Chapter 25

The morning after the attack by Efrafa, Watership Down was a flurry of activity, with rabbits following Sam, Bigwig and Hazel's instructions for preparing for the counter strike while their leaders planned the assault.

"It's going to rain soon, Hazel-rah," Bigwig said as he gestured to an approaching line of cumulonimbus clouds. "Just as the rain starts would be the perfect time for an attack. Whatever owsla they have left will be herding the other rabbits into the warren, so they would be open for a sneak attack."

The chief nodded. "That sounds like a good plan. We'll be sure to have everyone in position. Sam, have you figured out who of us is going yet?"

"I think so," the teen replied. "Of course some are going to stay back; some of the rabbits here literally can't fight to save their lives. I know Clover, Pipkin, and your kids are staying back for sure. Personally, I think Primrose and Fiver should stay back, but they both insist on going." Hazel sighed at this, but gestured for him to continue. "There's…one more I really think should stay here: Campion."

"What?" Bigwig interrupted. "Why in Frith's name would you have Campion stay? He's one of the best fighters we have. I'm not ashamed to say that I think he could even beat me."

"I know Bigwig, but look at it from his point of view. Would you really make him go back to the place where he had essentially been a prisoner his entire life, and then ask him to fight his former allies? I know he would be good to have along, but I think it would be better for him to stay."

"I don't know, Sam" Hazel said hesitantly. "I'm inclined to agree with Bigwig on this one."

"Look, why don't we just ask him what his thoughts are. If he really wants to go, well, then who am I to stop him? But if he hesitates, I think we should encourage him to stay behind."

Hazel nodded. "Alright. Oh look, there he and Blackberry are now. Campion! Might we have a word with you?" The pair, who before looked like they had been arguing about something, hopped over.

"What do you need, Hazel?" Campion asked. "We were just…getting ready for the fight."

"That is what we wanted to talk to you about. Sam has a proposition for you. Sam?"

Sam sighed as the spotlight was suddenly thrust on him. He turned to the former captain. "Campion, I was thinking that it might not be a bad idea for you to stay here." Seeing the look on Campion's face, Sam quickly clarified. "I was just thinking that it would be asking too much of you to make you go back there and fight against your former friends."

"No," Campion said forcefully. "You'll need me there. I know the owsla strategies, I know where they'll be positioned, I know which members of the owsla to watch out for and which are pushovers. Besides, I fought against them yesterday. Why should today be any different?"

Sam was about to speak when Blackberry interrupted. "He's right, Campion. I think you should stay. Yes, you have been forced to fight them once already, but there's a big difference between defending yourself and attacking another warren. We don't want to put you through that. Can you honestly say the thought doesn't bother you?"

Campion looked between Sam and Blackberry, and then averted his eyes. "No," he admitted with a sigh, "it will be one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I've known some of the rabbits since I was a kitten, but you'll need me there. Unless I miss my guess, the Efrafan owsla probably still outnumbers us. You're going to need every soldier you can get."

"Actually," Sam said, "we have that covered. Look over there. Have we told you about our friend Bark yet?"

Campion looked behind him and almost bolted. Sitting on the top of the hill was a lendri. Fiver was standing next to her and the two were talking and laughing. Campion gaped as Blackavar, Snowdrop, and Gillia approached her slowly with Primrose keeping a close eye on them. Bark appeared to have no problem with the kits and was very gentle with them. "That…that's a lendri…" Campion said in shock.

Sam chuckled. "Yeah. She's a friend we made last fall. She's going to be helping us with the fight. But don't worry," he added, seeing the look on Campion's face, "we made sure to specify that she is not to use claws or teeth unless it's absolutely necessary to save one of us. So between her and me, we aren't really short on power."

"But," Campion said, unsure of how to respond, "I still think I-"

"Campion," Blackberry interrupted again. "Let's work out a deal. Do you remember what we were…discussing, before they called us over?" Campion nodded. "If you stay, I'll stay."

Sam, Hazel, and Bigwig exchanged confused looks, but Campion ignored them. "I…are you sure, Blackberry?" She nodded. Campion sighed and turned back to Sam. "It looks like I'm staying behind after all."

Sam simply nodded. "Alright Campion, that's fine." Campion nodded and he and Blackberry walked off together.

"What just happened?" Hazel asked.

Sam laughed. "As far as I can figure, both of them wanted the other to stay here, so they each agreed to stay, as long as the other did." Sam chuckled again to himself. "They're worse than you and Primrose were."

