Chapter 13 - Choice

Hi
Sorry for the delay - busy here with non authorish stuff.This is the last chapter. Tune in next week for the epilogue.

thanks

Thirteen – Choice

 

It was not long before the door opened again. I expected a guard but was surprised to see King Kitsunamoshee himself. I could see several guards standing behind him and got nervous. I figured if Kitsunamoshee came, it may mean that Karn’s father did not even know I was there. I was truly in deep, just as Smit had said. I stood there, partially shielding my eyes from the torches of the guards.

“Well, this is a disappointment. In some ways I was hoping that old drunk was wrong about you, but nonetheless here we are. I must say I am angry but also somewhat flattered. It is good to know I will be marrying a girl other men desire. It does my ego good, no?”

I was in no mood to be lectured. Upon reflection I guess I should have tried to be more diplomatic, but when I thought back to what Walter and Jet had told me about him, I forgot about being nice.

“She doesn’t love you. You should let her go.”

Kitsunamoshee laughed. “Yes, I forgot. You are not from here and perhaps also something of a dolt too? I doubt very much that she even likes me, much less loves me. That is not the point. My marriage to her will allow me to unite our two kingdoms. The history of fighting between our two nations will come to an end. You look so sad, little boy, but think of it: peace! A chance to make a clean start. Think of how many lives will be saved, made better.

 “I tell you what…I am a reasonable man and about to gain the one thing I have sought since I inherited my own crown: the crown of this valley. I am not a small petty man. I am even a nice guy, or so I am told. I propose a deal with you, sir. My offer from this afternoon still stands. I could use your skills in the guard but with some added provisos now. You will swear allegiance to me and forsake any interest you ever thought you had in Karnattia tomorrow prior to the wedding. And, you will do so in front of not only me but her as well.”

I thought about his offer. At first I thought I had a way out. Since I had come to the clearing prepared to send Karn back here anyway, what would it cost me to do that publicly? Despite the feeling I knew was at the very base of my heart, the feelings I had towards Karn, I could be rational. I could suppress them and move on. What was the future with her anyway? A life of running, hiding, fighting, not a life I really wanted. But I did want to be with her, to hold her, to kiss her. I mentally shook my head clear. Just because I wanted something did not mean it was going to happen. I was not the one with power here. I resolved to accept the offer, to get myself free of this situation and then, at the first reasonable opportunity, slip away and go back over the forest to the mountain I had come from. But again, the thought of the things that Walter and Jet told me popped into my head. Suddenly I knew why I had to say no, not for me, but for others.

“What about the rabbits then?”

“What rabbits?”

“I’ve been told all about your plans for peace. You’ll buy it with a payment of rabbit blood, right? Clean start without Lepus? How can you expect me to be a part of that?”

Kitsunamoshee smiled and waved his hand in a gesture of dismissal. “You mistake my intentions. I merely seek to…contain them. They expect too much from us, I fear. If I fence them in it will do them some good as well as us. I am not a monster, sir.”

“I know men like you back home: men who get jollies from beating up those weaker than they are; using those that are weaker as scapegoats. I won’t be a henchman for a bully.”

A dark expression passed over Kitsunamoshee’s face. “Weaker? Look, you fool, I think you have been misled.” Kitsunamoshee collected himself. “Yes, I am sure of it. You seem ignorant—of many things. What did your rabbit friends tell you about their homeland?”

“They can’t go back, and if you chase them from here—”

“Any why can they not go back, hmmm? Did they forget to mention that part? Allow me to fill in the missing bits then. They cannot go back because if they did they would all die; they would all starve. And why? Because rabbits are thieves! They are not like men who farm the land, who remake the land to produce enough to sustain their population. Rabbits instead steal. They take, regardless of how much there is. And once they have taken everything, they move on. They contribute nothing to the greater good, to the society in which they have come to live.

“I am not evil, despite what your friends say. I have tried, tried so many times—as have many others—to teach them to farm. I have given them land to farm, tools, seeds! And what do they do? They run away. They go back to foraging, as they call it. They go back to thievery. Why can they not go back across the mountain? Because they have stripped their land bare! They took a lush green land and made it a dust bowl. Oh yes, they try to hide this. But I have sent spies there; I have first-hand accounts of a land laid bare by greedy, lazy thieves. So, I am not evil. I am the opposite. I seek to save us and our land from the fate of the Lepus. If they will not contribute to the survival of this land they must leave it—one way or another.”

“I- I don’t believe you” I said, although doubt had clearly crept into my head.

