Well well well. This took forever to format and write - and JESUS, LOOK AT THE WORD COUNT! 9500 WORDS! Sheesh...
But, after an extra two weeks of work, I am proud to present the [UNEDITED] version of A Fox in Shining Armor, Chapter 6.
I am very sorry for the long wait, but am proud enough with the finished product to release it to the world. I would like to add that with upcoming medical treatments I will have ample time to edit and buff this chapter, but enjoy it as it is for the moment.
Well, let's not keep you waiting any longer!
Judy watched the sparring matches from the empty comfort of the shade. Above her stiff, straightened ears was a stone arch, one of many that lined each side of the bright, open courtyard where upwards of three dozen rabbits were attentively dueling in pairs. The monotonous sounds of metal striking against metal seemed endless to her wary mind, and she let her sore ears fall behind her back as her eyes traveled across the courtyard to rest on the fox leaning on the bricks of the arch opposite her.
"My Prince Piberius," She began with forced courtesy, her paws clutching in front of her lapis-blue dress while her ears flinched in pain at the sharp sounds coming from the bouts. "How much longer shall the lords' sons practice for? The sun has already begun its decent behind the hills."
"They shall practice until they can grasp the concept of parrying," The Prince replied, his voice as cold and hard as his steel armor safely out of the sun's harsh rays. His eyes were scouring every move of the rabbits in the courtyard's center, with his arms crossed over his chest, as if he were annoyed by their, what she perceived to be decent, performance. His stature echoed strength and solitude, and as she studied his still yet sharp expression with careful interest she couldn't help but feel a pang of heat pass into her chest.
But the feeling did not last. Over the week since she and the Prince had first been introduced their relationship had decayed from being heated and romantic to cold and formal. The first sign of deterioration had come only the day after they had met, when the Prince had taken her to the furthest reaches of the Palace's gardens for a lesson in combat. He had promised her there that she wouldn't be some token or trophy to add to his mantle, and for a moment all seemed well. Yet when a guard and a captain had interrupted a... private moment they had been sharing with news of a rebellion in Moorston he had taken flight without informing her of the true nature of the matter.
She hadn't been annoyed then, but now that a week had passed where she had been forced to do nothing save for read books on the histories and customs of the Empire and practice swordfighting with her rapier in her own quarters she was nigh-irate. She barely saw the Prince anymore, and nearly all the times she had he had treated her as he was doing so now. Only in rare instances did his intimacy return.
Yet the Prince didn't seem to care about that now. Something inside him had twisted and corrupted his demeanor, and with his friendliness towards her gone her feelings of affection were slowly beginning to ebb. His dual-personality was slowly getting on her nerve...
"I think I will depart, my Prince Piberius," She politely yet emotionlessly informed, bowing to her knees as she lowered her heads towards her fiance. "My time would be better spent elsewhere."
The Prince's only response to her farewell was a grumble and a curt nod, more concerned with taking a small sip from his glass of wine he kept in his grasp that a polite captain had presented to him at the start of the long day. He didn't even spare a glance towards her, and as she raised from her bow and turned away from him she could feel her jaw grinding against itself in annoyance and her heart swell in sorrow. Yet she didn't speak up.
Instead she brusquely made her way around the outside of the courtyard, trying to spend as much time in the warmth of the sun as she could while simultaneously piloting herself to her quarters. Her entire body was stiff and straight, just like the Prince had ordered her to be, but she was quietly seething with anger underneath her thin fur the more she thought about him.
How dare he treat her like some mere maiden? She was the Princess of the Burrows! The heir to the throne of her father and mother!
But as she turned down a corner, leading her down a half-open hallway with a wide, green field to her right, she found that a small sense of doubt had embedded itself into her mind. She was in a far more precarious position than she had been mere days - maybe even hours - before.
Does he feel anything for me? She silently asked herself, her eyes falling towards the floor as she strode passed two talking lords walking the direction she had come from. Her already quick heartbeat sped up even more at the question. I'm positive he does. But ever since the rebellion...
Judy gulped as she turned around another corner so that the bottom half of her dress was in the sunlight, and she felt her heart plunge into an ocean of despair and fright as shadows consumed her.
No, I'm not positive he does. She thought, her clutched paws beginning to become damp with sweat. He's not the mammal I knew only a few days ago. He's so concerned about the military and politics that he's left me behind! Even though he goes against his own words! It's as if something has taken control of him. But that is impossible! Intangible! Surely he is conscious that he is treating me like this! It all started when he began requesting that he be referred to as Piberius instead of Wilde...
Before she even had a moment to process the powerful emotions welling up inside of her Judy turned down a corner that led out of the sunlight and into the Palace's interior and almost collided with a group of mammals approaching from the opposite direction. She jumped back from the several rabbits and foxes with wide eyes, her mind suddenly alerted and her muscles tensed. But when she saw who was leading the small group the anxiety within her dissipated, and she recollected herself and hurriedly bowed.
"Sorry, my lords," She earnestly and swiftly apologized, her heart still beating out of her compact chest while her eyes traveled across the group, eventually resting on her father's friendly gaze. "My ignorance has delayed your progress. Let me move out of your way."
"Judith, when did you learn to be so ladylike?" King Hopps warmly inquired, a happy yet curious grin on his face, and Judy raised herself from her bow as a small feeling of rage reentered her chest.
