Freiyon Fables: The Rochester Runes

“Then you are the one that saved us. Well, I must admit that is an enormous relief. I thank you, Lord Libertas, for saving us from the Grabbers. But I must ask a question that has been bothering me since this all started.”

“You may. Bear in mind that you do not always need to ask for my permission for things.”

Charles nodded. “Why OUR family? Why us? Surely another adventure seeking family could be chosen.”

“You have worked out you were chosen, not by fate but by Freiyon itself?”

“I suspected it after certain things happened.”

“Indeed. Perhaps it is best to answer your question when your family aren’t nearby.”

Pointing up, Lord Libertas and Charles saw that the other swans had caught up and were getting closer by the second.

“Something else is coming too!” Charles exclaimed.

“That’s not a swan! We’ve got to do something before The Grabbers find out where we are and Hero Glider isn’t going to come back until the swans have landed.”

Charles turned to the bear lord. “Some-one has gotta do something,” He ran and jumped out of the cave, turning into a swan within seconds “And that some-one is me!”

Lord Libertas watched as Charles disappeared into the clouds as a swan and then focused his attention on the approaching danger.

‘That kid has spirit in him, there’s no doubt about that!’

The rest of the kids were unknowingly getting closer to the cave when something black flashed past them, obviously trying to attack them. Robert forced his swan to dodge the black attacker as he noticed another swan appearing through the clouds (this was Charles) honking at the attacker. The two clashed together, pecking and clawing while still in flight, acting fast, Robert led the other swans away from the fight, but more black-birds came towards him.

Figuring out now that every animal in this world could talk, Robert gave a quick order to his swan.

“We can’t let those black birds get us! We gotta get high and fast! I’ve got an idea!”

His swan nodded, ducked down to avoid an attacker, and then headed straight up into the sky. The other swans had to dodge and weave through the attackers as they quickly followed Robert’s swan. Charles and the raven (for that was what was attacking them) were still attacking each other as they started falling towards the ground. Thinking it was getting the upper-hand, the raven whistled to attract its companions, but was knocked-out by a surprise attack from Charles to its stomach. With that raven taken care of, Charles looked up at his family and friends and scowled. ‘Alright, Grabbers! You’ve asked for it!’

As Robert led the group higher into the sky, he grabbed sun-glasses out of his bag and put them on, telling his friends and sister to do likewise.

“I know you can understand me swan, so listen carefully. We’ve got to head straight for the sun because it’ll blind the birds. The only problem is that you will be blinded too. I need to figure something out.”

“There’s no need,” His swan replied. “Your brother is already taking care of the ravens right now.”

Robert looked back in surprise and saw one swan fighting against the other birds. Robert remembered his wish and cheered.

“Alright! Let’s give Charles a hand!”

Diving down again, the group of swans attacked the ravens quickly and fiercely, making sure they didn’t make their riders fall off.

“This is AWESOME!” Jasper exclaimed.

It took eight whole minutes, but the swans triumphed over the ravens, watching as the severely wounded ones crossly flew away. The kids all cheered as the swans waited until the ravens had completely disappeared before they headed back down to the secret cave entrance. Just as they landed in the cave, Charles turned back into a human and landed on the ground, stumbling a little. He looked around the cave, realizing that Lord Libertas wasn’t there.

“Where has he gone?”

“Where has WHO gone, Charles?” Robert asked, as he popped down from his swan.

“Lord Libertas was here earlier when I first came into this cave. He’s not here now.”

“Probably has a whole world to ‘lord’ over, Charles. That’s what human lords do, you know.”

Charles turned to give a reply but saw Lord Libertas standing right behind Robert. Charles smiled. “I wouldn’t call him ‘human’, Robert.”

Jasper rolled his eyes, not sarcastically, but at something that had risen above him.

Robert chuckled. “What else could he be ... He’s right behind me, isn’t he?”

Lord Libertas chuckled, and then choked a bit. “You must be Robert Rochester.”

Robert spun around to see the speaker and gulped in shock. “Oh, Gawd! A brown bear! Charles, now I KNOW this place is real. There’s a brown bear right in front of me!”

“Welcome to my new home, dear children. Please, do not be afraid. I bring you stern news, but your feelings shouldn’t be crushed by that. *cough cough!* Come in and be welcome.”

Robert started shivering in fear. “A TALKING brown bear, that just makes it w-w-worse! You must be the L-L-L-Lord Charles mentioned.”

All the kids turned their attention to the bear lord as he spoke. “I am Lord Libertas, lord of this land known as Freiyon; *cough cough!* and from the bottom of my big, caring heart I thank you children for returning hope to our world.” The bear looked at Jasper, Joe and Robert, who were shivering from fright.

“My friends, you are scared. Pray tell me why?”

