Lucky Rabbit

For a moment, Pandy felt like she was floating, and then she was surrounded by light and a high-pitched shrieking. Whoever was making that noise really needed to stop, but Pandy couldn’t do anything about it right now – not that she actually would, because that would probably just upset the shrieker even more – because she was desperately trying to cling to whatever she was standing on.

Opening her mouth, Pandy bit down on the brown object in front of her, which tasted like old leather and sweat. She really wished she didn’t know what that tasted like, but there was that one time Kharyssa Miller stuffed a baseball glove in her mouth and shoved her into a locker, so she did, and this was it.

She barely managed not to spit it right back out again, and forced her eyes open, only to see a broad blue thing bumping up and down right in front of her nose. The screaming hadn’t altered one iota, but as she became used to it, she realized the thudding sound she was hearing was not in fact her heart, which wasn’t beating, because she was already dead.

No, the thudding was the hooves of an enraged horse, and the blue thing in front of her was the seat of Thaniel’s shorts, bobbing up and down as said horse attempted to throw him off. Setting aside the question of why Thaniel was on a horse at all when he didn’t know how to ride, from the brief glimpses she could get past his bottom and the saddle she’d chomped, he was barely hanging on. His fists were tangled in the horse’s mane, while the reins flopped around in front of him.

The screecher finally paused for breath, and Pandy was barely able to make out a deep, male voice over the sound of hooves pounding packed earth. “-the reins, lad! Sit back and hang on!”

Pandy had ridden a pony once at a fair when she was about eight years old. Its handler had dressed it up in a unicorn costume, and it had been walking in docile circles for hours before her foster parents could convince Pandy to give it a try. They didn’t yet understand about her luck, but she did, and nothing good would come of her sitting on a beast four times her size. She’d been right, and she still felt bad about what happened to that mime.

In any case, they’d yelled things just like this at her then, and she’d reacted much like Thaniel did now, which was to lean forward and grab the mane even more tightly. Of course, she’d just ended up with two handfuls of tinsel and horsehair extensions, so at least Thaniel was doing a little better than she had. And there were no mimes in Gacha Love, thank goodness.

But she had no doubt this was an attempt on the part of that idiot god’s magic to ‘put things right’ by killing Thaniel. The god had agreed to help her keep Thaniel safe, and yes, she was here, but what good could she do while she was getting a root canal from a leather saddle? This was going to take drastic measures.

she thought as she managed to get her paws beneath her. And, miraculously, it worked.

Hop successful. 12.5% experience gained towards next level.

As the horse went back down, Pandy went up. She flew into the air, much higher than she’d actually intended, and heard the renewed scream choke off again as several people gasped. What? Like an airborne rabbit wasn’t something they saw every day?

As she came back down, she saw the long reins flapping in the breeze. Fortunately, they were made from one long piece of leather that was attached to both sides of the horse’s leather halter thing, rather than two separate strips, like in old Westerns. That meant they hadn’t fallen to the side and tangled around the horse’s legs, effectively irretrievable and probably adding to the chaos.

On her way back down again, Pandy bit into that loose leather strap. She fell for a moment longer before being brought up sharply when the reins snapped taut, yanking the horse’s head to one side. Pandy wasn’t heavy, being a fairly average-sized rabbit of around three or four pounds, but the force of her fall was enough to have an effect, and the poor horse let out an aggrieved whinny.

She caught a glimpse of motion from the corner of her eye, and then a broad hand grasped the reins just above Pandy’s teeth, pulling the horse’s head down in a smooth, confident motion. The horse grunted as it strained to pull away, but the man attached to the hand didn’t budge, and after a few prancing steps, the horse settled down.

Immediately, more people ran toward them, and someone pulled Thaniel from the horse’s back. The little boy clung to his rescuer, crying with hiccuping sobs that wrenched Pandy’s undead heart. Unfortunately, she couldn’t do anything about it, since she was still dangling helplessly from the reins.

Then someone else took the horse from the owner of the strong hands, and one of those hands grasped the back of Pandy’s neck, lifting her up so a pair of gray eyes could stare at her with clear fascination. The man turned Pandy, examining her from every angle as she assumed a shrimp-like curl with her paws covering her underside. There was no need for anyone to look at her that closely, and if she could have blushed, her ears would be bright red by now.

“Is this the rabbit you mentioned, Corbin?” a pleasant baritone asked, and Pandy felt her fur shiver. She’d always been a sucker for a great voice.

Captain Reedsley’s rougher tones replied, “It is, Augustus. I don’t know what it was doing there, however.” He sounded more bemused than upset, and when Pandy looked at him, it turned out he was the person holding Thaniel, and one big, calloused hand was patting the boy on his back soothingly.

