Sorry about the long-ish wait there, but I was stranded, for lack of a better word.

Warrior: That's actually the part I was talking about as being unrealistic. I'm perfectly fine with the insanity. In fact, insanity amongst warlords (and I guess even semi-warlords) is almost the norm. I knew there were problems with the time, so I kinda made it a bit ambiguous as to how long it actually took them. I never say it happened in one day, did I? Errr... I hope not, or I'll look kinda dumb right about now. Anywho, it was either get them there in one chapter or throw in one or two filler chapters that would just muck everything up. I chose the option that benefitted the story more.

This isn't a long chapter, but hopefully you'll find it interesting, especially at the end. Also, take careful note of the chapter title. Perhaps compare it to the other chapter titles.

XI: The Normal Day

Kalzmar might not have been so angry at King Kirrent if she had known that Davian also had a rather lousy task to perform: he had to feed the prisoners.

King Kirrent had retreated into the room he had picked out for himself, and had rarely left it since then. And even then, he attempted to avoid the lizards as much as possible. However, he had managed to give Davian his new orders, and made them so specific that he actually told Davian exactly how much food to give them.

"An apple or two, and a couple of nuts," the king had whispered to his general hastily. He had devised a new kind of torture just prior to his meeting with Caldwell in which he would allow the prisoners food, but only so much that perhaps one or two could adequately be fed. Earlier, he would have enjoyed watching the starving prisoners fight over the food voraciously, but now he had no interest for it. Despite that, he still planned to follow through with the torture.

So, Davian had found the food King Kirrent instructed him to bring, and he brought it to the prisoners. The first thing they said when he laid down the food on the floor was, "That isn't nearly enough!"

Davian looked at them skeptically, then down at the food. They were right; it wasn't enough. The lizard frowned.

"What you want, then?" he grumbled. King Kirrent must have made an error in his judgment, the lizard reasoned. Of course, that meant that what had appeared to be a quick and easy task would blossom into something that could take an hour or so.

"We need more. Enough for all of us," replied the prisoners. So, Davian had marched back to the kitchen, and slowly but steadily brought back enough food for all of them. King Kirrent would have moaned in agony if he had seen his plans once again being thwarted by the stupidity of his soldiers.

Then Davian had to bring water to the prisoners. King Kirrent had instructed him to bring one full pail. Davian didn't even have to hear the prisoners' complaints to know that that wouldn't be enough, either. So, thoroughly annoyed, he had gone back and forth, filling up pails and bringing them to the prisoners.

Thusly, the prisoners had all received full, if slightly meager, meals. By the time he had finished delivering those meals, Davian was hungry himself. He decided to go out into the woods to hunt.

When he reached the gate, he found the ferret arguing with Darkscale, who was guarding the door.

"As a general of this army, I order you to let me out," Limptail announced. Darkscale thought for a moment, and then shook his head.

"No, you not general. King Kirrent not zay you general," Darkscale pointed out matter-of-factly.

"Well, then I'll just hafta tell King Kirrent that there's a lizard who won't follow a general's orders!" shouted the ferret.

"Wait!" Darkscale suddenly exclaimed, not wanting to get in trouble with King Kirrent, "Mebbe you are general. Mebbe I let you out, yez?"

Limptail smiled as Darkscale hastily opened the door. The ferret ecstatically leapt towards the exit, so very close to freedom. He was in mid-jump when a claw grabbed his shoulder and yanked him back. Limptail fell on his back, hitting the ground with an audible thump. The ferret looked up and found himself staring directly into the toothy smile of Marclaw.

"No, no, no, ferret thing," Marclaw grinned, "King Kirrent zed ferret thingz not able to leave, not at all! Darkzcale, cloze the door." Marclaw hoisted the ferret up as Darkscale obliged. The door slammed shut, and Limptail found a wave of sorrow sweep over him. He had been so close!

"Wait," Davian suddenly spoke, emerging from the background, "I go out, to hunt. Open the door." The door slowly opened again, with Darkscale mumbling in annoyance. He only got it halfway open when Marclaw stopped him.

"General Davian, King Kirrent haz orderz for you, too," said Marclaw, his grin widening. The door slammed shut again. "You muzt guard longearz."

Davian groaned. He had just given all those prisoners food and water, and now he had to guard the stupid hare? He had thought that it was Kalzmar's job to guard the hare. Saying nothing, he stormed off angrily.

