AUTHOR'S NOTE: sorry for yet another unplanned break, real life had its challenges and overall wasn't going very well...hopefully I'll be able to get back to one weekly chapter now.
Chapter 200: Glorious Rodents.
"Soon after they both explore throughout the woods but not far and find things they like to call treasures that involve berries, bottle caps, and if they're lucky empty bottle was their grand prize."
-Kaldorei-Sowa 2, Retold prologue
The sun was only starting to rise at New Sandleford. By a nearby tree, four creatures stood: two squirrels, one hedgehog, and one bee.
-"After several days of practice, we can finally take down that evil leader Scabious," Crackers said.
A few days before, the squirrels and hedgehog had gone to visit New Sandleford as planned. They did not, however, talk with the rabbits; instead, they silently eavesdropped on existing conversations. What they heard was terribly concerning, a warning of dire things to come. New Sandleford was preparing to force everyone in the other warren to join them, and if they didn't comply, attack with force. They did not have any good reasons to justify this, the other rabbits had not done anything to provoke them or anything. It appeared their only motivation was to "grow the community".
While there had been no mention of the recent murder in the conversations they listened to, Rosie, Tumbler and Crackers all had the same theory: someone from New Sandleford had been sent to assassinate Buckthorn in order to reduce morale and facilitate the takeover. Perhaps Toadflax was even a double agent. Either way, unless something was done quickly, more deaths would likely follow.
Unfortunately, the late Buckthorn's friends were in no shape to fight, for several reasons, ranging from their poor physical shape, to their fears and anxieties over the murder, not to mention the recent ghost summoning. It would therefore be up to the squirrels and hedgehog to take matters into their own paws.
They knew their own weaknesses. They had tried confronting rabbits in the past, and it had ended disastrously, with Toadflax kicking Crackers, hurting her paw. Since their size was against them, they needed more advanced fighting techniques to compensate, which they spent the past few days practicing. They also planned to potentially recruit other creatures to help them on their quest, but due to the rush in preparing for the battle, they were left with just one additional member to their group: a bee that Tumbler had befriended.
In order to increase their chances, the creatures decided to bring improvised weapons with them. Crackers had tied several blades of grass to her wrists, which she could swing around; she also kept a few spare ones in case the initial ones broke. Rosie, in addition to her spines, was wielding a twig with a pebble attached to the end. Tumbler had a match she had picked up from the trash at a nearby farm; she would only use it as a last resort, if the situation became really desperate.
-"This will also reveal the true nature of the outskirters living in New Sandleford," Tumbler said. "Based on their reaction to our attack, we will find out whether they are poor innocents oppressed by their leader, or whether they actually support and enable the tyrant."
-"I must remind you all, we should not kill," Rosie said. "That would make us just as bad as them. The only exception would be self-defense: we have to protect ourselves, after all. But otherwise, we can just defeat without killing."
Since there was nobody above ground to spot them, the creatures made their way to the nearest hole. Peering inside, they could not see anyone there either. As they ventured deeper underground, there was still nobody visible; it appeared everyone was in their burrows, which was reasonable, considering the early hour.
-"Sometimes, I wish I was a cat," Tumbler said after a while. "They have retractable claws, which can be kept concealed until needed. Meanwhile, we have to lug our weapons around wherever we go."
-"If you were a cat, you probably wouldn't be able to fit in these tunnels," Rosie pointed out.
-"It doesn't have to be lazy fat cat. I could be an overexcited kitten."
-"Hey, we like you as you are! No need to change species."
After traveling deep underground, the four creatures finally reached the deepest burrow in the warren, the Chief's. It was also there that they first encountered someone else: a lone guard at the burrow's entrance. They stayed out of sight as they considered their options.
-"What do we about him?" Crackers asked.
-"We fight him," Tumbler suggested. "Once he is out of the way, then we move on to our primary target."
-"Or maybe we could just drive him away," Rosie said. "Maybe he doesn't really support Scabious, and is just following orders."
