Chapter 248: The Continuing.
"But if he had wings he would certainly have to have a beak! O-ho, wouldn't that be a sight for that mangy farm cat!"
-PcKtmouse, Wings like Birds
After her encounter with Tassel, Hannah left the warren. She was feeling bitter about how nobody had notified her of what Spartina had said; she only knew because she had overheard the conversation. Nevertheless, she was determined to do her part and help. If Kehaar was still at Watership Down, she would have gone flying with him, but he was probably still at the Big Water. Had she heard about Woundwort's plans a few days before, she would have invoked a magic spell to defeat the Darkhaveners, but she had since learned that magic didn't exist. At first, it seemed to her there was nothing she could do to help, but after Tassel's arrival, an idea formed into her mind; excited, she scurried away to carry it out. The squirrel and the bats were already at the warren, but she could still try to recruit more creatures, like she had done with Pipkin's kidnapping. It would be slower without Kehaar to fly her around, but she would still have to do her best. If only she could send a message to that gull...
Three rabbits were sitting on the edge of the Down. In front of them was a small pile of pebbles. One of the rabbits placed one on his slingshot and fired it away. It struck the beech tree and bounced back, crushing a lone dandelion.
-"Great shot, Acacia!" another rabbit, one of two does, said. "If that was a Darkhavener's face, it would have been a really bad day for them."
-"You're right about that, Nicole," Acacia replied, "but I still have some concerns. These Darkhaveners fight to kill, and I doubt a few pebbles to the head will be enough to stop them."
-"We would need larger rocks, but our twigs would snap under the weight."
-"That's true. What we would need is a larger, stronger twig, that could hold heavier rocks, and launch them further."
-"Why stick with twigs, Acacia?" Violet asked. "Why not a branch?"
-"That's a great idea."
Violet had lied down in the grass nearby, looking at the two friends. She had been thinking, ever since she had first met them, that one day, they would eventually become mates: they had a lot of chemistry. But Acacia had said that he was not ready for this; not until he had avenged his sister's death. Violet, meanwhile, felt that she would likely never get a mate of her own. She snapped out of his thoughts, however, when Acacia addressed her:
-"Violet, you've lived here longer than we have. Do you have any idea where we could find a large tree branch, large enough to support a small boulder but light enough for a few rabbits to carry?"
-"I haven't been around here much longer than you. A few days at most. But I might know a place. Shall I show you?"
-"Lead on," Nicole said.
Violet led Acacia and Nicole over to a small tree near the Down. It that had been damaged by a recent thunderstorm, and had lost a few branches. Some of them were still too large for the rabbits to carry, but a few were the perfect size for what they had in mind.
-"By the way, what do you make of the situation with Blueberry?" Violet asked.
-"Have there been any new developments?" Acacia asked nervously.
-"I hear he's trying to teleport to the other side of the Big Water."
-"Maybe he's just playing make-believe," Nicole suggested. "Kittens can be very imaginative and come up with elaborate fantasies."
-"Nope, not this time. It's not a fantasy, he was completely serious about his plan, just like he was serious about leaving the warren with Gilia. Fortunately, he lost interest in THAT idea."
-"He is a very confusing rabbit," Acacia said.
-"He also has an unusual aura," Nicole added. "It does not match the image that he is trying to project, and it looks completely different from all other rabbits at the warren. In fact, it somewhat resembles that of the Nuthanger farmer. I do not know what conclusions to draw from this."
-"Spooky spooky," Acacia replied. "Mysterious Blueberry bunny, it's sad how he always faces trouble, even if his ideas are crazy."
-"I wonder if there may be an outside force making him act so recklessly," Violet theorized.
-"What sort of outside force?"
-"Something that gets into rabbits' minds and makes them do foolish things. This same force could have also impacted Dandelion, who ran away for no reason."
-"Oh, Dandelion..." Acacia lowered his head. "That is also a highly unfortunate decision on his part to leave, Hawkbit took it really badly."
-"All the same, I don't trust Blueberry," Violet said, bringing the conversation back to its initial topic. "Notice how Gilia got captured by Woundwort's owsla right when she left with him? For all we know, maybe he's faking his amnesia so he can be a spy for Woundwort, and he led her right into an ambush."
