Chapter 2: The Promised Land: Part 1
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, seemingly in England somewhere, we find a small band of rabbits, seven to be exact, deep in a forest consisting of dotted rocks, bushes, and tall trees.
A small red fur-colored rabbit hopped across the forest floor chasing at a yellow and black dotted butterfly. Another rabbit, gray fur, has somewhat of a bored impression crossed on his face as he was studying something on the grass. Further behind the red rabbit, a tan-colored rabbit standing on it's haunches, his forepaws set in front of his body. Then a doe with light-blue fur, turned her attention and stood on her haunches watching the red rabbit chase the butterfly that kept flying away. Three more rabbits then appeared, a muscular one who had a mane around his neck and shoulders, fur on his head, and a very light shade of a brownish-gray, rotated his head and watched the same rabbit chase the butterfly. And two more, both almost the same color of brown, one lighter, one darker, and one smaller than the other, were standing on a ledge above the others.
"Stay close, Pipkin!" The fur-headed rabbit called out to the red rabbit who continued to chase the butterfly. The moment he said that, a large beam of bright light shined down in the center of where all the other rabbits stood. All gasped, twitched, and jumped back in fear, their tails and ears standing up in alert.
"What's happening?!" the gray rabbit cried a few feet away, covering his eyes with his ears.
"What's going on?!" the tan-colored rabbit shouted over the sound of the shining light. The other rabbits were too frozen in fear and curiosity to express their feelings and concerns in words.
And in a flash, two rabbit figurines appear, and sparkles emit from both figures. Everyone gasped in awe at what was happening. It was very rare for such an event to happen, they were all speechless. Then the figures flashed brightly, and fell to the ground, exhausted as their paws stretched out and relaxed. The beam of light then vanished, the sound of sparkles slowly dying out.
Everyone looked down in surprise as they studied the two rabbits who just appeared out of nowhere. The new rabbits then looked up, their eyes dilating at what was around them. One was a lion yellow color, had round eyes, and a brown-tipped tail. And the other had a dark brown color, but with black tipped ears, paws, and tail.
Pipkin ran back towards the group. "Should we run?" he asked, nervously twitching as he fell down in fear. The fur-headed rabbit helped him up.
"Hold, it, lad. Owsla never runs," he answered as he looked with anxiety at the larger brown-colored rabbit standing on the ledge with the other. Both of the new rabbits turned their heads at the word "Owsla".
"Now wait a minute. Fiver had a vision of something similar," the large brown rabbit stated, looking down at what the new rabbits assumed to be Fiver, because he started to speak. The two new rabbits then covered their ears, afraid it would end bad.
"Yes, strangers of a different place to fall here," Fiver stated as he looked up in the sky with a confident mist in his eyes. The gray rabbit drew back his ears.
"Any hints of danger?" he said, getting up on his feet and looking at the two rabbits still on the ground.
"They bring no harm my vision said," Fiver answered, hopping off of the ledge he and the other rabbit was standing on. The tan rabbit started to speak.
"There's a change. Nothing threatening," he pointed out, eyeing the gray rabbit. Fiver then objected.
"Dandelion, please," he called out to the tan rabbit. Dandelion looked down, ashamed. The other brown rabbit that was on the ledge spoke up.
"Leave him alone. What should we do, Bigwig?" he called out to the fur-headed rabbit, who looked back at him. The two new rabbits then uncovered their ears, and they felt a small amount of energy starting to surge.
"Daniel, where are we?" I called out, my eyes closed. I felt the presence of something around us, gasping. I shuddered uncomfortably. I was wondering why I was... different?
"Um... I don't know. We're not in New York, that's for certain," Daniel laughed nervously. We were both confused on why we were different.
"We're not in Kansas either," I shuddered, covering my still-closed eyes as I ducked down.
"Neither are we over the rainbow," Daniel finished... and on the count of three, we both opened our eyes, looking around us. We didn't see anything or anyone. We then examined our bodies closer and gasped.
"How are we rabbits?" I asked, examining my body as I had paws, new ears, and a whole new look. Daniel was creeped out too.
"And how are we animated?" he asked, also examining himself. We called out if anyone was there, but no answer.
"For Hazel!" we heard someone yell. We then saw a huge rabbit, a gray hare, lionhead, charging at us. I didn't have time to do anything as he knocked us both to the ground, pinning our bodies.
"Hey! What are you doing?! Let go of us!" we both yelled, struggling to get up, but he pressed harder onto my body, and I cringed.
