Duncton Wood: Chapter Notes

Here you will find summaries of each chapter, pieced together carefully. Please do update as this will be heavily used as a reference for the Wiki.

Spoiler warningThis article contains detailed information about the *Duncton* series. Please read with caution if you do not want the story spoiled for you!

## Part One: Duncton Wood

### Chapter 1

Characters -- **S:** Bracken, Rebecca

* September; Bracken's point-of-view.
* Bracken is seated near the Stone. He and Rebecca meet for the first time and he helps her to find her way back to the Duncton system following the statement that she is lost.
* Rebecca tries to tell him her name but is too late as Bracken already left her.

### Chapter 2

Characters -- **S:** Bracken, Rebecca, Burrhead, Hulver, Rune, Mekkins, Dogwood, Bindle, Mandrake

* Following after Rebecca's return to the system, William begins to describe Duncton, the land that surrounds it, the Ancient System, the Westsiders, the Eastsiders, the marsh and the Marsh End (as well as the Marshenders), the center of Duncton: Barrow Vale, the Stone... etc.
* He also writes about the Scribemoles, the Holy Burrows of Uffington, and also about the few elders: Hulver, Burrhead (Bracken's father), Rune, Mekkins, Dogwood, Bindle and lastly, Mandrake.

### Chapter 3

Characters -- **S:** Mandrake, Rebecca, Bracken, Hulver, Burrhead, Rune, Bindle, Dogwood

* May to June; one year before, Mandrake's story begins here and how he arrived from the Westside during mating season, attacking any mole who dare oppose him.
* He kills a previous unknown elder and immediately takes his place from him.
* He began to protest and agree that the Midsummer journey to the Stone was a waste of time, however Hulver disagrees, stating traditions couldn't be broken.
* Mandrake decides that any mole who makes the trek would be killed - though he continues to let Hulver go, alone. Hulver begins to pray to send a scribe, to fight the evil of Mandrake and Rune.
* Mandrake becomes the lead mole of the System by the time Bracken is born the following Spring.

### Chapter 4

Characters: Mandrake, Dogwood, Rune, Mekkins, Sarah, Rebecca, Boswell

* Horwood talks about Mandrake and his effect on the Duncton system under his leadership. He also writes about Mandrake's dislike for the Marshenders. He made a decision to isolate them from Duncton, which Mekkins was not happy about. It also explains Mandrake's way with his mates, and how he met Sarah.
* Then, Horwood writes about Mandrake's past back in Siabod.
* After, we learn about Rebecca's birth and naming, along with Mandrake's reaction to his daughter.
* While Rebecca, on one February day, sees the snow, and Mandrake then comes along to show her the vicious blizzards to which he nearly was killed by.
* In April, Rebecca came out onto the surface, overjoyed by the forest, the flowers, all of it. However, Rune enters the scene, and chased Rebecca as she fled from him. Into the tunnels they went, until Mandrake confronted them, sending Rebecca away and leaving Rune with a warning.
* May came; Mandrake bred Sarah, and she soon gave birth to a litter of his pups.

### Chapter 5

Characters: Bracken, Burrhead, Aspen, Rune, Mekkins, Root, Wheatear, Mandrake, Rebecca, Sarah, Rune, Bindle, Dogwood, Hulver

* William writes about Bracken's story, namely his birthplace, how the Westsiders were considered strong, his mother Aspen, his father Burrhead, his sister Wheatear and his brother Root.
* *Fact - Burrhead has fought for Aspen after the February elder meeting.*
* He writes about Bracken's growing fascination with the Ancient System and the Stone.
* As May advanced, Bracken begins to explore the Barrow Vale and then journeys to the Eastside
* *Fact - When Mandrake first came to Duncton, he killed twelve adult moles before he had even entered the tunnel.*
* As he explores a female explains to him about Rebecca and how she is almost old enough to leave her home burrow. As well that Sarah might have another litter that Summer.
* He learns about moles: Rune (cunning as a stoat), Bindle (sulking over on the Eastside now), and Dogwood and Mekkins, he also learnt about Dogwood, Hulver... etc.

### Chapter 6

Characters -- **S:** Bracken, Root, Wheatear, Burrhead, Aspen, Hulver, Rebecca, Groundsel the Owlkiller, Rune, Mandrake -- **M:** Rebecca the Healer

* May moved into June; Bracken, Root and Wheatear had grown; Bracken's siblings were nearly adult in size and as Horwood explains, they began to ignore Bracken, attack him, or push him out of the way. Burrhead and Aspen claimed that Bracken wouldn't have a chance against competing.
* Bracken was spending more time away from the burrow, thinking about a new home. Being unable to compete with Root was plain to see, so the Westside was not an option, as too wasn't the Eastside. So he made way for the slopes, where he met Hulver for the first time in an old tunnel.
* They shared worms, and Hulver spoke a grace. Hulver points out that Burrhead was Bracken's father and too that he wasn't pleased with his progress - "You're not nasty enough!" - They continue to talk; and Hulver asks why Bracken came to the slopes, to which he responded that he was interested in the system, liked exploring and soon, told Hulver everything. The two became good friends and Hulver let's Bracken use the old tunnel.
* Hulver soon talks about the Ancient System, of Uffington, of the White Moles, and of course, the scribemoles of Uffington. He tells Bracken too that it would soon be time for the June elder meeting, and to take care, for danger was afoot. He promises to Bracken finally, to take him to the Ancient System. Then after, he leaves Bracken alone.
* Before Hulver goes to the meeting, he encounters Rebecca, eager to meet him. She asks him to tell her about the old times, as only Hulver would remember. He tells her about Rebecca the Healer of the Ancient System and briefly of the older times. He continued on, describing how Mandrake had begun to 'change' the system. How he felt despair and there was nothing he could do. Hulver relates his story to Groundsel the Owlkiller, an old legend. How he climbed Duncton Hill and celebrated Midsummer, and how he was followed, likely by Rune. Lastly, he tells her about the Stone and his ritual, and how he felt Rebecca the Healer's presence in the Ancient System -- then, he mentions Bracken. How he first met him, and Rebecca asks about the Ancient System.
* Finally, in his leave, he tells of Bracken, that he might need her help, and vice versa.

### Chapter 7

Characters -- **S:** Bracken, Hulver, Rune -- **M:** Aspen, Root, Burrhead, Merton

* Bracken spends time in the old burrows on the slopes, exploring, then looking at the fields from below.
* Bracken encounters Rune for the first time, which he threatens and tells Bracken to leave there and go back to the Westside. He then realises on his way back to Hulver than Rune had come to kill him. He passes through and eventually finds Hulver's burrow.
* Hulver explains there is little time. Hulver explains to Bracken that they are to go up to the Stone's shadow and hide there until Midsummer Night. On the way, Bracken digs a tunnel for them both. And from then, Bracken's education with Hulver had begun: he learnt of Merton, chosen mole of Uffington; and then of the Blowing Stone.
* Bracken and Hulver continue their journey to the Stone; on the way up the hill, Hulver told Bracken that the Ancient System was below them. Then they forged on, chuckling and finally made it to the Stone. Bracken tells Hulver that he can feel the pull of the Stone, and that Uffington wasn't as far as Hulver said. They then settled down and rest.

### Chapter 8

Characters -- ***S:*** Mandrake, Hulver, Bracken, Rune, Mekkins, Burrhead -- **M:** Rose the Healer, Bindle

* Mandrake plots to kill Hulver if he proceeds the ritual
* Meanwhile, Hulver talks to Bracken about the Duncton ritual of Midsummer Night and about the chanting songs. After a time, they ventured across the hill to the south end of the wood. They made new burrows and looked for food.
* Through the stories, Bracken learned of the history of Duncton Wood; about the great elders of the past; of famous fights and worm-poor years. Of Mandrake and other tyrant moles of the past -- and of Rose the Healer. Afterwards, he explained a few herbs and their uses. And as Midsummer Night grew near, Hulver talked to him about its meaning, and to recite the last part of the ritual in case he had to learn it for Bindle's knowledge. Hulver then told him the plan.
* As night followed, Bracken and Hulver walked to the Stone. The plan commenced - Bracken looked about the clearing and among the shadows, was Rune. And among Rune, Dogwood, and then, Burrhead. Bracken moved across the clearing to impersonate Hulver, then back to the Stone he wove, with henchmoles on his tail. And in the moonlight stood Mandrake -- then, they were all chasing him.
* Hulver begins the ritual of Midsummer.
* Mandrake realised he had been fooled, and he and the rest head back to the Stone. In the time they hurried back, Hulver had almost finished the ritual -- Bindle arrives and protects Hulver. Mandrake then attacks Bindle; Rune and Burrhead charged to Hulver, killing him. Bindle, still alive, but gravely hurt. Bracken speaks to Bindle in his final moments, reciting the last part of the ritual. Mandrake, furious, runs to them and targets Bracken, who flees. Now too, Rune, Dogwood and the others sprang into chase. Then, Mandrake caught him under his talons. Finally, Bracken pulled himself to Ancient System, wounded.

