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Chapter 3 – cont.

The walls of the cave seemed to creak and bulge until there was a blinding flash of light and, through a hole, cave goblins poured. Within seconds, the little rabbits were trussed up in sticky threads that must have come from a tame mountain spider. Prue buried his head; Pascoe glared at the goblins; Pipkin struggled to hide the Moonclaw so that they would have at least one weapon.

Too late! A shadow squeezed into the cave and even the goblins shrank back. Scarface sneered at Pipkin. “Going somewhere?” he hissed through his metallic mask. “Going nowhere, I think!” he added, clicking his fingers. Scurrying forwards, the goblins bundled the children back into the mountainside and carried them deep into the centre until they came to a massive cavern. It was here that the Gorm waited in their thousands, safe in their secret hiding place, sharpening their weapons and preparing for war. Terrified, Pipkin stared at Scarface. It looked as if the army was waiting, waiting to attack the one place that the rabbits thought that they would be safe – the rocky caves of Splinter Holm!

Chapter 4 – Homecoming

Moments later, the little rabbits had been dragged into a small, dark cave where they were tied up. On guard stood several unpleasant looking weasels, led by a goblin with green skin and blunt teeth. As time ticked by, the weasels became restless and the goblin began to doze. As soon as its grumbling snores filled the cave, the weasels sneaked away in search of food and drink. They scuttled down a dark tunnel, gossiping and giggling.

“By my great aunt’s hairy whiskers,” muttered Pipkin, tugging at the spider’s thread that bound him. “If I can reach the Moonclaw then we can at least free ourselves.” After a while, he gave up struggling. While they lay in the dark, each thinking their own thoughts, Pipkin heard a noise. Prue gave a muffled squeak as the back wall crumbled and a badger’s snout appeared!

“Shh, now,” warned the badger. “We don’t want to disturb the Gorm party, do we?” With a swipe of its claws, the ropes fell apart and the little rabbits followed the badger, who was called Kier, into the tunnel that had appeared. There were other badgers, foxes and even some moles blinking at the light that came from the Gorm’s hideaway. “We must get to the surface before the flood,” whispered Kier. “We’ve planned a little surprise for our friend Scarface. Everyone has been digging and tunneling. We’ve diverted the waterfall and are going to channel it down into the cavern.”

“I wonder if old Scarface has brought his water wings,” giggled another badger and everyone set to chuckling. The band of animals led the rabbits through the tunnel. Steadily, they trudged upward. It was dark, beetles scurried and every so often a badger or mole stopped to gobble up an unfortunate earthworm or crunch on a snail. Pipkin clutched Moonclaw tightly in case they encountered any resistance.

Eventually, they broke out into the sunlight and found themselves on the other side of the Fiery Hills. They stood for a moment, breathing in the fresh air and blinking as their eyes adjusted. In the distance, they could now see the mighty mountain of Splinter Holm. Pascoe lifted Prue up and pointed, “Look that is our new home.”

At that moment, and totally without warning, the mightiest of the hills began to grumble rather alarmingly; flames and fiery rocks spouted into the air as if the hill was exploding and spitting out the fire that had always sat inside its angry belly. All this happened at the same time that the waterfall had finally been directed into a cave on the hillside. Water poured into the hill, gushing downwards to where the Gorm waited, unsuspecting.

A moment later, as the diverted water washed into the hillside, a river of fiery, molten rock joined it. The hillside hissed; steam poured from hidden caves, vents in the rock belched and open gulleys hissed like kettles steaming. The hillside began to shudder and all the animals began to flee downwards onto the plain below. There were deer, ponies, badgers, foxes, rats and mice, moles, pine martins and wild cats alongside the little band of rabbits who wisely had hitched a lift on the back of a mighty wild boar with fearsome, yellow tusks that twisted like barley sugar.

Once everyone was far enough back, they turned to watch the hillside. A few bedraggled Gorm fled from the caves. Their clothes soaking and steaming. They scurried north, and if they had had tails, then they would have been between their legs! They animals roared and cheered and whistled and hooted. Crows and ravens and eagles swooped down, chivvying the fleeing goblins and Gorm into total disarray.

Pipkin stared into the distance because he could see something flying towards them from Splinter Holm. He gasped as it flew closer because he had always longed to see a Pegasus. And indeed, that is what it was –  a water Pegasus. Kier explained that it had directed the operation to divert the waterfall into the caves. The Pegasus  alighted gracefully and knelt down.

A moment later, the three rabbits were waving goodbye to their rescuers and flying upwards and onwards towards the Holm. Prue clung onto Pascoe and, in turn, she clung onto Pipkin and he held fast to the Pegasus’s mane. “Bless my great uncle’s little white bobby tail,” muttered Pipkin as they flew towards the new home.

© Pie Corbett 2021

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