Samilcar cowered under Arill’s vicious tongue. Arill was dressed in a green tunic and an iron gray cloak checked with umber, which contrasted with the stoat’s black fur. “Drive me off his coast? His coast? I’d love to split the insolent weed from crotch to crown! drive me off his coast! Ha!” Arill was in a towering rage, and Samilcar knew better than to interfere. Samilcar had served Arill longer than one would think. It was an odd thing that Samilcar still did not really know Arill. And Arill did not know him. Samilcar sighed, then silently retreated out of the cabin of the Whirlpool, the swiftest, and most aptly named, vessel in Arill’s fleet. It was so well named due to the fact that it had once nearly been sucked into a whirlpool, and coincidentally, it was made of wood from a fated vessel which had been lost in a whirlpool. Of course, not all of it, but most of it. Samilcar leaned over the bow of the vessel, gazing at the tranquil aquamarine waters spotted with bruise- colored patches, which were the dangerous reefs that so many a ship had been lost upon. Shame. The Diamondwave, for instance, had sailed her last voyage in those waters. She had been Samilcar’s pride and joy, and amongst the crew lost in her was Samilcar’s own brother, Rallach. Samilcar was the only one who had survived. After that Samilcar had been transferred to captain this ship, the Whirlpool. It was a fine ship, true, and had a name for danger, yet still, Samilcar always yearned to have the Diamondwave back. He heard Arill’s curse from the cabin. “Gad zukes! Gad Zukes!!” Although it was not cold, Samilcar pulled his cloak tighter around him, and a chill went up his spine.

Samilcar was a pine marten, with brown fur and a white underside. He was a captain in the royal fleet of Arill, Emperor of…What? Samilcar wondered. What was Arill Emperor of? He supposed you could call him a Pirate King, or a Warlord. Perhaps, maychance…But…He looked at the horizon-line, still wondering, always wondering…He was jerked out of his stupor by his first mate, Salvarad, tapping him sharply on the shoulder. “Hm-m, wha’sit?” Salvarad, visibly nervous, said, “sir, Silverfish has been scuttled!” Again, Samilcar muttered, “mm-m…” Then he suddenly whipped around and shouted, “What, Silverfish scuttled!! Am I hearing you correctly??!!!” Salvarad cowered, and squeaked, “y-y-y……y- yes……s-s-si-si-sir.” He quaked and whimpered, and Samilcar breathed heavily. Silverfish was the vessel whose possession was under the temporary command of Samilcar, and it was assigned to take Arill over the heaving ocean depths, a dangerous job. Indeed, it was said that the ocean would dry up before it would take Arill safely from one point to the other. Arill was still inspecting the Whirlpool, and Samilcar decided to wait until he was finished. Besides, he already had Goldorran to deal with. Goldorran was the fox king who ruled those coasts. Samilcar was so immersed in his own thoughts that he had completely forgotten Salvarad. “Cap’n?” asked Salvarad, “you alright?” “Wha- oh, yes…” “Can I leave, sir?” asked Salvarad hopefully. “I dunno, can y’?” Salvarad took this as a sign that he could go, and swiftly hurried off. Samilcar watched the sun set in the west, a rich gold gem set in a powder-blue sky, dusted with peach and cream. It changed slowly to a blood- red orb, surrounded by lilac clouds, set in a sky which also had lilac clouds stretched in banks across a lush dark pink and gold streaked sky. Again it changed, this time to a grey-purple as the sun disappeared, and finally to black powdered with white and gold diamond stars. The moon, a mother-of- pearl orb, hung in it, casting a trail of sparkling silver- white light over the deep green waters that reflected the sky over him, with pin- points of gold-white light wherever there was a star in the velvet sky above. Then, as he watched this beauty, a voice, his voice, said in his mind “Go from this place, save yourself. There is another way of life out there!”