Interlude: First Meetings

The iron-brougham bumped and juddered as it skidded to a halt. Sally was shaking when she pulled out the key and the engine stopped. She might've left it running, since she had no idea where she was or whether she'd have to make a quick getaway, but she did know crashing couldn't be good for it and didn't want to survive all this just to die in an explosion. Horrible silence filled the air and loneliness ripped through her until all she wanted was to get out of the little craft.

She had to stretch to open the hatch door. Outside the air was clear and the sun warm. All around were trees and scrub bordering the patch of sandstone she'd used as an impromptu runway. The stone was deeply scarred, since she hadn't put down the landing gear, and the birds in the trees had set up a racket that showed no sons of stopping.

It looked pretty uninhabited, like those times Rosie had taken the kids of court out of Mobotropolis and into the Great Forest. Sally had thought she was flying too high to descend to land so quickly, but the soil under her feet proved she was wrong. For once, though, she was glad to be wrong – though she'd never admit that to Sonic.

Sonic. It was his fault she'd done this. He'd put the idea into her head that Daddy loved being King more than he loved her, and it was Sonic who'd challenged her to fly off in one of Minister Julian's little flying broughams, just to prove Daddy would come and save her instead of sending his guards. Sally had only been five minutes into the flight before deciding she didn't like flying without an escort, but the control pedals had been too far to reach, and by the time she'd turned around she was disoriented by all the clouds and had no idea how to get home. The broughams were too small for elaborate navigation systems, since they'd been designed only as light 'run-around' aircraft for the rarefied ladies and gents of court. The radio was busted, too. That was why it'd been in the repair shop where she had easy access to it. Sally could've been anywhere, with no way of getting word back to the palace.

She fought the urge to cry, instead channelling her panic into anger against Sonic. Stupid Sonic, always daring her to do dumb stuff. Stupid Sally herself, for accepting his challenges even though they rarely went right. Sonic had a way of constantly landing on his feet that she envied like crazy.

What to do now? She could set off walking and hope she ran across someone, or shout for help, or-

A flash of movement caught her eye. Sally turned and saw what looked like somebody in the bushes. "Excuse me," she called, forcing a tremor from her voice. "Could you help me? I'm lost and my vehicle's been damaged. I'm not sure it'll fly and I need to get home…"

The movement ceased.

"Hello?" Sally approached the bushes, desire for a friendly face negating her natural suspicion against kidnappers. The Crown Princess, sole heir to the House of Acorn, was a very attractive prize that unscrupulous Mobians had tried to ransom several times before. "Is anybody there?"

Sally thought she could hear someone breathing. It was only faint, but enough to keep her stepping forward. "Please, I need some help."

A pair of luminous purple eyes stared at her from between the leaves.

Sally paused and stared right back. "Hello there. My name is Sally."

The eyes narrowed. "You're not an echidna."

"A what?"

"Where are your spines? And why're you such a funny colour?"

Sally glanced at her fur. She'd never thought brown a funny colour before. In truth, she'd always thought her fur rather plain compared to some of the shades at court, especially since her air was also dull. Even Sonic was brighter than her, and he was just a boy. Boys never cared about their fur the way girls did. "I'm not."

"Yeah, you are. And your tail's too fluffy. And your ears are too pointy and sticky-uppy. You're not an echidna, so what are you?"

Sally felt affronted. "I'm the Princess!"

"What's a princess?"

Sally had no answer to this question. Imagine, not knowing what a princess was. "It means that my Daddy is the King, and that someday I'll be queen and rule over our kingdom with honour." She slipped into the royal credo without even thinking about it and clapped her hands over her mouth.

Yet the owner of the eyes was unimpressed. "Well I'm the Guardian. Or I will be someday. And this isn't your 'kingdom', it's ou- my floating island."

Sally's heart stopped in her chest. "Floating island?"

"Yeah, and you messed it up by crashing that … that thingover there." The speaker sniffed. "What is that, anyway? It smells like burnt rubber trees."

"It's a, um… it's a brougham. An iron-brougham. You did say floating island, right? As in, floats in the ocean?"

"No, as in floats in the sky. Don't you know anything?"

"Oh…" was all she could think to say. "Oh … my."

"Hey, are you okay? You look like my dad did that time he ate poisonberries by accident. I had to fetch racha leaves all the way from the other side of the mountain. Do you need racha leaves?"

