Chapter Seven: Nivens, Protector of the Bishop (In This Game of Chess)
Cheshire was on his way to the Red Queen's castle. As he was walking, er- floating along rather, he starting bopping his head and singing a song to himself:
"'Twas Brillig, and the slithy toves, did gyre and gimble in the wabe. All mimsy were the borogoves, and the mome raths outgrabe!"
"Second chorus," Cheshire said, and repeated himself, "'Twas Brillig, and the slithy toves, did gyre and gimble in the wabe." He laughed and as if having a one-sided conversation with himself, said, "Very well! Third chorus." He stopped himself, he realized that he could never remember the third one, not realizing that the first chorus was simply repeated for the second chorus, and again for the third, but he was mad so there was not possibility of him knowing this.
"Help me!" A voice called.
Cheshire stopped and listened to the sounds of the forest. The voice called again.
"Help me!"
"Who calls?" Cheshire asked.
"Over here!" The voice replied, thankful that a savior was nearby. Cheshire followed the voice and saw Tarrant who was bleeding near a creek. A rock which was large and pointed was the cause of it. Apparently he decided to jump across, but he fell and hurt himself.
Cheshire evaporated and appeared next to him.
"Oh," Tarrant said, "its' you." He said with an annoyed tone.
"Oh alright fine," Cheshire said, "you win, I'll leave you alone. I have better things to occupy my time with anyway."
Without another word Cheshire disappear.
"Cheshire!" The Hatter said, realizing that he was pleading with the feline to return and make amends, but Tarrant knew in his heart he wasn't ready to forgive or forget Cheshire just yet. Something in the back of mind however, was thinking of alternatives to the matter.
Nivens, in his page uniform entered the Red Queen's prison. He was told under very specific instruction to bring forth a prisoner that the guards had captured this morning. Nivens wasn't prepared to bring the news to whoever it was, for he knew that one hundred times out of one hundred times that whenever the Red Queen asked for a prisoner to be brought forth it meant head chopping.
He started going through his phrases that he came up with to intimidate people with, because to be honest, rabbits aren't that intimidating:
"Get up you wench! It's time for your appointment."
"Come with me, it's time to meet the Red Queen and pay for what you've done."
"Look at me vile beast! Time to walk the mile and get some 'fresh air'"
Nivens shook his head and sighed, he hated playing the bad cop role. When he got to the cell that he was supposed to go to, the rabbit was taken aback. In this cell was a man who was in a horrible state. Shoeless, dirty, and thin as an arrow, this bearded, fortysomething human being looked feral, as if he been stuck in a cage all his life.
He is obviously an instigator, Nivens thought, his white pupils and beast posture accompanied with numerous scars and thrashings reminded me of a Bandersnatch. If there was a human version of one, then I was looking at it.
"E-e-e-excuse me," Nivens said a bit afraid of the man as he approached the cell gate. "But it's time to-"
"Are you here to torture and tame me like the rest of them?" The man asked.
"I am simply the messenger rabbit," Nivens replied, "now if you please, follow me, for we're both going to have a very long day and a short meeting if we're late."
The man laughed with a smile, "If the Queen wants my head, then she can willingly have it. It's not like my works will ever reach the masses anyway."
"Your works?" Nivens asked.
The man nodded, "I'm a writer, fell down a rabbit hole, ended up here, they captured me, beat me, made me look like a beast and here we are."
"And whom do I have the pleasure of addressing?" Nivens asked.
"Well, I don't know if it's a pleasure or not, but my name is Charles, but please call me Lewis, everyone does." The man said.
"You're Mr. Bishop?" Nivens asked, eyes growing big with surprise.
"Yes," Lewis said a bit confused, "how do you know my-"
"No time to explain," Nivens said looking left and right making sure that no guards were around. He pulled out the key that he was given and opened the cell door. "But we need to move now."
"Whoa hold on there Fiver I'm not prepared to go anywhere until you tell me who you are." Lewis said.
Nivens rolled his eyes with a rather loud sigh, "Fine!" He said, annoyed, "I'm Nivens McTwisp, Cheshire's cohort in mischief, and page to the Red Queen but I'm really an undercover agent for the White one, and believe me, she's the good one. At the moment Cheshire Cat, you'll meet him later is on his way here I'd suspect to save you but I'm doing that and we have to go before any of the guards show up. Do you understand Mr. Lewis?" He said this rather rapidly to the point where Lewis couldn't make out a single word.
"I'm sorry can you run that by me again?" Lewis asked.
Guards approached, apparently Nivens quick delivery and Lewis' talking were loud enough for them to raise a small alarm.
"No time, let's go!" Nivens cried and lead the way down the corridors, weaving and jumping over assorted barrels and boxes for half of this prison was used for storage. The guards made it to the cell and realizing where Nivens was going, circled back around towards the back door.
"Come on hurry!" Nivens said running, looking back periodically to see if Lewis was behind him. He was.
"We'll never make it in time with you leading the way," Lewis suggested, so he picked Nivens up and the rabbit directed him.
"Left, right, keep going, right, left, and left again." Nivens said as Lewis made the turns. The guards were already at the back door by the time Lewis and Nevins got there. Lewis opened the door and he was met with spears and an entire suit of clubs and spades.