### Chapter 9

Characters -- **S**: Rebecca, Mekkins, Rose the Healer -- **M**: Sarah, Mandrake, Bracken

* April; Rebecca's point of view. Sarah had another litter by Mandrake, and so, Rebecca leaves the home burrow. Mandrake planned to show Rebecca a burrow nearby in order to keep her in sight. This burrow belonged to Rue - Mandrake threatened her if she tried to reclaim it. And so, Rebecca takes the new tunnel as her own.
* May to early June; She stayed there in her burrow, when her mother's second litter was roaming about. Thus, Sarah and Rebecca became friends once again.
* June; (it is here she meets Hulver).
* July and Summer; Rebecca spends more and more time outside her burrow, with 'her' birds and their song and with 'her' forest. She chose not to visit the Eastside for a while, as the last time she had, she happened upon a mating fight between two badgers. Mandrake visited her between the time of June and July.
* That July, Mekkins had told her of the deaths of Hulver and Bindle. The story was kept in the dark for obvious reasons. Rebecca asked Mekkins where she could find Hulver, to which Mekkins lies that he doesn't know - he then chooses to tell her the truth: of that horrible Midsummer Night, of Bracken's 'death'. At this, Rebecca was outraged and blindly attacked Mekkins in tears, upset that Mandrake was responsible for so much death in the system. Then, with confidence, Mekkins tells her that Bracken cannot be dead. To this, Mekkins becomes disloyal to Mandrake and his true loyalty to the Marshenders shows through - he departs back to the Marsh End.
* August; the female moles who littered in Spring were well cleared from their young (who went to find burrows and tunnels of their own), and the males lost their aggression. It was here that Rebecca began to spend a large time with these moles, talking and learning. Rebecca's fascination with herbs played out, and through this, she learns of Rose the Healer. Rebecca wanted to meet her. Rebecca heard a snippet of an old rhyme about wild garlic, which she goes to the Marsh End to find, then to the edge of the Pastures. There, she meets Rose the Healer.
* Rose was picking the ramson (wild garlic) as she met Rebecca, who asks Rose about the rhyme: *When white stars have shone, When their petals have gone, Then pick thy ramson.* It is here that Rebecca learns what stars looked like, by the flowers of the ramson. She also teaches her about herbs and other knowledge. Rose makes her way to Duncton Wood, the mole that she was sensing and needing to heal: Bracken, on the Ancient System. Rose had not known, until Rebecca had told her - thus, Rose's trust to Rebecca becoming a healer grew.

### Chapter 10

Characters -- **S:** Bracken, Rose the Healer -- **M:** Root, Wheatear, Burrhead, Aspen

* Bracken's point of view: Bracken is gravely hurt and ill in the Ancient System, barely surviving as his wounds in his shoulder reminded him of the trials of his puphood, his uneasy passage into June, the shock of seeing Hulver's death... he began to develop a disinterest in the Ancient System, of Hulver; a depression set in. Memories hit him, of his siblings, of Burrhead, and of course, Aspen's stories. Eventually, Bracken was next to death's door, until Rose the Healer had found and saved him, tending to his wounds and keeping him alive. Eventually, she leaves, telling herself that now that Hulver and Bindle are dead, she was one of the oldest moles in Duncton or in the pastures; "I *am* getting old!"

### Chapter 11

Characters -- **S:** Bracken -- M: Rose the Healer, Rebecca the Healer

* Bracken awakens, aching and weak. He recalls the touch of a female mole, Rose, which he mistakes for Rebecca the Healer. He thinks to himself too, that it was his own strength that had saved him. On one day a few days into August, he began to explore the Ancient System.
* Saying; "You can tell a mole by the sounds of his tunnels."
* Two weeks in, and Bracken decides to press forward to the center of the system. And soon after he found a place to rest, he hears Dark Sound for the first time, and then makes his way to the Chamber of Dark Sound. Soon, he encounters the owl face, with the horrific echoes of the chamber carving into his eardrums. At the base of the seventh tunnel, he sees an old, giant mole skeleton.

### Chapter 12

Characters -- **S:** Bracken, Rue -- **M:** Mandrake, Rune, Burrhead

* August; falling into Autumn. William explains that the moles who had seen at least one Longest Night, are chatty about their young, having left their home burrows far behind. The survivors, at least are. He explains that many a mole had been taken by owls, or lost strength in territorial fights and died of starvation. August was the time of chatter, gossip, and by far, rumour. One such rumour came from the flight of Bracken from the Chamber took him to the slopes, and without realising, encountered a Westside youngster establishing his territory (no older than Bracken himself). As Bracken looked so unkempt, the youngster had fled back to his home burrow of a 'wild monster mole' coming from the Ancient System.
* This rumour spread from the Westside to the Eastside and of course, Barrow Vale. The rumour had become exaggerated; Bracken: a monster mole, massive and fearless, would kill any that come near him. As the Eastsiders were superstitious, they resurrected an old legend that one day the Stone would send its own mole to bring havoc on the system as punishment. Bracken became the Stone Mole.
* Mandrake laughed the first time he heard the tale; a Pasture mole gone astray, he thought. Rune plotted that the Stone Mole rumour could advance his taking of leadership. Bracken had tried to introduce himself out of interest to two Eastsider moles, but failed as they ran from him in fear.
* Bracken plans to gain courage and pass the mole skeleton into the seventh tunnel. He also tries to learn that sound can make the carved walls in the Chamber 'speak', and is intrigued to try it on ordinary tunnels. He also learns about the sounds he can make; thumps and scratches with his claws could echo into something more to frighten an army of moles.
* William explains a bit about Rue, and her inhabiting of the old tunnels Hulver used to live in. He says that one day, Mandrake had loomed into her burrow and turned her out of them (which she occupied for moleyears) to make way for Rebecca. *This fact is mentioned earlier in Chapter 9.* Rue had believed that Mandrake would maim or kill her if she was found on Rebecca's territory or anywhere near Barrow Vale. Distressed enough by her inability to litter that Spring, the sounds of pups upset her, and she ate less and less, and her self care overall was looking rather bad. She competed with the new youngster males for territory, however was not a great fighter. She was no match for the young Duncton moles. May, June and July were tough moleyears for Rue, as she scratched about for any tunnels she could. Her fur became shaggy and dishevelled; she considered perhaps making way to the Marsh End, though they were tough and would likely not accept her. Finally, she made her way to the slopes - where Bracken had found her.
* Saying - *"A fox may be a mole's best friend, when his path with ours doth wend."*
* Rue sings a song - *"Rue's found a cleansome home, Rue's got a place, Let sun and moon and stars go roam, Rue's got a place."*
* September; Bracken has learned well of the Ancient System and knows the lefts and rights, the twists and turns. He no longer felt fear. Now, he traced the tunnels of the Ancient System to the old tunnels of Hulver's - he scratches the flint as he burrows, which made a horrible sound, both him and Rue heard it, and Rue, in fear, fled the scene.

### Chapter 13

Characters: -- **S:** Rue, Mandrake, Rebecca, Mekkins, Rune, Bracken (The Stone Mole) -- **M:** Burrhead, Rune, Sarah.

