The sun rose over the horizon, firing shafts of light into the sky staining it pink. The meager light grew in power, soon drawing a great ball of fire after it into the morning sky. Seagulls squawked and kee-yaw-ed in the morning air. On the side of the dune, Tayla was awoken by the harsh and unmusical cries of the scavengers. She opened her eyes slowly, visually drinking in the light blue sky which seemed to extend for ever in every direction. She began to sit up before she realized that she had been sleeping with her head on Baen's chest, cuddling the entire night. Slightly embarrassed at the thought that she had done something like that without knowing it, Tayla lay down in the sand next to Baen, squirmed a bit to make it look like she had slept there the entire night, then gently began to shake Baen's lean muscular shoulders in an effort to wake him.

"Baen..." Tayla spoke softly wanting to draw him out of his sleep slowly,

"Baen, wake up..."

The young hare opened his eyes slowly, yawning and stretching his arms. "Mmm, Tayla? Do we hafta get up now?" Baen moaned tiredly, and rightly so.

"Yeah Baen, we're gonna miss breakfast if we don't."

"Oh dang!" Baen jumped upright and grabbed Tayla by the arm, dragging her towards Salamandastron.

Tayla laughed the entire way to the great stone fortress, musing at Baen's simple pleasures in life.

At breakfast, which was a large platter of pancakes with numerous different toppings to choose from, Rennek, Tayla, and Baen had a one-on-one-on-one meeting, discussing what had happened the previous day. Tayla spoke harshly of Matte's cruelty forcing Baen to run an extra eight laps after a double-time lap, while Baen talked angrily about the incident with the pike head. Rennek listened thoughtfully, suggesting possible reasons, though he didn't sincerely mean any of them. Finally the three began to discuss the actions which they were going to have to take.

"I say," started Tayla, "we inform the Badger Lord about Matte."

"I don't know, Tayla," countered Baen, "Lord Alanbrow is very much on Matte's side, and I don't think he would even believe us in the first place."

Rennek thought for a moment before speaking, "It seems that there is no logical reason for Matte to have planted the pike head, and made you two run laps, especially you," he said nodding towards Baen, "other than that he really dislikes you and is trying to get you out of the Long Patrol or Salamandastron."

Tayla and Baen were initially shocked by Rennek's statement, but quickly saw the logic in it. "So what do we do?" asked Baen, "All the best fighters are on Matte's side, including the Badger Lord, and we only have limited abilities."

"Well," answered Rennek, "we are going to need another challenge. But I can't, because I am too old, and I have challenged already this season. One of you will need to do it."

"I will." Baen and Tayla spoke simultaneously.

Baen looked at Tayla, and Tayla looked at Baen.

"You can't!" said Baen, "Your foot is cut!"

"No, YOU can't," Tayla replied, "you can hardly keep your eyes open you are so tired!"

"Hunh?" Baen said as he woke up from a split second nap.

"Exactly!" Tayla exclaimed, loud enough to draw some stares.

"I guess we have made our decision." Rennek said, with a slight giggle as he watched Baen teeter forward into his plate of syrupy pancakes, falling asleep before his fur met the sticky-sweet-substance.

"We best clean him off and get him to bed," Rennek said, grinning at Tayla.

She smiled and they both carried Baen up to his room, cleaned off his face, and lay him in bed.

After delivering Baen to his room Tayla went by the infirmary to get her foot bound properly. Speaking quickly, but reverently to the ancient hare nurse, she asked for the best binding possible, so that she could run on it by noon. The old hare sniffed indignantly, "Noon? Bah, you'll be running within seconds of this bandaging."

Tayla laughed, then sat patiently as the nurse placed poultice against Tayla's cut, and then wrapped it tightly, but left room for flexibility, with gauze. She then took out a thick white canvas, and wrapped it snugly around the bandaged area, protecting it from wear and tear. Fixing it in place carefully, the hare nurse gave it one last quality check, and then told Tayla that she could get out of the chair and test it. Stepping gingerly onto the cut foot, Tayla was immediately amazed by the nurse's workbeastship, she could move her paw just like normal, and felt no pain from the cut. Thankfully she gave the nurse an excited hug then left to find Rennek.

