Jack's men were buried with full military honors. There was no possible way to transport them back to Britain, so they were placed in well marked graves on a hill near the Saderan camp. None of Jack's men were priests, but they held a small funeral for their fallen men regardless. It wasn't great, but it was better than the mass graves they'd put the Warrior Bunny corpses into.

Every lancer returned to their tent that night in a somber mood. Jack was no exception.

His body ached, his mind was aching as well, and sleep was calling to him. It seemed to him that going to bed would be the solution to all three of those problems. Sleep was a very good idea indeed.

Jack stepped into his tent, and without thought unbuckled his sabre and pistol from his side. His pith helmet was flung onto his bed and he began-

"Ah!"

Jack looked up at the source of the noise. Delilah was lying on his bed, tied up with thick rope. His pith helmet had hit her right in the forehead. Right… I said I'd use her tonight.

The Warrior Bunny glared at him with fury. If looks could kill, Jack would have been eviscerated five times over. He was fortunate that she was still tightly bound; if she'd been free, Delilah probably would be trying to strangle him.

"Degenerate!" she hissed. "How does it feel licking the boots of the Empire, mercenary?!"

Jack raised an eyebrow. "I'm not a mercenary."

Delilah maintained her glare. "You fight for the Saderans! If you do not fight for coin, you must be a slave!"

"Keep your voice down," he requested. "Every one of my men can hear you right now."

"Slave!" Delilah hissed in a quieter voice.

"I'm not that either."

"Why do you fight then?! Why serve the Empire?!"

"Because I was ordered to. I didn't get much choice in that," Jack responded with a shrug.

"You're from a vassal state then," Delilah concluded.

He shook his head. "Wrong again."

"I give up," she sighed.

"I'm from the other side of the gate," he explained. "My nation isn't a Saderan vassal, and it most certainly didn't get conquered by the Empire. We are here to establish our strength in Falmart."

"The rumors are true…" she murmured. Delilah went quiet.

"As for why we are fighting with the Saderans…" Jack tried to come up with a reasonable answer. "Honestly, I'm not sure. Something to do with politics."

"I see…"

Jack grabbed his pocket knife. "I'm not interested in raping you, despite what I might have told Prince Zorzal. If I cut your bonds, can I be certain you won't attack me?"

Delilah nodded, and Jack cut the ropes restraining her.

"What is across the gate?" she asked with sudden curiosity.

Jack scratched his head and tried to think of an answer. "We call our world Earth. I come from the nation of Britain, but there are hundreds of nations across different continents."

"Is Britain a powerful empire?" she questioned. "Your magic is stronger than anything I've seen. With such powerful magic, you must be the greatest nation on Earth."

Jack nodded. "The British Empire is powerful."

"You must have a great emperor to rule it."

"Empress," he corrected. "Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India." Jack didn't mention it, but in truth Queen Victoria didn't have very much direct power over Britain's government. Parliament was where power really resided.

"We have a queen too," Delilah suddenly said. "Queen Tyuule."

Jack yawned; it was growing late. "Is she a good leader?"

Delilah bit her lip. "I used to think so."

"Something changed?" Jack asked.

"She lied to me. She lied to my warriors. Queen Tyuule assured us that we would be able to ambush the Saderan army and gain victory, but that didn't happen. Your men attacked us first…"

Jack disagreed. "She couldn't have possibly known that-"

"She should have!" Delilah shouted loud enough for all of Jack's men to hear. She realized what she'd done and went silent.

"We got lucky," Jack responded. "My men stumbled upon your forces and won a battle that we shouldn't have won. That happens in war. It's not anyone's fault."

"Someone's always at fault," she muttered. "If it wasn't Queen Tyuule, then it was me."

Jack tried to think of something to say that would help. He didn't come up with anything.

Delilah stared into Jack's eyes. "You're a good leader. You must be some powerful lord in Britain."

He shook his head. "My family's minor nobility, but we're not very wealthy or powerful. I earned my position." Jack was fortunate to have the opportunity to become an officer. The Cardwell Reforms had eliminated purchasing officer commissions in the British Army and made promotion based on merit; if Jack had been born a decade earlier, he probably never would have had the opportunity to be captain.

Delilah took in the information quietly before speaking again. "What's going to happen to me?"

"Hmm?" Jack was taken aback by the question.

"I am your prisoner, but you aren't interested in sleeping with me. Am I a slave? Will Prince Zorzal be using me?"

Jack shook his head. "You're my prisoner, not Zorzal's. Slavery is outlawed in Britain, so you're not a slave. For now, you're just a prisoner of war."

"And what's to stop me from trying to escape?" she boldly asked.

Jack was suddenly wary. His pistol was in easy reach, so if needed he could grab it quickly. He took a breath and replied, "My friendly company, and perhaps the thousands of armed soldiers in this camp."

