Arriving back at the warren of Watership Down, there was a dismal welcome for the three hutch does. Any rabbit would have prepared a lovely feast of flayrah or prepared a few comfortable burrows for the newcomers, or some of them had practiced a stern lecture for their disappearance last night, but noticing the distress in their eyes told the warren rabbits some traumatic event occurred. There was a meeting held in the center of the burrow, the newly furnished Honeycomb.
"Where have you lot been?" Hawkbit demanded, slightly angry.
"At Nuthanger farm to free the does... we barely escaped with our lives... we only got three does, but..." Lily wretchedly gestured to Clover, Haystack and Boxwood, holding back a choked sob.
"Where's Hazel?" asked Dandelion.
"There's been some trouble..." Bigwig began, dejected. "Hazel's been shot."
Everyone in the burrow gasped, stupefied.
"No..." Holly muttered.
"And poor Fiver is still outside, locked in a dream of grief," Clover added. "He won't speak to us, nor did he want to come in."
Blackberry remained silent for a moment, then said, "The Black Rabbit serves Lord Frith, but he does no more than his appointed task."
"But we don't know for sure if Hazel really is dead or not!" Pipkin exclaimed, on the verge of breaking down in tears. "We've got to find him!"
"We can't, there's a heavy fog outside!" Silver shook his head. "It'd make us easy target for elil." He lowered his head, sadly. "We have to face facts, Pipkin. Hazel-rah is gone."
Pipkin began to wail loudly, burying his face in his paws.
"You're quite the comfort, aren't you?" Speedwell dryly scorned at the silver colored buck.
"Okay, okay!" Bigwig interrupted, hoping to end what could be a feud between Speedwell and Silver, as he brought Pipkin closer to his side to give the young buck solace. "What we mustn't do is panic."
"Yeah, that's right, everyone. Don't panic," Hawkbit agreed. "Just because there's this massive, terrifying warren nearby that tried to imprison a few of us and the face that Hazel's gone, so we don't have a leader." His voice changed into panic mode. "Which means this warren is completely finished!"
At those words, everyone in the Honeycomb started to panic, as if trying to debate whether Hazel is dead or not, who will be the next Chief of Watership Down, and what to do about the Efrafa situation, leaving the entire warren in a state of hopelessness.
"I won't give up on him!" Clover declared, having quite enough of this. "Just like he would never give up on any of us. If we can form a search party-"
"I want to find out what has become of Hazel as much as anyone, but no one goes out in this fog. It's too dangerous," Holly reminded her of the dense fog outside.
Just then, Fiver came rushing in like a mad hare. "Hazel's not dead! I think I know where he is!" he shouted, and everyone turned to stare at him, speechless.
"Fiver, where is he?" Clover asked. "Is he alive?"
"He's in some sort of hole, down by the farm," answered Fiver. "I had gone beyond again; I saw hrududil destroying Sandleford before the farmer caught me, mocking me if I liked what his kind have done to our old home, but he showed me an open hole in the ground where blood is spilled, saying that he doesn't have Hazel yet."
"Well, that settles it." Clover made her decision. "If no one else wants to come, I'll go on my own." She almost left the burrow, but Holly prevented her just to keep her safe.
"This time, two days ago, you were in a hutch, Clover," the former Captain pointed out her inexperience as a free rabbit, including the dense fog outside would complicate it. "You wouldn't survive out there, even if it were clement. I'm sorry, but it's true."
Clover sighed in despair, but whilst she felt hopeless, Lily felt a spark of hope renewed in her heart. She knew that he was the glue to hold everyone together, and his open mind to accept new ideas made things turn out alright in the warren, even though these new ideas are questionable. If what Fiver says is true of Hazel still among the living, than there is a chance of saving his life and bringing him back to the down.
"I'll help you find him," the ginger doe volunteered. "And so will Fiver, right?"
The other rabbits stared at her in disbelief, but Lily paid them no mind. Fiver nodded his head, determined.
