The bushes where the shadow lingers rustle once more, and then a little bunny hops out. It's little beady eyes look at Fauna and Sir Isaac, its little fluffy nose wiggles as it sniffs the air. It's fluffy ears rotate real quick, as if to echo-locate movement in the area, and then point toward the two humanoids again. One of its fluffy little feet scratches its neck, and then it stares back at Sir Isaac again. If it weren't for the horn on its head, it would've looked like a completely normal brown bunny.

Sir Isaac relaxes and lets out his nervosity with an embarrassed chuckle. "Oh, it was just an Almiraj. Silly little fey bunnies, I didn't know they could cast sleep."

The bunny gets back on all fours and hops hops hops closer to Sir Isaac. Looking up at the knight and sniffing the air again, it stops just before his feet. Sir Isaac bends down and tries to pet the little critter. The Almiraj dodges and tries to poke Sir Isaac with his horn, and Sir Isaac retracts his arm. That's right, the more wild and less sentient fey aren't exactly fond of iron. Especially about being touched by it. Though it was kind of strange that it would get so close to him considering that aversion.

As Sir Isaac looks down at the unibunny and adores its little beady eyes, the sun breaks through the clouds. Just a few brief rays at first, which make the almiraj's fur shimmer white for a moment. Sir Isaac frowns at the strange sight, which wasn't alike anything he heard about these creatures. And did it's eyes just flicker red just now? Before he can come to an conclusion about the issue, the sun breaks through fully and the strange shadow-based transformation that shrouded the almiraj fades completely. A rabbit white as snow and with bloodshot eyes looks at Sir Isaac with nothing but pure hatred and bloodlust, its bunny teeth suddenly sharp as fangs and claws proluding from its feet.

The almiraj aberration screeches at Sir Isaac and jumps up, its powerful rabbit hind legs very much capable of launching its small frame straight into the air and at Sir Isaac's face. Sir Isaac can only narrowly fall backwards to avoid the horn piercing through his skull, the rabbit flashing past his view and then suddenly stopping mid-air. It screeches hatefully as it swung around in the air, its horn stuck in Sir Isaac's bangs and the sudden loss of control freaking the creature out. Sir Isaac, who's now lying on the ground after his quick dodging maneouvre and with a rabbit clawing at his face, is stuck on his back like a turtle and tries to grab the damn cursed rabbit who's trying to tear his face apart.

Pulling at the rabbit, and thus his own hair which got quite entangled with the horn somehow, Sir Isaac tries to regain his sight and his footing. This wasn't going to be one of his more proud and boastful moments, that was for sure. As his hair continued to refuse letting the rabbit go, Sir Isaac grabs it by the neck and squeezes. With a sickening crack it breaks, and Sir Isaac can slowly untangle the now dead monstrosity while getting up himself.

"A little help would've been app- Oh." Sir Isaac says to Fauna.

"Oh." Is the only word he can find yet again as he looks around the clearing, and the dozens of horned rabbits that are standing just on the egde of where the sun chases away the shadow. Rays of sunlight break through the canopy as the wind blows through the leaves, causing spots of light to run over the almirajs and show spots of white fur and bloody eyes. The frankenstein creation of normal and monster only makes them look more alien and terrifying. They don't appear to be moving, just staring at Sir Isaac and the dead rabbit in his hands.

A second of dreadful silence reigns.

Then another one.

They aren't blessed with a third one however. Like one being, the almirajs suddenly screech out a terrifying and unnatural scream. As they rush into the clearing, another such screech echoes from the distance. And that screech belonged to something bigger. Much, much bigger.

"Oh. Oh dear." Sir Isaac says as he meekly reaches for his sword. He looks at Fauna and tries to force a smile. "Well, at least you can kill these things with one arrow?"

Fauna's eyes were trained cautiously on the rabbit, it hopped forward she backed up. Most creatures of the forest she could sense, even fey unless they were hiding themselves from her intentionally. She glanced nervously at Sir Issac. "Oh, it was just an Almiraj. Silly little fey bunnies, I didn't know they could cast sleep." Almiraj, she had heard only briefly of them all she knew was how they looked and that they weren't native to the forest in which she had lived. She reluctantly put her pipes in her satchel, they likely wouldn't work on the creature anyways. 

As the small rabbit turned white its eyes turned crazed with dilated pupils. She jumped backwards almost falling she stifled a scream. She immediately reached for her bow placing an arrow in it. She turned to see Sir Issac being attacked. She pulled back the string of her bow, but she hesitated if she missed she could kill him, but if she didn't act he could have his eyes town out by the creature. "A little help would've been app- Oh." She released her arrow but she misjudged the distance and the creature moved. The arrow hit his shoulder plate and fell the ground uselessly. She quickly grabbed another arrow from her quiver and placed it in her bow, just as she was ready to take aim she heard a rustling. Tiny feet thumped against the ground. "Oh." she heard Sir Issac say. She spun around and saw two more of them coming at her. She quickly shot at the one closest to her, luckily she hit it right in the side of the head. She heard the disgusting crunch of the breaking of the skull and blood dripped from it's head. The copper smell of blood filled her nose making her nauseous. 

