Spring had come a few months later. The snow had melted, and everything turned green again with lots of flowers in bloom. The warren was back to normal as always. Some changes had occurred during the wintery season, such as the kittens having grown slightly.
For example, Pipkin had this pale brown spot on his left eye and another one on his muzzle. Basil's fur hair began to resemble a mohawk whilst the rest of his hair stretched long to the back of his neck. Aubretia's little bob haircut remained the same as always other than a small blue aubretia flower tucked in the right side of her head. Violet's pigtails stayed just the way they are, besides two little violet flowers tucked in her pigtails to give off an adorable appearance.
As for their parents, Bigwig's large dark brown mane had grown bigger and fluffier than ever. Lily started wearing a pink lily flower on her head, tucked in the right side of her head. And their friends, Hazel started showing signs of a muscular physique and so did Fiver. Holly had been promoted to Colonel, giving him top priority over the Owsla, but he still relied on Bigwig as his second-in-command.
One early morning, Pipkin had gone off with Fiver, Dandelion and Hawkbit to raid the Nuthanger farm for some flayrah. However, they were not the only ones visiting Nuthanger Farm, as there were two other hlessi watching them from the nearby brush over the stone wall.
Dandelion took a hearty bite from a peapod, remarking "Sweet as…well, baby peas."
"I heartily recommend the spinach, lads," Hawkbit suggested as he tore off a leaf of the aforementioned flayrah.
Pipkin turned to the usually dour buck, chewing on some nice lettuce. "Haven't finished with the lettuce yet, Hawkbit…"
"But we'll get to it," Fiver remarked before swallowing. He briefly turned his head towards a certain direction before pointing out, "Let's not forget to keep an eye out for the local nuisances, shall we?"
"Right. If either of those dogs, Duster or Bob, turn up while I'm eating…" Hawkbit swallowed before he continued, "I'll tear their ears off."
Dandelion turned to Hawkbit, a little hesitant before asking, "And… how about the cat?"
"Who, Tab?...No match for me," he replied with a bit of overconfidence.
As Hawkbit continued to boast, the two bucks watching them, a fat, short, dark grey one and a tall, skinny, light blue one, began to ponder one thing: easy access into a nearby warren.
"Oh my…" the light-blue buck remarked with interest, "yes, Raincloud. This lot looks absolutely fabulous."
The dark grey one called Raincloud seemed to concur before noticing close to the horizon the arrival of a rainstorm. "Ho-ho…there's a sun shower in the offing. With a bit of luck, we'll have a rainbow. Perfect for a grand entrance…"
The light-blue buck lightly chuckled as he figured what the other was planning. "The messenger dodge... We haven't pulled that one in ages…"
"Hmmmm… it'll be a bit sticky making the illusion work, with them in the garden. Too exposed…"
"How do we move them along, then?"
Raincloud thought a while before quietly sneaking from the brush, "Aha! We locate the inevitable farm mongrel forthwith."
The taller of the two hlessi was a little confused, as he at times never understood certain words in his accomplice's flowery vocabulary, though he never let the other know.
"Bluesky, 'forthwith' means 'now'."
"Oh! Right… I knew that." Bluesky, the tall light-blue buck, hopped out to follow Raincloud. "I was just thinking…"
"No, you weren't."
Once the two located Duster (as Bob was inside with the Canes) dozing off in his doghouse, Raincloud urged Bluesky to stir the dog awake, reasoning that all dogs preferred Bluesky's scent over his own. Reluctantly agreeing, he hopped over the sleeping mutt and shook his fur, stirring the dog from his slumber before hopping away and out of sight. Duster now fully awakened, he sniffed about for the possible intruder…when he took notice of the four rabbits in the garden. Growling as Duster approached the garden, Raincloud and Bluesky watched on as their ruse was about to begin short.
"Which way do you think they'll bolt?" Bluesky asked his plump companion, who looked about before assessing the answer.
"Through the hole in the stone wall and into the field…" As he answered, a trickle of rain began to start as Raincloud looked upward. "A very promising start to our endeavor, wouldn't you say?"
"Oh yes, Raincloud," the blue buck replied with an eagerness. "Most auspicious. Almost as though we planned it."
As the two hlessi chuckled at their prospects, Duster approached the lunching rabbits who were unaware of the approaching danger…until a low growl could be heard from right behind. Hawkbit was the first to turn towards the sound. All it took was one look from that dog's snarl for Hawkbit to cry out, "Run!"
Hawkbit's shout startled the other rabbits from their feasting to notice the danger as well, dodging Duster's swiping paws and snapping jaws. The four rabbits ran like El-ahrairah away from the garden with Duster right on their tails, slipping through the hole in the wall and leaving behind Duster to look inside for the intruding bucks. Of course… being an animal of short attention span, the dog shortly settled for a bone that he hid in the hole after a brief digging, carrying it in his jaw.
