Chapter Twelve

Past, Present

Campion woke up suddenly, he recalled his nightmare and winced. He felt weak, why had it taken him so long to get over this experience? He had nearly died from a hawk attack, been in countless fights with other bucks, been beaten up by Bigwig (though that had been necessary at the time) and had nearly been starved to death by Woundwort and he had never taken so long to mentally recover. He then remembered his recovery from the cave-in, he had taken nearly a whole season to become mentally well again, but, he thought, that had been because of the Black Rabbit. He gave up musing and quietly got up from the nest to make his way to silflay, though he was not hungry. He needed to clear his head and was careful not to wake the exhausted Blackberry.

The night was dark and the forms of the rabbits were hidden.

 “Rights, let’s make it to the top before nightfall so we don’t attract any unnecessary elil,” Holly ordered.

The rabbits went in single file up the hill, pausing here and there to catch their breath on the steep hill.

Fiver lagged behind at the rear of the group, going over in his head his conversation with Ivy earlier.

Ivy stopped once they were a little way away from everyone and turned to face Fiver.

“Have I done something Fiver? You seem to be acting very strangely around me lately.”

Fiver breathing quickened in anxiousness and he was lost for words to reply.

“Well I... no I haven’t been surely? I... Ivy I really like you,” Fiver said in a rush.

Ivy smiled in surprise and laughed at his nervousness and shyness.

“Then yes, I’ll be your mate Fiver, you should have just asked.”

Fiver and Ivy made their way quietly back to the main group and acted as if nothing has happened.

Ivy had seen Fiver moving with a glazed look on his face at the back of the group and dropped back slowly to join him.

“What’s up?” She said winking.

Campion entered the Honeycomb after evening silflay with important news.

“Hazel!?” He shouted.

“Campion what’s wrong?” Hazel said.

It took Campion a minute to spot Hazel under his three kittens, who were laughing and playing on his back.

“It’s Holly, Dandelion and the rest, they’re back,” Campion announced.

“Oh good I was getting bored round here,” Bigwig commented, rising and popping his stiff joints.

Campion, Bigwig and Hazel went out to wait on the edge of the down for them.

Holly was the first to arrive and said happily, “Hello Hazel glad to see everyone is arrived home aren’t you? Campion whatever happened you?” Holly asked in shock, his eyes nearly bulging at the wounds.

“It’s a long story,” Campion replied tensely, casting his gaze downwards.

Holly sensed he should drop the subject, and cast Hazel and Bigwig inquisitive looks.

“Well come on in Holly,” Bigwig replied, laughing nervously.

Hazel led everyone down to the Honeycomb and took his place on the rock platform.

“Are you all too tired for a story?” Hazel asked, he was tired himself but he thought everyone needed something to cheer them up after Captain Broom’s loss.

“No!” The rabbits chorused.

“Then Dandelion, why don’t you tell everyone the story of our latest adventure?” Hazel suggested.

Dandelion took Hazel’s place and cleared his throat, starting, “Once we were about a day’s travel from….”

“Where’s Blackberry?” Campion whispered to Primrose.

“Still sleeping I guess,” Primrose returned. “Wasn’t she with you?”

“Earlier…” Campion replied quietly.

Campion left the chamber and went to his burrow.  Blackberry was in a deep sleep, with her ears pressed against her back. She was totally unaware of his presence.

Campion thought it unusual that she would be sleeping for so long and debated with himself whether or not to wake her to check if she was okay. He finally decided that the extra sleeping was due to stress and the coming kittens so he returned to listen to the rest of the story.

Dandelion had finished his story as Campion took his familiar position on the ground floor of the chamber, with the higher wall ledges surrounding him.

“Wonderfully told Dandelion!” Bigwig exclaimed.

“Yes how about we get Campion to tell you what’s been happening here since we left?” Hazel suggested. He suspected that Campion was traumatised and he thought it would help him to talk about it. He had to trust his leadership skills on this…

Campion hesitated and tensed as every head turned to glance at him inquisitively.

“Alright but I’m not much of a storyteller,” he said reluctantly. He trusted Hazel but he doubted whether this story would make for nice listening.

He passed Dandelion on his way to the platform and looked around the chamber apprehensively before starting.

