Chapter 99: Don't Let Go.

"The pain in her side was receding slowly. Actually, she was finding all of the pain disappearing. She was also finding it hard to draw breath, and she was tired, very tired. She longed to close her eyes and sleep the day away, sleep the months away, to sleep and not awaken. [...] a loved and cherished soul's light flickered and died, alone and cold."

-The Winter Dragon, The Snow Falls White

Following the shockwave, it took a while for Tumbler to regain consciousness. When she did, she was lying on the ground, in the middle of what appeared to be a graveyard. As she tried to get up, she fell back down; she looked behind her, and saw that her tail was still tied with Crackers'. She crawled over to the other squirrel and poked her a few times.

-"Wake up!"

-"Oooooh, but it's way too early..." Crackers mumbled.

-"Early or not, we need to find Rosie."

-"Rosie." This immediately woke up the dancing squirrel. "She didn't bury herself between us, did she?"

-"Nope. She was thrown away, and I don't know where she is. I don't even know where WE are."

Crackers tried to get up, but her tied tail prevented her from doing so.

-"That's an awkward situation we're in, isn't it?" Tumbler said.

-"Mmhmm. It won't be easy to find Rosie this way. As for where we are..."

Crackers looked around her, and saw the tombstones, as well as a ruined building some distance away.

-"Newtown Churchyard?" she asked. "But that's some distance from home! How did we get here?"

-"I don't remember that church being so ruined," Tumbler replied. "And there's something else. Look at these tombstones, they are so tiny, even smaller than us!"

-"None of this makes any sense!"

Suddenly, the two squirrels noticed a shadow, rapidly getting closer. If this creature was hostile, they would never be able to get away in time, with their tails still tied together. As the creature finally became visible, they both screamed in terror.

-"Hey, calm down, you two," the creature said, "it's me! Don't you recognize me?" The squirrels recognized the voice instantly.

-"Rosie?"

As they stared at the creature, they saw that it was indeed Rosie, but she looked very different. She had a pink piece of fabric wrapped around her. She was standing on her hind legs, and around her smaller waist were several red roses. She also had another pink piece of fabric on her head, and was holding a sharp piece of metal.

-"Woah, Rosie..." Tumbler said. "That's...snazz, but...what happened to you?"

-"It's been very dramatic," Rosie said, putting down the metal object. "I was at this community of peaceful goodbeasts, when suddenly they were attacked for no reason by vermin!"

-"That sounds terrible!"

-"It was! So I helped them defeat the vermin."

-"Rosie the Warrior!" Crackers said. "I like the sound of that."

-"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo I would rather live a life of peace, than fight others."

-"Also, Rosie, would you mind, er, untying us?" Tumbler asked, pointing to her tail. "We still need to find Pimpernel and warn him that someone wants to murder him."

-"Are you SURE this is safe, Dashie?"

Hickory, Marigold, their kitten, Violet, Acacia and Vesper were sitting near the edge of a cliff; Violet had to keep a close eye on the couple to make sure they didn't fall off. Beyond them was the Big Water, stretching out as far as they could see. Nearby, another rabbit, an acquaintance of Acacia's, with green and white fur, was inspecting a small wooden object, roughly the shape of a bird: it was a small glider, although none of them knew the word.

-"Of course it's not safe," Dashie replied, adjusting the position of one of the wings. "There are so many things that can go wrong. I did manage a few flights, but it's still highly experimental, and with all of you on board, it will be much heavier than during those test flights."

-"It's fascinating, though," Vesper said, carefully sniffing the glider. "I wonder if I could perhaps adapt the Milfoil to be able to fly from one river to another. That would be very convenient."

-"Also," Dashie continued, "with the current winds, you will be flying in the direction of Taitera."

-"That's exactly the goal," Acacia said.

-"Are you crazy? The magical energy over there is so dense, you'll never make it back alive!"

-"I hope that, with the power of my friend's necklace, the magic will allow us to return to the world where we come from instead."

-"I don't know if my necklace will work," Vesper said. "I don't know all its powers, or if it would be able to save us from this energy Dashie is talking. I don't want anyone to die."

-"You have to believe in yourself," Acacia said. "You can do anything."

