Around the time of Lily and Clover's imprisonment in Efrafa, the rabbits of Watership Down had awoken very early in order to train their new Owsla for their mission: rescue the prisoners of Efrafa. Hazel vowed to leave early by sun rise, but Bigwig insisted they needed an Owsla, just in case they have to fight the Efrafan soldiers. It was a hard and difficult training for the bucks. Bigwig's patience was wearing thin, his concern for Lily stretched to the limit of pushing the bucks too far. Though Hazel and Holly understood what he is going through, they remained firm on telling off Bigwig for pushing everyone too hard.
Standing calmly still in the field, the Owsla's training was nearly complete. It was time for a demonstration for Hazel to see if he believes they are ready or not. The bucks leapt over a log lying at the bottom of the field, as Hawkbit had to crouch beside the log, leaning up against it. Bluebell ran forward and jumped on Hawkbit's shoulders, and leapt over the log. Then Fiver came next, then Dandelion and Silver, who's large weight almost crushed the disgruntled Hawkbit. Afterword, Hawkbit struggled to climb over the log, but he made it over.
"Well, what do you think so far?" Bigwig asked his Chief Rabbit.
"They're fast," Hazel complimented.
"Yes, but Kehaar's a bit off his mark." Bigwig rolled his eyes as the seagull flew over their heads, screeching. "Now, if that doesn't rattle the Efrafans, I don't know what will."
"Very impressive."
"It gets better."
Bigwig had this sly grin on his face, and before Hazel could ask what is on the lion buck's mind, the bucks lunged out of nowhere and tackled Hazel from behind, the impact sent him rolling backwards for a second. His leg stinging by the pain from the farmer's gun shot prevented Hazel from getting up, but his injured leg wasn't the only thing preventing him.
"Got you!" Fiver cheered, sitting perfectly calm on his elder brother's chest.
"Alright, no need to murder Hazel," Bigwig chuckled, amusingly. "Well done, lads."
"Fiver, we're not kittens anymore," Hazel scolded, rather gently. "And my leg hurts more than ever."
"Oh! Sorry Hazel," apologized Fiver, instantly removing himself from his brother's chest.
"We're getting so good we could sneak up on a homba," declared Bluebell, as he joined the other bucks leaving.
"Don't let Bigwig hear you say that or that'll be up next," warned Hawkbit.
"Well Hazel, we have an Owsla!" announced Bigwig, quite proudly. "I'd put them right up there with the best."
"Then we're ready," Hazel announced. "We're going back to Efrafa."
Returning to the down, the rabbits had to say goodbye to the friends they're leaving behind. Holly still feared the rescue party would never come back, but Hazel sternly reminded the former Owsla Captain of his promise to free Hyzenthlay. Pipkin was dismayed at not being allowed to join them, but Bigwig decided to task him with the job of keeping the warren safe with Holly, just to lift the young buck's spirit.
The rescue party stood out in the open, preparing to leave for Efrafa: Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig, Blackberry, Bluebell, Hawkbit, Dandelion and Silver.
"Right, wide patrol gather round!" ordered Bigwig.
Just then, Kehaar made a quick landing to complain, "Always the same, hurry up and wait. Can we go now?"
"We go!" Hazel declared.
The seagull took to the skies so he can provide guidance and lead their way to the enemy's territory. The rabbits began to lollop down the hillside, starting their journey to Efrafa and to rescue the poorly mistreated prisoners, especially Lily and Clover.
"Give the Efrafans a good thrashing!" Strawberry shouted, bidding them farewell.
"And one for me as well," Pipkin added, waving. "Good luck."
"May Frith be with you," prayed Holly, silently, as he watched the band of warriors disappear from his sight.
"If anyone's going to infiltrate Efrafa, it should be me!" Bigwig volunteered, determined to go undercover to enemy territory and hopefully find his beloved Lily.
The sun began to set as they passed Caesar's Belt, their trail delivered them to a dried up cornfield, just beyond the wood where the land beyond will deliver them to the enemy's warren.