"I'll go with you." Surprisingly, Bigwig volunteered the next, earning him the smiles of gratitude by the three rabbits, until he added sternly, "You, however, are staying right here!" His piercing green eyes fell upon a shocked Lily, whom eventually grew upset.
"By Frith, Thlayli!" Holly refused, approaching the lion buck. "Use your head!"
"I didn't realize you'd been made Chief Rabbit, Holly," Bigwig accused.
"I haven't, nor do I wish to be," Holly stated, firmly. "You have a reputation for being impetuous, controlling, and possessive, Bigwig. Now is the time for consideration, not impulse."
"How dare you call me impetuous, controlling and possessive! No one else thinks that!" Bigwig denied, angrily and vehemently. He turned to the other rabbits, hoping for their support. "Who else thinks I'm impetuous and controlling and possessive, huh?"
Haystack nodded her head, ironically proving Holly correct. Blackberry shook her head in fear of facing Bigwig's wrath.
"Uhhh... I don't know what intemptuous means, but yes," Bluebell hesitated, yet he mispronounced the word.
"That's impetuous!" Buckthorn corrected. "Controlling means bossing us around, and he's possessive when it comes to Lily."
"It means hot-headed! And those last two mean I'm a control-freak and overprotective! He's calling me a hot-headed, overprotective, control-freak!" Bigwig exclaimed, furiously lashing out at Holly.
"I say if Clover and the others want to go, then let's go!" Hawkbit decided.
"We can't let them go on their own" Bluebell objected.
This restarted their debating and arguing once again, their voices loud enough to awaken a dozing Kehaar in his private burrow the rabbits made just for him. However, three certain rabbits took advantage of the distraction to quietly sneak out of the warren to go search for Hazel.
Nobody had seen or took notice of the trio's escape, except a horrified Bigwig as he shouted, "CLOVER! Oh damn! Fiver and Lily left, too!"
Everyone ceased their arguing, a chorus of gasps followed suite when they realized what just happened.
Clover, Fiver and Lily raced outside of the warren and down the enormous hillside of the high hills, everywhere around them covered by a fog bank. The distance in front of them was extremely difficult to see, especially when trying to find Nuthanger Farm. They reached the bottom of the hill, but neither of them could still see where they needed to go and trying to catch Hazel's scent proved to be more complicated.
"Hazel!" Clover shouted, frantically twisting her head back and forth. "Hazel, where are you?!"
"Please, Hazel, don't die on us!" Lily hollered, pleading desperately. "Our warren needs you! We need you!"
Suddenly, a solemnly calm Fiver fixed his gaze at a strange dark face with red gleaming eyes that gives no light. "The Black Rabbit of Inle!" he gasped.
"What? Where is he?" Lily looked around, but she couldn't see anybody else nearby.
"I can't see the Black Rabbit!" Clover added, frantically hoping he doesn't take Hazel to the land beyond the living.
"No, wait..." Fiver responded, noticing the Black Rabbit's calm blank expression, lolloping from side to side with such grace and elegance, before briefly vanishing for a moment until returning. "I think she wants us to follow her."
"I think you're crazy!" Lily warned, hiding behind him. "She could be leading us into a trap to collect our souls... hold on, did you call the Black Rabbit 'she?'"
"I can see her face... she wants us to follow her..."
"I hope you're right," Clover hoped. "We're lost in this blasted fog, so what choice do we have?"
And with that, the trio hurried after the Black Rabbit, entering a small dark wood and sending dandelion puffs flying in the mist along the way.
Is it a dream?
There's a fog along the horizon
A strange glow in the sky
And nobody seems to know where it goes
And what does it mean?
Oh, is it a dream?
Coming to a field of beautiful tall golden flowers, they passed underneath a giant pylon tower. Fiver paused to gaze up at it, as if the tower was smoothly swaying in his eyes.
"Fiver, come on!" Lily cut in, snapping Fiver out of his dazed thoughts.
