The morning sun came for the rabbits after the hardships of yesterday. Neither one of the rabbits moved an inch, though a raindrop touched Lily's nose and it twitched cutely. In the distance, an elderly plump rabbit with tan curly fur, pale brown eyes, crooked shaped ears, and the resemblance of cat whiskers on his face peeked up from out of nowhere before hiding again, then he repeated this gesture for while, either he was playing jack in the box or peek-a-boo.
Lily's ear twitched when she heard movements, her eyes shot open and her head raised up. She poked Hazel's cheek to wake him up. He groaned as he yawned and arched his back to stretch, not liking the idea of being woken up early.
"Over there! Another rabbit!" Lily exclaimed, her voice loud enough to awaken the rest of the sleeping beauties in the scrape behind her.
The rabbits became wary about this stranger. As they watched, the elderly rabbit stood up on his hind legs and began to dance as he approached.
Hazel stared at this strange rabbit, sniffing cautiously. "What on earth is that rabbit doing?"
"I believe he is dancing," explained Lily, giggling as she found the dancing rabbit amusing.
When the elderly rabbit came closer to them, he sniffed the air that lead him right to Lily, who drew back uneasily, and gazed at her with an odd grin that made her feel disturbed. Bigwig prepared to tackle what he believed to be a perverted old rabbit, until the elderly rabbit began to hop around the doe in a circle.
"Welcome, welcome, welcome!" the old rabbit greeted in a strange yet friendly tone. "Greetings all," he added, fixing a strange friendly grin at their baffled expressions.
"Who are you and what do you want?" questioned Hazel.
"My name is Cowslip. I come from a warren," the elderly rabbit introduced himself. "I don't want anything from you. You look tired. Have you come a long way?"
"We have traveled a long way to reach the high hills." Lily pointed out the down in the distance, but she gasped when he fixed that odd smile in her direction.
"And you are most welcome, my dear." Cowslip bowed his head in a polite manner.
"Uhh, thank you..." Lily said, "but my friends and I-"
Bigwig immediately stood between the doe and Cowslip, glaring suspiciously. "Either way, so what if we have? That doesn't mean we can't defend ourselves!"
"Don't be rude!" Lily hissed in his ear, making it twitch and he frowned at her.
"I don't doubt that for a second. Our warren's not as big as we like, but there's enough food to go around. And if you'd like to live with us, we'd welcome you," Cowslip offered, then noticed the scrape they dug in last night for shelter. "These scrapes don't look too comfortable. There's more heavy storms on their way."
The rabbits glanced up at the sky. Despite the small rays of sunshine, there were signs of another rain storm approaching. Thunder sounded off in the distance.
"Anyway, if you'll excuse me. I hate the rain." Cowslip departed, disappearing within the trees that lead to his warren.
Everyone exchanged puzzled faces. It wasn't like a rabbit to invite strangers into his warren, generous though it is, and offer his food to them. They turned to look at Lily, who remained as confused as they were.
"What?" she asked.
"He seems to have taken a liking to you," Dandelion pointed out.
"Well, he's not my type."
"Either way, that was unexpected," stated Bluebell.
"I'd like some delicious food to eat!" Pipkin chirped. "I'm starving!"
"I agree, I could use silflay right about now," agreed Blackberry.
"Uh, we're going, right?" Hawkbit questioned, trying to consider everybody they should go to this warren. "He seemed nice. I liked him. Let's go right now!"
"Well, it might be dryer in there." Silver stared at the grey clouds for minute, then nodded at Hawkbit's idea.
"But why did he invite us there?" Fiver wondered, sounding quite suspicious. "It makes no sense to share with us. I've got a feeling-"
"Ugh, here we go." An annoyed Hawkbit closed his eyes and shook his head.
"I've got a feeling we should have nothing to do with that rabbit or his warren," Fiver suggested, in a manner of seriousness when he moved in front of the group. "That we ought to leave this place at once and head straight for the down."
"Whatever will he of us think if we don't go?" Bluebell wondered.
"I'll tell you, he'll think we're afraid," Dandelion answered.
"Afraid?! Who's afraid?" Bigwig denied being afraid of Cowslip's offer.
"He seemed friendly enough," Lily puzzled, "but what does he gain to ask us in joining his warren?"
