It had already been decided what would be done with the bodies. Once the war was won, the corpses would be taken into the two tunnels at the bottom of the hill and then those tunnels would be caved in. Those that were left when the tunnels were filled - and Peter could tell that would be a lot - would be cast into the quagmire of the former hare colony. When it stopped raining and summer arrived, the sun would dry out the area and entomb the bodies. Peter had already decided that no distinction would be made between allies and foes. As he walked around the battlefield now, he wasn't that sure anyone could make the distinction anyway...

On the other side of the hill, Boxer had just as sleepless a night. All of the Emperor's courtiers had now been killed except for him. Their deaths had all been accounted for by those under their command, except for Jack, who hadn't been seen for days, so was best presumed dead as well. Boxer's first task following his dressing down by Emperor Morellius was to find some replacements.

Most of the rabbits of Roadkill Turnpike wanted to sleep as well. Boxer went around, trying to conscript a new army from the civilian population, but his scare tactics stopped working. They knew it was just Boxer now.

And there was already talk of peace. But whereas peace meant victory to those across the hill, when Boxer heard these disillusioned rabbits speak of it, he knew they meant defeat. His belligerent rhetoric stopped working too.

As dawn broke over Roadkill Turnpike the next day, Boxer's new army stood at only one hundred rabbits larger than it was after the battle. This was taking into consideration numerous developments during the night. Boxer had assessed the injured and found about fifty who would never fight again. About midnight, there had been a mass desertion of almost seventy rabbits, mainly captive breds. Seizing an opportunity, Boxer spread word round that the warren had been infiltrated by an enemy spy trying to turn their troops against each other.

After that, Boxer was inundated by somewhat reluctant volunteers. In separate incidents, several rabbits were dragged out, accused of being the spy, and killed. They weren't soldiers in Boxer's army, though, so it didn't matter. It gave many a sense of unity and common purpose. They could handle the thought of an enemy over the hill coming to defeat them, but an enemy already here, no...

Boxer picked three new courtiers from the mobs that lynched the suspected spies. Their names were Quentin, Charles and Ethan. All three had fought in the last battle and had subsequently proved how ruthless they were with traitors. Boxer took them to see Emperor Morellius, who was most pleased, especially with Ethan. Boxer realised whose job Morellius could see Ethan inheriting...

So at around 9am, he took Ethan aside.

"I have a special mission for you," Boxer said in hushed tones. "It's vital for our success. But I can't lie to you, you may not return alive..."

"Anything for my emperor," Ethan declared, with much bravado.

"Good, good," Boxer snivelled. "Now, are you listening carefully? I want you to sneak round to the other side of the hill and..."

As dawn was breaking, Mopsy and Jack were making love. It was difficult finding any privacy in the haven. Though the hares had made it larger, they hadn't made it large enough to accommodate the captive breds as well. It took Mopsy a while to find an isolated corner, but then Jack mounted her from behind.

After they were done, they lay quietly together. Mopsy began telling Jack about the wedding that she'd daydreamt of since childhood.

"I still don't understand the point," Jack told her.

"No, you wouldn't," Mopsy said sadly. "People round here have been brought up to see sex as a means to an end, not an expression of love."

Jack shuffled uncomfortably, feeling a certain bitter chill separating him from his new mate. "Do you want to get married, then?"

"To you?" she said, turning her face.

"I... suppose," he stammered.

She shrugged coyly. "I don't know," she said. "Things aren't like that here. It wouldn't mean anything. And things back home... father says they've changed too. I don't know if there would be much point anymore."

"So, this marriage thing, then," said Jack, feeling confused. "It's something you do to please others in your social environment?"

Mopsy giggled. "No, of course not!"

"Well, then," Jack said. "If it's only about us, surely it doesn't matter where we do it, or what anyone else thinks about it..."

Though he couldn't see, Mopsy smiled.

"I love you, Jack," she said.

"I love you too," he replied.

Just before noon, the haven began to gather on the surface. It was a moderately warm day with a refreshing breeze and not many clouds in the sky. Peter Rabbit stood at the top of the hill, discussing strategies with Mont'mar and Adolf. Ball'rdo, Mark, Tom and Benjamin were also nearby. As they all stood around, and the army assembled on the hillside behind them, Christ turned up.

Jesus gave Adolf the raised paw salute.

"So what's the plan?" he asked.

Adolf passed the buck to Peter. "This is his idea."

"So what's the plan?" Jesus repeated.

