Guardians of Ga'Hoole 04 - The Siege

smith. But she held her beak and managed to keep up her end of the chatter. “Now, if the High Tyto likes these, how many do you think he’ll need?”
    “Well, certainly enough for the Pure Guard, and there are eighty or more in that division.”
    “My goodness, that’s quite a few.”
    “Oh, yes—and that’s only the Pure Guard. We’ve got many other divisions, and by the time of the Great Massing, the size of that guard will be triple.” Wortmore broke off as if trying to count.
    “The Great Massing?” the Snowy asked.
    “Yes, on Cape Glaux.”
    Cape Glaux! There was only one reason why owls would gather on the wind-battered cape that stuck out into the most turbulent waters of the Sea of Hoolemere. That was the quickest, most direct route to the Island of Hoole. It was risky flying for most birds, except the Guardians of Ga’Hoole themselves, and maybe eagles. And that was exactly what the Rogue Smith of Silverveil realized she must do right now. She must go to those two eagles of Ambala, the ones who lived with the strange Spotted Owl called Mist. She was a bit of a slipgizzle herself, and she might know something about this massing on Cape Glaux.
    As soon as Wortmore had flown off, flashing his new battle claws in the moonlight, the Rogue Smith of Silver-veil began to gather her few belongings. She had to find a new location, that was for sure. There was no way she was going to hire out to make claws for the Pure Ones. She had had a good run of it here in the ancient old forests, but shecould set up her smithy someplace else. Ambala wouldn’t be bad, especially since she was going there anyway, to find the eagles. She put her hammer, tongs, a few of the best examples of her work, and her metal box of live coals to start her fire into a sack made from the hides of red foxes that she had killed years before. She pulled tight the drawstrings and, clutching the bag in her talons, lifted into the night. She headed south by southeast, toward the corner of Ambala where the eagles roosted along with Mist.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Escape
    S oren crept up onto the nest he was sitting in the hatchery. Underneath him there were three eggs that had been snatched from the nest of a Barred Owl in the Shadow Forests. It was a miracle that the members of the Chaw of Chaws were all in the hatchery, either as broodies or moss tenders. It had taken a lot of work, especially on Otulissa’s part. They were all shocked when she had told them about the double agent. Over the course of a few days, she had been feeding Skench and Spoorn a steady flow of false information, and thus had gained many privileges for herself. Through a combination of her sly wit, privileged position, and still more false information, she had managed to procure all of them positions in the hatchery. And it was from the hatchery that they planned to escape.
    It would have been better to escape at night, but the moon was full now, so they were required to be in the glaucidium for moon blinking, the effects of which theyhad all resisted through their strategy of concentrating fully on the cycle of legends of Ga’Hoole. And now in this dawn they were going to have to fight their way out. Remembering the legends would not help. They had only their talons, their beaks, and their powerful wings. If all really went well, they might be able to escape without too much of a fight. They had planned to create a distraction under the cover of which they would slip away. Soren tried to quell his fears. He had to remember that, unlike the first time he had escaped from St. Aggie’s, he now knew how to fly. He and Gylfie had never really flown before when they had escaped from the library a year ago. Their wings had barely fledged, and the only way out of that library was straight up. Here in the hatchery it was still straight up, but there was a little bit more room to spread one’s wings and gain a grip on the air.
    Their plan was simple. As soon as Otulissa had told them about the double agent, Soren, Gylfie, and Ruby had begun to sniff out other spies. Otulissa had told them to watch out for the double agents—the turnfeathers—who were helping Uklah by taking the flecks out of the nests. When they had figured out which owls those were, they could launch their escape plan. Just two days ago, they had figured out who all the turnfeathers were. And now they planned to expose them. A major fight wouldbreak out. Barn Owl against Barn Owl. Agent against double