* Rue fled and fled into Barrow Vale, horrified and with a tale to tell and soon the rumour of the giant mole in the Ancient System turned into a solid fact. At the time, Mandrake and Rune were away, and thus, she told the story to everymole who wanted to listen to it, which was *every* mole. Soon enough, Mandrake, Rune and now Rebecca too rushed back to Barrow Vale. Rebecca had become independent, and through all that she had been through with her father, she would declare she loved him still. Rebecca truly was happy and looking very healthy. Her only relations in this time were her mother, Sarah, now more like a friend, and Mekkins too, who developed a powerful affection for her. Soon, Rebecca had become depressed however, and stayed for moledays in her burrows, no longer seeing joy in things she once had. This depression had come from her needing of a mate, which Mandrake forbade.
* When September came, her lust for a mate came to her stronger than before. It was then she'd remember Rune and his chasing down the tunnels after her. She hated him and yet again and again the secret memory of the mating rite he had started and Mandrake had stopped short, came back to her.
* Rebecca hears the news of the Stone Mole for the first time from Mekkins; "Course it's a load of rubbish. I mean, it's got to be hasn't it? You've only got to look at this mole, and I've seen her, to see she's as nervous as a pup and would think a dormouse was a monster. They say that she's been through a hard time..." -- Rebecca however believed the Stone Mole was in fact, Bracken.
* Moles of the system had sought the Stone Mole to take over of Mandrake and his henchmoles - it was then the Stone Mole was seen as a kind of deity, almost. Anything that had happened, they claimed was in link to the Stone Mole.
* One night, over on the part of the Westside, adjacent to the Pastures, a fight took place. A massive owl, killed. One wing entangled in the barbed wire of the fence, the body tilting it down on to the ground, its talons hooked and dead. It's stomach bloody with gore and it's yellow glare, opaque and dull. Burrhead was summoned, and he sent moles to retrieve Mandrake and Rune. It should seem like it, that the Stone Mole had killed this owl! Only Mandrake was not intimidated by such an event; Rune too, was nervous and unwilling to get close. Mandrake mocked the dead owl by smearing its blood onto his face, and laughed. "Anymole here like a taste of owl as well? Good for the health, it is." -- surely, Mandrake would come to kill them all, Rune had thought. Mekkins soon heard of the tale, and told Rebecca who the tale impressed, elevating her view on Bracken further.
* Rebecca ran to Barrow Vale to hear about the tale of the Stone Mole from Rue, herself. She knew this would distract her from her will to mate, but it was not so. For Rune had appeared, ready to take her and claim her as his own. She had hated him, but still could not resist him, or rather, her body could not. Before Rune could take the oppurtunity, a henchmole had called for Rune, and claimed Mandrake had summoned him. It was Rue, from the slopes, that Mandrake had captured. Rune left the scene, furious on the henchmole's interruption. But Mandrake was more important it seemed -- Rebecca came back to her senses, and, left too to journey further than she'd ever before.
* Rue though, now in custody of Mandrake, was questioned. And of course, she was terrified. Mandrake told Rue to bring him and Rune to the tunnels where she had heard the Stone Mole. So it was, she indeed led them both there, along with a henchmole. Mandrake went in first, followed by Rune. They arrived at the stone seal, which led into the Ancient System. If Mandrake had found the Stone Mole, he promised that he was as good as dead. Mandrake hit the seal, which emit a screeching sound and as the cover peeled away, an image of an owl face came forth. Though Mandrake showed aggression to the image, Rune showed little to no response. However, Rune admired the evil the image produced - it was far more exciting than any feeling he might have felt for Rebecca. Rue was understandably horrified, to which Mandrake ordered silence. Mandrake claimed to Rune that he had seen these kind of owl faces before, used by ancient moles to create fear in the minds of moles who wished to enter further into the tunnels it protected. "Just a joke to make a mole laugh," Mandrake had said.
* Bracken could very well hear all that was going on -- "You know what it is, don't you, Rune?" Mandrake asked, and Bracken listened further, for what was 'it'? Soon, Mandrake left, looking old and tired, Rune had thought, and knew his time of Duncton was coming. Rue followed them, and to which Rune spoke; "Shall I have her killed?", to which Mandrake declined. Rue felt worthless, and cried... but then, Bracken found her. Rue asked if he had come to kill her, and he responded, "The only killing I know of is when moles try to do it to me." They exchanged the old sayings ("What mole are you and where are you from?"), and got to know each other.
* Bracken encourages her to go into the tunnel where he says it would be safer, but she refuses, saying, "The owl's in there," to which Bracken responded that he knew and that was what he wanted to investigate. After persuasion, Bracken led her into the tunnels. There, they shared what they knew about Hulver and the Stone Mole. "Show me where it happened," Bracken tells her, to which she is unsure. He reassures her that the owl was only an image, and then, he demonstrated how the horrifying sound was made.
* September came and Bracken and Rue spent time together, burrowing and creating a new system for Rue. Bracken then, after some time with her, he left the tunnel and walked out into the grass, where the air hung heavy with an oncoming storm. Rain dropped down, and Bracken turned back, and then continued on and went for the Stone.

### Chapter 14

Characters: -- **S:** Rebecca, Cairn, Stonecrop, Rune -- **M:** Rue, Mekkins, Rose the Healer, Mandrake, Root, Wheatear

* September; when Mandrake and Rune left the burrows after Rue showing them the owl face, Rebecca awoke, observing cobwebs. Then, she comes across wild strawberries, and pink flowers - rosebay and willowherb. She could smell the blackberries; she became entranced by her world yet again. Rebecca made it to the pastures.
* Time passed and it was her fourth dawn away from Barrow Vale. And then, it would be here that she was fated to meet Cairn and his brother, Stonecrop. The two brothers were playing, mock-fighting and having fun. Rebecca, in bliss and excitement, danced happily. Then, she came across Cairn for the first time, among Stonecrop. Then, she flirted and played. Cairn and Stonecrop introduce themselves, while Rebecca has her eyes on Cairn most of all. The trio played and had fun together. "So you're Pasture moles! They said you were all vicious and dangerous!" Rebecca exclaimed, while Cairn spoke back, "And they said you were all dark and broody and lived in shadows weaving spells." They got to know each other very well, asking many questions. Cairn here talks about the Duncton Stone, and how 'spirit moles' guarded it. They talk about scribemoles, what lies beyond the Pastures, Rose the Healer. As Stonecrop left the scene, he spoke to Rebecca to take care of Cairn, because he loved him. Soon enough, the two were caught in love, carressing touches and eventual intercourse.
* Rune then appeared, searching for Rebecca as she had not returned to her own tunnels. He left Barrow Vale and set off for the Westside, and scented out Rebecca, along with Cairn. Smiling, he stretched his talons, ready to kill. Rebecca picks up his scent, and warns Cairn, who laughed mockingly of Rune who then showed his face. Cairn laughed again, and then the two males locked in a ferocious battle. Fur on fur, talons on talons, fighting for Rebecca.
* Rain had begun to pour, the familiar rainfall of the first chapter. The fight was easing down, however Rune was luring Cairn into the Westside -- for Mandrake to deliver the killing blow. Rebecca sat in her burrow, terrified and waiting. She had hoped that Cairn would return with the blood of Rune on his talons. The rain grew heavier, and Rebecca grew more and more miserable. She left her den, calling out for Cairn, and with no reply she crawled back into her burrow. However she panicked, and left it once again, however uncertain where to go. She wandered and wandered hopelessly, unknowingly toward the Stone, and there beneath it, sat Bracken, also in some sort of misery. He grew angry at the Stone, that it was just there, and doing nothing. Then, he became angry with Hulver, who told him the Stone held everything, which he didn't feel now as he sat near the Stone. He cried, then faced the direction where Uffington had lay. He asked the Stone for its help, then kept quiet. The loud, drumming rain sounded through the forest, and then, Bracken felt peace.
* Rebecca, upset and weary, sat in the clearing and looked up at the Stone. There, she met Bracken for the first time; however, she did not think he was Bracken, but rather, a Pasture mole. For her imagination formed Bracken as a big mole, big as Stonecrop or Mandrake himself. Some sense of shared emotion gave Rebecca the strength to speak to Bracken. And here, the beginning of the story plays out once again.

## Part Two: Rebecca

### Chapter 15

Characters: -- **S:** Boswell, Skeat -- **M:** Bracken, Rebecca

* September -- around the time of Bracken and Rebecca's meeting; William explains about Boswell, how he prayed and meditated by the Blowing Stone to gain guidance after breaking his vows of obedience, and to make his way to the system of Duncton. He asked if he could do so, by the Holy Mole of the time and he was refused. "You're far too valuable here, Boswell, for nomole knows the secrets of the libraries as well as you do, or the old language," said Skeat to Boswell.
* There is a brief backstory on Boswell here, how he was disabled at birth with a crippled paw, how Skeat had found him and brought him to the Holy Burrows, how he was put to work in the libraries and how he became a scribe at a young age. He wrote (or perhaps edited) the Book of Earth and translated the Book of Light. How he done all that, at the mere age of one Longest Night.
* When Boswell found an old manuscript with the seal of a White Mole, he began to change (the Manuscript follows). He decided that if there were now seven books, with the Book of Silence now claimed to be the seventh, he knew there must be a seventh Stillstone. There was an enormous excitement when the news spread in Uffington -- they said it must be a sign. The younger scribes, (including Boswell) asked to be allowed to search for this Stillstone and the lost Book. But how could Boswell?
* After reading an entry on Duncton, he felt the signature pulling of it and asked three times of the Holy Mole if he could leave, which all three asks were refused. So, that September, he trekked to the Blowing Stone, and would soon, break his vows. As he left, Skeat accompanied him to the eastern part of Uffington Hill, where he would watch him go. Skeat blessed him (it is written).

