Chapter 10: The Calm before the Storm.

"The most absurd and reckless aspirations have sometimes led to extraordinary success."

-Luc de Clapiers

Blackberry spent a while thinking about what Captain Broom had told her. "Sometimes, if you want to get yourself noticed, you have to do something crazy." Bigwig was the champion of crazy and reckless things; what could be crazy enough to attract his attention?

Blackberry continued to think about various parts of Captain Broom's story, until one detail suddenly caught her attention: Redstone. The warren had recently been repopulated by refugees from Cowslip's warren, who were on good terms with the Watershippers. What if she travelled to Redstone and back? It was some distance away from the Down, and there were several obstacles along the way. That should impress Bigwig.

She couldn't very well go there alone, though. As she had never been there before, she didn't know the way; someone else would have to go with her. Her travelling companion couldn't be Hazel or Bigwig: that would defeat the whole purpose of going to Redstone in the first place. Hawkbit and Dandelion, while they did know the way, were not the easiest rabbits to get along with (especially not on a difficult mission like this), and they were busy with Pipkin anyway.

Then, she remembered Primrose. Primrose had been born at Redstone, before Vervain raided the warren and took her and many others to Efrafa. The two does had developed a close bond with each other, making Primrose the perfect travel companion for such a journey.

Blackberry soon found Primrose in the burrow she shared with Hazel. The four kittens were sleeping close together in their nest in a corner, a rare occurrence. Primrose, meanwhile, was in the opposite corner staring blankly at the wall. She turned her head and noticed Blackberry's presence.

-"Hello Blackberry," she said simply.

-"Hello Primrose," Blackberry replied, as she entered the burrow and sat down next to her. "I've been thinking about Redstone today."

Primrose did not reply.

-"I would like to visit that warren," Blackberry continued.

-"It's a nice place, I'm sure you'll like it."

-"I want you to go with me."

Primrose briefly turned her head towards Blackberry.

-"Why?"

-"You're my friend. You've been looking down since late yesterday, and I thought a visit to your old home might cheer you up."

Primrose sighed. As much as she hated to admit it, she really WAS feeling down. What Campion had said the previous day was still making her think, and she still felt guilty over being indirectly responsible for the war. Like all rabbits at Watership Down, she would gladly have sacrificed her life to save the warren. But perhaps Blackberry was right, and the trip would cheer her up.

-"I'll talk to Hazel about it when he comes back from...wherever he is now. All three of us could probably go tomorrow."

-"Never mind Hazel, I was thinking just the two of us, today."

-"Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

-"Travelling such a long distance is always a danger. But don't worry, I'll protect you."

-"Well, if you say everything will be all right, Blackberry..."

-"I'm glad to have you with me."

The two does walked out of the burrow and went outside. Before leaving the warren, Blackberry briefly stopped to inform Pipkin (who had taken a break from the story to pass hraka) of their plans, in case anyone else should ask about them. Halfway through the descent of the Down, Primrose stopped to cast a last look at the beech tree at the top, thinking about how it had been her home for the past year or so, before following Blackberry.

Meanwhile at Nuthanger Farm, Bigwig and Blackavar continued to stare at the barn, until after a while, the farm girl went out of the building. She was still holding her smartphone, but Hazel was nowhere to be seen.

-"Do you have a plan now, sir?" Blackavar asked.

-"Stop calling me sir. And no, I don't have a plan, not until I know what we're up against."

-"Now that the human is gone, s- uh, the barn should be mostly safe?"

Bigwig nodded in approval. The two bucks slowly made their way to the barn, looking for cats but not seeing any. Thankfully, the farm girl had not bothered to close the barn door when she had left, allowing the rabbits to walk inside the building.

The barn was very large, and stacks of feed bags and haybales were everywhere. The scents were too strong to allow the rabbits to find Hazel by smell.

-"I don't think we should split up," Blackavar said. "We could easily get lost in this mess."

-"You're right about that. But you should take a look at the ground."

Blackavar glanced around the ground. It seemed to be made of dirt, and he soon noticed that the girl's footprints were still clearly visible.

-"You're starting to learn things," Bigwig said, after his companion had started smelling the first footprint. "After a few more raids like this, you'll probably be the most useful member of the owsla."

Blackavar smiled at Bigwig's praise. The two rabbits followed the tracks; it seemed that the farm girl had walked a long distance throughout the barn. At one point along the trail, they suddenly heard Hazel's voice:

-"Bigwig! It's nice to see you again."

-"Hazel?" Bigwig called out. "Where are you?"

-"Look up, to your left."

Bigwig looked where Hazel had said; on top of two or three haystacks was a small hutch, the same one from which Clover had escaped the previous summer, and where her former companions were still living. Bigwig jumped on top of the haystacks.

-"Hazel! How did you get in there?"

-"The human put me inside. Now can you please get me out?"

-"How do I open this thing? I wasn't there when you helped Clover escape, it was just you, Fiver and Pipkin. What do I do?"

