The silence was so quiet; everyone could hear the ringing in his or her ears. The rabbits all around watched as though they were the audience of a shocking play. No one moved. No One spoke.
Then it all began to build up, like an oncoming hrududu on a quiet main road. Murmuring, chattering, wailing, squealing, panicking. For a few seconds no one could hear anything, not even what each other was crying out, and there was a lot of fidgeting, rabbits stepping on another's paws, seemingly to get a closer look. It all went as quickly as it came. One by one, rabbits silently dispersed into their own dark corners of the warren, saying nothing, not looking each other in the eye until they were out of sight of Duffels body, as though it were disrespectful.
Brindle had heard the scream, and come as quickly as he could, only to find the last rabbit's tail vanishing round a corner, the sound of general chattering in the distance, as though nothing had happened. The only rabbits present were Miriple-rah, trying to stop a hysterical Nutta trying to get back to her mate. Her paws were scrabbling against the ground, trying in vain to save the body from some danger or other. Laurel was clinging to Stalwart, her face resting against his side; though Stalwart looked extremely uncomfortable with the position he was in. He too seemed to have been knocked off his feet, and just blinked at the kitten beside him. Corla was standing in the corner, staring at the mangled, decayed thing that had been Duffel. There was no one else. Rian was still fast asleep, and Brindle had no idea where Blethlin was.
Although he had known Duffel for less than two days, it felt like a part of the world, a part that was much needed, had been drained away. Who was there now to look upon the world with such a gleeful smile? Who was coming to rescue them all from wallowing in there own misery? This was his first time in this section of the warren. Had he known how it had looked before, he would not have been surprised to find such a dirty, dingy, dark and dank little warren. Being in the section for visitors conjured up dreams how marvellous a warren it might have been, despite the atmosphere outside. But it now seemed even more desolate and depressing than ever, now that the only rabbit with any true personality had gone, had left them for good.
Brindle had no idea what to do next. Would you? Would you just stand there and wait for someone to tell you what was happening? Or wait for someone else to speak? Or even leave them alone? The scene seemed to explain itself without words. Was this quiet and fearful atmosphere like that of the friends of the great Hazel-rah when they were left to listen to oncoming digging of the Efrafans above, knowing they could be inches from death?
Brindle was saved the trouble of having to work out what he should be doing, when Miriple-rah spotted him. She said nothing, but he could tell by her gaze, that she needed his help. He slowly made his way towards her, Nutta cried getting louder.
'Brindle,' she said, struggling to keep her voice from quivering, 'you must take her. And Laurel. Take them anywhere but here. We need to dispose of the body. And I feel we'd best do it on our own'. She looked even smaller than usual, and completely worn out. Brindle nodded in agreement, and turned to collect Laurel, whom he found, to his own surprise, already clinging to him. Nutta had given up fighting, and she just sat there, breath heavily, gasping every few seconds, just to make sure she was still alive too. Brindle gave her a gentle nudge, and she looked at him. She knew what he meant. She nodded.
He led the two outside the warren, where it was now dark again. They ducked under the over grown thistle, and blinked as the wind hit their faces. It was cold, and the constant rushing of the trees gave an uncontrollable quality to the surroundings. Brindle would not have been surprised if they were laughing at them.
They sat in the ditch, out the way of the gusty weather, and sat in silence, Brindle watching the occasional bug that crawled by. But no other animal came. They were completely alone, and sitting in silence.
Then Nutta spoke at last. 'He would be laughing at us now,' she said, staring at the ground, 'thinking "what silly fools you are"' she giggled dryly. Brindle nodded.
'Yes, I suppose he would'.
'When I first met him, back in the old warren, I thought I'd been born again. Like part of my life had been revived. Now. It's gone. I can't see it or feel it'. Laurel looked like he was about to say something, but held himself back.
