on the beach, and Sidney turned to face the bull and the one-eyed dog. The bull immediately charged at Tooth, but one-eye sidled up to the rabbit with a hatchet swinging from his paw.

"I'm gonna skin you and wear you like a hat," one-eye drawled. But Sidney just smirked.

"I'd make a lovely hat I'm sure. Very eye catching," he teased. The dog snarled and swung the hatchet, which Sidney easily jumped back and dodged. "Have to be quicker than that. I could see that coming a mile away." He twirled his rapier around and winked at the dog, who growled and lunged. Sidney expertly parried and blocked the dog's axe, who was swinging much too wildly to think about a proper attack. Trying to aim at the much shorter rabbit was starting to overbalance the dog, and as soon as Sidney saw the right opportunity, he took it. Ducking under the swinging hatchet, the rabbit agilely stepped around to behind the dog, and skewered him through the ribs. One-eye screamed in pain and anger, but was silenced when Sidney yanked out his rapier and flicked the razor tip of the sword across the mutt's throat, sending blood and fur flying.

Tooth meanwhile was fending off the muscular bull, who was surprisingly skilled with his long sword. The crocodile was more familiar to hacking people to pieces with his brute strength and cutlass while they cowered at his size. But the bull knew how to handle a blade, and it wasn't long before the croc's own weapon went skittering across the dirt. The bull roared and lunged forward, but missed his target by a hair when Tooth managed to pull his bulky body just out of reach. He then whipped his scaly tail around, tripping the bull who crashed painfully onto his back. The last thing the bull saw was Tooth's cannonball sized fist hurtling downwards into his face.

Sidney cringed at the sound of bovine jaw shattering. He wiped the blood off his sword using the fur of one of the dead dogs, before quickly scooping up Tooth's dropped cutlass and throwing it to him.

"We should leave, before more find us," said Sidney as he heaved against the closest boat, pushing it slowly into the lapping water. Ringing bells and distant shouts still echoed into the cavern from within the fort. Tooth nodded and slid his cutlass into his belt. As Sidney shoved the boat across the rough dirt, he failed to notice a ripple in the water that slowly became the top of a canine head. He was too focused on moving the boat to see, but Tooth glimpsed the figure in the water. It was Otto, bruised but very much alive, half hidden underwater, with a pistol aimed right at Sidney's head.

"Sweet!" Tooth screamed.

"Die, ye foocken gobshyte," Otto growled, and fired. Muzzle flash lit up the cove with a bang, and the lead ball sped towards the wide eyed rabbit. Sidney instinctively raised his arms to cover his face and turned his head away. There was a blur of brown and blue, and a wall of scales and muscle cast a heavy shadow over the white rabbit. Sidney stared up at the enormous croc, hunched protectively over the smaller pirate. A small wisp of smoke rose out of a fresh hole in Tooth's jacket, just below the shoulder blade.

"Look out," Tooth rumbled quietly. The croc straightened up and turned to face Otto, who looked on dumbfounded. Tooth whipped out his blunderbuss, pointed it at the dog and pulled the trigger. Otto winced, but nothing happened. Tooth looked at his gun confused, but then remembered. He had forgotten to reload. Pacing towards Otto and the ocean, he calmly and deliberately pulled spare shot and powder out of one of his many coat pockets and carefully reloaded his weapon.

"Oh foock, oh Jaysus!" Otto cried out, trying to swim away from the advancing pirate, stumbling in the water and spluttering. "Shite! Have a heart, ye mad bastard!"

Tooth levelled the blunderbuss, taking careful aim, and fired it with a satisfying boom. The shot took the top half of the dog's head off, splattering blood and brains over the surface of the water. He holstered the gun and snarled at the bloodied mess, then turned back to Sidney.

"Now we can go," Tooth rumbled. Sidney nodded, being sure to keep his shaking paws out of view of the crocodile.

Tooth rowed, his powerful arms propelling them through the water and around the island faster than the rabbit could have ever hoped. They found the small skiff without incident, hidden where Sidney had left it. The sound of bells now far in the distance, the two pirates clambered into the small boat and set sail away from the island fort.

Sidney manned the tiller, tacked smoothly into the salty wind, and slid the centreboard into place. He patted the small lump in his waistcoat where the stolen compass was safely stored, its comfortable presence reassuring the rabbit that it had all been worth it. Tooth emptied his heavy frock coat of all the jewels and gold adornments he had pilfered, and stowed them safely in a crate at the bow of the boat. He then took the jacket off, leaving only the ragged red shirt that barely covered his arms and stomach. He flexed his shoulder where he had been shot, and to Sidney's amazement the lead ball popped out and rolled around in the bottom of the skiff, leaving the faintest trail of red.

"My God. Are you musket-proof?" he asked with a smirk.

"Depends where they hit me," Tooth replied, rubbing his shoulder. He tried to get comfortable, but the skiff was much too small for the croc and very cramped. "Sweet, where do we go now?"

Sidney smiled and breathed deeply, removing the bandana from his head and instead tying it around his neck, letting his long ears flap lazily in the wind.

"Now, my new friend, we sail to a place where the rum pours like a waterfall, and the women are so loose you need to hold them together with lashes of rope."

"I like the sound of that," Tooth replied, grinning wide. "But I think we need a bigger boat." The skiff, straining with the extra immense weight, was riding so low in the ocean that the gunwale was practically level with the surface of the water, which was starting to splash into the skiff in concerning amounts. Sidney sniffed and shrugged, but then grinned at the crocodile and winked a single brown eye.

"We'll see what comes our way."