The Secret of the Stone
Chapter 17

I woke up on the rocky shore and slowly pulled myself to my feet.

“Cloud!” I called out into the darkness. I quickly reached into my bag and searched blindly for my flashlight. When I found it, I tried to turn it on but it wouldn’t shine, because it was filled with water. Fumbling with it in the shadowy darkness, I took it apart to empty the water out, and put it back together again. When I was finally able to get it to come on, it was barely functional and let off a dim light. I shined the light away from the water where I could barely make out a walk way alongside the bank. I started walking towards it, my legs still felt wobbly from the rivers rough treatment. I steadied myself by holding my free hand against the cavern wall. “Cloud! Cloud!” I yelled desperately as I walked a bit further.

“Over here” was a faint voice. I flashed the dim light in the direction of his voice. He startled me at first as my light shone over the large soggy mass that lay still on the cold rocky shore.

“Cloud!” I ran up to him. “I’m so happy to see you!” I hugged him.

“I hate water!” He complained. I did my best to help him up, but it was no use. He was too heavy. Seeing my feeble attempt to lift him, he then pulled himself up and sat down exhausted on his back legs.

“Violet, you fell in the water too?” He asked coughing to clear his lungs of water. A long patch of wet fur covered one of his eyes.

“Not exactly,” I smiled as I swept the fur from his face. “We have to replace a way out of here.” I said. He stood up and shook his fur like a wet dog. “We have got to get out of here and replace the captain and the others!” I repeated as I tried to shield myself from the fresh shower. I shone my flashlight around in all directions to see if there was another way out. The river had swept us away from the path and taken us through parts of the cave that could not be reached by foot from where we last saw the captain and the others. We walked a little further down the corridor and came to a large pool where the water was calm.

“Over here!” Cloud said as he pointed out another corridor and we begin to walk through it.

“I hope this takes us to the center of the base,” I said. I could tell we were getting farther and farther away from the water and the trail led to a series of caverns.

“Wow! How beautiful,” I observed the pointed rocky icicles hanging down from the ceiling. Occasionally we came across some glowing rocks in the walls similar to the ones in the rabbit kingdom, which was helpful since my flashlight went out not too long after we found the cavern. The glowing rocks were much like tiny night lights in a sea of darkness and we mostly had to rely on Cloud’s rabbit instincts to guide us through the dark cave. The sound of water became fainter making the cave very quiet and eerie. I dreaded the thought of what strange creatures may be living inside this place, watching us unknowingly. I kept a steady hand on Cloud’s back so not to lose him in the darkness as we traveled along the trail of a rocky stair case. The stair case seemed to fold up and down, up and down but I could tell that overall we were gaining some elevation. We walked and walked until I was so bored that I started to practice my powers by moving some of the glowing pebbles around the cave and juggling them in the air.

“I can see you are starting to get the hang of it,” Cloud remarked about my powers.

“You haven’t seen anything yet Cloud,” I bragged. “Ever since I rescued the captain in Neves I feel as if I have a much greater control over my powers.”

“Well I’m glad, I will be even happier when Julian is finally defeated once and for all,” Cloud proclaimed.

“I’m not so sure about that, Cloud.” I said.

“What do you mean?” He asked concerned with the worry in my voice.

“Back in Neves, when Julian attacked me with the ring, my shield could only hold up for a few seconds and he drained so much of my power when I tried to attack him. He is so powerful I am not sure even with Celestia, that we will be able to stop him,” I said sadly.

“Well you just found your power, but Celestia is very strong. He was no match for her without the ring.”

“But Cloud he did defeat Celestia and he does have the ring!” I said.

“Violet you can’t ever lose hope!” Cloud said. I couldn’t understand how he could remain so optimistic, seeing that we barely escaped Neves with our lives. “Celestia is the most powerful woman in all of Threa,” he explained, “that’s why Julian attacked Enos first. He knew that without Enos the rest of the world wouldn’t stand a chance. And now with you here I know that the two of you together will be able to defeat him.” He could see that I still wasn’t convinced. “Julian is a coward, Violet. He won’t win in the end!”I hoped Cloud was right but the more I thought about it, the more depressed I became. I tried to change the subject.

