AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you Anonymous Guest for the review. I am glad you enjoyed the last two chapters :)

Also, following this chapter, I will be taking a one week break from this story. The next chapter will probably be posted on 24 May. Thanks everyone for reading!

Chapter 100: The Owsla.

"[...] but uttered a snarl of aggravation as he turned around and continued on his way through the hills"

-Aura24, The Revenge of a Weasel

After breaking free from Flyairth's grip, Woundwort felt horrified. The outsiders were more numerous than he had expected, and he recognized several of the newcomers from the last warren he had destroyed. He was previously convinced they were all dead, but clearly some of them had survived and, to make things worse, had joined the outsiders. His own owsla had drastically underperformed, several of them being defeated extremely easily by the outsiders. There was no point in continuing the battle: it was clear which side had emerged victorious.

-"RETREAT! RETREAT!"

Vervain slowly opened his eyes. What a horrible nightmare he had just gone through...he had dreamed that he was caught in a time loop, killed Larch a few times, and Orchis was his entire family. How nice it was to be awake again...

He was then startled by the General's loud voice, and gasped in horror: he had fallen asleep during a battle. He would get his ears torn off if the General found out. He scratched himself a few times; hopefully the scars would make it look like he had been fighting. However, he suddenly noticed that his claws were covered with blood. The sight of this red substance all over his fur made him panic and bolt. He realized too late that he had bolted among the outsiders he was supposed to have been fighting, and immediately changed course and met with the rest of the patrol.

Why was the blood there? Could it be possible that his dream wasn't really a dream after all? No...that was impossible! He must have been fighting the outsiders. He had probably killed one of them, that's why the blood was there. "Vervain, you fool, you were supposed to capture them alive so we could extract information out of them, they're of no use to us dead," the General would say. No, he would have to come up with another explanation...

-"I'm really disappointed in all of you," the General said sternly. "We were supposed to finish those outsiders once and for all, and instead we run away, like mice facing a cat. You are the worst, sloppiest, stupidest bunch of rabbits I have ever seen. How dare you call yourselves warriors?"

But Vervain wasn't really paying attention: what if it really was Larch's blood? It did not smell like the outsiders. But then, it didn't smell like the blood of an Efrafan like Larch either. In fact, it didn't smell like anything, almost as if it came from another world. Maybe he had travelled to another world in his dream, and killed Larch there? One could argue about the distinction between a dream and reality. No, that didn't make sense either...how did Orchis fit in all this?

-"How you feeling, Vervie?" Orchis asked, almost as if he had read Vervain's thoughts.

-"Why do you care?" Vervain recalled his interactions with Orchis in the dream, and felt sad. Perhaps he should open up to him rather than push him away. "I miss Chib."

-"You should find her again."

-"But how?" He suddenly recalled her last words to him prior to the shockwave; he remained unsure whether this had been part of the dream or not, but there was no harm in asking. "Speaking of which...what do you know about Nepenthes?"

-"Nepenthes?" Orchis squinted. "That sounds vaguely familiar."

-"Tell me everything you know about it." Vervain placed his front paws on top of Orchis'.

-"Woah, woah, calm down there. It's been a long time, I need to think about it."

The patrol continued their journey back to Darkhaven. Nobody spoke, apart from Woundwort, who occasionally started randomly berating the others, before going silent once again. As they reached the pit, however, Orchis suddenly tackled Vervain over the edge. Vervain squealed in terror all the way down, until the two rabbit landed on the mattress.

-"What is wrong with you?" Vervain shouted. "You could have killed me!"

-"I saw you do that to Blueberry a few times, it looked fun."

-"Right..." Vervain had noticed Blueberry's absence from the group of rabbits that had gone back to Darkhaven. He had no idea what had happened to the young kitten: had he gotten lost? Had he been killed? Vervain didn't care, and had not mentioned the kitten's absence to anyone else; hopefully nobody else would notice for a while. "Anyway, do you remember anything about Nepenthes?"

