Laid Plans
By Jeremy Cole
The heavy orange light of noon fell through the window, spreading
itself across Sonic’s face. Instantly upright, the hedgehog looked for
signs of danger in his unfamiliar surroundings. Then he recognized his
hut from his childhood years. He was still in Knothole.
Still tense, the hedgehog flopped back on the bed. He stayed like
that for a few moments, trying to make himself up to a better reality.
Groaning, he tried to push himself up, but fell back, defeated. The
confrontation was real after all.
He finally got up after the warmth of the midday sun left his
back. Not because he wanted to, but because he had a meeting to get to.
In the center clearing, the other freedom fighters were gathered, along
with the Knothole recruits, waiting for him. Throughout the crowd,
there was only scattered conversation, without much heart. The air
contained a tenseness within it, and everyone looked uneasy. No one
mentioned the reason for that tension. But no one needed to.
As the sole late arrival, Sonic looked to Sally, expecting her
anger at his tardiness. It was there for a second, hot and sudden. But
just as quickly, the anger lost its force, and the angry words of Sally
turned to a comforting hug from Sonic. The hug was a comfort to Sonic
as well, until he felt the tears fall on his back. He thought back to
the days before, when battle had been far from his mind. How had it
ever come this?
Sonic woke up bright and early. The refreshing light of morning
was shining through his window, and the hut from his childhood years
was surrounding him. Stretching, Sonic started his timer and took a
quick lap around the village. The warming light told him that it was a
day where you just had to take in the scenery. It had only been a few
days since the rains, but the trees were already pushing out flecks of
green, and the worst of the damage had already been fixed by the
industrious villagers.
Sonic made a final sprint back to his hut, giving Knothole a wake
up call by way of sonic boom, and hit the timer. The time had been just
a tad slower than yesterday, but the hedgehog didn’t really care.
Panting lightly, Sonic flopped back down on his bed and rested. Then he
recalled. He had a meeting to get to.
The other freedom fighters were already assembled. The day shone
down not on a group of fighters, but a group of friends, with every one
of them chatting as they sported the universal smile of the day. Sally
turned to him, smiling, and touched his cheek affectionately by way of
greeting. Falling to the day’s infectious happiness, Sonic gave Sally a
hug, receiving one in kind. The meeting got underway smoothly.
Coming back down to the matters at hand, the freedom fighters
gathered around to discuss their next move. Sally poured out a huge
map, and, sprawling over the table, began to highlight key points with
her finger. The map depicted Knothole village in ink and the echidna
camp in pencil in separate corners, though you couldn’t see
Robotropolis with Sally covering it.
“Right now, the echidnas are relatively far away from us. But
that is probably going to change pretty soon.” Sally stabbed two points
on the map that were indicated by a pair of red circles. “This is where
we were attacked near our base, and this is where Antoine and Rally
were attacked. If you recall, the echidnas that hit Mobotropolis were
all in war paint. But neither of these two parties were. My theory is
that these echidnas weren’t looking for a fight, but were simply grumpy
scouts.” Taking a blue marker, Sally circled two more points near the
center of the map. She stretched her arm to the limit in the attempt.
“We saw them here… and here as well. No pattern, right?” It was true;
the circles could have been drops from a sloppy meal. “That’s just it –
they don’t know where to look. They were only here briefly before, and
even then they pretty much stayed on their island! In other words,
scout parties all over the forest means that the echidnas want to
expand.”
“Wait, hold on. How do we know that just because they sent out
scouts?” asked Antoine. “This is their new home after all. They
probably want to get the lay of the land.”
Before Sally could answer, Rally picked up a smaller piece of
paper that showed the echidna’s camp from a ground view. “Simple. Its
because they’re overcrowded where they are now. These pictures show
that it’s two families to one of these cabins. Plus, there’s more of
them every day. They probably haven’t totally moved off of the drifting
island yet. That clearing won’t hold all of them for long.”
