Guardians of Ga'Hoole 08 - The Outcast

old stories they had heard. It made them think of the Sacred Volcanoes to the west, still guarded by their clansmen. For that was where the Ember of Hoole, placed there so long ago by another strange owl, lay buried.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
From a Distant Land
    F ar away from Beyond the Beyond, across the Sea of Hoolemere, a Spotted Owl made her plans in utmost secrecy. None of her closest friends, not one of the Chaw of Chaws, could know that this Guardian of Ga’Hoole, Otulissa, would make a journey alone—alone and somewhat uninformed. Otulissa did not mind the alone part, but she vehemently objected to her own unavoidable ignorance. It was no one’s fault, really. No one knew of her mission except possibly the ancient Ezylryb. But Ezylryb was tight-beaked. One might more easily get a song from a stone as any information out of Ezylryb when he did not want to give it. And the same went for his ancient nestmaid snake, Octavia.
    It had all begun in summer, and here it was now almost autumn. It had been midsummer when Otulissa had first begun sensing the scroom of Strix Struma. Strix Struma was her beloved leader and mentor, who had been killed by Nyra of the Pure Ones in a battle. And it was Otulissain turn who had marked Nyra for life when she raked her battle claws across her face in sorrow and fury at her mentor’s death.
    Since the haunting by Strix Struma, Otulissa, who had not believed in scrooms before this, was driven by her inimitable scholarly curiosity to make a study of ghostly manifestations. She took from the library shelves a book she had never previously deigned to even look at: Paranormal Activity in the World of Owls Since the Time of Hoole: Explorations, Case Studies, and Interpretations. It was written by a certain Stronknorton Feevels, a Great Horned Owl. Otulissa had previously thought this was a pretentious title for a book that dealt in what she considered to be fake scientific phenomena. But as she read it, things began to make sense, especially when she compared it to her own experiences with Strix Struma’s scroom. In particular, the book described a kind of mutism that seemed to afflict many scrooms, rendering them speechless at times when explanations were most urgently required. At the same time as the hauntings by Strix Struma, Otulissa had been involved in a deep study of the Fire Cycle cantos in the legends of Ga’Hoole. She had been prompted by Ezylryb to take another good hard look at the fourth canto, the meaning of which had always been considered obscure and controversial. She came to suspect that therewas some connection between Strix Struma’s scroomly visitations and the Fire Cycle, which told of the Ember of Hoole. She had previously thought that the Fire Cycle pertained only to King Hoole, but after several readings she began to suspect something more in it: that there was another king yet to come who would rule by the grace of the ember. It was a staggering thought. But there was no escaping it. And when the scroom had last come to see her, she had broken out of her mute state long enough to tell Otulissa that she must go to Beyond the Beyond, a journey that, in living memory, no Guardian of Ga’Hoole had ever made.
    Nonetheless, Otulissa knew deep in her gizzard that she must go. What she must do once she got there would be revealed. For now, she simply had to fly on faith.
    So, near the end of the season of Golden Rain, as the sun was rising and the great tree slept, she left. It was essential that her mission be kept secret. The Chaw of Chaws, her best friend, could not know. She had been picked for this mission by the scroom of Strix Struma. She flew to the cliffs on the far side of the Island of Hoole so that no one would see her departure. She had been preparing for this strange journey for nights on end—reading about wolves, studying their culture, the geography of the strange land. But as she spread her wingsand caught the billows of salt air under her primaries, she felt a terrible loneliness. She missed her chaw mates. And the responsibility of her task weighed heavily. To this was added the uncertainty of the task itself. She knew she must go, but she still was not exactly sure why. It had to do with the Fire Cycle, the Ember of Hoole, and an owl who needed her help. The sun struck her wings and gilded the tawny feathers a bright gold. Resolutely, she banked into a starboard turn and headed off across the Sea of Hoolemere.
    She anticipated arriving at Cape