Battle of The Mere of Rushes - Burrows and Badgers rescue mission

Dach the badger looked round as his vision unblurred. The chapel infirmary was whitewashed and the large, high-level glazed windows allowed warm light to pour in. A small stove glowed in one corner, while every surface was covered in gifts, flowers and some obviously hand-made 'Get Well Soon' cards.
He lay on a pallet bed, in crisps, clean linen sheets, and his equipment was stacked next to him. His arm ached, and was securely strapped to his side. He could just make out deep scars on it under the
light bandages
"Oh, look who is awake!" Purred a familiar voice, he looked over to one of the other beds to see his fellow warrior Bowie, preening himself with a mirror. "You took quite a knock, my friend "
"Bowie, you weren't even that badly hurt, why are you still in bed!"
Dach turned his head to see Lady Door, sitting up in an overlarge wing backed chair, a scroll on her lap. The chair was his sized, so on a Dormouse it almost swallowed her. No wonder he hadn't spotted her when he first woke. She flexed her fingers, blue sparks flicked, and in the distance, several small bells could be heard ringing.
"It's warm, and comfy, and no one was using it!" Protested the cat buccaneer. "Our mission was plain and simple get Brother Carter to the witch hunters for questioning, did we manage it, and more the point, is that another new spell?"
Before the Dormouse mage could answer, a fluttering overhead announced the arrival of Batty and L'Ouseux the sparrow, who settled on the crossbeam. Sneaker the mouse and Snappy squirrel appeared from a shadowy corner of the room, where no doors or openings existed. Seconds later, the rest of the gang arrived, like they were summoned. A babble of voices and smiles greeted the badger as he sat up in his bed, receiving hugs, back slaps..
During a lull in the general chit-chat, "Whose idea was it to take the woodland road anyway?" Snappy enquired, pulling up a stool.
"Yours!" The rest of the group called back as they seated themselves on any available surface
"I do remember you saying it would be ze flattest route to pull ze cart," Dach interjected, "zat mole friar vaz a little heavy. "
"Only coz he was unconscious with drink." Laughed Red, "He almost drank us dry, glad my witch hunter brethren were taking him on. Know they have plenty of communion wines in store."


"But, we had two perfect ambush spots picked out," Sneaker the mouse shrugged, "covering you guys all the way up the road." She gestured with her paws at the throng


"My tree even had a lovely patch of shade!" the squirrel archer laughed. "Lovely view over the road towards the mere."


"Vot I do not understand iz vy I had to pull zee cart!" The badger moaned.
"You're the strongest, you don't fly, you don't shoot, you don't sneak, you're not a spell caster, so you got pulling duties!" Bowie smiled from his bed.
"That's your description too, Bowie," Abi added, digging an elbow in, "didn't see you helping!"
"Only because, old friend, you're a cat and won't get your paws dirty!" L'Otter laughed at the cat, who somehow managed to look both contented and shocked by these statements.

Snappy looked at L'Ouseux, "It was good to see you coming down the road so quickly. I could see the detectives moving in from behind the far hill, while Freda covered them with fire from her cavalier."
The one-eyed squirrel looked down, "That Feist hound Columbo is a scary proposition, he was closing fast. "
"So, we slowed him with arrows."


"We should not have let them get so close, but suddenly the hedgehog who stole my gear was on top of me!" Sneaker complained, "unfair sneaking up on me in ambush while wearing that cloak of concealment, that was mine!"


"Good thing Red here was on form with his shooting!" L'Otter grinned, "I saw plenty of his arrows fly at the Feist, Columbo."
"I wasn't on my own," the witch hunter replied, "Snappy got some good shots off too."

"Despite taking cover in the rocks, Batty and Red's shot's knocked him down." Bowie laughed.
Batty grinned, "Throwing knives swarmed him!"
"Needed better armour," Bowie continued.
L'Otter steepled his paws, "I hear his friends found the answer to that, some magical stuff on a sunken wreck, after we floored him."


"I vaz taking shots from zee armburst of Tubbs and zee caliber of Freda," the Badger added.
"Armburst?",
"Crossbow!"
"Bless you!"
"I headed off to get to deal with that pesky Oak Leaf Squirrel." L'Ouseux rested one wing on an A-frame in the roof. "Lots of detectives were moving quickly. They really were wanting to free Brother Carter."
"Maybe they didn't want my brother hunters pinning that whole mole corruption conspiracy on him," Red mused.
"Or maybe they knew they were about to get beaten up and he was their main healer!" Joked Abi.


"We were definitely on form, not a lot of hits landing on us, but loads going in on them." L'Ouseux added. "My shield took a battering, but then so did Oakleaf the squirrel." He added with a scared grin.
"Everyone left on the road, good teamwork, we were moving up to protect the wagon, Abi Berry, I saw you helping out at the rear." L'Otter nodded sagely.
"Doing my job," the shrew pirate grimly said, "Lady Door, nice work moving up under the trees behind Bowie. I saw you casting lots of different magic there."


"But not enough, not in the right places," the dormouse mage looked grim, " I should learn more, I should be better. I could not stop them hurting you Dach, I'm sorry." A tear ran down her cheek. "Your arm, it was in tatters as that otter Van Der Vilk laid you out in one hit."
"He was berserk and full of arrows, with a dog down, he was furious." The squirrel archer interrupted, "definitely not your fault my mage friend."
"Was Brother Carter on his third or fourth rendition of the 'Philosopher's Song' by then? Impressive singing for someone passed out!" Bowie snickered.