“W … W … We’ve n … never seen such a b ... b ... big bear like y ... y ... yourself before.” Joe stammered.

“W … We’re not from h … here you see, s … sir.” Jasper said.

“A-And in our w-world brown bears are generally f-f-fierce creatures.” Robert explained.

Frebil thought about this. “You three trust me now right?” They vaguely nodded. “Well you know I wouldn’t lie to you about anything, considering that we’ve already been through a fight and also considering that I was there to help you out with getting to the wall, Robert.”

“Well…yeah that’s true.” Robert grunted, rolling his eyes a bit.

“Well believe me now, when I say this, that Lord Libertas is a friendly and trust-worthy bear and that he would never, EVER do anything to hurt any of you. You have to believe me on that. Please!”

The three boys looked guilty. “Look, we…we’re sorry… This is all still very tough to get a handle on. Particularly since myself and Joe only got here not that long ago. But… look we’ll give it our best shot.” Jasper replied.

Frebil looked back at Lord Libertas. “Will that be good enough, Lord?”

Lord Libertas gave a firm nod, before choking a bit more. Charles noticed that he seemed incredibly weak and sick. Hopefully he would get better soon.

Lord Libertas then walked over to Sarah.

“Greetings to you, Sarah; your smart mind is always welcome around here.”

“How do you know us sir?”

“Your story has been told throughout the whole kingdom, told by a young traveller fox, one which I’ve seen… once before and hope to see again. You and your brothers are quite the warriors. Hero-glider here told me of Charles’ amazing and almost life-threatening fight with the evil tree that kidnapped you. And you, Robert, did something amazing when you risked being caught out by those tribe rats.”

Sarah sighed with relief. Libertas came up to her and she smiled.

“Thank you, Lord Libertas. I’m sorry, but I’m afraid I’m nothing but a victim and a wuss. I shouldn’t even be here.”

“That is not true, my child. You were smart to get the book from where it belonged, and you managed to keep it away from the Staring soldier. And when you were shut away from the other world, you were not crying for too long before you decided to control yourself. You are braver than you think, Sarah.” Lord Libertas said, patting Sarah gently. He gave another violent cough before looking at Charles.

“Something is troubling you, dear Charles?”

“It’s just my Mum. I’d really like to know if she is alright and that nothing has happened to her because of all this.”

Robert and Sarah nodded. They hoped that their Mum was safe as well.

“She is alive and well, Charles. However, you must keep in mind that those soldiers have taken over the house you were in. The only way you can help her stay safe is by listening to what we have to say. I give you my word as a lord and a bear that she will not be harmed if she goes back into that house.”

Charles smiled and thanked the bear, shaking the lord’s strong paw for the first time. Lord Libertas struggled to keep in another sever cough as Charles did that.

“Now, I believe you have something for Charles, Hero-glider.” The bear turned to Charles’ flying companion, who appeared nearby showing he’d been there all along. This surprised Charles, because he thought Hero-glider had gone for a rest, but obviously he had been there the whole time.

Hero-glider was carrying something in his wings, and when Charles looked properly, he realized it was a uniform that seemed almost made from pure gold, and had any feathers along it, all of which looked like they came from a swan as well. It also had a belt buckle around the chest area that held a golden sword enchanted by the swan to be powerful and strike true. Confused, Charles stepped back a bit as he was uncertain what was going on.

“Don’t be alarmed, friend. This once belonged to a strong and brave swan warrior among my group, and before he died he wanted me to promise that it would go to a brave warrior just as talented and adventurous and brave as he once was. You showed me today that you have that same bravery and warrior spirit within you the previous owner of this had. It would mean a lot to me if you were to accept this gift and wear it wherever you go.” He handed the golden, feathered uniform over to Charles with loyal eyes. Charles accepted it, although he was still a bit confused as to why Hero-glider was giving him the gift.

“Thank you, my trusty companion.” He managed to say, without being too rude.

Lord Libertas smiled at the sight, and then clapped his paws to get everyone’s attention. “Alright, brave warriors, come in and meet the rest of the excited company I have waiting for you. *cough, cough* your story has been quite amazing for them and I am sure they would love to hear it.”

The kids and swans then followed Lord Libertas and went inside the cavern, following the bear wherever he went.

Elsewhere, back in the Rochester Manor, although getting quite close to the Freiyon world, Mary and her gang of officers were silent as snakes slithering through the secret tunnel. Mary was starting to see some light ahead of her, even though her torch was on. Mary signalled to the men to turn their torches off and she did the same. They were just about to get to the portal that would lead them into the world of Freiyon when rocks exploded mere centimetres to the side of Mary. Everyone turned to see who the attacker was and, to their shock, saw that the Staring Soldier was still alive! It had come back, and it was intending on finishing its’ programmed job.

