Chapter 29: And It All Falls Apart.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter marks the first appearance of Violet, who comes from the 1978 film. The original male version of Blackberry also makes an appearance near the end.
"Buster: Hey, Byron can fly!
Babs: Who knew?"
-Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation
It had been almost a full day since Woundwort and his owsla had begun the siege at Marli-rah, and so far they had succeeded at keeping the enemy underground. Five rabbits were discussing the situation underground in the owsla chamber.
-"I tell you, we can't keep going like this much longer," Thethuthinnang insisted. "Nobody in the warren was able to silflay today; at this rate, our underground supply of flayrah won't last very long."
-"I understand," Hyzenthlay interjected, "but there's no way to get Woundwort's gang to leave. We could try fighting them, but they are too many. While we might be able to get rid of them this way, a lot of us would die too."
-"That leaves only one possibility: evacuate the warren," the fifth rabbit said; it was Silver. "From what I know of Woundwort, he won't give up until we're all dead."
-"No," Flyairth said. "I can't agree to this. Me and Prake have dedicated our whole lives to this warren, to make it a positive place to live. A place where all rabbits could come and live their lives in peace and happiness. A place where does would have a decent chance at life instead of being exploited by bucks. A place where we would be safe from humans and other outside dangers. A place where everyone is friendly and happy, essentially."
-"Flyairth," Prake said, "I understand all this. I remember the old days, when we travelled from warren to warren, trying to convince other rabbits to join us, until we finally all settled down here. Over the seasons, some rabbits left the warren to pursue new lives elsewhere. We also had others stumble upon our warren and join us. It was a good place while it lasted, but now we have no choice but to leave. Marli-rah will end, but the ideals behind it cannot be destroyed. We can start a new warren elsewhere, all of us."
-"I know, Prake, but...this warren is still the place where we all lived for many seasons. I know that even if we leave, the community will remain, but still...it's going to be hard to leave."
-"Then we really are evacuating?" Thethuthinnang asked.
-"We have to," Flyairth said sadly. "It's the only way we can hope to survive..."
-"I'll go tell the others, then," Hyzenthlay said.
It took a while for the evacuation of the warren to be organized. Notifying everyone was only the first step of the process, and it took a long time for everyone to come to terms with the fact that they had to leave, and this was not a joke. Then, there were a few rabbits who did not want to leave, mostly does with kittens too young to travel long distances by themselves. Other rabbits volunteered to help carry the kittens.
However, a few elderly rabbits were also not interested in leaving, preferring to stay at the warren and fight instead. Old rabbits can be hopelessly stubborn, and it took forever to convince them to leave.
Fu Inlé, Flyairth led her people through the warren's deepest run, which led to the bottom of a hill some distance from the warren. It had been dug many seasons before to serve as an alternate exit in case of an emergency. It had never been used before, but it had been well-maintained by the owsla.
As she reached the tunnel's exit, Flyairth turned to address the others. Thethuthinnang was immediately behind her, with her friend Violet next to her, both of them with a kitten in their mouth. There were more rabbits as far as she could see; Prake and Hyzenthlay were bringing up the rear.
-"All right, everyone," Flyairth said, rather loudly so everyone could hear her. "This is very important. All I have to say is this: run. Don't stop for ANYTHING."
-"Not even for flayrah?" came the voice of Bluebell further away.
-"No! Escape first, eat later! Now if you're all ready, let's go."
Meanwhile, Cowslip was slowly nibbling some dry grass. He had been around this warren for more than a day, yet nobody had been able to go underground. The owsla was getting restless, and several were simply pacing around, without any purpose. A hawk attack earlier that day had left one of their own dead, and this was not something they could ignore and forget like the snares back at the old warren. Cowslip wanted to take everyone back "home", but he didn't know the way back. His thoughts were interrupted as Woundwort poked him on the side.
-"Do you hear anything?"
-"No. Is there anything to hear?"
-"Listen carefully."
Cowslip raised his ears. Now that he was paying attention, he could hear something.
-"It sounds like footsteps," Cowslip eventually said. "And not just one creature, but hrair."
-"It must be the enemy! They're trying to get away!"
Woundwort ran into the first run he could find, and looked around him. As he walked through the runs, he peaked inside all the burrows, but all were empty. There were no other rabbits anywhere.
-"They're running away!" he shouted as soon as he made it back above ground. "Everyone follow me."
He dashed through the field, with the others doing their best to keep up with him.
It took a while before all the rabbits of Marli-rah made it through the tunnel. Just as the last few rabbits made it outside, Nyreem squealed. At the top of the hill stood the dark figure of General Woundwort.
