Guardians of Ga'Hoole #7: The Hatchling

“And now the time has come to honor our fallen leader in the manner befitting a great soldier” Uglamore intones. Nyra motioned to Nyroc to step back toward the wall of the cave. Gwyndor, the rogue smith, came up the to place where the bones of Kludd lay and spread dry twigs and bark over them. He took an ember from his bucket and set it on the twigs. Flames sprung up from the bones. Suddenly shadows were leaping and sliding through the cave. Nyroc blinked. Never had he seen such shadows. They were huge. The flickering light of the fire made them jigger and jump in an odd dance across the stone face of the cave. A bright, insistent thought flooded Nyroc's mind. It is the light that makes shadows. Look to the light. Look to the flame. Them he looked into the flames. His gizzard lurched. I am supposed to be seeing the bones of my father burning, he thought, but I am seeing something else.

Nyra was chanting a song for fallen warriors and all the other owls were watching her except for Gwyndor, the rogue smith. He was watching Nyroc, watching the way the young owl stared unblinking into the gizzard of this fire.

The young 'un is seeing something in the flames he thought, something no one else can see.

As soon as the pirate owls departed, and the coast was clear, Twilla flew off in the opposite direction. This would not take her long. She knew exactly where the golden sedge berries grew. It was a bit tricky, for there were dozens upon dozens of kinds of sedgies that grew on the tundra, but only those that grew in what the Brothers called a golden triangle yielded the golden berries. For some reason, wolves had a natural instinct for where these berries grew. But most owls did not. Finding the berries did require a knowledge of geology and botany, not to mention the proper method for extracting the juice, which had to be pressed between pads of the reindeer moss ever so carefully. But Twilla would do it! She knew that Gylfie was an owl of strong gizzard and mind and she would sooner die than betray the owls of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. Twilla would not see this brave Elf Owl set out for the wolves.