The Battle of Vesanus Forest

The air vibrated with the sounds of blades meeting shields, armor and flesh as two masses of bodies collided with an almighty clash. The red fox had charged into the rabbit, using his shield as a battering ram, momentum carried him over Judy's head as she knelt and let the top of her shield collapse inward from the fox's weight. Judy silently cursed as she realized her mistake in letting an enemy get into the legions lines when the formations were disrupted. Normally, her fellow legionaries would finish the fox off, and she would turn back toward the outside to deal with the next threat, but the spheres of flame that the tribes had barraged them with, had degraded the legions to the point that the conflict had become a series of single combat duels, with groups here and there sticking together in knots of conflict, Judy turned to face the fox as he dug his clawed feet into the dirt to stop himself from falling over. His almost violently green eyes once again locked with her own, she readied her weapon, partially concealing her blade she shuffled in place, widened her stance and preparing for his next attack. She was astounded as he gazed at her, eyes flickering all around, trying to find the best way to end her life, she saw raw anger reflect in his eyes. Judy may not have been fighting for the empire long, but she doubted she would ever encounter another mammal with as much pent up rage, as much raw passion and spirit as long as she lived. Which she grimly mused, may not be much longer.

The fox began his advance the second his bearings were regained, with his rapid steps covering the short distance in a rapid fashion as Judy prepared to meet the oncoming foe. His spear thrusts, despite his attempts to reach around the top and sides of her tower shield, were thwarted as Judy slowly gave ground to the fox at the sheer power and savagery of his blitz. The vulpine ended her stagnant defense of her person by slamming her shield with his own, throwing her onto her back. Dazed and vision blurred she raised her head and gazed at the canid tribesmammal that would end her life. As the blurred red shape of her opponent stood over her, she barely registered the small brown shape colliding into the fox with a high-pitched yell. The fox snarled in frustration as his kill was denied and turned to rend the new challenger limb from bloody limb. Vision slowly returning, Judy saw her savior was none other than Jessica engaged with her previous opponent, watching them exchange strikes as she struggled to get back on her feet. Regaining full control of her faculties, she moved to help Jessica but was cut off as she found herself almost immediately assaulted by a wolf bearing the armor of a heathen tribe. Raising his sword above his head to deliver a powerful overhead strike, was met with a simultaneous blocking by her shield, and a perfectly aimed stab into his exposed stomach, his whole-body stiffening as he jerked and convulsed for a few moments before he fell to the ground, blood pooling as he fell from her Gladius. Hearing a yell to her left, Judy swiftly rotated on one foot and after a few moments, two other tribesmammals met a similar fate to the wolf. Breath heaving, Judy searched amongst the seemingly endless sets of dueling mammals in search of some form of direction, of how the rest of the legion was performing, and the signs were not promising. The element of surprise, coupled with the Empire fighting out of formation had given the Vesanian Tribes the upper hand, with legionnaires' bodies far outnumbering the fallen heathens. Spying Legate Jumbeaux swinging away with his mace, mowing down enemies as easily as the blade of a scythe harvests wheat. Deciding to rally to the Legate, she began to dash through the fight, trying to concentrate despite her mind was a fractured puzzle of worry, for her life, for the battle, for Jessica. Judy stopped in her tracks at the sight that beheld her as she moved nearer the massive elephant. A moderate clearing had formed around Legate Jumbeaux, seemingly to avoid getting crushed, one lone heathen had dared to enter Jumbeaux's circle of death a fox, whom Judy realized, was the same one from earlier. A knot formed in her stomach as she saw that not only was the fox battling an elephant many times his size, but also dueling Jessica, and holding his own.

