The Burning
Page 14
More than once he had said to Gylfie, and only to Gylfie, “I think Mum and Da would understand about Kludd. Don’t you, Gylf?” And she would always answer, “Yes.” He was asking her again when they heard a rustle from behind, and Eglantine lighted down on the branch next to them.
“Eglantine, what are you doing here?” Soren asked, somewhat surprised.
“Same thing you are. Here to see the eclipse.”
Soren felt a little bad that he had not invited his sister to come along. But he had been so distracted in the two days since his return.
“Oh, look,” Eglantine said, “it’s taking its first bite out of the moon.”
Slowly and silently, they watched the earth’s shadow steal across the moon. It was especially splendid. The moon shimmered gold. It was as if some of the sun’s gold had been borrowed briefly to make the moon glow even more before it became completely dark. Then, just as the moon vanished, Soren noticed something wispy in the night. Perhaps it was some mist swirling up from the ground fog below.
“Is it snowing?” Eglantine asked.
Soren turned to her and blinked. “I don’t think so. Why do you ask?”
Eglantine blinked rapidly several times and, leaning out from her perch, peered into the night. “I see something,” she said.
“I don’t see anything,” Gylfie said. “Look up, you two. The shadow is sliding away. You can just begin to see the moon’s edge again.”
But Soren and Eglantine were not looking up. They were looking straight out at what Eglantine had first thought was snow, and Soren thought was fog. It was pulling together into a vaguely familiar mass. It looked soft and puffy like the best down that a mum picks from her breast for a newly hatched chick.
I’m not going to be scared, thought Eglantine, and she felt a strange calm spread through her.
Of course you’re not, dear.
How had that happened? Eglantine wondered. I heard a voice but there was no sound.
They’ve come, Eglantine. It was Soren’s voice, but she heard the words he spoke in her head, not out loud. She swiveled her head to look at him.
He looked at her. Then she knew. Their parents’ scrooms had come back to them. Two pale misty shapes, two dear shapes flew overhead.
We’ve come back, dearest children.
Not for good? Eglantine heard her own voice speak tentatively in her head.
Then it was Soren’s voice she heard. Is it the unfinished business that you first told me about in the Spirit Woods?
Yes. And now it is finished, Soren. Glaux bless, it is finished. It was his mum speaking now.
There was no place for Kludd in the kingdom of owls, his da said.
Nor on Earth, their mum added.
The moon was coming back, little by little. Gylfie looked at Soren and Eglantine. The night was perfectly clear to her. But she knew that something was happening to her best friend and his sister. She had had a feeling about coming here on this night, to this particular tree. She never could have explained it to anyone, but she just had a feeling that in some way this might help Soren.
The scrooms had begun to fade. But Soren and Eglantine were not sad. They knew that somewhere in glaumora their mum and da could now rest. Soren knew now that what had happened to his brother had to happen, and his parents understood. And that was all he really needed to know.
OWLS
and others
from
GUARDIANS of GA’HOOLE
The Burning
The Band
SOREN: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, from the Forest Kingdom of Tyto; a Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
GYLFIE: Elf Owl, Micranthene whitneyi, from the Desert Kingdom of Kuneer; Soren’s best friend; a Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
TWILIGHT: Great Gray Owl, Strix nebulosa, free flier, orphaned within hours of hatching; a Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
DIGGER: Burrowing Owl, Speotyto cunicularius, from the Desert Kingdom of Kuneer; lost in the desert after attack in which his brother was killed by owls from St. Aegolius; a Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
The Leaders of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
BORON: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca, the King of Hoole
BARRAN: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca, the Queen of Hoole
EZYLRYB: Whiskered Screech Owl, Otus trichopsis, the wise weather and colliering ryb at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree; Soren’s mentor (also known as LYZE OF KIEL)
STRIX STRUMA: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, the dignified navigation ryb at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree; killed in the battle against the Pure Ones
DEWLAP: Burrowing Owl, Speotyto cunicularius, former Ga’Hoolology ryb at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree; traitor during the siege of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
SYLVANA: Burrowing Owl, Speotyto cunicularius, a young ryb at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
Others at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
OTULISSA: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, a Guardian of prestigious lineage at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
MARTIN: Northern Saw-whet Owl, Aegolius acadicus, in Ezylryb’s chaw with Soren
RUBY: Short-eared Owl, Asio flammeus, in Ezylryb’s chaw with Soren
EGLANTINE: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, Soren’s younger sister
MADAME PLONK: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca, the elegant singer of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
BUBO: Great Horned Owl, Bubo virginianus, the blacksmith of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
MRS. PLITHIVER: blind snake, formerly the nest-maid for Soren’s family; now a member of the harp guild at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
OCTAVIA: Kielian snake, nest-maid for Madame Plonk and Ezylryb (also known as BRIGID)
The Pure Ones
KLUDD: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, Soren and Eglantine’s older brother; leader of the Pure Ones (also known as METAL BEAK and HIGH TYTO)
