Ever since Hazel unleashed his anger out on his little brother, Fiver kept his distance from him and everybody else when he came back to the Great Burrow, laying beside a smaller tree stump, feeling miserable and more alone than ever. No one paid mind to his presence, except for Hazel and Lily. By now, Hazel gave his little brother a saddened remorseful frown, feeling regret for how he poorly treated Fiver. Lily felt a tremendous sympathy toward Fiver and wanted to sit beside him to offer comfort, but as long as Bigwig kept her close to him, she wasn't allowed to go anywhere near him. She hated every minute of having Bigwig's controlling, overprotective attitude used on her.

"Hazel, I have to say, this place is paradise." Hawkbit smiled. "I've got my own burrow, there's a lot of does here, let me tell you, and the food... no wonder these scoundrels are so far! And I just wanted to say that... I was wrong about you," he apologized for his doubts, declaring his loyalty to Hazel, "I'll follow you everywhere."

"To Hazel-rah!" Silver made a toast, acknowledging him as their chief rabbit and so did the rest of the gang.

"Hazel-rah! Huh, Frith's beard." Bigwig chuckled, amusingly. He had been lying on his back and licking his paws to clean them, and then he maneuvered around so to focus his gaze at Hazel. "You did well, Hazel. Don't let it get to your head." Nevertheless, he was pleased with Hazel's success at finding them a new home.

The only other rabbit who did not join in the toast for Hazel was Lily, her scowl blackened in his direction, still angry at him for attacking his brother. Hazel tried to smile at everyone, including her, but Lily refused to look at him as she ate a carrot. When she was surprised by Bigwig's praising Hazel, the doe grew relieved that he was starting to regain his trust in Hazel again.

"Everyone, everyone!" Cowslip announced out loud to get all of the rabbits' attention. "I thought we might welcome our new guests by hearing some stories."

"Oh yes, we have two wonderful storytellers amongst our number - Dandelion and Bluebell!" Blackberry stated, proudly.

"Aww, shucks!" Dandelion blushed at her complimented.

"Did you just give me a compliment, Blackberry?" Bluebell's eyes widened and a massive smirk spread across his face. "I didn't think you'd liked me!"

Blackberry realized she might have flattered him a little too much and tried to explain, "I didn't say I liked you, I just said you're very good storyteller."

"From now on, we're inseparable!" Bluebell declared, gazing at her as he became smitten with her. He started making smooches as he tried to give her a kiss on the cheek.

Disgusted, Blackberry gave him a light cuff in the face. "Would you... would you... Stop trying to kiss me!" she exclaimed.

"Easy, lover boy." Dandelion had to help Bigwig move Bluebell to a different spot, then he volunteered to go up toward the large tree stump where Cowslip waited and cleared his throat.

The blonde-colored buck stood on the top of the large embedded tree stump, clearing his throat. "Ahem! Does and bucks, and kits up passed their burrow-times. This is the story of how El-ahrairah was given a blessing from Frith."

Again, this El-ahrairah. I wonder who he is, and who is Frith. I guess now will be the time I learn who they are. Lily thought, wonderingly.

Long ago, when Frith made the world, all the animals were the same, began Dandelion. "They lived together, sharing the sweet grass of the hills. Among the animals was El-ahrairah, the Prince of rabbits. He had many wives and father of all his children. Soon, his wives and children started covering the whole world and eating so much, that there was none for the other animals.

Frith then went to speak to El-ahrairah. 'Prince Rabbit, you must control your people! There are too many. If you cannot do it, I shall find ways to control them.'

But El-ahrairah refused to listen, 'That is because you made them the best in the world, Lord Frith. My people are the strongest!'

This angered Frith as he said, 'Then, I will do it!'

He determined to get the better of El-ahrairah, so Frith summoned all the animals of the world to his sun cave to bring them a gift, making each one different from the rest. To the fox, the weasel, the dog, the cat, the hawk, the owl, and the wolf, he gave them claws and teeth; with the fierce desire to hunt and kill El-ahrairah's people. These animals became the elil, the thousand enemies of rabbits.

When El-ahrairah found his people slaughtered, he knew at once that Frith was angry with him. He feared what Frith might do next, and the Prince Rabbit didn't wish to meet the Black Rabbit of Inle. The Prince Rabbit dug a hole to hide in, but he dug only a little of it, when Frith came over to the hill. 'El-ahrairah, come out and I'll give you your blessing.'

'I can't! The fox and weasel are after me. If you want to give me your blessing, to my bottom, give your blessing!'

'Very well.'

As he spoke, El-ahrairah's tail began to glow shining white and flashed like a star. His ears grew longer to hear enemies from miles away. His back legs grew long and powerful, and he ran across the hill, faster than any creature in the world. The remaining survivors of his people were given the same blessing as they followed their Prince Rabbit to escape the elil.

Frith said, 'El-ahrairah, your people cannot rule the world for I will not have it so. All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies. And whenever they catch you, they will kill you! But first, they must catch you. Digger... listener... runner... Prince with a swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks, and your people shall never be destroyed.'

Hazel's group cheered from the story. Lily smiled the whole time, deeply interested in such a fascinating story. However, Cowslip's rabbits remained frigidly silent, not the least intrigued by the story, especially the perky and kindhearted Strawberry.

"It's incredible!" Lily awed. "It's strange how I've never heard of these lovely stories before."

