The Shadow Land.
Pipkin lay down beside Silverweed under the picnic blanket.
"I won't give up hope," he said, more to the air rather than to Silverweed. "Even if everyone else gives up and no one believes, I'll have faith... I'll believe." Then Pipkin closed his eyes and repeated over and over "I believe, I believe, I believe," until he fell into a restless sleep beside his unconscious friend.
Silverweed could feel the warmth of Pipkins body beside him and the soft comfort of the blanket covering them. He was too weak to open his eyes, but he could smell Pipkin's comforting scent close to his nostrils which drowned out the scent of Man on the blanket.
Then Silverweed began to sense there was another presence beside him. He heard nothing, and smelt nothing, but he somehow knew that someone else was there with them. He half-opened his eyes to see who or what it was. Silverweed noticed the dim image of a rabbit crouched beside him.
"Black Rabbit?" he questioned. "Is that you? I am ready."
"It is not he," the other rabbit replied. "He's been delayed, but I have been sent for you."
"By Inlé?" asked Silverweed.
"No," The other rabbit said placing a paw on Silverweeds back. "By Prince Rainbow and Lord Frith... someone has petitioned on your behalf."
Silverweed tried to open his eyes wider. Was this a dream, another vision? He couldn't tell but he had over heard what Pipkin had said, and he knew who had petitioned for him. The sweet innocence of youth, the love of a faithful friend.
"Come with me," the other rabbit said. "There are some things I want to show you..."
"I cannot come," Silverweed replied weakly. "My body is too weak and unnaturally old. It's going to stop running soon."
"Then leave it behind," said the mysterious rabbit. "Let yourself go into a dream state, you know quite well how to do this Silverweed."
Silverweed pondered how this rabbit knew his name, and knew about his seers sight. How could know all this? Silverweed didn't recognize him as someone from Watership Down, or his former warren. Did he know this rabbit? Silverweed allowed his body to fall deeper into a coma and let his spirit rise from it. Leaving the physical behind, Silverweed sat up on his hind legs, right through the blanket. He felt strong and young again. His hind legs powerful, his vision stronger. He looked around and saw the small lump under the blanket where Pipkin lay beside him, breathing steadily. His own body giving an occasional laboured breath rose and fell in an uneven rhythm. Silverweed glanced at his companion. He could see him clearly now. A brown buck with cunning deep bronze eyes.
"Follow," said the brown buck. Then he kicked off from the ground and rose into the air, hopping weightlessly towards the dark sky above.
'It must be a vision,' Silverweed thought to himself. 'Or I've really stopped running after all.' Then he too kicked off from the ground and rose above to follow the brown buck.
"Are you taking me to Inlé?" Silverweed asked.
"Not yet," The brown buck answered. "I want to take you somewhere else first. The Black Rabbit is tied up with the new arrivals. We have time."
Silverweed moved easily through the sky as if it was as natural as being on the ground. He peered down at the earth below them, illuminated by the moon.
"I know this place," said Silverweed. "It's my old home, the Warren of the Shining Wires."
"Yes," the brown buck answered. "But what else to do you see, close your eyes and reach out as only you can."
Silverweed, being a seer, did not question this. He closed his eyes and searched with in.
"I see suffering, deception, death. I see a warren who has lost it's way and forgotten how to live... I see longing souls, heartbreak that cannot be expressed... despair and a life without hope or light." Siverweed opened his eyes again. He gazed down at the landscape. He could see the warren, the holes wide and visible as there was never a need to conceal them. He could see the shining wires glinting in the moonlight. "I was one of those who helped keep them trapped," Silverweed said forlornly. "With my poems and deceptive words. I admit my guilt. Are you here to punish me for my misdeeds?" he asked the brown buck.
"No... No not at all," the brown buck told Silverweed. "You were deceived too and you have shown great courage and sacrifice since then. I am here to ask you something. If you could save them, lead them out... would you do it?"
