AUTHOR'S NOTE: sorry it took so long, motivation is hard...
Chapter 286: Collision.
"Either way, the next thing we know, we are being invaded, and it wasn't improvised at all, this was quite obviously planned extensively."
-Mew Siul, Ruin Lords
Underground at the maze warren, Blackberry was pacing across the burrow. These were troubling times, and not just because Woundwort was attacking and there was a dog loose in the maze. Primrose, one of her closest friends, was in labour, and this was deeply worrying to her. Blackberry had never given birth herself, and when she had assisted Heather, the kits had made it but the mother had died; not exactly a great success. While the situation with Primrose was not as dire as it had been with Heather, Blackberry was still hesitant to help: Buttercup seemed to have everything under control, and Blackberry was worried about possibly interfering and accidentally making things worse.
Seeking a distraction, Blackberry sought out Lady May, her one ongoing patient. She was lying in a corner of the burrow, clearly uncomfortable. The journey from Watership Down had been difficult to her, and Blackberry had not had the opportunity to check up on her afterwards; now was as good a time as any.
-"Does your leg still hurt?" she asked, as she started sniffing it.
-"What do you think?" was Lady May's annoyed response; the pain was clearly still present.
After a quick examination, Blackberry determined that Lady May's situation was largely unchanged. Her injured leg was still twisted in a direction that shouldn't be possible, the fracture was unhealed. Making things worse, the surrounding fur had grown and had gotten tangled in a knot. Blackberry gently attempted to groom the fur back into place, but this soon proved to be unrealistic, as she accidentally ripped a little bit of it, likely causing more pain. When Lady May still lived with humans, this fur was no doubt regularly brushed with special equipment to keep it tidy. But in the weeks since then, the fur had grown all directions, and the doe's injury had prevented her from doing even basic grooming.
-"How is it?" Lady May asked nervously.
-"It's improving." This was the only positive thing Blackberry could say. Not wanting to demoralize the poor doe any more than she already was, she did not mention how minimal the improvement was, and that it was unlikely to improve any further. Not wanting to be forced to lie should Lady May ask additional questions, she hopped away.
As Blackberry reached the other end of the burrow, she was approached by Fiver.
-"She's not doing well, is she?"
-"She's really not," Blackberry said. "Her leg is broken, and I doubt it will ever fully heal. What is she even doing here? She's not like Clover: warren life is not for her. I saw her in a hutch, long before she arrived at Watership Down, and she seemed happy there."
-"Supposedly, Vervain helped her escape."
-"That rabbit truly ruins everything he touches. Did he also injure her?"
-"No. Spartina said that Woundwort forced her to train her, and this happened."
-"She should never have trained. Now it's too late: her injury went untreated for too long, there's nothing I can do anymore. She'll never be able to walk normally again. She's not always friendly or polite, but she doesn't deserve this."
-"My ears aren't as useless as you all seem to think!"
It then dawned on Fiver and Blackberry that Lady May had overheard everything they had said. The attempts at shielding her from the unpleasant truth had failed, she had found out anyway.
-"Is it true, then?" Lady May asked, as the other two rabbits hopped over to her. "Am I really doomed to a life of misery? Is this some sort of punishment because you don't like me?"
-"It's not a punishment," Blackberry said sadly. "Your injury is too severe for me to do anything."
-"Can't you at least give me some pain medication like humans do? I'll take it even if it tastes horrible, I won't fight it."
-"I'm not human. I don't have access to any so-called medication. But if you want, once the war is over, we could arrange to have you taken back to the farm where you used to live." If we win the war, Blackberry thought, wondering whether the plan with the dog would actually work.
-"The farm!?" Lady May seemed horrified at the mere mention of her old home. "I can't go back there! I will be killed!"
-"Why would the humans kill you? You seemed to think that they took good care of you."
-"That was when my fur was still beautiful. But now it's ruined! I will never be beautiful again, and I will never be able to win any more prizes in competitions. The humans have no further use for me. Besides, I've been gone so long, maybe they have replaced me already."
-"It doesn't have to be the same human," Fiver said. "The ones you speak of doesn't sound very nice."
-"You take that back!" Lady May was greatly offended. "They took good care of me."
-"And now you think they would kill you."
Seeing the contradiction, Lady May fell silent.
-"From what I hear, the humans who live near the maze are kind and caring," Fiver continued. "They could perhaps take better care of you."
-"Did you have a vision about this?" Blackberry whispered in Fiver's ear.
-"Maybe."
Lady May seemed to be seriously considering Fiver's suggestion. As worried as she was about what would happen to her if she went back to live with humans, it was clear to her that she had no future with these wild rabbits.
-"Do...do you really think so?" she asked. "That I may have a good life if I go with them?"
-"Fiver's never been wrong before," Blackberry said. "If he says that they could take care of you, he's surely right."
-"But how will these humans find me? They certainly won't with me underground like this, and with my leg, I can't exactly seek them out."
-"We'll have to carry you above ground to a place there they can find you."
-"With the dog in the maze, that might be dangerous," Blackberry said.
-"What dog?" Lady May once again panicked, at the mention of elil.
-"Maybe we should wait until the dog is finished," Fiver conceded.
-"Finished with what?" Lady May asked, still very nervous.
-"It's complicated..."
Meanwhile, above ground, the battle was still raging. Bigwig, Spartina and Meadow were holding their own, but not a single Darkhavener had fallen.
-"We're not getting anywhere," Meadow said. "We're just tiring ourselves out. Can't we just stop this war?"
-"Of course," Woundwort answered. "Stop fighting and surrender. The criminals will be executed and the rest will be taken as slaves."
-"You can't be serious."
-"Do you surrender peacefully, or do we keep fighting?"
-"We fight to the end," Spartina said.
-"Suit yourselves. It is now time for mass killing!"
-"Did you mean, mass kissing?" came another unexpected voice.
-"Bluebell!?" Everyone, regardless of whose side they were on, stared at the newcomer.
-"What are you doing here?" Spartina asked.
-"I wanted to help," Bluebell said. "Who do I fight?"
-"Nobody!" came Dandelion's voice. "Just run!"
At first, Bigwig was annoyed: what was Dandelion doing above ground? Blackberry had said that he shouldn't be fighting. But when he saw the dog not far behind, he realized what was happening, and obeyed: he ran, into the hedges.
-"I'm sorry," Meadow told the invaders, as she followed Bigwig, "but I tried to warn you."
Upon seeing the dog, Bluebell and Spartina also ran into the hedges. Having succeeded in his mission, Dandelion was about to follow, but he felt someone else pounce on top of him; it was Shale.
-"You're not going anywhere, you weakling..."
As the dog came closer and closer, the Darkhaveners froze, too horrified to run. Only Vervain had the sense to flee.
-"I surrender!" he shouted. "I surrender!"
-"Stop that, you cowardly fool!" Woundwort shouted. "Dogs aren't dangerous!"
The Darkhaveners were faced an impossible choice. They could either go into a battle they would likely lose, or flee and be branded cowards by Woundwort and everyone else. Somehow, the latter option seemed like a fate worse than death to most of them; Vervain was the only one to run away while he still could. As the dog reached the crowd, Shale was the first to fall.