#sirsleepy

[thinkingagain]

“Remember: we are Magic Animals, and we have many ways to resist Beast power. But Beasts are still the most effective creature at murder in the world.”

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book Two: Empire Chapter 9

Everyone at the Demesne spent the day talking about the news that a Beast had made purposeful contact with the Demesne wall.

The Commandant’s organization likely had been responsible, the Madam told everyone. Ling Ling alerted many Magic Animals around the world and asked them to provide what information they had. In the days that followed, many past stories regarding the Commandant rolled in. Not much was known about that infamous Beast’s current whereabouts.

The Commandant’s name and organization, The Commandant Foundation Inc., were well known in the Animal Magic world. Still, The Commandant did an excellent job of keeping its own personal movements mysterious. Its activities were often rumor more than fact.

Only a few animals had met The Commandant face to face. They told stories of its surface friendliness and charm and the power of its smile and eyes, which promised benevolent and wonderful things that often later turned deadly even to Magic Animals.

The Commandant had won the trust of small Magic Animal groups and led them into disastrous attacks on Beast strongholds. El Tigre and the Rattler knew of a magic white tiger who had been killed attempting to break open the gates of a so-called tiger “park” in Harbin, China where tigers were imprisoned. Similar stories emerged of misguided assaults on Beast military posts, hydraulic dams and high pollution mines.

The information suggested that The Commandant knew how to win the trust of less experienced Magic Animals with big dreams, encouraging them into overambitious plots. Even the few living animals who had encountered that infamous Beast could only speculate about why it did what it did.

The Madam understood it best, although even to her, some of The Commandant’s emotions seemed inexplicable. “When a person, or a Magic Animal, dies for him,” she explained many times, “he believes he has absorbed their power and has become greater and more magic than before. And I do mean dies for him, not just dies. Anyone, Beast or other animal, killed in a mission which The Commandant has talked them into becomes for him a sign of his own greatness. He collects the death of others like the medals he wears on his shirt.”

Growing concern about the nature and goals of The Commandant’s organization led to a morning when all the animals went to the Meeting Ground for a lecture by Leo about Beast organizational systems and the Commandant’s relation to them. The lecture was called “The Commandant in Context.”

“Early Beast groups were mainly small wandering clans,” Leo told the gathered members of the Demesne, “much like those that survive to this day in a few isolated areas.” The animals, sitting in the meadow or on the rocks and raised ground on the meadow’s edge, listened intently. Their usual exuberance had turned grimly serious. “At that stage, Beast organization was at its least harmful, and most resembled a pattern common to all animals who live in groups.”

Leo paced as he spoke, his large rabbit voice booming across the field. “They ate only the food they needed to survive, whether other animals or available plant life. They made no claims about land ownership. Clans were often led by strong individuals and often clashed with other clans or tried to get along with them.

“In clans that tried to get along, we see the beginning of the behavior that Beasts call diplomacy. In diplomacy, through repeated patterns of greeting, gift exchange, and temporary verbal agreement, Beasts obtain their own ends from other Beasts non-violently. When diplomacy breaks down, which, since it’s full of manipulation, it often does, Beast violence follows.”

Murmurs of approval for Leo’s points, and anger at Beasts, moved through the gathered Magic Animals. They had all seen firsthand how Beast behavior led relentlessly to violence.

Leo went on. “Beast group behavior in many places eventually outgrew the wandering clan stage. Beasts rapidly developed larger social arrangements in which individual Beasts often didn’t know each other. They began to claim land, plant food, and build Beastly abodes where they stayed permanently, although some Beasts continued wandering.

“The fundamental Beast desire to control land and objects which they then will defend from other Beasts emerges more fully in this period. Remember though: Beasts do not wish to claim ownership only of that which they see. A fundamental characteristic of Beasts is their urge for abstract acquisitive longing. They imagine things they have never seen and imagine themselves owning those things. Just as importantly, they imagine controlling and owning other Beasts and animals.”

All the animals were listening closely, many leaning towards Leo at attentive angles.

“Through these longings for what is not immediately visible, an early Beast form of large scale organization began: the monarchy. In monarchy, in a defined Beast territory one Beast is treated as in charge of all other Beasts. The territory is often so large that a given monarch is unlikely to see all of it, although his conquering ancestors wandered most of it at some point. The Beast monarch, often called a ‘King,’ was considered more important than all other Beasts and gave orders that other Beasts had to take, although they often resented those orders and sometimes tried to get rid of the king.

“Beast monarchies often grew very large. Over time they began to be challenged by new types of Beast organization and eventually all the largest Beast monarchies crumbled and changed into other forms of Beast government. Since each individual Beast wants to be a monarch over all other Beasts—though some Beasts want this more than others—Beast monarchies were filled with constant fighting between and against monarchs.

“Out of this fighting grew two opposing Beast government principles, though at times these principles were united: Capitalism and Democracy.

“Capitalism relies on the belief that every Beast has the right to seize as much as it can of anything. In Capitalism, no Beast has a special monopoly on this right. Each Beast can then fight all other Beasts to acquire as much as it can.

“Of course, Beasts have always behaved that way. But Capitalism states directly that a Beast’s right to seize as much as it can from other Beasts is what makes Beast life virtuous. In principle, according to Capitalism, any laws placed on the right of Beasts to seize resources from other Beasts are wrong. In practice, Beast diplomacy sometimes leads to compromise. Capitalism also includes the belief that there is no reason why Beast fights over ownership should be fair. Any advantages a Beast already has over another going into a fight are not only allowable, but a sign of virtue.

“Democracy, on the other hand, appears at first as the idea that all Beasts should have an equal say in how any given group of Beasts governs its life. In theory, in Democracy no Beast has more power than any other. Ideas about Democracy have existed in many eras. Here and there, one Beast society might be more democratic than another.

“Democracy and Capitalism are linked, historically. Both became more prominent at the same time, and both rejected the concept of monarchy. Practically though, the idea that a Beast can seize anything it can, and the idea that all Beasts should have an equal say in Beastly government, are opposites. If a Beast has more things and more power, than it has more than an equal say.

“The result in Beast societies that try to be both capitalist and democratic is usually that a minority of powerful Beasts runs most things. This organizational pattern is called Oligarchy. Its basic system of power is a combination of public government and private organizations called corporations. In Oligarchy, corporations and the government work together to make sure that powerful Beasts maintain their power.”

Anger about Beast organizational lies was now moving energetically among the gathered animals. Leo, noting it, said, “Yes, it is certainly appalling. But it has its fascinations. In any case, however much we may disapprove, understanding these things is crucial to the success of the Demesne.”

The animals signaled assent, and Leo continued. “The idea of Democracy led to other ideas about government systems in which less powerful Beasts could be protected from more powerful ones. These ideas are interesting, and attempts have been made to put them into practice.

“One thing needs to be kept always in view: the capacity that Beasts have to lie to themselves, to think they are doing good things to and for others when in fact they are doing harm. Perhaps just as importantly, one of the basic patterns of Beast life is that when Beasts turn especially cruel, other Beasts will sometimes, for a while, try to make Beast life less cruel.

“Ultimately, although Beast cruelty may be less prominent in one moment than another, it always returns. Beast kindness is usually no more than a reaction against Beast cruelty. Almost never in the history of Beasts has kindness been in charge for more than brief moments.

“Communism is one of the extensions of the idea of Democracy. Communism rejects the Capitalist idea that a Beast has the right to seize as much as it can. Instead, in Communism, in theory there is only one Beast organization allowed, the government. All Beasts are in theory equal owners of the government, contributing what they can to its work, and receiving the goods and services they need from it.

“The failure of Communism is that it becomes Capitalist Oligarchy pretending not to be. It says all Beasts have an equal say, like Democracy, but in fact more powerful Beasts still run everything for their own benefit, and Beasts still fight each other relentlessly over government power. It’s similar to the way Capitalism sometimes pretends to be Democracy. However, Communism says competition between Beasts is bad rather than good. Beast fighting takes place, in theory, within a single organization, instead of multiple organizations fighting each other.

“Anarchy is a development related both to Communism and Democracy in terms of claiming equal rights for every Beast. Its central idea is that the basic problem of Beast government is any organization with too much power. Through ideas of Anarchy, Beasts imagine that they can split themselves into smaller Beast groups uncontrolled by larger ones. Those smaller groups will then govern themselves more democratically.

“In some ways, Anarchy indulges the fantasy that Beasts often have of returning to their early days of small clan units. Those clans would now not be organized as early versions of monarchy but as democracies in which members of the Beast group share power.

“The problem with Anarchy is that Beasts living in small groups, isolated from others, are no less likely to seek control over other Beasts. Anarchic groups often become groups in which individuals struggle for control over each other by insisting that their ideas are more beneficial for the group.

“Another common idea about Anarchy is that in a Beast Anarchy, every Beast has the right to do what it likes. Anarchy based on the idea that individual Beasts can do what they like often quickly becomes Capitalism. Other Anarchic groups want to limit what a Beast can and can’t do. That version of Anarchy becomes more like Communism, with Communism’s same problems.”

Leo took a moment to breathe and looked around as if remembering that he too was still a Magic Animal in a field, not a brutal Beast. Then he drew himself up, focusing his energy. “There’s a lot we still don’t know about The Commandant. Based on what we do know, I believe it likely that The Commandant controls an organization that operates with high effectiveness through its combination of Capitalist and Anarchic elements.

“The Commandant Foundation does not have one easily identified center of operations. Instead it has a false front headquarters to distract attention. The Commandant works from small, bland, anonymous buildings in any number of locations in the world. These locations change, and The Commandant moves between them rapidly. Sometimes The Commandant may use no buildings at all. The organization then consists mainly of Beasts in motion.

“The Commandant also has massive computing and financial resources that it can access from anywhere. Its financial power consists of numbers calculated on computers and stored in temporary, well protected data files. The fact that this financial power is no more than a concept does not prevent it from being changed quickly into weapons and other physical resources when necessary.

“The Commandant wields all three main kinds of Beast power: money, weapons, and dreams. It employs the most contemporary techniques available on how to use those powers to manipulate other Beasts. It is capable of moving those powers, and itself, quickly, to anywhere in the world. It can attack quickly. It has significant ability to prevent others even from learning that an attack has taken place or who has done it.

“We do not know how many devoted personnel The Commandant has. Some, most likely, but a large number of Beasts who work for The Commandant Foundation probably do so temporarily and know more about small, temporary goals than overarching ones. In fact, we need to be honest and admit that we ourselves don’t know much about The Commandant’s goals. Still, sources of information like the Madam have made us more informed about its activities than most Beasts are likely to be.

“All told, I believe we can say this much. Given that the Commandant is a Beast, its goals are likely crude, although they will be wrapped in complex layers of Beast perversity. The Commandant’s methods, however, are sophisticated, efficient, and brutal.

“Remember: we are Magic Animals, and we have many ways to resist Beast power. But Beasts are still the most effective creature at murder in the world. And The Commandant, if even some of the stories about it are true, is the most effective Beast murderer of Magic Animals that has ever existed.”

The animals gathered for Leo’s speech talked about it all day, and a long time after. No one who was there for the speech ever forgot it.

[thinkingagain]

“That all makes sense,” the Sir said. “A sonic wall of whales and dolphins, with water surface cover by lionfish.”

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book Two: Empire Chapter 10

The next morning, the Demesne was jolted by news from the Beast Media Room about a different enemy. The United States Navy was planning to test dangerous new high frequency sonar patterns in a wide array across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Navy had stated publicly its estimate, certainly deceptively low, that the sonar might kill as many as 1800 whales and dolphins and deafen nearly 16,000 more. The tests would be launched from Beast underwater weapon ships called submarines and would spread out at various depths below the water’s surface.

Beasts were openly admitting the proposed crime through multiple Beast Media sources. Hearing the news from Lucky on a cloudy Demesne morning that a moment before had seemed leisurely, Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest shouted angrily at the air. Then, calming himself, he said, “The Demesne has no ocean animals. How can we combat this heinous attempt at mass murder?”

Lucky, who was standing perturbed near the Sir on the grass, perked up. “Madam, do you remember?”

From a nearby rock, the Madam looked at Lucky uncertainly. Then recognition spread over her face. “Of course! The Aquatic Team. We ran into them on the Adriatic Sea.”

“I know them too.” Ling Ling, who had come out of the Beast Media room with Lucky, bobbed her head excitedly. “I’ve talked with them several times. They never once tried to kick me out. Let me contact them now.” She walked a few feet away to clear her head for the communication.

“They sang us a song,” Lucky said. “Called it Aquatics on the Adriatic.”

“Fond of wordplay, weren’t they?” The Madam smiled at the memory. “Such admirable, fun-loving animals. I hope they’re well.”

The Sir, intrigued, looked at his friends. “I would like to meet them. Will the Demesne Lake accommodate them, or will I have to go to the Adriatic?”

“If they’re able to help us,” Lucky said, “they’ll probably come here. It’s nearer the action we’ll need to take. The Adriatic really isn’t their home. They were just passing through one evening when the Madam and I were in the land that Beasts call Bulgaria.”

Ling Ling walked back over. “They’ll be here in a little while. They have to get together, then they’ll be coming through the magic portal.”

The Sir bowed acknowledgement at Ling Ling’s quick action. “Let’s go down to the lake to greet them properly.”

Not especially long or wide, the Demesne Lake was still big enough that even large water animals could swim in it happily and deep enough to welcome any who preferred to stay submerged. It was possible for a land animal to sit on its edge and talk to any animal floating on the water. There was also an underground cavern, blocked off from the lake by a window, where land animals could sit in comfort and talk through the window intercom to those under the lake’s surface. So far the lake had been used mainly by local magic lake fish fighting corrupt hatchery practices.

The Sir went to the lake edge to greet its first ocean visitors. Lucky, The Madam and Ling Ling were still with him. Jack and Muffin soon joined them.

A few minutes later, several underwater animals broke the water’s surface and bobbed near the shore. They looked up and greeting the Demesne’s welcoming team.

Chicoutimi, a white female quite large for a beluga whale, with the usual beluga melon head protruding attractively, led the aquatic team’s formal greeting. Naomi, a young narwhale with an impressively long tusk for a female, seemed to find it difficult to stay still and darted around in the water, agreeing with Chicoutimi and adding relevant points. Joining them was Hyacinth, a lionfish with lovely red streaks across her skin and an impressive set of venomous spines. She was quieter and calmer than the others. Her fins floated gracefully in the water.

The Demesne welcoming team commented on the fine specificity of their visitors’ animal natures. Muffin did his usual routines and then gave, in turn, his own brief imitations of each guest.

The Madam looked searchingly at the lake. “Olivia’s not with you? Maybe it’s a busy time for gray whales?”

“We haven’t heard from Olivia recently.” Chicoutimi’s melon head bobbed uncertainly. “It’s worrying, frankly.”

“She was doing a lot of anti-whaling missions,” Naomi chimed in, then did a quick swoop in the water. “They’ve been keeping her busy, but she usually checks in with us. Lately, nothing.”

Ling Ling was turning her head from side to side. “I didn’t get any response from her either. I’ll let everyone know to pass along any news of her they might have.”

“I am sorry not to meet her today,” the Sir said, “and I hope she’s doing well. Did Ling Ling tell you about our problem?”

“She did.” Chicoutimi swayed back and forth. “I’ve been up north and hadn’t heard about it.”

“There was talk along the barrier reefs,” Hyacinth put in, “but no one had facts.”

“Our information suggests that the attack is going to take place across quite a distance.” The Sir gestured with a paw in the direction of the ocean, far away. “It will be centered near the state that the Beasts call Georgia. The heinous sonar will be sent from submarines. I assume you have some experience dealing with submarines? I’ve never seen one myself.”

Chicoutimi, Naomi, and Hyacinth looked at each other. “Oh, we know about submarines,” Chicoutimi said gravely.

“In fact we’ve encountered the whole range of Beast water contraptions,” Naomi said.

Hyacinth said, in what was clearly her understated way, “I could talk all night about wet suits.”

The Sir saw clearly their high level of expertise. “The sonar will rupture the brains of whales and dolphins and destroy the hearing of others.”

“Which of course will also be fatal,” Chicoutimi said, “since all us whales and dolphins need our hearing to survive.”

