AUTHOR'S NOTE: sorry for skipping last week. The extreme summer heat has its way of draining all motivation...depending on the weather, there may be additional unplanned breaks, but hopefully not.
Chapter 276: Upcoming Combat.
"He was unprepared for the depth he found...it was like falling into the lake, only he couldn't feel the bottom."
-Rowanoak23, Seeing Through Different Eyes
Aspen and Coltsfoot were running. At this point, it had become clear to both of them that there was no hope of stopping the battle; the others did not care about the law and would invade anyway. All they could do was warn the outsiders before it was too late. They were only a few minutes ahead of the others, and this precious time could not be wasted. They did not have the time to stop and sniff, or they would lose their (already minimal) advantage. As a result, the only information they had was the Speaker's mysterious message about a human burrow. After crossing the gate, they therefore went towards the mansion, stopping by the flowerbed in front of the building. Under ordinary circumstances, Aspen would have taken the time to sniff the flowers, and perhaps eat a few of them, but given the current situation, there was no time for that.
-"We're here. What do we do now?" Aspen asked.
-"I don't know," Coltsfoot replied.
-"You don't..." Aspen could hardly believe his ears. "This was your idea!"
-"No, it wasn't. It was the Speaker's idea."
-"Clearly she trusted you to figure out the rest."
At this, Coltsfoot's mind went blank. Aspen's assumption was logical, but the truth was that he had no idea what the next step was. His mentor had entrusted him with a critical task, and he had failed her.
He was not worthy to be her student, he was just a fool who should have died in the battle pit. This demoralizing realization was made worse by the fact that he had to make this humiliating confession to Aspen. He turned to face his friend, when suddenly, he spotted a third rabbit, who pounced on Aspen before either of them could react. He recognized this new doe as one of the Watershippers.
-"You're with the Darkhaveners!" Flyairth shouted in fury. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you two right now."
Coltsfoot was terrified, but he did not move. He had to be brave for his mentor: he had already failed her once, he could not let that happen again. He looked at Aspen's face; the former Efrafan was clearly as terrified as he was.
-"I'm not an enemy!" he cried out. "You can ask Campion. I'm not on good terms with him, but I swear, he will say that I'm really on your side. Oh wait, Campion's dead..." In his panic, Aspen had forgotten this crucial detail. With his one hope at survival taken away, he became even more panicked, struggling to come up with another reason as to why Flyairth shouldn't kill him. "Look, the rest are nearby; while you're wasting your time with me, they are getting closer to your friends. You should warn them."
-"That's exactly what I will do now."
With that, she smacked Aspen in the face, very hard; while this did not kill him, it did knock him unconscious. She turned to Coltsfoot, and growled; he was clearly her next target. Knowing he would not stand a chance in battle, he was left no choice but to run away. Betraying his mentor twice in one day, he thought; he was so not worthy, she would surely kill him the next time they would meet, and he would deserve it.
Flyairth, meanwhile, was left with mixed feelings. While she was pleased with the way she had taken Aspen down, she was furious at the prospect of another battle. She ran back to the warren; in order to avoid getting lost in the maze, she simply crawled through the hedges. While this was rather slow, and damaged her fur, it was still faster than repeatedly getting lost in the dead ends.
Meanwhile at the warren, Fiver was sitting in a corner of the burrow, motionless, simply staring in the distance. When Hazel found him, he looked at his brother and smiled.
-"I've been expecting you, Hazel."
-"How did you know I was looking for you?"
-"I just did. What's wrong?"
-"Well...you saw what happened with Primrose during the trip."
-"I did. You will soon be the proud father of a second litter of kittens."
-"Will I?"
Fiver hugged his brother.
-"I'm sure she will be fine, Hazel."
-"Do you remember what Blackberry said last night? Heather died because she had been weakened by her time in Efrafa. Primrose went through the same thing."
-"She survived one litter last year. Why would this one be any different?"
-"I don't know, but what if..."
-"I'm sure she will be fine, Hazel."
The two brothers hugged each other once again. Moments later, Flyairth burst into the burrow.
-"They're here!"
-"Who?" Hazel asked, scrambling to get closer to her. "The kittens?"
-"No, the Darkhaveners."
-"Oh..." Hazel replied, slightly disappointed at first, until it dawned on him exactly what Flyairth had just said. "Wait what?"
-"Did you say the Darkhaveners?" Hyzenthlay asked.
-"You've got to be kidding me," Bigwig grumbled.
-"Who do you think I am, Bluebell? I wouldn't joke about something like this! They really are here, I saw them near the human building."
-"How did they find us?" captain Broom asked.
-"They probably followed our tracks," Thethuthinnang speculated.
When Hazel had run over to Flyairth, Fiver had not followed; however, he still managed to overhear most of the conversation. After a while, he was joined by his mate Vilthuril.
-"You all right?"
-"Mostly. I just hope Primrose gives birth soon so Hazel can stop worrying."
