I hopped up to Fiver who was shaking himself clear.

"Are you okay?" I checked.

"This was a vision unlike any other," replied Fiver shuddering. "At least other than any vision I remember vaguely."

"What could you see?" asked Rosie.

"Well," Fiver tired to recall. "I saw Cynthia held by some rabbit biting into it to escape. But before that, I saw another passageway underground."

"Any chance where you may have seen it?" asked Michael.

"I'm not too positive," Fiver replied. "I think somewhere behind the trees."

"In that case maybe we should try and have a quick look."

"I'll try to see if I can dig down that way," said Rosie nodding to the hole.

As she went to the hole, we went behind the trees. A little distance away was a boulder which Fiver hopped to.

"I remember seeing a stony top of the hole," he recollected.

He hopped behind and shouted. "I was right!"

"Surprising," remarked Hawkbit.

I ran back to where Rosie was still digging.

"Rosie!" I called. "We found another way in!"

She turned to me and I beckoned her with my head.

She followed me to the boulder and there was a hole under the boulder, big enough for any rabbit to crawl into. There was a slope going down which worked well for steps but it was dark.

"I think only a few of us should go," Hazel suggested. "So that way none of us will be separated as a group."

"I'd never let the children go down there," said Cherry as the young ones snuggled into her.

"I'm going down there," said Rosie.

"Me too," said I.

"Count me in," replied Michael.

"Me as well," said Jason.

"Jason," I said. "This might dan -"

He looked down and remembered our talk that morning.

"Alright," I resented. "But you have to stick with the group."

"Thanks," he said gently.

"See if you're brave enough to rescue rather than insult the dead," remarked Bigwig hatefully.

Michael began by shouting "Shut the fu-"

"Look who I found behind us!"

We turned to see Thorn holding Daffodil under arrest. And not the Daffodil I remember by his expressions, but now all weedy and shaky.

I felt spark within me, more than the spark I felt with Jason last night.

"You pig!" I shouted as I ran up to Daffodil. "You animal!"

"Disgusting sod!" Michael yelled. "To try that on Cynthia."

"She was ready!" Daffodil defended in an edge of confidence.

"You tried mating a doe of thirteen, you nonce!" I shrieked.

"And you say she would never win a deserving buck," remarked Pipkin. "Well now you're talking to one!"

"It's how we keep rabbits up to prove to Frrth we are the best and the fastest!" Daffodil argued, his face now bitter as opposed to smug. "It's always supposed to work when tell stories of taking on a badger as a kitten or to survive the dare of eating ten acorns or even surviving a cave-in!"

"I've got the scars to prove such an experience, deceiver!" growled Campion menacingly.

"So you've just been plagiarising triumphs from real warriors!" I deemed.

"And to lure Cynthia close into becoming Nonce-Mated Mama!" agreed Michael.

"What's a nonce, Mama?" asked the twins, their responding they will know when they are older.

"I tried telling her but she went against it!" remarked. "She is disrespectful of keeping rabbits coming."

"Good reason too!" said Rosie. "As we've mentioned numerous times, she's thirteen and too young to mate!"

"And maybe we can put your legends to the test," said Pipkin. "Cynthia is in peril once again. Parallel to the underground caverns. You had a rough time to pass through last time because of the waterfall fear you displayed."

"Relevant," said Daffodil in a weak smile.

"No waterfalls this time," I said. "Down you go!"

Half of us edged him in, no hopes of him escaping.

"Well, I … this is so unnecessary," Daffodil chuckled. "I mean why can't -"

Jason nudged him and once again, like last time he disappeared into the darkness.

"Swift," I commented.

"I know," agreed Jason plainly.

"Let's go then," I said.

"Wait!" called Fiver just before we could climb in.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I remember another picture during the vision."

We all listened carefully.

"There were only three rabbits wearing the three necklaces."

"I suppose this means only you me and Michael have to go in," I interpreted.

"Best play safe."

"But what about me?" asked Rosie desperately. "Fiver, you saw no death in your vision."

Fiver shook his head. "Only if people turn back."