Arriving at a wired fence, Clover recognized the piece of fur stuck onto s sharp piece of the wife, deducing they are closer to the farm. She pointed it out to Fiver and Lily, and then resumed their search, entering an open field covered in mist.
Bright eyes, burning like fire
Bright eyes, how can you close and fail?
How can the light that burned so brightly
Suddenly burn so pale?
Bright eyes
The Black Rabbit leapt toward a circular shape deep within a ditch, one side covered by nettle bushes, before she disappeared permanently. Clover lost her footing and tumbled into the ditch with a cry.
"Are you alright?" Fiver asked from above the ditch.
"I'm okay." Clover staggered back on her feet, waiting for Fiver and Lily to come sliding down to her. "We need to keep finding Hazel!"
"Do you still see the Black Rabbit anywhere?" Lily sniffed the ground, trying to find his scent.
"No, she's gone." Fiver shook his head, dismayed. "Oh, maybe I was stupid enough to follow the Black Rabbit. She's probably taken Hazel by now."
Bright eyes, burning like fire
Bright eyes, how can you close and fail?
How can the light that burned so brightly
Suddenly burn so pale?
Bright eyes
Just as they were about to turn back where they came from, Clover felt a warm liquid on the ground and looked down to see it was a trail of blood. Eyes widening, she realized how close they are to finding Hazel, but the thick fog prevented them from going further.
"Fiver, I think I have an idea," she said. "You have visions, right? I know you said he's in a hole, but we can't see him. Maybe if you concentrate hard enough quietly, you could hear Hazel's voice to see if he's nearby."
"But my visions don't work like that." Fiver shook his head, doubtfully.
"Please, try it." Clover gave him a pair of large, sad, round eyes, which made Lily envious on how she could pull it off. "I'll call for him, and you'll hear his voice if he answers me."
"Okay, I'll try it." Eyes closed, Fiver started to search and listen for his brother's voice.
"Hazel!" Clover called out for him, silently hoping this idea could work. "Hazel!"
Lily waited, hoping that Hazel will respond to Clover's calls or praying the Black Rabbit will not claim Hazel's spirit yet.
"I heard him!" exclaimed Fiver, relieved.
"But I didn't hear anything," doubted Lily, ready to give up. "It was probably the wind."
"No, no! I heard his voice in my head, calling for Clover," Fiver explained. "He's not far, he sounded close."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's get him!" Clover cheered, instantly relieved her plan worked.
Approaching a round circular hole concealed in the fog, the trio figured it must be a drain pipe. Peering into the darkness, they spotted the shape of a rabbit who lay breathing heavily inside the pipe, drawing in sharp gasps due to the pain in his waist.
"Hazel!" Lily's eyes lit up with joyous tears, rushing inside the pipe. "He's still alive!" Now she was silently praying a thank you to the Black Rabbit for luring them to Hazel, and grateful to Fiver for having such a gift.
Clover and Fiver followed Lily inside the pipe, and there lay Hazel, his hind leg wounded and bleeding from the gunshot.
"Hazel, I thought I lost you," Clover sighed in relief as she approached him, then nuzzled his head affectionately.
"I'm here, Clover... I'm here..." Hazel moaned softly, returning the nuzzle with equal affection. He looked over to see two more familiar faces. "Fiver... Lily..."
"I heard you calling Clover," Fiver told him, nuzzling his forehead.
"Just now I did."
"No, I meant before than. I heard your voice inside my head calling for Clover when you heard her voice."
"You scared us half to death, Hazel!" Lily chided, lightly cuffing him on the back of the head. "Everyone at the warren thinks you're dead!"
Hazel hung his head, shamefully.
"Show me your wound," Clover instructed, so her beloved buck can show her where the wound is located. "Okay, let me clean it. This is going to sting." She began licking at his wound, causing Hazel to wince or groan sharply.
"Do you know being shot hurts almost exactly as much as I thought it might?" Hazel asked, trying to lighten the mood.
"You don't recommend it?" giggled Clover.
