by Darren Lewis
“What? Sorry?”
Rox sighed but held her impatience in check. This rabbit needs a dose of confidence, she thought. She then looked closely at Fern's eyes. And possibly some sleep.
“The water spell.” Rox urged quietly.
Fern looked around wildly.
“What about it? Oh, yes! Yes. Well, I focused my mind on Ellie. I wanted to tell you what she was up to today.”
“That's very kind of you, Fern.” Rox nodded gratefully. Fern calmed slightly from his leader's praise.
“Yes, but it's not good.”
Rox's entire body stiffened. She suddenly felt as if a predator was close by and watching her.
“Tell me.” She instructed. “And be quick.”
*
“And Fern had no idea what was happening?”
“No! Only that his spell was blocked and very powerful magic was being used to create these monsters over the village.”
Plume rubbed his staff against his cheek. Rox had repeated Fern's excitable tale to Plume, of being unable to see Ellie as her entire village was covered in some form of magically spawned wasps.
“Is he sure that he's right? You know what Fern can be like. He didn't perform the 'I want to see lots of magical wasps everywhere' spell, did he?”
“Plume.” Rox complained, frustrated by his flippant attitude. He waved a paw in the air at Rox to calm her.
“I know, I know. How many?”
“What?” asked Rox looking puzzled.
“Well, you and Fern have to go, and won't that be a bundle of fun? And I should probably come too. No more than that until we can see what's going on.”
Rox sat back on her hind legs, temporarily dumbfounded while Plume grinned at her. He didn't get many opportunities to make his partner speechless. Rox jumped forward and caught Plume in a fierce embrace.
“Thank you.” She whispered.
*
To Plume's great surprise, Fern was quite calm when Rox explained she wanted him to come along. Plume shrugged at Rox as Fern wandered off a short ways from the warren entrance, muttering to the staff known as Seren, the repository for the rabbit's magic. Rox and Plume turned to say goodbye to their son.
“Be good, Flare.” Plume instructed.
“Yes, Daddy.”
“Bye, my darling. We shan't be too long.” Rox promised.
“Okay, Mama. Say hello to Ellie for me.” Flare asked with a small smile on his face.
Both parents nodded, embraced their son and left the warren, and into the outside world. The three rabbits raced off into the woods at an energy-saving pace. The day was bright but the world beneath the canopy of trees was dark, and for the rabbits full of danger as ever. Rox sped ahead leading the way, followed by Fern, with Plume bringing up the rear. As Rox ran she became aware of a strange, almost oppressive feeling to the woods. As if the air was too thick to run through or the ground too soft to make purchase for her swift paws. She slowed and came to a stop, tilting her head at the trees. Fern and Plume stopped close by, but not close enough for each rabbit to make their escape quickly from any danger.
“What is it?” Plume whispered bringing his staff to bear. Rox raised her paw for silence.
Did I hear something? Thought Rox. The trees were the same, the breeze rustling the branches and leaves was not out of place. Animal trails and paths looked and smelled as they always had. But there was something, she was sure of it.
“Rox?” Plume whispered. Rox turned to face Fern and Plume, and shook her head. Maybe she was just over-anxious about her friend, but still.
“Just be careful. I don't feel right.”
Plume gave Fern a quick glance and saw the serious expression of the normally over-energetic rabbit. Rox nodded and they continued on to Ellie's home.
*
Even with security guards, hidden cameras, a lethal elevator and the twin tricksters casting their minds through any person that visited this floor, reaching the operations room required a fingerprint scan supported by a computer facial analysis. During that time the antechamber was sealed and ready to be flooded with gas that would render the occupants unconscious in the event of a possible incursion. The Institute had decided long ago that any person who could bypass every system until the antechamber deserved to be questioned for their methods rather than dispatched permanently. Sloan and his guards passed without incident and entered the main field operations hub of the Institute.
The operations room would've been very dark if not for the great number of shining screens displaying a myriad amount of data, text and live video. Large screens mounted on the inner black walls showing feed from multiple sources, from the Institute's own cameras to news stations, illuminated a number of people. All were sitting, busily typing or communicating via headsets to agents in the field. The centre of the large room was dominated by a circular glass table. The outer edges held recessed computer monitors, allowing agents seated at each screen around the circumference to monitor the data they were feeding into the display situated in the table's centre. The middle was home to a real-time holographic display which cast a faint blue light on its operators. When the imagery changed the blue light wavered like the surface of a swimming pool, making the agents seem like denizens of the deep blue ocean. Multiple dots were scattered inside the hologram, each representing a person or vehicle situated on the outskirts of the village. The village itself was just a black mass, a circular wall that nothing could penetrate. Red dots pulsed among the others on the ground and in the sky. These belonged to agents, vehicles and aircraft of the Institute. Sloan was responsible for the millions invested into this technology for The Institute. The day it was officially activated was a huge relief for him, as his employers took a dim view of waste and would look to remove him and not just his position within the Institute. Sloan had named the table 'The King' in honour of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table.
Sloan moved directly to the holographic display and began examining the current situation while he removed a small earpiece from his still soaking jacket pocket, and inserted it. The crackle and hum on the communications band made him wince slightly. Sloan placed a hand on the shoulder of one of the hologram's operators.
