AUTHOR'S NOTE: Happy Easter y'all!
Also, warning: as this chapter and the ones that follow will be focusing on a major battle, they may be darker and more violent than usual. Reader discretion is advised.
Chapter 262: The First Attacks.
"A lush green field lay deep in unexplored country, the long green grass rippled like waves in a gentle wind. A few hundred metres away a clear blue stream teeming with life ran uninterrupted through the field."
-Whale Nerd 91, Hemlock's Poison
The Darkhaveners started running to the top of the Down. As they were halfway to the top, however, a huge boulder flew through the air straight towards them. Several rabbits darted out of the way, but others were not as lucky, and were painfully crushed.
-"We will have to attack from the sides," Woundwort announced.
Meanwhile at the top, several rabbits were surprised by this sudden attack.
-"What just happened?" Hazel asked.
-"It's our boulder thrower!" Acacia announced, sitting near the branch.
-"That's an amazing weapon," Bigwig said. "Woundwort can't stand a chance against this.
-"I'm afraid not," Nicole said sadly. "We don't have enough boulders."
-"We will have to be careful with the way we use them," Acacia added.
The Darkhaveners were circling the Down; while some were seeking fighters above ground, others were searching for open runs they could use to break into the warren. After a while, Feldspar stumbled upon one, and ran into it. Moments later, he collided with Strawberry, who cuffed him in the face. He made a few steps backwards, but Clover came out of a nearby alcove and growled menacingly. Her teeth came dangerously close to his eye, but he ran out of the run before it was too late. Only then did he realize that he had lost nearly all his whiskers on the left side of his face.
Meanwhile, two rabbits painfully crawled out from beneath the boulder. While they had survived the impact, they were in great pain, and in a state of confusion. Almost by accident, they stumbled upon a pair of Watershippers.
-"Now, my girl, is your chance to try it out," they heard someone say.
Before they could realize what was going on, a small doe ran over to them and scratched them in the face; they quickly ran off before she could do any further damage.
-"Good job, Peony," the same voice said. "That was really good for a beginner."
Cornflower was slightly annoyed at how Captain Broom had forgotten her name, but she nevertheless smiled, happy to have done well.
Spartina quickly found herself fighting Orchis. The two rabbits were evenly matched, and it was clear that the battle would go on until one of them made a critical mistake that would allow their opponent to end their life, and both were determined not to be the victim.
Hannah was one of the few creatures, excluding the rabbits, who was awake at the time the battle started. Most of them had been digging all night and had fallen asleep afterwards, but she was a light sleeper. She had already helped by bringing many creatures to the warren, but what use would they be if they all slept through the battle?
She rushed underground to wake everyone up. As soon as she was in the Honeycomb, she shouted:
-"HEY! THE BATTLE IS STARTED, EVERYONE GET UP!"
This seemed to accomplish the desired goal: within a few moments, a huge crowd of mice, voles, hedgehogs, squirrels and various other small woodland animals was running above ground. They ran so quickly that Hannah had to jump to the ceiling and hang from a tree root to avoid getting trampled. However, Blackberry was standing just outside the warren, fighting a Darkhavener; the two rabbits were not so lucky.
-"My tail..." the Darkhavener moaned, having a few hedgehog spines stuck underneath his tail.
The situation was just as unpleasant for Blackberry, who had accidentally been hurt by those who were supposed to be allies. Weakened by this unfortunate incident, he crawled underground, to see his namesake, who would hopefully be able to heal him.
Joining her companions above ground, Hannah spent a while searching for a hostile rabbit she could fight; the first one she met was Granite.
-"Uh, are you working with the outsiders, or are you just an innocent bystander?" he asked.
-"I'm working with them."
-"Gyah, it would be unfair for me to fight such a small creature like you, you wouldn't stand a chance. How about you just fight my paw?"
-"If that's what you want." Hannah was amazed that one of the Darkhaveners would be concerned about fairness, but she would still take advantage of it. Granite moved one of his front paws forward, while Hannah used a twig as a weapon. The two clashed moments later, and after a few hits, Hannah managed to cut off part of one of Granite's claws, but the battle continued with his other claws.
Tassel was sitting on a tree branch, watching the battle unfold below her. Pipkin was on a Darkhavener's back, and Nyreem was hanging from his ears. However, the enemy was shaking violently, and the two small rabbits seemed about to fall off. She had to protect them. Without thinking, she jumped off the branch, and landed straight on the Darkhavener's neck, around which she wrapped her tail, keeping him busy long enough for the two rabbits to hop off.
-"Do you need any help?" Pipkin asked.
-"I'll be fine," the squirrel replied, tightening her tail, slowly choking the rabbit.
It did not take long for Yona to find a rabbit who wanted to fight her, but it ended very poorly for him: she curled up into a ball and when he tried to slash her across the back, she lost a few spines to the tips of his paws. The Darkhavener ran away in pain, but running on three paws was not an easy task.
Meanwhile at the top, a few rabbits were looking at the large crowd of fighters.
-"We'll have to stop using our boulder thrower," Nicole announced. "We might accidentally crush someone on our side, these rodents are everywhere."
-"We would have had to stop anyway," Vesper said sadly. "We're down to our last boulder. I'm sorry..."
-"For the last time, this is not your fault," Acacia said. "We shall now have to return to the more traditional methods of fighting: our claws and teeth."
Now that the battle had started, Aspen was left wondering what to do. The outsiders had managed to rescue their hostage without his help. Campion had publicly betrayed Woundwort; should he do the same? Or should he, as the last remaining rebel, continue to work against Woundwort, secretly from within?
Aspen ultimately chose the second option. He would pretend to fight, but he would do it as badly as possible, so that he would actually be helping the outsiders, and sabotaging the Darkhaveners.
He soon spotted Shale, who was fighting Hawkbit; while the grey rabbit was putting up a valiant fight, he was slowly losing. This would be a good opportunity to intervene.
-"Don't worry, Shale, I'll save you!" Aspen shouted, as he ran over and started to move his paws towards Hawkbit, giving a few gentle pushes. Shale stopped and stared, confused as to what this weird fighting technique was.
Hawkbit was just as confused, at least until he saw the wink. He figured out what was happening: this fighter was likely Aspen, the ally that Campion had mentioned, and he was helping him. Taking advantage of Shale's confused distraction, he rammed him head-first, sending him tumbling down the slope.
Pleased that his plan had worked, Aspen then hopped over to the spot where Shale had painfully landed.
-"Oh no! Are you hurt?" he asked, pretending to be concerned.
Shale was in an awkward position, having twisted one of his paws during the tumble. With a groan, he got back up.
-"What were you doing?"
-"I was helping you take down the outsider," Aspen lied, doing his best to sound convincing.
-"Don't be so helpful next time, will you? You just ruined everything!"
