Chapter Thirty – Two

Gone

Bigwig ran out to Campion to take Hazel’s other shoulder, staring down worriedly at his best friend.

The journey down to the recovery burrows seemed like an eternity to Hazel, who was growing slightly faint due to lose of blood.

Campion and Bigwig slid their shoulders forward, letting Hazel slip gently onto the bed of grass.

Hazel almost immediately closed his eyes and his breathing grew slightly heavier, but he was fighting the pain and the constant darkness that tried to grip him.

Primrose and Blackberry came rushing in, eyes slightly wide with fear at having smelt the blood from a good distance away.

“We’re okay,” Campion said quickly to the two distraught does. “Well nothing life threatening anyway, I think.” Campion cast his eyes to Hazel.

Primrose squeaked and quickly took her place by Hazel’s side, starting immediately to clean the large wound.

“It’s just a flesh wound!” Campion insisted as Blackberry tried to examine the wound on his nose.

“It’s a wound and you are not leaving this burrow until I’m happy,” Blackberry actually growled.

Campion recoiled slightly in surprise and cast a look at Bigwig in confusion. Her paw forced his head down so that she could get a good view.

“What did I tell you? Scary beasts,” Bigwig whispered and shrugged.

Blackberry turned quickly to him and gave him a questioning stare, still growling in her throat.

“Am… I just…. said to Campion that he’d better do as you say,” Bigwig said hurriedly.

Blackberry didn’t look satisfied with that answer but went past him to Hazel.

She put her paw comfortingly on her arm. “I know what you are going through Primrose. He’ll be alright you’ll see, it isn’t anything life threatening.”

“What if he can’t walk again?” Primrose looked up at her tearfully.

“We don’t know that, we have to hope.”

Primrose just nodded and refused to look at any of them.

“Well,” Bigwig laughed nervously, everyone just turned to look at him. “Campion and I are away down to the caverns to get a drink.”

“You can come too of course,” Bigwig replied as he saw Blackberry’s expression.

“Yeah, I think I will, and I can get Campion to bathe his wound or else the whole world of elil will be upon us, and Hazel too when he feels better.” Blackberry bade Primrose and the now sleeping Hazel goodnight and turned to follow the bucks.

“Why is it always me that has to comfort them?” Blackberry asked with tiredness as they made their way down.

“Cause us bucks aren’t good at that sort of thing,” Bigwig replied cheerfully.

“What’s made you so cheerful all of a sudden?” Blackberry asked suspiciously.

“I know Hazel’s injured and all, but he will get better and that, Fiver has woken up!”

“He has? Well, how did he seem?” Blackberry asked.

“Quite oblivious to what had happened actually, he couldn’t remember anything, not even waking up at that time when we brought him back into the burrow.”

“You’re hoping that it means nothing is going to happen after all?” Blackberry suggested.

“Well you heard what Hazel said, men’s decisions change, they might have changed back.”

“I don’t think it is that simple,” Blackberry shook her head.

“What do you think then Campion?” Bigwig turned to his right.

Campion wound had started bleeding again and he was struggling to concentrate where he was going, “Sorry, I can’t really reply at the moment.”

“We are nearly here,” Blackberry was the first of them to go down the small tunnel that brought them around the boulder from the cave-in and into the path of the spring.

Blackberry approached the stream and cautiously tested its temperature with her paw.

“It’s reasonably warm from the heat today, go ahead.” Blackberry stepped aside.

Campion reluctantly submerged his face into the water, and the stinging of his cut reached its climax then the water started to soothe it.

He kept his head underwater, enjoying the easing of the pain and he slowly opened his eye to gaze around the underwater world.

What he saw next made him jump backwards out of the stream with a shocked cry and into Bigwig and Blackberry.

“Oy!” Bigwig shouted indignantly as he got sprayed with water.

“Eyes…red eyes.” Campion stuttered.

“Where?” Blackberry asked in surprise, looking around the rock walls.

“In the water,” Campion returned to the water’s edge and looked into its depths, remembering what he had seen.

Blackberry and Bigwig exchanged looks and Blackberry attempted to ease Campion back.

“It’s been a long day, we’d better get back to the burrow,” she said gently.

“I know what you are thinking, I’m not mad, I did see something!” Campion’s voice rose.

“Campion, mate come on.” Bigwig succeeded more than Blackberry at pulling Campion back.

“Okay, okay I’m coming.” He gave in and shook the water from his face.

“How do I look?” He turned to the other two.

“Apart from looking like a drowned rabbit,” Bigwig started smiling.

“Better,” Blackberry finished, “You don’t look so like the Black Rabbit anymore.”

Campion forced a smile.

 “Good.” But inside he wondered why that comment bothered him so.

Bigwig parted ways with them in the heart of the warren as they went their separate ways.

All the kittens were still asleep as the two rabbits lay down exhausted from the day’s emotional stress.

“This is going to sound terrible but….” Blackberry began hesitantly.

“But what?” Campion said gently.

“I’m glad it isn’t you that has the worst injury for once,” Blackberry replied quietly.

Campion didn’t know what to say to that. “I’m sorry,”

“Don’t be silly,” Blackberry said quickly. “How could you have meant for anything that happened to you to actually happen?”

Campion smiled and reached forward to nuzzle her, wincing when he did, “Ouch, not such a good idea.” He rubbed his nose with his paw.

“Don’t rub it you’ll make it worse,” Blackberry laughed quietly. She pulled his paws down.

“Night,” Campion replied, resting his head on his crossed paws.

“Night.”

Fiver was deeply disturbed at what he had been hearing from his friends. Had he really said that Watership Down was going to be destroyed? How could he have? Surely he would have remembered, he argued with himself.

