AUTHOR'S NOTE: warning, another dark chapter here...
Chapter 268: The Last Camp.
"He was like nothing you could ever imagine. Like a wonderful dream and a terrible nightmare combined."
-Uncommon Pen, Time for Rest
Campion never realized what happened. One moment, he was fighting his former Chief, and the next, he felt the worst pain in his entire life, before finding himself in the desert wasteland of the Shadowlands, that he had already visited hrair times. Apparently, he had died again, and all he could do now was wait for the Black Rabbit of Inlé to show up and send him back to the world of the living.
But the Black Rabbit did not come. After a while, Campion, tired of waiting, came to the conclusion that, if Inlé did not come to him, he would come to Inlé. He hopped away in a random direction, hoping that he would be able to find the Black Rabbit somewhere along the way.
Campion did not know how long he travelled: the flow of time in the Shadowlands was no doubt different from in the real world. But he had travelled a large distance, to the point where he was no longer in a desert, but in a forest. Or, at least, he thought it was a forest: the trees were highly unusual, unlike any he had ever seen before. The most visible difference was that the leaves were not green, but grey. There was also a weird shape at the top, although he could not figure out what it was, due to the distance.
As he stumbled upon a fallen tree trunk, he was able to get a closer look at the shape at the top. His eyes widened as it dawned on him what it was. It was worse than he could have expected. It was only then that the Black Rabbit of Inlé arrived, by materializing out of thin air.
-"YOU ARE A CLUMSY FOOL, CAMPION, I HOPE YOU KNOW THAT."
-"What is this?" Campion asked.
-"WHAT IS WHAT?"
-"Is that a rabbit encased inside a tree? Why?"
The Black Rabbit remained silent. Suddenly, Campion felt something squeeze against his fur, although he could not see it. It kept getting tighter, spreading across his entire body, crushing him from all directions. He tried to scream, but the substance entered his mouth and his lungs, and started attacking from the inside as well as the outside. And then, it stopped, as suddenly as it had started.
-"NOW YOU KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE. ANYWAY, AS I WAS SAYING, YOU ARE A CLUMSY FOOL."
Campion sighed. The Black Rabbit of Inlé had chosen to torture him rather than answer his question, and now was insulting him again.
-"I know, Black Rabbit. You already told me several times."
-"WHY?"
-"I don't know what happened. One moment I was..."
-"I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED. I WAS ASKING YOU WHY YOU KEEP DYING."
-"I wish I knew..."
-"THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE. MOST RABBITS DIE ONCE AND FOREVER, BUT YOU DIED MANY TIMES WITHOUT MY APPROVAL. THE NEXT TIME YOU DIE, YOU WILL REMAINING DEAD, FOREVER. REGARDLESS OF WHETHER IT IS YOUR DESTINY OR NOT."
-"I understand."
-"DO YOU? HAVE YOU EXPERIENCED TRUE, PERMANENT DEATH?"
-"I have experienced death, just not permanently, since you always bring me back afterwards."
-"DO YOU REMEMBER THE RIVER OF BLOOD?"
The memory instantly came back to Campion: during one of his previous deaths, he had seen a rabbit trying to swim in a river of blood, eternally tormented by elil as he drowned.
-"What about it?" he asked nervously.
-"EXPERIENCE IT NOW."
The setting around Campion changed: to his horror, he saw that he was no longer in the forest, but inside this river of blood. Suddenly, he felt a bird grab his ears; after swatting it away, he was forced to dive back into the blood for cover, only for another creature, swimming in the river, to bite his tail. Screaming in pain (and swallowing some blood in the process), he was forced to go back to the surface, where a large crowd of wolves, foxes, weasels, cats and dogs had gathered, ready to attack him should he get too close to the shore.
-"Aren't you going to bring me back to life this time, Black Rabbit?" Campion shouted, struggling to make himself heard over the ceaseless cries of all the elil.
-"I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO DO IT. HOWEVER, I AM STARTING TO WONDER IF MAYBE YOU SHOULD START A NEW LIFE ELSEWHERE. I WILL LEAVE YOU HERE WHILE I GO THINK ABOUT IT."
-"Wait! Do I really have to stay here?"
But it was too late; the Black Rabbit turned into a pile of dust, that fell all over the river.