"Mhmm…"

He started to wonder if cutting her restraints had been a good idea. "I'd prefer it if I don't have to keep you tied up," Jack warned.

"I would also prefer-" Delilah abruptly went quiet. Her gaze shifted to behind Jack.

He turned around and found himself looking into the very scary face of Bozes Co Palesti. She wasn't wearing any armor, but she was still terrifying and didn't look happy.

"What is she doing here?" Her voice was laced with venom.

Fuck. This looked bad. Jack stumbled on his words, "S-She's my-"

Bozes slapped him.

"She's-"

Bozes slapped him a second time.

"Delilah's my prisoner!" he blurted before she could hit him a third time. "I'm protecting her from Prince Zorzal."

She narrowed her eyes. "In exchange for?"

"Nothing," Jack hastily reassured.

Her gaze drifted to Delilah. Thankfully, the Warrior Bunny nodded and confirmed his story. Bozes' face became less hostile and more embarrassed as she realized her mistake. Jack expected her to say something, but instead she just stormed out of his tent. He glanced at Delilah briefly before rushing after Bozes.

Delilah was left alone in Jack's tent.

Lord Burke was tired of waiting.

He'd accepted that the campaign against the Warrior Bunnies would take time, but Lord Burke was losing patience. The Imperial Senate was making moves against his power, and he couldn't allow that to keep happening. Emperor Molt's influence, and by extension Lord Burke's, was only so great, and the senate was finding new ways of subverting it everyday.

Just yesterday, Senator Podawan had managed to pass a resolution that decreed British citizens would not be allowed to reside in the capital with the sole exception of Lord Burke and his personal guard. It narrowly avoided violating the treaty that Emperor Molt had signed, but it was a clear sign of hostility against Burke.

He couldn't solely rely on Molt anymore. Burke needed to make his own influence in the Senate.

As a foreign ambassador, Lord Burke has very little direct political influence in the Saderan Senate. However, he did have the power to dictate how British trade flowed into Sadera, and he was in the position to make a few senators very rich. Few things were as valuable as British trade to Sadera.

Senator Palesti already agreed that he would support Burke's ambitions. In exchange, it had been agreed that British clocks and furniture would be exclusively sold to his merchants. This would allow for Palesti to then resell the British goods at a higher price than he'd bought them with no fear of competition from others.

Another Saderan, Senator Cicero, had made a similar deal with Burke. British textiles were to be traded to his men, and in exchange the senator's considerable influence would help Burke sway the Imperial Senate to his side.

Still, there were only so many senators willing to accept his bribery. There were some senators who were too firmly entrenched in their belief in the Empire's superiority to give into Burke. Those men would have to be eliminated.

That was why he was currently meeting with his former captor. The crime lord Bessara.

"Old friend!" the man cried as he sat down in the British embassy.

"I wouldn't call us friends," Lord Burke replied. "More like… well favored acquaintances."

"Regardless, I have something you need and you have something I want." He smiled. "It's a mutually beneficial relationship!"

Lord Burke smiled to appease the man.

"So then, my friend-" Bessara caught himself. "Favored acquaintance. What can I do for you?"

"I need you to kill an Imperial Senator."

Bessara grinned. "Bold; I like it. Which one am I killing?"

"Senator Podawan. He's been the lead senator against my ambitions."

"Does it need to be an accident, or can I do it more openly?" Something told Burke that Bessara had done this sort of thing before. He wondered how many senators had met their end at the hands of this crime lord.

"I'd prefer an accident. It leaves less questions." If Lord Burke was implicated in this assassination, he'd be in a very dangerous position with the Imperial Senate.

"Accidents are harder to stage; it'll cost more," Bessara stated simply.

Lord Burke tilted his head. "Before we go further, what exactly am I going to be paying in?"

The crime lord breathed in. "Let's call it… political favors. I'll need you to keep the Imperial Army off my back and occasionally pass a law that would be favorable to my... business."

"I see. And if I ask for a senator to die in the future?"

"Then I'll expect the favor to be repaid at some point, but let's not worry ourselves about the future. We're here now."

"Senator Podawan needs an accident," Burke restated.

Bessara smiled. "Of course, of course, I hear horse riding can be dangerous. It would be a shame if a certain senator fell off his horse."

"Excellent. I believe that's all I need for the time being."

Bessara stretched out his hand. "To a future of cooperation."

Burke took his hand and shook it. "To a future of cooperation."

The Saderan scouts hadn't returned.

Ever since Jack had returned to camp successful from his scouting mission, Prince Zorzal had conceded to the idea and began allowing for his men to take part in such missions. Jack had hoped this would be the start of something good, but then they received word that the scouts hadn't come back from their mission.

Prince Zorzal didn't care.