'Perhaps it is for the best though. He no longer has to endure everyone's suffering, not that he minded much in the first place. You know,' she said, looking at him for the first time, 'when he heard Majoria had fallen down an old well and died, he said "I was surprised that she didn't get stuck, her fat bottom would have saved her life for once"'. She hung her head slightly. 'Memories are perhaps better than reality. Will you promise me something?' she said, turning to Brindle, swiftly, making him jump.
'Anything,' he replied, without thinking.
'If I die, will you look after Laurel for me? The rate that every one is leaving us, and I'm worried that he may be the last, with no one to look after him. He'll be all on his own'. She paused. ' Will you?' she asked, slowly, still watching him. Brindle looked down at the kitten, who seemed to intent on watching something in the distance, to be listening, but something made Brindle think he had heard every word. What was on his mind, Brindle could not tell. But clearly Laurel did not wish to express very much emotion towards his parli's death, and Brindle could not quite figure out why.
The only time he had ever looked after a kitten before was back on Watership Down, when a marli had been killed, and he'd been left to look after her little kitten, Elvstar. She wondered off when he wasn't looking. Luckily someone found her, but Brindle had never forgotten the event.
'Okay,' he replied, somewhat reluctantly, but with a hint of satisfaction too, because it made him look heroic. He looked at Laurel again, but he could still not work out his feelings towards him. Did kittens that young even care who their guardian was?
Nutta looked a little happier, but had the essence of a tired mother around her eyes. Just for a second, he saw the real Nutta. A doe that just wanted to leave all her life behind and search for a new one elsewhere. But she composed herself.
'I'm sorry for putting such a burden on you,' she said, breathing out heavily, 'but I just want to be prepared'. She fell into silent thought for a second, then said, 'though I suppose however prepared you are, the outcome is still a shock somehow. Not much point in preparing really'.
'But if it makes you feel better', Brindle added, 'then it has a point. Especially if it might prevent a death in certain circumstances. It might not bring Duffel back, but it could save you to have a plan and be prepared'.
Laurel looked up, her eyes meeting Brindle's for the first time since coming outside. 'But parli hasn't gone. We can still see him. He's over-'
'Stop it Laurel!' Nutta barked, 'your parli and I are sick and tired of hearing your silly reasoning. I might still have memories of him, yes, but why can't I have more? Why shouldn't I have had more? Grow up, and start to living in the real world'.
Laurel looked away again, but showed no expression that said he felt insulted, or annoyed to any degree.
The ditch they were sitting in grew uncomfortable, and Brindle, feeling it was a good idea, asked if they should like a walk. He couldn't really be bothered, but he felt he should do so otherwise he looked uncaring. Laurel leapt to his feet, pulling on the ear of his marli with his teeth, trying to make her get up, forgetting that they were sharp, and ended up scratching her ear, for which he was scolded.
Blethlin had been thrust into a burrow, at the very far end of the warren, a place once occupied by rights until months ago. The mess hey left as still there, apparently, as Corla put it, for the prisoner's pleasure. Here she had been all this time. But she hadn't stayed willingly.
'You know,' she sneered at Corla as she was pushed down the run, 'you don't seem to do much round here. You just push others down runs and lick your chief's paws. Is it that satisfying?' Corla pushed her even harder.
'No one said it was easy,' she replied, 'all this manual labour. Oh, I hate to imagine having to push a bottom this big down a run every day, I'm surprised it doesn't snag the walls and bring the whole warren down on us'. Blethlin shook her fur in anger, although she couldn't help feeling that this doe brightened up the warren for her somehow. It wasn't as if she liked her, but it was fun to think up new insults that could be used in later life. But this comment made Blethlin feel especially angry, and as Corla shoved her into a burrow, and commanded another rabbit to keep watch, she contemplated on why this was.