Rennek was standing in his quarters, staring blankly out the window, as if he was trying to draw inspiration from the blue sky. A concerned look was fixated on his face. Tayla rapped lightly on the rock doorframe. Rennek didn't turn, but spoke in a quiet tone, "Tayla, I'm sure, that since I'm the elder here, that I should be assuring you of this, but-" his voice caught, he cleared his throat, "do you really think that this is the best way to do this? Really, in the end, only you, Baen and I are the beasts who get what we want. All Matte has to do is get all the other hares to kick us out of Salamandastron. Alanbrow would trust them more anyways; he would just let them do as they please with us. Besides, we are only three hares." He turned slowly, drawing his eyes away from the sky, and looking at Tayla.

Tayla hesitated, pondering all the possible things that she could do, say, or suggest that would make their plan work better. Rennek stared at her with a sad look in his eye. Not because of the great possibility that he would be exiled from Salamandastron, but that Tayla would. He had grown close to her, and felt like she was his daughter, and he could not bear to see a young talented hare such as Tayla be sent out of Salamandastron before she had even completed training.

Tayla brought her paw up to her mouth as if to nibble of a nail, thinking deeply. She looked Rennek in the eyes and saw his pain. "Rennek, are you alright?"

"I'm fine." assured the elderly hare.

"You don't look fine." countered Tayla, prodding for information. "Please, if we are going to take on Matte and his friends, we are going to need to be tight as a team ourselves. What is it?"

Rennek sighed deeply, and then replied, "Tayla, I am scared for you. You already have been injured, and now you are facing a decision which could end your career at Salamandastron before it even starts." He looked deep into Tayla's eyes, "And I don't want to see that happening to you."

Tayla smiled at the old hare's sincerity and care, and then gave him a big hug, how a daughter would embrace her father. Tears began to form at the corners of Rennek's war hardened eyes, softening the scarred memories, and letting forth a cascade of emotions. Tayla stood close to Rennek, comforting the old hare as painful memories came to mind, dousing all sanity and leaving the old hare a shriveled wreck of what he once had been.

For nearly an hour Rennek cried, releasing every bit of pent up emotion. Tears for his friends who died in battle, tears for dead family, and tears of happiness all mingled on the floor as Rennek sobbed, then laughed, and then sobbed again. Tayla never left his side. She comforted him when he cried, and laughed with him when he began to cackle randomly. Finally, after an entire life's worth of emotions were drained out of Rennek, or he ran out of tears, Tayla couldn't tell, Rennek began to speak again, choking over the simplest words, but slowly getting his voice back.

"Tayla, we need to fi-ahem-find a better way to do this."

"Yes, Renn," Tayla spoke softly, "And I think I have an idea."

Baen woke up from his nap, wondering where he was. He surveyed his surroundings, recognizing his bed in his living area. "I must have fallen asleep at breakfast." he spoke aloud to himself, as he rubbed his still slightly sticky face. He smacked his lips together making a popping noise as he stretched his face, making yawning and other absurd faces in an effort to stretch the syrupy fur back to normal. He continued on for a couple of minutes, but to no avail.

Climbing out of bed, Baen headed to a washbasin in the corner of the room which he shared with three other hares. Scrubbing his face until the skin underneath his fur was red from the abrasion, Baen cleaned his fur. He dried off his face with a thin, nearly useless towel then left the room to go find Tayla and Rennek.

He walked down the hallways, finding Tayla's room empty he continued on towards the seniors' quarters. The communal room was nearly empty, with the exception of two old hares. Bean walked to the last logical place where he would find Rennek and Tayla. He knocked gently on the door to Rennek's room, and the door was answered by Tayla. "Hi," Baen said cheerily, "How are you beasts doing?"

"Hey Baen," Tayla greeted, "Come on in." She motioned with her paw as she drew the door open to let him in. She continued to speak as if Baen hadn't interrupted, "as I was saying Renn, if we could get the rest of the rookies and the seniors with us, then we could make a decent point with a large amount of beasts. Then what will Alanbrow do? He can't just kick four score beasts out of Salamandastron."

Rennek smiled, so did Baen. "So what exactly do we need all those hares for?" asked Baen.

"To support us in our challenge. You do remember, right?"

Baen closed his eyes and thunked himself on the forehead, "Duh, uh, I'm stupid."

"No, you're exhausted." contradicted Rennek, stifling a giggle as he watched Baen's eyelids begin to droop shut.

"Ok, gennelbeasts, we need to go get ourselves a following." Tayla encouraged Baen and Rennek. She looked back from the door, and laughed as she saw Rennek supporting the semi-sleeping figure of Baen. She hurried over and wrapped Baen's opposite arm around her shoulder and helped Rennek carry Baen to bed a second time.