The Sir shuddered. “Can anything be done? Those of us currently at the Demesne don’t have much underwater ocean ability.”

“We’ve dealt with sonar problems before.” Chicoutimi bobbed back and forth in the water. “This time it sounds like the scale and degree of the attack will be massive. Still, I think we can put together a workable response.”

“We already send our own version of sonar, see.” Naomi swam in several quick circles that seemed both excited and anxious. “If Beasts send out frequencies that disrupt our frequencies, we can send them back. In our own special way, of course.”

“In other words,” Chicoutimi’s melon head pulsed thoughtfully, “if we set up the right perimeter of magic defense, we should be able to send their own sonar back at them. In surprisingly concentrated form.”

Ling Ling swayed back and forth, embarrased. “That’s pretty much what I do sometimes.” She giggled.

“How will you set up this perimeter?” the Sir asked.

“We’ll have to call in magic whales and dolphins all over the planet,” Chicoutimi said, “and have them prepared for the moment. Precision and coordination will be crucial.”

The Sir turned to Lucky. “Can we intercept Beast underwater communication?”

Lucky nodded. “Should be possible. I’ll try to rig something up.”

“Ling Ling would have to send us the information quickly,” Chicoutimi said.

“I can do that,” Ling Ling said, “as long as you don’t try to kick me out afterwards.”

“I like you too much to kick you out,” Chicoutimi said calmly, with no irony. “We’d start sending the counter sonar in time to disrupt theirs, jam their communication waves with our own. We could then force back the sonar into the ears of those on the submarines, as they mean to do to us.”

“Meanwhile,” Hyacinth’s colors flashed, “we lionfish can harass any Beasts operating too openly on the water. Beasts hauled us far away from our original homes. Now they’ll have to deal with the fact that as a species, we’re doing better than they intended in Georgia and many other places.”

“That all makes sense,” the Sir said. “A sonic wall of whales and dolphins, with water surface cover by lionfish.”

“Spread across many miles.” Chicoutimi’s melon head brightened agreeably on the water. “It’s a challenge, but I think we’re up to it.”

“With what results?” the Sir asked.

“It’s murderous sonar.” Chicoutimi’s melon-head pulsed softly, thoughtfully. “There’s no way to scramble it without murderous results. Human divers under water can be harmed by sonar nearly in the same way as ocean mammals. It makes them dizzy and distorts their vision. They can’t hear and some can’t breathe. I’m afraid that to do the job right, the sound audible even inside the submarines will be violently high-pitched.”

“This Navy will be attacked in a way similar to the attack it intends?”

“Yes,” Chicoutimi said.

The Sir considered the problem. “It could cause a lot of Beast casualties?”

“I’m afraid it will. But not as many as they want to kill of us.”

[thinkingagain]

Beasts were leaving the university grounds rapidly.

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book One: Conquest Chapter 29

Beasts were leaving the university grounds rapidly. Many rushed to their Beast vehicles and tried to drive away, causing brief jams in several main parking lots, but the low campus population that morning helped most Beasts leave easily.

Some more frantic Beasts, and some who had not come in their own vehicles, left campus on foot. They spilled onto the nearby highway or ran into the woods; there was plenty of Beast habitation nearby and so no real danger. There was a lot of shouting, fearful or angry or both. Several Beasts verbally assaulted each other in confusion, but there were no serious mishaps. Or at least Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest saw none as he moved along the edges of the Campus Drive towards his meeting with Muffin. Muffin had maybe witnessed a bigger range of action and could fill him in.

Soon enough the Sir saw his henchman crouched in the bushes near the edge of Campus Drive. The Beast on its rope stood alongside him. Just south of Muffin, on the drive, an abandoned campus security car sat motionless in the road, front tire flattened.

“Used the pistol,” Muffin said. “I know we want to use Beast weapons as little as we can. But if you want to clear the security guards, instead of their coming after us...”

“Indeed.” The Sir looked at the terrain spreading out in front of them. “On the way over, I popped tires on two Beast security vehicles.” He patted his sword gratefully. “The Beasts hovered around the vehicles, looking confused. Someone came along in each case and told them what they believed was going on. After that, the security Beasts left promptly.”

“There’s a lot of Beast security on this campus for a quiet summer morning. Hard to believe, except it isn’t.”

“Beasts turn everything they can into armed Beast camps,” the Sir agreed. “Especially if Beast Madams are involved. Do they want to keep the Beast Madams safe or hostage?”

“I can’t say. We should move along.”

“Let’s stay near the drive,” the Sir nodded, “as we planned. I’m not sure how many Beast security vehicles are left, but we need to disable as many as we can. Now that Beast weapons have been used, we have less time.”

Muffin yanked their Beast along with them.

“Did it perform?” the Sir asked.

“Adequately. It had stopped shouting by the time I came back to it. I gave it a kick or two of encouragement and it found its voice again.”

The Sir nodded. “We must not expect miracles.”

They continued on their way along the edge of Campus Drive, keeping an eye out for vehicles. As they did, a loud siren started up above them, the sound covering the campus. The siren paused, then a voice boomed across the grounds. “Evacuate. Evacuate. Danger, evacuate.”

“Sounds like Lucky made it to the Emergency Communication Center,” Muffin said.

On their way to the grounds near the Alumni House at the front and center of campus, the Sir and Muffin disabled two more security vehicles and dispersed several security Beasts by slashing their clothing. The Emergency Evacuation warning continued sounding in the air above them.

“I’m still surprised Jack was right.” The Sir took a moment to catch his breath. “Although I don’t know why I would have overestimated Beasts. It doesn’t seem to occur to them that rabbits don’t attack when they get rabies. Jack said all they’d know about rabies came from movies—and in movies, animals with rabies always attack.”

“You don’t have to instill fear in Beasts,” Muffin said. “They have a whole bag of them always pre-filled. All you have to is let them out.”

“No fear, it seems,” the Sir agreed, “is too ludicrous for a Beast.”

They soon arrived near the Alumni House. Busterella and Love Frog and Sir Henry were there, along with the Madam. Her totem friends had blocked off the road leading onto campus with orange traffic cones like ones that the Sir had seen several times on Beast highways. Big signs reading “Detour” and “Warning: Hazardous Materials” had been propped in front of the cones.

The Madam wiped some sweat from her forehead. “Busterella let me know it’s going well. Several people just arriving for the day got out of their cars and stomped around in front of the signs, upset or angry. But banging on trash bins, and a few trumpet roars from Sir Henry, who was hiding, convinced them that the situation was dangerous.”

“I am grateful to you and your friends, Madam,” the Sir said. “I hope you did not find your morning’s work too distressing.”

“Actually it was fun.” The Madam smiled. “All my life I’ve wanted to help people leave their offices. Never had a way until now. I hate this suit though.” She picked at the buttons on it.

“I find it quite becoming,” the Sir said.

Scruffy came up to the group, face freshly washed. “Had to pick off a few stragglers here and there. Some of these young Beasts can sleep through everything short of a quick nip on the skin. I had Beast cafeteria food all over me too. Gross. I had to clean.”

A car came down the entrance drive onto campus and stopped at the traffic cones. The Beast behind the wheel looked at the cones and the signs and was clearly trying to decide what to do. It cocked its head and finally seemed to comprehend the emergency warming booming across campus, turned around and headed away again. Busterella looked at the Madam and nodded.

“Most of the Beasts have turned around just like that,” she told the Sir.

“They really are confused by the simplest tricks,” the Sir said.

Over the next few minutes, several more Beasts came down to the entrance and turned around at the cones. Some Beast stragglers on campus drove their vehicles shakily up and out the open exit.

Jack emerged from behind some trees and walked up to everyone. He was still wearing his horror bunny makeup. “Figured I might as well keep in costume. Gives me an edge to have Beasts rocking back on their toes at the sight of me.” He watched a car turn back at the entrance gate. “Look at that.” He had the radio with him. “I wonder if there are reports yet.” He turned on the radio.

Under the sound of the Emergency Evacuation warning still filling the air, they listened on the radio to several different Beasts, in frantic voices, trying to sell objects to other Beasts.

“It’s awfully high-pitched,” the Sir said. “How can they stand to listen?”

“In advertisements,” Jack said, “Beasts try to be as shrill as possible so other Beasts will remember key phrases.”

The Beast radio calmed a bit and reported on Beast traffic and the day’s weather. Then there was some news about Washington, D.C.

“Nothing so far,” Jack said.

“Do we have to keep it on?” the Sir asked.

“I’ll drag it behind that tree over there,” Jack pointed, “and turn it down. I think for right now I should be listening.”

 Jack dragged the radio away. The Madam and her totem friends and Scruffy continued to watch the Beast front entrance. A few more Beast vehicles came down the entrance drive and turned around when Beasts in them saw the cones or heard the emergency warning. Then, from campus, a final stray car lurched up the road and off the grounds.

Soon the Beast evacuation warning stopped sounding. A few minutes later, Lucky joined the group. “Couldn’t see any Beasts left from where I was. The evacuation seems pretty complete. Everybody here?”

“All but Leo,” the Sir said. “I hope he hasn’t been delayed.”

It was only a few moments before Leo, strolling calmly, joined them. “Management has left the grounds. I had to critique the Provost’s rejection of Derrida, but otherwise the conversation was fine. Still, even the learned Beasts around here don’t know how behind the times they are.”

Jack rushed out of the bushes with the radio. “We’ve made the news now.”

All the rabbits listened in.

“Again,” the radio said, “we have just now received reports about an evacuation at Fallons University. Details are still emerging, and reports are conflicting. Some have claimed that there was a shooter, or several. Others report sightings of rabid animals, perhaps escaped from on-campus scientific facilities. No injuries have been reported. Police are on their way to the scene.”

“And now the Beast police will be coming to get us.” The Sir looked at everyone. “As expected.”

[thinkingagain]

“You’re talking?” The Beast’s eyes opened hysterically. “I heard that. Go back to hell where you belong, you Communist death rabbit.” It fired.

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book One: Conquest Chapter 31

The animals regrouped around the Alumni House and told each other what they had been doing. They kept their eyes on the bedraggled police Beasts hovering nervously around the cars.

“They’re calling reinforcements.” Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest looked at his companions. “We can assume we’ll be outnumbered. Think any of them know anything? The Beast in charge saw me, but I don’t think it understood. Or didn’t want to.”

“You can’t fire on what you don’t believe exists.” Muffin huddled briefly like a panda.

“If they come in spread out,” the Sir rubbed a paw across his mouth, “I’m not sure how we’ll cover all them all. But we only have to keep them off until nightfall. Then the Magic Rabbit can go to work.”

The other animals nodded.

That moment, gunfire began. Rounds thudded into the sides of buildings and shrieked through ripped underbrush. “Go to ground,” the Sir shouted.

The animals split apart and hid under logs and behind trees. The Sir looked to see where the shots were coming from. It was certainly not the police Beasts. They had taken cover from the shooting also, behind their car doors, and were looking around trying to gauge who was doing the shooting. More rounds came slamming through the trees.

The shooting appeared to the Sir to be coming from the long hill to the northeast. The hill wasn’t far from where the rabbits had camped when they had first arrived on the hills above Fallons.

Scruffy rushed out from a bush and sped towards the source of the shooting. The Sir startled. “We better follow him,” he said to the others. “I need two of you with me. The rest should stay here and wait for the next set of police Beasts to arrive.” Jack stepped forward.

The Madam looked at Henry the Valiant and said, “You might be needed.” Her blue elephant stepped forward too. All three headed after Scruffy, out of sight now in the direction of the firing.

Intermittent rounds slashed through the trees, headed generally towards the front of campus but still chaotically random. Whatever group of Beasts was firing hoped to pin down an enemy they couldn’t see.

“What I’m thinking,” the Sir said to Jack and Henry as they hurried through the trees, “is that whoever this is, they seem to have a clearer idea about us than anybody so far. They’re not marching in and stomping around like everything belongs to them.”

Paw marks of Scruffy appeared here and there. It slowed the others a little to follow them. Scruffy seemed to be taking a path towards the center of the gunfire, although the shots were spread out and sounded from different places along the hillside.

The Sir and his companions reached the foot of the hill. They picked their way up it following Scruffy’s trail. Gunshots were now whistling over their heads, screaming across the front of campus in what seemed a more conscious fire path.

Beasts on the hill began shouting. One or two screamed. The gunfire stopped, then switched directions. Shots cascaded wildly along the ridge. For a moment it seemed that the Beasts might actually be shooting at themselves. The Sir and his companions ducked down briefly behind a rock before heading forwards.

There was increasing Beast commotion on the hilltop. Angry shouts mixed with a bit of whooping and some vicious laughter. “Hurry,” the Sir said. He and his companions dashed up the final stretch of hill and emerged onto a field.

There in the field, five Beasts had surrounded Scruffy. They were looking at him and laughing maniacally. Nearby, two Beasts lay wounded on the ground, groaning and writhing. Scruffy’s face and paws were sloppy with Beast blood. He skirted back and forth, looking for a way out of the Beast circle that trapped him. He found none. One of the Beasts took a potshot at Scruffy’s feet, laughing as the trapped rabbit leaped to dodge it. Another did the same and also laughed.

“Damned Communist trained rabbit robots,” a third Beast said. “We’re going to take you out, one robot at a time, and we’re gonna have fun doing it.”

Scruffy leaped at it, ripping its exposed leg open above the sock. The Beast screamed and fired at Scruffy, close range. The front half of one of Scruffy’s feet blew apart. The little rabbit dropped to the ground, shrieking. The Beast was shrieking in pain too as it moved his gun right towards the center of Scruffy’s chest.

The Sir, screaming with fear and rage, leapt at the Beast. His scream caused the Beast to turn its head away from Scruffy and straighten up, distracted.

The Sir brought his sword down on the Beast’s head. It sliced in half nearly to the neck. A rainbow of blood blew upwards. The Sir pulled out the sword and looked in the direction of the other Beasts. They were screaming and began firing at him. One of the bullets whistled off his sword, nearly knocking it from his paw. He regained his grip, jumped and leaped forward. His sword buried deeply in the shooting Beast’s stomach.

In a blur, Jack flew past him, lodging his teeth in the neck of a Beast about to fire, ripping open its jugular and pulling it to the ground.

Other Beasts were running towards the source of the commotion. Henry, from behind a rock, used his trunk to trip them. Then the blue elephant, smaller than a Beast, stepped out into the open and began grabbing Beast weapons. The disarmed Beasts ran away through the trees.

The Sir faced a Beast which was backing away from him slowly with its rifle cocked. “Shoot at me,” the Sir said. “Prove to me what kind of Beast you are.”

“You’re talking?” The Beast’s eyes opened hysterically. “I heard that. Go back to hell where you belong, you Communist death rabbit.” It fired.

Just before the shot, the Sir darted to one side. He leaped forward enraged, plunging his sword repeatedly into the Beast’s chest. The Beast fell, convulsing through its gushing blood. The Sir turned to look around at what was nearby.

A Beast in the trees took a shot at Jack. Jack dodged and lunged low and ripped open the Beast’s leg so that it crumpled at the knees.

More Beasts were coming along the hill towards them. Henry was knocking down many, but more kept coming.

“There’s too many to fight off,” the Sir shouted at Jack, “and we need to help Scruffy.” He hurried over to Scruffy and Jack joined him, dodging a bullet or two as he went.

More than a dozen Beasts were down. Others were disarmed and running. The Beasts who had made it up to the field had taken cover at one end of it and for the moment weren’t moving.

“Oh Scruffy.” The Sir reached out a hand to the chest of the tiny rabbit, who was shivering. His shot foot was a mangled mess of bone and blood. “You didn’t have to fight them alone.”

“No Beast shoots at me and gets away with it,” Scruffy managed to gasp. He groaned in agony.

“I don’t know how to help you,” the Sir said.

“I never asked for help,” Scruffy said. “I wanted a chance to fight, and I got it.” He groaned again. “Oh it hurts,” he cried out. “It hurts bad.” He gagged and coughed in the dirt.

Henry the Valiant joined them, dropping at their feet six guns he had been holding in his trunk. He saw how terribly wounded Scruffy was.

“What do we do?” the Sir cried.

