(A page from Stephen’s notebook. Decoded letter is in blue. Italics are Stephen’s commentary.)
#17
3 letter blocks: read as page/line/word, right to left
4 letter blocks: read as page/line/word/part-of-word, right to left
primroses over
(indicates book cipher. PROBABLY doesn’t mean anything else . . . unless double meaning? Can’t see what that could be. Disregard for now.)
Stephen
(last word I didn’t have to decode. Either to catch my attention or because Watership Down doesn’t contain the word “Stephen”.)
I hope you get this letter, but I know you probably won’t. In case it isn’t intercepted, I’ve included a way at the end for you to message me. Think carefully before you do. The men after me will watch you to get to me. If they ever realise we have a way to speak, they’ll capture you.
(usual substitutes: “letter” for “letters”, “included” for “include”, “‘capture” for “captured”. Don’t think I’m losing any additional meaning here.)
Here’s what you need to know.
The men after me are members of the Winged. Back when I was one of them, I thought it was just a secret society. It’s not. It’s a cult that follows a great bird spirit. I know it’s hard to believe but I promise you it’s real.
(4 letter block: “difficult” decodes to last four letters, “cult”. “Great bird spirit” . . . no idea. Decoding mistake?)
(Double-checked. Not a mistake.)
The spirit is served by (?) that give gifts to those they favour. Those with gifts are the cult Owslafa. The only reason they don’t rule the world is that they spend most of their energy fighting among themselves and against the other cult.
(depending on how you count the hyphen, the (?) could decode to “some” or to “demons”. From the context I think it’s “demons”.)
(Owslafa . . . doesn’t sound good. Byron/Vermillion/Lucella?)
I’m safe for now, but only so long as I stay hidden. I hope that you can stay safe and apart from all this. But it may be that one day the cult will come after you as well. If him this ever happens, message me. Frithrah Fiver at the usual place. I’ll wait to hear from you.
(pretty sure “him” for “this” is a coding mistake. 1 instead of a 4. NB: “demons” and “great bird spirit” do not follow this pattern. Suggests they’re NOT coding mistakes.)
(“Usual place”: guessing it’s our email provider. Could be FrithrahFiver@, Frithrah.Fiver@, Frithrah-Fiver@, etc. Send cc to all.)
I love you very much and always will. I hate not being able to see you. Take care of yourself.
Love,
Dad