"It might be better to send someone less threatening, Bigwig," Hazel suggested, thinking there could be another way. "Someone who can pass themselves off as a storyteller, or an outskirter."
"I agree, there is an operation that will requite subtlety and cunning," agreed Blackberry.
Grunting, Bigwig placed himself in front of the group. "But I'm a hot-head, right? When I get out with all those does, you'll see how subtle and cunning I am!"
"That's not exactly in abundance of options, Hazel," Blackberry sighed. "It can't be Bluebell, Fiver or me because they'd recognize us. You can't go in because of your..." She paused before gesturing to his wounded leg, when Hazel sharply glared in her direction.
"I told you, my leg is fine!" Hazel retorted, stubbornly.
"We don't know how they'll take to an injured rabbit."
"They'll most likely kill you," added Hannah, who had been riding on Hazel's back for the journey. "We need you here, as our leader."
Sighing in defeat, Hazel realized they were right. "Very well. Bigwig, infiltrate the warren by pretending to be a hlessi. Once inside, find either Lily, Clover or Hyzenthlay. They can help you organize an escape that will take place tomorrow night."
"Yeah, but as soon as they're out," Hawkbit scoffed, pointing out the obvious downside, "the Efrafans will be all over them. How will they get away?"
At that moment, Kehaar had come flying above out of nowhere, squawking with excitement.
"Well, that's where our secret weapon comes in," stated Hazel.
Kehaar circled the rabbits with great speed and enthusiasm, then he descended by swooping over their heads, cheering, "Hello!" Until he crash landed within a few inches inside the cornfield, somersaulting across the ground.
The rabbits sighed or shook their heads, whilst Hannah scolded, "You need to look where you're flying, Kehaar! Otherwise you're gonna hurt yourself so badly that you won't be flying for a month!"
Brushing off her lecture, Kehaar said, "Relax, Hanya. No one commands the skies quite like Kehaar." He stood up and stretched his wings out, as if he was this super awesome seagull superhero. "It's what all the lady gulls say."
Everyone stayed quiet for a second, until Hazel began providing instructions to the gull. "Kehaar, tomorrow night at Frith-down, Bigwig will break out of Efrafa with many other does, including Lily and Clover. We want you to provide support from above to make sure they can get away. If you see the Efrafans following or attacking us, you must drive them away. Terrify them."
"Okay, right! I'll do it!" Kehaar agreed, excitedly. "And one more thing... Bluebell has to make up an epic story about me, how the amazing and super humble Kehaar saved the rabbits!"
Everyone glanced at Bluebell, who nodded approvingly.
"Oh, he's getting a bit big for his beak, that gull!" Bigwig groaned.
"Bigwig, the rest of us will wait for you beneath the Iron Road," Hazel further instructed, while the lion buck nodded in understanding. "Does that all make... f-fox?"
"Fox?" Bigwig repeated, not sure if he heard Hazel right. Following Hazel's stupefied stare, he spotted the fox concealing himself within the cornfield, discovered the group of rabbits and crept silently toward them.
"FOX! Everybody get to the woods!" Hazel bellowed in alarm.
The fox sprinted forward to a charge, but the rabbits made a run for it and Kehaar hovered high enough for the fox to miss him. Bigwig was the only rabbit far behind, maneuvering back and forth to avoid the fox's sharp fangs by merely an inch, hoping to distract him long enough from catching up to his friends. Feeling the homba's hot breath on his neck, Bigwig needed to devise a plan to throw the fox off their trail and quick.
Kehaar swooped down to jab his beak at the fox's forehead, but it wasn't enough to stop the homba from continuing it's pursuit, as the predator attempt to swipe at the meddlesome bird. The other rabbits made it out of the woods and came to a rocky stretch of a river bank. Pausing to rest his injured leg as a result of all that running, Hazel noticed a small ledge behind the small fast flowing waterfall.
"Stop!" Hazel yelled, forcing the band to cease running. He placed his paw in the water, revealing a small gap inside. "We can hide behind it. The water should mask our scent, quickly now!"
