AUTHOR'S NOTE: following this chapter, I will be taking a short break. The next chapter will be posted on 3 September.
Chapter 237: Gilia and Spartina.
"He's been disowned by his parents, and three of his four siblings. They 'can't deal with his bulls### anymore'."
-Celestial-Vapidity, So No One Told You...
Gilia ran and ran, not looking where she went, feeling completely free. She would be on an exciting journey with her beloved, just the two of them. She loved her siblings, but they could be really annoying at times, it would be nice to finally have some time away from them, for the first time of her life. This mission would likely be dangerous, but dashing Blueberry would protect her from anything.
She stopped running to catch her breath, and it was only then that she realized that she was alone. Clearly she had been too fast for him (she was unaware of her siblings' intervention back at the farm). She would wait a bit for him to catch up, and hopped into a bush to remain concealed from elil until then.
The minutes went by, but Blueberry did not come. Gilia became nervous: what if she had gone the wrong way? She knew that the ultimate goal was to get to the other side of the Big Water, but she didn't know which way that was. Looking around her, she did not recognize her surroundings at all, she was further from Watership Down than she had ever been. She really shouldn't have run off like this; now, Blueberry might never find her again.
Once it became obvious that Blueberry was not coming, Gilia decided to retrace her steps back to the farm. With only her own faint scent to guide her, this would no doubt take a long time, but at least then, she would be back in familiar territory, and would be able to plan her next step accordingly. She sniffed the air, and picked up an unusual scent. It was very much like a rabbit, but unlike anyone in her warren, except maybe Spartina. Actually, it was virtually identical to Spartina's scent, but there was more to it.
As it dawned on her that she had walked right into the Darkhaven patrol she and the rest of the junior owsla had identified earlier, another rabbit jumped over the bush and landed right on top of her.
Spartina was lying in the grass, kicking pebbles against a nearby tree. It was the best way to pass the time while the other three rabbits on her patrol were busy arguing.
The argument went on until Feldspar, the largest of the three, knocked Orchis and Shale away.
-"Quit your arguing! I can't smell the outsiders anymore, I think they're gone."
Spartina smiled, but soon replaced it with a frown: she still had to keep her alliance with the Watershippers hidden.
-"That's just great!" she said, attempting to sound sarcastic. "Now we will have to go back to Darkhaven and tell the General that we almost had them, but failed. And then put up with his intensive training."
-"Not necessarily," Orchis said, shaking dirt out of his fur. "We can still try to follow their tracks. You coming, Shale?"
Feldspar had knocked Shale against a tree; the rabbit stumbled back on his feet, clearly dizzy.
-"Yes...coming...where are we going..."
Moments later, he collapsed again. Orchis rolled his eyes.
-"Feldspar, you stay with him. I'll be following the outsiders' tracks with Spartina."
-"What should I do if he wakes up?" Feldspar asked stupidly.
-"Nothing. Keep him quiet."
With that, Orchis hopped away, with Spartina nervously following. He kept getting closer to the warren, and she could not think of any way to prevent its discovery short of killing Orchis, and this would probably result in even bigger problems for everyone.
Orchis stopped at the bottom of the Down; the smell of the Watershippers was everywhere, there were even recent traces of hraka. He glanced up to the top of the hill.
-"I've found it. We've been searching for days, and it is I who made the discovery! I FOUND IT!"
His shouts attracted the attention of both Feldspar and Shale (although the latter was still visibly dizzy).
-"Found what?" Feldspar asked.
-"The outsiders' warren!"
Orchis started to run towards the top.
-"What do you think you're doing?" Spartina shouted.
-"Taking a hostage."
-"The General didn't say anything about taking hostages!"
-"She's right," Feldspar said. "Let's just report back, and let him decide what to do next."
Orchis groaned, disappointed at this missed opportunity; he was looking forward to torturing another rabbit. Hopefully the General would allow him to take a few prisoners back to Darkhaven after the final battle.
As the rabbits started their journey back to Darkhaven, Spartina had mixed feelings. She was pleased to have avoided the immediate crisis of Orchis kidnapping someone, but remained extremely anxious. She had initially hoped she could convert some of the Darkhaveners to her cause, but there was no time left. They knew where the warren was; as soon as they told Woundwort, he would attack. The painful truth was that the three rabbits on patrol with her could not make it back to Darkhaven alive. They had to die, that was the only way to save Watership Down. The thought of killing fellow rabbits made her deeply uncomfortable but, she reasoned, she would be trading three lives for hrair.
A few minutes later, Orchis pulled Spartina aside.
-"If Vervain were here, he would say that you're working for the outsiders...right?"
Spartina sighed: there goes Orchis talking about Vervain again...
-"You know how Vervain is: forever paranoid," she replied. "Always seeing plots and conspiracies, even when there's nothing nefarious actually happening."
-"Perhaps so, but then he would point out several objective facts. You tried to steer us away from the path leading to the outsiders' warren. You pushed one of us into the ditch. You started shouting way too loudly. You discouraged me from taking a hostage. As Vervain would say, 'coincidence? I think not.' And then he would suggest that you be executed, and volunteer to carry out the task."
