Guardians of Ga'Hoole: To Be A King (14 page)

S
oren closed the final book of legends. There was silence among the six owls. The ember in the latticed iron box glowed as fiercely as ever.

“He returned it to the volcano,” Coryn whispered in disbelief, and then turned to his uncle Soren. “And so must I.”

“Not yet. Your work is not done,” Soren replied. “Indeed, it is only just begun.”

“But it is so dangerous.” Coryn opened his eyes wide, stared at the ember, and then blinked rapidly as if he could not quite believe how dangerous this thing was that glowed in its lattice box.

“Coryn, you’re the Barn Owl that Hoole saw in the flames of the volcano,” Digger spoke firmly. “It is your destiny.”

“You must fight for it, Coryn,” Twilight added.

“It is not only a question of power,” Gylfie said. “It is also one of character. You have the character, Coryn, to
resist the bad influences of the ember—the nachtmagen—and use it for good things.”

“And the nachtmagen must be gone now,” Twilight added. “It died with the last hagsfiend—centuries ago.”

Coryn felt a deep and awful tremor seize his gizzard. An almost palpable anxiety stirred the air.

“What is it, Coryn?” Otulissa came over and gently began to preen his flight feathers.

“Nothing…nothing,” Coryn said, and cast a quick glance at Soren. But there was something. Between the uncle and nephew, there was a dark, unspeakable secret. For the two owls suspected that not all nachtmagen had died. That the last hagsfiend had not died and through her, nachtmagen lived on.

The Band

SOREN: Barn 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

GYLFIE: Elf Owl,
Micranthene 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

TWILIGHT: Great Gray Owl,
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 killed by owls from St. Aegolius; a Guardian at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree

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

EZYLKYB: Whiskered Screech Owl,
Otus trichopsis,
the wise old weather-interpretation and colliering ryb (teacher) at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree; Soren’s mentor (also known as LYZE OF KIEL)

Others at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree

OTULISSA: Spotted Owl,
Strix occidentalis,
a student of prestigious lineage at the Great Ga’Hoole Tree

OCTAVIA: Kielian snake, nest-maid for many years for Madame Plonk and Ezylryb (also known as BRIGID)

Characters from the Time of the Legends

GRANK: Spotted Owl,
Strix occidentalis,
the first collier; friend to young King H’rath and Queen Siv during their youth; first owl to find the ember

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

JOSS: Whiskered Screech,
Otus trichopsis,
loyal, able messenger; served under King H’rath, then under Hoole

LORD RATHNIK: Whiskered Screech,
Otus trichopsis,
officer of the Ice Regiment and member of parliament at the great tree

LORD ARRIN: Spotted Owl,
Strix occidentalis,
traitorous chieftain of a kingdom bordering King H’rath’s realm; killed H’rath

PLEEK: Great Horned Owl,
Bubo virginianus,
enemy of King H’rath; known to consort with hagsfiends and to have taken one, Ygryk, for a mate

THEO: Great Horned Owl,
Bubo virginianus,
a gizzard-resister and apprentice to Grank; possesses great blacksmithing skills

SHADYK: Great Horned Owl,
Bubo virginianus,
Theo’s brother; mad usurper of King H’rath’s throne in the Ice Palace

STRIX STRUMAJEN: Spotted Owl,
Strix occidentalis,
appointed by Hoole to be teacher of first weathering chaw; mother of Emerilla

EMERILLA: Spotted Owl,
Strix occidentalis,
daughter of Strix Strumajen; excellent fighter with the short blade; thought to be lost in a skirmish over the Ice Fangs

SVENKA: Polar Bear in the Bitter Sea; comes to the aid of Queen Siv

SVARR: Polar bear, father of Svenka’s cubs; listener at smee holes

PENRYCK: Male hagsfiend, ally of Lord Arrin

YGRYK: Female hagsfiend, Pleek’s mate

KREETH: Female hagsfiend with strong powers of nachtmagen; friend of Ygryk; conjures Lutta into being

LUTTA: Female hagsfiend with powers of transformation conjured by Kreeth; takes the form of Emerilla