"I'm still coming then," Rosie insisted. "I must take this chance. If I do not try anything to keep her safe, what if I'm not lucky next time?"

"Are you sure?" asked Hazel.

She hopped to the entrance, turned to us with a look of seriousness and said "I dare myself."

And she disappeared without hesitation.

"Wow," reacted Michael. "Be she Rell, bloody hell!"

I reacted the same way. Rosie Rell has always been a gentle sweetheart but this adventure has made her wise in a very unexpected way. She was always gentle, sophisticated, patient and calm, but this journey has opened her heart of a lioness. My heart was being fast for some reason because of it which lead me to go down, followed by Michael, with Jason and Pipkin bringing up the rear.

"Anything happens," called Thorn, "summon us."

"I'm coming too," said Pipkin. "She needs me as she needs you, Rosie."

We hopped further and further down the caverns until a soft blew somewhere.

"You don't suppose there's another way in?" guessed Michael.

"We cannot be too far from the hole she fell through," I calculated. "Cynthia?"

My voice bounced off the echoing walls.

"Cynthia?" I called a little louder.

"Can you hear us, Cynthia?" asked Rosie. "We're trying to find you."

"I'm only hoping this is no relationship to the last place underground."

"It couldn't Pipkin," I said. "That place is miles away. Plus, the wolf is dead."

Pipkin nodded with a look of effort to keep faith.

We hopped into wind opening, a chamber from an old warren it seemed to be.

"You don't suppose this used to be a warren itself?" wondered Jason.

"Might have been," I guessed. "Did you you see anything like this, Fiver?"

"No," I replied. "Everything I said I saw, I think that's it."

As we explored, we found a passageway on the right. We were getting ready to take the direction when all of a sudden -

"ACHOO!"

We turned in fright and preparation to strike when we saw Pipkin rubbing his nose, his back facing us.

"Sorry," he sniffed turning around. "It just crept up on me."

Michael on the other hand noticed that the echo of Pipkin's sneeze was being carried down another tunnel.

"There are two directions," he pointed out.

"Should we split up?" suggested Rosie.

"Not sure," I rejected. "They might lead one place to another and we'll end up going in circles."

"Let's all go together," decided Fiver. "If it comes to a dead end, then we must go right. If there are multiple burrows, we can come back to them and consider."

"Good idea," said Jason.

"Let's go," I said.

"And where do you suppose Daffodil went?" wondered Pipkin.

"Who care about Daffo-Dickless?" remarked Michael shortly. "We were only responding to his lies and attempts."

"Even so," said Pipkin. He wondered if there may have been a beast down here. He didn't think anyone deserved to meet a fate so, being a person good or bad.

We hopped down the burrow which seemed to narrow more thinner than usual. If my cruel, overweight Aunt Madeline was a rabbit, she'd get stuck in-between.

We came out to an opening, a circular chamber but there now more entrances. But way up above was a beam of light.

"We must be where Cynthia fell," Rosie calculated in relief. "But if so, where is she?"

She screamed as something pinned her to the floor. A figure we could make was standing over her.

"Baby sister had run away before I could try her again," Daffodil remarked. "But no matter. You are my right range and we'll keep rabbits as the best of all of Frith's creations."

He looked at me and the others.

"I shall then maul your countless list and inform the rest outside that your sister and the others stopped running because of a stoat attack."

I wasn't going to watch this.I charged at Daffodil as did Fiver and Michael, knocking him to the ground when suddenly, our necklaces glowed bright white. As Daffodil got back to his feet, the beams blasted on him, whamming him against the wall and that was where he stayed. He did not fall. He stuck there as through glued. He then seemed to thin out and flatten at the same time. What parts of his body had flattened down and thinned were becoming part of the wall, like some ancient prehistoric sketching.

He screamed for help but his voice was pulling away as his face became a drawing, his ears being the last to finish the job.

There, Daffodil, or what used to be Daffodil, was part of the underground ruins.

"O' Lord Frith," recited Pipkin, his head bowed and body straightened. "My heart has joined the thousand, for our friend has stopped running today."