With his trunk, Henry picked up Scruffy as gently as he could. The little rabbit groaned. Then Henry hurried with him down the hill in the direction they had come. The flexible, thick and gentle muscles of his trunk kept Scruffy from bouncing around.

Jack said, “Looks like our elephant friend knows how to help.”

“Oh Jack, I hope so. Otherwise I’m not sure Scruffy will make it.” They set off running behind their friends. Beast gunshots battered the trees above them.

[thinkingagain]

Lucky moved leisurely across the classroom towards the computer podium in front.

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book One: Conquest Chapter 28, Part One

On the morning of the attack, a light rain began falling not long before dawn. Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest, still asleep, snuggled further under a bed of protective leaves in the soothing hum of the shower. When dawn came, only a little lighter than the night which it struggled to put behind it, the Sir stood up and stretched and saw the others doing the same.

The Beast had slept in the Beast vehicle undisturbed, since the parking lot was not often patrolled by the Beast police. The Madam and her totem friends had slept in a small tent which she carried along with her backpack and sleeping bag. Busterella, Love Frog, and Sir Henry had helped her put up the tent the night of their arrival, the Sir commenting on the excellent way it provided protection while keeping one outdoors.

Muffin hauled the grouchy Beast out of the Beast vehicle. He propped the Beast under a tree whose heavy leaves provided shelter from the still lightly falling rain.

Scruffy, Jack, Lucky Blue and Leo came out from their various sleeping spots. The Madam and her animal team put away their tent rapidly and joined the group.

“I think the rain will help,” Jack said. “Beasts don’t like to be out in it. It makes them slower to respond even in serious situations.”

“Do we all know what we have to do?” the Sir asked.

Everyone signaled that they did.

“Then after each of us has done our several tasks, I will meet you all later today at the field beside the Alumni House, near the campus entrance.”

The animals dispersed to begin seizing the university. ---------------

When the morning’s first classes started, Jack entered one of the classroom buildings. He had made up his mouth a bright red with drops of red makeup along his chin. His mouth dripped with foamy toothpaste. He leaped up and turned the knob of the first classroom door he reached. He darted into the room and jumped on the first available desk, growling his deepest growl at the young male Beast sitting there.

“Oh my God.” The young Beast stumbled out of its chair. “What is that?”

The other Beasts in the room were all looking. “It’s just a rabbit, you idiot,” another young male Beast said. Jack jumped, bringing his teeth close to that second Beast’s neck but missing on purpose and landing smoothly on another desk. “It’s got blood all over its mouth!” the Beast shouted, scrambling backwards. “And some disgusting white stuff.” It rushed towards the door, tripped over a desk leg and fell to its knees before dragging itself to its feet and going out.

Other students were shouting and shrieking, pushing past each other and knocking each other down as they fought towards the door.

The older male Beast professor at the front of the room was shouting, “Be more orderly please. Hurry now, hurry. This animal must have rabies.”

The Beasts kept shouting and pushing their way into the hall. Soon the classroom was clear of them.

Jack followed them out the door at an easy pace. He saw other doors opening along the hallway.

“What’s happening out here?” said a male Beast professor from one of the doorways while several other Beasts looked on.

“Rabies!” shouted several of the most panicked young Beasts.

“What?” The Beast professor stepped into the hallway. Its shoulder was grabbed by the Beach professor from the first classroom.

“A rabbit with rabies in the building,” the first professor said. “Lock everyone in your classroom or lead them all out.”

“A rabbit?” the second professor said. “Are you kidding?”

Jack jumped up on a small table at one end the hallway, growling and showing his bloody teeth and white frothy lips.

“Everyone out now,” the second professor shouted to the classroom behind him. “There’s a rabid animal in here. Hurry.”

It didn’t take Jack long to clear the building. He had only several more classroom buildings to clear. Then it would be time to clear the gymnasium.

Lucky Blue walked into the science building and opened the door to one of the large classrooms. A PowerPoint lecture was in progress. Lucky moved leisurely across the classroom towards the computer podium in front. He called no significant attention to himself but didn’t try to hide either. A few students, almost all young female Beasts, noticed him and began pointing, unsure whether to laugh. He reached the podium.

The female Beast professor, who had been standing next to the film screen talking, was walking back towards the podium and hadn’t yet seen him. Lucky jumped up on the podium and started operating the PowerPoint screen. The professor gasped and froze. Lucky moved the pictures back and forth rapidly, as if in a random pattern, while he plugged in the little flash drive he had brought with him.

Some student Beasts were looking around confused, still not knowing what had happened. Others had seen Lucky or were seeing him now. “It’s like that rabbit walked right in here to use the computer,” someone was laughing. Other students were standing up, nervously, at the idea of an animal, no matter how small, loose in the room. “Why is it blue?” somebody asked.

“Maybe it’s a frat prank, like they do over at Danford,” a young Beast female said. “Painted that rabbit and set it loose in here.”

Lucky flashed the word “rabies” in large letters on the screen and clicked quickly through a number of online photos showing rabid animals attacking.

The professor stepped backwards, away from the computer.

The students were now milling around, initial amusement now giving way to anxious shouts and questioning asides. “How can that be happening?” a young woman shrieked.

“It’s just an accident,” another woman shouted. “Rabbits can’t operate a computer.”

The next photo on the screen was one of a snarling collie, teeth bared, mouth foaming. “Does it have rabies?” a third woman yelled.

The word “rabies” swept across the room faster than rabies could have. In moments, everyone was headed for the doors. -------------------

Scruffy looked into the dining hall where breakfast was being served. A number of Beast students, most young but a few full adults, sat at tables eating or had their heads in books or down on them, napping before their first classes. Others strolled unfocused from here to there or stood in the food line. Behind the food counters, the Beast cafeteria workers in light blue uniforms took orders or served food slowly but efficiently, some friendly, others indifferent, a few glaring. Scruffy took in the whole scene and moved forward.

He nipped at the feet of a few student Beasts. He tore holes in a few shoes and sent the Beasts wearing them them into shrieking panic. Then, zigzagging, gnashing his teeth at feet and legs, he hurried to the cafeteria line. He jumped onto the top of the long glass window behind which the cafeteria food sat in metal bins. From there he dropped down to the bins themselves and started sampling Beast breakfast options. He spat out most of them but enjoyed bites of the breads and cereals.

“There’s a yellow rat eating the food,” one male Beast in line was shouting. “That’s the most disgusting thing I’ve ever seen. They make us pay for this food.”

“That’s not a rat,” a female Beast said. “It’s a small rabbit. It looks sick.”

“There are rodents in the food,” another female Beast student was shouting. “Gross gross gross.”

It was the food that was gross, Scruffy decided. Beasts polluted themselves with this junk for years on end and didn’t notice it was disgusting until a rabbit tried a few bites? He spit out some scrambled eggs.

One of the cafeteria workers came up with a broom and tried to smack Scruffy into a bin of what Scruffy saw was warm grits. Scruffy leaped away and nipped at the worker’s wrist, missing it on purpose, tearing open a shirt sleeve and jumping away. The worker dropped the broom and darted backwards.

People were already leaving the cafeteria. Some rushed out frightened and others moved away disgustedly from their food trays. Some, though, still watched fascinated as Scruffy went back to sampling more cafeteria food.

“Somebody should be sued for this,” said a full grown Beast male starting at Scruffy from the other side of the long glass window guarding the food.

Scruffy took a bite of hash browns, smeared some across his face and dipped his nose into a small ketchup bin. With the food and condiment dripping down his face, he stared at the Beast male, then jumped back up on the top of the glass window.

The Beast, horrified and disgusted but unable not to look, began slowly backing away. Scruffy scurried to the floor and ripped the Beast’s pants. The Beast tried to kick Scruffy off and Scruffy jumped away, biting at people’s feet, again and again.

Soon the last few Beasts in the dining hall were hurrying out shocked.

-----------------

Two security Beasts walked out the door of the Campus Security building and across a lawn, headed obliviously towards Muffin. Muffin set his own Beast on a patch of grass behind a bush where it wouldn’t be disturbed. He tied its rope to a nearby bicycle rack. The drizzly rain had stopped, although the air was still heavy and wet. Muffin finished the tying before the security Beasts reached him. He darted away to hide behind another nearby bush, just to the side of the path they were walking up.

“What say we get a beer after work?” the younger guard Beast said to the older. They were both large, lighter-skinned Beasts, the older one balding and with a big stomach. Both were carrying bags full of Beast objects. “I’m going to want one after a really tough day handing out parking tickets.”

The older guard laughed a moment. “You going to the range late afternoon?” it said in a phlegmy voice. “I could pull off a few rounds. Haven’t had time to do any hunting for a while. Looking forward to ducks this fall though. Gonna bag me some good eating for sure.”

“I’d like to,” the younger one said, “but I don’t have the time. Maisie wants me to take her and her kid for some dinner and mini-golf. I’ve got a few minutes for a beer before, but that’s it.”

They reached Muffin’s hiding place in the bushes and he scurried out, getting under their feet and dancing around. He tripped the older Beast easily. It went down shouting “Agggghhh” at the top of its phlegmy voice. Its walkie-talkie bounced across the sidewalk before landing in the wet grass.

“You all right?” the younger Beast asked. Muffin kept jumping around, back and forth, up and down, making the younger Beast look at him. “What’s this rabbit doing?” The younger Beast’s eyes grew wide and confused. It reached into its carrying bag and pulled out a heavy stick. Before the younger Beast could use the stick, Muffin slipped behind the Beast, kicked the back of its legs behind the knees and knocked it down.

While both Beasts struggled to their feet, Muffin dashed in the direction of the Campus Security building. He looked to see that they were watching him. He jumped up on the door handle, opened the door and went into the building.

He found a female Beast on Campus Security phone duty and jumped on her desk. He pulled the phone to the floor and yanked out the plug, then bit at her. She fled the room. He began breaking all the available computers, pulling out wires, smashing monitors. He saw a mop and a large bucket full of cleaning water. He dumped several walkie-talkies into the bucket, jumping back from the sparks.

The two security Beasts entered the room and looked around shocked at the damage that Muffin had already done. They tried to grab him but he dodged them. From a table he sent a computer screen crashing at their feet. “There’s something wrong with that rabbit,” the older Beast said. “I’ve shot a few in my time and I never seen one like this. It’s sick or crazy or both. We’ve got to kill it and get it out of here.” The Beast began opening, with a key, a black box where Muffin guessed a locked pistol was kept.

“You don’t have authorization for that,” the younger Beast said.

“Present danger here,” the older Beast said. “Communication is gone. If that doesn’t meet the recs, I don’t need this job. Grab some extra rounds, will you?”

Muffin dashed past them, into the hallway and towards the back door. He pushed the door open and headed out. He crouched down in some bushes just to the side of the door.

The security Beasts came out the back door, the younger one with a bag on its back. They passed Muffin and moved some feet up the sidewalk. “Outside or not, if it’s rabid, we need it dead,” the older Beast said. It was carrying the pistol. It struck a tough posture, arms folded, chest out. It looked around not seeing what it was looking for.

Muffin scrambled out of the bushes, took a quick sprint and aimed a full kick directly at the older Beast’s back. The Beast jolted forward grunting and fell, the pistol flying out of its grasp. The younger Beast lunged at Muffin, but Muffin got away easily, onto the grass near where the pistol had landed. He stepped into the pistol grip with one of his back legs and spun it and himself around, faking a deranged snarl.

“That sick rabbit got itself tangled in the gun,” the younger Beast shouted.

Muffin spun the gun with one back paw and slammed a shot into the security building wall a few feet to one side of the younger Beast, which continued shouting. The older Beast regained its feet. Muffin took another purposefully wild shot in its direction. The Beast lumbered away across a field that led to a hill and the edge of campus. The younger Beast followed. Before it picked up speed, Muffin kicked it behind the knees and sent it down. He pulled the Beast bag from its shoulders. The Beast lurched to its feet, but made no effort to regain the bag before following the older Beast across the field.

Muffin scooped up the Beast bag, checked to see what was in it. Much of it was junk but there was also some ammunition for the pistol. “A bunny who knows the fundamentals gets the breaks,” he said. He picked up the pistol lying a few feet away and stuffed it into the bag too, then went around the side of the security building, back to where he had parked his Beast. He untied the Beast from its bicycle rack and stood it up.

“Okay, Beast. Here’s your moment. If you run, I’ll have to come get you. You won’t like that, you hear me?”

The Beast grunted what might have been acknowledgment.

“Then you know what to do.”

The Beast stared, confused.

“We practiced this for an hour.” Muffin jumped up and rapped the Beast firmly on the nose.

The Beast faked a small attack but immediately gave up. “Rabid animals,” it said quietly. “Run.”

“Louder,” Muffin said, “or I’ll have to smack you again.”

“Rabid animals!” the Beast shouted. “Run!”

“Keep that up awhile, and I’ll come back to you and bring you lunch.”

“Rabid animals!” the Beast shouted again. “Run!”

It shouted several more times. When Muffin was sure that it would keep shouting, he hurried off to meet the Sir near the Campus Drive for their next task.

--------------------------------- Stay tuned to this blog for the conclusion of Chapter 28, coming one week from today.

[thinkingagain]

Soon they were all back in the field overlooking Fallons University where everyone was meeting. The arrival of the Madam and her friends led immediately to energetic greeting and commentary.

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book One: Conquest Chapter 27

“Over centuries of history, Beasts have killed many thousands of those they called witches,” Lucky told Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest. They were now walking back, along with the Madam and her totem friends, to the agreed-upon spot to gather with their other companions. After the story about the purple rhinos that the Madam had told her totem friends, and her introductions of them to the Sir, she looked tired of talking and watched quietly.

“Most witches,” Lucky went on, “were innocent Beast Madams whom Beast groups blamed for their own problems. If a group of Beasts ran out of food or got sick for reasons they couldn’t understand or even stole things from each other, they often went looking for someone to call a witch and punish. A witch is a kind of scapegoat.”

“I’m beginning to believe,” the Sir said, “that a list of reprehensible Beast behaviors could never be completed.”

“The term ‘witch,’” Lucky nodded, “means different things in different contexts, and is often associated with connection to the mysterious powers of the universe. What’s strange though is that when Beasts come across someone like the Madam, who really is part of Animal Magic, they almost never notice her actual powers.”

“Ah Madam,” the Sir turned to her and her animal friends bunched up closely around her. “Your life must be difficult.”

“In some ways it is.” The Madam pushed her hair back from her face. “Many people have tried to make me live like they do. They’ve wanted me to cook or clean for them. They’ve put me behind desks in little rooms where I spent all day counting or labeling objects and putting them in storage stacks. Some have even tried to hit me. I’ve spent a fair amount of my life fighting them off. But there has been nothing, so far, that has stopped me from being who I want to be. By now, with the animal friends I have, my protective magic is strong.”

It was true that as the Madam walked along, a physically palpable aura surrounded her and her totem friends. They seemed bonded inside a magic circle. It wasn’t a circle that kept others out. Instead it suggested that others could come in if they wished.

Soon they were all back in the field overlooking Fallons University where everyone was meeting. The arrival of the Madam and her friends led immediately to energetic greeting and commentary. Jack of course knew The Madam. Leo had heard of her and her friends, but they had never met. Muffin was delighted with all of them, especially Love Frog. “Now there are two frogs fighting for the Demesne,” he said several times, doing his frog routine. Love Frog gave him some pats on the head and a brief tummy rub.

Scruffy looked over the newcomers carefully, then finally said, “She’s a huge improvement over that worthless Beast we’re dragging along. But I’m not sure we can trust all this.” He looked directly at the Madam. “I can see how much your animal friends love you, but we’re going to be fighting Beasts. When it comes down to it, whose side will you be on?”

“There’s no need to be wary of the Madam,” Lucky said. “She’s as committed to Animal Magic as any animal I know.”

The Sir spoke up. “I too do not doubt her sincerity and concern. We have only just met, but being in the presence of the Madam for even a few moments has left me convinced of her bravery, beliefs, and dazzling abilities.”

“You are gallant, Sir.” The color in the Madam’s face flared up. “But your small, clearly tough friend has a point. There are people who appear to be friendly while hiding a hidden desire to destroy. Some attempt to access Animal Magic in order to pervert it. I know a few of them well. If any animal thinks that no human being can be trusted, I’m sure that comes from a set of experiences whose importance should never be rejected.”

