Ever since last night's appalling discovery of the survival of Captain Holly, Buckthorn, Acorn and Speedwell, along with the devastating news of Sandleford's destruction, the rabbits didn't get much sleep last night, thinking of their lost former friends and relatives dying at the hands of humans. Holly refused to speak of the events of that day so to save everyone the trouble of nightmares, though he received flashes of horrid memories from the Sandleford massacre that made him quiver and mutter in his sleep. Once or twice, Holly woke up with a cry, alerting Bigwig or Hazel to try and calm him down. In the end, Pipkin decided to sleep beside the former Owsla Captain to give him comfort. The kindhearted kitten's company made Holly sleep better during the night.
The next morning, Blackberry and Strawberry used their skills as healers to care for the brave survivors' injuries, except the scars would never leave them. As the does took care of the wounded bucks, they told the bucks of their adventures when they left Sandleford. The four bucks had become aquatinted with Strawberry when Blackberry introduced her, though they grew saddened by Violet's death when she told them the reason of her absence. After recovering from their wounds, Buckthorn and Acorn and Speedwell began exploring their new home, fascinated by the view. Holly spent most of his time at a small pond all by himself. Some of the rabbits wanted to talk to him, but Hazel told them to give Holly some time alone considering what had happened.
During that morning, the rabbits continued digging inside our outside the burrow to enlarge it for plenty of room or to create tunnels. Memories of their old home shared among them, also realizing they will have to carry on like their ancestors did before them. Of course, Lily remembered the loss of her home at Ridgeway Farm and the deaths of Henry's parents, but she held on to that small hope of Henry still alive and wondering where she is clung to her soul, crying out for her to go find him and never leave his side again. But how will that effect everyone on the down if she left them, especially Bigwig, the buck whom she had grown to care deeply for and had developed feelings for him.
"I can't believe Sandleford is gone." Bluebell paused, thinking about their former warren.
"Yeah, Fiver was right after all," Silver agreed, as he thought about his late uncle, the Threarah, and their last communication made him regret it. "I wish my uncle and I had never fought."
Bluebell placed a paw of solace on Silver's shoulder, giving him a sad smile.
"Bucks don't dig! We can't dig!" Bigwig complained, as a small part of the wall fell without creating any more space for more rabbits to live in. "Look at this scrape, for Frith's sake! It looks like it was dug by a moon-crazed badger!"
"Oh! Could you just-" Hawkbit got dirty as a result of Dandelion digging too fast and dust sprinkled on the grey buck. "Could you be... look at what you're doing!" He tried to tell him, but Dandelion continued on, ignoring him. "Oi, will you cut it out?" Fed up, Hawkbit pounced on Dandelion and started to fight him.
"STOP! You two, stop!" Blackberry rushed in to break up the fight, like a mother ending a fight between two sons. "Digging a new warren is hard enough, without us fighting!"
"I know we need to be safe from elil or whatever Holly mentioned about something else that is not safe of us," added Bigwig, "but bucks can't dig. We need more does!"
"Isn't that sexism?" Lily questioned, feeling offended. "Do you always have to mention does to do all the work around here?"
"No, not just for digging," Fiver explained to her. "Providers, mothers, mates, diggers, and companions. They're essential for our lives." He turned to Hazel, keeping patient as he dug. "You say this is home now, but without does, it can never be so. They'd bring us balance and a reason for living."
Lily was amazed at the specialty of does to be a part of the bucks' lives, although she wasn't thrilled at the idea of reproducing but kept silent over it. The memory of the night at Nuthanger Farm and a familiar doe flashed through her mind. "Well the bright side is... there was at least one doe in the hutch on the farm down below."
"Was there? I don't remember." Hazel stammered, as his cheeks became as red as tomatoes.
"Don't remember?" Bluebell smirked as he nuzzled him on the cheek, mentioning how Lily told him about Hazel's first conversation with Clover. "You were staring into her eyes like they were filled with carrots. I remember."
"Ooooh, Mr. Hazel has found himself a girl!" Kehaar chortled, devouring some worms close by.
"So, what's the doe's name?" asked Hannah.
"Uhhh…" Hazel pretended not to remember.
"Her name is Clover!" Lily exclaimed, earning her a reprimanding scowl from Hazel.
