"I ordered you to come back alone," Alexander growled.

"They must have followed me," Peter said.

The messenger led them up through the tunnels to where Mark, Tom and Travis were being held prisoner in the corner of the field. With most of the warren now on the surface between the four points, there was no escape for them. The rabbits had formed a large circle around the intruders. They parted to let Alexander through. Angus and Peter followed him, then the circle closed in again.

The three brothers all looked straight at Peter, but Alexander didn't notice. Angus did, however. Behind the patriarch's back he shook his head disappointedly at Peter and then left the circle again. He was finally going to bed.

"Who caught them?" Alexander demanded.

"We all did," the exhausted messenger, whose name was Nicholas, said between gasps for air. "They were chasing this poor young pup and we surrounded them. Go on, Arthur, tell Alexander what happened."

When Arthur started to speak, Peter recognised the breaking voice. It was one of the young bucks he had overheard talking in the hedgerow, a scrawny little adolescent with a snotty black nose. "I was in the hedgerow, near the perimeter," he said. "With Geoffrey. We were just coming back again when I saw these three. Watching us, they were. Of course, we ran. And they chased us. But I ran too fast for them. I got so far and then they got trapped in the crowd."

"And where is Geoffrey?" Alexander asked.

"I don't know. I think they caught him."

"Caught him? You mean... killed him?"

The rabbit circle gasped in shock and all the rabbits started muttering and whispering to each other. This annoyed Peter because he knew it wasn't true, but Arthur was playing up to the myth of Mark, Tom and Travis he'd been taught and Alexander wasn't going to correct him.

Arthur looked around the boggled-eyed faces and saw the reaction he'd caused. "I don't know, sir," he admitted.

Alexander shot a vicious glare at Mark and came in nose to nose. "You," he spat. He knew Mark was the ringleader and had always been the instigator of the brothers' shenanigans. "Speak! Did you kill Geoffrey?"

"No, of course not," Mark said bluntly.

"So where is he?"

"He tripped over his own big feet and fell down one of your holes."

"Balderdash!" Alexander snarled.

"Actually, it's true."

"On the contrary," Alexander announced, puffing out his speckled grey chest and making a right presentation of it to the crowd. "I now know you're lying. And how do I know? Because there aren't any holes out there for him to fall into."

The crowd was united once more in shock. Alexander looked across their faces and nodded jubilantly. Travis almost blurted something out. Tom nipped him gently to keep him quiet. Peter, however, saw his opportunity to join in.

"Not any official ones, at least," he muttered.

"What?" snapped Alexander. "Did you say something, Peter?"

Peter came forward and stopped before Arthur. He rose to his full intimidating height and looked down his nose at the anxious little rabbit. "Yes," he said. "Perhaps Arthur here can tell us exactly what he and Geoffrey were doing out there."

"What does it matter what they were doing out there?" Alexander snorted loudly. Peter almost felt like they were a double act in this pantomime trial. "They were attacked by these three exiles, that's all that matters."

Peter as good as ignored him and leant in close to Arthur. "I don't know. You tell me, Arthur. Does it matter what you were doing out there in the hedgerow by the perimeter where nobody could see you? Just what were you doing, out of interest?"

Arthur flinched. "We were-"

"Speak up, Arthur."

"We were... we were... building a tunnel!"

"Thank you, Arthur," Peter said, walking a circle around his young charge and judging the audience's reaction as wavering. "So it's entirely possible Geoffrey fell into the tunnel you yourselves were building, wouldn't you say?"

"Yes. I suppose. Yes."

As he said this, a couple of rabbits broke from the edge of the circle to go and look. The other rabbits shuffled round to close the gap.

"Tell me, Arthur," Peter continued. "You do know building unauthorised tunnels is against the rules, don't you? And why that is, right?"

"Yes," Arthur squeaked.

"So why were you doing it?"

"I... We... It was just for fun!"

"Just for fun," Peter echoed slowly, eyeing Alexander.