"Prince Piberius wished me to be more so, among other things," She respectfully replied, her paws angrily pulling at one another as they hung against her core, and the King raised an eyebrow in cautious suspicion. He studied her body carefully, as if he was searching for anything amiss, and for a moment her mind urged her to bring up the Prince's drastic change. But she remained quiet and smiled, and eventually her father shook his head and took a step to his side.
"So he goes by that name now," He whispered, his voice barely audible even to her sensitive hearing, and he turned to place a paw on the shoulder of a stout, brown and tan fox standing beside him whose only attire was a long skirt and that Judy hadn't payed any attention to until now. "That is none of my business."
"Judith, I would like to introduce you to Ambassador Dhani, diplomat and minister of the Empire's domains in the Bay of Benmaul," King Hopps introduced, and Judy felt her beam grow and she respectfully bowed her head at the short, large-eared fox who in turn performed the same courtesy.
"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, my Lord," She politely greeted as both she and the jewelry-covered fox rose from their respective bows, and the middle-aged fox sent her a bright grimace.
"And you," He replied with a heavy accent. "Prince Piberius is highly lucky to marry a mammal of your beauty."
If only he treated me as such... She begrudgingly retorted, but she suppressed the feeling of anger and instead smiled even wider in a show of genuine thanks.
"May I ask what brings you to the Burrows?" She nonchalantly yet respectfully inquired, and Ambassador Dhani politely nodded as the long, gold and silver jewel encrusted necklaces hanging onto his bare chest rattled at his movement.
"I must admit, my intent was to destroy your Kingdom," He casually answered with an apologetic smile, and King Hopps chuckled at him while Judy widened her gaze and stiffened her ears, intrigued and worried by his answer.
"It is a two month trip from Sagar-Vipicus to the Empire's holdings in the Camhara, if the wind is with one, and from there it is another month to Wien itself," Ambassador Dhani explained, his long tail slowly moving back and forth, ruffling his long skirt. "When word reached my ears that Emperor Canus was launching a 'final' campaign I was inclined to aid him. With me I brought my finest soldiers-"
The short fox motioned towards the armed, short foxes standing at attention behind him and the King, and Judy briefly glanced at them, keeping her ears focused on the Ambassador.
"-with the intent of accompanying his forces on the campaign. But, at my arrival I discovered that the Battle of Mamchester had already passed, and the burrows were under the control of the Empire. To say the least I was surprised by the Emperor's course of actions, but I stand by his decision. I harbor no ill will for your kind."
"That is good to hear," King Hopps justly commented, and Judy nodded in agreement as a grin found its way onto her face again. What a polite fox this ambassador was!
"Pirate sheep are more my enemy than any rabbit," Ambassador Dhani continued with a heavy exhale, and he paused for a moment his eyes fell to the floor as if he was being plagued by a difficult decision. "But that is no matter. I have already spoken with the Emperor regarding the politics of the day."
"We're seeking the council of your betrothed," King Hopps added, turning his gaze towards hers. "Tell me, is he still in the Redford courtyard?"
"He is," Judy stiffly answered, a forced smile still on her face as her arms and ears became tensed and as a fresh feeling of annoyance and anger passed into her body. She had no desire to talk about the Prince anytime soon.
"Then that is where we are headed," King Hopps replied, turning towards Ambassador Dhani with an amicable gaze, and the short fox sent him a big nod as his paws fell behind his back.
"I have much to discuss with the Prince," The Ambassador revealed, his eager gaze travelling back to look at Judy, and she forced her forced grimace to expand across her face. "Care to accompany us, Princess Hopps?"
"If you wish it, my Lord," Judy answered with a quick, polite bow, and Ambassador Dhani sent her a respectfully radiant smile. She stepped out of the fox's way as her father guided him around her with an outstretched paw, and the short, iron-covered guards followed closely at their heels, ignoring her completely. That was probably for the best, because as soon as the foxes passed her a disgusted and begrudging expression came onto her face and her ears limply collapsed behind her in dread as she rolled her eyes. Her entire attitude had turned tired and angry, and she followed the delegation where her father and Ambassador Dhani were now deep in lighthearted conversation from a respectable distance.
She didn't have any more patience for her fiance. She could still hardly believe how he was treating her like some second class citizen! She was far more than that! They were meant to be together, brought together by the will of fate, yet he was too obsessed with everything else now to harbor any interested in her!
Judy could feel her brow beginning to twitch in annoyance, and in a moment of self-repair she straightened her hunched back and forced the aggrieved expression off her face as she turned a corner with the group in front of her. The refreshing warmth of the sun was on her face again, and she peacefully closed her eyes as she took a deep, soothing breath.
She wouldn't let herself become some angry maiden incessantly complaining about how she was being treated. Had her mother been alive during her childhood maybe she would've been more ladylike in character, but being the only female among a dozen male siblings being raised by a king during a time of war had molded her into the mammal she was now. There was no changing that, no matter how the Prince treated her. She just needed to alert him to the fact that she wasn't his to pack away as he wished. Yet that objective, as it now occurred to her, was going to be far more difficult to achieve than it had initially seemed.
The unmistakably sharp sounds of dueling that had previously echoed down every corridor around the courtyard had become completely silent by the time she and the delegation reached the edge of the open plaza. The short guards at the rear of the group parted to let her through as her father and Ambassador Dhani came to a stop between two columns at the edge of the courtyard. She stood just behind the Ambassador, keeping herself a respectful distance from him yet shuffling towards the long steps leading down into the space's center so that her infatuated gaze could easily pick out the details in the scene unfolding before them.
