Chapter 26
Sam sat on the rock and waited.
And waited.
And waited.
It had long since stopped raining, but the sky was still filled with dark, ominous clouds. It had been at least three hours since the other rabbits had left, and still Sam found no signs of life anywhere. He had done as he told Glade and checked the remains of the warren for any survivors, but there were none to be found. He found bodies of rabbits that were obviously owsla, those that had been injured in the cave attack and had not participated in the defense of the warren. But still no sign of Woundwort.
What am I doing here? Sam asked himself for the tenth time. I hear some voices in my head, so I waste who knows how much time looking for a rabbit I watched get crushed by a tree. I should be back at the down, helping Hazel and the others deal with the Efrafans. This is stupid. He shook his head and turned to leave. He began walking away, when the ground began to rumble.
What the hell? Sam turned back to the ruins of Efrafa and saw small sheets of dirt falling as the shaking knocked it loose. With wide eyes, Sam watched as a streak of black lightning struck the tree, completely shattering it and sending debris flying everywhere. Sam was knocked off his feet by the force. When he managed to right himself and look at the smoking hole, he saw a shaking black paw emerge.
No way, Sam thought to himself as he continued to watch. Slowly and with obvious effort, Woundwort crawled out of the hole. As he slowly emerged, Sam could see he was covered in injuries. One side of his face was badly scraped. It was bleeding freely and reached up to his eye, leaving him blind on one side. There were numerous gashes of varying severity all over his body, the worst being a deep cut on his shoulder. Sam thought he could see bone. When he heaved himself up, he stood on three shaky legs, holding one in the air as if it was injured, and glanced around with an insane look. His gaze finally settled on Sam.
"Messenger," Woundwort said simply. "We meet again. For the last time."
"H-How did you survive?" Sam asked, trying to overcome his shock. "You should be dead! Really dead!"
"My master has allowed me one last chance to defeat you," Woundwort said, ignoring Sam. "I will not fail this time. Prepare yourself for death!"
With no further warning, Woundwort launched himself at Sam. The large rabbit moved very quickly despite his injuries. It was almost as if he was ignoring the numerous wounds in his rage. Sam barely had time to bring his staff up to block Woundwort's swipe, but he was still thrown off his feet. Before he could get up, Sam felt an uncomfortable weight on his left arm, followed by a burning pain. Sam opened his eyes and saw Woundwort attempting to drive his claws though Sam's arm and he was drawing blood. Ignoring the pain as best he could, the teen reached down to his hip and grabbed the knife he had holstered there, the one not attached to the end of his staff. With a grunt of effort, he drove the knife into the inside of Woundwort's leg, causing the Efrafan chief to yell in pain and jump off of Sam. The teen quickly got to his feet, ignoring the pain in his bleeding shoulder. Sam brought his staff forward, knife end pointed at Woundwort. The two glared at each other for a moment before they moved.
They struck, dodged, and traded blows. Sam ducked under an attempted swipe to his face by the large rabbit, only for Woundwort to change the direction of his attack and raked his claws across Sam's back. The teen grimaced in pain and retaliated with a quick slash of his staff, making another shallow cut in Woundwort's chest. Before the general could respond, Sam brought the other end of his staff around and gave Woundwort a hard hit in the temple, making the rabbit stagger. Sam tried to end the fight there with a quick shot to Woundwort's throat. Just as the blade was about to connect, Woundwort flung his paw out and caught the staff. With a quick flick of his paw, Woundwort wretched the staff out of Sam's hand and sent it flying behind him, knocking Sam to the ground in the process.
The rabbits shot a smug look at the teen. "Looks like I win, Messenger." He began to slowly close on the teen.
Sam waited until he was close enough before he let a smile appear on his face. "Not quite." Before Woundwort could react, Sam brought his hands up and shot two energy blasts directly into Woundwort's face. One hit the injured side of his face, while the other hit his good eye. Woundwort reared back and let out a pain-filled howl. Taking advantage of his distraction, the teen moved to take his staff. He was almost there when he heard running behind him. Sam looked back and saw Woundwort running at him blindly, pain and rage on his face. The teen dove for his staff as he heard Woundwort dive for him. Sam grabbed his staff and flipped onto his back. Woundwort overshot his jump, giving Sam a clear shot at his hind legs. Striking blindly, Sam swung his staff and felt it connect with something. When he opened his eyes, he saw Woundwort lying on the ground, breathing heavily. Sam watched as Woundwort tried to get up, only to fall as his legs gave out. One of his front legs was injured from the when the tree fell on him, and the other still had Sam's knife stuck in it. Woundwort's back legs had been hit in Sam's blind strike and both had large cuts in them that freely leaked blood.