ULLERYCK: Female hagsfiend, deadly assassin in Lord Arrin’s service

PHINEAS: Pygmy Owl,
Glaucidium californicum,
friend of Hoole and owl of great pluck

THE SNOW ROSE: Snowy Owl,
Bubo scandiacus,
gadfeather and renowned singer; joins fight against Lord Arrin; comes to the great tree with Hoole

DUNLEAVY MACHEATH: dire wolf; leader of the MacHeath clan and enemy of Fengo

NAMARA MACNAMARA: dire wolf; former member of MacHeath clan; kills Dunleavy MacHeath, her former mate; joins Hoole at the Battle of the Short Light and Long Night

Book One:
The Capture

Book Two:
The Journey

Book Three:
The Rescue

Book Four:
The Siege

Book Five:
The Shattering

Book Six:
The Burning

Book Seven:
The Hatchling

Book Eight:
The Outcast

Book Nine:
The First Collier

Book Ten:
The Coming of Hoole

Book Eleven:
To Be a King

Book Twelve:
The Golden Tree

Book Thirteen:
The River of Wind

Book Fourteen:
Exile

Book Fifteen:
The War of the Ember

A Guide Book to the Great Tree

Lost Tales of Ga’Hoole

“
Y
ou are worried that kings shouldn’t just have fun?” Soren blinked at his nephew.

“Well, I don’t want to be thought of as…” He hesitated.

“A sporting king?”

“I suppose so, yes.”

“But,” Soren said eagerly now, “even a king must be curious about how the hard-won peace lies on the land. These are exciting times.”

“It is a good plan, Uncle!” Coryn spoke now with genuine enthusiasm. “But we should meet with the Band to discuss it first, don’t you think?”

“Yes, of course,” Soren agreed. “We’ll speak with them immediately and the parliament must be consulted on the morrow. First Black.”

“And Otulissa, will she come as well?” Coryn asked. Otulissa, although considered by many a prickly sort with a confidence bordering on arrogance, was a favorite of Coryn’s. Otulissa was the first Guardian of Ga’Hoole that Coryn had met. Through some scroomish vision, an odd phenomenon in itself for an owl who was so dedicated to rational thought, Otulissa had been inspired to go to the Beyond. It was there she encountered Coryn and seemed instantly to sense his destiny and that she was part of it. It was Otulissa, the prodigiously talented and knowledgeable Spotted Owl, who first taught Coryn to dive for coals. She claimed no credit, however, for Coryn had a remarkable genius for colliering and in no time had learned to pluck the most challenging of coals from the volcanoes’ spume—the bonk ones that many colliers never learned to retrieve.

“I doubt if Otulissa, with her additional responsibilities, will be able to accompany us,” Soren said. “But I shall certainly ask her.”

Otulissa, an esteemed teacher of the tree, had recently been appointed chief ryb, as her expertise extended over so many of the disciplines—from the literature of the legends to the sciences, including weather interpretation and metals. She hardly had a moment to spare. Nonetheless Soren would go to the hollow where she resided with her old nest-maid snake, Audrey, to ask if she would travel with them. But first he would meet with Gylfie, Twilight, and Digger. And, of course, he would have to explain to Pelli. No doubt Basha, Blythe, and Bell would beg Soren to wait until they had fledged their flight feathers so they might go, too. But they were at least a moon cycle away from fledging, and this was not a trip for young’uns.

Soren was just about to leave the hollow, immensely pleased with himself for coming up with this idea, when Coryn suddenly said, “Uncle?”

“Yes?”

“What about the ember?”

“The ember? What about it?” Soren asked, slightly bewildered.

“Will it be safe here?”

“I can’t imagine a safer place than here in the great tree. We certainly don’t want to carry it around with us.” He paused and looked steadily at the ember. In a low voice he said, “We do not want to become slaves to the ember. If the legends taught us anything, it was that.”

“You are right, Uncle. We are free owls!”

The author wishes to acknowledge her great debt to William Shakespeare. In Chapter 26, Hoole’s address to his troops was based upon King Henry’s rousing speech to his soldiers before battle in the play
Henry V,
acts 3 and 4, scenes 1 and 3 respectively.