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

snake, nest-maid for many years for Madame Plonk and Ezylryb (also known as BRIGID)
    DOC FINEBEAK: Snowy Owl Nyctea scandiaca, famed freelance tracker once in the employ of the Pure Ones
    Characters from the Time of the Legends
    CRANK: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, the first collier; friend to young King H’rath and Queen Siv during their youth; first owl to find the ember
    HOOLE: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, son of H’rath; retriever of the Ember of Hoole; founder and first king of the great tree
    H’RATH: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, king of the N’yrthghar, the frigid region known in later times as the Northern Kingdoms; father of Hoole
    SIV: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, queen of H’rath of the N’yrthghar; mother of Hoole.
    KREETH: Female hagsfiend with strong powers of nachtmagen; friend of Ygryk, conjured Lutta into being
    The Pure Ones
    KLUDD: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, Soren’s older brother, slain leader of the Pure Ones (also known as METAL BEAK and HIGH TYTO)
    NYRA: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, Kludd’s mate, leader of the Pure ones after Kludd’s death
    DUSTYTUFT: Greater Sooty Owl, Tyto tenebricosa, low-caste owl in the Pure ones, friend of Nyroc since his hatching (also known as PHILLIP)
    UGLAMORE: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, a Pure Guard sublieutenant under Nyra who deserts the Pure Ones
    TARN: Burrowing Owl, Speotyto cunicularius, a Pure One commander under Nyra and a brilliant tactician
    Other Characters
    DUNLEAVY MACHEATH: treacherous dire wolf, once leader of the MacHeath clan in Beyond the Beyond
    GYLLBANE: courageous member of the MacHeath clan of dire wolves, her pup Cody died keeping the Book of Kreeth from the Pure Ones (also known as NAMARA)
    BESS: Boreal Owl, Aegolius funerus, daughter of Grimble, a guard at St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls; keeper of the Palace of Mists (also known as THE KNOWER)
    BRAITHE: Whiskered Screech Owl, Otus trichopsis, owl from Ambala and a memorizer of books; flew with the Greenowls of Ambala to the great tree on Balefire Night
    CLEVE OF FIRTHMORE: Spotted Owl, Striz accidentalis, of the noble family of Krakor, healer, pacifist
    Blue Owls
    STRIGA: Blue Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca, a former dragon owl from the Middle Kingdom seeking a more meaningful life (also known as ORLANDO)
    TENGSHU: Blue Long-eared Owl, Asio otis, qui master and sage of the Middle Kingdom

A peek at
THE GUARDIANS of GA’HOOLE
Lost Tales of Ga’Hoole

    Greetings, Dear Readers!
    I come to you not as a monarch, but as an old friend from the Great Ga’Hoole Tree. I write at Otulissa’s request. She asks that I give you news of the tree and introduce the tales she has gathered. And so I shall.
    It seems we have entered a time of blessed peace. The Striga and his vicious Blue Brigade fell in defeat many moon cycles ago. Nyra and the Pure Ones are gone. The dedication to learning fostered at the great tree has spread throughout the kingdoms, bringing with it the fresh breeze of knowledge and banishing the dank residue of ignorance, superstition, and malice. The arts of reading and even writing are no longer rare beyond the tree. Deep in the forest of Ambala, a simple printing press has beenbuilt with the help of the newly established research-and-printing chaw from the great tree, so that in that hidden dell where great works are chanted into the emerald air, they are now put down in printed scrolls and books as well. This new press, and our own press at the great tree, supply a small but growing number of lending libraries that have been established in the owl kingdoms, so that great works from the tree, from the Glauxian Brothers’ and Glauxian Sisters’ retreats, and from the library of the Others in the Palace of Mists, may be studied in distant dens and hollows by furred, scaled, and feathered scholars alike.
    It is perhaps natural that in such times of outward peace, we look inward. And so it is that the personal and, in some cases, secret histories of our own Guardians and others close to the tree have now come to light. Otulissa has studied, researched, and sometimes simply listened with a wise and sympathetic ear slit, and set down the tales for all to learn from. As you read these tales of personal history, private anguish, and worldly adventure, remember that not all battles are fought in the air or on the ground. Some, perhaps the most difficult of all, are fought in our own gizzards, hearts, and brains.
    I submit these tales to you with respect and