AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you TheRanger101. Glad you liked last week's chapter.
Chapter 55: The Rescue.
"Through endless fields of flowing greens
Each flower bearing good memories,
Of friends he left behind,
When he went off to eternity."
-RavenShadowIV
Fiver, Flora, Leo and Bark continued to travel through the wilderness. Despite the fog, Fiver knew exactly where to go, trusting what the call for help had said.
-"Exactly what does this mission involve?" Flora asked after a while.
-"A group of rabbits are holding my friend Silverweed prisoner. They plan to use a hrududu to crush him to death, unless we save him."
-"What did he do to deserve such a horrible punishment?" Leo asked.
-"The one who ordered his execution, General Woundwort, is a tyrant. Silverweed probably did something that displeased him."
-"Why are some creatures determined to harm others?"
-"I don't know. It seems unlikely we could get Woundwort to see the error of his ways, considering he's been at war with us for a full set of seasons. We're almost there now..."
The four creatures could see a narrow strip of land, with the iron road plainly visible in the middle; Silverweed was lying on his back on top of it, completely motionless. The forest continued on the other site of the iron road, and many rabbits were standing in the grass on both sides of the tracks. The four creatures remained hidden in the undergrowth until they were ready to take action.
-"Frith and Inlé, they're larger than I expected..." Fiver whispered.
-"What we do now?" Bark asked.
-"Silverweed is the small white one in the middle, and the largest one with the red eye is Woundwort. Bark, you keep them all distracted. Flora and Leo, you'll help me get Silverweed to escape in the confusion. Also, stay on the lookout for a small black-furred kitten. If you see him, we'll have to help him escape too."
-"Good plan," Flora said. "Who is this black kitten though?"
-"Blueberry. I made a mistake, and I must correct it."
-"I'm ready whenever you are, Fiver," Leo said; Flora nodded.
-"All right, we start when I give the signal."
Woundwort was looking around him; the other rabbits were getting restless. They had been waiting for a while for a hrududu to arrive, but so far none had come. Suddenly he heard a faint whistle.
-"Ah, here we go," Orchis said. "We won't have to wait long now..."
-"Finally. I was starting to think we would have to spend all evening here." Woundwort said.
Suddenly, he heard another rabbit stamp, and bolt into the forest. Several others followed, with the occasional cries of "run!" Desperate to find out what was happening, he pounced on a nearby runner, who turned out to be Orchis.
-"Let me go! Please!"
-"Not until you tell me what is going on."
-"Elil!"
Woundwort looked around him, trying to see what the other rabbit was talking about; it did not take him long to spot a falcon flying overhead.
-"Why are you all so afraid?" she shouted. "Why are you running away? You're too large for me to be able to hurt you. Well, this is probably a good thing, since THEY won't have to do too much fighting, you know, heal don't hurt and all that prophecy. But the concept of fear is a fascinating subject that needs to be considered from all angles. Anyway, I still try to do my best and stay positive because that's the important thing and..."
-"Go away, you treacherous bird!" the General shouted as he tried to strike her, but she was too swift, she had already flown away.
By that point, nearly all the rabbits had run away from the tracks. Only Woundwort, Orchis, Silverweed and another rabbit called Feldspar remained.
-"You cowards!" Woundwort shouted. "You all brag about how fearless you are, but when faced with a harmless bird, you all run away."
Fiver, Flora, Leo and Bark watched the scene unfold in confusion when, suddenly, the bird landed in front of them.
-"You all keep calm and battle on," she said, before taking off again and flying away.
-"What just happened?" Leo asked.
-"That was so...random," Flora added.
-"I fear she may have unintentionally given us away," Fiver whispered. "It's now or never. Let's go."
Instantly, the badger ran out of the undergrowth to the other side of the tracks. Before Orchis could realize what was happening, he found himself picked up and thrown into the bushes. Feldspar bolted instantly.
-"Come back!" Woundwort ordered. "Badgers aren't dangerous!" He let out a ferocious cry, but just as he was about to pounce on Bark...
-"General! What are you doing?"
Woundwort stopped and turned towards the source of the voice. Further away on the tracks, he saw a large brown rabbit, covered with scars. While the body was only vaguely recognizable, the voice was unmistakable.
-"Campi..." He was interrupted as Bark picked him up and threw him against a nearby tree, knocking him unconscious. Moments later, Campion ran away.
