PART II
TWO DAYS LATER
Night crept, and the sky darkened, the stars glittering in their place and the moon shone offering it light to anyone whom welcomed it, and that was certainly Blastus.
Blastus was running throughout the forest searching desperately for a way out, he being pursued by what he recognised as a wolf. Reaching one of the trees he thought climbable he climbed up one in record time, and he chanced a glance behind and saw that the wolf was snapping at his heels, its amber eyes staring hungrily at him. Clinging onto the tree as if it were life itself, he scrambled further up the tree to make sure he was safe, then looking back he saw the wolf sat there in the exact same spot, waiting patiently, it eyes never straying from his and it began to snap, growl and howl at him. Blastus stayed in his position in the tree and dared not looked down, being scared that the wolf was drawing closer to him every time he stared at the wolf. He hadn't been in the tree long with the wolf continuous howls yapping at him, then suddenly it howls turned into a yelp and Blastus looked down to see what was the cause.
Down below on the ground two young cubs a bit older than Blastus were facing off the wolf.
Blastus scanned both of them, the first and probably oldest of the two had a light orange tanned fur, with blonde hair and by Blastus reckoning looked about eleven years old.
The second one Blastus noticed had a strong build, dark brown fur and hair and looked about seven years old. Slowly descending down the tree, occasionally slipping, his paws clammy with sweaty, not allowing him to have such a good grip on the branches.
His eyes never strayed from the scene of the wolf and the two young cubs before him and his continued to climb down then stopped when he was neared the ground. He could still see the wolf before the two young cubs but to Blastus he seemed astonished and stunned when the wolf observed them again, sniffed and left.
Once Blastus was sure that the wolf had left he then turned to the other two and noticed them staring at him. He stood there unsure of what to do, when the oldest of the two stood forward and introduced himself as Plucki, and the other Gumlittle. Blastus replied telling him his name, then asked as best as he could since his English was very limited where they were going which they replied as Gummadoon.
The three then set up a camp for the night as they began to talk and discuss several things, and agreed that the three would travel together to Gummadoon.
Plucki and Gumlittle found out that Blastus was French and knew that his English was very limited but still it was fun that they could learn something from one another.
Hours flew by and three turned in, all except Blastus who laid awake in his bed, staring up at the sky. He was happy now that he had found Plucki and Gumlittle and that all three of them were going to the same place, though he still felt like he was isolated and alone without his family. He shivered slightly as a slight cool breeze blew by and soon after he drifted off to a well endured sleep.
Dawn broke and the sun's rays could be seen from over the hills, peeking, it then rose and spread it's light among the land, Blastus getting a full view of it in his face, instantly waking him. Groaning and grumbled at the sudden light in his face, he slowly opened his eyes, the sun stinging them but he didn't care. Yawning, he stood up and turned to see the other two also getting up. Stretching he grabbed himself a bite to eat from his rucksack and then was on his way again, but with company. He followed after Plucki because he seemed to have a general idea as to where they were going.
Travelling along Blastus's mind drifted elsewhere and he thought of last night how quick the three had become friends. Happy that he managed to sleep peacefully last night, his sleep usually disturbed but for the first time in three days he managed to sleep peacefully without once being disturbed.
The three did nothing but walk that day, occasionally stopping for a break but other than that they didn't stop walking until late at night when the sun had long gone and moon was out and high in the sky did they stop, but mainly through pure exhaustion and they crashed out and were asleep within minutes.
They did this for several days, walking until weariness and exhaustion hit them and they could go no further, for days they did this until they decided to take a break.
Finding a stream they stopped to refresh themselves, and to fill up their flasks, the three then settled on the bank for a short while, taking a break from all the walking. Now in deep conversation with one another, though occasionally they would translate words for Blastus, the three then fell silent.
Sitting on the bank for a long while they soon came to realize that it was a little too quiet for their liking, noticing that there wasn't any wild animals or sounds around them, liked they've always had during their travel. Growing suspicious the three immediately stood up and continued on with their journey. Stepping onto the road they had only been traveling along for a short few minutes then the three heard battle cries.
Startled, at the closeness of the human, the three immediately picked up the pace, and began to run faster than they ever had done before. Humans jumping out from the bushes, revealing themselves, armed to the teeth with weapons, the three knew that the humans wouldn't use the weapons on them hearing what they presumed the leader saying 'they were too valuable to be harmed'.
