Guardians of Ga'Hoole 03 - The Rescue

I was just hatched, the hollow in our fir tree—remember, Soren, how you could hear the wind through the leaves of the nearby trees? No, we only heard the wind whistling around the stone corners of the castle.”
    “Well, that’s helpful,” Digger said thoughtfully.
    “Why?” asked Gylfie.
    “I was just thinking, that’s all.” There was a tense silence in the hollow.
    But Soren was thinking, too. Of course, Digger would be interested in the ground. Digger knew the ground—what kind of plants grew there, the feeling of every kind of soil. He had become one of the best in the tracking chaw. In fact, when Soren gazed around he realized that within this hollow were the best of the best of each chaw.
    “Eglantine,” Soren asked, “do you remember how long you had been flying before you were dropped?”
    “Not long, I think.” There was another pause.
    “Eglantine, do you think that there is any way you might be able to lead us back to the castle? You see, I am thinking that it’s been more than two months since Ezyl-ryb disappeared. Endless search parties have been sent out but so far nothing. In fact, Boron just assumed that was what we were doing when we went to Silverveil. Indirectlyit was, but really we went to find out more about Metal Beak. Now, what’s to stop us from trying to find Ezylryb? Between us…” Soren stopped and looked around. “We could put together a pretty good chaw.”
    “What are you talking about, Soren?” Gylfie asked.
    “Gylfie, you are the best navigator Strix Struma has ever taught. I heard her telling that to Barran. Digger, you can track like no one else, and Twilight you can fight”—Soren’s voice dropped off—“if that’s necessary.” Twilight swelled in anticipation. “Don’t you see?” Soren continued. “We have the makings here of a great chaw—the best of the best of the chaws.”
    “Let me get this straight,” Gylfie said. The little Elf Owl stepped right up to Soren and stood directly under his beak. “Are you proposing that we should undertake this search for Ezylryb on our own? No rybs, no grown-up owls?”
    “That’s exactly what he’s proposing, Gylfie,” Twilight boomed. “For Glaux’s sake, we went to Silverveil on our own. Found the rogue smith. She gave us our first real clue, in a sense, about Metal Beak.” Twilight paused and nodded deferentially to Soren. “Well, after the scrooms of your mum and da that is.”
    “Well, if that is the case…” Gylfie’s voice fell to a whisper.Soren was nervous. If he didn’t have Gylfie’s support, he couldn’t do it. “If that is the case, Soren, you must be our leader.”
    All of the owls in the hollow nodded their heads in agreement. Soren was stunned. He didn’t know what to say. Finally, he spoke. “I thought the plan up, that is true. But the plan would be nothing without each one of you. Your faith in me has stirred my gizzard. I shall do my best for you.”
    “Soren!” Otulissa suddenly flew into the hollow. “I want to come, too.” The meddlesome Spotted Owl had been perched on a branch just outside the hollow. Otulissa’s yellow eyes were dim with tears. “Ezylryb made me believe in myself and not just my…my…” It was the first time Otulissa had ever been at a loss for words. “You know how I was before I joined the chaw. Ezylryb made me believe I could do things because I was just me, and not just because I was a Spotted Owl. I hate that thing that you were talking about before.”
    “What thing?” Soren asked.
    “That stuff about purity, that one kind of owl is more pure or better than another. The most ancient order of owls, the owls that all of us are descended from—whether we are Barn Owls, Snowies, Spotted, or whatever—those first owls were all called Glaux. And everyowl celebrates the spirit of Glaux. My mum told me that, and it is true. For indeed with that ancient order began a special kind of bird. As owls, we owe our uniqueness, our ability to fly silently, to see through the darkness of the night, to spin our heads almost all the way around to those first owls. And you know from navigation that we call our grandest constellation that shines through every season the Great Glaux. But for those owls that Eglantine talked about, that was not enough. They want to destroy all the others.”
    They were all dismayed by Otulissa’s gracious speech. Soren thought that she must have been eavesdropping more than once to have learned all this. She