AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you Anonymous for the review!
Chapter 130: New Shadows.
"I don't need help...it's not about help!"
-tamatoe-tomatoe, Welcome to Watership, my prince
It was early morning at Nuthanger Farm. The officer and his prisoner had taken turns guarding the two hostages while the other slept. The farmer and his daughter struggled to fall asleep, but nevertheless made no attempt at escaping. While the ground floor had been entirely flooded, everyone remained safe upstairs, and the water had since receded.
-"RISE AND SHINE, EVERYONE!"
Both hostages, along with the woman, were brutally woken up by the officer's voice.
-"So, have you changed your mind about the phone call?" he asked, waving the gun in front of the farmer, who massaged his eyes.
-"I would really want to help, but I don't know the number."
-"Excuses, excuses..." the officer mumbled. "Anyway I'm hungry. Let's all go downstairs!"
The hostages had no choice but to obey, and made their way back to the living room where everything had started. Only then did they see the full extent of the damage the flood had caused. The wooden furniture had started to rot, the carpets were ruined, the wallpaper was peeling off, and all electrical appliances had shorted out. To make things worse, Duster's body had been been drained of blood by the flood, staining everything red.
-"You keep an eye on them," the officer told the woman, handing her his gun, "while I go raid the fridge."
The officer stayed in the kitchen for several minutes, before he suddenly came back and picked up the phone.
-"...you mean you knew the number this whole time?" Lucy asked.
-"Oh no, I'm not calling the judge. The food in the fridge is the absolute worst, so I'm calling in some shrimp!" He paused for a few moments. "But the line is dead. Does anyone here have a cell phone?"
-"You had one earlier," the woman pointed out.
-"I did, but I seem to have misplaced it." The officer was unaware that Pipkin had taken the phone during his visit to the farm the previous day. "Anyone?"
Lucy reached into her pocket, and pulled out her phone.
-"Battery's dead."
-"I'm not waiting until it is finished charging!" The officer took back his gun and waved it around. "Anyone else?"
-"I have one," the woman said. "For some reason, that idiot Dusty didn't take it away."
-"Give it to me!"
-"I can't reach my pocket," The woman angrily waved her fists. "You still haven't found a way out of these handcuffs!"
-"Shrimp first, handcuffs later," the officer said, reaching into the pocket.
Vervain slowly opened his eyes. He was still on top of Lady May's hutch, and his fur had almost completely dried following the previous evening's incidents. As he looked around him, he saw that the flood was over: all the water was gone. However, it had left destruction in its wake: there were no traces of the garden, and there were scattered debris in the field. While Vervain and his fellow officers had eaten most of the flayrah, what little remained had been completely washed away, and there was no trace that it had ever been there.
Orchis was nowhere to be seen. Lady May, whom Vervain had saved from drowning, was still on top of the hutch, shivering and crying. In the past, he would have left her alone, but after everything he had been through over the past few days, he felt obligated to help her, or at least try.
-"What's wrong?"
-"My fur...it's ruined! I'll never be pretty again!"
-"Yes...I know...you told me last night..." Vervain sighed: was her appearance the only thing she cared about?
-"I have no future. In this state, I'll never win any shows anymore. Or even finish in second place. Or third place. Or fourth pla..."
-"Yes, I get the idea. So what will you be doing?"
-"I have no reason to stay in the hutch anymore.
-"But I thought you liked the hutch? And the humans feeding you?"
-"You fool! My fur is ruined. The human no longer has any reason to take care of me. He'll probably just force me to mate, to produce pretty angora kittens, and when I'm too old to mate, he'll eat me." Lady May's anger receded, replaced with sadness. "What about that warren of yours?"
-"Oh..." Vervain thought back at Darkhaven. If it weren't for the Speaker of the Past, he would just run away and never go back. "You were right. It is ghastly. I wish I didn't have to go back."
-"Oh, I see you two lazy buns are finally up!" came Orchis' voice, as he arrived in front of the hutch. "Took you long enough!"
-"Where were you?" Vervain asked, annoyed. He looked at the sky; Frith was barely above the horizon.
-"I was looking forward to playing with the dog again. But I couldn't find it anywhere, so I went searching for it. Still couldn't find it."
-"Maybe it drowned."
-"That would be a pity. I was looking forward to hrair more torture sessions with it. Anyway, come on, we need to go back to Darkhaven."
Vervain still did not understand Orchis' excessive hatred towards the dog, but did not question it. With a sigh, he hopped off the hutch, and followed Orchis away from the building.
-"Take me with you," Lady May suddenly said.
-"Why would we? We have no use for you," Orchis said coldly.
-"Neither does the human. Please, take me with you." Lady May was clearly getting desperate.
-"The General said to bring back any hlessil we would find," Vervain pointed out.