“I appreciate you saying so,” Scruffy said warily. “I just don’t know how we’re going to fight Beasts if we have Beasts on our side—or think we do.”

 “I remember feeling much the same way.” The Sir gripped his sword while thinking of darker days. “Now, well, one has to see things that are true even if one is not sure how they can be. To be open to changing one’s mind on the basis of new information: is that not one main way animals distinguish their openness from the closed, claustrophobic world of Beastly delusion?”

“True.” Scruffy pawed the ground as if trying to make it more comfortable. “But noticing a threat when there is one, and not being swayed by figments of your own imagination, also distinguishes animals from Beasts.”

“No doubt,” the Sir said. “In this case, the Madam’s sympathies for, and histories with, animals tell me everything I need to know.” He looked at everyone. “I for one am glad that they are with us and believe that their additional help may turn out to be essential. How do all of you feel?”

The animals gave a cheerful assent to their new companions. After a pause, even Scruffy came over and sat near Busterella, nodding at her as if her ready-to-fight-at-any-moment stance appealed to him.

“Did everyone find what they were looking for?” the Sir asked, changing the subject.

“Before I saw the Madam,” Lucky said. “I found a campus map and a summer course schedule. With that and some walking, we can get an accurate picture of the landscape.”

“I picked up a radio and some batteries,” Jack said. “We’ll be able to hear, live, any local Beast Media reports about what’s going on. Plus I got supplies we might need to help us in our various roles. We’ll look it over and see if we need anything else.”

“My training session with the Beast went as well as it could, I guess.” Muffin nodded in the direction of a nearby bush. “It’s over there sleeping. Maybe I’ve taught it a thing or two that can help us.”

“I’ve given much thought to the issue of how best to invade Fallons without harming anyone.” Leo’s voice was soft and thoughtful. “And now we have more friends with us than before, and more options.”

The Sir looked thankfully at all of them. “You have all been doing excellent work. I wish I could claim to have been as productive. Still, I believe we are ready to sit down and talk about how we’re going to do what we’ve set out to do.” He held his sword out in front of him, looking at the engraving along its blade.  “Starting right now, we begin our direct struggle to found the Demesne. We need the full range of each of your excellent skills if we are to succeed. Let me say that I could wish for no braver set of companions. With all of you here, I believe we shall prevail.”

The gathered animals, and the Madam, agreed that they believed it too.

“I began as one small bunny, alone in the world, dreaming a dream bigger than I could do anything about.” The Sir paced, looking at each of his companions in turn. “And yet the aid of animals and Animal Magic has come to me, and to us. The world of animals does not have to be destroyed by the world of Beasts. Together, we shall prove it.” He raised his sword high.

The animals cheered; even Scruffy nodded assent. Then they settled down to work out the details of the scouting they would do the next day.

The day after that, they would attack.

[thinkingagain]

“Look at that Beast, walking around like it owns everything.” Scruffy bared his teeth, glaring.

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book One: Conquest Chapter 19

When the first splotches of sun sparkled through the trees, Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest roused himself from his comfortable spot among leaves and brush. His sleep had been brief but restful. Sweet aromas from the foliage had replaced the odors which had smothered him in the Beast car. He looked around at the other rabbits, also waking and stretching. He was a bunny among bunny friends, waking early for the day’s adventure. “A fine morning, is it not?” he said to Scruffy, who was rolling around in some dew.

“I’ve known worse,” Scruffy said.

“On a morning like this,” the Sir said, his fur tingling, “I feel my Demesne may indeed come to exist, and sooner than I think.”

“Can’t say I know.” Scruffy rubbed a shoulder vigorously against the grass. “I wish you well with it, whatever happens. Me, I don’t have your capacity for dreaming big. The world right in front of me is world enough for me. Still, whether you get your Demesne or not, and whether or not there’s any home for me there that I can stand, I’ll fight on your side.”

“Thank you. I respect your skepticism, believe me, given your experiences...” The Sir stopped. The grinding metallic hum of a Beast vehicle had separated itself from the low hum of vehicles on the main Beast track. It was pulling into the area where the rabbits had parked the Buick.

Lucky and Jack came back through the trees towards them. “Police Beast,” Lucky said.

“I’m going to make sure Muffin keeps our Beast quiet,” Jack said. He slipped back into the trees. Scruffy was staring angrily, his body tense, towards the parking area.

    “Police Beast?” the Sir asked.

    “Beasts make lots of laws about their behavior and enforce them on each other,” Lucky said. “Police Beasts usually do the enforcing. It’s against the law to leave cars overnight in these rest areas.” Before the Sir could ask, he went on. “Mainly it’s Beasts who have no other home who might want to sleep here in their cars. But most Beasts don’t consider it acceptable to have no home or no place to go.”

“Beasts consider it unacceptable to have no place to go? I myself have never had any place to go.”

Lucky looked momentarily surprised, then nodded thoughtfully. “The question right now is, what will these police do with the Buick?”

Through the brush, the Sir, Scruffy, and Lucky slipped up closer to the parking area. A Beast car with a red light flashing slowly on its top and two Beasts inside it had pulled near the Buick. One of the Beasts stepped out of the car. Large, outfitted in gray cloth weighed down with an array of gadgets, it walked around the Buick, peering into it.

“Too early in the day probably for the car to have been reported stolen yet,” Lucky said. “We’ll see.”

The Police Beast began speaking something into one of its gadgets. The Sir couldn’t make out what it was saying. Some words barked back at the Beast over the gadget. The Sir couldn’t hear those either.

“Routine check, it sounds like,” Lucky said. “Probably calling in a tow truck to haul it away.”

“Should we stop it from calling?” The Sir held tight to his sword.

“I don’t think so. Once the police car leaves, we’ve got to leave too, right away. We can get as good or better a view from a rest stop further down.”

“Look at that Beast, walking around like it owns everything.” Scruffy bared his teeth, glaring. “It has no idea how much danger it’s in.”

“It has done nothing harmful to us,” the Sir said, “although clearly it would attack us, given the chance. And if it did, we would attack back, and hard.”

Scruffy was still glaring at the Police Beast. “I’m ready any time.”

The Police Beast looked around, then got back into the car and spoke to the other Beast still sitting in it. The car pulled away.

“Let’s get everyone,” Lucky said. “We don’t have long until the tow truck comes.”

Scruffy hurried around with the news. In a few moments, all the rabbits were in the Buick again, with their own Beast seated carefully. They left the rest stop.

“I could have hotwired another car,” Lucky said, ‘but it might have taken a long walk to find a good one.”

On the George Washington Parkway, they were now driving in full daylight. The Sir, to better examine his surroundings, sat on top of the seat that the Beast leaned back on. He saw occasional startled expressions on the Beasts passing in other vehicles. That was worrisome, but no doubt those Beasts weren’t sure what they were seeing and would either forget about it quickly or be startled enough to later garble the memory further. Still, a Buick full of rabbits, or whatever the passing Beasts thought they saw, was a spectacle that shocked a few Beasts out of their morning daze.

The Sir kept glimpsing Beast structures on the far side of the river they were driving above. Structure after structure after structure, tall and in deep rows, loomed on the far bank. The Sir had seen Beast towns before, but nothing as massive as he was seeing now. “This Beast city,” he said, “just goes on and on.”

“One of the best views I’m aware of is coming shortly,” Lucky said. “We don’t want anybody to see us getting in and out of the car. The gawking Beasts here on the freeway are bad enough.”

Soon after, Lucky pulled into another parking area. “Everybody get down for a moment, please. Even you, Leo. Can you duck?”

“By all means.” Leo leaned over in his seat and put his head down.

“It’s a good thing not many Beasts use these viewpoints.” Lucky was peering out the window cautiously, keeping most of his body out of sight. “Otherwise we wouldn’t be able to get out at all.”

Eventually he took a calming breath. “There’s only one Beast here, and it looks like it’s headed back to its car. Once it’s gone, we can pile out. You’ll see a clump of trees off the back end of the parking lot. When I say ready, make your way there.”

The rabbits all hunkered down. When Lucky gave the word, they jumped out and headed towards the trees. Muffin came more slowly, the Beast behind him.

“Well done,” Lucky said when they were all together in the trees.

They were still on a ridge above the river, less wooded than the earlier ridge, though with enough places to hide. From here, the view of the Beast city wasn’t blocked by foliage.

The Sir looked down on the sprawling blur of Beast structures that piled one upon another out to an appalling distance. Some were square and squat, others taller or massive. One strange structure, by far the tallest, shot up into the sky like a Beast weapon with a sharp tip. Other sharp but smaller tips shot up from this or that structure, as if the Beasts who had built them were trying to arrange a group of swords to protect themselves from invasion by the sky.

Much of what the Sir could see was shaped into square grids. Maybe Beasts preferred that kind of artificial shape to the more pleasing contours of trees and rocks and hills. Although there were some hills, and many trees, the Beast city clearly tried to control all things, whether made by Beasts or not. The trees were no more than decorations that had been strewn around the structures Beasts considered important—as if Beasts or any of their structures could have survived without trees.

“I have to fight back against all this?” the Sir cried. “This failure of principle and imagination, this massive outpouring of defensiveness, outrage, and violence against the earth itself? That is my enemy?”

Muffin threw himself on his back. “The frog is afraid.” He pulled himself into a sitting position and glared at the city. “But the panda is eager.”

“I can barely stand to look at it,” the Sir said.

“It’s actually an attractive-looking city compared to most others,” Jack said. “And small.”

“Small?” The Sir, trying to understand, looked at Jack. “Beast breeding habits are far more out of control than I realized. Do they have no constraints?”

“As you can see,” Jack said, “Beasts take over huge areas of land and devastate them, making them hospitable only for other Beasts. That’s what a city is. Some animals survive in the devastation, because they’re smart like that. Beasts throw away so much food waste that many animals learn to live off it. It’s a terrible diet, but if you live in the devastation you have to take what you can. I learned to live pretty well in cities, but it took me awhile.”

While the other rabbits were talking, Leo wandered over to a nearby tree and sat beneath it, chewing a bit of grass, his face peaceful. The Sir noticed and walked over to him, the other rabbits following. “You wanted me to see all this?” he said.

“Yes.” Leo nodded calmly. “A bunny destined for great things needs to know what he’s up against.”

[thinkingagain]

“What kind of Beast vehicle are we seeking?” the Sir asked. “Something a little older.” Lucky was marching up and down the rows of vehicles. “The new ones can be trickier to hotwire.”

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book One: Conquest Chapter 17

“We need to find the right kind of Beast vehicle,” Lucky said to Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest. The rabbits were moving carefully and quickly along the side of a wide, much used Beast track made of the usual dark, oddly uniform stone with lines marked along it. Beast vehicles of different sizes and colors rushed down the track as it wound through open fields, patches of trees, and layers of small hills. All the vehicles gave off a bitter odor, some even spewing smoke that clouded the air. Every now and then, a Beast vehicle careened down the track with out of control wildness. Beasts inside it yelled or made other loud sounds: whoops, whistles, grunts.

“I hope being in the vehicle will not make us lose control like these Beasts do.” The Sir had been watching with increasing concern the vehicles passing them. “It’s a wonder they don’t soil themselves unintentionally.”

“Actually that’s been known to happen. Especially if a Beast drinks too much and loses consciousness in the vehicle.”

“Why would drinking water lead a Beast to lose consciousness?”

Lucky laughed. Another Beast vehicle whipped past them. “I don’t mean water. Beasts concoct many drinks with what they call alcohol. The alcohol makes their brains blurry and lets Beasts temporarily forget they’re Beasts. It puts them into a mindless frenzy which sometimes leads to losing consciousness. Some Beasts get drunk only while sitting or walking. Other Beasts drink lots of alcohol before getting in their Beast vehicles.”

“I think I’ve seen that.” The Sir recalled some earlier incidents that had confused him. “It seems reckless.”

“Yes. Beasts die in their Beast vehicles often, much of the time because of alcohol.”

The Sir scratched himself behind the ears, puzzling. “So they create a vehicle, then create this alcohol, then drink the alcohol they have created and get in the vehicle they have created and die in it?”

“Commonly,” Lucky said.

“But Beasts must know that other Beasts die in these vehicles?”

“Sure. I can’t prove that no Beast ever learns from something that happens to another Beast, but it’s rare. Each Beast has a powerful drive to believe it’s the only important Beast. It usually thinks that whatever happens to another Beast could never happen to it.”

A large, tall vehicle with long silver sides lumbered past them, spewing smoke and screeching. The Sir bristled. “Many of these vehicles seem dangerous even for those of us simply walking near them.”

“It’s true.” Lucky frowned, which he seldom did; he was a rabbit of good cheer and calm moods. “Beast vehicles kill many animals. Some of the time, Beasts don’t even know they did it.”

The Sir shook his sword at the large rumbling vehicle now fading into the distance ahead of them. “Beasts should be treated with the lack of respect they have earned.”

The sun had gone lower in the sky. It glimmered and flashed off the Beast vehicles which continued past the rabbits in an endless stream. The air near the Beast track kept its heavy bitter odor, but now and then the Sir caught a whiff of flowers or greenery on moments of light breeze.

Farther along, on one side of the Beast track appeared a large open field, not full of grass as it should have been. Instead it was covered with the same uniform dark stone as the Beast track and contained long rows of Beast vehicles sitting quietly. A large, low building made of something that the rabbits could see into (“Big glass windows all around,” Lucky explained to the Sir) stood at one edge of the field. Inside the windows were several more Beast vehicles.

The Sir had never before seen this kind of massive Beast vehicle storage area. He tried to take it all in: the rows of vehicles, each with numbers in their windows. Big boards with Beast signs on them were raised above the field: “Used Cars,” “Take One Home Today,” among many others.

“Excellent,” Lucky Blue said to all the rabbits. “Should have no problem finding what we need.”

“What kind of Beast vehicle are we seeking?” the Sir asked.

“Something a little older.” Lucky was marching up and down the rows of vehicles. “The new ones can be trickier to hotwire.”

“Hotwire?”

“Starting the car without the key. Done it a number of times. Sometimes I have to climb up in the engine first. With luck I find one that I can just get into the cab and start from there.”

“I’m not sure I understand, but I wish you luck.”

Lucky looked closely at a number of Beast vehicles. He disappeared under them for a few moments here and there, then came out shaking his head. He continued walking along the rows.

“Ah, here’s one.” He stopped at a long, large blue Beast vehicle. “A Buick. Done them before. It has the old-fashioned hand locks, and looks like the back door locks are open already.” He jumped on the vehicle and had soon opened one of the back doors by pulling hard on a piece of metal on its side. He looked at the other rabbits, then at the sun sinking between the trees on one side of the field of vehicles. “Let’s wait until after dark for the rest.”

“Won’t Beasts be coming for these vehicles?” the Sir asked.

Lucky shook his head no. “The owner of these cars doesn’t use them. They sit here until he sells them to another Beast, for Beast money.”

“I understand.” The Sir had several times seen Beasts involved in loud, brutal discussions over money, some of them berating or mocking others for not having it or using it wrongly. “Many Beasts love money more than they love themselves.”

“Never forget it,” Lucky agreed. “It’s one of their worst weaknesses and can be used to our advantage. Let’s go over into those trees and take a quick rest until dark. I don’t think any of us are going to sleep much tonight.”

All the rabbits, with Muffin herding the Beast dutifully, went into the trees and looked for brush to hide in. The Beast and Leo were less easy to hide, so Leo and Muffin took the Beast deeper into the trees, where they couldn’t be seen at all from the field of vehicles.

As night settled in, several Beasts strolled lazily through the field, looking in this vehicle or that, not too closely, as if doing some duty they didn’t believe in. They then moved away, got in other nearby vehicles and drive off. Soon it was dark. Eventually no more Beasts seemed nearby.

Lucky went out to the Buick. The other rabbits followed. He jumped on the Buick again, opened the door and scrambled inside, then opened the other doors. The Sir looked in the Buick. A number of places seemed comfortable enough to sit. There was also a strange array of devices along one of its inside walls. He could read the numbers and letters but didn’t understand their purposes.

Lucky was scrambling around inside. He came out again and stood on the ledge beneath the open Beast door. “Easy. We have some things to decide first. Once I have it going, we’ll want to leave quickly.”