Meanwhile on the other side of the stone wall, the bucks were catching their breath from the sudden chase. Totally relieved and exhausted to have escaped in time.
"I wasn't done with that lettuce," Fiver remarked, disappointed at their lunch being cut short.
Pipkin was also rather unsatisfied as he lightly griped, "I never even had a garden spinach."
Dandelion, however, had a brief smug look as he turned to Hawkbit. "Now what was that you said about…fighting the dog, Hawkbit?"
Hawkbit, the only one with some food still in his maw, merely shrugged and replied, "I said I'd take him on if I wasn't finished eating." He then quickly chewed the shred of spinach and swallowed it. "And I am."
"Well, I'm not," Dandelion asserted as he looked through the hole, "so let's see if that dog's cleared off."
Suddenly, the rain showers began to lessen as rays of Frith's light began to peek through the dark clouds. From behind one of the rolling hills, those two clever bucks Bluesky and Raincloud were eagerly waiting for their grand entrance. Waiting for the rainbow.
"Any time now," Raincloud remarked as he waited.
Meanwhile, the slender Bluesky was busy practicing his lines and poses for their grand entrance. He turned to his stout compatriot to ask, "Raincloud…which of these looks more…dignified? This?" He sat on all fours with his chest and head held up high, as if acting lordly, before standing up on his hindpaws with his paw to his chest as his eyes looked up, "Or this?"
"They all make you look like you've been hit by a hrududu," Raincloud said, clearly unimpressed before returning his gaze to the sky for the rainbow.
Back at the stone wall, Dandelion carefully pulled his head out of the hole to report that Duster was sitting on the spinach, eating a bone which gave Dandelion a moment of disgust.
"Looks like the day's raid is over. Might as well make for home," Fiver suggested.
As the four hopped off towards Watership Down, the skies began to clear up a bit more and the rain started to lessen just enough for a rainbow to begin making its way across the sky, Pipkin the ever-excitable lad being the first to notice. "Look, everyone. Prince Rainbow's visiting!"
As soon as they climbed over a certain hill, they saw two rabbits hopping over the hill from the other side. They stopped when the two rabbits came in front of their path, startled at first before the taller of the two cleared his throat and exclaimed, "Fear not, good rabbits!"
"Good tidings to you, fine rabbits of the earth," the stouter of the two genteelly announced as he hopped forward once.
While they were surprised, Hawkbit was also the most suspicious of the four, given their encounters with three dangerous warrens already. "Who are you, and where do you come from?"
Bluesky merely shook his head lightly before pointing to the rainbow behind him and Raincloud. "Up there, thicky. Where did it look like we came from?"
While his response did earn a nudge from his companion, Hawkbit looked up to the rainbow, wondering what exactly the taller rabbit meant.
Raincloud took the next cue to speak. "We have a message for your most illustrious leader and his renowned Captain of Owsla."
"Ohhh… you mean Hazel and Bigwig," Pipkin answered.
"Yes…those very rabbits."
Hawkbit, still in awe, decided to ask, "What did you mean by…'up there'?"
Raincloud merely gave a light smirk before answering, "We come from the Kingdom of Colors, for we are…the messengers of Prince Rainbow!"
The four rabbits were in awe by who these guests claimed to be.
"Now then, take us to your leader."
At first, the wonder of these "messengers" astounded the four bucks… until they came to the hill where their warren was on. Hawkbit, Fiver, and Dandelion found themselves pushing Raincloud up the tall climb with Pipkin and Bluesky hopping freely beside them. Of course… it was only further up doing the climb take it out on the three older bucks pushing the stouter of the messengers upwards.
Bluesky looked at his surroundings in wonderment as he had never been this high up before (a fact that was cleverly omitted for the dodge). "Ooh, lovely view. I can see where we were."
Meanwhile, Fiver called to Pipkin while breathing a little heavy from the push, "Run and tell Hazel and Bigwig that we're coming."
Raincloud added, "And bring me a smidgen of flayrah, would you? My strength is flagging."
As Pipkin headed up towards the warren to announce the arrival, Hawkbit was the first to ask, "Why don't you two just…fly up the hill or something?"
Of course, the two had done this many times before and knew just what to say. "On Earth, we have to behave like normal rabbits," Bluesky replied. "Rules, you know."
"It wouldn't be fair for us to go flying about…while you're slogging down below, would it?" Raincloud added.
Hawkbit groaned as he softly remarked, "I could live with it."
Back on Watership Down, the warren was calm, and every rabbit was doing as they did on nice days like this, especially after a light rain shower. Blackberry and Primrose were teaching the kittens about the names of certain plants, herbs and flowers, and which of them were safe to eat and which ones to avoid. Clover, Boxwood, Haystack and Hannah were engaged in polite conversation whilst the doe ate a carrot. Kehaar kept himself busy cleaning his wings.