"Ha, ha! You've been holding on us, have you, Hazel?" Bigwig grinned in a teasing manner, before he came up with an idea. "That's it! What about the farm? If there is one doe, there could be more of them."
"No! Nobody goes back to the farm!" Holly's sharp voice rung out like nails on a chalk board, catching everybody's attention in alarm. "Nobody goes near the humans!" That hard look in his red eyes told everyone there was something in the tone of his voice that didn't sound good.
"Holly is right," Hazel agreed after thinking it over, back to resume digging. "Nobody goes back to the farm."
"No one said anything about humans," Strawberry pointed out. "Bigwig only meant springing the does from Nuthanger Farm."
Scowling, Bigwig approached the agitated Hazel and anxious Holly. "We are eleven bucks, three does, and one kitten. If that balance isn't addressed, there will be fighting among us! There will be blood spilled." The lion buck fixed a hard glare at Hazel. "As leader, that blood will pool at your feet. If we just raid the farm, we can avoid all that by freeing the does there."
"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Holly exploded at his former officer, emotion filled his voice. "No one goes back to that farm! No one goes near the humans!"
"Captain Holly-" Bigwig tried to protest, taken aback.
"Wait, does this have something to do with Sandleford?" Lily questioned, concerned by Holly's behavior and figured out the rest.
Everyone had gone immediately gone silent as they all stared at Holly, who hung his head and closed his eyes as if he withheld a dark secret.
"I suppose this means you're ready to tell us your story?" asked Hazel.
The rabbits, including Kehaar and Hannah, crowded around to listen. Everyone was anxious to hear the details of how Fiver's vision of the apocalypse of their old warren had come true. Buckthorn, Acorn and Speedwell rejoined once they learned their captain was going to explain the details of their adventures, hoping to fill in some blanks he couldn't finish.
Holly sighed, signaling he was ready. "The night you left Sandleford, the Owsla turned out to search for you. We scouted for you in the woods as you recalled. We decided to wait until tomorrow to arrest you at daybreak, but you recall we lost you across the river. The Threarah decided there was no point in risking lives by trying to follow you further. The next day, it began..." he hesitated, "our warren, destroyed."
"Destroyed? How?" questioned Silver.
Holly quivered as the grim memories flashed through his eyes. "Men came with great hrududil to the field... they filled in the burrows with spades... couldn't get out." Men used their shovels to fill in the rabbit holes. Visions of rabbits crammed into the tunnels clawing at each other, trying to get out of the tunnels that only narrow and spiral into dead ends haunted the pale grey buck. "They put in these long winding things that are like links of bramble, pushed them down a few open holes. There was a strange sound... hissing... the air turned bad." The glowing red eyes of rabbits rolled in the back of their heads as they either went insane or just died. "Runs blocked with dead bodies... rabbits scrambling to get out only turned on themselves and tore each other to pieces... everything turned mad... any rabbit who made up into the field was shot and their bodies were put on sticks... that is what happened to the Threarah and Foxglove." Giant paws of the hrududil buried itself into the earth to dig up all in its path. "Their hrududil rolled into the field, with these huge massive paws. It buried themselves in the ground. Warren, herbs, roots, grass and bushes, all pushed into the earth by the great hrududil."
Images flashed through Holly's mind as he recalled the warren's ceiling crumbling and the screams of rabbits in despair. He raced off to find any rabbit in distress in attempt to help them. The Owsla Captain managed to find anyone he could find and tried to lead them to an open burrow to escape, one of them including Dewdrop. Scabious had gone mad due to the poisoned air while he climbed out of an open hole, only to get shot by a Man's rifle. Holly decided to find a different way out. Some frightened rabbits knocked Holly down, where he found himself face to face with a dead Toadflax, his eyes bloodshot and his mouth open in a frigid stare that implanted horror inside Holly's heart. Getting back up, Holly took the lead and brought everyone, including Dewdrop, to a dead end. As a loud thunderous noise and a cloud of dirt was approaching, the frantic rabbits started digging desperately to get out. Holly was trampled and stumbled on as he tried to calm everyone down, but it was too late. The claw of an excavator broke the earth and scooped them up, dropping them into a waiting truck, but a mildly weak Holly crawled out. The truck was showered by dirt and dead rabbits, though a mortified Holly managed to make a run for it, found by Buckthorn, Speedwell, Acorn and Pimpernel (who is a scarlet colored and brown eyed buck) as the group used the cloud of dust and dirt to make their escape across the field and hid themselves behind the wired fence, all watching sadly as the humans and their machines destroyed everything and everyone they ever knew.
