Chapter 235: The Great Patrols.

"Now listen closely

Here's a little lesson in trickery

This is going down in history

If you wanna be a Villain Number One

You have to chase a superhero on the run

Just follow my moves, and sneak around

Be careful not to make a sound

(LOUD CRUNCH)"

-Máni Svavarsson, We Are Number One

Snowdrop slowly opened her eyes. Blinking a few times, she took in her surroundings. Her siblings were huddled around her, but her parents were not present, they had probably woken up already. After a quick yawn and stretch, she got up, waking everyone else up in the process.

-"Good afternoon, children," Primrose said, as she hopped into the burrow carrying more bedding. "Sleep well?"

-"Afternoon?" Gilia blinked a few times. "How late is it?"

-"Well past ni-Frith. Since you're going on your first wide patrol today, I thought I would let you sleep in so you can be fully rested."

The kittens were dismayed by this. They had been hoping to go on patrol at dawn, but now it was late afternoon. Hopefully Hazel and Bigwig wouldn't decide that it was too late and call off the patrol...

-"You should have stayed underground instead of pretending to pass hraka," Periwinkle mumbled.

-"Don't rub it in, will you?"

While her siblings went for a quick silflay before the patrol, Gilia instead sought out Blueberry; the two soon met in a secluded tunnel.

-"I'm glad you didn't leave without me," the young doe said.

-"I would never," Blueberry quickly said.

-"Is there anything else I should know before we go? Anything else you may have remembered since our talk late last night?"

-"Nothing further. But if everything goes as planned, that will soon change, and we will know the whole truth."

Some fifteen minutes later, the entire junior owsla, Pipkin, Nyreem, Blueberry, and Hazel and Primrose's kittens were listening as Bigwig gave them some advice for the patrol. The kittens did not pay close attention: they just wanted to get started as soon as possible. Pipkin and Nyreem, however, listened closely. Pipkin knew that, as the leader of the patrol, he was responsible for everyone's safety, and he would do his best to make sure everything would go smoothly.

-"You're getting bored, aren't you?" Bigwig said after a while, causing the kittens to stand up straight in an attempt at hiding their lack of attention. As he saw this, Bigwig chuckled. "I've said about all I can say, so you may go now. Good luck!"

Pipkin thanked the captain for his advice, and made his way towards the bottom of the Down, with the others following close behind. As they were around halfway down, Vesper hopped over to them.

-"Is there any way I can assist you on this important mission?"

-"No offence," Mallow said bluntly, "but this patrol is supposed to be junior owsla only, no-one from the regular owsla."

-"I'm not in the regular owsla either," Vesper admitted sadly. "But as you wish."

While the kittens were speaking with Vesper, Bigwig went underground, soon reaching Hazel's burrow, where the Chief was lying down.

-"Now is the time," he said.

-"I've been speaking with Holly and Hannah," Hazel said. "They would both be interested too."

-"Sure, why not?"

The junior owsla were not the only rabbits on patrol in the area. The Darkhaven patrol was also nearby, although at the moment, both groups were unaware of each other's presence.

The Darkhaveners focused mainly on one unusual feature of the landscape: a very deep crevice, separating the land in two. It was the crack caused by the collapse of the cavern system under Watership Down, although they ignored this.

-"This wasn't here the last time we patrolled the area," Feldspar said.

-"I wonder what caused it," Orchis added. "Was it humans or elil?"

Spartina knew what it was: Bigwig had told her during one of their meetings. This was bad news: it meant they were approaching the warren. Unless she could find a way to get them to change direction...

-"Could it be, perhaps...like in the ancient story of El-ahrairah and the volcano?" she asked, trembling, pretending to be afraid.

-"You still believe that stupid old story?" Orchis rolled his eyes. "Just like a doe. We should follow this crack, see where it begins, and what caused it."

-"Are you sure about this? Whatever caused this could be dangerous, and might kill us all," Spartina still objected.

-"If it is dangerous," Orchis said, "we could neutralize the threat, or at least warn the others back at Darkhaven before it kills us all."

Spartina had no choice but to follow; if she didn't, it would seem like she was hiding something (which she was, but she had to keep her secret at all costs). She would have to think of something else.