Peter told him. Several plans had been considered. Mont'mar's idea was to reopen the sub-warren and then burrow up. The army would go through, coming out on the other side of the hill a mere hundred feet above the enemy. However, in the time it would take all of the haven's forces to get through, they would surely be spotted from below and a sizeable resistance mounted.

Adolf's idea was also dismissed for similar reasons. He wanted to use the same route to reach Roadkill Turnpike as the Emperor's fleeing army had after their defeat the previous night. Again, it would take too long, and would leave the haven open to attack. So it was with Peter's plan that they went.

"That's it?!" said Jesus incredulously. "That's your plan? Just... go over the top! Because that worked so well for Morellius, of course..."

"It would have done," Peter told him. "But we were prepared."

"And what if they are too, eh?" Jesus yipped.

"Then we wouldn't be attacking them in the first place..."

Jesus glared over at Adolf. The jet-black rabbit just shrugged.

"Fine," said Jesus. "On your head be it."

Word was quickly spread amongst the assembled army. It was met with the same puzzlement as when Peter had told Jesus. Some of the rabbits stuck at the back feared the orders had changed from the mouth of one soldier to the next. However, any doubts were cast aside when the first wave streamed over the top.

Jesus Christ stood at the top of the hill, with rabbits parting before him like he was a rock, an obstacle they had no power to move. They recognised their beloved saviour even from the fur on his arse. He watched the shadow of his mighty army slide slowly down the hillside, swallowing up all the corpses left on the battlefield and then spitting them out behind. It was dramatic stuff. He'd been hiding underground for the last battle and had no intention of missing this one. When the last of Adolf and Peter's dawdlers passed him, Christ followed on behind.

Mopsy and Jack finally emerged from an empty warren sometime later to find the surface was just as empty as well. They ran to the top of the hill and saw the swarm below them. Then they ran to join it, too late.

Many of the rabbits of Roadkill Turnpike were still asleep. Much of that side of the hill was stuck in shade at the sunniest of times, but even now, with the noon sun directly overhead, a depressing funk hung over the warren. Indeed, for every rabbit that was asleep in his burrow, there were another two just lying awake, too down and broken to be bothered to move. There was an eerie quiet.

Boxer continued to move amongst them, manipulating and scheming, turning brother against brother if it turned two civilians into two soldiers. And slowly, it was working. His army was growing in number once more.

However, it was both demoralised and demobilised. The rabbits in their burrows were civilians and soldiers alike. Nobody was there to see the enemy pouring over the hilltop. Nobody was there to watch their approach.

Peter's plan was going to work...

Emperor Morellius was not a happy bunny. One of his new courtiers, Quentin, had just brought word that the last of his heirs had been confirmed missing. Which meant dead. Boxer hadn't dared bring the news himself, the Emperor knew. Yes, he thought, Ethan was going to make a superb replacement.

Little did Morellius know, however, but Ethan was currently halfway up the hill, hiding in a thick, matted bush of heather in the shadow of some overgrown gorse, watching the enemy slurry past, powerless to do anything. He had his orders, but obviously Boxer hadn't expected retaliation so soon...

Peter's first wave had just passed over the point beneath which the sub-warren had caved-in the day before. In another few minutes, they would reach enemy territory, but Peter still couldn't see any of them. He was not part of the first wave himself, but was several rows back, with Ball'rdo, Mont'mar et al. His forces moved with the quiet dignity of the righteous invader.

Just then, a sleepy rabbit poked his head out of a burrow in the side of the hill, not thirty feet away. He gave a yawn and stretched his back, then his neck, turning his head this way and that... and seeing what was coming right for him. He yelped and disappeared back into the rabbit tunnel in a flurry of dust.

And then Peter's men lost their quiet dignity.

Boxer was exhausted. His head was ringing. The rabbits he went to see demanded reasons to fight. Boxer was giving them plenty, but the words tumbling out of his mouth were no longer the ones in his head. He just needed to sleep. But as he was heading back to his burrow again, he heard the war cry.

So did plenty of others. All across Roadkill Turnpike, when the roar went up, rabbits poured from their holes, nervy, alarmed, wide awake. And they all saw the same thing. They saw the enemy less than a minute away.

"Rouse the men for battle!" Boxer ordered.

Mopsy and Jack were still trailing far behind everyone else. Jack was being slow deliberately. He wanted to keep Mopsy from the fighting as long as possible. As they got halfway down the hill, they saw the first clash.

And it was a walkover. Sporadic lone rabbits charged valiantly to the defence of Roadkill Turnpike, and were just sucked into the middle of the landslide, not to be seen again until the soldiers of the haven had passed through.

