After a close call with the Owsla in their escape from Sandleford, the band of rabbits paused to rest their legs, long after crossing the stream and the meadow. A dark forest lay before them, surrounded by a wired fence, probably made by man to keep out the wildlife. Hazel hopped toward the fence and sniffed the air. A distant bird's chirping caught his ears, it wasn't a predator, thank goodness. He studied the fence for a while, until Bigwig came over.

"Hazel, we'll have to stop here," Bigwig told him. "Fiver and the others, we're all tired. They need to rest."

"He's right, Hazel." Silver agreed.

"Look, once we're beyond the woods, we'll really be clear of the Owsla. We can rest then," Hazel said, decidedly.

As Lily watched Hazel boldly approach the forest, she thought how brave he must be. Then she noticed Bigwig glancing warily up at the black trees. She didn't understand why, but his grim expression told her there might be some danger to these woods. Then he beckoned the rest of the band to catch up, and the rabbits approached the wood's entrance cautiously.

"I've never been in a wood before, Hazel." Violet trembled. "It looks dangerous."

There was no doubt about it that Violet was correct. Their surroundings appeared petrifying and spooky, like something out of a book that Henry's father used to read to him at bedtime, as far as Lily remembered. Looking up, their only light to guide their way through the darkness was the moon, but it seemed to add an eerie feel to the atmosphere surrounding them.

"Follow me!" Hazel ordered.

Hazel started forward, looking around to make sure no predator or elil was lurking in the bushes. Rushing forward, he gestured the group to join him. As they did, Pipkin paused to catch his breath. Lily glanced over her shoulder and rushed back to gently usher the young kitten onward. She never left his side as they continued. Fiver struggled to climb up a short hill, but he made it with some help from Blackberry. The rabbits continued onward until they rested underneath a large bush that provided a good cover for them when they heard strange sounds coming from nowhere, believing a predator might be watching and waiting for the chance to strike.

Lily had noticed Bigwig scouted ahead to check for any signs of danger. The noises, adding to a snap of a twig on a bush, made him jerk his head up in alarm, but so far, there was nothing. Fiver thought he noticed a pair of golden eyes gazing intently at him from above the trees, before he crawled over to remain at Hazel's side for safety. An owl glided past the moon and barely noticed the terrified rabbits.

Bigwig decided to turn back and rejoin the group, but his ears perked up. He looked behind him, but all he could see was a leaf falling from the trees. Hearing Lily's whispers to urge him to come back convinced him to return to the band in time.

"Do you think this is where the Black Rabbit of Inle lives?" Bluebell wondered, frightened.

"Bluebell, you're making everyone nervous," Blackberry scolded him.

Lily's head cocked to the side in confusion. "What is a Black Rabbit of Inle?" she asked.

The rabbits whirled their heads around, fixing glazed stares at the hutch doe.

"You don't know the Black Rabbit of Inle?" Dandelion questioned in surprise.

Lily shook her head. "No, but who is he?"

"The Black Rabbit of Inle comes for rabbits at their predestined times of death," Hawkbit explained, his voice darkly terrifying as he approached the doe with his paws raised in the air, "he lives in a stone warren inhabited by dead rabbits, filled with disease, death, and sadness beyond imagining. With eyes that burn like the flames of Hell as they stare right into your soul, and if you so much as look upon the face of the Black Rabbit-"

"That's enough, Hawkbit!" Blackberry swatted the grey rabbit on the back of his head. "You're scaring everybody!"

Truth be told, it truly scared Lily. Being warned against the Black Rabbit of Inle planted fear in her. If what Hawkbit said is true and all of the rabbits believed it, Lily hoped she would stay alive throughout her journey and to never meet the Black Rabbit.

"Be quiet!" Bigwig interrupted. "We don't want to attract elil with your scary stories. Besides, there's no such thing as the Black Rabbit."

"Don't deny it, Bigwig, you believe in him as much as everyone does," Dandelion retorted.