"I think … I'm more lost than I thought." Sally swallowed convulsively. She wouldn't panic. Princesses didn't panic. They didn't fly off in stolen aircraft either, but there was no point in crying over spilled solar power now. "You said your father … could he help me get home?"

"Doubtful. He says we're not allowed to associate with anybody not from the island. If he knew I was even talking to you he'd skin me."

"So why are you?"

"Because you're only small and I could take you in a fight, no problem."

The fur rose along Sally's spine. "You could not!" she said indignantly, resentment eroding her panic.

"Could too. And besides … nobody's ever come up to the island before. I was curious. Do all ground-dwellers look weird like you?"

"I don't kow what you mean by weird. Come out where I can see you."

"I can't."

"You're already talking to me. It's dumbt to show me what you look like now."

"Well … all right." The bushes rustled and a thin red creature appeared. It had spines kind of like Sonic's, but narrower, spread over its skull and stretching to just under its chin. On its chest was a white patch of fur shaped like a half-moon, and it wore mittens with little barbs on the backs.

Sally gulped. Suddenly she felt very small and delicate. Despite his thinness, the creature had a wiry quality that reminded her of the Felinoes kept in a paddock in the Royal Menagerie. Drawing herself up, she stuck out her hand.

He looked at it. "Huh?"

"You're supposed to shake it. Or kiss it, but I'd rather shake. Kissing's soppy."

"What's kissing?"

She gawped. "Don't you know anything?"

"Hey! You can't say that to me!"

"Why not?"

"Because… because I'm the Guardian, and you're just a stupid ground-dweller."

"I thought you said you only would be someday."

"I – you - " Years of arguing with Sonic had made Sally well-practised at picking logical holes in others' arguments. Apparently this boy hadn't had the same practise. He spluttered and folded his arms. "Well I'm not shaking your hand now. And you can get off my island, too."

"I want to," Sally snapped, but sagged a little. "I just don't know how." Then she looked up at him. He was a little taller than her, though not by much, so she couldn't tell if it was age or that he was naturally built that way. "Aren't you going to ask why I'm flying all alone?"

"Of course not. I do stuff without my dad all the time. Do princesses have to have someone holding their hand for everything?"

Her lips pursed. He was as infuriating as Sonic! "Who the heck are you, anyhow?"

"I told you, I'm the - "

"I mean your name, genius."

"Knuckles."

"Knuckles?"

" Knuckles Echidna."

"That's a dumb name."

"Sally's an even dumber name."

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

Sally suck out her tongue. "Is not times infinity!"

"Is too times the Emerald!"

"Huh?"

Now it was his turn to clap his hands over his mouth. "Nothing!"

Sally sighed and shook her head. "Look, can you help me get off this island and back home or not?"

"You could jump."

"How high up are we?"

"Above the clouds."

It wasn't an accurate figure, but it was enough to settle that option. "Could your dad help me?"

"Ha!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"He wouldn't help you. He hates ground-dwellers."

"Oh." Sally looked despondently at the brougham. "Then how am I meant to get home? My father will be worried about me. He says I'm all he's got since my mother died…" How could she have forgotten that? She'd been so caught up in beating Sonic's challenge that she hadn't even remembered how Daddy would pull her onto his lap while he was in his study and explain to her about maps and other kingdoms, or how he would sometimes come to tuck her bed at night and they'd swap 'walrus-kisses', rubbing noses until she giggled. Tears filled sally's eyes, as a great rush of homesickness enveloped her.

The red boy – Knuckles – tipped his head at her. "What's a mother?"

"You don't know?" Sally sniffed.

"Nu-uh."

"Mothers are how you get born. They love you and cuddle you and read you stories. Until they die. But they're not really supposed to do that."

"Oh." He frowned. "Dad always told me I was born for the Emerald. I know I hatched out of an egg, because there's still bits of it in the back of the caves. He never mentioned any 'mother' thing."

"I thought only birds came from eggs."

"You mean ground-dwellers don't?"

"No, we come from our mothers' tummies."

"That settles it. Guardians don't have mothers. They're just for ground-dwellers."

Sally wasn't sure that was right. Lady dragons laid eggs and became mothers, after all, but she knew nothing about echidnas and decided to leave it. She had far more pressing things to think about.

