I wake up, tied to a tree. My instinct is to flap my wings and fly away, but I feel 5 limp bodies next to mine.

Linton and Ethan! I thought. Alex and Bruce!

“Welcome, girl. Wasn’t this the place you were going to?”

I look around wildly. We are at the beach.

‘Wondering how I found you? Well, it wasn’t so hard with a spy.”

“My lord, my side of the deal?” comes a scared and sorrowful voice.

“Your family will be at the north mountain,” he replies.

“Snow! You betrayed us!” I yell and in an instant I’m muffled, silencing the many swear words I utter.

“I’m sorry Amelia. I seized my chance.” she says, and walks away.

“Now, now. How shall I end it? I’d like to do so by my own claws but no. Nicholas can do it.”

At these words, the others jerk awake. Ethan instantly goes into battle pose, but tied up, all he could do was squirm. Linton looked perplexed. The wolves awake on the other side of the tree and gnaw at their ropes, unbeknownst to Lucidious.

Nicholas flaps over, but he’s different.

“He can’t hear you now. He's dead. A zombie owl. Forced to obey my every command.”

He takes a swing and tries to behead us, but misses. We close our eyes, and I whisper to Linton, “Isn’t the moon beautiful tonight.”

He whispers back, “I know.”

We both smile.

As soon as Nicholas swipes again, two giant shadows launch from behind us, and it reveals two wolves. Alex wrestles with Lucidious as he shouts commands to his followers, and Bruce defends him from the incoming owls.

“Run!” he shouts at us. “Get to Arbonoc! Tell them about their plans! To get to the island!”

Fighting back tears, Linton shouts, “No! Come with us!”

Lucidious kills Alex with a single swipe and comes to a now paralyzed Bruce.

“Run!”

And with that, he is silenced, and we run.

“Kill the others!” Lucidious shouts to his followers. “I want the girl alive.” He finishes with Malice.

We fly as fast as we can, but suddenly, Linton, carrying Ethan, falls into the water below. They are already above us. They dive from the moon, 5 owls, metal claws stretched out and they attempt to grab me. I dive alongside them, and kick 2 of them and they fall into the water. However, the others swipe at me, and I trust my instincts and dodge them.

However, they start to flee, accompanied by 3 other Owls wearing armour, with frogs in the sea. I dive down to find Linton and Ethan, but I already see them being carried away by an Owl.

I fly up to him.

“Can you fly well?” he asks me.

“Yes.” I replied.

“I am an Arboc Owl medic. We heard about your approach through new arrivals. Follow me to Arbonoc.”

“Yes.”

“My name is Ioannis. What’s yours?”

Honestly, I don’t really know anymore. What am I? Amelia? A soldier? A lover?

“Amelia.” I replied.

“Well Amelia, we’ll have to interview you there. Not every owl or wolf or frog knows about us. Hardly any of them make the journey.”

Silence.

“You know, you fight well.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

I wait a bit, and a question appears in my head.

“Have you heard?”

“Our command and soldiers have only heard so much. Rumours. Whispers. Word has it that the South has returned, however, with our spies not returning either because they’ve died or are lost, we cannot get a clear image. Until you came.”

“Will they be alright?”

“The frog will,” he says and my heart lightens, “but the owl is in serious condition.”

Like an anchor dropping down to Earth, my heart sinks.

“What happened?”

“Broken wing. Internal bleeding. He’s in a coma. Berries won’t work.”

Something about my expression gives it away.

“Is he your begraddled? (lover)

“Not yet.”

“He’ll be alright.” but something in his expression is empathy.

We fly for another hour or so, and he pauses at a small island.

“This can’t be Arbonoc?”

“The fight to Arbonoc is long and arduous. We are stopping here for the night.”

He puts down Linton gently onto a leaf bed and shows me to a straw bed. He mops his face with a wet sea sponge and then Ethan wakes up.

“What's going on? Where are we?”

He sees Linton in a coma.

“What happened?”

“What’s most important is that you're in safe hands.” Ioannis replies in a deep calming voice. Seeing Ethans agitated state, he smiles and shows his doctor's badge.

“You’re with an Arboc Owl Medic. Doctor if you will.”

Calm floods Ethans face. Then pain. He cringes and breathes hard.

“My leg. My arms. They feel broken.”

“They do. Here are some berries.”

Instead of eating them, he splats them on. Instant relief covers his face, and he falls asleep.

“Best get some sleep. I imagine tonight was a weird night for you all.”

I nod my understanding and go to bed.

When I wake up, the moon is up, and Linton is already in the gentle claws of Ioannis.

