AUTHOR'S NOTE: warning, the second half of this chapter is really dark...
Chapter 229: Troubles and Betrayal.
"'I had hoped that things were better elsewhere.' She paused, looking sad. 'But I see now that I was wrong. [...] Are you leaving now? Because we want to come with you."
-auroraspaw, The Thames Rabbits
That evening, it was once again time for Bigwig and Spartina to meet. Spartina had a bit of trouble sneaking away: there was no massive distraction/destruction like the first time, and she also had to find Lady May a safe spot, where nobody would find out about her injuries. She ultimately settled on one of the holes she had dug: as opposed to filling it up like the rest, she decided that it would be Lady May's burrow from now on. It was in a secluded corner, so it was unlikely anyone would stumble upon it by accident. It took a long time for the injured rabbit to crawl over to this hole, further delaying Spartina's departure.
When she finally arrived at the designated meeting spot, Bigwig was nowhere to be seen. Despite all her worries about being late, it seemed she was actually a bit early. Unless that fool crossed the bridge again and got captured...
When suddenly, she felt something fall on top of her. As she tried to crawl out of this creature's grip, she realized, much to her pleasure, that it was actually Bigwig. She was not facing a hostile attacker, nor had her lover been captured; this was the best possible outcome.
-"I got you this time!" Bigwig said mischievously.
-"Yes, you have."
Bigwig hopped off the doe, slightly concerned by her reaction.
-"You didn't put up much of a fight, are you all right?"
-"I'm fine, it's just...life in Darkhaven is so tiring. You can't know unless you've been there." Spartina noticed a black object behind Bigwig, it did not look natural. "What's that?"
-"Oh that." Bigwig hopped over to the phone and pushed it closer to Spartina. "Fiver said that it had to be taken away from the warren. I'm not sure what it is, or why it's so dangerous, but here it is."
-"So you thought I could deal with it instead, did you?" the doe teased.
-"No, not at all. It's just that this spot is distant enough from both our warrens, so it shouldn't cause any trouble here. Unless you think it could be used against Woundwort?"
-"Unfortunately, no. The easiest solution is simply to destroy it."
With her front paw, Spartina pushed the phone to the edge of the bridge, before kicking it over. With a soft splash, it landed in the water, sinking to the bottom in just a few seconds.
-"Now that this is out of the way, how's it going in Darkhaven?" Bigwig asked.
-"Like I said, tiring." Spartina sighed. "Did you know that there is a former hutch rabbit living there?"
-"I didn't. What is she doing there?"
-"From what I hear, Vervain broke her out. Her name is Lady May. Woundwort is asking me to train her."
-"You're supposed to be helping us, not training our enemies."
-"Oh believe me, I'm not helping Woundwort. Lady May will never be a warrior. Clover is at least able to survive; Lady May needs help even with basic tasks. She also has this horrible attitude, insulting everyone at every opportunity."
-"Speaking of Clover, she found love."
-"Good for her." Spartina smiled. "Is it with Hawkbit?"
-"What? No..." Bigwig was not sure why Spartina seemed to expect Hawkbit. "It's with Flora."
-"Interesting, I didn't expect her to choose them. Still, good to see they're both happy together."
-"You mentioned last time that you were going to make contact with Campion. How did that go?"
Spartina sighed. Teaming up with Campion had been one of her greatest hopes since her arrival in Darkhaven, but it had not gone as planned at all.
-"The unfortunate truth is that he doesn't trust me. I will slowly have to build this trust until we can finally work together."
Bigwig appeared disappointed by this revelation, so Spartina decided to change the subject.
-"What's happening over at Watership?"
-"I have some bad news...Nelthilta stopped running."
Spartina lowered her head in sadness.
-"Elil?"
-"No, it was her illness."
Bigwig could see that Spartina was feeling down following this unfortunate announcement; he couldn't leave her feeling like this.
-"In more positive news..." Bigwig tried to think: while nothing terrible had happened apart from Nelthilta's death, nothing amazing had happened either, apart from Clover and Flora, which he had already mentioned. The rest was just ordinary warren life. "Bluebell said that since Darkhaven is a place where humans keep their pointless stuff, Woundwort fits perfectly there. Because he is a pointless rabbit or something."
Bigwig never thought he would be repeating one of Bluebell's inappropriate jokes, especially such a ridiculous one, but under the circumstances, this was the best he could come up with. He stared at Spartina's face, to gauge her reaction; she did not laugh, but she smiled.
-"Good old Bluebell...is he still trying to kiss Blackberry?"
-"They kiss every day now."
-"Good for them. But it's now time for me to go again. See you again in two days?"
-"Are you sure this mission is even worth it? Campion doesn't trust you, and you're not getting anywhere with finding that ancient weapon of yours."