He told of his and Blackavar’s raid on the farm and of the harsh winter snow that had been close to blocking them into the warren. He was buying his time and trying to build up to the penultimate.

Campion took a deep breath and continued on and told of how Clover had told them of the weasel’s approach and how he had sent everyone but himself, Blackavar and Captain Broom to the back burrows and to bring the roof down if the weasel got past them.

The further he got into the story the more it felt as if he was reliving it. He recalled how Captain Broom fell first, then Blackavar, until he was the only one left. He described the hopelessness he had felt when he nearly collapsed from exhaustion until El-ahrairah seemed to have sent him an idea.

The weasel had turned tail and ran after Campion had blinded her, but not without leaving the Watership Downers with severe loses such as Captain Broom.

He then told them what Primrose had told him when he had first reawakened, about how they had said goodbye to Captain Broom in the most respectful way they knew how.

During this Blackberry had slipped into the Honeycomb and a silent tear ran down her cheek as she finally realized the full extent of the suffering her mate had been through.

She went up to him and nuzzled him reassuringly, and then they went down to the silent crowd together.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t prevent you going through this Campion, I’m sorry I didn’t see this coming before….” Fiver said quietly.

“Don’t be silly Fiver, we don’t expect you to see every attack from the thousand, but thanks for sending Hazel and Bigwig back. If they hadn’t scared away the weasel below the down it may have come back to do more damage,” Campion said with gratitude.

Ivy was silent beside Fiver as she watched him talk to this large, war-scarred buck who frightened her a bit. She knew she shouldn’t judge by appearance but this buck looked terrifying to her, she had never even seen blood in her small warren. He pricked his ears forward as she heard Fiver chatting to him. This gave her an opportunity to glance at the severed ear. How had he lost the top half of his left ear? And how had it been such a clean cut, without ragged or torn edges? There was clearly a lot more mystery to this buck’s past than she had at first thought.

Campion noticed the strange white doe beside Fiver staring at him and it bothered him, he was quite sensitive about his appearance since the cave-in. She was definitely staring. He turned his head so that his scars were hidden. Would he never feel normal again? Could he ever meet new rabbits without feeling depressed and ashamed? His old confidence had vanished again at the moment he had caught her staring.

Fiver noticed the tension and interrupted it, “Campion this is Ivy, my mate.”

The two continued to stare at each other somewhat wryly without words. Blackberry noticed the atmosphere too and came up beside Campion to reply. She looked up at his stony expression and was saddened. “Hello Ivy, I’m Blackberry and I am Campion’s mate. It’s nice to have you here.”

Ivy looked at the light grey doe and smiled. Then she noticed her swollen belly.

“You’re having kittens, congratulations!”

Blackberry smiled back politely and waited for Campion to speak. He didn’t.

Ivy looked humiliated when she realised she had been staring a lot at this nice doe’s mate. She felt the blood flow to her cheeks and she lowered her head shamefully.

“Do you want a tour of the warren?” Blackberry offered.

Ivy felt reassured by Blackberry’s friendly tone, and the two does went off together chatting.

Fiver smiled at Campion, then cocked his head to the side at Campion’s expression.

“Sorry Fiver, I’m just a bit sensitive about rabbit’s staring that’s all.” He still sounded subdued.

Fiver never had a chance to reply when his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he moaned. “The lost brother was found. Our ally, he betrayed his warren, he was always home bound.”

Campion heard a sharp intake of breath and he looked quickly at the chestnut rabbit. “Hazel?” he asked shakily. He suddenly felt exposed in front of the whole chamber full of rabbits. Every pair of eyes were looking at him, or rather staring. They seemed to take in his whole appearance. If he had thought Ivy’s observations were bad he clearly hadn’t experienced this.

Blackberry and Ivy had stopped just gotten a few feet and were looking at him with surprised faces. Ivy’s more so at the shock of another vision, which she was still unaccustomed to and Blackberry’s contained pure confusion.

This made Campion feel a bit better, at least he wasn’t the only one not understanding.

The vision included himself, Campion thought. He had figured out that much from the line ‘he betrayed his warren’, but why was Hazel staring at him like that? And what did Fiver mean brother?