Sam stood up and walked over to his fallen enemy. "You lose, Woundwort. You aren't going to hurt anyone anymore." He placed the bladed end of his staff over Woundwort's throat. "Any last words?"
Woundwort's eyes, which had been half closed in pain, suddenly shot open. He began to speak to himself. "Please Master, don't! I can still win, I can still...I…" Suddenly, he went silent and his eyes closed. Sam prodded Woundwort with the edge of his staff, thinking it was a trick by the Efrafan. Sam was about to thrust his blade though Woundwort's throat to be sure that he was dead, when the general suddenly sat up and Sam was blown back by a black wind. When he gathered his bearings, Sam looked in disbelief at Woundwort as he began to slowly rise into the air. The rabbit opened his eyes, only for them to be pitch black.
Just like Cowslip, Sam thought grimly.
"My servant has failed me," Woundwort said in rough, deep voice. "It appears I must deal with you personally, Messenger. Feel my power, and know fear." As soon as he finished talking, Woundwort moved quicker than Sam could keep up with. The Efrafan was suddenly beside him, and with a quick swipe of his paw, knocked Sam's staff out of his hands while leaving three parallel grooves on his arm. Sam turned and fired an energy blast at Woundwort, only to find it flying though empty air, the rabbit having disappeared again. Sam looked around quickly, but did not see anything. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder, as though a needle had pierced through his body. Sam looked to where the pain had come from and found Woundwort floating in the air, surrounded by a black aura. The rabbit grinned evilly. With a wave of his paw, black needles formed from the darkness surrounding him and flew at Sam. The teen dodged all he could, but every hit slowed him more and more. Sam struggled to keep from yelling as his body was impaled more times than he could count. Woundwort was purposefully avoiding any vital organ in an attempt to toy with the teen longer.
Seeing two more needles coming towards him, Sam tried to dive out of the way, only to find his foot caught by something. He looked down and saw a black tendril of smoke wrapping tightly around his ankle, preventing him from moving. Sam reached around to try and free his leg, when suddenly, his arm was similarly caught and wretched back. He was helpless to fight back as more tendrils wrapped around him, one around each limb, one around his torso, and one wrapped around his throat, just barely allowing him to breathe.
With his opponent thoroughly tied up, Woundwort floated lower. "So this is the mighty Messenger of Prince Rainbow? Pathetic. You presume to have the power to fight against me, but here you lay prostrated at my feet." A large spear of darkness formed behind Woundwort as he spoke. "So, any last words?"
Sam struggled and pulled against the binds holding him down, but they held tight. I'm sorry, Glade, he thought to himself sadly. It looks like I won't be back as quickly as I thought. Sam closed his eyes and waited for the pain, but as he did, he began to hear a voice. The same voice that caused him to stay in the first place.
"I am with you Messenger, never give up. Use the power of the sun. Destroy the darkness."
"What? No, not now!"
Sam opened his eyes and saw the sun shining bright in his face through a small hole in the clouds. He instantly began to warm and felt the pain of his injuries begin to fade. The teen was filled with energy, as if all the fighting he had done that day had not happened. He saw smoke begin to cloud his vision, and suddenly the pressure on his throat was gone. Sam looked to his arms and saw the same thing: the dark tendrils that had been holding him were smoking and shriveling in the sunlight. The teen looked up at an enraged Woundwort who, with another flick of his paw, sent the spear flying at Sam's heart. Sam watched in amazement as the dark weapon stopped and shattered on the column of light surrounding him. The teen smiled, seeing the fight had turned to his advantage.
Sam's hands began to heat up as he spoke. "Looks like it's not over yet, huh Woundwort?"
"You little whelp!" The rage on Woundwort's face faded slightly, replaced with fear.
Sam felt his hands get hotter, and noticed they were glowing with a bright, white light. "It's over, Woundwort. I said I was going to kill you, and I will." Sam raised his hands and aimed them at the floating rabbit. "You're done." With a cry of effort, Sam focused the power that he was getting from the sun, and fired what he thought was going to be a simple energy blast at Woundwort. What emerged instead was a steady stream of hot, yellow energy. It billowed out from Sam's hands and was wide enough to fully engulf Woundwort.
