Thanks to everyone who read my first chapter, and especially to those who reviewed. I was very pleased to see ferretWARLORD actually liked my story. By the way, I sort of lied in the description. There will be one or two story arcs, but they'll be very small. Anywho, time for part 2!

As the sun began to lower, Lupus was still on the trail of her quarry. Well, technically, she wasn't really on the trail, since she lost his trail a while back, but she knew he was headed north, and she hoped she could pick up his trail once again. Her thoughts wandered back to the creature she met earlier, the one who threw fruit at her. She scowled. He must have been daft. Yeah, that's it.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed a thin trail of smoke coming from the east. It was just barely noticeable, probably the smoldering remains of a fire. Lupus sprinted toward the fire, hoping that it belongs to the beast she's after.

Once the camp was in sight, she slowed down, alert for signs of activity in the camp. Looking left and right, she decided that it was abandoned. She quietly scanned the camp for something that would betray her quarry's direction. As she quietly searched, a voice to her right made her heart stop.

"Hey! What are you doin' poking aroun' there?"

Lupus slowly looked up, cursing her bad luck. She knew before she saw the hulking wildcat that it was her target, Lauandur.

"Git your paws up and 'trow down any weapons you got." Lupus obliged, unbuckling the small hilt holding her dagger. Lauandur clarified: "All your weapons." She begrudgingly complied, dropping a knife hidden under her cloak, and a small bag containing nightshade berries, for a possible silent murder. Lauandur carefully took the small pile , and retreated to his former position. "Now," he said, "what are you doing aroun' here?"

Lupus replied, "I think you know why I'm here. I'll have you know that my father is a generous beast, but he doesn't take kindly to those who abuse the money entrusted to them."

Lauandur snarled, "You don' understand! I owed a debt to the chieftain of that clan of weasels. They 'ad to see their gold that day. Or else," Lauandur drew a claw in front of his neck and imitated the sound of a beheading. "Thankfully, your father was generous enough to entrust me with all that I needed, and I'm sure your father would trade a little bit o' shiny coins to keep 'is good friend safe, eh?"

Lupus replied sharply, "You are no longer a friend of my father. He expects his friends to keep their promises."

"That makes me his enemy, right? And I know what your father does with his enemies." Lupus' blood ran cold. Lauandur knew what she came here for. The brawny wildcat unsheathed a beautiful broadsword, and drew mock pity. "I'm afraid I can't let you kill me, Lupus. I'm a busy beast. I've got important things to do."

Lupus shifted her eyes to and fro for a possible escape. To her left, she saw a river in the distance. That wouldn't do, she wasn't a very good swimmer, and the water looked swift, shooting small froths of foam here and there. As she darted her eyes to the right, an arrow suddenly zipped through past her head ad buried itself in Lauandur's thigh. The Wildcat screeched in pain and grasped his leg. Without warning, a huge paw grasped her shoulder and pulled her behind the tree. Before she could even react, she was swept up into the arms of a large beast. Frightened, she looked at the face of her savior, and gaped as she recognized a familiar striped muzzle.

"You!" she exclaimed in disbelief.

Miles smiled. "Yes, me." Miles looked over his shoulder at Lauandur, who was currently scooting towards a tree trunk, amid swears. "We'd better leave here." Miles commented. Before Lupus could object, they took off through the forest.

Badgers aren't very fast runners, but for his species, he was fairly quick, especially considering his precious burden. As Miles ran through the forest, Lupus noticed the bow on Miles' back. She wondered how a juvenile prankster- living in peace, it seemed- would be good with a bow. Not to mention how he remained unseen by her wildcat charge (In actuality, Miles was aiming for Lauandur's knee, but he wasn't about to set the record straight). Miles fast approached a ditch, just over a full stride-length across. Miles sped over the ditch, extending his stride to make it over. An audible "snap" was heard, followed by a grunt of pain from Miles. He fell rather clumsily on the opposite bed of the former creek. Lupus sat up in pain, having but dumped on the ground after reaching the other side. She warily checked herself just to make sure she was okay. There was only a few scrapes (honey badgers have naturally thick skin, there was no blood) Other than that and a few bruises, Lupus was completely fine. She looked over at Miles who was currently on his knees, clutching his groin.

Miles looked up and noticed Lupus looking at him in disbelief and confusion. He smiled sheepishly and explained, "Dislocated groin." He had over-extended his stride in the leap over the creekbed. Lupus merely put her face in her paw. Was this really the same beast she first met earlier today? First he throws an apple at her, then saves her, and is finally brought to his knees in an embarrassing fashion.

Something clicked in Lupus' brain. Something she should have thought about long when she first noticed Miles. Lupus snapped the branch off a nearby tree and began smacking Miles over the head. "WHY. WERE. YOU. FOLLOWING. MEEE?!", Punctuating each word with a smack over his head.

Miles threw up his hand to stop raining blows. "I didn't really mean any harm. (ow) but I was just bored. (ow)"

Lupus flung the branch away. "That's not an excuse, you… buffoon!"

Miles looked down in shame. "I know…"

Lupus hadn't really expected Miles to give up without a fight. She sighed and sat down. She couldn't go back to her father without Lauandur's body. He'd probably be gone by now, but… with an arrow wound in his thigh, he couldn't be far, and even without her weapons, she could easily snuff him out now. She looked around, indecisive, then carefully jumped the ditch, fully intending to face him again.

Miles walked towards her, "You aren't leaving, are you?"

Lupus didn't answer.

Miles figured that she didn't want him around anymore. Following her again would just mean another beating. He considered giving her his utility knife just in case, but decided against it, as he didn't want to get involved with the conflict between Lupus and that huge wildcat. Miles wasn't even sure who- if either of them- was in the right. Miles started back home, setting a brisk pace as the sun was setting, and Miles did not want to be caught in Mossflower at night. Miles' right paw wandered to his head to assess the damage. There were a few lumps, and Miles wandered what kind of blow it took to receive brain damage. He chuckled slightly. He knew (or, at least liked to say to himself) that any brains he ever had were lost long ago. Finding the path a few minutes later, he looked to his right and just barely saw the top of the belltower for Redwall Abbey, hidden between two treetops. It occurred to Miles that he hasn't visited his Redwall friends in almost a season, even though he promised himself (and others) that he would visit more often. Miles recalled any chores he might have tomorrow that he would need to do. He counted a total of 7 things that needed to be done on his fingers. He looked at them, then figured his responsibilities could wait another day or so. He knew for a fact that the abbeydwellers would be having their Fall Harvest Feast soon, and he didn't want to miss it.

Miles looked towards the distant abbey decisively. He would set out for Redwall tomorrow to enjoy one of their legendary feasts.

There it is, chapter 2. Lupus is gone for now, but we'll see her again sometime. I got the idea for Miles' next activity off the top of my head, which wasn't hard since Thanksgiving is coming up. It will be hard to make up enough characters for the feast, so I would appreciate it if anyone would PM me with any character ideas, or even your own characters, I would appreciate it. I know "buffoon" is a really lame insult, but I can hardly think of any of those poetic insults Jacques uses.

Question of the day: What do you want to see in the Fall Harvest Feast?