Lewis sat Nivens down gently.
Nivens smiled meekly, "Good morning gentlemen."
"Silence Page!" The Ace of Spades shouted. "Where are you taking the prisoner?"
"Why to the Queen of course." Nivens answered.
"The Castle is the other way." The Nine of Clubs said.
"Yes," Nivens replied looking at him, "I am aware of that, but he and I were having a conversation."
"A conversation that took you to the back alley which leads to the woods?" The Ace said.
Nivens couldn't think of an answer for this one. He simply said: "Mr. Lewis."
"Yeah Fiver."
"It's Nivens." the rabbit corrected.
"Whatever." Lewis said.
"Wow, alright, I was going to suggest that you run but you could just stand there and get impaled you pompous little-" Nivens turned towards Lewis again-or where Lewis was. The man was three steps ahead of him and was already running back through the corridors. The guards started to move past Nivens but the rabbit was quicker than they and shut the door in their faces. When the Ace opened the door again Nivens was gone. The guards quickly chased them.
"Lewis!" Nivens shouted. "They're right behind me."
"I know!" Lewis called back. "Do have any ideas?"
"One, but it's risky." Nivens said catching up to the man.
"At this point," Lewis said, "I'm fine with anything."
"Good, because I need you to throw me at them when they come around." Nivens said.
"What? Are you mad!"
"Yes, we're all mad here." Nivens said, quoting Cheshire. "Now trust me alright." Lewis sighed and picked the rabbit in his hand and waited for the guards to appear. That took three seconds of waiting.
The guards threw their spears as soon as they saw them, Lewis waited for Nivens to tell him to throw him.
"Hold," Nivens said as the guards were thirty yards away. Lewis waited.
The guards advanced with each passing second, Lewis' was getting anxious, and was thinking about throwing Nivens and bolting for home.
"Hold!" Nivens said again, the guards were twenty yards, ten yards, five yards, four yards.
"Hold!"
Three yards.
"Now!" Nivens cried. Lewis launched the rabbit and ran towards the nearest door.
Nivens flew through the air and as a spear passed his grasp he grabbed it from the guards hand and began to decapitate heads and sever limbs. An unstoppable beast of fury, Nivens bashed heads in, performed back flips, and with accurate precision, stabbed several guards in the jugular and using his free forepaw, punched a few of them hard in the larynx. Eventually, the Ace of Spades was the only one left standing. Standing amidst the slaughter committed by the rabbit, who stood there like a samurai with Cheshire's second stage of "the look" on his face, the Ace of Spades for a moment, looked relatively scared.
"Come at me Ace!" Nivens cried, a bit of pride in his voice.
"Gladly," Ace said, as he pulled out a bow and aimed it at Lewis who stood there in awe in the doorway. Ace fired an arrow, Nivens threw the spear simultaneously, and also simultaneously, the arrow and spear impacted. The arrow missed, the spear hit its target. The spear went straight through Ace, impaling the heart. Ace fell face first on the floor. As the spear moved upwards, the heart made a lovely bursting sound as it broke through the flesh. The blood splattered onto the prison walls and cell doors, a pile of guards lay dead with Ace at the top. Blood covered Nivens' front. He turned towards Lewis who just stared in fear and admiration for the rabbit.
"Thanks Fiver." Lewis said.
Nivens sighed and shook his head, "It's Nivens!" He walked out, heading towards a washroom to clean himself up, "Why do you keep calling me Fiver?"
"Allusion." Lewis answered as he followed.
"Oh really," Nivens replied, "an allusion to what?"
"Watership Down." Lewis said.
"I have no idea what that is." Nivens said.
"It's a book."
"Ah," Nivens said nodding as he entered a washroom which was across from the prison. This washroom was used to clean prisoners up and wash blood of the headman's axe. "one of those things." He cleaned himself off and changed into his normal clothes which he kept there anyway.
"Why did you say it like that?" Lewis asked.
"Say what like what?" Nevins answered with a question.
"Said, 'one of those things' as if it were bad?"
"I meant no offense," Nivens said walking into the castle, heading to a side door which was right before the throne room entrance. Nivens, knowing that more guards would show up very soon upon the realization that he did not show up with Lewis in the throne room hurried quickly and quietly. "it's just not many people read here."
"Ah," Lewis said with a nod, following.
"Once we get you out of here," Nivens said quietly, "we can get you into some fresh clothes."
"Where is your spear Nivens?" Lewis asked.
Nivens paused a moment, thought about it and nodded, "Good idea, what was I thinking!? Madness and all right?" He said with a laugh and quickly grabbed two spears from the dead guards. One for himself and one for Lewis. They then slowly made their way to the side door and the throne room.
"Watership Down" is a novel written in 1972 by Richard Adams. It's about rabbits. One of the main characters is Fiver. It's a rather gruesome book and the animated film made in 1978, is one of the most violent animated films ever made. (It probably is the most violent animated film ever made, view at your own discretion if you decide to watch it, there's a lot (A LOT) of character death- and this movie has topped lists of "Worst Movies Made for Kids" not because it's bad (it's actually good) it's just scarring for children to watch...so view at your own discretion, you have been warned)
