Overdue! Darklett, Niveus, Taye, Vansinnig, and Keita star in... THE BEACH! PART... FOUR!

"Alright, keep your step up, it's only been a couple hours!" Darklett walks backwards in front of the troops, who may or may not have been slumping at all. Nonetheless, he's a li'l excited about heading up this patrol. Can you blame him? "See, Halyard's right there. I make this trip all the time, it's nothing!" Dark turns back around, eyes peeling out for a big hunk of fur that looks like Vansinnig.

Vansinnig snores softly behind a dune, where his earlier repast lays scattered about. Pigeon bones scattered here and there compromise of a total of two birds, but the shifting sand is making quick work of them. Light is dimming in the cooling late autumn air, and the badger seems rather content. However, his ears flick back slightly at the sound of a distant voice. However, he does not stir. Muttering something in his sleep, he shifts slightly, the sand trickling off from between his ears and onto his nose. He snorts lightly as the grains tickle his nostrils, getting dangerously close to waking him up. It doesn't seem his camp his here, but his weapons are. The chain lies grasped harshly in his paws, unwound from his chest. The blade tip is attatched, encrusted with brown blood of pigeon. He hmms contentedly in his sleep.

Niveus would've happily skipped the entirety of the trip should it have been militarily acceptable, excitement having its way with him. Forgoing the said notion, the young hare trudges in line with the accompanying element, smile wide across his features. Unable to be repressed even in the midst of a lengthy march, he hums a quiet ditty to himself.

True to his words, Taye has not been lagging! Still, he looks none too happy about it. His bow is slung over his shoulder, and a shaft full of arrows is slung over his shoulder. At Darklett's excited words, he looks around. Squint. He looks towards Halyard. "D'ya expect we'll find the badgah tonight, sah?"

"Not sure. Hopefully we will. The sooner we find him, the sooner we get back to the mountain." Darklett marches onward, ears swiveling about, attention glued to the sandy horizon, looking for a badger. Idly as he goes, he taps at his belt full of throwing knives anxiously, though he tries not to let any of his anxiety show too much to the troops behind him.

Taye speeds up until he's level with Darklett, looking to the side at him. He notes the fidgetiness, but assumes it's pre-battle energy rather than jitters. "Wouldn't mind gettin' back to the mountain soonah rather than latah." And so, he joins Darklett in scanning the horizon. He plucks his finger tip at his bow string, idly.

Vansinnig snorts slightly as the tickling finally wakes him. He starts up, his ears flicking this way and that, the distant sound of footpaws making him wary. Then, confident that nothing would really phase him out here, he stands up and stretches behind the dune, before climbing up the shifting sands and to the top, where he drops his great bulk down, puts his curled-up paw under his chin, and studies the vivacious sunset alighting the clouds on fire on a canvas of vicious fall azure. "Eh, I miss this kinda stuff sometimes," he mutters to himself, smirking slightly.

Niveus squelches the humming, mindful of the seemingly ever impending search. He fixes his paw atop the hilt of his slender rapier, navigating the sheath's length so as to end any rattling. "Sah," he says quietly. "Anywhere in particulah we should be payin' close eye to?" The young hare's attention fixes forward, surveying the rather bleak landscape.

"Yeah, Taye, I know what you mean. Sooner that badger is out of our fur, the better." XD The lieutenant scans along the dunes, squinting his eyes in the distance. Niveus's question distracts him from his search for the moment, turning his head to hear the words better, before he shakes his head and turns back forward. "We've got no clue where he might be, since he's kinda a wanderer. If he's spotted us, though, he could be anywhere, so keep your eyes peeled." Fidget.

Funny Dark should mention him spotting them. Almost as he says it, the red badger turns his gaze downshore, and instantly spots the cluster of hares. It's quite obvious they're hares. Long ears. Bounding footpaws. The distant clatter of weapons. He frowns slowly, glancing down at his chain, then grins. "Ahhhhhhh, finally. S'been borin'." He stands, laughs barkingly at the sky, waves at the distant figures with much gusto, and leaps off the top of the dune with sudden, liquid like movements. Sliding down the sands, he grabs at his weapon, and moves off into the dunes. "C'mon, hares. Les' see if Dark finally grown a spine."

"Yes sah," Niveus nods in return, somewhat perturbed at the thought of having been spotted, but hardly in the mind to suggest a course of action to an officer. The movement down the shore caught his attention. "Sah, beggin' yer pardon, but the top of that dune down a ways just moved."

