The Guardian

Rats kidnap my cheese maker

The Grove was a lot bigger than I'd imagined. We had been following Vivian for what felt like half an hour, asking her about what happened to Mamble before she would just wave us off and continue following the trail.

The trees, the grass, and even the rocks all had varying sparkly red colors. They all must have had different healing properties. In the stories, Lanta Groves were supposed to be bustling with life and noise. So, being able to hear my breath and the grass beneath me shifting as I walked just made me realize that the six kingdoms weren't the only places being terrorized.

Something had definitely happened here to make all of the Lanti disappear. I tried asking Vivian about it, but she just hushed me as she continued following where Mamble had been taken.

Finally, she stopped abruptly. Her six pointer fingers were aimed towards a massive village. It looked like one huge messy marketplace filled with junk. Every now and then, there would be a building made of trash used as a house or hotel, but it looked mostly like a trash city.

Roaming through the wide village were hooded people. They wore black robes and shuffled with long brown tails dragging behind them. Their faces looked furry and pointed out, with long whiskers styled into mustaches. Rosslyn looked down at them with a shocked expression. 
"No way, Vivian. Are those what I think they are?"

She nodded, making her antenna eyes sway back and forth calmly.
"Rat people. We let them live near the Grove as long as they promised to keep their filth to themselves... but Zyloff must have gotten them to rise up."

She angrily eyed cages that hung from lamp posts and shops. There were dozens of Lanta just from what I could see, all caged up. Just seeing them after meeting Vivian infuriated me. The Lanti let the Rat men live near their Grove, and they enslave them?
"We have to free them."

Vivian just grunted in fustration, barely acknowledging the possibility.
"Their strong, too strong. If freeing them was that easy, we would have done it by now."

Rosslyn perked up, looking over at Vivian with wide eyes. "We? Who's we?"

Without saying another word, she led us to a cave entrance, covered with branches. She made light work of revealing the entrance with her extra pairs of arms and fluttered inside.

The cave wasn't very big, but there were a few Lanti roaming around inside. A small one came up to her, glancing warily at us.
"Vivi! You're not supposed to bring strangers here!"

Vivian just gestured at Rosslyn, signaling her to introduce herself. It took Rosslyn a minute to realize what she was gesturing for.
"Oh, I'm Rosslyn. You know... the dragon."

I expected the Lanta to not believe Rosslyn, but with a single glance from Vivian, she immediately believed her.
The little Lanta nodded at us strangely, then quickly fluttered deeper into the cave. A couple of Lanti came up to admire us as Vivian told them about our adventure.

It was strange hearing our story coming out of the mouth of someone else. It made me feel like I was a hero from one of the tales Grandpa used to tell me. Around the time she was talking about our encounter with Vulcan, the little Lanta and a much bigger Lanta came out from the depths of the cave.

They floated in the back as Vivian concluded our story. When she did, all of the Lanti seemed shocked. They all busted out into excited conversation. They seemed amazed that heroes had come all the way from the surface to save them. I knew we didn't have the time, but we couldn't be called heroes for nothing.

The small Lanta and the large Lanta both came up to us. The larger one had a big bushy red beard and a jolly face. He placed his hand on my shoulder and looked me in the eyes with a smile.
"We're all very grateful you two came. Rosie here told me you would help us free our colony?"