Lucent brought out his map of the area to show to the diggers. He had the important spots marked with a red x. A big rat, one of the 200 that had shown up to do the digging, asked, “Lucent, what are those red x’s for?”

  Lucent said, “You rats have a very important job. Those red x’s are areas of high populations of our enemy. You will be divided into teams and each team will have a specific route to dig out which will include at least one of the red x’s. We will have 2 rats digging side-by side on each team and 2 rats accompanying them with baskets to drag out all of the dirt and clear the tunnels.

  He got all of the rats placed at their starting spot, fed them with plenty of flattery about how they were going to be the heroes and watched until each team started making progress. In order to keep them working, he assigned an extra rat team at each tunnel entrance to procure food, prepare it and have it waiting for the diggers three times a day.

  Back in the industrious seamstress’ area, Merina was calling for Olivia Rabbit to come get fitted for her protective, enchanted armor. When she didn’t appear, Merina went on to the next rabbit, but was puzzled because Olivia had been hounding her for two days to get her armor finished. She thought, “Well, I guess she got busy with the young-’uns and will be around later.”

  She sent her assistant, Hoppy, to check on Olivia’s family. When he returned, he reported that there was no sign of anyone there.. Merina thought that was odd but continued working.

  This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

  Nogdorf was studying the next spell he needed to teach , Lester the Basilisk Breath. He needed to figure out how they could use this spell on the dark creatures in a way that the good creatures would not be affected. While he was occupied with this necessary meditation, Lester was out gathering as much basil as he could from the wild gardens scattered throughout the forest. When he got back, the Basil was laid out in a way to dry it, asap.

  Lucent looked at the mother rabbit and the three babies, cowering in the cage in front of him. He sneered at them. The mother rabbit, Olivia, said meekly, “Please let us go.”

  Lucent laughed and said, “Not on your life, rabbit. You and your little ones will make a nice rabbit stew for these hungry foxes. That’s one of our favorite meals. He pulled out a couple of long knives and started sharpening them against each other.

  Olivia started crying hysterically. “You are a mean old fox and you are being really hateful. These poor babies haven’t had a chance to even get to their teen years. Don’t you have a heart?” Her babies were crying and threw themselves on the bottom of the cage.

  Lucent laughed again. “So you want the babies to live, rabbit? Well, I have a deal for you. I will let the babies live if you do one little thing for me, rabbit.”

  “Anything,” Olivia said.

  Lucent said, “Ok, I want you to go to the herbal wizard and get him to do a spell and make ten fist-sized bombs. Now, if you let on to him that these bombs will go to the dark creatures, you will never see your babies again. He must believe that you will use these bombs against us. You will have to be a very good actress. Then bring all ten bombs back to me and when I have made sure no one followed you back here, you can have your babies back. Don’t even think about trying to be more crafty than a fox. It will not bode well for you, if you do.