A tree branch fell, just behind the band a foot away. The startled rabbits jumped, even the smaller ones squealed. A black bird flying over their heads in place where the branch used to be.

"Hazel, this was your plan. Where are we going?" Hawkbit asked, moving closer to him.

But Hazel was very unsure of where the group was trying to go, so all he could say is, "We need to get clear of the old warren, then I guess we'll find somewhere to stay."

"You guess? He guesses! Who's the leader here, anyway?" Hawkbit scoffed. "No one by the looks of it."

At this point, the other rabbits began doubting their plan of leaving Sandleford as they muttered or whispered amongst each other, except for Lily. Her ears and head jerked up, and her eyes enlarged in an alarmed state.

"What is it?" Bigwig asked, his eyebrows raised.

No words came out of her mouth as her blue eyes fixed upon the black and white face of a badger emerging from a bush, and its muzzle was covered in red smears of blood on its teeth. Bigwig followed her gaze, and his eyes widened in horror.

"A lendri!" he cried. "This way!"

The lion buck immediately forced the panicked rabbits out of their hiding spot, making a clean getaway of the badger as it reared its head back and snarled menacingly at the fleeing bunch. However, the badger was too tired to chase them so it turned its head and departed.

"It had just killed," Violet panted. "I saw blood on its lips."

"Lucky for us, it had," Dandelion said. "Otherwise, it might have been quicker."

Coming to a decision that no one wanted to travel by nightfall after the encounter with the badger had left them agitated, everyone decided to rest in an abandoned empty hole in a tree until daybreak comes. Bigwig and Silver kept a stern lookout by the entrance, just in case any more elil was nearby. Lily snuggled a lot closer to Pipkin to calm the frightened young buck, while she cast one last wary look at the outside world before falling asleep.


The morning sun rose over the horizon, bringing as sense of peace to the awakening rabbits as they arched their backs to stretch and yawn. Bigwig and Silver sniffed the air or scanned the area before they permitted everyone to leave the abandoned hole once the coast is clear. One by one, the rabbits squeezed out of the hole and silflayed in a clearing. A butterfly flew past Pipkin and the curious young buck started to chase after it.

"Stay close, Pipkin," Bigwig warned him.

Fiver smiled as he watched the young kitten pursue the butterfly for amusement, until his body began to shiver as he his visions started to kick in. He gasped, his voice quivering and afraid.

Lily's had shot up when she heard the runt's shivering. "Fiver, what's wrong? Are you cold?" she asked, concerned.

"He's not cold, he's having another vision," Hazel assured her, before he turned to his younger brother. "What can you see, Fiver?"

"High lonely hills. Where the wind and sound carry every whisper, and the ground's as dry as straw in a barn..." Fiver spoke, as if he were addressing a prophecy, until he returned to normal again. "That's where we have to go, Hazel. That's where we'll find our new home."

"Is it far?" Hazel asked.

Just then, a cry came from above in the distance. All of the rabbits looked toward the sky to catch a glimpse of a white bird flying aimlessly about in the clouds. At first, they assumed the bird was an elil, but he took no interest in the bunch, so their postures relaxed.

"I've never seen a bird like that one," Pipkin said. "He's not elil, is he?"

Blackberry chuckled, calmly. "Not all birds are enemies, Pipkin. He's just a gull."

"You mean like a seagull?" Lily piqued with interest. "I've seen those kind of birds before." A memory of laying in the sand while Henry build a sandcastle as his parents prepared lunches from their picnic basket brought back happier times for her.

"Young bucks these days don't know a thing about the world." Bigwig shook his head, sighing.

"And being a Captain of Owsla, you must know everything, huh Bigwig?" Hawkbit grumbled.

Bigwig glared sharply in the grey rabbit's direction, exclaiming, "Hey, you wouldn't have gotten this far without me, I know that much!"

