Prologue � Birds stopped singing, crickets ceased chirping. A sense of evil and foreboding filled the dark shadowy forest. The creatures of the woods had witnessed a terrible deed. A tribe of squirrels had been attacked by a horde of rats, stoats, ferrets, weasels, and foxes led by a single wildcat. The vermin enjoyed the slaughtering immensely, killing everybeast, even little ones. Then they set fire to the homes and threw the bodies into the flames. � The horde cheered and sprinted off through the trees with bloodlust in their eyes, eager to kill. � � She nodded eagerly. "Yes, pwease, Momma." � �