Four or five were-bears splashed through the stream ahead of the rest of the stampede, but all of their grizzly faces had contorted into a feral rage with gnashing teeth.

Rabbit whipped up Diasha in his arms and hoisted her up and over onto his back. Rabbit got ready to run and as soon as he felt like Diasha had a firm grip on his fur, he bolted, streaking around trees like a blur. In his adrenaline, Rabbit couldn’t be caught, but he consistently made turns and didn’t want to leave the forest. He could still hear the thumping of were-bears behind him, and he was hoping to gain enough of a lead over the bears so he could leave the forest while he wasn’t being followed and the bears wouldn't find the village.

In the trees, Rabbit saw the familiar white-spotted beast-man, Snow Leopard, perched on strong willow branch and Rabbit hop-ran in that direction as fast as he could until he zipped under the very tree Snow Leopard was perched upon.

The were-bears ran in a pack through the forest, which made it easy for Snow Leopard to pounce on them as they ran under his branch. A sudden din of fighting, growling and hissing occurred, but Rabbit continued hop-running without looking back.

During the journey back, Rabbit thought of Snow Leopard. The beast-man seemed to know something that Rabbit didn't know, and he had a sort of interest in Rabbit's activites that surpassed friendship. All this thining made the run for Rabbit easier and he didn’t slow down on the way to the village, making it back as evening struck.

----------------------------------------

Rabbit was heaving as he came up upon the villagers and he collapsed.

Diasha still had tears in her eyes and had apparently been crying into the nape of Rabbit's neck, but as she reached the village she released his fur, dismounted, and ran to her mother .

“Thank you for returning Diasha to us.” The shaky old voice of the eldest villager said, “Is there anything we can do for you in return?”

Rabbit was still catching his heavy breath as he said, “Has the Red Guard returned?”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“I haven’t seen him since this morning.”

“Perhaps you can read this letter for me.”

Rabbit reached under his breaches and revealed the letter which was folded away in a coin purse. Wrinkled hands grabbed the letter from furry hands, and studied the envelope before examining its contents.

“This is written in Fieldish.I spent my time in my youth as one of the only merchants who traded between Mouki and Fieldon so I know the language well."

“What does it say?”

“Abort mission. The rest of the beast-men have escaped. Have Rabbit returned to Fieldon at once.”

A thin smile appeared on Rabbit’s upper lip, “Ah, it’s so good to hear from my friends at last.”

The eldest villager’s hand now rested on Rabbit’s shoulder and he looked into the large, brown irises of Rabbit’s eyes, “I don’t know how you came across this letter, but you should think now of whether you’d like to return with the Red Guard or not.”

Rabbit did give it some thought, and what he really wanted to do was to see Bear, Wolf, Horse, and Stag again. Soon after Rabbit had come to the decision to simply try and find his recently freed friends.

The Red Guard was returning from the East on his horse. There is no telling what the Red Guard would do to the villagers if Rabbit simply ran, for he had this air of anger about him; even something as simple as riding on his horse was malevolent and glowed red.

Rabbit put on the armor that made him feel like a fighter to be feared, and he strode forward to meet the Red Guard. Near the end of the villager’s cornfields they met.

The packing stopped and a crowd gathered at the fence of the village. The wind blew, which slightly ruffled the trees and grass, and that was the only sound to be heard until the chainsaw voice of the Red Guard revved up and said.

“I knew you had things hidden from me. Tell me what was written on that letter.”

Rabbit only stood still.

“Hah!” The Red Guard charged on his horse and withdrew his sword which he now held in a bowed arm over his head.

Rabbit got into a battle stance, which was lower to the ground and prepared to jump away. Instead, however, the Red Guard charged right past Rabbit towards the villagers who were now scrambling to get away. Rabbit hopped to catch up to the Red Guard, but with the acceleration the horse had, before even a few leaps, the Red Guard was already in the midst of the villagers and reaching down to attack from on top of his horse. When the Red Guard sat upright on his horse again, his steel gauntlet held Diasha, by the throat.

Rabbit stopped instantly, he stood just about at the fence, feet away from the menace with the death grip on the child.

“How did you know?” Rabbit had a solemn voice.

After getting comfortable in his position of power, the Red Guard flashed a telescopic lens from his pack and said, “You will return to Fieldon with me or I will crush this girl’s throat.”