Diasha grabbed at the iron gauntlet around her throat, her little fingers clawing at the sinister knuckle, and by her facial expression, Rabbit could tell she was being seriously strangled. Rabbit stepped forward to help and then froze because of the Red Guard who sat on his throne of a horse.

“Stop,” Rabbit said, “I’ll return to Fieldon with you.”

With his free hand, the Red Guard removed a set of manacles from his pack and he said, “Then have one of the villagers chain you to my horse.”

Diasha’s mother who had gathered with some villagers behind the garden fence of one of the cottages poked her head out. Rabbit motioned for her to come closer and once she curtly arrived Rabbit said, “Chain me to the horse of the Red Guard.”

Diasha’s mother had a tear in her eye and was clearly frightened, but even still she nodded, retrieved the manacles from the Red Guard, and attached them to Rabbit’s furry wrists. Once this was done, the Red Guard dumped Diasha to the ground and got a grip on the end of the chain and his reins, and without another word, he kicked his horse to start walking towards the mountains.

Rabbit was sad, and started walking, now a prisoner. Diasha pushed herself up and rushed to throw a hug around Rabbit’s legs as tight as she could. Rabbit bent down to return the hug to the girl who was only three-and-a-half feet tall, and a smile crept on his face as he held her.

The smile was dusted, however, as a heavy jerk pulled Rabbit’s hind legs forward. The black horse had been kicked into a momentary gallop which sent Rabbit tumbling. Rabbit had to twist his body sideways mid-air so that he wouldn’t squish Diasha as he fell. The horse returned to normal speed and Rabbit imagined a smile on the Red Guard’s face as he pushed himself out of the dirt and continued to trudge behind the Red Guard. Diasha moved to hug Rabbit again, but her mother put a restrictive hand on her shoulder. Still Rabbit turned around and gave Diasha a brave smile before they completely parted ways.

Part Two

Rabbit and the Red Guard moved north-west, towards the mountain pass which separated the countries. They passed the same pastures along the same road and reached the same blood bath which they had left behind. Rabbit didn’t have to get too near the mountain, for he could smell the blood from the moment he saw the pass.

Up until now Rabbit had been a model prisoner. Perhaps this was because of his years of abuse in Castle Bestia where he had learned to become docile. A fear washed over Rabbit as he closed in on the battlefield which wasn't present during the rest of the journey. He no longer wanted to be prisoner to the Red Guard. All of a sudden, Rabbit began to grind his wrists against the metal.

The Red Guard turned his masked helm back to see what the problem was. Rabbit had begun collecting the slack of the chain to see how much leeway he could gain. The Red Guard saw this and dismounted. As he walked towards Rabbit, who was still messing with the chain, the Red Guard unsheathed his sword.

This made Rabbit glance up and worry. Every menacing step the Red Guard took, he grew bigger. Rabbit stopped fidgeting and shrunk back.

A white-dotted streak flashed in the mountains. It had to be Snow Leopard, although Rabbit wasn’t sure if it was beast-man or were-beast.

All over his body, Rabbit felt a surge which straightened his fur. The Red Guard stood over Rabbit and raised the handle of his sword like he was going to slap Rabbit with the hilt.

Rabbit ducked under and ran towards the mountain. When he reached the length of the chain, Rabbit made an attempt to knock the Red Guard off balance. By using all his weight and jumping and pulling with his arms, Rabbit heaved on the chain, but the Red Guard was already braced for impact and won the battle of weight.

Rabbit flipped over and landed on his back, which caused him to miss a beat of breath. Rabbit lay with his head facing the sky, waiting.

The Red Guard approached, slowly, enjoying himself. When the Red Guard was close enough, Rabbit jumped up and ran again, but this time only to the maximum length of the chain, and then he stopped and stared back at the Red Guard. The Red Guard took a grip of the chain and began to play a sort of tug-of-war, which pulled Rabbit in closer to him. Rabbit struggled, but was clearly overpowered and constantly lost ground.