-"Try to chew something, around the border of the hutch. If you chew the right thing, this grid should fall off."

-"And if I chew the wrong thing?"

-"Then we'll just have to hope for the best. But try to look for my chew marks from last year."

-"Anything I can do, sir?" Blackavar asked.

-"Yes," Bigwig replied, "you can warn us of approaching cats and stop calling me sir!"

Blackavar nodded, and Bigwig jumped on top of the hutch. Hazel's chew marks were still clearly visible on the metal hinges, although they were covered with adhesive tape: the farmer had not gotten around to fully repairing the hutch yet. Bigwig took a brief look at the tape, before clawing at it. He made a small tear, but part of the tape remained stuck to his paw. He shook it violently in an attempt to get it off, and eventually succeeded. However, he was faced with the same problem a few moments later, after tearing off a bit more tape.

-"This thing is so sticky!" he shouted, cursing.

Inside the hutch, the three rabbits living there were smelling Hazel carefully.

-"Why do you want to escape?" one of them asked. "Life is nice here. The farmer brings you food every day."

-"Almost every day," another rabbit corrected the first one. "It's been a few days since the last time we got any new food."

Hazel looked at the back of the hutch. There were a few half-mouldy fruits with the labels still on, and a mouldy chunk of bread. The water in the bowl was covered with something green; the smell was nauseating.

-"How do you eat that stuff?" Hazel struggled to say.

-"We have to. It's all we have."

-"Would any of you like to follow me? When I get out of here, I'm going back to my warren, and if any of you want to come, you are free to do so."

-"Why would we come with you?"

-"Well, for one thing, the food is fit to eat."

-"This isn't the first time someone asks us if we want to leave," the third rabbit said. "Last summer, someone also did this, and he took what's-her-name with him."

-"Clover. I helped her escape," Hazel said. "She is still alive and well, I'm sure she would be happy to see you three again."

-"Oh, I don't think so," another of the rabbits said. "We didn't get along with her very well. She was just so curious about things. She thought too much. And besides, there are plenty of creatures trying to eat you out there, isn't there?"

-"Hey! I actually liked Clover quite a lot. I would have liked to be her mate, but I wasn't brave enough to ask her."

-"Probably a good thing you didn't. She never would have accepted you, she probably would have..."

Hazel sighed; these rabbits were starting to get on his nerves.

-"How's it going, Bigwig?"

-"It's really painful, Hazel-rah. The humans put that stuff everywhere, and it's sticking all over me!"

Meanwhile at Watership Down, the story was still going on. Hawkbit had been licking himself almost constantly, but at least half his fur was still covered with a thick layer of mud. Pipkin had tried to harvest the souls of a few other rabbits, but it was very hard, as Clover and Strawberry were not always taking their roles very seriously.

-"So, for the next part of the story," Dandelion said, "we need a white rabbit."

-"That won't be me," Hawkbit said firmly. "You're not putting anything more on my fur."

-"Snowdrop is white," Pipkin said. "No need to put anything on her fur."

-"Snowdrop is too young for this!" Hawkbit insisted. "How about Primrose?"

-"Well..." Dandelion said, "she's more yellow than white and she's too thin, but she'll do."

-"You'll have to find someone else, she's not at the warren right now," Pipkin said.

-"Where is she?" Hawkbit asked.

-"She and Blackberry went to Redstone."

-"What? That's the most ridiculous thing..."

-"Calm down, everyone," Dandelion urged. "We clearly won't find anyone perfect for this role, so I will play it myself."

Dandelion lied down in the grass, and resumed the story:

-"They say there is a place where it is winter all year long. It is always very cold, the water is nearly always frozen, and it snows nearly every day. Also, time flows much slower there. What they feel as a day feels like a full season to us. The rabbits living there are almost entirely white, with a few black markings. This makes it more difficult for elil to spot them in the snow. I am one of these rabbits, fearlessly trying to make it through this dreadful snowstorm."

Dandelion walked slowly and kept his eyes half-closed, as if he was in an actual snowstorm.

-"It's so snowy I can't even see the tips of my whiskers. I don't know if I'm going in the right direction. When suddenly..."

He looked at the others; Pipkin was clearly anxious to hear what was going to happen, while Hawkbit was shaking his head at Dandelion's ridiculous behaviour.

-"...the ice breaks and I fall in the water. I try desperately to get back on solid ground, but I can't. I die. Pipkin, you go and take my soul."

-"But Dandelion, something similar happened to Bigwig last Frith's Eve, and he survived. Why do you die?"

-"...I don't know. Maybe it's because there is nobody to pull me out of the water?"

-"Dandelion, I'm starting to think you're making it all up as you go along," Hawkbit said.

-"Since I'm clearly not doing a good job, perhaps you would like to tell the story yourself?"

-"Who, me? Oh no. No no no no no! I'm not telling this story, or any other story!"

-"In that case, please stop complaining. You're only slowing things down. Anyway, Pipkin, I'm dead now. You can come and claim my soul."