Freiyon Fables: The Rochester Runes
Chapter Thirteen: Charles' Quest

Charles was about to go back to sleep when he heard an odd noise. Slipping on a gown and slippers, Charles crept through the cave to find the location of the noise. He heard other animal noises from different caves, but it was just the one noise that had his attention. A sobbing noise. Some animal was crying somewhere and Charles couldn’t bear seeing an animal cry, so he wanted to see what was wrong. He entered another cavern tunnel where the noise got louder.

“Hello? Is everything alright?” He called, trying not to be too loud.

He walked further down the tunnel, trying to figure out if it was an animal or not.

“Hello, can I help you at all?”

The sobbing stopped, and the voice that replied sounded a bit stern.

“You should be in your bed, young one.” It warned, in a tone that sounded ungrateful for company.

“I had a bad dream and woke up. I heard a poor creature crying and wanted to comfort them.”

“Then you have come *cough, cough* to the right place. For I am that creature. Enter, dear child. I need a companion.”

Charles walked into the cavern room and saw the beast that had been crying.

“Lord Libertas? What is the matter? That sickness… has it gotten worse?”

“Yes, brave Charles, and I need to be healed *cough, cough* very soon. However, I cannot be healed by a doctor, whether human or animal. I fear I need something different to *cough, cough* heal me.”

“Would you like me to get it for you?”

“I’m afraid it’s not that easy. You see, I need a cat’s claw dug into a human’s arm for me to be healed. The blood from the human mixed with the cat’s sleekness and beauty will help me strengthen me, and hopefully rid me of this infernal sickness!”

Charles knew what he had to do.

“I will go get my cat for this healing. I will go alone, because it won’t be long if I go alone. I will fight my way through my home if I have to, as long as I get there before the sickness you have becomes fatal! I will never let an animal die, not a brave Lord like you or a small mouse like Frebil.”

Lord Libertas smiled weakly. “You are brave, Charles Rochester, and such bravery will need to be shown from now on. Very well, I shall have your faithful swan, Hero-glider; take you back to the moving wall. From there on, you must travel alone.”

Once Charles had gotten dressed properly, they walked into the swans’ resting room, Charles having to push the surprisingly light Bear Lord along.

Hero-glider rose silently when Charles called to him.

“Hero-glider, I need you to assist me on this quest. I have to get to the wall where I first came through to get here. Don’t worry I will guide you, but you must fly me there quickly; Lord Libertas needs our help!”

The three of them walked out to the entrance and Charles hopped onto Hero-glider’s back. Of course, Charles could’ve turned into a bird and flown there himself, but if trouble were to arise, it may be better to be riding on a bird than actually becoming a bird especially in this strange world.

“Ride the winds fast, Hero-glider. Lord Libertas’s health is in our hands.”

He waved good-bye to the bear lord as Hero-glider flew into the air.

“God-speed and safe journey, Charles.” Lord Libertas called to Charles, clenching his fists against his furry chest in agony.

Charles and Hero-glider were still flying through the air towards the wall, unaware that The Grabbers were watching them from nearby. However, Hero-glider was keeping a watch underneath and beyond him while Charles looked around and behind.

“Uh, oh. Looks like trouble.” Hero-glider said.

“Where, my friend?” Charles asked.

Suddenly, Charles ducked as vultures swooped past.

“That was close!”

“Don’t celebrate now, looks like there’s a heap more coming, and they mean business. Better get your sword ready,”

Charles retrieved his golden sword and prepared himself.

“To the left, Charles,”

Charles slashed at two vultures and managed to jump over one, without losing his position.

“Down below!”

Charles saw the vulture and jumped down onto Hero-glider’s big foot. Hanging on tightly to the cob’s foot with one hand and the sword with the other, Charles kicked, slashed and threw vultures out of their way. Hero-glider was dodging as best he could, and Charles was fighting really well, but they both knew they had to get somewhere safe soon.

“Not far to go, I’m going to head down now.”

