AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you Anonymous Guest for the review, and the recommendation! I'll take a look soon :)
Chapter 105: Return to Nuthanger Farm.
"How does it feel, to know you've accomplished so much?
To risk life and limb for the ones you've cared for"
-GKRose, Answer Me This Hazel
-"Where is everyone?" Fiver asked as he entered the farmyard, followed by the others. "There don't seem to be any humans around."
-"Oof! Dey're all proobabl in da fields," Hannah said, unaware of the true situation going on inside the farmhouse. "And dey took 'ere dog with 'em."
-"That means we won't have to deal with elil!" Pipkin said, excited.
-"Except cats. Did you forget that Tabitha?" Hawkbit said.
-"I was hoping you wouldn't remind me of her..."
-"As long as we remain vigilant, we'll be fine," Hazel said. "Let's go."
The rabbits and mouse hopped into the farmyard. There were clearly no other creatures nearby, except maybe a rat or two. While some of the rabbits immediately went to the garden to feast on the flayrah, Dandelion slowly hopped over to the barn. It was full of fresh bales of hay.
-"This is perfect for hide and seek!" he said. "Who wants to join me?"
Fiver, Pipkin and Hannah immediately smiled: this was going to be fun.
-"You can all go ahead," Hazel said, "just be careful. There might be cats lurking in there."
Blackberry had not visited Nuthanger Farm in a long time. It did not look as dangerous as Hazel had said it was, but that may be because the humans were all out in the fields. She could simply stay in the garden and enjoy the flayrah. However, as she started to nibble some kale, she noticed a nearby carrot that appeared to be growing upside down. The root was sticking out of the dirt, and the leaves were nowhere to be seen. What kind of incompetent farmer, or disease, could have caused something like this to happen? Perhaps it would be better to stay away from the carrots entirely.
Further away, she spotted a row of weird red vegetables, which she approached. They did not smell natural at all, but they did look shiny. As she sank her teeth into one of them, she realized it was not a vegetable at all, but a rubber boot. She hopped away from the boot; it was then that she saw the scarecrow, standing at the edge of the garden with a sad look on its face, and a cabbage on its head. She nervously hopped away from the garden, hoping to find some decent food elsewhere.
The game of owslafa was off to a slow start. After Flyairth had assigned everyone their roles, Periwinkle complained about being left out and stormed off to her burrow. Meanwhile, the owslafa made their first victim: one of the Efrafan survivors. It was now time to vote; things were going smoothly until Blackberry noticed something unusual: a claw mark in front of Silverweed, but he couldn't remember seeing anyone hop over to him.
-"Silverweed...did you just vote for yourself?"
-"Yes, I did."
-"But why?" Hyzenthlay asked. "Don't you like this game?"
-"I do, but my presence is unfair. Just by looking at you all, I know who you are. I know the identity of all three members of the owslafa, who is the healer, the detective, and everyone else. My presence would give the outskirters an unfair advantage, so I would rather not participate."
-"I see. I'm sorry you feel this way," Acacia said. "Is there anything we could do to make this more enjoyable for you?"
-"You can vote me out."
Hrair rabbits immediately raised their front paws, effectively putting Silverweed out of the game.
-"As you probably already guessed," Flyairth said, "he was an outskirter. I think I'm going to add another rule. If, at any point in the game, someone wishes to withdraw, they are free to do so. Their role, if they have one, will be reassigned to someone else. Either way, it is now time for the second night phase..."
Silverweed, meanwhile, went above ground. Being out of the game felt like a huge burden had been lifted from him. However, his mind was filled with another worrying thought: that of danger. He glanced at Nuthanger Farm, visible in the distance. He had a feeling that something bad was going to happen there. He had to do something about it; he immediately started to run towards the farm.
Meanwhile in the barn, Fiver, Pipkin and Hannah had done their best to hide, while Dandelion counted to four, four times. After he had finished counting, he set off to find his friends. Pipkin was the first to be discovered, when Dandelion spotted the little rabbit's tail poking out of some hay. He gently touched the tail, causing Pipkin to try to hide deeper, but it was too late; Dandelion dragged him out of the hay.
