Chapitre 424: Jackalopes
Faris was in fact the one who had blown the horn. Having noticed one of the centaurs' natural enemies lurking about, Faris had chased down the jackelope to expel it from the fields.
The small thing had led him on a chase, at first appearing timid. Yet it was all a farce to lead the centaur away from the carrot crop which he was passing through. When Faris had caught the creature by the tail in order to remove it, the jackalope had turned around and declared war.
It screeched terribly, calling the entire colony to convene and come to his aid. Then the tenacious bunny opened its mouth and bore down on Faris's thumb, threatening to bite it off entirely if the male did not release it.
With a scream of his own, Faris had dropped the furry creature. He pulled his sword, but could not bring himself to hurt the small nuisance. The jackalope, feeling both threatened and annoyed that his plundering was interrupted, felt no such loyalty. It dug its sharp antler into the centaur's ergot, causing Faris to cry out in pain.
"Stop it! Go away!" he yelled in ancient tongue. He reflexively kicked at the small creature, sending it flying.
His guilt at the action was short lived as the rabbit pressed its strong feet against the ground and leapt back towards him with blinding speed. Sheathing his sword Faris used his palm to slap the jackalope out of the air and away from his body. It rebounded just as before and paused, eyeing the centaur with a malicious glint.
"Blasted creature! I could snap your neck. Leave before I have to take drastic measures," Faris warned it.
A light inside the usually placid creatures eyes ignited. Its red eyes burned, seething at the challenge. Behind it hundreds of red beady eyes joined the original pair.
"You have got to be kidding me. Not again!" Faris wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. Either way he needed to run.
He rushed on three legs—the fourth was bleeding badly from the antler's furious jab—to the corner well where the field of carrots met three others. On the hook protruding from the rocky side, a metal horn hung for just such an occasion.
Faris nearly tore the woven strap removing the bugle from its perch. He kicked two more furious bunnies as a third latched onto his tail.
Three loud, long blasts were all he was able to blow before he was completely overrun. While one jackalope was a nuisance, a colony of hundreds could be devastating both to the crops and to his life.
One of the incensed rabbits rammed the horn out of Faris's hand with his body. Then the group went to eating as many of the carrots as fast as they could.
This was the last straw. The centaur would let the little menaces hurt him without retaliating, but seeing all his herd's hard work be destroyed was beyond his tolerance.
He pulled his sword again, swinging wildly to force the Jackalopes to retreat. And they did in the small area of the sword's path, but they continued their feast without even pausing. Much longer, and there would be no carrots left to defend.
"Faris!" a voice called, causing relief to wash over him.
King Cyper along with the rest of the centaurs jumped into the fray, poking, prodding and hitting the resilient rabbits with everything they had.
Cypher searched the field for the ringleader, a jackalope larger and more well fed than the rest. Unfortunately, the massive rabbit spotted his counterpart first. Sensing the threat, the chubby bunny lunged at the monarch, intent on biting off a piece of the ruler's ear.
With only a moment to react, Cyper turned his head, but not enough. The rabbit would surely claim its prize.
However, the deranged creature was thwarted as a boot hit it in the nose after leaving the Empress's hand. While not her favorite weapon, her shoes were by far the most versatile. The jackalope hissed, leaping away to regroup.
The rest of the two-footers came through the portal made by Reyan to join the centaurs. Alvar pulled his sword and began hacking at the little relentless creatures. They nimbly avoided his strikes, with bits of green and orange carrots dangling from their mouths like dogs with bones.
"Don't draw blood!" Faris called to Alvar. "It only makes them angry!"
The warning came too late. Alvar cut one of the Jackalopes across it's back leg as it leapt away. Its red eyes, like the first, began to glow. "Uh Oh," Alvar felt real fear for the first time in battle as the injured bunny and twenty of his closest friends snapped their antlered heads simultaneously in his direction.
They abandoned their pillaging and pounced together like a raging lion, their tiny claws and sharp teeth tearing wildly at Alvar's body. The elf was overwhelmed. One opponent was manageable but twenty small ones were unlike anything he had ever had to battle.
The rabbits ripped his sword from his hand even as more joined the first group to press him to the ground. If nothing changed, Alvar would be meeting the Maker at the hands of tiny horned balls of fur. 'I was able to survive wyverns and giants, but fuzzy bunnies are my downfall!' he thought bitterly.