"I can't," Silverweed said sighing helplessly. "My body is dying... it's too weak."
"But what if that could changed?" the brown buck asked. "I am willing to speak on your behalf... to the Black Rabbit himself."
"But why would you do that? Do I know you?" Silverweed asked, his voice quavering with wonder. He pricked his ears foward towards the brown buck, studying his features, trying recognise him.
"Yes, you know me, though you have forgotten who I am," said the brown buck. "Do you remember assisting one of your litter mates to make a shape on the wall, beside the well bricks?"
Silverweed pondered as his mind wandered back to stories his Marli told him on a warm summers eve, beneath the stars. Before rules and unspoken laws forbade such things. He knew the shape well... No. It couldn't be could it? Could this be...
"El-ahrairah!" Silverweed gasped gazing at the brown buck in wonderred awe. Silverweed noticed for the first time the starlight twinkling subtlety in his companion's ears. Silverweed bowed low before him. "Forgive me, My Lord," he said. "I had no idea!"
"There is no need for that young Silverweed," El-ahrairah chuckled, signalling for Silverweed to rise. "It's just me."
"But why would you help me, and the others in the Warren of the Shining Wires?" Silverweed asked in amazement. "We all forsook the old ways, rejected your stories and everything about you?"
"Not all did," El-ahrairah replied. "There is a remnant. Some of them have been calling out. Longing for freedom and a better life. Not all utter it out loud, but I've been listening, and Lord Frith has heard their cries. Besides, all rabbits are my children and my children's children. I care for all of them. I forgive them. Even Woundwort."
Silverweed wondered if he would ever wake from this vision, or if it was real. He could see the moon glinting off a wire in the bushes. It sat there, silently, without emotion. Waiting for it's next victim. No remorse and no malice. Just a quiet threat lurking in the hedges. It had no reasoning, no purpose other than to take the lives of the innocent and rob them of their last breath. All was quiet, the warren rabbits were sleeping below.
"You asked me if I could lead them out would I?" Silverweed said thoughtfully. "My answer is, I would, but I will not go against my word to the Black Rabbit of Inlé. I agreed to accept his embrace. Nor will I defy his wishes or stand against his will."
"You may not have to," said El-ahrairah. Silverweed gave him a questioning look. "I am not called El-ahrairah for nothing," El-ahrairah continued. "Prince of a Thousand Enemies, be cunning, be full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed. I am blessed by Lord Frith himself with all the trickery a rabbit could ask for." El-ahrairhah gave Silverweed a knowing wink.
El-ahrairah glanced at the moon above them.
"It is time," he said. "Follow."
Once again the two rabbits glided off across the skies, heading upward, above the clouds and towards the stars. Silverweed couldn't fathom how high they were going. They approached a great burrow entrance in the sky.
El-ahrairah paused at the mouth of the run. "Have faith," he said before entering. Silverweed followed him inside.
It was dark. Silverweed could sence the burrow walls on either side of him. There was no scent. They were descending. Lower. Lower. Deeper into the run. Eventually they came out into a wide burrow. It was dimly lit. The ominous long shadows of other rabbits moved before him. Silverweed shuddered. This was Inlé.
The Black Rabbit stood before them. His red eyes glowing eerily in the dimness, causing a spooky illumination around him.
"Welcome Silverweed," his deep voice echoed. "To Inlé." Then turning to El-ahrairah he asked sternly. "El-ahrairah, Why have you brought him here? He has not breathed his last breath."
El-ahrairah seemed unafraid. He casually combed a paw over one ear and over his nose, grooming himself before he answered.
"I've come with a petition O' Black Rabbit of Inlé. A request for a trail of life."
The Black Rabbit appeared to rise menacingly above Silverweed and El-ahrairah causing Silverweed to cower down in fear. El-ahrairah remained unperturbed.
