by Tom Hoffman
“They probably learned about it from the four prisoners who escaped. As to why they undertook such a venture, I suppose they simply didn’t like the idea of us using rabbits as slave labor. A lot of good it did them. They’ll all be slaves soon enough. What’s more worrisome is that one of the escaped prisoners was a Grymmorian.”
“Who was it? Did we put him there?”
“No one seems to know, and all the records were lost when the mine was destroyed.”
“Hmm. I’m probably worrying more than I need to. It will all be over in a week anyway. Zoran, has anyone tried to enter the Fortress?”
“No, Your Highness. We have been on high alert but there have been no suspicious events, other than Oliver T. Rabbit’s capture. He’s locked in a cell, and his two friends, Morthram Rabbit and Bartholomew Rabbit, never showed up. Hopefully they were both killed trying to get past our ring of defenses.”
“When do we move the shapers?”
“Everything is going according to schedule. In a few days the crystal will be placed in the machine. The time suspended shapers will be wakened and moved into the room with the device. They’ll all be wearing shaper masks, of course. All the other shapers will follow shortly after. Once they’re in position, we’ll take their masks off. They’ll be in for a rather unpleasant surprise I’m afraid.” Oberon gave a snort.
Zoran continued. “It will take a day or two for the ferillium crystal to adequately charge. Once it’s ready, you can enter the control room and put on the shaper helmet. Flip the red lever I showed you and send out your thought. The power of three hundred shapers will drive your thought into the machine, where it will be magnified over a thousand times before being sent out into the world. In a fraction of a second it will be over Lapinor, spreading out like some monstrous black storm cloud. Life as the rabbits know it will come to an abrupt and very unhappy end. Within an hour every memory of every rabbit will be gone and replaced with the thought you send. Their loved ones will become strangers to them, and the only thing they will know is they are, and have always been, loyal and willing slaves of the Grymmorian empire. Lapinor will be ours for the taking.”
King Oberon clapped his paws together gleefully. “That day can’t come soon enough.”
Bartholomew was in shock. “They’re going to turn the rabbits into mindless slaves? Fen had been right – the fate of all Lapinor hung in the balance. Oberon must be stopped, even if it means sacrificing my life.”
The meeting ended and the three Grymmorians exited the room. Bartholomew remained on the bookshelf, desperately trying to think of some way to destroy the machine. He had to find Oliver and free him if he could. Maybe he’d already sabotaged the machine before he was captured. Bartholomew decided to fly through the science laboratories to see if he could learn where Oliver was being held.
He buzzed off the bookcase and circled the room looking for an exit. He spotted a narrow gap beneath the door, landed next to it and scurried out into the hallway. As he flashed down the wide corridor he kept his eyes open for anyone resembling a scientist. He spotted three Grymmorians wearing white lab coats, standing around talking near an open doorway. When he flew past he saw the room was filled with rabbits and muroids wearing similar garb. He swung around and shot back to the room, circling it several times before landing on a ceiling lamp. He was surprised by how well a fly could hear. Even a low whisper from across the room was quite audible to him. He was rewarded after a tedious half hour of listening when he picked out the word ‘Oliver’ from a conversation. He buzzed over to the whispering scientists, landing upside down on the ceiling.
“Oliver? Oliver T. Rabbit a spy? That seems highly unlikely. He’s not that kind of rabbit, from everything I’ve heard. He’s not concerned with politics, only science.”
“Zoran must have caught him doing something.”
“What do you think they did to him?”
“I don’t know exactly, but Zoran told the guards to take him to the sub-level three dungeon. I didn’t even know they had cells down there. We shouldn’t be talking about this. Next thing you know we’ll be locked up with all the shapers. Or worse.”
Bartholomew flipped over and buzzed out of the room. Oliver was in sub-level three. This was sub-level one, so he had to go down two more levels. He flew up and down the corridors until he found a set of descending stairs, buzzing down to sub-level two. Cruising through the hallways he found himself passing cells filled with dozens and dozens of shapers wearing masks. “This has to be where they’re holding Clara.”