NYRA: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, Kludd’s mate
WORTMORE: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, a Pure Guard lieutenant
UGLAMORE: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, a Pure Guard lieutenant
STRYKER: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, a Pure One lieutenant major under Nyra
Leaders of St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls
SKENCH: Great Horned Owl, Bubo virginianus, the Ablah General of St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls
SPOORN: Western Screech Owl, Otus kennicottii, first lieutenant to Skench
Other Characters
THE ROGUE SMITH OF SILVERVEIL: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca, a blacksmith not attached to any kingdom in the owl world
IFGHAR: Whiskered Screech Owl, Otis trichopsis, brother of Ezylryb, turnfeather who fought with the enemy against his brother and the Kielian League in the War of the Ice Claws
GRAGG: Kielian snake, bound by loyalty to Ifghar, fought with him against the Kielian League in the War of the Ice Claws
CLEVE OF FIRTHMORE: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, of the noble family of Krakor, medical student, pacifist
TWILLA: Short-eared Owl, Asio flammeus, attendant of Ifghar at Glauxian Brothers Retreat
MOSS: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca, ancient warrior, former commander of the Glauxspeed division of the Kielian League; old friend of Ezylryb
HOKE OF HOCK: Kielian snake, retired supreme commander of stealth unit of the fighting snakes of the Kielian League
A peek at
THE GUARDIANS of GA’HOOLE
Book Seven: The Hatchling
It’s the hatchling,” a young owl said as the group watched Nyroc, only son of the great warrior Kludd, begin a power dive. He grasped a charred branch from the ground in his beak and in one swift movement rose seamlessly again into the air brandishing it before him. He had performed the retrieval perfectly and was swinging the branch with great style. And this was just his first flight. A power dive on a first flight was an outrageous and daring maneuver to attempt and he had executed it flawlessly. He then carved a perfect figure eight in the sky above the two large peaks known as the Great Horns. This was followed by spiraling descent to a slide-in landing on the ledge where
his elders perched. His angle of approach was superb. Then, in front of his mother and her top lieutenants, the hatchling raised his starboard wing and shreed, “Hail, Kludd! Supreme Commander of the Tytonic Union of Pure Ones! Hail, Her Pureness General Mam, Nyra, beloved mate of the late High Tyto Kludd!”
About the Author
Kathryn Lasky has had a long fascination with owls. Several years ago, she began doing extensive research about these birds and their behaviors. She thought that she would someday write a nonfiction book about owls illustrated with photographs by her husband, Christopher Knight. She realized, though, that this would indeed be difficult since owls are shy, nocturnal creatures. So she decided to write a fantasy about a world of owls. Even though it is an imaginary world in which owls can speak, think, and dream, she wanted to include as much of their natural history as she could.
Kathryn Lasky has written many books, both fiction and nonfiction, including Sugaring Time, for which she won a Newbery Honor. Among her fiction books are The Night Journey, a winner of the National Jewish Book Award, and Beyond the Burning Time, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, as well as the Daughters of the Sea and Wolves of the Beyond series. She has also received the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and the Washington Post Children’s Book Guild Award for her contribution to nonfiction.
Lasky and her husband live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The Guardians of Ga’Hoole
Book One: The Capture
Book Two: The Journey
Book Three: The Rescue
Book Four: The Siege
Book Five: The Shattering
Book Six: The Burning
Book Seven: The Hatchling
Book Eight: The Outcast
Book Nine: The First Collier
Book Ten: The Coming of Hoole
Book Eleven: To Be a King
Book Twelve: The Golden Tree
Book Thirteen: The River of Wind
Book Fourteen: Exile
Book Fifteen: The War of the Ember
A Guide Book to the Great Tree
Lost Tales of Ga’Hoole
Copyright
No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
First Printing, November 2004
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.
eISBN 978-0-545-28337-3
Text copyright © 2004 by Kathryn Lasky. All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
Cover art by Richard Cowdrey
Cover design by Steve Scott
Table of Contents
Title Page
Maps
Illustration
Prologue
CHAPTER ONE Claws in the Moonlight
CHAPTER TWO Puffling Alert!
CHAPTER THREE The Ice Dagger
CHAPTER FOUR A Circle of White Trees
CHAPTER FIVE Firth of Fangs
CHAPTER SIX The Retreat of the Glauxian Brothers
CHAPTER SEVEN Flivling and Riffles
CHAPTER EIGHT Hoke of Hock
CHAPTER NINE The Ancient Warrior of the Firth
CHAPTER TEN Gragg of Slonk
CHAPTER ELEVEN The Island of Dark Fowl
CHAPTER TWELVE Stuck on a Dagger
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Pirates
CHAPTER FOURTEEN The Pirates’ Lair
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Twilla Suspects
CHAPTER SIXTEEN An Unholy Alliance
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN A Deadly Glitter
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Gizzardly Matters
CHAPTER NINETEEN Deep in Enemy Territory
CHAPTER TWENTY A Song in the Night
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Waiting for When
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO The Beginning of Forever and a Day
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE The Tunnel in the Smoke
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR The Battle of Fire and Ice
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE Scrooms in the Night
OWLS and others from GUARDIANS of GA’HOOLE The Burning
A peek at THE GUARDIANS of GA’HOOLE Book Seven: The Hatchling
About the Author
The Guardians of Ga’Hoole
Copyright