NOVEL FROG Chapter 69: The Sunrise Festival
With their plan to defend the princess during the festival finished, the squad had to wait until the next morning to execute it. They woke up early, geared up after breakfast, and headed out while the festival was still being set up. They still had to wear casual clothes to blend in with the citizens and carry smaller weapons, like knives and pistols, to not draw much attention. Frost managed to get his razor blades back, and while he couldn’t try out the new feature that Tricky implemented, he kept them hidden on his back, concealed by a white and purple cape provided by the princess herself.
Crisis met up with Priscilla again in the afternoon, having to wait for the festival to be arranged, which they used to assume their positions around the city. Indie, Kiwy, Frost, Nitro, and Panda stayed with her in the castle at all times, but the entirety of EchoForce began scouting the city in the meantime. Cookie, Bones, and Groovy stayed at the base of the mountain to secure the location, as well as keep an eye on all the farmers and workers who seemed most suspicious. Tricky, Candy, and Saint guarded the commercial streets since they were the most crowded sections, second to the market, where the rookies patrolled for hours, eventually getting lost after searching for any unusual activity.
While they found a couple of odd individuals, they couldn’t catch anything out of the ordinary for hours, and with nothing to report, the signal was given to start the parade. The sky was extra brighter today, which the citizens got to enjoy by taking a break from working and coming together at the main road, filling up every corner of the streets adjacent to it as everyone came out of the market, church, farms, and every house. As the sun was setting, the decoration in the city really shined through, with many colorful flags being waved from each side of the road, sun-shaped paper lamps hanging from the various arches around the high-class district, as well as all sorts of ornaments brought from the market to give even more life to the main road.
The people gathered matched the bright and colorful atmosphere, mostly due to their costumes but also in spirit. They held signs from their houses and played horns and drums to dance, and even though the princess hadn’t shown up yet, they began celebrating without her. The cheering and rhythms could be heard from the castle at the very top, where Priscilla was still getting ready. She was leaving the castle for the first time today, keeping all of the personal guards at the entrance as they helped her climb an extravagant float that was going to carry her down the city.
Barely fitting in the main road due to it being a wide platform with a small throne for the princess to sit on, the float combined all the colors and beauty of the decorations in the street to create an ultimate centerpiece for the citizens to adore. But its appearance was heavily contrasted by its mechanism, which sparked some questions in the squad when they noticed a dozen peasants hidden beneath the float’s skirt of flowers and lights. They were invisible from eye level, but as Nitro couldn’t see over the platform, he focused on the bottom, where he saw multiple hands pushing the giant wheels of the float to move it, which proved difficult with the excessive weight from the adornment.
–Why do they call it the Sunrise Festival? The sun is literally going down…– Nitro asked skeptically after ignoring what he saw, shifting his attention below as he and Panda stood at the lookout next to the road, where they had a full view of the lower sections of the city. They began to head down as they were assigned the upper-class district, which was hard to traverse as everyone came out and filled the already narrow path cleared for the princess.
–Don’t know, focus on the mission– Panda replied evasively as they reached the entrance to the church, where they began guarding the area, as there was little room next to the road to stand on. He ignored Nitro but still glanced up at the sky and noticed it going dark, which made it harder to see, even with the lights from the houses on both sides and the candles held by the crowd surrounding them. Luckily, the street lamps turned on, lighting up the road with various warm colors, prompting Panda to begin scoping out the area.
–What am I supposed to do, huh? Hit them with these?– Nitro asked again in a playfully annoyed manner as he pulled out a bag of star-shaped pretzels to eat in the meantime. Panda dismissed him at first to stay focused on the task at hand, but after seeing Nitro eating, he smacked the back of his head before stealing a couple of pretzels and tossing them into his mouth seamlessly.
–Yes, exactly that…– Panda replied inattentively before stepping forward to approach the road. The people around created a wall on each side, preventing them from getting in the way, but since Panda was taller than everyone nearby, he didn’t have a problem standing behind two rows of citizens. But unlike him, Nitro didn’t have a full view of the plaza they were on; in fact, he could barely see, and he couldn’t say a word as they were about to begin the parade.
–Alright, we are ready to begin. EchoForce, positions…– Frost announced through the radio before sneaking inside the float, taking cover between the large wheels and the platform with the princess below. He had enough crawl space to look around in all directions, peeking out a few holes around the layer of flowers in the base of the float, though his view was sometimes obscured by the moving lights outside.
