The
Virtual
Realm

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Out of the Hat

 

Standing in the queue outside the walls of Turad, Presto shuffled nervously, trying to look as inconspicuous as he could. The other four of his friends were trying to do the same, but it wasn’t easy when you were the only people in the whole area not looking totally miserable, or dressed in dark colours.

 

He waited, looking down, hoping no one challenged them and trying not to look up to the ever lightening sky.

 

Follow the first star of evening, that’s what Dungeonmaster had said. They had to find Turad, and Diana and Kosar before it was too late. But they were taking too long! They were taking far, far, far too long about it.

 

And now they were standing in a queue, and having to stay still and that was even worse than walking!

 

They hadn’t had to queue that many times in the Realm, and it reminded him of waiting for the ride in the Amusement Park, the one that had brought them here in the first place.

 

He glanced at the others.

 

Eric and Bobby were going the least good job of blending in. Those two couldn’t blend in at a fancy dress party, even dressed like that (and the Unicorn didn’t help)! Sheila was doing ok, as was Hank, but he was looking nervous. They were running out of time, he knew it.

 

Starfall could be any minute, judging by the look of that sky and they were still no nearer getting into the city, let alone finding Diana and Kosar.

 

They had to get to Diana. He wasn’t stupid. He had seen the way the Acrobat had looked at Kosar. But worse than that he knew exactly what Diana had been thinking. “A Child of the Stargazer from a far away land”… that might fit the description of Kosar, but that also described Diana, especially the part about a far away land! How much further away could you get than a different dimension!

 

She was a Child of the Stargazer too; and Presto knew that if the Acrobat got the chance to help, she would.

 

But he hadn’t said anything to the others.

 

Eric, no doubt, was completely oblivious to the whole thing, (which just about summed the Cavalier up most of the time), so was Bobby as he was too young to understand and Uni didn’t count.

 

But Hank had figured it out too, and so had Sheila. He could tell by the looks on their faces just as much as the worried glances they kept exchanging when they thought that no one was looking.

 

But they still had to queue.

 

‘Who’s stupid idea was this!’ demanded Eric in a forced whisper. ‘I still say we should have just got our own miniature demolition squad here to smash a hole in the wall!’

 

‘We’ll draw too much attention to ourselves,’ Hank whispered back, just as loudly. ‘We need to get in and find Diana without anyone noticing! We can’t alert the Queen to our presence.’

 

The Cavalier gave him a look.

 

‘Why?’ he whispered. ‘Why not just barge our way in? What’s different about this time? It’s always worked before!’

 

‘No! Not this time!’

 

Eric scowled more deeply at Hank, but didn’t argue any more. The guards were getting nearer.

 

They waited for a few more minutes in silence, with Eric still scowling at Hank. The queue slowly grew shorter, and eventually there were only a couple of people in front of them.

 

Now he was closer, he could see through the gate into the city beyond.

 

It was huge, bigger than any of the other cities they had been in the Realm. What was it Dungeonmaster had said earlier? One hundred thousand souls in Turad? He sighed. They were never gonna find Diana or Kosar in the few minutes left before Starfall!

 

But clear on the horizon, and quite close by was a beautiful, slender spire. He nudged Hank in the arm.

 

‘Do you think that’s it?’ he asked. ‘The Temple of Light?’

 

The Ranger looked round, then nodded.

 

‘Must be,’ he whispered back. ‘That will be where Diana and Kosar are going’

 

Hank grinned and the Magician grinned back. At least now they knew where they were going! It didn’t seem such an impossible task after a…

 

‘Next!’

 

Presto jerked round to see two burly guards glaring at them.

 

‘Whaddya want?’ the taller of the two growled. He was looking at Eric, and the Cavalier seemed stumped for words, for once!

 

‘Well, um, you see, um, well…’

 

‘We would like to get into Turad,’ said Hank stepping forward and smiling his best Sunday smile.

