The Star and the Moon

Chapter 12 - Border Skirmish

"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.