The ragtag band of rabbits continued on their journey for the high hills, crossing meadows, passing fields of crops or grazing cows and horses along the way (Lily said a polite hello to the cows and horses), squeezing under a wooden fence to cross another meadow, until their feet began to ache as their bodies cried out for rest and food.
"Does anyone know where we're going?" asked Silver.
"Hazel does, I'm sure," replied Violet, confident.
"They need to rest, Hazel," Bigwig said. "And they are hungry too."
At that moment, Hazel paused and looked out to a great field of tall bean plants that crowded together like corn stalks where a few bees and butterflies hung about. "There's something up ahead."
"A warm friendly burrow perhaps?" guessed Bluebell.
"No, not a burrow, a field," Hazel replied. "A great field of scented plants that will cover us until we're rested. And the beans will be good to eat."
"You're beginning to sound like a chief, Hazel," complimented Blackberry.
"Hazel-rah sounds like a good name," Lily said.
"Hazel-rah!" laughed Bigwig. "That'll be the day I call him chief, that will."
Lily would have made a clever retort, but she was too tired to say anything. The rest of the band were exhausted from their travels, so they piled up separately underneath the bean stalks, providing them good shelter and shade. Some of them stayed awake to eat the beans from the stalks.
"It's so peaceful here," Fiver sighed, feeling a sense of relaxation overtake him.
"Enjoy it while it lasts," Hawkbit stated, glancing up at the sky warily. "The next disaster can't be far off." Then he closed his eyes to rest.
Nobody cared about any disaster happening soon because they were too sleepy to care. Lily nibbled on a few of the beans growing on the stalks, then noticed Pipkin hopping toward a bean leaf to sniff it and then going to the next one.
"You want to try a bean?" she asked, kindly.
"In a minute," Pipkin told her, "I just want to explore for a while." He spotted a ladybug crawling on a leaf.
Lily smiled at the young buck's curiosity as he longed to explore new places or things that are different from the world he grew up in, or had never seen while growing up in Sandleford. She remembered her own curiosity when she was a young doe, growing up on the farm or taken on Henry's family outings had been a new experience for her, having never seen things a rabbit has never seen in his or her life.
"You should rest, Pipkin, we have a long way to go," Hazel yawned as he spoke to the young kitten.
"I will, I just wanted to look around a little," responded Pipkin, as he then chased after a ladybug.
"Don't go too far," Hazel warned.
"I won't." Pipkin noticed a toad and decided to playfully chase after it instead.
Watching the young buck pursuit the toad brought an amused chuckle out of Bigwig, saying, "Aww, boundless energy of youth."
"I'll keep an eye on him," Lily suggested, and without any objections she trailed after the little buck.
As the curious little Pipkin continued his pursuit of the toad, Lily caught up to him and prevented him from going any further beyond the fence when he got closer to the fence. Just then, they heard a strange voice mumbling. They looked up and there stood a seagull resting on the fence post.
"It's a seagull!" exclaimed Lily. "I don't know if they are friendly or not."
Though being the friendly and kind-hearted young buck he is, Pipkin approached the gull to say, "Hello."
"Aaaaahhhh!" the gull squawked and nearly fell off the fence post. He glared at the doe and the young buck as he spoke with an unfamiliar accent, "You crazy?! Why you sneak up on Kehaar for?!"
"I'm sorry," Pipkin apologized. "You're a gull, aren't you?"
"Yah!" The gull, called Kehaar, responded, "Gull, from big water."
"What's a big water?" Pipkin lowered his eyebrows in confusion.
"I believe he means the ocean, or the sea," explained Lily.
"Yah, what your mother said," Kehaar confirmed. "Water forever. Full of fish. You know where big water go?"
"I'm afraid not, Mr. Kehaar." Lily shook her head, then realized how the seagull referred her to when a young kitten is close to her. "And second, I'm not his mother. I'm his friend."
"Are you lost then?" asked Pipkin.
"Lost... hungry... want fish..."
"I wish I could help." Pipkin frowned in disappointment, but then his face lit up. "I saw you flying earlier. It must be wonderful to fly! Then we can found our home in the high hills."
"Would you happen to fly up and see if you can find these high hills, Mr. Kehaar?" Lily asked, politely.
