Guardians of Ga'Hoole 11 - To Be a King

her feathers as she had so longed to do. Why am I not happier? she thought. Is there something wrong with me? I love her so much. Why do I have these strange feelings in my gizzard? Finally, Strix Strumajen returned to her perch and fell into a deep sleep.
    “Mum! Mum!” Emerilla was shaking her.
    “What? What is it, dear? What time is it?”
    “Nearly tween time. Can’t you hear the cheering?”
    “Yes! What is it?”
    “The king has been spotted. He is approaching the tree.”
    “Oh, Great Glaux. He’s back! How wonderful!”
    “Yes, and won’t he be surprised?”
    “Why’s that, dear?”
    “Well, I’m here. The object of his search.”
    Strix Strumajen blinked. How odd, she thought, and somewhat immodest. Emerilla had always been so modest, so self-effacing.
    “And the ember is back now, right? With him?”
    “Why, it never left, dear,” Strix Strumajen replied.
    “Really?”
    “Yes. It would be most cumbersome to carry around.”
    “But is it safe?”
    “Why wouldn’t it be safe?” She paused. “Emerilla, in this tree we have a bond of trust. Trust is really the essence of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole. You do understand that, don’t you, darling? Trust was as much a part of our own family as the spots on our brows.” She reached out and touched her daughter’s brow that now so resembled the spiral of spots of her father’s face. She felt Emerilla flinch slightly at her touch, and a dread began to seep into Strix Strumajen’s gizzard. Emerilla has changed in some way. That blow on her head has joggled something in her. Perhaps she needs a gizzard tonic. I shall consult with Grank.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
An Assassination Attempt
    I n the Ice Palace of the H’rathghar glacier, a band of gadfeathers was making music, and a dozen owls led by Philma and Shadyk were dancing a flying quadrille. Servants were delivering piles of lemmings and a great quantity of bingle juice was being quaffed. Standing in the shadows, Theo watched with dismay as his brother roared drunken calls for the dancers.
Fly your partner round about,
    then spiral up and head on out.
    Flap your wings, then flutter on up.
    Here’s a lemming for your sup.
    He staggered as he tried to land on the melting ice throne. To think that Hoole’s father and grandfather, both such noble owls, had once sat there!
    Sigrid, known only to Theo to be Emerilla, flew by with a lemming in each talon on her way to serve theguests. “Meet me at the northeast parapet when the moon’s full up. News. We leave tonight,” she whispered as she swept by Theo.
    He had not planned to stay this long, but he needed more information to take back to the great tree. It was a race between how fast the Ice Palace was rotting and how fast other troops were approaching to lay siege. But now, finally, the end seemed to be in sight. Emerilla indeed was an owl of extraordinary intelligence and bravery. The risks she took every day, flying out under the cover of daylight to see what Lord Arrin’s troops or the renegade packs of hagsfiends were up to, took enormous grit and daring. Yet here in the Ice Palace, she passed herself off as a most dutiful and diminished servant, enduring abuse from Shadyk and his bullying guards and councillors. The owls who served Shadyk as advisors were by no stretch of the imagination true councillors. They were only required to agree with him, to humor him and lavish praise upon him even when he was in a drunken stupor.
    As the moon approached its highest point of the night, Theo began to fly through the winding corridors of ice that twisted up toward the four parapets. Shadows slid across the thin ice walls as owls danced jigs on the cold, rough night air to the music of a band of gadfeathers that were outside, singing on one of the parapets. Indeed,there appeared to be as much activity outside the ice palace as within. Theo even saw the shadow of a hagsfiend doing a palsied shuffle through the air, trying to keep time to the music.
    Suddenly, however, shadows filled the corridor and blocked out the light of the moon and the stars. Theo’s heart skipped a beat and his gizzard clenched. Two of Shadyk’s largest guards were ahead. When he swiveled around, two more were coming up from behind. All four were armed with ice swords and scimitars. Theo had nothing—just his talons.
    For an owl who hates fighting, he mused grimly, I sure have to fight a lot.
    He scanned the narrow corridor to see if there was an icicle he could break