Then Rabbit noticed a more desperate pulling of the chain, and he looked around to see what could be causing this. Snow Leopard had made a b-line towards the two struggling near the base of the mountain.

Rabbit continued to hold his ground, and was actually holding with his hind Rabbit legs.

As the two fought for tug-of-war superiority the Red Guard abruptly released his grip. The Red Guard flipped off his helmet and revealed a baby white face, but in his hand was a were-beast vial. Smiling, the Red Guard drank the vial.

The Red Guard laughed and spoke as he his muscles twitched, “We don’t even need you anymore. We have all the blood we need!” At this the breathing of the Red Guard became dragging hauls, sending spasms throughout his body. He keeled over on all fours and fur erupted from his once perfect painted red armor and he screamed, “Ahhhh!”

As soon as the armor had popped off a hulking Red Bear remained, and it didn’t take long for that bear to start barreling towards Rabbit at full speed with all his mass.

Rabbit took a few steps backward before twisting around as fast as he could, and as he was ninety degrees turned to the left, Snow Leopard raced past him on all fours. Rabbit stared for a moment at the lean and muscular form of Snow Leopard, and briefly wondered if Snow Leopard truly did want to help him. Rabbit’s gaze followed Snow Leopard until the white and black beast-man leaped for the Red Bears legs.

The Red Bear snapped his jaw downwards but caught only air, so Snow Leopard clamped his teeth around the monstrous thigh of the bear and hooked his feet around the bear’s back so that he was safe against the bear’s great paws.

Flinging and whipping his body like a raging bull still didn’t cause Snow Leopard to let go. Blood was streaking down Snow Leopard’s jaw.

However, when the Bear started rolling around. He was able to twist his neck to grab a hold of Snow Leopard’s torso, and with this was able to rip the maw and a bit of his own skin away from his thigh and slam Snow Leopard to the ground.

Rabbit heard the audible oof as Snow Leopard hit the ground and stepped forward to help him. Rabbit watched the bear’s paw raised, ready to bat the life out of Snow Leopard and Rabbit started running forward. Rabbit jammed his manacles into the Red Bear’s mouth. Rabbit felt Snow Leopard slip out from under him. Rabbit struggled with the manacles and the teeth of the Red Bear. The Red Bear wrapped a claw around Rabbit’s neck, and seconds later, that claw went limp. There had been a squishy sound and Rabbit looked down to see what happened.

Snow Leopard had driven the discarded sword of the Red Guard into the Red Bear’s heart with both hands on the hilt.

After seeing this, Rabbit fell backwards and sat down while Snow Leopard dealt with the Red Bear's body. Here he silently sat through nightfall and into morning.

In the glow of the rising sun shining towards the mountain pass, Snow Leopard shuffled and sat beside Rabbit and then he said, “Are you doing okay?”

Rabbit sat silent for a moment, simply staring at the sunrise and then he said, “I don’t know where to go next.”

Snow Leopard nodded, “Perhaps you should find your fellow beast-men in that letter. I’m sure they miss you more than you know.”

Rabbit shifted his legs out in front of him and turned to Snow Leopard, “Why did you help me so much these past couple of days?”

“I’m not really sure of it all myself, but I do know that I’ve never met any other like you in all my years.”

“How old are you?”

“I’ve seen three generation come and go.”

Rabbit shifted again only this time to face Snow Leopard with his legs crossed, “You haven't aged?”

Snow Leopard stood up and helped Rabbit up with an extended hand, “I still don't know everything either.” Their hands let go, “Will you find your family and return to me?”

Rabbit smiled and nodded, “Yes, I will return.”

Snow Leopard bowed, “Thank you,” he turned and started walking away and looked back to say one last thing, “but don’t forget to have fun out there.”

Rabbit whispered as Snow Leopard turned and left, “What do you mean, have fun?”