Chapter 267: Stop.
"One tends to wonder if he was indeed the first to slay the beast, or if he was simply one of many who choked on their words and died."
-JRDragonfly, Vain Persistence
The battle largely took place on a single slope of Watership Down, as most of the Darkhaveners were focused on reaching the warren's main entrance. The remaining areas were patrolled and guarded by a small group of Watershippers, including Clover, Holly, and Hawkbit, but given how few Darkhaveners attempted to attack this way, they were practically the safest rabbits in the warren.
During one of their many patrols, they spotted an unknown rabbit sitting in the grass, staring in the distance, but not moving. Clover carefully got closer; it was the Speaker of the Past, but they had never met before.
-"What are you doing?" Clover asked her.
-"I am thinking. Go away, you are interrupting me."
Clover was taken aback by this comment. Was this rabbit a random hlessi, or a Darkhavener? If she was the latter, why weren't they tearing each other apart? If she was the former, why didn't she find another place to think one where there wasn't any war going on? It was all very confusing. She eventually decided to obey the Speaker's order, and returned to her partners.
-"She seems harmless enough," she said. "We really aren't seeing much fighting, are we? But I suppose our work remains important."
When fleeing from Orchis' attacker, Vervain did not have any specific destination in mind. He just wanted to get away. However, it did not take long before he collided with another rabbit in the crowded field; as he got back up, he realized, much to his horror, that it was Woundwort, who responded with a loud growl.
-"What are YOU doing, Vervain? Where have you been?"
In his state of panic, Vervain wasn't paying attention to what Woundwort was saying; his thoughts went back to that fateful in Efrafa when he had attempted murder.
-"I'm sorry I tried to kill you, it was a mistake and I wouldn't do it again..."
-"This again? Will you knock it off? We all know it was the outsiders..."
-"It wasn't them," came the faint voice of Campion. "It really was Vervain."
-"And why would I believe you?" Woundwort replied defiantly. "You traitor!"
-"You don't need to believe me. Believe Silverweed."
-"Silverweed!?" At first, Woundwort was confused: wasn't Silverweed executed? Then he remembered how Orchis' blunder had allowed the seer to get away...
Silverweed's fighting technique was completely different from everyone else's. Small and physically weak, he would be easily defeated if he tried fighting the traditional way, with his teeth and claws. He had to use his powers instead; just by touching a Darkhavener, he could induce absolute mental horrors, turning the enemies into shivering wrecks, unable to fight or hurt anyone, at least until Woundwort yelled at them to get back to work. His biggest success to date had been convincing one of them that Vervain was an outsider, leading to the two of them fighting. The biggest challenge, however, was to get close enough to the Darkhaveners to be able to touch them, without getting slashed to pieces in the process.
When he heard Campion say his name, he knew what it meant: his powers were needed on a specific enemy rabbit (in this case, Woundwort). As the General was focused entirely on Campion, it was easier for Silverweed to sneak up on him than it was for most of the others. He placed his paw on one of the General's hind legs; his claws briefly glowed, as the knowledge of Vervain's murder attempt flowed into Woundwort.
General Woundwort's mind grew blurry. He found himself transported from Watership Down to Efrafa, when the warren was still prospering under his leadership. He saw himself, lying on the giant rock that overlooked the rest of the warren. Then, he saw another dark shape appearing on the rock, approaching him. He hopped closer to himself, and he saw that the "dark shape", that clawed him and bit him until he was covered with blood, was Vervain. Campion had been telling the truth.
-"Get out of my head!" he shouted.
-"What's going on?" Vervain asked nervously.
-"He knows everything now," Silverweed replied, hopping over to him and touching his paw too, causing him to relieve the memories just as Woundwort had.
As the scene faded from Woundwort's mind, he wondered what he should do now. What punishment should be inflicted on his attempted murderer? Death? Slavery? Mutilation?
Vervain knew that a punishment was coming. He looked deep into his leader's eye, but was unable to identify any emotion. And when the reply finally came, it was just as scary as the uncertainty.
-"Good job Vervain."
-"Huh?"
-"You are the bravest rabbit in my owsla. I can't think of anyone else who would dare to even try to attempt to kill me."
-"...thank you sir..." This was the weirdest praise ever, Vervain thought.
-"Your bravery is wasted as a mere soldier. Go to the top and challenge Hazel to single combat, and don't stop fighting until you are covered with his blood...just like you were with mine back in Efrafa..."
Vervain gasped. Woundwort was a brilliant military strategist. He wanted to dispose of him, but instead of killing him outright, he had given him an impossible task, one he could never complete without losing his own life. He contemplated bolting, but knew that would only make things worse for him. He had no choice but to suffer. No matter what he did, that always seemed to be the ultimate result.
-"Yes...sir..."
After Vervain had gone, Woundwort turned his attention to Campion.
-"All right. So the outsiders didn't try to kill me. But you remain a traitor, and you shall die for it."
With that, he lunged at his former captain of owsla. Campion held his ground, and kicked him further away.
Blueberry placed the last few leaves on the wall by the burrow's entrance. He had spent most of the day attempting to build the teleportation device around Vesper's gem, while also adding various plants, and even some electrical wires left over from the phone that had been accidentally brought back from Nuthanger Farm.
Now came the moment of truth: activating it. A twig was embedded in the burrow floor; he pushed it sideways with his front paw, as if he was flicking a switch. As he did so, the gem started to glow. The burrow entrance grew blurry, as a portal opened. Everything seemed to be going well, Blueberry thought; he hopped through the portal.
The black kit examined his new surroundings; he was now in front of a tall fence. It was then that he realized that he had made a mistake: he did not know where he was. He had not specified any destination prior to entering the portal, nor did his machine have any way of inputting this information. He had clearly teleported (which was amazing in itself), but whether he had reached his intended destination (the other side of the Big Water) was undetermined. It would be safer to return to Watership Down to adjust his machine.
As he turned around to try to hop back through the portal, Blueberry saw that it had become dangerously unstable. The gem blinked a few times before it stopped glowing, sparks flew from the wires, as the portal collapsed in on itself, with a loud noise not unlike a gunshot, before disappearing entirely. With a sigh, Blueberry realized that he was now stuck in this unfamiliar place. Unfortunately, the magical gem was on the other side of the portal, leaving him unable to fix his device.
-"Hi!" came an unexpected female voice. "Are you lost?"
The gunshot-like noise was also heard on the other side of the portal, at Watership Down, and it caused nearly all the rabbits to panic. Within a few moments, nearly all the Watershippers had gone underground, while the Darkhaveners had gone to hide in the bushes at the bottom of the hill.
Vervain was near the top of the Down at the time; in fear, he ran straight towards the catapult, and collided with the last boulder. The large rock rolled away down the slope; it would have made it all the way to the bottom had it not hit Campion along the way. It stopped rolling, with the poor rabbit crushed underneath.
Vervain could hardly believe what he had seen. He took a step forward...and heard a clicking sound. He realized too late that he was standing on top of the catapult, and that he had just activated it. The branch sprung into the air, sending the screaming Vervain flying far away.
The General, who was merely startled by the noise, and did not flee, was horrified by this turn of events. Campion was no doubt dead now, but Woundwort couldn't help but feel sorry for him. No matter what foolish mistakes he might have made near the end of his life, he still was a talented owsla captain unlike anyone else.
-"Move out!" the General ordered, although by then, he was the last Darkhavener still on the battlefield.