Woundwort writhed in pain, a demonic howl escaping his lips. The dark aura surrounding the rabbit began to disperse, torn apart by the beam of light. Sam struggled to keep firing the beam until all the darkness was gone. When there was nothing left, Sam stopped and fell to his knees, exhaustion hitting him as the body of Woundwort fell from the sky and landed on the ground.
The exhausted teen flopped onto his back with a tired smile on his face. I did it, he thought to himself. It's finally over. Now I can go…home… His happiness quickly faded as he thought about what that meant. Do I have to leave now? Now that my job is done? I wonder if I'll even get to say goodbye…
Sam's thoughts were interrupted by a groan. "Where…what?" A soft voice said to his side.
Despite his injuries, the teen quickly sat up and looked over towards Woundwort, only to find him moving slowly. Sam ran over to where his staff had fallen and turned back to Woundwort. Or what should have been Woundwort. The rabbit in front of him looked nothing like the evil soldier he had just defeated. The rabbit was a light brown color with blue eyes. The menacingly large size that had been one of Woundwort's most distinguishing features was gone, leaving a rabbit a bit smaller than Sam was when he was in rabbit form. The rabbit was blinking his eyes and looking around in confusion and awe before his gaze settled on Sam.
"I-It's you!" he exclaimed in a high pitched voice, almost the exact opposite of Woundwort's. "You did it, you freed me! You-agh!" The strange rabbit tried to stand, but fell as soon as he put pressure on his front leg. As he fell to the ground, Sam saw his knife stuck in the rabbit's leg, right where he had stabbed Woundwort. This made Sam more cautious. He pointed the bladed end of his staff at the smaller rabbit and slowly moved forward.
"Is this another trick, Woundwort? It's not going to work. You will die, here and now, and then my friends will be free from your cruelty."
"Wait, please," the rabbit gasped. "My name isn't Woundwort, it's Wheatstock. I've been a slave of the darkness for seasons!"
Sam narrowed his eyes. Could that be true? Silverweed and I never really figured out if Woundwort was the source of the evil or not… Sam thought back to his fight with Cowslip. I won't hurt another innocent rabbit if I can help it. Reaching his decision, Sam lowered his staff and walked towards the trembling Wheatstock. He reached down and pulled the knife out of the rabbits leg with a quick tug, eliciting a cry from him.
"Embleer Frith!" he swore, licking at the now bleeding wound. "Couldn't you have been a bit more gentle?"
"Speak," Sam said as he attached the knife to the other end of his staff. "I will listen to your story, and decide if you're telling the truth. But if you try to attack me, if you try to run, if you try anything, I won't hesitate to kill you. Is that understood?"
The rabbit nodded vigorously. "Y-Yes, of course. Ah, where to begin. I suppose it all begins in Darkhaven, the warren I'm originally from. All the rabbits born in Darkhaven serve our master implicitly."
"I've heard you mention your 'master' a few times," Sam interrupted. "Just who is this master?"
Wheatstock shuddered. "He is the darkest rabbits alive; the very master of death itself. The one who was controlling me, and the one who still waits for you, is none other than the Black Rabbit of Inlé."
That doesn't make sense, Sam thought to himself. The Black Rabbit is supposed to ultimately be a good being. "Are you sure?" Sam asked out loud. "I know the Black Rabbit brings death, but he isn't evil. Death has to happen; there would be overcrowding otherwise."
For the first time since he appeared, Wheatstock gave Sam an angry look. "You think I don't know who was controlling me? That monster has been in my head almost my entire life, torturing me with images of death and killing. Make no mistake, it was him."
"Fine, we'll leave that on the table for now," Sam replied, still not entirely believing the rabbit. "But go back to that warren, Darkhaven? You said there were others there and that they followed the Black Rabbit completely, except for you. What happened to make you snap out of it? Was it something I did?"
"I-I think so," Wheatstock replied. "When you hit me with that beam, I heard a voice. It was faint at first, but as I listened, it got louder. I concentrated, and the voice became clearer. It was loud and echoing, and yet it was gentle and caring at the same time. It said that salvation had come for me, that I was free from the evil that had consumed me. I followed the voice, and a white light overtook my vision. When I opened my eyes, I was here. So yes, I think it was you that saved me. And for that, I am eternally grateful." He sighed sadly. "I wonder if it would work for the others. Most of them are so far gone…"
"Others?" Sam asked incredulously. "There are more like you?"
