The sky was black, streaked with the occasional blast of lightning.
It was quiet, aside from the roaring downpour and the thunder.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Droplets of water dripped and trickled from the ceiling, onto the Lambi's nose. The little lambi looked up from her seaweed-and-seagull-feather bed, towards the mouth of the cave. She turned on the sea lantern beside her.
"What the Hades is happening now?" She muttered, "Surely last week's hurricane was enough." She hated not being able to sleep during such weather... but it was better than waking up in a pond. She shivered. Shaking her head again, she grabbed her dagger and strapped it to her belt. Then she picked up the lantern and walked towards the opening.
Awwwooooooooo wooooo woooo woooooooo...
"Just the wind." She told herself, ears pricked up, "Just the wind." She pushed aside the seaweed hanging from the entrance.
FWOOOOOOM!
The Lambi jumped aside just in time to avoid being knocked in the head by a coconut.
"At. Least. It. Wasn't. A. Seagull. Like. Last. Week."
She looked around a bit, "Just the usual it seems." She shook her head, ignoring the constant howls of the wind. "I JUST WANT TO SLEHP!" She yelled to the storm then marched back inside.
She picked up and inspected the now-cracked coconut, decided it was edible, and drank the water from it, then ate the white insides. Then she fell asleep.
She dreamed the same dream she's been dreaming about for the past month. She was standing on a rock, the wind whipping around her ankles, threatening to carry her away. As the water, the voice spoke, "Go west. Defeat the beast that rises above the waves. Claim their ship as your own and sail away to a new life."
"What does that mean disembodied voice?" The Lambi replied, but the voice was silent. The only sound was the waves, going
"SQUA! SQUA!"
"SQUAAAAAA!" The Lambi woke up in an instant, feeling the sharp peck on her horns. She looked at her attacker, then jumped up.
"EXCUSE ME MR. SEAGULL BU-" She started, but the bird flew away. Away? What was it doing in her ca-
She looked around, taking in her surroundings. She was floating on a small piece of driftwood in the middle of nowhere. She looked down, relieved that her dagger was still in her belt, but her lantern and bed... even her whole cave was gone.
"Now where did they go..." She asked, watching an orange float past. “Ooooh vitamin D.” She said, snatching the fruit up and placing it in her belt for safe keeping. It was a bit uncomfortable… and she would have high sodium orange juice, but she didn’t mind.
She thought back to her dream. Was it a dream? Or… was it something more? She thought back to her earlier memories… of another Lambicorn… whose name was Mama? She wasn’t sure.”You are destined for greatness little one.” The Lambicorn used to say, before she disappeared one night without a trace. Mama had also spoken of the Mighty Hoofcules, who had completed 12 labors in order to be free of a burden. Mama talked about the great Perseus who had slayed Manedusa, the spirited Lambalanta, the strong Cyrene, the determined Psyche… and of the beasts… cyclopes, harpies, sirens, lambai, gorgons…
The little Lambi remembered these tales… or were they real? It was possible… anything was possible. So maybe…
“I think I need to go west.” She told her new orange buddy. She peered towards the direction of the sun. “I assume it’s morning… and the sun is rising thataway. So I need to go opposite… since the sun sets in the west…” She moved so she was pointing west. “Alright! Here we go!” She used her hind legs and tail to propel herself forward, making sure her orange friend was secure. “Vrrrrrr vrrrrr vrrrrr vrrr.” She made sounds like the motor boats that used to pass her island every so often.
She swam/paddled/drifted for the rest of the morning, feasting on bits of seaweed that she found along the way. She continued throughout the afternoon. By sunset, she came across...a large mass in the middle of nowhere.
“RAAH-WOOOOOOOOH” The mass rose from the waves, causing the Lambi to have to struggle to stay on her driftwood. She swam back a few feet, even though the waves had pushed her back, and her jaw dropped.
The largest ship she had ever seen was in front of her. Sailing…. right towards her. Panicking, she abandoned her driftwood and flung herself into the water (the orange and dagger stayed secure). What was that? It didn’t seem normal. She swam up to the surface and poked her head out of the water. She was closer now, enough so that she see the beings on top of the deck, but not enough so that she could be spotted. Even so, she kept her head mostly beneath the waters. Night had fallen, so it was harder to see her from a distance.
“Great work.” A rough voice said from aboard. The Lambi could make out the silhouette of a wolf-ish creature. “Keep those storms roaring.”
Storms? The Lambi thought for a bit, then it dawned on her. These creatures were causing the storm… but how?
Her answer came a minute later, “Of course, Sir.” A second wolf-ish creature, this one actually with a more pointed tail, like an imp, said, and raised a stick into the air.
“A… stick… oh.” the Lambi realized seconds before the imp-wolf-thing blasted lightning into the sky, then a gust of wind, carrying it east… towards where her home used to be.