Bluebell turned toward Hazel, as did everyone else, asking, "What do you think, Hazel?"
"Yeah, we all know what Hazel thinks," Hawkbit ranted in a snarky attitude, though it sounded like he was mocking him. "He thinks the same as Fiver!"
Lily glowered at the grey rabbit for his insult, but she thought about Cowslip's offer to spend the night in his warren with her friends. It would be impolite to refuse such a generous offer, despite what Fiver believes. "Perhaps we should go. We can't be rude to our host," she suggested.
As for Hazel, he was torn between listening to his brother and the pressure of his friends. Determined not to lose the trust and faith of his comrades or be impolite to Cowslip, he decided, "I think we should go to Cowslip's warren. These scrapes are no good in this weather and I fancy taking the chance to get warm and have some sleep."
In a second, everyone started to make their way for Cowslip's mystery warren. Though everyone else went on, only the dejected Fiver was left by himself. However, Lily paused to look back at him. She noticed how crushed he looked when he'd been brushed aside, remembering back to the time in Sandleford when he had that look on his face upon the Threarah's dismissing his concerns.
"Something about Cowslip bothers you, doesn't it?" Lily asked, concerned. "Is there something wrong?"
"He seemed a bit off..." Fiver responded, unsure. "As if he was... lost."
Just then, Bigwig rounded about and began forcibly pushing Lily forward to the mystery warren. "We can't stay outside in the rain like fools! Let's go!" he exclaimed, shoving her onward before he looked back to scorn at the disgusted Fiver as he left with the doe.
"Bigwig, stop pushing!" Lily protested, hating at being treated like this by him and worried for Fiver.
They arrived at the exit of the small wood by an open meadow where they encountered a large tree with roots sticking out of the ground connected to a small hill, a field of gorgeous lavender flowers grew near the warren. It was an obvious visibility from a distance, making it a perfect target for predators if they set foot on this strange place.
"Sky above us! Every living creature for miles must know that's there." Bigwig admired the view of the area.
Lily noticed that every rabbit of the warren peeked out to meet the new arrivals, while some of them ate the grass. The only problem is there was so much space and the entrance was so big that any elil could come in and kill them off. "Not scared of being seen, are they?" she mumbled.
"Look at the size of the burrow, you could get a horse in there!" Hazel added, surprisingly.
"I doubt a horse would get in," remarked Blackberry.
Behind the doe, Fiver had caught up to them but he began to shiver. His eyes shut tight as another vision took over his mind.
"Fiver, what's the matter?" Pipkin happened to glance over his shoulder and saw Fiver shivering violently.
"I don't think I like this place," replied Fiver.
"Shows what you know!" Silver stated, scowling. "These rabbits must have an easy life here."
"We're not turning back now, Fiver." Bigwig scorned.
Lily grumbled at the two bucks' rudeness. "Let's just keep your wits about you," she cautioned, though she said it in Bigwig and Silver's faces with a scowl of her own.
The two bucks shook their heads disapprovingly at her, however the other rabbits agreed with her. The group followed Hazel through the lavender field. Every rabbit sitting on the large roots of the tree stared at the newcomers. They were quite big for their size, most of them plump and some of them thin, nevertheless, they were quite healthy. Cowslip was among the rabbits as the group, still keeping that odd smile on his expression.
"Friends, we're glad that you've come. Allow me to take you down..." Cowslip turned to hop inside the entrance, but looked back to finish, "to the Great Burrow!" He disappeared inside the tunnel.
The outsider rabbits sniffed the entrance before venturing inside. Bigwig complimented on how big the tunnels are, and some of the others agreed with him. But they marveled at the center of the Great Burrow, admiring how large it was that every rabbit inside fit the burrow. The roots of the tree kept the ceiling stable as if it were a chandelier like the small kind that Lily had seen back home.
"Look at the roof! The roots of the tree keep it stable." Blackberry whispered. "It's genius. Clever rabbits."
"Look at the size of them!" Hawkbit gasped at these large, plump rabbits. "They could rip to pieces in seconds!"
The rabbits of Cowslip's warren began sniffing at Lily, and then whispered their greetings to her. Lily still couldn't understand why they're treating her with respect. It must be her scent, probably the smell of mud and rain. She noticed Bigwig had remained at her side the whole time, and to be honest, she was getting quite irritated about it.