Taye nods his agreement to Dark's words. He looks around at Niveus as Darklett addresses him and then back towards the horizon. The distant figure of Vansinnig and his waving is spotted, and he narrows his eyes. "... Also spotted, sah. Right ahead, 'bout 300 yards." Such a good little runner.

The healer that accompanied the patrol nods in agreement, and calls out, "Aye, sah, me too." Darklett squints as the badger runs into the dunes, his ears perking forward and his eyes squinting. "That's our target, hares. Keep an eye out, he may have buddies. And whatever you do, don't point at him. Forward!" The lieutenant marches directly ahead, just as before, as if he hadn't seen a thing.

Vansinnig moves off deeper into the dunes, leaving quite a noticable trail. In fact, he actually glances back at his foot marks and grins. Suddenly he stops, turns and runs a little ways down the dunes. Then, stepping carefully in his own marks, he backtracks and then goes the other way. He does this at least three more times. Diversionary tactics. Then he splits off and heads another way entirely. "C'mon, clever hares. Wanna track somethin'?" He chcuckles.

"Understood, sah." Niveus directs his gaze forward, remaining in line as a curious glance is given aside every so often. The flats of the beach seemed pleasant enough, however the soldier knew well enough the problem lays within the vast dunes. His paw remains perched atop the pommel of his blade, constricting there with a bit of tension.

Taye reaches a paw back behind his shoulder, rustling the tips of his feathered arrows with his fingers. Reassurance. He dips his head in a very slight nod. "Yes, sah."

Vansinnig grunts, turns around, then crouches in a little hollow in a duneside. Light is dimming fast, the sky darkening. "Hmm, visibility should be some fun." He chuckles, trying to quiet his breathing. Within a minute, he's managed to calm his body down. Then, closing his eyes, he let's his ears take over, clips the spiked weight to the other end of the chain...and grins wide. Chuckling softly, he throws a minute glance towards the Halyard path, as if catching his bearings. "Huh, les' have a party then."

The lieutenant keeps his eyes peeled, his lips curling at their edges in a small frown as he hasn't caught sight of the badger in a good while now. "He's hiding..." And his ears perk as they are about to trod on the badger's tracks. "Taye, quick," Darklett mutters, "Without stopping, tell me which set of tracks are the most shallow."

Niveus habitually folds his ears back, glancing side to side before peering forward to the lead officer. He remains silent, hardly wishing to do any divulging of their position or interrupt the superior hare. Taye quickly scans the tracks without missing a step. He nods his head almost imperceptibly in the direction of one pair of tracks. "Just to yer righ', sah, leadin' off that way."

Vansinnig glances in the direction of Halyard again. "I'm too close." He curses. "Les' hope Keita's not gonna hop out. She's got a bad habit of bein' everywhere." He snorts, licking his teeth. He glances at the sky. The sun is dipping below the horizon. "Les' hope they split up."

Darklett nods, and changes directions, his eyes but not his head moving down to inspect the tracks indicated by Taye, his ears perked for noise, eyes moving back up the dunes to inspect their tops for ambush. "Walk soft, keep quiet," he directs in whisper to his patrol. Eyes peering ahead at the tracks, he spots a sudden stop... But keeps moving, eyes kept on the dune. Fidget. Fidget.

"Permission tah draw blade, sah?" Niveus inquires quietly, figuring the badger knows well enough they're on his trail if he took the time to play hopscotch in the sand. His ears perked visibly, standing on end as he swiveled them from side to side in attempt to gain a bearing on the unseen foe.

Taye's eyes scan not the dunes but the tracks instead. His ears are perked, as if they're speaking to him. Murmur. "Ran down the dunes ovah there... Backtracked ovah his own path... Stopped. Went off thissa way, aye..." He's not really giving this as information to Darklett; he's mostly just thinking aloud. After all, this is first opportunity to "use" his tracker training.

Darklett bites his lip, marching along. "We can't stop marching," he whispers. "Got to keep moving. So, we'll reach the end of these tracks, and make a wide sweep of the dunes... After we hit the end of the tracks, split up, all of us, and keep an eye out for anybeast... Make sure you see him before he sees you."

Niveus takes that as a no, paw remaining poised upon the weapon's hilt. He remains to the six of the lieutenant, marching smartly along as the tracks are followed. A nod, seen or not, is given in silent reply to the offered orders.

Vansinnig flicks an ear at the voices in the dunes, humming softly to himself. He can't hear what they're saying, but he can make a good guess as how far they are. Chuckling, he grips the chains a little tighter. "Like a mouse to a wildcat," he murmurs. Glancing at the sky again, he sniffs the air. The night is getting darker. A twilight seems to gradually crawl out of the sea and hug the shores and lands. He shifts his attention back to the task at hand. "Hope Dark's the first I see."

