Season Five

Chapter Fifteen

Unwanted Surprise

It was nearing the end of January and the snowdrops were starting to bloom with the melting of the snow. The rabbits were above ground savouring the warm glow of Frith.

“Swift! Not fair!” Rosa moaned as she was tail tagged. She skidded to a stop and twirled round, trying to catch her brother when he wasn’t expected but failed.

Swift just whisked his light brown tail out of the way, laughed and dashed off, true to his name.

“Mother, father that isn’t fair!” Rosa and Iris wined. “He’s not even giving us a chance!”

“Come on Iris, Rosa, it’s only a game,” Campion laughed, stretching out further in the grass.

They just sighed and went over to play ‘roll the acorn’ with their other sister, Spring.

“Swift, how about your first patrol with your old father eh?” Campion suggested. He pulled himself onto his stomach and glanced over expectantly.

“Oh yes please parli*,” Swift agreed excitedly.

*parli-father marli-mother

“Let’s go then, Ash aren’t you coming?”

Ash, the runt of the litter, was sitting beside his mother no more than a few feet from the entrance of the warren. He shook his black head quickly and turned away.

Campion looked worriedly at Blackberry but she just mirrored his expression and shrugged.

“Come on parli, I want some carrots!” Swift wined impatiently and tugged his tail.

“Hey, you’re not going to the farm anyway Swift!” Blackberry said

“Don’t worry, we’ll only go as far as the Nuthanger wall. We’ll be back before ni-Frith,” Campion said. He playfully pushed over Swift as he was attacked.

“I see Swift is still the most troublesome litter mate,” Hazel laughed.

“Yep, just like his father,” Blackberry said smiling, and struggling not to laugh as Campion was knocked head over heels down the hill by Swift.

Swift was the double of his father as Iris was Blackberry except for their eyes, Swift’s were brown and Iris’s were the same camouflage green as Campion’s.

“Hazel…..” Blackberry started, this was as good a time as ever. “Remember last season Campion and I searched Darkhaven? We found quite a few tracks that were fresh,” Blackberry finished.

Hazel nodded. “A few of us also found a lot of tracks down the hill, and we saw Vervain  and other Darkhaven warriors on our patrol. We didn’t tell anyone because of all the drama between Campion and Walnut.”

“Wow,” Blackberry whispered. “What will we do about it?”

“They haven’t caused us any trouble so I don’t see any point in going to look for it,” Hazel said reasonably.

“True enough,” Blackberry agreed.

Bigwig then came charging up the down, shouting, “Hawkbit, Dandelion, Strawberry?!”

“What’s up Bigwig?” Hazel asked.

“Those hooligans were supposed to meet me for an owsla training session, but they did a runner and now I can’t find them,” Bigwig said angrily.

Hazel smiled at the owsla captain. “Not willing to give them a break then?”

“Woundwort may be gone but for all we know his owsla may still be out there, we need to be prepared,” Bigwig said in a matter of fact tone.

Hazel shrugged and bent down to nibble at the clover. He would never understand Bigwig’s obsessive thing about security.

Blackberry saw Fiver at the side of the down, at Silverweed’s grave. She decided to check if he was alright.

“Ash, will you be alright for a while with your sisters?” Blackberry asked.

“Yes marli,” Ash whispered, though he sounded unsure.

Blackberry hesitated at his quietness, but then shrugged it off as nerves at meeting all the other rabbits properly.

Blackberry joined Fiver as the seer looked quietly at the lump of soil at the edge of the forest.

“Fiver, are you alright?”

“Yes Blackberry, I’ll be fine.”

Blackberry waited patiently for Fiver to continue, “Silverweed was the only rabbit that really understood the burden of a mystic’s powers and now he’s gone,” Fiver said quietly.

“Yes he was a very brave and good rabbit,” Blackberry said, remembering how she and Campion had gotten him out of Darkhaven to Watership Down. He had spent the happiest time of his life there before he had given himself up to the Black Rabbit to save Watership Down, though not without a price. He aged dramatically and continued to even after, until it killed him later that day.

“Where’s Ivy? Why don’t you tell her how you feel? She could help you to get through it.”

Fiver shook his head. “I didn’t want to worry her.”

“She’d want to know how you feel,” Blackberry insisted gently.

“I might do that Blackberry thanks,” Fiver said, finally smiling weakly.

“Hazel do you not think I’m old enough to be in the proper owsla yet?” Pipkin asked.

“That’s a question for Bigwig, but I would have thought you would have been Pipkin,” Hazel answered.

“But who would take my place as junior owsla captain?” Pipkin said to himself puzzled.

“Well I’m assuming Mallow or Swift would want to give it a go, though Swift might be a bit young,” Hazel replied.

“I’ll go ask Mallow now,” Pipkin said, bounding off.

“Pipkin!” Hazel shouted after him. “He’s out on patrol with Bigwig.”

“I’ll ask Swift then,” Pipkin shouted back.

“He’s out with Campion,” Hazel laughed.

Pipkin moaned and collapsed on the grass in exasperation, looking oddly like Hawkbit.

Dandelion thought so too and started to laugh along with Hazel, causing Pipkin to trounce off with his nose in the air defiantly.

Campion and Swift skirted the perimeter of the farm with Campion teaching Swift all the different smells and tracks of the farm animals.

