Book 12 - The Golden Tree (15 page)

horrendous notion of a prison? How dare you!"
Coryn flew directly at the six owls, dropped his beak open, and hissed his fury at them. The tiny Northern Saw-whet was toppled by the wash of Coryn's wings flapping in rage. "And this ember!" He seized the iron cask and shook it so the ember glowed more fiercely. "This ember is not a living thing. It has heat, yes, and peculiar powers, and must be kept from the likes of Nyra. But it is not noble. You Guardians are noble. And I set the Great Ga'Hoole Tree and its noble owls above any ember. It is your loyalty, your love of this tree and its values that I esteem above any riches in the owl kingdoms. For that is invaluable and knows no price. I shal take the ember back to the Beyond if it becomes a false god to you. We are owls. We value each other. We celebrate our owlness and not the heat and the glow of an ember. You have done shameful things, committed heinous acts in the name of this ember. You have imprisoned one of our most trusted and revered owls, the ryb Otulissa. You have forced Bubo to make bars for a prison. Arrest!" Coryn spat out the word. 'We have no room for such words in our good and Great Tree of Ga'Hoole."

"What wil you do to us?" Felix asked. "What is
our punishment?" Coryn blinked at the six owls. They al were
180 192 waiting for him to mete out some punishment. But that would be too easy. "What would you want me to do? Put you in prison?" he said with a contempt that made every owl's gizzard shrink in shame. "What has happened here?" he wondered aloud. "You have become so Other-ish. Perhaps you should go to a place where Others might live. But they live no longer, as I understand. Now go to your hol ows. We wil deal with you later." The offending owls filed out.
Coryn picked up the teacup and looked at the picture of the dignified queen with her serene blue eyes. Queen E. "Here, Madame Plonk, this belongs to you, I believe.'
"I don't want it any longer, Your Majesty." "No, Plonkie," Coryn cal ed to her affectionately. "Take it. It is yours. You have never confused being an owl with being an Other. You're owl, through and through."

"Take it, my dear," Doc Finebeak urged.
Coryn motioned the Band and Otulissa to fol ow him to his hol ow.
Otulissa's eyes immediately fel on the tattered book. She walked up to it slowly as she might, cautiously approach a poisonous snake she was not quite sure was dead.
"It's not The Book of Kreeth? Great Glaux!" she whispered.
"It is," Soren replied quietly. "Nyra had it." 181 193 Otulissa jerked her head up in horror and blinked rapidly. "Let's hope she didn't learn too much.'
"We want you to take a look at. it," Coryn said. "You. of al of us, understand Krakish best" Hesitantly, she opened the book as if she expected venom to shoot from it. The minutes slipped by silently, slowly. The owls almost dared not breathe. Final y, Otulissa looked tip, "Wel , the good news is that Nyra could not have understood a

word, of this. The bad news is that I can't, either. It is
very ancient Krakish, We don't even have the dictionaries here that might help me with translation,"
'"Where would you find them?" Twilight asked. Otulissa looked at Coryn and then Soren. "Does Coryn know about Bess?" she whispered. "The Knower?" Coryn asked excitedly. "The Boreal Owl in the Palace of Mists?" "I guess you do," Otulissa said matter-of -factly. "She is the only one who could decipher this. Some of it, I daresay, is written in code. But Bess is experienced with codes."
"You mean we have to go to the Palace of Mists?" Gylfie said.
"In time, I imagine," Otulissa replied. "But for now let's keep the book a secret."
182 194 "Ezylryb's secret library," Soren suggested.

"Maybe," Otulissa said. "But first I think we need
to hide the ember." Its reddish light danced on the wal s. The glow had been restored to an even greater intensity. Red shadows sprang across the wal s as if in a wanton and wild dance to unheard music.
"And you have some ideas about that?" Coryn asked.
"Yes, come closer, al of you - not a word beyond this hol ow."
Then in the ear slits of the Band, Otulissa whispered her plan.
183 On another part of the Island of Hoole. not far from the great tree, as the sun rode high in the lengthening days of early spring and the inhabitants of the tree slept the thick sleep of midday, Coryn, the Band, and Otulissa gathered deep in the cave of Bubo the blacksmith,
"This here be where I keep them," Bubo the Great Horned nodded at pits in the cave floor that glowed

with heaps of coals. "I got me bonks right here," He
pointed with a sooty talon. "And then the others - grade A, grade B, I don't go lower than C. Below C, they ain't much good for anything." He paused and chuckled. " 'Course, with col iers like Soren and Otulissa, Ruby and Martin, it be mostly bonks and grade AI get," This was not flattery but the truth. The col iering chaw was extraordinarily talented. Not only were they good at retrieving coals, they were excel ent teachers. Soren's mate, Pel i, was bringing in a fair share of 196 bonk coals recently, as was a young Saw- whet that Martin was teaching to work the lower layers of forest fires. "So, you be thinking of keeping the Ember of Hoole in here?" "It was Otulissa's idea and I think it is a good one," Soren said.
"The idea is that the ember should never again become an object of... of... of fascination, of worship." Gylfie's voice was urgent as she spoke these words.

