Chapter 17: Outcasts.
"If we do find the sign location, will the sign still be there?"
-"Dave n' Kathy, Eddie and George Wake Up Somewhere In the Sign Post Forest
Blackberry, Primrose and Marigold had travelled a short distance from the warren. The subject of conversation had changed from the war with Efrafa to recent happenings at Redstone.
-"How does it feel, being Chief Rabbit?" Blackberry asked after a while.
-"That's something you will have to ask Hickory," Marigold answered.
-"But I thought you were both Chiefs?"
-"Technically we are, but I let Hickory make most of the decisions and I rarely have any reason to object."
-"How do you feel about this?"
-"Well, sometimes I wish he would ask me for advice, but in most situations he makes good decisions, so I can't really complain. There he is now, maybe you could ask him."
Hickory was approaching the three does, with a nervous look on his face.
-"Well, Marigold, there's no sign of that fox that has been hanging around the warren for the past few days, but there's something else. Uh...who are these two?"
-"Hickory, dear, these are Blackberry and Primrose, who are visiting from Watership Down."
-"It's good to meet you. Perhaps you two would know what that...thing over there is?"
-"What sort of thing?" Marigold asked.
-"It's hard to describe. It smells of humans but it's clearly made of wood. It's hard to describe, you should go see it for yourselves."
Hickory returned to where he had found the mysterious wooden thing, with the others following him. When they were some distance from the warren, they could finally see it. A large flat wooden surface was placed on two posts. It was much shorter than the nearby trees, but nevertheless taller than the rocks under which Redstone was built. It was a sign of some sort, but none of the rabbits were able to read the terrifying message written on it.
-"Do you have any idea what this is?" Hickory asked.
-"I have never seen anything like this before," Marigold said.
-"Neither have I," Primrose added, "but altogether I don't like it."
Blackberry, meanwhile, smelled the posts carefully. There wasn't much to smell, it was just wood, with a faint scent of humans. But this object seemed vaguely familiar.
-"I have an idea what this might be, but I'm not sure. Before I left Sandleford Warren, Fiver mentioned something he saw in a field near the warren. While I didn't see it myself, this looks a lot like what he described."
-"But what is it?" Hickory insisted. "What does it do?"
-"I don't know, and neither did Fiver: all he said was that bad things were going to happen and we should leave the warren. And it was a good thing we did, because humans destroyed the warren soon afterwards."
-"Does this mean Redstone is in danger?" Primrose asked nervously.
-"I don't know. Fiver seemed to think that the object at Sandleford was some sort of warning. But it is also possible that it was completely unrelated to the warren's destruction."
-"Let's go back to the warren," Hickory suggested. "There's nothing more we can learn from this."
Marigold nodded, and the four rabbits slowly made their back to Redstone. However, despite what Hickory had said, a nervous look on his face persisted.
-"What should we do about it?" he asked suddenly.
-"About what?" Marigold asked in response.
-"That thing over there. Maybe Redstone will be destroyed just like Sandleford was."
-"I didn't say that to make you panic," Blackberry said. "I hope Redstone won't be destroyed, but either way, you should have a plan to evacuate the warren in case of an emergency."
-"Exactly what would such a plan involve?" Hickory asked.
-"I'm afraid I can't help you with this. Hazel, Fiver and Bigwig developed the plan we have at Watership Down, and I don't know the details."
The rabbits remained silent for the rest of the trip back to the warren. Once they had returned, there were only a few rabbits out at silflay.
-"Well, thanks for the help anyway," Hickory said. "I'll try to devise an emergency evacuation plan, but hopefully we will never need to use it."
-"I'm in the mood for some excitement tonight," Marigold said. "Do you think you're ready?"
-"Absolutely." Hickory turned to Blackberry and Primrose. "Is it all right if we leave you two alone?"
-"It's fine," Primrose said.
Hickory nodded, and he and Marigold soon vanished together underground.
-"When do we go back to Watership Down?" Primrose asked.
-"But we just got here earlier today!"
-"I know, but the others are going to worry if we vanish for an extended period of time."
