Chapter 2: Flay-rah

They finally got off her suddenly. She had to run away. The scent of man was too strong here. It permeated the warren like never before. Worse – the scent seemed to grow ever stronger as time went on. She took the chance to run.

The rays of Frith were finally in sight. She had to go further still to escape the scent.

"Hey, I want to speak to you!" Stonecrop yelled.

"Leave me alone!" she yelled back. He reeked of man. Last night, Loosestrife managed to convince Stonecrop to leave.

"Stonecrop, now is not a good time," Loosestrife said. "I'll calm her down first."

Of course, she wasn't alone. Two rabbits were running alongside her. And one of them sat on her recently.

"Are you okay?"

She shook her head. "That rabbit reminds me of so many bad memories."

"Would you like to try another warren?" Calix said.

"That's possible?"

"It should be. Campion-rah's still resting at the warren after a Wide Patrol. I can try to make arrangements."

Calix left while Loosestrife stayed behind to watch her.

Another rabbit with a terrifying scent approached a while later, but this one was fast. He had the scent of man too.

"Campion-rah, she's here," Calix said.

She looked fearfully at the new rabbit.

"And you want me to take her to another warren?" Campion said.

"She looks like El-ahriarah and she doesn't like it here."

"I do-don't want to go with you," she said.

"She's terrified. I don't blame her," Campion said. "My rabbits would be terrified too of my new scent. I need to wait for it to fade."

"We're thankful for what you have done for us Campion-rah," Loosestrife said.

"It wasn't my first Wide Patrol into human territory so Stonecrop could regain his scent. Tell me about this newcomer." Campion motioned for Loosestrife to follow.

Calix was the one to watch over her now.

As Campion moved away, the scent went with him.

She was free in a sense – as long as Calix followed her. Without any terrifying scents around, she started eating the nearby grass. It took quite some time for Loosestrife to return alone.

"We're going to have you go to another warren to see if you fit in better."

"Lead the way." She had no reason to object for now. Other rabbits could be better company than these which have her under guard.

"Not right now. After two weeks."

"And I'm a prisoner here until then."

"We're protecting you."

"From what? I'm fine on my own."

Calix said, "Forget it. It'll take too long to explain."

"Do you know what a weasel is?" Loosestrife asked.

She shook her head.

"They used to roam around here."

Four more rabbits came near them.

"Knapweed, what brings you here?" Loosestrife asked.

"Campion-rah sent us. He found it absurd that Groundsel-rah ordered only the two of you to protect her. Groundsel wasn't too happy about that. Rather than listen to them argue, we came here."

"We're only to watch her."

"And if elil come?"

She wasn't going anywhere if the rabbits didn't want her to. There were six rabbits just watching her. Not that there was much to do but lay around and feed. However, when the sunset, Loosestrife motioned for her to return to the warren. She followed at first, but once the scent of man hit her, she refused.

The six rabbits following her around had no issues forcing her onwards. They didn't care.

"This won't do," Groundsel said. "Take her a ways away and make a burrow."

"It was fine yesterday," Loosestrife muttered. "We can force her underground still. Surely, you're not expecting her to dig or to cooperate."

"You're right. Campion, come here," he shouted into the warren. "You never sought to assign a doe. Now, we have to take someone out of your precious four," Groundsel sneered. "Four that were totally necessary."

"You didn't call them back," Campion said. "You did give in. Take Alpine out and put Cicely in."

"No, Indigo instead."

"Just because they're both Owsla doesn't mean they have the same experience. You're going to assign someone who only has one month of experience instead of two years? We have someone special among us. Were it not for my scent, I would be out there with her."

"Whatever, do as he says. He's the better Chief Rabbit as we all know."

"I'm glad you agree. You have much to learn."

"Pity, this great Chief Rabbit never learned sarcasm."

"That was a point? The score is 2-1."

The two arguing rabbits went back into the warren.

Loosestrife never got to point out the issue that her ears would be a beacon for elil. With their Chief Rabbit arguing, it seemed unwise to delay. It took a few minutes to make the swaps. They had to go quite far until she decided she was comfortable again with the air. Cicely was here to dig for her alone.