-"It is a hutch rabbit, not a hlessi."
-"She is a hlessi now, she's not in the hutch anymore."
-"It'll just die in the battle pit."
-"LOOK OUT!" Lady May cried.
Orchis turned around just in time to see the dog lunge at him. It bit one of the rabbit's front paws and, satisfied to have finally come out on top, ran away before the evil rabbit could fight back. Vervain, unable to stand the sight of blood, averted his eyes, while Lady May stood in shocked silence. Despite bleeding profusely, Orchis remained the calmest of the rabbits.
-"I am in great pain," he said casually, picking up a nearby leaf with his mouth and wrapping it around the wound.
-"Can you walk?" Vervain asked, still looking away.
Orchis made a few cautious steps forward, but soon collapsed.
-"Not yet."
-"So we just stay here?" Vervain asked, finally looking at Orchis. "Yet another delay...at some point, General Woundwort will think we're not coming back at all!"
-"Of course we're not staying here," Orchis said, still calm. "We're leaving right now."
-"But you said you couldn't walk?"
-"And I won't. You will."
It took a few moments for Vervain to understand what Orchis was suggesting. When he figured it out, he stepped away in horror.
-"Absolutely not! I will not sacrifice my dignity like this."
Orchis sighed, and raised his wounded paw, placing it under Vervain's chin. The bearded rabbit could see several half-broken claws dangling onto his neck.
-"Your dignity or your life?" Orchis asked menacingly.
Vervain gulped. He didn't think Orchis would actually carry out his threat, but was it really worth the risk?
-"Climb on," he whispered.
With a grin, Orchis climbed on Vervain's back, who groaned in pain.
-"Why are you so heavy?" he mumbled.
-"The sooner we're back in Darkhaven, the sooner I can get off," Orchis explained. Vervain, realizing that there was no other solution, slowly stepped forward.
-"What about me?" came Lady May's voice. "Can I come?"
-"It's up to you, but I'm not carrying two rabbits, so if you're coming, you walk on your own."
-"Thank you," Lady May whispered, hopping alongside Vervain.
Unaware of Blueberry's capture, Hazel, Silverweed, Moss and Heather were in the Honeycomb, talking to the other Efrafans.
-"They were mates, but they weren't lovers," Avens explained. "Dewdrop simply asked to mate with him to get some additional privileges which were granted to the families of owsla officers, and Sainfoin was a decent enough fellow, so he took pity on her and accepted. They never had any kittens though. Why are you asking about them?"
-"They were murdered," Moss said.
-"Murdered? I thought they were killed when the warren caved in."
-"No," Heather said. "Someone intentionally collapsed their burrow to kill them."
-"But who would want to do that? Sainfoin was well-liked, for an owsla officer."
-"He seems genuinely surprised," Moss whispered in Hazel's ear. "I don't think it's him."
-"We need to be sure," Heather said.
-"Clearly, at least one rabbit hated them enough to kill them," Hazel said. "If you don't mind, we'll have Silverweed here look into your hearts. If you're innocent, you have nothing to fear."
-"Might as well get this over with," Groundsel said.
One by one, Silverweed touched the rabbits. To the other Efrafans, who had never witnessed him do this before, it was rather disturbing. Out of context, his shaking and the weird sounds he made could be mistaken for the symptoms of a dangerous disease. But each time he withdrew his paw, he returned to normal, as if nothing had ever happened. After verifying Groundsel and Avens, he moved on to Leo.
-"I can vouch for him," Moss said.
-"You can never be too careful," Silverweed said. "I'm checking everyone."
As Silverweed touched Leo, however, his reaction was stronger than with any previous rabbit. After a terrible squeal, he collapsed.
-"Are you all right?" Hazel asked.
-"I'm fine," Silverweed replied, slowly getting back up. "Any others left?"
-"There's Rake," Moss said. "I'm sure he's not guilty, but you said you wanted to check everyone."
-"Right. And I'll inspect you and Heather too." Silverweed turned towards the two rabbits. "Just in case."
-"As you wish," Heather said.
Silverweed soon looked into the last three rabbits' hearts without any further issues.
-"What did you see?" Hazel asked.
-"Many things." Silverweed shuddered. "But nobody here is guilty of the murder you mentioned."
-"That's good news," Hazel said. "Thanks for the help, Silverweed."
-"No problem," Silverweed replied absent-mindedly, before hopping away.
-"Sorry I suspected you all," Moss said, turning towards the other Efrafans. "I should have known you wouldn't do something so evil." He then hopped out of the burrow, with Heather soon following.
-"I doubt whether we've seen the last of this," she said.
-"Do you think Silverweed make a mistake?" Moss asked nervously.
-"No, I'm convinced he was telling the truth. But I still have a bad feeling about all this..."