Chapter 179: Time To Start A New Life.

"Then why don't you just leave? [...] There's nothing stopping you. So why not just go?"

-bluecatcinema, Beauty And The Beast

Exhausted following the lengthy patrol, Vervain had spent most of the day asleep. When he finally woke up, in the evening, he was surprised to see that he had woken up on his own, rather than by Orchis, or by Woundwort shouting at him.

As he went out of his burrow, he saw Woundwort near the middle of the pit, in the middle of a deep conversation with Kurai and Granite. Considering Kurai's popularity back in Efrafa, this was unsurprising.

From one point of view, Vervain felt pleased: the multicoloured buck's return had allowed him to sleep peacefully, and would perhaps mean that Woundwort would have fewer opportunities to yell at him later. But from another point of view, Vervain couldn't help but feel he was being replaced. Back in Efrafa, his main tasks were spying and interrogating, and there was little need for either of these in Darkhaven. As a result, whenever he was not on patrol, Woundwort had him do various odd tasks. Now that there was a more competent, and popular, rabbit available, Vervain would perhaps be left with nothing special to do. He would just be an ordinary soldier, and with his poor fighting skills, he would be of little use in combat either.

Vervain hopped in the opposite direction, not wishing to speak with either Woundwort or Kurai if he could avoid it. He went to the Speaker of the Past's burrow: she was the only rabbit who could help him. He did not meet anyone else along the way.

Once he entered the burrow, he had trouble spotting the Speaker. He could see her shadow on the wall, but the Speaker herself was nowhere to be seen. After a few moments, he spotted her in a corner of the chamber, although he could have sworn she wasn't there before; it was as if she had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Additionally, she appeared blurry; at first, Vervain thought it was just dust in the air, but he could see the rest of the burrow clearly, it was just the Speaker who was giving him trouble.

-"Vervain," she said, showing no emotion as usual.

-"Speaker, I need your help. The new rabbit, Kurai, I know him from my old warren, and he..."

-"Do not bother me with your boring life story. I already know everything."

-"Oh good, then I won't have to spend a while explaining all the details. So, I need your help..."

-"I know!" Vervain was surprised by what seemed like a display of anger on the part of the Speaker; this was extremely unusual for the usually emotionless rabbit. Even more surprising was how the image of her momentarily cleared up, only to become even more blurry afterwards. "I know of your troubles, there is no need for you to repeat yourself."

-"Then what should I do?"

-"You should stop bothering me when I am busy. I have many important things to handle."

-"Oh...I'll do that then..."

Vervain was left disappointed: the only rabbit who could help him was too busy to do so. Reaching the tragic conclusion that things would never get better, he was about to hop out of the burrow, when he heard the Speaker's voice again.

-"Will you lead your own life, or let others lead it for you?"

Vervain was not prepared to face this question. It was something he had never considered before. Was the Speaker seriously implying that he was letting other rabbits lead his life for him? Maybe she was exaggerating, she was prone to doing that. Or maybe she was right...

-"Th...th that's...d-deep," he said, stuttering.

-"No," the Speaker replied, visually glitching again. "It is dark."

Vervain shuddered. The Speaker's weird questions were one thing, and now he also had to deal with her weird visuals.

-"I'll leave you to your important tasks, it's been nice knowing you, goodbye forever!" In his rush to get away, Vervain was not entirely coherent.

-"No, not forever, you would be surprised by how the lights and the doors would turn out."

Vervain did not understand what the Speaker's final remark was all about, but he didn't really care, he just wanted to get away. He quickly ran back to his burrow, and lied down in the middle of the chamber, on the verge of tears.

It took around one hour before he calmed down enough to ponder the Speaker's question rationally. He soon realized that she was right: he was letting Woundwort control every aspect of his life, and that was a bad thing. Upon reaching this conclusion, he made a drastic decision: he was going to lead his own life. He would not stay in Darkhaven, he would build a new life elsewhere. Where? That had yet to be decided, but he would find a place where he would be useful and appreciated. Maybe even live the hlessi life for a while. Never mind Woundwort; with luck, Kurai could keep him distracted, and it would take several days before Vervain's absence was noticed.

He hopped out of his burrow and cast a quick look around him, to make sure nobody else was nearby: the last thing he needed was someone following him, and informing Woundwort about his desertion. Upon coming to the conclusion that everyone was either asleep, or busy elsewhere, he hopped towards the main path leading away from the warren. He did not look back, only forward, towards his new, better life.

Unbeknownst to Vervain, he was indeed being spied on: Orchis was hiding behind an old tire. He did not reveal his presence, instead choosing to look on from a distance as Vervain left the warren.

-"Frith be with you, Vervain," he eventually said, but by then Vervain was too far away, and therefore did not hear a single word.

Vervain travelled for a while. He did not know where he was going: upon leaving Darkhaven, he had just picked a random direction and he would continue to follow it until he stumbled upon something. It took several hours before he finally decided to take a break. He collapsed on his side, completely exhausted. He was not used to travelling so far so quickly: when on wide patrol, he frequently stopped to sniff, something he hadn't done once since his departure from Darkhaven.

Now that he had stopped to rest, he was able to pay attention to his surroundings. His ears and nose were hard at work, picking up so many unfamiliar sounds and scents. As he looked around him, he was unable to recognize the area where he was. Unexpectedly, he found himself wishing Campion was there. While he hated his fellow captain, patrolling with him did have one advantage: if they encountered danger, he could just run away and let Campion deal with it. Similarly, if he was asked to train a new recruit, he could just sacrifice them to whatever dangerous creature they encountered, while he made his own getaway. Now, he was alone; he was never a good fighter, and in his exhaustion, he would not be able to outrun the elil either. If he encountered any now, he would be doomed.

He pushed these thoughts away to avoid going tharn. Instead, he tried to think about what he would do next. He was starting to contemplate the possibility of going back to the warren and pretending this little night excursion never happened. It shouldn't be too hard for him to find his way back, since he had travelled largely in a straight line. He had left Darkhaven determined to turn his life around, but now, at the first sign of trouble, he was already having second thoughts. Change is hard.

He soon got up and made a few steps forward, realizing too late that one of his front paws was in the middle of a circle object; a snare. He instantly stopped moving, terrified at the prospect at getting stuck in there, alone, with nobody around to rescue him. Slowly, carefully, he lifted his paw and placed it out of the circle; the snare did not tighten.

He made a few more steps backwards, putting more distance between him and the snare, until he felt something under one of his hind legs, followed by the noise of a rope rapidly moving through the air. Vervain realized his mistake: he had escaped from one trap, only to instantly fall victim to another. Before he could react, he felt something tighten around his hind leg, and he was soon lifted upwards off the ground. A piece of cloth was pulled onto his head, completely covering his eyes and mouth. It had a foul smell, and it made breathing increasingly difficult for Vervain. He squirmed violently in a desperate attempt at breaking free from the rope, but it was no use: he was suspended in mid-air, and was unable to touch anything. The last thing he thought before falling unconscious was regret for choosing to lead his own life: if he had continued to follow Woundwort instead, he wouldn't be in this predicament.