In the rookie quarters, Tayla began to recruit, uh, recruits? "Hey everybeast! Shut up! I need you all to listen!" the milling youth quieted down, wondering what Tayla had to say. "As you all know, Baen had to run eight laps yesterday and my foot was badly cut, why?" She raised her paws above her head, shrugging, "Because Matte doesn't like me and Baen."The group gave her a "so what?" look.

Tayla gave a visible sigh, then continued, "He doesn't like us because we are outspoken in our dislike for the alliance with the polecats!" The crowd began to listen. "Please, Baen, Rennek, and I need your help! I am challenging Matte today to settle the score, but if we don't have support, Baen, Renn, and I get kicked out of Salamandastron. Please! We only require your support!"

Tayla looked out into the crowd with eager eyes, searching for possible candidates. At first the group looked uneasy with the prospect of going up against Matte and the veterans. But it only took one hare to change all that.

"I'm with you!" shouted Dramin from the back of the room.

Immediately, the ice broken, a roar of agreement filled the room, shaking Salamandastron to its core. Tonight there would be justice!

Dinner came slowly, the excitement of the evening's events dragging time to a standstill. Salamandastron was deathly quiet, the mere pattering of pawsteps down the hallway sounding out of place. The recruits sat in their rooms, trying to pass time, laying on their backs, staring at the ceiling. Then, like a rooster crowing daybreak, the dinner bell rang. Never before had hares moved so eagerly for something other than food. Sure dinner was going to be served, but something a whole lot more interesting was going to happen. Tayla versus Matte.

Frieda's jaw dropped as she came out of the kitchen doors, pushing a trolley laden with food. Even before the food was set out, all the recruits were eagerly awaiting in their seats. "Must've smelled dinner a bit quicker this time." she thought aloud, to herself.

Supper began soon enough, food being abundant and good tasting. Finally, to everybeast's great excitement (and relief for others) Tayla stood up and looked at Alanbrow and began to speak. "Lord Alanbrow, I have a preposition for you."

"I'm all ears." mocked the badger lord, motioning to the hares.

Tayla dismissed the crude humor and continued, "Due to the amount of controversy surrounding our alliance with the polecats, and the repercussions of the actions taken by some..." she glared at Matte, "I would like to challenge Matte to a winner-takes-all race. In my opinion, there has been too much pain caused by this feud, and now I am going to take measures to stop it!"

Alanbrow stared at her for a moment, picking his teeth with his blunt claws, trying to dislodge a morsel of food. "Um, what does repercussion mean?" asked a recruit from behind Tayla.

Tayla sighed, knowing that her slight instilment of awe had been shattered. Alanbrow spoke, "Tayla, you are a good young hare, and I would hate to see you leave Salamandastron, but..." he paused staring blankly as if he was fighting for control of his own mind, "as the rules state, you must go through with your challenge." Alanbrow looked at Matte, then Tayla. "The race will consist of three laps of the training track, just before sundown. Be there on time, or forfeit the race and your time in Salamandastron!" And with that, he turned on his heel and marched out of the room, leaving a slightly confused battalion of hares scratching their heads.

Tayla sat down, and enormous weight lifted from her shoulders, and now replaced with an even larger one. She flexed her bandaged paw, double checking the binding. "Don't worry about it Tayla," Baen consoled, "If there are any problems Renn and I'll be there. Even if you lose, we'll come with you." He looked deep into her eyes, doing his best to show her that he was more than confident in her.

"You're scared too." Tayla spoke softly.

Baen sighed, "Yeah."

"It's ok, whatever happens, happens. Whether I win or not."

"No, whether WE win or not." Baen reassuringly said. "We're all in this together."

He reached over and hugged her, feeling the warmth of her body seep into him. She hugged back, taking any bit of comfort he gave to her and storing it deep within her. "Well," said Baen, drawing back from her, "I guess it is time to go."

"Yeah."

"Let's go."

Baen and Tayla walked slowly out of the near empty mess hall, Baen's arm slung around Tayla's shoulders.

Down at the seaside, all the hares in Salamandastron had gathered to watch the first challenge in more than two score seasons. The obvious factions broke off, the veteran squad on one side, and the recruit/senior squad on the other side. Tayla stood nervously in front of the hares that were supporting her. Baen stood at her side, doing his best to stay awake.

