Author's Notes:

Here's Chapter 3! Enjoy!

Bigwig and Threar stopped at a field halfway between Groundsel's warren and Watership Down to rest. "We know you're here, Thlayli," Bigwig called irritably over his shoulder to his son. "Come to where we can see you."

Thlayli came to a stop and sat right in front of the two older rabbits. "What's going on?" he asked curiously. "Why are you working with him? He's supposed to be insane, isn't he?"

Threar explained everything to Thlayli before Bigwig could chide the youngest rabbit for not minding his own business. "I was talking to Dad, actually," Thlayli said gruffly. "Besides, I doubt you can answer my question about you being insane."

"Stop it, Thlayli!" Bigwig whispered in a warning tone.

Fiver's son hung his head low, his ears drooping sadly. "I don't know if I can answer that, either," he replied downheartedly.

"Which means I can't answer that question myself," Bigwig said gruffly. "You'd better head back home right now. A storm is about to break."

The young rabbit sighed dejectedly. "Fine, I'll leave you two out here by yourselves, then." He turned around and sped off towards the down.

Bigwig sat next to Threar in silence for a few moments. Threar looked up at his partner at last and broke the silence. "You'd better get going, Bigwig," he said quietly. "I'll catch up with you later."

"Not a chance, kid," Bigwig told him, shaking his head. "You haven't been telling me anything about why you're acting like this."

"Why should I?" Threar snapped.

"We're partners now," Bigwig calmly replied, though he was a little caught off guard by Threar's sharp retort. "It'll help us get along with each other if we understand one another at least a little better."

Threar hesitated for a moment before he heaved a troubled sigh. "You're right. Here's what's going on-"

"Dad!" they heard Thlayli shout. "Help me!"

"He's bluffing this time," Threar informed Bigwig. "He's not in any real trouble right-"

"Get away from me!" Thlayli screamed fearfully. "Help! I'm not kidding, HELP!"

"-now," Threar finished. "Alright, now he is in serious trouble. Come on!" he shouted to Bigwig urgently.

Bigwig followed Threar as he dashed to where Thlayli was being surrounded by four foxes. Threar jumped up onto one of the foxes and bit down savagely on the back of the predator's neck. The fox yelped in pain before it started jumping up and down, trying to get the rabbit to release his painful hold. One of the other foxes came at Threar with its fangs bared. The dangerous rabbit jumped off of the first fox at the last minute, causing the fox trying to grab him to bite down on its companion's wounded neck. He was about to jump towards the other foxes when one of them pinned him down with a large paw. Bigwig grabbed his son by the scruff of his neck and darted through some thorny rose bushes.

"Stay right here, son," Bigwig whispered urgently. "I'll be back in a minute."

Thlayli nodded in acknowledgment before Bigwig charged back towards the foxes. "Good luck, Dad," he murmured.

The old Owsla captain jumped at the nearest fox, which was the one Threar had just injured. The fox snarled at him before knocking him back to the ground. Bigwig hit the ground with a painful thud before getting back up with a snarl of his own. The other foxes not dealing with Threar silently crept up behind him.

Knowing that his partner was in a great amount of danger, Threar bit and scratched relentlessly at the fox's paw, trying to get it to release him. After just a minute of fighting for freedom, the fox finally removed its injured paw painfully. Threar jumped back up to his feet as the three other foxes were closing in around Bigwig. He looked up at the fox that just released him. "If it's me you're after," he tempted, "then you'd better catch me!"

The fox snarled at Threar angrily before lunging at him. Threar took off like a speeding bullet towards the other foxes with his attacker hot on his heels. He darted between the feet of the two foxes behind Bigwig, causing his pursuer to crash into both of them. Only then did Bigwig notice the foxes behind him. The fox in front of him was about to pin him down when Threar jumped up with his teeth bared fiercely. The fox had no time to fight off the young rabbit before its throat was ripped open, causing it to bleed to death and fall in a lifeless heap.

The other foxes looked at Threar in surprise before scrambling to their feet and running away. Bigwig looked to his partner in surprise, but realized that Threar was following the foxes. "Threar!" he shouted. "What are you doing?"

"Get Thlayli and get out of here!" Threar shouted back over his shoulder. "Someone sent these foxes after us and I must find out who!"

"Not just yet! Get back here, now!"

Threar was about to argue with the old captain when he was suddenly tackled ruthlessly to the ground by a dark brown ball of fur. Threar struggled under the weight of his attacker, whom he quickly identified as a rabbit. The strange rabbit loomed his face directly in front of the seer's.

"I sent them, runt," he breathed wickedly. "Now surrender, otherwise I'll kill you right now."