“Show me teams Alpha and Echo, please.”
The young woman nodded without turning around to acknowledge the order and her hands danced across her keyboard. The hologram zoomed in to the western part of the village where field agents held a perimeter, preventing involvement from emergency services and curious individuals. Sloan had initiated a quarantine of the village on the basis of a possible terrorist attack. Regardless of what people could see with their own eyes, that being a vast cloud of wasps, the word terrorism would give the Institute carte blanche over the village until they could investigate. The tactic had worked many times before. The image shifted to the eastern side of the village and he noted the position of his agents there, nodding in satisfaction that they were deployed correctly.
“Has team Omega secured location Spark?”
“Yes, sir.” The woman answered. “They reported in seven minutes ago. The park and woods have been cleared of personnel and visitors. Infra-red cameras confirm no humans present but indicate activity from the targets.”
“Show me.” Sloan instructed.
All of the operators seated around the table began issuing instructions from their keyboards and the hologram went momentarily dark, only to flash brightly causing Sloan to screw his eyes up. The area shown now was made up of fields and a dense woodland leading to an old rail line and the coast. Once again, red dots indicated the position of the Institute's agents. They had taken up a position at the entrance to the main park. Two more red dots were tracking slowly over the coastal area, moving north; helicopters equipped especially for this mission.
“Overlay infra-red.” Sloan said.
The blue light darkened slightly and three bright yellow dots appeared, moving towards the park entrance through the woods. Sloan knew this was not a coin
cidence. The entrance to the park was on a direct path to the village. Sloan smiled in anticipation. His instincts were paying off. The initial report from four years ago concerning this area had been prepared by Sloan as a senior field agent. His recommendations at the time were ignored, so he'd decided to investigate the area alone and without the knowledge of the Institute. His discovery of the temple and the rabbits, and its association with an unknown form of magic, is what eventually led to Sloan taking charge for such a find. He was a patient man, however, and he knew that a link must exist between the woods and the village. His patience had lasted three years and with events unfolding as they were at the village, he knew it was time to initiate his plan before too much attention was focused in the area. Sloan's earpiece crackled into life, as the operators around the hologram all jolted at once at the news coming through loud on their headsets.
“Mr. Sloan. The wasps have gone.”
“Move in now. Both locations.”
*
“Satellite imagery reveals that the entire village is covered by a vast swarm, or cloud, of wasps. Several attempts have been made to contact residents of the village, but with no success.”
“We're taking you live to the scene now. Our reporter Michael John is speaking with the Chief Fire Officer.”
“I'm speaking with Professor Thomas from the Natural History Museum now, regarding the bizarre behaviour shown here today. Professor, what exactly is going on here?”
“Maintain roadblocks in all directions. We don't need any sightseers getting up close and personal with whatever that is.”
“If you have any experience of wasp swarms or have any pictures to share, you can contact us via email or twitter using #wasps.”
“Sir? Field teams are in place. Police and emergency services have been relieved of command but remain on the scene. Something is changing now! They're just disappearing! All teams, stand ready!”
Flare
Flare was bored. Though he'd promised his mother and father good behaviour on his part, he had inherited Plume's impatience and Rox's stubbornness. He wanted to be outside running, jumping and play fighting with his friends, but each time he had sought one out inside the warren they were all busy with their parents, and were unlikely to agree to his sneaky plan of getting outside. Feeling decidedly put out, Flare's aimless wandering of the warren brought him to the cavern. Flare, as son of the rabbits' leader, had visited here many times to see rabbits from all the distant warrens travel for an important meeting or simply to set eyes glazed in wonder on this special place. Flare looked around the now empty cavern, absently taking in the hanging crystals and immense, curved walls as he made his way to the centre circle of light, where his mother would speak to all the rabbits who assembled on those special occasions. Halfway there Flare began to feel uncomfortable; it reminded him of the time he'd fallen asleep near an ant nest and the little creatures began crawling all over him. He shook himself to be sure his fur was clear, huffed and walked into the circle of light. Standing where Rox would address the warren would instantly made him feel better. The light was warm and comforting. Flare closed his eyes and raised his face to it, giggling as he saw the faint lines of veins running through his eyelids. Flare heard a muffled laugh near the cavern entrance and jumped guiltily out of the circle, blinking his eyes to adjust his vision to the dim light of the cavern. There was a rabbit standing just inside the entrance, watching him with a broad smile. Flare cocked his head to one side and sniffed the air. He did not recognise this rabbit's markings, black with splashes of white on the spine and paws, nor their smell. Flare walked cautiously towards the entrance and this unknown rabbit.
“I'm so sorry if I startled you, Flare.” The female rabbit said in a high-lilting tone. Flare hopped a little closer and looked into her eyes, thinking momentarily that he recognised something there, but no, he didn't know her.
“Who are you? How do you know my name?” He asked quietly.
“Good questions, and I promise I'll tell you everything, but for now you must come with me.”
Flare took a large step backwards, as his heart began to thump quickly.
“I can't leave with you! I don't even know you!” Flare exclaimed with a disbelieving snort.