"It's been part of our lives and our culture, including yours," Hazel explained. "We tell them to keep our faith."

"And if you'd like, here's an extra part of the story you'll love to hear," added Bluebell, who took his turn to get up on the tree stump, whilst Dandelion returned back to his group and shared a warm smile to hear the doe enjoyed his story. "This one is about El-ahrairah and the King's Lettuce."

"That's one of my favorites!" exclaimed Bigwig.

But as Bluebell began his story, Lily thought she heard a strange chanting that wasn't far. Quietly slipping out of her group, she followed the chants and stumbled upon a group of does surrounding the pink shape of the crystal rabbit. Their eyes closed and spoke as if under a hypnotic trance, "Devoted are we to the path he decides... Praise to be Frith for our food... Blessed are we to be his humble servants... Wise are we to accept..." the does repeated this eerie chant over and over, it seemed to have a creepy effect on Lily as she withdrew and returned to the Great Burrow, just as Bluebell had the story wrapped up.

Once more, Hazel's band cheered and praised at Bluebell's talent in storytelling. Lily was dismayed that she didn't stay to hear such a wonderful story, but the chanting of the does bothered her a little, so much that she wanted to tell her friends about it, until she noticed how every rabbit in Cowslip's warren still remained aloof and silent. No one cheered for Bluebell's story. They remained unimpressed and responded with a silent reception. Hazel said these stories are part of their culture, but the stories of El-ahrairah did not share the approval of Cowslip's rabbits at all.

"That was... very nice," Cowslip commended, though he was disturbed he tried to remain polite. "We don't tell the old stories much, charming as they are. El-ahrairah means nothing to us."

Lily noticed her friends reacted in shock from what Cowslip just said, as if they had just received a slap in their faces to hear someone ignore the old tales.

"But he was a trickster! Rabbits always need tricks!" Bigwig protested.

"No, no... rabbits need dignity," Cowslip stated, "and the will to accept what fate that Frith has decided for them."

"Devoted are we to the path he decides." Cowslip's rabbits chanted in an eerie chorus.

Lily could feel a dark presence in the Great Burrow, like a great danger was upon them. Her body shivered, but felt Pipkin's paws wrap around her front left arm for support. She could tell he was frightened by the rabbits' change in mood. Exposing a kitten to such a thing could scar him for life.

"My dear..." Cowslip addressed her, "you should be pleased by the entertainment dedicated in your name by Silverweed. Poems of Silverweed for your ears."

A youngster, close to Fiver's age, was a silver colored, skinny, and gray eyed rabbit with an old scar across his right eye, whom Lily deduced to be Silverweed, stepped forward up the tree stump. Bluebell was slightly pushed aside by this strange rabbit's presence. Lily had no idea what this meant, but she had a bad feeling about this Silverweed.

"Frith lies in the evening sky," Silverweed spoke in a haunting tone as he recited the poem, "the clouds are red about him. I am here, Lord Frith, I am running through the long grass. Oh, take me with you, dropping behind the woods. Far away, to the heart of light."

Lily stole a secret glance at Fiver, noticing how terrified he was and trying to resist being possessed by this haunting poem.

"The silence, for I am ready to give you my breath, my life!"

Silverweed kept his gaze focused on not just Hazel's band, but to Lily herself, as he continued to recite the poem like trying to send a message out to her and her friends. Beckoning them. Enticing them. Manipulating them to join his warren, though she wasn't entirely sure this felt like a real warren at all.

"The shining circle of the shining, the sun and the rabbit!"

"This rabbit... he smells like barley rained on and left to rot in the fields!" she heard Fiver whisper. "But it's more than that... he smells like wounds. Pain and rot... like a wounded mole that can't get underground."

"In autumn, the leaves come blowing, yellow and brown."

"Hazel, the roof!" Fiver became more spooked than ever. "The roof is made of bones!"

"They rustle in the ditches, they tug and hang on the hedge. Where are you going leaves? Far, far away."

"They're not bones, Hrairoo. They're tree roots..." Hazel tried to calm him down to no avail.

As the poem recited onward, images of skeletal rabbits flashed in Lily's eyes as she stared at the ceiling. She could've swore those skeletons had shining ropes around their necks. Flashes of last night's dream swept over her. The skeleton rabbits appeared to have come to life from within the roots, making gurgling sounds as they tried reaching out for her. Flames burst out of nowhere, engulfing the skeletal rabbits instantly. Amidst the fire, the roots of the tree transformed into the shining black ropes, throwing a lasso around her neck to capture her and draw her in to the depths of this hellish warren.

"Into the earth, we go!"

"LET ME OUT, NOW!" A paranoid Fiver bellowed and raced out of the Great Burrow, faster than any rabbit in the warren.

Several rabbits closer to the panicked runt were jostled and turned angrily on him, but Fiver took no notice as he violently escaped. No sooner had he left, Lily gave a pained squeal as she tore out of the Great Burrow, just as fast as Fiver had done. She couldn't take it any more. She refused to listen to that dreadful poem any longer. When Lily got outside, she didn't stop until she was at a safe distance from the warren. Panting heavily, she paused to rest in a small clearing.

"You felt it too? The sadness and evil that lingers in that place?" Fiver's voice nearly frightened Lily that she made a high hop in the air, but he came toward her, still trembling but curious about her. "Do you have visions like I do?"