Back to the present, all eyes were filled with grief and horror by the grim details of Sandleford laid to waste. It struck a cold frost into the heart of every rabbit, or gull and mouse, who hears it. Bewildered, Lily went tharn, unable to speak or move as she was forced to listen to this horrid tale.
"Man have always hated us," Blackberry scorned.
"No, they just destroyed the warren because we were in their way," Holly explained, sourly. "They killed everyone to suite themselves. Evil comes from Man, who will never rest until they spoiled the earth," he sighed. "In the end, my injuries were sustained not at the hands of humans, but at the claws of my friends and family, desperately trying to escape."
"Why would the humans do that?" Lily was distraught, the only words she managed to speak.
"As I said before, I heard one Man speak that we were in their way," Holly continued. "All I know is that where there are humans, there is death. We must stay clear of them at all costs!"
Lily knew that not all humans bring death, like Henry and his parents, but to hear of the cruelty and power humanity held over massacring the Sandleford rabbits, brought a sense of guilt for what humanity can do to the animal kingdom.
"Shall I continue, Hazel-rah?" Holly asked, and his leader nodded. "I don't know how, but my friends and I managed to dig our way out near the green slip. I remembered you all left the warren, and I decided to find you. We tracked the lot of you, across the river... a road... through fields... a meadow... a chapel, where rats attacked us and Buckthorn got bitten... and marshland. Through day and night... rain or shine... that we kept track of you. We took shelter in a scrape in a ditch where your scent was found. Pimpernel grew sick because he inhaled the poisoned air underground. The next morning, we were surrounded by great big rabbits with an odd smell. Their leader's name is Cowslip."
The other rabbits murmured in disgust at the mere mention of that rabbit's name, as Pipkin explained, "We know him."
"Anyway, Cowslip greeted us in a suspicious attitude," Holly continued. "I told him that we were looking for you and when I mentioned of your names, Cowslip immediately ordered his rabbits to tear us to pieces. We fought our best. They ripped my ear, but Pimpernel was caught in snare when he tried to run. We tried to save him, but he died instantly because he was too weak. Cowslip boasted its in Frith's will that Pimpernel dies. I had never felt such rage before in my life when I saw Pimpernel die and Cowslip proclaimed it's in his will, it made me sick. I overpowered Cowslip and threatened to kill him if he didn't call off his rabbits and if he didn't tell me where you lot had gone to. One of them called Silverweed told me you were going to the high hills. I warned him and Cowslip that if either one ever tried to follow us, I would tear out their throats."
"I'm ashamed of them," Strawberry sobbed, appalled by her former's warren's murderous deed.
Holly stared at the red doe, puzzled.
"Strawberry joined us from Cowslip's warren," Pipkin explained. "Her mate, Nildro-hain, was killed by the shining wire. They don't want to make friends with her at Cowslip's warren in case they get snared. Their warren is a terrible cult who worships death and relies on the Man who snares them in return for food and protection."
Holly nodded, and gave Strawberry his condolences. "Well, it was the day after escaping Cowslip, I thought we found you, only to find this young dark rabbit that was torn in the ears, claws and bite marks all over him."
The former Owsla Captain recalled the events of that day when he and his comrades met this strange injured dark rabbit who mysteriously emerged out of the fog.
"By Frith! Did the Efrafans do this to you?" the dark torn buck asked, shocked by Holly and company's conditions.
"What? Who are you?" questioned Holly.
"They're coming!"
"Who are?"
"The Efrafans, you fool!" The dark rabbit searched the area, looking frantic like his life was in danger. "Promise me you'll leave these hills and never return. If you stay here, they'll find you. Now run! Get out of here before they see you!" And he left like a mad hare.
Holly and friends watched him leave, completely baffled. Suddenly, deep callous voices reached their ears. At first, they assumed it was humans coming. The rabbits concealed themselves in the tall grass. Out of the mist appeared two large bucks, Owsla most likely, whom overpowered the poor dark rabbit and knocked him out when they blocked his path.
"It's over, Blackavar!" growled one of the bucks.
Before either Holly or the others could intervene, the vicious Owsla officers and their captive had gone.