While she was distracted one of them jumped at her attempting to ram its horn into her stomach. She quickly leaped away but not quick enough. It rammed its head into the side of her right leg. Pain shot through her whole leg and she could feel the horn digging through the flesh of her leg. She shook it as hard as she could sending the almirante flying across the air. Tears welled up in her eyes, blood oozed quickly from the large wound. She fell to the ground holding her leg trying to slow the flow of blood. Her hands were drenched in blood, there was so much of it she could taste the copper in the air. 

Word Count: 241 Words

Notes: Ooo, I think these little guys are interesting!

Sir Isaac looked around, seeing the unibunnies rush into the clearing and swarm them. There were a lot, that was for certain. And they were a problem, for his fighting style didn't exactly lend itself well for fighting creatures that didn't even reach up to his calves. His face stung, he could feel that it was covered with lots of scratch marks from the now dead almiraj. But he couldn't tell how bad it was. He quickly looks down to the scratches it left on his armour, and cross-references it with the arrow that had bounced off his shoulder plate. Not as deep, fortunately. Seemed like these aberrations weren't more powerful than their original form at least.

Sir Isaac looks up as he hears a sickening crunch of bones, just in time to see one of the unibunnies ram its horn into Lady Fauna's leg. She shakes it off and then falls to her knee to nurture the wound. Sir Isaac quickly runs to her, worried for her wellbeing and the precarious position she was in. The almiraj horns could reach her head when she kept it this close to the ground. They had already tried the same tactic with him, and she had no armour on to prevent them from attacking her elsewhere.

Sir Isaac quickly gets on his knees near Lady Fauna and looks at the bloody leg she's holding. It didn't look like they hit an artery, but she was still losing a lot of blood fast. Sir Isaac twirls his finger around his moustache while mumbling something, causing a warm green glow to waft off his glorious lip hair. It sits on his finger like a little fire fly as he stops stroking his moustache and brings his hand to her leg. Urging Lady Fauna to take her hands off her wound, Sir Isaac readies his healing spell. It wasn't much, with as little time as they had with all these enemies around he could only speed up the clotting to make the bleeding stop. But it would prevent her from bleeding out on him.

Sir Isaac grimaces, knowing Lady Fauna's weakness of lacking armour and the conditions of their battlefield. There was nothing tall around here for her to climb on, nothing that the almirajs couldn't climb up on either at least. And the stream wasn't deep, so she couldn't stand in there either. It would've been quite useful if she could stand in it just deep enough that the almirajs would have to swim to reach her, thus losing their abilities to charge and jump, but they weren't blessed with such conditions. That only left one option.

"Lady Fauna, jump on my shoulders." Sir Isaac says. "I know it may seem silly, but that's the only way to be sure that these damnable aberrations cannot swarm and kill you. Don't worry about me, my armour should keep me safe. Just worry about killing these things, one arrow at a time."

Fauna panicked falling to the ground she had no idea what to do. Her hand shook uncontrollably and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest like the thumping of the unibunnies feet. She watched in relief as Sir Issac came to her aid she watched as the whispy green mist of a healing spell entered her wound soothing her pain slightly and making the blood of the wound clot. Even if Sir Issac had the time to heal her he likely would be unable to since she likely had nerve damage and her anatomy was so different from humans. If she wanted to heal her damaged leg properly she'd have to consult an experienced healer, but healing her leg was the least of her concerns at the moment. 

"Lady Fauna, jump on my shoulders." "I know it may seem silly, but that's the only way to be sure that these damnable aberrations cannot swarm and kill you. Don't worry about me, my armour should keep me safe. Just worry about killing these things, one arrow at a time." Usually she'd be quite apprehensive to participate in such an act with a creature of Sir Issacs persuasion, but she had no time for that and no time to think about it either. She quickly grabbed onto his shoulders and hoisted her self onto him pushing herself up with her good leg. She watched as one of the unibunnies charged at them. She quickly grabbed her bow and shot at the thing. She hit it right in the side of it's leg but it went straight through and only tore away at the rabbits flesh. She wasn't used to such small and quickly moving targets, most enemies of such a small size since most creatures that small she'd be able to flee from quite easily. "Filthy rodent demons!" she muttered to herself angrily almost sounding like a growl.

