Moonshadow, Stardust and Robintail had taken a nap before Beesting woke them up. The sun was gone and the sky was growing darker. They got ready and joined Driftclaw, Redstorm, Streamtail and Brightflame for the rescue patrol to save Dawnwing. Sunblaze wished them good luck and watched them disappear off into the distance.

The rescue patrol moved silently and swiftly through the tall grass, the sun had sunk and the moon was a thin claw scratch which glowed dimly in the night sky. Moonshadow suggested that they should start searching at the field where they fought the scarred wolf's patrol the other night. There, they found wolf scents and paw prints scattered around the field. They traced the wolves's scent and followed the paw prints which soon led them to a dark pine forest. The pines reeked of wolves' scent and Brightflame found tufts of wolf fur on bramble bushes. They knew that they were nearing the scarred wolf's camp.

"Guys, I can hear something heading this way!" Redstorm hissed. Everyone crouched down low under some bushes and listened.

There was a rustle of leaves and twigs cracking under paw as a large pack of wolves loped past the bushes which they were hiding in. There was a dark brown wolf with hawk-like eyes leading the pack towards the west. Suddenly, the dark brown wolf halted and sniffed the air. The rescue patrol held their breaths and waited, their hearts racing like the hoof beats of a deer at being discovered. The brown wolf snuffled around the bushes. A moment later after finding nothing, the wolf and the pack continued on their way west. When the pack had disappeared into the distance, the rescue patrol crawled out under the bushes and sighed in relief.

"That was close!" Brightflame mewed.

"Those wolves nearly found us because of our scents; we need to disguise our smells so that they won't detect us." Driftclaw meowed.

Looking around, there was a muddy puddle of water nearby. It stank of carrion and rotting prey but it's stench would disguise the patrol's scents perfectly. They each took turns rolling in the puddle and when they were done, they continued on their way towards the scarred wolf's camp.

As they crept through the undergrowth, flitting past bushes and keeping to the shadows, they finally arrived at the camp entrance. Five grey wolves were on guard; their ears pricked up and their sharp eyes scorched the area around them, making sure no intruders set paw in the camp.

The patrol hid behind a nearby briar bush and observed the guarding wolves. The wolf guards were pacing around, shifting places and looking in different directions. Then a few seconds later, the guards paced towards a different spot and shifted places. They looked at a different direction and after a few seconds, they paced around again, shifted places and looked at a different direction. The cycle continued and the rescue patrol came up with a plan.

"We need to get past those wolves, let's distract them with something." Streamtail whispered so that the guards wouldn't hear.

"We should split up," Beesting suggested quietly. "Some of us will distract the guards while the rest will sneak in and rescue Dawnwing."

"Good plan," Stardust mewed.

"I'll distract those guards," Robintail volunteered.

"Redstorm, Streamtail go with Robintail." Driftclaw meowed quietly to the two young gingers.

"Okay, the rest of us will sneak in," Moonshadow whispered. He nodded to Robintail, Redstorm and Streamtail to get ready.

Robintail was sharing a plan with the two young gingers and when they were done discussing their distracting plan, one by one, they crept away from the briar bush and headed towards the guards. Redstorm let out a howl and at once the guards snapped their heads around to look in the direction Redstorm was, then two of the five guards raced towards Redstorm. Redstorm pelted and the two guards chased him. When Redstorm and the two guards had disappeared, Streamtail tossed a pebble at one of the guards. The guard looked around and padded away to try and find where the pebble was thrown from. There were now only two guards left.

Suddenly, Robintail sprang at one of the guards. With one heavy blow, Robintail managed to knock the guard unconscious. The other guard charged towards Robintail but then Streamtail leapt out behind a bush and slammed into the guard. When Robintail and Streamtail knocked the last guard out, Moonshadow and the others crept out from behind the briar bush. Moonshadow glanced cautiously around, then they sneaked into the camp silently like ghosts.

"I'll stay here just in case a guard comes back. If Redstorm comes, I'll send him to you." Robintail told them, then the fox ran and hid in a bush.

***

Moonshadow led Beesting, Stardust, Brightflame, Streamtail and Driftclaw into the camp. Strangely, there were no wolves about in the camp. After exploring a few empty dens and underground tunnels, they arrived in a clearing. The clearing was surrounded by tall pines and their bristling branches blocked out the moonlight, shrouding the clearing in darkness. In the middle of the clearing stood a battle-scarred black wolf. Moonshadow and the others immediately hid behind a large thick tree stump. The black wolf was guarding something but they couldn't see what it was because the black wolf was sitting right in front of it, his back facing towards them.

