Tyra had been waiting since midmorning for her opponent to arrive for battle. Crouched along the Mossflower River, obscured by a bush, the hare had been waiting several hours when her opponent finally arrived.
An arrow pierced the air, just to the left of the hare. She had not expected the attack from behind. Spinning, the hare leapt over another incoming arrow, this time drawing out her own crossbow and firing several arrows in return.
Tyra fled as she fired her arrows, ducking several of Treeclimber’s volleys as they came in a bit high. Suddenly, a shriek ripped through the air and a raven dove out of the sky towards the hare.
Firing an arrow, the hare stumbled backwards in surprise. The equally surprised raven took the arrow to the leg and bowled right into the hare. The raven got up and began slashing out with his razor sharp beak, snapping at the hare. With a kick, Tyra sent the raven tail over beak.
Tyra looked at her now tattered leather armor, but not damage had come to her. Another arrow rent the air, this one striking the hare in her left leg. Treeclimber smiled with pride as her arrow dropped her adversary to her knees.
Tyra quickly snapped the arrow off, leaving the tip in to keep blood loss minimal. She deftly rolled aside as another arrow came in and stowed her crossbow in her satchel as the raven swooped in again.
With a swipe of the paw, Tyra threw a set of deadly knives at the raven as it came at her. Two missed, but the third found its mark, burying its sharp blade into the raven’s right shoulder.
The raven took a sharp dive, the knife had stolen his flying abilities, and he’d have to battle on the ground. This time Treeclimber shot four arrows; the hare dodged the first two, but took the third to the left leg once again, as the fourth flew overhead. The hare snapped the arrow off once more, this time she took her crossbow out again.
With a screech, the raven stumbled out of some brush and onto Tyra. The raven slashed out mercilessly with his bladed talons as the hare struggled to get him off her. With a hit from her crossbow, she sent the raven flying just as two arrows came flying in.
Tyra dodged both arrows this time and took aim at her zealous adversary. She let loose five arrows. Treeclimber saw the arrows coming in, but was inadequately protected as she had wandered out of cover for a better shot as her raven had occupied the hare until presently.
The squirrel deftly leapt up to a branch above her, but her crossbow had been hit. The squirrel attempted to fire an arrow in return, but it would not fire, the hare’s arrow had broken the crossbow.
The raven was once again tormenting the hare on the ground, this time she fled as she changed weapons. Glancing over her shoulders, Tyra saw the raven was even slower on the ground. The raven’s injured leg and being unused to ground travel caused him to actually lose ground against the hare with her injured leg.
Retrieving her scimitar from her satchel, Tyra glanced back once more. To her shock, the hare was catapulted tail over head into the air. Treeclimber had laid a rope trap before the battle had started. That’s what took her so long to arrive for the battle.
The only thing that hadn’t gone to plan for Treeclimber was the raven’s injury. He would’ve ripped the hare to shreds as she hung upside down, well above the ground below. The raven could not reach the hare as things were, but Tyra knew that Treeclimber would be coming soon, and she could reach her. With a slash from her diamond-edged sharp scimitar, Tyra released herself from the trap.
With a thud, Tyra landed on the ground, and immediately the raven was upon her. Slashing and ripping with claw and beak, the raven ravaged the hare just as Treeclimber arrived on the scene. The squirrel leapt from the trees and drew her saber.
Just then, Tyra kicked out, sending the raven flying, right into Treeclimber. The squirrel gave a gasp of shock as the raven squawked his last. Treeclimber had impaled her own mercenary on her blade.
Withdrawing her bloodstained saber from her ally, Treeclimber gave chase to her opponent. Tyra had fled once she kicked the raven and did not know of the bird’s death. She had used her only healing potion as she fled, her grievous wounds inflicted by the bird would have been too much had she waited any longer.
Glancing over her shoulders, Tyra saw her opponent gaining on her. Tyra had withdrawn the arrow tips from her legs when she used her healing potion, but the ground was getting much rockier, harder for Tyra to travel. Treeclimber on the other hand continued her pursuit from the trees, gaining ground on her fleeing opponent.
Tyra glanced over her shoulder once more, and disappeared. Treeclimber stopped her pursuit and blinked. Had her eyes deceived her? Where did the hare go? The squirrel leapt down from her tree perch to investigate.
Treeclimber walked over to where her opponent had last been and grinned smugly as she saw the hole in the ground. Smiling knowingly, the squirrel took a few steps farther, directly onto the ridge of the old quarry. Tyra had fallen down a snake hole!
Had Treeclimber gone a few trees farther, she would have seen the quarry from the elevated location. The squirrel looked down at the quarry below, the red stones gleaming in the noontime sun.
