The battle in the cells begins.

The day of Nightfur's reckoning quickly draws near. But will our hero's make it in time to save Bandit and Derean from a grizzly fate?

Nightfur walks into the area of the cells, a guard on each side of him as he glares into the cell quiet at first.

Derean looks up at the sound of pawsteps, then breaks into a grin as he sees Nightfur's glare. He stands, looking victorious. "Have fun failing at catching our friends Nightfur?"

Bandit is still laying where the guards deposited him. The young brown fox is looking leaner these days. Under his fur his body is hosting a score of bruises from his attempt at freedom the other day. He rolls onto his back and props his paws up behind him. "Top of the..." he coughs for a moment, "Ah you get the point."

Nightfur chuckles "Oh they will be found, and killed, I found Powell didnt I?..and He died at my paws"

Derean shrugs, holding back a growl of rage. Bending down, he picks up a certain clasp, holding it out. "I do remember wot nearly happened the last time you mentioned him around me."

The brown fox chuckles dryly and then coughs again, He leans forward until he is sitting cross legged, his tail swooshing back and forth behind him, "Easy Derean. Save your strength for when the coward decides to fight us with out a set of bars between us."

Nightfur smirks and the reason he stays just out of reach of the cell bars, "Know that today will be the last day of your lives, so enjoy it while it lasts, could be hours, could be mere moments"

Derean tosses the clasp to the side, pointing to the body of the rat he had killed yesterday propped against the wall with the sword next to it. "Do you really want to try and kill us while we now have a real weapon thanks t' the incompetence of yer guards?"

Bandit gulps. The otter fails to mention that about right now there is only one beast in fighting condition at the moment. "Let's...not antagonize the slaver, shall we Derean?" Bandit knew it was only a matter of time before the last straw was reached. Blast it, he needs to find a way to buy them some time for the abbey to rescue them...if they rescue them.

Nightfur narrows his eyes, he growls as he sees the blade and then smirks "Well. it matters not..one blade against me and all my men. what good would it do you..slave" He smiles coldly.

Derean narrows his eyes, feeling as though he was reaching his last straw himself. "I dare you t' try it fox. You'll find out wot a 'slave' can really do."

With a grunt of effort Bandit picks himself up. He pops his back and cracks his neck, "Let's...not get to hasty Derean. I wouldn't mind a last meal before Im executed, some water at least." He says as an effort to keep the slaver from actually trying to kill them off here and now. "So what will it be Nightfur? Put up infront of archers? Killed with a sword? Or are you just going to make us into pelts for your office chair?"

Nightfur chuckles coldly, "A slave is nothing, they are worthless for nothing but gold when sold and I have sold lots of slaves, killed slaves as well and no one saved them, out of all the slaves I have sold only one was saved and you know what, it matters not as her father is dead and soon shall another beast close to her die, she will be alone in the world. I have destoyed familes and had fun doing it, slaves slowly break and learn to obey, obey and live.."He glaces at Bandit and grins "Here is my first idea" He looks at the guards "When did they last eat?" The guard replays "Yesterdsy morning" He nods "No more food, not todays or any day, they can slowly starve"

Derean raises an eyebrow. "You really think you'll last here long enough fer us t' starve? You must be more stupid than I thought."

Bandit looks genuinely panicked. No more food? But...but...he was already starving as it is! "N-now wait a moment. Let's not be rash..."

Nightfur grins "Oh so sorry...no water either by the way, one way to keep slaves in line"

Derean chuckles darkly. "If only you were in here...you would see how well we stay in line."

Bandit growls dangerously at the otter, "Yes, please make it even WORSE for us in here so you can get the last word in." He crosses his arms as he declairs, "If you find one of your slaves missing be sure to know that I ate him, ok Nightfur?"

Nightfur shrugs at this, "So.." Like he cares, he doesn't.

Derean shoots a glare at Bandit, on the edge of his thin patience. "Bandit, I don't need anythin' from you and yer greedy stomach."

The fox shakes his head, "You would probably be stringy as it is." He brushes past the otter pacing the room back and forth like a caged animal. Things are going to get real rough in here with no food. Especially with the hungry fox. The fear of Dora smashing his skull in keeps him sane enough from chomping down on his fellow slaves but...he pauses, "Wait...you guys have a rat guard here in the cell?"

Nightfur snorts and walks off a short time, leaving a fox and weasel to guard the cell.

Derean nods, pointing at the spot on the wall where the dead rat is sitting. "I snapped his neck," He says matter of factly.

Bandit walks over, inspecting the rat. He picks up the sword in question and swings it back and forth once. He sniffs at the fallen rat and sighs, "Well, it's not Redwall food but, I've had worse." He picks up one of the rats paws. CHOMP!