### Chapter 16

Characters: -- **S:** Cairn, Rune, Rebecca, Mandrake -- **M:** Stonecrop, Sarah

* Cairn chased Rune and eventually, common sense gave way as the trees oppressed him. His brother's words rang in his ears, "Never leave a fight half fought,", which Cairn took that it was best to kill opponents than let them live and remain a threat. It was true that Rune was not nearly finished with the fight. And then it was, that he turned back to find Rebecca. He had been lost in the woods for hours, trying to find his way to the Pastures. When the rain lifted, his senses cleared and he began to call Rebecca's name, and so it was, that she was gone. He waited in the old burrow and tended to his wounds.
* Rebecca could not sleep. She made her way near to the Pastures, and there, she found Cairn. She began to tend to him. Together, they were, once more.
* Rune returned to Mandrake, where he laughed and questioned him, "Been in a fight, have you, Rune?". He curled in the light, his wounds showing. At last, Rune asked Mandrake where Rebecca was, and it came to be, that Rune saw Mandrake's daughter with a Pasture mole. "You killed him?" Mandrake asked, and Rune told him he wished he had. Soon, a henchmole claimed he couldn't find Rebecca in her burrow -- that settled it. Rebecca *had* mated, and Mandrake was furious. "Take me there!"
* Mandrake and Rune made their way to the Pastures. Cairn and Rebecca had mated; their time together was almost up. Mandrake stood in the entrance of the burrow, snarling and he ordered Rune to stay out of it -- it was his fight. Mandrake lunged his talons and fought with Cairn, who protected Rebecca, promising if he met her again, they would mate once more. Mandrake thrust his talons again and then they locked into a battle; it excited Rebecca. When Cairn began to struggle in the fight, she begged him to flee. It was then Mandrake landed many fatal blows, and Cairn was done for.
* Cairn fled, begging into the silence for his brother to come and save him. He, unknowingly, made his way closer to the Stone.

### Chapter 17

Characters: -- **S:** Bracken, Cairn, Stonecrop, Rue -- **M:** Rose the Healer, Hulver, Rune, Mandrake

* Bracken saw him -- Cairn; he was bloodied, his snout and cheek were crushed, his shoulders and flanks ragged red, his left eye torn and blinded and his back legs only good for dragging along. His hind quarters were dotted with the markings of talon thrusts. Bracken could see the suffering he had felt in the Ancient System in this beaten mole. Bracken came to help him after a while; "It's all right, I will not harm you." They began to talk, and Cairn told Bracken how it had been a mating fight, how Rune found him, how it was his first mating fight, and how Mandrake fought and did what he had done to him.
* Bracken brought Cairn to the Stone clearing. Cairn soon asked Bracken a few questions, like what the Stone was. Bracken sat with him, easing him by talking with Cairn as he was dying. He talked of the Stone, of Rebecca... it was clear that poor Cairn was easing closer to death, and he now began to talk, of Rebecca, of Mandrake and Rune too, but he kept the subject on his mate. It was pain to Cairn that he reflected on his mistakes. As Cairn's final request, he begged Bracken to speak of Rebecca -- and so he had, and Cairn then found the peace of death.
* It was time for Bracken to leave Cairn; he moved and went to the Stone, wishing a mole would talk to him the way he had to Cairn. Then, he made his way to the slopes to his Rue.
* Stonecrop began to search for his brother, finding the old burrow Cairn took refuge. A fight had taken place and it horrified him. He continued the search and when night came, he had found Cairn's body. He sat there in grief for his departed brother. And soon his grief became anger and hatred and he took his brother into the open sky; "Better to be owl fodder on the pastures he loved than prey to some skulking scavenger in the grass.". Returning to the old burrow where the fight took place, he vowed as he smelt Mandrake's scent that he would remember it and kill him if he ever saw him.
* Bracken returned to Rue and her tunnels; in his absence she cleaned and sought worms. She sang songs and sealed all the entrances to Hulver's tunnels. Then asking herself, "What's it all for?", and then confirmed to herself, "For mating. That's what!" So when Bracken returned, she was very pleased. But it would not be easy; she pretended that it was her system now, and he was not welcome. However, Bracken knew better. And they began to bond in their own way, by giggling, playing, scratching, snarling and talking silly nonsense. Soon, the two mated peacefully, and fell into a sleep. After, Bracken knew Rue wanted him gone, so she could bear his litter. He left her, and sought the burrow he had made himself, and looked forward to going back to the Ancient System, to explore the seventh tunnel.

### Chapter 18

Characters: -- **S:** Rose the Healer, Mekkins, Rebecca, Rune, Mandrake -- **M:** Cairn, Bracken, Sarah, Mandrake

* The forest grew quiet and sorrowful following Cairn's death. Rose the Healer visited Mekkins in the Marsh End in mid-October, claiming she wished to see him. She warned him of danger, of which the system would need his help. That she had foreseen this for many years from before even Mandrake arrived, from before Mekkins was born. Mekkins confirmed he could tell something had been happening, saying "I can feel it in the bloody trees."
* Rose spoke of Bracken holding a secret, unknown what it was exactly, but aware it was a heavy burden on him. Explaining that when she went to heal him, she felt the secret's darkness sapping her of strength. "There is such fear about, Mekkins, of a kind you perhaps do not know. May the Stone help you never to know it." After, she asked him how well he knew of Rebecca, and Mekkins told her how fond he grew of Rebecca. Rose explained that Mekkins would have to watch over both Bracken and Rebecca for her.
* Mekkins tried to see first to Rebecca, but was blocked off by the two henchmoles that guarded each exit. It was to be that Rebecca was being kept in the burrow until she had littered. Mekkins asked a henchmole to tell Rebecca that he had been around and he was always there in the Marsh End if she needed him. The mole spoke that if he could, he would.
* Meanwhile, in the burrow, Rebecca trembles in fear as the two henchmoles that Rune had chosen (in an act of Mandrake's orders) to guard her, and when she tried to fight them, one of the moles cuffed her so hard tossing her across the burrow, almost unconscious. Food was brought to her in the imprisoning, and in the quiet, she felt anger, loneliness and eventual fear for her young. Rune eventually appeared, saying to the henchmoles to give her less food and hit her when they wanted - that it was wrong to have bred with a Pasture mole, that she ought to be killed. Rebecca begged him, but he left and she was struck by a henchmole.
* Around these times she was having dreams and nightmares, until at last, her pups were born, and as they were, Mandrake appeared, watching Rebecca birth them like the pain was a punishment. Rune and the others examined her birth four (or five?) pups. Her attempts to protect them in vain, they were killed. She was left alone afterward, begging for forgiveness.

### Chapter 19

Characters: -- **S:** Bracken, Rue

* After leaving Rue, Bracken continued exploring the Ancient System and its centre. He examines the mole skeleton and wonders the story behind it. From there, he moved into the seventh tunnel, which led into more tunnels, which he wandered down. By the eight entrance, he saw a root, which told him he was below the Stone clearing. Then, travelling on to the Chamber of Dark Sound and further to the eastern entrance of the Ancient System to eat, and then, bringing with him worms to store. Trying again, with the Dark Sound murmuring at him, he explored further into the Ancient System. After two hours of digging and pathfinding, he found his way back again to a familiar spot.
* The wandering down the tunnels continued on for five days, and to help him, he marked each tunnel accordingly, ones that continued on, and others that led to a dead-end. At last, he made it, and dug through the roots of one of the beaches that grew next to the Duncton Stone.
* October came, and Bracken felt the need to see Rue.

