The Imperial invasion of the 'Burrows did not start well. As was prudent, scouts were sent ahead to assess the route, but only a few came back, reporting that there were numerous tree falls across the road. Moreover, there were some small number of archers who had sniped away at them.

For a marching army, the trees were no real problem, but as the column included carts for equipment and supplies, they were a time-consuming chore to clear.

Then the archers, and slingers, tossing lead slugs and darts, popped up out of the woods to harass the column. As there seemed to be maybe only a score or so, they were of little threat to the totality of the force, but individual soldiers had to react to the potentially lethal rain, which slowed the column and made for a general level of frustration.

To attempt to deal with the threat, some of the troops were allowed to pass off their marching kit and function as flanking skirmishers to hold the pesky beasts at bay. But for the most part all that did was to make themselves easier, shorter-range targets. But there were some occasional effective defenses, which brought a new twist to the action.

A pair of skirmishers had managed to bring down an attacker, a young whitetail buck. "Hoy, some fool boy got hisself turn to venison for tonight."

"Yep, though I never knew them to be so good with a bow. Your shot was not so bad either."

"Yeah, wasn't sure I got a kill hit at first. But he stopped thrashin' quick enough."

Looking closer, the one soldier became puzzled, "Say, that doesn't look like it would'a stopped him, eh?"

The other was a bit puzzled as well, and took a closer look at the body, then recoiled. "Gah! Look at his muzzle! What is that?"

The first soldier crouched down and waved his paw over the dead deer's face to sniff. "Damn! Poison! No way I'm touching that body!" Poison had a superstitious connotation, which made its use particularly dreadful.

They did take the bow and arrows to show their officer, but dared not touch the corpse directly.

The officer, a white-muzzled old Wolf, gave the pair an exasperated look as they approached. "This one got away too?"

"Nosir! Jackie here hit him, a whitetail, but - ." He looked away warily.

Jackie finished the thought. "The awful thing was hit and down, but took poison, sir."

The old wolf grimaced. Their logistics assumed a level of fresh meat to supplement their stores, a little detail that the few non-pred members of the formation, rhinos and other big beasts, had carefully not been made aware.

He personally was unenthusiastic about the change in status of prey species. True, he was not one to pass on something other than fish or fowl, but there had been some good soldiers in the ranks that had to be sent away. Turning battlefield dead into meat had been done, but in an unspoken, discrete fashion. More as a windfall opportunity than a matter of planning or policy, and done with a bit of respect as it had been the ancient ways. That it was now intended to be a matter of course was a bit much, especially among veterans and professionals in the ranks.

Even the rumor of poison would turn troops away from that source, and he feared that this instance would not be the last.

Then, more complications, as there was smoke in the distance and shortly, reports back of a village in flames.

"What is it now?" Lord Kang fussed over the small stir of troops at the head of the column. An officer trotted back to report. "My Lord. The scouts report that Hannon's River village has been abandoned and set afire."

The Tiger looked to one of his lieutenants for clarification.

"It was to be our lunch time stopping point, had we not been delayed." The Mountain Lion was clearly unhappy, frustrated, as were most, over the petty harassments and distractions.

As this was not the main high way to the bunnies' capitol, villages that catered to road travel were relatively sparse, losing this first one was not a disaster, but the threat to future actions was obvious.

When the force finally arrived in what had been a tidy little village, all they found was largely burned out building, only a few stones standing, and any stores reduced to smoldering masses. Worse, all the wells were caved in, and the bridge over Hannon's River had been pulled down into a stream now reeking of pollution.

Even as the engineers surveyed the ruins and how to make an improvised crossing, more columns of smoke could be seen, and everyone recognized the implication.

00000

The Imperial invasion force arrived before the Hopps palace, five days later than planned due to the innumerable impediments to their progress. Lord Kang was secretly dismayed as he viewed it again. It had not been known for the extent or strength of its defenses, long more a royal residence than fortification. But there had been reinforcements, hasty and crude, but clearly effective against assault. How such could have happened was made clear as the army encamped just out of weapons range.

It was a spy, a stoat, who provided some history, though little useful information as to how to gain entry.

"The east wing, the one that burned down last year and took so much of the Hopps clan with it, was going to be rebuilt and there was a goodly amount of material brought in to make a start on it." The tiny creature paused, perhaps an involuntary reaction to the memory of the lost King of the 'Burrow.

"So, as soon as the Imperial party was out the door, they tore down the old remains, still a lot of stone work, and that, with all the new material, threw up the new works. It isn't tidy, just a stack of stone and timber, but is double thick to make up for it's raw nature."

The imperial officers regarded the sketched layouts of the palace and were not happy. They didn't have siege engines or a party large enough to build any on the spot, but even if they did, the new and reinforced structures would make for a harder nut to crack.

Moreover, they didn't plan for a siege of any kind, expecting an easy assault on a weakly defended mansion. And were half ready to see the Hopps holding simply surrender in the face of their might. But according to the spy, there was a goodly force of hooves as well as bunnies and other smaller mammals and even a few small cats and a wolf or two.

After the spy was gone, Lord Kang came out to confer with the officers.

