Watership Down - Blueberry's Tale, Chapter 12

By Skipai (c) 2009-Present

Chapter 12 - General Woundwort

Authors Note: This is a clean fanfiction story written in the Watership Down universe. There are some scenes of natural violence, ie. predators hunting prey. Watership Down is copyrighted to Richard Adams. All world, references etc is copyrighted to Richard Adams.

This story was written during Nanowrimo 2005 and comprises of twenty chapters, however for the time being I'm only uploading the first chapter to see whether or not there is any interest for a clean fanfiction story posted on here by readers and of course this will be quite different to my usual written works on here.

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Blueberry kept his ears up as he heard Campion begin to talk. "Sir, we haven't been able to find the rabbit that had escaped but we did manage to pick up three new hlessi that were passing through the area."

It was then that Blueberry, Hawk and Carbi heard the voice of Woundwort. "Did you now? You better tell me what happened, Campion." Campion replied back from within the burrow. "Yes sir..."

Campion nodded at the larger buck lying down on top of a shelf in the burrow. "Well, sir. We searched the area where Captain Vervain had lost Holly by the Iron road but the rain the night before made everything clear of any sort of scent. However we carried on for a few fields past the iron road in an attempt to picking up something but to no avail."

Campion stood up on his hind legs as he looked at the rest of the council. "There we headed back towards the tunnel that lies underneath the iron road and we found a new scent of rabbit that had past through. Checking it, we found that there were three sleeping there in the middle, probably last night and so continued on to see if we could find the scent to see where they had moved today."

General Woundwort looked down at Campion as he stretched his paws, digging into the soil as he nodded his head. "Please continue, Campion." Campion nodded his head. "It didn't take long to find them at all, they're not very good at hiding their marks. They even took a few leaves from a cabbage in the field not far from the iron road that we had to clear up. After we found them, we stayed out of sight until we had some more officers and requested that another patrol be sent to us to ensure that we would bring them in." Campion paused before continuing. "I did have a plan but Vervain here, ruined it."

Vervain looked up at Woundwort spluttering out. "I didn't ruin it, they knew that we were lying from the start." Campion saw Woundwort turn his head towards him and spoke. "Is this true, Campion?"

Campion shook his head as he looked up to Woundwort. "No sir, I had a plan to pretend that this warren was a safe warren. Just so that we didn't have to resort to fighting another hlessi and losing one of our own officers or the hlessi itself and drawing in elil into the area as a dead rabbit would as well as leaving hlessi moving about the fields drawing attention." He paused as he frowned. "I was working well up to a time until one of the hlessi asked a question about what the warren was like and Vervain ruined it by forgetting the plan I suppose and speaking like a true Efrafan. We were lucky that they didn't try anything and that the other patrol arrived so that we could bring them in safely."

Woundwort didn't nod as he turned to face Vervain. "I want you to do sentry duty for a few days then report back to me." He waited until Vervain left the burrow and turned his head back to Campion. "Do you know which one is the leader of the three?"

Campion nodded his head. "I believe I do. Sir, they did try to disobey orders after the incident when I had to bring help from the other patrol." He paused and got back to the point again. "I believe their leader is the buck named Blueberry, sir."

Woundwort nodded. "Bring them in, we shall see them now." He waited as he saw Campion turn around to nod at the rabbit by the entrance of the burrow as he saw Blueberry, Hawk and Carbi being pushed into the chamber while Campion moved to the side next to Blueberry himself.

Woundwort looked over the three of them for a moment as did the rest of the council rabbits as Blueberry looked right back as did Hawk, Carbi on the other hand, looked away or tried to at any rate. "Well, I heard that you disobeyed Efrafan laws? What do you have to say for yourselves?"

Blueberry spoke up. "We didn't know that we were breaking any laws?" Campion looked at him fierce fully as Blueberry added. "Sir." Campion nodded his head in approval as Woundwort spoke out again looking around him. "Ignorance of breaking the law isn't acceptable, you still broke the law and refused to come here when an officer of the owsla told you to do so. Is that correct?"

Blueberry replied back. "If that's how you see things, then I will have to agree with you sir." Blueberry went silent again as though this was the right answer to give to the large rabbit looking down at him.

Woundwort shuffled about a bit as he nodded his head again. "That was very wise of you? What is your name?" He looked at all three of them as Blueberry spoke once again. "I am Blueberry, this is Hawk and this is Carbi." He moved his head as he said the other two names.