"Ah, springtime," Hannah sighed blissfully. "Nothing like it."
"Nothing beats a day like this when you get to relax and feel the warmth of the sun on your face," Clover agreed.
"I suppose, but the damp grass gives my fur the nasties," Haystack complained.
"Does it matter?" Boxwood sighed in content.
Whilst they had been talking, Lily was telling Strawberry a story about her childhood back when she used to live on Ridgeway farm, both of them lying on the soft grass and staring at the clouds drifting slowly past the sun.
"...and the next you know, Henry jumps into this puddle splashing mud everywhere, some of it got on me as well!" Lily chuckled at the memory of what her deceased owner did during the rainy season a few years ago. "I was soaked to the brim, I had to bathe in a tub to get clean!"
"And you didn't mind getting wet or dirty?" Strawberry questioned with a giggle in her tone.
"Nah! I was only a kit back then. Whatever he did for fun, I did it was well."
Just then, Hazel and Bigwig lolloped passed them whilst following Pipkin, who had relayed the arrival to the two. And what Hazel had just said recently caught the does' attention. "I'm not keen on strange rabbits being shown the way to the warren," said the chief rabbit.
"You don't have to worry about Bluesky and Raincloud," Pipkin assured him. "They already know all about you."
"And they say that they're from Prince Rainbow?" Bigwig inquired with a hint of doubt.
"But they are! I saw them step right out of the rainbow!" Pipkin made this cute leap in the air with his paws raised up high.
Curiosity piqued, Lily and Strawberry decided to investigate what all the fuss was about, as the ginger doe politely cut the conversation short, "What's this about strange rabbits and Prince Rainbow?"
"Oh, mother! We've got visitors coming!" Pipkin leapt up and down several times, carrying on by sheer enthusiasm. "And they're messengers from Prince Rainbow!"
"Uhhh...?" Lily cocked a raised eyebrow, baffled.
"Hey, um, are you sure this isn't some kind of trick or did these strange rabbits pull one over you?" Strawberry looked doubtful.
At this, Pipkin's brief excited features instantly change to utter annoyance. "But it's the truth!" he protested.
Hazel and Bigwig thought deeply over what to make of this. Though intrigued to meet these strange visitors, they decided to check them out, and then later decide whether or not these rabbits are sent by Prince Rainbow or wandering hlessi telling tall tales. Lily and Strawberry wanted to accompany them, suspicious yet intrigued.
Hannah had just thrown a tiny seed in her mouth with Clover and Haystack watching, when Pipkin had suddenly come over to swipe the carrot which Haystack had just bent down to eat when she lost it.
"Haystack, I need your carrot! It's an emergency!" Quick as a wink, Pipkin took the carrot away.
"Wait a minute!" Clover tried to stop him, irked over the young buck's alleged rudeness. "That's for Haystack! You can't just-"
"No, it's fine." Haystack brushed off her concern like it didn't matter, although she couldn't help but suspect something was off about Pipkin's behavior. "That's another thing about spring. The young bucks go a bit wonky."
"By wonky, do you mean like going mad over does?" Boxwood teased to make a huge joke about it.
Clover just sighed and facepalmed.
Meanwhile, Lily and Strawberry had just caught up with bucks to greet these mysterious visitors when the strangers themselves made their entrance, appearing at the top of the hill, completely exhausted from the long climb up. Hawkbit, Fiver and Dandelion were exhausted from pushing the larger Raincloud up the extremely long hillock.
"Thank Frith," Raincloud remarked exhaustedly as he was helped up by Bluesky. "That was a rather tiresome climb."
Neither he nor his companion were tired for long as they began prancing along the grass to make their presence known to all of the surprised inhabitants. Meanwhile, Hawkbit was catching his breath as he griped out of hearing range of the two, "Awfully heavy for a chap who can fly, isn't he?"
The two greeted everyone, passing a bewildered Hazel, Bigwig, Lily and Strawberry. The four of them exchanged queer faces before they headed over to where Fiver and the others were.
"Smashing setup you've got here," the blue buck complimented the scenery around him.
"They're not the sort of messengers I'd expect from Prince Rainbow," Hazel commented.
"Somehow, I doubt they are," Strawberry added, frowning suspiciously.
"Oh, they're the real thing, Hazel." Hawkbit was quick to put his leader's concern at ease. "We saw them come out of the rainbow in a flash of light."
"With a strange glow about their ears..." Dandelion confirmed.
"And floating above the ground!" Pipkin exclaimed.
Thankfully, Bigwig did not exactly believe what these awed rabbits were telling him. "Must have been quite a sight," he snarked. Although he never wanted to consider Pipkin one because of his youth, naivety and innocence, he did not like his adopted son getting involved in bad influences. He had to agree with Strawberry's suspicions. These strangers did not seem like the mystical messengers from Prince Rainbow, like they would be described in the old tales.