Matte swaggered in confidently, barely making the race time. He sauntered up to the starting line and looked back, wagging his scut at Tayla, "Get used to it! 'Cause it is all you're gonna see for the rest of the race!"

Baen jerked forward, but was halted by Tayla. "Let him say all he wants, talking isn't going to make him run any faster."

Alanbrow trundled in, his paws making deep impressions in the sand. "Tayla, Matte? Take your positions, now. I want to go back inside. Let's get this over with."

And without further ado, the Badger Lord yelled at the top of his lungs, "GO!"

Tayla burst off from Baen's side, already three pawsteps behind Matte. She caught up quickly though, seeing that Matte wasn't running at his full pace. Staying behind him, she kept pace.

Matte enjoyed the feeling of running, especially when it came to ridding Salamandastron of an annoying recruit. He casually looked over his shoulder, seeing Tayla's unwavering face mere paw's lengths away. He smirked, and then began to run a bit faster.

They finished the first lap, Tayla running step for step with Matte, neither hare showing any signs of fatigue. At the beginning of the second lap Matte drastically pulled up the pace, now showing a visible effort. Tayla effortlessly matched his speed, pulling in front of Matte for a mere second, just long enough to wag her scut at him. Matte found no humor in this act and burst past Tayla, shoving her aside as he went. Tayla stumbled slightly then regained her balance, putting on a slight burst of speed to catch up with Matte again.

The second lap took just a bit more than half the time the first had. Tayla still showed no signs of fatigue, while Matte began to huff and puff. But once again, at the beginning of the third lap, Matte began to run faster. Tayla felt the strain in her muscles now as she put a fair amount of effort into keeping up with the older, stronger hare. They rounded the halfway point neck and neck. Dunes began to fly at them, piles of unyielding sand. Scrambling up one side and jumping down the other, the two racers began to show obvious signs of fatigue. Tayla panted hard and Matte began to wheeze for air as they rounded the final corner. Now all that lay between them and the finish line was a ridge of sand, barely wide enough for two hares.

Matte came out of the dunes a half step ahead of Tayla and took the middle of the ridge, making passing almost completely impossible. Seeing no other alternative, Tayla put on an extra burst of speed and tried to force her way past Matte. Her shoulder bumped hard into his, throwing them both off balance. Arms swinging in the running motion, Matte brought his elbow back abnormally quickly, jabbing Tayla in the gut, knocking the wind out of her. She staggered a few paces then collapsed on the ground gasping for air.

Matte crossed the finish line easily, a collective groan going up from the recruits and seniors.

Baen ran out to Tayla, stooping down on one knee to examine her for broken bones. "Do you think you broke anything?" He asked.

"Only my reputation and service at Salamandastron" Tayla choked out between half gasp-half sobs.

"Well, whatever the result, I'm here for you." Baen smiled as he picked up Tayla, carrying her like a baby.

Baen walked slowly back to the area where the hares were gathered around Alanbrow and Matte. "Tayla," spoke the Badger Lord, "You have lost your challenge, and because of it, you are hereby banished from Salamandastron for repeatedly questioning the Badger Lord's rulings."

"Banished?!" Baen yelled. "Banished?! You can't do that to her! She is injured!"

"Baen," started Matte in a deceptively calm voice, "Yelling won't be-"

"Shut up Matte, you bastard!" Baen screamed.

"ENOUGH!" hollered Alanbrow. "Baen, if you care so much, then go with her! But Tayla with not set her paws within Salamandastron ever again! Understood?!"

"Then I will go." Baen replied, all emotion drained from his voice. "If I must, then I shall."

"Me too!" Yelled Rennek!

"Aye!" shouted three recruits

"I'm with you!" shouted Dramin

A chorus of I wills and me toos went up from the recruits, naively believing that their show of camaraderie would change the Badger Lord's mind.

"FINE THEN!" yelled Alanbrow. "As of this point in time, ROOKIES AND RECRUITS WILL NO LONGER BE ALLOWED WITHIN SALAMANDASTRON!"

A shout of anger arose from the recruits. They began to protest, pushing and shoving their way toward Alanbrow. The veterans quickly came in and dealt with them, swiftly boxing in their ears, and then left the bruised recruits in a disorganized heap.

The sun slipped behind the horizon. Then the darkness, matching the color of their bruises, swept them away into the night, leaving no hope for day to ever return.

Dang. That was the cheesiest and most lame ending of a chapter I have ever written. Hmm, my writing is becoming too cliché. Dang.