Monster Breeder

93. Return to the Warren, Part 3 (Cottontail)

“Let’s dance.”

The Mole-Patron lumbers forward, coming at us with leisurely confidence.

Gabby simultaneously conjures two sets of vines from the ground to wrap around each of his legs. Spindle releases a net woven of sooty, purple energy threads to drop on him by pulling on a string hidden behind her back. Then Peter opens his hand and summons a long-handled digging spade. He twirls the spade in his grip like a baton, using the shovel’s cutting edge to sever vines at the root and slice apart the magic net.

“Fuck,” Gabby says with a scowl.

“Yeah, you are.” Peter hefts the spade over his shoulder and throws it at the Goblin girl.

At the same time, Spindle yanks on another string held in her second set of arms. Since the other end of the line is attached between Gabby’s shoulder blades with a nearby stone pillar acting as the fixed axle of a pulley, the Goblin girl practically flies as she’s dragged sideways out of the spade’s trajectory.

“You’re not getting away, you little shit!” Peter growls as he trundles after Gabby, following her around the corner to find the Goblin girl being pulled under another net strung high between two pillars. The Mole-Patron plows into this net at speed before he can bring his spade to bear. Tangled in the magical threads, Peter thrashes and tugs his way free by tearing the net’s anchor points loose but emerges covered in dangling strings.

Spindle reels in Gabby, grasps the Goblin girl’s hand, places another hand at the small of her back, and twirls her around as if ballroom dancing. Then Spindle takes Gabby in a steep dip that has the Goblin girl nearly inverted and plants a long, lingering kiss on her lips at the nadir of the dance move. Gabby desperately clutches at Spindle for balance as the Wicked Weaver invades her mouth with lots of tongue.

“Think you can taunt me, you fucking cunts???” The sight enrages Peter to the point he charges like a bull.

Spindle releases Gabby from the dip and shoves the Goblin girl in one direction while sprinting the opposite way with a string tied between them. The result is a tripwire that Gabby and Spindle anchor by each rounding the corner of two pillars once again acting as axles while they hold the ends. Peter stumbles over the trap and goes tail-over-teakettle.

“I’m gonna eat you both ass-first and shit you out!”

Another web falls on Peter and vines sprout from the ground to grapple his arms, but the Mole-Patron is strong, and he has his spade in hand. He won’t stay down for long.

Three Mole-men lunge for me and Megan before we can come to Gabby and Spindle’s aid.

My sister and I beat a tactical retreat for the nearest pillar. Sure enough, the far side conceals another spiderweb conveniently strung high enough in the air for smallfolk to duck under. I can’t believe Spindle managed to boobytrap so much of the hub while Gabby distracted Peter with chitchat! She’s an incredibly fast caster with four hands.

“Throw!” Flou2, merged with my outfit, shouts from my collar.

While I’m not a warrior, I promised Alex I wouldn’t let another predator take me!

I grab at one of the blood daggers hanging at my waist and toss it at the Mole-man barreling into the net behind us. The blade glows crimson as it curves in the air midflight, correcting my far-afield throw to land in the monster’s shoulder. The Mole-man screams in pain and fury while struggling to free himself.

“Try to aim, I can only adjust the trajectory a few degrees!”

The second Mole-man comes around the pillar on the opposite side to menace us. Megan steps forward and her pink dress unfolds in a flurry of Jellyfish Slime tentacles. Olindia’s prehensile tendrils grapple the Moleman before he can bring his shovel down on my sister, their touch-activated venom causing him to scream in agony as his body goes rigid with pain.

Unfortunately, with so many tentacles occupied with the second Mole-man, Megan has none free to deal with the third opponent trailing behind his brothers. I grab two daggers from my hip in each hand and aim as best I can. This time, Flou2 can correct the projectiles to aim for the monster’s face.

The third Mole-man swings his shovel to bat aside one of the crystal blood daggers. Then the second plants itself in his left eye. “Ahhhrrrggghhh!” He clutches his face as blood pours from the wound, but he’s not dead yet.

Meanwhile, the first Mole-man wrenches himself free while leaving behind great swaths of fur stuck to the spiderweb. He cracks the butt of his shovel against the ground, causing me to stumble as the earth beneath me magically shifts. I almost forgot they could do that!

Finding my balance costs precious seconds as the Mole-man missing half his fur ducks under Spindle’s spiderweb to come crawling at me and the third Mole-man regains enough wherewithal to take up a shovel in both hands. I draw another two daggers but, with two of them coming at me at once, I hesitate in deciding whether to attack or dodge and how.