Taye's eyes flicker up to Darklett and then back down. "It's amazin'... See how the gait's longah where he ran, n the slightly widah step where he's back-tracked..." Runner geek. Still, the others don't seem too excited with what he has to say, and so he focuses his attention back up, scanning the dunes again. Squint. "Sah? Do ya want me up on one o' the dunes with m'bow?" Better view for better aim.

Darklett's ears perk as they pick up on the sound of Vansinnig's murmur. Finally, he stops, and turns, at the end of the tracks, to the rest of the patrol. First, he addresses Taye, his whisper more low-key than ever. "Not unless you can shoot through sand dunes. He'll probably be hiding on the other side of one... No, I want you to..." He leans in, his whisper getting even quieter as he does so. "...sweep very wide... Walk soft to make sure you're not heard. Get around a dune that's far that way," he points briefly, "and lurk through them until you can spot the badger... If you can get a shot, I want you to snipe for him. Understood?" He steps back, and draws two throwing knives, looking to Niveus and giving him a nod to follow suit. "Well," the lieutenant raises his voice, flicking his head away in motion to Taye to get going, "looks like he's got us in a fair pickle, doesn't he? Just waiting for us to come get him, isn't that right?" To cover Taye's footsteps. ;P

"Oh, yes sah." Niveus muses in turn, withdrawing the rapier with an audible creak of metal on metal. "I say, perhaps if we invite him for a bit of scoff he'll come out and join us?" The mention of food brings a soft groan, having reminded himself of the lack-of after the long march.

Taye salutes sharply. "Aye, sah." He's immediately off to do Darklett's bidding, sweeping around veeeery wide, to be extra cautious. His footfalls are soft, almost inaudible. He draws his bow from his shoulder and an arrow from over his shoulder, soon out of sight of the other hares.

Vansinnig snorts softly as Dark's voice dips. Frowning, he realizes something. He's a sitting duck. Breathing slowly, crawls out of the hole without making any noise. Sensitive hare ears and all. Still frowning, he lets his chain out link by link, before closing his eyes and listening.........His eyes snap open. Someone broke off from the group. Snorting, he makes a good guess and tries to run in the direction the other broke off in. It would be nice if he could meet up before the others made contact. No use getting ambushed.

"Yeah, maybe we should tell him we have some scones and hot tea out here!" Darklett laughs loudly, his face nowhere close to showing the emotion he mimics, eyes peering around the dunes for any movement. "Maybe we'll drag him out by his tum-" Stop. Ears perk. Running. "Hellsteeth," he murmurs under his breath, and sprints towards the sound of the footfalls. "Eulaliaaaaaa!" Hopefully the war cry will tell Taye the gig's up, and Darklett charges towards the direction he heard the running, gripping around his throwing knives tightly as he scours the dunes.

Niveus brandishes the rapier with the sound of steps, turning quickly toward the reverberations of footpaws. As Darklett moves, the young soldier follows, quickly bringing his slender weapon aside in his left paw so as not to trip and impale himself or the accompanying officer.

Vansinnig jerks to a stop at the call. "Ahhh, Dark's come 'bout." Priorities change. Spinning around, he turns in the other direction sharply. "Come hither, li'l hare. Let's make it a fun one, eh?" he shouts into the wind, his adrenaline rushing. His ruse has failed, but at least he'll have some fun.

The badger isn't exactly light on his rather large feet. Taye's ears perk as he runs, his eyes scanning over his shouder as he listens to the goings-on behind him. First the warcry, then the cessation of the chase. He comes to a stop, spraying sand. He listens, waits, and then turns, continuing on his mission. Once he gets to the end of a very long dune, he turns 90 degrees and begins scanning to his left. Arrow is set to bow string. "C'mon, c'mon..."

Vansinnig stops. "Huh. Why am I runnin' to them?" He takes the chain and slowly begins to spin both ends, until the form humming circles around the sides of his body. "Let's have the fun come to me, aye?" Grinning, he heaves his head back and howls, howls, howls at the rising moon. "C'mon!" he shouts. "C'mon, Dark. Let's not dally bout anymore, aye? How many hares it gonna take ta bring me down, eh? C'mon then!" He laughs barkingly. "I'll see hot blood t'night, mates!"

After scaling a few dunes, Darklett finally sees Vansinnig in the valley between two of them. "There he is, Niveus!" Charging down the dune, brows furrowed and ears pinned back protectively, he scowls and prepares to throw two knives, his eyes kept on the spinning blade. Hopefully, Taye can get at least one shot off by the time the opposition meets. Niveus stops alongside the lieutenant, swiftly bringing his weapon about to clasp the rapier forward with both paws clasped about the hilts. "Your orders, sah?" he says softly, leaning in.