“Cloud you didn’t tell me that you had a girlfriend” I teased him. He looked at me stunned.

“Who told you that?” He asked curiously.

“Do I have to explain to you how powerful I am? I know everything.” I joked.

“Right, you and Celest have nothing better to talk about, when she comes to see you,” said Cloud. I grinned at him. “Did you tell her that you have crush on Census too?” He grinned back.

“Don’t try and change the subject Cloud! And for the record I feel the same way about Census as I always have. He is a self absorbed jerk and I will be happy when this whole thing is over so I will never have to see him again.”

“And I thought you two were getting along so well, a little too well for my taste but at least you were getting along.”He replied.

“Cloud,” I shrugged, “I just knew you were going to bring that back up again!” I complained. “Let me tell you for the last time, there is nothing going on between me and Census!” I reminded him. “Now stop trying to change the subject and tell me about your girlfriend.”

“We of the rabbit kingdom don’t engage in such nonsense,” he replied dismissively.

“What is that suppose to mean?” I crossed my arms and eyed him.

“The great guardian rabbits do not spend their time pining away, getting caught up in some nonsensical romantic mumbo jumbo.”

“What?” I smirked doubtfully. “And, what’s a guardian rabbit?” I asked curiously.

“Every rabbit in the rabbit kingdom has a sacred duty. The guardian rabbits are destined to replace someone, someone special. And once we have found them we are their constant companions and guardians and it is our job to protect them for the rest of their life.”

“So what you’re saying is, that you and this girl can never be together?”

“She has already found the person that she is to be companion to and she will not leave him to be with me or anyone else.”

“Him? Oh, I am sorry about that Cloud.” I really did feel sorry for him.

“There is nothing to be sorry about Violet.” He shrugged. “We don’t see it like that. I am very happy for her.”

“So do rabbits ever refuse to be with these people and stay together?”

“It has never happened,” said Cloud proudly. “That sacred oath is more important than anything and we take it very seriously.”

“Oh, now I understand,” I said. “ you are Celestia’s guardian, that’s why it is so important to you to replace her?”

“Violet, look out!” Cloud screamed. Heeding Cloud’s abrupt warning, I stopped suddenly in my tracks. Ahead of us was a cliff. We walked slowly to the edge and looked down but we couldn’t see the bottom of it. I pulled out one of the glowing stones from the wall and we examined the pit. We still couldn’t see how far down it went. Cloud kicked a stone down the pit and we waited to hear it hit bottom but it never did.

“The cavern must be very deep,” said Cloud. There was another ledge on the side of us but it looked too dangerous to cross.

“What are we going to do now?” I asked.

“We don’t have any other choice,” said Cloud as he pointed toward the ledge. We took a deep breath before starting up the ledge. We carefully made our way across it hugging the wall closely. Some pebbles ran off the side of the ledge into the pit but luckily the ledge remained intact and we finally made it to an area of the trail that became wider and sturdier. Just as we reached safely across the ledge we heard a loud crunching sound. We turned around to see a large chunk of the ledge that we had just passed, had broken off and slid down into the pit. We stopped and took a sigh of relief before continuing down the path.

It wasn’t long after that we began to hear the sound of machinery. We continued walking in the direction of the noise and soon saw a bright light ahead of us. We ran towards the light and there deep in the cave was a trail that continued upward to the surface. Below was a mine and there were people working in the mine guarded by Yar soldiers. Cloud and I begin to stake out the operation hiding behind a row of large pillars.

“The Yar are using those people to mine that ore,” I said pointing towards a large machine where the people pushed wheel barrels full of rocks and emptied the barrels into the machine.

“Those people are from Enos,” Cloud growled angrily recognizing the pattern of their clothing.

“Maybe we can help them,” I said. It made me furious to see the people being abused by the Yar soldiers.