Fiver was still hesitate to go further inside, burying his feet in the mud. That didn't stop Hazel pushing him inside the burrow from behind. As he was pushed by his brother, Fiver noticed plenty of empty burrows that had once been occupied but now covered by spiderwebs. This made his ears drop lower. He knew immediately there was something very wrong about Cowslip's warren.
"It's alright, Fiver. I think they're harmless." Hazel tried to assure his little brother.
"There's a winter in this place," Fiver whispered, suspiciously. "A cold that never ends. Can you smell it?"
Hazel sniffed at the atmosphere around him, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. "It smells fine to me. You're still tired, Fiver. Things will look better in the morning."
"I don't know, Hazel. Dawn feels like a long way." Fiver was not entirely convinced. "Look at them, Hazel. Their eyes, they're so far away."
"I see healthy, groomed rabbits. What is wrong with you?" Hazel questioned, a light scorn on his face.
Overhearing their conversation, Lily stole a glance at every rabbit in the Great Burrow. Not only did they look lost, but a sort of maniac face as if waiting to be released and be locked up in an asylum. Their stares forced Lily to look away, and for once felt relieved of Bigwig's presence beside her.
"Friends, may I be the first to welcome you all to our warren," Cowslip announced out loud, catching the two brothers' attention.
"Thank you. We're glad to be here." Hazel stepped forward and nodded politely, though Fiver remained alone by an old tree stump, like the outsider he was called by his own group. "This is a fine warren you have. When you said it wasn't as big as you'd like, we were expecting something a lot smaller. Were there more of you living here once?"
The mood in the warren quickly darkened. Cowslip's rabbits began whispering, just at that moment when Cowslip and the others beside him fell silent, turned to glaze a secret frown at the rabbits that they instantly quiet down. Lily began to suspect Fiver's strange feeling about this warren might be correct, but that's not enough proof. She noticed Cowslip remained quiet for a moment, not bothering to answer Hazel's question and changing the subject.
"Why don't you just settle in here?" Cowslip finally spoke, his odd grin resumed to replace that strange frown. "I think you'll find there's everything you'll ever need." He dismissed himself, telling some of his rabbits to show their guests to any empty burrows for them to get settled in.
"I've got a bad feeling about this place and these strange rabbits as well, Bigwig. Fiver could be right. Why are all the rabbits here so big and strange? And why are there so many empty burrows?" Lily wondered, trying to convince the lion buck to hear her words.
"They probably ate too much, but they seem healthy enough," Bigwig replied, rolling his eyes. "Come now, Fiver doesn't know everything."
Suddenly a doe with pinkish red fur and green eyes jumped out of nowhere, scaring the two rabbits. She was about close Silver and Bigwig's size. She greeted them with an overly friendly smile. "Hello, you must be the hutch rabbit! My name is Strawberry. Nildro-hain and I are so excited to make friends with you. Unless, you don't want to be friends. It's fine if you don't."
Lily and Bigwig exchanged confuses expressions, though Lily figured that Strawberry was different from the rest of Cowslip's rabbits. There was nothing wrong with her by gazing into her eyes. The red furred doe had such a cheerful and optimistic personality that could make anybody like her. However, Strawberry referred to her as a hutch rabbit. How she knew it, Lily had no idea so she would have to ask her later.
"Of course we can be friends," Lily answered, kindly. "And my name is Lily, by the way."
"Are you serious?" Bigwig gawked at her.
"It doesn't hurt to make new friends!"
"Oh, brambles!" Strawberry cheered, her tail wagging like an excited dog. "I'd knew we get on. Come on, I'll take you on a tour of the warren. Hazel and Fiver are joining the tour as well. I'm pretty good at tours, by the way."
Before Lily joined her, she noticed Bigwig folding his arms and frowning worriedly at her, so she assured him, "Don't worry, Bigwig. It's just a tour. If there was any elil coming, we'd be warned by their Owsla."
After considering the matter, Bigwig relented. "All right." Then his voice darkened as he warned, "But if anything happens to you, I'll come looking for those two rascals!"
Lily knew he was talking about Hazel and Fiver, and she knew Bigwig no longer trusted them around her. It upset her on the inside. She wanted him to see sense that they are friends, not foes. So Lily left Bigwig to explore while following Strawberry, reuniting with Hazel so he can join them. Fiver stayed behind, scooted in the corner with his eyes widened in fear.