Even Derean winces, watching without breaking his line of sight. "Well then...that takes care of that for now..."

Bandit licks his lips and sighs in contentment. A short period of time later finds the fox with a content grin on his face, leaning propped up against the wall with a swollen stomach. "I'll have to give Nightfur my compliments next I see him. He has good taste in guards."

Derean grimaces, though he soon begins to pace along the cell again. Eventually he sits down next to Bandit, whispering, "We have t' try and escape, or at least do somethin'. I can't just sit here anymore."

The guards, didnt see that or they probably would of freaked out, they just guard the door and look towards the hallway

The brown furred fox belches a little, stretching himself out against the wall. His mossflower companions might not take too kindly to his actions but, fox's have sharp pointed teeth for a reason..."I'm game for getting out of here."

Derean motions to the sword, questioning, "Can you use that sword at all?"

Bandit looks at the sword in question. A double bladed device of violently dispatching enemies. "I prefer rapiers and axes but...I can make do."

One of the guards start to fall asleep, the other stays awake as they guard

Willowheart slowly wakes up and looks around

Derean stands again, looking almost curious as he walks closer to the bars very quietly.

Bandit picks up the blade as he stands up. He still feels sore from yesterday but the fox is feeling better now that he has some food in him. Normally Bandit would hate to take a life...but then again he did just eat a dead rat so does he really have the luxury of feeling back about removing one more slaver from the world...two really?

Derean grinning wickedly, he reaches forward through the bars, one paw clapping tightly over the guard's mouth and noswhile the other wraps tightly around his neck, effectively cutting off a chance of screaming along with air flow.

The guard was having what ever kind of nap a vermin guard would have and then his eyes snap open as he wakes to not being able to breath, he struggles as the otter holds him and his buddy sees nothing as he looks down a hallway.

Willowheart blinks as she scoots closer to the wall and looks around the cell curious of what the day may bring.

The brown fox walks forward, crouched low to the ground. He reaches forward, reaching for any keys the guard may have.

Derean moves slightly to the side, pulling harder and harder to hopefully crush the guard's airway. "Grab the keys!" He hisses quietly.

The guard struggles more, he has keys on him, he tries to draw his sword and then draws the attention finally of his friend who stands there open mouthed as the guard by the door soon slumps over dead of a broken neck, so the guard that is still alive draws forth his sword and stands ready for trouble.

Willowheart watches the otter as he seems to be trying to get the guard, she frowns and seems to not wish to see more..fighting or death.

Bandit grabs the keys from the dying guard. Blast! The other has seen him. The bars are too close together to throw something at him but insults. The only thing bandit can do is bash the keys into the lock and try to get the door open.

The guard is quick to sound an alarm and try and prevent the keys from getting to that lock and opening the door.

Derean growls, watching the guard. "Hurry up," He says to Bandit, ready to shove the guard through the bars if he gets too close.

Willowheart frowns and simply watches, a small spark of hop does shine in her eyes of getting out but she has also seen something like this alot and it didnt always go well.

The cell doors swing wide. The fox hops out of the cell, skidding to the wall as he does. He rebounds at the slaver, thrusting his short sword towards the beast.

The guard quickly tries to slice at Bandits paw when the door is open, and another guard shows up with a spear, the first guard gets a good cut across the arm and it bleeds farily good, "Get Nightfur!" He yells to the other one and looks down at the dead guard and back to the slaves.

Derean makes a split second decision and bounds out of the cell, diving into a tackle at the spear-wielding guard. "Yore not goin' anywhere!"

Willowheart makes a small gasp noise as she watches all this, she is not a fighter and also being here almost 4 seasons has not made her a very brave beast either, she stays put where she is by the wall and shivers slightly.

With adrenaline kicking in Bandit barely feels the gash open up on his left paw. The guard however might feel the coming slash to his shoulder and then across the waist.

The one guard is tackled and screams "Help..slaves escaping! slaves escaping!" The one with the keys kicks at Bandit and stabs at his shoulder or least upper arm.

Derean hits the ground on top of the guard, rearing a fist back and aiming a thundering punch to the guard's jaw.

The fox makes an grunt as the kick firmly connects with his gut. He trips over his own tail and goes falling backwards. Bandit would be remis if he were defeated so easily though and dispite the pain of his previous wounds and bruises he forces himself to move with momentum, rolling back onto his feet. The two beast's blade collide in a hail of sparks as Bandit deflects the blow just barly in the nick of time. His blade locked with the guards he kicks out at the beasts knee.

Derean growls, closing his eyes for just a moment as his face is splattered with blood. Gripping the guard's head with one paw, he rears his fist back and punches the guard...straight in the throat.