Wheatstock nodded. "Like I said, I come from a warren called Darkhaven. There are other rabbits there, all thralls of the Black Rabbit. But I just…wonder if freeing them would even be possible."
"Shouldn't it work like it did with you?" the teen asked. "Just hit them with that beam and they'd be back to normal?"
"Maybe," Wheatstock relented, "But I'm not sure. Most of them are under even deeper control than I was. You see, even though I'm from Darkhaven, I wasn't born there." Seeing the questioning look in Sam's eyes, the rabbit continued. "My marli was not from Darkhaven. She stumbled upon it after disaster struck her home warren. I was never told all the details. As soon as she set foot in near the warren, the Black Rabbit attacked her mind. She was soon made a slave like the others. Until I came along, that is. I still don't know how it happened, but my marli was able to break free of the Black Rabbit's hold and escape Darkhaven before she had me. I was born outside of the Black Rabbit's control. Most of the rabbits in Darkhaven are born within the reaches of the Black Rabbit, and they are brought under his control immediately as they enter life. But as I said, my marli was able to escape and had me outside of Darkhaven."
Sam digested what he had heard. Stealing the minds of children? That's sick! "Does that mean your marli is still in Darkhaven?" Sam asked.
A look of pain flashed across Wheatstock's face. "No. Almost not long after she had me, a homba came along. She fought to protect me, but she wasn't strong enough. As soon as she was dead, Darkhaven owsla came and chased the homba away, leaving just me. They brought me back to Darkhaven and my mind was taken then and there." He snorted in disgust. "And all before my eyes were even open."
"Hold on a sec," Sam interrupted again. "How do you even know all of this if your eyes weren't open yet?"
"Because," the rabbit snapped, "he showed me! Whenever he got bored, the Black Rabbit liked to show me visions of that day! Sometimes it would be from the view of the owsla soldiers that were instructed to wait in the grass and let the homba punish my marli for daring to defy him. Sometimes it was from my marli's perspective, where I would be forced to endure the pain that she did that day: the pain of being torn apart, all while being wracked with sadness, thinking she was abandoning her son. Or when he was feeling particularly cruel, I would see it from the homba's eyes. I was forced to watch the fear, the pain on my marli's eyes as the homba tore her apart, and it felt like I was the one doing it." Tears of anger and sadness were pouring from Wheatstock's eyes by this point. "Do you know what it's like to taste your own marli's blood? I was forced to live it hrair times!"
"I-I'm sorry," Sam said sincerely. "I can't even imagine how hard that must have been, but I promise you, I-"
Sam cut off as Wheatstock suddenly sat up stock straight. He looked around fiercely, then snapped his gaze back to Sam. "There's no time, he's coming for me! Quickly, before he gets here, I have to tell you how to find Darkhaven, so you can defeat him. You're the only one who can. He fears you messenger. Where all others pass beneath his notice, you strike him with fear. Listen! To get to Darkhaven, you travel-"
Suddenly, what looked like a flame seemed to erupt from Wheatstock's chest, cutting off his speech. Sam watched in horror as blood began to freely flow from the where it touched the rabbit's body. As quickly as it appeared, the flame pulled back through him, leaving his body to drop to the ground. Sam was even more shocked by what stood behind him: a human girl.
She was a foot shorter than Sam and appeared to be sixteen at the oldest. She was wearing a white top with a blue skirt that looked more like a school uniform than anything else. Sam noticed her hair was done up in pigtails with matching red ribbons on each one. In her hand, she held what Sam had mistaken for a flame, but could now see was an orange sword. The sword billowed outwards from the hilt and had jagged edges along the blade. When Sam looked at her face, he was sickened to see her smiling. The shocking part about her smile was that there seemed to be no malice in her eyes, just genuine happiness.
The girl raised her gaze to stare at Sam. She put her hand up to her mouth and giggled, then said in a singsong voice, "Hey, you must be the one Master told me about. Sam, I think he said your name was. Nice to meet you Sam, I'm Alice." She stuck her hand out with a smile, asking for a handshake.
Sam broke out of his shock when she spoke. "What the hell! You killed him!" Sam dropped to his knees praying by some miracle that Wheatstock would still be alive. He had died instantly. Sam glared back at the girl. "Who…what are you! Where did you come from?"
