Hello all!!! Here is the first chapter hope you guys enjoy and feedback would be so great!!!!

Kayti

He stood on a hill overlooking the wood and sprawling warren before him. It had been a long time since he had been near this many rabbits. First Warren was rebuilt and even better than before. In the distant trees he could just make out, what passing travelers had referred to as Newcity, the home of the king and queen. The land between him and First Warren was no longer black but green with grass and low shrubs. Flowers bloomed, trees grew tall, and life was continuing on. It was beautiful, and it was free. He smiled at the life that had come back to this once desolate spot. He was glad things had turned out the way they did. It was much better than anything he had envisioned. He realized now that what he had wanted was not freedom but simply survival. But the king and his warriors had brought both. True, much had been lost in the final battle, he didn’t even know half of it and wouldn’t know it all till he talked to the king, but the peace around him was beautiful.

He shifted his weight on his crutches, almost stumbling. A hand grabbed his arm and steadied him. “Are you sure you’re up to this? I still think we should wait; let you get stronger.”

He looked into the face of his brown-furred companion. “Wait, we’ve been waiting for years. As for me getting stronger, I think I’m as strong as I’m going to get. I will never regain what I once had, but that is good. It will keep me in check in the future and remind me what love of one’s self can do.” He looked down at his almost useless legs. To think he used to bound through trees, climb and swing from ropes, and wield a sword. He sighed; those were all things he was no longer able to do. But it was all his own fault. His treachery had brought him here; it served him right.

“But…”

“Pacer, it’s time for us to face our past. We did things we regret, and it's time we faced them and moved on with our lives. We can’t change the past but, from what I have heard, our future can be better. The king has already forgiven Prince Kylen, and I hope I have a chance at forgiveness as well. Though unlike Kylen, I was not being used and manipulated. I knew what I was doing, and I did it anyway. I did bad things for wrong reasons, and it's time to pay for those wrongs.” He took a deep breath and hobbled a step on his crutches.

“I guess you’re right, though I fear what they will think of me. I ran, when they needed me, I ran. How can they forgive that? I was a coward.” Pacer looked at him, and something in his heart stirred.

He smiled at the tall, brown rabbit who had patiently taken care of him all these years. “Pacer, of the two of us, you stand the best chance of being forgiven, and I am sure you will be. I, on the other hand, betrayed them when they needed me. I left my friends to die on the battlefield while I tried to save my own hide by turning over our Princess to Morbin. No, I don’t think I can be forgiven, and to top it off, I am a disgrace to my family name.” He hung his head as he thought of the legacy his father and grandfather had left him. They had been proud to die for the king. Their names were legendary, and they had given him that name as well. And he the ungrateful wretch that he was had dragged it through the mud.

He couldn’t think of it without cringing. What had he done? He shook his head and started forward. He would go to Newcity first and address the king, offer his apology. If forgiven, he would then seek out his old friends and companions from his unit and ask their forgiveness as well. But he could not face them right now, not till he had asked the king to rightly punish him. He did not deserve the peace that their hands had brought. He should have died those years ago when he had fallen. But Pacer had saved him.

He looked toward Pacer, sometimes, he didn’t know whether to be grateful to the buck for saving his life or to hate him. He had to live with constant pain, both physical and emotional. He had to deal with what he had done, and every day he regretted his actions. He should have died, but he hadn’t, so maybe there was more for him to do yet. There had to be some purpose in his survival, for he was truly a dead man walking. But even though his physical body had healed mostly, on the inside he still felt dead.