“No,” said Cloud. “It is too dangerous, we have got to free Celest first!” Just then a section of rocks came tumbling down from above. “Violet, watch out!” He shouted. Cloud and I jump from behind the pillar to get out of the way of the falling rocks. We ran back toward the mine entrance that we had come through from the cave. The rocks pushed the pillars on our level further down the cliff exposing us. The people below hurried away from the avalanche of rocks but some of the Yar soldiers spotted us and sounded the alarm.

“Look! There on the cliff!” One shouted. “Get them! Cloud and I ran up the trail that led to the surface of the mine. We were a few feet from the door of the cave when about six guards came running towards us. We turned around and headed in the other direction but there were also guards coming up from below.

“Violet, get on!” said Cloud. I jumped on Cloud’s back and he ran towards the soldiers who had come up from the mine. Cloud leaped over the soldiers. They ducked down to avoid being crushed by the giant rabbit. Cloud then headed towards the mine. The Yar soldiers followed behind us as I shot at them purple beams of light that knocked some of them to the ground.

“It’s the princess! She’s escaped,” said one of the guards. When the workers below heard the guard refer to me as the princess they came out from where they were hiding and stopped the work that they were doing.

“It is Celestia she has come to save us!” The people cried. They then began to use their tools as weapons and attacked the Yar soldiers.

“They think you’re the princess!” said Cloud as he made his way below to the people.

“Follow me!” I ordered the people and they followed us up the trail. More Yar soldiers ran in from the exit way. I shot at them and the people fought with them until we broke through and stampeded through the cave entrance and into the camp. Like a swarm of angry bees the people ran out of the caves and the Yar soldiers began to attack them. The goliath sized Yar soilders were strong and put up a good fight but because Julian had left so few soldiers behind the people, who knew that this may be their only chance for freedom began to overwhelm them. But the camp was not as empty as we’d thought and more Yar soldiers appeared from every direction and surrounded us. When the fighting had ceased, the lead solider made his way through the crowd with several of his guards.

“Celestia, how clever of you to have escaped, but not clever enough!” He smirked confidently. “Tell me, how were you able to escape?”

“All you need to know is this, I don’t like the way you are treating these people and I am here to shut you down!”

“But you have failed and now your people will pay the price for your foolishness!” The Yar leader then looked around the camp as if he were searching from something. “She must have had help. Search the camp!” He ordered his men, “Find her accomplices and take her back to the dungeon. Make sure she doesn’t escape again!” A group of soldiers headed towards us and surrounded us. “When the master returns, we will be on schedule!” He said to the people tapping a baton in his hands.

“I don’t think you are going to make your schedule!” Tem said as he and Josili appeared from above.

“Tem! Josili!” I cried. “You two are right on schedule, as usual!”

“What! Fairies? Get them!” The Yar leader shouted. Tem and Josili began to shoot beams at the soldiers.

“For Enos!” I cried with a fist in the air to the crowd and Cloud and I bowled through the approaching detail and headed towards their leader and the people again began to attack the Yar.

“This is some diversion,” said Josili flying beside me. “Where did you get this army?” She asked but before I could answer her she flew back again to help Tem.

“Look, there is the leader,” shouted Cloud closing in on him.

“Let’s get him!” I said and Cloud and I darted towards the leader who began to run in the opposite direction when he saw the giant rabbit running towards him. I shot a beam at him. The beam over took him and I lifted him in the air. This was a new move for me and I tried to sit him down on the ground carefully but I dropped him about a foot or so off the ground. I didn’t feel sorry for him as he hit the ground with a thump for his part in Julian’s treatment of these innocent people. I then pointed my hands at him, daring him to try and escape.

“It’s over!” I said as I dismounted Cloud, I kept my hands aimed at him. “Call off your guards!”

“Never!” He said.

“Oh, yeah!” I threatened him. “Cloud, why don’t YOU convince him.” Cloud then began to draw closer toward him menacingly.