An arrow whizzed past her from behind, striking a nearby tree with a deadly fwop. Runa didn't have time to look back; she had to keep running, deeper and deeper into the woods. The humans were right behind her; three or four men armed with swords and crossbows, shouting their brutish obscenities. She stood little chance of fending them off if they caught up to her. Why did humans have to be such assholes all the time? Sure, she had snuck off with a bit of their gold and ale while they were snoring, but did that really warrant this cutthroat chase to the bitter end? Runa rolled her vulpine eyes, dashing behind a tree to narrowly dodge another arrow.

Glancing back through the spaces between the trees, she met eyes with one of her pursuers. She stuck her tongue out at him and gave him a taunting wink. Catch me if you can, you metal-clad idiot, she wanted to say.

Around another tree bend she dashed, followed closely by her pursuers. Using her kitsune tail she picked up a clump of half-dried bird droppings, and flung it at one of the men, splattering it directly on the forehead of his helmet with a wet metallic *CLANG*. Runa burst into laughter. This was just as much fun as the humans were irritating.

She flung even more dried bird droppings, watching as the men stopped shooting their arrows to clean each other off. She figured, through laughter, that her best method of escape was to merely embarrass the men until they did not want her any longer. Simple enough, she thought.

Using her foxlike agility, she scaled up a tree, ripping off branches and throwing them at the men, until she found a bird's nest. Inside were many eggs. "Thank you for your sacrifice," she whispered before taking the small, blue eggs and perfectly tossing them square onto the men's faces. Before she knew it, arrows stopped soaring through the sky, and all antics from the knights came to a halt. She returned to the ground. "Ah, is that all you got? I thought you were professionals--the king's best."

One man, covered entirely in plate armor stepped forward. "You foul cretin," he growled.

"Huh?"

"You have evaded punishment for a crime you know to be wrong. Look at you, not human nor fox, a foul cretin indeed."

"I don't have time for this," she said, "thanks for the gold. The ale could've been better."

However, upon turning around, she felt an intense sting in her shoulder. She peered down above her bosom, where an arrow's head poked through. She turned back around, seeing the men's swords and crossbows pointed towards her.

"I hope you understand now, fox," the knight calmly stated. "We are professionals."

"Oh, that's good," she said with a mixture of malice and joy, seemingly unaware of any pain, "I was worried I'd be bored!"

Without giving the men a chance to react, she slipped under and between the legs of the man before her, taking advantage of both her agility and her compact stature, delivering a light punch to the unprotected groin as she passed. To not only her surprise, but apparently the surprise of several men as well, at least one crossbow was fired as she moved. It was meant for her, but her movement was unexpected, and it instead found a home in the body of the armored man as she ran, piercing his plate with a thunk so deep she could almost feel the weight of the impact herself through sound alone. She did not look back.

"Imbecile!" the man shouted through gritted teeth as he fell to his knee, by the sound of it.

"S-Sir! I didn't—"

"Never mind, catch the rabid thing!"

Runa cackled as she weaved between the trees. "If you're supposed to be the best, I'd hate to see the worst!"

She could tell that the men were angered by that, but she couldn't understand their words. The pain from her shoulder may have been easily ignored before, but it certainly made itself apparent now as she pulled it through from the head, without uttering a sound. Her right arm wasn't going to be very useful for a while after this, but she had survived worse. She tossed the blood-soaked arrow behind her, knowing that the men would find it.