Strawberry brought Hazel and Lily to many empty burrows, which seemed to have plenty of room for their friends. Except one burrow had rotten old vegetables surrounded by flies that made the duo feel disgusted. Strawberry took them to a burrow next to hers, indicating that Hazel and Fiver were going to spend the night next door to her burrow, just in case they have any questions.
"Is Cowslip your chief rabbit?" Lily questioned.
"We don't call anyone chief rabbit," Strawberry answered.
"Who decides what to do about elil?"
"Oh, don't worry. Here, the elil keep away from us. The Man who comes through the field shoots them. No elil and better food than anywhere, I'm sure you and your friends will be happy here."
"Why are there so many burrows?"
Strawberry remained silent for a moment, then replied, "Because of the White Blindness."
"White Blindness?" Lily raised an eyebrow, once again unfamiliar with the language and words of rabbits. "And everyone's eye sights seemed perfectly alright." Though she knew this wasn't true after remembering those haunting eyes of Cowslip's rabbits, and Strawberry's hesitation to answer her question about the empty burrows threw a hint that something is wrong. "And how did you know I used to be a hutch rabbit?"
"When Cowslip first met you, he caught your scent and he told us that you have the Man's scent!" Strawberry explained, looking rather delighted instead of the opposite like Sandleford's rabbits.
"It's really something, isn't it?" Silver's voice was heard around the corner, as Lily peeked around the corner to listen.
"Certainly room for us, if we wanted to move in," Bigwig guessed, thinking he was right in moving in to Cowslip's warren.
"These rabbits smell outrageously healthy."
"Yeah, better than us anyway. They must eat like El-ahrairah."
"Oh, we do! You'll see," said a different male's voice.
Then Lily noticed a plump red buck with dark blue eyes and black tipped ears came out of nowhere and joining the conversation between Bigwig and Silver.
"Oh, I see you boys have met my mate, Nildro-hain," said Strawberry, startling Lily from her hiding spot. "Darling, would you like to show our friends the wall whilst I prepare the surprise?"
"Of course, dear." Nildro-hain trotted over, wishing Bigwig and Silver a good rest before leaving them.
After passing several occupied burrows of Cowslip's rabbits, Nildro-hain took Hazel and Lily a spot where a wall of bricks were buried long ago whilst the excited Strawberry took off down the tunnel.
"It looks Man built," said Hazel, his paws touched the brick wall.
"It was built by Man," explained Nildro-hain. "Our builders found it pleasing. So they made it part of our warren."
"How can humans build it underground? It's highly impossible," Lily pointed out, then noticed Nildro-hain's silent response when he could not answer her.
"Come look at this!" Strawberry called out.
Nildro-hain lead the two rabbits to a secret path that lead to a closed space full of pink sparkles where a huge pink crystal structure lay embedded in the ground, its engraved shape sculptured to resemble a rabbit. The crystal reflected beautifully in Lily's eyes as she gazed at the gemstone with admiration. It reminded her of a necklace Henry's mother used to wear whenever she left to go on outings with Henry's father and left him in the care of his grandparents.
"Newcomers don't usually come here, but since we're officially best friends, I'm going to make an exception," said Strawberry, as he watched Hazel walk around it and Lily admiring it. "Enchanting, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is," Lily awed.
"Is this another Man thing?" Hazel asked.
Then Nildro-hain broke into an amused haunting laughter that made Hazel feel uncomfortable. "No, it's a shape. A rabbit called Laburnum made it. It's where we come to give praise to Frith."
"He must have very good artistic skills," Lily commended.
"Don't you see, it's El-ahrairah!" Nildro-hain added, his head nodding toward the gemstone. "You must have heard some of those funny old stories."
"Well, yes. They're part of our lives," Hazel answered, then he noticed Lily staring at him perplexed. At first, he didn't know why she was staring at him like that, until he realized, "Wait! Lily, you don't know of El-ahrairah?"
Lily shook her head silently.
"You still believe in El-ahrairah? That must be nice," Nildro-hain sighed in wonder.
"Don't either of you know of him?" Lily asked, curiously wanting to reach out and touch the crystal rabbit with her paw.