Peter's men made terrific progress. They weren't even slowed down. More and more lone rabbits came at them and just fell broken beneath their paws. Soon the haven's forces had reached the bottom of the hill. Now they were on even ground. It was here that the first great defence was raised against them.

Though it had nothing to do with Boxer. He was actually further from the enemy now than he had been when they were still halfway up the hill. If the battle went well, he would claim responsibility before the Emperor.

But he just didn't think it would...

The rabbits of Roadkill Turnpike came from holes on the other side of the field. They swarmed out of the tunnels and gathered on the surface like blood welling around an open wound. There was nobody in command. Not all of them were even soldiers, in fact. But there was a sense that this would be the final battle for Roadkill Turnpike, and that all needed to fight, and all as one.

Peter's forces swept across the field. When they were about halfway across, the enemy started running to meet them. A sizeable resistance had been mounted and they matched the haven's army in speed, noise and voracity, if not number. Plus there was still the odd random attack on their flanks.

When the two armies met, it was like oil meeting water. This was the first time the rabbits had not being fighting either uphill or downhill. That advantage (or, indeed, disadvantage) was gone. The dynamics of battle had changed. Immediately, the two armies began to repel each other. Little circular battles developed at the front line and grew and grew as more men swarmed in.

Peter found himself on the edge of one of these with Mark. It was the ultimate in suicidal battle tactics. At the centre of the circle rabbits would clash, but there were so many pressing in from the outside that there was no hope for any of those caught in the middle, only death. Already the bodies were mounting. Already Peter found himself covered in blood that was not his own.

Mopsy and Jack were quickly catching up with their friends. Jack deliberately began to limp. Mopsy deliberately ignored it. They were only a minute behind the rearguard now. Those stuck at the back were stationary, waiting for those ahead of them to break enemy lines before they could progress.

Jack spotted some rabbits off to the side.

"Hey, what do you think's going on over there?"

There were four rabbits, three of which were circling the fourth, nipping at him every time he tried to escape the circle. Mopsy slowed and glared back at this obvious diversion of Jack's. It looked like a prisoner had been taken.

"We should check it out," said Jack.

Mopsy sighed, but went with him.

"What's going on here?" Jack called ahead of them.

The three rabbits looked up. Jack didn't recognise any of them, but they all recognised him. And then so did their prisoner.

"Oh, Jack! Jack! They caught you too!" he wailed.

Jack gulped. "Er, yes," he murmured.

"Then we're doomed! Doomed! Doomed!"

"He said he came with a message," one of the captors told Jack.

"A message?" Jack hissed. "What's your name?"

"Ethan, sir," the rabbit replied. "I'm one of His Majesty's courtiers."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Who is the message for?"

Ethan glanced warily at his captors, and Mopsy.

"Who is it for?" Jack leant closer, whispering it into his ear.

"Jesus Christ," Ethan whispered back.

Jack reared back and tightened up all over.

"And who is it from?" he asked flatly.

"Boxer," the new courtier mouthed.

Jack looked between Mopsy and the other three rabbits. "Please, give me a moment alone with... my fellow prisoner," he asked.

The three captors looked at each other, unsure.

"Please," Jack said more forcefully.

"Come on," said Mopsy. "They can't escape."

Then she led the other three out of range.

"What's this message?" Jack said quickly.

"Can you make sure he gets it?" asked Ethan.

"Yes, yes," he snapped impatiently. "What is it?"

"Quite simply:" Ethan licked his lips. "Strike now..."

Meanwhile, Jesus was remaining aloof from the battle. It hadn't turned out to be the instant, decisive victory he'd expected, and less of the glorious spectacle he'd hoped for. He'd stopped atop a grassy knoll, close to the bottom of the hill and in the early afternoon shadow of the nearby trees. The battle was becoming increasingly mired in free-spilling blood and guts and he had no wish to be a part of it. As Adolf had told him was true of previous battles, his captive-bred holy army was doing most of the work, but Peter's men were just as capable soldiers.

"I thought I'd find you here," said a voice.

Jesus almost jumped. He hadn't heard anybody approach. He turned round sharply and saw Jack standing not ten feet away.

"Oh, Jack, what are you doing here?"

"Who are you expecting to meet, eh?"

Jesus frowned. "Jack, I... what are you talking about?"

"Well, you weren't expecting me, were you?"

"I'm just watching the battle," Jesus said slowly. "Now wouldn't be a good time for the captive breds to lose their saviour, would it?"

Mopsy arrived, slowing and stopping as far behind Jack as Jack was from Jesus. For some reason, her expression chilled Christ. But she was looking at Jack, not him. Kind of like: dear god, what are you going to do to him?