### Chapter 20

Characters: -- **S:** Rebecca, Mekkins, Curlew, Rue -- **M:** Mandrake, Rune, Bracken

* Rebecca, first lying in the burrow with her dead children, then, taken by a kind henchmole to Mekkins, who the henchmole knew would help her. At first she resisted, going back to the burrow, but then, she continued on in the night. She then took her deceased pups to the surface of the grass, where she hoped, the owls would take them. Before to which it would happen, she whispered to them words of love and grief. Then as she would wait, the henchmole hurried her, claiming there was nothing more she had there to do. Rebecca then went with him, sobbing.
* Mekkins then took Rebecca in as the henchmole and she journeyed into east side of the Marsh End. It took a little while for her to come to her senses and be convinced, and so she stayed with Mekkins, who introduced her to Curlew, who at first resisted them, claiming sickness was there. Rebecca saw she was diseased, but warm with kindness and compassion, and knew Curlew suffered herself. Mekkins thought Curlew could help her, and Rebecca then fell asleep. Steadily, over time, Rebecca had begun to worsen, and depression haunted her, making her unresponsive to her life. Mekkins tried to aid her, by praying to the Stone.
* Mekkins met Rue, and her pups; he talked to her for a while, with her five pups. Rue speaks of the runt, Comfrey, and Mekkins thought he could take Comfrey to Rebecca, in hopes to save her from her numb depression. Rue accepted the idea, and Mekkins carefully took Comfrey by the scruff, with Bracken asking him to take care of him as he went to the Marsh End, and to Rebecca. After Comfrey's cry of loss and she then took him in, getting him to suckle. Bracken watched from a distance, and then left.
* Most moles in Duncton assumed that Rebecca was taken by an owl, and her litter (even though Mandrake was their killer). Sarah, who opposed the killing of the litter, was supposedly taken by an owl, around the same time as Rebecca's disappearance. It was here that Mandrake had begun to lose his brutality, and Rune's steadily grew. Mandrake was becoming obsessed with the ravings of the Stone Mole, who Mandrake believed was the father of Rebecca's brood.
* Rebecca however, was alive, and in the Marsh End.

### Chapter 21

Characters: -- **S:** Comfrey, Rebecca, Mekkins, Curlew, Bracken, Rue, Rose the Healer -- **M:** Rune, Mandrake, Violet, Coltsfoot, Beech, Pipple, Bracken (The Stone Mole), Cairn, Ballagan, Vervain, Linden, Hulver

* Comfrey was given to Rebecca, and named after the healing herb which Curlew said helped keep Rebecca alive in the two days Mekkins was away at the Stone. He grew healthier, and Rebecca too, though Mekkins sensed she wasn't quite herself.
* November came -- Mekkins left to the affairs calling him at the Marsh End. Curlew promised to look after Rebecca in his absence. When Mekkins arrived, he recalled Rose's warning and knew indeed that dark days were now among them. Terror took over Duncton, the Westsiders were growing too strong to control, and thus, were attacks on the Eastsiders and Marshenders. The henchmoles' business was serious, of residence claimings and then, a killing in Barrow Vale. Burrhead's allegiance moved more to Rune, whose rise to power was slowly and steadily beginning.
* Bracken remained in command of the Ancient System, but his visits to the slopes nearby were to see Rue and their litter: Violet, Coltsfoot, Beech and Pipple. However in the Ancient System, he tried several more times to find a route through the Chamber of Roots, but finally gave up. He established his tunnels at the wood's edge beyond the Stone clearing near Cairn's death, the tunnels which gave a way to the Chamber of Echoes. He made a deliberate maze to confuse any mole who found their way in the tunnels.
* November gave way to December; winter hung heavy in the forest.
* After the third week of December where Longest Night moves closer, and moles decided they would make their way up the hill to the Stone, despite Mandrake's warnings. Bracken however, was in a lonely depression, thinking that perhaps he should have gone to Uffington, that after all, maybe the Stone's power didn't exist, or why he couldn't cross the Chamber of Roots.
* Mekkins brings Rose to Rebecca, who tries to heal her depression, not through joy, but trust to the Stone. Rose and Mekkins talk amongst each other on ways they can heal her; Rose thinks that a visit to the Stone on Longest Night could aid her, and Mekkins should be the one to go with her. Curlew would take care of Comfrey on her trek there, Rose had said. However, Rebecca declined, saying she didn't want to leave Comfrey. After a temper tantrum, Rose was even more convinced that Mekkins ought to take her, 'even if he had to drag her there'.

### Chapter 22

Characters: -- **S:** Bracken, Mekkins, Rebecca -- **M:** Linden, Hulver, Cairn, Y Wrach, Mandrake, Rue, Violet, Rune,

* At Longest Night, Bracken stayed in his tunnels, wanting none of the dancing, of the storytelling, of the ridiculous songs... any of it. The moles spoke of Linden, the first White Mole, and they all had a reverence for the Stone. As his peace was crushed, he moved to the Stone with the others to watch the event. He wanted knowledge of the Stone, from any mole that would tell him, but he lacked the courage to do so. Eventually as the night went on, the moles began to leave the Stone and go back to their burrows. As they did, Bracken thought of Hulver as his tears fell.
* Mekkins came along, though Bracken wasn't very happy about it, and told him to leave. As the two prepared to fight, Rebecca appeared, to which Bracken's anger vanished. The two began to soothe each other, touch each other... *love* each other, and Mekkins sang a song to himself, happy that it was Longest Night. The three, after having a song and dance, went off to Bracken's burrow to feast.
* After telling tales and having a good time, Mekkins fell asleep while Rebecca and Bracken talked of the Stone and their belief in it. Afterward, Bracken took Rebecca into the Ancient System, feeling it pull them there, until they made it to the Chamber of Roots and to its end, a great wall and to its left, a tunnel. They found a chamber there, and with it, a corner of stone, *the* Stone, which they would find at the centre of the Ancient System. And there, they found a stone, which glimmered with light. As they reached out to touch it, the light was gone, and after time, returned once again. In this light, the two caressed and loved each other, laughing and talking of what their hearts yearned to say; Rebecca's lost litter, Bracken's isolation in the Ancient System, Comfrey, and Cairn. They wept as they unveiled these heavy tales, and at last, they confessed their love.
* As hours passed, the two would separate as Bracken was hungry and Rebecca missing Comfrey. Before they parted, they held the Stone one last time. However then, as they began to leave, everything felt stronger, louder, and frightening. The two thought of the stone they saw, in hopes it would guide them out. To which it did, where they returned to a sleeping Mekkins; they too, fell asleep.

### Chapter 23

Characters: -- **S:** Mandrake, Rune, Comfrey, Violet, Rue, Beech, Coltsfoot, Pipple -- **M:** Sarah, Rebecca, Bracken (The Stone Mole), Gelert (Hound of Siabod), Curlew

* As Longest Night passed in Barrow Vale, Mandrake was mad with obsession, walking about his tunnels and cursing in the language of the Siabod. He attacked moles for an imagined crime and left them wounded or dead. The moles around him were afraid of him, wondering what he meant with his insane rabbles about Rebecca and Sarah. His madness made him believe that Sarah and Rebecca weren't dead, but rather gone to the Stone Mole in the Ancient System, leading him to feel alone. By January, he called out curses and nomole had the courage to talk to him. Nomole but Rune, who knew the system was falling out of Mandrake's grasp. Conspiracy and plots against Mandrake were made since the murder of his daughter's litter, and Rune was the listening ear to them -- however, he knew only *he* would change things in a revolution, in *his* way. Rune would soon rule all of Duncton.
* Cold, bitter weather came and snow fell after two cold days in the second week of January. Not all was bitter, as Rue and Curlew's burrows had the presence of pups. Comfrey was learning to talk, and too, developed his stutter. Mekkins stayed for two days after delivering Rebecca back safely.
* Snow had fallen with Comfrey having curiosity and fear about it. Rebecca's bond with her adopted son grew. As the snow came, the males in Duncton became aggressive. Rune knew he had to take charge soon. He saw Mandrake, who was caught in a monologing speech. Mandrake was becoming more demented as time went on and Rune knew it well. Mandrake asked about the Stone Mole - Rune was planning to isolate Mandrake there in the Ancient System, using the Stone Mole like a bait, telling him that Mandrake must go to the Ancient System and kill the Stone Mole himself.
* Rue's children had burrowed into Hulver's old tunnels. One day, with the winter's chill, Rue was alone as her pups had gone somewhere and she was worried. Violet ran to her, telling her that "two big moles" had Beech and were hitting him. Rue demanded that she show her.
* Mandrake and Rune headed to the tunnel leading to the Ancient System, not considering the tunnels might have been occupied. Mandrake began his search for the Stone Mole while Rune caught sight of Rue's pups, who were too scared to even run (all except Violet). Rune began with Beech, whom he hit and asked his name and his mother's name. Violet left the scene to tell Rue (see above). Rune plotted to kill the pups and blame it on Mandrake. As Rue called for them, Rune killed Beech quickly; Rue arrived and Rune evilly blamed Mandrake for it, along with telling Rue to go report to Barrow Vale that Mandrake attacked her litter and Rune saved all but one. Rue hesitated but accepted as Rune continued with the other part of his plan and left. Rune then killed Coltsfoot, stabbing her to death. Asking the names of Pipple and Violet, he killed Pipple, then lying about his own name, he let Violet go and left for the Barrow Vale. Violet examined the dead bodies of her brothers and sister and then went to follow Mandrake in the Ancient System.
* Rune's plan worked - he told them the time was now to act against Mandrake. Burrhead supported Rune's plan, however Mekkins did not. Rune did not care, and held the thought in his head to rid Moledom of the Marshenders one day along with Mekkins. Mekkins left to the Marsh End, thinking on how to protect Rebecca and Comfrey and where to move them to.
* Mandrake found the Chamber of Dark Sound, challenging the Stone Mole. Violet nearby heard the roaring of the tunnels and headed to Mandrake in hopes he would help her dead siblings (not realising they were dead). She found him sleeping and woke him. Mandrake kept her by his side, believing she knew where the Stone Mole was, being "cunning and clever". He told her stories about Rebecca and how she was with "the stonemole". They were not alone. Bracken was there, planning to save Violet from Mandrake.