"Careful! We don't want to damage it," warned Strawberry. "We're so blessed to have it. It's such a special place to come to, especially when you're feeling a bit sad." As she spoke, Strawberry lowered her head with deep sadness affecting her.
Lily watched her sympathetically. The red doe seemed to withhold a lonely soul behind those overly excitable eyes, as if trying to hide behind the mask of optimism. Looking in Nildro-hain's direction, she noticed his grave expression. Either he was trying to be strong despite the melancholy or overcome by the depression his mate endured.
Sometime after leaving the crystal shape, the two red rabbits tried to perk up as they brought Hazel and Lily to the burrows they were to spend the night in with their roommates; Pipkin and Bigwig.
"But we have our warren and each other," Nildro-hain said, hopefully. "We have time to think and create lovely things. No worries about food or enemies, just time. All the time in the world." There was a gleam of pride in his eyes. "We just do like any rabbit would do to pass the time." He turned to Strawberry and spoke affectionately, "It's getting late, darling. Time for us to retire. I'll be getting up early in the morning to get you some of those delicious flowers in the field growingoutside for us to share."
Strawberry blushed, bashfully trying to hide her face with her paws, and for a second Lily thought she liked cute like that. "Aww, you're so thoughtful, Nildro-hain." Passing a familiar burrow that she recognized, she called out, "Kingcup! Oh, Kingcup! Come out and meet our new friends!" The red doe paused at the burrow, just as Hazel and Lily caught up to her, where all they found was an empty burrow that had a spiderweb in the very end of the burrow. No signs of tracks or scent inside. It had been abandoned for who knows how long. No one had been in Kingcup's burrow for days. Strawberry's face fell in disappointment. "Oh, I didn't realize... He's gone."
Hazel and Lily immediately shared the same thoughts about this empty burrow; Kingcup was no longer among Cowslip's warren, and no longer among the living. Strawberry probably hasn't gotten over his loss yet, like some people or creatures do when they lose a loved one.
"I'm sorry." Lily comfortingly offered her condolences about her loss, placing her paw on Strawberry's shoulder.
Strawberry looked up at her, smiling sadly. "It's getting late. You'd best get some sleep."
As the red doe escorted Hazel to his burrow where he was to share it with the already sleeping Pipkin, Nildro-hain gentlemanly escorted Lily to the burrow she was to share with Bigwig. She politely thanked the red buck for his and Strawberry's tour as he said goodnight to her. As she crawled over to a dozing Bigwig, Lily mused her thoughts over Fiver's suspicions about the warren and Strawberry's sadness, before her eyelids dropped and she fell asleep.
Lily didn't have a good dream like everybody else. She found herself outside in the field of Cowslip's warren. However, the lavender flowers had wilted and dried up. The meadow was dry and bare. The sky above was a sickeningly yellow when a fire had started ablaze, destroying everything in its path. The tree had a creepy appearance that reminded her of the black wood trees she had gone through during her escape from Sandleford's Owsla, but it displayed the uncanny resemblance to Cowslip's tree, and its roots started to take a life of their own as they reached out to grab her.
Terrified, Lily took off down the field trying to escape the roots that snaked their way past the field of dead flowers. Suddenly, numerous skeletal paws burst out from the ground. Emerging from the dirt were a bunch of rabbits, completely torn of their flesh and loss of blood. They were nothing but skeletons with glowing green eyes and haunting grins that resembled Cowslip's odd smile. Around their necks were thin black shining ropes that embedded in the dry earth.
Screaming, Lily fled for her life as she evaded their skeletal paws that tried to nab her. She tried to find a way to escape, but she heard a familiar voice shouting her name. Up ahead, she found Bigwig with one of those black ropes around his neck as he struggled desperately to free himself.
"Lily, help me!" he cried, his voice suffocating as the wire tightened around his neck and blood foamed in his mouth.
"I'm coming, Bigwig!" she yelled, leaping forward to reach him.
The roots had lassoed around her right foot, preventing her from trying to rescue Bigwig, and she fell to the ground with a thud but landed only a few feet away from him. Grunting, she buried her claws in the earth but the roots forcibly and gradually pulled her away from the helpless buck.
Lily reached her paw out to him, hoping she was able to grab him. Bigwig knew what she was doing as he stretched his paw out to her. Their paws were close within inches of being touched so to hold on to one another and never let go, but no matter how hard they tried, the roots and the black rope were determined to tear them apart.
