Disclaimer– I do not own anything in the Watership down franchise and any plot lines, characters, dialog you recognise belongs to Richard Adams and Alltime Entertainment and Decode Entertainment.
Thank you to Chipster-roo for reviewing – I will change the meeting between Skylar, Selene and Hannah. I will change it in the next few days. Hope you enjoy the next chapter.
And thank you to Chipster-roo and TAY BARTLETT for adding me to their favourites/follows.
Chapter 8 – Brother Troubles
Everyone was enjoying a game of bobstones in the sunshine. Dandelion was winning so far. He was currently playing Pipkin. "Oh bad luck Pipkin" Dandelion said as Pipkin guessed wrong. "Hey Skylar, Selene do you want a game" Blackberry asked as they joined the group. Selene said "well I have never played bobstones, how about you Skylar?" Skylar shook her head "no I have never played ether, no one would play with me while I was at Efrafa"
Pipkin hopped over and said "we can teach you, but we aren't that good" Dandelion who was enjoying his winning streak said "Dandelion the first bobstones champion of Watership down. It has a nice ring to it" just then Bigwig arrived "you haven't played me yet chum" Dandelion hopped up to him and started to jump next to him in a boxing stance "set them Bigwig, I'll take you apart"
Bigwig pushed him back and said "ok chum, tell you what, after owsla exercises we will have a proper match to settle this, what do you say Hazel? Hazel!" Hazel and Fiver had noticed Hawkbit sat by the entrance to the burrow. As they both approached they saw that he was acting weird. "Hawkbit, are you alright?" Hazel asked.
As the Bigwig and the other joined them Fiver said "Hawkbit you're covered in dust" Hawkbit looked at himself and said "oh yeah, how about that" he then shuck his fur free of the dust. Skylar and Selene cough "thanks Hawkbit just what we needed, a dust shower" Hawkbit gives them a slight smile at their joke "Hawkbit, it looks like you have seen the black rabbit of Inle." Pipkin says.
Everyone gasped and started whispering about the black rabbit. "Calm down everyone, Hawkbit hasn't seen the black rabbit, have you Hawkbit" Bigwig says to Hawkbit. Hawkbit nods and moves back to the burrow entrance. "Right, owsla formation now" Skylar and Selene ran down the hill with the rest of the owsla for exercises.
Bigwig was calling instructions to the owsla. Pipkin was struggling with his left and rights. "Skylar would you go and help Pipkin" Bigwig asked, so Skylar ran alongside Pipkin and gave him some pointers. With the extra help from Skylar, Pipkin started to make progress, so Skylar retuned to Bigwig. Then Pipkin again messed up Bigwigs directions and crashed into Dandelion.
Bigwig grumbled and shouted "duck and cover, duck and cover" Skylar couldn't help but chuckle as she saw how Dandelion and Pipkin had hidden, and Selene dived into the brambles by accident and cried out in pain as she got tangled in the brambles. Bigwig shouted "you call that cover!" Skylar, chuckling, moved to Selene and said "well done sis, you got yourself in a prickly situation haven't you?" Selene grumbles "stop laughing and help me!" Skylar helped free Selene and she went to continue the exercises.
As the exercises progressed the rabbits and Selene started to get more exhausted. "Right twice round the warren top speed" Dandelion and Pipkin dropped to the floor, panting, after half a lap. "This is top speed is it?" Bigwig queried. "For a half dead rabbit? Yes" Dandelion panted "I thought we were having a bobstones match anyway" Dandelion asked. Bigwig grumbled "oh ok, I will get Hazel to set it up."
He then looked around but could see no sign of him or Fiver. "I haven't seen him or Fiver" Skylar said as she looked up the hill for them. "Let's go and find them" Skylar said. As they all reached the warren, there was no sign of hazel, Fiver or Hawkbit. Skylar said "Bigwig, shall we look around the down for them, then search the burrows?" Bigwig nods and shouts "right, what Skylar said, search round the warren then we will search the burrows, if we can't find them, Skylar, Selene with me."
As they searched round the warren Bigwig spoke "Skylar you are doing very well in the owsla, you have had some great ideas, you have proved you can lead a team and hold your own in a fight. Would you be interested in becoming a captain of owsla?" Skylar stops short and says "are you sure?" Bigwig nods and Skylar replies "yes Bigwig I accept" Bigwig looked happy and said "well I will start training you to be a captain, well as soon as we have found Hazel, Fiver and Hawkbit, but from now you are a captain, congratulations."
Selene looks at Skylar and says "ooh Skylar, first doe captain of owsla in watership down, well done" Skylar replies "thanks, now lets find our missing friends." As they all searched the woods by the down it was soon clear that Hazel and the others weren't there. "They must but in the warren" Skylar said. After gathering the rest of the owsla, the all headed up to warren they asked Blackberry if they were up at the warren, and she said she hadn't seen them since the morning.