"I recommend these bullets be removed, maybe I could ask Hannah or Kehaar about that," Lily suggested.
"And Blackberry can take care of the rest," Fiver agreed, knowing the dark doe's special skills to cure wounds with herbs can help his brother.
"Why do the men have the black branches that shoot, Hazel?" Clover asked, out of the blue.
"They have them for killing, I suppose," replied Hazel.
"And those black branches are called guns or rifles," Lily corrected. "Men use them for survival or hunting wild animals for food. But to use them for violence is out of the question."
"Still, I imagine they think there's great skill in destroying things... when in fact it's the easiest thing in the world," Hazel continued on his correct theory of guns, then decided to change the subject to ask his darling doe, "So, what's it like being free?"
"I feel scared, confused, exhausted..." Clover answered nervously, before she added with comfort, "I feel alive."
"I felt the same way when I was on my own for the first time after my home burned down," Lily assured, "minus the feeling alive and free thing, but I'm much happier now that I have friends."
"You will enjoy it, Clover, I guarantee it," said Fiver.
Smiling, Clover started to move closer to Hazel and pressed her body against his own, snuggling him tenderly. "I don't want to be apart from you again."
Hazel returned her gestures, embracing her. "You won't be. From today, we face everything together."
Fiver turned his head away, embarrassed.
"I guess this means you're going to be an uncle sooner than you think," Lily teased the runt, playfully.
"And you're going to have a mate sooner than you think!" Fiver teased her back, winking at her secretly, and Lily realized that he must've had a vision of her and Bigwig together as mates.
"Clover... Lily... Fiver! Where are you?!" Bigwig's voice could be heard just a mile away outside, and his voice caught the rabbits off-guard, and interrupting what could have been a romantic moment between Hazel and Clover.
"Bigwig!" Clover said, getting back up on her feet. "Let me go and find him. He can help us get you back."
"I'll go with you, I'm probably gonna have to explain myself for sneaking off like this," Lily volunteered, shrugging off the possibility of receiving a lecture. "Fiver, can you stay and watch your brother?"
"I won't move a muscle," answered Fiver.
"We'll be back soon," Clover said, and she headed back outside the drain pipe with Lily.
"Wait..." Hazel called out to the two does, and glanced over at his brother, who took Clover's spot beside him. "Thank you for not giving up on me."
The two rabbits smiled warmly at each other, though none's was better than Fiver and Lily. Afterward, Lily and Clover climbed out of the ditch and back out into fog.
This time, they're searching for Bigwig. Despite how thick the fog appeared, his voice wasn't that far off. Lily and Clover stayed close together so that neither of them will separate or get lost.
"Bigwig!" Clover shouted. "Bigwig!"
"Bigwig, we're right here!" Lily yelled. "Follow the sound of our voices!"
Trying to follow the lion buck's voice, the two does had accidently strayed much further away from the ditch, the drain pipe, and their friends. Just then, the does noticed a large figure of a rabbit standing nearby.
Clover immediately assumed it was him, saying, "Bigwig, I-"
However, the deep voice who had spoken turned out not to be Bigwig at all. "So, whom do we have here?" Emerging from the mist, there stood Sainfoin of the Efrafan Wide Patrol. Judging by his menacing approach and tone of his voice, the does realized he wasn't friendly at all.
"Oh no!" cried Lily.
"HELP!" Clover screams, as Lily quickly leapt between her and the Efrafans, attempting to shield her.
Hearing the hutch rabbit's screaming, Bigwig rapidly ran across the misty field, searching desperately for his friends. "Clover! Lily!" he cried out, looking at his surroundings but the fog was too dense for him to see anything.
Then, he could make out the silhouettes of two larger rabbits striking down a smaller rabbit, terrifying the second rabbit behind her. The shouts of protest of "Get off me!" told him that was Clover's voice, but he couldn't hear of what happened to Lily. "CLOVER! LILY!" he hollered, desperately calling their names.
