---

The edge of a small patch of woodland

Bigwig reached the edge of the woodland first, now leading the group after the temporary departure of Hazel. It was a fairly small patch of woodland, but it had offered them some much needed shade from the sun for a short while. Bigwig peered out first, sniffing the area for any signs of danger.

"Do you smell anything?" asked Campion.

"I can smell some rabbit passed through here recently... but I don't recognise who," replied Bigwig. As he sniffed, Vervain stepped on a twig, jumping forward as it snapped and banging into Bigwig from behind. The Owsla captain growled and swung round.

"Can't you watch where you're going?" he shouted.

"I didn't mean to," squeaked Vervain, cowering.

"That's your problem. You don't mean to do anything, but it doesn't stop you from still doing it," continued Campion.

"We're only telling you this because we care. If you make too much noise, it'll attract elil, and you might be hurt," continued Bigwig.

Vervain, lifted his head a little and smiled, "Really? You care?"

Bigwig turned away and grinned at Campion. Humouring Vervain was such fun.

Soon...

All of a sudden Vervain squeaked, "Bigwig!" before running up to the grey rabbit.

"Oh, what is it this time Vervain?" sighed Bigwig, rolling his eyes.

"Probably stepped on a long piece of grass again," added Campion.

"I... I'm sure I heard something," whimpered Vervain, swinging his head around in all directions nervously.

"We all did! You! Now stop your quivering before I put you out for the Owls," said Bigwig angrily.

"Owls? Th...there are owls about. B... but it's only daytime,"

Both Campion and Bigwig sighed deeply.

"You're hopeless, you know that!" shouted Campion.

"W...why doesn't anyone believe me?" squeaked Vervain.

"Because you're a lieing, cheating, backclawing, sorry excuse for a rabbit!" shouted Bigwig. He growled at the black rabbit, advancing on him.

"Bigwig?" questioned Campion. Although they were both giving Vervain a hard time, even Campion was surprised by the slightly more vicious tone Bigwig had suddenly taken on. Clearly, Vervain's whining had pushed him too far, as he snarled. Vervain slowly backed away, whimpering in fear. Suddenly Bigwig raised his paw threatening to strike Vervain. Although he had no intention to do anything other than to scare the cowardly black rabbit a little, Vervain squeaked and bolted.

"Do you really think that was a good idea?" asked Campion, as Vervain vanished into the bushes.

Bigwig sighed at himself, slightly disappointed with managing to lose his temper again, "Probably not, but I've had just about all I can take from that rabbit,"

"Seems more nasty than normal from you," started Quizzle.

"It does, Quizzle!" continued Rutzy.

"Yes, it does. He seemed such a nice rabbit. A bit ugly, but nice enough,"

"Ugly, but nice. Said too much sometimes too!"

"He did yes. Always complaining!"

"Complaining, yes!"

"Not enough reason to be so nasty to him though."

"Not at all."

"No it isn't," finished Quizzle.

"There's a lot of past you two don't know about," sighed Bigwig. Partly agreeing with them in his head, but not wishing to admit it out loud.

"Should we go after him?" started Campion.

"What for?" asked Hannah, "Good riddance!"

"I'd normally agree... but you know what Hazel said," continued Campion.

Bigwig paused for a second, before shaking his head and continuing, "Hazel told us not to kill him. We didn't! If he decided to run off, then that's completely different. Come on!"

Without any further hesitation, Bigwig continued walking forward, everyone else following close behind.

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

Early Afternoon

"So how much further is it to this orchard?" asked Wintercress.

Hazel looked around, "Not much further. We should be there long before Frith is low in the sky,"

The two of them had been travelling all through the night, not stopping to rest often which had allowed them to make good ground. It was much easier to trace their way back than it had been to travel out in the first place.

"And you really think she'll help us?" said Wintercress.

"Yes. You've been asking that all night," smiled Hazel, "I'm sure she'll help. She's a friend to us rabbits,"

Wintercress smiled nervously as they continued. Despite Hazel's assurances, he still couldn't quite accept the solution to a badger problem was to bring in another badger.

Meanwhile

Bigwig snorted at a patch of disturbed grass, recognising the familiar scent of elil. The group itself had had a strange silence over it since Vervain's departure. Quizzle and Rutzy still thought Bigwig had been too hard, Hannah and Kehaar thought he hadn't been hard enough whilst Bigwig wasn't thinking about Vervain at all; his mind being more concerned about Hazel. He was about to speak when Campion interrupted, "Shhh..." he whispered, "Did you hear something?"

