Come Along Now
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from the Watership Down universe they are the sole property of their creator and as such I do not make any money from this or any other story that I write for this site.
Summary: It is the end of the road for Hazel as death finally approaches.
A/N: This use to be one of my all-time favourite films as a child and I must admit I still like it now as an adult. Many would consider it a simple film or even the book a simple story but sometimes that which is simple is sometimes the best thing of all. Apologies if it seems so much like the film in advance but I have really tried to put some of my own into this small piece but it is a scene that I really love so much.
It is late in the day but the red sun can still be seen through the cold and grey looking clouds that have been around of late as the rabbits, young and old amble out of their burrow to play and feed while they still have time.
The last of the leaves are falling from the powerful tree whose roots reach down into the earth and anchor itself and the burrow together as though it is a living extension of one another and for the rabbits that live beneath the ground and in the shadow of its majestic size, it is home.
There are many out feeding and playing this day and a little ways from them one of the oldest rabbits of the colony is feeding, its coat has dulled with age and its eyes no longer see as well as use to but it still guards those who have yet to life the many seasons that he has done.
As he peers into the fading light of the day he becomes aware of another, a spirit rabbit gliding towards him as if over the currents of air that flows, swift but not and for a moment he feels unease as it approaches silently and he struggles to see just who this spirit rabbit might be, the wind is blowing as the winter has now begun its approach and on the wind the rabbit hears a sound, like a voice that he heard once long ago and should know still even now.
"Hazel…..Hazel….You knows me don't you?"
The old rabbit ponders the question as he hears the voice and his name being spoken by the spirit that continues to glide over the air currents around him and he follows it with his eyes as he struggles to remember the name of the spirit that glides before and around him. He is not certain if he knows this one that claims to know him and voices his uncertainty, the eyes of the one before him glow a deep red and then he knows, he knows the one that is now before him and has known him his entire life.
"Yes my lord, I know you," he replies with an excited tone in his voice.
The spirit continues to move about as Hazel's eyes follow him, he hears his lord speaking to him as he had done so, so many times in the past. He hears his lord asking him to join his hasler, that they would be pleased to finally have him join them and that his lord knows he would enjoy being with them and running free in the way that they do.
"You've been feeling tired haven't you, if you are ready we might go along now." The spirit tells him.
Hazel is torn he wants to go to run with his lord and those of his hasler but the sounds of his family behind him stop him for the moment and he turns his eyes upon them, sadness reflected in them as he watches the young ones play and frolic in what is left of this seasons sun, the excitement in being above ground noticeable in their excited calls to one another, the spirit watching him as he does this and again he hears his lords voice as he speaks to him.
"You needn't worry about them, they'll be alright and the thousands like them."
Hazel listens to his lord as his spirit form fades in and out, he knows his lord is right but still he is torn.
"You come along and I will show you what I mean."
His lord calls to him and with the longing still in his eyes as he gazes back one last time on his family, his body lays as though tired, his chest heaving just a few more times before it stills and his spirit rises from his body as young looking as he once had been.
He is young again in spirit and he follows his lord after one brief look back at those still living over the hills and across the great plains of the land as his lord speaks to him and tells him of his people, of how they will be hated but their cunning will prevail and they will never be destroyed, that they will beat the odds and multiply across the Earth.