Well, it's been forever since I worked on this. I ended up writing more than I have written for my current short story, an in less time, lol. Umm... Feedback would be appreciated!

I took a few heavy breaths, doing my best to calm my racing mind and anxious nerves. It had been a few years since I’d been in such a large fray, and even that wasn’t as immense as this, but I could do this. This was what I'd trained for almost my entire life, what I’d fought and worked for every day. I had everything under control. Totally.

I’d always been confident, with an equal share of bravado and skill. I’d always just faced things, took them head-on, dragged them to the ground, blew them up. To me, battles had just been another challenge, a chance to hone my skills, a chance to potentially free my people.

Something about today was different, however. My feet felt heavy, and my heart full of dread; this fight would not end well, and that was bothering me. “Hey, Fleck, have you seen Pacer?” Andrew hollered across the plateau. I thought I detected a hoarse rasp in his voice that normally wasn’t there.

“Not since the briefing earlier.” I replied, trying to remember if I'd seen him on the plateau.

“It’s not like him to be late.” Andrew replied, coughing. I just felt like giving up- Lord Rake was right, something had happened to Pacer. I shook my head to clear it, this day just couldn’t get any worse, but i was expecting it to. My introversion pressed against my mind, and I suddenly felt overwhelmed and pressed backwards, trapped. This was all out of my hands, out of my control. But everything was always in the Maker’s control. I prayed silently and quickly, seeking strength and courage.

It was tense on the plateau for several long minutes. A few teams of rabbits stood by the catapults, awaiting orders to launch the deadly stones into the air. The rest tested their bowstrings again, nervously fidgeting with their quivers. I wanted to cheer them up, but right now wasn’t the best time for fancy before battle speeches.

I moved through the ranks, offering encouragement where possible, until I stood by the tunnel trap door leading into the mountain below. I was nervous too, and that wasn’t a normal pre-battle emotion. I was supposed to be brave, confident. That was my job, for goodness’ sakes.

I was extremely surprised when a Terrelain soldier burst out of the official tunnel a few feet away, but I immediately prepared for any combat. Fearing the worst, I narrowed my eyes threateningly (Bastille would say idiotically) and drew my sword.

The guard wasted no time springing on me, probably because looked like an easily conquered idiot. Unfortunately for him, he was terrible at sword fighting, and I was quick to knock his blade from his hands. One of his comrades wrestled my sword (I'm not saying I gave it up easily- he retreated badly wounded) from my grip and cast it aside with a clatter. With my arms in a defensive position, there was no way I could draw any daggers, and I was terrible in fist fights.

I mean, you’re always terrible at fistfights when your opponent is a six foot tall half-elf with powerful fists. The two soldiers began to pummel me with fists, but there’s something amazing about being a short, somewhat stocky lop warrior with now only one ear. I curled into a ball and squeezed through the space between them, springing onto a nearby rock to gain higher ground.

Other rabbits around me were engaged in deadly fights as well, so at least I wasn't making a fool of myself up here. I spread my feet a good length apart and prepared myself for the soldiers first blows. I hit one on the side of his head, knocking him unconscious. The other was a bit more scrappy, and extremely huge. I flung myself from the rock, grabbing the Terrelain in a tight headlock.

I was absolutely certain I looked like an enormous fool, dangling from the neck of my enemies. I was too short for this, honestly.

“Fleck! Let go!” Bastille screamed, running towards me. I didn’t have to let go, because the soldier slung me against the side of the tunnel roughly. She grabbed the buck’s tunic, and never breaking her stride, leaped over the edge of the cliff, engaging her glider and letting the soldier drop.

Andrew offered me his hand, which I blindly took. “We’re almost defeated.” He said sadly, looking into my eyes. He was brokenhearted and hopeless at this point. I recovered my sword from the ground, then shook my head.”I’m not letting them take this plateau.”

“But those two soldiers nearly killed you.”

“I’ve had closer escapes.” I said, grinning. I had barely a scrape, just a torn lip from a singular fist. I had totally wanted that hit to land. All part of my plan, you see. I charged forward once more, meeting blades with a buck who seemed almost ancient. There was a deafening clash of steel on steel and the screams of those around me.

