AUTHOR'S NOTE: Due to real life, I will be taking a short break following this chapter. The next one should be posted on 8 May.
Chapter 184: Bad Mice.
"When had any part of their journey made sense?"
-a-mild-looking-sky, The King's Guard
Pinky and the Brain left the warren around one hour before the first change of guards was set to happen. When Pipkin and Thethuthinnang arrived above ground as scheduled, they were startled to see the two previous guards lying on the ground, silent and motionless, not reacting to their arrival.
Pipkin in particular was left disappointed: he knew that Hawkbit was lazy, but he had still expected better from the grey buck than falling asleep on the job. As he hopped closer, however, he spotted the two darts on Hawkbit's chest. He sniffed them; the odour was artificial and unpleasant. Something had happened, the guards had been attacked. Turning to Thethuthinnang, who tending to Blueberry, he realized that she had reached the same conclusion.
Pipkin placed his front paws on Hawkbit and shook him; this was enough for him to wake up.
-"Oh, too early for training..." he mumbled, as he slowly opened his eyes.
-"It's not training, it's guarding," Pipkin said.
Hawkbit's eyes went wide as he heard this. He looked down at the darts and, upon remembering what had happened, quickly sat up and started shouting.
-"ATTACK! We're being attacked! Get Hazel and Bigwig NOW!"
-"I'll go get them!" Pipkin replied, trying to remain calm despite the urgency of the situation. "Who attacked, was it Woundwort?"
-"No, it was two white mice."
-"We're being attacked by MICE?"
-"It sounds absurd, but it's true. I tried to stop them from entering the warren, but then they somehow put me to sleep, and walked in anyway."
-"I'll get help."
As Pipkin ran underground, Hawkbit turned to Thethuthinnang.
-"How is he?" he asked, referring to Blueberry.
-"He's still alive, but I can't get him to wake up," Thethuthinnang said, alarmed.
-"Take him to Blackberry, I'll help you carry him."
As soon as he became aware of the situation, Hazel ordered the owsla to search all the burrows for the mice. But Pinky and the Brain were long gone, and had left no traces of their visit behind. The rabbits spent a long time searching everywhere, ultimately coming up empty. Once they were finished, almost everyone gathered in the honeycomb to discuss the situation.
-"They didn't kidnap anyone, they didn't hurt anyone other than the guards, the flayrah was left untouched," Bigwig remarked. "Just what were they doing here?"
-"What if they just came here to stir trouble?" Nelthilta suggested. "Rats have been known to do things like that."
-"They're not rats, they're mice," Hawkbit said.
-"Nitpicking minor details. Mice, rats, they're all the same."
-"This isn't the first time these mice visited the warren," Violet said. "They came the night before, when I was out guarding with Vesper."
-"If that is true, why didn't you report the attack?" Bigwig said.
-"That's because there was no attack that night. Hannah said she knew them, so we just let them in."
-"Hannah knows them, does she? We'll have to ask her." Bigwig looked around the crowd. "Where is she, anyway?"
-"I'm right here," Hannah said, as she walked into the burrow. She now had a small wound on her forehead, where the dart had hit her. "I'm sorry I ever had anything to do with those nasty mice. They attacked me too!" She was holding the dart in her hand, and shook it angrily. "By the way, Nellie, I heard what you said about mice and rats. I'll remember it."
-"Yeah, yeah, I've heard that before," Nelthilta mumbled.
-"How about you go through the same thing I went through?" Hannah tried to throw the dart at Nelthilta, but she was still groggy, and therefore aimed poorly; it landed harmlessly in the dirt.
"What can you tell us about the mice?" Hazel asked. "From what I gather, you used to be friends, but not anymore."
-"Calling them 'friends' is a bit much. I first met them two nights ago, and while they seemed friendly at first, I was proven wrong by their attack. One of them, the one with the big head, seems to be the one in charge, while the other one just blindly follows along. The boss said he was trying to measure the burrows or something."
-"Measure?" Hazel was unfamiliar with the word Hannah had used.
-"Oof, ignorant rabbits..." Hannah rolled her eyes. "Basically see how big each burrow is, how long each tunnel is. The goal of these measurements is somehow related to taking over the world, I may not have understood all the details."
It was at that moment that Blackberry returned, accompanied by Blueberry.
-"Blueberry! You're alive!" Hawkbit cried out.
-"Yes, clearly I am," the kitten replied. "Is that so surprising?"