"What?" asked Michael in surprise.

"I know he was bad," said Pipkin. "But I choose to be respectful than embittered."

"But all this,"said Michael. "Your heart joining whatsit?"

"I'll explain later, Michael," I said. "Right now, we've got to find Cynthia."

We left the chamber, Pipkin taking one last look of Daffodil before he followed behind.

"I'm guessing that's the innocent part," said Michael. "He thought he was doing good which led to his own Hollywood wall print."

"What's Hollywood?" asked Pipkin.

"Just a place," I explained as we found ourselves back in the chamber.

Rosie took the lead down the other passage which Pipkin's echoing sneeze exposed. It wasn't as narrow as the previous passageway but air seemed to be blowing from where we were headed.

"Look," said Michael looking above.

Above was the very same sculpture of the Black Rabbit of Inle we found when rescuing Cynthia from the wolf.

"It's him," quivered Pipkin. "We're too late."

"No, Pipkin," I said. "It's just like that thing we found when we went to rescue Cynthia last time.

"How did it get here?" asked Fiver.

"How should we know?" responded Jason.

"I was being rhetorical," retorted Fiver,

"Shh," I said seriously. "I hear something," I whispered.

Rosie jumped right in and entered the next chamber.

"Careful, Rosie," I whispered.

I carefully followed in after her as did the others. I remembered the riddle speaking of magic blood flowing through incident's veins and the young suffering deadly games. I wondered if that was the reason that sculpture was showing itself once again.

The chamber was perhaps the widest, maybe wider than the Honeycomb back at Watership Down. It was utterly dark and cobwebs were here and there and whatever cheer might have flourished within these caverns, had clearly drained over the generations.

At the far center of the chamber was a stranger, a black rabbit with bright blue, cold-looking eyes.

"Who are you?" I asked, half-demanding. "What are you doing here?"

"Taking family," said the voice. It was female and there was something strongly familiar about it.

"Do I know you?" said Fiver. "Your voice is very familiar to someone I cannot put my paw on."

"Maybe the next voice will jog you mind, seer," chuckled the rabbit. It emerged, still pure black and with her, she was clutching a smaller black rabbit.

"Cinny!" cried Pipkin.

"Give me back my sister!" demanded Rosie. "I'm warning you! Give me back my little sister!"

"You're not going to have her back," the rabbit smiled. "She's my decoy to lure you to death. I'm looking at you, Leo Barning from Above!"

"Why do you want to lure me to death?" remarked I. "Very brave to just stand there."

"Well," said the rabbit menacingly. "the more you stay for the sister, the more time you waste and you fail to see the Child of the Seer!"

"My little Chestnut!" worried Fiver. "My little Prince Winter! Where is he?"

"Aster was once with me," said the rabbit, "and he will lead you directly, but so long as this child is trapped, I will free her once the baby is destroy - AAAAAGGGGGH."

Cynthia was biting hard into her arm.

"GET OFF!" she shrieked hopped about backwards in pain. "REMOVE YOUR TEETH FROM MY ARM!"

She waved her arm bringing Cynthia along and she suddenly went flying across the chamber and Pipkin caught her.

"Are you okay, Cinny?" he checked.

Cynthia was coughing,

"Urgh!" she wretched. "I swallowed some of her blood!"

"RUN!" yelled Michael as the rabbit was getting herself together.

We all ran in desperation but ignorant of Rosie's intentions to stay.

"To reinforce you leave my sister alone, you will be taken down!" Rosie said angrily.

The rabbit cackled.

"You think I'm going to go easy on a doe who has spent her first time not being a hutch bred? You are easily mistaken."

Rosie was almost lost in what she meant by 'hutch bred' but the rabbit launched at her and she dodged. Rosie backfired the attacked by scratching the rabbit who screaming and howled, then growled at her opponent. She ran to Rosie who crouched flat onto her belly and making her skid into the wall. They circled around, Rosie feeling panic and daring within her but with what nearly happened to Cynthia, she was willing face this type of danger so her sister would keep smiling every day.