Moonshadow motioned with his wing to tell Beesting to scout ahead and see what the black wolf was guarding. Beesting nodded and crept away.

Beesting crawled two metres around the black wolf, then he crouched behind some bushes and and saw a small burrowing owl tied down by shiny cold tendrils with spiky needles, it was something he had never seen before. The burrowing owl was dusky brown and her yellow eyes were dull with agony and misery, her legs were bleeding where the tendril's spiky needles had pricked her. Beesting crept back around the wolf towards Moonshadow and told him of what he had seen.

"That's Dawnwing," Moonshadow whispered. "We need a plan to get rid of that wolf."

"We could distract it like we did before," Stardust suggested.

"Okay, here's the plan; Brightflame, get his attention. Driftclaw, Beesting and Streamtail, you three jump on him and pin him down, make sure he doesn't make a noise- there may be other guards and wolves around nearby. Stardust, stay close to me and we'll free Dawnwing." Moonshadow told them quietly. "Then we'll knock that wolf out so that we can escape."

They nodded and got ready in their places. When everyone was ready, Moonshadow nodded to Brightflame. Brightflame charged at the black wolf and immediately, the wolf leaped towards her. She dodged and the wolf landed on the ground. Then Brightflame sped away and the wolf gave chase. Driftclaw and Streamtail got ready and pounced. Brightflame, Driftclaw and Streamtail fought against the black wolf, Streamtail managed to keep the wolf's jaw shut so that he made no noise. They pinned the wolf down and Moonshadow and Stardust raced towards Dawnwing.

***

Dawnwing blinked. She blinked again. I must be imagining things, she thought with shock as she saw Moonshadow and Stardust racing towards her. They've come to rescue me!

Suddenly, a white flash shot towards Moonshadow and knocked him down.

"NO! GET OFF HIM!" Stardust yowled at the white blur who revealed herself to be Icefeather.

Dawnwing hissed with frustration. Why is it always that owl who gets in our way? She fumed.

Stardust clawed at Icefeather and knocked her off Moonshadow. Moonshadow slowly got up on his talons. His neck was bleeding, the feathers turned crimson with his blood. He looked around and saw Stardust swipe at Icefeather's face. Stardust eyes burned amber like fire as she took out her ferocity on Icefeather; for hurting Moonshadow, for capturing and torturing Dawnwing, for siding with the scarred wolf and wiping out her family and clan; the Silver Viels.

Icefeather reeled away, her feathers red and her wings scratched. She desperately shielded her face with her wings from Stardust's claws. Icefeather screeched when Stardust pounced and pinned her down, and began to slash her.

"Stardust!" Moonshadow called out to her.

Stardust swiped one last time at Icefeather before leaping away towards Moonshadow.

"I think that's enough," Moonshadow murmured as he stared at Icefeather; bleeding and battered on the ground. "You've beaten her, where did you learn to fight like that?" He asked in great surprise.

"I... I learned from the best." Stardust mewed uncertainly.

Dawnwing gaped, she was shocked that Stardust could fight like that. Did Moonshadow teach her to fight? She thought.

"Did I teach you?" Moonshadow asked, perplexed.

"Um... I just learnt it from somewhere. Anyways, we better free Dawnwing." Stardust changed the subject and raced towards Dawnwing.

"I'm so glad you're here," Dawnwing hooted happily in relief as Stardust bit down hard on the thin wire- it was starting to rust which made it easier to cut. Moonshadow took one last look at Icefeather before limping over to help Stardust cut the wire. When they had freed Dawnwing, Moonshadow looked towards Beesting, Driftclaw, Brightflame and Streamtail. They had knocked out the black wolf unconscious and were staring in astonishment at Stardust, Beesting's jaw had dropped.

"Wow, that was awesome. Where did you learn to fight like that?" Streamtail meowed, impressed.

"You fought really well against an opponent that was twice your size, Stardust," Driftclaw praised her.

Beesting stared, speechless.

"Um... thanks guys... for praising me." Stardust mewed with embarrasment. "It was nothing."

"Everyone, we need to get out of here," Moonshadow hooted urgently. "The other wolves or the scarred wolf himself might arrive. Let's go."

They all quickly escaped to the camp entrance where Robintail and Redstorm were waiting for them. Then they headed out of the dark pine forest and back towards Dawntreader territory as the golden sun began to rise.