Suddenly a new voice echoed through the trees. "Knuckles!"

The boy's eyes rounded. "That's my dad! Quick, you've got to hide!"

"But he'll see the brougham!"

"Then get it out of here!"

"But I can't fly it now!"

"Is it broken?"

Sally looked. Actually, it was completely intact, but the landing gear was still tucked inside and she needed that to make it move, even if she did know where to go – which she didn't – or had a runway to taxi down – which she didn't. "No, but I still can't fly it!"

"You flew it in here all right."

"That was not all right flying!"

"Knuckles!"

He shoved her towards it. His touch was surprisingly gentle, so she forgot about the barbs, but still Sally struggled. "Maybe if I just talked to him-"

"I'll be in big trouble if he catches you here, and so will you. The island is only for Guardians. If anybody ever came up here and he knew it was because of me they'd come …" There was genuine fear in his voice.

Sally swallowed. "But … I don't even know the way home."

"We floated over a big bunch of squares and rectangles yesterday. Dad called it a cee-tee – Mobo-something-something."

"Mobotropolis!"

"Probably. Cee-tees are where ground-dwellers live, right?"

"Cities, and yes, some grou- I mean, some Mobians do. And that's where my Daddy is!"

"Fine, so go there, just get going!"

"Knuckles, where are you, lad?"

Knuckles glanced over his shoulder. "Hurry!"

Sally found herself bundled up the ramp. With a display of strength she'd never witnessed before, especially from one so small, Knuckles lifted the end of the metal walkway and heaved to close it.

"Why are you helping me if it'll get you in trouble?" she wanted to know.

"Because you're kind of nice – for a stinking ground-dweller. Doesn't that make us friends?" He said the word like it was foreign. "I read about friends once. It's where two echidnas get along real well and don't try to claw each other to death. You're not an echidna, but I guess you could be a 'friend' too."

"Uh -"

"Hide yourself, quick!"

He struggled and strained, but worked his way hand over hand down the hatch so that it clicked shut behind her.

Sally gulped, but realised she had no other option but to do as he said. She still had the key and put it into the ignition. The engine spluttered, but wouldn't turn over, yet light burst across the controls, proving the battery was still workable at least. At the same time the screen came to life and Sally could see the outside the craft.

She watched as Knuckles backed away from the brougham, obviously spooked by the roving eye of the periscope. He startled again when another figure ran from the bushes. This one was taller, and wore a white robe, belted at the waist, that matched the colour of his beard, but in all other ways could've been Knuckles's double. The resemblance told Sally this was the father Knuckles had been so afraid would find her. She shrank back against her seat, despite being hidden inside the brougham.

Frantically, she tried to start the engines, all the while watching as Knuckles waved his hands and shook his head at the older echidna. At one point he even stood in front of the craft, but his father cuffed him around the head. Knuckles fell backwards and Sally's heart and stomach lurched as his father marched up and, seemingly without effort, yanked the brougham by its tail. The brougham shrieked as it was dragged to the edge of the island.

The audio crackled and came on. "No, Father!" Knuckles's tinny voice rang out. "It's harmless."

"Any threat to the Emerald must be dealt with," boomed another, deeper voice, full of authority and conviction enough to give whiplash. "If you are to one day be Guardian, you should know this."

"But - "

"You already deserve punishment for the transgression of not informing me immediately you discovered this craft. You say those inside it died on impact. I will make sure this is true. Ground-dwellers are cunning, Knuckles. They are far more deceitful than your tender years would have you know. You cannot trust them." Knuckles's father spoke in a highbrow, cultured way, but Sally though she understood the gist of his words.

Her safety-belt saved her as the brougham tipped. It creaked. It juddered.

It fell over the edge and plummeted like a stone.

Sally screamed.

Clouds rushed past the periscope. The fur on her cheeks grew wet with terrified tears. Then, miraculously, her final desperate twist of the key provoked a roar from the engines. The brougham pitched to one side as the automatic stabilisers kicked in, but Sally's descent slowed. She gripped the controls despite them being too big for her little arms and hands, too petrified to let go.

