Silence falls over the group.

“Ever since then, I’ve been fighting against them, and doing whatever I can to make up for what crimes I have commited.”

Our heart-warming speech is cut short by an explosion. We rush out and are greeted by a terrible sight.

The forest, once pristine, now sports a gaping hole. Smoking debris and scattered plants lie around the crater.

“We have to fight.”

He makes an effort to stand up, but quickly sits back down from the pain.

“Listen here old man, you are in no shape to be fighting anything, especially eagles.”

She turns to us.

“As we speak, the Armies of Feldon have begun their war against the South.”

“Feldon has not been attacked?”

Feldon was a state independent of the Forest, but well respected throughout. Although not part of the Forest, it did consider itself a close ally.

“As we speak, The Felden fleet prepares to set off, carrying their best soldiers. Eagles, owls, wolves, frogs, foxes. It's an official war.”

“Where do they plan to land?”

“The shores off Mount Volcanus.” Snow replies.

I turn to Ipzitch.

“Shall we head there then?”

“We can help with the attacking force,” he agrees, “Although how we get there is the question. We are hours from there, let alone behind enemy lines.”

Snow voices her own opinion.

“The South managed to attack and destroy almost everything due to the 3 clans' ignorance of the warnings. They cut spending on the military. The leaders all perished.” She finished bitterly.

“As we speak, armies in the West and East have begun to reform and begin their counter-attack. You’ve been gone a long time.”

“But they’ll never win. The south beat the combined forces of the three clans.”

Then Snow turns to Ipzitch.

“The island of Arbonoc. It was completely ransacked and destroyed. However, a few animals managed to escape. The resistance groups are all banding together. Feldon and the resistance groups are fighting them head on. However, those of us behind enemy lines can only watch and hope. Which is why we are going to smash through those enemy lines.”

“We need to kill the leaders of the South. Otherwise, they won’t stop.”

“The resistance and Feldon can take care of the Southern Armies. At least for a bit. However, we’ll need to sneak behind enemy lines and take out their fortresses. My sources tell me that the Arbonoc Owls that managed to escape plan to convene here, right near enemy lines. We need to get there on time.”

She points us towards a sack.

“In there are swords, helmets, armour, and supplies. Everything you will need for a 3 day journey towards the rendezvous point.”

I nod my farewell to Snow.

“Farewell Amelia, Linton and Ethan and others. Watch out for Eagles and the Southern forces.”

We lift off and fly straight towards the meeting point, just in time however, to see the Eagles and South burn down the town, and the wolves retreat into the bushes.

We've been stuck in the spirit mountains for so long. It’s hard to believe so much has happened in such a short amount of time. Arbonoc gone. Feldon and the resistance taking up arms. It's all good news but it's not enough.

“The South's forces far outnumber the North's forces, let alone Feldon. Our only hope is to attack from within. There is one final factor we must take into account. Feldons enemies might come into play.”

“Come off it Ipzitch, you expect the Naether Owls to join into a conflict that is not theirs?” Linton says.

“What?” I replied.

“For one year, the Naether Owls helped the South radicalism and reform its armies. Then, they mysteriously disappeared.”

“Make haste for the rendezvous point.” I point out.

“Amelia’s right. The sooner we get there, the better of a chance we won’t miss them.” Duey agrees.

“And the sooner I get Lintons back.” Ethan groans. “H’boy, I’m going to be sick.” he says, turning a greener shade of green.

“Hey, you're not flying the first class Albatross Line right?” Linton asks, offended.

A feeling of joy passes over us. We have a goal. People are rising up.

We were so engrossed in our happiness we failed to see the shadows coming from above us. A second later, Ipzitch notices them.

“Split up! Eagles inbound!” he says, diving down into the forest.

Looking around frantically, we split up, spreading out over a large area. We dive under the trees and land softly, keeping under foliage.

The eagles scour the area and hover above the treeline looking for us. We remain silent. Then, we see a massive Owl Army pass ahead of us heading for the direction of the Feldon Fleet. There are thousands of owls, each covered with thick heavy armour and armed to the teeth. However, they are still able to fly relatively quickly.

The eagles land and we hear their conversation.

“That's squad one of regiment 59. We’re still waiting for the 20 other squads to arrive for this regiment. Then we have the 21 squads needed for the 3 regiments each.”

