Screaming and yelling erupted from the streets outside the small café where Vhern and Emila had found themselves sharing a comforting moment. It was quickly followed by sounds of a scuffle and swords clashing. It was that moment that perked Emila’s ears from the droop they had been in.

Breaking the hug they’d been sharing Emila stood and leaped over the table, racing for the street to see what was causing the commotion, Vhern following hot on her heels.

Sliding to a stop whilst passing under the archway that led into the café’s outdoor area, they were both shocked to see Queen's guards stationed in the local area lying splayed out on the ground. Several weren’t moving whilst others appeared to be severely wounded. Emila raced over to the nearest wounded soldier, hoping to help or at least find out what had happened.

Reaching the guard, she found he had several deep wounds opening his midriff and leaving him essentially holding in his insides with his own hands. Taking a glance at the others nearby they too were wounded in such a manner that would almost certainly ensure their demise.

Desperate for information Emila grasped the guard’s shoulders before barking at him. “What happened? Who attacked you? How many were there?” Without thought to give him a chance to answer she continued. “How were they able to overpower you? Where did they go? Did they say anything?”

Reaching his hand out to rest it on Emila’s wrist to stop her shaking the clearly dying soldier any further, Vhern locked his eyes with hers in a moment of understanding, before turning and facing the poor guard again. “Please tell us what you can,” He asked the guard.

Coughing and choking on some blood and struggling to breathe the guard was barely holding on to his life. He lifted one of his arms and grasped Emila by the shoulder before spluttering “Hallum’s guards… So many.. caught us by surprise” With a few more raspy breaths and a look of pure panic on his face the poor soldier went limp in Emila’s arms.

Emila had known that Councilor Hallum had been recruiting his own guards but hadn’t thought it anything more than just a personal desire for more security. Still, to attack soldiers of the Queen’s Guard was tantamount to insanity. Standing up and stepping away from the now deceased guard, Emila had a sudden realization in the direction which Hallum's guards had headed, they were marching towards the jail, towards Yuli.

----X----

Since the guard, Ferran had broken down to Yuli, he hadn’t done anything except sit across the room from her and stare at his sword. Having dumped it on the table when he spoke to her, he had now just been sitting and running his eyes and fingers lightly across the blade. Yuli had attempted to make conversation with him, but he didn’t even move or respond in any way.

Having given up attempting to converse with him she had laid back down on her dusty cot and half-watched him out of curiosity. He would stare at one side of the sword, and run his index finger along the center of the blade before flipping it over and repeating the process.

Yuli had watched him do this, perhaps two dozen or so times, before she had accidentally fallen asleep. Whether she was exhausted and tired from all that had been going on or if it was boredom from having nothing to do, she wasn’t sure.

Waking with a start and a fright from the sudden loud noise Yuli accidentally fell out of her cot and landed with a thump on the dusty floor. Half stunned she looked towards where Ferran had been sitting and he wasn’t there.

Sitting up and looking around she quickly noticed too that her cell door had been left wide open. Had Ferran done it? Did he have to leave in a hurry and forget to close it behind him? Pulling herself up to sit on the cot she tried to shake the confusion from her head.

Was the door being slammed open what had woken her? Or had it been something else? Either way, curiosity had grabbed at her, and she decided to go have a look outside her cell for the first time in the last few days.

She slowly climbed up off her cot and adjusted her shirt, sitting it back on her shoulders properly before slowly walking over to have a look outside.

----X----

Stumbling over a bunch of crates that were haphazardly sprawled in this alleyway, the young rabbit cursed under their breath. They were trying to be as quick as possible, but it wasn’t being made as easy as it could be. The streets and alleys weren’t exactly designed to be quickly maneuvered through.

Cursing under his breath again, he bounced off another stack of crates. Vhern quickly scurried back to his feet. Carrying a sword that Emila had picked up from the street when they’d stepped out of that Café, he felt like he was off balance and was tempted to discard it.

Bursting through a closed gate at the end of another alley Vhern found himself face to face with a crowd of citizens going about their business in this street. They were in his way though and he needed to get moving quickly. He took a deep breath and mustered all the courage that he could, before ordering as loud as he could. “Citizens, Clear the way for the Queen's Guard!”

