Hastings sighed as he trudged along the road, staring off into the distance. What am I going to do now?, he thought as he adjusted the straps of his pack.
"Is he okay?", Krynn asked as she walked beside List several paces behind the otter.
"I imagine the events of last night are weighing on him.", the marten answered. He paused, sniffing the air and turning to his left.
"What is it?", Krynn asked.
"I thought I smelled something.", List replied, still looking through the trees. "Let's catch up to Hastings.", he said, gesturing to the otter. Krynn nodded, following the marten.
The sable-furred hare sighed in relief as the two vermin turned back towards the road. Okay Malcolm, don't get yahself in too big of a hurry, wot wot, he thought to himself as he placed his footpaw in the stirrup of his crossbow. Grunting, he pulled back the string of the bow and loaded a bolt. Raising the weapon to his shoulder, he aimed at the largest beast, elevated his aim slightly, and squeezed the trigger.
"Ahh!", Hastings screamed as the bolt sunk into his shoulder.
"Hastings!", List exclaimed as Krynn shrieked in fear. The marten grabbed the two of them and quickly led them off the road, diving behind a fallen tree. "Heal him.", he said to Krynn. The vixen nodded, grasping the shaft of the quarrel. The otter gasped in pain as she pulled the shaft from his shoulder, blood flowing freely from the wound.
"This should fix it.", Krynn said, placing a shaky paw over the wound. Hastings sighed in relief as the wound suddenly mended. List closed his eyes and concentrated, focusing his senses in the direction the bolts had come from.
"Damn it!", Malcolm swore as he slipped on the wet, sending him falling forwards onto his fat belly. He struggled to his paws, panting as he pulled back the string of his crossbow over the release mechanism and loaded another bolt.
There you are, List thought as he detected their attacker. Turning his head to the left, he focused on the bushes alongside the approaching hare's path. Grinning as he saw his newly conjured minion appear, he mentally directed it to attack their assailant.
"Ugh.", Malcolm groaned in frustration as he loaded another bolt onto his crossbow. Hearing the bushes rustling off to the side, he pointed his crossbow in the direction of the disturbance. He gave short cry of alarm as a rat staggered into view, soiled rags hanging off its withered body as it approached the hare, arms outstretched. Malcolm loosed a bolt, striking the rodent in the lower abdomen. Unfazed, the rat continued its advance as the hare frantically reloaded his weapon. Raising it again, he sent another bolt slicing across his enemy's cheek, stumbling back as the rat closed the distance between them and swung at him with its meaty fists. Malcolm narrowly avoid the blow, retaliating with a right hook into the vermin's ribs. Unfazed, the rat staggered forwards as Malcolm stumbled backwards, tripping over a rock. "Ahh!", he screamed, holding up his crossbow to block as the rat wildly swung its fists down onto the fallen hare.
List grinned slightly as his acute senses picked up the sound of bones and wood cracking as the hare's screams died down. "How are you two?", he asked, turning towards his companions.
"O-okay.", Krynn answered shakily.
"Who or what attacked us?", Hastings asked, clutching his staff tightly.
"It seems as though it was a hare.", List answered.
"Is he..?", Hastings began.
"He is dead now.", List replied.
"W-why'd he attack us?", Krynn asked.
"I do not know.", the marten answered, walking towards the fallen hare. He dismissed his conjured zombie and knelt down next to the body.
"A-are there any more?", Krynn asked nervously.
"I don't see any more?", the marten answered as he picked up the hare's ruined crossbow, looking it over. "Floki?"
"Yes?", the little dragon asked as he descended from the sky onto List's shoulder.
"Check for any more potential threats that may be about."
"Okay.", Floki answered as he darted up into the air and flew out of sight.
"You two okay?", List asked. Krynn nodded shakily.
"Yeah I'm fine.", Hastings said, looking at the hole in his gambeson where he'd been hit.
"Let fix that.", List said, waving his paw over the damaged area, causing the torn fabric to mend itself.
"Thanks.", the otter replied.
"No problem.", List said as he checked the hare's person.
"What are you doing?", Krynn asked curiously.
"Seeing if he's got anything of value.", the marten answered as he removed a rondel dagger from the hare's belt. "Here.", he said, tossing the sheathed blade to Hastings.
"What should I do with this?", the otter asked.
"Keep it.", List answered. "Or give to Krynn."
"You want it?", Hastings asked Krynn, who shook her head in response. "Aright then.", he said as unbuckled his belt and threaded it through the scabbards belt loop.
"Now let's get off the road and wait for Floki to return.", List said as he walked into the brush alongside the road.
"Why do we have to get off the road?", Krynn asked in a whisper as she crouched down in the bushes next the marten.
"If that hare has any friends nearby I don't want to be standing out in the open."
After half an hour of waiting quietly in the bushes, the three of them saw Floki fluttering through the sky. "See anything?", List asked.
"No,", the little dragon answered. "Fat hare seems to have been alone."
"What now?", Krynn asked.
"Keep walking, there's another town not too far up the road.", List answered.
"How do you know that?", Hastings asked.
"I looked at a map while I was in Finis Lake.", the marten replied.
"What are we going to do when we get to that other town?", Krynn asked.
"We'll see when we get there.", List answered as he started walking down the path.
Hastings spared one final glance at the hare's battered and bloody corpse before he and Krynn followed after the marten.
A few minutes later, after the party had disappeared down the path, a figure could be seen making its way through the forest, its long ears brushing along low hanging branches as it glanced about.
"Father?", the figure asked quietly as it removed its hood, revealing the face of a brown-furred hare.
No answer came.
"Father?", the hare asked again, louder this time as he unsheathed a heavy straight saber.
As he approached the road, he slowed his pace, kneeling down next to a quarrel lying in the dirt. Picking it up, he continued towards the road, sword at the ready.
"Father!", he shouted in alarm as he saw the battered form of the hare lying next to a large tree. He ran to Malcolm's side and knelt down, clutching his father bloody head as he shouted in rage.