"I don't know what happened to them, but I wish we could've done better," continued Holly, as he ended the events of that day.
"Who are these Efrafans?" questioned Dandelion.
"I don't know, but judging by his description and from what I've seen, they're probably dangerous," Holly guessed. "We tried to find you. We wandered for days, nearly caught by an owl, swam across a lake, haunted by the ghosts of those I'd seen killed... Dewdrop... Scabious... Toadflax... Threarah... Foxglove... Pimpernel... There is hardly a living creature that has been closer to the Black Rabbit of Inle and lived, other than myself. I wanted to find you and to tell you I was wrong for trying to arrest you," the Owsla Captain apologized. "The rabbit who tried to arrest you was not me, it was someone else." He finished his tale, announcing he had become a changed rabbit and everyone willingly accepted him and his comrades as part of their warren.
"Either way, Holly is right," Hazel finally spoke. "No one goes back to the farm or risk being killed by humans."
Most of the rabbits agreed, except Bigwig who didn't like this plan at all.
"Hazel, weren't you listening to me?!" he protested. "We need more does for our warren, or else blood will be spilled!"
"NO! NOBODY GOES BACK TO THE FARM! NO ONE GOES NEAR THE HUMANS AND THAT IS AN ORDER!" Hazel bellowed, seemingly frightening everybody around him. Calming himself down, he announced, "Everybody take a ten minute break from digging."
Much to the bucks' relief, they instantly rushed off to silflay or to engage in a tail tag game. Lily decided to keep her distance under the trees, thinking about what Holly just told them. How can humans be so cruel to rabbits? She was raised by such a loving human family and they never treated her badly. What could possess humans to cause pain and suffering to animals? The doe remembered Holly's words They just destroyed the warren because we were in their way and she remembered the billboard at Sandleford. Maybe that is why their old warren had been destroyed, to create a human warren for themselves. If only people like Henry were out there preventing humans from spreading destruction to the animal kingdom and build their human warren someplace else.
"I, uh, spotted some sow thistle over by the woods earlier," Lily overheard Hawkbit trying to ask Strawberry out on a date, "I wondered if you wanted to go with me and silflay for a little while later on."
"Hawkbit, you're so sweet." Strawberry giggled like a school girl before she left to get some grubs for Kehaar.
"Oh, remember what I said about Dandelion!" the grey buck added.
No sooner the red doe had left, a fuming Dandelion approached Hawkbit as he growled, "Someone told Strawberry I had the White Blindness and I think it was you."
Standing his ground and staring calmly at the yellow buck, Hawkbit knew he was on to him, but he replied, "Prove it." He picked some worms and bounded off, then Dandelion trailed after him.
"It looks like Strawberry is being courted by those lot already," Bigwig chuckled, approaching the startled Lily, then he eyed the two bucks with a stern frown. "But I fear a fight will happen sooner than we think, which is the main reason why we must raid the farm and free Clover or any doe who wishes to leave."
Lily sighed, watching the two bucks bicker over the same doe. "You're right. Hazel might have to reconsider his decision, but who knows what Captain Holly will say. He seemed determined to avoid going to the farm. After what happened to Sandleford, can you blame him?"
Bigwig nodded, and then kindly placed a few golden dandelion flowers in front of her paws. Lily didn't know how to respond, surprised by his friendly gesture.
"I thought you might be hungry," Bigwig said, bowing his head politely.
However, Lily wasn't in the mood to eat as she pushed the gold flowers away, turning her face away from him to hide the tears threatening to burst. "Bigwig, why do humans hate us?! Why do they do such bad things to hurt us?! What did we ever do to them?!" she cried.
Bigwig sighed at the ginger doe's questioning humanity's nature. "Because humans are barbarians. They are the elil of all elil."
"Not all of them! Remember how I kept telling you about Henry?" Lily exclaimed, on the verge of tears. She poured her feelings and the details of her own past out to him. "That child is an angel who adores animals! His parents are just as sweet as he is! And now, his parents get burned or crushed by their own house after a fire starts! Henry risks his life to save mine to get me out of the house, firemen arrive to put out the fire and rescue him, and I don't know if Henry is still alive or not! I strongly believe that Henry is still alive and waiting for me to come back for him!"
Bigwig gasped, solemnly. He stared at her for a minute. If she believed her human still needs her, he might lose her if she left him. "So... you're thinking about going back to that human child?"