All the rabbits previously practicing with one another had formed themselves into neat lines, all of them facing towards the Prince, who was standing at the front of the group. He was barking orders in the tongue of foxes, a frown on his face and his tail twitching just underneath his paws clasped behind his back. He looked deadly serious, and Judy watched him along with the faces in the crowd before him with careful interest, unsure as to what he was doing.
"You will take your orders from your new Marshals!" The Prince eventually barked without turning his gaze away from the stiff and organized rabbits, pointing towards a group of foxes who had walked over from the edge of the courtyard to stand at the rear of the lines. They were some of the mammals Judy had seen before who accompanied the Prince whenever he abandoned her for 'state affairs'. Her opinions for some them were already below satisfactory, especially that bengal fox with the gold-rimmed armor who always seemed to have a drink handy...
"They know the laws of combat and strategy," The Prince continued, his voice stern but less forceful. "Each line has been assigned to a Marshal who will teach each and every one of you the tactics used to turn the tide of the war out forefathers fought so hard in. From this moment on, the Forces of the Burrows will be just as organized as those of the Empire! The assimilation of our species has begun! Now move!"
All the rabbits moved at once, turning in perfect unison and walking towards the Marshals who had perked their ears in pride. The iron and steel plated foxes had straightened themselves to look as dignified as possible as they could with their ceremonial helmets held underneath their arms, and for the most part the mass of young rabbits moving away from her seemed eager to learn from them. In the crowd she managed to catch a few disgruntled gazes, but two familiar sets of eyes locked onto hers through the heads and ears of the dozens of rabbits, and she instantly recognized the infuriated sight as those of her brothers.
"Astounding, isn't he?" King Hopps asked as he leaned over to whisper into Ambassador Dhani's ear, and the short fox nodded. Judy let her eyes wander towards the Prince, and for a brief moment she agreed with them. He was staunch and passionate, just like a future Emperor and King, and the orange fur poking through the gaps of his steel armor seemed to radiate with the intensity of the sun beating down on it. If only he was as kind as he was tireless and physically flawless...
"Truly," Ambassador Dhani replied aloud, and he leaned towards her straightened ear without taking his eyes off the Prince, whose green gaze was circling the courtyard, with his voice on a quieter level. "You must be very proud to eventually wed him, my Princess."
"I am," She dryly responded, her chest and shoulders tightening as her teeth ground against one another. The Prince didn't seem to notice her or the Ambassador's presence, but when King Hopps took a step out into the courtyard and the guards around its edge closely followed him his piercing face and eyes spun in their direction, and a polite expression took hold of his face.
"King Hopps," The Prince greeted, surprised, and he wandered over from the center of the courtyard to stand just in front of the red and gold coated rabbit. "I was not expecting to acquaint myself with you today. How may I serve you?"
"You cannot serve me, Prince Piberius," King Hopps explained with a smile, raising an open paw towards her and Ambassador Dhani who still had not left the shade of the arches. "I was simply engaging in chatter with Ambassador Dhani, diplomat and minister of the Empire's lands around the Bay of Benmaul."
"Ambassador," Prince Piberius respectfully called out to the short fox with a welcoming nod as he slowly strode away from King Hopps and towards the column where he was standing, and the Ambassador took a step out of the shade and into the bright sunlight to meet him halfway. "What brings you to the Burrows? I trust all is fair in Sagar-Vipicus?"
"As always, my Prince," Ambassador Dhani replied, closing his eyes and taking a deep bow. Judy watched as her father smiled in pride at the Prince's grateful expression, and he slowly turned away from the two foxes with his paws behind his back and began to walk towards the mass of lords at the other end of the courtyard. The rabbit guards followed him while the short, armed foxes at the column's base moved past her to stand around the Prince and the Ambassador.
She watched them surround the two foxes just as the Ambassador rose from his bow, and a small feeling of apprehension pushed its way into her mind as the two began to speak. Her entire body became tense as she watched the two converse, her ears deaf and her eyes blind as her mind processed a hundred different scenarios of how this situation would unfold. Should she remain at the edge of the courtyard like any other lady would do, or should she move in and force her way into their conversation, reasserting herself as the princess whose power was on par with that of the Prince's?
I think the answer is beyond obvious, Judith. She forcefully told herself, and a forced smile came onto her face as she rolled her shoulders and hopped down the three steps down into the courtyard's center. Her blue dress dazzled in the light, and she could feel the eyes of several mammals - both foxes and rabbits - turn towards her. But the Prince was looking firmly away, and new feelings of determination and anger welled up inside her heavy heart.
"Alas, by the time I arrived, the war was-" Ambassador Dhani explained to the Prince, who appeared intrigued by the story, but he cut his words shut as his eyes connected with hers, and a fresh expression of pleasure came onto his face as he raised out a welcoming paw towards her. "Ah, Princess Hopps, I was beginning to think that you had retreated from the courtyard!"
"I am not that easily deterred, Ambassador," She jovially yet sarcastically greeted, and she felt the Prince's burning gaze finally turn to stare at her face.
"Princess Hopps," He greeted, his expression full of flat surprise, and she turned to train her eyes on him, trying to appear as strong as she could with her bright blue dress and straight, powerful stature. "I thought you had retired for the afternoon."
