They had come in the night. The Taguel on watch should have heard the clanking armour of man-spawn or have smelt their stench long in advance, however these were veterans of what were called "Coney-hunts" they wore little to no armour and knowing they'd be expected to come from downwind of the Warren had instead masked their scent with mud and leaves, the smells of the forest.

By the time those on watch had realized that they were about to be attacked it had nearly been too late. Even so Nash was worried that not everyone was going to escape in time, he'd had the Warren run emergency drill after drill, but since nobody in a Warren was considered above anyone else and all were equal many hadn't seen the point or showed up, and so the evacuation was slow going.

The tunnel was something Nash had designed himself, strong-arming a few able bodied Taguel into helping it's construction, it was located in their newest food storage room which Nash had purposefully constructed so it stood supported by a few wooden beams. He'd gotten the blueprints and ideas from a man-spawn village not too far from where the warren was located, the tunnel was a small hole in the back that a grown Taguel could crawl on his or her hands or knees and would be able to follow it to a secret opening in a hillside not far away that was disguised by tall grass. The room itself could be quickly collapsed with no fear of damaging the rest of the Warren by knocking out one of the beams.

Nash stood beside the tunnel entrance, herding his friends through it, his brother and his mother were near the back of the line of slow moving Taguel

His foot tapped worriedly and impatiently as he nearly pitched an older rabbit through it, "C'mon! Hurry! Pick up your feet! Jorne said they'd be here any moment! I bet you wished you'd shown up to one of those drills now! I'M LOOKING AT YOU LETTY!" He shouted raising his voice in fustration.

The two Taguel at the back of the line glanced at each other. "Stay here Mother... I'll talk to him." The male one said, leaving the line and moving to the side to lay a hand on his brothers arm. "Nash... you need to calm down... maybe Jorne was wrong, Ailen is already away through the tunnel and soon so will Mother and I, relax Nash. We're gonna be okay."

Nash shook his brothers hand off, and glanced around nervously before taking his brother by the arm and leading him aside. "Listen, don't tell anyone this alright Faine? I sent Jorne back out to check outside and made him swear on his honour he'd come back in no more than ten minutes."

"Yea? And?"

Nash sucked in his breath. "That was a half hour ago."

"... maybe he got lost?"

"Don't be stupid, this is Jorne we're talking about, you know? Jorne "I know the forest like the back of my paw?" THAT Jorne? The day he gets lost is the day I eat my own feet. We need to get out of here, you've heard Yedden's stories of what happened to his Warren before he came to us right? Do you want that to happen here?"

"But.... Nash this is our home... We can't just leave it for the man-spaw--"

"We can and we will, believe me I'm spoiling for a fight more than anyone, but not here, not where the Old Ones and the Little Ones could get hurt. The day will come for us to meet the man-spawn in a fair fight, but today isn't it. So I need you to---"

"NAAAASH! NAAAASH!" Someone was shouting far off.

The Taguel looked at his brother, expression blank. "Watch over mother, get her out get in the tunnel then collapse it behind you."

"B-but what about you Nash"

"NASH! NASH WHERE ARE YOU?! NO NO NO!"

"I'm gonna buy us some time, there's another tunnel that only Jorne and I know about if thats him shouting we'll use that." Nash lied.

"... okay" Faine said, taking Nash's position by the tunnel entrance, trembling.

Nash's eyes met his mothers as he ran past her for the exit into the Warren tunnels, he opened his mouth.

"NASH HURRY!"

Nash closed his mouth, blew his mother a kiss instead and ran out of the store room.

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Nash followed the shouting all the way to the entrance, sprinting as fast as he could. His feet pounded as he headed up towards the Warren's only main way in or out. It wasn't long before he saw the source of the shouting, up the final slope stood Jorne, his back pressed to the flimsy wooden door that Nash had insisted be put up as some form of protection. Most Warrens didn't even have that.

The smaller Taguel had braced his body against the door, feet dug into the dirt floor. "NASH! YOU CAME! I WAS WORRIED YOU COULDN'T HEAR ME!" Jorne shouted, eyes full of fright, "I- I NEED HELP THEY'RE AT-- uhhhhh." Nash had been a fool to think that a flimsy wooden door would keep his people safe. The spear tip had punctured it easily, finding it's way through Jornes throat, the small Taguel's shouting turned into a groan as he died.

Nash quickly ducked into a side passage as the spear tip was yanked out of Jorne's neck, his body slumping to the side as the door was kicked open.

"Captain! Once again I must protest these actions! Bloodshed is not necessary here! They arn't resisting!" a voice came.

"Hurmph, that one shut the door in my face, the Exalt has branded these... beasts as heathens, who cares what happens to a bunch of Godless animals." came a second one

"B-But..."

"Do you feel sorry for the cow when you eat a steak boy? Shut up and do your job, and for Godssake try and enjoy the hunt. MEN! The Coney at the door sounded like someone had some to meet him, it looks like that beast has fled though! WHO WANTS A NEW PELT FOR THEIR WALL, GWARHARHAR!" the second voice was getting closer.

Nash clenched his fist, back pressed tight against the dirt wall. The tunnels of the Warren were too narrow for him to transform and fight comfortably in, he was going to have to do this untransformed... he reached down to draw the small hunting knife he'd won in a manspawn fighting tournament a few years ago, he had no clue on how to use the damn thing for either hunting or combat but... well how hard could it be? Swish-Swish-Stab, it was a knife, not magic.

He waited until he saw the first soldier pass, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him in close, knife pressed against his throat, the soldier made a sound of protest as Nash dragged him back out to the main hallway, in front of all his comrades.

"Man-Spawn! Why have you come to my home?"

A large bald man at the head of the soliders looked confused a moment before sticking a finger in his ear, wiggling it around and taking it back out looking shocked. "Oh my God! Look boys! It can talk people! GWARHARHAR!" he laughed at his own joke as Nash's face burned red. "And look! He's got Lyle! GWARHARHAR! How fitting! A coward captured by a Coney! Ignore em boys! I wouldn't want to disrupt the love making that's going to follow their first meeting!" The bald captain took another step forwards, in response Nash tightened his grip on the man apparently named Lyle and tried to back up a bit.

"Man-Spawn! Stop! Don't you care what happens to your comrade?!"

The bald man laughed and took another step closer, "Who? Lyle? Boy he's been moaning this entire time about Coney rights, been a pain in the a** the whole way! ... besides...." The bald man took advantage of Nash's confusion, rushing forwards, Nash startled pushed his captive forwards, towards the bulling captain who knocked his subordinate roughly out of the way.

Backpeddling and still startled by the whole strange confrontation, Nash took the mans punch right in the teeth, and saw stars as he was knocked on his back.

He was aware of the man standing over him, spear poised and ready to strike. "YOU HAD THE KNIFE BLADE POINTING THE WRONG WAY YOU BLEEDING CONEY, GWARHARHAR!"

The spear rushed down towards Nash.


(THIS RP IS CURRENTLY FOR ALEX AND DYLAN ONLY)