To his surprise though almost as quickly as he had barked out the order the citizens were scurrying to the sides of the road and making way for him. After a moment of shock, he realized he had to move. He had to reach the jail before Hallum's men.

He wasn’t sure what he would do when he got there of course. He’d have to convince the guards there was danger naturally, but would they listen to him? Just some stray that the guards had taken in, probably out of pity.

And what if he ran into Hallum's men on the way? Obviously, he was going to run instead of trying to be a hero, but could he outrun them? Would they chase him down?

Distracted by his thoughts he almost ran into a child who stepped out in front of him. Twisting and slipping by the child he tried to put his worries to the back of his mind and just focus on making it there first.

----X----

“Deep breaths Emila, deep breaths,” The guard captain said calmly to the other rabbit who was panting and out of breath but continuing to try and tell him something.

Sucking in a few big breaths Emila was finally able to speak a little calmer. “Councilor Hallum's men have attacked a group of the guard, sir! I think they’re heading for the jail!” she was still struggling to catch her breath after sprinting across a good section of the city to reach the guard's barracks.

“Impossible,” the captain said doubtfully. “Councilor Hallum would never do such a thing!” Crossing his arms as he looked at the exhausted rabbit in front of him. “Having his men attack the guard would be insane, not only would he be essentially declaring war on the guard he’d be committing treason!”

Standing up straighter having mostly caught her breath Emila looked at the captain with a stern and serious look. “I understand if you’d doubt me because of my connection to what has occurred recently, but I swear on my career, my life! That Hallum's men attacked a group of our people!” She spoke exasperated.

“If I find you’re lying ma’am, you will be hel-” Before the captain could continue his sentence; another rabbit, a young recruit, stumbled through another door. There was blood streaming down the side of his face from where one of his ears had been severed just above his skull. He also had several other wounds on his arms and chest.

Three other guards in the barracks rushed over to help him and the captain also raced to see what had left the recruit so badly wounded. He’d seen many young recruits be injured by tomfoolery but nothing to this extent.

With the young rabbit now lying on a bed and having his wounds tended to the captain stepped over. “What happened? Tell me truthfully” he ordered.

“We were patrolling around the market area when we were set upon by a group of armed men who looked almost like guards, but their armour was different.” The young rabbit spoke calmly despite his injuries.

“I can hardly believe this,” The captain said with a sigh before heading over to his desk and collecting his weapons. “Queens Guard, every one of you here, Armour up and gather your weapons!” He hollered to all the soldiers in the barracks.

Veni was the captain’s name Emila found out. Having apparently transferred to this area as a retirement plan of his to take it easier after having served on the outskirts of the burrows for much of his life.

The barracks had shot to life with movement as soon as Captain Veni had given his order. Rabbits of all colours and sizes were dashing about the place, grabbing weapons and putting on armour or assisting each other. It was like a hive of angry hornets ready to defend everything with their lives.

----X----

Nothing could have prepared Yuli for the sight that greeted her when she looked out the door to her cell. Just a few short days ago she had never seen a corpse but now she was looking over a narrow hallway littered with a half dozen bodies.

Carefully stepping out into the hallway, Yuli looked over the bodies that were lying there. Queen's guardsmen and people dressed in a different set of armour that she’d never seen before lying dead or dying in awkward positions across the floor.

It was then that she saw a familiar face slumped against the wall. Sitting in a visibly awkward position was Farran, the young guard she had come to know and to feel sympathy for. She could see him cradling a clearly broken arm in his lap, with a trail of blood also running down the side of his face.

Racing over to him Yuli knelt beside him and gave him a gentle shake to see if he was alive. Eliciting a pained grunt from him, Yuli felt a sense of relief that he wasn’t dead even if he wasn’t fully there at the moment.

Now getting a closer look at the injuries that he was sporting Yuli could see the true extent of how badly he was hurt. The bones in his arm were protruding from the skin, he had several minor wounds on his other arm as well as a blackened and swollen eye.

“Do you think you can stand?” She asked him concerned about hanging around here in the hallway.

“Huh, Yuli?” Ferran asked turning his head to look at her.

