Chapter 202: Double Raid.

"He then heard something outside and went to see what was happening."

-Weekyle15, Love Triangle

Early in the morning, Campion and Orchis were sent on a raid, as Woundwort had told Lady May the previous evening. They also decided to bring Shale along: if more rabbits were present, they could bring back more flayrah.

-"I haven't been in Darkhaven as long as you two," Campion said. "Where do you usually go for raids?"

-"The usual spot was destroyed by the flood," Orchis said. "We'll have to look elsewhere this time. Do you know of any place from your Efrafan days?"

Campion thought quickly. The usual spot for farm raids in Efrafa was Nuthanger Farm; that was way too close to the outsiders' warren for comfort.

-"No, there was no main spot, we just took it wherever we found it," he lied.

-"That's disappointing...seems like we'll have to do the same thing today!"

Hyzenthlay sank her teeth in the juicy turnip. Overall, this felt like a good day. Blackberry, Nicole, Holly and a few others had gone digging. Hawkbit, much to everyone's surprise, had decided to join them too, despite his complaints the previous day. Meanwhile, Hyzenthlay took out a raid to Nuthanger Farm, bringing Thethuthinnang and, Acacia and with her. Dandelion, unwilling to go digging again, but not wanting to go through Bigwig's training either, volunteered to join the raid, an offer that Hyzenthlay accepted. The farm was a bit of a wreck; the flood had done a lot of damage (as had the escaped criminal running over the vegetable patch). But there was still a bit of food available; what remained was delicious.

The rabbits took turns keeping a look out for elil. The dog was notably absent, and the cat was inside the farmhouse, looking out the closed window, but it was important to remain careful and vigilant, so they could flee quickly if the situation changed.

Suddenly, Hyzenthlay heard Thethuthinnang's stamping signal; she immediately bolted towards her, and so did Acacia and Dandelion.

-"There are other rabbits nearby..." Thethuthinnang whispered.

The four rabbits remained as silent as they could. A few moments later, they gasped in horror as they saw the group of Darkhaveners further away.

Campion, Orchis and Shale, after wandering for a while, stumbled upon Nuthanger Farm. Campion had hoped this wouldn't happen, but now that they were there, there was nothing he could do, without attracting suspicion. All he could do was hope that they wouldn't notice the outsiders' scent.

Orchis was calmly hopping near the farmhouse, looking at Tabitha; while she could see him, she was unable to get to him, and that was infuriating. He stuck his tongue out at the feline, who meowed ferociously and started clawing at the glass, while the rabbit looked on in satisfaction. After a few minutes, however, he grew bored: the closed window prevented the feline from attacking him, but also stopped him from battling her. He therefore joined Campion and Shale in the garden.

-"Do you have any idea why Woundwort is so nice to that thing?" he suddenly asked.

-"What thing?" was Campion's response. "The cat?"

-"No, not the cat. The thing Vervain brought back from the hutch."

It took a few moments for Campion to figure out who Orchis was actually talking about.

-"Oh, you mean Lady May?"

-"Sure, if that's what it's called. It hasn't done anything to be treated so well, but Woundwort still cares for it. You've known him longer than I have, so I was hoping you might be able to shed some light on his motivations."

Campion did have an idea as to why Woundwort was uncharacteristically nice towards the doe. However, this information was sensitive and confidential, and Woundwort would probably not appreciate it if he found out it was Campion who had leaked it. Shale was not very intelligent, and could not be trusted to keep the secret.

-"Shale, why don't you go on a perimeter check?" he said.

-"What the Inlé is there to verify?"

-"That there are no elil around. We don't want to get ambushed while we're eating, do we?"

-"Oh right..."

Shale obeyed, and hopped away.

-"So what's the big secret?" Orchis asked, having instantly figured out what Campion's plan was.

-"Long ago...Woundwort used to live in a hutch."

Orchis' eyes went wide as he heard this, and he grimaced in disgust. It was almost as if this newfound knowledge lowered his opinion of Woundwort, and he now considered him a lesser rabbit, much like he did with Lady May. This gave Campion an idea: perhaps he could exploit Orchis' prejudice against tame rabbits, in order to undermine Woundwort.

