Edge of faith [OPEN]

[Elicia]

Elicia was yanked out of the Training Hall by the overenthusiastic officer. "SAH! Yore going the long way 'round, sah, there's a shorter route!" The Private had one hand to the bump on her temple-the other currently being yanked across Salamandastron. She hurt all over now, sort of like she had just been stoned....it was to be expected, though, if Breeze's words were true about someone always getting hurt after fighting with Kenzie. In that case, Elicia was happy to get away with all four paws and an unbroken back! Seeing the Colonel's anger firsthand gave Eli a whole new viewpoint on Kenzie. The hare could have killed her.

She could have.

Would have....

Might Have.

Eli guessed there was something below that hard cover, something that made hares follow Kenzie, something that made them want to prove themselves to her. Eli didn't work hard for everybeast....but she worked hard for Kenzie, to prove that she was worthy of the Long Patrol and the blade she had been presented with by her father. That's who Eli worked hard for, even though there were some times when it was hard to see....Like now. Being pulled through the mountain by the Captain. By one bruised and ruddy paw. It sorta hurt...

She had no intention of repeating that fight.....until she was older. Then, she'd show Kenzie what for, and the Colonel would be the one knocked to the floor and beaten. It would be the Colonel that Breeze would have to console, the Colonel that would shine with pride at being given a medal from Eli's tunic, just like a new recruit. The Colonel would become her worst nightmare, and Eli....Eli would beat Kenzie at her own game. That's what would happen....she knew it.

[Ashstripe]

Try as hard Elicia - and the entire Long Patrol for that matter - might, her complaints, protests and otherwise knowledgeable suggestions would forever fall upon deaf and unwilling ears.

Breeze ran head-long at a speed that he would define as a pleasant jog - a definition that came from the same hare who saw battle as 'catching up with those vermin chaps.' To the many startled passer-bys that he shoved non-nonchalantly out of the way with half-apologies, it almost looked as if he was kidnapping the poor Private for an unwilling role in his schemes that spontaneously combusted inside his head.

"Now I know it's around 'ere somewheres.." Breeze muttered to himself as he skidded on one foot to curb himself around a particularly sharp corner, his arm dragging Elicia in a wide arc behind him. Salamandastron was built for war, both inside and out. In the unlikely event that the Mountain walls and gates were breached - there would always be a corner to hide behind.

Not the ideal solution, but it sufficed in wars long past.

"Medical h'emergency! Out of th' bally way! Sorry Walter ol' boy! 'Scuse me Cooky wot wot!"

It was as if the Hellgates themselves were after the pair, as Breeze treated his fellow inhabitants as obstacles barring his supposed escape. He left behind him a trail of clattering weapons, broken pottery and cursing hares all yelling with varying degrees of murderous rage. Which was dependant on the rank of the particular individual.

"Ah! Very good sah!"

"I'll clap ya' flamin' ears! Wait 'till I get my paws on ya!"

"Captain Breeze Chuffachop! The alert is at Stand Down! No blinkin' need to go ruuuuu~aaahhhh! Oomph!"

Like Elicia, their threats and complaints would fall forever upon deaf and unwilling ears.

[Elicia]

Elicia was pulled unwillingly through the hallways, looking pleadingly at the passing hares as if to say 'Rescue me!' But no one caught them, no one helped her, no one moved except to express whatever it was that might have popped into their heads as Breeze flew by. Eli was left with the Captain to run through the entire mountain, dragged by an unwilling paw. When Breeze turned a sharp corner, Eli was anything but ready. She didn't see it coming until too late, didn't have time to react to the situation. She realized it a few seconds before the collision but couldn't do anything about it, it just wasn't possible for her to even think too much before the inevitable happened to the unfortunate Private Elicia Pittney.

She hit the wall.

There had been no avoiding it. Her stumbling paws had barely kept up to the Captain who must have been half-dragging her, and so they stood no chance of turning such a tight corner. She just had had time to call out a sharp "Sah!" before his swinging arm and momentum forced her bruised side into the stony wall. Eli hit the wall hip first, which would make one think that she would be at least slightly cushioned.

Wrong.

First her hip, then her shoulder slammed into the wall. Then, her head hit, hard. Breeze's 'jog' had built up speed, and then that was converted to power during the contact, adding more bruises to Eli's already beaten visage.