Only when the brougham's flight path had levelled off did she finally breathe out. Her chest hurt and her throat was raw from screaming, but such relief engulfed her that she felt she might pass out. She was horribly aware of a dampness in the seat beneath her, and suddenly, ridiculously, all she could think about was how Sonic would laugh at her when she got back. Because she was going to get back. Knuckles had said Mobotropolis wasn't far, and his father had actually done her a favour by putting her back into the air…

Knuckles. Sally caught a flash of his face as she'd last seen it. She didn't think he'd meant for her to go over the edge like that, and despite his brusqueness he'd seem sort of nice for a boy. He'd tried to keep her safe, after all, and even if it had been part of his own fear of his father, it was enough for Sally. She shivered when she thought of the huge strength it must've taken to throw the brougham off the island and the talk of 'punishment'. She hoped Knuckles wouldn't suffer because of her.

She flew for what seemed like hours, her thoughts increasingly occupied by the strange new creatures she'd met and their floating island in the sky. It was as if she couldn't think of anything else; as though events had finally taken their toll and her young brain had been shocked into one mindframe, breaking the key off in the lock so she could rattle the bars into the rest of her thoughts but not get to them.

When the SWATbots drew alongside the brougham and steered her earthwards, she was barely even aware of it. She'd been so anxious to just get home, back to what was familiar, but when the familiar came to meet her she was to disconnected to recognise it. When they boarded and gently prised her fingers from the controls she stared at them as if in a dream, and wondered whether Knuckles had ever seen a SWATbot, or knew what a robot was.

"Landing protocol initiated," intoned one. "Subject identified: Princess Sally Alicia Acorn. Status of search: urgent. Action: return to base. Safety of subject paramount."

Images flashed by: an opening hatchway, a chandelier, a warm blanket, a cold nose pressing against her cheek. A tiny figure kept to the back of those who lifted her down from the craft and carried her off, talking in buzzy voices, like a radio smothered in a wet blanket.

"She flew it herself?"

"What on Mobius…"

"The damage is only minor, not even structural…"

"She isn't injured, thank goodness."

"Where have you been, Princess?"

Been? Where had she been?

"You're kind of nice – for a stinking ground-dweller."

"Princess?"

"Doesn't that make us friends?"

"I think she's in shock. No, don't wave your hand in front of her like that. She might have a seizure."

"I read about friends once. It's where two echidnas get along real well and don't try to claw each other to death."

"Is Sal okay?"

"Out of here, young man. The Infirmary is no place for younglings."

"But Sal -"

"Out!"

"You're not an echidna, but I guess you could be a 'friend' too."

"Sally? Sally, my darling little girl, please wake up."

"I'll be in big trouble if he catches you here, and so will you. The island is only for Guardians. If anybody ever came up here and he knew it was because of me they'd come …"

"Please…"

All at once Sally snapped back into reality. She opened her eyes, only then realising they'd been shut, and refocused on her father's face.

She was in her room, in her very own bed. The blankets were warm with her own body heat and it was dark outside her window. Daddy looked earnest and very, very tired. She got the feeling he'd been sitting with her for some time.

"Sally! Thank Mobius … I'm so happy you're all right. What were you thinking? Stealing an iron-brougham and going off on your own like that – you were missing for hours. I was positively frantic! Where on Mobius have you been?"

Knuckles's anxious face careened through Sally's mind. She sniffed. "I … I'm sorry Daddy. I didn't go anywhere. I couldn't … I couldn't control the brougham properly. I… I just flew around because I got lost. I didn't go anywhere at all. I'm so, so sorry for worrying you, I just wanted to prove to Sonic that…" She swallowed. It sounded so silly to say it now. "… That you love me…"

"That was the reason?" Her faher looked flabbergasted. "Of course I love you!"

"I know, I just … you're always so busy, and I wanted to prove that you still had time for me…"

"I will always have time for you, my darling. You needn't do anything this dangerous to prove that. [promise me you'll never do anything like that again. If I ever lost you…"

"I'm sorry." She hugged him and started to cry. "Please don't be angry with m-me. I'm s-sorry-"

"Shh, shh, hush now. It's all over. You're home and safe, and that's the main thing." He stroked her hair. "I'm not angry with you. I'm angry at myself that you felt you needed to prove my love for you. I'm our father, Sally. I'll always love you, no matter what."

"You already deserve punishment for the transgression of not informing me immediately you discovered this craft."

Sally hugged tighter, like she'd never let go. "I love you, Daddy."

To Be Continued…