Running round different corners, and climbing up tree's, the three separated, though not in great distance, just far enough where they were still in sight of one another. But it was apparent to Blastus, that their luck had run out, seeing his other two friends being caught, a net flung over them, and a human running after him, but it wasn't long before he too was caught.
Now tied up and blindfolded, he felt something being shoved in his mouth, obviously to silence him, then he felt himself being thrown onto something hard, and guessed it was a carriage of some sort, feeling the smooth oak wood against his paws. His paws tied behind his back, he struggled to get them loose, but all he accomplished was the binds digging into his wrists, and drawing blood.
He wasn't sure whether he could feel his friends beside him, but if they were then he knew almost certain that they'll be tied and gagged, then he heard someone shout orders and not too long, he felt himself being shoved and thrown all over the place, the carriage setting off, at a brisk pace, rocking the carriage.
The horses neighed and whinnied loudly, but still they bore the burden, and Blastus once again, struggled to get out of his binds, but they held him tight and firm, and cut deeper into his fur.
Spluttering and coughing, he spat out the cloth in his mouth, enabling him to speak to his friends. Panting, trying to regain his breathe, he was about to speak when he heard
"Blastus" one of them said, which he recognized straight away as Plucki.
"Yes" he replied.
Rustling could be heard in the background, and he knew that his friends were with him, and for that he was grateful, fearing that once they've had been caught, they would've been separated.
Hearing the horses grinding to a stop, he and his friends went flying to the other end of the carriage, one after another, smacking into one another. The ride which they thought had only taken minutes, had in reality been a few hours, and the three were once again heaved off the carriage, this time being thrown into a small room together, and released of their binds.
The three cubs gathered together into a small circle and began to talk as quietly as possible for any means of escape and vowing not to tell the humans anything.
An hour later, the three were searching the room, which resembled a small cell, looking for any holes, or escape. After a few hours of searching and finding nothing, the three then gathered in a circle again, just as the door to their cell was open, and they were drug away, again.
Shoved and pushed down, a dimly lit corridor, bashing into the broken, crumbling walls, they finally came to the room, where they were to be. Staring around, they saw that the room was like someone of a royal person would own, except that the room had no windows, and barely any furniture. Watching the guards leave, the three took the opportunity to look round.
Indeed this room looked to be owned by a royal, rich gold, and crimson, cloth decorated round the room, and a golden table at the far side of the room. They didn't have long to look around, when another door, by the table opened, and some cloaked figure appeared.
Entering the room, the man sneered at the three cubs, but it soon turned into an evil grin, with his eyes bulging and shining. Strolling over towards them, he commanded them to sit, and walked passed them. Hearing not a movement, he turned to see they had not done what he asked. Sneering at them, he turned his back on them then grabbed a bottle of red wine, and poured himself a drink, before then suddenly turning on them again.
Each of the cubs looked on this person before them, all of them looking at him with a distinctly obvious distrust. From what they could make out, this man had dark tanned skin, and long curly brown hair, the rest they could not see, the hood preventing them from seeing the man's true identity.
Placing his goblet down, the man wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then cracked his knuckles, and making his way over to the three cubs, who still refuse to budge. This only angered him further, as it meant, that they were smart, but no matter, he figured he'd probably get some information from the small cub, and was certain that he'd start telling, hopefully if the older one hadn't said anything.
Clicking his fingers, two guards came in and awaited for his order.
Ordering them to take the other two away leaving him alone with the little one, which they did, but with a struggle, Blastus heard his friends speaking to him in French.
"(Don't tell them anything, whatever happens)"
Gone were his friends he turned to the stranger, now seated in his chair across from him. Feeling petrified and alone, his friends gone, he felt something else in him begin to stir.
Anger, he felt anger towards this human, an anger he didn't know exist, sure he had his temper tantrums but his anger hadn't reach this far before. Sitting, watching this human in front of him, drinking wine, he began to experience a new emotion, hate.
Everything began to become clear to him now of what his friends were talking about earlier in their prison, with their secrets of the juice and varies other things.
Humans, that's all they cared about in this world, their secrets, no matter who they hurt or killed for that matter.