“Cottontail!” Megan shouts in concern for me.

My left foot goes all pins-and-needles, causing me to lose my balance and fall on my bum. Both daggers clatter to the ground as I lose my grip. Then the half-blind Mole-man’s shovel head passes through the space I just vacated to hit the half-hairless Mole-man in the face.

Damn, that was lucky!

I scramble to my feet, grab the nearest dagger (which happens to be embedded in the recently concussed Mole-man’s shoulder), and plunge it into the idiot staring dumbly at the mole-brother he accidentally struck. Instinctively, I repeat my crime against Peter and aim for the balls.

“Aaaaaannnggghhh!!!” the castrated Mole-man cries.

Killing in self-defense is one thing, but I feel a little bad about what I’ve done…

The second Mole-man, bleeding, concussed, and half-defurred, stumbles to his feet behind me and grabs at my shoulder. Flou2 unmerges from my outfit to form a toothy maw that bites the hand that dares touch her ward. I grab my last dagger, spin around, and stab him in the chest while he’s screaming over his latest wound.

He goes down in a bloody heap.

The castrated Mole-man regains his senses long enough to decide he’ll have my head before he bleeds out and lunges at me. Fortunately, Megan and Olindia finally executed the first Mole-man via strangulation, and intercept number three before he can reach me. He adds his Jellyfish venom-induced screams to the bloodstained echoes of the Warren’s hub before succumbing.

Flou2 starts drawing spilled blood to herself to form more ruby daggers, but we’re interrupted before she can finish the process.

“You, bitch-boy, this is all your fault!” Peter shouts as he sees Megan and I standing over the bodies of the fallen Mole-men. Bits of magical webbing and torn vines cling to him all over. “You brought the Echidna down on us, you bit my nuts, and now you’ve brought these midget-whores here to ruin everything! On top of all that, you look absolutely ridiculous in that outfit! You fucking cuck bitch, I have no son!!!”

He summons spades into his hands one after another and throws them at me. At the same time, a purple thread lands on me and pulls me aside. Thanks, Spindle!

Grunting with frustration, Peter changes his target to Megan, but a squat stone wall rises from the earth to block the projectiles. Gabby steps into view to get a line of sight on her working.

“Think you can use Earth Magic against me???” He stomps his foot and the wall crumbles despite the Goblin’s best efforts to counterspell him. Then he rears back to throw a spade at Gabby. The Goblin girl dives aside, but she has no movement abilities. A glowing purple net falls on Peter that fails to do more than slightly inhibit his aim.

The spade slices Gabby in the side as she dives out of its path. She curls into a ball of pain as blood pools around her. The Mole-Patron raises a spade to finish the job.

Megan darts from cover and runs straight at Peter.

“Megan, what are you doing?” I scream as my legs carry me after her without thinking.

He stomps his foot again, causing a mini earthquake beneath Megan that would’ve sent me sprawling. Instead, the mouse girl’s tail bobs and weaves with the shaking ground to maintain her center of balance. That’s right, I think Alex called it, ‘Mouse Balance!’

Peter throws a spade at Megan next, but she ducks under the projectile in the nick of time thanks to an early warning from Mouse Predator Sense. Another foot stomp summons a rising stone pillar beneath Megan that launches her into the air where she can’t dodge the next spade.  

Vines spring from the ground that wrap around Peter’s leg and pull him down to one knee, spoiling his shot. Gabby has herself propped up on one wobbly elbow with a single Apprentice rod trained on her enemy as she slowly bleeds out.

I catch a blushing Megan in my arms—the little mouse is almost light as a feather—and let her down easy.

Megan rushes at Peter again, and this time his throwing arm is lassoed by a glowing spider thread that Spindle loops around and around a pillar. Blood dribbles from where the taught line cuts into his arm like garrote wire.

The mouse girl finally gets in range for Olindia to unfurl her tentacles. A dozen Slime tendrils lash Peter with Jellyfish venom, wringing a tortured and furious howl from his throat.

Then the Mole-Patron summons a spade in his free hand and twirls it, severing the garrote on his other arm, slicing through Olindia’s tentacles, and cutting apart the vines binding his leg. Enraged, Peter throws a stone-coated haymaker at Megan. She feels it coming with Predator sense, but all the mouse girl can do is take a step back before the deadly crushing blow is upon her.

