Little bit of violence in this, heh. Give me an opinion, if any of you even take it upon yourselves to read it. Which I highly doubt.

--o--

The earlier warmth still lingered in the air. The scent of pine and blooming flowers surrounded everything. The sun glowed in the early night, wavering in the earlier heat of the day. Couples gasped in wonder, moving closer together as they saw the settlement hove into view.
Safehaven...
A beacon of hope, was still under development. The oaks that surrounded it were still in their youth. Some of the buildings could be seen peeping above the vast trees and, as the wagons drew closer, the sun pierced through the foliage. Crowning the town like a splendid jewel. Excited murmuring rippled through the creatures as the shadow of Safehaven enveloped them.

There was one, however, who did not feel the benevolent warmth that Safehaven brought. Maia the young mousemaid drew her dark woollen cloak tight around her as she entered the shadow. A shiver ran up her spine, fear tickled the base of her neck. She felt alienated as she glanced around. Surely she couldn't be the only one who felt it. She may have been born with a sensitivity to the otherworldly side of life but this was too immense to ignore. This... feeling, pervaded her senses. Distorted her mind, bent her will. Her mother, bless her cinders, had never viewed her gift as a blessing. Neither did I... She thought to herself. How many times had her mother simply stared at her when she innocently announced that someone was at the door, only to hear the knock a few seconds later. On more than one occasion she had managed to stop her mother from going where she wanted, merely because she felt.....something..... that something wasn't right. A paw raised to brush aside a stray strand of fur, longer and denser than the rest, from her eyes. Then.....There had been that night too..... She had warned her..... warned her of something so preposterous as..... She closed her eyes, her head tilting back as she breathed in deeply. The hood of her cloak slipped back revealing the scarlet tinted sky. No..... no that was in the past.... She had no desire to dredge up something that was so painful. Covering her heart with her paw she instinctively knew.... knew murder was going to happen tonight. Out of the corner of her eye she swore she saw a grassy tussock quiver. But when she turned the grass had settled.
“Please..... Please let my fears be baseless worries... Don't let the hand of fate fall on this settlement tonight.....” But there was no denying the pull in her heart. She was being led to this place, to fulfil whatever the great spirit had planned for her. A paw squeezed her forearm gently. She turned in surprise to the older mouse next to her.
“Worry not little missy. This isn't a place to fear. Me husband n' I have been wanting to come here for a while now. The stories we heard well.... Just look.....” The old mousewife smiled up at the saplings surrounding them, there was a hint of calm affection in her smile; her voice sliding into a huskier tone.
“It seems that fortune had certainly smiled upon us.... All the rumours seem to be true....”
Maia nodded and gave her a strained smile, he heart fluttered as she entered the shade of the saplings.
“It isn't the place I fear..... But what may take place inside...” She thought to herself. She would never voice what her heart said so passionetly, for all it was worth, she didn't want to ruin the old mousewife's happiness. She prayed what she felt would not come to pass but still her eyes glanced back over to the grassy tussock.

Deadeye the Charmer parted the tall grasses in front of him. The wretched mouse had nearly caught him! Breathing a sigh of relief he watched as she gazed forward once, muttering something reassuring to the older mouse next to her. He smiled triumphantly. Of course she hadn't seen him! He was Deadeye the fox! Deadeye the Charmer! Deadeye the sly! A deadly force to be reckoned with. Smarter than a dozen foxes, swifter than a plethora of hares, braver than a score of badgers and more cunning than... a lot of .... Well.... He was very cunning, there was no denying that. Unfortunately modesty was not in his collection of listed qualities. But he was indeed exceedingly smart. Deadeye despised stupidity wherever he saw it, and he saw it everywhere.
Deadeye had formed his band of cut-throats on the basis of one thing. They were smart enough to look after themselves, and dispensable in a fight. They could not be smarter than he though. But, he thought to himself, an army could not run on brains alone. It was a proven fact. Every army needed muscle and his was camped further away from the rest of the gang. In its own tent.