"State your business! Who are you two?!" the large rabbit yelled, our ears twitching a little.
"Humans!" we both cried, not knowing how to answer his question. He gasped a little as if he was fearing us.
"We mean no harm!" I shouted.
"We're sorry if we trespassed, just please let us go!" Daniel cried out, trying to break free. I looked at the large rabbit straight in the eye.
"Stop star-" he started, but I spoke first as a thought hit my brain.
"Bigwig?" I called, looking up. The large rabbit immediately gasped, got off of us, and stumbled backwards. We got up.
"How do you know my name?" Bigwig demanded, hopping forward.
"We used to be humans, but then some person called Frith brought us with him and we found ourselves here," Daniel stated, hoping Bigwig would not hurt us. Bigwig's eyebrows raised.
"So you both are messengers?" he then asked, backing away a small bit.
"No, we are not. We were brought here simply by coincidence," I stated, trying to gain his trust. Bigwig growled, and raised his claws, about to swipe them down when someone yelled.
"Bigwig! stop! You don't have to do that!" it cried, appearing from behind a tree. He was a dark brown rabbit. He ran up to Bigwig, yanked him away, and held him by his shoulders. "Pull yourself together before you kill these rabbits! They clearly mean no harm!" he cried out to Bigwig as he let go of him, he then hopped up to us.
"Sorry about that. What are your names?" he asked. We shuddered, we didn't know what to say. We then thought up of a name and quickly threw it out.
"I'm Axel, and this is Amanaki," I answered, pointing to Daniel, who I might now call Amanaki, and he might now call me Axel. The brown rabbit let out a grin before shaking our paws.
"Nice to meet you two, I'm Hazel," Hazel said happily as he let go of our paws. I smiled, I now felt safe. The five other rabbits hopped out of their hiding places and went up to us.
"I'm Bigwig, I apologize for what I did. Should've acted more careful," Bigwig chuckled, shaking our paws. Amanaki and I both eyed each other, simulating a groan.
"I'm Dandelion," Dandelion, a tan-colored rabbit introduced, shaking our paws as well. We felt weird at the new movement we had. A red-colored rabbit then hopped up to us, shaking our paws too.
"I'm Pipkin," Pipkin said proudly, saluting us. I thought he was cute. Amanaki eyed me, smiling. A light-blue shook our paws next.
"I'm Blackberry, it's wonderful meeting two new faces around here," she smiled.
"You're a beautiful one alright," I chuckled as Amanaki agreed with me. She smiled and laughed.
"Haha! Thank you, you're so kind!" Blackberry giggled, her face blushing up. I smiled. A gray rabbit then went up to us, not shaking our paws at all.
"I'm Hawkbit. No need for any other entries like that. Fiver's visions are bad enough," he groaned. I felt angry at him, he was rude. A smaller rabbit that looked like Hazel but had a lighter tone of fur, hopped up to us. He shook our paws.
"Hello... my name is Fiver. I'm Hazel's little brother. Nice to meet you," he gave a small grin, letting go of our paws. We both knew he was shy, but we didn't argue, because I learned to never bully someone weaker than me.
"Nice to meet you too, Fiver," Amanaki and I replied, smiling. After we got situated, we couldn't figure out how to move, because we just transformed into a rabbit, and that's a huge different from two legs. So Hazel showed us how, in fact, they all showed us how to hop, and we tried. We got the hang of it after a few minutes of hopping, but not after falling clumsily a few times. They laughed.
"You feeling it yet?" Dandelion teased. I groaned but laughed, Amanaki did the same thing.
"Yes, we both are feeling dirt in our face," we answered, as Dandelion laughed very hard. All of them then taught us how to wag our tails, crouch down and up, and more. Then we finally got the hang of it.
A few minutes gone by before Fiver mysteriously fell to the ground, trembling. Amanaki and I looked confused but felt worried that Fiver was ill. Everyone gathered around him and he started to chant a random phrase.
"What do you see, Fiver?" Hazel asked, crouching down and putting a paw on Fiver's head.
"High lonely hills, where the wind carries every whisper," Fiver chanted, as he then broke out of his current state and got up. "That's where we have to go, Hazel. That's where we'll find our new home!" he then spoke.
"What just happened?" I asked, confused. Hazel hopped over to me and whispered.
"It's a vision. He occasionally has these, and they are sometimes events of the future," Hazel explained to me. I felt a little weird about it, but Amanaki and I didn't contest. Hazel hopped back over to his brother.