Sally nodded at Rally as Antoine did. Then her eyes took on a
hard expression. “What this means for us is that once they find that
new place, they’re going to be pretty dug in to the forest. A surprise
attack will no longer be an option, either, which means a long, hard
war. If we want to get rid of these guys, we have to do it now, while
we still can. We can’t handle having another enemy on Robotnik’s
level.”
The freedom fighters all nodded. Only Antoine had an objection.
“But how will we root them out?” asked Antoine. “We don’t have enough
people to get them out by force, and its not like we can just pick them
off one by one…”
Sally smiled craftily. “We’ll just use the tried and true method
– we’ll have a raid. We can drive them away without them even knowing,
until they won’t even be able to stand the sight of this forest!”
Antoine opened his mouth to protest, then closed it. “I… guess
that’s the best way,” he admitted. “The only way.”
“Then it’s settled.” Sally took out a smaller, more detailed
chart. This one only reached to her feet. “These are the points where
we can do the most damage. We need to strike hard, silent, and fast…”
It was time. Rally made the last checks to the group’s gear.
Everyone had everything that they needed. She gave a thumbs up to
Sally, who nodded. “All right, guys. Time to -”
“Wait!” came a barking voice from behind.
Cut off in the middle of her sentence and not happy about it,
Sally spun on her heel, ready to upbraid the culprit. She was
unprepared for the scene behind her. Forty or more of sparsely armed
villagers stood there, and at their head was an old, but still muscular
male dog. He carried a spear, and had a slightly comical appearance,
with his ears hanging out of his cook-pot helmet and his gauntlets made
of filed cheese graters. Sonic’s eyebrows rose in recognition. It was
the dog that he had met with about the echidnas a few days ago. Now
what had his name been…
The dog gestured back at his warriors. “Princess, I am Warrick, a
humble servant of the crown. Princess, I understand how you must feel
about the echidnas. They took your family a year ago, and that wound
must still be fresh. But every one of these villagers feels the same
way. We lost from our families in that attack as well, and we feel the
same pain as you. We are your subjects, and we want to fight too! Take
us with you!” He and the other villagers knelt before her. Several of
them had to hold their cookery helmets to keep them from falling.
Sally’s chin rose just the slightest bit higher at this display
of fealty towards the crown. But she beckoned for them to rise. “I am
sorry, my loyal subjects, but this mission isn’t a campaign against the
echidnas. This is only a raid - we want to try to avoid as much
bloodshed as possible.”
Warrick looked surprised. “But princess – how can say that after
everything that they have done?”
Sally shook her head. “My friend, killing is not the way of the
freedom fighters. The six of us will not fight until no other option
exists. A war right now can only lead to more death, and any other way
is a better one. That is my final word, as princess.”
Warrick stood. A flicker of despair crossed his face, but it was
soon lost in a look of nobility. “I understand, my lady. Only, should
that day come, be sure to call on us. We will help in any way we can.”
“Thank you Warrick. I will make sure of it.”
Warrick motioned to his warriors, and the slightly dejected crowd
dispersed, a few shedding their makeshift armor even as they walked.
Sally looked after them for a moment. Then she turned to the freedom
fighters. “Here’s hoping that we don’t have to take him up on that
offer. But let’s go. We have a job to do.”
Standing tall in the twilight of the echidna camp, Cicero was a
warrior of the highest caliber. Naturally tougher than the rest of the
echidnas, he had trained, worked, and sweated to increase his strength
and agility to levels beyond comprehension. Every one of his limbs was
stocked full of chunky muscle, and that muscle made every part of his
body as hard as a tree trunk. Cicero had devoted himself to being a
warrior from the very first year of his life, and he was proud of what
he had to show for it. His social standing was high, and his personal
strength was good - Cicero was one of the very finest echidna warriors.
And so, it took two hits with the staff to make him go down.
Sally dropped her staff and rubbed her arms, cursing under her
breath. “That was like hitting a tree! What is with that guy?” The
other freedom fighters were already moving past her in a mass. She
hastened to pick up her weapon and followed.
