The Capture

The big owl blinked and tapped Soren lightly with his beak in a gentle preening gesture. This small movement more than anything surprised Soren and Gylfie. The two owls had not seen nor felt the soothing preening gestures since they had fallen from their nests. But preening had been a large part of their lives. Gently prinking with their beaks, the parents would pick out bits and plump up the feathers of their mates and their children as well, or whatever patchy down a baby owl might have sprouted. It was so soothing and lovely. Preening and being preened by one's family and closest of kin and friends was the essence of being a true owl. Soren was overcome by the kindness of the gesture. The big owl turned to Gylfie and spoke. "You, too, little one with the big words, come over here. Bet it's been a while since anyone prinked your down." And so Gylfie hopped over closer to the owl, and while he preened one and then the other in turn, the Great Gray began to tell some of his story.

    "My name is Twilight. I don't know how I got the name. It's just my name."

    "It fits you," Soren said softly. "Because you are all silvery and gray"

    "Yes, not black or white. It fits, and blast my gizzard if I didn't hatch on the edges of time, for that is one of my first memories. Twilight! That silvery border of time between day and night. Most owls have pride in their night vision. We see things that other birds cannot see from high up in the pitch of the night -- a mouse, a vole, a tiny squirrel scuttling through the forest. I can see all that, too, but I can also see at a harder time -- twilight -- when the boundaries become dim and the shapes begin to melt away. I live on the edges and I like it."

    "What are you doing here near the edge of Tyto?"

    "I have heard that there is a place and that the best way to find it is by following the River Hoole. This stream that flows beneath this Ga'Hoole tree I figure must flow into the River Hoole, or else why would a Ga'Hoole tree grow here?"

    Soren and Gylfie both nodded. This seemed to them to be a sensible conclusion. "Is this place," Gylfie asked, "on the edge of something?"

    "Actually, it is, I think, more like the middle of something. But I am interested."

    "Middle of what?" Soren asked.

    "The River Hoole flows into a huge lake. Some call it a sea, Hoolemere, and in the middle of it there is an island. And on the island is a tree. A great tree. It is called the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. It is the greatest of all the Ga'Hoole trees. The most enormous tree that ever grew, some say, and it is the center of a Kingdom called Ga'Hoole."

    Soren felt his breath catch in his throat. His eyes widened. He felt Gylfie grow still.

    "You mean it's real?" Soren asked.

    "It's not just a legend?" Gylfie said, her voice soft with wonder.

    "Well, I believe in legends," Twilight said simply. And for the first time all the boastfulness left his voice.

    "And what is there, in this great tree that grows on an island in the middle of a sea called Hoolemere?"
    asked Soren.

    "A band of owls, very strong, very brave." Twilight seemed to swell up even bigger before their very eyes as he spoke.

    "And," Soren continued, "do these owls rise each night into the blackness and perform noble deeds?"
    The words of his father flowed through him. "And speak no words but true ones, and their purpose is to right all wrongs, to make strong the weak, mend the broken, vanquish the proud, and make powerless those who abuse the frail? And with

    hearts sublime, they do take flight Is this the place of

    which you speak?"

    "Indeed it is," Twilight replied. "All these owls work and fight together, for the good of all kingdoms."

    "Do you really believe this place exists?" Soren asked "Do you believe you can fly?" Twilight shot back Soren and Gylfie both blinked. What a strange answer It was not an answer at all. It was a question. How far they had come from St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

    Empty Hollows

    You two are going to have to learn how to hunt. Whatever did they feed you in that place?" Twilight asked. Soren's and Gylfie's beaks were bloody from tearing at the tender flesh of a vole that Twilight had brought. They had never tasted anything so good. There was an acorn fragrance to this vole, mixed with the withered berries that had dropped from the Ga'Hoole tree in which they still perched. Finally, Gylfie answered, "Mostly crickets, unless you worked in the hatchery." "That's