It had been roughly two hours since the first rain drop landed in the countryside. Sadly, it wasn't the last, because a deadly storm had broken out all over, mixing itself with strong winds and freezing rain, and forcing many parts of the forest to flood with excessive amounts of water. The winds weren't making life any easier for the inhabitants, as many of the beautiful trees were being ripped out of the ground, toppling over each other and blocking off many paths.
Along with the rabbits of Watership Down, many other animals had scurried down into their warm and safe homes to wait out this awful storm. But, of course, Woundwort being Woundwort, he had different plans, as he still sent patrols out to look for Hazel and his Outsiders. In reality, he was just sending his soldiers to their death, as many could fall to one predator that might still be lurked outside. Or, even worse, they could get sick and be forced away from the warren.
One unfortunate group had just departed from Efrafa in the middle of the storm. To make matters even worse, Woundwort had appointed Captain Moss to lead this group. Soon after all of them had left the warren, crossing over the stone bridge, many of the warriors had accidentally separated from the group. They would be lost in the forest, with very little chance of survival.
Soon, the strong group of seven had dwindled down to a measly four, with Captain Moss leading the search. But at the moment, he was just trying to find his way back to Efrafa. However, the group had run into a major obstacle; a fallen tree, which blocked any way forward.
"This is stupid! Why do we have to be out here?" Jack complained, trying his best to communicate over the loud rain.
"I can't see anything in front of me!" Comet continued, accidentally bumping into to his Captain. But even though he had bumped into Moss, he didn't leave his side for a second. Unusually for an Efrafan warrior, he seemed to be more scared than anyone at the moment.
"Comet, don't be such a scaredy kitten," Bell replied, teasing the young buck as she wiped water away from her eyes, clearing her vision.
It was very, very rare that a doe could get in the Owsla, especially in Efrafa. As does were inferior by Woundwort's standard, they were only used to breed kittens, dig holes to expanding the warren, and if they were extremely lucky, they could learn how herbs work and learn a very little medicine. But, somehow, Bell had beaten up any buck who had challenged her to a fight, other than the General, of course. But, luckily, she had won a spot on the Owsla. She held a very low rank, but was still a part.
"What is the point of searching for them, especially in this kind of weather?!" The scared buck continued, ignoring the comment from Bell. His mind was only focused on trying to get out of this situation before more of them disappeared.
"We already lost Copper, Flax, and Leo! How many more do we have to lose?" Jack asked his Captain as he backed away from the fallen tree to join the others and discuss what to do next.
"I want to go home," Comet sighed, watching one of the thousands of raindrops fall off a nearby branch, landing in an oversized puddle.
"Of course you do! Everything revolves around you!" Jack snarled, getting fed up with Comet's whining.
"Leave him alone, Jack. He's just scared!" Bell snapped, defending the now quivering Comet.
"All right, all right!" Moss shouted, getting fed up with the all the arguing, not to mention the fact that his head was already hurting from the intense heat coming from inside him.
"Let's go back to Efrafa," he sighed, knowing that if he returned back to Woundwort with only bad news that he would probably be put out to work with the slaves for a day. His rank didn't mean anything when it came to punishments from the General for failures.
"Everyone stay close together!"
Moss took the lead and began to walk away from the fallen tree with his three warriors in tow, trying to keep an eye out for anything that looked familiar. But, sadly, in this rain, he could barely see anything in front of his own nose.
As the Captain continued, he saw that his vision was beginning to blur a little. But it wasn't from the rain. To him, it felt like his body was being cooked from the inside. It was possible that he was getting sick from being out in this cold weather, and his already soaked fur wasn't making it any easier.
"No... No. You're not... You're not sick," Moss thought as he began shaking his head from side to side, getting his full vision back. He was trying to ignore the feeling, because if you got sick in Efrafa, Woundwort would force you out to prevent any disease from spreading.
"Why don't these outsiders just show themselves?!" Bell shouted out of sheer anger. She hadn't been paying attention, and had accidentally fallen into an oversized puddle. Spitting out the nasty, grey water, she continued ranting.