The richly dressed fox made his way into the camp. Stoats, rats, weasels, ferrets even mice, otters and hedgehogs were among his group. This was only a small handful of his army. The rest were awaiting orders miles from where they were. But he had not wished to frighten the inhabitants of Safehaven. Not yet anyway. He stopped in his tracks shaking with glee, his footpaws performing an odd little stomping dance on the spot. One day the world would be his and everyone would be under his command. They would all look to him for guidance, too brainless to look after themselves. He slowly straightened, aware that a lot of the encampment was staring at his unusual behaviour. Calming himself he made his way over to the centre of the camp where an attractive vixen, Rosemary, the love of his life, was distributing food to the groups. A talented cook and lethal in battle he considered her one of his best fighters. His ears pricked as he watched her pour a hefty portion of soup to a burly hedgehog, his nose quivering. Yes.... and incredibly handsome to boot.... He gently wrapped a paw around her upper arm. Leading her away from the fire he whispered, "I'm going to visit the brute, I'd like you to come. He seems to be more responsive when you're around." Rose smiled, leaning in she breathed into his ear, a paw pressing against his chest. "Hes not the only one now... Is he?" The fox leaned back and gave her a lopsided grin. "Quite true. But I just need to get it into his thick skull that this is a delicate operation. The last thing I need is something with the strength of ten of my best fighters suddenly going on a rampage.” A paw lowered to his waist, a clawed finger fingering the tip of a cruel dagger. Her gaze followed, eyes showing a hint of fear. Not, he realised, for herself. He wasn't dumb.... She had been the love of his life at one point, at least. He turned his back to her then paused, danger crept into his voice,
"You do know that if I ever caught him, or you for that matter, even looking at the other in the wrong way...... I'll run you both through." Rose licked her lips in fear, her eyes darting once more to the dagger at his hip. He turned again laughing, his lustrous cloak and rich clothes swaying with his movement. "But I'm sure I don't have anything to worry about." Rose placed a quivering paw to her throat and swallowed, a sick smile playing on her lips. She shook her head slowly.
“Good! Right! Come, then! We'll pay the damned beast a visit.” She could only nod as he turned away, striding off into the undergrowth a tuneful, happy whistle slipping from his muzzle.

She did not enjoy visiting the creature. Not with Deadeye anyway. By the spirits she hated seeing the creature being kept in such appalling conditions. All she could really feel happy about was that there was never a chance of the creature dying of starvation. He was fed regularly, with huge meals meant to keep up his energy and conditioning. Her paws were clasped tight in front of her as she walked. Her brow suddenly fell. Deadeye treated the poor beast like a prized horse or bull. He showed him off whenever he could. She had hoped time and time again that at least one of the admirers had it in there head that this was no way to keep animal just the same as them. But no..... She shook her head... No.... They were as disturbed and ignorant as Deadeye. They saw it as something entirely normal. But.... A pized bull, even one thought to be tamed, could lash out at its captors and the fox was no different in dealing out the punishments. Her whole body suddenly flinched at the thought. Once..... Just once she had been made to stay and watch, as though it were something he were proud to show her. Using the flat of his blade he had beat the poor beast mercilessly. Hit after hit after hit, she had had to sit there through it all. The fox never even cared if he lost the grip on his blade and sliced into the skin. A knot formed in her stomach. The forest around her forgotten as she recalled it. No.... No he hadn't cared that he shed blood. She shuddered. No... He had revelled in the blood. When one missed aim torrent of blood splashed against his muzzle his eyes widened, insanity replacing the wile. He had hacked repeatedly at the broad back of the beast, not enough to cause death or heavy bleeding, but enough to paint the walls scarlet. She hadn't been able to look at that sickening sight. Instead she looked to the face of the creature. Striped with black and white and a hefty amount of scars, the face stared back, his teeth gritted in pain, droplets of sweat dripping from his pitch black nose. Her heart felt wrenched from her chest, her eyes flooding with unshed tears. The black and white creature had blinked at her in surprise, his head tilting, his small ears perking a little. Then, he did something she would never have expected. He smiled..... smiled the most genuine smile she had ever seen and raised his massive paw to wave at her happily. It was only a small movement, a wiggle of his meaty digits so he wouldn't attract the attention of his punisher. After a brief moment of confusion she giggled and waved back. Not only that... But she had blushed! Her! She hadn't blushed since she'd been a young vixen. That night Deadeye had commanded her to clean him up for the next day. She had nodded slightly, looking to the huge beast to see if it was alright. The poor thing could only grin from ear to ear, his small white tail wagging against the base of his grubby tunic. Cleaning him as delicately as she could, she had spent the whole night there, spent longer than she needed to; simply because she didn't want to leave his company. No words were said. No whimpers of pain from him. She had stroked her paw down the centre of his vast back before striding around to see him head on. Smiling, she had rested her paws either side of his muzzle, then planted a kiss on his big black nose. In return, his paws rested on hers, squeezing them with a surprising softness. That night, she had made a friend in the giant. Her only regret was that she had to leave him alone once again.
“...er was stale. Its giving my gut a bit of trouble too.”
Rose shook her head and focused her attention once more on the fox she was following.
“Hmm? Sorry love, I wasn't concentrating.”
Deadeye waved a paw over his shoulder.
“You looked a little concerned. I was just asking if it was the water, its giving my gut a lot of trouble too”
The vixen laughed and shook her head.
“No, no, no... Nothing like that... I was just thinking about something. Thats all.”
The fox snorted to himself.
“Oh yes... I bet you were...”

