A Slave's Escape-illustration

A dear friend once told me
That fortune favors the bold
And the only way a slave is free
Is when it's in death's hold.

Soon one winter morning
In the first light of the dawn,
A fever came to deliver him
My friend was free and gone.

All I can do is wait
For death to show me the light,
So that I too can escape this fate.
Maybe I will tonight.

Then I heard a voice I knew
From the far and distant shores,
"Where's the warrior I knew was free?
You know the choice is yours."

To arms every one of you.
Freedom has been our right since birth
We are the bold who fortune favors
So tonight we fight for all we're worth.

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I was going to illustrate this poem/song anyway. This song was sung by Zephyr (the female sea otter) just before they made their escape. She wanted to rouse their spirits.

For a long time the slaves had slowly weakened the gates that pinned them in. Then when the pillars beneath where knocked down as planned, a wall caved in and crumbled. That's when they made their move.

Here are the names of some of them. There are a few that may be familiar.

On the far left is Prince Burlock of DeMort, the albino ferret holding the banner. As mentioned, the female sea otter is Zephyr, last of the Wavetread otter clan. On the bottom right is Queen Felka, the flying squirrel, captured toward the end. Then there's that black-footed ferret whom I named Tim, wielding a sickle. The young rat is Razzi, the squirrel is Terrol. Those are the ones I know.

This may not have been what you might have expected. I was going to draw Zephyr singing to them when in the cells. But I wanted to draw an action scene.

And to add a little note, I've never drawn this many characters in one scene. It was crazy.

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I own all of this.