"Where could those little squirrels ‘ave gotten to?" Wondered Ruby, the squirrel in charge of the babes living in Castle Gemstone. "They couldn’t ‘ave gotten too far, they would get lost in the woods."
"Don’t worry about ‘em, Ruby," said her otter friend Pearleye Blackfur, so named for her unusually pale eyes and coat of jet black, without even a trace of a different color. "They’ll turn up from playin’ somewheres, tunics muddy an’ torn, when they’re ‘ungry enough." The otter winked at her friend. "You know, I reckons they’ve gone and fallen asleep somewheres, knowin’ those babes."
"Oh, I hope you’re right, Pearleye. Why they do this and worry me, I don’t know..." Her voice trailed off as the squirrel and her otter friend rounded the corner of a wide, sweeping staircase leading to the Great hall. It was nearly lunchtime, and they were famished from searching for the squirrel babes Jweeka and Kyabreeze. 
"Ruby, you look like a frog at a funeral," the Squirrel-queen of Castle Gemstone, Jade, teased Ruby. "What in the name of seasons are you worried about?"
"Well, Jade, ‘tis like this. Those two little squirrel babes Jweeka and Kya ‘ave gone missin’ again, and I’ll bet my brush that Jweeka led the other to it. Ooh, he’s a little pickle, that Jweeka!"
"Hmm, as I recall from what my parents have told me in the past, you did the same thing yourself with me! So you really can’t blame them."
"Excuse me, Lady Jade, but we’ve just seen threescore hares marchin’ up through Gemstone Woods. In my opinion, they’re after somethin’, most likely food," said a squirrel maid breathlessly. Her name was Beechlass, and she was a resident of Castle Gemstone. 
At that moment, there was a patrol of sixty hares coming through Gemstone Woods. They had come all the way from the southern coast to warn the Squirrel-queen about an evil vixen and her horde of wildcats and foxes. 
The vixen’s name was Yamhi, and she was a seer. Therefore, she didn’t need somebeast to tell her own fortune for her. Her second in command was a wildcat named Sunspot. She was a cunning and pretty wildcat, able to charm birds out of their nests with her doe-eyed dark brown gaze. The horde was primarily female beasts, as Yamhi had little trust in male beasts. They had come from lands far across the sea to find a place to conquer and make their own. 
The hares were good friends of the squirrels and otters of Castle Gemstone. Their leader was Major Starfur Longears, known to almost every beast as Starry because she didn’t like to push her title of major. 
"Well, we’re almost to the flippin’ castle by the looks of it. Wot I wouldn’t give for a nice big trifle, baked by the Squirrel-queen Jade ‘erself, wot wot! I’m absoballutely famished!" Remarked a hare. 
"Hmm, couldn’t have said it better meself, Redscut old chap!" Cried Starfur. "Well lookee ‘ere! It’s two little squirrel babes come all the way from the castle! I say, you young ‘uns! Wot do you think you’re bally well doin’ all the way out here in the blinkin’ woods this far from Castle Gemstone?"
"A wasn’ me, marm! Jweeka maked me go with ‘im! I’m only a likkle swiggle, you’re not gonna do nothing to me, are you marm?" Said the little squirrel babe Kyabreeze innocently.
"Hmm, Kyabreeze, isn’t it? Well listen, little Kya, s’not my job to punish you! Nay, I’m leavin’ that job to that Ruby squirrel, wot wot! Go and ask Redscut over there to carry you ’till we get to the castle. Now, as for you, little mister cheekywhiskers, you can stay up here where I can see you, m’laddo, wot wot!" Said Starry. Jweeka had been hiding behind a hare named Elilo, and sullenly went up to stand near the Major. Kya was having fun, though. She got to ride in Redscut’s pack of provisions with the top unbuckled. She did, as babes will, steal some of the hare’s food out of the sack. 
Back at Castle Gemstone, the squirrels were still on a search for the squirrel babes, while the otters stood sentry on the wall tops.
"Ho, Pearleye! I thinks you better come and look at this!" Said an otter named Kego. He was leaning forward over the wall, craning his neck to see better. 
"Wot is it, Kego? Oh no! Lock up the larder and bolt shut the wine cellars! ‘Tis Starry and her patrol o’ hares, marchin’ up from the south coast! An’ look! They’ve got those two liddle squirrel babes, Jweeka and Kyabreeze! You there, little Streamlily! Go an’ tell the Queen!"
Streamlily was overjoyed to have been chosen to do the task. She hurried down from the wall top and ran straight to the Great hall. Breathlessly, she said to the Squirrel queen, "Lady Jade, marm, there’s an ‘ole patrol o’ hares comin’ up through the woods! Pearleye says that it’s Starfur Longears’s patrol from the southern coast. An’ they’ve got those two squirrels Jweeka an’ Kyabreeze, too!"