The vultures still attacked from various angles, but Charles was ready for them. Unfortunately, one vulture managed to get Hero-glider in his wing.

They both started to fall very fast. Charles knew what he had to do. Quickly he turned into an eagle, picked up his flying friend and they both slowly flew down onto the ground.

Once on the ground, Hero-glider set about trying to find something to heal his wing. Even though it was a bad cut, Hero-glider knew he would still be able to fly once he had gotten the right thing for it.

“Go on, Charles, I will be ok. The moving wall is not far from here, I believe.” Hero-glider offered.

“I won’t leave you until you are healed. A friend never leaves a hurt companion.”

“You are one brave child, Charles. I hope we really do have the pleasure of meeting again. But go, I will heal my wing and tell the others you are on your way.”

Charles didn’t want to leave, but he could see that Hero-glider was true to his word. Charles had to go alone.

Giving his bird buddy a hug, Charles ran in the direction that Hero-glider had pointed to.

Charles held back a tear as he saw his friend fight back at some vultures. The vultures were looking for Charles, not Hero-glider. But they had seen Hero-glider protecting and helping Charles, and they still thought Charles was with Hero-glider. Charles ran, he didn’t care what was to the side of him or behind him, as long as he got to the house before the bear lord died. The lord’s life, perhaps all lives, were resting on Charles’s survival.

Back at the manor, Mary and her assisting officer got the wounded and quite possibly deceased body of Helen Rochester back into the lounge-room.

Not wanting to leave the chance to find her children and make sure they were safe, Mary went to turn around and go back into the tunnel with the officer when they were both knocked out by some-one.

Jay Witt, meanwhile, had TOTALLY missed spotting Charles because he and the other police-men were chasing after the Staring Soldier. He DID, however, come across the injured swan and, thinking the swan was robot-controlled because of its enormous size, shot the swan in the stomach ... twice. Unaware of which side he just attacked, Jay continued to pursue the Staring Soldier. Hero-Glider had never seen the attacker, and his last breath was to whisper the name of his new friend. “Ch-Charles…”

That was how Charles was able to get into the house unnoticed.

Mary woke up and rubbed her head, feeling a bump near the back. She tried to move but found her arms and legs were tied up to a chair. She looked around for any sign of the officer that had helped her with Helen’s body, but could see no-one to help her. A dark figure strode into the room and turned the light on, surprising Mary. Mary looked at the figure but couldn’t see who it was. All she could see was that the person was cloaked in pure black and hooded to avoid recognition.

“Who ARE you and what do you want?” Mary shouted.

Charles ran through the tunnel quickly.

“I am your worst nightmare. This very day, you and your meddling family will die in my hands, starting with you.” The figure pointed at Mary.

Charles jumped over some rocks on the ground in the tunnel.

“Why are you doing this to us? What did we ever do to you?”

The figure walked over to a wall and smoothed a finger on it, sighing angrily.

“You took something of mine. Something which would make me able to stand tall and finally have the royalty I so deserved ...”

Charles got to the lounge-room and grabbed a metal bar for protection.

“What are you talking about?” Mary watched the Grabber’s leader walk back to the door and lock it.

The figure spun around angrily. “The Rune Stones were supposed to be MINE! I was there when they were created, but they were hidden from me because their creator wanted me SAFE!”

Charles ran up the steps, checking each room for the cat, Sandra.

“Who ARE you?” Mary asked again, desperate.

“I was the creator’s closest friend and dearest love, but that didn’t stop the creator from taking away what was rightfully mine! I had to invent the curse so no-one else went after the stones but me, however that didn’t stop the rare curious minds over the years such as that STUPID and UGLY Frederick Rochester from trying to research them! And just a few days ago those ‘adventurous’ kids of yours stumbled upon a trap that led them on the quest for the stones, somehow ruining one of my best parts of the curse. So, naturally, I had to try and kill off some-one they loved, when I couldn’t get immediate access to them!”