Judy joined the fray, seeking to knock him to the ground, very similar to what he had done earlier to her, in order to help Jessica and Legate Jumbeax secure the kill. The fox was too fast however, sidestepping her charge and somehow tripping her with his tail at the same time. Clattering to her knees, she whipped about herself, re-orientating to face her opponent. The Fox rained down a series of blows with the bottom edge of his spear, in conjunction with pokes, trying to work around the brown rabbit's guard. Judy spied Jessica running in from the side, and as the ground shook, she knew Jumbeaux's advance, despite hunkering down behind her shield, must be attempting to squash him from behind. As Judy felt a break in his attacks she attempted to counter with some of her own, seeking to keep him busy to let jumbeaux and Jessica come to her aid, yet once again the fox was ready. A quick, sharp push sent the inbound rabbit several steps back as a quick one eighty turn coupled with a changing of his grip on his spear, set up a throw that landed just short of Jumbeaux,'s eye. Cursing and dropping his mace as he staggered back, and clutched at the offending wound, blood running down his face and the side of his trunk at a rapid rate. The fox, drawing his sword, turned back in time to block a wild arching swing from Jessica, and followed it with a pommel strike to her left knee and with a slight change to his sword's orientation, brought it up through Jessica's chin and up through her head, where it exited through the top of her head. Judy's stomach dropped as she stared in horror at her friend, the fox's sword glistening, bits of brain matter and bone sticking to the edges and in the fuller. With a gory, sloshing sound, the sword was violently withdrawn, body slumping to the side, blood swiftly making a small pond around her. The fox, turned immediately upon the wounded Jumbeaux, dropping his shield and sprinting toward the much larger mammal with long, near skipping, hop-like steps. The vulpine launched himself from the ground, as he neared his target and, with the use of his claws, found purchase on the top of the Legate's trunk. Thrusting his sword into the elephant's cheek, he twisted and turned the blade, trying to cause as much damage as possible. He was rewarded with a crash as the large mammal came crashing down on his back, Judy could only watch as the fox seemed to be consumed by his fury, ignoring all those around him ripping, stabbing, cutting, tearing biting. The legate succumbed to death, the now blood soaked fox let forth snarls and violently howled his bellicose will as he continued to ravage the elephant long after he stopped moving. Losing herself over the macabre sight before her, she let herself be filled with the hopelessness of defeat. The fox, deciding he had abused the Legate's corpse enough, walked down his body, and reaching one of his tusks, with one movement, cleaved off a length about as long as his hand, bits of tusk flying all about. Judy jumped out of her drunk-esque stupor she hadn't realized she was in, and gazed around to find that the fighting had ceased, with legionnaire and tribesmammals alike staring at the savage screaming fox holding his newly acquired prize from the Legate above his ahead, bellowing his victory. Picking herself off the ground, and losing herself to the feeling of hopelessness, as the fox;s head jerked toward her, apparently re discovering her existence. His eyes vertical slits, full of hatred at everything they gazed upon. Despite her fear nearly immobilizing her, Judy managed to look up at her attacker's face, just in time to see the pommel of vulpine's sword come down on her head.

Everything went black.

A pounding ache that encompassed her whole body was among the first sensations to greet the tired rabbit's mind. A gust of wind, a small exhale of the earth, slowly pushed its way over Judy's body, rending her with a bone chilling blast. Grimacing, Judy running on empty, somehow found the energy to turn her head to the side, trying desperately to at least get her face out of the line of fire from Jupiter's annoyance. Opening her eyes, much to their displeasure, she gazed upon the scene before her.

She saw that she lay atop a blanket, or at least some sort of heavy cloth, and still resided among the battlefield, although the injured tribesmammals had been cleared, and, presumably, the injured legionaries had been dealt with. What soon encompassed her rapidly fading consciousness was the interaction between legate Moosebridge, and the fox that had so soundly defeated her and her fellow soldiers just a ways away. Moosebridge got to his knees, drew his gladius and, all the while giving eye contact to the vulpine, presented it to him, the blade resting on his hoofs, themselves being upturned. Only when the tod held up his hands, accepting the blade, did moose bridge bow his head, staring intently at the ground. She closed her eyes once more as she was embraced by the darkness.

The next thing she remembered was the crunching of paws, and the whistle and sway of trees and other flora. Chancing a small slit in her vision, she was greeted by the moving sight of the canopy of the forest. The same massive trees, monarchs of the forest and silent sentinels, witnesses to the brutal display of death that had occurred some time past. She resigned herself once more to the infinite black, losing herself oncemore, in the vastness of a dreamless slumber.