Alexander looked across the faces of the crowd. They had gone from baying for blood to uncertainty. He narrowed his eyes at Peter. He already knew Peter was involved with the exiles somehow, so fully expected him to defend them. However, if the three brothers had now gone from being murderers to just trespassers, Alexander's case against them was already weakened.

Just then the two rabbits returned with a third in tow. He was reluctant to enter the circle but they nudged him in from behind with their noses and then closed the circle again to prevent him getting back out. Everybody assumed this was Geoffrey. He was a gawky rabbit with very big feet and he looked very sheepish and embarrassed. The rabbits surrounding him all laughed. Alexander scowled.

"This is all irrelevant, anyway," he announced, striding past Peter and regaining the public's attention. "These three rabbits here were exiled a year ago by popular demand because of their crimes against the colony. That's the important matter at hand. Arthur and Geoffrey, get out of my sight."

The crowd parted so they could sneak away.

"Yes," Peter agreed. He joined Alexander walking around Beatrice's three brothers, like they were prey to be fought over. "But now we've established they didn't come here to kill anybody, perhaps we should try and find out just why they have come back, hmm?"

"And why have they?" Alexander said. His question was aimed at Peter. He couldn't just accuse the recently bereaved rabbit of being a traitor. He had many friends and allies amongst the watching crowd. However, he had to catch him out somehow, even better if he could make Peter catch himself out.

"Why don't we ask them that?" Peter shrugged.

"Okay." Alexander turned and regarded Mark, Tom and Travis. They knew what he was up to. "We're listening, boys. Why don't you tell everyone why you've decided to break the rules of your punishment."

Before Mark or Tom had a chance to answer, Travis blurted out, "Because we're very sorry, we've learned our lesson and we want to come back! Please, Alexander, sir, please?"

Alexander chirped with laughter. Other rabbits from the circle joined him. Mark and Tom glowered at Travis. Realising his mistake, he lowered his head and shrunk back. Peter shook his head.

"And how do they prove they've learnt their lesson?" said Alexander, addressing the crowd. "Why, by chasing the first rabbits they see, of course!" He laughed again. Several more laughed with him this time.

"Well, technically, we weren't chasing them," Tom began. "They were just running away from us. And anyway, we only wanted to catch them to tell them not to tell you we were here." Mark kicked him. Tom shut up.

Alexander bristled with joy. "Oh, so you didn't want me to know you'd come back, did you?" he exclaimed. "And why is that, pray tell?"

Mark wasn't going to let Tom and Travis put their feet in it again. "Because Peter said..." Then he realised he'd just repeated their mistake himself. Peter screwed up his eyes and wished they'd all just keep quiet.

"Yes, go on, Peter said what?" Alexander asked.

"Nothing," Mark mumbled.

"Or, more to the point, when did he say it?" Alexander turned to face Peter with a smug, contented expression. The crowd was silent and attentive. It was time to stir them up again. "You see, my fellow rabbits," he said, making an operatic gesture with his forepaw. "Peter told me they followed him back against his knowledge. I'd like to know, then, when he got the chance to speak to them."

Mark gave Peter an apologetic look, then bowed his head shamefully.

"Well, Peter?" Alexander pushed.

Peter didn't hesitate to answer. "What Mark was about to say was that I'd told him and his brothers to wait outside the forty-metre limit whilst I came and spoke to you and Angus. Which is true. I did."

Alexander was thrown by Peter's refusal to deny it. "Oh, did you, now?"

"I was hoping I could talk you both round, but seeing as this is all out in the open now, that's neither here nor there. What's important, though, is that I not only knew about the brothers coming back but actively encouraged it."

His honesty wasn't only shocking Alexander. Not a single rabbit spoke, but a lot of them exchanged glances. Peter Rabbit, one of the most respected members of the colony, had just confessed to a grave offence in front of them all.

"But when they told me about the discovery they've made, I knew that you'd want to hear about it, so I invited them to come back with me. I also implied you might be willing to give them a fair hearing and listen to what they had to say instead of giving them this kind of show trial."