"I see, so I take it that you are the leader of your small group?" Woundwort enquired as he looked at each one again with his eye, one of them didn't look right to Blueberry but he didn't know why.

Hawk spoke up. "That would be me, sir." Blueberry went to say something but stopped as he saw Woundwort staring at him for a moment before he turned his head back to where Hawk was. "This is not what my Captain told me and from the look of your friend here, he proved that he is your leader." Woundwort frowned at Hawk. "Do not try to fool or trick me again or you will face the consequences."

Woundwort turned his head back to Blueberry again. "This is how things will happen, you are not in charge of your friends anymore, I am. What I say goes, same if any of my officers under my command in your mark." He looked at Campion again and paused. "You had something else to say, Campion?"

Campion nodded his head. "Yes sir, they told me of a warren that they had come from but did not tell me of where it lay." He kept still at attention as he saw Woundwort turn his attention back to Blueberry again. "You will tell me about your warren right now and where it lies."

"Telling you where the warren is would be a waste of time." Blueberry said as he saw Campion turn around to raise his front paws before he turned his head to Woundwort. After a moment, Woundwort frowned. "And why not? This had better be a good answer for your sake."

Blueberry looked at Campion who had a stoned face look about him as he turned his head to Woundwort who had even a more stoned face look about him. Swallowing, he replied as he explained what he meant. "Our warren was destroyed by man in retaliation for us stealing his flayrah at his farm. We are the only remaining survivors. We came from a warren far past the iron road and across the river situated by a copse. We did meet one more rabbit that managed to escape but he confirmed it's destruction before he stopped running."

Woundwort nodded his head as Campion backed away before he spoke. "Very well, this is your home now, to all of you. We shall see how you are settling in before we decide on what to do with you. I might remind you that if you are loyal to the warren and work for the good of the warren that, benefits may come before you. Failure or disrespect to any of the officers or the warren will result in the most severe punishment." He paused as he looked away. "Oh one more thing, you will be identified by your mark."

Blueberry and Hawk winced as they felt sharp claws raking through their hind leg. Carbi gave a more squealed response from the same treatment as Woundwort spoke to Campion. "Find them a burrow, I shall see them again one by one eventually. Make sure that they know the rules and settle in."

Blueberry, Hawk and Carbi were led out of the council burrow with pain still ringing on their hind leg from where the mark was given as they were led to the part of the warren that held that mark. As they moved, Blueberry could see that the owsla burrows were well made but as they made their way into the main part of the mark burrows, he saw that it was a different story altogether as many dull eyes stared out from the burrows, which all looked overcrowded. Campion came to a stop and nodded. "This burrow had been cleared away for you. There will be a few more coming your way eventually no doubt. I am sure someone will come to you to tell you the rules." Campion turned and left without saying goodbye.

Blueberry looked at Hawk and Carbi. "Well, okay. I have no clue on what we have gotten ourselves into here." Hawk muttered. "I thought it was obvious, they don't let rabbits leave, but why I haven't got a clue."

Carbi just curled up at the back of the burrow behind Blueberry and Hawk not saying much at all. Hawk turned his head to look at him and then moved it back to Blueberry once more. "I don't think Carbi likes it here, Blueberry."

Blueberry muttered. "I have a feeling that I won't but what can we do about it? This may end up being our new home and we did say that we would try our best to fit in." He stopped talking as he heard someone was outside of their burrow and got up. Blueberry moved his head outside of the burrow and saw Hyzenthlay outside.

"Oh, you're the new ones that arrived. I was told to come and give you the ropes on what happens around here?" Hyzenthlay said while turning her head to look at another buck not far off watching her. "I don't have long, so can I come in?"

Blueberry nodded his head and moved back inside to let Hyzenthlay slip in as she sat down. Sniffing she looked at each one before hopping over to where Carbi was and began to lick at the wound on his hind leg. "Poor thing." She said before speaking in between cleaning out the wound. "You're part of the rear hind mark now. You can't do anything without being told when to do it. You will be informed on when to go up to silflay, when to pass pellets." She paused as she licked at the wound and spoke to Carbi gently. "It will stop hurting soon." Lifting up her head, she carried on. "You mustn't be found outside of your mark or try to.." She gritted her teeth and forced out the words. "Try to escape. The council knows everything, they hear everything so I would prefer that you decide to follow all the rules and do what the owsla officers or owslafa officers have to say."