"What did you say their names were?" Lily asked.
"The short grey one is Raincloud and the tall blue one is Bluesky," Fiver revealed the names of their visitors.
Hazel decided to go meet them and receive some answers, joined by Bigwig. "I am Hazel, chief rabbit of Watership Down," he introduced himself and his partner. "And this is Bigwig, captain of the Owsla. I hear you have a message for us."
"We're all ears." Bigwig readied to hear whatever nonsense they had cooked up.
Raincloud sniffed for a moment, catching the scent of flayrah in the atmosphere. "No, not until the time is right. Until then, we must rest our considerable selves."
"And we'll need flayrah for strength," Bluesky added, before the two of them entered the warren's front entrance to find a burrow to rest in.
It did not take long for them to find an empty burrow, where they immediately made themselves comfortable and dozed off. The only downside is that burrow belonged to Hannah, who gasped upon sighting those two strangers in her sleeping quarters and growled angrily. The fuming little mouse rushed out of the warren where she found Hazel still amongst the others.
"Those two lazy lump rabbits just flopped into my burrow!" she complained.
Just then, Blackberry emerged from the entrance to voice her concerns as well. "But not until they've eaten every scrap of flayrah in the place."
"Shouldn't have anybody made or found extra burrows for them, or made rations for them first?" Lily inquired, understanding the mouse's anger and Blackberry's report clearly. "From what I' seen, they just helped themselves to do whatever they please."
"It's a long trip down the rainbow to Earth," Pipkin tried to reason, defending the newcomers. "You get tired and hungry, too."
"Yeah," Hawkbit agreed, "they'll want more when they wake up."
"We'll fetch it!" Fiver decided. "Back in two shakes!" And with that, both he and the dark grey buck just hurriedly left the warren to go raid the farm more.
"I just hope those two will be okay," Lily pleaded.
"They're never that keen when I asked them," Hazel hmphed jealously.
A little later, the two strangers had come outside to enjoy the fresh air and to eat the flayrah they had been given by the does, seemingly eager to impress the messengers of Prince of Rainbow once the news spread. Very few doubted these strangers to be messengers from Prince Rainbow, but their story was so convincing that most of the inhabitants fell under their charm.
Dandelion brought in fresh grass for Bluesky and Raincloud to sleep on in the burrow they recently occupied. Hannah scowled when Bluesky had the nerve to insult her over the "mousy smell" still lingering in her burrow. Then, they began telling the inhabitants a story about the land beyond the rainbow.
"...Oh yes, cabbages grow on trees," Bluesky told them. "They fall off every morning, so you have to watch yourself."
"Ohh, we've seen some sights we have," Raincloud continued with this strange smirk. "Flying all over the world."
"Carrying Prince Rainbow's messages to all the good rabbits of the earth."
For those who can doubt such a fairy tale, Kehaar shook his head in disgust. "Never saw flying rabbits before," he mumbled.
However, the naïve Pipkin had swiftly fallen under their sway. The idea of flying must be a dream come true. "What's it like to fly?" he inquired, hopefully.
"Well, let's just say it beats walking, my lad!" Raincloud announced.
Story time came to an abrupt end when Hazel, Bigwig and Lily had to cut in on everyone's fun.
"I assume everyone's finished their chores for the day," the lion buck frowned at the small audience gathered around the visitors.
Distressed, everyone sighed in disappointment before leaving.
"Just one more story," Pipkin pleaded. "Please, Father!"
"No complaining, sweetie," Lily chided him gently. "You, Dandelion and I are supposed to take the youngest kits on their afternoon romp."
Pipkin left with his mother, groaning sadly. This left the two "messengers" to resume their feasting on the rabbits' flayrah. "Jolly nice flayrah you got here…for Earth, that is," Bluesky remarked before asking, "Got any more?"
Pipkin did not seem to mind watching over the youngest members in the warren as the little ones frolicked and dog-piled on Dandelion, tickling him. Lily had her fair share of fun, playing hide and seek with the children, concealing herself behind a rock and waited for someone to find her. It did not take long for two of the kits to find her by pouncing on top of her, catching Lily off guard and laughing at their antics.
"Oh, Dandelion! Imagine being able to fly!" Pipkin daydreamed.
"Imagine all those carrots growing at the end of the rainbow!" Dandelion could not help but agree. "Hey, next time we see one, we're gonna have a look, are we?"
Lily, overhearing their conversation, frowned slightly. She did not believe those tall tales for one second. "That's enough of that! I don't want to hear any more stories about rabbits flying or carrots grown by rainbows!" Those strangers are becoming a terrible influence on her son and her friend. "Did it not occur to you that those outsiders might be taking advantage of you?"
Pipkin was quite upset that his mother would say such a thing. "That's not true! Bluesky and Raincloud haven't done anything wrong ever since they got here!"