"I mean they're all evil anyway, denying Woundwort!" Bell continued her rant, but most of the members in Efrafa just ignored her. She always talked like this, thinking Woundwort was some kind of God, and that he was fighting for good, which is one of the reasons she could never keep a mate and bear kittens of her own.
"You know, Bell, Hazel and his outsiders aren't all that bad," Moss replied, mostly to try and shut her up. However, he quickly clamped his mouth shut, realizing what he had just said. But it was too late, the very suspicious message was sent.
Immediately, Moss could feel that all three of them had begun staring directly him, forcing the group to stop and wait in the freezing rain.
Captain Moss... What do you mean, they aren't...bad?" Jack asked as he began to advance on his comrade, beginning to put himself in a fighting stance as if he were actually going to attack the Captain of Owsla.
"Sir... Have you... Have you met them?" Comet continued, acting as backup for Jack as the duo began to advance on the Captain.
Moss didn't turn around to face them, as he was trying to find a way out. But he saw no real opportunity, because if he tried to fight back, he would surely lose. It was a three to one fight, leaving him at a disadvantage. Then again, he could try to just run away. It would be easy to lose the three Owsla members in this storm. But, surely, he would just get lost himself, winding up dead. After all, he wouldn't be able to return to Efrafa, and he didn't know where Watership Down was to ask for their help.
Just before his two accusers could start attacking him, Bell suddenly jumped in the way. She was trying to save his life… But her method of doing so wasn't the world's greatest.
"Yes! Yes, we have... We have both met the outsiders...in, um... In a battle!" she lied, winking at her Captain as he turned around to see the two advancing rabbits. But, sadly, it wasn't working, and Jack and Comet were still getting closer.
"You're lying!" Jack shouted, baring his teeth.
"We should kill you both right now, traitors!" he continued, causing Bell to get into her own fighting position, willing to try and defend her Captain.
It seemed lying wasn't going to work, and Moss was just too weak to really put up a fight. But it was still nice knowing that someone he barely knew would help him. But then, Moss suddenly realized that he was looking over the most important detail about himself... He was a Captain in the Owsla, and these soldiers had no right making accusations about him, let alone a right to be threatening to kill him.
Moss suddenly started to laugh, confusing the others.
"Why are you laughing...? Stop...stop that!" Comet demanded. But his words fell on deaf ears as Moss continued laughing.
"You two seem to be forgetting something! I am a Captain! I am your Captain!" Moss replied sternly. He had stopped laughing, and had begun to stare at his two accusers.
"Do you remember what happens when you threaten a Captain of Owsla?" Moss asked, waiting for their response.
"You...you... You're killed by General Woundwort himself!" Comet gulped, finally realizing where he and his friend stood in this argument.
Silence fell over them. The only type of noise that could be heard was the light dripping of rain. Luckily, it had begun to ease up enough for them to see each other better, and actually see the way ahead.
"For all I know, my soldiers have become insubordinate and are talking of rebelling against General Woundwort," Moss said.
"Well, what do you two have to say for yourselves?" he asked, leaving the two other rabbits speechless, until Comet suddenly spoke.
"It was Jack's fault!" Comet blurted, pointing his paw directly at the other buck, and immediately turning against his friend, who in return began arguing that it was the weather's fault and he wasn't thinking straight. The arguing would probably have lasted for a few hours if Bell hadn't gotten in between the bucks.
"Come on, enough arguing! Look, the weather has cleared a little! It's enough for us to try and find our way back!" the doe shouted, causing the two arguing bucks to stop fighting.
Immediately, they began nodding their heads and waited for their Captain to take the lead again.
As Moss began to lead his group in what he hoped was the direction of Efrafa, he felt himself stumble over his own paws a little, but he quickly recovered. Sadly, it was true. Moss was getting sick from being out in the cold rain. But, maybe, he could prevent it from getting worse if only he could get home quickly.