If she wasn't caught so off guard by the annoying bastards she would've been able to vanquish them quite easily. At least that's what she told herself to feel better about almost being killed by a few rabbits. 

Word Count: 356 Words

Notes:-

Sir Isaac raises himself up with quite some difficulty, having to lift not only himself and his armour but also the fortunately light frame of Lady Fauna this time. He manages however, standing tall and preventing the damnable rabbits from bringing any further harm to her. A few of them bump into his armour with dull 'clonk!'ing and left some shallow dents, but it didn't seem like these creatures would pierce through the iron plating any time soon.

Sir Isaac kicks at one of the creatures, the soft and small bunny skull crumbling when it forcefully comes in contact with his metal boot. Sir Isaac stumbles, almost losing his balance and falling down. Okay, so kicking at these creatures when on uneven ground with a woman on your shoulders was not a good idea. Definately not a good idea, as it could mean the end for the both of them if they were to fall down into the almirajs' range. Instead Sir Isaac grabs his sword more tightly and begins striking at the rabbits in a most awkward fashion.

"Damned be their small size. If I knew I'd be facing these critters, I would've joined my father and brother when they went out golfing." He says, trying to light up the mood while making another swing that indeed resembled golfing quite a bit. The almirajs easily dodged his sword though, the swipes much too predictable and slow to hit them. It seemed like taking them down was up to Lady Fauna and her bow. At the very least it seemed like their foes made just as little headway against them, having few tricks in combat other than their horn charge.

Standing still to give Lady Fauna as much stability for her shooting as he could, Sir Isaac contemplates what he just saw. He glances to the side, at Fauna's hairy leg resting on his shoulder and the bloody wound that was still very much visible on it. He then looks at the rabbit he kicked and the one that Lady Fauna headshotted. He sighs, his suspicions unfortunately confirmed. The blood of these aberrations was still red, but there were clots of black ichor in it. And he saw little specks of that same ichor in Lady Fauna's wound. Not to mention, a few hairs around the wound were slowly turning snow white.

He brushes his finger past one of the wounds on his face and looks at the blood on his finger. No black clots. This was most problematic, for Lady Fauna at least.

Sir Isaac strokes his moustache, calling upon the cleansing light of the heavens. A warm yellow light spreads to his fingers, and he presses them onto the wound. The skin seared and sizzled under his touch, and Sir Isaac quickly apologises for the pain that the procedure no doubt causes. The black ichor boiled and turned brown however, and the white hairs returned to their original colour. Whatever this was, it was indeed of an unholy or malign nature.

"Lady Fauna, my apologies for the pain, but your wound was showing some very problematic signs of infection. Whatever corrupted these creatures, it tried to corrupt you as well. I cannot say with absolute certainty, but I fear that this disease targets the fey."

Sir Isaac lets the information sink in, contemplating the situation himself. The clearing is silent for a moment, nothing but the soft splashing of the water and the occassional bump of an almiraj fruitlessly bumping into him.

"Would you happen to know of a disease like this? And more importantly, do you know of any other fey who live in these woods. In particularly-"

A loud roar erupts from the near distance, the unearthly tone resembling the Almiraj screech but the baritone tone and volume speaking volumes of it not being as small as a cute little bunny. It was the same roar they heard before when the almirajs screamed their battle cries. It was much closer this time, though, which meant it was fast at the very least. And who knew what else it was.

"That. Would you happen to know what that could be?" Sir Isaac asks with beads of fear sweat forming on his forehead.

Fauna hopped onto his shoulders having some difficulty hoisting herself up with only one good leg. She felt uneven on his shoulders but made do the best she could. She pulled out an arrow and shot one of the creatures straight through their skull. Brain matter flew and she could hear the crunch of it's skull. "Damned be their small size. If I knew I'd be facing these critters, I would've joined my father and brother when they went out golfing." She had no idea what golfing was but was in no mood to ask him. Her tried to hit at the last one but it easily dodged his sword, they were fast little things and were hard to hit at close range. She pulled out another arrow and hit the last creature. 

"Lady Fauna, my apologies for the pain, but your wound was showing some very problematic signs of infection. Whatever corrupted these creatures, it tried to corrupt you as well. I cannot say with absolute certainty, but I fear that this disease targets the fey." She could feel a sharp persistent pain in her leg like someone was squeezing her nerves. "It would seem so." She said through gritted teeth. "Would you happen to know of a disease like this? And more importantly, do you know of any other fey who live in these woods. In particularly-" "That. Would you happen to know what that could be?" she shook her head, there were so many creatures in the forest it'd be hard to pinpoint which it was, to her it sounded like an orc or a Minotaur or some other brute of similar size. "Let's not wait to find out." she said anxiously. If those creatures were infected they stood little to no chance considering how they struggled with the unibunnies. 