"I did," She acknowledged with a small nod, her voice full of forced courtesy and tainted with nigh-silent rage, as she kept her flaming, piercing eyes locked with the emeralds burning back at her. "But by a chance encounter I have returned. Ambassador Dhani has invited me to join your discussion."
"Has he, now?" The Prince asked, the tone of his voice a blatant mimic of hers, and his jaw visibly tightened and his ear twitched in annoyance as he turned towards the still-smiling fox. "Ambassador, I am unaware of the culture in Sagar-Vipicus. Tell me, are princesses frequently allowed to join discussions meant for marshals and soldiers?"
"Well, no," Ambassador Dhani answered, his flustered eyes cutting between The Prince's and Judy's. "But-"
"I would like to remind you, my Sweetheart, that I am no mere princess," Judy pragmatically interrupted, the fire inside her pouring out into the open as her polite smile became secretly spiteful and as her nose began to twitch. "I am the heir to the throne of the Burrow's Queenship and to the Empire's Empress-ship as much as you are to your titles. And if memory remains faithful to me, are not vixens treated at a higher standard in the Empire? Your mother is the Minister of Todderheim, is she not?"
"How do you know of that, my Princess?" The Prince forcefully asked, clearly angered by her pragmatism, and he leaned in towards her. She leaned towards him, meeting his rage with her own, and the tension between their bodies was so intense that she swore the Ambassador would soon see broiling sparks fly out of the both of them.
"I have been studying and practicing while you have been dealing with the affairs of the realm you hide me from so frequently," She informed, her sense of honor the only force keeping the civility in her voice from turning into rage, and a deviously rude smile crawled onto her face as her paws tightened around one another. "There is not much that slips past my intrusive ears and steady paws."
"Really?" The Prince doubtfully asked, straightening himself as his eyes became half-squinted in suspicion, and Judy watched his quietly furious gaze scour her equally furious yet victorious face. For several seconds the entire world was silent. It was just the two of them, silently and motionlessly dueling each other in a battle of wits, and she had the upper paw. If he scolded her here, in full view of her father and the Marshals, then his reputation would be forever tarnished. If he believed her, or at the very least didn't wish to taint his honor, then his only option would be to invite her to the Empire's court or the next meeting with the Marshals. Whatever his decision, she would be the victor.
"Would you care to join me and the Ambassador on an inspection of his forces?" The Prince asked after what seemed like an eternity, his eyes now more burning than ever, and Judy widened her smile as she read the unmistakable signs of submission on his face.
"I would, my Prince," She politely yet triumphantly answered, and the Prince sent her a single, curt nod as he turned towards the bewildered fox beside them.
"Perfect," He almost spat at her in disgust, and even more anger welled up in her chest. "We shall leave at sunset. Meet us at the West Gate. Now, Ambassador Dhani, we have much to discuss."
"As we do," The short fox agreed with a nod, his expression still shocked by the heated exchange that had just occurred before him, and as the Prince guided him away from her with an arm around his shoulder his startled eyes connected with hers in the moment before he turned his attention back to the Prince.
Judy turned away in the same instant that they did, and her winning expression only grew as she caught sight of several bewildered stares coming from many of the mammals around the square. She ignored them for the time being, feeling more successful than embarrassed, but it only now occurred to her that she and the Prince had drawn the attention of almost every mammal in the courtyard to their conversation.
But as she stepped up the steps at the edge of the plaza and made her way down a shady, empty hallway leading away from the clearing she realized none of that mattered. She had forced her way into the Prince's life, and with so many witnesses abound he would have to maintain their close relations.
With all her heart she didn't hate him. Even as she pictured his sharp, fiery face now she could only feel affection. She was infuriated by him, yet she felt something for him underneath all of his newfound focus and passion directed towards, what he had told her, peace. Even over the past week they had occasionally shared a close moment, when she hadn't been too restrained by formalities and he had been especially open. It was then that her judgement became clouded by affection and confusion.
Yet whenever these precious memories occurred they were swiftly shattered by an intruding Marshal or Captain or someone or another. It was in those disturbances where his liveliness fell, as if he had drunk a tonic that made him do so.
But this inspection of Dhani's soldiers - despite its minimal importance - was her full reemergence into his life. She had made it out of the frying pan, and into the ashes of the fire.
By the time Judy departed her quarters for the Palace's West Gate, easily visible from her suite's balcony, the sun had almost disappeared behind the high hills bordering the palace's gardens. The last of its dying rays illuminated the grassy field to her side and the stone path she was walking on like an ember illuminated a pile of charred logs.
On her chest was a tight steel cuirass that had belonged to her brother, Prince Kyle, before he had fallen in battle while on her face was an equally as tough expression. Her left paw was gently swaying with her blue dress cascading like a waterfall in the gentle breeze while her right was gripping the handle of her sheathed rapier safely hanging on the same side of her hip.
Her mind was all but blank, her unseeing eyes picking out only the shock on lords' faces as she strode past them and furthered her advance towards the West Gate. As she rounded one of the palace's many corner towers the very same guarded stone arch that led down the defensive hill and into the Burrow beyond came into view, and her gaze turned towards it as she sped up her pace, not wanting to keep the Prince waiting for any longer than needed.
Despite the way he had treated her and the annoyance she felt whenever she thought of him she did not feel entirely pleased in the manner which she had treated him in the courtyard. Looking back on those heated moments in front of the King and Marshals it now occurred to her that she had been unflinchingly tough on him. If he had allowed her to accompany him and the Ambassador in the end then surely there could have been a less chaotic way to achieve the same results.
