Prunhiline rose at the first rays of dawn. This was why she loved sleeping outdoors, the chatter of animals, the buzz of insects, and the warmth of the early sun on her skin. This was her happy place. She left the still-sleeping Britina by the fire embers and ventured into the forest. She was hunting for nuts, berries, water, and some wild game to cook for dinner.

The plainswoman was a cunning and skilled hunter trained by the best in the world. She quickly found the brook near their camp and filled four water skins.

She walked through the forest with a keen eye, searching for edible berries. She soon found several bushes of wild blackberries. These would go well with some rabbit, she thought. She had seen some tracks but hadn’t found any wild game.

On her way back, she found a large walnut tree. The tall warrior quickly scaled it, knocking down dozens of walnuts that thudded satisfyingly to the ground. These will be so good roasted over the fire. The warrior easily climbed down the tree to gather her spoils. The ground was clear. No walnuts. Prunhiline looked about, baffled as to why there were no nuts, and then she saw tracks. Squirrel tracks! She hated squirrels.

The skilled hunter in her screamed for vengeance over her lost nutty spoils. She began tracking the squirrels back to their lair. She’d show those furry, tree-hugging rats who she was. She was Prunhiline, warrior of the plains and slayer of... She stopped and shrugged; no time to go through her entire title and still make it back before Britina woke.

Prunhiline found the dreaded rodent's lair and planned her attack. She’d use her mighty war hammer to shatter the tree where the fiendish critters had hidden her nuts! One powerful swing struck the tree, but it didn’t budge. The war hammer vibrated and hurt her arm. This only infuriated the warrior more.

The tree’s shaking alerted the squirrels to the attack. They were prepared; this wasn’t the first time a monster had dared to threaten them. They had dealt with bears, woodpeckers, other squirrels, and the occasional werewolf. They bested them all. This giant human would be no different.

Prunhiline tried to climb the tree but couldn’t find good places to grab onto it. This felt strange; this was the first tree she hadn’t been able to climb. She glared at the squirrels’ lair, imagining her walnuts just out of reach. If she had her ax, she would chop down the tree and use it for firewood, but she only had her various daggers, swords, and war hammers.

Then it struck her! Not a thought or idea, but a rock in the center of her forehead. She yelped with pain and started to rub the spot where she was hit. “You stupid squirrels,” she bellowed, “I’ll get you for this! I want my nuts back!” She picked up the offending rock and hurled it into the hole in the tree. A satisfying squeal rang out. Prunhiline grinned; she’d hit one of them.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Then another rock hit her on top of her head. It hurt. She looked up in time to see more rocks being pushed from a limb high up in the tree. The squirrels had lined up various-sized rocks and were dropping them on her.

Prunhiline ducked and dodged each rock, grabbing a few from the ground to hurl back. She struck a branch, breaking it from the tree and sending all the rocks tumbling down.

“Ha!” She yelled at the rodents, “You can’t drop rocks on me now! What are you going to do?”

The squirrels gathered for a quick conference in the main tree. Most humans and animals ran off after a few rocks were hurled at them. The werewolf was the only exception. They began phase two of their defense.

Prunhiline grabbed a few more rocks to throw when her arm began to hurt. She looked down to find a small arrow sticking out of her right arm. Then another appeared. She ducked behind a tree as a flurry of arrows struck where she’d been standing. They’d upgraded to arrows!

This was war!

The warrior began to lob the stones she had gathered. Sometimes, she would hear a squeak or a squeal when she hit a target. The arrows became more accurate and started to come from different sides of the tree. The squirrels had created an array of crossbows throughout the forest.

Prunhiline retreated from what appeared to be the main group of trees that the squirrels were protecting. She hid behind one large tree and planned. She would run to the right, and as the rodents fired their arrows at her, she would keep cover behind the outer trees. She saw that behind the main tree, there were some bushes. She would use it as cover to advance to the tree and burn it!

The warrior feinted left, then dashed to the right. She could hear the small thunks of arrows hitting each tree she passed for cover. She made it to the bushes without getting hit again. She crouched behind the bushes and prepared to rush the main tree. She grabbed dry leaves to fashion a torch and struck her flint to tinder. The explosion was deafening, throwing her off her feet.

The squirrels cheered. They had ambushed the human. The council of tree rodents gathered to inspect what had happened to the warrior. They saw that the explosion hadn’t killed the human but appeared to have dazed her. They began new preparations, realizing this human was more stubborn than most.

Prunhiline picked herself up and dusted herself off. She glared at the main tree and saw the tiny rodents looking at her. She made a gesture in their direction that would have gotten her slapped by the old village-wise woman. The warrior then made her way out of range of the weapons around the tree and back toward the camp.

She grabbed her weapon and now-empty pouch on her way back to camp. She turned to make a final rude gesture at the tree, only to see the squirrels making the gesture back at her. She stomped her feet and screamed as loud as she could. She stuck her tongue out at her enemy and stomped back to the campsite.

Britina was awake and packing her belongings. She hated sleeping outdoors, but this wasn’t as bad as the other times. When she saw her companion, she gasped in horror. The warrior was more disheveled than usual and appeared to have leaves in her hair.

“Dear love, what happened? Was that you who screamed?” Britina was worried. The warrior had never seemed this distraught before.

“I lost,” Prunhiline mumbled.

“You lost what? I’m sure we can find it?” Britina asked.

“I lost the war!” Prunhiline growled.

“War?” Britina asked, confused.

“Yeah, with the tree rodents. I hate squirrels.” Prunhiline huffed and began to pack her things.

Britina watched her friend but let her be. She knew Prunhiline needed some silent time and didn’t want to know why the tall warrior was waging war on squirrels.