League of Extraordinary Robots, Yolanda Jackson [leveled readers TXT] 📗

to jail and for the first time she realized what she had done. “Maybe the queen and king will give me pardon,” she thought to herself but it was not so.
“If you will turn against your own people you will turn against me the same way,” the queen told her sternly. “I cannot trust you. You are guilty of treason.” The queen turned to her royal guards. “Haul her off to jail,” she ordered. “She is not to be trusted...”
The people in the prison were very angry with the maid. “We almost had a way out of prison but because of your inability to hold a secret, the plan is now in danger of failing,” they told her. The maid huddled in a corner by herself, trembling and shaking with fear. Many of the people shunned her and called her a traitor.
“Please forgive me,” begged the maid, but none of the people was willing to listen to her. They shunned her and threw stones in her direction and no one, not one single person, felt sorry for her. “You silly woman, you have risked our freedom,” shouted one of the prisioners at her. All the maid could do was cry and hang her head low, but no one felt sorry for her, not one single person.
Overhead the prisoners could hear the footsteps of people running through the land. “Maybe it is people trying to escape or maybe it is the guards marching through the village, taking everyone they can to prison.”
There was only one man who was not affected by this terrible ordeal and this was Sir Porcupine. Actually his name of course wasn’t Sir Porcupine, it was really Thomas, but the king had nicknamed him porcupine because of the way that his hair stood up on his head. Sir Porcupine acted very foolish and made the king and queen laugh at his silly antics. “That Sir Porcupine is a few cards short of a full deck,” King Alfred told Queen Jasline as Sir Porcupine tumbled around on the floor, pretending to try to turn summersaults and failing miserably.
Sir Porcupine and his family was spared and moved into the palace with the king and queen. “This is your very own home space,” King Alfred told Sir Porcupine and his family. “The palace will be your home just as it is mine.”
The king and queen thought that Sir Porcupine was their true friend, even if he wasn’t very bright. If they had only known the truth, Sir Porcupine was extremely bright and he and Wisker were the best of friends, even though they didn’t show their affection in front of the king or queen.
Sir Porcupine kept a close eye on the king and queen and listened to all their private conversations, every chance he got. “I vowed to whisker that I would set him free,” he said to himself. “And I along with many brave citizens of the land of Mayfair am going to do my very best to keep that vow.”
In the meantime, the sleeping tonic that the maids had been slipping to the king had an unexpected effect. It sent him into a very deep comma. The queen was beside herself with anxiety. “I don’t know what to do,” she moaned. “I want my husband to come out of this comma and be well.”
Sir Porcupine continued to keep a close eye on the queen and to listen to every private conversation that she had with the royal guards. One day he heard what he considered to be the ultimate betrayal.
“I want you to bring the guillotine to the public square,” Queen Jasline ordered the royal guards. I am going to get rid of that pest Wisker and his followers.”
Sir Porcupine felt his blood chill in his veins. “I have to get Wisker freed,” he said to himself. “But how am I going to do it? Most of the men are in jail and there is no way that I can dig the rest of the tunnel to release the wizard by myself.”
Sir Porcupine took the long way around to get to the prison, slipping into this place and that place so that he would not be seen and at last he was at the prison and tried to find a way to get in. There was one major problem, a mammoth problem to be truthful, and that was the bull, whom he found waiting for him. The bull began to snort and to kick dirt in the air when he saw Sir Porcupine. Then he blew fire at Sir Porcupine, narrowly missing his face.
“It’s a very good thing I have on a knight’s shield and armor to protect myself from the burning flames,” thought Sir Porcupine. Sir Porcupine thought and thought. “How can I get past the bull and rescue Wisker,” he asked himself.
Finally he had an idea. Sir Porcupine got hold of an extra strong dose of the sleeping tonic that the maids had been slipping to King Alfred. He fed the sleeping tonic to a goat and then he fed the goat to the bull, who gobbled it all up in one bite.
Sir Porcupine hid behind a bush. “I’ll just wait here for the poison to take effect,” he said to himself. He watched and kept track of all the royal guards who entered and who left the prison guards.
Soon there was only one guard at the gate. The bull had finally fallen asleep and the guard stretched his arms out and yawned and sat down on a nearby stool. “I’ll just take a little nap,” said the guard. “There’s no one out there and if anyone should come along, the bull will wake up and he’ll take care of him.” The guard leaned back using his hands for a pillow and soon he was fast asleep.
“I’ll just make sure that the guard will not wake up for a while,” said Sir Porcupine to himself. He took a poisonous dart and shot it straight into the guard. “There, that will keep him sleeping for awhile,” said Sir Porcupine, with evident satisfaction.
Once the guard had slipped into an even deeper sleep, Sir Porcupine snuck in to the prison and ran from cell to cell, looking for Wisker. He found Wisker in the very farthest cell, guarded by a golden harp and a ghost. Sir Porcupine pretended to be a guard, by putting on his armor and face shield.
“The ghost plays the harp when someone is escaping,” whispered Wisker, as Sir Porcupine slipped close to the bars of the cell. “It will wake up anyone who is sleeping. It will even wake up the dead.”
Suddenly the ghost spotted Sir Porcupine and realized that not all was as it should be. He was about to play the tune that would wake up the dead when Sir Porcupine made a dive for the harp and with super human effort, managed to snatch it from the ghost’s hands.
Without the harp, the ghost could not be heard. H ran around the prison, trying to scream, but it did no good. The harp was now in Sir Porcupine’s hands and he was not going to give it up.’
Wisker arose from his state of depression and worthlessness. He had grown old and weary.

