Tintin and the Secret of the Unicorn

A Drunken Ally

  The only thing going through Tintin's mind was Chloe, his mind in overdrive as he thought about her safety and whereabouts. He only hoped he would find her soon, tell her everything was going to be alright. He reached the open porthole and gently tossed Snowy in the heaved himself in, falling onto a bed as a voice began to shriek with Snowy barking, "Argh! A giant rat from Sumatra!" (http://38.media.tumblr.com/56d58ae97a4bf87b432935d32523aa01/tumblr_mhdp7nuaeL1qg4blro1_500.gif) Tintin took the opportunity to get off the bed and on his feet – cursing his luck that he had run into a potential enemy. "So you thought you'd sneak in behind me and catch me down with my trousers, ha?" The loud sailor shouted grabbing his telescope and stepping around the table, Tintin had a split second to look for a weapon, his eyes spotted a weapon on the desk and quickly grasped it as the sailor swung for him. "I'd rather you keep your trousers on if it's all the same to you!" Tintin smartly replied, trying to keep a level head as he dodged the attacks, shuffling around the table to keep as much distance as possible, the sailor smacked the table missing his head when he ducked, "I know why you're here, you're one of them!" The sailor shouted, not one for being quiet which Tintin feared as someone would investigate eventually. "Sorry?" He asked, running around the table, however the accusations didn't stop – this man was hell bent that Tintin was out to get him. "They sent you here to kill me, eh?" The sailor barked with a growl, there seemed to be no reasoning with him. "Look, I don't know who you are!" Tintin protested, jumping onto a seat dodging another swing from the drunken sailor. "So this is how he plans to bump me off, murdered in my bed by a baby face assassin!" He shouted swinging numerous times, with Tintin blocking each one, the sailor's telescope snapping and breaking. Tintin jumped over the incoming broken telescope, stumbling into the table still protesting his innocence, "Assassin? You got it all wrong! I was kidnapped by a gang of thugs, my friend Chloe too!" To emphasise he intended no harm, he tossed his weapon back onto the table with his hands up in surrender. Tintin's breathing was laboured as he kept his sight on the sailor, he was unpredictable and had already tried to attack him, he couldn't let his guard down. Not when Chloe and Snowy were counting on him.

"The filthy swine, he' turned the whole crew against me!" The sailor sobbed, dropping the weapon with a loud bang to the floor, leaning on his table. Maybe there was a clue to everything that was going on somewhere on the desk."Who?" Tintin asked, glancing back at the sailor who was in the process of rubbing his face, "The sour faced man with the sugary name... He's bought them all off. Every last man." (https://33.media.tumblr.com/9717f6f566c718a81f19371aa2ab354b/tumblr_mi594usaDR1rkj1zyo8_r1_500.gif) Tintin continued looking about as he spoke, something clicked in his mind and turned back to the sailor, "Sakharine!" He exclaimed, his mind buzzing numerous questions, with the name being called out the sailor became more aggressive again."Nobody takes my ship!" He growled, a fist clenched over his heart. Tintin mentally cheered, there was at least one person in this crew that didn't want to harm him! "You're the captain?" He asked in disbelief, a drunk in charge of a ship? Maybe he should ask about Chloe, he'd more than likely know something. "Course I'm a captain, who else can I be?" The captain exclaimed loudly, gesturing around with his arms, Tintin put a finger to his lips telling him to shh, if he was discovered here then he'd be dead and Chloe too. Speaking of which, "Have you seen a girl around here? Shorter than me, blonde hair?" He asked hopefully, the captain whirled around when Tintin uttered the word, "girl" a fury in his eyes. "There are no women on my ship! My men better not have brought any on board!" He growled, Tintin threw his hands up in surrender, rather deflated and disappointed - Chloe was still missing somewhere on this ship.

What if she wasn't on the ship at all? That thought scared Tintin, enough to make him stop in his tracks and Snowy to whine for him to move, he shook his head of the horrendous thought and lifted the pole he had defended himself with, heading for the door. "Been locked in this room for days, with only whisky to sustain my mortal soul..." The captain cried, lifting an empty bottle and tilting it. With hope, Tintin tried the door handle to find it... unlocked, with a look of smart disbelief he turned to see the captain looking right back at him, "Oh, well I-I assumed it was locked."The captain spoke, pride wounded. "Well it's not. You must excuse me, if they find me here they'll kill me. I've have to keep moving, find my way off this drunken tub." Tintin gestured, getting more agitated with the captain's drunkenness, he wasn't of any help to either side so he had to move on, closing the door behind him.