"I... I don't know... I just..." Lily stuttered.
Bigwig approached her comfortingly, determined to change her mind. "Lily..."
All of a sudden, grunts and yelling erupted from beyond the trees, catching Lily and Bigwig's attention. Finding the source of the noises, there stood Hawkbit and Dandelion fighting each other in a vicious rivalry over Strawberry. Some of the rabbits watched in concern, others rooted for one of them to win the combat.
The two bucks left red claw marks on their faces or bodies, glaring daggers at each other, determined to prove which one of them is a suitable mate for Strawberry. Before they could make a final charge to mortally wound the other, Bigwig threw himself between the two rivals, breaking up the fight.
"You two, stop!" Strawberry exclaimed.
"You'll pay for that, Dandelion!" spat Hawkbit.
"THAT IS ENOUGH!" Holly entered the clearing, putting himself between the two rivals as long as Bigwig was at his side, resuming his intimidating authority figure like he was back in Sandleford. "I should have you lot put away in a hole where neither of you will cause trouble! If you cause another scene, I will leave you outside the warren for elil food!" he bellowed, his eyes hardening like the soul behind them.
Dandelion and Hawkbit backed away in a few steps, visibly frightened by Holly's threat, but neither of them took their eyes off one another.
"Those two will never compete over to get the doe they wanted," Bigwig sighed.
"This is absurd! Why don't they just find their own does?" Lily questioned.
"Well lass, every buck will try to compete over their best choice of doe, though I doubt one of them will succeed," Bigwig stated.
Lily shook her head in disappointment.
"Don't worry, I've always seen Hawkbit making most failed attempts than Dandelion," Bigwig assured her. "However, they'll find does who are right for them." As if his mood swings took control, Bigwig turned on Hazel and exclaimed, "I warned you there'd be fighting, and mark my words, without more does, this is the beginning of it!"
Hazel glanced at the two jealous bucks trying to court Strawberry for themselves, while the doe herself looked worried. Blackberry, Bluebell, Buckthorn and Silver helped to keep Dandelion and Hawkbit apart as they tried to force them to go their separate ways. He remembered Holly's tragic story of their former warren's massacre, but Hazel realized that he had no choice. Bigwig was right. "Fiver, Pipkin, and Bigwig, we leave for the farm at sunset. The rest of you stay here. I don't want to risk all of us."
Everyone stared at him in disbelief, not sure if they heard Hazel right, after he made it clear nobody is to go to the farm.
"Are you serious?!" Holly exclaimed, horrified. "You cannot go to the farm, there are humans down there!"
"We understand why you don't want us to, but if that's what it takes to find does," Hazel reasoned, "it will help end more brawls between Hawkbit and Dandelion, or anyone else present."
"You know damn well the humans will kill us if we set foot in their farm!" Holly scoffed, a growl erupted from his throat. "You're aware of what they've done to Sandleford!"
"Yes, you told us." Lily decided to try to make Holly see sense of her point of view on humans to ease his nerves. "I know that not all humans are bad. Such as the ones who raised me like a member of the family. They have treated me kindly."
But Holly shook his head in disapproval. "I have to disagree... I've seen humans do horrible, cruel, despicable things to the rabbits in Sandleford before! Even a young boy throws stones at rabbits! You don't know everything about humans because you're blind to their cruelty! How clueless can you get?!"
"Henry would never do anything like this! You can't know that! And I'm NOT blind and I'm NOT CLUELESS!" Lily protested, outraged by his opinion of humans, even the good ones. She started to tear up, then ran off to be alone by the pond.
Bigwig watched her leave, wishing she would end her fondness for humans despite what they have done to Sandleford. He directed his death glare at Holly first, about to run off and talk to her, only for Blackberry to block his path.
"Let her alone," she said, softly.
"Oh, I'm gonna tear you're ears off until you're deaf, you bastard!" Bigwig cursed, deciding to pick a fight as he readying himself into a fighting position. He wanted to teach Holly a lesson for hurting his doe's feelings.
"Thlayli!" Holly warned, but this time he was not afraid of his former officer as he stood his ground.
Murmurs in the crowd started like a tidal wave of another brawl beginning as Bigwig and Holly growled, prepared to attack as they stood on their hind legs and paws extended sharp claws. Hazel wanted to rush in intervene, but Kehaar instantly did it for him as the gull squawked louder than a hawk.