"You both lost too, huh?" said Kehaar, for a moment wondering, "like me... like Hanya."
"Hanya's another gull then?" figured Pipkin.
"Nah! Mouse," Kehaar explained. "She say 'if you got no home, make home where you are.' Pfft! She nice, but confusing."
Before Lily or Pipkin could ask another question, they heard a familiar buck calling out for them and they turned their heads around in the direction of where the voice came from.
"Pipkin! Lily! Where are you?" shouted Hawkbit.
The seagull cocked his head, staring at the bean stalks. "Who that?" he asked.
"It's Hawkbit," Lily told him, then remembered how she didn't introduce themselves to the seagull, and neither did Pipkin. She didn't want to be rude in front of a gull before leaving without introducing themselves. "My name is Lily, and this is Pipkin."
"I suppose we should get back now," said Pipkin. "It was nice meeting you, Kehaar."
"Humph! Be nicer if you had fish,' Kehaar grumbled, though nevertheless was sad to see the two rabbits go.
"Say hello to this Hanya mouse for us, please," Lily added, before she and Pipkin turned and headed back to the group. However, they noticed Violet wandering over to the fence with her nose in the air. Puzzled, Lily and Pipkin started to follow her.
As the seagull watched the two rabbits depart, Kehaar sighed sadly, "Ohh, everybody lost. Nobody got a home." Flapping his wings, the seagull took to the skies.
"Violet, what are you doing?" asked Lily, catching up to her friend.
"I can smell violets!" the cream colored doe replied. "They are my favorite food. That's why I was named after the violet flower." A small patch of purple flowers were growing just outside the wooden fence in the meadow, much to Violet's delight. She hopped over to the violets and started to eat them.
"Mmm, they must be delicious!" Pipkin licked his lips hungrily and started to hop over to eat some of the violets.
But then, Lily became very increasingly alert as she heard the sound of wings. It sounded like Kehaar's wings, except larger and fiercer. She caught Pipkin by the ear to prevent him from leaving the field.
"Ow! What did you do that for?" the young buck was angered at having his ear pulled, but then he noticing the doe was shaking in terror and grew concerned. "Lily, what's wrong?"
Then Lily spotted the shadow of a hawk circling the sky as it turned to make a dive on the unsuspecting Violet. The ginger doe became paralyzed to react or do anything. Pipkin wondered why she had gone tharn while trying to get an answer out of her, but Lily was too shaken to respond. The young buck realized that Lily's behavior was telling him that elil was close by.
It all happened so fast in the blink of an eye. Without any time to warn Violet, the hawk extended its sharp talons out and there came a bloodcurdling squeak. The spot where Violet once stood amongst the disheveled flowers was now empty, leaving nothing except a few drifting feathers and a few drops of blood.
Lily and Pipkin were extremely traumatized by what they just witnessed. Their cry had alerted the other rabbits to awaken from their slumber or interrupted their meal of beans as they came rushing over to their paralyzed friends.
"What happened?!" Hazel demanded, his voice filled with anxiety.
Pipkin's voice trembled as he tried to find the right words, until he spoke tearfully, "Violet's gone."
The rabbits softly gasped, as they couldn't believe that one of their members had been taken by elil. It was a serious blow to their hearts. They lowered their heads in mourning. Blackberry placed a paw on Lily's shoulder to make sure if she was alright, but the physical contact broke Lily out of her paralyzed state and she burst into tears. She buried her paws in her face, crying hysterically. The death of Violet had an emotional affect on her. Lily had just gotten to know Violet, but fate had been cruel to her by robbing a dear friend.
"I'm sorry, lass." Bigwig comforted her softly.
"You told me not to go tharn, but I did! I could've saved her!" Lily looked up at him with her furry cheeks wet by tears. Then she reached over and gave him a hug in need for solace.
Feeling her do this, Bigwig was unsure about it at first, but then he frowned sadly as he gave her a little squeeze. They remained like this for a few moments, whilst he joined the rabbits' prayer for the loss of a friend.
"My heart has joined a thousand today... for my friend has stopped running..."
Pipkin began to cry as he buried his face in Blackberry's chest as the blue furred doe offered him comfort by stroking the fur on his head, as if a mother was consoling a child after a painful loss.
