‘Wake up!’ shouted a voice, as Doc was nudged by a paw.
‘Happy—the sun’s sleeping. Why can’t I?’ asked Doc, his words pierced by a yawn.
‘The Easter Festival starts today. Do you want to miss the Golden Rise?’
At this, Doc bolted up and ran towards the burrow entrance with Happy right behind. As they reached the entrance, they heard their mother, Mrs. Robin, asking where they were going.
‘We’re going to see the Golden Rise!’ Doc explained. ‘Want to come?’
‘No thank you. I’ve seen plenty and your father refuses to wake up.’
‘He’s not the only one!’ Happy exclaimed, as he and Doc left.
***
As the two rabbits reached the cliff where the festival was held, they met a strange scene: the air was full of fear and worry, and the sheep, rabbits and chickens were exchanging nervous glances.
‘Is it normally like this?’ Happy asked his older brother.
‘No,’ answered Doc, as he raced over to his father’s friend, Gorse.
‘What’s happening?’ asked Doc.
Gorse explained that the Golden Egg of Easter had been stolen and asked Doc who he’d brought with him.
‘This is my little brother, Happy. You said the egg’s been stolen?’
‘Yes. And if the legends are true…’ Gorse’s voice trailed off as the sun rose.
Instead of the normal warm, golden light that started the festival, the sun gave off a cold, black glow.
‘We need to do something,’ whispered Happy.
Doc nodded and ran over to the festival organisers.
‘Mr. Raboot, Mrs. Snowdrop, Mr. Cluck! Can we help?’
‘No, Nameless and Nameless!’ said Mr. Cluck sharply, flapping his white wings.
‘Ignore him,’ said Mrs. Snowdrop. ‘You can help if you want, but I don’t know how. Who are you?’
‘I’m Doc Robin and this is my brother, Happy Robin.’
‘I should have known you were Robins: only your family’s fur is grey,’ Mr. Raboot stated grandly.
‘The nameless rabbits can’t help!’ screeched Mr. Cluck.
‘They told us they’re names,’ said Mrs. Snowdrop, tickling the arrogant chicken with her wool.
‘No! They told us. A place. A feeling. And a type of bird!’ Mr. Cluck stammered, trying not to laugh.
Mr. Raboot rolled his eyes. ‘He has always been crazy. There is a way you can help. According to the legend, the Easter Dragon gave the first Golden Egg of Easter to rabbits. You can ask him for another.’
‘No!’ said Mrs. Snowdrop sternly, taking the three rabbits by surprise. ‘They are too young for that mission.’
‘We want to do it!’ exclaimed Happy and Doc together.
Seeing Mrs. Snowdrop’s disapproving look, the black rabbit said, ‘I’ll go with them.’
‘Fine. Just be careful,’ stated Mrs. Snowdrop, who had only just been convinced.
‘Come on. If we go now, we can reach the Black Forest by sunset,’ said Mr. Raboot, beginning to march importantly.
‘The Black forest?’ whined Happy, his ears drooping. ‘Aren’t there foxes?’
‘Yes,’ said Mr. Raboot. ‘Hopefully we won’t meet them. But if we do, I want to give them a good talking to for stealing the egg: they’ve always wanted it.’
***
The next day, Doc and Happy woke up at the edge of the forest to see Mr. Raboot had gathered some dandelions to eat. After breakfast, the three rabbits walked through the forest. Unlike the forest on the other side of the moor, the Black Forest was coniferous. The conifers towered over the prickly paths, blocking nearly all the light. Some were scarred by lightning, while others were bent and crooked. As the sun slowly went down, an ominous howl broke the silence.
‘Pick up the pace, we want to get out of here before the foxes come,’ stated Mr. Raboot, beginning to run. Doc and Happy followed.
***
On the third day of the journey, the trio reached a ravine. Mr. Raboot explained that their destination was on the other side. Doc, Happy and the festival organiser proceeded to enter the ravine, walking around random pillars of rock and looking at the walls of stone that appeared to touch the sky. On the other side, the rabbits reached a hollow covered with grass and a rainbow of flowers.
‘Stop there!’ snarled a voice, as foxes surrounded the trio.
The one who had spoken leapt into the hollow, right in front of the rabbits. This fox had dark green eyes and a scar running through his left. Unlike the others, his tail tip and ears were black, not white.
‘I am Snarl, King of Foxes, and you are my prisoners!’
***
‘This is bad,’ said Mr. Raboot, marching back and forth. ‘If we don’t get a new egg, Easter will be destroyed. There must be a way to stop Snarl and his followers.’
The fox on the other side of the stone fangs trapping the rabbits snorted. ‘We are not his followers. We only obey him out of fear.’
‘You’re not his followers?’ asked Doc.
‘I want Snarl to be stopped: because of him and his family, foxes have become enemies of Easter. By the way, my name is Red. What are yours?’
Doc, Mr. Raboot and Happy introduced themselves and asked Red if he had any ideas on stopping Snarl.