Hawk nodded his head along with Blueberry who spoke. "Thank you, we try to follow the rules. Who do we report to though?" Hyzenthlay had got up and turned her head back again. "I am sure the mark Captain Chervil will pop along at some point." She didn't say anything else and hopped out leaving the three rabbits to settle down for the time being, licking their wounds. Hawk turned to face Blueberry. "Well, this is definitely a fine mess we got ourselves in." Blueberry nodded his head as he looked out of the burrow in thought. He turned his head back and licked Carbi's wound first until the small buck was asleep, then he went to tend to his own, keeping silent while deep in thought.

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Later on, Blueberry woke up to seeing another rabbit sitting outside of the burrow. Getting up he blinked before he heard the other rabbit speak. "I am Captain Chervil, your mark Captain. I need to ask a few more questions?"

Blueberry nodded his head as he replied back. "Okay, what do you want to know?" He watched as Chervil began to speak again. "I hope that you have been informed of the rules here, but there are a few that haven't been told to you yet, so I will inform you of them now." He frowned slightly. "First of, you will call me sir at all times, I won't let that pass again."

Blueberry nodded his head back. "I apologise sir." He saw Chervil relax again before he continued on. "Very good. There isn't that much room in the mark so you may be getting another rabbit or two that will be sharing with you sooner or later. I have to ask you though. What was your positions in your previous warren?"

Blueberry replied back. "I was in the owsla, sir. Only an officer that had come out of training, sir. As for Hawk." He turned his head around to where Hawk was sleeping. "He is an officer for over a few seasons now and Carbi." Blueberry stopped.

Captain Chervil looked at Carbi for a moment. "And Carbi?" Blueberry turned his head back to face Chervil as he replied. "He isn't owsla but just a rabbit living at the old warren. He is a storyteller though of El-Ahrairah, or should I say that he's learning at least."

"I see." Chervil said at length. "Well, for the time being you can forget about being in the owsla until we feel that you can be trusted. You're not to dig this burrow any bigger, not without council approval. You will be shown where to pass hraka on our next silflay and how to bury them immediately. That is all for now, go back to what you were doing." Without saying anything else, Chervil turned and headed off again down the run.

Hawk opened an eye as he spoke quietly. "Charming fellow isn't he? Mind you, I don't think any Efrafan here has anything to be charming about? It's just rules, rules, rules and not one bit of relaxation." He paused. "What are they scared of?"

Blueberry pondered for a bit as he shrugged. "I honestly don't have a clue, maybe they're scared of man finding this place and not having the warren destroyed like ours." He placed his head back down again as he carried on talking. "Hawk, do you miss the place, I didn't earlier today but now, I don't know but it seems like this is all a dream and I will wake up soon to see myself lying in my burrow or Carbi hopping all over me again."

"Don't think that will happen." Hawk said back quietly. "Look, we're here now and for what it's worth, it's a warren, we're safe back underground again and if they're way of life is different to our own. We adapt in time."

Blueberry nodded slowly. "Maybe, if we survive long enough." Hawk lifted his head as he blinked. "What do you mean?" Blueberry turned his head around to look at Hawk again as he replied. "Well, look at that doe that came to see us before and other rabbits in this warren. Did they look healthy to you? I thought that they looked a bit on the thin side as though there isn't much food about to eat and as for this hiding hraka all the time, what's the point in that if you can't eat pellets again ever?"

Hawk lifted an ear as he pondered this one before replying back. "I suppose we're lucky that we managed to stuff ourselves then before arriving here." Hawk's voice had a hint of worry now as he looked to Carbi. "Do you think non owsla rabbits survive here?"

Blueberry closed his eyes as he thought about that one for a moment. "I don't know, but if the owsla here are in charge so much then I would think that they would get the best of everything the higher you go up. Well, that's if I am right though, it will take time to see if I am or not?"

Hawk muttered. "That's it then, I am going to look after Carbi a lot from now on and you should as well." He saw Blueberry nod slightly as Hawk continued. "I mean it, I think we should look after him, just in case." Blueberry turned his head back again and replied. "I know and I'll do it myself. Maybe getting into a position here would help more though."