“What do we need to decide?” the Sir asked.

“I can drive,” Lucky said, “but we have to consider what will happen if we’re on the road and somebody sees me driving. Especially a member of the Beast Police. We could get pulled over. That would be trouble. Beasts can’t fathom the idea that a rabbit can drive a Beast vehicle.”

The Sir looked over at Muffin, who still had the Beast on a rope behind him. “Maybe it’s time for my Beast to labor for me. Do you suppose it could drive and be made to do so properly?”

Muffin and the other rabbits looked dubious.

“My guess is that this Beast probably can drive,” Lucky said, “but I’m not sure how much control over itself it has. The driver of any Beast vehicle has a lot of power. I don’t think we should give this Beast that power.”

“Power?” The Sir looked shocked. “This Beast should be given no power of any kind.”

“Then I’ll be doing the driving.”

“But what should we do with the Beast?” the Sir said. “We do need to bring it.”

“We could stuff it in the trunk,” Scruffy said.

The Sir said, “I’m not opposed to that.”

Lucky shook his head. “Yeah, but if we get pulled over, and a rabbit’s driving and there’s a Beast in the trunk, things could get difficult. But listen, I used to drive with my friend the Madam.”

The Sir perked up, as before, at mention of this strange Beast Madam who had been a companion of Lucky’s. “You drove in Beast vehicles with this Madam?”

Lucky nodded. “What worked well is that I would drive, but she would sit in the front seat with me. It looked like she was driving and had a small animal friend along for the ride. My question is, can we get this Beast to sit still while I drive?”

“I believe we can. This Beast will do my bidding. Especially if Muffin and I are sitting nearby to smack it if it gets uppity.”

“We’ll all be sitting close to its teeth,” Scruffy said. “Smarter to risk the trunk. Who knows what kinds of diseases this Beast might have in its mouth?”

“We have checked the Beast’s mouth,” the Sir said. “As unpleasant as it is, I think all is well there. But the Beast will smell up the car, it’s true.”

“We’re not planning on living in the car,” Lucky said. “Just on getting where we’re going.”

“Most of us can stay below window level easily enough,” Muffin put in. “What about our friend Leo? He’s even larger than the Beast.”

Leo laughed. “I appreciate you thinking of me, little friend. I will sit in the front seat next to the driver. Beasts never expect to see a bunny my size. When they do, they take me for a bear or a large dog, or else they think, if you can call it thinking,” —he chortled good-naturedly— “that I’m not real. One time I spent the day in the woods on the edge of a Beast fair. A child saw me and asked if he could take the big toy bunny home with him. It turns out my size is not much of a disadvantage when it comes to subterfuge.”

Jack, who had been watching the conversation quietly, spoke up. “Any Beast that actually did see who you were would likely get chastised for it by the others. Beasts always force other Beasts to share their delusions.”

“It seems we have a plan,” the Sir said. “Lucky?”

“I’m going to start the car,” Lucky said. “Then we need everybody in fast, in case there’s a Beast on duty somewhere nearby, or even some poor mistreated guard dog.” He got back in the car, scrambled into the space underneath the various devices. There was a spark of light and the vehicle rumbled to life. “Everybody in,” he shouted. He moved to a spot just under the vehicle’s front window, above the wall of devices.

Jack and Scruffy jumped in the back. Leo came around and slipped into the far side of the front seat. Muffin yanked at the Beast, which growled and looked confused. “In, Beast,” the Sir said. He pointed at the car and thwacked the Beast with his sword. The Beast climbed in the door closest to Lucky. The Sir and Muffin did too, placing themselves on either side of the Beast, which whimpered quietly.

From his perch above them, Lucky grabbed the Beast’s Fleshy Piedmonts and wrapped them around the circular object jutting out from the wall of devices. Then he jumped onto the Beast’s shoulder. “I’ve got the wheel. Everybody shut the doors and hold on.”

Soon the car was moving away from the other vehicles in the field. Shortly thereafter, Lucky had it on the wide, main Beast track. “We’re on our way, bunnies,” he said.

The rabbits drove from this Beast track to that. They passed many Beast vehicles and were passed by others, some going in the same direction, others the opposite. Any Beast who was alongside the Buick long enough to look in the front window saw a young male Beast driving a Buick while some small animal, probably a puppy, apparently sat on the Beast’s shoulder. Something that looked like a very big dog sat next to the driver and gestured energetically, as if it had more to say than the driver did.

[thinkingagain]

“Beasts choose these presidents freely?” The Sir’s eyes narrowed. “They attempt to do something that approximates fairness?”

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book One: Conquest Chapter 18

“A number of the best views of Washington can be found on the George Washington Parkway,” Leo said to Lucky Blue across the front seat of the car. They’d been driving for a while. Outside the car, the night was deeply dark. “You know how to get there?”

“Sure do.” Lucky was still sitting on the Beast’s right shoulder and keeping its Fleshy Piedmonts firmly on the wheel. “I’ve taken in those views several times. We’ll pick up the Beltway and then be around to it. Not too much longer now.”

“George Washington?” Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest looked up from his low spot on the seat between Leo and the Beast, which was staring passively at the landscape while Lucky guided its driving. It seemed calmed by movement.

“A famous Beast leader,” Leo said. “He was the first of what is called the President of the United States.”

“How does one get to be a president?”

Leo’s beard fluffed out happily at the question. “Over the history of what Beasts call the United States, Beasts have divided themselves into different political groups. Each group picks the Beast they’d like to be president. Then the Beasts chosen by the various groups are judged together in a thing called an election.”

The Sir looked at Leo curiously. “An election?”

“The general idea is that the Beast chosen by the largest number of Beasts becomes president, but it doesn’t really happen that way. Beasts split themselves into artificial geographic regions called states. Within each state there can be only one Beast winner, and each state has a different number value assigned to it, based on its population, and,” Leo frowned, “well, I’m not sure it’s worth going through all the details. Let’s just say that ultimately, after many complications, one Beast wins.”

“Beasts choose these presidents freely?” The Sir’s eyes narrowed. “They attempt to do something that approximates fairness? I have to say I doubt it.”

“No no no.” Leo shook his head vehemently, his big bunny beard flying around and catching the headlights of a passing Beast vehicle. “There’s no fairness. Only powerful Beasts are eligible to be president. Then Beasts manipulate each other frantically until a final decision is made. As with all Beastly things, what they tell themselves an election is, and what it actually is, have little in common. The goal of an election is for Beasts to do something unfairly while claiming it’s fair.”

Unsurprised, the Sir shook his head. “A few key principles make clear everything about Beasts that a bunny needs to know, it seems.”

Leo nodded. “Maybe so. In theory, each individual adult Beast gets a vote, although in practice, many Beasts don’t vote or are prevented from voting. Each group that’s supporting a Beast tells as many lies as it can about the goodness of its own potential President Beast and about the evil of the other potential President Beasts. The group whose lies are most convincing to the largest proportion of Beast states has their potential president become president. It’s not always obvious which lie will flatter the largest percentage of Beasts at any given time.”

“What happens to the smaller Beast groups that do not win?”

“They become available for abuse. Although they often defend themselves well enough to fight another time. Of course, the most abused Beasts, in the election process and any other, are the neediest or sickest or most helpless Beasts, most of whom play little or no role in elections. A Beast that senses weakness in another Beast will tear it apart if it can.”

“Yes.” The Sir looked at the Beast on the seat next to him as it stared placidly at passing lights. “This Beast is helpless in the face of other Beasts, but it would be a mistake to let it loose around any weaker animal.”

“Of course even the Beast that wins an election becomes available for abuse,” Leo said, “since the losing Beasts immediately start a new round of lies in order to prepare for the next election.”

The rabbits lapsed into thought in the darkness of the Beast vehicle. The lights of other Beast vehicles continued flashing past them.

A while later, Lucky said, “Here’s George Washington Parkway. First rest stop with a good view of the city coming up shortly. We can probably park there, get out, and have at least a little sleep before morning, when we’ll be able to see the city.”

Soon Lucky pulled into the rest stop and parked the car. The rabbits jumped happily out of it. It was still night, although bits of lighter darkness hovered along the horizon. “How can Beasts stand being in those things so often?” the Sir asked.

“You get used to it,” Lucky said. “Still, of all Beast creations, Beast cars are maybe the most damaging. Kills Beasts in them, kills animals that get near them, kills the air, kills the land and water that needs the air. It’s not any one car that does it. But the sum total of all Beast cars all over the world is more deadly than any of their intentional weapons.”

“Story of Los Angeles,” Jack chimed in. “One, anyway.”

“I shall find some grass and brush to lie down in and get clean,” the Sir said. “I realize that we had to use the Beast car and will have to use it again. Still, there’s only so much that a bunny can stand.”

The Beast was whining, trying to stay in the car. Muffin was yanking at it.

“The Beast could get in a lot of trouble if another Beast found it sleeping in the car,” Lucky said. “Make it step out.”

“I kept its Beast ground cloth for situations like this,” Muffin said, “as well as several Beast blankets. It probably feels exposed outside, although it’s a feeling more than a fact.”

“We’ll find a way to keep it warm,” the Sir said. “We can’t tolerate misbehavior. Smack it, will you?”

“Sure.” With his long legs, Muffin gave the Beast several firm kicks, none that caused any pain. It stumbled out of the vehicle.

[thinkingagain]

They had joined a band of roving magic common frogs fighting against water and air pollution, oil rig runoff, and other local dangers to animals.

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book Two: Empire Chapter 8

Fall and winter passed on the Demesne with many quick missions against Beasts, a few more serious fights, and much companionship among the animals. One night in early spring, leaves still small and fresh on the trees and new undergrowth sprouting, MacAlister, a magic frog, was walking through the woods on the Demesne’s edge. He calmly watched through frog eyes, attuned to night vision, for any Beastly disturbance.

McAlister enjoyed night duty. He and his frog friend Smoochie often volunteered together, each patrolling on his own and looking at the transparent wall of scampering bunnies that glimmered in the darkness. They would meet and exchange a full-throated joke before continuing their rounds.

The two had shared many adventures. They had been raised in Ireland, two common frogs who had discovered Animal Magic. They had joined a band of roving magic common frogs fighting against water and air pollution, oil rig runoff, and other local dangers to animals. They used their ability to change skin color to disappear into any kind of terrain.

After some years local experience, they roved out on their own, trying to find bigger battles against Beastly excess. Information reached them about Mei Xiang’s epic revolution along the Silk Road. They trekked across seas and mountains and rivers to join her and brought their big personalities to the growing frog unit portion of the Koala Teams.

When they heard of the struggle to create a Demesne, they volunteered right away to join those whom Mei Xiang was bringing to the aid of Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest. After the Sir’s legendary victory at Fallons University, they stayed on at the Demesne and had been helpful in many altercations with Beasts. They loved participating in the Demesne’s lively social rituals and informative discussion groups.

Both frogs had grown attached to the Virginia woods. McAlister loved to walk the grounds breathing in the sweet air and listening to the musical interplay of local frogs and the rousing bird calls. He often composed, in his head, ballads and laments and battle songs that he and Smoochie would sing together when they crossed paths.

Although he laughed as much as any magic frog, McAlister was generally more serious than his friend. Smoochie had a well-deserved reputation for kissing anyone who would allow a frog to kiss them, and more than one who hadn’t seen the kiss coming. “Kissed by a frog!” some animal would be heard to shout on the Demesne, almost always followed by cheerful laughter.

On this particular night, they had just finished singing a recent McAlister version of “I Roved Out” and had headed on their separate duties. MacAlister liked to do night duty in full regalia, in a finely woven red scarf and plaid waist coat.

He had taken his style and name from the originally Scottish Beast clan of MacAlister, now located mainly in Ireland. He had harassed the clan early in his days as a Magic Animal, but had come to look back on them fondly as a group of mainly jovial romantic bunglers. Their crimes against animals had been minor and thoughtless, given the extremes he later found among Beasts. Bungling, he had learned, was as common among Beasts as bad intentions.

This attitude made him well-prepared for the Beastly activities that took place on the edges of the Demesne. Adolescent Beasts, drunk in Beast cars, would find a spot to pull over and flash their lights while whooping and hollering. The Demesne wall, invisible to them, repelled them easily when they accidentally knocked into it. It would gently toss them back, several body-lengths, in a way that surprised them and sometimes frightened them back to their cars. Just as often, it left them muttering to each other drunkenly as they rolled in the grass. Older drunken Beasts, often well on their way to self-destruction, received the same treatment.

McAlister found the young Beasts trying to mate in the woods even more annoying. The rutting, fumbling and frequent crass lies practiced prior to Beast mating often felt noxious. Since the wall repelled easily any mistaken advances into the Demesne, McAlister often hurried away once he was sure no Beastly violence was occurring. He had often been appalled by the aggression that Beast males showed females. More than once he had crossed out of the Demesne to confront and intimidate an out-of-control male. He had sometimes needed to attack and subdue one, beating the Beast, without cutting it, with the broad edge of the Claymore sword he had seized from the MacAlister clan.

Most Beasts believed that the former grounds of Fallons University were contaminated or had something else strangely wrong with them. The mystery surrounding the abandonment of Fallons had become a tale Beasts often told each other, sometimes around campfires in the summer.

On one edge of the woods still stood some useless clumps of Beast fence that the animals had agreed to leave standing. Beast reaction to the Beast signage on the fence was typically perverse. While most Beasts hurried away from a sign reading “Contaminated: Stay Out,” a few would stand staring fascinated at the fence or bring with them odd Beastly objects that MacAlister had realized were used to measure details about the land beyond the fence.

Most of the measuring Beasts were harmless fools. Some were Beast officials who arrived in teams, carrying complex devices. Keeping these officials from exploring the edges of the Demesne was trickier. When the invisible wall repelled them, their reaction to the disorienting moment was curiosity as much as confusion. For the most part though, these official Beasts took the word “contaminated” seriously and hovered just outside the fence, solemnly taking pointless measurements.

This night, the Beast whom MacAlister found hovering around the Demesne’s edges seemed different. The Beast noted the contaminated sign but moved past it, looking into the air and reaching out as if searching with its fingers for something it suspected couldn’t be seen. MacAlister watched closely. The Beast had a typical communication device, and other devices slung from its belt buckle, but none were conventional measuring machines. It continued pawing the air. Something it appeared to sense with its hands drew it, a step at a time, closer to the Demesne’s magic wall.

The Beast paused and pulled out its communication device. “I’m sensing something,” it said into the device, “but haven’t found it yet. You reading my coordinates?”

MacAlister couldn’t hear the response, but the Beast nodded. “Roger that.” It moved its hands again, in a kneading motion as if trying to smooth out the air. It came closer to the wall of scampering bunnies. The bunnies blinked on and off more brightly. The warning could be seen only by those inside the Demesne.

A more inexperienced Magic Animal might have confronted the Beast. MacAlister knew better. Whatever this Beast was doing, everyone needed to know. Scaring it off would likely only confirm for it that it had found something worthwhile. It might also mean that another would come later and finish the job, maybe unseen. Trying to deny a Beast information was less useful than letting it have information and recognize what it thought it knew, then planning accordingly to outsmart it.

The Beast reached the magic wall and touched it. The wall, flashing, flung the Beast back shouting onto the ground. The wall never harmed those who touched it. It just tossed them aside in a way meant to be confusing.

The Beast stood up. Cautious, not frightened, it approached the wall again. Its hands kneaded the air. This time the hands stopped only inches from the wall and began kneading up and down without touching the wall. The Beast’s eyes took on a strange faraway mystical glow, as if it sensed through them rather than seeing with them. Its mouth opened into an expression half smile, half awed. The wall of bunnies, unseen by the Beast, still flashed warnings. MacAlister took it all in.

The Beast kneaded the air a few minutes more. Its fingers seemed to pull on the folds of a curtain. Then it stopped and moved back from the wall. MacAlister followed it and stood nearby, hidden in the dark.

The Beast pulled out its communication device. “It’s here all right,” it said to the Beast on the other end. “I can’t take its dimensions, but our suspicions are confirmed. Tell him immediately. I assume he’s still awake?” In response to whatever it heard, the Beast put its communication device away. Then it returned to its Beast car. MacAlister let it drive away.