Quick as a wink, the rabbits hopped behind the small waterfall and onto the ledge. It proved to be a very good hiding spot from elil. Everyone was present and accounted for, except for Bigwig, as he appeared and hesitated by the small waterfall.
"Come on, Bigwig!" Hazel urged. "There's plenty of room!"
At that moment, the fox emerged. Bigwig took one last look at the waterfall, then he made his decision. He would not hide like a coward, he would do whatever it takes to get rid of the fox. He took off through the wood, while the fox stayed in pursuit, growling furiously. Hazel peered out from the waterfall's curtains, shocked at Bigwig's actions.
Not far from where the fox chase happened, the Efrafan wide patrol had been patrolling their territory to search for any signs of intruders or if the outsiders were nearby, so far nothing.
"You know, sir, I think the General is spooked by these outsiders," Mallow confided in Captain Campion. "Did you see the look in his eyes when Fiver spoke of his past?"
"I doubt it," Campion disagreed. "The sooner we find their warren, the sooner we destroy it. Why do you ask, Mallow?"
"It just came up, sir. And those hutch rabbits, you seem to have taken a fancy one of them."
Campion stiffened, then he responded, "We don't treat any of the does like that, Mallow. But, this Lily... she's got a lot of spirit..." his voice dropped to a whisper as he realized whom she reminded him of - his old girlfriend, Primrose.
"Well, to tell you the truth..." Mallow made sure that Vervain nor the others were listening. "I thought it was amusing how she ripped off Vervain's ear." He snickered quietly.
"Same here." Campion couldn't help but show a tiny hint of a chuckle. Suddenly, his ears pricked up when he heard approaching feet, two pairs of feet. "Mallow, take Gorse and Thistle to that path, be prepared to ambush whoever is coming!" he gave command, pointing to the left part of the wood. "Vervain, you're with me."
Mallow, Gorse and Thistle nodded obediently and concealed themselves in the bushes. No sooner had Campion and Vervain had gone, Bigwig burst out of nowhere with a roar. He pushed his way past them like lightning, tumbling in a puddle of mud and covered from top to bottom slightly, standing his ground against the three Efrafans.
"Stay where you are, outsider!" demanded Mallow.
A familiar growl alerted the Efrafans, thus giving Bigwig the chance to make a run for it. The fox pounced at them, his jaws sunk into Mallow's throat, ending his life in an instant. It repeated the same attack on Gorse and Thistle, both having gone tharn at the sight of the homba.
An ear shattering scream reached the ears of the Watership Down rabbits as they kept themselves hidden behind the little waterfall.
"Oh, Frith and Inle!" Blackberry gasped, fearing the worse of Bigwig.
Returning back to the clearing where they had separated from the wide patrol, Campion and Vervain had grown alarmed by the scream, but upon their arrival, their wide patrol had vanished. Small pools of blood were all that was left of the Efrafan wide patrol.
Campion sniffed at the ground, finding tracks of a stranger, but the second pair of tracks were much larger. "A fox!" he gasped, deducing what else occurred. "It got Mallow, Gorse and Thistle." The Captain lowered his head, silently mourning his fallen patrol. "My heart has joined the thousand... for my friends stopped running today..."
"What if it comes back?" Vervain looked around, terrified.
"No, it looks like the fox was chasing something else," replied Campion. "Mallow, Gorse and Thistle got in the way."
Cowardly as ever, Vervain turned tail and ran off.
"True to form as always," muttered Campion, disgusted.
From beneath a huge hedge for cover, Bigwig watched the Efrafan Owsla Captain for a brief moment, until he crawled underneath the hedge to escape the searching eyes of Captain Campion.
The Watership Down rabbits cautiously hopped out of the small waterfall and back onto the back, but tensed when they heard feet approaching. They froze, ready to go back to hide or to run. To their surprise and relief, Bigwig had come back.
"Bigwig! Oh, thank Frith!" Fiver cheered, relieved.
"We thought we'd lost you this time, you old rascal," added Hawkbit, just as happy as everyone else is.