Word Count: 303 Words

Notes: Sorry for taking so long school just started and I didn't have much time.

"Let's not wait to find out."

"I concur." Sir Isaac says. "We best get moving and find a place that we can defend. Not to mention, we shouldn't allow these things to surround us even more than they already have."

Sir Isaac looks around. Lady Fauna's arrows were making quick work of the ones in the clearing, taking out about half a dozen while Sir Isaac regained his breath and balance. As he looked around though, the numbers that they had taken down were not comparable to the ones that were still waiting. Dozens of the rabbits still stood in the shade of the trees, waiting and watching. Perhaps the sun hurt them, or something similar. But they had the two of them surrounded, and they'd give chase the moment that Sir Isaac would begin to run. It was predator mentality, and these amiraj had been twisted into the cruelest of hunters. Well, in mind. They were still not too formidable in body.

"Prepare yourself, Lady Fauna. I shall now commence our retreat, as previously discussed!" Sir Isaac says, and he turns to a spot of the forest that seemed somewhat clear. It had the remnants of a sand path, or perhaps a natural path made by the forest creatures. It didn't matter, as long as it was a maneuvrable space that Sir Isaac could run through.

Sir Isaac starts running, and all the unibunnies scream hunting cries. They all pour into the clearing after them, rushing with no regard for their own well-being. "If you could take out the few that are meeting us straight on, that would be mighty appreciated!" Sir Isaac shouts as he runs as fast as he can with the burdens of his armour and the lady on his shoulders.



"I concur."  "We best get moving and find a place that we can defend. Not to mention, we shouldn't allow these things to surround us even more than they already have." Fauna had never seen seen so many Amirajs in one place. Sure she had seen them on occasion as they were only slightly rarer than actual bunnies. Perhaps whatever they were infected with caused them to gather in large hoards. Whatever it was she didn't have too much time to think about it as she focused on shooting the infected amirajs. "Prepare yourself, Lady Fauna. I shall now commence our retreat, as previously discussed!" Fauna was relieved to see the clearing it was the first step to freedom from the forest. 

How would they stop this from spreading to other fey? It was her duty to protect all of the flora and fauna of all the forests, how would she stop the infection from spreading in her?
The infected charged at the two full speed, she shot at one and it fell face first travelling a foot away from the spot in which she shot it. She shot at the others and missed her first try, she quickly scrambled to load another arrow onto her bow. Crunch crunch the arrows pierced the skulls of the critters. She looked behind them seeing a trail of corpses and a hoard of rabid amirajs. "How do you plan on better stopping them here?" she glanced around anxiously and the creatures that surrounded them at almost all their sides. If they all charged at once they would surely be dead. She shot at a few more that were in their way. They were fast small and hard to hit but at least they were stupid. They made minimal efforts to dodge her arrows and seemed more concerned with trying to kill them than keeping their lives. She was glad this disease only infected fey as humans with this disease would be even more unbearable than they already were.

Word Count: 335

Notes: That drawing is the most amazing thing I've ever seen xD

[Note: Glad you like it! It was just the image that I've been imagining half the thread, because it so perfectly incorporates the soul of the story. A knight running away from bunnies, while the ranger is going the actual work. Simply felt like something I wanted to draw out.]

Sir Isaac runs for the dirt path while Lady Fauna's marksmanship clears a path and prevents any almiraj from charging his knees or throwing themselves under his feet. Any such disbalance might send him tumbling down, and thus sealing their fate. 

"How do you plan on better stopping them here?" Lady Fauna asks as Sir Isaac carries them through the forest. With the almirajs hot on their trail and the bigger creature probably not far ahead, that part of the plan wasn't exactly refined quite yet.

"High ground, Lady Fauna! We need to get to high ground!" Sir Isaac shouts. "Some place steep enough for you to sit and shoot without being turned into almiraj cheese! Some place where I can fight proper, so we are once again at optimal combat capacity! And most important, some place where we can fend of whatever that creature was! I think we both know how fast it is, how quickly it will be upon us. Maybe a minute or two, and then-"

Sir Isaac is silenced mid-sentence, seeing a white figure deeper in the forest rush past them with ease. The white figure was almost a blur, so fast was it. And that was through the shrubbery of the thick forest, rather than a relatively clear path like the one that they were traversing.

"Oh dear, that's certainly no orc." Sir Isaac says. "That's a lot more problematic than an orc, in so many ways. Not to mention, it's bad luck to strike one down. I'll leave it up to you whether we end its corrupted misery or just try to avoid it. Because even we humans know how important unicorns are to the forest."

Sir Isaac focusses on running and staying ahead of the almiraj horde behind them, while trying to find anything like a large rock or a steep hill in this endlessly flat and monotone forest.