-"He didn't like to talk about it. But I can just imagine him, lying besides his human, eating lots of flayrah, being stroked between the ears, as they watch those weird magic boxes humans keep in their homes. Very different from the Woundwort we know today, isn't it?"

That was all a lie: the truth was that Woundwort was kept in the barn, fed scraps, and was frequently tormented by the cat, who took great pleasure in reaching his paw through the cage's bars. Additionally, unlike Lady May, Woundwort was not born in a hutch: he originally lived in the wilderness, only to be captured shortly after his parents' death.

-"It's crazy..." was all Orchis managed to say. "And eventually he escaped?"

-"Obviously. I mean, he wouldn't be leader of Darkhaven now if he hadn't, would he?"

-"I suppose not..."

-"Just...don't tell Woundwort I told you this. He doesn't like it when others talk about his past behind his back."

-"Huh? Oh, uh, no, I won't tell him, your secret is safe with me."

-"Oy, Orchis!" came the voice of Shale. "This smells a lot like the outsiders."

-"Are you sure about that?" Campion said, as he started to get nervous. "All I can smell is cat, dog, and flayrah. Maybe your nose is imagining things."

-"I think the corporal is right," Orchis said, upon sniffing the air. "I can smell them too; they are likely hiding under a shady tree while they eat their flayrah. I will follow the scent, and once I am next to them, I shall rip their eyes out of their sockets before..."

-"Why do you have to be so gruesome? Can't we just enjoy the flayrah?"

-"Good thing Campion is there to distract them," Hyzenthlay mumbled. "Let's get out of here before it's too late."

The four rabbits carefully hopped out of the farmyard, doing their best to avoid attracting attention. Things were going well until Thethuthinnang stepped on a twig; the cracking sound resonated throughout the area, and the three Darkhaveners soon spotted them.

-"After them!" Shale ordered.

-"And you said there weren't any outsiders, Campion," Orchis teased.

-"Seems I was wrong," Campion said, attempting to stall without being too obvious about it. "Will you be drinking their blood?"

-"Of course I won't drink their blood! Blood tastes nasty. I said I would be destroying their eyes; stop twisting my words."

Shale, seeing how Campion and Orchis were arguing, decided to take matters into his own paws and ran after the outsiders.

Hyzenthlay and Thethuthinnang ran as fast as they could, and took shelter in a bush outside the farmyard.

-"Acacia and Dandelion are gone," Thethuthinnang noticed.

-"We have to go find them," Hyzenthlay decided, as she ran back in the farmyard. She soon spotted them: Dandelion had stumbled and was pinned by Shale. Acacia had taken out his slingshot, and placed a turnip on it, before firing. The vegetable crashed straight in Shale's face, knocking the rabbit unconscious. Campion and Orchis went to tend to him, during which time Dandelion and Acacia were able to get away.

-"This Woundwort fellow has the most incompetent owsla I have ever seen," Acacia commented, as the group reached a safe distance from the farm. "I get that Campion is trying to sabotage them, but it goes way beyond that."

-"What they lack in intelligence, they make up for in size," Thethuthinnang added with a sigh.

With that, they started the journey back to Watership Down. The Darkhaveners' arrival had stopped them from bringing any flayrah back to the warren, but at least they had managed to evade capture. The discovery of a Darkhaven patrol so close to their warren was worrying...

Back at the warren, most of the adult rabbits who were not at the farm or off digging were taking part in owsla training. Following the previous day's problems with Blueberry, Bigwig was forced to abandon his plan of teaching his owsla how to properly fight smaller creatures. They had all learned the techniques anyway, mostly; their moves weren't perfect, but they should still be able to handle themselves in a battle. As for those who had missed out on training to go digging, he could just give them a few tips, and that would be enough,

During a temporary silflay break, he spotted the farm raid group, climbing the Down. He could see that all four rabbits were present, which was good news: it meant that nobody had gotten hurt during the mission. As they got closer, however, he saw that none of them were carrying any flayrah, indicating that something had gone wrong.

-"How did it go?" he asked, once they reached the top.

-"We encountered the Darkhaveners at the farm," Hyzenthlay said. "We were able to escape without them following us, but it was still a close call."

Bigwig gasped. This was very bad news, something would have to be done about this, quickly.

-"We should call a meeting tonight, once the diggers are back," he said.

-"Good idea," Acacia replied.