“Yeah, it’s me,” she said gently. “Here let’s get you up and away from here”

“S-sure” Ferran replied unsteadily attempting to get to his feet.

Helping him to get to his feet and grabbing his sword for him, Yuli guided him into her cell and lied him down on the cot in the back of the room. He wasn’t in a great way, but she wasn’t sure what she could do for him.

Tearing a few strips off the shirt she was wearing she carefully tried to clean up some of the wounds that were still bleeding. It wasn’t much but she wanted to help him even just a little.

----X----

The further into the city they went the more soldiers and signs of fighting they encountered. Bodies of guards and Hallum's men alike were strewn on the streets. The lucky ones who had survived and weren’t too badly injured joined Captain Veni’s group that was marching to the council chambers.

He had ordered a small group of soldiers to go secure the jail and had the rest of them go with him to confront Hallum himself. Emila had wanted to go with the group of guards to the jail, but Veni had asked that she go with him.

They were close to the council’s chamber now, having already passed by the small café where Emila and Vhern had been earlier enjoying a quiet moment, there were more corpses of guards and even a few murdered citizens.

Upon seeing them Veni and Emila both scowled before the prior drew his sword from his sheath and let out a loud snarl, “Weapons ready men!” He growled “We’re gonna make this bastard pay!”

It was then the march moved to almost a run charging up the street and around the corner to the council chambers. Almost all the soldiers here were ready to fight, filled with fury at the deaths of their fellow soldiers and friends.

Entering the courtyard that led into the council chambers the guards were greeted by an almost equally large force of Hallum's men. Gasping in shock Emila looked over those that opposed them. There weren’t just rabbits, there was a mix of creatures opposing them. Wolves and other canids along with some felines and even some deer.

It was then that Emila realized that Yuli had been telling the truth about the antlered stranger! It must have been one of Hallum’s men trying to disguise themselves!

Emila’s thoughts were interrupted by laughter from above them on the balcony of the chambers. The almost haunting laughter echoed around the courtyard as Hallum approached the balcony's edge.

“Look at you lot! The so-called Queens Guard. A pathetic excuse for soldiers if ever I saw one,” Hallum mocked. “I didn’t know what to think when my son joined you.” He spat out before continuing “It turned out to be a blessing in disguise of course as I was able to get rid of his pathetic existence easily.”

It all made sense now to Yuli. With the burrows distracted by its first murder in ages and whilst the guard was in disarray and confused by how one of their own was able to be so easily slain, Hallum had planned to seize control with the help of outsiders!

 Emila was now furious; she could feel her blood boiling in rage. This was absolute madness. There was no way that the queen would allow this to happen under her rule. Surely, she would force him to stop. Almost as though he read her thoughts Hallum smiled as he continued his rant.

“There’s no point in fighting us. We’ve already thinned your numbers and you’re outmatched here!” Gesturing past the chambers to the Queen's residence he continued “Nothing you do matters anyway. For your beloved queen, may she rest in peace, has long been dead!”

----X----

Finally approaching the jail Vhern’s heart dropped like an anchor upon seeing the corpses outside the building. Was he too late? Had he failed?! He had to find out.

Kneeling and checking on the guards outside the jail it was clear that none of them had survived the onslaught and those that may have appeared to have been finished off after. Stepping over the corpses and gear left sprawled about he carefully made his way deeper into the jail hoping that he wasn’t too late yet.

Creeping deeper into the jail, Vhern hoped he wouldn’t run into any of Hallum's men. Every step of the way was littered with more dead soldiers and even some civilians who were there. Apparently, Hallum's men didn’t care who they killed.

Having made it to the cell section Vhern found surprisingly fewer corpses. Apparently, few of Hallum's men had made it this far. The lack of Queen's guards here too suggested that they’d potentially fought til the bitter end.

Walking past one of the open cells Vhern saw a rabbit lying haphazardly in the corner of the cell. Fearing the worst Vhern dashed into the room and had to dive to miss an awkwardly swung sword.

Turning and raising his sword to face his attacker, Vhern was shocked to be facing a young female rabbit who was crying and clearly didn’t know what she was doing. If that wasn’t enough to tell it was Yuli, the clothes marked prisoner that were near shredded now were.

