Lost Tales of Ga'Hoole

size. He hadn’t seen them since the day he and Tavis met Tarn. They had not come through the tunnel. Saul and Trixie and all their eggs were still back in the desert. Either the warning relay was broken, or they just did not leave their burrow fast enough.
    “Do you think…?” Cletus couldn’t bring himself to finish the question.
    The brothers stared at each other for a long moment, trying to figure out what they should do. They had saved all the other owls from certain death, but their friends were left behind. There was a chance that they could not help them at all, a chance that Saul and Trixie were already dead. Should they risk their lives just for a chance to help them?
    “I’m going back for them,” Cletus said, and without waiting another moment, ducked his head into the tunnel.
    “Not without me, you’re not!” Tavis followed.
    They didn’t dare take to the sky, even though it would have brought them to Saul and Trixie’s burrow faster. That dastardly Tarn knew them, and boldly flying into what was now the Pure Ones’ territory would attract too much attention. The Pure Ones were sure to have guards keeping watch around the perimeter. So, the two Great Grays walked through the narrow tunnel as quickly as their legs would take them, which, for owls unaccustomed to walking, was rather slow.
    They emerged in their old burrow at the end of the tunnel. Cletus peeked out carefully. It was midday and, as he expected, he didn’t see any Pure Ones in the sky above. And they clearly hadn’t breached their burrow underground. It was a short flight from here to Saul and Trixie’s burrow, so the brothers decided they would fly low to the ground. They didn’t have much of a choice; this wasn’t the time to start digging new tunnels.
    Cletus and Tavis quietly exited the burrow. As soon as they lifted off, they spotted trouble. Two Barn Owls appeared out of Tarn’s burrow and headed straight for them. As they approached, more Pure Ones emerged from other burrows.
    “Go on, Cletus! Go! I’ll cover you!” Cletus heard Tavis shout.
    He lowered his head and flapped his wings hard, driving himself toward Saul and Trixie’s burrow. He saw Tavis dive and swipe at the two Barn Owls closest to them. Luckily, Tavis’s enormous size made it an unfair fight. One after the other, the Barn Owls fell to the desert floor. Cletus didn’t see how exactly Tavis dispatched the other oncoming Pure Ones; he left his brother to deal with them, and dove for Saul and Trixie’s hollow. He spotted it easily because it was surrounded on three sides by some of the largest boulders in the desert.
    Trixie sat atop her clutch of three eggs. The first should hatch any moment now, she could tell. It was an exciting time for their little family. Saul thought he had heard a ruckus outside earlier, and wondered what was going on. But he decided he would stay in his burrow today because he didn’t want to miss the hatching of his first chick.
    “Yee!” Trixie jumped up from her nest. “I think I just felt one move!” she exclaimed.
    She and Saul leaned in to take a closer look at the eggs. They were concentrating so hard on them that they didn’t notice when a big gray face poked into their burrow.
    “Saul! Trixie! It’s me, Cletus. Y’all in there?” Cletus asked with desperation in his voice.
    The two Burrowing Owls almost jumped out of their feathers.
    “Cletus!” Saul cried out. “You almost scared us half to death!”
    “Well, half to death is better than all the way to death,” Cletus quipped nervously, relieved to find his friends alive and well.
    “What are you doing here?”
    “The Pure Ones…we had a relay…the tunnel…” Cletus couldn’t tell the story quickly enough. Finally, he just said, “No time, you all have to leave your burrow—for good. Come with me, right now!”
    “WHAT?” Trixie was bewildered. “Our eggs are going to hatch any minute now, we can’t leave!”
    Cletus took a deep breath. “The Pure Ones are here. They’ve been building up their forces in the desert for Glaux knows how long now. They’ve built a massive system of burrows and underground tunnels. They’re killing all the owls who live here. They’ve already killed Hiram, and Glaux knows who else. If you want to live, you have to come with me!”
    “Our eggs!” Trixie said helplessly. She had wilfed to the size of a mouse as she listened to Cletus.
    “You have to leave for your eggs!”
    The Burrowing Owl pair