With all the enemy rabbits out of the way, Fiver, Flora and Leo hopped over to the tracks.
-"Fiver! You've come to help me!" Silverweed said. "How did you know?"
-"You called for help," Fiver explained.
-"No, I didn't."
-"Someone did. If it wasn't you...who was it then?" Suddenly, the whistle was heard again. "We don't have much time."
With that, Fiver and Flora started to nibble through the weeds that kept Silverweed tied up. The ones around his head and front paws were easy to dispose of, but another was tied tightly around one of his hind legs. Upon closer inspection, Flora saw that it was stuck in a crack in a piece of wood below the iron.
-"It's impossible to get a grip on it!" she said desperately. "We won't make it in time!"
-"No no no no no that can't be happening!" Leo said.
-"Of all places to get stuck, you pick hrududu trail?" Bark said in exasperation.
-"I'm sorry," Silverweed said, "I don't know what happened..."
-"Nobody's blaming you," Flora said. "We'll have to try to pull you off."
Flora grabbed one of Silverweed's front paws, Fiver took the other.
-"Leo, could you help us push him?" Fiver asked.
Leo hopped over to the other side of the iron road, and placed his front paws on Silverweed's lower back, just over the tail. As he pushed, Flora and Fiver pulled as hard as they could, but Silverweed remained on the tracks.
A few moments later, the train came into view. It would only take a few seconds before it crashed into the rabbits at full speed.
-"One last try!" Flora shouted.
The three rabbits started pushing and pulling again. Finally, just at the last moment, there was a metallic clang as Silverweed was freed from the tracks; all four rabbits crashed into the grass next to the iron road. The train roared by, and suddenly it was gone, as quickly as it had arrived.
The four rabbits remained in the grass for a long time, long after the train had gone.
-"Is anyone hurt?" Fiver eventually asked.
-"I'm all right," Leo said.
-"Me too," Flora added. "That was a close call."
-"I'm not hurt," Silverweed said.
As Silverweed tried to get up, however, he fell back down. It was only then that everyone realized that the weed had not broken. Instead, part of one of the iron tracks had been ripped off, with the weed still tied to it.
-"Looks like we'll have to do something about that," Fiver said.
-"At least, there's no time limit this time," Flora added.
The trip back to Watership Down was mostly uneventful. Everyone remained silent, apart from when Bark left the other four to go back to her home in the orchard, with a promise from Fiver that he would visit her again soon.
Fiver continued to walk towards the Down, with the other three rabbits following, until they finally made it to the bottom.
-"Here we are," Fiver said. "Home at last."
Silverweed sat there for a while, simply staring at the Down, before finally shaking his head.
-"Why did you do this?" he asked.
-"Do what?"
-"Flora, Leo, I never met you before today. Fiver, our interactions were also very limited. Why did you all risk your lives to save me?"
-"Friends help each other," Leo said.
-"But why? I tried to invade your mind, Fiver..."
-"I forgive you," Fiver said.
-"Thanks, but that's not all. I spent most of the life at the warren of the shining wires, believing lies. Like everyone else, I thought the shining wire was the only logical possibility, a blessing from Frith, without which we would not be able to survive at all. As the warren's poet, I actually helped propagate this idea. After General Woundwort took me away, I became his pawn, another rabbit he manipulated into helping him build his empire of tyranny and destruction. Don't you realize how my entire existence has been a waste? The world would have been better if I had never been born. And even just now, I failed again. Fiver, you told me to help Blueberry escape, but I failed. Woundwort said that he was supposed to witness my execution, but I haven't seen him since we left Darkhaven."
-"We all made mistakes," Flora said. "So many seasons spent in the world, and you feel like you haven't accomplished enough. There's no point in regretting past mistakes and missed opportunities. But the future is different, and it's never too late to make positive accomplishments.
-"And as for Blueberry," Leo added, "anyone could have gotten lost in such weather. When the fog has cleared, then we'll have a chance at finding him."
Silverweed remained silent for a while, thinking about what the others had said.
-"Thank you. That helped."
-"Let's go to the top, then," Fiver said.
-"I think I'll go back to the orchard," Flora said. "I never did finish gathering those flowers."
-"Thanks for letting me know," Fiver said. "I'm sure your friend will be very happy."
-"Thank you, I hope so," she replied, blushing, before hopping away. Fiver dashed towards the warren; the other two rabbits soon followed.
-"Come on, Silverweed. Let's go to the warren, and meet all the others."