Orenda braced herself, but the blow never came.

Instead, a giant wolf-like creature lept from the flames and snatched the boy up in her massive jaws. As her teeth broke through his flesh, he let out a godawful shriek, of panic, of fear, of desperation, and the werecat stopped its pacing and pounced.

Orenda took her breath in deep gulps as she watched Bella go toppling to the side with the force of the attack. She spit the boy out and left him in a bloody pulp to contort her body, to turn and shake her head from side to side. The werecat had buried its teeth in her neck, probably in an attempt to break her spine, but the thick mane of fur prevented the attack from having its intended effect. She reached back and jerked with a twist, grabbed the werecat, and threw it hard on the ground, but it landed on its feet, coiled its muscles and lept again.

Orenda lost no time. She ran to the boy, who was, somehow, shoving himself up to make it to his feet. He had one hand over the wounds, but kept the other firmly around the staff.

“Thesis’s glowing eyes,” He said as he saw her, “Persistent little-”

Orenda grabbed the staff and tried to jerk it from him, but he was strong and would not give it up.

“That’s mine!” She shrieked, “I’m the Chosen One!”

“Fuck you!” He snarled, “I’m the Chosen One! I’m descended from Quizzlivan Brigaddon!”

“Having important parents means nothing,” Orenda pulled with all her might, but was shocked when the boy reached up with his blood stained glove to tug with both hands. Under his torn sweater, she saw that the wounds were healed.

“Think real carefully about what you’re doing, boy.”

A dagger appeared at the boy’s throat, and Gareth appeared as if he had slunk out of the night, as if he had been one with the shadows.

“What would your father think if he saw you attacking a Knight of Order? We follow the path of order. We’re here for the white rabbit.”

“Don’t go down that rabbit hole,” The boy said. “There’s nothing there for you.”

“Give her the staff,” Gareth said.

“No,” The boy said.

“Then I’ll slit your fucking throat,” Gareth said calmly, and pressed the dagger into his flesh so hard Orenda saw the trinkle of blood.

The boy let go of the staff.

“Which one are you?” Gareth asked, “What are you doing out here?”

“I’m hunting rabbits,” The boy said, “Who are you?”

“We’ll see about that,” Gareth moved the dagger and cut the strap of the boy’s bag. The boy shrieked and tackled him.

“That’s mine!” he screamed, and Orenda had never seen someone so frantic, so obsessed.

“I bet it is,” Gareth kicked the boy hard in the gut and rolled with him, pressing his mechanical hand to his throat. He held him there, against the ground with his thumb on one vain and his fingers on another so that if his hand had been made of flesh he could feel the pulse. “Bet it’s full of starfruit. Addiction runs in your family, little boy; you shouldn’t have this. He shouldn’t be giving it to his kids. What are you doing out here?”

The boy’s silver eyes darted back and forth, and Orenda clutched her staff as she watched him. She heard another shot ring out, heard her companions fighting the werecat, but it couldn’t tell them anything in its condition- this boy could.

The boy’s eyes focused on something in the distance, widened in real fear for the first time, and Orenda watched something she had never seen before.

Orenda did not know enough about rabbits to know how they fought. She did know that being on one’s back was a sign of trust for most animals, that they were exposing their softest, most vulnerable spot. But as she watched the boy transform into a monster, watched the fur grow, the ears extend, the claws rip through the traveling shoes and tear them to shreds, and the muscles coil, impossibly strong in those back legs, claws meant to burrow, to break up stone and dirt- she learned that this was not the case for rabbits.

The boy that was now a beast kicked up hard with his back legs, grabbed at Gareth’s face, and bit with teeth that were long, the kind of teeth that those who kept rabbits cursed, because they could chew through nearly anything, could break through any enclosure or fence- and Orenda watched the mask contort, the metal bend, and when the boy finally threw Gareth his face was exposed and there were long, pink tubes spilling from the place that had once been his abdomen.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

The boy hopped to his feet, scooped up his bag, and his silver fur stood on edge as he gave one more parting glance to Orenda and her crew. Then he took off moving faster than Orenda had anticipated, because she was not overly accustomed to rabbits, and did not connect his speed to the fact that prey animals had evolved to outrun predators.

The werecat paused mid-swipe and followed after him, and Bella turned her torn, bloody face to Gareth where he lay in the dust. Orenda saw a change come over her eyes that she didn’t like, and Bella let out the loudest howl she had ever heard, then turned, snarling, foaming, with that madness in her eyes, and took off after them.

“Uncle Gary!” Orenda cried, and ran to his side.

“Not…” he said, taking shallow breaths and trying desperately to move, “Not… ideal… God, how I… how I hate… this place… I want to return to… Ronnie… Ronnie, listen to me.”

Orenda took his good hand and nodded.

“Bury me… at sea…” Gareth said.

“You… we… we gotta put his guts back in,” Anilla said helpfully, and Orenda nodded, though she felt it wouldn’t matter, in the long run. It just seemed the sensible thing to do.

She jerked rather unceremoniously at the sounds behind her, and saw an amazing site.