By the time he reached the area where the abduction took place, Bigwig's heart skipped a beat when he found signs of a struggle had taken place. "No, no, no, no!" he grunted, wretchedly. "Clover! Lily!" He tried not to let his emotions get the better of him, but the scent of Efrafans convinced him the awful truth: Lily and Clover had been kidnapped by the Efrafan Owsla.
"Clover?" a familiar voice caught his attention.
"Hazel?!" Bigwig gasped. He couldn't believe his ears. Arriving at the ditch, he found a concerned Fiver standing at the drain pipe's entrance, no doubt overheard the commotion, and there behind him was none other than... "Hazel, you're alive!" Bigwig smiled with extreme relief, until he realizes he had to tell him of what recently happened.
"What's wrong?" Hazel asked, sensing the lion buck's sadness. "Bigwig, where's Clover and Lily?"
When Hazel studied the distress in Bigwig's eyes, no words were needed to explain it as Hazel shook his head slightly in horror.
"Efrafans..." Fiver mumbled.
The fog had lifted and the sun had come out, signaling the start of a new day, although this was no something to appreciate as everyone on Watership Down grew mortified by the news of Clover and Lily's abduction. However, everyone was still overjoyed that Hazel had returned to their warren, alive but wounded. Pipkin had thrown himself into Hazel's embrace, but he had to be restrained as a result of Hazel's injury.
Kehaar had just dropped in from a flight to a pond to get himself some fish to eat, clumsily landing in a patch of tall grass. His black head stuck out, checking to make sure nobody saw this. "Perfect landing," he said, simply.
No sooner he stood back up on his webbed feet, an agitated Fiver came rushing in, shouting, "Hazel's been wounded! The farm man shot him!"
"You get black stones out?" Kehaar asked, stunned.
"What do you mean?"
"Always with gun is coming little black stones. You never see?" Kehaar snapped at a flying bug in his face. "Take out black stones, he get better."
Fiver brought the gull to the entrance of Kehaar's private burrow where Hazel settled himself in, waiting for him as he licked at his wound.
"Let me see." Kehaar came closer, studying the Chief Rabbit's wound carefully. "Ah, many stones!" He began his procedure to removing the black stones since his skinny beak proved impassible to reach them, thankfully.
Fiver waited patiently at the entrance, whilst everybody else stood anxiously at a distance away from the burrow to give them space. Three black stones caked in blood were thrown to the ground, then Kehaar proceeded to remove the next black stone or two. Hazel released a cry of anguished pain when another black stone had been taken out.
The other rabbits winced at their leader's agonized cries, except for Holly who remained stoically calm, but Hannah could only voice the other's thoughts, "Oi, that's got to hurt."
Bigwig had come over to see how things were improving, until he realized what he stepped on his the seagull's hraka, attracting some flies. "Ugh! Why are birds so messy?" he complained, shaking his paw to get rid of the bird poop. "You've been here less than a week and it already smells like bog!"
"Yeah? Well, look, I wasn't expecting visitors otherwise I would have tidied up," Kehaar turned his dark head around to snark, "Do you want me to help him or not Plump Rabbit?"
"Plump Rabbit?!" Bigwig repeated, taking this as an insulted offense. "My name is Bigwig, get it right!"
Behind him, Hannah and some of the rabbits began to snicker quietly at Kehaar dubbing the lion buck with a hilarious nickname.
At last, the operation was a success when Kehaar tossed the remaining black stones to the ground, stating, "There! I think I got all of the black stones out," then he advised the Chief Rabbit, "Now, after three days' rest, it should start to improve."
"There's little time for rest." Hazel staggered back up on his feet, determined not to let his injuries to get in the way of his goal. Emerging from the burrow, he saw the other rabbits waiting for orders from their leader.
"Go on, Hazel-rah. They've been waiting to see you," Fiver encouraged, whilst Bigwig stood by his side.
