finally, the fourth chapter. please read and review.

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Chapter Four: A Living Shadow Visits

Iris woke with a gasp for air. Foxglove and Sandvally stood over her, distress clear on their faces. Iris closed her eyes; she was exhausted from her imaginary fight. Then foxglove bent down to speak to Iris and she could feel her breath on her ear,

"It's time to leave." She said quietly, so only Iris could hear. The scarred doe struggled to her paws when an all too familiar face appeared in the entrance.

"Iris! Please come to my burrow." Hayfur's voice sounded pleasantly surprised as he beckoned to Iris. Iris's desperate brown gaze fell to her friends but they merely looked to their forepaws guiltily. They couldn't meet her eyes for there was not a single thing they could do to help her now. Iris bowed her head slightly in defeat as she silently obeyed the buck's command.

When the burrow neared, Hayfur flicked his ear at two guards. They blinked dully and took their place outside the small den's entrance. Iris's last ray of hope was blotted out now. She was trapped.

"The other does may be leaving," Hayfur said in a voice soft with false love but his eyes gave away his excitement, "but not mine. No, your staying with me!" This was his first mate.

Iris cowered helplessly against the back wall, her eyes swimming with fear. Hayfur advanced in frightening silence. Iris leaped suddenly, straight into the air, her back skimming the roof. Hayfur twisted clumsily and snapped at an old hindleg wound so she stumbled and fell upon her landing. Still, he continued his attack, swiping his claws down the fur of her back so that she jerked to her paws.

Iris's eyes darkened as she fell to a memory of a dream. Again, she fought an enemy that had no face. A claw ran down her back and she realized that it had been a glance into the future, to that very moment when the straw-colored buck attacked.

The doe felt a soft black tide washing over her vision as the other rabbit stepped forward with a dark grin plastered on his face.

Something cannoned into Hayfur's side, sending him flying across the burrow and causing Iris to open her eyes. Iris's body ached from battle and she desperately wanted to just close her eyes and fade away but curiosity got the better of her. There before her were the does and few bucks who had planned their escape for that night overpowering the guards and Foxglove stood, fur bristling slightly, before Hayfur as he pleaded pathetically for his life. Foxglove spat with her face twisted in rage then lunged for another bite.

The world spun before Iris's closing eyes as her head lulled to the ground again. The chaos that had ensued came to a dead stop. A voice as soft as an old cobweb that could be blown away in the gentlest breath of a wind drifted from the warren entrance to Hayfur's burrow.

It called quietly, "Iris... Iris, now is the time..." Iris could see nor feel anything. She dared not to move in fear that it would not be her physical self but her spirit. Everyone's gaze fell to the young doe's motionless but barely alive form, blood still dribbling sluggishly from wounds. Then her voice rang out sharply, in a way that sent a shiver of fear through the ones close to her.

"No," she seemed to hiss, "My business is not finished here until my revenge on this warren is complete."

The Black Rabbit revealed itself, stepping without the slightest sound from the darkness at the edges of the burrow, a living, flickering shadow like that of a flame. It's eyes seemed to glow and glint in light that was not there.

"Are you sure? Your life will not improve until it becomes more difficult." Only the Black Rabbit Could see Iris's spirit nod for, as she had predicted, it was her spirit and not her body moving.

Paused in understanding he replied slightly resignedly, "Very well. Until then."

Suddenly the cold grip that had held the burrows was released as the shadow darker than dark vanished. Iris sat up, her gaze slightly hazed from tiredness. She dimly realized she was returned to her body and, though each wound stung fiercely, the crimson flow had ceased. With a quick blink, the doe knew that it had been the Black Rabbit's doing.

Nightshade let Iris lean against him as they left for the bucks still there were too terrified of the doe to try and stop her. They merely stepped backward, trembling. Some had been stammering apologies, already sensing the doe would come back with their deaths.

Iris's brown eyes were no longer glazed with pain but cleared with determination. Her pawsteps more sturdy, her senses sharper, she walked ahead and didn't look back.

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it's not over yet! Iris wants revenge. will she get it? please review!