| “You really think we would trust you with your steed, to comply with my orders?” the big snow goose commander asked. “You must not give us much credit for brains princess. I wouldn’t even trust the blue pony if you gave me command over him. I want to hear it from the red-headed leprechaun that I have control of the pony. Prepare the prisoners for flight this afternoon. In the meantime, double the guard watching them.” The afternoon came and it found Splash and Dan peeking through trees spying on their princess who was being held prisoner along with the bad leprechauns. Four snow geese had been assigned to carry Anna, one of them each per limb. She looked a lot like Superman flying with her arms being held out by the snow geese, and then one on each ankle. The smaller-sized bad leprechauns only required two snow geese to get them in the air and flying. It created a rather strange V-shaped formation but it was as close as they could manage to their usual V-shape flying pattern. Splash and Dan flew behind the squadron as it was headed for an unknown location. ——————– Chapter ———————————— Buzzy arrived at the castle and quickly found Ozzy. He explained the situation and they soon had assembled two squadrons of raptors, one of golden eagles and the other of ospreys, plus a night flying squadron of owls. Ozzy took the lead along with Buzzy, who knew the way to fly. Quickly the sky filled with the brave flyers of the royal air force above Castle Candi. Then Ozzy gave the ‘follow me’ command and the three squadrons of royal flyers headed off to intercept the Geese Police. While flying behind the Geese Police squadron that had Anna and the bad leprechauns, Dan asked Splash if he could use his magic to show in a small magic circle, where Buzzy was with the back up. A circle appeared ahead of the two as they flew behind the Geese Police. Dan looked into it and saw the sky filled with the royal air force, all headed in their direction. The problem was they were going to pass each other while missing by about a few kilometers, the distance being far enough the squadrons would not likely see the Geese Police squad, or Splash and Dan, as they passed. Realizing the problem, Dan said to Splash, “You go and get the squadrons to follow you. Catch back up to me. I will stay with the Geese Police.” Splash gave a whinny and then sped off at a nintey-degree angle to the flight path the Geese Police were taking. He raced across the sky in all its purple splendor as the night was approaching. The purple color of the sky a tell-tale sign it was either about to get dark or about to get light. In this case night was approaching. Splash saw the big formation of three squadrons and raced over to meet the leaders out in front. Ozzy immediately recognized the blue pony and motioned for his squadrons to follow. Splash slowed down so they could all keep up as he led the flyers to catch up with Dan and hopefully Anna. By the time the armada caught up to Dan, he was in a circling pattern. When he was sure that Splash had seen him, he headed for ground cover not more than a mile from the location where the Geese Police had made their new headquarters. When everyone was on the ground, the leaders of the squadrons all had a meeting by a very small fire that had been made to allow everyone to see each other. “I am familiar with this area.” Dan said. “There is a lake on the far side of the encampment. If they were smart, and I suggest they were, they would have moved into the cave system that might even reach as far as where we are standing. However I would assume they wouldn’t delve too deep into the system unless they have been here for some time. It is possible they have placed torches all along the cave system and if so, I don’t know where the caves exit. They could literally be racing through the caves as we speak, so to come out behind our lines, effectively putting us in a cross-fire situation.” “That is an outside possibility though, correct?” Ozzy asked. “Theoretically.” Dan said while catching his breath. “I am strictly speaking theoretically. The most likely circumstance is that they are unaware we are even here. If we go in with the night flyers, we may well be able to get the princess out of there with very little trouble. Once she and Splash are reunited the odds fall to our favor, especially if we do enjoy the element of surprise.” “I agree. I would go as far as to suggest we add to our initial plan that if everything is going our way that we extend operations to not only free the princess but we might as well mop up the criminals while they are all in one place. If it looks like we do not have the numbers to pull that off we can retreat once the princess is free and come back later. Once we have more reinforcements arrive. If we send a flyer now he can be back with the reinforcements by about noon if we hold our attack until daybreak.” “So you want to time the attack so that about the time we have freed princess Anna that the sun will be rising. That way we only need to hold our own until about lunch time. I think we can do that. Either way, we will have the princess free by mid-morning.” Dan said sounding encouraged. “We might even be able to have her out of there before the dawn, if the owls are stealthy enough.” “We’ve still got a few hours to kill if we want to attempt that timeline.” Buzzy said. “I guess I will get some rest unless somebody needs me for something?” “Actually that’s a good idea.” Ozzy noted. “You’ve been without rest longer than most of us. Yes, get some rest.” Buzzy slipped away to find a good spot to nap. Dan decided to do the same but didn’t follow his friend. Instead he found a spot to squat down right there where the operations was being commanded. Ozzy kept busy speaking with various leaders of the teams which existed within the squadrons. He was trying to get everyone on the same page so when the plan was put into play, there would be no hiccups. ——————— Chapter ———————————– Geese Police commander barked orders as they arrived back at their new headquarters. The prisoners were kept together and moved into a section of the caves which was dead-ended except for the one way in and out. Two guards were assigned, one to each side of the entrance into that dead-ended section of the caves. Lucky the dead-ended cave section was close to the entrance into the caves. That meant if the rescue team was able to locate the princess that they would have an easy time escaping as opposed if they were deep into the cave system. Viewing the situation, Ozzy returned to the squadrons with a strategic plan of action. He gathered his squadron and team leaders for a quick meeting. “I have assessed the situation and concluded our best approach to this matter since we have some time to kill before the reinforcement, reinforcements arrive, that we send in some captured so they can attack from within. If we could manage to get Splash in there close to the princess, all the better. We can disguise him up as a donkey. The remaining question concerning this matter is who we send in with the donkey?” Ozzy stopped and gathered his breath. “Any questions or points of interest so far?” Buzzy said, “Perhaps Dan and myself are the best ones to get caught. We can pretend we were old gold-miners out here seeking a fortune with our donkey. The only real worry would be that they might not decide to take us prisoner. It is hard to say how they will react to a couple old-timers and an onery mule.” Then he stopped and looked at Splash, “Can you make yourself look like a donkey? An old onery one which nobody would ever make a connection between it and the blue pony. The three of us should wonder around the long way to the side opposite where we have our troops. Make a little noise to attract some attention and we will be picked up for sure. What they decide to do with us after they take us into custody is anybody’s guess?” Dan said, “I’m glad Buzzy got that rest when he had the chance. If this goes according to plan, we will be up the majority of the night before the real action ever starts. Everyone do your best to stay alert and be ready when the time arrives.” “Okay, let’s get ourselves over into position to be caught.” Buzzy said. “Splash make sure you stay in character once we land over there.”‘ Splash whinnied. Next Page |  |