MacAlister rightly saw no need to wake the sleeping Demesne. Whatever Beast was waiting for news had foolishly stayed up much of the night for information it could have gotten the next morning. The animals would be better off for having slept before hearing MacAlister’s report.

Once the Sir and others were awake in the morning, MacAlister told them right away.

“We have been expecting visitors,” the Sir said. “We will do our best to make them feel that the Demesne exceeds their dreams of it.”

[thinkingagain]

“Then we have no choice.” The Sir pulled his sword close. “We hit them right in the center, at the front entrance.”

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book One: Conquest Chapter 33

“We can’t attack everywhere at once, obviously.” Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest looked at Busterella, Muffin, Jack, Lucky and Leo. “We can break through and escape and be all right, but if want to achieve our Demesne, we have to stay here.”

None of the others spoke. All together, the group consisted of eight magic animals ready to fight, one more that was wounded, a Madam who believed in animal magic, and a Beast poet they were protecting because it couldn’t protect itself.

Beast troops continue to roll into place in waves. Some the animals could see, others only hear.

Leo, the radio on low, reported that the firefight on the ridge, as it had been named, was now being much discussed. Claims about attack animals and robots were being questioned but no longer ignored. “The police Beast leaders and mainstream Beast media seem to realize they’re fighting something they don’t understand. They’re advocating heavy force.”

“Then we have no choice.” The Sir pulled his sword close. “We hit them right in the center, at the front entrance. We use their guns. Disable as many vehicles as possible and engage them paw to Fleshy Piedmont.

“Once we clear through the entrance, we scatter, but everyone should stay as near to the entrance as they can. We have to watch for any opportunity to come in again. No matter what, I want you to stay safe. We can find another Demesne if we have to, but we can’t replace ourselves. Henry will have to carry Scruffy and otherwise fight the best he can. The Madam still looks like an office worker and she’s unarmed, so with luck the Beasts won’t know what to do with her.”

“They never have before,” Lucky said. “Plus she’s a good fighter.”

The Sir considered a moment. “I would not have doubted it. Leo?”

“Yes?”

“I know you don’t believe in violence, but we need your help.”

“You have it, little bunny.” Leo’s large white ears twitched. “I have a few tricks left hidden in this rabbit beard. Follow my lead, okay?”

“Okay. And Muffin?”

“Don’t tell me,” Muffin shook his head. “Our obligations, and so on.”

“You are a fine henchman. If we leave our Beast here, it might get arrested and even blamed. Try to break through with it to the other side of the main entrance. Put it in some Beast backyard, not too close to the action, where it won’t seem conspicuous. A lawn chair, if you can find one, so that it seems just another foolish Beast fascinated by excitement.”

Muffin sighed. “The grasshopper and the frog don’t like it, but the panda realizes it will have to do.”

“We need all of us,” the Sir said.

Muffin nodded, his eyes bright and determined.

The Sir looked at his friends. “Give me one moment to tell the others. Then when I’m back, we start. And remember. Hurt no Beast until it’s clear it’s trying to hurt us. Knocking them down is okay, but serious injury should be inflicted only when attacked.”

The Sir hurried back to where Scruffy was sleeping and explained the plan to Love Frog and the Madam, who said, “It would be better if we didn’t have to move Scruffy.”

“I’m afraid we have to,” the Sir said. “I’m sorry, Love Frog.”

Love Frog put a leg on the Sir’s shoulder, saying he understood. Henry, sitting nearby, came over and picked up the little rabbit, who stirred uneasily in his sleep and groaned.

“When you hear gunshots,” the Sir said, “get going.”

He hurried back to the front of the house. The Sir looked at Muffin, who understood and handed around several Beast guns from his bag. The animals dispersed into nearby bushes and trees.

Leo put on a pair of Beast police sunglasses from Muffin’s bag and turned up the radio loud. On the station, the speaker was exhorting his listeners to give up their sinful ways.  Leo walked straight towards the group of police Beasts. “Peace, friends. Any of you found Jesus?”

Four police Beasts moved towards him, a couple of them staring mockingly at how odd Leo looked. “Christian, are you?” one said.

The Sir and Jack, keeping close to the ground, rushed forward silently and knocked all four Beasts off their feet, the Sir with his sword and Jack with his hind legs. Then they both hid under a car. In confusion, more police Beasts rushed over, raising their guns and looking around ready to fire. The Sir and Jack tripped a few more.

The tightly packed cars gave the police Beasts no clear angle for close shooting even if they had known who to shoot. They looked at each other, confused why so many had fallen.

Several of them surrounded Leo and pushed him to the ground by his big rabbit shoulders. “He’s a Christian, boys, take it easy on him,” one police Beast said. Leo didn’t resist and sat calmly on the pavement, watching. One of the police Beasts prepared to cuff him.

Lucky and Muffin and Busterella fired guns on the police Beast vehicles. Tires and windshields blew. The Beasts holding Leo dove away, looking for cover. Other Beasts began firing back, randomly, not seeing who was shooting. Leo rolled over several times, jumped to his feet and dove behind a tree.

Henry came out of the woods carrying Scruffy, Love Frog next to him. They made a run for the trees on one side of the gathered Beast cars. Several Beast shots slammed into the trees in the direction of their dash.

The Madam ran out towards the vehicles, shouting “Help! Protect me from the terrorists. Help!” Startled, a police Beast ran over to her. She reached out a hand and he did too. With a twist of his arm she brought him face down to the pavement, then dashed away into the trees.

Beast police confusion around the main gate grew more intense. Beasts fell down and got up, shooting at whatever motion they saw.

The Sir and Jack moved out from under the Beast vehicle and into the brush just to the east. Fire roared from the ridge in the distance. Several large Beast weapons pounded through the trees, blowing large holes in Campus Drive Way. Military Beasts, by the dozens, in full Beast military uniforms and heavily armed, moved down the ridge.

The Sir looked at Jack. “We can’t hold Fallons. We need to make sure everyone gets out. If we stay here, we’re going to die.”

[thinkingagain]

A low light, warming and reddish, began to come from the frog.

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book One: Conquest Chapter 32

When Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest and Jack reached the others back at the Alumni House, they saw that Henry had laid Scruffy in a grassy spot. The house stood between Scruffy and the ridge where the firing had come from. The Madam and Love Frog stood nearby. The Sir went around to the front of the house where Lucky, along with Busterella, was watching the police Beasts huddle near their vehicles.

“They’ll have major reinforcements soon,” Lucky said. “Information about the gunshots is already on the radio reports. Leo’s listening carefully. Apparently the shooters are deranged or terrorists or both. Beasts think they’ve taken over and have barricaded the campus.” He looked at Busterella, who nodded with grim determination.

“They’re confusing who’s doing the shooting with who’s being shot at,” the Sir said. “Scruffy’s hurt badly.”

“I saw. Love Frog’s trying to help him.”

“Can he be helped?”

“Not sure we know yet,” Lucky said.

The Sir, exhausted, fear for Scruffy surging through him, walked back behind the house where the little rabbit was being attended. The Madam was sitting behind Scruffy. She held his small head off the ground and stroked it lightly. Love Frog, sitting close beside the little rabbit, had reached out his front legs and was moving them over Scruffy’s yellow fur. It seemed like Love Frog was hugging Scruffy, though his legs hovered just above contact.

The Sir looked at the Madam. “What’s happening?”

“Shhh,” the Madam said. “Don’t disturb his concentration.”

The Sir said nothing more and watched. Love Frog continued to move his front legs over Scruffy’s body. A low light, warming and reddish, began to come from the frog. The light lingered along Scruffy’s fur and throbbed more brightly over his mangled foot. Eventually the light glowed all over the small rabbit’s body, as if wrapping him gently.

“All frogs have healing abilities,” the Madam said quietly to the Sir. “And Love Frog is a very magic frog.”

“I am astonished,” the Sir said. Love Frog continued to move his legs over Scruffy’s body. The little rabbit’s tense, anguished muscles began to relax, a bit at first, then more, until his breathing was calm and even. The blood loss from his mangled foot slowed to a stop, although as it did, that only showed more clearly how much his foot was ripped apart. The red light wrapping his body dimmed to a cooler blue and slowly faded away.

“Oh Scruffy,” the Sir said. “I didn’t reach you in time.”

“He’s going to live,” the Madam said. “Love Frog can’t make his foot whole again, but he can repair it enough that Scruffy might still be able to walk, maybe even run. Still, without Love Frog...”

“I understand,” the Sir said. “I and all my Demesne companions owe Love Frog many thanks. And Henry too. He was as valiant as his name in efforts to save our friend.”

Scruffy stared up at them from where he was lying, the look in his eyes coming from somewhere distant. “Sir. I don’t think I’m cut out for making it in your Demesne. I’m just not that kind of bunny. I know how to fight, and fighting’s what I do. It’s all I’m ever going to do.”

The Sir felt a heavy weight in his chest. “It’s okay, Scruffy. You’ve done so much to help us. It’s not my place to tell you where you should go or why.”

“Some animals,” Scruffy said, “there’s no one who can tell them what to do.” His eyes closed. Soon he was asleep, a calm, deep sleep that emanated both agony and the beginning of its healing.

The wailing of Beast vehicles came imperceptibly from the distance and quickly grew louder. The Sir left the Madam and Love Frog and went back to the front of the Alumni House where the other animals were gathered.

“Here come the troops,” Lucky said.

Several more police Beast cars drove down the drive from the front entrance to campus, causing the other Beasts hunkered behind their car doors to move about more restlessly.

Leo, who had remained inside the Alumni House listening to the radio, came quickly but cautiously around from the back of the house, carrying the radio. “It’s not just going to be police,” he said to everyone. “Military forces are also being brought in. They suspect a political insurrection and are treating it like a war.”

“And in that,” the Sir said, “for once they are right.”

The sounds of arriving Beasts kept getting louder. More vehicles reached the front entrance to campus. Loud sounds of Beasts could be heard all along the road on the south side of campus and on the east ridge from where the Beast fire had originally come.

Lucky pointed up towards the ridge. “I heard all the shooting but we couldn’t see anything from here. Jack filled us in on what happened.”

“They weren’t police Beasts,” the Sir said. “And they knew it was rabbits they were looking to attack.”

“Right,” Jack said. He was still in his full horror make-up; no time to take it off. “They know. Or at least what they know is close enough to the truth to be dangerous.”

“Attack robots controlled by Communists.” Lucky shook his head. “I don’t know what’s more remarkable, how ridiculous that is, or that it’s still the best guess any Beast has had yet.”

Muffin came over to the others. He had been scouting in the woods at spots where the Beasts were gathering. “Military out in force. At least a hundred. Armed, trained Beasts. When they’re all in place, they’re going to start with an overwhelming barrage of fire and then storm the campus. And they’re going to do it whether they see any actual Beast enemy on campus or not.”

“In other words,” the Sir said, “we have no chance. Not unless we counterattack now, and probably not even then.”

“That’s my guess too,” Muffin said.

[thinkingagain]

The Beast turned and saw the Sir. For a moment, maybe, it might have registered what it saw: a bunny in a gold suit with blue stars, holding high a long bright sword.

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book One: Conquest Chapter 30

Muffin handed around a number of sharp Beast objects he had collected on his trip across campus. Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest motioned for Lucky, Jack, and Scruffy to take positions hidden in the trees on the right side of the road. He and Muffin took the left side. Leo and the Madam went into the Alumni House where they watched, crouched down, through a window. The Madam’s totem friends hid themselves behind several different trees at spots around the House.

Soon the first Beast police car showed up at the front entrance to campus. The two police Beasts in it stayed sitting in the car, looking around. Soon, three more Beast police cars showed up. Then all eight Beasts stepped out of the cars. Some had short guns and the others long guns. All were drawn.

Two police Beasts moved forward to the traffic cones blocking the road. The other six stood tensely near their vehicles, looking at the campus.

“I don’t get it,” one Beast by the cones said. “It’s quiet here. Who put out the signs and blocked the entrance?”

“Could be the shooter, if there is one,” said the other Beast by the cones. Its uniform was covered in a greater array of shiny Beast objects, indicating it was the Beast in charge.

“Seems too quiet for a shooter. But the quiet snipers are the worst.”

“I guess we leave the cones here for now.” The Beast in charge scratched the side of its head. “The exit side of the road is open in case anyone on campus is still trying to get off, and obviously we don’t want anyone coming onto campus.”

“We’re gonna have to search the whole damn grounds maybe. And if there’s a shooter somewhere...”

“No sign of a shooter,” the Beast in charge said. “Bunch of hysterical ivory tower people, that’s all I saw at the station. Plus a couple rich girls babbling about rabbits.”

The Sir nodded at Muffin. Both of them dashed onto the road. With his sword, the Sir slashed a tire on one Beast Police car. Muffin used a long Beast knife on the tire of a second car. The tires popped and hissed loudly. The Beasts all shouted, surprised. The Sir and Lucky disappeared into the bushes.

One of the Beasts by the cars was throwing its head around, not finding what it was looking for. “What was that? It moved too fast.”

Another Beast by the cars said, “It looked like a rabbit.”

The Beast in charge, still standing by the cones, scoffed. “A rabbit that pops tires? You’ve been reading too many tabloids.”

“I’m telling you. I saw a rabbit for a second, then I didn’t see it, then the tire blew. Something scampered back over there,” the Beast pointed to the Sir’s side of the road. All the police Beasts looked over.

Jack and Lucky slipped out from the other side of the road towards the two undamaged Beast cars. As they reached the cars, one police Beast turned in their direction. “Look!” It raised its pistol. Scruffy leaped quickly from the bushes and bit it hard on the back of the leg, so that it spun around shouting to face him. The Beast screamed, shot at Scruffy and missed. Scruffy dashed back into the bushes. A Beast tire blew, then another. The police Beasts looked around, confused. For a brief instant, several saw a quick flash of Jack and Lucky vanishing into the bushes.

“Rabbits,” one police Beast said. “It was. One a funny blue color. Maybe it’s diseased?”

The Beasts, uncomprehending, stared at the woods around them.

“Somebody want to explain?” The Beast in charge glared at the others. None answered. “All four of our cars have a tire slashed?” the same Beast went on. “And all you all can say is ‘diseased rabbits’? Chief’s going to like that one.”

“I saw what I saw.” The Beast who had fired kneeled down and pulled up its pants leg, looked at a small puncture wound and showed it to the others. “Plus I’ve been bit.”

“I suppose somebody wants to say rabbits put out the traffic cones and hazmat sign too?” The Beast in charge spit, disgusted. “I don’t know what’s happening here, and I don’t doubt something bit you, but what it had to do with the tires is anybody’s guess. Looks like we’ll be walking onto campus. Let me just alert the station, see if they can afford backup.”

“Backup against what?” another Beast said.

“I have no idea.” The Beast in charge headed to its car. It pulled out of the car a round Beast object attached to an odd kind of stretchy black rope and started talking into it. The Sir couldn’t hear what it said. Then the Beast in charge sent the other Beasts onto the campus in groups of two, leaving one group to watch the cars. The animals split up. The Madam’s totem friends followed one police Beast pair, Jack and Scruffy another.

The Beast in charge, along with another Beast, headed to the Alumni House door. The Sir and Muffin followed close behind. Lucky, from across the road, snuck up too.  The Beast in charge pointed the pistol gripped in its Fleshy Piedmont. It opened the house door and stepped inside. The Sir came in the front door behind it, unseen.

Inside, the house consisted of a big main meeting room, lights on brightly, with several smaller rooms behind it, one a kitchen.

In the kitchen, the back door of the Alumni House banged loudly.

Startled, The Beast in charge went to the kitchen and stared in but saw nothing. Then it walked to the center of the main front room and looked around. The Madam was sitting quietly in a small chair in one corner. The Beast saw her.

“Miss?” it said, gun held prominently in its Piedmont. “You okay?”

“I don’t know.” The Madam’s voice was small and confused. “What’s going on? You’re the police?”

“Yes ma’am. We have the situation under control.”

“What situation? Why won’t anyone tell me what’s happening?”

“I’m not sure what’s happening.” The Beast in charge shook its head. “The campus has been evacuated, but we can’t get a straight story on why. What did you see?”

“I heard all sorts of things,” the Madam said, “but I didn’t see much. Then people were getting in their cars or just running.”

