---

Late afternoon, under the watchful eye of Frith

Hazel's group reached a secluded area at the bottom of a steep hill, finally getting them out of the sun. It was a particularly hot day and they'd been moving since before Frith's rise, something the weakest of the group hadn't stopped complaining about all morning.

"I'm exhausted!" panted Vervain, collapsing to the ground in a heap. Hazel didn't seem to pay any attention to it.

"Shall Bark carry Vervain?" asked Bark. Vervain squeaked, as he still hadn't quite warmed to the idea of a badger in the group, "Er... no, no I'll be fine in a moment!"

"Still no other traces of her scent.... but that doesn't mean anything. We're bound to find something soon, come on," Hazel said, bounding on ahead slightly to where some bushes lined the edge of the small area.

"We should take a break for a bit. We've been moving all day. Keeping those other rabbits off our tracks is hard work," replied Bigwig.

"Good idea. We'll take a short break, then continue looking," nodded Hazel in agreement, continuing to sniff in some bushes. Whether he meant continue looking for everyone else, or just continue looking for Primrose, Bigwig wasn't sure. He knew the chief rabbit's feelings for her had always caused him to act strangely, and secretly vowed to himself again never to let his judgement be affected by any doe.

"So much for not getting his hopes up too high," he muttered to himself.

"I can't see why he keeps talking about her so much," said Quizzle. Hazel didn't appear to hear them, too busy lost in his own thoughts.

"Me neither, no" replied Rutzy.

"Never saw me act this way about Mussel,"

"Mussel?" interrupted Bigwig.

"Mussel was Quizzle's mate," replied Rutzy.

"He was mine. I loved him,"

"Pretty little squirrel he was."

"Yes he was,"

"He loved her too!"

"Poor squirrel must have been out of his mind," muttered Vervain to Campion.

"So where did he..." started Bigwig, before being interrupted by Rutzy.

"Cat got him though,"

"Nasty looking thing,"

"She was!"

"Yes, she was, " agreed Quizzle, nodding to Rutzy. It was fairly clear to all present retelling this story wasn't upsetting the squirrels in the slightest.

"I wasn't there at the time," said Rutzy.

"She wasn't!"

"But I heard."

"Thought he was silent."

"He did think that yes."

"Cat still heard!"

"He was very brave though,"

"Brave but silly."

The two of them nodded again, as Bigwig turned to Quizzle.

"Do they always talk this much?" whispered Wintercress to Campion.

"Always!" came the reply, with a grin.

"When you say the cat heard, um, were you by any chance there at the time too?" he asked.

"Yes, yes I was." replied Quizzle.

"That explains a lot," finished Bigwig, before walking off to investigate the area further with Hazel. His mind was off resting now too.

*************

The Grand Chamber, New Hyfran Warren

Hawkbit groaned and shook the mud from his ears as he entered the warren. To any other rabbit the warren would have appeared as good as finished, yet Woundwort had this strange policy of keeping them all digging anyway. 'Just shifting the soil around' as he put it. He passed Dandelion in the centre of the Grand Chamber, who was heading off in the other direction, and slowed to cast him a knowing smile. He couldn't do anything more than that, as the two of them were being keenly watched by one of the guards to make sure they only passed one another, and didn't start discussing things. The guard moved over and was about to shove Hawkbit along a little faster, when suddenly he heard a sound of something collapsing nearby. Without hesitation he ran across to where Honeysuckle and Harebell were busy scrabbling about in the dirt outside the hidden tunnel and trying to pretend they'd heard nothing.

"What was that noise?" he growled.

"Sorry, I just slipped and knocked down some dirt. It wont happen again sir," replied Honeysuckle.

"It was very loud for such a small amount," continued the guard sniffing around suspiciously, "And I thought there were three of you working this section. Where's the other doe?" Blackberry, who had been digging in the tunnel when a small bit had fallen, lowered her breathing to become almost silent as the guard moved past outside, however it was no use. He already suspected something was out of place now and wasn't going to move until he found out what.

"He's going to find it!" started Hawkbit to Dandelion as they watched the guard searching.

"Whatever will we do Hawkbit?" came the reply.

"Are you going to tell me, or do I have to make you tell me?" growled the guard angrily.

Harebell found herself unable to reply from the terror, not caused by what the guard was saying, but by the fact his back feet were kicking very close to the weak part of the false wall.