"Takes more than a homba and a couple of Efrafan Owsla to bother me," Bigwig boasted, smiling proudly.
"But aren't you wounded?" inquired Blackberry. "Why did you cry out like that?"
"I didn't, I bumped into a bunch of Efrafans," Bigwig explained. "I knocked them down, but they tried to stop me. I raced off, and the next thing I heard was this squeal."
"So the homba got the Efrafans?"
"It must have. After all, I lead them right into it."
"That was an idiotic risk!" Hazel reprimanded, strictly.
"What's tickling your ears?!" Bigwig questioned, offended by his Chief Rabbit's fury.
"You're no use to use if you're dead!"
"And what was I suppose to do? Let the homba find the rest of you huddling behind a waterfall!"
"He might not have found us."
"That's your trouble, Hazel. You want the world safe and nice. Well, the world isn't like that. Get used to it." Bigwig couldn't believe how Hazel would chastise his idea of luring the fox away, even if he did make it to their hiding spot behind the waterfall, the fox might have seen him and it would have gotten all of them. Glaring back at the other rabbits, he stated, "Let's get a move on to Efrafa..." he glowered back at Hazel, "unless you think it's too dangerous."
Hazel didn't make a retort this time. He knew that Bigwig was right on one thing: the world isn't safe and nice for rabbits, all the world is their enemy as Frith once told El-ahrairah when the Prince Rabbit refused to take advice and suffered the consequences afterword.
As the band continued on their journey, they finally located the iron road, or rather train tracks on the bridge that towered majestically over their small forms, where they will meet up with Bigwig and the escapees tomorrow night.
"This must be the iron road that Holly mentioned," Silver guessed, as he gazed up at the giant bridge in wonder. "I've never seen anything like it."
"Trains come and go on the iron road," Hannah explained. "You hear them before you see them coming."
All of a sudden, Kehaar came soaring across their heads, though glad to have found the rabbits safe and alive, squawking in alarm, "It's not to rest here, they come!"
"Another patrol?" Hazel gasped.
"No, ugly Vervain and Captain Campion!" shouted the gull. "They coming to find you! You go to river, I guide you there!"
"C'mon all of you, run for it unless you want to get your ears chewed off!" Bigwig ordered.
"Is it safe?" questioned Hazel, disturbing the lion buck.
"Yeah, come along! By other side of iron road!" Kehaar encouraged, guiding the band of rabbits to run beneath the huge bridge. "I think maybe they don't like going across iron road!"
The remaining duo of the wide patrol, Campion and Vervain, had caught the scent of intruders after leaving where their soldiers had been killed by the fox, and came dangerously close to following their trail. Kehaar decided to provide a quick diversion by passing hraka on the unexpected Vervain, much to his chagrin and to Campion's amusement.
Hazel and his band tore across the path, with Kehaar as their guide, to reach another stone bridge where this time, no iron road on it and it had a huge chunk missing from the middle of it, leaving only a thin strip for the group to cross over in a cautious single file. Close to the bridge was a large hill, downhill to hide underneath the bridge for cover. Beneath the bridge was a river, and a strange large wooden object floating on the water's surface.
"We'll have to hide here for now," Hazel decided. "We need to rethink this raid."
"We came to get Lily, Clover and the other does! What's to think about?" Bigwig protested, impatient to rescue his beloved Lily.
"Getting out in one piece."
"He's got a point, let's rethink it back home. Hmm?" Hawkbit suggested, still trying to get out of it.
Bigwig growled threateningly at him, so Hawkbit shrunk low to the ground. "I've had just about enough of you!" the lion buck snarled, turning to his Chief Rabbit. "I say we get it done now!"
"Alright, say we do get them out and Woundwort sends his army after us?" Hazel retorted in irritation. "If what Holly says is true, we couldn't possibly stand and fight them."
"Then Kehaar does his hawk act to keep them occupied and we run like mad back here. Even if we do fight, I'm willing to do it whatever it takes!"
"Right, and there's an Efrafan patrol blocking the bridge, then what?"
"Then we're trapped on this side of the river," Fiver interrupted, pointing out the obvious.