Humans they started this war, driven by their greed for power and knowledge, when they should mind their own damn business. Humans didn't care who's secrets they pawed with within this war, as long as they got what they wanted in the end, but that would never happen, not while he could still something about it.
Staring back at this human, he presumed that all the humans must be the same. Their greed and thirst for knowledge and power, power that wasn't even there own.
The man watched the small cub before, intrigued, by all the emotions he was showing him. He could see a fire rising in the cub's eyes, presumable anger, and plainly obvious distrust. Seeing this he decided to ask the simply questions first, before going onto the big questions that he had planned.
"What's your name, kid" he asked.
The cub didn't answer.
"Can you speak English" the man asked.
"(Maybe)" he replied.
Blastus watched, the human sat before him, Marcus hearing the guards call him by his name when they came in, sigh in frustration, clearly not happy about something.
Marcus, threw his hood back, and ran a hand threw his shiny greasy hair, another sigh coming from him.
Great, the cub was French, a language nobody in his tribe, knew. Calling the guards back, he ordered for the cub to be taken away, and growled when they left. He knew full well that, that cub could speak English, he just didn't want to.
Stumbling in his cell, Blastus was immediately surrounded by his friends, asking several questions of what they talked about, and how he answer.
An hour later finally finished answering his friend's questions, he heard the door to their cell open, and grasp Plucki and with a bit of a struggle walk out again, with Plucki.
For hours to days this was all that happened, each one individually being taken from their cell, to that room, to be questioned.
Sat in his usual corner against the wall, Blastus thought about his last visit there when Marcus had him pinned down, a knife to his throat and threatened if he didn't start speaking English, he would kill him. Surrendering he spoke English to them, though very little, and not much sense, just to annoy them, and but his friends some time to look round and find any escape.
Staring at the ceiling, he knew tomorrow would be different hearing the guards in their drunken slur, talking about their leader speak to them all tomorrow, then his eyelids became heavy and drooped, and he fell asleep.
IN THE MORNING
Waking up to the light, which touched his face through the small crack in the wall, he grumbled then stretched, and went forth to wake the others, and found that they were already awake.
Now sat together in a group, the three waited for the guards to come and take them to the room, which they were to be guided to.
However little did Marcus, or his henchmen know, that the three cubs had formed a plan of escape, after several days of monitoring and scanning the cell and the rooms.
Speaking in basic French to one another, preventing unwanted ears to know what they were talking about, the three spoke of the plan.
A few minutes later they heard gruff voices coming their way, and the three finished their conversation, seeing and hearing the key turn in the lock. The door opening to their cell, the three felt themselves being roughly picked up, and taken to the room, which they always appeared to meet. Dumped in the chairs provided, they watched the guards leave; the three then eyed the door to which Marcus entered through knowing that, that was there only escape.
As if the three cub had thought at the same time, and precise moment, the three then turned to one another, and reading each others faces, they knew what each other was thinking, how would they by pass Marcus?
Before they could even think about anything else, they heard a slight rumbling, and Marcus entered the room.
Identifying each of the three cubs, he sneered at them, then strided over to a small table, and poured himself a goblet of wine. Taking a huge gulp from the goblet, he spied cubs individually, then placed his goblet down, and just continued to stare at them with cold eyes. For a few moments that all that happened, then in a blink of an eye Marcus had crossed the distance between them, and lifted the youngest cub off his feet, and held him in the air, his knuckles digging into the child's torso.
The cub yelped at the sudden unexpected attack from Marcus, then fell to the floor in a heap, his friends, knocking Marcus from underneath his feet. His friends tackling Marcus, preventing him from standing up and attacking them, they then grabbed a cloth on the table, and stuffed it in his mouth so it prevented him from calling the guards back in.
Blastus stood from the floor rubbing his backside at the sudden hard impact. Seeing his friends pouncing on Marcus, and hitting him with everything they'd got, he was about to join them, when he then fell to the floor again, something hard and cold hitting him on the head. Slightly dazed, he sat up his head pounding, rubbing his head; he turned to see what hit him. Picking up the cup, which had fallen off the table, as well varies other things, he stared at it, then looked up at Marcus, who seemed to be gaining the upper hand, and was slowly and gradually standing up.