Charles got to the second floor, still looking for the cat but getting closer by the second to his mother.

“You were the one that tried to kill me when I was in the car!”

The Grabber’s Leader chuckled. “Oh, yes. That was me. And it almost worked too. If it weren’t for your unscheduled toilet stop.”

Mary bounced back in her chair to get as far away from the figure as possible, but she could only manage three measly jumps.

The Grabber’s Leader turned back to Mary. “So, failing that, I sent evil things after the children themselves, knowing I had the ability to do so. Until quite recently, I thought I was winning, but most unfortunately I am not.”

“WHO ARE YOU?”

Charles reached the corridor where his mother was being held captive, still looking for the cat. He heard the question but did not recognise the voice and headed towards it.

The Grabber’s Leader reached for its’ hood with one hand and pointed a gun with its other hand. “I am your past. I am your future. I am ...”

But, just seconds before the hooded figure revealed who they were and killed Mary at the same time, Charles smashed into the room and saw the two people, immediately recognising his mother.

“Get away from her, you monster!”

Quite suddenly, the Grabber’s Leader spun around to shoot at Charles when another figure dashed into the room and latched onto the Grabber’s Leaders’ leg. It was Sandra the cat and she had attacked the Grabber’s Leader from normal cat instinct. The Grabber’s Leader screamed in pain and shot the gun in a different direction. The bullet hit the roof above the leader and caused some plaster to knock the leader out. Charles ran over and untied his mother, and then picked up Sandra before heading for the door again. He got to the door before he realised his mother hadn’t joined him.

“Mother, please come with me. You are in extreme danger here.”

Mary just looked at Charles in surprise. “Charles?”

Charles remembered he was now wearing different clothes and his own mother didn’t recognise him.

“Yes mother. It is me. We must go now. That evil master-mind might wake any minute now. I have to take you to safety. Is there anyone else in the manor?”

Mary shrugged. “I don’t know, Charles. There could be. Last I remembered there was the police, my parents and Jonson, and Helen.”

Charles paused for a moment. “Great-grandmother Helen? Why is SHE here?”

“She told my parents she wanted to see the house again.” Mary answered from vague memory.

“And WHO else is here? Someone named Jonson, Who’s he?”

Mary hesitated. She hadn’t wanted Charles to know about his father until he was old enough to understand. “Just some-one I knew. I don’t know why he would be here, though. My mother called him up to help.”

“What about the police?”

“Almost all of them went after the Staring soldier in the lounge-room tunnel. I think there were five or six others that stayed behind to help clean up the house.”

Charles turned to the knocked out Grabber’s Leader. More than anything he wanted to lift that hood and find out who was causing all this terror, but Lord Libertas was counting on him to return, so that would have to wait.

“Mother, you have to get everyone that is in this house to safety. Don’t worry about cleaning the house, just get everyone to safety. Out of this house and to the police-station or somewhere better, I don’t know, but you can’t stay here. Once that mysterious master-mind wakes up and finds out the truth about the stones, they’ll be HEAPS madder. I don’t want you to be in any more trouble.”

Mary nodded and hugged Charles desperately. “My courageous Charles, I knew you would be ok even with all this evil around us. You take care of your brother and sister, you hear? I will do my best here and catch up with you later on. Now go and have your adventure.”

Charles nodded and ran back down the steps with Sandra while his mother turned and tied a rope on the now loose door to make it close and keep closed. How she did that was tying one end of the rope to the door that had the unconscious Grabber Leader inside its room, and tying the other end to another door down the hallway. The doors both opened inwards, into the rooms, instead of out into the hallway, so that kept the Leader in place. At least, that was the plan.

Once she finished, Mary started searching each room for the left behind people, hoping that they were all ok.

When Charles ran with Sandra back to the area where he had left Hero-glider, he saw that the vultures had gone, and poor Hero-glider lay dead. He gasped in shock and ran over to the large swan in desperation.

“No!” Charles screamed, tears streaming from his eyes.