"What do you mean?" Lily raised a puzzled eyebrow, until she realized he was talking about what she had seen. "Oh! You're referring to the bad dream I had last night."

"What dream?" Fiver had no idea of what she spoke of.

"Last night, I had a terrible dream about this warren. There was a fire, the tree had come to life and the roots tried to grab me, then skeleton rabbits emerged out of the ground." Lily shivered, hating to speak about it but she wanted Fiver to hear it. "All of them had shining black ropes around their necks. Then I saw Bigwig, caught in a black rope, and pleading for me to rescue him. I tried to save him, but the tree's roots caught me. And then, the flames had transformed into a rabbit with a scarred eye before it swallowed Bigwig and me."

Fiver silently stared at the doe, horrified.

"But I don't have visions like you," she added. "It just happened."

"I, too, had a terrible dream about this place," Fiver admitted. "It was cold, the roof was made of the interlaced sprays of the yew tress, stiff twigs twisted in or out and over or under, expect it was made entirely out of bones, hard as ice and set with dull red berries. Cowslip beckoning Hazel to carry the yew berries home in their mouths and eat them in the great burrow. He said our friends must learn to do it if they want to go Cowslip's way. Then came Bigwig, twisting out of the branches, his mouth full of berries saying, 'Look, I can do it. I'm running another way. Ask me where!' Hazel and Bigwig were another running, not to the warren, but over the fields in the cold, and Bigwig dropped the berries - blood red drops fell from his mouth, hard as a wire. He said, 'it's no good. No good biting them. They're cold.' And then, I woke up."

"FIVER, YOU WRETCHED LITTLE BLACK BEETLE!" a harsh voice erupted from behind the rabbits.

Before either Fiver or Lily could react, an infuriated Bigwig leapt out of nowhere and confronted the runt for causing a scene in the middle of a public poetry. "You're in one tantrum away from getting us all kicked out!" he berated. "You're determined to ruin it for us, aren't you? We've found a fine warren and get settled into it without having to fight, but you've got to do you're best to upset everyone!"

"Bigwig, stop!" Lily pleaded.

"You stay out of this!" he shouted.

"I'm sorry, but we are both heading to the down." Fiver attempted to leave with Lily by his side, but their path was blocked.

"You wouldn't have a hope in hell! You'd be dead before night-Frith" Bigwig growled, then he gazed at Lily. "You're trying to risk the life of the most innocent doe we've got, just to play nursey while you go wandering about like a moon-struck field mouse!"

"You are closer to death than any of us, Bigwig," Fiver desperately tried to warn him. "The place is death. There is a shadow in every corner of it."

"Ugh! Are you still moaning?"

"I'm not! There's evil here and it's all around us!"

But Bigwig wouldn't care to listen as he cruelly mocked, "It's me, me, me! All the time. Oh, I'm in a mist, everything's bad! Ohh, I got a funny feeling on my toe, run around and stand on your head!"

"Stop it, Bigwig!" Lily yelled, furious at his behavior.

Just then, Hazel arrived after having followed Bigwig. He scowled at the lion buck's rude imitation of his brother, then he gazed worriedly at Fiver and Lily. He was unsure of what recently happened over them.

"Hazel, you said that you could never make a good leader, because you're not the fastest, nor strongest, nor smartest, but what makes a great leader is that you believed in us and brought out the best of us," Fiver spoke softly, before he turned to leave. "Goodbye, brother."

Lily tried to go with him, but Bigwig stood between her and the runt as he glared a warning at her.

Fiver's wise words left a surprising effect on Hazel, who realized that his own brother had always believed in him and stood by his side, even though he refused to do the same for Fiver. He suddenly hurried over to him. "Wait, Fiver!" Hazel gave his younger brother an apologetic frown. "I'm sorry. If you say this place is rotten, then it's rotten and we leave. We began this adventure together, we'll finish it together. I'll go tell the others we need to leave."

Relieved to have his brother at his side again, Fiver trailed after Hazel as he began making his way back to Cowslip's warren. Instant relief swept over Lily, pleased to see the brothers have reconciled. Suddenly, Bigwig flew into a rage as he pounced on Hazel and tackled him to the ground, shocking Fiver and Lily.

"I'm not letting you get to the others, Hazel!" the lion buck scorned, he had enough of the brothers' nonsense. "If you want to leave, go. The rest of us are staying here."

"Let me go, Bigwig!" Hazel protested.

"You're not Chief Rabbit, Hazel!" exploded Bigwig, releasing the rabbit after he got the message through to him. "And you NEVER WILL BE! If you want to take the crazy dream of your brother as reality, then do it elsewhere!" Then he approached Lily and tried to persuade her to join him. "Come on, Lily. We're staying in this warren and we can start our life together without them influencing you with these insane dreams."

After witnessing his horrid actions toward her friends, Lily decided that enough was enough. Gazing at the brothers' concerned faces, she made her choice. "I will not," she refused, coldly.

Hearing the doe's defiance, Bigwig paused and sharply turned around to cast a hard scowl. "What did you say to me?"

"I'd rather start a life with my friends rather than with you." Lily sighed, though starting a new life with Bigwig sounded lovely, but it wasn't right with how he mistreated Hazel and Fiver. "I'm sorry, Bigwig. I believe in Fiver's visions. We can't stay here. I fear for you as much as I fear for the others. It may come true."