Spitting out the cloth, he caught the fist coming his way, and threw the cub back, then stood up, and unsheathed his sword by his side, he sneered at the two young cubs in front of him. His eyes then travelled round the room, wondering where the third one was, when smack, he fell to the ground, his sword falling from his hands, and making a loud clank on impact with the stone floor, and he saw blackness.
Plucki and Gumlittle stood smiling at Blastus, holding a drinking goblet in his hand, which he had used to knock out Marcus. Dropping the goblet on Marcus, the three immediately ran to the door, which Marcus came through, but it would not open to them. The door magically closed to them, the three began to search round the room for anything possible to open the door, when they looked up and saw a strange symbol on the wall, it was a symbol engraved into the wall, in a shape of star with strange waves surrounding it, like the midnight clouds engulfing a star.
Instantly they knew that they had seen that symbol before, and rushing over to Marcus's unconscious form, they took his gloves off, revealing to them his signet ring. Slipping his ring off, they placed his ring flat against the other symbol on the wall, and immediately they heard a rumbling, and a slight shake in the room, and a door before them, slid open. Running into the darkness of the tunnel, they took the ring with them, in case they should find anymore-secret hidden passage, and faintly heard the sound of a stone door scraping closed.
Now completely alone in the darkness, the three stayed together, and with their hand against the wall, they began to make their journey along the tunnel. Trudging along the darkness of the tunnel, scarcely making a sound, the three came upon a dead end. Unsure of what to do, they placed their hands on the stonewall and momentarily pulled back when they did, it was _so_ cold.
Touching the wall again, they ignored the bitter coldness, and tried to focus on what they came here for. Their hands slightly grazing the wall, they heard a loud rumble then a door opening before them, revealing a corridor.
Heart pounding, they felt their hands clammy, and stared across the corridor. Which way would they go?
The corridor split off in many directions, and they didn't know which one to take without being seen. Finally settling it they took to the left and headed down another corridor, careful to stay in the shadows, and not to be seen. Coming to another door, they were thankful that it had been left open, so they could sneak in. Poking their heads through, they saw the room was isolated, and walked in. Looking around they recognised the room to be a hall, and knew the exit couldn't be too far away. Immediately spotting another door, they jumped hearing a familiar voice
"Keep ya guard up"
It was Marcus, and he was close.
Running across the hall, to the other side of the room, they tried to open the door with a bit of effort, they it started to open, then it seemed to swing open on it hinges as someone pushed back, and someone was stood before them. Immediately slamming the door shut the three took off in the opposite direction, with human in close pursuit. Running back down the corridor they came from they turned off again and heard Marcus order guards as he saw them, just as they turned the corner and a guard smacked right into Marcus.
Dodging passed a few humans they were thankful that they were small, and the humans were clumsy, and they saw another door. Feeling the draft from underneath, they knew that this door lead them to the forest. Picking up the pace, they could see the humans gaining on them fast, and skidded across the floor, when the door opened in front of the and one of the humans walked in. Bouncing, they hit him on the head, then ran out the door and into the morning light, before they then began to proceed down a rocky hill.
Down in record time, they immediately ran into the forest, careful to stay close, they could hear the humans cursing, and they ran further into the forest. Running, they ran for what felt like eternity, they didn't stop until they were near enough collapsing, their throat burning like fire, and their legs shaking. Sprawled out on the grass, they panted heavily, and just continued to stare at the dusky sky.
They were so exhausted, but they didn't dare sleep, not with humans so close by.
Regaining their breath, they went into their pack, which they had luckily managed to find during their exploration through the tunnels. Eating silently and hastily, with very little conversation, the three stood up again on full alert, the sounds of voices close by, and bushes being ripped out, and pushed aside. Up and running, the three continued this phase for several days with very little sleep in fear that they might be caught again.
Travelling through different surrounding and scenes of the forest for many days Plucki and Gumlittle then sighed a huge relief as they then came upon an area, which the two immediately recognised through their travels when they were younger.
"We'll reach Gummadoon by nightfall" said Plucki.
The group becoming merry, and excited at the thought that Gummadoon was close by, Blastus could hardly wait to see his family again, and they immediately quickened their pace, in an attempt to hopefully reach Gummadoon just before nightfall.