Vansinnig glances up at Dark, and grins his mad little grin. "Oy, Dark, fine night, aye? Look. There's a full moon." He seems almost happy to see Dark. "Oy, heads up," he mutters to himself, moving closer to the opposite dune. The one Taye would be on. He doesn't know the hare is there, but he's got a fighter's intution. Basic strategy is to surround an enemy. "C'mon, hares. Les' see what'cha can pull outta yer sleeves, aye? I'm gettin' a bit impatient wit' the hide-an'-seek routine, mates."

"Keep an eye on the blade he spins... But if you feel like walking away from this one, keep the other eye on the back end of it," Darklett offers to Niveus, taking slow steps forward to counteract the badger's backward ones. "And when you're in close range, make sure you get your strike in and get the -hell- out of there, 'cause it ain't easy to dodge that thing from close up..." His voice raises. "Come on, then, Mordare. We didn't come here to see a badger put on a weapon show."

Ah! There! Taye comes to another sand-spraying halt, then drops down behind a small mound in the sand. Be as invisible as possible, Taye. He crawls up the edge of the mound, getting just enough of his body over the edge to sight along his bow at his target - Vansinnig. He aims for main body mass - the chest. Thup! goes the bow string, and away the arrow flies. His eyes narrow, and he draws another arrow. If Vansinnig wants to come for him, he's not going to have long.

Vansinnig flicks and ear. "Archer," he growls, before diving backwards, falling on his butt, the arrow embedding in the sand. Growling, he rolls almost acrobatically, his chains trailing. Noting the trajectory of the arrow, he glances at the dune where Taye is. "Righto, then." Zig-zagging and rolling randomly, he heads towards the hare. "First, the li'l sniper."

Niveus turns sideways, left paw pulling away from the hilt as his right footpaw is pushed out to lead. The soldier bounds forward a step, settling his footing in the sand as the rapier was extended. As the badger turned to make headway toward Taye, the young hare changes posture to bound forward. Smart enough to realize that pursuing in the line of fire is bad news, he circles to the right and pursues.

Vansinnig does not notice Niveus, concentrating on not getting shot. He's too close to dodge at all, so he begins to spin the chain before his body as fast as he possibly can without straining his wrist. If he's lucky, he just might be able to deflect the arrows, even from a shorter range. However, he's hoping the sniper will get fidgety as the badger looms closer, so he's hoping for mistakes.

Deep breath. "Aim for where he's goin', not where he is..." Thus, he waits until Vansinnig finishes a zig and his body shifts to start the zag, and lets the arrow fly. As soon as it's loosed, he scrambles up, charging down the valley of the dune he's in.

Darklett grunts, and his steps move into a sprint as he follows the badger. Reeling back an arm, he clutches tightly around the knife in that paw, and turns his run on full-tilt, wanting to get to the badger before he gets to Taye. And... now comes the point where his training pays off. Using the forward momentum of his run, the lieutenant plants his footpaws downward and hurls that knife as hard as he can at the fleeing back of the badger, using the same logic as Taye-- aim for where he's going, not where he is. Basic, really. :P

Niveus throws his weight into the run, sprinting in a wide semicircle in an attempt to stay close enough to hop into the fray after he closes the gap with the archer.

Tink! A lucky break. The chain slaps the arrow from the air, knocking it down. He grins, pulls the chain into his hand and runs after Taye. "Oy, come back here. Don't be no sissy coward." Slink! Unfortunately, the knife is quite different from the arrow, as it's heading towards his back. It sticks....quite painfully in the meat under his right shoulderblade. Fortunately, a lot of bone and fur back there, so it's not very deep. Unfortunately, Van has a condition. The blood spurts in the dark light, throwing an arch of dark liquid glittering faintly in the moonlight. He howls. Something so full of malice and pain, it would curdle milk. However, Taye is in his sights. Wrenching the knife from his back, he shoves it into his belt, grabs a smaller spiked weight, and flings it with the accuracy of a chain-yielder at Taye's back. He himself knows the old, trajectory trick, just not as well. Still, he's had plenty of practice on the chain.

Darklett continues to sprint after the badger, catching up to him again as he pulls another knife from his belt, hurling it at the badger's back again, grinning as Vansinnig has stopped dodging and rolling, making him a relatively easy target for the lieutenant's deadly, heavily practiced accuracy with his knives.