In a flash a paw reached up over the quarry ledge and grabbed onto Treeclimber’s footpaw. The squirrel tried to retract her footpaw, but the creature had a firm grip, and had far more weight. With a tug, Tyra brought her opponent over the edge of the quarry, sending the two tumbling down its rocky side.
Red dust filled the air and two creatures lay unmoving at the bottom of the quarry, bloodied and covered in the red dust. Coughing soon became apparent through the cloud of red dust. Then another creature began coughing, both had survived the fall.
An arrow pierced the air, heading in the direction of the first cough. Tyra’s face was a picture of shock as an arrow thudded deep into her armor and into her chest. After the fall the contents of the creatures’ satchels must have been emptied unto the quarry floor. Treeclimber had picked up her crossbow.
Withdrawing the arrow, Tyra grinned. She too had taken something, and it could not have been more timely. Treeclimber’s lone healing potion was in Tyra’s paws. Using the potion quickly, the hare smiled through the red dust as her scratches and cuts from the fall, along with the arrow’s damage healed. Somewhere in the dust was a squirrel, bleeding profusely from a harrowing fall. What she did not know is that Treeclimber was a healer, and had healed herself immediately after the fall.
The coughing had stopped, and neither creature knew where the other was. They wandered the red fog cluelessly, but prepared for anything. Anything that is, but what happened. An ominous hissing filled the air around both creatures, and then the dust cleared.
Treeclimber and Tyra stood less than a dozen yards from each other, but each had their backs turned to the other, facing the quarry walls and a half dozen adders. Both creatures retreated backwards into the center of the quarry, retreating from the adders they could see. With a jolt, the two creatures stumbled into each other. Spinning about to face each other, blade clashed against blade. It was then that the first adder struck.
With a hiss, a large adder propelled himself from his burrow in the quarry, heading for both creatures with monstrous speed. The hare and the squirrel were parrying thrust with thrust as the adder came in for the attack. The two creatures leapt as the adder came in low, and the two spun their swords downward in an arc, burying their blades deep within the adder’s skull.
Vicious hissing filled the air as the two combatants halted their fighting and looked about themselves. All told, there were eleven adders left, and the two creatures were surrounded.
“Listen Tyra, neither of us will get out alive if we don’t work together. There’s eleven of them and two of us. All we have to do is get over the quarry ledge and we’re home free."
“Right, and if you look over there, it seems to be the easiest route up, not too steep. If we break for that exit we’ll have to take out that adder, and that one over there." Tyra motioned with her paw as she spoke to the squirrel.
“Okay, let’s do this!" With that, the squirrel and hare launched into battle side by side. The two ran up the quarry wall, and just as predicted, the two nearest adders tried to block their exit.
Taking the one on the left, Treeclimber vaulted into the air and just evaded the powerful coils of the adder. Landing beside the adder’s head, Treeclimber spun around and straddled the massive adder’s neck, safe from the adder’s poisonous fangs. With one swift downward thrust, Treeclimber finished off the first adder.
Tyra and her scimitar were more than a match for the second adder. This adder was a bit smaller and tried attacking the hare with its fangs. With a swift upward slash, the hare buried her blade in the roof of the adder’s mouth, and quickly withdrew it before the adder closed its mouth for the last time.
Stumbling up the quarry wall, Tyra was above Treeclimber as her battle was quicker. The hare grinned wickedly as she kicked rocks down the quarry wall at Treeclimber.
The squirrel was an expert climber and could not be easily deterred by the falling rocks, despite the size of many of the falling rocks. The adders were in close pursuit, but the rocks forced them to take a harder route.
Treeclimber noticed that Tyra was nearly to the ridge, so she withdrew the crossbow she had taken during the fall from her satchel and fired one arrow. It was a good shot.
The hare went rigid with shock, she had forgotten about the crossbow Treeclimber had taken from her. Tyra’s leg went dead as the arrow struck it, causing the hare to lose her footing and slip downward.
Tyra arrested her fall, but it was the wrong place to stop. Treeclimber smiled menacingly as she looked at the hare, a paw’s stretch away. “So, you would feed me to the snakes would you? Let me return the favor!"
Tyra never saw the sling coming. Treeclimber had it loaded and wrapped about her sash for the entire battle without Tyra knowing. The sling thudded into Tyra’s helmet at full strength. With a scream of dismay, Tyra’s paws wrenched free of the rock to which she was clinging.
Tyra never hit the quarry bottom; an adder snatched her from midair as she fell. The adders had what they wanted, a meal. The hare was ripped apart piece by piece, numbed by the poison she felt nothing until the cloud of darkness swept over her forever.
Tyra had been waiting since midmorning for her opponent to arrive for battle. Crouched along the Mossflower River, obscured by a bush, the hare had been waiting several hours when her opponent finally arrived.