"There is no petition," the ghostly voice of the Black Rabbit resonated in a frightening, raspy voice. "There is NO bargain."
"Then why did you bargain with Campion? Oh great and powerful one," El-ahrairah asked bowing low. It was almost as if the last bit had been added as an after thought.
"You're questioning me?" the Black Rabbit growled low, a sneer crossing his lips.
"Oh no, my eminent one," El-ahrairah replied, almost with an air of sarcasm. "I wouldn't dare do that." El-ahrairah hopped forward a couple of steps so that he was between Silverweed and the Black Rabbit. "But there was a bargain, Woundwort's final end in return that an innocent one should accept your embrace. Your words, are clear, O' Lord of Inlé."
The Black Rabbit was silent. The lack of sound seemed to scream for an answer. Silverweed silently wished that someone would say something. Then after what seemed like an eternity, the Black Rabbit spoke.
"Very well El-ahrairah, I will hear your petition, but remember, we have had this discussion before... and you have already heard my answer on that account."
"Yes Inlé-rah," El-ahrairah answered and then added in a hushed tone. "On that account." Silverweed noted how cunning and sure of himself El-ahrairah sounded. He knew his own voice, had he had the nerve to speak, would have come out thin and weak. Silverweed had never heard the tale of El-ahrairah and the Black Rabbit of Inlé. He was unsure of the outcome. He was nervous, but not terrified. This felt familiar to him. The Black Rabbit felt like an old friend from the past. Someone he knew well through is poetry and darker visions.
El-ahrairah stepped forward and spoke with confidence. "Here are your words, My Lord, and I quote.."
El-ahrairah's voice took on a dark tone as he quoted the prophesy that the Black Rabbit had spoken to Campion.
"You will live, and your friends will live,
but one among you must call me from the Shadow Land,
so I may claim what is mine,
and that one must surrender to my dark embrace."
Then El-ahrairah turned to Silverweed who was still cowering low on the floor.
"Do you surrender to him?" El-ahrairah asked Silverweed simply.
"Yes..." Silverweed rasped, lowering his eyes to the floor. "I always have."
"Then, Black Rabbit," El-ahrairah said with a triumphant bow in the direction of the Dark Lord. "He has fulfilled the requirements, even while he yet breaths."
"What trickery is this?" the Black Rabbit growled threateningly. "I will not be fooled by you El-ahrairah, Prince of a Thousand Enemies. All the living know what my embrace means. Your play on words cannot surpass my prophesy!" The Black Rabbit seemed to be growing large and larger. Silverweed couldn't help but tremble as he watched the Dark Lord rise intimidatingly over El-ahrairah, his eyes glowing brighter in apparent rage, illuminating the burrow in a frightening red glow that made Silverweed's soul shudder.
"Your words are your words, oh Great One," El-ahrairah replied. "And I only do the will of my Lord Frith, and follow his instructions."
"Are you trying to say Lord Frith himself sent you here?" the Black Rabbit questioned.
"Lord Frith's instructions were..." El-ahrairah said, scratching nonchalantly at one ear. "To be cunning. To be full of tricks, and I have followed those instructions precisely from that day forth. Even beyond my own death. Surely, even the Great Black Rabbit would not expect any less of me than to find a loop hole in your Lorship's prophesy." The starlight in El-ahrairah's ears seem to glow even brighter as he peered up at the Black rabbit with a mischievous, truimphant air. El-ahrairah moved back until he was side by side with Silverweed and sat on his haunches as if there was nothing more to left say. "I rest my case," he said with low bow of his head.
The Black Rabbit gazed at Silverweed. "Rise up, look at me," he instructed, but not unkindly. Silverweed met his gaze and stared deeply into the eyes of the Black Rabbit of Inlé. Even though he no longer had his seer sight, not in this dark place, he could still sense that the rabbit before him was not against him. There was almost a sense of compassion in those deep red eyes. An understanding. An offer for some kind of freedom.