They all headed down into the warren, after persuading Dandelion and Pipkin to go down as well, they all met in the honeycomb chamber to split up. Dandelion and Pipkin were resisting searching the back burrow, but as Bigwig gave them a pep talk they headed down the tunnel, Blackberry said "it seems that Hazel, Fiver and Hawkbit are not down here after all."
Bigwig agreed "there is a sensible explanation, we will find them" Skylar nodded "well we had better start searching" just as Bigwig, Blackberry, Skylar and Selene started to search, they heard Kehaar calling them. Blackberry says she will continue to search. As Bigwig, Skylar and Selene head up, they see Kehaar jumping up and down excited. "Bigwig, I see the Efrafa, I see them, they hide in grass when they see me, and I think they are very much scared of Kehaar"
Bigwig suddenly says "or maybe they didn't want you to see them, yes a simple explanation, Skylar, Selene and Kehaar with me" as they ran down the hill, Selene says "you think Efrafa have captured them?" Bigwig nods and says "and if they have they will be heading back to Efrafa" the all run down the hill with Kehaar following them in the sky.
They all reach the bridge where the Efrafan guards are situated. Kehaar asks "so how do we know if they have Hazel, Fiver and Hawkbit?" Bigwig says "well we ask them" he then moves into the guards view "I hear you are all looking for me. The names Bigwig and I'm waiting" Skylar, Selene and Kehaar wait to give support if needed. The guards move forward and say "you betrayed Efrafa, insulted General Woundwort, we are taking you in" as they both move forward Skylar jumps out to help bigwig. As the guards spot Skylar they say "your big brother is looking for you, you traitor"
Skylar looks shocked and starts to comment, but Bigwig reacts first "if you want to fight, let's fight, don't talk." He then jumps at them and pins them both "tell me if any prisoners have been captured and taken to Woundwort?" the guards say "no, no one" Bigwig growls "now you wouldn't fib to Bigwig now would you?" both guards shake their heads and swear "owsla honour" and Bigwig releases them.
As they all leave bigwig shouts back "tell Woundwort his owsla is not worth an acorn." They all run back to the fields, and bump into an Efrafan patrol, Bigwig says "fancy meeting you here" Campion looks shocked at seeing Skylar in particular "Skylar? You are alive! Why did you leave Efrafa? You were safe, with me to keep an eye on you!" Skylar growls and snaps "why should you care! You don't even know me Campion"
Vervain then laughs "you don't even recognise your own big brother Skylar? Well you will have some bonding time now, grab them" Bigwig, Skylar and Selene bolt into the field and head to the river bank. As they hide by a log they hear the Efrafan patrol getting close. "Find them, they are trapped between us and the river" Vervain shouts.
Kehaar calls out and Vervain spots them hiding by a log, as they run Kehaar knocks Vervain over and they reach a willow tree. They then hear, to their surprise, Hawkbit calling them "Bigwig, Skylar, Selene in here." They all duck under the willow tree and into a small tunnel where a small stream flows out of the ground. They all dart into the tunnel and run up the stream. They hear Vervain shout "spread out, find them!" Bigwig, Skylar and Selene were all panting "wow that was close" Selene said.
Bigwig then asked "what is this place Hazel? How did you end up here?" Hawkbit answered "we just had to believe" Fiver then looked at Skylar, she was looking at the stream. "Are you ok Skylar?" She looks round and says "I just found out that Campion is my older brother, I knew there was a rumour that I had a brother, but I did not know if it was true or who it was."
Hazel and Hawkbit look shocked, but Bigwig says "it's true, they favour each other a bit, and Vervain taunted Skylar about it." Hazel says "are you ok Skylar" Skylar nods and says "I was just shocked, it caught me off guard" Selene giggles "it's the first time you have ever been speechless about anything" Skylar smiles and says "well it doesn't matter, your my sister, I don't need a brother."
Bigwig then looks at her and says "what about me? I could be your big brother" Skylar looks even more shocked "aww Bigwig, you do have a heart after all" Hawkbit says. Skylar looks at Bigwig and says "yeah that would be nice, thanks, big brother" Hazel and Fiver smile, "we will wait till dark then we will return home." As darkness fell they headed back to the warren.
As they went into the burrows there was no one around. As they looked around, they heard noises from the back burrows. "Oh we're through, good work everyone" they heard Blackberry say. They then heard primrose say "here are their tracks, they went this way" hazel then called down the tunnel "Primrose, Blackberry! We're up here" Dandelion then called up "what are you doing up there? We are down here rescuing you."
Everyone laughed and Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig, Skylar and Selene made their way down into the cavern. Hazel then sets up the bobstones game for Bigwig and Dandelion. Everyone watches as the game progresses and eventually Dandelion is in the lead. Fiver says "earlier we were down here alone and frightened, but now it's full of life" Pipkin then says "guess this one right and you win" Dandelion then guesses correctly and Bigwig announces "well we have a new champion, Dandelion, well done" Dandelion then cheers and everyone congratulates him. Everyone then headed back to the upper burrows for some well-deserved flayrah.