 

‘Why?’ asked the Guard

 

‘We… um… we want to see… it,’ he said.

 

‘Why?’ the Guard’s voice was more aggressive this time, and he leaned forward towards the kids. For the first time Presto noticed the special lances they carried and that one of them was very, very close at hand. The other guard had moved off slightly, and seemed to be trying to summon other guards over. The Magician glanced to his left. There seemed to be even more guards over by one of the buildings.

 

Whatever they were gonna do, they had to do it quickly!

 

‘We wanna see the Temple,’ said Eric, out of the blue. He pointed to the sleek spire. ‘That Temple over there. The Temple of Light. I hear it’s a swell place.’ The Guard was looking at him in surprise. ‘You never heard of a tourist before?’

 

‘You wish to see the Temple of Light?’ asked the Guard, now just confused by the concept.

 

‘Yeah,’ said Eric, in an off-hand manner. ‘You know, it looks, um…’ Eric’s bravado suddenly failed under the weight of a heavy scowl from the Guard. ‘It looks… um… neat.’

 

‘No one is allowed near the Temple!’ the Guard told them.

 

‘Well, in that case, we’ll just take a look ar…’

 

‘You will leave!’

 

‘What!’ exclaimed Eric. ‘That’s not how it’s supposed to go!’

 

‘What my friend means…’ started Hank.

 

The Guard’s scowl grew more thunderous and angry, and he reached for his lance.

 

‘Arrest them!’ bellowed the Guard suddenly. ‘Arrest them! They are in league with the Child of the Stargazer!’

 

Hank reacted first.

 

‘Scatter!’

 

The Guards charged at them, but the Ranger fired fast enough to slow them down. Sheila had already disappeared under her Cloak and Eric had lifted up his Shield, protecting himself and Bobby from the oncoming guards.

 

More guards had appeared from the nearby barracks, there seemed to be hundreds of them! They were hopelessly out numbered.

 

‘C’mon Presto!’ shouted Hank. ‘Pull something out of the Hat! Quick!’

 

Pull something out of the Hat… that was what he asked for.

 

The Guards were charging at them, full speed, and Presto barely had time to react. Pull something out of the Hat. He reached into his weapon, and grabbed the first thing that he could feel without really thinking about what it was. Pull something out of the Hat…

 

He pulled.

 

Blue magic coiled around his fingers and he was aware of a big, white something forming on the ground in front of him, before the sheer force of the magic he was using knocked him over onto his side.

 

Then someone screamed.

 

It wasn’t a scream like he’d ever heard before. It wasn’t a girl screaming, it was a man. It was the burly Guard. He had been charging at them a moment before, now Presto could see him staggering backwards, gazing in utter horror at whatever was behind him.

 

He stared at the creature. It was exactly what a white rabbit should look like; small pink eyes, a small nose, sleek fur, big ears and a little pompom tail. The only real problem with it was the size.

 

It was at least six foot tall, and that wasn’t even counting the huge ears! Presto gawped at the creature, unable to quite understand what he had done. Pull something out of the Hat… well what do you usually pull out of a Hat… it was a rabbit.

 

A huge, gigantic white rabbit!

 

The rabbit’s nose twitched slightly, and the guards all turned and ran in the opposite direction.

 

 I wonder if they know its vegetarian? Presto thought, looking at the screaming, terrified Guards.

 

Suddenly, the Rabbit looked round, its pink eyes gleaming, and its nose twitching more furiously. It looked straight at him.

 

He gulped. Always assuming it IS a vegetarian!

 

He took a step back, away from the monstrosity.

 

‘Come on Presto!’ shouted Hank. Presto glanced round, his friends were moving away down the street, away from his creation. Ahead of them was the shining spire of the Temple of Light.

 

‘RUN!’ bellowed Hank.

 

The rabbit took a “little” hop forward, making the ground shake and the remaining guards disappear into their barracks.

 

Then Presto ran, and didn’t look back.

 

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Fanfiction Masterlist

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