Hawkbit frowned as his ears dropped to both sides of his head, moping, "We should never have left Sandleford Warren in the first place."

Then Fiver began to shiver again, standing tall and staring out in the distance or up to the sky. "Darkness comes in the light of day. No future for those who stay. A warrior shall pursue us."

"Oh, by Frith, he's off his knockers again," Dandelion complained.

"Oh, my nose tickles. It's a sign from Frith!" Hawkbit started to mock Fiver openly, making Silver and Bluebell laugh at his impression. "The end of the world is coming. Run away!"

"Knock it off!" Lily growled, feud up with others' mistreatment toward Fiver, and the other bucks just glared at her in silent response.

"What does he mean a warrior shall pursue us?" Violet asked, curiously.

As if in answer to the violet colored doe's question, a male voice shouted in the distance, "THEY'RE UP AHEAD!"

Dandelion gasped, recognizing the voice as he stomped his foot multiple times to alert everyone. "Owsla!" he cried.

"Everyone, run!" Hazel ordered.

The band started to run together, staying close in a group so no one will be separated. Lily glanced over her shoulder and, to her horror, the Sandleford Warren's Owsla were in hot pursuit of the fugitives. She knew Captain Holly had tried to arrest them for misunderstood reasons, so that was probably the case, unless their intentions are to kill them. She caught Pipkin by the scuff of his neck fur when he couldn't run anymore, then noticed Bigwig smile in relief when his intentions to go back for Pipkin were taken care of. Suddenly the rabbits nearly slipped themselves when they came toward the edge of a cliff, overlooking the River Enborne.

"This is a nice surprise, Hazel!" Bigwig exclaimed.

"I say we go deeper into the trees and hide!" Bluebell suggested, panting.

"No! We have to cross the river!" Fiver claimed.

"Cross it?" Hawbit protested. "Maybe some of us could cross it, but you, Bluebell and Pipkin are worn out!"

"If Fiver says we cross it, we cross it!" Hazel announced.

"But how do we cross it?" Violet asked, exhausted.

"Keep running!" Silver yelled, pushing some of the rabbits further on hurriedly.

The rabbits could here the voices of the Owsla shouting, not too far behind as they gained closer on the escapees and they could hear voices shouting, "They're here, I see 'em!" That voice belonged to Toadflax. "Faster! Faster, faster! Get 'em!" Holly's voice echoed in the distance, thus forcing the fugitives to pick up their speed.

"We'll never outrun them now! We're done for!" Hawbit whined, fearing the worse to come.

"Anyone have any suggestions on how to get away?!" Silver demanded, his breath heaving.

Lily felt her energy going down, no matter how faster she ran, she felt ready to pass out at any time. But she felt a strong determination to keep going and to avoid being captured again. Just then, she noticed a loose log dangling over the top of hill. An idea sprung into her brain. "Violet, I have an idea, but I need your assistance!"

"All right, but what is it?" Violet was confused.

Lily threw Pipkin out of her mouth toward the behind of Fiver, who felt the impact of the kitten on his bottom and he looked back to see the two does making a mad dash up the hill.

"What are you doing?!" the runt shouted.

"Go, take Pipkin!" Lily commanded, rushing up the hill at top speed with Violet by her side.

Without an objection, Fiver ushered the worried Pipkin to keep going. This drew the attention of the Owsla as they changed their direction to the fleeing does up the hill, believing the fugitives have taken a different path.

Reaching the top, Lily explained her plan to the terrified Violet on what to do. "Help me push the log downhill! It will keep the Owsla out of the way!" she instructed.

Violet didn't ask any questions to why, but she was desperate to flee the Owsla and agreed to her example. Leaning their weight against the log, the does pushed with all of their strength. When the Owsla made it to the top, their dark expressions turned to horror when a runaway log came rolling right toward them.

"Back the other way!" Holly ordered, as he and the Owsla turned tails and ran downhill.

