Chapter 14

Hugh and Clayton had arrived over at Ecchinswell's village. Despite of them being rabbits, they kept to a low profile because of their crime.

"At least we arrived back at Ecchinswell, it'll probably be a lot better if we're still human." Clayton complained.

"Oh do shut up, son. It's better that we kept our real faces hidden. Besides, it's beneficial for us to keep ourselves undercover." Hugh said.

"Don't forget, Father, we have been chased by badgers, foxes, and other predator animals." Clayton added.

"The more we chat and complained, the less closer we'll get to Watership Down." Hugh stated.

Clayton nodded and slipped quietly into town. Only a few people were out and about their daily lives. Clayton wanted to stop, so he could relax his feet by newspapers and ads were posted on a post-board. He stepped back to get a better view and saw wanted ads. He kept seeing the same ads that were about the search and found of his father. He than spotted a latest wanted ad.

"Wanted: A family of four - Responsible of spraying pesticides at the downs" Clayton read. He started to think and remember seeing the family of four back in London. However, he still does remember that his father was responsible, but an idea popped into his head.

"Clayton! Why are standing there for?!" Hugh shouted.

Clayton hurried to his father and continued on their journey.

"I saw the wanted ads." Clayton said.

"About myself obviously." Hugh wasn't surprised.

"Yes, but I saw another wanted that regarded to the same thing you did." Clayton added.

Hugh thought it was clear that he was being persuaded, but he waited his questions and thoughts, until they managed to arrive at the opened and closed fields near the downs.

"Now, what are you trying to comply?" Hugh questioned his son.

"Well, I saw a wanted ad of family of four, involving spraying pesticides like you did." Clayton explained. "They may think four other people were involve with it, as well."

"That's absolute poppycock! I was responsible." Hugh exclaimed.

"Yes, but I thought hard and I presumed that it could the family of four, I saw yesterday at Hyde Park in London." his son recalled.

"You mean that Tyler?!"

"Yes, and his wife or mate in that matter, with two of their sons." Clayton further explained. "I was thinking we could just captured the four and bring them back to Scotland's Yard and have them arrested, as we killed off the rest of the warren."

"No, I wanted everyone in that warren cease to be exist. I'm willing to finish the job I have started! And I don't want anymore new plans or suggestions, do I make myself clear?" Hugh raised his voice.

"Yes Father." Clayton submitted.

"Good. One day you'll understand that revenge, you'll just have to do away with someone or them." Hugh stated. He than journeyed off to the fields. Clayton sighed because of the weariness and started to doubt.

"How do I always get myself into these things?" he asked himself. "I'm still willing to stand for my father. However, I should just leave."

"No!" he shouted. "I need to stand by my father, since he has been looking after me. I'm willing to do anything to help him and I still want my desire of revenge against Tyler and especially Mason."

The Owsla were on the move to fetch some flayrah back at the farm, hopefully to see if pesticides are gone.

"Hopping the flayrah is clean from the pesticides, I'm all stuffed from apples for one day after another." I said.

"I'm sure. If not, we may need another solution to get some them, because I think everyone is worn out of apples." Tyler said.

When we got to the farm, not a dog or cat were in sight, including the farmer. We even came to notice that the vehicle wasn't here.

"You think they went to town?" Tyler asked.

"Possibly." I said.

"At least the flayrah is unguarded and we could dig under and grab some." Dandelion said and he was about to go for it, but stopped by Bigwig.

"Hold off. We don't know if what Mason and Tyler called them, 'pesticides' are still in them." Bigwig warned us.

"We can't just go back to eating apples." Hawkbit protested.

"How about at least one of us could sniff them and then we could give it a test?" I suggested.

"It's a risk, if those 'pesticides' are still in them, you'll get yourself and maybe everyone else sick." Bigwig feared.

"Then I'll do it. For the warren." I volunteered.

"Me too. I can't let you do this alone." Tyler volunteered as well.