Woundwort was extremely disappointed. The battle had lasted all day, and yet, no meaningful progress had been made towards defeating the outsiders: not a single one of them was killed, and no terrain was gained either. Clearly the current methods were not working; he would need to try other military tactics if he wanted to win the war. Not to mention Campion: it felt to Woundwort as if he had lost him twice in one day, first to the outsiders, and then to the Black Rabbit of Inlé.
He gathered his troops, and brought them to a small clearing a short distance from the Down. Apart from Campion of course, and the recently-catapulted Vervain, everyone was still alive and present. While it was good to see so few deaths on his side, there were still many injuries. Some of the rabbits had minor scratches, while others were much worse off, with large gashes, missing fur, and heavy blood loss; Orchis even had exposed bones. Insects were already starting to gather on the bleeding wounds; this would likely lead to infections, and perhaps even worse.
-"Groom yourselves, you're all filthy!" he ordered.
Somewhat reluctantly, the rabbits started tending to their wounds.
-"Fighting is temporarily halted," the General announced.
-"Halted? But why?" Granite asked.
-"So we can groom?" Feldspar asked stupidly.
-"Weird priorities," Shale added.
-"In honour of Campion," Woundwort said, "who has stopped running today."
-"But he was a traitor!" Orchis interjected. "He should not be honoured!"
-"He saved my life by shielding me from the boulder."
-"If Vervain were here, he would say that is a lie!"
Woundwort sighed: there goes Orchis with the Vervain impersonations again...
-"How dare he question my decision?" Woundwort hopped in front of Orchis and stared at him menacingly; Orchis made a few steps back.
-"This is the point where Vervain would pitifully apologize."
-"Good."
Woundwort then turned to the entire crowd.
-"The war resumes fu Inlé, when the outsiders least expect it. And this time, we WILL kill them all. No exceptions. Hazel, Fiver and Bigwig will die. The does will die. The kittens will die. EVERYONE will die."
The General grinned as he thought of this glorious upcoming battle, while the others simply stared at him, unsure how to react. The first rabbit to speak was the Speaker of the Past, but she stopped mid-sentence.
-"If you continue the war."
-"What if I do?" Woundwort asked, although he was already dreading the answer.
-"There is no point in telling you, you will not listen to me anyway."
-"Well, I won't stop this war forever, if that's what you mean. But go on, tell me."
-"You will die."
Woundwort scoffed.
-"Do you seriously think you can frighten me with that? I am the claw of the Black Rabbit of Inlé. I cannot die until I have fulfilled my destiny."
-"There he goes with his destiny again," Granite mumbled.
-"My prophecy earlier today was correct," the Speaker said. "One, and only one, rabbit died: Captain Campion."
-"Your prophecy earlier was so vague that no matter the outcome of today's battle, it would have been fulfilled."
-"I did say you would not listen to me, so I have no further purpose here."
With that, the Speaker hopped away. Had she been anyone else, Woundwort would have run after her and shouted threats at her, but she was the one rabbit he was glad to see gone.
-"Now get some rest, you'll need it," he told all the others.
-"I HAVE REACHED A DECISION," the Black Rabbit of Inlé suddenly announced.
-"What took you so long?" Campion shouted in frustration. "I have spent days here in this infernal river."
-"NO YOU HAVE NOT. IT JUST FEELS THAT WAY, WHICH SHOWS HOW SUFFERING AFFECTS YOU. YOU HAVE ONLY BEEN IN HERE FOR A FEW MOMENTS, BUT SINCE YOU ARE IN INTENSE PAIN, YOU INCORRECTLY ASSUME THAT IT HAS BEEN MUCH LONGER."
-"Never mind the explanation, what is your decision?"
-"YOU SHALL GO TO A NEW WARREN."
-"Fine, now can I be released?"
-"YOU SHALL BE, BUT ONLY AFTER YOU PROMISE ME TO WORK HARDER TO STAY ALIVE."
-"I promise! Now release me!"
At that moment, the river, and all the elil around it, vanished; Campion was back on solid ground, safe once again.
-"SORRY I HAD TO DO THAT. I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE THAT YOU FULLY UNDERSTOOD THE CONSEQUENCES."
The Black Rabbit placed his paw on Campion's forehead, and everything went black.