An idea finally came to her soon afterwards, as she glanced down the crack. In some locations, it was so deep that she couldn't see the bottom, while in others, it was just like any ordinary ditch. Soon afterwards, Shale collapsed.

-"Please...we must rest..."

-"Rest?" Feldspar stared at Shale. "But we just left!"

-"I'm exhausted...I need to eat..."

-"At this rate we won't be getting anywhere!"

-"Surely we could use a short break?" the doe suggested, sensing this could be the perfect moment to carry out her plan. "It doesn't have to be long, just a few nibbles."

-"Fine, we take a break," Orchis decided. "But make it snappy! Feldspar is right that we're going too slowly."

With that, Spartina and Shale started nibbling the grass. Even Feldspar and Orchis joined them, welcoming the short break even if they weren't ready to admit it.

Seeing everyone absorbed in their silflay, Spartina sprang into action. She cautiously approached Shale, pretending to be on the lookout for some clover. As soon as he turned away, she aimed a powerful kick of her hind legs at him, sending him falling over the edge of the crack. Predictably, he soon started shouting:

-"HELP! HELP! SAVE ME!"

The other three rabbits immediately ran to the edge, where Shale was clinging by the tips of his claws, with a terrified look in his eyes.

-"Spartina pushed me in! Pull me up, before I fall to my death!"

Spartina became slightly nervous at Shale's accusation, but thankfully, nobody seemed to be paying any attention to it, instead focusing on another detail.

-"Let go," Feldspar said.

-"Let go? Are you mad? Who knows how deep this thing is! I'll die!"

-"LET GO!" Orchis shouted, biting one of Shale's paws, causing him to lost his grip on the edge. He gave out a terrifying squeal...only for him to softly touch the ground almost instantly. This part of the crack was so shallow he could easily jump out. Ashamed of this silly mistake, Shale hopped out and shook the dirt out of his fur. Seeing the amused look on the other three rabbits' faces, he tried to change the subject.

-"Spartina pushed me in!"

-"Sure," Orchis said sarcastically. "Come on, stop blaming other rabbits for your own stupidity."

-"But...but...she really did!"

-"Of course I did. Ever since I first saw this hole, I have had a burning desire to throw every living creature in the world down there," the doe replied, causing the others to smile at the joke. "We should just be glad that Shale fell in the shallower part of it. If it had been in a deeper part, he would have stopped running. We should probably get away from here before someone does die."

-"I agree that it's dangerous, but we won't turn back," Orchis said firmly. "As long as we don't go too close to the edge, we'll be fine. Silflay's over, let's get going."

Spartina was getting really worried: both her attempts so far at leading the patrol away from Watership Down so far had failed, and they were rapidly getting closer. She could not let them discover the warren's location, but she struggled to think of other plans.

Soon afterwards, Feldspar stopped, and called out to the others:

-"I smell the outsiders!"

-"And if you keep shouting like this, they will notice our presence and vanish," Orchis replied. "So just shut up!"

-"There really are other rabbits nearby," Shale said. "I don't know if it's the outsiders General Woundwort is looking for, or other outsiders, but they are still outsiders. A small group of them, it seems."

-"Let's stay quiet, and hidden," Orchis ordered. "If we're lucky, they might lead us straight to their warren without noticing our presence."

Sniffing the air, Spartina realized that this was a patrol from Watership Down; they were much closer to the warren than she had previously thought, she needed to notify her friends of the patrol's presence. Feldspar's foolish shout had given her an idea.

-"And we can KILL THEM ALL!"

-"But...I thought we were supposed just to report to the General so he could lead an attack?" Shale said, confused.

-"THAT'S WHAT I SAID!"

-"At this rate we won't be able to do either," Orchis said, rolling his eyes. "BE QUIET!"

-"You hypocrite!" Feldspar shouted angrily. "You're telling us to be quiet, but you're the one shouting the loudest!"

Spartina smiled: hopefully all this shouting had tipped off the Watershippers about the nearby patrol, and the argument would keep the Darkhaveners distracted long enough for the others to get away.