Guardians of Ga'Hoole 03 - The Rescue

pour from the harp. It seemed to wrap them all in its music. He, of course, didn’t know it but Octavia, old and fat asshe was, had just jumped three octaves for the first time in years. She was so happy that she felt like a slim young thing again. She could almost see the notes as they floated out into the last darkness of the old night to touch the dawn.
    “Good light,” Soren said softly, and he said it seven times, for each of the owls he had led on their quest to mend a world that had been broken and to rescue a teacher who was loved.
    “Good light,” he said again. They were, however, all sound asleep.
    In a hollow high up on the northwest side of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree, an old Whiskered Screech sat down at his writing table for the first time in months. He winced as he plucked a feather from his starboard wing. It always seemed that he grew his best quills on his starboard side for some reason. He then took out a new piece of his best writing parchment, dipped the quill into an inkwell, and began to write.

In a forest dark and tangled,
    smoke and fiery sparks did spangle
    the trees, the sky, the moon on high—
    it seemed as if Glaux did sigh.
    A Barn Owl with a metal face,
    bellowed of his mighty race.
    The chaw of chaws, did they cower
    in what might be their final hour?
    With their branches burning bright,
    they tore into this evil night.
    The flames danced across the mask—
    a demon owl from Soren’s past!
    Nine others flanked him,
    dark eyes so grim,
    claws gleaming in the air,
    set to rip, to stab, to tear.
    So in that dark and tangled night,
    the chaw of chaws rose to fight,
    with talons bloodied, feathers singed.
    A battle won—a war begins!

    Ezylryb sighed deeply and put down his quill as the glare of the morning seeped into his hollow.

THE OWLS
and others
from
GUARDIANS of GA’HOOLE
The Rescue
    SOREN: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, from the kingdom of the Forest of Tyto; snatched when he was three weeks old by St. Aegolius patrols; escaped from St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls

His family:
    KLUDD: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, older brother
    EGLANTINE: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, younger sister
    NOCTUS: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, father
    MARELLA: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, mother
    His family’s nest-maid:
    MRS. PLITHIVER, blind snake

    GYLFIE: Elf Owl, Micrathene whitneyi, from the desert kingdom of Kuneer; snatched when she was almost threeweeks old by St. Aegolius patrols; escaped from St. Ae-golius Academy for Orphaned Owls; Soren’s best friend
    TWILIGHT: Great Gray Owl, Strix nebulosa, free flier, orphaned within hours of hatching
    DIGGER: Burrowing Owl, Speotyto cunicularius, from the desert kingdom of Kuneer; lost in the desert after an attack in which his brother was killed and eaten by owls from St. Aegolius
    BORON: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca, the King of Hoole
    BARRAN: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca, the Queen of Hoole
    STRIX STRUMA: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, the dignified navigation ryb (teacher) at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
    EZYLRYB: Whiskered Screech Owl, Otus trichopsis, the wise weather-interpretation and colliering ryb (teacher) at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree; Soren’s mentor
    POOT: Boreal Owl, Aegolius funereus, Ezylryb’s assistant
    MADAME PLONK: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca, the elegant singer of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
    OCTAVIA: Blind nest-maid snake for Madame Plonk and Ezylryb
    DEWLAP: Burrowing Owl, Speotyto cunicularius, the Ga’Hoolology ryb at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
    BUBO: Great Horned Owl, Bubo virginianus, the blacksmith of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
    TRADER MAGS: Magpie, a traveling merchant
    OTULISSA: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, a student of prestigious lineage at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree
    PRIMROSE: Pygmy Owl, Glaucidium californicum, rescued from a forest fire and brought to the Great Ga’Hoole Tree the night of Soren’s and his friends’ arrival
    MARTIN: Northern Saw-whet Owl, Aegolius acadicus, rescued and brought to the Great Ga’Hoole Tree the same night as Primrose; in Ezylryb’s chaw with Soren
    RUBY: Short-eared Owl, Asio flammeus, lost her family under mysterious circumstances and was brought to the Great Ga’Hoole Tree; in Ezylryb’s chaw with Soren
    SILVER: Lesser Sooty Owl, Tyto multipunctata, brought to the Great Ga’Hoole Tree after being rescued in the Great Downing
    NUT BEAM: Masked Owl, Tyto novaehollandia, brought to the Great Ga’Hoole Tree after being rescued in the Great Downing
    THE ROGUE SMITH OF SILVERVEIL: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca, a