"Ow!" yelped Dandelion across the other side of the room, as Hawkbit suddenly struck him on the face.

"What in Frith's name was that fo..." he started, before being interrupted by Hawkbit.

"I'm Woundwort's favourite!" he shouted angrily, secretly winking at Dandelion. Dandelion paused for a second, before giving a knowing smile and replying.

"No you're not, I am," he shouted back, before angrily pouncing on Hawkbit. They had only been rolling around for a matter of seconds when Hawkbit felt the guard knock him to one side.

"I will have none of this on my watch!" growled the guard.

"Well he started it!" squeaked Dandelion.

"Did not!" snorted Hawkbit.

"Silence, or else you'll both be placed under arrest."

Hawkbit took one last look at the guard, before two of them both walked off in seperate directions, still grumbling to themselves.

"Those two weren't plotting again, were they?" started Woundwort, appearing on the platform above. No one knew how long he'd been standing there listening.

"No sir, fighting. They've been warned," came the reply.

Woundwort smiled, "Excellent. They're fighting amongst themselves now. Carry on with your duties,"

"Yes sir!" nodded the guard, as Blackberry crept out from the tunnel entrance just out of sight and quickly covered it again. She paused for a second before sighing.

"They're getting nearer each time. It's only a matter of time before they find it,"

"What are we going to do?" squeaked Clover.

"We can't just give up," replied Honeysuckle.

"We're most of the way through, and we could come up now with very little digging, though we're nowhere near as clear of the warren as I'd like us to be. It'll be a really hard run, but if we can slip into the tunnel without alerting the guards inside, most of us should be able to escape."

"Should? We need to be more certain than should," said Honeysuckle, her voice dying down at the end as the guard walked past, instinctively causing them all to cower.

"I don't think we have any time to be more certain. Spread the word round the warren. We make a run for it when the moon is above us!"

*************

Early evening, back with Hazel's group

"Shh... another patrol of rabbits," whispered Bigwig, as they all crouched down in the long grass, having now moved on from their brief stopoff at the bottom of the hill. There were four of them, two a light brown in colour, one a darker brown and the other, who appeared to be the leader, a grey colour. The other rabbits paused to sniff the air cautiously.

"There's a badger somewhere close," whispered the dark brown one, though Hazel's group couldn't have heard them.

"Stay alert everyone," ordered the grey one. They all silently nodded to one another before the grey rabbit signalled them to continuing moving.

"That's the third one since Frith appeared in the sky. We must be getting close," replied Campion, keeping his voice down low.

"I really think we should just go and talk to them. Bark's scent may be masking us for now, but now that there's hrair of us, we can't keep hiding forever," said Hazel as the other rabbits began to move off, "It would be the quickest option."

"No. Not until I have a better idea of who we're dealing with first. For all we know this warren might kill us before we say a word," replied Bigwig.

"I don't think we'd have much trouble. We outnumber them and we have Bark,"

"Maybe we outnumber this group, but remember those foxes were fearful of this warren, so clearly they have some strength behind them,"

"I...I agree," stuttered Vervain, "We should get to know everything first. It never failed us on patrols in Efrafa."

"Vervain, if we'd followed your orders of waiting all the time on Efrafan patrols, we'd still be exploring the warren entrance," said Campion with a smirk.

"That's not true. I came out of that entrance all the time," argued Vervain.

"And went straight back into it half the time if it was raining... or Frith was smiling too brightly... or you stepped on a pebble," pointed out Campion.

"They may be hostile, so if there's a chance we may have to fight them at some point it makes sense to learn all we can about them first," whispered Bigwig to Hazel as Campion and Vervain continued to argue with each other.

"Bigwig's just been itching for a fight for days now. He's the sort who misses it I think," whispered Hannah to Kehaar.

"Ya, Beegweeg one mad rabbit sometime," replied Kehaar as quietly as he could manage, which was still loud enough for Bigwig to hear. Bigwig just chuckled to the gull, half taking it as a compliment.

Soon, in Woundwort's sleeping chamber

Woundwort opened one eye, as something disturbed his deep sleep. The moon had just appeared in the sky, which was an odd time for the guards to be bringing in a new prisoner, but bringing one in they were, and judging from the amount of chattering quickly spreading throughout the warren, it had to someone important. In an instant he was up, and standing looking out over the gathering place. His eyes opened wide with disbelief as a familar grey rabbit was dragged in by the guards.

"Bigwig!?" he started.