Trudging along the footpath, they travelled for many hours, and even though they travelled far everyday, this day Blastus noticed to be different from any of them, for all three of them were all continuously talking, and growing accustomed to each other's language.
Looking around he could tell that the bond of friendship between them was strong, but who could really blame them, living out in the wild, for several weeks, and then being caught by humans. Travelling along the path the hardly stopped for a break, being only too anxious to get home, apart from Blastus. He had been happy when he found the news about Gummadoon, but now that they were drawing close, he wondered whether his would family be there or not when he got there, and if not how long would it be before they would be there. Discarding the thought for now, he decided that he would worry about it later when he arrived at this place called Gummadoon.
A FEW HOURS LATER (Almost Nightfall)
Exhausted and tired, the group could see that it would not be long before sunset, as the sun was already beginning to sink and the atmosphere was slightly darkening.
They were not far from their destination now, just been a few corners away, and they didn't want to stop and delay themselves from getting to Gummadoon sooner.
Running the short distance, with all the energy they could muster, they soon came to the edge of the forest, and stopped dead in their tracks, all three of them now standing there in a state of obvious shock.
There stood before them was their destination of where they wanted to be, Gummadoon.
Staring up and down the castle, slowly taking it in and letting it sink in, the three began to recover from the shock. Then sensing someone coming up behind them, hearing the beats and thumping of horse hoofs they turned round, startled and shocked once again. Staring at them with admiration and great interest, and what they all hoped to be someday, the three gazed at the Knights of Gummadoon mounted on their unicorn, fully armoured, and staff in hand.
The Knights smiled at the cub's reaction, all the cubs in Gummadoon admired them, and it seemed so that these cubs too did. Helping them onto the unicorn, they rode short distance to the castle, the duty of patrolling the forest over for the day, and they entered the grounds.
Dismounting their unicorns, the Knights helped the cubs down and were only too pleased to have found them. They had been told to look out for three cubs on their duty for they had been lost throughout their travel to Gummadoon, but it was apparent that there was no need to worry about that anymore, the three cubs together having practically made they're way here.
Blastus watched his two friends ran off in there own directions, reuniting with their family. Now in the city of Gummadoon, he began to distinctly worry and wonder whether his mother and father were here. Walking round the city and through the crowd, for his parents, he passed several towers and ground, and eventually the stalls and as he did so, he spotted a small group of gummi's, mainly of young ladies, but he immediately recognised one, his mother, and was soon running to her.
("Mother") he said as he ran.
His mother hearing a childlike voice, scream her name, immediately spun around to see her child come running up to her. Kneeling down, only too shocked and happy that her little one was here and safe, she opened her arms to him, and he ran into them.
The two embraced for a long time, when Blastus eventually pulled away from her and looked up to her face, the two locking eyes with each other, when Blastus spoke,
"Mother" he said again, in English, though he still he had his French Accent.
If his mother was shocked before hand, she was even more so now, that her son could speak English, so quickly, knowing that his English was very limited, having taught him herself. But now he seemed to speak the language, so fluently and without hesitation that one would think that he literally was English, though one thing that gave it away that he wasn't, was his accent.
The two went indoors Blastus meeting and seeing the rest of his family, after that his mother soon put him to bed. She knew that from wherever he was washed ashore, he had, had a long journey here.
NEXT DAY
Strolling around the city of Gummadoon, exploring the castle, the young cub still felt absolutely fascinated by it, when he came across his two friends again.
Plucki and Gumlittle had already been to Gummadoon several times before, probably when they were younger, and his friends were more than happy to show him around the castle, and all their secret hiding places.
Soon settling in Gummadoon, Blastus began to join his friends in the mischief of pulling pranks on other gummies around the city.
Knowing they were all here to stay in Gummadoon, the three of them became very close friends, and in no time at all, the residents of Gummadoon named them, "The Troublesome Trio" for all their pranks they pulled.
In the end, after several years of dreaming, the three achieved their ambitions, desires and their dreams to be a Gummadoon Knight.
All three of them received the blue status on their knight uniform, and Sir Plucki became captain, with Sir Blastus and Sir Gumlittle under his command.
Sir Blastus did become a Knight, though he was originally from France, and could now speak English, he would still have his French accent.
THE END
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