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« on: February 27, 2011, 11:55:37 AM »
For some time now, after watching "Watership Down" I had planned a fanfic, but didn't know what to write until now. It will follow the time line of the television series, but the path that the film took, being a rather dark story. I will include the following characters from the movie and television series ó Bigwig, Hazel, Fiver, Campion, Keehar, Blackberry, Dandelion, Hawkbit, Pipkin, General Woundwort, Moss, Vervain, Weasel, Blackavar and Cowslip. There will also be many rabbits that appear from the Cowslip and Efrafa warrens, but they won't have any major roles.
It takes place during the time the television series took place. But I'm not sure how far this will go, I'm rather new to Watership Down, so don't be surprised if there are any mistakes of the Watership Down canon or the way characters act. But I will try to keep the characters the way they acted in the tv series as best as I can.
The rabbits of the Watership Down warren ó along with Blackavar, Primrose, Hannah and Keehar ó have finally settled down somewhere safe. But they of course face many new dangers. Among these the rival warrens Efrafa and Cowslip and the occasional threat of a stray weasel that has developed a taste for rabbits of any kind.
But Bigwig and Hazel always have a plan to keep their friends and family safe from any dangers of Watership Down, even foxes and stoats too occasionally! But when they discover that the leader of the Efrafa is a ruthless rabbit by the name of General Woundwort and he is bent on killing all outsiders that come to Watership Down or making them his slaves and he has Moss, Vervain and Campion to ensure that none of their prisoners escape - dead or alive.
But Campion seems to be growing towards the Watership Down warren more than the Efrafa because of their free ways and his developing a love for Blackberry, but he is also torn between the two because of his loyalty for General Woundwort. Will he be able to choose will warren he will go with, and will his decision cost him ó or one of the Watership Down or Efrafa Warren's members' life in the process?
Here's the first chapter:
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Preface
A group of rabbits have been scurrying around a field in Watership Down and they are busily eating the grass, among them are several adult bucks, one doe, two young bucks, a sea-gull, and a mouse ó Bigwig, Hazel, Dandelion, Hawbit, Blackberry, Fiver, Pipkin, Keehar and Hannah. Hannah is standing a nearby tree branch that is protruding out of the ground and Keehar is setting on the ground nearby it, and two are watching the rabbits run around the field and eating in the grass. It has been rather peaceful since they arrived in Watership Down, and there had not been any rival groups of rabbits attacking them or even seen in their area of land that they designated as their own.
But Fiver, who was born under the watch of an Owsl· that had treated most of his previous warren, which of only the rabbits that are surrounding him now are the only ones that remain after a construction company had claimed the lives of all the others, including his and Hazel's father, the chief rabbit, any remaining Owsla excluding Bigwig, had been born the runt of his family, and had to be raised by his older brother Hazel after their parents were killed by a farm dog. Fiver never had gotten to know any body in his family other than Hazel, as most of them had abandoned him and thought he would be useless to the family, including his uncle and aunt, who had since passed away from old age since his birth.
But Fiver had already had a special gift of being able to see future events such as deaths of friends or family or any loved ones, he has goes into spasms sometimes when he has these visions, he always fears that the Black Rabbit of InlÈ will claim a life or lives of one of those closet to him before their time like Hazel or Bigwig, they are the closet of the warren to him than any of the others.
While Bigwig and Hazel know of several other groups of rabbits in the area such as the Efrafa and Cowslip warrens, both of the elder bucks feel that they won't have any trouble with them over land or for any other reasons as they are relatively new to the area, and the other two have yet to find out about the arrival of the outsiders. But they have yet to find out that the Efrafa warrenóled by General Woundwortóare one of the most brutal, bloodthirsty and heartless warren of rabbits to ever set foot on the earth. But they are only this way because of Woundwort, but if it wasn't for them in the first place, they won't be where they are now, but him and several other captains such as Vervain, Moss and Campion, are ordered to starve, punish and if necessary, kill any that try to escape from Efrafa. Blackavar already tried this once and he ended up being re-captured despite Keehar's efforts to save him and he had his ears torn the shreds, was nearly mutilated and starved for months, until Campion finally felt that he had suffered enough and he was given enough amounts of food to get healthy again. Of all the blood that had ever been shed in Efrafa, most of it had been Blackavar's.
"It is so peaceful and lovely here," Blackberry stated, looking around the area at her friends, but not all of them had always been friends, Bigwig only had followed them at first to ensure that they were safe. But he soon became a true friend of them, and it was similar with Keehar and Hannah, they only met when they were chased by a large farm dog off of a farm with the rabbits when they happened to be raiding the same farm for fish and vegetables.
"I know Blackberry," Hawkbit replies with an obvious tone of annoyance in his voice, chewing up the last bit of grass that he wants to eat. "I hope that it is always this way, it has been peaceful for the first week that we have been here." He swallows the grass carefully and he looks over to Bigwig along with Blackberry when he speaks.
"Don't expect it to always be peaceful like it is now," Bigwig states calmly. "There are other warrens of rabbits in this area. Not all of them are going to be happy to see usóI'm sure of that. Which is my I think that it is for the best if we stay with in our warren area for now until we know what the Efrafa and Cowslip are like."
"Maybe they'll want to be our allies," Dandelion says, beginning to stand up, but he stops when he decides that he doesn't want to get up. "We're all rabbits, why would we have to fight?"
"Not all rabbits are our allies Dandelion," Hazel says, coming up next to Bigwig with Fiver alongside of him. "You remember what we went through back on our previous warren before we came to Watership Down. The Owlsa that lived in the area with us controlled our lives and thought that they controlled all the other warrens. From what I have heard, the Efrafa is the same ó or at least similar. I would be careful around them, and those Cowslip don't sound much better either."
"How would I know that?" cries Dandelion, "we're new here. We shouldn't know that much about Watership Down already."
"Dandelion's got a point," Fiver states nervously, then doesn't say anything else about. He wishes that Dandelion was right and Hazel was wrong, but he recently had a vision about a battle between two rabbits, and the one that will save them, but he won't be be able to save himself.
But Fiverónor any of his friendsórealize the true meaning of his vision and that trouble will follow with them choosing to live in Watership Down, and so close to the Efrafa's warren, but they have chose to have their warren somewhere that is well hidden and not able to be discovered by the Efrafa, nor any other warrens that may pose a threat in the future for their warren.
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