"Is it far?" he then asked Fiver, but we were all interrupted by a cry.
"Yaaaarrrrrrkkkk!" the voice said, it sounded like a gull. Everyone else was ducked down except for Amanaki and I.
"Why aren't you guys ducking down? It's danger!" Dandelion yelled as we all saw the gull fly overhead.
"It's just a bird, it's harmless. They're stupid, too. Those greedy little things," Amanaki argued, shifting his paws into the ground.
"I've never seen a bird like that one! That one's not Elil, is he?" Pipkin asked. Blackberry and Hawkbit hopped over to Pipkin.
"No, birds are not elil, Pipkin. He's just a gull," Blackberry reassured Pipkin. Bigwig chuckled.
"Ha! Young bucks these day don't know a thing about the world!" Bigwig said, shaking his head at the sky in contempt. I felt offended.
"Hey! I know a few things too!" I protested, running up to Bigwig and looking him straight into the eye. He stared at me deeply, but I stopped before he could freak me out further.
"Being Captain of Owsla, you must know everything, eh Bigwig?" Hawkbit also argued.
"Hey! You wouldn't have got this far without me, I know that much!" Bigwig snapped, looking sharply at Hawkbit.
"We should never have left Sandleford Warren in the first place," Hawkbit angrily remarked, his ears drooping to anger.
Fiver started to shudder again.
"Darkness comes in the light of day, no future at all for those who stay," Fiver chanted.
"Oh by Frith he's off of it again!" Dandelion groaned, staring at Fiver. Hawkbit then started to tease.
"Oh my nose tickles! It's a sign from Frith! The end of the world's coming! Run away!" Hawkbit said in a sarcastic matter. Everyone gasped when they heard a bark.
"Quiet!" Bigwig whispered loudly.
We all crouched down when it got louder.
"Dog," Bigwig and I said at the same time, me slightly faster than he was.
"Ha! I got better reflexes!" I boasted, sticking my tongue out at Bigwig, who glared.
"Close, but doesn't sound like he'll attack yet," Bigwig stated, and the dog started to bark more.
"Are we going to wait until it attacks or are we going to run and hide?" Amanaki asked, we were both concerned.
"Then let's not wait until it does attack," Hazel ordered as everyone began to follow him.
The dog was standing against a tree, barking at a squirrel that stood on a branch. He gave up and started to sniff at the ground, and then all around himself. He then barked, and started to run.
A short ways away, we stopped.
"It's on to us now! Coming fast!" Bigwig alerted everyone. I got scared now, but I had a plan.
"Keep running! We'll be right behind you!" Hazel ordered, and everyone else ran, but I stayed there.
"No! I got this guys!" I shouted to Bigwig and Hazel. Hazel was about to say something when Bigwig pushed him out of the way.
"No, Axel. Go run with the others, now!" Bigwig snapped, glaring down at me. I got angry.
"But I have a plan, I got this!" I whined. I wanted to earn Bigwig's trust. He moved his face closer to mine, his eyes still glaring.
"No, now go!" Bigwig snapped again. Hazel tried to step in but Bigwig called him out. I got furious now, I wanted to slap Bigwig, but I couldn't do that. As he was trying to push me away, I grabbed his paw, he gasped, and forced him to the ground. Hazel was shocked at what I just did.
"Let... me... handle... it!" I roared as Bigwig covered his ears. I let him up after a few seconds. He looked at me in the eye with anger, but he didn't yell at me.
"Alright, fine! Just don't get hurt, OK?" Bigwig gave in, and I was delighted. I told Hazel and Bigwig to go with the others.
After they were gone, the dog leaped through the shrubs. I was ready, I got in a fighting stance, and when the dog charged at me, I jumped a little to the side so he'd miss. And he missed me by a few inches.
The dog and I then tried to thrust claws forward at each other to scratch the other. I got a few good hits on his legs and chest, and I might of tore one of the leg muscles.
But things went downhill, as I was still fighting, the dog raised it's paw and then scratched me right across the chest, forepaws, and haunches. I screamed in pain.
"Ahhhhhhh!" the others heard, Bigwig, Hazel, and Amanaki worried the most.
"Axel!" the three cried out, Bigwig ran back over to where I was. He peeked out of the shrubs and gasped that I had scratches all over my body. But I didn't give up.
"For Hazel!" I screamed as I charged forward, ignoring the strong pain and the adrenaline was rushing to me. I jumped and then kicked the dog so hard in the side that it flew about a couple feet backwards. I heard the dog whimper from where I stood.