The West Gate was completely devoid of mammals save for two vulpine guards on each side of the massive stone arch. They both glanced at her with a strange expression as she strode past them, but she kept her eyes focused straight ahead as her ears searched for the sounds of the Prince and the guards with him.
As she emerged from the gate massive gate she briefly turned around and stared up at the structure, a contented smile coming onto her face. This was to be the first time in her entire life she'd travel into the Burrow without her father. Even from here a gentle din rose from the mass of thatched and wooden buildings only a short walk away, and she was almost entranced to go towards it on her own.
Yet she contained her excitement and turned away from the gate, keeping her eyes focused straight ahead as she walked to the end of the stone brick path and stared down the hundred steps that led down into the city, searching for the Prince with all her senses.
There wasn't a single mammal either on the steps or at the bottom of the hill.
All the eagerness within her was shattered like a pane of glass dropped from a balcony, and she frantically spun around on the balls of her feet and looked back towards the gate with a confused frown.
I am at the West Gate, correct? She hastily thought to herself as she swiftly hurried back towards the structure, stopping when she spotted the familiar sight of her balcony jutting out from the palace's smooth stone surface from in-between the short spikes pointing down from the retracted iron gate itself. And it is sunset?
Judy spun on the balls of her feet again, looking outwards towards the forested hills bordering the burrow, and was immediately blinded by dark orange sunlight.
Of course it is! She yelled to herself, the apprehension inside her beginning to transform into boiling rage. So where is Prince Piberius? Has he forgotten of this? I sincerely doubt so! Has he been held back by the Ambassador? He hasn't left without... Oh no.
A much more pessimistic thought pushed its way into the forefront of her mind, and she threw herself back towards the gate as her blood began to boil.
"Excuse me, my good foxes," She formally called out to the guards standing at attention in the interior of the arched gate, her paws clenched in anger while she attempted to control the rage welling up behind her stern expression with mixed success. The two guards turned their unsure and nervous faces towards her, their eyes darting back to one another periodically as if they were too cautious to stare at her directly.
"Has the Prince passed through this gate today?" She inquired with broiling malice, and the guards remained silent for several seconds.
"Just once, if memory serves me correct," One of them eventually answered, shifting on his feet as his halberd's shaft dug into the grass.
"Not half an hour ago," The other fox elaborated, his eyes darting back to his counterpart's. Judy seethed with silent resentment at the foxes' answers for only half an instant before she flew off the stone bricks at the edge of the stairwell and bounded down the steps at the speed of a gale.
How dare he leave without me! She internally shouted, a vicious snarl forming on her face as her eyes focused on the massive camp across the river and traced a path through the thatched and wooden roofs of the Burrow towards it. The most chivalrous mammal on this side of the River Rhine my tail! He's as alive as the dead!
Her ears, tightly tucked against the back of her dress, only vaguely picked up the shouts coming from behind her, undoubtedly from the guards at the gate urging her to return, but the rage inside her shut them out. She needed to scold the Prince immediately, although even she wasn't sure what she was going to do to him. Regardless, he needed a harsh reprimand.
By the time Judy reached the bottom of the steps the guards' voices had disappeared, and she threw herself into the everyday chaos taking place in the massive stone square. There were throngs of rabbits, and on rare occasions a fox, in every direction. Some were well dressed while others looked as poor as the earth they farmed, but all were carrying goods or crops and other commodities. Stalls lined every side of the plaza, most of which were packing up and loading their selections onto carts while customers scrambled to buy what limited goods remained.
Judy ignored everything happening around her, and little by little she made her way through the crowds of rabbits. She ducked under wooden beams being carried by an older, scruffy buck, agilely darted around an incoming wagon being pulled by a large family of farmers from outside the city and packed to its brim with seeds, and passed around a small group of priests speaking in the native tongue of rabbits, all while maintaining her rapid pace and vexed expression.
In the exact center of the square was a low, circular stone platform that jutted up from the bricks like a tree stump. Standing on it were a half-dozen foxes, all carefully monitoring the events going on all around them. Judy pushed her way through to them with a stern, steady frown, and as the thick crowd thinned out around the place a guard caught sight of her.
She saw the young red fox's blank gaze study her through his helmet's visor for several seconds, but when she didn't slow her pace or calm her furious expression he turned away from her and shouted something to a fox behind him. She was mere feet away from the steel-covered soldier when he drew his sword and pointed it at her in a defensive stance, and she jumped back from the weapon with a shocked expression plastered onto her face. But as soon as her heart stopped dead in its swift tracks the sword pointing towards her fell to the ground as another fox came whirling up from behind the guard and knocked the blade to the ground with his own.
The eerily familiar arctic fox angrily whispered to the stunned guard in the tongue of foxes, who in turn nodded profusely and picked up his blade from the ground. None of the rabbits around the platform seemed to notice the ordeal that had just unfolded, but all their vulpine colleagues were staring at the unhelmeted captain with interest, who turned towards her with a worried and stern expression.
"Princess Hopps, what are you doing here?" He urgently asked, taking a step down from the platform, and Judy walked up to meet him as anger once again welled up inside her.
"Has the Prince passed through this way recently?" She coldly asked, keeping herself as straight as possible while her stiff ears hung behind her back. The Captain looked confused by her question, but he hurriedly nodded in answer.