The bat assassin waved a wing from above, feet grasping the rafters "At that point, I decided that Freda had been enough of a pain with that gun of hers and dropped in to pay her a visit with my throwing knives. She wasn't impressed, quite put her off her aim!" The other animals sniggered, comments like "Couldn't happen to a nicer ferret" were uttered.

"I was rushing to help," explained Red while looking at the others, "it was a wide old wagon, really blocked out path. Abi was being just as deadly with her knives too."
"You say the nicest things my witch-hunting fellow." She grinned.


"It was shooter vs thrower on the hill, but I was definitely getting the better of Freda up there." Batty continued.


"The detectives close protection squad was approaching fast," Snappy Squirrel added, "Maynard Whitlow and Sir Archibald Hastings backing up that berserk otter Van Der Vilk, and that psycho Bramble with her two swords carved a swathe through our lines, they were immune to your obvious charms Bowie!"
"I don't know, the world went black as I was felled, I'm not sure I will ever be the same again." The cat fighter wailed.
"They hit you with the flat of their blade, Bowie. You are absolutely fine, stop milking it and get out of bed!" L'Otter waved her paw, and Bowie lifted up in the air and was dumped face-first on the floor, as the sheets wrapped round him.
"Oi!" the cat wailed as the rest laughed.

"Thankfully my daggers and Sneaker's arrows took out Van Der Vilk," Abi Berry danced a throwing knife over her knuckles.

"Maynard Whitlow leaped into the cart to try and free Brother Carter," L'Otter added, "while Bramble tried to take down you Abi and Red."
"Teamed up, we knew we could take her!" The shrew pirate grinned.


"Hey, us on the two hills were seeing their share of action too," Sneaker interjected. "Tubbs was heading my way too by then."


"On the plus side," Batty put in, "I finally had a hand-to-hand fight I won."
"You keep racking up those take downs." Bowie added, disentangling himself from the bedsheets smoothing his fur and reaching out for his boots.
"Hit her so hard she will miss her next fight too. Freda Mare!" Batty grinned upside down.


"Snappy, you were impressive, jumping into the cart to hold off the mouse from freeing Brother Maynard." Lady Door noted. "Sir Maynard Whitlow was closing on me, I was looking forwards to showing him pain, " The darkness looked like it was taking her as she said this, "but in the end, decided to do some good instead, and to shield Snappy instead." The cloud of anger behind her eyes lifted, and a bright spark returned.
"Very thankful for it too M'lady!" Snappy tugged where she imagined a forelock to he.
"Your forelock is on your forehead, not your nose!" Abi leaned in with a stage whisper.

"Maynard decided that you were too much of a threat, and came after me instead," L'Ouseux grimmiced, "but even with the hill, I was getting the better of that accursed squirrel."
"Lucky you, Tubbs joined in my fight, it was getting dicey on my side of the hill!" Sneaker moaned, his hand darting out to Dach's fruit bowl and flicking a grape at the sparrow in the rafters.

"Quit moaning," the grape was caught in mid-air and flung back at the nimble mouse archer, "I saw you take that hedgehog down with ease!" The disfigured sparrow chirruped.
"Yeah, I might have enjoyed that!" The mouse laughed.
"Not that you hold grudges!" Lady Door actually smiled.

"Sir Archibald got his Calgary in on me, but he couldn't get past my shield."
"When will they ever learn?" L'Otter joined in the laughter.

"Round the cart was turning into a right bloodbath, all we could do was keep heeling you all." The otter archmage continued, "serious teamwork to keep that psycho squirrel Bramble occupied "
Red winked at Abi, who blew him an over exaggerated kiss.

"With a massive hit, we sent her barreling over the fence and out the fight " Red the Witch hunter grinned proudly.

From the rafters, Batty interjected, "I wasn't going to let Sneaker have all the fun in hill!" He grinned, "It was time to get involved again "

"Lucky you, I was dodging heavy blows from that mouses great sword," Snappy snapped, "glad inside a cart isn't the best place to swing one!"

"Think that was the final straw for the Detectives then, they had lost their leaders, where under half strength, and legged it. leaving us to pile Bowie, Dach and the mole back into the cart and drop Brother Maynard off with the Witch Hunters." L'Otter got out a ledger, "and we got paid handsomely by our benefactors for giving then a good drubbing too!"
"Did we get a ride in the cart? Cool!" Bowie purred.
"Well, while you were out for the count, Batty found you a priest to heal you both. L'Ouseux and Red dealt with a black marketeer which allowed us to pick up many different poisons; and the scroll Lady Door is reading" L'Otter looked at the dormouse in her huge chair.
"Creeping Things, it's a bit different, but I also learned Control. I will match your spell count, L'Otter. Six-five to you." The dormouse mage raised an eye whisker.
"No, you will soon be better than me the effort you are putting in!" The Archmage smiled wanely. "Snappy went off to make sure the local hamlet is still on our side. We don't need new recruits at the moment, but it is always good to play ot carefully, as did Lady Door isiting the gunsmiths guild on 'research purposes.' Sneaker and I picked up a load of kit from the Quarter Master, Abi spent time clearing a local well, gaining us 6 pennies, while our guest being dropped off and the magic garden brought in another 12. We don't go hungry here." The archmage nodded at the gang.
"Must be dinner time! Let's go!" Dach grinned.