Saviors of the Forest

Chapter 37: On the Way

Thorn was the one to deliver the bracelets to Bamboo. He had simply told Pirate he was going on a quick walk around the courtyard.

Bamboo was waiting for him in the courtyard, hidden in the rose bushes. Thorn could smell her.

He sat on the bench in front of the rose bushes, whispering to her while looking forward, pretending he was admiring the sky.

"Tell them to round up every single Creature who is willing to help us, we're gonna cause such a racket that Pirate will be forced to come and deal with it himself. He won't be able to call his army up, and I know he doesn't have many meetings, as he's sent all of his guests home, so it should hopefully just be the guards and possibly staff they'll have to deal with," Thorn whispered.

Bamboo nodded from the bushes.

"Tell them we're storming this place the day after tomorrow, so they need to act fast. Give them these," Thorn said, discreetly slipping Bamboo the bracelets.

"It's on its way," she whispered, then dashed out the back, disappearing before anyone ever knew she was there.

Thorn headed back inside and almost instantly ran into Pirate. Sor was wrapped tautly around his neck and he flicked his tongue. Pirate nodded, flicking his tongue as well. He looked kind of distant.

"Greetings, your Lordship," Thorn said with a polite nod.

Pirate returned the nod. "Greetings, Thorn. Enjoying your stay?"

"Very much so, thank you," Thorn said.

Pirate nodded. "Well, our chefs have prepared breakfast for you, I believe Dutch is already waiting for you. I'm calling a meeting with a couple of my generals, for our master plan, and I'll probably be stuck trying to train these bumbling idiots of guards, so don't wait around for me."

Thorn nodded politely. "Not a problem."

"Very good, well, I better get going, excuse me," Pirate said, then sweeping off.

Thorn quickly walked to the dining hall, where Dutch was sitting, looking giddy. The platters had already been set out, and Thorn sat himself down.

"You look happy," Thorn noted, already digging in.

"Oh, I am! Last night, after I gave you the bracelets, I finally told Pirate my feelings for him," Dutch said. "We're officially a pair."

Thorn smiled at him. "Aw, Dutch, that's wonderful. I'm so, so happy for you!"

That explained why Pirate seemed so dazed.

Dutch nodded, a dreamy smile on his face. "I'm just happy we at least get one day as official Mates. I've loved that boy for decades now."

"I'm so, so incredibly sorry you'll have to let him go so soon," Thorn said sadly.

"I'll think about that when it's done. For now, I just want to be happy and with him," Dutch said. Thorn nodded.

"I gave Bamboo the bracelets, they're on their way. We're storming the Palace the day after tomorrow. Just a warning," Thorn told him, looking at his reflection in his, now empty, platter.

He had scars on his face, that was the thing that surprised him the most. He hadn't seen his reflection in awhile, it looked incredibly different. Like a whole other Creature was staring back at him.

He traced his claws over the scars, one tracing one on the side of his face. coming dangerously close to his eye, the other tearing across his nose and snout.

The skin was bare and raised. He absentmindedly ran his claws over them. He had watched his found family's scars be torn into their skin, and then heal. But, for whatever reason, he thought he somehow had avoided most of it.

Dutch tilted his head at Thorn. "Whatcha doing?"

Thorn shrugged. "Nothing, sorry."

"Hey, why don't you tell me about your friends?" Dutch suddenly asked.

Thorn gave him a surprised look before nodding. "Well.. Um, okay! There's five of them. Feather, she's our leader. She's a princess back home, and she's super amazing. She does all kinds of brave stuff. She's my biggest inspiration, I trust her with everything I am. She's the whole reason we're out here. She didn't want me to die and stuff. She's really amazing. So strong, and beautiful, and smart and funny."

He blushed talking about her, and Dutch gave him a knowing smile, but didn't say anything.

"There's Moss, he's really short and a total scaredy-cat. He's awesome though. I've known him since we were pups, and he really likes shinies. He's smart and has Magic. His siblings are the Chiefs' Patrol. He's been my biggest support system since my family passed, and he helps me with my Inventions, he'd be a really good dad, I think. He's really caring, and I'd trust him with my life," Thorn said, thinking about him.

"Acorn's our Healer. She's really sweet and smart and talented, she draws too. She's kind of like a mom, gives off that energy. She's also super scary, and has poisons in her bag. But she's really cool and funny. She's kind of quiet, but she's really comforting and really smart. She once told me that she's a good baketress."

Dutch nodded. "I think she was the one who exploded Pirate's face?"

Thorn nodded with a little laugh. "That was her!"

"Equity has fire and she's like three thousand years old. Seriously. She makes these really dumb jokes, but she's really strong and brave and stuff. I didn't like her very much at first, but she grew on me. She's kind of like Feather, but she's really tall. She's brave and funny and smart and has connections everywhere. She's awesome."

Thorn took a deep breath before continuing. "Then there was Sage. We didn't get along at first, not in the slightest, but then we grew a little bit closer. She was pure white, just like snow. And she did all kinds of cool junk like beating up Coyotes and collecting feathers. Then, um," Thorn hesitated. "She died protecting us, and we all really miss her. Especially Feather. She was Feather's best friend in the whole world."

Dutch softened. "That's terrible... I don't even know what to say... I'm so sorry, Thorn."

Thorn choked a laugh. "Yeah, but sorry doesn't do anything. Sage is still dead. But that doesn't seem to matter to anyone but us. She was only someones' best friend and someones' daughter and someone who inspired everyone she met."

"I'm so sorry," Dutch said solemnly.

Thorn nodded, and looked back at his reflection. He wrinkled his nose at it.

He was incredibly dirty, scarred, and scruffy. Also, if you asked him, his features just... Didn't make a pretty picture. He had relatively large, dull yellow eyes, teeth tainted with yellow, as he hadn't been able to clean them in quite some time, as with the rest of the Saviors, and a big nose. And now there were scars all over his face! Fantastic, just splendid.

But that didn't matter right now, what mattered was that those bracelets got to his found family and they all take out Pirate together, like they had all dreamed of since this whole thing started.