"That doesn't matter! I don't want you going anywhere near those rabbits ever again!" Lily had to make her point clear by reacting strictly to make him listen. In fact, this was the first, and possibly only, time she had to behave strictly around Pipkin.
But Pipkin had no intention of listening to his mother. He stared longingly at the sky above him and watched a flock of blue jays fly across the high hills. The very thought of wanting to fly was starting to grow on him, and he just had to do it. "Flying..."
Moments later after the kits had to be escorted back to their burrows for their naps, Hawkbit and Fiver brought back more carrots for Raincloud and Bluesky, both having already dozed off. Lily had to have a serious talk with Strawberry, Holly, Hazel and Bigwig to share her concerns about those suspicious characters. And to her relief, they understood her feelings.
"I can see what you're trying to say, love," Bigwig said. "So far, all they've done is eat, sleep and tell outrageous stories."
"Any chance they're Efrafan spies?" Hazel questioned.
"They're not the type. If they were, they'd have killed one of us by now." Holly did not believe that for a second. "And I doubt they'd have won a challenge if they started one."
Strawberry started to shudder a bit. "I don't know why, but every time I look at their eyes... I feel like Cowslip is in our presence." Nobody could blame her for saying that. Cowslip had been a smooth talker when he manipulated them to living in his warren, just to sacrifice them to the shining wires to protect themselves.
"I think it's time we took the hair by the tail," Bigwig suggested firmly. Enough was enough, it's time for some answers.
The four of them approached the sleeping beauties, awakening them by using their shadows to block out the sun. Bluesky's and Raincloud's eyes widened nervously at once when they noticed the dead serious glint in their eyes.
"It's time for Prince Rainbow's message, lads..." Bigwig had this eerie smile on his lips whilst the look in his hardened eyes said otherwise, "or it's time to move on."
"Oh, quite right." Bluesky hurriedly stood up, as did Raincloud also. "Prince Rainbow has watched your exploits with pride."
"And he's decided you two are the smartest, bravest, most cunning rabbits running in the world."
So far, Raincloud was not wrong in that which tickled Bigwig's fancy a bit. "Heh!" Though flattered, Bigwig could not help but give a light chuckle. "We're... we're not that good."
"Oh, but you are! You are!" Bluesky insisted.
"So, Prince Rainbow has named you two..." Raincloud hesitated, as if an imaginary drumroll began, when he prepared his surprise message, "the new El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle. Congratulations!"
Bigwig could hardly believe his ears. His green eyes grew wider in shock and astonishment. It figured that some rabbits in the warren had often compared Hazel and himself as respectively the famous Rabbit Prince and his most trusted Owsla Captain of ancient history, but if this was actually true... "Me? The new Rabscuttle? Never!"
"Oh boy..." Lily could tell where this is going, and she started to lose trust in her mate falling for this little deception. Those idiots were telling her mate what he wanted to hear.
"Well..." Hazel tried not to let himself be flattered to hear someone call him the next El-ahrairah, but he had to stay strong so as to not let himself be deceived. "...if that's the message, I imagine you'll be going home to the Kingdom of Colors, then."
"Aaaahhh, alas we're forced to remain here. We're to keep an eye on you..." Raincloud stumbled a bit before he recovered enough to make a believable excuse. "...to make sure you're deserving of your new status."
Bluesky nodded. "We might be here for some time."
Holly's face scrunched in a neutral, disbelieving frown. "Are you serious?" He wanted to argue with them, but a stern look from his leader advised him not to make things worse.
"Me? Rabscuttle? Not likely." This was starting to go to Bigwig's head before he hopped off, immediately daydreaming over the new title he had been given. It made him feel honored and proud.
Lily and Strawberry grumbled irately.
Once they were alone, however, Hazel had this reassuring grin on his face before either of the does started to get angry over what happened. "If we are meant to be the next El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle like they said, we could play along so neither of them would suspect a thing. Until something happens, then we'll know they deceived us. Fair enough?"
The does exchanged concerned looks, but they trusted their chief rabbit long enough understand his plan.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Hazel-rah," Holly worried. "Don't let what they said go to your head... not like Thlayli here." He smirked, gesturing his head in the direction where Bigwig is still lost in his own little world. Seeing this, Holly resumed authority mode as he bellowed, "THLAYLI!"
It was enough to scare the living daylights out of Bigwig, much to Lily's amusement.
While Lily and Bigwig were talking to Bluesky and Raincloud and, their kits, along with Kehaar, were busy watching Pipkin trying (and failing) to get up in the air, while the rest of the children went back into the warren. All of the messengers' tales of fantastical flight just could not leave his head, and the young buck just had to know what it felt like to fly.
"How do you think they do it?" Basil asked as he and his sisters watched Pipkin and his efforts.
"Do what?" Aubretia asked.
"Fly. I mean, Father's got a point. The messengers all talked about flying, but they never really say anything about how they do it."
