AUTHOR'S NOTE: thank you TheRanger101 for the review. Glad you liked last week's chapter.
Chapter 62: The Primrose Defender.
"But when they turned to go back, they found they couldn't. The edge of the wood had completely disappeared, but not because of the mist. It seemed as if it had been moved. One second it was just behind them, the next, it was gone."
-"Pipkin3", Brindle 1: The Forest of Dreams
The boat landed into a tree branch hanging over the waterfall, but this did little to help the rabbits onboard. Primrose quickly slid off the boat into the water below. Blackberry desperately clung onto the boat by the tips of her claws, but Granite, also hanging off the boat, accidentally kicked her in the face with his hind legs, causing her to fall.
The water was uncomfortably cold, and Blackberry struggled to stay afloat. Primrose was half-conscious, and made no attempt at fighting the current. Both does soon fell down another, smaller waterfall.
Luckily, the current seemed to slow down following the second waterfall, allowing Blackberry to carry Primrose to the shore. But that was only a temporary solution: they were both exhausted and soaking wet, not to mention that the scent of blood from Primrose's tail would attract elil. Granite was still hanging off the boat, but that was Blackberry's least concern at the moment. She looked around, desperately trying to think of a solution.
Suddenly, she recognized the area. Shortly before Bigwig's infiltration of Efrafa, he had an encounter with a fox. While Bigwig led it away, Blackberry and the others hid in a small chamber behind a waterfall. She hopped over to the waterfall and put her paw in the stream, clearly revealing the chamber. The water would mask their scent while they rested enough to finish their journey.
-"I found a safe place," Blackberry said, hopping back to her friend.
Primrose weakly raised her head and tried to look at Blackberry, but her vision was all blurry. She did not utter a sound.
-"Come on, it's not far!"
Primrose got up and took a few cautious steps. She was evidently in a great deal of pain, and every step was a challenge for her. After what felt like forever, she finally managed to make it inside the cavern, where she collapsed on the ground, unconscious. Blackberry examined her tail; it was in a bad way, still bleeding, and the leaves she had placed on it earlier had fallen off in the water.
Blackberry jumped out of the cavern; she could not expect to find the exact herbs to treat her friend, she just needed something that could stop the bleeding until they could get back to Watership Down. She soon found a few large leaves, and hopped back to the river. However, there was another creature there floating on the surface, motionless. As she looked at it, she realized that it was Granite, who had apparently fallen from the branch while she was in the cavern. The boat was floating further away, broken in two.
Blackberry couldn't leave a rabbit in need behind. She jumped in the river and grabbed him by the ear, slowly pulling him to the shore. He was much heavier than she was, making this extremely difficult. Soon after reaching the shore, he regained consciousness, coughing up some water, and stood back up.
-"Why did you save me?" he said weakly.
-"I'm not going to let anyone die if I can prevent it."
-"Nobody ever did this for me in Darkhaven."
-"I don't know what Darkhaven is, but it sounds like a bad place. Don't go back there."
-"Where should I go then?"
-"Anywhere. That's for you to decide."
With that, she hopped back to the cavern, and applied the leaves to Primrose's tail.
Granite stared at the waterfall for a long time. When he had found the two does on the boat, he had every intention of killing them. After Blackberry had saved his life, however, he didn't feel comfortable doing that anymore. Perhaps she was right, and he should leave Darkhaven forever and start a new life elsewhere. But he had spent his entire life there, and had no other place to go. Besides, if he just vanished, the others would probably track him down and execute him as a traitor. Going back wasn't very appealing, but he had no choice.
It took a while for Fiver and Hazel to break free from the kittens. Even Pipkin was unable to get them to participate in junior owsla training. Eventually, Hyzenthlay and Vilthuril were forced to pick them up one by one and carry them back to the burrow.
-"I'm going to need someone to keep an eye on them while I meet the newcomers," Hazel said.
-"Strawberry could do a good job," Vilthuril suggested.
-"Strawberry? He never struck me as the fatherly type."
-"Hazel," Fiver interjected, "I think Vilthuril is talking about another Strawberry, who joined the warren in your absence."
-"Fiver's right," Vilthuril replied. "I think she should be able to take care of them for the day."
-"If you say so..." Hazel said, clearly unsure.
-"I'll go get her," Fiver said.
Fiver hopped out of the burrow towards the Honeycomb; Strawberry was lying in a corner, and he woke her up.