Peter paused. Alexander narrowed his eyes.

"But I apologise for that."

"You forget that I've listened to their pleas and protestations, and their lies, many times before, Peter," Alexander said wearily. Some of the other rabbits nodded in agreement. "I've given them ample fair hearing in the past, I think. What could they possibly have to say that I haven't heard a hundred times before?"

"I think Travis should take it from here," Peter said, stepping back and nudging the cowering rabbit forward. "Go on, Travis, tell Alexander exactly what happened to you last night. Spare no details."

Travis was in the spotlight now. All eyes were on him. He wilted before their gaze. He stepped back, but Peter was already behind him, and nudged him forward again. So he stepped out in front of Alexander and swallowed deeply. Then he told them what had happened as he remembered it, finishing with the inevitable, "But it was only an accident!" The crowd was mostly silent.

"That's impossible," said Nicholas from behind Alexander.

"On the contrary," Peter said. "I've seen this car. It's half a day's journey down the road but it's there. And there are four humans dead in it. Four humans killed by rabbits. So, actually, Nicholas, it's entirely possible."

The rabbit circle was completely silent, but their faces revealed their unease. Peter and Alexander read the expressions of the rabbits differently. Alexander saw rabbits disgusted with the actions of these human killing criminals, but Peter saw rabbits concerned, but also curious.

"Killing humans," Alexander summarised. "Crashing their cars with bits of barbed wire. Watching them crash and burn to their deaths in a cornfield. Do you know what's going to happen when humans find rabbits are behind this?"

"Yes," Peter said quickly. "They'll realise they can't just walk all over us anymore, that's what'll happen."

"Rubbish!" Alexander laughed cruelly. Many a weaker foe had retreated from the sound of that laugh. "What'll happen is, they'll find the rabbits responsible, and they will kill them, and they will kick their lifeless bodies into the gutter."

Peter seethed. He knew what Alexander was making reference to.

"This will bring calamity onto all rabbit kind," Alexander continued. "We'll see warrens overturned and rabbits dragged from their homes to be slaughtered. And all for the actions of three outcasts."

An infectious nod spread around the rabbit circle. Alexander was on a roll. He swung on Peter again. "Three outcasts which, I'll hasten to add, are now in our midst, because of what you did, Peter, by bringing them here."

"We're all in danger," a female hissed in the crowd. Many agreed.

"Get rid of them, Alexander!" somebody else said. Even more agreed.

"Oh, I shall," Alexander announced. "The question that remains, though, is whether they should leave here alone..." Then he turned to face Peter. The crowd fell instantly silent. Alexander wasn't sure he had their full support yet. "So, tell me, Peter. Do you want to kill human beings too?"

"Yes," Peter replied bluntly.

"He's gone mad," someone whispered behind him.

"Poor Peter," someone else replied.

"On the contrary," Peter announced. "I am far from mad."

"Ha!" Alexander snorted.

Peter rounded on him and bared his buckteeth. Then he started to walk around the inside of the circle, passing each rabbit in turn but addressing the whole group. "In the last twenty-four hours I have lost everything. You all know this. You've all been telling me how sorry you are and how you know how I must be feeling."

He paused. "Bullshit." The rabbits nearest him flinched. They saw something in his fiery glare, even if it wasn't madness.

"None of you know how I'm feeling," he continued. "Some of you seem to think there's a particular way I should be behaving, moping around, crying and hanging around the oak tree. No, thank you. I've been angry, and I've been sad. I'm not going to keep up the emotional pretence just so you feel comfortable with my grief. When I left to tell my mate's brothers she was dead, rabbits here told me I should be there when they bury some dead rabbit flesh that used to be my son. Why? Why does that matter? Why is that important? Why should it be important?"