### Chapter 24

Characters: -- **S**: Bracken (The Stone Mole), Mandrake, Violet, Rune, Mekkins, Comfrey, Rebecca, Curlew, Boswell, Mullion -- **M:** Rose the Healer, Rue

* Eventually, Mandrake sensed Bracken's presence and went to chase him. He led him to the Chamber of Dark Sound and through the seventh entrance, then turning to face Mandrake. He fooled him with Dark Sound, making Bracken appear as he had strength and power. He seemed to be able to see around the Chamber, which he laid eyes on Mandrake coming toward him as if in slow motion. The effect of the Sound made Bracken want to torment Mandrake, to kill him and worse, made him start to forget his original plan of saving Violet. Before he could, Violet stopped him.
* The original plan set in motion. Bracken ordered Violet away to run and hide where he'd meet her there soon. Luckily she recognised him and she obeyed. Soon too, Rune with his henchmoles and more, confronted Mandrake to kill him. With all the hustle and bustle, Bracken managed to slip away. Mandrake however, fought back with ferocity, killing three moles with one blow. The battle went on and Mandrake had wounded and killed many. Rune was there still, commanding to kill Mandrake once again. Mandrake remembered his plan to kill the Stone Mole and fled, with the flint tunnels collapsing and burying the old skeleton.
* Bracken and Violet made it to the wet surface, the sky grey. They escaped the eyes of a henchmole and backed in the tunnel to try for another exit. Bracken planned to go to Rebecca's hideaway in the eastern Marsh End. The trek lasted for three days. Sometimes henchmoles would chase them but thanks to Bracken's ability to foresee route alternatives, they continued on to Curlew's burrows. Unknown to them, Rune abandoned Mandrake and joined in on the search for Bracken and Violet. Arriving, he sent Violet down the entrance that she should warn them that Bracken was there.
* Mekkins met her as she was hungry, seeing Bracken up the tunnel. Mekkins was planning to lead them to the Pastures where Rose was. Bracken didn't dare rest in concern about the henchmoles and Mekkins was unhappy. He commanded him to rest and send Curlew up as she knew what to do (though he wanted Rebecca and Bracken to have some much-needed time together). Comfrey was there too. Bracken got some much needed rest and Comfrey met Violet with a short conversation; Rebecca interfered and asked Violet what had happened.
* Curlew warned them that henchmoles were coming and that Rebecca and Bracken had to leave. Mekkins joined them, telling them about an exit near the marshes. Bracken held authority and told them that he led the henchmoles here and that he'd lead them away. As well, he decided to leave Violet there with Rebecca, Mekkins and Comfrey who he said could go to the Pastures to Rose. Curlew, who stood her ground, would stay in her tunnels, however.
* The henchmoles came and Curlew tried her 'disease trick' on them. Rune himself sent the hesitant henchmole down past Curlew and on the way to Bracken, who was fleeing down the tunnel Curlew suggested, leading them away from the path Rebecca and the others took. He was headed toward the marsh. Days passed as Bracken had outrun them in the marsh and he survived on dry grass stems. He nearly died amongst the mud; he met two moles and in fear, he attacked the larger of the two at first, who asked his name. The two moles were Boswell and Mullion.

## Part Three: Bracken

### Chapter 25

Characters: -- **S:** Bracken, Boswell, Mullion

* Bracken arrives into a burrow and meets Boswell and Mullion.
* Boswell speaks of the roaring owls and how they can hypnotise you as soon as look at you. Not just that but other dangers such as carrion crows and kestrels were also present.
* Bracken meets Mullion, the Pasture mole.
* Bracken investigates the gradually flooding burrow.
* Fact - Bracken's escape from the Ancient system was four days before.
* Eventually, Bracken manages to burrow through and find his way out, along with Boswell and Mullion. They couldn't celebrate long as it was night and the roaring owls were out. A tawny owl nearly kills Boswell fighting with a roaring owl.
* Boswell encourages them to leave the scene.

### Chapter 26

Characters -- **S:** Bracken, Boswell, Mullion -- **M:** Rebecca, Hulver, Linden, Ballagan, Vervain

* February; Boswell, Bracken and Mullion stay together near the field. Bracken digs up a new burrow of his own, as does Mullion.
* Bracken tells of Duncton and its geometry, Hulver, Rebecca and lastly the Ancient System.
* Fact - Boswell left a year ago from Uffington to come to Duncton.
* Boswell tells of the Holy Burrows, the lack of White Moles, and of Uffington. He also speaks of the seven Books, the Stillstones and namely the seventh of the seven Books.
* Fact - Skeat was a mole in the Holy Burrows.
* Feburary passes to March. Boswell and Mullion discuss Bracken and then the journey to find a new place. Word spreads of a mole teaching other moles to fight in a nearby system named Nuneham. Mullion wishes to go there, along with other Pasture moles.
* Bracken senses the Nuneham Stone and all begin the move there.

### Chapter 27

Characters -- **S:** Rebecca, Comfrey, Violet, Mekkins, Rose the Healer, Brome -- **M:** Bracken, Cairn, Stonecrop, Rune

* January; Rebecca, Comfrey, Violet and Mekkins escape the henchmoles by running into the Marsh End. When trying to make way into Rose's tunnels in the Pastures, the Pasture moles had nearly killed them, only being saved by Rebecca's pleas and Mekkins' bravery and audacity. When meeting Rose, she reassured the Pasture moles that Rebecca, Mekkins, Comfrey and Violet were friends.
* Two days after, Mekkins was summoned to meet a Pasture elder. By then, Violet and Comfrey had settled in quite well. Mekkins was taken way down into the Pasture tunnels by four "guardmoles" as they called themselves. At the foot of a fortress, Mekkins met Brome, and explained the situation at hand. The two also discuss the Stone, the Duncton Stone in particular. Brome also explains that the hostility of his moles were generations of believing the Duncton moles were evil spellcasters, and Duncton itself was a dangerous system, with an evil kind of Stone.
* Brome explains the event of last September, where Cairn had been killed and his brother Stonecrop, had left the system. He explained that Stonecrop wanted to plan an attack to avenge his brother's death, but Brome had persuaded him not to. Brome did confess however that he did want to invade Duncton, for access to the Stone. Thinking that it would be best not to mention that Rebecca could have unknowingly caused Stonecrop's departure from the Pastures, they end the conversation.
* Rebecca looks at Rose's burrow, a messy place but full of scent and herbs. Rose would tell stories to Comfrey and Violet. Violet liked the dramatic ones, while Comfrey liked stories of the trees and flowers. Rebecca on the other hand, learned a lot about herbs and healing from Rose and became a healer by the end of February.
* By mid-March, Violet and Comfrey (particularly Violet) were becoming independent. Violet had made friends with the Pasture moles. Comfrey still stayed with Rebecca, but began sleeping in a burrow he made himself. He too was developing an interest in herbs. Rose was growing older however; speaking of Bracken in her last moments, she passed with Rebecca at her side.

### Chapter 28

Characters -- **S:** Bracken, Boswell, Mullion, Stonecrop, Medlar -- **M:** Cairn, Rebecca

* By April, Bracken, Boswell and Mullion arrive at Nuneham. They met a mole who showed them where the Nuneham Stone was. Mullion went away for a while as Boswell and Bracken st by the Stone. They eventually went looking for Mullion as evening set in. They meet Stonecrop, who attacked Bracken at the scent of him, along with Boswell. Bracken tried to fight back, but couldn't. Stonecrop almost knocked Bracken out -- then, Medlar appeared and walked inbetween the fight, managing to defend well against Stonecrop. Mullion soon appeared, shocked by what was happening. Boswell helped Bracken up, and Medlar asked the moles their names. Mullion, Bracken and Stonecrop all responded, Boswell too.
* Medlar introduced himself; Medlar of the North. He also told them off for fighting in the Nuneham tunnels. He told them wise words and then asked them to rest.