Bell had caught up with Moss and begun walking next to him. Something was gnawing at her. Actually, something was gnawing at both of them.
"Bell, why did you lie for me back there?" Moss asked quietly, so that Jack and Comet couldn't eavesdrop on their conversation.
"You were outnumbered, and thus they could have easily killed you, Bell!"
"Wait, why am I so concerned for her?" Moss thought. At the moment, he was feeling something strange with his emotions, and it wasn't because of his sickness. It almost felt like love… But he only felt like that when he was around a certain doe, and that had been a long time ago.
"Honestly... I don't know," she answered, glancing back over her shoulder, just in case the other two were trying to listen in on them
"Wait... Am I developing a... crush... on this soldier?" Moss slowly realized it was true. There was just something different about her, something different than any of the other does in the warren that the Captain liked. And yet, there was still something else about her that he couldn't figure out.
"I guess I wasn't thinking," Bell continued, interrupting Moss's train of thought.
"Well, you're not thinking saved my life, and I do thank you for that," Moss replied. But, sadly, he wasn't let off the hook that easily.
"You're welcome, but when we get back, you've got some explaining to do," she demanded.
Moss thought this was just a joke, but when he glanced back, Bell was dead serious. Actually, it was more of a scary serious.
"Alright... Fair enough," he sighed, causing the doe's face to lighten up into a small smile.
"Great… What happens if she tells Woundwort everything?!" he thought. Now he had to try to find an excuse he could give her, or any type of lie. But his head was hurting way too much to think more on the subject. He would have to deal with it when it came up later.
After his little discussion, he could feel his throat get rather itchy and it was soon followed with a slight cough. After this, he started to quicken his pace, leaving Bell behind with Jack and Comet. His running soon turned into a sprint through the nasty terrain, trying to follow the barely recognizable path. But, sadly for him, the rain had begun to pick up, putting them back to their blinding state and losing the way back.
"No! No!" Moss thought, becoming angry that his salvation had been ripped right out of his paws. He stopped thinking of ways to find the path again and started to run in a random direction, not knowing if it held the way home, or just another deadly obstacle.
His group was now starting to lag even further behind. Moss had become unpredictable, running in a straight direction, then darting in a new one because of a sudden obstacle that had appeared out of the rain.
As the group continued, it seemed that Lord Frith was still against them, as they had run into another obstacle. They had stumbled upon a highly flooded area in the forest.
A tree had been ripped out of the ground, acting as a dam and keeping all the rain in one place, forcing Moss to stop and take a breath as his group gathered around him.
"Great..." Comet sighed. He looked towards Moss, seeing if he had any ideas of getting through the water. Bell had immediately tested the water by sticking her paw in. Her paw got stuck a little because of the excess amount of mud on the bottom. But with a little force, she was able to free it.
"The only way through is the way we came, unless you want to try and go through the thick bushes over there," Bell said, pointing towards the far right side of the tree. This area wasn't covered in water, but it held very clumped and rather tall bushes, which acted as a wall against them.
"Well, I guess we could do Bell's id..." Jack suddenly stopped talking, feeling something large and cold touching him. The rest of the group glanced at him, only to find a horrifying sight.
Only two large paws could be seen because of the rain. And yet, whatever it was, its claws has extended and latched around Jack's chest. He looked down slowly, then glanced back up at the group with a pleading face. But before anyone could grab him, or at the very least help, he was yanked into the blinding rain, followed by a loud and disturbing scream with the word "fox."
Immediately, Comet forgot all of his training and jumped into the water, trying his best to get away before the creature could get another chance to attack. But his escape process was slowed, because with each step he took, his paws began to stick to the mud. His panicking state wasn't helping much either.
"Help! Help me! Captain Moss… Bell… Anyone!" Comet pleaded as the mud started to pull him down under the water. In fact, the water was acting as quicksand, and of course he was still making matters worse with all of his struggling. The muddy water began to close in over his mouth. If he wasn't helped in a minute or two, he would be pulled directly under and would drown.