And the guard that the otter was fighting has his life ended by the otters paws, of course more now come to replace him and they have swords and spears in paws, no sign of Nightfur just yet but someone has alerted him so he will probably be there very soon.

This ferret is proving better a swords beast than bandit gave him credit for. The fox feels his tail brush against the wall. "Enough of this!" Bandit puts a paw on the wall and rebounds off of it past the the ferret he was dueling then spins in a low crouch, trying to run his blade across the ferrets waist.

Willowheart frowns, its clear she is not liking the fighting.

Derean is about to be swamped, but he spins past a sword thrust, gripping the handle and throwing his weight against the unfortunate fox's arm to break it.

Now about 5 guards are here and ferret is still fighting Bandit

Derrin shakes his head, sighing as he follows after Hershel. "Will we find anybeast in the kitchens?" He asks as he walks behind the weasel. This weasel is slowly loosing credibility by the second, but it's their only hope of escaping.

Willowheart frowns, she edges away from the wall just a little, slowly but is still clearly afraid but still wants freedom.

The ferret doesn't last much longer in the fight, not with the blade running across his stomach. "How many of nightfur's guards do we have to go through!" the fox shouts before leaping into the frey once again. He already knows he is going to die from this. He can't take on all these beasts by himself or with help. But the longer he fights the more chance the slaves behind him can escape.

Derean wrenches the sword from the now broken arm of the fox, turning and slashing open a rat's face with a snarl. "Let's just keep goin' until we fight our way out Bandit! We either get freedom, or we die tryin'!"

The guards now look ready to fight any slaves trying to escape, one goes to fight the otter and one the fox.

The fox doesn't reply to the otter. He is already too tired to do so and saves his breath for more fighting. He leaps into the fray at the weasel that stepped forward cutting him down. The weasel guard was not nearly the fighter the ferret was.

DoraRose's eyes flash open, and she leaps up, ignoring the throbbing pain in her temple and shoves hard on the nearest guard hoping to catch him unawares. "Gimme a weapon! A battleaxe would do nicely!" She hollers, seeing imminent escape from this wretched place.

Willowheart whimpers as guards pour into the area and she once again shivers in fear unable to move at all.

Derean looks back at DoraRose, grinning widely, and tosses his sword at the mouse, yelling, "Come join in the slaughter!" Before turning back and grabbing the dagger off of a fallen weasel and practically turning into a hurricane of death.Even with only one dagger, he delivers cuts and stabs left and right, doing his best to clear a way for his friends.

Nightfur now has entered "What in blazes!!" He growls as he sends in a couple more guards to attck any escapeing slaves, one mole slave is killed by a guard, the evil fox draws forth his twin blades "Death to all the slaves!"

Willowheart gets a stone and looks ready to throw a stone at one of the guards if they come too close.

The brown furred fox growls as he cuts down another guard, He points to the black furred slaver and shouts, "Come on Nightfur! I've been wanting to finish up that duel we had going on the bridge!"

DoraRose catches Derean's sword and attacks the nearest guards, fighting like a berserk, but....her eyes are not red with the Blood-wrath. Eeps. Okay, not /that/ is scary. Anyway, she slashes and stabs with her newly acquired sword, attacking without mercy at her enemies, her cold blue gaze riveted on Nightfur....well, as riveted as they can be when in the middle of a battle. For now, she is silent.

Derean spots Nightfur, growling and slowly beginning to work his way towards the fox, snarling with each guard's life he ends with a dagger cut or thrust. "Keep goin' guys! We're almost there!!" He shouts, trying to spurr them on.

Nightfur swings both his blades, he sees Derean and grins an evil grin and goes to make a slice at the direction of the otter.

The ex pirate gasps as he sees nightfur turn his attention to derean, a stoat gets in his way and he is forced to exchange blows with the beast while yelling, "Derean! Look out!"

Derean's head turns, his attention having been focused on a stoat, and a look of shock spreads across his face as Nightfur's blade pierces his chest. There is a second's delay, then a red patch slowly begins to spread outwards from the wound as he drops his dagger.

The guards get a look of surprise as more fighters come and the fight gets even larger, the evil fox Nightfur growls and slices at a couple of the new comers, killing them almost instantly.He grips his twin blades and sees Scioto, and then Lee and narros hios eyes.

DoraRose screams (her first sound in this entire battle) as she sees the otter get stabbed and she rushes to be at his side, slashing and hacking violently on her way. A guard, seeing a good opportunity, whacks her hard on the back of her head with his spear butt, and the warrior mouse falls to the floor, uncouncsious. Whoever reaches her ta thebattles end will need to carry her home....

Scioto scans the room, he takes out one of the slaver guards and spots Nightfur as well as he goes to get closer to him, he stops andf goes to stand in front of some of the slaves to protect them as it seems the slaver side seems to lesson some.