"YOU STUPID BUNNIES!" Kehaar reprimanded at Bigwig and Holly, then at every other buck present. "You got no mates! You fight over one doe? Plenty trouble for you!" His wing brushed against Bigwig's face, who wiped his nose irately. "You need MATES! You go to farm, you get jumped by cat or mauled by dog!" It turns out that Kehaar and Hannah had put their heads together and came up with an idea to fix the rabbits' dilemma. "You got no brains! You no plan! You need mate for plan! Listen, I got a plan for you." He displayed his wing, which no longer hurt him. "Wing better, I go fly, fly for you; I find mates."
None of the rabbits objected, although Bigwig's pressuring Hazel to raid the farm for the hutch does reached to an agreement, Hazel thought it over and decided to give Kehaar the benefit of a doubt.
"What a splendid idea, Kehaar!" Hazel praised. "How clever of you think it, you very fine bird."
"Don't get him too caught up in his birdbrain," Bigwig warned, finding the idea to be absurd. "You just agreed to-"
"Let's give Kehaar a chance," Hazel advised. "This plan could work. When will you be able to fly?"
"I fly, anytime." Kehaar walked to an opening in the field, but as Pipkin curiously approached him, the gull waved his wings at him to force the kitten back. "Stand back. I need room." He cleaned his wings and made sure they were in perfect condition. "Wings good... feathers clean..." He dramatically waved his wings in the air, "I soar! I glide! I circle..."
"Don't overdo it, Kehaar!" Hannah chided, climbing up on the gull's back like a pilot taking control of the gull's neck feathers. "We have takeoff! Clear the area!" she ordered.
Pipkin dove for cover as the seagull took off down the clearing and leapt off the ground, taking flight with Hannah on his back. All of the rabbits watched in awe at the gull's amazing takeoff and flying skills.
"See you later, bunnies!" shouted Kehaar, disappearing behind the clouds.
"Right, while they scour the country, we should continue digging," Hazel decided, as everybody else, minus Holly, Fiver, Blackberry and Bluebell, hopped back inside the warren.
The rabbits and the high hills were out of sight as the seagull glided across fields, meadows, the farmlands, and a railroad track. Hannah admired the view from above with astonishment. She spread her arms out as if she were flying, feeling the wind in her fur and whiskers, and inhaling that cool fresh air.
After a while, Kehaar spotted the deadly warren of Efrafa, but it didn't look so bad from a bird's point of view. However, he noticed plenty of does down below in front of a giant fallen tree. More does were found by the old chimney towers, though if both bird and mouse had watched, they would have seen a doe swatted in the face by an Efrafan officer. The does had been escorted back inside the huge warren by the bucks, after noticing a strange gull in the sky and felt it was a threat to the warren. And right then and there, the two of them noticed a piece of farming land which used to be Ridgeway Farm, only it was nothing but a pile of black and charred wood, along with multiple cars present and humans cleaning up the mess the fire had left. Problem is, neither of them had no idea it was Lily's home.
"It looks like we found what we're looking for." Hannah said, pleased at their success. She wanted to go back to Watership Down and report to Hazel. "C'mon, let's get back to the down."
Suddenly, the gull cried out in pain and made a crooked side turn, nearly causing Hannah to fall off his back had she not kept a firm grasp on his feathers.
"Ooh... Ah... my wing!" cried Kehaar. "It starting to hurt again!"
"Oh, crap! Hurry up and land, we're almost there!" Hannah directed him to make a sharp turn where she found Watership Down just ahead of them.
"If I ever get my beak on that damn cat, I'll rip her dirty, rotten ears off!" Kehaar screamed like any gull would as he made a crash landing at the same clearing he took off from on the high hills.
Hannah tumbled off his back and plopped head first in a pile of dandelion puffs, giving her a softer landing. Blackberry, Fiver and Bluebell were chewing out Holly for his harsh words toward Lily when they shot their heads up in alarm, only to sigh in relief that it was only Kehaar and Hannah back from their flight. Holly just shook his head at the bird's clumsiness and turned to leave.
"Where are you going?" Blackberry demanded.
"There is nothing else to discuss!" Holly rebuked, sharply. "Why does she care for humans?"