"We know it is not like other coals or embers,"
Coryn continued. "It affects owls who come into its presence differently." And sometimes even those who are not in its presence, he thought. He would never forget the extraordinary heat that began to burn within him as Nyra advanced against him, pressing him into that sheer rock wal in the canyonlands. He remembered the shock when he realized that the green light that he was seeing was actual y coming from his own eyes. No one else had witnessed this, no one except Nyra, and she had appeared to have gone yeep and then simply vanished.
By careful questioning of Primrose, Coryn had figured out that it was exactly at the moment of this confrontation with Nyra that the ember's glow had begun to fade and this was what had led to Primrose's arrest. Through some mystical transference, the ember's energy
185 197 had briefly become his. And although he had survived, as far as he knew his mother was not dead. Merely vanished. No body, no bones, no remains to be burned. He had peered into a few

fires since he had returned, attempting to scour the
flames for clues to what had happened to her. It was foolish, of course, because Coryn knew that he could never go to a fire and demand such specific information. He coughed a bit now as if to clear his head of the thought. "But Bubo, you do not seem to be affected by the ember."
"I been around so many most al me life, maybe it's ... it's ..."
"Like an immunity," Otulissa added. "You know, if you have had mite blight three or four times, your feathers somehow grow used to it and pretty soon the mites just dry up and don't hurt your feathers at al ."
"Maybe that's it," Bubo said. "But you're welcome to keep the ember here. I can't think of a better place to hide it than in plain sight with a mess of other coals. No special container." "Wel , it was a bril iant idea, thanks to Otulissa." Soren nodded at the Spotted Owl. "Coryn, why don't you remove it now and put it in with the rest of Bubo's bonk coals?"

"Happily," Coryn said.
186 198 He plucked open the latch of the teardrop-shaped container with his talons. The ember had regained its glow since their return. It looked as it always had, fiercely orange with the glimmer of green surrounding the lick of blue at its center. Except for the green it was not so different from any of the other bonk coals in the pit. And that was exactly how the owls in Bubo's cave wanted it. There would be no more special groups or orders or societies or Guardians of the Guardians of the Ember. Coryn tipped the container over the pit and the Ember of Hoole tumbled in, lodging amid a cluster of embers in the top layer. Then it dropped down until it was almost out of sight among the others. Al of the owls felt a gentle stirring like the softest breeze passing through their gizzards. They looked slowly at one another and knew at last that their world had been restored, their great tree put to rights - owls among owls and an ember among embers.
That evening as the owls began to rouse
themselves from their sleep, across the Sea of

Hoolemere, in the canyonlands. a beautiful wolf cast
her wild untamed song into a night that flowed with stars as she saw a gathering of soft mist, the creamv golden color of her own coat.
199 "Cody!" she whispered. The mist wolf turned his head and raised its muzzle as if to say good- bye. "Go on! Go on!" she urged, and she felt something in her let go. Gvl bane could rest now; her pup was on the star trail and had nearly reached the cave of souls.
188 200 OWLS
and other from the
GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE SERIES
The Band
SOREN: Bam Owl Tyto alba, from the Forest, Kingdom of Tyto; escaped from St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls; a Guardian at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree and close advisor to the king GTLFIE: Elf Owl, Micrathene whitneyi, from the Desert Kingdom of Kuneer; escaped from St.

Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls; Soren's
best friend; a Guardian at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree and ryb of navigation chaw
TWILlGHT: Great Gray Owh Strix nebulosa, free flier, orphaned within hours of hatching; Guardian at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree
DIGGER: Burrowing Owl, Athene cunicularia, from the Desert Kingdom of Kuneer; lost in the desert after attack in which his brother was kil ed by owls from St. Aegolius; a Guardian at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree
189 201 The Leaders of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree CORYN: Barn Owl. Tyto alba, the new young king of the great tree; son of Nyra, leader of the Pure Ones
EZTLRYB: Whiskered Screech Owl. Otus
trichopsis, Soren's former mentor; the wise, much- loved, departed ryb at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree (also known as LYZE OF KIEL)
Others at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree

OTULISSA: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalism
chief ryb, and ryb of Ga'Hoology and weather chaws; an owl of great learning and prestigious lineage
MARTIN: Northern Saw-whet Owl, Aegolius
acadicus, member of the Chaw of Chaws; a Guardian at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree
RUBY: Short-eared Owl, Asia flammeus, member of the Chaw of Chaws; a Guardian at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree
EGLANTINE: Barn Owl, Tyto alba, Soren's
younger sister
MADAME PLONK: Snowy Owl.Nyctea
scandiaca, the elegant singer of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree
MRS. PLITHIVER: blind snake, formerly the nest- maid for Soren's family; now a member of the harp guild at the Great Ga'Hoole Tree
190 202 OCTAVIA: Kielian snake, nest-maid for many years for Madame Plonk and Ezylryb (also

known as BRIGID)
GEMMA: Whiskered Screech Owl, Otus
trichopsis, a pompous member of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree
ELTAN: Great Gray Owl, Strix nebulosa, a member of the parliament who is unwholesomely in thral to the Ember of Hoole
Characters from the Time of the Legends
GRANK: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, the first col ier; 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, a frigid region known in later times as the Northern Kingdoms; father of Hoole SIV: Spotted Owl, Strix occidentalis, mate of H'rath and Queen of the N'yrthghar, a frigid region known in later times as the Northern Kingdoms;

mother of Hoole
KREETH: Female hagsfiend with strong powers of nacht-magen; friend of Ygryk; conjured Lutta into being
191 203 Other Characters
DUNLEAVT MagHEATH: 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, was maimed by clan leader Dunleavy MacHeath
BESS: Boreal Owl, Aegolius funerus, daughter of Grimble, who was a guard at St. Aegolius Academy for Orphaned Owls; keeper of the Palace of Mists (also known as THE KNOWER)
DOC FINEBEAK: Snowy Owl, Nyctea scandiaca, famed freelance tracker once in the employ of the Pure Ones
192 204 Coming soon!
GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE

BOOK THIRTEEN
The River of Wind
by Kathryn Lasky
Coryn and the Band have returned to the Great Ga'Hoole Tree and restored order. With the ember safely hidden away, the tree shakes off its gaudy golden glow and recovers its natural majesty. Meanwhile, deep in the Palace of Mists, Bess finds an ancient map fragment that reveals that there are not five owl kingdoms as has been thought since time immemorial - but six. Coryn and the Chaw of Chaws set off to find this unknown realm. In a landscape of endless wonders they discover a monastery of mysterious, learned blue-eyed owls, the like of which no one has ever before seen. While they explore the unknown, the young Guardians Primrose and Eglantine fly on a rescue mission to the known kingdoms. Far from home they uncover a plot by Nyra and the remnant Pure Ones to assassinate the young
205 king and his noble companions. It is too late

to get help from the Guardians back at the tree.
Primrose and Eglantine must race against time itself to find the strange unknown land and warn Coryn before the Pure Ones find - and kil - them. 206 About the Author
Kathryn Lasky has long had a fascination with owls. Several years ago, she began researching these birds -- what they eat, how they fly, how they build or find their nests. She planned to someday write a nonfiction book about owls il ustrated with photographs by her husband, Christopher Knight. She realized, though, that this would be difficult since owls are nocturnal creatures, shy and hard to find. So she decided to write a fantasy about a world of owls. But even though it is an imaginary world in which owls can speak, think, and dream, she included as much of their natural history as she could.
Kathryn Lasky has written many books, including Sugaring Time, for which she won a Newbery Honor; The Night Journey, winner of the National Jewish Book Award; and Beyond the Burning Time,

an ALA Best Book for Young Adults, She has also
received The Boston Globe Horn Book Award as wel as The Washington Post Children's Book Guild Award for her contribution to nonfiction. Lasky and her husband live in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 207 A Word from Otulissa
Dear Owls and other Intel igent, Reading Creatures.
As I am studious by nature and have been fortunate to have been present at the most glorious moments in the tree's recent history, I, Otul ssa, have decided to write a compendium, a catchal -a chronicle, in short-of the history, life, and spirit of the Great Tree. I shal expound upon the natural history of the tree, its origin and yearly changes, as wel as the histories of some of its lesser-known heroes: of Ruby and Cleve; of the brothers Ifghar and Ezylryb and the treachery that bound them; and of Theo, the peaceful warrior, There wil be tales of Strix Struma (of course!), Uglamore, and others. Many are the brave deeds stil unheralded! I write of ages lost and dark, and of lighter things; of feasts and holidays celebrated under dwenking moon and