Freeing Whisker


Wisker was in a state of shock to see that someone had come to save him. “I have waited so long, so very long,” he sobbed. Wisker was a mess. He had been treated very badly, with little food and little water and no sunlight for his skin. Just as Wisker had grown old, so had his spirit. I am too old to fight,” said Wisker. “I’m sorry, I would if I could, but I am just way too old.”
“Get up,” said Sir Porcupine. “You must fight. Too many people risked their lives to save yours. We need your help.”
Wisker looked around and saw all of the people that were in prison. When he saw all the people that had cared enough for him to risk their lives, even though it meant prison, Wisker tearfully sobbed and at the same time he began to gain his strength and his composure.
“You must go and find Benji, your old companion,” said a lady in a nearby jail cell. “Bring him back and the king will see that you are not lying.”
“If only I had my magic wand,” said Wisker. “It is my only way of getting out of Mayfair.”
“I have it right here,” said Sir Porcupine, and so he did. He pulled out the magic wand that Wisker had not seen in months.
Wisker rubbed his hands almost reverently over his favorite wand and then began to kiss it. “I will bring justice to you all,” said Wisker. “I promise you, I will bring justice to you all.” Wisker ran off out of the prison yard and into the forest on the border of Mayfair, with Sir Porcupine close behind him. “”Will you be my companion?” Wisker asked Sir Porcupine.
“Anything for you, my old friend,” said Sir Porcupine.
Suddenly there was a rumbling of the ground, suggesting that the royal soldiers were on their way. “Quick, over here,” said Sir Porcupine, pulling Wisker off the beaten pathway and into a shrub of trees, just as the soldiers came speeding in their carriages and on horses. Wisker and Sir Porcupine quietly stayed put, scarcely daring to breathe,
“Look over in those bushes,” ordered the captain of the soldiers. “I think I just saw something move.”
Wisker and Sir Porcupine stiffened, trying to hold as still as still could be. Suddenly a large rabbit jumped out of some nearby bushes and ran toward the soldiers. The soldiers started to pull their swords to do battle but then they saw that it was just a rabbit.
“We aren’t here to fight battles with rabbits,” said one of the officers. “Spread out and look around. We need to find Wisker and Sir Porcupine.” The soldiers looked and looked until they got tired of looking and decided that Wisker and Sir Porcupine were not in the area.
The soldiers put up wanted signs showing pictures of Wisker and Sir Porcupine. “Wanted, dead or alive, by the king and queen of Mayfair,” read one of the officers. “There, that ought to do it. Come on men, they aren’t here; we’ve got other places to look. Let’s go. You know the queen isn’t going to be happy if we come back empty handed. The queen is as bad as Prince Harry when it comes to having her own way.”
The soldiers rode off and both Wisker and Sir Porcupine let out deep sighs of relief. “Come, we must hurry!” said Wisker. Wisker and Porcupine began to follow the trail to the way out of Mayfair. As soon as they came to what they considered to be a safe spot, Wisker tried to use his magic wand, but it wouldn’t work. Over and over he tried but still nothing happened.”
“What’s wrong?”