"Sire! We brought them." A voice screamed over the cacophony of the ferocious battle.
The female centaur in the crimson tunic held dozens of bows with strange blunted arrows. These shafts were not meant to kill, only to stun.
Aurora was grateful for the chance to be useful. She looked toward Zan, who was already in the process of retrieving her bow from his cloak. She gathered as many of the blunted arrows as she could and began shooting at the tiny creatures threatening Alvar.
The first hit a jackalope in the antler and the sand inside the ball at the end burst into the rabbit's eyes. It retreated as did the one beside it. The second arrow ran more true, striking the furry target right between the eyes. The dazed creature tilted back its head as limped away from its attack on the elf.
The decreased pressure allowed Alvar to gain more control over his body. He hit and kicked at the creatures with fervor as Aurora continued to pick them off of him one by one. The elf's fists were bloody from contact with the razor sharp antlers, but Alvar barely seemed to notice.
Across the field, the centaurs likewise seemed to be gaining some ground. Cypher tried to pass a bow to Faris, but he refused. "I don't do bows and arrows anymore," he reminded the king. Cypher nodded and after setting aside his spear--which had not been doing him much good anyway-- he began his own onslaught on the aggressive hoard.
Aurora was beginning to run short on arrows. The rabbits were falling back, but not fast enough. but at the very least, the Empress had saved Alvar from his impending doom. 'If only there were a way to get rid of them faster...'
Getting an idea, the fiery-haired woman waved at the fairy. Reyan had been chunking magical ice at the rabbits with no small amount of malice.
"Reyan, portal!" she yelled to her friend. The old fairy nodded and opened a large hole. "Alvar, wind magic!"
The he-elf understood immediately. With his injured hands, he called forth the wind and blew as many of the jackalopes as he could through the hole, expelling the rabbits from the field.
Cypher and Faris noted the new plan. Calling the rest of the herd into action, they pushed back the jackalopes into portal after portal until at last, none remained. The bloodied combatants were relieved when the last portal closed around the jackalopes, sealing them away from the carrot crop for now.
"I put them as far away as I could in different spots. It will take time for them to regroup. Hopefully they will just move on before winter hits." Reyan said as he wiped sweat from his brow. He had used most of the magic that had been stored up while riding, and he was exhausted.
"Thank you, friend of the centaurs. You have saved our crops," the king bowed graciously to the fairy.
Reyan smiled broadly. "Glad you acknowledge my greatness. You are, uh, welcome, I guess."
"And thank you, Your Majesty, for the well timed shoe. I rather like my ear the way it is, if you hear what I'm saying," Cypher snorted at his joke. He returned Aurora's boot to her, which he had retrieved when the battle was complete.
"I have found few things as valuable as good footwear," Aurora answered with a smile of her own. "They can usually give trouble the boot."
"Although the Centaur have no need for shoes, I can always appreciate a good pun!" Cypher neighed heartily.
"What was all that?" The Guardian could stand his curiosity no longer. As an explorer, he had never seen anything like it. Aurora had been wondering the same. Her only encounter with a jackalope had been a peaceful one.
"It was the fattening. This time of year the jackalopes eat as much as they can before winter comes. They do not like their meal being interrupted. They are almost as protective of their food this time of year as they are their young in the spring. We usually have to fight them off a few times, though not usually this fiercely. At least some of them will go over the barrier in search of greener grass, but they haven't this year. It seems something even more frightening than centaurs has spooked them enough to keep them away." The king stroked his stubbly chin.
'Could it be due to the Abominable?' Aurora wondered, but she kept her thought to herself. Nearby, the doctor was tending to a cut on Nurlan's cheek. He had caught a stray antler when trying to keep one of the fighting centaur children safe. Faris and Alvar had received the worst of the injuries, none of which were life-threatening.
"We have some medicine back at camp, Prince Alvar, and we can prepare a tub for you to soak so that you can heal." The monarch placed his firm hand on Alvar's shoulder.
"That sounds nice," the elven prince responded with a pained smile. He was already thinking about what his wife would say.
Cypher looked at Faris, who had a slight limp. "Let's get you back home and cleaned up, cousin," he said gently. "We have a feast tonight, and your friends are the guests of honor."
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone