9. Declaration of Something

Wasserbox destroyed his table in anger. He had no idea what had happened, but they lost all control over the city center, and Casbrita had dealt a nearly fatal blow. This was exactly why it should have been a siege, not an attack!

After holding out for a week, he still had to flee to a new command center at the edge of the city. There, he received an odd message: Ajay was on his way to Bosnot.

And he had a hundred and fifty cannons with him, taken from the storages of Fort Tondoga.

“How … how will he ever get them here?” Wasserbox said in disbelief. “Through the snow? The terrible terrain? Cannons are heavy. Send … send soldiers to help him! Anything we can spare!”

He studied the map again. Where would the weapons go? Many innocent civilians still lived in Bosnot. But if they placed the cannons too far forward, they risked being discovered and destroyed before firing even once.

The harbor. That’s where all of Casbrita’s aid arrived, that’s where they were strongest.

He studied the surrounding area and found a high hill. If they were to place the cannons there, they could fire at the harbor, but Casbrita couldn’t fire back. Maybe the image alone would be enough to scare them!

But … what if they stormed that hill? If those weapons then fell back in the hands of Casbrita, the rebels had definitely lost. Could they defend such an all-out attack? They barely had any soldiers left inside the city.

This was going wrong. He was going to fail again. He barely trusted his mouth to speak the right commands, his fingers to point at the right sections of the map.

A second message arrived, from the mouth of a panting messenger.

“Jefizon lets us know that he found the Demigod of Luck again. He tries to convince the miracle worker to get on our side again.”

Wasserbox breathed a sigh of relief. He’d assumed his friend dead, after others reported he was in enemy territory a weak ago.

“Does he mention his chance of success?”

The messenger shook his head and departed.

The general paced through his new quarters. What to do? Could he trust Jefizon, place the cannons on the hill, and chase away Casbrita for good? Or should he play it safe and keep the cannons as a secret backup, in a place were they weren’t easily attacked?

Both were fine … but would mean a disaster if Jefizon made the other choice. If he placed the cannons on the hill, but Luck did not join their side. Or if he kept the cannons back, then it didn’t matter if Luck joined them or not, because they’d be useless in the fight.

Would Casbrita see through his bluff? He might be able to place the cannons with no intention of firing them. Too many of his own soldiers still fought in the harbor, including Jefizon.

Wasserbox looked around him. The men could not hold this any longer. Most didn’t even receive a salary—the rebels couldn’t pay it. They fought for honor and freedom, nothing else. The fact that they stayed all this time and fought valiantly, that was truly a miracle.

The other countries of Somnia had been put to sleep and blindly accepted a king or dictator. But in Elwar, they’d experienced what it was like to be inside a prison every second of every day—and that’s why they would never stop fighting for freedom.

Wasserbox made his decision.

Officially, Jefizon was a captive of Casbrita. But with the Demigod of Luck next to you, your handcuffs could, accidentally, somehow, be loosened. He did not feel intimidated, until a wolf general stormed the room in a fury.

“Come outside!” he screamed. “Look what the Continental Army has done! It’s horrible!”

General Howl was startled. He was the largest wolf and the highest commander of Casbrita. Their Wasserbox, in a sense.

He gathered all soldiers and followed the messenger. This included the guards, which meant Beeris and Jefizon were pushed along too. Howl also claimed Wasserbox’ honor would not permit him to do anything silly as long as they had a hostage with them.

Seeing all soldiers in one spot, Jefizon lost hope in their victory again. The rebels were vastly outnumbered. Beeris was reluctant to even talk to Jefizon, let alone consider switching sides.

It was pointless. He would not be able to stand more years of Casbrita brutality and oppression, and heavy taxation without representation. He wouldn’t survive, or rather, it wouldn’t be a life worth loving.

They ended up in the middle of the harbor, overlooking a high hill in the distance.

In one night, somehow, the Continental Army had been able to place a hundred cannons on that hill.

The Casbrita soldiers panicked.

“We must leave before they slaughter us!”

“They won’t,” Howl said, commanding them to stay calm. He grinned. “They can’t defend that hill, or they might be fakes. In any case, this is just an opportunity to steal them.”

He made a plan to storm the hill before afternoon. Perhaps ten or twenty Casbrita soldiers would die, but not all. They’d take those cannons and be able to defend Bosnot harbor indefinitely.

“This would be a good time,” Jefizon whispered to Beeris, “to pick the right side.”