Bigwig sighed in agreement.

"I thought the coward wouldn't stay away for long. Perhaps it'll have knocked some sense into him," he whispered.

"I doubt it. Woundwort tried for seasons and nothing ever worked," replied Campion.

"Should have tried standing him on an acorn. It always helps clear our minds of silly thoughts," smiled Quizzle.

"There aren't too many thoughts to be cleared from you two," muttered Bigwig to himself.

"We did used to do that. Very therapeutic too," continued Rutzy.

"It is, Rutzy!"

"Yes, it is!"

"Unless you fall off one. Did that once and banged my head,"

"You couldn't walk straight for 2 moons afterwards,"

"I thought it was 3 moons,"

"Oh yes it was!"

"It was, I thought it was." said Quizzle. They continued to talk amongst themselves, however with a sigh Bigwig gave up and ran over to the nearby bushes where the noise had come from.

"Right Vervain, out you get before I slap your ears for you. Running off like an idiot! What di..." He got no further as a white paw reached out from the bushes and grabbed hold of his ears.

"Who are you threatening?" started a fox lifting Bigwig off the ground by his ears.

"Homba! Scatter!!" he squeaked, trying in vain to kick her.

Despite his order, Campion automatically charged forward to attack, but found his path blocked by another fox. Sure enough, the group was surrounded. Quizzle and Rutzy both squeaked and dashed to get away, but also found their paths blocked. One of the foxes who'd intercepted them picked up Quizzle by her tail and dangled her in front of his nose, "And just where are you going, eh?" he smiled.

"No Oranen," shouted the first fox, who now had Bigwig pinned underneath her, "We don't know what they're up to with these other animals, so we'd better keep them all alive for now. Let's get them back to the base,"

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

Late Afternoon, near the Orchard.

Hazel and Wintercress could smell the scent of the leaves, the trees of the Orchard having just come into sight, as well as smelling the scent of badger. Wintercress hesitated again, looking around.

"It still feels strange Hazel. We're happily walking into badger territory. It almost feels like walking into the lair of the Black Rabbit of Inlé," he finished.

"Once you meet Bark, you'll soon realise she's one of the friendliest badgers you could ever know, if a touch overenthusiastic at times," replied Hazel, chuckling to himself. He'd already advised Wintercress to try not to be afraid of her if she grabbed hold of him, as it would only be in a friendly gesture.

"I'll believe you if you say so though," said Wintercress, trying to make himself look less nervous.

"Well, now's your chance to find out. Here we are," said Hazel, reaching the edge of the Orchard. The trees themselves weren't ripe with fruit yet, however were still covered in enough leaves to offer ample shade from the sun.

"Bark?" shouted Hazel. He did worry he might be waking her from a deep sleep, and would not normally have been so rude, but this was an emergency, "Are you there?"

"Waking sleeping badgers? I never thought I'd see the day," said Wintercress quietly, smiling nervously at the scent of badger that filled the whole area. At first there was no reply, but as he moved nearer to the entrance to her sett, the familiar sound of her snuffling about was heard.

"Who there?" she started, poking her snout out and sniffing the air.

"It's me Bark. Hazel!"

"Hazel?" started Bark, poking the rest of her head out before smiling and coming out fully, "Bark very happy to see you!"

Hazel tried not to cringe as she stroked her claw down his back affectionately, almost breaking it with how hard she pressed down.

"And who this?" she continued, looking at Wintercress, who continued to smile nervously.

"A friend of ours. Wintercress. He..." started Hazel, before Bark interrupted, grabbing hold of the startled buck and hugging him, "Any friend of Hazel is friend of Bark."

Letting go of Wintercress again, much to his relief, she turned back to Hazel, "And where is Fiver? He not with you?"

Hazel sighed before continuing, "I'm afraid not. It's a long story Bark,"

"Then you come in and tell Bark story," she finished picking them both up effortlessly and carrying them underground.

"It's best not to argue. Don't worry, we'll be fine," whispered Hazel, smiling in an attempt to reassure Wintercress.

Meanwhile, some distance away.

"There's something not quite right about them," started Bigwig.

"I know. Why did they throw us in here instead of just killing us. It's not foxlike behaviour at all," replied Campion, looking around. After being taken captive by the bunch of foxes, they had all been taken back to a strange open area with a small cave at the edge, which appeared to be some sort of base for the fox group. They now resided inside the small cavelike structure; a could place, in almost total darkness, with the only entrance being blocked by a large stone.