-"I remember the rebellion at Silverinlé very well, but Nepenthes? Not really. I know it moved, but the memories are frozen."

-"Well, that was pointless, and I'm no closer to solving the riddle," Vervain said, as he hopped away. "But thanks for at least trying to help."

Bigwig looked at the enemy rabbits as they all suddenly ran away, following the General's order to retreat. Slowly, the rabbits on his patrol hopped over to him. They had actually won a battle against General Woundwort and his owsla of oversized warriors.

-"All of you follow me," Bigwig said simply, as he started to hop towards Watership Down. For the second time that day, the patrol would have to be cut short. But this time, he had a really good reason for doing so. And he had an important message for Hazel: General Woundwort was alive. The war was not over yet.

-"Hey Bigwig, how did the patrol go?" Pipkin asked, once the group reached the top of the Down, but Bigwig ignored him. He hopped straight underground towards Hazel's burrow. Silverweed was by the entrance, but Bigwig pushed him away.

-"Hazel, I need to talk to you. Now. What? At it again?"

-"I never let her go, Bigwig," Hazel replied, clutching his mate protectively. "But whatever it is you have to say will have to wait."

-"Hazel, you shouldn't let love interfere with your job! Gen..."

-"This has nothing to do with Primrose. I cannot talk to you right now because I was talking with Silverweed. Apparently, reality broke earlier today."

-"Hazel, this is much more important than these weird mystic things! The future of the warren is at stake!"

-"Calm down, Bigwig. You can tell me tonight at silflay."

-"Fine. But Hazel, I hope you never make this mistake again."

Without waiting for the Chief to reply, Bigwig stormed away.

-"Sorry about this interruption, Silverweed," Hazel said. "What were you saying?".

Meanwhile, Bigwig went above ground, profoundly annoyed at Hazel's apparent indifference; he would have to take matters in his own paws. General Woundwort was still alive, and he had a new owsla that would pose a massive threat to Watership Down, should they find its location. They had already come dangerously close to the warren. It was Bigwig's job to make sure the warren would be prepared, should they get attacked.

Above ground, most of the rabbits were at silflay, and a few had fallen asleep in the grass; Hannah walked over to Bigwig.

-"'ey Bigwig, aren't ye gonna congrachulate meh?"

-"Congratulate you, Hannah? But what for?"

-"I savd yer patrol!"

-"You did what?"

-"Wit magic!" Hannah proudly held her pebble in front of Bigwig's face.

-"Eh, look Hannah, I don't have time for this now, why don't you go gather seeds or something?" Bigwig said as he tried to push the mouse away with his hind legs.

-"Heh! Dat's all the tanks ah get for savin eryone! Ye clearly didn't learn yer lesson, did ye Biwig? Nec time, I won' save 'em! Or mehbe ah will...it woo be a sham if everyone ded cause of one bun..."

Bigwig sighed in annoyance, and turned towards the crowd of rabbits.

-"Oy, everyone! Step forward as I call your names. Spartina, Flyairth, Thethuthinnang, Blackberry...no not you, the other Blackberry, the buck! Now where was I...oh right, Bluebell, Vilthuril, Myrkin and Hyzenthlay. You are now in the owsla. You all did really well in today's patrol, and you have proven that you have what it takes to handle the job."

-"Really?" Hyzenthlay said; she was still thinking about her meeting with El-ahrairah and was not paying close attention to the owsla captain. "Thank you Bigwig."

-"What about me?" Nyreem said; her name had been notably absent among those Bigwig had called out.

-"Oh, you did well, but you're still too young to be in the owsla. So you're in the junior owsla. Report to Pipkin tomorrow morning for further instructions."

-"I would like to thank you, Bigwig," Thethuthinnang said, "for this opportunity to have this position. I will do my best to keep the warren safe."

-"I agree," Vilthuril said. "It's really kind of you to give us this job, especially considering we've only been here for a few days."

-"I appreciate your comments, but I've got some important business to take care of. Dismissed!"

With that, he went back underground. Hopefully Hazel would soon be done with Silverweed.