“And I have made clear,” he whispered, “that a side that keeps slaves can never be the right one.”

“I’ve tried!” Jefizon nearly gave himself away by screaming. “But the entire idea of freedom is that others are also free to say things and make decisions. The majority wanted to keep slavery, so it stays, even if we become independent.”

Beeris just growled.

“You really think Casbrita is better?” Jefizon continued. “They have different stupid ideas. The only reason they abolished slavery is because they had no need for it anymore, because we’ve been kicking them from their plantations!”

Beeris groaned, throwing Jefizon on his strong back as if the monkey was no more than a bag of food.

His uncertainty about Fuja’s fate was killing him. Why did he allow her to fight? Why did she allow him to fight? Doesn’t she love him!?

“Freedom … absolute freedom doesn’t exist,” Jefizon said, shocked by his own conclusion. “Your freedom stops where the other being’s freedom starts.”

“So?”

“No freedom without prisons. We can’t be free until we’ve arrested all Casbrita soldiers. We can’t be safe unless criminals are put away. You can’t be free unless you pick a side that has rules to empower that freedom. I will put myself in a prison … if it means Fuja will never be in danger anymore.”

Jefizon studied Beeris’ eyes. “You are free now. Bardams gave you freedom. You must believe most animals are good, like he is, or it all ends. You now have the freedom to make the right choice.”

They arrived at the foot of the hill. A hundred soldiers, a confident general Howl at the front. The cannons were pointed at them, but as he predicted, they didn’t fire. The rebel soldiers meant to fire them, stood next to them stiffly, not even putting ammunition inside.

Howl grinned more widely.

“This was their final mistake! Elwar is ours!”

But when he took his first step, the weather shifted.

The blue skies turned gray. The warm summer weather became a rain shower, sometimes interrupted by flashes of lightning. It happened so suddenly that Jefizon only noticed once he was already soaked.

The troops tried to climb the hill, but the ground turned to quicksand, the dirt wet and slippery. Howl took big leaps forward, but furious gusts of wind pushed him off the path, refusing him any progress.

Jefizon heard cracking and squeaking. The largest Casbrita ship was struggling to stay upright in the sudden storm.

Howl had only made a few feet of progress on the hill, and now froze. None of his troops even got as far as he.

Beeris smiled.

“Ah, a classic,” he mumbled. “Unexpected storm.”

“You can’t choose what you do?” Jefizon asked.

“Of course not. I only bring bad or good luck. How that happens depends on … the universe or whatever.”

Howl took his weapon between his jaws: a gun made for quadrupeds to keep between their teeth. He could fire as much as he wanted, but all the bullets just “happened” to fly past Beeris and Jefizon as they fled.

They ran out of the storm, across the wet cobblestones of the harbor. Jefizon didn’t understand where Beeris was going, but het trusted him—and indeed, some time later they “happened” to find the other rebel soldiers stuck here. They had gathered in a well-defended street, around a campfire that struggled to keep burning in the storm.

Fuja and Jefizon flew into each other’s arms. The soldiers hugged Beeris and welcomed the Demigod of Luck back. A weight went off his shoulders. With Beeris in their midst, things would be alright.

A few streets onward, they encountered more of their troops. The line that was furthest forward. They were let back inside friendly territory. The event was immediately communicated to Wasserbox on the hill using signals. The soldiers ran to the cannons on the hill, but Jefizon and Fuja decided to stay behind.

Not long after, they heard Wasserbox bellow that Howl were to surrender and leave Elwar. Otherwise they would start firing. Wasserbox looked pale and stressed.

One stray shot. One soldier who couldn’t hold the trigger again, and the war would continue, the hill would be stormed anyway, regardless of the number of casualties. Jefizon and Fuja might die. His days as general definitely over.

Both sides waited in horrible uncertainty.

Howl threw down his weapons.

No accidental shot. No unfortunate blunder under Wasserbox’ watch again. Instead, he’d just saved them all.

Three days later, all Casbrita soldiers were sailing home.

As the soldiers partied all over Bosnot, the Continental Congress decided that this was the moment.

Bardams presented the final version of the Declaration of Independence. It had been accepted after a long, long discussion between all animals, as usual.

On the 4th of July, it was signed, after which copies were distributed all over the world.

When they did, Bardams told everyone they should now “hang together and see what happens”.

Fracclin responded: “We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”

Elwar had taken the risk and declared itself independent.