"Come on!" Bell shouted.
She grabbed Moss by his right paw and began pulling him towards the very tall bushes, leaving poor Comet to his losing battle with the water. They didn't even try to help Jack with the fox.
"Wait! What about Comet... And Jack!?" Moss shouted. Bell ignored him as they continued towards the bushes. Sadly, it was just a little too tall for them to jump over. But, luckily, it was loose enough for them to start pushing through the bottom, as most of the roots had already been ripped out by the wind.
As they continued crawling through, they could still hear Comet's pleading voice. But soon his shouting was drowned out because of the heavy rain, which could be heard all around them. But at the very least, it was drier under the bush than being outside.
"Come on! Where is the exit to this stupid thing?!" Bell hissed as she continued to move forward with Moss on her tail, constantly glancing back to see if the fox was trying to follow them through. It seemed as though they were in the clear.
Finally they had a chance to take a small break. Lucky for them, they had come across a small clearing directly in the middle of the bushes, which surrounded them. Moss had immediately collapsed to the floor once they stopped, closing his eyes as he tried to catch his breath. His sickness wasn't making it easy to run.
Bell noticed him on the ground and rushed to his side, trying to get him back to his feet, just in case if the fox showed up and they needed to move, yet it was near impossible for her to move him because of his size.
"Come on Moss, you have to get up!" she pleaded, continuing to try to move him. But it was no use. Moss had actually been so tired that he fell unconscious the minute he hit the ground.
"Fine... I guess we can rest here for a little," Bell sighed, giving up on moving him. But once she had lain down, she noticed that Moss was shaking terribly from being drenched in water, so she decided to cuddle up next to him and try to warm his very cold body.
As she was trying to think of a way out of this situation, she was constantly getting side-tracked, because Moss would begin to shake for at least half a minute, and then he would calm back down, but only for a short time, before it would all begin again.
"Oh, for Frith's sake, will you stop shaking?!" Bell thought, getting angry with his uncontrollable movement. Having had enough of this, she had gotten up to her feet and tried to hold her captain still. But of course, that didn't help.
She sighed, giving up on trying to stop him from thrashing, figuring it was best to try and conserve her energy, just in case that nasty fox would show up. She was willing to defend Moss at any cost, even if it meant dying for him.
"You always were persistent, weren't you?" Bell asked, not getting any type of response from Moss. But that wasn't much of a surprise.
"And yet you still don't remember me..." she thought sadly, pulling down her right ear and given it a lick.
"Then again... Maybe you aren't him... Maybe I am just losing it."
"Yep, I am definitely crazy. I mean, I am talking to myself here..." the doe sighed.
She began to stare down at Moss, who had begun to shake again. But this time, his shaking had a light cough mixed in.
"Don't worry, Captain. You'll be ok," she said, mostly to try and reassure herself. She lay back down next to the sick Captain, but still watched the opening they had made for any danger.
After Bell had waited for what seemed like hours, Moss finally began to open his eyes once again, only to see that Bell's back was turned away from him. She was still watching out for any danger, and it also looked like she was in deep thought about something.
"Why is she helping me like this?" Moss whispered, as he got back up to his feet, trying not to disturb her.
"She could have left by now, saving her own skin! I mean, the fox could kill her or I could easily get her sick, and then we both would die," Moss had begun to rub his chin curiously, but was also trying terribly hard not to cough.
"Wait a minute... Now I know why she looked so familiar! No wonder I felt a connection before," he concluded, finally putting all of the pieces together.
With his full vision back, he could see the small burn scar across her right ear. Mixing with her bright red fur, it could easily blend in and no one would notice its existence.
In reality, her name wasn't Bell. It was really Bliss, and if his memory served him well, they used to live together. But that was not in Efrafa, but in a small manmade structure, which a friendly mouse had told him was called a barn.