What seemed to be an entire warren of wererabbits, all silver in the moonlight, and all wearing robes that had not ripped during their transformations now stood in the middle of the road. Some were staring at them,some were watching the fire, and some were sniffing the air. One stepped forward, and Orenda witnessed something else she thought would never see.

It spoke.

“I’m going after Lappy. Mary, Junior, you’re welcome to come with me. You younguns go home.” Then she took off at a sprint, moving as quickly as the boy had in the direction he had gone.

“Help us!” Falsie called, “My friends are injured! Sarya has a head wound and Gary’s…”

One of the wererabbits stepped forward, and Orenda watched in amazement as her form shrank. The fur fell away to reveal a beautiful woman with a perfect face, large silver eyes, and the softest, most bouncy, most silver hair Orenda had ever seen. She looked only a few years older than Orenda, and she took in the scene before her as if she really didn’t need it in her life.

“They ain’t dead yet,” She said at length in a thick Urillian accent. She knocked the fur from her form, then bent to gather it up and shove it into a bag at her side. “What path do you walk?”

“The path of Order!” Orenda pleaded, “We follow the white rabbit! We- this is Gareth Firefist! He’s Garon’s brother! Xaxac is expecting him! I’m Orenda Firefist- I’m… I’m the Chosen One!”

“Garon’s brother,” the girl said, “I’m Mary Sue Brigaddon. These are my siblings. We… it’s been…” she turned around and commanded, “Y’all we gotta get him to the house quick! He’s lost a lot of blood. We ain’t losin two Knights tonight!”

Orenda stepped back as one by one the rabbits became people, all with silver hair, all with silver eyes, all hauntingly beautiful, too beautiful, too unreal. They all mimicked the first one, gathering the fur they had shed.

“Oh god,” one of the girls said as she looked at Gareth, “He ain’t-”

“Yes he is,” one of the boys said, “He’s breathing. Let’s get him to the lab.”

“What happened to his face?” another girl asked, “It looks like an old scar.”

“Shit!” Mary Sue said, “Move! Move fast! All of you!”

She had heard it before Orenda, but the sound of hoofbeats was undeniable as someone rode closer and closer toward them.

“Go!” Mary Sue told Orenda, “Follow them. I’ll be right behind you!”

Orenda ran with the others through an opening in the hedge that one of the Brigaddon boys held open for her. She was the last one through, but she noticed that he stayed there after he closed it, as if expecting something, so she stayed with him and watched through the spaces between the leaves.

An earth elven man rode up looking as if he had been dragged away from something, as if he didn’t want to be there, followed by six other earth elves with less readable expressions. They all wore the armor of Urillian soldiers, and none of them liked what they were seeing. Mary Sue stood there, among the wreckage, crying- and she began to shout for them as they approached her. Her accent had gotten even thicker in what had to be mock alarm.

“Commander Agalon!” she shouted, jumping up and down and waving her arms.

“What is it, Ms OfLangil?” the man on horseback asked, and he was much younger than Orenda had thought. He looked a bit like Toli, and though he had a good twenty years on them, he wasn’t nearly as old as most of the nobility.

“Somebody done come in the night!” Mary Sue told him, “We heard the dogs just a barkin and carryin on and we come out here to check, you know Mr Langil ain’t been around much, but we have to keep the place goin and we come out here to check and it was the awfulest thing you ever did see!”

“What happened?” Commander Agalon asked her.

“I reckon I don’t know, sir,” she said in a panic, “I don’t know, but they was blood, and folks was hurt, and it’s right on our property, and-”

“Where’s your daddy?” Commander Agalon asked.

“They got daddy!” Mary Sue said and big, wet, real tears began to roll down her cheeks, “They done went and attacked my daddy! We gotta get him patched up! We gotta- I gotta get back to the house!”

“They attacked Xac?” Agalon asked, and Orenda was surprised by the rage that came over his face. She remembered hearing his name before. She remembered Agalon was not a Knight of Order. Why would he care so much?

“What did they look like?” Agalon asked, “Which way did they go?”

“I don’t rightly know what they looked like, sir, really I don’t, it all happened so quick like,” She cried, “But I reckon they run off in that direction!”

“Trying to get to the docks,” Agalon said matter-of-factly, and without trying to hide his anger “Past Basilglen. Probably trying to steal him… probably would have taken off with the lot of you. Don’t worry, Mary. Go home. Attend to your father. Tell him I’ll call upon him as soon as I catch the assailant.”

“Thank ya, Commander Agalon,” Mary Sue cried, “Thank you kindly, thank you so much! I don’t know what we’d do without you, sir, really I don’t! Thank you!”

“We’re looking for thieves,” Agalon told his men, “And we’ll find them!”

He turned his horse around and went galloping, full speed in the opposite direction, the direction Bella had ran all alone to fight for Gareth. But she understood what Mary Sue was doing, why she had to get them away from her home.

But Bella was out there all alone. And while the moons were full she was a strong rampaging monster, but when the sun rose she would be an unmarked human alone in the heart of the Urillian empire, exhausted and starving from the transformation.