"BIGWIIIIG!"
"LILYYYY!"
The fire spread quickly, gaining closer to the helpless rabbits, and the flames took the shape of a giant rabbit with one eye and the other white from a scar. With a roar, the giant rabbit opened his giant mouth and devoured Bigwig and Lily in one bite, the flames engulfing them in the process.
Lily bolted upright and cried out in terror, awakening the startled Bigwig in the process. The doe gasped heavily, finding the irritated lion buck grumbling as he yawned and fixed a stone-faced scowl at her.
"What's the matter with you?! It's too early-" Bigwig paused, seeing tears in her blue eyes and such a look of fear that she must've gone tharn in her sleep. "What happened?" he asked, more calmly this time.
Instead of answering his question, Lily threw herself in Bigwig's embrace. Her face buried in his mane and chest, weeping. The nightmare of losing him to these wretched black ropes was enough to make her want to hug him and make sure he never left her. Bigwig had no idea of what was wrong, but he figured out she must've had a bad dream and he returned the embrace.
"A nightmare?" he guessed.
Silently, Lily nodded her head. "You were there... caught in a black rope... I tried to save you but I got caught-"
"No worries, lass. It's just a dream," Bigwig assured her, patting her back to calm her down. "I've survived worse, and nothing can get rid of me." Though by the fear in her eyes, he suspected more to this nightmare than being caught in black rope and was about to question her about it when...
"FLAYRAH!" Strawberry's perky voice rang out among the tunnels. "Wake up, you silly goats! It's time to get some flayrah!"
Bigwig grunted, "It's too early to go raiding gardens," but he shrugged his shoulders, "Oh well, I was hungry anyway." Hearing her choked sobs, he tenderly stroked Lily's cheeks to wipe off the tears. She tingled at his gentle touch. "Cheer up, lass. You'll feel better after you get some flayrah in your belly."
"What's flayrah?" Lily asked, her weeping having calmed down.
"Wait and see, you're in for a surprise!" Bigwig smiled, leading her through the tunnel to find the exit and entered the meadow outside.
To Lily's astonishment, there lay a small batch of delicious vegetables of all kind she recognized; lettuce, carrots, beetroots, cabbage, turnips and who knows what else to get her mouth watering. Her tail started wagging, though Bigwig found it strange, he was glad that she felt much better now and kind of got used to seeing her bushy tail wag.
"Frith in a basket!" Bigwig chuckled in delight. "Flayrah!"
Cowslip's warren of rabbits, including Hazel's group, came out of the tree burrow to eat the vegetables, or flayrah as they called it. Bigwig and Lily eagerly rushed over to join them in their breakfast. Bigwig and Hawkbit devoured the lettuce. Dandelion munched on some cabbage. Silver and Pipkin ate the turnips. Blackberry was eating the beetroots. Hazel and Lily ate some carrots, which is Lily's favorite food. The other rabbits stared at them like they had never seen a hungry bunch before, but Hazel's group hadn't eaten such tasty grub in so long it felt so relieving. At one point, Bluebell sniffed a carrot to consider whether eating it or not.
"Try it, it's a carrot." Cowslip convinced him.
Taking one bite of the carrot, Bluebell felt the sweet sensation of the taste in his mouth. "Hmm..."
"How is it?" Hawkbit asked, curiously.
"Hmm... horrible... Uh-uh." Bluebell denied, his mouth full and not eager to share it with the others.
But Hawkbit knew otherwise as he tried to take it, then Dandelion and Silver followed suite. The three bucks tackled Bluebell in an amusing battle for the carrot. Even Cowslip and the other big rabbits had never seen bucks fighting over a single carrot before. Lily had finished the carrot and decided to try a turnip.
"This place is heaven," Bluebell continued eating the carrot, "if this place has carrots, I'm in heaven!"
"You feeling better?" Bigwig asked her, and she nodded. "You know, Lily, I think this is the place for us." He decided that Cowslip's warren is a good place to live.
"What farm do you come from, my dear?" Cowslip asked, hopping between Lily and Bigwig.
"Ridgeway Farm," Lilt explained, although slightly annoyed by his interrupting her conversation with Bigwig, and the look in Cowslip's eyes seemed to send a shiver down her spine. "I was raised by a little boy and his family, but there was a fire and I was forced to flee for my life."