Spartina briefly considered going back to Watership Down, but quickly dismissed this idea: she was very stubborn, she would not give up on her current mission so quickly.
-"I have to keep trying, as long as there's still hope. Love you, see you soon."
-"Today is a momentous day. Today, we march towards our enemies."
It was early morning at Nu Beatha. Vervain, Inqwynn and everyone else were excused from their digging duties. Instead, they were gathered above ground, as the head of the council made a speech. A long, slow, boring speech that kept repeating itself.
-"The enemies won't know what hit them as we march towards them and attack."
-"Yes!" Vervain whispered in Inqwynn's ear, barely containing his excitement. "We're going to Nepenthes. At the first opportunity, I'll sneak away and find Chibiscuit. Then we'll run away together, and live happily ever after."
-"Ambitious plan," was Inqwynn's deadpan response. "Are we really going to Nepenthes, though? He keeps talking about enemies, but he didn't say which enemies."
-"We will attack and fight until all the enemies are dead," the councillor continued rambling.
-"He doesn't have to say it," Vervain said. "You told me Nepenthes is Nu Beatha's arch-enemy, didn't you? Obviously it's them we're attacking today, right?"
-"Either way, I would deeply appreciate it if you would take me with you, when you escape. I won't get in the way of your romance, I myself prefer friendships. I just want you to help me escape; as soon as we are a safe distance from the battlefield, I will go my own way, and you will go yours."
-"Yeah, sure, why not?" Vervain was too excited at the prospect of meeting Chibiscuit again to pay much attention to Inqwynn's begging.
-"This operation will bring glory and extend our reach across the area," the councillor was saying.
-"How much longer will we have to wait?" Vervain asked impatiently.
-"You know what they say: Heartsease is an old wise rabbit," Inqwynn replied with a shrug.
-"He's not that old, is he?"
-"Oh, I wasn't talking about him. Heartsease is a character from the old El-ahrairah stories. I was thinking, did you ever notice how..."
-"Oh enough about El-ahrairah already!" Vervain had shouted, resulting in a lot of rabbits looking at him uncomfortably; he quickly mumbled an apology, before whispering in Inqwynn's ear, "will the leader keep talking much longer?"
-"I don't know."
-"As we march on the path to glory, our enemies are to prepare for the long walk of defeat..." the councillor started speaking again following Vervain's rude interruption.
It was around mid-day when the crowd, consisting of approximately half the warren, started their journey. Those who stayed behind were cheering for the conquering heroes, and eagerly anticipating the flayrah and other loot that would be brought back.
The fighters travelled for hours and hours; they were not allowed to take breaks, and those who fell behind were quickly "motivated" back on their paws by the owsla. Vervain stayed on the outskirts of the crowd, so it would be easier for him to sneak away when the time came. It took until sunset before they finally reached another warren. A few rabbits were at silflay; one of them raised his ears, and hopped towards the visitors to greet them.
-"Welcome to the warren of Nildro, where the blackbirds sing, I am Chief Nildro-Thlay, and we..." Nildro-Thlay quickly scanned the increasingly large crowd that had assembled in front of his warren, and sighed. "You're here to attack us, aren't you?"
-"Yes, that is exactly our goal, how very perceptive of you," the Nu Beatha leader said. "So, will you surrender now? If you do that, maybe some of you will survive; otherwise, we will fight and kill you all."
-"Never surrender."
Nildro-Thlay stamped, only a single time, but it was the loudest sound any of the others had ever heard. Suddenly, blackbirds fell from the sky, attacking all the Nu Beatha rabbits. There were dozens of birds, and the rabbits of Nildro Warren also joined the fight, there was complete and total chaos across the field. The talons and beaks were able to poke out a few eyeballs and tear many ears, but it did not take long for the birds to come crashing down with broken or clawed-off wings. Red puddles gradually formed all over the grass.
Vervain was filled with sadness. As soon as Chief Nildro-Thlay had started to speak, he discovered the unfortunate truth: they weren't destroying Nepenthes, this was some meaningless backwater warren that they were attacking just for the fun of it. When the birds started pecking at his face, he completely lost it. He had no stake in this battle, there was no point in staying, he might as well get going. With everyone else fighting for their lives, few noticed as he simply ran off, and nobody made any attempt at stopping him.
Inqwynn had not expected the battle to start so quickly. He did not wish to fight; as such, his enemies also avoided him, focusing instead on the more dangerous fighters. Despite this, he still occasionally felt the birds pecking at him.
-"Vervain? Vervain, where are you?"
In his frantic search for Vervain, he knocked down many rabbits, including many of those who supposed to be on the same side as him. But Vervain was long gone.
-"Oh Vervain...why? Why didn't you take you with me? Looks like I've been betrayed by my friends, again..."