“The Feldon forces are much larger though.” the eagle replied.

“We’ve got more than two hundred regiments each with 20 squads of two thousand owls,” says the squad commander. “Each with 10 eagles. The rest are in the armoured groups. Fan out and prune. We’ll need to clear this area before the rest comes through.”

With that, they take to the sky and join the massive cloud of owls now flying above us.

I see the others and waddle over, careful to remain silent.

“Ipzitch, is that really how many owls they have?” I whisper.

I saw him jump but he relaxed as soon as he saw it was me.

“No lass, two thousand is an over exaggeration. Only one thousand at the least.”

“I don’t think the Feldon Fleet can withstand those numbers.”

“The Feldon Forces are far more heavily armed than you realise. It’ll take more than these ruffians to take them down.”

When the coast was clear, we flew straight towards the meeting point. Along the three days, we landed several times to avoid patrols, eagles and huge formations of Southern Owls.

“Why are there only owls?” Ethan asks one day.

“The South was banished when they were caught experimenting with Orbs. They blame every other animal but the Southern Owls. Any other animal except a few were slaughtered. They are religious zealots, but they are brainwashed to follow the high command of the South. Completely devoted and re-educated animals.”

We reach the meeting point one day early, and decide to prepare for their arrival.

Lucinda braces herself, but what comes was far from what we were expecting.

The queen was dead, but scores of Arbonoc owls landed, including Ioannis, who decided to help with the recovery effort. Ipzitch was voted in as the leader of the few remaining.

“To those who are not injured, the Feldon Fleet is estimated to arrive within a week, perhaps sooner. There are three hundred of us out of the five hundred thousand owls that lived on Arbonoc. For now, this is where we live. Once we get more intel, we will figure out what to do.”

However, news soon spreads fast of our little fortress that was built. However, the Southern Owls did not know and were more focused on quashing rebellion, burning villages to the ground and stopping the Feldon Forces.

Snow arrived a few days later with half her group.

“We lost many. However, I have been told that the South is experiencing difficulty taking back the Western and Eastern armies. The Northern animals are fighting back. However, there hasn’t been evidence of any owls from the North apart from you Amelia.”

“So what are you proposing?” Duey says, intrigued.

“Lucinda?”

“Yes. The armies of the South operate under a command structure. If we take the Southern Capital, we may win the war. However, more and more forces pile onto the shores where Feldon is supposed to land and it is becoming more apparent, they will not win. This is why,” she takes out a United Forest armour set, “We will dive into the battle with this armour so they know we are friendly, and help them out when the South least suspects it. We can push onto the capital within a month, maybe sooner if the rebellions we’ve been hearing about work.”

And soon, representatives come from all over bearing small elite squads to help. It is soon apparent the South is losing its iron fist grip around the Forest, but still has us by the tail.

But everyday, we receive large numbers of fighters, who run from their areas. And suddenly it is also apparent, the South is striking back, without fear of death and annihilation of entire areas.

Soon, we move our location nearer towards where the strike is planned.

“What's up?” Linton and Ethan ask.

“Well...almost three weeks ago, we had around seven of us. We were a squad. Now, we’ve got an army.”

“And?” Linton asks, surprised.

“What if we fail?”

My question stuns them.

“Well, then at least we tried.” Ethan reassures us. “And if we succeed?”

“Then the war turns into our favour. After 5 years under the occupation of the South, the forest is free.” Duey adds.

“And we’ll do it all together.” Ipzitch says with a smile.

Suddenly, a dwarf owl bangs into the wall.

“Sir! A message from the first wave Feldon fleet. They’ve made contact with the land. Estimated arrival, three hours! The other 75% will arrive tomorrow.”

“Tell the commanders to gather the forces at Mount Volcannus. We march now.”

Pandemonium broke loose. The armoury was full of owls equipping themselves. There were animals rushing everywhere and commanders screaming out commands.

Adrenaline rushed through my body as I addressed my team, consisting of twenty owls and one frog, our plan.

“We come in from behind. We will be there to confuse them.” I explained.

“Good luck.” I add as they prepare to take off.

However, Lucinda stays.

“I need to stay here, to help those injured.”

Ioannis comes over and in his deep calming voice, he says, “It’s like she was born to help treat people. She is a warrior, but there are few owls that help treat them.”

“Well, good luck.” she says.

We hug and take off.