"Is thinking maybe they not smart foxies," continued Kehaar.

"They know more than they're letting on Kehaar," said Hannah from on his back.

"You rabbits seem to have a lot of enemies, don't you?" started Quizzle.

"You do. Lots!" continued Rutzy.

Bigwig quietly recited the famous line of Frith to El-ahrairah in his head as the two squirrels continued to talk to one another.

"...sometimes wonder if it's the ears," said Quizzle, before she was interrupted by the sound of someone shifting the rock.

Everyone cowered back as four foxes entered, all of them having been in the party which captured them earlier.

"What do you want from us?" shouted Bigwig, standing forward.

"Quiet longear. We want information from you about the Zornthennion structure, and you are only to speak when we say," replied one of the foxes. It was the same vixen who had originally caught Bigwig, and it was clearly her who led the whole group. Bigwig snorted and stood forward.

"We're not going to tell you anything, even if we did know what it is we're supposed to know," replied Bigwig.

The leading fox growled at him, pushing him back a little, "You will speak what we want, or we'll kill you,"

"It sounds like you plan to kill us anyway, so I don't see what difference it'd make," snorted Campion.

"You'd better show some respect to Retissa," growled one of the other foxes angrily, "It's by her will alone you're still alive,"

"Leave it Saylas," replied the vixen, "They'll learn soon enough. Now first things first. Tell us the weaknesses on your warren,"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but we don't exactly have a warren just now," replied Campion.

"And even if we did chum, your sort wouldn't be welcome," continued Bigwig. With a growl the vixen struck Bigwig across the face.

"Liar!"

Bigwig snarled and jumped at her to attack, but within seconds found himself overpowered and pinned to the ground by one of the other foxes.

"Look if you must know..." started Campion, interrupting the leader of the group in an attempt to placate her as she raised her paw to strike Bigwig hard, "We're on our way out here to find our friends. They were taken captive by a mad black rabbit called Woundwort, and now we're just trying to get them back. Okay,"

"Rubbish!" replied the vixen, "Your warren is alive and well, and has been for seasons. Some of us were attacked there just this morning,"

One of the others let out a yelp as Kehaar snapped at him with his beak, before growling and jumping at him restraining the easily irritable gull, a task which had been made much simpler once they'd all found out about the weakness in his wing.

"And since when does your lot need non-rabbits to help?" asked another of the foxes.

"I guess the warren must be weakening these days. What an excellent chance," continued the leader, smiling.

"Not very friendly are you?" started Quizzle.

"They aren't no" continued Rutzy.

"Not like rabb..." said Quizzle, before being interrupted by the vixen snapping her jaw only a few inches away from her. She squeaked and quickly hid behind Bigwig.

"Hey, leave the squirrels alone, or you'll have me to deal with," growled Bigwig.

Several of the foxes started laughing, before Retissa spoke, "If you don't tell us what we want to know soon, I'd say you should be more worried for yourself."

"Look, we don't know what you're talking about, but if it involves a warren which has been here for a while, it's nothing to do with us. Now if you aren't going to kill us, can we go?" sighed Bigwig, looking almost as impatient as the foxes.

"You'd better hope for your sake your chief is a bit more co-operative before the sun is low in the sky. If not..." said Retissa, before flexing her claws threateningly.

"Come on!" she shouted, "Seal the rocks to keep them in and place guards at the door," she finished, before turning to leave, the others following.

"Y...you mean we don't get to kill them?" asked one of the other foxes, gasping in amazement.

"No Oranen. We wait for now. They're much more valuable to us alive than dead... for now," she finished, as two of the foxes rolled a large rock across the entrance, plunging their prison into darkness.

"We've got to get out of here fast," started Bigwig, "This can't be our bunch of rabbits they're talking about, and by the sounds of things, if the other warren doesn't come to our rescue, we'll be in even deeper trouble,"

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

Late evening, just outside Wintercress' warren

"There he is," whispered Wintercress seeing the badger in a small clearing, "He hasn't got our scent,"

"Let's not wait until he does then," continued Hazel, crawling silently for the warren entrance.

The young badger sniffed around at the ground, before raising his head and looking behind him. "Odd. Smells like badger!" Hazel and Bigwig used his momentary distraction to slip back into the warren unseen, whilst Bark hung back out of sight. She was clearly too big to fit into the warren.

"Wintercress," shouted one of his rabbits as he came in, "You're back!"