“That is immaterial. Tell the guard your answer before the midnight watch. I trust you will consider all of your options carefully, although you must know that most of them are not really options.”

“And if I refuse to join the guard?”

Kitsunamoshee looked at me with surprise and then laughed. “Are you really that slow?” He left, the door slamming shut behind him,.

As I sat there in the darkness I thought about the past week. Had it only been a week since I had stumbled across the creek? I thought back to my life before, growing up on the mountain, about my mom and dad. When they had died I had just turned 19. I knew people thought it was strange I was still at home, but being the youngest of seven kids I had no real idea what I wanted to do. I had not even graduated from the high school. Only my sisters had done that. But they and my brothers had all moved away, most out West, looking for something better. I was pretty sure I had never wanted anything better. I planned to work the small landholding we had with my Dad, but beyond that I had no real plans. Life had seemed very simple then. I had limited options on the mountain. I had limited options now too, but between those two situations I had experienced so much, or so I felt.

Sitting in that dark hole, I realized life had made plans for me. Despite my best efforts to let things wash over and by me, things had stuck to me. In the space of a few days I had met new people—well, new friends—who seemed closer to me than most of my brothers and sisters. And I had met a woman who had won my heart in a way no one else, not even my parents, had.

And there I was, about to lose those few things that had stuck to me. If I did nothing they would surely kill me, but if I joined them I would lose Walter, Jet, and probably Karn too. I hadn’t shed a tear at Mom and Dad’s funeral, but in the dark I cried sudden tears. They flowed out like a tap turned on, and in the process something unwound in me and I came apart. Walter was right: not all choices are good and bad, but I felt that the choices before me were becoming worse and worse.

I figured that was mostly my doing. Jet was also right: I had been willing to go along for the ride. I needed to start making clear choices—but how? I was locked in a jail with little chance of escape and not very good prospects in the morning. I cried tears of frustration and anger, most of all anger. I was angry with myself for being so passive, for not fighting back harder. I was angry because I had not fought at all.

And right at that point as I lay, still heaving, on the floor, the door creaked open like magic. I thought I had gone mad for sure when I saw Karn in the flickering torch light with a large white rabbit behind her.  “Karn?” I must have looked a mess.

“Eric, what did they do to you?”

“Nothing. I’m okay. No one did anything—well, not yet. I think your fiancé means to kill me in the morning, though.”

“I know. That’s why I’m here. You have to go now, Eric.”

“Did you go to the clearing? They carried me away so quickly...”

“I was warned. Now get up. You need to get out of here!”

“How? What about the guards?”

“Meredith here,” Karn nodded toward the large white rabbit behind her, “makes a powerful sleeping draught, but it doesn’t last for long. She will lead you to outside the town. Walter is waiting there. You have to go.”

“Will you be there?” I asked, searching her face for a clue.

She looked away then turned back with a forced smile. “Not now, Eric. But I promise I will do what I can. I know Papa will soon see how evil Kitsunamoshee is.” She took my hand, her face serious. “You must promise me that you will listen to my plan and follow it. If you don’t Kitsunamoshee’s men will find you and kill you. Above all else I want you to live, even if we cannot be together now.”

“What is the plan?”

“Promise first.”

“Okay, I promise. Just promise me you will let me come back to you.”

She smiled softly, “I promise that back to you. Now, Walter will take you back to the bamboo forest. Wait there until morning. If I do not come you must promise me you will cross over back to your world.”

“No, Karn, I can’t, I don’t want to.”

“You have to. But I promise you I will fix things here and send for you. The Lepus can cross back and forth, you know. They will know where to find you and bring you back. I promise. Do you promise?”

I sighed; this was not what I had planned at all. But I knew by the look on her face that Karn was serious and seemed to have a better way out than my plan at any rate.

“Okay.” I leaned in and kissed her. She grabbed my head and kissed me back hard. As we broke I whispered into her ear, “I promise I will never forget you, Karn. I will count the days until we can be together.”

“I also,” she promised and then pulled away.

From underneath her cloak she drew out a small, leather-wrapped item. She opened it and inside lay a knife about six inches long with an intricately carved rosewood handle. On the steel blade was a brass inlay showing a small vine twining between small figures of rabbits.

“I want you to take this with you, Eric. It was my grandfather’s. Keep it close to you always. As long as you possess it, it will lead you back to me.”

I took the knife, wrapped it back up, and put it in my pocket. “I will keep it close, Karn.”

For the first time that night she graced me with a warm radiant smile. “Okay, go now, quickly. I have work to do.”

I will never forget her face as I left: in the flickering torchlight it looked like a painting by one of those famous European masters. I swear I can still see every detail.