"Oh they told you my name. I am a wanderer and a warrior looking for a chief who will appreciate my talents," replied Bigwig.

Woundwort paused for a second, then groaned.

"Oh, not this again," he grumbled. The General had long since become accutely conscious of this particular dream, and now didn't even go along with the dialogue.

"I come from Sandleford Warren. A long journey sir, on the pat..." continued Bigwig as Woundwort walked off disregarding him. Where exactly he was to walk to, given he already knew there was nowhere to hide in a dream, he hadn't actually thought about, but he didn't care as he turned to the shadows. He'd seen and heard this all before. As he walked though, a new voice suddenly rang out from the darkness. Somehow he knew he recognised it, but just couldn't say who it was.

"Sandleford will fall to the Black Rabbit one day soon, for Frith has already sealed its fate, just as he has sealed ours,"

Suddenly the General's eyes shot wide open and he involuntarily let out a yelp, as he woke abruptly from his dream.

"Sir, is there a problem, sir?" snapped a guard, as two of them appeared at the entrance upon hearing the sound.

"Fetch me the seer immediately!" Woundwort growled back, at which the two guards ran off. Woundwort paced around nervously in the room for what seemed like hours running over thoughts in his head, before he finally heard the sound of his rabbits returning. They dragged Fiver in, and dropped him clumsily in a heap on the floor. Woundwort paused for a few seconds before speaking.

"It's about time you got here," he grumbled. The two guards, knowing the General was not in the best of moods, were already standing by the door, though didn't dare to leave without orders to do so.

"You could have just asked me you know," said Fiver, standing up and dusting himself down.

"Bah, no time for that now. I need answers," replied Woundwort, waving a paw to dismiss the attending officers, neither of whom hesitated for a second longer before leaving.

"I have told you all I will about your dreams Woundwort. What you do with that is your choice," said Fiver.

"No, I need answers about something else," continued Woundwort, turning away from Fiver to stare at the walls.

"Something else?" asked Fiver.

"Yes. Tell me about your home warren,"

Fiver paused for a second trying to figure out what the General was up to, before replying.

"Watership Down was a wonderful place. Much better than anything you could ever create, as it was based on freedom. No..."

"No, I mean before Watership Down. The place you were born!" growled Woundwort.

Fiver blinked, and for the first time in a long time actually looked confused about something, "Sandleford?"

"So Bigwig didn't lie," muttered Woundwort under his breath, before turning back to Fiver, "Tell me everything you know about that place, and quickly,"

"Sandleford was destroyed by man seasons ago. We're all that's left of it now," started Fiver, "Why the sudden interest?"

"I ask the questions and you'll answer them! Now talk!" shouted Woundwort.

Despite the threatening tone on the General's voice, Fiver remained silent. His patience already exhausted Woundwort leapt close to him growling angrily. It was then that he saw the glazed look over Fiver's eyes...

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the warren

Hawkbit paced back and forward nervously as they waited by the tunnel entrance, which was still covered by a thin wall of soil. Suddenly he froze as another rabbit leapt down to join them, but relaxed again upon seeing the face of Gooseberry. He was panting heavily, "I only just managed to clear the guards there!"

"We have to go, now," started Hawkbit, heading for the tunnel first. By now, a rather large group consisting of Harebell, Honeysuckle, Blackberry, Dandelion, Hawkbit, Gooseberry, Flax and Clover had assembled. They had wanted more, but just to assemble that many rabbits without being spotted had been nigh on impossible. As well as that, getting many of the Redstone rabbits to join had proved problematic. Without Hickory leading them anymore, it hadn't taken long for most of them to revert to the ideal of Cowslip's Warren that it was their destiny to live in fear. Still, the plan was to get those they could out, where they could form up a plan to fight back against Woundwort to save the rest. The kittens would be okay, as despite his threats Woundwort didn't appear to be a total brute towards the young, and he definitely had a softspot for Pipkin. Captain Broom, though a good fighter, wasn't as nimble on his feet when it came to running anymore, so would only slow down any escape. Indeed, there was only one other especially needed rabbit missing...

"No! We must wait for Fiver," replied Blackberry.

"They'll be changing guards any moment and we'll be found out. You can't make this many rabbits vanish for long without someone noticing. We'll have to come back for him like the rest," said Hawkbit, growing impatient. Though he cared about Fiver too, he certainly didn't want to be caught by Woundwort trying to escape again. Something gave him the cheering impression Woundwort didn't quite like him.

