Chapter Twenty-One

Daring Escape

“Blackberry, do you feel up to going home?” Ivy asked nervously after a brief rest.

“Of course Ivy, there’s nothing wrong with me!” Blackberry said, almost angrily. She got up from the earth of the corn field and shook the seeds off her back.

Swift wined softly and hid behind Ivy. He was very confused and distraught. Where was his father? Why was his mother so angry and sad?

“Let’s go then,” Fiver said, laughing lightly in an attempt to make the situation less awkward.

They travelled for the rest of the afternoon in silence with Fiver and Ivy in front of Blackberry and Swift by a couple of feet.

“We should send Keharr ahead to tell the warren what has happened and to tell them not to question Blackberry or Swift until they’re ready,” Fiver whispered to his mate, breaking the silence between the two.

Ivy nodded and discretely signalled for Keharr to land up ahead and wait.

“What’s the problem?” Keharr asked, folding his wings and looking intently from one face to the next.

Ivy told him the message and he and Hannah set out over the coming trees on their way home.

“Come on Swift, nearly home,” Ivy forced a smile and urged the baby rabbit further.

Swift just nodded miserably and didn’t quicken his pace.

 “Right, Captain Campion you are back on duty and no more fighting my officers hear?” Hemlock ordered.

“As you command, sir,” Campion said, working hard to keep the sourness out of his voice.

“I already have a couple of patrols out so for now you are on guard duty for the left fore mark, dismissed,” Hemlock finished, turning to go back into his burrow.

Campion continued to stare in hate at Hemlock’s retreating back until Yew interrupted his thoughts.

“Hemlock-rah suggested to me yesterday that I take out a small patrol to go further overland to scout and take as much time as we want. That would be our perfect chance to escape,” Yew whispered.

“Okay we’ll take it,” Campion whispered urgently back. “Meet me in the left hind’s grazing grounds at fu inle?”

“See you there.”

The two rabbits departed with friendly farewells and went off to their duties.

 “Okay Bigwig, spread the word, not one question or reference about Campion is to be mentioned as soon as they arrive back okay?” Hazel ordered.

Bigwig nodded and disappeared into the rabbit hole.

Hazel sighed and shook his head as Hawkbit came over to talk to him. Sarcastic comment cue, he thought as Hawkbit opened his mouth.

“Hannah, Keharr?” Hazel interrupted Hawkbit. “How close were they?”

“They are here Hazel,” Fiver answered, coming over the edge of the down.

“Oh,” Hazel said in shock. “Not now Hawkbit!” he cried as Hawkbit attempted to speak again.

Hawkbit just stood there with his mouth wide open in surprise at being spoken to like that.

Blackberry nearly broke down in sobs again as she saw Watership Down and went into her burrow. She fed the kits then told them sharply to go away. She allowed herself to wallow in deep sadness and grieve.

No one dared disturb her and Hazel organised a half hearted Bobstone tournament to keep them entertained.

“Bobstone guess?” Bigwig asked Pipkin cockily.

“One?” Pipkin suggested.

Bigwig removed his paws to reveal two stones.

“Oh, Campion’s good not me!” Pipkin moaned.

An awkward silence filled the down and the rabbits exchanged uncomfortable looks.

“Pipkin how about you take the junior owsla for a last patrol before you join the big owsla?” Bigwig said quickly as Iris and Rosa had teary eyes. They had grasped that everything was not alright by their mother’s reaction and the absence of their father and his name.

“Oh, yes of course Bigwig,” Pipkin said, catching on and hurrying off with slight embarrassment.

“I might do the same Hazel, I don’t like sitting around doing nothing while the enemy is out there!” Bigwig near shouted in frustration.

“Okay take as many as will go and split into groups so as not to attract attention, an empty warren will give me a chance to ask Blackberry what happened.” Hazel nodded.

At first Bigwig was surprised that Hazel had actually agreed but then he sorted out groups and was off quickly.

 “Yew is that you?” Campion asked quietly toward a rustling in a bush opposite where he was sitting.

“Yes are you alone?” he questioned, emerging.

“Yep, you look tired. What’s wrong?”

“Hemlock had us on something like double duty today because men were spotted over near the iron road,” Yew panted.

“That’s close!” Campion exclaimed. “If he is tightening security it will be more difficult for us to get away without being seen.”

