Unfair Warning

[Harmony]

This is going too far. They don't deserve to be warned. What is Hera-rah thinking? Oakfoot growled softly with every hop toward the Thyalan warren. He had been going over his mission internally from the moment he and Pepper had run down the hill, leaving their warren and chief rabbit behind in a thin swirl of fog. At first, Oakfoot had meant to run straight from point A to point B with minimal stopping, but upon realizing a smaller, out of shape doe like Pepper wouldn't be able to keep up with him at such a pace, slowed to an almost leisurely hop.

Naratha's territory was certainly big enough when one was trying to cross it. This combined with the actual warren being situated farther from the Thyalan border than the roguelands border made for a somewhat lengthy trip. Oakfoot was not a patient rabbit by any means. He kept up a firm wall of stony silence all the way up to where the valley river came in sight. It was a wide, though not terribly deep, buffer between warrens. The river and its banks were considered neutral territory, but even so, skirmishes on either side were fairly common. Oakfoot paused at the start of the hopping stones - small rocks that formed an unsteady but workable crossing point from one riverbank to another. It was the only way to cross the river without swimming for some distance either way, and since Oakfoot did not enjoy swimming, he made the hopping stones his destination.

He placed one large paw on the nearest stone and looked over a broad shoulder at Pepper. "Guess the talkin's up to you," he began in his usual rough manner, "but if it comes to a fight, stay out of my way!" Frith was just beginning his decent below the horizon as the junior officer made his way cautiously across the river. Once on firm land, he flicked all four paws bad-temperedly to dry them as well as possible. It wouldn't do to slip on wet paws during a battle, after all...

He could almost taste it. The potential for a true, be-all-end-all battle was thick in the air now that he was literally sitting on the border. The thought lifted the large buck's spirits immensely. He put his ears up and wished whole-heartedly that Hera-rah had not ordered him specifically to wait for a patrol. He didn't think he could stand it.

[Robin]

Pepper laughed nervously as they waited by the river.
"You know.... Oakheart..." She began nervously. "Is it weird that I am kind of looking forward to the danger?" She asked. She probably sounded like an idiot. She sheathed and unsheathed her claws. Adrenaline pulsed, loud and strong in her blood, but, because she was pepper, she still had time to day dream. It was only half hearted though. She soon stopped, though. She needed a plan.
"Umm... also, Oakheart, how many Rabbits are in a patrol? Usually? I'm trying to find out a plan." She said, with weak smile at the end. She really was going insane. She was talking without being spoken to to an owsla officer. She was especially insane. She hardly ever talked to anyone.
Especially an owsla officer.
She could see he was excited as well, almost going over the boundary line. itching to. Well, if he does, she thought, He'll have me to answer too.
She hopped forwards a few paces, sniffing the boundary. Then, she tentatively dipped a paw in the river, and jerked it back quickly. The current was strong. Howlong would they have to wait here for? Would this be some kind of an all-nighter?

[Harmony]

"Is it weird that I am kind of looking forward to the danger?"
Oakfoot stiffened slightly as Pepper's voice broke across his thoughts. He turned slightly, looking down at her. Sometimes, this doe could be baffling. She didn't look like much of a fighter, and definitely didn't act like somebody who enjoyed clawing other rabbits' eyes out. Of course, there had been that battle earlier in the morning...

"Don't be ridiculous. Nothing is more exciting than a good battle, you know that," he snorted at last, turning his attention back to the expanse of Thyalan. Had they missed the evening patrols? Did Thyalan patrol their borders during the night? There was no telling - being a junior officer, Oakfoot wasn't necessarily privy to such information. Ugh.

How long did they have to wait?

"Umm... also, Oakheart, how many Rabbits are in a patrol? Usually? I'm trying to find out a plan."

The large buck sighed a little, once more tipping his face sideways to bestow upon Pepper the full force of his grumpy demeanor.

"It depends. In our warren, patrols along Thyalan's border are stronger in case we meet up with any of the snotty excuses for rabbits. Hrair. But I wouldn't expect many more than four." It occurred to Oakfoot that Hera-rah had purposefully sent such a small force to parley in order to be outnumbered. To show a want for peace.

UGH.

