AUTHOR'S NOTE: this will be the last chapter of 2022: I will be taking a break for the holidays again, as I have done in the past. The weekly updates will resume in January. Until then, Merry Christmas, have a nice Frith's Eve, and enjoy the last few weeks of the year!

Chapter 208: Extraction.

"Cathy looked at me. "Nat, you're scaring him."

"Am I?" I asked, still angry. I grit my teeth. "That's good, he should be scared! None of this should be happening right now. I don't want this.""

-Broken Biscuit, Hawkbit

For a few minutes, more rabbits hopped out the warren. A few coughed, while others shook the dirt out of their fur, but luckily, it appeared that nobody was harmed. Flyairth was the first to speak.

-"What happened here?"

-"The ground shook, and the ancient caverns where we buried the weasels collapsed," Acacia said.

-"I get that, but why did it happen?"

-"There was an El-ahrairah story about that," Bluebell said. "Once, so they say, there was a time when..."

-"How about just a summary?"

-"Oh. The short version is that what just happened was Hufsa's revenge for when El-ahrairah made him look like a fool at the trial."

-"That's...really not what I expected, but all right..."

Hazel had been underground at the time of the earthquake; he did his best to guide the panicked rabbits as they dashed out of the warren. One rabbit in particular left him worried.

-"Nelthilta is still in there, all this dust will be making it impossible for her to breathe!" he said, once he was above ground. "We'll have to go rescue her."

As the Chief feared, Nelthilta was still in her burrow, and the dust had irritated her lungs, causing her to cough uncontrollably. She was unable to get out on her own, forcing Holly, Blackberry and Blackavar to carry her out. Even once she was above ground and breathing fresh air, the coughing did not stop. Blackberry would probably have been able to help her, but she was gone at Sunflower Forest; the rabbits were left with no other option than to leave her in Thethuthinnang's care, who had some limited knowledge about healing, albeit not as much as Blackberry. As Holly went back underground to make sure everyone else had safely made it above ground, Blackavar remained by Thethuthinnang to assist her if he could.

After a few minutes, the coughing had subsided enough that Nelthilta was able to speak again, although only with a barely-audible whisper. Blackavar had to position his ear directly in front of her mouth to be able to understand her.

-"What is she saying?" Thethuthinnang asked.

-"She's asking for a friend. I'll go get her."

After searching for a few minutes, and failing to find the friend Nelthilta had asked for, Blackavar decided to ask Hazel.

-"Do you know where Nyreem is?"

-"I've been looking through the crowd, she's one of only a few I haven't spotted yet," Hazel said.

-"She's not underground either," Holly said, hopping over to the two rabbits. "I checked all the burrows, there's nobody left there. She should be somewhere around here."

-"She's trapped." Both rabbits looked behind them to see Pipkin, with a worried look in his eyes.

-"Her burrow collapsed?"

-"Not exactly. Follow me, I'll show you."

Pipkin led the three rabbits to the bottom of the Down. Along the way, they realized how the collapse of the caverns had left a large ditch reaching all the way to the bottom of the Down, and beyond. Around halfway down, however, there was an unusual shape sticking out of the dirt. As they got closer, they realized that it was Nyreem's head. Her hind legs were stuck in the dirt.

-"Help," she said weakly.

-"Frith and Inlé!" Holly said. "How did that happen?"

-"I was just calmly hopping around, when suddenly the ground fell under me. Help."

-"Don't move, we'll rescue you."

Hazel carefully stepped forward, approaching the young doe. However, the ground suddenly seemed to collapse underneath him. Nyreem squealed, and Hazel was forced to back out to avoid getting trapped as well. He then realized that this rescue attempt had inadvertently made things worse, causing Nyreem to sink slightly deeper: only half of her body remained above ground.

-"Do something!" Pipkin urged.

-"This is not the way," Hazel said. "We need help from someone who knows a lot about digging."

Holly and Hazel ran back up to the warren; Pipkin, unsure what they had in mind, followed him. Around halfway there, however, they stopped again.

-"I forgot that Blackberry is off to Sunflower Forest," Holly said. "There's not enough time to send a messenger to bring her back here, it will have to be someone else."

With the main digging expert unavailable, Holly wound up asking the first doe he and Hazel encountered.

-"Flyairth, what is the best way to free someone who is being buried alive?"

-"This isn't a hypothetical situation, is it?" Flyairth shook her head. "Who's trapped?"

-"Nyreem."

The doe's eyes went wide.

-"Lead the way."

Holly did as she had asked; Hazel was about to follow, when he noticed a rabbit lying down in an awkward position. As he hopped closer, he realized, much to his horror, that it was his brother, and he was unconscious. With Blackberry away, he would have to resort to Thethuthinnang again, and ran over to her.

-"There's something wrong with Fiver!"

-"What is it?"

-"I don't know, but he needs help, please."

-"Is his life in immediate danger? Nelthilta is..."

-"Fiver needs help too! Can't someone else watch over Nelthilta?"

Thethuthinnang was left in the impossible situation of choosing which rabbit she would take care of first. Looking around her, she spotted someone who could perhaps help, at least temporarily.

-"Pipkin, you watch Nelthilta." She then turned to Hazel. "Lead me to Fiver."

Pipkin looked at the two rabbits as they hopped away, before turning to Nelthilta. He was disappointed: he was good friends with both Fiver and Nyreem, but while both were facing danger, he was unable to help either of them. Instead he had to keep an eye on Nelthilta; his last encounter with her had ended with her asking him to leave. Additionally, he knew next to nothing about healing; while she was no longer coughing, he had no idea what to do if she started again. All he could do was hope everything would be fine.

Hazel and Thethuthinnang, meanwhile, tended to Fiver. She carefully pressed her paws on various spots across his body, and paid close attention to his breathing. After a few anxious minutes, she announced the results of her examination:

-"He has no injuries that I was able to detect. Considering that it's Fiver, I would assume that this is a side-effect of a vision."
-"What should we do?"

-"You know more about his visions than I do. I would say to take him to his burrow, but until the dust clears, that's inadvisable. All I can suggest for now, is that you stay with him, so he will be surrounded by familiar faces when he wakes up."

-"I won't leave him."

-"Good. I should go back to Nelthilta now, though."