Then Spindle darts between them, taking Megan in her arms and shielding the mouse girl with her body. Peter’s haymaker hits the Webling directly and sends both Spindle and Megan tumbling away in Gabby’s direction. Neither rises. Beside them, the Goblin girl has collapsed from blood loss. I worry for a second he’ll try to finish them while they’re down, but Peter turns to me instead.

He grips a spade in each hand and gnashes his teeth. “Nobody left to protect you, coward.”

My blood runs cold. Peter has stood over me like this so many times in the past and punished me for not being manly enough. For not being able to evolve into something that can protect the Warren. For being worthless.

“You’re wrong.”

Flou2 leaps into my hand as a final crystal dagger containing her ruby core. I can’t throw this one. My fist tightens on the handle.

“I won’t let you hurt my family anymore.”

“You really think a fucking cuck bitch-boy bunny like you can stop me?”

I spring from the ground as hard and fast as I can, flipping midair to land paws-first on the hub’s ceiling. In the moment before gravity pulls me down into a fall, I push off with my legs, sending me flying towards the nearest pillar. A spade crashes into the floor where I started and another clatters against the ceiling. Rebounding off the vertical surface this time, I head for a pillar behind Peter.

I really do feel faster with this outfit on. It may be just by a hair, but last time Peter could track my movements and it took Alex splitting his attention to not get splatted. All I have now is my speed and this knife.

I kick off the pillar, aiming for another past Peter, and drag my knife through his bulk in passing. Flou2’s core blade bites past his fur and cuts a line of red across his flank. Red droplets trail after me and crash into my open palm as I crouch against the far pillar and rebound once again. Spilled blood forms a second ruby dagger in my grip.

Now I have two weapons and come in low, digging both tips into the meat of his thigh as I slide past. He’s heavily built with fat and fur. Even Flou’s sharp crystal blades can’t do more than draw blood, but another dagger congeals at my waist.

I’m up and leaping over him in an instant so I can slice at his neck next. Peter growls and swings a spade where momentum is carrying me. How did he predict my next move?

I release my weapon to place a palm on the flat of the spade and use that as a pivot point to alter my trajectory slightly. The spade’s edge hits me in the side, sending me tumbling through the air. I would’ve broken half my ribs or shattered my spine if I hadn’t pivoted. As-is, I roll to my feet after landing on the rough ground and inspect the damage.

My corset teddy protected me from the blade. I’d have been gutted without the magical cloth. Instead, all I have is an ugly bruise forming under its fabric.

“I’ve still got my Lucky Rabbit’s Foot, you know. Some abilities carry over when you evolve.” He summons a carrot and takes a bite to show he hasn’t lost that either. He continues with his mouth full, “Swung at random and hit the jackpot. Third-tier bunnies can control when they use their luck, after all. I didn’t think I needed it against the Echidna until it was too late. I could’ve used it to escape, but she foolishly spared me anyway. I won’t be repeating my mistake today.”

Checking my remaining arsenal, I find Flou managed to catch and keep the dagger I lost while evading Peter’s counterattack. I’ve got two ruby daggers and Flou2’s core dagger. I already used up my luck saving me from the Mole-men earlier.

My hands fall to the ruby dagger hilts, and I draw them reverse-grip as I crouch to spring. “Then I’ll have to exhaust your luck!”

I leap aside from a thrown spade, rebound off a pillar behind him, and throw a dagger at Peter’s head. His spade comes up to block even though he can’t see me from this angle. The crystal blade clatters to the ground, but I rebound off another pillar, then another, and throw my second dagger at his face.

The Mole-Patron’s spade blocks.

I rebound, rebound again, hit the ceiling, and leap straight down at his back. Flou2’s core dagger draws blood again as his spade whistles over my head. Missed me. I retreat with a dagger in each hand while Peter howls in more pain and rage.

“Fuuuck Youuu!!!” Peter shouts and slams his spade into the ground over and over.

His third-tier Earth Magic causes the pillars to crumble and fall with each stroke of the spade. Soon there aren’t any vertical surfaces left around for me to rebound off.

“Come at me now, coward! Fucking cuck-y cunt! Bunny Bitch-boy!”

I’m not running away. My family is counting on me. Flou combines the two crystal daggers in my hands into a single long, thin blade more like a needle than a sword as I stride toward him. She knows I need a way to penetrate his fat and hit something vital.

It’ll all end in a moment. My speed versus his spade. I’ll probably die, but I can’t let him hurt the others.

A glowing pink light catches my eye.