"Worse?" Hazel asked, genuinely confused. "Was there something wrong with us?"

"Don't worry about it, Hazel," Sam replied. "Let's just go finish the preparations. We want to get there right as the rain starts so that they're off their guard, but not yet hunkered down in the warren."

Hazel and Bigwig nodded and the three went in separate directions to prepare.

Two hours later, Sam, Glade, and Strawberry huddled under the bridge on the edge of Efrafan territory while the others hid in the woods on the opposite bank. Sam peered around the corner and saw only one soldier guarding the bridge instead of two. It's probably due to the amount of casualties they sustained in the cave, Sam thought sadly. He shook his head and focused on the task at hand. Sam and his friends were supposed to lure the guards away from the bridge and knock them out so the rest of the group could sneak into the Efrafan woods. Glade snuck around one side of the bridge while Strawberry went around the other side, leaving Sam under the bridge.

Glade was acting as the distraction, and Sam heard the guard's surprised gasp when he finally noticed her. Glade gave a coy giggle and jumped back under the bridge, prompting the guard to follow. Soon, the guard appeared around the corner of the bridge. When he saw Sam, he tried to run, but Strawberry had snuck around the other side, surrounding the guard.

"Gotcha," Sam said as he knocked the guards unconscious. He whistled loudly and gestured for the others to cross the bridge. The rest of the rabbits joined the three and the entire group continued towards the warren. With Kehaar's keen eyes in the sky scoping out any scout positions, they were able to approach Efrafa without being noticed. The Watership down group hid in the tree line overlooking the warren.

"Is everyone ready?" Hazel whispered. They all nodded in response as raindrops began falling on their heads. "Alright, let's move!" At his words, the group broke from the trees and ran towards the warren. The sentries saw them immediately and called for reinforcements from inside the runs. By the time they had managed to push passed the panicked civilians running into the warren for safety, most of the outside guards were unconscious. Some still fought, and they managed to push back as the other Efrafans joined the battle.

The Watership Down strategy was simple: they would fight as a unit to compensate for their small numbers. Bark and Sam would separate from the group and each fight on their own so as not to hurt their friends. The rabbits would stay in a group so none of the Efrafans could flank them for a sneak attack.

While the rabbits fought, Sam detached himself from the group and fought several rabbits singlehandedly. The teen ducked and dodged as fast as he could, avoiding the worst of their strikes. Whenever an opportunity presented itself, he lashed out with his staff or an energy blast.

"Look out!"

Sam looked behind him in time to see an Efrafan about to strike him across the face. He turned quickly and slipped in the quickly accumulating mud. He closed his eyes and waited for the pain, but it never came. Sam opened his eye and saw Glade where the soldier had just stood. The two immediately turned and stood back to back. Sam still faced three rabbits while Glade fought two.

"You know, you were supposed to stay with the group," Sam shouted through the heavily falling rain.

"This coming from the one that kept telling us that no one should fight alone," she shot back. "You're stuck with me."

Sam nodded, even though she was not facing him. "Just be careful."

"You too."

With simultaneous battle cries, they launched themselves at their opponents. Sam immediately struck one of the slower rabbits with his staff and the rabbit fell unconscious. The other two attempted to overpower him by tackling him at the same time. One met an energy blast in the face, and the other one flew over Sam's head as he ducked at the last second. Sam immediately spun around and swept the rabbit's legs out from under him, then knocked him out with a swing of his staff. Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, Sam turned and readied his staff for another fight, only to find a rabbit look cautiously at him, but making no move to attack.

Sam's eyes widened as he recognized the rabbit. He lowered his staff a bit. "You're…Moss, right?" Moss nodded, but did not say anything. "Please don't," Sam pleaded, "I don't want to fight you. Campion has told me a lot about you. You know what Woundwort has done to this warren is wrong. He's holding rabbits prisoner and punishing anyone too weak to fight back. This isn't what life is supposed to be."

Moss sighed. "I know," he said, causing a sigh in relief. "When Captain Campion turned to your side, I knew there had to be a good reason. That's why, as we speak, I have a group of rabbits inside the warren moving all the civilians out. At first, we were just going to wait for nightfall and escape ourselves, but your attack allowed us to get more out. They're going to be waiting by the bridge."