### Chapter 29

Characters -- **S:** Bracken, Mullion, Stonecrop, Boswell, Medlar -- **M:** Hulver, Rue, Rebecca

### Chapter 30

Characters -- **S:** Rune, Brome, Rebecca, Comfrey, Burrhead -- **M:** Mandrake, Oxlip, Mekkins, Nightshade, Cairn, Rose the Healer, Stonecrop, Hulver, Bracken, Violet

* March; Rune had captured Duncton Wood entirely, and under his rule, things became dark, morbid, bloody and cruel. Rune set up punishments for "misbehaving" moles; it was rare he left a scene without his claws being covered in blood and him cackling. He would maim, blind, crush snouts, and force cannibalism to those he thought "guilty". He had captured all of Duncton, aside from the Marsh End.
* As mating season began, Oxlip, a female near the Marsh End, had objected entry to her tunnels by a henchmole. She had killed him out of sheer anger and cunning, and wounded another henchmole nearby, who reported to Rune. The objective was to first kill the mole who had reported Oxlip, and then send others to find her. It failed, as Oxlip had fled north into the Marsh End where Mekkins accepted her as a Marshender.
* Moles began to appear to Rune's aid, dark of nature and distorted in body and mind. One such mole was Nightshade.
* April; Rune thinks about Mandrake briefly, and where he could be.
* May; Rune develops a plan to attack the Pasture system. With this in mind, he began to gather his henchmoles in the Westside by the end of May.
* Meanwhile, in the Pasture system, moles were saddened by Rose's death.
* (wip)

### Chapter 31

Characters -- **S:** Rebecca, Mekkins, Brome, Bracken, Boswell, Mullion, Stonecrop, Rune, Nightshade, Oxlip, Mandrake -- **M:** Rose the Healer, Curlew, Hulver, Cairn, Medlar

* The war of Rune's henchmoles and the Pasture moles begins
* Brome's death
* Mandrake returns, and with it, came Nightshade's death. In fear, Rune ignited the anger in Mandrake by claiming and pointing a talon to Bracken, 'He is the Stone Mole. Help us kill him, Mandrake.'
* Mandrake's death

### Chapter 32

Characters -- **S**: Bracken, Stonecrop, Boswell, Mekkins, Rebecca, Comfrey -- **M:** Rune, Mandrake, Rose the Healer, Violet

### Chapter 33

Characters -- **S:** Stonecrop, Bracken, Boswell, Mekkins, Rebecca -- **M:** Brome, Rune, Mandrake, Hulver

### Chapter 34

Characters -- **S:** Bracken, Boswell, Stonecrop, Mekkins, Rebecca, Comfrey -- **M:** Rose the Healer, Rune, Mandrake, Curlew

* The great Plague; fleabane.
* Mekkins' death
* When told by Comfrey that Rebecca got the plague, Bracken was horrified.

### Chapter 35

Characters -- **S:** Rebecca, Bracken, Comfrey, Boswell -- **M:** Curlew, Violet

* Stonecrop's death; mentioned
* Violet's death; mentioned

## Part Four: Siabod

### Chapter 36

Characters -- **S:** Bracken, Boswell, Quire, Skeat -- **M:** Burrhead, Rebecca, Linden, Medlar, Mandrake, Rune, Mekkins

* March; Bracken and Boswell finally came to within a day's journey of the Blowing Stone and by that time, more than six months had passed. Facing river, ice, owls and weasels, marsh... and the devastating plague that seemed to affect system after system they passed. The journey had changed Bracken's appearance, lined and matured, larger and more powerful, looking somewhat like his father in muscle, but not heaviness. Boswell had changed too, his spirit most of all, becoming more jovial and laughing.
* At last, they arrived at the Blowing Stone. The scent of beech trees had brought a memory of Duncton, the Ancient System, and most of all: Rebecca, to Bracken's memory. Uffington and the Holy Burrows lay ahead -- they made a temporary burrow near the Blowing Stone, then continued their journey, the steep hill tiring them out. On the top of Uffington hill they stood, their journey complete. Boswell led the way, showing Bracken into the Holy Burrows.
* The burrows seemed rather empty -- Bracken's immediate thought was that the plague had appeared here too. The further they went, the more sacred the tunnels seemed to be. The west burrow led into the Holy Burrows, while the other led into the libraries. Bracken began to feel like he was being watched. They continued onward, until an old mole showed himself, sorting books in the library. Bracken stayed back while Boswell approached, helping him with the book. It was Quire, and he had recognised Boswell, who helped look for a book, "the Book of the Chosen Moles".
* Stating where he had been in his absence, Quire explained that most of the scribe moles left during the plague, or succumbed to it. After a small reuniting, three moles appeared and Boswell broke the silence with a blessing, Bracken staying unmoving in the shadows. Soon more moles joined them, and all began a chant. After it, two older moles too joined the commotion, one of which Bracken thought he saw moments ago: a Holy Mole, Skeat, delighted to see Boswell again. Skeat had asked about Bracken, who he was and why Boswell had brought him to the Holy Burrows.
* Stepping forward, Bracken showed himself and Boswell explained his arrival and his relation to the Seventh Book. Skeat went to touch Bracken on the shoulder, asking what mole Bracken had wanted to give thanks for surviving the plague, to which Bracken revealed Rebecca's name, and Skeat gave a blessing to which no other mole heard but Bracken. Asking about the Seventh Book's location, Boswell stated that Bracken has found the Seventh Stillstone, a key to finding the Book.
* A scribemole led Bracken and Boswell to a burrow to eat and sleep. Bracken could not sleep until after thoughts about his beloved Rebecca. Many weeks passed, Bracken and Boswell had many conversations with Skeat in a simple chamber leading into the Holy Burrows. Skeat told them about the plague -- starting in the north and travelling south, killing 9 out of 10 moles who came in contact with it. Scribemoles thought it was a judgement on moles by the Stone. Skeat was the only master to survive, and as such elected Holy Mole, a position he accepted with reluctance. Moles as Bracken had, wished to visit Uffington, but most could not and as result found the nearest Stone. Boswell was too not the only scribemole to leave and then return, and Bracken was not the only nonscribe to appear (though few).
* Skeat explained that Medlar, a mole of the north had spoken of Bracken and Boswell. He also explained that along with Bracken and Boswell's visit, they had heard from all six of the seven major systems; Duncton, Avebury, Uffington, Stonehenge, Castlerigg and Rollright. The other major being Siabod, who Skeat had not heard from, explaining how Siabod was incredibly mysterious, and the entryway to it from Uffington had disappeared. Skeat asked many questions about Duncton (to which Bracken was reluctant to answer but eventually opened up), the location of the Stillstone, the Chamber of Roots and many other questions.
* Bracken was lead to his burrow with a silent mole who asked about the Stillstone, to which Bracken irritability replied about it on a lie. When Bracken was alone again, Boswell returned to which he asked him what Skeat said to him, to which Boswell couldn't say. Bracken responded in anger, disliking the fact that the scribemoles were so secretive to him and other nonscribes. Asking about Medlar, Boswell replied that he was at the Silent Burrows and explains about them. Then the two went off to sleep, Bracken thinking about the Silent Burrows and Rebecca too.

### Chapter 37

Characters -- **S:** Rebecca, Boswell, Bracken, Comfrey -- **M:** Rose the Healer, Cairn, Mekkins, Mandrake

* March; Rebecca (around the time Bracken and Boswell arrived in Uffington) had inspired the dispirited Duncton and Pasture moles into occupying the Ancient System, the eastern half hear the cliff. She united the Duncton and Pasture moles together, and was seen as a higher figure to where one rests their fears and doubts, and ignites hopes and ideas. However after the months of winter, her demeanour took a lower turn. Occupied with the moles in need, she found little time for herself. Comfrey understood this, and had taken a place away from others down on the slopes on the edge of the where the fire struck. With each visit, he gave her something for her burrow; red berries of cuckoo pint, gentle-scented fungi, bright shiny leaves of holly plants... when she asked where he had found them, he shrugged and said, past the Eastside where the flames did not touch. He too gained the system's attention. Rebecca's coldness to him upset him heavily. Regardless, he still tried to gain her attention, and sat with her as she weeped.
* April;

### Chapter 38

Characters -- **S:** Bracken, Boswell, Skeat, Quire -- **M:** Hulver, Merton, Linden, Mandrake, Rune, Mekkins, Rebecca

* Skeat's death

### Chapter 39

Characters -- **S:** Rebecca, Comfrey -- **M:** Bracken, Boswell, Mandrake, Rune

### Chapter 40

Characters -- **S:** Bracken, Boswell, Bran

### Chapter 41

Characters -- **S:** Bran, Bracken, Boswell, Celyn, Y Wrach (Gwynbach) -- **M:** Gelert, Mandrake, Rebecca, Rune, Skeat

