Celandine pricked her ears up and held her breath as she listened for anything that sounded like danger. Of course, their were danger sounds all around. Frantic shouting, kits crying, orders being barked out, but Celandine wasn't interested in those noises, she was listening for an alien noise. A noise that would specifically mean that something very bad was on it's way. Suddenly a hush descended across the warren. There was the sound of a man's voice just outside the main entrance. All the rabbits stood silently still as they listened to it and although they didn't understand the meaning of the words he spoke, they knew that it meant zorn for them. Man only brought zorn. Although the rabbits were further back in the warren and could not see the entrance, they realised that the man must have been crouched or knelt directly in front of the opening, otherwise his voice would not have been so loud.
"Good girl, Rosie. There's my good girl. You go in there and get a nice fat one for me." the man said as he fussed over the elil he had just taken out of a battered wicker basket. The elil responded by bending her long supple body towards the warren entrance and enthusiastically sniffing the air. She could smell the strong rabbit scent in the air. She wriggled to free herself from the man's grasp and get inside the warren. He chuckled and set her down on the short grass in front of the rabbit hole. As soon as he released his grip on her, she was inside. She padded quickly along into the darkness, sniffing at the strong rabbit smell all around her. She liked the smell, she knew it meant she would soon taste blood and get to kill her prey. She stalked along the deserted tunnels at random, peering this way and that into the gloom. She had done this many times before at other warrens and knew that the rabbits instinctively went down into the deeper and lower tunnels to hide. She would find them soon enough.
"Marli, what's that embleer scent?" Heather asked Celandine, a touch of panic showing in her voice. They could all smell the elil scent now and they knew the predatory creature was inside the warren. Celandine knew that if she was going to act to save her kits, whatever she did had to be done now. She considered taking them with her, deep down into the warren, where she knew most of the other rabbits would be gathered. They'd all be waiting and listening down in the deepest, darkest burrows. All huddled silently together in terror. The elil would surely find them down there and zorn would suddenly erupt. Rabbits would be scrabbling and scratching over and across each other's bodies to escape the elil's jaws. The air would sound with screams of terror, until it was pieced with a singular scream of agony. One rabbit would surely die today and Celandine was determined that it wasn't going to be one of her young. She turned to them and looked into their frightened faces for a moment before speaking.
"Marli has to leave you on your own for a little while. I'm going to seal the burrow entrance and I want you three to stay still and be as quiet as mice. Don't talk or cry and whatever you do, don't try to get out of the burrow. Marli will be back to get you out as soon as the danger is gone." She mumbled something nervously to herself as she headed out of the burrow. She stopped in the tunnel just outside and started to quickly dig soil up from the floor into the burrow entrance. Celandine was a fast digger and the soil was not heavy and came up easily. Within a matter of a couple of minutes the burrow entrance was completely filled in and unless you studied it closely and noticed that the earth was looser in that area, it looked just like any other part of the tunnel wall. Celandine took one last look at her work, hoping it would keep her kits safe and then turned and left, heading deep into the warren, to wait with the others.
Inside the sealed burrow Heather stared blankly at the filled entrance where they had last seen their Marli. It seemed to her as if time had been frozen. No movement or noise. Just total darkness and total silence. All three kits coped with their fears in different ways, but they had never known fear like this before. They were on their own this time and if things went wrong, Marli couldn't save them. As they lay in the darkness, they realised that they had never experienced true silence before. It had an almost living presence and hung in the empty air around them as thick as well trodden mud.
Orchid scowled as she stared into the endless blackness surrounding them. She didn't only feel fear for the elil, she felt hatred too. She hoped the Owsla would try to fight the embleer thing and it would die a long, lingering death. Why had Marli trapped her in here with her two stupid siblings? Surely she was more important than either of them! She then truly realised for the first time in her life that she really didn't care if her brother or sister were hurt or even killed. It had never fully occurred to her before. Freakear was less than worthless in Orchid's eyes and Goosegrass was only a joke. Look how he trembled and shook when things got tough! Orchid made a mental note to remember her brother's obvious fear. Perhaps she had misjudged him. Perhaps he'd be as easy to bully and push around as Freakear was. What would it matter to her if either of them were killed? It would just mean she'd get more flayrah and even more attention from her Marli and Parli. She already knew that Marli and Parli loved her more than the other two and it was only right that they did. After all, she was smarter and prettier than both of them put together. The more Orchid thought about it, the more benefits she could see in her siblings being dead. She was sure that if she pretended to be sad and cry, everyone would fuss over her and give her little treats to cheer her up. She'd be everyone's favourite kit! She smiled as she suddenly got an image in her mind of Freakear and Goosegrass limply hanging from a huge homba's jaws. There necks were clearly broken as their heads were swung down at an unnatural angle, nodding morbidly as the homba trotted along. Their dead eyes stared glassily into space and their dry tongues stuck out from their mouths. Orchid couldn't help but let out a slight giggle at the thought, breaking the tense silence and getting a whispered "Quiet!" from Heather.
Orchid's top lip curled up in sudden anger. How dare Freakear tell her to be quiet! She was just about to whisper a threat back to her sister through her gritted teeth, when she heard the soft padding of something shuffling towards the burrow outside. They could tell by the sounds it made that it did not move like a rabbit. The noise got steadily louder and was soon accompanied by a loud sniffing sound. This carried on, getting louder and louder, until the shuffling sound abruptly stopped. The sniffing, however, continued on. The elil was taking deep, snuffling breaths through it's nose. It was so loud now that it sounded as if it was coming directly from the other side of the makeshift soil wall. The three kits froze in horror as they listened to the sniffing sounds. Whatever everyone was so terrified of was standing directly outside, only separated from them by a thin, fragile curtain of earth and what was worse, it knew that they were inside.
