BS4's Finale!
Maplepaw and Briar Rose were the only remaining players; the rest had been laid into their graves. Some were buried in a shallow grave, others in the waters of the river near by, yet others at the bottom of the cliff's great heights, and then there were the bodiless, the eaten, and the disappeared and what it all came down to....it all came down to two squirrels, standing opposite a long, rickety bridge spanning the great and unknown depths of a crevasse, a deep gorge, a rift in the world’s great land. Maplepaw and Briar Rose were the only remaining players; the rest had been laid into their graves. Some were buried in a shallow grave, others in the waters of the river near by, yet others at the bottom of the cliff's great heights, and then there were the bodiless, the eaten, and the disappeared and what it all came down to....it all came down to two squirrels, standing opposite a long, rickety bridge spanning the great and unknown depths of a crevasse, a deep gorge, a rift in the world’s great land.
What for? The question arises. What is worth the lives of so many creatures? What could make goodbeasts turn, alliances fade, and fortunes wither? The answer is simple, the crown, the winner would become the ultimate champion of yet another bloody war, full of treachery and deceit like others gone past, and for the prize. The prize of points would be bestowed greatly on one, while a mere fraction would be given to the loser, the corpse.
And so the squirrels reached the bridge, at the end of the day, the sun near its zenith. It could all end in a moment. The squirrels shielded their eyes from the harsh glaring light, shining so brightly as it merged with the western horizon. So the squirrels did approach.
Maplepaw held her vile crossbow in her paws, one gripping the crossbeam where the arrow had been loaded, the other paw clasped firmly around the bow’s trigger, that which could snuff out her enemy’s life, and yet clasped to her wrists were the blade claws, with edges so keen they could slice a hare, in a flick she could deploy them at will, extending over her paw’s little fingers like some mechanical beast.
Briar Rose stood just alike, on the bridge’s north side. The river behind her, the enemy before her, Briar clasped her paralyzing crossbow just as her enemy had. Tied about a sash at her waist was her bolas, entrusted to her by a long past friend. Thrust through the opposite side of her sash was her scimitar, which gleamed in the sun’s dying light.
It was a stand still, neither would move, lest the other clip the bridge’s only support, two ropes, sending her enemy plummeting to a death in depths unknown below. Alas, nobeast moved paw, nobeast moved foot, until in some joint consensus, the two both emerged.
The squirrels both stepped onto the bridge, at an equal pace, and met in the center. They looked at each other, straight in the eyes, and say themselves in their enemy’s eyes. A reflection it was, in the black of their eyes, they looked to themselves, and hoped they’d survive.
Suddenly, a clash, brought on by Maplepaw’s mercenary. Neckbit the rat had been hidden aside through this whole ordeal, when he shot his crossbow’s arrow true.
Briar was quick on her paws, and without blinking her eyes, saw the shooter’s arrow in her enemy’s eye. Briar dropped to the rickety boards, and just as she did, the arrow flew skillfully over hear head.
Maplepaw, knowing that if she had moved, her enemy certainly would have known the danger at hand, had not ducked. She was wily in battle, and what was to fear, as long as she did not give away her mercenary’s shot, he could not miss, a ranger with an accurate bow, that is. She did not account for what Briar Rose did, but in a flick of her paw, the arrow was severed, by her keenest blade claw.
The battle quickly erupted; the stand still had ended. Briar Rose shot an arrow while flat on her back, that missed Neckbit the ranger, by a hair and a half. The ranger jumped high, and fired again, but his shot was knocked of course, by the bolas that wrapped about his paws.
The arrow then severed a rope on the bridge! The bridge turned askew, parallel to the depths unknown below. Both squirrels held on to the bridge for dear life, as Maplepaw’s mercenary was disfigured for life. For, now you see, the bola’s force crushed Neckbit’s paw with great ease. The ranger clambered about in great pain, lost his footing and fell into the earth’s great bane.
Maplepaw was the first to recover, and with a slash of her blade claws, the other rope she did sever. The bridge swung full force, heading to the crevasse’s rocky wall. Maplepaw was quick, but not quick enough, as the bridge hit the rocks, she had not yet climbed up.
The impact rocked both squirrels, and Briar Rose held on, one paw saving her from ultimate death. Maplepaw saw the advantage was hers, if she could get to the top and sever the ropes from this side, Briar Rose would be loss to the abyss far below.
So Maplepaw climbed like a squirrel only can. Briar Rose, in seeing her demise drawing near, had to climb to the top, or else make her enemy stop.
Briar Rose climbed with the strength of desperation, and caught her enemy, on the footpaw. Maplepaw was caught off guard by this surge of power, and was almost thrown off, but quickly stabled herself and tried to shake her opponent off. Briar Rose held on for dear life, her only refuge, the foot Maplepaw flailed in the air.
Briar Rose then attempted a trick, to save her life and put and end to her strife. The squirrel drew her scimitar, just once more, with her arm now wrapped about Maplepaw’s foot in a good hold. Briar then grabbed for a rope, with one of her paws, holding her scimitar in the hand of the arm that was retaining her hold on Maplepaw. She grappled with the rope, trying to gain a hold, as Maplepaw struggled to free herself of her attacker, so bold.
Briar Rose could not get a good grip, and so when one of the ropes started to rip she flailed out in panic, and in a move so unseen, severed Maplepaw’s foot, so now she was free.
Briar Rose fell and grasped at out for anything, as she held only Maplepaw’s footpaw in her paw’s grip. Alas her enemy had used one last trick, while struggling to free her own foot, Maplepaw had poured her healing potions’ contents onto the rope down below.
So as Briar Rose grasped for anything to halt her fall, the rope slipped through her hands, the healing oil’s purpose and cause. Maplepaw had her opponent outwit, and waved as her foot fell, and Briar with it.