"Are you serious?! You shouldn't have to fear this place!" Bigwig couldn't believe his ears.

Lily shook her head stubbornly. "I can't stay here, Bigwig. I appreciate the idea of starting a new life together, but not at this warren. I want to leave with Hazel and Fiver!"

"You promised that you won't leave by my side!"

"I did, but only because you bullied me into it! I can't promise you if we're not somewhere safe! And..." Lily exhaled, angrily leaning up to his face as she got her own message through to him by using the same methods he did when he threatened Holly before their departure in Sandleford, "I'm sick of your arrogance, I'm sick of you telling me what to do and what not to do, I'm sick of how you treat Hazel and Fiver, AND I'M SICK OF YOU, BIGWIG! I realize now that you really are nothing but a bully!"

Hazel and Fiver gasped, as Bigwig became furious when he felt like his heart was ripped out of his chest. All thoughts of keeping her for himself evaporated as he began to shun the doe who rejected him in favor of those lunatic brothers.

"YOU EMBLEER HUFSA!" Bigwig cursed. "After all I have done for you! You're willing to join up with those two rascals because of their crazy suspicions about this warren! Perhaps it'll be better that I never try to protect you from elil again!" He scowled at the three rabbits, proclaiming them banished from the warren. "YOU'RE FINISHED HERE! I'm going back to the warren to make sure everyone else is finished with you as well!" With a scornful scowl, he made a dark threat with the penalty of death if these fools ever tried to stop him. "If you follow me there, I'll kill you all!"

Heartbroken, Lily watched as the lion buck made a dash back through the nearest gap in the hedge.

"Thank you." Fiver placed a paw on her shoulder, grateful to her for standing by him and his brother.

In that sudden instant, a fearful commotion began on the other side of the hedge. There were sounds of kicking and plunging, and the distant voice of Bigwig crying out in pain and anguish. This alarmed the trio as they stared at each other, wondering what sort of work was on the other side of the hedge.

"Something's got him," worried Fiver.

By an effort of curiosity against the fear of Bigwig keeping his promise to slay them if they trailed him, the trio forced themselves forward into the gap to see what recently happened. A wooden stout peg stood on the top of the small hill before the hedge, driven firmly in the ground. A length of twisted black copper wire gleamed dully in the sunlight and it moved violently when someone got caught in it.

Emerging from the hedge, a terrible sight lay before them. There on the ground lay Bigwig, choking and suffocating for air, while struggling and fighting to free himself from the wire looped around his neck and ran taut across to the head of the peg. Drops of blood, dark and red as the yew berries, welled one by one down his lips. He continued to jerk forward, but he still collapsed, kicking and choking.

A horrified Lily started to panic in an agonized squeal, "BIGWIG!"

Frenzied with distress, Hazel exclaimed as he rushed to the distressed lion buck's side, "Oh, Thlayli! Thlayli, you're in a snare!"

"A snare?" Though shocked, Lily was puzzled.

"It's a snare, a shining wife, used to trap rabbits!" Hazel told her, then he turned to the lion buck in distress. "Now, what did they teach you in the Owsla? Bigwig, tell us what to do!" he pleaded, but first he instructed to his brother. "Fiver, run to the warren! Find the others!"

Without hesitation, Fiver was off through the hedge and dashed back to Cowslip's warren for his friends. Lily came over to Hazel's side, trying to figure out a way to help her friend. She decided to bite the wire, hoping it will break by chewing at it.

"No good biting..." Bigwig's voice came thick and low, bubbling out the saliva in his mouth. "Peg... dig... bite..." The snare closed in around his neck as a convulsion shook him and he scrabbled at the dirt. "H-help... help me!" He tried using his paw to loosen the wire around his neck, only it made things worse.

"What does he mean by digging?" Hazel questioned, impatiently frantic.

Lily studied at the peg high above, then something clicked in her brain. "Look! The wire's on a peg in the ground! We've got to dig it out, then we can bite the peg to free him!" She immediately started digging out the peg with rapid speed, determined to rescue that impetuous buck. "Don't worry, Bigwig! We'll get you loose!"

Hazel joined in to help the digging, though his paws weren't as fast as Lily's. The harder Bigwig tried to move, the more he suffocated himself as his cries for help stung Lily on the inside, encouraging her to keep digging. She breathed heavily, burying her paws in the earth to remove every grain of dirt in her path. Tears threatened to burst out of Lily's eyes, silently pleading that she and Hazel will save Bigwig in time. Her arms began to ache and grow tired, but she would not give up.


Meanwhile, Fiver had rushed inside the warren, where his friends were still in the Great Burrow engaged in conversation with Strawberry, talking about what just happened over Fiver's panic attack and Lily's fearful behavior, until they saw him come in.

"Bigwig's in a snare, you have to come! Quick!" Fiver hurriedly told them of the situation.

Alarmed, the gang of rabbits turned to leave so to help their companion, but Cowslip purposely blocked their path as he claimed, "Nobody leaves! Frith has decided that it is Bigwig's turn. And so it will be."

Hawkbit stared in disbelief. "Turn? What do you mean turn?"

"A day less for one means a day more for us all."

As he spoke those words, his large band of rabbits eerily chanted their leader's words, "A day more for all."

"But what about Bigwig?!" protested Pipkin.