"If there are no patrols by fu inle, we're going in." He stated flatly.

------------------------------------

Hawthorn, the medicine rabbit of Thyalan, had had a long, disappointing day. It seemed now was the time for every other rabbit to skewer his paw with giant thorns picked up from Frith-knew-where, for elil to prowl along the borders and terrify the inhabitants into filling the underground burrows, for kittens to get sick. When the young healer hadn't been administering to the usual myriad of scrapes and bruises a warren brought in, he was shooing bored trouble-makers out of his burrow, and visiting litters. One such litter, delivered only two days back, was not doing so well; Hawthorn was quickly losing faith in the tiny kits' likelihood to live.

And to make matters worse, his visions had been tumultous, frightening, and intense even before he'd woken for the day. They were almost suffocating in their density, and often too fast for him to make out. He saw the river - yes, the river along the Naratha border - quite clearly once; rabbits battling while fire raged in the background; huge yellow and black man-things ripping into the land the warrens occupied, tearing at and devoring it like a starving wolf who has caught for itself a large rabbit. Though these images troubled him immensely, there was nothing he could do. So when things calmed a bit more for the evening at the warren, Hawthorn went out a short while after the evening patrol to gather herbs. Those kittens needed him to focus, if nothing else.

He was just picking his way along the riverbank when he heard voices. Putting down a small mouthfull of thyme he'd picked earlier, Hawthorn lifted his head and ears. Had he caught up to the evening patrol? Shouldn't they have been well around the back end of the warren by now?

"...how many rabbits are in a patrol... I'm trying to find out a plan."
"....hrair. But I wouldn't expect many more than four..."

Hawthorn's breath caught in his throat. Enemies! And this medicine rabbit was no fighter - with no ally patrols to defend him, he knew he would be finished if the Narathan attackers found him. The young healer began to back away, awkwardly but silently, but stopped after a few steps. The thyme. Those kittens needed that thyme. Trembling, Hawthorn inched back toward the voices of Oakfoot and Pepper, successfully picking up his herbs again. He was just backing away again - it hadn't occurred to Hawthorn to simply turn around and hop away like a sane rabbit - when his left hind paw slipped in the mud. Losing his footing entirely, the medicine rabbit fell with a cry and a splash into the river, thyme littering the breeze and bankside.

[Robin]

Pepper heard the cry, and the splash as a rabbit fell into the river.
Pepper gasped, and raced towards the sound. She looked on desperately, as a small rabbit, a medicine rabbit, by the looks of all the herbs, was flailing in the river. Pepper braced herself.
She had never been much of a swimmer, but then again, when had she been 'much' at anything?
"Hold on!" She shouted over the sound (was that the river, or the blood in her ears?), and jumped in. The water engulfed her, filling her ears with a calm nothingness. She scrabbled for the surface, bursting for air. She suddenly broke through the calm ceiling of water, and she looked around wildly for the medicine rabbit.
"Hold on!" She cried again. This time, her weight was on her side. She may sink a lot more, but she was also steadier, so that when she moved forwards, she was not buffeted around current. She plunged on, towards the rabbit grimly, fighting the current, wincing every time a small meander hit her eye. She paddled towards the medicine rabbit, and found herself nearing. Her spirits soared. She might do this! She then reached the medicine rabbit, and sunk her teeth into him, and began to drag him to shore.
She hung on grimly, tugging him to shore. She grunted with the effort, scrabbling for a foothold. She finally reached the bank, and heaved herself onto land, with the rabbit. She panted heavily, then turned to the medicine rabbit
"Are you alright? Do you need more herbs?"

---

Herantha-rah waited a few minutes after they had left, then turned to her chief of Owsla, saying promptly.
"Have a patrol of round about... ten rabbits ready and waiting for me near the escape hole."
She left the her burrow, going up the runs and burrows at a slightly faster than normal speed. She waited at the south runs for a minute, and 10 fleet, strong rabbits of the owsla were with her, and the captain walked up to her.
"Herantha-rah, shall i accompany you?"
"No." He nodded, then bounded away, barking out orders as he went.
Hera-rah looked at the rabbits standing proudly beside her.
"Come on then." she said, as she started following the tracks of Pepper and Oakfoot.