AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank ou TheRanger101 for the review. Sorry about the sadness though..
Also, this chapter features a character called Nettle. She is an OC, and entirely unrelated to the miniseries character of the same name.
Chapter 66: The Way Forward.
"In the end is peace achieved through the hardships? Only a rabbit can tell"
-Dizzy the Freak, Only A Rabbit Can Tell
Hannah was walking through the forest, towards the island where the hedgewizard lived. She finally came across the road Tassel had mentioned; only then did she realize how imprecise the squirrel had been. She had had told her to follow the road, but not in which direction. Hannah sighed, frustrated at how she had forgotten to ask such an obvious question. She decided to go left, and if she didn't come across anything, she would have to reverse course and go right instead.
Hannah spent a while walking along the road, until she was startled by the cry of an eagle. The bird was flying at a low altitude, but thankfully didn't seem to have spotted her. She quickly ran over to the grass next to the path, and hid in a small ditch.
Suddenly, Hannah noticed a rabbit in the middle of the road. Her pale fur was plainly visible against the dark brown of the rocks making up the path; she seemed frozen in fear, and would make an easy prey for the bird. Hannah could not let her die this way.
-"Hey you! Come 'ere!"
The rabbit turned her head towards Hannah, but remained where she was, and did not reply.
-"C'mon! Ye can hid 'ere!"
The rabbit still remained motionless. After the eagle made another sound, she finally broke out of her trance, and scampered towards Hannah. Soon afterwards, she reached the safety of the ditch; it was barely large enough for her, but she still managed to fit inside. The eagle dove towards the ground, grabbing nothing but thin air. It looked into the ditch; Hannah took a nearby pebble, and threw it at the bird. Clearly not in the mood for a fight, it flew away to find another prey elsewhere.
The two creatures remained huddled together in the ditch for a while, in case the eagle came back. When it became obvious it was really gone, Hannah ran out of the ditch.
-"Ar ye aight?"
-"You saved my life!" the rabbit said, in an unusually high-pitched voice.
-"I wuz..."
-"I'm Nettle!"
-"I'm Hannah, an..."
-"You did something for me, and I won't forget that."
-"I..."
-"Some day, I'll pay you back, I promise you that. Thank you!"
-"Bu..."
Nettle had already vanished. Hannah remained motionless for a while, trying to figure out exactly what had just happened, and whether it was a sample of things to come when she would meet the hedgewizard. She shrugged it off; she had something more important to worry about: finding the island. Now that the eagle was gone, Nettle could take care of herself.
Meadow was walking along the river. She had been searching for Blackberry and Primrose all night. Progress had been very slow at first, especially with the fog, although the weather had thankfully cleared since then. Silverweed had said that the does would be near the river, in a place that wouldn't be obvious at first sight. This clue was very vague, and she had found many locations that would fit the description. She had looked in a hollowed-out tree trunk, inside an abandoned fox den, and many other places, but she had yet to find the does.
After a while, she stopped for a short silflay near a waterfall. It would have to be short though: she only had until tonight to find them, and this was a long river with many possible hiding spots.
When Blackberry woke up, she was filled with confusion: she couldn't remember falling asleep. Primrose was still lying next to her, also asleep; the leaves on her tail were peeling off, exposing the wound. Blackberry would have to replace them. She hopped out of the cavern to go and get some replacement leaves.
As soon as she made it past the waterfall, Blackberry noticed that the fog had entirely cleared, and it was day. She and Primrose had been asleep much longer than she thought. The Down was plainly visible, a short distance away; the trip had lasted long enough, Blackberry was determined that she and Primrose would make it back to the warren that day.
As she gathered a few leaves, she noticed another rabbit further away, calmly nibbling the grass. This wasn't Granite, but another rabbit. She was a stranger, and Blackberry was ill at ease: the stranger might be another hostile Darkhavener. Blackberry would have to sneak back to the waterfall without attracting the stranger's attention.
Meadow's silflay was interrupted by a soft noise. It was barely audible, but as a captain of owsla she had been trained to pick up even the slightest sounds. Looking further away, she could see another rabbit hopping away from her, trying (and failing) to remain silent. The stranger had silvery-blue fur, just like one of the rabbits Silverweed had described. Could it be...?
-"Blackberry?"
Blackberry was almost back at the waterfall when she heard someone call her name. So much for not attracting attention...but how did this stranger know her name? It didn't make any sense at all. She turned around and stared at the stranger.
-"What do you want?"
-"My name's Meadow. I've come to bring you back to Watership Down."
-"How do I know you're telling the truth? I've never seen you at Watership Down before."
-"I'm not from Watership Down, but from the hedge maze warren some rabbits from your warren visited last Frith's Eve. I've been working with Hazel and Bigwig to find you."
Blackberry thought over the situation for a few seconds. It seemed likely that Meadow was telling the truth.
-"I'll be ready to go soon, I just need to check up on my friend," she said.
-"Primrose?"
-"Yes. Would you happen to have brought any healing herbs with you? She's in a bad way."
-"I'm afraid I haven't...how bad is it?"
-"Take a look at her yourself. She's in a cavern behind the waterfall."
Blackberry picked the leaves back up and hopped back to the waterfall, with Meadow closely following. Primrose was still asleep.
-"That's a nasty wound she has," Meadow said. "What happened to her?"
-"I don't know. We got separated in the fog, and when I found her again, she was like this."
Blackberry carefully took one of the leaves and placed it on Primrose's tail, but this caused the latter to open her eyes and squeal.
-"VERVAIN NO!"
-"Primrose! Calm down. It's me, Blackberry. Do you recognize me?"
-"...Blackberry." Primrose sighed. "Where's...who..."
-"Do you think you're able to walk?"
-"I...guess..."
-"Come on, then. We can make it back to the warren today."
-"...Redstone..."
-"No, not Redstone, Watership Down."
Primrose got up, and slowly moved forward. Blackberry and Meadow had to help her make it past the waterfall so the current wouldn't sweep her away. Nevertheless, the leaf fell again, and Blackberry had to wrap another one around her tail. Then began the last part of the journey back to Watership Down.