The waves crash gently on the shore, their color now a blood red instead of a startling turquoise. The light breeze carries the sounds of a tense battle going on along the shore. Down where the sand meets the water, stands the old hare, his borrowed staff locked between the blades of two rats. Surrounding the three, are the bodies of three dead vermin. Duncan, who has lost a good portion of his left ear, his right eye covered in blood, and many cuts and slashes over his old body, growls under his breath. "Bloody vermin. Ye ain't gettin' yer bloody paws on her." And the her the hare is referring to, is the tiny little ball of fluff holding onto his leg.

Softly kicking up little bits of sand as he walks away from the mountain, Darklett, the fighter hare, is walking towards the ocean, two light, quick rapiers in two unsure paws. As he walks, he seems to inspect either side of the blades, then the hilted handles... His long, noise-sensitive ears pick up the faint sounds of battle... He's awfully sure it's an illusion of the breeze, but as he keeps walking, it gets stronger, and varying. His head looks up, and he sees the scuffle just downshore. His pace picks up, seeing a hare. "Eulaliaaaaa!" The buck runs into a full-out sprint, his weapons pointed forward towards the foes. He gets closer, and sees who it is, and picks up his speed even more. "Duncan! Eulaliaaaaa!"

Fritz pulls his blade away, aiming to grab at the fluff ball since his beady little eyes saw the new hare. But Duncan isn't about to let that happen, unaware of the young buck. Loss of your ear and eye kinda makes it hard to hear or see. The hare swings the staff to ram into Fritz's middle, before whacking his head around with the studded end. Fritz's neck snaps from the force, his body splashing into the water. Unfortunately, with that maneuver, the old hare left his gut open to the last rat. Smirking, the vermin plunges his blade into the hare just before Duncan cracks his skull with the staff. Duncan gives a small grunt, leaning on the staff as his paw searches for the kit. Finding her, he pulls her up, trying not to look scary from all the blood and wounds. "Right lass...time te get ye te the mountain. Good lad there that'll take care of ye for me. Don't think Ah'll be making it te the abbey again." So with a cutlass stuck in his gut, and blood flowing everywhere, the hare starts to limp towards the mountain, with the dibbun close to him.

"Duncan!" Darklett sees the hare take the cutlass in the gut, and lets out a strangled cry of rage. Sand kicking up in huge clouds behind his sprinting footpaws, the fighter hare charges the final remaining rat. Arms pumping back and forth and the rapiers gleaming with each movement in the new moonlight, his vision excludes all but his opponent... Now nearing the rat, he growls loudly, and raises one rapier, holding out the other in front of him.

Drake, who is still dazed from the crack to his head, is overtaken by Darklett, being skewered by the one rapier. As the rat slumps into the shallows with his deceased companions, Duncan stops, squinting his only eye to make out the shape of the young buck. Grunting, the old hare leans heavily on the staff, while the fluff ball makes a quiet eep. "Dark lad, that ye there?"

Darklett pulls his rapier roughly out of the rat, letting him fall to the ground. He sheaths the rapier quickly, then turns around and runs to the older hare. "Duncan!" He stops when he reaches him, and immediately draws his eyes to the nasty wound in his gut, the eye, the missing ear... "Yeah, it's me... We got to... get you inside." His eyes go again to the hole in the hare's stomach. He shakes his head quickly, and clenches his eyes shut, looking back up to the face of the hare. A single tear has already started its trail down his face.

Duncan shakes his head, his eye blinking as a few drops of blood fall in it. "No laddie, Ah won't be joining ye at the mountain. Ah think *gasp* that there fight did me in." The older hare, slowly lowers his rear to the ground, grunting as he sets the staff down before trying to pry the fluff ball loose again. "Now, ye listen te me lad. *gasp* Ah want ye te take this here little 'un to the mountain. Take care o' her, and raise her right. Ah would've taken her te yer brothah, but my wandering days are ovah. Ah'm sorry for what I said, and did te ye on the last visit. Twas wrong o' me, and that's why Ah came back."

"Duncan..." Darklett's eyes fill with tears as he kneels down by the older hare... He opens his mouth to plead with the hare, but he knows there's no point. "No... no." He looks at the hare. "Relax, lay down, Duncan." He shakes his head, blinking away the moisture around his eyes. He looks at the small creature in the old hare's arms, sobbing against his will. "Who is she?"

Duncan doesn't lie down, since he's trying to fight his fatigue. He sets the squirrel kit down, letting her sit by his footpaws, hugging her tail. "Ah found her by the rivah, on my trip back. Those vermin there had her, and was whippin' her. Ah snuck into their camp, and took her. Should have gone back te the abbey then, but Ah wanted te see ye first. Bloody rottahs ambushed me, and Ah couldn't let 'em take her again, so Ah fought." Duncan then decides to lie back, closing his good eye. "Now don't ye worry laddie. Ah've had a good life. Meet ye didn't Ah? And yer ma. Ahh, lovely doe she was. Raised two fine sons."

Tears flow freely down the fighter buck's face. "You fought bravely... sah. Very bravely." Darklett shakes his head again and cries openly. "You're a true goodbeast, and a true Long Patroller. The bravest of the brave." More weak sobs come forth from Darklett as he leans over and embraces the older hare. No more words can be said, he merely weeps for his father figure.

Duncan manages a weak grin, his breaths growing slower. "Thank ye lad. Ah only did what Ah've always done in life. But, Ah'm glad ye were the last one I saw. Ye were like a son te me." The old hare wraps an arm around the young buck's back in their last embrace, before his last breath is taken and the old hare goes to the gates of the Dark Forest.

Now, through all of this Audri has stayed silently, hugging her tail like a blanket. But as the old hare closes his eyes, she crawls over to Darklett, looking up at him silently with a thumb in her mouth.

Darklett feels Duncan's body go calm, and gives the embrace one last tight moment, before letting the old hare's deceased body drift to the ground. "Duncan..." He sits up, and kneels limply on the sand, his head and shoulders slumped towards the ground, sobbing and sniffing in mourning for the hare. His eyes eventually go up to the small squirrelbabe, who looks back at him. He forces a small smile, which disappears as quickly as it had come. "Hey little one. You were just saved by the most perilous hare of all time."

Audri tilts her head to the side, her emerald eyes blinking once, as she takes in the new beast. Audri sucks on her thumb, nodding to Dark as she moves to crawl into his lap. Once there, the dibbun stares at Duncan's still form, her tiny ears falling. "'unken gone."

Darklett accepts the dibbun into his lap, giving her a look... a quite unsure one. As she looks to the motionless hare, he adopts another look: one of near distress. "Yes, little one. He's gone." He stands up, picking the light squirrel dibbun up and cradling her awkwardly. "Do you have a name?"

Audri continues to suck on her thumb, leaning into the hare's arms carefully, since her tiny back has some scars on it. Her little eyes stare up at him, looking full of curiosity as she removes her thumb for a moment. "Au'ree." Then the dibbun places it back in her mouth, holding her tail tightly.

Sigh. Darklett begins walking back towards the mountain. Au'ree. He looks down at the dibbun. "What am I gonna do with you, huh?" His tear-stained face creases in a small frown as he looks into the dibbun's face worriedly. Rah'll know what to do. He'll talk to Rahier. And for some reason, he thinks of Posco.

Audri just smiles, her little emerald eyes staring at her new caretaker. Still sucking on her thumb, the little dibbun snuggles up to Dark, mumbling baby jibberish.