When Moss was just barely growing into his teen years, his mother, father and sister had died in a badger attack, leaving him alone to fend for himself. But, luckily, he had come across the barn and the occupants had let him stay. There was even another group of rabbits living inside, and they had sort of adopted him.
Soon he had become very fond of one of their daughters. She was called Bliss, and she was the same height as Moss, but with gorgeous emerald colored eyes and pure red fur. Of course, before long he had developed a crush on her. Everyday, Moss would try and play with her, either at Tail Tag or Bobstones. But in reality, it was just a plan to try and talk to her and see if they had anything in common. But she would usually deny the request, leaving him to mumble to himself or to talk with the mice.
What he didn't know was that Bliss was actually forbidden to date or even to speak to Moss. Her parents were very protective of their daughter, as her brother had died at birth. The two would always keep an eye on her, making sure that if she wanted to go outside the barn to explore, she had to take one of them, or she didn't get to go at all.
Fate had different plans for Moss, though. One day, the barn caught on fire because of a careless man, who had left a burning lamp on a high shelf and didn't stabilize it properly. It toppled over, smashing into the very flammable hay that lay below. As chaos spread through the burning building, Moss was fortunate enough to be the very first to get outside. But soon, as he watched the other inhabitants fleeing the building, he started to realized that Bliss and her parents hadn't come out yet.
Without thinking, he had charged back into the burning building, only to be blinded for a few seconds by the smoke. Once he was able to see again, he had begun calling out Bliss's name. But either the sound of the fire was too loud, blocking out any communication, or they had died without his knowledge.
At the moment, it had seemed hopeless, because Moss could barely see anything. The heat was becoming unbearable, but somehow, he was still continuing with his search. He had begun to search under the rubble to see if maybe she was trapped somewhere, and that was why he couldn't get a response.
All of sudden, one of the support beams from the roof had given way from the fire. It would have fallen right on top of Moss, killing him. But, luckily, the very edge of it had landed on top of a nearby barrel and given him enough to time to run out of the way just before the barrel had broken, letting the beam smash into the ground, and blocking any way backwards with a wall of fire.
"Great!" Moss shouted in frustration. It was soon followed with a rough cough. If he didn't get out soon, then he would most likely pass out from the lack of oxygen, before being burned alive.
As he continued with his search, he could feel that he might pass out any second from all the smoke. But somehow, he was still pushing himself to find Bliss and her parents and hopefully to save them. That is, until he tripped on something and fell face first on the ground.
Moss got back up to try and continue with his search for the lost rabbits, but something made him glance down to see what had tripped him. It was actually Bliss, but from the looks of it, she had passed out from lack of oxygen and her right ear was trapped by a small piece of metal. With a little force, he could easily move it.
He let out a large sigh of relief. At least she wasn't dead. But they would both be crushed if he didn't act fast, so he rushed over to see if he could move the metal piece. As he grabbed onto it, it burned his paws, and he immediately pulled them back to wave them back and forth to try and cool them.
His paw waving was interrupted by another large smashing noise. Turns out it was another burning beam breaking off from the roof. But this one had crashed down right above Bliss. It had gotten stuck above her instead of killing her, but if he didn't act fast, then she would die.
Realizing he had no more time, Moss ignored how hot the metal was, and began to try and lift it. As soon as he touched it, it began to sear into his paws again. Yet with a large grunting noise, he was able to lift the metal off of Bliss's ear. It was badly scared, but the burning beam above them would give way at any moment. He grabbed her, and was able to lift her on to his back.
After that, the memory was a little faded, and the only thing he could remember was running into the nearby woods, seeing bright red and blue flashing, with men run all around the burning building. No one spotted them, and after some sprinting through the woods, he finally came to a small stream.
Once Moss knew they were safe from both the fire and the men, he laid down Bliss to dunk his paws into the cold water. Of course, it stung a little, but it looked like he was going to be okay. As for Bliss, she was still breathing, so he had tried to wake her. Yet she didn't give any type of response, and her right ear was in pretty bad shape.