Cowslip shut his eyes, shaking his head as he dismissed the young kitten's concerns. "Stop talking about it, lad. There is no Bigwig. There never was!"

The gang became shocked by Cowslip's refusal to help their own kind, especially when an infuriated Fiver announced, "Frith and Inle! You're warren is nothing but a demented and religious cult who worships death and relies on the farmer who snares all of your people in exchange for food and protection!"

Taking Fiver's side, Blackberry had quite enough of this nonsense. "Now listen here, over the last few days, me and my friends have been chased, clawed, bitten, drowned, and if you don't get out of the way right now..."

"You'll find out just why we made it this far," Bluebell added, threateningly.

Eventually, a concerned Strawberry demanded, "Let them leave, Cowslip!"

But Cowslip stubbornly refused to allow them access to leave the burrow, so the gang had no choice but to push the traitorous rabbit to the side and escape this dreadful place.

"You think you're any safer out there than you are here, you'll be dead by sunset!" cursed Cowslip.

Silver paused to turn back and curse back at him, "You're mad, ALL OF YOU!" Then he raced out of the burrow to join his friends, hoping they were in time to save their fellow rabbit.


"Stop moving, Bigwig, it will only make it worse!" Lily ordered, but her watery eyes grew larger when she saw a river of blood foaming and bubbling around Bigwig's gasping mouth. "Oh, Frith! Hazel, look at his mouth!"

"I know, I know! We must not stop!" Hazel exclaimed, determined.

At that moment, Fiver had returned to the spot with the others and they reacted just as much as Lily did when they saw the blood on Bigwig's mouth, his eyes opened unseeing and the whites showed bloodshot as the green irises rolled one way or the other, and the snare tightening around his neck.

"Oh no, Bigwig!" Pipkin cried, shielding his eyes.

"The peg's in too deep! We can't dig any further!" Hazel could see the peg was embedded in the earth, even when he tried to bite the peg it did not help.

"I'll do it! I'm smaller!" Fiver quickly started to bite and chew at the wooden peg.

"I'll help, too!" Pipkin wasted no time in offering his assistance, being the second smallest rabbit in the group.

As Bigwig kept struggling to free himself, Fiver and Pipkin hurriedly chewed and chewed on the peg, while everyone else encouraged him to keep it up and tried to stop Bigwig from pulling too hard. The wood splintered under their teeth, whilst Pipkin grumbled the splinters prick him and it's hard to breathe, but he never ceased chewing. The peg's bite marks got thinner by the second. Pipkin's and Fiver's mouths started to bleed. Lily didn't want to stand around and wait, she wanted to do something to save Bigwig. After Fiver and Pipkin succeeded, the peg snapped in half and Bigwig threw himself to the ground with a painful grunt.

"He's free!" Pipkin cheered, relieved. "Bigwig, the peg's out! You're free!"

Unfortunately, Bigwig could not move at all. He wouldn't wake up. Everyone crowded around his body, distressed.

Blackberry pressed her head against Bigwig's chest where not a sign of a heart beat nor a breath came out of him. "I can't feel his breathing, or a pulse."

"Bigwig, get up! C'mon, get up!" Lily placed her paws on his body, desperately shaking him and trying to revive him. More tears poured out of her eyes when the lion headed buck didn't respond or move an inch. "No! Oh, please no!" she wailed.

No one could believe it. Bigwig lay dead before them. If a strong rabbit could break his neck in a snare or if the point of the sharp wire pierced the windpipe, there was no chance of the former Owsla warrior's survival.

"We're too late," Blackberry sobbed. "I think he's gone."

"Not Bigwig, what shall we do without him?!" Fiver cried, feeling like a failure that he couldn't save him.

This dreadful loss drained all of their courage. Their spirits broken, the rabbits gathered around their fallen comrade and bowed their heads and uttered the prayer, "My heart has joined the thousand, for my friend stopping running today." Even Lily spoke the prayer with them, finally understanding what it meant.

Pipkin began to wail and buried his little face in Bigwig's broad chest, shaking. "It's not fair!" he yelled, while Hazel gently pulled him away.

The other rabbits began to shed tears of grief and sorrow as they surrounded around their fallen companion, though none was devastated the most than a familiar red doe watching behind the hedge, shedding her own tears of grief and guilt.

Lily's vision blurred by the tears as she cries. She blamed herself for allowing Bigwig's tragic end to happen. She should've told him about her nightmare, and should never have called him a bully. Lily wrapped her arms around Bigwig's maned head. She buried her face in his own, the tears drop from her chin to connect with his cheek. Her ears draped on his head as she presses herself closer to him, weeping.

"Fiver... Pipkin... clean the blood off your mouths, it will attract elil," Hazel told his sobbing little brother and the heartbroken young kitten, and they did as told. "Come, we must leave this place." Then he realized something else. "Where's Cowslip and the others?"

"They tried to stop us coming to help," Hawkbit explained. "And Cowslip told Pipkin to stop talking about it."

"They wha… He told him WHAT?!" gasped Hazel, incredulously.

"Cowslip said it's Frith's will, that a day less for one means a day more for everyone else."

"They're everywhere. Shining wires, all around us!" Fiver explained, just as it all made sense to him "Cowslip knows about them! They all do! You pay for it; the food, the warren, but no one must ever ask where anyone was, or speak of the wires! The whole place is snared! EVERYWHERE! EVERYDAY!"