Niveus took the initiative of the badger ceasing to bound into the fray, quickly slipping his right footpaw forward to leave as he plants into the sand. The rapier is shoved forward, the slender length pushed out as he pivots in attempt to ram it headlong into the armpit of Vansinning, taking the lifted arm as a welcome target.

Vansinnig hears Dark's footsteps behind him. He growls, then ducks to the side soon after he flings. The knife hits him in the lower back. He tugs that out as well and shoves it into his belt. Unfortunately, he doesn't realize that Niveus is near him. Fortunately, the duck only leaves him with a graze on the arm. Painful, but nothing serious. However, blood loss is defintely an issue now. Without thinking, he keeps running, only pausing to swing the weighted chain backwards in a deft, 180 twist of the body before continuing. Even running, his accuracy is allright, and the weight heads towards Niveus' sword arm.

Darklett is not long in throwing another knife at the badger's body, getting quite near to the badger now, so his run turns into a jog, which slowly stops as he throws and watches yet another blade spin through the air on its trajectory towards the badger, before breaking into a sprint to try and get close to Taye while the badger's distracted.

Taye isn't doing much in the way of /dodging/, really. He's just relying on the old runner standby of get the heck out of there as quickly as possible. However, just as Vansinnig's deadly weapon comes flying at his back he sees a convenient opening in a dune, which he dodges to the right in order to take. Just not quite soon enough. The large, spiked sphere smashes into his shoulder, whereas otherwise it likely would have struck him at the base of the neck. A killing shot. He feels and hears the bones crunch, and lets out a shout of surprise and pain. The spikes tear his flesh, the ball thudding into the sand as he does.

Niveus disengages the sword around the chain, taking a quick crosste back by collapsing his footpaws together. He allows the inertia effecting the chain to carry through, presuming it'll find home at the badger's back.

Vansinnig growls as he realizes the archer has been struck. He sees the weight land. It would be difficult to draw a bowstring with a shattered shoulder. Grinning, he suddenly turns to meet the other two. Unfortunately, the one knife strikes high in the side of his neck, gouging into the skin as his own chain suddenly starts to wrap around him. The other knife passes just over his shoulder, nicking him, not finding it's mark due to the sudden stop. However, he's not a chain-yeilder for nothing. He deftly spins sideways with the chain, so that he spins with his weapon. Snarling, he swings both ends towards Niveus' torso (from the right side), stepping back while doing so to make some space. "Oy, I like ya better than 'at sniper. T's more fair this way, aye?" His damaged flesh bleeds, slowing him ever so slightly.

Darklett drops to a halt as he hears the sound of the spiked weight connecting, the lieutenant unable to see Taye after the hit... So, he's distracted for a moment. But, only for a moment, as he turns to see the badger making the other hare his main target. Without a spinning chain to deflect the knives, Darklett strafes around the badger until he's no longer in line with Niveus, and unloads three more knives from his belt, throwing one in quick succession after the other at the badger's ribs. If anything, it'll take some heat off Niv over there.

Vansinnig watches Dark out of the corner of his eye, growing. Three knives. Joy. He tries to twist his body sharply, but that'll make his aim wobbly and uncertain. With some luck, at least he'll knock Niveus down. Two knives stick at shallow angles into his ribs, but one sticks hard into a bone. It cracks "Nrrrrgh!!!" He snarls at both. Panting, he barks at Dark. "There ya...(pant)...are. Showin', ngh, yer face, aye?"

Niveus' left footpaw is slipped back as he resumes En Garde, rapier extended out before him. As the badger spins to take a swing, the hare takes advantage of his opponents choice to lengthen the distance between them by stepping back. Feigning parry, he quickly slips his leading right footpaw back, carrying through by collapsing his left into place. The rapier was thudded into the sand, point first to ward off the trailing lengths.

"Oh m'arm," Taye gasps out, rolling onto his side and holding grasping at his shoulder with the opposite paw. He doesn't have long to do this, however, before good old Ronan the healer slides up beside him. He holds a finger to his lips, shushing at Taye before he grabs his shoulder. Draaaaag. To safety.

Vansinnig snarls and yanks back on the chains, whipping them behind him. Then, with a sudden, wobbly heave, he flings them out forwards, letting the weighted end fling towards Niveus' torso. The spikes whistle sharply as they tear the air. "Stan' still, bugger!" Yanking the sticking knives out of his body with his free hand, he shoves them into his belt. He has quite the collection. The other end of the chain begins to spin, the blade whistling, and directioned to ward off any knives. "Get o'er, Dark. Wot, ya gonna leave an' ole friend out of some good fun?"