“Alright. This needs to stop. Now.” The Lambi said, then began making her way to the ship, being careful not to be spotted. She swam underneath the hull, looking for a way in… There! She spotted a hole patched up with duct tape. How it held, she wasn’t sure, but the hole was big enough for her to slip through. She carefully undid the duct tape, slid into the ship, then repatched it up. In the same second, she unsheathed her dagger, just in case. “This thing defies all rules of life.” She muttered. No one was below deck, from what she could hear. She carefully made her way updeck. Once there, she hid behind a barrel of fish, hoping it would mask her scent. She assumed these canines had a sharp sense of smell, and she already somewhat reeked of the sea.
She was able to see them more closely. They were mainly wolf-like, but had large tails, a more fox-like look to their eyes, and had a ruff of… clouds? The one who had spoken before was pure charcoal gray with dangerous yellow eyes - the leader perhaps. That’s the one to watch out for, not the magicker.
The imp-tailed magicker was preparing to cast another spell. “Not this time boi.” The Lambi said, throwing her orange into the center of the group. It worked.
“WHAT IS THAT?” The charcoal gray barked.
“I don’t know sir. Looks like an orange.” The smallest one, a dun yellow, said. The Lambi focused on the barrels in front of her.
“I KNOW THAT EDWARD.”
“Sorry sir.”
“But wher-” The group scattered as the Lambi pushed the barrels over and gave them a push with her tail and back hooves. Some of them jumped overboard and exploded into a cloud of dust.
“Huh. They live on a ship, but H2O is deadly to them.” She muttered, rolling into the open to grab her orange buddy, then readied her dagger.
They fought back, but to no avail. Using her tail to trip her foes, pushing them over the rail, etc. she was able to fight them all of… except.
“Ah a Lambicorn.” The leader snarled, teeth a dark yellow. The magicker stood behind him. Without hesitating, the Lambi smacked the stick out of his paws, causing it to hurl into the ocean.
“NUUUUU TWIGGY!” The magicker cried, throwing themselves after it.
“Wh- why.” The leader shook his head at the magicker’s dust. “Welp.” He turned to face the Lambi. “How about we make a deal. I can’t cause hurricanes to bring world domination without Stewart and… Twiggy. You can’t get out of here without a ship.”
“I can too.” The Lambi said with a glare.
“What’s your name lassie?” The leader nodded.
“I don’t have one.”
“Well, my name is Sir Casperian, the leader, well was the leader of the Voyagolves.”
“Sorry about that, but you guys kinda destroyed my home… among other things... “ The Lambi said.
“True, true. Tell you what, you let me go free - you’re not going to get anywhere with the water with me, I have resistance.”
That made sense. The leaders tended to be more powerful in some way, but the Lambi wasn’t too sure. Throwing him overboard would be a solid backup plan. “I let you go free and what?”
“You get the ship.” Casperian said.
The Lambi thought for a bit. She didn’t really want to fight, or worse. “Deal.” She said, shaking his paw. Casperian saluted, then flew off.
“Th-they can FLY?” The Lambi shook her head, then headed back below deck. Everything was still a blur.
They went over to where they boarded the ship and inspected the duct tape hole, then assumed it was enchanted. Then they looked at the chests open on top of the table in the middle of the room. Something was poking out. Curious, she pulled out a dark gray pirate hat, lighter in color than Casperian’s fur. Shrugging, she put it on.
“It is time.” She said, then patted her orange buddy, “I have to get one for you too don’t I.”
Weeks later…
The storm was too much, even for such a mighty ship. She could see the rocks in front of her, tried to steer around them… but it was too late…
And everything went black.
“Hey! Hey! Hey you! New Lambicorn. Wake up!” Something was prodding her shoulder.
“If I have to tell you one more time seagull.” The Lambi groaned and opened her eyes. A very pink, teal, and yellow snout was inches away from hers.
“Hey Moth! They’re awake!” The pink Lambicorn said as the Lambi sat up.
“Where am I?” She tilted her head to the side, then scrambled to find her orange buddy. Luckily, he was unharmed, strapped in her belt.
“Uh… I don’t know. MOTH does this land have a name?” The pink one asked the white winged Lambicorn who was walking towards them.
“Not that I know of, Mallow? Not yet?” Moth replied, with a shake of her head.
The Lambi looked behind herself, at the ocean waves lapping onto the beach… and something else. “Oh…” Her ship… the ship she had sailed… was broken in half. Literally… half of it was missing. The other half looked intact though, but it wouldn’t sail again.
“Yeah… that was fun to drag you out of. Not hurt, are you.” Mallow asked as Moth whipped out a first aid kit. Where had that come from?
“Nah.” The Lambi replied, “I’ve been through worse.”
“Good. What’s your name?”
The Lambi thought of her journeys, her adventures… then replied:
“Odyssey.”
If I do not win, please do not use these arts. I will repurpose them. Thx.