Fiver was discovered soon afterwards, as he sneezed just as Dandelion and Pipkin ran past his hiding spot.
-"All this hay tickled my nose," he explained. "But now let's find Hannah. It won't be easy, she's great at finding hiding spots."
-"That's because she's a mouse," Hawkbit mumbled as he hopped past the barn's open door; Bigwig had sent him to patrol the farmyard for cats, and he was annoyed at missing out on the flayrah.
The three rabbits spent a short while searching, until Pipkin pulled Fiver aside.
-"This isn't as much fun as I thought it would be. Dandelion hurt my tail when he pulled me out of my hiding spot. I would rather have some flayrah."
-"I'm sorry Pipkin. But if you wish, we can go join the others. Can't you smell that lettuce!"
Pipkin sniffed the air. He could not contain himself any longer; he bolted out of the farm, with Fiver following closely.
Meanwhile, Dandelion remained inside the barn, moving bales of hay.
-"I'll find that mouse in no time..."
As he pushed one bale, however, he noticed something terrifying behind it. It looked like a rabbit, but it was hideously deformed. He did not realize he was seeing his reflection in an old, broken mirror.
-"Aaahh! It's a monster rabbit! RUN!" he cried, before dashing out of the barn. He kept running as fast as he could, not paying attention to where he was going, until he crashed into something soft and fell to the ground. As he reopened his eyes, he saw a dark shape over him.
-"Meow meow long ear disturb meow sleep meow meow..."
-"The owslafa have made another victim. Blackberry, you're out."
After the initial troubles, the game of owslafa had gone rather well. In the second night, the owslafa evicted Acacia; the round ended with the elimination of Heather, the first of four members of the owslafa.
-"And now one of our most useful assets is gone," Hyzenthlay said sadly. "Blackberry is great at analyzing situations and solving puzzles, he would have been a great help to us all."
-"Clearly the owslafa know about his talents," Flora said. "Therefore, it must be someone who knows him well. I don't think someone who just met him, like Vesper or Moss, to be guilty."
-"It must be Strawberry!" Bluebell said. "Everyone knows that she's the real reason why Blackberry refuses to kiss me."
-"Just a moment..." Blackberry started to say.
-"Blackberry, you've been evicted," Flyairth reminded. "You can't speak right now."
-"I'll take care of this," Strawberry whispered to her friend, before turning to Bluebell. "How many times do I have to tell you that we're friends, just friends, and nothing more? I don't wish to pursue our friendship any further than that, and as far as I know, neither does he."
Despite Strawberry's speech, four rabbits raised their front paws to vote her out. Gilia also raised her paw, mumbling something about peer pressure.
-"Wait!" Captain Holly stood up. "When we all vote so quickly without considering other options, it's usually a mistake."
-"It's too late, there are already hrair votes," Flyairth said sadly. "But you were right, Strawberry is innocent. Just an ordinary outskirter."
With a sigh, Strawberry ran out of the burrow. Blackberry, meanwhile, hopped over to Bluebell.
-"Sorry, but I'm afraid you'll have to find someone else to kiss."
-"...actually, that's brilliant, Blackberry! I remember seeing a grumpy grey rabbit, he looks like he could use a kiss to cheer him up! He doesn't seem to be in this game, do you know where..."
But Blackberry had not stayed to listen; instead, he had rejoined Strawberry above ground.
-"So, we're out of the game," the doe said after a while. "What do we do now?"
-"How about riding a boat?"
-"I'm sorry Blackberry, but there's a limit to how long we can pretend. It gets uninteresting after a while."
-"No, not pretending. I hear there's a river nearby; how about riding a real boat?"
Strawberry stared at her friend for a few moments, as a smile appeared on her face.
-"That would be amazing."
-"Let's go then."