“Want Bunny,” Thaniel’s muffled voice said, and both men stopped and looked at the boy as he turned a blotchy, tear-stained face toward the newcomer. Thaniel held out his arms, little hands grasping for Pandy, and she was soon firmly ensconced in the warm space between the child and Captain Reedsley.

“What in the world happened here?” The Captain’s voice rumbled beneath one of Pandy’s ears, and with Thaniel still using the other as a handkerchief, she didn’t understand the response. She did, however, understand when Captain Reedsley said, “Geraldine?”

Thaniel’s head popped up instantly, and he stiffly said, “It wasn’t Geraldine’s fault! She told me not to, but I didn’t listen.” He hung his head again, a golden curl drooping disconsolately above his right eye. “I wanted to show her that I wasn’t afraid.”

“I’m sorry, Papa.” Geraldine sounded miserable, and her voice rasped painfully, making Pandy realize that she was probably the screamer. “I know Misty only lets girls ride her, but I thought since he was such a little boy, she might not notice.”

“I’m not little!” Thaniel exclaimed, beginning to wiggle in Captain Reedsley’s arms. “I’ll be six in,” he hesitated, blinking, then said, “a week?” Fresh tears welled as he realized that he would be in a strange house without his father when he reached that milestone, and the gray-eyed stranger quickly tugged an actual cloth handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to the boy.

Geraldine had a completely different reaction, however. Her freckled little face cleared up instantly, and she clapped her hands. “Oh! We can have a birthday party for you, Thaniel! It’ll be lovely! I’ll have Chef make my favorite summer-berry tarts, and crumpets with jam and clotted cream. Miss Cupcakes will have to have a new ribbon, and I’m sure Mama will help me buy you a wonderful gift!”

Thaniel paused with his nose buried in the handkerchief, blinking owlishly at the girl. “A…party?”

Geraldine set her hands on her hips, flashing a grin. For the first time, Pandy realized that she was missing a tooth, creating an adorable gap on the left side of her mouth. “I’m the best at throwing parties,” she said with the confidence of youth. “I have at least three tea parties for my dolls every week.”

Above the children’s heads, the two men exchanged glances. Neither of the children seemed to catch it, and when Captain Reedsley opened his mouth to say something, he was interrupted by yet another new arrival.

“Thaniel!” Lian barked, storming up to the group. “The maid said you were almost killed by a horse. What happened?” He snatched his little brother from Captain Reedsley’s hands, and Thaniel barely managed to hang onto Pandy during the transfer. Lian was tall for his age, but he was still only a slender fourteen, so he struggled a bit, then set Thaniel down beside him, keeping a protective hand on the boy’s shoulder.

“It’s all right,” Thaniel said, leaning into Lian’s side. The older boy didn’t allow much in the way of physical affection, and Thaniel was clearly enjoying this rare opportunity. “I just bounced around a lot. This nice man stopped the horse before it could throw me off.” He smiled shyly at the stranger, who gave him a polite nod and a small smile in return.

Pandy gave a little huff, though. Who had grabbed the reins and pulled the horse around so the ‘nice man’ could do the saving? She had, and she was fairly certain that at least two of her teeth were loose now, and who knew how long that would take to fix? But did anyone thank the rabbit? No!

Except that someone did. The man Captain Reedsley had called Augustus bent forward slightly, those clear gray eyes locked on Pandy. “I was only able to do so so easily because of the young man’s pet. Bunny, was it?”

Thaniel promptly held Pandy up, beaming in pride. “This is Bunny! But how did she help?”

Augustus actually looked a bit chagrined. “I was trying to call my air elemental, but she’s really quite fickle, as they tend to be, and she refused to come. Just as I decided I would have to try to grab the reins myself, Bunny flew through the air and grasped the reins in her teeth. That made it a simple matter for me to take hold of them, and from there, the deed was done.”

Thaniel’s mouth actually dropped open. “Bunny flew?”

The man’s lips quivered in something that wasn’t quite a smile, though it clearly wanted to be. “Ah, no. I believe she actually jumped, but it was still quite impressive.”

Thaniel pulled Pandy back in for a hug, and he buried his face in her fur. “You’re the best bunny ever.”

“Well,” Lian said, sounding very stiff and formal, “fortunately we’ll be leaving soon, so we won’t have to worry about anything like this happening again. Obviously no one here is capable of keeping one little boy safe.”

Said little boy opened his mouth, probably to protest being called ‘little’ again, but then his expression melted into sorrow as he said, “We’re leaving?”