"Come on, we can't stay here." Hazel solemnly left the field as everybody followed in silence.
Lily and Bigwig released from their hug as they both caught up with the band.
The group remained silent and somber as they continued on their journey. The clouds became dark and gray, as if nature itself was in mourning with them. Rain began to pour out from the skies and the rabbits got soaking wet. Their paws covered in mud as they crawled under a wired fence. Lily got a cut on her back when she felt a sharp prick from the wire, and her blood stain left on the prick. Shortly after crawling under the wired fence, they came to a ditch where Fiver paused. He turned his head to gaze at a tall tree surrounded by smaller trees on a high hill. Lightning struck the top, but the trees weren't destroyed nor set on fire.
"Fiver, what is it?" Hazel looked back to see his brother had froze.
"There, that's where we're going!" Fiver answered, as if he felt Frith had sent a message to send them where they needed to go. "That down. That's our home."
"We head for the down!" Hazel announced, as he instantly followed his brother down the path.
The rest of the rabbits were uncertain, until Lily boldly ushered them to go onward. So they decided to keep pressing on. Lily glanced over her shoulder to see Bigwig was shaking his head disapprovingly, before he caught up with them.
However, the other rabbits grew exhausted from their long walk in the ditch as they climbed up a steep hill, and grew wetter and muddier by the second due to the rain and muddy path. Some of them complained the need for sleep, others were not only tired but frightened.
"Where are we going to sleep?" asked Hawkbit. "There will be more elil out soon. It's too late to dig for scrapes."
"There! We'll rest there!" Hazel gazed an abandoned church in ruins behind a damaged stone wall. "I'll give us enough coverage from elil."
"We can't rest there! It's a Man place!" objected Bigwig, standing protectively in front of Lily and Pipkin, just in case.
"There are no men in there, I don't smell any man at all," Lily said, passing the surprised lion headed rabbit to go forth in the abandoned chapel.
Cautiously, the rabbits entered the chapel and Hazel sniffed the air to make sure it was safe. It was, so he gestured the others to come in. The chapel had no pews, lots of broken glass windows, no roof, although plenty of debris that fell from what used to be a roof. An old sign hung half loose at the entrance and it could still be read as Lily found out, NEWTON CHURCH.
Everyone settled down under a large chunk of debris and immediately fell asleep. Lily was forced to sleep behind Bigwig cause he wanted her by his side at all times, especially Pipkin. Silver and Bigwig stayed a little off distance from the others to ensure no elil was around.
It had been a few hours when the rabbits had taken shelter in the ruins of the church for the night, until Fiver started to mutter and gasp in his sleep. Bigwig and Silver whirled their heads around, annoyed.
"Shhh!" hushed Bigwig.
Fiver's eyes snapped open, alarmed. "Bigwig! I thought-"
"Quiet!" Silver growled, trying to settle him down. "Something's here." His white ears twitched when he heard something was approaching them.
A hideous squeak captured their attention, and in that instant, a large black rat had grabbed Bigwig by the ear. His pained cries echoed in the chapel like thunder. This awoke the other rabbits, startled and alert. Bigwig swung his head to shake the rat off his ear and send him flying into an old statue. The impact knocked the statue down and it fell with a crash. This drew the attention of a white owl flying nearby. It noticed rats and rabbits inside the chapel, fighting amongst each other as Dandelion kicked a rat into a wall. The owl's dark eyes glared dangerously when it changed direction as it swooped down and caught one unlucky rat so far. It nearly caught Fiver, who scurried under the debris for safety with the others. Lily swiped at a rat which tried to go after Pipkin, though Hazel took care of the rest of the rats so far.
Suddenly there came a vicious cawing sound. It seemed to frighten the rats as they ran off to hide. As for the owl, it didn't want any part of whatever else is coming either as it flew away with the dead rat in its claws for a late night snack.
"Now, what?!" grunted Bigwig, rubbing his ear from where he had been bitten.
Everyone looked up as another pair of wings sounded off, though they sounded quite smaller than the owl. Nobody saw movement at first, until Lily pointed out with her paw at the shape of a black bird lurking above them in front of the broken glass.
"Corvil! A reckoning of them!" Bigwig exclaimed.