Her mind thought back to the days when she was a kitten, not very old, but not exceptionally young. Around Laurel's age. Vague pictures came into her mind, of her home in Watership. Every picture that emerged, she gave an almost commentary speech in her head. That one? When was that? Was it? Yes, yes it was, now I come to think of it. That sort of thing. Picture after picture came flooding back, and she was shocked to see how much she had forgotten. Though, she couldn't forget her parents. Parli had been a highly respected officer in the Owsla. One of the best. Marli had been one too. One of the best. And they been the ones who gave as much love as they could to her, like a job they had to do. One of the worst. She could remember seeing them trying their best to like her, but she had not been what they had hoped for. From the moment she was born, she had been ill, and her marli had to drop out of the Owsla to look after her, much to her marli's annoyance that she could not take her with her when she started to use her legs. As a result, she lost her position, and had lost the energy to work herself up the status ladder once more. But when the love had been stretched as far as it could go, they got angry with her, frustrated, short tempered. They called her names for the entire warren to hear, calling her ugly, useless, stupid. Before long, Blethlin thought they were right, and learnt to think that the truth should be acknowledged fully, so she acted like her marli and told the truth about everyone, to everyone. Rabbits started to hate, and avoid, her. But something about her attracted Brindle to her. So she felt she must repel him, but found herself going back to him as well.
She was awoken by her thoughts by a short burst if cries from far off. The burrow she was in was small, but covered in bones, some sticking up from the floor, so she found it difficult to sit down. She felt her way over these, towards the entrance, and felt the back of another rabbit in front of her. Someone was standing guard.
'Who's that?' she whispered
'Stalwart' he replied.
'What's going on?' she demanded, not bothering to lower her voice now she knew who it was.
'Not sure,' came the answer, Stalwart still with her back towards her, as though he felt it was wrong to do so.
'Shouldn't you go look?'
'Can't, I'm meant to be guarding you!' he replied, strictly.
Blethlin was concerned that there had been an attack, and she shook her head in frustration at Stalwart.
'They might need your help, you should go'.
'But I don't want to leave you,' he replied. But then he gasped, shook himself, and disappeared, somewhat hurriedly. Blethlin too, shook. What it meant to Stalwart, she had no idea, but she knew what she had felt in herself.
'Stop it,' she said to herself, 'that's a silly thought. Get it out your head, you silly doe. It's a wonder rabbits don't think you're weak!'
She took a closer look at the burrow now that her eyes had adjusted to the ever-increasing darkness of the place as the warren went deeper into the earth. It now seemed smaller than she had first imagined. It was almost exactly circular, but she could see why this was used as a prison burrow. The little bones made it so uncomfortable, internally and to sit on, she could imagine the pain on the rabbit's faces as they tried to bare the discomfort. She shivered, sensing thatsomething horrible had gone on here, not so long ago. And she could quite clearly smell the stale scent of rats. But the back wall of the burrow caught her eye, as it just didn't seem to fit in with the rest. The two walls and the entrance were uncannily well preserved compared to the rest of the warren, but the back wall was loose, as it evidently collapsed in. Had this burrow once been bigger? Why hadn't it been repaired? And what could have caused such a fall?
A noise caught her attention. A noise completely different to that of the screaming, which was beginning to die down. This noise was quiet, subtle, but above all, just as frightening. There was the tiniest of scrabbling. A scrabbling coming from behind the loose earth of the back wall.
'What on earth is that?' Blethlin said to herself. She slowly crept towards the noise, as laid her ear as best she could to the wall's surface. Scrabbling. Digging. Screeching. Gnawing. Scratching. She leapt away at once. No one wonder the smell of rats was so strong in here! They were right behind this wall! And by the sounds of it, they weren't far from braking through! She had to do something! She had to fight! No! Run! Run and tell the Rah! That's right Blethlin! Off you go! Go tell her! Quick!
They were nearly back at the warren entrance. Brindle couldn't say that his trip around Floxwood had been particularly pleasing. It was just as he had feared. Dark, damp and cold. They had even come across a bog that was like the earth it had nearly swallowed him up. Laurel had thoroughly enjoyed his little walk, and Brindle came to the conclusion that he didn't get out much. It was the kitten that talked the most, Nutta remaining in a mute state throughout most of the journey.