A new bruise started to form itself on her cheek, several on her arm, and then many along her hip and leg. They, obviously, hurt a lot, but Eli knew better than to complain to the Captain. He wouldn't hear her-he was so focused on getting to the Infirmary quickly that he wasn't paying any attention to her or anyone else that might have been in his way before he went shooting through the mountain. So she didn't say anything, even though it hurt so much. Her hip and shoulder throbbed, and Eli could have told you exactly where each bruise was without looking at them.

That is, she could have told you if her head wasn't pounding and the world hadn't turned topsy-turvy for her.

The floor spun and twirled in teasing circles around the Private, but Breeze had continued on, so Eli followed with stumbling paws and an aching head. She nearly tripped once, twice, still not completely ready for anything else that might happen to her, and she grimaced as every step caused another ache to start somewhere in her body. Her feet, her paws, her arms, her head, her chest, her shoulders.....they all had at least four or five painful spots that shot white fire when they were jiggled....something that happened about twenty to forty times every step.

Wincing and stumbling, Elicia reflected on the irony of the situation: Breeze had been trying to get her to the Infirmary, but had ended up giving the Private more bruises, more bumps, more pain even though he was really trying to help her. Eli sent a lopsided glare up to the Captain for his little bumble-not that she expected him to turn around and see it.

[Ashstripe]

((Please excuse the minor power-play.))

If Breeze had heard or even paid any notice to the loud crunch behind him, he didn't show it. Even the sudden momentum on his arm went unnoticed - he was a hare on a mission and intended to see it through, no matter how brazen his means were.

"Stay alive for me 'gel, I'm sure it's down this 'ere passage.." Breeze said as he scanned another of the numberless intersections in the corridor. Whether or not he genuinely didn't know where he was going or using this as an excuse to give Elicia an unofficial tour of the mountain whilst wreaking havoc was subjective.

And who was to say it wasn't both?

The jovial Captain showed no signs of slowing down, it seemed the more he ran, the further he was away from the Infirmary - and Elicia's supposed chance of survival.

"Don't remember th' Mountain bein' this big! Eh? Wot!" He cried out as he sprinted down a particularly long straight corridor, the torches that adorned the sandstone walls flickered with the wind behind him. He'd find the Infirmary - eventually - and if it meant trial and error, then so be it.

"Captain Breeze Chuffachop! Wot in the flamin' hell-gates are you doing!?"

Breeze skidded to a sudden halt as his paws squeaked across the smooth stone floor. His cargo in tow, the momentum still fresh from their exertions, slammed right into his back as he attempted a feeble salute...

And crashed into the ground.

It was Kenzie - again - standing with her arms akimbo and paws resting at her hips. She had an expression that promised pain and punishment and a tone that suggested one that used her authority as a Colonel.

"Returnin' th' battered Private t' th' Infirmary! Ma'am!" Breeze snapped as per Military protocol as best he could in the heap he was in.

[Elicia]

((Heheh. That's OK! Funny, actually!))
Elicia had been pulled along after her encounter with the wall, completely unwillingly and painfully. She reminded herself to NEVER let the Captain take her anywhere in the mountain for any reason at any point in time in the future. Her paws were stumbling for the running had gone on far too long for her liking. When Breeze stopped so suddenly, Elicia did not have time to react. She hit, no, slammed into his back with a half depressed, half annoyed, "SAH!" Before he hit the ground, with her underneath.

Elicia hit the ground hard. Her head bounced once, twice, three times as Breeze replied in a not-so-military fashion to Kenzie. Heart sinking, Eli started to get up. Not the Colonel. Why did it have to be the Colonel? It could have been Lord Ashstripe and Eli would have been overjoyed, but Kenzie...right after the fight, too... Slowly, Eli managed to push Breeze off of her already bruised body except for one paw. "Sah, please sah, you're on my blinkin' paw!" Pulling as hard as she could, the Private finally got her now bright red paw out from under the Captain. Standing up as fast as she could, Eli stood to attention and saluted Kenzie. "Colonel, marm!"

The action had made her head spin and twist. The little hare in front of her looked like she was standing on the ceiling...Eli shook her head, trying to stop the spinning. She was a sore sight indeed, cuts and scrapes from her fight with Kenzie, and then bruises from her little 'encounter' with Breeze.

