Chapter 254: The Killing Talk.
"The sight they found was not one they were glad to see at all."
-Firegriffin75, Hazel's Legacy
When Vervain first heard the footsteps, his first thought is that the elil had come. It was to be expected, considering how long he and Dandelion had stayed in the same location. His hostage would be serving an unexpected purpose: food. Vervain was a little disappointed that this would be Dandelion's ultimate fate: had things turned out differently, he could have been handed over to Woundwort and Vervain would have been acclaimed as a hero. But it was not to be, and Vervain had no qualms about sacrificing his hostage to save himself.
He waited until the elil revealed themselves to run; this would reduce the chances of them stumbling upon him before Dandelion. But when the creature revealed itself, he instantly saw that it was not elil, but a rabbit, and a highly unexpected one.
-"Hi Verv."
-"Orchis! What are you doing here?"
Orchis did not reply, but merely grinned. Vervain soon noticed that the fellow captain was not the only other rabbit present: there was a whole crowd. And among them...
-"General Woundwort! Sir!" Vervain bowed. "What an honour it is to meet you again!"
The feeling was not mutual: Woundwort instead felt angry at the sight of the rabbit who had fled from his warren.
-"What's this I hear about Nepenthes?"
Vervain instantly became nervous. Somehow, Woundwort had found out about his plan. He had not found Nepenthes, but he had still run from Darkhaven, which would provoke the General's wrath. Hoping to avoid further trouble, he hastily changed the subject to something more pleasant.
-"I captured one of the outsiders!" he proudly announced.
This led to a rare smile on Woundwort's part.
-"Finally, you are making yourself useful."
-"Thank you sir!" Being called "useful" did wonders for Vervain's self-esteem. "He can tell you all about the location of his warren."
-"I won't say a word!" Dandelion said defiantly.
-"Shut your mouth, you vile rebel!" Vervain shouted back at him.
-"He won't have to tell me anything," Woundwort said. "I already know where the warren is."
-"I'm still not saying anything!" Dandelion still remained defiant, although pointlessly so.
-"Perhaps he has additional information that could still prove useful to you, General?" Vervain suggested, hoping this would be the case, otherwise all this had been for nothing.
Woundwort hopped over to the hostage, to get a better idea what this new rabbit was like. He was not immediately familiar to him; at most, maybe he had encountered him during the previous battle a few weeks before.
-"So, stranger, what is your name?" he asked.
Dandelion remained silent.
-"Tell him your name, Dandelion!" Vervain ordered, raising his claws.
-"No!" Dandelion remained determined not to say anything, not even harmless information like his name.
-"It doesn't really matter," Woundwort said with a sigh, as Vervain had already answered the question. He never heard Hazel or Bigwig mention Dandelion by name before. He could not help but feel disappointed: this was not one of the warren's main leaders, but someone much lower in the hierarchy. The only use he would have would be as part of a prisoner exchange, as Woundwort had attempted with Pipkin the previous summer. Hopefully, this time, the outsiders would not trick him again.
-"All right, both of you, follow me. Vervain, keep an eye on your prisoner."
-"I'm afraid that won't be possible, sire," Vervain was forced to admit.
-"And why not?"
-"He hurt his paw. He can't walk."
Woundwort growled. Not only was this hostage an ordinary outskirter, but he couldn't even walk on his own. Things just kept getting worse.
-"Why don't you carry him?"
-"He's too big for me to carry." Of course, there was more to it, but Vervain did not want to bring up his pride: he knew that Woundwort would dismiss it.
Woundwort looked through the crowd, hoping to find another possible candidate to carry Dandelion.
-"Campion, you're the biggest. Carry the hostage."
-"This is all a bad idea," came the Speaker's voice.
-"And what makes it such a bad idea?" Woundwort growled at the Speaker.
-"If you proceed with this battle, one rabbit shall die."
-"One?"
-"One."
-"That's great news! This will be an amazing victory for me."
-"I did not say how many the outsiders would lose."
-"Hrair, obviously. Not a single outsider will still be alive by sunset."
-"You are wrong."
-"Well, perhaps we will spare a few and keep them as slaves. Let's not argue over details, let's get going!"