Meredith led me out of the stable area to a back gate to the town. She unlatched it and I went through and found Walter and Path waiting there.

“Well, Eric, seems like you’ve gotten yourself in a boiling pot, huh? I guess I have to rescue you again. Your ledger grows by the day, kid.”

I laughed. “Walter, I think your math is off; this makes us about even I think.”

Walter huffed out of his nose. “Eric, you will always be in my debt, I am afraid. Now, we have to get back to the bamboo forest quickly.”

I nodded, not sure how that would happen. It had taken us at least three days of walking to get here. Walter came in close and put a paw on my shoulder.

“You can never tell anyone ever what we are about to do, understood? If you do so help me I will find you and geld you, clear?”

I nodded, stifling a laugh. He was so serious.

“Climb on.”

“What?” I wasn’t sure I heard him correctly, and if I had, what he even meant.

Path snorted and turned away. Walter sighed and looked at me with a faint expression of pleading.

“Climb on me, Eric. Sit on my shoulders.”

“What!” I actually took a step back.

“Don’t make this any bigger than it is, kid.”

“I didn’t think, I mean, I never even thought—”

“Well, plenty have, so if you ever tell anyone that you rode me I will come beat you to a pulp. Now get on, and hold on to my fur under my head. Do not touch the ears!”

I climbed up as carefully as I could, but it was not an easy thing to do and I did it with as little grace as possible. I had ridden plenty of horses in my day, but this mount was very different. For one thing, Walter’s shoulders were very broad, and without a saddle it was difficult to find a way to hold on.

 “Find the fold in my neck and hold on to that.”

I reached into the fur on the back of his neck and found a fold of soft skin. Finally I was up. “Okay, I think I’m ready, Walter.”

I looked over at Path, who had a funny lopsided grin on his face. Walter grunted and we took off through the night.

I don’t think there is anyone else who can say they travelled through the night for five hours on the back of a six-foot tall, 400 pound rabbit, but let me tell you it was not comfortable. I think Walter did try to make it a smooth ride, but rabbits are not built to stride like a horse. They push off with their rear legs and land on their front. Each time we would hit the ground with a thump. By the time the bamboo forest was in sight I was sore from holding on tight and my head was pounding from the constant thuds of landing. But Lepus can cover great distances quickly when they run and we covered at least half the three-day walk in just a few hours.

After several hours we stopped in a small clearing in the middle of the woods. Both Walter and Path were huffing. I climbed down and looked around. It was still dark, but the moonlight cast a dim light onto the ground.

“Are we there already?” I asked.

“No” Walter said between breaths. “There is a stream nearby. Path and I need a drink. Your ass is heavy.”

I looked down at my skinny frame and laughed. “You’re out of shape old man.”

Walter huffed and he and Path shuffled off a little ways to a small creek that ran at the edge of the clearing. All three of us lowered ourselves to the creek to get a drink. As I sat back letting the cool delicious water slide down my throat I distinctly heard a twig snap. I was about to say something when Water bolted upright and froze, holding out his paw to my face. Path, seeing Walter sit up, also sat up, looking carefully around.

We heard nothing more. The night was still, maybe too still, but it was getting towards dawn and the creatures of the night were settling down.

“Just the wind maybe?” Path said in a barely audible whisper.

“Maybe, but we should go all the same.” Walter said, motioning to me to get up on his back once again. But before I could even step towards him a loud crashing sound came out of the clearing’s other side. Four men, armed with large swords and armor, came rushing towards us.

“Get on! Get on!” Walter screamed. I struggled to climb on Walter’s back, grabbing a handful of fur and pulling myself up.

“Run! Run!” Walter said, but it was too late. The four men were on us, their swords slashing. Walter and Path bolted up, swinging around with their heavy paws. I hung on for dear life on Walter’s back. With a mighty whack! Path’s paw connected with one of the men, sending him sprawling. One of the remaining men’s swords swung at Walter’s face and a bright red line appeared on the tip of Walter’s nose. Walter yelped and then reared up, nearly throwing me, and kicked his right leg out and took down the man with a sickening crunch. The man screamed.

Suddenly I saw something else come out of the woods across the clearing. In the moonlight I could not see anything clearly. It was, I assumed, another rabbit. At first I was happy to see reinforcements, but the blur of ruddy orange and white fur bounced off of Path, sending him sprawling. The other rabbit sleeked into the woods, but I could hear him crashing, turning around for another run at Path. The two remaining men actually scurried off to the side, as if to get out of the way of the new rabbit.

