Legend of the Guardians, the Owls of Gahoole belongs to Warner Brothers

The stars were beautiful, tiny pinpricks in an immense, black cloth. The moon was full, her craters open in all their battered glory, casting soft, silver rays through the trees. A barn owl cried overhead, it's raucous screech betraying its presence.

Said owl, whose name was Luna, glided above the treetops, dancing in the last fleeting pink rays of evening. Spotting what it was looking for with her superb binocular vision, the owl swooped through the dense undergrowth. A bird, a male pheasant, let out a hight pitch gobbling cry and flew out of it's hiding place. The twang of a bowstring was heard, followed by the whistling of an arrow and a few seconds later the pheasant was stone cold on the ground. Luna heard someone calling her name, so she flew straight onto his owners' arm.

Luna's owner, who was also the archer who killed the pheasant fed her a small morsel of food. He had inviting blue eyes and a wispy brown beard that was neat but greying around the edges. A beautiful white feather, one of Luna's, waved in his green, wide brimmed hat. A light breeze blew, making his dark tan cloak and beige trousers flap in the wind. He knelt and picked up the corpse of the juicy fowl at his feet and tied it in a brace with the other three pheasants in his bag. He trod homewards in his heavy boots, picturing the meal that Mrs Plivinther would be making when he got home.

There was a panting sound coming from his right as he walked down the dusty path. Noctus, for that was the hunter's name chuckled as a large black hound galloped towards him with four dumpy rabbits laying cold and unmoving in his slobbering mouth. It sat next to him and dropped it's catch, which he skilfully scooped up before it hit the ground. Luna shrieked a welcome to the dog as they went.

"My sword is upon you! your days of terrorizing the southern kingdoms are over!"

"Your no match for my evil army"

Soren stood his ground as Eglantine, who he could barely see from beneath a crude wooden mask struck at Soren lightly with a stick. He was a half elf, a blessed hybrid of human and elf. He had his father's hair and his mother's eyes. His father's bravery with his mother's grace. He lived here with his Father, who was out hunting, his mother, who was helping their halfling maid Mrs Plinvinther with the cooking, his brother, who he fought with often and his sister, whom he was currently sparring against. The sun was slowly setting over their small herb garden, their cabbages blowing in the breeze as they play-fought each other.

"well perhaps, but I am Lyze of Kiel!"

"Soren, but…"

"And I have assembled my own army, the guardians of Ga'hoole!"

"But Soren…"

"And we have sworn an oath to make Strong the weak, mend the broken and vanquish evil!" Soren declared proudly. But then he saw tears beginning to develop on the child's beautiful hazel brown eyes, which were pleading for something. "Eglantine what is it?"

"But Soren, you said that I could be Lyze on the next go."

Soren could not resist her puppy-dog eyes. She was only 8 and he was nearly twice that. "I'm sorry Eg. Come one. You can be Lyze next go, alright.

"Well. I hope your not lying…" She rose her stick in the air "To Noggarond!" she let out a battle cry and leapt on top of him. He knew what to do and parried her strike before going and ripping Eglantine's mask of exposing her round, joyful face and spiked ears. This was almost perfectly timed with their father walking down the front path, with his dog and owl in tow. "Da!" they cried and went to hug him.

"Come on." He said warmly. "The day is waning. Time for dinner."

Noctus opened the door and stepped inside. Most of the inside of the hut was made up of a great wooden dining table, with a large map of the southern kingdoms etched on it. Along the walls were tapestries showing all the animals and monsters that lived in the forest. At the back was a hearth with a pot of vegetables in it. Several beds, along with a perch and a dog basket were along one side of the wall and there was a great collection of drying meat and fish across the ceiling.

Stirring the vegetables was an old halfling wearing a simple brown dress with a shawl over the top. She had to stand on a step made just for her to stir the bubbling cauldron. Upon seeing Noctus place down his bag, she shuffled towards him and picked it up, withdrawing it's contents. Within no time at all she had skinned, plucked and chopped up the rabbits and pheasants before chucking them in the pot and stirring briskly. Eglantine ran up to her, standing on her tiptoes to see into the pot of broth. Nearby, A beautiful blond elf in a green dress was weaving a massive tapestry, fingers skilfully plucking at the loom. In the corner another half-elf was fixing what looked like a bear trap. He didn't give so much as a wave to his father and siblings who had just come in. Noctus walked towards the elf, Marella, who had looked up from her work and was now coming towards him for an embrace. Soren hugged his parents, then chucked a bone towards the dog, whose name was Yap. Yap cruch the bone happily, while Luna poked in Noctus's bag for another piece of meat.

"Da! Please may we have a guardian's story. Please!"

"No Da!" Said Kludd glumly "anything but the stupid guardians again!"

Noctus sighed. Kludd was his oldest child by about two moons and always got into arguments with the other two, mostly involving the guardians, who Kludd was certain weren't real. Marella shook her head then smiled warmly. "I think just bed tonight." She said "It's first spelcasting lesson tomorrow so Soren and Kludd need their rest."

"yes please." Said Kludd "enough stories about the guardians."

"Kludd." Noctus said, tired to go around this again. "Stories are part of our history and our culture. We learn from them."

"even after the 700th time?"

"Even then, unless you already know everything about the story."

"I know that the guardians win."

"Soren, it's just a story!"

"no it's not!"

"here we go again." Mrs Plivinther whispered to Marella, who chuckled.

"Look Da, have you ever seen a guardian."

"Kludd, Just because you can't see something doesn't mean it's not there it's about the feelings in your soul… through it, the voices of the ancients listen to us and tell us what's right."

Marella smiled warmly. "That's enough for one night. Tomorrow's a big day. It' first mustering!"

Mrs P added "of to bed! I've given you an extra snuggly fox hide just like you asked for Eglantine!"

Once they were tucked in, Eglantine swivelled round so she was facing Soren. "Soren?" she asked

"yeah Eg?"

"do you really think Noggarond is real?"

"you remember," Soren said as he cleared his throat to tell the story. "It was the battle of Stormhold…" eglantine settled down as he began to tell the story. "The guardians were outnumbered. Things looked dark," Eglantine looked visibly scared, even though she had heard it many times. "But, then Lyze of Kiel Struck down the king of the dark elf army. The guardians were victorious. And they returned home to the great palaces of gahoole." His voice began to darken "But some say that the eil king still lives, and wears a metal mask to hide his missing face…"

"Stop!" Kludd yelled from the other bed. "your gonna give her nightmares!"

"but this is my favourite part!"

"I know. We've heard it a thousand times." His Angry glare fixed on Soren "But you have a weak head, Soren. I think Da has filled it with stories and dreams.

Soren stood up defensively "there's nothing wrong with dreams!"

"Well. I have mine when I'm asleep. Now can you just go to sleep!"

"Soren?""Yeah?" Soren turned to face the younger half-elf.

"Da says our dreams are who we are."

hope you enjoy. R&R