After that, his mind went completely blank for some reason. He couldn't remember how the two of them had gotten separated from each other, and especially how she had ended up in Efrafa. But it didn't matter, because the doe had noticed that he wasn't on the ground anymore.
"Thank Frith you're awake!" she told him, and out of her excitement, she gave him a hug. However, she soon released him and had turned away from the Captain, blushing horribly.
"I am sorry, sir," she apologized, trying to avoid direct eye contact.
"No, no, it's alright," he replied with a light smile, trying to get her to face him. But for some reason, she didn't even throw a glance his way.
"Can I ask you something?"
She was still silent. Not even a yes or no was thrown his way, so Moss continued anyway.
"Your name isn't Bell... is it?" Even though she wasn't facing him, he could tell that her eyes went wide for a second. For some reason she decided to turn around to look at him with a smile on her face.
"No, Moss. It's really Bliss, the one you saved from the fire," she answered.
"Wait... How did you know I saved you?" he asked. After all, when he had rescued her, she has been unconscious. But instead of getting an instant response, she walked up to him, putting her nose right in front of his.
"Because you are the only buck stupid enough to try!" Bliss replied. Without warning, she kissed Moss right on the lips. His eyes began to widen, but soon closed to try and savor the moment. It was as if he could feel the passion of it, but, sadly, it had to end, and once it was over, Bliss didn't say anything, but instead stared directly into his eyes.
He was speechless. Ever since he had met Bliss, there was nothing more he wanted to do but kiss her, and someday to raise a family with her. But now that he had kissed her, it felt like there was a hidden danger in this love. His train of thought was soon derailed, because he noticed that he was just standing there and it was becoming rather awkward.
"Say something, you idiot! You're just staring at her!" he thought, blinking his eyes to see if this was a fantasy. But it wasn't. It was real, and still his mind couldn't come up with any words, until he realized one big thing.
"Wait a minute... You kissed me?!" Moss shouted, scaring Bliss. She was expecting something a little more heartwarming, and definitely had not expected to be yelled at.
"Um...I think so," she chuckled, trying to lighten his mood with a joke. However, it didn't look like he was really in the mood for that. It was as if he was actually mad at her.
"No... No, that's really... That's really bad!"
He had begun pacing around in circles, trying to think. But soon, he could feel his sickness coming back, as if it were living dormant in his system. It returned as if it was actually mocking him.
"I thought you..." she tried to continue, but Moss interrupted her.
"No! You don't understand... You shouldn't have kissed me!" Moss explained. But it was actually doing more damage than good, and he could see Bliss's expression drop to a saddened state.
"Well... I am so sorry that I had... I had... feelings for you, Moss," she replied sadly, turning away from him and walking towards the direction of the hole they had made coming in.
"No... Wait... Bliss!"
She continued walking away, ignoring him and his hurtful words. Moss didn't know it, but she was, in fact, crying, letting her tears drip onto the ground.
"Bliss... I did..." His words were cut short, as his eyelids suddenly became rather heavy, and the world around him soon turned to blackness. Somehow, he had fallen unconscious mid sentence. But it was a lot worse than he had thought, and his sickness was turning into something even worse.
Bliss was standing in the entrance, and was about to take off to find her way back to Efrafa. But once she noticed Moss's sudden drop in voice, she turned to find him lying on the ground. He was breathing, but he was looking worse than before. If he wasn't helped soon, then he might just die.
"Serves you right...jerk!" she thought, letting her anger take control and turning to leave. But as she was about to start walking away, something mysterious was preventing her from taking another step without him.
"Come on... You saw him! He's a jerk!" Bliss shouted. She began to stare up in the direction of the sky, as if she was talking to Lord Firth himself.
After a little time had passed with no response, she began to vent out her anger by running back and forth in her mind, trying to think over what would be the right thing to do. Luckily for Moss, she finally came to a good conclusion.
"He did save my life at the barn... So, I guess that means I owe him," she sighed.
