Cesk swallowed beak-fuls of briny water. His eyes stung, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was his sadness. He didn't want to fish. He didn't want to do anything, not even have a good argument with Lucille, who was just waiting for Cesk to try it.
Marlene, on the other hand, just kicked him away. He had only just got rid of a black eye by bathing it in seaweed everyday, which got him laughed at. Cesk was not ready to go out on his own, but he was ready to leave the pack.
He raised his head, letting his body float to the bottom of the ocean floor.The shoal of fish slipped away in the darkness, like a living, breathing cloud. Now he couldn't go home, unless he found something mammoth for the bears to chew on.
Cesk found the nearest iceberg and clambered on up.
There was an enormous shadow, as if someone had blocked out the sun.
Cesk felt himself sailing through the air in an arch-like formation. Something had shoved him from behind. There was a pain on the back of his head. Him and his beak skidded across the berg until Cesk found his mouth was crammed full of ice. He began to choke, coughing up seawater, and a stray prawn he'd managed to eat before Marlene had got the whiff of it.
Blood was soaking into the ice. Cesk began to feel light-headed because it was obviously coming from him, and the back of his head. It looked like a seal had tried to wrestle with him. His feathers were stuck out in all directions.
As he turned around to see a struggling Killer Whale, Cesk's heart beat thrummed wildly in his furry chest. He ruffled his feathers, and snapped his flippers together.
“Nice try, whale blubber, but you'll have to move faster than that if you want to dine out on penguin.”
The whale thrashed about, opening its mouth and tossing its head. “I wasn't trying to eat you, receptioner. I was going to use you as a football.”
Cesk shivered. “Receptioner?” How dare this killer compare him to the baby whelps that rolled out of their shells. “What gives you the right to call me a receptioner?”
The killer whale narrowed its eyes. “Because you are one, and because there's no way they would let someone like you in. You're a creepy, little thing.”
“Let me in where?” Cesk was interested, but he stepped back away from the jaws of the craziest looking whale he had ever seen.
This killer was small, with a scratch over one eye. There was what looked like wire sticking out of his tail, and he had three teeth missing. He even had what looked like a tuft of blue hair sticking from his cheek.
“Oh no, you don't get to reel me in by talking all your cute penguin talk. This is actually worth something. I'm not just giving it away.”
Cesk was sure that he could argue it out of the killer. He certainly couldn't beat it out of him.
“If I am a receptioner, it's only because I don't know anything about the sea. If you helped me, I'd let you know where some really, fat bears live.”
The killer wiggled its tail, and sighed. “What good would that do?”
“Because fat bears always need a supply of decent food. I should know, I help get it for them.”
The whale grumbled. “How do I know you're telling me the truth and not some smelly, penguin type lie?”
Cesk put his head to one side. “Because I live with the fat blobs of fur, and I'm sick of them. And if they don't know where the food is, at least you can eat them.”
The whale closed its mouth then, so the hair sprouting from its cheek wobbled. “Gentlemen Penguins of Heart.” He mumbled.
“What?” Cesk really did think the salt had caused the killer whale's brain to collapse.
“I won't say it again. They're looking.”
“Gentleman Penguins of what are looking for who?”
“Oh, you silly little sea-whelp, get a hold of that head with those scrawny flippers and listen, if you were good enough, smart enough, you'd know and you'd be there already. Gentleman Penguins. They're part of the Horde.”
Cesk waddled closer. “And what is the Horde?”
The whale began to shift its weight back into the sea. “I haven't got time for this, if you're not going to be my football...”
Cesk found himself waddling after it. “What's the Horde, and why aren't I allowed in?”
“You're not allowed in, because you and your little friends aren't good enough. Now the Horde are something I'm afraid of. I wouldn't use any of them as a football.” He slipped into the water, and kicked his tail out at Cesk. “Better get that head seen to if I were you.....”
Cesk put his flipper up to his head, and felt for the blood. “What do they look like?” He screamed.
“Top hats, canes. Real penguins, real gentlemen. You'll know.” He shouted back.
Cesk sat down on the ice. He tried to stop himself from crying, again. He wasn't a wimp. He was just scared that Marlene would have him for lunch.