### Chapter 42

Characters -- S: Bracken, Boswell, Celyn, Gelert, Y Wrach (Gwynbach), Rebecca -- M: Mandrake, Medlar, Cairn

### Chapter 43

Characters -- S: Bracken, Rebecca, Y Wrach, Celyn -- M: Mandrake, Mekkins, Rose the Healer, Sarah, Boswell

## Part Five: The Seventh Stillstone

### Chapter 44

Characters -- **S:** Bracken, Medlar, Rebecca, Comfrey -- **M:** Bran, Celyn, Rebecca, Boswell

* Bracken burrows through the snow, and stayed there through April and May. He would often think of Rebecca, treasuring the love they shared with him. Through to June, Bracken became restless as he misses home. With the thought that Boswell could still be alive, he made the first steps to leave the cwm. However, he also felt the need to return to Uffington to tell the moles that he had reached the Siabod Stones and even saw the Stones of Tryfan. And so, he left the cwm, moving away from Siabod and further to Uffington.
* *Fact: The Systems he crossed were - Rhinog, Cader, Mynydd, Faldwyn and back to Caer Caradoc. As Bracken ventured on, he noticed each system was recovering of the plague. But they saw the sadness in his eyes as he missed Rebecca more and more.*
* December; Bracken had made it to Uffington, where moles were joyous to see him. However, Bracken only had time for Boswell. Medlar came to greet him (he was moved from the Silent Burrows and had been made Holy Mole). Asking where Boswell was, Medlar then led Bracken into the Silent Burrows to show him the feeding hole to where Boswell was in Silence. Then they left to the Holy Burrows to speak of him. They also speak of the Seventh Stillstone and the subject of the Seventh Book. Medlar tells Bracken to return to Duncton Wood; Bracken objects, but eventually chooses to return.
* Rebeca had returned to Duncton Wood miraculously, accompanied by Bran, one autumn day. Bran left her in November. Comfrey was jovial to see Rebecca again; his foretelling of Rebecca returning had come true! Longest Night had come, along with January and February.
* In February, Bracken comes across a field, to which he makes a claim for it as there were no other moles around. After four days, he is caught in the Talon (otherwise known as a harpoon trap), and his called out for Rebecca.
* Rebecca screamed in pain that same day; Comfrey came to comfort her, to find nothing. Rebecca screamed on the Stone clearing, begging for someone to help Bracken.
* Bracken escaped the sharp part of the Talon, though was still held in the air, in horrendous pain.
* Rebecca continued the wail, far away from Bracken. The wail went on into nightfall, and hushed to a whisper.
* Bracken was conscious again, and surprisingly, still alive. The Circle of Stones on which he lay, were warm and shaking in the night. Filled with love and light, he remembered Rebecca, and her visage made him fight through the pain. Crawling back into the Circle of Stones, and back from the death that could have awaited him.
* Rebecca felt something different, and somehow, felt that Bracken was alive. She was sure of it. Comfrey led her back down into the burrows, telling her she needed rest.

### Chapter 45

Characters -- S: Rebecca, Comfrey, Rune, Bracken

### Chapter 46

Characters -- S: Comfrey, Rune, Rebecca, Bracken, -- M: Mandrake, Cairn

### Chapter 47

Characters -- S: Bracken, Rebecca, Comfrey, Rose, Curlew, Beech, Tryfan, Medlar, Boswell -- M: Rue, Rune, Mekkins, Boswell, Hulver

* May; Rebecca notices she is with litter.
* June; Rebecca births Rose, Curlew, Beech and of course, Tryfan. The mated pair have no visitors, aside from Comfrey.
* Midsummer Night arrives. A female looks after Rebecca's pups as she goes to celebrate. Bracken speaks the words of the Ritual, while the mothers ask their pups to be thankful for Bracken doing so. Tryfan escaped the view of the female looking after his siblings and wandered off, exploring the start of Bracken's journey into the Chamber of Echoes and the Ancient System. There, he finds the underside of the Duncton Stone and what should he find but the Seventh Stillstone itself. He listens to Bracken reciting the ritual above ground while he examines the Stillstone.
* Moles begin looking for Tryfan, and Rebecca found him.
* In Uffington and the Silent Burrows, Medlar, the Holy Mole, asks two novice scribemoles what the fuss was about. The reply that Boswell had finished his vow in Silence and wanted to leave the Silent Burrows - not only that, but something miraculous and mysterious had happened in the Holy Burrows; that a light, around the sealstone to Boswell's Burrow had shone. Medlar suggested that they return back to Boswell to see what could be done. But not alone, for others in the Silent Burrows, master and novice alike gathered around near Boswell's Burrow. Boswell, with the help of some of the surrounding moles left the chamber and Boswell spoke of a prophecy, that the Seventh Stillstone would be found, and returned to Uffington.

### Chapter 48

Characters -- S: Tryfan, Rose, Curlew, Rebecca, Comfrey, Beech, Bracken, Boswell -- M: Hulver, Ballagan, Vervain, Linden

* August; Rebecca and Bracken's pups leave the home burrow to find territory of their own.

### Chapter 49

Characters -- S: Rebecca, Bracken, Comfrey, Medlar, Boswell, Tryfan -- M: Rune, Mandrake, Rose the Healer, Mekkins, Cairn, Curlew (of her tunnels), Hulver

* February to March; the rainy weather begins to cease and spring begins.
* Rebecca walks to the Stone clearing in the light of morning. Bracken stirs in his burrow, then walks to the slopes, and to the Stone clearing where he finds Rebecca. He recites their old words when they first met, the roles switched. The two caress each other as they reminisce the old memory. They go to the Old Wood, which was starting to regrow, and there they find what they think is the Barrow Vale. Journeying through it, they sadly remember the fire. They talk of it, and Bracken asks Rebecca, that if she could bring back a mole just for a moment in Barrow Vale, who would it be; she chooses Hulver, for he was the one who mentioned Bracken's name to her. They move on and go towards the Marsh End, where they continue to remember the fire, and the plague. Bracken reassures her the forest would return someday.
* They meet Comfrey on the Duncton hilltop. Noticing something was off with them, he goes to the Stone.
* Bracken and Rebecca went into the Chamber of Echoes, and then, the Chamber of Roots. The sounds of the Chamber of Roots were seemingly no longer horrible, and to them sounded like the Stone's Silence. They make their way to the white light coming from the Seventh Stillstone.
* Meanwhile, in Uffington, the Blowing Stone sounds out seven notes in the wind. The selected chosen of the Uffington moles began to sing the sacred song. It wasn't long that the young, the old, novices and scribes all began to sing the song of celebration which told the seventh Book was coming to Uffington and the seventh Stillstone had been found.
* Boswell explains to Tryfan that he must go to the centre of the Ancient System where the Stillstone lies. As they approach the Duncton Stone, they see Comfrey weeping. He tells them that he had seen Rebecca and Bracken going to the Stone. The wind violently blew, creaking the tree beside the Stone.
* Boswell approached the Chamber of Echoes, being led by the Stillstone to find the Seventh Book. Beside the Stillstone, Rebecca and Bracken were crouched together.
* The Duncton Stone was being moved in the winds, and the ground trembled. Bracken picks up the Stillstone and the light travels along his body, and then across to Rebecca's. Bracken then gives the Stillstone to Boswell. Above them, the Stone tilted, rose and fell, at last, down into the roots of the tree, where Bracken and Rebecca were never to be seen again.
* Many a mole witnessed the event, some offering to help, some looking fearful, some just stared. As they watched they heard the singing of a sacred song and soon all sung it, a song of hope and the coming of a White Mole. Tryfan was there, and from the tunnels he brought out Boswell, who was barely conscious. Yet he carried the Stillstone, which appeared as lowly like a pebble.
* The beech tree collapsed into the other trees surrounding it, crown, branches, and trunk.
* This White Mole the song sung of was now Boswell, Holy Mole; whose fur had become white.

### Chapter 50

Characters -- S: Boswell, Tryfan, Comfrey -- M: Bracken, Rebecca

* Boswell, Comfrey and Tryfan crouch by the Duncton Stone. They speak of the Seventh Stillstone being found, but the book itself, remaining a mystery. The Seventh Stillstone has a smooth, flint-like appearance. Boswell states that he knew where the book was; that he had to write it himself. Comfrey prayed that Boswell and Tryfan have a safe journey to Uffington.
* As they set off to Uffington, Boswell tells the story of Tryfan's parents to him. Tryfan wonders if one day he becomes a scribemole, should he scribe the tale of his parents.