Carbi woke up as he murmured. "Help who?" He slowly woke up and looked at Hawk and Blueberry before blinking his eyes again. "What are you two talking about?" Hawk looked at Carbi as he moved to check the wound on him that the officer had left before and licked it. "Nothing, don't worry about it."

Carbi shook his head. "No, come on. Tell me, what is wrong?" He looked from one to the other as he shook his head. "Fine, don't tell me anything, I know I am the youngest here and not the most experienced but I don't like being in the dark."

"Okay." Blueberry said as he moved so that he was facing Carbi. "I will tell you what we were talking about." He turned to face Hawk before looking back at Carbi again. "This warren looks like its overcrowded and as such I don't think there is enough flay to go about, what with not being allowed to eat pellets, I don't see how many rabbits get enough to eat." He went quiet as he looked at Hawk.

Hawk carried on. "And we decided that we are going to look after you, we don't know how many small rabbits are in here, if it's for the fittest then I doubt that there are many or if there are any at all." Blueberry finished. "And I made a promise once to make sure that you would be safe, no matter what. It was an order, a dying order from Captain Sando and I am going to make sure that it's followed through."

Carbi looked at them both before replying. "Well, do what you have to do but don't put yourself in danger because of me. How long have we been asleep?" Hawk shook his head as he replied. "I haven't a clue, I don't know when we will be heading back up again. Do you know Blueberry?"

Blueberry thought for a moment and shook his head. "No, I did see the mark Captain though, his name is I can remember it, is Chervil. They all like you to call them sir though so be careful on that one, I think there are quite a few bullies within the owsla."

Hawk muttered. "Ah, well I know how to deal with those." Blueberry looked at Hawk and frowned. "No you won't, I ain't sure yet what sort of punishments they do in this warren. I am sure Campion before in that burrow with their Chief wanted to see if he got the order to kill me right there and then. We have to be careful."

Hawk relented. "Fine but I really do not like this at all. The more I am thinking about where we are, the more I am not liking it." He paused as he looked at the entrance of the burrow. "Someone's coming."

Blueberry blinked as Hawk moved so that he was at the front of the burrow while Blueberry turned his attention to seeing how Carbi's wound was getting on. Looking into the burrow a buck looked in and spoke in an gruff manner. "The General wants to see the buck, Blueberry."

Blueberry got up and moved to where Hawk was, looked at him before heading out of the burrow to follow the officer down the run. Carbi looked at Hawk who was watching from outside of their burrow. "Well, we soon find out what is going on. Looks like it's the next day if they're asking to see us on our own." He moved back into the burrow to settle down next to Carbi.

Blueberry was silent as he followed the buck towards the same place he had been the day before but as he went into the main big burrow again, he didn't see any other rabbit in their. The buck looked at Blueberry before speaking. "You wait here, the General won't be long." Without saying another word, he left leaving Blueberry along and confused."

Blueberry hopped about looking at the burrow for a moment as he heard a noise behind him and turned around to see Woundwort had entered the burrow silently. "Well," he said as he moved into the burrow and settled down at his place. "I see that you are taking a good look around this burrow?"

Blueberry looked about again as he spoke quietly. "I haven't really looked at the place properly. I only just noticed on how big it is now." He swallowed. "I apologise if I moved, I was told I shouldn't have, sir."

Woundwort replied back. "Do not worry about it, I suppose this would all seem a bit daunting for you and your friends for a while." He paused for a moment and added. "As long as you follow the rules I don't see how you will have problems." Woundwort looked at Blueberry again for a moment as he added. "You look as though you have something on your mind?"

Blueberry nodded. "Well, I do sir but I ain't sure if it's the right thing to ask them or not?" Blueberry sat down and looked up at Woundwort. "If I have your permission to ask them, I will?"

Woundwort remained silently before he nodded his head. "Ask away." Blueberry nodded as he asked his first question. "I was wondering, since you are the chief rabbit of this warren. Why aren't there any officers around you for protection? Especially when you're alone with an unknown rabbit?"

Woundwort gave off a sly smile as he slowly got up. "Well, I can show you why not, but you see, I really don't need an officer with me?" He jumped down from his shelf and walked towards Blueberry, speaking. "Come on, let's see how much you have learnt at your old warren." Blueberry blinked as he saw the large rabbit heading his way and he swallowed, backing away a bit.