The princess struggled to get on top as the float consisted of many layers, with the last one having round structures painted like the sun to provide cover for her, at least from the sides. She was still visible and heavily exposed from the front when sitting on her throne, and while the height advantage of the float made it hard for anyone to attack directly, it was also tricky to spot her with all the balloons and fancy decorations behind her.
And even though she put on a splendid, dazzling floral dress, her appearance didn’t match Priscilla’s attitude as she became a bit nervous. She turned her back to the road, where she still couldn’t see all the citizens waiting for her to show up, and before revealing herself to them, she crouched behind her throne to stare down a secret hatch at the back of the platform. She whispered inside, to which Frost poked his head out shortly after to check up on her.
–I’m nervous…– Priscilla confessed with a shaky voice, trembling in fear and holding her face to calm down. Frost stared at her indifferently for a moment, nodding as he lent an ear, but since she couldn’t compose herself, he rolled his eyes and tried to help.
–Don’t worry, we have eyes all over the main road. Nobody is getting near, and if they do…– Frost assured with a semi-forced optimistic tone. His expression remained cold and determined as previously, but the look in his eyes was compassionate enough to give Priscilla the courage to stand up and pull herself together. Her distressing emotions faded away with a grateful smile directed at Frost, which he ignored as he took cover once again before closing the hatch. Now that he left Priscilla alone on the platform, she regained her natural demeanor, and after putting on a lively smile, the parade began as soon as the float started descending the road.
–It started, stay put. Report any suspicious activity immediately– Indie ordered through the radio before leaving the castle with Kiwy. They were following the float, staying behind at all times but close enough to be able to intervene in case of any attack. But as the float began to turn a corner into the upper-class section, they had to blend in with the people on both sides of the road, leaving only a few guards protecting the princess nearby.
With some flashy dancers and people dressed as various animals showing up to lead the parade, Priscilla didn’t have to bother looking forward, so she began waving at every citizen on each side with a big smile. In response, everyone cheered for her, returning smiles, shouting compliments, and even trying to offer gifts from the crowd as she made her way down the city, though the latter were stopped by security as no one could get near the float. She was even praised by the signs hanging from the big, white buildings next to the church, where people popped out from windows to play their horns, creating noise as the princess passed by.
The brash sounds drew the squad's attention to the windows above the float, where they were relieved to find no threat to the princess. But as the commotion alerted the rest of the city, more people gathered on the main road, especially at the market and commercial zone, where the busy shops and brothels stopped working for once to let people watch the event. Candy, Tricky, and Saint were standing right at the intersection of the main road and the second street when they were surprised to see a large number of people running up the road to join the crowd coming down alongside the princess’ float.
While Candy was too distracted with the entertainment of the parade, Saint caught something suspicious when he saw a group of elven teens running to the other side of the road, pushing their way into the crowd. He tried following them as they crossed the street in a hurry, but then he saw that they were only trying to get better spots to watch the parade. He remained skeptical, keeping an eye on them, drawing attention from Candy as well, while Tricky focused on her motion detection device. She had placed the same sensors used to detect the antipunks’ movement, except she spread them throughout the busiest streets.
She had to keep an eye on dozens of points that began blinking repeatedly on her screen. She didn’t show much concern as the ones located further from the main road stopped showing movement when the last few people in the concurrent street below joined the crowd. With everyone in the city gathering on both sides of the road, the rookies began to look around the market frantically as the float had just passed the church and plaza.
Since the layout of the market was characterized by narrow paths, hidden spots, and low lighting, they struggled in their search for suspects. Luckily, most of the people were standing next to the road, with everyone else leaving their stalls and trying to get a good view of the parade, except one man who was still selling fruits. Zoey noticed that a small group of around five people were buying at that stand, only to steal a few bags of vegetables from another before running down the market, heading towards the intersection.
She tried to get a look, but she was starting to leave her position, so she instead took Ace’s position and ordered him to move further down to cover more area. She still kept searching for the mysterious thieves, but with everyone blocking her view, she stayed back to use a pole to get higher ground and keep an eye on the road. As the four rookies had to watch over a large section of the city, they were constantly looking back and forth on both sides of the road, checking on tens of people with every glance as the float reached the large arch that separated the market from the houses above.
