Battle of the Book

### Cause

Coryn and a small force of owls and dire wolves attempt to seize the *Book of Kreeth*

### Result

The Guardians seize the Book of Kreeth
Nyra is temporarily defeated
All vyrrwolves are killed
Cody is killed and ascends to the Cave of Souls

## Combatants

* Coryn
* Gyllbane
* Soren

* Nyra
* Dunleavy B. MacHeath †

## Combatants

* Soren
* Gylfie
* Digger
* Twilight
* Hamish
* Cody †
* Duncan MacDuncan
* Duncan's Lieutenant
* Fitzmore McFang
* Adair
* Fitzy
* Namara
* Cormag
* Airilla
* Morag
* Doc Finebeak (late battle)
* Brunwella Plonk (late battle)

* Stryker
* Wortmore
* Gebbles
* Spyke
* Pure Ones
* Brygdylla †
* Vyrrwolves †

## Combatants

* Cody

* Dunleavy B. MacHeath
* Brygdylla
* All Vyrrwolves
* Unknown number of Pure Ones

The Battle for the Book of Kreeth was a skirmish between The Band and a collection of dire wolves belonging to the MacDuncan, McFang and MacNamara Clans under the command of Coryn and the combined forces of Nyra's Pure Ones and the remnants of the MacHeath Clan, who had become vyrrwolves. The skirmish was instigated by the Ga'hoolian owls attempt to seize the Book of Kreeth and ended in a defeat for the Pure Ones and the deaths of all vyrrwolves present, though at the cost of Cody's life. It was also one of the events of the early War of the Ember.

## Prelude

### Massacre of the MacHeath Clan

After Nyra, who had formed an alliance with Lord Dunleavy Bethmore MacHeath, failed to capture the Ember of Hoole and Coryn ascended to the throne, Dunleavy MacHeath fell into a sever distemper in which he was constantly plagued by fits of rage. Eventually, the deranged Chieftain left his clan for a period, stumbling into the southern hills wherein he found and drank from the pools situated deep within the Tunnel of Despair that, when drunk by a wolf with a touch of evil in their soul, gave rise to vyrrwolves, the dripping nightmares that haunt the dire wolf race. Unaware of their chieftain's depraved transformation, the MacHeath Clan saw only their chieftain when he returned with a mysterious new mate named Brygdylla. Both wolves were ragged and sickly, with eyes that were of no colour the dire wolves knew, but the MacHeaths attributed this to a disease both suffered, when in fact, it was something far worse.

A few nights after Dunleavy's return, when the moon was at its fullest, MacHeath and Brygdylla called a meeting of the clan in the Gadderheal, who they led out into the moonlight and told to stand opposite to them. Before the horrified eyes of the MacHeaths, their chieftain and Brydylla underwent the horrific transformation of wolf to vyrrwolf, after which they addressed to MacHeaths before them, threatening death to all who refused to follow them and undergo the same evolution. With the except of a depraved half and dozen, the other MacHeath who was not massacre for defiance with the purposefully-maimed gnaw wolf Cody, who Brydylla and Dunleavy saw no use for and saw no glory in killing.

### *The Book of Kreeth*

Meanwhile, Coryn, at his uncle's urgings, left the Great Tree for a period to wander the Southern Owl Kingdom to see if any traces of nachtmagen were to be found (especially ones concerning Coryn's mother, Nyra, who Coryn had grown to suspect was the reincarnation of a Hagsfiend). In their searchings, Coryn chanced upon a grog tree where he spotted Trader Mags selling her wares, among which was a book he recognised from the Legends of Hoole to have been written by Kreeth, an arch-hagsfiend from ancient times. By the time the Band met Mags to attempt to purchase the book, however, they discovered to their horror that the Book had already been purchased - by Stryker, Lieutenant Major of the Pure Ones and right-wing owl of Nyra - and begin to fear that Nyra might be intending to use the ashes of her fallen mate Kludd's bones to conjure him up from the netherworld and restore her mate to flesh and blood again, perhaps as a hagsfiend. While wondering at this, Twilight, Kludd's killer, silently pledges that if such an event occurs, he would again slay Kludd, as well as Nyra as well. However, the true intention of Nyra was in fact to use Kludd's ashes, the water of the Transformation Pools and *Book of Kreeth* in a ceremony wherein she planned to transform herself and her son into hagsfiends and henceforth seize the Ember.

After receiving whispers from Rabbit, the web-reader rabbit, the Band's search led him to Beyond the Beyond. There the owls met with the dire wolves Hamish, Gyllbane and Cody and told them the purpose of their mission. When they recounted the legends and the powers of hagsfiends, the wolves became afraid and revealed their knowledge concerning Vyrrwolves and their similarities to hagsfiends. They also made known that Dunleavy MacHeath had become a *vyrrwolf* and had taken some of the MacHeath Clan to a foul tunnel known as the Tunnel of Despair. Remembering the whispers Rabbit gave, the owls determined that Nyra was in the tunnel seeking to revive nachtmagen and had struck up an alliance with the corrupted MacHeath Clan.

Coryn and the Band subsequently attempted to gather dire wolves to counteract the vyrrwolves. However, the mating season was upon them and the incoming eclipse - which they feared might give way to an even worse transformation from the vyrrwolves - was due in only a few days. However, Hamish had known where in the Beyond Duncan MacDuncan - Hamish's old chieftain and an old ally of Coryn's - and his lieutenant. Gyllbane was able to prevail on the kindly Fitzmore McFang, the chieftain who had taken her in after she fled the MacHeaths, and who brought with his his powerful and fearless mate Adair, and their son Fitzy. And four MacNamara wolves consisting of their chieftain, Namara, her mate Cormag, and their pups Airilla and Morag had also come. Joining together in the Shadow Forest, where the wolves aided the owls in gathering branches for their firepower, the raiding party of wolves and owls then flew on the Canyonlands - a sight of so much horror and grief - and where the entrance to the Tunnel of Despair lay.

## The Battle

### Strike and Take

The main purpose of the attack was to take the Book of Kreeth, a task that was given to Cody. Meanwhile the Ga'hoolian owls, armed with their fire, would attack and do everything in their power to ensure that neither Nyra, nor the Vyrrwolves scattered further into the maze of tunnels or out into the moonlight, where they might transform. While this battle occurred, the wolves who had joined Coryn would lie in wait above the entrance to the Tunnel