-"I'm with her," Crackers said. "Let's err on the side of caution."
Tumbler made specific tail movements, signalling the next step to the bee. The insect flew around the guard's ears, buzzing loudly. At first, it was a mild annoyance, and he flicked his ears around, hoping to swat it away. But the bee kept going, and the guard became more nervous and agitated. After a few minutes of torment, the bee stung the rabbit's tail. The guard finally had enough; he left his post, going above ground to dip his tail in a puddle of water, hoping it would make the pain go away.
With nobody guarding the burrow anymore, Rosie, Tumbler and Crackers were able to step inside. Chief Scabious was facing the back wall, lazily munching some flayrah. He took one glance at them, and sighed.
-"Nose-in-the-Air, you idiot! Did you leave your post to pass hraka again? Didn't you learn from last time, when your foolishness allowed the prisoner to run away? Now my burrow is overrun with vermin!"
-"It is you who is the vermin," Crackers said. She swung one of her paws, causing the string to unroll and slap Scabious in the face.
-"Who's breaking into whose home and physically assaulting them for no reason? Owsla, attack!"
The owsla, however, did not attack, because nobody heard him scream: the Chief's burrow was deep underground, not to mention that everyone else was asleep (except the guard, Nose-in-the-Air, who had still not returned from the puddle).
-"What is the point of having minions if they are absent when needed the most?" Scabious said, upon realizing nobody was coming to rescue him.
Tumbler grabbed Rosie's hind legs then jumped towards the ceiling, using her tail to remain in the air a bit longer. Rosie, meanwhile, smacked Scabious in the ears with the pebble stick then, curling up into a ball, landed on his leg, leaving spines all over.
-"If you leave the rabbits at the other warren alone, we will leave YOU alone," Crackers said.
-"I do not bargain with inferior creatures," Scabious said defiantly.
-"Who are you calling 'inferior creatures'?" Crackers quickly became furious. "Us, or the other rabbits?"
-"I was talking about you three, but those other fools certainly qualify too."
-"Ugh. If you're going to be rude to me, why don't you just pretend I don't exist, like everyone else does?"
She swung her blade of grass again, this time hitting him in the eye. The battle quickly escalated from there: the bee stung Scabious inside the ear, and Tumbler slapped him in the face with her tail. The rabbit responded by kicking Rosie and Crackers, but they both quickly got back up and prepared their next moves. He then attempted to eat Crackers' grass, lifting her off the ground in the process, but hovering Tumbler was able to rescue her. Rosie, meanwhile, moved on to attacking the rabbit's tail with her pebble stick.
-"It's not fair, three against one," Scabious lamented.
-"Attacking other warrens isn't fair either," Tumbler said.
Scabious opened his mouth, revealing the sharp teeth inside, and ominously approached Crackers. The situation was desperate enough, Tumbler had to protect her friend; she lit her match. As she did so, everyone around her froze; Scabious in particular was startled. The squirrel looked at a nearby tree root, which left the rabbit even more nervous: if she managed to light it on fire, the blaze would likely spread across the rest of the tree, until the entire warren was consumed.
-"We can destroy your entire civilization if we want," Tumbler warned, "so I suggest you consider your next move very carefully."
Scabious stared for a few moments, wondering whether he should attack. He soon decided that he was unwilling to risk setting the fire himself in the process; he therefore ran away. Once he was out of sight, Tumbler blew out the match.
-"We should probably get out of here quickly, in case he's coming back with the owsla," she said.
The four creatures soon returned above ground; the only rabbit present was Nose-in-the-Air, who was still trying to clean his tail. As for Scabious, he was nowhere to be seen. There were many sets of tracks in the field, one of which was newer than the others; it had likely been made by the fleeing Chief. It was leading away from the warren; it appeared he had completely deserted his warren.
-"We'll have to keep a close eye on further developments," Tumbler said. "See what these rabbits do now that their 'leader', if you could call him that, has deserted them."