"Hey! Leave me alone!" An irritated voice yelped.

"The boss want's you to work for him, no excuses!" Another voice growled.

The voices sounded close by.

Stardust quickly sat up, she recognized one of the voices.
That sounds like Robintail! She thought with surprise. Who's he talking to? She strained to listen.

"Look, I told you before that I don't work for anybody, okay?" Robintail snapped.

"Corner him." A menacing voice growled.

Large paws thumped on the ground and Robintail yelped. "Hey, put me down!"

"Listen fox," the menacing voice growled again. "You're either working for us or with those fugitives."

"What fugitives? I've no idea what you're talking about!"

Robintail's in trouble, Stardust realised. Should I help him even though he tried to eat me? Well... it's only right to help him.

"Moonshadow! Dawnwing!" Stardust prodded them both, "Robintail's in trouble!"

"What?" Dawnwing yawned.

"Did you just say Robintail?" Moonshadow blinked.

"Yes, and he's in trouble." Stardust mewed. Moonshadow and Dawnwing were silent, straining to listen for voices.

"Don't play innocent to me, Fox! I'm talking about two owls and a cat, have you seen a feather or a hair of them?"

"No, they left somewhere," Robintail retorted. "Now let go of me!"

"That's the scarred wolf's followers!" Dawnwing whispered, her eyes wide with fear. "We need to get away from here!"

"No, we need to rescue Robintail." Moonshadow insisted quietly. "He may be sly and troublesome but he's also a decent fox!"

"How can you call him decent after he tried to get me for his supper?" Stardust exclaimed.

"Shhh," Moonshadow hissed, "Why did you wake us up and tell us about Robintail if you didn't want to rescue him?"

"I only told you because he deserves a second chance," Stardust mumbled.

"Exactly, we need to think of a plan to help him." Moonshadow started to pace.

"Except that I wouldn't call him decent." Stardust muttered.

"Are you guys serious?!" Dawnwing hissed. "This is going to be really risky; first of all, we don't know exactly how many of them are there. Secondly, is this a trap? Third, I'm not part of this."

"That third one doesn't count Dawnwing," Moonshadow hooted quietly. "Also, we're wasting time here arguing. Robintail needs our help, urgently!"

Suddenly, there was a loud screech. Moonshadow, Dawnwing and Stardust looked up, then they rushed towards a bramble bush and hid. They peeked through small gaps between the bramble stems and saw a large patrol of Snowie owls soaring above. They were passing by in front of a large thorny bush then suddenly, they all swooped down together and loud yelps and howls rang through the forest.

Moonshadow crept out under the brambles. "Follow me," he whispered, then he disappeared behind some tall ferns.

"What's he up to now?" Dawnwing muttered, she crept out after Moonshadow. Stardust followed them and they all hid behind the large thorny bush. They peeked through gaps and saw ten Snowies, diving down to attack five large wolves, their feathers were bristling and the wolves growled.

The Snowies paired up and two Snowies attacked one wolf each, their eyes glittered with anger. A huge black wolf leaped into the air and pinned down a small Snowie, it screeched and pecked the wolf's eye. The black wolf backed away, snarling. Another Snowie swooped onto a grey wolf and sank it's talons deep into the wolf's shoulders. The wolf yelped and bucked, trying to throw the Snowie off.

They're really good at fighting, Stardust thought as she admired a beautiful Snowie dodge and veer around to send her attacker reeling backwards away, a large Snowie with blazing green eyes fought beside her, swiftly raking tufts of dark fur from another wolf.

"Retreat!" Howled the black wolf and all the wolves turned tail and fled. The Snowies triumphantly screeched and they landed on the ground. Robintail was caught by three Snowies and escorted towards the large Snowie with blazing green eyes. Moonshadow, crept out under the thorny bushes and headed towards them.

"What on earth is Moonshadow going to do now?" Dawnwing hissed with irritation.

"Moonshadow, wait!" Stardust crawled out under the thorny bush after him.

The Snowies turned round to stare at Moonshadow and Stardust. Then the large Snowie with green eyes greeted them, "Hey Moonshadow! I haven't seen you for a while, where've you been?"

"I flew down south after one of your patrols chased me out," Moonshadow hooted.

"Oh, sorry about that then," The Snowie hooted with amusement. "Well, who's that with you? She looks like a Silver Viel."

"This is Stardust.  Stardust," Moonshadow looked back at Stardust, "This is Talonswipe, a friend of mine."

"Oh, hi,"Stardust looked up at Talonswipe. He looks really strong and powerful, Stardust thought, I wouldn't want to meet him in battle, I'm glad we're friends with him.

"Hi there Stardust," Talonswipe greeted her with a friendly demeanor.

"Where's Dawnwing?" Moonshadow asked Stardust.

"She's still hiding under that bush," Stardust answered. "I'll go get her." Stardust trotted over towards the thorny bush. "Dawnwing, you can come out now. It's safe." She mewed.

Dawnwing crawled out and looked around her warily, then she and Stardust went over to stand beside Moonshadow.

"So, what are you and your friends doing on Snowie owl territory?" Talonswipe hooted curiously.

"This is Snowie territory?" Moonshadow asked in confusion.

"My father, our leader decided to push the border and enlarge our territory after the Oak tribe was demolished. He thinks that we need more land to survive, especially with that scarred wolf hanging around." Talonswipe hooted.

"Oh, I see. So where's the new border now?" Moonshadow hooted.

"Right where we're standing," Talonswipe answered, "The border ends at a large oak at the very end of this forest."

"So we've been sleeping on the border last night," Dawnwing hooted in surprise.

"Wow, that's quite a distance to patrol. Anyways, we are only passing through your territory, nothing else." Moonshadow hooted.

"Oh, then that's alright. Would you like to have something to eat before you continue your journey?" Talonswipe suggested.

Stardust's belly growled. I haven't eaten much since yesterday, I'm starving! She thought hungrily.

"Oh, yes please." Moonshadow replied. "We haven't been eating much since we left, to escape the scarred wolf."

"I hope he doesn't come back," Talonswipe hissed, "two of our owlets have disappeared for days, I got a bad feeling that wolf stole them." Talonswipe looked at Robintail, then he turned to the beautiful Snowie and said; "Windblaze, take four of our patrol and escort that fox off our territory please. You never know, he might be a follower of the scarred wolf."

"Oh, that fox is a friend of ours too," Moonshadow hooted. "Don't worry, he means you no harm."

"Moonshadow! I can't believe you're here!" Robintail exclaimed.

"Nevermind that Windblaze, he's a friend of theirs," Talonswipe told her. "Sorry for giving the wrong order." He murmured.

"It's alright Talon," Windblade reassured him.

"Thanks Windy." He hooted to her. Talonswipe signaled the patrol to gather and escorted Moonshadow, Dawnwing, Stardust and Robintail away from the border, towards the Snowie's fortress.