The female rabbit nodded.
“I know. But Ellie sent me to get you out of here. You're in great danger if you stay.” The strange rabbit explained calmly.
“But, but, Mum and Dad have just left to go and see Ellie!” He stammered.
“I know.” She sighed. “This is a bit complicated, but I mean the other Ellie. The one with the dragon.”
Flare swallowed loudly and looked down at the dirt floor. Ellie that is, the Ellie he knew had told him a wonderful story once, of dragons, magic and saving the world. At the time Flare wasn't sure if she was being truthful or not, but it had been an exciting story.
“I can see that means something to you, Flare. Please come with me now.” The black and white rabbit pleaded.
Flare's eyes darted unseeing around the ground as he attempted to process all this information in a short space of time. When he looked up to ask another question, he gasped at the expression on the unknown rabbit's face. He stood and walked up to her, staring intently into her eyes, an outrageous suspicion in his mind.
“Who are you?” He whispered. “Answer me that and I'll come with you.”
The rabbit lifted a paw and stroked Flare's cheek. She offered him a sad smile.
“I'm Storm. I'm your Grandmother.”
*
The two black, twin rotor helicopters that Sloan and the other members of the Institute had observed through their holographic display skirting the coastline, banked with incredible precision and timing and set their course inland towards the temple and woodlands. The doors on each side of the large machines opened, and figures in black attached large coils of rope just above the doors and onto the helicopter's frame. As they neared their target the rope was tossed out into space to fall heavily to the grass. The figures in black descended the ropes to the ground and immediately converged on the entrances to the warren, mapped out for them by operations. Once secure, the helicopters landed and more figures jumped down into the grass flattened by the spinning rotors to assemble metal cages. Large, flexible hoses were dragged from the helicopters by several people and placed into every warren entrance they knew about. Those not busy with the hoses and cages surrounded the hillside as best they could, in case their information was incorrect and strays had to be caught. To that end, long poles with restraining collars were passed out. Intel indicated approximately one hundred and fifty rabbits at this location. When personnel and equipment were in place, the team leader waited for the final go signal from home base. He received it straight away. A thumbs up initiated the start-up of two machines housed in each helicopter. Though unheard over the din they chugged to life, and the hoses shook and trembled as gas was introduced at high speed into them and down into the depths of the rabbit's home.
*
Flare now realised why this rabbit, who'd identified herself as his Grandmother, provoked such a reaction from him. The expression he'd seen was one his mother wore when she was in a patient mood, mainly when dealing with his father. But this rabbit was too young, Storm was killed by a fox years ago when his mother was very young, younger than Flare was now.
“Let's say you are.” Flare said slowly. “Where would we go?”
Storm looked back up the tunnel and flipped a paw that way.
“Just out of here, but quickly.”
Before Flare gave voice to his decision, both rabbits heard an incredibly loud chug chug noise from the upper tunnels of the warren, followed swiftly by the sound of a thousand foxes screaming in the night. Storm backed away quickly and placed a paw on Flare's back.
“Change of plan. Just a minute.” Storm's eyes went distant for a few moments and Flare stared in fear at the dark tunnel beyond the entrance. For the first time in his life he was afraid while in his own home. S
torm nodded to herself and shrugged. “Okay, we're going to stand by the entrance, as it may be a bit of a tight squeeze!”
“That's your plan?” Flare shouted. “We need to help the others and find out what's going on!”
“It's too late.” Storm replied, placing both paws on the young rabbit's shoulders. “I just hope my friend isn't late.”
Flare's patience ran out.
“What are you talking about?”
Storm didn't have a chance to answer as a tremendous blast of white gas blew them to the ground several feet into the cavern. Flare groaned and coughed. He took a breath as he pushed himself up and suddenly felt incredible panic.
There's something here! Leave, I must leave! Get outside! Now!
Flare pushed his hind legs into the ground as hard as possible and set off quickly. His only thought and goal now was to reach the safety of the surface and get away from the danger below. As he neared the cavern entrance Storm crashed into his side and they both went tumbling to the ground once again. Flare struggled and fought but Storm was larger and heavier and she pinned him to the dirt. One paw came free and Flare slapped Storm across the face, making her ears ring, but she held fast and recaptured the swinging paw.
“Flare! Listen to me!” She shouted into his face. “There's no danger here. The danger is outside!”
Flare bucked his body trying to throw Storm off. There was no reasoning with him. All thought was shut down and all that was left was stupefied terror. Although odourless and tasteless, Storm swore she could feel the insidious gas coating her tongue and lungs. She heard screams of terrified rabbits and clenched her jaw hard to stop from screaming herself. She knew that if she gave in one bit, she would be lost. Storm heard a low, terrible growl from the depths of the cavern and thought a dark shape lurked just beyond her vision. A shuddering breath brought with it more gas and the growl grew louder and the shadow bigger. Hungry red eyes appeared in the darkness and fixated on her. Storm was suffering the same effects as Flare and the warren, and she was using every ounce of mental strength she had to stay there. She whimpered and put her head down, and leaning hard against Flare she whispered into the creeping white mist as the dark figures and growls in her mind grew in number.