–So far, so good. They are probably waiting at the end, there’s more open space to attack…– Indie announced calmly but remaining cautious, trying to look over the float to see the distribution of people throughout the road as she and Kiwy began following behind with all the people from the plaza.
Her suspicion was mostly true, as a good portion of the population was gathering around the commercial zone at the start of the road, circling the fountain at the gate, where Cookie, Groovy, and Bones spread out to watch the crowd forming there. Cookie also noticed the guards at the gate leaving their positions to join the others, and while the gate was closed, he became anxious and had to check on it once every few seconds. It became more stressful when the farmers and workers from the fields came towards them, and while they didn’t pose much of a threat since they left their tools or potential weapons behind to watch peacefully with the rest, the soldiers couldn’t drop their guard..
But the one who was the most suspicious out of everyone was Frost. Even though he couldn’t see much from his hiding spot, with his peek holes giving him a limited view of his surroundings and the people nearby, he had a general sense of the current situation. He could hear everything going on around him, despite the loud acclamation and music, but what he heard was much more alarming than reality. When they passed the church, he heard the nuns praying for the princess and the upper-class people expressing admiration and love. He also noticed there were more claps and loud cheers once they reached the market as more people gathered there, and while he couldn’t hear the audience at this point, he did catch some bits of the conversation right below him.
–Ughh, I’m so tired of doing this– one of the peasants pushing the wheels complained, letting out an exhausted and bitter sigh, which only became clearer to Frost when he heard the colleague’s response.
–I know, right? If she really cared about her people, she wouldn’t be forcing them to do this stuff…– another peasant replied with resentment and disdain, to which Frost seemed to agree despite growing concerned. Priscilla couldn’t hear any of it since she was busy waving at people, and while Frost had the urge to open the hatch and warn her, he only reached for it before focusing on the conversation again.
–Yea, she sucks. But it will all be over soon…– the first peasant added, sounding more relieved or eager, which only raised more suspicion the more Frost listened. He took a moment to think, staring at the ceiling with one hand on the hatch and the other on his razor blade. He held both tightly as he tried to figure out what the peasants were talking about. But once they stopped chatting, he focused on breathing to calm himself down, and as they appeared to have reached the commercial streets, he peeked out the holes to see what the picture was.
–Any weird activity at the intersection?– Indie asked through the radio, with Tricky having to hand over her monitor to Candy before responding. Tricky and Candy looked around the street for anything to report, but as they glanced at Saint for a second, noticing his doubtful expression, they waited for his response, which came in the form of a hesitant nod.
–So far, no. Just a bunch of people coming out of the shops. They are blocking the view of the road, but Saint still has eyes on it…– Tricky replied, looking back at Saint, who remained apprehensive but focused on the main road, getting a close look at it as he stood right behind the elven teens that he saw earlier. He looked at them suspiciously, but since they weren’t doing anything but talking about their attraction to the princess, he paid more attention to the float as it was about to pass by.
–Alright, the more people around, the less likely they are to show up. Everyone move down, we are approaching the intersection…– Indie ordered and gestured for Panda and Nitro to go ahead. They made their way down the main road, catching up with the rookies as they all headed to the intersection, where Candy, Tricky, and Saint remained on high alert. The latter shifted his focus on both sides rapidly, checking for any movement, though he only saw his teammates passing by and making their way to the base of the mountain.
With Tricky catching all the movement directed towards the start of the road, she joined Candy and Saint as they headed down. They were relieved to see the float passing by the two commercial streets without a hitch, but Indie remained skeptical after seeing the current of people heading down as well. She looked back on the swarm accumulated from the previous sections, getting pinned behind the float, where some guards helped her keep her distance. But as she stepped aside to take a look ahead, she saw all of EchoForce running to the gate, with many citizens doing the same and gathering at the fountain, now taking the main road, no longer sticking to the sides as space was running out.
–This is it…– one of the peasants affirmed with what sounded like excitement, with the other agreeing but saying things Frost could barely hear. He placed his left ear on the platform below to hear closer, but his focus was suddenly drawn to the fact that the float had come to a halt. He was startled for a moment, then started getting anxious when the peasants below went quiet, with the audience surrounding the float growing louder instead.