"Don't you mean a crow?" Lily suggested, and the lion maned rabbit shook his head at her so-called ignorance.
The crow glided downward and landed on another pile of debris. It wasn't alone as he was joined by a large group of crows, they came surrounding the area and the worried rabbits, unsure of how to react. It proved obvious to why the rats and the owl left, this chapel was owned by the flock of crows, making it their territory.
"Let me try talking to them." Hazel attempted to speak with the leader of the crows.
"Talk to them?!" Bigwig knew it was absurd to communicate with an elil. "Hazel, no!"
"Look Hazel, when I lived on the farm, the crows proved to be quite a problem as they ransacked fields and... you're not listening to me, are you?" Lily grumbled, failing to make Hazel see reason instead of trying to knock sense into him not speaking to troublesome crows.
"He never listens," Bigwig sighed, agreeing with her.
"Umm... hello..." Hazel greeted, though he stuttered. "We understand that this might be your home." The lead crow titled its head sideways with a caw as the rabbit spoke, "We are only here because we've got nowhere to go-"
The lead crow suddenly charged at Hazel and started to violently peck at him, while the rest of the flock charged at the other rabbits. The group tried bravely to defend themselves from the crows with every strength and courage they've got. Most of the rabbits kicked them with their strong hind legs or swatted at them with their paws, claws extended. But it made the crows more aggressive that some of them began to bite the rabbits. Two crows tried to drag little Pipkin out as the young buck cried out. With a roar, Lily cuffed the two crows with a harsh swipe of her paws. Though one of them tried to pull at her ears, until Bigwig viciously grabbed it by the tail with his mouth and flung it across the floor.
"Someone should draw them away, give the rest of us a chance," Bigwig suggested, hastily as he fought against a crow.
"Are you mad?! You'll never outrun a corvil!" Hawkbit exclaimed, thinking the idea was insane.
"I'll go!" Dandelion volunteered with a determined look in his eyes, and in a flash, he raced out of their hiding spot that drew the crows' attention toward him.
"He's serious!" Bluebell gasped.
Everyone left their hiding spot as they climbed to a high broken window to get a view of watching worriedly as the entire flock of crows pursued their friend. Dandelion dashed across the cemetery, faster than any rabbit no one had ever seen.
"That is one fast rabbit," awed Blackberry.
The crows almost got their claws on Dandelion, but his quick thinking lead them crashing into a few tree branches and the stone hedge.
"He's got them distracted, let's go!" Hazel ordered as they evacuated the chapel.
But then, Lily had noticed one crow, the leader of the flock, gaining altitude to swoop down and swiftly snatch up Dandelion, carrying him up in the air. The reminisce of Violet's death flashed through Lily's eyes. She couldn't bare to lose another rabbit to elil, so she did something no rabbit had ever done. The doe made a sharp turn and raced after the crow, who had taken away Dandelion. The rabbits had taken notice of what she was doing, shouting for her to come back, but it fell on deaf ears.
"Lily, come back!" Bigwig yelled after her, shocked by her actions. "LILY!"
The doe leapt from one from tombstone to the next, using her strength to push any crows aside that tried to attack her. She used the tombstones to gain higher ground and gravity as she got closer and closer to her target. And then, she lunged at the crow on its back and dug her teeth to puncture his neck. Startled, the crow squawked and let go of Dandelion as he fell to the ground, though he wasn't hurt but he scrambled under a pair of fallen gravestone piled one another for cover. Lily's weight had brought herself and the crow back to solid earth. The ground's impact of their fall didn't kill them, but Lily knew she had to get out there as soon as possible before the crow could take its revenge on her.
"Over here!" Dandelion shouted.
Lily hurried over to him and crawled underneath the same gravestone with him. The crows surrounded them as the two rabbits remained hidden, looking quite helpless in such a deadly situation. Lily and Dandelion exchanged sad faces, believing this could be the end. The lead crow landed in front of them as its caw sounded like wicked laughter now that it was all over for the rabbits.
All of a sudden, a familiar battle cry came out of nowhere. Bigwig pounced and rolled over the lead crow with a harsh throw. "One step closer and I'll pull your tail feathers out, and stuff them down your throat, you embleer corvil!" he threatened.
