Doctor Worchester paced back and forth a few feet away from Rabbit who eyed the doctor suspiciously. Finally, the doctor stopped his pacing and faced Rabbit.
“Follow me to my office.” Worchester commanded.
Rabbit nodded, although the gesture went unnoticed by Doctor Worchester, but the gesture of inviting Rabbit to the doctor’s personal office didn’t go unnoticed by Rabbit. Rabbit was completely unaware of what was going to happen next, but he thought that perhaps the lords wanted to eat him.
As they moved along towards the left side of the staircase, they reached a step down to a landing with a door around the next corner. Through that door was a stone stairwell with torches on the walls to light the way. Worchester walked with his white hands clasped underneath his robe so Rabbit couldn’t see them.
On the way down Worchester stopped suddenly and knocked on the wall. A latch released and Worchester was able to push the stone revealing a secret door that led to his laboratory. The laboratory consisted of two tables with straps, one for Rabbit, Bear, and Wolf, and another for Stag and Horse. The only other objects in the lab were the torches on the wall, and a cabinet covered with a dust cover.
Rabbit hated the sight of the laboratory. The surgical tables were so off-putting that Rabbit began feeling dizzy looking at them.
“Drug testing,”
Rabbit, surprised to hear Doctor Worchester speak, shifted his attention to the man.
“That’s what we do down here, drug testing and embryo testing to create beastly soldiers.” Worchester knocked on another secret door which revealed a storage room of rows upon rows of shelving units with labeled jars. Then he continued, “I’ve created many drugs throughout my life, all thanks to you beast-men. These drugs have made me a very rich man. However, I’m less than proud of the side effects. You see, a drop of your blood affects the genetic make-up of a man, turning them into were-soldiers; in your case the result would be a were-rabbit, good for scouting and small skirmishes. The side effect of drinking a were-rabbit vial is that these soldiers will eventually lose their sanity and become unable to return to society. There are raving bands of were-beasts scattered throughout the continent.”
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Worchester glazed his hand over the label on one of the jars, “The experiments could have probably gone on for your entire life, but the king has made some enemies, and those enemies have created their own drugs. You’ll hear about them soon enough, I’m sure. This way,”
Worchester led Rabbit out of the storage room and laboratory and they went further down the stairs. So much was running through Rabbit’s head that he considered every question he had and his thoughts became so cluttered that he couldn’t speak. Worchester seemed to be answering everything anyway. When they got to the stairs leading further down Worchester said,
“I’m truly sorry for everything, Rabbit. I suppose that you were handed to me as subjects for experimentation, and even though I saw that you were changing, I never changed the way I treated you. I spent years trying to keep you happy and in the dark about how much you’re truly worth to me.”
Rabbit’s heart sunk for a moment. His hind legs seemed to be moving on their own, for he wanted nothing more than to stop, yet his legs carried him and yearned to follow Worchester.
“You will go with the lords.” Worchester said, “You will not say goodbye to your brethren. The lords wish to make a captain out of you. Fame and fortune is likely within your grasp.”
Leave, Rabbit thought.
They reached the bottom of the stairs and Worchester turned towards Rabbit and smiled, “We’re here.” he said, leaning his hand against his office door and revealing a room with a filing cabinet, a desk, a lamp, and, behind that, Evan stood holding a brown tunic and breeches to replace Rabbit’s loincloth.
Evan stepped towards Rabbit and said, “You’re going to need to look more human now.”