Kell drew his sword and charged into the fray. Thousands of creatures threw themselves wildly at one another. He parried a thrust from a hare and spun, jumping over a saber swing and slicing towards the hare's head. The hare ducked and feinted left, then hacked right. The midnight black fox rolled on the ground behind the hare and stabbed him in the back with a dagger, than raced on. He could hear Fann over the shouting.

"Come on, you slimy rabbits, I'm gonna hang yer ears off of my belt and make them into a cloak!"

Kell grinned, neatly tripped an oncoming hare with a large mustache, and ran towards his brother. The older maroon fox yelled as he fought.

"Haha, take that, and this! Gotcha! Oi, Kell! That's six!"

"Just got my ninth!" They referred to the game they played over the long battles, accumulating kills.

"Ah, snakespit!" Fann tripped, and a hare came running toward him, brandishing a rapier. Kell jumped and kicked out, catching the hare on the chin, then stabbed with both blades, dagger and sword. The hare fell over, breathing out her last. He picked his brother fox up and started running again.

"You okay?"

Fann dusted himself off. "That one should have counted as mine."

Kell rolled his eyes and punched a hare hard. He went down like a sack of bricks. Ignoring the downed hare, he scanned the darkness. A huge figure was standing in front of the main gates, swinging an enormous battle ax, the size of two Kells put together. He swore loudly and sheathed his dagger.

"It's the badger. Might as well pack it in."

Fann walked up, nodding towards the unconscious hare. "What about him?"

Grabbing a piece of rope off the ground, Kell began to tie up the hare. "We'll take him to Sineon."

Together, they hauled the fallen hare up the beach towards the camp. The foragers had come back and were standing guard, quite sloppily, Kell thought. He kicked a spear out from under a sleeping stoat who had been leaning on it. "Get up!"

The stoat, a large specimen that was a little taller than Kell named Bluddpaw, snarled. "Keep yer paws offa me, yew idiot ashpile."

Kell flourished the captain's cloak (which was embroidered in purple patterns) in the stoat's face. "And you show respect to a Captain, inkpaw, or I'll have you sent out to the front lines to fight the badger."

Bluddpaw sneered. "Yew little snip. Yer just a sad wannabe that killed a few o' those big rabbits. I could'a killed twice what youse killed."

Kell nodded. "I agree. Your face hurts far more than any blade I've ever seen."

With that, he tripped Bluddpaw with a spear he had picked up and walked on, ignoring the stoat's curses. Fann smiled.

"Nice one, little brother."

"Told you I don't need you to fight my battles. Of course, next time you can insult him. It's your turn. Oh, hold on." He gave the moaning hare a sharp rap between the ears. "Don't want him waking up on us. Get the door."

Fann mock saluted and pulled the tent flap door open. Sineon was talking to his seer, a vixen named Pharon, but broke off as they entered.

"Captain Kell reporting in with a prisoner, sir."

The big fox smiled wickedly. "Pharon, you won't be killed today. You got the future right just before the future got you." She bowed, and Sineon nodded towards the prison tent outside. "Take that hare to the cell. But first, how did your mission go?"

Kell winced. "While we did successfully infiltrate the mountain and booby trap their food, they noticed us when we were leaving. The thing is, they thought we were going in to the larders, not out."

Sineon rubbed his chin. "Hmm…we will have to wait and see. The potion will take effect an hour after they eat it, and it keeps them out all day. We will attack at two hours past noontide. That should let all of them have the opportunity to eat and drink their fill. Legionare Fann!"

Fann snapped to attention. "Sir!"

"You are in charge of the prisoner and interrogation. Ask him if the hares have sent out word to their friends in Mossflower wood: Redwall warriors, Guosim shrews, anyone. Find out if they have reinforcements, plans…you get the picture. Oh yes, one more thing. Don't spare the whips."

Fann nodded. Kell cringed inwardly at the evil looking face that the Fraj leader made as he stared at the prisoner.


Lance Corporal Biffscut Longpaw the Third awoke slowly. The first thing he noticed was that his paws were tied. The second was that their were two foxes, a weasel, and an ermine standing above him. A black fox stepped forward.

"Name."

Kell didn't say it as a question, but as a statement. The hares would be more impressed and liable to talk if they thought that the 'evil, black-hearted vermin' wouldn't resort to beating the fluff out of a helpless prisoner.

The hare spat.

"Hare, I don't even care what your name is, it's just for our interrogation purposes. Just give me your name."

"Hah!" L.C. Longpaw curled his lip. "Trying to use me as bait for a trap for Lord Yulff, eh, laddie buck? Well it won't work, you snobby nosed inkpot of a fox!"

Kell rolled his eyes. "All you hares look alike."

"That's what you think."

"Fine," Kell blew out a long, slow breath in frustration. "My name is Kell. It's only polite to give me your name in exchange."

The hare eyed him coldly, then said, "Lance Corporal Biffscut Longpaw III. It isn't a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Likewise."

Fann stepped forward, as did the weasel and ermine. "Longpaw, I'll give you one chance before I let these two onto you. They may look like last season's pillows, but they sure as hell know how to get some information out of you."

"You can take your pillows and stuff it up your nose, fox!"

Kell stepped in. "Fann, Mingo, Manutd, would you mind stepping outside for a few minutes?"

Fann sighed, then nodded. They walked outside, leaving Kell alone with the bound hare.

Kell squatted down. "Listen, Corporal, you do NOT want those two on you. Not at all. If you tell me what I want to know now, you can avoid it."

The hare snorted. "I can take what those to ragamuffins have."

"Hare. You can't take it. You. Can not. Take. It. Understand? They aren't your regular hordebeasts, they are two of the most sadistic, bloodthirsty pack animals that you will ever see in your entire life. They'll stuff you're head under water until you nearly pass out, take you out, and do it again. They will drip water on your head for days, continuously. A squirrel they did that to killed himself on the third day; it drove him crazy. They will set a delicious dinner right in front of you, close enough to taste in the air, but you won't be able to reach it. You can't hold out!"

Longpaw didn't say a word. Kell sighed, stood up, and left.

"Come on Fann, we're leaving. You two can start. You know what to do."

The weasel and ermine fairly jumped into the tent. Fann watched them, then shook his head.

"It's brave of that hare to do this, but he won't hold out."

"So I told him, he won't listen."

"Surprised?"

"Not really."

"Yeah."

Igna materialized beside them. "How'd it go?"

"Guess."

"Ah. I see. It's creatures like those two that give us bad names."

"You just now figured that out?"

They fell silent. The crickets started to stop chirping as the sun continued poking itself into the sky.

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, keep 'em coming, encouragement food is good for the hands whilst typing ). I'll get more into what's going on in a general view for the entire armies next chapter, as well as some background on Kell and Co.