The strong pain then came back to me as I collapsed to the ground, and I couldn't move. Bigwig gasped and rushed over to me, looking at me in horror as he saw the scratches, they were large, and some were deep.
"Axel! Are you OK!?" Bigwig cried, putting his paw on my head. I screamed in pain as I kept feeling the scratches.
"Help me, please! The dog will get up any minute! It won't last forever!" I gasped, struggling to breathe, it was hard being a rabbit now. Bigwig thought for a few moments, but I interrupted it. I reached for his paw, grabbed it, and held it tightly, before moving it onto my heart. Bigwig gasped at what I was doing.
"Do it for Frith, do it for Hazel!" I slowly managed to say. I let go of his paw and Bigwig smiled and put me onto his back and ran towards the group.
Meanwhile, the same gull was on a rock in a pond, trying to find food. He found a butterfly, took a few bites at it, but missed. He then jumped into the water and sighed.
The rest of the group were trying to find a way across a river. Hawkbit, Amanaki, and Dandelion ran downstream while Blackberry, Pipkin, and Fiver ran upstream. They all then met at the middle.
"There's no way further downstream!" Hawkbit stated, panting from all the running.
"And it just gets wider upstream!" Blackberry stated, panting like Hawkbit was. They gasped when they heard more barking, but it was a weak barking.
"Well, that's just the trouble of dogs, isn't it? They just don't know when to give up!" Dandelion groaned, shrugging his shoulders.
"What happened to Hazel, Bigwig, and Axel?" Pipkin cried, feeling concerned for the three missing.
Hazel then jumped out of the bush, running up to the group.
"Where's Axel and Bigwig?" Amanaki asked, trembling. Bigwig then ran up to the group, carrying Axel on his back. Everyone gasped, including Amanaki when Bigwig got to the group with Axel and he carefully set him down onto the grass.
"Axel! What happened to you?!" Everyone screamed, scared that their newest member has been injured really badly.
"Severe, scratching," Axel let out, gritting his teeth in pain. Blackberry touched a paw onto his chest and Axel screamed, making Blackberry pull her paw away.
"He's terribly injured, he won't make it if we don't help him!" Bigwig cried, panting from the running. He then saw the stream and examined it. There was no way across, and there was only one rock in the middle of the stream.
The dog then caught up with the group, everyone gasped. He could still move, but slowly.
"What about Axel!?" Amanaki cried, worried for his best friend.
"We'll swim, now! Everybody in! We'll find a way for Axel to get across. Move!" Bigwig ordered, as everyone except Axel ran towards the water. Hawkbit groaned before he got in, but Dandelion slid straight in, so did Amanaki.
"Oh wonderful, follow Hazel and Fiver, see the world, drown!" Hawkbit groaned as he gently dove in.
"I don't think I can make it!" Pipkin cried, shuddering.
"Well, you can't stay here, lad!" Bigwig stated.
"He won't be able to make it, Hazel!" Fiver cried. Hazel tried to think, but he couldn't think of something.
"I might have an idea, stay there!" Blackberry cried as he ran further upstream. The dog was almost to the river.
Hazel was about to go fight the dog when Bigwig stopped him.
"You can't fight a dog, Hazel!" Bigwig ordered.
"I got Pipkin into this, I won't leave him or Axel!" Hazel cried, with a proud mist in his eyes.
"If you stay, I stay!" Bigwig replied. Blackberry then called them out.
"Here! There's a way across!" Blackberry cried, and she was in the water with a large piece of bark.
"Thank Frith! But not really fancier, but it's our last stand!" Bigwig stated as he and Hazel ran towards Blackberry, Fiver, and Pipkin.
"I thought you said there was a way across!" Hazel asked.
"Yes! On this wood! Look, it floats!"
"Yea, so what?" Bigwig grunted.
"Blackberry, that's brilliant!" Fiver remarked.
"I must be missing something here!" Bigwig said, confused.
"Get on it, Pipkin!" Fiver cried as Pipkin jumped onto the plank, along with Fiver.
The dog then went through the shrubs, limping on it's legs. Blackberry quickly pushed the board across, and Fiver and Pipkin floated on it. Blackberry swam behind them. The dog ran slowly up to where Hazel and Bigwig were.
"Go!" Bigwig shouted as he pushed Hazel in hard, splashing into the water behind him.
All were across except for Fiver, Pipkin, who were on the plank, and Axel, who was still hiding somewhere to recover, but he couldn't.