The buck’s hood fell back and, like a knife, I felt a cold stab of terror twist in my stomach. I was jousting Tameth Seer! Angrily, I fought onward, despite his multiple attacks on my mind. I’d fought him before and won, but something was different now. I fought back furiously, surrounded by a bitter cloud of dust.

Older and larger, Tameth gained the upper ground, pushing me backwards. This was the first time I'd felt true fear in a battle for years, and something twisted further inside of me. Maybe I was a coward. Without thinking, I broke off from Tameth, leaping onto a stack of towering rocks. My troops were outnumbered, and I was the last piece in this battle. I figured I needed to even out the odds a bit.

I pulled a blastpowder stick from my sleeve (yes, i keep explosives in my sleeve, who doesn’t?), lit the fuse, and threw it into the fray. It didn’t have that much firepower, and it was something I used whenever Skyward Flight needed a distraction, which was often. No one would get hurt in the blast, at least that’s what I hoped.

When that was done (and I'd spent a single breath enjoying the explosion), I jumped off the rocks, resuming my joust with Tameth. He burst through the barrier in my mind and tried to fiddle with me, but I fought back, reaching into his and doing my own damage.

At the last minute, he flung me back, over the edge of the cliff. I cursed (You would too if you were about to die by falling off a cliff) and slammed my sword into the rock. It held, but I was far enough down that… Well… There was no way I could hold on forever, and fighting in a cloak wasn’t my forte, so I didn't have my glider.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) for me, I wasn't forgotten. Lord Rake had emerged sometime in the eminent chaos my explosion had created, and he was hasty to pull me from my precarious hold on the cliffside. I left my sword in the rock (Just in case), gave him a quick grin, and looked at the plateau. “Was that your explosion?” Lord Rake asked me, giving me a slight glare.

I shrugged. “At least it wasn’t that deadly.”

He rolled his eyes. “I told you to be more careful with your explosives.”

“I said I'd try, and I did.” I replied, catching my breath and running back towards the hopeless fight. Someone shoved me to the ground, stuck their foot on my back, and tied my arms behind me. I had been caught, and that was most unfortunate. I decided to play the wounded card (I had cracked several ribs being tossed against the wall, and they must have broken further on the cliff. I hadn’t noticed them, due to adrenaline, but now I realized I had about four fractured ribs. How lovely. He rolled up my sleeves and removed about two distractions, three actually harmful explosives, four daggers, and what remained of some waybread from my latest escapade. The Terrelain looked at me like he thought i’d come out of a place for the crazy. I shrugged. Hey, it wasn’t normal anywhere, but at least it wasn’t unheard of. This guy took such a simple thing very far out into the water.

“Get on yer feet, boy.” The guard growled in an extremely threatening tone that sent shivers down my spine.

“I... I kinda can’t.”

“What do you mean, you kinda can’t?”

“I... I think I broke some ribs.” This was honestly way overdramatized- I'd broken ribs at least once before, and it wasn’t that bad, considering other types of injuries that were possible in a battle. He grunted, picking me up like a sack of potatoes and flinging me over his right shoulder (I didn’t know I was that small), and in one last desperate escape attempt I kicked him in the neck with my powerful feet, forcing him to drop me to the ground. I rolled a few paces, wincing slightly as I slammed into a rock with my injured rib cage. I drew a very small dagger (secretly, it was a sharpened letter-opener) from my shirt-collar with my teeth, carefully yet quickly sawing my ropes with a single slice.

Desperately, I took the dagger from my mouth and threw it at the rabbit tying Lord Rake in tight ropes. It sunk deep into his leg and he whirled around furiously. In anguish, I realized I had stabbed Garten Longtreader in the leg. Any more fuss from me, and I would certainly never see another sunrise. He already hated me, and I wasn't in the mood for any of this taunts. I was too tired to fight back as some Terrelain soldiers re-tied my bindings ( this time tighter) and led me to the wall. One of the bucks held a nocked bow to my throat as a threat. I didn’t even bother pushing Tameth Seer out of my mind when he barged in uninvited.

For all he knew, I was a typical rabbit who shared a tiny bit of the same seer power he had. That, however, was not true. I was a trained warrior who, in fact, was potentially more powerful than he was. And I had a dangerous, probably idiotic, plan. Tameth had better watch out, because dealing with me was like handling a bomb. Except much, much less avoidable.

Hope ya'll enjoyed! Next chapter soon!

-Fleck