I could feel Walter’s body go very tense underneath me.

“Run dammit!” he screamed at Path, who had stood up again and looked somewhat dazed. But fear quickly registered in his eyes and I could see him scramble to run as Walter, already underway, bounded away from the clearing. Walter was taking huge leaping bounds, at a much, much faster pace than any we had done so far that night. It took all of my strength just to hang on. I could feel myself slipping and grabbed another patch of fur. Walter yelled angrily.

“Watch it!”

“Slow down then damn you!”

“Shut up!” Walter was angry, and still going at a fantastic pace. Behind us I could see Path actually catching up. He was younger after all, and did not have anyone clinging to him. Even though Path pulled alongside Walter neither one slowed down at all. I looked back to see if the third rabbit was following still. I could not see it, but the dark of the woods obscured all but the area right around us.

It was another ten minutes of running before Walter slowed down. I could feel his heart pounding, his breath was fast and ragged. He had clearly worn himself out.

“Down.” He said between gasps. I slid off. I was afraid I had made him angry, but instead and flopped on his side, his chest and belly rising and falling rapidly. Path was breathing quickly too.

“Was that a rabbit?” I asked. Walter and Path briefly looked at each other. Path turned and walked away.

“I’ll look for water” he said, leaving.

“It was a rabbit, right? What else was it? I mean, are there really rabbits who work for the king?”

“Sure” Walter said, still breathing quickly, “Possibly. I don’t know. It was… dark. Did not get a good…look.”

We heard Path call and so we walked down a small hill to find another little stream. This time the water had a slightly brackish taste to it. I did not drink from it, but the two rabbits eagerly lapped up a great quantity.

“What just happened?” I asked as they drank their fill.

“Dunno, some sort of ambush” Path offered.

“But how would they know, how could they keep up with us?”

Path did not respond, but Walter sat back, water dripping from his chin. “Informants, I suspect. Got ahead of us and told the locals.. or something.” Walter was acting strangely, eh would not make eye contact with me.

“But we were going so fast. Was that a rabbit?”

“We weren’t going that fast.” Walter huffed. “You saw how fast we can go! Now, come one. We shouldn’t linger. They probably know where we are headed now anyway. We should get there as soon as possible.”

Despite my best efforts neither rabbit wanted to talk about the ambush anymore, so I dropped it. I tried to keep in mind what they were risking just to ferry me to safety. We continued on, not at the breakneck pace of the last half an hour, but at a considerably faster pace than the first part of the journey.

After another hour or so we slowed down. We then stopped behind the same large rock outcropping I had climbed to spy down on Walter and Andrew originally. We rested with our backs against an overhang. We had a clear view of the pathway leading to the forest. No one said very much. Walter broke out a packet with splints and gave one each to me and Path.

I wanted to revisit what had happened but Walter spoke up first.

“So, what, exactly, happened back at the castle Eric? What are we accessory to?” Walter said, a grin creeping across his face for the first time that night. I told them everything I could remember.

Path huffed through his nose, “Nasty business in him. I suspect this king may be more trouble than we think.”

“Everyone who thinks the way he does is trouble, Path. It is not just the king we should be worried about.” Walter said quietly. He was somber. He and Path exchanged looks again.

“I should stay, Walter. Surely there is some place I could hide and wait to see how things turn out. I could even help. If enough people side with the Lepus then maybe we can convince the others—”

Walter put his paw up. “It’s not your fight, Eric.”

“Doesn’t have to be. I’ll do it because it’s the right thing to do.”

“We don’t need heroes,” Walter said, maybe a bit more gruffly than he meant to. “There was a moment back there where I thought that you and I and Jet might be a winning combination. But I was wrong. No, let me finish. I was wrong not because of you, but because I misread my choices. I thought you were a choice I had, but you aren’t. Not yet, not now, not in this situation.”

“But maybe one day?”

Walter smiled, “Maybe, Eric. Maybe. You’re no good to us dead and now that you’ve gone and made time with the king’s betrothed, you’d be dead before anyone even thought of fighting for us or anyone.”

I had to admit to myself that Walter was right.

“I understand. I appreciate you being honest. But you have to promise me that when things are better, you’ll come and get me.”

Walter got up and thumped his paw into the dirt in front of the fire.

“Eric, stranger from across the bamboo, I swear on the gods of earth and water that I will come for you as soon as I am able,” he winked at me.

Path chuckled, “Been a longtime since I heard that oath.”

Walter laughed.

I must have looked confused—which I was—because Path went on, “We rabbits never make promises, Eric—never. If we break them our souls will be devoured by foxes in hell.”