Sonic moved silently over to the storehouse. The tiny vial that
he held was filled to the brim with a mysterious white powder that
Rotor had made especially for the occasion. Sonic grinned. He didn’t
know what the powder would do exactly, but he did know that the
echidnas would be having stomach problems for weeks to come. It might
not be a match for trashing swatbots. But this was kind of fun.
Ignoring the odd chuckle from his right, Antoine dragged his
heavy sack of salt behind him. His jerking steps with the heavy burden
were angled towards the beginnings of a wheat field. Finally reaching
the first shoots, Antoine began to liberally sprinkle his package about
on the dirt. Antoine mentally scolded the echidnas. There was no sense
in them growing crops; they’d be leaving soon anyway. As he finished
the first row, he glanced over at Rally. It was hard to see her ebony
coat against the night. Sighing, he turned back. He didn’t need to
worry about her – he had the harder job anyway.
Merging with a shadow, Rally, empty bag in hand, looked for where
the tribe’s tool shed stood. The building was so small that it was hard
to locate in the veil that was night. This part of the raid had been
her idea. Perhaps she wouldn’t be able to stop them from building
completely while keeping their secrecy intact, but a little selective
thievery would do very nicely there. She glanced up at the greening
trees and sighed. Winter was on its way out. Perhaps it would take the
echidnas with it. There! Rally moved with her natural grace over to the
tiny hut.
Not too far away, Tails was grumbling again. Why did he get stuck
with guard duty? He might be the smallest, and he might be all that
strong. But he could fly! Wasn’t that good enough to help? Tails
flopped down on his tails, fuming at not being able to help. Sally was
standing next to him, watching as well, but her closed expression told
him that he wouldn’t be getting any entertainment out of her. He
glanced over at his less conscious companion. The sentry that Sally had
whacked groaned, and flopped over in his forced sleep. Tails frowned,
and picked up a nearby rock. Best to be thorough.
Sally winced at the thud from Tails’ direction, but didn’t pay it
too much heed. Drifting away from her guard duties and mentally kicking
herself for it, Sally slid over to examine something that had been
bothering her. Her target was the throne of the echidna king, and the
jewel set into the pedestal beneath it. Moving over and inspecting the
giant throne, Sally noticed a spiral of markings that went all the way
around the large stone structure. The symbols contained within it could
have been writing, but in the absence of light, it was impossible to
tell if the graffiti had any meaning. Sally moved past the characters
and began inspecting the real prize – the gigantic gem below the
throne, cracked perfectly symmetrically down the middle. Sally reached
out to inspect it, but was stopped, as her touch ignited an enormous
light from the surrounding glyphs and a wail from the camp.
Meanwhile, Rotor was employing his walrus stealth once again to
sneak past the echidna’s huts and to the slave pens. His already inept
attempts were only made worse by the fact that he had a large sack of
shifting weapons on his back. The weapons seemed to clank against each
other with each and every step, and the trip across the open field was
agonizingly slow. Every time a sword hit against a dagger, Rotor heard
Sally telling him in his mind that this job was meant to seem like a
series of accidents. And every time the dagger fought back, he
remembered just how sharp those spears looked, even from afar. Whether
or not the walrus stealth helped this time either, Rotor again made it
across the camp, and into the slave’s area. Stealing up to the bars, he
wasn’t surprised this time when the voice hailed him.
“Is it time?” Mina asked coolly.
“Not yet,” replied Rotor. “Right now, we’re trying to make it
look like the stuff that we’re doing is an accident. Freeing the slaves
would cancel that for sure.”
A shadow behind the bars moved, and a sigh escaped her careful
control, the excitement leaving her voice. Her tone changed to sarcasm.
“Then why are you here, walrus? Did you feel like chatting?”
Rotor twitched his nose at her. It was earlier in the day than
their last encounter, and the aging light was still enough to see by.
Looking at her now, he saw to his surprise that she really wasn’t that
much older than him. In fact, they might even be the same age. It was
only the light and the hard expression that had made her seem more than
her years. “For your information, mongoose, I brought weapons, enough
to arm about half of you. Do you have any place to hide them in your
pen?”
