Chapter 222: Shocking Secrets Revealed!

"They felt some pity but told her that they would be unable to ever do such a thing on the scale Re- Kaiala needed."

-CRCoda, The Kaia

Spartina left Darkhaven almost as soon as she had reached solid ground again. She had a meeting with Bigwig scheduled for later that evening. It was already getting late, and the mass confusion caused by the fire and the structure's collapse provided a great opportunity for her to sneak away unnoticed.

When she arrived at the designated meeting spot by the river, Bigwig was already there. He was looking in the opposite direction, and seemed nervous, as if he wasn't sure she was coming. She was disappointed to see, however, that he had crossed the bridge. The last time they had seen each other, she had told him that doing so would be too dangerous, but clearly he had disobeyed. An idea formed in her mind: she would surprise him.

Taking advantage of a nearby bush to remain concealed a bit longer, she slowly got closer to him, until she suddenly pounced. He barely had the time to turn his head, she was already on top of him.

-"Spartina!" he shouted. "What are you..."

-"I told you to stay on the other side of the river."

-"All right, all right! Will you let me get up now?"

Spartina hopped off her future mate, allowing him to get back up and shake the dirt off his fur.

-"I must say, you were disappointingly easy to sneak up on," she said, once they had crossed the bridge, back to the "safe" side. "I was expecting better from my plump captain."

Had just about anyone else said that, Bigwig would have been furious, both at being called "plump" and his alertness being criticized. But since it was Spartina, he did not complain, and merely smiled instead.

-"I'm just glad you're still alive to come here."

-"Did you really doubt my survival abilities?" Spartina playfully teased.

-"I know that, if anyone can pull this off, it's you, but...it's just hard not to worry. This remains a dangerous mission."

-"I have already survived several seasons in Darkhaven. There's really no need to worry, I'll be fine."

-"I certainly hope so...have you made any progress?"

-"A lot happened in just two days. Do you remember those two mice who attacked Hawkbit, and the kitten Blueberry?"

-"Oh, how could I forget? I never thought we would have to fight against mice."

-"It turns out they were working with Woundwort. I saw them in Darkhaven today."

Bigwig gasped.

-"Don't worry, they won't be a danger anymore," Spartina quickly clarified. "Somehow, I don't fully understand how, they managed to set the ground on fire. This did a lot of damage, and Woundwort is furious at them, he thinks they betrayed him."

-"Did they actually betray him?"

-"I don't think so. Either way, the result is the same: he doesn't trust them anymore, and even threatened to kill them. They likely won't try to hurt us again."

-"If they do, I'll unleash my entire owsla on them. Not to kill them, not at first anyway. Just to hold them for questioning."

-"That's a good plan. I hope it won't be necessary, though."

-"Did anything else notable happen? Have you found that 'ultimate weapon' yet?"

-"Not yet, but I will keep searching," Spartina said, rather disappointed in her own failure. "But enough about me. How are things at Watership Down? How's the owsla?"

-"The owsla is not going as well as I was hoping."

-"Oh no, what's wrong?"

-"For one thing, while you're busy in Darkhaven, we're one good rabbit short."

-"That can't be helped. But I would have thought the others were still doing a good job."

-"Most of them do, but not all. Dandelion did something foolish and he almost killed Nyreem in the process."

Bigwig spent a few minutes detailing the events surrounding Nyreem's rescue, more specifically Dandelion's interference.

-"It sounds like it was a misguided attempt at helping," Spartina said, once Bigwig had finished. "Aren't you worried you might have been too harsh? He wasn't deliberately trying to murder her. Meanwhile, Snowdrop wasn't kicked out of the junior owsla after she intentionally tried to kill Blueberry."

-"I get what you're saying, but in hindsight, it probably isn't much of a punishment. I've known Dandelion much longer than you have. He's always been lazy, he is no doubt enjoying himself now that he's not in the owsla anymore. He and Hawkbit were always looking for excuses to skip training."

-"If you say so." Spartina looked at the sky, and became nervous upon seeing the moon's position. "It's getting late, I should be getting back now."

-"Already?" Bigwig was disappointed, it felt like Spartina had only just arrived.

-"If I stay away for too long, they are bound to notice. Don't worry, we could meet again in two days, if you want?"

-"I'll be there."

The two rabbits nuzzled each other, before Spartina crossed the bridge again, heading back towards Darkhaven. Bigwig lingered for a while: he really did not like leaving Spartina like this, but he had no choice...

Campion was in a sombre mood that evening. The reveal that the Speaker of the Past and the Black Rabbit of Inlé were the same rabbit left him confused and worried. Also, the structure's collapse prevented him from figuring out what Spartina was up to. By the time his conversation with the Black Rabbit had ended, Spartina had completely vanished.