"We never thought we'd see you again!" continued another of the small band that made up his warren.

"You can't get rid of me that easily," smiled Wintercress, greeting them happily.

"And you brought Hazel with you. Oh thank Frith!"

"Yes, and he has a plan... albeit an usual one," replied Wintercress, before beginning to explain what they had already arranged with Bark for that night.

Meanwhile at The Cave

Bigwig let out a large sigh as he collapsed against the rock. What with himself and Campion being the only two with any significant strength, all efforts to move the rock blocking the cave had failed.

"Is no good Bigwig. We try everything!" said Kehaar.

Bigwig scratched at the stone floor under his feet. "We can't dig our way out, none of the rocks shift, and there seems to be no way we can open this door. I guess there's no other choice. We're just going to have to wait until they let us out, and fight our way out!"

"We'll never beat back that many foxes Bigwig," replied Campion. Bigwig sighed again, as he knew Campion was right, but put on a brave face.

"We can fight off anyone!"

At that moment they were interrupted by the sound of the rock shifting again. A red glow crept in as it shifted, indicating to all those present it was now evening, before the foxes came in.

"Get outside! We're overdue your friends!" growled Retissa, as the other foxes started pushing out the prisoners.

"We keep telling you, we have nothing to do with this warren you're talking about!" replied Bigwig, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.

As soon as they were out into the clearing immediately outside the cave, Retissa stopped and turned round, addressing all those present.

"Their so-called great warren is clearly nothing but a bunch of cowards. We'll eat tonight, and scatter their remains around the warren! Let that be a warning to them all," she shouted, rousing cheering from the other foxes.

"Start with the mouse first!" she ordered. One of the foxes jumped forward, but found his path blocked by the snarling form of Bigwig.

"To get to her, you'll have to go through me!"

"As you wish!" shouted Retissa, indicating again. Two of the foxes jumped forward and, despite Bigwig's best efforts, within seconds they had him pinned down.

"When will you longears learn, you can't fight us!" she growled, advancing slowly and lifting one paw in the air to strike him hard.

"Wait!" squeaked a voice suddenly. Retissa stopped, wavering her claw in the air and looked around at the source of the surprise noise. At first there was nothing to be seen, but then a small black rabbit hobbled out from the cover of the bushes.

"It...it's Vervain!" said Bigwig.

"Vervain? It can't be. He'll be a long distance away cowering under a log by now?" replied Campion, as Vervain hopped across to the foxes gingerly.

"No, it looks like him! He doesn't have a braver and even stupider twin, does he?" said Bigwig, looking across. Although Vervain wasn't exactly running out to greet the foxes, he was doing a good job of hiding any fear.

"What is he doing?" whispered Bigwig.

"You can't eat them," continued Vervain loudly.

The foxes stood and stared blankly at the rabbit for a few seconds, not quite understanding what this mad creature was up to, before finally bursting into laughter.

"And who are you? Did the chief send you?" asked Retissa, silencing her laughing group with a wave of her paw.

"No, I...er... escaped from the warren.  I was a prisoner there for many seasons," replied Vervain.

"I escaped to warn you, you mustn't kill them,"

"Oh, and why not?" smirked Retissa.

"Because that's what the chief wants. The chief wants to kill you all,"

"Kill us all?"

"Not if we kill them first!" growled one of the other foxes, moving towards the group. Retissa put a paw out to block his path.

"Calm down Oranen. There's no way this lot of longears could kill us,"

Vervain paused, before moving closer to whisper in her ear, amazingly showing no sign of the fear which so defined his character, "There is, just not as you think. The chief actually wants you to kill them. They're all infected with a sickness that harms all other animals."

"A Sickness?" shouted Retissa, grabbing the attention of everyone present. Vervain looked around, before nodding. She looked at the rabbits, hesitating for a second, before her head at Vervain.

"Ridiculous! If this was true, why would she let you tell us this?" she said laughing.

"She?" asked Vervain in surprise.

"Your chief!" growled Retissa.

"Oh her, of course. Well, I shouldn't be. You see I have the illness too, but she... er... didn't send me because she knows I wouldn't have kept quiet. I wasn't about to join the Black Rabbit of Inlé any quicker than the illness will carry me. Because of that, they pushed me and bullied me in their prison burrows,"

At that Vervain showed off some of the marks he'd gathered from assorted cuffings off Bigwig and Campion, as the two of them tried to look innocent.

