Watership down. Midnight

The bargain is done

Shaking droplets of rain from his matted fur, claw face looked around the burrow. All the rabbits looked outrageously healthy and sleek as they stared back at him with hardly any emotion in their eyes.
Feeling that this was getting them nowhere, claw face declared with a soft tone in his voice "I have come for midnight".
As the others continued to stare dumbly at him , another rabbit seemed to materialise out of nowhere next to clawface.
Foxglove let out a slight gasp and leapt back whilst clawface began to regain his posture, loathe to admit that this sudden appearance had brought fear into his heart.
"Welcome! Welcome!" Cried the strange rabbit in the middle of a swaying, shaking dance. "How nice of you to call".
Both clawface and foxglove backed away from the unusual scene, knowing that any normal rabbit would not be dancing.
Clawface turned to his captain as she whispered to him. "Sire, these rabbits are mad. Surely we should leave". Her eyes were wide, betraying anxiety.
Clawface had not come to listen to whining, so he dismissed his captain with a low growl, sending her scuttling into a corner.
Coming close to clawface, the dancing rabbit spoke in a voice like mist. "I gather you have come for midnight" he pushed his face nearer to the generals. " but what's in it for us?" His eyes narrowed into slits as he voiced his suspicions.
"Il tell you what's in it for you" replied clawface, absentmindedly sharpening his claws and testing their sharpness on the walls. "Firstly, I won't kill you. Secondly, il promise not to harm your rabbit called midnight and thirdly, il leave my captain foxglove here to be in your owsla, if you have one".
Foxglove cast a terrified look at her general, her eyes wide in sheer disbelief. "B- but sire" she protested, clearly not at all happy with the new arrangements.
"Enough!" Growled clawface, his claws unsheathing. "You will do as I say" he turned to the other rabbits, his voice adopting a simpering tone.
"Anyway, I've always wanted to do bargain with you, you coy rabbits from the warren of the shining stones" he sidled up to the biggest rabbit, crooning. "What handsome fellows you all are, with your long ears and your large bodies"
Nightshade, the lead rabbit of the warren, gave clawface a distasteful look. "You cannot win us over with your silver tongue, you embleer rabbit"
General clawface strove to hold back his anger as he sought out other ways to gain their loyalty.
"You are yet as wise as El-ahraihrah himself" he declared, his eyes adopting a admiring look.
"Wrong yet again" said nightshade, a slight smile creeping onto his face. "We do not believe in those fairy tales. They are a lie" he glanced at the others, as they cheered their support. "We follow the rightful ways of cowslips warren. And the most important thing to a rabbit is dignity and the willingness to accept ones fate: as silver weed does say".
Suddenly a new voice spoke out, echoing around the large burrow.
"He was wrong! A rabbit can only live by trickery and cunning that El- ahraihrah has taught us through his adventures"
Another rabbit materialised from the burrows, this time her frame was small but lithe.
"Who taught us to warn if Elil approaches? Who taught us to run like the wind itself? Who taught us to dig our warrens in the earth? El- ahraihrah did!"
Hopping away from the shadows, the new rabbit sat up, her green eyes wide as she looked at clawface directly.
"You have come for me" she said, her sharp eyes penetrating his mind.
Hiding his apprehension, clawface replied. "Indeed I have. Your voices have told you I presume".
Midnight came away from the shadows, her fur still as black as the night.
Foxglove gasped, cowering low to the earth. "S- sire. It's the black rabbit of inle" she whispered hoarsely as terror shook her like the cold breeze shakes a dying leaf.
Even clawface could find no words, for midnights fur was indeed black as the black rabbit's of inle.
Casting a mocking glance at them both, nightshade spoke up. "Midnight was born black. She is no black rabbit of inle"
Sighing in relief, foxglove rose, giving her assessment of midnight to clawface. "But sire. She is so small. A gust of wind could knock her down". She could not understand why clawface needed such a puny rabbit to achieve his revenge.
"Captain foxglove" growled clawface. "If you cannot keep your opinion to yourself, get away from here"
Turning his attention to midnight, general clawface beckoned to her. As midnight came clawface gave her his request. "Look into my heart. Tell me what you see there"
Midnight placed her paw upon clawface's chest, her eyes closed tight. A fit of shuddering overtook her body as she was thrown into his twisted mind. As if in a trance, she began to speak "you are woundworts only son. Your out on revenge for his death, to destroy the warren of watership down whom you believe have killed your father" midnight fell back, gazing at clawface in horror. " you mean to kill them all!"