Violet merely scratched behind her ear as she gave her piece. "Who cares how they do it? If they're from Prince Rainbow, then should it really matter to know how they fly?"
"…Maybe, but still…" The buck turned to Kehaar. "How do you think they do it?"
"Not sure how they fly. Kehaar only knows this. Gulls fly, while rabbits go hoppity-hoppity along the ground. It's simple as that."
"…But why?"
"Hmmph…gulls have wings to fly with…" he spread his wings wide in a grand demonstration, "and rabbits don't. Gulls have feathers, which help to fly…and rabbits don't."
Pipkin overheard the conversation and hopped over. "Well, they can fly, and they don't have wings or feathers."
"Maybe they can without wings or feathers…but they not fly as good as Kehaar!" He lifted himself into the air, giving a caw as the four kits watched him fly off.
Aubretia turned to her older brother. "You know…maybe Kehaar's right. I mean…how can a rabbit fly without wings or feathers? We know how Kehaar flies, but not how Raincloud or Bluesky do it."
Pipkin thought awhile on this. There was only one way to find out how the messengers of Prince Rainbow could fly.
Deep within the warren burrows, Raincloud and Bluesky were discussing the workings of their scheme over another pile of flayrah.
"We've fooled just about everyone except Hazel, Lily, Strawberry…and that Colonel Holly. No doubt they're onto us. I'm afraid this won't last."
While Raincloud was more worried about their dodge being discovered, Bluesky was more appreciative of the current surroundings. "This is just about the loveliest warren we've been to. High in the hills, the winds blowing clear, and sound like from a dream…What if we told them we were wanderers and asked to stay? It might be a little work but-"
"Work?!" Raincloud nearly choked on a bite of carrot at the mention of that word. "You mean digging and running every day, taking orders, and…engaging in…" he shuddered at the thought, "fisticuffs with elil? Not on your life. No, no," Raincloud retorted before he continued to eat.
Of course, their lunching was interrupted by young Pipkin. "Uhh, I don't mean to bother you, but-"
Raincloud, of course, was quick to recover his joviality for the young buck. "Not at all, young Pipkin. What's on your mind, dear lad?"
"I can't get your stories of flying out of my head, and well…I was wondering, how do rabbits like you learn to fly?"
Bluesky and Raincloud looked at each other for a moment before looking back at Pipkin. The taller was the first to speak.
"Oh, young Pipkin. We never learned to fly. It just comes naturally, as does it to all rabbits in the Kingdom of Colors. Isn't that right, Raincloud?"
"Oh... Ah, yes. Very much so," Raincloud agreed, catching on to the tale. "No secret spell about it. Whether you're born there, or you just arrived, all rabbits simply gain mastery of flight. No magic or lessons necessary."
"Oh, I see…But what if someone like me wanted to fly on Earth…like you two can? What would I have to do?"
Bluesky stumbled a bit in his words before coming up with something. "Well, for that…well, to even begin to fly is dreadfully tricky. You need the right stuff and the proper words to make it even possible here on Earth."
"And! Even if you were able to do all that, to master flight takes oodles of practice. It would take many seasons, at least," Raincloud added. "Now, if you don't mind…"
While Raincloud was resuming his eating, Pipkin was not to be deterred by their answers, determined to know how he could fly, as he hopped over to the stouter rabbit. "Oh, please? Please, please, please?"
Raincloud, clearly a little annoyed, decided that he would have to humor the young buck's questions…if only to get him to leave. "If you promise to hop off and leave us alone with our flayrah."
"Oh, I will. I promise!"
Meanwhile, while Pipkin hopped out of the warren and towards the Down in a flash and the two messengers came out for another nap, Hazel and the others finalized their plan. Preparations had been made for the patrol. Now was the time to get "Prince Rainbow's messengers" to join them.
"We're off on patrol," Hazel told the lazy visitors. "Care to come?"
"Not really, if it's all the same to you," Raincloud refused as he rolled over to get a more comfortable position to sleep in.
"Uh, I thought Prince Rainbow ordered you to keep an eye us."
At this, Raincloud took the bait to keep the ruse up. "Uh, yes. I did say that, didn't I?"
"How else will you know if Hazel and I are worthy to be the new El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle?" Bigwig had this excited grin on his lips, until he noticed the stern glares his friend gave him, reminding him of their plan. "Uh, not that it's likely, mind you."
Relenting, Raincloud sat upright with an annoyed grunt. "Alright, but let's get a few things clear. I get to rest whenever I want and flayrah along the way."
"And you have to help Raincloud back up the hill," Bluesky added as a reminder. "He usually flies everywhere so he's not much on climbing."
"Anything you need, anything at all," Bigwig promised sincerely. And nobody could tell whether he meant it or if he was still pretending to be under their sway.