Chloe had said nothing since Sakharine made the threat of fates worse than death, she had no need to – in her opinion he was going to hunt down Tintin and kill him with whatever choice she made. He, meanwhile, was muttering incoherently to himself, she had long stopped attempting to listen in but a thought came to her mind. Why was she not running off? She was light on her feet so by the time he noticed, she would have slipped out of the door. "Boss, he's escaped." Allan barked as he threw the door open, it banged harshly on its hinges making Chloe cringe. Sakharine whirled around, his ferocious temper flaring like a rocket, Chloe flinched away into the wall dodging his path of war. "He what?" Sakharine hissed, almost daring Allan to repeat himself. "Uh, boss? The captain has disappeared as well." Tom shouted as he ran into the room, though his gaze drifted to Chloe and gave a small toothy smile and wave, "Eyes, here! What happened?" Sakharine spat, using his cane to bang loudly on the metal ship. Chloe jumped with a squeak, pressing herself into the wall more – completely relieved that Tintin had escaped, maybe he helped this captain escape as well. "Well, he climbed up the side of the sip, no doubt looking for her." Allan explained, pointing a finger at Chloe. "Don't blame me because you cannot do your job properly." She replied, only for Allan to bolt over and slap her cheek, she squeaked and fell to her side one hand holding her cheek. "Keep your mouth shut!"He hissed, Chloe gasped with tears filling her eyes but glared despite.

"How could you let them escape? Find them, find them both." Sakharine spoke lowly, pressing his cane to Tom's neck, who had been smiling at Chloe again. She hadn't noticed as she tenderly rubbed her rapidly bruising cheek – her father was going to have a fit when he saw it, and she dreaded Tintin's reaction as well. "Don't worry, we'll kill them boss." Tom said in assurance, Chloe shot her head up, mouth agape as she looked on in shock. "No! You can't kill him!" Chloe cried, Sakharine swung his cane so it hit the floor with a harsh bang making Chloe's mouth press shut, her bottom lip quivering. "You can kill the boy, not Haddock." Sakharine snapped, pointing a finger at Tom, Chloe shook her head – there was no need for anyone to be killed. "What did he ever do to you?!" She cried, Allan seemed to have had enough of Chloe speaking out, striding over and roughly grabbing her arm, pulling her to her feet. Chloe hiccupped a cry as she was slammed against the wall bowing her head down to avoid his gaze, "Should've killed you earlier." He growled, one hand grabbing both of her cheeks to force her to look at him, "You're next." With that, he tossed Chloe to the floor leaving her to whimper at his feet, she was beyond terrified and without hope. "Aw-oh! He's just a hopeless old soap, we should've killed him long since!" Tom complained as if Allan attacking a woman was perfectly normal, Sakharine used his cane to pull Tom forward by the neck, a treacherous look on his aging features."Do you think it's an accident that I chose Haddock's ship, Haddock's crew." He ranted quietly, moving to Allan and pulling him forward as well, "Haddock's treacherous first mate. Nothing is an accident. We go back a long way, Captain Haddock and I, we have unfinished business." A small eagle flew from the pipe to Sakharine 's arm, she hadn't even noticed it was there. Chloe raised an eyebrow, unfinished business? What unfinished business? From what she gathered, Captain Haddock and Sakharine didn't seem to be friends at any point or cross paths for that matter.

Sakharine turned his gaze to Chloe, she was far too quiet for his liking – if she was anything like Tintin then being quiet meant she was in thought which also meant she was also learning too much. "Take her back to the hold, make sure she stays there." He commanded, Chloe flinched away from Allan and Tom, attempting to fight them off but was quickly subdued with both arms harshly pulled behind her back before being pushed into another sailor's chest, where his large fingers held her upper arms so tight that she could feel the blood cutting off. "You won't get away with this!" Chloe yelled, Sakharine chuckled from his throat as if she had just told him a joke, though that was his mind-set, he thoroughly believed he would get away with his crimes. "I already have." He spoke with a dismissive tone, though she could see an amused smirk across his lips.