"That sounds awful," Strawberry added quite sadly, as she ate a cabbage leaf.
When Lily saw the red doe eating all by herself, she began to wonder if Nildro-hain was supposed to be here to eat with her. "Hey Strawberry, where's Nildro-hain? He should've joined us by now."
"Would you like anything else to eat, my dear?" Cowslip told her, as he refuses to allow Strawberry to explain.
"No, thank you," Lily politely refused, feeling a little suspicious of the old rabbit. "I'm stuffed." Then she sees Fiver out in the distance, refusing to participate in the feast. Then she noticed Hazel was going over to Fiver, who had stayed outside all night underneath a yew tree instead of sleeping in a burrow. Concerned, Lily excused herself to go check up on Fiver, but first told a frowning Bigwig, "I'll be right back. I just want to give Fiver a carrot."
After Bigwig granted her permission, he said, "Alright, go on. Hazel really needs to get control of his brother. This place is perfect! And we don't want the rabbits thinking we don't appreciate the hospitality because of him."
Rolling her eyes, Lily left the batch with a carrot in her mouth, trotting toward the brothers with hopes of feeding Fiver some flayrah. Maybe she could share her suspicions with Fiver and Hazel, since Bigwig and the others seemed to have their minds made up to stay in Cowslip's warren. She wasn't at least six feet away from them when she heard them speak.
"Oh, Fiver, have you been outside all night?" Hazel asked, concerned.
"Someone has to stand watch," defended Fiver.
"Why don't you eat some of the flayrah?"
"Eating food that's been left by Man? No, I'll have nothing to do with it!" Fiver immediately refused, he sounded upset.
Lily was so surprised that she dropped the carrot from her mouth and hid behind a rock to eavesdrop on their conversation, even though it was wrong.
"Are you trying to make me angry?" Hazel's expression darkened as he questioned his younger brother.
"No, I'm the one who should be angry. These rabbits... there's something about them that's sad and lost, like trees in November," Fiver spoke, frowning. "I've got a feeling that there's something-"
"What proof have we got that your feelings have ever been right?" Hazel scorned, starting to behave out of place. He was usually well-mannered and kind, he changed to a rather nasty buck. "Why didn't you have the feeling about Violet's death? Or the rats, the owl, and the birds who attacked us? Maybe the truth is there was never anything bad back at the old warren! Maybe we left everything behind because of you for no reason! Maybe I left Dewdrop for no reason!" His voice shouted louder, until he exhaled from his tone.
Lily had never seen Hazel so angry before in her life that for a second he reminded her of Bigwig, but she was more concerned about Fiver.
"Dewdrop was the one who told the Owsla we were leaving!" Fiver revealed, now starting to get angry himself. "Hazel, I heard her talking to Captain Holly!"
Shocked, Hazel turned away with his eyes shut refusing to believe the doe he romantically pursued for so long would betray him. "No, I don't believe you."
"He's telling the truth!" Lily decided that enough was enough as she came out of her hiding spot, surprising Hazel and Fiver. "Telling Dewdrop of our plans to leave Sandleford was a big mistake. Is that enough to tell you that she never loved you? Love can make you blind, Hazel!" It was then she realized Bigwig must feel the same way toward her, which explains why he is so protective of her, but that doesn't excuse the fact of his controlling nature.
"You're lying!" Hazel accused, jumping in her face as he stared infuriatingly at her.
"Hazel, you know she wouldn't make this stuff up, and neither would I." Fiver insisted, trying to calm him down.
"Go back into that warren or I will drag you in there myself!" Hazel threatened, angrily.
"Hazel!" Lily exclaimed, fearing a fight might break out.
"No, Hazel! I won't! I won't go back!" Fiver stubbornly refused.
"GO!" Enraged, Hazel lunged and forcibly pushed his little brother to the ground.
Something inside of Lily snapped when she saw this happen. She rushed forward and shoved her body weight against Hazel's form, pushing him backward with all of her strength. She towered over him, furious. Hazel stood back up, staring at the doe in angered disbelief.
"How dare you attack Fiver! He's your brother!" Lily growled, never had she felt so angry in her life, nor had she felt such strength to fight back. "If you try to drag him back to the warren, I swear I will tear your ears off!" she threatened, her voice as hot as fire.