It was like the man hadn't learned anything from the past week. They'd been ambushed already, and Jack's men had prevented that from happening a second time. It was clear to every officer except Zorzal that scouting was a necessity. The prince was an idiot.

Jack would have sent his men on a mission himself, but Zorzal had also decided that they should begin marching again. They didn't have time to conduct another mission.

Instead of an actual mission, Jack decided it would be best for his lancers to ride out ahead of the main marching column. That way they could hopefully find any ambush before it was sprung. It would be more dangerous than traditional reconnaissance, but it was better than nothing.

Delilah was riding on Jack's horse. It was a risk taking her with him, but Jack didn't trust Zorzal enough to leave her with the main column of men.

"I'm bored," she whined.

"Be quiet," Jack muttered. He needed to keep a lookout for potential ambushes.

The Warrior Bunny yawned. "But I'm bored…"

"I said be quiet!"

Delilah rolled her eyes and started poking his head. Jack turned to glare at her and she stopped.

He groaned. "Can't you just-"

Something in the treeline moved.

"Can't I just what?" Delilah asked.

"Shut up!" Jack whispered harshly.

Something else in the trees moved.

"Don't talk to a woman like that," she muttered.

Jack turned to face her. "I'll talk to you-"

"Ambush!"

Fuck. Jack looked back to his front. About two dozen Warrior Bunnies were rushing at Jack's men. He didn't have time to process anything else.

"Fall back to the main column!" he ordered. They'd done their job; the ambush was found. It wasn't their task to actually fight the ambushers.

Two of Jack's men were struck by arrows as they tried to turn their horses. The rest of them managed to start riding back the way they'd come. Jack turned to follow them; he wasn't going to stay around and die.

Then Delilah grabbed him.

She pulled him off of Maria, allowing the horse to keep riding on without them. Jack hit the ground and groaned; he was tired of being dragged off his horse. He grabbed his pistol from its holster then stood himself up.

Delilah faced him. She'd somehow managed to grab his sabre from the sheath on Jack's belt. Behind her, the other Warrior Bunnies were approaching.

Jack raised his pistol to Delilah's forehead.

"You wouldn't dare," she stated.

The woman clearly didn't know him well enough. "Yes I bloody would!"

Delilah shook her head. "Do it then." She began to approach him.

Jack accepted her challenge. He aimed straight for her head; a single shot that would end her life in an instant. He'd liked Delilah, but Jack didn't plan on dying or being captured because of her. He pulled the trigger.

The gun let out a soft click and nothing else happened. He pulled the trigger again; nothing happened. Jack pulled the trigger four more times just to be certain. Nothing happened.

"What did you do?" he demanded.

Delilah shrugged. "You left me alone in your tent with your weapon, so I decided to improve my chances of escape."

Jack pulled one of the bullets from his revolver. The back end of it had been forcefully cut off, removing the primer and rendering the bullet completely useless.

Delilah brought up Jack's sabre to his throat. "I believe you're my prisoner now."

Shorter than the last two chapters and not quite the quality I'd like it, but I didn't want to delay this chapter any further. I'm going to be busy in the coming weeks since my professors are finally getting a hang of online schooling and are giving out more work now, so I won't be able to put out chapters like I have been. Honestly I don't know if I'll be able to write at all, but I'll try regardless.

hellisonfire345: Thanks for the support.

Perseus12: I think we all pretty much hate Zorzal.

FalloutAndLove: Well I'm glad you commented, reviews tell me if I'm headed in the right direction or not and they help motivate me to write. Thank you.

xjamesx70: Thanks for the review. Jack is definitely kinder than Zorzal.

Dandaman5: Thanks, I'm not sure my fight scenes are the best but I'm glad you like them regardless.

Papon777: Varro will definitely have more of a role in future chapters.

Gunwolf.45: Saderan Gurkhas are an interesting idea.

Guest: Rice Christians were a very real and well documented thing so I fail to see how this is "Christian bashing" or how this relates to your apparent hatred of the west.

"Every Chinese who had been baptized, might receive, weekly, a small present of rice; as might be expected, conversions now became so very frequent, on account of the inducement offered, that the poor Macaists were obliged to give up their ruinous plan, and no sooner did the supplies begin to fail, than they began to discover the extreme frailty of the converted; almost all the Chinese returned to their old superstitions, and when the renegades were remonstrated with, and asked how it was that they had abandoned their Christian practices, they quietly replied—'You did not continue to supply us with rice!'" -Six Months Among the Malays, and a Year in China, 1855.

Kirov of the USSR: Indeed, the Queen protects.

The Darkness Writhes: I'm glad you enjoy it. When I first watched Gate I had hoped there would be a story about an imperialist nation invading rather than the modern Japanese, but I didn't find any so I had to write my own.

Proud-Firebrand: Here you go.