He explored some of the larger cells, flitting through them quickly to avoid being swatted. When he zipped into the fourth cell his heart almost stopped. He saw Clara. She was sitting in the corner talking with another shaper. She was safe.
More than anything in the world he wanted to transform back to his own form and blink her out of the Fortress, but he knew this was not the time. It wouldn’t be safe now, not with all the traps Zoran had in place. Any rash attempt to rescue Clara would end very badly, probably with both of them being killed by a trap or by Zoran. Besides, this was bigger than just him and Clara. He had to stop Oberon from enslaving all of Lapinor. He sped out of the cell and down the corridor.
After searching a dozen more hallways he found the final set of stairs and streaked down them to a narrow dead end corridor with a single prison cell at the end. Oliver was nowhere to be seen. He buzzed past the bars into the cell. This is where Oliver was supposed to be, but he was obviously gone. He searched for clues, quickly recognizing Oliver’s writing in the thick dust on the floor. He had been here, but where did he go? Bartholomew flew up to the ceiling and studied the symbols on the wall. He had no idea what they meant, but they were the same symbols Oliver had written on the cell floor.
He flew across the back wall and felt a breeze cross his path. Landing on the wall, he walked around carefully until he found the source of the breeze. There was an almost imperceptible crack in the wall letting air through from the other side. He buzzed back to view it from a distance and could now see it clearly. There were two vertical cracks in the wall. Could it be a hidden door? The word “door” was echoing in his thoughts when the huge slab of stone slid silently down, revealing a hallway beyond. Standing in the doorway were Oliver and Morthram.
Chapter 28
The Falling Ring
Bartholomew almost crashed into the wall. He instantly shifted back to his true form. Oliver and Morthram instinctively jumped back when Bartholomew appeared, a sphere of protection popping up around them.
Bartholomew grinned. “Anyone know where you can get a good éclair around here?”
Morthram reached out and grabbed him, dragging him into the hallway and slapping the yellow disc. The secret wall slid down again.
“This is fantastic! You both made it here and you’re both safe. Oliver, I was so worried about you. I heard the scientists say Zoran had accused you of being a traitor?”
“He did. He formshifted into a scientist and read my thoughts on the carriage ride here. He waited until I’d sent the green thought out and until I’d given my stamp of approval on their machine. Then he threw me into that cell. Fortunately, I discovered the secret doorway.”
“Well, thank goodness you’re safe. I have news. I found out what Oberon’s plan is, and it’s bad. He is going to send out an amplified thought cloud which will wipe clean the memories of every rabbit alive and turn them into his willing slaves. Oberon is creating an empire, and he plans for Lapinor to be his first conquest. We have two days to figure out a way to stop him.”
“Good heavens, when I was in the lab I heard no mention of anything like that.”
“I think the only ones who know his real plan are his top advisor and Zoran.
Morthram spoke up. “We need to revise our own plans now that Bartholomew is here. Let’s go back to the library and discuss this.”
Bartholomew noticed Morthram’s vaporizing gun. “What’s that thing?”
“Oliver
found them in an ancient armory. It’s a weapon that vaporizes matter. The Elders left them behind in the Fortress.”
“Who are the Elders?”
“I’ll tell you on the way back.” Morthram added with a grin, “I can’t wait for you to meet my old friend Edmund. And when I say old, I mean old.”
Half an hour later they were in the Central Information Repository, seated in oversized reading chairs. Edmund had brought them a tray of freshly fabricated molasses cookies and a pitcher of lemonade.
“Would anyone care for more cookies?”
“We’re fine, Edmund, thank you for asking though.”
Edmund stood by as the three rabbits began devising their new strategy to destroy the shaping machine and rescue Clara. Every time Zoran’s name came up they found themselves at an impasse.