He finished walking around the circle, then turned round and went back the other way. "You see, I've realised this isn't about me. It's bigger than that. And moping around crying isn't going to make me feel better. Neither is watching you lot bury my child. But I'll admit to you all, I was running and hiding from feeling anything when I left this morning. It's only when I got to where I was going and these rabbits showed me that car wreck that I realised this all happened for a reason."

"Peter..." Alexander began.

"Just a minute, Alex," he said. Then he went back to his speech. "I don't want to call it divine guidance. I don't want to say this was fate or destiny. I don't believe in any of that crap. Maybe I'm just seeing clearly now. Maybe with Beatrice and the kids around me I couldn't see past our own lives. And maybe this is what it took to open my eyes, because I can see now. And you know what I can see? No, really, do you know what I can see?"

He stopped in front of one rabbit. It was Fiver, the rabbit who told him where to find Angus. Fiver looked around for someone to come to his rescue. Peter saw how scared he was. "This is what I'm talking about," he said to Fiver.

Then he started to walk and talk again. "I see rabbits afraid. I see rabbits that have taught themselves and each other to be afraid because being afraid is what we think we should be. We poor rabbits, always having to run and hide. It's what we teach our children. What I taught mine. Who is our enemy, who should we run from? But you know what I saw in the ashes of that car? No, not dead humans. I saw rabbits. I saw the future. And it doesn't have to be like this. Not any more."

He finished walking around the circle a second time and then went over to talk at Alexander instead. "We've been afraid so long we don't know anything else. But once upon a time there weren't any humans around here and that road out there didn't exist. We've forgotten what it was like back then. When the humans come we run and hide and dig new holes under the road and congratulate ourselves on living at peace with mankind. Fuck that."

Alexander licked his lips nervously. Peter nodded and repeated himself, "Fuck that, because it doesn't have to be this way. I've seen the alternative. It isn't a compromise and it isn't unfair. It's no different and no worse than what the humans have been doing to us for generations. Before they came, we didn't need any forty-metre limits to keep ourselves safe. Except that was before our time, and none of us remember it. What if we could turn things around? That's what I'm asking."

"You're talking about turning things back," Alexander said quietly. "Putting them back the way they used to be."

"No," Peter shook his head. "No, I'm not. I mean what I say. Turning things around. Right now, we need to be afraid to survive. Mankind put that road there and we've had to learn to be afraid of it. What if we could do the same to them?"

"How?" someone called out.

Peter turned to see whom. It wasn't somebody he recognised. He sensed the crowd were largely unconvinced, but they were also divided. Travis stared up at him meekly. Even he hadn't expected this.

"Down the road there are four dead human beings hanging upside down in the wreck of their car," Peter explained. "But Alexander is wrong. Mankind will never connect it to us. We're just rabbits, after all. We've been taught to believe humans think we're a great enemy that will attack us on sight, but I don't believe that. Human beings don't see us like that, like we see them. When they run us over or build on our land it's just because they don't care. They probably don't even realise."

He paused for thought. Somebody else took the opportunity to ask, "So how do we make them afraid of us, then?"

"I don't know if they'll ever be afraid of us," Peter admitted. "If they never connect the car crashes with us, they'll never have reason to fear us. But that's not the point. If they know that if they come down this road they'll crash and die, then they won't come down this road anymore. It's the road they'll fear, and what happens to them there. Just like it is with us. That's the point."

"Wait," Nicholas said. "You want to crash more cars."

"Yes," Peter told him.

"With more barbed wire."

"Yes, that's right."

"You are mad, Peter. Truly."

Peter shrugged. "What if I could prove it can be done?"

"What?" said Alexander. "By taking us all to see this car wreck of yours?"

"No," Peter replied. "By causing another one right here."

NOTES:
This is the longest chapter so far (and I've already cut 666 words off the end to start the next chapter with), and also one of the most challenging to write. It's basically all talk, which is not only difficult to write on its own, but is hard to use to push the plot forward. I thought I needed to explain why Peter hasn't just turned into an emotional wreck over the death of his family, and also increase the rivalry between him and Alexander as leadership figures of different sorts in the warren.