"All talk, no action," Bigwig huffed, turning to go back up to the top of the hill. "I'll watch for the bridge patrol while Hazel decides how fast we should run away." And with that, he stormed off.
There was no turning back now, Bigwig was going to rescue his precious Lily from that wretched place, no matter what it takes. He decided to take pleasure in disobeying Hazel and infiltrate Efrafa right now. Just then, he noticed a black streak racing across the field, trying to escape from Campion and Vervain. Unfortunately, the two soldiers spotted the figure and maneuvered their direction back toward him. They ambushed the figure, tackling what appeared to be a dark rabbit with torn ears. Bigwig's heart cried out to the poor rabbit, but instantly he made it part of his plan to get inside Efrafa, and hopefully to prevent their beating the torn rabbit or to ensure neither of them found his friends' location.
"Oi, you!" Bigwig shouted, catching the soldiers' attention and interrupting their mistreatment of the torn rabbit.
No sooner had Bigwig allowed himself to get captured, Blackberry discovered the giant floating object on the river.
"Hazel-rah! Come and look at this!" the doe cried, excitedly. "I think I've found our escape route. It's just like the plank and the metal lid. Remember when we floated across the river to escape Holly and the Owsla?"
The rest of the rabbits approached her, studying the wooden object covered by a huge green cloth with much curiosity. Nobody understood what this wooden object could be and what the doe was talking about as their escape route.
"By Frith!" Fiver exclaimed, grinning as he correctly deduced what she meant. "You're right, Blackberry!"
"Oh, that is boat!" Kehaar told them, while eating a fish he caught from the river. "Man make them go on water. It floats."
"Boat?" Hawkbit was puzzled. "Is it dangerous?"
"No, no. It's safe. I see lots of them on big water. Some big as whole city."
"What's a city?"
Kehaar rolled his eyes, exasperated at the rabbit's naivety of the world. "Ugh, rabbits."
"A city is huge warren for humans," Hannah told them. "A relative of mine lives in a city, often sending me postcards of the city."
"With this boat, we wouldn't need the bridge," Hazel declared, figuring it out. "We can use it to escape the Efrafans. Blackberry, you're a wonder!" His compliment made Blackberry blush.
"Hey Bigwig, guess what?" Bluebell shouted, eager to inform the lion buck of their escape plan. "Blackberry found a-"
There was no reply. Bluebell wondered where he had gotten to. He ushered Hazel to come up the hill. The two rabbits exchanged confused glances. Before either of them could shout out for him, they heard distant unrecognizable voices, probably Efrafans. Hazel and Bluebell returned to the bridge's cover, concerned.
"Where's Bigwig?" asked Fiver.
After a moment's pause, Hazel answered, "He's gone."
Back at Efrafa, Lily had been keeping herself and her companions amused by telling the story of her travels to finding Watership Down. She hoped it will lift their spirits, but she was careful not to let the guards overhear her.
"...and after we first moved in to the down, we tried to force the bucks to help dig a warren, but Bigwig started a campaign of 'Bucks don't dig!' He lost in a game of Bob-Stones to Fiver, so the bucks would have no choice but to help, especially when a weasel started targeting us, but we outsmarted him," Lily told the does. "And then, Captain Holly came staggering toward the hills with a few others, maimed and injured, revealing the massacre of Sandleford at the hands of humans."
"That is quite a story," awed Clover.
"From what you said of this Bigwig fellow," Thethuthinnang said, "he sounds quite stubborn and impetuous."
"True, but he is the best rabbit I have ever met," sighed Lily. "He was always there for me and he treated Pipkin like his own son."
"Then you are lucky to have someone who cares about you," Vilthuril said, admiringly. "Not like these cold-hearted creatures here in Efrafa."
"If you had met my friends in Watership Down, you would love to mate with them," Clover added, jokingly.
The four does giggled, until they heard the General's bellowing voice echoing from the main burrow down the corridor that startled them.
"FOOLS, COWARDS AND TRAITORS!"
"What's going on?" wondered Vilthuril.
