A strange rushing sound suddenly set Bandit and Snoop on alert.

Blossom sat up, his ears moving to catch any sound over the night noises.

The air above him moved. Wings flapped close to his ears and he flattened his body to the ground.

“Woo hoo!”

“Owl! Owl! Take cover,” yelled Bandit.
The rabbits squealed and lost their heads, scurrying here and there, this way and that.

Blossom was so terrified he didn’t know who to follow, or which way to run. He spotted a white tail. It bobbed up and down then disappeared into some wild rose brambles away by the fence.

“Over here Blossom!” called Bandit.

Whoosh!

He dodged sideways, glimpsed a flurry of grey and white, then huge, cruel talons grabbed at him. He dodged again, spun quickly looking for the brambles. He stared into round luminous eyes, and saw the vicious hooked beak, as the owl twisted in the air and lunged at him.

In desperation he threw himself into the narrow gap in the tangled rose canes. Thorns, sharp as needles, caught his ears and fur. Pain stabbed his side. He collapsed into a heap: ribs heaving, his heart pounding so hard he thought he was going to burst.

“I was nearly killed’d,” he gasped.
“You were nearly dinner,” said Bandit brutally.
The little rabbits huddled together, shaking and quaking.

“Woo hoo!”
The call sounded very close.
“Woo hoo,” came an answering call. Blossom’s heart pounded even harder.

Then the night was quiet once again, except for the wind and the frogs calling down by the river.

“We’ll have to chance it,” said Bandit sometime later. “We can’t stay here all night, there might be foxes, or Malevant, or worse.” One of the younger rabbits shivered.

“I want to go home,” said Blossom. He’d had enough adventuring. He was cold and he thought only of the danger of the night and the open fields which seemed full of unknown terrors.

“Me too,” sniffed Apollo.

“Come on then,” said Bandit. “Stay close together. Snoop, keep a sharp eye out. You three; if anything happens stay with us.”

Bandit led the little troop out of the tangled canes, each nose sniffing the air, each ear alert and straining for every sound that might mean danger.