"Yes, he has," He quickly answered as he hastily scanned the mass of rabbits around them, his steel armor reflecting the last light of the nigh-set sun. Judy nodded in understanding, and she turned away from him and bolted off back into the crowd in the direction opposite she had come.
"Princess Hopps!" The Captain worriedly called out after her, but his voice was soon lost in the din of the square as well as the torrent of emotions inside her. Her betrothed had yet to cross into the camp across from the city; she could feel it. If he had gone through the square then he would've taken the Burrow's main road northward before it curved westward towards the docks and the river. The journey was long at this time a day, when there were rabbits filling every pace of the streets, but she knew the layout of the city well enough from her studies to plot a detour that would bypass the busy sectors.
She could almost see a red line leading out of the square as she pushed through the hordes of well-to-do rabbits crowding around the stalls around its edge, and she followed it down a much less packed street with a quickened pace, entirely rejuvenated.
The sun continued to set behind her, and eventually its light disappeared completely. Along with it went the liveliness on every street, and as Judy piloted down alleyway after alleyway she found herself alone.
And lost. The anger inside her slowly turned to dread as the sights along the dark, deserted streets became less and less familiar, and eventually altogether new. The entire world was suddenly foreign and unwelcoming, and she gruffly exhaled as she rested her back against a wooden wall of an abandoned house. The claustrophobic alley she was in seemed endless, and it snaked along in front of her without remorse. She stared down it coldly, unsure what was waiting for her beyond the next turn.
"For the sake of the harvests!" She quietly grumbled between hard breaths, and she closed her eyes as she rested the back of her head against the flimsy wall. Despite her frequent exercises long distance sprints were not her strong suit. Her excursion was probably already miles long, judging by how quiet her surroundings were. She had not the vaguest idea of where she was in the city. Nowhere nice - that was for certain - but she could hear the faint sound of running water coming from further down the foreboding alleyway, and she pushed herself off the wall and began to trek down it with loud breaths.
But before she could even take ten steps her ears shot up from behind her back and she stopped dead in her tracks. Quickly approaching from the stone path ahead as well as behind her were heavy pawsteps, and the eerie sound of a weapon being drawn accompanied them with vile intent.
"'ooks 'ike we've got you cornered, pretty bunny," A deep voice fiendishly called out from the blackness, and Judy watched two dark shapes move towards her from around the alley's corner. She couldn't recognize their faces in the moonlight, but she could see the dim reflection of the light off of the leading rabbit's dagger. They smelled raw and unclean, like the filth at the bottom of a creek, and as they continued their loud and disorganized advance towards her she tensed her body and gripped the handle of her rapier with her right paw.
"Ain't nowhere to run," A new, medium voice casually warned from behind her, and Judy spun on her feet and drew her rapier in the same instant the short rabbit who had sneaked up behind her drew out his dagger. His eyes were filled with dirty thoughts, and for a moment time seemed to stop as he tensed to strike at her. All of the training she had put herself through during the past week came flooding back to her, and in the instant he pushed his feet off the ground to leap at her she lunged towards him with all her strength.
She hit his arm, and he made a pained noise as he retreated from her with his eyes closed and his jaw clenched shut. There was a small puncture in his ragged beige tunic, right in the center of his shoulder, and a small trickle of bright red blood was running down the length of her weapon.
What harm have I done? She asked herself in shock, her eyes wide at the sight of blood, but she quickly found her confidence and pointed her sword towards the thug once again. None to this pariah!
"Bad decision, you whore!" The wounded rabbit violently whispered, his eyes alight with fire, and he threw himself towards her with a snarl. She darted out of the path of his blade just in the nick of time, and she spun on her toes to land a blow on his back. He fell to the ground with a half-howl, colliding with the feet of one of the other attackers and leaving the bandit with the knife advancing towards her alone.
She sliced his wrist when he overextended himself in a lunge, and she vaulted towards him and knocked his weapon to the ground as he let loose a wail. He threw a punch towards her, missed, and in the moment his arm was fully extended in the tight alleyway she jumped off the ground, pushed herself off the nearby building, and drew her arm back to strike at his furious face.
But the third, unarmed attacker who had finally scrambled to his feet landed a bone-shattering punch on her face in midair, and she awkwardly dropped to the ground with a loud thud. She ignored the sharp, throbbing pain coming from her jaw and tried to scramble back up to her feet, but her attacker began to wail on her stomach with his foot, and she flinched at every blow as she feebly attempted to raise her sword.
The rapier was forced out of her paw as the other two rabbits joined in the barrage. She could feel bruises forming all over her body, and she began to cough and wheeze in exhaustion, pain, and a mixture of hate and fear. Eventually after what had seemed like an eternity the kicks stopped and the sharp pains all over her began to subside, and she could feel herself being dragged to her feet by her attackers. She wearily cracked her eyes open, and she tried to raise her ears, but they were quickly forced back downwards by the rabbits now on either side of her.
The first attacker was standing directly in front of her with his paw clutching the wound on his shoulder while an irate expression was entrenched into his face. He was holding her rapier down to his side, but in one quick blow he forced the blade towards her face.
She tried to dart her head away from it, but she was so exhausted by the beating that all she could do was feebly flinch to her left. The sharp edge of the rapier connected with her cheek, and she let loose a pained noise as a long, shallow cut formed at the point of connection.