-"A lot of us were worried when you didn't wake up."
-"I'm wide awake now, thanks to Blackberry here. It is Blackberry, isn't it? I hear there is also a buck by the name of Blackberry, perhaps it would be better to always announce which one in all contexts."
-"Uh...just good to you recovered quickly..." Hawkbit, like nearly everyone else in the burrow, was unsure exactly what Blueberry had suggested.
Gilia, upon seeing Blueberry had returned, made her way to the front of the crowd and tackle-hugged him. The black-furred kitten was left surprised by this sudden display of affection, but nevertheless returned the hug. Most of the other rabbits, meanwhile, turned to Blackberry instead, awaiting her explanation of the situation.
-"Why does everyone keep tormenting that tiny innocent kitten?" she asked. "As if he hadn't suffered enough already."
-"In this case, it appears to be a simple case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time," Hazel said. "What happened to him?"
-"I found, stuck to his body, several weirdly-shaped objects, that the mice presumably threw at him. I examined them, and I can confirm that they are indeed what caused him to sleep. The objects have a sharp tip, sharper even than a rabbit's claw, that pierces the skin and deposits a sleep-inducing liquid into the victim's blood. To counteract the effects, I had to give him a large quantity of stimulating herbs, so he'll be awake for a while now.
-"But I was hit by the same objects he was," Hawkbit pointed out. "Why did I wake up so quickly afterwards?"
-"For one thing, you're fully grown, while he's still very young," Blackberry explained. "There's also the fact that, while you only had two doses of sleep poison, Blueberry got hrair; if we hadn't acted as quickly as we did, he might have gone to sleep forever. I suspect the mice held a personal grudge against him, but with his amnesia, we may never know."
-"Actually, I remember now," Blueberry suddenly said, breaking free from Gilia's hug.
-"You got your memories back?" Hazel smiled. "That's great news. What can you tell us about these mice?"
-"Uh...nothing, really." Blueberry shook his head. "I didn't get ALL my memories back, just SOME of them. All I know about the mice, I know from the encounter earlier, and how I smacked them. What I remember is..."
-"Slow down a bit, there. You smacked the mice?"
-"Indeed. They hurt Hawkbit, so I kicked them away." Blueberry grinned: while Bigwig had not been able to see him perform the attack, perhaps describing it would still make a positive impression. "They went really far, too. I probably would have done more, but then through no fault of my own, I fell asleep."
-"That may be why they fired so many of those things at you," Blackberry pointed out. "Revenge for what you did."
-"But I was just protecting myself, and Hawkbit."
-"Agreed, but they may not have seen it that way.
-"Enough speculating now," Bigwig said, cutting into the discussion. "None of us know just what these two mice have planned, but if we're lucky, we will never see either of them again. If they do come back, however, whoever is on guard duty at the time should NOT attempt to fight them." The captain momentarily looked at Blueberry, before turning back to the rest of the crowd. "Instead, they should quickly go underground for reinforcements."
-"That sounds reasonable," Holly said. "There's no way they would be able to put all of us to sleep, we'll be able to quickly capture them."
-"Right. For now, though, let's all go back to sleep, except for whoever is supposed to be guarding now. We have a busy day ahead of us!"
-"Should I ask what you have planned?" Hawkbit said nervously.
-"You'll see." Bigwig's reply came across as ominous; as the captain went back to his burrow, Hawkbit (along with Dandelion) went towards his own, in the opposite direction.
-"Oh! By the way, while I was out..." he announced along the way, "...I dreamed a dream."
-"Which is a perfectly normal thing to happen during sleep," Dandelion pointed out.
-"Why do I even bother to talk? Someone always gets angry at me over it."
-"I'm not angry, I'm just...confused. And also very tired. Maybe tell me about that dream in the morning?"
-"Fine..."
Within a few minutes, the honeycomb was almost empty, as nearly everyone went back to their respective burrows. Blueberry and Gilia were among the last to leave; while they had broken from the hug long ago, Gilia was concerned with her friend, and how his ears were drooping to the sides of his head.
-"Is there something wrong?"
-"I...I don't know how to say this...it's just..."
-"Come, Gilia, it's time to go back to sleep," came Primrose's voice from a nearby tunnel.
-"I'm sorry...meet me at morning silflay, we'll discuss everything then."
-"I'll be looking forward to that." Blueberry's ears straightened, and the two kittens went back to their respective burrows.