The last thing she remembered was being knocked to the ground, her head ground against a rock. Distantly she recalled being dragged away from her den, leaving a trail of blood and terror to mark her attacker's way. Then everything went blacker than the darkest night.

   When she awoke again, Star was in a cramped cavern. Water dripped from the cave ceiling, adding annoyance to her fear. She could hear whoever had taken her speaking in hushed tones. The voices belonged to two males and a female. Their scent was strange, one that Star didn't recognize; But then, she thought, they would have disguised their musky smell with moss and lynx scat, so that if I escaped I wouldn't know who they were. She snorted, vaguely amused. But who would I tell? I'm a lone wolf. She pictured herself running to her grandfather, squeaking, "They took me away, even though I have no clue who 'they' are!"

   The first voice muttered, "You idiot! The Ancestors themselves wouldn't know why I appointed you as my beta. Why did you bring her here instead of..." he paused ominously, "the canyon?"

   Star's ears pricked up. The canyon! She knew that place. No pack owned the barren land, but it was rumoured that the Pack of Windy Crags wanted it for themselves. So was she right? Did the Pack of Windy Crags abduct her? There were dozens of small branches of each pack in Homeland, but the five packs were the Pack of Echoing Silence, Star's own old pack, the Pack of Raging Wildfires, the Pack of Ebony Mist, the Pack of Windy Crags and the Pack of Shining Stars. But who would want me?  she wondered. What use am I?

   Just then, a voice broke into her thoughts. "You," snarled a creamy gray she-wolf stalking up to her. Star knew her, but couldn't quite place the foreign canid. "Come with me. And don't even think about running away." She huffed. "I have guards everywhere, at every available entrance... or exit."

   Star gulped, then followed, fearing for her life.

   The foreign she-wolf lead the young black-furred to a hole in the rock, far from where they had been before. "So that you won't listen to our plans," she hissed, then, as two guards appeared from the shadows and forced Star into the cramped cave, she turned away, her matted fur bristling. That was the last that Star saw of her for a long time.

   After a while Star's fear melted into curiosity. "Hello?" she called to her guards. "Who... Who are you?"

   Silence greeted her.

   More boldly she yowled, "Hello?"

   Still nothing.

   Tired of waiting, Star padded forward and peered around a bend in the cave tunnel. There, waiting on violent paws, were her imprisoners. Neither of them spoke for a long time, and quickly the curiosity and excitement of being trapped became boredom and apathy. When finally they arose she was half asleep -- she barely managed to scramble to her paws and hide in a crevice in the rock, only just big enough for a young wolf to fit into.

   Stone moss was growing in the crevice, fed by constantly dripping water. The air tasted old and stale, like it had been untouched for an age, save for a tiny draught of air coming from inside the moist hiding place.

   In sudden realisation Star remembered that moving air in a cavern meant that she could get out.