The sun had barely made it over the hill when we set off on Victory Day. The crew consisted of Moonlight, Tuck, Theo, Eve, Luna, and three of her stealth team. I still didn’t know why Eve was coming, she was little more than a child, but she was fierce and intent on the mission. We split up according to the plan. I wasn’t sure about it at first, but Luna insisted it was better this way. Luna, her stealth team, Eve, and Moonlight left the other three of us in the woods. I stood, waiting for instructions until I realized that the other two were looking at me.
“Oh… uh…” I didn’t know what to do, leadership was never something I was good at.
“Where to?” Tuck asked.
“Why are you asking me? Theo knows the plan as well as anyone.” I began feeling defensive in my vulnerability. My face grew hot as embarrassment flooded over me.
Theo laid a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “No one knows the plan as good as you, trust yourself a bit, would ya?”
I nodded, the embarrassment still lingering. With a deep breath, I led the party toward the city square. We moved through the wooded area carefully, pausing every so often to check that the way was clear. I recognized this as the place where I was chased by that wolf. Was that really only a few days ago? I looked around for the remains of the tree in which I had gotten stuck. As if he were reading my mind, Theo pointed to what looked like an ordinary tree stump. Upon closer inspection, I saw the gap between wood and bark.
“Pretty neat huh? It’s only temporary though, too easy t’ discover and too easy t’ move.” He lifted the stump with ease and I saw the branch-like leaver sitting on the forest floor. “Moonlight plans on puttin’ somethin’ more permanent in its place.”
“Man, sorry to cause so much trouble.”
“I think you’re makin’ up for it now, Bender,” he said as he put the stump back in place.
When we finally made it to the edge of the woods, we double-checked ourselves. Theo and I adorned our necks with red while Tuck straightened his uniform. I felt for my dagger that was hidden away in my jacket before signaling for us to go. Tuck went before us, walking purposefully. He held a scowl on his face and I watched him yell at a couple of passers-by to hurry up. Once he disappeared, Theo and I slipped into a crowd heading toward the city square. Every face was solemn and worn. The hopelessness of Victory Day pushed on my heart and I began to understand the need for the Citadel of Dreams to be so joyful, but I also began to wonder how they kept it up, the dreary atmosphere was intoxicating. I felt sick as I looked up at the desecrated standing stones. I tried to keep my head low and avoid the faces of parents who would be saying goodbye to their children.
Theo nudged me and tipped his head to our right. “Lots o’ guards ‘round here. Let’s try t’ get closer t’ the building.”
I silently agreed and steered us toward a tall heavily-guarded building near the palace. We continued to stand some distance from it until we were sure we saw Tuck. We watched inconspicuously as he whispered to the guards. I was pleased to see their eyes widen with alarm. I noticed that they both glanced down at his uniform before following his orders. We made sure that his uniform was that of a high-ranking officer. Tuck briefly made eye contact with us before heading into the building. He emerged a minute later with fifteen anxious soldiers. My heart sank a little, we were hoping to draw out many more. He barked out commands and they all set off hurriedly, Tuck heading straight toward us. He spotted us, seemingly for the first time, and began yelling for us to halt. Theo and I made a feeble attempt to escape before three soldiers following Tuck bound our hands. All four of them marched us to the building until we got to the front doors.
“What are you still doing here?” Tuck asked them. “Go and find the rest!” He roughly pulled back our sleeves to reveal a made-up mark that we had painted onto our wrists earlier that day. “This mark! You're looking for this mark!”
The soldiers hurried off before Tuck could say anymore.
We all breathed a sigh of relief before continuing the plan.
“Sorry boys,” Tuck whispered to us. “I couldn’t get any more than that, some were getting suspicious.”
I nodded but didn’t dare speak as we passed by two guards. One of them frowned. “Got two already?”
“Yeah,” Tuck smirked. “These two are pretty slow-witted.”
The other guard chuckled. “You’re on the wrong side, you two.”
“Will you be takin’ ‘em to Daggler?” The first one asked.
I felt Tuck pause for a moment but he recovered quickly. “I think I should. Have you seen him?”
“I think he was visiting our royal friend,” The second guard answered with a knowing look.
Tuck nodded and continued through the hall. I looked at him questioningly but he continued without an answer. We walked down a spiraling staircase that seemed to go on forever. I remembered the plans and felt a jolt of anxiety as I realized our escape was on one of the upper floors. Finally, Tuck pushed us roughly down a hall. He began to walk into a room when the two guards stationed there stopped us.
“No one is allowed in,” said a very large buck. “Daggler’s orders.”
Fear clawed at me. What was that awful noise? I looked at Theo who was frowning nervously.
“It’s urgent,” Tuck said. “We’ve identified the resistance and we’re hunting them as we speak.”
The noises from the other room stopped and hurried footsteps came our way. An intimidating tall buck came from the room. The guards saluted and Tuck followed quickly.
“What’s this I hear?” The buck asked. “You’ve identified the resistance? Why wasn’t I informed?”