Marclaw smiled again at Darkscale and Limptail and then he too marched off, towards the direction of King Kirrent's room. Limptail shuddered.

---

King Kirrent had managed to regain his sanity. He had just needed time to cool down. King Kirrent lost his head very easy when he was angry, and he had been very angry at Caldwell when the hare compared him to a lizard. But now, King Kirrent had managed to calm himself down, after a day or so.

"So what?" King Kirrent said to himself, "Who cares if some moron hare called ya a lizard? It was just a dumb insult. You overreacted. You always overreact, ya know that? Ya need to control your temper. One day, it's gonna be the end of you."

King Kirrent smiled. Yes, he was right. He always overreacted. If he hadn't have overreacted, he wouldn't be here, though. His overreacting was what had gotten him out of that swamp. Still, King Kirrent told himself, that was just luck. He needed to control his temper.

There was a knock at the door of his room. King Kirrent got up cautiously. "Whaddya want?" he shouted.

"Your Eckzellenzy, bad newz! You muzt let me in!" Kalzmar shouted from the other side of the door. King Kirrent became tense. Bad news? What kind of bad news? He swiftly opened the door.

As soon as the door was unlatched, it flew open, and Marclaw leapt in, his new sword in mid-swing. King Kirrent, realizing that his greatest fear was coming to life, held out one arm to defend himself. With one slice, the arm was separated from its body.

King Kirrent fell to the ground, screaming in pain. With his remaining arm, he reached for his cutlass, but Kalzmar impaled his paw with her spear.

"Kalz—" King Kirrent began. Halfway through the word, Marclaw brought his sword down again, cleaving off the rat's head.

The assassination had happened in perhaps ten seconds. Marclaw began to laugh as Kirrent's lifeless head rolled a few feet away from its body. Kalzmar retracted her spear swiftly, feeling a mix of emotions. She had just helped kill King Kirrent. She was simultaneously ashamed, aghast, and afraid.

Marclaw was nothing but smiles, though. "I izz king now, yez! King Marclaw! Hahaha! Hahaha!" He kicked Kirrent's head as if it were some sort of ball. It smacked against a stone wall, splattering blood in various directions. Then, still laughing, he walked out, ready to flaunt his new kingship.

Kalzmar stood there dumbly, contemplating what she had just done.

---

As King Kirrent was swiftly and unceremoniously murdered, General Davian and Colonel Caldwell were engaging in a staring match. The lizard had stormed in and taken a seat on the other side of the table, grumbling over his misfortune. Directly across from him was a very pale-looking Caldwell. The table was covered in blood, but Davian didn't seem to mind. Or even notice, for that matter. He simply leaned back in his chair and looked over at the hare, who looked back silently.

Caldwell had managed to stop the bleeding by putting his weight on the wound, but he had still lost a lot of blood and he didn't feel very good. Kalzmar had left a few minutes ago, and he had thought that maybe he could try to escape. Since he was now missing one of his paws, he only had one bind keeping him attached to the chair, and he had begun to wriggle his way out of it slowly and painfully. Then Davian had entered, and that was the end of that plan.

Neither blinked, and neither averted their gaze from one another. Davian's eyes held unknown cynicism; Caldwell wondered if Kalzmar had finally disobeyed King Kirrent's orders and just found a subordinate to do her job. He also wondered if the reason Kalzmar was gone was because she was busy assassinating the rat king.

Then, after a few minutes, a sudden uproar of screaming and yelling spawned from the other side of the door. Davian looked back and paused.

"You gonna… check that out?" Caldwell asked in a hoarse whisper. Davian mumbled something under his breath and shrugged. The volume and intensity of the screams increased. Caldwell had a sick realization, knowing exactly who was doing the screaming: the prisoners.

Davian's cynical look turned to one of distress. He too knew who was screaming. The lizard stood up, contemplating what he should do.

Suddenly, the door burst open. Darkscale swiftly ran in, took a nervous glance behind him, and shut the door. "Davian!" he growled, "It izz very bad! Fighting… And killing… And screaming! You muzt zee, yez!" The tone was mostly that of alarm, but Caldwell heard a small hint of fascination in the lizard's voice.

Davian drew his sword and opened the door. And walked into a scene of absolute chaos.