"Hmm, I already knew about the hares. But you say that they have the squirrel babes with them? That’s a relief," Said Queen Jade. "When they get here, bring them in here. I’m bettin’ that they’re famished, as usual. Thank you, Streamlily."
The otter maid was happy almost beyond words. Never before had she received praise from the Squirrel queen of Castle Gemstone! She ran off to tell Pearleye.
Starfur and her patrol had reached the outer walls of the castle. "Lookit, chaps! Here we are!" She cried to the hares.
Pearleye’s voice rang out from the walltop above the gate. "Starry, I bet you’ll be ’ere wantin’ some grub, eh?"
"What ho, Pearleye old gel! I say, last time I saw you was about 6 seasons ago! How’re things goin’ at the castle?"
"Never better, matey! Wot brings yew ‘ereabouts? ‘Ow are ye?"
"Hmm, grim business, Pearly old gel. I say, jolly rude of you to leave me an’ the regiment out here, wot wot! Thumpin’ bad form!"
"Oh! Sorry, Major Starfur, marm!" Said Kego, clapping a paw to his brow. "I’ll go an’ open ‘em right now!"
"Steady on, laddie buck! Less o’ the Major, I don’t like pushin’ me rank, doncha know," Remarked the Major.
Once inside the castle, the hares made a beeline for the Great hall. They knew the food was there! Starfur plopped herself down next to Jade. She wanted to warn her friend the Squirrel queen about the dangerous horde of Sunspot and Yamhi. "Listen, Jade. The reason I marched the entire flippin’ regiment up here was to warn you and the others of this castle."
"Danger? Surely not! No foe-beasts have passed this way for many seasons, at least from what I’ve heard. Tell me, what kind of danger?" Asked the Squirrelqueen.
"Well, it’s a vixen this time, name o’ Yamhi. Strange seer type, ‘er second in command is a wildcat called Sunspot. They have a huge horde of mostly foxes an’ wildcats, and most are female. Mark my words, I’ve never seen so many of the bally creatures in one horde, wot wot!" Explained Starfur.
"Oh, great seasons! How many were there, Starry?" Asked Sapphire, the Queen’s handmaiden.
"Oh, well over ten score, I’m sorry to say, old gel," Answered Starry. 
Meanwhile, at the site where the vixen and her army were camped for the night, Yamhi was holding a conference with her second-in-command, the wildcat Sunspot. They were deciding on which way would be best to attack the castle and plunder it. 
"Well, Milady, I think it should be from the back. That way, we have the cover of the forest," Said Sunspot.
"Hmm, you may be right about that, Sunspot, but that’s where they will be expectin’ us to attack. What I think I will do is this. I will send a decoy to distract the wall guards up to the front, like we want to stay and have a little somethin’ to eat and that’s all. Meanwhile, I will send a force to the rear gate and have one of my soldiers try to pick the lock, silently. In this plan, silence and a skilled lock-picker are in essence. Do you know of any beast in this army who is capable of that?" Yamhi studied the face of the wildcat intently, as if reading her mind. 
"Actually, I do War-lady Yamhi. If a good and silent lock-picker is wot you want, then Foxglove the vixen is the one for the job. She’s the best at that sort o’ thing, and she is very fast incase an escape is needed. I met ‘er on a corsair ship some seasons ago," She said.
"Good. Go and fetch her for me," Yamhi said to the guard, a dull wildcat named Shefjin. She ran off to find the vixen before Yamhi got angry. A couple of minutes later, she was back. A ragged-looking vixen was trotting along behind her. Yamhi assumed this was Foxglove, the one Sunspot had told her of. She beckoned Foxglove to sit by the fire next to her. "Friend Foxglove! Sunspot tells me you are an excellent lock-picker. Tell me, would you be able to silently pick the lock?"
"Pick da lock on da castle door? Huh, easy. Why you even ask if I can do it? Dat almost be an insult!" Said Foxglove.
"Good, but if you make a single sound or fail to unlock it fast enough, then..." Yamhi drew a paw across her neck, showing what would happen. "Also, as I understand, you have a husband too, and a little one? Hmm, it would be a pity for that to happen to them, too. If you fail me, it will."
"Grr! You no harm Raku or my little Sinistra, you ‘ear? You pay if you do!" Foxglove growled, showing her fangs.
"Now now, don’t get angry with me, I’ll only do that if you fail me," Yamhi lied. Secretly, she had a certain fondness for the little vixen Sinistra. She was a bit like Yamhi had been when she was younger. If Foxglove failed, Yamhi decided that she would execute her and her mate and raise Sinistra in her own murderous and evil way, as her own daughter.
"Huh, me t’inks you will do it anyways," muttered Foxglove under her breath. 