"You're in deep now, my lady," Her attacker deviously grumbled, letting the point of the rapier fall to lift up the bottom of her blue dress, his eyes peeking underneath. "We were just gonna teach you a lesson, but you're a feisty one, aren't ya? You're staying with us 'til your debt's been paid."
Judy growled at the rabbit, whose tongue was now licking his lips, and she tried to push towards him with whatever strength that had managed to survive through the soreness all over her. But the strong paws around her shoulders held her tightly in place, and she could only bear her clenched teeth.
The look on the rabbit's face looked almost delighted as his blade continued to pull up her dress, and her heavy heart began to beat out of her chest in a fearful reaction while her claws flexed in a murderous rage.
Just as her exposed crotch was about to come into the full view of the vagrant the blade stopped its ascent, and in the dim moonlight Judy watched the expression of her violator turn from excited to dreadful in a mere instant. At first she frowned in confusion, but her eyes widened tenfold in relief, horror, and frustration as she saw what had happened to him.
A long, silver blade had silently slipped through his stomach. It was a piercing red against a field of black of grey, and it was accompanied by two fire-filled emeralds directly to the side of his shocked and trembling face.
The Prince had finally made his appearance.
Her attacker dropped her rapier and bolted down the alleyway with an ear-splitting screech, forcing his way through the two accomplices holding her in place as a steady trickle of blood followed closely at his heels. Seeing an opportunity, Judy forced herself out of the paws of the two remaining attackers and threw herself towards her rapier laying enticingly exposed on the brick pathway. She landed on her back with an awkward thud as her sore muscles gave out, but she scrambled onto her elbows and snatched her rapier into her paw before she held it out towards the stunned and confused criminals.
They looked at her dumbfounded, and the larger one on the left took a step towards her with his dagger drawn, but a bright shape came surging from behind her and with a massive blow severed the rabbit's paw from his arm. He caterwauled in pain, and Judy stared in shock at the severed paw limply laying on the ground.
The Prince had done that. Her betrothed. The soldier who had never taken a life.
But he lived up to that name, for the moment. The injured rabbit ran crying down the alleyway, and his counterpart dropped his dagger and backed away from the Prince with a petrified expression before he too fled. The Prince stared after him for several seconds, and as Judy rolled over to kneel on the cool stone bricks with her eyes closed and a worn expression on her face she heard him shout an order in the tongue of foxes. There were more shouts in response, followed by the sounds of steel leg-guards creaking and quick, heavy pawsteps leading down the alley in pursuit of the attackers.
And just like that, silence returned. Her breaths were strained and heavy, and with every inhale a spur of pain shot up through her core and into her chest. She let her rapier fall to the cobbled bricks, and it rattled against them with a sound that made her core shudder.
She slowly cracked open her eyes, feeling both safe and vulnerable at the same time. She could've been abused, robbed, murdered - or worse. The Prince had saved her from that future.
Yet as she turned her head up from the bricks to look at him, she could see he was just as pleased at what had just transpired as she was. He was still holding his short sword to his side, a constant drool of scarlet blood dripping next to the bandit's severed paw, while his cold expression remained unchanged.
"Thanks," She grumbled, painfully raising up from her kneel with a struggled grunt while she wiped the thin cut on her face with her forearm. Her blue sleeve became tainted with red, and she stared at the sight in bewilderment for several seconds. It was the first time she had seen her own blood.
"If you hadn't been here..." She mumbled, suddenly not daring to think of the alternative ending to the confrontation, and she stopped talking as her breathing quickened and as her eyes traveled back up to connect with the Prince's. She almost smiled at him, but his face remained stern and his eyes piercing. He didn't look the slightest part relieved that she was relatively unhurt.
Eventually his sword returned to its sheath and his cold green eyes became filled with fire, and as he took a threatening step towards her the anger that had drove her to follow him began to flow back into her dazed mind.
"Why did you follow me?" He darkly demand with an irate growl, his teeth glinting white in the moonlight like pearls in water as they became bared in a snarl. His short strides quickly closed the gap between them, and Judy stiffly backed towards the half-stone half-wood wall directly behind her in a useless attempt at putting distance between her and his anger.
What are you doing? A voice in her head angrily screamed, and she stopped her retreat and stood absolutely still. Time slowed down until the entire world was paused, and Judy frowned as she scoured the Prince's rage filled face. What right did he have to be mad at her? If anyone was going to be furious it was her - not him! He had treated her terribly for how long? And he had abandoned her at the west gate without as much as a word! Oh, if she didn't kill him these next few moments then he'd be the luckiest mammal this side of the River Rhine!
"Why did you leave without me?" She rebuked, stomping towards him to meet him in the center of the alley. She stood directly underneath his muzzle and stared into his burning eyes with equal, if not greater, fire in her own.
"Are you an idiot?" The Prince harshly questioned as he flared his nostrils and bared his ghostly white teeth even more. Judy staunchly stood down his gaze, not daring to answer the question and play into his paws.
"You should've known better than to follow me," He growled, shifting on his feet as his tensed paws fell behind his back. "There have been vagrants plaguing this district of the Burrow ever since Lord Caer launched his faulty crusade."
"You speak as if you told me of that," She coldly countered, her genuine frown firmly remaining on her face even as the Prince growled and took a small, threatening step towards her. She was fully capable of leaning her head forward and resting it against his shining steel armor, but she had no desire to be intimate.