"Come with me," the Black Rabbit said to Silverweed. "Before I draw my verdict, I wish to show you something." The Black Rabbit turned and Silverweed was surprised to see that even this dark entity had a shining white tail, just like his own. He followed the Black Rabbit down another run, traveling upward, ever upward until they emerged on what seemed to be a meadow. Silverweed sat up tall, gazing around him, sniffing the air but smelling nothing. It was even more beautiful than Watership Down. Rabbits ran and played on the grass. A gently flowing brook formed a waterfall between a valley. There were rabbit holes scattered about here and there. The sky was blue and clear.
"They call it the Shadow Land," the Black Rabbit told Silverweed. "But no shadows fall here, do you see? Someone is expecting you."
Silverweed noticed a silver furred doe racing towards him followed by four yearlings. Could this be... Silverweed gasped.
"Marli..." he said, his voice breaking with emotion. He ran to her and threw his paws around her. "Marli... it's really you? I've missed you so much. And my brothers and sisters. I'm so sorry Marli, the wires, they took you all." Silverweed broke down and wept.
"No tears dear little Silverweed, no tears over Marli," she said holding him close. "For there are no tears here where we are, no wires to hurt us, no elil, no hunger or disease and no Man. We are at peace. All of us. And we are so pleased to see you here."
Silverweed turned with tear filled eyes to meet the gaze of the Black Rabbit who stood waiting behind him.
"I am not your enemy," the Black Rabbit said, almost gently. "I am not elil."
"I know that," Silverweed replied. "I've always known that. Since I was a kit. Such was my poetry to you." The Black Rabbit nodded knowingly.
"Do you wish to leave here?" the Black Rabbit asked. Silverweed looked into his mothers eyes. So much love there. Love he'd been robbed of for so many seasons since she'd gone. That dreadful empty space inside him that her death had left behind was suddenly filled. The grief he'd never been allowed to feel, was finally lifted from him. Peace, at last. He felt peace. "I love you Marli," Silverweed told her. "But I must go back." Then Silverweed turned to the Black Rabbit and bowed low before him.
"If it not be against your will My Lord," Silverweed said reverently. "I wish to free my fellow warren mates from the Warren of the Shining Wire. Even though I know they come here, to freedom. To peace. I've also learnt from the rabbits of Watership Down that they need not live in deception, lies and inner anguish. They can embrace life, before they embrace death."
"Your return would not be easy," the Black Rabbit informed Silverweed. "Your body has suffered greatly. There will be much pain and suffering before you fully recover."
"I am willing," Silverweed said. "In the service of Inlé"
The Black Rabbit placed a paw on Silverweed's back, it felt icy cold, but there was a warm affection in the gesture. "You know me well, My Silverweed," he said. "Come."
Silverweed gave one last hug to his mother and litter mates before following the Black Rabbit back down into the depths of the burrow. El-ahrairah was there, and another dark coloured buck had joined him.
"El-ahrairah," the Black Rabbit announced formally. "I have heard your petition and do believe it to be a deception tied up in red tape. However, for the sake of others who would meet me before their true appointed time, I'm going to allow this. Escort Silverweed back to his body, I remove my curse." At that, the Black Rabbit turned his back and said no more.
"Yes My Lord," El-ahrairah said with a sly smile that he knew the Dark One would not see. Then turning he winked at Silverweed. "This is Rabscuttle," El-ahrairah said, indicating the dark furred buck beside him. "Lets us be off, we haven't much time."
The three rabbits scrambled up the run and headed back to the land of the living.
Terms
Marli - Lapine for Mother
A/N: My favorite chapter thus far. It was inspired by my own life experience, and out of body experiences of others. This is where my idea's were heading. I hope it was believable to the story line and not to "Sci Fi" . Hoping to continue on with the story for Silverweed to fulfill his mission. Please R&R as I would love some feedback :) Encouragement and criticisms both welcome.