"They left Bigwig to die!" Silver growled, fury boiled inside of him. "They're cowards, cheats and liars! Let's drive them out, take their warren and live there ourselves!"

All of the rabbits agreed, eager for vengeance. Justice for Bigwig. Revenge on their own kind for deceiving and betraying them. "Yes, back to the warren! Down with Cowslip! Kill them all!"

"EMBLEER FRITH, YOU FOOLS!" Fiver's squealing voice screamed, blocking their path despite his small form and this shocking tumult died away. His eyes blazing with frantic urgency and rage. "You want to go back to their warren?! Are you mad?! That warren's nothing but a death hole! Nothing but one Man's larder! You say kill them and help ourselves to that dreadful place?! Oh yes, let's help ourselves to misery, death and a roof of bones!"

"The Man will come soon," said a familiar female voice. "He'll take Bigwig away."

Everyone could see Strawberry sadly coming out of the hedge. The flames of anger and rage boiled inside of them. If Cowslip and all of his rabbits had been aware of the unseen danger, then Strawberry had also known about the shining wires, just like every other pathetic rabbit in this sick warren. Breathing in and out, Silver charged at the doe with murder in his eyes and shoved her to the ground. His white paw pressed at her face to keep her down. The other rabbits gaped at Silver, never had they seen him so furious. Those nearest to him fell back in fear.

"WHY DID'NT YOU AND COWSLIP COME?!" he yelled. "YOU COULD'VE HELPED!"

Strawberry's ears dropped shamefully, while speaking muffled with a paw in her face, "The Man feeds us, protects us from the elil, but there's only one thing to fear; the shining wires. He wants our bodies to be healthy, so he uses snares to kill us for food and for our skins as pelts."

"I think you'd better explain," Fiver spoke, his voice extremely bitter. "Let her stand, Silver."

Silver reluctantly stood up, allowing Strawberry to get up as she explained the dark origins of her warren, "Once this warren was full of rabbits, until the White Blindness came and some rabbits fell sick and died. The rest of us survived. Then one day the farmer thought, 'Why should I bother to keep rabbits in hutches? I'll make the warren part of my farm.' So he began to shoot all elil, and he put out food for us. The rabbits grew big, strong and healthy. And then he started to snare them. Not too many so as to scare them away, just as many as he wanted. The rabbits became strange in many ways, different from other rabbits or hutch rabbits. Oh, we all knew the truth that we will die one by one to feed the farmer, but even to ourselves, we pretended that all was well. For the food is good, we were protected. We had nothing to fear but the one fear - the running knot in the hedge gaps and the wood path. We forgot the ways of the wild rabbits. We shunned El-ahrairah's tricks and stories, for what use had we for cunning when living in a warren close to the enemy and paying the price? Cowslip discovered other marvelous arts to take the place of tricks and old stories, only stories and poems about our own lives here."

Fiver shivered, remembering those awful poems recently. "That's why they danced, make shapes, and the poetry. To forget the fear and hide from the truth. Ohh, Frith!"

"And I thought it was all part of the entertainment for guests," Dandelion mumbled under his breath.

Strawberry continued with her sad story, "Cowslip enabled us to tell ourselves that we were splendid rabbits, better than ordinary rabbits. We have no chief rabbit. How could we? A chief must guard his warren from death and he must be El-ahrairah to his people. In this place there is no death, but one, and what chief could have an answer to that? We always had strange singers and poetry lovers. Since we could not bare in the truth, these rabbits who used to be wise, were squeezed under the terrible weight of the warren's secret until they accepted dignity and anything else that Cowslip could make them believe they loved the shining wire. But Cowslip had one strict rule, the strictest. Nobody must ask where another rabbit is and anyone who asked where must be silenced. To say where is bad enough, but to speak openly of the wires, that is intolerable. They would scratch and kill, of course, they're very poor fighters. You saw how we reacted to your stories of El-ahrairah. Who wants to hear about brave deeds of an old legend when they're ashamed of their own kind when they're deceiving you?"

The red doe paused, ending her story. No one spoke nor moved an inch. Except Bigwig's body started twitching by the ear. He heard everything.

Hazel hopped over to Strawberry, unleashing his anger on her. "You knew about the shining wires and you didn't warn us!"

"So, that's what happened to Kingcup?" Lily deduced, horror in her eyes. "He got snared, didn't he?"

"When a rabbit is gone, we never speak of his or her name again," Strawberry answered, remorseful.

"Why didn't you warn us?!" Hazel demanded.

"Just as your friends heard from Cowslip, if the wire took you, we'd live one day longer," Strawberry responded. "He didn't invite you here out of hospitality. The farmer sets so many snares at a time. There was only several of us left, then Cowslip saw you coming in the ditch yesterday, and that was his plan."

All of a sudden, a familiar exhausted voice cursed, "I'll kill them all."

Everyone looked back and to their surprise, Bigwig was coughing and gasping for air due to being strangled by the snare. He supported himself on all fours, visibly weakened by his near death experience. His furious expression over Cowslip's betrayal was a fearful mask of rage. Blood trickled down his lips to his chest to his right front paw. The sight of him would have made the rabbits cringe, but to find him still alive filled the rabbits with extreme relief and joy. Even Strawberry was overjoyed to see the lion buck had miraculously survived.