"What was that you said, vixen?" Said Yamhi.
"Oh, not’in’, not’in’, milady," Replied Foxglove quickly.

Back at Castle Gemstone, the hares and otters were discussing what they would do about the vermin army. They had come up with a few plans incase Yamhi decided to attack the castle. They decided to always keep at least twelve sentries posted on the wall top at all times. Everybeast at the castle would have a turn, except those who were too young or old. If the vixen attacked, a sentry would act like they were being relieved and go tell Starfur. She would then handle the situation. 

Yamhi was preparing for her trick. All of the hordebeasts were in their places. A group of about twenty wildcats and foxes, led by Yamhi, were going to the front door to bluff and distract the sentries. The remainder of the horde, except a selected few that were chosen to stay with the old and young, were to go to the back and wait in the woods for Foxglove to pick the lock on the door. Yamhi decided that now was the time to go. "Listen to me, if any of you fouls up this plan, you will immediately be executed! Understood? Good! Now, all of you that are with me, come on! The rest of you, go with Sunspot to the back! Foxglove, you know what to do! I warn you again, if you fail me, execution, on the spot! Okay, let’s go!" The vixen War-lady roared.
The horde moved to their places. Sunspot and her crew waited for Yamhi’s signal at the rear of the castle. Yamhi’s group went wide around the castle to look like they had come from far away. They drew nearer. 
Kego the otter was on sentry in front, along with Streamlily. They had spotted the vermin as they were coming around, but acted like they hadn’t. 
"Oldest trick in the book, that," muttered Kego to Streamlily. "Act like they're travelers and want to come in for food an’ shelter, then plunder in the middle of the night and escape before dawn."
"How do you know they’re doin’ that, though?" Asked Streamlily. 
"Why else would a big mob o’ foxes an’ wildcats come knockin’ at the castle door?" Said Kego.
"Hey, you up there! Do you think you could spare some room in your lovely castle for my wanderin’ band of healers and their families? We’ve traveled for five seasons, wanderin’, tryin’ to find a nice place to stay for a little while an’ get restocked with new food an’ water!" Shouted Yamhi. 
"Depends, vixen! Who are you? Is that really wot you want?" Kego shouted back. "Streamlily, go an’ tell Pearleye an’ Starfur," he said to Streamlily. She ran off down the stairs.
"I told you why we’re here! My name is Amaryllis. Like I said, I’m a healer fox!" Replied ‘Amaryllis’. 
Starfur and Pearleye came dashing up the stairs. They leaned over the battlements for a look at the vixen and her band. They quickly ducked back down and had a whispered conference.
"Hmm, wot do you think o’ it, Starry?" Asked Pearleye. "Decoy, or truth?"
"Well, as it’s a fox that looks remarkably like that War-lady, Yamhi, I’d say it’s a jolly old decoy. I’m thinkin’ we split up our warrior force. A small part of it stays here to deal with these ruffians, medium-sized parts at the sides, and the largest number at the back."
"Ok, fox, you and your healers can come in. You’ll be carefully watched in yer every movement ‘til you leave this place, clear?" Shouted Kego.
"Crystal clear," replied Yamhi/Amaryllis. She sniggered to herself. ‘These creatures are even bigger fools than I thought!’ she said to herself.
The big doors of the front entrance opened slowly. There stood a small bunch of armed otters, hares, and some squirrels.
"Why do you greet us with weapons drawn? We are but simple healers!" Inquired ‘Amaryllis’. "Not one of us owns a weapon beyond minute dagger for defending ourselves."
"Because foxes ‘ave a bad reputation in these parts! We’ll be escortin’ you to see the Squirrelqueen in the Great hall. She wishes to speak to you!" Replied Kego, the spokesbeast.
"Lead on, then, otter," Agreed ‘Amaryllis’. She and her band were marched through a series of corridors and passages to the Great hall. 
"Welcome to Castle Gemstone," Said Squirrelqueen Jade. "Tell me, why do you come here? Are you in need of any food? Here, sit down and eat."
"As I told them outside, we are a wandering band of healer foxes. All we ask is shelter for a short time and some provisions," Replied the vixen. She chose a seat directly across from Jade and helped herself to the food that the squirrels had prepared. "Mmm, excellent. I haven’t had trifle this good in many a season."
"I’m glad you like it, Amaryllis. Our home is yours for whatever amount of time you need to stay here. Beechlass, will you please escort the foxes to their room when they’re done? Give them the room on the highest tower. It has a wonderful view," Jade said. "I’m goin’ up to bed now." 
"I get a funny feelin’ about this fox and her band," Beechass whispered to her friend Streamlily the otter. "There’s just somethin’ funny about that look in her eyes."
"I know wot you mean, Beechlass. It’s just this evil glint or spark," Agreed Streamlily.