Sam stood, shocked at the information. "That's perfect, Moss! With that, we can-"

"Traitor!" Sam was interrupted by a rabbit trying to rush Moss from the side. Sam launched an energy blast at the rabbit before Moss could turn. Moss looked back at the teen with new respect.

"Thank you," he said simply.

"No problem," Sam replied.

He looked over to where the rest of the Watership Down rabbits had been fighting. All the rabbits of the Efrafan owsla were either sitting calmly, having surrendered, or they were lying on the ground. Unconscious or otherwise. Bark had left as soon as the fighting was over, to keep from scaring the civilian rabbits. Sam glanced behind him and found Glade sitting there, keeping a suspicious eye on Moss. Sam turned back to the Efrafan. "Alright, it looks like we're almost done here. There's just one last thing: where's Woundwort?"

"I don't know," Moss replied. "When we got back from the cave attack, the General went into his chambers and he hasn't come out since. Even when the owsla shouted at him that we were under attack, he didn't respond."

Sam nodded. "Alright. Glade?" he said to the doe still sitting behind him. "Can you bring Moss over and tell Hazel and Bigwig that he's on our side?"

"Sure, but what are you going to do?"

Sam looked back at the warren where he could see non-owsla rabbits start to leave slowly, been led by rabbits he assumed were part of Moss's group. "I'm going to go see if the general is in."

"No need, messenger."

Every rabbit stopped and stared at the source of the voice that had somehow echoed through the area, despite the rain. Woundwort stood at the entrance to the warren, staring at Sam. His gaze shifted to the other Watership Down rabbits, then to the Efrafans that were in the process of escaping from Efrafa, then back to Sam.

"It doesn't matter," he said with a gruff laugh. "Those fools can go, I'll have them back soon enough. All I need to do is kill you, and everything will be right again." Woundwort walked to the edge of the platform on which he stood. "Once you're dead, I can-"

Woundwort was interrupted by a loud crash of lightning. Before anyone realized what was happening, the dead tree that housed the Efrafan warren was struck once, twice, three times with lightning. With a deafening boom, large chunks of the tree burst into splinters.

The energy running through the roots caused the ground to open up, making the tree sway precariously in the wind. As they watched, the tree began to topple forwards, towards Woundwort and the frozen rabbits that were trying to escape. The refugees bolted as soon as the tree started toppling, and Sam thought he saw them all make it out. But not everyone was going to get clear in time. Sam watched as the platform Woundwort was standing on began to shake and crack; the very ground beneath him opened up, sending the evil chief plummeting into the darkness with a yell of rage. The shout was cut off immediately as the tree fell atop the area where Woundwort had been standing.

As it registered to the crowd what had just happened, staggered cheers began to be heard. Before long, all the rabbits, except for the defeated Efrafan owsla, were cheering. Sam just smiled wearily. It's…over. We won! Sam turned towards his friend and began to make his way over, when he began to hear whispers of a voice.

"Can't leave…"

"Evil yet lives…"

"Keep fighting…"

"May the Sun be with you…"

Sam jerked to a halt and looked around. He did not see anyone beside the rabbits that were already accounted for.

"Sam?" Glade said when she saw him seeming looking around at nothing, "are you alright?" The teen shook his head and focused on her. "Come on, we're taking the Efrafans back to the down until we figure out exactly what we should do with them. Are you coming?"

Sam was about to agree, but what the voices said stopped him. "Actually," he replied, "I'm going to stay here. To check for survivors or in case there was a scout or something that didn't hear the fight. It wouldn't be very good if we left someone homeless."

"Alright," Glade said. "Well, I can wait with you if you wa-"

"No!" Sam said quickly. "I mean, it won't be a very big job. I'm sure we got everyone, I just want to be sure. They could use you back at the down. If the civilians are anything like they were when I was here, they're going to be very skittish. The more gentle rabbits that are there, the better."

Glade snorted in amusement. "I hardly think I could be considered gentle, but if you insist. Just…don't be gone too long, alright Sam?"

"I won't, Glade. I promise." She smiled and went to join the others. With Moss and the other rebel Efrafans prodding the refugees on, the now very large group of rabbits departed for the down, leaving Sam alone at the destroyed warren. Looking around, Sam found a large rock. He climbed up and took a seat. You're still out there, Woundwort. I know it. I'm not going to let you hurt anyone else. It will end here, I swear it.

A/N: Sorry this one turned out to be so short, but I'm hoping the next chapter will make up for it. As always, I love getting reviews, so don't be shy.