Cicely dug a burrow for her without complaint. The others made a few scrapes because one burrow was too small for them all. She wasn't a fan of stories so they told none. They didn't hold her down this time when it was time to sleep. Three rabbits were sleeping right beside her, giving her warmth with their body heat.

Despite falling asleep next to many rabbits, when she woke, she was alone. There were no rabbits in sight. Before she even left the burrow, Looestrife called out, "We're eating flayrah. Come join us!"

That quickly made her reconsider joining the others. She imagined that blood dripped from their mouths as they ate up Chief Rabbit Flay. It was only a matter of time until she was next. Fattening her up for the slaughter. She had seen Cicely dig the day before. With six rabbits just outside the newly dug burrow, there was no way to escape there.

"I'm not hungry right now," she yelled.

She had to be subtle. She was amid cannibals. Carefully, she started digging, hoping to avoid any suspicion. Her jailers left her alone as they ate up the poor rabbit. No one noticed yet and she dug a few feet thus far. As she kept digging, the tunnel collapsed due to her inexperience.

It took her a while to come to, and she tried to dig the way back only to go the wrong way. With air running out, she desperately tried to reach the surface. A tired rabbit finally saw the light of day. She used the moment to rest.

"Weasel!" Loosestrife called out, stirring her from her slumber.

The other rabbits found her already! She had to run away.

"Watch out!"

It didn't take long for Loosestrife to catch up to her.

"Follow me. This way."

She kept running away without changing directions. Calix leaped in front of her, but not to stop her. "Stay away!" He tackled the weasel. A weasel was something she had never seen before.

One lone rabbit against a weasel. There was a terrifying scream as the weasel climbed atop the rabbit. She watched this horrifying scene transfixed. They rolled around in the grass trying to get the best of one another.

"Get her to safety," Calix yelled.

Loosestrife heeded the command. "Follow me, quickly!"

She couldn't move – she watched the scene in horror. Loosestrife started pushing her forcefully.

There was a terrifying scream as the weasel got the upper paw and bit into the rabbit's neck.

"Go," Calix said.

Loosestrife charged at the weasel instead.

Calix screamed again followed by a pitiful whimper, "You fool."

Only then did Loosestrife turn back from the weasel that he didn't even reach. It took her a moment to realize other rabbits arrived and were pushing her away with far greater force.

"It's not safe here, follow," Loosestrife said. She could finally move her limbs again. She followed, realizing that they saved her. When they were far enough away, he said, "What were you thinking?"

"Don't eat me, I'm sorry," she said. They were surely going to eat her now. She was among cannibals and she got one of them killed.

"How did you get that idea?"

"You ate poor Chief Rabbit Flay."

"Come again?"

"You ate Flay-rah," she said. How could they not understand? The cannibals didn't seem upset but displayed genuine confusion.

"Oh," another rabbit said. "I understand now. I never saw it that way!" He sounded as if he had a great epiphany.

"We have our work cut out for us," Cicely said. "What happened?"

Loosestrife said, "I saw a weasel in the grass close enough to her. I called out hoping for her to warn her. My voice attracted the weasel as well. If I remained silent, we could've been better off. It's my fault that my friend…"

"The problem is her. What do you know about the world?"

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Do you know what elil are?"

She shook her head.

"Just stay away from anyone that isn't a rabbit."

They made their way back to the burrow.

The rabbits gathered in a circle aside from her. Loosestrife led the way in the proceedings. "My heart has joined the thousand for my friend stopped running today." They finally had a chance to grieve.

The others repeated what Loosestrife said.

If she wasn't here, Calix would be breathing still. "Why did you save me?"

"Do you know the rabbit of legend?"

"You look just like him," another said.

"Stories of his great exploits are told to his very day."

Cicely said, "Our Chief Rabbit has it in his head that you're somehow related. And we are to treat you as someone special. What rubbish."

"Wait, follow my lead," Loosestrife said. "I'm not the best at storytelling but I'd like to try for our new friend here to recount the story of the rabbit and the King's Lettuce."

The rabbits did their best to replace all mentions of El-ahrairah with "The Rabbit."

Not all of them knew the purpose, but they followed Loosestrife's lead.

"Just 'The Rabbit'?" she asked. "Does the rabbit have a name?"

Cicely said, "He does."

"His name is?"

"El-ahrairah."