Bounties and Frozen Water

The frozen ocean. One of the most dangerous places to traverse deep in winter… yet one boat could be seen sailing through the mist and fog. Most people would call them insane, and most of them were. People would do wild things at the beck and call of the Yarujai, especially with the handsome sum of money they were promised. Four bucks had set sail in search of Rohaara stones, which were only able to be obtained by traveling to the ice caps of Clria. Heading up these four, was Ryomen. Known to be a successful bounty hunter, and he’d do almost anything for a reward.

  “I can see the Ice flats straight ahead. We’re almost there.” Called one of the other bucks on board, a large hulking dire crossbreed. Ryomen nodded his head, whistling to the rest of the crew and motioning that it was go-time. He quickly moved to steer straight towards the ice flats, a smirk spreading across his face. He could almost feel the warm stones in his hands, their radiating heat mimicking the feeling of warm coins in his mind. Yet, as his mind drifted for but a moment- suddenly he could hear a grinding noise against the hull of their ship. 

“Shit! There’s a frozen patch forming all around us! Steer hard to port, see if we can burst through its weak point, Ryomen.”  Judas yelled- another crew member yelled. He was leaping across the deck to try and see what the ice was doing near the hull of the ship. Ryomen knew too well how fast this whole ocean could freeze over, and it took weeks for it to thaw. *Slam!* He turned the wheel hard to port, bracing with all of his strength as the ship’s hull strained and ground against the water that was freezing. 

“Fuck!” Ryomen yelled, suddenly the ship wheel slammed back against his hands and tore through them as the ship slammed into a large piece of ice, causing everything to go flying. He fell back, slamming hard into the mast with a grunt. The ship stopped completely, an eerie creaking noise coming from the hull. Damn, that wasn’t going to hold for very long. He quickly got to his feet, looking around. The ship was leaning to the side now, and he scanned the deck to find his crew members. 

“Fuck was right, now we’re stuck.” Came Judas’ voice from behind him. He was slowly traversing the slanted deck, Rhyno behind him. “Maekil is below deck still.” Ryomen sighed, thinking briefly before his eyes flickered. 

“Judas and Rhyno, go get Maekil and the chains from below deck. Bring them to the front of the ship.” Ryo ordered, watching the other two nod and head down below deck as he moved over to the ships side. He looked at the ice below, eyes studying it before he grabbed some rope and used it to scale down the side of the ship hull.

As his hooves touched down on the ice, his eyes scoured the frozen tundra that used to be ocean. He grabbed his chain blades- a chain with two curved blades at either end- and swung one end around, slamming it into the ice. He repeated this process until the blade suddenly plunged deep into the ice, revealing the water underneath. Good, they had a chance to get out of this mess. He continued on as his crew appeared back on deck. He was finding all the weak points… then once he did, they could hopefully pull the boat through the thin ice until they were able to get back to the ocean, which was a good 100 feet away. 

“Secure the chains, then get your asses down here. We’re going to pull this hefty girl out of the ice and get back on track. Unless you lot would rather be stuck here till it melts… if that’s the case, I call eating Judas first.” A chuckle erupted from Ryo at his own words, and a moment later chains crashed down onto the ice. One of the chains broke through the surface of the ice, and the others just landed on top, causing some cracks but not breaking through. They had their work cut out for them. 

After they were all on the ice, Ryomen pointed to all the weak spots he had found. “This is our path. All we have to do is pull that giant ship through the thin ice and reach the ocean. Simple enough. Everyone grab a chain, and on the count of three… fucking pull… Three!” 

Cracks resounded all around them, and a large creak came from the hull of the ship as all four of them strained against the ice. Ryomen dug his claws deep into the ice as his split hind feet dug so deeply into the ice that they caused cracking. His shoulder pushed into the chain, pushing with all his body weight and rippling muscle to move the ship. Alongside him, his comrades did the same. It wasn’t in vain, for the ship slowly pushed its way through the ice and the hull turned to face the thin ice trail that Ryomen had mapped out. Suddenly the ship lurched forward, sending Ryomen forward and he fought for balance on the slippery surface. Beside him, the same thing happened to Judas and Maekil. The ship was moving forward now though, faster than Ryomen had anticipated. With it now graining a little bit of momentum, the ice cracked and buckled underneath, causing shards and large pieces of ice to start to come apart underneath their feet. Maybe this wasn’t the best plan… well, too late to be thinking about that now. 

“Rhyno just went under!” Came Judas’ low growl from a few feet beside him. “There!” Judas pointed towards a large piece of ice that had broken up beside the ship, and Rhyno frantically thrashing in the freezing water underneath. 

“Judas, Maekil, get on the ship! Toss me a rope. I’ll get him.” He barked, and they rushed to grab the rope they used to descend and get on board. Ryomen wasn’t one to usually try and help people out, not for free anyway. But they needed all four people to be able to make it to the ice caps and back, three just wouldn’t do. They especially couldn’t lose a powerhouse like Rhyno. Maybe someone like Maekil… but don’t tell him that. 

Rhyno suddenly went limp in the water, a piece of ice slamming against his head as he went up for air. Without missing a single beat, Ryo shifted into his humanoid form and launched himself off the ice towards the spot where Rhyno was. He grabbed his chain blades and slammed one blade into the wooden hull of the ship, wrapping the other side around his wrist. As he was engulfed by the water, he grabbed Rhyno’s hulking form from underneath his shoulder, the buck’s large head draping over Ryo’s shoulder. Both of them started moving as the ship moved, and they got pulled out of the water and onto the ice, still being drug together as the ship moved its way to the open water. 

“Any time now!” He yelled up, and not a minute later a rope came down next to him. He quickly grabbed it and wrapped it around Rhyno’s harness he was wearing, tying it quickly. “Pull him up!” Rhyno was pulled up slowly, but it eventually happened. Ryo climbed up the rope moments later, just as the ship broke free of the ice and was sent into the ocean once again. 

He panted as he pulled himself on deck, collapsing for a moment. Rhyno was also on deck, covered in a few blankets as he shivered. Man, this is the worst case scenario. Ryo was also shivering and he felt cold all the way to his core. Damn hypothermia. “Maekil, steer the damn ship towards the ice flats… Judas, tend to Rhyno. He’s no use to us dead, or missing fingers or toes.” Ryo groaned, getting up with a grunt. “I’m going below deck to change. Call me if there’s any updates.” 

Below deck Ryo shuddered and shivered, coughing a little bit. He grabbed a bandage and looked at his wrist, which had been stripped of fur and replaced by nasty bruising and even some cuts from the chain wrapping around his wrist when he was being dragged while holding Rhyno. He bandaged it quickly, before ditching his soaking wet clothes. He put on some other apparel before shifting back to his wet feral form. He shook off and curled up, wanting to sleep for a few minutes before reaching the ice flats… before reaching the money he desired.