Then they had arrived at the very clearing in which, months ago, Duffel had been asked to a meeting and Kittle had been playing. One of the last few Duffel place Duffel had seen before he died. But the rabbits weren't to know that, were they?
But here they turned around, and began the trek back. Just before this, Brindle noticed a distinctly open path leading out of the clearing on the other side. It was the most depressing path he had ever seen, and he could see little. It was as though a dark cloud had formed there. Dead twigs and branches stuck out, twisted and sharp, from the overgrown bushes and trees on either side. Dried up nettles, still with a little sting in their tips, concealed themselves in the frail, withering grass, the only grass that Brindle had actually noted since their arrival. The twisted branches formed a loose "roof" to the path, but could still see clearly through it. A lonesome bat waited sleepily in the dark bushes, the arrival of the rabbits unbeknown to him. But their departure brought him to his senses, and he took off silently, and flew down the path, over the tangled mass of thorns and bramble, and out of sight.
'Why don't we go through there?' Brindle enquired, his throat dry.
'We just don't,' said Nutta, looking exhausted, although she had only got up not so long ago.
'Danger' said Laurel, 'that's Danger in there. Parli said so. He told me not to go near it, but I did,' he continued, playfully
'What happened?'
'Nothing happened to me. But I saw lots of horrible creatures. When I came back, I asked what they were, but no one would say. They said I was too young, and that I should never say anything about it ever again'.
Laurel about to whisper something in his ear, but Nutta spoke sharply.
'Thum lay hahean, Laurel!' she snapped, and said no more.
They turned back in the direction of the warren, and headed for what Brindle horribly thought as his long-term home.
Rian slept through the traumatic events, and for once, felt at peace in the warren. But he suddenly woke with a start. Someone was prodding him. He looked around in panic, expecting to find Brindle, and was surprised, which turned to happiness, to find that it was Thorn. Thorn however, looked tired and miserable, and Rian felt the happiness ebb away into nothing. Did he look like that? Was he that battered and torn?
'I came to see how you were,' said Thorn, unsure of where to look. 'I hope you don't mind'
Silence.
'I suppose not' Rian eventually replied, eying him suspiciously.
'And I came to apologise'.
'Did you now?'
'Yes. I thought I'd better'
Rian considered things again.
'Can I sit next to you?' Thorn asked.
'You have to convince me'.
'Convince you of what?' Thorn replied, looking in his face for the first time since he had come in.
'That you weren't in on it. In on the attack' Rian said, wide eyed, shrinking away. Thorn came closer, shaking his head.
'I wasn't, I swear on my life that I would never do such a thing. I don't even like them. You're the only one I've felt comfortable about talking to for ages. No one here likes me, but when I saw you standing up in front of al those rabbits, I thought how brave you were. I thought it was great that you did. I thought you might help me-to be able to do that. I'm an old rabbit now, worn out and weary, but there was one thing I have wanted to do before I go, and have done ever since I was a kitten, and that was to do what just did'.
The old rabbit sat down hurriedly next to Rian, as though he wanted to finish what he had to say, before he could be interrupted.
'I thought it was very brave of you to speak like that. Very brave. Perhaps,' he said slowly, 'perhaps, you could help me do that too'.
'Somehow,' said a voice, 'I find that very amusing'. Berngum was standing in the burrow entrance, not bothering to hide his glee.
'What's he going to do, I wonder?' he continued. 'Surely he's not going to actually behave his age for once, and be of any use to someone. My god, he actually moves quickly'
He was right. Rian had shot up and onto his feet before Berngum had got his last sentence out. Berngum, however was not a rabbit that could be easily scared.
'You get out'' said Rian, quietly.