The shadow moved again, and a note of interest appeared where
before there had been none. “Yeah. We’ve been hiding food from them for
years.” Rotor passed the fighting sack over to her, and she grasped his
arm in thanks before taking the weapons. “Hey, Kleppo. Hide this with
the food, will ya?” A patch of the pen’s blackness shifted. Mina passed
the sack of weapons to the smaller shadow behind her. That blackness
moved off, and Rotor heard a small rustling in the corner of the cage.
“It’s the only way that my little brother could have survived. The
boredom would have killed him without a little practice.” The rustling
ceased, and a moment later, the smaller shadow came back, stepping up
to the walrus in curiosity.
Kleppo, about 4 from his appearance, didn’t look too different
from his sister, but the two weren’t a pair that you could pick out of
a crowd. The mongoose exchanged his sister’s purple locks for straight
black, and darkened the yellow of his fur a few shades. The eyes were
sprightly and blue, and burned with a childish curiosity at the new
figure. The little mongoose had such a feeling of peace about him that
Rotor felt his heart warm just to look at him.
“Practice?” he asked, conversationally, glancing about at the
quiet camp.
“Yeah. He wants to be a thief, and he’s already pretty good at
it. Back in our country, if Kleppo ever wanted a toy, none of us could
ever stop him.” At the mention of his name, Kleppo shyly retreated
behind his sister and grabbed her arm protectively. It was the cutest
thing that he could have done.
Rotor was about to address the tiny mongoose with his finger in
his mouth. But a sudden flash from the opposite side of the camp
silhouetted them all on the far side of the pen, cutting off the
attempted communication. A shout went up about the camp, and Rotor
whirled to see his fellow freedom fighters already running. “Go!”
whispered Mina frantically. Rotor looked back once, then ran. The time
had not yet come to fight.
Mina watched the purple walrus go, marveling at how much better
he moved without his absurd stealth, then moved back to her allotted
wall space. Despite herself, she was sad to see him go. It had been so
long since she had had someone to talk with that hadn’t lost his hope.
She looked around contemptuously at the older slaves. All of them had
lost the will to keep going, and not a single one of them cared enough
to lead the slaves through their hardship. That was why the job of
representative fell to her, even at her comparatively tender age. She
was one of the few left who cared about the others, and one of the even
fewer than held their hope.
As Mina settled down, one of the oldest animals in the pens, an
old squirrel, sat up suddenly. He had felt something, something strong
enough to pull him out of his dreams of better times. He cast about a
moment, looking for signs of what he might have felt, but no proof
presented itself. He knew what he had felt though. Shaking the young
squirrel next to him awake, the old one told him of his suspicions. The
young one smiled, but didn’t look about. His father’s word was all he
needed. Laying back down to sleep, the smile didn’t fade. Heh. Sis,
have you come to save us?
Failure.
They didn’t like it, they weren’t used to it, but the fact
remained: They had failed.
The secrecy of the mission was shot, and now the echidnas knew
without a doubt that someone was trying to sabotage them. The suspect
food would not be eaten, and the poor crop would be explained. They
might even check the slave pens, and that could only lead to disaster.
And so, it was a dejected lot of freedom fighters that led their
weary way back to their base, not speaking even a little. The sting of
defeat was new to them, and so it bit all the harder. Still worse was
the consideration of what this meant for them. No one said it. But
everyone knew. Now that their enemy was on alert, raiding was not an
option. And the echidnas would try a counter-attack if they didn’t act
fast. That left one option, the worst one. All-out war.
Sally was hit the hardest by the sting. The others might not know
it, but her meddling had been what triggered the flash. The defeat took
an extra bite at Sally. After her words of peace, her role in the
coming war was a slow poison to the princess.
Reaching the base and still not speaking, Sally passed by the
living room and the still flickering computer to her pallet. Sally lay
on her pallet, thinking, until darkness claimed her. She wasn’t awake
to see Sonic come over to her with tenderness in his eyes, or to feel
him wipe away the tears that fell in her sleep.
One at a time, the freedom fighters filtered into their sleeping
room, still in silence. Each realized what was coming tomorrow. They
would need their strength.
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