Morthram put his paw on his forehead. “All right, let’s begin again. We can send out the same spheres as we did in the ferillium mine to put the guards into a deep sleep, but those spheres will have no effect on Zoran. He would easily anticipate such an attack and counteract it, more than likely with deadly results. His skills as a shaper are far beyond ours, and he has no qualms about taking lives.”
“Maybe there’s some way we can outwit him, although nothing comes to mind right now. I watched him use a shaping skill which reveals formshifters, so we can’t trick him that way.”
Edmund cleared his throat several times. When they looked up he said, “I must say this is all rather thrilling. It’s similar to some of the books I have read, but instead of reading words on a page, I am watching the event unfold right in front of me. I quite like it. Would it be possible for me to accompany you when you attack Zoran? I would be no bother.”
They looked at each other, then Bartholomew spoke. “Edmund, we appreciate your offer, but it’s going to be very dangerous. We’re going up against the most powerful shaper in the world.”
“I am quite indestructible, I assure you. When the Elders created the Rabbiton 9000 series they made us impervious to any form of attack.”
“You’re unaffected by shaping?”
“Quite so.”
“May I try to blink you across the room?”
“If you wish, but you will not be able to.”
Morthram held out his paw. There was brilliant flash of light, then, nothing. Edmund was still standing there.
“This is astonishing. Can you make us impervious to shaping?”
“I don’t believe so. My resistance to attack comes from the inherent nature of the silver metallic substance I am composed of.”
Oliver asked, “Do you have any weapons available to you?”
“I do not. The Elders did create Series 6 Warrior Rabbitons, but you would not like it even the tiniest bit if they were to make an appearance.” He laughed nervously.
Morthram broke in, “We can’t use Rabbitons as weapons to destroy Zoran. It’s against the Guild code.”
Bartholomew spoke up. “I’ve had a partial plan rattling around in my head, but couldn’t quite finalize it until now. Edmund, rather than just observe, would you like to play an actual part in our plan?”
“I would be more than happy to. I’ve never done anything like that before.”
“Are there other Rabbitons who could help us?”
“There are some in a storage room near the armory. They are older Model 8000 Series 4 Maintenance Rabbitons, but they are also indestructible.”
“We only need two. Can I put you in charge of the other Rabbitons?”
“Of course. I’ll go reactivate two of them now and return shortly.” He strode off to the armory.
“What’s your plan?”
“I can’t tell you. I don’t want Zoran reading anyone’s thoughts. I will tell you that my plan lies on the very edge of the Guild’s ethical guidelines.”
Morthram looked at Bartholomew. “They are called guidelines for a reason. If you feel in your heart this is something which must be done, then you have the Guild’s blessing.”
Edmund returned an hour later with the two maintenance Rabbitons. Bartholomew took Edmund and the two new Rabbitons into a private reading room and discussed his plan with them.
The following morning they all assembled by the secret sliding door leading to Oliver’s old cell.
“Morthram, once we’re in the hallway you and I will send out several thousand sleeping spheres to take care of the guards. Hopefully one will land on Oberon, but our real battle will be with Zoran. He’ll be able to repel the spheres and we’ll have no choice but to face him head on. Oliver, you have the vaporizing gun. When the time comes, use it to destroy the machine, but it’s also vital that you destroy the ferillium crystal. The room will be filled with hundreds of shapers, so it goes without saying, aim carefully.”
“I know exactly where the crystal is located.”
“Edmund, do you remember what the Rabbitons are supposed to do?”
“I do.”
“Time to go then.”
Bartholomew touched the violet disk and the wall slid down. The entered the cell and Morthram flicked his paw, turning the barred door to dust. They stepped into the hallway.
“Ready?”
Morthram and Bartholomew linked paws and concentrated deeply. Immensely brilliant lights appeared and thousands of small red spheres began streaming down the hallway. Each sphere would find a Grymmorian guard and put him into a deep sleep lasting over a week. They waited several minutes for the spheres to do their work.