Darklett takes two more knives out of his belt, leaving four in their respective slots there, but keeping himself from throwing... With Niveus jumping around like that, he can't risk that. So, he runs around the badger to try and get a clearer shot, all but sprinting towards Niveus linearly, sending him intentionally within range of the badger's swinging blade. "What, all this time you've been -ignoring- me!" On ignoring he throws both knives, one low, one high, headed for thigh and chest.

Niveus retrieves the rapier, bringing it up as the weighted end of the ball begins its journey. Wide eyed, the young hare throws himself back, catching the blow hard enough to send him sprawling back with an audible oof! He plants against the sand, the wind knocked clean out of him. But hey, he'd trade wind any day for his ribs.

Vansinnig snarls and spins the blade like a mad beast. One blade glances off, the other...makes it through. It sticks into the thick muscles of Van's thigh. Blood leaks out swiftly, so this blade is left in. His false good humor leaves him completely. "Aye. I see how tis'." The badger flicks his eyes at Niveus for a scant moment, watching him. Seeing him down, he flicks the weight powerfully into the air, before whipping it straight down towards Niveus' prone leg. All the while, he keeps Dark in his sights. "This ain't gonna end well, mate." With that, he multi-tasks and slashes out the blade towards Dark's torso, the point gleaming. "Oh, I've 'ad an uprgrade, mate." With a twist, the chain suddenly unclips at a certain length, leaving the shorter end (the bladed end) in one paw, and the longer, weighted length in the other. "Aye, a bit a surprise, mate." More maneuverability this way. And, he can stretch his arms apart now, making the blade length that much closer to Dark.

Keita is just out for an evening stroll, miiinding her own business and her own crutches, when the great amount of yelling and movement draws her away from the path which leads to the village and towards the dunes. It takes her a while, but she crests a particularly high dune which gives her nearly a bird's eye view of the situation. And /wow/ but that's an awful lot of red sand. Her eyes flit from one creature to the other, and then fix in on Vansinnig, who from her view looks to be fighting one against two. Her ears droop upon seeing who one half of the two is - Darklett.

Niveus stops nursing himself as the weighted chain was brought up, rolling hard aside while snatching the hilt of the nearby rapier. Planting onto his back a space away, the hare grasps the chain above the weight and quickly pulls himself up far enough with a push of his large legs to try a half-hearted thrust. The slender blade was forward and foremost, gripped within his right paw as he jabs it toward the badger's belly.

Darklett grunts, his venturing close to the badger having the desired effect. Not expecting the sudden lengthening of the chain, he misjudges the speed, his eyes widening in surprise as he does the first thing that comes to mind-- jumps forward. Because of this, the blade misses, but the chain doesn't, and it wraps around his midsection rapidly, crushing the wind out of the hare. Gagging slightly, he falls to his knees in reflex, in case he should be followed up with a spiked weight to the head or upper body, and grabs two of his remaining four knives, hurling them both simultaneously upward at the badger's stomach.

Vansinnig doesn't notice anything besides the fight except the ever growing darkness on the edge of his vision. The blade sings towards Van's belly. It...makes contact. It pierces, but at an odd angle, as his arm is not held out straight, but to the side. He would have an odd angle of it. He gags, coughing up blood...which he spits harshly at Niveus' eyes. With that, he whips his head to Dark, seconds after the knives strike. Again, his arms out to the side, but at a steeper angle. The knives sink at a worse angle, sticking half of their blades into his hard stomach. He roars. Loud enough to deafen someone if they were standing near enough to his maw. Now he's angry. With a powerful heave, he yanks with reckless abandon at the chain around Dark's stomach, lifting the hare into the air, and swinging him at Niveus. "I'VE 'AD ENOUGH!!!!!" In the moonlight, he looks like a demon, the moon accentuating the reds and whites, harshly contrasting them. His red eyes flash like fire. The badger from the Darkforest.

Groaning, the hare bucked back, squinting as he wipes feverishly at his eyes with the back of his left paw-- the right still holding his rapier. Gaining sight, the young soldier looks up in time to emit a soft "Agh" before catching the lieutenant's weight and being thrown several feet back before finding another soft home within the side of a sand dune in complete disarray. He certainly hopes Darklett enjoyed the ride, though.

Vansinnig releases the weighted chain and yanks out six of the throwing knives, blood still encrusted on their blades. He moves quickly, his teeth glistening in the light, blood dripping out of the side of his mouth as he lunges at the entangled bodies, the three blades in both paws each going for their own hare. The right, towards Niveus' gut, the left, blindly towards Dark's chest. He realizes in the back of his mind that this is not going to end well.