"Enough with the lies," Jack spat. "We intercepted your little courier boy. I ordered his throat slit. He should already be dead by now..."

"What little courier boy? Adolf?!"

"No!" Jack sneered. "Your messenger. The one carrying messages between you and Boxer. Oh, yes, Jesus, we know all about it."

More than me, then, thought Christ.

"I truly have no idea what you're talking about, Jack," he said firmly. "I'm not waiting for anyone here. I just don't want to fight."

"I said enough with the lies!" Jack bellowed. "I know everything, Jesus. I saw you talking with Boxer. I heard you plotting to overthrow Morellius. I know exactly whose side you're really on. You want Boxer as emperor!"

"Nonsense!" Jesus laughed nervously.

"Is it?" said Jack. "Incidentally, the message Boxer meant for you to receive, which I have no qualms in now telling you, seeing as you won't get a chance to put it in action, was: Strike now." He lifted his eyebrows.

Jesus swallowed hard. "C-can't you see?" he said, unsure as yet exactly what he meant Jack to see. "B-Boxer's trying to drive a wedge into our alliance! He wants to divide our unstoppable force to make it defeatable!"

"Oh, spare me!" Jack sighed. "This isn't some underhand tactic. Don't you understand? I saw you plotting with Boxer. You've betrayed us!"

"Everything I've done has been in the best interests of the captive breds," he responded defiantly, edging slowly backwards. "Only when the Morellius regime and your rebellion have wiped each other out will they be free."

Jack shook his head. "You've betrayed them too," he said. "They'll follow you anywhere and you've sold them. You sold them to us, but you were really just selling them to Boxer all along. They aren't free, and never will be under your control. Especially if you use them to prop up a new regime under Boxer."

"You kill me, and they'll never follow you..."

Jack shrugged, closing in. "I'll tell them you died in battle," he said, then added quickly, "I'll even tell them Boxer did it himself!"

Jesus gulped. As soon as the first twig snapped beneath his paw, and he knew he was under the trees, he turned and bolted. Jack chased.

"Jack! No! Look!" Mopsy cried after him.

Jack was half the size of Jesus, and twice as sprightly. He hopped right on top of his foe. The captive bred saviour folded, tripping over himself and colliding with the ground chin first. He jarred along, Jack riding his back, teeth in his shanks, until they both slammed into a tree. Then Jesus fought back.

He got on top of Jack and pressed down with all his weight. This must be what it's like to be run over by a car, thought Jack. He felt a few joints click with imminent dislocation. Then a ligament snapped in his leg. He squealed.

But then he was on top of Jesus again.

Mopsy came running into the trees.

"Jack! Stop! Don't kill him!"

But Jack ignored her. The first chance he got, he went straight for Christ's jugular. The captive-bred messiah went rigid, squeaking as rabbits in distress do, flailing beneath the grip of Jack's teeth. Then he went limp.

"Jack! No! Adolf!" Mopsy went.

Christ's body fell heavily onto dry leaves. Jack spat blood out of his mouth twice. Then he turned to face Mopsy, and saw who else had entered the trees.

"What have you done?" Adolf wheezed.

"He was working with Boxer," Jack said wearily.

"You betrayed us!" Adolf cried.

"No, he did!" Jack snapped.

Adolf shook his head, disbelieving. He began to edge backwards out of the wooded belt, just as Jesus had edged into it. Then he turned to run. Except there'd be no chasing this time. Jack's broken ligament foiled that.

"Jack, if he tells the captive breds..."

Mopsy didn't need to finish the sentence.

They reached the edge of the trees just as Adolf reached the rearguard. They stepped out into the sun just as it went behind the clouds. Then Adolf disappeared into the sea of multi-coloured captive breds. Then it began to rain.

Peter was up to fight. The circular tactics had been abandoned. Nobody had decided to stop fighting that way. It had just happened. The battle had become primal, instinctive. There were no orders, just natural impulses. Peter took on foe after foe with ruthless abandon. He was cut and scratched all over, but his wounds felt warm and his limbs light. He felt like he could take them all on, beat them all.

The next rabbit that came at him was a captive bred.

NOTES:
Probably the chapter I'm happiest with out of the last three or four, and probably because the actual battle scenes within it are more of a background to the main action, which is Christ's betrayal. I was able to work in Jesus Christ giving Adolf the Nazi salute, and have also set up for Adolf to ascend to lead the Christians now that Jesus is dead. A rather unsubtle point about Christianity there.