-"Vervain has this tendency to distort the facts to back up his nonsensical accusations. I don't think anyone would believe him." Spartina was quickly becoming frustrated: debating Vervain was one thing, but instead she was debating by proxy what he would hypothetically believe if he were present (which he wasn't). This was beyond ridiculous; she would do something that would force Orchis to either reveal the truth about Vervain's whereabouts, or shut up. "And for all we know, maybe he wouldn't suspect me like he does Campion; we'll have to ask him when we get back. Why don't we do that?"
This seemed to make Orchis nervous, so he quickly changed the subject.
-"We'll settle this another time. Until then...I'm still taking a hostage."
-"I thought we already resolved this."
-"No." Orchis hopped over to a small bush. "I'm not going back to the warren to kidnap someone, I will just grab that kitten over there."
-"What kitten?" Sniffing the air, Spartina realized the worst: there was indeed a lone Watershipper on the other side of that bush.
Spartina followed Orchis over the bush; her fears were confirmed, Gilia had just gotten captured. What was she doing there, alone? The patrol they had identified earlier was made up of several rabbits. She must have gotten separated from the others, and was now in need of help to escape.
-"I got you!" Orchis said evilly, stroking Gilia's fur with his claws. "Now I will bring you to our warren where our leader can interrogate you."
Gilia seemed completely terrified.
-"I'm not happy with this, but I don't have much of a choice, do I?" She tried scratching the ground as she looked at Spartina, hoping the doe would help her. This actually gave Spartina an idea.
-"Kittens have this tendency to squirm," she said.
-"Really? I didn't know," was Orchis' response; the most confusing thing was he seemed genuinely surprised, he wasn't being sarcastic.
-"Surely you squirmed a lot when you were a kitten?"
-"Bold of you to imply I ever was a kitten."
Spartina sighed: Orchis could be really annoying sometimes.
-"Still, maybe we should tie her up, so she doesn't try to escape."
Gilia made a weird face, as if to say "you're supposed to be helping me escape, not helping them kidnap me." Nevertheless, this was all part of Spartina's plan.
Orchis considered her suggestion for a few moments, before nodding.
-"You two, get some tall herbs," he ordered Shale and Feldspar.
-"Why do we always get the worst tasks?" Shale whined.
-"Because I'm the captain and you two are mere...uh..." Orchis hesitated, trying to recall the two rabbits' ranks. "Well, regardless of what you are, I outrank you, so you do what I say."
Grumbling, Feldspar and Shale hopped away to search for what Orchis has requested.
-"What's taking them so long?"
Orchis, still keeping Gilia pinned, was getting impatient: Shale and Feldspar had been gone for at least fifteen minutes (although neither him nor Spartina could quantify this). This made Spartina darkly optimistic: maybe they had encountered elil, leaving her with only Orchis to kill. Or maybe let the elil deal with him too.
-"You should go look for them," she suggested; this would also the perfect opportunity for Gilia to escape. "I'll keep an eye on the hostage while you're gone."
Orchis was hesitant to leave Gilia under the supervision of someone he didn't fully trust. But his annoyance at Shale and Feldspar's incompetence won out, and he ran off in the same direction they had. Spartina hopped over to Gilia; as soon as the captain was out of sight, she whispered in her ear:
-"Kick me in the face."
-"I don't want to hurt you."
-"This is not the time to argue!" Spartina said with clenched teeth. "Kick me hard then run home, I'll make sure nobody follows you."
-"Where is home?"
-"West. Now go!"
Gilia didn't hesitate any further. She gave a small kick and ran as fast as she could, praying to Frith that she would make it back home alive. This had all been a big mistake, she shouldn't have secretly run off with that handsome and mysterious black kitten, she have stayed with her siblings. Hopefully her parents would forgive her; they no doubt be furious when they found out what she had done, this was arguably more terrifying than creepy Orchis...
Spartina, meanwhile, let out a squeal, hoping to lure the others back (if they were still alive) before they could try to stop the fleeing kitten. It only took a few seconds before the three others arrived running.
-"What's going on?" Shale asked cluelessly. "Oh you're hurt!"
Spartina had placed her front paws over her face. Gilia hadn't kicked that hard, either because she still didn't want to hurt her, or because she wasn't that strong (probably a mixture of both). As a result, she barely even touched the whiskers. It looked like Spartina was covering her wounds, but she was actually hurting herself. It had to look convincing, otherwise the others (mostly Orchis) would suspect her complicity in the escape. The next step was to keep them busy long enough for Gilia to get away.
-"The hostage is gone."
-"I can see that!" Orchis said angrily. "How did she escape?"
-"She's a feisty one. She will grow up to be a fine warrior."
-"No she won't. Woundwort will have her killed."
-"Perhaps, or maybe he'll try to be a father figure to her, like he tried with that other outsider seasons ago, Pipkin."
-"How do you know about Pipkin?" Orchis' suspicions seemed to be growing. "That was in Efrafa, before your time."
-"Woundwort may have mentioned this incident in passing. Regardless, you weren't in Efrafa either. Perhaps we both learned about it at the same time."
-"Anyway, I'm going after her."
-"She's long gone by now. We've already wasted enough time on this unauthorized side mission; we should be heading back to Darkhaven instead."
-"I'm with her," Feldspar said. "This has lasted long enough."
Orchis was torn: he really wanted to try and catch Gilia again, but he also didn't want the other officers to mutiny against him.
-"Fine, let's go..."