Alice retracted her hand with a slight fade of her smile, but it did not stay gone for long. "I'm a human, silly. Duh! And I came from Darkhaven. Master wanted me to make sure this one," she gestured to Wheatstock's body with her sword, "didn't give too much away. Master isn't quite ready for you yet. But just you wait Sammy-boy, you'll get to meet my master soon enough."
She was sent here to make sure I didn't know how to get to Darkhaven, Sam thought to himself in anger. Fine then, I'll just pry the information out of her. He raised his staff for a moment, then stopped. Wait, I can't hurt a kid! She has to be under the Black Rabbit's control, somehow. I have to try and free her. "Hey, you said your name was Alice, right?" Sam asked in a friendly voice. While he was talking, he held one hand behind his back, charging up his Frith beam again. "I think we got off on the wrong foot, why don't you tell me where you were from, before you came here?"
"Hm," Alice tapped a finger to her chin as she thought. "Beats me! The first memory I have is of Master waking me up."
Sam tried to hide a grimace. The beam was almost fully charged and it was very hot in his hand. "Well that's too bad," he said as he continued to converse with the girl. "I have something that might help you remember. If you're interested, that is."
"Oh, really?" she said, curiosity taking the better of her. "What would that be?"
Sam brought his glowing hand around his back. "A face full of sun!" Sam watched the beam fly at the girl. But before it was going to hit her, she vanished. Wha- was all Sam had time to think before he felt a burning pain in his leg and a hard strike on the side of his face. His vision blurred he fell to the ground. When Sam's eyes cleared, he was able to see the orange blade at his throat. He followed the blade upwards with his eyes and saw a very unhappy looking Alice standing there with Sam's staff in her other hand. How did she…I don't even remember dropping it. He looked down at his leg and saw that it was bleeding. She had cut him without him seeing. She's so fast!
"That wasn't very nice, Sam," the girl pouted. "I might just have to kill you for that. Unless you ask me really nicely not to."
"I wanted to save you," Sam said desperately. "If you'd only let me-" Sam was cut off by another rap against the head, this one softer than the last.
"Ah ah ah," she replied condescendingly, "that wasn't very good begging. That decides it then, I guess I'll just have to kill you. I wonder if there will be as much blood as there was with that rabbit." She giggled. "Well, I guess we'll just have to find out." Sam saw the blade move away from his neck as Alice swung back and brought the sword down towards Sam's torso. Just as she was about to connect, the weapon suddenly stopped. Sam looked up at Alice and saw a combination of concentration and pain written on her face. He watched as her scowl deepened for a moment, before disappearing entirely. She looked back to Sam. "Looks like it's your lucky day. Master doesn't want me to kill you just yet. He wants to play with you a bit first. Looks like you get to go back to your little rabbit friends." Sam's eyes widened in alarm. "Oh yeah Sam, I know all about your friends. Chief Hazel-rah, Captain Bigwig, little Pipkin. I know about all of them. All sitting up there on that high hill by that beech tree, if I'm not mistaken."
"I swear to Frith," Sam yelled angrily, "if you dare hurt the-" Alice drove the hilt of her sword into Sam's stomach, silencing him.
As he sat on the ground trying to catch his breath, Alice grabbed Sam's chin and forced him to look up at her. "You aren't very smart, are you? Most people wouldn't threaten someone that has a sword up to their throat. Lucky for you, Master wants me to return home to the darkness. Oh, but before I leave…" Sam barely had time to react as Alice tossed his staff in the air and brought her sword arcing around to hit it directly in the center. The staff froze for a moment before it shattered, knives and all. Sam felt the familiar sensation of backlash tear though his body as he rolled on the ground in agony. Alice waited until the pain had run its course, and again grabbed Sam's chin, the teens eyes flickering as he struggled to maintain consciousness. She placed a light kiss on his forehead and gave him a wink. "We'll see each other again soon, Sammy-boy. Ciao." Before Sam could try and respond, she disappeared again, leaving his head to hit the ground.
Sam lay on the ground panting as he tried to organize his muddled thoughts. Have to get back to the down…have to tell the others…so…tired… Just then, a voice reached Sam's ears.
"…am! Sam, where are you! Oh Frith, Sam!"
Sam turned his head to see Glade running towards him. It was the last thing he saw before darkness overtook him.
A/N: Alright, this is the second of the two chapters I had in reserve. I'm still in the middle of writing the next one, so I wouldn't expect it in a week and a half like the last two have been (especially since Skyrim just came out).
Please review, as I would love to see what some of you think of this new development.