Post #3 of RedWall

In this part of the book, the sparrows are introduced. When Jess (a squirrel that is expert at climbing) was fulfilling the  request of the Abbot to climb to the tip of the castle and retrieve a long lost sword, she was raided by a group of sparrows. In their attempt to scare away the sparrows, the archers started to fire arrows at the sparrows. One of the arrows accidentally hit a sparrow named Warbeak, a belligerent sparrow that hated mice. While it was held captive, the sparrow threatened every creature within its vicinity that it would kill them once it is freed. If she doesn't succeed in doing so, then her group leader would. Matthias at the same time searched for the long lost sword. He had an idea that the sparrows might have taken the weapon, so he seeked Warbeak for help. Warbeak wasn't as kind at the beginning, but on their trip to the top of the castle where the sparrow nests were, they grew intimate with one another, and eventually became good friends. When the sparrow boss tried to kill Matthias, it was Warbeak who saved Matthias.

The leader of the sparrow tribe is depicted as an unfit ruler who took advantage of his power too much. He was very mean to Matthias also. He took Matthias' sword belt that too was legendary, and took all of the goods that Matthias had at that time. The only way Matthias was to be granted freedom was if he was to bring more goods to the boss. Although the sparrows had the same opinion as Matthias, they couldn't do anything because they were afraid of the boss' excellent fighting skill. Together with Warbeak and her mother, Matthias plans to escape the captivity of the sparrows.