"Are you incompetent or just lacking in motivation?!"
"Then something's happened," Lily said, hopping toward the burrow's entrance to listen.
"You're a stain on the glory of Efrafa!" General Woundwort's voice kept bellowing. "You call yourself Owsla?!"
Curious, Lily decided to go investigate.
"Lily, wait!" Vilthuril warned. "You'll be caught!"
"Don't worry about me," Lily assured, before she quietly hopped out of the burrow, after making careful examination of no guards being present, gesturing Clover to keep an eye out for guards. She tiptoed to the entrance of the main burrow, careful not to be seen.
General Woundwort's eyes blazed with fury and rage as he towered over Vervain, who cowered on the ground before his master.
"Forgive me, General," Vervain pleaded, pathetically. "But the fox came..."
"The first sniff of danger and you run?!" Woundwort spat, bitterly. "You let Blackavar escape, abandoned Captain Campion, desertion in the face of the enemy, the judgement is death!" He raised his paw, claws exposed, ready to strike at this traitor until...
"General, wait! Please!" Campion appeared at the entrance, interrupting the execution. "I sent Vervain ahead," he lied, even though he knew of Vervain's cowardice and abuse of power, he dared not let him die.
Woundwort stared at his most loyal captain for a moment, thinking over what he told him. After considering it and seeing Campion having returned, he said, "Your loyalty does you credit, Captain Campion. And what of the traitor, Blackavar?"
"He was recaptured and returned to his burrow, with a double guard at his side," Campion reported, and Woundwort was satisfied of this piece of news, but there was more. "And sir, we've brought in a hlessi. An experienced Captain of Owsla, he wishes to join our warren."
This surprised the General, for hardly any rabbit would dare to join his warren even if they knew of its reputation. "Bring him to me," Woundwort ordered.
Glancing over his shoulder, Campion gestured to a familiar figure in one of the side tunnels to come out and show himself to the General. As Lily watched patiently, she gasped in horrified disbelief at who this mystery stranger is who wished to join Efrafa.
Bigwig entered the main burrow, stopping next to Campion and Vervain. "General Woundwort! Thlayli, sir." As he greeted, bowing before the massive rabbit, there was a smirk that appeared wicked. "At your service."
No! Bigwig would never betray us, not like this. He wouldn't... Lily didn't understand what his intentions were, but what she witnessed could be the betrayal of her lover put a knife in her heart. All of a sudden, she caught a glimpse of Bigwig's eyes stealing a glance of concern and relief in her direction, the second Woundwort demanded to his captains how they found this hlessi. The lion buck winked in her direction as he smiled gingerly. All thoughts of Bigwig betraying his warren evaporated like mist, Lily sighed deeply in consolation as she waved at him. Unfortunately, Bigwig had to turn back to focus his attention back to this monstrous rabbit.
"So...Thlayli, is it?" General Woundwort spoke at last. "Why have you come to join Efrafa?"
"Well, sir... I've heard it said that the Chief of Efrafa is a leader of warriors," replied Bigwig.
"Yes. And...?"
"My old warren was destroyed some Friths ago, and being a hlessi and a warrior, I was hoping to make myself at home in a warren whose chief might better appreciate my talents... sir." Bigwig loathed the idea of calling this so-called rabbit 'sir' but he still played along with it.
"Really now?" Woundwort's eyes widened.
Vervain, on the other hand, was quite suspicious of this newcomer. "Don't trust him, sire! I don't fancy the looks of this hlessi. Not a rabbit his size. Looks more like a troublemaker."
Smirking, Campion decided to tease him, "Sounds like you, Orchis, and he would get along swimmingly, Vervain."
Vervain growled with a bruise to his pride. "Be that as it may... can you run, Thlayli? Can you fight?" He interrogated the hlessi.
"Course I can run and fight," Bigwig responded. "But truth be told... I'd say I was the only rabbit who actually knew how to run and fight, given my old warren's... errr… lack of discipline, especially in the Owsla."
"Hmmm...is that so?" inquired Woundwort.