"Why do you care?! He's not your brother!" he snarled.
"Maybe, but at least I'm not a BULLY like you!"
Hazel growled coldly, strange to Lily for rabbits to make such a noise. Instead of fighting a doe, he retreated back to the batch and left them under the yew tree. Some of the other rabbits turned to stare in their direction since it created a disturbance.
Impressed, Bigwig assumed that Hazel taught Fiver a lesson for being impolite to their hosts, but he grew shocked and stunned that Lily had struck Hazel and defended Fiver. As long as Fiver knew to keep to his business and not make a fool of himself, Bigwig felt relieved that Hazel took care of things with his irritating brother, although he grew disappointed in her behavior.
"Hazel, what happened back there?" Pipkin tried to talk to him feeling worried, but Hazel ignored him and just left for a quiet place to cool down.
"Let's give him time alone," said Blackberry, looking equally worried.
Lily couldn't believe that Hazel would attack his own brother like this, and neither of the rabbits came over to ask if they were alright like they never cared at all. Sighing, she regretted using physical force on Hazel. Never had Lily fought back against anyone, except for the rats and the crows, but this was entirely different. She never thought of treating Fiver like he was her own brother, despite not related to him, that moment when she defended him made her feel like an actual big sister to the poor runt.
"You should go back to the warren," Fiver mopped, now frightened of his elder brother for the first time.
"No, I'm not leaving you alone." Lily came toward him and gently helped him back on his feet. She brought the carrot over and laid it at his feet. "I won't force you to eat it, but it's just in case you change your mind. Fiver, that strange feeling you have about Cowslip and his warren... you're not wrong, are you?"
Fiver nodded. "We must leave tomorrow." Then he shivered, his visions send him another message. "The ceiling is made of bones. Their hearts are hard as stones."
"We need proof that there is something amiss here... hello, what is this?" Lily's voice trailed off when she noticed something queer. She beckoned Fiver to follow her inside the clump of brambles.
In the middle of the small clearing, there was a rabbit hole that lead up from one of the passages in the warren below. There were signs of a commotion, the earth had been laid bare and was scored with long scratches and furrows. And a small narrow hole about the same size as the carrot Lily left behind. The two rabbits sniffed at the ground, trying to be detectives and deduce what could have happened here.
"Looks as though there's been a fight here... It smells like rabbit everywhere..." Fiver's eyes enlarged in fear as he sniffed the earth again. "And Man... that's everywhere, too."
"But how can a Man tear up the ground like this?" Lily wondered, trying to piece the puzzles together. "And what is that tiny hole for?" She remembered that horrific nightmare she recently had and decided it was time to share it with him, hoping he might know the answers. "Fiver, there's something I need to tell you-"
"LILY!"
Looking up, Lily could see Bigwig calling her over as the entire clan of rabbits was returning to the warren. Hazel trotted far behind the group, still fuming silently. His friends carried leftover flayrah to finish off inside the Great Burrow.
"How about we talk about it later, okay?" she suggested, and Fiver nodded.
Returning to the empty batch to catch up with the others, Lily was met by Bigwig, who stared at her suspiciously as he questioned, "What happened between you and Hazel?"
"He just found out that Dewdrop was the one who told the Owsla of our leaving Sandleford."
"Ha! I should've known blind love would get us into trouble."
"Listen, Bigwig, we should leave this place as soon as possible."
"Why? After all the hospitality Cowslip has given us?" Bigwig gawked at her. "Is flayrah coming out of your ears? Not likely."
"Fiver and I just discovered-" Lily wanted to make him understand.
"I've had enough of Fiver for one day!" Bigwig scorned, fed up with Fiver after all they had been through. "You stay away from him, or I'll give him something for ruining everything!"
"But, Bigwig-" Lily protested, shocked that Bigwig would go that far to hurt Fiver, but the glare of daggers that he gave her was scary enough to force her to nod in silence.
While Bigwig forcibly pushed her on to go back to the warren and made sure she didn't try to go back to Fiver, Lily scowled as she had quite enough of his arrogance, asking permission to go talk to who she liked and who he disliked, and his constant control to keep her for himself. But the nightmare she had about Bigwig caught in a black rope hovered over her like a cloud of death, just like Fiver had predicted.