"Since Bigwig and I have to prove we're good enough to be the new El-ahrairah and Rabscuttle..." Hazel turned to the rest of his troop, remind them of what they might have to do regardless of what they think, "we may have to do some rather dangerous things today."
"Sounds good," Hawkbit agreed.
"Yep, yep!" Dandelion agreed.
"Fine with us," Fiver agreed as well.
Everyone stared at Lily and Strawberry because the two does will be tagging along to keep an eye on them. Neither of them said a word, other than nodding with strong conviction.
"Oh, no need to go over the top with this danger bit old thing," Raincloud warned worriedly, and a slight crack in his voice convinced Hazel that he struck a nerve.
"Prince Rainbow's fairly sure you're qualified already," Bluesky's voice creaked with a light trace of fear.
The small group left the high hills to carry out their plan, despite most of their friends still convinced there's no need to do so because they believe Bluesky and Raincloud are whom they claim they are.
The patrol had taken the rabbits to a small, rocky ravine. It may look safe to some, but you never know what sort of predator could be lurking nearby, ready to strike at any second now. In fact, this is all part of Hazel's plan to test these 'messengers of Frith' if they are real or not.
"There doesn't seem to be anything dangerous here," Lily whispered.
"Not yet there isn't," Hazel replied back in a quiet hush. "If we keep this up, we'll know eventually if they're frauds or not."
"Have to watch it around here," Bigwig cautioned, a light smirk on his lips. "You get stoats and hawks lurking about in the rocks up there."
The two rabbits paused in the midst of their hopping, suddenly growing nervous whilst looking at their surroundings. They said nothing, but the mixture of fear and hesitation was enough to let the patrol know they were close to slipping up.
"No worries, though. Not many elil can sneak up when I'm on the job."
Hazel just had to smirk playfully. "Rabscuttle eat your heart out."
"I'm just trying to be helpful!"
Raincloud feigned a bored yawn. "Oh, I found myself a tad peckish."
"Didn't he just eat earlier?" Strawberry leaned in close enough to whisper in Lily's ear. "I mean, he practically ate what remained of our flayrah storage."
"I happen to know there's a nice patch of violets and dandelions over here." Even though Bigwig knew the ravine hardly any sorts of those flowers, he seemed to be letting it go to his head about being the new Rabscuttle. "It's the sort of thing Rabscuttle would know, don't you think?"
Hazel and the two does just shook their heads, grunting irately.
They found a nice large patch of grass where they stopped to take a break. Lily had just lied down to rest her paws, when she noticed Kehaar land on the top of the ravine for whatever reason. She started to close her eyes when she heard a loud screech, which could only come from a gull.
"Huh!? Wha...?" Lily's head shot up. Eyes wide open and alert.
"That's Kehaar!" Hazel recognized the danger going on up on the cliff.
"Something's got his feathers ruffled!" Bigwig exclaimed, as everyone hurried to the bottom of the cliff where they spotted the silhouette of a familiar young kit way up high. The lion buck's heart leapt to his throat when he recognized him. "Pipkin!? Great Frith, what's he doing up there!?"
Nobody had a clue to whatever the reason Pipkin would be at the edge of a cliff, until Raincloud confessed, "He... he thinks he's going to fly."
"It's uhhh... all our fault," Bluesky admitted.
"You told him he could fly!?" Hazel was now very cross at what they had done.
"Don't you realize that you've placed my son in danger!?" Lily bared her teeth at the two, snarling like a rabid rat. "What exactly did you tell him?!"
"Oh! Nothing! We told him nothing! Except…that…he could possibly fly with a spell and some bits and bobs. Dandelion roots, a magpie feather, and all that," Bluesky tried to defend himself and his associate with a nervous chuckle.
"We didn't think he'd go as far as jumping off a cliff," Raincloud attempted to deflect some of the blame off the two of them.
"Well, fly up there and help him!" Hawkbit pleaded desperately.
Now that they were caught, Raincloud sadly fessed up their fabrications. "We can't."
"We made it all up," Bluesky confessed at last, looking equally ashamed.
This was just what Lily wanted to hear all along. "I KNEW IT!" she growled, rushing over toward them and, quick as a snake, slapped Raincloud across his chubby face, then repeated the same assault on Bluesky. The slaps were hard enough to send them falling on their backs. "Did it ever cross your mind that my baby was going to hurt himself because you had the nerve to fill his head with more ridiculous stories!?"
"M-Madam, we had no intentions of hurting your kit..." Bluesky tried to explain.
He got interrupted by another slap. Despite Lily's heinous actions, nobody bothered to defend them now that the frauds had been exposed, looking angry and disappointed in those two con artists as well. Though none were livider than Bigwig, albeit he was secretly impressed that his mate took care of the rascals for him.
"Stoat's going to get Pipkin!" A circling Kehaar continuously aims a downward dive attack upon a huge, vicious stoat who determined to make a meal out of the terrified little rabbit. "Heeelp!"