-"Have you heard the news?"
-"About the Darkhaveners? I have. It's quite a nuisance. Do you know what we should do about it?"
-"I have no idea. Just remember that no matter how this turns out, I'll love you forever."
-"I love you too Vilthuril my dear."
As the two rabbits nuzzled and kissed, Fiver started trembling. He soon collapsed, and started talking; it was just a whisper, and Vilthuril had to lean in close to hear him.
In another corner of the burrow, Hawkbit and Dandelion were having a completely different reaction.
-"They are going to kill us all..."
-"The walls will be coated with blood..."
-"He will capture us as slaves..."
-"Woundwort will eat our brains...
-"He will...wait what, eat our brains?" Upon processing Dandelion's words, Hawkbit was left very confused. "Of course he won't! Where did you get that idea?"
-"Woundwort is so evil, I wouldn't surprise if he did..."
-"Well, if he tries to eat your brain, I'll bash HIS skull open."
-"And...if he tries to eat yours, I'll rip his throat out."
Meanwhile at the other end of the burrow...
-"Regardless of how they found us," Holly said, "we have to do something about it."
-"But what CAN we do?" Bigwig interjected. "We can't run forever, and if we did, we would have to bring everyone from THIS warren too."
-"I say we kill them all," Flyairth said.
-"Is it really them?" Blueberry said; this startled some of the other rabbits, who had not seen him since his teleportation experiments, which had luckily brought him to the same warren as all the others. "Hraka! Even teleporting won't free us from them."
-"Easier said than done," Silver said. "Both teleporting, and killing. We didn't manage either during the last battle."
-"Actually..." Blueberry was about to correct Silver, but was cut off by Meadow's arrival.
-"What's going on? I heard an unfamiliar word, 'Darkhaven'. What is that?"
-"Do we tell her?" Bigwig whispered to Holly.
-"Tell me what?"
-"Did someone say Darkhaven?" came a strangely-familiar voice from a nearby burrow. The rabbit hopped towards the others, who instantly recognized him as...
-"Campion?" Bigwig was stunned by the sight of the captain. He had seen Campion die, and yet there he was, alive and largely unharmed.
-"We thought you were dead," Hyzenthlay said.
-"How did you survive?" Strawberry asked. "We all saw you get crushed by the rock."
-"Wait, you know him?" Meadow asked. "I thought he was just some random hlessi who stumbled upon our warren last night. Or at least that's what he claimed to be..."
-"It's a long story," Campion said. "And totally irrelevant under the circumstances. Why are you all here?"
-"Oh how confusingly confusing is this confusing confusion that is existence!" Bluebell said in an unsuccessful attempt at lightening the mood. "Will we ever find any answers to all these questions?"
-"It appears that the Darkhaven owsla followed us all the way here," Bigwig explained, ignoring Bluebell's inappropriate joke.
-"Oh, that's bad news..."
-"Will someone please tell me what is going on?" Meadow asked.
-"I'm sorry," Hyzenthlay said. "Our warren was at war, and it seems that the enemy followed us all the way here, and they plan to kill us all. And probably everyone from THIS warren too, now that they know of its existence. I'm sorry we got you all mixed up in this. You're just innocent bystanders."
Meadow remained silent for a few moments, horrified by what she had just heard.
-"Is there any hope of peacefully settling this?" she eventually asked.
-"I'm afraid not," Holly said sadly. "We either fight back or run; there is no third option."
-"Actually, there is," came the voice of Vilthuril, as she hopped over to the others. "Elil."
-"Elil?" Meadow was confused.
-"Yes, we use elil to deal with the Darkhaveners."
-"We don't have any elil here," Meadow explained. "The maze masks our scent, and most of the elil who do smell us usually aren't motivated enough to find the path to the warren. My owsla deals with the few who DO make it."
-"Where did you even get such a crazy idea?" Bigwig said. "It sounds absurd!"
-"Fiver saw it in a vision," Vilthuril said. "And he specified what type of elil we need to use: a dog."
-"This is getting disturbing," Meadow said. "Are you sure we can't just talk with the Darkhaven rabbits? We are all rabbits, we shouldn't be fighting each other."
-"Oof! Ye really are all mad!" came the voice of Hannah, as she made her way through the crowd. "Where do ye expect to find a dog? And how do you plan to get it to eat the enemies and not you? Foolish rabbits!"
Disgusted by what she considered the rabbits' crazy idea, Hannah walked out of the warren.
-"I should probably go see her," Pipkin said, as he followed.
Thethuthinnang also made her way above ground, but before leaving the burrow, she turned to Hyzenthlay.
-"Your fur is so shiny, and pretty."
-"Uh, thanks," Hyzenthlay said, appreciating the compliment but still confused, "but why are you telling me this?"
-"I just wanted you to know. Considering how bleak the current situation is, I wanted to do it while I still have the chance."
And so it was Thethuthinnang's turn to join Hannah above ground.