They ran, purple and blue, all the way down her side. There were some that were covered up by her tunic, but you could see the majority of Eli's injuries. They were on her arms and face, her paws too. Her right paw was bright red from being crushed by Breeze, and also battered from the spar. Her arms had bruises all the way up them to where the tunic hid them, and there was even a bruise on her ear from being crushed between her head and the wall.

On her face you could see the majority of injuries. A large bruise at her temple, many more around her cheekbone and jaw, both sides. There were a few closer to her eyes and around the side of her head, but they weren't as big or as painful as the ones that were directly around her face. Funny, though. They were almost all on her right side. Let's see. What happened to Eli that gave her even MORE bruises? Oh yes. Slamming into the wall. And who pulled her into the wall? Breeze. Who had landed on top of her? Breeze. But...then again...who had given her the medal?

Breeze.

So maybe he was a bumbling, uncoordinated hare. But he was kind, and cared about all of the Long Patrol. He showed it in an odd way, true, but that didn't mean that the feelings weren't there. Sighing, Eli glanced at Breeze, still lying on the floor, and then back at Colonel Conzett. They both were great officers, she decided...but who was better? Elicia guessed that she wouldn't be able to tell even after countless seasons in the Long Patrol. They were just too different to compare, and Eli didn't want to try. Kenzie would be offended if she knew she was being compared to Breeze, and Breeze would probably be offended if he was compared to Kenzie. So Elicia put it away in some mental wastebasket because it was all pointless speculation.

"The Captain was just trying t'get me to the h'Infirmary, marm!" Eli winced at the salute, for her paw had come in contact with a bruise. "Nothin'...ah!" She sucked in her breath quickly as she almost lost her balance. She took a step backwards, swayed, then returned to her original position before the Colonel, trying very hard not to lean against the wall for support. That could be seen as a sign of weakness, and Elicia wasn't about to show any sign of wear in front of Colonel Conzett, no siree. Not after the fight and Elicia's failure. Not after that. She had to prove that she was strong, and that she wouldn't let a few bruises slow her down. Elicia knew that you could have much, much worse wounds than that on the battlefield, and she needed to prove that she was good enough to fight in wards as a hare of the famed Long Patrol. "Nothin' bad, marm!"

[Ashstripe]

The small Colonel frowned, the lid above her right eye was twitching as she noticeably gritted her teeth. Obviously she wasn't quite satisfied with their escapades or even Breeze's justification - had this been any other day - they might of gotten away with a scowl and a 'don't do it again'.

But it wasn't.

Her face twisted into a half-smirk while she looked down her nose at the two sprawled on the floor, only Kenzie, one of the smallest hare's in the Long Patrol could look down her nose at everyone else, regardless of the situation.

She studied Elicia's wounds, some of those weren't her doing - no, the majority of those probably weren't her doing. A Private getting injured by an Officer - without administering corporeal punishment - was just plain embarrassing.

"Takin' 'er to th' Infirmary?! It's only a bloomin' minute away! Yet here you two are, running a flamin' marathon! And since you two like running so much! Your Company will run laps of the Mountain and on reconnaissance for a season!" She narrowed her eyes into a cruel glance as a shadow fell upon her face,

"If y'can get her there 'nd out of my sight, I won't put y' on bread and water. And Private Pittney - stop swayin' like that! At least act like yore a part of the Long Patrol!"

Breeze blanched as he took in the severity of the situation, his head was a spinning top, realigning itself with the world around him. He wasn't built for this kind of physical conduct. His mind flicked through his self-written manual on dealing with Kenzie and eventually settled on a response,

"M'arm tis' an honour to be punished by you! Wot wot!" He snapped to his feet and enthusiastically dusted his tunic off, "H'nd I would love to stay 'nd listen t' th' rest of th' story! But I hav' t' take young Elicia here to the Infirmary! She got a bit bruised up doncha know?"

He leaned forward and petted Kenzie on the head softly, emphasising the height difference between the two and grinning as her boiling rage was reaching it's climax. He quickly grabbed Elicia's paw and dashed off in the direction they were previously headed - the Infirmary had to be around this corner.

"Ta-ta! Colonel!" He called out over his shoulder.