The Beast in charge looked searchingly at her. “Why didn’t you evacuate too?”

“I don’t know. It seemed safer in here than out there with everybody running around. Plus I didn’t understand why they were running.”

The Beast motioned in the direction of the back door. “Was somebody else in here with you?”

“No.”

“I heard the back door close and thought I saw someone go outside. You telling me no one was in here?”

“Just me. I heard the door too but don’t know what it was.”

The Beast in charge looked at her suspiciously. Then its face smoothed out in a bewildered expression that suggested that of all the weird things here, the Madam was the least of its problems. “All right. We’ll take you out with us. Come with me.”

The Sir stepped out of his hiding place. “Beast!” He raised his sword. “You will not take the Madam anywhere.”

The Beast turned and saw the Sir. For a moment, maybe, it might have registered what it saw: a bunny in a gold suit with blue stars, holding high a long bright sword.

Then the lights went out. “Damnit,” the Beast shouted in the sudden darkness. The Sir moved behind it and hit it low with the flat of his sword, at the back of the legs. The Beast went down howling. Its Beast objects scattered around. As it pushed itself onto its hands and knees, the Sir grabbed its pistol. Then the Sir hit the Beast’s arms out from under it. It fell to the ground again, grunting. The Sir untied one of its boots and yanked it off.

The Beast scrambled back to its knees and pushed itself towards the door. Bits of light came through the thick curtains of the Alumni House. The Beast looked back into the dimness. “Lady? You still here?”

There was no sound from the Madam. The Beast shouted in frustration. It pushed its way out the door of the Alumni House and back into the daylight.

Lucky walked out from one of the back rooms and came over to the Sir.

“Thank you for cutting the power, Lucky. Timely.”

“Glad to help.” Lucky shook out his fur.

They went out the back door to avoid being seen and were soon again watching the Beast in charge. It stood by its car, with one boot and no gun, its face furious.

It didn’t take long for the other police Beasts to rejoin it. All were missing their guns. Some were missing boots. Some had uniforms covered in mud or dirt. Only the Beasts who had stayed by the car remained untouched.

“What’s going on?” the Beast in charge shouted at the others. They shrugged and gave, in turn, their confused responses.

The Beast in charge leaned into its car and pulled out the object that it had spoken into earlier. “We have a situation. Officers assaulted. We can assume the assailants are armed and dangerous and near the campus entrance. Send all available units. Top priority.”

A metallic sound shrieked at it over the object. It looked around. “No,” The Beast in charge shouted. “No one is down. But it was a close call.” It looked around again, mystified. “Minus one mysterious puncture wound, no one is even hurt. But most of our weapons are gone.”

[thinkingagain]

“I see that,” the Provost Beast said. “Whether I’m actually talking to a gigantic bunny, or only imagine I’m talking to a gigantic bunny, clearly it’s time to step down.”

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book One: Conquest Chapter 28, part two

After frizzing her hair in the morning humidity for the day’s work ahead, the Madam dressed in one of the few work suits she still owned. The gray pants suit had large brassy buttons and low taupe-colored heels that reminded her of mole fur. Unfashionable and out of date, but a woman in that kind of clothing would still be recognized as belonging in the administrative offices.

Her totem friends went to the grounds near the Alumni House to find a way to keep more people from driving onto campus. Then she started out, practicing the office body language that would mark her as an insider.

Fallons was too large for people in the offices to know everyone by sight but small enough for her to cover the necessary administrative buildings without rushing. She began in one of the smaller, outlying buildings. “Excuse me?” she said to the woman behind the front desk in the first office she found. “Have you heard anything this morning about the rabid animals?”

“What?’ the woman said as if she had misheard. She looked disbelievingly through large glasses awkwardly-angled over her nose.

“Maybe it’s only a rumor. Someone told me they’d heard that a group of rabid animals had gotten loose on campus. Do you know anything about it?”

“No.” The woman’s face became a mix of disgust, fear, and skepticism. “What’s the story?”

The Madam paced the room anxiously.“I don’t know. Rabid violent animals? On campus? It has to be just a rumor.”

“Uh, yes,” the woman said flustered. “I mean, no. I mean, I don’t know. I haven’t heard anything about that. Really?”

“I don’t what to make of it,” the Madam said. “I’ll try next door.”

She did much the same routine in the next several offices, increasing in each instance the amount of knowledge and threat:

“So apparently the story about the rabid animals loose on campus is true? Have you heard?”

“Did you hear anything this morning about the rabid animals? Apparently one of them bit a student?”

“Nobody knows where all the rabid animals came from, but they seem to be all over campus. I saw one myself. A student is being rushed to the hospital.”

“Has your office heard anything about whether we should be evacuating because of the rabid animals? Apparently they’re randomly attacking anyone they can?”

“News to evacuate coming soon. Get your things together. It’s true about the rabid animals. Several people hurt already.”

The first building had already rumbled into commotion when she left it and headed to the second and went through the same routine. Getting everyone riled up wasn’t difficult. Even those who didn’t believe her were still glad to have something disrupt their day.

The Madame had gone through three or four buildings when she heard an unexpected gunshot. She blanched. “I hope they’re okay.” Then, several moments later, someone begin shouting, repeatedly, “Rabid animals! Run!”

She turned towards the Main Building, which housed many student and administrative services. Reaching it, she messed up her hair, unbuttoned several of her suit buttons and splattered mud on her pants. She stepped into the building. “Oh my God,” she shrieked. “Rabid animals! All over campus. Get out of here, everybody. Get out of here now!” ----------------------------------------

Sir Sleepy moved quietly through the Riding Center. Not much was happening there on a warm summer morning. Several horses and their young Madams were coming in after early rides. A few student Beasts, mostly female, were having coffee or snacks in the lounge. The daytime manager Beast, a burly male, was on duty behind its desk, busily typing something into its computer.

The Sir moved past all of them without being seen and went through to the stables inside the large main barn. The stables were well-kept enough, he supposed, in their heinous Beastly way. Small prisons where the horses spent much of each day. The Sir knew the importance of learning from the horses how they felt about their situation. It wasn’t his role to dictate attitudes for other animals.

Since it was summer, there weren’t many horses in the stable that morning. Still there were nearly ten, including the three who had just returned from walks. There was plenty of hay and room for them to move around.

An attendant male Beast lounged, moping, just outside one of the stable entrances. Otherwise the Sir found that in the stable, he was alone with the horses. He had expected to have to scare several Beasts away before getting this far.

 “Hello, horses,” he said to them all, jumping up and walking along the top of the wooden fence that stretched along the stalls. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave this residence. I’m sure some of you will be more than happy to do that, but others of you may be concerned about losing your Beast Madams. Although I have grown up differently, I can understand why your Madams might be important to you.”

The horses weren’t magic animals, so none immediately talked back to him, although they all stirred and looked restlessly in his direction.

“I don’t wish to startle you,” the Sir continued, “so I’m letting you know that shortly I will be opening these stalls. Some of you will take the chance and break free, I’m sure. Others may be more reticent, so I’m letting you know now, the best I can, that you’ll need to leave whether you want to or not. Those of you who wish to return to your Madams and a stable will find many other stables available. This one, I’m afraid, has to be seized. I and my companions are trying to create a Demesne, a magic home from which we will try to defend the interests of any animals who need us, including all of you.”

The horses seemed to be taking the information in, some of them snorting interestedly at the Sir’s speech.

“Actually I think we’re ready to go,” said one horse.

The Sir startled. He looked over at the horse, a mare, who had pinto coloring and a deep brown mane that was likely much prized among Beasts. “You speak Animal Magic language,” the Sir said.

“Working undercover,” the horse said. “I’ve told the others here as much as I can, and I’ve had plenty of chances to see them in action. You’re right that there is some attachment to personal Beasts among the group, but no one seems especially attached to these particular stables.”

“You knew I and my companions were coming?” the Sir said.

“Yes,” the mare said. “An okapi who is apparently a mutual acquaintance let me in on the details.”

“I did not realize I had so many allies,” the Sir said.

“I bet not,” the mare said cryptically.

The Sir pried no further. “Lucky described to me how to disconnect the alarm,” he told the mare, “once I get the key from the morning manager Beast. When that’s done, everybody should get out.”

“I think we’re all ready. Do your worst,” she added slyly.

The student Beast lounge was populated only by several student Beasts. They were getting ready to go to class or putting themselves together for morning horse rides. As the Sir passed them, one looked down startled, as if it saw the Sir but didn’t understand: a small dog? a cat?

The Sir made his way quickly towards the stable manager’s office. There was a counter, currently unoccupied, in front of it. A few feet behind it was a glass wall with a door that led into the office. Behind that was the door on a large metal box that housed the alarm system that the Sir had scouted the day before.

The Sir walked in the office door, drew his sword, and confronted the manager directly. “Give me the key to the back room and leave the building.”

The manager Beast looked confused and uncomprehending. “Who let a rabbit in here?” it said to no one. It seemed to take in the Sir’s clothes. “You somebody’s pet? Some kind of mascot?”

The Sir leapt on the manager’s desk. “Very well then. I suppose I will have to take it from you.” Raising his sword high, he brought it down on the manager’s computer monitor, crushing it and nearly ripping it in half.

The manager held up its Fleshy Piedmonts to protect its face. As it recovered itself, the Sir tore its key ring right off its jeans. He slashed his sword several times at nearby manuals and paper stacks, sending debris flying.

The manager’s incomprehension turned to incoherent terror. It grasped wildly at the door and flung itself out of the office grunting and shouting.

After trying several keys, the Sir found the right one to fit the door of the metal box. Based on Lucky’s analysis about the alarm design specs, he had no trouble identifying how to shut down the alarm. At this point of course, disabling it would only do so much. The manager Beast was surely on its way to find help.

If everything had been done well, help wouldn’t be easy to find.

The Sir hurried back through the now empty lounge and reached the stables. The attendant male Beast was still there, looking and listening curiously into the distance, as if it had heard something odd but didn’t know what. The Sir confronted it, thudding his sword into the ground several times around its feet. The Beast set off running.

In the stable, the Sir opened the doors for each of the horses, who stepped out into the stable and into the open air. The Sir looked at the mare with whom he had spoken. “Lead them into the hills a mile or two east and north of campus? Does that seem right? Any who want to be picked up later by their Beast Madams can be found there.”

“I know a fine place already,” the mare said.

--------------------------------------------------

“I suppose I had seen the writing on the chalkboard for a long time,” the Provost Beast said from behind its desk to Leo, sitting in a chair on the other side of the desk. “I didn’t want to acknowledge it. It’s so easy to find oneself behind the times.”

A smallish male, aging though still spry, it was a trim, austere-looking Beast in a light green suit. Its hair was grey and cut neatly short, and it had a small trim moustache. “It’s not that I’ve been entirely against modernization. We’ve expanded our commuter offerings and our co-ed programs and even feature online courses. It was clear we couldn’t go on being the kind of women’s college we had been, but I always believed that the issue was how to modernize without giving up the traditions that make us who we are.

“I’ve been under a lot of pressure, but I don’t think I’ve been in denial about it. My first daughter’s divorce struck both me and Irma—my wife—hard. Women don’t get divorced in our families. I understand that they need more options in their lives than they used to have; I couldn’t help run an institution like this and not be aware of it. I suppose I did know that I would have to go relatively soon, but I didn’t think I was taking things this hard. I suppose I am talking to you, yes? And that you’re a rabbit who’s larger than I am?

“I’m real, yes.” Leo shook one of his paws, showing he could move. “And if I wasn’t, that would hardly eliminate the problem.”

“I see that,” the Provost Beast said. “Whether I’m actually talking to a gigantic bunny, or only imagine I’m talking to a gigantic bunny, clearly it’s time to step down. What should I do?”

“I would leave campus and go home right away. Later you can issue a statement about your reasons.”

“But the President, and the Vice-President for Academic Affairs, aren’t on campus for a few weeks.” The Provost squirmed anxiously in its chair. “I’m essentially the one in charge. I’m not sure who will direct the employees.”

“In the short run,” Leo said, “I think you should tell them all to go home.”

“Do you?” The Provost stared. “That seems rash.”

“Under the circumstances, I don’t think so,” Leo said. “Many have already left, actually, because of news about the rabid animals.”

“Yes.” The Provost nodded. “Of course.”

“Just tell your office manager to issue a statement that everyone leave right away.”

“But if I understand you right, the news about rabid animals...”

“It’s just a cover.” Leo nodded casually. “The campus is really being seized by a group of magic animals who intend to turn your university into a magic land for the protection of animal life.”

“Imagine,” said the Provost. “The mind does such odd things when it finally breaks down. There’s something heroic about the fantasy I’m spinning for myself.”

“You can choose to look at it as fantasy if you like. Or treat it as real. In your case, the difference doesn’t matter.”

The Provost shook its head amazed, but agreeing. “A magic land for the protection of animals.” It pondered the issue. “If things have to change, I suppose that’s better than becoming a fully online university for training would-be oil executives. I’ll go out and order everyone home. They’ll be glad for the break.”

“I’m sure they will. Once that’s done, I’m happy to walk with you to make sure you leave campus unharmed. In your current state, I wouldn’t recommend driving. But if you’d appreciate the company?” Leo stood up and came around the desk to the Provost, reached out and grabbed it by the arm and helped it stand.

“I would,” the Provost said. “Surprisingly enough perhaps. I feel like this is a more civilized conversation than I’ve had in some time. Isn’t that odd? Excuse me a moment; I’ll be right back.”

The Provost went out the door to tell the Office Manager to send everyone home.

[thinkingagain]

“I am strengthened by them,” the Madam said, “and they are strengthened by me. Our power exists because of each other. I couldn’t have a trio of finer friends.”

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book One: Conquest Chapter 26

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny nest walked towards Lucky and his Madam friend. The Sir’s head felt light and dazed in an odd borderland between waking and dreaming. He stood in front of them. He didn’t introduce himself.

“Sir,” Lucky said as his Madam friend set him back on the ground. “This is the Madam I was telling you about. The one I traveled with everywhere a few years back.”

The Sir began to speak, stammered, then recovered himself and bowed. “It is a great pleasure to meet you, Madam. Indeed I may never have had a greater. I am Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest, and I am at your service.”

The Madam laughed, and even her laugh was music. “And it’s my great pleasure to meet you.” Her skin and hair continued to change color. From closer up the change seemed less flamboyant than from a distance, becoming slightly darker here, slightly lighter there, subtle variations in the electric physical energy which charged the atmosphere around her.

“The Sir and I and some other friends have been working towards a great goal,” Lucky told her. “The founding of a Demesne, a protected land that Magic Animals will use to try to defend animals all over the world. It was the Sir’s idea, and I believe in it completely. Jack’s with us too, if you remember him.”

The Madam looked at the Sir fondly. His bunny limbs would have shaken nervously if he hadn’t restrained them. Then she turned back to Lucky. “Of course I remember Jack, although I haven’t seen any starring roles for him recently.” She scratched her finger lightly up one of Lucky’s ears. “These days, maybe a bunny going straight for the juggler is just too scary.”

“Think he got a little fed up with the limited opportunities and the even more limited vision.” Lucky turned up his chin and she scratched that too. “He wanted a bigger role. He sure is getting one now.”

Determined to be part of the conversation, the Sir spoke up shyly. “I do not know if we will be able to achieve it. Still I have many brave and talented companions. All of us together have proved effective so far in our ability to beat back and elude those who oppose us.”

“I’m sure you can succeed,” the Madam said. “I’m not the only one who thinks so. Many have been talking about it.”

The Sir startled. “Talking about it? Who?” It hadn’t crossed his mind that any but his friends and the Brain Trust knew about his goals.

“You don’t know?” The Madam looked curiously at the Sir. “Or you, Lucky?”

“Know what?” Lucky looked at her eagerly. “We’ve been driving all night.”

“Sir,” the Madam said. “Your goals and methods are being praised by fine animals everywhere I go. I’ve rarely seen anything like it.”

 “Praised?” The Sir felt wobbly from the energy that surrounded the Madam. “Who could be praising me? I have done nothing worthy of praise.”

“Yeah, Madam,” Lucky said scratchily. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ve been looking for all of you,” she said. “Why do you think I’m here? Tracking down you bunnies hasn’t been easy, but all of us are glad to have found you.”