Bartholomew motioned Edmund to move forward. “Edmund, you and your two friends walk in front of us. You will block some of Zoran’s attacks, but more importantly, you’ll conceal my actions from him. The Rabbitons stepped forward, and the three rabbits took their places behind them. They walked up the first set of stairs to the second sub-level. The spheres had done their job, and there were guards asleep all along the corridor. They reached the stairs leading up to sub-level one, cautiously making their way to the main corridor.
With a brilliant flash of light, Zoran blinked into view about fifty feet in front of them.
“Ah, they have finally arrived. The three little rabbits who have come to destroy me. This is the best you could do? Three ridiculously tall silver rabbit illusions? Did you think they would scare me and I would run away like a little bunny? I expected more from you, Morthram. I believe I shall destroy your two friends first, and rather painfully at that. I shall cherish the look on your face as you watch them depart this world.”
Bartholomew called out to Zoran. “These are not illusions. They are Series 9000 Rabbitons created by the Elders before they fled the Fortress. Their power is unrivaled by any creature on earth. They are armed with potent and deadly energy beams which vaporize all matter, and they are impervious to shaping. At my command you will cease to exist, Zoran.”
“What a sad little liar you are. Your pitiful fairy tale has not impressed me in the least.” A blindingly brilliant beam of green light shot out from Zoran’s paw, sizzled down the corridor and hit Edmund square on the chest. A moment later the smirk on Zoran’s face vanished. Edmund had not been affected at all by Zoran’s deadly blast of light.
Edmund called out to the other Rabbitons, “Prepare vaporizing energy beams!”
The look of disbelief on Zoran’s face turned to one of absolute fear. He stared at Edmund, his eyes wide. “What are you?”
Edmund’s red eyes glowed fiercely.
“I AM EDMUND, AND I AM HERE TO DESTROY YOU!” The three Rabbitons raised their right arms in unison, each pointing a single finger at Zoran. The tips of their long silver fingers glowed with an eerie purple pulsing light.
Bartholomew flicked his paw, a gesture carefully hidden from Zoran.
Edmund called out loudly, “Fire energy beams!”
Zoran blinked out and vanished.
Morthram cried out, “He’s blinked! Keep your eyes out for him!”
Bartholomew held up his paw. “He won’t be coming back.”
“What do you mean he won’t be coming back? Where did he go?”
There was small clinking noise near where Zoran had been standing. A small, shiny object had fallen from the air and rolled across the floor.
“What is that?”
“Go look.”
Morthram ran towards it, his eyes still darting around for any sign of Zoran. He reached the object and stopped, then turned and looked at Bartholomew. “What did you do?” He reached down for the object, then held it up for them to see. “It’s the Emerald Ring.”
Morthram brought the ring back to Bartholomew. “What happened here?”
“It was something you taught me. I surrounded Zoran with a time shield – the same one ancient shapers used as a defense against arrows.”
A light came on in Morthram’s eyes. “When he blinked out his thought cloud hit your time shield and slowed him down. It takes almost a full minute to pass through the shield. He was in cloud form too long and couldn’t convert back to his physical form. He really is gone.”
“Technically, he’s alive, just not in this world.”
“Amazing. Well done, Bartholomew.” He handed the emerald ring to Bartholomew. “This is yours now.”
“No, this ring should never be worn again. Keep it in the Guild vault.” Bartholomew put his paw on Edmund’s arm. “You were amazing, Edmund. You are welcome to join us on our adventures anytime you wish.”
“That sounds quite exciting,” said Edmund, looking very pleased.
Morthram interrupted them. “It’s time to shut down Oberon’s infernal machine.”
Chapter 29
The Sacrifice of
Bartholomew Rabbit
Oliver led the way to the lab. The guards were no longer a threat and neither was Zoran. When they entered, they saw the Grymmorian scientists and technicians lying on the floor in deep slumber.