"We're not going to make it!" Fiver cried, as they swam back to where they started.
The dog then caught up to them. They didn't know what to do then.
As Bigwig was swimming across, Hawkbit saw what was going on.
"Bigwig! Behind you!" Hawkbit cried as Bigwig looked behind him, and gasped when he saw Fiver and Pipkin about to get eaten. Bigwig swam to there.
Fiver and Pipkin then spoke to each other.
"I don't know if your vision was true about Sandleford being destroyed, but I'm glad I came on this journey, I got to see about the great big world!" Pipkin cried.
"I'm glad too, Pipkin," Fiver replied, and the dog dove in the water, splashing them both.
"I'm sorry it has to end like this," Fiver replied, thinking he will die.
Bigwig then appeared from under the water.
"Nothing's ending while I'm around!" Bigwig cried as he started to swim super fast while pushing the bark. They got across safely and onto the surface.
"That's it, Bigwig!" Hazel stated.
The dog then was about to give up.
"Nice one, Bigwig!" Dandelion stated proudly as Bigwig got out of the water.
"Good Swimmer," he then said, but Bigwig shook water off of his body and splashed Hawkbit and Dandelion.
"Thank you, Bigwig, that was very brave," Fiver said.
"Nothing at all," Bigwig nodded.
"Excellent idea, Blackberry, worthy of El-Ahrah!" Hazel exclaimed.
"Yes, I thought it worked rather-" she was interrupted when they all heard a scream of pain.
"Oh no! We forgot Axel! He's on the other side of the river!" Amanaki cried. Everyone gasped as they saw the dog carry Axel out of the bush with his teeth.
The dog then laid him down on the floor and scratched him again, this time, across his entire upper body. Everyone watched in horror. Amanaki tried to rush down, but he was held back.
"Are you crazy? You'll get yourself killed!" Bigwig cried.
When the dog tried to scratch him again in the same area, Axel found strength to roll back and forth, avoiding his paws. And then when the dog tried to bite Axel, he stood his ground.
"No... one... kills... me... like... this!" He exclaimed as he dove his claws into the dog's neck. The dog's eyes widened, and then he fell limp. Axel carefully removed his claws from the dog, and it fell down on it's side, bleeding.
Everyone gasped at what just happened, but the concern exceeding more than the triumph.
"Axel! Are you OK?" Blackberry shouted out, concerned.
"Help me!" Axel cried, raising his paw in the air. He screamed in pain again. Blackberry quickly swam back with the bark, carefully put Axel on it, and swam back with Axel. She then set him gently onto the soft grass, everyone gasped seeing his injuries.
"Am I... going to... die?" I said, concerned that this may be my last time alive. Blackberry examined his injuries. They were painful and serious, but not fatal.
"No, Axel. You are not going to die," Blackberry reassured me though, and brought Amanaki up to me. I held his paw tightly before Blackberry got some herbs from hunting and started to tend to my wounds.
"Thank you," I managed to let out before I fell asleep.
A few hours later, it was darker, and the rabbits dug a small burrow for all of us to sleep in for the night. And my wounds were taken care of, now they just needed to heal.
I woke up, looking around to find all of the others surrounding me, and they cheered.
"Axel! You're OK!" Amanaki cried as he embraced me, but was careful to not put pressure on my wounds.
"Yes, I'm alive," I said back, smiling. I held him tightly for a few minutes before he let go and went to go eat some grass. Hawkbit and Dandelion congratulated me, and then Hazel came up.
"Well done, Axel! You managed to buy us a lot of time!" Hazel exclaimed as I grinned. Everyone else then left except for Bigwig.
"Bigwig? Why are you still here?" I asked, my ears going up in curiosity. He chuckled and went closer to me.
"I just wanted to thank you for killing that dog," he chuckled, rubbing his paw on my head. "You done well protecting us there, not bad for a first, heh?" he chuckled again. I weakly laughed.
"And thank you for saving my life, I needed it out there, and I would of died if you weren't there," I chuckled, putting my paw to his heart. "Your heart is strong, my friend," I stated as I laid back down onto the dirt. Bigwig nodded, smiling as a way of "You're welcome,".
"Goodnight, Axel!" Bigwig saluted as he went out of the burrow, I waved. I would tell the others the things Amanaki and I experienced and how we got here, but when the time was right, I would mention it.
I thought I would like this new life, being a rabbit. I lied down on the soft dirt of the burrow, dreaming a delight as the stars twinkled in the night sky.
