An Eventful Mission

4- Rescue

"Aha! The other island, huh? You better not be lying to me.." An evil, deep laugh circulated around the island. He dropped Clover Cookie who fell to his knees. Licorice ran off to tell Red Velvet his newly-found information.
Clover Cookie was able to process what happened and began to help others.
"Are you sure we should be going towards the burning part of the forest, Madeleine.." Espresso said, looking up at the rows trees standing above them. The sky was already turning a dark blue. "Yeah, but I'm sure we'll be able to find others that we'll be able to help near that hill." He replied, turning to look at the tall hill that was easy to spot from anywhere.

"Alright, let's go over there then. I can smell a lot of smoke." Espresso coughed.
"Clover cookie." Madeleine called out. Him and Espresso found him trying to lift a large boulder off of Knight Cookie.
"Madeleine, Espresso! Please help me get this off of Knight Cookie, he's being crushed. Clover cried out.

The two rushed over to him. "Step back you two, I can lift it." Madeleine said, effortlessly lifting the boulder off of the other knight. A small pool of blood lay below his legs.
"Ughh.." Knight groaned. His legs appeared to be broken. "Oh my goodness!" Clover yelled. "I will heal him, you two go off and help other cookies!"
"You're strong. I didn't think you would be able to lift that boulder by yourself. Espresso turned to look at him as they sprinted through the forest looking for others.
"Thanks! It appears that the Divine has blessed me with this great strength. He smiled.

Gingerbrave paced back and forth around the dirt.
"What if they're in danger?!" Gingerbrave placed his hands on his head. Like he said he would be, he was worried about Espresso and Madeleine if they hadn't returned before sun down. The sky was fully night except for the bright moon shining its moonlight over the darkness.
"Calm down Gingerbrave, I'm sure they're fine." Raspberry comforted him in a soft tone.
"But they're the strongest on the team, and I promised myself I wouldn't lose any cookies!"
"Exactly, they're the strongest cookies in the whole kingdom! They have to be alright." Latte said. "Now all of you should stop worrying and try and get some rest. Turn your lanterns off."
"Good idea, Latte." Herb said, closing his tent.
"Let's keep the fire going, I'm going to wait for them." Latte sighed. Where could they be?

Around five minutes passed. Madeleine began to lose his patience. "Espresso, let's turn the other way. We're not finding anybody in need of help."
"But Madeleine, I see somebody." He pointed at two cookies talking to eachother. He couldn't tell if one of them was even a cookie though.

"I don't think they're from our kingdom. They could be enemies, let's hide." Madeleine said, leading Espresso to a tall, dark bush. They eavesdropped together.
"I'll leave in a few minutes and hold the ones on the other island hostage aswell. I'll find the killer of your sweet, sweet Chiffon and we'll conquer them all! Haha, our plan is perfect! The cookie dressed in dark clothing cackled.

"But how are you going to get off the island? Our boat was stolen by some of those other stupid cookies.." The one with dark red hair replied to the other.
"Easy! I'll just steal theirs." Licorice cookie said. "And, Red Velvet, make sure that nobody escapes. He ran off in the direction of the shore.

