Dawn was rising and everyone was prepared for the great journey ahead of them. The Snowies' wounds had been seen to and treated by Flower, luckily all the Snowies could still walk and fly a little- they just needed to rest more. 

Stardust padded out of the den and sat on a boulder overlooking the camp. She yawned sleepily and gazed around as the Dawntreader cats scurried about getting on with their tasks. A scouting patrol led by Beesting had gone around outside Dawntreader territory and a while later, they returned.

"Any sign of the scarred wolf or his followers?" Sunblaze asked Beesting.

"No sign, scent or pawprint." The Beesting reported, his emerald green eyes shone bright with excitement.

Sunblaze nodded and dismissed the patrol to eat something and rest before they began the journey. Ever since Sunblaze had announced their journey, most of the younger cats were thrilled for an adventure but the older and senior Dawntreaders were reluctant and unenthusiastic about the decision to leave their home. Sunblaze padded over towards Moonshadow and Talonswipe to discuss something, their hoots and meows were too low and quiet for Stardust to hear their conversation.

"Morning Stardust," a voice mumbled behind her.

Stardust turned and saw Beesting, he was carrying two voles in his mouth. He put the voles down. "I thought you might be hungry before the journey." He smiled.

"Thanks," Stardust smiled back, she dipped her head and gulped the vole hungrily.

Beesting quickly finished his vole and looked as far as he could beyond Dawntreader territory. "I can't wait to explore beyond our territory but I'll miss being here in the tall grass," Beesting mewed quietly to himself.

Stardust looked at him with sympathy. "I know what it's like to leave your home for who knows how long it'll be until you go back, exploring will be interesting and adventurous but the only reason why we're leaving is because of the scarred wolf. If we stay, he might come and attack us just like he did with the Snowies."

"Yeah." Beesting agreed. "Um... I forgot to compliment you about how well you fought against that barn owl when we went to rescue Dawnwing. I was amazed that you could fight like that and you reminded me of a Silver Viel."

Stardust blinked. "I am a Silver Viel."

"Oh." Beesting stared at her, "I didn't think it was possible, I-"

"Beesting, Stardust! We're leaving now." Brightflame's told them, she was bubbling with excitement.

"If you don't hurry up we might leave you two!" Redstorm teased. Streamtail purred with amusement. They were huddled together with the other Dawntreaders.

"Oh please don't leave without me, please!" Beesting feigned fear and played along with them. He bounded off the boulder and raced towards them. Stardust pelted after him.

"Redstorm and Streamtail, you both know very well that the code says we must not leave without the rest of the clan or patrol." Brightflame mewed sternly, pretending to be a senior warrior.

"Oh come on! It was only a joke," Redstorm contradicted her.

"Brightflame's got no sense of humor," Streamtail muttered to his littermate, Redstorm nodded.

"Brightflame, Redstorm, Streamtail. That's enough." Driftclaw frowned at them. "If you can't behave yourselves, you can journey at the back of the line."

"The whole journey!?" Redstorm, Streamtail and Brightflame exclaimed in horror.

"Yes, now stop acting like kittens and behave like proper apprentices." Driftclaw meowed.

Brightflame, Redstorm and Streamtail fell silent and sat down as Moonshadow, Dawnwing and Robintail headed over towards them. Talonswipe, Windblaze and the rest of the Snowie owls joined them a moment later.

"Is everyone ready?" Sunblaze raised his voice so that everyone could hear him.

Everyone nodded. Sunblaze glanced one last time around the Dawntreader camp before gathering everyone together with a sweep of his orange tail and led them all out of camp. They padded through the tall grass in a long line and soon they reached the border of Dawntreader territory, they crossed the border and the grass outside the territory grew shorter. Stardust looked far into the distance and she caught a glimpse of the tall blue mountains, the Twilight mountains.

"Wow," Beesting stared in the direction Stardust was looking at. "I wonder what lives behind those mountains."

Stardust nodded in agreement. Sunblaze led them towards the mountains, the Dawntreaders gazed around them at the sight of what lay beyond their borders for the first time. Moonshadow, Dawnwing, Robintail were traveling behind Stardust and Beesting. Talonswipe and Windblaze flapped their wings, lifted themselves in the air and led the rest of the Snowies flying after them.

***

It was now a week after the Dawntreaders, Snowies and Moonshadow's group had left Dawtreader territory behind them. They had passed through meadows and a small spruce forest, still the mountains looked no closer. The sun was high in the sky and they were now passing through a muddy marsh land and the vibrating sound of frogs croaking filled their ears.

Moonshadow glided overhead. He stared ahead of them and saw the mountains, they seemed a little taller and closer. Dawnwing was flying beside him, the rest of the Snowies soared behind them. Below him, Stardust was hanging out with Beesting and her other Dawntreader friends. 

Somehow, she seems closer to them and farther from us, Moonshadow thought. Robintail and the rest of the Dawntreaders were trudging through puddles and bogs, Sunblaze's orange pelt was now a dark shade of brown because of the mud.

"Flying for you is a whole lot easier, flying this long is really tiring for me," Dawnwing panted.

"Burrowing owls spend more time on the ground, you should practice flying more often." Moonshadow suggested.

"And you should try walking and hopping around more often" Dawnwing replied, she flapped her wings a little slower and flew lower to the ground.

Moonshadow slowed and drifted down after her, they landed and walked behind the Dawntreaders. Soon, the ground began to turn to soft green grass and a few bushes sprouted nearby. A couple of alder trees stood together, their round leaves shone light green in the sunlight.

Suddenly, a couple of bushes rustled. Sunblaze lifted his tail to signal the Dawntreaders to halt. Moonshadow hopped over towards Stardust and kept by her side to protect her if there was danger. Dawnwing stood at Moonshadow's left side, her feathers fluffed up in fear.

The bushes rustled again and parted to reveal a tall white-tailed stag. The stag looked at them and flicked his short white tail. The other bushes rustled and a couple more white-tailed deer appeared, their dark eyes wide in curiosity. The deer stared at them. Sunblaze and the others stared back. After a few moments, the stag who appeared first headed slowly towards them and stopped two metres in front of Sunblaze.

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" The stag queried.

"I am Sunblaze, we are the Dawntreaders and those owls are the Snowies, we brought a couple of our friends along with us. We mean you no harm, we're just passing through to join the Rebellion." Sunblaze answered calmly.

The stag blinked in surprise when Sunblaze said "the Rebellion".

"We are the Rebellion," the stag replied, "and if you are here to join us, follow me."

Sunblaze glanced behind him to make sure all the Dawntreaders, Snowies and everyone else were fine, then he and the others followed the stag.

***

The stag and his herd of white-tailed deer led Sunblaze and the others towards the mountains. After passing a few more alder trees and bushes, the stag turned right and headed towards a barrier of thorns. Moonshadow watched as the stag carefully trod through the thorns and disappeared.

Looking closely, Moonshadow saw a slim gap in the center of the thorn barrier, the gap was barely noticeable and it would be a good disguise for hiding the rebellion's camp entrance. Sunblaze led the others through the gap after the stag, the rest of the herd of deer followed after them. Past the barrier, they found themselves in a hollow surrounded by a thick barrier of thorns. There was a large crowd of rabbits, deer, a couple of other snowy owls and many other animals scurrying around the camp doing their job. When the animals noticed the new arrivals, they stopped what they were doing and stared curiously at them.

The stag stepped forward, "We have some guests who would like to join the rebellion." He announced.

The crowd shifted and parted. An old brown rabbit bounded slowly through the crowd towards them. He halted in front of Sunblaze and the others.

"I am Twilight, welcome to the Rebellion."