They ran at each other and the rabbit pinned Rosie down scratching the left side of her face.

"Eye for an eye, claw for a claw," chucked the rabbit who got ready to bite into her chest when -

"HERE COME THE WATERSHIPPERS, GRANDMA!"

Michael karate kicked her face and she went skidding. I approached and held her down as Pipkin helped her out of the entrance.

"Tell us where Chestnut is and you might live to see tomorrow," I compromised.

"see you tonight," grunted the rabbit.

I was about to ask what she meant when she disappeared in a black puff, leaving me and Michael coughing from the fumes.

We fled the scene and back out into the welcome sunshine.

"Is everyone alright?" asked Bigwig.

"I think so," I responded. "Where's Rosie?"

Tiger-Lily was nursing Rosie's wound on her left cheek, licking the blood clean.

"I know it's stings, dear," said the healer. "But the coldness it inflicts on the breeze will help it calm down."

"She's already told us," explained Spartina.

"We're just glad you're all out in once piece," said Campion happily.

Cynthia on the other hand was weeping.

"I didn't know this was happen!" she wailed. "All I did was just take a look at what it was like and then suddenly I fell down! And now Rosie is hurt! Because of me!"

"It wasn't because of you, Cinny," Pipkin comforted nuzzling her. "Daffodil scared you off because he tried doing - that - to you again."

"Where is he anyway?" asked Thorn.

"I don't think you'd believe us if we said," I replied.

I explained about how he tried to attack Rosie and we fought back only for our necklaces to blast at him and turn him into a drawing on the wall.

"I say," reacted Hazel.

"Out of the ordinary," agreed Hazel.

"Very tragic," said Hazel. "But I think we can all agree that he got what was coming to him."

Everyone murmured and nodded.

"Shame," lamented Huckers disappointedly. "I would have loved to have punched him a solid pound to the noise for what he almost did to that little lass!"

"You were brave yourself, Cynthia," I said. "Self-defence biting her like that."

Cynthia was a little calm now but still struggling to speak.

"But I'm still queasy from swallowing someone else's blood though," she choked.

"You'll be fine," said Pipkin. "I'll give you another ride."

Rosie hopped over to Cynthia.

"Are you okay, babe?" she asked.

"I'm so sorry, Rosie!" she wailed beginning to cry again. "All I did was cause trouble and stress for you. Nearly getting killed and raped. And nearly raped and killed again."

"No, no, sweetheart," she said soothingly. "It was my fault. As your big sister I ought to know better and make sure you are in safe hands - or paws. I promise to keep an eye on you at all times. This journey has taught me a lot."

"You have as well," I said, Rosie now looking at me. "While you were nearly killed, I managed to watch a bit of it. You fight very well and this is your first time here."

"I'm sorry for rebelling, Lolly," she said softly. "But I wanted to prove myself. You are right to protect me since I'm new but come the future, I might need to know more."

I nodded but with a smile of pride that she has begun to see things in a manner of reason.

"When I get home, I will enrol for Martial activities," she decided.

We hopped on towards where we left off, Aster leading as as he did before.

"You know," I said to Fiver who was hopping next to me and Pipkin, "That things you said with no more normal, I'm guessing that's to do with Rosie's taste for protection."

"Perhaps you're right," said Fiver. "I hope anyway. I mean what happened to Daffodil should have been enough to convince it."

I recalled the magic in veins riddle and suspected it must have been Daoffdils' demonise and Cynthia in a deadly game being in that rabbit's grasp. I looked back at the hole Cynthia fell in, feeling some sort of remorse leaving Daffodil there - but of course, there was nothing we could do. As for the rabbit, she said she would see us tonight. Tonight it was all to happen; find Chestnut and defeat these trickeries - and Larkspur herself.

"You know, Leo," said Jason who was next to me and smiling, "I recall when we played multiplayer games as kids. This felt exactly like it only more. But I liked it more than playing the actual game. Us working together, it seems to put my tensity to one side."

I think Watership Down would benefit my little brother well after all.