She was right about one thing, though: after she had pushed him off the structure, he landed safely on the ground. After briefly checking up on Woundwort, he went back to his burrow, hoping to sleep after this exhausting day. He had little success, he kept thinking about his encounter with the Black Rabbit. After a few hours, he decided to go back above ground: if he couldn't sleep, he could at least silflay.

Darkhaven seemed largely deserted at this time of night, as everyone was asleep underground. After a few minutes, however, Campion saw that he was not the only one still awake. Aspen was in the middle of the former structure's foundations; he seemed to be wandering aimlessly. It was then that Campion decided that he would tell him everything. There was no point in delaying further, especially since the Black Rabbit had told him he could. He hopped over to Aspen, doing his best to avoid the many sharp objects that littered the ground.

-"Hey, Campion! What's up?" The pale-furred rabbit smiled at the sight of the captain.

-"I need to talk to you."

-"What about?"

-"I meant, in private." Campion quickly realized that he should have mentioned that at first.

Campion led Aspen to his burrow. He was initially reluctant to reveal this secret burrow's existence, but he reasoned that it could serve as a meeting place for any additional rebels he might recruit.

-"Wow! This must be the best burrow in the warren!" Aspen said, amazed.

-"It is a great burrow, but that's not why I brought you here. You know, about the outsiders?

-"Of course I know. Woundwort is always complaining about them. It's like he has a one-track mind."

-"Well, you see...I'm working with them."
-"YOU'RE WHAT?"

Campion cringed: despite the burrow being deep underground, Aspen had spoken so loudly that he could surely have been heard above ground.

-"Keep your voice down."

-"You're working with them?" Aspen whispered. "How? Why?"

-"I'm trying to make sure Woundwort doesn't find their warren. They don't deserve to be destroyed. I mean, you yourself said that you weren't sure if this war was worth it."

-"I did say that..." Aspen's eyes suddenly went wide. "Hey, did you destroy everything earlier tonight?"

-"What? No! Why would I have done that?"

-"To delay Woundwort. While he's busy recovering from this calamity, he can't search for the outsiders' warren."

-"I suppose, when you put it that way, it sounds like a good thing. But no, that wasn't me. I wouldn't recklessly endanger everyone in this warren like this."

-"Right, I suppose you wouldn't..."

Aspen remained awkwardly silent, his eyes wide open, staring at nothing.

-"You're not going to tell Woundwort about all this, are you?" Campion asked nervously."

-"No, Campion. You're a good rabbit, I won't betray you. But this is quite a shock! I'll need some time to think."

-"I understand. Take all the time you need." Campion was reluctant to say this: if Aspen took too long to make up his mind, it might be too late, Woundwort might discover the location of the outsiders' warren and attack. But if he rushed Aspen, he might perhaps lose his only ally.

-"I'll get back to you on this, Campion. Good night."

-"Good night Aspen."

In a burrow at Watership Down, Fiver and Vilthuril were lying down closely together. While Vilthuril had already fallen asleep, Fiver was struggling with this, feeling a weird tickling in his mind. At first, he assumed it was a fly buzzing around him, and he tried in vain to swat it away with his ears. After a while, he finally managed to identify the cause. Doing his best not to disturb his mate, he hopped out of the burrow, and soon found Silverweed in a corner of the Honeycomb.

-"I see you got my message. Hope I didn't wake up Vilthuril."

-"She's still asleep."

-"That's good. Anyway, I was wondering one thing about your visions. Did you ever try to prevent them from happening?"

-"Oh Silverweed, if you only knew...I tried nearly every time, but it never works. It always ends up happening anyway."

-"Is there truly nothing that can be done?"

-"It is sometimes possible to limit the damage. I had a vision that Sandleford was destroyed, so I convinced Hazel and a few others to leave before it was too late. I had a vision of the weasel coming, and we took the proper measures to prevent it from killing anyone. What did you see?"

-"What did I see? What do you mean?"

-"You're obviously asking me all this because you've had a vision or something, and you want to prevent it from happening."

It was almost as if Fiver had read Silverweed's mind, or maybe he had.

-"One of us will die tomorrow," Silverweed said.

The slight smile on Fiver's face vanished as he heard this.

-"Who?"

-"I don't know. Is there anything that could be done to save them?"

-"I don't know exactly what your vision said, but what it said will happen. And if that means one of us would die, it cannot be stopped."

Silverweed let out a loud sigh.

-"There's really nothing?"

-"Maybe if we knew who it would be. But we don't..."

-"You know sometimes I hate seeing the future?"

-"So do I. I'm sorry Silverweed."

The two friends hugged each other, before Silverweed went to his burrow. Fiver also went to his burrow, and lied down very close to Vilthuril. Like Silverweed, he felt sad over his inability to help, and the upcoming death of another rabbit.