But the lead crow stood his ground and charged at the lion maned rabbit. The two enemies battled fiercely in combat. Bigwig managed to find the strength to keep fighting, remembering his precious doe hiding under the gravestones, determined to win the fight and protect her. He pinned the crow to the ground with his strong arms, holding the black bird's beak to the side, and reached down to bite the crow's throat.
Thunder crashed, and the crow died instantly. Lily's eyes enlarged, horrified at what Bigwig had done. Dandelion had turned away when it happened. The rest of the crows retreated after witnessing the death of their leader.
"Is everyone okay?" Blackberry concerned as she came rushing over, joined by the rest of the group.
"Remind me never to outrun crows again," Dandelion sighed, crawling out of his hiding spot.
"Don't ever do that again!" Hawkbit cuffed him on the back of the head while scolding him, though nevertheless was quite happy to have him back.
"Where's Lily?" asked Hazel.
Lily was visibly shaken by Bigwig's killing the crow in cold blood. How could a rabbit be so bloodthirsty? Especially one so strong and protective as Bigwig. As Bigwig approached her, she scooted deeper under the tombstones. The blood stained on mouth from killing the crow. He didn't look like a rabbit at all in her eyes, but a savage lion intent on killing whatever elil that stood in his way.
Bigwig looked back to see she was still under the headstones, prepared to give her a good scolding for her recklessness, but he saw how traumatized she was as Lily shivered from watching him murdering a crow. "Lily, are you alright?" he asked, softly.
"You killed the crow..." Lily's voice stuttered, as she couldn't get it out of her head probably for all times.
"I only did what I must," he spoke before reaching a paw out for her, but the idea of being touched by him made Lily panic as she bolted out of her hiding spot to stay by Hazel's side.
Bigwig sighed, dejected. Then looking at his reflection in a small rain puddle, the blood still on his lips and his mane stuck out like Medusa's snakes, he immediately realized she was afraid of him because not only did he kill an elil, but he did it in the act of monstrosity. Lily saw him as a monster. It wretched Bigwig's heart that she had to see him like this. But he knew he did what he had to do to save her. He wanted her to understand. Then his eyes landed on Hazel as he comforted the frightened doe. That was it. It was all Hazel's fault. Hazel brought them to this Frith-forsaken place, endangered their lives, and nearly cost the lives of two more rabbits. All because of Fiver's stupid visions and dreams. Eyes hardened like the soul behind them, Bigwig had enough of those outskirter brothers and their idiocy.
Long after the rabbits had left the ruins of the church, the rain poured harder than ever, once again mother nature symbolizing tension and a feud was about to happen within the group. Morning is just around the corner, but no one could know it unless the rain stopped.
"What's happening back home, I wonder?" Pipkin sighed, thinking about his old home in Sandleford. "Think, when we lived in our own burrows? Dry, soft, warm bodies of mother snuggling with their young ones to keep them happy."
"Look, Hazel, we can't go on like this," Dandelion complained, though slightly shaken from the incident with the crows.
"It keeps getting worse and worse wherever we go," Silver reminded him, thinking back to all of their near death encounters with elil in the past few days. His red eyes narrowed at the hazel-brown rabbit. "Where are we going? Other than these so called high lonely hills?"
"It won't be much longer, then we can all rest." Hazel tried to calm everyone down, but no one was having any of it.
"How MUCH longer?" Silver interrogated.
"We should never have left Sandleford," added Hawkbit.
"Suppose Fiver is all wrong?" Blackberry was starting to doubt to have doubts as well.
"We want to go back to Sandleford and find out!" exclaimed Bluebell.
"Go back?" Hazel was incredulous. "After all we've been through?"
"And probably get killed for wounding Captain Holly and escaping the Owsla?!" Lily worried. "Talk sense for heaven's sake!"
"We must go on until we reach the high hills!" Fiver protested, standing his ground.
But Silver came toward Fiver in a threatening manner, a dark scorning frown on his face that would've made Bigwig proud. "I don't believe you know where we're going. This down of yours probably doesn't exist, you mole-snouted, muckraking..."
"ENOUGH!" Bigwig exploded, and all eyes landed on him. "Alright, day's breaking, we should stop."