Blackberry stared at the sky for a few moments.
-"You have a point. But it's late today, and if we leave now, we will have to travel by night. What do you say we spend the night here, and start the journey back to Watership Down in the morning?"
-"I suppose it would be fine." Primrose sighed. "Until then we might as well silflay."
The two does spent a while outside, nibbling at the grass. By the time they finally went underground, the sun was setting. Their previous burrow was still damp, so they found another empty one to spend the night. They were still very tired, and it did not take them long to fall asleep.
Hazel, Fiver and Bigwig finally made their way out of the caverns and into the warren itself. The trip back had taken them much longer than expected, as the ceiling seemed very unstable in several places and they had to avoid making sudden movements that might cause it to collapse. As they went outside, they saw that the sun was already setting.
-"So, how did it go?" another rabbit asked. Hazel turned; it was Clover.
-"The war is over, for now," Hazel explained, "but Campion is still gone. And I assume Primrose and Blackberry aren't back either?"
-"You worry too much, Hazel," Fiver said. "They have only been gone for a day, they will be back soon."
-"What's that you said about Campion?" Clover asked.
-"He's nowhere to be found. He vanished without a trace," Bigwig explained.
-"Eh, it doesn't matter," came the voice of Hawkbit, who was at silflay further away. "The war's over, we have no use for him anymore."
Hawkbit received a stern look from Bigwig, but simply walked away. Hazel sighed.
-"It's not Campion that worries me. It's Prim-"
-"I told you, there's nothing to worry about," Fiver insisted. "If they are not back in, say, two days, then we can go and search for them."
-"I think that's reasonable, Hazel," Bigwig said. "Two more days should give them enough time to return safely. And when they do, I'll teach them a lesson about discipline."
-"Don't be too hard on Primrose," Hazel said. "I'll deal with her myself when she comes back. It's not like her to do things like this, and I want to know what made her do it."
-"All right, all right! I won't try to argue with a rabbit in love. But Blackberry will have to..."
-"Bigwig," Fiver interrupted, "why don't you forget about discipline for the moment? Take the time to appreciate the simple things in life."
-"Like what?"
-"Like the sunset."
-"Hmmm. Well, it has been a while since the sky looked so beautiful..."
The three rabbits spent a while contemplating the view and, after a short silflay, went back underground. The Honeycomb was rather quiet, with Strawberry playing bobstones in a corner with Dandelion. Clover and Cornflower, the only two adult does in the warren at the moment, were having a discussion at some sort. Captain Broom was telling another story from Old Redstone, and Captain Holly was the only one listening to him. Hazel approached the two elderly captains, hoping the story would distract him from his worries. Suddenly, he was pinned to the ground by three of his kittens.
-"Nothing like the boundless energy of youth, eh wat?" Captain Broom said. "Now where was I? Oh yes, she tried to convince..."
As the kittens were not very heavy, Hazel easily got up and they slid off his back.
-"Where's mother?" Gilia asked.
-"...she'll be back soon."
-"Where is she now?" Mallow said.
-"I think he's keeping something from us," Snowdrop said.
-"Yeah! There's something fishy about this."
-"Aunty Blackberry is gone too..."
-"Maybe they are simply preparing a surprise."
-"Children, please." Hazel tried to get his voice heard over the noise. "Primrose will be back soon, there is nothing to worry about..."
-"He's just repeating himself."
-"Yeah, he's not saying anything new, just the same old thing!"
-"He's really keeping secrets!"
-"Please, I tell you she's fine," Hazel insisted. "Don't you trust me?"
-"No, you're totally keeping a secret."
-"He needs to be punished."
-"How?"
-"That is specified in the rules of the Junior Owsla."
-"I never heard of any such rule, why do you two always leave me out of all the decisions?"
-"Hey, I'm not to blame, I didn't know about these rules either! Mallow, you just made the whole thing up yourself! That's not fair!"
-"I did not! You're just trying to get out of your responsibility."
-"I've had enough arguing, just tell us what the punishment is so we can carry it out."