"He had to go in a hurry, but he'll be here. We won't survive a moon without him to warn us of danger," replied Blackberry.

At that moment they heard a loud cry from somewhere deep within the warren. It echoed throughout the grand chamber as well as every run, causing most of the guards to glance in the direction of the sound too.

"Fiver!! What is that monster doing to him?!" said Dandelion, desperately resisting the urge to shout out loud.

"It sounds like a vision," replied Clover.

"The darkness is within though you cannot see how, the Black Rabbit comes for those fleeing now," came Fiver's voice, ringing out in a loud cry.

"What's he doing?" started Dandelion.

"Fleeing now?! Call the Owsla!" roared Woundwort, his becoming louder as he ran towards the meeting place.

"Just run, now!" shouted Hawkbit, charging through the thin wall and sending soil flying everywhere.

"Runner, runner!" shouted one of the guards, spotting the group as the first of them vanished into the tunnel. Almost instantly the place was swarming with guards.

"Go. We'll try and slow them down as long as possible!" shouted Dandelion, indicating to himself and Gooseberry. Clover nodded before following the rest of the does out.

"You lot go that way," find where it comes out and head them off, shouted Woundwort, knocking Dandelion aside like he wasn't even there. Gooseberry managed to block the entrance for only a few more seconds, before Woundwort ordered the other half of his army in the tunnel. He'd have led himself, but soon realised his size had its disadvantages, so turned with a growl to join the group he'd sent the other way.

*************

At the far end of the tunnel

The guards persuing the Watership escapees hadn't had much luck in stopping them. Though they could run faster and were stronger, due to their military training, the narrow nature of the tunnel meant they could do little more than bite at tails, something Clover, who was at the rear of the party, was acutely aware of. Though she had managed to get her own back, when she had to kick the lead guard back once, whilst Hawkbit dug through the last foot or so of soil. It was the only time anyone could recall the buck working fast and not complaining about digging.

"There, we're through!" he shouted, as the moonlight shone down into the tunnel where he broke through onto the surface. Without any hesitation, Hawkbit leapt out. They were just past the top of the hill outside the warren, overlooking another steep embankment, which Hawkbit began to move along. Blackberry followed a few seconds behind him, before suddenly finding her way blocked by the hulking form of Woundwort between herself and Hawkbit.

"That's as far as you go!" he shouted. She was about to call out to run, but soon realised it was useless as they were surrounded by both groups of guards.

'Oh great," thought Hawkbit to himself, 'Trust me to be the one at the front!'

"Did you really think you could run from Woundwort that easily?" snarled Woundwort angrily to the group.

"Oh no, no of course not. We're just out on a nice stroll under the moon. We thought we'd look at few of the flowers along the way," replied Hawkbit. He already guessed he'd be expected to take all the blame for this, given he was at the front, so couldn't see how his usual cocky responses could make things any worse.

"As for you," started Woundwort turning back to Hawkbit as he spoke, "This time I will deal with you properly, like I should have done a long time ago"

"Ooh, are you sure I'm deserving?" smiled Hawkbit.

Woundwort growled and slashed his claws hard across Hawkbit's face just missing his eye, before digging his teeth into his neck. Hawkbit cried out in pain and tried desperately to fight back, but was clearly no match for the General. As the blood trickled down over his face, Hawkbit finally managed to wriggle free from Woundwort's grasp, but could feel his strength failing him.

"You've crossed Woundwort for the last time," Woundwort growled, slamming into Hawkbit, and sending him flying down the embankment, his body too limp to put up any resistance as he fell.

"Hawkbit!" shouted Honeysuckle, as everyone else watched. Woundwort growled and watched for a second for any signs of life, before turning back to face everyone else.

"From now on every rabbit from the Watership warren is to be placed under full arrest. They will be confined to quarters until further notice. Any silflay rations will be brought to them. The Redstone rabbits are to be kept under watch, but for now remain under the normal work schedule. If anyone argues with this, or steps out of line once, they are to be sent to the Black Rabbit immediately!" snarled Woundwort. He was quite clearly not in the mood for compromises.

"Sir, Do we have enough rabbits to do that?" said one of the captains. Woundwort just snarled at him, resulting in a very hasty, "Yes sir!" reply.

"I... I'm sorry," sighed Fiver, barely breathing the words, as the Watership rabbits were herded back towards the warren.