Guardians of Ga'Hoole 15 - The War of the Ember

the billowing of the chest plumage that the owl was still breathing.
    “Isa, it’s me, Cleve. What happened? Was it kraals?”
    She gasped and then struggled for breath. “No, the kraals already dead. We just came to sing and…and…”
    “And what?”
    “Blue owls…with…with eggs.” Cleve and Otulissa looked at each other.
    “The eggs are here?” Otulissa asked urgently.
    Cleve touched Otulissa with his wing. “Easy,” he said.
    “No, not here. Bad ice for schneddenfyrrs…to…to…to…” Cleve and Otulissa leaned closer. But there was only the sound of the Snowy’s last breath, and then nothing.
    “She was about to tell us where they took the eggs and then she…” Cleve’s broad shoulders sagged. “I…I…can’t believe she’s gone. Her voice…She had the most beautiful voice in the Northern Kingdoms.”
    Otulissa extended her wing tip and touched Cleve softly. “I am sorry, Cleve. I am so sorry.” Clevestraightened up and took a step toward Otulissa, spread his wings, and wrapped them around her. “This is terrible, Otulissa, terrible. And now we’ll never know where the eggs are.”
    Otulissa stepped back. “No, Cleve, there is only one place they could take them that is hidden and where the ice is good quality for schneddenfyrrs.” Cleve blinked. “The Ice Cliff Palace,” Otulissa said. “That is the only place they could go.”
    “We should tell the others. Nut Beam can take the message.”
    “Not yet,” Otulissa said. “We need more information. I want to know how many blue owls are involved in this. Did some leave in advance before…before this…this massacre?” She looked around at the slain owls. There were two dozen. How many had it taken to wreak this devastation? The kraals and gadfeathers had clearly been outnumbered.
    Meanwhile, in his hollow at the great tree, Coryn blinked into the fire of his grate. It seemed he had been studying the flames for hours. He had sensed shapes, albeit vague ones, but he had a feeling that Tengshu’s mission in the Middle Kingdom, his interview with theH’ryth, was not going in the direction they had hoped. And he had sensed something else in the flames, in the way they licked up against each other’s flanks. Coryn blinked several times and flicked his thin third eyelids to soothe his eyes and clear them of the fine ash kicked up from the grate. Then he peered again into the flames. It was as if pressure was building in the very gases of the fire. In a bulging flame, he caught an image with that unmistakable flicker of orange and a lick of blue at its center tinged with green: The ember. It began to tremble violently. Sparks seemed to fly from it. It was so real Coryn stepped back. “But it’s just an image…just an image,” Coryn whispered. The meaning, however, was clear. He could read the flames now. He saw a massing of not just owls but all sorts of creatures—wolves, bears, puffins, and others he could not make out. Then, like Tengshu, he realized that it was not a mere battle approaching but a war, the War of the Ember!
    He knew immediately what he must do. Otulissa and Cleve were already in the Northern Kingdoms seeking out information about Nyra, the Striga, and whatever nefarious machinations they were up to. It was a spy mission, essentially. But Coryn knew now that the Guardians needed more than just information. Theyneeded the help of every good creature they could muster for this war. Who was left at the great tree who was not only seasoned in battle but extremely clever? he thought.
    “Kalo!” Could she do it? he wondered. Of course she could! Captured by the forces of the Striga, she had been condemned to death by fire. But there in the Shadow Forest, Coryn had found her and together they had confronted and fought her captors to the death. She was an owl of extraordinary courage, as was her younger brother, Cory. But despite their superior skills, Coryn felt he needed an owl whose experience went beyond courage. One whose knowledge of Nyra stretched far back. The answer was simple: Gwyndor. The Masked Owl had known Coryn from his very first days as a young hatchling in the canyonlands. He summoned the page who perched on the branch outside his hollow and asked him to fetch Gwyndor, Kalo, and Kalo’s brother, Cory.
    Coryn had met Kalo years before in the desert when he had been an outcast who was reviled by every owl in the kingdoms, because he so closely resembled his mother that he was often mistaken