AUTHOR'S NOTE: Apparently ff dot net has a character limit for chapter titles. This chapter should be called Follow the Trail of the River of Knowledge.

Chapter 31: Follow the Trail of the River of Knowledge.

"The best way to get rid of the pain is to feel the pain. And when you feel the pain and go beyond it, you'll see there's a very intense love that is wanting to awaken itself."

-Deepak Chopra

It did not take long for an ambulance to arrive, and carry both drivers to the hospital. This rapid response probably saved the car driver's life; his wounds were treated and he was released from the hospital a few days later.

Putting out the fire, however, took a long time. There were no fire hydrants in the area, so water had to be carried to the site of the accident by truck, and no such vehicles were available until morning. It took several hours before a firefighting crew was on site, battling the fire; by then, the vehicles had burned almost entirely.

Violet slowly opened her eyes. She got up and shook her head. Her back hurt slightly, due to a few pieces of glass. The entire area around her was covered with debris and dead (she assumed) rabbits, with two flaming hrududil further away. She slowly remembered what had happened. A rabbit who called himself "General Woundwort" had attacked Marli-rah, and everyone had been forced to run away. Violet couldn't understand how a rabbit, even one as terrifying as General Woundwort, could be responsible for the destruction around her. This must have been work of humans.

Suddenly, a sharp cry filled the air. Violet looked upwards, and saw a hawk, diving towards the ground. Judging by the angle at which it was descending, she managed to calculate the approximate location where it would reach the ground. It was a short distance in front of her, where Thethuthinnang was also waking up, clearly as confused by the scene as she was.

She did not stop to think. Ignoring the pain, she plowed head first into Thethuthinnang, knocking her out of the way. The last thing she felt was the sharp talons of the hawk as they grabbed her and lifted her off the ground.

Some distance away, Hyzenthlay was also waking up. She felt was a sharp pain at the base of her right ear. She raised one of her hind legs to scratch it, but that only made things worse. The area around her was covered with debris; she was lucky not to be worse off.

-"Can I get up now?" came a soft voice.

Hyzenthlay looked down, and saw Nyreem's head sticking out from underneath her. Hyzenthlay hopped off the kitten.

-"What were you doing there?" she asked.

-"All I know is there was a loud noise and you jumped on me, and then I fell asleep. Do you know what's happening around here?"

Hyzenthlay looked around. Apparently, when the catastrophe had happened, she had instinctively jumped on the nearest rabbit to protect them from the falling debris; Nyreem was the lucky rabbit who had been saved this way.

-"Hey, what's that thing hanging from your ear?" Nyreem asked.

-"I wish I knew, so I could get it out. It hurts."

-"Let me take a look," another rabbit said. Hyzenthlay turned; it was Thethuthinnang.

-"It's nice to see you're alive."

-"It's only because Violet sacrificed herself to save me." Thethuthinnang sadly looked upwards; by then, the hawk was nothing more than a small black spot against the sun. "We can't help her now, but I can help you. Let me take a look at your ear."

Thethuthinnang carefully smelled the ear, and soon removed the piece of glass lodged into it. She then took a nearby leaf and held it against the wound to stop the bleeding.

-"Keep it there for a while," she said. "Your ear may droop for some time, but everything will be all right. Did anyone else make it?"

-"Other than Nyreem here, I don't know. I didn't get a good look at the crowd yet."

The three rabbits made their way across the field, walking carefully to avoid stepping on debris.

They soon came across a large rabbit with something clinging to her head (it was a piece of fabric from the seat of the truck). Clearly unable to see, she was clumsily walking around, trying to get it off. Nyreem seemed afraid of this creature, but as soon as Hyzenthlay had pinned her to the ground, Thethuthinnang managed to remove the fabric; it was Flyairth.

-"Thanks for getting that embleer thing off of me," she mumbled. "Say, what's happening around here?"

-"I don't know," Hyzenthlay said, "but it's horrible. Most of us are dead."

The four rabbits continued their search. The next living rabbit they found was a doe called Quiens, but she was in terrible shape. Most of her fur was gone, and her bare skin was covered with large burn marks. Thethuthinnang went to search the area for some herbs that could ease her pain, while the other three remained with her.

-"Well...I guess it wasn't notable. I didn't make it in," Quiens said; none of the others were able to understand what she meant.

-"We're going to do everything we can to help you," Flyairth said.

Thethuthinnang came back with a few leaves, and placed them on the burn marks; Quiens grimaced in pain.

-"Let's face it, there's nothing you can do for me," she said weakly.

-"You will get better. There's nothing we won't do for you."

-"You don't understand. I can't move without excruciating pain, and if I stay here the elil will get me. Just put me out of my misery, will you?"

The other rabbits looked at each other sadly. Nyreem started to cry.

-"Are you sure you want us to do this?" Flyairth said.

-"Absolutely. Existing has become a burden. Just make it stop. Please."

-"In that case, I'll fulfil your last wishes. I'm sorry it has to end this way." Flyairth turned to the others. "You three may wish to turn around."