"Bigwig!" the rabbits cheered.

"You're alright, thank Frith!" Silver stamped his foot happily.

Lily's eyes widen and a smile of relief beams as she tottered over to him and gentle removed the wire from his neck. Then she nuzzled him, not the least concerned about his bloodied mouth staining her neck. The lion buck's mask of fury melted away when he felt her head brush at his cheek and neck. And without hesitating, she licked the blood clean off his lips, an act which greatly surprised him to feel her tongue touch his lips. The doe began to cry on his shoulder as she felt overjoyed to have him back. Bigwig slowly wraps his arms around her and sighs in content.

"I thought I'd lost you," she whispered.

"That's never going to happen," he whispered back, tenderly.

Pipkin instantly embraced him at his chest, and Bigwig gave the young kitten a little squeeze back. The group hug between Bigwig, Lily and Pipkin is a heart-warming moment, until every other rabbit dog-piled on top of Bigwig, knocking the wind out of him. All were laughing and hugging him with ecstatic relief.

However, Bigwig didn't like being piled on. "Would you kindly remove yourselves from me?" he grumbled.

"There's the Bigwig we know and love!" Hawkbit teased, as he and everybody else climbed off.

Deciding to confront Cowslip and his warren, Bigwig announced, "Now on your feet, lads and lasses! We have a score to settle!" He lead the charge as he let out his famous battle cry.

There was Cowslip standing eerily and calmly outside of the warren's entrance, while all of his followers stood frigidly on the tree's roots. None of them were pleased to see Bigwig was alive, except for some rabbits. Cowslip stared at them with an evil scowl. Looking at him and the warren now, Lily figured out that her nightmare must have been a warning against this awful place, and those creepy skeleton rabbits had been a sign to her of the deceased rabbits who had fallen victim to the shining wires long ago.

"Go away, unless you want to fight! Hmm?! HMM?!" Cowslip warned them, though his empty threat meant nothing.

"You don't know how to fight!" Bigwig approached him, his scowl full of disdain and ready to strike at any second. "You've forgotten all the tricks and cunning El-ahrairah gave us!"

Cowslip tried to attack, but Bigwig was more cunning and fast on his feet for combat as he tackled the old rabbit, knocking him to the ground. Suddenly, the distance sound of human footsteps and a gate opening caught their ears. Cowslip's rabbits retreated back to the burrow. Back on all four feet, Cowslip began to step back from Hazel's bunch.

"Leave this place. You need the freedom of the hills," Hazel tried to convince the old deluded rabbit to listen to reason. "You can relearn the stories of El-ahrairah."

But Cowslip gave them an evil, psychotic smirk, as he backed further into the entrance. "El-ahrairah is a lie. The Man takes care of us. We don't want to leave. We don't want your freedom."

"The snares will get you, if you don't leave," Hazel warned. "You don't have to surrender to the shining wire."

Unfortunately, Cowslip began to laugh manically like a crazed inmate from an asylum. "It won't get me! Maybe others, but never me!" He continued to cackle, then he made a sudden grab for Lily's right leg, attempting to drag her inside to the shadows. "You are like us, my dear. You allow Man to care for you. You belong with us!"

Lily screamed as the old rabbit's claws clamped around her leg as he attempted to drag her inside his warren of death, her paws buried in the dirt for support to no avail. Pipkin and Fiver tried to help by tugging at her arms in a failed attempt to pull her out.

"NO!" Bigwig cried, lunging forward and used his claws to strike at Cowslip's forehead. "She will never belong to you! She belongs to us!"

Bigwig's attacks had forced Cowslip to release his catch, as Lily tumbled forward and landed in Hazel's arms, where he smiled in relief.

As Cowslip's wicked laughter echoed inside the Great Burrow, Hazel commanded fearfully, "RUN! We have to get away from here!"

"Stay in the open! Stay away from cover, that's where the shining wires are!" Bigwig ordered.

As Strawberry watched their escape, she began to think deeply about what Hazel had told Cowslip. You don't have to surrender to the shining wire. She thought about Nildro-hain and what he would have done in a situation like this. In a way, he would have wanted her to live her life, just like how they dreamed they would do. Then, Strawberry made her decision. The red doe could never live in a warren where she is forced to forget the one she loved.


After escaping the Warren of Shining Wires, Hazel and the gang paused at a different clearing further away from Cowslip's warren to catch their breath. They panted heavily, some collapsing on the ground where Bluebell said he had never been so happy to see the old ditch path in his life.

"That was a near thing," Hazel sighed, turning to Bigwig and Lily. "Are you two alright?"

"I'm fine... I just need to catch my breath..." Bigwig replied, breathing heavily.

"I'm a little shaken." Lily slapped her right leg, as if Cowslip's grasp was still there. "I cannot believe humans would do that to rabbits." Her thoughts disgusted by Man's idea of killing rabbits for their meat and skins.

"I guess you're changing your opinion on humans then, eh?" stated Hawkbit, lying down in the mud.

"That still doesn't change how I miss Henry," retorted Lily, defensively.

"You know, the trouble of being Owsla is well tended to think you're right all the time." Bigwig turned to glance a grateful smile at Fiver, having been told by Hazel that Fiver and Pipkin were the ones who broke the peg to save his life, despite how badly he treated Fiver, and Lily was the most determined digger he had ever seen when it came to rescuing a buck. The guilt of his blind judgement and frustrated mistrust toward Hazel and Fiver had clouded his mind, alienating his relationship with Lily, and it almost cost him his own life. Lily was right. He behaved like a bully. "I should have listened to you, Fiver," he said, apologetically.

