Chapter One

Sandleford Warren

The sun shone down on the peaceful English countryside, bathing the field and wood in its warm glow. Towards the edge of the wood, where the ground became open and sloped down to an old fence and a brambly ditch beyond, only a few fading patches of pale yellow still showed among the dog's mercury and oak-tree roots. On the other side of the fence, the upper part of the field was full of rabbit-holes.

A hundred yards away, at the bottom of the slope, ran the brook.

The dry slope was dotted with rabbits, some nibbling at the thin grass near their burrows, others pushing farther down to look for dandelions or perhaps a cowslip that the rest had missed.

At the top of the bank, close to the wild cherry where the blackbirds sang, was a little group of holes almost hidden by brambles. In the green half-light, at the mouth of one of these holes, two rabbits were sitting together side by side. The first was Hazel, a yellow-eyed, golden-brown coloured buck. He was a young rabbit, about one year of age. He was brave, loyal and a quick thinker. He was also the brother of Fiver, the rabbit next to him. Fiver was a small runt of a rabbit. He was about six months in age, had reddish-brown fur and grey eyes.

Fiver had a timid nature and so stayed close to Hazel, more often than not. Fiver was the sort of rabbit that one could step on and not notice, but somehow every rabbit in the warren knew who he was. The reason for this was Fiver's sixth sense. Somehow he could sense things others couldn't. No one knew how, not even Fiver.

Nearly all the rabbits of the warren thought he was mad, but Hazel, for most of the time, believed him when he said something was wrong. So when Fiver suddenly said "The warren feels different this evening" Hazel was worried.

"What do you mean"? he asked.

"I don't know", was his brother's reply.

"Is it dangerous?"

"I don't know, maybe I'm just sensing a storm or something".

Hazel sighed. "Maybe, maybe not, either way let's not spoil a nice evening because of it. Come Fiver", he added," See if you can find me a cowslip".

He led the way down the slope, his shadow stretching behind him on the grass. It was not long before Fiver found what they were looking for. They were just starting on one when two larger rabbits came across from the other side of the near-by cattle-wade.

"Cowslip?" said one. "All right just leave it to us. Come on, hurry up", he added, as Fiver hesitated. "You heard me".

"Fiver found it, Toadflax", said Hazel.

"And we'll eat it", replied Toadflax. "Cowslips are for Owsla (rabbits who defend a warren) don't you know that? If you don't, we can easily teach you".

Fiver had already turned away. Hazel caught him up by the culvert.

"I'm sick of it", he said. "It's all the same all the time. These are my claws, so this is my cowslip. These are my teeth, so this is my burrow. To tell you the truth, I sometimes feel like clearing out of this warren altogether. Still let's forget it and try to enjoy the evening". He turned when he realized Fiver had wandered off.

Hazel ran across a brook to catch Fiver who was shivering on the other side.

"Are you all right, Fiver?" He asked

"Hazel, look." Fiver replied.

A little way in front of them the ground had been freshly disturbed. Two piles of earth lay on the grass.

Heavy posts, reeking of creosote and paint, towered up as high as the holly trees in the hedge and the board they carried threw a long shadow across the field.

"Oh, Hazel! This is where it comes from! I know now something is very bad! Some terrible thing- coming closer and closer".

He began to whimper with fear.

"What sort of thing-what do you mean?"

"I don't know what it is", answered Fiver wretchedly. "There isn't any danger here at the moment. But it's coming-it's coming. Oh Hazel look! The field! It's covered in blood!"

"Don't be silly, it's only the light of the sunset. Fiver, come on, don't talk like this, you're frightening me".

Fiver sat trembling and crying among the nettles as Hazel tried to reassure him and find what it was that had suddenly driven him beside himself. But Fiver could not explain and only grew more and more distressed.

"Fiver, you can't sit crying here. Anyway it's getting dark. We'd better get back to the burrow."

"Back to the burrow?" whimpered Fiver. "It'll come there-don't think it won't! I tell you the field's full of blood".

"Now stop it," he said firmly, "Just let me look after you for a bit".

He ran down the field and over the brook to the cattle-wade. Here there was a delay, for Fiver- surrounded on all sides by the quiet summer evening- became helpless and almost paralysed with fear.

"All right Fiver", said Hazel, "Just calm down and try to tell me what the matter is."

"I don't know what it is." replied Fiver, between sobs. "But the whole warren is in danger."

"Well we can't do anything about it, now come on, let's go to sleep."

"I can't, Hazel, I can't." said Fiver and began to cry again.

"All right, I'm taking you to the Chief rabbit. He'll know what to do and we can visit a friend as well".

"Yes", said Fiver. "We need to see the Chief."

All colour had faded from the sky as they made their way to the Chief rabbit's burrow and although the big board by the gate creaked slightly in the night wind (as though to insist it had not disappeared in the darkness, but was still firmly where it had been put), there was no passer-by to read the sharp, hard letters that cut straight as black knives across its white surface. They said:

THIS IDEALLY SITUATED ESTATE

COMPRISING SIX ACRES OF EXCELLENT

BUILDING LAND, IS TO BE DEVELOPED

WITH HIGH CLASS MODERN RESIDENCES

BY SUTCH AND MARTIN LIMITED OF

NEWBURY, BERKS.