"Afraid so, sir. In fact... while we didn't fight or train as much as yours surely does, the only reason I was in their Owsla was because..." Bigwig thought for a moment until he came up with something, "well, only because I've been known to spin a few tales."
"A storyteller?" gawked Vervain, laughing incredulously. "And yet you've come to join us? Sounds suspiciously odd, sire... don't you think?"
"I thought you might have a better use of me than my old warren did."
"Hmmmm... your old warren," Woundwort continued the interview. "Where was it, if I may ask?"
"Sandleford Warren, a long journey, sir, along the path of the setting sun," Bigwig added, though this part was true. "But... as I said, my warren is in ruins now. Destroyed... by man."
Woundwort's eyes widened in sheer rage, burying his claws in the ground leaving engravings. "Man... May Frith burn the flesh from his bones! So... you were a storyteller in your old warren... yet you're also a warrior, are you? Hmmm..." he decided to test the hlessi as he pointed to Vervain. "Could you fight him?"
Vervain gaped in disbelief that his master would suggest a hlessi to attack him, let alone allow that meddlesome outsider doe rip off his ear. Campion, however, seemed less than concerned at the idea of someone attacking Vervain.
Bigwig eagerly overpowered Vervain and pinned him to the ground, his claws exposed as he raised his paw to strike. "Not much of a fighter, is he? Shall I kill him, sir, and rid Efrafa of one less weakling?"
Woundwort was secretly pleased at this hlessi's strength. "Not today, Thlayli. I've seen more than enough." As he watched Bigwig let Vervain go, the General continued, "You will make an excellent addition to the Owsla. The only issue left to address... would be to where to place you in Efrafa."
"General, as I am certain Captain Vervain has informed you," Campion stated, "we lost three rabbits to a homba on the Wide Patrol around ni-Frith today. With Mallow, Gorse, and Thistle gone, thus including Charlock and Bugloss, that's five officers in total dead in less than a week. I believe a post in the Wide Patrol would give Thlayli here a proper education of how Efrafa's Owsla compares to his old warren. And we will need all the soldiers we can muster, sir."
Woundwort contemplated this for a moment, then he agreed. "Yes, so we do. I've decided to appoint you Probationary Captain of Owsla, Thlayli, as well as an assigned post in the Wide Patrol, once Captain Campion has officially trained you. Campion, make sure he is thoroughly instructed in the ways of Efrafa."
Campion saluted. "Yes, sir."
"You will also be given quarter and flay-rah rations, like any in our Owsla," Woundwort added, chuckling. "Also... if you want a doe, you'll have a choice here. One does not serve in the Owsla simply for glory, after all."
Bigwig's eyes hardened in fury at such a cruel use the does are forced to do in Efrafa, especially if his darling Lily would be treated in such a fashion, but he kept his emotions in check. "Hmmm... thank you, General."
"Now, if that all you report, you are dismissed," Woundwort ended the interview, sending the others on their way.
The three rabbits bowed obediently. However, as Campion and Bigwig headed out, Vervain silently glared at him to follow them only to be stopped by his master.
"Hold, Captain Vervain!" Despite the newcomer's strength and lack of mercy toward Vervain, there was something different about this hlessi that threw Woundwort off track and he wanted to be sure of this, before he committed to allowing Thlayli to join his Owsla after losing plenty of officers in his warren. "This Thlayli… this hlessi has an odd scent about him. I am unsure whether his intentions are true or false. Watch him closely. Don't let him out of your sight."
Delighted, Vervain sneered obediently, "Ahhh… As you command, General."
No sooner had Vervain had gone, Lily felt a tap on her shoulder that startled her. Luckily, she didn't cry out so not to alarm the Efrafans. It was only Clover standing behind her.
"The guards are looking for you," Clover reported. "It's time for silflay."
"We'd best get outside," Lily replied. "And Bigwig is here, he's come to break us out!"
"Oh, thank Frith!" Clover beamed excitedly, though silently. "I do hope he has a plan to get us out," she added, retreating back to her burrow with her comrade.