Bigwig sighed and blanked his eyes. "Be careful, just get in there to test, if it's good, we'll come. If not, come straight back out of there."

Me and Tyler nodded and hopped towards the fence and started digging. We than made it underground. I started to hum to a song quietly, but I was than over heard from Tyler.

"Still trying to hum for Take My Breath Away?" Tyler asked.

I started to laugh. "No, but for another song by George Strait, called Write This Down."

"You think they would come back?" Tyler asked.

"I'm sure. I even talked with Hazel this morning and he seemed to be prepared for them." I said. "What about Hawkbit?"

"Dad seems worried and he's willing to give up his life for the sake of this warren, even for my brothers and the rest of my family." Tyler added.

"We got two patriots and they're our fathers." I stated.

"I'm sure everyone is a patriot to this warren." Tyler added.

"We'll see how it goes, when they returned. I'll have to fight them because it's my fault." I blamed myself.

"You can't blame yourself. You saved my life when we first met, and I'm willing to save your life again. We're in this together, if you have to battle them both, I'll join you." he pleged.

I smiled. "Thank you. I guess we're meant to be brothers."

"Since you looked after me when got lost from our Owsla, I looked up to you as a big brother." Tyler said.

"It's nice to have a brother older and younger, no matter how they're you." I added.

As we manged to dig the top of the roots, we made a hole that we could hop out.

"Well... here it goes." I said.

We hopped out of the hole and saw the flayrah was still in good shape. I started to sniff a carrot and the carrot smelled fresh.

"The carrot smells good, like they're brand new." I said.

Tyler sniffed a turnip and a cabbage. "They're smelt new. We should take them and probably wash them with water, just to be sure that the pesticides are out of them."

"Never a bad idea. We'll just have to fill a leaf with water and pour it on the vegetables." I said.

Tyler nodded. I hurried back towards the fence and waved towards the Owsla to have them to come.

"Alright, it seems good. Let's move in." Bigwig ordered the Owsla.

Tyler started taking the flayrah from the ground, as I grabbed and placed them into the fence, so the Owsla could start grabbing them.

"Keehaaaarrrr!" We heard Kehaar's soaring above us and landed at the garden. "Need Kehaar's help?"

Tyler grabbed some cabbage leaves and a turnip, and gave them to Kehaar, as he opened his peak and closed them, when he got the flayrah.

"Alright, I think that should be enough." Bigwig cued us.

"Take them by the brook, we need to wash them." Tyler said.

"Why there?" Hawkbit asked.

"We'll clean them." Tyler answered.

When we got to the brook, I grabbed a leaf, filled it with some water and poured at each flayrah one at a time, as we started to clean them with our paws.

"Like washing dishes all over again." I recalled, when I used to wash dishes after my family's meal.

"Although we don't have soap, but it's better than nothing." Tyler said.

"So... what's the point of this anyway?" Strawberry asked.

"To make sure the pesticides are removed." I answered.

"I thought they were gone from you two smelling it." Bigwig said.

"They're. However, we're just cleaning them, just to sure. Better than safe, than sorry." Tyler added.

"I'm sure everyone is moved back to our own burrows by now." Bigwig added.

"I prefer to sleep on soft things or a soft bed, rather than sleeping on hard rocks." I said.

"I thought you went to camping a lot and you loved sleeping on the ground." Tyler thought.

"I did, with blankets, a sleeping bag, and a air mattress to top them off." I added.

"What's a air mattress?" Bigwig asked.

"A mattress that is filled up with air. Normally used for camping or sometimes sleeping on the floor." Tyler explained.

"More man made things. I probably would just need to asking what it is or my head would be dizzy." Hawkbit said.

We all started to laugh for a good joke. After we finished cleaning, we grabbed each flayrah one at a time and store them for later use. We than went back to our warren after storing the flayrah away and joined outside with the others to silflay for the late morning.