"What is that supposed to mean?" The Prince growled in confusion, visibly frustrated by their conversation.
"That you are not Prince Wilde anymore!" She yelled in absolute anger, all of the heat inside her pouring out, yet hidden under all that rage was a twinge of grief. "You act as if you were someone else! An entirely new mammal who refuses to include me in affairs that we should be investigating together!"
"I am the Prince of the Empire and the heir to the throne of the Burrows!" The Prince shouted back, towering over her with a brutal glare. "I shall not stand for your criticism for a second more!"
"But you shall!" She shouted back at him, clenching her fists as she raised onto her toes to stare at him on his own eye-level with an undaunted gaze, and her heart beat faster as she tried to appeal to his emotional side. "I am as much an heir to the throne of the Empire and the Burrows as you are! We are to be married to one another - united in holy matrimony! Surely we must work in tandem to unite our species! Is that not visible to you?"
The Prince didn't answer, only stiffening his clenched jaw and continuing to stare down at her with an unflinchingly hostile glare.
So he doesn't feel anything... Judy thought with suppressed melancholy as she studied his expression, and she felt a small part of her heart crack and fall into an abyss of hopelessness. But her heart skipped a beat just as it reached the nadir of its collapse.
On the Prince's face, buried far below the hate and anger on its surface, was affection. Even though he wouldn't express it, he felt it, and that small emotion was enough to reinvigorate her and weld her heart back into place.
He feels it. She told herself with a gulp, all of her anger draining through her fur and into the air, and she let a relaxed expression take over her face as she took a deep, calming breath, shut her eyes, and let the cool air repair her.
"Mark this, Prince Piberius," She slowly yet confidently began, opening her gaze to look back up at the Prince's now more stern and annoyed rather than furious expression, and he crossed his arms over his armored chest as he listened to her. "Lord Caer is but one of many rabbits in the Empire to whom an alliance between foxes and rabbits is unthinkable. Likewise, there are many foxes in the Empire also opposed to the idea. If you alone were to take all the authority of the throne of the Burrows while sparing none for me then who is to say that you shall have peace with those who despise you? And if I were to take power in solely the Empire then would not the same conflict arise?"
"My Prince Piberius, if you truly desire a lasting peace, then you must allow me to accompany and advise you," She proposed, her stance echoing knowledge while underneath her blue dress insecurity churned like an infection.
That insecurity only grew at the Prince's silence. Underneath his organized expression he was deep in thought, yet he didn't express any feeling nor reveal his view of her proposition. Judy kept herself calm, not wanting to rush his decision, and as the silence continued and his frown grew her heart's heavy beats became even more weighted.
"A fair proposal, Princess Hopps," The Prince eventually stated with a blink at her, and Judy internally sighed with relief, not wanting to compromise her perfervid posture. The Prince took a small step forward, and he moved his paw off his chest to wipe the dried blood from her cheek. It stung, but she let him do it, not daring to move her eyes from his now focused on her wound.
"Your style of swordsmanship is flawed," He neutrally commented, the frown gone from his forehead as he withdrew his paw from her now cleaned cut. "You require more training - not using this-"
The Prince bent over to pick up the bloodied rapier laying on the stone pavement, and he held it out in front of him and inspected its blade for several seconds.
"-piece of rubbish," He finished, turning back to her as he wiped the bloodied blade with his paw, and a stern, almost domineering frown formed on his face. "You require a real weapon, not a decorative one."
"I have owned that blade since my youth," She protested, keeping the annoyance inside her quelled.
"And does that make you a better swordsman?" The Prince retorted, taking a slow step away from her as his paws fell to grip the rapier's tilted handle behind his back with its blade pointing towards the ground. "You need a soldier's weapon. A sword, or spear, or dagger. Not this. Is that clear?"
"It is," Judy answered, clutching her paws in front of her while she respectfully bowed her head. "My Princ-"
"Very good," The Prince rudely interrupted, quickening his pace as he walked back down the alleyway in the direction he had come from. Judy raised from her bow and watched him leave, suddenly feeling a rage flow over her again, but she suppressed the feeling. Anger would only further worsen their already strained relationship.
She quickly followed him, not daring to stray from his side, but as the alleyway thinned further and when distant shouts emerged from farther down in the dim moonlight he took the lead, pushing her out of the way without even a glance.
"From now on, you are to never follow me unless I ask of you," The Prince growled as he cast his wary green eyes in her direction, and Judy clenched her jaw and nodded. "Good. You have a keen grasp of the political game, Princess, despite your inexperience. You shall remain by my side as an adviser until you have mastered the craft. Do you understand."
"I do," She begrudgingly yet calmly replied, and she ground her paws further to combat his condescending tone.
"Good," The Prince replied, and he fell absolutely silent.
The alleyway gradually widened again, but Judy remained firmly behind the Prince, deciding it would be for the better if she allowed him to take the lead. It was clear he was not fond of her becoming as influential as him. Was it a fear of losing power? Was he a megalomaniac? Neither of those seemed likely to her.
Yet this chance to spend time with him was an open door, an opportunity for her to mold the Prince as he molded her. Even now, as she stared at his fiery fur and pointed, erect ears, she could see the fox that night on the balcony. Somewhere inside Prince Piberius was Prince Wilde, and by god she was going to find him.
All she needed was time and a small cup of wine.
Fun.
Rewritten 6/25