With nothing else stopping her, she walked over to the large captain and tried to lift him and carry him back to Efrafa. But he was just too big. She tried again, but still came up with the same results. She just wasn't strong enough, which was odd, because she could usually beat up other bucks over half Moss's size.
"I don't understand! Why I am so weak...?" Bliss though. She soon figured out why, as she let out a large, nasty cough. She was getting sick like Moss, and it was cutting her strength in half.
"Great. Just great... No wonder you were upset about the kiss."
She began trying to think of how she could get herself and Moss out of this situation, but ran into the same problem-she couldn't just carry him. Luckily, the sound of rain outside the bushes was complete gone, but probably not for long. If she was going back to Efrafa, she had to leave now, or else she might get stuck out in it even longer.
"Hey...wait a minute!" The doe shouted, finally coming up with a perfect plan get herself and Moss out there.
"Stay right here!" she continued. But before putting her plan in motion, she ran over to kiss him again, but this time on the forehead, and giving him a little nod, as if he was watching her.
With that done, Bliss had soon darted out the way they came through. She was leaving Moss behind, but if this was to work she had to act fast. Bliss put all of her strength into her hind legs, trying to run as fast as possible, and soon came out of the large bushes to see that the rain had indeed stopped, but the clouds still lingered overhead, threatening to start up again.
"All right, I can't stop anything!" Bliss thought, trying to ignore the sick feeling in her head, which was now making its way towards her stomach.
As she continued through, she could clearly see the haunting quicksand-water that had most likely killed Comet. But still there was time to dwell on that.
Without the rain blocking her eyes like before, she could finally make out her surroundings, especially the place where there was a large opening in the side of a dirt mound. Bliss could smell fresh blood inside the opening. This was how the fox had snuck up on them and killed Jack. They must have run right in front of it, and, because of the rain, its scent was completely masked.
She was starting to get a little teary for her fallen comrades. Even if they were annoying at times, they were a little bit like family. Still, truth be told, while it was too late for them, she could still hopefully save Moss before he succumbed to his sickness.
It seemed that Lord Frith was still on her side! The rain hadn't started up again, and as she continued to run, it took less than a minute to make it out of the horrible forest. She came out to see the small bridge, which was still intact even during this storm. However, the two rabbits that would usually guard it were now gone.
"Yes! No one's there!" she exclaimed as she darted across the bridge into Efrafan territory. If there had been guards on the bridge, they might have stopped her and she would be forced to leave due to her sickness, so she had to make sure that no one would see her.
The warren soon came into view. It looked like everyone was inside, sheltering from the bad weather, other than the occasional guards that came out to do a short scan of the perimeter, but then immediately went back inside. There was really no worry of being attacked, since they had so many strong warriors.
Finally, Bliss slowly made her way inside, trying to avoid any guards that might stop her. She realized that in her current state she was too weak to move Moss, but maybe Captain Campion could help her. Of course, first she had to find him.
As she continued, dodging and searching for Campion, she couldn't help but overhear a conversation going in General Woundwort's personal burrow. He was talking to Vervain about some rabbit called Molly, who was under interrogation. This was odd, because Bliss hadn't seen any new prisoners recently. But maybe they had acquired this rabbit when she was gone.
Still, she couldn't worry about it right now. At the moment, she needed to find Captain Campion before time ran out. Lucky for her, he was asleep in his burrow, but soon woke up when she pushed on his shoulder with her paws.
"Oh, hello, Bell. Is there something you need?" Campion yawned, giving her a light smile but seeming a little annoyed that she had woken him up.
"I need your help!" she replied hastily, and before Campion could even give a response, she was already trying to push him out of the burrow, which wasn't going very well, considering his size.
"Whoa, whoa! What's going on?" he asked as he got to his feet and began walking the way she was pushing. It was obvious that this was an emergency.
"It's Moss! He..." she tried to explain, but was instantly interrupted by Campion.
"What about Moss?! Where is he?"