"No, we keep moving," Hazel refused, stubbornly. "Just until we found another safe haven from elil, than we rest."
It was by now that Bigwig had quite enough. "Are you giving me an order, Hazel?" he questioned. "Because I didn't realize anyone had made you Chief Rabbit!" Lily gawked at the lion maned buck in fear as he ranted angrily, "After all, it was me who helped us escape Sandleford! Blackberry who rescued us at the stream! Oh, and Dandelion who saved us from your stupid mistake with the birds! We followed you here, because you promised us a better life, Hazel, a BETTER LIFE!"
Hazel did not lose his temper like Bigwig did, so he calmly sighed as he tried to assured the buck, "Things will improve when we reach the down."
"Yes, yes! The down." Bigwig scoffed, earning him a disapproved scowl from Hazel. "The place we're heading for no reason other than Fiver had a feeling about it!"
"Perhaps, we should rest, Hazel. We'll continue on after we're all rested." Lily suggested, now trying to be reasonable among the group. "Mostly everyone is exhausted."
Hazel noticed the others looking completely exhausted, especially Pipkin.
"Now, I'll dig myself a scrap for the night!" Bigwig than started to dig himself a scrap, before others joined him. "Not because I want to rest, but because this is where I'm staying!"
Sighing, Lily started digging but remained further away from Bigwig. Despite agreeing that everyone needs to rest, she began to dislike his harsh temper. "Bigwig, don't you think you're a little hard on Hazel?" she asked.
"Hard?! Look at us, we're digging in the rain like does. How am I hard?!" Bigwig questioned, still angry.
"I understand that we're all exhausted, however it doesn't mean that we should put the blame on Hazel."
"A mistake that nearly got you killed!"
Lily tried to make a retort, but she closed her mouth when nothing came out. He was right. But she never blamed Hazel for it. "Yes, but... thank for saving my life. It's just that... if I haven't stepped in to save Dandelion..."
Bigwig than had a brief moment. He made sure nobody was listening as he whispered, "I never meant to threaten you in the wrong way, I just want what's best for everyone in our group... especially you..." but his serious mode resumed as he added harshly, "But from now on, you are not leaving my side. You will stay with me at all times, and don't ever do anything reckless! Got it?"
His dark tone made her shiver, especially after witnessing the death of the crow by Bigwig's doing. Warned to remain at his side felt like being confined in a cage and forbidden to leave. He expected her to answer, so she nodded silently with no other choice. The lion headed buck had finished the muddy burrow, and the others crawled inside to huddle together and sleep.
Hazel and Fiver were the last get in, remaining at the entrance. Lily wanted to scooch over and sleep by them, but she felt a larger paw clutch her petite paw. Bigwig scorned in her direction. He didn't want her to have anything to do with the two brothers. He wanted her in his sight at all times, even if he had to use force to make her understand. Sighing, Lily began to see more of Bigwig than she realized. This behavior was starting to get on her nerves, but she was terribly afraid of him. How could she tell him that she didn't approve of his controlling, bossy attitude.
The rain started to slow down as it continued throughout the night. Everyone had dozed off to a peaceful slumber. Their adventures in the abandoned chapel forgotten. Hazel and Fiver remained awake for a while. Lily had one eye open as she overheard Hazel losing his sense of confidence as a result of Bigwig's frustrations and everyone else beginning to doubt him.
"Bigwig was right. I'm not a leader," Hazel groaned. "I'm not strong like him, not smart like Blackberry, not fast like Dandelion, and I don't have jokes to tell to lift everyone's spirits like Bluebell. Or visions to keep us from harm like you. And I almost got Lily killed tonight."
"You've lead us this far, and none of us are dead," Fiver softly comforted his elder brother. "I know we lost Violet, but we didn't know. But Lily risked her life to save Dandelion. Isn't that a miracle itself?"
"It's blind luck is what is," Hazel replied, listening to the thunder roll by. "We could use another dose or that right now." And then, he fell asleep right beside his brother.
Gazing at them sorrowfully, Lily wondered how she could help Hazel and Fiver, whilst trying to keep peace amongst the rabbits, especially for Bigwig. She hoped the answer will come tomorrow, whatever it may be. Her eyelids grew heavy as she closed them and fell asleep.