‘He’s only really a threat with the others following him. If they think Snarl can be defeated, they’ll help us. However, Snarl’s too strong for us to fight directly. I know that,’ said Red, showing the rabbits a scar on his front leg.
‘Maybe we can confuse him long enough to ask the Easter Dragon for help?’ suggested Happy.
‘That’s it!’ exclaimed Doc. ‘We’ll dig lots of holes in the hollow and jump in and out of them. Then, we can ask the dragon for help.’
‘Well done, youngsters,’ said Mr. Raboot.
‘Yes,’ agreed Red. ‘I’ll tell the other foxes, they can jump around too. Doc, Happy, can I come to see the Easter Dragon as well?’
‘Yes,’ said the brothers.
***
That night, the rabbits dug a tunnel out of the stone cage and began digging holes around the meadow. Meanwhile, Red told the other foxes the plan. In the morning, Snarl walked into the empty hollow confused. Suddenly, the three rabbits and the foxes ran into the hollow from all sides and leapt into the tunnels. While Mr. Raboot and multiple foxes jumped in and out of holes, Doc, Happy and Red took a tunnel that led to the Easter Cave. Soon, they reached a large cavern and heard a voice.
‘Who are you?’
The trio introduced themselves and explained the situation.
‘I will assist you,’ rasped the Easter Dragon, stepping out of the darkness. The dragon had talons like a chicken, thick fur like a sheep and large ears like a rabbit. Unlike sheep fur, the dragon’s fur was straight. However, the colouring was the most puzzling thing about the dragon’s appearance: most of the fur was orange apart from a white tail tip and grey ears. In fact, the ears were the exact same shade of grey as… Doc and Happy’s!
Seeing the startled look of the trio, the dragon said: ‘ You’re confused by my appearance? Let me explain. Foxes weren’t always an enemy of Easter: they used to be part of the celebration. That’s why my fur is this colour. However, I turned my ears grey because the rabbits I gave the first Golden Egg of Easter to had grey fur.’
‘That means you gave the first egg to our ancestors,’ said Doc and Happy together.
‘Easter Dragon, once Snarl is defeated can foxes become part of Easter again?’ asked Red.
‘Of course. Now to stop Snarl.’
***
Red, Happy and Doc entered the hollow first, as the Easter Dragon wanted to surprise Snarl.
Then, Snarl turned round and charged, howling, ‘Easter will be mine! No one will not get in the way!’
Suddenly, the Easter Dragon leapt in the way, taking Snarl’s attack head on. Seeing the dragon wasn’t attacking, Snarl snarled, ‘Are you scared? Can you not finish this fight?’
‘I could, but I want to leave that honour to the one who started fighting back!’
At this, Red leapt right in front of Snarl. Intentionally using his scarred leg, Red delivered a powerful blow to Snarl’s mouth, sending many of the evil fox’s teeth flying.
‘Maybe you should change your name: you can’t snarl properly now,’ growled Red, before letting Snarl run away.
‘Snarl may be gone, but his actions left a mark,’ said Red, now facing the Easter Dragon. ‘His greed destroyed the egg.’
‘Easter Dragon, please can you create a new egg?’ asked Doc.
‘Yes,’ rasped the Easter Dragon.
Then, he unleashed a beam of golden light from his mouth onto the centre of the meadow. As the dragon, Red, Doc, Happy, Mr. Raboot and the foxes watched, the brand new egg shot a golden light at the sun, turning it from a cold, black glow, to a warm, golden light.
‘Grab onto me,’ instructed the dragon, touching the golden egg.
Suddenly, the whole group was enveloped in a golden light.
‘Doc! Happy!’ called two familiar voices, Mrs. Robin and Mrs. Snowdrop.
‘Nameless!’ screeched Mr. Cluck for everyone who had appeared.
‘Why are there so many foxes?’ asked Mrs. Snowdrop worried.
‘It’s all right,’ answered Doc. ‘They helped us defeat an evil fox. All the other foxes are our friends.’
‘Evil fox? Friendly foxes?’ asked Mrs. Robin, startled.
‘That story is extremely long,’ said Doc.
‘Anyway, I think there needs to be a fourth festival organiser: Red!’
‘Thank you, Easter Dragon,’ said Red, bowing.
‘The nameless fox can’t be a festival organiser!’ shouted Mr. Cluck.
As Mrs. Snowdrop tickled the arrogant chicken with her wool, she told Mr. Cluck that they knew the foxes name.
‘No. Red. Is a. Colour. Not a. Name!’ screeched Mr. Cluck, trying not to laugh.
‘Now that we have a new golden egg, shall we have some chocolate eggs?’ asked Mrs. Robin.
‘Yes please,’ said Mr. Raboot grandly.
Doc, Happy, Red, Mrs. Snowdrop and the foxes echoed him in a more normal voice.
‘I want some chocolate eggs!’ screeched Mr. Cluck.
‘Yes please,’ said the Easter Dragon. ‘Being the Easter Dragon doesn’t mean you can have chocolate eggs every day!’