"I have to admit, that bunny's officers are a clever lot. First with the stalling tactics and now with the improvised defenses." More to himself than them. Then he did address them directly. "So, any good ideas?"

"Honestly?" His Leopard asked.

The Tiger grimaced. "To do this right, yes."

"Withdraw and come back with a force able to overwhelm any possible defense." The whole company stood frozen in shock and Lord Kang bristled. "We can not stay and wait for re-enforcements. They will be able to muster a substantial force long before any aid could arrive. I do not believe we would be overwhelmed, but we would be forced into an expensive fighting retreat."

Several officers cautiously nodded in agreement. One did point out the problem of withdrawal. "My Lord, bringing out our forces without a fight... Yes, we would remain an intact army to fight a future day, but we would also be an army that ran bloodlessly from bunnies. I fear for our fighting resolve thereafter. And, you, My Lord, would have to face our Empress with an embarrassment on the first action of her reign."

The other officers glanced around nervously with such candid and potentially political talk.

Lord Kang rubbed his face in frustrated consideration. "I don't like the thought of retreat for all those reasons. But, I agree we cannot stay. Perhaps we can inflict a bit of punitive punishment to the neighborhood instead? If they can deprive us provision with fire and poison, perhaps we can return the favor?"

There were some more vigorous nods of agreement at that.

"Alright then. Let's salvage the campaign. Make plans for an action in the next days. Let the troops recover a day, it has been a challenging march, and then let's see a bit of the 'Burrows burn.

00000

Empress Celia growled and scratched her head in frustration. How could an experienced warrior find himself so flatfooted against what was expected to be an inferior force of mere prey? She reread the dispatch again. While encamped outside the Hopps Palace, considering his plan of attack, Lord Kang's army was counter-attacked at dawn the day after arriving. Only a scattered rabble of survivors made it back to the boarders. The fate of the Tiger was not yet known.

Whoever this young Queen was, or more likely, some predator general under her command, he had exploited the under-strength and ill-prepared force that had been sent against him. The 'Burrows clearly had more assets than anticipated, that and the blatancy of their rebellion against their rightful Empress meant that they needed to be brought low, hard, fast and final.

If Lord Kang was lost, then she could offer the command, and the territories to the House Lynx, a land with a long and contentious history with their neighbors to the south. Kang wasn't a bad sort, for a Tiger, but he had attempted to subdue those damn bunnies on the cheap, then underestimated them at every step. That kind of failing was unacceptable and he would not survive the shame he'd brought on the Empire.

00000

After uncountable hours bound and hooded, Lord Kang had the hood removed to blink blindly in the modest light. He appeared to be in a smallish though well appointed apartment. A window, with iron bars, suggested the quarters of a loyal hostage or some such. Nicer than a cell, but still a prison.

He then made note of his captors, damn bunnies again, and in their midst, the little Queen.

"Well, Queen Judith, I see you are much more to be reckoned with than just a cute conny," said with a mocking bow.

Her mouth twisted at the term, but answered lightly, "Beginner's luck, perhaps?"

"Or a gambler's. I assume you let loose your defenders in the palace rather than wait for outside support?"

"To the last mammal." She admitted.

"Considering the stakes, and how thorough the win, very much worth the risk." He nodded his head. "Can I ask, what happened to my army?"

'A few made it back across the boarder, but most fought hard and were not keen on surrender." Was that a little bit of remorse in her over that?

"Don't worry Little Queen, they knew their duty, and likely fate at the paws of your folk."

The Doe visibly bristled at that. "We do not slay an honest surrender. Honorable defeat should not equate to death."

"Oh? And what would you do with prisoners? Maim them so they cannot fight again, or enslave them, either for yourselves or to foreign markets?"

"A negotiated release, an exchange of prisoner, if possible, or simply holding them until the unpleasantness was over." Said between clenched jaws. She was clearly affronted with his suggested.

"After an end to the war? All old white muzzles if left that long. And prisoner exchange? I'm afraid the Empire isn't going to be much for taking prisoners, especially prey folk." Said almost apologetically.

Judith only sighed at that. "As for you, do you think your Empress would want you back?"

The Tiger visibly cringed at that prospect. "Well, I could be turned back over to her for a hopefully quick death, but I suspect she might have something more elaborate in store for my failure. Or you can hold me for the time it takes for her to reduce you and yours to a fading memory. And she'd have at me then."

"Or," and the bunny gave him a calculating look, "I could have you shipped off to across the waters?"

"Far exile? To slavers or barbarians?"

"I was thinking a little further, say the Spice Lands. Plenty of your race there."

"Oh really?" That was intriguing.

"True, you'd be nameless there, but with a small bag and your sword at your side, you could do well."

00000

The landless Tiger, now known as Janka, considered that strange little doe again. It would have been so easy to have him dead in so many ways, and in the normal course of things he would have expected nothing more. But here he stood, unsurely, on that ship's deck, with a surprising number of other anonymous beasts, all going to a distant land were they could find their fortune in any number of ways.

It was a shame that the Queen wouldn't last much longer, the likely wrath of the Empress would be awful. But he couldn't help but wonder how it would play out and that he was rather keen on seeing it for himself.