Hyzenthlay, Thethuthinnang and Nyreem did so. They heard a sickening crack as Flyairth dealt Quiens a single powerful blow to the head. It was the most painless death she could have experienced, under the circumstances. Once that was finished, the four rabbits walked away, to continue their search for survivors.

The results were grim. They only succeeded in finding six other survivors: Vilthuril, another doe who, despite her young age, had a reputation for being very wise; Bluebell, the joking rabbit who had made fun of Woundwort previously; Blackberry, the buck with black-tipped ears who had questioned the purpose of the road the previous evening; Silver, the buck who had deserted Woundwort's owsla; Myrkin, a small buck with brown-orange fur, and another doe, called Strawberry. None of them had suffered worse than minor cuts.

Finally, they came across the last rabbit, the furthest away from the others. She was in particularly bad shape. There was a large piece of shrapnel protruding from her chest, and her breathing was slow and irregular. Flyairth looked at her sadly.

-"Prake..."

Prake slowly opened her eyes. A faint smile appeared on her face as she saw her friend.

-"Flyairth dear...I'm going away now..."

-"No! We'll carry you, we'll do anything for you! Just hold on!"

She looked at Thethuthinnang desperately, but the latter shook her head sadly.

-"I've lived a good life..." Prake continued. "I have no regrets..."

-"No! Don't give up! We'll take care of you!"

-"Don't worry about me. Think of the others. They're your responsibility now..."

She cast one last, painful look at Flyairth, before closing her eyes for the last time, as her breathing stopped. Flyairth completely broke down; she lied down next to the body and started crying. The others thought it best to leave her alone.

-"You know," Bluebell said, "I have a feeling there's someone missing."

-"There were a few that were burned so heavily we couldn't identify them," Blackberry said.

-"I know. But all the same, I think there's someone missing..."

-"Wait," Thethuthinnang said. "I think I hear someone."

Everyone raised their ears. There was a faint sound in the air, and it was coming from a rabbit. They followed the sound until they came across Cowslip's body close to what was left of the truck, his hostage alive and conscious.

-"Nelthilta? What happened to you?" Nyreem asked.

-"He grabbed me. Please set me free."

Hyzenthlay and Thethuthinnang looked at each other. Cowslip had a large metal rod going through his ears; he was most likely dead. In order to liberate Nelthilta from his grip, they had no choice but to tear out most of his claws. By the time she was free, Nelthilta seemed badly shaken up, but luckily, she had no visible injuries.

The small group of rabbits made their way back to where they had left Flyairth, who was still sitting next to Prake's body, staring into the distance. She turned to look at the others, who were staring at her, waiting for her to speak. As Prake had said, Flyairth was in charge now, and it was her responsibility to get everyone to safety. But what could she do? She considered taking everyone back to the warren, but that wouldn't really work. There were too few of them to survive on their own, and with all the dead bodies nearby, it would only be a matter of time before the elil discovered the warren's location.

-"They attacked us to destroy us," she said. "And while they are destroyed now, those of us who remain have nowhere to go."

-"We can't really stay here," Strawberry said. "With all the blood and bodies, elil are bound to come. We've already lost one of us over this, and we can't afford to lose more. We have to get out of here."

-"I know. But where can we go? I don't know of any other warrens nearby where we could go."

-"There's something unusual here," came the voice of Vilthuril.

-"What, exactly?" Blackberry asked.

-"The river. Can't you feel it?"

The other rabbits tried to "feel" the "river" Vilthuril had mentioned, but were unsure what to make of this. There was no river nearby, and they couldn't understand how a river could be "felt".

Vilthuril made a few steps forward. Occasionally, she could have some sorts of feelings, that something was true and could not be changed, but this was unusual. It seemed as if there was an invisible current travelling through the air; as she put her head in its path she could feel it quite clearly.

-"What type of feeling?" Hyzenthlay asked.

Vilthuril moved backwards. Her head went out of the path of the river, and the feeling disappeared.

-"Feel it in your mind," she explained.

Hyzenthlay closed her eyes and tried to focus on the "river".

-"Well, I feel SOMETHING, but I don't know exactly how to describe it. You say it's a river?"

Vilthuril did not reply. She had put her head back in the path of the river, and it felt strangely relaxing. It was a feeling of peace, of happiness, that slowly seemed to take over her mind. She loved the experience, and thought it wise to give herself up to the river, to give it total control of her. She closed her eyes and made a few more steps forward, so that her entire body was in its path.

The feeling of peace took her over completely. She stopped hearing Hyzenthlay, and could no longer smell any of the nearby plants. Her vision seemed to gradually fade, the colours slowly vanishing, However, in front of her, a trail seemed to appear. After a long time, the entire world seemed to have faded, leaving only the trail. Then, through no effort of her own, she seemed to find herself floating, carried away by the river.

On the outside, however, Vilthuril looked anything but peaceful and relaxed. An expression of fear was on her face, and she was making small, uneasy steps.

-"What is she doing?" Flyairth asked.

-"I don't know," Hyzenthlay replied, "but let's follow her."