-"What is it Fiver?"
-"Can I ask you a favour?"
-"Sure, what is it?"
-"Could you watch over some kittens for the afternoon?"
-"Of course, but...why me? I never dealt with kittens in all my life."
-"I think you can still manage it, and Vilthuril seems to think so too. Besides, it's not for long."
-"I'll do my best, but I can't guarantee anything."
Fiver led Strawberry to Hazel's burrow; she took one quick glance at the kittens, and lied down in a corner, keeping an eye on them. The two brothers left the burrow and went towards the Honeycomb.
-"Are you sure she's reliable, Fiver?" Hazel asked.
-"Hazel, you worry way too much."
The Darkhaveners slowly made their way back to the warren. The mission to dispose of Silverweed had not gone as expected, but most rabbits were nevertheless satisfied. Silverweed was probably dead, having been run over by the hrududu as planned.
Woundwort, however, disagreed, as Silverweed's body was nowhere to be found. When Orchis pointed out he had probably been vaporized by the impact with the hrududu, Woundwort replied that there still should have been blood; nobody was able to find a convincing counterargument.
Everyone remained silent for the rest of the journey back to the warren. Once they were back, they climbed down the same ramp they had used when they left. It was in the middle of the night, and the warren seemed deserted.
Woundwort wandered around the warren, trying to find Granite, Vervain or the prisoner. The first rabbit he stumbled upon was Vervain, lying near a pile of trash in a tharn state.
-"Vervain, what are you doing?" Woundwort asked. He waited several moments for an answer, but Vervain remained silent.
-"VERVAIN!" he shouted. This brought the bearded rabbit out of his trance, but he remained very confused.
-"General, you're back! I'm sorry I tried to kill you..."
-"Are you seriously still talking about this? Stop these ridiculous confessions, I know it wasn't you. Anyway, where is the prisoner?"
Vervain gulped. The prisoner had escaped, and it was his fault. To make things worse, the prisoner knew the exact location of the outsiders' warren.
-"Who?" he said, feigning ignorance.
-"You know who I'm talking about! The prisoner Granite found on wide patrol. Show me where she is."
-"...I can't sir."
-"Why not?"
-"She's not here, sir."
-"Where is she?"
-"Away, sir."
-"Away WHERE?"
Woundwort placed one of his front paws on Vervain's head, keeping him pinned to the ground. Vervain would have no choice but to tell the whole truth.
-"Ran away, sir."
-"Why didn't you stop her?"
-"Granite went instead, sir."
Woundwort let out a loud sigh.
-"There is no limit to your incompetence. Such sloppiness must be punished."
Vervain gasped. Woundwort remained silent for a few moments as he thought about the appropriate punishment.
-"The sentence," the General eventually said, "is for you to be placed on your back, a hole dug underneath you, and your ears buried."
-"Wait!" came Orchis' sudden cry.
-"I'm not listening to your ideas again, Orchis," Woundwort said. "I could have executed Silverweed here in Darkhaven, but you convinced me to get him crushed by a hrududu instead. If I hadn't listened to you, he wouldn't have escaped, and the other prisoner wouldn't have escaped either."
-"This method of torture doesn't involve leaving the warren," Orchis clarified. "Hrududu chewing. Like in the old story. There are some motionless hrududil in Darkhaven that would be perfect for this."
Woundwort remained motionless for a few moments, thinking over Orchis' suggestion.
-"That's harsher than what I had in mind, but also easier to carry out. Vervain, you are sentenced to hrududu chewing. Orchis, show Vervain the hrududu. Everyone else, proceed with training as usual."
-"Follow meeee..." Orchis said menacingly.
Vervain worriedly followed Orchis across the warren. He was not familiar with the "old story" Orchis had mentioned, and was afraid of what the "hrududu chewing" would involve. Soon afterwards, they came across a hrududu; it was a bulldozer.
-"Now, Vervain, your task is simple. You have to chew this part of it here." Orchis pointed to one of the continuous tracks.
-"That's it?" Vervain felt relieved; this looked like an easy task.
-"That's it. Chew it all the way from one end to the other. When you're done, report to me."
With that, Orchis hopped away. Vervain was confused. This punishment didn't seem too bad, yet Woundwort had said that it was harsh. As soon as he sank his teeth in the hrududu, however, he understood why Woundwort had said that. The substance was extremely hard to chew; it would take him a long time to finish this.