-"Tickling."
-"Hey, he's getting away!"
-"AFTER HIM!"
-"What do you say we go to my burrow, Captain?" Holly said. "It will be much more quiet there, and you could finish telling me the story in peace."
When the kittens started talking about punishment, Hazel tried to sneak away from them as quietly as possible. As soon as they noticed this, they ran after him. He ran as fast as he could, but this proved to be of little help. In his panic, he ran in circles, and the kittens soon decided to use that to their advantage. While he was much larger than them, he was greatly outnumbered, and he soon realized that there was no escape.
-"Fiver!" he called out. "HELP!"
-"What's the matter, Hazel?" Fiver walked out of a nearby burrow and saw what was happening. "Oh. Don't worry, I'll keep them busy."
Suddenly, Snowdrop pounced on Fiver, knocking him down. He got back up and managed to grab her, but she was very agitated and he struggled to hold his grip. He finally let go when Gilia attacked him from behind.
-"What's going on?" Hawkbit asked while walking by.
-"Hawkbit, help us with the kittens," Hazel begged.
-"Huh. Remind me never to have any."
Hawkbit joined the two brothers. He successfully managed to grab two of the kittens, one under each front paw, but the third one tackled him from behind, allowing them to get away.
-"This is not working."
-"We need to try something else," Fiver said.
-"Like what?"
-"I don't know."
-"Oh, very helpful."
Fiver and Hawkbit were too busy arguing to notice another rabbit approach and grab Gilia. They only realized her presence when she spoke:
-"I've got this one, get the other two!"
Fiver and Hawkbit stared at the sandy brown doe, around the same size as Hawkbit.
-"Who is she?" the latter asked.
-"I don't know," Fiver replied, "but let's grab the kittens."
Capturing two excited kittens is much easier than capturing three. With the new doe keeping Gilia out of the way, Fiver and Hawkbit had no trouble picking up Mallow and Snowdrop.
-"What do I do with her now?" the doe asked.
-"You get her to their burrow," Fiver explained. "I'll show you the way."
The three rabbits hopped to Hazel and Primrose's burrow, and dropped off the kittens in their nest, which was made of a mixture of soft grass and fur Primrose had torn from her belly. Periwinkle was already there, asleep. It was probably for the best, or she would have felt sad at being left out of her siblings' latest escapade. Hazel arrived soon after the others.
-"You know, Hazel," Hawkbit whispered as he was leaving the burrow, "sometimes I don't know how you can stand them."
Hazel cast an angry glance, at him, but Hawkbit ignored it, simply walking away. Hazel then turned to the stranger.
-"Thanks for the help," he said. "I don't know what we would have done without you. You're new to this warren, aren't you?"
-"Yes. I've been wandering throughout the hills for a while now, until I stumbled upon your little warren. I think I'll stay here for now, if nobody has any objections. Name's Flora."
-"I'm Hazel, and this is my brother Fiver. You are welcome to live here if you wish; we would be glad to have you."
-"Thank you."
As Flora hopped away, Hazel and Fiver approached the nest.
-"Will mother be back soon?" Mallow asked.
-"She will be back soon," Hazel said, looking at Fiver. "I promise she will."
-"That's good to hear..." Gilia said, but one could hear the drowsiness in her voice. It did not take long for all three kittens to fall asleep, snuggled closely together around Periwinkle. Hazel quietly walked away from the nest to avoid disturbing them.
-"Fiver," he said, "do you really think she will be fine?"
-"I don't see any danger at the moment, but if I ever feel any I will let you know. Until then, there is no point in worrying."
-"Do you think you could sleep in this burrow with me tonight?"
-"When we were younger, I used to be the one asking to sleep with you. But I'll do it, Hazel."
-"Thank you, Fiver."
Hazel lied down in the centre of the burrow, with Fiver next to him. Hazel had already helped Fiver through various hard periods of his life, generally related to the latter's visions. Now, the roles were reversed, and it was time for Fiver to cheer up Hazel.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: The character of is based on a user of this site (Florapaw) and is used with permission.