Guardians of Ga'Hoole 03 - The Rescue

disturbance that she was feeling came from the large tree dead ahead.
    This time the bag of flecks was stuffed into a hollow, and because the hollow was slightly damp, they were able to burn the bag right inside, thus containing the fire and not setting the entire tree ablaze. Digger flew up with talons, grasping clots of wet mud to extinguish the flames. Now, once again, they lifted into flight to find the third and final point in the Devil’s Triangle.
    Ezylryb blinked as he perched on the limb of the spruce. Had he been dreaming or was what he felt real? It seemed to him that the buzz was dissipating and with it a fog of sorts was lifting from inside his head. He slowly spread his wings and swung his head to look in every direction. He almost felt as if he might be able to fly againwith purpose and direction and not become muddled. Something was different. Perhaps he might try at least getting to another nearby tree. He should be able to do this without too much confusion. After all, he had been able to catch small prey that wandered directly beneath his tree. Keep it simple, he told himself. Just keep your eye on that poplar over there. Focus on one branch. Lift off, then two wing beats and you’re there. Concentrate. Meditate, the way the Glauxian brothers taught you so many years ago.
    Ezylryb was just about to lift off when he heard something flying noisily low to the ground.
    “Ezylryb!” Gylfie cried out. “It’s Ezylryb!”
    He must be dreaming. It was the little Elf Owl, Soren’s best friend. Then, overhead, he heard the unmistakable whistling sound of an owl with a coal in its beak. He sniffed the air. The chaw is here!
    From a very high tree outside the triangle, an unusually large Barn Owl with a metal beak and mask covering half his face looked on in dismay as the owls burned the last bag of flecks and the snare was destroyed.
    “Did you know, Your Pureness, that fire could do this to the sacred flecks?”
    “Shut your beak.” The High Tyto was tempted to rakethe vile owl with his talons, but with his other troops off in Kuneer, he needed all of his owls right now. There were six from the Great Ga’Hoole Tree, but there were ten of the Pure Ones. It was the Great Gray that would be their hardest foe. Now, of course, they had seven with the old one. But the old one was weak. He was weak but he was smart. And how close they had come to making him theirs. If they had only found a new castle, a fort, anything that the Others had left behind that could serve as their headquarters, they could have lured the Whiskered Screech there. As it was, they had had to stash him here and mind that enough game came his way so he wouldn’t starve. He would do them no good dead. How valuable his knowledge would have been. With the old one, they would have not only dominated the Southern Kingdoms but the Northern ones as well, for that was where the old Screech came from—the land of the great North Waters, the land of the legendary warriors. And it was the old Screech who had probably taught them the trick with the fire. This owl had to be theirs. Throughout all the kingdoms of owls, this one—the one they called Ezylryb—or sometimes Lyze, was the most renowned. It was said that he possessed powers and knowledge that were unimaginable. The Pure Ones needed him. He might not bea Tyto but they needed him nonetheless. And they would get him. And once they got him they would crypt him and then they would truly possess him.
    “Your Pureness, the Great Gray looks fierce. He might be a problem.”
    “A problem?” the High Tyto said slowly in a voice that frightened the Sooty Owl who had just spoken. “Has it escaped your notice, Wortmore, that these owls wear no battle claws?”
    “That’s right, sir. Never thought of that.” Wortmore’s voice quivered.
    “Prepare to attack!”
    Nine owls, all with heart-shaped faces, some dusky, some pure white, and one with a metal mask, unlocked the talons of their battle claws.

CHAPTER TWENTY
Attack!
    E zylryb stood with the two members of his chaw and the others in a circle on the ground as they watched the bag burn. As the last of the flecks glowed with an almost white heat, there was a feeling of great release. The chains that had bound the triangle had been broken and then it was as if the links of those chains had simply melted into the thin air of the night.
    Soren was still reeling with disbelief. They had never in their wildest dreams expected to find