Guardians of Ga'Hoole 10 - The Coming of Hoole

force and leadership.
    “Never mind. But what I was going to say, Siv, is that it is often dangerous to send messages. Other animals can overhear them. I overheard Lord Arrin because of the smee holes.”
    “I would never send it in plain Krakish. There is a code. It is simple. All you need to say is ‘The moon bleeds silver. The ice fox comes before the dwenking.’ Do you have that?”
    Svenka repeated the code and then she was off, flanked by Anka and Rolf, who were ecstatic to be a part of this adventure.
    Siv left immediately, flying first to the Ice Dagger where she had hidden the scimitar of H’rath.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
A Wolf Waits
    O h, my blood grows hectic and this worm called revenge does twist in my heart and burns out any gentleness, any virtue. I live now only for revenge. Hordweard lay in wait on top of a boulder. So carefully had she covered her tracks with tangled paths of scent marks that any wolf who had wanted to follow her would become hopelessly confused. She wanted no interference, no distractions from her business. And her business was to kill. MacHeath was bound to return this way, if indeed he did return and had not met with trouble. By Lupus, she would not have trouble stealing her revenge!
    The sky suddenly darkened above her. She looked up and saw strangely shaped dark birds flying overhead. “Hagsfiends!” she muttered. Although she had never seen one before she had heard of them and knew there could be no mistake. Yes, of course, she thought. And they be flying the wolves’ route from the Beyond, for it is water they fear. Oh, that MacHeath has been up to no good. It had to have something todo with the young owl, Hoole. There was something special about him. Anyone could tell that. Ever since the caribou hunt she knew he had powers. She wondered, briefly, if indeed she should turn back and run to warn them. She liked the young’un. He was the only one who had not shunned her.
    But she would not sacrifice the moment that was her due, the moment of revenge. Vengeance was the blood that pumped through her heart, the air she breathed. She loved it with a passion. Vengeance was her mate now, and she would not give it up.
    And so she waited. And waited. Never anxious, always patient, polishing her vengeance as if it were a precious thing, gnawing it delicately as if she were etching a bone with her fangs into a magnificent design. He will come…He will come. And he did. She smelled him first. Ah! Even the wind is my accomplice!
    The wind, which had been coming from the west for the last few nights making MacHeath’s progress slower, had shifted at last to east. He growled a soft, contented sound of pleasure that at last the wind had turned to help speed his journey. He had anticipated his arrival in the Beyond on the tail feathers of the hagsfiends who by then would have joined Lord Arrin. Finally, MacHeath wouldbe rid of Fengo. A delightful prospect. Yes, Fengo would be killed and his friend Grank and the other owls slaughtered with him. As for his own reward, Lord Arrin had promised him a kingdom. Yes, the Beyond and all the land creatures of the entire Southern Kingdoms would be under his rule. The sky would be Lord Arrin’s, but the earth would be MacHeath’s—and the volcanoes! He had withheld some vital information from Lord Arrin—that of the ember. Neither Lord Arrin nor the hagsfiends knew of the ember—what nonsense that Fengo had called it the owl’s ember. It was the wolf’s ember, and with it, by Lupus, he would rule even the hagsfiends.
    Hordweard had picked the perfect point from which to observe him. It was a high boulder. Another smaller one perched atop it, perfect for concealing her presence. She saw him coming down the trail. He looked ragged, much thinner. His bones jutted up so that his pelt draped sharply now over the massive shoulders. He breathed hard, too hard for a wolf who was traveling at this easy pace, and she heard a rasping sound in his lungs.
    It had begun to snow. The moon had risen and its light fell directly on the boulder. Quietly, she stepped out from behind the boulder. His instincts were off. He did noteven hear the scratch of her claws on the rock. She made a low growl. MacHeath stopped, his hackles suddenly stiff, his ears up. He lifted his head. She could see the look of surprise in his one eye. He does not know it is me, she thought. Have I changed that much? As much as he has changed?
    MacHeath blinked his one eye and again was