However, the log caught up to them and the Owsla, including Holly, found themselves dancing on top of it like a clown on a circus ball to stay on their feet and not fall off. The log carried its passengers over a small cliff and it crashed into a tree. The impact of the crash broke the log in half. Surprisingly, Holly and the Owsla survived, though quite dizzy by the impact. Lily and Violet giggled like two school girls who just played a prank on a bunch of bullies.

"Nice trick," Violet complimented. "El-ahrairah would have been proud."

"Thank you, but who is..." Lily decided to save her question about this El-ahrairah character for later. "Err, it won't last long until we regroup with the others."

"You're right." Violet agreed, and the two does hurried off.

It wasn't long before they reunited with the rest of the group as they came another clearing, but their path blocked by the river. The rabbits panted and breathed heavily, exhausted from their escape of the Owsla. Hawkbit and Blackberry examined both ends of the river, then returned to the group.

"There's no way across down stream!" Hawkbit took a few deep breaths.

"And it just gets wider that way!" Blackberry added, gesturing to the far end of the river.

Suddenly, a bark sounded off in the distance. Everyone froze as they realized their situation had gotten worse by the minute.

"Quiet!" Bigwig got down on all fours, sniffing the air and listening for the bark. Once he intercepted the scent, he warned, "There's a dog loose in the wood!"

"Well, that does it!" Silver grunted.

"A dog?!" Bluebell trembled. "Are you kidding me?!"

"Come on! What do you think will happen if she catches our scent?" Bigwig said.

Angry voices shouted in the distance, alerting the group that the Captain and his Owsla had resumed the pursuit. The rabbits started to panic. First, the Owsla are on their tail, and now a dog is wandering the wood.

"Well, that's the trouble with Owsla and dogs, isn't it?" Dandelion said. "They just don't know when to give up."

"What's happened to Lily and Violet?" Pipkin was growing concerned by the minute.

No sooner had he spoke those words, Lily and Violet showed up when they emerged from the brambles. Everyone was relieved, except for Bigwig as he approached them, looking very cross.

"What have you two does been doing?!" Bigwig berated, his face filled with anxiety. "Fiver came back with Pipkin, telling us how you lead the Owsla to a different path, and for a minute there, we assumed you had been captured or worse!"

"We... I..." Violet stammered.

"I had an idea to push a log downhill to keep the Owsla off our tail, and it worked!" Lily explained, then added with sarcasm, "Your welcome, by the way."

"Bucks are supposed to deal with the enemy, not does! They can get easily killed!" Bigwig didn't seem impressed by Lily's plan, making the poor doe feel discouraged.

"Enough, Bigwig!" Luckily, Hazel came right between them. He turned to the does with a calm smile on his face. "That was very well done, both of you," he commended, softly.

Lily and Violet blushed at Hazel's grateful words. Bigwig opened his mouth to say something, but the distant barks cut him off.

"Is that what I think it is?" Violet trembled. "A dog is in the wood?"

"I'm afraid so," Bluebell said, on the verge of giving up. "We might as well surrender to the Owsla or risk getting killed by a dog."

"Or we can fancy our chances of hopping on water," Dandelion added, jokingly.

Bigwig stared at the water for a minute. If some of the bunch can swim, they will swim to the other side, or else be captured by the Owsla, or mauled by a dog. "We'll swim! Now, everybody in!" he commanded.

"Oh, wonderful. Follow Hazel and Fiver, see the world, drown." Sarcastic as always, Hawkbit jumped into the water alongside Bluebell and Dandelion.

"But I can't swim!" Violet protested.

Pipkin didn't dare move toward the water as he shivered. "I don't think I can do it either, Bigwig!"

"Well, you can't stay here, lad," Bigwig told him.

"They won't make it, Hazel." Fiver turned to his brother.