Hazel's expression goes deadly serious. "We'll never get up there in time." His thoughts were paralyzed. If Pipkin did not get eaten, he would have to jump, except the result would end in a bloody death from a long fall. Soon, an imaginary bulb illuminates above him. "Gather all the moss, heather and soft grass you can find. Pile here under Pipkin. MOVE!"
There was not a moment to lose as everyone scurried in all parts of the area to collect the plants and grass their leader had ordered. They gathered so much that the rabbits had created a huge pile underneath the cliff where the young buck could land in.
"It's alright now, Pipkin! Jump!" Bigwig encouraged his son to take the risk.
Frightened, Pipkin looked down at the tremendous height below him and shuddered hesitantly. "I don't think the spell worked!"
Obviously, Lily wanted to holler at the top of her lungs how he had been deceived, but Raincloud interrupted her by giving words of encouragement to her son, "Of course it does! Just close your eyes and fly!"
Hazel frowns at him confusingly, but he decided not to question it. "You heard the messenger, Pipkin! You can do it!"
Reciting the phrase one last time, Pipkin picked up the feather and, just as the stoat came within a breath's inch of catching the kit in his jaws, leapt off the edge with his eyes shut closed, flapping his arms in his poor attempt to fly. He crashes into the pile of soft grass and plants, causing him to let out a pained cry.
"PIPKIN!" Hazel, Bigwig and Lily frantically rushed forward to dig him out of the pile, worried that he might hurt himself or if the pile was not soft enough to save him.
Instead, Pipkin happily pops his head out, surprisingly impressed at what he did. "Did you see me? I flew!"
Not saying a word, Lily threw her arms around her son and squeezed him so tightly, Pipkin protested that he needed to breathe. Even though she loosened her grip a bit, Lily refused to let him go. Bigwig leaned in to nuzzle him tenderly, before he and everyone else turned round to glare furiously at the culprits responsible for the young kit's reckless actions.
"He flew," Raincloud smiled, and Bluesky chuckled awkwardly at the intimidating death scowls aimed at him and his partner.
Back on the high hills, Pipkin began telling his story to the other kits about his amazing flight experience. Some of them were greatly astonished. Others did not seem to believe it, but they wanted to hear how Pipkin survived a dangerous situation after hearing about the stoat.
"...the wind roars in your ears and your tummy floats like dandelion fluffs!" Pipkin narrated the details. "That's what flying is like."
"Ooooh..." The kits awed.
"Uh, that's nice..." Melsa had to cut in civilly. "But didn't Aunt Lily tell you not to tell us that story because she fears we'll do the same thing?"
"I won't encourage you!" Pipkin insisted. "I just wanted to let you know what flying feels like."
As for Raincloud and Bluesky, not only did they have to leave after all the trouble they had caused, the two rabbits finally confessed their true intentions of why they deceived them.
"It's how we live," Raincloud explained. "Going from warren to warren, living the high life, telling tall tales for our keep."
"But from here on, we'll keep our stories firmly rooted on the ground," Bluesky sincerely promised, and this time, he truly meant it. "Well, it's been grand."
"Look, we could always use a pair of quick-witted rabbits at Watership Down." Hazel had accepted their apologizes, but he did not want to let this end on a bittersweet note. And their stories were clever enough to fool most of the warren. Even Bigwig was fooled, though he would say otherwise to keep face. "Why don't you stay?"
Of course, Hannah did not like that at all. "Might as well invite hrududus."
And most of all, Lily and Strawberry each displayed a scary black aura surrounding their forms. Neither of them wanted to see those troublemakers living on the down, after everything that's happened. Even their eerie silence made the others fall back, afraid if they could lash out any second now.
"Don't bother, Hazel-rah..." Shockingly, Holly had also lost his steely nerves. "Some of us are not exactly on board with it."
"No need for that, good Holly. Thank you all the same, Hazel-rah, but…we're vagabond rabbits," Raincloud politely rejected the offer. "The open road is the only trail for us."
"Don't worry, we'll make out," Bluesky assured him. "We've heard tales of a warren called Efrafa. Maybe we'll stop in there for a while." And with that, the two reformed rabbits departed from the high hills, setting off on a new and rather unexpectedly troublesome journey to Efrafa.
"Should we tell them?" Bigwig worried where this was going to lead.
Hazel did not have the heart to do so. "It's Woundwort I feel sorry for."
"I made a right berk of myself, didn't I?"
"A bit."
Bigwig chuckled. "I mean me. The new Rabscuttle? Ridiculous."
"Quite." Hazel turned back toward the warren where everyone else was headed so they could settle down after all the craziness that occurred.
"You never believed them at all. How'd you see through their story when no one other than my hot-blooded beauty did?"
"Oh, I'm the next El-ahrairah! Remember?"
Everyone shared a good laugh at Hazel's joke.