“Let's go. Ethan got on her back.”5

Ethan obliges.

“Let's go!” and we take to the sky.

Why flying, Ethan whispers in my ear, “I’ve got some tips.”

“Really? Where's your date?”

“To be honest, my dating options are pretty thin right now. Listen, seize the chance.”

“That's what Snow said.”

“What happened to you?”

“We were training. Linton’s head got cut. The wolves got cut and put to sleep while they were resting. I fought and I think I killed one. They got me in the end. What happened to you and Snow? Did she die?”

“She betrayed us.”

“Oh.”

The shock and tragedy of things brings him to the present. This is no longer training. We are going to Arbonoc. War will begin soon.

We continue to fly towards the island and meet many smaller islands that make up the defense stations of the island with owls and frogs on each island. Ioannis explains.

“Every so often, the South sends out scouts to attempt to trick us into war. Those owls have been left unnoticed. However, a few years ago there was a coup and the South instigated it. From then on we vowed only to let the pure hearted in.”

He looks down at the frog sleeping and the owl in a coma.

“I sense fear and anger in them. A taste for revenge.”

“Their family members were killed by the South.” I answer without thinking.

“Alas, this is the case for many of us. Half of us have known people who have died. Fly fast Amelia.”

At last we reached the island, and it was magnificent.

Walls made of stone and brick, towering over even the highest mountains, patrolled by owls, a network of forests all leading up to a main tree in the middle. We whiz past barracks and armouries, map making areas and observation desks. An island made for peacekeeping and war.

“Look fast, and fly inside there. The court is waiting.” A guard tells me as I land.

“What about the others?”

“They’ll be questioned after they recover. The owl may need some help remembering but the frog will be up and about in no time.”

I waddle into the courtroom, trembling. It is a dark room, with chains and cages, made for criminals, not a poor child like myself.

“Name and Nationality?” says a voice, booming over the chatter of the crowd outside.

“Amelia, of the North.” I reply back, my voice losing its confidence that I had gained.

“Any family members? Professions?”

“They died in the Battle at the Ridge. Their names were Emily and Hunter.” I say, not mentioning his battle name, the name he’s most well known for.

“Hunter?” replies the voice, losing its commanding tone. “The General of the Northern Forces?”

“Yes sir.”

“Please, call me Idola. I’m your fathers friend. He was once an Arboc Owl warrior.”

She steps down.

“Please, tell us what has happened since Nicholas’s capture.”

“The south has almost taken over the entirety of the Forest.” I reply, my voice shaking.

At these words, furious muttering begins in the leadership.

“I knew we should have gone to war, as soon as those reports came in.”

“My lord if I will be permitted to speak.” replied a bold voice.

“The board recognises Eric, of the Argonian Owl Intelligence.”

“Thank you,” he says cooly, “but my lord, these reports of flaming balls, could only mean they have harnessed the magic of the Balls.”

“You point?”

“This is impossible. This stretches any of the reports I’ve received to the maximum.”

“Pah. The only thing impossible here is your stupidity.”

“The board recognises Ipzitch.”

“You and I find different things interesting. So you are calling this owl a liar?”

“Perhaps what Ipzitch is suggesting is that we should go to war with the South, which, according to my daily reports, has taken over almost all of the Forest.”

“Of course I would not counsel going into war blindly like a duck waddling off a cliff. But if what she is saying is true, of course.”

“What about diplomacy? Peace?”

“As you well know Eric, diplomacy failed us last time, and as you should remember.”

“I still say this is impossible. For those owls to get a hold of a Ball, they must have had…”

“And insider. And how many insiders have we thrown out?”

“The audacity!”

“If I were no more of a coward than you, I’d kill you right here and now. Are you calling the fact that an owl is in a coma an accident?”

“Of course!”

“If I may speak Ipzitch and Eric.” came my voice. “All I heard about you were stories. I chose to believe them. Now you are in my predicament too. But unlike me, this is not a choice between blossoming with life or death. It’s the matter of the entire Forest.”

“Hmmpf.” was all Eric said, but Ipzitch looked happy.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself girl.”

‘My scouts will be departing for routine surveillance next rotation. Perhaps?”

“No, Eric, take your best owls now. Suit up and prepare for resistance.”

“Is anyone else with Ipzitch’s opinion?” asks Idola.

“The board has agreed with Eric. This story stretches plausibility too far.”

“Very well. Dismissed.”

“Wait!” I say in a desperate attempt. “All I had of you were legends! You must believe me! Do not follow Eric! He is lying!”

I bow my head.

“I saw my father being striked down by Lucidious. I thought you would help.”

“DISMISSED!” Eric screeched.