"Well, I had a rather splendid idea but the blasted thing disappeared again!" Blackberry cut in. "About the strange things that Fiver and I saw... the human things that move on top of the river... There!" Her eyes noticed two floating objects stranded on the shore. Her idea came back to her in a flash. "I might have an idea! There's a way across!" She ran to the water's edge and used her paws to stop what appeared to be a large flat piece of wood and the lid of a trash can to keep them from floating off.

"I thought you said there's a way across," Hazel panted, staring at the two objects in confusion.

"Yes, on this wood and this round piece of metal," Blackberry replied. "Look here, they float."

"And toads hop! So what?" Bigwig rolled his eyes.

But Fiver understood her plan immediately as his eyes lit up. "Blackberry, that's brilliant!"

Bigwig exchanged baffled glances with Hazel, saying, "I'm missing something here."

"What Blackberry means is those who can't swim can ride on the wood and the lid!" Lily explained, also figured out Blackberry's plan and realizing she too inherited intelligence as much as she did.

"Get on the wood, Pipkin!" Fiver ordered.

After looking back for a moment, Pipkin leapt onto the flat wood, surprisingly it held his weight. Then Fiver jumped onto the wood beside him. Violet climbed on to the trash can lid, later joined by Lily, who couldn't swim in deep waters either despite swimming in a bathtub that Henry often bathed her in whenever she got dirty.

It was just in time. Out of the bushes emerged Holly and the Owsla, fuming after being humiliated by the does' trick with the log. One of them said, "Where are they going?" and another said, "What's going on now?" Blackberry and Silver dove in, though Bluebell and Silver began pushing the flat wood and the trash can lid with their noses as their passengers were holding on to their little rafts.

"GO!" Bigwig shoved Hazel into the river, before the Owsla could catch him as he leapt into the water.

The rabbits did their best to maintain keeping the water above their heads while pushing their little boats through the river. The Owsla could have given up on the chase, but Holly directed them to make a sharp turn and shouted, "This way!" to head for an old fallen tree that stretched out over the river. The Owsla Captain figured they could try capturing them towards the end of the branch, for the branch could hit one of the rabbits and knock them off their boats. But it was a near miss and a close call as two of the officers fell into the water, yet they managed to swim back to shore.

Lily watched as her friends kept pushing her boat and her friends' boat as they kept swimming, until they came to a crossing that her group could be able to reach for safety. All of a sudden, Holly jumped into the river and he attacked Bigwig. Lily grew concerned, feeling the urge to go back and save him. But Bigwig managed to defend himself and knocked Holly back to shore, where he climbed out of the water and back to shore.

At that time, the dog appeared. A collie, by the looks of it. She had trailed the scent of the rabbits and once she found them, the collie barked and began to chase after the terror-stricken Owsla as they fled for their lives. Hawkbit and Silver laughed at the Owsla now that the tables have turned on them. The group had succeeded in reaching the other side of the river for safety. Except for Lily and Violet, for Bluebell was starting to grow tired and slowed down, accidently turning it around and headed straight to the barking dog.

"Bigwig, behind you!" Hawkbit called out.

Bigwig turned his head, and gasped sharply when he realized the does were in grave danger. He swam back to them as fast as he could. Violet and Lily tried to turn the trash can lid around with their paws, but Bluebell kept pushing onward, closer and closer to their doom.

"I don't think we'll get out of this alive, but I'm glad I got to meet you," Violet sobbed, believing this was the end.

"So am I. You're a good friend, Violet, and so is Bluebell and everyone else," Lily sighed, defeated.

The dog was about to charge at them when she had jumped into the river, until Bigwig came up from under water, gasping for air.

"Nothing's ending while I'm around!" Bigwig furiously landed a swipe at the collie's nose, causing the dog to howl in pain.

Using his nose, Bigwig pushed their raft, and a baffled Bluebell, towards the other side of the river where the other rabbits were waiting, looking worried as they watched the events unfold out on the water. When they got there, Lily helped Violet get off the trash can lid whilst Bigwig assisted Bluebell to hop on to dry land. On the other side of the river, the collie swam back to dry land as well, her temper flared at having her nose scratched, but she turned on the nearby Owsla instead.