The tip of tent could be seen up ahead. An off-colour yellow and red tent that was once richly adorned with tassels and silver stitching. Protruding from the rear of the tent was a cart. Contained within it was the armies supplies. Weapons, medicine and food were stored in its dusty scarlet colored confines. And it was all pulled by one creature. Deadeye paused outside the tent and opened the flap, intending for her to go first. She smiled uneasily. The smell of blood and unclean fur wafted out. Coughing into her paw she entered. She had the same rush she always did when she saw the creature. Looking around she could see Deadeye had already had his session with him. Splashes of blood swamped the grassy interior. Streaks of crimson were slashed across the tents inner walls. In front of her was the creature. A badger.

The creature was a giant. He was taller than her when he was sitting down. He had the typical short stubby legs of his race which meant there wasn't a lot of difference when he stood. The badger was hunched over scratching something in the dirt floor. She moved to the front of him and gazed at the floor. A wave of wonder washed over her. A perfect likeness of her stared back, every last detail painstakingly etched in. She had known the badger doodled from time to time but this was unlike anything she had seen before. Kneeling down she placed a paw to the edge of the scratching. The badger saw her and beamed hugely, nearly making his glittering brown eyes disappear. He gazed into her perfect ice blue eyes, the intensity of that affectionate gaze caused her heart to skip a beat. With a hefty paw he gestured to the portrait. She choked, managing to gasp out between tears, "I love it!" He frowned at the tears running down her face, a confused look on his own. Suddenly she remembered they were not on their own. Though it tore her heart to do so, she dashed the contents of his drinking glass over the image. Destroying the portrait that she knew he had spent hours doing. He looked at her, hurt betrayal showing in his striped features. She sobbed again and looked at the other fox in the corner. With a jump he looked over his shoulder, terror suddenly flooding his demeanour. But Deadeye had not noticed. He was too engrossed with the contents of the mirror he stood in front of.

Slicking a paw over the eye patch that obscured his left eye, he stared in disgust at his own image. Every fiber in his body shook with anger. To him the eye patch was a fault on his otherwise perfect face. He had tried to make the patch as unsightly as possible, covering it with a circle of emeralds and an onyx crystal in the center. An imitation of his right eye. But the skin around the eye was bare and scabbed. Hideous scars stretched from the eye patch and over his skull, even distorting his ear with its ugliness. It had been a necessary sacrifice, he thought to himself. He gripped the hilt of his sword until his knuckles turned white. He heard soft paw steps behind him, a gentle paw on his shoulder. It was Rose and she had been crying. Looking at her in the mirror he growled,
"Why are your eyes red...." She quickly scrubbed her eyes and sniffed.
"Oh, its nothing! Onions make my eyes water, that's all. You know how it is." He fingered the tip of his hilt, glancing at the huge badgers back. Gathering her wits, she pressed her muzzle to ear,whispering huskily into his undamaged ear. "Please my love... Not tonight... You need your rest. And if we are to concinve the settlers that we come in peace, we can't very well be towing a badger that looks like he lost a fight to a dragon behind us now.... Can we? Hmm?" He rounded on her, anger in his posture. She tweaked his bushy tail. "I want to rest tonight, you've had a long day. Just tell the badger what you wanted and we'll go to bed." The fox subsided reluctantly. The dagger was still pulled from its sheath as he walked towards the badger. The cruel tip tapped against the open wounds, a grin spreading across his muzzle as he watched the dumb beast flinch with each tap. Eyeing the badger he walked around him, glaring at him face to face, shoving the dagger back into its resting place by his hip.

"Now then you ugly brute. We're outside Safehaven. I want you to be on your best behaviour! I want this place to be my new.... settling place after we're finished with it. So I can't have you ruining the beautiful scenery because you have a bit of a tantrum....” The fox tapped a claw against a snow white tooth. The badger refused to look at him, his head hanging below the line of his broad shoulders. He was scratching in the dirt again.
“These are mainly peaceful creatures. But there are warriors inside as well. We can't bring attention to ourselves. If you compromise us in any way... well then," Deadeye unsheathed a curved dagger, he gestured towards Rose's back. The badger knew his intentions. Rage surged through him, with a snarl he launched himself at the fox, a deep loathing stamped on his striped and scarred face. But he was instantly pulled back by the heavily weighted chains attached to the cart. The fox swiftly jumped back. Flipping the dagger he caught it by the tip and aimed at Rose. The badger shook his head furiously. "Ah! So your not as stupid as you look!" He leaned in close to the badger. "Well then! Keep your side of the bargain and I won't kill your little girlfriend!" The badger nodded vehemently, rage embedded deep into those usually gentle eyes. Rose had seen none of it. "So!" He said aloud, "What do you have to do?" The badger looked away, his paws rising to cover either side of his head. "Be on my best behavior" The reply rumbled through his deep chest. "Good!, well then Rose! Lets be on our way! I think its about time we introduced ourselves to the fools of Safehaven." Rose turned to him with a sickly smile. Before she left the badger raised a huge paw and waved at her. She sadly waved back.