Then vines sprout from the ground to entangle both his arms. Gabby is standing with both rods trained on him despite her apprentice robes being wet with blood. A garrote of purple energy falls around Peter’s thick neck as well. I see Megan up and running at Peter with something clutched in her hand. I match my sister’s pace and sprint forward.

I’m so relieved they’re alright! Olindia must’ve healed them.

Peter rips one arm free with raw strength and twirls his spade to cut his bindings, but another pair of vines grow to replace the ones he cut. Gabby is rapid-firing Plant Growth spells while walking toward him. Another garrote lands on Peter’s wrist and it takes all his concentration and power to keep from being overwhelmed by the onslaught of restraints. Spindle is weaving her threads at a breakneck pace from her place on the ceiling.

Megan gets in range and throws a pouch at the Mole-Patron’s face, “Pepper Spray!”

A cloud of red powder explodes with Peter at ground-zero. The Goblin Apprentice must have given the irritant to Megan while they recovered. The mouse girl doesn’t have Gabby’s experience handling the substance and takes a mouthful of the blowback. Both Peter and Megan start coughing uncontrollably.

The Mole-Patron swings his spades blindly, trying to compensate for his lack of luck and sight. Megan is close enough that Olindia’s tentacles unfurl and grapple one of Peter’s arms with stinging Jellyfish venom. Vines and threads trap Peter’s other arm.

Spindle drops onto Peter’s back and sinks her fangs into his shoulder. The strength seems to go out of that arm as she drains him, preventing the Mole-Patron from ripping free of the restraints. Another vine erupts from the ground to latch onto Peter’s neck and pull him down.

Peter rears back, ripping the roots from the earth, but new vines replace the old in a flash of green. No matter how he struggles, he can’t draw a clean breath with his lungs full of pepper, and Spindle continues to drain his strength with each passing second. Another set of vines closes around his neck like a noose and draws him low.

Bloodied from dagger cuts, stung by jellyfish tendrils, blinded by pepper spray, bound by vines and threads with his head bowed, Peter kneels before me.

He coughs and croaks, “Cottontail, you wouldn’t do this to your old man, would you? Your own flesh and blood?” How can he say such things after what he’s done? I force myself not to hesitate, striding forward with sword in hand. When I don’t answer, Peter changes his tune. “A bitch-boy like you doesn’t have the stones to kill me!”

This time, I pause. Not in fear, but rage. “I’ve been too scared to talk back to you my whole life. Not today. You can address me as a woman, or I’ll silence you!”

He opens one bloodshot eye to focus on me. “You won’t dare, boy. I’m your father!”

“I have no father!”

My needle blade plunges up through his throat, pierces his tongue, and punches through the roof of his mouth into his skull.

Hot blood dribbles onto my hands as I stagger back. I watch Peter die with mute horror and maybe a tinge of satisfaction. He’ll never hurt my mother and cousins again.

The bulk of him goes limp. Megan and Spindle retreat from his collapse as Flou2 reforms her bunny-eared Fuzzy Slime shape. Gabby steps up to me and throws my arm over her shoulder. I finally realize my legs are shaking as I lean against her. Spindle scoops Megan into a four-armed embrace.

“You risked your life to save mine,” Megan says, wide-eyed.

The Webling smiles tenderly at the little mouse. “Vermillion gave very clear instructions forbidding Spindle to allow your coming to harm.”

“But that was your idea…”

The Wicked Weaver shrugs and waggles her eyebrows. “I’m sure you can think of some way to repay the favor… later.”

“C-Cottontail, sweetie, is that you?”

The familiar voice grabs my attention. “Mom?”

It’s Lois, Chrissy, and the rest of the Warren coming out from hiding.

“It is Cottontail!” Chrissy exclaims. Then they see the carnage before us.

My mother asks, “Is he…?”

I clear my throat before Spindle or Gabby can answer. Some things are a daughter’s responsibility to tell her mother. “Peter is—”

A sharp stab in my core cuts off my sentence. I double over as heat and power rush through me as pain mingles with pleasure. It’s lightning in my limbs. I can’t get enough air. It’s like I’m drowning.

The Mole-Patron’s body vaporizes before our eyes in a cloud of purple smoke that rings around me. The blood on my hands evaporates, then coalesces into a funnel that draws all the smoke inward.

I gasp as something manifests in my hands and all the smoke vanishes.

It’s a tall, black, flat-crowned silk hat with a red ribbon. It feels like there’s something inside. Reaching in, I pull out a rabbit. Not a monster, just a grey-furred rabbit with a bite-divot in his ear.

A very angry rabbit that scowls and hisses like he’s trying to insult me.

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