"I don't think I can m— ah ugh.. He's gone." Red Velvet groaned. He was very sure that he could easily be overpowered by the other cookies on the island. Surely they had already escaped from Licorice cookie, who had let most of them be free after threatening many for information.
"Espresso, we can't let him take the other team's only escape. Plus, he's going to harm many of the cookies of our team aswell." Madeleine whispered.
"I have an idea." Espresso replied. "Let's track down and apprehend Licorice together. Then we can make sure that we end the lives of the enemies on this island we're on and then head back to the one we're supposed to be on right now. Easy." Espresso said, poking his head out of the bush. "Coast's clear. Let's go." He grabbed Madeleine's hand, pulling him out with him.
As fast as they could, they dashed toward Licorice Cookie's direction. The darkening sky made this difficult. Licorice blended very well into this kind of scenery. Madeleine and Espresso managed to catch up to him.
"There he is!" Madeleine yelled, jumping onto and tackling the shorter, evil cookie.
"Gah! Let go of me, let go of me
I say!" Licorice struggled. Madeleine got up off of the ground and wrapped one of his hands around Licorice's neck.
"Uagh!—" Licorice gagged, frantically fighting to get his hands off of him multiple times. He scrambled trying to pry Madeleine's hands from his neck multiple times, begging to be let go.
Espresso stared at this scene in shock. He never knew such a kind, caring knight could be so violent to another of his kind.
Licorice passed out. "Hah—! Easy." Madeleine celebrated. He picked up the unconscious cookie and threw him over his shoulder. Espresso began walking with him to the shore to check on the other cookies.
"How heartless for somebody as generous as you." Espresso said, looking up at Madeleine.
"Did you not hear what he would have done if I didn't do what I just did?" Madeleine looked back at him.
Espresso couldn't blame him. He would've done something similar if he was the one trying to detain a threatful enemy. He would've tried to knock them out as well.
"You have a point, but, that was pretty agressive."
"Well, it's better than stabbing him." Madeleine replied.
Espresso could notice Licorice's skin turning lighter.
"I'm going to feel his pulse to make sure he's not dead.." Espresso moved behind madeleine and grabbed Licorice by the wrist.
"He's not dead, but his pulse is quite slow. I'm a little bit suprised that he's alive. You did choke him until he passed out."
"Can we just focus on getting back to rescuing the others? This guy's getting heavy." Madeleine said, looking up at the dark blue sky.
They made it back to the shore to see that there were other cookies besides Strawberry, Clover, and Knight Cookie were there. Espresso counted the cookies. "One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six.. Didn't your team have seven cookies in it?"
"Yeah." Sparkling said.
"They must be missing one. Who are you missing?" Madeleine asked. "Wizard cookie's missing." Vampire Cookie and the others frowned.
"He must be stuck somewhere. We've already taken down one of the enemies. If the other doesn't get to you guys, you're very safe." Espresso exclaimed.
"Madeleine, please protect them. I will go and look for Wizard Cookie."
"Alright.. Madeleine replied. He didn't have a good feeling about Espresso being alone again. He remembered what had happened last time when he did.
He strolled through the forest for some time, coming across a few fields along the way. No sign of Wizard Cookie.
"Hello?" Wizard could hear leaves crunching behind him.
Espresso stopped. He could hear Wizard Cookie's voice.
"Wizard, is that you?" Espresso called out.
"Yes, please help!" Wizard wailed.
Espresso rushed over towards his voice. He looked down to see him tangled in a thorn-covered bush.
"Oh my— are you alright?" Espresso asked in a concerned tone.
"Yes, but I'm pretty sure that I'm bleeding somewhere.. I feel fine." Wizard Cookie replied.
Espresso was confused on how he even got into this situation, but he was more confused on how to get him out of it.
"Let's see.." Espresso lightly grabbed part of the bush keeping Wizard's arm down and snapped it in half. "Are you able to move your arm now?" He asked.
"Yeah. If you keep on breaking the twigs like that I believe that I can get out of here easily." Wizard replied.
"Alright then." Espresso grabbed another thorny twig, stabbing his own palm. He snapped the bush's twig in half.
"I'm going to pull you out of the bush, okay?" Espresso said, picking up the tiny Wizard by the arms and dragging him out of the bush.
Wizard Cookie's feet touched the ground. "Thank you so much, I've been stuck in there for over an hour!"
"It's no problem, everybody on your team is safe now." Espresso smiled. The two were able to quickly speedwalk to where the rest of the cookies were.
"We're back." Espresso waved to the others.
"Thank God, I was about to go out and look for you!" Madeleine shouted.
"But I've only been gone for fifteen minutes." Espresso said, rolling his eyes.
"Last time, you were gone for only five minutes and you over exerted yourself and almost got yourself killed."
"True.. But I'm alive and well, so it's fine." Espresso sighed.
"That's because I—"
"Would you two please stop arguing?! It's midnight and we're all exhausted. You guys need to get back to the island that you're supposed to be on. We appreciate your help." Princess Cookie said, interrupting Madeleine.
"Yeah, sorry." Madeleine put his hand behind his neck. "Let's go, Espresso." He said, putting his arm around Espresso's shoulder and leading him back to the rowboat.
"Alright guys, let's take our ship to the next island and rest there." Sparkling Cookie suggested. All of the other cookies followed his lead.
Madeleine placed his sword at the bottom of the rowboat. He grabbed the oars and draped the sleeping Licorice cookie over the side of the boat. "Finally I can put him down. He's so heavy!"
Madeleine began rowing the boat towards the island where their team was. The lantern Espresso was holding illuminated the boat. They both watched the night sky, as well as the sea.
Espresso shivered. The cold breeze continously blowed past the both of them. He bit his lip.
"Are you cold Espresso?" Madeleine asked, tilting his head.
"Yes, I'm freezing." He said with a stutter.
"Hold on, here." Madeleine took off his cape and draped it over Espresso's head, putting it on him instead. Madeleine's scent covered him. Espresso pulled the heavy cape around himself tighter. Espresso gazed at the sky around them. The stars seemed to shine brighter by the second.
"Thank you.."
Pulling into the beach next to the ship was a breeze. Madeleine anchored the rowboat. Espresso was resting his head in his own arms. Madeleine picked up the cookie wearing a dark blueish-purple cloak. He raced onto the shore and sprinted to the campfire. He could see many tents set up nearby it.