'What was that?' said Berngum, pretending to strain his hearing, 'does the worm speak?'
'I said, GET OUT!' Rian shouted as hard as he could
'Sorry? Didn't catch all that. I'm not used to you or him being like this. If you're anything like the blunt Thorn here, you can't possibly be able to string more than two words together, normally'
Berngum began to whisper and stutter. 'I don't-don't-don't, I-I-I,' he said, cruelly.
'Honestly, that's what you sound like. It's why we call you abnormal, don't you see? I mean, just look at you both! What rabbit doesn't even know how to protect himself?'
'You will, if you don't look out for yourself,' said Rian, taking a step forward. Thorn had called him brave! He couldn't let him down. He couldn't let himself down. Not again. Thorn was still sitting on the ground, looking from one to another, unsure of what to do.
'And why should I do that?' Berngum spat, revealing his true height and towering over Rian, his larger than normal teeth bared ready to strike.
'Because you might me again!' said another voice. Berngum looked around.
Blethlin had been searching for Miriple-rah, and on hearing raised voices, deciding to see what was going on. She stood in the burrow entrance now, looking sternly into Berngum's face.
'You,' she said, stiffly, 'take me to the chief of this warren at once. And if you don't want to be chewed to death, you'd better do as I request'.
Berngum looked back at her, with a strange air of relaxation on his face. He seemed not to have noticed Blethlin's warning tone.
'Of course,' he said, nodding cheekily, 'hospitality is my speciality. I never resist a damsel in distress. But,' he added, throwing a gleeful look at Rian and Thorn, 'I rather enjoyed our previous meeting. I insist we do it again, very soon. And when I insist on doing something, it is always done. It shall happen again. Though I'd prefer if I saw you first, Thorn, I could give you a lesson or too on how to stand up for yourself. Shall we go?' he finished, turning to Blethlin, and then idly wondering out.
The three left behind fell silent. No one could think of anything important to say. Rian could not believe he had stood up so fast, and he quickly sat down next to Thorn again, but looked angry, not upset.
'Thank you,' he said quietly, hoping Blethlin wouldn't hear.
'That's okay,' she said, and Rian looked up in surprise. But he only just saw her tail whip round the corner. She was never usually that nice, and it was a good feeling to know that she might not hate him after all. He turned to Thorn.
'Can you stay a bit longer?' he asked.
'Only if you want me too,' said Thorn, slowly.
'More than anything' Rian replied. He felt that Thorn had also done a brave thing, to talk so freely to him, and he thought he should give some of himself back.
Soon, they were talking avidly again, like old friends that hadn't seen each other for years. Both their faces alight with pleasure, and they did not fade until a longwhile after. But both had Berngum's threat on their minds, and both thought that if they could stick together, it could be dealt with. That was what made them happy.
Suddenly Thorn remembered something.
'Oh, I forgot! I've got bad news. Duffel is dead'.
Brindle, Nutta and Laurel finally arrived back at the warren, feeling so depressed, they just wanted to go to sleep. Well, that is, Brindle and Nutta felt depressed. Brindle didn't know what it was that kept Laurel happy, he just couldn't see why he should be. He was just about to ask Laurel a question that would put his mind at rest, when Corla appeared just under the thorn.
'Brindle,' she said, 'Miriple-rah would like to see you. She has something to say. Something you might want to know'.
Brindle looked perplexed. What in the world was he going to hear that was so important?
He followed Corla down the run. Nutta followed for a while, until she discovered where they were heading. She gave her excuses and, trying to seem in control of herself, left, Laurel in tow.
It was not until he saw Miriple-rah that he realised why Nutta had refused to come. She and Stalwart were waiting for him. Waiting in the very burrow where Duffel had died.
Before he had even entered, she started to speak.
'Brindle, I know you want to help us. But you can't at the moment. There are some things about this warren you do not know about. I am going to tell you everything I can'.
Generally means, "That's enough, Laurel!"