"Good girl, Rosie. There's my good girl. You go in there and get a nice fat one for me." the man said as he fussed over the elil he had just taken out of a battered wicker basket. The elil responded by bending her long supple body towards the warren entrance and enthusiastically sniffing the air. She could smell the strong rabbit scent in the air. She wriggled to free herself from the man's grasp and get inside the warren. He chuckled and set her down on the short grass in front of the rabbit hole. As soon as he released his grip on her, she was inside. She padded quickly along into the darkness, sniffing at the strong rabbit smell all around her. She liked the smell, she knew it meant she would soon taste blood and get to kill her prey. She stalked along the deserted tunnels at random, peering this way and that into the gloom. She had done this many times before at other warrens and knew that the rabbits instinctively went down into the deeper and lower tunnels to hide. She would find them soon enough.
"Marli, what's that embleer scent?" Heather asked Celandine, a touch of panic showing in her voice. They could all smell the elil scent now and they knew the predatory creature was inside the warren. Celandine knew that if she was going to act to save her kits, whatever she did had to be done now. She considered taking them with her, deep down into the warren, where she knew most of the other rabbits would be gathered. They'd all be waiting and listening down in the deepest, darkest burrows. All huddled silently together in terror. The elil would surely find them down there and zorn would suddenly erupt. Rabbits would be scrabbling and scratching over and across each other's bodies to escape the elil's jaws. The air would sound with screams of terror, until it was pieced with a singular scream of agony. One rabbit would surely die today and Celandine was determined that it wasn't going to be one of her young. She turned to them and looked into their frightened faces for a moment before speaking.
"Marli has to leave you on your own for a little while. I'm going to seal the burrow entrance and I want you three to stay still and be as quiet as mice. Don't talk or cry and whatever you do, don't try to get out of the burrow. Marli will be back to get you out as soon as the danger is gone." She mumbled something nervously to herself as she headed out of the burrow. She stopped in the tunnel just outside and started to quickly dig soil up from the floor into the burrow entrance. Celandine was a fast digger and the soil was not heavy and came up easily. Within a matter of a couple of minutes the burrow entrance was completely filled in and unless you studied it closely and noticed that the earth was looser in that area, it looked just like any other part of the tunnel wall. Celandine took one last look at her work, hoping it would keep her kits safe and then turned and left, heading deep into the warren, to wait with the others.
Inside the sealed burrow Heather stared blankly at the filled entrance where they had last seen their Marli. It seemed to her as if time had been frozen. No movement or noise. Just total darkness and total silence. All three kits coped with their fears in different ways, but they had never known fear like this before. They were on their own this time and if things went wrong, Marli couldn't save them. As they lay in the darkness, they realised that they had never experienced true silence before. It had an almost living presence and hung in the empty air around them as thick as well trodden mud.
Orchid scowled as she stared into the endless blackness surrounding them. She didn't only feel fear for the elil, she felt hatred too. She hoped the Owsla would try to fight the embleer thing and it would die a long, lingering death. Why had Marli trapped her in here with her two stupid siblings? Surely she was more important than either of them! She then truly realised for the first time in her life that she really didn't care if her brother or sister were hurt or even killed. It had never fully occurred to her before. Freakear was less than worthless in Orchid's eyes and Goosegrass was only a joke. Look how he trembled and shook when things got tough! Orchid made a mental note to remember her brother's obvious fear. Perhaps she had misjudged him. Perhaps he'd be as easy to bully and push around as Freakear was. What would it matter to her if either of them were killed? It would just mean she'd get more flayrah and even more attention from her Marli and Parli. She already knew that Marli and Parli loved her more than the other two and it was only right that they did. After all, she was smarter and prettier than both of them put together. The more Orchid thought about it, the more benefits she could see in her siblings being dead. She was sure that if she pretended to be sad and cry, everyone would fuss over her and give her little treats to cheer her up. She'd be everyone's favourite kit! She smiled as she suddenly got an image in her mind of Freakear and Goosegrass limply hanging from a huge homba's jaws. There necks were clearly broken as their heads were swung down at an unnatural angle, nodding morbidly as the homba trotted along. Their dead eyes stared glassily into space and their dry tongues stuck out from their mouths. Orchid couldn't help but let out a slight giggle at the thought, breaking the tense silence and getting a whispered "Quiet!" from Heather.
Orchid's top lip curled up in sudden anger. How dare Freakear tell her to be quiet! She was just about to whisper a threat back to her sister through her gritted teeth, when she heard the soft padding of something shuffling towards the burrow outside. They could tell by the sounds it made that it did not move like a rabbit. The noise got steadily louder and was soon accompanied by a loud sniffing sound. This carried on, getting louder and louder, until the shuffling sound abruptly stopped. The sniffing, however, continued on. The elil was taking deep, snuffling breaths through it's nose. It was so loud now that it sounded as if it was coming directly from the other side of the makeshift soil wall. The three kits froze in horror as they listened to the sniffing sounds. Whatever everyone was so terrified of was standing directly outside, only separated from them by a thin, fragile curtain of earth and what was worse, it knew that they were inside.