As the float reached the base of the mountain, the entire city kept cheering for the princess at the fountain, surrounding the entire float as they blocked the road from above, preventing it from going back or even moving. The team was also unable to move anywhere but down as the large crowd pushed them along with them, forcing them to join the audience at the lowest point of the city. The rookies started panicking as they struggled to stay close, though they kept a good formation as they split up and covered most of the area from both sides of the road. But while Indie and Kiwy were right behind the float, their proximity became an issue when everyone else was equally as close. Not even the guards from the gate could stop everyone from approaching the float, they couldn’t even get to the princess, though it didn’t seem to bother her as no one had tried to climb yet.
–Thank you all for gathering here. Today is a very special day, we are celebrating our city’s anniversary!– Priscilla exclaimed cheerfully, sparking more commotion as the audience started rejoicing, blocking the view of most of the team. Only Panda, Saint, and Indie had a good view, though their visual advantage couldn’t help them much when they couldn’t move with the heavy congestion of the road.
The princess continued giving a speech like nothing was happening, inciting the audience to grow louder and making it harder for the team to communicate. Indie tried to give an order but was muted by the shouts near her, so she stayed in position to guard the back of the float, sending Kiwy to check on the princess, who seemed completely unaware of the chaos below her throne. Kiwy managed to squeeze her way through and almost climb the float, and while she was the only one near enough to protect Priscilla in case of an attack, it appeared that some potential attackers were beating her.
As the crowd grew in size, people had no other way to move than pushing against the float, causing Frost to stay on edge as he could see some hands reach for the flowers in front of him. At the fountain, Cookie, Groovy, and Bones managed to push some people out of the way to form a crooked line with the guards in an attempt to prevent people from touching the float. But as the peasants from below began to escape, some of the citizens saw the opening at the bottom of the float and started crawling into it, pushing other people, and bashing against the float in the process, but also rocking the float back and forth as a result.
It was impossible to move for Nitro, Tricky, Panda, and pretty much all the rookies as they were stuck on the sides of the asphyxiating road. They could only watch and pray that no one would dare climb the float and attempt to take the princess’ life. But as Frost was already anticipating such a thing, he opened the hatch slightly to peek out, staying alert as the princess finally began getting worried. The float began trembling, and while it first seemed to amuse her, Priscilla quickly found it uneasy to be at her people’s mercy with no way to go, yet she still kept her front.
–Everyone, please enjoy this night and make the most of it! You are all free to rejoice and cherish this day with your families, friends, and loved ones, in any way you like… Tonight belongs to you, only you, my dear people!– Priscilla added in forced glee, smiling nervously as she further provoked the crowd with her encouraging remarks. She regretted her words almost instantly, as her calls for support and celebration only stirred them up, with some going beyond excitement and becoming a little too passionate.
Among the uproar, Saint and Candy noticed that the people coming from the commercial streets and market seemed the most noisy and aggressive. They had surrounded the float from both sides and began pushing each other in order to get closer to the princess. While it was an alarming sight, Saint and Candy didn’t know what to do with it, as it looked like the people were just begging for the princess’ attention. In return, Priscilla only looked forward, as she found some comfort in seeing half the team and her guards waiting for her at the fountain. But as she was stuck on the platform, she frantically looked around in search of a way out, only to see her people behaving like animals.
The working and upper class clashed right behind the float, pushing each other with intent, unlike the citizens at the front, who mostly fought each other out of the need to breathe. But as peaceful as the citizens were, the scene turned violent once the crowd began trampling and choking itself. The rookies stayed back at the sides of the road to look over and not risk suffocating, though they could barely escape as the road was surrounded by closed buildings.
Zoey couldn’t handle the turmoil anymore, and since she was smaller, she squeezed her way out of the crowd since the team couldn’t do much to stop the chaos. She tried searching for other teammates, but they were all lost and scattered in a sea of bodies. However, after she climbed onto the low roof of a nearby building, she got an overview of the situation, and that’s when she noticed that a group was deliberately distancing themselves from the others.
It was the same group she saw at the market, and while everyone else tried to approach the princess, they stayed far back to get a look directly at her. Zoey watched them in confusion as they searched inside the vegetable bags they had stolen, but before she could realize what they were doing, their intentions became clear in an instant. A final wave of cheers overshadowed their yells, cries, and insults as they turned hostile, but Zoey was close enough to the group to hear them very clearly, and by the sounds of it, they didn’t particularly regard the princess as highly as the rest.