He turned to Ivy who was sleeping at his side and he gently and gradually slipped away from the weight of her side.

He hoped that if he saw the down at night again it would jog his memory to what he had seen before, though by how the others had said he had described it he shouldn’t want to repeat that experience.

Campion could not sleep, try as he might he remained awake staring at the dark walls and he knew that it wasn’t his injury that was preventing him from resting.

He decided there was only one thing for it. He abruptly rose and exited the burrow oblivious to the fact that Blackberry had been watching his restlessness.

She watched him go with confusion and making up her mind quickly, followed him.

Campion hadn’t counted on Bigwig having guards at the very entrance to the warren, completely extinguishing the idea of an easy leave.

He turned and headed down to one of the slack runs that would bring him to the very foot of the back of the down, and when he thought about it, this suited his needs a lot more adequately.

Blackberry quickly slid back into the shadows as she saw Campion head back down the moonlit run into one of the unused ones.

Her curiosity was mounting with her slight suspicion at what her mate was doing out alone in the middle of the night.

It didn’t take Campion long to scent out Hemlock and the rest of his gang somewhere near the edge of the wood. He hadn’t realised they were so close to the warren and he was left wondering why none of his and Bigwig’s patrol had found them.

He sat down on the soft bed of pines and started to tackle the problem of how he was supposed to get Hemlock on his own away from his cronies.

The problem didn’t remain with him for long thought as he heard Hemlock scream into the night,        “Go all of you, I told you to stay out on patrol onto you find one that’s suitable!”

Campion drew back as he heard the sound of approaching feet, the small patrol of rabbits consisted of Dogwood, another brown, a grey and two cream ones.

After they had gone, Campion heard the sound of Hemlock’s rattled breathing and he decided it was time.

Taking a deep breath he was just about to step forward when he heard his name being called quietly from behind.

“Fiver?!” He exclaimed in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Earlier today, I just came out here to……. see if I could relieve any memories of my vision, no luck.”

“Maybe it’s a good thing you don’t; after all you took it very badly.”
“Yes,” Fiver nodded,” that’s what Blackberry and Ivy said.”

“There’s some truth to it,” Campion told him.

“Am… what were you doing out here on your own anyways?”

Campion hesitated before telling him in a rush, not sure how he would take it.

“I know it isn’t a foolproof plan….” Campion started.

“Campion, it’s mad!” Fiver shouted. “It’s a suicide mission!”

Campion was shocked at timid Fiver shouting at him, “Hey, you know he’s going to get to the warren in some other way eventually, that’s if it isn’t destroyed before them.”

“Still Campion, you know, besides the point that I don’t want you to go off and get killed, Blackberry, and Hazel also when he is better will strangle me for letting you go.”

“Fiver I promise you, if I think there is a real threat I’ll leave immediately, you know Hemlock isn’t as fast as me, he’s too heavy.” Campion almost begged for his younger brother to give in.

Fiver thought for a while, “I can’t see any dangers ahead for you, but that may be because my inner vision is weakening….” Fiver sighed.

Campion sensed his weakness and took his opportunity, “I’ll see you back at the warren Fiver.”

He left before Fiver could say another word, determined that he must to this.

“Hemlock, I need to talk to you,” Campion said as calmly as he could restrain himself.

“Who’s there?” The leader said quickly.

“It’s Campion, we had a chat earlier this night, if you remember?” Campion was surprised to find himself coming across as cocky.

“Oh, do you want to embrace your death?” Hemlock growled in his throat.

“No, I have just come to talk to you, about a subject you seemed pretty interested in earlier.”

“Which is?” Hemlock abruptly stopped his advance.

“Woundwort.”

He was ready for the lunge by the chief and got out of the way just in time.

“Do you want to hear this or not?! I can’t tell you if I’m died!” Campion said angrily.

“Right, hurry up and start talking.”

“I have to make a deal with you first and I want your word as a warren chief that you will stick by your word.”

Blackberry grew more and more anxious that something was seriously wrong when she saw Fiver and Campion arguing at the edge of the wood, and finally Campion departing leaving Fiver stunned and speechless.

She strained her eyes and saw Fiver making his way at a great speed up the down. But she made it there before him.”

“Right Fiver, stop! What happened down there?!”

Fiver panted heavily and looked up into Blackberry’s eyes, “I might have allowed something terrible to happen.”

Campion slowly departed the woods, his mind reeling and full of unanswered questions.

He had left Hemlock speechless from the tales of Woundwort’s life and how it had affected all the rabbits on the Down as well as the Redstone and the Efrafan rabbits.

He held some hope in his heart that Hemlock had more good in him than Woundwort had and stick by his deal, but that would remain unclear until the foreseeable future when Hemlock would have a chance to strike again.

Campion saw dawn breaking as he was nearing the top of the hill and hoped that Blackberry had not saw him leave.

He noticed with concern that it was quieter than usual on the down and that there was no security on the down let alone the latest extra security measures.

He easily found everyone in the Honeycomb. They were all gathered round a figure in the middle, which he recognised to be Fiver, he even saw Hazel beside him.

“What is it, what’s happened?!” Campion exclaimed.

“I’m sorry Campion I’m so sorry,” Fiver sobbed.

Campion was disturbed to see him crying, “What?”

Bigwig was the only one to break the silence, as the rest just continued to stare at Fiver as if not taking it in fully.

“It’s Blackberry, she’s gone as well as Clover, Primrose, Ivy and Spartina,” Bigwig said heavily.

“Gone, gone…? How do you mean gone? Where have they gone?!” Campion shouted.

“Just gone.”