-"Look, are we going or are we not?" Violet said.

-"We're going," Vesper said, feeling less nervous following Acacia's words.

-"Very well then," Dashie said. "All of you climb aboard."

One by one, the rabbits jumped on top of the glider. Hickory and Marigold struggled to understand what they were supposed to do, and they were forced to be pulled up by the others. Dashie, however, did not climb aboard, and instead went behind the glider.

-"Are you sure you want to do this?" she asked the others. "This is your last time to change your mind."

-"Ugh, just start this already!" Violet said, clearly getting impatient.

-"I'm ready," Acacia said, before turning to Vesper. "Remember, I believe in you."

-"Let's do this then," Dashie said. She took a deep breath, then started to run, pushing the glider with her front paws. She continued to run as fast as she could until she reached the edge of the cliff, pushing the glider over the edge. It did not plummet into the water; it was flying.

-"Thanks for everything Dashie!" Acacia said, waving at her.

-"Good luck, and may Frith be with you..." she said, as she waved back, before hopping away.

The next wagon Fiver visited had an unusually low ceiling, barely high enough for him to hop. The walls were covered with three rows of screens, all of them the same rectangular shape, and with different images on each of them. As he took a closer look at the first one, he saw himself, along with Vilthuril and Buttercup, on a boat in the middle of the Big Water. The next one showed him and Vilthuril with some kittens. He really would have to confess his love to her, once reality was repaired.

The next screen he looked at showed a completely different image: Prince Rainbow inside a burrow, along with Fiver and several of his friends. He was trying to figure out what was going on, but he was distracted by another nearby screen, that showed an owsla training session.

As Fiver wandered throughout the wagon, he realized that each of the screens was telling a story. He saw many scenes of rabbits, as well as the occasional birds and humans, going about their daily lives. But not all the images were pleasant: he saw several rabbits die, sometimes in extremely gruesome ways. Other screens left Fiver more confused than anything else, especially the one showing Cowslip on a snowy mountain. But seeing all these stories unfold in front of him left Fiver with a sense of dread.

-"That's it, I'm leaving!"

The train gradually slowed until it stopped, and a door opened in front of Fiver. As he went through it, he realized that he was back inside his burrow.

The glider had been in the air for only a few minutes, when it started to lose altitude.

-"We can't keep this up much longer," Acacia said. "We need to hit the spell soon, or we'll fall into the water and drown."

-"We're too heavy," Vesper said. "Dashie did say that she hadn't tested it with so many rabbits on board."

-"There is only one solution, then," Violet said. "One of us will have to jump."

-"Nobody's jumping!" Vesper said. "All of us will make it to the end."

-"Look, I'm ugly..."

-"You're really not, you're pretty."

-"...all my friends are probably dead..."

-"I'm so sorry..."

Vesper hopped closer to Violet to hug her, but she hopped over to the edge.

-"The thing is, even if I die, nobody will miss me."

-"I would."

-"Seriously? We only met yesterday!"

-"You still seem like a nice doe."

-"Look, I'm jumping, and you can't change my mind."

She hopped off the glider, but at the last moment, Vesper grabbed one of her hind legs. The sudden change in balance caused the glider to lean, dangerously low to the water's surface. At that moment, Vesper's necklace started to glow again.

-"Brace yourselves!" came Acacia's voice.

Before anyone could figure out what the desert rabbit was talking about, the glider crashed into a tree trunk. Acacia was the first rabbit to emerge from the wreckage.

-"We made it! The magic worked!"

Vesper crawled out from beneath the wooden panels moments later.

-"That was...exciting! Rather scary, but also exciting," he said. "Perhaps, at some point, we could do this again?"

-"I'm afraid that would be impossible," Acacia replied sadly. "Our flying machine has been completely destroyed."

-"We could build another one."

It was at that moment that Violet escaped the wreckage.

-"You saved me," she told Vesper. "From myself. Why?"

-"I can't let another rabbit die if I can avoid it."

Meanwhile, Acacia searched the wreckage for Hickory, Marigold and the kitten. He soon found them; they did not appear to have suffered any further injuries, but they would have been unable to escape on their own.

-"We need to get going," he told everyone. "Hopefully, we'll be able to reach the warren by sunset."