Rise of Woundwort Part Two: The Training Begins

The next day, Campion and Ivy scampered out to meet their friends for silflay. Vervain was already there, along with Thistle, and a young doe named Columbine.

"Not...that there is any silflay," Ivy said, scratching at the dry earth moodily.

"I'm sure there will be some soon," Columbine said optimistically. The pretty gold and cream doe smiled at her friends.

"After all, winter can't last much longer, can it?"

"No, I suppose not," said Vervain peevishly, "But what do we do while we wait for it to be done?"

"Uh...uh... I don't know."

At that moment, Twinleaf appeared. The brown buck smiled at the group of kits.

"Campion, Vervain, how would you like to start Junior Owsla training? Thistle, you can come too, if you want. I've already checked with Woundwort, and he says it's fine."

Vervain and Campion grinned at each other.

"Owsla training!"

Ivy pouted.

"Why can't I go? I can knock Vervain over!"

Twinleaf sighed.

"You, my dear girl, are a doe."

The Captain of Owsla moved off, followed by Campion, Vervain, and Thistle.

Ivy sighed.

"I hate being a doe. Columbine, let's be bucks!"

The spotted doe shook her head.

"I don't think I'd like that very much, Ivy."

"I would!"

A chocolate-colored doe had been listening to the conversation.

"My brothers get to go, and they're even younger then you are! Why can't does be in the Owsla? It's not fair!"

Ivy took a liking to the other doe instantly.

"What's your name? I'm Ivy."

"Bramble. My brothers are Vine and Gorse, but they don't matter. Hey, we could teach ourselves to be warriors, if the bucks won't let us!"

Ivy grinned.

"Good idea! Come on, let's go!"

The two new friends moved off together, leaving Columbine alone. The little doe stared after them for a moment, then shrugged and hopped off by herself.

Campion, Vervain, and Thistle stood in a group of other Owsla hopefuls. Campion looked around. Some of the rabbits were very young, he realized, much younger than he was.

"All right, everyone, listen up!" Twinleaf barked, "Today, you are going to begin your training, which, if you survive, will lead you to becoming an Owsla officer one day. Now, for our first exercise, I would like to separate you into groups of three. I understand some of you are still very young, young enough that if we had more rabbits, I'd wait until next spring to train you. But, as it is, I'm sure the older rabbits will look out for the younger."

Twinleaf then proceeded to separate them into groups. Much to Campion's annoyance, he and Vervain were not allowed to be in the same group. Vervain was with Thistle, and another buck named Gorse. As Twinleaf assigned groups, Campion discovered that he was in a group with Phlox and Vine. The trouble was that he had no idea who that was.

Finally, he spotted two bucks who appeared to be lacking the third member of their group. He decided to risk embarrassment, and walked over.

"Are you two Phlox and Vine?" he asked.

A wiry chocolate-furred buck grinned cheekily at him.

"Maybe, maybe not. What do you think?"

"Aw, Vine, don't," the other, a white buck, protested. "I'm Phlox, he's Vine. Are you Campion?"

"Yes, I'm Campion, and I think I know which one is the troublemaker."

"Phlox is just more convincing at being perfect," Vine said playfully.

"I see," said Campion, although he did not.

At that moment, Twinleaf began calling out orders.

"All right, each team will be allowed out of the warren to go to the woods for one hour. You can form alliances with the other team, or work alone, but I warn you, we have set up some surprises for you all. Nothing dangerous, but if an elil wanders through, shout out, and someone will come. Got it?"

The young rabbits nodded, and then started off.

"So, should we find some of the others and go with them?" Phlox asked nervously, "There's safety in numbers, right?"

"But then we'll have to share whatever we find out there with whoever we're with," Vine said, "I think we should go alone."

Campion sighed. This was going to be a long training exercise.

"All right, you two, let's get going," he said.

The three young bucks trotted off, and as they did, Campion couldn't help but notice that most of the others were already forming alliances. He considered trying to convince Vine to let them form an alliance, but the younger buck seemed intent on ignoring both Phlox and Campion, so Campion let him lead the way into the woods.

They hadn't gone far, however, when Campion's keen ears picked up the sound of movement nearby.

"We're being followed," he announced. Vine laughed.

"Jumpy, aren't ya? It's just one of the other groups."

"I don't know, Vine," Phlox said, "It sounds awfully big for them..."

At that moment, Woundwort came hurtling out of the trees toward them. Vine and Phlox exchanged looks of mixed terror and confusion, but Campion leaped forward and managed to land on Woundwort's back, realizing that this must be one of the obstacles Twinleaf had warned them about.

"What are you doing?" Vine demanded.

"It's a test," Campion cried, "Come on!"

Phlox and Vine hesitated, and in that instant, Woundwort was upon them. The huge black rabbit swept the two smaller bucks off their paws with a single swipe, then turned his attention to getting Campion off of his back. As it was only an exercise, and it did not serve Woundwort's purposes to kill the kit, he planned only to shake him off. But that was harder than he thought. The young sienna buck hung on with a grim determination, until Woundwort was finally forced to stop, or risk hurting the young rabbit.

"You win," he panted, "Come down."

"If I come down, will you hold to your word?" Campion growled.

Woundwort chuckled.

"You're a determined little buck, aren't you? Yes, I'll keep my word."

Campion released his hold on Woundwort, and the black buck stood still while he climbed down. Then, Woundwort took a good look at him.

"What's your name, young rabbit?"

"Campion."