Guardians of Ga'Hoole 04 - The Siege

nothing more ordinary, less noble, more ignoble, less intelligent, more common, and completely vulgar than spronking the written word,” Otulissa sputtered. “It is completely lower class.”
    “Well, the book is spronk,” Dewlap growled.
    Then Otulissa swelled up to twice her normal size. “Well, SPRINK ON YOUR SPRONK!”

CHAPTER FIVE
A Mission Most Dreadful
    S he fainted? Dewlap actually fainted?” Twilight said with stunned disbelief.
    “Yes, they rushed her to the infirmary,” Soren said.
    Soren, Gylfie, Twilight, Digger, and Eglantine swung their heads toward Otulissa, who stood very still except for her quivering beak. “I don’t regret a word. Not even the you-know-what word. I shall not apologize. Spronking is very lower class, and it is against everything that the Guardians of Ga’Hoole are and everything they stand for. I don’t care if I get a flint mop for this. I don’t care if I get chaw-chopped.”
    The other owls blinked in horror. To be chaw-chopped was not simply a flint mop, which was the owls’ form of punishment. It was the ultimate humiliation that could befall an owl of Ga’Hoole. It meant being dropped for an indefinite period of time from one’s chaw.
    The five owls had returned to their hollow after the episode in the library. Otulissa had come, too. They peeredat her now in awe and wonder. This very prim and proper owl had not only said the worst curse word in the owl vocabulary, but she had spat it at a ryb. What would happen to her? They could only imagine.
    Suddenly, the parliament matron poked her head into the hollow.
    “The lot of you are required in parliament immediately!” She did not sound pleased. “Except for Eglantine—she can stay.”
    Oh, Glaux! they all thought.
    “Why don’t I get to go?” Eglantine asked in a quavering voice. “I want to be included.”
    “You want to be included in a flint mop?” Twilight asked. “The last flint mop we got, if you recall, was having to bury pellets for Dewlap for three days. You were excluded from that, too, and believe me, you were lucky.”
    As the owls made their way down to the parliament hollow, Gylfie muttered, “Good Glaux, we’re going to be burying pellets from now until summer.”
    “You didn’t say the word, I did,” Otulissa muttered. “It just sort of came out. I was amazed myself.” But then she quickly added, “But I’m still glad I said it!”
    Secretly, they were all glad she had said it. There was something terribly wrong with this whole idea of spronking.It did not fit in Soren’s mind with the values of Ga’Hoole. It is a sprinky kind of thing, Soren thought. Yes, good for Otulissa!
    When they were ushered into the parliament chamber, Dewlap was not there. Only Ezylryb and Boron and his mate, Barran, the two Snowy Owls who were the monarchs of the tree, were in attendance. And much to Soren’s surprise, two other members of the weather chaw, Ruby, a Short-eared Owl and the best flier in the chaw, and Soren’s flight partner Martin, a tiny Northern Saw-whet.
    What’s going on here? Why Ruby and Martin? Soren blinked at them in dismay, and they seemed equally puzzled as to why they had been called.
    Barran coughed several times to clear her throat and began to speak. “The seven of you have been called here for a reason.” Dread swam in all of their gizzards. What was it to be? Burying pellets? Or would they be chaw-chopped?
    Boron was now speaking. “The seven of you combine an interesting array of talents.” He paused. “As was proven in the extraordinary rescue of Ezylryb.” Ezylryb nodded and seemed to fix his gaze on Soren. “Some have come to refer to you as ‘the Chaw of Chaws.’” Soren almost gasped, and he felt his gizzard give a thrilled little twitch.
    “To get to the point,” Boron continued, “your specialtalents as the Chaw of Chaws are now needed.” One could have heard a blade of grass drop in the parliament hollow.
    Glaux, Soren thought, if Twilight pipes up about war and battle claws, I’ll smack him. That’s all the Great Gray ever thought about. But of course he was brilliant in battle.
    Then it was as if Barran had read Soren’s thoughts. She swung her head around and fixed Twilight with a piercing stare. The light from her yellow eyes was like sharp, bright golden needles. “In a sense, it is much more dangerous than war. Although the stakes are as high, for you could be killed.”
    Whether Soren and his friends drew a breath for the next