"I don't think so," Threar growled. He dealt the rabbit a forceful blow to the stomach, launching him into some nearby rose bushes. He jumped back onto his feet as the rabbit came barreling after him again. Threar dodged to the side and held out a paw in front of the villain, ripping open some of the flesh on his chest with his claws. The seer wrestled the brown rabbit to the ground mercilessly. "Who's your boss?" Threar snarled.

"I am the boss," the rabbit snarled back.

"I know you're not, Nettlethorn! Who's your boss?!"

Nettlethorn stared at Threar in surprise- How'd he know my name?- before he started panicking. "I don't know his name!" he screamed. "He keeps saying that he'll get his revenge on the rabbits of Watership Down for what happened to him over twenty months ago. He promised that I would take the duty of Chief Rabbit from Groundsel when he had the down!"

Threar started to quake violently at that moment. Nettlethorn seized this oppurtunity to kick Threar off of him and bolt. Bigwig knew it was useless to try to follow the treacherous rabbit, so he instead sat down next to Threar. The young rabbit finally came back to his senses after a few minutes of violent shaking. "What's the matter, kid?" Bigwig asked.

"A vision," Threar responded in a quiet, snarly voice. "The rabbit who's killing everyone is a former captain of General Woundwort's Owsla. I don't know his name, though."

Bigwig grinned a little bit. "You were wrong about Nettlethorn, you know," he jeered. "I've never seen you or your father be wrong about something before."

"I was only partly wrong," Threar told his ally in a tone that was more serious than defensive. "I knew that Nettlethorn wasn't the murderer and that he was only part of the plan, but he's in much deeper than I originally thought."

Thlayli ran to his father and Threar at that moment. "That was incredible, Threar!" he exclaimed. "It was as if El-ahrairah himself came to us and tricked and fought off those hombas!" He caught himself before Bigwig could glare in disapproval at him. "Threar," he said solemnly, "what I said earlier-I'm sorry. You saved my life. Thank you."

"You're welcome, Thlayli," Threar told him quietly. "Apology accepted."

"I, too, am sorry for things I said," Bigwig said guiltily. "You saved not only my son's life but my own. For those things I am thankful for."

Threar and Thlayli looked at Bigwig in surprise. "I'll bet that hurt to say," Threar said after a moment of silence.

"You may never know, kid," Bigwig said with a small smile. "Let's go home, shall we?"

"Yeah, alright."

"Can we silflay once we get there?" Thlayli asked excitedly.

Bigwig thought about it briefly before smiling big and nodding. "Sure, we haven't done that together in a while. Would you like to join us, Threar?"

"Well..." Threar noticed that Thlayli was looking at him pleadingly, knowing that he wanted the seer to say yes. "... yeah, I'll join you."

Thlayli jumped up and down in delight on the entire trek back to the down. There were moments where Bigwig turned to Threar and said: "You know, he might attract more elil for you to fight off."

Threar simply grinned. "Who knows?" he joked. "They might be good enough to eat, as well."

Bigwig laughed heartily at the reference to the previous day's weasel encounter. At least we are both able to look back at it and laugh.

~W~

Nettlethorn trembled with fright when he was ordered to go back into Vervain's secret burrow. He knew that his employer would only send for him if he had done something the vile rabbit did not like. Now here he was before the former captain of General Woundwort's Owsla, praying to El-ahrairah that the odds would be in his favor.

"You should have brought back those two rabbits, Nethorntle," Vervain growled. "Now tell me something: how did those two slip away from you?"

"It was the runt, sir!" Nettlethorn squealed. "He killed a fox and knew who I was without me saying so! He even knew that I wasn't in charge of this whole operation!"

Vervain became concerned, but managed to hide it. "Who might this runt you speak of be?"

"Threar!"

The old villain thought over all of the information in silence. By Frith, I've never heard of this happening before! How is it possible for a rabbit smaller than Fiver to kill one of the best hombas I've recruited? He looked at the nervous Nettlethorn at last and broke the silence. "Where's the homba's body now?"

"It lies between the field and Watership Down, sir," Nettlethorn said, his tone a little calmer. "But there's something else I forgot to tell you: Bigwig's son Thlayli was with them when we first attacked."

Vervain chuckled wickedly. "Well done, Nettlethorn," he congratulated the younger rabbit. "You just gave me a much better idea than the one I originally had."

Nettlethorn looked at his employer's silhouette curiously. "What's your plan now, sir?"

"What else?" Vervain said, an evil gleam in his eyes. "To take little Thlayli away and lure Bigwig here!"

"Not to doubt your intellect, sir, but how exactly will w—er—how will you do that? I mean, Threar will no doubt take us both—I mean you—down in the process."

"I'll work something out tonight. You'd best be heading back to your warren now... future Chief."

Nettlethorn could not believe how easily he had gotten off. As he left Vervain's burrow, though, he could not help but wonder: Just what is this crazy old buck up to now?

That's it for this chapter! Please let me know what you think! :D