"We leave for Efrafa at daybreak and we don't return until we've freed Lily, Clover, Hyzenthlay and anyone else who wishes to leave," Hazel said, decidedly. However, he silently doubted his leadership that he only confided in his little brother. "How do I convince the others to join me?"
"They'd follow you anywhere," Fiver assured him like any sibling would do. "But are you sure you're up to this?"
"When they stole our liberty and safety of rabbits from Watership Down," Hazel boldly declared, "they may not have wanted a war, but by Frith, that is what they will get. We'll start off for Efrafa at daybreak!" he announced to everyone in a tone of authority.
"Great Frith, Hazel-rah! Is your tail on straight?" Holly objected, shocked. "I never thought the time would come when I'd have to speak against you, but I don't like this idea of yours at all. If you go through with this plan, it will cost lives into the bargain!"
The other rabbits began to voice their protests or their agreement with Holly.
"Quiet, you lot!" Bigwig snarled, silencing them at once.
"Yes, there is a risk, but in getting to where we are now, haven't we faced one risk after another?" Hazel continued, his voice as clear and loud as thunder. "Think of Clover or Lily, they're our friends. Do you want them locked up in a place like Efrafa?"
That made the other rabbits exchange saddened worried expressions at the thought of those two poor hutch rabbits imprisoned in Efrafa, where who knows what General Woundwort or his soldiers will do to them. The journey to Watership Down brought them closer to Lily the first time they met, despite her past of living among humans, the doe had proven herself to be a part of their warren. Of course, they were all fully aware of how Bigwig truly felt about Lily, catching them in the act of grooming each other or his tendency to be around her all the time to protect her, even the lion buck knew this was true. And if either one of those wicked Efrafans laid a paw or tooth on Lily, Bigwig wanted to be the one there to scratch out the eyes or tear out the throats of every Efrafan in that hellhole. The guilt of last night's harsh lecture after the raid gnawed in Bigwig's stomach. Some of the rabbits believed they should do the same thing to the Efrafans, should harm come to the hutch does.
"I'll come!" Blackberry volunteered. "Lily is my friend, and even though I've know Clover a short time, I will do whatever it takes to get them out of there."
"Count me in!" Silver raised a paw.
"I hate General Woundwort, his patrol and his council with all my guts!" Bluebell agreed. "If we're really gonna make fools of them, I want to be there."
"I'm going!" Dandelion stood straight upward.
"You're not impressing anyone, Dandelion," Hawkbit said, dryly. Some of the rabbits stared at him, waiting for his reply, so he reluctantly raised his paw. "I'm going to regret this." Although he never showed it, he was also worried about Lily.
"I want in on the action!" Kehaar joined in, raising his wing in the air.
"I suppose it'll be dangerous... but I suppose you'll need me!" Hannah volunteered, shooting her paw high up in the air.
"Can I help too?" Pipkin asked, putting his paw up in the air hopefully.
"No, lad. It's too dangerous," Bigwig refused. "I want you to stay here with Holly, Strawberry, Haystack, Boxwood, Buckthorn, Speedwell and Acorn." He noticed Holly opening his mouth to speak up, but the lion buck shut him down, "You're known to the Efrafans and it could be dangerous for you, and we can't risk bringing too many of our group to Efrafa."
"I've been in Efrafa, and I tell you..." Holly warned, "you're making a bad mistake that might very well get you all killed." Everyone remained silent, no one could be persuaded to change their minds about going to Efrafa. Thinking of Efrafa made Holly remember his promise to Hyzenthlay to bust her out, his heart ached for her. "But I guess there wouldn't have been any point in trying to stop you. Besides, loyalty is my second nature. I'll look after things here." Everyone praised the former Owsla Captain for his decision, but he warned, adding a few requests, "But please, don't underestimate the dangers. Free Hyzenthlay for me, and send news by Kehaar if you can."
"Of course," Hazel promised.
And so, the group made plans to set off again at sunrise. Only this time, they were going to rescue their loved ones and anyone else suffering behind Efrafa's prison walls for good.