Rabbit’s body fell out from the window of the colosseum and landed three stories down with a kth. Rabbit reached his arm over to massage the part of his body that he landed on, and after a moment he decided to look around.

These cheap houses had begun to sink into the ground and tilted to the point where they looked like they might fall. In between the houses were small alleys and guards had been posted to look after three alleyways. The guards probably wanted to be inside watching the fights because as a loud cheer went on they would struggle to see anything they could through the nearest window, and they likely saw nothing. However, one of the guards had left his post completely to talk to the guard six alleys over, so this was the path that Rabbit would choose.

Rabbit streaked forward on all fours and ran as fast as he could towards the thin alley. The alley had disgusting mud and smelled rotten like food and rat, but Rabbit pushed on because he heard the guard behind him yell, “Alarm, the were-beast escapes!” and many other guards took up the call as well and started repeating the call, “Alarm, the were-beast escapes!” and the marching echoed throughout the city which caused Rabbit’s heart to race.

There was a great amount of guards at every turn. At every block more and more guards showed up to chase Rabbit.

Rabbit closed in on Main Street but as he burst out into the open street he found that guards already massed in the area and blocked off his escape out of the city. Rabbit swerved desperately in any direction he could that didn’t have guards, so he ran in an unknown direction down a street, knowing he couldn’t give up.

Rabbit picked the right direction to run, for he noticed that these streets currently looked abandoned. Rabbit skidded to a halt, kicking up some dust and swiveled his head frantically thinking of where to go next, when all of a sudden he was startled by somebody talking to him.

“Hey!” A woman’s voice called, “Get in.”

Rabbit saw this beautiful girl with her hand pressing the handle of the door against the hinges so that the door opened all the way. She was blonde with her hair tied up, wearing a dress and had this mole underneath her nose on the left side. Rabbit scurried in beside her to the far end of the carriage where she tossed a blanket over his body and smoothed it out.

Moments later Rabbit heard the thumping greaves of the guards approach the carriage and say, “Has a Rabbit were-beast been around here lately?”

Her soft voice sounded slightly annoyed, “No, I haven’t seen a Rabbit were-beast.”

The soldier promptly answered, “I’m sorry my lady. Thank you for your time.”

The conversation ended and moments later the door to the carriage shut and the wheels started creaking along.

After she pulled the blanket off Rabbit’s head, Rabbit thought holy moly she’s beautiful. Rabbit stared into blue eyes and felt like the best thing in the wold just happened to him. Rabbit’s ears flopped slowly down along with his head and he said, “I have no idea where I belong in this world.”

“Neither do I, and I’m the first daughter of King Tanning.”

Rabbit perked up and said, “Really?”

“Yes! And Queen Alice is my mother. I’m named after her, you know.”

“No, haha, I mean the thing about you not knowing where you belong in this world.”

“Well, the princess of the kingdom has dreadfully little to do.”

“Do you think that’s the problem?”

“Maybe, I’m not sure.” There was a quizzical look on her face, “Hey are you the were-beast that can keep his mind?”

“I prefer beast-man.”

“Oh, Rabbit the beast-man, I hear you won the match at the colosseum.”

“You heard about me from all the way out here?”

“You have no idea how important the colosseum is to the people of Fieldon.”

“I can imagine.” Rabbit remembered the cheering crowd who seemed to have chants memorized for specific moments in the colosseum’s combat. “What do you find important.”

“I find the kingship important.” The princess said after considering the question.

Rabbit was about to ask another question when the driver poked his head in and said, “We’re here, Princess Alice.”

“Perfect,” Princess Alice said and turned towards Rabbit, “Would you like to see where I live?”