"There's no time to explain, just come on!" Bliss shouted. She had stopped trying to push him, but instead darted with incredible speed outside the burrow. With no other choice, Captain Campion had to follow her but immediately got worried. She wasn't stopping at any other burrow. Instead, she was leading him outside, into the storm.
Sadly for them, once they made it outside, they noticed that the rain had begun to pick up again. But, luckily, it was just barely drizzling. However, Bliss knew that it would soon turn back into a horrible blinding state.
Immediately, she started to sprint towards the bridge, with Campion right behind. Actually, he was beating her in the run, but was forced to stay alongside her, even though he wanted to get there immediately, He, Larch and Moss had been best friends for a while now, and Campion didn't want to imagine a world without one of them.
"Bell, what is going on!?" he demanded, running across the bridge with her. They soon made their way into the forest. But now, the rain was getting worse, and the wind was starting to pick up, blowing chills down his spine.
"He's sick, Captain Campion! He's very, very sick!" she shouted, trying to communicate over the increasing wind.
"That's not good, especially in this kind of weather," Campion thought as he glanced around just to see a tree come crashing down. Luckily, it wasn't anywhere near them.
At first, it looked like Bliss had failed saving Moss. She was back to her blinded state, as the rain had stopped drizzling and had turned back into the full blown storm which had gotten the original group lost. Then, to her annoyance and yet, surprise, she accidentally stepped into water, which was acting as quicksand in front of a fallen tree. She had found the same spot where Moss was left, but the scenery had changed as the water had risen, and the wall of bushes that had been on the side was no longer there.
It seems that the bushes had been ripped out of the ground. As the roots were already damaged when Moss and Bliss had run through to escape the fox, this was not a big surprise, but now with the heavy winds blowing, it looked like it had finally finished them off.
"Help me find him!" Bliss shouted, running over to the empty land. But because of the rain, it was hard to tell where he was to try and help.
The worst part of it was that Moss was probably still unconscious and without shelter. He might be dead. But nevertheless, the two of them started to search for the Captain, while simultaneously trying to stay close together.
"I don't see him!" Campion yelled as he continued to scan the ground, but with no good luck.
"Keep looking!" Bliss replied, trying not to give up hope, although the situation was looking really bad.
At this rate, the wind was picking up so much speed that it might have been able to toss them into the air, and they would actually fly in a random direction… But it would probably kill them first before they landed, so they would have had to have given up had they not finally had a stroke of good luck.
"I found him!" Bliss shouted with excitement. Luckily and very ironic, she had accidentally tripped over Moss's large body. Even greater news was that he was somehow still breathing which meant that he hadn't succumbed to his sickness.
"Here, put him on my back!" Campion replied, lowering himself next to the unconscious rabbit, while Bliss started to drag him onto the large Captain. The rain and wind weren't making it any easier for the two, but finally after a little struggle they did it. Now all they had to do was get back to Efrafa in one piece.
"All right, I think he's on. Let's get out of here!" the doe shouted to Campion as the two began running with Campion in front. Bliss was afraid that if she led, then they might get even more lost, because at the moment her vision was blurring again. But it was not from the rain-her sickness was getting worse, and it was becoming very hard to ignore the feeling.
Without wasting time, the two continued with their running. But neither of them noticed that a small branch from a nearby tree was under too much pressure from the strong winds. Finally, it had completely torn away. Even worse, it somehow smacked the back of Campion's head, causing him to topple over head first onto the ground and throwing Moss off of his back. The other buck landed in front of him.
Campion's head was now spinning, and he could definitely feel it getting rather wet. That was probably from the blood, which was in fact pouring out. Somehow, for him, time was slowing down. He could see that Bliss was standing in front of him, yelling something to him, but all he could hear was a ringing noise in his ears. Soon, his blinking became relatively slow.
Campion tried his best to stand back up, but soon collapsed back to the ground. In a matter of seconds, he found himself getting rather tired. Sadly for him, blackness was starting to swallow him up, and he was falling unconscious from the hard blow to the head, leaving Bliss all alone to try and save them both.