"If they'll treat one of their own rabbits like that, why should I help them? I came out to warn you and stop her plans so you can tear that warren to shreds, as it quite rightfully deserves," he finished, with a convincing look of revenge and hatred in his eyes.

"Y... you're a traitor to our warren, Vervain," growled Bigwig angrily, joining in as he realised what this little black rabbit was up to, "You're sentencing everyone back home to death just for yourself. You've always been a coward!"

"She betrayed us Bigwig. What sort of chief sends her rabbits out to die by the paw of elil?"

As the two continued to argue, Retissa turned away to talk with Saylas.

"Do you think he's telling the truth?" said Saylas.

"I'm not sure. It sounds like sending him could be a trick by her," replied Retissa.

"What should we do then?" asked Saylas, "I'm not so sure I want to risk killing them now,"

Retissa was about to reply when Vervain suddenly let out a shrill cry of pain. Everyone swung round just in time to see Vervain collapse to the ground, groaning in pain, and thrashing his legs about.

"Vervain?!" shouted Bigwig.

"It must be the illness," continued Campion as Vervain's kicking and noises became weaker, "The Black Rabbit must be close,"

"What's wrong with him?" started one of the other foxes, heading towards him.

"Keep Back," shouted Retissa, pulling him back, as Vervain fell silent and still.

"Everyone, get away from them!" she shouted to the rest of the foxes, who backed away without any hesitation upon hearing her order.

"Shouldn't we get them away from here?" said Oranen.

"Leave them here! This whole place will be infected now with whatever evil sickness she's using against us. No, we'll find a new base to attack from. She'll pay for this, and we'll make sure of it," finished the vixen, signalling to the rest of the group who swiftly disappeared into the bushes, "In the meantime, enjoy your lonely death," she said, turning back briefly to the stunned Watership group, before following the rest of her foxes.

Everyone paused for several minutes, still not entirely believing what had just happened, before finally Bigwig broke the silence.

"Did that just happen?" he asked.

"I do believe it did... unless we're all sharing the same dream," replied Campion. Bigwig looked around again, before setting his eyes down on the black form lying on the ground.

"Okay Vervain, you can stop acting now. They've gone," he said.

For a second there was a continued silence. Then one of the eyes on Vervain's limp body flicked open, before he jumped up and dusted himself down, "Good. Foxes make me all tingly,"

"Th... that was amazing! Where in Frith's name did you learn to do something like that?" continued Bigwig.

"Vervain's an expert at playing dead. He's done it before to escape attackers when running wasn't good enough. It went against Efrafan codes of honour, but it worked," continued Campion.

"Quite a remarkable rabbit, wouldn't you agree Quizzle?" started Rutzy.

"Yes, I would. Remarkable," came the answer.

"Remarkable yes,"

"Saved us all there he did,"

"He did save us all Quizzle!"

"Good job he came back,"

Bigwig started scratching the back of his head nervously at that.

"Look... I... that is to say we, " he started, looking at Campion, "We...well...we're...we're..."

Vervain tried not to grin. He was clearly enjoying seeing Bigwig squirm, "Yes?"

"We're sorry!", finished Campion, "Maybe you do have your uses from time to time,"

Vervain smiled back, before staring seriously at Bigwig, "But now we're even once more!"

Not daring to say anything more, Bigwig just nodded.

"And don't worry about it. We're not all as smart as me," finished Vervain, smiling and hopping off.

"Oi, what do you mean by that then?" coughed Bigwig, before chasing after him playfully.

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

Late night, in the woodland near Wintercress' warren.

Wintercress wandered around nervously in the dark, twitching with every leaf that crunched beneath his feet. Although he knew his friends were near and wouldn't let him be hurt, he was still fearful, mostly brought on by the waiting. Normally that badger would have been down upon him as soon as he'd left the warren entrance. This time though he... Wintercress' train of thought was suddenly interrupted as he sensed something watching him.

"Well, well, well longear. Out at last. Knew you not stay underground forever," smiled the badger. Wintercress froze to the spot in fear as he moved near.

The badger, seeing Wintercress go tharn, didn't waste any time waiting for him to recover and ran towards him. Before getting to him though, Bark rammed into him from the side, knocking the other badger off his feet in surprise. Within seconds, he had scrambled back to his feet and swung round to growl at the source of the attack, suddenly falling silent in surprise as he saw it to be another badger.

"There plenty of longears for all," he said to Bark. Bark growled angrily and leapt at him, dragging her claw across his face. The other badger tried to fight back, but was as good as powerless against the more experienced and heavier form of Bark.