“Can’t we just grab one carrot parli?” Swift begged, sniffing the air.

“No Swift, your mother would kill me if she ever found out,” Campion said giving a mock shudder.

“What’s that scent father?” Swift asked, distracted from the subject of carrots by another scent on the wind.

Campion sniffed. For the first time ever he doubted his nose because that scent couldn’t possibly still exist, but yet Swift has smelt it too….

“Swift if I got you back to the forest could you make your way home alone?” Campion knew it certainly wasn’t ideal, Swift was only three weeks old but he had a better chance at that than the ambush Campion expected any moment, where he might be vastly outnumbered. Campion would have returned to the Down with him but he felt that he had a score to settle with an old ally.

Swift nodded because for the first time in his young life feeling frightened by his father’s reaction.

But before Swift could leave a medium sized black rabbit emerged weak and scarred from the around the corner of the wall. The unknown buck could evidently not go further and it collapsed.

“Vervain!” Campion gasped in surprise. Not in a good way.

Vervain raised his head in shock, and upon seeing Campion attempted to crawl away uttering a cry of terror.

Campion growled and jumped at him, but before he even made contact Vervain had fainted from fright.

“Same old Vervain,” Campion muttered, rolling his eyes.

“We have to get him back to Watership Down, he’s badly hurt,” Swift suggested, gently prodding him.

He definitely has some of his mother’s caring nature in him, Campion mused. Too bad it’s wasted on Vervain.

“Why did you attack him?” Swift asked almost accusingly.

“Swift, you don’t know what this rabbit has done over the seasons or you would have reacted as I had done,” Campion answered sharply.

“So what are we to do with him?”

“As much as it disgusts me, we’d better bring him back home; I want to see what he has to say for himself,” Campion replied. Groaning under Vervain’s weight as he slid the rabbit onto his back Campion started forward.

The two rabbits turned and made their way slowly back home.

“They should be back by now,” Blackberry fretted.

“Campion probably just got persuaded by Swift to go further. Blackberry, calm down you’re worrying the kittens.”

Blackberry sighed but agreed, wishing that Keharr or Skree were around. They could have found them fast, but they had migrated for the winter, as most birds do.

“How about a story, Blackberry?” Primrose suggested, more for the young ones sake than her own.

“Dandelion’s the best storyteller,” Blackberry said, absent minded, still thinking about Campion and Swift.

“Oh please mother! Tell us one about you and father!” the doe kittens cried.

“Oh okay…what about the time we helped Silverweed escape?” Blackberry suggested.

“Heard it,” they replied.

Blackberry thought all the other Darkhaven tales might be unsuitable for them since they contained such violence, then came to the conclusion that they would have to learn about the world someday.

“What about the times when your father saved my life?” Blackberry suggested while Ash crept over.

“Oh yes please!” they chorused.

“Since your father was away on a mission for Woundwort, Vervain, a black buck, thought he could blackmail me for information…….” Blackberry started as the kits and Primrose settled down to a story.

 “Swift, could you run to the top and get Hazel? I need his advice,” Campion asked.

Swift sprinted up the hill as fast as a hare.

Campion sighed and slid Vervain off his aching back.

Had it been the right thing to bring him back? What would they do with him after he had answered all their questions?

Campion wasn’t kept waiting long as he saw Hazel running full tilt down the hill.

“I supposed this would happen,” Hazel sighed, seeing Vervain.

“What, you knew he was alive?” Campion asked in surprise.

“We found his tracks the day you and Blackberry were in Darkhaven and with the drama with Walnut I forgot to tell you. What’s wrong with him?”

“I scared the living daylights out of him, literally, he fainted.” Campion rolled his eyes.

“We’d better bring him home,” Hazel said.

“But isn’t it dangerous to have him around us? What if his ‘friends’ come for him?” Campion questioned reasonably.

“He’s unconscious now, so he won’t be able to know exactly where he is and after we question him underground we can just cover his eyes and lead him far away. I would wait for him to wake up here but he does smell a bit of blood and might attract elil, so can you carry him up?”

“You’re the boss,” Campion muttered, once again hauling Vervain onto his back and making his way up the steep hill.

“And so my law breaking was forgiven because of Campion and Spartina’s success on patrol. Campion used his reward to save my life,” Blackberry finished.

“Wow,” Spring whispered.

“That’s harsh!” Rosa exclaimed. “They were goanna kill you for saving one of their own?”

“You and parli had a hard life…” Ash whispered.

“Bigwig?!” Hazel shouted, appearing over the top of the hill, Campion and Vervain following shortly.

“Over here Hazel…… what on earth? By Frith, that can’t be Vervain?” Bigwig cried.

“Unfortunately yes,” Campion answered, as Bigwig helped remove Vervain and get him underground.

Hazel followed Bigwig and Vervain. “Blackberry can you come down later and do an analysis of his injuries?” he asked.

“Sure Hazel,” Blackberry answered, still a bit in shock.

Campion hopped over to Blackberry with Swift and lay down in the grass with his back still aching.

“Remind me not to take the kits out on patrol alone again will you? I appear to be getting to old for this,” Campion said sarcastically.

“Oh father, take us out next time won’t you?” the other kits chanted.

Campion just sighed while Blackberry laughed.