Walter shivered and Path made a funny motion with his left paw.  

“So when we do, it’s a big deal. Consider yourself lucky. Not only did you ride a rabbit but he also swore an oath to you too.” Path said with a wry expression.

“Just keep the knife Karn gave you,” Walter said, suddenly serious.

I nodded.

“Time for bed, Eric. You got us into this mush, you keep watch. Although I doubt we’ll have company the rest of tonight. We need rest and once we get you across that bamboo we ain’t getting anymore.”

Walter and Path fell asleep right away. I tried to stay awake to keep watch but I too succumbed, overwhelmed with tiredness.

When I awoke it seemed like mid-afternoon. I heard a far-off rustling. It sounded like the thumping I had been subjected to and at first I thought I was still dreaming. But soon I could see in the distance a large white shape quickly coming down the road. I nudged Walter.

By the time he was awake, Meredith, Karn’s rabbit-in-waiting, had bounded into the clearing next to our rock. She was out of breath and visibly excited.

“Eric! You must go now, quickly, back to your home,” she squeaked. “The king’s men left yesterday. It seems they were tipped off you might come here and they mean to seal off your escape.”

“We were chased back at Staunton creek Meredith” Walter said.

“Then they do know” she replied.

“Who would have even known I would come here?” I asked.

Walter gave a large snort. “Smit  is a devil, even if he is a drunk.”

“I want to wait, incase Karn shows…” I said, searched Meredith’s face. Her expression told me everything I needed to know.

“She won’t be coming Eric.” Meredith said softly.

“Eric, we can’t wait here too much longer” Walter said, his expression serious but kind.  

Suddenly his ears went up, as did Path’s and Meredith’s, although I heard nothing.

“Men are coming. Quickly Eric—go!”

“Why don’t we fight them?”

“And then what? Remember the promise, kid.” Walter said, herding me to the field in front of the stream. “They’ll send more men, catch you, catch us, eventually, and kill us. If you go now you can come back when things have settled down.”

 “But what will happen now if that guy gets into power?”

“It’ll be years before he takes the throne, and Karn will get her father to see his errors before that.” Walter stopped and put his paw on my shoulder again.

“You cannot win this, not now. As long as you are here you are in danger of being killed and, to be honest, in the way. Let us do what we can. We will come back for you, I promise. Karn promises. Heck, even Jet does.”

“How long? I can’t wait forever, you know.”

“I know, kid. But it may take a few months to settle the dust. Don’t worry; we’ll find you. Just keep looking for a friendly rabbit.” Walter smiled and gave me another wink.

I gave him a hug, and Path, and even a surprised Meredith. Then I walked across the field. I turned back to look for them, but they had already hopped away. I waded into the stream and climbed up the other side. I pushed my way into the forest and within a few feet was lost again. It was so thick I panicked a little, afraid I would not be able to find my way back. Just when I was sure I would not be able to actually return, I found myself stumbling out into the field at the foot of the mountain.

I was back home. Alone.

“Then what Paw Paw?”

“Then nothing, boy. The story is over, that’s then what.”

“No, I mean did the princess ever come back?”

Paw Paw looked at Riley for a moment, at first with anger but then sorrow. “No, of course not; it’s just a story, boy. It never happened. Weren’t no princess. It was just a story.”

Riley was confused. “A story, like made up?”

“Yes! No. I don’t know. It’s been 75 years, Riley. At this point I am pretty sure it is just a made up story. A dream or something I read once and thought it happened to me. I don’t know. And it don’t matter none does it?” he laughed and started to cough. “Even if it were true it’s been a long time and she never came back to her young lover, did she? Pretty sad excuse for a love story if you ask me: boy meets a girl for a few days and then loses her and waits 75 years for her to show up. It never happened, boy. Just a stupid story with giant rabbits. Lewis Carroll did it better anyway. Now go on.”

“But Paw Paw, we could try and go back; go through the bamboo!”

“Boy, I tried that for the longest time. I never could find my way back. I would get in there and get lost. I even waited by the forest, expecting to see Walter hop out. But that’s when I knew it was just my imagination. No six foot tall rabbit ever came out of those woods Riley—never has, never will.”

“What about the knife then? The one you gave me. Is that the one Karn gave you?”

“That? Best as I can recall it must have been my grandfather who gave it to me, Riley. Sorry, but it is just a knife.”

“Not like any I ever saw.”

“What do you know, boy? Now go on. I’m tired. Leave me alone. Too damn old to believe in fairy tales. Leave me in peace.”