“Hero-glider, you were a true friend. I know I didn’t get to know you better, but I felt there was a strong friendship between you and me.”

Sandra knew that Charles was upset and tried to make him happy by brushing her fur against his skin, but Charles barely noticed her.

“Oh, Hero-glider, my friend. You never deserved to die.”

Charles sobbed and hugged his dear friend.

“I wish you could be my brother and we could live together happily. I know you would’ve liked to live with me and my family.”

Charles looked once more at his friend, and closed the eyes of the kind-hearted swan, regretting that he hadn’t been there to stop whatever had happened to Hero-glider. He stroked Hero-glider’s chest faintly, his own eyes closed as he tried to clear his mind and think about what to do next.

After a few minutes in silence, Charles transformed into an eagle for the second time and took Sandra, who was quite surprised by her owner becoming a bird bigger than herself, back to the mountain hide-out.

Back at the secret cavern, Lord Libertas was struggling to breath. It was morning now and all the animals and people were told by the Bear Lord himself that Charles had gone on a quest with Hero-glider and that they would be the only ones that could fix his pain. The animals were amazed to know that Hero-glider had died because of a vulture attack and a confused police attack, but none were as surprised as Robert. How did Lord Libertas know about the attack? Was he on the enemies side or did he have some special power that could see what people or animals were doing? Robert told himself to stop being so stupid. Lord Libertas was a smart, lovely, kind-hearted animal that would never try to switch sides. Robert’s fears were never confirmed, which comforted him when he saw the large figure of an eagle, which was Charles, approaching towards the cavern. Charles was extremely glad now that Robert had made his wish in the “wishing” portal, because he wouldn’t have been able to get back unless he flew. Charles finally landed on the ground in front of all the excited animals and friends.

“Brave warrior Charles, you have done well. I am *cough, cough* sad to know that your companion, Hero-glider, died in the process though. My condolences to you and to his swan group.” Lord Libertas announced.

Charles turned back into his human self and handed over the cat. Sandra, who had somehow fallen asleep on Charles’ back during the ride back, was just stretching when she noticed the big figure in front of her.

“AAAAAAHH! Help, a huge beast! Help!” The cat screamed, running back to Charles.

Charles looked at the cat suspiciously. How could it be that it just started to talk? Lord Libertas smiled at Charles as he came forward and winked. Charles understood now. Lord Libertas could give the gift of speech to any animal he chose, which was why all the animals he had met had spoken human speech. The cat took a few minutes to realize she could talk and be understood by humans.

“Hey, I … I can talk!”

“Yes, my little feline friend. Here in our world, any beast can talk and be understood. Would you like to be one of us?” Lord Libertas asked.

The cat looked up at the huge Bear and shivered in fear at first, but after a few moments of thinking it over, she smiled weakly. She would like to be one of them, now she thought of it.

“Yes please, if it be no trouble to you, humble bear.”

“There is no trouble. I am losing power, but I have power to do this.”

Leaning forward and nudging the cat with his nose, Lord Libertas whispered something to the cat. When Lord Libertas stepped back, a sudden change came over Sandra. She grew bigger and looked fiercer than ever before. However, not one person or animal there was scared of her appearance; because they all knew that it would be something useful in the future. Sandra had turned into a great Lioness, a fearsome creature with a caring heart. Sandra opened her eyes and bowed to Lord Libertas.

“Thank you, humble Bear. I hope that my owners and I can assist you with whatever problems that have overcome the land.”

“Would you like to continue being a cat in the other world and a lioness in this world? Because there will be a time, not now but not far in the future, when this world no longer exists.”

“I want to be a lioness for the whole time my owners are here, and when they have conquered the evil and said there good-byes to all you fair creatures, then I will turn back into the little cat I once was. However, when I do, I would like to stay a talking cat, please. There are times when I need to say things to my owners that they just can’t understand in my cat talk.”

Lord Libertas nodded and made a small bear roar. Sandra knew that her command had been fulfilled.