At this, the Madam’s unique set of animal friends moved forward and stood beside her. “You know Lucky Blue,” the Madam said to them. “And this is Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest.”

All three animals gave friendly, welcoming nods, although none spoke.

“This is Busterella.” The Madam reached out a finger to the koala, who took it in her paw gently and firmly. “She has been with me through many struggles.” Busterella bowed slightly, an obvious gesture of polite friendship. She kept her other paw close to her face as if ready at any moment to defend herself. “Busterella is a brave and terrifying fighter and has seen me through many of my worst moments. She will defend me, and anyone she loves, no matter the cost to herself.

“And this,” the Madam held the outstretched hand of the frog, “is Love Frog. Fighting isn’t Love Frog’s priority, although he has more tricks in his belly than you might think. But as maybe you can tell, his expertise lies in healing, emotionally and physically. We all need him more than we realize.”

Love Frog’s black frog eyes, sticking small and round in sockets above his head, emanated a powerful warmth. His long free foreleg reached out and clasped the Sir by the shoulder in a way that felt protective and helpful.

“And finally,” the Madam continued, “I would like you to meet Sir Henry the Valiant, blue elephant extraordinaire. There is no job, never mind how difficult, that he won’t undertake. His bravery and quick thinking and, if I may say so, daredevil abilities make him able to perform feats, in the service of those he loves, that you wouldn’t imagine.”

Sir Henry made a trumpeting sound of approval through the large coiled limb that served as his nose. He touched the Sir gently with it, on the head. The Sir could feel the ripple of Sir Henry’s powerful muscles.

“Greetings to you all.” The Sir bowed to her three friends. “I have not met an elephant before. I do not know what to call this, uh, special...” He stammered, unable to find the word he wanted.

“It’s called a trunk,” the Madam said. “An elephant uses a trunk for many things: to breathe, to help in eating, to greet and to touch, and to defend.”

Henry dropped his truck lower so that the Sir could put his paw on its rough surface. “Astonishing,” the Sir said with utmost politeness. “I have had the pleasure of meeting a koala before, although only one, and of course am acquainted with many fine frogs, although none yet has become a close friend. I am pleased to make the acquaintance of all of you.”

“They are my totem animals,” the Madam said, “and I am their totem Madam.”

“I see,” the Sir said, not quite seeing.

“I am strengthened by them,” the Madam said, “and they are strengthened by me. Our power exists because of each other. I couldn’t have a trio of finer friends.”

“I could not possibly doubt it. The companionship among you is most clear and impressive and, may I say it,” and here the Sir blushed, “enviable.”

“Sir,” the Madam said in a whimsical tone, voice cheerful, “I do believe that you are a flatterer.”

“I do not know what a flatterer is,” said Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest.

The Madam laughed. Lucky laughed along with her, then spoke. “But Madam. I still don’t know what you mean about looking for me and the Sir. How do you even know he and I know each other, much less have been traveling together?”

“The news is well known,” the Madam said, “among those who care to know it. It could be that I heard it first from an okapi, who, shall we say, likes to tell those she cares about what they most need to know.”

“Ohhh.” Lucky chuckled. “There’s no better animal information source anywhere.”

“Not that I’ve met,” the Madam agreed.

The Sir looked at both of them, trying to understand. “You know Azalea? The Azalea in the Dream Time?”

“Oh yes,” the Madam said. “The two of us have been friends for awhile, both before her Dream Time years and now.”

The Sir looked at the Madam and marvelled. She knew of the Dream Time.

“Many others are talking about it too,” the Madam said. “Once I knew about it, I felt I had to find you. Fallons University is an excellent choice, by the way. I’m glad you remembered it, although I can’t say I’m completely glad to be back. Personally I might prefer never to see it again.”

“I am honored you found us.” The Sir tried the most sophisticated nod of his bunny head he could manage. “Now that you have, what can we do for you?”

“That’s very kind, Sir. But we don’t need your help. We’re here to help you. We have come very far to offer our support, in any way possible, in your quest to create the Demesne.”

The Sir looked up at the Madam, a Beast Madam, with her dramatic, lion-like hair. He looked at the transparent smoothness of the fluctuating colors of her skin. He could see now, this close, that one of her cheeks was a mesh of tiny scars. That made her more present to him, more specific. He had seen animals of many kinds. He had seen Beasts, brutal and wretched and without hope, and Beast Madams, stranger at times but often wretched too. But he had never met anyone like the Madam standing before him now. He had never even imagined anyone like her.

“But,” he stammered, “and please recognize that I mean no disrespect, but you are a Beast. A Beast of nearly impossible beauty and valor, it seems to me, but a Beast nonetheless. I don’t understand how you could wish to help me, since I have devoted myself, or,” and here he turned his head back and forth, struggling to comprehend, “or thought I have devoted myself, to fighting back against the damage that Beasts have done.”

“Of course you have.” The Madam nodded as if she’d known all along what he was going to say. “And we are here to help.”

The Sir, struggling for words, looked at her. “I am but a poor small bunny,” he finally said, “and do not understand many things. I welcome your help, need it and am pleased by it, even if I do not know how you can be saying the things you are saying. Perhaps you are not really a Beast?”

“Oh.” The Madam’s face grew longer and sadder. “I’m sorry to say I really am one of them. But I’m part of the world of Animal Magic too, every bit as much as I live in the world of the horrors created by my kind.”

“You are part of Animal Magic?” The Sir looked even more stunned, if that was possible.

“She sure is,” Lucky said. The Madam smiled her agreement. Lucky went on. “One of the best members of it ever. Like she said, her strength is drawn from the magic of her animal friends, and they draw their strength from her. It’s not talk; it’s a magic reality.”

“I did not know that any Beast, even as wonderful a Madam as you,” the Sir said, “could be part of Animal Magic. I have been ignorant, it seems.”

“They can,” Lucky said, “and it’s good you know. Beasts know too though.” His voice became more rough. “A few at least, in their own twisted way, although they don’t really understand.” He reached out and grabbed the Madam’s hand protectively.

“There are Beasts who know that a Madam can be part of Animal Magic?”

“Sort of,” Lucky said. “Many of them hate her for the ways that she’s different from them. They call her names.”

“I despise the name-calling of Beasts,” the Sir said.

“Although it’s a word the Madam herself doesn’t use and doesn’t approve of,” Lucky said, “Beasts call the Madam a witch.”

[thinkingagain]

“Police random checkpoint.” Lucky pointed to some small barriers in the road and several uniformed Beasts standing and walking near them.

Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest (A Novel of the Revolution) Book One: Conquest Chapter 23

It had long been dark by the time the rabbits were making their way down Highway 81 towards Fallons University in the car Lucky had hotwired. An old Cadillac with a remodeled interior, he told them, apparently a prize among Beasts. They stared out into the flashing darkness of the Beast highway night, working out their ideas and plans for seizing the university grounds and preparing to turn them into a Magic Demesne.

“First we remove all Beastly noncombatants from the area,” said Sir Sleepy of the Bunny Nest. “The Brain Trust insisted on this point, and I agree. We do not harm Beasts that have done no direct violence against us. It’s okay to confuse and frighten them, but the main goal is to escort them away. If they resist, we may subdue them until we get to the proper spot for releasing them. We shouldn’t harm them even if they have weapons and intend to harm us but we are convinced they can’t. Please, everyone, do not wound any aging, armed, doddering Beast with delusions of grandeur, or any foolish young Beast that thinks the situation requires it to prove its Beasthood. Fight them only if they mean it, are trying to carry it out, and are able to carry it out. Does anyone disagree about any of this?”

“I doubt they’d show us the same consideration,” Scruffy grumbled.

“Indeed they would not. That is why the rabbit way is superior to the Beast way, and why our Demesne needs to exist.”

“There won’t be much time to do all that before word gets out and the initial police Beasts arrive,” Jack said. “But it’s summer, so there won’t be many Beasts on campus, which makes our job easier. We want to prevent panic if we can, and we have to be prepared to disable the advance rounds of police. At first they’ll send only scouting missions, but once the situation escalates, they’ll bring significant force. Our biggest advantage is going to be continued Beast confusion and refusal to believe. They won’t be looking for bunnies, and they won’t understand who we are when they see us.”

“How do we get them to leave campus if they don’t believe in us?” Muffin’s long ears bent questioningly. “Easier to confuse a Beast than direct it while it’s confused.”

“We’ve done quite well directing this Beast.” The Sir gave it a light whack on the nose from where he sat on the headrest above the driver’s seat. The Beast looked as though it was driving, although Lucky still controlled the wheel. “I suppose some improvisation will be necessary. And who, my dear henchman, improvises better than yourself?”

“Confuse and direct.” Muffin did some limited hand and foot gestures in the car’s restricted space. “The grasshopper, panda, and frog agree.”

“Jack is right though,” the Sir said. “Our biggest challenge will be to maintain the university as animal territory against an organized, larger Beast assault. Many more powerful Beasts will consider what we have done an outrage. Their attack will be as vicious as they can manage. They will not respect, perhaps not even notice, the care with which we have removed Beasts from the area.”

As the Sir said this, Lucky began slowing the car, slightly at first, then more. Soon the car was hardly moving at all. The Sir looked out the front window. They were stuck behind cars that stretched ahead of them in a long line of red blinking Beast lights cutting the darkness.

“Traffic jam of some kind,” Lucky said. “Happens when too many Beast vehicles travel a road at once, or when a Beast vehicle has broken down or crashed. Don’t see many on a road like this, though, especially not this time of night. I wonder.” He looked suspiciously through the front window.

“The more I learn about Beastly vehicles,” the Sir said, “the more repelled by them I become. The odor of the gas they spew does not grow more pleasant with time.”

“Beasts who hate themselves sufficiently will sometimes inhale it directly,” Jack said. “Put the car in an enclosed space and turn on the engine for full fumes. Knocks them unconscious and then kills them. Beasts also kill other Beasts this way, then pretend that the dead Beast did it to themselves. Both things are more common in Beast films than in real life, but they do happen.”

“I think we have a big problem, bunnies,” Lucky said.

They all sprang to attention, moving to spots in the car where each of them could see best out the windows.

“Police random checkpoint.” Lucky pointed to some small barriers in the road and several uniformed Beasts standing and walking near them. “They do it sometimes on Beast holidays when it’s likely that too many are drunk in cars. But also when they’re looking for a fugitive, a Beast that other Beasts are determined to put it in jail but can’t yet find. The crime has to be pretty serious.”

The Sir was still peering out the window. “This checkpoint could be designed to catch us.”

“It’s not a bad bet,” Lucky said. “That’s the risk we’ve run, getting in this Cadillac. With luck it hasn’t been reported stolen yet, since that Beast house we took it from was quiet and dark. Still, when we get down there to Fallons, they’re going to find us. Maybe we better abandon the car now.”

“The grasshopper doesn’t think we need to do that yet,” Muffin spoke up.

“Why not?” the Sir asked.

“All of us have been working with the Beast,” Muffin said, meaning himself, “because we’re the ones who have gotten stuck with it. The panda can make it act by precise tugs on its rope.” He moved close to the Beast and tightened the rope and the Beast raised its hand. “The grasshopper can get it to recite basic repetitive sounds, including its poetry and songs and a few standard requests.” He poked and prodded the Beast with some quick flicks of his paws.

“I’m hungry,” the Beast said. “Can we please stop and eat?”

“And finally,” Muffin said, “the frog has learned to sound like it, when essential.”

“The rabbit is a wise and honorable animal,” the Beast said, although none of the rabbits saw its lips move. They looked at each other, bewildered.

“What just happened?” the Sir said.

“Muffin,” Jack said. “You’re a ventriloquist.”

“A great tool for deceiving Beasts,” the Beast seemed to say.

“Risky.” Lucky, driving, spoke over his shoulder. “If we end up having to take down the police Beasts at the checkpoint, we’ll draw a lot more attention. We could leave the Beast in the car and head into the trees, and the police will either take it into custody or let it go.”

“We’ll lose the Beast that way,” the Sir said, “after I have vowed to protect it.”

“And after I’ve had the trouble of training it,” Muffin added. “We have enough Beast objects in back here that if the smaller bunnies get on the floor underneath, it’ll just seem like a pile of junk. We can jump out and evade any police Beasts at the last second if we have to.”

“Or fight back if we’re attacked,” Scruffy said.

“And Leo?” Lucky asked.

In the seat next to the Beast, Leo laughed. His joviality even in this difficult situation was calming. “I have talked my way out of encounters with Beasts before. You’d be surprised, or maybe you wouldn’t, how a Beast reacts when it finds itself in a situation it can’t comprehend.”

Lucky looked at the Sir.

“I think we proceed,” the Sir said. “We abandon the vehicle if we must, and fight back only if the police Beasts leave us no choice.” He and Jack and Scruffy jumped into the back seat and got on the floor, pulling some of the objects from Muffin’s bag over them. Muffin went carefully under the front driver’s seat, where he could operate the Beast. Lucky went under Leo’s legs and beneath the seat on that side. Leo didn’t go anywhere. He reached out with one paw to control the steering wheel while Muffin worked the pedals.

The car moved forward, stopped, moved forward, stopped. “Muffin,” Leo said, “when I tell you to, can you roll down the front window?”

Muffin nodded. After the car stopped a few more times, Leo said, “Now.” Muffin rolled down the window. Leo turned his face away so that he was looking at the opposite window. He rubbed a paw against his shoulders and back as though they ached.

A flashlight glared in the open window. A police Beast leaned in close, though it kept its face outside the car. “Evening.” It was a large, full grown male, with large shoulders and arms and a closed expression.

The Beast in the front seat grunted something unintelligible.

“Where you two traveling tonight?” the police Beast said.

At Muffin’s tug, the Beast in the driver’s seat pulled a hand down over its mouth and scratched it. “Want to make Kentucky by morning,” it appeared to say.

“Your driver’s license?”

The Beast in the driver’s seat, without any response from Muffin, reached into its pocket, pulled out its license and showed it to the police Beast. Clearly the Beast still knew how to take Beast orders.

“What kinds of work you do?” the police Beast said.

Unprompted by Muffin, The Beast responded, “I’m a poet.”

“Really?” The police Beast frowned. “What kind of poetry you write, Mr. Poet?”

“The sad kind,” came another unprompted response.

“Isn’t that nice. Make any money?”

“No.”

“What a surprise.” The police Beast moved its flashlight upwards, across the car, and landed on Leo, whose face was still turned away to the other window. “What’s your story?”

“Just trying to get some rest, Officer,” Leo grumbled. “Tough day yesterday. Worse one tomorrow.”

The police Beast’s flashlight moved up and took in Leo’s tall ears. “What the?” he said.

Leo, rubbing his eyes, turned sideways to glance at the police Beast. “You ain’t never seen a man in a rabbit costume, Officer?”

The police Beast flashed the light around a bit. “Damn. Lifelike.”

“I’m a professional. A get-up like this takes hours.”

“Strange.” The police Beast moved the flashlight off of Leo. “Lately, everybody’s talking rabbit this, rabbit that. What is it, some kind of weird trend?”

“I don’t know what you mean, Officer.”

“Everybody’s talking about rabbits all of a sudden,” the police Beast said. “No clue why. How come you’re driving down the highway dressed in a rabbit suit?”

“Trying to make a carnival in Kentucky tomorrow morning.” Leo scratched his ears. “South of Knoxville. We’re already late. I’m gonna have to jump out and go straight to work.”

“Oh, I get it now,” the police Beast said. “You both carnies? What made you so late?”

Leo directed an elbow towards the Beast sitting next to him. “Poet,” he winked. “Reciter of famous poems from memory doesn’t remember his schedule nearly so well. I had to track him down in a diner.”

The Beast in the driver’s seat grunted.

“No surprise I guess.” The police Beast grinned. “Good idea to let a poet drive?”

“I’m trying to get a few hours rest,” Leo said. “Figured it’s a straight shot down 81 and even this, uh, poet couldn’t get us too lost.”

“I guess not,” the police Beast said skeptically. “Best of luck with that.” He leaned up, looked away.

“You have a good night, Officer,” the sitting Beast seemed to say, “and a blessed day.”

“At least you’re a Christian poet,” the police Beast said over its shoulder, moving on towards the next car in line. “Don’t that beat all?”