Keita's first reaction is to hop/slide down the dune she's perched atop, which of course only results in her /tumbling/ most of the way down. She slides to an uncomfortable stop, her tunic riding up in the back and filling with itching sand. She curses, grabbing the one crutch she can reach and looking up in time to see - Darklett. Flying through the air and crashing into another buck. Her jaw drops, and for the moment she just sits there, likely unnoticed by the battling bunch.

The lieutenant would probably cry out, if he had the breath to. But, he doesn't, and so he thuds right into Niveus, then falls to the ground... At least the throw caused the chain to loosen around him, and he catches a breath, trying feebly and unsuccessfully to unwrap the chains from around him, his paws moving down to grab for a knife... Only to find access to their handles has been blocked by the chains. He catches movement in the corner of his eye, and frantically grabs the end of the chain around him, rolling to the side and taking another deep breath, unraveling enough of the chain to chance a throw of the blade at the end at the quick-approaching Vansinnig.

Niveus groans ever quietly beneath the lieutenant, scrambling about in an almost subconscious manner to locate the nearby rapier and retrieve it into his sword paw. The presence of his superior officer on top of him limits his ability to react, but the sword was plucked from the sand (as was his arm for that matter) to be held in a warding manner off to both of their rights.

Vansinnig moves closer, knives glittering between his fingers, the handles pressing harshly into his paws. Noticing the hares are moving off, he, without hesitation, heads towards Dark, his nostrils flaring and puffing hot steam into the cool night. He lunges like a maniac at the LP officer, sand spraying every which way, both paws full of blades stabbing at Dark's torso. He's had enough of talking, apparently, his anger drowning out everything but the fight. His mind, murmuring warnings, is shoved back into the recesses of the dark wrath overtaking him. In his mind, distantly, he arrogantly smirks, because he's realized that Blood Wrath's got nothin' on a killer's bloodlust.

Darklett takes the badger's charge, and swings Vansinnig's own blade out defensively, letting go as soon as he does, and rolling away as fast as he can, unraveling the chains from around himself... He knows the badger's after him, and so he puts up his arms to try and keep those knives of his from hitting any vital spots... Which means his sleeves are quite ripped, with lots of blood coming from them through several of these holes. "Aaaagh!" The hare grunts as he twists from side to side, taking a knife to the hip, then to the shoulder, before he reaches down to his freed belt with one paw, grabs one of his melee daggers, and slashes upwards towards one of Vansinnig's wrists, trying to halt the frantic slashing so he can try to escape his downed position.

Niveus rolls aside as the chance is given, ignoring the stabbing pain in his stomach as he stumbles from the sandy embankment. The rapier was quickly taken into paw, thankful to have not lost it during the flight. With his attention turned to the badger's onslaught upon the downed lieutenant, the young hare quickly pivot-steps to the right, turning to grasp the weapon's hilt with both paws. Playing on the dire focus of his foe, the length of blade was pulled back to his side before he lunged forward and thrust it out in an attempt to sink the blade deep into the beast's back.

Vansinnig heaves a powerful roar into Dark's face, his pupils enlarged to a great size, leaving the red irises thin circles to flash in the light. Dark's blade strikes the bone of his left wrist, forcing him to drop two of the blades. He's bleeding terribly. Being a hemophiliac can't be good for his line of work. Snarling, he suddenly shoves his elbow out at Dark's face powerfully. He's losing it.........The blade sinks into his back. Time freezes for he badger. For a moment, he's lost all his wits. The full, primal fury of the beast breaks through the dams of restraint, flooding out in a terrible deluge. He twists, snapping the blade in his back, before making a grab at Niveus' throat and swing his other arm back to strike his face with a barreling fist. He roars again. And this time, it's for a good ten seconds.

All this time Keita has just been staring, horrified, having never seen this side of Vansinnig before. But then, the blade sinks into his back, and he reaches a whole new level of... crazed. Understandably so. She struggles up on her one crutch, and lunge-steps towards the battling group. She's still got some distance to go, though.

Darklett grits his teeth against the pain of the knives embedded in his body, his face showing an agonized type of fear as the badger roars into it, the hare stunned for a moment by the badger's elbow... When he comes out of his daze, he sees that he's not under attack. One, two, three, and it registers. "NO!" Grabbing with his other paw down to his belt, despite the pain in his shoulder, and grips around his other dagger, quickly stabbing both blades into the badger's knees, recoiling them out, and rolling away to try and get up. But, the going's slow, the hare getting to just one knee before pausing and preparing to dodge again, should he need to.