The sound of rustling rock and a sudden shift had her jostled from rest once more, her already aching body crying out its displeasure as the multiple, pains, cuts and bruises that riddled her body, one by one, made themselves known. Opening her eyes, Judy found that she could once more see the world around her with only slight blurriness, as if gazing through a morning fog. Though, even her short time in the waking world was already trying to end, sleep trying to reassert its control over her tried to will herself to stay awake. Finding she was still being carried on what she could only assume was a cloth stretcher of some sort and had been set down on a grassy knoll for some reason or another. Head rolling languidly to her right, she gazed trough a sparse layer of trees into a small clearing beyond. She found a small number of tribesmammals, twenty or so from what her limited mental faculties could distinguish, sitting on their knees in a rough crescent with weapons in their hands and shields resting against them, around what looked to be the red vulpine that had so soundly defeated one of the greatest warriors her legion had to offer. His fur swaying in the steady breeze, standing opposite a few steps from who she realized was Moosebridge sitting much like the warriors around him, though he was garbed in what appeared to be a simple red tunic, and roughly sewn pants.

"They must have changed him out of his armor when he was taken prisoner," she noted.

She saw that he also wore the necklace that she had seen around his neck since he gazed upon him at the start of the campaign into the forest, and though she never saw the necklace itself, she had often seen it in his fist, whenever he was put into a tight position, and she had several times seen him bring his fist to his lips before a battle, his whispers known only to him and whatever symbol he held clenched in his hand. She was surprised to once again see it around his neck, thinking on why the heathens had not taken it from him. The vulpine carried two swords in his hands, one she recognized as the same blade he used in the battle, and another, while similar in shape, was much larger, resting on his shoulder and stood about as high as the fox himself. Stabbing his own sword into the ground, he crossed the distance between the kneeling Moosebridge, and heaving with both hands, he thrust the larger blade in the ground in front of Moosebridge, who gazed at it in fierce and absolute concentration. The fox stepped toward his own blade, and after retrieving it from the earth, turned to face moosebridge who had risen and taken the larger blade from the ground. The fox and moose both stood, each adopting a battle-ready stance, the wind tossing and turning clothes and fur. The surrounding tribesmammals began humming, a deep steady tone, and even from her position a stone's throw away, her chest reverberated at its presence.

THUMP!

The congregation clapped their weapons against their shields. Their eyes gazing intently at the duo who no longer moved, no longer twitched or seemingly breathed

THUMP!

It was if they had become living stone, encompassed by some cruel fate of the gods, destined to gaze at each other for all eternity.

THUMP!

The tempo of the pounding shields began to increase, the pair's grip on their weapons tightening and their stances tensing. Judy's eyes widened at the scene, as the pseudo-drums still increasing evermore to a wild beat of fervor, and a thundering sound. The warriors gave one last resounding THWAK and were silent. The ever-present rumbling of beating shields having been ceased from their minute-long tirade, plunged the area in a silence that Judy doubted she would ever bear witness to again. A couple still moments passed before Moosebriedge gave a yell, charging headlong at the fox, with the tod doing the same, meeting battle cry with savage battle cry. As the pair neared each other Moosebridge swung his blade in a long arc and brought an overhead slash down upon the fox's head. The vulpine brought his blade up, his blade parallel with the ground and the tip facing where she was laying, the second Moosebridge's blade touched the fox's he stepped to his right, allowing the much heavier blade of the moose to slide off the end and implant in the ground. A fraction of a second later, the fox tilted the point of his blade toward his adversary and drove it through the moose's lower torso with a wet Schunk! It made her wish she didn't have good hearing. Moosebridge's body jerked, as if he had just been the recipient of a surprise celebration, before falling to his knees, blade dragging the ground. With a small grunt, the fox dislodged his weapon from his opponents torso, and with a swift, powerful movement, swung his sword in an arc that began with his blade, freshly ejected from Moosebridge, and ended with above the fox's own head. A pause, in which the vulpine gazed at his mortally wounded enemy. Moosebridge's lips barely moved, and even with her superior hearing, it came out in a whisper.

"Va-"

That was all she could hear before his voice was replaced by a gurgle that had blood leaking from the corner of his mouth, A savage scream filled the clearing as the fox brought his entire weight down with his blade, as it connected with his opponent's exposed neck.

SCHING!

Moosbridge's head toppled to the ground, where it lay motionless, his antlers not allowing the head to roll, while his body jerked once, blade finally clattering to the ground in defeat, and fell to the grass with a soft thump, and once again, Judy felt her eyes grow heavy, as her injuries once again took their toll.