“We are doing nothing wrong remember? Well, I’m not. Though he might not let us go at all, with man being so close.”

“Should we just go without asking?”

Yew shook his head. “The guards would never let you go. Unless….”

“What?”

“I know a guard that would be quite easy to convince, come on!”

Yew and Campion went to the opposite grazing grounds for the chest mark, it was the mark closest to the railroad and a train could often be heard whooshing by.

Yew stepped forward and approached an old looking chestnut fawn rabbit that was obviously in charge of this mark. “Hello, Twig. Myself and Campion are just off on patrol. We should be back in a couple of days.”

Twig? What sort of name is that? Campion thought.

“See you soon ,Yew.” Twig nodded.

Yew joined Campion as they made their way towards the iron road. “Poor chap, he’s quite gullible, I hope we don’t get him in trouble when Hemlock finds out.”

“Why’s he called Twig?” Campion asked cryptically.

“Well you see…” Yew began, but was cut off by a piercing gun shot.

“Fire stick!” Yew exclaimed, crouching low.

“Damn it!” Campion said angrily, he remembered the hunter that had stalked Redstone for moons and had nearly gotten Blackberry.

“He’s back for more,” Campion muttered.

“What, you have seen him before?” Yew shouted over the noise of more gun shots.

“Yew, watch!” Campion cried, pushing Yew out of sight of the hunter, narrowly avoiding a shot.

“Thanks,” Yew panted.

“No problem.” Campion smiled quickly. “Now we need to get out of here.”

“John! Hang the nets all around the clearing and bring more guns from the car!” More men appeared, now there was hrair.

“I can’t see a way out!” Yew said panicked, as the men advanced on the clearing holding dozens of nets. Slow steps, advancing rapidly. As each second passed, their only chance to escape decreased.

More shots burst into the sky and many of the mark rabbits ran haphazardly out of their hiding places, quickly falling victim to the nets or other shots.

“Yew, keep calm and don’t move!” Campion urged, as his fellow owsla captain was showing signs of going tharn. He himself was shaking violently. The adrenaline pumped through his veins and made him want to dash out of his hiding place.

The men were now taking long sticks and sweeping along the bottom of the bushes in the area enclosed with nets, sweeping away the rabbits’ chances of remaining hidden.

“We’ll have to move!” Campion decided. “We can’t stay here!”

“What will we do?” Yew asked, shaking in random quivers.

“We’ll dig,” Campion said firmly, indicating the back of the bush they were under where a long expanse of net ran. “We can dig out under the net. They’ll never know we are gone, but it has to be now.”

Campion and Yew dug as they had no other time in their lives, the dirt flying out furiously from between their hind legs. “Yes, yes,” Yew whispered excitedly. He stopped digging and tried to twist in under the small scrape. “Hraka,” he muttered, when he couldn’t quite squeeze his pelt through.

“Quick, the men!” Campion warned as a long stick entered the hiding place. They both stared in terror.

“Hey there’s a rabbit hole, look!” one of the younger boys exclaimed, pointing at Campion and Yew’s newly dug hole.

“I’ll bolt across the clearing to get their attention. Go! Don’t wait for me!” He tensed every muscle and stared the men down determinedly. He caught one of their gazes. The man’s face broke into an evil grin and raised his shotgun. Campion’s eye widened and he shot out from his hiding place.

He made a full circle of the clearing, keeping an eye on the hunter that had picked him out as an individual target. Or his pelt. He knew what these kinds of men were after and it disgusted him. They desired rabbits’ furs to place on their own backs and he wasn’t willing to give his up. A shot skimmed by the end of his tail and he tripped over in surprise. He tumbled into the line of netting surrounding the clearing and tried to make sense of getting free. Sharp claws finally tore through and he tried to pull himself onto his stomach. Another sheet of netting was thrown on him and a pair of hands tried to secure him. Campion lost all sense of reality and thrashed blindly so much that he was dropped and the veil of netting fell free. He kicked off again, avoiding grabbing hands and was could just feel the security of cover of the bush around him… All he remembered in that instant was a flash of sadistic eyes and a cry of triumph that came with the most blinding and cutting pain in his shoulder. A yelp shattered the air and he landed heavily in a bramble patch, the thorns sinking into his flesh.