Augustus cleared his throat. “Yes. I’m terribly sorry, Thaniel, Geraldine, but the Queen has decided that she would like to speak to Lord Killian herself. I’ve been sent to bring him back, and he’s unwilling to leave Nathaniel behind. We need to leave first thing in the morning, if not sooner.”

Thaniel’s lip quivered as he said, “But I was gonna to have a birthday party. A real one, like Mama used to have, not just some candles in a cake Marta made.”

Lian’s unyielding expression cracked, and he said, “Father didn’t make sure you had a party?”

Thaniel looked down, scuffing his toe in the dirt. “He forgot. Marta made apple cake and found a candle that was only half-burned for me to blow out.” Looking up, he saw the expression on everyone’s faces, and quickly said, “It wasn’t that bad! I didn’t have Bunny yet, but I played outside all day, and made little poppets to be my friends, and they gave me acorns and buttercups as presents. Marta even sang me a song when I blew out my candle.”

Pandy wished she could burst into tears the way Geraldine looked like she was going to. The tip of the girl’s nose was bright red, and her eyes were glassy, but she blinked fiercely as she said, “I’ll go have Chef start a cake right now. The tarts take too long, but you can have some next time. Does it have to be apple cake?”

Thaniel wrinkled his nose just a little. “I don’t really like apple cake,” he confessed, “but Marta does, and I didn’t mind.”

“What kind of cake do you like, Thaniel?” Captain Reedsley asked, his voice studiously unconcerned. He was looking a little teary himself, but was obviously determined not to let the boy see.

“Choc’late!” Thaniel said promptly. “That was Mama’s favorite, and we would always have lemon sherbet with it. Daddy always used to tease her and say the combination was just like her, sweet and sharp!”

Lian was staring at the ground by now, and without looking up, he said, “You should stay here, Thaniel.” Everyone looked at him, startled. He turned away from his brother, his whole body rigid as he went on. “I can get to the capital faster without you, and it won’t do to keep the Queen waiting. I’ll come back for you after…after it’s done.”

To Pandy’s utter shock, Augustus reached out and gently patted Lian on the head. He patted the penultimate villain of the game! On the head! And even more shockingly, Lian allowed it! But of course Lian wasn’t yet ‘Killian the Villian’, he was just a boy whose father had died, and who was probably about to have a very uncomfortable conversation with his monarch.

Dropping his hand, Augustus said, “We’ll leave in the morning, then, and Thaniel can have a proper party on his birthday. We might even be back in time to celebrate with you.” He sounded like he thought that was an actual possibility, but a glance at Captain Reedsley and Lian told Pandy they didn’t agree.

“I’ll go with you,” Captain Reedsley said. “Her Majesty will want to ask questions about, ah,” he looked down at Thaniel, who was watching him with large blue eyes, “the mission.”

Augustus nodded. “Done, then. Now, where is that elemental?” Looking around, apparently at empty air, he called, “Cieris! Come here!”

Everyone else looked around as well, but Pandy couldn’t really look up, since Thaniel’s chin was tucked against the top of her head. Thus, she was probably the first to see the knee-high dust devil swirl up to Augustus’ polished black boots. It hesitated, then brushed against his leg, and he looked down, shaking his head. “There you are. Carry a message back to the capital and let them know we’ll be leaving early tomorrow.”

The whirlwind stretched up, narrowing in something that could have been a nod, then swirled away, up into the sky, where it was visible only as it caught leaves and motes of dust that spun unnaturally. Augustus sighed, but his expression was one of affectionate forbearance.

“Air elementals are by far the least reliable of a mage’s potential companions. I find myself envying Earth mages in particular. Earth is so very dependable, and can be turned to so many helpful purposes. Still, no one chooses their elemental alignment, and at least with Air I can be useful to our Queen as a messenger.”

Captain Reedsley snorted. “You know you’re far more than just a messenger, Augustus. Now, shall we get the children inside and call the healer to look Thaniel over, just to be safe? Doctor Edwards keeps saying he should have his own room, given how much time he spends here, and I’m beginning to see his point.”

All eyes turned to Thaniel, who reddened. Shifting Pandy to one arm, he pulled his shirt down, his pants up, and shoved his wild curls out of his eyes. “I’m fine,” he insisted, before glancing sidelong at Geraldine. “Though I ‘spose I should clean up and change before lunch.”

Lian actually laid an arm around his brother’s shoulders, turning the boy toward the house. “Mother always said a gentleman should never attend a meal unkempt.”

“What’s ‘kempt’ mean?” Thaniel asked, and Pandy closed her eyes, relaxing in his arms. It seemed that the immediate crisis was over, and while she definitely needed to have a longer chat with the god, Thaniel was safe for the moment. Now, she just had to figure out how to keep him that way.