-"It's not that nefarious, I'm sure," Nicole said. "His aura didn't show any indication of malicious intent. All the same, it is probably a good idea to keep an eye on him, for his own safety...and everyone else's."
Like Acacia had said, Hawkbit did not take Dandelion's departure well. He wanted to be out there searching for his best friend Dandelion, but he was not allowed to, he was forced to stay at the warren and help prepare for the battle. To make things worse, the task he was assigned was one of the most undignified of them all: digging. He had to dig up a boulder near the top of the Down, so that it could potentially be rolled down the slope onto the unsuspecting Darkhaveners. Further worsening his mood was that he was working alone: while others were also digging near rocks, there was only one rabbit per boulder.
He considered disobeying orders and leaving anyway, but he knew that this was a horrible idea: not only would he likely fail in his goal (like the other owsla officers previously had), but the others would now be forced to search for him too.
Holly and his patrol returned from their raid at around the same time as Acacia and his group left. The cat and dog had not caused any major troubles at the farm, allowing them to bring an even greater supply of flayrah back to the warren. Along with the existing supplies, there would have enough to last up to a week.
After they had finished carrying their new supplies to the storage chamber, they met with Bigwig in the Honeycomb, along with a few other trusted advisers, to discuss a battle plan.
-"I'll kill them," Flyairth said. "They killed Prake and several others, and they shall not get away with it."
-"One of our priorities should be to prevent them from breaking into the warren," Hyzenthlay explained. "If they remain above ground, we can try to hold them off, but if they make it underground, we won't have a chance."
-"We should try to fill in most of the side entrances," Strawberry said, "so it becomes virtually impossible for them to get underground. We did that when the weasel attacked last summer. While it took all day then, there were fewer of us, so we should be able to do it in time today."
-"We would also need guards at the main entrance, obviously," Bigwig decided, "and any others we fail to fill up in time. They will attack any hostile invaders who try to use them."
-"We don't necessarily need to put our strongest rabbits in these runs," captain Broom said. "In these narrow tunnels, one or two of our weaker rabbits could easily hold back the enemies."
-"Thethuthinnang, you're in charge of the digging," Bigwig said. "Once Blackberry has returned, coordinate with her."
Thethuthinnang nodded, approving of this plan.
-"I also found something at the farm that could perhaps be useful," Holly said. "I left it above ground, I'll go get it now."
As Holly temporarily left the burrow, Flyairth considered captain Broom's suggestion.
-"The elderly captain is right, even the former hutch rabbits could..." She stopped mid-sentence to sniff the air. "There's that smell again..."
This made several of the rabbits nervous: the last time Flyairth had talked about "that smell", it was regarding the ribbon that Hyzenthlay had given to Primrose, and she freaked out about the possible dangers of the White Blindness. It was a major argument over nothing meaningful, and nobody was looking forward to another one.
-"There she goes again," Thethuthinnang mumbled.
When Holly returned, however, and everyone saw what he had brought back, Flyairth was not the only one to panic.
-"Frith and Inlé!" Bigwig shouted. "You brought back a thunderstick!"
Holly dropped the thunderstick on the burrow floor. It was not a rifle, just a small pistol. In fact, it wasn't even a real gun: it was merely a toy that Lucy had thrown away following the hostage situation. None of the rabbits were aware of this final detail, however; to them, it looked like any regular, functional weapon, and it left most of them terrified.
-"Everyone stay away from it!" Flyairth cried out. "It might be contaminated with the White Blindness!"
-"I don't think that's the main reason why we should stay away from it," Bigwig retorted. "It could fire black pebbles at us."
-"Or it could fire them at Woundwort, if we find out how to operate it," Holly said.
-"And what if, in our attempts at learning how to use it, we get hurt? Thundersticks are highly dangerous..."
-"White Blindness or not, this feels like a horrible idea," Flyairth added.
-"You're right, it was worth trying, but it won't work." Subconsciously, Holly had known that all along, and only even considered this because of how desperate the situation was. "Let's bury it, so it can't hurt us."
-"Perhaps we could still tell Woundwort that we have it," Bluebell suggested.
-"What good would that do?" Bigwig asked dismissively. "Or was that another inappropriate joke?"
-"Bluebell's not wrong," Holly said with a smile. "This is the most terrifying of weapons, and the mere mention of it might be enough to make some rabbits nervous. Perhaps some of them might even surrender right away without fighting."