Niveus gasps out audibly as the weight of the badger shifts abruptly, the sickening twang of the steel weapon breaking from the hilt followed closely by the groan of the hare slumping aside from a loss of balance, roughly hitting the sand with a shard of the shattered blade protruding from the forearm of his sword paw. The remaining quarter of the weapon was lost, the hilt and jagged blade falling somewhere along side him. He may very well have averted receiving the righteous fist of anger, but the young hare was about as good as unconscious in a fatigue disillusion.

Vansinnig grunts animalisticaly as the the blades sink into his knees. He pauses, then lunges his entire body at Darklett, his arms spread to clasp the hare to his chest. His eyes are wide and blood continues to leak even from the earliest wounds. The moon is slowly climbing higher and higher into the sky. The night becomes cooler and cooler. Hot breath streams like puffs of smoke behind the infuriated badger. He will not last much longer.

Darklett sees the badger coming too late, and can't do anything to jump out of the way... He's taken down by the badger, gasping out as Vansinnig squeezes him to his chest, and his knives, held by arms which he raised to evade the grasp, go into rapid action, the weapons stabbing repeatedly down at the badger's back over his shoulders. "Eulaliaaaaaa!"

Niveus sits up in place, swaying in a woozy haze as he fumbles about to find something to be utilize as a weapon. Unknowingly he passes over the broken blade, taking hold.. of a conch shell. The only thing on his mind was giving Darklett any vestige of time to finish their foe. Feebly, he lobs the dastardly weapon at the badger's back!

Vansinnig roars again, crushing and crushing and crushing. His large, blunt claws dig into the hare's back as he rears his head back and slams it towards the hare's head. He finally grunts something out. "Les'...end this......." The stabbing makes little effect on his determination. He faintly feels the conch shell bounce off his back. Nothing. Not even a twitch. The world begins to darken. "Endddddd......"

Darklett's grip on the knives loosens as he's squeezed ever-harder by the badger, the hare losing all his breath and slowly going limp. He glares up with intense hatred through slowly closing eyes to the badger, yet can do nothing to ward off the powerful head slamming into his. With a loud grunt, the hare slumps, motionless in the badger's hold.

Vansinnig grunts.....then rolls off the hare, staring at the moon. His irises slowly shrink back to their normal size as light streams in. Then, he slowly slips into the stygian darkness, murmuring nothings to himself, trying feebly to reach at the rapier in his back. Blood leaks and with it, his life. He finally notices Keita. "Oy. One ale, Keit." He finally passes out.

"E.. e. yeahlawha." Niveus holds up his paw! "Whe. ..ew." His sword pawn finds the broken blade, lifting it up to inspect it absently. "Bad form, I say, bad form." The hare remains in place for several agonizing moments, his chest heaving as he catches his breath and staggers to his foot paws. With a paw clamped over the wound induced by the shard, he walks toward the pair with a swagger. The badger's apparent relinquishing of hostility brings him to sheath what's left of his blade, kneeling closely beside the unconscious lieutenant thereafter. "Medic?" he mumbles to himself.

"... Okay. Deep breath, deep breath, Keita. Deep... breath." The doe leans on her crutch helplessly as she looks from one unconscious beast to the other. When Niveus asks for a medic, she barks out a laugh and limps the remaining distance to the trio where she drops down on one knee and stub. "... Right. Medic." She looks around. The patrol doesn't travel without a bloody healer! "MEDIC!!!!"

Go Ronan, go! He appears over the top of a sand dune, and scrambles down the far side - without falling. "I'm here, I'm here! What d'ya need!" He halts when he sees the quartet, then drops down beside them. He looks from Vansinnig to Darklett. Vansinnig, to him, looks pretty dead. Aside from the fact that he's "the enemy", and so he looks first to Darklett, to whom he moves. He does a visual scan, then slaps him lightly on the cheek. "Sah, sah, c'n you hear me, sah?"

Niveus' eyes went wide as Keita ambles onto the scene, brow raising visibly. "Er," he blinks several times before realizing he wasn't hallucinating. A wafting sigh follows in relief, recognizing the medic as he scrambles onto the scene. For a moment there, he was afraid he'd have to use his first aide skills. No one wants that.

Darklett flicks his eyes open... Though, open may be an overstatement. They're barely slitted, the only thing coming through a tiny glint from the moonlight reflecting off. He gives a very small groan, before letting his head fall to the side, and he slips into unconsciousness again.

Keita is, of course, flabbergasted by Ronan's actions. "But..." Her jaw sets. With a small shake of her head, she sets to the arduous task of fixing Vansinnig up. Much the same as Ronan does for Darklett. It's going to be a long night on the beach.