“Thank you, humble bear.”

Lord Libertas looked up at Charles, coughing violently.

“Charles, my brave, noble friend; you have gone on this quest for naught, have you not? For this was the very cat you set out for and now she is a lioness. If I had wanted a lioness or lion, I would have probably gone to King Karel. But this is not your fault, for you didn’t know that the cat wanted to be something more. But, because you have travelled far and managed to rescue the cat and your mother from the hands of the evil mastermind, you are now the greatest hero in this world. If I die, than I hope they make you the lord of this land.”

Charles nodded, but then he remembered something. “Wait! It wasn’t for naught. When we were coming back, Sandra scratched me awfully hard because she was scared. Look, I’m still bleeding.” Charles showed them all the bad scratch on his arm. The blood dropped from Charles’s arm and landed on Lord Libertas’s paw. Immediately, Lord Libertas felt stronger and braver. Lord Libertas’s health was restored and he groaned as he could no longer feel the restriction of the sickness within him.

And many many many miles away, another form very well connected, regrettably to the bear lord, was also cured at the same time.

“AAAAHH, that is so much better.” Libertas said, giving himself a big, well deserved stretch. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ FɪndNøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Now that Libertas is better and we have helpers to get the Grabbers, what should we do now?” Robert asked.

“We gather all faithful troops, get a little bit more help, and concur the Grabbers’ group once and for all.”

“But first, we have to have a plan and more helpers. This group isn’t going to be easy to beat.” Charles said. The animals agreed and flight plans were made. Libertas prepared Charles, Robert and Sarah for their journey. By now, they all knew that they had to get to a better place and that the Grabbers had news about their hide-out. What stumped Robert, however, was the constantly surprising knowledge of the animal which all other animals freely obeyed, Lord Libertas. He had told them so much about the evilness and its strange goings-on; Robert was still wondering whether Lord Libertas was a spy or not. He kept quiet, however, and didn’t show his suspicions to anyone.

Lord Libertas had told the kids that they were to travel back to the house, quickly, and retrieve the people in trouble. The kids decided to do the one thing they were all looking forward to: Turn into birds and fly there. Lord Libertas put a few things in Charles’s backpack and zipped it up.

“Precede with caution, my friends. I fear the evil horror of the Grabbers is spreading too far across the land. If they see you, they will probably kill you and all will be lost.”

“We will transform into the smallest of birds so they can’t see us, we will be protected then.” Sarah replied to the bear.

“Even then it is dangerous, for, like the vultures, there are other birds that are helping the Grabbers. Three small birds flying towards the crushed wall between our worlds would be suspicious and they might attack you. To add to that; you will be carrying a backpack, which they would recognize as yours; Charles. Maybe we should send an escort of other birds with you to get pass the watchers and attackers.” Lord Libertas suggested.

A big group of small birds, which Robert recognized as pigeons, marched in front of the kids.

“We will escort your highnesses to wherever you wish; under our protection you will be completely safe. I give you my word.” The captain of the pigeons announced in a gruff, but agreeable voice.

“Then we owe you our lives, fair captain. If any of your troops happen to be killed during this, I will mourn your loss. You and your troops are brave, even if you are small.” Charles replied.

“Well said, Charles. Now, turn into pigeons as well and be off. I will send another troop of Pigeons via a different route to tell you our new location; for we will be gone from here before you come back.” Lord Libertas commanded. The kids switched into Pigeons and they were off with the captain and his troop. Lord Libertas and King Karel looked on happily as they left. “You do realize they will have to…?”

“Convince the other humans? Yes, I know. It will be hard, even when they come to me, but that’s a risk I’m afraid. The only person that can convince them is Charles. He is our ticket to complete happiness in the kingdom again. If he can’t do it, then I’m afraid that everything will go wrong from there.” Lord Libertas replied to the lion.

“And if he does convince them, how will they see that WE are the ones in need?” “That is where I can come in, my friend.”

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