Dropping his sword and dodging another swing Vhern raised his arms to signify that he wasn’t going to harm her. Yuli was apparently too unfocused to pay enough attention to him and continued to swing a few more times.

With a well-timed move, he shifted himself past the blade and managed to grab Yulis's hand that had a grip on the sword.

“Yuli!” he called out hoping to snap her back to senses. “Your Aunt sent me! Emila sent me to help you.” He pleaded.

Dropping the sword Yuli immediately pulled Vhern into a hug whilst crying her eyes out. Unsure of what else to do Vhern held onto Yuli whilst trying to comfort her as best he could.

Whilst waiting for her to calm down Vhern took a moment to observe the scene in her cell. There was a single body lain in her cell dressed in the same gear as Hallum's men. A deer by the looks of what Vhern could guess by the antlers he could see.

In the corner not far from the deer was a young rabbit guard. Blood soaked his armour and his fur. Staining what looked to be once white fur red. The main discernible difference being a splotch of black from their left eye to their nose. Streaks ran down from the vacant hollow eyes of the dead rabbit as though he had been crying in his final moments.

Vhern’s attention was torn from the view as he heard footsteps approaching. Quickly gathering his sword from where he had dropped it, he grabbed Yuli’s hand and led her to the door.

“We need to get out of here, and quickly. There’s a back exit that only the Queen's guard or jail escapees know about. We’re going to use that. Then Emila wants us to return to your house and wait for her there.”

----X----

Things had gone from bad to worse, quickly. As soon as Hallum had told his men to attack the guards had been on the back foot. They had been outnumbered and quickly had been encircled in that damned courtyard.

Hallum's men were cutting everyone down and Emila had seen some of the carnivores in his troops using their teeth and claws like savages. Emila herself had been bitten on the arm before she had managed to flee.

She had used another dying guard as a shield to break through and escape the courtyard. She felt horrible for leaving the others to die and for using that poor bunny as a flesh shield, but she had to get to Yuli and Vhern. She couldn’t leave him here either.

Deciding to take a shortcut to get to Yuli’s house quicker, Emila cut through an alley she knew came out right near the house. She hadn’t used it in years but now time was against them. It was only once she stumbled on a crate and had to regain her balance near the turn in the alley, she realized this is where it had happened.

This is where it all began for them. When Yuli was an accidental witness then a suspect in Hallum's murder of his son. Why did Yuli decide to take this alley that day? Why was there a lone guard in here?

Shaking those thoughts from her head Emila pressed on out of the alley and across the street practically breaking through the door of Yuli’s house.

Once inside she was, as expected greeted by a shocked Yuli and Vhern. The latter held his sword towards her as if prepared for trouble. Vhern soon lowered the sword when he realized who it was as Yuli raced over and hugged Emila before breaking out in tears again.

Having managed to calm Yuli enough to get her to let go Emila moved and hugged Vhern too. She was just as glad to see he was alright as Yuli was. He was a comforting presence to her after all.

Emila then spoke to them, “We’re leaving, leaving the burrows. We’re going to have to find somewhere else to go. I’m sure once Hallum’s finished with the main guard force he’s going to find what is left and kill them too.”

“I’ll help you guys get out,” Vhern replied, “It’s the least I can do for you.”

Turning to look at Vhern again Emila grabbed him gently.

“I want you to come with us, please,” She almost sounded like she was begging him.

“It’s settled then,” Vhern said standing and looking at them both. “I know a way to the edge of the burrows that strays use to avoid getting into trouble with the guard, we can use that.”

Gathering what they could quickly get from Yuli’s house Vhern and Emila packed a few bags with essentials whilst letting Yuli come to terms with her whole life being torn away.

Once nighttime had come, they slipped from Yuli’s house and quickly found the path that Vhern had spoken about. It wasn’t an easy walk, but they managed to work their way along the path.

Reaching the end, they found the path overlooked the city. From their position, they could see that chaos had started to unfold. Several fires had broken out with screaming and yelling being heard all the way up where they were.

Taking one last look over the city they all had called home up until now, they left whatever may be behind, and started into a new life.