Before he retreated back to his warren in Sandleford with the Owsla, Holly bellowed angrily from the other side, "I'll see you again, Bigwig! I promise you that! And next time, there won't be a river or a dog between us!"

"Oh, I'm counting on that!" Bigwig laughed, triumphantly. He waited patiently for the rabbits to climb off their boats and rush off, although he lingered longer for Lily to get off as he escorted her off to safety with the others.

"That was a very good idea of yours, Blackberry," Hazel sincerely complimented the doe. "Worthy of El-ahrairah."

"Yes, I think so. It worked rather well, didn't it." Blackberry smiled proudly. "Let's try to remember it someday. It might come in handy again."

Lily gazed at Bigwig, remembering his courage of risking his life to save her and the others. She didn't want him to think she felt ungrateful. "Thank you, Bigwig. You were very brave."

"Nothing at all," Bigwig replied, then he added with honesty, "I'm just glad you're safe."

For a moment, the two of them smiled genuinely at each other. Before either of them could say anything, Hazel called out for them to regroup. Casting one last look at the Enborne River, and the collie retreating back to the whistle of her owner, the two rabbits hopped off to catch up with Hazel and the others.


The band of rabbits continued on their journey to these high hills that Fiver had described as their new home, passing a corn field close by. Pipkin often tried to catch a butterfly, but he was warned never to stray off by Bigwig, since the encounter with the dog and escaping the Owsla had left him on guard and high alert. He often stayed by Lily's side to ensure she never wandered off either. Lily felt her body tingle at the closeness of Bigwig's fur slightly brushing against hers. The little resentment she held for his scolding her for throwing the Owsla off trail was now forgotten.

"Everybody, listen up!" Bluebell had an announcement to make. "Now that I'm official storyteller, I've decided I am the official storyteller of the group, by the way. I've decided to make it into a legendary tale." Then he came up with the title that suited it. "It's called The Story Of How Hazel Led Our Escape Over The Raging Rapids."

"It was Blackberry who had the idea," Hazel explained.

"Yeah, but you were the one who stayed calm and led us on our way." Bluebell turned to the others as he proudly addressed Hazel. "I tell you, he is what I call a Chief Rabbit. Hazel-rah!"

"Hazel-rah? Chief Rabbit?" Bigwig laughed, thinking it was a joke. "Frith in a wasp's nest! The day I call you Chief Rabbit, Hazel, that'll be the day. I'll stop fighting that day and all."

Hazel smiled and shook his head, dismissing the idea of being referred to as their chief rabbit.

"What does 'rah' mean?" Lily whispered in Silver's ear.

"It's what a rabbit calls his chief or a prince, it's how they address the rabbit as their leader," Silver explained, whispering in her ear.

"Oh, I see." Lily nodded, then she overheard the other rabbits muttered amongst each other and what they said caught her attention.

"I know we have to find a new home, but we're like sitting ducks out here in the open," Hawkbit spoke in a quiet voice. "And why does it have to be so far away?"

"I guess because Fiver says," Blackberry said.

"Ugh! Fiver says a lot of things. What if Fiver says jump out of a bush and tickle a wolf?" Hawkbit insulted, huffily. "Because Fiver says."

"Hazel's no fool, Hawkbit!" Blackberry began standing up to Hawkbit's negative sarcasm. "He knows we need to take Fiver with a pinch of salt every now and then."

Growling, Lily wanted to rush over and make a retort to tell off Hawbit's rude remarks, but she felt Bigwig's paw on her chest holding her back. She looked up at him as the lion maned rabbit shook his head, warning her not to start a fight. Lily knew he was right, but she grew concerned for Fiver's self esteem when the runt overheard doubts about him.

