Guardians of Ga'Hoole 06 - The Burning

CHAPTER ONE
Claws in the Moonlight
    I thought you said the prevailing wind was from the south,” said Martin, the tiny Northern Saw-whet Owl. “We’ve been ramming into these northerlies for two days now.”
    “Don’t worry,” Twilight said. “It’s bound to let up sometime.”
    “Sometime…I do not find that comforting. You’re twice my size, Twilight, and with that fat head of yours you can ram through anything.”
    It was not Martin, however, whom Soren was worried about. He knew that the plucky little owl could handle almost anything. He was in the colliering chaw, after all, and was accustomed to diving into the flaming gales of forest fires. No, it was Dewlap, the disgraced Burrowing Owl, about whom Soren was worried. She had been found guilty of spying for the Pure Ones during the long and perilous siege of the great tree the previous winter. Because she was quite old, and because Boron and Barran,the monarchs of the tree, found “mitigating circumstances” in the fact that she had been misled by the Pure Ones, she was not expelled into the wild. Instead, she would be taken to the retreat of the Glauxian Sisters on Elsemere Island in the Everwinter Sea where she would be left to live out her days.
    But that was only one part of the mission. After Else-mere Island, Otulissa and Gylfie were to proceed to the Glauxian Brothers’ retreat to learn more about war strategy and find in their library another copy of the fleckasia book that Dewlap had destroyed. Martin and Ruby were to fly to Stormfast Island to search for a Kielian snake called Hoke of Hock.
    The most important part of the mission, absolutely vital not only to the Guardians of Ga’Hoole but to every owl kingdom on Earth, was that of Soren, Twilight, Digger, and Eglantine. They were to proceed to the Firth of Fangs in the most northwestern region of the Everwinter Sea to seek out an old warrior named Moss. From Moss, they were to recruit allies for the impending war with the Pure Ones. Finally, they were all to reunite on Dark Fowl Island where the legendary blacksmith Orf crafted the finest battle claws ever known.
    But with the wind and their rate of speed, who knew when theywould get there? thought Soren. They had been flying for two days already and had not yet reached the Ice Narrows. The mission was complicated and there were time pressures as well. Winter came early to the Northern Kingdoms. It would not be long before the fearsome katabatic winds would set in and ice floes would clog the sea, making water almost indistinguishable from land, and navigation difficult. Soren sighed when he thought of his immense responsibilities and the price of failure. Failure spelled doom in this case. If only they could fly a little faster. But not with Dewlap. It was amazing that the flight therapists back at the tree had gotten the old wreck airborne at all.
    Dewlap had been lagging so far behind that Soren had to send Gylfie back to fly with her. Then Twilight, and then Ruby after him. They had all taken their turns, except for Otulissa. Otulissa loathed Dewlap with a deep and abiding passion ever since Strix Struma’s death. Otulissa had worshipped Strix Struma, who was distinguished in battle, and was an owl of great learning. She had died in the Battle of the Siege. Soren and the others had tried to reason with Otulissa about it. Owls get killed in battle, they said. Dewlap was nowhere near when it happened. But Otulissa still believed that Strix Struma’s death was all Dewlap’s fault.And now, as the leader of this special mission, Soren would have to order Otulissa to fly back to attend Dewlap.
    “She’ll kill her, Soren,” Gylfie said.
    “Don’t be ridiculous, Gylfie. If word gets back that we didn’t safely deliver Dewlap to the sisters, we’ll all be in trouble.”
    “I was speaking figuratively,” Gylfie replied. “I didn’t literally mean ‘kill her.’ But that old Burrowing Owl is frail as it is and she’s terrified of Otulissa. It might just do her in.”
    They were flying in a tight triangular formation, which enabled them to punch into the headwind more effectively. Soren peeled off to the other side of the triangle, the side on which Otulissa flew.
    “Otulissa, your turn to fly with Dewlap.”
    Otulissa gave him a withering look. But Soren returned it, his black eyes seeming to get even blacker. “This isn’t debatable, Otulissa. I am the leader of this mission. If there is a war—”
    “What do you mean if