With that, he gave a quick bite to her ear, as punishment for her annoying behaviour. It took a while before she spoke again:
-"When I said that one rabbit will die...that was the total. It includes both sides."
-"You're wrong, and I shall prove it," was Woundwort's response.
-"If you insist. But remember: you cannot cheat the law."
-"Which is EXACTLY why I'm killing the outsiders: because they tried to kill me. I AM THE LAW."
-"It was not them who tried to kill you, it was Vervain..."
-"SHUT UP! I don't want to hear another word out of you until the battle starts. CLEAR?"
-"If that's the way you want it..."
The Speaker kept her promise: she remained silent until everyone had reached the bottom of the Down.
While Woundwort was arguing with the Speaker, Vervain and Orchis were having a discussion/argument of their own.
-"We need to reach a decision about the killings," Orchis had suddenly announced.
-"The killings?" How morbid, Vervain thought.
-"Yes," Orchis explained. "We are heading into battle, so some outsiders will die. If one of us is to have the privilege to kill a specific rabbit, it should be discussed now. It would be awkward to interrupt the battle for such a discussion, wouldn't it?"
Vervain recognized Orchis' logic; it was important to plan ahead.
-"What do you have in mind?"
-"I want to kill your hostage."
-"Why?" Vervain took Orchis' suggestion as a personal affront. "I captured him, he's my hostage. If anyone is to kill him, it should be me."
-"If you wanted to kill him, why didn't you do it already?"
-"I thought he might be useful. But once he has outlived his usefulness, he will die by my claw."
-"Or it could be me. I recently thought of a revolutionary new method of execution, and he would be the perfect candidate to try it out?"
-"What is this method?"
-"It involves a hrududu."
-"Of course it does..." Vervain mumbled.
-"You put the hrududu in a high place; the top of the hill where the outsiders' warren is located would be a good spot. Then, you put the victim inside the hrududu. Then, you make the hrududu go down the slope, possibly turning upside down in the process. The victim is left highly shaken."
This plan sounded highly absurd to Vervain. But it would be funny to see Orchis try to carry it out.
-"Fine, you can have my hostage," he conceded. "But I claim Primrose."
-"Why do you always have to take the best of everything?"
-"Huh?"
-"I'm serious. Primrose is the Chief Rabbit's mate, while Dandelion is just an ordinary owsla officer."
-"Former owsla officer, actually," Vervain corrected, recalling his own conversation with the Watershipper prior to Orchis' arrival.
-"That's even more unfair! She's the queen, while he's nobody."
Vervain rolled his eyes.
-"Do you have to argue about everything?"
-"You're the one who is arguing. Can't you be fair, just this once?"
With a sigh, Vervain agreed to make further concessions, mainly to get Orchis to calm down.
-"Fine. You kill the shiny one..."
-"Why don't you call her by her name?" Orchis found another detail to nitpick.
-"...you kill Primrose, but I get to torture her first. Deal?"
-"Saving me the killing blow? How generous of you."
What Vervain did not say, however, was that he had no intention of keeping his side of the bargain. He planned to both torture and kill Primrose as soon as he found her.
While on Campion's back, Dandelion was feeling nervous. He overheard the others' conversation, including the debate over who would kill him.
-"I didn't know you had a seer too," he said, referring to the Speaker and her prediction that only one rabbit would die.
-"She's...I don't know," was all Campion could say. Since the Speaker was actually the Black Rabbit of Inlé, her prediction of one death was likely to come true, but it was also annoyingly vague: this one casualty could be anyone. Not wishing to speak of this any further, he changed the subject. "How badly did Vervain hurt you?"
-"Very badly. I can't walk."
-"Right. When we arrive at your warren, I will carry you to safety. Once there, pretty Blackberry will hopefully be able to heal your injury."
-"Pretty?"
Campion was regretting this choice of words. This was not the time to express his feelings, especially with the risk of being overheard by Vervain.
-"I'll explain later."
The journey was much longer than Woundwort had initially expected. This, along with the late departure and the unplanned break upon meeting Vervain, caused further delays. By sunset, Orchis said that they were only halfway to their destination. Disappointed, Woundwort was forced to admit that the battle would likely have to wait until the next day.