"You not want to share?" growled the other badger.

"Go now. Or I kill you," growled Bark baring her teeth angrily at the younger badger.

The badger hesitated for a second, considering attacking again, but quickly changed his mind, "What kind of badger are you?"

"Type who not take kindly to you hurting friends,"

"Friends?" replied the younger badger looking at the rabbits in confusion. Bark growled louder.

"Y...you a disgrace to all badgers," he finished, finally turning and crashing through the brambles to disappear into the night.

"Do you think he'll be back?" asked Wintercress looking after them.

"I think he not be. Not if he think badger watching warren now," replied Bark, disturbing the ground so that it would appear she was resident there in case he did return, "Probably just go tell other badgers that Bark not good badger."

Hazel walked up to her and put his paw on her shoulder, "They'd be wrong though. We all know that."

Bark looked back and Hazel and smiled, "Bark not worried Hazel. She know who real friends be. Not many badgers left now anyway. None know Bark,"

"You always have us," smiled Hazel.

"Bark know and thankful for that. Know she see Fiver again someday too,"

Hazel sighed as she said that.

"We get Fiver back. Bark make sure of that," continued Bark cuddling the miserable Hazel tightly in an attempt to cheer him up.

"You mean you'll help us? Oh thank you," smiled Hazel.

"Yes, we go now!" replied Bark, already starting to move and carrying the surprised rabbit with her.

"What, right now? Shouldn't we wait until the morning?" replied Hazel.

"Why not go now?" continued Wintercress, "I'll round up my rabbits, and we can head off. There's no point wasting any more time," he smiled.

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

The next morning, at the old foxden

"Foxes, and lots of them. They were here with Bigwig and the others," said Hazel, sniffing the ground. By travelling most of the night, with only a brief stop for rest, they'd soon caught up and picked up on the scent of Bigwig's group once more. Hazel had already been worried by the fact they hadn't moved on as far as he'd expected, but now that there were foxes too the look of fear was unmistakable.

"Y... you mean, they got them?" shivered Wintercress.

Hazel sniffed again. "There's no sign of a fight or scent of blood. A...and it seems the foxes left in a different direction to our group. It doesn't make sense...." he said.

"Let's follow them then and see what we find!" continued Wintercress, indicating to his rabbits as they all began following. After a few minutes of running they were greeted with the sight they been hoping for; Bigwig and the rest of the group, who were resting at the edge of a field whilst pondering what to do.

"Hazel!" shouted Bigwig happily upon seeing him, running up to the brown rabbit.

Vervain looked across, and squeaked at the sight of the badger.

"Yup, that's more like the Vervain I remember," smiled Campion.

"What happened back there?" asked Hazel.

"We had a bit of trouble with some foxes, but we're safe now," said Bigwig, hesitating briefly, "Thanks to Vervain," he finished. Vervain beamed, as Bigwig started to explain the events to Hazel in great detail.

"...and so here we are, with a few extra friends to help us!" smiled Hazel, finishing the explanation of his own adventures some time later, and indicating towards Wintercress' rabbits and Bark.

"You know, I really think we stand a good chance of pulling this off," said Bigwig, hesitating again, "As long as..." His voice trailed off.

"Yes?" asked Hazel.

"It's this other warren the foxes talked about that worries me Hazel. By all accounts they're quite a powerful bunch of rabbits. What if we come across them, and they aren't friendly?" sighed Bigwig.

"We'll worry about that if it happens. Come on. I think it's about time we got moving. We need to make up for lost time," decided Hazel.

"That's the other thing," said Bigwig, sighing again, "I'm afraid I don't have a clue which way to go. We've been back and forth all over this area, but can't pick up any scent. If Woundwort came through here, I think he knew there were foxes in the area."

"Then, I say we get well out of their territory, and see if we can pick it up again after that," smiled Hazel. Everyone agreed and started to move off in the same direction, with Hazel and Bigwig bringing up the rear.

"There's still one thing I don't understand Bigwig," said Hazel, as the two of them walked together.

"What's that?"

"Why wasn't Vervain with you and the others in the first place?" asked Hazel, already having a vague suspicion about the answer. Bigwig froze on the spot.

"er...." he started, quickly trying to think of a plausible story, "Oh look, the squirrels need someone to carry them. I'd better do it!" finished Bigwig, quickly running ahead and picking up Quizzle and Rutzy, much to their surprise, and attracting a lot of talking from them. Hazel chuckled at him, as he shuddered a little, before they all continued their journey once more.