Guardians of Ga'Hoole 07 - The Hatchling

wilf with a terror he had never known before.
    Suddenly, he heard a loud crack in the sky. Lightning crashed through the forest. There was an enormous explosion, and he heard the screech of owls fleeing from the very tree where the mum had minutes before been reciting the legend of the Coming of Hoole. And they were fleeing from other trees as well. The stump where he had taken refuge for the night was suddenly squirming with the sounds of all manner of small animals fleeing—snakes, rats, and squirrels. The snapping and sizzling of dry wood was deafening. The forest was ablaze. But Nyroc remained in the stump. He could not move once he had peeked out and saw the fire. It was as if he was hypnotized. Huge flames, immense flames reached for the moon, now merely a dim outline in the dawn sky.
    Odd shapes leaped from the flames, shapes of creatures he had never seen before, or so he thought, until he saw the flash of green in the strangely tilting eyes as the four-legged creatures loped through a fiery mist in the middle of the flames. The heat was building fiercely. But Nyroc hardly felt it. The young Barn Owl was entering a state that experienced colliers knew to be the most dangerous of all. He was fire-yeep. As the fire raged with itsterrible beauty Nyroc stared, transfixed by the flames. His wings hung heavily at his side. He had no thoughts of flying. He read the fire and its flames. He loved them. He could hear songs in the fire. He was the fire and the fire was he.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
A Legend of Coals
    G rank, the first collier, was more than just a collier. He became one of the most revered rybs in Ga’Hoolian history.” Otulissa spoke quietly. The Spotted Owl looked at the students who were listening to her raptly in the library of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree in a late-night predawn class. “He was, in fact, the ryb for our very first King Hoole, and you all know the story of Hoole.” The little owlets nodded. Although Otulissa was a strict, no-nonsense ryb, and most of the owls were quite shy in her presence, they all loved to hear her stories of the very old days. There was a little owl who was not shy, however. She was a very inquisitive little Pygmy Owl who would never let anything stand in the way when she wanted to know something. “Yes, Fritha, you have a question?”
    “Is it true that King Hoole…well, that they knew he was the real king for all of the owl Universe, because he found the Ember of Hoole and could hold it in his beak?”
    “Well, so they say,” Otulissa said. “I mean, that is part ofthe legend. Before King Hoole discovered it, it was called the Glauxian Coal. It was Grank, the first collier, who found it. He knew it had special powers that could be used or misused. According to the legend, he dropped it into the cone of a volcano to hide it to keep it safe. Although those first colliers could dive into volcanoes, he felt that only the noblest of owls would sense its presence there and retrieve it.”
    “Can colliers still dive into volcanoes? The ones who live in Beyond the Beyond?”
    “Oh, no. That is an art that has been long lost. No owl has dived into a volcano in probably a thousand years.”
    “Not even Ruby?” Fritha asked.
    The little owl was listening intently. She blinked, and the white tufts of feathers that arched over her bright yellow eyes made her look remarkably studious. Ruby was a very powerful collier. A Short-eared Owl, she was known for her spectacular flying.
    “Not even Ruby,” Otulissa said quietly.
    “But what was the Glauxian Coal exactly?” Fritha persisted.
    Otulissa continued, “The Ember of Hoole is said to be a type of bonk coal of extraordinary powers. You all know what bonk coals are?” The owlets nodded. Early on they had been told about bonk coals, which were the hottestcoals that a collier could pull from a forest fire and were greatly coveted by all blacksmiths. They had many uses in the making of metal tools. “But according to legend there was only one Ember of Hoole, and when Hoole died, some say it died with him. But others say it was taken to the land of Beyond the Beyond and hidden there.”
    “I heard…” a Great Gray Owl named Buck started to speak.
    “Yes, Buck, please raise a talon before speaking,” Otulissa said.
    Buck raised his talon and continued. “I heard that it’s buried someplace there near a volcano and guarded by dire wolves.”
    “Dire wolves?” Fritha said. “That’s stupid.”
    “Now,