“It’s just happened, sir. We captured these two and others are working on capturing more.” I heard a slight quiver in Tuck’s voice and I too felt uneasy. Tuck pulled back my sleeve once again and showed the tall buck. “This is their mark.”
He looked at the mark and then at Tuck. I felt like a dangerous entitled bully was judging me. He lifted a knife that he had been holding and I sickened at the amount of blood on it.
“Perhaps these two will talk for us.” He wiped the bloody knife on my cheek and I winced at its touch. The blood was still warm. I felt Tuck’s grip tighten around my arm. “But alas,” he said, sheathing the knife. “The Prince is waiting.” He said the word Prince with scorn.
As he began to walk away he motioned for the guards to follow him.
“What about the prisoner?” One of them asked.
“I wouldn’t worry about him,” The tall buck responded with a sickening grin. “Put him away for me, will you?” he said to Tuck before striding off.
Tuck checked that he was well out of earshot before he gave a huge sigh of relief. “He didn’t hurt you did he?”
“No,” I responded. “Who was that?”
“Daggler.” I had never heard Tuck speak with such loathing. “I’ve heard stories and he’s just as bad as they say.”
A horrible groan came from the room and we raced inside. There on the floor lay a bloodied white rabbit. I shielded my eyes at the sight of him. His face was a mess of cuts and only one ear sat upon his head. I heard Tuck and Theo run over to care for him but I couldn’t look at him any longer.
“Theo, get me the bandages, quick!”
I heard Theo rummage through his large jacket. I waited, facing the other way, as they bandaged the rabbit’s face.
“It’s okay now, Bender,” Tuck reassured me.
I turned back to see Theo supporting the white buck whose entire face was hastily bandaged except for his eyes and mouth.
“I’ve stopped the bleeding,” Tuck said to the buck. “Now we’re going to get you out of here.”
I nodded, knowing that they would rely on me to know the way. We began walking hastily up the stairs. We were wary of checking for guards, there would be no good excuse if anyone found three prisoners and a guard leaving the prison. We rounded the steps on the ground floor when we heard a voice.
“Hey!”
I jumped and pulled out my knife, looking around wildly.
“Over here!”
I found Moonlight peeking out from behind a corner. We hurried over to him.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. “Where are the others?”
“They’re getting more.”
“More? Moonlight, we can’t get away with more prisoners than what we already have.”
“That’s Captain Moonlight to you, Bender Bender Stevenson.” He smiled at me and I looked back at him in awe. How can he be cracking jokes at a time like this? “Luna’s handling the others, right now we need to worry about him.”
All eyes turned to the half-conscious rabbit.
“Right,” said Tuck. “Are the explosions in place?”
As if right on cue, an explosion was heard from the floor above. We all ran to the gaping hole in the wall.
“Jacket,” Tuck said to Moonlight.
Moonlight tossed him a long brown jacket and Tuck put it on along with a red scarf.
“Here,” Theo said to the white rabbit, handing him a black mask. “It’ll attract less attention than the bandages.”
With Theo’s help, the white rabbit adorned the mask and we hurried out of the building. We tried to blend in with the crowd as we made our way out with the prisoner. A few bystanders eyed us wearily but were too focused on Winslow to pay us much attention. I was suddenly pushed to the right by Moonlight. I stumbled and was about to say something when I realized we were avoiding guards, there were many of them now that the ceremony was about to start.
Moonlight was looking around nervously. “I have to go back, Luna’s taking too long. Get Whitbie back to the base.”
He left before I could ask. Whitbie… Whitbie… Where did I know that name?
“Where’s the Cap’n goin’?” Theo asked.
“He went back. Said Luna’s taking too long.”
He grunted angrily. “They shouldn’t ‘ave gon’ back for more.”
We were almost to the city’s edge. I should have known it was going too smoothly, something was bound to go wrong. A screech like nothing else paralyzed us. The sound vibrated through my bones and stunned everything inside of me. Many rabbits covered their ears, some crouched to the ground in fear. A large bird swooped low over the crowd, causing many screams, before landing next to Winslow. Soon after the crowd recovered, a yell split through.
“There they are! Get them!”
I turned to see the guards Tuck had sent out charge toward us. We never considered what they would do after we were out in the open. We turned and began to run, Theo and Tuck practically carrying the prisoner between them.
“We won’t make it,” Tuck said in despair.
I looked behind me to the guards but saw something else instead. Pushed to the edge of the hole in the prison wall, stood many men, Luna, Moonlight, and Eve. Below them stood guards ready to kill. As if it couldn’t get any worse, the giant falcon swooped down from its perch and raced toward them.
Oy!!! This is amazing! I'm getting worried though, please post more soon! Also sry this is late...
I KNEW it was Whit!!!
I was litterally just today fixing the COD in my minecraft world and was wondering when you'd have more of this up!!
Also, I'm starting to identify with Bender. He's great. Especially when he's like, "Why is Eva coming along". I bet she'll be important, though!
Great writing!!!