"That is how Lily was raised, but that doesn't mean she's not blind to what humans can do to us!" Fiver scorned, rushing in front of him to get in his face. "Everyone here on the down respects her because she proved herself! She and Violet were the ones who sent you rolling on a log to keep you off our trail! Lily risked everything to save Bigwig from the shining wire! Does THAT tell you she's not clueless?!"
Holly stopped, his eyes widened. The pale grey buck stared at him in a moment of silence. He shut his eyes and brushed past Fiver, exhaling.
"Hey, guys!" the seagull stood up, despite cringing in pain of his wing, caught up to the three bucks to report his discovery. "Stop, guys, come here! Come here, come here, come on, come on, listen! Listen to me, listen to me, right. Wait, stop right there. Listen, you won't need to fight anymore because there is a warren away to the east of here. A two days journey from here. It's got a load of does."
"Does? Did he say something about does?" Bluebell's face lit up in delight.
Learning of the gull's report, Holly instantly turned to gaze at the horizon at the same direction where Kehaar and Hannah came from, it was east and a two days journey from here.
Blackberry could see the stern and thoughtful frown on the former captain's expression. "I hope you're not thinking what I think you're thinking."
"We should leave for the warren Kehaar speaks of at first light," Holly came with up an idea to venture out to this strange warren to request for does. "If there are does there, we have to see if they will join us."
Suddenly, Fiver had gone beyond when his visions took over his mind. Flashes of images of him and his friends cornered by tall, vicious, menacing bucks in the shadows. His body shivered and his eyes shut tight.
"Are you alright, Fiver?" Holly asked, noticing the runt's behavior.
"I'm fine, it's just..." Fiver wanted to tell them of his vision, but he for some reason he couldn't get the words out of his mouth, so he shook his head silently.
"Hey, anybody going to ask if I'm alright?" Hannah complained, crawling off the pillow of dandelion puffs.
Several minutes later, Holly, Blackberry, Bluebell and Fiver had decided to go on their journey to this mystery warren in the east. Neither of them had told Hazel their plan, since it was no point in Holly trying to change his mind about the raid on the Nuthanger farm, but he made sure Kehaar rested his wing and Hannah to take care of him. Bluebell was supposed to stay behind, but eventually he became a part of their group.
"I'm sure Hazel said that we should stay back at the Down, didn't he?" Bluebell wondered. "Remember, Fiver? Will Hazel be mad when he finds out we left? Fiver?"
"I don't know!" Fiver irately gave his answer.
"Well, when will you be back? Shall I wait up for you?"
"No."
"Will you promise you'll find somewhere safe to sleep? Make sure you find somewhere safe to sleep."
"Bluebell, be quiet!" Blackberry snapped. "You've rabbited on so much that we've gone too far for you to go back now, anyway."
Bluebell paused, regretting how far he wandered off from the high hills. "Oh no, this is a mistake. I've gone on an adventure by mistake." But as he thought it over, his eyes lit up at the idea of meeting such gorgeous does, if not a patch on the wonderful Blackberry. "I wonder how many does will be at this place."
"If you're coming along, you can't be making jokes at inappropriate times," warned Blackberry.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means you have a tendency to be a liability."
"How dare you call me a liability! I never even wanted to come along!" Bluebell decided to change the subject. "Are you sure this is a good idea, Holly?"
"From what the bird said, it sounds like this warren has too many does," Holly responded, a bit unsure of how this plan will go. "We'll just let them know that any who want to leave are welcome to join us, and there we go."
After hopping for several miles through the wood and the fields, the sun began to set and the sky was covered in multiple colors of pink, blue and orange. It would have been nice to stop and watch the sunset, but there was no time.
Holly pointed out as he paused, "There's the belt of woods Kehaar mentioned. We're halfway there. We'll stop here for the night."
"All right, but I hope Hazel or Bigwig won't be mad at us for leaving the down so late at night," Bluebell worried.
"You let me worry about them," assured Holly, until something occurred to him. "Bluebell, what did you say when you told them we were leaving?"
"Uhhh… was that my job?" Bluebell was embarrassed.
"You didn't tell them?!"
"No, I didn't."
Holly, Blackberry and Fiver sighed in union, frustrated at the blue buck's carelessness, but they did their best to remain calm. So the foursome decided to sleep within the belt near the woods without revealing themselves to elil out in the open.