Mary jumped back in shock, firing her gun at the soldier by mistake.

“You Will Not Pass! You Cannot Go Any Further! My Master Wants You All To Stop. Mary Rochester, You Will Be The First To Die!”

The ravaging robot charged up his laser hands, which were inbuilt into him by his master thanks to current day technology, and pointed them right at Mary’s chest.

“STOP!” Some-one’s voice announced. To Mary’s complete shock, behind the Staring soldier along the tunnel where they had just come, walked Helen Rochester completely alone.

She walked slowly but steadily along the old tunnel and pointed a finger at the soldier.

“T-t-this has gone on too long! I will not l-l-let you take any more lives! Go and tell your master THAT! S-s-spare the lives of these people. Let them live and prosper.”

The moment Helen was three feet away from the staring soldier, Jay pointed his gun up at the staring soldier as he tried to warn the feeble woman about the situation.

“Please, Mrs. Rochester, DON’T go any further. This is a serious ...”

“I know EXACTLY what this is. T-t-that soldier has caused my family too much suffering now: it took away my husband all those years ago. I’m n-n-not going to let it take away anything else.” Even though her voice seemed to be failing her, she managed to make her sentence sound strong and brave.

The Staring Soldier turned to Helen with its laser arms. “Suit Yourself.”

The Staring Soldier shot the lasers right at her chest.

The moment was a shocked blur. Helen was almost pushed out of the way by Jay, Mary had to step back to get out of the way, but Helen was definitely hit.

The second Helen had been hit, the Staring Soldier stomped away into the distance.

“Mary, you get your grand-mother back to the house, we’ll take care of this guy.”

Mary nodded and, with the assistance of another officer, quickly carried Helen’s body back to the house. But as she was doing that, she couldn’t help but think about how the laser that had shot from the Staring Soldier had been, most definitely, a different colour. What did that mean?

Back in the Freiyon world within the hidden mountain cavern, Lord Libertas came to a halt in the cavern, arriving in an area where there were tons of lights and torches around them but, they thought, no sign of life.

“Lord Libertas brings comfort and friends to your people, King Karel.” Libertas announced into the shadows.

Charles heard a rumble from somewhere and then a rough voice came out of the shadows.

“Justice, loyalty and bravery, that’s what I believe in, Lord, and these humans you have brought as company fit well in that category, from what I have heard. You are allowed to enter,”

Out of the shadows came a ferocious lion wearing a crown on his head, but even though he was fearsome, none of the kids or swans were scared. They had all just about come to expect seeing bizarre things now.

“I am King Karel, welcome to our new home. I believe you have made Lord Libertas a good friend of yours. And whoever is friend to Lord Libertas is a friend to me as well.” The King explained.

“Allow us to introduce ourselves to you, your majesty. I am Charles Rochester; this is my brave brother, Robert and my gallant sister, Sarah. These are our four best friends, Jarryd, Frebil, Joe and Jasper. We are here to you rid this world of the curse that has wrong Freiyon and our family.”

“Then you and your friends are more than welcome. We will make you our honoured guests and we shall assist you with the quest you are on.”

Walking into another chamber, the kids and their swans were met by millions of animals, all of which were bigger than they would be in our world. All the animals shouted and roared as the kids entered.

“The King would like to announce that Charles and his friends and family are always welcome here. We hope that you enjoy your stay here.” An Elephant bellowed.

“Our new friends are tired from their adventures. They require rest; I hope your majesty can organize this?” Lord Libertas asked, before coughing violently.

“Indeed I can. We shall have the best prepared for our honoured guests. Monkeys and apes, set down your bananas and make our guests welcome.” King Karel told the primates.

The kids were led into another cave as some monkeys smartly set up a bedroom for the kids. The monkeys were doing everything they could to make the visitors comfortable. After an hour of waiting, the room was ready, beds were set and clothes were sown for the kids.

“Thank you for all this, your majesty.” Charles said to King Karel.

“Think nothing of it, brave Charles Rochester. You’re our honored guests and our saviors. We have no trouble when it comes to giving special guests special treatment. Now, off to bed with you all, you need a rest for tomorrow.”

Once the kids were left alone to dress in night clothes, Charles chose his bed closest to the entrance and bid good-night to his companions.

Later that night, Charles’s dreams were of a strange nature. He dreamt he was back in the other world where his Mum was having trouble finding clues. She was calling Charles’s name, and Charles was calling her. Was she alright? Was nothing hurting her, like the bear lord had said.

Then he saw the evil eyes of the Staring soldier and screamed. He woke up and looked around. His sister and brother were fast asleep, snoring. Frebil was curled up in a ball and Joe and Jasper had not moved from their original sleeping position, plus Jarryd was somehow sleeping whilst leaning against his bow.