"We all should have listened," Silver agreed, feeling guilty.

The other rabbits felt terrible for allowing Cowslip to manipulate them and for ignoring Fiver when he knew the truth all along. They responded their apologies as well. Of course, Fiver easily forgave everyone. And then, Bigwig approached Lily, placing a paw on her own to stop her from slapping her right leg, assuring her that the danger has passed.

"Lily..." Bigwig began, before she turned her head, still shaken. "Lily... I was wrong about what I said. I was too selfish and I gave you so much disrespect that I probably don't deserve to be here, if it wasn't for Hazel, Fiver, Pipkin and you. I just want you to understand that everything I did was to protect you, because I'm very fond of you."

Accepting his apology, Lily said warmly, "I'm sorry for calling you a bully. I understand you wanted to protect me, but not listening to me and controlling me seems like you're not even protecting me at all, except caring about yourself."

Bigwig nodded his head. "Yeah... I was out of line, especially to Hazel and Fiver."

"Perhaps you could offer them a apology also, as you did for me." Lily suggested. "You can do more than admit you should've listened to Fiver. Go on, now."

Hesitating, Bigwig knew he wasn't good at admitting he was wrong, but he apologized perfectly to Lily and she forgave him. It put a spark of relief in his heart that there's still a chance for them to be together. "Hazel... Fiver..." he began.

"What is it, Bigwig?" Hazel responded.

"I want to... tell you how sorry I am for all those things I said to you... especially you, Fiver," Bigwig seeks for an apology, much to everyone's surprise. "You lot came and found out that I was caught in a snare. If I dashed off and you lot were gone, I may have been taken by the Black-"

"Don't say such things!" Hazel told him, but of course he forgave him. "Of course, I forgive you."

"Yes, I forgive you as well." A smiling Fiver forgave him as well. "We're just happy to see you're here with us."

Suddenly, everyone heard a twig snap. They looked to see where the sound came from when they realized someone is coming for them. An ashamed Strawberry shyly came out of the hedge and down the hill, then paused nervously in front of the now angry rabbits.

"You have a nerve coming here," Bigwig growled.

"Please, I didn't know Cowslip would try and stop you," Strawberry gazed at them with a stricken misery, but she wanted to make amends with them. "I'd like to come with you, if you have me."

"And why should we?" Hawkbit questioned, glaring. "Why don't you go back to Nildro-hain and all your friends in there?"

At the mention of her mate's name, Strawberry's green eyes were flooded with tears as she released a choking squeal as if she had been wounded. "There is no life in the Warren of Shining Wires for me, even without my mate! I don't... I don't have any friends, not anymore. People here don't like to make friends in case they get..."

"Snared?" Lily began to realize why Strawberry was crying. It was the cry of a broken heart. "The wire got Nildro-hain… he stopped running, hasn't he?" She put it all together in her brain. That small clearing where she and Fiver discovered earlier, where clod of earth furrowed and that small narrow hole the size of a carrot close to the rabbit hole - it is the location of where the wire caught poor Nildro-hain.

The rabbits gasped, sharply.

"He got snared this morning... that's why he never came for flayrah... I did try to save him, but Cowslip struck me by scratching my ear and I was forcibly prevented from rescuing my mate," Strawberry whimpered in a pitiful voice, "please, I beg of you!"

At this point, any resentment Lily felt toward Strawberry melted away. Her heart broke at this poor doe's loss of her mate. She remembered what it felt like when Bigwig nearly died by the snare, and she would've left Cowslip's warren if he ordered her to pretend her loved one never existed. "Hazel..." Lily pleaded to him, hoping he will give the red doe a second chance.

Hazel looked at her, reading the expression on her face and he glanced at the others for making a decision to grant permission for Strawberry to join them or to leave her. After thinking it over and learning the truth about Nildro-hain's fate, they lightly smiled and nodded their heads approvingly.

Strawberry was about to turn away and head back to the warren, until Hazel spoke sternly, "You can come, Strawberry. However, it's our ways now. If we say hop, you hop. Understood?"

Delighted to be accepted in the group, Strawberry turned back to them and smiled gratefully. "Thank you," she said.

"Now, what? Where do we go from here?" asked Hawkbit.

"We should go back and kill Cowslip!" Bigwig declared in raw anger. "We should kill the lot of them!"

"No, Bigwig. There's no need to go and fight them." Fiver wouldn't allow it. "All we have to do is leave them there."

Bigwig thought it over, then turned to Fiver as he remembered where he told everyone to originally travel to, deciding to put his trust in the runt's visions. "The down that you saw, you really had a feeling about that?"

"Yes, I did, Bigwig. That down is our home," confirmed Fiver.

And so, the rest of their journey continued for their new home in the high hills, with a new friend and addition to their group. There was no questioning Hazel's authority or Fiver's insight. No sooner had they vanished into the copse beyond, the farmer wandered out in the field of the warren to search for any snared rabbits. All he finds is a splintered peg and a twisted length of wire. Angered, the farmer decided to stop using pegs and started to hammer a huge metal nail in the ground, so this time no more rabbits can escape the shining wires.