"Where were you?!" Latte jumped out in front of him.
"I'll explain later, okay? Would you do me a favor and tie this guy up against a tree really well?" Madeleine asked, dropping Licorice onto the ground. He ran off back to the boat to awaken Espresso.
"Espresso." Madeleine lightly shook the sleeping cookie.
"What— hm?" Espresso responded. He rubbed his eyes.
"You need to get off the boat." Madeleine said, waiting for him. Espresso glanced at him with his tired eyes.
"Or would you like for me to carry you?" Madeleine got closer to the other. Espresso nodded. He wrapped his arms around Madeleine. Madeleine took off running towards the campsite. Latte was finishing up with tying Licorice to the tree, he grinned upon seeing this.
"I can finish up with tying him. You should go ahead and get some rest." Madeleine said, waving at Latte.
"No problem! I'll see you in the morning." Latte rushed over to her tent.
"Can you stand up yet, Espresso?" Madeleine gently set him on the ground.
"Yeah.." He muttered, placing his hands on his head. His head was spinning. He hadn't had coffee in over a day.
Madeleine wrapped Licorice tighly around the tree using rope that Latte had brought from the ship's storage. He tied a knot. "He'll never escape from this." He said confidently. "Right, Espresso?" He turned around.
"Espresso, are you alright?" Madeleine asked, moving closer to him.
"Exhausted." Espresso mumbled. It was the only word that described his current state. Espresso took Madeleine's cape off of himself and handed it to Madeleine.
"Ah, sorry! Here, let's go to my tent. You can rest there since you didn't bring one." Madeleine smiled, taking his cape back.
"Wait.." Espresso pushed him away. He grabbed his bag, which was next to the campfire. Espresso opened it and searched for an empty cup. He performed a spell using his coffee magic.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to drink coffee at this hour?" Madeleine asked, putting his hands on his hips.
"Yes, I need to stay awake." Espresso sighed, drinking the coffee out of the cup.
"I don't think so." Madeleine snatched the cup from his hands.
"Hey!" Espresso yelled. "Give that back!" He reached his hand out to steal it back.
Madeleine reached his hand higher than Espresso could reach. "You need to start depending on a good nights rest instead of staying up with coffee!"
"Ugh!" Espresso continued to jump up to try and take the coffee out of Madeleine's hands.
Madeleine ended up having to jump around aswell to keep it out of Espresso's reach.
Espresso froze. Madeleine had accidentally spilt most of the coffee all over Espresso's clothes.
"You..!" Espresso ran up to Madeleine, giving him a good, hard slap in the face. Espresso pouted, looking down at his clothing.
"Agh—! What the hell?! Why did you—" Madeleine yelled in suprise.
"You're lucky I wear dark clothing. If I ever got a stain I would've slapped you so hard that you would never see the light of day ever again." Espresso shouted, pointing at him.
Espresso sighed, pulling a plain white t-shirt out of his bag.

"I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to make a mess!" Madeleine apologized, waving his hands out in front of him.
"Just go to your tent or whatever. I need to go and change." Espresso sighed."
"Okay." Madeleine walked away.
A few minutes later, Madeleine could hear his name being whispered.
"Psst.. Madeleine, Madeleine!"
Madeleine poked his head out of his tent. "What is it?"
"Give me back my coffee cup." Espresso said, holding his hand out.
"Why should I?"
"Please.?"
"No.." Madeleine fake-frowned. "Get in here, you definitely need some sleep." Madeleine pulled him into the tent.
"He-Hey!" Espresso yelled, wiggling around and struggling to escape Madeleine's grasp. He let Espresso go.
"Calm down! Just rest, alright? It's healthier than drinking coffee all day like you usually do. I'll give the cup back tommorow, promise."
"Fine." Espresso mumbled. He turned his head away from Madeleine. Madeleine put his cape around Espresso before closing the tent and the two turned away from eachother.