[Elicia]

Elicia looked away as Kenzie spoke, away from those eyes. They were cutting into her, and somehow made even Breeze's antics fade in comparison. They were as sharp as knives, demon eyes, needle points to stab her poor heart. It felt as though her life was going to end-Kenzie had that effect of the Private. She was the only officer that Eli couldn't bring herself to smart mouth to, the only officer that Eli really respected in the Long Patrol, and the only officer that could make the poor haremaid feel as though she had just jumped off the mountain into a giant pit of bubbling lave, cooked in there for a while, then felt the lava turn to shark infested water, and then back to lava again, all before a vermin warlord came and kicked her halfway to Dark Forest Gates.

However, the Colonel Kenzie Conzett did make the private want to try harder. Slowly, Eli raised her eyes to the Colonel's, meeting those awful black eyes. She straightened her back, put her footpaws together and saluted sharply, not even daring to wince this time. She did not sway, she did not move, she kept her chin up and eyes forward, shoulders back and footpaws together. "Yes marm! I h'apologize, marm!"

When Breeze grabbed her paw again and began racing down the corridor, Eli dug her heels into the ground as best she could, and with her other paw tried to pry the officer's paw off of hers. "Sah!" She called up to the enthusiastic hare. "Sah, I h'appreciate the help, sah, but I think that we can get t'the h'Infimary walking, not bally well running!"

[Ashstripe]

If Elicia's attempts to free herself from Breeze's grasp had even registered in his mind - he didn't show it. His paw kept it's grip as unpertrubted as ever whilst his vision remained intently focused on the halls ahead, scanning for any landmarks or tell-tale signs of their location. It was odd, Breeze could scout the Western Coast and all the way up to Mossflower with no trouble, he could always find his way home or his intended destination within the set deadlines.

But he couldn't even navigate around the Mountain that he called his home.

He grunted slightly as Elicia's verbal protests reached his ears, "Nonsense m'dear! Why walk when we can run? 'Tis good training, working the legs and honing our reactions! Wot wot!" He declared cheerfully, something in his tone suggested that he didn't quite believe in his regime as zealously as he claimed.

"Why in fact! 'Tis probably around this corner and at that door right about-" Breeze skidded to a halt and felt his involuntary cargo slam into his back once more - this time he had been somewhat expecting it and maintained his stance.

"Ha ha!" He raised a paw in the air as a sign of triumph, "Told y' I'd find it eventually! Wot wot!" Through all this, the Captain still maintained an air of indifference to Elicia's obvious distress at the entire situation.

And let it never be said that Captain Breeze 'Breezers' Chuffachop never looked after those in his Company.

((Shall we start a new thread in the Infirmary after you post then?))

[Elicia]

((Yes please! Should I start it, or you?))
Breeze was a complete mess. That much, Eli could tell. Why? Well, that was a little harder. There was the fact that he was an officer of the Long Patrol, and that suggested something a bit more sinister underneath his cover of near insanity. However, at the present moment in time, Eli wasn't too keen to give Breeze any praise. He had bashed her into a wall, fell on her, and generally gotten her yelled at by many hares that they had passed-namely, the Colonel.

So, that being said, she resigned herself to a small sigh as she hit his back again and fell to the ground. She checked her tunic quickly-nothing torn or anything. It was Eli that was battered, unfortunately, and not the tunic. Oh, why not the tunic? Oh. That's right. Because if Eli's tunic got dirty, she would be on bread and water for a whole season for not maintaining good appearances in front of the Colonel.

The Colonel again.

Did everything in this mountain happen because of Kenzie? Certainly she knew about it all, down to a single feather falling from a pillow, and certainly she would have put that unfortunate soul to justice for 'having a pillow fight' or something like that.

Maybe it was just that her head was rather foggy.

Maybe...but right now, the world seemed a little more than unfair to Eli.

Maybe it was just her, but as Eli picked herself up she glanced at the look of triumph on Breeze's face. It didn't help her mood in the slightest. At least half of her bruises and her throbbing head were due to his recklessness and by the fact that every time she tried to protest he completely ignored her. "Yes, sah, y'found it..." She said slowly, not wanting to make a remark that she would regret at a later point in time. "Y'found it all right..." She was regretting ever letting herself walk into the training room-if she hadn't, then none of this would have happened. But....she put one paw over where she had hidden the medal.

If she hadn't walked into the training room, she wouldn't have the medal-now would she?