All of a sudden, they heard something loud and unfamiliar zooming from the other side of the hedge. The rabbits stopped in their tracks, scared for a brief second. Lily thought it sounded familiar when she heard it.

"What's that?" Hazel wondered, curiously.

"Up ahead. Through the hedge." Bigwig made a different turn, and everyone else followed him.

To their surprise, they discovered a highway road pavement. The rabbits sniffed it and studied it cautiously, having never seen a road before, except for Bigwig.

"What is it? It doesn't smell natural." Hazel had sniffed the road to figure out what the scent is.

"It's a road. Have you never seen one before or something?" Bigwig questioned, then his last sentence sounded like an insult. "You don't know much about things, do you, Hazel-rah?"

"Then why don't you teach me, Bigwig? Or better yet..." Hazel suggested, hotly. "Have Lily teach me as she seems to know it more than you."

Lily's eyes had enlarged when she first saw the pavement. "He's right. It's a road!" she explained. "Humans put the black stuff there so they can drive their cars on it."

"You mean a hrududil?" Bigwig sighed, as he meant to correct the doe of his meaning of cars in their own language.

"A what?" Lily asked, but then her ears cocked as she heard an oncoming car approaching. "Uhh, Bigwig, there is a car coming. Get off the road, now!"

"No worries, lass. They're harmless, so long as you leave them alone at night." Bigwig sat in the center of the road on the yellow line, just as a car drove past him. The lion maned rabbit smirked, pleased at his own demonstration of surviving the hrududil, as his fur blew by impact of the car's speed. "See? It's not interested-" suddenly another car came toward Bigwig, but he ducked down and carefully kept his body still, so the tires didn't squash him.

"BIGWIG!" Lily screamed, for a moment she thought he was killed.

The other rabbits almost started to panic, until Bigwig slowly got himself up and wasn't injured at all. The other rabbits sighed in deep relief, though none was relieved the most was Lily.

Bigwig cleared his throat, a little embarrassed by the incident, brushing it off like it didn't matter. "See that? They don't hurt you. As matter of fact, I don't think they're alive at all."

"But they can hurt you, if you don't stay off the road!" Lily reprimanded, disagreeing with his theory.

"Lily is right. Since you said they're not dangerous, but look at that." Fiver used his paw to point out a dead hedgehog lying on the road, bloodied and probably flattened by a car. "A yona… why would it kill a yona?"

"Humans in cars don't see what small animal crosses the road-" Lily told him, except she got interrupted.

"Yonil hunt at night. That's what I'm trying to say to you," Bigwig warned. "In the dark, the hrududil have these big lights that draw creatures close. And if they shine on you, you go tharn. And then, they crush you."

No one spoke a word against Bigwig's theory about the hrududil, all of them wanted to remember never to gaze into the lights of the hrududil or else.

"You let me know if you want me to teach you anything else, Hazel," Bigwig finishes, as he began crossing the road, but not before he gently shoved Lily to go ahead.

Everyone else continued on their way as crossed the road, their ears kept alert for any more hrududil that might come their way. So far, none came.

"Bigwig, what did you mean go tharn?" Lily asked.

"It means you are stupefied or paralyzed with fear, unable to move or say a word," Bigwig replied, as stood on his hind legs briefly to make sure everybody made it safely across the road. Then he turned to her, his face serious and his stern voice pleading, "Just promise me one thing, Lily. That if you ever stand in the lights of a hrududil or confronted by an elil, you run as fast as you can. Don't EVER go tharn. Promise me!"

The lion maned buck sounded gravely urgent for her to keep this promise as he leaned over her, even though it made Lily afraid, but she agreed, "I-I promise."

Satisfied, Bigwig let out a sigh as he ushered her to continue onward. Lily wandered if this was normal for Bigwig, one minute he was rude to her or Hazel like on the road or back in the wood, and the next he was overly concerned for her safety. Brushing it off for now, she continued on with her friends for the rest of their journey.