In the middle of the night, Blackberry woke up with a start. A malicious male voice came shouting from the horizon, and at quite a distance. It didn't sound like anyone she knew. Curious, she got up and began climbing out of the ditch. Taking one last glance at her friends dozing in the belt behind her, Blackberry hesitated to leave them behind. Hopefully, they'll be alright by the time she comes back.
The doe crossed over the field, her nose whiffed when she caught a strange scent. "Rabbits..." she whispered, "and it doesn't smell like Hazel or Bigwig." She sniffed the air to make sure her nose wasn't playing tricks on her, but it was no trick. She hopped onto a rock and sniffed the air, for these strange rabbits were close by. Blackberry got off the rock and began to crawl through the tall grass so she wouldn't be seen, staying low to the ground to avoid being spotted by elil. Reaching the end of the tall grass field, Blackberry paused when she spotted a bunch of large rabbits, bucks by the scent of them, and listened closely to their conversation.
One of the large rabbits, a dark chestnut brown buck with a lighter belly and muzzle along with blue eyes by the name of Campion, sniffed the air. "I lost the scent, if there's an outsider near about, he's a crafty one." He looked rather handsome and broad-chested, causing Blackberry to blush at his good looks.
"Spread out in wide patrol!" ordered a blackish grey rabbit with a beard and yellow eyes called Vervain. "Look for any signs of these outsiders, we all know what General Woundwort wants." He appeared to be very ugly by the looks of it.
Blackberry deduced these huge rabbits must be an Owsla, but more intimidating and vicious than Toadflax or Scabious back in Sandleford. She recognized Vervain's voice to be the one she heard shouting. Whoever this General Woundwort is, he doesn't appear to be quite the welcoming rabbits to the neighborhood type. She decided to follow these strange rabbits to make sure what their plans are and get back to her friends in time to warn them. She kept at her distance, hiding in the bushes to eavesdrop when the menacing-looking Owsla rested at a clearing in the forest.
"Nothing?!" Vervain argued. "We can't go back to the General with nothing!"
"Don't worry, we'll find the outsiders and track them back to their warren," assured Campion.
"And then we destroy them!"
Blackberry gasped, horrified. She put two and two together, and correctly deduced these rabbits are referring to Watership Down and everyone else living there. The dark furred doe knew that she had to go back and warn her friends. As she crawled backward, Blackberry accidently startled a bird and gave away her location.
"There, in the woods!" Campion yelled.
"Oh no!" Blackberry turned and ran for her life, with the large rabbits right on her tail. She could hear the savage rabbits growling as they pursued her. Heart pounding in her chest, Blackberry dodged a fallen tree, dove under a prickly hedge, and made it to the clearing of the forest, trying to get away from them. She paused to catch her breath, but didn't stop for a break as she tore across the field, just as fast as El-ahrairah.
"Get her!" Vervain shouted, gaining up on her.
Cornered by a river, Blackberry believed it was all over and there was no way to escape these dangerous bucks. Then she came up with an idea and ran a different path. Climbing down the steep cliff, she began hopping on one rock to the next.
Campion caught up to her, shouting, "There she is!"
Blackberry made it to the rock in the middle of the river, scratching her foot and injuring it in the process, but despite the small wound, the doe jumped on a log, barely losing her balance, but made it to shore on the other side and climbed up the steep hill to the top. She watched as the large rabbits halted at the shore.
"What are you waiting for?! After her!" Vervain ordered.
Campion hopped on the stone, but he slipped and fell into the water just as the current dragged him away. The other rabbits went after him as Vervain grunted furiously at the escapee's trick before he left.
Blackberry giggled humorously at the success of her plan and turned to go back to the down to tell her friends, until she bumped head first into the chest of another large rabbit. The impact knocked her to the ground and she opened her eyes. There stood a buck with dark silver fur with a leaner physique, black tipped ears, the back of his neck had spiky black fur, black circles around his dark sadistic blue eyes as he looked down on her, he goes by the name of Orchis.
Once Orchis caught her scent, he chuckled when he realized who she is. "An outsider, in the General's territory? Not for long." He reached down to pick her up by the scruff of her neck, rather painfully as Blackberry squeaked. "You can help us track down your friends, or you'll die trying!" Orchis smirked maliciously when he brought his long snout closer to a petrified Blackberry's face.