-"Nooooo we're gonna get caught HEEEEELP!"
They did not wait for him to catch up with them. Everyone ran as fast as they could. Nobody, not even Flyairth, knew where they were going. They were running just to save their lives.
Woundwort, however, did not seem in any particular hurry to catch them. He remained at the top of the hill, staring at rabbits as they ran away.
-"I want what these rabbits have," he suddenly said, to nobody in particular.
-"What do they possess that is the object of your desire?" Cowslip asked as he managed to catch up with him.
-"The mindset, or the flayrah, they used to compel them to act like this."
-"You're overanalyzing the situation. They're just trying to stay alive. What would you do if they were chasing YOU?"
Woundwort looked sternly at Cowslip.
-"I would kill them, of course. And I will, even if they're not chasing me. Everyone, get ready to attack!" he ordered, before dashing towards the bottom of the hill.
The rabbits of Marli-rah had a head start and were therefore able to maintain a reasonable distance between them and Woundwort's owsla. A few were struggling to keep up, but Prake and Hyzenthlay urged them onwards. However, one of them somehow managed to get separated from the rest of the group without anyone noticing.
It did not take long for Woundwort to notice the straggling doe, running as fast as she could, but plainly exhausted.
-"Cowslip, grab her!" he ordered. "We can use her as a hostage if necessary. But be prepared to kill her if I tell you to."
Cowslip hesitated: while he had been indirectly responsible for the deaths of many other rabbits, he had never killed anyone in cold blood before. However, seeing Woundwort's stern look, he decided to obey. He easily managed to lift the doe off the ground and hold on to her. She was still very young, and having not reached her full size, she was unable to break free from Cowslip's grip, no matter how much she squirmed.
Meanwhile, the others continued to run as fast as they could, until they suddenly came upon a wide, flat surface in the middle of the grass. It was the same roundabout Woundwort and the others had encountered the previous day.
-"What is that thing?" Violet asked. "Is it dangerous?"
-"It's some type of road," a young buck with black-tipped ears replied as he smelled the road. "But there's one thing I don't understand: why it keeps going in all directions. Usually it's just a straight line."
-"But is it dangerous?"
The discussion was interrupted by loud stamping. As soon as Flyairth heard it, she scanned the area for any possible threat, and soon saw other rabbits, all of them very large, on the other side of the roundabout. At the front of the group, they could see two rabbits staring at them: a white buck, and a brown doe with a feather near her ear.
-"Well, well, what have we here?" the buck said menacingly.
It did not take long for Flyairth to realize that these rabbits, whoever they were, would also want to kill them. She turned around, and saw Woundwort and the others rapidly approaching. They were trapped between two groups of rabbits, both of whom wanted to destroy them.
-"After all these adventures it has to end like this?" Hyzenthlay shouted. "NO!"
-"Outsiders," Woundwort shouted, "your time is up. You refused to help me fulfil my destiny, and you shall have to pay for it. Owsla, attack! But leave the detective alone, I want to deal with her myself."
-"No!"
Woundwort turned to see who had said that; it was Silverweed.
-"No?" Woundwort repeated.
-"Don't do it. If you walk any further towards them, you will die. Several of us are already doomed by our current placements in the field."
-"You insolent little runt! Too small to accomplish anything, so you resort to scaring others to get what you want!"
He roughly grabbed Silverweed by the neck and threw him into the grass further away. As he hopped over to the rest of his owsla, slowly marching towards the group of terrified rabbits on the road, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his tail, causing him to collapse to the ground. As he tried to get back up, he realized he was unable to do so: his entire body was paralysed.
-"I'm sorry I had to do this, General Woundwort," Silverweed said as he approached him, "but it was the only way I could save your life."
If Woundwort had not been paralysed, he would have killed Silverweed. Suddenly, he saw several beams of bright light come from Silverweed's claws. The light bounced off a traffic sign and hit the feathered rabbit on the head. She fell to the ground unconscious, and the white rabbit next to her looked at her motionless body.
-"RETREAT!" he shouted, and the entire group of rabbits had soon vanished from sight, leaving her where she had fallen.
Silverweed repeated the process with several of the rabbits from Marli-rah; some were knocked unconscious, while others were simply immobilized.
-"What is he doing?" Cowslip said, terrified. "I've never seen him do this before! Will someone please tell me what he's doing!?"
At that moment, he too was struck by light from Silverweed's claws. He collapsed onto his hostage, who remained conscious. Silverweed was about to immobilize her too, but was unable to do so, before disaster struck.